~No one's P.O.V~
Y/n smiled widely as she twirled on her glider, she turned her head to find Aang beside her, flickering Appa's reins with a smile. She turned her head the other way to Katara, who was flying on a gigantic Momo.
She heard laughter and looked above her, finding Asoka flying with Aang's glider.
"We need you, Y/n."
"I need you, too." Y/n replied with a light laugh, grinning. She noticed something out of the corner of her eyes. As she turned her head, her expression held shock as the sky's colours changed to dark, ominous gray, a large storm cloud before her.
"Storm coming right up! Be careful g-" She cut herself off as she noticed her friends had disappeared, "Guys?"
"Why Y/n?" Her eyes shot up in front of her as Gyatso, sitting with his legs crossed and his hands together before him, floated down before her, "Gyatso?"
"Why did you disappear?" He asked in a whisper, his tone sad.
"I didn't mean to." Y/n's eyes saddened before she reached out to the monk before her, but before she could, Gyatso turned grey and dissipated into smoke, which blew at Y/n.
She shielded her face with her arm. As the smoke went by, Y/n removed her arm. She raised her head instantly, eyes widening in shock while the dark clouds swallowed her.
"We need you, Y/n." Gyatso's voice echoed.
A bolt of lightning shot down in front of Y/n, her eyes widening slightly as she tried to manoeuvre out of the dark cloud, but found herself caught in the belly of the storm.
She found herself plummeting into the water after another lightning had shot, hitting her glider.
"We need you, Y/n."
"We need you."
Voices echoed beneath the water while Y/n's unconscious body sank.
"We need you, Y/n."
"We need you."
Unmoving, Y/n sank and disappeared into the darkness of the ocean.
Y/n gasped for air, shooting upright from her sleeping position, startling Momo, who was curled up on top of Y/n.
The lemur leaped onto Katara's stomach, causing g her to shoot up with a startled look on her face, before jumping on Aang, who let out a tired groan but sat up, rubbing his eye.
Momo jumped on Sokka's stomach at last, making him shoot up, still sleepy, half heartedly wielding his dagger and boomerang, "What's going on?" He asked drowsily, looking around, "Did we get captured again?"
"It's nothing." Y/n answered, turning to her friends, "I just had a bad dream." She told them before turning her back to them, curling up on the ground, "Go back to sleep."
"Don't have to tell me twice." Sokka announced, letting himself fall back with a satisfied sigh.
"Are you alright, Y/n?" Katara asked from behind the girl, a concerned expression caressing her face.
"I'm okay." Y/n answered, her eyes shooting to the side, looking at the dry ground, her arms tucked under her head.
"You seem to be having a lot of nightmares lately." Aang said, about to get up, "You want to tell me about it?" Aang asked, barely getting up before Y/n spoke.
"I think I just need some rest." She closed her eyes briefly before opening them again.
Sokka sat up, "You guys wanna hear about my dream?" He joked, trying to lift the mood. Aang looked over his shoulder, frowning at him.
"That's okay." Sokka waved his hand with a sigh, "I didn't want to talk about it anyway." He lay down.
Katara sighed and followed his actions.
Aang stared at Y/n with worry. His eyes holding concern for the girl with her back turned to him.
Nonetheless, he moved to lay down, going back to sleep.
~No one's P.O.V~
"Look at those clear skies, buddy!" Aang grinned, patting Appa's head, "Should be some smooth flying."
"Well, we better smoothly fly ourselves to a market," Katara told the monk, walking up on Appa's tail and into the saddle where Asoka and Y/n were sitting, "'Cause we're out of food."
Sokka straightened up at that, his eyes wide open, "Wait, guys. This was in my dream. We shouldn't go to the market." Silks stated.
Y/n tilted her head to the side in confusion at the same time as Momo landed on her shoulder, his tail snaking delicately around her neck, "Why not? What happened in your dream?" She asked, scratching under Momo's chin, making him purr.
