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♯ ❝ YOU ARE THE AVATAR. ❞
CHAPTER FOUR ✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
˚₊· ͟͟͞͞➳❥ ACT ONE ── water 🌊 ⁺⑅

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            EVEN THE WIND KNEW WHAT SHE WAS FEELING. KNEW THE SADNESS SHE WAS EXPERICEING AFTER FINDING OUT WHAT HAD HAPPENED TO HER HOME. AND JUST LIKE THE WIND BLOWING THROUGH THE VILLAGE, THE SNOW WAS ALSO FALLING DOWN, CARESSING HER CHEEKS IN TEARS.

             She sat up on top of one of the many huts away from everyone, her head resting on Aang's shoulder who refused to leave her side, even if she wanted to be alone. He knew she needed comfort, and they both gave it to each other.

            They huddled up together in silence staring out at the vast waters, not saying anything knowing it was better to leave the issue at hand alone. She released a shaky breath feeling the chill of the wind, and closed her eyes for a few seconds, trying to not think about what happened to their home.

               However, the sound of incoming footsteps crunching in the snow broke the pair out of their trance, and heard the familiar soft voice of Katara, "Are you two okay?"

          (Y/N) didn't bother to lift her head up from Aang's shoulder, but felt him shift a bit to probably look at the waterbender, "A hundred years. All our friends, everyone we know..." He trailed off, throat becoming tight as he stared at his quiet sister, grasping her hand in his tightly, "they're all gone."

              Katara frowned a bit at the pair, understanding very well what they were going through, "Um, I'm sorry. Believe me, I know how hard it is to lose the people you love." She vents through a soft exhale, causing the other girls head to slowly rise up now.

             The best friends shared a small look with each other, Aang nodding his head for (Y/N) to jump down first from the hut. She leaps off of it to use her bending, it swirling around to ease her fall from that height, and landed safely on the snow in front of Katara, Aang following next.

              "When I was little, I didn't really understand the war until the firebenders came." Katara starts to explain to the duo, all of them walking through the village now towards the front entrance, "They destroyed everything in their path. Everything. Everyone."

             Flashbacks of what happened that night appeared in Karata's mind, making her face shift into a sadder one and shakes her head to get rid of them. (Y/N) watched her closely now frowning guilty, feeling how it was eating her alive from not being here for the people who needed the Avatar the most.

            "Afterwards, our father set out with the other warriors, to hunt down the firebenders." The watertribe girl continued to tell the best friends, fingers brushing along her necklace, "That was three years ago, and we haven't seen him since. He had left Sokka in charge when he just turned 13."

              (Y/N) pursed her lips in thought, her interest peaked more hearing that information about Sokka, and gave Aang's hand a squeeze at how similar their ages were in the story, "I guess he had to grow up fast, huh?"

            Katara slows her walking down when they crossed the entrance to the village, her dark eyes meeting her (E/C) ones with a soft look, "We all did." She breathed out, moving her gaze to the ice in front, "We're never really ready until we have to be."

            The airbender best friends share another look with one another, hands letting go for a moment, as the girl lets Karata's words sink in, and stared at the frozen Fire Nation battleship stuck in the ice shards a few meters away from them.

           "They were part of the Fire Nation's first attack on the Water Tribe." Katara speaks up again seeing where she was looking, a disgusted and dreadful expression appearing on her face, "The firebenders were ruthless. Since then, the Fire Nation has conquered most of the world."

            (Y/N)'s head snapped up straight away hearing that last bit, digging her nails into her palms to try to calm herself down, knowing once again this was her fault. Her fault for not being here to stop the Fire Nation from attacking, because after all she was the Avatar now, and it was her duty.

            "But the waterbenders are still fighting back, especially in the North. And the Earth Kingdom is still holding strong." Katara's voice brought back the girl from her inner demons, and saw the slight smile across her lips, "We hope."

           Aang's hand found his sisters hand again, finding strength in her hold like usually, "We had friends in the Fire Nation." He tells Katara in a quiet voice, making (Y/N) sigh softly and squeeze his hand, "We used to visit them."

          "No one visit other nations now." Katara informs the two sadly, flashing them a strained smile and shrugs her shoulders making the benders frown, "We're only friends with our own kind."

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             THE TRIO VENTURED OUT TO THE FROZEN BATTLESHIP INSIDE OF THE ICE, PRIOR TO KATARA TELLING THEM ABOUT IT AND LEADING THE BEST FRIENDS THROUGH THE SNOW, WHERE THEIR FOOTSTEPS LEFT VERY OBVIOUS PRINTS.

              (Y/N) gaped in amazement looking around the inside of the metal, her body spinning around in a circle to gaze at all of it. She's never seen something like this before, other then the stuff at the air temples, and it really made her curious to learn more.

