Disclaimer: I don't own ATLAB :(

Stranger Danger

Chapter 1

His home was in flames, flames so high they reached the skies. He broke down to the ground. Tears streaming down his face. Were his parents inside? Did they get out in time? He looked around but he didn't see his mother or father. They were gone and he knew it.

"Did you hear me?" Those words brought Longshot back. He looked around and saw the faces of his friends then back at Jet. He shook his head. Longshot had been thinking a lot about the day his village burned down and about his family, but he didn't know why. He tried to push the memories to the back of his mind. He looked up and saw that the sun was setting and it was beginning to get dark in the small town they had arrived in a few hours ago.

"You and Nami will get the money. Try to draw the least bit of attention. The rest of us will be on the rooftops if anything goes wrong," Jet said in a hushed tone. Longshot looked at Nami. Her brown hair fell in her face as it always did, shielding her features. She looked back at him with her bright blue eyes. He nodded.

"Great," Jet said. "Smellerbee, Wang, come with me." They left, leaving Longshot and Nami in the alley alone.

"The carriage is coming," Nami whispered as she looked over the wall. Longshot looked over her shoulder and saw a wooden carriage being pulled by a dragon moose and a fire nation soldier pulling the reins. They hid in the shadows as the carriage passed the alley. Longshot got his bow and readied an arrow. He aimed and shot it at one of the wheels, causing the wheel to stop moving. Longshot gave a small smile at his accomplishment. They watched as the fire nation soldier stopped the carriage. Longshot and Nami ran to the other side and hid behind the carriage.

"How did this happen?" the soldier said. Longshot felt a tap on his shoulder and he looked at Nami. She motioned him to follow her into the carriage. They entered and shut the small door behind them. It was dark. Longshot couldn't even see his own hand in front of him.

"Let's just get it and go," he could hear Nami whisper. As if on cue the carriage lit up. Longshot looked around and his eyes widened. There were three fire nation soldiers in the carriage, one of them with fire in his hands. Longshot's eyes caught sight of four brown sacks.

"Now, just what is it that your going to take," one of them asked. Longshot squinted his eyes, glaring at the soldiers.

"It surely can't be the money," another said sarcastically. Nami looked at her friend as she reached for her water container. She gave him a small nod. Longshot looked at the soldier closest to him and punched him in the face, knocking him unconscious. He heard the sound of splashing water and the light went out, and soon everything was still.

"Longshot," Nami whispered. Longshot followed the sound of her voice until they crashed into each other. She grabbed his hand as he regained his balance. Longshot guided her in the dark towards the sacks of money. They each grabbed two bags and opened the door. From the little light the moon gave, Longshot could see the soldiers, two unconscious and the other frozen in ice. He closed the door and as soon as Longshot thought they were in the clear, the universe stepped in a proved him wrong.

"What are you kids doing?" the fire nation soldier who had been managing the reins asked.

Uh-oh, Longshot thought as he and Nami began running away, the soldier pursuing them. Longshot felt the adrenaline rush through his veins, causing him to run faster. They turned the corner and ran in the streets. He saw a stand full of green leafy spheres and pulled on it to get it in the way of the soldier. Longshot looked behind him and saw the man blow up the stand with fire.

"My cabbages!" a man yelled. Longshot looked at Nami who was laughing and he couldn't help but smile himself. This was the life of a freedom fighter. The wind in your face as you ran because you stole something, causing trouble. It was the life Longshot missed.

They made a left and their running decreased a bit. He looked at the sacks of money they were carrying and threw both of his onto a rooftop. He watched as Nami did the same and soon they began running faster.

Where is Jet? He thought.

"There!" Nami shouted pointing towards a roof as if reading Longshot's mind. There he saw Jet running and jumping from roof to roof.

Jet made eye contact with Longshot.

Longshot looked at Nami. Split up. Nami understood and nodded her head. They were coming to the end of the road and they split up. Longshot going left and Nami going right. He slowed down his running and looked over his shoulder. A dirt wall rose from the ground and the soldier ran straight into it. The wall lowered into the dirt and the soldier face planted into the ground, unconscious. Longshot gave a sigh of relief and went over to the body. Soon he was joined by all of his other friends. He looked up at Jet and saw that he was holding the four sacks of money.

"That was pretty intense," Wang said. Longshot looked at him. Wang looked similar to Jet except his skin was lighter and his eyes were a deep green. He was the earth bender that stopped the soldier and that made Longshot glad he joined the group.

"That's the life of a freedom fighter," Jet said with a smile on his face. "Now let's get rid of these worthless fire nation."

Jet grabbed one of the soldier's arms and Longshot grabbed the other and they began dragging him to the carriage. They reached the wooden carriage and hoisted the body inside. Smellerbee grabbed his legs and threw them completely inside. She closed the door and slapped the dragon moose. They watched as the carriage strolled away into the woods.

"Way to go," Smellerbee said to Longshot and Nami, but mostly to Nami. "You weren't supposed to draw attention." Smellerbee was glaring at her now. The both of them didn't get along very well and Longshot noticed, but he knew why. Smellerbee used to be the only girl in the freedom fighters. Sure there were other girls that came along, but she was always the toughest, and then Nami came along. They were both evenly matched, both tough, but Smellerbee saw her as a threat.

Longshot looked at Nami and saw that she was glaring back. "At least I helped with something. Where were you when we were being chased?" Nami said through her teeth.

Longshot looked at Wang then at Jet as they all stood there in awkward silence as Smellerbee and Nami glared at each other.

"Um, well, it doesn't matter anyway. We got the money," Wang said.

Jet nodded his head. "He's right. That's all that matters. Now lets go get a room to stay in for the night."

Jet and Wang began walking and Smellerbee followed, leaving Longshot and Nami behind. Longshot put a hand on her shoulder and she looked at him. Her face was red with anger. "I don't get it. I never did anything to make her hate me so much."

It's okay. She'll get used to you. Just give it some time.

Nami sighed and blew her bangs out of her face, but they stayed put. "You're probably right."

Longshot raised an eyebrow. Nami rolled her eyes and laughed. This made Longshot smile. They began walking and caught up to the others as they entered an inn.

"Good evening," a woman in a green robe said with a cheerful smile. "How many rooms?"

"Just one," Jet smiled.

The woman's eyes widened. "All of you in one room?" Jet nodded. The woman came from behind the desk.

"Please, follow me." All five of them followed the woman into a hallway. She stopped by a door.

"This is your room. Have a nice night," she said and smiled. Jet reached into one of the sacks and pulled out a silver piece and handed it to her.

"Thanks," he said as they entered. The room was small but big enough to fit all of the freedom fighters. Longshot opened the closet and grabbed the extra pillows and blankets and set them on the floor in the middle of the room.

Jet took off his shirt and boots and laid them by his hooked swords. "We give the money back to the people and leave early in the morning."

All of them nodded in understanding. They stripped their unneeded clothing and laid on the floor and blew out the candles that lit up the room.

Longshot laid there, thinking. He thought about his family: his mother's smile, his fathers laugh. He pictured what his baby brother would have looked like, but it got too painful to think about. He shook his head trying to shake the thoughts out of his mind. Then he just laid there, still as a statue, staring into darkness, until his eye finally closed.

Hey everyone:) It's me with another story. It took me forever to think up a new plot and then I thought of one. I hope you guys like this chapter even though nothing really happened. The plot will come up either in the second chapter or the third. Not sure yet. I hope I'm not writing too much. If I am just tell me!:) Any questions/advice/ideas? Review:D Thanks! I'm terrible at summaries so if any of you want to help me out fill free to message me or something!:) So um yeah.

Marsh-mellows

~Elisa