Hey guys
So, this is my first Avatar fic, and its Zutara, obviously ;P
In this story, Zuko was never tasked with capturing the Avatar, though he was still banished and stuff of course, and Uncle Iroh wasn't allowed to go with him, sadly :(
I hope you enjoy it!
"Oh, thank La!" Sokka exclaimed in happiness at the sight of the town in the distance.
They'd been travelling for days, on their way to the city of Ba Sing Se. Their food sources were diminished, and even Toph was sick of the endless sand.
Katara sighed in relief, desperate to feel cool water around her hands. She and Aang had managed to draw small amounts of water from the earth and the air, but it only ever enough for them to drink.
Aang looked just about ready to pour on the speed and run to the hulk of buildings, but they didn't know if this village was occupied by the fire nation or not.
"I can't feel any of them from here," Toph said, trying to reassure them.
Willing to try their luck, they headed towards the town with new strength, the taste of food already on their tongues.
The town was a cluster of stone buildings, obviously risen with earthbending. There were shop fronts along the main streets, and people walked through the narrow alleyways to gather food and other supplies at the market. A large well stood in the centre of the town square, and a man was pulling a crank to raise a bucket full of water to the top for a boy who looked to be only a little bit younger than Aang and Toph.
Just as Toph had said, Katara couldn't see a single Fire Nation soldier. At the entrance to the main street, there was a billboard, covered in wanted posters and other notices from the Earth Kingdom.
None of the posters had Aang's face on them, thankfully.
"Who's that?" Katara inquired, staring at the picture of a person in a blue mask. The mask was terrifying, depicting a blue man with a wicked, fanged smile.
"They call him the Blue Spirit," A new voice replied, and Katara and her friends whirled to face a rugged looking man. His hair was a shock of brown on top of his head, hanging above grass-green eyes. "Some people think he's just a myth, no one hardly ever see him. People can't agree on whether he's a hero or a menace, so there he is." He gestured at the wanted poster.
"Why do people think he's a menace?" Aang said.
The man shrugged. "Well, he fought off the fire nation, but some shops have complained that someone'd come along and nicked their vegetable or cuts of meat and then blamed it on the Blue Spirit. And thugs are found almost every week, tied up or knocked unconscious. All of them said a man in a blue mask had attacked them."
Katara frowned, glancing at her brother. This guy fought against the Fire Nation, maybe he could help them.
Aang asked the man if there was a hotel they could stay at, and he pointed to a big building a few doors down on the main street.
"That Blue Spirit guy sounds interesting," Toph said, following them into the hotel.
Sokka asked the woman at the front desk for a room, receiving a card in exchange for five coins.
"Aang," Katara walked in step next to the Avatar. "Sokka and I were thinking that maybe that guy could help us."
Aang frowned. "Katara, they're even sure if he exists or not."
"He exists," Katara insisted. "They have his picture, and he fought off the Fire Nation.
"Well, if you guys can find him, be sure to ask him for me." Aang said tiredly, opening the door to their room.
They'd spent almost all day laying on the beds, cherishing the feel of the soft mattresses beneath them.
Katara longed to go waterbend at the well, but knew that to do so would draw unwanted attention. She'd planned to go out at night, when the village was asleep.
Waiting till she certain her friends were asleep, she slipped through the window and into the night.
The square was eerie and cold without the bustle of the townspeople, but Katara was free to do what she wanted. She quickly dashed to the well, drawing water from its depths.
Twirling the water through the air, Katara was about to freeze it midair when a movement caught her eye.
Reacting fast, she froze the water into daggers and flung them at the corner of one of the alleys.
Calm down Katara, there's nothing there, she told herself. You're just paranoid.
She saw something on the roof behind her, but by the time she'd turned around it was gone.
"Hello?" Katara said to the darkness.
She thought it was probably just a bird or something; no human could be that fast and totally silent, except maybe Aang.
"Is someone there?"
Maybe it's the Blue Spirit, she wondered, but then dismissed the idea. No one had seen the spirit in ages, according to the villager, there was absolutely no chance she'd see him the first night of her stay.
She pulled more water from the well, ready to attack.
A black-clad figure stealthily ran along the roof in front of her, and Katara hurled the water at it. When the wave receded, the figure had disappeared without a trace. No thud of their landing on the other side of the building, no saturated footprints as they retreated.
As if a spirit had vanished into thin air.
The Blue Spirit had heard the Water Tribe girl talking about him earlier that day, and had decided to pay her a visit when he saw her in the town square while he was on his nightly patrol.
What she was doing out at night in a town like this, he wasn't sure, but when he saw her bend the town's water supply, he was sure she could defend herself.
He heard her talking to the young boy with the arrow tattoos.
The Avatar that the Fire Lord had sent him to capture all those years ago.
And he had refused, resulting in his banishment.
But now the Blue Spirit wanted to do everything in his power to defeat his so-called father. If the Avatar asked him to help, he would.
He watched the waterbender practice her bending, before deciding to show himself.
The Blue Spirit ran along the roof, giving her just enough information to believe that he existed; if she did, she would come back. When she threw her water at him, he quickly slid off the roof and out of sight, starting to run back to his 'home'.
He lived in a cave on a cliff face that led into a deep and sparsely vegetated ravine. Though the valley wasn't farther than a few kilometers from the town, no one came down here. There was nothing for them.
The only signs of his inhabitance of the ravine was the occasional scorch mark on the rocks. Though he didn't use his bending in combat-it would give him away to his father- he still trained in secret, learning techniques from other benders.
The Water Tribe girl ad given him some good ideas, but he'd have to try them out later.
He went to town every night, but with the girl there he hadn't been able to refill his water-skins. With a sigh, the Blue Spirit sat down heavily on his bedroll. He took off the mask and ran a hand through his thick black hair.
He would need more food soon as well, and as horrible as stealing made him feel, he didn't have any other choice. His father had at least let him have the basic necessities when he was banished, but he'd ripped most of his clothes and had no way of fixing them.
Having one small mouthful of the little water he had left, using the rest to wash his face. If there was one advantage to living near the town, it was the easily accessible food and water, but now he would have to travel to the small creek that run deep down in the ravine.
It had to be only a few hours till dawn, so Zuko decided to get in a few hours of sleep before he set off to get more water.
Slipping under his blanket, willing his inner fire to keep him warm in the cool night air, he drifted off to sleep, hoping that for once the horrible dreams would leave him alone.
Katara sprinted back to the hotel, climbing in the window.
Ready to crawl into the bed and act like nothing had happened, she heard a small cough, turning to find Toph staring at her expectantly.
She cursed herself, Toph would've felt her vibrations as she ran.
"Where have you been?"
Katara sighed, knowing that it was useless lying to Toph. "I wanted to practice my bending."
The blind earthbender didn't ask why, but instead raised an eyebrow. "Who was the other person with you?"
"Other person?" All Katara could think of was the figure on the roof. How long had Toph been waiting for her to come back.
"Yeah," Toph said. "Felt him running off that way," She indicated to the east. "Guy's footsteps were almost as light as Twinkletoes'."
Katara sat down on the bed. "I don't know who it was."
Though she still couldn't shake the suspicion.
When she and Toph went back to sleep, Katara almost expected to the gleaming smile of the Blue Spirit looking in from the window.
I promise chapters will usually be longer than this :D
Hope you guys liked it! Please R&R