           "No one comes here. It's quiet and hidden." Katara's voice echoes through the area they were in, causing the best friends to make their way over to her from looking around at the ship and all the ice shards stuck inside of it, most likely pierced by the environment.

             She takes off her blue gloves to drop them beside her, the water trickling when she lifted her hands up to the puddle of water in a hole in the floor. She flexes her fingers out a bit, as the water began to move, and ripple a little bit from her bending it.

        "You're a waterbender!" Aang cheered in excitement, his eye wide and beaming up at Katara, as he sends his older sister a grin that had her chucking fondly, and squeezing him against her side for a second in a hug.

             She sighed a bit annoyed, and let her hands drop down which made the water stop rippling too, "Barely. I'm trying to get better, but I'm the only waterbender left in the Southern Tribe." She explained, turning around to face them, "Sokka doesn't like it when I practice because he's worried that the Fire Nation will find out..."

           (Y/N) caught onto the trailing off in Katara's words, guilt and rage entering her heart once more feeling like she failed more people the she could ever realise. However, Aang didn't understand, and went to question innocently, "And what?"

            Katara shuffled in her spot, eyes flickering to the other girl who was staring at her sorrowful for some reason, which she didn't understand why yet, "There's a reason why I'm the only waterbender left in the village. They've killed all the others. Sokka just doesn't understand. I'm a warrior. I should be able to do more for our people."

            Aang gave a slight nudge to his best friend, gaining her attention from looking to the ground and thought. She saw him motioning to Katara, and she understand instantly, which made her sigh heavily, and go up beside her to help with the bending issue.

          "The monks told me bending is about energy and balance." (Y/N) starts off in a calmer voice, lifting up her hands to move them up and then down close to her stomach, "By feeling the energy around you, you can find balance."

           Katara watched the girl move gracefully with her movements, while Aang wore a proud grin across his lips, and crossed his arms over his chest, on the other side of the waterbending staring at the older girl.

            She moves her arms over body in a circle of sorts, bringing both her palms back down in front of her, "By finding balance, you can feel the energy." She finished off by twisting her body sideways, thrusting her left hand out in front while the other was behind and shot a blast of air to the snow on top of metal bucket, making a loud clang as the air blow it right off.

          Aang clapped his hands enthusiastically, bouncing right up to where the girl was bowing a bit from her use of bending, and grabbed on her arm giggling. She raised her brows at the younger boy, and playfully flicked his nose, making him sneeze a bit and for her to snicker that time.

           Katara on the other hand was feeling more confident than ever after watching the girl bend, and turned back to the water in the hole. She plants her boots into the ice more, raising her hands up which made a water bubble appear from out of the water, following the movement easily.

           The best friends stared at her bending the water perfectly in the air, wide smiles on their faces as she actually managed to keep the bubble together this time, "Nice!" The compliment in encouragement.

           "I wasn't even really trying." Katara chuckled breathily, even surprised herself that she managed to do this and keeps her hands moving around, so the water stayed up in the air above her open palms.

            (Y/N) nods her head with her smile changing into a softer one, feeling her own connection to the idea of waterbender, which she knew she would have to learn, "Good, that's good. Don't think, and you just have to let go. Then you're bending."

            Katara listened to the older girls words closely, before she turned around to face where they came in. That once happy expression dropped into one of horror, as she saw a very familiar Fire Nation battleship sailing through the waters, and quite literally let go of the grip she had on the bubble.

            The airbenders furrowed their brows in confusion at her sudden mode shift, sharing a quick look between each other before glancing back at the girls pale face, "Katara? What's wrong?" (Y/N) asked in concern, and stepped forward to place a hand on her shoulder.

            When she didn't get a proper answer back from Katara, she followed where the bender was looking out in the distance, and felt her stomach drop. Sailing right through the waters was the Fire Nation, and her worst nightmare of facing the enemy had came true.

            "Come on. We need to go back where its safe." Katara was the one to break the tense silence between them, the girl picking up her gloves and motioned for the other two to follow, "Quick, before they see us here."

            (Y/N) snapped out of her frozen state remembering who was here, and who she needed to protect. Her hand grabbed Aang's slightly trembling one in hers, and quickly followed behind Katara, as they all run back towards where the village gate was.

            Their fast paced running left more footprints in the snow, but that wasn't an issue they needed to worry about in the moment. The snow made loud crunching noises as they did run, and made it all the way back, entering the chaotic village where the gates closed behind them once they were inside.

            Every villager in the tribe was up and doing something to get pepered for the attack, as they had years to plan for another one, which they never expected to happen even if they were ready for one.

           "Sokka! Sokka, the Fire Nation. They're-" Katara called out to her older brother, running up to where he as as the best friends trailed close behind her, and found him in the middle of the chaos placing weapons down.

