Our Blood Boils

Death-n-Decay

Disclaimer: I don't own A:TLA.

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He sighed as he stared out at the sea. The Southern Raiders had a mission. Two water benders remained in the Southern Water Tribe. A mother and her child. They were to take the child directly to their Fire Lord. This seemed very odd. This wasn't the first odd thing Fire Lord Azulon had done though. The first was letting an air bender that was found live. Namely himself.

He was Dormin, the supposed last air bender. He doubted this, though. There was no Avatar in the water tribes, so "Aang" had to still be alive. That's what his teacher said the Avatar's name was. His teacher was a scholar by the name of Tenzin, who was one hundred and twenty six years old. He was a non bender, but he found several scrolls during his visits to the Air Temples.

Dormin was only four years old, the same as the water bender they were after. He wore a Air Nomad's robes. His were altered, however. Orange was replaced with black, and yellow was replaced with a dark red. His boots were also black. His eyes were red, a shade of red that was eerily similar to blood. His dark hair was very messy and reached shortly passed his ears. He mastered air bending a year ago, after only six months of training, and already had his tattoos. Tenzin had a glider as a keepsake from one of his earliest visits to the air temples, which had been given to Dormin as a gift.

Ice burgs. Or were they glaciers? Either way, they were really close now, and he was glad the metal of the ship seemed to be keeping the heat from the engines, or he'd be very cold right now. Dormin twitched his hand a little, causing his shadow to shake a bit.

Shadow bending. Something that was unique to him alone. He wondered why his teacher didn't know anything about shadow bending, but after learning how the monks were all against killing, he knew they wouldn't have discovered it. Shadow Bending required a true evil in an air bender's soul in order for it to work.

The Air Nomads were all too pro-life for that.

He could do many things. Make others shadows rise from right behind them and assassinate them. Use shadows as extra limbs, or weapons. And the reason why he, a four year old, was here; the ability to sense what type of bender people are. All living things, even non living things, have darkness inside them. It's not as if there's a fire on their insides. That probably wouldn't be healthy.

He twitched as a snowflake landed on his nose. It was covered in soot. The snow would give away their approach. Not that it mattered. There were many fire benders among them, and only two water benders in the village. If you could call it that. He could see it from where they were. Not exactly a citadel.

The boat hit the shore. Time to move. He sank into the shadows, glaring out at the village.

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She was panicking. Black snow was falling. Her father said that the Fire Nation was attacking. The boats were terrifying She ran to where her mother would be. She needed someone to protect her, but her father was going to be busy fighting the invaders, and her brother had run off with the family of one of his friends. Gran Gran was no where to be found, so her mother was the only one she could go to.

She was Katara, one of the last two water benders. Her mother, Kya, was the other. She was to teach her daughter water bending when she turned five. It seemed like that might not happen, if the Fire Nation got their way.

Katara ran inside of their home, to find her mother on the ground, one of the soldiers standing in front of her, with a young child wearing strange clothes standing next to him. "Mommy?" Katara looked at the scene in front of her with fear, shaking slightly. She had barely whispered the word, but the boy seemed to have heard her. Turning quickly, his red eyes narrowed and his shadow stretched out and connected to her own.

"That's her." He said, nudging the leader of the Southern Raiders in the leg. The soldier turned to Katara, eyes glaring and an evil grin on his face. Yon Rha made a subtle gesture with his hands, and Dormin nodded. He made Katara's Shadow rise out from behind her, and wrap around her arms, binding her. She gasped and tried to back away from the two from the Fire Nation, but tripped on some ice that was jutting out of the ground.

Kya looked on in horror as this happened. "Wait, please, take me instead!"

The Southern Raider's commander sneered at her, "We were ordered to take her away specifically, peasant. I suppose it won't matter what we do with you though." Kya's eyes widened even further as a burst of fire left the man's fist and flew towards her, intent on ending her life. Her shadow swung around her and got in the way however.

