(Y/n) had been to the Western Air Temple before. She had been here with Iroh and Zuko, immediately after Zuko had been banished. Zuko had wanted to check the Air Temples for the Avatar, but they came up empty handed.
Appa flew down into the Western Air Temple. It was hidden from view, lodged into a cliff wall. The temples couldn't be seen from the top, the group had to fly further down to reach them.
Buildings hung upside down from the top of the rock, and platforms were put out for people to stand on upright. It was gorgeous, and the view was wonderful. The temple was unkept, and looked slightly destroyed. There must have been no visitors since everyone who used to inhabit this place got massacred.
Appa landed by a small fountain that had water run from its base over the edge, into the river far below.
The Duke, Teo, and Haru went off to go find secret rooms in the temple. Aang had wanted to go with them, but Katara held him back to talk about what they were going to do next.
"So, what's the new plan?" Aang asked as he sat on a rock.
Toph sat on a taller rock next to Aang, across from Katara, (Y/n), and Sokka.
"Well, if you ask me, the new plan is the old plan. You just need to master al four elements and confront the Fire Lord before the comet comes." Sokka suggests.
"Oh, yeah, that's great. No problem, i'll just do that." Aang sarcastically replies, avoiding anyone's eyes as he leans back and flicks a pebble beside him.
"Aang, no one said it's gonna be easy." Katara says.
"Well it's not even gonna be possible. Where am I supposed to get a firebending teacher?" Aang asks.
Katara hums, then perks up. "We could look for Jeong-Jeong."
"Yeah, right. Like we'll ever run into Jeong-Jeong again." Aang says, flopping onto his back.
"Who's...oh, nevermind. If it's important i'll find out." Toph comments.
Aang hops up from the rock. "Oh, well. Guess we can't come up with anybody, unless (Y/n) finds out that she can firebend. Why don't we just take a nice tour around the temple?" Aang takes his glider and flies off to tour the temple.
"What's up with him?" Toph asks.
Sokka looks puzzled. "There's gotta be someone who can teach him firebending."
(Y/n) shrugs and leans back on her hands. "He's probably overthinking everything with the invasion. He doesn't want to overthink it anymore, so he's trying to avoid any "defeating the Fire Lord" talk."
"Well, we need to talk about it. Come on." Katara gets up and walks to Appa.
So, everyone else hopped on. Sokka sat at Appa's reigns while the girls sat in the saddle. Katara's mission was to get him to talk.
They flew through the hanging temples, and found Aang gliding leisurely through them.
"Aang, can we talk about you learning firebending now?" Katara calls.
"What? The wind is too loud in my ears. Check out this loop!" Aang yells, then loops around in the air.
"Aang, I think we should be making some plans about our future!" Sokka calls.
"Okay, we can do that while I show you the giant Pai Sho table," Aang says, landing back at the fountain. "Oh, you're gonna love the all day echo chamber."
Everyone climbs off of Appa, facing the same direction of Aang as he looked out to the temples.
"I think that'll have to wait." Toph says.
Everyone pauses, unsure of what she means. She points behind her, and Appa moves out of the way.
They see Zuko standing there. So close to them. He was...smiling.
"Hello, Zuko here." He gives a small wave.
(Y/n) wastes no time in drawing her weapon.
"Hey, I heard you guys flying around down there so...I just thought i'd wait for you here." Zuko says.
Appa growls in Zuko's face, then licks his whole body. Zuko makes a blegh noise as he's drenched in bison spit.
"I know you must be surprised to see me here."
"Not really, since you've followed us all over the world." Sokka spits.
"Right, well, uh...anyway. What I wanted to tell you about is that i've changed. And I, uh...i'm good now, and well I think I should join your group. Oh, and I can teach firebending to you." Zuko explains.
Aang's hold on his staff loosens, and his face softens.
"See, I uh—" Zuko starts.
"Wanna what now?" Toph asks.
"You can't possibly think that any of us trust you, can you? I mean how stupid do you think we are?" Katara yells.
"Yeah, all you've ever done is try to hunt us down and capture Aang." Sokka says.
"I've done some good things! I mean, I could've stolen your bison in Ba Sing Se, but I set him free. That's something." Zuko says. Appa licks him again.
"Appa does seem to like him." (Y/n) says.
