Authors Note: So here is the first chapter of FOD! I've been having problems with my Mac lately(perfect timing universe)so editing my chapters is taking longer than I want it too, but I'm working on the problem and trying to get it fixed. Never the less I still am set on getting these chapters out! So here is Chapter one!:) I really hope you like it and the second chapter should be up soon. Reviews/Feedback/Advice is greatly appreciated!:)
Warnings: Rated M for: Character Death, Violence, Language, Eventual Sexual themes. More warnings to come if needed.
Disclaimer: I do not own ATLA, no profit is made by this story. Characters, the ATLA universe belong to Mike and Bryan. Quotes/Song Lyrics belong to their respective writers.
Final Note: Also a big thanks to Guillo1988 for the first review on FOD!
"Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one."-Bruce Lee
Chapter One
"Sokka! Stop that! It's not fair you're too big!" pouted a little Katara as she wiped the cold snow droplets from her round cheeks. Sokka stood there with the biggest grin on his face. His throwing skills never ceased to amaze him. The snowball fell from his little sisters parka and she balled her small fists in anger.
"Come on Katara! You're not a baby…or are you?" he laughed at her. Katara's face went sour and she tried to stand up in the furs that were already too big for her small body. Sokka stood laughing at her struggle to stand up in the fresh falling snow.
"Ill show him!" Katara muttered to herself as she bent down to smoosh together a snowball no bigger than her little palm. She bent her arm back as far as it would go and with all the force she could muster threw the snow at her brother, who quickly dodged it with even more laughs.
Katara crossed her little arms and ran towards him at full speed. Sokka's grin soon turned serious as he saw how mad she was. He smirked and ran the other way, letting her chase after him.
"I'll get you Sokka!" Katara yelled as she chased after her older brother who slowed down just so his little sister could win. She jumped on his back and they both tumbled down into the cold snow. Katara's giggles filled the mountain top as they played. She straddled his back while pressing snow onto his head, her grin as bright as the moon itself.
"Okay! Okay Katara you win, you win!" laughed Sokka as she hopped off his back. He stood up and shook his body, the snow fell from his furs in waves.
"Hey Sokka! Do you want to…" Katara cut her sentence off as around her face she began to see black splotches fall. At first she thought it was ashes from a nearby fire, but as she looked closer she realized it was falling from the sky all around them. Katara's eyes opened in wonder, she had never seen anything like this before… Katara held out her gloved hand and watched as the black substance melted in her palm.
"Sokka... what is this?" she asked her older brother, still amazed at the strange sight. Sokka put his hand out and let the black snow smoosh in his hand. His grin soon faded to a frown as a horrible realization hit him. The words of his father echoed in his mind…yes he knew exactly what this was.
"Its…It's soot" he said. Sokka looked around him, and realized they were the only ones to have noticed it. His tribe was eerily silent, Sokka could feel a horrible hollowness in his stomach.
Sokka turned to his younger sister with fear in his eyes, she looked up at him in confusion, "Katara we need to go now!" he yelled to her, grabbing hold of her hand and dragging her through the thick new snow. She struggled to keep up with her brother as he ran faster and faster.
"Sokka! Sokka, please slow down!" Katara scream as she tried to pick her small legs up high enough to run in the thick snow. Katara's legs began to tire, and she could feel tears coming to her eyes. Sokka ignored his sisters cries, as the sounds of distant screaming and shouting filled his ears. He held onto her hand tighter and ran faster as Katara whimpered in protest.
All around them huts of their friends, and neighbors were on fire. Katara heard babies scream, and she saw strange men in black armor drag her tribes people and throw them in the snow, yelling things she didn't understand.
When they made it to the center of the village Katara finally understood what was happening. The fire nation had come. Their giant metal boats sat right at the shore of their village; flags with a black sea raven on it flowed in the wind. Katara's face melted as she began to cry, no this wasn't happening it couldn't!
Sokka looked around frantically in the fighting, trying to find his father. All of a sudden a giant flame flew in front of their faces, and Sokka swiftly threw them to the ground as his sister scream. All around them people were crying, the tribesmen fought off the Fire Benders as best as they could with the old spears and knives they had. Awful black smoke surrounded them and filled their lungs. Katara and Sokka coughed and closed there eyes wishing for it to be over.
