The Guider Effect ☼ Zuko || ATLA

The Suki Overlap

     Aang dreamily stared into the horizon, his thoughts about Katara going into overdrive. Sokka chatted his ear off the entire flight, though he was barely listening. He was silently thankful he'd be dropping Sokka off to his father soon. Before he knew it, his once calming, innocent day dream turned into worry as his sister's face entered his mind.

     Kireina was in Ba Sing Se. She was so close to Aang but once again he was so caught up in his own life he neglected to even think of that possibility. He missed his sister dearly and the guilt he felt only continued to eat away at him with each passing day they didn't speak.

     "—and when we get back, Suki's waiting for me."

     Aang caught the tail end of Sokka's rant, his eyes narrowing at his friend. "Suki, huh?"

     Sokka beamed, "You remember her, right? From Kyoshi Island?"

     "Yeah, that was the same time Rein met up with us after being taken by Prince Zuko. You know, back when all you could talk about was my sister... say, Sokka, when did Suki enter the mix?" Aang interrogated the teen, new information creating a foul outlook on his best friend. "Please don't tell me what I think I already know."

     Sokka refused to make eye contact, keeping his guilty gaze pinned to his boomerang that twirled in his fingers.

     "I wasn't happy about Yue but I could understand it. You and Rein went your separate ways, there were no ties. But Suki? Sokka, that's just dirty." Aang continued, his tone sharp with disgust. Kireina may be his older sister but that didn't stop the primal protective instinct he felt for her. His anger and disappointment in Sokka was growing and the tribesman's silence wasn't helping that.

     "Let me be the one to tell her." Was all Sokka managed to utter, feeling ashamed. "I was weak."

     Aang nodded, agreeing. "You don't deserve my sister. I'm glad I let her take the fall for hiding the map, if I hadn't, she would have just fallen for more of your deception. I thought Zuko was the monster in this story but at least she has a support system there; people that care for her with destiny backing them."

     "You're taking the side of the guy who marled her body just minutes before trying to kidnap you instead? The guy who she would rather fake her death for than spend another second in his presence? The guy she abandoned on multiple occasions to find me? You're defending him?!" Sokka shouted, his leer finally snapping up to reach his tween friend.

     Aang laughed emptily, "What happened to you, Sokka?"

     "That prophecy happened." He muttered. "Why did the spirits even create her? Kireina is just a glorified Avatar; a trophy for the Fire Nation."

     "Let's get one thing right here, Sokka. Rein wasn't created, she was saved. I pled to the spirits, begging them to bring her back to me. My sister is everything to me, everything I've ever wanted to be, she encapsulates... and then I almost lost her but they gave her back to me. In those days that I wept for help, the world's course changed and my pleas were serving as an opportunity that the spirits' took."