Tags: ATLA AU, Firbender!Keith, Avatar!Keith, Waterbender!Lance, Strangers to Lovers, Fire Nation attack (additional tags will be added later to the story so please read those as well)
Summary: As the Avatar Keith has the responsibility to protect the world. In past lives, this meant helping people with their problems. For him, it means learning all elements as quickly as possible to stop the Fire Nation from taking over the world. There aren't many places left where people can live in peace but he is determined to do anything to protect the Northern Water Tribe from meeting the same fate as the captured cities.
Learning waterbending proves to be the most difficult of the four elements and Keith struggles to achieve even the smallest improvements. He would have continued to struggle if it weren't for a white-haired boy called Lance who declared himself his unofficial teacher and helped him figure things out.
The longer they stay at the north pole and the more time he spends with Lance, the more Keith realizes that he feels drawn to him in a way he has never experienced before. But the attack of the Fire Nation looms above them and he isn't sure he'll be able to protect the city even as the Avatar.
It is based in a fan comic I was reading. I am not sure I will do a real fic about this ideia, but here is the snippet.
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"Did you hear that Allura is getting married?"
The servers opened their eyes wide while the Avatar Keith waited, intently, for Lotor's reaction. He raised his glass, stared at the plate and his expression remained intact, no sign of protest left his body.
"It's worse than I imagined!" Keith was surprised. Lotor asked him with a look. "Doesn't that information affect you?"
"Well ... I have no rights to the Princess's heart." Lotor did not change his tone, as if he were reporting a fact.
"It's a lie- I mean, the marriage. There is no marriage." Keith waited for signs of relief, but nothing came.
"And why did you say that to me?"
"To confirm your condition. You really aren't doing well!" Keith continue very worried. "This apathy and indifference even in these matters! It seems that you have no more emotions."
"I'm fine," Lotor said simply. "All the doctors you sent here found nothing."
"But there is something wrong with you." Keith changed his tone, there seemed to be a little guilt in his voice. "That's why I and Gamora's council decided to send you to be treated ... in the water tribe."
"…"
"I sent one letter to the Princess, informing her of your condition." Keith spoke without remorse.
"You shouldn't have disturbed her," Lotor chided, looking down.
"She was already worried." Keith defended himself. "After all, you didn't answer her letters"
"I have nothing to say to her"
"Lotor, look, if there is a problem between you two ..." Keith was getting embarrassed by this type of conversation.
"There is nothing between us"
"Even if there is, don't do what you always do. Talk to her." His tone was a little affectionate. "Speak everything you've been keeping, however painful it may be."
@shewhoridesonrainbows, I’m you backup Santa for @voltron-ss. Sorry you had to wait so long to get this, but it’s finally here. So ATLA was one of my fav shows and I always like AUs of it, especially for this fandom. I’m surprised I never actually wrote a story for this, maybe since I didn’t have an idea. Anyway, there are a bunch of places that could have given me a lot of inspiration but I decided to go with @inkandowl’s avatar au. I know they have Keith was meeting Lance to get laid, but since you asked for no NSFW, I’m gonna change it up a bit, you know to avoid getting yelled at. Also, just a heads up, I have not watch Ledged of Korra season 2-4. I’ve been meaning to but I haven’t, so a lot of the stuff, which I’m assuming means like spirts just waltzing around from what I’ve read, won’t really be in here, but I will mention a few of the cannon things I do know about. It was going to be longer but what I had written after, just didn’t seem to flow. I hope I still did ok though, enjoy.
Republic City was nothing like the Ba Sing Se. it felt livelier and there was no separation with the walls and the mixture of cultures was so much more evident. Keith couldn’t help but look around like a little kid while following his brother near the centre of town.
“Hey, keep up Keith. I don’t want to have to lose you.” Keith paid attention, focusing on his brother’s uniform. Shiro was part of the Republic City police, a prodigy firebender and Keith’s brother. Keith had been living in Ba Sing Se with his mother until she died but Shiro didn’t force Keith to move unless he wanted to. He missed his brother and Ba Sing Se just didn’t feel like home anymore without his mother, so he told his brother he’d be there and boarded the first train out.
Eventually Shiro stopped in front of a large statue. Keith stared up at it, the clenched fist shooting out flames. He looked down at the plaque that read ‘Fire Lord Zuko’.
“Here we are, essentially the centre of the Republic City. Everyone knows this place so they say it the centre, so if you get lost, just ask someone to direct you here. What do think?”
Keith looked around. It was strange how quickly it felt like home. Like, this was where he was supposed to be. “It’s amazing.”
