A/N: This my first fanfiction... *nervously shields self* Well, not the first... But the first that I've ever uploaded. I'm kind of really terrified right now. This is going to follow the series, mostly. I'll obviously have to change a few things to accommodate for the extra character, and for it to fit around her plot. (She had one, I promise. You just can't see it yet.) Anyways, enjoy!
*Disclaimer! All non-OC's and everything else belongs to the creators of Avatar, Mike and Bryan!*
Chapter one
"So where are you from?" The blue skinned merchant asked the pale girl in front of him. "Obviously not here." He chuckled, gesturing to the plain difference in their skin tones. "Earth? Though I'm not entirely sure how you would have gotten here, if that's the case. Humans aren't exactly masters of intergalactic space travel just yet. Stome, maybe?"
"No," the young girl sighed. She was so tired of hearing this same question from just about everyone she met. She had been to both planets, though neither did she call home. She didn't call anywhere home, never stayed in one place long enough for it to earn such a title. "I don't really know where I'm from, or where I'm going for that matter." She shoved her change back into her bag and took a bite of the strange, so called delicacy the man had given her. The bright green pastry oozed a sweet, purple filling and tasted much better than she had anticipated. Not that she would have cared either way. It had been so long since she had had a decent meal.
"Ah, a wanderer." He mused. "Have you got any place to stay tonight?"
"Mo." She shook her head, mouth full of food. "I'll be fine though," She said after swallowing.
"A storm is coming in tonight. You need shelter. Why not stay with me? My wife would be happy to feed you, she always cooks too much anyways." He smiled.
"No, really, I'll be fine." She insisted. "I'll probably be off the planet before tonight anyways."
"Nonsense! The Citadel is the only place in the region that offers space travel, and its over a day's journey away." He stepped from behind his market stall and ushered for her to follow him. "Come with me." She followed, however reluctantly. Getting attached was not a good idea, especially not for her. 'But what could one night hurt? I may not even last that long...'
So she followed the man, hoping that this wouldn't end up like the last time she gave into a stranger's kind words, in a fight for her life from a very hungry, alien beast. She had always thought herself skilled at reading a person's character, but that incident had proved her so very wrong.
"This way, my apartment is just up the road." He said, his arm outstretched, pointing to his complex not too far ahead. "By the way, you never told me your name, what is it?" He turned around, eyes searching for the girl. He watched as her half eaten green pastry fell to the ground, and where she once stood, a shower of golden dust littered the air.
...
She sighed, running her fingers through her hair, not only because she never got the chance to answer the man's question, but because she had no answer to give him. She didn't have a name. Sure, she'd made plenty of things up on the spot, but none had ever stuck for more than the few days she actually needed them. She had no identity, other than a strange girl with no home and no memories of who she was.
But there was no use getting caught up with things like a name, or people who could get close enough to use it. Things like that kept her from walking. Walking was all she'd ever known, and probably the only thing she ever would. She'd taken to calling what happened to her 'the drop,' because it felt like all of reality was falling out from under her, and when she reappeared, she felt as if she hit the ground with such force that the only explanation could be that she was being dropped there. But more importantly, her previous drop had felt extremely strange, more so than usual, like she was being squashed through a barrier, and was that gold dust she saw all around her before she disappeared? That wasn't normal. But it could wait, she needed to find out where she was.
She looked around, only slightly curious as to where she ended up this time. It was a large room, made completely of metal aside from the two rows of glass windows that lined the front curved wall. Along both rows were platforms that held men dressed in red robes and armor that protected their front and shoulders. They were obviously soldiers.
"And the Earth Kingdom will finally...- who the hell are you?"
The girl froze, realizing that she had landed in a room full of people, people who were all staring at her, completely baffled as to how she had managed to appear out of thin air. Before anyone had a chance to try and capture her, she bolted for the stairs at the edge of the room.
