AU: I just decided to write this first chapter to test out the waters a bit. If you guys like this and would like me to continue please leave a review or PM me. I have a bunch of ideas of how the story will continue and I will be happy to try and write them!
Update: I have tweaked the story a bit because I did some reading up on the FF7 timeline and didn't want Team Avatar to be stuck on Gaia for seven years. So we're diving in right at the beginning of the events of FF7 after the end of Crisis Core. I certainly hope I'm doing this right. Oh well, if the story line sucks at lest there will be some pretty epic fight scenes you can look forward to.
I am also planning on revising the second chapter within the next hours as well so hang tight.
And don't worry. The other members of Team Avatar will join Zuko and Katara in later chapters. Wait till you read about Toph. Boy, do I have some devious ideas for her. *grins like a Cheshire cat*
Enjoy!
REM out.
.oOo.
It was just a simple outing. A simple outing to the forest. So, how did it end up like this? They were stranded in the jungle and the one he loved most was gone.
"Would you snap out of it already?" Aang felt a slap on his shoulder, forcing him to glance at the blind earthbender. "It's not your fault that spirit thingy took Zuko and Katara."
Aang hung his head, "Yes, it is. I am the bridge between the worlds. I should have protected them."
"Well, spirits or not, we're going to get them back; I don't care how many of them I'll have to plow through to do it!" the blind young woman clenched an armored fist as she glared in the direction of their retreating assailants.
"Yeah! No one takes my sister and gets away with it!" Sokka said with his club raised.
Toph pounded her fist into her hand, "I say we hit 'em hard and make them wish they'd never been born."
"No, we can't do that." Aang stood and began to pace, "We can't fight the spirits. That'll only make it worse!"
"Well, what do you expect us to do?" Toph said, "Wait on our butts till they decide to bring them back?"
Sokka raised his hand in thought, "Wait. If the spirits took them to the spirit world then why can't Aang just zoop in grab 'em and shzwing right back out? Like he did me when I got captured by that big panda spirit."
"No, that won't work. The spirit has to willfully let them go, but" he looked up with a hopeful gaze, "I can still try and find out where they are!"
He sat on the ground and crossed his legs. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes before breathing slowly out.
.oOo.
Katara winced at the bright light above her then a shadow came over her face.
"Hey. Are you ok?" a kind voice asked.
She opened her eyes and saw a girl about her age standing over her with light brown hair tied back by a pink bow. When the girl received no answer from Katara, she continued slowly, "Blink if you can hear me." She shifted her head a bit to point at her ear causing Katara to wince at the light once again.
She raised an arm so shield her eyes and used the other to help herself sit up. Once up and no longer facing the sun she could see that she was in a ruin of sorts. "What happened?" she said to herself as she tried to remember if this place was familiar.
"I'm not sure exactly." Katara whipped her gaze back to the girl clad in pink having forgotten she was there. The girl was quick to explain, "I just found you here passed out."
Katara looked down at the ground in confusion. 'What did happen?' she thought. The old team had gotten together again to go to that weird forest swamp but something happened. She barely remembered a bright light and Zuko jumping to protect her from something before everything went blank.
"I... I'm Aerith. I've never seen you around here before. What's your name?"
Katara struggled a bit to her feet and faced the girl with a smile, "I'm Katara, it's nice to meet you."
She smiled back with a nod. The waterbender studied the girl before her. She looked just a few years younger than herself. She was clad in a pink sleeveless dress with her brown hair pulled back and tied into a pink bow, except for her bangs that fell down in her face and around her blue-gray eyes.
And likewise, Aerith looked over Katara, first noting her seemingly glowing blue eyes which matched her blue clothing perfectly. Half her dark brown hair was puled back in a bun leaving the rest to fall down her back in gentle waves. The way her hands were bound with white cloth made Aerith think of a fighter. She wondered if this girl was a warrior but she didn't have any weapons.
"Um." Katara continued as she looked around, "What is this place?"
Aerith snapped out of her thoughts, "It's an old church that got abandoned a while ago. I still come here though, to help the flowers grow." With a smile she gestured to the white and yellow flowers sprouting up where the floorboards had rotted away, "They're beautiful, aren't they?"
Katara knelt down and touched one, "Yeah."
"Do you live around here?"
Katara stood at the question with a smile, "No. I live in the southern water tribe."
"Southern Water Tribe." Aerith thoughtfully said with a finger over her mouth, "I've never heard of it before. Is it a new organization?"
The waterbender deadpanned, "What? You've never heard of the southern water tribe? But... but... it's one of the four nations!"
