Intro- This is the first chapter of my Avatar the Last Air bender fan fiction, Blue Spirit Legacy. Takes place some fifty years or so after the show after republic city would have been around for a while. That should suffice for intro though, other than that all I have to say is "Enjoy".

Chapter -1

His eyes groggily opened to the warmth of the sun through thin blinds made of cheap cloth. The people in the next room were already up and were as usual yelling in the attempt to quiet their children while they ate breakfast. This was unfortunately a common wake up call for Jian, but he took the cue regardless and got out of bed to get ready for the day. He reached under the bed and took a key out of a hole dug into the side of one of his beds legs, and walked across the room.

Jian washed his face in with water from a small basin he left on the counters built in the apartment style room which were starting to become very popular in republic city. He opened up the far left cupboard underneath the counters and pulled out some bread and a little bit of dried meat. For a moment he remembered his home in the water tribe where he could always keep meat fresh due to the temperature. His musing was short and he reached in again to pull out a cup.

Jian poured out some room temperature water out of a larger jug next to the basin. He noticed it was only about a quarter full. He made note to fill it after work. Next he reached for the key on the counter and put it into a slot in the cupboard to the right of the one he previously took food from. This time he reached in and chose a smaller 6 inch blade from an assortment of smaller knives and swords neatly organized on a wooden rack. He grabbed the bread loaf with one hand and with the other made two swift movements with the other, cutting off two slices. He reached into the same cupboard and used a rag to wipe the blade off before returning it to its place, shutting and locking the door.

He sat down and quickly at the simple meal at the table in the middle of the room. Being that he couldn't go to work in his currently underdressed state he took a pair of clean enough shirt and pants from under his bed. It wasn't to cold outside but when you got near the docks it could chill you fast if you weren't properly dressed. Knowing this he pulled a thicker earth colored over tunic. His overall appearance now was very much the same at the over tunic, his pants and shirt were also an earthy though lighter shade of tan. Working at a dockyard did not require a fancy appearance.

Now that he was ready, Jian went out the door locking it as it closed, and went downstairs to street level. Before leaving he stopped at the message boxes at the front of the apartment building. There was nothing inside, which meant that only Lee got to work today making for a boring day overall.

Outside the city was bustling with the morning setting in and all form of vendors opening up shop. The city had not started as such a metropolis but over 50 years many had moved in and transformed it into a town like no other in any of the five nations.

It really did have its beautiful parts, Jian thought to himself as he passed the large park that was on the way to the docks. This pleasant thought was shortly interrupted by the uglier side of the big city. In front of a food vendor three men were talking to the obviously uncomfortable owner. The older gentleman went inside and came back with money in hand. After the man handed it to the men, one in the middle made a threatening gesture with his hand and a little fire appeared. The owner flinched and the gangsters got a laugh as they walked away.

Jian couldn't help but stare at them in disgust, hoping on some level that the next letter he got had their names on it. But for now he was running later than usual and quickened his pace a bit to get a jump on the day's work.

It was a pretty slow day at work and only a few ships made port that day. Jian mostly just unloaded boxes and other cargo from incoming ships, and occasionally helped with minor repairs. It was simple work, far to simple for a man of his skill. It paid for food though and made little attention for himself. At the end of the day he could walk away with money in hand with no questions asked as long as his work was done.

When it neared evening they were done for the day, a little earlier than usual so Jian would have time to run errands if he needed to. He went to the office to collect the daily wage from his employer.

"Here you go Lee, see you tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Mr. Chan"

Lee wasn't his real name but it was what he responded to outside his brothers. Not that anone knew who he really was in the first place, but if something were to happen it would be more difficult to track a Mr. Lee. There were perhaps a few Jians in this part of town, but no matter where you went; there were a million Lees.

Money in pocket 'Lee' went back toward his home. He Stopped at a vendor to get some more bread and a little bit of fresh fish for tonight's dinner (his thoughts this morning had left him craving it). After a few minuets he passed through the threshold of the building and went over to check his message box again. This time he saw a small white sealed piece of paper inside. Excitedly Jian quickly snatched the letter from within the box and took it upstairs to his room.