“And in other news, the Order of the White Lotus has once again failed to find the Avatar.” Keith heard a newscaster from a passing car’s radio, “the Order estimated that the Avatar, now within the Fire cycle, was born almost 20 years ago but to the day, cannot be found. With the growing knowledge of the anti-bender, pro-Sozin fire nation era group known as the Galra, people are starting to wonder if they’ll find the Avatar in time or if they’ll be ready to help them.”
Keith didn’t have to look at Shiro to know he was tense. Galra influence of removing all benders and putting the fire nation back in charge had been seeping into Ba Sing Se when Keith left. Republic City had its fair share of similar influencers, like Amon during the time of Avatar Korra.
“I really hope the Avatar can be found soon. I’d hate to find out that this Avatar will have to be thrown into this, years down the line if the Galra aren’t stopped.” Shiro said. “It’s also not fair to the teachers that were chosen.”
“The teachers?”
“The Order of the White Lotus finds skilled benders that they believe will be good teachers for the new Avatar. I actually got to know them. A bit of a ragtag group, but I think it’s been proven with our last few Avatars that ragtag is what the Avatar works with best. One of them is working at the Jasmine Dragon nearby, want to meet him?”
Keith nodded and followed his brother further down the street. His thoughts went back to the Avatar. Honestly, he wondered how it had been so long that the Avatar had avoided detection. The only reason Aang had done so was because he was frozen in ice for 100 years. Korra had been found at a young age and the Earth cycle of the Avatar, Alfor, had been found only a few months old. The Fire Nation always tried to prove that they wouldn’t fall back to the ways during Sozin’s rule but with the Avatar missing and the threat of Galra, they were in the public’s constant eye. It seemed even fire benders would be given glares, like it was their fault the Avatar hadn’t appeared yet.
Shiro approached a well light shop and slid open the door, letting out the smells of tea and pastries come out into the street. Keith followed him in, feeling comfortable at the familiar scene. The floor was filled with evenly spaced out tables and chairs, the bar only occupied by one man but moved swiftly enough to do the work of 3. He sent a waitress out with a tray of tea and continued doing something that the counter blocked.
“Hunk!”
The dark skinned man looked up, his brown eyes brightening at the sight of Shiro. He had his brown hair pulled into a ponytail, a yellow bandana tied across his forehead. “Shiro, hi. I didn’t think you’d be in today. Weren’t you picking up your brother day?”
Putting his hand on Keith shoulder, Shiro answered, “Already picked up. Hunk, this is my brother Keith. Keith, this is Hunk. He was brought in to be an Earth Bending teacher for the Avatar but since they haven’t been found yet, he’s been wowing the public with his cooking skills here.”
“Aww, that’s sweet.” Hunk said, rubbing the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed. “It just didn’t feel right allowing the monks at the Air Temple to take care of me when I wasn’t even really doing the job I was hired for. But hopefully soon.”
“Hopefully. Think we can get two cups of your spring tea? I sent the bag you gave me to Keith here and he liked it.”
“Sure. I’ll bring it over, go have a seat.”
Shiro lead Keith over to a free table and let Keith look around. He worked at the one in Ba Sing Se, so it was interesting to see how this one worked.
“Think you might want a job here? Familiar ground and all that.”
“Maybe. I need to get used to the place first.” The door to the shop opened and being curious, Keith looked over his shoulder. A tall man, his dark skin suggesting he was from the Water Tribe along with his blue eyes, walked in. his clothes were fitted to his body, showing off his physic.
“Hey Hunk.” The man called
Hunk was just coming around from behind the bar when he saw him. “Lance, hey. Off on your break?”
“Yeah. I can’t wait till the Avatar is finally found, some of these kids are horrible.” The man followed Hunk as he came over to their table and place the two cups down. “One actually asked if I was even qualified. Like, brat, your parents hired me, not the other way around. You’re not getting it right cause you’re not listening, not cause I’m a bad teacher.”
“Seems like you got your work cut out for you.” Shiro said. The man brightened slightly at the sight of him.
“Shiro, hey. Didn’t think I’d see you hear. A bit far from your station isn’t it?”
“I came to pick up my brother from the station and I’m showing him around. Keith, this is Lance, the waterbending teacher for the Avatar.”
“Though at the moment, it’s teaching snot nose brats who have their parent’s money wrapped around their fingers how to waterbend. Probably why they can’t do the moves. Nice to meet you.” Lance shook Keith’s hand. They felt cool against his usual warm skin. Being this close, he could see Lance’s eyes were bright, more than a usual person from the Water Tribe. “How are you liking it so far here?”
