Disclaimer: I promise that if I owned Avatar I would be completely honest about it. I wouldn't lie about owning a TV show…which I don't.
WARNING: Sukka is in your future if you proceed with reading this story. If you dislike Sukka, TURN BACK NOW. If you don't, well you can't say I didn't warn you.
Defiance
Suki's eyes opened to the dark, dank gloom of her prison cell. For the briefest of seconds she forgot where she was and imagined she was only in a dark bedroom. Then, reality came crashing back down with titanic force. Tears fell down her cheeks as her dream replayed itself behind her closed eyelids.
It had been a good dream. She was free of the prison, healthy again. Her wounds and broken bones had healed, and she was free to do as she pleased. Best of all, she was married to Sokka and they had a daughter. The dream had shown him to be an amazing father, and an even better husband.
Suki tried to brush away her tears, but remembered her hands were chained to the stone wall behind her. Her head hung and she sagged forward sadly. Her dream was more of a manifestation of her hopes for the future than a strange creation of her brain in the night time.
One fact remained that saddened her beyond any other. Since she'd been captured, hope had endured that she would be rescued. In the early days of her imprisonment, her dreams had been filled with images of dramatic rescues and romantic overtures. Not that Sokka was the type for romantic overtures, though if anyone could rescue her dramatically, it would be him. But he never came.
"Oh Sokka," Suki spoke into the darkness around her. "Why haven't you come for me?"
"It's because he doesn't love you." A cruel, feminine voice broke her train of thought and her head snapped up to meet the blazing golden eyes of her captor, Azula. She was standing in the door way to her cell, a smug smirk on her evil face.
"You'd like that wouldn't you?" The earth kingdom warrior snapped at the fire nation princess. "You'd like to know that someone else was as miserable as you are. I bet you'd revel in the fact that you're not the only one who's alone."
The princess' eyes narrowed hatefully. "I'm not miserable at all. I have everything, and what do you have? Oh that's right, nothing."
"Just keep telling yourself that. I bet it makes all those nights alone much easier." The two girls glared at each other in angry silence for a while. Suki knew something bad was coming, but continuing to defy Azula and snapping in response to her comments gave her existence some shred of meaning.
"You know, it's pretty dark in here. You probably want some light, then?"
Suki shrugged as well as she could while chained to the wall. Then, out of nowhere, her feet were on fire. Not out of nowhere, she realized, Azula had set the fire that was currently burning her flesh. More tears fell from her eyes and she cried out in pain despite her best efforts.
She lost track of how long her feet had been burning when the fire was extinguished. Her chest heaved as she gasped and tried to recover her senses.
"I guess you didn't want light after all." Azula sneered, then stood and left her cell, the door slamming behind her.
Suki pulled her feet close to her body and willed the pain to stop. Her will did little good though, as pain continued to radiate from her burned extremities. Had there been any light in her cell, she could have assessed the damage to her skin, but all she could do now was hope that it would stop.
After her feet were burned, Suki began to lose count of the days she had been imprisoned. All she came to know was how often she was tortured, and how infrequently food and water were left in her cell. Once, she was taken out of her cell and into the light, only to be beaten half to death by Azula's sadistic acrobat friend. The girl had immobilized her first by hitting pressure points throughout her body, then used a whip and finished by nearly choking her to death.
The long stretches of time in between her beatings and torment were spent in her cell. To distract herself from any lingering pain, she thought about Sokka. She desperately wanted to know if he was alive. Her heart told her there was a good reason he hadn't rescued her yet, and she clung to the idea like her life depended on it. When she looked back on this part of her life, she realized it had saved her.
Another thought that filled her head in periods of darkness was of the Kyoshi warriors. Her warriors, who had followed her even to death and prison, and were probably in nearby cells. She had no way to be sure though. Azula and her friends never discussed any information around her. Not knowing if her warriors were okay was torture to her, torture that was just as painful as any beating or punishment they could dream up. The worst part was the knowledge that it had been on her orders that they were in the forest where they were captured. She couldn't remember why they were there, but the guilt of it all tore her up inside. If any of her warriors had died, that made her responsible.
At some point, a bored looking girl with long black hair and dull, lifeless eyes had changed the chains which bound her to the wall. Her hands and arms were free again, but her ankles were now chained to the dank stone. After that was done, the bored-looking girl had traced numerous shallow cuts into her skin with a thin blade. Suki was confused when she left, but soon after, pain seared through her veins and caused her to vomit. She realized the blade must have been poisoned, and understood why the girl had been so brief.
The day everything changed, Suki was curled in a corner of her cell after a particularly bad beating. Azula had both burned and electrocuted her, then the sadistic acrobat kicked the wind out of her, and finally the bored-looking girl stabbed her numerous times. As blood poured from her wounds and burns smoldered on her skin, Suki cried into her hands, feeling worse than she had during her whole imprisonment.