"Ty Lee." A stern voice said, almost as an order. Apparently that was all that needed saying, because before she could react, there was a flash of pink and a slender girl stood in front of her. The pink clad girl, who she guessed was Ty Lee, lunged at her, striking her forearm and thigh in two quick movements. She moved to retaliate, but immediately fell to the floor, unable to move her arm or leg. The usual energy she felt coursing through her body halted and a wave of nausea washed over her.
"What the hell did you do to me?" She yelled, struggling with her good arm and leg to stand. Ty Lee merely giggled and cartwheeled back to the platform where the stern looking girl who had ordered her to attack was seated.
"Guards, bring her to me." the voice ordered, and two soldiers took the girl by her arms and dragged her up onto the platform. The source of the voice was a teenage girl with cruel golden eyes and black hair pulled back into a tight bun on top of her head, adorned with a red flame that looked sharp enough that it could double as a weapon if needed be. She sat with a poise that could only be described as royalty and had an air about her that said she would not hesitate to kill if necessary. The now captive girl decided it would be best not to make her mad. "Who are you?"
"I-uhh... I'm a traveler." She replied.
"Are you with the Avatar?"
"The what?"
"Don't play stupid, girl!" A man from behind her yelled.
Her interrogator held up a hand, silencing the man. "She's not. She truly doesn't know."
"But, Princess Azula, how can you know?" He protested.
Azula rolled her eyes. "You really are terrible at reading people, I wouldn't expect you to understand." She turned back to her prisoner. "What is your name?"
"Lynn." She replied, as that was the first name that came to mind.
"Very well Lynn, I don't know who you are, but anyone who can appear out of thin air must have some sort of powerful ability. I'm not letting you out of my sight. And maybe I will have use of you."
"Um... Azula?" Ty Lee said, turning her attention from the scope she was looking through. "What are we going to do about those big, muscly guys down there?"
"Please," the man, who 'Lynn' assumed was some sort of captain, rolled his eyes.. "The drill's metal shell is impervious to any earthbending attack."
"Oh, I'm sure it is, War Minister Ching," Azula smiled. "But just to be on the safe side, Mai and Ty Lee, take the earthbenders out." She ordered forcefully to the two girls sitting on either side of her.
The one to her left, Mai, sat up from her obviously bored position. "Finally, something to do." And the pair stalked off to battle their opponents on the outside.
"And now for you." Azula turned to 'Lynn.' "Release her." She said to the guards, who stepped away from their captive. Azula motioned to the seat next to her where Ty Lee previously sat. 'Lynn' didn't budge. "Oh, come on now, have a seat." Sitting was the exact opposite of what she wanted to do. She wanted to run and never turn around. Something about Azula terrified her, and she didn't want to stick around to find out what it was. But her terror is what caused her to give in and sit next to the princess. Who knows? Maybe she would disappear in the few steps it would take her to cross the platform to the chair.
She didn't, of course.
"Do you know who I am?"
"Azula..." 'Lynn' replied.
"Yes, but who?" Azula questioned. She shrugged. She had figured out that she was a princess,
but of what she had no clue. "I am Princess Azula, of the Fire Nation. And you, Lynn, are my prisoner. As far as I know, you could be a dangerous threat to this very critical mission. Do you know what the Fire Nation does to such a threat?" When she didn't get an answer, she continued. "We snuff them out, and crush them." Azula growled with a fire in her eyes that could send a lion running in the opposite direction. "But I'm not going to do that to you. Do you know why?" Still no answer. "Because you could be valuable. I don't know what you are, Lynn, but what I do know is that you have power. Power that I want."
"Am I to remain your prisoner?" 'Lynn' asked. Not that it would really matter, she would probably drop again soon anyways.
"We'll see. Behave well, and you'll be free, but you're not leaving my custody until we return to the Fire Nation." She leaned back in her chair. "But anything other than good behaviour and I'll have you thrown into the nearest prison cell." 'Lynn' remained silent. Neither of them spoke for a long while, and she was desperately trying to think of a way to escape. She couldn't always rely on her dropping. Sometimes she would be stuck somewhere for weeks on end. After a while, Azula spoke up again. "Are you a bender?"
