𝑺𝑬𝑬𝑫 𝑶𝑭 𝑰𝑪𝑯𝑶𝑹 •𝒃𝒙𝒃•

14 ~ a place to call home

He roamed the swamp afterwards, not really knowing where he was going. There was no sign of anyone, and he was beginning to think that he would never find an exit. He climbed up trees, crawled his way through vines, all the while not trying to...injure the swamp in any way. It was funny to think of it as something capable of feeling pain, in the same sense as humans and animals could, but he saw enough to realise that it could. So he roamed and roamed until he stumbled his way through a thicket and laid eyes on the rest of his group.

"You're alive!" Surprisingly, the first one who went towards him was Sokka.

Guren watched him approach. "Well, I'd wager my survival instincts are better than yours."

Sokka stopped before he reached him, the relief quickly fading away into an exasperated frown. "I see you're completely fine..." He turned away, a sigh leaving him.

Guren bit back a laugh at that. "Why wouldn't I be?" He stepped towards the boy. "What's this? Were you worried?" He inched closer and closer, mouth stretching into an unrestrained grin. "I didn't know you cared about me."

"I wasn't! I don't!" Sokka exclaimed and turned his back towards him.

"He was. He does." Katara chimed in.

The look of utter betrayal on Sokka's face was priceless. So priceless that Guren couldn't contain himself. He lowered his head as a laugh slipped past his lips, loud and deep, resounding throughout the open space around them.

Then, silence fell. In a second, a switch flipped.

"Guren...? Are you okay?" Aang's tone was laced with concern.

Okay...? He was far from okay, wasn't he? A while ago, he had emptied his lungs by yelling at his father's impostor, and now here he was, laughing at someone's expression. But he couldn't just...go ahead and say it, could he? It didn't work like that.

"Just peachy."

Aang stepped forward. "You don't sound just peachy."

What else was he supposed to say? What he saw? Who he saw? Spew out all his worries and problems to them? No. He won't do that. That part wasn't meant for them, that part wasn't meant for anyone but him. But Guren could pretend. He could pretend that all was good and well. It wouldn't be the first time.

Yue wasn't the type to sit quietly when it came to him.

Pretending came easy after a little while.

So he smiled. He gave him the best smile he could muster at that moment. "I'm fine, really. Just got freaked out by being alone, that's all." The urge to reach out his hand towards Aang was sudden, but he held it back. There was...something about him that just seemed so approachable...so comforting, and he'd go ahead and say that it felt...familiar, somehow, the warmth in his eyes.

As if he was telling him that he could rely on him without saying it out loud.

Guren wasn't used to people like that.

"Well, we're together now, right?" Katara asked, "You don't have to worry now."

No, no he didn't.
.
.
.
They told him about the Waterbending tribe they encountered.

He missed quite a lot.

And then Aang mentioned the visions.

"Did you see something...unusual?"

So everyone saw something? He wasn't the only one? Not answering, he decided to ask a question as well, "Is there a reason for the visions?"

Katara hummed, briefly looking off to the side. "We asked one of the Waterbenders. He said we see visions of people we lost, people we loved. That the swamp tells us we're still connected to th-"