Standard Disclaimer: I don't own anything in this story aside from my own original characters and concepts. Avatar: The Last Airbender and all of its characters are property of Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I own nothing and make nothing from this work.

Summary: Takes place shortly after The Boiling Rock, Part 2. Ever wonder what happened to Mai and Ty Lee during Sozin's Comet? Prison escapes, chimera monsters, freakish firebenders, secret takeovers, dragons, sibling rivalries, and evil spirits. It's all here.

The story will center around Mai and Ty Lee's days as Sozin's comet approaches. It will be an AU story but will stay as close to cannon as possible for the first part of the story before turning AU.

Enjoy!

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

The sound of the water droplets falling from the stone ceiling to the cold stone floor echoed loudly in the otherwise silent room. The tiny room was very bleak and dim, cold and unfeeling. It's only source of light came from a pair of torches that flickered from outside the strong steel bars.

A man hung limply from the ceiling inside the prison cell. His feet just grazed the floor and his wrists were bound tightly by firm steel bonds that were connected to the chains that hung from the ceiling. His wrists had been rubbed raw from where the bonds held him.

The man was silent, swinging back and forth on the chains slowly. His right eye was closed peacefully while the left was covered by an eye patch of black leather. His face was rough and unshaven, the result of years of being a captive in a Fire Nation prison cell. His hair was ragged and dirty, clumps of blood and filth ruining the otherwise fine black hair. His build was similar to a cat; lithe, almost skinny, and covered in muscle.

His clothes were little more than rags, stained with dirt, blood, and other unmentionables. His shirt was completely gone, leaving the faint scars that littered his chest and back to been seen. His pants were, thankfully, intact around his waist and groin but the right leg of the pants was missing from the knee down. He wore no shoes and his feet were covered in calluses.

Oddly enough, despite the man's appearance and surroundings a calm, almost serene, smile rested on the man's face. He wasn't worried. The prison guards mouths were far too lose to keep 

anything a secret since the Avatar's return. More importantly than that, though, he knew of the escape of a certain prisoner.

Footsteps. Someone was coming. His single eye snapped open, displaying a sharp silver color that was alien to his nation. He dangled from the ceiling as his smile was replaced with a smirk. Who would come to see him this time? His brother? Or perhaps his father again?

The steel door before him opened and two teenage girls were hurled inside, both bound in thick ropes. The two Fire Nation guards slammed the doors immediately afterwards and moments later he heard the outer door slam shut as well.

The man looked down at two faces that had aged quite a bit since he had last seen them; two faces that he'd never expected to see again.

"Mai, Ty Lee…well, this is unexpected."

Citizen Grimm is proud to present

Avatar: Doomsday

Chapter 1: Kurosaka (a.k.a. Where You Go to Rot)

Both girls eyes widened, though the first girl hid in much better. The other one, Ty Lee, was no where nearly as subtle.

"…Raijin? You're alive! What are you doing here?" The newly named Raijin raised an eyebrow at her and shrugged.

"You know, just hanging around." Mai groaned from the floor.

"Shut up," Raijin grinned good naturedly. "I've been waiting for someone to ask me that question for years. How'd you know it was me anyway?"

The pink clad girl smiled at him. "I've never seen anyone else with silver eyes." The chained man nodded in understanding.

The gothic girl glared up at him. "How long have you been here, Raijin? We thought you died when we still children. Razeial announced it to us himself."

Raijin's lone eye narrowed as his voice became cold. "Ah, my dear older brother. How has he been lately? I haven't seen him for quite some time."

Ty Lee spoke before Mai could, already beginning to free herself from her binds. "He's the Fire Lord's Supreme Guard now!"

The eye was little more than a slit now. "Is that so? How heartwarming to see that he's become the personal lap dog of Ozai."

With a delighted cry, Ty Lee freed herself from the ropes that bound her and immediately moved to help Mai. As soon as she was free Ty Lee moved onto Raijin's chains while Mai questioned him. "You never answered my question. Why aren't you dead, why are you here, and what exactly happened to you?" she gestured to his state of dress…or lack thereof.

"Well first off, I've been in prison for years now; I'll take whatever clothes I can get. Anyway, due to my father's meddling, I was changed into the Fire Nation's number one threat to the Fire Lord. I still held that rank until a few months ago when the avatar replaced me." He shrugged lightly in his chains. "'least I lost my title to someone with potential."

