The Downfall of Sozin Unity High School (Modern ATLA AU)

Chapter Four

Sokka pulled into the parking lot with some time to spare. He was glad they lived close to the school. Despite the short drive, Aang had been talking nonstop about his plans for his next project. Sokka hoped his friend didn't mind his lack of attention. His mind was elsewhere.

It had been two years. On this fateful day two years ago, Sokka's life was turned upside down. It felt odd to reminisce on. He missed what he had before in some ways. Mostly, he missed Suki, who had very quickly become engrossed in cheer practice and event planning for her newfound friends. She had still made time to hang out with him at first, between game days and pep rallies, it was scarce but appreciated time together. But after her father's promotion, and their subsequent move across town, it was a lot harder to see the girl he had grown up next door to.

He still couldn't truly blame Jet for what happened either. He from time to time still nodded at Sokka in the hallway, but then again it seemed to only happen when no one else was looking. Even so, a small part of Sokka hoped he regretted his part in it all. His one small but hurtful mistake had changed the trajectory of all of their lives.

Sokka looked over at his friend. For Aang at least, it was for the better.

Aang had lost his parents at a young age. And at the end of their freshman year, his godfather, Gyatso, had been hospitalized.

After all Aang and Sokka had gone through together, and how close they had grown, Sokka's dad refused to let him leave. Hadoka had signed the paperwork that same day. Aang wasn't legally his brother, but Sokka saw him in that light anyways. He would protect him no matter what.

When the two of them finally got out of the car, a gift Sokka had been given last year, an old beach car that had been sitting in Bato's garage for far too long, Sokka was mostly back from his ruminating.

Aang was excitedly talking about his classes for the semester now, ignoring the stares from the newer students. A boy who looked almost too young to be there, not only bald, but with vivid sky blue tattooing across his head and down the back of his neck, appearing again on the backs of his hands. It was enough to get anyone whispering.

He'd gotten them not long after he'd come to live with them. They were religious marks, but Sokka wasn't familiar enough with Aang's unique sect of Buddhism to know what they truly meant. They were important to Aang, that's all that mattered to him. He'd said he'll one day get them completely filled in, but for now the bright blue tattoos were but a thin outline of arrows, pointing to the middle of his forehead and trailing back under his shirt and down the lengths of his arms.

Sokka was once again so caught up in his own head that he nearly didn't grab Aang to pull him away from where he was about to crash into someone's motorcycle.

"Whoops!" Aang laughed, as he was saved from near hypothetical death.

Sokka was about to reprimand him when the movement of someone else on the other side of the bike caught his eye.

A boy, taller than Sokka by a good margin with deep black hair that covered most of his face, had been stooped over to lace up one of his dark black boots.

The words caught in Sokka's throat.

The boy looked over the pair of them in disinterest. But when Sokka couldn't tear his eyes away from the boy's face, the look turned to disgust.

Aang took this as his cue. "Hi there! Sorry about that, my name's Aang! What's your name?"

He looked a little taken aback at first, something Sokka wouldn't have noticed had his attention not been absorbed in this new stranger. The boy quickly recovered though, as his face turned to a scowl. Sokka expected some sort of verbal assault but the attack never came. Instead the boy just tsked and grabbed his bag, then turned and walked away.

Only once the boy's back was turned did Sokka break from his unexpected stupor.

"Are you crazy?!" Sokka whisper-yelled, dragging Aang away towards the school. "That guy could have snapped you in half!"

Aang only shrugged his shoulders with a smile, seemingly no concept of self preservation. "But he could be nice," he rebutted.

Sokka whined in frustration before huffing, "Aang one day you're going to get us both killed."

However, Sokka couldn't shake his thoughts away from the boy. His piercing amber gaze haunting his thoughts for the rest of the morning.