Hey guys! It's Amber here! SO SORRY it took so long to update this. But alas, school is a cruel mistress. This story was all thought up by Little Miss Thalia Grace. She is awesome! The plot and first 2 chapters all belong to her. To all the people affected by Hurricane Sandy, we will keep you in our thoughts and prayers. These are the first 2 chapters of this story, and I PROMISE I will be updating soon! Okay! To the story...
"Mom? mom? MOM!?" a little girl of only six years of age came hurdling through the cloth that was used as the front door in the little hut. She looked around frantically and saw them. A tall man in scary black and red armor was hovering over a middle aged woman with fear and panic in her eyes.
The woman was the girl's mother.
The girl had no clue who the scary looking man was.
"There she is! That's the Water bender!" The girl's mother cried, no hint of regret for selling her daughter out. "That's her! Take her as your prisoner!"
The man looked at the little girl evilly. "Come on you!" he grabbed the little Water bender with so much force she stumbled a bit before regaining her balance. She didn't understand what was going on. What's with the black snow? What's this man doing? I don't like this man. At all. She thought/concluded. He dragged her through the village, as everyone watched, but none daring to try and stop the man. Another man, not as tall as the scary one but tall enough, had just thrown one of the Fire Nation soldiers into a snow bank and had looked up and saw the man and the girl.
"Katara!" the man cried, running over with his weapon drawn, aiming straight for the taller man.
"Out of my way you peasant!" the man snarled. They were only a few steps away from the ship.
"GET AWAY FROM MY DAUGHTER!" The girl's father roared his fury evident in his voice. He charged at the man who was still holding a death grip on the girl's, Katara's, arm. The man bent a stream of flames at the girl's father.
"DAD!" Katara cried, tears streaming down her face. The man was pulling on her arm again, but she ignored it. She stared her father's collapsed figure a few seconds longer, before she was being pulled away onto the ship.
The man turned to her. "Well little Lady," the grin on his face was twisted and psychotic, and it made Katara sick. "My name is Yon Ra. Looks like you're my prisoner now."
The ships ramp closed up on them, and Katara took a look at what would be her last glimpse of sunlight in a long, long time.
Somewhere on the other side of the South Pole, a young boy of seven saw the entire thing, and swore to himself he would do everything in his power to avenge his sisters capture.
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The now eleven year old Katara sat in her prison cell, replaying the day for what seemed the thousandth time. It probably was. Over the years, the memory had faded out. She tried to remember the faces of the people, but found she couldn't. She could only remember one face. That damned Yon Ra. She heard he retired, and that he now lives with his mother. He was pathetic. She hoped his mother was cold-hearted and didn't care about anyone but herself. Like her mother.
"No, don't think about that" she chided herself quietly. The guards would burst in there if they heard any noise. She felt betrayed. Betrayed by her tribe. Betrayed by her mother. Betrayed by her. Betrayed by her for not fighting back, betrayed by her tribe for standing there and watching her be dragged away. Betrayed by her mother for selling her out, a defenseless little girl; her daughter no less.
Katara leaned her head back against the bars and closed her eyes. As the afternoon shifted to night she could feel it. Even through the rusty, damp ceiling that was above her head, she could feel the power, coursing through her veins. She could feel the moons power growing stronger. In a couple of days it would be full.
She had a plan, of course. As she could remember her father reciting one of his famous quotes: "There's no prison, place, or thing in the world that can hold a Water Tribe genius." She wouldn't necessarily rank herself up to genius, but she was pretty damn clever, thank you very much.
She had figured out a couple years prior that the air was moist. Moisture meant water. Water meant bending. Bending meant escape from her personal little hell. As soon as she found this out, whenever the guards were outside the room and not feeding her or chaining her arms and legs just so she could have a drink, she would practice. She came up with some new moves, taught herself how to make ice with the water and how to use it to defend herself against Fire benders. The only reason she wasn't practicing now was because she was saving her energy for the full moon, on which, she would strike, when her power was at its peak.
