A/N: So this first chapter is mainly an introduction, but I promise that Zuko be in the next chapter and all the other characters will start coming shortly after that. So yeah, I hope you like it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OCs. Nickelodeon owns everything else. Blah blah blah

Chapter 1

Three years ago, the Avatar defeated Fire Lord Ozai, and ended the Hundred Year War. He and the new Fire Lord, Fire Lord Zuko planned for a long era of peace in the world. We all thought that there was going to be a long era of peace in the world, but it only lasted for one year. One year after the war, when the world was vulnerable under the control of a new Fire Lord who was only sixteen and a twelve year old Avatar, the Equalist Movement began.

The leader of the Equalists created an army of soldiers trained in the art of chi-blocking. They began raiding cities and villages for benders, capturing them and bringing them to a secret location. No one knows what happens to them there, but no once someone is taken there, they're never seen again. The Fire Lord and the Avatar tried to send their armies after the chi-blockers, but so many soldiers were captured or killed that they couldn't be defeated. It's terrifying how quickly they grew to power and even more terrifying how little the Avatar and the Fire Lord can do about it.

When the Equalists raided my village, it was storming.

It had been raining all day, something that was uncommon in my village's dry climate. It was a small village, and there wasn't much to do. Usually, I'd practice my firebending in a clearing with my father or some of the other firebenders in the neighborhood, but it was almost impossible when it was raining this hard. My father was a blacksmith and was busy working in the shop all day. My mother had me running all over town doing errands, and bringing dad breakfast and lunch, and cleaning, lot's of cleaning. She used to always complain about how messy I was.

I collapsed in a chair by the window, and rested my head against the window pane. Thunder echoed across the village and lightning struck the distant hills. I was savoring whatever time I had to rest before mom sent me out into storm to get dad for dinner. I could smell the cabbage soup almost done brewing over the fire, and I knew my time was limited. I dreaded leaving the warmth of our home for the cold shower of rain. I cringed when my mother called my name. "Ren?"

"Yes, mom," I answered drearily, looking over to my mother who was stirring the soup in a pot above the fireplace.

"Go get your father from the shop," she said. "Tell him that dinner is almost ready and that he should come home before the storm gets any worse."

I sighed. "Sure." I dragged myself out of the chair and towards the door, acknowledging my mother's reminder to wear my cape and grabbed it from the chair it was draped over. I fastened it around my neck and pulled the hood over my head before forcing myself into the cold.

The cloak did little to protect me from the rain. My clothes and bangs almost immediately began sticking to my skin, and I had to squint my eyes to see. I darted through the streets to the town square. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw several large black figures approaching the village. I stopped for a moment, trying to make out what the figures were through the rain, but the boom of thunder caused me to jump and scurry into the comfort of my father's shop.

And it was comforting, for a blacksmith's shop. There was a tiny stool in the corner where I'd spend many days sitting while my father told me stories about the original firebenders, the dragons, and how the sun warriors learned from them. He showed me a few sword fighting techniques and how to throw a knife when I was about thirteen. He'd even let me help him around the shop sometimes. I was so proud of the little indents in the wood my knives and swords had created, or the beautiful swords I'd helped to craft that my father sold to the upper class citizens of the village and the occasional nobleman who was passing through. If my father hadn't been so consumed with work on that day, I would've probably spent it there with him. It would've been a lot more entertaining than cleaning the house with mom.

Dad looks as if he'd be stern, but he was usually in a good mood, which is uncommon for a firebender. He used to say that the best firebenders understood that fire wasn't destruction, it was light and life. He said since a lack of self-control and a short temper was so common among us it was our job and our challenge to keep calm and happy. He looked up from where he sat sharpening a blade and smiled at me. "Good you're here. I need your help. Pour the steel into the fire, will you? It's in that bucket over there."

"Okay," I went to retrieve the bucket and poured the pieces of steel into the flames. "Mom says to come home before the storm gets worse. She made dinner."

"Just a second," dad said and went back to his work.

I placed the bucket next to the fireplace, glancing out the window as a flash of lighting lit the shop with a bluish white glow. "I heard that some really good firebenders can bend lightning, like the royal family," I mused.

Dad sighed. "I guess you have to be that power hungry to harness that much power."

