Title: Last Train Home
Song: Last Train Home by Ryan Star
Summery: Maybe leaving like that wasn't the best idea after all...
Characters: (Do not belong to me, they are copyrighted to their original owners) Sokka, Azula, Katara, mentions of Aang.
Rating: K+
Words: 1,352 words

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Author's Notes:
Argh! I hate this one, it just wouldn't come out! And it's so out of character, even I know it's bad, I just don't know how to fix it. Gah! I'll fix it later, when I'm not so mad at it.
Once again, there is no real timeline, so don't even bother trying to work it into the show anywhere, I doubt it'll fit.
Sorry for my grumpiness, I've been stuck inside all day cleaning out my closet, which took forever.
I guess the only reason right now that I'm keeping this and not just tearing it to shreds is because I don't have much time until I have to go to bed. I'm sorry, I'll fix it sometime next week, once morning tennis lessons are over...
My fourth entry for Reggie's Sokkla Week: http:(2 blackslashes)ode2sokka(period)deviantart(period)com(backslash)journal(backslash)19851858(backslash)

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Sokka looked at the palace for the first time in two years, and he didn't know how many months, he had lost track of the exact date he had left a long time ago

Sokka looked at the palace for the first time in two years, and he didn't know how many months, he had lost track of the exact date he had left a long time ago. He had traveled the world, still overcome by wanderlust after his travels with Aang and Katara. He just hadn't been able to get used to life sitting at the palace, with nothing to do that had any real purpose, so he had left.

It was late now, so late it was almost morning, but it had been the only train he could have taken with the money he had. It was the last train that ran from that station for the night, and it had only gone so far, forcing him to walk the rest of the way. He didn't mind, though. He couldn't very well slip into the house at two in the morning, and if he walked, he could come in at a more worldly hour.

There was almost no sound as he entered the gates, just a small bubbling noise that he took to be frogs settling near the pond in the courtyard. But, as he pushed one open and walked in, he could tell it was more human. Curious, he followed it, trying to puzzle over what it was.

It came from the same courtyard that the pond was in, and the sound of the rushing water from the waterfall masked the noises slightly, but at such a close range, he could tell what the noise was. Someone was crying, strangled noises as though they tried to quiet themselves, but it didn't quite work.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Sokka called quietly, trying not to startle whoever it was. Nevertheless, he heard a small gasp, and there was a rustle of leaves as a figure pressed into the shadows of an overhang.

"S-Sokka? Is that you?" Sokka's eyes widened slightly. He knew that voice, it hadn't changed at all in the years he had been gone, and he would recognize it anywhere.

"Azula? What are you doing out here?" he asked gently, running through his mind for any other times he had seen her cry. He hadn't, and it only made him wonder what could cause tears to fall from her eyes.

"Nothing," she answered defensively. "It's a nice night, that's all." Sokka nodded.

"It is. How are things? Is everyone still the same?"

There was a rustle of cloth that he could only guess was Azula shifting position in the shadows before she spoke. "Things are doing well. Everyone's fine, we've all missed you."

Sokka didn't miss the 'we' in her sentence. "So…that includes you." There was a pause in which Azula must have nodded and then realized that Sokka couldn't see it.

"…Yes," was the hesitant reply. She still didn't move forward.

"Why are you hiding?" Sokka prodded gently.

"I'm not hiding." She was defensive once again.

"Yes, you are. Come out so I can see you. It's been so long." The tips of Azula's hair flashed in the first light of dawn as it whipped around when she shook her head.

"Azula, what's wrong? It's just me, you don't have to hide." Sokka stepped forward and dragged her by the arm out into the light. She turned away quickly, but not so quick that he didn't catch to two fresh tears rolling down her already stained cheeks.

"Why are you crying?" Sokka asked quietly. He turned her face toward him with one hand and wiped away the droplets with his thumb. "You never cry, what's wrong?"

Azula's eyes were shining, partly from tears and partly with something he couldn't recognize. Had they always looked like that? He couldn't remember.

"It's stupid. I don't want to talk about it," she told him bluntly. Sokka shook his head.

"Not an option. It has to be important if it's got you so worked up." He pulled his hand away from her face and folded it across his chest. "I can wait until you're ready."

Azula took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When she saw that Sokka was going to be true to his words, she started speaking quietly.

"I missed you." Sokka's eyebrows seemed to meld with his hairline.

"That's it?" he asked, almost surprised at how blunt the whole situation was. Azula nodded.

"You have no idea, I didn't even get to say goodbye, you left so suddenly. At first I was so mad, angry that you could just leave everyone like that, that you could leave me. I was so enraged at you, that you didn't notice that no one wanted you gone, I was even more angry at myself for letting you just slip through my fingers, without me even saying anything. But there was nothing I could do, you were already gone, and no one knew when you would return. And then there was emptiness, almost denial. I would wake up every morning and look for you down in the kitchen, expecting you to be up trying to wheedle extra food from the cooks. But you never were, and then I would remember. Tried so hard to forget, though, to ignore that I felt so much pain and betrayal, even though I knew it didn't matter. And then there was just so much pain, I couldn't hold it in anymore. To everyone else, I was the same, just myself, but when I was alone, I would break down, all the while pleading to someone, anyone, that they could bring you back. God, I missed you so much."

Azula had started speaking slowly, but as she got into it, she spoke louder and faster, as though the words couldn't wait to spill out of her mouth. She lurched forward and wrapped her arms around his waist so tight, as though she would never let go.

Sokka was stunned. He'd had not even thought that she had missed him like that, thought of him like that. It was incomprehensible, she was Azula, she would never throw her heart out to someone like this, much less him.

"I…I'm sorry," he told her, placing his arms around her shoulders and rubbing calm, soothing circles into her back. "I didn't think it would affect you like this, I didn't want to cause you any pain. I…I though about you every day while I was gone. I mean, I though about everyone, but you were the one that my mind always wandered back to. I wanted to tell you why I didn't say goodbye, because I thought it would be easier, then I wouldn't have to deal with the pain of saying goodbye to you. I was so selfish, I never thought to think it would hurt you more that way. I'm so sorry." Azula looked up at him, her eyes confused and lost.

"What are you saying? You don't mean…" Sokka nodded.

"I'm so stupid," Azula whispered. "I thought you left because you didn't care, because you hated me and thought it wasn't worth it to say goodb-"

She was cut off by the sudden press of lips on her own. There was that one moment of frozen surprise, and then she reacted, pressing up on her toes so that they were the same height. It was perfection; she had died and gone to heaven. It was her best dreams come true, all her wishes and hopes answered. It was too short, though, as Sokka pulled away suddenly. She was so confused until she heard Katara's shrill voice ring out.

"Sokka? What on Earth is going on?"