She slowly opened her eyes and took a deep breath. She really was bored out of her mind. Her out-of-boredom mind suddenly went back to a lullaby a female guard taught her years ago. Most of the guards kept her entertained with stories of their children's baby days, or sang to her. These were the ones that thought that imprisoning a child was horrible, so they tried to make the experience a bit more enjoyable. It worked a bit, but there was still the whole eating-disgusting-prison-food-thing and the whole chain-her-arms-and-legs-while-she-drinks-water-out-of-a-bowl-like-a-polarbear-dog-thing.
She recalled the lyrics and lay down on the hard prison floor. She hummed it first, then sang out the lyrics softly so the guards wouldn't hear.
She sits in her corner
Singing herself to sleep
Wrapped in all of the promises
That none seems to keep
She no longer cries to herself
No tears left to wash away
Just diaries of empty pages
Feelings gone astray
But she will sing…
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"Father! I meant no disrespect! It is me, your loyal and trustworthy son!" the young thirteen year old prince cried, cowering at his father's feet.
"Stand up and fight! Stop being a coward!" his father advanced on him menacingly.
"F-father…I w-will n-not fight y-you!" most people in the audience felt a rush of sympathy towards the young prince. The others felt regret as they knew the Fire lord would not even spare his own kid.
"Zuko, you have disrespected me in a room full of my best men, and now you humiliate me in front of this crowd. You will be punished." His voice was sharp. Zuko shakily looked up and into his father's eyes, so much like his own, and realized something. His father was crazy, twisted, and evil. He would hurt his own child for something as stupid as speaking out about a plan. Even the plan itself, it was pure evil.
"No." his voice was stronger, more determined. "No, I will not fight you, Oazi." This was his way of rebelling. His way of fighting back. His father wants him to fight, he won't fight. He won't be some puppet on a string Oazi controls. Not anymore. And there's the fact he called him his real name instead of 'Father' or 'Fire Lord', and that was something he was pretty sure his mother didn't even do.
"Have you no respect boy?! Well, then I guess I have to show it to you." Last thing he saw was a flaming fist, heading towards his left eye.
When he awoke, he was in the Palace infirmary, a place he's been to way to many times having Azula for a sister. He tried to remember what happened, and it all came crashing down on him. He sat up surprisingly easily, and realized it was only his face that was injured. This was very weird, considering it didn't hurt at all. The healer walked in and looked very surprised to see the prince awake, much less sitting up and looking cheerful.
"Hello Zuko." She said in a monotone all Fire nation nobles seemed to have.
"Hi." He smiled at her. "So what's the damage? It can't be that bad considering it doesn't hurt at all." He said brightly. The Healers lip twitched at the boys' enthusiasm
"Actually," her voice was soft now, unlike the business tone she used before. "it doesn't hurt at all because all the nerves were burned off on the left side of your head."
"Oh." Was his only answer. The healer gave him a sympathetic look. She was about to say something when there was a knock on the door. The healer gave an annoyed sigh as she went over to the door. She opened it and found a small servant girl.
"Yes?" she asked, obviously agitated.
"i-I have a message f-for prince Z-zuko. It's f-from the f-fire lord p-personally." She stuttered, obviously intimidated by the healer.
"I'll give it to him, thank you very much." She snapped, as she snatched the note from the poor girls' hands.
"Y-yes ma'am." She bowed then turned to go back to wherever the servants go.
The healer turned, marched over, and shoved the note into Zuko's hand. He looked at her quizzically and she said "from daddy dearest." and left.
Zuko opened the note rather reluctantly and read. It said;
Zuko-
As soon as you wake up LEAVE! I am banishing you and taking away your honor. Yes, I can do that. The only way you can get it back is by capturing the avatar and bringing him to me. Your blasted Uncle is going with you and is probably outside the infirmary right now.