"That's the first thing you say?" Sokka looks at (Y/n) with a brow raised. "He probably covered himself in honey or something so that Appa would lick him. I'm not buying it."
"I can understand why you wouldn't trust me. And I know i've made some mistakes in the past..."
"Like when you attacked our village?" Sokka asks.
"Or when you stole my mother's necklace and used it to track us down and capture us?" Katara asks.
"Look, I admit i've done some some awful things. I was wrong to try to capture you, and i'm sorry that I attacked the Water Tribe. And I never should have sent that Fire Nation assassin after you. I'm gonna try and stop—" Zuko explains.
Everyone whips their heads to (Y/n).
"No! No, not her." Zuko stammers, waving his hands around.
If (Y/n) really was the assassin sent after them, she was playing the long game, and a damn good actress.
"Wait, so...you sent Combustion Man after us?" Sokka yells, clueing in to who Zuko was talking about and whipped out his boomerang.
"Well, that's not his name, but—"
"Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to insult your friend."
"He's not my friend!"
"That guy locked me and Katara in jail and tried to blow us all up!" Toph yells.
"(Y/n)?" Zuko asks, quieter now.
"What, Zuko? Do you want me to forget how you seemed like you were changing in the crystal catacombs, then switched back to side with Azula? How that nearly got Aang and Sokka killed?" (Y/n) took her arrow out of her bow.
"You always tried to see the good in me. I know you did." Zuko pleads.
"I did. I spent so long trying to see the good in you, but it never got me anywhere. If my search for good had come up with anything, I don't think i'd be with the Avatar right now." (Y/n) narrowed her eyes at Zuko.
Zuko sighs, then turns to Aang. "Why aren't you saying anything? You said you thought we could be friends. You know I have good in me."
Aang looks at his friends, then back at Zuko. "There's no way we can trust you after everything you've done. We'll never let you join us."
Zuko looked shocked. (Y/n) didn't know why he thought this wouldn't have been an outcome.
"You need to get out of here. Now." Katara demands.
"I'm trying to explain that i'm not that person anymore!" Zuko pleads, using his hands expressively.
It scared (Y/n) into stepping forward. She couldn't trust his hands to be flailing like that—firebending was unpredictable. She drew her weapon, aimed at his face. "Leave, Zuko. If you know what's good for you."
"If you won't accept me as a friend, then maybe you'll take me as a prisoner." Zuko kneeled to the ground, bowing his head and holding his wrists up.
"No, we won't!" Katara whipped water at Zuko, throwing him back. "Get out of here, and don't come back. If we ever see you again...well, we better not see you again!"
Zuko got up, dripping wet, and walked away from the group.
Katara paced around until he was out of sight. "Why would he try and fool us like that?"
"Obviously he wants to lead us into some kind of trap," Sokka explains. "Did he try this with you in Ba Sing Se, (Y/n)?"
"Kind of," (Y/n) says, grabbing her bedroll. "He started talking about his mother, which he never did often on the ship. It made me feel bad for him. I wanted to trust him."
"He tried to lure you in, but he made his choice." Sokka says.
"I kinda have a confession to make," Aang says. "Remember when you two were sick and I got captured by Zhao?"
Uh oh. (Y/n) remembered—she was there.
"And you made us suck on frozen frogs? How could I forget? I had a wart on the flap that hangs down at the back of my throat for a month." Sokka opens his mouth and points to his uvula.
"Sokka, I looked at it and told you there was nothing there." Katara says.
"I could feel it! It's my throattle flap!" Sokka defends.
"Anyway, when Zhao had me chained up, it was Zuko—plus (Y/n), who came and got me out. He risked his life to save me."
Katara splutters, looking between Aang and (Y/n). "No way. I'm sure he only did it so he could capture you himself."
"Yeah, face it, Aang. You're nothing but a big prize to him." Sokka adds.
"You're probably right." Aang says, looking to (Y/n) to explain.
(Y/n) opened her mouth to talk, but Katara wasn't done.
"And what was all that crazy stuff about setting Appa free? What a liar."
"Actually, he wasn't lying." Toph says.
"Oh, hooray. In a lifetime of evil, at least he didn't add animal cruelty to the list." Sokka says, dramatically putting his hands to his face.
