Summary: The hot-tempered young warrior princess of the Imperial Fire Nation falls for a ditzy airbender girl. Brittana/Avatar: The Last Airbender AU
Santana was sure her parents would think she had lost her mind if they knew she was following this bubbly, loony girl to the Fire Days Festival without even her guards or servants to accompany her, but some part of her found this girl too intriguing and impossible to refuse as they made their way into the depths of the nearby forest.
Besides, with her firebending abilities, Santana figured she could take on anything.
"Oh, that's where I left it!" Brittany shrieked in delight at finding some kind of strange looking wooden staff. Santana had never seen anything like it before and couldn't understand why Brittany was making such a huge deal out of this. The darker-haired girl tilted her head to the side in confusion.
"What is that thing you're carrying? Is that a weapon? It doesn't look like one."
"It's my staff, Silly. I must have dropped it in the forest on the way over here."
"Shh, keep your voice down." Santana urged her in a gruff tone as her eyes darted around, checking again to see if they were being followed. She was a little frustrated that they had been walking for what felt like miles and Brittany appeared to have no idea where she was going.
"I have an idea. I can fly us over there on my glider. It'll be way faster."
Brittany somehow made her staff open up into what looked like an orange, fan-like glider. Santana's eyebrows rose up close to her hairline, a little choked up with fear and she wasn't expecting this. She didn't want Brittany to know she was terrified of heights either. It didn't sound very badass.
"You're kidding me. Flying?! On that thing? W-what the monkey feathers are you talking about?" She swore, shaking her head.
Brittany was undeterred.
"It'll be okay, just hang on to me. I promise, it'll only take us a minute or two."
"No way! We can't! We are not- Brittany!"
The girl wasn't listening to her and began to ascend with Santana on her back. Santana wasn't a big fan of flying at all, yelping as she grabbed onto Brittany for dear life as she used air currents to help them fly.
"Are you scared of flying?" Brittany shouted with a giggle that was so cute it was almost distracting.
"Of course not!"
Santana couldn't understand the element of air at all. Fire might be uncontrollable but Santana found a certain predictability about the heat and growth of the flames. Air was so nebulous and vast. It couldn't be seen. Moreover, Santana hated feeling out of control in any way.
She gripped onto Brittany's waist tightly, trying to ignore how this was the closest physical contact she had ever had with a really pretty girl who made her feel fireworks whenever their skin brushed together. Brittany did have a really nice body - and oh agni, she was holding her waist of all things - but she refused to let her hormonal thoughts take over.
The dark-haired girl couldn't help but wonder about what life outside the palace walls was actually like, as she had been so sheltered her whole life. Her attraction to Brittany and curiosity were piqued.
This Brittany girl seemed to be well acquainted with all kinds of cultures outside of the Fire Nation. It made Santana's head spin, when she took in all the sights around her and heard Brittany's strange stories about other types of benders and kingdoms.
Brittany kept telling her all of these things about her cat creatures who lived with her family back in her Southern Air Temple home.
Brittany was such a lively and ditzy girl, the exact opposite of how Fire Nation culture wanted young women to be. Fire Nation women tended to be repressed, stuffy, and even cold. The princess had been attracted to their faces and bodies but their personalities never held her interest for long. This airbender girl was different. Santana never could predict what the girl was going to say next.
Yet strangely enough, Santana was enjoying every second of her company. Was this really what it was like to have a real friend who wasn't just forced to be her servant?
She was a little nervous about being caught outside of the palace but at least none of the commoners knew exactly what the Fire Nation princess looked like.
Santana had to admit, it was cute seeing the way Brittany's face would light up whenever she noticed the stalls selling novelty foods, or all of the games and performers.
"So, are you always this sulky?" Brittany teased Santana lightly as they made their way into the fairgrounds with a grin at her pink lips. "Is that like a firebender thing? The serious frowning thing?"
Santana growled a little, low in her throat, and attempted to glare at her. She guessed that it wasn't very threatening since Brittany only had a sweet smile on her kind face.
"I should be very angry with you, you know. I should be furious with you."
"How come? I didn't mean it in a bad way. I like your sulky cat face. It's cute."
Santana tried to ignore how that one little comment made her heart race as she cleared her throat nervously.
"Are you forgetting that you're talking to royalty?"
The pale girl hadn't seemed to have heard her, quickly distracted by something else.
"Ooo masks! We need some of these." Brittany pointed out, grabbing Santana's arm and ignoring her growling.
