This story takes place four years after the end of the War, but is AU as of Crossroads of destiny. While I have a fairly detailed idea of what happened during those four years as well as the reconstructed events of Book 3, I'm going to leave it to you the readers to put the pieces of the puzzle together as I reveal bits and pieces through flash backs. I fully intend to publish two more stories detailing both book 3 and the four years in detail at a later time, but for now this semed a far more interesting place to start. So without further delay here's

Chapter 1: Run!

A boy clad in tight black clothing sprinted down a dark alley, knocking down any loose objects he could as he ran by; following no more than ten feet behind him were two pursuers, a male and a female from what the boy had seen. Whether his estimation was correct he didn't know at present, he'd not pondered long before making his escape. Grabbing the lip of an empty barrel as he ran by, he threw it to the ground behind him, hoping it would slow the two and allow him a chance to break away.

To his misfortune the straight away ended and he was forced to make a quick turn, left or right; jumping onto the wall he quickly fell into a crouch and subsequently leap off before gravity could drag him down, shifting his momentum to the left. The youth was having some difficulty keeping his head up, exhaustion and difficulty breathing taking their respective tolls, but when he did take the time to examine his path he cursed his choice in going left. Some thirty feet ahead, he could see he was fast approaching a dead end in the form of a solid stone wall, but turning around wasn't an option; reversing his momentum would cost him time that he simply did not have to spare.

The boy clenched his teeth, bringing some pain to hs jaw, as he urged himself on. As he approached within a dozen feet of the barricade he let out a sigh of frustration and glanced back over his shoulder only to confirm that the two were quickly gaining on him. The full moon appeared from behind the clouds which had been concealing it for most of the night, and the pale light was enough for him to confirm that they were in fact a man and woman, both glad in blue, though their respective styles differed. Something glinted in the man's hand; likely he'd drawn a weapon, though the boy had no intention of standing around and seeing just what he wielded. The woman held nothing, but expirience taught him not to underestimate his opponents, especially if he was correct in assuming she was a bender. Her eyes seemed to gleam with malice in the lunar light, and a shiver ran down the youth's spine.

Yes, he decided, the woman was far scarier than the man and he prayed this was not another poor choice, in the event that they caught up and he was forced to fight. The blue bestial mask, which the boy had completely forgotten he was wearing so accustomed to it he was, shifted slightly as he stumbled a step, blocking a portion of his vision. Placing a hand on the mask, and feeling the intricate carvings, he slid it back into place, not daring to slow his stride. He was much closer to the wall than he'd realized, and he almost ran face first into it. Rather than stopping, he placed a foot on the wall, and, shifting his momentum, ran straight up the wall in a startling display of athleticism.

He made a desperate grab for the top edge of the wall, and smiled as he felt his hand grip the opposing side. Not so much as pausing for a breath, he pulled himself up and over, landing into a roll to absorb some of the impact. He climbed back to his feet and began to run again, hoping this would be his chance to escape and that the man and woman were not already scaling the wall. His hopes were dashed seconds later by a loud bang followed by a crash behind him, specifically the sound of crumbling rock and stone. Chancing another look back, he saw the pile of rubble that was once a wall, and standing just behind it was the woman, her right arm stretched out in front of her, palm facing out.

Looking forward again, he mumbled to himself. "So the woman is a bender; from her stance I guess a Fire Bender, just not my lucky day," he looked back again, noting her posture, she stood rigid with her right arm extended straight away from her body with her other hand raised up and back, balled into a fist. "Yep, definitely a Fire Bender."

The man had stopped running, preparing to climb the wall, the obstacle suddenly came crashing down. Had he been a second earlier and he very well might have been crushed by the debris. The woman, being the one whom brought down the wall, cast an angry glare at him, and he yelped in surprise, afraid she might turn her fury on him next. Jumping over the pile of rocks, he began the chase anew. He watched as the boy turned and darted into another ally, so he followed, briefly losing sight of his quarry. He cursed under his breath as he entered the alley; there boy was nowhere to be seen. The pathway was straight with no place to hide, but somehow the boy had escaped. Letting out a sigh, he travelled deeper into the shadows. The last rays of the sun fled to make way for the night.