Keith shrugged, “ok I guess. It’s beautiful but I don’t know the whole area yet.”
“Well if Shiro here can’t take you around, I’m more than willing to show you around. I can take you to all the best places.” Keith blinked. Was Lance?
“Lance, stop flirting with my customers.” Hunk whined.
Lance just smiled and shrugged, “what, I flirt with good looking people, I can’t help it. He sent a wink in Keith’s direction, making the firebender red. He normally didn’t get so easily flustered but Lance was cute and he had never really had a guy he was interested in flirt at him before. He could see Shiro’s knowing smirk and was glaring at him Shiro’s radio went off.
“Galra forced spotted in the centre of Republic City, near the Fire Lord Statue. All available units, please respond.”
Shiro got up, “Keith, stay here. These guys go after benders and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
“Wait, what about you?” his brother could get hurt.
Lance put his hand on his shoulder, “hey your brother’s one of the best officers on the force. He can handle himself. Not like we can go anywhere either.” Right, Lance and Hunk were benders. They were qualified but if Keith knew his brother, they already knew that Shiro wouldn’t want them out there.
“I’ll be fine. Stay here till I get back ok?” after Keith gave a nod, Shiro ran out the door, leaving the shop quite silent. It was easy to see people were tense.
“Hey,” Lance said patting Keith on the shoulder and nodded to behind the counter, “come on. We can wait upstairs.”
Not wanting to be around all the tense people, he followed Lance behind the counter and through the door. The stairs lead up into a small living room with an attached kitchen. Lance told him to sit at the low coffee table while he got them water. While sitting in silence wasn’t the best, it was better than being around so many tense people. There were times where he wanted to search for this Avatar and shake them, reminding them they had a duty to the people. Avatar Korra almost lost her bending completely trying to stop Amon, who views had sparked the Galra’s. But she stood up and fought to help. It also wasn’t fair to people like Lance and Hunk. Both had been chosen to be teachers for someone who wasn’t even there and had to spend their times here, doing other things to keep them occupied. Lance put a glass of water next to Keith and plopped down in front of him.
“Shiro will be fine. He knows what he’s doing.”
“I know. I just wish this Avatar would be here already to do their job.”
“Fair point, but if I didn’t have so much free time on my hand, I wouldn’t get to see the amazing things the city had to offer.” Lance winked at Keith again and this time he could control his blush. Flirting wasn’t something he usually did but he definitely wanted to try on Lance.
“If I can show you something even more amazing, think you’ll take me around like you promised?”
Lance looked a bit surprised, like he didn’t think Keith would actually react, but quickly gained a smile, leaning in a bit closer. “All right fire boy, wow me. Show me some of your firebending skills.”
Keith felt confident. He could do this, he’d seen other firebenders show off for interested parties. He could do this.
And he did, just not like he thought. He hadn’t even noticed, keeping his eyes on Lance, until Lance looked down and looked stunned. He then let out a small laugh and poked at Keith’s hands. “I thought you were going to show me firebending.”
Confused, Keith looked down to see water, not fire in his hands.
“Well, you certainly showed me something even more amazing.”
Avatar. Keith was the Avatar. When Shiro finally came back, a bit bruised but still fine and had found out what Keith and Lance had discovered, he quickly took him over to the Air Temple Island, where members of the Order of the Lotus had been staying. A few tests later and it had been confirmed. Keith was the Avatar. His attempt to impress Lance had triggered his waterbending.
“But how come it was never triggered earlier?”
“The Avatar spirt works in different ways. Mostly, we’ve seen that they come out when necessary or when they know they’ll need to train early. Perhaps the Galra finally attacking helped.”
Keith wanted to agree but he had known about the Galra even before coming to Republic City. He had been trying to impress Lance when he waterbended for the first time. He was sure that was the trigger.
“So, what happens now?” Shiro asked.
“He’s going to have to train. I assume you’ve mastered your firebending?” Keith nodded, “if we had more time, you’d be trained in each element until you’ve mastered it, but people need their Avatar with the Galra around. You’ll have to be trained in all of them at once. Things will not be easy I’m afraid.”
That was an understatement. He meet Allura, his airbending teacher and Pidge, a plantbender who was supposed to help him with his connection to the Spirt World because of the connection of the swamp she lived in had to the spirt world. Training was hard. Hunk was a good teacher, making things clear. Allura was rather harsh for an airbender. He always pictured them to be calm but that didn’t seem to be the case with her. Pidge wasn’t as bad. She had been impressed when he was able to send himself to the spirt world so quickly. It was a matter of mastering meditation techniques and understanding how to roam around the spirt world.
