missing him was dark grey, all alone;
❛ moth to a flame ❜
❝ fuck you! ❞

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Leyha was exhausted the next morning when she got to the training hut. She barely slept the night before and she knew that the paint on her face looked horrible.

When she walked inside, she felt relieved that the other girls looked just as tired as her. They stayed out way too long the previous night and had to get up way too early for practice unless they wanted Yukari to murder them.

They were half-way done with warming up when the guy from the Water Tribe walked inside. All of them froze and looked at him expectantly.

"Uh..." He swallowed and awkwardly stared at them, "Hey, Suki."

"Hoping for another dance lesson?" Suki taunted him with a smirk.

He let out a shaky breath. "No... I... Well, let me explain."

"Spit it out." Suki rolled her eyes, growing impatient. "What do you want?"

The guy surprised everyone by getting down on his knees and bowing his head down so he could look at the ground. "I would be honored if you would teach me." He told her solemnly.

Suki crossed her arms over her chest and shared an unconvinced look with Leyha. Then, she raised an eyebrow at him. "Even if I'm a girl?"

"I'm sorry if I insulted you earlier." Sokka stated, looking at Leyha that time too. He genuinely sounded apologetic. "I was wrong."

"We normally don't teach outsiders, let alone boys." Suki snarled, her glare sharp. Leyha kind of felt sorry for the guy. Once somebody got on Suki's bad side it was hard to make her change her mind about them.

Leyha hesitated but then chimed in, "You made an exception for me. Why don't you do the same for him?"

She knew why the Warriors made an exception when it came to her. She wasn't just an outsider. She was the Protector who had to know all kinds of fighting in order to help stop the war.

The boy gave her a small thankful smile and looked back at Suki. "I won't let you down." He vowed.

Suki's shoulders fell and she relaxed. "All right." She gave in. "But you have to follow all of our traditions."

"Of course!" He perked up at her words, looking eager to do whatever he had to.

"And I mean all of them."

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"Do I really have to wear this? It feels a little... girly."

Leyha could not contain her laugh when she looked at Sokka's miserable face. He wore the uniform (he would fight them and say it's a "dress" rather than a uniform) and had their traditional war paint on his face.

"It's a warrior's uniform." Soki said with a small amused smile. "You should be proud. The silk threads symbolizes the brave blood that flows through our veins. The gold insignia represents the honor of the warrior's heart."

Sokka placed his hands on his hips. The scowl he wore moments prior was soon replaced by a proud smile. "Bravery and honor." He repeated while staring off into the distance.

"Hey, Sokka!" Aang said as he appeared in the doorway out of nowhere. He flashed his friend a teasing smile. "Nice dress!"

He ran off and Sokka's confident exterior melted away. He looked embarrassed.

"Who cares if it's a dress?" Leyha told him and handed him a golden fan. "It represents so much more than what's on the surface. What you wore while learning this won't matter once you're out there fighting for your life. The Fire Nation soldiers won't respect you any more if you're not wearing this. We're all equally irrelevant in their eyes. And people on the good side of this war who have at least half a brain don't care how you're fighting as long as you're saving lives. You shouldn't care either."

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"Our technique is about using your opponent's force against them. Loosen up. Think of the fan as an extension of your arm." Suki instructed him a couple of minutes later while Leyha watched from the sidelines and waited to give her input.

Sokka was a fine warrior, that much was obvious. But he didn't think. He lacked precision and had to be more level headed than reckless. He relied too much on his strength.

Sokka put his arm in front of him when Suki got ready to attack him.

"Wait for an opening and then──"

The boy pushed Suki away the second she got ready to attack. She landed on her ass and stared up at him. Both girls were shocked by his reflexes and by how fast he learned.

Suki glared at him as she got up. She grew even more annoyed when she saw how proud he was. "I fell on purpose to make you feel better!" She exclaimed.

"I got you!" Sokka shot back with a wide smile. He turned to Leyha and pointed at Suki. "Admit it, I got her."

Suki huffed and twisted the finger which he pointed at her, causing Leyha to laugh and him to cry out in pain. "Okay, it was a lucky shot." She rolled her eyes. "Let's see if you can do it again."

