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atlabeth · 3 years

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everything happens for a reason part 5 - zuko x fem!reader

I can go anywhere I want, I can go anywhere just not home

part 4 | masterlist | part 6

a/n: this was hard to get going but once i got to the end the words just flowed. ive come to the conclusion that writing dialogue with katara is my favorite thing to do

warning(s): nightmare at the beginning, survivor's guilt from y/n, some internalized homophobia :-( but aside from that its mostly fluff

wc: 3.6k

chapter title comes from my tears ricochet by taylor swift!

She was trapped.

It was a prison of never ending hallways in some kind of infinite void, complete with the rank stench of death and an innate feeling of hopelessness.

Y/N knew this place. It had been the subject of her nightmares on countless occasions, because it was where she was supposed to be. She had no choice but to start down the pathway of cracked stone — she knew what awaited her, but it was the only way out. She had developed some sick sense of awareness in this nightmare and it didn’t do her any favors.

She began to walk hastily down the path, the itch of paranoia already plaguing the back of her mind. Countless times she had been here, and yet it never got better.

Before Y/N knew it, she had reached her unwanted destination. The first tangible thing in what felt like miles was a prison cell, and she pushed forward despite knowing what awaited her. It was the only way.

“It wasn’t the only way.”

She froze, inhaling sharply as the dreamscape seemed to pull her thoughts out of her mind, and she forced herself to take another step closer, the inhabitant of the cell now visible.

“You did this to me.”

It was her mother, but… not quite her. Her voice strained and stiff, a gaunt appearance with cruel eyes, hunched over in a prison cell. Any sign of the woman Y/N knew her as was gone, and it was her fault. She was the reason Kura was gone — a mother’s ultimate sacrifice because her daughter was too stuck in her head.

“How could you do this to me?” she asked. “How could you be so selfish?”

Y/N tried to respond, but she couldn’t. It was no use anyway — her words would’ve come out in broken, pleading rambles to someone who couldn’t hear a thing. She knew it was fake, she knew this was a nightmare, but it still hurt all the same.

She had imagined her mother saying those words to her so many times they had found their way into her nightmares despite knowing that Kura would never utter a single syllable true to her fears. She had all but killed her mother, and instead of remembering her for what she had done for Y/N, she appeared in her nightmares.

She was a horrible daughter.

She heard footsteps and whirled around, instinctively taking a step back and wincing as her back slammed into the bars. A tall, dark figure creeped towards her and her breath caught in her throat — as it came into the light, she recognized him as the Fire Lord.

He chuckled coldly as he neared ever closer, the path he walked turning to flames behind him. Her eyes darted around for an escape only to find that everything was on fire. It was suffocating, she couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t think, and when she turned to look for her mother she was gone. Everything was gone, her dark void now a prison of flames.

She turned around once more and Ozai was right in front of her, the fire in his hands glowing red hot and a cruel smile on his lips.

“Did you really think you could get away that easily?”

She shot up in her bed, a scream on the edge of her lips but just barely managing to hold it back. Ragged breaths were ripped from her chest, her eyes shooting around wildly as she attempted to find anything at all to ground her. It took a few minutes, but with repeated mantras of it was just a dream and you are safe, she was able to calm down.

She pulled her knees to her chest and exhaled long and deep before pulling herself out of bed. It seemed that her day was going to be starting much earlier than planned.

Four years had passed since her arrival at the Northern Water Tribe, but the nightmares never ceased. It didn’t matter how many times she told herself she had done the right thing, that it was what her mother wanted, that if she stayed she would’ve died — she was constantly haunted by her past actions and memories of the Fire Nation.

She hasn’t taken off the necklace since her mother gave it to her, no matter what she does. It’s almost become a part of her now — a memory of Kura and her selflessness that knew no bounds, as well as a grim reminder of what it cost to get her here.

The Northern Water Tribe itself held countless memories of her mother — after all, it was where she had spent the first eighteen years of her life. Her name was well known throughout the tribe with nobles and elders alike, and it amazed Y/N to no end the impact that her mother left everywhere she went. She loved hearing stories about her mother and what she was like as a child, but it was always bittersweet.

She always carried an inherent sense of guilt with her because of who she lived with — her mother hadn’t been lying when she said that the necklace would get them to help her. Kura’s parents still lived in the tribe, and they had taken Y/N in after she revealed who she was. They loved her unconditionally and never made her feel like a burden, but Y/N would be lying to herself if she didn’t think they blamed her for the fate that befell her mother.

After all, she did.

She had never told anyone the full story of why she ran though. It was one thing to leave her mother behind for certain death because of the Fire Lord’s rage, it was another thing to admit that it was wholly her fault because she had fallen for a prince.

Zuko.

Not a day went by where she didn’t think of him. She still held the hope that she would see him again someday, but in lieu of travel she turned to letters.

Y/N had a shelf full of unmailed letters addressed to both Zuko and her mother — it was a way to get out her emotions whenever she was feeling particularly homesick or hopeless, and it did help at first, but after four years it had become something born out of habit rather than necessity.

She still wrote them though — Y/N had learned to hold onto any form of hope she could muster up, no matter how small, and in this moment she needed some.

She opened her shelf and rifled through piles upon piles of letters, some finished, some hardly started, and some crumpled from fits of rage, and her breath caught in her throat when her fingers brushed something different. Y/N pulled the material out and nearly started crying right then and there.

It was an unbelievably simple patch of fabric, but it meant the world to her — something that she had bought during her last night with Zuko, and one of the only pieces of material to have survived her journey to the Northern Water Tribe. She was forced to sell the rest of the fabric she had brought with her in order to make some easy money while on the run, but she had kept this as a memento. She could almost be brought back to the final sunset they shared if she looked at it for long enough.

Y/N bit down hard on her lip to stop the tears and shoved it back into the drawer before closing it and leaving her room in a haste. Sometimes she wasn’t strong enough to handle the memories.

She made her way to the living room and let out a sigh of relief when she noticed the silence. Y/N had never told her grandparents about the nightmares, and right now she just needed some time to herself. Never before was she so thankful for her grandmother’s gossiping nature and her grandfather’s work than she was in the mornings where she just wanted to be alone.

She sat down on the floor, not even bothering to get a cushion, and stared at her hands. Once smooth and untouched by the world, they were now rough and calloused with wrapped bandages resting just below her wrist. Permanent memories of what it took to get here. The ever present reminder that nothing came without a cost.

This morning seemed to be one full of yearning for the past. Y/N tried to shake her feelings off and got up once more, contemplating some steamed sea prunes before deeming it fruitless. Her appetite was lacking after her trip down memory lane.

She walked back to her room and got dressed hastily then ran out the door, but not before plucking a gift from her shelf. Today marked the birthday of a certain princess, and Y/N had to go fast if she was going to get it to her before class.

She was immediately hit by the frigid air of the North, pulling her anorak tighter around her frame as she began to run to the canals — one could always find Princess Yue there in the mornings — doing her best to avoid anyone else walking.

Y/N saw Yue just about to board one of the boats and sped up, waving one of her arms as a signal. “Yue, wait!”

She turned and her face immediately brightened up at the sight of Y/N, raising her open palm so the boatman would hold up. “Y/N! Would you like to join me?”

She raised her eyebrows. “Really?”

Yue’s nod prompted a shrug as she dropped down carefully into the gondola, taking extra care not to drop her gift, and took a seat next to her friend.

“This is a nice surprise,” Yue smiled as the boatman began to waterbend, effectively moving their gondola through the canal. “But if I might ask, what brought you here so early?”

Y/N laughed, thinking her reason for coming here obvious. “It’s your birthday, princess! What kind of friend would I be if I didn’t come to wish you well in person?”

Her smile grew even brighter, the corners of her eyes creasing up in the way that made some kind of warmth blossom in Y/N’s chest. “Thank you! That’s so sweet — I’m especially honored that you woke up early just for me.”

“Of course.” Y/N brandished the gift she had been doing her best to hide, unable to do the same for her own smile. “And here’s your gift! I sewed it all myself.”

Yue gasped as she took the creation, giving it a slight squeeze and a thorough investigation before absolutely beaming. “You made me an otter penguin— oh, you know how much I love these!”

She wrapped Y/N in a tight hug before pulling away, but it was just long enough for the heat to rush to her cheeks. “Thank you so much, really. You don’t know how much this means to me.”

Y/N beamed at the praise and nodded, shifting a little in her seat. “Oh, it’s nothing. I’m glad you like it so much.”

The two girls grinned at each other then turned their gaze to the horizon, content to spend the rest of the ride together in comfortable silence.

Her friendship with the princess of the Northern Water Tribe was something that Y/N cherished with all her heart. She could confidently say that Princess Yue was her best friend, and she hoped it was a notion that Yue shared. As beautiful as she was kind, the princess always had a way of making her feel better on the hardest days — Yue was the only one who knew the whole truth of what happened in the Fire Nation, and she offered nothing but sympathy.

Y/N honestly didn’t know what she would do without Yue. She had been her rock during the whole process of getting situated in the tribe, always lending a helping hand when she stumbled in class or was completely oblivious to something in their culture, and she never made her feel stupid, or unwanted, or less-than for what she had come from.

The only thing that confused her about Yue was the feeling she got whenever Y/N was around her. The rushes of heat to her cheeks, the warmth blossoming in her chest, and the unusual happiness she felt anytime Yue smiled at her. The most peculiar of it all was the strange tug of jealousy any time a noble boy tried to flirt with the princess, and nothing but disinterest whenever they tried an angle on her instead.

She didn’t know what any of it meant, but she had the sneaking suspicion that it was wrong. So Y/N did the only thing she could and suppressed it.

Soon enough, though much to their chagrin, Y/N had to leave. After some exchanged hugs and one last wish of happy birthday, Y/N took off for her morning healing class. But as she hurried down the icy paths, she caught sight of the most peculiar thing.

A giant flying bison was being led through the canals with a team of waterbenders, three kids that couldn’t be any older than her on its back. One had an arrow on his head and sported orange and yellow robes, while the other two looked to be of Water Tribe descent.

Her interest was irrefutably piqued, but she didn’t have any more time to waste with gawking. So she began to run once again, apologies spilling from her lips as she maneuvered through the groups of people all just as awestruck by the strange arrival as she was. Y/N made a mental note to ask Yue about it later, but for now she was running very late to her healing class.

Sure enough, a few hours later, Y/N was able to get the answers she had been craving. She met up with Yue outside of the palace, and during a short walk, she learned that the boy was the Avatar. He had come to the Northern Water Tribe to master waterbending, and the two kids with him were his companions from the Southern Tribe — much to her excitement, the girl was a waterbender.

Needless to say, Y/N was even more enthusiastic than before, and Yue made her day by confirming that they would be coming to her birthday celebration that night as honored guests. She had already talked to her father about allowing Y/N to sit with her and he had said yes, which meant that she would get to meet him and his friends in person — it just served as a reminder that Y/N had no idea what she would do without Yue.

After what felt like hours of passing the time with lost games of Pai Sho against her grandfather and failed attempts at finishing her homework, it was finally time for the banquet. Once she arrived at the front of the palace she bid goodbye to her grandparents and went to find the seat that Yue had secured for her.

She settled down in the empty spot next to what she assumed was Yue’s — it was her birthday after all, so a dramatic entrance wasn’t out of the question — and nervously glanced at the three visitors, trying to figure out how to introduce herself.

Thankfully, she was saved when the girl met her eyes and waved, offering a friendly smile. “Hi! I’m Katara; this is my brother Sokka, and that’s Aang.” She gestured in their direction with her head when she said their names and they both smiled and gave her polite nods.

She returned the sentiment gratefully. “I’m Y/N— I’m one of Princess Yue’s friends. Welcome to the Northern Water Tribe!”

“Thanks!” Aang said. “We’re here to find a master so Katara and I can master waterbending.”

“Well, you’re in luck. Master Pakku is one of the best there is, and even though he’s a total jerk, he’ll be able to teach you everything you need to know. And Katara, we have some amazing healing teachers— I can bring you along to my class tomorrow if you’re interested!”

Katara’s eyes lit up. “You’re a waterbender too?” When Y/N nodded, her smile grew even bigger, though slightly wistful.

“I’d really appreciate that,” she admitted, though her brows knit together. “But I’d like to learn from Master Pakku as well.”

Y/N frowned, about to correct her, when the distinct sound of drums began to echo throughout the hall. Her displeasure immediately disappeared as she grinned at them all excitedly, gesturing with her head towards the action.

Chief Arnook stood up from his spot and their table, his low voice booming. “Tonight, we celebrate the arrival of our brother and sister from the Southern Tribe. And they have brought with them someone very special, someone whom many of us believed disappeared from the world until now… the Avatar!”

Y/N’s own applause joined a symphony of others clapping and cheering as Aang waved bashfully, and once it died down, Arnook continued. “We also celebrate my daughter’s sixteenth birthday. Princess Yue is now of marrying age!”

She grinned as Yue walked out alongside her attendants — she would never get used to her beauty. Y/N noticed the way that Sokka’s eyes widened as he stared at her, and her stomach twisted at the act for some unknown reason.

“Thank you, Father,” she said. “May the great Ocean and Moon Spirits watch over us during these troubled times!”

Arnook smiled at his daughter and directed his attention back to his people. “Now, Master Pakku and his students will perform!”

She could tell that Katara and Aang were enraptured by the bending, while Sokka’s attention was already on Yue as she walked over to sit between Sokka and Y/N.

“I’m so glad you could make it!” Yue exclaimed, greeting her friend with a short embrace.

Y/N gave her a sideways smile. “If you think that I would miss your birthday and a banquet, then I’m afraid you’re out of practice on Y/N trivia.”

The princess laughed and nodded amiably then turned her attention to Sokka, ever the diplomat.

“Hi there,” he grinned. “Sokka, Southern Water Tribe.”

Yue returned the sentiment and gave him a slight bow. “Very nice to meet you.”

As their conversation went on, Y/N found herself tuning out a bit. For whatever reason, she had to actively stop herself from rolling her eyes at Sokka’s flirting, that same feeling in her stomach coming back. She made a mental note to see a healer about her issues.

“Hey, Y/N!” She snapped out of her self-imposed trance at the sound of Katara calling her name as she gestured for her to come over. It looked like Aang had gotten up to converse with Master Pakku and Chief Arnook, so she took the invitation and switched seats.

“I can’t tell you how nice it is to finally be here,” Katara said once Y/N had settled next to her. “Back home, I’m the only waterbender. Here… it’s like paradise. It almost feels too good to be true. I mean, even seeing you is crazy — I’ve never met a waterbender my age.”

Y/N smiled, though not without a hint of sadness. “I’m sorry that it’s taken so long for you to be able to experience this. How are you the only bender left down there?”

Katara was silent for a moment, a flurry of emotions warring on her face, before she answered. “The Southern Tribe hasn’t fared half as well as the Northern Tribe during the war. We don’t have one big, huge capital like this, we’re all split up into small villages. The Fire Nation has just been relentless with their raids, and without support from the North and a lack of communication between our sister tribes in the South, they were able to wipe us all out. Except for me.”

“Spirits, Katara…” Y/N set an amiable hand on her shoulder and squeezed, hoping that her softened expression could say what her words couldn’t. “My village was invaded when I was young, too. I’m so sorry that you had to go through that.”

She nodded pensively but managed to meet her eyes with an appreciative smile. “Thank you. I’m sorry about your village as well.” Her gaze drifted off, once again taking in the view around them, and when Katara met her eyes again she seemed better. “But we’re here now, and I’m planning to take advantage of everything I can, starting with all this food. Which one of these is your favorite?”

Y/N grinned as Katara pointed at the platter of various dishes in front of them. “Oh, you’ve got to try this. See that giant crab up there? That’s what this is, and you have not lived until you have tried Northern crab.”

Conversation flowed just as easily through the rest of the night between the two girls, occasionally switching to include Sokka and Yue and eventually Aang once he returned. Between the swells of pride whenever they laughed at her jokes, getting to learn about all three of them, and the almost palpable euphoria in the air, Y/N was sure of one thing:

This was the happiest she had felt in a long time. She could only hope it would last.

perm tag list: @dv0412 @siriuslyslyslytherin @maruchan77

ehfar: @chandies-sideblog @persica27 @anzanity @randomthingssss @escapingthoughtsandsecrets @shanksfav @shephard17895

atla: @marianne1806

#zuko x reader #zuko x you #zuko x y/n #zuko fic #zuko x reader fic #zuko #avatar #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla fic #avatar fic #reader insert #avatar x reader #sadie writes #ehfar #y/n is having bi panic when she doesn't even know wtf the fuck bi is #she can't help it that her friend is the prettiest girl in the world

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azucanela · 4 years

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OMG I AM OBSESSED WITH YOUR WRITING YOU ARE DEFINITELY ONE OF THE BEST WRITERS ON TUMBLR NO CAP!!! i love ur zuko fics, and i wanted to request some sokka x reader!!! i want u to have complete creative freedom but i love how you write slowburn omg so some enemies to friends to lovers sokka content would be insaneeee! maybe reader is fire nation (zuko’s cousin/iroh’s daughter??) but joins the gaang after crossroads or something?

AFTER | SOKKA X READER

SUMMARY: Sokka didn’t expect the girl who held a knife to his neck to be the same girl he’d fall for. Y/N didn’t really expect to fall either.

WORD COUNT: 10k

WARNINGS: injuries, implications of death, kisses, bloodbending, threats of bodily harm, death threats

A/N: time to give sokka the attention and hype he is OWED, also im SO SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONGGG but this is quite possibly my favorite Y/N. writing for sokka is hard tho. im not sure how much i like this tbh but its really long omg. also thank you!!!! i feel honored to be considered the best :D you are too kind

When she was younger, Y/N joined Azula’s little troupe of girls. Though she wasn’t some loyal little soldier for her to order around, no, Y/N never feared Azula. Nor did she follow her blindly. No, it had always been a struggle for power between the two. Even when her father was booted from the throne as the rightful heir.

Losing her brother made her wonder if giving up like her father had in Ba Sing Se was the easy way out. Perhaps thats why she promised herself she would never give up. Maybe thats why she challenged Azula to... an unofficial duel when she’d heard her comment. Challenged her and won.

The new Fire Lord’s pride and joy had lost against his niece, a shame.

Y/N hadn’t thought much of it, but it probably would’ve explained why Fire Lord Ozai was rather pleased when Y/N had came to him and explained her intents to go alongside her father and cousin in banishment. She was, no matter how unlikely, another potential heir to the throne. And unlike Zuko, an actual threat. Sending her on a journey to find someone who’d been missing for a century was the best way to get rid of her.

