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azulas-lightning-bolt · 1 month

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guys. guys. guys.

100yr war mako. guys.

okay so I know I’m already going insane about the dadamon au but. but hear me out. and this one is completely of my own design and I don’t think I’ve actually seen anything else on this (if you have pls pls pls pls send links) but there’s so much I could do with mako in the atla timeline because he’s a mixed kid.

now, I also need to account for how mako looks in my head (completely oc-ified). he’s way more ek the way I imagine him (he and bolin are closer in features, in short, but this post has me being stupid more comprehensively), darker skin, central heterochromatic green/gold eyes, curved nose, etc. for context the ek look in my head is kind of blasian? it’s not exactly but for the sake of succinct imagery, yk.

okay so moving on to au info (under the cut)!

fire nation soldier:

—this mako is an amputee. I haven’t decided which limb(s) but he is missing at least one is.

—he joined the army for the money, but given his appearance could only join closer to the eclipse and is treated like shit

—hates his firebending and the atrocities he has to commit with it to afford to eat

—mother was a fn deserter who left for ek father, hid in ba sing se for a few years where mako n bolin were born and raised, before oppressive class system and denial of war became too much and they moved out to ek town bordering fn territory (mako-5, bolin-3). they lived alright for a few more years, before naoki was recognized and she n san were killed. orphanism.

—mako joined the army at 13, the enlistment age being 16. passed himself off as a really scrawny 16yo. enlistments knew but disliked ‘half-breeds’ and hoped the front lines would just take care of him for them.

—he has to get a tattoo to signify he is not of pure fn blood,,, ohhh the angst potential,,,

—canon starts when he’s almost 13, as it has to get close enough to eclipse for him to join at 13. he only worked about a year in the army by the time canon ends and zuko becomes firelord. as a concession of losing, fn’s army is reduced greatly. zuko’s first choice is to remove child soldiers, esp the kids pretending to be 16. he has a program, but mako ofc slips through the cracks.

—traumatized 13/14yo amputee war veteran struggles to regain normal human behavior with worried brother: the saga, basically.

—maybe throw in a little found family/adoption, as a treat

Im so madly in love w this au btw.

joins the gaang (good start):

—there are two versions of 100yr war mako joining the gaang I have, and this is the happier one. almost no one dies! besides like. his parents. it’s for character development mako, sorry. so basically the plot is that the gaang is in the fire nation for the eclipse, but instead of mako joining the army then, they find scraggly street orphan and decide to drag him and happy brother along.

—to make this better, they originally think he and bolin are fully ek, hiding in the fire nation, and that mako is a nonbender (he still hates his fire) but then they’re like BAM we’re actually the children of a deserter and her ek boyfriend! they’re both dead.

—womp womp, teach me firebending mako!!

—and to literally no one’s surprise, his answer is an enthusiastic shove that stupid idea right back up your

—eclipse fails, but mako and azula freak each other out by being reallllyy similar.

—zuko joins; mako is also on toph’s side and bolin is content to follow his brother (reminder he is 11 at this point, mako is 13) because mako knows (as most fn citizens do) about the story of his scar and would die from guilt if he were to fight and scar the prince with fire again. (he has lightning scars and stuff too from early on after being orphaned, being without control of his fire)

—also mako still knows how to lightningbend, in all the 100yr war verses. Ik it’s supposed to be a royal family exclusive in atla, but either mako encountered iroh on the road and picked it up quickly or he had another version of zolt to teach him/give him the push to figure it out himself. GASP mako learning lightning from the dragons/sun warriors after going to the ruins for a safe place w bolin,,,

—so zuko joins. remember how I said mako/azula were still mirror images here? yeah zuko kinda gets freaked out by the 13yo who’s realllyy similar to his sister.

—mako is super awkward around him, still kind of treating him like he’s a prince (running away). zuko misinterprets this as mako hating him. after mr prince loses his bending, what does this mean? mako gets to tag along on dragon field trip!!

—in line w mako learning lightning from dragons previously, he’s able to navigate super easily into the city, but leaves aang and zuko behind by accident in the process. they do the little dragon dance and mako is the one to find them (with sun warrior supervision, because they don’t want the baby dragon to die encountering someone he didn’t expect) and they are accepted significantly more easily.

—mako watches them meet the masters with stifled amusement. he’s not worried; he knows they’re pure of heart.

—speedrunning everything up to the comet with fluffy gaang relationships, mako tries to blow the guy up back (it does not work)

—day of the comet, mako stays glued to bolin. he’s offered the chance to sit out the attack, they can pull through in units of two (+aang) and he almost accepts. but he’s thirteen, a year older than the inventor of metalbending and the avatar. bolin is a year younger, and takes importance, but-but he needs to do something. he’s been by their side a quarter of what katara and sokka have been, and he doesn’t want to have been dead weight. he joins aang, able to be present after the battle if medical help or a quick escape are needed, and enhanced as a firebender so he’s good enough to fight a bit.

—aang’s energy is being swallowed and mako doesn’t understand what’s happening but he knows it’s not good. he goes running up to aang, bolin at his side, ready to pull the avatar away and save them both. aang wins in the end, and ozai’s bending is gone.

—the rest of the gaang lands, the weakened ozai is still restrained, but the looks of disgust aimed at him from not only his traitor spawn but two peasant half-breeds gives him enough rage to spit threats at them all, a promise that all of them, starting with the little green-eyed brat (bo) will be picked off and tortured to extermination by his sympathizers.

—mako, standing on business as usual, doesn’t hesitate. he relishes in the split second of terror in ozai’s eyes as he realizes his special, hoarded technique, lightning, is being used against him, and he is powerless to stop it, before he’s struck. toph’s earth bounds shatter at the bolstered impact, but it doesn’t matter as the former phoenix king falls lifelessly to the ground. mako’s eyes are hard and cold. he’s thirteen. he is not a stranger to doing what needs to be done, and bolin comes first. who will sympathize with a dead man?

—the end :3

this one is probably one of my favorite 100yr war versions

joins the gaang (bad start):

—this one is probably marginally more tragic. mako’s start towards the gaang is bolin’s death. he died in a night robbery from older firebenders; mako was powerless to stop them, and they didn’t care enough to stop themselves. mako didn’t bother saving up for another travel pack or enough food and clothes to fill it again. he regrets ever having been so foolish as to think that was something he could keep.

—he ends up at the factory that’s polluting the village’s river in the painted lady ep. he works at the factory but lives in the village, just as desolate as the rest (though, again, decidedly more ek-looking).

—based off their harshness upon finding out their savior was katara, the village people don’t take too well to mako either, considering he’s both mixed and works at the factory. when katara is outed (and mako is packing up, because they just lost him his job), he gets pushed to the front with her and met with the same scornful glares.

—sokka defends his sister (common sokka w) and strange, scrawny child. the village distinctly apologizes more to katara as mako gives them all a stink eye.

—he helps the gaang clean out the river as thanks by burning the muck and disposing of the smoke.

—he goes to leave at the same time as them, aang notices, and offers a ride (to sokka’s slight chagrin-he could kiss his schedule goodbye officially now.) mako agrees, thinking he’ll fall off the bison if he gets lucky (yk, and other regular very normal 12yo thoughts)

—a ride turns into ‘oh just stop here with us! we don’t mind sharing dinner, there’s extra!’ and that turns into ‘it’s way too rainy to go on your own, we can just camp together another night!’ which becomes ‘where are you going? if you don’t know, you can just hit a few more stops with us.’ and eventually they just stop making excuses because, if mako is honest with himself, he’s totally gotten attached. they all know he’s not leaving. he’s smiled, laughed, felt joy for the first time in two years, the two years since bolin was killed.

—gaang shenanigans ensue. mako and toph get along like a house on fire, because they’re both grimy, angry, shithead 12yos absolutely out for blood. mako and aang develop telepathic communication within two weeks because mako can’t communicate normally and aang tries so hard to understand that he actually does. they’re bsfs.

—mako is decidedly reckless with his life and katara gets to practice her healing even more regularly than in canon. she’s not too pleased. sokka thinks mako is the best ever (grumpy mini-me) and wants to wrap him in furs and tuck him away from the dangers of the war (he calls mako cute one time(!) and gets set on fire for it)

—zuko and mako bond over scars (lightning+fire to the face) and zuko sibling-izes mako cuz azula parallels

—sozin’s comet goes about the same, but katara insists mako comes with her and zuko so she can keep an eye on him, which actually saves zuko from the lightning scar bcs zuko taught mako how 2 redirect‼️‼️

—I don’t have too much on this au because my brain is being consumed by the next one and thinking too hard abt this one upsets me greatly. also so much of mako’s personality in canon is centered around bolin (oh look that’s an upcoming post too) that it’s difficult to imagine him as more than a shell of a person without him.

dead:

—okay so this one is technically atla and tlok. will elaborate later.

—mako dies with his mother and father (naoki is still a deserter here) but bolin survives on his own. he mourns his brother, but a nice earth kingdom family adopts him, mistaking him for a full ek earthbender, which he doesn’t correct. bolin eventually moves on with his life, scraping by in the tail end of the war. these events take place ~ten years before atla canon, so bolin is 16 by b1 and 17 when the gaang reaches the earth kingdom. mako is eight and dead. for the record.

—so how does a dead kid become part of canon? well, I’ll be making a post about how I think afterlife and ghostly spirits work in the avatarverse, but for the sake of conciseness, the dead who have ‘unfinished business’ become spirits that can interact with the human world at will, because they never quite “crossed over.” mako, not knowing if bolin will survive on his own, has ‘unfinished business’. however, this causes permanent spirithood, which is part of why it’s so rare. a soul has to be really upset to eternally subject themselves to that.

—so spirit-mako isn’t really mako anymore, he’s a guardian spirit of, let’s say, children fending for themselves. you know a group of children fending for themselves that’s pretty relevant in atla. yeah. so he ends up unable to find bolin, because bolin is being taken care of. he’s instead drawn to the southern water tribe, where dozens of kids’ parents traveled off to war.

—he doesn’t reveal himself at all, just preventing little accidents for the most part. the swt nicknames him veiti, deigning him their guardian spirit. he lost most of himself as mako, all that’s really left is a bit of snark left for other spirits and fondness for his brother.

—he follows katara and sokka as they find aang, drawn to the weight of another lonely boy. aang feels something off, lingering in the air around the water siblings, from the start, but doesn’t mention it. veiti doesn’t stop the flare from firing because he knows someone needs to follow it, needs to come.

—zuko arrives. veiti is confused by him, but the scar on his face bears so much weight. they feel familiar to veiti, so much so that the tundra fills with the weeping of a spirit. this actually scares off zuko’s ship before an escalated confrontation (aang going w zuko) happens, so it works out well in the end.

