The Lightning's Hand Chapter 1, an avatar: last airbender fanfic

A/N: This fic is a story that my friend wrote and wanted me to post for her, so all credit for this amazing story goes to her :) A new chapter should be up every two weeks or so.

Enjoy!

Chapter 1

The Lightning's Hand

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Katara

"She got shot down by lightning. How is she still alive?" I hear my brother whisper.

"After Azula shot her, she landed in a pool of water. It took me a while to get over to her and I guess she must have healed herself while she was lying there," Aang replies in an almost mothering tone.

"Should we put her in more?"

I feel three sets of eyes on me and I close my eyes tighter so they don't know that I am awake. However, with Toph in the group, resistance is futile.

"I think we should ask her," she says before the other two do anything drastic.

I open my eyes to give her a dirty look as I try to sit up. Aang rushes to me to gently push me back down.

"No, relax! We will take care of everything around here," he says once he gets to me.

"Aang," I reply, "I'm fine. I just want to get back to normal." I try to sit up again, but grunt because of the shooting pain in my stomach.

"You're not fine. Take a few days off - I even made dinner tonight."

"Thanks, Sokka, but…"

"No buts, Katara. We'll do everything around here for a while. We can pamper you for as long as you need us to."

"Fine," I reply hesitantly, "but can you bring me to some water?"

"Yeah, it's right through those trees, about 500 paces that-a-way. Snoozles can carry you there."

"Thank you for your kind offer, Toph," I say as Sokka picks me up.

"No problem, Sugar Queen. Anyway, I figured a rock bed ride might be a bit too bumpy to be comfortable in your current condition."

By this point, we have made it to the river and Sokka looks at me to make sure it's okay to put me in the river. I nod then continue to say, "Thank you, but could you just leave me here? Healing myself is going to take a while, but I do believe that it'll go quicker if I'm alone."

"Fine, but we'll be back in an hour to check on you," my overprotective brother replies.

They leave and I lay back in the water and let my healing bending come forth - that's the key with healing, you relax and let your bending consume you which lets you channel your energies elsewhere. I'm not sure yet, but I think that will be the key to unlocking more secrets in bending.

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I must have fallen asleep because the next thing I know, I hear screaming. Not in pain, but in fear - the fear that you find in a battle. I try to sit up, and subsequently cry out in pain. My stomach sinks as the realization of what I did hits me. This wound will not heal quickly, and with my scream, I just gave away my position. If anything, I worsened my predicament; I just made myself easier to find. I'm still weak and the pain from my wound is so intense that I can't move properly, making my bending suffer. I know that I will stand no chance in a fight, so I attempt to run instead.

Of course, I don't make it very far before I fall. I feel weaker now than when I started. I won't be able to last very long against anyone in a fight, but I'm not going to end up being able to run either. I don't know who is after us, but I know that, from the way the forest is lighting up, whoever they are, they are Fire Benders. I hope that Aang had on his disguise so they don't immediately realize who we are. If he's smart, he'll only be using Earth Bending.

I hear a twig snap, so I know that there are men tracking me. I've left a clear trail of footprints behind me because I just wanted to get as far away as fast as I could. I prepare myself for my last stand. I prop myself up against a tree and then I use the last ounces of my energy to pull a stream of water from my water skin to create a water whip. I will not go down quietly.

The soldiers have finally caught up to me. I send a whip of water at one, quickly knocking him off of his feet and the rest of the men promptly slip into fighting stances. There are five of them left and I have no chance, but that does not mean that I still can't make their lives difficult. They are not the royal guards that we normally fight. One can tell by their helmets. The royal guard has Fire Nation red helmets with a black trim that extends past the helmet like feathers, but these guards have the standard army helmet with white eye holes. They must be some of the guards to one of the local towns out on a routine patrol who just happened to run into four strange teenagers that fought back.

If we didn't fight, I'm sure that they would have eventually let us go, but with our track record, it is best to not take any chances. Because of this fight, when captured, I know that I'll be taken prisoner. Since it's war time, there is no telling where I might end up.