-Oazi
Wow. That was the only thing going on in his mind. He suddenly smiled. This was great! He thought, Now not only can I get away from here, but I can do it with uncle too! He jumped out of the bed and practically ran out of the infirmary. His father wanted him to capture the Avatar, but he didn't want to. Why would he capture the last hope he had of getting rid of his father. Unless… That's it! He would join the Avatar. And while he was doing that, maybe he and Uncle could help cities under Fire Nation control and do little acts of rebellion against Oazi. He grinned as he ran to find his Uncle, excited but not at all prepared for what the future would bring.
As he did this, a certain young Princess smirked and vowed to herself that she would do everything in her power to stop whatever crazy thing her idiotic brother was planning.
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Zuko looked around at the forest he and his uncle were camping in. it had been about six months since his banishment, and he managed to rid four cities of any Fire nation control. His whole rebelling-against-Oazi plan (which he had code named 'plan: Goodbye Fatherlord' (Zuko came up with this name somewhere around the two month point in his banishment)) had been going smoothly. When he had told his Uncle of his plans, the old general agreed to it whole heartedly. He told Zuko how proud he was of him, and how he had grown into a young man ECT.
In two days he was going to do his biggest rebellion act yet. Just beyond these woods was a fire nation prison that held only one captive, a Waterbender. The last Waterbender of the south pole. It seemed easy enough; there were only about twenty guards. Why the hell would they need that many for one prisoner? He mentally asked himself. The only conclusion he could come to was that whoever was in there was a very, very powerful bender.
He lay down on his sleeping bag, but found he couldn't go to sleep. He thought about random stuff as if it would somehow make him feel sleepy, he tried counting koala-sheep, he tried going through his boring history classes he had back in school that always put him to sleep. Nothing worked. He kicked the ground in frustration. Then he got an idea. There was a lullaby his mother would sing to him, when he was little. What was it? He tried to recall the lyrics.
Warm kitty
Soft kitty
Little ball of fur
Happy kitty
Sleepy kitty
Purr, purr, purr
(A/N: LOL I just had to put that in there. You Big Bangers know what I'm talking about ;))
That was one of his mother's lullabies, but it wasn't the right one. She sang that to him when he was sick. Wait… yes! He got it! He closed his eyes and pictured his mother's voice singing in his head
Till everything burns
Everyone screams
Burning their lies
Burning my dreams
All of this hate
And all of this pain
Burn it all down
As my anger reigns
Till everything burns..
Chapter 2
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Katara could feel it.
The power of the moon, coursing through her veins. It was time. She concentrated on the air, pulling the moisture from it. She lifted her hand and rotated it around in a slow circle motion. Then, when all the water was gathered, she sliced her arm down lightning fast, leaving the top of the bars cut off. (If you want to know what the prison looked like, think of the one Hama was put in. she would be in the cage in the middle of the room.)
She looked at her handiwork and grinned. This was going to be easy. Maybe somewhat fun.
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Zuko could hear it.
There was the noise of metal being thrown on metal inside the prison. He knew that sound well. This is it, he thought, this is the distraction. He slipped his mask on and descended for the prison. He watched as the guards ran inside, him following behind them silently. The guards didn't know he was following them.
Idiots. Zuko thought. The guards were walking. Walking, to the prison cell. Zuko didn't feel too bad about his father firing them when this was over anymore. Finally, he got tired of walking so he climbed up to the ceiling, using the many metal pipes for support. When he was on the ceiling, he assumed an awkward hog-monkey position where he was upside down, using his arms and legs for support. As he climbed forward, he had time to think.
What was the prisoner like? He knew they were a Waterbender, and from the southern Water Tribe, but what else? He figured they would have to be fairly old in order to pose enough of a threat that they would have to lock them up. Powerful, too, so that could come in handy. But if they were so powerful, why couldn't they escape sooner? Then he remembered. Water had to be there in order for them to bend. He felt like slapping himself. It was so unlike fire bending, where your body was your fire source.
