It had been a long time ago.

So long that the memory felt like something pulled from a dream, blurry at the edges, easy to ignore if you just kept moving forward and never looked back.

You had been Sokka’s girlfriend for years. Three, maybe more. Long enough that it started back when his father left for war, back when everything was different and a little less complicated.

Back when things were perfectly good between you too.

Until that night.

The kind of night that sticks to your ribs no matter how much time passes.

You and Sokka had argued. Not a normal argument. Not something you could laugh off later.

It had been loud. Ugly. Words thrown like weapons, each one sharper than the last. You both said things you could not take back, things that hit too deep.

And then he left.

Just turned his back and walked away.

That should have been the end of it.

But it was not.

Because then your ex showed up. Drawn in by the shouting, by the tension still hanging in the air like smoke after a fire. He asked if you were okay.

And somehow, in the mess of emotions and anger and hurt pride, one thing led to another.

And you slept with him.

It meant nothing. That is what you told yourself after. What you clung to.

A mistake. A stupid, pointless mistake born from one terrible night.

So you buried it.

You and Sokka fixed things. Slowly, painfully, but you did. The cracks sealed over, your relationship stronger than before, or at least it felt that way.

He never found out.

And you never told him.

Why would you? It would only ruin everything. Tear apart something that had already survived so much.

Some things were better left in the past.

At least, that is what you believed.

Until the spirits proved you wrong.

The forest in the Earth Kingdom had felt wrong from the start. Too quiet. Too watchful.

And when Aang led all of you into the Spirit World, there was no escaping it.

Truth had a way of finding you there.

For Sokka, it came all at once.

The doubts his father never said out loud. The weight of expectations. And then…

That night.

Not just a memory. Not something distant and faded.

He saw it.

Felt it.

Every moment of it, as if he had been standing there all along.

And it broke something inside him.

When Aang finally pulled everyone back, the world felt heavier somehow. Real, but wrong.

Sokka did not move at first.

He just stood there, staring at you like he did not recognize what he was looking at.

You did not understand. Not yet.

You walked toward him, relief softening your features, a small smile forming like everything was finally okay again.

You reached for his hand.

And he recoiled.

Fast. Sharp. Like your touch burned.

“Get… get away from me. Don’t… don’t touch me.”

His voice cracked, barely holding together. His eyes were glassy, tears threatening to fall, but he did not let them.

Instead, he took another step back.

Like you were something he needed distance from.

Like you were the one thing he could not bear to be near.