Disclaimer- I don't own A:TLA

A/N- Well, this is one of my new stories. It's a modern day AU with bending because that's kind of the whole story. Rating will go up. This is the prologue.

Enjoy!

Prologue

As Katara walked to class, she felt something hit her head. It made a clunking noise as it hit the ground, so she figured it was an empty can. If this had happened a week ago, she would have guessed that it was an accident. But it wasn't a week ago. It was now, so she knew that had been done on purpose.

Last week, benders were publicly announced as enemies of the government. The government said that benders would take over the government and force those who were non-benders into slavery. So now, all benders were ridiculed branded. And if were a prodigy or a master, you were locked up. And Katara was one of them.

Katara hadn't been branded though, because she wasn't considered a threat, but people still knew she was a bender, so the tormented her. Katara had always known she was a bender, but she had considered it special, not a crime.

Now, because of that announcement, nobody liked her anymore. Her own brother wouldn't even look at her.

&&&&&

"I'm sorry Twinkle Toes, I just can't do it," Toph told her new friend sadly.

Toph and Aang had met three weeks ago, just two weeks before the announcement. They had run into each other on the sidewalk, started talking, and became friends. But what had really drawn them to each other was that they found out that they were both benders.

"Toph, they'll find out eventually. Just get it over with," Aang said tried to coax her sweetly.

"But what if they reject me?" she asked him, 'looking' him in the eyes.

"They're your parents Toph. They won't reject you," he tried explaining to her.

"But what if they do? Then what will I do? Where would I go?" she asked, getting upset, tears springing in her eyes.

"Shh, shh, it'll be okay," Aang said, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "Look, if that does happen, which it won't, you can come live with me and Gyotso. Don't worry about it."

Toph turned her head upwards toward him. "Really?"

"Of course Toph. I'll always be here for you."

A small smile appeared on her lips. "Thanks Twinkle Toes."

They pulled out of their embrace, but Aang kept one hand on her shoulder. "Look, if it'll help you at all, I'll go with you."

"No, no, I can do this on my own," Toph said bravely.

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I'm going to tell my parents I'm a bender right now," she said as she walked into the next room where her parents were. Aang waited outside the door for her, to make sure everything was alright.

&&&&&

Zuko couldn't believe what was happening. He was being taken to get branded as a bender! He hadn't even known he was a bender until they had ordered that stupid search of his school for them and they found out. The only reason he was even being branded was because his father was a big business leader and the government wanted to know of all the benders who even were close to anyone with power. He could hear his sister's screams as she was being branded, much to his father's dismay.

Could life get any worse? He thought to himself.

A/N- Well, what do you think? I'm only going to post the next chapter if I get at least two good reviews. That's all I'm asking for people!

Thanks for reading!