dive and disappear without a trace (ATLA x BNHA)

Chapter Ten

Sorry for the late update!! Enjoy!!

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They flew low over the land beneath them, Aang scouring the map to find their destination. It was quite obvious he didn't know where they were going,  and Shouto had a serious urge to just grab the reins and land them some random place so he could actually do something productive that wasn't flying in circles. He wouldn't, of course, but he sat on his hands just in case.

"You have no idea where we're going, do you?" Sokka finally spoke, revealing what they had all been thinking.

"What? No, I know it's somewhere around here," Aang denied, lying through his teeth.

"We've been flying forever," Sokka complained, flopping back against the saddle. Shouto couldn't help but agree with his sentiments.

Shouto tuned out as they all started to argue, only participating in the conversation to punch Sokka's arm on the edge of too hard when he made a sexist comment. Honestly, what was up with him?
He was in no way comparable to Mineta - Shouto gagged a little when he thought about the rotten little grape - but that didn't mean his remarks could be overlooked or were not harmful. Shouto might have to teach him a lesson if he kept it up.

Shouto chanced a glance down at the ground and found that while he had been lost in thought, they had begun to descend. There was a large lake in the area along with a clearing large enough for Appa to land in. On all their previous stops, Aang had seemingly taken them there for nothing more than to ride some strange hybrid animal, so Shouto figured the purpose of this stop was similar. He wouldn't say it out loud, but he kind of thought it was a waste of time. After all, there was a war to stop and clues to find if he was going to make it home, and taking all these detours was not helping him in that regard.

They landed, and Sokka took the chance to point out that they should fly some more before stopping for the day. Shouto wholeheartedly agreed, but Aang insisted that Appa was tired (even Shouto could see that was not true) and promptly ignored their very reasonable statements.

Shouto sighed as he watched Aang disrobe and leap enthusiastically into the water. He felt anxiety at his situation begin to creep up in the back of his mind, thoughts of all he's missing at UA, his friends and family, Izuku...he wondered what they were doing. Were they looking for him? Had they even noticed he'd gone? He stood abruptly, intent on clearing his thoughts.

"I'm going to go train a bit, so if you could come get me when it's time to leave, I would appreciate it," Shouto said, turning to Sokka, who looked at him incredulously.

"You've left to train every single time we make a landing. Don't you ever relax?"

"Sokka's right, you should take a break. If you work too hard, you'll wear yourself out," Katara chimed in, a worried look on her face.

"It's fine," Shouto assured them. "I would do much more than this in my wo - uh, school. I'll stop if I start to feel tired."

"What kind of school did you go to?" Sokka asked, a confused look on his face.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, we don't know that much about you. Why did you decide to travel the world?" Katara queried. It was an innocent question, but one that would force Shouto to either reveal too much or make up another lie he'd have to remember.

"I just got bored at the North Pole," Shouto said, hoping they didn't notice his attempt to dodge the first question. "I think I'll be going now, have fun," he said quickly, then turned on his heel and walked away. Hopefully they didn't think he was too suspicious. He had consciously kept his face neutral, so he hoped they didn't pick up on his uneasiness. If they did, maybe they just thought he was homesick.

He found a good space for practice and got to work gaining more control of the finer movements of a new move he'd recently thought of. The idea was to be able to freeze his surroundings in an instant while avoiding designated areas. It would be helpful to trap his enemies while avoiding his allies, and he had almost perfected it.

It had been maybe ten minutes of training when Shouto heard a rustle from behind. He paused, thinking it was maybe an animal, then saw a figure mostly hidden in the bushes. The only reason Shouto saw them was the fact he was actively looking for someone, and he suppressed the darker thoughts about what might have happened if he hadn't heard that initial noise. There was no doubt in his mind his eyes would have glanced right over them.

Without hesitation, he shot a spike of ice in the person's direction, freezing their legs to the ground and effctively immobilizing them. He took a step closer, letting out an icy breath.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" It was cliché, but it got his point across. The person remained silent, and he walked closer until he could pull the bushes apart to see them better. It was a girl who looked to be about his age, their black hair tied into a bun and red and white face paint obscuring their features. "Who are you?" he demanded again.

"We should be asking you that," a voice said coldly from behind him. Shouto tilted his head so he could see the speaker, and found four other girls in a crescent formation blocking him in. Freezing a more solid layer of ice over the already trapped girl's body, just to be sure she couldn't pull anything while he was otherwise occupied, he fully faced his opponents.

Movement came to a standstill on both sides, both waiting to see what move the other would pull. "Are you with the bald kid and the other two?" The girl in the center asked. She appeared to be the leader of the group, Shouto noted. Her question answered his thoughts on whether or not Aang and the others had encountered them, and by her words he could assume they lost.

"I am," Shouto answered, figuring there was no harm in replying truthfully since they were already trying to murder him.

"Why are you on Kyoshi Island?" She demanded. Shouto paused. What would Izuku do? Probably try to mediate the situation. Honestly, that was probably the best route here. Shouto was sure he could take them on if it came down to it, but he'd really rather avoid a fight with people who actually seem reasonable and not evil. There was no reason to attack people that are simply trying to defend their home. After all, was that not what heroes did back in Japan?

"My companions and I were simply stopping by to rest for the day. I apologize if we caused you any undue stress and worry; that was not our intention. If you could just let them go, we'll be on our way without any further trouble. Again, I apologize for any distress we may have caused you." There - a polite apology complete with assurances that the problem will be solved if only the others are released. Izuku would be proud, Shouto thought.

The lead girl narrowed her eyes. "How do we know you're not Fire Nation spies?"

"You don't. But I can promise you that both me and my companions are doing our best to stop the Fire Nation and end the war. Please - just bring me to them so we can leave. We don't want to fight you." Shouto held his hands up in surrender.

After a moment of hesitation, the girl sighed. "Fine," she said, "we'll take you to them. But one step out of place and we're throwing you to the Unagi."

Shouto nodded. "Of course." He allowed himself to be pushed to the middle of the group, following the person in front through the woods.

It didn't take long for them to reach the town; the island was small and Shouto and the rest of the group hadn't landed too far away. As they approached, Shouto saw Aang, Sokka, and Katara all tied to a post with blindfolds on.
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Sorry for the abrupt ending :/ I didn't want it to get too long. Worry not, the next chapter should be out soon!!