We flew on Appa away from the city.
Aang was out cold. Katara was healing him using this spirit water thing that she got at the North Pole. Toph was trying to sleep, and the Earth King was sleeping with his bear. Sokka was driving Appa
I wonder if Appa could take this weight.
I looked over the city of Ba Sing Se, flames engulfing the skyscrapers.
Guess this is goodbye, Zuko.
"Are you okay, (Y/N)?" Katara looked at me with concern.
I smiled, "Why wouldn't I be?"
"You and Zuko seemed close."
"Don't worry about that," I tried to sound sincere, but my voice was foreign to me. It was cold.
I sighed and went into my backpack. I took out my phone and unlocked it. The lock screen photo was a picture of Zuko and me. I forced him to take the photo. I was smiling at the camera while Zuko was frowning with his arms crossed.
"Zuko! Let's take a picture!"
"What? No!"
"Why not?" I pouted, "Please!"
"No!" He crossed his arms and frowned.
"Good enough!" I held up the phone and smiled, snapping a picture of Zuko and me in that state.
"(Y/N)! Delete that!"
"No! It's cute!"
"Give me your phone!"
"You'll have to catch me!" I ran out of the living room.
"What are you? A child?!" Zuko called, running after me.
"Precisely!"
He caught up to me and tackled me onto the bed, grabbing my phone.
"Got it!" He yelled.
"Maybe, but you don't know my password," I smiled and pecked his lips.
He kissed me back, "Fine, but don't make it your background"
I pushed him off me and grabbed my phone back, "No promises."
"What? H-hey (Y/N)!"
I stared at the phone and thought for a moment, before chucking it off the side of the bison, onto the sea below.
Sokka looked back at me, "Why would you do that?! Do you know how expensive phones are? We could have sold that!"
"You want me to risk the fire nation tracking us for money? Besides, money isn't a problem with me, you guys are set on that front."
"What do you mean?" Sokka asked, intrigued.
"I have a multimillion-dollar bank account at my service, and therefore, at your service."
"Can't the fire nation track that?"
"This bank account is special, only I and one other person can access it. Do I look like an idiot?" I asked Sokka.
"I guess not," Sokka said sheepishly.
Toph groaned, "Will you guys keep it down? I'm trying to sleep."
"Sorry," I said, smiling apologetically. Not that she would know that I was smiling, you know, since she's blind.
"So," Sokka said, "You and Zuko, what's the story?"
"Story? There's no story," I said, "He cares more about his honor than he does me. The only story is that he's a dick and I should have left when he started being a dick way back when we got banished in the first place. The story is that I should have taken Aang's offer at the South Pole and left with you guys then. Fuck Zuko."
Toph coughed, "Maybe that wasn't a question you should have asked, Sokka."
I smiled, "It's fine."
I wasn't fine.
I stretched, "So where are we going? Do you guys have a plan?"
Sokka sighed, "We're going to go to Chameleon Bay. That's where-"
"Why Chameleon Bay?" I asked.
Sokka looked angry, "I was getting to that," he calmed down slightly while I giggled, "Anyway. My father and some of the Southern Watertribe troops are there, so we're going to meet with them."
Wait. This was a good thing. If we were going to meet up with the Southern Tribe, then I would be able to ask about my mother.
I turned to Katara, "Do you think that the water tribe troops will know about my mom?"
"That's right," she said, "Your mom is from the southern tribe. I remember Gran Gran saying something about it, but she seemed very uncomfortable talking about it."
I sighed, "I hope that the troops won't be uncomfortable about it. I just want to know about my family, the part that didn't..." I trailed off.
Abuse me is what I was going to say.
"Didn't what?" Katara asked.
"Nothing."
The last and only person I opened up to stabbed me in the back not that long ago.
***
It was light outside when we got to Chameleon Bay. I yawned and hopped off the bison. Sokka and Katara hugged their father.
I just kind of stood awkwardly to the side.
They were all talking about the "Invasion" which I had never heard of but I hope they'll get me up to speed soon.
Soon Sokka went to mingle with the rest of the troops.
Katara noticed my awkward stance and grabbed my arm, dragging me to her dad, "Dad! This is (Y/N)," she turned to me, "(Y/N), this is my dad."
"Call me Hakoda," he smiled.
He gave of a familiar aura. Just like that one elderly woman from the Southern Tribe.
"Hi," I smiled.
"You seem familliar," he said.
"Yeah, uh- have you ever heard of the bibender?"
"Yes," he exclaimed, "Although, not so much recently. It would be a pain if we ran into her, though. Can't believe the Fire Nation has someone who can bend both water and fire."
Katara coughed, "Dad, (Y/N) is the bibender. She's on our side now."
Hakoda looked surprised, "Oh! I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
I laughed, "No, it's fine. I get it, I've made some poor decisions in my life."
"Haven't we all?" Hakoda smiled.
I like this guy. As I said, something about him was so... familiar. I just didn't know why.
Katara elbowed me, "Ask about your mother," she whispered through gritted teeth.
"No!" I whispered back.
"Do it!"
"No, what if he doesn't know anything?" I whispered.
"Fine," Katara said out loud, "I'll do it. Dad," she turned to Hakoda who looked confused, "(Y/N) wants to know about her mother."
"Oh," he smiled, "Should I know her?"