—when katara and sokka follow aang away from the swt, veiti decides he wants (he hasn’t wanted in a while now) to follow them. but he can’t just abandon the tribe that’s come to rely on his protection, even going as far as to offer the occasional fish, so he decides to temporarily possess a vessel. other spirits have told him he should be able to take a human form, but he hasn’t figured that out yet. he possesses a little otter penguin, and tells a mildly disturbed kanna that he is veiti, and will be joining the siblings and avatar to protect them there. he tries to give a spirit blessing on his way, but he’s not sure if it works.

—the wails of a spirit’s grief fill the echoing halls of the deserted air temple along with aang’s rage, and he hopes the avatar can feel the comforting weight of a fellow mourner draped over him when katara talks him down. veiti feels decidedly uneasy (seen) with the statues of past avatars, and is relieved when momo is found and they all leave.

—he clings to aang as he rides the unagi, bats away too-sharp too-close fans when the kyoshi warriors get too aggressive. he nearly smacks sokka upside the head, physical form or not, when he starts blabbering about the male warriors that don’t exist. that one behavior of his had always ticked veiti off, but he tried to be understanding with sokka’s lack of a… well, mother.

—as the gaang experiences the mundanity of kyoshi island, veiti finds himself regaining some sense of… something he lost. he remembers, seeing the face of a boy on the island, that the brother he longed to see again was named bolin. he remembered that he was eight, in human years. he couldn’t gather any more than that, hard as he tried.

—omashu was hell for veiti, the spirit confused as to if he should be defending despite the lack of aggression from the king, and what he should do if he needs to step in. aang recognizes his friend, however, and veiti allows himself a break from them as they travel to an ek mining town. he hovers over zuko in this time, observing him and his interactions with his uncle (what is an uncle, veiti isn’t quite sure. they didn’t have those in the swt)

—zuko finding katara’s necklace on the brig makes veiti rush back to the gaang, relieved to find them all in tact in a different town. however, this town is dealing with spirit meddling, which veiti approaches with some annoyance. he tries to get sokka back, asking the other spirits, but he’s told hei bai isn’t too hospitable. aang enters the spirit world, and catches a glance of a mangled boy around eight who looks a mix of fn and ek. he’s conversing with the spirits casually, which is aang’s clue he wasn’t taken from the village as well. he wants to call the boy over, but has more pressing matters to deal with. hei bai is pacified, and everyone is returned.

—veiti travels with them to the fn, despite everything in him yelling to run the other way. the sages are dangerous, the evil named zhao is far too powerful there, and the children aren’t safe, tied up, beyond his protection. he finds the fire bows to him, and that is another thing veiti recalls; he is a firebender. no harm comes to zuko or katara or sokka when roku’s fury is released through aang, despite veiti’s primal terror when roku’s gaze locks on him. buried deep inside, aang wonders if he is seeing the same boy from hei bai’s forest.

—the scroll is stolen. veiti is, again, halfway to a heart attack (can spirits have heart attacks?) working himself into a panic when katara is captured by the pirates. zuko becomes something else for him to worry about, katara’s necklace in hand. however, apart from numerous last minute saves from slicing blades, veiti barely has to do anything as the situation works itself out.

—veiti is again torn as the gaang meets jet. there’s distant wailing in the forest all the days they stay with jet (and aang recognizes it, the same as in the temple and the tundra because it was from that mangled little boy he keeps seeing. maybe sokka is right, something is off about jet. don’t you hear that, katara?). jet is a lost child, but jet is malicious as well. veiti can’t understand if jet is to protect or harm or defend and it’s making him crazy.

—veiti feels himself grow absent for a while, he resurfaces when aang is captured, choosing to dance through the arrows of the yuyan as they miraculously miss the blue spirit (zuko was to protect, veiti had a feeling) and his ‘captive’, the avatar. the divide between katara, sokka, and aang is one they must fix themselves. the scars on katara’s hands from the terrible lessons of the deserter (he had known a deserter. a mother, his mother. if only he could recall her name.)

—another temple echoes with a spirit’s tears as they visit the northern temple with its gadgets and gears. teo is a bright boy, veiti knows he will fly far with his strange inventions. the nwt is a destination veiti abhors. he finds pakku agitating, and far too reminiscent of sokka previous kyoshi island. the siege by the evil called zhao (veiti wants him gone. veiti can make him gone.) is terrible. he burns tui, and mako runs to her side in childish worry, asking la if he can in some way help. he warms her with licking flames that don’t burn (because he is a firebender, he knows now) and infuses what little of himself he can give. it hurts, almost, and la’s weeping joins his in the oasis.

—it is by design that zhao does not take zuko’s hand.

—yue will give herself to tui, la tells him. but what if yue? he asks. he knows there cannot be a life handed over and a life kept. his fire has warmed tui, but it will not fix her. they will share the burden, la tells him. yue will lend tui the strength tui lent her, just as veiti did, and tui will recover in time. yue will be weakened, but she too will recover. as aang is returned, mako allows himself to jump up and cling to his frame. he is shocked to feel the ghost of a hug reciprocated. aang’s eyes search around veiti, as though aware of his presence but unsure where his eyes should land. veiti allows himself to beam.

—the earth kingdom general seeks to take advantage of aang in a way that greatly discomforts them both. he doesn’t revere the spirits the way he should. veiti makes sure his head gets stuck very firmly in a ditch once the children are safely away, and leaves them to their devices for a bit to make sure the general does not try such foolish exploitation again. he leaves them unattended for a while, not feeling a tug towards them as he normally would in danger. he drifts back around the time aang is being attacked for being the avatar, and it greatly unnerves him. why should he be scorned for being their savior? kyoshi makes an appearance much like roku did. and just as he did with roku, veiti pretends her all seeing eyes do not, for the briefest moment, settle on him. something of being perceived is far too disquieting for him in his state.

—veiti is greatly pleased when the blind bandit joins them. she has the burden of an unguided child, despite having parents. he doesn’t imagine them to be good ones.

—the girl with eyes like his (that’s another thing he remembers. his eyes—his human form has those—are gold, flecked with green. was deserter-mother gold-green, too?) hurtshurtshurts in her soul and in her fire. veiti cries at the too familiar violence, echoes of something that had terrified him once. he isn’t quite sure what, but his sniffles fill the air all the same. veiti cried sparsely in the south, sparing his tears for death and severe injury, but so many things in the rest of the world make him ache in a way he can through no other method express.

—veiti dislikes the heavy presence of the spirit in the library. he fuels toph’s veins with his own fire when her grip slips and somehow, he is enough to let her split her attention; the foul benders who reek of thieves are held up until aang can return, incensed at the muzzle on his bison.

—ba sing se is hell. veiti needs to find someone. he’s so close, he knows, but he doesn’t understand who he needs to find. his senses are torn between protecting the avatar and searching for someone he isn’t sure of.

—he parts ways with the gaang, and he looks. he searches all of ba sing se and the surrounding towns until he finds a small family of five. two parents, though the mother is scarred by fire, and three children. the oldest is a young adult, a boy named yuyi. the youngest is a girl named meiying. and the other boy has green eyes flecked with gold (gold-green, green-gold) and his name is bolin. veiti knows this is who he has been searching for. the world’s tug suddenly applies to him, and he feels his feet touch the wooden floor as he looks up instead of down at the family’s dinner. the creaks alert them to his sudden presence, and bolin’s (brother!) eyes widen, filling with tears. veiti’s voice is high pitched (he is eight in human years, he remembers) and warbles when he asks for confirmation that bolin is his brother. his body stings like bad fire when he is wrapped in a careful embrace, but a tentative smile curls his lips all the same. he asks bolin his name. apparently, veiti’s name is mako. veiti tells bolin that he is called veiti, and asks which name is better. bolin thinks they’re both nice, so mako decides he will use both.

—something tugs desperately for his help (aang needs help) so veiti tells bolin he needs to go, he needs to help. he promises he’ll always look after bolin and his family, and thanks his brother for reminding him of his name. he’ll miss his brother and his new family lots, he says, but they’ll be okay with his spirit blessing. he’s gotten better at those, he promises. with a smile and a wave, the little boy is in veiti’s form once more.

—aang is-was dead. mako wishes so terribly he has been there. he can do lightning, too, another spirit showed him how while he was searching. he could’ve helped. but katara is healing aang with the special water from the oasis. veiti wonders how she’s doing. he thinks about tui being hurt so badly and yue being weakened and aang being dead and mako misses his brother already and sobs fill the clear night air. the sadness weighs too heavily for his spirit form to handle, so he drops into appa’s saddle in the form of a little boy warped by fire.

—aang’s friends are wary at first, but it’s hard to deny he’s a spirit given his arrival. mako finds he like talking to them rather than just watching over them, and katara and sokka’s faces when he tells them he is actually veiti are really funny. the only thing he doesn’t like is how they seem so careful around him. at first, he thinks it’s because they don’t want to be so close to a real spirit rather than a half-spirit like the avatar, but he realizes it’s about how small he is when katara looks at him sad after he proudly announces he is eight human years old.

—aang wakes up and veiti is one of the first to greet, him, bouncing around in a mix of excitement and nervousness at the chance to meet him for real and have an actual conversation. he thinks aang has probably seen or heard him before, being the avatar, but they’ve never actually talked. aang tries to muster the energy to feel the same, but the feeling of failure drowns it out. mako retreats to his spirit form, upset, but understands he still needs to watch out for aang. he drags him to shore when the storm knocks him out, worriedly hovering until katara makes it on the scene.

—mako, as badly as he wants to, doesn’t go into a physical form with aang at the fire nation school. he thinks it would be a perfect chance for them to talk normally, as he’s been staying in his spiritual form since aang first woke. it’s not until they reach the village of the painted lady that he takes his human body again. the mood of the place is somber, but veiti cheerfully (foolishly) offers to try and talk to the painted lady for them. katara is all on board for this, and aang offers to tag along, but sokka is insistent that their schedule cannot take that dent.

—veiti goes to talk to the painted lady anyway. she’s very friendly, but she calls mako silly! she tells him he is to learn an important lesson from this; human affairs, like this, sort themselves out more often than not, and it is a spirit’s duty to meddle only when absolutely necessary. the gaang is there for a reason, and he should let them deal as necessary.

