The Serpent's Pass

"Can you see it in my eyes I've been distant? Cause I can't tell if it's the end or the beginning, I know I haven't been myself I'll admit it and I put up walls so if I burned any bridges just know I'm doing everything I can to try and fix it but knowing me I'll probably miss it. These voices get so vicious, feels like I'm rippin' stitches, I wish some days I could go back before life changed, it was so fast, that time is gone and I know that so please. Let me be sad, even for a little while, just a chance to catch my breath. Let me be sad, even for a little while 'cause it's all that I have left. When all I see are the memories, I don't want to lose a thing. Let me be sad, let me be sad." - I Prevail

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If Sokka continued to hover over Suki's shoulder like an anxious mother hen for one more minute she would lose her damn mind.

"Suki, you shouldn't sleep there. Who knows how stable this ledge is, it could give away at any moment!"

There it was. She pinched the bridge of her nose as he snatched her bed roll up from the place she had originally laid it, looking around for a spot he deemed safe enough. This was of course after he wouldn't take no for an answer when he offered to cut her all food himself, insisting he didn't want her to accidentally cut a finger off or choke on too big of a bite.

"Sokka, I'm fine." She insisted. "Please stop worrying!"

"You're right, you're right, you're perfectly capable of taking care of yourself." Sokka sighed, setting the bed roll down and lifting his hands in surrender. "Wait!" He shrieked when she moved to lie down, stopping her in her tracks with a bewildered look on the girl's face. "Oh, never mind, I thought I saw a spider, but, you're fine."

"Spirits sake. That's it." Suki sidestepped the boy and picked up an extra bowl of food sitting near the fire - dished up, but not cut because Sokka knew the person it was meant for would only roll her eyes if he did - and headed towards the slope that concealed the camp from the western side of the lake. "I'm going to keep Aelita company."

Suki had never seen Sokka move so fast. He skidded to a stop in front of her and held his arms out to keep her from moving past him.

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Why's that?"

"Because..."

"Because you're afraid we'll talk about you or whatever's going on between you two?"

He was surprised when she cut him off. "How'd you know?"

"I have eyes, Sokka," Suki said through a bittersweet smile. "I see the way you look at her."

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It was almost sad how easy it had become for Zuko to steal. Almost. As he sank his teeth into the first bite of real food he had eaten in weeks, he quickly pushed the thought aside.

The night couldn't have gone any smoother, and Jet was riding on the familiar high. Longshot served as their ears and Smellerbee their eyes, the archer keeping to the shadows of the lower deck and the girl staying a few paces from the boys as they dodged the ship's guards. This stranger seemed all too comfortable with stealth and efficiency, something Jet had no doubt had kept him alive thus far. He picked the lock to the small captain's kitchen before the former Freedom Fighter had a chance to draw his swords. The two quickly grabbed anything they could from the overflowing room, carrying smoked meats and freshly baked bread on their blades. When Bee called out it was time to go
Longshot gave them their getaway in the form of a well-placed arrow with a thin wire attached to its end, just enough for three to slide down like a zip line and disappear into the shadows below with their stolen goods.

This kid was good, and Jet wanted him badly. This could be the real start of their new beginning.

"So, Smellerbee," Iroh said between bites of his food, several other passengers sharing in the fruits of his nephew's labor as Jet insisted on sharing. "That's an unusual name for a young man."

"Maybe it's because I'm not a man." Bee scoffed, tossing her cup to the side as she stormed away. "I'm a girl!" She called back to the older man.

"Oh, now I see. It's a beautiful name for a lovely girl!" Iroh tried desperately to backpedal.

Longshot caught his friend by the shoulder before she made it far, giving her a knowing look.

"I know, I know." She sighed after a moment. "I'm just getting so tired of pretending to be something I'm not just to stay safe. I'm not the same little girl that ran away a few years ago, I can take care of myself now. Besides, I have you and Jet, right? I should just be me, shouldn't I? As long as I'm confident with who I am, it doesn't matter what other people think."

The archer gave her a single nod and a small smile graced her face.

"Thanks, Longshot."

Jet sank next to his new friend after he finished taking care of other refugees. "From what I heard, people eat like this every night in Ba Sing Se. I can't wait to set my eyes on that giant wall."

"It is a magnificent sight," Iroh said honestly.

Jet arched a brow at the confession. "So you've been there before?"

"Once." The retired general nodded as his mind drifted back to a time that seemed so long ago. "When I was a different man."

Jet recognized that tone of voice. Regret. It was a feeling he had become all too familiar with himself.  "I've done some things in my past that I'm not proud of, but that's why I'm going to Ba Sing Se: for a new beginning. A second chance."