The boy lay flat on his back on a rooftop just beside the ally, listening carefully for the sounds of his pursuers. He smiled briefly at the sound of the man cursing, and passing him by. The man seemed to be far more physically capable than the woman, so she wasn't as big a concern, since even searching the roof would likely be a hefty task for her. As he was about to let out a sigh of relief, he felt a sharp pain in his back; his vision blurred as he was sent flying though the air. His head slammed hard into the ground and he found he'd lost his sight entirely, all he could hear was a sickening crack; the sound of a number of his bones broke from the impact. Splintered pieces of wood from the roof rained down around him, and he cringed as a few larger chunks struck his damaged form. Even with the adrenaline numbing the pain he could feel his chest burning, and his breathing was laboured. His vision began to return, but a second wave of dizziness passed over him, the familiar feeling of his rush wearing off.

Something cold splashed across the boy's face, but when he tried to shake his head a sharp pain ran down his neck, and all he could do was look up. Despite his left eye refusing to open, he finally focused on the scene before him. His good eye went wide as he saw that he was in fact lying at the woman's feet, and now he was looking directly into the angry benders eyes.

She had deep blue eyes that match her choice in clothing, while her skin was a medium brown, making her look very well tanned. He would have thought her beautiful were she not in both a position and temperament to kill him. She wore a tight blue shirt with white trimming, and over it wears a dark blue robe with sky blue trimming that reached down just above her knees. The robe was split at the sides and rear, and a long silk sash tied loosely around her waist held it closed. She had a short skirt that looked to be made of the same cut as her shirt, and wore a pair of loose flowing navy blue pants underneath it, concealing her legs. Her bangs were long, braided and allowed to hang freely from her fact a few inches before they looped back up and were fastened just above her ears. The rest of her hair was wavy and left to freely flow down to her lower back. On her forearms were two dark blue leather-like gauntlets that extended to the back if her hands and just barely touched her knuckles. Around her neck she wore a piece of dark blue dyed leather attached to a coin sized piece of cyan stone with a carving of the Water Tribe's familiar wave-like symbol.

The boy was almost certain that the woman was water tribe, but her style of fighting, and the fact that she seemed to carry no water on her person, suggested otherwise. Noticing that the boy had snapped out of his daze the woman raised right arm high above her head, palm facing the sky, and plastered across her face a deep frown.

"Come on," She hissed, speaking for the first time to him. "You can put up a better fight than this. It's never this easy to take you down."

The statement caught the boy off guard, as he had no recognition of this woman. In fact he didn't even remember fighting any women, ever, in his life, never mind one as terrifying as the one that stood before him. Certainly had he fought her before he would not be alive this day to face her again?

The woman seemed disappointed at his lack of a reaction, and tiny droplets of water began to condense in her upraised hand. The Water Bender, for it turned out that's what she truly was, was pulling moisture right out of the air and shaping it as she saw fit; the very atmosphere that they lived in was a weapon at her disposal. The droplets combined, forming a sphere a little smaller than a human head, and she slowly brought it down to eye level. Blowing lightly on the sphere, it changed shape and froze into an icicle, its deadly tip a fraction of an inch from the boys face.

"Fight back!" She yelled, apparently not caring what attention she might garner from those trying to sleep in the surrounding building. She was overtaken by frustration, expecting far more from the boy than he could deliver. Gripping the boy's mask with her other hand, she ripped it form his face. "Fight back or-"

She cut herself off, looking at the boy's face. His head was slightly triangular, and his skin tanned, and she realized he was obviously of earth kingdom lineage. His open eye quaked with fear, fully aware that he may very well be looking death in the face. "You're not him," She stated, disappointed by this turn of events. She released the icicle back into water, and bent it towards the boy. He tried to scramble back, away from the water, but the woman was much faster. He bit his tongue to hold back a cry as the cold water made contact with his skin.

"Stop fidgeting, I'm healing your broken bones," She spoke not as though she were about to kill him, but more like a caring mother. Was this girl crazy? Did she have multiple personalities? Even though she was now healing him, he wondered if he was safe. She could go back to the violent personality at any moment and finish the job she'd started. Before he could continue this train of thought the woman interrupted him. "There, all done. You run along now, okay? And be more careful, you shouldn't wear such scary masks at night." She smiled, and patted him lightly on the head, before turning and walking away.