"Food eats people!" Dolls told them, horror in his voice.
The three looked at him as if he was stupid before going back to what they were doing.
"Also! Momo could talk!" He pointed at the lemur, glaring slightly, "You said some very unkind things." He crossed his arms.
Y/n snorted, grinning as she got up and walked up to Aang, who was busy tightening the rope on Appa's horns.
~No one's P.O.V~
"Ahhh, it's good. It's perfect, I'm telling you!" The merchant complained loudly as Katara shook the watermelon in her hands suspiciously. She could hear a slushing sound within it, "I don't know if I like the sound of that swishing."
The merchant made her way around the small stand filled with fruit, "Swishing means it's ripe! It's the ripe juices swishing around, eh?"
"I think it's true, Katara. Swishing means it's ripe." Aang smiled cheerfully. Y/n patted his shoulder, giving him a little nod.
Katara placed the melon back on the stand, "I just realised we're out of money anyway." She sighed, walking away with the three following her.
"Out of food and out of money," Sokka started, voicing the problem they stood with, "Now what are we supposed to do?"
"You could get a job, smart guy." Katara half-teased her big brother just before their attention was pulled to an old couple fighting.
"We shouldn't go out there! Please, the fish can wait. There going to be a terrible storm." Y/n's eyes widened a little at the sound of that.
A storm.
Just like her dreams.
"You're crazy." The old lad stated, "It's a nice day. No clouds, no winds, no nothing." He gestured to the sky with both of his arms, "So quit nagging, woman."
"Maybe we should find some shelter?"
"Are you kidding?" Sokka asked, turning to Y/n, who had nervously suggested the idea, "Shelter from what?"
"My joints say there's going to be a terrible storm!"
"Well, it's your joints against my brain!"
"Then I hope your brain can find someone else to haul that fish, 'cause I ain't comin'!"
"The. I'll find a new fish hauler and pay him double what you get! How do you like that?" The man asked, crossing his arms.
Sokka was quickly raised his hand, "I'll go!"
"You're hired!" The man announced without a second of hesitation before sending his wife a triumphant look.
"What?" Sokka asked, feeling the three stare at his back, "You said to get a job... And he's paying double."
"Double? Who told you that nonsense?"
~No one's P.O.V~
"Sokka, maybe this isn't such a good idea." Y/n voiced from the docks as the Water Tribe boy walked past her, dark clouds lurking over the sea, "Look at the sky."
"I said I was going to do this job. I can't back out just because of some bad weather." He answered, walking under deck with a bag filled with supplies.
"The girl with the tattoos has some sense." The old woman said with a kind gesture to Y/n, "You should listen to her!" She warned her husband once more.
"Girl with tattoos?" The old man turned around to look at Y/n, "Airbender tattoos." He voiced once he threw his gaze on them, "Well, I'll be a hog monkey's uncle. You're the Avatar, ain't ya?" He asked, making his way off his boat and to the girl, "Or is it you?" He asked, turning his gaze to Aang, who shook his head.
"That's right." Katara answered for the girl, placing a hand on her shoulder, "She is." She smiled proudly at Y/n, who gave her a smile in return.
"Well, don't be so smiley about it!" The old man suddenly burst into a shout, causing the three to frown at the man, "The Avatar disappeared for a hundred years! You turned your back on the world!" The man accused pointing at the girl, whose grip on her staff slowly tightened.
"Don't yell at her!" Aang was quick to defend her, his eyes still wide from surprise of the man's sudden outburst.
"Y/n would never turn her back on anyone!" Katara added, stomping g up to the old man.
"Oh, she wouldn't, huh?" The man questioned the girl, "Then I guess I must have imagined the last hundred years of war and suffering!" At the man's words, Y/n's (e/c) eyes widened.
From shock, pain, guilt? She didn't know. But... At that very moment, she knew she had to get away. She couldn't take it. The pressure. The hope. The trust. Everything that everyone put on her, everything that she had to carry on her back.
