"Wait Sokka!" Suki called after him.
Sokka slowed down, allowing Suki to catch up.
"Don't you think you're being too harsh on him?" The Kyoshi Warrior murmured, walking next to him.
"Are you kidding me? If anything I'm not being harsh enough. " Sokka retorted. "Suki, we both saw what he did to Katara." His gaze dropped to his feet. "I hadn't seen my sister like that since our mum died. He completely broke her."
Suki's face softened, deciding to drop the subject.
They walked the rest of the way in silence.
When they arrived to the clearing they saw the waterbender. She was sitting on the rubbles of the destroyed mansion wall, eyes downcast.
"Katara!" Suki waved at her. Katara's face lit up when she saw the two. She ran up to Suki and hugged the older girl first.
"Suki! I never got to thank you for freeing us." she said. "Thank you."
Suki grinned at the younger girl. "Of course Katara! Anytime."
Sokka sat down with a tired sigh after receiving a hug from his sister. "So, what's next? How do we even get out of here?"
"How did you get here in the first place?" Katara asked, turning around to look at Suki.
"We flew on Appa."
"Appa is here too?" Katara's voice tinged with excitement.
Sokka said nothing but Suki didn't miss the growing smile on his face.
He opened his mouth to speak next, when he was interrupted by a pebble hitting him in the face.
"OW!" He grabbed his stinging cheek, head whipping in the direction it came from. "Toph!"
They heard a loud cackle behind them.
"Sorry Meathead, I just had to do it."
"Whatever." he mumbled angrily, rubbing his reddening cheek.
Suki looked behind her. "Where are the rest?" she asked the girl when she didn't see the other two members of their group.
Toph shrugged, plopping down next to Sokka. "Should be on their way here."
Five minutes of waiting and listening to Sokka and Toph bicker later, the two arrived.
Zuko came to the clearing, carrying an unconscious Avatar on his back.
Katara gasped, running to them. "Is he okay? What happened?"
Suki kept her attention on Sokka the whole time and smiled to herself when she caught the look of worry on his face before it was gone.
He still cared.
"Aang's okay, he just fell asleep." Zuko explained, feeling a little embarrased.
"You drop me before the others see me, understood?" He had told him. The airbender would kill him if he was awake right now.
Zuko smiled nervously, making everyone look at him weirdly.
"What is it?"
He shook his head. "Nothing, c'mon let's go. Let's get the hell out of this place." He started walking, but then stopped.
"Uhh, where are we going again?"
Sokka slapped his face. "Really Zuko?" he deadpanned.
Suki giggled. "This way guys." She said, leading them to the right direction.
A little bit of walking later Zuko's shoulders started to tire out from carrying Aang. The airbender sure had grown.
"Hey guys." He broke the silence between them, making everyone stop and look at him. "Can anybody else carry him, I'm getting really tired." He finished his sentence, looking pointedly at Sokka.
Realistically he was the only other person here who could carry Aang's weight on them long enough to get to Appa.
Sokka was about to refuse when he saw the look Katara shot him. "Ugh, fine. Give him to me." He groaned.
Zuko smirked walking over to the younger boy and handed the Avatar over to him.
"Be careful, Sokka" Suki reminded her.
Sokka grumbled.
Toph laughed. "You sure you can handle that much weight on you, Snoozles? You look a little weak these days. "
Sokka glared at the younger girl. "Weak? I could walk with him on my back all the way to the Southern water tribe if I wanted to, Toph!"
They all laughed at his blatant lie.
The mood lifted considerably.
"Well, here we are." Suki announced happily, when they finally got out of the forest and came to a wide clearing.
They saw Appa sleeping in a lake not far away.
Katara, Toph, Zuko and Sokka all felt their hearts skip a beat when they saw the bison.
After so many years.
"APPA!" Sokka yelled, waving both his hands. One of Appa's eyes opened blearily feeling annoyed at the interruption, but when he saw everyone both his eyes flew fully open and he let out a long, happy growl.
Katara grinned at the bison, waving. "It's really good to see you again Appa, it really is."
"We missed you buddy." Sokka continued, a wide grin on his face.
Toph wasn't one to show affection but even she couldn't hold herself back from waving and greeting the bison, a big smile on her face.
Appa's growls went from ecstatic to sad and angry when he saw his unconscious owner on Sokka's back. He growled loudly, jumping out of the lake and closed in on the two.
Sokka smiled, moving so Appa could see Aang fully. "He's fine Appa, don't worry."
"He's only resting."
Appa exhaled softly, nuzzling the airbender. Katara and Suki smiled softly at their interaction.
When Appa had calmed down, they all boarded the bison with Zuko steering.
The forest slowly disappeared in the background as they flew away.
For the first time in years Aang slept somewhat peacefully.
He felt safe and warm, surrounded by his friends.
But, it only lasted two hours.
Suddenly, his body jerked and his eyes flew open with a start. He looked around in a frenzy.
Where am I?
Katara? Everyone?
He calmed down when he saw all his friends sleeping peacefully, spread around the saddle.
Aang ran a hand through his messy hair and looked up at the clouds, taking a moment to calm his heartbeat.
It had gotten really dark outside.
After a moment of breathing the fresh air he looked down, only now realizing that someone had put a blanket over him. Probably Suki or Zuko, they were the only ones that didn't hate his guts right now, as far as he was aware.
When he tried to move he accidentally put most of his weight on his bandaged arm and winced.
Ouch.
He frowned when he looked up and saw one of his friends still awake.
"Zuko?" the firebender was sat on Appa's head, steering the bison.
Zuko looked back. "Oh you're awake." He smiled.
"Yeah." Aang got up on shaky limbs. carefully walking around everyone on the saddle to Appa's head where Zuko was.
"Suki left you a spare cloak she had packed." The older boy glanced at the shirtless teen and handed him the black cloak. "She had a feeling you'd wake up before everybody else."
Aang draped it over his bare shoulders sheepishly. He was pretty sure Suki had figured out he had sleep issues. He only hoped that she didn't tell the rest, there was nothing they could do to help him anyway.
"Why aren't you sleeping?" He sat down next to the older boy. "Appa can fly by himself for some time, you know."
The firebender shrugged. "Just wanted to make sure we got out of the area safe."
A hint of a smile tugged at Aang's lips. "Well, we're good now, I'll steer. You go get some rest."
"By the way, you think you can drop me off at the Fire Nation? I left in a hurry, I should get back to my people as soon as possible."
"Of course man. I'll get us there."
Zuko nodded. "Alright then, wake me up if anything happens."
"Sure thing."
Aang grabbed the reins when he heard a voice.
"And Aang,"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
The Avatar shot the older boy a genuine grin. "Don't mention it."