hello everyone! this is my first public fanfiction and the first one I'm hoping to finish! later on it will be zutara, but I'm afraid there won't be any of that for a few chapters at least. the story will focus on mainly zuko, aang, and my oc keiko. all of this is subject to change, however. so please read and hopefully enjoy: The Becoming.

disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: the Last Airbender. I do own Keiko. I don't write for profit, only for fun!

Keiko leaned heavily on the tree branch and dragged her right leg forward.

'Breathe, Key, just in and out, in and out…'

She had to get away. The shrieks of terror and pain from her neighbors mingled with the cruel laughs of the fire benders and the destruction they were causing. She closed her eyes and tried to ignore it all.

'I tried, I really did try…"

Though her pace was slow, she managed to put a few more feet between herself and her once proud, now burning village. Blood dripped from her scalp into her eyes. They stung, but she paid it no mind. She had sustained many other, more serious, possibly life threatening injuries that night. She cursed when she realized the numbness that had previously only afflicted her right foot had spread up her calf stopping just below the knee.

'Only till the river… then I'll be safe."

The cry of a child almost made her turn around. Almost. A sob escaped her but still she did not stop her painful limp to safety.

'I should have left sooner. Then I would have enough energy to bend my way.'

The thought came into her head and would not leave. It came into her head like the one that had stuck her a few hours ago when she heard the news of the Fire Nation raid that was to occur at her own town: the thought to run, to flee the danger, and to save herself. At first she had ignored it, scoffed at such a cowardly act. However, time until the Fire Nation arrived shortened and her fear greatened. It was funny, she had never been afraid of fire before.

What would they say if they saw her now, her teachers, the village priestess, her brave father? How would they react when they discovered their bending prodigy, and their village's greatest hope had left their people, HER OWN people, to rot? They would spit on her, she thought. She would, if she was in their place.

Of course she had fought at first. When the fire nation came she threw all she had at them, which was very much indeed. For a time it seemed her fear left her and she lost herself in the vicious battle, sinking soldiers in quicksand, crushing their bodies with flying boulders, bending deep crevices in the earth from which many sons of the Fire Nation would never return. She created slabs of earth to carry the innocent townspeople to safety too. All the other able people who had not joined the official fight against the Fire Nation joined with her. Still, many were lost. These soldiers seemed to enjoy killing. It sickened her to think of them, and sickened her even more when she realized that she had enjoyed watching and feeling men suffer and die by her own hand.

Then she had come across him, a fire nation soldier who was obviously of a higher rank then most of the ones she had disposed of so far. They had engaged in battle and she soon had found herself overmatched. There was dust and smoke everywhere; she could hardly see. Then it came, a horrible light in the darkness, the flames that consumed her entire right side. In desperation, she pulled two chunks of her precious earth from around the man- no the monster- and crushed his body, feeling his life leave him through the element she controlled.

At that point she had felt the fear return, the absolute horror that would not subside before she had gotten lost in her glorious battle. She was in so much pain… and so tired. If she stood she would have died. So as quickly as she could, trying to ignore her pain, she fled under the cover of ashes and soot. When she came across a little boy crying, she asked him if he would like to go with her. When he would not stop crying, not stop attracting the attention of those monsters, she knocked him unconscious with a flying rock. He fell next to a burning building that was on the verge of collapse. She had moved on.

Before he left, her father told her that he was proud of her. That she was an exquisite bender and that he had raised a fine, beautiful daughter. He felt confident that she could and would defend the village in his absence. When she was a little older, if the war was still waging, he would send for her and her great skills would be put to use in the Earth Kingdom's army.

She almost laughed.

By then she had reached the river bank, still clutching the branch she used as a walking stick. She reached the small rowboat that she had once helped some of the children build for their adventuring. She was relieved that it was still there in what appeared to be working condition. With the last of her strength she bended the sand underneath in and pushed it into the river. Slowly she moved and fell into it, screaming out as her burns scraped against the rough wood. When the world stopped spinning and she was again able to breath, she took the small knife from her belt, reached behind her, and severed the rope that anchored the small craft to a nearby tree. She let her arms drop and closed her eyes, sighing with relief. She was safe at last.

It did not matter that innocent people were still suffering and dieing. It did not matter that they counted on her to protect them. It did not matter that she left them to die. It did not matter that she was a dirty coward and a failure. She was safe. She would not die today, not by a twisting, burning, maddening flame. Darkness took her as the river's swift current carried her out to sea.

When Keiko next awoke she found herself looking into the wide eyes of a boy with a blue arrow tattooed on his bald head.

That's it so far! what do you think? please review. I really need feedback. I also need a beta reader. Feel free to email me via the email address in my profile.