So you think you know Avatar? The story you know is nothing more than the abridged version of a much more epic tale, spanning much more time than the six months the show condensed it into. This is the true tale of the avatar, unabridged and uncensored. This is the tale you were never told. This is the journey of a lifetime. Welcome to Avatar: The Legend of Aang
Oh yeah, I own nothing but the original elements of my plotline. And Lee. I claim ownership of him even if he won't appear til Earth I still claim him.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Book 1 - Water
Chapter 1 - The Boy in the Iceberg
Water. Earth. Fire. Air. My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days; a time of peace. When the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, only he could stop the ruthless firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Five years ago my father and the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after our tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that, somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world.
Date: April 19th 1398 96 years since start of war
Location: Bei Fong Estate - Gaoling
"Isn't there anything you can do?" The words of her father echoed down the hallway and into her finely attuned ears. "Surely there's something! You're one of the finest doctors on the continent. There has to be something you can do to cure her" She frowns, whether it is in disappointment at the fact the doctor can do nothing for her or something else all together she does not know. She rises shakily from her place on the floor, her finely made shoes making a small sound on the stone surface. "I'll pay anything, even if there's only a small chance anything is better than this" Her fingers find the wall and she follows it, slowly making her way to where she knows her father is.
"Daddy?" It's late, she should have been asleep hours ago but since time holds no true meaning in her sightless world so she is unaware of how long it has been since her governess ushered her into her room and told her to put herself to bed.
"Toph, what are you doing up at this hour? You should be asleep"
He won't be happy if she tells him she had only come out so as to hear him better so her young mind quickly comes up with a suitable lie "I heard a noise Daddy"
Her father sighs. Things like this happen fairly often. His daughter will be awakened from her slumber by one thing or another and will be unable to find the source of said noise because of her disability leading to her becoming frightened and seeking him out. For now it was not too much of a problem. But later, when she became older and was expected to carry out her duties as a woman of the great and noble house of Beifong, it would affect her actions and abilities terribly. And that in turn would reflect upon him and his wife, potentially destroying their high position in society. For all these reasons and more he had been seeking out doctors from all over the country yet all of them had told him the same thing 'There is nothing I can do to cure her'. But they did not understand. How could they understand? Did they have a daughter that from the moment she was born had been cursed with a world of perpetual darkness? Did they know what it felt like to see her try to eat independently yet still continuously make a mess of herself for the simple fact that she could not see what she was doing? Did they know what it felt like to see her stumble and fall, to see her sightless eyes staring ahead, unfocused, day after day after day. Did they know how helpless it made him feel? To know that she would never be able to take care of herself? No. They knew nothing.
Again he sighs before moving across the room and picking up his daughter. He glances briefly at the doctor "We will continue this discussion in the morning, my daughter requires rest and I fear she will not get it if I am not able to be there when she needs me" As he walks to his daughters room he notes that she is still wearing her shoes and decides he will be having a talk with whomever it is he is currently paying to take care of his daughter on a regular basis.
Four year old Toph Bei Fong merely curls up in her father's arms and breaths deep, taking in his scent. It is not often her father will take her back to her room himself and she has learned to treasure every moment either of her parents pay attention to her themselves instead of ordering someone else to do so. Her mind begins to drift, lulled by the warmth of her father, the scent of his shirt and the rhythm of his heartbeat. She is asleep before they reach the room.
Date: November 3rd 1406 102 Years since start of war
Location: South Pole
The young hunter watched the water intently, his eyes never straying from his prey. "It's not getting away from me this time" he muttered drawing back his spear and staring even more intently at the water, if such a thing were possible. Smiling he glanced back at his sister, who was riding at the back of the boat. "Watch as learn Katara" he boasted turning back to the water and readying his spear for the umpteenth time that day "This is how you catch a fish"
Katara looked sceptical at best or entirely disbelieving at worst. It was just like her brother to brag about something like this. She glanced down at the water herself and spotted a small dark shadow moving not too far from the boat. Not daring to take her eyes off the nearby fish she took off her warm glove and, taking a deep breath, she began to bend the water. Her movements were shaky at best but it still didn't take her long to remove a bubble of water containing the fish from the vast ocean they floated upon. "Sokka! Look!" She grinned at the bubble she kept in the air with the now much more confident movements of her arms.
