#with the exception of toph but even then it's not gonna be this easy toph sweep | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sasuhinasno1fan · 3 years

Text

The way you had your hair reminds me- Zutara Week Day 1

My second Zutara Week though I hope I can actually finish it this time. I decided I really wanted to do something with Katara doing rhythmic gymnastics so I decided that since most of the prompts fit, I’ll do a sort of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo AU. It’s a good kdrama if you’ve never heard of it. trying to fit 16 hour long episodes into 7 days is gonna be interesting. I’ll warn you now and let you know there will be onesided LuTara but for like a day maybe. I haven’t written that day yet so we’ll see. This will end in Zutara happieness, I promise. Anyway, enjoy. Hair

Zuko crawled carefully as he wiped down the windows. Most of his classmates didn’t want him anywhere near an open area, especially with his limited vision but he’d just gotten his bandaged taken off and he wasn’t about to let it hinder him.

Without them on, he didn’t see Mom flinch at the sight of them, though the massive burn wasn’t any better. The fights between his parents weren’t either and Azula’s teasing was starting to be hurtful more than playful. He wanted it all to stop. If he pretended that things were ok, maybe they would be eventually.

“Hey scarface!” Zuko looked over, 3 of his school bullies storming over. He tried not to flinch, already knowing what they were going to yell at him about. They’d been doing it all day. “We lost the race thanks to you!”

Zuko used to be more confident. But after the burns, a few harsh words and he’d start retreating back down into himself. These bullies took advantage of it. During their Sports Day yesterday, Zuko had dropped the baton in the relay race and ran in the opposite direction, away from the bullies yelling at him.

“Mr. Reversal, can’t believe you’re so stupid.”

“You need a walking stick, scarface? Huh?”

Zuko felt one of them shove him and he expected to hit the window frame. Instead, he went flying out the open window. Years later, Zuko would mostly remember him being caught by an older man with darker skin, most likely from one of the Water Tribes, with kind blue eyes, who held him as he burst into tears and two younger children. The boy patted his back, telling him not to worry because his sister would take care of it and the girl screaming up at the bullies from the ground floor. Her long braid swung back and forth as she shook her fists and threatened to do violent things to them. her eyes seemed bluer than her families, like the clearest ocean.

He didn’t know they’d slip back into his life years later. That the little girl who threatened bullies for a boy she didn’t know, would become so much more important to him.

________________

Zuko unlocked his bike, trying not to feel discouraged. It was hard not to when he’d been disqualified from another competition for having a panic attack. Every time he walked onto the mat, his hearing would go wonky and he’d start seeing double, not to mention his heart beating like it was trying to escape his chest. As a result, he’d always forget to sault his opponent and the referee.

Along with being propositioned to train an up-and-coming fencer to get onto the national Olympic team – which he refused because how was he supposed to help someone when he could even finish a match – all he wanted to do was collapse onto his bed. He could already tell that during training tomorrow, he’d have to deal with snide remarks from Jett. How that guy became captain, he’d never know. He knew if he just beat him in training like always, it would piss him off even more and with the school’s Sports Day coming up, he was not in the mood to do the worst event for the Fencing Department.

He climbed on his bike, adjusting his kit sitting on its place but stopping himself from peddling back to campus when his phone rang.

“What Sokka?”

“So, the results of the match went up. Jett wants to talk to you; says he’s got the prefect thing for you to do to make up for your loss. The rice lifting challenge.”

Zuko had to bite his lip to keep from screaming. The idea of the lifting challenge was to carry as many bags of rice and the industrial size, like the one the school cafeteria ordered and hold it for as long as possible. Usually, the Karate Department would be the one to win, fencing never even coming close.

“I’m not going.” Zuko said, making up his mind.

“What?”

“I’ll hang out at Lu Ten’s office or something, but I’m not going. Not to the crapshot of a meeting or to Sports Day. I don’t care what he threatens me with. I’m only coming back to drop my kit off.”

“Um, well I actually heard Mai was back. Didn’t make it past the preliminaries for the national team I hear.”

This day couldn’t get any worse.

“Screw it, I’m not coming back for the next few days. I’ll be with my uncle if you need me.”

“Wait! Ask Toph to do your event for you. it would put the Weightlifting Department in danger of losing but most of those guys don’t like her anyway. She’d love a chance to get back at them. come back to campus and ask her and then I’ll take you out for lunch. At my dad’s restaurant. You love his marinated salmon.” Sokka said, trying to entice his roommate.

Zuko sighed. “I want two orders. And you’re paying.”

“Done! Get here soon.”

Zuko didn’t bother answering, stowing his phone away and pushing off, heading towards Republic City Sports University.

______________________

Effortlessly, Katara grabbed her back leg and straightened it as she did her pivot. She kept her balance as she came out of it and continued to twirl her ribbon. Her coach nodded.

“Very good. You’ve been practising. Your balance is better. Now I want to see if your fouettés have improved as well. If you want a chance at placing first and getting noticed by our sponsor and qualifying for the national team preliminaries, your routine can’t have any mistakes. Ty Lee, pay attention. I’m testing your fouettés as well.”

Katara looked over at the girl dressed in pink, who was pouting down at her matching hoop, Suki patting her on the shoulder. While Katara and Ty Lee weren’t friends, it was hard to not bond over being singled out by their coach.

Katara stood at the ready, twirling her ribbon as she readied herself when the door burst open.

“Azula!” Ty Lee cried.

Azula Lung was the student with the most sway in the whole school. Her father was the Prime Minister of the Fire Nation and while he didn’t hold much power in Republic City, since all powers were equal, that didn’t mean much at the University. She got the best room, private transport to competitions and rules didn’t apply to her. She could boss around any coach, even though she was in the Karate Department. There’d been rumours that her place was bought, until her first competition where she creamed everyone. She was her department’s ace. In fact, she managed to take the Weightlifting Department’s old gym for the Karate Department, which started a massive feud between them. she was rude and arrogant and somehow, one of Ty Lee’s best friends.

Katara noticed a girl standing next to her. She was dressed in all black, the only colour being the red of her nails. She looked incredibly bored and only looked annoyed when Ty Lee launched herself at her.

“Mai, you’re back!”

“Mai has returned from her qualifying competition for the national team. We’ll be taking Ty Lee with us. Problem?” Azula announced.

“No of course not. Except, Ty Lee, you were supposed to show me your routine for Sports Day? Since you’re our department’s cheerleader.”

Azula scoffed. “Sports Day, waste of time. She won’t be attending. You, blue peasant.” Katara balked at that and narrowed her eyes. “You’ll be taking her place. Problem?”

Katara opened her mouth to say, yes big problem, but all the girls of the Rhythmic Gymnastics Department crowded around her, suffocating her with their hands.

“None at all.”

“Thanks Katara!” Ty Lee said, scooping up her bag and dashing off, Mai following and with a raised eyebrow that spoke of her superiority, Azula leaving as well.

“You can’t argue with her Katara.”

“She’d have you removed from the school. I heard she got a person’s whole family business shut down for pissing her off. Do you want that for your dad?”

“Her dad might be the Prime Minister, but he’s practically a mafia boss.”

Comments like this floated over her head, as well as ones telling her they’d help with making a routine for Sports Day, which was in a few days. All Katara could think about was how completely unfair this all was.

And she let it out too once training was concluded for the day.

“It’s completely insane how she can just lord over them like that!” she said, harshly untangling her hair from its bun.

“Easy, you’re gonna rip your hair out.” Suki said, stopping her from tugging at it more and helping to pull half of it into a bun like she usually wore it.

“She’s a student. A sophomore at that. Where does she get off acting like she’s the greatest thing in the world? Just cause her dad is a Prime Minister? So is mine!”

“I thought Water Tribe issues fell under Yue’s dad’s jurisdiction?” Toph, a member of the Weightlifting Department asked, her hand holding on tightly to her guide dog’s harness. She was just as well known as Azula, due to the fact that she was blind but was still one of the highest climbing Weightlifting competitors at the school. She beat all the senior’s bests within her first month.

“Yeah, only because the South is smaller. That’s not the point! The point is, she does whatever she wants and doesn’t get in trouble for it and it extends to her friends too. I have a competition coming up soon and instead of working on my routines for that, I’m going to be learning choreo for a routine for one of the dumbest traditions of Sports Day.”

“Oh,” Toph said, a massively mischievous smile on her face, “well you won’t think it’s stupid when you hear what I heard. Wanna take a guess as to who’s the Fencing Department’s cheerleader?”

Katara looked over at Toph, who’s smile was growing maniacal. Usually that meant someone was going to get embarrassed as hell. It usually tended to be Sokka.

“Wouldn’t it be one of the girls?”

“Nope.” Toph shook her head, popping her p.

“Is it-?”

“Katara, watch out!”

A guy on his bike and panicked look as he turned the corner, thankfully started the veer off course at the sight of her. She still stumbled over her feet and fell to the floor, her hands pricking in pain as they were scratched. Thankfully though, her jacket took most of the damage. The guy on the other hand, had to shove his bike off his feet, rubbing at his shin.

She took in the pale skin, paler than Toph’s and dark hair surrounding his face. It didn’t stop her from noticing the large burn surrounding his right eye. she noticed that his school jacket was the same one Sokka wore, meaning he was in the Fencing Department.

“You should be more careful.” She meant for it to come out a bit nicer, but the anger from dealing with Azula slipped in.

clearly the guy didn’t enjoy being yelled at as he snapped back. “I didn’t see you.” he seemed to rethink his anger and continued in a calmer voice. “Are you ok?”

ok, now she felt bad about snapping at him. “I’m fine.”

“Oh, what up Sparky?” Toph asked, seeming to brighten as she figured out who almost crashed into them. her guide dog Badger, lead his owner over and with surprising accuracy, Toph punch the guy on the arm.

It was a little scary how well she could do that.

“Stop calling me that.”

“Hey, tell me. Seen his skirt yet? I know he doesn’t shave his legs so please tell me he’s going all out for this.”

The guy sighed. “Thought Sokka told you not to tell anyone.”

“Sokka? He’s the Fencing cheerleader? That’s why he’s been borrowing my hair pins? Those things are expensive.” Katara interrupted.

Toph burst into laughter, clearly enjoying herself while Suki looked thoughtful.

“So that’s why he asked for makeup advice. Suddenly Sports Day is looking a lot more fun.”

“Speaking of which, I’m going back to my room before Jett finds me to let me know my event. Oh, Toph wanna annoying your department?”

“Always.”

“Take my spot for the Rice Lifting event. I’ve dealt with way too much to even put up with Jett today.”

Katara furrowed her brow, wanting to say something about the fact this guy wasn’t going to participate but then she noticed Toph’s smile dropped a little and her punch was definitely softer the second time she hit him.

“Done deal Sparky. Tell your old man I’ll see him later.”

“So who was that?” Suki asked as the guy finally took off.

“Zuko Lung, not related to the royal brat. I go to his old man’s tea house sometimes. He’s Sokka’s roommate apparently.”

“Oh yeah, he’s a pretty good fencer from what I hear. Weird though, I haven’t seen his name in the announcement of students placing.” Suki said.

She had a point. Katara never remembered seeing anything either. She also found it a bit strange Sokka never dragged his roommate to meet the rest of them. there was something about Zuko though that seemed familiar. It was on the tip of her tongue but nothing came to mind. Oh well, for another day then.

“Hey, let’s go find Sokka. Maybe if we catch him off guard, we can get him to agree to let us wax his legs.”

__________________

“I hate you.” Sokka mumbled, hiking his cheerleading skirt up. Katara bit her lip to keep from laughing at the crop top he was in. apparently, he pissed off their department captain by telling him that Zuko wasn’t participating and Toph was taking his place, so his new uniform was worse than his last.

She tossed her braid behind her, trying not to think about how young she must have looked. She had her hair like this when she was younger since it was much easier to put it into a bun. Her own uniform was rather pink for her taste, but Ty Lee basically guilt tripped her into wearing it since it already been bought. She was still annoyed at this, even more so when she found out her new roommate was Mai. The dark and depressing girl was apparently in the Archery Department and Sokka, who’d been in that Department before transferring to fencing, said she was undefeated. Yet she didn’t get past the first round of preliminaries to get onto the national team.

“Hey Sokka!” Aang, a member of the Track and Field Department came bounding over, his own skirt floating around his legs. “Katara, you never told me how much fun a skirt can be. Took me a while to find boxers that weren’t too long but still.”

“I’m glad your having fun Aang. At least someone is.” She said, smirking at Sokka.

“You deal with 3 hours of having your hair ripped out and then come talk to me.” Sokka snapped. “Ugg, I’m gonna kill Zuko. This is all his fault.”

“Wow.” A familiar voice said. Zuko was in casual clothes, carrying a cooler. Next to him was a man, with a squarish face, the same gold eyes and dark hair as Zuko, though his hair was pulled back into a top knot. “See if I bring you anything ever again.”

“You know Jett will kill you if he sees you.”

“He can’t do anything. My uncle called to pull me out for the afternoon. This is work, we’re delivering ice tea for the Fencing and Track and Field Departments. Aang, next time, don’t put your order late at night.”

Aang looked embarrassed. “Sorry. You were already gone when I got back from training. I was going to order for the Rhythmic Gymnastics department, but I know how conscious your coach is about sugars and such.” He said, looking at Katara.

“It’s ok. I’m stealing one though, I deserve the extra sugar for being in this outfit.” She said, walking over to Zuko and opening the lid on the cooler. She noticed he was staring intently at her face.

“What elementary school did you go to?” he asked suddenly.

“Huh?”

“Did you go to Ba Sing Se Preparatory?” he asked.

“Yes?”

“You screamed at those bullies.”

Bullies? Wait. It hit her like a thunderbolt, why he looked so familiar. His burn was a bit more faded but she couldn’t believe he forgot him. He’d been pushed out the window by bullies and her dad, would come to drop off lunch for her and Sokka, managed to catch him before he hurt himself and she’d screamed at the bullies from the floor.

“Holy crap. That was you!” Sokka said, “you had like no hair then!”

“Sokka!” he’d disappeared from class for a few weeks and when he came back his hair was cut so far back that it made his bandages stick out more.

“Yours was in a braid then.”

She was confused for a moment when she realised, he was talking to her. Yesterday her hair had been out but now it was in the same style she had it in as a child.

She’d always wondered what happened to him when Zuko suddenly disappeared for good one day. She’d didn’t think she’d find out now.

#zutara week #zutara week 2021 #weightlifting fairy kim bok joo #AU #rhythmic gymnasit katara #fencer zuko #fencer sokka #weightlifter toph #runner aang

30 notes · View notes

dont-blame-it-on-the-kids · 3 years

Note

Bumi II - ▼ - childhood headcanon?

Bumi loves playing monsters and hero's with tenzin Kya and Lin and often takes on the role of monster since he's bigger than them and can't bend. - they go easy on him tho (except Lin she goes for the kill)

One time tenzin scrapes his shin on some rocks while the three are playing and he starts crying and Bumi patches him up and carries him back home to Katara. Kya and him still tease tenzin about it

Growing up Bumi would wear a mix of water tribe and air nomad clothes. They all would mix and match their clothes styles.

He would always be playing around with Sokka and Aang when Bumi was little before Kya. His dad and uncle sokka were the world to him he loved sokkas stories and learned how to use a sword and Bumerang from him. They especially grew close after Bumi found out he was a non bender.

When Kya was born he was like 6 and he LOVED HER SO MUCH he was so excited to play and have a little sister and he was gonna teach her how to bake with dad and how to fight with Toph and tell stories with Sokka.

Katara started wondering why baby Kya stopped fussing at certain times at night and found out it's cuz Bumi would wake up and go pull the baby from her crib and sit on the floor holding her close and talking to her quietly about all the fantastical adventures they'd go on when she's older

Bumi always held Kya's hand. Always. While she was learning how to walk he let her stand on his feet and he danced and Kya would always laugh so loudly. And even after she got steady on her own feet she would always hold his hand if he was close by.

Kya running to Bumi when she's scared at night cuz her big brother will protect her 😭 so he wraps her up in the blanket and sits with her telling stories about how they use his hand to hand combat skills (he's 9 but still he's learning) and her bending (she is baby she can't quite control it yetttt) to defeat whatever she's scared of and how it's okay to be scared. And to be scared and fight anyway. That's the true grit of who you are.

Bumi and Kya always visisting baby tenzin Bumi telling stories about the new adventures and Kya peeking over the crib to see baby tenzin just in awe. "Was i that little?!" "Smaller." "Woah!" "Were you that little?" "Never" "cool!"

#hc #ask meme #Bumi

59 notes · View notes

faangirl101 · 4 years

Text

Burning Heart: Pt 1

Burning heart masterlist

Pairing: Zuko x reader, Zuko x y/n

Tags: Enemies to lovers, slow burn

Summary: Raised mostly by yourself, you made a living for your youth years as a maid in one of the richest families in Ba sing se, Beifongs. There Toph, a blind young rich girl, taught you earth bending and also became your new family. Not that you would admit that to her. Together you escape Ba sing se on the back of a flying bison with the Avatar, in a mission to take back the world from the fire nation. But on the journey you didn't plan to team up with the Fire prince himself, and you definitely did not plan to get butterflies around him. But you couldn't possibly catch feelings for a fire bender right? They ruined your life and took everything of value from you. But you couldn't lie to your burning heart.

Warnings: swearing

The Western Air temple

The sun's streaks felt like fire licking our exposed arms. The heat evaporating from the cracked surface under our feet was almost as hot as the burning shame in returning empty handed on foot from the eclipse battle. “This is humiliating”, Katara mumbled with her head low. Her voice sparked a familiar annoyance within but I kept my mouth shut. Sokka looked up at her from under the wolf helmet “You mean getting thoroughly spanked by the Fire Nation or having to walk all the way to the Western Air Temple?”. Katara looked him up and down before shame forced her head down again “Both”. Aang let his hand slide through Appas fur, as if to reassure him that it was not his fault. His forever love for Appa didn't fail to turn my frown. Aang mirrored my weak smile “Sorry guys, but appa gets tired carrying all these people”. “Or maybe it's just Toph who’s heavy”, Not even one of my snarky playful remarks seemed to get the group in a good mood. But I did get a half smirk for Toph that was good enough. “I wonder how the rest of the troops are”, Teo pushed his wheelchair with sweaty hands as he looked up to Haru. I had never met Teo before the battle, but Aang had mentioned him before. He was hella smart and outshined an entire army. But it was clearly not enough to beat the fire nation. I let my eyes wander to Haru instead. I remember the stories of him and his father in prison. A deep weighting feeling decided to settle in my stomach. My father would have never risked everything for me like Haru did for his dad. I guess I was never a family person. I pushed the hurtful thoughts away the best I could by focusing on Haru. “They’re probably on their way to a prison. Seems like my dad just got out and now he’s going back in”. The group fell quiet, and I wanted to feel empathy for Haru. I wanted to understand how much it would hurt to lose a parent after just getting one. I wanted to hug him. Instead i just put a supportive hand on his back “He got out once, we will figure it out”. I didn't know if my words made a difference but I dropped my hand anyways. “I miss Pipsqueak”, The duke, a small boy muttered. Sokka ignored his tiny friend's words “I miss not having blisters on my feet”. I leaned down to Toph's level “Question, when you get blisters, does it feel like if i got something in my eye?”. Toph grunted in response which I decided to take as a yes. Suddenly Toph made a halt stop which almost made the rest of the group fall over. She stamped down, similar to a rabbit, before her face cracked up in a smile. “Hey, We’re here! I can feel it!”, she raised both her hands forward showing us….. nothing. Ahead of us was the same ground that we had walked on for hours on end. The only difference was a precipies splitting the ground open like a wound. “uhhhh….I think your feet need their eyes checked”, Katara stopped beside Toph with a wrinkled nose. “No! She’s right. We are here!”, Aang’s voice didn't sound in defeat as before. Sokka took one look behind his shoulder as if he missed the “giant temple” Aang had described before shrugging his shoulders. “Wooow”, Toph placed her hands next to her feet, truly taking in her surroundings “It's fantastic!”.

The western Air temple was breathtaking. How we got down was a mystery, but well down. I had no words. It was everything Aang had described. Stone walls reached over our heads, clinging for its life on the cliffs surrounding us. Ivy painted the entire place green. With tired feet and a heavy head I slumped down on the bench around the fountain. The comforting noise of water pooling swallowed my pouding head in ease. “It's so different from the Northern Air Temple. I wonder if there are any secret rooms”, Teos eyes were glistening like a childs. Haru had clearly stopped worrying about his dad as he took a leap forward with a smile “Let’s go check it out!”. Teo and The Duke are quick on his feet as they sprint off to explore. Aang is about to catch up with them, excitement clear in his flaring arms, before he’s cut off my Kataras grip. “You guys go. I think we need to talk about some things”, she urges the boys to continue their exploring without Aang and they don't need much convincing. “I'll race you, Duke”, Teo is already taking off. The Duke whines as the kid he is “i told you, It's The Duke!”. The three disappear behind the temple but their voice echoes for another couple of seconds. Aang's looks after the boys with desperation in his grey eyes “Why can’t I go?”. I get up on shaky legs and make my way over to them. “We need to decide what we’re gonna do now, and since you’re the Avatar, maybe you should be a part of this”, Katara sits down on a fallen stone block. “Fair enough. So, what’s the new plan?”Anyone could easily detect the evidence of annoyance in Aang's voice as he slumps down on another stone block. But Katara was right, no matter how much I hated to admit it. Sokka placed a hand under his chin, mimicking an old philosopher “Well, if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan! You just need to master all four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes.” They way Sokka phrased it was as if it was not that hard. As if it was just a cup of tea, which clearly struck a nerve with Aang.“Oh , yeah. That’s great. No problem. I'll just do that”, Aang threw his words in irony. He started playing with a rock beside him with furrowed eyebrows. He had never looked more like a child. “Aang, no one said it’s going to be easy”, Katara’s voice clinged in empathy. It irritates me how she always complains about being the mom of the group as if she didn't take on that role by herself. But I know a mother's empathy is exactly what Aang needed right now. I easily earth bended a rock under me to lift me up on the high cliff Toph was sitting. The familiar vibrations of earth moving under me filled me with calm. I threw my legs over the edge and slumped down next to Toph's much smaller frame. “Well I am hot but I can't fire bend. Where are we supposed to get a firebending teacher?”, Sokka couldn't help but smile at his own joke. I let out my low hanging bun, ignoring how my baby hairs are slicked down my face by sweat. “You hot? You're hot when Bisons can fly”, I shot him a flirty smile which resulted in Sokka snorting playfully. Katara ignored our remarks “We could look for Jeong Jeong!”. Aang didn't hesitate to shoot her idea down “Yeah...right”. He slumps down his body over the rock without care “like we’ll ever run into Jeong Jeong again”. Me and Toph look curiously at each other “Who’s… oh”. Toph, annoyed by how the group didn't tell us anything crossed her arms “never mind. If it's important I’ll find out”.

The further the sun moved down the horisont, the more Aang started to avoid talking about a plan. He flung forward Appa on his staff, gliding smoothly over the winds. Both me and Toph clung onto the Appa, not liking being this far above the ground. Sokka was always the comic relief but even him had taken on a mom role “Aang, i think we should be making some plans about our future!”. Aang bluntly ignored his words as he landed next to the fountain, the glider still in his hand. Aang watched us land Appa next to him “Okay, we can do that while i show you the giant Pai Sho table! Oh you’re gonna love the all-day echo chamber!”. He was about to sprint away from us again, away from his responsibilities when Toph trot after words. Her demeanor turned serious, which it rarely does “i think that’ll have to wait”. Toph shrugs as she points behind herself. Everybody quizzically tries to see what she’s talking about as Appa’s huge frame moves to the side revealing a shadow. As the late day light falls upon him there is multiply gasps within the group. In front of us is a teenager, probably around my age, a head taller or so. What captures me first is his face. His scar to be exact. A scar the size of a palm extends from his ear and over his eye. It leaves a nasty patch of skin the color of a bonfire. It looks as if he has tried to hide the scar with strands of hair but the hair has a life of its own. It's long, uncombed and falls down his face only to reveal a couple of intense eyes. The color was the same as pooling honey dripping down a warm cup of tea. He was insanely attractive, making my heart skip a beat or two. But he was also screaming to be remembered in the back of my mind. His identity on the tip of my tongue. His honey eyes turn to me for a second but that's enough to spark a part of my memory. Brown eyes mean fire nation. Which makes my eyes quickly take in the obvious fire nation clothing hanging over his long slender body. The previous shock within the group quickly turns into anger. The boy hesitantly raises his hand and gives us a wave, which would be adorable from anybody except a fire bender “Hello”. He tries on a careful weak smile “Zuko here”. That's all it takes for me to take on a fighting position. My hand raised above my waist, fingers vibrating ready to bend the earth to swallow him up. Zuko, The fire prince himself. The gang had told me and Toph stories of his repeated attempts to kill them. His awful actions and how he took katara's necklace. Well, maybe the necklace part doesn't make me that angry. Toph copied my defense, but her motions seemed hesitant. Zuko opens his mouth to reveal a smoother voice then i expected “Hey, i heard you guys flying around down there. So, i just thought i’d wait for you here”. Appa growled and whatever i thought the bison was going to do, it was definitely not that. He reached out his dark tongue just to lick the boy. The boy let out a eak as he protected his face from the saliva. I didn't exactly recall the first time I met Appa that clearly, but I'm pretty sure he never did that. In the corner of my eye I see Aang's conflicted eyes as he lowers his staff slightly. He trusted Appa with his life, so I understood his internalized battle. But I was unaffected, hand raised protectly. Appa’s tongue slicked up the prince's face again, Messing up his hair even further. Zuko didn't protest this time, he just wiped off the excess mucus. With one last wipe he looked up at us again “I know you must be surprised to see me here”. Sokka looked at him in rage with furrowed eyebrows “Not really, since you’ve followed us all over the world”. Zuko seemed embarrassed as he looked down his feet “Right. Well,uh….anyway…. What i wanted to tell you about is that i’ve changed, and i, uhhh, i’m good now, and well i think i should join your group, oh, and i can teach firebending to you”. I didn't know what to say. The shock seemed to resemble the rest of the group. Zuko seemed to catch on as he opened his mouth again “see i, uhhhh”.Toph didn't give him a second to explain himself further “you what now?”. I had never seen katara as angry as now “You can't possibly think that any of us would trust you, can you? I mean, how stupid do you think we are?!”. Sokka continued her rant “Yeah, all you’ve ever done is hunt us down and try to capture Aang!”. All they were saying was true, but there was a sudden doubt consuming me. It rang warning bells in the back of my head for sure, but there was something I couldn't put my finger on. This couldn't possibly be the evil boy they had described? They told me he had an almost shaved head, just a ponytail. That he hated Aang with no shame. That he would do anything to destroy the gang. The boy in front of me was nothing like that. He was shy, hesitant. Ashamed. He was ashamed over everything he had done. But he couldn't just turn good like that, that's not how it works. This must be another fire nation trick, or so I had to convince myself. Zuko seemed hurt, in desperate need to defend himself. “I've done some good things! I mean, I could have stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That’s something!”. His words seemed true since appa licked him again (much to his surprise). I remembered how hurt Aang was when he lost Appa, is it really possible that zuko saved him? No it couldn't be, he was from the fire nation. Toph had already dropped her defense “Appa seems to like him”. The water tribe siblings turned to her in anger. “I can understand why you wouldn’t trust me, and i know i've made some mistakes in the past”. The rest of the sparr is a blur to me. I could see lips moving but I couldn't hear a thing. My eyes were stuck on Zuko as I blocked the rest of the world out. I tried to find any mistakes in his clearly made up character but he was spot free. either he was an amazing actor, or everything he said was true. Aang did need a firebender, but the thought of a member of the fire nation, the royal one at that, made my blood boil. What broke my focus was Zuko falling down on his knees. He made himself vulnerable, head bent downwards and hands raised in surrender. “If you won’t accept me as a friend, then maybe you’ll take me as a prisoner”. The words shocked me to the core. If he was really out to kill us he would never have let down his guard like that. Katara seemed to see right through his game “No, we won’t!”. Her little flask dangling by her leg burst open as she water bended a flood against him. It wasn't hard enough to make him go flying off the cliff but it was hard enough to break his position. He fell over, protecting his face. “Get out of here, and don’t come back! And if we ever see you again, well, we’d better not see you again”. Defeated, wet from tip to toe, he moved away from us. As my friends around me started to yell to each other, about how much Zuko was lying. How they would never accept him into the gang. I followed his figure with my eyes. The slumped forward body, the dragging of the feet. I wonder which powerful fire nation person he was going to tell he failed his mission to get into our gang. Because of course it had to be a mission. He could never change… Right?

