Chapter 1

Alters,

Asami rubbed her temples as she adjusted her glasses, once again she woke up late...though it was a habit that had been developing for awhile now as she looked across her room, nothing of importance was there as she sighed.

"I bet dad is at one of his meetings again," it was obvious as Sato left her bed and opened her window, it was sunny no doubt. It was getting closer and closer to summer so it was only natural that the temperature would increase as well. Asami sighed as she went towards her closet, there were plenty of outfits to choose from as she scratched the back of her head, she didn't have anything planed at the moment so wearing something plain would have been alright.

As the teenager dressed herself, she left her room and headed downstairs, no doubt the maids were getting breakfast ready. As Asami descended down the stairs she noticed two of the maids listening in on the radio, which was probably something people were doing more and more often.

"Yeah, that's right, murders have been happening throughout the city..." Asami sighed as she fixed her glasses, everyone assumed it was an Alter that was committing the acts, which didn't help bender and alter relationships at all. Something that was already near its breaking point. Though Asami had to wonder why that was, after all it was perfect wasn't? Benders can do things Alters can't and Alters can do things benders can't.

"Though, perhaps I'm being to naïve about the whole situation," Asami laughed to herself, politics was one thing, but the human mind was another. Asami took her seat in the main room as the maids took a small bow before asking the girl a question.

"Miss Sato, would you like us to get your Satomobile ready?" It was an odd question to make as Asami paused for a moment. No doubt that is what she usually took, either that or she would have someone drive her around town, but that day Asami felt rather odd. Like she simply wanted to take a walk, it was a nice day after all, it would be a shame if she let it go to waste.

"No thank you, I'll be walking today, perhaps I'll look around some shops..." Asami adjusted her glasses as the maid smiled.

"Very well Miss Sato, please enjoy your meal and please be careful," They would always say something like that, like if Asami didn't know how dangerous the city was, even during the day.

"I will..." Asami keeping herself alive was the least she could do for her mother, after all she died protecting her, so it was only natural that she had a certain value in her own life. If she died then her mother's death would be worthless.

"Maybe, I'm thinking too hard about it...after all dying is scary," Dying was horrifying, probably the scariest thing that can happen to you. Once you're dead, you're dead, there is nothing after that. Regular humans don't get to enter the spirit world, so it's only natural that someone should protect that with all they have. Perhaps it was a little selfish, but that was one area that Asami could be selfish in.

The streets were filled with people, like always. There probably wouldn't be a day that went by that republic city wasn't packed. Asami counted herself lucky that she didn't live in the less than privilege end of the city, it was annoying no doubt, between the benders and alters always fighting. Someone was always bound to get caught in the cross fire of things, and the murders didn't help either.

Asami simply wanted to relax, be alone for awhile, with the stress of funding the Pro-bending team and her boyfriend, the stress of her father. Those things weighed rather heavily on her, as she simply sat on a bench as people and birds walked by. The sun was still out as Asami felt her pocket.

"Oh..." It seemed there was a butter-knife there, no doubt it was from when she was eating breakfast, she probably put it in her pocket because she needed to do something and forgot. It probably wasn't anything important as Asami leaned back on the bench.

For some reason, Asami couldn't help but look at everyone oddly, what do others think? Is it important, are their thoughts even real? Asami sighed. "Well, I guess everyone is a main character of their own story, saying someone is more important than yourself is a pretty pointless way to look at things," After all, you could be the most special person in the world, but in the end if your story doesn't connect to that of the main character you are nothing, but a side plot.

"Is this seat taken?" A woman smiled as Asami simply blinked, no doubt she was in her early twenties, her black hair was cut short as she smiled. However the most odd thing about her was her red eyes, Asami wondered if she was an alter, after all they had a tendency to have rare eye colors.

"No..." Asami didn't want to turn the woman down, after all it was a public bench as the woman hummed to herself. As if she didn't have a care in the world.

"Nice weather we're having, it's a shame it has to be ruined by such sad affairs," no doubt the woman was talking about the recent murders that have been happening as Asami looked towards the ground adjusting her glasses.

