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milkywinnie · 4 years

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"𝐈𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧" || Prince Zuko

𝟎𝟏 | 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 (4,213 Words)

"Yay! Aang's back!" The children cheered as Sokka turned his feisty glare off of your figure, and onto Aang's instead. "I knew it! You two signaled the Fire Navy with that flare! You're leading them straight to us, aren't you?" Sokka raised his voice, walking towards Aang with his boomerang in hand.

"Sokka, listen, these accusations aren't gonna get us anywhere." You tried to reason with the hot-headed male, but he wasn't having any of it. "These two didn't do anything. It was an accident!" Katara stated, defending the both of you. "Yeah, we were on the ship and there was this booby trap and well..." Aang trailed on, trying to find the best way to explain his case.

"...We "boobied" right into it." He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing his clothed arm. "Katara, you shouldn't have gone on that ship. Now we could all be in danger!" Gran Gran scolded Katara in disappointment. "Don't blame Katara! I brought her there," Aang admitted in a quiet voice. "It's my fault..."

"Aha! The traitor confesses! Warriors, away from the enemy!" Sokka cackles with pride, directing the children towards Aang. "The foreigner is banned from our village!" You watch as the children begin to surround the guilty Aang in the middle of it all. Becoming defensive, you rush to his side to aid him. "Hold up, he saved both you, Katara, and me! Why would he do that without a motive?"

"You see, Sokka? You're making a mistake." Katara snapped, joining into the conversation. Sokka's muscles tensed as his jaw clenched in frustration from Katara's stubborn attitude. "No! I'm keeping my promise to Dad. I'm protecting you from threats like them!" Katara flinched slightly at the mention of her father, but it only made her drive to protect both you and Aang stronger.

"Aang is not our enemy!" Katara proclaimed loudly, motioning her hand in his direction. "Don't you see? Aang's brought us something we haven't had in a long time. Fun." Aang smiled sadly at Katara's desperate attempts, glad to know that she cared enough to keep trying to protect him.

"Fun? We can't fight Firebenders with fun!" Sokka retaliated with intellect. You sighed, knowing that he wasn't in the wrong for being so cautious around newcomers. 'It's a dangerous world out there... I can't blame him for acting like this, but still...' Though you didn't want to admit it, you mentally knew that Sokka was right.

"You should try it sometime." Aang smiled cheekily from his witty remark, causing you to suppress a laugh. "Enough! Get out of our village. Now!" Sokka demanded, not caring to find anything else about either of you. "My boat was destroyed in the storm! Besides, I con't go home now, I need to get help from Aang! The world depends on it!" You exclaimed, with an undertone of rage filling your chest.

"Grandmother, please, don't let Sokka do this." Katara pleaded with a hopeful gaze on her grandmother, who merely shook her head is disapproval. "Katara, you knew going on that ship was forbidden. Sokka is right. I think it best if the airbender leaves." Gran Gran sighed, looking away from her granddaughter.

Katara scoffed, rushing up to your and Aang's side. "Then I'm banished too!" She announced, guiding you both by the wrists away from her village. "C'mon guys, let's go!" You looked back to Sokka, who was pointing in your direction with a scowl set on his face, but his eyes said his true emotions - fear.

You knew this was wrong, and as the eldest, thought that it was best to step in to prevent a impact, yet regretful choice. "Katara, no." You pulled your hand away from the younger girl's palm. "What? I'm going to the North Pole with Aang to find a waterbender!" Katara huffed, continuing to walk alongside Aang.

"Katara!" Sokka calls out to her, which for a moment, makes her halt her movement. "Would you really choose him over your tribe? Your own family?" Katara places a palm over her chest, he heart becoming heavy with guilt from that statement. "Katara, listen to me." You instruct, making your way over to her.

"As spiteful as you wanna be, and travel the world, don't do it like this, don't put this kind of stress onto them, your family," You explain, being cautious with how you choose your words. "Don't make a decision that you'll live to regret. You're a smart girl, and I don't want you to wind up in that position."

Suddenly, her arms wrapped around your waist, taking you into a hug, once that was like the time the two of you met, though the situation was more heartfelt. "She's right, Katara. I don't want to come between you and your family." Aang walked over to Appa as he began to get him ready to soar. He looks over at you with his grey eyes, asking, "Do you need a lift?"