She chuckled, "Well, I wouldn't know for sure. You see, I've never been out of Midgar."
"Midgar? Where is that?"
"Here." Aerith plainly said.
However Katara just stared at her like she had just grown another head, "I don't know what that is." a sudden flash of a memory came back to her of a metal city, "Or maybe I do? Ugh I don't know!"
Aerith just smiled, "Why don't you come with me for the day and maybe you'll find something to jog your memory."
Katara smiled back, "Are you sure?"
"Positive. You can help me sell my flowers!" she beamed as she took Katara's hand and led her to a small basket full of flowers which she picked up and together they walked out of the old church.
Immediately Katara was stunned by the buildings around her. They were tall and made entirely of metal, reminding her of the prisons of the Fire Nation. Her mind went to a certain earthbender, "Boy wouldn't Toph like this place."
"Who's Toph?" Aerith asked.
"A friend of mine." she smiled, "She's obsessed with dirt."
"Oh. How nice!" Aerith said trying to be polite.
'I know you're lying.' Katara could almost hear Toph say. She sighed. A lot of things had happened since the one hundred year war drew to its close. Zuko got married and Aang proposed to Katara. She helped Aang establish Republic city and Toph became their head of police. They had just barely got everything running when Sokka planned a vacation for them and that's when... this happened.
She shook her head and continued to follow Aerith through the now crowded streets to a square of sorts. Many vendors of different goods were stationed about the place selling this and that, and somewhere around the corner a lively musician played for tips. Aerith set her basket down on the cobblestone and called out to passers by to buy her flowers.
Katara wandered around a little looking at the different vendor's goods and sometimes looking at the other shops around the square. That is, 'till she saw a very familiar face.
.oOo.
Pain.
That was the first thing to come back to him. Everything hurt. Especially his back.
'What happened?' he thought numbly. 'They were in... a swamp? And... Katara was in danger.' A jolt of pain in his back made him remember how he had shielded the unawares waterbender from the spirit's attack.
Zuco groaned as he forced himself to roll over on his side. He pushed up off the ground and using the help of some nearby object to prop himself up on his feet he took the chance to scan his surroundings.
He appeared to be in some back alleyway. None like he had ever seen though. He looked up and could barely see the a rectangle of hazy grey sky between the two massive metal buildings. He brought his gaze down to the alley again and noted the slum like appearance of the road. Trash was everywhere even though there were several cans in which it seemed to have supposedly been kept, he was even leaning on one.
'What is this place?' he thought.
He straightened his back and stretched to try and relieve some of the stress in his muscles but it didn't do very much. He still had his dual blades so, that was a good thing. 'I guess.' he mused.
'Wait.' his head shot up, 'Where is everyone?' "Aang? Katara?" he yelled down the alleyway, "Sokka?" Then at the possible outrage of Toph he quickly called her name as well, but there was no answer. Only a rat scurried away at the sudden noise.
Then an ear piercing scream split the air and made him start before running towards the sound.
"No! Let me go! Someone help me!" a woman's cry came clear as day to his ears as he dashed around the corner.
Three men were holding a woman captive obviously trying to rob her but, he assumed, they didn't expect her to scream.
Not noticing Zuko approach, the men were completely caught off guard when he gave one a round house kick to the face, knocking him to the ground unconscious.
The other two backed up and let go of the woman out of reflex before rushing the firebender. One picked up a fallen pipe and the other readied his fists.
Zuko dodged the pipe going straight into the other man's fist, but he quickly reacted and caught the man's wrist and upper arm in his hands and using the momentum behind it, he flung the man back into the wall.
Turning back to the last man standing he noted that he not only had a pipe but had also drawn a knife as well. To this, the Fire lord quickly reached back and drew his dual blades. The man's eyes widened as he looked between Zuko's swords and his two already beaten comrades, before he dropped the pipe and retreated.
Zuko quickly sheathed his swords and turned to the hiding woman, "Are you alright?"
She nodded her head, "Yes. Thank you." She shifted nervously, "I uh... have to get home."
"Do you need me to accompany you?" he asked politely. She shook her head, "No, I'll be fine. Thank you." He nodded and she began to walk but paused, then shaking her head, she hurried away.
He sighed once she was out of sight.
"Not too bad."
He whipped around at the voice, his hand reaching for his swords. The scarlet haired man standing behind him raised his hands, "Hey chill! I'm not as stupid as they were."
"Who are you?" Zuko asked as he let his hand fall to his side.
