collision → atla, reader insert

chapter twenty

AN EXPLOSION ERUPTED less than a second later. The source—[Y/N] wouldn't have ever imagined—came from Aang. Nearly the youngest person in their cohort with enough anger to tower over all of them. With his face red and tears in his eyes, he tore into Toph at the expense of his lost bison.

        Though she might as well have been at the same amount of fault that Toph was, her guilty conscience barely had time to be guilty when he finally did turn to her.  

        "Did you know?" Immediately, she denied but to no avail. The grief of the Avatar was much a force that overlooked genuineness. "You knew, didn't you?"

        "No! If I knew, I would have told you—"

        "You've kept things from us before."

        [Y/N] opened her mouth, but nothing came out—she had to close her mouth to catch her breath because his words felt like a punch to the gut. Even if it hadn't, she hadn't anything to say to save her at that moment. It rendered her speechless that, to them, it was that she withheld vital information by those she offered companionship with.

        And though Aang—overwhelmed by emotion—spewed out pricks at the others, he was right about her. And maybe he's better at hiding his true emotions than [Y/N] thought. Maybe he still believed that all this time. 

        Her attention is caught by Katara calling her name. Aang disappeared, leaving the rest of them to wander aimlessly into the desert until they found him, civilization, or (if they were lucky) Appa. Not necessarily the adventure she was excited about, but also not one that she could avoid either.

        Therefore, as she trailed behind the group, she allowed herself to shrug off her regrets and her guilt. She had to remind herself: she hadn't joined the Avatar to make friends and connections, she joined because it was a— though long—a guaranteed, one-way ticket to Ba Sing Se. After she finds her sister, they're on their own. 

        Aang's words shouldn't mean anything to her. 

        But they did. 

        The trek through the desert completely and utterly drained her. With her clothes drenched in sweat and her mouth drier than she could ever imagine it being, she truly thought she was going to die. Again.

        And even though they weren't entirely free, it felt like a distant memory as she dipped her feet into the water, listening to the distant noise of Sokka mumbling half-baked sentences over one of the maps taken from Wan Shi Tong's library. With the tip from the sandbenders that Appa was sold to a buyer in Ba Sing Se and the newfound information surrounding some comet (she wasn't listening), their destination became their top priority. 

        Full Moon Bay sat secluded in a cove where they had to walk past several groups and families to get to the kiosk. [Y/N]'d heard of others being heavily impacted by the Fire Nation's advances, but to see all those having to camp after being denied guaranteed safety made her stomach turn. 

        They'd eventually made it to the entrance, with their last task being to get tickets for the next ferry. In a turn of events, Toph was able to secure tickets thanks to her family's high status. They'd encountered a guard who turned out to be someone they all—except Toph—had meant before. 

        Although while the girl—Suki, she'd introduced herself to [Y/N] with a kind smile—and everyone else caught up with one another, [Y/N] just couldn't force herself to listen. The energy of the station was not as chipper as her companions were to see each other. Every time she'd looked around, she saw dejected citizens carrying sadness with them.