Lance, well…he wasn’t a bad teacher. Waterbending wasn’t bad, it was just that Lance took every opportunity to remind Keith he had unlocked his abilities trying to impress him. Keith usually shot him down saying it was a lapse of judgement.
Keith collapsed on a bench. Allura was standing in front of him, glaring down at him.
“This is not the time for a break. You haven’t even been able to properly bend air. You get waterbending fine and I saw you moving rocks yesterday.”
“This isn’t exactly easy for me.”
“If you don’t get some sort of control soon, the Galra are going to be able to wipe the floors with you.”
“Allura, a few weeks ago, the Galra were just a group of people with some messed up views. If they tried to bother me, yes I’d react. I didn’t expect to come to Republic City and find out that I’m the Avatar that’s been missing for almost 20 years and I’m getting thrown a fight with this group. I am not Avatar Aang, he had more time before the war became a thing to master this. I don’t have that time, so lay off!” Keith stomped back inside and collapsed in his room.
He missed Shiro and the easiness of Ba Sing Se. he missed his mom. He just wanted things to go back to normal. He heard a knock on the door and Hunk called his name.
“Keith, can we come in? The monks are talking to Allura so she’s not here.”
“We want to make sure you’re ok.” Lance. Lance wanted to check up on him. Keith might brush off Lance’s reminders during training, but actually, he liked Lance. Watching him bend was amazing and whenever Keith would get a move right, Lance’s face would bright up. He was sure the more time spent together, the more his crush would grow.
His door swung open and Pidge came strutting in, Lance and Hunk still on the other side.
“Pidge! You can’t just walk into a guy’s bedroom like that. He might want to be alone.” Hunk said.
“And we’ll just worry if we leave him. Get in here.” Pidge replied.
They still looked hesitant so Keith called them in. they closed the door behind them and all sat by where Keith had his head, looking concerned.
“I take it you heard?”
“Heard, saw, in Hunk’s rock vision case, felt.” Pidge said.
“I know I should be getting this, but it’s not really easy. I barely move rocks as it is. Waterbending is just easy cause it’s the first one I could do.”
“It’s not your fault. You’re being asked to learn 3 new types of bending in a short amount of time. Plus you’re being thrown to the Galra, so.” Hunk said.
“But you want to know something?” Lance put his hand on Keith and looked right at him, “we’re right here. You’re not going into this fight alone. You’ve got 4 amazing teachers who are right behind you.”
“Wow, a compliment that included other people than you. I’m impressed.” Pidge said, earning her a glare.
But Keith felt thankful. These people had every right to be mad at him for taking so long to appear but they had been nothing but encouraging.
“Anyway, you might not have as much time as Avatar Aang did, but we’re not going to stop training you.”
“You’ll be ready to fight the Galra. On sight approach tends to work much better anyway.” Pidge commented
“And don’t worry about Allura. She’s as worried as you are which is why she’s pushing so hard. But like Lance said, we’re not going anywhere.” Hunk said.
He remembered that when Allura came to apologize. He remembered it during his training, getting better at controlling all the elements. He membered that when news of the Fire Nation being taken over by the Galra came. The Fire Lord had been over thrown, his bending taken and thrown in his own kingdom’s cell. The Avatar was to go to the Fire Nation to stop the Galra, stopping at any village that needed help along the way. Keith had tried not to panic when Shiro told him he was coming with him.
“You are my brother and I promised mom I’d take care of you. I don’t care if you’re a master of all the elements now, you’re my brother and I won’t let anything happen to you.”
The night before they were meant to leave, Keith was sitting out by the dock trying to calm his mind, which is where Lance found him. He sat next to him and kept quiet until Keith finally spoke.
“I don’t know if I can do this. All these other Avatars had help and better control. How am I supposed to help people if I barely know what to do myself?”
“Remember when you yelled at Allura cause she kept expecting you to get airbending in a snap and you stomped off to your room? Remember what I told you then?” Keith shrugged, though the words kept resounding in his mind. Lance took his hand and Keith couldn’t help but look at him, “you’re not going in this alone. We’ll be right there with you, every step of the way. Besides, I still need to show you around Republic City.” Keith felt stunned. Show him around, did Lance? Lance just left him with a secretive smile and told him to get some rest.
When Keith did return to his room, he didn’t feel nervous anymore. He had people behind him, helping him. He’d stop the Galra, and when it was all over, he’d get Lance to show him around like he promised. He would definitely try and impress him one more time, if it got another date from him.
