𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 - 𝐀𝐓𝐋𝐀.

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚃𝚠𝚘 - 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙰𝚟𝚊𝚝𝚊𝚛 𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗𝚜

Lei quietly observed Aang her eyes never leaving him, as he stood tailed behind by two guards holding him in place, in front of Zuko and her, once again their eyes met and she didn't dare look away, even as Zuko wrapped an arm around her shoulders, she could feel how tense he was and she forced herself to look away, her mind was running at a hundred miles per second, thoughts running freely in her mind.


Zuko held Aang's staff in his free hand and swung it around, curiously looking at it before turning his gaze toward the avatar, "This will make an excellent gift for my father." He mused softly, "Finally we get to go home, wife." He turned his attention to Lei for a moment pulling her closer, before looking back toward Aang this time speaking to the guards, "Take him to his cell-" He paused as he averted his gaze toward Iroh and held out the staff, "Take this to mine and Lei's room." He pulled Lei with him as he unceremoniously shoved the staff into Iroh's hands.


Lei glanced back over her shoulder just catching Aang's eyes as he was brought down into the hold, she turned away and slowly slipped away from Zuko, "I promised Iroh that I would play a game of Pai sho with him, and partake in our daily tea party." She glanced up at Zuko as he glanced down at her, she bowed her head slightly, "I suppose we shall partake in celebrations for your journey being complete, a celebration of the capture of the avatar, for reputable fire lord Ozai." 


Zuko hummed under his breath and waved his hand dismissively to his bride,  "Go then, don't keep my uncle waiting any longer." He turned his back on her and walked away, the sound of his shoes colliding with the metal of the ship dissipating the further he walked from her, women always had tea parties so it didn't seem all that suspicious, also given the fact she did like to partake in a game or two with his uncle from time to time.


As soon as Zuko disappeared from sight, and once she was alone on deck, she rushed toward the hold, Lei opened the hatch and removed her armour quickly, leaving her in her usual training attire, she discarded the armour in the hall and silently walked down the hall, light on her feet as she noticed a guard, she pressed up against the wall as he turned the corner, she brought a fist up and punched him in the side of the head, the guard dropping into a heap on the floor, his helmet rolling back around the corner he came.


The young woman pushed the body away and made her way around the corner, now facing two guards, and noticing they still had a grasp on Aang, she took up a fighting stance, "Let the avatar go." She levelled her voice, her tone deadly sharp, as the guards and Aang came to a stop she watched the guards get into a fighting stance, she dodged the first attack sent her way, twisting her body and absorbing their fire as her own, she spun quickly and gained some speed as she quickly made her way down the hallway, "Duck!" she shouted at Aang, who followed her command, she took a leaping jump as she kicked a guard in the face, seeing him fall back from her as she landed.


"Woah- Why are you helping me?" Aang spoke up, watching her every move as she engaged with the second guard, ducking and weaving out of the way to get to a safer place to watch, wasn't she firenation? Wasn't she married to the angsty ponytail boy? He felt a pull at his heart, or somewhere in his chest as he watched her tank a punch to the face, "Are you alright?!"


Lei grunted under her breath, her bottom lip split and a bruise already forming on her jaw, she grabbed the man by the arms and threw him over her shoulder and into the cold metal below, she pressed her heel into his throat and glared down at him, feeling his hands on her leg and watching as flame lit up his palms, burning her leg, she clenched her jaw and swung her free leg up, knocking him out with a well placed kick to the head, she stumbled back into the wall and grunted under her breath, "Your the avatar- And I wanted to talk to you really." She finally answered his first question, moving to stand up straight she easily burned the shackles off his wrists, "I'll be fine- but I think it's best we get your staff back, maybe I can help you escape."


Aang shifted to let her burn the shackles away, rubbing his wrists uncomfortably before glancing down at her, "You were amazing there!" He smiled brightly taking her by the hand and pulling her down the hall, stepping over the guards she had left sprawled out, "We can talk soon- I need my staff first, and we need to get out of here." His hand didn't let go of hers as they creeped up the steps, looking around slowly above deck, making sure nobody was there before rushing out across the top deck.


Lei kept a tight grasp on his hand her eyes darting around incredulously looking for anyone who would try and stop them, she slowed Aang down and pressed her free hand to the wall, listening intently before nodding to herself, "Mine and Zuko's room is just here- doesn't sound like hes in there... come on" She opened the door and entered quickly, pulling Aang in and slamming the door shut behind them.


