Author's Note: I hereby present my first fanfiction. It's a collaboration between myself and a fellow artist. As such, the writing style may not always be homogeneous. I claim none of the characters except my OC. Feel free to comment with reviews. Feedback is greatly appreciated.

Prologue

Nerio caught his breath, willing the blood to rush to his legs to reduce the aching. Two hours since his sandwich of a snack, his stomach growled. Food, however, is a luxury he couldn't afford, and not just because he'd left his coin pouch at the warehouse.

Nerio found a tempting shadow by a streetlamp off the side of the road. Crossing his legs on the ground, leaning against the post, Nerio fished a square piece of paper from his pocket. In the faded-out photo were four people besides him: Gramp Sokka, Gran Suki, and his parents.

"Smile, Nerio," his father had told him, making an example of himself. That had been one piece of evidence that his father had once smiled.

Nerio knew that things would never be the same again. His father had to ruin everything. I wish I could've done something, Nerio thought. A single tear escaped his eyes.

"You there!" a voice shouted in his direction.

Nerio slipped the photo into his pocket, stood, and put on his mask, knowing full well whose voice it was. His father had introduced them the first day on the job, when Nerio was caught the first time. Approaching Nerio were two Equalist soldiers holding charged rods of electricity like mantis stingers. Nerio turned and quietly walked away, as if he wasn't anything they'd be interested in.

"Ah!" Nerio collapsed as a hundred megavolts ran down his spine. He staggered back to his feet, hoping he wouldn't have to prove to them who he was, that he was the one they've been looking for. Likely, the one they've been hunting for.

"I don't want any trouble," Nerio said through the pain in his back, reaching for his mask.

The Equalists laughed. "So why don't you just come with us?" one of them said. "It'd be far less painful for you. Who are we but good Samaritans returning a lost boy to his worried father?" He approached Nerio with another charged rod; his friend had tucked his rods behind his back and charged his glove, arching with blue lightning, planning to have twerp for dinner.

The moon shone above him, bright and full. Nerio was in too much pain to fight but always hated the shortcut. His great aunt's words echoed in his mind: When you're a waterbender in a strange land, you do what you must to survive. Nerio hated his heritage, always thought of this power as a curse. Now, he had to carry on the legacy, whether he wanted to or not.

The full moon reminded him that, try as he must, there was no alternative.

Straightening his back, Nerio allowed the full moon to fill him with the energy he needed. Taking it as a sign that he'd given up, the Equalists came closer, but as Nerio raised his arm, the soldiers froze in place. A tear rolled down his face as he regretted what will happen next. But he needed to survive. His arms flowed as he bent their limbs – the water flowing within them – behind their backs. "Forgive me," he told them, with the tone that his father had told him after Nerio saw his mother's body at his father's feet. Bringing his arms closer, Nerio sent the soldiers flying toward each other, the collision smashing their skulls. Nerio lowered his arms, and the Equalists landed on the sidewalk with a thud, blood gushing from their cracked skulls, draining into the manhole cover.

Nerio gasped, staring in horror at the two men he killed, men who had families and were only doing their job. He glanced at the moon, cursing it for inspiring and powering the accursed talent he and his kind possess. If I ever waterbend again, it'll be too easy to slip up. Nerio slipped on the glove. This'll have to do until the danger passes, until the full moon diminishes to Yue's smile, he thought, knowing the glove wouldn't be enough in the war against the monster, the lord of blood.

Equalists were crawling in his city, living in the shadows. If he has any hope eliminating the source, he'll need help. Nerio can train himself with the lightning glove to avoid waterbending for the time being but being a one-man army was as suicidal as being his father's son. I could get some friends; they just can't know my secrets. For their sake. Stepping over the bodies, Nerio blended into the shadows, running to find comfort away from the blood bath.