Alliyah Baluyot: Thrilled to know that you're all caught up and that you've been reading several of my fics! Thanks so much for the support. :D I'm glad that I chose to continue this one as I had several prompts that I was thinking about continuing. I figured that this one had some fine summer vibes for a July day (though it's September now). I hope you enjoy the new chapter!

gemsofformenos: "I told you many times before you truly have a way with nature and sensations." Tis my favorite thing to write. :D I had so much fun writing the island scenes! I don't get to describe islands often in my fanfics. Jungles, I work with a lot though. "All these feeling jumping between hope and desperation, the beauty of nature and cruelty of it." Exactly. On one hand nature is sublime, on the other she is brutal and deadly. And Sokka got to experience both. "And how cruel as he finally found land it was only an uninhabitant one." He got his hopes up only to have them shot down. "It must feel so overwhelming to have Azula around again." But yes, he is overwhelmed (but this time it is by positive emotions). Also no worries on the delay! Stuff comes up. I still have to respond to your email lol. "It fits to Sokka to dare to leave a save island to seek for civilazation." I feel like that's something he and Azula have in common; they are both practical and would see fit to move on and die trying to reach a goal rather than stay in once place. "I absolutly love how you're throwing in the moon here and Sokka's talks with the moon." And thanks again! I always have a good time trying to work canon into fanon in subtle ways. "Sokka feels like nothing has changed but it has." And this will be hard for him to come to terms with. For him the world kind of just halted so it's hard for him to realize that it hadn't for everyone else. "Part of her probably fears that she might lose him again because of this fact." This is a fear, yes. But she also knows that the truth has to come out. And thanks again! Hopefully things get less busy for you soon!

kingeddie16ne: This boi is not prepared! Somewhat related but, like, I thought that you should know that it took me this long to realize that you also follow me on tumblr. xD Like I totally saw your blog name there and was like, 'something's familiar about that screen name *insert thinking emoji*' But my brain just didn't put two and two together until today.

She is holding him so tightly, clinging to him as though he were going to disappear right from the hospital bed. This is how he knows that something is wrong. That she is going to say or do something that he won't like. Even after so long, he knows her mannerisms. She always gets more loving and cuddly before doing something that she knows will leave him absolutely reeling and seething. He has been gone for so long that he isn't sure what that that thing could possibly be.

Or maybe it is that he simply doesn't want to dwell on it much because he knows that he will find the answer.

Instead he tells her not to hold so tightly. She seems to remember the sores and loosens her hold. Granted she isn't able to hold him as painfully tight as she could have, though her arms seems to be healing rather smoothly. She insists that it isn't really a big deal.

"So…" he trails off. "I imagine that you have a few stories for me?" He inquires.

"Many of them." She replies.

She opens her mouth to share them, but the doctors come to check up on him. Azula moves to let them tinker with the setting on his feeding tube, before ultimately deciding to take him off of it.

He waits until after they leave to inquire once more. "Well why don't you start from the beginning?"

She thinks for a moment. "After you left, father's drinking problem got worse." After a brief pause, she adds, "unrelated to your disappearance. It had been steadily getting worse."

Sokka furrows his brows. "He seems fine now."

Azula nods. "AA."

"And that's going well?"

"There isn't much access to alcohol on a boat…" she trails off and he thinks that he knows what she is thinking. "I don't think that he has bought any on this island."

"I didn't seem like he did when he came to visit." Sokka smiles.

.oOo.

That smile coaxes her forward, but delicate flutters still remain in her belly as she tries to find a way to continue. She doesn't really care to discuss this matter. It isn't something that she likes to think about if she can help it.

"You don't have to share everything." Sokka says.

"I would like to." She takes a moment before continuing. "After father's drinking problem started getting worse he started getting...harder to deal with. Everything was…" she finds herself at something of a loss. Since words seem to be failing her, she simply tilts her head so that he can see the scar.

His brows crinkle. "When did you get that?" She lets him trace his frail fingers over it.

"When I...jumped."

"You didn't...it wasn't on purpose, was it?"

She swallows, "it was."

She watches him rub his hands over his face, run his fingers through his hairline.

"I shouldn't have left…" He mutters. "If I would have just stayed home…"

"Then you wouldn't have gotten to have the adventure you wanted. That was your dream." She replies.

"And look at the nightmare that it turned out to be."

She shrugs. "You say that as if you aren't going to make awful jokes about it and share the story at every party you get invited to." He laughs. She had missed that laugh so much. Even if she can only manage a half smile at the moment. "Anyhow, I'm fine."