The next morning seemed slow. My head was pounding from a sleep fof worrying. It didn't help that Toph had disappeared. I knew that Toph could defend herself better than anybody, but I also knew she wouldn't go anywhere without telling me. Katara handed a bowl of breakfast to The duke “Has anyone seen Toph?”. I was surprised that she had even noticed Toph was gone. They weren't exactly close. Sokka yawned and cracked his back from the morning sleep “I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday”. Against my will I started to worry. Since yesterday? Had she been out the entire night? I had been grumbling so much over Zuko I hadn't even noticed. I swallowed down the lump of guilt together with a spoon of rice. Katara actually seemed worried for real “I think we should go look for her”, Sokka slumped down next to his sister “Let her have her fun with rocks, i'm in no rush to have her yelling at us again”. I ignored the anger busting up with another spoon of rice. The silence was quickly replaced by the occurrence of a large rumble. Toph comes flying down onto the ground by a pile of rocks that she created from a wall. I rushed over to her, my breakfast thrown in pieces on the ground. “Toph, what the fuck happened?”. Toph slingered across the ground “My feet got burned!”. Katara rushed forward to inspect them “Oh no, how?”. Toph annoyance from Katara's question quickly turned into shame “Well, I kind of went to see zuko last night”. It looked like Aang had been kicked in the gut “You what?”. Without another thought my legs carried me away from the scene. Their voices became a questionable noise as I took off. I only had one thing playing in my mind: Find Zuko and kill him.

#zuko x you #zuko x reader #zuko x y/n #avatar the legend of korra #avatar the last airbender #avatar the legend of aang #aang #katara #toph #sokka #angst #enemies to lovers #avatar fanfiction #zuko fanfic #zuko #atla #atla fanfiction #atla zuko

129 notes · View notes

thatsgay-writes · 3 years

Text

Suki x Reader x Ty Lee

Summary: You were part of the Gaang and dating Suki. You join them to cross Serpent’s pass after reuniting with your girlfriend. Things happen and you decide you can’t stay.

Warning: Light cursing? Cheating which is nasty, don’t do it.

Changes: The eclipse and Sozin’s comet happen in 10 years and on the same day, like first the eclipse and then right after is the comet.

You couldn't believe you eyes. Suki, your girlfriend, and Sokka, a guy you saw as your brother, were kissing each other under the moonlight. You were still awake when Sokka had gotten up to go sit on rock and watch the moon and stars. You were gonna go after him to see if he was okay but saw Suki go after him. You had known about the feelings the to had shared when on Kyoshi Island but thought of it as more of infatuation since he had only been there for a week, while you and Suki had been together for almost a year. Still you couldn't help but feel a little jealous and insecure when he was around. After a few minutes you decided to go check on them, thinking they had been gone a little too long. You quietly tip toed around the rock that had been blocking them from the camps view and had to use all your might to not gasp out loud at the scene before you. You had never thought that Suki was the cheating type, you always thought that if she caught feelings for another she would end it with you first. You stood there not knowing what to do, you couldn't tell if you wanted to go back to camp to curl into a ball and cry or go on a screaming rampage at the two for breaking your heart. As you decided to do the first option and head back to bed, the two broke apart. You had hoped that maybe, just maybe, the two had come back to their sense and realize what they had done was wrong. "I love you." "I love you too." Was all they said before going back to kissing. If your heart wasn't already broken by then, it was now shattered. You thought that sentence was reserved for you, that those lips were reserved for you. How wrong could you have been.

You attempted to act normal the next day to see if either of them would come clean. But both acted like nothing had happened, however now you noticed subtle looks the two were giving each other. When night came again you couldn't sleep. How could they act like they didn't betray you the night before, how could they act as if they did nothing wrong. You were about to fall asleep when you heard movement. You opened your eyes a little, enough to see but enough to make it seemed like your eyes were closed. You eyes widen shock as you watched the back is Sokka and Suki leave the camp, holding hands. You didn't even attempt to follow them, knowing exactly what they were doing already.

The next three days you didn't even attempt to act normal. You were quiet, only talking when someone spoke to you and even then you were would answer with short, curt sentences. You made sure to stay 10 paces in front of the group so you wouldn't have to look at Sokka or Suki. You had already made up your mind that after you got through Serpents Pass that you would go off on your own. Of course, that wasn't an easy decision to make, you still loved Katara, Aang, and Toph as family but you couldn't stand to look at Sokka or Suki. When you finally got to the end you let out a sigh of relief, This is it, you thought, time to say goodbye. However, before you could go you had to help deliver a baby. After that hectic situation was over you started packing a bag for yourself taking a little food to tide you over til you found more. "What are you doing?" Suki asked coming up behind you. Her question caused the rest of the Gaang to look over at you. "I'm leaving." You said simply before putting your bag over one shoulder. "What do you mean your leaving? We need to get to Ba Sing Se." You smiled sadly at Katara, who looked at you in worry, you still weren't acting like yourself.

You walked over to her before hugging her, then Aang, and then Toph. Purposely not hugging or looking at Sokka or Suki. "I just need some time." You said giving a small sad smile before turning around to go walk away through the woods, no destination in mind. Before you could fully step into the woods you felt someone grab onto your hand. You turned around and ripped your hand out the persons grasp, as if they had burned you. Suki looked up at you in shock at your reaction. "Come on y/n don't go, what about us?" She said hoping that would get you to want to stay. You just shook your head before giving a look of disgust to her and Sokka. "There is no us, not anymore." As you turned to walk away you watched as Suki fell to her knees, just now realizing why you had been acting so distant the past few days, she had been caught. Everyone, except for Sokka who looked angry, looked between the two of you in confusion. No more than three days ago you and Suki had been acting like the most love sick couple in the world. But now you didn't even let her touch you."Hey! What's the big idea!?" Sokka shouted angrily at you, "We're a week away from going to the Ba Sing Se and getting help for the invasion in ten years and you suddenly decide you don't want to help us anymore!? And you break Suki's heart in the process!" Sokka was walking towards you in anger, getting all up in your face. Suki kept shaking her head trying to get him to stop, already knowing they had been caught. You chuckled with no humor, "I'm the one breaking her heart? I'm sure it's the other way around. The only reason I'm not punching you right now is cause I still see Katara as a little sister and know she doesn't like seeing you hurt." Everyone looked between the two of you in confusion, you looked calm and collected while Sokka was seething with rage. You shook your head before turning around to leave, knowing that if you exposed them now the team dynamic would be messed up and that couldn't happen while trying to plan an invasion. This time no one stopped you from walking away.

"I'll see you around."

#suki x reader #x reader #female x reader #female reader #female character #ty lee x reader #atla #avatar the last airbender

48 notes · View notes

firelxdykatara · 3 years

Note

agghh that anon okay so are there zutara shippers who don't like aang? sure, just like there are people who don't like toph or katara or sokka or zuko or any other character because people have preferences. but most of us A) love aang and B) criticize his writing in some episodes BECAUSE we love him and wanted better treatment for him and for katara. I mean obviously anon can disagree with zk headcanons, fuck i mean not every zk shipper has the same headcanon bc we are a diverse, massive fandom, and maybe anon could, idk, read some of our meta instead of reacting to things ppl say we think.

and maybe anon could, idk, read some of our meta instead of reacting to things ppl say we think.

THIS THOUGH!!!!!

Like I 100% think a huge part of the problem is that some douches w bugs up their asses about zutara being more popular than their ships will talk shit about how we suck and our HCs suck and w/e and that spreads and then you get ppl who haven’t even read a single zutara meta jumping on us for existing bc they take that shit at face value instead of doing their own fandom research

which really isn’t even that hard??? like man, just cruise the zutara tag a bit and actually read our headcanons and maybe keep an open mind and read some of our criticisms and see where our arguments come from before automatically assuming that a bunch of bitter ppl w axes to grind are completely right abt us

and it’s also funny bc it’s like, so easy to tell that we, by and large, aren’t being attacked for our show opinions (except the opinion that zuko and katara would have a great relationship), because 99% of the time it isn’t even about what we think abt aang or mai or w/e, it’s about us shipping zutara where other ppl have to see it

like i’ve lost count of the blogs i’ve had to block bc they said something like ‘if i have to see another post abt zutara ill shoot myself’ and stuck it in our tag, and we get flak for not kissing bryke’s asses by some corners of the fandom -cough-, and then there are the ppl who interpret salty posts as personal attacks but at that point it’s like, why is it ok for ppl to criticize zuko, or sokka, or katara, but not aang??? it’s literally almost solely aang stans who actually get offended at the mere implication that a) aang did anything wrong ever, b) the writing for aang’s arc wasn’t perfect, and/or c) aang is not someone’s favorite character.

and he doesn’t have to be. im sorry, but being the main character doesn’t mean everyone’s gonna like him, and it doesn’t mean everyone has to like him. i watched six seasons of bones before i couldn’t take anymore despite absolutely hating the titular character. it can be done! usually if the story and the other characters are good enough to make up for whatever someone doesn’t like in the main character. even ppl who genuinely dislike aang, whether bc the writing soured them on his character overall or his character archetype is just not one they like, are entitled to their opinions and to expressing them--and as long as those opinions are properly tagged, no one really has any reason to bitch about it.

but they do. and they have somehow linked aang hate w zutara in their minds so the assumption became ‘if u ship zutara it means u hate aang’ even though that’s not remotely true as a universal constant!!! some zutara shippers dont like aang, but many do! because we are a diverse group of ppl w diverse interests and opinions, and that’s a GOOD thing and should be celebrated, but bc our existence is grounds for attacking and belittling us (like that lovely little campaign a while back by those anons harassing the poc minors in our ship), we wind up feeling like we all have to agree on everything bc if we don’t present a united front, we’re easier to attack. and it’s just exhausting tbh.

ldkjghkjdfgh ty for coming to my impromptu tedtalk lmfao

#atla #atla fandom salt #the fandom would be a much happier place if yall would just let us exist in peace lmfao #we've been here for fifteen years and we're not goin anywhere #asked #andorjyny

25 notes · View notes

avatraang · 3 years

Text

20 Stories, 20 First Lines

Thanks for the tag @foxy-knowledgeseeker and @thinkingisadangerouspastime <3

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favorite opening line. Then tag 10 authors!

20 fics and first lines is absolutely massive, so i’m gonna post them under the cut for the convenience of everyone. if you dare to read, thank you!

1. define divinity.

Suki’s time in Caldera City has been pretty eventful so far. Training new agents, fending off assassination attempts. Trying new foods, adjusting to the new climate, the culture. She’s been here almost a year and still feels like there’s so much she hasn’t learned, so much to become accustomed to. Zuko says she’s doing great, but he’s also… Zuko, so Suki doesn’t really know what to think of that.

2. infinite and always.

Aang comes and goes, and that is the hardest part.

3. lazy sunday.

Sokka is half-asleep when she kisses him. It’s a Sunday morning, the type of Sunday morning that makes you realize why the day is called “lazy.” They’re laying on her bed, in and out of easy slumber. It’s not an abnormal occurrence – they have sleepovers all the time, in the same bed, on the same couch. They cuddle, hold each other, keep each other company, keep the loneliness at bay. It’s familiar, like home. They are each other’s closest confidants, after all. It helps that they are in love with each other and are avoiding it, but still. Of course this isn’t strange.

4. when the sun goes down.

It’s a rainy day when Aang feels her presence. To say they are tied together is an understatement – Aang is connected to all worlds, but to her more than most. The way his scar almost stands on end, a phantom of electricity ghosting across it. He often feels such thunder in his veins when she’s nearby, the universe’s way of reminding him that he is tied to her in more ways than the norm.

5. we’ll keep on growing like ivy.

The first time Mai meets him, she thinks perhaps she’s dreaming. It’s late, around one in the morning, and she’s walking back from the library on campus with one hand on her umbrella and the other on the knife tucked into her sleeve. Ba Sing Se University isn’t particular dangerous, but Mai is a foreigner in these parts, and it’s better safe than sorry. She sees him on the roof of the cafeteria, feet dangling, one hand raised above him as he bends the rain away. She watches the way it bounces off his hand, the other one busy holding an ice cream cone. It's a strange sight -almost like something out of a fever dream. There’s a yellow beanie on his head, which, if he was trying to conceal himself, is a pretty awful attempt at it.

6. she loves him still.

This is how it goes:

The world is thrown into turmoil the morning he dies. The elements tremble. People as far away as Harbor Town claim to have felt the earth quake, and those at sea as distant as the coast of Akahime swear to the Spirits that a tsunami threatened to devastate their lands. Any flames within a twenty-mile radius reportedly shot up, burning holes into ceilings and ruining breakfasts. Lamps are said to have burst and shattered. Air acolytes claim a breeze swept through the compounds, so strong it cut down a tree that had stood on the island for over a hundred years.

7. the sweetest rewards.

Toph is sitting opposite of Aang, silent as stone. She’s inspecting him; Aang can tell by the way her feet shift almost imperceptibly, scanning his body. Finally, Toph breaks the silence. “When do you think they’ll be done?” She nods towards the kitchens.

8. lunam et familia.

17.

Sokka is sitting at the edge of the temple side when Toph finds him. They are resting at the Western Air Temple, taking a break from diplomacy trips that Aang had roped them into. His feet are swinging over the edge, palms planted flat on the ground, head tilted up towards what she supposes “seeing” folk perceive to be moonlight. Everyone else is fast asleep, deep within the temple walls, except for him. Toph moves to step towards him, to ask Sokka why he’s still awake, but then she hears him speak.

9. seen.

“What is that?” Zuko asks Sokka one day, leaning over his desk to peek at the swell of color Sokka is adding detail to.

10. purple lilacs and pilfered letters.

“NO!”

"Sokka, I swear on Oma and Shu-”

"NOOOOO!”

"Sokka!”

11. as simple as breathing.

con·sti·tu·tion

/ˌkänstəˈt(y)o͞oSH(ə)n/

noun

noun: constitution; plural noun: constitutions

a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.

Toph is 23 when Sokka tells her he’s addicted to smoking.

12. jealous of the love.

It’s raining outside when he notices it for the first time. Well, not it. Her. He’s new in Republic City, so she took a day off to show him around. Katara had expressed her mild surprise that Toph, the Chief of Police, had taken a day off to show Sokka, of all people, around… Toph didn’t even take days off when Zuko came into town, and that was rarer than Sokka’s appearances. Plus, it’s not like he’s leaving any time soon. If all goes well, he’ll win his position on the council and move to Republic City, permanently.

13. fortune telling, reincarnation, love, and other (somewhat dubious) forms of science.

Toph doesn’t really bat an eye when she gets a letter from a small Earth village in the middle of bumbafuck. Her secretary reads it to her and she shrugs it off; it gets thrown on her dining room table most unceremoniously. She spends the rest of the week doing what she usually does: focusing on her school and being a little too bored. To be grounded is in her nature, but Toph also has a strange tendency to get restless. Her body starts to twitch and her spirit grows bored. Nothing good has ever come from a bored Toph.

14. why do we put each other through hell? (why can’t we just get over ourselves?)

“How have you never seen a Superman movie?” Penelope’s voice is loud -per the usual- and unbelieving -per not the usual. She’s staring at him like he’s got eight eyes instead of six, like he’s spoken Russian instead of English.

15. firelady.

Suki is born a commoner.

16. between me and you.

"Ms Bei Fong," the voice cuts through the air with practiced precision, a note of affection ringing in it even through the poised professionalism. "I didn't expect to see you here."

17. a ring made of silver.

#01 – Ring.

It starts out simply enough, a breath of a laugh here, a memory of a whisper there; trinkets left behind to find, conversations forgotten, a ring made of light silver that he takes off when they're muttering and forgets to take back: she goes to give it back the next morning, before even the owls have fallen asleep, but he engages her in a debate on how long it took Dumbledore to grow out his beard, instead, and next thing she knows she's in Arithmancy and the ring is on her thumb, forgotten.

18. a girl who will never be a nun (and a man who will make sure of it).

To: Mother (10/9/2016, 01:02) i didn't *mean* to do it

19. to tell you properly.

She's at his doorstep, and they stare at each other for a moment too long, her backpack slung over her shoulder and Fraxure standing next to her. "Well," he finally says, and there's pain in his eyes, written clear across the stars that are reflected inside them. Not for the first time, she feels a pang in her heart. "I guess this is goodbye. For a bit, at least."

20. (just say) you won’t let go.

Hermione finds her way to Fred's flat easily enough, apparating in just as he'd instructed her. She shakes the snow from her jacket and slips her boots off, feet sore and heavy from the day. His flat is dark, darker than usual, but it's only when Hermione takes in the worrisome silence that she pulls her wand out and holds it before her, gathering her wits and taking a step forward. Silently, she scans the apartment with a spell, relaxing only slightly when she registers only one other person in the apartment; out on the balcony. She walks briskly over to it and finds red hair framed by night, drooped shoulders defeated by exhaustion.

i definitely love to open up a story by describing either a setting or an action. very few times do i open up with dialogue... interesting! wonder what that says about me O.O

i think my favorite opening line would have to be the one from “infinite & always.” it’s such a short but impactful line! aang DOES come and go, and that IS the hardest part!

thanks again the tag, e-money and a-dawg B) i’m tagging @cats-and-metersticks, @praetorqueenreyna, and @justoceanmyth :)

#my writing #my fanfiction #tag meme #tokka #aanglove #fremione #alvareider #wishfulshipping #maiaang #azulaang #zukaang #yueki #almost missed my queue #rey rambles

14 notes · View notes

universejunction · 3 years

Text

Midwayers, and problems of intended belief

A discord conversation (at first about fae and spirits)

Me:

I feel so far behind on learning about fae and spirits and such. When I thought The Urantia Book was more than a well-intentioned hoax it was easy to think fae and such are all just what it calls "midwayers". Now I'm... wide open to new interpretations. I know I'm not behind, I'm just where I am, but still...

I would love to give you more of an idea, but I don't know a ton about the Urantia book or what you mean by midwayers.

Me:

Oof, okay. I don't expect much in the way of answers, I know I'll get what I get in time. But I will take this opportunity to share.

In the Urantia Book, it make a lot of distinction between spirit and matter, as you might expect. Mind is the means by which Spirit rules over matter, yada yada. It also has a ton of details on angels.

There's a ton of history in there too, which I'm now interpreting as metaphor at best, because it's sure as shit not factual with its racial skeletal types and what not.

Anyway... Y'know, I'm gonna give the summary and then see if I have the energy for the story, because I'm worn out.

Basically, midwayers are midway between material and spiritual (but they're not, like, pure mind), covering the gap between angels and humans. They're native to the world, but descended from super-humans. They're immortal and stick around until the "age of light and life". And there's 1111 of either all of them or that might just be the first group of them.

Midwayers also get attributed cases of demonic possession (but so does mental illness), though they're not supposed to be able to do that anymore since Jesus completed his experience of life and earned his sovereignty (which was... before his public work) as basically god of local creation.

There's so much in this book and I carved it into my brain and now I don't trust it but it's still so quick to mind 😩

Innkeeper:

Woof okay I just read this

This is....so much not correct at all but also weirdly accurate

Which makes sense considering my personal theories on bleedthrough but thats another topic for another time

Me:

"Bleedthrough" sounds so very likely correct even without knowing what you mean exactly. That's pretty much my theory on how the Absolutes stuff seems so probably accurate despite everything else

I'm just going to offer that whenever you hear "superhuman," in a spiritual tome, your hackles should probably raise.

Like, it sounds like this is coming from the same branch of angelic and Christian occultism that recognize the Nephilim, but uh, just be mindful that rhetoric about "ancient superhumans" is almost ALWAYS used to sell bullshit about magic indigenous people

It sounds like you're mindful of that, but, heads up

The midwayer concept is ringing alarm bells between "Magic White People From Outer Space" to "Eugenics"

Innkeeper:

The idea of a liminal concept, something that exists in between those two states, I feel that holds water

The idea of literally everything else is uh

Worrisome at best

Me:

I'll add more in a sec but y'all right

Me (later):

To be clear, I was raised on the Urantia Book and am now moving away from it. For reasons mentioned above, among others.

It does come very close to "magic white people from outer space" and definitely is like "eugenics is a good idea but no one is qualified to direct it".

Me (replying to A):

Adding on, yes, but it's like... Fix-it fic. There's this spirit prince for the world who rebelled with Lucifer (who was like... a local administrator, not a god or angel), but when he arrived they like... called 100 natives [of Earth], cloned them with power-ups, and put people from other worlds like ours into the bodies who served as the prince's staff in the task of cultivating culture. Those staff, through essentially spiritual sex, created the first midwayers. After rebellion, the staff split and the ones who stay loyal to the prince are called nephilim and start a line of (acknowledged in the text) big ol' nasty racial supremacists. They're also called Nodites (c.f. "Land of Nod")

Later, Adam and Eve show up to "upstep" human evolution (disease resistance, humor, art... yeah, magic white people) but because the prince rebelled and shit's fucked, they're having a hard time. Eve bangs a local tribe leader to get an alliance and fucks everything up (that results in Cain. Able is Adam and Eve's next kid). So now should-be-immortal Adam and Eve only have a few hundred years to live and their (already many) kids get the choice to leave and most of them do.

A while later, their first son, Adamson, goes off to start a new cultural center, meets a woman named Rata who "claims" to be the last pure-line Nodite. [They] have a bunch of kids, every 4th of which is invisible(???), and they make those kids get together (yikes!) and that's where the secondary midwayers come from.

And it lampshades all this like "many things in the spiritual development of a world are hard to understand." Uh, yeah! History is weird, sure, but as it's fan fic, it's creepy.

So, I'm saying this with all the love in my heart, but you can only portray things as fiction which are not intended to be believed.

That's not a fanfiction, that's a religious text. That is a religious text with a fully realized theology and metaphysics, complete with creation story. I think it is harmful to approach it as anything else, or as a "generic" metaphysical practice. (Relatedly, there is no such thing as "generic witchcraft," which is a main point of this history of the occult book club).

Doing a little bit more research, it's a religious text associated loosely with the Urantia Foundation and written in 1955. I'm not seeing any indication at the moment that there's a formal power structure associated with the movement, which lessens the chance for cult behavior.

What I will suggest to you is that you need to approach this work like you would any other religious text. Set aside questions of whether the text is "accurate" or "true." If you are honestly interested in the metaphysical, you should be able to separate empirical reality and history for the metaphysical. If you can't do that, take five steps back in your practice and come back once you can.

So, setting aside questions of truth, does this cosmology reflect the things you believe about the world? Does it encourage a way of thinking about people that you think is good, virtuous, honorable, etc? Can this text be used to uphold values that you hold, or do the natural extensions of this text lead to certain conclusions? Are those conclusions harmful?

For instance, I believe that eugenics is totally and morally abhorrent, and that there is fundamentally "no such thing" as a person who could pull it off "correctly." There's no way to do eugenics "right," just like I believe there is no morally correct way to, I don't know, punch a baby.

As such, even your acknowledgment that the text accepts eugenics makes it worthy of rejection in my mind.

Maybe you are interested and capable of doing the apologetics to make this into a compassionate religious movement. I don't know. I am not interested in doing that. But I do not think you can "move away" from this text, in the same way that you cannot "move away" from the bible, only from interpretations of it.

At some point, you have to believe in a basic assumption. If there's something that "feels right," there's only so far you can push it without that basic assumption.

If you think there is a separation between mind, body, and Spirit, wonderful. I would recommend you find another text and another basic set of assumptions. For instance, one that doesn't involve angels making angel-possesed magic native people for the point of preparing the world for the "good races."

Me:

Yes, you've got it right. Except that my interpretation has moved from "I think this book is what it claims" to "I think this was (probably well-intentioned, but still) a hoax perpetrated by ex-Seventh-Day Adventists". But for whatever good intentions may've been involved, the fact that it's intended to be believed makes it very harmful. I talked about it today as a way of saying "wow, look at this crazy shit" and talking through the changes involved in my different interpretation / loss of faith.

I don't believe in midwayers anymore and don't know what to believe, I'm trying to do the work, as you say, of finding what parts are good and what's harmful, comparing with empirical stuff, etc. But, however ready I may've been to walk away from the Urantia Book, it's still a process of recognizing what ideas I have based on it and examining them in turn to see what's salvageable.

Innkeeper:

I think that's an incredibly respectful way to go about it, Toph.

When something is that formative to you as a person, it's rarely as easy as learning it's harmful and then moving on, entirely separated from the source material. There's a long process of digging up every assumption you know you have--and many you don't know you have, or don't have at all--and needing to challenge them in a newer, healthier framework. One of the most potent aspects of the danger of cults is that they're incredibly difficult to challenge that base assumption, and it can take years if not a lifetime to walk a path that steadily heads away from what was taught.

So to acknowledge something formative's deep capacity for danger and harm, and go through the long process of picking it apart piece by piece to ensure you don't retain its harmfulness as you separate from it, I think that's the best possible way to go about something.

#urantia analysis #behold my eloquence #long post

2 notes · View notes

theowriteswhatever · 4 years

Text

Zuko Story With No Title Part 8

We had made our way into the fire nation and through their army, but something felt wrong. It seemed too easy. Like everyone knew something was coming. I didn’t want to tell anyone how I felt in fear that they wouldn’t believe me, but I knew deep down that this was too simple to be unexpected.

“What’s wrong, (Y/N)?” Toph asked out of nowhere. I hadn’t even noticed she had come up behind me as I watched us plow through the soldiers in our make-shift tanks. I turned around and faked a smile, even though I would have loved to tell her how I really felt. It probably would’ve made me feel better.

“Nothing. I’m fine.” I lied as I turned back to look through our tinted windows as more fire nation soldiers went down.

“I can tell you’re lying you know.” I had totally forgotten that she could feel when I wasn’t telling the truth and that probably made me look even more shady that I tried to lie to her of all people. “So I’m gonna ask you again Aquagirl, what’s wrong?” She pressed.

“It just seems like this was too easy. I mean, yeah, they’re fighting back, but they seemed too prepared.” I admitted as I looked down at her.

“Well duh. They knew someone would fight back at some point. They’re not stupid.” She sassed in a rude tone.

“I know they expected it to happen at some point, but they shouldn’t have expected it now. They just seem so. . .ready and it’s almost like they’re putting on a performance.” She nodded and that was probably the first time we had agreed on anything in awhile.

Suddenly, we were tipped over and I grabbed onto Toph. She wrapped around me as we spilled out of the sad little tank. We rolled onto the hard ground with Toph on top of me. Sokka ran up to us in his Southern Water Tribe warrior outfit and helped Toph up and then offered me a hand. “Are you guys ok?”

We nodded before I felt a wave of fire come from behind me. I quickly turned around and threw my stress sweat back to extinguish it.

I approached the fire nation soldier and swiftly extinguished every flame he threw at us. We were quickly surrounded by several army members and I had no sweat left to use. They began to close in and I turned around to see Toph and Sokka hanging on tight to each other in panic. Sokka seemed too petrified to do much of anything and Toph hadn’t quite mastered metal bending yet so she couldn’t do much to the floor. I stood in panic for a second too, before I looked over to Sokka to see his sword.

I smirked knowing exactly how this would go and then sprinted at full force towards Sokka. He looked at me like I was crazy before I slid under his side, grabbed the sword, and stood up on the other side. The soldiers closed in more, but I had a plan.

I kicked back the first soldier to the metal floor and pushed off of him to flip over and use the handle of the sword to hit the second soldier on the head. I swiped the sword under another 3 soldiers’ feet and they fell backwards to hit their head on the hard metal floor. The last soldier approached and threw a large flame but I turned over it, pushed the soldier to the floor, and held the sword to his neck with my foot on his chest.

“Did you guys know we were coming?” I asked forcefully. He didn’t respond so I pushed the sword closer to his neck. I didn’t actually plan to decapitate him, but I was sure coming close to accidentally doing it. “Tell me!” I shouted.

