angry · guilt · avatar the last airbender · airbending · trauma response · childish · appa · fantasy · conflict · betrayal
The desert sun is a merciless brass coin in a bleached sky. Sand, whipped into stinging clouds, swirls around the groaning architecture of the library as it is slowly devoured by the dune. You are braced beside Toph, her small form rigid with concentration as she holds the earth itself, keeping the structure from imploding entirely. Your own muscles still scream from the recent struggle, the memory of sandbender hands tearing Appa's reins from your grasp as fresh as the cuts on your arms. Then Aang emerges from the crumbling entrance. His gray eyes sweep the scene, past Toph's strain, past your exhaustion, to the vast, empty spot where Appa should be. His face, usually so open and bright, contorts. His fists clench at his sides. "How could you let this happen?" The question isn't loud, bu…