            "I know. We spotted them." Sokka interrupted his sister, not even sparing a glance at the girl behind his sister as he was focused on giving out orders, "Get to your posts now!" He demanded the warriors he was training, as they grabbed some of the weapons to use.

            One of the older warriors came up to Sokka quickly, a panicked look over his face as he breathes heavily, and carried a few more spears to use, "Sokka, the racks-"

       "Get them loaded." He talked over someone once more, giving the boy a strong nod which he got one back, and checked over the spears in his hand, before signalling for the boy to go off.

           (Y/N)'s eyes were frantically glancing around at the scene playing out, keeping Aang behind her a bit protectively as she lands on Sokka's handsome figure, watching Katara place his arm bands around his wrists. She wanted to help, but fighting wasn't what the monks, what her master taught her not to do unless nessery.

           "I don't understand. Why are they here?" Katara was rambling out questions to her older brother, whose jaw was tensing on edge a bit listening to her talk, "After all this time, what could they possibly want?"

        "Her."

           A sudden familiar voice talked in her knowledgeable voice, Kanna standing there as she points to (Y/N), who slowly turned around with wide eyes, "She's more than one of the last airbenders. Aren't you? You are the Avatar."

          Her (E/C) eyes flutter a bit closed for a few seconds, breathing heavily realising her secret was now out for them to know. She opened her eyes back up feeling Aang grip her arm tighter, and felt the siblings gazes burning into her skull.

           "(Y/N)? That's not true, is it?" Katara spoke in a unsure tone, a pleading undertone behind it as she took a step forward, looking at the airbender duo for answers. There was no way she was the Avatar, the one whom left the world behind when it needed her the most. She was too kind for that.

           But when she didn't give a verbal response, and pulled her wobbly bottom lip in between her teeth nervously, Katara already had her answer, and it made her eyes go wide in shock. Where as Sokka had a complete different reaction to his sister.

           "I knew they, she was hiding something." Sokka's tone turned into a harsh way, his dark eyes glaring into her glistering ones, as he took his anger out on her, "When the world needed the Avatar the most, she vanished because she's a coward. She ran, and people died!"

          (Y/N)'s face twisted up into a pained one hearing his words, head dropping a bit in shame knowing it was true, but she also knew it wasn't angry at her, but at what had happened all those years ago. Still she could feel her heat being turn into pieces because of it.

          "Hey! You no nothing of what happened to us, to her-!" Aang went to step forward to defend his sister, a scowl across his face staring up at the fuming figure of Sokka, but (Y/N) just gently grab Aang's hand and shakes her head.

          "It's okay, Aang." Her voice was soft, but it held no emotion behind it as she pulls her brother back beside her, giving him a weak smile to calm him down, "I mean, he's not wrong."

          Sokka's once sneering expression softens just a bit realizing he yelled at her without hearing her side of the story, and sighed heavily through his nose. He would apologise to her later, but right now they needed to focus on protecting the tribe.

           The same warrior from before came running back up to the group, and grabbed leader by the shoulder, "Sokka, they've landed." His tone was serious, but his eyes held a frantic emotion to which Sokka nodded his head in understanding.

            When he ran back away to where his station was, Sokka turned to his younger sister, "You need to go hide." He ordered of her, but she went to protest and he quickly shut that down with a firmer tone, "Katara, now."

            Her shoulders slumped in defeat but agreed silently, and watched her brother leave with some more warrior waiting for him. She turned to the best friends standing behind her, and took their shoulders gently, "Come on. We need to get somewhere safe."

           They were lead into the main hut again where all the elders, and young children were hiding out from the enemy. (Y/N) kept a tight grip on Aang's hand, not wanting to lose him in the chaos around them, as Katara ushered inside of the warmer hut.

           Some of the elders looked up at the new arrivals inside the hut, a few of them offering kind smiles and look where's the others just went back to what they were doing. The best friends stand in the middle of the room, both holding onto their glider staffs and each other.

          The doors opened up again a few minutes later, and Sokka's figure walked through the door. His dark eyes instantly meet (Y/N)'s ones across the room, making her perk up a bit seeing him still safe and actually wanting to look at her.

           His jaw clenched a bit before walking over to where his jaw blade was on display, and took it off the hanger it was placed on. And without looking back to her, and anyone else, the male walked back out of the hut like nothing happened.

           The front gate creaked as he opened it up, and slowly walked out into view, where Prince Zuko was standing, followed by his army behind him all dressed in armor for a fight if necessary.

          "I am Sokka. Son of Hakoda. Lord of, uh, Snow and Ice." He fumbled to make a impressive introduction, walking out a bit to meet the Prince in the middle a bit as he held his blade in his right hand, "On behalf of the Water Tribe Village of Wolf Cove, I demand that you leave immediately!"