—the rest of b3 goes without much influence from mako. he tries to heed the painted lady’s advice and step back, even on the day of the black sun. human affairs, as they often do, sorted themselves out. however, he does tag along when zuko (who veiti is so happy to have. he was right!) and aang go to meet the firebending masters, because he is a firebender too! zuko doesn’t technically know about him, because katara is the one who introduced him to everyone else at the western air temple but she doesn’t like zuko, so he doesn’t show himself at all until aang and zuko go. he tells aang in secret that he’s going to stay behind to try and talk to ran and shaw, and not to worry when he doesn’t feel mako in the air. he’ll be back in no time!

—it’s on the boiling rock that mako shows himself to zuko, and it’s totally on accident! sokka was really stressing out, and veiti swears up and down that zuko was asleep, so he lets the world’s tug pull him down as human feet touch the ground. he tries to help sokka feel better, but it doesn’t really work because sokka got scared that he showed up out of nowhere and then zuko freaked out about the ‘little kid in a high security prison’. mako tried not to be offended, but eight human years isn’t a little kid! he’s basically an adult already! he’s as helpful as he can be with their escape plans, keeping zuko warm with his fire (and after he talked to ran and shaw, they taught him how to make it colorful!) in the cooler (what a terrible invention) and helping tug zuko back up into the cart when they get mr sokka and katara’s dad and suki with them and zuko battles gold-eyes sister. mr hakoda is kind of freaked out my veiti too, and he tries not to be upset, but sokka sees his eyes water and makes a whole huge deal out of it. and veiti is absolutely not pouting when he doesn’t talk to them the rest of the way back to the temple! he’s just recovering his strength cause zuko’s heavy.

—aang and katara are happy to see him in his body form again, and toph punches him which he’s pretty sure means she’s happy too. katara goes on a field trip with zuko this time, and he’s convinced to stay at the temple after zuko is told he tagged along with the last two. katara comes back not mad at zuko but neither of them are bloodstained so mako decides not to worry. then they go to ember island and see the terrible performance of their adventures by the theatre troupe there. veiti’s a little upset they know about the cabbage guy but not him, but he doesn’t mind too much.

—sozin’s comet comes, and mako knows that human affairs are to be dealt with by humans now. he’s still eight human years, but the time spent with aang has made him feel a LOT older. he tells them good luck, but he has to protect bolin and his family during the comet and he’ll see them later. and-he hesitates to make promises he might not be able to keep, but he tells them that if they really need it, they can call veiti and he will come. he stresses that it has to be the most important EVER because he has to make sure bolin’s okay.

—the cut off call from toph stirs a worry in his gut, but he is physically unable to part from his brother without a firm tug. but the comet passes, as do the fire nation forces, and mako returns to his friends (can he call them that?) to find them all mostly okay!

—the world continues on. veiti learns that eight human years is not, in fact, almost an adult, but he doesn’t grow farther than that despite how many years he lives, so he decides it’s adult enough. he, annoyingly, doesn’t ‘mature’ the same way the rest of his friends or his brother do, so he’s essentially an 8yo for the next 80 years.

—he spends a lot of that time watching the gaang and their kids growing up. he spends a lot of time w aang and katara’s kids on air temple island, especially kya. after he makes republic city his more regular haunt, he particularly fond of lin (who is an adult, at this point). none of the gaang kids see veiti much, but they all know about him from their parents. lin is the most often privy to his presence, kya second. he calls them ‘ms kya’ and ‘ms lin’ but everyone else is just their first name lmao 😭

—and then guess what happens (can you tell I’m getting tired. I’ve been writing this post for five hours straight and I literally had the atla episodes pulled up on my computer) aang dies aww :( and the new avatar is born!!!! she actually has parents and figures of guidance, so mako leaves her alone. but guess who he does chill with!? his grandnephew, bolin ii! family line goes like this: bolin marries an ek girl, they have kids. one of the kids’ names is san, after bolin’s late father. san finds himself a pretty fn girl named naoki, and wow, what a coincidence, huh? not that san ii is aware of it. they have one son, who is named bolin ii, after his grandfather. bolin ii is orphaned when he is 14, but toza is ushered by a mysterious force (dead mako) to find and take in earthbending child after a month or two at the orphanage cause no one wants older kids. or mixed kids.

—this post is actually so fucking long and it’s like ten o’clock at night rn (I’m gonna schedule this to post sometime tmr) so I’m just gonna summarize by saying mako tags along for tlok and freaks everyone out cause that’s what he is. a little freak. I am not rewriting an outline for four fucking season idc. spirit mako vs amon could be really interesting but I’ll just. make a separate post for that.

can you tell I hyperfixated so fucking hard on this au btw. ts has been in the fucking works in my brain for months now. I hate this stupid fucking orphan I need him to die immediately.

#mako lok #legend of korra #lok #tlok #atla #katara #avatar the last airbender #zuko #toph #aang #bolin lok #korra #sokka #slug’s stuff

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comradekatara · 3 years

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what would your ideal lok season 2 plot have looked like? (or parts of it, I know this is a very big question)

oooh boy. where to begin. like. there is SO MUCH to talk about and Im not gonna be able to remotely cover it all but just know that this is very off the cuff stream of consciousness and also I’m on a lot of post-surgery pain meds rn so if this is kinda incoherent pls bear w me. also obvious disclaimer before I elaborate that this is hardly the only way to “fix” lok, and in fact I could think of many more alternatives if needed, but this is simply the inspiration that happened to strike me in this moment, so I decided to run w this idea. and again, sorry if incoherent, writing this on a lot of pain meds lmfao

okay so i just want to start this off by saying I love the red lotus (especially comrade ming hua, wettest of pussies), and i think that if developed correctly, the conflict between the red lotus and the white lotus could’ve been the core political conflict at the center of the show, not just for book 3, but for the entire series.

to elaborate: the fact that lok doesn’t have a narrative throughline plotwise to complement korra’s internal journey is one of the many factors that makes the show less memorable than its predecessor. while zuko, zhao, azula, and long feng all have different (and oftentimes opposing) goals, their characters all represent various facets of the same enemy that aang is necessarily (the avatar, an airbender) and uniquely (the last airbender) equipped to face. and of course, ozai represents the worst/most harmful aspects of every villiain/antagonist throughout the show, making his clash in ideology against aang the ultimate conflict aang must face to conclude his/the central thematic arc. even if each book centers around a different element, each episode, regardless of season, still contributes to a thematic whole, and feels like part of a larger coherent arc. conversely, every villain in korra does exist as korra’s thematic foil (to varying degrees of impact) and forces her to confront her own humanity & role in the world, but said antagonists have no cohesion as a whole, especially considering that they are all ideologically inconsistent and well.....weird.

okay so back to the red lotus. the thing is, their ideology is just... extremely sound. like, other than their, erm, problematic execution, they’re making points! and obviously, the fact that their ideology is more coherent than the main characters’ (who are liberals who uphold the status quo at best) while their methods are violent & scawwy is just plain ol propaganda. like idk what the writers thought anarchism is but it is not, in fact, an ideology that is literally synonymous with our figurative definition of “anarchy.” pandemonium was literally a republic, etc. in fact, the promotion of communal values and the abolition of unjust hierarchies is exactly the kind of ideology the gaang promotes, both in isolation (most prominently in their air temples and on kyoshi island) and directly opposing imperialism, colonialism, and police states. the red lotus demonstrates similar values to that of aang, katara, toph, suki, probably zuko assuming that demon in the comics is no son of mine, etc. so it’s just weird that they’re written as villains in a show that is ostensibly an extension of the previous show’s themes. imperialism and police states are bad until.... they aren’t? idgi. makes no sense. anyway.

we learn from zaheer that the red lotus was an offshoot of the white lotus formed by xai bau after the war, who disagreed with their decision to come into the open and plainly serve the avatar. and again, based on what we see of the white lotus in lok, xai bau made points! they are a pretty fucking inept organization that clearly made a lot of mistakes when handling korra’s education as a child. and even before korra is born, there are plenty of other critiques to be made of the white lotus. for one thing, I can’t imagine that iroh is an uncontroversial figure among their ranks. yes, he is a great man, but he also has a famous history of perpetrating incredible violence that I cannot blame anyone in their organization for being unwilling to overlook. for a secret society so large and ancient, it makes perfect sense that eventually the internal discord would lead to fissures that break off into their own organizations, with their own ideology & goals.

unalaq’s character is dumb and nonsensical, but the retcon that he was a member of the red lotus who actually just wanted power is kind of interesting, because it does reframe his motivations, and the idea that he knew zaheer connects at least 2 of the main villains from each book. of course, this also makes no sense, because zaheer would never be comrades with a monarch (which the chief of the nwt functionally is), and I doubt that anyone in the red lotus would be like “ofc u can join our anarchist collective!! don’t see anything wrong w that lol.” if anything, it makes a lot more sense for unalaq to have been white lotus, but also nothing about unalaq makes sense so nvm. let’s put in a pin in this tho.

basically, what im getting at here is that centering the show around a white vs red lotus conflict, as two ideologies stemming from the same philosophy that diverged after the war, with different approaches to the same goal of balance & harmony, could be the narrative throughline (plotwise) that lok needed to mirror korra’s arc. neither faction is entirely correct, but they both have ostensibly good intentions, with complicated players on both sides (fwiw, katara is part of neither faction, but her sympathies would lean red ideologically speaking), and now that korra is of age, she must take a stand for herself and find a solution that works for her, as the avatar. both sides have people who want to inhibit her power in different ways (white lotus is overprotective & oppressive, treats her like glass instead of like a person; whereas red lotus believes that there shouldn’t be one single bridge between humans & spirits, and that the avatar’s role is antiquated & unnecessary), and these ideologies also reflect the people’s approach to the avatar as a figure, who generally dehumanize her (either positively or negatively). therefore, korra must come into her own as a fully-realized person, outside of her bending ability, her spiritual connection, her political influence, or her reputation.

book 2 is the primary book in which the spirit world is explored, and there are just generally so many elements of this season that could’ve been so fascinating had the ball not been dropped so thoroughly. I loved how korra struggled with airbending and her own spirituality, and this is yet another element of the show that would’ve been strengthened by implicating the white lotus more thoroughly in this issue. because of course korra isn’t going to be able to unlock the element of freedom in a compound that exists to restrict her, or uncover her spiritual needs when being raised in an environment that is constantly forcing her into a dehumanizing role. aang grew up in the air temples, traveling the world with his friends and being guided gently and playfully by his mentor who loved him unconditionally; korra was constantly monitored and surveilled by an organization dedicated to making sure she never got to be a real kid. yes, she had her parents, and katara, and naga, but as wonderful as they are, she never had any human friends her age until she was in her late teens, and she barely got to leave her little training compound.