You nodded, parting ways from your hug with Katara, and boarded the flying bison. "So, you're leaving the South Pole? This is goodbye?" Katara stumbled on her words, feeling tears swell up in her eyes. She was aware that she didn't know these two individuals for a long period of time, but you both gave her a sense of hope.

In this instance, during this time of crisis and destruction, was the thing she desperately clinged to. "Thanks for penguin sledding with me." Aang thanked her, though his sad tone was obvious to notice. "Where will you two go?" Katara whispered softly, hearing her own sorrowful voice crack.

"Guess I'll go back home and look for the airbenders," Aang simply thought, now realizing that at some point, he'd have to return home. "Wow, I haven't cleaned my room in a hundred years. Not looking forward to that." He joked quietly to himself, using a gust of wind to airbend himself onto Appa's head. "I'll probably continue wandering around for a while, since I now know what I need." You hummed, hopping on top of the dark brown leather saddle that rested upon Appa.

"It was nice meeting everyone." "Yes, you all have been very kind people to allow us to stay, even if it was for a scarce amount of time." The two of you showed your gratitude, despite being forced to leave. You believed that taking the kindness of one's soul for granted is not a toll you'd want to pay, even if they deserve a little sass or backlash for their actions.

"Let's see your bison fly now, air boy." Sokka rudely taunted, causing you to shoot him a grimacing glare. "We're already leaving, ponytail. No need to get your panties in a twist." You quipped, observing how his teeth gritted from your rebuttal, but refused to acknowledge your statement with a response.

"Come on, Appa, you can do it! Yip! Yip!" Aang grabbed the leash that guided Appa. The large mammal rumbled, but raised to his feet. "Yeah, I thought so." Sokka bragged, chuckling to himself. You had to resist the urge to smack him right across his pretty face.

All of a sudden, a little girl rushed to Katara's side, reaching out her small hands to the boy in front of you. "Aang! Don't go! We'll miss you!" Her whimpers were muffled through Katara's bottom skirt, but her pleas were clear.

Your heart clenched at the sight.

One thing that you hated - no, despised to see was a desperate, teary-eye child staring out to you. You were definitely aware of the fact that she wasn't talking to you, but it still had the same effect nonetheless. "I'll miss you too." Aang turned over to Katara for one last glance, smiling at her as if say, 'I'm sorry.' Her long, dark brown hair flowed through the breeze, caressing her tawny skin.

"Come on, boy." Aang broke his gaze, turning to continue leading Appa down the road. You waved, the bitter feeling of a farewell crossing between both you and Aang.

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"You know, I kinda liked Katara and even Sokka too. It's a shame that we couldn't stay longer." Your voice faltered, feeling uncertain as to the events that had occurred. The icy plains were flat and barren, showing no remorse nor feeling of warmth to anything within its terrain, but icicles, and crafted ice sculptures roamed and claimed the area. "Yeah, I liked her too." Aang sighed quietly to himself.

The familiar sound of gears churning, then smell of burning coal filled your nostrils and the rumbling grounds that shook Appa slightly made you know immediately that the Fire Nation ship that you had seen before was approaching.

"Aang, a Fire Nation's ship is heading in the direction of the village!" You warned, placing a hand on his shoulder, and pointed a finger in the direction of the ship. "The village!" Aang uttered out in surprise, sliding off of Appa's back. You followed his movements, knowing the haste of this dire situation.

"Appa, wait here!" He declared, turning his face to you. "I'll go check on them!" You shook your head, refusing to let him to this on his own. "No way in hell I'm gonna make you do this all alone. I got your back." You reassured him, clutching tightly onto your fan. "Whoa! You fight with that thing?" Aang observed closely squinting at the metal fan in amazement.

"You'll see in battle. Now, let's go!" You winked, sprinting ahead of him, and in the direction of the battleship.

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"H-Holy sh- I mean crap!"

You screamed from the top of your lungs, feeling your internal organs churn as the feeling of both fear and adrenaline pumped your heart. You held the penguin tightly to your chest as you literally flew within the sky. "Hold on tight!" Aang cheered, losing his focus, and becoming distracted from the situation at hand.

