Chapter One. Late Night Meetings.

Aang rubbed the back of his head already feeling ashamed of being late for the twenty-second consecutive year. He pushed open the heavy glass doors that opened into a marble-floored entry way.

"Aang, wait up!" Sokka's voice rang through the empty room.

The Avatar stopped reluctantly. "What do you need, Sokka? I'm in a bit of a hurry to be home." Urgency jutted from the words in a low growl as he tried to keep cool. A last minute meeting over policy change in punishment for bloodbending had been brought up. Aang was forced to sit in on the impromptu meeting that happened to take place on his anniversary.

"What do you want me to say to end the meeting?" Sokka tugged on his pony tail. "I'm so sorry we kept you late. I am happy that you were here." The Councilman lowered his voice as if the walls had ears, "I thought it was interesting the bloodbending legislation was brought up thirty days before election time. I think we should keep an eye on that Eugene guy."

Aang's brow furrowed. "That is very odd, yes. But Sokka, you have to understand that I need to get home. Katara has been expecting me. It's a wonder she hasn't left me after thirty-two years of not being on time for our anniversary dinner." Legislation was the last thing on his mind. He twirled his glider to make it unfold. His grey eyes shot one last warning at Sokka.

"Okay, we'll talk about it later. Have fun. Make good choices." With a sigh, Sokka turned on his heels and headed back to the meeting room where Eugene and the other members of the Council still sat in waiting.

Somewhat relieved, Aang took off on his glider and headed for home. The island seemed forever out of reach as he flew over the city. Work was never done and was never convenient for his marriage to Katara. He was thankful she was understanding of the whole situation. Or at least most times she made an effort to understand.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, he whispered a prayer for himself. Without taking a last look at the moon over the bay, he reached to open the door but found that it had been left slightly open.

Worry began to wash over him. She never left the door open at night.

"Katara?" He called out as he stepped into the house. The entry way and living room were dark, but there was a small light left on in the kitchen. Aang called her name again with more worry seeping into his voice. He hoped she was just ignoring him. He leaned his glider against the wall and quietly walked through the two empty rooms.

He turned the corner to enter the kitchen, "Sweetie, I'm sorry. I-" He stopped his explanation as soon as he realized she wasn't there. It wasn't in the condition she always had it in either. A pan sat on the stovetop, dishwater was left in the sink, and a rag was left on the floor. He guessed that she started to prepare dinner for herself when their plans to go out obviously fell through.

Still, this wasn't like Katara.

The place was so quiet that Aang wondered if she was outside. She sometimes liked to sit on the balcony outside of their bedroom when she needed peace. Their room faced towards the open ocean instead of the city. Katara mentioned that she loved to look at the horizon because that's where the ocean kissed the sky. It was a metaphor for them.

"Katara," Aang called just before opening their bedroom door. The dress she had picked for the evening hung by her mirrored vanity. It was one of his favorites known as "the purple one." With a sigh, he walked over and touched the fabric.

The night would have been absolutely beautiful. They planned to go to the fanciest restaurant and then leave for an entire week to Ember Island. Sokka was the only one that knew about the Ember Island part. The couple wanted to disappear to have some privacy for just five days.

Maybe she'd left without him.

A folded piece of paper sitting on the vanity caught his attention. He held his breath. It was probably going to be her beautiful handwriting telling him she needed to get away for a while. Aang unfolded the paper at a dreadfully slow rate to delay the aching in his heart.

The words on the page revealed something much worse.

Katara's eyes fluttered open from a dreamless sleep. The sound of her heart beating thudded in her ears. Everything spun slowly. Her head rested on damp cement. Her hands were bound behind her back and her feet were tied together with rough rope.

As the memory of how she'd gotten to this spot flooded her, her lungs fought for every breath she took.

"Okay, okay. Don't panic. First question, where are you?" She said quietly to herself.

The room was dark except for the small amount of light streaming in from a window on the door. It illuminated the space enough to see that it was no bigger than a storage closet. No other details could be seen.

Katara maneuvered herself to a somewhat sitting position. "Second question, can you bend?" She twirled her fingers behind her in attempt to bend water from the air. Nothing happened. "Dammit." The news was out that some criminals had figured out the drug police used to block bending; obviously the men who kidnapped her figured out the formula. "Looks like it's plan B."

She scooted across the floor looking for anything that could cut the ropes.

Before she could get very far, the door opened and a bare light bulb was powered on. "Ah, you're awake. How nice." A coy male voice drifted on the air.

"Yakone." Katara growled through her clenched jaw.

Towering above her, Yakone took a cigarette and lighter from his vest pocket. "You know, you're much prettier in person." He tapped the cigarette on his wrist and lit it. "I really like the idea of you tied up." Finally, he took a long drag on the cigarette and stepped towards her.

"You're disgusting." Katara spat, trying to kick herself away from him.

He knelt down to look her in the face and exhaled the smoke. "Am I?" He smirked. "You know, I think I'm a genius. For years I have slaved over ideas for how to get rid of the Avatar. Killing him would only land myself in jail and cause the people to rally against gangs. Kidnapping him, too dangerous. It'd be me six feet under. Then one day, I saw you on the cover of one of those annoying magazines for teenaged girls and thought, 'that's it. To make the Avatar surrender Republic City to me, I have to take what he loves most.' Tell me I'm a genius."

She felt tears burn her eyes with hatred for him. "You're going to be dead when I get out of this! Or worse! If Aang gets to you."

Yakone stood and laughed. "Ah yes, your dear husband that stood you up for another meeting. My apologies, princess, but if he has any smarts, he'll just give me what I want. If not, well, I've got some pretty awful things planned for you."

"You're forgetting who you're talking to."

"And I think you've forgotten who is in control at this moment." Yakone took a final drag from the cigarette and thrust it into Katara's neck. She let out a wild cry in pain. "Face it, princess, you're mine now. Soon, the whole city will be too."

Hi there, I'm Elphie... This is my first story on , but this is not my first fan fiction ever. I started writing fan fiction for ATLA six years ago. I posted things to ...oh those were the days. Then I moved to wattpad, and now I finally feel like I could possibly, maybe be good enough for this site. I view it as the major leagues and I am excited and nervous all at the same time. There are so many wonderful writers on here and I envy them all. Anyway, thanks for stopping by! ~Elphie

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Avatar: The Last Airbender.