the wind in my sails | aang x oc

eleven

leaning on a nearby tree, liara held a hand on her heart, worry causing her heart rate to accelerate.

ozai is going to destroy the earth kingdom with sozen's comet. aang held his head, he had to defeat the fire lord within three days, otherwise the world is done for.

aang was the most shaken out of the whole group. he almost looked yellow from paleness. liara placed a hand on his shoulder and the other cupped his face, "don't worry, aang, I'll be here for you, every step of the way. we all will."

the boy looked at his best friend, his heart calming just by looking into her warm brown eyes.

Liara almost saw the colour flood back to his face and she hugged him tightly, rubbing circles into his back.

toph stepped closer, "yeah, if we all fight the fire lord together, I think we got a pretty good shot."

"alright! team avatar is back!" sokka whooped and pointed to aang and Liara standing beside each other.

"air!" he then pointed to katara, "water!" to toph, "earth!" to zuko, "fire!" then sokka proceeded to pick up a long leaf and a few smaller leaves in the shape of a fan, "fan and sword!"

Liara snickered at his antics before listening to aang speak, "fighting ozai is gonna be the hardest thing we have done together," he glanced at liara, placing his arm around her, "but I wouldn't have it any other way."

Liara flushed and hugged aang as the others joined in for a group hug as well. it seemed that appa and Momo wanted to join in too, seeing as they basically jumped on top of the children.

~

the group was later in a rocky terrain, listening to sokka's plan to defeat a mock fire lord, known as melonlord.

"suki and I will draw his fire, then katara and zuko will charge in with some liquid-hot action while liara is our air forces. then, aand will swoop in and takes him out."

seemed easy enough.

"what about me?" toph asked, folding her arms. liara grinned, "you can be melonlord." "sweet."

minutes later they were all in position, liara was air surfing nearby as she saw sokka and suki beginning to charge in.

just as they did, melonlord's forces began attacking.

surfing closer to the ground, liara created air slices that cut some of the rocks in half, however she was almost hit by one of the flaming rocks.

Liara was glad toph was on the good side. most of the time.

"now, aang!" she heard from nearby, and then surfed over to melonlord so that she could protect aang from any sneak attacks.

however, just before aang hit the melonlord's head with his staff, he stopped.

"what are you waiting for? take him out!" zuko yelled, but aang just shook his head.

Liara closed her glider and landed next to the boy as sokka walked closer. "if this were the real deal, you'd be shot full of lightning." the water tribe boy scolded.

"I'm sorry, I just didn't feel like myself. it felt wrong."

sokka raised and eyebrow and then proceeded to take his sword out and cut melonlord's head off.

Liara kept a neutral stare as this was happening. she thought of that firebender, and her own guilt.

aang cringed at the sight of the melon, not knowing what to think or feel, but when he saw liara's cold stare, he felt afraid.

he didn't want to kill someone, no matter how bad they are.

~

it was dinner time and Liara sat alone at one side, as aang did on the other side. the two of them hadn't spoken since the afternoon, and Liara was worried about it.

after eating her food, liara left the courtyard and went to her room. she was not feeling well.

her usually rosy cheeks were now drained of colour, and her pupils were constricted with worry. she had a splitting headache, and just wanted to sleep it off.

but before she could even get in her bed, there was a knock on her door.

she almost groaned and told the person to go away, but luckily, liara decided against it.

"come in." she said and aang entered her room, looking torn.

"li, can I speak to you?" he asked, taking a seat across from her on her bed.

"always. what's wrong?"

aang look a deep breath before speaking, "well, everyone else wants me to kill firelord ozai, but I just don't think I can... the thought of taking his life makes me sick and I don't want to kill someone just because I don't like them."

liara thought for a moment, "aang, you should do what feels right to you. I don't think I'm the person you should be asking. meditate about it... contact other avatars if you can."

aang's eyes narrowed at the girl's statement, "what do you mean you're not the person I should be asking?"

it is best to tell them the truth when the time is right.

iroh's words echoed through liara's head.

"it's not a day I like to remember." she said guiltily, and began subconsciously picking at her nailbeds. she wasn't so sure if telling aang was a good idea.

"the first thing I heard was an explosion, but me being me, I had just assumed that one of the other kids pulled another prank on the monks. just when I decided to ignore it, the screams began.

the first few were women and children but the next were even more blood curdling as it were the men screaming.

just as I stood, monk Nora burst into my room, ushering me to run as fast as I could.

she ran with me for a good few minutes, until a firebender almost grabbed me, and she bended him into a wall. then, she kissed my forehead and told me that I should do what it takes to survive.

so I continued running, following the safest way to get to diki so that I escaped. "

aang watched the girl as she recalled every memory from that day into words. he noted her picking at her nailbeds and the ways her eyes stared off into the distance, as if she were there again.

—
the scent of burning skin burned her nostrils and she gagged, almost tripping over her own feet when she caught a glimpse of a monk being scorched alive by a firebender.

tears blurred the poor girl's vision as she kept running. she couldn't stop. not for anyone.

she turned the corner and....

dead end.

maybe it was her instant karma for being selfish. maybe it was her fate. to die like a martyr by the hands of an above-average powerful firebender thanks to that spiritforsaken comet.

"I've got you now, you little rat." the firebender growled as he stalked towards the thirteen-year-old girl like a predator closing in on it's prey.

liara shrieked and backed up into the windowless wall, her brown eyes darting everywhere. she was desperately trying to come up with a plan.
—

aang's eyes widened, he didn't expect her to remember it in such great detail, but he kept listening.

"for a moment, I gave up. I thought of you and some of my other friends. I thought of monk Nora and her advices."

Liara stopped picking at her nail beds and looked at her palms. "my body moved on it's own and when I finally realised what I did, the fire bender was already limp on the floor."

she linally looked up at aang, tears pricking her eyes, "I'm sorry. I'm not fit to be called a monk."

aang stood and backed away from the girl. "I just... need time to think about this." he said.

she watched him leave her room, and when he was gone, she buried her head into her pillow.