Jet desperately needed another chance. Hitting rock bottom for the second time in his life had humbled him in ways he never knew were possible. Someone else could deal with the Fire Nation, he was tired now.

"That's very noble of you." Iroh praised the young man, and his eyes fell upon his nephew. Maybe this could be the sign the boy refused to accept he needed. "I believe people can change their lives if they want to. I believe in second chances."

Zuko knew his Uncle's words were aimed at him, but he stayed quiet as he continued to eat. He wasn't the kind of person that deserved second chances.

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Aang found Katara waiting for him at the edge of camp under the pale moon's light. Normally the sight would make his heart skip a beat to know she had stayed awake for him, but tonight he just felt tired.

"You didn't have to wait up." He said as he landed.

"I know." She said confidently. Any of her normal gentle nature and kind words were long since gone. It was time for the truth. Spirits, Aelita, and Toph had rubbed off on her. "You didn't have to run away."

"I didn't run Katara."

"Yes Aang, you did." She argued. "You both did. You should talk to her."

"Did you give her the same lecture?"

"She's not the one lashing out at her friends."

"Did you miss the part where she threatened me?"

"You compared her to the firebenders that killed your people and then you threw Yue in her face. People can only take so much before they snap Aang, even Aelita." Katara looked at the monk with caring eyes. "Even you."

Aang sighed. Deep down he knew Katara was right, even if he didn't want to admit it. In the moment today, he had been so consumed by pain and rage that Aelita had been the easiest target. Ever since she had come along she had been one of the steadiest things in Aang's life, and she had promised him more than once she wasn't going anywhere. Her presence drew him in, even when his presence was far from peaceful.

"I guess you're right. I'll talk to her."

"Thank you."

"Don't thank me yet. I never said it would go well."

Across the camp, while the others slept Sokka couldn't take his eyes off the crescent in the sky. Suki sat next to him, both silent since her admission.

"It's a beautiful moon." She said in an attempt to ease the tension.

"Yeah." The boy nodded. "It really is."

"Look, I know you're just trying to help, but I can take care of myself. And honestly, you acting like this towards me while you stare off at another girl like she's the sun in your sky is a little confusing."

"I know." He sighed as he dropped his head into his hands. What a mess he had made. Again. "I know you can take care of yourself and I know this whole situation is weird and confusing."

"Then why are you acting so overprotective?"

"It's so hard to lose someone you care about." Sokka decided honesty was his best option. "Something happened at the North Pole and I couldn't protect someone. I don't want anything like that to ever happen again. As for Aelita..." His eyes drifted to the ledge the Akira he claimed as her lookout and had yet to come down from. "She won't let me protect her some days."

"Well, she's strong." Suki shrugged. "I've seen her fight first hand, and that was before she, Aang, and Katara found a waterbending master. Maybe she doesn't need protecting."

"She does. She's reckless. Not with others obviously." He gestured back to the camp still quiet and safe. "But she'll gamble with her own life any day. It was supposed to be her that died back at the North Pole, and she was ready to give up everything until somebody else stepped up and took her place."

Suki noticed the sadness behind his eyes as he recalled the situation. "The person you lost, that's the one who stepped up, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Aelita cared about her a lot too. We all did. It's been hard."

"Maybe that's why she won't let you try to protect her." Suki offered up, knowing that's how she'd likely feel if it were her. "Maybe after everything she's been through she doesn't wanna lose you too."

"Maybe." Sokka agreed. Between the way, Yue and Sukumo both died it would make sense, but that didn't mean he had to like it.

"You really care about her, don't you?"

"More than I ever thought I could." He chuckled to himself. "I was bound and determined to hate her the entire time, but Aelita's just got this way of drawing everyone in and winning them over. She makes you believe in her, she reminds you why you fight and she proves that there are still good people left in this world. Not to mention her...I'm sorry, is this weird for you?" Sokka stopped when he realized who he was rambling to. "Cause it's a little weird for me."

"Sokka, we kissed one time a few months ago. I never said I was in love with you."

"Technically we've kissed twice, you kinda threw yourself at me earlier."

"Now it's weird. Thanks for that."

"You're welcome."

"Spirits I forgot how frustrating you are." Suki smiled as she punched the boy lightly on his arm. "This is why I assumed you hadn't tricked any other girls into liking you since me. Sorry if I made things awkward for you two, I should've probably asked questions first before throwing myself all over you." A light blush tinged across her face. "I guess I should just be happy she didn't swing at me for that."

Sokka snorted at the thought. "I don't think you have anything to worry about, after everything that's happened we aren't exactly together anyway. Besides, I'm far more the jealous type than she is. Every time anyone even mentions her and Zuko in the same breath my blood boils. She's far more level-headed than I'll ever be. I kind of sort of got engaged while we were at the North Pole, and she ran off and became best friends with the girl. Who does that?"