“Yes! We knew! Now let me go! Please!” But I pushed the sword further. I wasn’t done yet.

“Where is the Fire Lord?” I pressed further with my words and Sokka’s sword.

“He escaped to some underground tunnels under the palace! He’s being guarded there with the prince and princess!” He squeaked out. I pulled the sword away and took my foot off his chest. I threw the sword back to Sokka and gestured for them to follow me. We had to find Aang and these tunnels. We couldn’t let them get away with this.

Several soldiers approached us and threw sparks, but I dodged them as I continued my march towards the palace. Sokka and Toph fell in line behind me as we made our way up the stairs. When we finally made it to the top, I pushed the doors open and slammed them behind my entourage. And as expected, no one was in sight except for Aang.

“They’re not here!” He said in a panicked voice as he ran up to us.

“They knew we were coming. They’re in some underground tunnels somewhere.”

“They’re right under us.” Toph announced before proceeding to rip a hole in the ground. We all jumped in and ran through the long confusing tunnels.

I was wanting to give up when we finally found a clearing with a throne. And of course, on the throne sat the dreaded princess Azula.

“So, you are alive after all. I had a hunch that you survived. It doesn't matter, I've known about the invasion for months. ” She said with sass and hatred laced through her voice. Aang threw the first punch with a gust of air that blew over the throne, but she quickly threw lightning at us. We were all able to dodge before the fighting completely broke out.

Eventually, all 4 of us were exhausted, but Azula wasn’t. She never is. She ran into a nearby hallway and we followed her, but Sokka tried to hold us back.

“Guys, she’s trying to distract us from the real reason we’re here. We need to find the Fire Lord.” I was the only one who stopped and processed what he said. He was right. Except that the eclipse was surely over by now and there was no point. We needed to just accept our failure and come back later.

“We need to get out of here. The eclipse must be over by now.” Toph stopped and listened to me, but by the time we made it to the hallway to tell Aang, he already had Azula pinned to the wall.

“Aang, she’s just distracting us. We need to get out of here.” I said as Sokka nodded to agree. “It’s over Aang.” His face dropped slightly as he looked at me.

“No. I can’t fail again.” His grimace returned at full force as he pinned Azula even further to the wall.

“Aang. We’ll do this later. She’s just playing us.” He looked up at Azula who smirked knowing she won and Aang let her go from the wall. I smiled at him sympathetically. “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.” Aang nodded and started to follow us before Azula let out one final attempt to distract us.

“I guess you don’t want to know about your dear Suki then, Sokka.” Sokka stopped in his tracks and turned around. I tried to tug him away but he was already approaching her with his boomerang pulled out.

“Where is she?” He demanded. She smiled knowing he was falling for it, but I went back and grabbed his wrist.

“She’s still trying to trick us. We have to go.” I practically whispered. He looked between me and the smirking Azula before sighing and following us out. We ran back through the many tunnels until we finally made it back outside of the palace.

Our faces dropped at the sight of the fallen troops and our injured and afraid friends. Hakoda was leaning on Katara’s shoulder and called out to us when he made eye contact with Sokka. We ran over to them and were surrounded by our surrendering friends. “You guys have to leave. We’ll turn ourselves in, but you kids have to go with the Avatar.”

“No! We can’t leave you guys. You’ll be put in prison or killed or-” Sokka started.

“We’ll be fine, Sokka. You guys will come back and win and we’ll all be free.” We all agreed and Aang called Appa with his whistle as Sokka and Katara hugged their dad goodbye. Toph, Teo, Sokka, Haru, Katara, The Duke, Aang, and I all escaped onto Appa and flew away.

We all shed a few tears as we saw our friends from over the last few months be captured and then we shared a look of remorse as we realized that we had truly failed.

* * *

The Western Air Temple was eerily silent as we sat and planned our next move. We were all terrified of what would happen next, but none of us would admit it. We all felt bad in our own ways for what we did wrong, but no one was willing to bring that up.

Aang and Sokka were debating about what was our best bet at winning before the comet hit, but I wasn’t really listening. I stared at the broken brick floor and just thought over everything we could have done better. We could have planned it on a less obvious day, because it was too easy to guess. We could have been more stealthy when everyone came together, I mean, all those ships going towards one obscure mountain was enough to give us away before it even started. We could have divided and conquered, that way we could close in on the palace. We could have used less popular people for the attack, so people weren’t questioning when people went missing. Our failure was right in front of us and we didn’t see it. Our first shot at any kind of recognition as a powerful army was gone. We had failed. I had failed.

“(Y/N)? Are you even listening?” Aang snapped at me. I had never heard him so mad. He must have been just as disappointed in himself as I was with myself. I know he has such high expectations for himself and thinks he always has to succeed because he’s the Avatar.

“Yes. Yes. I’m sorry.” I said shaking myself out of my thoughts.

“What do you think we should do?” Katara asked me. I honestly had no idea how to answer. I was so focused on our previous failure that I had forgotten to think about the future.

“Well there’s a lot of improvements we can make. We can divide and conquer. Like maybe Aang takes Ozai, Katara and I take Azula, and Sokka and Toph take out the army or something.” I stopped to hear a response and there wasn’t one. They probably thought I was out of my mind. “No, that’s stupid. Just. . .I don’t know.”

“No, that’s actually a good idea. Keep going.” Sokka said as he took a seat to listen. I was surprised, because he was always the one with the plan. He always knew what to do next and we always listened to him. This was wrong. I don’t want them to listen to me of all people. But it didn’t seem like I had a choice from the way they were looking at me expectantly.

“I guess. . .we divide and conquer. And we don’t call so much attention to ourselves when or if we make an army, do it on a day they don’t expect it or at least a day that they would be focused on something other than us. Just the little things, you know?” Once again they were silent. I must’ve said something wrong. I was about to open my mouth to correct myself, but Toph interrupted me.

“That actually makes a lot of sense.” I smiled slightly at her because it felt nice for my opinions to actually be considered. But it was ruined when I looked past Sokka and Aang to see a shadow. It was far and dark, but I knew exactly who it belonged to.

“Zuko.” Everyone looked confused before I pointed. They all turned around and we immediately got into our fighting positions.

“Hello. Zuko here.” He said with a smile on his face and his arm raised. I wanted to smile at the sight of him, knowing that he wouldn’t be here looking like this if he had poor intentions. But I held my mouth in a straight line as I brought out water from the nearby fountain.

“Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there, so, I just thought I'd wait for you here. Appa interrupted him to lick him and I looked over to see Aang lower his defenses just a little bit. “I know you must be surprised to see me here.” He started as if he had rehearsed a speech a million times.

“Not really, since you've followed us all over the world.” Sokka sassed with his boomerang raised up in defense.

“Right. Well, uhhh ... anyway ... what I wanted to tell you about is that I've changed, and I, uhhh, I'm good now, and well I think I should join your group, oh, and I can teach firebending to you.” He said as if it wasn’t a big deal at all.

I felt sick to my stomach all of a sudden. He wanted to join our group? And teach Aang firebending? And I was just supposed to believe he was good now? He chased my friends and me for months. But then he was nice. But then he burned me. But then he kissed me. But then he tried to kill me. But then he comes back and says he’s good. It was hard to keep up honestly. He was giving me so many mixed signals and it was like he was trying to torture me. I felt so sick and weak and tuned out the angry conversation happening between my friends and him. I wanted to run away and think it over, but I stood my ground. Over these past few months, I’ve been afraid of what I would do in this moment. If I would forgive him when he finally came back to apologize. But now that it’s happening, I wasn’t doing anything. I was just standing and watching.

“Get out of here, and don't come back! And if we ever see you again, well, we'd better not see you again!” I was finally able to hear Katara yell. I zoned back into the moment and saw Zuko look at me for some kind of redemption, but I couldn’t bring myself to say or do anything. I still felt weak and faint and I couldn’t help the regret that was creeping its way up through my throat. It felt like someone had caught my esophagus on fire from the inside and I couldn’t bring myself to speak. The amount of pain I would be in was unimaginable, so I just stood and watched as he walked away.

“Why would he try to fool us like that?” Katara said angrily as she sent the water back into her canteen.

“Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap.” Sokka said with about the same level of rage.

I once again tuned them out as I contemplated what this meant. I could tell he was being genuine, because he was in his rarely-seen vulnerable mode that I knew all too well. I knew he was truly sorry, but I wasn’t ready to forgive him.

I felt extremely light-headed and sat down on the nearby fountain in an attempt to feel even slightly better. And of course it didn’t work. I just sat there staring at my slowly moving hands that gently laid in my lap.

“Are you ok, (Y/N)?” I heard Katara ask. I nodded slowly as I continued to fiddle with my fingers. “You want him to join the group, don’t you?” Katara asked as if she had read my mind, but she was wrong. I don’t want him to join the group. Or at least I don’t think I want him too. I didn’t really know right now. I was worried that if I thought too hard about it, I would pass out. “(Y/N)?”

“I don’t want him to join the group. At least not until he’s proven to us that he’s truly good.”

“He never was good, he isn’t good, and he will never be good.” Sokka sassed me.

“He’s been good before!” I quickly defended him before realizing my mistake.

“When has he been good?”

“He umm. . .he freed Appa, th-that’s something right?” I tried to play it off as if that was all I knew about and everyone bought it. They had no idea that I actually knew him much more than they thought.

“He attacked our tribe, kidnapped Aang more times than I count, he took the Northern Water Tribe and Ba Sing Se, he followed us all the way around the world, almost killed all of us a million times, and sent Combustion Man after us. But yeah, let’s forget all that, because he freed the stupid bison!” Sokka yelled, but then saw the look on Aang’s face and decided to take back that last part. “No offense.”

“I’m not saying we forgive him or that he’s worthy of being in our group after all he’s done, but I am saying that we should be grateful he tried. I mean, he wouldn’t come here and beg for forgiveness if he was the same person he used to be.”

“That’s what I’m saying! Plus, Aang really needs a firebending teacher. We can’t pass up the opportunity.” Toph said with her arms up in the air. “I’m beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here!” She then stormed off with her arms crossed.

Katara and Aang then walked the other way while discussing more game plans as Sokka huffed before heading to his room.

I sat there on the peaceful fountain and the feelings of regret, dread, and fear only grew worse.

@vintageroses1014516 @aphrodites-perfume @rintheemolion @expecto-patroni @akariblue @shephard17895 @leslieanahid

#zuko x reader #zuko story #zuko story with no title #gaang #atla #avatar the last airbender #atla x reader #sokka #aang #toph #katara #zuko imagine

76 notes · View notes

bollywood-and-phoenix-feather · 4 years

Link

manic hours opened yesterday and @just-another-trans-twink and I went on a 24-hour zukka lockdown. this was the result!

essentially: more sokka and azula content is absolutely necessary in this fandom, so here are five times sokka and azula collaborated for the better, and one time it was definitely for the worse

Read on AO3 above!

1. the gaang threatens murder

Sokka hadn’t felt this anxious in nearly six years – since the end of the war. Well, not counting the numerous attempts on his boyfriend’s life; those set him on edge for weeks afterwards. Today was different, though. It wasn’t just he and Zuko and the guards who were unusually tense and hyper-alert. The whole palace felt like it was holding its breath, terse silence stifling in the late summer air.

Sokka checked his timepiece. Thirty minutes until Azula arrived to move into the palace, hopefully (or unfortunately?) for good.

Zuko had been back in contact with his sister for years now. He’d been to visit her in the hospital many times, and she’d even visited the palace occasionally. The fact that she and Zuko could now hold a conversation without setting each other on fire was testament to how she’d changed. Even the doctors said she was better, more stable.

But Sokka still didn’t trust her - couldn’t trust her, after everything she’d done to Katara, Suki, his dad, Zuko… they were his family, and he had to be ready to protect them. Sokka wasn’t the only one that felt that way. Zuko might have started to trust her again, but everyone else was skeptical.

Katara was pissed; Sokka didn’t need Toph’s seismic sense to know that. She, Aang, Toph, Suki, and a few other Kyoshi warriors had arrived a few days ago for extra security. Zuko had stubbornly maintained that it was unnecessary, but he’d finally conceded it was probably a good idea after Sokka had asked them to come anyway.

Zuko, in his earnest quest to be a good brother, wanted to give Azula a proper welcome to the palace, with a small celebratory dinner with their closest friends - which were Zuko’s closest friends, since Azula didn’t really have those anymore. Ty Lee and Mai declined to come, and he was pretty sure everyone else had only agreed to come to provide moral support and physical protection for Zuko. Sokka was just hoping a fight wouldn’t break out.

Dinner was, well. Tense.

Katara did little but pick at her food and glare icy daggers at Azula, who pretended not to notice, acting coolly unperturbed by the tension around her. Suki looked relaxed, but Sokka knew better. Her fans sat on either side of her plate, ready for a fight, and she never quite shifted her weight to the back of her seat. Toph might have been the only one actually having a good time, irreverently picking her nails and drinking more sake than a person her size should have been able to.

Aang was desperately trying to ease the mood, chattering on far too cheerfully about new trade routes between the Earth Kingdom and Southern Water Tribe, while Zuko passively nodded along, glancing over at his sister occasionally like he wanted to talk to her.

“... so then, shipments will move primarily between Akahime, Kyoshi Island, and the Southern Water Tribe, like they did when I was a kid! Or was a kid for the first time, I guess! Huh. Anyway! This is gonna be great because it’s a relatively short and easy trade route but the quality of goods -”

“Aang,” Sokka snapped, physically unable to listen any longer. “I love you like a brother, but that does mean that if I have to listen to you recite the trade proposal that I helped write for any longer, I will shave your eyebrows off while you sleep. And Katara -” Sokka whirled on her - “I know you’re upset, but can you please return my water to a liquid state? And everyone else’s, for that matter? Otherwise someone’s gonna have to deal with a hungover Toph tomorrow, and it sure as hell isn’t gonna be me!”

Sokka glared at his sister across the table. Her face was stony, her eyes slightly narrowed. Was this going to end well for Sokka? No. Did that mean he was going to back down? Absolutely not.

“Fine,” Katara muttered through gritted teeth. With a twitch of her fingers, the ice filling everyone’s cups of water melted back to liquid - all except Sokka’s.

“Real fucking mature, Katara - ” he began, and then she flicked her fingers out towards him, melting the water in his cup and sending it right at his face.

“You little shit!” Sokka shrieked in what he was sure was a very, very manly tone. As he rose to confront his sister, Zuko and Suki turned to exchange a fond look, both of them struggling to hide their laughter. Sokka took a breath, feigning sincerity. “You know what? I take it back. You’re ALL a bunch of assholes.” He yanked the tablecloth towards him, sending food and drink flying, before attempting to make a hasty escape.

Chaos erupted. Katara bent the water off herself and onto Zuko, apparently declaring him guilty by association. Toph began shooting grape-oranges at people with alarming precision, while Suki deflected them just as easily. Sokka didn’t get more than a few steps away from the table before his feet were earthbent into the floor.

“You’re not going anywhere, Snoozles!” Toph bellowed, now pelting him with various fruits. He tried to dodge without falling on his face, and was only saved by Zuko grabbing both his arms to keep him balanced. Sokka looked up to see Zuko with a wide grin on his face, and Sokka, hopelessly-in-love bisexual that he was, had barely started his usual inner monologue about how beautiful Zuko’s smile was when Zuko leaned in to smear egg custard on his face.

Just as Sokka opened his mouth to voice his betrayal, another shrill scream split the room: “Are you fucking kidding me?!” Everyone turned to see Azula standing in the corner of the room, irate, steaming the water off her shirt and picking a few stray noodles out of her hair. “I lost to you?! You?”

Tense silence returned, dragging on as everyone tried to anticipate Azula’s next move.

Toph, who had remained unscathed by using the metal plates as shields, and who was somehow still sipping from a full, intact glass of sake, broke the silence. “Yep,” she said, popping the “p”.

Azula stared at Toph for a few moments before sitting down, a look of resignation on her face. Hm. That was new. So was the “Whatever,” Sokka thought he heard her mutter under her breath.

Slowly, everyone returned to the table to pick at what was left of their food and exchange uneasy glances with one another.

Aang cleared his throat. “Did anyone try the chicken? I thought the chicken was lovely.”

“I’m going to bed. Are you coming?” Zuko’s hands rested lightly on Sokka’s shoulders, and Sokka sleepily tipped his head back, away from the scroll he was reading, for a kiss. Zuko smirked, a few strands of hair that had escaped his topknot softly framing his face, and obliged.

“I’ll be there soon, okay? I just have a couple more things to take care of,” Sokka murmured in response. As usual, they were up late working in their study. (Technically, it was Zuko’s study, but Sokka almost always worked in here and was steadily covering any available flat surface with his scrolls, reference books, and blueprints. Not that Zuko was complaining.)

Zuko hummed, “Okay, love you,” against Sokka’s lips, before striding out of the room. Sokka waited until his footsteps had faded down the hall before rising, hoping he remembered the way to Azula’s room. He really didn’t want to ask for directions.

A few minutes and wrong turns later, he found Azula. She yanked open her door before he had really finished knocking, snapping an acidic “What?” in his face.

Sokka shouldered his way inside, closing the door behind him and choosing to ignore the fact that she could fry him like a pig-chicken in an instant if she decided it was worth it. He couldn’t think about that right now; he had to do this.

“Listen,” he growled, not bothering to hide the years of hurt and anger behind his voice. “I don’t know if you’re actually better or if this is part of some elaborate scheme of yours, and you know what? Right now, I don’t really care. You’ve hurt too many of the people I love. But you have Zuko convinced, and I guess -” His voice cracked, and he took a breath, trying not to wince visibly. “I guess that’s all that matters right now. He cares about you. A lot. So if you hurt him again, know this: consequences be damned, ending you will be my sole mission. Understand?”

Azula, level and unflinching, arms crossed over her chest, held his gaze for a long moment before huffing and breaking eye contact to inspect her nails. “Bold of you to assume I can be killed, Water Tribe.”

Sokka could only continue to stare, gritting his teeth to prevent his mouth from drifting open in astonishment. The fuck kind of response was that? What did that even mean?

Apparently satisfied with her nails, she turned her face back up to look at Sokka, a new, hard glint in her eyes. “Don’t worry about me. The threat is mutual. Guards!” A royal guard stepped through the door, standing at attention. “Please escort Ambassador Sokka out. I need my beauty sleep.”

And before Sokka could even begin to form a response, the door was closing behind him, and his feet were guiding him to Zuko’s chambers.

2. the gaang goes crafting

Sokka placed two thumbs on his temples, rubbing vigorously before giving up his headache for a lost cause with a sigh. This was the second Four-Nation (well, three-nation plus Aang) diplomatic council meeting he had attended, and as both the Southern Water Tribe representative and a young man who had seen far too much over the past few years, he was deeply frustrated.

When he'd been younger, he'd sat through enough war meetings to know how they usually went: chaos and argument, with Hakoda listening carefully before picking out the bits and pieces that mattered. It was a lot like hunting: waiting and watching for the correct moment to strike. Sokka had learned long ago how to listen, and listen well.

Unfortunately, it seemed like he might be the only one. The Earth Kingdom generals had not taken kindly to being placed in a small room with their Fire Nation counterparts, and every word out of their mouths demonstrated all too clearly that the war, for them, was not yet over. Zuko's position was still precarious - twice-banished and once-crowned - and so he could only do so much. The Earth King's travels had clearly done him some good, but the bar for improvement was unbelievably low. And Sokka did not yet have his dad's ability to command the room.

So this wasn't, at all, like hunting. It might actually be more like the moment after the hunting was over, when the offal was thrown to the polar bear dogs and they went wild, howling and yelling and stomping down the snow.

"I know that face," came a snide voice to his left.

Sokka jumped and drew his sword, mostly on instinct. Azula met his eyes over its point, and then pushed it away, lazily. Sokka let her.

"You're thinking," she said. "If you were my brother, I would say it was a rare feat. But you're not him, are you?"

Like everything Azula said, this question was a test, or a game, or both. Sokka rolled his eyes and chose not to play. "What do you want?"

"I want what you want," said Azula. "And I can help you get it."

Spirits. Even when she was trying to help you, she sounded like she was planning world domination. "Tell me how to get General Wu to shut up for more than five minutes, and then we can talk."

Azula examined her nails. They were much shorter, now, than they had been at the start of the war, so the effect was less like a predator picking its claws, and more girlish; it made her look her age, for once. Sokka wasn't sure if Azula knew, and if not, he certainly wasn't going to tell her.

"General Wu's daughter is studying at the Royal Fire Nation Academy, in her third summer. That means she's currently memorizing the fifty-eight rhetorical principles, and she's probably been practicing them so much that he can recite them by rote. If you bring up the one about the value of being concise - "

"He will finish it, embarrass himself, and then keep quiet for at least the next five minutes so that I can shut down his stupid air-balloon outreach plan." Sokka blinked, surprised at the words coming out of his own mouth. "Did I just agree with you?"

"Of course you did," said Azula, smiling. Her palm was sparking a little, in the way it did before she said something about collective power for utter domination, etc., so Sokka took the opportunity to head her off early.

"Come back to the library with me," he said. "We still have nine generals to go."

Azula looked at him. Sokka looked right back. He had the upper hand here, and he knew it - Azula must have been bored out of her mind after months nothing interesting to do but watch the path of the odd frog-fly. As far as Sokka knew, she wasn't even allowed out of this wing of the palace unattended, let alone permitted to read anything more recent than her great-grandfather’s time.

"Fine," said Azula, finally, feigning boredom. Sokka smiled.

Zuko stared. "What is this?"

"What does it look like?" said two voices at once. Sokka and Azula looked at each other in brief, honest shock, before turning back to him as one. Zuko swallowed nervously and resisted the urge to draw his swords.

"Um. It looks like the librarian is gonna be mad at you for defacing the general's royal portraits," said Zuko.

"What did I tell you?" said Azula, scornful. "I knew he wouldn't understand."

"We just have to give him a minute," said Sokka, patiently. Zuko stared. We? he mouthed.

"Oh, well, let him be," said Azula. "Zuzu - " she began, sweetly, and Zuko didn't even flinch this time - "you take all the time you need. If you have questions, we will be in my chambers."

"In your chambers," agreed Zuko, haplessly. "Why?"

"We're finishing the border agreement," Sokka threw over his shoulder. Azula was already halfway down the hall.

"The border agreement. The one that - they've been working on that for months! What do you mean you're finishing it?"

"Oh, you know, teamwork and whatever. It wasn't that hard." Sokka grinned brightly at Zuko, giving him a large thumbs up, and then skipped after Azula.

3. the gaang does science

As much as Zuko was unnerved by the...alliance? working relationship? collaboration? between Sokka and Azula, he had to admit that they were making great progress. They had resolved the border agreement, a messy affair Zuko was sure would take the rest of the year and possibly also Aang’s moderation to conclude, in less than a week.

That had been months ago, and since, they had gotten everything from education reform bills to reparations proposals approved by the council and various world leaders. Sometimes Zuko wondered who was really running the country right now. He didn’t mind, though. It was fun to watch the dusty old men on his advisory council squirm in meetings when Azula sat in the corner, staring them down and taking meticulous notes.

Plus, he got more sleep this way.

Zuko rose and stretched after signing off the Power Duo’s latest proposal for terracing the mountainside of a nearby village to grow rice. Dismissing his constant internal struggle over whether their partnership should make him thankful or fearful for his safety, he went to find Sokka. He got more time to eat in places that weren’t his study now, too. He’d thought a surprise picnic by the turtleduck pond might be nice; it’d been so long since he and Sokka had been able to go on an actual date.

He’d already asked for a blanket and a basket of food to be sent over to the pond, so all he had to do was find Sokka, who…wasn’t in his office. Zuko frowned; he must be outside.

Zuko headed towards the courtyard behind the building instead, lost in thought about their last date - Sokka had talked him into seeing The Ember Island Players’ most recent atrocity, which had lived up to Zuko’s rock-bottom expectations, but they’d gone swimming afterwards, and then -

Zuko’s train of thought (and the accompanying flush in his cheeks) was cut off abruptly by the truly alarming sight greeting him in the courtyard.

Azula was elaborately strapped and tied to Sokka’s back like a baby hog monkey, her arms falling in front of his shoulders to tighten a couple last straps. Both were wearing large, ridiculous, leather-framed goggles that fit snugly around their eyes. As Azula worked with the straps, Sokka unfurled two triangular pieces of cloth that bore suspicious similarity to the wings of Aang’s glider. The bottom part of the cloth appeared to be attached to his boots, the top edge to his arms.

Before Zuko could even say, What the fuck, Sokka? , Sokka grinned over his shoulder at Azula and said with far too much vigor, “Ready?”

Azula, clearly still focused on the straps, snapped, “I’m always ready. Are you sure this will work?”

“No, but there’s only one way to find out! That’s science! Sokka-POW!” And with that, Azula lit a massive flame under her feet, sending them both flying above the roof of the palace. Immediately, despite Sokka’s best efforts with the cloth flaps, they careened wildly out of control before plummeting directly into the roof of the residential hall on the opposite side of the courtyard.

As he sprinted towards them, calling for his guards to send a healer, he could think only two thoughts: (1) spirits, please let them be okay, and (2) if they’re not dead, I’m going to kill them.

Crashing through the door of the building, he found Sokka and Azula on the (very charred) floor, a few small fires surrounding them, which he snuffed out with a wave of his hand. The two were still mostly strapped together, Sokka rolling around on the floor in an attempt to dislodge Azula, while she tried to undo the straps at Sokka’s front with mixed success.

Zuko unsheathed one of the daggers at his waist and willed himself not to breathe fire as he launched into a tirade that bald-ponytail, sixteen-year-old Zuko would have been proud of. “What the fuck were you two thinking! Are you stupid? Don’t answer that, smartass,” He glared pointedly at Sokka while he sliced his way through their bindings. “What would I have done if something happened to either of you? There’d be a fucking diplomatic crisis, I’d have a dead ambassador and a dead sister and a very, very angry Southern Water Tribe -”

“In my defense,” Sokka muttered hoarsely, head lolling back onto the floor, “my dad would definitely believe you if you told him that I did something like this.”

“Do you even hear yourself?” He sheathed his dagger and whirled on his sister. “Azula,” he pleaded, “why?”

She shrugged, and offered only, “Science.” A smirk spread over her face, splitting streaks of soot. “Maybe if you’d let me read a book published in the last two hundred years, then I’d know it was a bad idea.”

Zuko’s imminent death threat was cut off by Sokka’s chuckling from the floor. “Nice one, ‘Zula. Up top.” He raised his hand weakly for Azula to give him a high five.

I can’t believe I’m in love with this concussed idiot, Zuko thought (not for the first time). Healers rushed in to save the two from Zuko’s remaining wrath. “I’m telling Katara,” Zuko muttered.

“Nooooo, babyyy, please don’t tell Katara, she’ll -”

“I’m telling Katara, mostly because you deserve to be yelled at by someone else, but also because she and Aang get here in a week, and I don’t know how else I’m going to explain why it looks like a comet crashed into the palace. And, you know what? Royal decree - you two are not allowed to hang out unsupervised any more.”

Azula glared at him - less her old I’m-going-to-mount-your-head-on-the-palace-gates glare and more the usual your-existence-tires-me glare that he saw pass between Sokka and Katara so often. That was better, though, and Zuko decided that he would take it. Sokka just pouted, jutting out his bottom lip and batting his eyelashes. Zuko found this look cuter than he should, and Sokka knew it.

Zuko steeled his resolve. “I’m telling Katara, and I’m not going to stop giving you shit about this until we’re approximately eighty, okay? But you can read whatever you want in the library. Happy?”

The Power Duo cheered, and Zuko couldn’t hold back a soft smile.

4. the gaang hoards the brain cells

Maybe it was a lifetime of being the oldest sibling and also the responsible sibling, or maybe it was just because he had grown up around Katara, but despite all appearances to the contrary (see: the as-yet unrepaired roof of the residential hall) Sokka was actually a great influence on Azula.

Part of this was definitely due to the fact that Azula, like, listened to him. Sokka wasn't sure that he'd ever been around someone who did what he said without question. Zuko supported him, but in a boyfriend kind of way; sometimes Sokka would jump in with a plan fully formed, and then Zuko would make him explain it back and work out the kinks; other times - and especially in fights - by the time Sokka had come up with a workable plan, Zuko was already in the middle of it, flaming-feet first, and Sokka had to improvise (brilliantly, but desperately) to keep up.

