Klance
Avatar AU
Lance whistled as he wandered around town, hands stuffed in his pockets. He looked up to the sky with a soft hum.
"Lance, Lance!"
The water tribe member turned, then grinned as several little children stumbled around each other to reach the older teen. "Lance, you promised to show us the trick!"
"The trick!" Another kid echoed, blue eyes bright as they looked up at him.
Lance grinned and crouched. "Sure! Just follow me over to the fountain."
The children giggled and filed after Lance to the center of their village. All the children gathered around the edge of the fountain, eyes wide as they waited.
The water bender chuckled, then spread his arms forward. As he raised his arms, little droplets of water rose from the flowing fountain. The children watched in anticipation, heads tilting back the farther the droplets went. Lance slowly closed his fists, drawing the droplets together to form a ball. Just a small ball of water. He twisted his fists, and the water froze instantly. One of the children gasped. Lance smiled, then slowly began to open his fists.
Piece by piece, the ball fell apart, though still the shards hovered in the air. Once his palms were flat, little shards were all that was left of the ice ball. Lance clapped his hands and the shards broke until they were little snowflakes.
The children squealed giddily as the snow began to fall on their heads.
Lance smiled as he watched the children prance around, giggling and cheering, then beginning to make snowballs out of the snow already on the ground to throw at each other.
The water bender sat on a nearby bench to watch, then looked down as one of the smaller children tried to climb up to sit beside him. Lance chuckled, then helped the kid up and onto his lap. "Hey, Lilie. What's up?"
The little girl smiled up at him. "I wanted to sit with you until mama comes!"
Lance chuckled, carding his fingers through her dark hair. "Alright."
Lilie giggled, nestling into the teen. She snuggled the white and gray fur that lined his coat. Lilie reached up and gently took the shell on his necklace in her fingers. "Do you miss them? Your family?"
"Everyday." Lance whispered, rubbing her back while she carefully examined his shell. "Not a day goes by that I don't think about them."
Lilie looked up at him with sad eyes. "Mama wonders how you can smile. She said that it's too hard to smile after losing people you love so preciously."
Lance chuckled, shifting the little girl on his lap. "It is hard to smile, Lilie..." He kissed the top of her head, hugging her close. "But I have other people I love and want to see happy, too. I have people to live for."
The little girl giggled. "The Avatar might be everyone else's hero, but you're definitely my hero."
"Thanks, Lilie. That means so much to me." Lance murmured with a soft smile. Lilie shuffled and stretched to kiss his cheek. Lance ruffled her hair, then shooed her off to play with the other village children.
~
"Hunk! Pidge!" Lance dashed out from the croud and straight to the visitors.
Hunk laughed as the lanky teen embraced him. "Hey, dude! It's been a while!"
Lance grinned, then ruffled Pidge's hair. The air bender huffed and stuck her tongue out at him. "How's my favorite air bender and earth bender been!?"