He was so lost in thought, he almost didn't notice when they reached the end of the hallway. Almost. But he did, so he had enough time to make sure the guards weren't looking (which they weren't. idiots) and slip through the entrance.
He'll admit it; this wasn't what he was expecting at all. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of cages everywhere. Some closer to the ground, some near the ceiling, some in the middle, but all different heights. Great, how was he supposed to find one person in all of this? He thought about taking his mask off, but decided against it. If he ran into any guards, he didn't need them telling his dad he was rescuing people from prisons. As far as his father knew, he was hunting down the Avatar to regain his honor. He wanted to laugh. Honor was something you earn, not receive. For example, his father had no honor, while he and his uncle have more honor than he ever would. He wasn't really being cocky (he was actually quite modest and humble) he was just telling the truth.
He walked around some more until something caught his eye. It was a glint, nothing really but enough. In one of the cages (he guessed he was around the center of the room) off to his right, he saw a figure doing what he could only guess was Waterbending. He had never seen it in person, but now that he was he became transfixed. He watched as the figure whirled around, water flowing with her movements. He suddenly snapped out of his stupor when one of the bars fell. He was right, it was a powerful bender.
He moved forward to the figure, his duo swords out in front of him. The guards still haven't gotten here yet. He must have taken a short cut. Or they took a coffee break. Either one was pretty realistic. As he walked closer to the cage, he almost dropped his swords at what he saw. The Waterbender was what looked to be a girl, just a bit younger than him, maybe twelve. He wasn't sexist or anything, (he actually knew firsthand how powerful girls can be, especially on their time of the month, or when they are plain off pissed. Or maybe that's just Azula…) but he couldn't believe the Fire Nation put a twelve (?)-Year-old girl in prison. She must have gotten here recently. There has got to be rules about putting children in prison, right? He never bothered to learn the prison system and all the rules, but know he wished he had. He swore he would buy a book about it next town they visited.
It took him about two seconds to get out of that stupor. He rushed forward and sliced the rest of the bars off.
"Need Help?" Zuko held out a hand for the girl to take, just to help her down. She glared at him for a minute, obviously sizing him up, before she took it. She jumped down and her feet landed with a thud on the metal.
"Let's go." Zuko was surprised, to say the least, that her voice wasn't hoarse from lack of use and water.
"Yeah" he grabbed her hand and ran back the way he came. They were almost at the hallway, when about twenty guards surrounded them. He raised his swords and prepared to fight. He prepared to defend too, knowing the girl had no water to bend. Which reminded him, how did she get water before? He would ask her later. If there was a later. He glanced over at her and was surprised for the third time that day when he saw water around her. He grinned, despite the situation. If he with his swords and Firebending and her being a Waterbending master (he assumed she was a master, because who else could pull water from thin air?) couldn't take them, he didn't know what could.
They stood back to back, fire and water, yin and yang, ready to fight and defend the other. They were ready to kick some serious ass.
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Katara was right about one thing, it was pretty fun.
Her and the guy with the mask (she didn't know his name) worked perfectly together, like two pieces of a puzzle. She would attack while he would defend, she would defend while he would attack. They got in a rhythm. Hit, block, sneak attack, hit, block, sneak attack and repeat. She also noticed things about his attacks, like how he moved with the agility of a bender. She figured he was a Firebender. He couldn't be a Waterbender, for he had no container or anything to hold water. He couldn't be an Airbender because they died out (were murdered) long ago. He wasn't an Earthbender because the stood tall and stubborn, like they were a rock themselves. She's not sure how she knew this, but she just did. Call it Benders intuition, if you must.
Her suspicions were confirmed when he shot a ribbon of flame at one of the guards. The guards sent a ribbon of flame back at him so he turned back to defense so she went offense. She used the water as a rope and tripped one of the guards making him trip into another, and that one trip into another, and another… until there was a chain reaction and all the guards on her side were down.
