collision → atla, reader insert

chapter six

     She stood at the door as the masked figure broke the chains on his wrists and ankles. She'd seen those tattoos in that weird dream she had a few nights before, it was the same dream that told her she needed to find the Avatar. This was the Avatar? This was the Fire Nation's biggest enemy? A child who couldn't be older than thirteen?

     "Who are you? What's going on?" The boy's questioning gaze flickered from [Y/N] to the masked figure. "Are you here to rescue me?"

     "Something like that," [Y/N] said in place of the masked person joining her side at the entrance. They beckoned for the two of them to follow. She turned to the Avatar. "They don't talk much."

     "I'll take that as a ''yes'," he replied, though didn't immediately follow after them. It wasn't until the person grabbed him by the collar to drag him through the corridors as he shouted something about frozen frogs. 

     Word of the Avatar being free traveled quickly and they were led into the sewer system that ran underneath the fortress. The mucky water slugged and splashed with their shoes as they walked and [Y/N] fought back the little food in her stomach. The synchronized footsteps slowly faded away, giving them a chance to escape through a grate and into the courtyard.

     Climbing a rope scaled along the innermost wall, they would have made it if they were only a few seconds earlier. A distant shout and a flash of a person atop the wall later, and the rope was cut. Fingers slipped off the twine and the ground grew closer. Right before impact, what felt like a gust of wind slowed their fall giving them enough time to land on their feet. The closest exit was not close at all but that didn't stop them from running toward it

     The Avatar passed both [Y/N] and the masked person. "Stay close to me!" He said to them, taking the lead.

     Because of a quick melee, they had missed their chance through the last open gate but the Avatar blew air to blow the melee away. Of [Y/N] and the masked person, [Y/N] seemed to be the only one to follow the Avatar's instructions. The two of them slowed to peer over their shoulders and saw the masked person get caught up by the members of the melee.

     Now if it were up to [Y/N], she would opt to leave him. She'd found the Avatar, her work here was done. But the Avatar had different plans. He grabbed a spear from a nearby guard then airbent the man away. He spun the spear then broke the head off before launching into the small battle. The Avatar airbended the melee away and catapulted [Y/N] and the masked guy on top of the wall.

     Guards immediately surrounded them, but then the Avatar appeared again using the spear as a helicopter blade. He attempted to drag them to safety but the three of them crashed on the second wall. A guard stopped him from getting his stick back with a sword in hand. The masked figure threw the guard over the wall. The Avatar took care of the rest.

     More and more soldiers began to scale the walls to attack them. The Avatar used his bending to bend the ladders away. The Avatar stepped onto the empty ladder and handed one to the masked figure.

     "Take this. Jump on my back!" The Avatar said to them.

     [Y/N] looked at him wearily, trying to understand was his plan was and how she fit into it. "I don't—"

     She was cut off by the yelp from her lips when the arm of the masked person looped around her waist to drag her along. The Avatar used the ladders as stilts and [Y/N] couldn't ignore the cracks of the ladders with each step they'd taken forward.

     "Give me the next one!" The Avatar said.

     The masked figure complied. The three of them jumped and caught the edge of the final wall as a soldier lit their last ladder on fire. [Y/N] missed, having to grab the masked person's hand, but even they couldn't hold on. The three of them fell to the ground, but the Avatar airbended flames away and softened their landing. 

     "Hold your fire!" [Y/N] heard a man announce. "The Avatar must be captured alive!"

     The masked figure appeared behind the Avatar with his swords crossed in front of the boy's neck. Instantly catching on, [Y/N] fumbled with retrieving her bow and prepping it as though she was going to attack.  

      "Stay back!" She yelled, trying to sound as threatening as possible despite her heart beating way faster than one should. "Or the Avatar gets it."

     There was a pregnant silence from both sides. Then, the last gate was opened. The masked figure backed through it, his swords in the same spot. [Y/N] did the same, unsure of what to do. 

     They three had gotten a good distance away from the gate even though they still drowned in the Fire Nation's bright lights. [Y/N] still had her bow drawn and pointed at the Avatar when she felt a sudden punch to her gut. It was difficult to ignore, but hard to pinpoint what it was. Yet it felt intentional, almost like it was trying to tell her something.

     For the next ten seconds, time was slowed and her body seemed to move on autopilot. Her bow left her hands and she lunged to her right, knocking the masked person to the ground with a grunt. There was groaning, but it wasn't from her. The Avatar quickly created a huge cloud of dust to cover them.

     She quickly pushed herself off the ground to see through the thick cloud of dust an arrow sticking out of the ground right where she originally stood. She looked at the masked figure, only he wasn't masked anymore.

     Despite the dust, she was able to see who they were. A boy her age, possibly a year younger, where half of his face was red from the skin being scorched off and probably never healed properly. His eyes were closed and his one eyebrow twitched in pain from the arrow that was lodged in his right shoulder.

     He seemed so familiar, but [Y/N] could swear she'd never seen him a day in her life. She could hear the pattering of the soldiers getting nearer and it didn't help that she was starting to get light headed. She had to get out of there. Fast.

     She hadn't even noticed the Avatar made his way over to where she was until she stood up. He watched her expectantly, probably awaiting an explanation. For how long she'd spent hunched over the injured boy, she felt obligated to say something, but no words came out.

     Instead, she rushed for her discarded bow and picked up the arrow lodged in the ground that missed her by one millisecond. When the Avatar noticed what she was doing he called out to her.

     "Sorry," she called behind her without looking back.