She couldn't do it anymore.
"Y/n is the bravest person I know! She's done nothing but help people and save lives since we got back." Aang told the fisherman, his happy gaze turned to a glare. Behind the two of them, Y/n slowly began to backpedal away from them.
"It's not her fault she disappeared, right Y/n?" Katara and Aang turned around to see the girl backing away from them, "Y/n, what's wrong?"
With guilt written over her face, Y/b opened her glider and vaulted into the air, rapidly disappearing into the distance.
"That's right! Keep flying!" The old fisherman shouted after the girl, the echo of his voice only making the girl want to get further away as fast as she could.
Aang ran past the man, throwing his staff into the air, allowing it to fold out into his glider before he grabbed onto it, flying after the girl.
"You're a horrible old man!" Katara shouted at the old man before making her way past him, "Appa, yip, yip!" She called while climbing into the saddle.
~No one's P.O.V~
Darkness.
Freezing.
Wet.
Alone.
Y/n pulled her legs to her chest, wrapping her arms around them, hugging them close. The darkness of the cave surrounded her, and her alone.
But she knew it was only a matter of time before they would find her. And surely enough, it didn't take much more than ten minutes before she heard Appa's yawn before the sound of an Airbender's glider closing.
Footsteps followed, before they came to a stop.
"I'm sorry for running away." The girl apologised silently, feeling their eyes on her back.
"It's okay. That fisherman was way out of line."
"Actually, he wasn't." Y/n shook her head at what Katara had said.
"What are you talking about?" Aang asked the girl, making her look over her shoulder. His eyes widened with shock, her usually relaxing or glimmering eyes gone, replaced with sad ones, some he hadn't seen in a really long time, "I don't want to talk about it."
"It has to do with your dream, doesn't it?" Aang asked, kneeling down beside her. She stayed silent, so Aang placed his hand on her shoulder, "Tell us about it."
"Well, it's kind of a long story." She muttered lowly.
Suddenly, Momo leaped onto her shoulder, making her tense up for a second. Appa had also entered the cave, nuzzling Y/n's head with his nose, making the girl smile as she petted his chin.
"I'm going to try to get a little fire going." Katara told them, beginning to see if she could get some supplies for a small fire.
"I'll never forget when I first arrived at the Air temple." Y/n sighed.
"You asked for me?" Aang questioned as he entered the closed off area of the council Monks, pushing the cloth by the opening aside to enter.
"Aang," Gyatso's voice warned the Airbender's attention, his lowered head shooting up to look at him, "Meet Y/n." The Monk sitting amongst the four others pulled his hand out of his large sleeve, gesturing down to the ground before them.
Aang followed his gesture, his eyes soon landing on the girl, who had once been kneeling in front of them, now turned to look at the boy.
His eyes widened a little at her features and clothing. She had (h/l), (h/c) hair, but it was messy and dirty, (e/c) eyes stared back at him, but they seemed uncertain and hesitant, her (s/c) skin was either smeared into mud and dirt, or had light burns and scorches.
What Aang would've guessed to originally be a black shirt had one of the sleeves teared off, while the other barely hang on with a few stings. Burns littering over the shirt along with the pants she wore, that appeared to be old and overused.
"She will be staying with us from now on." Gyatso spoke after the time Aang hadn't responded, which was unlike the usual cheerful boy, "You will be assigned to show her around."
Y/n lifted an eyebrow at what the man had said before giving a small nod, standing up.
Aang's mouth opened a little when the girl limped towards him. But the pain it must have caused either went by the girl without a worry, or else she must have bitten her tongue to keep herself from whimpering.
Aang shook his head lightly, a smile soon playing on his lips.
"Remember," Gyatso spoke, making Y/n turn her upper body to him with a curious look, "We need you, Y/n." The Monk gave a warm smile to the girl, who didn't reply but instead went out of the room with Aang trailing behind her.
Nervously biting his lip.