She grinned and glanced over to see how The Masked Guy was doing. He got all the guards on his side down, and they didn't look like they were getting up anytime soon. There was one left and he was actually giving The Masked Guy a run for his money. She turned around and water-whipped him to the ground. He looked up at them with fear, shock, and a little bit of hate before falling on the ground unconscious.
There was an awkward pause between the two. Finally, Katara had enough and broke it.
"Thank You." Her voice was soft. He turned around and she got to see…the mask.
"Don't mention it." His voice was husky. They walked down the hall in an awkward silence.
"So… are you going to take the mask off and tell me your name, or is it permanently stuck to your face and I have to guess?" Katara broke the silence, looking at him with her eyebrows raised and a smirk on her face, arms crossed over her chest.
"Wha…? Oh yeah." He seemed to have just remembered he was wearing it. She giggled a bit. He took his mask off. His once handsome features were marred by a comet shaped scar, over his left eye. This isn't what bothered her. What bothered her was the fact that he wasn't really much older than she was. Thirteen at most. Thirteen and having a scar from war. She was guessing that is what it was from. She really couldn't think of anything else it could be from. She didn't let any of this show on her face though.
"Sometimes I forget I'm wearing it. Sorry 'bout that. Zuko, by the way." His voice snapped her out of her thoughts.
"Katara." She told him, not looking at his face or scar.
"Well, Katara, my uncle and i have a camp not too far from here, if you would like to join us." his voice was a perfect impersonation of what some rich snob would sound like, asking their cohorts to tea biscuits.
"Why, dear Zuko, I would be delighted!" her voice matched his perfectly. They laughed as he lead her out of the prison.
"So, how long have you been in there? The prison, I mean." Zuko looked at her; his voice was filled with sincere curiosity.
"I don't know. The days kind of blur together when you got nothing to do. I know I went in there around when I was six." He had this look of such astonishment on his face, Katara couldn't but laugh.
"What?" He looked a bit self conscious.
"Nothing, Just the look on your face." She said after she calmed down. Zuko grumbled something unintelligible to himself. "Oh, lighten up. I'm just teasing." She chuckled again.
"So Mr. Zuko, care to tell me your story?"
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"So Mr. Zuko, care to tell me your story?"
She asked. He looked at her a second. He'll admit she was pretty, maybe even beautiful if she wasn't covered in dirt and who the hell knows what else. "It's a rather long story. Better if two people tell it."He settled for.
He knew this girl would probably leave later, perhaps when they were sleeping. But he didn't want her to go. He wasn't sure what, but something was telling him not to let her go, or he'll pay for it later.
"Tell you what," he started. She looked at him in surprise, for she wasn't expecting him to speak. "You stay with me and my uncle, traveling through earth kingdom cities, freeing them from the fire nation, and I will tell you my life story, every detail I can remember, and then some." He proposed.
Katara looked at him for a second, frowning. "Are you trying to blackmail me?" she asked narrowing her eyes at the ex-prince.
"Yes." He stated simply.
She then brightened considerably. "Well, it worked." She beamed at him, and skipped ahead, her long hair trailing behind her. Emphasis on long. Her hair trailed a bit behind her.
"Uh… Katara? When was the last time you cut your hair?" he asked.
"Never." She simply replied. He looked at her astonished for a few seconds, then said-
"You're getting a hair cut the next village we stop at, okay?" he wanted it to sound like a demand or statement, but instead came out like a question. Damn, stupid puberty voice changes. He mentally cursed.
"sure." She replied back.
He looked at her puzzled. Why was she acting so light and breezy? He thought of Ty Lee for a moment, but then shoved the thought out of his head. Katara was nothing like Ty Lee. Except for maybe part of her attitude. But why was she acting so… so… childish? As soon as he thought that he realized the answer. She was imprisoned at six years old… she never would have gotten to mature…
Great. He was stuck with a six year old girl in a twelve year old girl's body. Just great.
IMPORTANT: To all the people affected by Hurricane Sandy, we will keep you in our thoughts and prayers.