Hey there, my name is Nari Serpens, and thank you for taking the time to read this story. This is a crossover story between Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Lord of the Rings, as I'm sure you know. However there are some things that need to be cleared up first.

1: While the story is about some benders falling into Middle Earth it is important to note that they will not do this for several chapters I cannot say how many for sure but I expect that it will be around three or four. This is done to provide backstory that is quite essential to the narrative.

2: It is also important to say that I welcome constructive criticism with open arms, but any kind of review that is not telling me that I should quit is also fine, any questions you might have will be answered at the beginning of the next chapter, even if that answer is something along the lines of: "Wait and find out, it will be addressed later in the story."

Chapter 1: A Fire Once Started

Blaze Hurt thought that his weekend would be just an average sneak off to the Sanctuary and train with his friends. Blaze was a firebender living in a small city named Xiaofang Guize, but every week, Saturday through Monday, he would sneak off to a clearing in the woods. There he would meet his three best friends: Nancy Shou, Jack Hone, and Suzushi Kaze. Nancy was a waterbender from a small village next to the ocean, she too had to sneak out to come to the Sanctuary. Jack was a earthbender from a huge city overlooking a canyon, unlike his friends he was perfectly free to go wherever he wanted for however long, he joked that this was because his mom didn't care for him. But the truth was his mother was very busy all the time and as much as she loved him she knew he could look after himself. Suzushi or Suzi as her friends called her was obviously a airbender from a recently established monastery. At first she snuck out of the monastery but eventually the monks realized that her training with her friends was improving her skills and allowed her to continue, on several conditions. All four of them were nineteen years old.

Anyway Blaze had expected to go to train with them this morning but just as he was about to leave his father called him back. Blaze walked back to the kitchen where his father was sitting down with a strange look on his face.

"Son" he said in a business-like manner, "I've been wondering where you sneak off to every week."

"I…" Blaze started to say but his father cut him off.

"I've tried following you, having others try to track you down but your tracks vanish according to them"

"That's because…" again his father held up his hand for silence.

"But I have decided that it doesn't really matter where you go, it only matters that you don't today. Let me explain, these last few weeks our city has met together to discuss a growing problem, and I have become a major spokesperson in these debates. Today it is imperative that all of age men and women in this city be present to decide whether or not to accept the proposal that I have set forth. I'm sorry if this makes you late for whatever it is that you go and do over weekends but I need you there."

"I… I guess I can stay long enough for the vote. How long till it starts?"

"My speech begins in just over an hour, after that I will answer any final questions anyone has for me and then we will all vote. Should only take a couple hours."

"Ok, sure I'll come, then I'm leaving, this is very important too you know."

"Does it involve girls? Then I'd say you're right." His father joked and his mom looked over interested.

"No father it doesn't, well ok a little, well there's two girls but there is nothing romantic about it at all."

"Sure there isn't, anyway we need to leave soon so I'd better get ready I guess."

Blaze stood there for a second longer, there really wasn't any romance in his group but it didn't look like he was going to convince his father of that. Soon he and his parents left for the city square. Along the way he thought about what this might all be about. Something had to be very wrong for the entire city to be meeting together to discuss what to do about it. Xiaofang Guize had a council, but in bigger situations such as threats etc they would call the city together to vote. Blaze figured whatever it was he would side with his father's plan, after all he was his father. It was he who taught him how to firebend at first. The Hurt family was an old one, they had a tradition of passing down certain moves that their family had invented. Moves like the white whip, or the wall of fire, particularly difficult moves that were very painful if they landed. Soon they reached the city square and Blaze told his parents good luck, as his mother would be with his father while he gave his speech. Blaze went and sat down among the rest of the city people. They all seemed very tense. Blaze's father and mother along with a few others, supporters probably, walked onto the stage. When he began to talk Blaze realized what all this was about. It seemed that the "problem" what that in the aftermath of the war where the fire nation attacked the rest of the world, all the bending elements where once again considered equal. But it seemed that Blaze's father believed that fire was still the stronger element, and he had convinced the rest of the city of Xiaofang Guize of the same. Now he was calling for action, for the entire city to rise up as a holy army that would reset the world into the correct order. Firebenders, Earthbenders, Airbenders, Waterbenders, and finally nonbenders. He had plans for what jobs could be occupied by what kind of people. But the scariest part was that everyone seemed to treat every declaration he made about the way things should be had more truth in it then the laws of nature, and every piece of his plan he set forth was the best, most efficient, most worthy, plan anyone could conceive. All of this was due to his father's amazing oratory skills. Blaze had never heard a speech like it, but as good as his father's skills were it didn't change the fact that his father was wrong to suggest such a thing was right. It wasn't just untrue it was heresy. The very idea that one element could be greater than any others was plain evil. His father finished his speech and got a standing ovation, It seemed to Blaze that he was the only one in the entire city that was going to vote against his father's plan. This could not happen.