Katara, conversely, never actually listened to him. She just did what she wanted. If what she wanted happened to line up with Sokka's exact plan, she would never admit it. It was her right, really, as a younger sibling; Sokka knew this, and he loved her.

But Azula understood his plans almost before he said them out loud - most of the time because she was thinking the same thing. And somehow, out of everyone - she respected him the most; sometimes Sokka felt like she was trying to earn his approval, like she knew that if Sokka trusted her, so would Katara, and even Zuko. If she was a sail, Sokka was just a rudder, steering her: they didn't have to be pointing the same direction, but their boat would never crash.

Sokka frowned, trying to imagine himself as a boat. Would his wolf-tail be the rudder? Or would his whole body just be triangle-shaped?

It didn't matter. (It did. He would figure it out later.) Right now, he needed to talk to her about some of the villages at the southern border; heavy rains had induced mudslides, wiping out shrines and causing the spirits to run amok. Sokka thought that maybe, this village might be a kind of Heroism Starter Pack for Azula, that they could - what was that noise?

Sokka looked down. The castle floor should not be splashing his feet, and yet it was; he was standing in a giant puddle. He looked up, suddenly focused; there was a trail of muddy water making its way down the hall.

Sokka followed it. The water grew muddier and deeper as he went, and Sokka despaired for whoever would have to clean it up. Finally, he caught up to the source: his very bedraggled sister, and his equally soaked boyfriend, trudging toward the baths.

"Um," said Sokka. "What's happening, here?"

Katara turned around. "Well, someone had to do it." Her hands were on her hips, her nose upturned.

"Yeah," agreed Zuko, smiling. "We took care of it. It was fun."

Don't get him wrong - Sokka was all for Zuko's little smiles, and Zuko having fun, but - "Take care of what? What did you do?"

Zuko and Katara scowled, eerily identical. "What we did," Katara said, edging from 'self-satisfied' to 'fiercely righteous', "was settle the spirits and save the villagers, since obviously the Earth kingdom civil forces don't have the bending knowledge to do it yet!"

"Yeah, like I said," said Zuko. He was frowning like a kicked puppy, which was unfair to Sokka specifically. "We took care of it."

"Oh," said Sokka, relaxing. "That's great! So you guys talked to the villagers?"

"Um," said Zuko. "About what?"

"...the mudslides. And, like, preventing them? The tiered rock formations?"

Zuko stared at him, a little furrow forming between his eyebrows which meant he was totally lost. Katara avoided his gaze, shifting from foot to foot.

"Katara," said Sokka, using his absolute best big brother voice, "remember my designs? Which I told you about last week?"

"Look, Sokka," said Katara, gently. Sokka frowned and crossed his arms; Katara had not been able to fool him with that voice since she was about ten years old, and she knew it. "We solved the problem. The spirits are settled and everything is okay now! Your designs were great, but we just...didn't need them?"

Sokka stared her down; Katara stared back.

"If you're going to -" "Well, what exactly was your - " they began, at the same time, and Zuko sighed; before they could really get into it, a rush of heat interrupted them, shrinking the puddles on the floor to sad little piles of dirt, and blowing Katara's hair dramatically into her face. Sokka stifled a laugh.

"I think the real question is, what did you actually do?" Azula asked, appearing from the shadows. She was holding Zuko's Blue Spirit mask, which was dripping with mud.

"Dramatic entrance high-five," said Sokka, because she deserved it, and because she was going to be on his side. Azula obliged, and then raised an eyebrow to Katara and Zuko, who reminded Sokka a bit of blow-dried cat-herons.

"We're not dumb," said Katara, smoothing down her robes. "We entered the village in disguise, and then cleared the mud and repaired the shrines. The spirits calmed down pretty quickly after everything was fixed."

"Right," said Azula. "Until the next time it rains. You know, what might have worked better would be to educate the villagers about flood barriers, or perhaps even offer them assistance in moving their shrines."

She sounded about as scornful and sarcastic as usual, but Sokka knew better; her ideas were legitimate and compassionate. He was so proud. Their murder baby was all grown up and trying to save people.

Katara did not pick up on the fact that Sokka was swelling like a pig-chicken about to crow. "You don't know that - "

"What we do know," interrupted Sokka bossily, "is that at some point it's going to rain again, and then the villagers are going to sit and pray to the Blue Spirit and the Painted Lady instead of building these custom-designed flood barriers on the mountain."

Zuko shuffled his feet. "I didn't really think about that."

"Zuko, I love you," said Sokka. "but in my humble opinion? No, you did not."

"I don't agree," began Katara, but Azula cut her off. "I do. I feel the same way Sokka does."

Zuko stared at her, like he was desperately trying not to ask: about what? But Azula was biting her lip and kind of looked like she was about to break into hives, so Sokka let her have this one.

"Here," he said, thrusting his plans into Katara's arms. "I support the fact that you guys got to do your dramatic spirit thing, but now please go back and give them my plans."

Azula brought two fingers up to her nose, showily. "And do take a bath, please. I doubt the villagers will appreciate your particular stench.”

5. the gaang plans a proposal

“...and that’s why you can’t trust General Yin, but you can use him to gain influence with Ambassador Xi and her supporters,” Azula finished, emphatically pointing at a few points on the elaborate web of papers tacked up on the wall of Sokka’s quarters. It’s not like he’s slept in there in years, anyway.

Zuko’s bed is much nicer. Because it has Zuko in it.

Sokka jotted down a few notes from Azula’s monologue, absentmindedly passing her their (stolen) bowl of noodles. He dropped his pen and rubbed his eyes. On to more important work. “So,” he said. “I’m proposing to Zuko. Wanna help?”

Azula met his eyes and stared him down. Sokka waggled his eyebrows, smile as big as his face.

“You’re serious,” she realized.

“Of course I am! It’s the biggest tactical challenge of the century, because Zuko is the most suspicious guy we know and he absolutely cannot suspect.” Sokka tossed her a scroll. It was long - and detailed. “What do you say?”

“With my help, this will be the best proposal ever made. Together, you and I are unbeatable!”

“Cool beans,” said Sokka. “Plan over breakfast tomorrow?”

Zuko stared at Katara. Katara stared at Zuko.

“Okay, so. I love your brother.”

“Obviously.”

Zuko shifted in his seat; his tea was untouched. “No, I mean. I really love your brother. He’s - the love of my life.”

Katara narrowly resisted the urge to say: if you love him so much, why don’t you marry him? Then, abruptly, she got the point.

“Are you asking for my blessing?”

“No,” said Zuko, and in response to Katara’s murderous glare, backtracked immediately. “Yes? I mean. I already asked Chief Hakoda.”

“Oh,” said Katara. Then, more gently, and possibly because she was worried Zuko might pass out, she asked, “What do you need my help with?”

“Planning,” he said, letting out a breath. “I want to propose and do it right, but Sokka’s the plan guy. Everyone knows that. And I thought, that since you know him, you could - “ He cuts himself off. “Forget it. It was a dumb idea anyway.”

Katara wills him to meet her eyes, because she is completely certain that they are actually sparkling. “Zuko,” she says, hand to her heart. “I would be honored.”

“Hello, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe. Your boyfriend, Zuko, here. Well, you probably know me because of...all the time we spend together. You know, dates and other things. Like meetings - “

Sokka’s hand was suddenly on his forehead. “Zuko, babe, are you feeling all right?”

In short succession, Sokka examined his eyes, ears, and tongue, and took his pulse (ripping his robes open to do so). Zuko flushed, which just seemed to make Sokka more concerned.

“Sokka!” he growled. “I’m fine. Everything is fine. And also normal. Fine and normal.”

“Of course!” said Sokka, laughing a little maniacally. Maybe he was spending too much time with Azula. “Fine and normal. Why wouldn’t it be?” He laughed again.

“Uh, guys,” said Toph. “Are you two okay?”

Zuko blinked, and came back to himself. In front of him were ten to fifteen very important diplomats, and all of his best friends. He was in public, at dinner. And his robes were ripped wide open.

Sokka was suddenly jerked back in his chair, presumably by Azula. His eye twitched. “Nothing to see here, Toph! Look! I’ve finished my dinner!”

Toph frowned. “You haven’t, and I can tell when you’re lying.”

“Fine, I’m not hungry!” Sokka declared. “What are you, a cop?” His eye twitched again. “I have to go now, for unrelated reasons. To, uh, review some paperwork. Bye!”

He was gone so fast Zuko was pretty sure he left a little dust cloud behind. Toph looked nonplussed. “But,” she said, “I am a cop.”

Katara reached over to help Zuko straighten his robes, giving him a sympathetic look. He felt Suki’s glare from across the room. When he and Sokka had started dating she’d threatened to - quote - remove his entire spine from his body by way of his mouth if Zuko broke Sokka’s heart, and with the way Zuko was acting right now…he couldn’t blame her for being suspicious.

Katara followed his gaze. “Hey, Zuko,” she said, brightly. “Didn’t you have that - thing?”

“What thing?” said Zuko. Oh, god. He had forgotten something, hadn’t he? He -

Katara pinched his arm, hard. “You know. That thing. That you had to do in your chambers?”

He couldn’t lose face any more than he already had. “Of course, Katara,” he said. “I will go now to do that thing.” Zuko stood up and retreated with dignity, praying that whatever it was, he would remember when he got there.

The table was quiet in their absence. The diplomats - who seemed to be inured to this sort of thing - soon began chatting peacefully, or placating Aang, who had helpfully pulled out his usual marble trick.

Azula watched Katara steadily over the table; Katara refused to meet her eye. “What,” Katara said, finally. “Is there something on my face?”

Azula leaned forward, bangs shadowing her face. “Tell me everything you know.”

“About what?”

“You know what!” Azula snapped. “Is my brother planning to propose?”

Katara shifted in her seat. “Unlike you,” she began, haughtily, “I know when to retreat. So, fine. I will tell you some of the things I know.”

“Where,” Azula demanded, “and when?”

“Princess, Sparky,” Toph said, irritated. “Don’t you get it? It doesn’t matter whether you know, because those two dumbasses haven’t figured it out!”

This brought the table to a halt. Even Aang stopped his marble, because it was true: Sokka and Zuko might together be the force that had liberated Boiling Rock, but when it came to each other? That famed intellect went sailing out the window.

Katara deflated, laying her head on the table. “We’ve got our work cut out for us, don’t we?”

Azula reached out and, wonder of wonders, patted her arm with something close to sympathy. “Might as well get started.”

Zuko paced his chambers restlessly. What had he forgotten? Oh god, was it something related to the proposal? His hands flew to a fold in his robes, finding the necklace he’d engraved for Sokka - a smooth, deep blue leather band with a perfect moonstone pendant, which Zuko had engraved with a dragon and a wolf, nested together in a loving embrace. He sighed in relief.

Spirits, Zuko was so in love with him. He was desperately trying not to fuck up this proposal, but it seemed he was fucking up the not fucking up and -

He needed to take a walk and clear his head. He could almost hear his uncle sagely murmuring, “You rarely find answers in a crowded mind, Nephew.” Or something like that. Zuko made his way from his and Sokka’s room to the turtleduck pond. It seemed he was usually able to find answers there; it reminded him of his mom.

Approaching the pond, he saw a familiar figure sitting at the base of the cherry tree, already starting to bloom. Sokka seemed lost in thought, staring down at something in his lap, but jerked to attention once he heard the rustle of Zuko’s boots against the grass.

Zuko sat down next to his partner, nerves momentarily overshadowed by the sweet, peaceful movement of wind through the branches of the cherry tree and his abundant love for the man sitting next to him. Zuko reached up to brush a stray blossom from Sokka’s wolf tail, cradled his face to run a thumb over his cheekbone. “Hi,” Zuko murmured, gently pressing their foreheads together. “I’m sorry.”

Sokka pulled back slightly, face contorted in confusion. “For what? I’m the one that should be apologizing. Zuko, I -”

“Apologize? For what? I’m the one who acted like an absolute ass. Ugh, spirits, ‘Zuko here,’ what was I thinking,” He dropped Sokka’s gaze, his hands drifting towards his lap, getting painfully frustrated once again. “And then I just - I couldn’t - fuck!” Zuko was interrupted by Sokka’s hands grabbing his hips and pulling him onto Sokka’s lap, and by Sokka’s lips meeting his.

“You didn’t do anything wrong,” Sokka murmured in between tender kisses, and his lips were soft and warm and everything Zuko wanted right now and for the rest of his life, and if he had to keep this a secret anymore, Zuko thought he might literally die.

Zuko pulled away, just enough to look Sokka in the eyes. “Marry me,” Zuko breathed. “Please, Sokka. I love you so much, and I don’t know where I’d be without you, and I - I want to spend the rest of my life with you.” Zuko only realized he was crying when Sokka ran his thumb under Zuko’s good eye, brushing away tears while Zuko fumbled in his robe for the necklace.

At the sight of the necklace, tears began to spill from Sokka’s eyes, too. “Zuko… it’s beautiful, I - yes. Zuko, yes.” Zuko released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding, and they were kissing again, and then all of a sudden, they weren’t, because Sokka, the absolute fucker, was laughing uncontrollably.

Zuko immediately began imagining worst-case scenarios. What if he didn’t mean it? What if the past five years with him have been some extremely elaborate prank, and -

Sokka, noticing his now-fiance’s abrupt silence, attempted to quash his laughter and held Zuko’s hands - still clutching the engagement necklace - in his own. “Zuko, love, hey, look at me. I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing because, well…” He pulled a small pouch from one of his pockets and opened it to reveal two delicately engraved golden bracelets, traditional Fire Nation engagement gifts. One held the image of a dragon; the other, a beautiful motif of waves crashing against a shore. They glinted warmly in the moonlight alongside the pendant of the engagement necklace. “I’m laughing because I had the same idea, I guess. I love you so much, and I want a life with you. Will you help me put this on?”

Zuko first let Sokka slide the bracelets over each of his wrists, then lifted his hands, shaking slightly, but steadied by Sokka’s warm touch, to clasp the necklace behind his neck. The tension bled out of Zuko, and he melted into Sokka, pushing him to the ground and kissing him senseless, from his mouth to the stone now resting at the base of his throat.

Sokka started laughing again, and Zuko joined in, overjoyed at the beauty and the absurdity of it all, at how lucky and in love he was.

6. the gaang commits arson

Librarian Hirai had been working at the royal palace since before Firelord Zuko had been crowned, going on forty years, now. His vast experience hadn’t prepared him for everything, certainly; the time with five Kyoshi warriors and a badgermole had been unprecedented, and he wasn’t sure he was going to lift the ban on platypus-bears in the palace anytime soon.

Hirai’s experience, however, had prepared him for this: the Fire Nation’s most formidable duo, Ambassador Sokka and Her Highness Azula, together, with access to children.

Hirai did not know the children’s names. He classified them solely on their capacity to irritate him; the only name he knew was that of the youngest, Tenzin, because the sweet child had never caused him any trouble. Naturally, Tenzin was to be found nowhere near this unholy gathering: instead, Hirai saw the bouncy one (liable to cause things to fall over), the Princess (insolent, with her fathers shamelessly wrapped around her finger), and the Teenager (arms always crossed, eyes forever rolling).

Her Highness Azula’s hand was alight with blue fire. To the courtyard and everyone within earshot, she was saying: “If you want to burn it, just go ahead. Everything important, your uncle or I have memorized.”

Hirai stopped listening, in an effort to avoid a coronary and possibly death. There was a protocol. Everything would be fine.

He moved methodically, double checking fire suppressant stations and tightening the seal on the vacuum chambers holding the oldest scrolls. He closed every entrance except the main one, and he stood guard outside of it.

This was not a long process; their royal Highnesses were still gathered like a storm cloud in the courtyard. A particularly loud storm cloud. Hirai had weathered storms before.

The ground rumbled, slightly. Republic City Chief of Police, Toph Beifong, emerged from it, and dusted herself off.

“You know,” she said conversationally, “arson is illegal. I can have you arrested for that.”

Hirai relaxed, infinitesimally. Beifong was known to be tough and fair; perhaps, after so many years, the spirits had thought to grant him an ally.

“So,” said Toph, rubbing her palms together. “Today, I’m going to teach you how not to get caught.”

It was interesting: Hirai had never before actually lent weight to the expression that one’s life could flash before their eyes. In that moment, swaying slightly where he stood, he was forced to concede that there might have been some truth to it after all.

He turned around, very calmly, and made his way to his desk. He groped vaguely for some parchment and ink, and in precise lettering dictated his resignation from the palace staff, effective immediately.

Somewhere out in the courtyard, their Highnesses’ Uncle Sokka and Aunt Azula high-fived.

#fic #my fic #zukka #atla

38 notes · View notes

zukofenty · 4 years

Text

always be my maybe

➜ Summary: The one where Zuko and Katara could never quite get their timing right. Especially when the universe throws a lost condom, thousands of miles, and a baby in their way.

“I will literally french braid my pubic hairs and never open my pussy to anyone ever again if this condom doesn’t kill me. Please don’t let it kill me.”

➜ Genre: Modern!AU, Celebrity Chef!Katara, Doctor!Zuko, Love, Rosie!AU

AO3 @zutaraweek

“Go a couple rounds, leave Zuko’s dick up in a casket!” Toph screams into the microphone, undeterred by the various guests who stare up at her, mouth open and half-chewed, dry-as-fuck chicken spilling out. It wasn’t her fault, really! As soon as Zuko handed the mic off to her, he basically gave her free reign to spit a Megan Thee Stallion verse in his honor. “Sing with me, bitches! Look up the lyrics on Genius.com, Cheryl!”

“Sit down !” Katara squeezes out from clenched teeth, ripping the device out from the girl’s grip.

“I didn’t even get to the chorus, you fucking whore .” A bridesmaid nervously plucks the mic from their table and avoids eye contact with both of them. “What’s going on with you, bitch?” Toph asks quietly. She could tell Katara’s been doing her fake smile for the last twenty minutes. The girl was practically going to break her face open with how hard she was grinding her teeth.

“Just thinking.” Katara wants to smack herself in the face, pinch a nipple and bring herself to reality. Everything felt too real, and Toph could sense it. She’s the type to somehow sense when Katara shifts in her seat a certain way to covertly satisfy a cooch itch, and then buys her Monistat the same day.

She hates that she could never hide any emotion from her. Toph could always figure out the puzzle pieces that were Katara. One of the few to know the real her, besides Zuko.

Sometimes Katara thinks the younger girl knows her better than him. At least now. Especially now.

“About?” Toph takes an experimental sip from the wine glass, and gags. The juice tasted like Gatorade and cum. “Why the fuck would anyone want a dry wedding? Weddings are the only time you get to see your alcoholic uncle vomit all over the bride’s shoes, and then your closeted aunt has to wipe up the puke and her reputation from the floor while thinking of her secret girlfriend at home watching Tiger King .”

“That example was extremely specific and extremely unnecessary.” Katara brushes a crunchy curl, doused in hairspray, from her eyes.

“Sorry, I got distracted. I had dick on the brain, or whatever Rihanna said,” Toph mumbles, risking a bite of the chicken.

Katara turns to see him at the couple’s table in the center of the extravagant wedding, and sighs. “And for your information, I was just thinking when will he penetrate my esophagus? You know, just girly things.”

Toph has the gall to slap the girl on the cheek.

Katara holds her stinging face, eyes narrowed in an unspoken threat for fucking up the parts of her face she didn’t set with powder (she was going for a dewy look, sue her). “Not fair! You were the one who called my throat the baby chute earlier today!”

“Ok, throat goat. One, he’s getting married. Two, you’re sick.”

“My therapist will most likely cosign that,” Katara sighs. Toph holds Katara’s hand and leans her head on her shoulder as they watch Zuko mingle with guests.

This is the happiest day of his life.

Her best friend of twenty odd years was getting married. He looked so handsome, so happy. A suit that looked like it would cost someone’s rent and a half casually hugging his muscular frame. A blinding smile on his face, cheeks flushed from champagne and excitement.

When he turns her way, his smile grows impossibly wider. Toph clinks on a champagne glass with a fork, breaking it a la Princess Diaries , and Katara could feel the stares of nearly everyone in the room, ready for her speech.

It should be the happiest day of my life, too.

Right?

Katara thinks she wants to cry.

Now, how come none of those Judy Blume, coming-of-age books have a chapter on how to write a Best Woman speech for your best friend getting married to another woman, even when you were struggling with the fact that you might have been in love with him for the past two decades?

Bitch, what the fuck do you even start that Google Doc with?

Does she start at 4 years old? When Katara thinks Zuko is an annoying piece of shit?

But, you know, he’s her piece of shit.

Guys have hepatitis, or cooties, or whatever Sokka said, she couldn’t exactly remember. All she remembered was Zuko sucked. He stole her crayons and made fun of her Hello Kitty backpack on the first day of school. He was the stupid one, not Hello Kitty . Never Hello Kitty . She’d shoved his face into the playground’s wood chips, threatened to cut off his peepee for breathing down her neck with his retainer breath, and even stuck his head in between two slices of white bread and lovingly referring to him as an ‘idiot sandwich’ (Sokka let her watch too many Gordon Ramsey hosted shows while their dad was working late).

Zuko and Katara were practically inseparable ever since.

Or 10, when you were asking for trouble if you fucked with Zuko.

He was a tiny kid, glasses too big for his head. Hair shaggy, clothes too oversized for him (just the way he liked it). His dad had tried beating it into him that it showed weakness by not making waves, not being loud and proud. But, he was quiet by nature. For him, it was just easier.

Not stirring the pot, being the observer, looking in from the outside. He was just Zuko , he liked Wonder Woman comics and figuring out what other words besides BOOBIES he could spell with his calculator instead of actually doing his math homework, because he was bad at math. Bad at everything, really. Everything but band class. Even if he did hate that stupid fucking tsungi horn.

His mom would hide his report cards from his dad, especially the ones noting how shy he was (Mrs. Kim had used the exact words ‘very antisocial, very easy to bully’). Even when Ursa would ask him to try, try to make friends outside of Katara, he was always a stubborn little thing. Something you got from your father , she would say, the smile slipping off her face just the slightest.

It was just more fun being by himself, the only exception he made was Katara. He spent his recess scribbling down a plot for a Love Amongst the Dragons Fanfiction and listening to Katara’s iPod he’d steal from her, just because he could , after she snuck it out from her backpack for the 10 minute break they had. It was the iPod she spent the last two Christmases saving up with Sokka for. Zuko insisted he could master Ludacris’s rap in Usher’s “Yeah!” and practiced the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays she had custody of the device.

Some days, Katara would sit beside him in her signature puffy blue jacket, struggling to fold herself to fit on the blacktop beside Zuko. The patented jacket her grandmother forced her to wear every single day obstructing her abilities. He snickers, but keeps quiet, content with plotting out a story that he would hopefully get to type out on the school library’s computers if his mom picked him up late again. She usually did, much to the dismay of the ladies at the front office. They typically hissed at him (which made him cry, to which they would have to offer him a cherry Otter pop so they wouldn’t face a lawsuit) and called his mom words he couldn’t repeat without getting in trouble (“Whore”).

Katara would babble on about her day, sometimes thinking of ways for his characters to die a painful death, or cooking up Fanfic plots for Beyoncé and Britney Spears to find love among the chaos of a zombie infestation. She always insisted she brought the creative range to their friendship. Some days though, Katara forgets all about him and plays handball with all the most popular girls in school.

Zuko’s jealous.

(Sometimes.)

She’s my best friend! He wants to scream in their faces. At the end of the day, he thinks he’s going to lose her. The day she realized she was too good, too cool for the likes of him.

“Chan, stop it!” Zuko squeaked, his notebook snatched from underneath his nose. The boy was always picking a fight. Your dad buys you a Motorola flip phone and suddenly you think you’re the shit.

The boy sneers at Zuko, flipping through the pages. “What do we have here? Are you drawing Shrek with boobies? You’re gonna jack off to that later, freak?”

Before Zuko could get a word in and defend his honor, Chan’s entire body was shoved to the ground, a dainty foot cased in a light up, white Skechers sneaker pressing into his face. Zuko couldn’t help his glee as Katara could barely be peeled off and stopped from repeatedly slamming Chan’s face into the hopscotch chalk court. “It’s all ogre now, bitch!”

She made sure to pin her detention slip to her Bratz backpack with pride. Zuko buys two treats that day from the student store before he walks her home.

“You’re my best friend, forever and ever,” Katara declares, head held up high. Zuko saw through it, though. He knows she’s scared of what Hakoda has to say, what Gran Gran has to say. So, he holds her hand tight, trying to relay his gratitude in the touch.

He licks at his Spongebob popsicle. The eyes had melted off and looked more like someone’s worst nightmare than an icy treat. Katara had wanted his cherry Otter pop, and he happily handed it over. “Pinky promise?” He holds out his finger.

Katara hooks her finger around his, dwarfing his tiny digit. Her outstretched smile stained orange. “I’ll break yours if you ever forget.”

At 15, Katara came to the realization that men have the emotional intelligence of a Souplantation crouton (may Souplantation rest in peace).

Growing up, with their dad and grandma always at work at their store, Katara was always in charge of cooking. No matter how many times she’d try to get Sokka to do it, he always insisted he was far too busy with taking out the trash, killing bugs, hating women. So, she was stuck with it, and honest-to-Rihanna, really liked it. Not that she’d ever let Sokka ever get the satisfaction of knowing it. It was her time to be alone, gave her the space to pop in a Cheetah Girls CD and pretend she won Masterchef with the struggle meal straight out of a Spam can she had to pound on a few times to get it to squeeze out from its gelatinous casing, or a whitewashed recipe she tried replicating whenever she catches a Rachael Ray rerun.

Though, Katara’s favorite time was chopping up the green onions under Ursa’s careful eyes, a hand always just there in realign the knife just in case she’d carelessly cut the green onions too big to garnish. Then, Ursa would then take out scissors because nobody had time for that. When his dad wasn’t home, Zuko’s mom opened up their doors across the street to the siblings, rambling about the next big painting she was planning as they scarfed down a home cooked meal.

Zuko was similar to his mom in that regard. They were the type of people who managed to make everyday moments larger-than-life, made it infectious, too. When it’s nighttime and he’s snuck into and snug in Katara’s room, he’d tell her dreams too big for anyone’s comprehension. Sometimes he dreamed he had tits that would leak chunky chicken noodle soup. Sometimes he’d ramble until her eyes are flitting shut and he’s left talking to himself and measuring his hand with hers, securing the leg she instantly throws over his waist. He’d like to think he was her only exception in the Souplantation crouton narrative.

Her bed is starting to smell like him, too. His favorite Costco brand shampoo and conditioner that he leaves in her bathroom, permeating her nostrils when she pulled him close. She even let him put up a Drake poster right next to her plethora of Rihanna ones, but only after he let her draw a penis on both his and Drake’s face. What he didn’t account for was her using a permanent marker, or the fact he couldn’t scrub it away from his cheeks for the next two days.

It was easy like this, just the two of them.

He’s there for all the birthdays and Halloweens and Christmases that left her not quite feeling whole. When things were hard, when things fucking sucked, when she wanted nothing more but to die. He was there, (stupidly) holding out his hand and willing to be the eye to her hurricane.

At 15, Zuko decides Katara feels home.

At 18, Zuko had already been Katara’s many firsts.

He was her first buffet partner, and brought back his Justin Bieber haircut just to pretend he was 12 so they could qualify for children's rates and a complimentary Oreo cheesecake because they were always celebrating his “birthday.”

Her first clubbing partner the second she turned 18, rubbing her back when any Beyoncé song with a Jay-Z feature came on because the second he cheated on Beyoncé, he cheated on everyone in the Beyhive. The first one to have to hold her as she hurled on his shoes, the first one to have to take her to get her stomach pumped.

The first person she tried to roll a joint with.

“I don’t need to learn that.”

Katara purses her lips. “And why not?”

He gestures to his face. “I’m too pretty. Only ugly bitches know how to do that . ”

Sokka thinks he needs to intervene when he hears Zuko’s tsungi horn case being chucked across the room .

The first person she (almost) fucked.

His family life was, for lack of a better word, fucked up. Katara had been witness to the drinking, the drugs, the crying. The nights where she sometimes didn’t know if the person standing in front of her was Zuko. She just wanted one night away from it all, just one night out on the town.

