Basically, it's taking the Avatar world and characters and bringing them into a semi-modernized version of the avatarverse. The animals are still chimeras and bending is still a big part of the story. No high school drama here :) But now, on to the story.

Have fun.

Notes:

"Speaking"

'Quote'

'Thinking'

Emphasis

Heading

Prologue

Long ago, in the time of the Avatar, benders ruled the Earth. Their spirit-given gifts allowed them to keep peace and balance in the world, with the Avatar acting as their watchful overseer. The world prospered and the Four Great Nations lived together in peace. But it was not to last.

Yakone, a power-hungry waterbender from

Farnorth, discovered an ancient and forgotten art known as bloodbending and set out to conquer the world, killing or recruiting anyone who stood in his way. Even the Avatar was powerless to stop him.

But Yakone had not accounted for the power of the spirits. The moon spirit Tui, disgusted with the misuse of her gifts, shaped a man of ice and light named Amon to combat Yakone and remove the curse that bending had now become from the face of the world. Amon was successful and bending was erased along with the line of Avatars.

500 years have passed and mankind has soldiered on, with the gift of bending forgotten by most, but not by all…

Chapter One

Leaving, Hiding and Disgruntled Amnesiacs

"Aang! Aang, wake up!" Aang grumbled and turned over, only partially woken by the rough shaking he was experiencing. He was reluctant to leave this particular recurring dream. He was flying, not like a balloon or a zeppelin, but like a bird, free and completely in control.

"Aang, this is no time for messing around! Wake up!" Aang bolted up, gasping slightly. "Wha…? Gyatso?" But the elderly monk was already pulling him out of bed. "Get dressed, quickly. We have to go." Aang's eyes widened. "Go? Gyatso, what?" "Aang, there isn't time to argue, now get some clothes on!" Aang wordlessly complied. He wasn't sure what was going on, but he knew he didn't like it.

While Aang got dressed, Gyatso threw clothes and some essential provisions into two duffel bags. He made sure he wasn't forgetting anything essential before nodding as though in confirmation and grabbing his staff from the wall. "Come, we have to leave before they arrive."

Aang stared at him uncomprehendingly. "What's going on? Why do we have to leave? Where are we going? What…?" But Gyatso shook his head and placed his hand on his student's shoulder. "I wish there were time to explain, but there isn't. We have to leave here before we're found. Now, follow me. I'll explain on the way." Aang, unsettled by the serious mood of his usually jovial and laid back teacher, nodded. Whatever Gyatso was talking about, it was obviously important. Questions could wait until later.

"Good. Follow me." Aang wordlessly walked down the hall. Little did he know it would be the last time he saw the Southern Air Temple.

WEFA

"Zuko, get out of here!"

Zuko bolted up in his bed and instinctually brought his hand to his face. He sighed in relief; his skin was as smooth as ever.

He saw the sun filtering through the window and groaned. He knew from experience that as soon as the sun was up, he didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of falling back asleep.

Tentatively, Zuko slipped his feet onto the floor and stood up to stretch, wincing at a few sharp pains. He'd have to change his bandages. He glanced over at his uncle, who was also blinking slowly into wakefulness on the other side of the room. "Good morning." Iroh yawned. Zuko nodded back. "I'm gonna go get some breakfast." Iroh acknowledged him with a wave and stretched as his nephew pulled on a shirt and walked into the small kitchen. He pulled open the refrigerator and took out a jug of milk, before grabbing a box of cereal out of the small cabinet above the stove along with a bowl and spoon.

Iroh sauntered into the room soon after. He grabbed the cereal box and proceeded to pour himself a bowl, humming all the while. Zuko looked up at his uncle expectantly. "So… what do we do now?" Iroh chewed contemplatively for a moment before swallowing. His brow furrowed slightly.

"For the moment, I think we should stay here. Our hosts are well connected, they should be able to keep us hidden for the time being." Zuko frowned. He'd never been one to leave a problem alone. "Uncle, shouldn't we take this to the police?" Iroh sighed and turned a slightly exasperated look on Zuko.

"Nephew, we've been over this. Talking to the authorities would accomplish nothing. Even if they did believe us, which they almost definitely wouldn't, our simple existence could cause an international incident. Not only that, but my brother has several powerful friends on the force. It's more than likely they are searching for us in the first place and if so, I'd rather avoid meeting them." Zuko glared at the table as though it had done him a grievous wrong. Sometimes, he hated his uncle's wisdom, but that didn't make it any less true. He bolted up, fists steaming slightly.

"I just hate hiding out while my father is roaming free! I feel useless! What's he even trying to accomplish? We don't know!" Iroh calmly swallowed his cereal before getting up and placing a calming hand on his nephew's shoulder. "Zuko, I know this is hard for you, but right now the best thing we can do is to stay hidden. We won't do anyone any good by running around like headless chicken-pigs." Zuko breathed out some smoke, but otherwise seemed relaxed. He sat down and kept eating.

Iroh looked on thoughtfully, considering this latest outburst. He had not known his nephew very well before his abilities had developed, but he had seemed like a good-natured kid: reasonable, if a bit brash. Now, his temper was always on the edge. It was probably just the strain of recent events, but even so…

He filed the thought away for later contemplation. There was no use in pondering these things with so little knowledge to draw on.

WEFA

"Hello, Mai." The girl in question looked over the shining metal table at the strangely cheery man and felt like she wanted to be sick. Of course, she always felt like that, but it was practically a given considering the orange jumpsuit she was in; she fucking hated orange. What's more, the light was shining in her face and the food here sucked.

"This is the third time you've fished for some big reason I'm so weird. Aren't you bored yet?" Dr. Makos' smile vanished and he tilted his head, as though contemplating her reaction before writing something down. He looked at Mai over his glasses and frowned a bit. "Mai, considering the reasons you're in here, I hardly think this is a joking matter. Two people are dead because of you and you can't remember a thing about it. People don't get this way for no good reason."

Mai frowned at that. For a psychiatrist, this guy was pretty blunt. "If there is a reason, it's lost on me." She turned her gaze up to the ceiling and slouched in her seat, appearing perfectly bored with the whole situation. Dr. Makos raised his eyebrow in annoyance. This clearly wasn't the reaction he was hoping for.

"Well, I think we should go through the exercises again." Mai almost groaned. 'Well, that's just fucking great.'

WEFA

Sokka growled slightly as he once again failed to get his combination right. Barely a week at this school and he was already screwing up. Perfect.

The hallway was quickly emptying of people as they ran off to class. A cry of "See ya, cutie!" marked the boisterous passing of Ty Lee. Before he knew it, it was just him and a few other kids who obviously had no intention of going to class in the first place. He frowned and tried another combination of numbers. This time, he was rewarded with a barely audible *click*. He smirked at the small victory. He wouldn't be allowed to savor it, though. He barely had time to grab his stuff before the air around him split with sound.

RIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!

Now he was late for class. 'Great. Mom is gonna kill me.' He took off down the hall at top speed, stray paper falling behind him as he went.

Yeah, so I lied. I wasn't planning to work on this story until I'd gotten farther into Conflux, but I had a bunch of ideas and I just had to write the beginning out. I'm not going to abandon Conflux or anything, but I do think I'm going to try working on both of my stories.