It felt like her entire body was in pain. Worst of all, she was still alone. Sokka had still not come to rescue her. A new, dark thought took root in her head. Suki raised her head slowly and looked around her cell. Surely there was something here she could use to kill herself. There had to be some way to relieve her worthless, painful feelings. And it wasn't like she was benefiting anyone by being alive.
More tears fell from her eyes and she searched her cell. She had just decided on using her own tattered clothing to choke herself to death with when the door of her cell was thrown open. The light poured in, burning Suki's eyes and causing her to cry out in pain. She turned away from the open door and cowered in the corner she had been in previously. Azula was back, or it was one of her evil friends, and their return only meant more pain. She shut her eyes tight and prayed they would be quick.
Suki didn't know how long she lay in the corner of her cell, but when a hand touched her shoulder it was gentle and warm. The touch scared her, and she tried to squirm away from it, but found she was too weak. She gasped when a voice met her ears. The voice was kind and solicitous; and male.
"Are you okay? Can you speak?"
Slowly, painfully, she turned towards the voice. The sight that met her eyes caused more tears to fall, but they were tears of joy. Kneeling before her, a concerned expression on his face with a sword in one hand was Sokka. They stared at each other in disbelief for a moment, the sword clanged to the floor, and then they came together in a tangle of limbs. Her head rested on his chest while his arms wound around her shoulders and torso. She cried and shook against him and in another instant he was crying as well. Then, through his tears, he spoke.
"I thought you were dead."
"I nearly was." She had a great deal of difficulty controlling her tears.
"What happened to you? How long have you been down here?"
"I don't know. They've been torturing me periodically; I have no clue what day or time it is." She wiped at her tears, trying hard to collect herself.
"They've been torturing you? Spirits, no wonder you're so thin. We have to get you out of here." His tone was disgusted and determined at the same time.
"I'm chained to the wall…" She motioned weakly to her chained ankle, wanting to escape her prison but still not wanting to leave the comforting circle of his arms.
"Okay, hold still." Moving carefully, he withdrew his arms from around her and took one of her manacled ankles in his hands. He surveyed it quietly for a short time, then met her eyes again. "This might sound gross, but I think you're thin enough that if you bend your foot the right way, the cuff should just slide off. If not, I have another idea, but I don't want to risk hurting you more."
She nodded in response and focused on bending her foot into as straight a line as possible. The semi-healed burns screamed in pain but she gritted her teeth and kept trying. Her persistence was rewarded and Sokka was proven right when the manacle slipped down and off her foot. They repeated the process with her other foot and then he slowly helped her stand.
Suki barely got herself upright before her legs shook violently and her knees gave out, causing her to fall into Sokka. Her hands landed on his shoulders and his arms wrapped around her waist to keep her from falling further. Their eyes met and they stood together in silence for a long moment. All she could think about was how happy she was to be on the verge of escaping her prison when a loud crash broke the silence around them.
"We need to go." He kept one arm around her waist as she leaned heavily into him, and they left the cell.
Suki's head spun madly as they walked through what she realized was the fire nation palace. The large stone building was oddly deserted, but they were both grateful for that. She tried to focus but that only made her dizzier. Finally, as Sokka was reaching for a door handle to lead them outside, her eyes closed and she passed out.
Suki's eyes opened to an expanse of white above her head. At first she thought it was a ceiling, but then she looked closer and saw it was actually the fabric of a tent. She slowly looked around and saw beds like hers filled with injured people. The figure next to her grabbed her attention and made her blood run cold. It was Azula.
'Wait…why would Sokka or his sister take care of Azula?' Suki shook her head in response to her crazy thought and took a closer look at her next bed neighbor. They had Azula's pale skin and raven black hair, but they were also male and had a large, leathery scar on their right eye along with bandages all over his body.
Suki was trying to remember who this young man was when a girl who could only be Sokka's sister moved across the tent towards her bed. This girl had thick brown hair tied into a braid at the back of her head, with startling blue eyes and mocha-colored skin. Suki blinked rapidly, trying to dredge up old memories and find the girl's name.
"How are you doing, Suki?" She had a sweet voice and a caring expression on her face as she sat on the edge of Suki's bed.
"I'm confused…Katara. I still don't know where I am. And where's Sokka?"
"You're in a first aid tent I set up with some other Healers. Sokka had to go help our father move bodies." Katara's eyes darkened as she spoke.
"Bodies? Souzen's war's over?" She remembered the war from before she was captured, but what had happened since then?
"No…but they're at a standstill right now to collect their dead. Aang- the Avatar- negotiated that with the Fire Lord."
Another memory surfaced from her confused mind. "Fire Lord Ozai? Since when has he been merciful like that?"