“That was kind of terrible,” Katara admits easily, wincing because she was sure he spilled Papa John’s garlic dipping sauce in his shitty Corolla’s air filter last Tuesday. He tried positioning his arm naturally underneath her head while their half naked bodies were pressed together, but he ended up smacking off her glasses. He even had the audacity to contently sigh as though he accomplished something, rather than just tangle her hair and give her a tension headache.

She felt lied to! Cheated! Bamboozled! Hoodwinked! All the Shrek and Y/N stories on FF.net could not prepare her for the fact that there weren’t any tongues fighting for dominance, or any mouths that tasted like cinnamon or musk or shit like that. It was just retainer to retainer and smelled distinctly of her awkward friend (cheese). It was sweaty and a lot of weird humping and felt like a visit to the gyno.

“Hey! I thought it was pleasantly average.” He clears his throat. “You know, besides the fact you farted mid-insertion and I started crying after 20 seconds.”

“You mean right after you came, right?” She says matter-of-factly.

He glared. “Is it my fault you have a gorilla grip pussy? Is it?”

“Zuko, you’re so fucking — ”

“What happens when you put a hot dog in the microwave for 2 minutes?” He crosses his hands and folds them over his lap like a professor waiting for a volunteer to answer the equation on the board.

“So in this metaphor, are you calling my pussy a microwave?”

But in true Zuko and Katara fashion, it was clumsy and a mess and could be erased with an emergency Burger King outing where they ate in silence and pinky promised never to speak of it again.

She wonders if Zuko should’ve been her first date to prom, too.

She wants to stop feeling so bothered . She couldn’t quite pin it, but lately everything he did frustrated the shit out of her. How he was taller than her now. How he didn’t need her to fight his battles because he goes to the gym now and wears a fake Gucci belt because he’s just so cool (brooding Asian guy is the trend, and Zuko thinks he’s the blueprint). How he said yes to going to prom with Mai, the prettiest girl in their grade.

“Don’t look in there!” Katara yelps, a blush creeping on her cheeks.

“Why?” Zuko questions, taken aback. He was entirely too comfortable in her room.

“Um. Maybe I don’t want a freak going through my dirty underwear pile!” Her eyebrows are halfway done, and she only has one eyelash glued on. She was stressed, scared her dress might not fit with how many of Sokka’s cookies she stress-ate because she just wanted the night to be perfect .

“Relax, what are a few discharge stains going to do to me, huh? If anything, it gives your pussy some much-needed personality.” Zuko wasn’t going to stop until he found his fake Gucci belt in Katara’s closet.

“Zuko!” Katara screams at the top of her lungs.

“Do I have to remind you about the time you broke our friendship bracelet while masturbating and I dug the bead out of your vagina like the good friend I am?”

She shoves him back from the closet, crowding in his space. That belt was going to remain in its rightful place. “Oh, fuck you! I took the fall for you when you opened your laptop in history class and forgot to exit from your “VIBRATING PANTIES” porn tab!” She pushes him before plopping on her bed.

Katara buries her face in her pillow at that point, too entirely embarrassed and body too hot to continue to look at his nonchalant face. He doesn’t quite remember when exactly Katara became so cute .

Pretty? Definitely. Fearless? For sure.

But blushing Katara, embarrassed Katara, cute Katara?

He thinks it’s because they rarely saw each other now, despite his patented place in her bed. His band, Hello Zuko, was aiming for at least a few dive bar performances to build a reputation, especially with their new title track “Tennis Ball.” Katara was a familiar face at their town’s soup kitchens.

“Where are you going?” he would sleepily mumble as he tried taking his midday nap before late night performances.

Katara’s hands are full with ingredients, swaying side to side and eyes red and drowsy. “Trying to temper chocolate. Why? What’s up?”

She never misses a performance, though. Comes to them with a sparkly poster doused in glitter, and t-shirts with his face on them and everything. He never misses a fundraising event, making sure to bring a steaming thermos filled with tea because Katara was never the type to remember to take care of herself, and always buys out her fundraising goodies (even her overbaked brownies.)

He pulls her up by her ponytail, cupping her face in between his hands.

“You look cute.”

“You look like the human equivalent of toeless socks,” Katara mumbles, face squished in between Zuko’s hands. “Why are you giving my clit piercing a kiss kiss right now? What do you want?”

Zuko shakes her head in between his hands. “Pinky promise me you’ll drop all penises to dance with me if they play any Usher song?” It was like he was in fifth grade all over again. “Call me a Nissan because I just want you Altima-self.”

She lets out a cackle, the sound nearly deafening. “Don’t worry, the DJ will get us falling in love again in no time.”

“Do you have to go with Jet?” He asks, pouting. He lays his head in her lap, too entirely preoccupied with picking at her pilling sweatpants to look at her questioning eyes. They promised they were going to be each others’ dates at the beginning of the school year. It was more fun going to dances with Katara. She knew how to do the worm and every lyric to every Rihanna song out there (but she refuses to sing any with Chris Brown parts).

“What? You know I like my men stupid.” She runs her hands through his locks, undoing the crunchy gel job that Iroh had painstakingly spent time on. Zuko didn’t have the heart to tell him it made him look like a youth pastor.

“You do like your communal meat thermometers.” He wants to keep the hurt out of his voice.

She shoves him off her, getting up to put on the dress hanging off her closet’s door handle. “You’re going with Mai, remember?” She yells through the closed closet door.

“But the thing is, I’m not planning to fuck her afterwards at the shitty hotel like it’s some type of CW show with some old bitches playing teenagers!”

“Just say XOXO, Gossip Girl .”

He still resents her for getting him invested in Blair Waldorf’s headband collection. “It’s not my fault Jet looks old. He looks like he’s at least 27 for fuck’s sake!” His face grows more distressed as he spits out each word. He only said yes to going with Mai after finding out Jet asked Katara using some shitty poster that said “my heart is always running when I see you” with a box of Nike outlet sneakers after English class.

“I think you’re just jealous that I emptied my intestines for someone who is about to be in it within the next three hours. When have I ever done that for you?”

Zuko’s about to retort something until Katara slams open the door, flooding his eyes with a dusty blue, curve hugging dress that did weird things to him. Like make his heart beat out of his chest, and his throat all dry when he’s searching for the words to say. Looking for the right words that say he thinks it’s impossible someone’s smile could make sunsets brighter, make the stars twinkle even more, make the unthinkable just a fingertip’s grasp away.

“Can you see the outline of my underwear and/or desperation from the back?” Her spin has him bumbling like an idiot.

He wishes it was Katara that night. Letting him shyly press his sweaty fingers into her waist as Katy Perry’s “E.T.” pierced their eardrums. He knows she would have pinched his nipples as punishment, all things considered. But the fluorescent lights of the disco ball would’ve highlighted how her pretty flush would dust her cheeks, and he would hold her close to his beating heart despite her complaining her foundation would stain his Target dress shirt, and everything would make sense.

“Did you cum?” Jet was absolutely pretty with an oh-so fat horse cock. Too bad he was like the Justin Timberlakes of the world, and always spoke unprovoked.

Katara scoffs. “Yeah, I came to my senses.” She flicked his forehead. “How would I do that? Tell me. How the fuck would a few thrusts and you panting your Sweet and Sour sauce breath in my ear get me off?” She shoves the sweating boy off her. “Can I say jk and will it make me a virgin again?” The hotel room had scratchy sheets and smelled like a waterpark bathroom.

He groaned. “I’m sorry .” He’s completely unremorseful. “Your tits smell like Cinnabon’s cinnamon rolls and I couldn’t help myself!” Katara is about to cut his dick off for breathing in the same vicinity as her, before a gasp stops her entire world.

“Zuko!” she screeches, opening the hotel door with the same devastation as when Britney Spears discovered Ryan Seacrest wasn’t gay painting her features.

“You know what they say.” Zuko’s smirking, entirely ignoring Katara fuming. “Chlamydia is the powerhouse of the cell.”

“You’re. A. Dick!” She says in between smacks to his head. Jet makes a speedy exit, still pantsless and clutching his suit to his chest, while Zuko mouths a ‘ call me’ to Mai, who amusedly waves goodbye to Katara.

“Oh god, this is exactly like the bead incident all over again.”

“ You’re not helping! ”

“Maybe we’ll find Atlantis up there too,” Zuko murmurs, concentrating on positioning the hotel’s mirror under her legs.

“Please, Rihanna. Have mercy on me.” Katara’s hands are in prayer mode as Zuko turns on his phone’s flashlight. “I will literally french braid my pubic hairs and never open my pussy to anyone ever again if this condom doesn’t kill me. Please don’t let it kill me. All those times I took an extra gummy vitamin were a joke . I never wanted to die, I just wanted to feel a little thrill in my life. Please—”

Zuko screams when the squelch of the condom splatters onto the mirror.

“You’re wearing underwear under there right?” He likes the look of his blazer draping over her, buttoned to look like a chic, oversized dress and not because it was the easiest thing to throw over Katara to run and grab Plan B.

“No, because I would obviously let my fat cooter out, cute and bare and vulnerable in a Walmart.”

“A simple yes would have sufficed.”

She’s reaching for the box and wincing at the price when she feels a gentle nudge on her arm. “Ma’am, your entire pussy is out in a Walmart,” the employee breathes out pathetically.

“I am well aware.” She ekes out.

The employee eyes her up and down with a gaze that practically calls her a whore . “Please put her away.” Zuko’s face grows beet red as he tries holding back a laugh.

It was always easy like this. When the world was just Zuko and Katara, holding hands in her driveway while they watched the sun rise in his shitty Corolla. She’s still wrapped up in his blazer, he’s since loosened his cheap tie and his hair is sticking every which way. She likes his smile, especially now that it comes so easy.

He’s smiling a lot more now that his father is gone. Ozai essentially told Azula and Zuko to fuck off , and ran off to some big city to steer a hospital with too many controversies and too many white guys at the helm. Iroh came back from his meditation sabbatical, enthusiastic to take care of the siblings. Zuko seems a lot happier with Iroh around, and even spends nights sleeping in his actual bed. (Katara’s a little hurt, but keeps that to herself).

She wishes she could bottle up these moments with Zuko up and just hold them in her hands. Moments when they were still young and curious and still had time to wait for life to figure itself out. She wants to find a way to make these a permanent fixture, instead of memories that would fade with age. “Let’s get out of here,” he offers up, eyes starry.

“Yeah?” She folds her knees up to her chest, and he taps her under her chin to level their gazes.

“ Republic City . We can make something out of lives. Medical school, culinary school. Get out of this shithole. Get away from our past.” His smile is contagious. “Best friends, forever and ever, right?”

She’s so pretty, her wide eyes sparkling as they take in the rays of sun. She returns his smile. “Best friends, forever and ever.”

Katara remembers how Ursa would say Zuko always dreamt too big, his heart always wanting so, so much .

“It’s a blessing, but more of a curse,” she would note, with the wisdom only mothers are capable of possessing. Sometimes, Katara selfishly thinks the day Ursa left hurt her more than it hurt Zuko. They were impossibly close, to the point where Zuko even had to intervene when Ursa started siding with Katara during their arguments (he knows in his heart his Mother’s Day macaroni portrait of her was better).

She would wonder how the world could let her live like this, dangling something she’s always wanted right in front of her face, only to snatch it away. Wonder if it was easier to die, than live with a hole in her heart that seemingly doubled in size overnight.

“Zuko, please look at me.”

He’s mad, she could tell. With his pout and the way he was forcibly trying to squeeze his eyes in a glare. He’s been sitting in the same spot in her bed, eyes trained on tutorials on how to convincingly persuade your doctor to give you an adderall prescription and “who bit Beyonce” conspiracy videos.

“Well, what if I just wanted you to respect my privacy! For the first time in 15 years! Maybe I needed space!” She yelps after twenty minutes of the silent treatment.

Zuko sends her a look that has her freezing up on the spot. “Katara, you had a whole baby .”

She felt thoroughly scolded, but she was stubborn. “And? What about it?”

“You had an entire one, and didn’t even bother to tell the godfather? When was I supposed to find out?”

Katara didn’t think that one through, to be honest. It was easy to forget, in between diapers that smelled like a fish sauce and an expired Vagisil smoothie, and balancing work. She lays down beside him, thoroughly exhausted after putting her little girl, Yue, down for a nap. “One, who made you the godfather? And two, I guess we’re just not close like that.”

“Look, I literally have your social security number memorized, and have practically given you a Pap smear. You really want to say ‘ we’re not close like that ?” He sends her a look that has her resolve faltering the slightest. “You did your pregnancy announcement like a Sailor Moon transformation sequence with before and after pictures of you being pregnant, and you didn’t think to fucking tell me?”

Katara gasps. “I had you blocked !”

“Azula’s a snitch!” He also got a glimpse of the photo of Katara in her hoe time dress that barely fit over her belly with the caption: how the mighty have fallen . He pauses, sucking in a breath of air for strength. The hurt flashes in his eyes and the only thing she could think to do was wrap him up in a familiar embrace.

At 19, Katara is so incredibly lost, and just wants her best friend by her side.

He’s busy, the summer before everything Republic City. Everytime she tries their house, Azula answers, rolling her eyes while clad in a Harry Styles shirt, because it’s a girl’s rite of passage to go through a One Direction phase and wear badly made merchandise from Hot Topic. He’s usually busy packing, or fucking Mai until she sounds like a car alarm during Fourth of July fireworks.

“Azula, no . You cannot kidnap Mai’s younger brother and trade him in for concert tickets to send a message.”

“Not even for floor ones?” Katara’s glare summed up her answer. “I used to look up to you,” Azula retorts, returning to her stan Twitter.

She waits, waits, waits. The moans keep coming and she just rolls her eyes. Her stomach churns, mainly because she thinks Mai called Zuko’s dick The Pussy Penetrator every time he hit her g spot (you know what, good for her). But also because her scholarship to the university was less than she expected, and Hakoda didn’t want to cosign on a loan. She just wanted her best friend to be there for her.

She feels sick, sick enough to vomit in one of Iroh’s plants, while Azula rubs small circles into her back.

“You should’ve swallowed,” Toph reminds, bundling Katara’s thick hair into a ponytail as the girl hurled up her California roll. She’s so exhausted, she even leans her head against the Walmart toilet bowl, five positive pregnancy tests tossed carelessly beside her.

“Think it’s too late for that,” Katara grits out. “What are you doing?”

The last thing she expected was Toph’s hands gathering together in prayer formation. “Praying to Rihanna your period comes.”

Like many people her age, having a mental breakdown during a pregnancy scare and praying for a miracle in a public restroom was normal. But for the first time in her life, besides the time Rihanna willingly twerked on Drake at the 2011 Grammys, Ms. Robyn Fenty herself failed her.

“Fetus deletus that bitch! Fuck them kids !” She brings herself eye-level to Katara’s stomach. “Read the womb, bitch!”

“Did you just call my unborn baby a bitch?” Katara’s eyes are bleary from the smell of vomit and her future going down the drain.

“You should’ve kept that bitch-baby in the drafts,” Toph sweeps the stray hairs from Katara’s watery eyes. “My cousin saved up for her abortion by running a pyramid scheme. I can get you her number.”

Katara wanted to die. “I think I’m just going to crawl in this toilet and die. Call my brother if I don’t get flushed down all the way.”

“Again, I’m just a Walmart employee,” Toph snickers, helping the girl up. She’s rarely left her side since then. Their friendship just works, a pair of fuckups. The girl with the accident baby, and the Walmart security guard trying to figure out her own shit after running away from home.

“I should’ve been there!” Zuko reminds, tone heavy with betrayal.

Katara remembered the few moments before he boarded the plane to Republic City. She wanted to be selfish. She wanted to tell him to not get on the flight, to keep holding her like he did at the entrance of the gate. She had a kiss ready on her lips that he wasn’t ready to give, backing away when their faces were too close, when she was too close. He just couldn’t bear the thought of leaving with regrets.

“I should’ve been there holding your hand, letting you call me names, and fighting nurses if they breathed too close to this precious angel,” Yue holds his pinky with her little fingers, almost as though it was a natural reaction. His heart simply seizes up at the gesture, and he holds her tighter to his body. She was wailing after waking from her nap, colic crackling her throat for the last three months and causing her middle of the night wakeups to be painful and frequent. But with Zuko, she’s all calm and perfect and polite and beautiful and angelic.

“Didn’t know you liked kids this much,” Katara shrugs. She leans in, and Zuko throws his free arm around her.

“I’ll have you know I am the resident expert in telling children’s stories,” Zuko insists.

“Like?” Katara quirks up her brow.

“Like Rumpleforeskin, the mythical man who can weave majestic golden fleece from the ends of his pubic hair.”

She smacks him upside the head. “You’re disgusting .” She curls in deeper into his embrace. He had that twinkle in his eye that could mean he was going to masturbate to this moment in the shower later, or he was in love. It renders her breathless every time

She hopes when he looks at her he doesn’t see the eye bags, or the titty milk leaking everywhere, or the permanent crease in her brow. She hopes he could still see her, underneath it all. When she was just Katara .

“I guess, not telling you was just my way of keeping our dream alive.” She pauses, stroking Yue’s barely there hair. “I keep thinking that one day I could find the time to go to Republic City, and I don’t know. Get a chance to just be me .”

“Do you regret it?” Zuko’s rubbing circles into her back until she gets sleepy and her heart feels too full.

“I don’t know.” She tries, quiet, almost ashamed. “I don’t know.”

At 21, Katara feels like she’s at the top of the world.

Not only did she get promoted from girl wearing a dumpling costume outside handing out 15% off coupons that only worked if you left a Yelp review, to a server in a shitty dim sum restaurant, she was also accepted in the culinary program at the local university. It wasn’t Republic City per say, but Yue could attend the nearby preschool and go to the university-run childcare program afterwards while Katara was working.

She even got a hold of Jet, who refused to disclose his location or job. But judging by the copious child support mandated by some judge who hated men as much as Katara did, he was doing well. He sometimes Venmos Katara a few extra dollars on Yue’s birthdays.

Sokka and Hakoda, while hesitant to the little girl’s presence early on, spoil her absolutely rotten. When they think Katara’s passed out after her 14 hour days, they’re red in the face, screaming at Zuko over the phone about who was going to get Yue the Peppa Pig Playhouse (complete with flashing lights) she always talks about.

Hakoda even tries at therapy, wanting to be there for the apple of his eye. Sometimes, Katara’s hurt he never tried for her, tried in her childhood. She’s happy for him, nonetheless.

(Mostly) everything was working out.

“How are both my girls doing?” Zuko would always sing-song during his nightly Facetime calls. Yue would scream and snatch the phone from Katara’s hands, delighted at the sound of her one and only Uncle Zuzu. He’s an extravagant gift giver, regularly sending Yue glittery Hello Kitty and Wonder Woman backpacks. He even buys her a whole iPad for her fourth birthday, already coming with child safe settings on and YouTube loaded with her favorites (namely, Barbie: Fairytopia ). He’s guilty he couldn’t come home, but then again, he rarely ever did. Too consumed with work, grad school applications.

Katara can’t help but feel her heart pulse the slightest bit faster during those calls, even if she shuts it down as quickly as it comes.

He’s so good to her .

She used to cherish those moments he used to tell her secrets, dreams, everything in those hours early in the morning before high school would start. With approximately 3,209 miles between the two of them, she wakes up to texts instead.

Zuko: I dreamed that I was being held at gunpoint by one of those thicc caterpillars from A Bug’s Life , and if I didn’t finish the MCAT in approximately 20 minutes, they would shoot me in the face. The dump truck ass of those ants were the bullets

Katara: Please block my number

Zuko: No. <3

He’s all gentle smiles and eyes squeezing into little half moons just like Yue’s after he plays a game of Facetime patty cake and messes up on the beat just to hear the little girl laugh.

The next month, Zuko had decided enough was enough . He missed his girl.

His hospital, for the first time in a year, was letting him have the weekend off. So he books Katara a ticket straight away, because he thinks he’s going to die if he has to be around people who don’t know who Megan Thee Stallion is.

“Boys only speak two languages. English and emotional manipulation,” Toph reprimands, hugging Katara so tight she could barely get in a word. “Please remember that.”

It was her first time leaving her hometown in her life, her first time on an airplane for God’s sake. She’s jittery though, the cushioned seats Toph somehow upgraded her ticket to (after covertly whispering with the gate attendant) doing nothing to alleviate her nerves.

When she jumps in his arms in baggage claim, he breathes in deep. Her hugs have always warmed his insides, and he didn’t realize how much he craved it until he was greedy, pressing into her and refusing to let go despite her many protests.

“Come here often?” he mumbles, smiling into her shoulder.

Her cheeks grew hot at his touch. “Occasionally.” She whispers back.

He decided there and then in front of Gate 3 they needed to make up for lost time as quickly as possible.

The college party is entirely too sticky, entirely too messy for a proper (extremely) late 21st birthday celebration. Her crop top and big earrings and glittery eyeshadow and endless curves has Zuko wondering how much he’s missed in the last few years. When she hugs him close to her and screams out Nicki Minaj lyrics, he doesn’t remember her being so soft and even prettier. Beautiful. Breathtaking, knocking the wind out his lungs if she as so much blinked.

She looks like any 21 year old, without a care in the world, just figuring out their life. He wonders what this version of Zuko and Katara was.

Maybe they got to go to Republic City together. Maybe they work in the same building, and are just letting steam off from work. Maybe they loved each other. It was dangerous though. He feels as though she’s caging him in, that grip on his heart sparking up again without his permission. Her fake lashes he saw her glue on in the airport bathroom flutter about, hands coming up to accentuate her words every time she tries to scream something in his ear over the pulsating music. He just grips her waist harder between his hands, holding her tight.

In a perfect world, all she saw was him. She wishes it was him. She sometimes thinks she sees Zuko’s eyes in Yue. She sees his smile. She sees his heart.

While they’d spent the entire night stumbling through the city, his girlfriend was home. Barefoot, pregnant. Looking like the cover of some women’s lifestyle magazine, stray curls escaping her bun to frame her face in all its angelic glory. Glowy and flawless and every bit beautiful. Different from the girl Katara caught crying in the kitchen. “You can hate me all you want, you can talk shit about me all you want. But I love him,” Jin insists. “I’m his girlfriend , for fuck’s sake.

Katara has to stop herself from recoiling. She had a specific vision of their future. One that included doing taxes together and matching sweaters and teaching him her new macaroon recipe and Yue balanced on his lap.

But one look at Jin, and it becomes glaringly obvious how little she fit in with his new life.

“I don’t hate you, Jin.” It’s every bit sincere, but the girl doesn’t look convinced.

Jin rolls her eyes. A pointed look freezing Katara in her place.

“Ok, I might’ve complained once or twice about your VSCO filter choice.”

“Yeah, Zuko sent a screenshot of your texts to me instead of you by accident.”

“God, you know he always fucking does that? To be fair though, M05 is too orange and is not a good look on anyone. You can do better, I know you can.” The two girls laugh. It was devoid of any genuine emotion, just meant as an attempt to fill the empty space between them. “If I had known. Fuck, if I had just known, I’m sorry, Jin.” She had no idea Zuko had a kid on the way, that they were still living together and determined to co-parent while their relationship was in a weird limbo. If she was Jin, she would’ve kicked someone’s pussy and made a scene and set something on fire. But Jin wasn’t that type of girl. Jin was soft and pretty and looked like she smelled like an interior designer's perfectly bleached asshole.

“Do you love him?” Jin seemed to shrink into herself, small enough Katara might miss her in a blink of an eye.

Katara couldn’t quite decipher the meaning behind the question. She thinks she’s too scared to.

Katara doesn’t know how to respond. She didn’t trust herself to speak. This Zuko wasn’t the Zuko she knew. She loved the Zuko who would steal people’s Netflix passwords off of 4chan, and cosplay as Todoroki at Anime Con to make a few bucks. Not the one who can afford sky rises in the big city.

He didn’t even tell her that his big internship in the city was for his father’s hospital, and he was next in line to running it. “You’re a lawyer with health insurance and your own Netflix account! You’re good for him, Jin.” Katara falters the slightest. “I just want to see Zuko happy.”

“Me too.” Jin says quietly.

“Whatever, fuck Zuko !” She tries at extending the olive branch. “I can’t believe you’re preggers!” She puts a gentle hand on Jin's belly, and her vagina immediately winces. “You know, your vag will never look the same, and you might grow a third boob in your armpit.”

“You’re lying .”

“Yeah, a lump of breast milk can form there, too!” Katara is about to scroll to the photo in her phone when Jin laughter breaks through the night.

“I hope your dick gets bitten off mid-blowjob!” She whisper-screams, struggling with her suitcase until it smacks all at nearly every corner and edge. She was just making noise for the sake of making noise, but it made her feel better.

He didn’t expect waking up to a charge on his card for a flight booked in the last ten minutes, or Katara shoving his good mixer in her suitcase.

“You hate it don’t you?” He always loved it when Katara went into Hulk mode anytime a bully dared test her protective nature. While it was never entirely directed at him, he now understands exactly why Chan peed his pants. Katara was terrifying .

“What?” Zuko’s confused, rubbing an eye booger away.

“You loved it when I’m crying over Jet, crying over something, fucking something up in my life. Being mad at the world. You hate that I’m better, and making something of myself now!” She’s angry and grasping at straws.

Zuko furrows his brows, not sure where to progress from here. “Ok, run that by me again?”

The air vanishes when her stare cools over to absolutely icy. “There’s nothing else I can give. So what the fuck do you want from me?”

He laughs, all hollow and almost mocking . “You know, I was afraid of you coming here.” He lies.

She stops in her tracks. “What the hell do you mean?”

“I thought...I thought you wouldn’t get this new me, because it’s different!” He protests. “See, this is exactly the reason why! You’re mad I can afford real Gucci !”

Katara recoils, looking embarrassed for him. God, were men so fucking stupid, and so proud of it, too. “Are you fucking serious.”

Zuko’s frustrated, running his hands through his hair. “What the fuck are we doing, Katara?”

“You tell me!” She demands. “I’m not that kind of girl, Zuko! I’m not that kind of girl that is going to break up a fucking engagement, or whatever the fuck you weirdos are doing!”

He throws up his hands. “I’m not happy! We’re not happy.”

“What? You think now that you’ve sold your soul to your piece of shit dad and you can buy jewelry that won’t turn your fingers green that I’m going to fuck you?”

“No! I’m not saying that—”

Katara scoffs. “Then what the fuck are you saying? Grow up, Zuko. Grow the fuck up and just leave me the fuck alone .”

“You’re still Katara.” He throws his hands up in the air, trying to stop her. Even if he felt like his entire world was falling apart, there was one thing he would always be certain about. “I’m still Zuko. The same Zuko who loves you .”

Katara turns her head, not willing to give him the satisfaction of seeing her upset. “The thing is, this isn’t you, Zuko.” Katara says with finality. “It isn’t you .”

When she gets home, she spots it right away. On their dining table, white paper folded neatly, Yue was the type of little girl who looked to both sides of the street before crossing, repeating it two more times to be safe. She always took extra care to make everything even, never a wrinkle in sight on her homework.

The Crayola family portrait that brought to life everything she’d imagined and more. Katara doesn’t have the heart to look for longer than a second.

At 27, Katara’s pretending that it’s the happiest day of her life.

She didn’t think he would listen to her, you know, men rarely did anything right. Zuko, though, heeds her warning and only calls exactly two hours before Yue’s bedtime like clockwork. There weren’t any surprise texts to wake up to anymore, no more evidence of Zuko in her life. She doesn’t even find out about Jin’s affair with one of those Axe commercial guys until months later.

When she goes to unblock his number and text him, to try and talk to him, she gasps. She sees those grey iMessage bubbles, and she’s ashamed her heart splutters, awakening a feeling she thought she’s dampened. She puts her phone down for milliseconds, before checking it again and again and again. She finally threw the damn thing across the room when a week passed.

She thinks it’s for the better, especially when she was sure she finally got things right with Jet.

“ We’ll make this shit work together.” Jet reassures, gathering her close to him she could see every little detail of him. “Like Kanye said, ‘you’re a MILF, and I’m a mother-fucker.”

She covers her ears, pushing him into the restaurant’s glass door. “No thank you. No more non consensual reciting of Kanye verses.”

