Avatar: Flight of Passage: WDW Animal Kingdom

Propaganda:

"This ride genuinely blew my breath away the first time I rode it and it was just as magical the next times (if you can get over the ridiculously long wait times... Which I mean are well deserved at least)"

"I’ve actually never ridden this one but I find its existence fascinating"

La Tanière du Dragon: Disneyland Paris

Propaganda:

"It's a fucking dragon chained up beneath the castle. Holy shit. Just watch a video of it if you haven't been there."

"Giant animatronic dragon what more do you need"

You missed him. The two of you hadn’t been that close, as you grew into being teenagers, but you hadn’t spoken a bit since his banishment. It upset you, and you almost wanted to go find him, somehow.

So you travelled to the earth kingdom. You figured that, since the avatar was back, he would show up at the active front of the war. However, when you were there, you began to see the truth of your nation. The devastation, the pain, the grief it caused. You were horrified, and for a year relinquished your ties to the Fire Nation, hoping that you could live your life here.

But, one winter, you found the avatar.

Okay, you didn’t exactly find him. He stumbled across your booth with his friends while looking for something to eat. When Fire Nation soldiers wandered by, you gave them refuge.

“Can I be honest?” You asked, nervous, as you gave a cup of tea to each of the water tribe siblings, then the avatar. Aang nodded, hospitable.

“I’m from the Fire Nation,” you admitted, and cringed at the sudden expression of distrust from Sokka. “I’m not a spy, though. I defected a year ago. I’ve been in hiding here, ever since.”

“Defected?” Sokka repeated, narrowing his eyes to you. “Why’d you do that?”

“Well, I came here to explore the world and help with the war, maybe find an old friend, but when I got here...” you trailed off, setting down your tea. “I wasn’t happy with what I saw. I knew I couldn’t support the fire nation.” Katara nodded, solemnly, and you lifted your chin again. “But the avatar- you could use someone who knows a lot about the fire nation, right? I could help you. Maybe even join your group.”

Sokka was hesitant to trust you, but eventually he was persuaded. You came to regret your decision to join them not long after, when it came up in conversation that they weren’t just being chased by the fire nation, but by Zuko himself. Your old friend. They were surprised you’d once known him, but understood when you insisted that he couldn’t know it was you. You’d be mortified, not only to see your old crush but also to be on the opposite side of a fight.

And for a while, a brief while, you managed to succeed. He didn’t know it was you. Aang and Katara helped, never letting your name slip, in fact, calling you by an entirely different name whenever Zuko was around. Huan- Katara said she’d run into at least three Huan’s so far, and so figured that it was a common enough earth kingdom name. It felt safe.

And yeah, Katara and Sokka were real pissed at Aang for not delivering the letter so that they could find their father. And yeah, that was a stupid and petty thing to do, and Aang was completely at fault. But you couldn’t imagine abandoning the avatar for it- he still needed help. So you went with him, when Katara and Sokka left, because he still needed at least one friend.

Aang noticed the shirshu quicker than you did, and stood on Appa’s back, staff in hand.

“Stay with Appa, and then you can hide,” he said, knowing that you wouldn’t want to face Zuko and risk blowing your cover. You nodded, and watched him dive, hunkering low in Appa’s saddle until the bison landed. But when he did, you noticed Katara and Sokka, being dragged away, paralyzed. It dawned on you that Aang didn’t have any help. You watched, terrified for him, hesitant but waiting for the moment in which you would jump to your friend’s aid.

It came when the shirshu and Zuko both had him backed to the wall.

“Aang!” You shouted, leaping from your hiding spot and running across the courtyard to him.

“Huan, no!” He yelled back, trying to preserve your cover, but you’d decided that his safety mattered more.

You targeted the shirshu first, two hands coming to your hip as you lifted then planted your front foot, as your fists, one atop the other, struck toward the shirshu’s tail with an impressive and hot plume of fire. The animal yelped and turned to you, it’s tongue striking, but this much you’d anticipated. You split your hands, palms open, spreading a wall of flame that singed its tongue as it passed through. The shirshu called out in pain and stepped back just enough to let you dive to Aang’s side, standing in front of him and ready to deflect any fire that the prince could offer.

“Y/N?” He said, surprise lowering his guard. Luckily, you didn’t need to fight him, as a wall of perfume dropped between the two of you, sending the shirshu into a fit that paralyzed both its rider and the prince. You handed Aang’s staff to him and walked back toward Sokka and Katara, or you would’ve, if Zuko hadn’t called out your name. 

“Y/N, what are you doing here?” He said, his voice sounding almost betrayed enough to pity. You shut your eyes tightly and left the scene with Aang, not prepared to face his questioning.

You didn’t see Zuko again for a long time. Not, in fact, until he had invaded the Northern Water Tribe. You stayed with Katara to guard Aang, though you hadn’t realized you would be doing so against Zuko.

If you had been asked, you wouldn’t have said that you avoided the fight. You weren’t going to admit that you didn’t want to fight Zuko. You were protecting the princess, that’s all, when Yue ran, you followed, making sure she was safe. That’s all.

