Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Avatar Characters. Nickelodeon owns them. If I owned them I would make so many twists, it isn't funny.
Story Title: Ghost Town
Category: Romance/Action/…
Rating: T for Teen
Pairings: N/A Yet
Summary: Katara gets seperated from the group, and instead finds herself in the middle of a town completely destroyed by the Fire Nation troups. But is it really destroyed? And is she really alone?
A/N: I was bored. Here it is. The Prologue. Not much to write. I kind of feel sick. Goody. Please review. - Solar Beam
Prologue
She lay there patiently, watching the sunset above her, the clouds passing beside her and above her, the birds fluttering beneath her. She lay there patiently, listening to the blind girl mock her brother. She lay there patiently, feeling the wind rush past her body. But then, it became quiet, and she became nervous. Why was it so quiet? She sat up and looked over to her brother. He was leaning over the side of the giant, fluffy beast, eyes narrowed. Her eyes traveled to the Avatar, who sat atop the beast's head looking down as well. "Aang, what's the matter?"
Aang pointed down and the girl moved to the edge of the giant saddle and she looked to where he was pointing. It wasn't hard to miss. Large flames licked the sky, and smoke rose like giant beacons. It was a small town, and it was lit with flames. The girl gulped. "Fire Nation," she breathed. The giant beast slowly descended from the air, slowly making its way toward the burning rubble. Please let me be wrong, she thought. She didn't think she could handle it if it was Fire Nation.
When the bison landed, they all climbed off. The blind girl, the earth-bender, set her hand on the ground and listened. She was quiet for a long time, and finally she stood back up. "What do you feel, Toph?" Aang asked quietly, his eyes not leaving the smoke that billowed past the tree-tops.
Toph didn't answer for a long time, testing the ground with her feet. She shook her head, placing a hand on her forehead as if she had a headache. "Nothing, everything is dead. I see nothing; it's like its all dead." Her voice was quiet, painful almost. She didn't like how she couldn't see here.
"Katara, where are you going?" the brother called. Katara was walking past him, her eyes narrowed slightly. She heard someone humming, a lullaby it sounded like. She recognized it. Her mother used to sing it to her every night that she couldn't sleep. She kept walking, even though her friends called her back. She walked until she got to the edge of the town, and then the humming stopped.
Destruction. Death. Devastation. And smoke. Smoke was everywhere. The smell was terrible, it burned her throat and made her want to cry. Not because it was so strong, but because it was the smell of the deceased. She was stopped cold, her eyes wide. There, in the center of the town, was an old flagpole. Hanging from the flagpole, was a baby. Hung. Katara walked forward hesitatingly, without thinking. She reached the wooden flagpole and when her hand touched the cold wood, she fell to her knees and cried. She cried into her hands, one gripping the flagpole the other covering her face.
She could hear her friends calling her. She didn't care. The hand gripping the flagpole tightened, her nails digging into the timber. She cried harder. Now she knew why her brother hated the Fire Nation. They were destructive and they had no compassion for others. They were heartless.
And then it was dark. Everything became almost black and white, no color at all. It was like back at the North Pole when Admiral Jhao destroyed the moon spirit. She heard something snap. She stood slowly, turning in a circle, eyes wide in surprise. There, in front of her, stood a large city. Building high, each at least four stories high. It was quiet, but lanterns were lit and the fountain in between two buildings was bubbling. The forest surrounding the town was gone, and instead was replaced by water. Lots and lots of water.
"This isn't normal," she said allowed. And then doors opened, and people began walking outside as if their town wasn't destroyed. Food carts were set up, and music was playing. It was a festival. She backed up a ways until her back was against the flagpole. She looked up; the baby was gone. What surprised her most was that the people were almost transparent, as if they were there but weren't. It scared her while at the same time mesmerized her.
She walked forward. "Pardon me, miss…" The woman walked right through her, ignoring her completely. Katara froze. She padded her stomach curiously to make sure she was no see-through, and then she looked back to where the woman was going. That woman had just walked right through her; Katara blinked. This was too weird. She made her way toward where the trees had been, but when she got to the edge of the town she only saw water. No other land in sight. She set her hand on her forehead; she was stuck here. No, no, no…