She had to agree that the masks were a great idea, since both of them didn't want to be identified by anyone. Santana shrugged, grunting a little in annoyance when the blonde gave her a mask that was a fiery red with dragon-like horns and an exaggerated frown on the round face that made it look miserable.
Brittany slipped on her own oval-shaped mask that was the complete opposite - a bright pink shade with a big smile painted on it.
"You seem like you're enjoying yourself." Santana mumbled.
"Yeah, aren't you? It's so much fun seeing all of these things. I come to the festivals every year," Brittany told her in an awed voice. "I love the Fire Nation even though it's nothing like the Air Temple, where I'm from. Come on - let's go try those hotcakes!"
"I don't understand you or your ways. Nothing about your way of life makes sense to me." She muttered under her breath as Brittany twirled around. Santana bit back a smile at Brittany's graceful movements. Airbenders seemed to be constantly fluttering around.
"Maybe we are kinda different but isn't that the whole point of learning about other people? You can become a better bender that way too, by learning about others, at least that's what my parents always said."
Santana was stunned into silence. She was never taught about other nations at all. In fact, her sages and her teachers, even her own parents had never mentioned anything about the other cultures. In their eyes, the Fire Nation was the best and the greatest so there was no point in learning about anything else.
"Okay, this has been cool and all but maybe we should get out of here. It's getting late." Santana suggested when she and Brittany had filled up on fire cakes, flaming fire flakes, dumplings, sizzle-crisps, and fire gummies. Brittany was way more into the snacks than Santana was. The taller girl wanted to sample everything and she even grabbed fire gummies for later.
Brittany seemed panicked and frowned in dismay.
"Wait! We need to stay for the fireworks."
"Okay." Santana laughed and gave in. She saw Brittany gazing longingly at the bright pink ice cream from a nearby stall and bought a scoop for the girl, handing it to her as she beamed at her in delight.
Everything seemed to be going surprisingly well, even though anxiety was bubbling in the pit of Santana's stomach. That was, until they heard shrieking and screaming, followed by pattering footsteps and a crowd began to form.
"They stole something from that woman." Santana gasped, charging forward without thinking and already lifting her palm, preparing to blast them. The lady was shrieking about how her cat had been stolen of all things. It must have been one of those expensive, high-maintenance cats like the ones noblewomen bragged about.
"Wait, Santana. This will probably help." Brittany pulled her back by the sleeve. The pale girl moved in her fascinating circular motions, directing a strong gust of air at the robbers that tripped them up, causing them to drop the woman's cat, who slinked away safely into her owner's arms, and the men then flailed on the ground in shock.
Everyone laughed at the robbers who now looked like buffoons and glanced around to see who had done this. Santana grunted nervously.
"Whoa, why did you do that?" Santana bit out, her voice becoming sharp.
"Sorry. I wasn't thinking."
"Let's go. They're all staring at us now."
Brittany nodded, following Santana's lead as they sprinted across the fairground, with those criminals from before chasing after them. The last thing Santana wanted was for the princess getting into a skirmish with some robbers at a low class fair with commoners to be the big news all over the Fire Nation.
Brittany gestured for Santana to follow her into the dense forest nearby. They moved inward for what felt like about twenty minutes.
"I'm pretty sure we lost them… but now I'm lost too." Brittany admitted. Santana narrowed her eyes, still wondering what kind of trick or scheme the golden-haired girl might have. She had assumed that Brittany was her friend now but maybe this had all been some plot of the airbender's creation.
If it was, Brittany was really good at pretending to be some scatterbrained ditz because she had even fooled Santana.
The Fire Lord in training grabbed the girl's hand, pulling her along in a hurry and Brittany obediently fell into step behind her after a startled inhale of breath. Santana couldn't take it anymore and grabbed the young girl by the shoulders, pushing her up against a tree when she was sure no one else was around them. She took off her own mask and then carefully pulled off Brittany's as well, panting into her face.
She wasn't expecting Brittany's next comment.
"This is so hot. Are we gonna makeout now?"
"O-of course not." Santana felt like her entire body was flushed and her knees buckled.
"Darn. That sucks."
"I'm not gonna - why would you even…" Santana lost her train of thought, visualizing what making out with the airbender might be like and feeling her blood run hot. Brittany had a way of making her so flustered she forgot about everything else except those feline blue eyes. She lowered her voice into a harsh growl. "Wait, nevermind, you're distracting me on purpose. Are you just mocking me? Why are you actually here in the Fire Nation? Are you some spy? Are those guys working with you? Don't lie to me."
Brittany tilted her head to the side, clearly perplexed. The girl had a way of spacing out sometimes, a vacant look in her blue eyes and somehow it made her even more alluring to Santana.