"What about Fire Lord Zuko or General Iroh?' I argued. "They helped end the war and they can do it."

"Fire Lord Zuko and General Iroh," dad scoffed. Mom blamed the Equalist revolution on the Fire Lord, and so did Dad partly. I guess since I was sixteen and Zuko was sixteen when became Fire Lord he took pity on him. There must've been a lot of pressure on him. My dad looked up from his work and smiled. "Do you remember the play we saw about the Avatar a few years ago on Ember Island?"

My grandmother lived on Ember Island, and we went there every so often to visit her. She'd taken us to see this theater group called the Ember Island Players about two years before, the year the war ended. They performed this awful play about the Avatar which pretty much mad him and his friends, including the Fire Lord, look completely ridiculous. I laughed. "I'm sure that was completely inaccurate.

"How can you be so sure?" asked dad.

"I've heard some of the soldiers around the village and they say the Fire Lord is very…honorable," I told him.

Dad smirked, "And handsome?"

I blushed. "That's not what I said."

"Maybe you can impress him with some of your fancy lightning bending," he teased.

"Dad!" I tried to sound annoyed but I couldn't help but smile. "I'm not even that good a bender."

"But you will be," Dad said. "I can tell."

That's when I heard the first of many screams that night. I ran to the window and watched in horror as a series of tanks arrived at the city. A woman was knocked unconscious and dragged into one of the tanks. I knew her. She was one of my mother's friends, a fire bender. Three other men left her house, dragging her husband out as well. The house was burning, as if he'd tried to fight, but destroyed it in the process.

"It's the Equalists," said Dad frantically.

Groups of five Equalists emerged from each of the many tanks. They marched into houses and through the streets, ready to take whatever benders they could find. The other villagers ran outside. Parent's struggled to carry their children. The sick and elderly hobbled through the streets. Everyone tried to escape, but no one could. There was fighting and screaming and fire everywhere. Dad pulled me away from the window and into the corner where we were out of sight.

"They're raiding the village," he tried to stay as calm as he could. "We have to get back to the house. When we get outside, stay by me. Don't look at anything. Just go straight for the house. If they attack, let me handle it. Do not firebend. Do you understand?" I nodded. "Good, let's go. We have to be quick." He took his cloak and a small knife that he often said was his favorite weapon he'd ever made, and we left the shop.

Our small village had turned into a place from a nightmare. Families were separated. Homes were being burned to the ground. There was so much fire that even the rain couldn't put it out. Everywhere, there was someone fighting or running or bleeding. I saw my friends, my father's customers, people I knew and had known my entire life, good fighters, all scurrying away like little ants from the Equalists's grasp.

We stopped suddenly as two Equalists beat an elderly man and dragged him away. His body fell directly in our path and we had to quickly get around him. Just go straight for the house, I reminded myself. There was a little girl sobbing, and her mother scooped her up and search for a hiding place. Don't look at anything. Go straight for the house.

A small boy was ripped away from his parents who were thrashing to get lose from the Equalists's grasp as they watched their son being thrown into the van. That boy used to practice firebending with us sometimes. His older sister was my friend, my closest friend in fact. Her name was Dandan. When I looked more closely at the tank, I saw her, and I stopped running.

There was a bloody gash on her cheek and a cut above her eyebrow. A dark circle surrounded one of her eyes and her hands were bound. We made eye contact for split second. She looked at me pleadingly and I racked my brain for a way I could help her and her brother. There had to be something. There had to be.

"Ren!" my dad shouted. Suddenly, it hit me that I couldn't do anything for her or anyone. I just had to watch her and all my other friends being dragged far away where no one could find them. The Equalists have a way of making benders feel helpless, like you want to fight back but you know you can't. All I could do is keep running and keep hiding.

"Ren!" dad called again. When I didn't responded for the second time, he grabbed me by the arm and dragged me away. I looked at Dandan apologetically as I was pulled in the opposite direction. Just go straight for the house.

We reached our home and hurried inside. Mom nearly got hit by the door when it swung open. She pulled us both into a hug. "I was so worried," she was crying. My mother never cries. "When you didn't come home I thought…"

"I know," dad said, interrupting her. "We have to leave. Get anything you might need."