If Y/N was honest, she viewed the banishment as more of a vacation. All her life, she had to deal with banquets, politics, war tactics, all at such a young age. It was tiring, and dull, spending day and night in the palace doing such things. Now, she had the opportunity to travel the world, though her grumpy cousin was rushing them throughout each spot, it was still nice. Zuko certainly didn’t think so, given that they hadn’t found the Avatar yet, not that Y/N believed they ever would but, it is what it is.

A sigh escaped her as she sat, on leg propped up against the other on the deck of the ship, they had arrived in the Southern Water Tribe after seeing an odd light in the distance. Maybe it was cruel, but Y/N sincerely hoped they didn’t find the Avatar. She didn’t want her vacation to end, she didn’t want to return to the politics, and she didn’t want to deal with one of the most powerful people on the planet. Aside from her own desires, Y/N couldn’t help but disapprove of Zuko’s need to please his father, the man who’d hurt him beyond forgiveness.

She sincerely doubted her father approved either. Though their relationship had been strained for some time now. Y/N didn’t hate her father, she doubted that was possible, he was a kind man and a good father. Things between them simply felt... off. She liked to think she’d gotten over it, the initial jealously she felt when she discovered her father intended to join Zuko on his hunt for the Avatar.

When she’d found out from Fire Lord Ozai.

Sometimes she wondered if her father even intended to say goodbye. But she wasn’t a fool, Y/N knew he had recently lost a son, they were both hurting and Zuko needed someone who wasn’t going to hurt him if he did something wrong. Though, Y/N saw him try to save the lives of the soldiers of the so-called great Fire Nation, not do something wrong. Regardless, Zuko needed a father figure, yes. But Y/N needed a father as she grappled with the death of her brother.

Maybe she was just a little bitter about it.

“Are you coming?” Zuko asked, his words coming out harshly.

Raising a brow, Y/N shook her head, “no. Don’t get too violent, though.” She warned, looking at him pointedly, “they’re a small tribe that’s going extinct.”

Zuko rolled his eyes as he exclaimed, “that’s not my fault!”

Sitting up to face him, Y/N smacked him upside the head as she walked past him, “considering the royal family, which you are a part of need I remind you, ordered the genocide of every single Waterbender they had...” She paused, cracking her knuckles before turning to look back at Zuko, “I would say you that everyone here probably blames you for it by assosiation.” Y/N reasoned. She had never liked the history that her ancestors had, much less approved.

Taken aback, Zuko exclaimed, “you’re a part of the royal family too!” Y/N was well aware of the circumstances surrounding his banishment, he’d tried to save lives, but war was the only thing that mattered to the Fire Nation it appeared.

His attempt at defense simply earned him a shrug, “perhaps.” Y/N didn’t consider herself a member of the royal family, and she doubted her father did either. And no matter what Zuko thought, though he was royal by blood, his banishment severed his ties to the throne permanently.

Unless they happened to find the Avatar, though that wasn’t very likely, Y/N decided she would rethinking her life choices should the Avatar be here of all places, as she rested her forearms on the side of the ship and watched Zuko march down his soldiers.

She wasn’t going to tell him that the Southern Water Tribe didn’t have a military, much less benders. As previously mentioned, the genocide destroyed the benders, and the most of the soldiers in the village had headed off to fight in the war against the Fire Nation. Though her brow did raise as she watched him yank an old lady from the small crowd of people, Y/N straightened her back, preparing to get involved.

Of course, a young warrior ended up running at her cousin, war paint and all as he attempted to attack. Key word being attempted. Watching him fall face first into the snow, Y/N realized he wasn’t a warrior, but a boy. The Avatar also happened to be a boy. A very, very young boy. Not a century year old Airbender.

Y/N supposed it was time to start rethinking her life.

Sokka didn’t know what he was supposed to do as he helped Princess Yue onto the Sky Bison. They needed to find Aang’s physical body, quickly, otherwise he wouldn’t be returning to the real world, and they happened to be fresh out of Avatars up until recently so that wasn’t really an option. Not when they needed the balance of the world to be restored immediately.

Sighing, Sokka moved to get onto the Sky Bison, only to be yanked backwards, stumbling before having a knife pressed to his neck. “What the hell!” He exclaimed in shock, garnering the attention of the others that were already on Appa. Katara’s mouth gaping open at the sight of him as Princess Yue cried out in shock.

The knife against his neck is certainly uncomfortable, and he realizes that he probably should’ve stuck around Kyoshi Island long enough to learn how to get out a situation like this. “I’m coming with you. Someone has to make sure Zuko doesn’t do anything else dumb.” Comes a voice from behind him, and Sokka’s brows furrowed in confusion, who was this? And why were they trying to kill him? More importantly, how did they know Prince Zuko, the guy who had been chasing them since Aang had come out of that iceberg. Questions ran rampant through his mind, and he nearly forgot that his life was being threatened.

That was a luxury he couldn’t afford at the moment.

Though he couldn’t see the person behind him, he could see Katara grimace at her demand, anyone associated with Prince Zuko likely had a similar end goal, to capture the Avatar. This wasn’t something they could allow, and Sokka recognized this as Katara asked, “why should we trust you?” Katara’s eyes soon met Sokka’s and he knew that no matter what he said, she would give into the girl’s demands for his safety. Sokka mentally scolded himself for failing to prevent this situation.

The girl behind him scoffed, “unlike my dear cousin,” Sokka couldn’t help the shock that flooded him, cousin? As in Zuko is this girl’s cousin? Or did she mean someone else? He was kidding himself, there was no one else it could be. “I like banishment, it’s like a fun little vacation. I could care less about the Avatar.” The knife draws in closer to Sokka’s neck, nearly drawing blood, likely expressing the fact that she could care less if Katara believed her. Though Sokka doubted she didn’t care about the Avatar, he was one of the most important people in the world.

But Sokka would likely die if she didn’t agree, or at least end up fatally injured. No matter how far Katara had come with her Waterbending, she hadn’t perfected it yet, and healing was only so effective. Sokka sincerely doubted she could beat the speed of this girl and her weapon considering the fact that she’d gotten the jump on them the first time around. Death wasn’t something he wanted, but anyone who knew Zuko couldn’t be trusted, much less someone who shared his blood. If he turned out... like that, Sokka didn’t want to imagine how this stranger ended up.

“Don’t try anything.” Katara warned, eyeing the girl wearily. Though it was an empty threat for the most part, in the air, there was little Katara could do against a foe. Though three, well two if you exclude the princess, against one seemed like favorable odds, this girl seemed talented in combat, even without bending.

She released Sokka, and he turned to see her beaming up at Katara, “happy to be doing business with ya.” Turning to Sokka, she looked him up and down, sizing him up before speaking, “be a gentleman and help me up?” Yeah, she was crazy. The pretty ones are always crazy. That, and she was Zuko’s cousin, it made sense. Though Sokka was fairly sure that she was joking, you could never be too sure.

“Who even are you?!” He exclaimed, exasperated and preparing to whip out his boomerang as he glared at her. He didn’t recognize her, but she’d likely been traveling with Zuko for quite some time now if they were related.

She just shrugged, “you can call me Y/N.” She got onto Appa with ease, Katara on guard a she eyed her, eyes piercing into her soul, Y/N raised a brow upon noticing this, “calm down. I wouldn’t have killed him.”

Katara inhaled deeply, trying to maintain patience as Sokka got into the saddle, “yip, yip.”

Y/N wasn’t really shocked when it turned out Azula was after them. Of course good old Uncle Ozai sent his most valuable asset to bring them back. Though some good at come of it, Zuko cut his ponytail, something Y/N had taken pleasure in bullying him over. Now they were on the run, in the very city that her father had tried to run to the ground all those years ago.

Irony at its finest.

Tugging at the sleeves of her Earth Kingdom garments, Y/N sighed, walking through the streets of the city. She didn’t know where she was if she was honest, and standing in the beautiful plaza, Y/N wondered if maybe, it would be better if she never returned back to that horrid apartment. Her father was starting over, getting them all jobs at a tea shop, even Zuko had tried to move on, going out on a date with a girl.

The Earth Kingdom was an odd place, but here, no one knew who she was. It wouldn’t be difficult to restart, alone. Without the expectations she’d been raised with. Fists balling up, Y/N exhaled slowly, turning a corner. There wasn’t graffiti in this part of the city, she realized, staring at the walls. Though there was an odd poster, squinting at it, she moved closer. It was a poorly drawn image of-

A Sky Bison. The same one she’d ridden on back during the Siege of the North, not that any others existed, the Sky Bison were a dying breed. Which could only mean one thing, the Avatar was in Ba Sing Se.

"Have you seen him?” She heard from behind her. Y/N recognized the voice, it belonged to the boy she’d held at knife point, “the drawing isn’t my best but-”

Turning around she spoke rapidly, “don’t freak out.” This was a problem.

Y/N liked to think she was the least threatening of the Royal Family, aside from her father that is. Though they could both be lethal in their own ways, neither demonstrated the true extents of their power unless it was truly necessary. Maybe that’s why Y/N hoped that the boy, Sokka, she believed his name was, wouldn’t freak out.

Of course, he did. Dropping the posters in his hand, he opened his mouth, likely to scream, only for Y/N to practically tackle him. She slammed his body against the wall, covering his mouth with her hand as she glared at him. Sokka let out a grunt of surprise, immediately beginning to struggle in her hold, “calm down! I don’t have a knife this time around.” Y/N cried out, her voice a hushed whisper. Of course, what she said was a lie, she always had at least three weapons on her. Upon entering the city, she’d knocked that number down to only two weapons, much to her dismay and Iroh’s relief.

She felt him lick her hand, and she quickly removed her hand in disgust, while keeping the other planted on his shoulder, they both exclaimed, “what the hell!”

Sokka’s eyes narrowed at her, “look. I don’t wanna cause a scene, so I’m just gonna go-” He sighed when her hand remained on his shoulder, firmly holding him against the wall as he tried to move away only to be pushed back into the wall. “Or not.”

“Look, you cannot go back to your little group and tell them that I’m here.” Y/N tried to choose her words carefully, if she didn’t need to, she didn’t want to suggest that her father and Zuko were also in the city. “I’m trying to have a permanent vacation, away from the Fire Nation and my crazy family, in Ba Sing Se.” She explained, slowly removing her hand from his shoulder, “think you can respect that?”

He looked at her wearily, during their last interaction, she’d made no attempts to actually injure them. And when she had the Avatar right in front of her, unlike Zuko, she hadn’t tried to kidnap him. Y/N had been honest last time, and chances were, she was being honest now. That didn’t make him feel any better about trusting her though.

“How do I know you won’t follow me and kill me in my sleep?”

Y/N looked at him incredulously, “is that a joke?” She’d considered that too though, the possibility that he’d follow her back to her shared apartment and alert his friends of their location. Y/N refused to be the reason that they lost their new lives in Ba Sing Se, and had already decided to check into an inn for the night.

Raising a brow at her, Sokka gestured for her to give him an answer, and Y/N stared at him momentarily, “well. How do I know you won’t kill me in my sleep?” Y/N retorted.

Sokka rolled his eyes at her, “I’m a good person.” Came his response.

“Debatable.”

Sokka stared at her in disbelief, “I’m trying to save the world here!” He exclaimed, and Y/N wasn’t shocked by his response, her goal had been to fluster him and she had.

Tilting her head at him, Y/N replied, “sure.” Stretching her arms upwards, she waves to him, “don’t tell your friends I was here, and we’re good.” She began to walk further into the alley, towards the other side, “see you around.” If he was here, his friends were probably around the area as well, meaning she had to leave.

His mouth gaped open and he stared at her figure as she stalked off, pausing momentarily before groaning and running after her, ending up at her side. “What do you mean, sure?” Sokka asked, confusion laced in his tone.

Y/N raised a brow at him. “What are you doing?” She wanted to laugh at his reaction, though he was now following her liked a lovesick puppy, which could prove problematic.

Crossing his arms he responded, “making sure you don’t do anything bad.” Sokka eyed her suspiciously, “because I am a good person.” He asserted.

“And I’m a bad person?”

She already knew he was going to say, ‘yes, yes you are.’ After all, she was from the Fire Nation, and Y/N had no doubt she’d done terrible things in her life, especially when she’d fallen into a dark place and taken on... less than favorable coping mechanisms.

And he’s silent for a moment, leaving Y/N to wonder if he suddenly cares about the feelings of the enemy. Only for him to say, “in my experience... good people can do bad things.”

That wasn’t what she expected. Y/N found herself stunned, speechless as she looked to Sokka, though he simply continued to walk alongside her nonchalantly. Quickly collecting herself, she looks away from him and to the nearby food stand, “that didn’t answer my question.” And as Sokka opened his mouth to likely continue his statement, Y/N realized she didn’t want to know the answer as she spoke, “you want food? I want food. Let’s get food.”

Sighing, Sokka followed her, “as long as you don’t poison me.”

Y/N’s brows furrowed at his comment, looking back at him, “do you-” A small laugh escaped her, “do you think I just carry around poison?”

Sokka didn’t know why he swelled with pride when he made her laugh, “in case you run into your enemies, absolutely.” It was probably because she was the enemy, and it took real talent to make someone who hated you laugh.

“How often do you think I run into my enemies and invite them to get food with me?” She asked, picking up a few things from the stand, before heading over to pay.

Frowning, Sokka watches her pay, “I thought we were bonding over,” he paused to take a meat bun from her and shove it into her face dramatically, “meat! Yet, I’m still your enemy.”

Y/N simply shrugged, “this is a one time thing.”

It was not a one time thing.

Sokka found himself ‘coincidentally’ running into Y/N, more and more often. She’d be walking through the streets of the upper ring about once a week, though she had started walking through the streets of the inner ring of Ba Sing Se far more frequently than normal in recent weeks. He’d been meaning to ask her why, maybe she’d also grown accustomed to their meetings and started to come around more. During their meetups they’d talk, about things other than the war, which was a conversation difficult to come by with the others. Though he cared for his friends, talking to Y/N felt different, a good different. She wasn’t overbearing like Katara, or mean like Toph, but she also wasn’t as passive as Aang.

It was odd. Knowing someone who had once held a knife to your neck in a more friendly way. Though, if Sokka was honest, he didn’t trust her, and she likely didn’t trust him either. They’d both taken precautions due to the mistrust between them, not that be blamed her. At the end of the day, they were still on opposing sides, kind of. Y/N had never seemed to care about finding the Avatar, but she was certainly loyal to her family above all else.

She’d demonstrated that in the Northern Water Tribe.

Sokka was the same, if he had saw an inkling of betrayal as a possibility, he wouldn’t hesitate to tell the others. Their safety was his priority at the end of the day, and Y/N didn’t owe him anything, just like he didn’t owe her anything. Maybe that was the beauty of it all. But for now, everything remained peaceful, calming, and simple.

Of course, all good things must come to an end.

Katara had oddly disappeared after Aang arrived with news of his vision. And then, as though things couldn’t get any weirder, Iroh arrived, Y/N’s apparent Father Iroh. Toph seemed to know him well, which certainly came as a shock to Sokka and Aang. “I need your help, Prince Zuko has been captured.” He explained, opening his mouth to continue only for Sokka to interrupt. He couldn’t help it when his brows furrowed in both confusion and frustration, Y/N had never suggested that the rest of her family was here.

“Are you crazy? You guys were trying to capture Aang not to long ago!” Sokka pointed out, throwing his arms outwards, “why not get Y/N to help?” She was certainly capable of raiding the palace and retrieving her cousin.

At this comment, Iroh’s face darkened, “we were separated in the palace. I’m unsure if they managed to capture her or if she escaped.” Oh. So that’s what he was going to say.

Sokka couldn’t help it when his face dropped, looking to Iroh he exclaimed, “well- why didn’t you lead with that!” Pushing past Aang who had been prepared to start giving a speech on why they should assist Iroh, only for his mouth to gape open as Sokka headed for the door.

“Why are you so eager?” Toph asked as they began to follow him out the door.

He faltered, quickly trying to think up a good excuse as he replied, “no reason.”

Toph’s frowned, “I can tell when you’re lying Sokka.” She reminded him.

“We can discuss this later!” He exclaimed, flustered. “Let’s go.”

Y/N had contemplated killing Zuko before.

It had never really been serious, as far as she would’ve gone was maybe injuring him badly enough that she got her point across. But at the end of the day, she protected Zuko to the best of her ability, and tried to keep his mind from being poisoned by the Fire Nation ideals that she’d once lived by unquestionably.

Now she actually wanted him dead. He stood alongside Azula, who had offered Y/N her spot in her little gang hours ago, though she’d rejected the offer much to Azula’s chagrin. But she seemed sure that Y/N would accept some time soon. Perhaps it was because Zuko had betrayed her father and left him to the Dai Li.

He had betrayed her father, the man who had practically raised both of them.

Y/N had a violent past, she wouldn’t deny, and she liked to think that she was past all that. But looking at the situation ahead of them, watching the Waterbender, Sokka’s sister, Katara, cry over the body of the Avatar, she realized that maybe violence was the answer. Just this once.

So, when she hopped in front of them, she had a plan. A violent one.

“Pull yourself together.” She snapped at Katara, who looked up at her, bloodshot eyes and tears streaming down her confused face, “he’s getting out of here alive. But first, I need you to soak them.” Y/N gestured towards the troops coming towards them, Zuko and Azula accompanying them. Katara opened her mouth, and Y/N didn’t care what she was going to say as she ordered, “now!”

Katara’s brows drew together as she released the Avatar’s head onto her lap, raising her hands to use the waterfall behind them to successfully drench the soldiers, who groaned at the discomfort but pausing temporarily before they continued towards them. “What did you think that would accomplish? What a pitiful-” Azula’s taunts were paused when she watched as Y/N drew her hands together, inhaling deeply, and Azula stopped her movement. “That’s not possible.”

Suddenly, lightning was between Y/N’s fingertips, and she extended her hand into the large puddle of water that Katara had created. Y/N had learnt to bend lightning soon after she’d mastered Firebending, from her father, he’d insisted that she only use it when necessary, so she kept her ability to herself. This was necessary, she decided, hand touching the water and sending a shock throughout everyone with it, successfully putting all of the soldiers out of commission.

Unfortunately, Azula recognized the signs of lightning bending, and withdrew alongside Zuko, and the two were now coming to attack from above at a rapid rate. Y/N whipped her head around to see Katara, mouth gaped open at all the fallen soldiers. “You two need to leave, I’ll hold them off.” She began to move to create another strike of lightning

“No.” Called out another voice, and Y/N whipped her head over to see it was her father, Dai Li agents likely nearby as he moved in front of Y/N. “You all need to leave. Take Y/N with you, she will help the Avatar reach his destiny.” Y/N wanted to laugh at that, how could he be so sure? If the boy did die, then this would all be for nothing

Y/N scoffed, “are you crazy?” She moved closer to her father, “unlike Zuko, I’m not leaving you.” She exclaimed, exasperated.

