A/N:
Recap for you guys ( coz ive been gone for too long): )
Jinora (Yuta's mother figure and former master) deaddy and yuta is kinda angy about it. Victor (juli's unCle) did it.
Yuh i think that's about it 🤷🏻♀️
ENJOY <33
~*~
TAEYONG
I emerged from the shadow on the ground somewhere, a place where Yuta and I agreed to meet through an Iris message. Since it was going to be in an Air Temple, I already braced myself to appear on higher ground.
But I didn't expect this.
I was above the clouds. The wind was cold, and howling. Dizziness suddenly came over me.
"Taeyong," Yuta's voice distracted me from thinking about the height. He landed on the ground safely near me while closing his airbender staff.
We haven't shared a word since that day. Though it's just been maybe a week, it felt like I haven't seen him for years.
The worst years of my life, in fact.
Yuta was the only one I could trust and rely on. But I guess I have destroyed everything that we had.
I blinked, waiting for him to continue. There were a lot of things that I wanted to say, but I decided to keep it all in. That's the least that I could do so he doesn't waste his time. On a traitor.
"We are planning to make a move on the witch in five days." He said.
I was not expecting that. So sudden and right to the point. What was I expecting anyway? It's Yuta.
Though out of all the things he could've said, anything. Anything but that. Why would he tell me that? Is he dense? No, what is he going on about? He is the last person that I would call dense. He is on to something.
"Do you have people to fight with you?"
"Sort of," he breathed in. "All the other nations will fight with us."
Sort of? They have all they need. I thought he brought me here to ask for my undead army.
"But it would be better to have you with us too."
I stared at him, lost in words.
"Well? Say something." He shrugged.
Say something??? "What?"
"We could use more hands. Your power would bring us a great advantage. We have underestimated the dark witch once so we better give all that we have now."
"No, I mean, what? Are you serious?" I gave him a puzzled look.
"Well it doesn't look like I am joking now, am I, Taeyong?"
"But after everything that I have done—"
"Everything? You crossed us once. Let's just see it as you having a bad day."
"A bad day? I almost killed you— I almost killed Juli." I choked on the last word of her name.
I caught Yuta's jaw tensed. "Let's just call it that. A bad day. I am not a person who judges one's worth just on that one thing that they have done and disregard anything else that is good about them."
Of course, he is not. But that one thing almost costs him his life.
And good? What is good about me?
"What makes you think that I won't do it again?" I asked.
Yuta paused for a few second, "I've always considered you like family. Just like the 127. And because of that, I will forgive you no matter what."
Yuta and I grew up together. We transferred from Camp Half-Blood to the institute together. I helped him when he was dealing with his father regarding the Avatar back then. I lied for him. I risked my life for him.
But I almost took his life too.
"And I know that you love her."
What?
"What does that have anything to do with this?"
"Because of that, I know that you will never cross us again." His eyes impassive.
"And how do you know that?"
"Because, I too, would never do anything to hurt her."
So she has Yuta and Hendery to look after her. That's a relief.
"How about the others? I don't think any of them would want me back."
"You don't have to tag along. You can show up on the day of the war." He said.
And there was silence for a few seconds before one of us finally spoke up.
"Alright, I'll be going now." He said and tapped his staff on the ground. "Why don't you go and visit her soon?"
~
I decided that I should visit her in a few days, and today is the day.
I also heard something happened in the temple, so I got worried and rushed there.
I appeared on a balcony that was supposed to be Juli's room. Then I saw her.
On the floor, not moving. Face buried in her own palms. I don't think she was crying.
I bent down and she looked up. I got closer and when she realized it was me, a tear fell down from her cheek. I immediately wiped it away with my thumb.
"Taeyong,"
"Whoa," I said as she immediately pulled me into her embrace. "Easy there."
"I just wanted to make sure you were real."
Upon hearing that, I tightened our hug.
What have I done? I shouldn't have left her.
As I held her, I was overwhelmed by her emotions. Among all of them, a few I felt the most. Guilt. Grief. Anger. Fear.
It was too much even for me to handle. I wanted to get away. But I held her nonetheless.
"Oh baby," I patted her head as she sobbed in my chest. "It's okay now. I'm here. I know how it feels. I know."
"I can't take this anymore." She chanted the words over and over again.