"Yeah..." It really wasn't something that Asami wanted to talk about, despite everyone around her talking about it all the time. Sure it was an interesting topic, but it was still a messed up one no doubt as the woman laughed.

"The bodies are usually so badly mangled that the police assumed an animal did it at first, sometimes entire half's would be missing. Like someone was eating a meal and got tired of it," Asami shuttered, she hadn't heard such a detail before. She didn't want to see something like that in her lifetime, it sounded disturbing to say the least.

"Yeah, but now they are saying an alter did it...which is just plain rude right? I mean what kind of alter would simply removed half a body and leave the other half there? It's not like they were trying to make it harder for the police to identify them... taking the head and hands would do that," It was creepy, how the woman was talking about murder so casually as Asami frowned, she wanted the conversation to be over that instant.

"Well, Asami Sato, those glasses aren't there because you have poor eyesight are they..." Asami eye twitched as she got up from the bench, it was obvious that hanging around that woman would only cause trouble and pain, something that Sato wished to avoid at all cost. But before she could walk away the woman said something out of place.

"Hmm, there has to be a reason right? You're an alter, but most alter's can hide themselves without resorting to something like that...unless you see something so horrible that you would go insane without them...so tell me Sato, what do you see?" Asami heart raced, not only did the woman know her name, but she also knew about those something that Asami wanted to hide desprtaly, after all a human wasn't supposed to see those kind of things. They weren't suppose the see the flaws of everything around them.

It wasn't something you could brag about, it wasn't something that you could show off, the only thing that ability did was make Asami realize just how fragile and flawed the world was. Something most people wished to avoid, no matter what.

"How..." Asami voice staggered as the woman simply shrugged before leaving the bench as well.

"Well, whatever you are, and whatever you can do, I'd recommend you locking your doors and covering your ears at night. The Avatar is going to be paying a visit to this city soon, so she'll probably accuse anyone that even looks odd. Asami frowned, she was somewhat insulted that the woman said she looked odd, but that probably shouldn't have been the main thing on her mind.

However, before Asami could ask another question the woman was already gone, vanishing into the crowd of people. Asami frowned once again, mysterious people like that were rather annoying, but Asami had to wonder why she knew her name and what was interesting about herself.

Surely there must have been other alter's that had more interesting abilities, why single her out? What was so interesting about her, either way the only thing that Asami could hope for is that the woman would go to the media with the information. Even then Asami could simply deny it, but her image would probably change.

"Maybe, I should think a bit," After all, her day out just started, and the maids would have probably asked her if something was the matter, and Asami wasn't someone who could hide her emotions easily. So it was only natural that she stood around, even if it was just for a moment.

Asami was about to leave the park, until she noticed something odd, something strangely beautiful. Something that was driving her insane by looking at it, a girl, a girl that Asami had never seen before.

She was pale, no calling her that was far too nice, she was like a ghost, her eyes a light hint of blue as she walked through the park without a care. No doubt her hair was stuffed under the hat as Asami's eye twitched. For some reason she felt heat rising in her chest. Something was pulling the cords in her brain.

Asami felt the knife in her pocket..

"I should talk to her..." Sato said those words as she crept through the park, it was odd actually, if you want to talk to someone you simply run up and speak with them, you don't stalk them. You certainly don't hide behind trees and wait for them to turn around if you want to talk with them.

The girl was obviously from the higher part of the town, the cleaner part where not a single crime was ever committed. Perhaps it sounded snobbish, but separating the areas probably did more good then bad. After all, who wanted to be mugged by a bender or killed by an alter, but none of that information was worth anything as the girl stopped at one of the many hotels that were built.

It was perfect, it was about three floors up, made of steel and glass the girl entered the rather large building as Asami crept behind her. She couldn't fall behind the person she was going to talk to, that is why she followed the girl into the lobby.

"Ah...what am I doing, this is weird..."Asami's brain stated that, but her body still continued toward a single goal of talking with the girl. That is what Asami needed to do talk with her, nothing more, nothing less.