           Through the small gaps in the closed gate shutting the rest of the tribe off, (Y/N), Aang, and Katara were watching the scene play out closely, waiting to see what was going to happen and if any of the benders needed to step in and help Sokka out.

           "If this is the path you've chosen, then so be it." Zuko's raspy voice grunts out, before turning around away from Sokka as his chosen soldiers make a battle sound, and get into formation to attack the tribe.

          However Sokka wasn't going to let that happen, and was quick to call out a taunt to Zuko, "Let's settle this between us! Leader to leader. You really need an army?" He twirls around his weapon in hand, just as the Prince turns back around interested, "I thought you firebenders has some guts."

           Zuko ignored the comments from one of his soldiers about how he shouldn't waste his time, and instead smirked smugly at Sokka, "I accept." He agrees before twisting his body, and shot a blast of fire at Sokka, who grunted and rolled out of the way just in time.

            He tried to get back up but had to dodge again, as Zuko was kicking more firebending at him. Sokka got back up to swing his weapon at him, but was met with a blast to the face by the Princes' fire. This made a scared gasp leave (Y/N)'s lips at his figure falling down onto the snow, and gripped the gate more in her hand.

            Zuko took this chance to use his bending against Sokka, and he rolled out of the way once more, continuing on dodging each attack until he manged to get up from the floor. This went on for a little bit longer, dodging and trying to attack, until Sokka tried to make a run for it back towards the gate.

           That was a bad idea since Zuko just fired his bending towards where he was running, and it caused the entire gate to break and erupt into flames, which created a large explosion. (Y/N) protected Aang and Katara with her own bending, keeping them covered behind the wall, but felt her stomach drop seeing what trouble Sokka was in.

           His injured figure was on the ground, face having black ash on it from the fire as he pants heavily, and tried to get back up. But Zuko wouldn't let him, and stood behind him with a sneer, "Who needs an army now?"

          Just as Zuko goes to make his bending appear in his palm again, and deliver the final blow, something or rather someone sent a large gust of air towards them all. It knocked most of the soldiers back, including Zuko who landed on his butt.

           He removed his arm covering his face to see who was responsible, and his eyes widen in shock seeing who was standing there now. (Y/N) was stood protectively in front of where Sokka once was, staff behind her back and arm outstretched in a defense position, expression set in a glare.

         "Don't touch him!" She yelled in a raged filled voice, her glare set on the gaping Prince on the floor and the soldiers now getting back up to attack her, as she was the new threat.

           Sokka's heart was pounding inside his chest, whether it was from the fight beforehand or her saving him, he really didn't know. But either way, he couldn't remove his in awe gaze from her powerful figure standing in front of him.

           The warriors all yelled as they charged forward to attack her, and when (Y/N) knew her friends were all safe, she used her bending to backwards leap over the enemies through the air, just as they passed under her. She easily landed on the other side of them, twisting her body around with her staff and sent another large air slice towards the warriors, knocking them all down in one go.

           "Can't be." Zuko muttered to himself watching the girl fight, seeing her airbender tattoos and the clothes she wore on her body. His face shifted from its amazed one, to a scowling one as he span himself back up, and grunted as he sent more blasts of fire at the girl.

          She had no time to fan girl over the knew attractive male, as she had to deflect each blast of fire away, using her staff to help her do just that. He sent a larger amount of his bending, as she sent one back and their powers met in the middle, creating a massive explosion that shot up into the sky from her air barrier.

          By the time the large amount of smoke and air disappeared, (Y/N) realised she was quickly surrounded by the warriors, and backed up a bit still in a defensive position. She could tell Aang wanted to help through their bond, but she already told him to stay hidden with Katara. It would be better that way.

          She tried to look for an opening but there was none her eyes could spot, and gulped nervously as her outstretched palm trembles the slightest, but her brave face didn't waver for a second, even seeing the handsome face of the Prince.

         Suddenly a rock was thrown at one of the warriors, who let out a pained grunt, and more were thrown at the enemies after that. The children of the tribe were now fighting, as they fired spears and used rocks to hit the firebenders away from the girl and their home. Sokka never looked so proud of what they were doing.

         "Enough games. Burn this whole place to the ground." Zuko sneered through his teeth, stepping forward from his spot with his army and narrowed his eyes down on (Y/N), as they got ready to use their firebending on the village.

❪ ✏️ ❫ 𝚆𝙾𝚁𝙳𝚂 : 4024
─►☆ AUTHOR'S NOTE :
ZUKO'S HEREEE YAYYY!!! bit of a longer chap for you all to read and hopefully enjoy!! also im so sorry for the cliffhanger guys omfg i don't normally do that but if i kept going, the word count would be higher then it already is LMFAOA😭 but that's okay cause the next update will be out soon🥳🥳

please don't be ghost/silent readers baesss i really love seeing and reading your comments,
it makes my day and helps me
with motivation <33