The redhead scratched the back of his head with a chuckle, "Well, that's something I don't hear often."
Zuko narrowed his eyes at the man. He was dressed in some sort of black tunic with a pure white shirt underneath and black pants. All of which were incredibly wrinkly and worn. Even his black shoes clearly showed signs of severe neglect. At first glance the man seemed easygoing and innocent, but something about him was... off. The appearance is easily masked but the emotion of eyes is impossible to fake, and Zuko could see the countless souls he had taken haunting the man's eyes.
The man grinned making the combination of his hair, the goggles he wore, and his goofy look all the more odd, "That name's Reno. And uh you are...?" he gestured to the firebender expectantly.
"Zuko." he replied curtly.
"Ah! Zuko. An odd name, but who am I to judge?" he then looked apologetic, "Sorry I didn't lend a hand. Looked like you had 'em pretty under control. But why don't I make it up to you and buy you a drink? You look like you could use one."
Zuko agreed, deciding to play it cool till he could figure out what the heck was going on and where his friends were located.
"So do you live around here?" Reno asked as he swaggered down the road.
"No. I'm visiting." which wasn't entirely a lie.
The turk nodded, "Anyone in particular? Girlfriend? Work?"
"Just passing through." Zuko felt the calculating stare of the man on his features for a moment before they kept walking in silence until he road opened up into a square of sorts with many many vendors selling their goods to customers and passersby.
Zuko was casually scanning the crowd when he spotted a familiar blue tunic. Katara! He almost called out to her but remembered his company. There was no way he was going to let Reno know about her. Not until he knew more about the shady man at least.
"Hey listen. Something just came up. I have to go." Zuko nervously rubbed the back of his head.
The man narrowed his eyes at him before the flicked away for a second alarmingly in Katara's direction before he smiled, "Alright. But hit me up sometime and I'll get you that drink, yo." he turned away but stopped, "And another thing..." he looked back at the firebender with a smirk, "I like you so... If you ever need a job, just go to the Shinra Building and tell 'em ol' Reno sent yah." he walked away with a wave over his shoulder, "Later."
'What an odd man.' Zuko thought as Reno turned the corner. Then as soon as he was out of sight, Zuko rushed to where Katara was currently looking at fruit, or what looked like fruit.
"Katara!" he called.
She turned and smiled, "Zuko! Oh am I glad to see you!"
"Likewise. This place is strange."
"Yeah." she agreed while giving the surroundings a suspicious glance, "How did we get here?"
Zuko sighed, "I think... a spirit brought us here, but I'm not sure. It's all foggy. But I have a feeling; we need to stay undercover here."
She tilted her head, "Why?"
Zuko lowered his voice, "I was just holding the company of a man who did not seem like the friendliest type, and I feel like there are several other people like him."
She nodded, "Then... what are we going to do?"
He sighed, "I don't know."
"Katara." both heads turned to Aerith and she smiled, "Is this one of your friends?"
"Yes, this is Zuko." she easily answered.
"Nice to meet you! I'm Aerith."
Zuko bowed a bit, "A pleasure." He was then going to ask them how they met but a voice cut him off.
"There he is! That's him!"
The woman he had saved was leading a small crowd to where they were standing. She pointed at him, "He's the one that saved me."
'Well,' he thought, 'so much for being undercover.'
.oOo.
"Did you find anything out?"
"Nothing of interest." the redheaded Turk said from his lounging position in front of a fairly large desk.
Tseng hummed, "That doesn't make any sense. Hojo said his radar picked up huge traces of Jenova in that area."
"Could have just been one of the firsts."
"Reno, you know as well as I do that those signals were way to large to be them. Look at how destructive the firsts can be so imagine what big of a threat this thing is. The sooner we get it contained the sooner we can relax."
"Yeah yeah I know." he sat in silence for a moment before speaking to himself, "I did meet a new guy today. Fought off three men twice his size without breaking a sweat. But there's no way he had Jenova in his blood. Didn't have blue eyes." he tapped his temple. "He did have a huge scar over his left eye. Looked like someone blasted him with Fire Materia."
"Interesting... Could he be infused with Mako?"
Reno kicked his feet up on the boss' desk, "Nah. Too scrawny for that. He kinda has the physique of a Turk now that I think about it. May be why I like him so much."
"Well, whatever the case, you're going back out tomorrow and go undercover. Wherever this thing is hiding is not going to be easily figured out when you can be seen from a mile away."
Reno chuckled, "In other words, ditch the hair and be a normal person." He put his feet on the ground and stood, leisurely walking to the door, "You got it boss."