His father was taking questions now, every question posed to him was answered like he had rehearsed it. And none of the questions called him out of doing anything wrong the questions were all about how the army would be fed etc. Finally as the number of questions diminished Blaze began plucking up his courage to do what had to be done. Just as the questions finished up and the vote was about to be called Blaze raised his hand.

"My son you have a question?"

"Yes father: WHAT ARE YOU THINKING. There is a balance between the elements no one is greater than another. I can see that you do not see this and that I cannot convince you of it. Therefore, if you will insist on putting this plan of yours into action, then..." he had to work up his courage to do this: "then I CHALLENGE YOU TO AN AGNI KAI. If I win you have to give up this dream of yours, and it never is brought up again, without your leadership this rebellion is doomed. If you win, I will never try to stop you again, I can never join you but I will not stand in your way. What do you say?"

His father was speechless, he seemed shocked that his own son was not just against his cause, but willing to fight against his own father. But his son was going through much worse. He wasn't outraged or angry, he was sad. Sad that his father was going down a path that he had to oppose. But Blaze knew in his heart of hearts, that he had to fight his father, despite the pain it caused his soul. It hurt him to do this, he wished that there was another way to end this rebellion before it started, but there wasn't.

"I accept your challenge but you will find that I am more than a match for you." With that he swept away his podium from off the stand, and motioned for Blaze to join him. His mother and everyone else got off the podium as fast as they could while his father blasted away their chairs as they got up. Blaze stood at one end of the podium and his father stood at the other. They each took a stance, and his father launched the first attack, a normal fire blast attack, not very effective on its own but they could be launched rapid fire at an opponent. But Blaze had been training for over a year harder than anyone in his city. He dodged effortlessly and counterattacked. But even this attack hurt him to perform. He didn't want to attack his father, doing so hurt him worse than any attack his father could throw at him. Blaze had to dodge again as his father kept firing regular attacks, this time after landing Blaze launched a two handed attack, followed by two fire kick attacks. All three got extremely close to his father but none landed due to his father dodging them. And still Blaze was pained to be fighting his father, when he battled his friends he was always battling for fun, even if an accident happens and one of them got hurt Nancy knew how to heal with water, she was so good she had never left so much as a scar. But this was real, a battle till one combatant was severely burned. And this was a battle between father and son. Blaze loved his father, he had always been there for him. But now he was corrupted with a false idea, but it was still him.

Blaze was burned, not physically yet, though he knew that might come later, but he was torchered by having to fight his own father. He dodged another wave and spun close to the ground with his leg outstretched, this was intended to trip his father up so Blaze could finish quickly and as painlessly as possible, but his father anticipated the move and jumped launching several blasts that had to be dodged. Every time his father launched an attack, Blaze wanted to let it hit him, only the thought of how wrong his father was stopped him. Every time he threw an attack, he felt even worse and was torn between hoping it would land and hoping it would miss. His father landed but not perfectly, Blaze had seen this mistake in his skirmishes with his friends often enough to know how to exploit it. He fired two constant streams of fire, one at his father's head and one at his father's feet. His father was caught by surprise, he didn't have the time or stance to handle this, so he launched a quick blast at Blaze's hands and shielded his eyes. Both streams hit him but not for long enough to burn him. Blaze hadn't anticipated the move and was caught off guard, then his father decided to end the fight. He used one of the moves passed down in the Hurt family: the wall of fire. This move raised a, well, wall of fire in the middle of the stage, the flame was so dense no one could see through it. If blaze had been thinking straight he would have moved around so his father couldn't know where he was. But the blast to his hands, while not intense enough to burn, still hurt him both physically and mentally, and he wasn't fast enough. His father's next blast caught him in the face, though still not a burning blow to skin, his open eyes where a different story. Blaze quickly realized that for the moment at least, he couldn't see. But he could still hear. Growing up, he had always had good ears. And during his training sessions with his friends, they had all practiced fighting while blindfolded. This was a skill that he put into action now. The wall of fire died down, but when he saw his son's eyes he knew he had won.