“Yeezy, breezy, beautiful, baby. Get into it.” Jet winks, and Katara feels herself gagging again.

Then again, Katara always had a thing for stupid. And for three easy payments of $Penis.99, he had an all access experience to her pussy and her trauma.

“And he bought me those carrot cake cupcakes I always look at when we go to the supermarket but I never want to chance it because it could have raisins instead of nuts and I think I hate raisins more than I hate white men named Nathaniel.”

Toph jabs Katara in the forehead. “Wow, he spared $5 on some dry pastries, and your pussy was suddenly screaming pick me, pick me !”

“They were gluten free, too,” she points out. “Plus, my pussy doesn’t scream!”

“Oh right, my bad! It whispers!”

“ Toph !”

“Last night I heard it go wash me! Wash me!”

It felt good with him, though. It felt good to see him help Yue with math homework, making dinner in their little kitchen, pressing kisses to her in the morning despite her breath smelling like Khloe Kardashian’s earring backing pussy. Someone to come home to.

“Piece of shit, I’ll fucking kill you!” She was punching him over and over again until her knuckles were ripped raw, sitting straight on his throat. Beating him stupid in the middle of her shift. He thought he could get away with it. With Katara now stuck in the kitchen as one of the head cooks, and the fact he had a reservation in one of the private rooms for him and his secretary to go over...numbers, he didn’t think much of it.

Too bad Toph was too invested, and had a friends-to-lovers storyline to live vicariously through.

“Scram, fuglies!” Toph screamed to other customers who had already started chanting “WorldStar!”

Katara lost her job, lost her mans, lost a section of her eyebrow because Toph accidentally tried helping and swung the wrong direction.

“Catch me outside, how ‘bout that!” She yelps triumphantly, despite the fact Katara was cradling her own bloodied face.

And here she was, about to lose her best friend, too.

She accidentally Facetimed his old number, and spent the last hour mulling over her feelings with an executive of a porn studio who picked up mid-shoot. “Just tell him you love him!” The balding man is exhausted.

“What do I even say? Do I tell him, ‘I think I’ve always loved you?’ Is that too cheesy? You know that feeling when your heart just—Oh my fucking god! Is that Sandy Cheeks from Spongebob ?!” She screams, slamming her hands over her eyes. The squirrel’s melons-for-tits would never be erased from her memory.

He only has fear in his eyes when he looks at her. “You didn’t see anything.” Robert bites out, promptly hanging up.

In her post-Jet purge, she realized she wasn’t the type of ex dead set on destroying his things. After all, she was selling his light-up keyboard to pay for Toph’s birthday boob job. Her residual anger was instead, spent hacking away at the drawer he always kept locked. Until she found it.

A letter from him.

“ I’ve always been afraid that our friendship would’ve spilled over until all I could do is categorize it with four simple letters .” Katara whispers, eyes frantically scanning the paper. “And I’m done being afraid .”

“The four letters he’s talking about is D-U-M-B B-I-C-T-H . Dumb bitch. The ‘bitch’ is silent.” Toph insists. “I can’t believe you let a balding bum, whose credit score tanked because he invested his entire savings in Shake Weight Milkshake making machines, knock you up instead of Zuko.”

“It was innovative at the time,” she whispers.

“Fill the void in your heart, not your pussy.”

She's whipping out her shitty MacBook Air, and praying his email still worked. But when she calls all she sees is her.

“You told me to come to Republic City and find him!” Mai exclaims, holding up her hand where a big ring blinding the fuck out of her.

She feels her heart crumble at the same time she crushes the letter in her hand.

“I did do that, didn’t I?” Katara winces. The time the model stopped by in their hometown, Katara was still happy and getting her pussy pounded regularly and let that shit get to her head. She thought it would be a blessing in disguise, and wanted to help Zuko out, too.

"Fuck."

Their wedding looked ripped out of a 2014 Basic Bitch Pinterest board, and she’s definitely sure she couldn’t be happier.

“Why is her name spelled like ‘Mai’ and pronounced ‘May?’ Like, shouldn’t it be spelled like ‘Mei?’”

“Katara, you’re just being a bitch,” Toph reminds while Katara stares at the sign with their wedding hashtag in front of the photobooth with all the ‘YOLO’ signs and 2013 mustaches.

“I am well aware!” She asserts, chin jutting out.

Mai’s New York Fashion Week ready body was gorgeous, perfect in Zuko’s hold.

Katara wished life was like a rom-com. Where she could burst through the doors, declare her love, piss on him in her ugly, big bridesmaid dress and mark her territory once and for all.

But life wasn’t a movie. Life was just this shitty piece of dumpster fire shit and was always fucking her over like the Target self-checkout line camera.

What could she do? Deliver some long-winded speech about how she would go to realign the stars in the heavens if it meant a chance to rewrite their fate? That she hoped she visits his dreams before his mind could settle into reality, the same way he visited hers and overstayed his welcome every single time? Make everyone uncomfortable and wonder if they boned?

Then again, she was never going to be the one to block her best friend’s blessings. Not on the happiest day of his life.

“I think this is the happiest day of my life.” Katara says seamlessly.

Zuko sees it though, sees right through her and has to stop himself from reaching out to her.

“It wasn’t ever easy being Zuko’s best friend. I mean look at him now, getting married to someone perfect . He’s not even in the same ballpark, league, or hell, stadium porta potty as her!”

Zuko ducks his head with a brief pout that breaks Katara’s heart. Everyone laughs in spite of him, until he joins in, too. “You know, it’s easy to pretend that finding love is easy. You could find love in all the little things in your life. All the people, all the details. It’s easy to say you always, completely, truly love someone. Because that’s what we want love to be, right? At the surface, sure.” She folds the flimsy paper she had on hand, nothing was written on it anyways. “You want it to be perfect.”

“But the love everyone works so hard to get, is the love that’s hard . It’s the love that isn’t safe. The love that challenges, excites you, the love that will never have limits. The love that’s messy and beautiful all at the same time.” She looks at him, truly looks at him for the first time in years and all she could do was smile.

“It’s easy to find love, but it’s near impossible to find a soulmate.” She raises her glass. “Join me in a toast to the bride and groom. I wish you a lifetime of happiness.”

And while everyone is gathered out on the dance floor, she’s sobbing pathetically and smearing the winged eyeliner she worked so hard to perfect on the car ride there. Trying to stop any of the pain from consuming her.

She’s out on the rooftop of the venue, the cold air whipping her face as she tries lighting up a blunt.

“Are you getting high at my wedding !” Zuko is incredulous, and shocks Katara enough to drop the joint off the roof.

“On all things Fenty Beauty, bitch what the fuck?” Katara wipes the tears from the corner of her eyes.

“The flower girl wanted to see her mommy.” But Katara sees right through Yue’s little act. Pretending to sleep so she could be held by Zuko (me too, girl. Me too).

It felt dangerous, the way she could toy with his heart, his own personal defibrillator shocking it back to life. She’s pretty even with red-rimmed eyes, with the fake smiles he knew was trying to appease him to leave her alone. If anything, all it does is make him want to kiss her until her troubles are gone.

He wanted to do a lot of things at that moment. He wanted to feel the warmth of her skin, tell her that above all else, he missed his girl the most. But, he had everything on his plate and then some.

“The chicken was dry as fuck.” He blurts, wiping the sweat from his face. Only Katara could send him back a few decades. “I wish you could’ve catered it.”

“Yeah?” She laughs and wants to call him out for stalking her company’s Facebook page. “Remember you tried my new recipe and you vomited all over the front row at your fourth ever Hello Zuko performance?” She misses his messy hair, when he didn’t look so clean cut and rich bitchy.

“I didn’t know you weren’t done cooking it!”

She shoves his head, and he joins her, dangling his feet precariously off the roof.

When she’s here with him, when he has her in his hold for the first time in years, he sees his whole life with just a glimpse in her eyes. And all he wants to do is build a machine and reverse all the time that’s passed them by.

“I made a mistake.” Zuko breathes out, eyes nervously darting around.

As sure as he was that Nicki Minaj deserved a Grammy, he was sure he loved her.

“W-What?” Katara blinks at him.

“I made a mistake, Katara.” He laughs nervously, scratching the back of his neck, carding his hand through his hair. Looking every bit devastatingly handsome. “I realized something. After the speech, after just, everything.”

“I realized I just can’t have my cake and eat it, too.”

Just like that, just with the way he built her up, it comes tumbling down.

“So what are you saying?” Her heart was on the verge of cracking in half and he didn’t even know it. Because all he could pin her with a look she couldn’t read, and she thinks if he was a smarter man he would’ve at least pretended that it hurt him to hurt her.

But it did.

It broke him, ripped him in half to see her face turn to steel right before his eyes.

“What I’m saying is, after all these years.” He doesn’t have it in him to face her. “I think I have to finally let you go, Katara.”

#Zutara #Zuko #Katara #Zutara Week #atla #zutara fanfiction #avatar the last airbender #zutara week 2020

15 notes · View notes

captain-azoren · 4 years

Text

The Spirit Forged: The Swamp Witch - A Legend of Korra Fic

Series: The Legend of Korra/Avatar the Last Airbender

Summary: Raiga searches the Foggy Swamp for the mysterious Swamp Witch who can teach him how to connect his spirit to the great banyan grove tree. Instead, he runs into a certain Blind Bandit, who gives him more trouble than he bargained for.

What I have here you could call a pilot chapter; a little taste of what you can expect from my current Legend of Korra fanfic, The Spirit Forged. Here is the beginning of my fanfic on FFN and AO3.

I’m not posting this sample chapter on FF.Net or AO3 just yet, as this event doesn’t take place until the middle of the story, and I haven’t gotten there yet. This scene is just something I really wanted to write for a while, and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Read it and let me know what you think of my OC Raiga (sidenote; Raiga is not a furry, he has a human shaped face. You can see some drawings I did of him if you look up the tags).

Raiga darted from one tree branch to another, making the leaves rustle with every leap. The swamp’s foliage was thick and damp, but it did little to deter him. Raiga was part human, part cat-spirit; he was made for the jungle. His goal; to find the swamp witch, who could help him make a spiritual connection to the great banyan grove tree at the center of the swamp.

There was one problem though; he had no idea where the witch was or what she even looked like. The waterbenders of the Foggy Swamp tribe had told him she had been living in the area for years, but that she was violent and aggressive. They learned to steer clear of the witch, but that did not help Raiga much. He probably should have stuck around to ask more questions. Luckily, he had a pretty good nose. All he had to do was keep moving until he picked up the right scent, and that was just what happened.

Raiga landed on the sturdy branch of a mango-peach tree and gave the air a good sniff. Amongst the fragrance of the fruit was the smell of cooked meat, along with some vegetables and roots that stood out from the rest of the other dank odors of the swamp. He followed the scent a while longer through the grove until he spotted a clearing in the forest. The ground looked a little damp, but mostly solid, and in the center was a campfire, with a pot of stew cooking over it. It smelled like possum-chicken, and it made Raiga’s mouth water.

The beast-man dropped from the tree and landed softly on the dirt. Raiga slowly made his way over to the boiling pot. The fire beneath it smoldered, and though it gave him some pause, he told himself it was only a little flame. It would not hurt him so long as he was careful.

Raiga reached out for the ladle hanging from the spit when he sensed something come at him from outside the tree line. The beast-man jumped back with a snarl, backflipping and twisting as a rock flew past where he had been standing.

“Hey! Hands off my lunch!” Came a scratchy old voice. Out from between the trees stepped a tiny old woman, with bare feet and a large white bun, wearing green and a grumpy frown. “Even I have better manners than that.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t leave your food out in the open! That’s just asking it to get stolen,” Raiga retorted. He squinted at the old woman and noticed her milky white eyes. She was blind. An old, blind earthbending lady with a bad attitude. “Wait a sec, aren’t you Toph Beifong?”

“Well duh,” Toph replied. She furrowed her brow as she examined Raiga. There was something very different about him. “Is that a… tail?” Toph asked incredulously. “Are you even human, kid?”

“Yeah, I’m human. Well, kind of,” Raiga answered. “I got possessed by a spirit or something, and now I’m like a crazy tiger-man.”

“Uhg, alright, I don’t need your life’s story, Cat-Boy,” Toph said as she approached the pot of stew. “And here I thought I’d seen everything.” She earthbent a clay bowl from the ground into her hand and ladled some stew into it before taking a sip. “What are you doing all the way out here? I doubt you were looking to steal an old lady’s home cooked meal.”

“I’m looking for the swamp witch,” Raiga answered earnestly. “The Foggy Swamp Tribe told me she could help me connect to the big tree. You notice her around here?”

“The Swamp Witch?” Toph whispered, pausing in deep thought. She turned away to look at the huge banyan grove tree in the distance. A wide grin spread across her wrinkly cheeks, unseen to Raiga. “Oh, I’ve met the Swamp Witch lots of times.”

“Great, just point me in the right direction!” Raiga said, but Toph wagged her finger at him.

“Nuh uh, I don’t give her hideout to just anyone,” Toph said and took another sip of stew. “First you’ve got to prove yourself, especially after trying to take my food.”

“Would you just let that go?” Raiga asked with a low growl, his tufted tail flicking impatiently. “Fine, what do I have to do?”

“Tag me.” Toph stated.

“Tag?” He asked with a quirked brow.

“Yeah, you know, like the kid’s game,” Toph went on to explain with a sly smirk. “If you can touch me, then I’ll tell you where the witch is. I’ll even let you have some of this stew.” She swirled her bowl around for emphasis. Raiga scratched the sideburns around his jaw.

“Hm, alright,” Raiga said with a confident grin. “If that’s all I got to do, then this won’t take long.” Raiga stretched his arms and popped his knuckles before crouching low, getting ready to pounce. “Here… we…- “

It was over in mere seconds. Raiga darted at Toph in a flash of tawny-gold fur, and just as quickly the old bender stomped her foot, popping up a pillar of hard, packed earth in front of her. Raiga collided with the dirt with a loud thud. He was stuck there a moment, then pushed himself off with a grumble of disgust as he wiped bits of mud from his face and his chest. Toph let out a hearty chuckle.

“That’s not gonna work, but I like your spirit.” The earthbender said. Raiga bared his fangs in frustration. He dashed to the side of the pillar to try and get around, but Toph raised her arms, palms turned up, taking her signature stance as she raised a wall of earth in front of him. Raiga moved around to the other side, but again he was blocked. Toph easily pivoted and followed him without even spilling her soup.

“That’s it!” Raiga snarled as he crouched down. He jumped at the wall and vaulted over it, sending himself into the air above Toph. For a moment, the old earthbender seemed concerned, until she heard the beast-man let out a roar. Toph pulled her arms in and bent the earth walls closer, surrounding her and her campfire tightly.

Just as Raiga came falling down, the walls bent inward until they formed a little dome with a hole in the top where the smoke from the fire could rise through. Raiga landed on the dome and frowned as he came towards the hole, squinting through the smoke.

“You can’t just hide in there forever.” Raiga said as he approached the hole in the roof. He was about to jump through it when stone bars formed within it, blocking his path.

“Oh yes I can.” Toph shot back from within and slurped her soup. She formed a stone stool beneath her and took a seat.

“Oh no you can’t!” Raiga shouted as he grabbed a hold of the stone bars. With a grunt, he ripped the bars away and tossed them aside. He was about to enter the dome again when suddenly the earth he stood on straightened up and flung him away. Raiga shouted with surprise as he flipped through the air, but he landed on his feet in a lunge. The beast-man huffed as he looked back up at Toph, sitting with her soup. She looked mildly amused, but also curious.

“Hmph, guess you won’t be as easy to beat as I thought,” Toph said as she rubbed her shoulder. “I’m still the greatest earthbender of all time though. You’re pretty fast and strong, but you’ll have to do a lot better than that.”

“You think that’s all I’ve got?” Raiga asked as he flexed his clawed fingers. “I haven’t even started!” He roared as he charged at Toph. All he had to do was tag her, but now his adrenaline was surging. Toph slid her foot over the ground and the earth beneath Raiga shifted. He stumbled for a moment, but his balance was impeccable and he righted himself and continued his advance.

Toph stamped her foot and another wall formed in front of Raiga, but his reflexes were quicker this time as he swerved around it and sprinted for the earthbender. Toph frowned as she raised her hand and bent a taller, wider wall of earth in Raiga’s path, one that he could not easily dodge around, but he did not bother. Raiga thrust his fist at the wall and burst right through it in a shower of dirt. He was almost on her now. Toph knew she needed to act fast.

Taking a page from her old friend Katara’s playbook, the earthbender decided to redirect the energy rather than try and use brute force to stop it. As Raiga closed in, Toph created an earth ramp underneath him, raising him up above her. He was running too fast to slow down, and found himself falling off the edge.

The next thing Raiga saw was a dirt pillar rise up from the ground and strike him in the stomach, sending him flying back into the jungle with a loud shout of pain and frustration. He hit a tree branch, then fell several feet before getting tangled up in a mess of vines, hanging upside down as mango-peaches fell around him.

Toph let out a sigh as she lowered her hands, leveling out the earth around her before sitting back down and stirring her pot of soup. “Well, you got closer than most,” She said with some disappointment. “But after so many years and so many challengers, no one’s landed a hand or even a hit on me. Guess no one’s ever gonna be stronger than me except the Avatar. How sad.”

Raiga fumed as he hung from the vines. He thrashed about, cutting the offending plants with his claws and freeing himself. The beast-man landed on his feet, making Toph’s head snap in his direction. “Like I’m just gonna give up after one scuffle,” He said as he wiped his chin with his arm. “I’ll tag you, and you won’t even see me coming!” With that said, Raiga leapt back into the foliage and out of sight. Toph just snorted.

“I’m blind, you idiot.”

“It’s a figure of speech!” Raiga shouted from the trees before darting off. He was a little bruised, but not too hurt. He could have gone on fighting for much longer, but it was obvious he was going about tagging Toph the wrong way. Raiga needed to go full predator for this task, but evading Toph’s detection would prove a challenge. He was adept at blending into the grass and leaves, but what good was camouflage against one who saw without eyes?

-----------------------------------------------

Raiga kept low to the ground, holding completely still as he peered through the thick brush at Toph. The blind earthbender was in a horse stance and waving her arms in circular motions. Around her, a stream of mud swirled in an intricate formation. She manipulated it like a waterbender, letting it flow seamlessly without interruption.

The beast-man had been watching Toph do this for several minutes now, inching closer and closer until he was right at the edge of the clearing, waiting for the right moment. Toph seemed to be completely engrossed in her form as she began to twist the mud into an elaborate dance. That was his chance.

“Gotcha!” Raiga yelled as he pounced at Toph. He was as fast as a bolt, but Toph had already reacted. The earthbender, without so much as a flinch, redirected the mud at her attacker, slamming it into him and redirecting all him momentum into the ground which shook the earth. Raiga lay splayed out, groaning and caked in warm mud.

“I knew you were there the whole time, you dummy.” Toph said as she continued her form.

“How?” Raiga said as he sat up and rubbed the back of his shaggy head. “Not even a rabaroo could have heard me.”

“It doesn’t matter how quiet you are or how well you’re hidden, Cat-Boy. As long as you’re touching earth, I’ll know you’re there,” Toph quirked an eyebrow. “And now that you’re all covered in it, I’ve got an even better look at you.” She smirked and gave a chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Raiga asked as he stood up cautiously.

“Oh nothing, just admiring that nice, lean body of yours,” Toph cackled. “Hey, if you can tag me before the end of the week, I’ll throw in a kiss too, but if you give up you’ve got to kiss me.”

“Uhg, no thanks granny,” Raiga said with a grimace and a blush before he leapt back into the trees. “I’m not giving up yet!” He jumped through the canopy, looking for a stream he could wash himself in. Toph gave a sigh and went back to her form.

“Tch, boys these days have no taste. I had suitors by the dozen when I was his age…”

--------------------------------

Raiga plucked a mango-peach from a tree branch by the stream and sat down on it, leaning against the trunk. He extended the claw on his right index finger and peeled the skin off before digging his teeth into the juicy fruit. The cat-boy furrowed his brow, contemplating how he was going to lay a hand on Toph.

“Her defense is too good, I can’t just charge in,” Raiga said as he chewed. “She can see me coming from anywhere… as long as I’m touching earth… hmmm…” He stopped a moment to look at the mango-peach in his hands, the pit in the center of the fruit’s flesh. Raiga then glanced at the tree he was sitting in. “But I’m not touching the earth now…”

Finally, an idea came to him. It was not much, but it was enough to go off on. Raiga gobbled up the rest of the mango-peach, pocketing the pit before leaping down to the stream bank. Searching through the sand, the cat-boy found a large pebble. It was time he stopped fighting like an animal and started thinking like a human.

------------------------------

Toph yawned as she stretched out on a stone bench she had formed and began picking the dirt from her toes. It had been a while since that pesky cat lad had bothered her. She wondered if he had given up already. If he had, it was a shame. She was having a ball messing with him, and he was in great shape to boot. Being a hermit could be quite boring.

Just as Toph was beginning to think the fun was over, she felt a vibration in the earth. The earthbender cocked her head to the side and concentrated on her hearing. There was a rustling in the tree branches. She sent out a subtle seismic wave, focusing in the direction of the sound. The wave made contact with the tree and its roots, its shape becoming clearer to her.

Up on the low hanging branch crouched Raiga, holding an object in each hand. One appeared flat and ovular. The other, however, lit up bright when she sensed it. It was a large pebble, smooth and rounded over time by flowing water. Just holding the stone made Raiga appear to her almost as clear as if he were on solid ground. Toph raised an eyebrow.

“I can still sense you,” Toph said as she stood up and crossed her arms. “You’re connected to the tree, and the tree is connected to the earth. Plus, I can see that rock you’re holding.”

“Oh yeah, can you see this?” Raiga asked before he pitched the stone at Toph. She raised her hand and caught it in her palm like it was nothing.

“Yeah, I can, frisky kitty,” Toph said as she crushed the stone into dust. “I can sense earth wherever it is.”

“Okay, how ‘bout this then?” Raiga tossed the other object, and it disappeared from Toph’s senses. She immediately bent a dirt wall in front of herself. Raiga was not aiming for her though. The mango-peach pit he had taken struck the ground just to the left of Toph, making a hole in the soft soil. Raiga watched as the earthbender flinched, just barely, but it was there.

“Pff, you missed.” Toph groused.

“That was on purpose!” Raiga retorted. “You couldn’t sense that, or else you wouldn’t have tried to shield yourself.”

“And so what?” Toph asked with a shrug. “I may not be able to sense what’s in the air, but I can still tell when you’re tossing it. Besides, you don’t get points for throwing little seeds at me. You only win if you actually touch me.”

“So, it means that even you’ve got your blind spots,” Raiga shot back with a grin. “And I bet there’s one more…” He jumped from the branch to the thick trunk of the tree, sinking his claws into the bark before climbing upwards.

Toph sensed him as he went higher and higher, swinging from one branch to the next. She frowned as the cat lad gradually faded from her seismic sense. The earthbender sent out a pulse with her chi towards the tree to get a better look.

Raiga was reaching the top of the canopy, but his figure was blurry. The vibrations he was making with every hop on each branch grew weaker the further they had to travel down the trunk and then through the earth. Not only that, but with all the different branches swaying at once, it became difficult to pinpoint where exactly he was.

Eventually, the vibrations stopped. Toph could not sense Raiga anywhere. With a mutter, she began to walk back over to her pot of stew for another helping. A light breeze began to blow over the jungle. She reached for the ladle when-

“SPLURSHT!”

“GAH!”

Out of nowhere something heavy hit the ground behind Toph, nearly giving the old master a heart attack. She caught her breath as her adrenaline spiked, and she took a moment to calm herself down. Upon closer inspection, Toph realized that the object was in fact an overripe mango-peach, now an orange stain on the ground. Toph growled and stomped her foot, shaking the forest around her as she tried to get a better look into the canopy.

“Alright, I’m getting tired of this cat-boy!” The earthbender yelled, her scratchy voice echoing through the trees, but there was no answer. The branches of the mango-trees were swaying in the light breeze, their leaves rustling, but Toph could not sense her adversary. There was a rustling in the canopy, but the trees were so tall that her seismic sense could not reach.

“SPLURSHT!” Another fruit splattered the ground a few feet from Toph. She took a horse stance and readied herself. “SPLURSHT!” Another one fell behind her. The fruit kept dropping around Toph. She could not tell from where, only that they came from above.

More than just fruit began to drop now. Old, dead branches shattered against the jungle floor. Vines fell into loose coils and swayed over the ground. Toph bent a flat plane of earth up and held it above herself. There were so many objects hitting the ground at once now, like rain, and it was beginning to overwhelm her.

Toph had to concentrate if she wanted to sense Raiga. She cleared her mind, tuning out all the random noise and confusion, focusing on the trees. A tree trunk shook as something heavy bounced off from it. It was Raiga, visible to Toph only for a split second. There he was again, on a different tree. Toph could sense him now.

Raiga was jumping back and forth across the perimeter of the clearing, shaking down the mango-peaches with each landing, cutting vines with his claws and tearing off branches to throw down from mid-air. He was trying to confuse Toph’s senses, overload them. A smart strategy, but Toph was too experienced to fall for that.

The earthbender waited and listened, looking for a pattern, and she found it. Toph slammed her fist into her dirt shield, shooting a stone out above her at where Raiga was jumping to. The beast-man growled as the shot whistled by him, just barely missing his head. He had to finish this before Toph could zone in on him, and he one last trick.

Raiga hit a thick tree trunk and latched on with his claws, letting Toph see him. She shot another stone in his direction, and he jumped away just before it struck the tree, wedging into the wood. Toph paid attention to the trajectory of his jump, a necessary skill she had developed. He was going to land on the tree to her right. She timed the speed, readied another stone, and launched it where Raiga would land…

It missed. The stone struck the tree, but Raiga was not there. For a brief moment, Toph was stunned. Raiga had disappeared once more from her senses, but she knew he had to be somewhere. She heard a rustling above, a whoosh of air. Toph steadied her defenses and listened, and then she sensed it.

A thick vine was dragging over the ground. It was hanging from a branch much higher up. Toph could not properly sense it, but she knew something was swinging from it. Her seismic sense did not allow her to tell what was attached. Vines made a poor medium for vibrations, especially loose ones. All she could see was the tail end of the vine, but she knew it had to be Raiga.

Indeed, the beast-man had grabbed a loose vine when he had leapt from the tree, and his momentum was carrying him far and fast. Raiga swung in on Toph at an angle, low enough that he could get under her defenses and reach her. Toph followed the trail of the vine as it whipped around her in a circle. If not for that, he would have been totally invisible, but this was his last shot and he had to take it.

Toph sensed the end of the vine. It was far from her, yet seemed to be picking up speed. She only had seconds to anticipate what was happening. The earthbender could not tell much of it, but she finally noticed the angle of vine’s swing, just before she heard another whoosh of air.

Raiga extended his claws to tag the huge bun atop of Toph’s head. This was it; the moment of truth. It was time for this crochety old hag to taste some humble pie. He was about to win, he was so close…

Until Raiga felt a solid chunk of dirt mash into his ribs. The cat-boy grunted as he was knocked into the air once more. He let go of the vine as he went tumbling over the ground, his momentum sending him skidding. Raiga finally stopped at the edge of the clearing as he rolled onto his back, covered in swamp-filth.

Toph let of a long whistle as she lowered her hand and flattened the ground around her. “You’re smarter than you look kid. You nearly had me, but I am the greatest earthbender there ever was or ever will be.”

“Then it’s a good thing… I’m not… an earthbender…” Raiga said between pants as he slowly raised his arm. Clasped in his claws, he held aloft a green crescent. Toph furrowed her brow as she took notice of it, then her milky white eyes went wide with shock. She touched the top of her head, and in that instant her white bun fell loose. Raiga had snatched her hairband right off her head.

“Wha?! You hairy rascal!” Toph shouted furiously. “Give that back!”

“Not until you tell me where the swamp witch is!” Raiga shouted back as he got to his feet. “I won, so cough it up!”

“That doesn’t count as tagging me!” Toph barked as she stomped her foot and bent a slab of earth at Raiga from below him. He backflipped out of the way, waving the hairband teasingly.