"The exchange is that he gets to attack Aang first when they finally fight." Katara's voice had an ominous ring to it.
"Agni…" Suki muttered in disbelief, then remembered her question from before Katara walked over. "Who…who's that next to me? Isn't he with them…the fire nation?"
She motioned to the unconscious young man next to her. Katara's gaze followed her hand, and then she smiled.
"No he's not…anymore at least. His name is Zuko…actually he was their prince."
Suki blinked and tried to absorb everything she had heard while connecting it with what she remembered. She watched the younger girl looking at the former prince with a wistful look on her face. "Is he okay?"
"He'll be fine." Katara shook her head and stood then, and reached for something behind her. It was a small bucket of water. "Now hold still. This should help any pain you're in."
Suki did her best not to move as Katara's hands began to travel above her body in strange patterns. The water from the bucket surrounded her hands like gloves as she worked and Suki felt the lingering pain of her injuries ease somewhat. She also felt herself getting sleepy, and then finally nodding off.
Night had fallen when Suki woke up again. She was still in the first aid tent, and still in the same bed. The former prince was still next to her, only now he looked asleep instead of unconscious. The one difference between the present and when she was awake before was that instead of Katara, Sokka was now sitting by her bed. His head was bowed and he held one of her hands in both of his. Before she could figure out how to get his attention, he looked up and met her eyes.
"Hey." He smiled and squeezed her hand.
"Hey." She returned both gestures, feeling happier than she had for a long time.
They were quiet for a while, looking in each other's eyes. Occasionally, Sokka's fingers would caress the back of Suki's hand causing her to smile at the touch.
"Thank you for saving me. I realized I never said that."
"You're welcome." It was a simple sentence, but it said all she needed to hear.
"Do you know how long I was down there?" It was a question that had been burning in her mind.
"I found out about you being captured about three and a half months ago."
"Three and a half months?"
He nodded, meeting her eyes. The emotion in his expression nearly moved her to tears. She tried to find some way to reply, but he beat her to it.
"I missed you so much, Suki." He dropped her hand and put his arms around her waist instead. She hugged him back and for a short while they were content to stay in each other's embrace.
"I missed you too, Sokka." She spoke quietly, with her mouth very close to his ear. Once they separated she found herself stifling a yawn.
"I won't keep you up any longer. I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay."
"I'll be fine, but please…don't go." The words coming out of her mouth surprised her, but they expressed her true feelings. "I don't want to be alone tonight." She was calm at the moment, but had a sense that the second he left the flashbacks and nightmares would start.
"Ok, I'll stay. Can I…um?" He motioned to the bed.
"Of course." Suki nodded, moved over, and pulled back the covers in what she hoped was an inviting manner.
Once he had situated himself he pulled her into his arms and she rested her head in the crook of his neck. To be this close to him felt natural and comfortable. It was strange to be so at ease after being apart for so long, but it was something she didn't regret.
"Can I ask you something?" His voice was soft in her ear and one of his hands toyed with her hair. She cringed inside at the realization that her hair was not only long but also very dirty.
"I think you've earned it." She replied with a smile.
"When you were in the cell, how did you keep from losing your mind? Especially since there were no windows, it had to have been hard."
"I was hoping you'd ask that. There were two things that helped. First, every time Azula or one of her friends talked to me, I would snap back at them and mouth off. Having to keep thinking of things to say kept my brain functioning." She paused and made sure he was listening to her next words. "Also, I kept my mind intact by thinking about you. I knew you'd come for me, and that I needed to get through this and be strong for you."
She finished speaking as their eyes met. Suki watched a range of feelings and emotions travel through Sokka's blue eyes; first there was shock, then admiration, then acceptance and finally happiness.
"You mean that?"
"I do." She smiled as he leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. She returned the pressure, reveling in the pure happiness of the moment. They continued kissing as his hands threaded into her hair and she forgot her self-consciousness. Finally, due to a lack of air, they separated but stayed close, still savoring their blissful moment.
"Suki, that was beautiful." Sokka looked close to tears. One of his hands left her hair and caressed her cheek.
"I meant every word." She continued smiling as he hugged her tightly.
Out of nowhere, a wave of sleepiness overwhelmed them both. Suki snuggled closer to Sokka and closed her eyes. Sokka pulled the blanket back over them for warmth, then repositioned his arms around Suki. His last thought as he dropped off to sleep was that he was undoubtedly the luckiest man alive.
The couple continued to sleep undisturbed for the rest of the night. They woke with the rising sun in the morning, but neither was in any hurry to move or otherwise change their position. Instead they talked in soft voices, reveling in their reunion. Their actions were proof to any observer than even in times of war, peace could and would have a say in the course of events.
-Fin
A/N: As always, reviews and constructive criticism are greatly appreciated.