korra needed to be able to make her own decisions for herself, but it wasn’t tenzin or tonraq holding her back by trying to parent her, it was the white lotus and their obsession with policing her every action for her entire childhood. I think another missed opportunity was not showing us a more evident divide between the white lotus as korra’s inhibitors, and katara as korra’s mentor who promotes her forging her own path & defining her freedom. it’s clear that katara is torn between wanting to keep korra safe and wanting korra to be allowed to experience the world for herself (similarly to how kanna also struggled with katara’s desires to travel the world). like I said, katara would not subscribe to either faction, because she sees korra first and foremost as a human being, and therefore cannot agree fully with either ideology, but I do also think she sympathizes more with the red lotus, since she is constantly butting heads with the white lotus and what they think is best for korra, and also just generally holds anarchist values, even if she does strongly believe in the avatar as a spiritual & political figure.

another thing is that lok is kind of confused by its own exploration of spirituality. sometimes it seems to acknowledge the inherent politicization of the spiritual, and sometimes it acts as if politics & spirits are separate, which is obviously not the case as demonstrated in atla (and the kyoshi novels). again, unalaq does not make sense as a character, but he could’ve played an interesting role in book 2 had book 2 been remotely coherent! for one thing, his connection to the spirits leads him to solve a centuries-old problem, which is the peaceful eradication of malignant spirits, a problem that kuruk was unable to solve in his time, which led to his untimely demise. of course, book 2 does not remotely interrogate what makes spirits malignant (or, “dark” lol) other than “well they’re being corrupted by vaatu, who is evil personified” (dumb, starwars level morality, avatar u should be better than this). in the kyoshi novels (which are so much better than lok in every possible way, btw), the reason the spirits start attacking humans is because humans are developing over sacred land that yangchen promised the spirits wouldn’t be interfered with. while kuruk knows that the spirits are in the right, he has no choice but to kill them, which in turn physically corrupts and ultimately kills him. now this is an example of a tragic conflict with no definitive solution, lok take notes!

but anyway. unalaq has finally found a way to solve this problem. and maybe he’s not actually a monarch, maybe he was elected specifically because of his spiritual power (I think that after the (functional) “death” of his only child, arnook would need to find another solution as to who should succeed him as chief than simply lineage, and katara, revolutionary that she is, is like “hey what if.....monarchies bad, actually?” and so by the time of book 2, the nwt isn’t actually a monarchy) and he uses his influence as a spiritual/political leader to try and take back the southern water tribe by manipulating korra into supporting him. and of course, by “take back,” I do fully mean that the southern water tribe was previously independent from the north because katara (and others, including sokka, but mostly katara) made sure of this fact very early on after the war (again, fuck the comics). so unalaq resents that the water tribe avatar is from the south, because he wanted to mentor (ie, control) the water tribe avatar, but unfortunately katara ended up getting the new avatar, not him. so he’s like, well, if I opened the spirit portals and turned the south back into a colony of the north, then that could solve all of my problems at once! oh and also kill katara, obviously. she needs to go.

and then another added layer of unalaq’s resentment could be the fact that she’s tonraq’s kid, bc if tonraq hadn’t left the north, then she could’ve grown up there and he could’ve been her mentor. but again, I don’t think tonraq should have been in line for the throne, or become chief of the south, i just think that maybe he left because he had a falling out with unalaq that was so bad he was just like “fuck this im leaving.” maybe something to do with their father & tonraq being the favorite & unalaq resenting him for it. idk im just spitballing here but u can literally never go wrong with an edgar & edmund subplot. and he also resents his kids, who are basically the same age as korra, for not being the avatar. like how dare they. (also eska & desna are actually fleshed out and not terrible & unnecessary in this version ofc.) so unalaq uses the fact that tonraq left the north as a way to manipulate korra & win her over, and he gets her to direct her misplaced anger at the white lotus at her father, so she opens the southern spirit portal, and she’s so proud of herself because she’s never been able to control that much spiritual energy before, and unalaq’s like “oh yes there’s so much i can teach you” and she’s so excited!! and his plan is going perfectly until korra learns that unalaq is responsible for trying to poison katara.

if not for the fact that katara is able to heal herself for long enough that she survives, and then korra and kya take her into the spirit world through the newly opened portal and heal her with spirit water, it definitely would’ve looked like katara had simply died peacefully in her sleep. she is quite old, after all. and unalaq’s plan could’ve kept going off without a hitch. but katara knows that she was poisoned, and mako uses his sick detective skillz (tho he’s a not a cop here. bc i say so.) to trace it back to unalaq. at first korra is like “ugh mako you’re obviously LYING because you’re mad that im spending more time with my cool uncle than with YOU” (and then she’s like “ha! jealous much??” when mako’s like “that doesn’t make any sense and i am just trying to support u....”) but then asami steps in and very calmly explains to korra why mako is right, and korra’s like “omg yeah asami ur right that makes so much sense ur so smart” (to which mako is just like “bro.....wtf”). so yeah fuck unalaq he tried to kill katara!!!! and why would he even wanna do that....UNLESS.

and while that’s the main plot for book 2 (again, tying in the white lotus conflict thru unalaq, who is white, NOT red lotus, and korra has really had it up to HERE with these guys jfc), there are also a lot of other aspects from that season that I think could’ve been explored so much better. like, again, the tensions between the north & south, and katara’s involvement in decolonizing the south before korra was ever born, and now again that unalaq is attempting to colonize it again. or how when korra enters the spirit world for the first time, she runs into iroh who helps her become more comfortable in the spirit world. which, don’t get me wrong, I actually did like, but I personally also think that could’ve been more interesting had we seen sokka in the spirit world (we can see iroh there too btw! that’s not mutually exclusive! and maybe even yue also!!) because I think learning that sokka a) lives on in the spirit world and b) was also a white lotus grandmaster when he was alive would be interesting considering that katara would be playing a much larger role in this season and so we see that they were both on the same side, and this conflict isn’t so clear-cut. so korra stumbles onto sokka and iroh playing pai sho together, and learns some history of the spirit world and some history of the white lotus, which helps inform her decisions throughout the rest of the show.

and then of course all the characters who aren’t korra in this season have just nothing to do or are utterly misused (what even WAS bolin’s arc). so I would’ve liked to see asami grapple with the ramifications of her father’s attempted filicide & the fate of future industries, and just generally be given more narrative space to figure her shit out. and mako finding a career path (that isn’t a fucking cop!!!!!!!) that actually interests him & helps him feel like he’s making a difference, and also coming to terms with the fact that as much as he loves & admires korra, they are simply not compatible romantically. and bolin’s arc can still serve as commentary on the nature of nationalistic propaganda because I do think that thread has a lot of potential, but the whole thing with eska is weird & unnecessary. and then jinora’s role as a burgeoning spiritual leader is actually perfect I wouldn’t change a thing there (other than to adapt it better to a more coherently-written season as a whole, of course) bc I love what they did with jinora in books 2 & 3!!! definitely the second-best character of lok for me (after korra herself ofc).

ultimately, what this season needed was to connect the spiritual & political conflict in a meaningful way to korra’s own character growth, which is why her deciding to leave the spirit portals open is important, but the journey getting there is just so.............. confusing. I also think that book 1 doesn’t really make sense politically or thematically at all, and neither korra’s resentment of the white lotus or the republic city citizens’ resentment of the ruling class (which, to be clear, is not benders, lol) is fully explored to its natural ends, so in this book 2 rewrite books 1, 3 & 4 would also necessarily need to be rewritten of course. the only thing I wouldn’t change, quite frankly, is “korra alone,” which is an AMAZING episode no notes there!!! so yeah, in summation, we need a) a more coherent antagonist in unalaq both ideologically & thematically, b) a larger role for katara (and sokka!) considering that this book is about exploring the political tensions in the southern water tribe that started developing after the war, c) a vision of the spirit world that aligns better with the (excellent) precedent set by atla, d) an overarching conflict re: the white vs red lotus framed by not only unalaq and the white lotus’s failure to fully educate korra, but also sokka and iroh in the spirit world playing pai sho (which is obviously also a metaphor that frames the plot/themes bc u know i live for pai sho metaphors lol) and introductions to zaheer & ming hua (who was once katara’s pupil, lest we forget the deep lore) et al, and then finally e) korra’s friends getting thematically relevant character arcs that inform both the themes of the season and their characters throughout the show.

I can go more in depth about any of these elements at some other point, but this has already gotten super fucking long, and is probably incoherent af bc like I said, I wrote this on my phone in one sitting basically while recovering from surgery (im fine btw) so this is not the most organized outline in the world... I obviously have a lot to say on this matter tho so feel free to ask for any clarifications or elaborations! apparently I will never stop having thots on this

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azucanela · 4 years

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

AFTER | SOKKA X READER

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

WORD COUNT: 10k

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When she’d found out from Fire Lord Ozai.

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

Maybe she was just a little bitter about it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Irony at its finest.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Debatable.”

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

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

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

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

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

“And I’m a bad person?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It was not a one time thing.

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

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

She’d demonstrated that in the Northern Water Tribe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Y/N had contemplated killing Zuko before.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Zuko wouldn’t walk away from that fight.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sokka raises a brow, “for what?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She started avoiding him after that.

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

Just a little.

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Leave. Her. Be.”

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

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

“My first girlfriend turned into the moon.”

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

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

Zuko raised his brows at Sokka, “us?”

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

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

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

He really needed to talk to her.

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

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

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

Play dumb, play dumb, play dumb.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So, he didn’t.

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

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

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

Maybe.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“I love you.”

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

And then she was falling.

It appeared there would be no after.

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

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

No, she wouldn’t be dying today.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, after was looking pretty good right about now.

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

anyways take care of yourselves!

taglists:

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

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

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passable-talent · 4 years

Note

part 4 was so so good!!!!! can you make a part 5? i’m in love with your writing and that series!!! you’re feeding my need for zuko content and i love u for that.

it literally took exactly 19 minutes to get a request for part 5

THANK U THO SHDBCNDGS IM HAPPY YOURE ENJOYING WHAT I DO

been excited to get back to this one, y’all aren’t ready 😏

OKAY I SAID YALL WERENT READY BEFORE I EVEN WROTE IT BUT NOW IVE WRITTEN IT AND LET ME FUCKING REITERATE: YALL ARE NOT F U C K I N G R E A D Y

For chapter five, and my five hundred follower special, we will go back to spring of the year 100 AG, right before Azula’s coup succeeded in their destruction of Ba Sing Se . . .

“So what’s happening?” You asked Mushi as the two of you hurried through the streets of the upper ring.

“Come close,” Mushi answered, and your footsteps brought you beside him.