Dormin growled, "We have the target, let's just go." He looked at Kya with indifference. He picked Katara up off the floor and sank into the shadows, dragging her with him. A moment later, they were both on the ship once more. He saw Yon Rha running towards the soldiers, yelling "retreat!" They were on their way once again.

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Fire Lord Azulon sat with a wall of fire raging in front of him, stretching from one side of the room to the other. He sighed. He knew what his son was going to do. He didn't have much longer to live. He wasn't sure how, and he wasn't sure when, but he was going to be assassinated. He would not let his granddaughter follow in Ozai's footsteps. It was easy to tell that Azula looked up to him. He thought the air bender that they found would be able to turn her to a better path. But he realized too late that air only makes fire grow.

So he decided to kidnap a water bender. The opposite of her element could surely accomplish this. So he had the Southern Raiders go to the Southern Water Tribe. There were rumors of a woman and her child there who could do water bending. He hated to tear a family up, but this war needed to end , and he had a feeling his granddaughter would play a big part in it.

Zuko was fine, as long as he had his mother and his uncle. Azula, though… well. Only time would tell if his plan would work.

Too bad he wouldn't be around to see it's effects in the long run.

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It was night time. Kya had barely stopped crying for more than a few minutes. Kanna did her best to comfort her, as did Hakoda. Sokka was sad, and spent his time just laying down, staring at a wall or the ceiling. They didn't know what was going to happen to Katara. They could only hope she would be alright.

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Azulon was startled when he noticed someone approaching. Three, actually. One was one of the palace guards, one was a Southern Raider, and the last was a young girl who was in chains. The Fire Lord glared at the two and quickly ordered them to unchain her and leave. The two complied quickly. Azulon was kinder than other Fire Lords, but he could still be very cruel.

Katara sniffed, quickly drying any stray tears, trying her best not to do anything to anger the man behind the fire. She stared up at him and fear, and flinched when he stood and made the fire part as he walked towards her. She started shaking and looked down at the ground.

Azulon kneeled before the girl and cleared his throat, causing her to look up at him. He smiled kindly, "I'm sorry for frightening you, young lady. I forgot how imposing I can be, especially when fire is around me. My name is Azulon. What is your name, child?"

She swallowed nervously, but answered without a stutter, "I'm Katara."

"A beautiful name. You must be very frightened, being so far from home." Katara nodded, willing herself not to start crying, and doing a remarkably good job, considering how young she was. "I want to introduce you to someone. Please, follow me."

Azulon walked out of the chamber, with Katara following closely behind. The palace was so different from her home. It wasn't cold, for one. She was glad, as she never did like being so cold, oddly enough. And the people here lived in actual houses instead of tents. The food was also very spicy. She knew that she would be here for a long time, so there would be plenty of time to get used to everything.

They reached outside, where there was a pond. Katara saw that there was a mother with two children, a boy and a girl. The mother saw them approaching and seemed confused.

Azulon smiled and spoke, "Ursa, Zuko, Azula, this is Katara. Katara, why don't you stay here with Zuko and Azula, their mother seems to want to talk to me." Ursa and Azulon went off to the side, while Zuko and Azula just stood there, looking at Katara.

Katara smiled timidly, "Um… hi. I'm Katara."

Zuko just sighed and walked away. Azula, on the other hand, said "Hello. I'm Azula. Are you a water bender?" Katara nodded. "That's cool. I'm a fire bender myself. My dad says I'm a prodigy. Have you learned any water bending?"

Katara became depressed, "No. My mommy was going to start teaching me when I turned five, but… well. I'm here now."

Azula looked a little guilty after making Katara sad, but quickly thought of something. "Well, I think my grandpa has some scrolls that could teach you. Then, when you see your mom again you can learn more from her instead of having to start with the basics later." Katara seemed to feel a little better at the thought of seeing her mother again. Azula smiled and grabbed Katara's hand, "Come on, my friends Ty Lee and Mai should be here soon. We can all play together!" They ran off to wait for Azula's friends, not noticing the glare that Ursa was giving Azulon.

