AtLA Modern: Year 1, Gen. 1

Chapter 26

Several hours later, quite late in the night now, the police had arrested Lei and the kitchen had been cleaned. Dai was on one of the living rooms chairs with Aang and Toph, and Zuko had returned to Athlea's bedroom. Dai herself was a bit calmer now, still sipping on water, somewhat zoned out as they watched TV.

"I think I'm going to go to sleep now," she said, nodding at Aang. She headed to her room with her water.

Zuko and Athlea, meanwhile, were under the covers in her room, watching Netflix on her laptop with Azar laying on Zuko's legs. Athlea's eyes slowly wandered over to him and she took a deep breath. "Hey..." She reached down, pausing the movie. He raised an eyebrow, turning to her. "I want to talk... Well, tell you about Lei," she said with a frown. "I think you kind of deserve to know after... Well, after the mess a few hours ago."

"It's not about if I deserve it, it's about if you're ready," he said softly, a hand moving to the side of her head.

Athlea sat up, sighing, and he sat up next to her. "I have a gut feeling that Lei is going to be back." She crossed her arms. "Mainly because he's a good manipulator and knows how to play good." She glanced away before facing him again. "Lei and I had a very good relationship a year ago." Zuko bit the inside of his lip. "Things changed drastically, however, when he started getting into drugs and illegal things. His personality changed and he became more harsh, a great manipulator, and most importantly, an abuser. He would lie about where he was and what he was doing. He would hit me if I didn't do as he said or if I talked back to him. He had this way of manipulating my brain and making me believe the things he said."

Once she finished, he nodded, pulling her closer with one arm on her neck and half-hugging her. "I figured something like that," he said softly. "He might be back, but you're safe now. I'll never let him hurt you again."

A small smile adorned her features and she wrapped her arms around him, embracing him. "...I love you too," she said softly.

***

A few weeks later, things had settled down a bit. Athlea and Dai had gotten more comfortable and felt safer with Lei gone, and now they were going out to drink with everyone but Katara. Katara was going on a date, and Sokka and Aang stayed behind to follow her and see who she was going with. The others, however, didn't care, and instead walked to the bar. It was a nice, popular place in the enter of the city, but at the moment it was fairly empty.

"I don't really understand Sokka or Aang. Katara's got her own life. They can't be up her ass." Athlea settled into a chair, crossing her arms over her the red Nike emblem of her white shirt and shaking her head, Zuko sitting next to her. Her shirt was paired with black jeans, ripped at the knees, and a belt, along with chunky white sneakers.

Dai shook her head, settling into a chair around a corner from the firebenders, leaning onto her arms while Toph settled to her right. Dai herself was wearing a cropped black tee and a denim pencil skirt with a belt, as well as her usual light blue combat boots. "He's so--" She cut herself off as she recognized faces across the bar. "Hey, it's Dagi and Sahel!" She smiled, standing to go talk to them, but she stopped, narrowing her eyes and sitting back down. Eyes on them, she ordered a drink.

"ID?" the bartender asked. Dai raised her eyebrows. She glanced over at the boys, repeating her order. The bartender followed her gaze; Dagi was sliding a bag of something white over the counter. "Heh, I'll get that right away."

Toph was talking about Sokka still. "He's always been overprotective of Katara. I don't see why. And why's Aang so upset about her leaving, anyways? Not like it's relevant to him."

Athlea shrugged, glancing at Toph. "I mean, I get that. Older brother, protecting her and stuff like that. But to follow her? That seems a bit... excessive."

Toph nodded. "I'm not saying what he's doing is the correct response," she pointed out. Zuko shrugged.

Zuko snorted. "He probably likes her. She's the only one of you girls that hasn't looked like she'd beat him up at one point or another." Dai snickered, and Toph shrugged, nodding agreement.

Athlea raised an eyebrow, glancing at her boyfriend. "They do get along," she commented, nodding.

Sahel eventually walked over to their table, a smile on his face. "Hey guys!" he greeted happily. Dai narrowed her eyes and leaned back into her chair, eyes narrowed. She didn't say anything, just sipped on a drink and crossed her legs, an eyebrow raised. Athlea glanced between the two of them before turning back to Sahel.

"Hey!" Toph turned toward Sahel.

"Hey," Athlea greeted, nodding, a soft smile on her face.

"What's up?" Zuko nodded, his gaze moving between Dai and and Sahel for a moment before resting on Sahel. "How've you guys been?"

"Oh, we're good." He was quiet for a moment, his gaze resting on Dai before turning back to the others. "We're having a party this week, and since you're here, I was wondering if you guys would like to come!" he said with a bright smile.

"I think a party would be nice. What do you think?" Athlea glanced over a Toph and Dai.

Dai raised an eyebrow, glancing at Athlea and giving her a look before turning back to Sahel. "I love parties!" she said brightly, smiling.

Toph nodded. "Better than sitting at home," she agreed.

"What day?" Zuko crossed his arms and leaned back, tilting his head a bit as he asked Sahel. "Not that we have much going on."

"It's on Friday," Sahel responded with a smile. "I'll send Athlea the address." He turned and joined Dagi on the other side of the bar again.

Athlea turned to Dai and raised an eyebrow. "Are you okay? You looked as if you wanted to murder him or something." She grabbed her drink and took a sip before setting it down.

"Just watch," Dai muttered, looking back at the boys. Athlea blinked, turning her attention to the boys. They slid another bag across the counter. They did it with no shame, too, like there was nobody else there--which, at this point, there were only a few others, and out of sight, too. She sighed, looking away.

Zuko raised an eyebrow, watching the other boys secretively. "Wow," he muttered, glancing away. "They're not... shy." He stretched, glancing at Athlea. "I feel like we should leave...?"

She finished her drink, setting it down and letting out a sigh. "We can't judge them. But yeah, they're doing it in the open. I wish they could be more secretive about it. But we can't judge them. Maybe they make a living out of it." She stood, shrugging. "Let's go."

The bartender was indeed taking the bags and stashing them under the counter while talking to the boys. Dai nodded. "Yeah, they're good kids, but still... I don't want to be friends with people who are into bad shit." She ran a hand through her hair and sighed, then nodded and half-smiled at Athlea. "Yeah, let's go." She took Toph's hand.

***

A/N lil tidbit... Dai's friend, Hana, who was v briefly mentioned? she got into bad stuff like the boys are, and it ruined their friendship, hence her hatred for it. keep that in mind.