Iroh simply smiled at her as he said, “I’m proud of you, Y/N.”

Sokka knew he seemed dumb. He knew how others perceived him, as the ‘extra’ member of Team Avatar, the useless one, because he lacked bending. At the end of the day, Sokka was the brains of their operations, he was observant, and this helped him develop plans that most people would never even consider.

Not that anyone else knew, but Sokka was the only one that had actually interacted with Y/N prior to what happened in Ba Sing Se. Sure, they’d all met once or twice in the past, but Sokka had a knife to his throat then, so Y/N probably didn’t seem that appealing to the others. And he doubted they understood how odd it was that she was so... apathetic. Normally she’d tease, and joke alongside him but now?

It was odd, and nobody else could notice the shift in her personality but him, and he was concerned. Y/N had lost her father, and been betrayed by her cousin, and she had yet to talk about it, at all. Sokka liked to think that they were close enough to discuss such things, and he’d tried to get some sort of emotion out of her, the key word being tried.

Despite her apathetic personality, the others had warmed up to her for the most part. Apparently Toph had met Y/N in the past, during the time she’d run off and encountered Iroh. So, the two got acquainted fairly fast, Aang was happy to have a Firebender, and insisted that once he was back to full strength, and they’d found a better place for practice, he’d learn Firebending from her. Y/N had agreed but it was clear Aang wasn’t as excited as he was acting, Sokka figured he still associated the time he hurt Katara with Firebending.

Katara had been far less weary of Y/N than Sokka had expected, but given what Katara had told him when she’d first joined, that made sense. Y/N was a powerful Firebender who had betrayed her entire nation to help save Aang’s life, and though Katara didn’t approve of everything she’d done in the past, she tolerated her. Which was better than nothing in Sokka’s book.

They were currently camped out in the woods beside a Fire Nation town, everyone had scattered to prepare for the few nights they’d likely stay in the area. Katara had gone to the town with Toph and Aang, in search of supplies and food, while Sokka and Y/N set up the camp and collected wood to help start a fire. Y/N had insisted that she could maintain the fire without any wood, but Sokka viewed this as an excuse to get her alone and force her to discuss her feelings.

“So...” Sokka mumbled, looking to her as she leaned down to pick up another piece of wood, “lovely weather we’re having.”

Y/N turned to him, raising a brow before nodding, “yeah.” It was clear she wasn’t entirely paying attention the nonsense that was coming out of his mouth as he tried to get her to listen to him.

Sokka grabbed another piece of wood, “how have you been?”

Tilting her head at him in confusion, Y/N brought another piece of wood into her arms, “fine.” Looking up at the dimming sky she frowned, “we should start heading back to that spot we’d found earlier.” Y/N turned to begin walking, and Sokka struggled to match her pace.

His brows furrowed in frustration as he stared at her, the light of the falling sun filtering in between the trees and onto them. Y/N seemed to glow as she maneuvered between the trees, “how have you been sleeping?” Even Sokka sounded confused at the question he asked, but he didn’t know how to broach the topic with Y/N.

She simply paused her movement, turning to him, he stumbled slightly due to the abrupt stop, and met her eyes. “Just ask what you wanna ask, Sokka. Stop dancing around whatever it is.” Y/N sounded tired, looking to him expectantly as she awaited his question. Sokka scolded himself for being so obvious that she’d noticed something was up.

He sighed, “are you okay?” And she opened her mouth to respond but he continued, “actually? You can say that you are okay, and not mean it. Y/N you lost your dad and were betrayed by your cousin, and you-” Sokka grimaced as he met her eyes, “you haven’t been the same since you joined us.”

Y/N is silent for a moment, then her eyes were piercing into his, “how would you know that I haven’t been the same?” She asked, turning away to continue walking back to the chosen campsite, “it’s not like you know me.” His statement had set her off it appeared, but her response had easily done the same for him.

“Are you serious? Not like I know you?” He scoffed, jogging to catch up with her, “I know that you do whatever it takes to protect the people you care about. I know that you really like Earth Kingdom food because most of the food within the Fire Nation is on the spicier side.” Y/N didn’t seem to be listening, and the camp was in sight, but Sokka continued, “I know that you get really cold easily unless you regulate your body temperature with your Firebending. And I know that you can’t pick a favorite color because you are very indecisive.”

Aggressively, Y/N dropped the sticks into the center of the campsite as they arrived, turning to him, “you can stop now.” Her voice was almost taunting as she spoke, sarcastic in a way.

Sokka simply followed suit, placing the firewood in the center and facing her head on, “and most importantly, I know what it’s like to lose someone.” He takes her hand, and Y/N practically growls at the contact, attempting to yank her hand out of his grasp, she ends up pulling him closer towards her. Sokka clumsily topples onto her, knocking the both of them down into the dirt with a grunt. His forearms preventing him from crushing Y/N under his body weight as he held himself up, his eyes meet hers.

Y/N finds herself glaring daggers at him, while Sokka finishes his little speech with, “you don’t have to deal with this alone.”

And in that moment, he looks at her, really looks at her. And she’s really pretty.

Y/N opens her mouth to say something to him, only for someone else to begin speaking, “are we interrupting something?” Toph. Looking up, Sokka sees the others as well, Aang looks rather smug as he wiggles his eyebrows at Sokka, and Katara gives him a pointed look, likely disappointed that he’d fraternizing with the former enemy. He can’t help it when he feels his cheeks warm, and before he can move to get off Y/N, she’s launched him off of her, and he’s flat on his back on the ground. Toph laughs at the actions, bending a seat of earth for herself and the others before falling backwards into it, the girl seems to wish she had popcorn as she watched the moment unfold.

“No.” Y/N mumbles, bringing herself to her feet and dusting herself off. “I’ll be in my tent if you need me.” She retreats into one of the tents they’d set up earlier, and Sokka groans as he lets his head fall backwards into the ground and runs his hands over his face.

When he removes them, Aang is standing over him, along with Toph, while Katara organizes the firewood. “So... did we interrupt something?” Toph asked.

Sokka just sighs, his plan failed. This time at least. Next time, his goal would be to make her laugh, to make her smile. At least she had expressed some emotion, anger was better than nothing.

Anger seemed to turn to annoyance, since Y/N doesn’t leave her tent until nightfall and Sokka can’t help but wonder what was entertaining enough to keep her in there for all that time. When she does exit, she uses her Firebending to light a fire, and uses the firewood they’d collected earlier to ensure it stays alight. The rest of the group was seated around the center of the campsite, and Sokka wonders if she’s going to go back to her tent when she realizes the only open seat is next to him.

She doesn’t return to her tent though and he’s grateful. Though she sits as far as possible from him on the bench that Toph had created, half-heartedly listening to the things that the others are saying. Y/N can feel herself getting cold and can’t help the resent that bubbles up in her chest as she recalls what Sokka send earlier. Exhaling deeply, a puff of blue fire escapes her mouth and Y/N feels nauseous at the small reminder of Azula.

This catches Sokka’s attention, though the others are too enraptured in the story Aang was telling, Sokka turned to her, “cold?” He asked, leaning to the side to grab a blanket from his small pack, he offers it to her.

Y/N knew she wouldn’t be able to regulate her temperature when she fell asleep, but accepting the blanket from Sokka felt like... it felt like accepting him and everything he had said about her. So, when she doesn’t take the blanket from his hands, Sokka sighs, moving to put it back, only for Y/N to snatch the blanket from his hand and wrap it around herself begrudgingly.

This was her way of apologizing, moving closer to Sokka on the small bench she huffed as she pulled the blanket tighter around herself and turned her attention to Aang. She’d been mean, she wouldn’t deny, but what was she supposed to say? Exhaling deeply, Y/N closes her eyes temporarily, allowing drowsiness to consume her for a moment, before looking back to Aang.

It isn’t until Sokka feels a weight fall onto his shoulder midway through his own story that he realizes Y/N has fallen asleep, his mouth gaping open in shock as he pauses his words. He quickly shakes off the shock, cheeks warming as he turns back to the rest of the group, who all regard him curiously. Aang once again wiggles his eyebrows and Sokka ignores the action, continuing his story. Though he’s more weary of his vivid hand movements in fear of awakening Y/N, and noticeably quiets his voice. Sokka finds himself wishing he was Y/N as he listens to Katara’s Water Tribe horror story intently, after all, this is the most peaceful he’s ever seen her.

It doesn’t last long, because she’s soon startled awake, hand going to her side where she keeps her dagger as she and Toph speak simultaneously, “someone’s coming.”

As an old woman emerges from the shadows, Sokka practically holds Y/N down to keep her from lunging at her and attacking as the woman speaks. And of course, Y/N’s distaste for the woman doesn’t stop there, even when she invites them into her home, though Sokka doesn’t blame her. She’s a suspicious woman.

It’s not until he and Aang are attacking each other that Sokka regrets preventing Y/N from attacking the old woman when she had the chance. Katara is struggling to move, and Sokka can only hope that Toph and Y/N return from the cave soon as he yelps upon nearly making contact with Aang, the old woman laughing cynically. Sokka watches as she shifts, hand outstretching behind her, “don’t think I forgot you little Firebender.”

His eyes widen in both shock and fear as Y/N’s body is suddenly thrown onto the ground in front of him. Her body rising almost mechanically, back to a stand, Sokka realizes there’s lightning at her fingertips, the woman manipulating her body to aim for Sokka. “A shame you’ll be the woman to end your friend’s life isn’t it,” She’s making eye contact with Katara who is crying out and begging for her to stop.

Sokka can see the panic in Y/N’s eyes as the her hands aim towards him, “Y/N. It’s okay.” He calls out her, in an attempt at assurance that he doubts does much to soothe her. “It’s okay.” He repeats, squeezing his eyes shut as he prepares for the lightning to hit him. Except it never does, instead, it goes upwards into the sky as Y/N cries out in pain, having moved her body despite the woman blending her blood.

She had overpowered Hama’s bloodbending, something that clearly came as a shock to the old woman as Y/N turned around sluggishly, staring at the shocked old woman as blue fire left her mouth once more, chest heaving. Sokka could feel the weight on his bones slowly disappear, leaving behind an ache, the woman likely intended to focus her abilities onto Y/N, who was struggling to walk towards her.

“Scared?” Y/N asked, looking up at the woman, “you should be.”

The next time that Team Avatar feared Y/N. She was face to face with Zuko.

He’d approached them as they sat in the Air Temple. And Y/N had practically jumped out of her seat, preparing for a fight as lightning seemed to dance at her fingertips. Though Sokka knew better than to allow her to attack her cousin, and grabbed her arm. “Can you guys handle this?” He asks the others, maintaining eye contact with Y/N. The others looked to them understanding what would likely occur if Y/N was allowed to be involved.

Zuko wouldn’t walk away from that fight.

“We got this Sokka.” Katara assured, pure hate in her eyes as she stared Zuko down, and Sokka couldn’t help but wonder if maybe he should remove both of them from the situation.

Sokka’s hand found Y/N’s, and it was almost burning hot, a sparks seeming to fly between them, he pulls at her hand. Y/N hesitantly allows him to drag her away, though she turns back momentarily to meet Zuko’s eyes. “I’ll kill you later, cousin.” She promises, and her voice is scarily calm. “For my father.” The condescending tone in her voice and the wince Zuko has in response is enough for Sokka to know that her intent was to hurt him emotionally if she couldn’t do it physically, and it was clear she had been successful.

Inhaling deeply, Y/N closes her eyes temporarily as Sokka brings her into one of many abandoned rooms in the temple, sitting her down onto a bed before kneeling down in front of her. “Are you good?” He asks.

“That’s a stupid question.” Comes her response.

Sokka tilts his head at her, giving her a smile, “well I’m a stupid guy.”

He’s rubbing gentle circles in her hand as she shakes her head, a small laugh escaping her, “no you’re not.” Her voice cracks and she cringes at the sound so she clears her throat, staring at the wall beside her. Sokka can’t help the way his heart swells at this comment, because for once he doesn’t feel like the comic relief, he doesn’t feel like the side character. Though he appreciates the rest of Team Avatar and loves them all dearly, at times, they didn’t take him seriously.

Y/N makes him feel important. Though he doesn’t say this as he looks at her, clearly shaken by Zuko’s sudden appearance, she speaks once more, “are you sure I can’t kill him?”

This time Sokka laughs, shaking his head, “I’m sure Katara would love to help you with that, but I doubt Aang would approve.”

Y/N nods slowly, letting out a shaky breath as a tear escaped her, though she quickly wiped it away and looks to the ground. “You wanna sit with me?” She asks, patting the spot on the bed beside her.

“Sure.” He replies softly, moving to sit on the bed with her. One he’s situated, Y/N leans her head onto his shoulder, and Sokka finds his hand wrapping around her waist. And they sit like this for several moments.

Taking a deep breath, Y/N removes her head from his shoulder and looks to him, “thank you.”

Sokka raises a brow, “for what?”

“Being here.” She replies, bringing her hand to move a hair from his face, Sokka watches her actions intently and in awe. “With me.” Her hand remains on his face for longer than necessary, and when she moves to let it fall back into her lap, Sokka’s hand cups hers.

They’re both silent when Sokka’s hand releases hers, and his other hand leaves her waist, both coming to her face. The look in his eyes tells her enough, and she nods to him.

The kiss felt like the first breath of fresh air in a while. Maybe it’s because it had been long overdue, but as Y/N brought her hands to his arms to pull him closer, she felt her head empty of all thoughts.

He pulls away momentarily, their foreheads resting against each others, he can see her eyes are shut, lashes pressed against her cheeks. “I hope,” Sokka pauses, and her eyes flutter open to look at him, he can feel his cheek warm as he continues, “I hope I can always be here, with you.” It’s a confession in its own way, and Sokka understands the weight of his words as he watches her reaction.

She opens her mouth, likely to reply, be closes it quickly, and Sokka can’t help the panic that floods him. Though this is quickly replaced by the feeling of her lips on his as her hand collides with his chest and pushes him down on the bed, earning a grunt from him.

“Guys, Zuko is gone-” Y/N throws herself onto the floor as she rolls off Sokka, and he sits up immediately. “Am I interrupting something now?” Aang asked, giving Sokka a look.

Y/N clears her throat, “no.” Sokka couldn’t help it when his brows drew together at this comment, bringing a hand to his temple as he sighed, and Y/N stood, dusting off her thighs as she mumbled, “see you guys later.”

She started avoiding him after that.

When Zuko joined the group, she’s also made a point to avoid him no matter how hard he tried to apologize to her. And of course, when Sokka first showed him to his room they had a... chat. To put it simply, Sokka had threatened him.

Just a little.

“So yeah, here it is, your room.” Gesturing to the room, Sokka gave Zuko a tight lipped smile, watching him wearily.

Zuko’s back was to him as he placed his stuff down, “thank you.” He said, expecting that to be the end of it, upon hearing the door close he assumed Sokka had left.

When he turned around, Sokka was still very much there. “Let’s have a chat, Prince Zuko.” It didn’t go unnoticed by Sokka how the boy grimaced at the use of his title, though that didn’t stop him from moving forward and placing a hand on Zuko’s shoulder a little too tightly. “Y/N does not want to speak with you.”

“I know,” Came his reply. “Thank you for keeping her from... killing me. The other day. I intend to apologize-”

A small laugh escaped Sokka, “next time. I won’t stop her.” This was for multiple reasons, one of which being that Y/N was avoiding him, and the other being that he wished to respect her and her feeling about Zuko. “And you need to respect her wishes. One of those wishes being, avoiding you. Until she approaches you, leave her be.”

Zuko’s brows furrowed at this comment, “she’s my cousin. You can’t expect-”

“Leave. Her. Be.”

Zuko became silent, nodding slowly as he looked to Sokka curiously.

And now, to avoid some of his problems and solve some of them, Sokka ended up running away in a hot air balloon with the person he related to the most at the moment, and the person he threatened rather recently. Zuko. Both of them were being avoided by someone important in their lives, and they both had slightly crazy younger sisters. Though their conversations were certainly... odd.

“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”

Zuko looked at him for a moment before saying, “that’s rough, buddy.” There was silence after this, a temporary lapse in conversation that Zuko seemed determined to fill. “So...” Zuko mumbled. “You and my cousin huh.”

It wasn’t a question, Sokka realized this, but he disregarded it as he responded, “what about us?” Playing dumb would hopefully get him to drop the subject.

Zuko raised his brows at Sokka, “us?”

Scolding himself, Sokka realized he’d unintentionally dug a deeper hole for himself when he said this as he tried to avoid Zuko’s gaze. “Not really.” Sokka replied, “she’s avoiding me too.”

Nodding, Zuko gave him a tight lipped smile, “what did you do?”

“I wish I knew.” Sokka could only make assumptions about why Y/N had begun to avoid him, but at the end of the day was confused over it.

He really needed to talk to her.

As the day of Sozin’s Comet drew closer, Sokka had started trying to talk to Y/N more and more, she’d keep basic conversation but whenever he tried to address... the kiss, Y/N would shut down the conversation. And now, it was the day of Sozin’s Comet, and they established that Zuko and Katara would take on Azula, Aang would take on Ozai, and the rest of them would go after the army that was heading for the Earth Kingdom.

It seemed that Sokka intended to try to speak with her once more as he approached her while she strapped a dagger to her thigh. “We need to talk.” He said, plopping down onto a rock beside her.

“About battle strategy?” She asked, looking to him, “I had some ideas.”

Play dumb, play dumb, play dumb.

Sokka’s brows furrowed as he shook his head, “about the kiss, Y/N.” Y/N tried to hide her shock at his forwardness, he’d never been this blunt before, during his previous attempts to discuss this with her. Turning to him, she prepared to speak but he silenced her, “you’re going to listen this time.” Grimacing, he looked away, towards the horizon. “I don’t know what’s going to happen today. And if something goes wrong, I need you to know-”

“Nothing is going wrong.” Y/N stated firmly. “Nothing. So, we can have this conversation after.”

Sokka sat up from his place on the rock, moving in front of her, “there’s no way to guarantee that Y/N.”

Squeezing her eyes shot, Y/N took a deep breath, “I’ll make sure nothing happens to you guys.” She promised, “and I swear we can talk about this after.” She grabs onto his hands, holding them in hers as she looks away. Y/N knew why she was avoiding it. He was right, it was totally possible for one of them to die, and a relationship in the midst of a war was the worst possible idea. After would be better, or at least that’s what she’d told herself.

The pleading look in his eyes almost burns through her resolve as he asks, “will we?” It almost hurts that he doesn’t believe her, but Y/N can’t blame him.

“We need to go.” Her voice was almost a whisper as she releases his hands. Even if she wanted to continue discussing the subject, they needed to begin the battle soon.