"I'm just saying that considering his messed up family and how he was raised, he could've turned out a lot worse."
"You're right, Toph. Let's go find him and give him a medal. The 'not as much of a jerk as you could've been' award." Katara says.
"All I know is that while he was talking to us, he was sincere. Maybe you're all just letting your hurt feelings keep you from thinking clearly." Toph says calmly.
"Easy for you to say! You weren't there when he had us attacked by pirates!" Katara yells.
"Or when he burned down Kyoshi Island!" Sokka shouts.
"Or when he tried to capture me at the Fire Temple." Aang adds.
"Why would you even try to defend him?" Katara asks.
"Because, Katara, you're all ignoring one crucial fact— Aang needs a firebending teacher. We can't think of a single person in the world to do the job. Now one shows up on a silver platter and you won't even think about it?" Toph shouts.
(Y/n) looks to her feet. Toph was right. Who else did they know to teach Aang? She couldn't think of a single person that'd be willing to do it in enough time.
"I'm not having Zuko as my teacher." Aang says.
"You're damn right you're not, buddy." Sokka backs Aang up.
Katara crosses her arms. "Well, I guess that's settled."
Toph grunts. "I'm beginning to wonder who's really the blind one around here." Toph then walks away from the group.
Everyone sighs collectively, a little tired from the argument. (Y/n) agreed with Toph, but Zuko had done some awful things that she didn't know if she could look past.
The evening rolled through, and dinner was cooked. Everyone sat together as they ate their meal, talking and joking, still trying to get used to this bigger group.
Once dinner was done, everyone went their own ways to different things with their evenings.
(Y/n) opted to sit by the fountain, dangling her legs over the edge of the platform, watching the sunset.
She had a lot to think about. She didn't say much when Zuko confronted them because she wanted to believe that he was a changed man, but she just couldn't.
As (Y/n) was lost in thought, Sokka came and sat beside her.
"Hey." Sokka said, copying (Y/n) and dangling his legs off the edge.
"Hi." (Y/n) smiled.
Sokka leaned back on his hands, cocking his head to the side and smiling at her. He looked so pretty in the orange glow of the sunset. "Whatcha thinking about?"
(Y/n) twisted some of the loose fabric of her pants in her fingers. "Zuko."
Sokka straightened up. "Don't tell me you're thinking about letting him in?"
"So what if I am?" (Y/n)'s eyebrows drew in. "Toph's right. No way we're gonna find another firebender who's willing to teach Aang."
Sokka looked away from (Y/n). "Doesn't mean I have to trust him."
"None of us do, Sokka. No one expects us to."
"He does."
"What does it matter what he expects us to do? We're the ones who have to make the decision, right?" (Y/n) asks, now sitting facing him with only one leg dangling off the edge.
"Why are you on his side all of a sudden?" Sokka asks.
"On his side? Since when were there sides? I'm trying to be logical, Sokka!" (Y/n)'s voice was getting louder, along with Sokka's.
"And i'm trying to protect Aang."
"You think i'm not?" (Y/n) looked offended.
"That's not what I..." Sokka stopped and sighed.
She knew it wasn't what he meant.
"It's been hard, I know. I don't trust him either, but what other choice do we have?" (Y/n) asked.
Sokka tipped his head back and looked up at the sky. "None, I guess. Nothing's ever easy for us, is it?"
"Seems that way. We can never figure out what's best for us."
"We're too damn stupid to see what the right thing to is." Sokka chuckles.
"The universe doesn't make it easy."
"I wish it was easier to get what I want."
"I don't even think what I want is possible."
They stopped. (Y/n) and Sokka looked at each other.
"We're not talking about Zuko anymore, are we?" (Y/n) whispered.
"I don't think we are." Sokka whispered back.
Sokka's eyes searched her face for the thing he wanted. Her beautiful face. He wanted her so damn bad.
"(Y/n), what is this?" Sokka asked warily.
"I don't know." (Y/n) says quietly.
"Because you should know that I—"
"I do too. But we can't." (Y/n) said, not looking at him. Her insides were twisting together.
"What? What do you mean we can't?" Sokka asked, his heart dropping to his stomach.
"Because I can't invest everything in you just in case I lose you." (Y/n) finally met his eyes, searching her for some kind of sign that she wanted this as bad as he did.
