|•|W I T 卄 E R||•| Zuko X Reader ⚠SLOWBURN⚠

Tears Fall Behind

"Come on, get up. We need to go." You rubbed your eyes and sat up, shaking your head to get rid of the sand in your hair. Katara approached Aang to wake him up, when he lifted himself up and landed on his feet using airbending.
"You get any sleep?" She asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Aang hummed in response to her question, glancing at the sand below him. "I'm... I'm sorry for the way I was acting. I was being immature." You raised an eyebrow at his words. "Aang, it's fine. We all understand you were upset about Appa. I'm just glad you're feeling better." Katara smiled, a hint of suspicion and concern on her face.

While what he did was wrong... Saying it was due to immaturity is just... Odd. Something was going on with Aang.

What if... What if it was because of you?

You shut your eyes and turned to the sky, exhaling. "Is- Is that Appa...?" Your eyes shot open with hope, but all you saw was a cloud, mimicking Appa's shape.

"It's just a cloud..." Katara's eyes widened, "Wait! A cloud! Take this, fly up there, and bend the water from that cloud in here." She said, handing Aang her pouch. You bit your lip, perturbed as you saw Aang's expression.

You'd think he'd be disappointed that it wasn't Appa, but no. His face was blank, almost empty as he took Katara's pouch and flew into the air. You glanced at Katara who returned your gaze. Something was definitely wrong.

Katara stepped closer to Aang as he landed back on the ground. "Aang, are you alright?" She asked. "I'm fine. Let's just get moving." He replied. Flashing him with another concerned stare and getting nothing in response, Katara sighed, "...Right. We need to head in that direction."

As everyone all walked through multiple sand dunes, you ran up to Aang. "Y/N... Thanks for the talk last night. It helped me realize something." Aang hummed. "Wh... What do you mean?" You questioned, rubbing your arm.

"I was acting and treating everyone horribly. I let my emotions get the better of me. I that was immature of me. As the Avatar, I should've been wiser. I've already made the mistake of abandoning my responsibilities. The world needs the Avatar to be calm and keep balance. I'm sorry for my mistake."

You blinked back your shock, "But... The world needs Aang, too."

You clenched your fists and grit your teeth. You couldn't allow him to make himself suffer like that.

An entity in your head began to mutter into your ears. "Every. Single. Time." Its words lingered in your mind like a never ending echo, "You tried to help him. But now he'll never feel at all. You tried to act... And now he's hurt."

You were quickly snapped back to reality as Toph let out a cry of pain, holding her foot. "Ow! Crud! I'm so sick of not feeling where I'm going! What idiot buried a boat in the middle of the desert!?"

"A boat..? Ah, it's one of the gliders the sandbenders use! And look! It's got some kind of compass on it!" Katara faced you all with a grin, "I bet it can point us put of here! Aang, you sail a breeze so we can make it out of here. We're going to make it!"

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The boat dashed across the sand as Katara fiddled with the compass on it. You were looking out into the distance to see what was up ahead, arm above your face to block sand from your eyes.

"...Hey, Y/N?" Katara said, still inspecting the compass. "What's up?" You asked, raising your voice due to Sokka's unnerving and concerning giggles.
"Have you noticed anything... Off? About Aang?"

"Yeah. He's been acting distant, and I think it's because he feels guilty about what he did before. But... There's also something else I noticed." You said. "Oh! Did you notice that Toph was on fire, too?" You flicked Sokka's forehead, knocking him over like a ragdoll.