“It so totally does!” Raiga sneered with a toothy grin. “But if you don’t want to tell me, I’ll just keep this as a trophy and find the swamp witch on my own. I’ll have proof that I beat the big bad Toph Beifong.”

Toph glared and glowered at the beast-man as he taunted her, but slowly her frown turned upward into a smile, and she burst out in laughter. Raiga was taken back as he watched the earthbender keel over, holding her stomach as she chortled and hooted.

“Ohoh, oh, ahah, sorry kid I just… HAH! I haven’t felt a rush like that in years!” The old woman exclaimed as she began to come down from her adrenaline high. “Finally, someone who uses their head. That vine trick would have impressed Sokka… Ahh, I feel sixty-years younger. Alright Cat-Boy, I’ll tell ya where to find the swamp witch, if only to pay you back for the fun.”

“You will?” Raiga’s ears perked and his tail swished as he dashed up to Toph eagerly. She nodded her head and tied her long hair back into a bun.

“Just gimme my headband back,” Toph asked, and Raiga obliged. She fastened it back on her head and cleared her throat. “Alright, the swamp witch lives… “

“Raiga, there you are!” Came a voice. Raiga looked over to see Korra emerging from the foliage, pushing the vines and leaves out of her face with her staff. Ginger was following behind, wearing the traditional garb of the Foggy Swamp Tribe, and behind her was Varrick recording everything with his mover camera. “You can’t just run off like that, you know how easy it is to get lost in here?”

“Right on time Twinkle-Toes.” Toph said with a smirk.

“Toph! It’s good to see you,” Korra said with a smile. “You’re just the person we were looking for.”

“Huh? I thought we were looking for the swamp witch?” Raiga said as he scratched his head. “Whatever, Toph says she can tell us where she is.”

Toph gave a snort as she tried to keep herself from laughing. Korra growled in frustration as a vein popped from her forehead.

“Raiga, Toph IS the swamp witch!” Korra shouted.

“Wait, she is!?” Raiga asked, bewildered. Toph let out another hearty laugh and wiped a tear from her eye. Raiga bared his fangs as he bristled in anger. “Why didn’t you just say so, you dirty old lady!?”

“And miss out on all that fun? No way,” The earthbender replied. “Why didn’t you just say you knew the Avatar? That would have saved you a lot of trouble.”

“Oh come on, like you would have believed that!” Raiga growled as he crossed his arms and twitched his ears.

“Yes! Yes, I would have!” Toph shouted with indignation. “I’m a truth seer! I know when people are lying!”

The two of them continued to yell and argue as Korra buried her face into her palm. It was going to be a long day.

@wingsfreedom

#Spirit forged #the spirit forged #Korra #Toph #Toph Beifong #Raiga #Avatar #Avatar The Last Airbender #the legend of korra #legend of korra #lok #tlok #atla #fanfic #fanfiction

5 notes · View notes

faangirl101 · 4 years

Text

Burning Heart: Pt 3

Burning heart masterlist

Pairing: Zuko x reader, Zuko x y/n

Tags: Enemies to lovers, slow burn

Summary: Raised mostly by yourself, you made a living for your youth years as a maid in one of the richest families in Ba sing se, Beifongs. There Toph, a blind young rich girl, taught you earth bending and also became your new family. Not that you would admit that to her. Together you escape Ba sing se on the back of a flying bison with the Avatar, in a mission to take back the world from the fire nation. But on the journey you didn’t plan to team up with the Fire prince himself, and you definitely did not plan to get butterflies around him. But you couldn’t possibly catch feelings for a fire bender right? They ruined your life and took everything of value from you. But you couldn’t lie to your burning heart.

Warnings: swearing

I thought that since Toph was actually blind now, feet burned beyond recognition, that she would go easy on me today. I was clearly wrong. She was quickly up on her feet again (pun intended). Toph had been teaching me earth bending in secret since i was a maid to her family so her tough teaching techniques were no surprise. She had me and Aang working to the bone before we finally, covered in sweat, got a break. Or more like I got a break while Aang had his next bending lesson. Fire. His first. I couldn't help my curiosity as I stood leaned against the closest wall watching Zuko in his professor role. The balcony of the upside down pagoda in the temple was hot. Sweat was climbing up my back as I wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. Zuko seemed to catch Aang's hyper demaoner “I know you're nervous, but remember, firebending in it of itself is not something to fear.” Aang didn't meet his eyes but sighed deeply instead “Okay. Not something to fear”.Zuko nodded as he closed his fists. “But if you don't respect it”, he raised his voice so it echoed through the temple “it'll chew you up and spit you out like an angry komodo rhino!”. I held back the laugh threatening at the picture of Zuko with tensed eyes and a yelping Aang. Zuko clearly picked the “bad cop” technique when it came to teaching, just like Toph. He crossed his arms over his strong chest and took a step backwards “Now show me what you've got. Any amount of fire you can make”. Aang inhales nervously as he hesitates and moves out his arms. I can see fear in his eyes as they focus on the palm of his hand. A small, almost impossible to catch, cloud of smoke appears. But as fast as it comes it dissipates to nothing. The look on Aang was a blend of disappointment and relief.

Aang looked up hopefully “Maybe i need a little more instruction. Perhaps a demonstration?”. Zuko raised an eyebrow “Good idea, You might wanna take a couple steps back”. Even if he wasn't talking to me I obliged and moved further back. I hadn't seen him in action up close yet. I was unsure what to expect but that was definitely not it. With a grunt Zuko opens his tightly closed fist to let out…. a flame smaller than the palm of my hand. Aang, supportive as he was, applauded at this disappointing display. Me? i bursted out laughing, finally alerting them of my presence. They both sharply turned to me, who was doubled over in laughter. “You might wanna take a couple steps back?”I wiped away fake tears “What was that? That was the worst firebending I've ever seen!”. Zuko did not take that mockery ease as he pursed his lips hard enough to break his jaw. Aang interrupted Zuko before he could yell at me “I thought it was...nice”. He smiled slightly and shrugged which made it even harder to hold back my smile.

Zuko, annoyed at my amused face, tried to prove me wrong. He let out a loud grunt, which made a wave of excitement go through my stomach. But I pretended I didn't even notice it. His next three attempts resulted in very very small flames similar to the first. Defeated he glares frustrated down at his palms “what is happening”. Aang rubbed his head, trying to comfort Zuko “maybe it's the altitude”.I left my safe spot to move my way to them “Or maybe you can't firebend anymore, which is like the only reason we took you in”. Zuko’s burning eyes just lit my amusement more “oh oh! i call dibs on Zuko’s room when we throw him out”. Aang stretches his smaller hand out to stop me from upsetting anybody further. Zuko scrowls as he turns his back at me with clearly better self control than I thought he had. Time passes and Zuko keeps pushing himself with no improvement. Aang was sitting beside me on a broken pillar as we watched Zuko deliver a pointless blast after another. “that one kind of felt hot”, Aang bursted out as he got on his feet. I snickered at his comment, as I swung my legs against the pillar. But Zuko got angry, angrier than he had ever become after any of my comments. “Don't patronize me! You know what it’s supposed to look like!”. He was right, I had seen many fire benders but no one was as worthless as Zuko at the moment. “He didn't need to patronize you, you do that very well on your own”. Zuko aimed a flame at me that was even worse than his previous ones “Shut up!”. Aang held up his hands in defense “ Sorry, Sifu Hotman”. I bursted out laughing so hard it hurt the depths of my stomach. Zuko raises his arms above his head and throws them back with a shout of frustration. Aang gringes at his sudden outburst. “And stop calling me that!”, Zuko yells which makes me laugh possibly even harder.

Night creeps up on us as everyone is getting settled for dinner. Even Appa has a mouthful of hay as he rests next to the fountain. Everyone is busy calming their rouring stomachs, everyone except Zuko. He’s leaning on a column with his arms crossed, looking down the cracked ground under him. He looks deep in thought with his wrinkled forehead, but no one seems to notice. No one except me of course. Suddenly he turns his head to the campfire as he makes his way over to where we’re sitting. “Listen everybody, I've got some pretty bad news. I've lost my stuff”, He looks below dejectedly. Toph, used to being accused of stealing by now, raises her hands above her head. “Don't look at me!”, she folded her arms “i didn't touch your stuff”. I giggle at her outburst and enjoy the view of Zuko’s ashamed face. He looks down again “I'm talking about my firebending. It's gone”. I cross my arms and throw my legs up on a pillar “as if you even had it in the first place”. Everybody around the fireplace sits up, different emotions painted on their faces. Sokka is the only one giving me a reaction as he pretends to fire bends with an annoyed face like Zuko had been doing the entire day. It brought a quiet shaking laugh from me. But my laugh quieted down as a clearer brighter laughter took place. Katara had her head bent backwards as her body shook from the laugh. Was Katara… mocking Zuko. It was the only time Katara had done anything remotely funny, but it still deep down struck a nerve that she was making fun of him. It was my job. But I couldn't possibly be petty over such a small pointless thing. Everyone had turned their attention towards her, including Zuko, who had an annoyed expression twisting his handsome face. She held her hands up, hiding her face “I'm sorry. I'm just laughing at the irony. You know, how it would've been nice for us if you lost your firebending a long time ago”. Zuko gringed “Well, it's not lost. It's just ... weaker for some reason”. Katara held up her bowl and glared at Zuko over the brim “Maybe you're not as good as you think you are”. Both me and Toph, alike as we are, Made a hissing noise at the same time and met each other's eyes “ouch”. Zuko ignored Toph's sarcastic smile as he brightened up with an idea “I bet it's because I changed sides”. Katara gave him another glare as she brought the bowl to her lips “That's ridiculous”. It was the first time I had seen Aang disagree with Katara “I don't know. Maybe it isn't. Maybe your firebending comes from rage and you just don't have enough anger to fuel it the way you used to”.

“Zuko has not been angry? then what have i been doing all day”, i smirked over at Sokka who returned the facial expression. He leans towards zuko and points a finger above “Easy enough”. He pokes Zuko with his shining swords hilt in the head and waist several times. Toph and I cling onto each other to not fall over from laughing. Zuko growles behind closed teeth “okay cut it out!”. Sokka's sword slips from his hands and is thrown above before falling on his head. Zuko sighs and rubs his nose “look, even if you're right. I don't want to rely on hate and anger anymore. There has to be another way”.

Sokka rubs his head in pain from the burst with the sword but no one seems to pay him any care. Toph takes a big bite from her food “You're gonna need to learn to draw your firebending from a different source. I recommend the original source”.I furrowed my eyebrows “I thought that fire bending's original source was pain, rage and suffering”. I didn't miss the way Zuko pursed his lips and looked down in something similar to shame. Sokka seemed to forget his head injury as he excitedly looked up “How's he supposed to do that? By jumping into a volcano?”.Toph shook her head and wiggles her feet “No. Zuko needs to go back to whatever the original source of firebending is”. Sokka's dreams of Zuko diving into a volcano is crushed “So, is it jumping into a volcano?”.

“I don't know”, Toph puts her bowl down beside her “For earthbending, the original benders were badgermoles''. I remembered the many times Toph had brought me to the tunnels and showed me where she met the Badgermoles. That seemed like forever ago. “Isn't the original fire benders Dragons? Where the fuck are we going to find a dragon just chilling?”, I looked up at Zuko who sighed deeply. “we are not going to, Dragons are extinct”. Aang shook his head “What do you mean‌? Roku had a dragon, and there were plenty of dragons when I was a kid”. Zuko's face twists up, as if he knows something we don't. “Well, they aren't around anymore, okay?”. I feel bad for Aang because he yelps at Zuko's harsh tone. “Okay, okay!”,he moved his arms in an appeasing manner “I'm sorry”. Zuko moves on his long slender legs to the fountain. “But maybe there's another way”, he looks away in deep thought “The first people to learn from the dragon were the ancient Sun warriors”.Aang who always seemed to think he knew the most since he was technically 100 years older than the rest walks towards Zuko. “Sun warriors? Well I know they weren't around when i was a kid”, Aang stood beside Zuko now. “No, they died off thousands of years ago. But their civilization wasn't too far from where we are now”, Zuko tilts his head toward Aang “Maybe we can learn something by poking around their ruins''. Sokka mirrors my suspicions “So what? Maybe you'll pick up some super old sun warrior energy just by standing where they stood a thousand years ago?”. He backs up his question by flaring his hands around in a weird motion which makes me hit my forehead with my hand. Zuko shifted his weight forward. “More or less. Either I find a new way to firebend '', he turns his head towards Aang ”or the Avatar has to find a new teacher”.

When Zuko left with the Avatar, the temple seemed to become much more quiet. Haru, the Duke and Teo were on yet another exploration mission. Katara was worrying for Aang, while she cooked the same meal we had been eating for days. Toph, Sokka and I laid spread out, floating over the water in the fountain. The heat had been getting worse and it was the only way to cool down. Sokka threw a worried look at her sister.“What do you think Sifu hotman and smaller bald Kyoshi is doing right now?”, I asked as I sat up in the fountain. My soaked hair was dripping down my back. Sokka smiled half way “Zuko is probably pissed because his worthless Sun warrior plan is not working out and Aang is probably playing peacemaker and trying to calm him down”. Toph smirked and splashed some water with her feet. Katara sneered at us and I wondered if it was because she didn't like that we were talking about Aang or if she was jealous that we were bonding better then she had done with any of us. I was guessing on the latter. “If you could have any original animal from any bend type, which one would you have?”, Sokka asked to change the conversation subject. Toph didn't even need to think for a second “obviously the badgermoles”. Sokka looked offended “really? You would pick a blind disgusting rat over a flying bison?”. I inhaled dramatically “Blind disgusting rat?! That's my best friend you're talking about!”. Sokka burst out in laughter and Toph rolled her eyes ironically “ha ha ha”. I looked forward, deep in thought “I hate the fire nation but honestly the dragon is the most badass”. Sokka lifted an eyebrow surprised “they're extinct, remember?”. Katara moved a spoon through the home made meal as she mumbled “i wish that the entire fire nation was extinct”. We all fell silent, like we mostly did everytime Katara opened her mouth. I thought about how different my life would have been if the fire nation didn't exist. I would still have my mom. I would have grown up with a present and loving father. If my mom had gotten good care while giving birth, instead of hiding in a barn from the fire nation, she wouldn't have died in childbirth. And if my mom hadn't died, my dad wouldn't have blamed me for her death. He wouldn't have been slaughtered by the fire nation when they invaded my home years later on the look for something we didn't even have. But I would never have met Toph. I would never have gotten so good at earth bending. I wouldn't have met the avatar gang. But I still closed my eyes and imagined a world without the fire nation for just another second.

by the look of Aangs and Zuos excited faces when they returned, I guessed it was a successful mission. I can't help but feel relieved that they're okay, and to my surprise I'm relieved for both of them. A sense of calm fills me when I see that they're BOTH unharmed, but I would never admit that to anybody. They're quick to get into positions to start demonstrating what the sun warriors taught them. They moved gracefully, every motion mirrored between them as yin and yan. Fire licked the sides of their bodys without hurting them, as if the fire and their bodies were one. I had grown up with the view of fire as a plot of destruction, a tool for suffering and power play. But now, in the upside-down pagodas in the Western Air Temple, the fire looked nothing like that. It wasn't violent. It was beautiful, I could see shades of blue and green. I could see all the colors of the rainbow within the flames, similar to the reflection of water. Or the sharpened glass in the depths of the earth. Or how air bent sunlight on a hot day. I could see all elements moving from the palms of their hands in the shape of combustions of flames. Deep deep down within my bones I could feel a yearn for the fighting of flames. A longing for the feel of the heat against my hands, that I quickly pushed down. Fire was dangerous, it was not beautiful. It was difficult to convince myself when I left the hole of lament in my heart. The rest of the avatar gang interrupted my thoughts with applause as the two got into their final postures. “Yeah, that's a great dance you two learned there”, Sokka bursted out playfully. Normally i would join him with a remark myself but i wasn't in the mood. My feelings were conflicted and I couldn't focus on anything else. Zuko seemed offended. “It's not a dance. It's a firebending form”. Sokka moves his fingers in a dancing manner “We’ll just tap-dance our way to victory over the Fire Lord”.

Zuko makes his way over to Sokka with a threatening glimpse in his eyes “It's a sacred form that happens to be a thousand years old!”. Katara crosses her arms “Oh yeah? What is your little form called?”. Zuko's eyes met the ground embarrassed “The dancing Dragon”. The gang erupted in loud laughter as Zujo gringes in embarrassment. I stand quiet, not paying attention to how Zuko turns to me. “You haven't said any mocking remark about our form”, he bent down to my level to try to catch my attention. “You mean your dance?”I ask and raise an eyebrow. He mimics my expression “Really? is that it?”. I didn't even catch his bait as I waved him away “I'm not in the mood”. As I moved away I felt Zuko's burning eyes on the plate of my back. “Since when is she not in the mood”, Zuko mumbled to himself, confused. I was busy thinking about how I had longed to touch fire. The thing that destroyed my life.

Taglist: @eridanuswave , @Whalerus, @keiko0, @emogril , @theblueslytherin , @bbecc-a

#atla #atla fanfiction #atla zuko #Zuko #zuko fanfic #zuko x reader #zuko x you #Avatar The Last Airbender #avatar the legend of aang #avatar fanfiction #avatar the legend of korra #aang #katara #sokka #toph

108 notes · View notes

coffeedrivenfiction · 4 years

Text

Ba Sing Se Can Wait

"You know what the scary part of trying is?"

"Duh. Failing."

"I used to think that, I really did, but as we keep going… I've come to realize that the scary part about trying is actually succeeding."

"Succee—what? You're gonna have to explain that one to me. I was with you, for a good while, up until this point… I mean, I sorta get it—no, I get it… I do, I get it, I just wanna see where you're coming from with it. Just so we're on the same page. You and me. I. You and I…."

When Sokka glanced over at that the boy sitting next to him, the boy with the resplendently bald head adorned with a blue arrow tattoo, he could tell by the Avatar's quaint expression that his smooth talking had just bought him some time to figure out just what in the hell Aang was talking about.

The true fear of trying was... success?

How?

In what world?

The last he had heard, the last life had taught him, how he had been raised all throughout his short yet noble life, success was the manifestation of boundless trying, numerous attempts. The concept of being fearful of trying because it might—and should—lead to success was baffling.

More baffling than Katara still attempting to waterbend even at this late hour.

The sky was a twinkling landscape marked with stares and other wonders that seemed close enough to reach out for yet far enough to wish upon. Below that cosmic carpet, Toph had been the first to fall asleep, having crafted the most majestic castle along the shoreline, a castle with four bedrooms, one of which Appa occupied quite naturally, a built in jacuzzi, and this weird little effigy of Sokka that sat in the main hall that looked absolutely nothing like Sokka. The poor earthbender was knocked out, having been lulled into an early sleep by the sound of Katara relentlessly practicing a new waterbending maneuver.

Admittedly, the sight of Katara, free of her hair tie and bathed in the pale light of the moon on high, was an impressive one. Every one of her attempts at trying to combine twin ropes of water into one that would then split into four other tendrils was amazing, especially when she failed or lost focus and the water exploded into glistening sparkles so much like diamonds.

A few feet back, Sokka and Aang sat, previously in silence before the sound of Katara's enervated grunts and growls propelled them into subdued speech. Conversation that was by no means important or worth repeating, just something to break up the tension while occasionally yelling out an encouraging word or two.

An hour ago, Sokka had suggested calling it a night—"We're gonna need our strength for tomorrow, it's the biiiiig move, and we don't wanna take forever getting to Ba Sing Se and"—but after Katara whipped a lance of water at him, both he and Aang summarily decided that Ba Sing Se could probably wait another day or two.

It was part of the Earth Kingdom, after all; it wasn't going anywhere.

"Being taught by Master Pakku really lit a fire under her," Aang continued softly, observing the delicate yet fierce way Katara's arms flowed through every stance she stepped into. It was almost like witnessing a performance, one in its infantile stages to be sure, but the promise of something great was there, shining underneath all the sweat and failure.

Shifting somewhat on the boulder Aang had brought forth for them to use as a chair of sorts, Sokka scratched at his nose. To say Aang's words were an understatement would also, in itself, be an understatement; his sister might as well have turned into a firebender for all the flames he could see flickering just beyond those normally docile pupils of hers. There was unmistakable drive there, a hereto unforeseen degree of determination that was on full display tonight as they watched Katara step and shift and pivot, upsetting the ocean before them into a frothing, bubbling mass.

To tell her to stop now would be tantamount to ending his own life, he felt that much was certain.

Of course, Sokka knew he was stronger than his younger sister—everyone knew it, as a matter of fact—but even he knew better than to disturb her when she was focused.

"She wants to be better than the best waterbender," Sokka responded in a drone, legs drawn up and elbows to his knees. He swished a pine needle between his lips. "What's that got to do with what we were talking about, though?"

"How many times do you think she's gonna fail on the road to being a waterbending master?" For the first time in a long while, Aang adverted his gaze away from Katara's intricate dance and observed the sky. Despite the sparkling darkness above, it was a truly humid night, perfect for stargazing. "Becoming a master isn't something that comes in the span of days... or months... or even years. The title comes with decades of practice, combining wisdom and technique and power..." Something tight settled into his eyes, furrowing his brow. "How many failures is that?"

"How many...? Uhh..." Sokka glanced at his hands, flaring his fingers several times before his head started to hurt and he gave up with an exasperated shrug. "I... Aang, I don't know, probably a lot... a bunch of a lots, why?"

"Because..." Aang gripped himself by the shoulder, squeezing under his knuckles cracked. "Failing is... it's pretty easy."

"You're kidding." Sokka looked affronted and leaned in closer. "How is failing easier?"

"It really is, especially when it's something like this," and Aang indicated toward Katara, who was picking herself up off the sandy shore and brushing grit from her clothes for what seemed like the tenth time, "because nothing is for certain. When it comes to exploring new territory... learning something new... you don't know what you're doing, do you? There's no ingrained roadmap, it's not like you jump outta bed one day and you suddenly know every technique and every hand movement. It takes time."

On the verge of arguing, Sokka lowered the finger he had lifted and instead placed it on his temple. That... made sense. A little. After all, he was a bonafide master with his throwing hatchet—able to knock whatever food Momo had stolen from him right out of those greedy little paws—but as awe-inspiring as his talent was, Aang had a point. It took a lot of effort, many tosses, many fails, many lumps on the backs of the heads of the people from his village...

"Okay, I get that," Sokka started slowly, lifting that finger once more and prodding Aang in the cheek. "So... that's where success comes in! And there's no way that's a bad thing! It means you reached the goal you were striving f—GUH!"

A ball of concentrated water burst over Sokka's face and he flailed about, nearly toppling off the rock.

"Wh-what in the—"

Katara stood stock-still before them, leaning forward as though caught in a breeze and glaring out into the ocean just with one her arms aimed behind her, palm face-up and fingers joined together like that of a spear.

Scrunched up like he had been struck, too, Aang was wide-eyed, staring at the back of Katara's head.

"I need to concentrate," was all she ground out, through gritted teeth even, and neither Aang nor Sokka dared breathe until she had picked up her routine again, elegantly flicking her wrists and summoning great ribbons of water to her call.

"Your sister's pretty crazy, though," Aang whispered, lowly, behind his hand, and Sokka frantically nodded.

"You're telling me this like I wasn't raised with her," Sokka retorted under his breath, wringing out his sodden shirt. "Let's just keep it down, I don't wanna get lassoed into the sea..."

"Agreed."

The two waited for a few more tense moments, once more getting lost in the elegance that resonated from Katara's every move, before picking up their earlier conversation.

"When you fail, nothing really happens," Aang sighed, "except you get to learn. You get to learn from what caused you to fail... if you're lucky. You can take a misstep, a wrong chop, a mixed hand movement—you can take all of those things and smooth it out. Every fail is jagged until it's smoothed out with success."

"Exactly my point." Sokka spoke so lightly that his lips didn't move. "Success is easier because once you're there... you're there."

"Except... that's when everything changes, like when the fire nation attacked," Aang continued, almost as if Sokka hadn't spoken. "When you fail, okay, cool, you know what's going to come next. You're going to try again—"

Sokka nodded stoutly, wondering how much longer he would be able to take sitting on their borrowed boulder until his butt went completely numb.

"—but when you succeed, when you become that master? A whole list of new responsibilities open up like that"—Aang pantomimed snapping his fingers—"and nothing's the same."

Exhaling all the tension that came from anticipating Aang snapping his fingers out loud and suffering another strike from Katara, Sokka slouched forward, letting his arms dangle. "That's... but that's kinda how things go, isn't it?"

"I dunno. I think I'm figuring that out as we go," Aang admitted with a nervous grin. "I just know when you succeed, things can't be like how they were when you failed, can they? Like, look at Katara... she's failing pretty hard right now—"

"—please don't hear, please don't hear, please don't hear—"

"—but we know she's gonna make it. Course she is, she's Katara." It was barely noticeable, the soft smile that lifted the corners of Aangs mouth, but Sokka didn't miss it. "When she does, she's... there's gonna be expectations. With that knowledge and power, people are gonna wanna learn from you, they're gonna want you to teach, and lead, and—and help prosper. They're gonna come calling, near and far, everyday, looking for your services. That's... that's a lot to deal with, ain't it? More than just failing."

Beyond that smile, Sokka could see the trepidation settling into Aang's stare.

"It's just... when you fail, nobody expects nothing, you can keep on going like you were, semi-sorta free? The moment you succeed, though... you can't go back. You can't unlearn what you've mastered, you've got to... your road changes and you gotta walk it."

The night air was powerfully refreshing, and more than a little chilling while Sokka sat there in damp clothes. He stared out at his sister, silently observing... tracing her every step to memory. "I can see that," he said, pulling the pine needle from between his lips. "Yeah, I can see why that would be kinda..."

"Scary," Aang supplied hoarsely, bringing his own legs up and wrapping his arms around them. "I don't fear failure, Sokka. I fear success. I fear making it exactly where I need to be... and not being enough to stay there."

Of all the fears Sokka struggled with, known and unknown, a fear of success had never been one of them.

Until this very moment.

The grating splashes that signaled another failure on Katara's part were growing noticeably infrequent. If Sokka was developing a chill then Katara, weighed down by her waterlogged garments, had to be downright frozen, but she didn't drop her arms, she didn't relax her fingers or allow her aching legs to fold. Every breath she drew in was ragged and every exhale came out as a puff of visible air; she blinked like she had a tick, paying no mind to the streaks of sweat curving down her face, dripping off her chin; she paid no mind to the roaring fatigue settling into each of her limbs, invading her thought process, begging her to give in, to try again tomorrow—

"We're not a species meant to bask in failure," Sokka said, sporting a grin when Katara lifted her trembling arms up high, "that's not our style, it's not in our nature, Aang."

Growing wide-eyed, Aang watched as Katara flexed her fingers, once more drawing a great swell of water to her command before sharply shifting her body, bending it with her.

"Failure is... well, you're right. It is easy," Sokka admitted, feeling anticipation twist at his insides, knotting tighter and tighter as the rivulets of water under his sister's control shivered and twirled. "Which is why we can't settle there. We have to strive for success and all the terrifying new roads that it opens up for us... 'cause those roads will open up new roads for others who will go on to open even more roads. And yeah, success might lead to new opportunities to mess up, that's the cycle, ain't it? At least one thing's for certain..."

He suddenly threw an arm over Aang's shoulder the moment before Katara slammed a foot down, flexed her fingers, and made an intense tearing motion, one that caused the giant water whip overhead to lash apart into a flurry of thrashing tendrils.

"You won't be alone, Aang. We're gonna fail together and succeed together. A lot."

Almost immediately after its birth, the wild creation lost its form and fell apart into a torrent of water that splashed back to the sea. "YEEEESSSS!" A prideful cry left Katara in the same instant feeling left her knees and she hit the ground. But she didn't fall over. She refused.

"I DID IT! I REALLY, REALLY DID IT!" Face smeared with sweat and grime, Katara whirled around on her knees to the boys behind her and somehow, despite having no energy left, managed to punch the air with a tightly coiled fist. "Did you guys see that? I DID IT!"

"She did it!" Sokka cried, latching onto Aang. "Oh thank God, she did it! Now we can finally go to sleep!"

"Congratulations, Katara!" Aang yelled, thoroughly impressed while trying to shove a weeping Sokka off, and he would have showered the beaming waterbender with more well-earned praise if the boulder the two of them sat on hadn't suddenly been violently snatched out from underneath them.

