same soul - Korra x Reader

Born to be the avatar

Your parents did a good job naming you. Y/N, the name you had been born with, the name your mother sang to wake you up in the morning, and the one your father called to pick you up from school. You never had dreams of seeing your name plastered on billboards, or cheered by crowds at events, those were fantasies for other children.

...

You certainly never expected to hear the word 'Avatar' placed before it.

It started slow. You were born in the middle of mourning for Avatar Genji, the Avatar after Korra. He had been assasinated by some equalist rebels in the Earth colonies. He was only twenty years old.

Your parents did their best to ignore the comments from your neighbors saying that there was no way it was a coincidence, that you had to be the avatar; they were terrified when you lit your birthday candles with a sneeze on your fourth birthday. The fire nation cheered for you but, your parents, two non-benders, were mortified.

Your school was heavy set on stopping bullying against non-benders, but it still happened, you knew that first hand. Ever since you were born your parents got dirty looks by fire benders in the neighborhood, all your childhood friends were non-benders, and if there ever was a Fire Nation pride event, you already knew your parents weren't going.

It all changed when you started school. You made friends with the benders in your classroom, not necessarily because they were rich or popular, even though they were, but it just happened naturally for you. The stupid talks you had in between laughter about how it felt to bend and what you had each done with your bending brought you all together.

You didn't notice it at first. Maybe it slipped from your mind that the non-benders weren't getting invited to bender parties, or that friend groups at school were pretty much segregated into 'benders' and 'non-benders'. But soon enough it started happening in front of you. Your friends would gossip to you about non-benders, shoot them dirty looks, giggle when they spoke in class, yet stay completely silent when they spoke to you. You never partook in any of it, but you didn't stop it either. You didn't want to be a hero. You were a quiet kid, awkward almost; you cared about stupid things: your appearance, your clothes, playdates and planning your next birthday party. Unlike your parents, you fit in. You were content with that; all you ever truly wanted was to fit in. It never really felt like it, but that didn't matter to you. You knew how to compromise.

You fit in anywhere you went, you didn't have to try hard. People liked you. They liked making you laugh and getting smiles from you, they knew it was rare yet genuine when you smiled.

Things escalated when you got to high school. Instead of being invited to parties, now it was you that was throwing them. Never at your house though, it was always at someone else's house. People knew your name, and that went for both benders and non-benders, called it out as soon as you walked into a room and broke out in laughter when you rolled your eyes and smiled sarcastically. They liked to be around you, laugh at your nonchalant attitude towards everything, they liked to dance with you at parties. They boys weren't so keen on the fact that you only ever seemed to dance with girls. You liked girls. Loved them. You liked being around them and getting laughs from them. You didn't know what it was, but ever since you were a kid you had an overcoming adoration towards women.

Whenever your friends threw a party you made sure to invite the non-benders. You had built a gilded friendship with them. You greeted them when they walked in, smiled if they said something funny; you made sure they had a good time, pulled them to dance with you every once in a while, but you didn't protect them. Ironic in hindsight.

Your bending grew in high school too. Your teachers were baffled when you started bending air, although they tried to come up with strange explanations like "Maybe the fire didn't fully form" or "Maybe it's windy out".