"Look at me." I cupped her face and looked into her eyes. I tried to wipe her tears with the back of my hand. "Calm down. Breathe ok?"
I breathed in and breathed out and she followed.
"I'm so sorry, Taeyong." She suddenly apologized. Though I am not sure why. "I'm really sorry."
"Why? What are you going on about?" I hooked her hair to the back of her ears on both sides.
"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have to lose your friends like that. If it weren't for me, none of the horrible things would've happened. No one would've died, no one would've betrayed anyone.—"
"Stop." I cut her off. "Don't let him get inside your head. Don't let her get inside your head."
She glanced at me like she was realizing something.
"You have to be strong," I whispered and leaned to give a peck on her forehead. "Now can you be strong? For me?"
I took some of her fear away. Just a little. To calm her down. She just stared at me, and I was glad that it was working.
"He didn't get into my head." She said. "All that he said was right."
"So what if it is? What can you do about it? What's done is done. Now what you can do is you make your choices count, ok?"
She leaned forward and I pulled her into my arms again.
~
JULI
The next morning we headed straight to city, quite large, called Gaoling, in the southern Earth Kingdom.
"I don't understand why can't just Mark teach me." I shrugged as Ten was doing something to my hair as a disguise.
"Because..." Ten said. "He sucks."
"I beat your ass once, Ten." Mark shouted far somewhere from far away.
"Oh yeah? Wanna bet on that, Blockhead?" Ten glanced at his back and shouted back, and continued on my hair. "So anyways, he can't. That boy can't teach you properly. Fuck I can't believe I'm saying this but: he is good. That's why he's one of us, you know."
I raised an eyebrow at him, he actually said something nice about someone for the first time in front of me.
"But he can't teach shit." He continued.
I sighed.
I still hoped Taeyong could be here with me. But knowing that he would fight with us later against the witch somehow made me less afraid.
Ten made my hair into a bun and I wore something from the Earth Kingdom, a green qipao top and pair of baggy pants.
We hid Sora somewhere in the woods then we went to the heart of the city to find me an earthbending teacher.
Yuta made us split up, so I went with Ten and Jaehyun. Yuta still looked pretty upset. I know it wasn't because of me, but seeing that made me sad because he'd always been trying to cheer me up, with his ways.
"I've never been to another Earth Kingdom city other than Ba Sing Se, last week." Jaehyun said as we walked in a packed street.
Ten snickered, "you're missing out buddy. Earth Kingdom is one of the best places in all dimensions. If I were to pick where to live, it would be here. The great city of Gaoling."
"Where are we supposed to find an earthbending teacher?" I jumped into their conversation, but I was also to overwhelmed by the small shops on the street.
"Well, Avatar Aang met Chief Toph Beifong here in Gaoling, her hometown, when she sneaked behind her parents to participate in Earth Rumble VI." Jaehyun raised his index finger up like an old man telling us a story of his past experience.
"What the nerd was trying to say is," Ten rolled his eyes, "Avatar Aang met his earthbending master when he watched the underground earthbending tournament here. So I guess we should follow in his footsteps and attend..." Ten rubbed his palms in excitement. "THE EARTH RUMBLE!" He said in a very deep voice.
"Okay, calm down." Jaehyun said. "We should tell the others first then."
"What are you talking about??" Ten slapped Jaehyun's back who coughed. "We are looking for earthbending masters, they know where to find us."
~
"Now why are the front seats empty?" I asked as we sat down in the front row.
Then a giant boulder came flying and landed next to me. I jolted from my seat before it could've smashed me and stumbled my back to Jaehyun. We glanced at each other, and I cleared my throat before getting off him and glared at Ten.
"Ten are you for real?" I scolded.
"Relax, no one has ever died watching Earth Rumble, sweetie." He said, eyes sparked with excitement at the stage.
"Yeah because no one is fucking sitting in the front row!"
We were in an underground arena lit by glowing crystals coming out of the ceiling. The seats surrounding the arena were looking down at a ring with a recessed pit that surrounded it.
"Welcome to EARTH RUMBLE: THE CHAMPIONS!" The guy said, who sent the boulder at us when he landed on the ring. He looked small from our front-row seat. I wonder what it was like for the people sitting at the very back. "I am your host, Lei Wulong, and today is a very special day!"