There were on the second floor of the hotel, no a single person was walking the halls, not a single person, but the girl that Asami needed to talk to, Asami peeked around the corner as the girl entered the room. The hall had a soft warm light, perfect for talking.

Asami simply walked towards the door as she prepared to knock, her hand still on her pant leg, where her pocket was located. Though she forgot something important, she forgot to take off something that shouldn't be on her face in the first place.

Asami tapped her glasses, "I can't talk to her with these, I can't, I can't..." It was the one thing that was holding Asami back as the gray eyed girl removed them.

At that moment, her world shattered, the door in front of her looked like it had been cut up and broken. Lines, stars and blocks crawled along the floor and the ceiling of the hall as Asami, winced, she wanted to scream. But held her voice back, after all, she wouldn't have been able to talk to the girl if she screamed as Asami knocked on the door.

It didn't take long for a response, it was quick and perfect.

"Hello?" The pale girl opened the door, not realizing Asami already slipped between the space between the door way and her body, as the girl eye twitched. "Wah,"

Too bad, it seemed the girl wasn't even able to finish her statement, the moment Asami was in her room, the girl was cut into four pieces.

Her head wanted to crack open, Asami grumbled as her eyes twitched. All of the events that had transpired were simply fuzzy images that may or may not have happened. So it was only natural that she was woke up the next day, in her room. Despite not remembering how she got there and what happened after following such and odd looking girl.

"Yeah...what did happen," Asami opened her eyes as she winced, the lines and shapes started to crawl around the world, dancing across the room.

She usually slept with her glasses on to avoid something like that, after all, even if she stepped on such a thing they probably wouldn't break. She reached over to her counter as she put the small frame over her eyes. Those horrible things vanished as Asami sighed, she was trying to remember something that probably didn't happen in the first place...

"Lady Asami...are you alright?" One of the maids knocked on Sato's door as the teenage girl quickly shook her head. Now was not the time to be thinking about something randomly, Asami wondered if she had something important to do that day... or if it was even the next day at all.

"Y-yes, I'm fine..." Asami replied as she took a deep breath, once again she would get dress and plan her day from there.

"Very well, breakfast will be ready soon, but if something is bothering you, you are free to talk about it..." The maid sounded rather nervous and odd, like she saw something that was strange and she didn't want to talk about it. Though even Asami wondered what something like that would have to do with her.

"Well, whatever is bothering her, it had nothing to do with me..." Asami said bluntly to herself, after all, someone who stuff their noise in other peoples business were annoying. She diffidently wouldn't want someone doing that to her, so she would keep that much to herself.

Asami dressed herself as she descending the stairs like she did every morning as a plate of food was already prepared, the radio was on as always...as one of the many maids simply sighed.

"How odd, they said there was enough blood at the scene for a murder, but there wasn't a body...how odd..." No doubt it was another conversation about the recent murders in the area, this time there was a disturbing lack of flesh to go along with the blood. Perhaps whatever was causing the murders actually finished their meal. "Yeah, really creepy, what makes it worse is the fact it wasn't too far from here, apparently in a hotel or something,"

Asami winced, as if she was in pain. As if her mind remembered something that was being pushed back as she rubbed her forehead. She felt like blood was going to leak out from her ears, as one of the maids simply blinked before shuttering.

After all, Asami was quite the violent child before she got her glasses, far more violent then most normal children at her age, and despite being rather kind she had a nasty habit of becoming irritated upon losing said glasses. "Miss Asami, are you alright?" Something the maid said from the bottom of her heart as Asami simply shook her head.

"N-no, I'm fine...I just need to take a walk or something," Once again Asami would take another pointless walk, despite the fact she rarely walked to places in the first place. She was far more comfortable in a Satomobile, though she feared if she attempted to drive one at the current moment she would just crash.

"Though, I'm pretty sure I took one yesterday..." Pretty sure was the key words, Asami wasn't sure if she went for a walk or simply sat on a bench, perhaps a combination of the two was the correct answer as one of the servants spoke.