You kicked yourself for it when he managed to take Aang. If you hadn’t been so much of a coward, maybe Aang would’ve been saved.

Well, when the moon was at its highest, and the four of you went out to save the avatar, still you avoided the fight. This time, your excuse changed- it was that Katara was going to win so easily. Why help?

But then, you dismounted Appa to help return Aang to the saddle, and you saw Zuko half buried in snow, covered in bruises and cuts and burns, and you wondered what had happened to him. His lips were ajar, and his breath fogged against the snow, and it seemed like he was already shivering.

“We can’t leave him here!” You shouted, running toward him in the snow, your firebending blood only barely keeping you warm under your layers.

“Sure we can,” Sokka said, climbing up onto Appa. “Y/N, let’s go.” You could hear the warning in his voice- he didn’t want you to give him reason to distrust you.

“If we leave him, he’ll die,” Aang said, coming to your rescue, and he helped you lift Zuko from the snow, and took the both of you into Appa’s saddle.

While your friends were worried for the safety of the moon spirit, and you were too, you couldn’t help but let your focus drift to the prince. You heard him move, and turned to see him about to leap from Appa’s back.

Briefly, your eyes connected with his, and the tension was unbelievable. Would he attack you? Would you expose him? Would he say anything? Would you?

He dropped from your view, and you didn’t even manage to see where he slipped away to.

After that day, you didn’t see much of Zuko. It was like he’d given up his search for the Avatar. You, on the other hand, constantly found your thoughts with him, wondering for his wellbeing, wondering what his thoughts were on the moments that you’d caught with him. You didn’t see him again for months, but your mind was with him all the time.

So when you found him again in Ba Sing Se, you couldn’t believe your luck.

You’d slipped away from the house that you’d been given in the upper ring with the rest of the gaang to wander, slipping between the rings to find the people who wouldn’t judge you quite as harshly. When it got cold, one night, you decided to slip into a small tea shop to warm up before you made your journey back home.

You stepped in the door, and saw Zuko.

You froze at the threshold, staring, like you couldn’t will your feet to move. You stared, in fact, until he’d noticed you. For an instant he had a similar reaction, holding your gaze in shock, and it was that sight that knocked you from your stupor. You turned, ready to walk back out the door.

“Wait!” He shouted, and you heard steps behind you, then felt a hand on your shoulder. “Y/N, please, stay.” You closed your eyes and tried to deny him, but that was something you’d never been able to do.

Looking back on it, you must’ve only met with him three or four times before the fall of Ba Sing Se. But if you asked your heart, it would’ve felt like years that you spent sneaking away to sit with him in his uncle’s tea shop. It was like old times, only better, as not only did you get along swimmingly but now you had so much more to talk about, so many stories to share. He didn’t feel like your enemy anymore, as his hunt for the avatar was abandoned, just like you’d suspected. It was like old times, only better, because before he was banished, you’d never kissed him. Now, you did.

Iroh found you first, when he rushed from the palace to the house of the avatar. He knew of you, and your relationship to his nephew, and to the avatar. (Iroh, really, knew much more than one would expect.) He enlisted your help, and Aang’s, in rescuing Zuko and Katara, and as you cared for both of them, of course you agreed. It was Zuko, though, that you hugged when you found the both of them, which brought confused looks from your friends.

You were what was considered a wild card.

Because when Azula and Zuko took up arms against the Avatar- so did you.

You could believe in the faults of the fire nation. You could believe in the effort of the earth kingdom to win the war- you could believe in the message of the avatar.

But you could also take up fire against him. You couldn’t- you couldn’t take up fire against Zuko.

You, Azula, and Zuko returned to the Fire Nation. You hadn’t been home in a little over a year, and it all seemed so different. There was so much red! Where was the green? The plants? Why was it so hot all the time? And why were you looked at like a hero when you walked down the street?

A hero? You betrayed the avatar. You were being called the greatest spy in Fire Nation history, you were being called instrumental in the avatar’s defeat, a gifted strategist who managed to earn the avatar’s trust, can you believe it?

It didn’t feel as nice as it sounded.

You had chosen Zuko, and you didn’t regret it. You loved him- and had for a lot longer than you’d ever realized. Sure, he was clearly with Mai, and you had no idea how long that had been a thing, but you loved him anyway. He didn’t pay much attention to you anymore, because he had Mai, but you loved him anyway.

Seeing him happy made it all worth it. All of it- leaving home, being friends with the avatar, letting Zuko win too many times when you know you could’ve stopped him, letting him get away, letting Azula kill the avatar. Betraying Aang, betraying Sokka, the look on Katara’s face when she realized that you were just like every other evil firebender. The look on Iroh’s. It was all worth it, because Zuko was happy, and home, and safe, and you got to be by his side, even if it wasn’t the way you wished it to be. It was all worth it.

Wasn’t it?

-🦌 Roe

edit: part 2