1Escape.
Belle was to be engaged to Neil.
His family was the most predominant in the Earth Kingdom, and her parents urged her to go along with marrying him.
Their families got along, yes, but what if Neil and her didn't like each other?
That was the trouble with arranged marriages. Either they put up with each other and someone ends up cheating on the other person, or divorce.
Her parents didn't want her to do the latter, otherwise endless shame for their family.
Belle's great-grandfather was Avatar Gyatso, an air nomad who did great things as Avatar. Like her great-grandfather, Belle too was an airbender. As she overheard through the door as her parents talked with Neil's, a marriage of their families will mix in and Neil's family will have ties and connections to Avatar Gyatso.
Does everyone around her only cared about status and social climbing?
How could anyone stand to live this way?
Her mother and younger sister Antonia could put up with it all and pretend everything was alright, but she wasn't going to anymore.
It was late at night. She had a bag packed full of essentials and began to write a letter.
Mother, Father, thank you for all that you've done.
I've always loved you both and our whole family, but marrying someone I have never met is something I cannot go through.
I've always wanted to see the world. See the empty Air Temples, see a volcano up close in the Fire Nation. Even touch an igloo in the North Pole and eat seal jerky with the people in the Water Tribe.
You always told me to expand my horizons, and I'm doing that now.
Please don't try to find me, and know I'll be alright.
Her insides felt heavy as she placed it on the dinning table, but her ball and chain was going to come if she didn't get going.
As she walked into the night, adventure was calling her name.
She had absolute freedom.
Rescue.
Neil's father was at the Fire Nation embassy on business, and he brought his wife and Neil.
It didn't go according to plan, and Neil got kidnapped for random by political extremist along the way.
Who else to rescue him than a bunch of teenagers his age… and amongst them was his supposed fiancee.
Once the bag was off his head, Neil's eyes widen. "Belle…?!"
Atlanta, another fellow airbender looked to her. "You know this guy."
She looked down, ashamed. "He's my fiancé…"
Ever since leaving home, she ran into these interesting people, and decided to join them on their journey to stop Cronus, a power hungry warlord.
There was Jay, a waterbender. Odie was a non-bender, but his inventions and clever wit helped the team more than ever. Herry was a powerful earthbender, and Archie could firebend.
Atlanta and Theresa were glad another girl was in the corner. Atlanta was glad there was another airbender she could spar with. Theresa's ability was more unique. She could spirit bend. It was actual quite beautiful to see.
From what Belle knew, Neil was probably a non-bender.
"Your parents are out looking for you, you know." Neil's arms were crossed. Everyone else thought this was a more private conversation, so they went to a room.
She could tell by the posters with her portrait on them as she traveled around towns with the gang.
"Guess my letter didn't exactly get through to them…" She rubbed her hand against her neck.
"You know, I didn't want to marry you either, but the least you could have done was talk to my parents about it. They're trying so hard to keep this under wraps. Do you know how embarrassing it was when you left home? And my parents are trying to say that you were kidnapped for ransom."
She couldn't help but smile at the parallels of the situation.
If his parents were hurt that badly by her leaving, they would have called off the engagement by now, which would be a great thing for Belle. Though with Avatar Gyatso as her great-grandfather, that was probably the reason why they didn't do it.
Bottom line was, Neil was just concerned in how the engagement and her walking out made his family look bad. Not the fact of her wellbeing or the engagement at all. And they wondered why she left them and the upper crust world in the first place.
"I know what I did was stupid and reckless, but I just couldn't put up with it anymore," she began. "How my parents only cared about status and used me and my sister as marriage barters. I had to get out of it all."
She breathed, feeling her chest grow heavy. "Why did you think I left?"
Knowing someone like Neil, he probably wouldn't understand her. His face didn't change emotion at all, but she didn't care.
"What's going to stop me from telling my parents that I found you?" The only time that Neil ever accomplished something in his life aside from sitting there and looking pretty.