Sokka frowned though, “if you don’t want this, just tell me and I’ll-” He sighed, bringing a hand to his temple. “I’ll stop bothering you.”

Y/n began to shake her head, “you are never a bother to me I just-” Sighing, she looked into his eyes, “I want this. I do, I’m just scared, and we’re in the middle of a war Sokka!” She exclaimed, the words spilling out of her mouth before she can stop them.

“You think I don’t know that?” Sokka cried out, exasperated. “Y/N I’m so scared that something is going to go wrong, and I’ll never get to tell you that I-”

“Don’t say it.” She interrupts, fear in her veins as she watches him.

So, he didn’t.

If she didn’t feel like she had something to come back to, maybe that would make it easier. Sacrifices would have to be made to reach victory, and Y/N wouldn’t hesitate to be the one to make them if it meant the others survived. They deserved to see the new world, the world of peace, prosperity, and freedom, the one that came after all this.

Y/N could feel the power flooding her as the comet drew closer, pure and raw power. Though this accompanied by her skill would likely help her in the upcoming battle, dozens of Firebenders with half her skill and the power of the comet was something she was definitely worried about. Overpowering them all was unlikely, and in the best case scenario, Y/N could slow them down. But she wasn’t a fool. In war, there were always casualties, and she was prepared to become one of many.

Then there were the thoughts in the back of her mind. Though nobody had discussed it, the throne could potentially go to her after all this, and that wasn’t really something Y/n was looking forward to debating. Perhaps it was selfish, but Y/N didn’t really care. Was it wrong of her to dream of escaping the shackles that bound her to the Fire Nation since birth, to leave behind the politics and the lies and the pain of it all?

Maybe.

Sokka knew Y/N had a lot going on in her mind right now. And he knew she was scared of what was to come, and no matter how much it hurt him, he respected her wishes to wait until this battle was over to discuss whatever it was between them. He knew where he stood. But now that Suki had left them, he found himself beginning to regret it. On the top of the Air Balloon, Toph was practically blind, and Sokka could do little in terms of long distance, aside from his boomerang. Which left Y/N to do her best to defend them from the Firebenders that had begun to swarm them.

“Go!” She cried out, knocking one of the Firebenders off the balloon. “Take out the rest of the fleet.” Y/N dodged the oncoming flames, intercepting them with her own to prevent the others from getting burned.

But Sokka wasn’t going to let anyone die today. “You still owe me a conversation,” came his response, looking down at the bridges on the Air Balloon. “Jump!” Sokka cried out as another ball of fire rushed towards them, he took Toph by the hand and hoped that Y/N followed.

Thankfully, she did, he took notice of her as he fell towards the bridges extending from the giant hot air balloon. They were all screaming as they fell, and Y/N grunted in pain as she hit Sokka, tumbling over him and off the edge, yelping as her hands grasped the bridge, with little leverage. Toph similarly went over the side, her screams filling Sokka ears as Y/N released one of her hands from the bridge and caught Toph’s wrist.

Panic flooded Sokka as he scrambled to the edge of the bridge, Y/N’s hand slipping, “Sokka! Hurry up-” Another scream rips out of her as she loses her grip on the edge.

Nearly falling as he grabbed her hand, his chest heaved. “It’s gonna be okay.” He promised, looking into Y/N’s panicked eyes. “It’s gonna be fine Toph!” He cried out to her.

“Yeah, right!” She called out into the wind, the fear evident in her voice despite the sarcastic nature of the comment. “Y/N I don’t wanna die.”

Y/N almost can’t hear her, too focused on maintaining her grip on both Sokka and Toph’s hands. She exhales slowly, eyes falling on the soldiers that are beginning to make their way down to them as she replied, “you’re gonna be fine, I promise. I’m gonna get you to Sokka, okay?”

Sokka was internally panicking, he wouldn’t be able to fight back against the incoming soldiers if both his hands were occupied, but his grip was faltering and he couldn’t pull them both up. Grimacing as he looked down at the two, he nodded in agreement to Y/N signaling that he was ready. It made sense in his mind, she would be able to use her free hand to Firebend, which was far more useful than anything he could provide at the moment.

Inhaling deeply, Y/N looks to Toph, “Toph, I need you to climb up my body, and grab Sokka’s free hand, okay?”

Toph’s death grip on her hand seems to grow stronger, tears brimming her eyes, “I- I don’t think I can.”

Y/N shakes her head at these words, “yes, yes you can. Bring your legs up to grab my lower body, and then make your way up, okay? Like a tree.”

Toph shook her head rapidly, “I’ve never climbed a tree!”

Sokka couldn’t help but grow impatient as he exclaimed, “there are soldiers coming, Toph please!” His hand was growing sweaty as he used his free hand to throw his sword at one of the oncoming soldiers, effectively knocking him down.

Y/N felt her arm swing slightly, and watched as Toph blindly extended her legs, finally managing to wrap them around her legs. She released Y/N’s hand and wrapped both arms around her lower body, slowly inching upwards until her legs were around Y/N’s waist and her arms were on her shoulders. “Good job, now reach up, as far as you can, and Sokka’s gonna grab your hand.” Y/n instructed using her free hand to pat the hand that Toph had wrapped around her.

Y/N could feel the young girl’s tears fall onto her shirt as she extended her hand upwards, Sokka’s freehand moving as far down as possible. The strain on Y/N’s body slowly becoming too much as tears leaked out of her eyes.

Maybe it would be better to just... let go.

She quickly shook off those thoughts, Toph, Toph, Toph, she couldn’t do anything brash until Toph was safe. Y/N watched as Sokka’s hand narrowly missed Toph’s. “Sokka, please.” Y/N whispered, looking to him with pleading eyes.

Maybe it was the desperation he heard in her voice that moment, or maybe it was pure luck, put his fingers grazed Toph’s and he latched on, extending his arm as far as possible and gripping her hand. “Now let go of me, and Sokka’s gonna pull you up, okay?” Y/N explained, looking to Sokka, his eyes meeting hers. Y/N quickly realized he couldn’t lift either of them up. Just like her, this was straining his muscles, and Sokka was struggling to keep both of them up.

“Sokka.” She said, demanding his attention, his eyes met hers, filled with fear as Toph relieved Y/N’s body of her weight and evened out the distribution on Sokka’s body. “You can’t fight back with both your hands taken.” More tears were streaming down her face as she spoke, “a-and... you can’t pull us both up.” Sokka was crying too now, shaking his head rapidly as Y/N simply pointed out the facts.

Toph’s grip on his hand tightened, “we’re all going to die.” There was resignation in her voice, and it hurt Y/N to hear it.

“We’ll figure it out. We are all going to be okay.” He stated firmly, a shaky breath leaving him as he made an attempt to pull them both upwards, a failed attempt.

Squeezing her eyes shut momentarily, Y/N allowed herself to imagine it, a life with Sokka and the rest of her friends. A life where they were all happy. Where everyone made it out of this war alive, and they helped bring balance to the world.

To give them that world, they had to end this war. And what was war without death?

Opening her eyes, she looked to Sokka, and he was panicked, noticing that far more soldiers had surrounded them and were preparing to mercilessly throw them off the balloon. “Sokka.” She repeated, and he looked to her with a tear streaked face.

“I love you.”

Everything seemed to slow as she spoke this words, and Y/N didn’t see the horror on his face for long as the grip of his hand faltered when she released it, he was screaming, crying, begging for her to stop. Toph clearly didn’t understand what was going on as she began to call out Y/N’s name in a panic.

And then she was falling.

It appeared there would be no after.

It felt peaceful, she decided. Falling. The stress on her body had dissipated and she caught one final glimpse of Sokka’s mortified face before going through the clouds. The comet was visible from where she was, the horizon, it was a beautiful way to die. But staring at the comet she realized she wanted to know what would come after, she realized that Toph was practically helpless and all Sokka had was a boomerang against dozens of Firebenders.

They would die. So, what was the point of her sacrifice? What was the point of her dying?

No, she wouldn’t be dying today.

Inhaling deeply, Y/N felt the power course through her veins, and she reminded herself that she was Y/N L/N, a force to be reckoned with. Nobody would forget that as fire tore through the soles of her shoes, and extended from her hands, propelling her upwards.

She was the daughter of the famed Dragon of the West. And she would take on his mantle, she decided, as she flew upwards and through the clouds.

She could see Sokka had managed to bring Toph upwards and onto the platform alongside him, and they were surrounded by Firebenders. It was clear that they’d seen her when their mouthes gaped open, and a few of the soldiers began to retreat, much to the chagrin of their commanding officer. Y/N found herself ceasing her Firebending and falling towards the platform, she landed in a roll and rose on one knee before opening her mouth and allowing fire to pour outwards.

The Firebenders fell off the bridges beside them one by one, and those who didn’t retreated back inside along with the others at the sight of the Air Balloon that Suki had evidently comandeered.

Closing her mouth, Y/N’s chest heaved, and she felt Toph tackle her from behind, “you’re alive!” She exclaimed, punching Y/N’s arm roughly, “idiot.” She dug her head into Y/N’s shirt.

“Yeah, I am an idiot.” Y/N replied breathlessly, holding the girl tightly.

When Toph finally released her, she gave her a smug look, “I’ll give you and him a minute.” Though this was partially an excuse to head back inside and into the safety of the balloon, maybe even attack some of the remaining Firebenders, it was also because Toph could read the room.

And there stood Sokka, mouth gaping open, tears streaming down his smiling face as he looked at her, before lunging towards her similar to how Toph had. Except his hands came to her cheeks as he brought their lips together, effectively knocking the two onto the ground of the platform, be pulled apart from her with a smile on his face, “I love you too.”

Yeah, after was looking pretty good right about now.

A/N: i hope you guys liked this SUPER LONG THING WOW, that was an accident. i was super close to like breaking everyones hearts and killing Y/N but then i felt bad so be grateful i was nice ksaljdlahfkj

anyways take care of yourselves!

taglists:

atla: @bubblebars @jada-cleo @art-flirt @the-deli-meat

#sokka x reader #sokka x you #sokka x y/n #sokka atla #atla sokka #atla sokka x reader #sokka atla x reader #atla sokka x you #atla #avatar the last airbender #lok #legend of korra #sokka is a bottom change my mind #im sorry ignore this #i hope no one reads tags #anyways have a nice day #drink water

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hi-i-love-u-bitch · 4 years

Text

Azula the good sister AU (AKA the Fire siblings have a healthy relationship AU)

I’ve just finished binge watching Avatar the Last Airbender and I already have an AU ready in my head. Please enjoy my ridiculous rambling!

Azula is still really tough and intense but she isn’t a fucking psychopath like in the series

She’s still a bending prodigy and “daddy’s favorite” but the latter isn’t something she wanted or strived for

She shows affection by teasing people, but she is also fiercely loyal and protective over the people she cares about. Like she’s nice but she’ll still cut a bitch if they hurt her friends and brother.

As most siblings do Azula and Zuko like to playfully argue and insult each other:

Zuko: *having just woken up*

Azula: wow you look like shit

Zuko: big talk coming from a midget with rat nest hair

Azula: at least I only look like this in the morning, you willingly keep that rat tail on top of your head. No wonder you have no friends!

Zuko: oh yeah what’s your excuse then?

They’re the type of siblings that in a modern-day setting would send each other a picture of a toaster saying “I found you a new bath bomb”

She absolutely adores her older brother and Zuko took his role as older sibling in stride even if Azula could practically take care of herself

They’re great training partners

Their favorite memory as children was feeding turtle ducks with their mother, they still do so even now after she’s gone

When she overheard her grandfather ordering her father to kill Zuko she left to tell her mother immediately afterwards she snuck into Zuko’s room to cuddle with him in bed claiming that she’d had a nightmare.

Their mother came in to kiss them goodbye goodnight before disappearing into the night. Zuko had been half asleep so he had no idea what was going on but Azula did and she knew what her mother was about to do. She didn’t know what the outcome would be but she knew that it would be the last time she’d ever see her mother.

Azula never told Zuko what happened only that it was all their father’s fault

It was then they began mutually hating on their father

Of course, they had no choice but to respect him as he was still the Fire Lord and could possibly kill them. But as soon as he was out of ear shot the siblings were like:

Azula: Why the fuck did he think growing out his beard was a good idea???

Zuko: He looks like a goat-pig

Uncle Iroh treats them both as his own children and helps them perfect their fire bending as well as teach them the art of tea brewing. Zuko still thinks it’s stupid but Azula becomes just as much of a tea fanatic as her uncle

Azula has had a giant crush on Ty Lee ever since they were children and everyone, but Ty Lee knows about it. On the flip side Ty Lee also has a giant crush on Azula ever since childhood and everyone but Azula knows about it.

Azula: That's a sharp outfit, Ty Lee. Careful. You could puncture the hull of an empire-class Fire Nation battleship, leaving thousands to drown at sea, because it's so sharp.

Ty Le: *confused but happy that her crush complemented her* Gee thanks Zula.

Azula: *later, screaming into her pillow* I’m such an idiot!

Zuko: *sitting beside her, sipping tea* Yeah, you really are.

The day Zuko was challenged to Agni Kai Azula told him that he was an idiot and that he better kick that loser general’s ass or it would be an embarrassment to both their training. It was her own way of telling him to be careful and that she was rooting for him.

When she found out that it was her father challenging Zuko to Agni Kai she had to be held back by Iroh to keep her from jumping into the arena to help her brother

Azula was determined to join her brother in his banishment but Zuko wouldn’t allow her, saying how it was his fault for speaking out of term and that his sister shouldn’t have to suffer from his mistakes.

They had a big fight after that because the siblings were nothing if not hotheaded and stubborn. Zuko didn’t want his sister to leave all she knew behind just because of him and Azula didn’t want to be stuck doing nothing while her brother suffers alone.

They parted there days later, regretful, angry, and sad. They didn’t necessarily apologies (let’s be honest what kind of siblings apologies to each other) but they did start writing letters to each other, which was their way of saying that they were cool now.

Zuko wrote to her about his journey to find the Avatar as well as Uncle Iroh’s ridiculous jokes and tea ramblings while Azula wrote to him about how things are back home as well as potential places where the Avatar could be located.

Both aren’t sure if the Avatar even exists anymore, but they keep hoping as it means that they will one day be reunited with each other.

The day Zuko found the Avatar he entrusted only his sister with the information as he knew that once word got out that the Avatar was still alive it would be an all-out man hunt.

Everything works out relatively the same as in the series except with Azula helping out her brother in the background. She’d secretly send her brother information about general Zhao’s whereabouts so as to avoid him as well as any resources he needed for his journey.

When Ozai ordered Azula to go retrieve her brother and uncle she was both delighted and terrified; she was happy to see her brother again, but she didn’t want to take him as her prisoner. So of course, she came up with a plan.

The first thing Azula said to her brother after two and a half years apart was: “Wow, you look like shit.”

He replied without missing a beat: “Big talk coming from a midget with rat nest hair.”

They hug for the longest time and in that moment, she quietly resights her plan to him: They had to pretend to escape from her and go into hiding. She’ll pretend to hunt him down and he’ll somehow manage to escape from her clutches every time. All the while they’ll work together in trying to capture the Avatar.

She enlists the help of Mai and Ty Lee telling them the minimal amount of information just in case things go south they can plead manipulation. Of course, Mai and Ty Lee are ready to go down with their captain/friend no matter what, but they don’t mind being out of the loop for the time being. They trust Azula and know that everything she does is to help her brother and uncle.

The events leading up to the battle of Ba Sing Se are pretty similar up until the part where Zuko makes a choice between helping the Avatar or his kingdom. He’s realized the pain and terror his ancestors have installed in the world; tearing away hope for a better future.

Just as Azula was about to strike Aang with a finishing blow Zuko stops her, telling her what they’ve been doing is wrong and if they want the world to prosper, they need to help the Avatar.

Azula was a bit annoyed seeing as she went through the trouble of sneaking into Ba Sing Se and taking over the earth kingdom from the inside out. But then again, her brother was right as she already knew of her father’s end game plan.

Azula: Zuzu, I love you, but couldn’t you have told me we were going to rebel against father sooner so I could have planned accordingly.

Just as there are loyalist to the Fire Lord there are also loyalist to the Princess as they see her as a more fit leader than the current ruler. And thus, that is how team Avatar was able to get a good portion of the fire nation army on their side.

Ba Sing Se has now been established as their main base with the entire city now having chosen the side of the Avatar.

At this point Azula still had Suki and the Kyoshi warriors held prisoner close by so she was able to bring them back without much fuss.

Azula: Er, sorry for imprisoning you and stuff. I just needed to save my stupid brother but we’re on your side now. Cool?

Suki: Only if I get to punch you in the face as hard as I can.

Azula: That seems fair.

Katara does NOT trust Azula and Zuko which is fine because Azula doesn’t trust her either but she knows they need to work together if they want to even have a slim chance of beating her father.

Katara: You might have everyone else here buying your ‘transformation,’ but you and I both know you’ve struggled with doing the right thing in the past. So, let me tell you something right now. You make one step backward, one slipup, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won’t have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I’ll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. Permanently!

Azula: Right back attcha bitch!

Toph and Azula get along swimmingly which both amuses and terrifies Zuko because one: he’s glad that his sister is finally making somewhat normal friends but two: those two together is just chaos incarnate

Ty Lee also really bonds with the Kyoshi warriors who teach her some of their fighting techniques in exchanged for her teaching them some chi blocking moves.

Suki and Mai start getting cozy with each other with Suki liking Mai’s skills and straightforward attitude and Mai admiring Suki’s confidence and bravery. It’s easy to talk with each other.

Sokka, at one point: Why the hell don’t we just send the girls out to defeat the Fire Nation? We’re all completely useless compared to them.

Also after a few month working together Zuko can now join his sister in her gay screaming

Azula: Did you seriously fall for that Water Tribe boy?

Zuko: You’re one to talk!

Azula: Hey! Ty Lee is an angel and we’re all lucky to have her!

Zuko: She once ate a whole bowl of fire flakes by herself and had to get her stomach pumped.

Azula: Look, what Fire Nation teen hasn’t done that at least once

Zuko: She did it THREE times!

Once the siblings and Co finally bond well enough with team Avatar tension lessens and their attitude go from: “uhg, I guess we have to work together or whatever” to “you are my friend now and I would die for you! I would literally commit murder if you asked me to, no questions asked”

Aang is baby and the Fire squad has now joined in the “Aang protection army” and in a similar fashion team Avatar have also learned that Ty Lee is baby and have now joined the “Ty Lee protection squad”. Even though Aang and Ty Lee are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves one cannot help but want to protect and care for the literal ray of sun shines.

