now or never || an atla fanfic

𝔡𝔯𝔲𝔤𝔰

Katara watched as the avatar stood up, leaving the room, and all the while leaving her pulse racing and her heart tethered to the brink of hope.

She finally turned her attention to the file that she had taken from Aang earlier. Cracking open the manila folder, the princess was shocked to find a collage of newspaper clippings of her, dated all the way to a year ago. There were grainy photos of her, inked in black and white, on wrinkled worn paper.

The file that Aang was looking at was hers.

Her eyes widened, curiously flipping through the clippings but finding nothing else. The fact he even had a file on her was surprising in itself.

The front door clicked open, and she quickly shoved the file in the middle of the stack as Sokka, Suki, and Toph stumbled through, making a beeline to the dining room.

The others also made their way to the dining area, excited to see what foods the other brought. The last time they all had eaten was during King Bumi's ball--they were only able to make it through the last few hours with their meager rations.

Katara cleared her throat. "So what'd you bring?" she asked, eyeing the bags of food they hauled in.

The Fire prince drew a seat at the table across from her. "Drugs?" he guessed.

"Better than drugs, Zuko," Sokka stated, pulling out a basket of cookies and setting it on the table. He placed his hands on his hips, grinning proudly.

Suki ducked her head to hide a grin, much to the avatar's dismay.

"And what did you bring?" Aang asked Toph, who simply placed a deck of cards on the table.

"No offense, but you can't even read those," Zuko pointed out.

Toph began expertly shuffling the deck, the thin plastic cards rifling together and mixing seamlessly.

"Did anyone buy anything actually useful?" Katara asked, exasperated.

"Hey cookies are useful!" her brother protested.

"Don't fret, guys," Suki chirped, pulling out a wrapped loaf of bread and a warm metal container. "I brought something that's actually edible."

"Cookies are also edible," Sokka pointed out.

"Thank the spirits," Aang sighed in relief, placing a stack of plates on the table.

Everyone took their seats around the table, passing out plates and utensils and distributing the food that Suki had brought. Soft chatter and the clinking of dishes echoed in the dining room, soft candlelight spilling over them and casting a warm glow across the walls. Zuko smiled contentedly to himself. It had been so long that this home was filled with smiles and laughter, and he was glad that he would be able to share good memories here for the first time.

He took a seat, offering a word of thanks to Suki who passed him the container of soup, who took her seat on the other side of the table.

It wasn't a coincidence that Sokka and Suki were sitting side by side at the table, either.

"You two better keep your hands to each other," Toph grumbled before taking a bite of her bread.

There was a soft thump, and Suki shot Sokka a dirty look.

"What? She didn't say anything about feet," the Water Tribe Prince said with a smirk.

"Please keep all bodily limbs to yourselves," Zuko grumbled, dipping a piece of bread into the hot soup.

They continued eating, chatting about their day and trying to make the most out of the situation, pretending to have a normal civilized conversation as perfectly normal adults as much as they could. It helps to pretend that they aren't some barely adults trying to save the world.