The fire between the three burned in Y/n's (e/c) eyes, that is, before she lowered her head, her responsibility crushing her.
"Wait, I thought you were originally from the Air Temple?" Katara frowned a little, tipping her head to the side in a questioning manner.
Bc
"I'm not." Y/n shook her head, pulling her legs closed to herself to hide her face behind them, "I don't like to talk about it." She told in a low voice, closing her eyes.
"How was it, then? Living at the Air Temple?" Katara asked in pure curiosity. Aang turned his head to look at the Waterbender, sending her looks of concern.
"It was... Fine, I suppose. But so much changed over such a little time. Soon, everyone found out I was the Avatar, and then things kept changing."
"Hey, not bad!" Aang cheered his friends on as he walked to the South Wall with Y/n trailing in his steps. The group were on their Air Scooters, a new trick they had learned, "You guys have been practicing!"
"Not only that." One of the younger Air Nomads responded, stopping in front of Aang on his Air Scooter, "We made up a game you can play with the Air Scooters!" The young boy exclaimed with a happy grin on his lips.
Aang laughed lightly, smiling brightly, "Great!" He shouted before turning his hands in a circular motion, making his own air ball before him, quickly jumping onto it.
Y/n stood beside him, watching with crossed arms. Her (e/c) eyes turned to glare at the Air Nomads the second they all stopped playing, their Air Scooters soon vanishing beneath them, "What's going on?" Aang asked with a light frown.
"Now that you're appointed to look after the Avatar, it's kind of an unfair advantage for whichever team you're on." One of the older boys explained to Aang, his eyes a little sad.
"What have that to do with anything?" Y/n spat at the boy, her glare hardening.
"Aang got chosen to look after you because he's the best of us." The Air Nomad replied, crossing his arms.
"But I'm still the same! Nothing's changed!" Aang jumped into the conversation, but received nothing but silence from the other Air Nomads, "So, what? I can't play?"
"That's the only fair way."
"But that's not fair." Y/n shot back within a heartbeat, Aang turned his head to the girl, expecting her usual dark orbs and neutral face, but for the first time, her eyes held something more within them, she finally showed the little sadness that they desired for in so long, "You guys have all grown up here, together, right?" Y/n asked, a small smile taking ahold of her lips.
Y/n bowed down, a thing that made her recall her previous family, "I'm sorry for disrespecting your ways. I beg you pardon. Please allow Aang to play with you, and I'll be on my way." When she spoke, Aang felt like she had learned those lines, like she had repeated them so many times that they were burned into her brain.
"Okay." One of the Air Nomads gave her a little nod.
Y/n stood back up right, and as she turned around to leave, she gave Aang a small smile, but this one, this one was different. Because what seemed to have been forced just moments ago, now seemed like a generous gesture.
Later that day, Y/n was found by Gyatso by the water fountain and had been taking inside for a game.
Y/n, new at the game, moved a random Pai Sho piece. Her face returned to its usual neutral features.
Gyatso hummed, leaning over the board to study the move, "Very interesting move, young one."
"What do you mean?" Y/n asked the man, her back slacking slightly. The girl had finally been able to begin to relax. A thing she hadn't done ever since she could remember.
Gyatso swirled his hand behind his back, using his Airbending to make a spiral that went over their heads, flipping the short cape of Y/n's new Airbender clothing over her head. The teacher quickly shifted the two pieces around, giving himself an advantage.
Y/n lifted the cape from her head, flipping it back into place with a light laugh, "Hey!" She called out to Gyatso's cheating. The two let out light laughs, a thing Y/n had come to enjoy doing with her new teacher.
But their laughs was cut short when the door was opened, revealing Monk Tashi, one of the members of the council in the opening.
"You are playing with her?" Tashi questioned Gyatso once his eyes fell on the Pai Sho board in between them, "The Avatar should be training!"
"Y/n has already trained enough for today." Gyatso stated, closing his eyes. However, the statement went by Tashi, who turned his attention to Y/n, "Time is short. Come with me." He ordered, gesturing for the girl to follow along, "I must test you on some high level techniques."