"Y-Yeah, I'm aware!" You grumbled to yourself, but buried your face into the feathers of the penguin, not wanting to watch your descent and possible crashing into the stone cold grounds.

But you didn't.

Instead, you felt your shoes glide against the ground as the penguin slid after Aang's, knocking over the enemy in front of me. The male fell to the ground with his butt sticking up in the air. Temptations took over you after a mischievous idea popped into your head after seeing his helmet scrape against the floor.

"Everyone, feast your eyes on this!" You watch the crowd of people spectating burst into a fit of laughter as you placed the vacant helmet on the soldier's butt. "Hey Katara. Hey Sokka." Aang greeted, waving his hand awkwardly to the two as Sokka groaned, "Hi...Aang. Thanks for coming." You hopped off of the penguin, feeling the dizziness from after soaring through the sky.

"Thank god we made it!" You smirked, turning your face to the aggressive set of men lined up in front of you. "How dare you..!" One of the guys seethed, staring harshly into your core with his feisty amber eyes. You felt your blood run cold at the sight of him, your stance faltering and the confidence that had once course through your veins just.. Drain out.

"It's you..." He paused, regaining his senses as he stared you down with his cold eyes. "[Name], the infamous, rouge gypsy, who was profound for her... Vulgar dances." You felt your throat grow dry as the heat pooling from your [s/t] skin rise exponentially. [E/c] irises glaring sharply, you muttered, "Prince Zuko, what a pleasant surprise. Though you ridicule me, I thought you were rather fond of the sight."

"Yes, we finally know your name!" Aang breathed out a sigh of relief, releasing the breath that he had inhaled and held for far too long. "[Name] from the Fire Nation!" Sokka yelled, raising his defenses. "So you were the scoundrel behind all of this!" "For the last, damn time, Sokka, I AM ON THE RUN!" You yelled in frustration, causing Sokka to shrink up.

"Okay, enough! He's looking for me, anyway!" Aang silenced the surrounding noises as Zuko's eyes widen in amazement. "You're the airbender? You're the Avatar?" Zuko raised a brow, pointing at the younger boy as the two siblings stared in disbelief. "Aang?" "No way." You had to scoff slightly. 'Wait... I thought Katara knew too, or maybe she just went along with it...'

In the end you decided to ignore the whole astonished moment, before realizing the fight had transitioned even further, with Aang and Zuko moving in a circle as the village surrounded the pair, creating an arena-like area for the two to duel.

"I've spent years preparing for this encounter. Training. Meditating. You're just a child!" Zuko jeered, while at the same time managing to boast about his own improvements. "Well, you're just a teenager." Aang shrugged. Feeling offended, Zuko began to shoot fire blasts, one after another. Aang struggles to dodge each attack, trying to maneuver past as many as he possibly can.

At some point, Zuko's flames rose, scattering amongst the perimeter, and nearly managed to reach the defenseless audience. Aang cries out from the backlash of the fire as you rushed towards the villagers, trying to shoo and defend them from the blaze, but you realized that you couldn't save them all. "No..!"

In that moment, Aang becomes fully aware to the fact that he couldn't save everyone and knew that he had to put a stop to the potential dangers that threaten everyone else. Aang holds his hands up in a surrendering notion, pleading, "If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?"

Zuko pondered for a moment, before his eyes flickered over to you. "I want her as well," Zuko, rather bluntly, ordered. "She has been a wanted gypsy in the Fire Nation for the longest time." Your thoughts were in shambles, possibilities of this situation going wrong flooding your brain, but even you knew that protecting the people was Aang's, no, the Avatar's priority, and you wanted to follow that path.

"Fine." You sighed, tucking the fan back into your bag. Reluctantly, you allowed the soldiers to cuff your smaller wrists together, securing them tight in front of you. "Aang, [Name], don't do this!" Katara shrieked, rushing forward to the both of you. "Don't worry, Katara, it'll be okay," Aang calmed the frightened girl, giving her a heartfelt smile.

Impatiently, the soldiers shove him harshly, notifying him that it was time to go. "Take care of Appa for me until I get back." Before you were able to state your mind, you were shoved into a secure room, only being able to see the tears that stained Katara's eyes.