He launched two rapid fire shots at his feet, and was surprised to behold that his son seemed to know they were coming. and sidestepped them. Blaze now knew where his father was. And now his earlier qualms about fighting his father were gone. By the rules of an Agni Kai blinding your opponent whether temporary or permanent, so long as it lasted for several minutes, was counted as a burn, thereby a win, But his father was still attacking, meaning that he didn't care and was going to continue. Blaze charged a very powerful attack often referred to as a firecomet. This was an attack that looked normal to the naked eye, save for its size because it was bigger than a man's head, but exploded on contact. But his father simply fired a more concentrated attack at it and it exploded prematurely. Then his father seemed to get an idea, and he put it into action. Blaze heard the move and despair filled his heart. It could only be one move: the white whip. This move was a intensified whip in fire only a centimeter in diameter jutting out from two of the user's fingers. this whip was so hot with concentration that it appeared white. Blaze knew that the move had been known to burn its way through steel swords in seconds, worse there was no way to dodge it forever, you either had to break the user's attention or block it with an equally intense heat, or cooling agent. And with his eyes blinded there was no way he could do either of those things. He screamed in pure tortured agony as the two streams of heat bored into his flesh, searing his skin. If his father had drawn the whips tighter he could easily killed him, and Blaze almost wanted him to, but all he could think about was the pain and torment. Finally after what seemed like eternity his father released him and he collapsed instantly. All his father then did was make a speech on how he was just the first who would oppose the cause, and suffer for it. But Blaze barely heard or understood any of that. And before his father had finished, he slipped into unconsciousness.

When he came to, he was in the exact same place he had passed out. No one had moved him to the hospital or anything. Suddenly he realized that if he was going to survive, he needed to leave this city, and he could only think of one place he could go. The Sanctuary. This he set out to do. But the moment he moved his body felt like it was on fire, and stopping only resulted in a slow cool down of the pain. But if this was his circumstance, he needed to work with it. He began to move, crawling his way towards the woods, inch by excruciating inch. This soon became his entire world, it was a bargain he made with the world, he was allowed to keep moving, and he endured constant torture for the privilege. But his only pain wasn't the agony of moving while his body screamed at him for mercy. No his true pain was the thought that still haunted him, his father had threatened the natural balance of the world, and in an effort to neutralize that threat he had gambled his chance to fight against it, and he had failed. And now he was struggling to move forward and try to reach the only place that would help him. Betrayal, remorse, despair, sadness, shame; all these things welled up inside him, and he had no one to express them to. Eventually, after an hour or so, he reached the city gate, and this brought just a little hope to him, he still had miles to go. But he knew that he had to try. He kept pushing himself forward, and the pain did not relent. Once again he reached a landmark, that even though still blind he could never have missed, a crater in the road. This reason that he had not met any travelers was this crater. It prevented any form of non agile feet from crossing, as the land around the road was too rocky for any less either. And carts? Forget it. This was good news to Blaze through, for his path did not lead towards the crater, but back away from it about five yards and then sideways for half a mile, where he would reach the woods he was seeking.

This of course meant more time that would be spent in agony from his wounds and shame. Inch by torturous inch Blaze made progress. And after two eternities he reached the woods. Here was the most dangerous part of his journey. On foot and with eyes this would be no more dangerous than riding a bike. Buy crawling due to pain and blindness, he could easily be lost, and it would be certainly be more painful. And so he started, hoping against hope that he would stay on track. And he was right, it was insanely more painful, and for the first time since starting, he stopped. It was too much, every time he scooted over a pine needle it attacked his wounds, the same thing happened whenever he crossed over a root or a small bush. He gave up, he would die here and he didn't have the strength to fight anymore. His city turned not only on him but the world and as a consequence, he would never see his friends again. Especially Nancy, He had never known it, but now he knew, he really liked her. The loved the way she bended, flowing as gracefully yet as powerfully as the water, she moved the same way. He could picture perfectly the way her hair flowed in a breeze. For the first time in hours, he actually had something to keep going for, and he did. Though the pain attacked him harder than ever, he had something to drive him. He had to get to her. So he kept pushing forward, he still had no way to know whether or not he was going in the correct direction, or even how long he had been going, but he kept pushing. An hour passed, then two and still he kept moving, over rock and under tree. Then there was a bush in his way, it was wide but not high, and he could not risk going around it in fear of missing his destination, so he crawled over it and then it gave way under him and he rolled to one side with no hope of stopping himself. He crashed down into clearing and fell into water, the relief the water provided replaced the pain that had been the constant captor and he passed out again.

Ok, so that's the chapter. Again non-hate reviews are welcome, questions will be answered etc. I don't know how long it will be till the next chapter so you might want to follow it, not that I am asking you to. I hope you enjoyed it, I know it was a little depressing and there will be more like it to come but this is a hurt/comfort/adventure story so I promise it will get more upbeat. Anyway see you later!