Suki pulled her fan out and got into a fighting position. Sokka mirrored her actions and Leyha watched them with narrowed eyes. A moment later, Sokka was the one with his ass on the floor.

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Leyha switched with Suki to help train Sokka so she could rest. By the time the afternoon rolled around, he was genuinely getting good.

"Good." Leyha nodded at him with a small smile.

"Than──"

He was cut off by Suki's mother rushing into the training hut. She gave the three of them a wide-eyed look and exclaimed, "Firebenders have landed on our shores! Girls, come quickly!"

Leyha's blood ran cold. Usually, she dealt with firebenders just fine but there was nowhere to run on Kyoshi Island. She grabbed her bow and arrow which were laying on a bench and rushed outside to follow the older woman and Suki and Sokka were hot on her heels.

"Come out, Avatar! You can't hide from me forever!" They heard a firebender say as they hid behind one of the houses. "Find him." He ordered sharply and other firebenders scattered across the village.

Leyha's jaw clenched and she was ready to go out there and fight whoever was after Aang, when Tenzin ran up to them and wrapped a hand around her wrist to keep her from moving.

"That's Zuko." He whispered harshly. Leyha's eyes widened. No.

She has spent years running away from the Fire Nation. The royal army hunted her and Tenzin for ages. But she never thought that she would come face to face with Zuko again.

His father must have sent him to look for the Avatar. That must have been it. His beloved heir to the throne was sent to kill the only hope at peace that their world had. But that hope was also a child. How could he want to kill a child?

There was no way of imagining what they would do to Leyha once they brought them back to the Fire Nation. Tenzin would most likely be killed due to treason despite the fact that he was Ozai's son. Leyha was sure of that because Ozai loved no one. He attempted to act like a father to her plenty of eyes but he could not even fake it enough to convince her naive and young mind.

She imagined that they would lock her up and hold her in a cell until they had more use for her. Or, maybe, they would just kill her.

Sokka looked between them curiously. "You know Zuko?"

Leyha sighed and brushed some of the sweaty hair away from her face. "Unfortunately, yeah." She looked back at Tenzin. "He won't recognise me because of the face paint but you need to hide."

"Okay." Tenzin nodded and let go of her. "I'll go and hide in the woods. Don't die. Shout if you need any help."

He left without another word and his blunt instructions made her scoff. She took out one of the arrows and placed it next to her bow. She brushed past Sokka and Suki and aimed one of the arrows at a firebender through the narrow space between two houses. She shot him in the chest and he fell on the ground. Then, Suki ran toward the rest and knocked one of them out with her sharp fan.

Sokka and Leyha followed her and the former fought off soldiers with his fans while the latter shot them with her arrows. Suki ran straight for the man standing alone at the bottom of the street. The animal that he was in kicked her to the ground and he formed a flame in his hand. Just as he launched it at Suki, Leyha jumped in front of the flame.

She didn't shoot it back at the firebender. Instead, she held the flame in the palm of her hand and glared up at the guy. Leyha gasped and the fire disappeared from her hand at the face staring back at her.

Zuko.

He looked so different from the boy who betrayed her and who she abandoned. His face was now marked by a red scar on the right side of his face. He held so much hatred and distress on his face for somebody so young. Her breath hitched at the sight of the scar and she almost felt sorry for him.

Then, she remembered the way he stabbed her in the back the same night when she was going to confess her feelings for him.

She did not have the time to notice the recognition in his eyes because another Kyoshi Warrior knocked him off of the animal. He fell on the ground and Sokka, Suki, Leyha and another girl circled him. He knocked Suki and the other girl out.

Sokka jumped away from the flame which was aimed at his feet, yelping in the process. He ended up getting burned and fell onto the ground while groaning in pain. Leyha aimed fireballs at Zuko and grew angry when he continued to dodge them.

"Fuck you!" Leyha growled, years of pent-up anger and resentment finally pouring out of her as she used her fire to throw him against the ground.

Zuko stared up at her with wide eyes, unable to move from shock. What the fuck was she doing protecting the Avatar dressed like a Kyoshi Warrior?

She pulled an arrow out and was ready to finish him off, but he ended up using his fire to knock her bow and arrow out of her hold.