He gives her a skeptical look.

"I have a therapist, though I haven't seen her in a while." She mentions, she isn't sure if that makes him feel more or less comforted. "I also have Zuzu and your sister. And I started surfing again."

"You stopped?"

She nearly flinches, recalling that she'd been practicing every day prior to losing him. "For a while, yes. I had to manage the lighthouse." It isn't a lie, not entirely. "Father started neglecting it for the bar so Zuzu and I had to do it ourselves."

"Geez." He grumbles. "I think I'd take another month out at sea over that."

If he weren't so covered in raw blisters, she'd have slapped him. "I don't think that you mean that."

"How did Kat hold up?" He asks. "I know she told me that she was fine and that our parents are fine. But I need the truth."

"I think that Katara handled things better than I did." She admits with a degree of resentment at having to admit that she wasn't the best at something. "And your parents helped Zuzu and I a lot when father got particularly bad." Another thought suddenly crosses her mind, she doesn't want to leave him with any surprises. Not bad ones anyhow. "Speaking of your parents helping us. We returned the favor; there was a hurricane and it damaged the restaurant."

Again Sokka rubs his face and begins to speak.

"Let me finish." She rolls her eyes. "We were able to fix it up, but I thought that you'd like to know."

"Thanks for the heads up." He laughs.

She takes a deep breath and hopes that he will appreciate the heads up that she is about to give him. She fidgets for a tense moment before finally saying, "those are the few most important things. But there's something else."

"Is it more or less disastrous than you jumping off of a cliff?"

"I guess that depends on what kind of disaster you have in mind."

"Katara already told me about her near death experience."

"I figured as much. This is something else."

"Please just say it, Azula. You always do."

She can see in his eyes that he already knows what is coming, so she might as well put an end to her stalling. "It's Jet."

Sokka crinkles his nose. "Him? Really?" He brings his hands to his face a third time, but this time he simply holds them there. "So what does that mean for us?"

"Nothing." She realizes how dreadfully poor her word choice is at the choking noise he makes. "Nothing changes, I mean." There is a slight shake to her voice that betrays her nerves. "I told Jet before we left that the whole point of this trip was to find you."

"I bet he tagged along because he was sure that I died."

She says nothing. Another mistake; bitter laughter fills the hospital room, overtaking the rhythmic beeping of his heart monitor. She wonders if it can detect heartbreak. "I guess the world did forget about me, huh? For a second I thought that…"

"It would just be the same as how you left it?" She fills in quietly. "We didn't forget about you. We just...I couldn't be alone." She doesn't think that the knots in her stomach can pull any tighter. She thinks that her face might be lightly flushed. She doesn't like talking so deeply about her feelings. And she feels just as guilty for feeling so discomforted as she does for having moved on so soon. She should have waited until after the trip to give Jet a try.

She can tell that he is resentful. She considers that she may have made the wrong call in breaking it off with Jet. Perhaps she was meant to find someone else. She likes to think herself clever, but she can't fathom why the universe would grant Sokka back to her if things would only end unhappily.

Azula can see the bitterness in his eyes.

She stands up. "I'll leave you with time to think about things."

.oOo.

His hospital room is empty before he can say anything at all. He gives an exasperated groan and slams his fist into the mattress. A burning sensation flares up his arm and he curses loudly. He hadn't meant to hurt her.

His anger hadn't even been directed at her. She just so happened to be the only one there to receive his frustrated outburst. Really it could have been anyone; Zuko, Katara, or Jet himself.

He could only hide behind jokes and smiles for so long.

He had lashed out and now he is going to pay the price. And it occurs to him-if he could get up and anxiously pace, he would-that she might take herself to the cliffs again. He tells himself that she has Jet so she will be fine.

She has Jet so he, himself won't be fine.

It is both reassuring and sickening to imagine her seeking Jet out for comfort.

And what if she doesn't visit again? What if she only sends Zuko or his sister? He wants to take back that resentful laugh. That grudging remark. He was scared. He is scared. Anxious and in pain and he doesn't know how the hell he is going to get on another boat. Doesn't know how he is going to find it in him to readjust to life on the mainland.

He just knows that he doesn't want to do it alone.

Of course, Azula had tried to move on. She didn't want to do it alone. She said as much.

She shouldn't have had to do it alone.

He shouldn't have to do it alone.

But his hospital room is empty a half an hour before visiting hours are over.