Hellooooooo friendship! So, this story started out as an idea. Basically, one day, I thought: what if my eyes could change color with my emotions? Then I'd never be able to hide how I felt to anyone. It evolved from this idea into an Avatar fanfic (the show not the movie) and has now blossomed into my own persona story that wrote. The first of many. So read/comment/like because there's A LOT more to come! xo

~Prologue~

I wish I knew death.

How easily it would embrace me as I flung myself from a ledge overlooking the reckless waves of the ocean or a window high above the pavement. I wanted my death to be quick, fleeting.

But death does not come so easily when you are trapped in a cage while expressionless faces poke and prod you with different liquids in different needles with different ways of keeping you from deteriorating. As the days turn to weeks, the weeks to months, I am slowly losing faith that I will ever want death as much as I used to. Something's changed. Something's different.

It's because of him, that I stay alive.

The shadows were back.

I staggered blindly through the brush of the forest, my breathing erratic and shallow. My lungs burned and my legs ached, but I pushed forward. If I wasn't quick enough, they'd catch me and drag me to God knows where. The full moon bathed everything in an iridescent glow, making every outline of the leaf-stripped trees limbs look pointy and dangerous. Breathe, I told myself, but I still sucked air in my mouth a little too quickly. Pretty soon, I'd start hyperventilating. I glanced behind me to the shadows slithering around the base of trees like snakes, wrapping around branches. They were getting closer. I whipped my head back around.

And smacked into something solid and warm.

Terrified, I jumped backwards. The person- the boy- towered above me. His face was cast in the shadow of a tree. The only thing I could make out was the contours of his muscled arm as he reached for me, his hand open for mine. I glanced back, seeing the shadows slithering closer and closer. I took his hand. He ran, practically dragging me behind him. We burst through bushes into a clearing. It was a good five yards to the other side. I wiped the sweat from my brow.

"What now?" I asked him.

"Powers. Use your powers." He said breathlessly. I shook my head. I was forbidden to. My powers were a curse that only brought about destruction and death. I could kill him and myself without even meaning to.

"You have to Luna. Do it!"

"You know my name?" I stared at the darkness that shrouded where I imagined his eyes were.

The stranger nodded and looked over my shoulder. "Luna, they're coming! Do it!" He repeated, frantic.

Heat engulfed my entire body until I thought I would combust into flames. I flung my hand out in front of me, sending a burst of white light to the ground where the shadows were. The blast sent them scattering in every direction. I smiled, triumphant until exhaustion over took my body.

And I blacked out.

Chapter One

The only thing I saw that night was fire.

And snow.

Houses on fire. Cars with people locked inside on fire.

Everything was heat and bright orange flames, cold and frost.

I was only eight years old when they captured me. Soldiers in navy blue uniforms with rifles pressed against their chests marched alongside tanks that roared down our quiet street. My mother found me by my bedroom window, as I watched the soldiers kick our neighbors' door in, and drag a girl my age to a white van. The girl's mother begged and pleaded with them to spare her, racing toward the van to pry her little girl from their gloved grasp. I looked away when one of them pressed their gun to her head and fired. I knew what this was. My brother said it was known as "the Calling" and if I wanted to avoid it, I'd have to keep a low profile. To not make them think I was anything special. He told me not to do anything to attract unwanted attention. So that's what I did.

Or so I thought.

"Hurry Luna!" My mother shouted, grabbing my hand and pulling me down the hall. She rushed my brother, sister and I into a broom closet and told us not to make a sound. She had just shut the door behind her when the crash of boots kicking our front door open thundered in my eardrums. I heard my mother's voice, panicked say "They aren't here! They aren't here!" Cassie cowered closer to me, whimpering. I covered her mouth with my hand, keeping my eyes on the closet door as footsteps got closer and closer. For a split second, everything was quiet and I let myself believe it was over.

Then the door swung open.

And I was taken.