I do not own any part of the characters of Avatar: The Last Airbender. I got the story idea from Another brother by AvacadoLove.

Far Away

Chapter One: Taken

The war had ravaged the nations for nearly a hundred years. The Fire Nation attacked everyone, destroyed everything, and killed everyone. No one saw it coming, the nations lived together in peace, but when the Fire Nation decided to end that peace, everyone was affected. Even the small Southern Water Tribe had felt the hardship of war placed on their shoulders.

Their people were killed and their benders were taken. There was only one bender in the entire Southern Water Tribe left. The chief did all he could to protect that one last bender, not for the sake of war, but because that one last waterbender was his daughter, Katara.

The five-year-old was too young to remember even seeing a bender bend, but she learned on her own. She could even use what little bending she knew to gain an advantage while playing in the snow with her brother.

She used her bending to throw snow at her six-year-old brother, Sokka, as they fought in the snow. They laughed and they played as only children could do. Neither of them even thought about the war or the Fire Nation. All they cared about was dumping snow on their sibling.

That is, until they saw it. All of their lives they had been warned about black snow. That if they saw it, they were to hide and not come out until they knew it to be safe, but when they actually saw it, reality came crashing down on them.

They turned to each other with frightened gazes before Katara spoke. "I'm going to go find mom."

Sokka nodded and she turned and ran. Her mother had been sick for the past few mornings and had gone to see her grandmother.

'Grangran could always make it feel better.' Kya, Katara's mother, had told Katara after Katara had gotten sick.

Katara raced for her grandmother's tent and threw open the flap before rushing inside, panting and gasping for breath. She looked up and was disappointed at only finding her grandmother in the tent and turned to leave before she felt a warm hand grab her arm.

"Why are you in such a hurry, Katara?" The old woman asked with a smile.

Katara answered quickly. "Black snow. I need to find mom."

Katara's grandmother gasped. "Why don't you stay here." she said as her hand tightened around Katara's arm. "Your mother will be fine."

"No!" Katara shouted as she wrenched her arm from her grandmother's grasp. She ran back out into the snow before the woman could grab her arm again.

She raced toward her family tent with a renewed vigor. She had something telling her, urging her to find her mother. As she ran, she saw flashes of blue and red. Fire Nation soldiers and Water Tribe warriors.

She saw as her brother threw a ball of snow at the helmet of a Fire Nation soldier from his hiding place. She felt an urge to join him, but she knew she had to make sure her mother was alright before she could.

As she reached the tent she drew back the flap and was shocked when two heads turned in her direction. One was the frightened gaze of her mother mouthing at her to run. The other was the hard glare of a tall frightening Fire Nation soldier.

The soldier sneered at her. "Run along little girl, this doesn't concern you."

He mother nodded vigorously. "Go find your father, Katara."

Katara found herself nodding and turned to leave until she heard the next thing the soldier said. "Now I'll only ask you one more time, who is the last waterbender."

Katara's eyes widened and she held her breath in anticipation of her mother's answer.

Kya sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you." Katara bit back a gasp of surprise that her mother would sell her off until she heard the next sentence.

"I am the last waterbender." Kya said, absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. "Take me as your prisoner."

The Fire Nation soldier laughed darkly. "I'm afraid we won't be taking any prisoners today." He raised his fist as if to strike Kya and Katara watched in an amazed horror as the soldier's fist was engulfed in flames. He pulled his fist back to strike, before a small pile of snow was bent onto his hand with a loud sizzle.

He stared at Kya with wide, frightened eyes. "How did you do that without moving?"

Kya wasn't looking at the soldier, though; she was staring in horror at her small daughter who realized suddenly what she had just done.

The soldier looked in the direction Kya was staring and saw Katara. "You little liar!" he shouted as he turned back too Kya. Before Katara could react, the soldier lashed out a line of fire that hit Kya like a slap across the face. She fell to the floor cradling her face as blood seeped through her fingers.

The soldier then turned back to Katara. He had a displeased look on his face as he sneered down at her. "It would be dishonorable to kill a child so young." He said. "I'll take you to the Fire Lord and he will decide what to do with you."

Katara, who had dropped down to the floor to help her mother, was snatched up by the hood of her parka, and slung over the soldier's shoulder. "Come nice and calm please little girl. I don't want any trouble.

Katara let out a terrified scream as the soldier carried her out of the tent and into the open air. She kicked her feet and punched at the soldier's back but only heard a slow chuckle from the let out another scream and heard familiar shouts coming from around her.

"Katara!" she heard her father yell and she looked up to see him running towards her and the soldier. "Hold on! I'll be there in a second!" She watched as he tried to make his way through the sea of red to no avail. She gave one last scream before she lost sight of him.

She heard the solder grunt and felt him stagger under her suddenly. She looked down to see her brother attacking the soldier's knees with his boomerang and his small fist. "Let go of my sister!" Sokka shouted.

The soldier gave a small kick at Sokka that sent him tumbling to the snow. "Nice try little boy. Maybe when you're older." The soldier continued his trek to the ship that had crashed through the ice surrounding their village.

"Men," The soldier carrying her bellowed. "Back to the ship!" He mounted the ramp that led up the ship before they disappeared into the dark tunnel. Katara heard heavy footsteps behind her and watched as the benders lit balls of flame in the palm of their hands. She heard and felt the loud clang of the hatch closing and heard the muffled cries from the familiar voices coming from outside the ship.

