I went back and everyone looked at me. They didn't seem mad or anything they just looked at me and went back to talking. Ming waddled over to me and I picked her up.
⇢ ⇢ ⇢
It was night and they still weren't back yet, Sokka still didn't want to talk to me but that clearly didn't stop him from making jokes.
"It's late, do you think they're okay?" I asked.
"Don't worry," Toph said cleaning her ears. "They're probably on their way back right now. You're such a worry wart like your sister."
"Am not.." I replied and looked at her. "Look, I just think they should have been back by now."
"Miss your boyfriend?" She asked with a smirk and I blushed.
"He's not my boyfriend!" I hissed and sat down crossing my arms.
"That's not what your heart says, Lover girl." Toph chuckled.
"Not anymo- Oww!" Sokka rubbed his shoulder after I wacked him with the water.
"Look it doesn't matter what he is, we need them to beat the Firelord." I said and looked at the starry sky.
*･☪︎·̩͙
Today I went over to Sokka to talk to him but he continued to ignore me, he was even being a jerk by making me do extra things and being a pain in the butt by ruining things I did do.
"You know what, Sokka?!" I yelled after the last straw, then he nudged me making me drop the bubble of water over my head.
"What happened between Zuko and I, is the same thing that's happened between you and Mirai." I was done.
"Mirai, never tried to kill us!" He replied. "She was actually the opposite of that jerk!"
"That's not what I mean and you know that!" I snapped at him but softened up a little, this wasn't me feeling bad for him it was me feeling like I lost him.
"Out of everyone in this group, in our family. I thought you would be the one to understand."
I made the dragon of ice and rode it away tears stinging my eyes. I landed at Zuko's war balloon that he came in. Why am I so caught up in him!
I want to trust him, everytime I think that, my heart races. Fear takes over my body. I close my eyes but that only makes it worse, I get taken back to the crystal catacombs in Ba Sing Se. I sit down and stare up at the blue skies, afraid now to close my eyes until I calm down.
"Kaida." I heard and I quickly wipe my eyes. I didn't speak up but he sat next to me and I turned my head away. "I didn't know... I'm your older brother, I should have listened to you instead of snapping at you."
Yeah, you jerk.
"It's just...the last time I saw you, you wanted to come with us, I know you did but you also wanted to stay with that jerk. I wanted you to come with us too so when we heard you were in Ba Sing Se, I wanted to find you and have you come back."
"Sokka..."
"No, let me finish." He said and I looked at him. "When I saw what Zuko did to Aang, all I thought about was you getting hurt or worse."
I placed my hand on his shoulder. "We lost mom and I couldn't bare the thought of losing you. I mean you were there stopping Katara from scolding me and shooting all my idea's down. Oh no!"
He gasped and looked over at me. "I was acting the way Katara would have acted!"
"Yeah.." I said in a whisper.
"I'm sorry.." He looked over at me and I shrugged. "I'm listening so talk whenever you want."
"Weren't you scared?" I asked over my arms. He looked at me and I sighed looking away again, scared that I would start crying. "Mirai, is a firebender. We should hate them after what they did to mom.... after what they forced Yue and Yoshiro to do..
When I started having feelings for Zuko I felt like I was betraying mom and Katara.. I felt like I was betraying everyone I loved and I was afraid they would all hate me, so I was caught between the people I cared about."
"Did you really like, Zuko?" He asked and I looked at him.
"Y..yeah." I said hesitant. "Sokka, he has changed so much. He really cared about me and I cared about him, I didn't know how to feel..You, out of everyone, knows I would never trust just anyone."
"Kaida." He said the hint of regret in his voice.
"No.. Sokka, you're right and I'm stupid and weak." I told him before he hugged me and I felt safe, the bond we prevoiusly was coming back but this felt stronger.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you feel that way." He said. "Alright, What I say next is between us."
"Okay." I nodded.
"I felt the same way." He looked ahead. "I didn't want to fall for Mirai, because she's Fire Nation but then it just happened.
She had gone through all this messed up stuff and I couldn't take watching her get hurt and after what happend to Yue, I didn't want to lose Mirai. Unlike you and Zuko, she's a great girl and I think if she ever did what Zuko did, I would be just as hurt as you've been."
"Gee that's helpful." I rolled my eyes.
"Kaida, mom would tell you to follow your heart." Sokka said and I smiled lightly. "I think now you get how Katara felt about Jet."
I grumbled. "Yeah, It sucks. I really hated that guy." I sighed and rested my head back. "What should I do about, Zuko? I hate to admit but I still...like him."
"Make him wait." Sokka bluntly said. "He hurt you and if he wasn't a firebender I would beat him up for it but I don't want to get burned. You gotta make him work for it."
I smiled at him. "You could totally beat him up." I said and he smiled proudly.
"So could you." He smirked.
"I know." I mumbled and he nudged me playfully.
We both chuckled and talked a little while longer before deciding to head back.
⇢ ⇢ ⇢
Soon enough Zuko, Mirai, and Aang returned and I was relieved. They wanted to show us what they learned so we sat down and watched.
"With this technique the dragons showed us Zuko and I will be unstoppable." Aang said as he and Zuko did the dragon dance for everyone and we all clapped.
"Yeah that's a great dance you two learned there." Sokka teased.
"It's not a dance, it's a firebending form." Zuko replied.
"We'll just tap dance our way to victory over the Firelord." Sokka continued and Mira joined him.
"It's a sacred form that happends to be over a thousand years old!" Zuko shouted stopping in front of them.
"Oh yeah?" Katara asked. "What's your little form called?"
Zuko paused for a second. "The dancing dragon." He said and we laughed that made him twitch.
"I think it's great." I said to him and he smiled back. I then turned over to Mirai. "Did you learn the dance?"
"I didn't have too." The firebender smirked. "I'm a descendent of the Sun Warriors. I had another teacher, she wasn't known as the master but she was amazing and I learned about my family it was amazing."
"That's so cool." I said.
Since they should have been an extinct civilization I think we all got that we had to keep it a secret.
"These bimbos basically helped me by doing all the work.. I mean aside from a stupid mistake Prince oo shiny made." Mirai teased the Prince.
Zuko tried to explain the situation and why we shouldn't laugh but that only made us laugh more.
————————
Edited; 11/15/20
Re-Edited; 7/11/21