Okay, I know several of you are mad at me because I took down my stories.

BUT! I have reasons

~ First off, I really can't handle a crossover right now. I'm not ready.

~Second off, I was reading them the other day… and I've realized how bad it reads… you have no idea how sorry I am, but I can't help it.

Again really, really sorry… please find it in your spin-off loving hearts to forgive me.

Another thing, I'm going to try and keep my updating schedule consistent.

I want to get at least one chapter up each week, okay?

I think that's everything if you have any questions or concerns please leave a review and I'll try and get back to you as soon as possible.

Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar or anything related to it.

Chapter 1: Recruits

The young and recently banished Fire Prince had looked on, with rapt attention, as his ship pulled into one of the Fire Nations naval strongholds. His father had told him that one of the officers at that particular stronghold knew of someone who would go with him on his search for the Avatar.

So, of course, he hadn't asked any questions as to why these people were coming with them, he assumed, in his naivety that they actually wanted to help him.

He was wrong.

This recruit, if you could even call them that, was a girl no older than he was; wrists and ankles in chains, purple bruises like deadly violets sprung all over her arms and legs, her hair was a knotted mess. She was on her knees in front of them, shaking.

"Captain Zhao," Iroh began, staring aghast at the sickly thin form on the floor at their feet. "This girl is a child, why did the Fire Lord say that she is to be coming with us?"

Zhao grinned maliciously, Zuko couldn't be sure, but his nose looked bent, like it had been broken. "She is a traitor to the Fire Nation, and we can't have traitors. And besides," Zhao turned toward a map on the wall nonchalantly. "Maybe, she'll be of help to you, she's a tough one."

Zuko knew, that traitors of the Fire Nation had to be punished, but what had this girl even done, she looked so terrified of them, too young to be put through this, he almost didn't want her to come with them. Almost.

"What did she do?" Zuko asked, still gawking at the girl.

"She refused an Admirals order, and attacked several soldiers." Zhao walked back over to them again. "Pet, in the civilized world, people tell each other their name." He spoke with malice. As he ran a hand through her tangled hair, the girl shivered.

"Xia." She spoke so softly Zuko almost couldn't hear what she said.

"We also look people in the eye when we talk to them!" Zhao scolded and yanked her hair back so her face was facing them.

The Fire Prince felt his heart stop.

Her face was covered with more bruises, she had a bloody nose, a black eye, and there were several small scratches covering her tear stained face. Her eyes were open, and in those melted chocolate basins he could see so many emotions: Anger, strife, bitterness, worry, sadness, and deeply hidden fear.

When he couldn't see her eyes, Zuko thought she was the most defeated person he had ever seen, but she wasn't. Outwardly she was dying, but mentally she was strong.

"Xia." She spoke softly, but still with a hidden strength. "My name is Xia."

Zhao and his soldiers escorted them back to Zuko's ship. They released Xia's shackles, and Lieutenant Jee showed the young girl to where she would be staying while she was on this ship.

"Keep an eye on her, General Iroh." Zhao said, eyes following Jee and Xia's retreating backs. "She's got a lot of power, and without strict discipline, she will destroy you all."

"I think we can handle her." Zuko spoke, not believing that that girl could destroy them.

He was still wrong.

Xia couldn't believe it; she was finally free of that prison… and the jerk that kept beating her bloody.

Sure, her gate to freedom was a suicide mission with a banished prince who had a stupid haircut and was obsessed with his honor, but, still.

What did she have to lose?

The crewmembers on this ship stared at her, of course, she was a dirty, beaten prisoner, and they were immaculate, strong soldiers.

But she had to do this, for her family's sake. Okay, they weren't all her family, they just, raised her, and her brother, whose name she couldn't remember since their parents died, when the Fire Nation raided her village of Kwisha on a small island far to the east of the Fire Nation, in the Earth Kingdom.

Their island wasn't special, some trees, some animals, and several huts.

Normal, right? WRONG!

Some people on that island had strange abilities, like bending, but not normal bending; it was formidable, primitive, and disorderly.

The kind of bending that couldn't be controlled.

You wanna know what tastes better than virtual chocolate chip cookies?

Reviews and virtual chocolate chip cookies. (:.)(.:)(::)

~Memories