Aang let go of her hand as he saw his staff, rushing forward he grabbed it and turned around to Lei, "Than-" He was cut off eyes widening as Zuko stepped out of the shadows, "Look out!" He sent a gust of wind forward and knocked Zuko back into the wall, using another gust of wind to pull Lei toward him, "I got you!"


Lei stumbled forward and tripped, landing hard on her knee, hand gripping the desk beside her, "Don't worry about me! We got to get out of here- and soon!" She pushed herself up, slipping the notebook she had swiped off the desk in the back of her pants, pressed firmly against her lower back as the band snapped into place, she took up a fighting stance and glared at Zuko, "You can take this as me asking for a damned divorce!" She inhaled deeply and let out a powerful gust of flame from her mouth at Zuko, who barely managed to divert it, she swung herself around, remembering to draw her stances from other bending forms too, that was something Iroh had told her about, she felt herself as if weightless and spun quickly, leaping up with a fast kick, a wall of fire extending menacingly toward Zuko, she huffed under her breath steam escaping her mouth.


Aang curiously took up a stance, putting his own twist on things, blocking Zuko's attacks for Lei to get a good few hits on Zuko, his eyebrows furrowed as he focused on the task at hand, a blast of fire shot his way and he leaped up using a gust of wind to propel him upward, "Now! Hit him now!" He called out to Lei.


Lei ducked a punch thrown at her and nodded, throwing all her weight behind her final punch, she lunged upward and her fist made contact with Zuko's face, knocking him back, she watched as Zuko crashed into the desk making everything fall off before he hit the ground, she glanced over at Aang quickly, "Okay! Time to run!" She rushed toward the door and ripped it open, rushing out with Aang hot on her trail.


They pushed on toward the bridge, coming screeching to a halt, the two had a long jump ahead of them, Lei wasn't in the mood to throw herself overboard or even onto the lower deck, but Aang had a perfect idea, "Do you trust me?" He turned to Lei feeling that pull in his chest as he stepped closer to her.


Lei had no other choice and she nodded quickly, "Yes- I trust you!" She felt the pull herself and came closer, yelping in surprise as Aang shifted to stand behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and picking her up, he spun his staff in his free hand and his glider appeared, he steadied himself and jumped off the bridge, soaring above the lower decks, which caused her to scream in fear, "Are we flying!?"


Zuko rushed forward and almost threw himself over the railing as he grabbed Lei's ankle and threw them off course, he watched as the glider, Aang and Lei crashed into the lower deck, following suite himself as he had been pulled up from the bridge, he rolled as he hit the deck grunting under his breath as he slowly pushed himself up off the ground, staring Aang and Lei down.


Something turned the attention of the three teens toward the sky, someone shouting and the sound of something in flight, Aang smiled brightly and waved wildly, "Appa! Sokka! Katara!!" He yelled out, Lei stared up at the bison or well- Appa confused out of her mind, but this gave Zuko ample time to attack.


Zuko unleashed three fast acting attacks, knocking Lei and Aang back, he aimed more so for Lei, watching as she fell back into the railing of the ship, he revelled in the fact he got back at her, he unleashed another attack at Aang grunting under his breath as he focused on fighting Aang, trying to incapacitate the airbender.


Aang used his staff to push back the attacks, only being pushed further and further to the edge of the ship, almost falling off before gaining his balance, he tried to get back to safety but was caught of guard as he was struck, flying back unconscious and toward the frigid waters below, he heard someone scream in agony before hitting the water.


Lei pushed herself up weakly feeling a pang in her chest, her heart hurting, a wave of pain had her falling to her knees and she suddenly felt cold, "Aang!" she yelled out, "Aang please!" She pushed herself up, she felt tears suddenly brimming at the corners of her eyes feeling a certain power she hadn't ever felt in her life, the muscles in her arms twitched as light flashed from the side of the ship where Aang had been knocked in, her eyes took over a dark look, glowing a red colour as she stared Zuko down, as soon as she burst up in the air she was joined by Aang, who was in the avatar state himself.