"What the──" Leyha was cut off by Zuko wrapping his arms around her wrist and pinning them behind her back. She gasped at the sudden loss of control and then growled in anger. "Let me go!"

"Shut up." He hissed in her ear as she trashed against his hold. Then, he called out. "Come on, Avatar! Don't make me hurt your little Protector."

"Hey!" Aang yelled a few feet away from them. Leyha's eyes widened. "Over here!"

"Finally." Zuko breathed out, a self-satisfied smirk appearing on his face. He all but threw Leyha on the ground and started shooting fire at Aang who used his glider to fly into the sky and avoid getting hurt. He landed directly in front of Zuko and Leyha rose to the ground to attack Zuko and distract him from hurting Aang.

While Zuko was dodging Leyha's attacks, Aang picked up two fans and aimed them at Zuko from behind him. Zuko yelled out in surprise and fell back into the wooden house behind him, creating a hole in it in the process.

Leyha gave Aang a nod to let him know that she was fine so he grabbed his glider and flew to the other side of the village. The Protector ran to where Sokka was lying on the ground. His eyes were squeezed shut from the pain.

"Sokka, get up." She hissed.

He shook his head and moaned in pain, refusing to even open his eyes. She slapped him across the face and his eyes flew open.

"What was that?!" Sokka yelled out in shock.

"Get up." Leyha repeated and pulled him to his feet. She dragged him behind the house so they could hide before Zuko saw them. Suki appeared from one of the houses which she was knocked into earlier and hid with them.

"Where are you going?" Suki asked her with furrowed eyebrows.

"We have to go." Leyha told her sadly. "I have to get my backpack and then we have to get Tenzin in the forest."

Suki's face fell. "So, there's no time for a goodbye?"

Leyha sighed and pulled her into a tight hug. Suki hugged her back but was quick to pull away. "Get out of here. We'll hold them off."

She gave her a curt nod and then grabbed Sokka's wrist. The two started running toward the place where the Kyoshi Warriors slept. She ran into her and Suki's room and grabbed her backpack and the journal underneath her pillow. The two ran back outside and toward Appa.

Leyha was surprised to see that Tenzin was already there with Aang and Katara.

"What are you doing here?" Leyha asked him while Sokka gave her a hand to help her onto the flying bison.

"I didn't get to the woods." Tenzin told her and sat down. "I was helping Katara."

Leyha nodded and settled onto the bison next to Katara and Sokka, panting tiredly.

"Appa, yip , yip!" Aang yelled and the five of them flew into the air.

Leyha let out a shaky breath at the sight she saw underneath her from the sky. The village was all but burned to the ground and the Kyoshi Warriors were fighting the firebenders while trying to protect the villagers.

"I know it's hard, but you did the right thing." Katara told the Avatar gently. "Zuko would have destroyed the whole place if we stayed. They're gonna be okay, Aang."

"How long has Zuko been chasing after you?" Leyha asked them. She was not sure if she even wanted to hear the answer.

"Since Katara and I found him." Sokka sighed tiredly. He stared at the sky for a moment before speaking up again. "I'm sorry for being an asshole to you and the other girls. I treated you like a girl when I should have treated you like a warrior. You deserve more respect than I've given you."

"I can be both." Leyha told him with a small sigh. "We don't have to choose which one to be. No matter how bad this war gets."

Sokka nodded with a sheepish smile.

"Aang, what are you doing?" Katara exclaimed when Aang got to his feet.

He ignored her and jumped off of Appa and into the ocean beneath them. Leyha's mouth dropped open and she watched him disappear from view in shock.

A moment later, Aang got out of the water but on unagi's back. The four of them gasped when the sea snake started pouring water onto the village, successfully making the fire go out.

When there was no more fire visible, Aang jumped from unagi's back and back onto Appa's.

"I know, I know." Aang rolled his eyes when he sat down. "That was stupid and dangerous."

"Yeah, it was." Katara nodded and surprised him by wrapping her arms around him in a hug.

Leyha chuckled and leaned back. She looked at Kyoshi Island over her shoulder and prayed to the spirits that nothing would happen to the warriors while she was away. Then, she prayed that Zuko would give up on following Aang so she wouldn't have to face him ever again.

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a/n: Suki, Sokka and Leyha are in a poly relationship in another universe