Ty Lee finally picked the locks and Raijin dropped to the ground. He stumbled a bit, obviously a bit weak and tired. He steadied himself against a wall for a moment before standing alone. He looked over at the grinning acrobat. "Thanks,"

The girl waved him off. "No problem, Rai!"

Mai continued to glare at him. "You haven't given us a solid answer yet."

Raijin flexed and rotated him arms for a moment before answering, wincing as loud pops were emitted from the joints. "When I was a kid my dad performed some experiments on my brother and I. He claimed to have found something that he called the 'essence of a bender.'"

Raijin scratched the back of his head. "I still have no clue what he was talking about there but I know that he injected some kind of blue liquid into me when I was around three. He said it was the 'essence' of a waterbender."

"What do you mean by essence?" Mai asked. Raijin shrugged and scratched at his face.

"Beats me. I just know that's what he called it. And no, I don't have any idea where he got it either."

Mai's glared softened as Ty Lee gazed at him strangely. "What'd it do to you?"

Raijin scowled darkly. "It took away my ability to firebend."

Ty Lee and Mai both look at him in surprise. Mai asked, "Then why are you a threat to the Fire Lord if you can't even firebend? I remember you were good with swords but not enough to be considered a serious threat to Fire Lord Ozai."

"Hey!" Raijin snapped. "I was more than good with swords! I was one of the best sword wielder's in the whole Fire Nation and I was barely a teenager!" The two girls gazed at him with identical dry looks. "Oh, shut up. When you're in prison you defend whatever honor you've got left as much as you can." The man sighed softly. "Anyway, as I got older that liquid started to do something to my body. That's why I got this," he pointed up at his eye patch.

"The liquid ate out your eye or something?" Mai asked in her familiar monotone, though there was an undertow of curiosity in it. Ty Lee looked up at the patch nervously.

Raijin gave a short chuckle. "Something like that," he lifted up the patch to show them.

In the place of his left eye was a solid black orb. It's surface was segmented so that the visible area looked much like the top of a diamond. It gazed out at them lifelessly, their images reflecting off of it like a mirror. Mai's eye widened and Ty Lee openly trembled. "Your own father did that to you?"

Raijin frowned at pulled the patch back down. "Yeah. My brother didn't anything like this though so I don't think he meant to this on purpose. He got what father called the Flame of Agni. It was some weird looking golden fire. Anyway, that's what has made him so powerful."

"I'm still failing to see why you are here?" Mai asked, already over the freakish eye.

Raijin smirked at her and shook his shaggy head. "Always so impatient, Mai. Too bad Zuzu isn't here to take your mind off things."

Raijin didn't even have time to react to the slap.

With a grimace, he leaned back against a wall and rubbed at his reddened cheek. "Hmm…not exactly the angry rebuttal I expected. Something finally happen between the two of you, eh?" With a sigh, he straightened from the wall and formally bowed to her. "Sorry about that Mai. Old habits die hard, you know?"

Mai lifted her head upwards as a sign of acceptance of his apology. "Just tell us why you're here." She spoke in her usually bored monotone, but there was a certain harshness to it.

Raijin nodded. "I'm here because when this little crystal thing formed from my eye, I gained something to replace my firebending."

"Oooohhh," Ty Lee intoned. "What is it?"

Mai looked at him sharply. "Yes, what is it?"

Raijin shook his head. "You're starting to sound like Azula used to Mai." For some reason both girls smirked slightly at that. Raijin continued, "I've become the anti-flame basically. I gained the ability to absorb the heat around me, especially fire."

Ty Lee's jaw went slack as Mai cut to the point. "I see now. No firebender can touch you. If they can't firebend and with your swordsmanship abilities…I take it this is why you're not being held at the Boiling Rock?"

Raijin nodded, his filth covered bangs covering his silver eye momentarily. "That's right. It's kind of hard to use boiling water to imprison a guy who can freeze it solid within seconds. Plus, I can do a little bit more than just freezing stuff…but it's kind of irrelevant now." He looked over at his fellow prisoners. "So, how'd you two get in here instead of the Boiling Rock? Better yet, why are you two in jail at all?"

Ty Lee looked around the small cell. "Where is here exactly?"

Raijin grinned sadly and panned his arm around the room. "Welcome to Kurosaka (Black Hill) Prison ladies." The grin dropped from his face and his voice hardened. "Now since I've already told you my story, perhaps you two can tell me why you're here?"

