Lost Arrow [A:TLA au]

sixteen

Katara gasped. "You're right! C'mon, Aang!" She grabbed Aang's arm and pulled him off of the ground. The two ran off immediately, shouting their goodbyes that quickly turned into an excited conversation about waterbending, their voices getting quieter the further they went.

Flo stood and stretched, rubbing at her eyes tiredly as she reached for her bow and arrows. "I'm leaving too," she said. "Gonna find something for breakfast."

"Aw, man, you're leaving me?" Sokka whined.

She shrugged and motioned to the giant lump of fur on her sleeping bag. "You've still got Sleemo and Momo." Then after a short beat, "But, I mean... I never said you couldn't come with." Flo minutely froze for a second, and wondered if that sounded weird in any way, the anxiety about it growing when Sokka just stared at her in poorly hidden surprise.

"Oh, uh-."

Flo panicked. She blurted out, "Bye," and left an instant later. She hurried along the icy walkway, hands messing with the strap of her quiver.

Friends were something Flo wasn't used to having, but she could begrudgingly admit that Aang, Katara, and Sokka were quickly becoming just that despite how much she didn't want that to happen. Although, she would continue to do her best to ignore the fact that she might be starting to feel something just a little bit more for Sokka.

All of that to say, Flo felt like she had no idea how to be friends with someone anymore.

How she acted with the Freedom Fighters in probably wouldn't be a good way to judge on how to be friends with someone. Once upon a time, she did call them friends, maybe even family – she, Smellerbee, and Longshot were a trio of best friends, Pipsqueak easily made her laugh, Sneers and her loved teaming up to prank the others, she saw The Duke as her little brother, and before her relationship with him ended, Jet was the person she was closest to. But they all left her, and how she acted with them back then was different than how she now acted with Aang, Katara, and Sokka. Or, rather, how she wanted to act.

Flo was a different person than she was back then. Yet, she felt the same somehow. They didn't deserve the angry Fire Hunter. They deserved someone better.

Sometimes she found herself wondering why they wanted to be her friend in the first place. Flo didn't feel like there was anything friendly about her, not after all these years; not after being the Fire Hunter. Despite that, Aang had been eager to get close to her form the beginning and the others were quick to do the same.

Everything about it confused her. And, if she wanted to be honest, it terrified her.

She was attached to these doofuses, and the risk of losing them was high.

Flo briefly shut her eyes as she walked. She shook her head to get rid of her thoughts, and opened her eyes again as she turned a corner.

"Flo! Flo, wait up!"

At her name, she halted her steps. With furrowed brows, she turned and back tracked, and only to have Sokka run into her as she rounded the corner. It caused them to almost fall, and she let out a short shout of surprise. She gripped the front of his parka to keep from going backwards and his hands automatically grabbed her waist. Once they were steady on their feet, both of them froze, extremely aware of how they were standing and how close they were.