Your parents did a good job naming you. Y/N, the name you had been born with, the name your mother sang to wake you up in the morning, and the one your father called to pick you up from school. You never had dreams of seeing your name plastered on billboards, or cheered by crowds at events, those were fantasies for other children.
...
You certainly never expected to hear the word 'Avatar' placed before it.
It started slow. You were born in the middle of mourning for Avatar Genji, the Avatar after Korra. He had been assasinated by some equalist rebels in the Earth colonies. He was only twenty years old.
Your parents did their best to ignore the comments from your neighbors saying that there was no way it was a coincidence, that you had to be the avatar; they were terrified when you lit your birthday candles with a sneeze on your fourth birthday. The fire nation cheered for you but, your parents, two non-benders, were mortified.
Your school was heavy set on stopping bullying against non-benders, but it still happened, you knew that first hand. Ever since you were born your parents got dirty looks by fire benders in the neighborhood, all your childhood friends were non-benders, and if there ever was a Fire Nation pride event, you already knew your parents weren't going.
It all changed when you started school. You made friends with the benders in your classroom, not necessarily because they were rich or popular, even though they were, but it just happened naturally for you. The stupid talks you had in between laughter about how it felt to bend and what you had each done with your bending brought you all together.
You didn't notice it at first. Maybe it slipped from your mind that the non-benders weren't getting invited to bender parties, or that friend groups at school were pretty much segregated into 'benders' and 'non-benders'. But soon enough it started happening in front of you. Your friends would gossip to you about non-benders, shoot them dirty looks, giggle when they spoke in class, yet stay completely silent when they spoke to you. You never partook in any of it, but you didn't stop it either. You didn't want to be a hero. You were a quiet kid, awkward almost; you cared about stupid things: your appearance, your clothes, playdates and planning your next birthday party. Unlike your parents, you fit in. You were content with that; all you ever truly wanted was to fit in. It never really felt like it, but that didn't matter to you. You knew how to compromise.
You fit in anywhere you went, you didn't have to try hard. People liked you. They liked making you laugh and getting smiles from you, they knew it was rare yet genuine when you smiled.
Things escalated when you got to high school. Instead of being invited to parties, now it was you that was throwing them. Never at your house though, it was always at someone else's house. People knew your name, and that went for both benders and non-benders, called it out as soon as you walked into a room and broke out in laughter when you rolled your eyes and smiled sarcastically. They liked to be around you, laugh at your nonchalant attitude towards everything, they liked to dance with you at parties. They boys weren't so keen on the fact that you only ever seemed to dance with girls. You liked girls. Loved them. You liked being around them and getting laughs from them. You didn't know what it was, but ever since you were a kid you had an overcoming adoration towards women.
Whenever your friends threw a party you made sure to invite the non-benders. You had built a gilded friendship with them. You greeted them when they walked in, smiled if they said something funny; you made sure they had a good time, pulled them to dance with you every once in a while, but you didn't protect them. Ironic in hindsight.
Your bending grew in high school too. Your teachers were baffled when you started bending air, although they tried to come up with strange explanations like "Maybe the fire didn't fully form" or "Maybe it's windy out".
You begged your friends to shut their mouth when you accidently bended earth during recess, but of course, they didn't. Your friends were at your house when the White Lotus came knocking at your door.
"They're here! Y/N this is the greatest thing ever! I'm friends with the avatar!" Said Zuma, one of the benders, among the cheers from the others.
You looked at them blankly when they calmed down, waiting a moment before speaking. "Eat shit and die." You exited the room to the explosion of laughter from your friends.
The white lotus entered your home like they owned the place, gave their little speech about how they had investigated many claims all over the fire nation, and that they had all been false. You tried your hardest not to chuckle. They made you bend all the elements, you complied almost in tears. You stopped when they placed a jug of water in front of you.
"That one I can't do." You said straight up.
The robed bastards laughed at your words. "Well shit, the avatar is well into her teens and she can't bend water."
"She's a fire bender, you moron." Said Katana, another one of your friends.
The man scoffed at her words.
"Yeah, no waterbending, sorry you had to come all this way to find the wrong one! Good luck finding the avatar! Bye bye!" You said with a smile as you stood up.
"She's funny." Said one of the White Lotus members with a chuckle.
---
You didn't have much time after that. You had two hours to pack your bags and say goodbye to your friends and your parents. They all cried as they hugged you goodbye, you didn't.
Time passed fast at the academy. You grew accustomed to bending, started liking it almost. You got a fire ferret as your spirit guide, her name was Itza. She truly was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. Water bending did not come easy to you, you achieved it after two years, but you never truly mastered it. Even then, bending was not the only thing on your mind.
Needless to say, you were the only student at the academy, you had a lot of time to yourself. You spent a good chunk of it with Itza, but the time you didn't you spent thinking on the past, on your years at school, on all the people you failed to defend, it killed you inside. You swore on everything you knew that there would not be a day that you were alive in which you didn't defend the people that needed it.
You were eighteen years old by the time you moved to Republic City, and your bending style had changed; matured almost. You didn't grunt or scream when you bended, it was quiet, powerful to a scary extent, but calm. This came in handy considering that the same day you arrived at the capital, the attacks started. A rebel section of the army wanted to impose a dictatorship, were benders were in power over non-benders. They called it "culture", you called it idiots with the mentality of ants.
You didn't even get a chance to be announced to the public, you were introduced to the army and went to battle the very next day. You wanted it that way, those dimwits made you angry. There were five battles in total. You were deadly; bending like you hated each and every one of them individually, but also protecting their lives. You did not kill, not ever. You injured, a lot, but you didn't kill. You tied them up with stone you heated up to make metal cages, for them to be transported to prison. Even then, that wasn't your goal either, you made sure to protect your army, that's how you thought of them. They were yours to protect.
There were no fatalities on the enemy side. There was only one. A rookie southern water-tribe soldier that ran too far and got speared in the throat. His name was Unalaq, like the avatar. It stayed on your mind all through the battle, you cried in your barracks every single night until the battle was over. When it was, you heard your army crying, screaming, you felt pain rush through you, had you let them down? It was then that you noticed them cheering. They were hugging, smiling, laughing, and cheering...cheering your name. In hindsight you see those cheers almost as preparation for what was to come.
You got back to republic city the night after the last battle. The city was quiet, it was beautiful. You got to your apartment and cuddled with Itza, taking in the peace. Something told you it wouldn't last long.
The next day the streets were filled with a sound you had heard before, more cheers of your name. You got dressed by a team of stylists, your long (or short) hair adorned by gold feathers. You got introduced to the people, and began to feel something you hadn't felt since high school. You felt adored.
They had told you the night before to plan a speech. You hadn't. You knew what you were going to say. What you had to say.
"Unalaq is a name we all know. The dark avatar, either feared or hailed, the meaning we attach to that name is often polar. Today I mourn the death of my soldier, who had that same name. He was our one loss in battle. Unalaq was brave, reckless, he had fire in his soul of water. His death is my failure in this victory, and this victory we celebrate today is his. All his. I will forever be grateful and in debt to cadet Unalaq and his family, and I swear on my life there will not be a day that I breathe that I will not do everything in my power to protect you. All these cheers are for you. I am today and always at your service; the avatar Is. All. Yours."
There was silence. The crowd stared at you in awe, but you didn't even react, you knew how this goes. You counted in your head. "Three. Two. One."
...
Boom.
The crowd exploded in euphoria. Cheers, praises. People were thanking you. Many were crying, all of them were smiling.
The people started saying what would become your fame. You were born to be the avatar.