Zuko and Sokka still have their epic rescue adventure to the boiling rock, with the extra help of their team. They sneak into the facility with disguises, Azula and her crew walk in like they own the place (news of her betrayal to the Fire Lord has yet to reach certain places), while the rest of team Avatar keep watch from afar just in case things start going south.

You know that scene where Zuko gets put in the freezer and when Sokka goes to let him out Zuko breathes out a breath of fire with a smirk? It was then and there that Sokka realized that his teeny tiny crush on Zuko might actually be a giant massive crush.

In this AU it is actually Azula that helps Katara track down the man that killed her mother because let’s face it, no matter what universe she’s in Azula will always be down to beat a bitch is ass.

This is the first time Azula has ever witness somebody blood bending and unlike most people that would usually freak out she was actually really impress and kind of turned on.

Azula: You know if I weren’t already madly in love with Ty Lee, I’d ask you to marry me in a heartbeat.

Katara: And I would accept that offer if only for the pleasure of rubbing it in your dad’s face

Azula: Why didn’t we become friends sooner?!?!

It is then the Little Sister alliance was formed in which they teamed up to poke fun at their bumbling brothers who keep awkwardly dancing around each other.

Their friendship can be summed up to: “I will kill you where you stand but also I respect you”

Okay, Imma just say this right now: Sokka is a fucking badass and even after getting taught how to fight by the Kyoshi warriors and the Fire sibling + Co. he reached a whole new level of badassery once he learned the ways of the sword by Master Piandao. Zuko’s little gay heart could only take so much and Sokka being all cool and collected while wielding a sword made the former Fire Prince short-circuit.

Zuko, in his tent, face down screaming into his pillow: Uhg, I can’t with this boy anymore!

Suki, rolling her eyes at her best friend’s melodramatics: Pull yourself together man.

Ty Lee, patting his head reassuringly: Don’t worry, you’ll get through this.

Azula, sipping tea beside him: This wouldn’t be happening if you just asked him out already.

Zuko: Don’t you fucking start with me hypocritical bitch!

Azula: *nervous gay drinking*

The day of the final battle Azula and Katara lead Hakoda’s army plus the Kyoshi Warriors to reclaim the fire nation capital while Aang, Zuko, Sokka, and Toph chased after the Fire Lord and his war ships.

The battle to take back the capital was brutal as there was still an entire army keeping guard with one of the Fire Lord’s generals acting as temporary leader. Unfortunately for them Azula still had a reputation of fear amongst the Fire Nation army and a lot of soldiers surrendered once they realized it was her leading the invasion and not the Avatar. Those that didn’t surrendered were defeated in battle because let’s be honest with a team this fierce there is no way in hell they couldn’t not win.

There’s also a scene where Azula is fighting off the general and a bunch of soldiers and it seems like she’s not gunna make it but she does, bloody and bruised but victorious. I imagen in that moment Ty Lee goes running up to Azula, jumps into her arms, and kisses her right then and there, while they’re still in the middle of battle. It’s super cool and romantic and it seemed to give Azula more energy than Sozin’s comet ever could as she seemed now ready to defeat god.

Azula: Y’all bitches be fucked now! I ain’t afraid to die but now that I gotta girlfriend I’m not going nowhere fuckers!

With Aang and his team it goes about the same as it did in the show; take down the ships, battle the Fire Lord, almost die, etc. That scene where Sokka thinks that Suki died on the aircraft is now replaced with Zuko almost dying then coming back to save their asses at the late minute. They too also kiss once they see that the other is unharmed while Toph rolls her eyes and gags at the sight.

Again, Aang does not kill the Fire Lord and instead takes away his fire bending powers before locking him in prison to rot. The fire siblings come by sometimes to annoy the shit out of him by flicking fire flakes at his head for target practice or psychologically torture him with excruciating detail of how they’ve been thoroughly fucked by their significate others in is bed and on his thrown.

Zuko: How’s it feel knowing that not only are both your kids gay but they’re also bottoms?

Ozai: *screams*

Azula: Ty Lee also fucked me atop your war room table :)

Ozai: *screams intensify*

In the end Zuko really doesn’t want to be Fire Lord so he happily passes that torch on to Azula who only agrees to take the job so long as Zuko becomes her second in command. Everyone is happy and with a lot of hard work throughout the years there is finally peace amongst the four nations.

#Avatar The Last Airbender #avatar #atla #princess azula #azula is a good sister au #au #fire siblings

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boomerang109 · 3 years

Note

Prompt Fluff 2 for Zukka if you're bored... Please send me Zukka asks if you have time I am getting IdEaS <3 <3 have a good day!

Prompt Fluff 2—“I bought this because I thought you’d like it.”

this is sorta pre-relationship? with the relationship implied at the end. i meant for it to be more about their relationship, but i got distracted by my hate for shopping lol. also zuko is trans

Sokka loved shopping. He loved going up and down the aisles and considering each item. The only thing better than buying things for himself was gifting to others.

Zuko hated shopping. It always managed to be so loud and there were so many things to look at—where were you supposed to look first?—not to mention all the years Ozai had expected him to wear girl clothes.

When they were very young, Azula would make shopping more bearable by competing with him to find the most ridiculous piece of clothing in the shop. Later, when she no longer talked to him much, Azula would discreetly point him towards the least feminine dresses—she didn’t admit at the time, of course, but after she’d admitted that beneath her sheer, she had always been trying to help.

After had begun when Azula and Zuko moved in with Iroh, just before freshman year of high school. He started at the new school with a new name, Lu Ten’s old wardrobe, more trauma than any 13 year old deserved, and a barely healed burn that made his left eye stuck permanently in a glare.

Sokka had befriended him early in the year and had quickly joined Iroh and Azula in encouraging him to take a trip to the mall to get clothes that fit better—Lu Ten had been much larger than Zuko—and after a few months, Zuko had relented. Sokka had been elated, vibrating with excitement at sharing one of his favorite places with Zuko.

He quickly saw that it wasn’t going to become one of Zuko’s favorite places. He was fine in the bright lights of the mall itself, but entering a store quickly brought disaster.

Sokka’s questions—simple ones like “what do you like to wear?” and “what colors do you like?”—were met with shrugs and murmurs. Rolling his eyes at Zuko’s “whatever,” Sokka tried again. “What would you be comfortable in?”

Zuko laughed. “I don’t think that’s something I get to be.” He walked further into the store, faking interest in khakis, to hide the tears pricking at his eyes.

“Hey,” Sokka had said quietly, following the other boy, “what do you mean?”

“I’m just—I only like certain materials and textures. And even then I don’t feel comfortable. If it’s me in the outfit, it doesn’t really matter what the outfit is, I’m not going to like it.”

“Do you want to try some clothes or go eat a three course meal at the food court?”

Zuko hesitated, clearly embarrassed to admit that he did not want to deal with the dysphoria triggered by trying on clothes. Sokka grabbed his hand and pulled him to the food court, where he ordered soft pretzels, pizza slices, fries, chicken nuggets, and slushees.

A week later, Sokka approached Zuko in math class with a wrapped present. Zuko flushed, not sure how to react to receiving a gift, but Sokka held up a finger.

“Wait, let me say something first. I bought this because I thought you’d like it. But I know you don’t always like clothes and I just want you to know that if you hate it, that’s totally okay.”

Zuko smiled, taking the present from Sokka’s hands rather than replying. He carefully split open the wrapping to reveal an oversized red sweater. “I love it, really, Sokka, this is great, thank you!”

He didn’t know it at the time, but Sokka would continue to buy him clothes from then on. Sometimes he’d ask Zuko questions, but mostly he just guessed. And there were some failures—like the turquoise suit or the cowboy boots—but overall, the system gave Sokka a way to combine his love language and his two loves (shopping and Zuko) and Zuko appreciated the new wardrobe that was handpicked by the boy he was loving more every week.

#I feel like if I actually edited this it could be a good oneshot #right now it’s a bit odd cause I changed where I was going as I wrote #I’m too tired to fix and I’m hoping posting will get me validation #but this deserves actual editing cause there’s potential here #it’s 2:34am the numbers are in a row :)#ask a boomerang #emberly tag #thanks for the prompt emberly!#send me more guys! it’s the post just before this one #boomerang writes #long post

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muffinlance · 4 years

Note

What is the difference between fire nation people that can turn into dragons and actual dragon that turn into people? It’s starting to seem like it’s just two societies with different preferred form?

Two different species that can crossbreed because *jazz hands* spirit magic.

The primary difference is in mentality--dragons tend to be much more practical and to the point then humans. This isn't a cultural thing, this is a product of how their brain is wired.

Human Noble: I will spend years rising to power through elaborate schemes--

Their Dragon Spouse: Or I could just crunch-snap a few of your competitors.

Human Noble: WE'VE HAD THIS TALK DEAR, NO CRUNCHING. Or snapping.

Thier Dragon Spouse: Suit yourself.

For Actual Dragons, this is more an issue for the Actual Humans around them then it is for them; even when they look human, they've still got a dragon-ish brain and while they might humor the humans they trust by following their lead, they really don't get all this social red tape going on.

For hybrid children, this can be a whole big issue, because shifting has physical effects on their brain structure, and something that made perfect sense when they were in their dragon form might suddenly look like a terrible horrible did-I-really-do-that idea when they're back to thinking through human wiring.

bb!Human Zuko: Okay, okay so I'm fighting father, that's not ideal but I just need to apologize and show that I mean it, surely this humiliation in front of the whole court is my punishment, once it's over I can work extra hard to get back in his good graces and make him see that hurting our people isn't right--

bb!Dragon Zuko, smelling the fresh scent of his own face burning: Fucker wants me and my hoard dead? Fucker is REMOVED from hoard, fucker gonna die. *launches his tiny wiggle body at Ozai's face*

Not-so-bb!Human Zuko, stuck on a ship: ...I'm pretty sure the part where I went wrong was the part where I permanently maimed him. In a public setting. After insulting him in front of his council. ...Father is very merciful to have let me live, I'll try Even Harder and one day he'll take me back and I can convince him to be merciful with our people as well--

Dragon Zuko: Fucker is not dead yet. Gotta fix that.

#the crew very pointedly pretends not the understand!Zuko's orders to set course for Caldera #because there is a much bigger dragon smiling at them #and putting his nephew in danger is very very low on their list #Scaled Over #problems have much easier solutions when you are a dragon #but Uncle would like to remind you that you are a SMALL dragon

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silveryinkystar · 4 years

Text

Some deleted scenes from my latest atla fic!

#1: In which Zuko adopts a dragon, and Mai really should be used to this by now

Just when she thinks he can’t surprise her anymore, Zuko goes and does something that proves her wrong. Like bringing home a baby dragon.

“I’m going to call you Druk,” he coos at the little coiled lump in his hands. “You’re lucky I’m here, otherwise Sokka might have called you something like Firebreather or Noodle.”

Mai has been introduced to Zuko’s turtleducks both before and after his banishment. Sokka’s not the only one who would be tempted to name a dragon Noodle.

“When Ty Lee said you wanted some time away,” Mai says conversationally, “I don’t think this is what she meant.”

He starts badly at her voice, but when he spins around to face her, he’s beaming widely. Spirits, he could light up the entire Fire Nation with that smile. “Mai! I thought you were coming back next week.”

“I got bored,” she repeats, smirking. “I missed Ty Lee, and gave my parents the slip when they said they were taking a detour. Seems like I wasn’t the only one who ran away. You’ve been up to a lot, hm?”

He chuckles. “Kind of,” he admits, and his expression turns serious. “The palace was getting to me, so I needed a break. I wasn’t intending on bringing Druk back, but I don’t mind.”

“Do the turtleducks like him?” she asks dryly.

“They love him. It’s weird, they’ve never actually seen a dragon before.”

“And you have? Before… Druk, I mean.”

He flushes, opens his mouth to speak, and closes it again.

“Zuko, that’s a yes or no question.”

“It’s… confidential?” he squeaks, flicking his gaze to the tiny hatchling winding around his hand, weaving around the limb before lying across Zuko’s shoulders like a very short scarf. It’s adorable.

She exhales. “When it stops being confidential,” she allows, “let me know before the others? And by that I mean the Fire Nation officials. I’m going ahead and assuming the Avatar and your other friends know.”

“Aang knows, but the others don’t,” Zuko corrects. “Of course I’ll tell you the whole story first.”

“Good.” She walks up to her best friend and embraces him tightly. He stiffens momentarily but hugs her back, careful not to dislodge Druk. “I didn’t just miss Ty Lee, you know.”

She can feel his smile against her shoulder. “I know. I missed you too, Mai.” He pulls away and holds her at an arm’s length. There’s a wicked smile on his face that’s somehow also completely devoid of malice. Not that she could ever see malice on him. “But you mostly missed Ty Lee.”

“One more word and you’ll find a knife on your royal person,” she warns.

#2: In which Sokka takes Zuko into the towns outside the Caldera to show him how much the place has changed

“You know what I think?”

Zuko hums and looks over from a scroll to his friend, who’s lounging on the bed with a map held above his head.

“I think the council members are jealous,” Sokka says.

Zuko raises his eyebrow. “What of?”

“Huh?”

“What would they be jealous of?”

“Oh,” Sokka exclaims, blinking in surprise. “They only have a few supporters among the nobility. Mostly in Caldera City. The people love you and your reforms, and your latest repeal of Sozin’s marriage laws won you even more favours among them.”

“There were more dissenters,” Zuko says with a frown. “I thought it was massively unpopular, even if it was the right thing to do.”

Sokka turns over and waves a hand vaguely at him, grinning like a fool. “See, that’s what I mean. You don’t care about popularity. You saw the marriage laws and knew that you couldn’t put boundaries on love, so you changed the rules. You found out why the war was wrong, and you ended it. Not without help, of course, but you did it all. You care about your people, and they know it.”

Zuko doesn’t know what to say to this, so he resorts to throwing a cushion at his friends face for having him confront feelings. His indignant yelp is a sound that leaves him chuckling for a good minute, so he lets it slide.

But the matter isn’t done yet, at least according to Sokka. On the last day of his visit, Zuko finds that there are no meetings scheduled for the day. He thinks he’ll spend some time in the gardens with his friend, like old times, but Sokka seems to have other plans.

“You guys have fun,” Suki says with a kiss to Sokka’s cheek and a clap on Zuko’s shoulder. “I’ll catch you later.”

Sokka pulls Suki into a proper kiss on the lips before he calls out a quick goodbye and drags Zuko out of the palace.

“Have you been to the towns and villages before?” Sokka asks as they make their way down the slope of the inactive volcano housing the capital city.

“Not nearly as much as I’d like,” Zuko admits. “I’ve been around the capital and Ember Island, but there wasn’t any reason for me to go down to the rest of the Fire Nation.” By reasons, he trusts Sokka understands that he means Ozai had strict rules to stay within the city limits.

“Huh. That’s not great.”

“I went to one of the towns once with my cousin, though,” he adds, expecting the familiar pang in his heart at the mention of Lu Ten before it hits him.

“He’s one of the good ones?” Sokka guesses.

Zuko smiles sadly. “He was like an older brother to me. You know, he was the one to tell Mom and Uncle that I was good with swords?”

“No way.”

“Ozai knew that I was leaving for a change in instructors,” Zuko continues, “but he never really cared either way at the time. He only really became a problem when Uncle and Lu Ten left to fight.”

“Ah.” Sokka rests a hand on his shoulder and squeezes lightly, and Zuko knows to draw comfort from the gesture. He misses Lu Ten dearly, but the sting of loss is numbed, now. He can think of his antics with his cousin during his early childhood without the accompanying sorrow threatening to overwhelm him.

They’re at the base of the volcano now, so Zuko slips up his hood. His hair is free of its topknot and falls over his scar so that he can blend with the crowd unremarkably. There’s no sign that he might be discovered, though, and no repercussions even if he is (except perhaps from his guards, but Ming won’t really mind once she understands why).

The first thing he notices are the sounds. There’s laughter, chatter, and the occasional yelling interspersed with off-key music. He’s already taken aback by how different it is from when Lu Ten helped him sneak out one night when his parents were away with Azula.

“I…”

Sokka smiles and loops an arm around his shoulders. “You haven’t seen anything yet, buddy. You’re going to love this.”

The wind blowing around them is cool enough to be uncomfortable, so Zuko tugs up his collar and raises his internal temperature to compensate. Sokka seems to be unaffected by the chill, which is only to be expected considering his friend spent most of his life in harsh southern winters. They stop every few paces to look at what the roadside stalls were selling, and more than once Sokka actively considers the merits and demerits of buying something they sell before deciding against them, moving forward, and darting back only to walk away again.

The fifth time this happens, Zuko finds a permanent solution in the fire-dancers performing in the streets. It’s his turn now to haul his friend over to them, and Sokka is all too willing to oblige as Zuko watches the performers exaggerate their movements with graceful bending.

“You know, this was pretty cool in the Fire Days Festival too – spirits, are you okay?”

From how distressed Sokka suddenly looks upon seeing his face, he automatically reaches up to touch the scar only to find his cheeks wet. He hadn’t even realised he was crying, but he scrambled for an explanation to keep the other boy from panicking.

“I used to watch the fire-dancers with my mother every year when we went to Ember Island,” he says, swiping at his eyes. “I always wanted to learn their bending style, it’s much more flowy than any other form of firebending. And… it’s been a while since the Fire Nation was this happy outside of festivals. And, well, Ember Island.”

Sokka nods slowly, but he doesn’t look any more placated.

“I guess it never really felt real to me,” Zuko mumbles, ducking his head as his eyes start to burn and glaze over once more. “I’m always stuck at meetings or fighting the council to pass a reform that would help my people, but…”

There’s a lump in his throat that stops him from speaking further, but Sokka leads him away from the crowd gently and finishes it for him.

“You never saw how your decisions impacted your people.”

Zuko manages a strangled chuckle. “They’re happy,” he whispers.

Sokka holds him an arm’s length away, hands firm on his shoulders. “That’s what I wanted to show you,” he says. “They’re healing, and they’re happy. I know most of the people you see are the ones who benefitted from the war, but when we were making our way to the capital before the eclipse, we noticed that it had left its mark on the Fire Nation too.”

Zuko nods, thinking about how he’d received news of an important weapons factory suddenly stopping production because of some problem with the river it was located on. He’d investigated it further and had declined to deliver that information to Ozai once he heard how badly the nearby town had fared.

“We’re the ones who instigated the war,” Zuko says, slumping against the wall of some building. “There were so few people who didn’t suffer for it.”

Sokka slides down next to him wordlessly. It’s not self-deprecating for him to say this – it’s the truth, and Zuko’s doing his best to make up for his ancestors’ terrible choices. They weren’t mistakes, not when each tragedy piled up on top of each other with the sickening, deliberate motive painting them red with blood.

He’s going to help the world heal, and if that starts by healing the Fire Nation? Well, that’s all for the better.

