⁀➷ ⋆˚₊ [💧] ˚* · ° ◌
❝writing a slow burn is quite literally going to kill me,❞
𝖎𝖓 𝖜𝖍𝖎𝖈𝖍, fire and water actually mix pretty well...after like three seasons, because netflix has renewed it!
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the burnt forest
warnings: violence
💧✼ ҉ ✼ ҉ ✼💧
authors pov
08:29 AM. A FOREST AWAY FROM OMASHU
the green forest is quiet and still. well, it would have been.
"run!" aang shouts, leading the line. the water tribe siblings behind him, and fire nation soldiers marching and running behind them.
"get them!" a burst of bright orange flames follows the gaang, making y/n push katara's head down so the younger girl doesn't get burnt, or loose her hair. she's still petty.
"how many are there?" sokka asks as they all continue to run.
"five? six? maybe more!" aang says, looking back for about a second before looking back to the front. y/n looks back, her eyes going wide.
"there's definitely more! way more!" she shouts, looking back to the front.
"faster!"
"this way!"
making it to an opening, the gaang spot three fire nation soldiers coming from a wooden bridge. aang airbends them further away as sokka throws his boomerang at one of them, aang ducking just in time.
with those soldiers defeated, they start running again but y/n turns around seeing more of them. they're like flies, always there, annoying them.
"after them!"
"katara!" y/n calls out, getting her little sisters attention. there being a small pond near by, katara waterbends it into ice as y/n slices her hands from side to side; a layer of ice being thrown at each fire nation solider. and they all drop like flies.
y/n sighs out in relief, giving her sister a quick side hug before dragging her along so they can run, as aang and sokka had stayed and watched them. and protect them just in case, but they do not need it. not anymore.
"come on! let's go!" y/n shouts, getting the boys attention. they follow after the girls, the fire nation soldiers getting up.
"they're getting away!"
"hurry!" sokka says, calling back at his family. y/n ducks, fire missing her by the hair. maybe she needs to thank that fire nation boy? nope, never mind.
"get them!"
"go! go!" the gaang find themselves at the edge of a cliff. "now, we have them!"
"over there!"
y/n jumps first, taking katara's hand who takes aang's who takes sokka's. the youngest yelps out from the adrenaline, appa catching them.
the tiny fire nation army runs to the edge of the cliff, moving back as they see the the flying sky bison, fly up with the gaang on him.
the kids cheer, y/n sticking her tongue out at the fire nation soldiers as they grumble in annoyance.
she turns back around, patting appa's fur.
"so...ice disk's? that's new!" aang says, getting the waterbenders' attention. y/n nudges katara who smiles.
"it's something we saw the earthbenders do," katara says. "y/n thought we'd try a waterbender version,"
"and i want to say it went pretty well if i do say so myself," y/n says with a smile.
"your bending has gotten really sharp," aang says to the two girls. "inventing new moves? that has to be two masters in the making!"
"i don't know about masters..." y/n laughs. "but i would say we are getting much better,"
"yeah," katara nod. "i have been feeling pretty confident. but we've learnt everything we can from gran gran's scroll, so we we both really need is to get to the northern water tribe. waterbending masters there will be able to take us to the next level,"
"we've been running into firebenders a lot more often," aang says.
"well, i'm pretty sure we're getting closer to the fire nation border," y/n hums.
"it was bound to happen," katara adds on.
"even without sokka's horrific dating attempts," y/n mutters, but she knows everyone heard what she said.
"hey, how was i supposed to know she was a fire nation soldier?" sokka exlcaims. "and fire nation soldier's flirted with y/n too!"
"but i didn't flirt with that back, boomerang boy!"
"whatever, water fiend," but it's all playful fun.
"anyways," katara starts, looking at her older siblings with a smile. "we need to keep our guard up, at least until we get to the northern, where there-"
"aang? what's wrong?" y/n questions as the airbender looks over appa. katara and y/n look at each other, before peering over appa. a large part of the forest underneath them has been destroyed. burnt to the ground. black and barren.
sokka turns appa towards the forest, aang look around in anguish.
💧
katara steps over a broken tree, looking around. y/n looks around, fiddling with the bracelet that minho gave her.
she doesn't like this. why did the fire nation do this? there was no reason.
aang stand still, his glider and bag in a slump on the ground.
sokka bends down, seeing a massive coin which holds a symbol. a symbol representing one nation. and we all know who it is.
"fire nation," he grits through his teeth.
"why would they do this?" katara asks.
"why do they do anything?" sokka says back.
"this is all my fault," aang says, feeling guilty. "it's the avatar's job to protect the natural world. that's just as important as helping people and fighting firebenders. how many forests have died because i wasn't there? because i don't know what i'm doing?" aang falls to his knees. this was all his fault.
y/n looks around, thinking of what to say to him. she sees momo on the floor, digging into it. he chitters, turning around and looking at her with his big green eyes. she bends down, putting her hand out to him. he scurries over to her, playing her hand. he places the acorn in her hand, making her rub his head softly and get up from her knees.
she walks over to aang, bending back onto her knees again. wow, this won't do her well in the future.
"you know," she starts, getting aang's attention. "gran-gran says life is a cycle. and out of death comes a new life," she shows aang the acorn with a smile. "this will be a forest again," she gives him the acorn, seeing the small smile on his face. "it's a seed for the future. and it wasn't your fault,"
"thanks y/n," aang will never admit this but he sees y/n differently. not in the same way as katara or sokka. he sees y/n...like a mother. he never had a mother before; being a monk, it wasn't really necessary. but, now, he understands how it's like and how important it is to have someone like that in your life.
gyatso was that important person in his life, when he was alive one hundred years ago. and aang will forever miss him and always beat himself up about leaving. but maybe, it was for the better of the world.