Mom and I didn't waste a second. We both sprinted to our rooms. I found my satchel on my dresser and stuffed another pair of clothes inside and some firebending scrolls that dad had given to me for my birthday a few years ago. I ran out of my room and stuffed a few pieces of bread from the table into the bag. The sound of a fist pounding against the door made me jump.

"They're here," dad whispered. Mom stopped what she was doing and ran to dad and I. Dad placed both his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eyes. "Listen, Ren, I want you to hide and wait for them to leave. Don't try to leave before then. They'll hear you and they'll catch you. When they do, leave the village. Head for the forest and follow the stream and get as far as you can. If they chase you, you run as fast as you can. Keep going until your legs give out."

There was another knock on the door. "Open up!" a man's voice yelled.

My dad continued quickly. "You have to get to the Fire Nation Capital, to the Harbor City. It's a big city and it's heavily protected so it'll be harder for the Equalists to find you. When you get there, find Tao. He's an old friend of mine. He'll keep you safe."

Mom opened the palm of my hand and placed a few coins inside. "This should help you get through your journey." I dropped the coins into my satchel.

"And take this," dad handed me his knife.

"But this one's your favorite," I objected.

"It'll keep you safe."

That's when my eyes started to water because I realized that he and mom wouldn't be safe. In a matter of minutes they could be dragged away to the Equalists hideout. "We can all hide," I said, fighting back tears. "We can all escape. Come with me."

"Don't worry," dad forced a smile. "We'll see each other again."

"I'll find you," I promised.

He shook his head, "Ren…"

"I'll find you," I said again. "I will. I swear."

The Equalists began to bang harder on the door, and I knew I only had a few seconds until they broke it down. I hugged both parents again, my sobbing mother and my father, trying my hardest to be strong. "We love you so much," mom said.

"I love you too," I whispered, my voice quivered.

The banging get's louder and the door starts violently shaking. "Hide," dad instructs. I nod and run to my bedroom. I dove under my bed just as I heard the door burst open.

My parents were silent, so all I heard was the quiet footsteps of the Equalists. I tried to see through the doorway, but I couldn't see anything while staying hidden. "Our source tells us that there are three benders here," a low voice said. "I only see two."

"My wife and I live alone," dad said quietly.

"Really?" the man asked coolly, clearly unconvinced. "Search the house." I heard the footsteps again. Someone was coming in my direction. I held my breath and shifted backwards, deeper into the shadows.

"There is no one else here," mom told them. The footsteps stopped.

"It would be best not to lie to me," the man sneered.

"I'm not lying," she said firmly.

I jumped when I heard a smack. My mother said nothing. There was just silence for a moment, empty, ominous, menacing. My mother could never be wrong about anything. She had never even lost an argument. And now, when the Equalist had tested her strength, she was doing nothing?

Everything happened quickly after that. The room glowed brightly with fire and the footsteps started again. They were running now, moving around the room. Things began to crash and I heard loud bangs against the wall. A man cried out in pain and I heard a body fall. It wasn't dad's voice, but I knew that if he injured one of the Equalists, the others would be angry and his chances of surviving would be worse.

Another body fell. The impact was too big to be my mom and I knew that it wasn't my dad because I could still see his shadow against the wall. The fighting continued. I heard something hit the wall, hard. Something broke. Someone fell and got up. Eventually, there was a constant glow of fire and I could see smoke in the doorway. The house was burning.

I don't know how long the fighting lasted. Maybe it wasn't longer than a few minutes but it seemed to last for hours. There was the occasional scream or grunt, or thud of people slamming against the floor. The first two Equalists that had fallen hadn't gotten up. And I was starting to think that maybe my parents had a chance.

Then, I heard a scream, and I watched the shadow of a third body fall. My heard stopped. I knew the figure. I knew the voice.

Mom.

"Hina!" dad was shouting. "Hina!" I felt a tear stream down my face. How could I let this happen? My parents needed me and there I was hiding like a coward. But I couldn't move. I was frozen to my spot, petrified and helpless. The man, who I assumed was the group's leader, ordered one of the others to tie up my mother and take her back to the tank. I realized that my dad hadn't stopped fighting. He couldn't help her. He was still fighting for me. He had to let them take mom for me.

