Hi. I decided to update because... WhY nOt?
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Y/N's POV
I didn't know how to tell them. They already thought I was from the fire nation, but now that they know Zuko knows me... God even his name scares me. I want nothing to do with him and I really don't wanna have this conversation with them, but it's gonna have to happen...
*TIME SKIP BROUGHT TO YOU BY CABBAGE MANNN*
It was dark now, and we had been flying in silence.
"We should set up camp," Sokka said.
I nodded once and looked around. We were over a forest but I saw a small clearing ahead.
"Over there, Appa," I said softly, moving the reins slightly in the direction of the clearing. Appa seemed to know and landed smoothly on the side of the clearing. We all got off, taking our sleeping bags with us. Sokka said he would go get some firewood and start the fire. After he came back, I sent Sokka to go get some food, and Katara and Aang to go see if they can find water. After they left and I was sure they weren't close enough to see me, I used my firebending to light the firewood. It was easier than waiting for Sokka to do it so...I set up all of our sleeping bags, with Katara and Sokka on the side that Appa was on, and Aang on my side.
(Blue=Katara, Purple=Sokka, Orange=Aang, Gray=Y/N)(sorry for the bad sketch haha)
I didn't trust Katara and Sokka with Aang, but I still had to protect them all cause Aang had taken a liking to them and I'm pretty sure if I didn't protect them, he'll do some stupid sh*t to protect them and it'll just make my life worse. So what choice do I have?
I sat on my sleeping bag and got ready to meditate a little, but Sokka, Katara, and Aang got back.
"Hey Y/N, we couldn't find any water. Sorry," Katara said.
"Yeah, but we DID find this!" Aang said happily, holding up a squirming bearded turtle-lizard.
"Aang, let him go," Katara said to him, chuckling.
"Okay..." Aang replied, pouting.
"Hey, you got the fire going!" Sokka exclaimed, walking towards his sleeping bag.
Duh. I mean it didn't just APPEAR. Well, technically it did but I made it so it didn't? Idk.
"Sokka what did you get?" Katara asked him.
"Well...I got some nuts..." he said, extending his hand. I facepalmed.
"What do we eat now?" Aang asked.
"Oh! Y/N, I put a couple sandwiches in your knapsack earlier, did you eat any?" Katara blurted.
"No," I muttered. To be honest, I didn't eat anything yesterday. Or the day before. But it was fine cause I wasn't hungry.
"Not even one?" Sokka questioned.
I shook my head, using my airbending to jump high up into the air and land softly on Appa's back. I shuffled through my bag and found 6 sandwiches. There's enough for the four of us to eat, but if I ate today, one of them won't be able to eat tomorrow. I grabbed 3 sandwiches and jumped again, landing quietly on the ground next to Sokka. I gave him two sandwiches and gestured to Katara, hoping he'd understand to give her one, and he did. I walked back to Aang and gave one to him, and sat down on the ground next to Aang. I had set up my sleeping bag a little farther away from them so I could watch over them easier, but I figured I could sit next to them for now. They probably don't want my company but...whatever.
"Aren't you gonna eat?" Aang asked curiously.
"I'm not hungry," I lied.
"So...are you gonna tell us?" Sokka asked, taking a bite from his sandwich. I looked at him questioningly.
"How does Zuko know you?" Sokka stated blatantly. I winced a little when he said his name, but they didn't seem to notice.
"Must we talk about this now?" I was just stalling. I really didn't want to tell them. They didn't need to know. It had nothing to do with them.
"Yes. I don't know if you're gonna attack me while I sleep or not!" Sokka reasoned.
"Sokka!" gasped Katara.
"What? She's a stranger and the guy who abducted Aang and attacked our village KNOWS her!"
"Sokka that's rude!"
"It's fine, Katara. He has every right to hate me. Like everyone else," I whispered the last part so they wouldn't hear, but Aang did.
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing," I said.
"So? Are you going to explain yourself? Why you were wearing fire nation clothes and why that Zuko dude knows you?" Sokka pressed.
I sighed. "Its... A long story..."
"We have time," Sokka said sassily. I glared at him.
"Well I worked in the fire nation, but I insulted the princess out in the open and she heard, so I was banished," I lied. That's not really what happened. It was a lot more personal than that. But I wasn't going to tell them that cause that didn't concern them.
"And... Zuko...got banished for speaking out as well...And then..."
*FLASHBACK (what really happened; you're not telling this to Katara, Aang, and Sokka)*
*TRIGGER WARNING!*
I was standing there, my hands cuffed behind my back, and two guards on either side of me, roughly holding my arms. Prince Zuko had just lost in an Agni Kai and the Fire Lord is about to decide my punishment for trying to escape the fire nation.
"NOW FOR THE USELESS TRAITOR!" his voice boomed and echoed through the hall.