"Wow, so many questions. They're not working with me. I don't even know them. I told you why I'm here earlier, remember? I came to your palace by accident. Please believe me, Santana."
For some reason - maybe it was the earnest look on her face, the innocent look in her pale blue eyes, the sincerity in her voice, or maybe something about Brittany's energy - Santana believed her.
There was something else that was on Santana's mind. In fact, she hadn't been able to get it off of her mind ever since it happened. Santana just blurted out what she really wanted to ask.
"Then if you're not a spy and you're not trying to s-seduce me - why is it, when we were fighting before," Santana looked down at her feet, choking on her words, "Why did you k-kiss me?"
Brittany smiled widely now, a seductive glow to those upturned, feline eyes and some other emotion Santana couldn't read.
"Oh that's what this is really about. You're blushing so hard right now. Was that your real first kiss?"
Santana crossed her arms over her chest defensively, taking a step back and staring down at her feet, a random speck in the grass, or anything else other than Brittany's eyes as her cheeks burned. Brittany was such a tease and it was driving her insane.
"Of course not. I've kissed many girls. Lots of really hot girls. I only like girls, just so you know."
"Duh, I already could tell."
Santana blinked, taken aback and then cleared her throat, trying her most smooth and cocky voice.
"So yeah, sorry to disappoint but I've had lots of girl kisses."
Brittany just stared at her doubtfully and Santana wanted to argue that whatever the blonde was thinking, she was wrong.
"So I really was your first. It's okay, I really like being your first and only girl," Brittany admitted with a little chuckle, looking smug and proud of herself. "Don't be embarrassed. If I knew that I would have tried to make it way more romantic. You're shaking and blushing all over."
"Hey - did you not hear what I just said?! Lots of hot girls!" Santana argued weakly and Brittany just walked ahead of her, giggling. Santana huffed but eventually gave up when it became more than obvious that she couldn't lie to the blonde.
"W-was I your first too?" Santana glanced over at her hopefully. She didn't want to be the only inexperienced one and at least if they were on the same level she'd feel like less of a loser. After all, Brittany looked about her age, if not a few years older with her womanly body that was more curvy than Santana's and the confident, seductive sway in which she carried herself.
Brittany watched her in silence for a long moment, some kind of well… romantic tension building between them that made Santana's face burn.
"Oh. Actually, not really, if I'm being honest," She said and Santana's face fell. The Latina squirmed, having all these strange jealous thoughts about whoever Brittany must have kissed. "Kissing lots of girls and boys can be fun. At least, for me it was."
Santana made a face. Now she was not only embarrassed but also feeling this new, unfamiliar emotion that crept up in her chest uncomfortably and made her want to burn those other people Brittany had kissed.
"Ew. I so did not need to know that." She scoffed venomously, rolling her eyes skyward.
"Are you jealous? Don't worry, you were the best, though. I can't even remember the others anymore so they don't count."
Santana felt a little tingle run through her. Brittany's words were strangely reassuring.
"I'm not jealous."
"Mm hmm." Brittany just watched her with those cat eyes. She always looked at Santana as if she could see right through all of her facades.
She couldn't help but ask something else.
"Back then, when you said you were scared of getting burned… was that the only reason you kissed me?"
Brittany's lips parted and she seemed as if she was about to say something, their faces moving closer as Santana's heart hammered against her chest. There was a twinkle in Brittany's soft blue eyes, her lips tilted in amusement. Then Santana cursed inwardly when she heard a rustle from the bushes nearby, followed by heavy footsteps. She grabbed Brittany by the hand again, tugging her along.
"Wait, I heard something. We should go."
Before Brittany could answer her, they heard the sounds of footsteps moving closer and Santana grabbed Brittany, deciding that they should make a swift exit. Santana punched forward, sending a strong wave of fire at one of the robbers who got close to them and smirked when it hit its target. She had to protect herself and Brittany.
Miraculously, they managed to make it back to the Royal Palace before anyone suspected a thing. She felt adrenaline pumping in her veins still from their adventure.
"Hey, I see that look on your face. You had a good time," Brittany remarked with a sly smile. "Quite the adventurer, aren't you?"
"Keep your voice down," Santana whispered. "Yeah, I guess I did. Thank you for taking me."
They both changed out of their cloaks into regular Fire Nation sleepwear and passed out in Santana's bed before the fire princess could think about the events of the day anymore. She supposed she could tell her servants and anyone else who asked that Brittany was a friend from school who had spent the night.