Y/n nodded, following orders as she used to. She was about to get up when she felt a hand taking ahold of hers, gently pulling her to sit back down, "No." Gyatso shook his head at the fellow Monk, "As long as I'm her guardian, I will decide when she trains... And when she gets her butt kicked at Pai Sho." He added with a smile directed to Y/n.
"Hmph!" Tashi scoffed at the teacher before walking away shortly after.
Y/n scoffed at the memory, letting her hand pet Momo's back to relax herself, "And then, when I started to feel better, to feel like I finally belonged... Something worse happened."
Y/n turned her head to look at Aang, who gave her a light, sad smile.
"Y/n needs to have freedom and fun. She needs to finally grow up as a normal girl." Gyatso told the head Monk, Pasang.
"You can not keep protecting her from her destiny." Tashi replied to Gyatso's statement.
"Gyatso, I know you mean well, but you are letting your affection for the girl cloud your judgment." Pasang stated, his arms folded neatly into his sleeves.
"I simply believe she've been put through enough suffering." Gyatso told to Monk respectfully, bowing down, "All I want is what is best for her."
"But what we need, is what's best for the world." Pasang resorted, "You and Y/n must be separated. The Avatar will be sent away to the Eastern Air Temple to complete her training."
And that statement was what caused Y/n's eyes to widen. Having heard the conversation through a hole in the ceiling.
"That's awful, Y/n. I don't know what to say..." Katara trailed off, looking down at the ground.
After all this time... I still can't believe that they would do that to you." Aang said, barely above a whisper. Y/n stood up in a fury, walking away from the fire, "How could they do that to me?!" The girl shouted, a wind starting up around her, "They wanted to take away everyone I loved!" She shouted, the arrows on her head and hands starting to glow their icy blue colour, but quickly faded again.
"I'm sorry I got so mad." Y/n apologised with a sigh, turning back around to face them.
"You have the right to be angry after the monks sent you away like that." Katara responded to the girl as she walked back to the fire, sitting in front of it once more.
"Well, that was not exactly what happened." Y/n replied, looking at the Water Tribe girl, "I was so confused. I... I didn't know what to do. So I decided to leave myself." She shifted her eyes to look at Aang, "Of course you just couldn't not care, and had to come with me. We never saw Gyatso again. The next thing I remember, is waking up outside of that iceberg." Y/n answered, feeling a hand being placed on top of hers.
Y/n smiled down at the arrow covered hand.
"You ran away."
"And then the Fire Nation attacked our temple. Gyatso, the Air Nomads, they needed us, and we weren't there to help because of me." Y/n spoke through gritted teeth, her lips pulling a little.
"Y/n, you don't know what would hav-"
"The world needed me and I wasn't there to help!" Y/n snapped, glaring into the fire.
"Y/n..." Aang trailed off, placing his hand on her her shoulder.
"The fisherman was right. I did turn my back on the world." Y/n stated, shoving Aang's hand off her shoulder before turning her head away.
"You're being too hard on yourself, Y/n." Aang told the girl, placing his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner once more, "Even if we did run away. I think it was meant to be. If we had stayed, we would've been killed along with all the other Airbenders."
"Or we could've saved them." Y/n resorted, "Because of me, they're all dead."
"Y/n, the world needs you now." Katara spoke in a soft voice, "You give people hope."
"Thank you, Aang, Katara." Y/n spoke, a small smile on her lips.
The silent moment was cut off by the desperate shout of a woman's voice, "HELP!" She cried out at the entrance of the cave, making the three snap their heads towards her.
The fisherman's wife stood at the entrance.
"It's okay." Katara reassured the woman as she walked up to her, "You're safe." She said, guiding her over to the fire to get some warmth.
"But my husband isn't." She replied, pulling her hood down. Katara's face changed to one of worry, "What do you mean? Where's Sokka?"