Some people boo-d and some people laughed. I kept my head down, but I could feel the glares and the whispers of everyone there. I felt so helpless.
The fire lord laughed.
"We took you in and this is how you repay us?" he asked condescendingly. I grit my teeth. He didn't 'take me in', he turned me into his daughter's slave. Her punching bag. Her plaything. The scars she gave me haunted my skin as if to taunt me, like the ones I gave myself. 'Remember me? Remember how much of a failure you are?'
"What shall we do with you?" he asked. I could hear the smirk on his face.
"I'm going to banish you, but...I'm bored. I don't think that's enough..." he paused. "Strip."
I looked at him.
"EXCUSE ME?!" I yelled, lunging towards him. The guards tightened their grip on me and held me back. I stopped moving but I tried jerking my arm away from one of the guards, only to be held tighter. I looked down again.
"Ehh that's a bit too severe. I do have some empathy for you. I know exactly how you're going to pay for your sins..." he chuckled darkly. A shiver ran down my spine as I felt scared for what he was going to put me through. But nothing could be worse than what Azula did to me...right?
"You two," he commanded, pointing at the guards on either side of me, "You may do...whatever you want with her."
My head snapped up, my eyes filled with horror.
"What do you mean? Why-" I whispered desperately, "No..."
"Throw her out of the nation walls once you're done with her."
"NO!" I yelled, trying to free myself of their grasp as the guards dragged me away. But I was weak. I'm always so weak. I couldn't do anything. I couldn't use my airbending to do anything. I'd just get a worse punishment. I stopped moving when the guards dragged me out of the hall. They dragged me all the way to the dungeons and threw me in a cell, following me inside and closing the door behind them, smirks plastered on their faces. I looked at them fearfully.
"P-please...You don't have to do this...C-can't you ju-just l-let me go? J-just thr-throw me ou-out o-of the F-fire Na-ation..." I begged.
"We would..." I looked at them hopefully, "But we don't want to."
"Please-"
"SHUT UP YOU B*TCH!" one of them yelled, grabbing my neck and slamming me against the wall. Tears brimmed in my eyes as the guard stepped closer to me.
"P-please let me g-go..."
"Why would I let go of a sexy lady like you," he said, looking me up and down and licking his lips. I felt like throwing up.
"Let me g--" he cut me off by kissing me roughly on the lips. My eyes widened and i tried to get away from him but his grip on my neck only tightened, choking me.He used his hand to gr*pe me and removed his hand from my neck and started to suck on it. I struggled against him, trying to get away from him, but the other guard came and held me still. The guard stopped kissing me and let me go, but the other guard was still holding my arms. He pulled me off the wall and stepped behind me, pulling me back against him. He started kissing my neck and his hands slid under my shirt and gr*ped my chest harshly. I tried to scream for help but the second guard standing in front of me started kissing me. My yells were muffled but I didn't stop. I started crying. I closed my eyes but the tears kept falling. The second guard's other hand slid down my skirt and cupped my private. I bit his lip hard hoping he'd let go but he just used his other hand to slap me. Hard.
"YOU SL*T. I'll make you pay for that!" he growled. He kicked my ankle harshly twice and I felt something snap and I screamed in pain. He inserted a finger into me and I screamed even louder.
"HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP ME! PLEA--" he cut me off my slapping me again. I whimpered in pain as I felt something warm trickle down my cheek and it stung. I kept yelling though, hoping someone would come to save me. The man behind me squeezed me even harder making me yelp in pain while the guard in front of me pulled his finger in and out of me.
"Now that's music to my ears..." he whispered.
"LET ME GO!" I screamed, kicking the guard in front of me in the shin.
"F*CK!" he cussed in pain. "B*TCH!" he yelled, punching me in the eye. I stopped kicking after that. There was no point fighting...I was just a weak little girl against two fire nation soldiers.
The man behind me bit my neck harshly and I wimpered in pain, biting my lip. I yelped when the man in front of me inserted two more fingers. I suddenly felt a searing pain on my stomach. The guard in front of me was pressing his lit-up fist onto my stomach. I screamed as I felt my flesh burn.
BOOM.
The doors burst open revealing an angry looking boy. It was the prince.
"GET OFF HER!" he roared, shooting two fireballs at the guards. they let me go and threw me to te ground. I sobbed and scrambled away from the guards and cried into my knees. Soon it was silent. I heard one person's footsteps. I started shaking and cried harder. I felt numb. Scared. Weak. Violated.
I felt a hand on my shoulder and I flinched and turned my head a bit away from the hand.
"Hey, it's okay... You're safe now..." I heard a voice say. It was warm and kind. I assumed it was the boy who saved me.
"It's alright...I won't hurt you..." he said, "Are you hurt?"