Katara gave me a look.
I sighed, "Uh, she's from the Southern Tribe."
"Okay, what's her name?" He asked me, "The tribe's not very large, maybe I've heard of her."
"Uh, Katya?"
Hakoda's face fell, "Is that supposed to be a sick joke?"
"What? What do you mean?"
"Katya's dead."
"Yeah, I know Katya's dead I was at the hospital when it happened. She's my mom."
"No," he shook his head, "She's been dead since before you were born. She was captured by the fire nation and killed."
"She was not killed. I know this story, my father, although I hate the man, saved her. She didn't die until years after that."
"What?" He asked.
"Dad?" Katara said, "What's wrong?"
"Katya is- was- my sister," he said.
Sorry, what?
Katara looked at me in shock, as did Hakoda.
Hakoda grabbed my shoulders, "Can you tell me about her? How long was she alive after she was captured?"
"Dad," Katara lightly touched her father's shoulder, "Let (Y/N) register that for a bit. She's been through a lot," she put a comforting hand on my shoulder.
I don't want anyone's pity. I didn't want anyone to make excuses for me.
Hakoda sighed, "Yes," he regained his composure, "I'm sorry."
"No," I shook Katara away, "It's fine. My mother was an amazing woman. She was always kind to me. You should be proud to have her as a sister."
Hakoda looked like he was tearing up, "I am," he nodded.
***
Sokka had the water tribe troops leave Chameleon bay, and we followed them on Appa. Soon we came to a bay.
The bay was filled with Fire Nation ships.
"God," I said, "How are we supposed to do anything like this?"
Katara looked at the Fire Nation ships, "I have no idea."
Sokka's face lit up, "I have an idea!"
Toph rolled her eyes, "Of course you do."
"Hey- I say we take over just one of these ships, that way we'll be able to hide in plain sight in the Fire Nation," Sokka said.
That... wasn't a bad idea.
The watertribe ships docked and Sokka went down to explain to his dad what his plan was.
I, however, am very impatient.
I started walking towards one of the ships.
"Where are you going?" Toph asked.
I smiled, not turning around, "Don't worry about it."
I just needed an outlet.
I entered the ship. Judging by the makeup of this warship, there was probably a captain, a second-in-command, likely a cook, an engineer, and about four other people to deal with the ship.
That's a total of eight people.
I saw two people on deck, looking at a map on a table, and walked up to them, "So, what's the plan for today?"
They didn't look up from their map, "We're not sure," the man on the right said.
"Great," I smiled and used my elbow to hit the man, knocking him into the table. I swept my foot under his legs, causing him to fall backward and hit the back of his head, knocking him out.
One.
The other man looked surprised and tried punching me. I jerked my head to the side. He called out, for reinforcements.
I sighed and grabbed his arm, bringing it down hard with enough force to break it. He screamed in pain and I took the gun from out of his side pocket, hitting him with the butt of it, knocking him out. Then I threw the gun overboard.
I can't stand weapons like that.
Two.
Three more men started running towards me. Two were clearly a part of the normal crew, while the third had a badge which signified that he was the second-in-command.
"What are you doing here? Why are you attacking us?" One of them yelled.
I sighed, "Don't take it personally," I bent fire out my fists, hitting one of the men. He stumbled backward, hitting his head hard on the back of the ship, knocking him out.
Three.
The other two men came after me and I ran, using a spinning hook kick to knock one of them in the head, rendering him unconscious. His body fell onto the second-in-command, who fell under the weight. I used his moment of being stunned against him, kicking him in the face. He blacked out as well.
Four and Five.
I yawned and noticed another man coming at me. The captain, also known as the last person on this ship with fighting skill. After the captain was the cook and the engineer. They didn't fight, so it'd be easy to get rid of them.
The captain ran at me.
I dodged, "You know," I dodged another attack from him, "Head on attacks are usually not the best," I ducked from a fire blast, "when you're facing someone who is clearly stronger than you."
I bent water from the ocean and it surged at him, hardening into ice at the last moment. He fell to the ground.
Six.
I smiled, "Great."
I walked down to where the kitchen was. I know how fire nation ships were built.
I saw the cook, who looked scared.
I sighed, "I'll make this quick," I delivered a strategic blow to the back of her head, knocking her out instantly. There was going to be no side effects. I used bloodbending to carry her upstairs to where the rest of the crew was.
Seven.
Then, I found the engineer and did the same thing.
Eight.
I sighed. That's all of them.
I used bloodbending to carry them all off the ship. It's kind of hard to control multiple people, but if they're knocked out, it makes it easier.
I saw Sokka, Katara, Toph, and Hakoda running towards the ship.
"We're ready to take the ship over!" Sokka yelled confidently.
"Huh?" I said, "Oh," I dropped the ship's crew onto the ground, "I already did that. The ship's all yours."
"W-what?" Sokka asked.
I shrugged, "It was easy."
Everyone looked at me in shock.
"(Y/N)," Katara said, "We usually do things as a team."
I rolled my eyes, "We got the ship, didn't we? I don't know why you have to make it seem like a bad thing."
Team? The last time I was a part of a team, I fell in love with a member, and he betrayed me.
"I love you, (Y/N)"
Liar.
I don't want a team.
I want to end the war.
I don't need a team.