"Well, Miss Asami, please don't stay out too long...you were gone for quite some time yesterday, imagine if your father was home. He would have been biting his nails worried sick about you, you also have an image you need to keep, after all you are still a Sato," Asami sighed, she knew all of that. She wouldn't do anything that would put her fathers company in jeopardy, at least not willingly.

"I understand, don't worry, I promise I won't stay out longer than an hour," It seemed Asami forgot that something important, she forgot that she shouldn't make promises that she couldn't keep.

The air around town was distorted, not by the temperature or wind, but by the fear of the people in the area. Everyone was on edge, after all there was a killer on the loose, and no one wanted to be the next victim, after all it's in human nature to avoid death. It's is in everyone's nature to avoid something like death. Because once you're dead that's it, there is no coming back, dying bravely is dying quickly and that was something that Asami wanted to avoid at all cost.

So has she walked around on such a nice day, a tug of sadness tug on the girls heart. If the killings continued to happen, no doubt the city would lose its soul. No one would go out at night, which was one of the best things about the city, even if Asami didn't have a large emotional connection to the place, it would still be sad to see it strip of what made it grand.

Even the Triple Threat Tirade was afraid to venture out at night, after all the murders weren't natural at all. Have eaten and chewed bodies couldn't be the work of a human, as Asami stopped for a moment, she stopped walking as her heart raced. She was on the middle of the sidewalk as she turned around. At that moment she realize the cause of that feeling.

Thump

A pale girl with a hat that devoured her hair.

Thump

A familiar face that Asami only saw cut in two...

She was smiling, skipping along the sidewalk towards Asami, her eyes scanning Sato as Asami nearly gagged. She was remembering something that was locked down deep into her mind, something that happened the day before... "No, no, no, that's not right, that's not right at all, that person doesn't exist...because I wouldn't do that."

Asami simply continued to walkdown the sidewalk only glancing behind her to keep track of the unknown girl, a piece of something kept snapping into her head, but what was it? It was something important, something that was needed, but no matter what happened it couldn't be remembered.

So...no matter how quickly Asami walked, the girl simply followed her, she was still smiling. Asami knew she already started to increased her speed, but the girl casually walked towards her not breaking a sweat. Perhaps it was because Asami knew, what she did...

"Just vanish...disappear, be crushed, I don't care just stop following me!" Asami wanted to scream, but she wondered if what she was seeing was just in her head, or if the girl was really there, as Asami turned a corner. Entering an alleyway, no one was there, not a soul wandered about with a murderer out and about as Asami leaned against the large brick wall.

"You're done...right?" The odd girl already caught up as Asami eye twitched, she couldn't speak, after all she was looking at a dead person. Even if Asami didn't remember the details, she knew for a fact that the girl in front of her was cut to pieces. "...Nothing to say? After what you did, you look horrified, shouldn't it be the other way around?"

Asami remained silent, perhaps her brain shut off for a moment, as the pale girl pouted, giving a large huff, "What's wrong with you...do you realize how much trouble you caused me? Do you realize how long it took me to put myself back together? How painful it was, I thought I was going to go insane!" The girl was complaining as Asami swallowed harshly. The girl had to be lying, she had to be.

First of all, people die when they are murdered, when the heart stops working and the brain ceases to function they are dead. That was the one unavoidable law of nature, death could be caused by a large number of things, however being cut into four pieces was one of the most straight forward. So if the girl before her was truly cut to pieces, then she couldn't have been before Asami. After all, dead people can't be alive, and people die when they are murdered. So a murdered girl couldn't have been talking to Asami in the first place.

"T-that's not possible, but...I'll pay you want you want, that's alright...right?" It was sleezy and underhanded, especially if Asami didn't do anything wrong. However, paying people off was probably the best bet in ending things without any hassle. Asami also doubted that the girl would simply leave her if she didn't do this.