“My nephew and I are more than refugees,” he began, “my name is Iroh, and I am the brother of the Fire Lord. My nephew, Zuko, is the banished prince of the Fire Nation. I’m sorry we lied to you, but we needed to, in order to stay in Ba Sing Se where we were safe from our family.” Your head reeled, but you kept beside him, because still you trusted this man. You were trained to react and to think, thanks to the Dai Li, so you analyzed his words.

“Were?” you questioned, wondering why he seemed to suggest that he was no longer safe.

“My niece, Princess Azula, has infiltrated the city. She tried to capture me- she did capture Zuko.” Your eyes widened, and your speed increased beside Iroh. “I need your help to retrieve him, and the Avatar’s. That’s where we’re headed.” You looked up at the house you were approaching, half caved in from some sort of destruction. What had happened here?

“The Avatar?” you asked, and Iroh nodded, pausing in front of the door to knock politely. You waited beside him, but held your forehead- you were so shocked about everything you were finding out.

Zuko- not Lee. The banished prince of the Fire Nation. You hadn’t even known that the prince of the Fire Nation had been banished! What else didn’t you know about the other nations of the world beyond the walls of Ba Sing Se?

Why had this information been kept from you? You were training to be in the Dai Li, one of the best and most important police forces of the Earth Kingdom, shouldn’t this information be privy to you? Why wasn’t it?

You were pulled from your thoughts as a girl opened the door, and regarded Iroh with friendliness.

“I need your help,” he began, and you watched the reactions of the other two at the door. They seemed frightened by Iroh- what kind of history had they that you weren’t aware of?

Why were you kept in the dark about everything?

“You guys know each other?” demanded the boy you had to assume was the avatar, who didn’t seem much concerned with your presence. Maybe it was the earth kingdom robes?

“I met him in the woods once, and knocked him down,” answered the girl, and with her gaze that didn’t seem focused on the avatar you wondered if maybe she was blind. She, however, seemed like a strong earthbender. It was one of the things you were trained to pick up on in the Dai Li, and relied entirely on how a person carried herself. “Then he gave me tea and some very good advice.”

“May we come in?” Iroh asked sheepishly, and you wondered why there wasn’t more urgency to his tone.

“Who’s your friend?” the clearly water tribe boy demanded, and you lifted your chin, being acknowledged.

“I’m Y/N, a soon-to-be member of the Dai Li,” you answered, “You can trust me.”

“The Dai Li?” Avatar Aang responded, more shock in his face than before.

“That makes us even less likely to trust you!!” the water tribe boy shouted, and your eyebrows knitted together.

“The Dai Li are the protectors of the city!” you said, though you felt doubt gnaw at your spine- they had kept so much from you, their own cadet.

Iroh turned his eyes to you, and something in his gaze told you to hush up.

“Princess Azula is here, in Ba Sing Se,” Iroh told them, his tone stern and serious.

“She must have Katara!” Aang said, and you looked to Iroh. You didn’t know these people- but that Azula would capture both Zuko and a friend of the avatar meant that she was one of two things: insanely brave or insanely stupid.

“She has captured my nephew, as well,” Iroh said.

“Then we’ll work together to fight Azula, and save Katara and Zuko,” the avatar said, and you felt a little lightness crawl into your heart. You’d be able to help save Zuko, and a friend of the avatar? You were about to go on a crazy adventure.

“Whoa there,” said the water tribe boy, walking back into the conversation, “you lost me at ‘Zuko.’ “

“I know how you must feel about my nephew,” Iroh began, and your expression softened. There was definitely history here, and you’d be interested to learn it. “But believe me when I tell you, there is good inside him.” You brought your eyes to the avatar’s, and nodded, trying to fathom something to say that they’d believe. They didn’t know you, didn’t know what you stood for, and it seemed that you didn’t know much of that yourself.

“I’ve known Zuko for a while,” you said, “and he’s never been anything other than a scared and polite refugee.”

“Good inside him isn’t enough!” The water tribe boy insisted, “Why don’t you come back when it’s outside him too, okay?” Your chest deflated further, and you had to wonder: what had Zuko done, what had Zuko been, that they had this strong of a hatred for him?

Did you want to know?

“Katara’s in trouble,” Aang said to his friend, “All of Ba Sing Se’s in trouble. Working together is our best chance.”

On the way toward the catacombs of the city underneath the palace, you learned Sokka and Toph’s names, as well as the true treachery of the Dai Lee. You learned about the war with the Fire Nation, and had a smile on your face as you took in how lucky you were that the two firebenders whom you had come to love were the only two on the right side of this war.

“Well, whaddaya know, there is an ancient city down there,” Toph said, her hand pressed to the stone courtyard, “but it’s deep.” She opened up a large hole in the stone, heading downward.

“How can you tell?” You asked, and she cracked her knuckles in your direction.

“Right, you’re classically trained,” she mocked with a rude laugh, which made you smile. “I can sense seismic activity through stone. Maybe I’ll teach you, when this is over.” You nodded, intrigued, before Sokka grabbed your attention.

“We should split up. Aang, you go with Iroh and Y/N to look for Katara and the angry jerk,” he said. “No offense,” he added in Iroh’s direction, and once again you found yourself confused on the nature of their shared past when Iroh said “none taken.”

“And I’ll go with Toph to warn the Earth King about Azula’s Coup.”

Aang, Iroh, and you began heading down into the tunnel, Iroh holding up fire for light while you and Aang took turns lengthening the tunnel downwards.

“So, Toph thinks you give pretty good advice,” Aang said, seeming to try to make conversation. “And great tea.” A smile came to your face- Iroh’s tea was the reason that you were, apparently, romantically involved with the prince of the Fire Nation.

Imagine that.

“The key to both is proper aging,” Iroh said, and you laughed under your breath. “What’s on your mind?” Aang paused, and took his turn lengthening the tunnel.

“Well, I met with this guru who was supposed to help me master the avatar state and control this great power.” You turned to look at the avatar as you walked, amazed at both his story and his mere stature. You never thought that you’d get to meet the avatar.

“But to do it, I had to let go of someone I love, and I just couldn’t.” You reached the end of the tunnel, and took stance beside Iroh to take your turn lengthening it. However, Iroh began speaking, and you figured it rude to interrupt him.

“Perfection and power are overrated. I think you are very wise to choose happiness, and love.” With a smile on your face you earthbent and opened up the tunnel further, deciding then and there that you would stick with Iroh. Surely you weren’t to stay and train with the Dai Li, and as it seemed he was teaming up with the avatar, maybe you’d get to help fight in the war!

“But what happens if we can’t save everyone and beat Azula?” You didn’t answer, and let Iroh, both because you didn’t know the answer, and because you felt that the scope of your knowledge and importance wasn’t what it needed to be to even participate in this conversation.

“Without the avatar state, what if I’m not powerful enough?”

“I don’t know the answer,” Iroh said, making you gaze to the side at him. “Sometimes life is like this dark tunnel. You can’t always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you just keep moving...” Iroh paused as Aang took his turn to break through the stone in front of you, revealing light and a wide open new space, “...you will come to a better place.” You paused, standing on the edge of a cliff, to look out over the ancient city. There was a fountain in front of you, making the air smell fresh even though you were so far below ground. It was amazing, and part of you wished you could have stayed. However, you knew that there was much more pressing matters, and so you quickly moved along with Iroh and Aang into another chamber to hopefully find the prisoners you were looking for.

Aang burst through another wall of stone, and quickly disappeared through the hole as you and Iroh followed.

“Aang!” A girl shouted before embracing him, and you barely put it together that this must be ‘Katara’ before your feet had carried you to Zuko, and hugged him tightly. You yielded this, however, to Iroh, who hugged him with just as much relief as you felt in your heart.

“Uncle, I don’t understand,” Zuko said, a malice you didn’t recognize glinting in his eyes. “What are you doing with the avatar?”

“Saving you, that’s what,” Aang said, and Zuko began to lunge before Iroh caught his chest. You flinched- this wasn’t the boy you knew at all.

“Zuko, it’s time we talked,” Iroh told him, then looking at Aang and Katara. “Go help your other friends. We’ll catch up with you.” Aang and Katara turned away while you stood still, but Iroh turned to you. “You as well. It’ll be alright.” You nodded, and raced down the tunnel after Katara.

“We’ve gotta find Sokka and Toph!” Katara shouted, but you couldn’t answer her before you heard roaring behind you. You didn’t recognize the sound, but when you turned and saw blue fire, nothing could’ve prepared you.

This wasn’t in your training. It wasn’t in your index of attacks to react to. You had no idea what to do- if it wasn’t for Aang and the wall that he raised, you would’ve surely been charred on the spot.

You didn’t recognize the girl that had shot it, but you felt that it was safe to assume it must’ve been Azula.

Katara raced around the wall and picked up water, revealing herself as a powerful water bender before your eyes. The fight between her and Azula created a cloud of steam, and you staggered back even further from Aang’s wall, your chest rising and falling quickly.

You were panicking.

All of that training, everything that your instructors had ever done to harden your will and sharpen your reaction time, it stood nothing against this. This, with the sister of the guy you were crushing on shooting blue fire at the avatar, and you weren’t even sure who’s side you should be on.

That was stupid, of course you knew you should be on the avatar’s side. But something in your head whispered doubts- she was Zuko’s sister. She was the leader of the Dai Li, who you belonged to.

Azula appeared from the steam and shot two fireballs at Aang and Katara, who were forty or so feet in front of you. You just watched, dumbfounded, and realized quickly that she wasn’t aiming at you. She wasn’t targeting you at all.

She landed on a column, which Aang rocked beneath her, and she fell down to stand between Aang and Katara, her back to you. She kept her hands pointed at both of them, but suddenly, her attention turned toward you.

“You’re Y/N, right?” She asked, and your eyes widened. “I remember you. You’re a very impressive cadet, you could be an asset to me. I control the Dai Li, now, and so your allegiance is to me.”

Just for a moment, Katara’s gaze turned to you, wondering if there was any truth to that statement.

Was there?

A fireball impacted the ground between Aang and Azula and you staggered backward, looking up for the source of the flame.

Zuko. Relief filled your chest- at least you knew for sure you were on his side.

As though time was frozen, you watched as he turned his ready stance from aiming at Aang, to aiming at Azula, and your tension melted away. You could fight beside Zuko and the avatar and Katara, and surely between the four of you the princess would be defeated.

Then, from your position fifty feet behind Aang, you saw Zuko’s eyes land on the avatar.

The calmness drifted away, and all you saw was rage.

Fire blasted toward Aang, and he couldn’t avoid the plume, his air bending keeping him from harm but also sending him back beside you. Zuko’s fire kept coming, and you threw up a wall in front of you, turning to the side with your body made into a smaller target out of pure fear.