The fish and bread are left at the door as Jian sits down at the table in the room and opens the letter and read it.

-Dear Mr. Tai

I am requesting the services of your cleaning company, Rublic City Cleaning to come by my house tonight to prepare it for a party I am hosting tomorrow. There will not be many people in the house so you should have no problem working around them. Please take care not to disturb my guard's though they have been a bit touchy as of late. The house is at the end of Crane Street on Kin row. I would ask that you make haste on this request as today is the only real window to clean house.

My Regards

-Xioa Fang

It would seem as though the letter was addressed to the wrong person but Jian got the message just fine. There was only one way to tell for sure that this letter was not in fact just a case of mixing addresses. He went over to a small metal stove in the corner and lit the logs within. He held the letter over the small flame within.

A picture started to appear over the letters slowly as the invisible inks pattern began to emerge. It was the mask of the blue spirit, and a very good day for Jian. He went and got the key from under his bed post again and unlocked all the drawers beneath his counter. As they swung open you could see all manner of weapons within, the legacy made sure that their agents were well prepared for any contingency. He chose some of the smaller blades out of the drawer from the morning, as well as one medium sized blade for sword to sword combat.

Then he got out his specialty weapons from a cupboard filled with odd looking devices. The only ones of real use to him were small stealthy water pouches that he could strap to his wrists. He could only use them about once apiece, but once was often enough to 'clean house' as the letter had said, and clean house he would.

Xioa Fang was a notorious gang leader in the eastern part of the town, though the thugs from this morning were likely not his, he had many just like them under his command. Recently he had gone too far and burned down three of the businesses who refused to pay his protection fees, and apparently this had pushed him to the top of the Legacy's list.

The Legacy of the Blue Spirit, is who sent out the messages, though Jian knew there were very few agents who chose their own targets. The Legacy was started in the idea of the old stories of the masked warrior the blue spirit in the younger days of the Avatar Ang. The legends say that on a few occasions he rescued Ang from death letting him restore balance by defeating the old Fire Nation. The Legacy only sought to do the same in a more silent way, restoring balance where the Avatar was not.

Men like Fang were the reason Jian joined the Legacy and his disgust with the swarm of thugs and villains in this city kept him waiting every day for letters like these so he could continue to take them out of the picture. And now he was ready for the current mission, his tools and clothes laid out on the counter, but night would not fall for a few hours and the house was not so far away.

Jian went into the far left cupboard and took out a pan putting it on the already lit stove to warm up. He went to the door and got the fish out and started preparing it while he locked up the wooden weapon vaults again. Fresh fish and another gangster off the street, today was a good day. In fact, he would even say it was a day to kill for.

The moon was high in the sky as Jian got outside Fang's house. His crimes let the man live well. The home was not a mansion but certainly better than anyone he extorted from lived in. The lights were out for the most part making it easy for Jian to sneak up to the house and get in through a window. This put him toward the entrance of the house in a hallway, he looked into the two doors in front of him one was a guest room and the other was being used by either family or a servant, Jian was careful not to wake them.

He moved down the hallway carful to listen for the guard's while not making a sound himself. As he went he looked in a few of the rooms none of which were grand enough to be the master of the houses'. Finally he peeked around a corner to see lamps lit at the end of the hall way and a man standing outside the door. There was another hallway at the corner past the room but no windows or other indirect to get past the guard into the room. Though there were likely windows outside Fang's room he was on the second floor of the house and climbing was not his forte.

Jian did have a trick or few up his sleeve though. He bent a small amount of water out of his pouch and leaned around the corner just ever so slightly. He put out his hand and flicked his wrist sending a small shard of ice hurling past the guard to the end of the hallway. It made a light but sharp shattering sound and the guard who was more or less sleeping standing up shook awake and made his way over to look for whatever had made the sound.

Taking advantage of the guard's carelessness, Jian silently dashed past the lit lamps up to the guard's back and bent some water into his hand. In one fluid motion he disabled the guard's arms and froze water over the mans mouth. The guard tried to struggle for about a minute but shortly passed out. Jian thought this mercy unnecessary but the Legacy had its rules, and Fang was the only target.