As Sokka and Aang collided with the unyielding sand, Toph poked her head out the front of her sand castle, groggily rubbing sleep from her eye. "HEY! It's way-too-late-for-this-mess o'clock! Shuddup and go to bed!"

"Th-that chick has some serious anger issues," Sokka groaned, trying to untangle his limbs from Aang.

Katara just giggled tiredly, "I'll agree with you there...," then she fell out.

The End

#avatar #aang #katara #sokka #toph #success #don't give up

3 notes · View notes

zi-i-think · 4 years

Text

12 | The Universe has Other Plans

Pairing: Zuko x Ama (OC)

Word Count: 6200+

.☽☼☾.

~ Ama ☾ ~

The bachelorette party came way too quickly. Katara happily agreed to letting Suh join us. Something about how I've made her feel uncomfortable, and that she needs to feel safer with us girls. Oh if only she knew that Suh wasn't here to stay.

By midday, everyone stood at the village entrance to bid farewell to the groomsmen. The walls of ice were curved around the town and there was a large archway with the Water Tribe symbol carved at the top as the entrance.

"Have fun, you guys." Katara told all the men, stealing a hug from her fiance.

"Oh we'll have lots of fun!" Sokka exclaimed with excitement. "Booze, strippers and parting is what I've been waiting for." Suki playfully smacked Sokka's chest.

Aang tilted and shook his head. "Sokka, that's not what's happening."

"What!" Sokka gave Aang a disappointed look and then looked over at Zuko. "What kind of bachelor party did you plan?"

Zuko looked a little uncomfortable with the sudden question. "He planned the kind of bachelor party I asked for." Aang responded for him.

"Sokka will you act civil for once in your life?" Katara reprimanded her brother with her hand on her hip.

"The answer is very simple. No." Sokka grinned just to taunt our sister. I chuckled at them while Katara sighed in disappointment.

"Alright, well I think we should go if we want to make it Milu Island before sundown." Aang interjected the bickering. "Bye, sweetie." He leaned down to give Katara a chaste kiss.

Suh skipped to Zuko, wrapping her arms around his neck to give him a hug, he in turn wrapped his arms around her waist. He and I shared a quick look. Reminding me that I had to keep a close eye on the suspicious girl.

After all the short goodbyes, the four men climbed up Appa to go to the small Earth Kingdom island. "There's still gonna be booze though, right?" Sokka wondered as he climbed over the saddle's side.

"Alright, miss maid of honor," Toph started to ask, drawing the attention to me. "What do you have planned for us?"

"Well, as per Katara's request. We don't have strippers." I turned to my sister, seeing her shake her head at me.

"Wow, you and Aang really are meant to be." Toph quipped.

"What is it with you all and strippers?" Katara wondered loudly. Her expression was genuinely confused and she looked a little concerned. "Don't you all think it's a bit degrading?"

"Course not." I shook my head and warped an arm around Katara's shoulders. "They're wonderful people. I spent some time with a small group a few years back. A lot of them enjoy what they do and get paid well. I learned a few moves, too. If you want sis, I can teach you for your honeymoon."

My sister immediately turned red and shoved me off her. "Ama!" The girls and I laughed at her reaction. "Can we just get to the bachelorette party! Please!"

"As you wish, princess." I teased her. "First stop is the spa." I announced, leading the group of girls through the town and towards the beginning of what would be an insane night.

.☽☼☾.

After spending a couple hours at the spa, we headed back to the palace. I had some of the maids decorate the living room so that it would look more like an actual party than some boring hang out.

There was blue and yellow confetti on the tables, where there were some snacks like seal jerky and kale cookies placed on top. The couches and the floors were covered in blankets, because I doubt any of them will make it to the bedrooms. And my favorite touch to the setting. An ice sculpture of shirtless Aang, posing with his air-staff.

Katara hated it at first, but quickly gave in to her own embarrassment. Blushing a deep red, but still taking the seats closest to it. I didn't find Katara's modest behavior annoying or weird. I knew that Katara just liked to keep some things private and I respect it. I just couldn't help but tease her and push her a little bit out of her comfort zone. I made sure that the sculpture was the only thing that was over the top.

The girls were chatting for some time and eating the snacks set forth while I grabbed an activity. I made sure to keep an eye on Suh. Currently, she was talking to Suki. And I noticed her glance out the window.

"All right ladies, we have one game to play before you all black out and I have to keep you all from puking all over the place. Grab a drink and take a seat." I announced, handing Katara a glass of hard wine. I gave the others a moment to get settled in their seat before explaining what was happening.

"So, this will be more on the bride-to-be than anyone else." I started. "Basically, I asked Aang a series of questions, but Katara doesn't know what he answered. So I'm going to ask the questions and if she answers the same as he did, you all take a sip from your drinks. But if she doesn't, she has to take a sip."

"Ha!" Katara laughed confidently. "Aang and I know everything about each other. I don't think this game will get me to drink a lot."

"We shall see dear sister." I cocked one of my eyebrows and unfolded the paper with the list of questions and Aang's responses. "First up. Who's the better kisser."

"Easy. Me." Katara gave her self-assured answer.

I shook my head. "Apparently your fiance believes that he's the better kisser."

Katara scoffed and shook her head as the girls giggled. "That doesn't sound like Aang. Are you sure that's what he answered?"

"Positive." I nodded. Katara sighed, but still took a sip from her glass. Her face cringed a bit at the strong alcohol.

"Looks like you two don't know each other as well as you guys thought." Suki teased.

"Oh please, it was one question." Katara pointed out, still being confident about how she'd answer. "Next question."

Holding up the paper again, I looked at the next thing on the list. "Who said "I love you" first?"

Katara smiled lightly, taking a moment to think back. "He did."

"Correct-a-mundo." I nodded and turned to the girls. "Ladies take a sip."

"Katara better get most of these right cause I'm trying to get wasted tonight." Toph commented before grabbing her glass.

"Me too." Mai, surprisingly agreed. She was usually a light drinker, but I guess this was the one exception.

I chuckled at them and took a quick look at Suh. Noting that she was hesitant to drink and glanced out the window. Perhaps Zuko and I were right. Maybe she was anxious because she was supposed to be meeting the others tonight, but was here instead.

The night proceeded. I made sure to keep Suh in my line of sight. She avoided me for the entire night, which I was glad about. Instead she was speaking with Ty Lee, who was just a bit more chipper than usual with the alcohol in her system.

Suki and Toph were both talking with Katara. The bride-to-be was the most out of it compared to everyone else, followed by Suki and Ty Lee. Toph was the furthest from a lightweight, her words slurred a bit but for the most of it, she could hold herself up. Suh had barely drank anything since the end of the drinking game earlier.

Mai was slouched across the sofa and I sat on the floor beside her. I had to be completely sober to be able to properly manage everything. And Mai, despite being a bit tipsy, could still hold a decent conversation. The alcohol made her more giggly than talkative, which I admit was a bit weird.

"Ama, are you even listening to me?" She frowned with a whine.

My head snapped to look up at her. She held her head up with her hand and looked at me with confusion. "I'm sorry, what?"

"I was talking about how Kei Lo's mom absolutely hates me." She stated and glanced over to where I was just looking. "You've been looking over at Suh a lot tonight. You really are jealous."

"Am not." I rolled my eyes. Here we go again.

Mai repositioned herself to lay on her stomach and rest her chin on her hands. "Ama literally one week ago, you and Zuko were cuddling up on the couch. No one asked what happened that night, but-"

"We told you all, we were reading and just fell asleep." I interrupted to remind her.

"Okay." She huffed an unbelieving laugh. "You're just lucky Suh wasn't the one who found you guys like that. I don't think I'd be able to handle another one of her screeching rants." Mai rolled her eyes and sipped her wine. "I really don't want to deal with her. As a Zuko’s advisor I’m bound to run into her at least once a week."

I wanted to tell her that she wouldn't have to worry about that because Suh was a fake. But then again, while Zuko and I were almost positive of it, it was just a conspiracy. "Good luck." I told her instead, getting her to chuckle.

Loud shrieks caught our attention. I was almost ready to get into a fighting position, but it was just Suki and Katara. Their arms were wrapped over each other's shoulders and their glasses were held high up in the air as they sang loudly.

"Horror, let's talk about the horror!" They sang incredible out of tune. Toph sat beside them with her hands covering her ears. "I'm the melancholy one! I live my life as if I'm yearning!"

Mai and I laughed loudly at them. Katara and Suki couldn't even finish the song because their giggling kept getting in the way. Katara set her glass of wine down and doubled over in laughter. Lucking they were sitting on the floor.

I shook my head at her and grabbed my glass of water to have a sip. Until a large crash interrupted everyone's good spirits. The large living room window was crashed into by two large men completely dressed in black and ski-masks covered their face and hair.

I jumped up immediately, so did Toph and Mai, ready to fight. Suh scurried away, pulling the drunk Ty Lee with her. Toph stood in front of Suki and Katara protectively. The two girls were trying to get off the ground, but they had way too much wine and their stances were off. I found it ironic that the two girls who made it the most clear that they wanted to be drunk were the two most sober to fight off the intruders.

The men rolled on the floor and stood up. They used earthbending to pull up chunks of the stone floor up and throwing them at us. Toph, protected herself and the two girls behind her by creating a wall out of the stone floor. Mai and I dodged the chunk thrown at us. Each of us in different directions.

Mai being the prepared person she was, had her knives with. So while dodging the chunk of stone, she threw the knives at our attacker. It barely grazed his arm, cutting through the black fabric.

I was jumping in the direction of Katara and Suki. "Get behind the couch!" I ordered them.

"No, we can help." Katara claimed. But based on her slurred words and her weak waterbending beside her, I knew she was way too intoxicated.

"Get behind the couch!" I repeated, more violently and authoritatively. I'd be damned if I allowed her to fight in the state she was in. She could barely stand correctly and she wanted to fight?! She'd get hurt.

With a frown, Katara and Suki scurried behind the couch. I bent the water that Katara just had and held it by my side. I scanned the room for Ty Lee and Suh. But they were nowhere to be seen. They must have already hid somewhere.

Bending the water, I used it to create a chunk of ice and threw them at Mai's opponent. He had his attention on Mai, throwing stone after stone at her while she gracefully dodged each of them. He didn't see the large ball of ice and it crashed into his side and threw him on the ground.

Toph slammed her foot into the ground and the stone floor shot up, engulfing her attacker. He was unable to move, thus unable to bend. I took her example and bent my water to engulf Mai and I's attacker completely in ice.

"Too easy." Toph said cockily.

"It was way too easy." I grumbled skeptically as I walked to one of the glaring men.

Toph went over to the other with her arms crossed. "They over estimated themselves, obviously. A bunch of intoxicated girls in one place alone." Her hands rested on her knees while she bent down to one of them. "We just need to know why they did it."

I sighed, but supposed she was right. At the same time, Toph and I removed their face covering. My breath hitched when I pulled the mask off. I knew this man. He had light brown hair, a wrinkled forehead, despite not being middle aged yet, brown eyes and an unmistakable deep scar that ran across his face.

I felt like I couldn't move. He just looked up at me with a knowing smirk. He recognised me. He was getting joy from seeing me after he hurt me in the most painful way possible.

"Ama!" Katara's voice shouted fearfully. My head snapped around. My eyes widened even more when seeing Katara being held by none other than Azula. She stood behind my sister with one arm around her neck and blue fire in her other hand.

"You know, you should really invest in some better guards." Her venomous voice said while Katara desperately tried to remove Azula's arm. But the firebender only tightened her arm, choking my sister lightly.

"Let her go, Azula." I demanded with a glare. I wasn't completely sure what the connection was between Azula and the earthbenders that just attacked. I just knew that Azula had my sister in a vulnerable state.

The woman snickered at me. "You saying that has no effect on what I choose to do."

"And what if I caved your face in with a boulder." Toph growled, bending a large piece of stone beside her.

"But you won't." Azula confidently smirked. "Cause I have the Avatar's finance in one hand, and a fire in the other. And it's getting dangerously close to her face." The fire only got closer to Katara's cheek. "What do you say? Should I give her and Zuzu a matching scar?"

"Stop!" I ordered, but it came out more like a beg.

Azula looked at me with the most menacing smirk on her red painted lips. "Drop your weapons and stop your bending. And free my friends." She told us. Mai, Toph and I all shared the same questioning look, before dropping our knives, water and stone as well as freeing the two demons. "Thank you. I'm just here to talk." Azula said, moving the fire away from Katara's face, but keeping it ablaze.

"Is that why you sent two guys to attack us and now have my sister?" I snarled the question.

"When was I ever one for a less than dramatic entrance?" She pointed out arrogantly. "I'm just a little offended that I wasn't invited to the wedding. After all, if it weren't for my threatening to capture you all, who knows if the bride and groom would even be in love today."

"Get on with it, Azula." Mai grumbled at her ex-bestfriend.

Azula sighed and shook her head. "Mai. So impatient. I'm just here to leave a warning. To Ama" I narrowed my eyes and tilted my head. "You remember when you chained me up all those years ago. You interrupted the Agni Kai between Zuko and I. That was cheating."

"You lost that Agni Kai when you aimed for me. And I couldn't just let you hurt Zuko more than you already did." I clenched my jaw, wondering where she was going with this?

"This isn't about him. This is about you." She scoffed. "You beat me. Hurt my pride a bit, I'll admit. But no worries, cause I'm here to take it back."

"You're doing all this cause you got your feelings hurt?!" Toph shouted.

"Well it's not like I have anything better to do." She laughed. This absolute sociopath. "Look, this doesn't end here. I just need to give Ama a bit of insight about what I'm capable with. Remind her about what she still has to lose." Azula started to move around the couch and moved towards the broken window, dragging Katara with her. The two men also walked closer to the window. "Your little girlfriend was just the beginning."

Once that was said, Azula threw Katara on the ground and the three of them jumped out the window to escape. I skid over to my sister, holding her in my arms as she wept out of fear. Mai and Top ran to the window. Hoping to maybe take them on now that Katara was safe.

"They're gone." Toph announced with confusion.

"They're gone?" Suh's voice came in, peeking her head into the living room from the hallway. "Spirits, that was terrifying."

I was too concerned with Katara than to stress over Suh. Even though the annoying woman wasn't involved in this little fight, I was somehow even more convinced that she was involved with Azula.

"I'm going to kill her." I grumbled with my jaw clenched and my arms holding Katara tightly.

.☽☼☾.

The boys finally got back sometime during the afternoon the next day. After Azula left, the bachelorette party was essentially over. No way was anyone able to get back to that festive and joyous feeling.

Appa landed in the courtyard and Sokka jumped out first. "Suki, I wrote you a song!" He announced with a grin. But the atmosphere was gloomy and no one smiled with him.

Katara ran to Aang, engulfing him in a tight hug. "Sweetie, what happened?" He asked her with so much concern.

"Zu-bear!" Suh ran to Zuko and jumped on him for a hug. "It was so bad. Azula came in and..." She explained everything so rapidly.

Zuko looked over at me, but I was looking somewhere else completely. My jaw was clenched and I fiddled with my nails. My anger or nerves haven't calmed down at all since last night. I barely got sleep. And I still didn't completely understand what was happening.

I knew that Azula threatened my sister and basically just told me that she was behind Mulan's death. But also. I looked at the face of Mulan's killer. The man who took her from me. It was all too much too fast. I felt hurt and sad and angry and a thousand other emotions at once.

I refused to look at anyone and just headed back inside the palace. Tears threatening to spill from my eyes.

.☽☼☾.

The night sky was filled with bright stars. Being a waterbender, I've always been drawn to the nighttime more than the day. And since a child, I'd stare up at the night sky, keeping an eye out for constellations and finding patterns.

Mulan and I layed in a clearing together, our shoulders touching as we looked up. Her rough hand was intertwined with mine while my right hand was pointing up, showing her the constellations. "...and if you look there, you can see the twin badgermoles." My hand outlined the stars.

Mulan didn't say anything for a moment as she tried to find where I was pointing. "I don't see them." She shook her head and her eyes shined in bewilderment.

"Here." I said, I took my hand that was intertwined with hers and pointed up again. "It takes a moment, but focus more on the brighter stars."

"I think I see it." Her tone was unsure. I couldn't see her, but I was positive that she had one of her eyebrows cocked upwards and a lopsided grin on her face.

"You think or you know?" I giggled, letting our arms fall back beside us.

She giggled along with me and brought her hand up to her face. "I don't know. I think I see it but I also might be psyching myself out." I shook my head and moved to my side to wrap an arm around her waist, keeping my eyes up at the sky.

"Hey, Ama?" She started with a questioning tone. I hummed a 'what', allowing for her to ask her question. "What do you think about settling down soon?"

I moved off of her and rested my head in the palm of my hand. "What do you mean?" I wondered. I mean, I was sure she meant what I was thinking, which was stopping from fighting bandits all the time. But I didn't want to just assume.

Mulan moved into a more seated position to lean on her elbows and look at me. "Well not now, but maybe like next year or something. What if we moved on from this chapter of our lives. We could buy a house. I've always wanted a big one. Somewhere to house all the kids who've been kicked out by their parents."

I grinned widely at her. She was so pure I loved it. Despite wielding a blade and having a fighting personality, Mulan never killed. She always had hope for people and always looking out for the underdog. Specifically children. I wasn't surprised at her idea to house rejected kids. After all, at 13 her own parents kicked her out for her sexuality.

She looked down at me, seeing my loving gaze. Her cheeks flushed red and a nervous laugh escaped her lips. "What?" I shrugged, moving to sit next to her. "I think that's a great idea." I told her, looking into her green eyes. "Someplace by a lake or ocean, preferably."

"And fertile soil." She added, biting her bottom lip in a happy manner. "I want a garden. Or two. One for vegetables and one for flowers." If there was one trait she took from her hateful parents, it was her love for nature and plants. She knew more about them than anyone I'd ever met. Other than Ursa, that is.

"We can sell our harests for money." I added, already planning a way to earn money.

"Su Ga Village." She grinned. "It's out west, the beaches are so clear and blue, you'll love it."

"Sounds like a plan." I laughed excitedly.

"Really?" A soft exhale left her grinning lips.

I moved to sit on my knees and got closer to her. My hands cupped her cheeks and smiled contently. "Really." I finalized and leaned down, pressing a chaste and loving kiss on her lips. Mulan's hands cupped my cheeks as well, deepening the kiss.

She pulled away first, with the happiest smile. "So it's settled. One year from now, we're going to get the house."

"And we're settling down." I finished. Or so I thought.

"And I'll finally meeting your friends and family?" She gave me a hopeful shrug and pressed her lips into a thin line.

I took a moment to think. I loved Mulan so, so much. It was time I got over this fear of not being accepted, and introduced her to the other people that I loved. "Yeah." I nodded. "It's about time they knew about you."

She squealed excitedly, peppering kisses all over my face as I laughed. "We'll invite them to some sort of housewarming party! You can make your cookies and I'll do the lemonade! Oh, I hope they like me."

I chuckled at my girlfriend, pulling her face closer to me. "They're going to love you. You know how I know?"

"How?" She intertwined our hands together, leaning even more until our noses touched.

"Because I love you." I told her. "And if they don't I'm just going to have to freeze their bodies until they do."

She shook her head at me. Lightly pushing me back until my back was on the grass floor and she was on top. Our hands were still intertwined. "I love you." She said softly, kissing me passionately. I responded blissfully. Slowly, her lips started to go down my neck and I moved my head back to give her more access.

But a loud crash interrupted our moment. Mulan jumped off me and I sat up. We exchanged the same concerned look. It sounded like a small scale rock avalanche, which was already concerning as is because we were at a mountain side. But what made it even more terrifying was that it came from the campsite. Where everyone else was.

The two of us jumped up and sprinted to the campsite. We were both incredibly shocked to find the scene. We were idiots to pick a place by a cliff. The entire side of it had collapsed, burying out entire site in it's gray rock and yellow-brown dirt.

I sucked in a sharp breath and started to look around for any sign of the rest of the Miraculous Bastards. "Masha!?" Mulan shouted. Getting no response. "Bono!? Taon!?" I ran to the rubble, digging though the rock and dirt.

They can't be gone. They can't. I'd never have another taste of Masha's meals. Bono would never share his poetry with me. Taon and I wouldn't go on another adventure. They still had lives to live. Masha and Taon were going to get married!

I breathed heavily, ignoring the light jabs from the small rocks. Mulan skidded next to me, digging through the rock and dirt with me. She already had tears streaming down her face. They were her family. She knew them since her teen years. They were outcasts together.

Neither of us saw it coming. A rock about the size of my head was hurdled at us. Luckily, it didn't hit either of us. We jolted our heads up, seeing two men standing at the top of the fallen rock. Both were quite buff. One had light brown hair while the other pitch black hair.

They had disgusting grimances on their faces while they bent more chunks of earth by their side, throwing them towards us. Mulan and I had to jump away from the rubble to avoid the rock.

The men jumped down towards us, each landed a few feat away from us. I opened my waterskin, bending the water out and created ice bullets from it. One by one, I shot them at one of the men while Mulan had her katanas out and fought the one with light hair.

The man I fought with shot columns of earth out at me, but I dodged each of them. My feet stepped lightly from one place to another in a spinning motion as I maneuvered through the moving rock and towards the attacker. Once I got close enough, I created ice claws around my fingers and threw them at the man. They stuck into his bicep and he cried out in pain.

I sprinted even faster. The man used his good arm to create a wall of earth between us. I almost crashed into it, but stopped just inches away. I grumbled in anger and used a jet of water to push myself off the ground and over the wall. Jumping down the wall, I used the jet of water and forced it onto the man.

He didn't see it coming and it pushed him back. He fell on the ground and I created an ice sword, pointed it over him. "Where are my friends?!" I demanded to know, refusing to believe that they were dead. The man clenched his jaw, looking at me at me like I already knew.

A screech caught my attention. Mulan. She was in trouble. I immediately abandoned the man there and ran in the direction of the cry. Using a water jet to push myself over the wall I ran to the scene.

Mulan was stuck in between the ground and a boulder pressing on her. The earthbender had a satisfied smirk on his face as he saw her struggling against the rock. He saw me running over and in the last moment before I could waterbend at him, he raised the rock a few feet above the air and then let it fall.

It seemed to be in slow motion. Mulan let out a blood curdling cry while the boulder fell through the air. I made an attempt to save her, sending a forceful push of water, turning into ice at the ends to push the rock away. But it was too late. It crushed her, hitting her chest and gut more than anything else.

I let out a horrifying shout at the impact while Mulan's voice stopped. In anger, I turned to the man who just crushed her. Light beads of sweat dripped down his face and a pleasurable smile was on his face. I used up all of the water from my waterskin, but there were still the trees.

I focused on bending the water out of the trees, and the bark and wood broke off, killing the piece of life. I sent ice spears at the man. His smile went away real quick and he jumped back. And I sent more spears while he jumped back more and more until he tripped over a tree root and fell.

"A-ama..." A weak voice called for me. I immediately stopped my bending, but kept my arms out. This was my chance to get back at him. Bu Mulan needed me more.

I glanced at the man. "Run." I growled at him. And he did. He scurried up from the floor and ran away.

I sprinted over the Mulan.The boulder still pressed on her. I bent the water from the ice spears towards me and turned them back into ice under the boulder. I created it like a ramp and the giant rock rolled off of her. I immediately turned the ice back into water and let it float beside me.

I knelt down to my girlfriend and pulled her weak body onto my lap. "Hold on, okay." I held the tears in. I bent my water over her chest and it glowed over her while I tried to heal her. But even I, a moderate healer, could feel that there was so much damage in her chest. "Hold on."

"Ama." Her voice was raspy and choked up. I looked from her chest to her face. There were cuts and bruises on her once rosy cheeks. Scarlett blood dripped slowly out of her mouth. Her rough, bloody hand reached for my wrist, removing it from her chest and pulling it instead to her cheek. "It's okay." She assured me with a weak smile.

"No. No." I shook my head and tears already spilled from my eyes. My thumb lightly wiped across her cheek to make her feel safe with my touch. "We have a plan. We need to get that house. The kids, they need us. And your garden."

She gave me a tiny smile, her green eyes looked at each of my features as she took me in one last time. "Maybe in my next life." She told me. Her hand that held mine on her cheek got noticeably weaker. "Ama, I love you."

I tried to speak. I tried to tell her that I loved her too. But instead I was choked up and a sob escaped my lips instead. Mulan dragged my hand to her lips and placed a soft kiss on my palm. I shook my head. I couldn't let her leave me. We just planned our future. "I love you, too." I finally choked out.

The redhead smiled that lovely smile, her teeth shining and everything. And then her hand spilled off of mine and her body went limp. I held her in my arms as her soul left her body. "No!" I sobbed. My heart broke right then and there. I hunched over and cradled her into me.

I shook my head. My tears were making my hair stick to my cheeks. All I could think was that this couldn't be real. The woman I loved couldn't have just died in my arms. But she did.

I wept for what felt like hours. Finally, I set her body down on the ground. Her eyes were still open. The once bright green eyes were now dull and painful to look at. Another sob forced its way out. My hand covered my mouth as I reached over, closing her eyes.

This was all his fault. He killed her. Murdered her and then I had to watch the life leave her body. This wasn't fair. Everyone was gone. I was alone. But all I saw was red.

.☽☼☾.

It was only nights later. I spent my days tracking them. The two men responsible for my pain. My heart was broken and they were about to feel my pain in a different way.

They were sitting by a fire. Having casual conversation and drinking beer like they hadn't just murdered four people nights before. They were truly monsters. I clenched my jaw and my blood boiled at the sight.

I jumped out from behind the tree, a curved ice swords in my right hand. They both jumped up at my surprise attack, I kicked the dark haired man back. And my sword swung to the light haired man. I didn't realize how close I was to him, because my sword cut his face. It went from his forehead down to his opposite cheek, being deeper at the cheek. Really, it worked in my favor.

I breathed heavily in anger. The man touched his cheek, and looked at the blood on his fingers. "You bitch!" He growled and looked at me. His brown eyes glared at me, and I glared back.

"I'd rather be a bitch than a monster like you." I snarled. He and his friend both levitated chunks of rock to hurdle at me. I frowned and took in deep breaths, knowing that I had the upper hand.

Not only was it the middle of the night. But it was also a full moon.

I created two large walls into a triangular shape in front of me to shield me from the rock they threw at me. While being temporarily protected I got into my stance. And when I was ready, feeling the energy of the moon, I let go of the shield and they splashed into the ground.

I focused on the water into the men's blood. My eyes were closed, hands were out in front of my and my fingers straight. The grunts of pain from the men confirmed that I was indeed bloodbending. I opened my eyes, seeing them hovering over the ground with stiff bodies.

"You will pay." I said through gritted teeth. My left foot moved to step in front of my right and my hands went down, my fingers curling slightly to suffocate them lightly at first. I could only admit this to myself, but I enjoyed seeing them like this. Terrified expressions and slightly trembling. Completely at my mercy.

"Please." The dark haired one pleaded. "We can explain."

I shook my head. "I don't need an explanation. I need revenge." Venom spilled from my lips. They killed Bono. They took away the lives of Masha and Taon. They murdered Mulan.

I was about to do it. I was about to crush their disgusting bodies and rid the world of these horrid excuses for men. But I couldn't. I thought back to what I said just moments before. That I'd rather be a bitch than a monster. Would I be a monster if I killed them?

This technique itself was invented by a woman so unethical, that it's now illegal. But even Hama never killed anyone. Just imprisoned the citizens of the FIre Nation. Now I was planning to take someone's life with it.

They deserve it. My own voice told me. And they probably did. But Mulan wouldn't want me to.

I didn't realize that I was hyperventilating until I let go of the bloodbending. The stress on their bodies for so long made the men pass out the moment they hit the floor. I fell to my knees, more tears of grief and terror escaping my eyes.

.☽☼☾.

I hope there was enough angst. I haven’t written fanfic for like a year because of school, so I think I’m starting to get the hang of it again, but even before my writing was trash.

Hang loose, amigos 🤙🏼

#zuko x oc #zuko fanfic #avatar fanfiction #waterbender oc #zuko x waterbender oc #her sun his moon #zuko #fire lord zuko

4 notes · View notes