Zuko had turned on Aang. He’d shot fire at Aang- he’d shot fire at you.

Aang leapt away to continue his battle, which left you behind your wall of stone, paralyzed with fear and indecision and betrayal and anger and sadness.

Didn’t you know Zuko at all? That look in his eye... you had never seen that before. There was pure rage inside him, and you couldn’t understand it, you couldn’t comprehend how this was the boy you’d cared for.

You heard fire roaring throughout the cave, and the whooshing of the wind that Aang sent back. Rocks clattered to the floor and water shot around the cavern, and it was all too much, the sounds of martial arts and groaning and impacts, you couldn’t get a clear thought through your mind.

“I thought you had changed!” Katara’s yell echoed off the rocks, and just for a moment your hands lifted from your temple. Was she talking to Zuko?

“I have changed,” he answered, and it was in the silence that followed that you made up your mind, finally.

Zuko was on the wrong side of this war. Not as you’d thought.

You heard a yelp from Katara and brought up a hunk of earth underneath you, launching you across the cave and into a defensive position in front of her with a battle cry. Both Azula and Zuko seemed surprised by this decision, but before any of you could react, the rumbling of Aang’s reemergence interrupted the fight. They turned their attention to him, which gave you the moment to send a hunk of stone into both of their abdomens, knocking them backward. However, your eyes turned up with the sound of Dai Li stone chains, and you couldn’t pull your limbs in tight enough to avoid their sudden grip on you.

“No,” you snarled as Katara woke, and brought a ring of water around the both of you. You stood back to back with her, small finger movements slowly dissembling the stone chains around your wrists so you could help her in the fight.

But there were too many agents- you knew you couldn’t take them all on. Not even with a master waterbender at your back.

A gust of wind surprised you, and you broke free in time to see Aang rise from shattered crystal inside a beam of light. It was amazing- and you were stunned into awe.

Lightning struck the avatar.

Katara nearly drowned you in the wave she created, but you pulled up a slab of stone just in time to surf on it behind her, just like you had on summer days in Lake Laogai. Mowing down Dai Li agents, and the royal siblings, the two of you raced toward the falling avatar, before he was caught by Katara. Soaked, exhausted, and tears blurring your vision, you stood between her and the siblings, who walked toward her, as though they were predators, and she an easy meal.

Though you knew you should be watching them both, your eyes were on Zuko. Maybe, there was some of Lee left in him, and seeing you would bring it back. But his eyes were firmly on the dead-or-dying avatar, hungry, predatory, and your heart shattered.

Fire cut off their path and you looked up to see Iroh, who leapt down in front of even you.

“You’ve got to get out of here!” He shouted, looking back at you. “I’ll hold them off for as long as I can!” Katara stood and you joined her on Aang’s other side, carrying the avatar toward a waterfall, the sound of fire roaring behind you.

It was terrifying.

“Hold onto him!” Katara shouted, her grip tight on the avatar as she used her other hand to bend an upward spiral around the three of you.

You watched Iroh face Zuko until the rock covered your vision, and you closed your eyes.

Back on Appa, you kneeled behind Sokka, one eye keeping a watch on Katara as she attempted to heal Aang. But mostly, you gripped Appa’s fur, and cried.

The Dai Li had lied to you. Zuko and Iroh had lied to you. The Dia Li turned on you. Zuko turned on you. Zuko turned on Iroh, Azula killed the avatar. Everything was so messed up, beyond proportion, skewed beyond belief. The boy you thought you might’ve loved...

He’d never existed in the first place.

And though the avatar lived, you laid your forehead to the bison’s back, and sobbed.

tag list for this series- @furblrwurblr @eridanuswave

oh yeah request for pt 6 /// already been requested y’all are fine

edit: | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 |

-🦌 Roe

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cottage-babe · 4 years

Text

Burning Scars part X

Previous | Chapter 10 | Next

Masterlist

whoops i missed two weeks of updating, sorry, concussion stuff :) im all good now tho so more! updating!

I changed the original story up a bit :)

Summary: Y/n, a werewolf from a hidden village, comes across Zuko and Iroh after being exiled. How has fate intertwined the wolf into the avatar’s destiny?

___

Zuko’s been acting a little... weird lately.

Well, let’s clarify something; Zuko always acts weird. But ever since the trio went into work that day, the boy had been on edge.

Y/n was standing at the tea station, just leaning against the wall and spacing out. Iroh was beside her, humming a small tune as he prepared the next batch of tea. Then, the boy quickly walked up to them in panic.

“Guys, we have a problem.” He said as he set the teacups he was holding onto the table. “One of the customers is on to us. Don't look now but there is a girl over there at the corner table.”

Y/n snapped out of her daydream and looked over to the person Zuko was talking about. It was a pretty girl; she had long dark hair pulled into two braids and a sappy smile on her face. Instantly Y/n knew that she wasn’t suspicious of anything.

“Didn’t I say don’t look?!” Zuko whispered and dragged both of his companions arms to turn away.

A laugh almost escaped Y/n’s mouth as she shared a look with Iroh. “You know Zuko, I think you’re right, I’ve seen her here a lot.”

The clueless teen nodded his head and furrowed his brows.

“Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you.” Iroh laughed and went back to whatever it was that he was doing.

Zuko let out a ‘what?’ and Y/n sighed in response. She had to keep reminding herself that she and the other boy were nothing remotely close to romantic. If anything was learned from last night, they were just friends; family, at most. And she was okay with that, honestly. She had so many issues with him that it probably wouldn’t even work out. But still, she couldn’t deny the fact the Zuko might’ve been the topic of her daydream just moments ago.

Y/n resumed her position of leaning on the wall. She watched as the ‘mysterious’ girl walked up to the counter and began to talk to Zuko flirtatiously. The girl introduced herself as Jin and payed for her drink.

“Thank you and ... well, I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime?” Jin asked with a hopeful gaze.

Zuko paused in bewilderment and it almost made the poor girl regret her request. Y/n wasn’t going to butt in, she really wasn’t, but soon she decided that it was for the best. Maybe if she helped him get in a relationship, it would help her get over her slight (once again, very very slight) feelings over him.

“He’d love to.” Y/n responded for Zuko.

The boy looked around his shoulder and sent the wolf a questioning glare, but she just sent him a smile and turned to help Iroh make some tea.

My job here is done.

Jin and Zuko talked a bit more and ended with her saying that she’d meet with him at sundown. That meant that for the rest of the day Zuko chatted nervously with Y/n and Iroh, giving off mixed feelings between ‘I don’t want to go’ and ‘should I dress nice?’. Y/n let Iroh do all the talking, she wasn’t too much of an expert in that area.

When she was in her pack, Y/n wasn’t exactly popular among the boys. They mainly drifted her to strong, beautiful sister and the girl wasn’t bothered by it too much. She had a few crushes here and there, but that was about it. Nothing was ever acted on.

So hearing that this was Zuko’s first date relieved her to an extent; at least she wasn’t the only one who’d gone this long without being in a relationship. But there was the other part that nagged her a bit, the fact that Zuko was having his first date; with a stranger none the less.

Quit all this feeling stuff, it’s getting annoying.

Y/n may or may not have been giving Zuko a form of silent treatment for the day. If he ever asked her anything, she answered, but other than that, she never intimated any conversation. There wasn't any particular reason (lies), but it certainly didn't go unnoticed by her roommate.

"Hey, uhh.. if you don't think that I should go, I won't." Zuko said randomly on their break.

Y/n's eyes furrowed in confusion. "I literally answered her for you, Lee. If anyone is being hesitant, it should be you."

"So," he began. "Your not bothered? At all?"

There was this weird look in the boy's eyes, something of... Hope?

That's weird.

"Listen, if you need advise or something, Iroh will probably be your best bet." The werewolf laughed awkwardly.

He just sighed and went back to work.

When closing time was coming and there were hardly any customers left, Zuko and Iroh went to the backroom to prepare. Y/n didn’t really pay attention to what they were doing; she just assumed that they were cleaning up any dirty bits he picked up or making him smell better.

That was why when Zuko walked out into the dining room with his hair slicked back ridiculously, Y/n couldn't hold back the snort that escaped her. Why would Iroh do this to him? Some revenge she didn’t know about or something?

Zuko glared at her and she just masked up her laughter as a cough. “You look great!” She even put a thumbs up to try an convince him of her lie. He just rolled his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly opening the door of the restaurant. By that time, the few remaining people had filtered out and it was just the three of them.

When the view of Jin came, even Y/n couldn’t hold back her gasp.

The young girl was really quite beautiful. Her braid was fixed and she had a youthful enthusiasm to her features. It was a beautiful contrast to the adult life that Y/n and Zuko were thrown into.

Jin’s eyes widened at the boys new look and laughed, saying something clever to him. Zuko just shut the door so his two roommates wouldn’t listen in on their conversation.

“He’s growing up so fast,” Iroh jokingly sniffled and wiped a fake tear.

Y/n laughed and nodded her head. I hope he’s nice to her.

The werewolf turned and returned to the backroom so she could put her apron away. She assumed that Iroh was following, so she didn’t bother waiting.

“So,” She began, “what should we do tonight?” Y/n began to wave her arms around dramatically. “Get some food? Watch a play?”

She was really looking forward to tonight. Now they didn’t have Zuko here constantly breathing down their necks (”We don’t have enough money for that!!” “Why buy that when you can buy this!” it got a little redundant at times).

Iroh slid his apron off and chuckled. “Oh no no... I’m far too old to have fun at night.”

Y/n deflated. To be fair, the sun hadn’t fully set yet. “I mean... I guess we could read at home?”

He shook his head once more and turned toward the werewolf. “Just go have fun, meet new people. Don’t let someone like me slow you down!”

She pouted. Why does he think that time spent with him is wasted? She has plenty of fun hanging out with the sweet uncle! Y/n looked at his happy, aged face and observed his truthfulness. She knows that he just wants her to have fun, but still...

“Just go, Y/n, and I’ll see you back home tonight.” Iroh smiled.

Y/n sighed, looking at Iroh one last time, before turning around and heading out the same door that Jin and Zuko left through. When the brisk air hit her, it felt different somehow. Maybe because this was her first time being out alone. She means this quite lightly, of course, but something about it still irked her.

The sun was sorta bright out, but not much.

It had set halfway, so the small beams were jutting out the tops of the building and the sky was painted the scene of fire. Oh, her and her love for sunsets.

Y/n decided to pick a direction and walk. Honestly, in this part of the city, there weren’t many sights to see; everything interesting rested in the higher Rings since they could afford it.

