The Delusional Bender | Atla various x bender! Reader

Chapter 9

Chapter 9- Earth Town Take Over

You laid against a rock as you played with Twig. You, Katara, and Aang waited for Sokka to come back with food for you to eat.
"Great, you're back! What's for dinner?" Aang asked as you saw Sokka walking back.
"We've got a few options. First, round nuts and some kind of oval-shaped nuts. And some rock-shaped nuts that might just be rocks," Sokka said taking some nuts out.

"Dig in!" He smiled. You shrugged and cracked on open to eat.
"Seriously, what else you got?" Katara asked. You suddenly heard a loud boom.
"What was that?" Sokka asked a little scared. Another loud boom and you stood up, ready to fight.

"It's coming from over there!" Aang said, and him and Katara ran towards it.
"Shouldn't we run away from huge booms, not towards them?" Sokka asked.
"I agree with Boomerang on this one," You nodded, and the two of you followed behind.

Twig held onto your shoulders as you stopped behind a large tree root. You saw a man in Earth Kingdom clothing and he was bending boulders.
"An Earthbender," Katara said in awe.
'I'm an Earthbender, but I guess I haven't told them yet so,' You sighed at that.
"Let's go meet him," Aang suggested.

"He looks dangerous, so we better approach cautiously," Sokka said with a serious look, but Katara already left the hiding spot.
"Hello there! I'm Katara! What's your name?" She shouted at the boy, causing him to turn and drop the boulder and run.

"Nice to meet you!" Aang shouted as he left.
"I just wanted to say hi," She said with a sigh.
"He's probably afraid of a fight, or interacting with people," You guessed.
"Hey, that guy's got to be running somewhere. Maybe we're near a village! And I bet that village has a market," Aang said hopefully.

"Which means no nuts for dinner," Katara smiled.
"Hey! I worked hard to get those nuts!" Sokka argued, but you three just run off. You four came across a village, and walked around, looking at the houses.

"Great hat, I'll trade you some nuts for it," Aang said to a marketer. You smiled at him then saw the same boy as before going into a house.
"Yo, I just saw Boulder boy," You told them, and Katara followed him.

You followed too and saw them talking.
"No she doesn't, we saw you Earthbending," Aang piped in, which caused the woman to gasp and close the doors and window.
"They saw you doing what?" The woman asked the boy.
"They're crazy mom. Look at how they're dressed," The boy argued.
"The only one crazy in this group is me, and I definitely saw you Earthbend." You explained.

"You know how dangerous that is. You know what would happen if they caught you Earthbending," The woman scolded, then a loud knock was heard.
"Open up!" A man shouted. Sokka peaked through the curtains and reeled back.
"Fire Nation, act natural," He said.

You hid Twig in a box close to you and you smoothed your hair back as the woman opened the door. A helmsman walked in and looked around. You all were just in weird positions, like you were just holding up a stick above your head. And then Aang's arm fell into a barrel of water.

"What do you want? I've already paid you this week," The woman glared.
"The tax just doubled, and we wouldn't want an accident, would we?" The man smirked as he started a fire.
"Fire is sometimes so hard to control," He said, making you snarl at him.

The women reluctantly gave him what money they had left.
"Keep the copper ones," He threw the copper coins on the floor and walked out. You glared at the door until Sokka spoke up.
"Nice guy. How long has the Fire Nation been here?" He asked as the woman picked up the copper coins.

"Five years ago. Fire Lord Ozai used our town's coal mines to fuel his ships." She explained.
"They're thugs, they steal from us. And everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about," The boy said.
"Quiet Haru, don't talk like that," The woman glared at her son.

"But, Haru's an Earthbender, he can help," Katara said.
"Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must never use his abilities," The woman explained.
"How can you say that? Haru has a gift. Asking him not to Earthbend is like asking me not to Waterbend. It a part of who we are," She argued.

"Water girl, maybe it's something that we don't understand," You tried to reason with her.
"I understand that Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" She asked them.
"They could take Haru away. Like they took his father," The woman said sternly. You looked at Haru, who turned away and stared at the floor.

'That makes two of us, Haru,'

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You patted Appa on the side as he was lead into a barn shack.
"My mom said you can sleep here tonight, but you should leave in the morning," Haru told you guys.
"Thanks I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all your hay." Aang said as Appa took a big bite out of a pile of hay. You set Twig down and he ran to sleep on top of the hay.

And out of the corner of your eye you saw Katara and Haru leave, so you decided to follow.
"I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't know about your father," Katara apologized.
"That's okay. It's funny, the way you were talking back in the store, it reminded me of him," Haru said.

Katara smiled and thanked him.
"My father was very courageous. When the Fire Nation invaded, he and the other Earthbenders were outnumbered 10 to 1, but they fought back anyway." Haru explained.
"He sound like a great man," You said with a grin.

"You three walked near an edge of a cliff and sat down.
"After the attack, they rounded up my father and every other Earthbender and took them away. We haven't seen them since," He said.
"So that's why you hide your Earthbending," Katara figured out.
"Yeah, the problem is, the only way I can feel close to my father now is when I practice my bending," Haru said while spinning rocks and turning them into dust.

"He taught me everything I know." You felt sympathy for the man, and sat down with him.
"See this necklace?" Katara said.
"My mother gave it to me," She told you two.
"Oh yeah, I think it's beautiful," You smiled at her.
"I lost my mother in a Fire Nation raid. This necklace is all I have left of her," She said while looking at it.

"And I lost my father too, it was... bad. All I could remember what red and fire. All I have is this bandana," You piped in, raising your hand to feel the rough yet silky fabric.
"It's not enough, is it?" He said. You just shook your head and lifted your knees to your chest.

'Is that all I really have of him?'