The Forgotten Princess (SokkaxOC)

i. XII

A/N; Alright woohoo back to the middle of the night upload times HELL YEAH! (fr tho my sleep schedule is so far beyond broken i need to get help lol)

Katara P.o.V.

The two water tribe siblings sat at the back of Appa's saddle, watching the insane display of power before them. Katara's eyes were wide in awe at the sight of lightning curling around Azami's figure. The firebender obviously knew how to control this power, so Katara wasn't too concerned about being injured by it.

It naturally came as a surprise to her then when Azami went to release the lightning and it blew up in her face, causing her to shriek in pain as she was blasted backwards off of Appa.

"AANG!" Katara screamed. "Azami fell, we have to go after her!"

The airbender had looked back in shock when he heard the princess' scream, so he was already urging Appa downwards to try and catch her. Fireballs continued to rain through the sky around them, and the ocean was approaching at an alarming rate. They soon spotted Azami falling nearby, appearing unconscious.

With maybe thirty feet between them and the sea below, Sokka finally managed to grab onto one of Azami's arms and pull her onto Appa's saddle. "We got her, now let's get out of here!" he yelled, and Aang quickly maneuvered Appa to fly straight at the blockade. The fireballs had stopped launching, and instead they appeared to be waiting for the gaang to get closer.

Without warning, a single fireball was launched straight at them, and Aang leaped off of Appa's head to meet it. He kicked out a blast of air, disintegrating the fireball before it could reach them, and before he had a chance to fall Appa swooped in to catch him. Katara held onto him as they sailed past the blockade, successfully making it into the Fire Nation.

"We made it!" Aang cheered, while Katara just had a terrified look on her face. Trespassing in the Fire Nation had never been high on her to-do list.

"Guys, I need your help," Sokka called over to them. The two shared a glance at the concern in Sokka's voice, and they both got up and headed to the back of Appa's saddle. Katara's eyes widened upon seeing the scene before her. The princess' body was limp, her head resting on Sokka's lap, and Katara couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Azami's right arm was an absolute mess of burns and scars. The sleeve of her shirt was shredded beyond repair, and trailing all the way from her hand up to her shoulder was a massive array of scars in the form of numerous branches. It almost gave the appearance of one continuous tree tattoo, and she was bleeding profusely. 

"What happened?" Aang asked in horror, glancing at Katara.

She was just as stunned, having never seen anything like this before. "I-I don't know," she responded shakily. "It was such a blur. One moment she had control of the lightning, the next there was this explosion, and she was blown off, and now this-" she shook her head, unable to comprehend what had happened.

Azami let out a small groan, startling the other three, her eyelids fluttering before she opened them with a wince. "W-What happened to me?" she croaked out, her voice sounding hoarse.

Sokka quickly moved to hold her down by the shoulders, restricting her movement. "Hey, easy, you're hurt pretty bad. How do you feel?"

Azami's voice was a bit shaky as she replied. "Unghh... my arm's r-really sore and my ears are ringing a lot. That's not normal, is it?"

Katara glanced down at Azami's arm again. "We don't know what happened. How were you able to control the lightning like that?" she asked, a sense of wonderment in her voice. "I've never seen anything like it!"