Return of the Blue Flame
AN: Hi! HeyThereItsMe here, posting this for my BFF Marissa… Who is an ATLA fanatic, by the way. We'll be co-writing this story.
There will be many canon characters in this story, which isn't something we do often… So let us know if someone's OOC or something.
Reviews are welcome!
We don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender, it's characters, worlds, or anything else.
Honest. We don't.
Chapter One
"Avatar Aang is alive. I can feel it."
"Well the spirits obviously don't believe so."
The little girl sat before them, playing with her toys, giggling the whole time.
"Well what do we do? We can't let the Fire Nation know she's alive... They won't have mercy on her."
Avatar Aurora sat on the floor, the conversation of the two adults going over her head.
This small girl had been born with her mother's skills of waterbending, even though she was born into the Fire Nation. Her father had told her at an extremely young age that she wasn't allowed to waterbend in the village; that it was too dangerous. Little Aurora then shocked her parents by going out and, having nothing else to do, learned the difficult art of firebending.
"I know what you mean, Hana. We can't let them find out about her..."
Hana's dark blue eyes looked over the little girl in front of them and took in every detail. The unique blonde hair that fell straight down to her middle-back. The clear, water-blue eyes that sparkled as she picked up a small doll. The pale pink lips that broke into a smile so often that you would have thought the small child was always happy. She was four... Only four...
"What are we going to do Kei? We can't keep her locked up all her life!"
"I know that! Just... Give me a minute to think."
The father paced the room with his amber eyes narrowed in thought. The mother bent down and smiled at the little girl who offered up her doll for her to play with.
A few moments later, Hana stood up and Kei smiled.
"What if you both go to the Northern Water Tribe? You'd both be safe there!"
"But Kei..."
"You should go, I mean it Hana." The man's voice was firm but in a this-is-for-your-own-good way.
The woman sighed. "Okay."
She picked up the little girl who smiled and giggled as her mom bounced her and her blonde hair swung around her shoulders.
"What do you think, Aurora? You wanna go to the Northern Water Tribe with me?"
"Yeah!" The little girl giggled with delight. The dad smiled as someone came into their small house.
The man who came in had short dark hair and amber eyes. He was tall and broad shouldered with an anxious look on his face.
"Kei," he said in a deep and booming voice. "Men are storming the village. We're trying to get everyone out but we don't have enough time!"
Kei nodded and began to walk out with him, but he turned in the doorway. "Hana, you and Aurora get out of here." Then he walked out.
The little girl looked at her mom, her smile gone.
"Mommy, what's going on?" she asked in a small voice.
"Nothing," said Hana as she made her way toward the back door and opened it. "We're going to the Northern Water-"
She stopped as she looked outside and saw the fire blazing right outside their backdoor. The brilliant colors were blinding orange and red, giving the sky above a murderous red glow. Black smoke and ash was suffocating Hana and Aurora. Hana set down the small child and did a few swift and fluid motions and water streamed out of the house in a large wave. It put out a piece of the fire long enough and small enough for her to push Aurora through. After that the fire roared back to life.
"Mom!" Aurora tried to break back through the flames.
"Go Aurora! Go and hide! I'll be there soon!" With that, she turned back into the house.
Aurora hesitated and then turned toward the trees. She ran through the tall, dark, and intimidating trees and hid behind a particularly large one and sat down.
After about an hour, she looked around the tree and walked back toward the village. The sky was dark, but she'd played in these woods several times and expertly maneuvered through the underbrush. She froze as she reached her house. Or, what was left at least.
All around her was ash. Black and crumbling ash. The wood that held her house up had crumbled in on itself. She slowly crossed the threshold and passed it. She walked through the rest of the village and saw the same result everywhere she went. Burned wood and crumbled buildings. The smell of death filled her nostrils and she refused to go further. Instead, she went back to her house, sat down on the top of the crumpled mound, and cried.
The Next Morning
Ursa carefully moved through the trees and saw the black all around. Several of the guards and volunteers had come with her. Ozai was supposed to observe the clean-up, but other issues had come up. So she had come clean-up began on-time and she decided to look at some of the other houses.
She was walking through some trees when she heard it. A small sound. She moved through the trees and the sound grew louder. A whimpering like an animal or something crying. The trees thinned and she saw it. A small girl with an odd hair color that was streaked with ash. She was very little and sat on a giant pile of rubble, hugging her knees and crying.
Ursa walked up to her and bent down.
"Are you all right?" she asked in a quiet voice. The small girl shook her head from side to side. "What's your name?"
The girl looked up with clear blue eyes that had red whites from so much crying.
"Aurora," she replied in a shaky voice.
Ursa smiled kindly. "Do you know what happened?"
Aurora nodded and told the woman what happened. As she rattled off the tale, Ursa listened intently. When the story was over, the woman's amber eyes twinkled and she picked up the girl, covered in black soot, and carried her back toward the rest of the village. The small child was so exhausted that she fell asleep on her shoulder.
Even as Ursa rode back to the Fire Nation palace, the girl didn't wake up. She walked through the halls and carried the little girl all the way. Young Prince Zuko ran up to her and frowned at the girl in his mom's arms. He tugged on her sleeve and and Ursa smiled down at him and put a single finger to her lips. The boy nodded and walked off ahead of her to open a door. His mother gave him a grateful smile and walked inside. The boy put his ear to the door when it closed as his sister walked up.
"What are you doing?" she asked, narrowing her amber eyes.
"Mom brought in a little girl from that village she went to clean-up!"
"What?" Azula knelt next to her brother and put her ear to the door. They could barely make out some of the words.
"But Ozai! She was the only one left! She doesn't have anywhere else to go!"
"I don't care Ursa! She's not our responsibility!"
Azula smiled and Zuko seemed worried.
"I'm not asking your permission Ozai! I'm telling you that this girl is going to stay here!"
Ozai said a few inaudible words and both the children strained to hear more. However, the rest of the conversation was in hushed whispers. After a few minutes, the door opened and the brother and sister scrambled out of the way as their mother walked out with the little girl, smiling. Azula and Zuko ran to catch up.
"She's not staying, is she?" asked Azula the same time as Zuko said, "She is staying, isn't she?"
Ursa smiled. "She's staying. But shh, she's still asleep."
"Still? How could a normal human being sleep through so much?" asked Azula and Zuko frowned at her.
"Her whole village was burned down! What do you think Azula?" snapped her brother.
"I think she's weird and that she doesn't belong here," she commented back with a hint of pride. "Only the royal family and servants live here. So that must make her a servant!"
"Does not!"
"Does, too!"
"Shh," said their mother as she opened a door to a room. She set the little girl on the bed and covered her with a blanket. "She's staying, now let her rest."
With that, the mother walked out with her two children.