The boy tried to stand, but found that while she'd mended his broken bones, his many bruises and scrapes, save the one that had cost him the vision of his left eye, all remained. He groaned, partly out of frustration, and partly due to the pain, and resolved to sit a while longer. Of course typical of his luck up till this point, the man wondered out of the ally where the boy had successfully ditched him. The man failed to notice the boy at first, but rather he seemed to be searching the sky for something. "Hey sis, I couldn't find him," he yelled into the air. "That guy's some sort of ninja or something."

The boy looked at the man dumbfounded, how could this guy be such an idiot? At this moment the man looked down, finally seeing the retreating form of his sister, and, of course, the boy sitting on the ground. "Hey, at least I got the 'or something' part right," He quickly made his way to the boy and gave him a look over. He cringed slightly at what visible bruises he could see, as well as the damp spots on the clothing that informed him that his sister had to repair a couple broken bones.

Squatting down, he placed an arm around the boy's shoulder. Now that the man was close, even in the dark he could make out his features. He was tall, with medium brown skin, just like his sister's, and the same shade of dark brown hair, though his was tied back in a very messy pony tail. His actual build was difficult to discern, as his clothing, a thin long blue robe, with white fur trimming, concealed his form. The robe was fastened closed by only two silver buttons; the top near the base of his neck had an engraving of the water tribe symbol, while the lower button, just above his waist, had an engraving of a lotus. His pants were navy blue, and rather loose, and his shoes black with the toes curling up slightly. On his back he had a sword fastened, while strapped to his side was a steel boomerang.

"Hey sorry about that, we thought you were someone else. I hope she wasn't too rough with you; she's really not that bad. Normally she's really nice, she just gets like that whenever we're looking for him," The man gestured to the twin Dao that the boy had strapped to his side. "You know how to use those, right? They're not normal earth kingdom weaponry, mind telling me who taught you?"

The boy grunted, and looked away, not willing to divulge any information about his mentor. The man simply shrugged, as though he wasn't bothered by the lack of a response. He stood up, then roughly grabbed the boy by the back of his collar and tugged him to his feet. The by wobbled for a second, but kept his balance. "Figured you'd need a hand up," Turning, the man started to walk away, following after his sister. "By the way," The man looked over his shoulder back at the boy. "Your master, was he a pale guy with black hair and a nasty scar over his left eye?"

The boy glared at the man, surprised at such an accurate description of his mentor. He turned his head to the side and gave no answer, but his shock was more than enough to tell the man that his guess had been dead on. The man turned to face the boy. "Don't worry; I'll try to make sure he doesn't get hurt to bad when we find him. Oh, I guess I should ask your name, would you mind?"

The boy hesitated, unsure of if answering would be in his best interest, but against his better judgement, he replied. "Lee, my name is Lee."

"Lee, huh?" The man began to follow after the woman again. "Good name to have, there's a million Li's," The man broke into a light jog to catch up to his sister leaving a bewildered Li standing in the middle of the street in the dead of night.

"Hurry up Sokka, what's taking you so long? We're close, I know it."

Sokka ran up beside his sister, stretching his arms out into the air before resting his hands behind his head. "Oh you know, just pumping the kid for information. You're right though Katara. He did pass through here, even trained that kid some. Probably gave him the mask to hide his identity."

"Or to throw us off his trail and get some innocent kid hurt!" Katara exclaimed.

"You know, he wouldn't have been hurt if you'd not jumped to conclusions, we don't even know if that was the right mask. All we know if a scary blue marks with some white on it."

"He's alright isn't he? So what does it matter, let's keep looking."

"Physically Lee is alright, but you must have scared the daylights out of him. You're really scary when you get like that you know. He probably thought he was going to die."

"Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped like that, but I thought we finally had him. We're so close, I can feel it, I can finally make him pay for all the things he's done."

"Katara, he will face justice, but not by us. We're just to find him and bring him back."

"Dead or alive, either way I'll capture him, the thrice banished prince."

"Zuko," Sokka whispered.

Several miles away at the ocean's shore, a man half asleep on a rock was jostled awake by the need to sneeze.

Chapter 1 End.

I'm really busy with work lately so I won't update often, likely monthly, just a heads up. Criticism and ideas are welcome, and if I use anything I got form a review I'll be certain to credit. This chapter was largely to set the mood of Katara and Sokka, as well as give a quick impression of my writing style. I'm bad at romance, writing it or otherwise, so I likely won't include much, if any, and even if I did, I can't even begin to guess who it would be between. I sincerely thank you for reading, and thank you again if you took the time to review. And always remember to seize the day.

-fallendeathlord