"Katara wasn't exaggerating when she whatever was going on between you two was complicated."

"No kid...wait, you talked to my sister about me? What else did she say?"

"And on that note, goodnight Sokka!"

Aang waited until he saw the other two disappear in the direction of the camp before he decided he might as well get things over with. He climbed up the ledge in silence and found Aelita at the top propped against a rock with Mushu in her lap, the animal snoring softly as she watched the lake. Her eyes drifted towards him for just a moment before she set back to what she had been doing, not giving him the time of day.

"Can I join you?" He asked as he sat across from her.

"Looks like you're going to whether I say yes or no anyway so sure, knock yourself out, kid."

"Thanks."

Silence lasted between the two, neither wanting to make the first move until someone finally caved.

"I'm sorry," Aang admitted. He pushed aside the pride he often liked to pretend he didn't have and accepted the fact that he had crossed more than one line. "I shouldn't have said the things I did. I didn't mean any of it."

"Yeah Aang, you did, or you wouldn't have said it. You're not Sokka or Toph or Zuko, you don't just throw words around you don't mean for the hell of it."

"Aelita..."

"You want this to be my fault." The firebender saw where her friend could no longer hold her eye. "It's not Aang. I'll take the blame for a lot of things. You can tell me it's my fault the royals have been on our asses, or that Iroh got hurt, or even the fact that someone that we cared about is dead but this." She gestured with her arm in a sweeping motion. "Losing Appa and the way it makes you feel isn't my fault."

"I know." Aang hung his head in defeat. "I wanted it to be anyone's fault but my own. Just like the genocide."

The guilt was clear in the Avatar's eyes, but his voice held no feeling of whatsoever. He was teetering on the edge of the slippery slope between feeling too much and not feeling anything at all.

It was enough to have Aelita worried, even though her friend wasn't completely forgiven. She wouldn't deny she had been hurt, but that was primarily due to her fear of the truth behind the words than the actual words themselves. Still, she hated to see Aang like this. It reminded her all too much of the way Zuko had been forced to grow up after losing his mother and she had seen the world of good suppressing all his feelings had done for him.

"You know it's okay to miss Appa." She tried to reason with him. "In the desert, all you cared about was finding him, and now it's like you don't care at all."

"I came here to apologize, not be lectured." Aang sighed. "You saw what I did out there. I was so angry about losing Appa that I couldn't control myself. I hated feeling like that."

"So it's better to not let yourself feel anything at all? That's not working for you, the pain will only keep manifesting itself as rage if you don't let yourself process this. Appa is gone Aang. Not for good, I know we can find him, but until then he's gone."

"I know." He snapped. "Just what are you getting at here?"

"Only the truth."

"Will you shut your mouth?" The monk groaned as he pushed himself to his feet. "All this talking is making me sick. Say what you want, I'm still nothing but a useless coward." The words poured out of him like a drain he couldn't stop as the realization of the pain he felt washed over him.

"You're wrong," Aelita said as she stood to face him head-on.

"What do you want from me?"

"Let it out Aang. All of the sadness, the anger, and the fear. Everything that's brewing inside of you. You've got to let it go."

Genuine shock spread across the Avatar's face. Let it go? Could he really? Tears began to well in his eyes as he pondered the thought of truly letting himself feel again.

"It all starts from there." Aelita explained while she tucked Mushu safely into the crook of one arm. She moved to the side of the ledge ready to climb down and give Aang the space she knew right now he desperately needed. Things weren't fixed between them by any means, and neither of them was okay by a long shot, but they would always be two halves of the same whole and that meant something to her.

Aang meant something to her.

"I'll be here to pick up the pieces." She said softly as she began her descent. By the time she reached the bottom, she could already hear her friend's painful sobs.

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Hi friends! Sorry for the gap between updates. Mental health for me is something that heavily affects my focus and lately, mine has been less than ideal lately but we're on the upswing and we're back.

People will have either loved this chapter or hated it.

Let me start this by saying I loved Yue and I love Suki too, but I feel like they rushed a lot of aspects of Sokka's relationships/love interests in the show. As I said in the last book I personally felt like he and Yue's whole relationship had zero substance, they went from minimal interactions to being in love in about two seconds flat in the show. Suki and Sokka definitely had more substance, but also went from nearly zero to one hundred real quick.

Suki's a strong, independent woman. They kissed one time prior to this and hadn't seen one another in months. I just more realistically think this is exactly how she would've reacted. No real spoilers here; yes, Boiling Rock will still happen, she will be back.

Buckle up y'all, we're about to be all gas no breaks very soon.