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"You had the Southern Raiders take a helpless little girl from her home and family just so Azula could have another friend?"

Azulon sighed and started rubbing his head, trying to prevent a migraine he felt coming. "Ozai is going to try and turn your daughter into a monster. Dormin can't turn her off that path, he has too much evil in himself. Katara can save Azula. Hopefully, Azula and Zuko will be able to stop this foolish war. I can't, and I'm sure you know why."

Ursa looked down at the ground, feeling ashamed of what her husband was planning. She looked back up into his eyes, glaring at him. "Fine. But this better work, or I'll make sure your body ends up in the body of the sea. I'd imagine, as a fire bender, you wouldn't like that?" Azulon gulped and shook his head quickly. "Good. Now… wait, where did they all go?"

They both looked to find that the children had run off somewhere.

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Four years later….

Katara sighed as she gazed at the stars above her. Dormin was to her left, though instead of looking at the night sky he was reading a book. He hadn't changed much, though he was much nicer to her now than he was before. He completely ignored her after he helped the Fire Nation kidnap her. She didn't mind being kidnapped now, though. She made four great friends, and learned water bending from Fire Lord Azulon and Ursa. She only learned from Azulon for a few months, he was assassinated by someone. Ozai became Fire Lord, and Ursa started teaching her instead.

Once the scrolls were all used up, Katara started coming up with her own water bending moves. One of her personal favorites was making a dragon out of water and covering the outside of it with plates of ice, allowing for great movement without extra effort. It was mostly for looks, but it was actually decent in combat. She also discovered how to take water from the environment, either from plants or the air itself. A great skill in case she ever needed more for her bending. She started experimenting with blood, which she discovered she could bend inside of living things.

Four years ago, she probably would be frightened by this ability, disgusted. However, Azula had corrupted her. A lot. Speaking of the pyromaniac, She was asleep to her right. Well. Sort of. Whenever Azula fell asleep near Katara, she always started getting a little… cuddly. She was almost completely on top of Katara in this case. She didn't mind, though. She wasn't sure why, but she liked it when Azula cuddled with her. Even if Dormin liked to tease about it.

Ty Lee and Mai were great. Ty Lee helped Katara become more flexible, though no where near as good as the bubbly acrobat. Mai, on the other hand, taught her how to handle weapons. While Mai preferred throwing weapons, she also knew how to handle several others. Katara took to creating a katana out of ice. She worked best with this, thought her throwing skills with icicles was decent.

They didn't just train and teach each other things. They had a lot of fun doing other things. Like messing with Zuko. She and Azula always called him Zuzu, which annoyed him a lot. They didn't hate him or anything. He was just so cold to them. Probably because Azula was her father's favorite child. Azula knew what her father was trying to do. She acted mean enough to just satisfy him. She was evil, she knew it. But not the same kind of evil as her father. Katara knew Azula, and even Dormin, weren't the only evil ones in their group of friends. She herself had become somewhat villainous herself.

Ozai seemed to want her dead. He thought that she would get in the way of making Azula a perfect little monster. More like his personal weapon of mass destruction. Everyone in the palace knew of how powerful the princess of fire was. She was already moving on to lightning. Her flames had become azure.

Ursa suddenly obscured her vision of the stars. "What are you three doing up here on the roof?"

Azula opened her eyes and Dormin just continued with reading. Katara looked panicked and quickly replied "Uhhh… why are YOU on the roof?"

Ursa smiled and laid down next to Azula. "I'm just here to gaze at the sky. There's no better place for it." Katara relaxed a little, and Azula closed her eyes and fell back asleep quickly. Gazing back up at the stars she was surprised when Ursa said "Katara… thank you."

Katara turned to Ursa. As best as she could, at least, with Azula draped over her. "What do you mean?"

"If it weren't for you, I'm sure my husband would have turned her into a monster."

Katara smiled sheepishly, "I don't think I quite accomplished that…"

Ursa laughed a little, "I know she is still a bad person. But I don't mind that. It was her being in Ozai's grasp that worried me. He would have been the death of her, I'm sure of it."