I nodded. I stopped crying, but I was still shivering. I felt him break the handcuffs from my hands and then he held them. I looked up at him. He had a bandage on his eye so I assumed he got hurt from the Agni Kai earlier... I wonder why he was here...I probably looked like a mess. An ugly, fat, mess.
"Holy sh*t..." he whispered under his breath as he studied my face. My eye ached, my ankle hurt like HELL, and my stomach felt like it was on fire. He let go of one of my hands and slowly put in on my cheek as he caressed it. We just sat there for a minute. I was to scared to move. Suddenly his face changed to one of realization and he quickly stood up.
"We need to get out of here. Can you stand?" he asked softly, reaching a hand out to me.
I nodded and slowly took his warm hand. He pulled me up gently, but the second my injured ankle touched the ground, I yelped in pain and fell back down, letting go of his hand. He looked at me questioningly.
"A-are you injured somewhere else?"
I nodded again and slowly took off my boot, biting my lip to distract myself from the pain. I rolled up the bottom of my pants on that leg. I looked at it and saw my bone practically sticking out of my skin. I looked away cause it made me feel queasy...
"Uh...I guess you can't walk... Um..C-can I..Carry y-you?" he asked awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck and looking away.
I hesitated a bit, but I decided to speak.
"O-okay..." I mumbled. He looked at me shocked.
"So you DO talk!" he exclaimed.
After a couple awkwardly silent seconds, he quickly bent down and put his arm under my knees and the other hand supporting my back. I used my arms to cling to his neck, afraid of falling, as I looked at the ground.
"Is this o-okay?" he stuttered. I nodded a little and looked at him. We made eye contact and we both froze. We both blushed and I looked away. The part of his face I could see was actually quite handsome... I didn't notice all these years cause I didn't really see him up close like this.
He started walking out of the room cautiously. He quickly made his way to the outside walls of the nation. The gates opened and the second we stepped out, they closed behind us. I was really banished from the place I lived in all of my childhood. I was really leaving that hellhole. Part of me was sad I couldn't come back, but I was mostly glad.
I looked at Zuko as he looked straight off into the ocean in front of us. I could tell that I would be happier if Zuko was there for me...Right?
*END OF FLASHBACKKKKK*
"and then we just met outside the walls of the fire nation and he offered for me to travel with him and I accepted. We traveled together for a year or so until we had...a falling out...and I left. I decided to travel back to the Earth Kingdom and trained there for a month and then I went to the Northern Water Tribe and met some people there. They lent me a ship there so I didn't have to fly everywhere on my glider," I explained monotonously.
"How did you get a glider?" Aang asked.
"My parents were Air Nomads in hiding. The only survivors. They thought I didn't know how to bend since nobody taught me. They were in a boat in the ocean near Ba Sing Se when my mother gave birth to me but my dad drowned when our boat sank. Avatar Roku somehow saved me and my mom by giving me part of his spirit. I guess that's why he asked me to protect Aang. Anyway, my mom raised me until I was 4 but abandoned me after she found out I could bend elements... So she left me at the doorstep of a noble family in Ba Sing Se but the last thing she said to me was to find the Avatar. They raised me until I was 6 when I was found by some fire nation soldiers and I was arrested for using my air bending out in public. Since I'm an airbender, I was tortured for information about the Avatar's whereabouts until two years later, Prince Zuko's mother found me. She convinced them that I would have given in and told them after 2 years of torture if I really knew and they agreed. They let me go. Then Zuko's mother took me in for 5 years until I was banished. It's been 4 years," I said blandly.
"So you're sixteen?" Katara asked.
I nodded.
"Hear that, Sokka? Y/N is a year older than you!" Katara bragged with a grin on her face.
"Oh yeah? Well she's two years older than you!" he snapped back. Katara and Sokka kept bickering but Aang was silent. I stared at him for a little seeing if he'd say anything. But he didn't. He just sadly stared at the ground.
"Aang," I whispered to him.
"Yeah?"
"What is your question?" I asked knowingly. He was so silent so it was obvious he wanted to ask me something.
"Is it true that we are the last airbenders?" he said sadly.
I sighed and nodded, looking at the ground.
"Hey Y/N, you said that Avatar Roku gave you some of his spirit," Aang said. At this, Katara and Sokka stopped bickering and were watching us.
I nodded, waiting for his question.
"I wanted to know...Since he mastered all the elements... did him giving you some of his energy also give you the power to bend all the elements?"
I froze.
f*ck.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Aight guys that's all for this chapter. Its longer than the last one and I literally spent all of yesterday and today writing so I hope you enjoyed it. Also, thank you to @WlNT3R for suggesting a change for this chapter (which I did change. Trust me, the detail I changed makes what happened to Y/N make more sense). Don't be a silent reader and tell me what you think and what you wish to happen in this book in the future! I love hearing from you guys! Thanks for reading!