A few days later...
Y/n POV
Being woken up from dead sleep from the ground rattling and a bomb was not a peaceful morning. Everyone awoke at the same time I did, just in time to see several Fire Nation airships attacking us.
Aang used a gust of air to close the wind panels in front of our section of the temple, shielding us against the incoming explosives. The earthbenders opened up a tunnel behind us while the rest of us packed up our stuff on Appa.
Everyone ran towards the tunnel except Zuko.
"What are you doing?" I yelled towards him. He turned his head over his shoulder.
"Go ahead, I'll hold them off," he said and he mumbled something I didn't know if the others heard. "I think this is a family visit." Azula.
Zuko ran off and Sokka, Katara, and I went to keep Aang from going after him, and to help him try and pull Appa into the tunnel. Which is easier said than done.
"I can't get him to go in there. Appa hates tunnels," Aang said frustratedly.
"Aang, there's no way we can fly out of here," Katara said and she was being reasonable.
"We'll have to find a way," Aang said and he let go of Appa's reigns.
"We need to split up," Sokka said. He went to the others. "Take the tunnel and get to the stolen airship," he said to them, and Katara wouldn't have that.
She tried to protest but Hakoda convinced her it would be alright. The two siblings hugged their father before we all got on Appa. Toph pointed at a wall and spoke up.
"I can clear that away and we can fly out through there," she said before jumping on Appa. I sighed, flexing my fingers.
"There's a lot of fire over there, I'll help cover for us," I said, sitting up on my knees. Aang nodded.
"We'll get through, let's go," he said and we got a move on. I was right and as soon as we burst through the rock wall, Azula blasted fire at us. I countered it with my own, waving it all away in a cloud of smoke.
We turned around to see Zuko and Azula begin to go at it on top of an airship. We couldn't get too distracted though, there were still platform mounted soldiers throwing fire at us.
Katara and I stood up and worked in tandem to get through; she was the defense and I was the offense. She would block the fire with a ring of water, and then I would attack with fire, knocking the soldiers off their platforms.
Aang took an evasive action then, hiking up Appa's reigns so he took a sharp upwards turn. The action surprised me and I fell backwards, but Sokka caught me. He chuckled.
"You're really falling for me, huh?" he said with a smirk and I rolled my eyes, turning to hide my smile.
Zuko and Azula's fire fight was coming to a climax and they managed to blast each other off the airship on opposite ends. They both fell through the air, but thankfully we were around to catch Zuko.
Appa flew underneath him and I reached up to pull him safely into the saddle. I pat his back a little harshly and then we all looked back to see how Azula would land.
"She's not gonna make it.." Zuko said quietly. We watched Azula kick out with a blast of fire towards the mountain side, using her hair pin as a pick axe to stop her from falling. "Of course she did."
We flew away, landing on a rocky island. We set up tents and I lit a fire place, Katara making dinner for all of us.
"Wow, camping. It really seems like old times again, doesn't it?" Aang said. Zuko spoke up shyly from beside me.
"If you really want it to feel like old times, I could, uh...chase you around awhile and try to capture you," he said and I could tell he was nervous about the joke, but everyone laughed loudly. Except Katara. Sokka exhaled and raised his cup.
"To Zuko: who knew after all those times he tried to snuff us out, today he'd be our hero," he said in a toast. Everyone raised their cups.
"Hear, hear!" Well, again, except Katara. Is she sad about splitting up with her dad?
After that, Katara got up and left the camp circle. Zuko followed her, and we couldn't figure out what was up with either of them. I hope they figure it out.
"Well, I'm calling it a night, goodnight everyone," I said and I got up to go to my tent. Sokka followed after me and hugged me from behind, making me laugh. "What's up, Sokka?" He whispered in my ear.
"You should swing by my tent later tonight, I've got a surprise for you," he said and I gasped.
"Oh what is it?" I asked excitedly. He came around to the front of me and squished my face.
"Aw you're so cute when you're curious. But if I tell you, it's not a surprise," he said and he kissed my forehead and ran back to his tent, closing the flap so I couldn't see inside.
Ok Sokka, you got me. I'll come by later...
Sokka POV
I set up everything for Y/n, lighting candles and setting up roses. I heard footsteps outside my tent and figured it must be her, so I got into position. When my tent flap opened, I turned and smiled, a rose in my mouth.
"Well, helloo—uh Zuko! Yes, why would I be expecting anyone different?" I said quickly as I noticed it wasn't my girlfriend in the tent. I sat up and swallowed the rest of the rose I had swallowed in shock, turning towards him. "So what's on your mind?"
"Your sister, she hates me, and I don't know why! But I do care what she thinks of me," he explained. I shook my head.
"Nah, she doesn't hate you. Katara doesn't hate anyone. Except maybe some people in the Fire Nation," I said and then I realized what that meant to him. "No, I mean, uh, not people who are good but used to be bad. I mean bad people. Fire Nation people who are still bad, who've never been good and probably won't be ever—"
"Stop," Zuko said cutting me off. "Ok listen. I know this may seem out of nowhere, but I want you to tell me what happened to your mother," he asked me. I raised an eyebrow, getting serious.