Katara turned her attention back to the sky. She sighed, before saying "You're probably right. The Fire Lord isn't exactly the father of the year." Ursa smiled. No more words were exchanged that night.

The four of them all ended up asleep on the rood of the palace.

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Iroh was worried. He heard that the Fire Lord was planning on having the water tribe girl killed. Azula would be enraged if that happened. And things never went well when a pyromaniac got angry.

Okay, so she wasn't really a pyromaniac. That was beside the point.

He saw Ursa with the three children at her favorite pond. Namely Katara, Azula, and Zuko. The latter didn't seem to happy the other girls were there. Ursa saw him approaching and smiled at him. That smile quickly vanished when she saw the look on his face. He gestured for her to come over.

"You three behave, I need to talk to Uncle Iroh." The three nodded, although Zuko gulped loudly when he saw the evil looks Katara and Azula got when they looked at him. Ursa hurried over to Iroh, "What's wrong?"

Iroh looked over at Katara, who was helping Azula chase Zuko around. She was using water from the pond. "Fire Lord Ozai has decided to get rid of Katara. For good."

Ursa's eyes widened in shock and horror, "Oh no… Azula would be absolutely crushed… And I don't know how Dormin, Ty Lee, and Mai would react… what are we going to do?"

"The only thing I can think of is to send her back to her home."

"If we do that, Azula will be even worse off then if Katara were murdered."

Iroh nodded, and started thinking. He smiled when he got an idea, "Then we will send Azula with her. That way, Ozai can't start turning her into his perfect weapon."

Ursa smacked his forehead, "You idiot, he'll have half the army searching for her. We can't do that!"

Iroh smiled sheepishly. Then he got another idea. "What if you and Dormin went with them. You could leave a note or something, telling him you were taking them to Ba Sing Se. He knows he can't just barge into there."

"You're kidding right? He's your brother, you should know better than that. He would go there with the entire army himself."

Iroh sighed, muttered something that sounded like "You're probably right…" then went back to thinking.

Ursa just rolled her eyes and said "Why don't we just ask what Katara and Azula think. They may be eight years old, but they could handle this, I'm sure."

Iroh Just raised an eyebrow, "Very well. I doubt it, but I suppose there is only one way to find out."

Zuko had taken to hiding in a tree. Azula just smirked up at him, "You know I can just light this thing on fire, right?" Katara giggled at that. Zuko gulped in fear.

"Katara! Azula! Come over here!" They heard the Fire Lady call them over.

Azula sighed, "I guess we'll just have to continue this later Zuzu. Try not to break your leg on the way down." She kicked the tree and made it wobble slightly. Zuko gripped the tree tighter, muttering several insults. Katara followed Azula over to Ursa and Iroh. 'What's wrong?" It was obvious something was up.

Ursa kneeled down so that she could look at them more easily, "Uncle Iroh found out that your father is planning on hurting Katara, and we wanted to know what you think we should do."

Katara shook her head, "We're eight, not stupid. He wants me dead, doesn't he?" Ursa and Iroh looked away slightly. "I thought so. Azula, what do you think?"

Azula sighed. 'We don't really have a choice. For the time being, I think you'll have to go home." Katara looked like she was about to protest, but Azula wasn't going to have any of that. "I'm sorry Katara. But I can't lose you. We'll figure something out. Besides, you haven't seen your mother in so long. I know you don't miss the South Pole, but I also know that you do miss your mom."

Katara looked at the ground. "Fine… let's do that then." She looked up, crossed her arms, and smirked slightly before saying "But make it happen quick, before I change my mind."

Iroh smiled, "I'll take you there myself. I'll take you close enough to the village so that you can walk there quickly."

Katara sighed. She knew she would have to go home eventually. Didn't mean she would have to like it though.

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AN: Well, that's it for the first chapter. Not sure if I did any good, but I suppose some readers will tell me if I did or not. Until next time!