𝑯𝑰𝑫𝑫𝑬𝑵 𝑫𝑹𝑨𝑮𝑶𝑵, 𝒂: 𝒕𝒍𝒂

➳ 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵: 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯

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"Our paths crossed for a moment,

but that was enough."

- Avijeet Das

╚➹════════════➹╝

KIDA ISN'T CERTAIN HOW MUCH TIME PASSES. She walks until her feet are sore, and then walks some more.

The days blend together and Kida falls into a vicious pattern of overthinking and insomnia, over and over again to the point that infinite hours of sleep wouldn't be enough to balance out her exhaustion. Kida feels tired in a way that seeps into her bones, but she treads on.

One day, while crossing through a forest, Kida trips over a trail of jagged rocks. She doesn't remember seeing it before, then again her mind might be playing tricks on her. More likely though, it's karma for all the bad things she's done. She seems to be haunted by that lately, and the worse part is that she isn't the one who bears the consequences.

Whatever it is, Kida loses her balance and falls to the ground. Groaning, she allows herself to lay down before getting up. While she's brushing the dirt off her clothes, Kida notices someone standing in the bushes. It's a girl, no more than twelve years old.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," Kida scoffs. She looks up to the sky and throws her hands up in frustration. "Another one?" Even though her throat is dry from not drinking water all day, Kida yells with every ounce of frustration she has.

"Whoa, Hot-Head, you okay?" the girl asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine! Just peachy!" Kida exclaims hysterically. She shouts at the sky as though someone is listening, but only the birds chirp back, and even they seem confused by Kida's sudden outburst. It's like all the thoughts racing through Kida's mind these past few days have accumulated, and the dam she had built up is finally broken. "The Spirits must be having a blast fucking with my life. Sending me people they know I can't protect. I'm not good with children! Isn't that crystal clear by now?"

"I don't need protection," the girl states. She crosses her arms. "I'm perfectly fine taking care of myself."

"And it's not just children! I mean I'm just not a people person!"

"Look I'm just gonna go —"

"Oh well, usually I'm the one who leaves, so that's a nice change of pace!" Kida interrupts. She continues to yell and ramble on, even as the girl walks away. " I left the Freedom Fighters, I left Suki — wait! I've got it now! Either I leave, or someone gets killed because of my stupid mistakes. That's just the way it's gonna be, huh? So I guess it's good that I left the team! Sokka was right, they're better off without me."

"Wait." the girl stops, but doesn't turn back. "Did you just say Sokka?"

"Yeah," Kida grumbles, stopping her tangent. She stares at the girl, head tilted in intrigue. "Why?"

The girl turns around slowly. "You wouldn't happen to be a firebender pretending to be an archer would you? Because Captain Boomerang can pretend to hate you all he wants, but I can tell he's lying."

"How?"

"Same way I know that your heart rate got faster when I asked about him." The girl smirks.

"Okay," Kida states slowly. "Who are you?"

»»---------------------►

"SO YOU RAN AWAY FROM HOME?" Kida asks. Toph nods, chewing on a piece of bread she had in her bag. She offered some to Kida earlier, which she took gratefully, but Kida has been so invested in Toph's story that she hasn't taken one bite. Kida sits cross legged next to Toph, both of them leaning back against a mini rock wall Toph bended in a clearing of the forest so they'd be comfortable. "But then you ran away from the reason you ran away from home because...of what, exactly?"