Atlas | Avatar!OC x Bucky Barnes

31 - Sacrafice

TRIGGER WARNING: THOUGHTS OF SELF-HARM

Friday, July 3rd, 5:56 pm

Atlas and Bucky were so focused on their fight, they didn't realize the two dozen people standing by the edges of the clearing. Their rounds had lasted longer than usual. Atlas felt stronger than ever; something had happened last night when Atlas's reflexes took over during the attack from the benders at the camp. No one had actually realized that her eyes had turned blue and that she overpowered dozens of waterbenders with just her own bending. Regardless, there was a force inside of her that made her stronger, and she didn't know what it was or how to control it. But it was still helping her spar against Bucky - it just wasn't quite enough.

"Fuck!" Atlas almost yelled as she accidentally stepped on the wet ground while trying to avoid a hit from Bucky. The dirt mixed with the water was a deadly combination; Atlas thought she had good support with her stance, but slipped as she tried to kick Bucky's ribs. He quickly caught her leg, only causing Atlas to fall onto the sparring mats, deliberately taking Bucky down with her.

"You little shit," Bucky swore as he stopped himself from crushing Atlas as he fell on top of her. The two of them were face to face, with Atlas lying underneath Bucky.

"My foot slipped," Atlas said tiredly to him. Bucky remained on top of Atlas as they both caught their breaths.

Bucky moved even closer towards Atlas's face by propping himself up on his elbows instead of his hands. For a moment, Atlas thought that he was going to kiss her, and if she was being honest with herself, she wouldn't have minded. She swore that their lips grazed for a split second, but all Bucky said was, "Sure it did."

"You know it did," Atlas said, playfully pushing Bucky off of her. Bucky rolled beside her, the two of them now laying on the sparring mats, trying to catch their breaths.

"Did it though?" the soldier asked, egging her on. Atlas didn't respond. She looked to her side at Bucky with a harsh glare on her face while they lay down. She jokingly hit his bicep before they both smiled at one another.

A few moments later, Atlas's view was met with Akio and Rinzen looking down at her. Atlas acknowledged them by giving the two elders a small nod and quickly sitting up from the ground.

"You seem to know your way around the floor," Rinzen said, complimenting Atlas's hand-to-hand combat skills. The master airbender offered the avatar his hand, Atlas took it and pulled herself off the floor, making sure to use more of her own strength so she wouldn't bring down the older man. It was just then that Atlas realized the multitudes of people watching her and Bucky fight.

"Are these all the benders you train?" she asked.

"These are all the benders training to become masters," Akio commented. Atlas looked at her surroundings. Most of the people standing around were at least her age or older. It was unusual for Atlas to see benders so old that weren't masters, as she had earned that title at a much younger age.

"Wow. There's a lot," Atlas said.

"We train six at a time from each element. Twenty-four in total. Twenty-five for today," said Rinzen. "I noticed you already have your airbending tattoos. When did you become a master?"

"When I was fifteen."

Rinzen's eyes widened the most, but Akio looked a little surprised as well. "Well, if you accel in the other elements just as you do with your airbending, then we'll be ready for battle in no time."

The realization hit Atlas. The benders from the camp and the Avengers were depending on her to help to win this fight. This was her world, and she needed to fight for it - it was her duty as the avatar to fight for it. She would've never imagined herself standing here, in front of other benders, preparing for an all-out war that would collide two different parts of her life.