"They haven't returned! They should have been back by now! And this storm is becoming a typhoon!" The woman exclaimed, gesturing to the outside, "They're caught on sea!" She exclaimed, making Y/n's eyes widen in worry.
"I'm going to find them!" Y/n announced, standing up.
"If you're going, so am I!" Aang added with a smile, following the girl to the cave entrance.
"I'm going with you!" Katara shouted after the two, leaving the old woman to huff, "I'm staying here!"
"We'll be back soon! I promise." Y/n told the old woman, who had sat down by the fire. The fisherman's wife looked at them with a smile as they flew out of the cave on Appa's back.
"Do you see them?!"
"No!" Y/n shouted back, regaining her balance after Appa was hit by a smaller wave of water.
Aang's eyes widened as a large wave rose before them, "COME ON, APPA!" He shouted, pulling on the Flying Bison's reins to make him fly right up.
However, the wave was too high, "Keep going!" Y/n shouted to the Airbender boy, standing on Appa's saddle with her staff in hand. Aang gave a firm nod, and as the wave neared them, Y/n gave a powerful swing with her staff, sending a large bullet of air into the wave, making a temporary way through it.
"The boat! There!" Aang shouted, pointing at the boat sailing unsteadily on the water.
"I'm too young to die!" Sokka exclaimed from the boat, clinging onto a rope.
"I'm not, but I still don't wanna!" The fisherman replied to the young Water Tribe boy's claim.
When Appa finally got to the boat, he glided above it, letting Y/n jump down from his back. The lightning stroke the boat, causing the pile of the sail to fall. Thinking quickly, Y/n brought up four pouts of water, splitting the pole in half before it could crush Sokka and the fisherman, who were hugging each other.
Y/n ran towards them, picking up a rope from the deck, she gave them one end, "Hang on to the rope!" She ordered, and the two do as told. Y/n jumped back up on Appa's back, who threw himself to the side, making the rope pull the two men up.
They landed on Appa's back, making Aang nod before making Appa fly on back to the cave. However, a large wave rose behind them, and before they knew it, they were forced under sea.
Bubbles of air left Y/n's mouth, ever so slowly, she sank further and further away from Appa and the others.
"You give the world hope."
Y/n's hands snapped closed, icy blue glow starting to break out on the arrow on her head and her hands, eyes snapped open to reveal the same colour. She hit her fists together, a force of water and wind blowing around them, creating a ball, the group shot through the water in safety, heading towards the eye of the storm.
Once the water was calmer, the glow dimmed down to nothing and the Bison broke through the surface with ease, finally giving everyone air to breathe.
~No one's P.O.V~
"Oh, you're alive!" The old woman exclaimed happily once the group had arrived back at the cave, engulfing her husband in a hug, "You owe this girl an apology!" She shouted once she pulled away from the hug.
The man rubbed the back of his neck, "What if, instead of an apology, I give her a free fish and call it even?" He suggested.
"Actually, she doesn't eat meat." Aang popped in, spitting facts.
"Fish ain't meat." The old man replied, making Aang look at him weirdly.
"Seriously, you're still gonna pay me, right?" Sokka asked the man, walking up to him with his hand held out. A fish was thrown into his hand, making the warrior whimper.
"Katara, Aang." Y/n called out to the two, walking over to them, "I think you were right before. I can't make guesses about what would have turned out if hadn't run away." Y/n stated, hitting her staff on the ground, "I'm here now and I'm going to make the most out of it."
"I don't think you're gonna have those nightmares anymore." Katara reassured the girl with a gentle smile.
Y/n felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, "And if you weren't here now, I guess I wouldn't be either." The old man smiled down at the girl, "Thank you for saving my life, Avatar."
"Do you hear that?" Sokka questioned, looking outside, "It stopped raining." He said, walking outside. The others followed, looking over the calm sea.
That is, before Appa shook the water off him, splashing his human friends with the water.
"APPA!"