All's Fair in Love and War |ATLA| |Reader Insert|

The Runaway

You and the others were wandering through the northwestern Earth kingdom. That's when all of you came across a post with multiple papers on it.

"This should give us a good idea of what's around here," Katara said, walking up to it. You went to the other side of the post and looked at the... wanted posters? One of which was of you. Except your gold eye wasn't covered. You quickly ripped it off the post and burned it, flapping away the embers.

"Fire Nation cultural exhibits, jugglers, benders, magicians..."

"What's goin on?" You asked, coming back around to the other side.

"The Fire Days Festival," Aang replied, pointing to the poster. "It would be a great place for me to study some real firebenders." You quirked a brow at him.

"You might want to rethink that. Look at this," Sokka said from the other side. The three of you walked over to him.

"Hey, a poster of me!" He exclaimed happily.

"A wanted poster," you emphasized, "This is bad. People are after you." Aang took the poster down and looked at it closer.

"I think we better keep moving," Katara said.

"I have to learn firebending at some point," Aang argued, "And this could be my only chance to watch some masters up close." You looked down at your hand. The one which burned your wanted poster.

"I guess we could go check it out," she agreed slowly. Aang smiled widely.

"What?!" Sokka gasped, "You want to walk into a Fire Nation town when they're all fired up with all their... you know, fire?" You put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll wear disguises," you said, "And if it looks like trouble, we'll leave. No biggy." You, Katara, and Aang walked over to Appa.

~
The four of you arrived on the outskirts of town, standing on a hill to overlook it. Appa and Momo followed you.

"You guys stay out of sight here while we go to the festival," Aang told the two. Momo flew into a bush and Appa also tried to hide behind it, but he was a little too big.

"That is the cutest fucking thing I've ever seen in my life," you said aggressively.

"Ready disguises," Aang said, bringing his arms above his head. Sokka and Katara lifted their cloaks over their heads. You untied the patch, keeping your one eye closed.

"Huh?" Katara said, "Your eye isn't injured?" You froze for a split second before tying your hair up with the patch and covering your eye.

"No, why would you think that?" You asked, looking at them.

"You've had that eye covered up since we first met you," Sokka replied, "We just assumed you hurt it or something." You shook your head.

"It's not injured at all. I can see perfectly with it."

"Then why do you hide it?" Aang asked, tilting his head. You shook your head.

"It's a long story. I'll explain when we have time."

~
When you got to the town, there were hundreds of people dressed in Fire Nation-esque clothing. Along with masks covering their faces.

"I think we'll need different disguises," you whispered to them.

"Where are we gonna get masks like that?" Sokka complained.

"GET YOUR GENUINE FIRE-FESTIVAL MASKS HERE!"
You, Aang, and Katara instantly ran up to the booth. After getting the masks, you looked at all three of them. Then you promptly switched Aang's and Sokka's mask. So that the former got the happy one, and the latter got the sad one.

"That's better," you said with a laugh. Then the four of you walked off deeper into the town.

"Hey, there's some food." Aang pointed towards a food booth.

"Finally!" Sokka ran up to it.

'He's gonna burn his mouth.' You thought. He then proceeded to shove a little basket worth of Flaming Fire Flakes into his mouth. Steam came out of his nose and ears before promptly began to scream. He raised his mask and fanned his mouth.

"OH HOT HOT!"

"Flaming Fire Flakes," you said, crossing your arms. "What do you know... they're hot."

"Hey, look at this!"
You followed Aang to a little puppet show performance for kids. The curtains opened, and a puppet appeared.

'Is that supposed to be... Ozai?' You thought.

"Don't worry, loyal citizens, no one can surprise the Fire Lord!"
Another puppet, this time an earthbender, then slowly rose with a 'rock' in its hand. The little kids cried out and some covered their eyes. You just quirked a brow. The Ozai puppet then turned, breathing fire and setting the other puppet ablaze. All the children in front of you cheered. You all then decided it'd be best if you left.

~
"Aang, where are we going?" You asked, chasing after the child.

"I don't know, but there's a big crowd, so it must be good," he replied.

"He has the attention span of a goldfish," you muttered to yourself. All four of you pushed yourselves to the front of the stage. There, a bender was on the stage doing fire tricks. He made a ball of fire turn into doves.

"I gotta learn that trick," Aang said excitingly.

"Over my dead body," you quickly said. The performer bowed.

"Thank you!" He said through the cheering. "For my next trick, I need a volunteer from the audience."

"OOH! OOH! ME! ME!" Aang raised his hand and screamed. You snatched his arm down.

"The hell do you think you're doing?" You whispered to him.

"I want to get a closer look," he replied.

"We don't want to attract attention to ourselves," you whispered back.

"How about you, little lady?"
You looked up and saw the performer pointing at you.

"Aw shit." You sighed, jumping up onto the stage. The performer brought out a chair.

"This next trick is called Taming the Dragon!" He placed the chair down behind you. "You will be my captured princess." He sat you down and using a long piece of cloth to bind you to the chair.

"Not the position I want to be in," you hissed under your breath. He walked away from you brought the fire from the posts. He bent it into the shape of a dragon soaring through the sky. It skimmed over your face.

"Don't worry, young maiden!" The performer dramatized, "I will tame this fiery beast!" He created a lasso out of the fire and connected it to the dragon.

"It's too strong! I can't hold it!"
You watched as it just did circles around in the air. You let out a sigh.

'A child could do this trick.' You thought boredly.

"The rope! It's breaking!"
The fire withered away and the dragon came heading face-first to you. You watched, unamused. Before it could reach you, Aang jumped onto stage. He bent air towards it, extinguishing the flames and sending confetti all over the place. Your jaw dropped. His mask flew off.

"Hey, that kid's the Avatar!"
You quickly burned the cloth behind your back and stood up. Katara and Sokka joined you on the stage. Guards immediately began to swarm.

"What an idiot."

Ja ne!

{Ruby Red}