#atla #sil's stories #extras #fire lord of redemption arcs #MAI #boomerang and ideas guy #atla fic

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dancingkirby · 4 years

Text

Azula Week Day 5: Smiles

Summary: Zuko decides to invite all of his and Azula’s illegitimate half-siblings to the brunch on his and Mai’s wedding day. It goes less badly than Azula had feared.

Warnings/Notes: Multiple non-graphic references to past sexual abuse of multiple underage girls, leading to one death and one near-death in childbirth. (Don’t worry, it has a happy ending!). Classism, internalized misogyny, etc. on Azula’s part. OC-heavy. One GoT reference that sort of wormed its way in there under its own volition.

Word count: 2667 (longer than I had been anticipating!)

After many, many delays, the day of Zuko and Mai’s wedding was finally imminent. There, would, of course, be intense media coverage and a general holiday for the populace, as well as thousands of guests. However, Zuko had also come up with the idea to have a pre-wedding brunch for family and close friends only. This wouldn’t be so outlandish, except that to him, “family” included Ozai’s bastards…every single one that he could find.

“Even the commoners, Zuzu?” she had sighed when he broke the news. “It’s not a good image. People at court are already talking. We ought not to remind everyone of our baggage.”

“They’re not baggage, Azula,” he retorted. “They’re our siblings.”

“Half-siblings,” she corrected as she brushed a cherry blossom from her shoulder; they were sitting in the courtyard watching the decorations being put up.

Azula,” her brother admonished. He spent what seemed like an absurd length of time trying to figure out what to say next, looked to make sure the decorators weren’t eavesdropping, then added, “I’ve been to their houses, you know that. I’ve spoken with them personally, and I know all of their names and their stories. You don’t want to know what I found out.”

“Don’t I, brother?” Azula inquired in faux innocent tones. Zuko rubbed a knuckle against his forehead.

“Fine.” He conceded. “Here’s just one of the stories. There was a girl. Lian. Her father died suddenly, and her mother was sick a lot. So she and her older siblings had to find jobs in the palace so the family wouldn’t starve. She wasn’t even old enough to legally be hired, but they found work for her in the laundry under the table. Her job was to go from room to room, gathering the dirty clothes. I think you can see where this is going. And…she died giving birth. She was just a child.” Sparks flew out of his nose as he exhaled forcefully.

“You’re rambling, Zuzu. And watch the volume,” Azula stated almost without thinking. Internally, however, her mind was spinning. As much as she hated to admit it, Azula had not been prepared for that last part. Died? Five years ago, she would have dismissed Lian as not fit to live anyway. But now…she knew that she herself had been near death in that same situation, no matter how much the doctors had tried to sugarcoat it.

She was able to remain expressionless, however, and asked, “And the baby?”

“His name is Chun. The youngest of the bunch; just turned four. Cute kid.”

That would place his conception sometime in the weeks after the Day of Black Sun, during which Ozai had lost his last vestiges of self-control and everyone else in the palace suffered. For all she knew, Lian could have been one of the ones Azula herself had witnessed; she’d never bothered to find out any of their names.

“Any other dead?” she queried.

“No, thankfully. Many of the mothers have permanent medical problems, though. Some have turned to alcohol. A few of the kids were adopted out. Acknowledging and welcoming them and their children...well, it’s the least we can do. It’s the…”

Wait for it.

“honorable thing to do.”

And that was that. Once the h-word was added to the equation, there was no changing her brother’s mind.

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It was the morning of the big day. Zuko had decided to get the inevitable family photos done at the brunch, since Fire Nation weddings were lengthy and the smaller children would probably be tired after a long day of ceremonies. Currently, he and Mai were standing at the entrance to the courtyard, greeting the guests as they walked in.

There were twenty-one acknowledged bastards; everyone at court knew that. Zuko had managed to track down an additional twenty-three, and he wasn’t even certain that he’d found them all. This meant that their lord father had sired at least forty-six children…well, technically forty-seven, Azula thought as she fingered the footprint pendant on her necklace. Twenty-eight of those had been born during his not quite six-year reign as Fire Lord. Had she not known for herself how insatiable Ozai had been, she may have found the number mind-boggling.

What was more, their heretofore unacknowledged half-siblings tended to skew younger than the acknowledged ones. The noblemen of the court who were actually decent people (or at least concerned about marriage prospects) had started keeping their young daughters home a couple of years into Ozai’s reign. That meant a veritable flood of children ten and under, most of them having never come anywhere near the palace prior to this.

She nibbled on a green onion tartlet as she stood on a slight rise, surveying the goings-on in the courtyard. Some children were wandering around, looking at their surroundings with big eyes. A sizable group had been attracted by Ty Lee’s impromptu acrobatics performance. Ursa was sitting by the pond, commiserating with some of the young mothers. Kiyi had taken it upon herself to give people tours of the grounds whether they asked for it or not.

But…where was…?

Azula was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t even fully register the timid tug on her sleeve until it was repeated a few seconds later. She looked down for the source, and saw a small boy, wearing what must have passed for finery in whatever tiny village he came from.

“Bathrooms are that way,” she said for about the tenth time today as she pointed with her finger. But apparently that wasn’t the reason this child had sought her out.

“Are you the Princess?” he asked. Except the “r” sounded more like a “w.”

“I am,” she confirmed. Then she watched, bemused, as the kid sank into a kowtow with surprisingly good form for a child of that age…not to mention a peasant.

Azula would not smile. She would not smile.

“You may rise,” she told him automatically, with all the solemnity she would give to an adult. He sprang back up.

“Aunty said we have to do that if we see the Fire Lord or Fire Lady or Princess,” he explained in a rush. “I saw the Fire Lord and he said don’t do it, but I wanted to do it because I practiced!”

Pwacticed.

She…was smiling, wasn’t she? Damn.

“What is your name?” she asked him.

“Chun,” he answered. Azula had already had her suspicions when he had mentioned an aunt instead of a mother, and this confirmed them. This was the one Zuko had mentioned, whose mother had died.

“Well, Chun,” she said, “Your aunt was correct, generally speaking. However, Zuzu does have his hangups about etiquette. If you really want to pay obeisance, I would suggest a bow instead. Would you like to learn the correct form for that?”

“Yeah!” he cheered. Azula was quite sure that in the entire history of the world, no four-year-old had ever been as enthused about learning courtly manners.

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Chun had the three different depths of bowing down in about five minutes. Azula had always considered herself good at sniffing out potential, and this child had heaps of it. Perhaps one day he could find work as a palace bureaucrat, and even ultimately be appointed to a seat on the Fire Lord’s council. She supposed that Zuko’s incorrigible stubbornness had had some merit for once; otherwise, Chun’s talents would have been wasted among the riffraff. He was also tremendously eager to please, and refused to leave her side. Azula got the feeling that nobody paid much attention to him at home.

It almost made her wish that she hadn’t been so harsh toward Mai’s younger brother a few weeks ago. For someone who continued to know nothing about children except that they liked gross stories, she sure seemed to attract a lot of children.

As the two of them wandered back to where the main crowd was, Azula provided a running commentary about their various half-siblings.

“That woman in the glasses is Anshi, the oldest,” she informed Chun. “Great with numbers, and even beat Iroh at Pai Sho once. Very boring conversationalist, though. The lady in that hideous gown next to her is Zhilan. She can lightning bend, yet refuses to actually learn how to use it effectively because she prefers to spend her days arranging flowers and playing the erhu like a proper lady.” She shook her head.

“She’s fat!” Chun exclaimed brightly. Azula chuckled.

“Sssh. Well, to be fair, she doesn’t have my flawless physique, but actually she’s expecting her third child. Perhaps she thought that people would be so blinded by that monstrosity of an outfit that they wouldn’t notice?” She pulled Chun along before her vision was permanently ruined by what even Ty Lee would likely reject as too over-the-top. Although it was unclear how much of her gossip the child actually understood, he didn’t appear bored.

“There’s Ichiro; he’s skilled at archery and so aloof that he makes Mai seem warm and inviting. And…ugh, that’s Eri, stuck-up as ever. Do not go near her,” Azula cautioned. The girl apparently ruled over the Royal Fire Academy for Girls just as Azula herself had done a decade earlier, but unfortunately lacked the intellect to be anything more than a common bully. Best to give her a wide berth like Kiyi did.

“Who’s that?” Chun piped up while pointing at a pair of children dressed in bright red from head to toe.

“Those are Akane and Akemi. Twins. They’re the youngest of the Acknowledged, and they’re…”

Azula never got to say exactly what it was that Akane and Akemi were, since just then, there was a commotion at the courtyard entrance.

“Sorry I’m late!” yelled the new arrival. As she turned to greet the soon-to-be newlyweds, her face was somewhat obscured. However, Azula had no difficulty recognizing her. She’d know that short haircut anywhere.

Ruanyu. Azula’s breath caught in her throat. They hadn’t seen each other in nearly five years. After so long without any contact, she’d been starting to think that her half-sister was dead.

“How about you run over to the Fire Lord and show him your bow?” she asked Chun. He scampered off happily enough.

Azula was not anticipating that this would be a happy reunion. Once, they had been close, and Azula had even allowed Ruanyu to call her by her given name. However, she really had treated the girl more like a pampered yet disposable pet than anything else, and had all but forgotten her in the events leading up to Sozin’s Comet. In fact, she hadn’t remembered that she had left the girl to her own devices until months later, when she was in the hospital.

Then Ruanyu looked her way, paused for a split second, and began running toward Azula at top speed. Azula steeled herself, her heart racing. She remembered that the feisty little girl had held her own in sparring matches, and she was prepared to repel any firebending that might come her way.

What she was not prepared for was being nearly knocked off her feet by the sheer enthusiasm of her half-sister’s embrace. When they pulled apart, Azula attempted to remain stoic, but the sheer magnetism of Ruanyu’s famous ear-to-ear grin was too much for her to resist.

“I see you managed to escape,” she commented dryly.

“Yeah. My mom smuggled us out after the whole Phoenix King thing,” Ruanyu answered while shrugging, as if it were of no great importance.

Azula became painfully aware that everyone in the courtyard was watching them. In fact, Zuko was leading the spectators in some applause, Ty Lee ran over to get her hug, and Mai made a cough that sounded a lot like the word “Finally.”

“You knew about this, didn’t you?” Azula accused Zuko.

“We wanted it to be a surprise,” was all he said in response.

“It seems that you succeeded in something for once,” Azula remarked in as deadpan a tone as she could manage. Then, to Ruanyu, “Let’s go talk somewhere more private.” Ruanyu agreed, and they retreated to Azula’s favorite shady little enclave. Once they were out of earshot, Azula decided to cut right to the chase, as she looked at the face that was almost like looking in a mirror.

“If you’re angry at me, then say so. Don’t hold back on my regard.”

Ruanyu bit her lip as she considered.

“I was angry at you. Really angry for a while,” she commented. “But I decided to forgive you. Zuko told me about what Ozai did to you.” Her eyes hardened.

“Did he do anything to you?” Azula had to know.

“Nah. Well, he kept saying all this creepy stuff, but I was always faster than him,” Ruanyu replied. She was obviously trying to be casual, but not quite succeeding. She was sixteen; old enough to know that she had only just dodged a lightning bolt, and that others had not been as fortunate.

“And just what have you been doing these past years?” she inquired.

“Mom took us back to the village where she grew up. She wanted me to settle down with some boring man and raise a family. But that’s…not me. So I’ve been doing a lot of traveling, seeing the world,” Ruanyu explained. Yes, Azula remembered her half-sister’s thirst for adventure well. In fact, she had briefly considered taking the girl to the Earth Kingdom, but had decided against it since she knew that Ruanyu would never have gone along with taking Zuko and Iroh prisoner.

She asked, “Any plans for after the wedding?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Ruanyu answered. “I think I might stay at the palace again for a bit, then set off again. I’m interested in seeing that new city that Zuko and his friends are building; he told me that they’re looking for settlers.”

Someone cleared their throat behind them. “Did someone say my name?” Azula turned to see that Zuko was indeed present, with one twin hanging off each arm.

“Yeah, I was just telling Azula that I wanted to see Republic City.”

“Well, we’d be glad to have you there. But, uh, anyway, I came up here to tell you two that the photographer’s setting up. He has a prototype model of a new kind of camera; one that can take the picture instantly. I thought the younger kids might find it harder to stand still.”

“Don’t get him started on that special camera,” Mai chimed in as she walked up with Chun trailing behind her. “He’ll probably spend our entire wedding night talking about it.”

“Not the entire night,” Zuko protested.

“Oh, really? I suppose I will just have to make sure that you keep your word.”

Azula said, “There are children here, you two!” in almost perfect synchrony with Ruanyu’s “I don’t think I wanna hear this…” They must have pulled identical faces, since Akane exclaimed, “More twins!”

“Oops. Forgot about the kids,” mumbled Zuko. “So…yeah. Picture time.”

And so the soon-to-be-wed couple kissed as they temporarily parted; Mai had to leave to undergo the ordeal of getting dressed in her many-layered wedding outfit. (“If I’m really lucky, maybe it’ll actually get done sometime this decade,” she said.) Zuko eventually got the whole group of Ozai’s progeny rounded up. As her brother enlisted Sokka’s help to explain how the camera worked to those children who had never been photographed before, and Azula snuck appraising glances at the latter, she felt oddly at peace. They made for an odd collection of individuals indeed, but Zuko had been right just this once. That awful trial was behind them, and they were all stuck in this same recovery boat together.

After some time, they were all arranged in a more or less organized manner, and Azula made sure that her necklace would be clearly visible in the picture.

“Smile!” the photographer ordered.

And, as they saw weeks later when the developed pictures were sent to them, nearly everyone had. Even Azula.

#azulaweek2020 #azula #atla #I think we all know that Azula and Sokka hooked up that night

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makeste · 5 years

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BnHA Bonus Rant # 5: All for One for All

Okay guys, so ever since I first read chapter 217, I’ve been thinking about certain One for All things and going “hmm” a bunch. Like so:

hmmm.

hmmmmmmmmm.

And like. I’ve had these bits and pieces of some kind of theory for a while now, and I think I’m finally ready to try and put them together.

So I’m gonna try to make this as straightforward as possible. First off, here’s the “official” story as far as we have been told:

AFO steals a “power-stockpiling” quirk from User X and gives it to his brother (henceforth referred to as Lil Bro).

The power-stockpiling quirk fuses together with Lil Bro’s own latent quirk, which happens to be a passing-down quirk similar to All for One.

The newly created quirk, One for All, allows the user to stockpile power within the quirk and then pass the quirk on to a new user, who in turn can then pass it on to another user, and then another, etc., all the while accumulating more and more power.

Fast-forward a century or two. All Might, the eighth user of OFA, passes the quirk down to a new successor, Midoriya Izuku. Izuku eventually becomes the first user to unlock another secret power hidden within OFA this whole time -- the ability to use the past users’ quirks.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Anyway, so that’s basically it. This is what we’ve been led to believe up till this point.

So now, here’s my alternate take.

AFO steals what he believes to be a minor strength-enhancing quirk from User X. However, upon stealing it, he realizes he’s fallen victim to one of the classic blunders: namely, that if a quirk relies on some kind of “stockpiled resource” so to speak, he can only steal the quirk itself, and not said resource along with it. Much like another quirk-copier we know of:

So now AFO is stuck with some useless quirk that does fuckall for him, and wondering what to do with it. And then a light bulb goes off in his head. Of course! He has an annoyingly rebellious brother he’s been meaning to try and persuade to see things his way... by force, if necessary.

He doesn’t want to give his brother anything too strong, of course. Ostensibly out of kindness and concern for Lil Bro’s fragile state, but in reality he probably just didn’t want him to ever be able to oppose him.

But a quirk like this? One that doesn’t actually do anything? That’s pretty much perfect. He can force his brother to submit to him without ever granting him any actual power. So he gives Lil Bro this supposedly useless quirk, thinking that this is the moment when he’ll finally succeed in getting his brother to join him.

But instead, two things happen which AFO did not expect. Two things which, quite unknown to him, will ultimately work to seal his doom.

Let’s backtrack for a sec and examine just what that power-stockpiling quirk is. It’s actually pretty powerful stuff! Basically it seems like it gradually stores up someone’s power over time and then lets them use that accumulated power in bursts.

But as we now know thanks to Deku, that’s not all that it stores up.

Okay, so now just… hear me out.

All for One steals User X’s quirk. Unbeknownst to AFO, upon being stolen, said quirk immediately goes to work doing what it’s been designed to do: stockpiling the power of its current user. It no longer has the accumulated power of User X, because as we made note of earlier, power can’t be transferred through that method. It is, however, still a perfectly fine quirk, and it’s got a new user now. And so as far as the quirk is concerned, it’s back to business as usual. It’s accumulating power once again, this time from a new wielder: All for One.

So that is Thing # 1 That All For One Does Not Expect.

And here’s Thing # 2.

Like I said -- you can’t transfer accumulated power through stealing or copying or otherwise duplicating someone else’s quirk. For whatever reason, it just can’t be done.

But.

A WILD LOOPHOLE APPEARS ohhhhhh shit.

Listen, I don’t know why this is, but it is, though. We already know; we’ve seen it in action. One for All can be transferred from user to user with its power bundled in free of charge. It’s the only quirk we’ve seen thus far that’s capable of doing that. It is possibly unique in this. But it only works if the user wills the power to be transferred. Otherwise it will not happen. And All for One, in his arrogance and hubris, did in fact willingly grant this power to his younger brother.

So here, finally, is what I’ve been trying to get at. I don’t think Lil Bro actually ever had a quirk after all. I think our boy really was quirkless. That passing-down quirk he supposedly had? The one that supposedly fused together with the power-stockpiling quirk to create One for All?

Well, I think said fusion actually took place when AFO was still in possession of the quirk. In other words, I think One for All actually is All for One.

We have a quirk that stockpiles its users’ power and “quirk factors.” All for One was in possession of that quirk. It stockpiled his power. It stockpiled his quirk. And then without realizing it, he passed that power on to his younger brother. The quirk, along with whatever power it had accumulated from him.

One for All is literally All for One. The power to grant quirks from one person to another comes directly from AFO’s power. No other quirk has the ability to do that. We have copy abilities and shapeshifting abilities and clone abilities, and all of these are capable of duplicating others’ quirks to some extent. But none of these powers is capable of granting quirks to other people. The only abilities we have seen that are capable of that are One for All, and All for One. That’s not a coincidence.

Know what else isn’t a coincidence? The fact that Deku all of a sudden possesses multiple quirks. Not temporarily, but permanently and with no apparent restrictions other than his own ability and stamina. Again, that’s a power we’ve only seen in the hands of one other individual before now.

Yeeeeeeeeah.