"Can we please change seats—"
"Huuuushhhhhh." Ten extended his arms over Jaehyun who backed away, to stop me. "Nonsense. We good."
"Today, only the champions, the winners of previous EARTH RUMBLE—"
Why does he always say EARTH RUMBLE like that? Like Ten did.
"—will fight in this ring!" Then the crowd cheered before he continued, "you all know the rules! Knock the other guy out of the ring..."
"AND YOU WIN!" Ten and the rest of the crowd continued Wulong's sentence.
Wulong jumped out of the ring and the rest of the crowd cheered.
Also Ten. Of course.
Jaehyun chuckled at Ten, which I couldn't help but also laugh at him too.
"What? It's funny." Jaehyun grinned at me.
"Now this is a very good use of my Earth Kingdom money." Ten giggled. "Juli, just watch, and pick your master."
Then we watch the show.
Ten was so hysterical. I think he hurt my left eardrum.
The guy who called himself Metal Face kept winning. Then the arena went pitch black and a spotlight shone on Wulong.
"Now the moment that you've all been waiting for..." Another spotlight shone on Metal Face's tall, muscly figure, "METAL FACE," and then another spotlight shone on a guy who was way skinnier, and shorter, and looked like he was my age, "our five times in a row champion and our youngest: SUNSHINE!"
"Sunshine????" Ten shouted in confusion. Then burst out laughing, "What the fuck HAHAHAA I'm dead."
"That's an interesting choice of stage name." Jaehyun murmured.
Ten wiped away his tears, "yeah. He's going down."
"He's a five-time in a row champion, Ten." I reminded him.
"Who fucking cares? Sunshine—" he snickered, "—ain't gonna win this time. We're so going to the backstage to get Metal Face to be your master."
I shrugged and made myself comfortable to watch the final round. I don't know if I wanted Metal Face to teach me. His strategy so far was only brute strength, which was not even a strategy. I don't see him as a teacher. Might as well get Mark to teach me.
The round started, and Metal Face went for the first attack with a gigantic boulder.
The giant boulder went through Sunshine just like that and landed behind him. Sunshine hadn't moved a single muscle since they began and the boulder behind him split into two.
My eyes widened and I got up from my seat. How did he do that? It was too fast for any human eyes could handle.
Sunshine smirked and began to attack Metal Face.
I had never seen anyone fight like Sunshine. It was like he had studied Metal Face every move and prevented it before he could even strike. I noticed his feet never left the ground at all, and moved around the ring by sliding.
And he was barefooted. Like Mark.
Sunshine tossed Metal Face out of the ring and he flew in our direction. Metal Face unconscious body landed next to Ten, leaving a huge hole.
Ten's jaw dropped to the floor.
We wasted no time and had to drag Ten, still in shock, to the backstage with us.
We saw Sunshine in the corner of the room and quickly went there before he could've left.
"Mr. Sunshine!" I tried to stop him from leaving as we were still halfway.
"Oh~ Haechan!" An older woman said as she clung on to Sunshine. "You were amazing up there."
"Yeah!" Another girl clung on to him on his other side. "You are the hottest."
We stopped near them and Ten gasped at the sight.
Sunshine, or Haechan, grabbed both of the women closer to his side. "Thank you, ladies. Dinner is on me tonight." He said and laughed before walking away.
"Wait!" I said.
Sunshine stopped in his track and glanced over his shoulder at me. "Can't sign anything right now, you can attend my fan sign event this weekend. Sorry, love ya." Sunshine winked at me and continued to walk.
"Wait! I need to talk to you. I am looking for an earthbending master." I immediately stated my point.
Sunshine turned around and raised an eyebrow at me.
~*~
AN: PLEASE READ
Hi hehe sooooooo haha this is awkward. I've been so so so so busy. But I am so frustrated with finals right now so I decided to chill and continued to write this.
and STAYS. are there STAYs reading this? If you are also a STAY please please please check out my new book (Lee Know X Reader) it's a post-apocalypse au and I am soo excited for people to reeadddddddd it.
I've had it since forever and just hadn't published it. It was supposed to be svt butttt skz suit the characters more perfectly. AND I AM EXCITED!
and also excited to finish this book ;)
UNTIL NEXT TIME<3
CHEERS!!