I guess the Equalists used dad's distraction to their advantage because one of them started moving away from the fight and towards my bedroom. I watched two black boots take slow, cautious steps, causing the floor to creak. I held my breath and tried to stay as still as I could. Slowly, I pulled the knife from my satchel. It was a matter of seconds until dad tackled the man and I saw both of the crash into my dresser. I couldn't really see what was happening. I could only see their feet moving around each other, dodging attacks, trying to strike. One of my dad's blasts of fire hit my dresser and it went up in flames. The other man entered the room. I couldn't see much of him, but he had massive muscular legs. From what I could tell, he was much larger than dad, let alone me.

I knew he wouldn't last long with two Equalists at once. I knew that the most I could hope for was that they would decide that I wasn't there and look for me somewhere else in the village. It wasn't exactly the best of hiding spots, and if they found me I was trapped. But, dad put up a good fight and maybe he'd be able to lead them away from me.

All of a sudden, one of the Equalists struck one of my dad's legs with a series of quick jabs. My dad caught off guard for a second, but he kept going. He tried to kick fire out of his leg, but nothing happened. One of the Equalists, I think it was a leader, chuckled. Chi-blocking. I'd heard that they could do that, temporarily take someone's bending. Dad could fight without his bending, but he didn't have a weapon. He tried to work with his one good side, but the larger man quickly chi-blocked it and kicked him to the ground. I clamped my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

I knew he'd want me to keep hidden, to escape and keep fighting for the both of us, but when the Equalists took benders, they didn't come back. So many horrible possibilities of what could happen to those benders crossed my mind in that one moment. Tears streamed down my face and I felt like I couldn't breathe. I couldn't do anything. I could just watch in horror as the smaller man bent down to bind my dad's wrists. Dad looked at me, and I knew that he was telling me to stay strong. I repeated my promise in my head. I'll find you. I will. I swear.

"Take him to the tank," the leader ordered. "I'm going to look for the other one." The man pulled dad to his feet and pushed him through the doorway. That was the last I saw of him.

The Equalist carefully examined the room. There weren't many places someone could hide in it, but I have the feeling he could tell I was in there. Terrified, I tried to move deeper in the shadows when the floorboards beneath me creaked. I stopped moving, eyes widened with fear. My grip on the knife tightened. He began to approach my bed and I braced myself for whatever was about to happen. The bed slid across the room and I flipped on to my back, finding myself face to face with an extremely large, sinister man.

It was the first time I'd ever really seen an Equalists. They wore black armor and black masks that only showed their mouths and eyes, and all I could see of this man was a wicked smile and dark eyes. It made me both enraged and frightened that he took pleasure in hurting innocent people, destroying villages, and ripping families apart. But, it was strange because he was a man. Not a monster that Dandan used to tell her little brother stories about to scare him. It's scary that we live in a world where other people are our greatest threat.

I knew that I had to act fast. The man reached down for me and I punched the air, a burst of fire flying from my fist causing him to move backwards. Normally, this wouldn't have stopped an Equalist but he was probably tired from fighting my parents for so long. I jumped to my feet and dashed towards a small, open window. I could hear the man coming after me as I pushed myself up with the windowsill and squeezed through the window. I was about half way through when I felt a large hand wrap around my ankle and pull hard. I held on to the window, but my leg was aching. I tried desperately to kick free, but the man was too strong. I let go with one hand and slashed the man across the face with my knife. He yelled stumbled backwards. I'd slashed through his mask and blood tricked down from his wounds. The knife had cut from his left eyebrow across his face to his chin. I dove through the window, hitting the ground, hard.

I didn't have time to stop. The man was angry and, through the window, I could see he was already making his way to the front of the house. I scrambled to my feet and took off into the forest. He didn't have time to get to me. It wasn't long before I was hidden in the trees. But I didn't stop. I had to get as far away from the village as possible. The sound of screaming, the distant glow of burning buildings, the images of my mother and father being stuffed into tanks, it was all unbearable. There was too much fire for the rain to put out. It was everywhere, destroying everything.

The rain and tears made it hard to see and I jumped at every crack of thunder, but I kept going. I ignored the fact that I was tripping over tree roots and slipping in the mud. I ignored that I was too tired and hungry. I ignored my aching legs. I just had to get away. I had to run until it wasn't real, until I woke up.

But I didn't. I ran and ran and ran. And when I had to stop doing that I walked and walked and walked. I kept following the stream like dad said. The Fire Nation Capital would take weeks to get to on foot. I wasn't sure if I'd even survive that long. But I knew I had to try. I owed it to my parents.