So yeah. That’s my theory. This entire time, One for All has not actually been an “offshoot” of All for One, but is in fact All for One itself. And AFO has, ironically, been the originator of OFA this whole time. He is the first wielder of OFA. His brother is the second.

Oh hey wait, yeah. So about that. You know how All Might has been really fucking reluctant to bring up the topic of All for One, even now that he’s finally been ~defeated~ and locked up in Tartarus? Like, remember that one panel I was going “hmmmm” at earlier? “I didn’t want to raise that point…”

Well I think that might be because...

Which would mean... well...

Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah.

So yeah, Deku. Hate to break it to you kid, but you might in fact have a certified evil dude currently taking up residence in that big ol’ hero brain of yours.

“But makeste,” you point out, “we’ve already seen the other vestiges and none of them look like AFO, and also there are only eight of them and if AFO was included, wouldn’t that make it nine?” All of which are good points which I will acknowledge. But in turn please consider:

(1) AFO has a gazillion quirks, including at least one that’s capable of altering his physical body and appearance (namely, whatever de-aging quirk he’s using). He could be invisible. He could be in disguise. He could in fact even be in disguise as a certain explosive boy whom Deku instinctively trusts! That one’s a bit out there, I admit, but frankly all of the theories related to That Silhouette are pretty out there so I’m willing to roll with it. But my point is basically that there are lots of possibilities here.

And (2), we don’t actually know jack shit about the past users of OFA. We only know Deku is the ninth because each user apparently kept count, because at least they were capable of doing that much. But All Might doesn’t know anything about any of the users prior to number six (whom he only had a vague description of, not even a name), so at some point all of that history was lost. It’s possible that they were keeping track of it but then Shimura or someone else purposely destroyed the information and didn’t pass it along to Toshinori in order to keep the other predecessors’ families safe. She gave up her own family for the same reason, so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch.

But my point being, we don’t actually know that there were in fact eight users following Lil Bro. There may well have only been seven, and they just assumed there were eight because everyone caught at least a vague glimpse of the Vestiges once or twice during their time, and they all counted a certain number of people, and so they assumed (quite correctly) that that’s how many past generations of OFA there were. Their only mistake was thinking that Lil Bro was the first, rather than the second.

What else. -- Oh, the thing with OFA being passed down via DNA transfer rather than by touch can probably be handwaved, tbh. That may have been because Lil Bro only received a little bit of AFO’s power and not the full-blown deal initially. Or it could just be that since saying “here, eat my hair” did work, they never thought to question whether it could be passed down via other methods too. But in either case, it may well be that Deku is capable of doing the touch thing and much more now that AFO has been churning about deep within OFA’s core for a couple centuries, and has, just like the other quirks, gradually been growing stronger this whole time. It may well be that All for One 2.0, Version: Deku is finally ready to rumble.

And if so? If he is? Well then that may just be the perfect solution to this whole damn mess. How do you stop a villain with unlimited power? Particularly if he does finally obtain a healing factor quirk at some point in the game and is restored to his former glory? There’s really only one way I can think of: give him a taste of his own medicine. Fire Lord Ozai style. Set a thief to catch a thief. Poetic fucking justice.

So that’s about it, I think. This is my current theory about OFA and AFO. This also means that, just in time for Father’s Day, I’m now pretty sure that AFO is not in fact actually Deku’s dad (and I may possibly owe @addermoray a beer). Or at least, the one theory probably isn’t true if the other is. So yeah, congratulations Deku, you get to pass on all of the I’m-secretly-the-son-of-my-greatest-nemesis angst after all! In exchange, you get my-greatest-nemesis-is-currently-inhabiting-part-of-my-soul angst instead. Heh. Have fun with that there, kiddo.

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zutaradreams · 4 years

Text

Day 3: Season 4 Zutara

AO3 Part 2

“Can you heal minds?” Zuko asks Katara to help him with Azula; To be continued tomorrow

“I abandoned her.”

“No, you didn’t.”

“When the news broke that Aang defeated my father, I felt victory. But when we fought Azula...well, did you feel victorious?”

She remembered how Azula writhed like an animal in chains, and how she screamed the most heart wrenching shriek, all while Zuko’s weight pressed against her as he struggled to his feet from the brutal wound that should have killed him.

“No.”

“I was lucky, now that I think about it. I had my uncle. I had been banished. I had the freedom to understand the world in a way Azula never could. My inclinations had already been challenged, but when Azula was finally forced to face the same realities, she couldn’t handle it.”

“So you want me to take a look at her?”

Can you heal minds, his desperate letter had asked her. It was the first letter they’d received addressed to her. All the others went to Aang. But Zuko wrote her a letter that told her Azula’s madness was now her permanent state. His worry for his sister bled off the page and seeped into this evening meal they shared. He wanted to know if there was any hope for her at all.

Another time, when there was less on his mind, she would tell him she was worried about Aang too, and the new darkness thriving inside him since he stole Ozai’s bending away. Another time, she would admit she was afraid of him.

“If you’re comfortable with it. I just want to know if her brain is suffering some kind of physical trauma, or if it’s all mental.”

“I’ll do it. First thing in the morning.”

“Thank you, Katara.”

She shuddered. The last time he said that she had started his heart back up in her hands. That whole battle would forever be something only the two of them understood.

Azula didn’t acknowledge her at all when she went to see her the next morning. She just stared at the metal bars of her cell door.

“We have to lock you in,” a guard said. “Just yell if you need to get out.”

She swallowed down the bile. She could be strong. She could do this for Zuko. “Hi, Azula, I’m just here to make sure you don’t have any injuries.”

Azula didn’t move.

“I’ll, um, start with your hands.” Katara reached for one, but Azula ripped her hand away and screamed. Katara jerked back. She was deathly afraid Azula would shoot a wave of fire at her, but she didn’t. She only screamed. The sound reverberated off the damp walls of her iron cell and surged the fear Katara had struggled to suppress.

Then as suddenly as she started, she stopped. Katara exhaled deeply. “I’m sorry I grabbed you. I wasn’t thinking.”

Azula didn’t respond, but as Katara looked into the blank depths of her eyes, she realized Azula’s hair was a knotted mess. Matted clumps collected at the nape of her neck, and jagged bangs fell in her eyes. “I bet no one’s done your hair, have they?”

So Katara came back with a wide-tooth comb, special soaps, and hair oils. She spent two hours bending water through her hair and detangling the weeks-old knots, smoothing her hair back to a healthy condition. Azula didn’t fight her once, and it gave her the perfect opportunity to probe healing hands against her temples. It would hurt Zuko to know there was nothing out of the ordinary, nothing that could be fixed with her “magic water”.

When she finished, Azula lifted her fingers and ran them through the freshly-combed strands. “Mother,” she called, the first word she had spoken all day.

“No, it’s not Mother. I’m a friend of Zuko’s.”

Azula smiled. “Zuzu.”

“Yes, Zuzu. Get some sleep. I’ll be back later.”

The spices on the chicken burned the back of her throat. She tried some of the soup to wash it down.

“So, no physical trauma.”

“Not that I saw.”

He struck his palm into his forehead. “I don’t know what to do for her. I’ve had all kinds of sanatorium physicians talk to her. None of them recommended anything but keeping her locked up for the rest of her life!”

“While I do admit she isn’t stable now, I don’t think it’ll be like this forever.”

“You always have hope.”

She rolled her eyes at him, though she didn’t take offense. “Do you know why I have hope right now?”

“Why?”

“Because she smiled when I said your name.”

The next day, Katara combed Azula’s hair, and after, she gathered it all in her hands and styled it into a neat topknot.

“I have something for you,” Katara said. She didn’t ask Zuko for Azula’s crown. She wanted to stray away from the influence of their father and recover her memories of her mother. Those memories seemed to be from a more pleasant time. She brought with her one of Ursa’s hair combs and held it out for Azula to see.

“Look, it’s Mother’s.”

Azula tentatively held her palm out. Katara placed the hair comb in her palm, thinking about how excited she would be to tell Zuko over dinner that night. Then her fist clenched around the comb, and flames erupted from her hands. The melted comb flew towards Katara’s head along with a burst of fire. She ducked as Azula bent formations randomly around the cell.

The guards got her out of there as fast as they could.

“I should have known it would be a bad idea as soon as you asked for that comb. Azula hated our mother.”

“Zuko, it’s not your fault.”

“Did she hurt you?”

“No.”

“Are you sure? Her guards told me it was the most she had firebent since she was put in there.”

Her face lit up, despite it all. “Maybe that’s a good thing! Maybe it’s good for her to get all that anger out.”

“I’d agree...if she was directing the flames far away from you.”

“You don’t have to worry about me. You have enough to worry about, Fire Lord.”

He shook his head at her. “I worry about the nation as my job. I get to worry about you recreationally.”

She tried a different strategy on the third day when she went to do Azula’s hair. This time, she wouldn’t mention Ozai, or Ursa, just--

“Zuzu sent me to check on you.”

“Zuzu.”

“He wants to make sure you’re eating.” She wasn’t. Her untouched food usually stayed right where the guards dropped it off, and nobody was going to force feed her.

Katara picked up a spoonful of oatmeal. It looked terribly unappetizing, but it was food, and Azula’s cheeks were looking rather sunken. She pressed the spoon to Azula’s lips and watched her swallow the bite. She wouldn’t hold the spoon herself, no matter how many tricks Katara tried, but Katara did manage to get her to eat every bite.

Then Azula threw it all up. Katara patted her back as she cried and murmured soothing words as she expelled all the oatmeal and painfully heaved up bile after the oatmeal was gone. Katara used her waterbending to wash away the mess. She would need the guards to bring more food and water.

Azula sat in the middle of the floor with vomit in her nose, on her clothes, stuck to her mouth. “Is he okay?”

“Who, Azula?”

“It smells so bad.”

“You just threw up. Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

“Is he okay?” she asked again as Katara used her sleeve to clean Azula’s face.

“Let’s make sure you’re okay.”

“That’s what happens when you disobey. Suffering will be your teacher. Did you see his face?”

His face? “Zuko?”

“Did you see his face?”

“Yes, Azula, I saw his face.”

“Is he okay?”

She patted her back again. “Yes, he’s okay.”

Azula stopped crying long enough for Katara to get her to drink some water. Soon after, she got some more oatmeal and fed her a quarter of the bowl to prevent her stomach from getting too full and have the same thing happen again.

“My name’s Katara,” she said to her because it dawned on her that Azula might not know. “I’m Katara. You’re Azula. You’re okay. Zuko’s okay.”

Azula said nothing.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I appreciate all the time you’re putting into her care.”

“Of course.”

“I should be the one to do it.”

“You don’t have the time,” she reminded him. “But maybe you could go to see her. You seem to be the only one she cares anything about.”

“She hates me. She doesn’t want to see me. She shot me with lightning.”

But she didn’t mean to. She was aiming for me. “If you have the time, go see her.”

“I will.”

“Promise?”

“Katara--”

“Come on, Fire Lord.”

“Fine. I promise.”

On the fourth day, she talked and talked, trying to coax some sort of response out of Azula. It was a bit like talking to a baby, talking and talking to someone who couldn’t reply. Azula stared blankly at her as Katara styled her hair, changed her linens, fed her small bites of food.

“I have an older brother too. Can I tell you a secret? I love him more than anyone in the whole world. If something ever happened to him, I don’t think I’d be okay. I’d go on, but part of me would be missing for the rest of my life.”

Katara was young. Until she was fourteen years old, there hadn’t been a world outside her family and her village. She loved everyone she met; they’d become a part of her family, but Sokka was the one she’s spent most of her life with. Until she started her own family, he would always be the most important to her. They would always understand each other better than anyone else.

She was lost in thought, wondering what everyone else was up to, spoon feeding another bite into Azula’s mouth, when Azula reached out and burned the wrist of the arm holding the spoon.

“You will learn, and suffering will be your teacher.”

Katara cried out, but Azula’s fiery hand grasped her harder. Tears of pain sprang to her eyes, and she wrenched away from her just in time for the guards to pull her out. One of the guards delivered a blow to Azula’s head, and Azula fell limply to the floor.

“You didn’t have to do that!” Katara shouted at him, while the rest of her could only register the white-hot pain surging from her wrist. Against her better judgment, she looked down. The sight of the blistering, bloody skin made her stomach turn. She needed to work on this quickly.

“The Fire Lord must be notified.”

“No, please the Fire Lord is busy.”

“He told us to inform him immediately if any incident like this occurred.” The guard critically glanced at her wrist. “It clearly has. You have to be taken to the palace physician at once.”

“I can heal it,” she insisted. She just needed some cool, clean water. She didn’t need a physician to rub salves on it, or Zuko to tell her never to visit Azula again. This was just a setback. It didn’t mean there wasn’t any hope for Azula. Just like it didn’t mean there wasn’t any hope for Aang.

She did end up agreeing to see the physician, so long as she was given a chance to heal it first. She soaked the blistered skin in cool water to soothe it and set to work on healing the skin. It was not as easy as when Aang burned her while he was learning. Those burns were minor compared to this one. She was able to ease some of the pain and keep the blisters from thickening, but the physician would need to rub a salve on it to prevent infection. The physician also had the proper bandages.

The physician, named Sazura, was bandaging the wound when Zuko came in dressed head-to-toe in his Fire Lord regalia. “She burned you?”

“Just a little bit on my wrist.”

“The guards said she held onto you and wouldn’t let go.”

“I was able to get away from her. It’s okay, Zuko. It’s just a little burn.”

Sazura added, “My Lord, with Lady Katara’s accelerated healing, I expect it to heal completely in less than a week.”

This information did nothing to calm the worried look in Zuko’s eyes. Once the physician finished wrapping Katara’s wrist, she recommended the lady get some rest. It was the only other medicine she prescribed Katara. Zuko offered to walk Katara back to her room.

“I’m not tired.”

“Then take a walk with me.”

“Don’t you have work to do?” It was the middle of the day. Zuko was usually stuck in back-to-back meetings, pouring over documents, seeking advice. He never had time to walk in the middle of the day.

“Not right now.”

She agreed to go with him. They ended up wandering into some part of the palace she hadn’t had the chance to visit in her relatively short stay. It was a grand room filled wall-to-wall with tapestries of the history of the Fire Nation.

“I wish you wouldn’t see her again.”

“Zuko, please don’t lose hope.”

“Katara, I can accept that I’m never going to get my sister back. I can make peace with that. I don’t want anything to happen to you. You don’t need to risk yourself for a lost cause.”

“I don’t think she’s a lost cause! You don’t either! I know you don’t. You never would have asked me here in the first place if you thought she was.”

“I want her bending taken away, just like my father.”

“No!” Katara shouted at him. “You can’t do that. You don’t get to decide who gets to bend and who doesn’t. You don’t understand how dangerous that kind of power is.” There were tears in her eyes just thinking about it.

“What do you mean?”

It felt like a betrayal to even say it out loud. “Aang’s not the same.”

“Not the same how?”

“He has these awful dreams at night. He swears they’re memories of your father’s life, and when he wakes in the middle of one of them, he’s merciless and sadistic and destructive. He’s terrifying, and there’s no snapping him out of it until he wakes up completely. No Avatar has ever taken another’s bending before. There’s no one to help him understand the consequences of what he did. There’s no one to help him heal. You can’t ask him to do it again.”

“Then I won’t.”

“Thank you.” She hugged him. She needed a hug.

“We’re going to figure out what’s going on with Aang,” he assured her, rubbing his hand soothingly along her back. “I wish you’d told me sooner.”

“He wanted me to keep it a secret.”

“That’s too much of a burden to put on you,” he said gently. She knew she needed to pull away from him soon, but his arms were too comforting. “Is that why you came here? You thought if you could figure out how to help Azula, you could figure out how to help Aang?”

She squeezed him tighter one last time before she let go. “No. I came here for you.” She looked down at her bandaged wrist and sighed. “I didn’t think the end of the war was going to be like this.”

“Neither did I. I imagined a lot less chaos.”

“Yeah, I was hoping for more parties. Some nice festivals.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice?” he mused along with her before he steered the conversation back to reality. “When Azula burned you, was it an accident, do you think?”

“No. I wish it was. She said ‘suffering will be your teacher’ like she knew what she was doing.”

Zuko tensed, and his eyes turned cold. “What did she say?”

Did she even need to repeat herself? From his reaction, she was sure he already knew. “‘Suffering will be your teacher.’ She said it before a couple days ago when she threw up after eating. What does it mean?”

He didn’t reply at first.

“Zuko, what does it mean?”

“It’s what my father said before he burned me.”

An answer to a question she never asked, though she wondered a million times. Zuko, how did you get your scar? Now so many more questions. He was gone before she could ask them.

#zutarafic #zutaramonth #zutaradreams #zutara month 2020 #zutara

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royaltealovingkookiness · 5 years

Note

I was wondering, could you do an analysis on Zuko’s fever dream where he sees himself as the avatar? I feel like it’s incredibly significant, but I can’t articulate why. Thanks in advance if you decide to!

Sure.

It’s one of those Aang-Zuko parallels that run through the entire series. Zuko’s fever dreams mirror Aang’s spiritual journey working through his chakras in the Guru.

In 2.01, The Avatar State sets up both Zuko’s and Aang’s attachments that hold them back from their destinies: for Zuko it’s his craving for Ozai’s love and approval, for Aang, it’s his attachment to Katara.

Zuko starts his journey, symbolically cutting off his ponytail and as he travels through Earth Kingdom (and deep down the rabbit hole of the truth about the war) we see his ties with the Fire Nation and his faith in his mission gradually weaken. It’s a lot of raw, unprocessed experiences of seeing people hurt, families torn apart, poverty, violence and it makes no sense in light of the propaganda he was taught, but it’s not something he’s ready to confront consciously.

And then comes his decision of freeing Appa. It’s more than just one selfless act. Zuko is giving Aang the means to leave Ba Sing Se, and to put himself out of Zuko’s reach pretty much permanently. It’s giving up his search. It’s giving up his dream of fixing his own life, going home and things “going back to normal”. It’s not a small thing - it’s Zuko breaking through his ego and his own desires that made him get through the last 3 years to do something selfless and altruistic.

On top of this, he goes into Appa’s lair as the Blue Spirit, but when Iroh comes after him, he drops the mask. So he takes the decision to free Appa as himself, not having the mask anymore to dissociate himself from his actions. Surely, it’s liberating in a way to let go, but for someone whose entire self-perception is built on never giving up, this must feel like being a quitter. It feels both terribly right and wrong at the same time.

As Iroh says, it’s Zuko’s “critical decision, what you did beneath that lake…it was in such conflict with your image of yourself, that you are now at war within your own mind and body.” It releases spiritual energy that activates his kundalini - check out this meta - working its way through his body. Because Zuko is not doing this through conscious meditation, but through unprocessed decisions, his body is unable to handle this sudden energy and his mind is equally unable to process deliberately the repressed, festering doubts and conflicts. So he falls into a fever dream, to help the metamorphosis.