After a few minutes, the girl saw a stand selling sweets. She patted her pockets and brought out her tips from work. It wasn’t much, but definitely enough for the night.

She paid for some iced treats; Popsicles of some kind. She wasn’t entirely sure which flavor to pick, so she went with her childish side and decided to buy two that she was interested in.

As she continued her trip, Y/n stopped at a few places to watch things. Since night was approaching, shows were starting on random parts of the streets. People performed odd talents for money and it excited the girl; maybe she should do something like them, it seems fun.

At some point, Y/n ended up at the entrance of a zoo.

She was almost finished with the first ice cream in her grasp when she decided to enter the park. It seemed deserted and there was only one person at the front desk.

“Umm, excuse me? Are you open?” Y/n asked since the worker was almost half asleep.

The man jumped awake and looked around, startled. Then, his eyes landed on the girl’s curious figure. “Yes. Is it just you? Where’s your friends?”

Y/n pouted in response. “It’s just me, how much is it?”

She began to ruffle through her pockets, hoping that it was enough to see the animals, but the man waved a hand in the air.

“It’s fine, you can just go ahead. Just don’t feed the animals.” He said while looking suspiciously at the girl’s popsicles.

Y/n nodded her head and smiled in thanks. Then, she went inside.

She wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted to be here; it would be hard for her to see captive animals when she herself was one (well, not caged, but you get the point). Her pack elders had informed her of zoos and used it to scare the kid wolves so they wouldn’t go and try to find humans. Of course, that never worked on Y/n and her siblings. She honestly just thought that it was fake up until this point.

The werewolf walked around to each cell to observe the animals. It almost made her cry; they all just looked so lonely. Y/n couldn’t imagine how trapped they must feel in this small cage; a part of her was happy that she wasn’t in that situation, though.

“They all look so sad.”

Y/n turned around and was met with a young boy, possibly about twelve years old. He was bald with a blue arrow tattooed across his forehead and arms and held a long stick in his hands. The orange of his clothing made him standout against the dreary greys of the zoo.

The girl looked at the animal across from them. It was a Rabaroo, an animal with long ears and bouncy legs. Y/n could hear small chirps coming from the pouch in her front, but she decided not to say anything.

“She’s really hungry too, I can tell.” Y/n said as she walked up closer to the cage.

The poor animal was almost pleading for help. She had a thought that the Rabaroo knew what she was, a predator, but still asked for help. These animals must be really desperate.

The boy joined her. “I wish there was something I could do, but I’m not sure how to help.”

Y/n nodded her head in agreement. When she got this feeling in the past (before they entered Ba Sing Se with their Ostrich-Horses), she found a solution; to just let them go and be free. Now, however, she just felt helpless.

Instead, she just looked at the boy and held out the other ice treat in her hand. “Do you want one? I can’t finish both.”

He got a childish excitement in his eyes and grabbed the treat. Y/n smiled back at him, maybe something good can come from today.

“I’m Aang, I’m looking for my lost Sky Bison.” Aang said as he began licking to Popsicle.

“Y/n,” she introduced herself while thinking, what the Spirits is a Sky Bison? “I'm just wandering the city; thinking."

“Really?” He asked. “What are you thinking about?”

What was she thinking about?

There’s so much that should be on her mind right now; her future, how her family’s doing, how she’s doing, but for some reason the only thing that’s been scattered around her brain recently was Zuko. Something about him just seemed so.. spirits, she couldn’t even find the word for it. But it seemed like she was seeing him differently now.

“Oh, you're still here?"

Y/n and Aang turned to the voice that spoke. It belonged to the man at the front desk, the one that let her in for free.

"Do you know what's wrong with the animals?" Aang asked the owner, ignoring the rude phrase that he said.

"Well, the Dai Li won't give me any money because the kids stopped coming. And the kids won't come because my zoo's nasty and broke." The owner sighed. "I wish I could give all these animals the big, open space that they need."

Y/n frowned. He must have really good intentions, it's just the situation that makes him seem bad.

She met eyes with the younger boy to her side and was surprised to see the... Joy?

"Let's do it!" Aang yelled out, surprising both people beside him. "There's a big open space right outside the walls of the city!"

"But how do we transport them?" Y/n asked.

She was totally on board with the idea, it's just that it seemed a little... Impulsive. But she was talking to a child, though, and they always have such big ideas.

"Oh I'm really good with animals." The boy smiled. "Do you want to help me?"

The werewolf paused, thinking that maybe she shouldn't get involved in this event. But one look at the poor Rabaroo peering up at her with it's wide eyes made her cave in.

"You know... I'm pretty good with animals too."

She was not as good as she thought she was.

Aang and Y/n separated because they needed to find a way to calm the wild animals running loose. The boy (spirits bless him) thought it was a fantastic idea to let all of the animals go at once; from the biggest animals to the smallest rats. It was wild.

And so here the werewolf was, chasing down a pair of Raccoon-Crows. Since the sun had set long ago, there weren’t a lot of people out. Most who enjoyed the liveliness of the night has had their fun and returned to the welcoming embrace of their beds. Oh, if only I stayed home to sleep.

“Get back here!” Y/n yelled as the birds flew off once again.

They seemed to look at her with a mischievous gleam in their eyes; waiting for her to get close before bolting off once again. It was getting very annoying.

She didn’t regret helping the young boy, especially since she might’ve gained a friend out of this. She only regretted not coming up with a better plan; or at least to wait until morning.

“AHHH!” A voice screamed off in the distance.

Y/n groaned and turned toward the yell, knowing that some animal was probably attacking some random citizen. What she didn’t expect though, was to run face first into Zuko and Jin’s date.

Jin had a hog-monkey climbing on her dress and Zuko was in full panic mode. He tried to help her push the animal off, but it seemed to have a steel grip on her. Luckily, they were alone in some fire lit plaza.

Y/n felt really awkward, especially with how private the area was. What would they need privacy for? She quickly pushed that out of her head though and whistled loudly to catch the Monkey’s attention.

The animal and the two teens looked at her in surprise. Y/n took out a treat that the Zoo Keeper had given her and waved it to catch the eyes of the Hog-Monkey. When it loosened it’s grip, she threw it as far as she could away from the group. Luckily, it jumped away in excitement.

“Y/n?!” Zuko exclaimed. Sighing in defeat, the werewolf slowly joined the duo.

Jin was still slightly frightened and was grasped onto the boy’s arm. Y/n pretended not to see it.

“Hey Lee. Fancy seeing you here?” She tried miserably as she scrunched her face up in discomfort. Maybe they’ll be able to cut this conversation short.

“Why aren’t you back home with Uncle?” Zuko said as his eyebrows squished together in anger. “What are you even doing out here?”

“I decided to go out too,” she explained quickly, “but listen, I met this boy and we’r-”

“A boy?!” He seemed to be fuming now. “You can’t just go around talking to random people.”

This made the werewolf (and Jin, but we’re kinda ignoring the sweet girl for a moment) raise her eyebrow in disbelief. He’s really out here, scolding her for making friends when he’s on a date with some girl he’s never met before. Does he ever think before he speaks?

“I-” Y/n paused and took a deep breath to calm herself. “You know what? We’ll talk about this later. I think we’re both busy at the moment.”

Zuko glanced at his date and the werewolf used that distraction as an excuse to leave. She ran off in the direction of the Hog-Monkey, hoping that it hadn’t run too far and purposefully ignored the boy who yelled in protest behind her. Stupid Zuko and his stupid anger issues.

When she got far enough, she slowed to a walk and looked around. The monkey must’ve gotten away because it was nowhere in sight.

“Hog-Monkey.... c’mere monkey, I have treats.” Y/n spoke loudly out into the dark streets of Ba Sing Se.

She hoped that the animal would hear her words and come barreling toward her, but she was only greeted with silence except for the soft footsteps coming from a lady walking down the street. Besides for the lady, the entire street was empty and no other animal was in sight.

That was when she heard it.

A high pitched ringing noise that rattled her bones and made her brain shrink in protest. It was louder than anything she’d ever heard before. It wasn’t the noise that was painful, no no, it was the feeling of being ripped apart that did.

The noise, for some reason, caused the werewolf in Y/n to go absolutely crazy. It was fighting the girl; desperately trying to shift into its natural skin so it could run toward the ringing.

Y/n hunched herself over and groaned out in pain. She looked at her hands and saw it shifting between claws and human hands; she could only imagine what the rest of her body was doing.

“Are you alright, sweetie?”

The transforming-girl looked up to meet the eyes of the lady who was on the street. Her eyes were filled with worry, but slowly changed into something of fear.

Before the werewolf could do something to hurt the kind woman, Y/n bolted down an empty alley. Spirits, what is happening to me?

She leaned against the dirty wall and tried to catch her breath, but her wolf just kept clawing at her, desperately trying to escape. She punched the wall, leaving a fist-sized dent (her mind just brushed it off as her wolf power, but that was weird, right?). Then, while the ringing noise still blasted through her ears, she felt her snout slowly grow out of her face; a growl of effort roaring through the alleyway.

The young girl wanted to cry. Why couldn’t she control herself right now? She was used to the pain of transforming, she had done it all of her life, but she’d never experienced the pain of her two natures battling. It was something entirely different.

The seconds that were passing seemed like hours.

All she could think was, when will the ringing stop?

Soon, she didn’t have the power to hold it back anymore. Her human body was weak and she hated herself for it. She let her werewolf grow into its natural size, towering above her normal height. She felt her clothing rip until it was just strips of fabric on on the floor.

The ringing stopped, but her wild mind remembered where the sound came from and began its run there.

Fortunately (although, its also very unfortunate), her journey was ended when something sharp pierced through the skin on her neck. Her dark eyes jumped around until it landed on the fearful lady from the street shaking beside a group of men.

Y/n felt a sudden drowsiness come over her and her large body fell limp to the floor despite it’s fighting. Just before the unconsciousness came over her, though, the green circle on the men’s chest became prominent in the moonlight.

Then, her world went dark.

Dai Lee >:(

also Aang’s whistle thing >:(

i know that this is a VERY slow burn, but maybe some... couple-y stuff in the next few chapters? we’ll see ;)

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araeph · 7 years

Note

I think Sokka's quest for identity is one of the most interesting things about him. What it means to be a man, to be useful and to be acknowledged is an interesting central conflict for a supporting character. What do you think S3 Sokka believes it takes to be a man. I think he's learnt to intercede and mediate issues in his family and to make tough choices. What else can you think of?

Sokka: Now men,it’s important that you show no fear when you face a firebender. In the WaterTribe, we fight to the last man standing. For without courage, how can we callourselves men?