It had been hours and the chaos from the village had died down. I had gotten too far to see anything, but I assumed that rain had put out all the fire and the Equalists were long gone by now. I was very tired at this point, so I don't remember much of what happened. The rain had started lighting up and I'd stopped crying, but I kept going. Even when every inch of my body was sore and tired and I stumbled over my own feet, I forced myself to continue.

I don't know exactly when I collapsed. All I remember is waking up very confused. Subconsciously, I had hoped that this was all a dream, and that I'd wake up in my bed with my dad in the next room and my mom cooking breakfast. When I woke up on the damp grass, alone in the forest by the stream, I didn't understand where I was at first. I stood and looked around the small clearing that I was in, hoping that there was someone familiar nearby. And then, I remembered my burning village, my imprisoned friend, my mother, my father.

It wasn't as if I'd never been angry before, but I felt a type of anger that I'd never experienced. Rage. Fury. I was both taken aback and overcome by my sudden anger at the Equalists, at their anonymous leader, at myself for not being able to protect my parents. I was so angry that it was almost unbearable. It built up inside of me until I couldn't take it. I punched out my fists in every direction, setting fire to several nearby trees. Out of breathe, I watched as the flames devoured one of the trees, swallowing the trunk and dissolving the leaves. I'd never done that kind of firebending, but I knew it was common amongst our people to fuel our fire with anger. It was just what my father had wanted me to stay away from.

I looked around at all the destruction I had caused. Luckily, the fire wasn't spreading to the rest of the forest because the burning trees where smaller and more towards the center of the clearing, but they had been completely destroyed. My fire was not light or life. My fire was only destruction. My father would've been ashamed. I fell to my knees slamming my fists against the ground. Tears began to trickledown my cheeks. I could feel the heat from the fire all around me. I brought my hands to my face and started sobbing into them.

I had no will to stand, to keep going, to move at all. I couldn't survive without my parents. I couldn't fight like them. I wasn't strong like them. If I was, I would've stayed and fought a long side them. We would've been taken together. We should've been taken together. I should be with them. I should- I stopped myself. I promised my parents that I would find them, and in order to do that I needed to keep going.

I forced myself eat a small piece of bread from my satchel and I splashed my face with water from the stream. My legs were still sore from the previous night, but I had a long journey ahead of me and couldn't waste any time. I silently reminded myself of dad's instructions. Follow the stream. Go to the Harbor City. Find Tao. I took a deep breath and started walking again.

The weeks that followed were a blur. I spent another few days in the forest before I found a small village. I was able to rest for a night and find a ride to another village a few miles away. This is how I lived for awhile, hopping from village to village, spending all the money mom had given me on carriage rides. I was lucky, in a way. Everyone was so eager to help the poor girl whose parents had been taken by the Equalists. It was easy for me to find food and shelter. Many of the small villages reminded me of my own and I couldn't help but wonder if they were the next Equalists's next targets.

Almost three weeks passed before I reached the city. The closest place to a city I'd ever been too was Ember Island, and they only difference between the villages and Ember Island where that it was wealthier and more densely populated. The city was overwhelming. The streets were filled with people and shops and street venders. Everywhere was crowded and everywhere was loud. It was so different from the life I was used to that it was almost intimidating.

Tao wasn't really hard to find. He knew my dad because he was a firebender and a childhood friend of my parents who left the village before I was born. He lived with his wife Lan and their son Jing, another firebender, above his studio where he taught sword fighting. It was hard to convince him, but once he found out who my dad was he agreed to let me stay with them.

A year has passed and the Equalist raids continue. So many villages like my own, in the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom, have been completely wiped out and a lot of soldiers have been sent to protect the Water Tribes. Now, there are even reports of the Equalists in the city. Tao stopped working and we have to live off the things we can steal, or else we might draw too much attention to ourselves. It's more dangerous now for bender's than it's ever been, but, I know that this world has been through a lot worse and that there are people out there who can still save the benders who have been taken, like the Avatar, like the Fire Lord, like me. I know my parents are out there I will find them. I owe them that.

A/N: And that concludes Chapter 1. So, please review and stuff. And stay tuned for chapter 2.