Now I would rather focus on the narrative symbolism, rather than the chakra discussion.

The Dragon scene

We see Zuko’s perfect image of himself - the one he was holding onto. A scarless, unblemished Fire Lord, spitting image of his father, surrounded by all the trappings and symbols of wealth and power. It’s his dream of having his honor returned, of things turning back to normal. It’s the redemption he thinks Ozai can give him.

The red and blue dragons are shaped like the kundalini, the spiritual energy working inside him. It’s interesting that Zuko’s inner voices are Azula and Iroh - they are the two most important influences in his life - the “perfect” v “failure”, the “ruthless” v “kind”, the “insider” v “outcast” (Ozai is an absence). He will have to choose between them. Azula’s Blue Dragon tries to lull his consciousness back into sleep, to keep him stuck with this “past image” of himself. While Iroh’s red dragon urges him to leave this place behind, to keep awake for his “new self”.

The Blue Dragon almost manages to lull him back to sleep, but Ursa appears in the darkness, dressed as she was when she left and Zuko sees his own reflection through her eyes. I think it’s a throwback to the promise he made to her that we saw in Zuko Alone - that he wouldn’t forget who he truly is. Seeing this Ozai-like reflection of himself through Ursa’s eyes helps him to let go, but it’s also a leap into the darkness. It foreshadows how his mother’s image helps him to walk away in Book 3.

2. The elements

As we see Zuko struggle through the fever, all the elements are around him. He’s not who he was anymore, he’s new self is forged through his experiences and everything he learnt in the past years.

The past image of himself that he clings to is surrounded by fire, just like his past and identity is linked with fire. The blue and red dragons symbolize how the element has both negative and positive influence in his life.

The symbol of his transformation is water. It cleanses, soothes him through the worst of the fever. And water plays a big role in changing him. His entire Book 1 journey is the push and pull of different influences, pitting his mission to capture Aang against his better instincts of being loyal to his uncle, to consider his crew, to even being compassionate to his enemies. The Blue Spirit is born of water.

His physical struggle is all earth colors of green and brown of the room and his blankets. It’s his physically exacting journey through the Earth Kingdom when he learns not only the limits of his own endurance and resilience, but also that of the common people. He shares their suffering and it’s going to be crucial in his redemption.

3. The “Avatar-self” Scene

As his body works through the fever, his new self - or more accurately a possible version of an ideal, awakened self - emerges. We get a glimpse through the mirror, who Zuko could be if he managed to open his Crown Chakra. This self is a completely bared down version of himself, free of his earthly attachments of wealth and pomp. He is bald and bears an airbender tattoo. He looks hauntingly similar to Aang - to remind us of the illusion of separation, and to point Zuko towards his true destiny. Air is of course the element of freedom, of spirituality and embracing it opens up the possibility of reconciliation between the Avatar and the Fire Lord. This foreshadows the Book 3 Zuko who leaves everything behind to go help the Aang.

This self is also scarless, just like Zuko’s past image, which is an important piece of foreshadowing. Zuko cannot be this person until he is free of his scar somehow.

4. Awakening

When he wakes up, his hand goes immediately to his eyes. And it’s both sadness and relief that the scar is still there. He’s in conflict of who he wants to be. It foreshadows his entire scene in the cavern - he wants to be free to choose, despite his scar, but is unable to do it, because it still defines him. Zuko needs to heal to embrace this awakened self. But the healing he needs is not the physical one that Katara offers, but a spiritual one, which he himself started, but didn’t fully achieve.

Iroh’s love and caring (and tea) gets him through this experience, like it did his banishment, but his love also cannot heal the scar.

Only Zuko himself can do it. His healing is only complete when he confronts his father, lets go of his attachment to Ozai and refuses to be defined by his abuse anymore. That’s when he becomes the “beautiful prince” he was meant to be.

#atla #atla meta #rtk #zuko #fever dream #the earth king #2.18

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thenightwolf51 · 4 years

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I really like the idea of some benders being able to transform into the original benders of their element. @muffinlance has explored this idea a bit with her Dragon!Zuko AU, but I was thinking about how interesting it would be if it wasn't just dragons. Although whereas in Muffin's AU it seems more like they are actual dragon who can walk as a human and change when they touch fire, I'm thinking more along the lines of humans who can shape shift at will. It would be a somewhat rare gene, there's a chance someone born in the fire nation is a fire bender and an even smaller chance that a fire bender can shift. Imagine:

Air Nomads

Young air benders who can shift into sky bison learning how to fly in their bison forms from either other shifters or regular bisons.

A non-shifter riding on their best friend's or older sibling's back as they travel together.

Another reason for the nomads to be vegetarians, bison are herbivores and meat just doesn't sit right in their stomachs whether they can shift or not.

If Aang's a shifter I can imagine a tiny Bison!Aang curled up against Appa's side as they sleep.

Maybe Monk Gyatso wasn't a shifter and Aang was learning to fly from or with Appa, who loves his small heard brother no matter what form he's in.

Aang laughing or responding to Appa's grumbles (sometimes Appa's not really saying anything but Aang will respond anyway to mess with Sokka)

Water Tribe

Water benders who can shift becoming faint figures of dancing moonlight or rippling water

Moonlight shifters getting into rooms through the beams of light that spill in from the windows or the gaps under the doors

Water shifters shifting as they're attacked by fire benders because, while it still hurts, evaporating a little bit is a better and less permanent option then a burn to the skin

Moonlight shifters needing less and less sleep the fuller the moon gets

Water shifters sleeping better on boats or in hammocks because they can rock with the push and pull of the moon

Water shifters hiding themselves in bodies of water or as large puddles when they are being stealthy (imagine a shifter among the swamp benders, a lilly pad on their greenish watery head as they peak up from the swamp and get ready to pounce on a giant fly or possum chicken)

Water shifters in the north who stand still for too long in their water forms gaining a thin layer of ice on the outside of their bodies

If Katara is a shifter I gotta believe that she has followed Sokka around as a rain cloud at least once when he's annoyed her

Maybe moonlight shifters can hear the things Yue whispers to them

Earth Kingdom

Earth benders who can shift into badgermoles building underground sections of their towns or homes

Toph shifting for the first time when she ran away and met real badgermoles (her parents adamantly ignoring this part of her because they are wealthy nobles and see shifting into hairy creatures improper)

Maybe earth kingdom shifters are even rarer than usual because they tend to be born blind like badgermoles

the Beifongs adamantly ignoring the existence of other blind benders because their daughter is simply to small and delicate to take care of herself like those beasts

Earth kingdom shifters prefering to be underground

Shifters being drawn to music and easily geting melodies stuck in their heads

The purple badgermole tattoo The Boulder has on his back is his mother

Fire Nation (pretty much the same as in Muffin's AU)

Fire benders that can shift into dragons being protective over the things (or people) they hoard

Shifters' dragon forms molting as they grow and feeling ichy in their human forms around that time

Dragon skin, scales, or molts being valuable on the black market for their fire proof quality

The royal family has had many shifters born into it (Ozai is not a dragon but of course he's not jealous or anything, he's the Phoenix King)

Sozin probably still does the dragon hunts because he views shifters as superior to real dragons

Shifters liking their food just a little bit more chared

The Avatar isn't always a shifter but when they are it's always the element they were born into. Kyoshi wasn't a shifter but Roku was.

(Also highly recommend checking out @muffinlance, everything she writes is amazing. You can find her on both FF and Ao3, my top favourites are Salvage, Cheating at Pai Sho, and Little Zuko v the World)

#atla au #au #au idea #inspired by muffinlance #avatar the last airbender #atla #atla zuko #zuko #dragon zuko #dragon!zuko #katara #aang #sokka #toph beifong #toph

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bellatrixobsessed1 · 4 years

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Mutilated Mannequin (Part 8)

Azula wishes that she would have had the lip injections done first. They are much simpler, more manageable. She is fully awake, and thankful that she won’t have to deal with the groggy after effects of full anesthesia. Instead she is given an initial injection that numbs her mouth.

She is still somewhat nervous, she has seen some rather unsavory before and after images. But Dr. Guhira makes small talk that keeps her mind from wandering too far. She is under the impression that he can sense trepidation. He has probably performed enough operations to know how to spot it.

She tells him about homecoming and about how his work has been good enough to earn her a date.

He laughs, “you give me too much credit, Azula. You have a personality that leaves an impression, take that into account.”

Azula musters a half smile.

She sees the needle and thinks of the picture of the former model whose lips looked cartoonishly swollen, as though she was attacked by a swarm of bees. Her smile fades. She pulls up the image on her phone. “How does this happen?”

“Malpractice.” Dr. Guhira says simply. “The use of cheap or shady injection material. I will be using hyaluronic acid fillers. They are safer than the older methods, that they last longer and come with less side effects.”

Azula shudders at the name, “acid?”

“Hyaluronic acid is a natural substance found in the body. It can be used to treat burns.” Dr. Guhira explains. “It isn’t as intimidating as it sounds.”

She decides to take his word for it, though she still has no love for needles.

It does help to have her father in the room for once. She wonders if it is a reward for showing up without protest. He doesn’t speak much but his presence alone is somehow a comfort.

“This is going to be very quick.” Dr. Guhira notes as he marks the places where he will make the injections. “The healing process will also be quicker; a few days at most.”

She watches him discard a used needle and unbox a new one. At least the man knows what he’s doing. He puts a pair of latex gloves on and steps forward again. “There will be some similarities.” He pauses. “Some swelling and some possible bleeding at the injection sites. Nothing to be alarmed over. Just keep the area clean and watch out for infection. There might be some redness around the area. The worst of it will be a few cold soars.”

It sounds much less tedious and much less painful, again she wonders why she hadn’t started with the lip augmentation.

“Of course there are some rarer side effects. Most commonly is an allergic reaction. It is also possible that the swelling can last for a week or so.”

“Don’t scare her out of this.” Ozai grumbles.

“I’d like to know what I’m in for, father.”

“Do your research after the injections.”

She wants to tell him that most people do their research before having a procedure done.

“I’ve already looked it up for myself, you have nothing to worry about. The more serious risks are the result of unprofessional mistakes. Dr. Guhira is an esteemed surgone. You have nothing to worry about.”

Azula nods.

“Please hold still.” Guhira instructs.

The needle pricks her lips in several spots, its bite is mercifully dulled by the numbing agent. She only flinches once. After the first injection it is only a discomfort. “You’re all set. This process comes with immediate gratification, you’ll notice the difference right away.”

This throws Azula off, with her nose she had time to prepare and ease herself into the prospect of looking different. She shifts uncomfortably, apparently this one will come like a punch to the gut.

“Aftercare is going to be easier as well.” Dr. Guhira notes. “Just avoid lipstick and putting pressure on your lips. I recommend using an icepack, that will help with the swelling.”

“I think that I can handle that.” Azula replies. “Will they feel fake.”

Dr. Guhira shakes is head. “Unless you have an allergic reaction they should feel very natural.”

Azula gathers her phone and her purse and stands.

“Thank you, Dr. Guhira, you’re work is always impressive.” Ozai extends his hand.

The doctor returns the gesture with a firm shake. “Of course, Mr. Kasai, it is always a pleasure.” And to Azula he says, “enjoy your homecoming dance.”

.oOo.

A weekend is plenty enough time for some of the swelling to fade. It certainly has been a smoother process than her nose job. She isn’t sure that she likes the look of fuller lips, though. By all means, it doesn’t look gross or ungodly, but she feels as though her natural lips had suited her more.

Even still, father assures her that this is an improvement and that she just isn’t used to the look yet. She isn’t so sure of that and constantly finds herself thankful that lip injections have the permanence of bright blue hair dye. If she wants to keep her fuller lips then she will have to keep going in. She has no doubt that Ozai would be more than happy to fund that. She doesn’t think that she will be taking advantage of it.

Azula grabs her over the shoulder bag, a designer accessory, red in color and embroidered with a golden dragon. She tugs at a zipper that is just as needlessly opulent; also made of gold and accented with a garnet. She double checks to make sure that she has all of her textbooks and completed homework assignments in order.

She takes one last look in the mirror at a face that is hers but at the same time very foreign. She adjusts her lily pendant and runs a comb through her hair for a final time and the doorbell rings.

“He had you get another one?” Mai asks.

The Kasia chauffeur holds the door open. Mai climbs into the car first followed by TyLee and then Azula.

“He has two more planned.”

“Do you even want to get all of these operations?” TyLee asks.

Azula thinks for a moment. “Yes. I think that they will serve me well in the long run.” She doesn’t mention that they make her feel like a fraud. Like a deceiver. She wishes that she were a natural beauty like the dainty Yue. “I just hope that Yue can keep her mouth shut for once.”

Mai sniffs, “you’re asking for a lot. Honestly, I don’t even know why we talk to her.”

“She knows the best places to shop!” TyLee exclaims. “And her mom has the best cosmetic line. She’s nice sometimes…”

“I guess.” Mai shrugs.

“Oh! I almost forgot!” TyLee rummages through her backpack. “I was stuck on question six.”

Azula takes the worksheet, “geez, you couldn’t have asked me last night? We’re in the parking lot already.”

“I could have waited until we were sitting in lit class.”

Mai rolls her eyes.

.oOo.

She can’t help but wonder if anyone else has noticed the fullness of her lips. If they have no one has commented. She had expected more hushed whispers, but perhaps she hasn’t made changes profound enough to catch the eye of anyone she didn’t know well.

It is a relief.

“Does it hurt?” Chan asks, gesturing to her face with his spork.

“Not terribly.” Azula replies. She can’t gauge how he feels. “It’s a little uncomfortable.”

“I can imagine, your lips are puffy as hell. Isn’t it hard to eat?”

She finds herself shifting awkwardly at the attention placed on the swelling. “As long as I don’t open my mouth too wide, I’m fine. It’s not as bad as it was yesterday.” Azula shrugs.

“You talk to TyLee yet?”

“Briefly.”

“And?”

“I said that Azula should go for it!” TyLee declares. “I’m really, really excited to see her dress. She always has such beautiful dresses.”

“Then who are you going to take to the dance?” Azula asks.

“Well I was hoping that Chan could set me up with Ruon Jian.”

“Trust me, he won’t have any objections.” Chan snickers. “I’ll let him know that he has a homecoming date.”

Azula listens as the conversation carries itself out, paying special attention to how she eats. She is relieved to know that Yue didn’t make an appearance. She doesn’t feel like listening to the girl make remarks about the ‘gross swelling’.

The bell rings and she gathers her belongings, throwing out what remains of her lunch. “I’ll see the two of you in lit tomorrow.” She waves Mai and TyLee off. “And the two of you in gym.” She says to Chan and Jet.

“See you around.” Jet gives a two finger salute.

Azula turns to leave.

“I know that you’re not used to having a boyfriend so I’ll give you some tip.” A smug and mischievous smirk plays across Chan’s face.

“Oh, will you?” Azula quirks a brow.

He nods, “you see, may couples will kiss each other goodbye.” He leans in and the playful mood is chased out by nerves.

Azula pulls away, “I-I don’t think that that’s a good idea right now. I just got…” she motions to her lips.

“Right…” she hears the disappointment in his voice and chides herself for backing out. Why does she have such a hard time letting affection in? He stuffs his hands into his pockets and mutters, “I guess I’ll see you around.”

“Wait.” Azula grabs his arm. She points at her cheek.

Chan gives a slight laugh, “I guess that’ll work.” His lips grace her cheek for a fleeting moment. “I’ll see you in gym class.”

She has had her first kiss, sort of, she should be elated. She doesn’t know why she feels nothing but awkwardness and discomfort. She wonders if that is how a first relationship is supposed to feel. Deep down she knows that it isn’t.

.oOo.

Five hours after school ends and she is still thinking about it. As the Kasai family chauffeur drives her back to Agni High for astronomy club, she fixes her stare out the window. She thinks that she should have let him kiss her lightly on the lips. She has only been with him for a day and she has already let the boy down. She sighs and tries to tell herself that she just has to get used to being in a relationship. When she does, it will be better for her in the long run.

There are a lot of things that she just has to get used to.

A lot of things that will serve her well in the grand scheme of things.

She touches her fingers to her lips.

The chauffeur holds the door open for her “I will be back to pick you up at 8:00, Ms. Kasai.”

She offers a single nod and makes her way to the gaggle of students clustered around three telescopes. Azula has brought her own but decides that she won’t make a scene of herself so early in the year. Instead she finds a spot and within the small circle and waits for Pathik to announce what they will be looking for.

“Partner up.” The principal says. “There are ten of you here today so that should be easy.”

Easy, she thinks sarcastically to herself. She never has an easy time finding a partner when her usual circle isn’t around.

“I guess that we’re stuck together.” Katara remarks.

Momentarily she thinks off going solo. “I guess we are.”

“We have three telescopes so two groups will have to wait.” Pathik points out. Perhaps she will whip out her own telescope afterall. But she isn’t fond of the idea of having to share her things with her rival’s sister. She folds her arms over her chest and waits for one of the first partners to observe the moon and pass the telescope over.

“You got another surgery, did you?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Cosmetic surgery isn’t exactly private, everyone can tell.”

Azula flinches.

“I just don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what?”

“Why you would want it? I never understood why people would want to change their face like that.” She pauses. “Why do you, of all people in this school, want plastic surgery?”

She isn’t about to let the class nerd and teacher’s pet know that she, in some metaphorical sense, is itching and writhing in her own skin. That she has surrounded herself with friends who can pass as emerging models. She feels less obligated to do so, with the girl sounding so condescending matter. “Of course you don’t understand, you’re very content being...homely.”

“Homely.” Katara replies flatly. “Thanks. Just because I don’t cake on makeup...you know what, nevermind. I might be ‘plain’, but I like my face the way it is.”

Azula folds her arms.

She can’t help but feel a prickle of envy.

Envy at her confidence.

And envy at, despite her words, Katara is also more naturally beautiful. She has the same soft features as Azula; a rounder nose and chin and softer cheeks. But, coupled with fuller lips and big, bright eyes, they work for her in a way that doesn’t work for Azula.

She realizes that Katara is still taking. “What was that?”

“I said it’s our turn to use the telescope.”

“Before that.”

“I said that you don’t need it. The surgery.”

A lump forms itself in her throat and she swallows it. Just when she had been growing to like the surgeries and the favors they are doing her. She resents the dork for bringing her doubts to the surface once more.

She almost asks why Katara if she likes the way she looks currently. Some deeply rooted yearning for praise. Instead she responds, “what I do with my face is none of your concern.”

#Avatar #Azula #Katara #TyLee #Mai #Sokka #Zuko #Fanfiction

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