Katara started struggling anew and managed to wriggle out of the soldier's grasp long enough to drop to the floor and rush back down the path. It wasn't long before she was caught by one of the soldiers following closely behind. Katara let out a screamed, "Daddy!" Before a hand was clamped over her mouth.

"I'm afraid shouting is useless at this point, little girl." The soldier who had taken her said. "It would be to your benefit if you would cooperate."

Katara felt her lip tremble as the reality of what was happening set in. She was going to die. She would never see Sokka, or her Mother and Father, or her home again. She felt the warm tears slip down her face and land on the soldier's hand that was still clamped firmly on her mouth.

"Uhgh" He pulled his hand back in disgust. "You there," he said pointing to a young soldier directly behind Katara. "Take her down to the store room and see that she is watered and fed. I don't want to hear so much as a whimper out of her this whole trip. Do you understand?"

The young soldier saluted. "Yes sir." He grabbed a hold of Katara's arm and started to lead her along, but she stayed firmly planted, silently sobbing into her hands. The soldier hoisted her up into his arms and started down the hall. When they were out of earshot of the other soldiers, Katara heard the soldier whisper into her ear. "It'll be okay. I won't hurt you."

Katara lifted her head from where it had been on the soldier's shoulder and sniffled. "I want my mommy." She said before burying her head back into his shoulder.

"Shhh. It'll be okay." He said as he stroked her hair. "My name is Sakari, what is yours?"

"K-katara." She said in between sniffles.

"How old are you Katara?" Sakari asked.

Katara looked up again. "I'm five." She bit her lip. "How old are you Sak-Sakir-Sari-"

The soldier smiled. "Just call me Saka." He said, "I'm seventeen. I'll be eighteen soon."

Katara frowned. "I can't call you Saka."

Sakari cocked his head at Katara and smirked. "And why can't you call me Saka? It's easy to say."

Katara shook her head. "No, I can say it, but Sokka was my brother and so I can't call you my brother's name." Katara started to tear up again. "I guess I could call you Saka, since I won't see my brother again.

Sakari's smirk instantly dropped as he felt Katara burrow her head into his shoulder again. "You know Katara, I have a sister that is the same age as you." He said. "She had only just turned five when I became a soldier. You would have liked her." He sighed. "She is a bender just like you."

Katara furrowed her brow. "She's a water bender?"

Sakari smiled. "No, she's a fire bender. She is only just learning how to fire bend, but she'll be a great master one day."

Sakari stopped talking as he stopped walking. He set Katara on the ground as he opened a heavy metal door. "This is where you'll be staying." He said. "I'll bring you something to sleep on as soon as I can, but right now I have to get back to work."

He ushered Katara through the doorway before the large door slammed shut.

Katara listened as his muffled footsteps grew quieter and quieter, until they disappeared completely.

As soon as she couldn't hear his footsteps anymore, she sat down on the floor and curled up before laying her head on her knees and sobbing.

(¯`'•.¸* ~Southern Water Tribe~ *¸. •'´¯)

Hakoda dropped to his knees as he watched the metal Fire Nation ship get smaller and smaller off the horizon. He knew any attempt to rescue her would be in vain, no canoe could outrun a warship, and he didn't want to lose anyone else in a futile rescue attempt.

He felt a hand drop onto his shoulder and he looked up into the face of Bato. "It'll be okay, Hakoda. She will be okay." Hakoda wasn't convinced. Who knew what those Fire Nation dogs were doing to his daughter. He would get them one day.

"Dad?" he heard a small voice at his side and turned to see a teary-eyed Sokka at his side. "We're going after them right?"

Hakoda sighed. "Sokka it's not that easy . We can't risk more men on a useless rescue attempt."

"No!" shouted Sokka. "It's my fault she was taken. I should have just stayed with her, instead of letting her go alone to find mom."

Hakoda shook his head. "Sokka, if anyone is to blame, it-" The color drained from his face. "Kya." He breathed before running for his tent.

When he got there, he threw open the entrance and instantly smelt the stench of burned flesh. He stared in horror at the still form of his wife on the ground, but he breathed a sigh of relief as she moaned and twitched her hand.

He dropped down to her side and pulled her head into his lap. He lightly touched the burn that trailed from her jaw, to her temple, before she stirred. "Hak-Hakoda, did you stop them? You s-saved her right?" she asked.

Hakoda bowed his head in shame. "They took her. I tried to stop them, but there were too many. I should have been able to stop them, but I just couldn't. "

"No." Kya said. "No. They can't have taken her. Today was supposed to be a happy day. I had good news and this wasn't supposed to happen." She felt her tears start to sting her burn, but she wasn't worried about that right now. "It was supposed to be a happy day."

Hakoda furrowed his brow. "You keep saying that today was supposed to be happy." He started. "What good news did you have?"

She looked up into his eyes. "You know how I've been getting sick the last couple mornings?" Hakoda nodded and she continued. "I went to see Kanna this morning and...I'm pregnant. I'm going to have another baby."

Hakoda paused for a second before opening his mouth to speak, before he was cut off.

"You're having another baby to replace Katara?" Sokka asked as stood in the entrance to the tent. "You're horrible. I hate you both!" Sokka yelled before running off.

Hakoda moved to get up and chase after Sokka, but stopped when he heard Bato's voice outside consoling Sokka.

Hakoda looked down at Kya's charred face before picking her up into his arms. "Let's take you to Kanna." He said as he exited the tent.

Kya looked up at Hakoda one last time before breathing out. "I just hope it's not another bender."