"A bender...?"
"Where have you lived your life, a cave? How could you possibly not know what a bender is?" Azula raised her hand, palm up, and in it appeared a floating blue flame. 'Lynn' had seen some strange things, but this definitely made the top of the list. When Azula saw her shocked look, she lowered her voice. "Follow me." She stood, and 'Lynn' did as she was told. War Minister Ching tried to follow as well, but Azula ordered him not to, with a simple wave of her hand. 'Lynn' followed her down the stairs to the left of the platform to the floor below and down the hall. She assumed Azula was just trying to get out of earshot.
"You're not of this world, are you?" Azula accused.
She opened her mouth to reply with a witty cover up, but nothing came to her. She sighed, there was no point in lying to this girl, she had a feeling that Azula would find out the truth eventually. "No."
"You're not from the spirit world either. Even the spirits know of bending. So where are you from?"
'Lynn' had no idea what planet she was on, or what time period, so the only answer she gave was: "Far away, very far away."
"You're not obviously not from Earth, so how far?"
"Wait a second, did you just say Earth?" She had been to earth, and it was nothing like this place, even in its earlier history. And there certainly weren't people who could make fire from their hands. As far as she knew, there wasn't another Earth in the universe. Well, aside from New Earth, and this definitely was not New Earth.
"Yes..."
"This isn't the Earth I've been to, and there isn't another Earth. Oh my god..." She whispered, as the reality of what had happened hit her in the face. "I crossed into another universe." That's why the drop had felt so strange. She really had been squeezed through a barrier. She had been pushed through the walls of the universes, and that wasn't supposed to happen. This was not good. "I need to get out of here, start walking, then maybe I'll get back to where I belong."
"No you're not! You are staying right here with me, you strange, strange thing." Azula stated with fascination. She began walking back towards the stairs, but 'Lynn' took off in the other direction. She didn't get very far before a blast of fire shot past her face. "Come with me, or next time, I won't miss."
...
Once they returned to the deck, Azula had her guards restrain 'Lynn.' After a bit of a struggle, she stopped fighting and let her body go limp.
"Smart girl." Azula commented. "Now where are Mai and Ty Lee?"
"We're right here!" Ty Lee yelled as she came bounding up the stairs, followed slowly by a bored looking Mai. "We took them out without a problem." She smiled.
"Yeah, it was too easy." Mai grumbled as she took her seat next to Azula. Ty Lee pulled down the scope once again and peered through it.
"Hey! Look as that dust cloud! Its so... Poofy." 'Lynn' rolled her eyes. She sure was ditzy. Azula stood and walked to the window, then glared back at the War Minister.
"Don't worry, Princess, I'm sure its nothing." He reassured her.
'Lynn' glanced at the guards still holding her arms behind her. She had stayed still long enough that they had let their guards down. She did a quick twist and easily broke free from their loose grips, but just to be safe, she spun around and gave them both a swift kick in the stomach. She turned to make a run for the stairs but was already blocked by Ty Lee who quickly jabbed at her arms and legs. 'Lynn' was ready for it this time and jumped to the side before she could make contact with her arms. Ty Lee's jab still hit, but this time, right on the pressure point in her neck. She felt a searing heat run from her neck all through her body. She fell to the ground, screaming, completely paralyzed. Her vision blurred to a sickeningly bright gold and she couldn't see a thing as her body was flung from the metal floor through time and space.
A/N: So here you have it, the first chapter. Did I get Azula's character right? Her voice just sounded so sinister when I was writing it out, but now that I've reread it, it doesn't sound as sinister as I had imagined. But just know that its Azula, and anything she says is naturally sinister!
I awkwardly have one of the very last chapters of this story written. 'The Western Air Temple?' I don't know why, but that one just hit me in the face and screamed "Write me!" So I had to. Its made me wonder if updating this regularly is going to happen or not. It may not be so easy, if I write so extremely out of order the whole time.
Reviews are welcome! (Aka, please review?) :)