Reborn In Water || ATLA

Critical Acclaim

The Boy In The Iceberg

"Excuse the obscene, ignore the untrue. Depictions we see try and get through. Admitting mistakes can hurt, I'm not the last but I sure ain't the first." - Avenged Sevenfold

🌊 🌋 🔥 🌪

Darkness could be dealt with, but silence could be deadly. With her world totally dark, Aelita Kenshin exhaled and waited for the familiar crackling sound of fire to come. The attack came aimed at her head hard, fast, and ferocious.

That was always his style.

The fire tickled her cheek as she bobbed to the left. Heavy steps on steel to her right gave him away. The fifteen-year-old dropped to the ground and swept her legs out like a fan. She could feel the eternal warmth that danced just beneath her skin as fire pulled from her feet, sending a counterattack at her opponent. When she stood again she was smiling. She loved this.

It made a world of difference if you were fighting for your life or fighting for fun. Practicing her bending was the thing that made Aelita feel most alive. When her opponent made no sound the girl assumed her attack had missed its mark. Listening to his footsteps she heard him move left so she mirrored the steps and sent another ray of fire his way. When the man groaned she smirked.

"Found you." She chuckled.

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." A voice whispered over her shoulder in her ear, a dagger of fire held against her throat and her back to his chest. "It's amazing how similar sandbags sound to footsteps."

Aelita smiled. Sneaky bastard. "No fair." She argued as she pulled off the blindfold that covered her eyes. "Smart, but not fair. You're getting better and better every day Zuko."

"Hard work might just beat natural-born talent one of these days." Zuko dropped the dagger from his friend's throat. He would never hurt her. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he did. "Go wash up, you smell like a wild hog monkey."

"Forgive me for spending my morning training." Aelita punched him lightly on the arm and pulled away to drink deeply from her discarded canteen. "I don't wanna hear you complain the next time I'm too busy making fresh noodles to spar."

The corner of the prince's mouth pulled up just slightly. It was the closest he ever got to smiling anymore. Ignoring her sarcastic remarks Zuko reached for a cloth to wipe the sweat from his face. He had the pale skin of a royal but the build of a soldier, something that wasn't surprising given his bloodline. His features were well defined and at seventeen now he was looking more and more like a man each day. He kept his head mainly shaven except for the small, lone black section he wore tied back. He refused to grow the rest of his hair back until he had regained his honor in both the eyes of himself and his father. After all, long hair was seen as a symbol of status in their country.

Aelita found herself studying his face as she stretched, enjoying the cooling breeze that came from being so close to the South Pole after a tough match. His skin was clear of blemishes except for his scar. Over his left eye lay a mark that Zuko viewed as a constant reminder of his past. It was a pale red, covering the eye entirely and skirting the top of his forehead where it prevented his eyebrow hair from growing back. It bore a stark contrast to the golden eyes she swore saw right through her some days.

"I'm going to go review the maps and make a course with the captain. " He said turning away from Aelita. That damn scar still randomly caught her eye just as much as it used to all those years ago when his father first gave it to him.

Zuko might have been right, after training all morning Aelita was far from clean so she left for her quarters to wash and change. When she reached her room she unpinned her naturally grey hair, letting it fall in its typical light waves to her shoulders, far shorter than any of the girls she went to the Academy with ever would've worn theirs. Her heart-shaped face was slick with sweat, her cheeks a shade of pink from training. She paused for just a moment to study her reflection in her mirror. With straight enough teeth and full lips, she knew she could be considered traditionally good-looking for her country until she took off her armor. Curves littered her body in places that Aelita should've been much slimmer by the standards of a family of status such as hers. While many girls wouldn't have considered them a good thing, she hadn't minded them one bit. To her, the weight she happily carried was almost a symbol of the freedom she hadn't had, especially during that last year before the search. Away from her homeland Aelita reveled in the chance to do the things she would've never been able to like eating and napping, and eating and napping just so happened to be something she and Iroh loved to bond over. Despite the efforts of some to beat her down, Aelita was confident enough in herself. She had grown up with a father who reminded her daily who you are on the inside mattered far more than what you looked like on the outside. Aelita knew who she was. The girl that stared back at her in the mirror was one she could be proud of.