"What? Why would you want to know that?" I asked.
"Katara mentioned it before when we were imprisoned together in Ba Sing Se, and again just now when she was yelling at me. It's not that she has a problem with Fire Nation people, she loves Y/n. I think somehow...she's connected her anger about her mother to her anger at me," he elaborated. I guess I gotta tell him.
"It's not a day I like to remember," I started. I told him about how when we were little, black snow started falling from the sky. The Fire Nation raided our village, and the warriors—though out numbered—fought them off. How they came quickly, and then left all in the span of minutes.
"I was so relieved when it was over, but that's because I didn't know yet what had happened. I didn't know we'd lost our mother," I finished.
"Wait, can you remember any details about the soldiers who raided your village? Like what the lead ship looked like?" he asked. I nodded.
"Yeah... sea ravens. The main ship had flags with sea ravens on them," I remembered.
"The symbol of the Southern Raiders. Thanks, Sokka," Zuko said and I nodded, getting up to escort him out.
"No problem, thanks for stopping by," I said and I pushed him out of the tent. "Thought he'd never leave."
A night with Y/n is just the pick me up I need...
Y/n POV
I saw Zuko go into Sokka's tent on my way there and I figured I'd give them a moment. Then I heard my name.
"Y/n?" I looked over and saw Sokka beckoning me into his tent. I walked over quickly, and he pulled me inside, closing the flap behind me. I gasped in delight.
"Sokka, what is all this?" I asked looking around the candle lit room with rose petals scattered around and a bunch gathered in the corner. He smiled at me.
"Date night. Berry, m'lady?" He said and he held up a single soft pink berry from a bowl of the same berries. I tried it and smiled, it was sweet and light in taste.
"These are great," I said taking the bowl from him. He smiled and took a rose from the bouquet, placing it behind my ear into my hair. "So what's the occasion?" I asked him.
"I love you, that's what," he said and he kissed my lips. I placed the bowl down and wrapped my arms around his neck, making out with him for a while. Finally, I pulled back to breathe.
"I love you too, Sokka," I told him. He pulled me over to his sleeping bag and cuddled me under the blanket until we fell asleep.
A few hours later...
I opened my eyes when I felt the weight of the sleeping bag shift. I looked around to see Sokka up, pulling his hair back into his wolf tail. Darn, I love when his hair is down. I could sense he was bothered though, so I got up and went over to him.
"Hey, what's wrong? The sun's not even up yet," I said to him. He turned to me and shrugged.
"I just all of a sudden have a lot on my mind," he said and he realized I was going to push him to open up, so he continued. "Zuko asked me about how my mother died so he could understand Katara."
"That's...yeah that's strange. It probably wasn't easy for you to relive that either," I said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He shook his head.
"It wasn't, but I'm more worried about my sister. She's lashing out at Zuko and I know it's because the anger is eating at her. And I don't know what she's going to do," he confessed. I nodded.
"I think you should trust her that she's going to do what she needs to do. Katara's that type of person," I told him. Sokka exhaled and nodded.
"Thanks Y/n, I appreciate you listening. I'm already up so I'm gonna go take a walk. You can go back to sleep if you'd like," he said and he kissed me before walking out. Well, now I'm up too. Might as well go get ready.
I went back to my tent and got dressed for the day. Soon everyone woke up and the drama started. Katara approached Aang and Appa, saying she needed to borrow him.
"Why, is it your turn to take a little field trip with Zuko?" Aang laughed.
"Yes it is. We're going to find the man who took my mother from me," Katara said sternly. I looked to Sokka who was sitting against a rock making a flower crown. He stood up and came over.
"Sokka told me what happened. I know who did it, and how to find him," Zuko said. Aang asked what the purpose of this was and Katara scoffed.
"I knew you wouldn't understand," she said.
"Wait, stop, I do understand. You're feeling uncontrollable pain and rage," Aang said and he proceeded to give examples of times he's felt the same.
Zuko argued Katara needed this, for closure and for justice. Aang replied that it was simply for revenge.
"Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves," Katara said. I spoke up then.
"Katara, you kind of sound like Jet," I said softly. Katara whirled on me.
"It's not the same. This man, he's a monster," Katara argued. Sokka stepped closer to me.
"Katara, she was my mother too. But I think Y/n and Aang might be right," he said.
"Then you didn't love her the way I did!" Katara said harshly and I could see that really hurt Sokka. I put my hand on his shoulder. Hurt people, hurt people.
"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat viper. While you watch your enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself," Aang said, trying to use wisdom to convince Katara.
"That's cute, but this isn't Air Temple pre-school. It's the real world," Zuko said, shutting him down quickly.
"Now that I know he's out there, and that I can find him...I fell like I have no choice," Katara said.
"Katara, you have choices and the extremes aren't the only ones," I told her. Aang took a step towards her.
"You have this choice: forgiveness," Aang said.
"That's the same as doing nothing," Zuko said.
"No it's not. It's easy to do nothing, but it's hard to forgive," Aang said. Katara shook her head.
"It's not just hard, it's impossible," she said and then she walked away.
I have a feeling it's not over yet...
To be continued...
~|~
Thanks for reading 💙💙