Ablaze || Aang x Reader

Showing the King the Dai Li's headquarters proved unsuccessful when we arrived and found the entrance had been destroyed. The King felt that that was that and almost decided Long Feng was right. I say almost because Sokka remembered the drill we took down a few weeks ago must still be there. His Majesty didn't want to go all the way to the outer wall — something about kings having never set foot that close to the outer wall before — but agreed to hear us out with the promise of getting to ride Appa to get there.

So, we all climbed aboard onto Appa's back. Aang took the seat on Appa's head. Sadly, I was not next to him this time. I was sitting cross legged and gripping the bison's fur for stability, and I was right in front of Sokka and Katara. To our left were a couple of the king's guards — their expressions were unreadable but I presumed they were either petrified or having the time of their lives, no in between — and in front of me was Toph, who was grasping onto Appa's fur with all her might. I could've sworn I could see her toes also gripping the fur, but I wasn't gonna take a closer look. Right next to her sat the King, who was very visibly and audibly terrified. He screeched in fright for the first three minutes of the flight.

That's not really what I was focused on at that moment. Sure, we had more pressing matters to attend to, but I kept finding myself looking at Aang.

I felt a tap on my shoulder.

"Hey, so how was the flight over to Lake Laogai?" Katara asked me once I turned back to look at her. The wind was decently loud in my ears, so even though I could hear her, no one else more than a meter away could. Not clearly, anyway.

I raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? It was normal."

"Oh, come on. Don't think we couldn't see you two all cuddled up together from the train." Sokka teased.

My face suddenly felt a bit warmer than it should've felt with the cool wind blowing against it. How much had they seen? Just the end when we were only sitting together or did they see the beginning too? Y'know, for such polar opposite personalities, those two siblings had very identical shit-eating grins plastered across their faces.

I turned back around and stared straight ahead, trying to ignore the teasing coos and smooching noises Sokka was making while Katara laughed. There was no way Aang felt that way for me. We were just friends... right?

I wished I could go sit next to him, where those two couldn't tease me, but that would just fuel them.

Finally, the outer wall was in our sights. By then, the sun had begun to set. As Sokka had predicted, the drill was very much still there. It had been walled off but it was still in the same shambles we had left it in.

We landed on the outer wall. All of us stood around the King as he looked down from the battlements to the drill, likely taking in the fact that everything we told him was true and that he never knew.

Not even a minute passed and Long Feng had already shown up to spew more lies and attempt to write off the drill as a construction project. Katara was quick to challenge that claim by pointing out the Fire Nation insignia that was very prominently branded on the top of the drill.

"Well, it's imported, of course.You know you can't trust domestic machinery." Long Feng excused with a phony smile. His face fell and his panic became evident once he saw the look of uncertainty on the King's face. "Surely you don't believe these children, instead of your most loyal attendant?"

"Surely you don't believe the man who hid an attempted Fire Nation infiltration from you, instead of the two Avatars who brought forward the truth?" I interjected.

The King took a few seconds to look between us and Long Feng, pondering his choice. Finally, he spoke the best command I've heard in a while: "Dai Li, arrest Long Feng. I want him to stand trial for crimes against the Earth Kingdom."