"Pay me? That's no good, I don't need anything as worthless as money," Asami winced, that was not the answer she expected. Asami didn't really have much else to offer her, at least not without permission from her father as the girl continued. "However, you did make me lose an entire day of searching, and messed me up pretty badly...so I'll need your help,"

Asami winced, that wasn't something she wanted to hear, she wanted to get away from the crazed girl as soon as possible. So helping her with anything was out of the requisition, perhaps if she politely refused the girl would simply give up. "And...what if I said I have something really important to do," Asami stated, that as the entire mood of the conversation shifted.

The girl with the bright eyes gained a glazed, almost dead look as she tilted her head slightly. No doubt what she was about to say was going to be horrifying. "No good, if you can't pay me back with time, then you can pay me back with blood. I'll tear you up, tear you into four piece and watch...I'll see if you can pull yourself back together from that, don't even try to fight me. The first time you got lucky, but this time I'll make sure I'll kill you before you move an inch," Asami shuttered, the girl wasn't joking, she wasn't laughing or smiling.

Asam remained silent, it was a bluff she wanted to call, but had far too much fear to call it. She didn't know what kind of person the girl in front of her was, whether she was an alter or a bender. If she was the killer that left bodies half eaten or simply a random girl who had a broken mind. Either way, fighting would be bad, really bad.

"I...okay," Asami winced as she replied as the girl clapped her hands. The aura of death that was surrounding the pale girl vanished. It seemed Asami wasn't the only one with a distorted mind as the girl spoke.

"Ah, see, that wasn't so bad. What we have to do is simple, but we can't talk about it here..." Please, follow me." Asami mouth twitched as the pale girl took the lead, turning her back on Sato. Many things passed through the teenage girl's head.

"If I'm going to run, now would be the best time...but if I run she'll just chase me down again," Not only that, if Asami ran she would risk bringing the girl back to the manor. Something that would only create more problems than solve. Plus there wasn't any harm to hearing her out, perhaps it was something as simple as cleaning something or buying something.

The two girls walked in silence as they came up to a familiar hotel. It was familiar because Asami saw it often, one of the most expensive in the entire city. Mostly do to its location in the city, the fact that Asami could see the building from her manor showed exactly how perfect it was. Though she doubted it would be desirable for much longer, due to the fact that a large amount of blood was found on the higher floor.

"You know, I had to change rooms because of you," The girl was rather harsh with her words as Asami simply blinked, why did she need to change rooms? Why was that Asami's fault, she was trying to piece together the events of yesterday, but they simply weren't fitting.

Asami walked with the girl, up the steps to the higher floor, Asami forgot how many floors there were, but she knew they didn't go past the second floor as the duo traveled down the hall. It was rather unsettling to say the least, mostly due to the fact that not a single soul was around.

Once they reached the girl room, she took out a small key and opened it, inside a single bed and a radio stood out. Another small room to the side was protruding, no doubt it was the bathroom. Before Asami could even say anything the pale girl sat on the bed before taking a deep breath. "I rented out this entire floor, I was really lucky no one else had a room here before me," No doubt doing something like that was extremely expensive.

However, none of that mattered to Asami, what mattered to Asami was why she was there, and what she was doing. "Well, I guess a pointless song and dance wouldn't be helpful, so I'll just get straight to it...Do you know where the Avatar is, or where I can find her?" Asami cocked her eye, as she continued to stand.

"No, never met her, and I have no ideal where she is at the moment..." Asami replied bluntly as the girl frowned, perhaps this was the thing she needed. Asami hoped that it would be as simple as that as. However such a thing was dashed when the girl brought up the next point.

"Weird...she's in the city right now, at the Air Temple, I don't have a car and I can't really drive myself in my current condition...so since you cut me up I thought you would take me to her," the paled girl smiled softly at Asami, it really wasn't something that could be avoided as Asami sighed.

"So, you just want me to take you to the Avatar right?"

Author note

Alters, those who are born with special gifts of varying power and use. Though most of them have slight mental problems and are for more willing to do violent acts then others.

Asami is an alter, her gift is to see the flaw on things places and objects and dismantle them and destroy them. What she sees changes depending on what she is using.