Ty Lee scratched the back of her head, embarrassed. Mai looked at him in her typical bored gaze. "It's a long story…lots of things have been happening lately."

Raijin dropped to the floor and leaned back against a wall. "Well then, start telling ladies. Trust me; we've got a good amount of time to kill…"

And so tell they did.

"Well," Ty Lee began, "It all started back when Azula made us help here to track down the avatar and Zuko."

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

An hour later Raijin stared at the two girls, absentmindedly scratching his head. "So let me get this straight…you," he nodded towards Mai "and Zuzu finally hooked up…only for him to leave you to betray the entire Fire Nation...after being welcomed home with open arms by Ozai."

Mai glared but Ty Lee gave him an exuberant nod of confirmation. He continued on.

"So Zuko leaves to help the Avatar defeat his father and overthrow his own nation but gets captured trying to break someone out of the Boiling Rock. Then, Mai confronts him and watches him escape from the Boiling Rock – something that has never been done before – with her uncle held hostage and several freed prisoners. And when Azula and you," he pointed at Ty Lee, "Are attempting to stop them, Mai allows them to escape. Have I got it so far?"

Ty Lee nodded happily and clapped her hands together. Mai simply rolled her eyes.

"So then Azula, pissed as usual, is about to flame broil Mai when Ty Lee paralyzes the royal pain in my ass from behind and she sends both of you here."

"Thank you for repeating our story back to us." Mai droned.

Raijin shrugged. "Just making sure I've got all the facts down. And I believe something is in order,"

Raijin swept over and lifted Ty Lee into a hug with a cry of joy. The pink girl look shocked at first but quickly hugged the prisoner back.

Mai rolled her eyes at the display. "What's got you so happy?"

Raijin shot her mischievous grin as he set the acrobat back on her feet. "There are only five people on this planet that know I'm trapped here. My brother, my father, Ozai, and Azula are four of those five. Next time she shows up to try and seduce me into being her muscle I've got more ammo to shoot her down with."

Ty Lee giggled. "She still likes you then?"

Raijin shivered and nodded. "That girl creeps me out like no other."

A heavy pounding sounded on the steel door of the room. A guard's voice rang out from the other side. "Oi! Cero! You best be getting ready for you trip to the Pit today, boy. The Baron's cooked up a real treat for you this time. Oh, and your little friends get to join you too!"

Ty Lee looked over at Raijin. "Who's Cero?" The man shook his head.

"I'll tell you later. Right now, I need you two to get me back into my chains. The guards'll be coming in here in any minute and I don't want them being suspicious about anything."

"Why come in here?" Mai asked with a bit of curiosity breaking through her bland demeanor. "And what's 'the Pit?'"

Raijin sighed as Ty Lee latched his left arm back into the chains. "Unfortunately you'll find out yourself. Just cooperate with the guards until we get there, okay? I need both of you to trust me."

Seconds later, his right arm was in place and Raijin once again hung from the ceiling. Not a minute later several guards armed with swords and spears entered the cell and released Raijin from the ceiling. He hit the floor feet first and immediately dropped to his knees. The guards had none of it and dragged him back to his feet, telling him to "march!"

Mai and Ty Lee were soon forced to follow him. It was then that something suddenly dawned on Mai. "You never told us who else knew about you being here."

Raijin spared a glance back at them and received a rough shove for his troubles. "What?"

"You only told us four people who know that you're here. You said there were five who knew. Who is the fifth person then?"

Raijin gave them a wide, toothy smile that looked vastly out of place, given his ragged appearance.

"General Iroh knows that I'm here." He whispered.

Well, first chapter's done. Not a lot of action but it is necessary to set up a background for Raijin first. Don't worry though; the action is on its way.

Explanations about...

Raijin: He originally started out as a very minor character that would help the girls get out of prison. When I first tried to write him, he simply took over the story and planted an entirely different storyline in my head.

Kurosaka: I created Kurosaka because I felt that The Boiling Rock prison seemed far too soft. Kurosaka is a secret prison so it can do whatever it wishes to its inmates. The Boiling Rock is where famous criminals are sent so the public can feel safer. Kurosaka is where the serious, extremely dangerous prisoners go when the Fire Nation wants them to disappear. Kurosaka translates to Black Hill in Japanese.

Please review and tell me what you think!