"Shh. Katara, you're gonna scare it away" whispered an oblivious Sokka as he waited for the fish Katara now held in the air to swim by him yet again. "Mmmmm. I can already smell it cookin'"
"But Sokka!" Katara said, now trying to manoeuvre her bubble above the basket used to store the day's catch, "I caught one!" Ever so slowly and carefully she tried to get it directly above the basket, her arm movements were unconfident but still steadier than they had been originally. She moved it a little too far forward when Sokka pulled back his spear ready to strike at an imaginary fish in the water. "Hey!"
"Ahh! Why is it that every time you play with magic water I get soaked?" asked Sokka angrily turning to face his sister and clenching his sopping gloved hands into fists
"It's not magic. It's waterbending and it's-"
"Yeah, yeah. An ancient art, unique to our culture, blah, blah, blah" He reached up to squeeze the water out of his small ponytail "Look, I'm just saying that if I had weird powers I'd keep my weirdness to myself"
Katara crossed her arms and glared at her older brother "You're calling me weird?" She raised an eyebrow in amusement as her anger faded "I'm not the one who makes muscles at myself every time I see my reflection in the water" She grinned at him, the very grin that said she had won the battle of wits against him and there would be no opportunity for him to make a comeback and claim victory in this round.
Sokka on the other hand was busy being embarrassed at being caught in the act of his manly muscle admiration and pouting at his sister in mock hurt and fury of her teasing.
"You know we're gonna have to head back to the village now. Can't have you getting sick again just 'cos you were too stubborn to call it quits when you were wet"
"What!? No. We're finishing this fishing trip with fish. We need this food Katara"
"We may need the food but Sokka; we need to stay healthy as well. In case you've forgotten we used up the last of our medicine two winters ago and there haven't been any supply ships to provide us with more since before Dad and the others left to fight in the war. We're barely surviving as it is and that means that we, meaning you, can't go around wearing wet clothes and increasing the risk of catching the chill" She accented her final point by poking him hard and repeatedly in the chest. Sokka got the distinct feeling that, had he been wearing fewer layers, it would have hurt quite a bit.
"Fine. We'll go back and get some dry clothes. Just one fish first?" he grinned hopefully at his sister "I need to return with something if I want to keep my manly dignity"
Katara laughed, a welcome change from her previous mood "One fish it is. We wouldn't want to have you losing what tiny scraps of dignity you have left now can we?" she asked playfully elbowing him in the ribs
"Hey I-ahhh" Whatever Sokka was going to say was lost as the boat lurched in the water and was pulled into a fast moving rip in the water. Acting with a swiftness born from years of practise he grabbed the single paddle from the bottom of the boat and attempted in vain to push them out of the rip. All around them ice was moving, converging on the rip and shattering against each other. Already it was becoming harder to get the paddle in the water for all the ice fragments around them.
One small berg hit the side of the boat almost capsizing them; it was pure luck that prevented both siblings getting lots to the tides. "Watch out!" Katara had noticed the place where the glaciers neared each other was filled with large chunks of ice constantly smashing and grinding together, chunks that would crush them and their canoe without care or thought. "Go left! Go left!" Sokka struggled to control the boat and steer it to safety but it was all he could do to keep them upright, turning was fast leaving their list of options. More and more bergs crashed upon the canoe sending them crashing into more burgs and ripping a small hole in the side of the small boat.
Two bergs loomed either side of them and, making a spit second decision they jumped onto one of them, Sokka pausing in his jump only long enough to grab his fishing spear from where it rested on the bottom of the canoe.
That was part one of the first chapter of my Avatar story. I should be uploading the rest of the chapter in a few days. Reviews encourage me to work faster. The sooner I finish this story the sooner the Naruto fans will stop throwing sharp things at me for changing fandoms.