Friendship in a time of war (Avatar fan fiction)

5-The aftermath

A/N: That's what I think Shomi, Suki and Gya would look like together, though it is not mine.

Gya woke up in her bed. Her first thought; pain. She had a searing headache that ripped through her skull like a tornado.  There was a burning sensation covering her back where she hit the vase, and an uncomfortable tingling of burns and bruises through out the rest of her body. 

Gya was still wearing her kimono, but the outer armor and layers had been taken off and were laying in a pile on the floor. Her neck was wrapped in a bandage, and Gya was glad whoever brought her back to her house only did the necessary work. Whoever did it at least knew Gya was not comfortable being touched, least of all being changed.

"How are you feeling?" A voice asked her from across the room. Gya turned her head and looked over. Surprisingly it hurt less than she thought it would. It felt good to move, like she had been stuck in one uncomfortable position for a long time. She probably had been.

Suki and Shomi were sitting on the ground across the room, in regular clothing. Shomi had two fingers wrapped in a bandage and both girls had minor burns and bruises throughout their bodies, but other than that, they looked fine. 

Gya looked them over closer. Suki had the top half of her ginger hair pulled back into a pony tail and blue eyes had dark circles underneath them. She was probably worried about what happened. What had happened? Gya didn't fully remember.

"Uh, fine...? What happened?" Gya asked in a raspy voice, her throat feeling like paper. Suki responded with a question. "What do you remember?"  

"I-" Gya thought back. A ship had come to the island. Fire nation. She remembered the fight. The fire. The family she saved. How happy they had been after they were all back together. How she had never felt that feeling. To be loved. To have people that cared about you. To care about others. 

But that couldn't be true. Gya didn't care about anyone. Yet she had saved that family. She had cared about them enough to help them. To put her life on the line to save another. It wasn't like her, yet she had done it.

"I saved them." Gya said to no one in particular. She hadn't even remotely answered Suki's question, but it was enough. Suki and Shomi were silent, letting her take the time to reorient herself. "I- I cared about them. Are they OK?"

Suki nodded, standing up. "The family is just fine, thanks to you." 

Shomi stood up next to her. "After you- ya know," she waved her hand at Gya, her motions speaking for themselves. "The avatar fought with the leader of the soldiers. A lot of the buildings were destroyed." She getting quieter, and Suki picked up. 

"Then the avatar got his friends," She blushed slighting, and Gya rolled her eyes. "And left. The solders followed."

"But he didn't actually leave! I saw him jump off his bison, and use the Unagi to put out all the fires. It was awesome. . ." Shomi said suddenly talking again, then trailing off. 

That was when Gya realized Shomi wasn't actually a quiet person. She had just assumed Shomi was quiet because Gya didn't pay attention to her. Gya did't really pay attention to anyone in practice, except when she actually was listening to what Suki was teaching, and that wasn't a lot.

Gya also took the time to look Shomi over better too. She was actually really pretty-not that Gya would ever admit that. She had long, wavy dark brown hair that she let hang down over her shoulders and her aqua eyes only added to her smile.

Snapping out of her very unnecessary thoughts, Gya broke the silence. "So how long has it been?" 

Suki thought a moment. "Its morning so, half a day maybe?"

 That. . . wasn't as long as Gya had thought, but it still surprised her. "So is the avatar OK?"

Instead of answering, Shomi burst out laughing, and Gya gave her a confused stare. "Sorry, but since when did you care about other people?" She asked. "Did your injury suddenly give you a change of heart or something?"

Gya was embarrassed. People didn't usually call her out on things. Usually they stayed away from her, out of fear, or the fact she might have been the rudest Kyoshi warrior on the island. Or both. Gya didn't really care. 

"Well, I just, I mean-" Gya shuddered, and Shomi doubled over laughing even harder, Suki not far behind.

"I'm just kidding!" Shomi smirked at Gya when she had finally quieted down a bit. "Though it might be true," she added with another laugh.

Suki smiled at them. She was glad Gya was getting along with someone finally. Suki had tried her best to be kind to Gya, but she didn't seem to be quit the right fit for the moody teen. 

Snapping out of her thoughts, Suki decided to address a more serious matter. "I've been thinking," she said to the two other girls that quieted down as she spoke. 

"I feel like we could be doing some much more for the world than just guarding an island that will most likely never get attacked again. There's been a war going on for so long just outside of our reach. We could be doing so much more for the world than staying cooped up here." Suki blurted out, only realizing how random it sounded after she said it. But Suki didn't take it back.

Suki paused waiting for a reaction. Gya's came first. "You mean," She started hesitantly. "Than you want us to leave this place? And fight in the war to destroy the fire nation?!"

"Well. . ." that wasn't the reaction Suki was expecting, but it was something. "Kinda, yeah."

Gya looked like she was trying to jump up, but fell back onto the bed out of pain. She gritted her teeth. "Great, I'm coming. I'm done with this place."

Suki smiled, and they both turned to look at Shomi who had suddenly gone silent. "I-I'm not sure I want to." She said, almost back to the quiet girl from training Gya remembered. "Who's going to protect the island?"

Suki understood her worry. Shomi had never left Kyoshi, and nether had she. It was the only way to stay safe-at least that was what they had been told.

 "I thought of that," Suki said. "Right now we have more than enough warriors to protect the island, and not all of us will want to go. It's more of an experiment to see how it plays through."

Shomi seemed satisfied with that answer, and almost looked like she wanted to agree. "Alright, but, why now? We've never talked about leaving before."

Now that was the reaction Suki had been expecting, so she had practiced what to say. "The avatar and his friends inspired me. Now that he's back, the world is going to need us more than ever. What do you say?"

Shomi smiled. "I'm in. Are you going to tell the other warriors? When are we leaving? How many of us are coming?" 

"I'll tell them later today." Suki responded confidently. "We can leave in a week, or whenever your ready, Gya. As for who's coming. . . I think whoever wants to should, right?"

Gya nodded. "Yeah." She was still hurt, but at least she would be leaving soon, and that was enough for now.

A/N: Well hello everyone, it's been a while. I wrote this chapter a long time ago, but haven't gotten around to editing it until now. Anyway, hope you enjoyed that I should have another one out soon.