Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the last Airbender nor will I ever.
Chapter 1: Fire and Air
"What do you think you're doing?" came Katara's angry voice from behind Zuko.
"I'm meditating." He replied without moving.
"Well, stop meditating and help me clean up! These dishes aren't going to clean themselves you know!" Zuko sighed. There was no use arguing with her when she got like this and she always got like this whenever he was around.
"Do you think Sugar Queen is ever going to give Sparky a break?" asked Toph.
"Not likely, my sister can hold a grudge for a pretty long time," said Sokka. "but I thought that she would lay off a little after he helped free Suki and Dad from the Boiling Rock."
"Apparently not, speaking of which, where are your father and that other guy you brought back."
"I don't know. Hey, Suki!" Suki had just entered the circular space in the Western Air Temple. Sokka ran over to his girlfriend leaving Toph alone.
"Humph. I guess I'll go find Aang then." She got up stretched and began to wander the abandoned air temple.
This was a normal day in the air temple, where everyone pretended that everything was okay and that they didn't have to fight for their lives very soon.
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Why do things happen? Is life like dice that are thrown, never knowing what might come up? Or is everything already laid out just waiting for us to travel our predetermined path? Some people believe in destiny or fate. It makes them feel like there is some kind of stability in this crazy world. I personally believe you determine your own destiny. You may get handed the opportunity, but it is really up to you to decide whether to take it or not. Of course there are certain circumstances out of our control.
I sat on my bed staring at the last rays of the sun disappearing behind the city. I knew what I had to do, but that didn't make me any less afraid. I knew I had to leave soon but I couldn't help thinking about all the events that led to this point in my life.
After the firebenders chased the air nomads out of their temples, they regrouped underground. My people were the descendents of those surviving air nomads. Because we had little supplies, things like the birth of a child were always a risk. If the birth of a single child was a risk, so it can be assumed that twins were very dangerous indeed. Before my birth there had only been one other instance where twins had been born. When the twins were born their mother had not survived.
Fortunately my sister's and my birth went more smoothly. Everyone was suppressed and relieved. My mom named us Mimi and Kimi. We weren't identical twins. In fact we looked completely different. My sister, Mimi, had dark brown hair and gray eyes like our mother. I on the other hand had gold eyes like our father and my hair was a color nobody had ever seen. It was about the color of wet straw. I was also always noticeably taller than Mimi.
Our birth may have gone well, but that didn't mean we were healthy. My eyesight had always been fuzzy and the older I got, the worse it became. My eyesight, however, was nothing compared to my sister's condition. They said she had low blood sugar; if she didn't get enough protein than she would pass out. At first the air nomads tried to satisfy this disease without having to kill any innocent animals, but we soon discovered she couldn't survive without meat.
Another major difference between my sister and me was she was an airbender like mom, but I was a firebender like my father. It was very unusual for an airbender and a firebender to have children. Mostly because firebenders thought the air nomads were extinct. There was also the fact that most airbenders hated firebenders. We were told stories since we were young about how the wicked firebenders had tried to destroy our race; about how they had killed many of our ancestors and forced us into hiding. I was always told that my father was a horrible person and that he had seduced my mother. My mother told me a different story. She told me about how she had fallen in love with my dad.
Mom used to go to the entrance of the air nomads' hideout and stare at the boulder blocking the entrance to the outside world. She longed to be free, to see the sun and to feel the wind against her face.
One day as she stared at the boulder imagining how wonderful it would be if she could push it aside and step into the sun, the boulder actually moved. She jumped to her feet as she saw a man around her age pushing it aside. Then the man turned and looked at her she was terrified. His gold eyes stared back at her with surprise; apparently he hadn't been expecting to find anyone in this cave. He was dripping wet. Outside, my mother realized it was raining, something she had heard about but never actually seen. The man entered the cave and began to talk to my mom. He explained that he was an explorer and that he was trying to get out of the rain. My mom didn't know what she should or shouldn't tell this stranger. She ended up lying and saying that she was trying to get out of the rain as well.
That night my mom had to stay up at the entrance. She couldn't risk going deeper underground where the rest of the air nomads were hiding. The next day my mom spent with the stranger. For the first time, she experienced what the outside was like. She learned a lot about him. His name was Kitsuen and the more she got to know him the more my mom realized that he wasn't like the firebenders she was told about. Eventually my mom started to tell him about herself.
Every day she would sneak out to meet him. He told her about the outside world. She loved spending time with him, and soon they fell in love. Their happiness didn't last long. Soon the other air nomads found out. They kept my mother under constant watch and she never saw my father again. It wasn't until later when they realized she was pregnant.
The other air nomads wanted to get rid of me ever since they realized I was a firebender, like my father. Of course my mom wouldn't let them take me, but because everyone was taught to hate firebenders I couldn't make friends. The only people who accepted me were my mom and sister. That was just fine with me.
One day, when I was seven, I asked mom if she wanted help cooking the fish that we had received for Mimi. Mom showed me how to skewer the fish, how to place them over the fire, and how to turn them so that all sides could get cooked. She was having trouble keeping the fire going so I helped her. I was determined to show the other air benders that fire wasn't just destruction; it could be more than that.
I started to make the fire hotter so that the fish would be done soon. I wanted to show my mom how helpful I could be. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. I lost control of the fire. The fire turned white for two seconds and then exploded. After that time seemed to speed up. I saw my mom lying on the floor, badly burned. Some of the older air nomads rushed over to see what had happened. The doctor was there and started to treat my mom's burns at once. Throughout this ordeal all I could do was sit there dumbfounded while I tried to take in everything that was happening.
When the doctor was finally done with her, I ran to my mom.
"I'm so sorry!" I said over and over again. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry" Tears ran down my face. My sister was there as well, but all I could do was cry and think that the air nomads were right. Fire was nothing but destruction. I was nothing but a monster. I heard my mother trying to reassure me, to tell me it wasn't my fault, but it was.
The next few days went by uneventfully. The other nomads brought us food and the doctor came by every day to check on mom. My mom and Mimi didn't blame me but everyone else seemed to, even me.
On the fourth day after the incident, mom died. I remember the moment when I realized that she wouldn't be coming back. She would never smile or tell me everything would be alright. That night I cried harder then I had ever cried in my life. I never thought that my life could get any worse, but I was wrong. Everything went down hill from there.
The next day some of the elders came to where Mimi and I were sleeping. They grabbed me by my arms and said that I was a demon, a monster, and many other things. I couldn't really hear what they said. I was still upset about mom's death. Before I knew it I was out of our underground hideout. When they pushed the boulder back in front of the entrance to our underground home, it finally hit me; I would never go back. This must be punishment for what I had done to my mother. My eyes filled up with tears again. I curled up into a ball and cried.
A/N: There are no blond people in the Avatar universe. Have you ever noticed? I think everyone has either brown or black hair. In case anyone wants to know Kimi means egg yolk, Mimi means ear and Kitsuen means smoking. (In Japanese) The names aren't significant to the characters personality; I just liked them.