The soldiers move to surround me and I strike again. They have learned and quickly send my water up in smoke. I try again, but I am weaker than before. This time, my shot goes wide. Next thing I know, I am surrounded by fire. Any other time, this would be an easy thing to get out of, but now... now, I am trying not to fall over.

If I fall that could be my end. I am the last waterbender of the Southern Water tribe. They took all our benders once and kept them away from their home until they died. I don't want that happen to me. While I have trust in Aang's abilities, I am not sure if they are truly enough to end the war. If I fall, I will be captured; if I am captured, I may never return home and will surely meet my end.

All of my efforts are in vain. I slip and find myself on the ground in a whirlwind of fire. As I black out, I realize that I just went from one hostage situation to another.

When I wake up again, I am in chains within a cell. A chain comes out of the wall and is attached to my wrist with a cuff. This restricts my movements to only being able to reach the bed and the toilet in my cell. I start to freak out because there is no way that I can fight back.

The pain in my stomach is nearly unbearable. I feel around for any type of water. I find some but it is on the other side of the steel walls of what appears to be, upon further inspection, a ship. They must be pumping in dry air because I cannot pull even a droplet of water from the air.

There is no hope for me escaping from here. The ship I am on feels as if it is moving swiftly, and I wonder where they are taking me with such speed. Are we leaving the Earth Kingdom or just going to another port within the gigantic nation? Either one means trouble for me. The most secure prisons are in the Fire Nation and the most dangerous prisons are in the Earth Kingdom.

"Hey," I shout out in hopes to elicit some response. "Hey! Where are we going?" I shout again, but louder.

This time, a soldier walks up to my cell. "Shut up, prisoner. There are special plans for you once we make it to the Capitol. Take these herbs so you can be a good little girl once we arrive." He tosses herbs at me then proceeds to walk away. I take a serious look at them. They are Chi blockers. If taken every forty-eight hours, they block even the strongest master's bending. You can tell if they are in use because of how one's pupils will over-dilate. There is no way that I will be able to hide my bending from my captors by refusing to take the herbs.

I am helpless here.

The next time I awake, the contents of my cell have changed. Instead being sparsely furnished with just a bed and a toilet, it now contains food and clothes. The clothes are Fire Nation red and I suppose that I will be expected to wear them as long as I am kept here.

Not to knock Fire Nation fashion—the dress is truly beautiful with a wonderfully made material—but red is not my color. If I am meant to be a prisoner, I do not know why they would dress me so well. I understand the fact that the Fire Nation has a lot of money, but you wouldn't think they would dress their prisoners as if they are going to be paraded around their capital.

I finally feel us dock and I have just enough time to scarf down the food in my cell before a guard comes and unlocks the door.

"Come long prisoner, it is time to see your new home," he barks.

They walk me off the ship to the docks. No one glances up at us. Either the people here are so used to prisoners arriving that it does not faze them or they are truly afraid of their government. They all divert their faces from me, so I will always be wondering the truth.

We walk through the city. The transition between the housing districts is slow but present. The houses slowly grow larger and more ornate, and then finally become downright regal. You can tell the switch from merchant homes and the nobility: there are less people in the streets, the hedges and fences are higher, and some of the houses even have security patrolling outside.

We reach what I can only assume is the Fire Palace. Everything, even the outside walls, is trimmed in gold. From outside, all you can see over those high surrounding walls is the sloping tiled red roof - the definition of elegance here. We approach the gates and stop for the first time since we started our journey began from the ship. My captor speaks to the guard on duty, "I am here with the prince's gift."

"It's about time you got here. The Fire Lord was getting impatient. But she seems to be worth the wait; she is quite the exotic beauty."

At this point, my amazement at the capital city turns to pure fear. I understand that prisoners have little to no meaning here, but I don't know why the Fire Lord would care about the arrival of an "exotic beauty". Also, why would I be on the special chi blocking herbs? My stomach sinks as I am hit with the sudden realization that if I was meant to be a normal prisoner, they wouldn't have bothered with those herbs. I would have just been sent to a prison and if I was caught bending, I would be highly punished.

Any further contemplation is interrupted by the soldier's orders, "Go ahead and take the whore to the harem. She will get further training there before she is given to the prince as his welcome home present."