Play With Fire ~Zuko X Reader~

-17- New Allies

"So what now?"

I had learned that Katara and Sokka were siblings and the man that spoke next was their father, "We've been working on a modified version of the invasion plan."

Katara glared at her father, Hakoda, "It's Sokka's invasion plan."

"Yes, Sokka's plan," Hakoda tensed, "We won't be able to mount a massive invasion without the Earth King's armies, but the solar eclipse will still leave the Fire Nation vulnerable."

Sokka told the rest of the plan, "So we're planning a smaller invasion. Just a ragtag team of our friends and allies from around the Earth Kingdom. We already ran into Pipsqueak and The Duke."

A bigger boy that had the same sorta look as Jet and his freedom fighter spoke with a smaller boy on his shoulder, "Good to see you again, Aang!"

"And the best part is, the eclipse isn't even our biggest advantage!" He got next to Aang's ear, "We have a secret... you!"

"Me?"

"Yep, the whole world thinks you're dead! Isn't that great!?"

Aang ran over to the side of the boat, "The world thinks I'm dead? How is that good news? That's terrible!"

Sokka tried to reason with him, "No, it's great! It means the Fire Nation won't be hunting us anymore! And even better, they won't be expecting you on the Day of Black Sun!"

"No, no, no, no, no. You have no idea. This is so messed up!"

A Fire Nation ship approached.

"I'll handle this. The Avatar is back," He opened his glider, but groaned in pain.

Katara stopped him, "Aang, wait! Remember, they don't know we're not Fire Nation!"

Hakoda put on his helmet, "Everyone just stay calm. Bato and I will take care of this."

I put on my helmet, then went off to make myself look busy, but I could still hear the conversation.

"Commander, why are you off course? All Western Fleet ships are supposed to be moving toward Ba Sing Se to support the occupation!"

"Actually, we're from the Eastern Fleet. We have orders to deliver some cargo."

"Ahhh... Eastern Fleet. Well, nice of Admiral Chan to let us know he was sending one of his ships our way."

"I'm sure Admiral Chan meant no disrespect, sir."

"I mean, how hard is it to write a quick note and send a hawk our way?"

"Next time, we'll send two hawks to make sure you get the message."

I walked away. I thought the lie went off without a hitch. But Toph had other ideas, "They know!"

She used her metalbending to break the bridge between our two boats, sending our enemies into the water below. Katara used her waterbending to create a wave between our two ships. We quickly speed off.

"Load the Toph!" The Duke stood behind her, guiding her aim.

Pipsqueak placed a boulder before Toph. She fired at the opposing ship. A harpoon pierced the hull of our ship, but Katara froze it over.

"I'm gonna give us some cover!"

Katara used her bending to create a fog screen. A fireball broke through the screen, setting fire to parts of the ship.

Sokka ran out as I tried and failed to calm the fire. Toph turned to him, "How are we doing?"

"Things couldn't get much worse," I watched as a serpent rose from the water, "The universe just loves proving me wrong, doesn't it?"

"You make it too easy!"

The other ship blindly fired another fireball, and it hit the serpent. In anger, the creature wrapped itself around the other ship, letting us escape.

Sokka smiled, "Thank you, the universe!"

A few hours passed. Toph grabbed my hand and pulled me to Aang's room.

"Hey, Aang! We're going into town to find some dinner."

Aang wrapped his hand around his stomach, "Well, I am pretty hungry. Maybe dinner's a good idea."

Sokka glared at me, then offered Aang a fire nation headband, "Here, tie this around your head. It will cover your arrow."

"I'm not going out if I can't wear my arrow proudly!" He laid back on his bed.

"Aang, come on. Be practical."

Katara placed her hand on her brother's shoulder, "You guys go ahead without us. We'll catch up to you."

Toph grabbed onto my hand as I followed her and Sokka out of the room. We went and got the food. Toph asked me why I hadn't said anything. But I just waved her off. How does one say, I don't know if I made the right choice, I miss the man who almost killed your leader, I'm scared of messing up because no one trusts me, and a lot more.

It was night when Katara and Hakoda ran over to us, Katara spoke, "We need to go after Aang."

Toph tilted her head, "Twinkle Toes?"

Katara sighed, "He ran off. We need to go."

The three of them ran off, but Katara stopped once she saw I wasn't following, "Come on (Y/N), we need to go."

My eyes widened, "You want me to come with you?"

The other two took notice of the situation once they heard me speak.

Sokka laughed, "Well you do have the most experience tracking Aang."

I smiled, "I mostly just followed along, but I get your point."

Toph smiled, "Come on, let's go."

I ran after them. I ran up to Appa, and he nuzzled into me as the others climbed on. I joined them on his back. Katara used her bending to hide us in the mist as we went along the water's surface.

Katara pointed to a nearby island, "The Crescent Island!"

We pulled in and found Aang. Katara ran over and hugged him, "You're okay!"

I stood back as the others joined in a group hug. Sokka noticed I was left out and reached his hand, pulling me into their hug.

We let go and Aang spoke, "I have so much to do."

Katara smiled and motioned to Sokka, Toph, and I, "I know, but you'll have our help."

Toph smirked, "You didn't think you could get out of training just by coming to the Fire Nation, did you?"

"What about the invasion?"

Sokka shrugged, "We'll join up with my dad and the invasion force the day of the eclipse."

I smiled, "I'm sorry I wasn't here for you before. But I'm here now. I know more about the Fire Nation than any of you. If anyone can help you take them down, it's me."

Toph picked up a broken piece of wood that hit her foot, "Hey! What's... oh, it's your glider."

He took the glider, "It's okay. If someone saw it, it would give away my identity. It's better for now that no one knows I'm alive."

He flew up and placed it in between two streams of lava. Letting it burn.