"Well, that's stupid." Sokka scoffs.
"I know it is! It makes me feel better, okay? I just..." (Y/n) sighs heavily. "You know how I feel about you. You'd have to be stupid to not see that."
"And you know how I feel about you." Sokka whispered.
She was finally getting confirmation from him. That he felt the same way she did. He liked her.
The sky was growing darker, the sun concluding its work in their sky for the day.
"I just can't...not now. I want to wait until the war is over. Until I know you're gonna be safe." (Y/n) said.
"Why not live out the time we have together now?" Sokka asked.
"You make it sound like you're going to die." (Y/n) lets out a half-hearted chuckle.
"You never know." Sokka shrugs.
"Stop that!" (Y/n) playfully shoves Sokka. "Not again. Not on my watch."
"Oh, my great protector." Sokka playfully swooned.
Then it clicked.
All those months ago when Aunt Wu had given her a fortune, and made her choose between the protector or the aggressor.
She finally got it, after all this time. The protector was her new life, and the aggressor was her old life in the Fire Nation, and on Zuko's ship.
She chose the protector. She chose protecting her friends, Sokka, and everything she loves. She finally understood.
"Well, then. When this war is over, i'm going to make something happen. I promise." Sokka said, smiling.
(Y/n) smiled, her heart doing flips in her chest.
"And until then?" Sokka asks.
"I kinda like what we're doing now." (Y/n) answers.
"Sneaking kisses once every few months?" Sokka jokes.
"I like to keep you on your toes."
"I'll be waiting for the next one, then."
(Y/n) then slowly leans in to the boy next to her, putting a hand under his chin. She was leaning in achingly slow. Sokka's eyes fluttered closed in preparation for her lips.
"Next one's a surprise." (Y/n) whispered against his lips.
She stood up, and began walking back to her room in the temple.
Sokka could only watch her in awe as she left him hanging like that.
••
The next morning, Katara was dishing out breakfast to everyone soon after they all woke up.
"Has anyone seen Toph?" Katara asked.
"I haven't seen her since she stormed off yesterday." Sokka answered, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Maybe she's just exploring the Air Temple. There are some pretty fun spots to practice earthbending." Haru said.
"I think we should go look for her." Katara said, worried.
"Ah, let her have fun with her rocks." Sokka said, sitting across from Katara.
"We can go check for her." The Duke offered.
"Yeah! I wanna ride that tunnel down at the hall of statues again. It'll work a lot better now that I fixed my brakes." Teo said.
With that, The Duke, Haru, and Teo all set off to go to the tunnel.
Soon after they left, there was an explosion from the rock behind them. Out of the new hole in the rock came Toph, sliding down on her stomach.
Everyone got up and ran towards her.
"Toph! What happened?" Katara asked.
"My feet got burned." Toph answered, still pulling herself forward on her stomach.
Katara went to Toph's feet to look at the injury. "Oh no! What happened?"
"I just told you. My feet got burned."
"I meant how."
"Well, I kind of went to see Zuko last night."
"You what?" Aang yelled.
"Zuko?" Katara exclaimed.
"I just thought he could be helpful to us. And if I talked to him, maybe we could work something out." Toph explained as Katara brought out some water from her canteen to heal Toph.
"So he attacked you?" Sokka asked.
"Well, he did and he didn't. It was sort of an accident."
"But he did firebend at you." Aang said.
Toph sighed. "Yes."
They formed a plan to try and get Zuko to come back to their camp, deeming him too dangerous to be left alone. They set Toph's feet in the fountain, hoping to cool them so that they would heal faster.
Aang brought a small towel over for Toph to dry her feet on afterwards, and shortly after, the place shook.
Rock fell outside of the temple, and down the cliff.
Sokka and Aang quickly pulled Toph from the fountain, and they heard a voice come from far away.
"Stop!"
They looked up to see where it was coming from, and they found it. Zuko and Combustion Man.
"I don't want you hunting the Avatar anymore. The mission is off."
(Y/n) pushed everyone's heads down by the fountain, where the concrete base of the pool would protect them. Combustion Man blew up the structure above the fountain.
(Y/n) ran to her bedroll to collect her bow and arrow. She'd need it.