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Your hands were strung against the cold, metal wall as your cloak was forced off of your body, revealing your attire. The black and crimson patterned silk formed a tank top, with a long cut in the middle, dividing the cloth by two along with two strings being tied around your neck. The back of the top formed a criss-cross, before connecting with the bottom line of cloth. Along with the top, two armbands were wrapped securely around your arms.

On the other hand, the pants hung low, exposing part of your stomach as a matching piece of the crimson cloth from the top was used as a tribal cloth, being tied over the pants as it hung, scraping against parts of your bare skin where parts of the pants are cut by the hip, revealing your smooth, [s/t] skin.

"Man, I hate this..." You grunted, attempting to reach for your wristbands, before Zuko's voice halted you. "[Name], a mere refugee who came to the Fire Nation with her parents to help fight the war, yet you left when you were old enough. What's the deal with you?" You looked up to his him closing the door to cell. He turned to face you, his eyes always being the one thing that makes you for a loss for words, scorching you with all of the pain they had witnessed on their own.

"It's none of your business, Princey." You dodged the question, glaring at the teen in front of you. Zuko clicked his tongue in disapproval, making his way closer to you. He watched as your figure tried to squirm away, unknowing to what he was planning to do, and knowing that it startled you. One of his hands grasped onto your chin, forcing you to face him as you growl in discomfort, but feeling a warm heat rise to your cheeks.

"Well, it doesn't matter what you won't tell me, because you'll be confessing your crimes to my father in due time." Zuko sneered back, tightening his grasp on your chin. That part made you chuckle slightly. "I have committed no crimes. Your family has been the fault of all the chaos conspiring around my people, so I left to make things right."

Zuko scoffed at your statement, but words failed to come through. It was almost as if he agreed, knowing that everything not only going around in the Fire Nation, but in the world was wrong, but those facts were hindered by his desire to obtained what was stolen from him.

You had to sympathize with him for that.

Before he could speak his mind, a soldier's voice announced in a pained tone, "The Avatar has escaped!" You fought the urge for a smile to appear on your face as Zuko's hands moved away from your chin and rushed out of the door. Part of you hated to admit that you missed the warmth that his hand emitted, but you got your priorities straight, and began to reach through your armbands, once more to grab your pick lock key that is always hidden away just for occasions like this.

Easily, the key picked at the metal chains that had encaptured you, before releasing them. "Thank god..." You sighed, rubbing your red wrists, before rushing out the door. You couldn't tell where Aang was located, but decided to go towards the upper deck of the ship to see some soldiers, who were unaware of your presence.

Stealthily, you approached them from behind, pulling out your fan as you created a string of fire, guiding it swiftly, before launching the fire across the soldiers' vital points.

Once they saw you, they rushed forward for the attack, but you kicked one of them down, allowing you to dodge the ambush, before closing your fan to create a blade, so that you could leave tiny, yet deep cuts on the exposed parts of their bodies, leaving them to tumble.

Hearing more footsteps, you got into your defensive stance, ready to attack whoever, until you noticed that it was Aang running over here with Zuko on his trail. "[Name]!" Aang cheered once he spotted you up ahead as you waved in his direction. "Aang, glad to see you're okay." You smiled, but before he could reach you, Zuko grabbed his foot, pulling him down to his level, so that they could square off.

You looked up, trying to see what was going on, until a familiar creature showed up right in front of your eyes. "It's Appa!" You grinned, waving up towards the distance to see Sokka and Katara controlling him to meet up with the two of you. While Aang was distracted from the sight, Zuko tried to shoot a fire blast at Aang to which he, thankfully, dodged.

Aang begins to advert to escape, making his staff into a makeshift helicopter to escape the several streams of fire blasts aiming in his direction, until he his shot down into the water. "AANG!" You yelled out, rushing towards the edge to where he fell. "Aang! Aang! AANG!" Katara cried loudly looking down at the surface. Strangely, the water began to glow a white hue from within the water, with Aang rising with a mighty whirlpool forming around him.