Aang was followed by a large tower of water following him as he rose up from the water, his eyes glowing white as well as his tattoos, he seemingly was attracted to the rising Lei who was bending water herself, the two cones of water merged as the two came to a stop beside each other, the water they had bended turned into a large wave, pushing back the guards and knocking Zuko off the ship, the two descended landing on their knees in a puddle of water, both dazed at the power they had just used all but collapsed into each other, the glowing from their eyes and Aang's tattoos ceased as Appa landed on the deck, Katara and Sokka rushing to get off his back, still in shock at the power they had just witnessed.


Katara rushed forward to help Aang and pulled him up slightly, "Are you okay?" she quickly asked checking him for any wounds before sighing in relief and moving to help him to stand, whilst Sokka seemed to be helping Lei who was still very much out of it, the water tribe boy grunted under his breath as he picked the unconscious girl up bridal style, he glanced over at Aang, "What do we do about your girlfriend?" He quickly asked.


Aang opened his arms to take her, "She isn't my girlfriend-" A blush stained his cheeks, "ah! my staff!" he looked around frantically, only stopping abruptly when Katara rushed past him to help Sokka stabilise Lei properly, he stared for a moment as Lei seemed to be brushing off the fact she had just bended water.


Sokka quickly saw Aang's staff and grinned, "I got it! You just get her onto Appa's saddle!" He called over his shoulder, running over to the staff and moving to pick it up, only to see Zuko hanging onto the end of it, he used the staff to poke Zuko in the head with it three times, watching as Zuko fell again, "HA! That's for the water tribe!" He sauntered off toward Aang and gave the other boy the staff, "your welcome!"


Some guards rushed forward and Katara moved quickly to bend some water, freezing a few of the guards in place, quickly joined by Lei at her side who seemed to be breathing fire at the rest to halt their attack, she glanced at Lei and nodded, "thank you" she called, rushing to help Sokka and Aang to get up on Appa's back, she crawled up and nervously looked back at Lei, "Come on!" she called out.


Lei spun around and actually used airbending- Her eyebrows furrowed as she noticed the succinct pattern of an air bender, she let out a large blast of fire knocking the guards back as she rushed toward Appa who was taking off, she stood on the railing and jumped grabbing the tanned hand held out to her, she grunted under her breath as she was pulled up onto the saddle, "...That was insane." she still grasped onto the tanned hand, looking up from the position she lay in, on her stomach practically with her face in the saddle, she noticed the water tribe boy, she slowly pulled her hand away, "Thanks Sokka-" she sat up and glanced back at the ship, noticing a fireball hurtling their way, she quickly forced herself to stand, jumping from the saddle as she diverted the fireball, it blew up a large ice berg, massive shards cracked off and landed on the front of the ship, she felt herself falling but a pair of hands grabbed her.


Aang swooped in on his glider, arm wrapped firmly around Lei's waist as he finally got them back onto Appa's saddle, placing her down carefully, noticing the burn marks on her hands from just handling the fireball, he frowned slightly and sat beside her, letting her use him as a pillow, knowing she had over exerted herself once again, he kept his arm wrapped around her as he looked toward Sokka and Katara.


"How did you two both bend that much water?! And how could she do that?" Katara quickly asked, astonished by the display of the powerful water bending techniques they had both shown, she tried to keep her voice down afraid to wake Lei up, but she was excited by the idea of what she had just watched, "wait- why didn't you tell us you were the avatar?"


Aang frowned slightly and looked down, averting his gaze from Katara, instead staring down at his lap, "I never wanted to be the avatar... and I don't even know what we both just did- but the red glowing eyes remind me of something I read about the avatar state."


Katara frowned slightly and glanced at Lei before looking up at Aang, "The world needs the avatar...Apparently it needed two, otherwise she'd just be a firebender- You need to learn water, earth and then fire if you want to master being the avatar, and she'll need to do the same but with water, air and earth." she smiled slightly at Aang, glad when he smiled right back at her, "we can find you a waterbending teacher in the northern tribe! and Sokka there will be plenty of fire nation heads to knock together."


Aang smiled brightly and nodded quickly, "Me, you and Lei could all learn together!" he was excited by the idea, his whole face lighting up with that bright smile of his.


Lei groaned under her breath as she slowly sat up, "where to then? The north pole?" She questioned glancing down as Aang opened up a map he had swiped, she stared at it and smiled slightly, it had her handwriting along the sides and she glanced up at Aang.


"I have important business to attend too here, here and here!" Aang pointed to three points on the map and glanced at Lei, grinning slightly before looking back at the map, detailing his plans on things he wants to do ride around on with the group as they all flew off toward the sunset.