She dove back with her friends just as Aang went out to fight Combustion Man. He jumped down closer to the GAang, and Katara sent a wave of ice shards his way to distract him.
It gave them enough time to hide behind a pillar, but that didn't stop him from blowing up other structures in the area.
"He's going to blast this whole place right off the cliffside!" Toph exclaimed.
Another explosion made dust and heat fly past them from their hiding spot.
(Y/n) tried to peer out from the side, and fired an arrow at him. She didn't see where it struck him, but she heard a loud howl of pain. She knew she hit something.
"I can't get a good enough angle on him to do any real damage. I can't risk getting blown up." (Y/n) said, quickly returning back to her hiding spot.
Sokka thought for a moment. "I know how to get an angle on him."
He moved to the corner of their hiding spot, looking around the corner to see Combustion Man.
Another explosion hit right by their spot. Then another, then another.
Sokka used his boomerang to trace the path of the explosions. He held the weapon behind his head, ready to throw.
"Alright, buddy. Don't fail me now." Sokka said to the boomerang. He threw it out to where the explosions were hitting the ground, and they waited.
Sokka watched as it hit Combustion Man, and he moved from the hiding spot. "Yeah, boomerang!" He jumped up and caught the weapon as it came right back to him.
(Y/n)'s triumphant smile fell as she saw Combustion Man get back up. He had an arrow lodged in the front of his shoulder.
Everyone ran back to the hiding spot as he geared up to fire at them again.
They heard another explosion, this one bigger than any of the others. The group ran out to watch as a tip of one of the hanging temples fell into the river down at the bottom of the cliff.
Then they looked up to see Zuko climbing a vine up to stable ground.
They waited for him to approach them like they knew he would.
"I can't believe i'm saying this but thanks, Zuko." Aang said as Zuko approached.
"Hey, and what about me, I did the boomerang thing." Sokka said, flexing his muscles.
"My hero." (Y/n) whispered. Sokka elbowed her playfully.
"Listen, I know I didn't explain myself very well yesterday. I've been through a lot in the past few years. It's been hard. (Y/n) can attest to that. But i'm realizing I had to go through all those things to learn the truth. I thought I had lost my honour, and that somehow my father could return it to me. But I know now that no one can give you your honour. It's something you earn for yourself by choosing to do what's right. All I want to do now is play my part in ending this war. And I know my destiny is to help you restore balance to the world," Zuko says. He turns to Toph, and bows. "I'm sorry for what I did to you. It was an accident. Fire can be dangerous in the wild. So as a firebender, I need to be more careful and control my bending, so I don't hurt people unintentionally."
Aang takes a moment to respond. "I think you are supposed to be my firebending teacher. When I first tried to learn firebending, I burned (Y/n). And after that, I never wanted to firebend again. But now I know you understand how easy it is to hurt the people you love. I'd like you to teach me." Aang bows to Zuko.
"Thank you," Zuko bows back. "I'm so happy you've accepted me into your group."
"Not so fast. I still have to ask my friends if it's okay with them," Aang says. "Toph, you're the one that Zuko burned. What do you think?"
"Go ahead and let him join. It'll give me plenty of time to get back at him for burning my feet." Toph says, pounding her fist into her open palm and smiling.
"Sokka?"
Sokka looks to (Y/n) then shrugs. "Hey, all I want is to defeat the Fire Lord. If you think this is the way to do it, then i'm all for it."
"(Y/n)?"
"You know what's best for you, kiddo. I support it if you know it's right." (Y/n) smiles.
"Katara?"
Katara states daggers at Zuko, then looks to Aang. "I'll go along with whatever you think is right."
Aang smiles.
"I won't let you down. I promise." Zuko says.
Everyone nods at him, then walks away. Sokka picks up Toph to take her back.
Zuko had gone back to grab his stuff from his tent, and Sokka offered to show Zuko his room in the temple.
(Y/n) had offered to do it since she had known Zuko the longest, but Sokka insisted. She waited near the room to walk back with Sokka for lunch.
"Okay. This is really weird." Sokka said, joining her side once he had let Zuko into his room.
It was a big change—but one (Y/n) thought they were ready for.
°
°
hi friends!!
i hope you enjoyed this chapter!
thank you so so much for reading, your support means the world <3 800 reads?? crazy!!
love ya!!
~sage<3