The tornado of water began to surround Aang as he swirls towards the ship at an amazing speed, breaking the surface of the ship as the towered high with the storm of water. Zuko looks up at the ship, dismay and fear in his eyes as he watched the scene go down. Aang manages to land on the deck, his eyes and the arrow mark on his head still glowing, and bends the water from the column around him in circle. You watch as Aang unknowingly releases it, and it expands outward in a shock wave that blasts Zuko and his men overboard.

"Did you see what he just did?" Katara gasped, turning to Sokka as he cheered, "Now that was some waterbending!" As happy as you were to see them, your concerns were more focused on Aang, who was wobbling as he was about to fall face first, before you rushed to catch him, as his head rested on your shoulder. Katara and Sokka notice his, as they hurry to retrieve him. "Aang! Are you okay?" Katara called out as Aang's eyes lightened up at the sound of her voice.

"Hey Katara. Hey Sokka. Thanks for coming." Aang wearily joked, before commenting, "And thanks for catching me, [Name]." "Well, I couldn't let you have all the glory." Sokka chuckled, patting his back softly before Aang looked to his side, realizing that something was missing. "I dropped my staff." Aang softly states. "Got it!" Sokka reassures Aang as he ran to pick up his staff.

As soon as Sokka manages to pull it up, he was shocked to see Zuko on the other end. Panicking, Sokka begin to hit Zuko with the bottom end of the staff, knocking him off the other end, but manages to grab onto the anchor's chain. "Ha! That's from the Water Tribe!" Sokka taunted, rushing over with his staff.

The guards that you had previously fought began to rise up again as the began to surround the three of you. Katara began to try to move the water in a whip formation to attack them, but only ends up freezing the liquid beneath them, trapping their feet, so that they would be unable to proceed any further. Unfortunately, Sokka was caught into her plan as his feet were also trapped as well.

"Katara!" Sokka groaned out, trying to chop away at the ice with his boomerang. The guards began to rise as Aang, Katara, and you made your way on to Appa. Katara defended her brother's defenseless state by freezing the water over their feet once more. "Hurry up, Sokka!" Katara warned as Sokka grumbled some incoherent words to himself, but managed to free his feet, so he could run up to Appa, holding tightly onto his tail.

"Yip yip! Yip yip!" Sokka commands, causing Appa to rise and to begin soaring within the sky. "Shoot them down!" Zuko orders his army, but the group was already in the distance, successfully managing to escape the chaos of the Fire Nation.

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The four of you were now flying through the clouds, the baby blue sky giving a more peaceful scenery to relax. You sat near the front next to Sokka, while Aang and Katara talked about somethings, until Katara's question about Aang being the Avatar caught both of you and Sokka's attention. "Because... I never wanted to be." Aang mumbled, the topic being rather sensitive for him.

"But Aang, the world's been waiting for the Avatar to return and finally put an end to this war." Katara urged, leaning forward as the sunlight beamed proudly above. "And how am I going to do that?" Aang sighed sadly, looking up with a confused, almost lost expression. "According to legend, you need to first master water, then earth, then fire, right?" You brought up, joining the conversation.

"That's what the monks told me." Aang piqued, as Katara's eyes brightened in hope. "Well, if we go to the North Pole you can master waterbending." She clapped her hands together in joy. Aang's expression lightened up as a smile began to cross his face as he offered, "We can learn it together!" Katara hummed, "Sokka, I'm sure you'll get to knock some firebender heads on the way."

Sokka's eyes became somewhat in a dreamy state as he exasperated, "I'd like that. I'd really like that." You giggled as Katara became curious of your own motives. "What do you want to do, [Name]?" Your [e/c] eyes glazed over with uncertainty as you simply stated, "Freedom. I want freedom for me and my people." The three were in awe with your goal as Katara declared, "Then we're in this together."

"All right, but before I learn waterbending, we have some serious business to attend to," Aang's tone became serious, before he pulled out a map, pointing to various locations. "Here, here, and here." You sighed at the sight undergoing.

'This is going to be a long journey...'

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[NOTE]: Hello, lovelies! I hope you all enjoy this extremely long chapter! The update did take awhile, but I hope it was worth the wait! Please make sure to like, comment, and share this story to others who may enjoy it as well, and I hope to see you all in the next chapter!

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