Anotherexcellent question! Sokka’s quest for identity is intrinsically linked to hisquest for manliness, because if you’ll recall, Sokka was not able to become aman by Water Tribe custom before he was nominally put in charge of the tribe:

Bato: How aboutyou, Sokka? You must have some good stories from your first time ice-dodging?Katara: He never got to go. Dad left before he was old enough.Bato: Oh, I forgot, you were too young.Aang: What’s ice-dodging?Bato: It’s a rite of passage for young water tribe members.

But while Katara was helping with the chores, keeping her familytogether and helping to deliver babies, Sokka was left adrift, without apaternal example to emulate for two of his teenage years. War never came to hisdoorstep, so he resorts to “training” the kindergarten crowd. And notice thatKatara (and likely the other members of his tribe) don’t take this seriously:

Katara: Ugh, I’membarrassed to be related to you! Ever since Mom died I’ve been doing all thework around camp while you’ve been off playing soldier!

Playing soldier.Katara’s right: that’s exactly what Sokka has been doing, because therigid gender expectations of being a man don’t allow him to do anything else.Once Aang arrives and upends Sokka’s world, his identity as a would-be mancollides with the reality of the war and the people around him.

The Four Partsof Being a Man (by Sokka)

1. Leader

Sokka : Iknow you all want to fly, but my instincts tell me we should play it safe thistime and walk.Katara: Who made you the boss?Sokka: I’m not the boss—I’m the leader.Katara : You’re the leader? But your voice still cracks!Sokka: I’m the oldest and I’m a warrior. So…I’m the leader!

Katara: You’rehurt. Badly. You can’t fight anymore. Hakoda: Everyone’s counting on me to lead this mission, Katara. Iwon’t let them down. Sokka: Can’t you heal him any faster? Katara: I’m doing everything I can. Sokka: I’ll do it.Katara: No offense Sokka but you’re not exactly Mr. Healing Hands.Sokka: No. I’ll lead the invasion force. Katara: Don’t be crazy, Sokka.Sokka: Maybe I am a little crazy but the eclipse is about to start andwe need to be up that volcano by the time it does.Hakoda: You can do this. I’m proud of you, son. Katara: I still think you’re crazy but I’m proud of you too.

Sokka’s father is the chief, so it makes sense that being a man impliesbeing a leader. But before his adventure, Sokka has only a nebulous idea ofwhat that really means. Worse, he seems to think that being a man makes him aleader, instead of being a leader making him a man. When he first tries toassert his authority in “Jet”, he is met with ridicule:

Aang: Walking stinks!How do people go anywhere without a flying bison?Katara: I don’t know Aang. Why don’t you ask Sokka’s instincts—theyseem to know everything.Sokka: Ha ha. Very funny.Aang: I’m tired of carrying this pack.Katara: You know who you should ask to carry it for a while?Sokka’s Instincts!Aang: That’s a great idea! Hey, Sokka’s Instincts, would you mind—Sokka: Okay, okay—I get it.

As so often happens, Sokka has to adapt to the situation. “Jet” is abouta boy who, although a good leader in most senses, leads his team astray intomurder and mayhem. Sokka, even though he is a novice, realizes innocent livesare on the line and warns the townspeople before the dam explodes. He didn’texpect to be a leader at the moment, but he didn’t fail when it really mattered.Throughout the series, his tactical and strategic successes accumulate untilthe entire GAang relies on him to plan their missions. And on “The Day of BlackSun”, despite his fumbling speech beforehand, Sokka takes the reins of themission and performs admirably.

Aang: It’s over.The Fire Lord is probably long gone. Far away on some remote island where he’llbe safe during the eclipse.Sokka: No. My instincts tell me he wouldn’t go too far. He would have asecret bunker. Somewhere he could go so it’ll be safe during a siege but stillbe close enough to lead his nation.Toph: If it’s an underground secret bunker we’re looking for, I’m justthe girl to find it.

No one’s laughing at Sokka’s instinctsnow.

2. Protector

Katara :Sokka, you’re making a mistake. Sokka: No! I’m keeping my promise to Dad. I’m protecting you fromthreats like him!

Illusion Yue: You didn’t protect me.

Sokka’smother was murdered when he was very young, and there was nothing he could doabout it. He knows from how devastated his father was and how driven he becameto help the war effort that being a man must mean protecting people—especially the women in your life. Sokkaprotects Katara on multiple occasions from threats real (Jet, Mai) and imagined(Aang, Appa). Protecting Katara is his way of protecting the mother he couldn’tsave as a boy. And his inability to protect Yue from sacrificing herself cutshim deeply. He overcompensates by trying to shield Suki from everything:

Suki: Look,I know you’re just trying to help, but I can take care of myself. Sokka: I know you can. Suki: Then why are you acting so over protective?Sokka: It’s so hard to lose someone you care about. Somethinghappened at the North Pole, and I couldn’t protect someone. I don’t wantanything like that to ever happen again.

In the end,Sokka learns how to be protect the people he cares about without stifling them.His shielding of Toph in the finale is very similar to his protecting Katara inthe pilot:

But there’sone key difference: in the pilot, Sokka thought of Katara as someone who ismore in need of protection as a girl. In the finale, Sokka recognizes that Tophcan’t see the falling shards of metal, but respects her fighting ability overand over:

Sokka: Did Imention how sweet it was that you invented metalbending?

Sokka: I am soglad we added you to the group!

3. Warrior

Even morethan being a leader, being a warrior defines being a man in the Water Tribe.And no wonder; with decades of being raided by the ruthless Fire Nation, andwaterbenders being increasingly scarce, the South would have had to rely moreand more on brute strength to drive off the invaders. A warrior is also the onething Sokka is most insecure about because it implies a certain skillset thathe was too young to receive full training in. Not to mention, his sister is awaterbender and he is not. Witness this exchange from “The Warriors of Kyoshi”:

Sokka: Whoare you? Where are the men who ambushed us? Suki: There were no men. We ambushed you. Nowtell us, who are you and what are you doing here? Sokka: Wait a second, there’s no way that a bunch of girls took usdown.

Althoughgender roles are fairly rigid in the Southern Water Tribe, the Sokka from thevery beginning of the series feels an especially constant need to reinforce being awarrior as a “manly” pursuit and puts Katara down for being a girl. I am remindedof Iroh’s speech to Zuko:

Iroh: Prince Zuko,pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source.

Iroh: Truehumility is the only antidote to shame.

Sokka’s status as a nonbender is oftena source of shame for him. He is treated differently by bending masters:

Master Pakku: Sokka. Take care, son.

And even his own teammates:

Toph: We can take‘em. Three on three.Sokka: Actually, Toph, there’s four of us.Toph: Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t count you. You know, no bending and all.Sokka: I can still fight!Toph: Okay. Three on three plus Sokka.

This leads him to act proud of hismanliness, an attribute that he needs no training or bending to have. He eventries to get Aang to act “manlier” and not answer to “Twinkletoes”. In the end,though, he confesses the truth about how he feels:

Sokka: Look, Iappreciate the effort, but the fact is each of you is so amazingand so special, and I’m not. I’m just the guy in the groupwho’s regular.

But Sokka isspecial, and as the series goes on, he proves his mettle with a balance ofoutlandish inventiveness and logical practicality:

Sokka: See, theproblem with the old war balloon was you could get it airborne, but once youdid, it just kept going. You could put a hole in the top, but then allthe hot air would escape. So the question became, how do you keep a lid on hotair? Katara: Ugh, if only we knew. Sokka: A lid is actually the answer. If you control the hot air, youcontrol the war balloon. Katara: Hmm. That’s actually pretty smart.

Sokka: I need a plan of this machine. Some schematics that showwhat the inside looks like. Then we can find it’s weak points. Aang: Where are we gonna get something like that What are youdoing! Someone’s gonna hear us! Sokka: That’s the point. I figure a machine this big needsengineers to run it, and when something breaks…Katara: They come to fix it.

He overcomes his insecurities as a warrior by being true to himself.

Piandao: Sokka,when you first arrived, you were so unsure. You even seemed down on yourself.But I saw something in you right away. I saw a heart as strong as a lionturtle, and twice as big. And as we trained, it wasn’t your skills thatimpressed me.�� No, it certainly wasn’t your skills. You showedsomething beyond that. Creativity, versatility, intelligence… these arethe traits that define a great swordsman. And these are the traits that defineyou. You told me you didn’t know if you were worthy, but I believe thatyou are more worthy than any man I have ever trained.

4. Father

Sokka can show how brave he is, how creativehe is, and how much of a leader he’s become. But in the end, he measures hisidentity as a man by his father’s example:

Aang:Sokka, that speech wasn’t your moment of truth. That was just publicspeaking and nobody’s really good at that.Sokka: My Dad is. He explained the plan perfectly and inspired everyone.Like a real leader should. Aang: Look, your moment of truth isn’t going to be in front of some map.It’s going to be out there, on the battlefield.

Unlike with Zuko, Sokka’s confidence in hisfather is fully justified. As he grows and matures, he becomes, not a copy ofhis father, but his own person. He learns that he can be a warrior withoutputting others down, and he can assert authority without being pigheaded. Hecan trust in his own abilities, regardless of how skilled everyone else isaround him. And Hakoda validates Sokka’s identity in every respect.

As a protector:

Hakoda: Sokka…Sokka: I’m coming with you.Hakoda: You’re not old enough to go to war, Sokka, you know that.Sokka: I’m strong! I’m brave! I can fight! Please, Dad!Hakoda: Being a man is knowingwhere you’re needed the most, and for you right now that’s here protecting yoursister.Sokka: I don’t understand.Hakoda: Someday you will. I’m going to miss you so much.

As a warrior:

Hakoda: Ready togo knock some Fire Nation heads?Sokka: You don’t know how much this means to me dad. I’ll make youproud, and I’ll finally prove to you what a great warrior I am.Hakoda: Sokka, you don’t have to prove anything to me. I’m already proud of you, and I’ve alwaysknown you were a great warrior.Sokka: Really?Hakoda: Why do you think I trusted you to look after our tribe when Ileft?

As a leader:

Sokka:No. I’ll lead the invasion force. Katara: Don’t be crazy, Sokka.Sokka: Maybe I am a little crazy but the eclipse is about to start andwe need to be up that volcano by the time it does.Hakoda: You can do this.I’m proud of you, son.

And as a man.

Hakoda: Bato, getthese mines loaded up. The rest of you men, prepare for battle! Sokka: Uh, what should I do, Dad?Hakoda: Aren’t you listening? I said the rest of you men get ready for battle.

Sokka willbe a fantastic father to his own children someday, no matter what LOK might imply.

#a:tla #sokka #katara #water tribe #long post

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