Jian was about to move on to Fang's door when he heard a sound coming from the hallway he had just come from. Footsteps. He picked up the guard again and checked in a room down the hall before laying him down again within the empty guest space. That taken care of Jian took post at the corner waiting to see who came down the hall.

Another man with a sword came down the hall and looked at the space where the last guard stood puzzled for a moment. He heard the man utter something

"Dammit Sanzen can't you stay at your post for just one whole night?"

Then he walked off in the opposite direction, presumable looking for his fellow guard whose name was apparently Sanzen, and was also going to be knocked out likely until the sun rose. Jian waited untill the sound of footsteps disappeared again down the other hall and crept into the surprisingly plain room of his target.

He had expected some higher level of extravagance from a man like Fang but other than a few statues and a few pieces of expensive furniture the room was fairly sparse. His bed was directly across from the door, and Jian silently stepped closer and closer to the sleeping figure of the gangster. Now He stood directly over the man and was able to confirm that it was the correct man. Fang had a distinguishing face and a drawing of him had been in the news before on charges which he ended up not being arrested for, likely paying off the police in charge.

Now that the target was confirmed Jian bent another handful of water out of his pouch and moved his hand slowly over the man's face. Just as the water touched Fang's face he jolted awake and let out a muffled yell before Jian silenced it with ice. The sound was jolting enough that others might hear; unfortunately this meant that Jian could not relish the time it took for Fang to suffocate in his prison of ice. He pulled out one of his smaller blades from his side and held it to the gangster's neck; his eyes were frantic with fear.

Jian somewhat relished this next part as he had only had two hits before that were awake when they died. Keeping the knife entirely still above Fang's throat he leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"I think this punishment is fitting for your crimes Fang, only by removing scum like you can we return balance to this city. "

Time still being of the essence he left his speech at this, knowing that it was wasted on evil men like Fang anyways. Still leaned in he quickly slit Fang's throat and he began to bleed as the life left his eyes in a matter of moments. Satisfied that the man was beyond help he made his way to the door when it started to open on its own.

The guard from before entered the door slightly before speaking.

" Mr. Fang I thought I heard a sound from outside, are you okay?"

Complete silence within the room.

"Mr. Fang?"

The guard began cautiously walking toward the bed, curious about his employer. Damn, Jian had not expected the guard to be so overly vigilant. Under the bed, Jian began to crawl back away from the side of the bed that Fang's corpse now lay. As the guard stood over his master Jian began to slowly get up on the other side of the bed. Just as the guard gasped in horror at the bloody mess of a man below him, Jian took his chance and sprang up to attack. He opened the larger water pouches on his arms and bent out a barrage of small ice shards into the man's body. Jian was fairly precise in their direction and nearly everyone went into a vital part of the body.

Jian had sent one of the shards into the vocal cords and sliced it, so all the man could do as he died was let out a raspy breath as he grasped his own throat to try and stop if only one of his wounds from bleeding out. The guard fell slowly to the ground and settled into a pool of his own blood. Now it was time to get out of here before Jian encountered anymore unexpected guests, he had already killed one non-target which was bad enough for him to receive a warning in his next letter.

Retracing his path Jian stepped silently, his still bloody knife at the ready just in case. Crawling out the window he had successfully made it out of the house with no extra trouble. Now he would go home, and tomorrow he would go back to being Mr. Lee, hiding the way the Legacy had found most effective. Right in plain sight.

This is the end of Chapter 1. This is sort of a concept story and Jian would not be the main character of the series. It would go more into the legacy's leaders and a more charismatic and self-led character with a bit more interesting past. Tell me if you're interested in reading more of this story. Ill likely still write chapter two anyways as part of novel November but to continue on this particular project the project would have to have mild interest.

P.S. Please do not hesitate to tell me about any spelling/grammatical errors. I do my best but I have a tendency to auto correct with my eyes. I will do my best to go back and fix those errors that are not intentional.