"The embassy is still in between a blockade," a smile was on her face. "Didn't think that far ahead, huh?"
Then again, when did Neil ever think things through.
"Either way, somehow I'm going to bring you back to the Earth Kingdom with my parents, but there is no way I'm going to marry you."
An angry smile was on Belle's face. "Gladly."
She left the room. She ached all over inside, and just had to get out. Usually airbending dance calmed her down.
Destiny.
The journey with the gang and when they stopped Cronus changed her more than ever.
Belle finally saw the world, that there was more to life than the comforts of her home.
Even Neil changed, and it surprised everyone.
He went from a pampered son of a diplomat to a more grounded person.
He even got Belle off the hook for walking out on their engagement in the first place and wouldn't tell his parents that he saw her.
As she traveled with the gang and it got close to parting ways, she couldn't help but cry. Though at least they'd get in touch through letters. Though if she ever came back home, Neil wouldn't be too far behind.
She got to know the gang so well. Inside and out, but then again she got to know Neil better. She realized he wasn't that bad of a guy. He was actually decent all that time.
If she wasn't so hasty with leaving him and just got to know him, maybe it wouldn't have caused this much strife. Then again, she wouldn't have met Jay, Odie, Herry, Archie, Atlanta, and Theresa. They wouldn't have saved the world together.
And she was going to miss them all.
They were in Belle's family's summer home. Everyone else was inside, eating and drinking. Suez was playing the tsungi horn, but not very well.
Archie wanted to firebend his behind.
Belle looked out into the distance as the sun set.
"Can't stand the music, either?" Neil was behind her.
Belle laughed. "Wanted to save my ears." They both chuckled.
The scenery just fit. The sunset, the lake as the stream flowed, how the grass and the sunlight met. If a painter could just capture it all, it would be an amazing portrait.
Belle broke the silence. "I'm sorry that I left you all behind on the engagement, when I could have just talked with you all."
"And I'm sorry, too. After traveling with everyone else, I realized how I was caught up with everything our class stands for. I only cared about what everyone else thought and my family name, I didn't even consider how you'd feel about everything. I was told that our family was the most important of all in the Earth Kingdom, but seeing the world has opened my eyes."
Seeing the world opened her eyes as well, though deep down, she was glad she did it all with Neil, even if he didn't exactly come with her from the start.
She couldn't stand to be in the same room as him, but now she couldn't imagine what it would be like without him.
She felt her eyes closed as she met his lips. She found Neil's eyes widen, though a small smile was soon on his face.
It was a taste. A sample of what could have been, though she was glad that she did it.
He placed a hand on her face, and began to kiss her back.
It was a big hullabaloo when they got back home to the Earth Kingdom. Belle had to make constant apologizes to Neil's parents and her own parents. She tried to use stopping the evil Warlord Cronus' defeat as a way to smooth everything over, but that made her parents even more worried. Even if the team did win.
She told her parents it was wrong of her to leave without even saying goodbye, though she told them that she got to know Neil a little better. Despite her not being all over the engagement, she told them she just wasn't ready, and maybe getting to know Neil a little better is the best thing for her.
Her parents respected that, though at least Neil was still apart of the plan.
And she did grow to love Neil. Maybe she did love him all that time.
During their travels with the team, he gave her faith when she was at her lowest. They faced Cronus together, and she'd do it all over again with him.
Together, they could face anything.
"I know that us marrying was arranged from the start, but I'm asking you as me, Belle…" He got on one knee and presented a jade engagement ring. "Will you marry me?"
Tears were in her eyes. All that time, she was afraid that she was going to end up marrying someone she didn't love. But now her parents let her choose whom to marry.
They picked each other because they wanted to be together, not because they needed to be together for anyone else.
"Yes… Yes I'll marry you, Neil."
They embraced. When she ran away as a scared sixteen year old, she wanted a different destiny. All that time, Neil was her destiny, a destiny that she could choose.
All that time, she had her freedom.