That's when they heard a familiar sound in the distance, "Katara! Sokka!" yelled their father as he ran frantically to his children's aid. He wrapped them in a hug and dragged them off behind a burning hut.
"Sokka you need to help me carry Bato to the healing hut, Katara you need to go find your mother!" he said to her as he held her small tear stained cheeks, kissing her forehead softly. She shook her head in fear as tears rolled down her face like rain.
"You'll be alright sweetheart, go home and find mommy and Sokka and I will be there soon." her father said to her. Even though they were in a crisis, his voice remained soft as he talked to his young daughter. He pushed her away as they ran off to go find Bato.
She moved out from behind the hut and repeated her fathers instructions in her mind, "Go find mom, go find mom." she told herself. Katara ran as fast as her little legs could carry her through the snow, the wind hit her tear stained cheeks and froze them. She managed to fight her way around the fighting without being seen by going around the village instead of through it to make her way to their home.
When she made it there she stopped shocked to see the closed entrance to their hut. Her mother always kept it open for her so she knew she could come in. Hesitantly Katara ran to the pelt and moved it to the side. When she made it inside her hut, what she saw made her body go slack. Never had there been a time where she was as scared as she was in this moment...standing in the presence of the fire nation soldier and her scared mother at his feet.
"Mom?" she asked knees shaking as she stared back up to the scornful faced man. His golden eyes foreign and cold inside the helmet he wore. Her mother lie on the ground looking at Katara in fear.
"Please sir, let her go and I'll tell you exactly what you want to know." Her mother pleaded with the soldier as he continued to stare at Katara with a look unlike any other bestowed on her. Those eyes, Katara thought, they would haunt her for the rest of her life. They were unlike anything she had ever seen before.
"You heard your mother, go!" he yelled to the small child pointing to the exit while leaning down and grabbing her mother by her furs. Katara felt her tears slide down her face once again, "Mommy I'm scared." She said to her mother more frightened than she could ever imagine. She was scared that if she tried to move her feet would fail her.
"Its okay baby, mommy will be right there just go find daddy." Her mother said to her with eyes that pleaded her to go away, but there was still kindness there, like there always was when Katara was hurt or sad.
Katara swallowed her fear and took one last look at her beautiful mother, then turned around to open the tent and run out.
But just as she opened the tent and began to run out Katara's face hit something hard. When she backed up to see what she slammed into Katara's heart skipped a beat. This soldier stared down at her with a malicious grin that made Katara back up in fear.
"Hmm...what do we have here Yon Rha?" another soldier said to the man who stood over Katara's mother. This new soldier was smaller than the other, but he was just as intimidating. He bent down on one knee to face the small Katara as she began to whimper and cry.
"Oh dear child, don't cry!" the soldier told Katara as he wiped her tears from her cheeks with a cold leather glove. Katara felt the same cold feeling as she looked into the foreign golden gaze of this man. There was no love in this color…just hate.
"Please Sir! Let her go! It's me you want!" Katara's mother yelled to the soldiers who looked at her in disgust. Yon Rha lifted Katara's mother further up off the ground, who began to gasp from the loss of air.
He seethed at her, "Well you just made my job a whole lot easier, Water Bender." said Yan Rha who in one swift moment connected his elbow to her forehead, knocking her out completely. Katara's scream echoed around them as she watched her mother's limp body fall to the floor. She began to run to her aid, feeling the ice beneath her reach toward her. Katara was quickly taken from her path to her mother by the soldier.
"Oh no you don't little one!" the soldier yelled to Katara who kicked and scream with all her might. He held her in his arms and tried to conceal her her flaring limbs.
"Mommy! Mom!" Katara yelled as tears flowed freely down her cheeks. Her cries where muffled by the soldiers hand that clasped around her mouth and held it shut.
The soldier laughed in Katara's ear, "She's a little frisky, I think this one will do nicely as a Fire Bending slave don't you agree?" the man said to Yon Rha who rolled his eyes, "Or… someday a exotic concubine?" he grinned moving back her little hair loops behind her ears.
"Enough Zhao, our orders were to find the Water bender, not take children out of our own selfish needs." Yon Rha spat at him. Zhao looked at him in annoyance.
"Are you and idiot? That is a water bender!" he yelled pointing to the crumpled body on the floor.
"This is her child…which means this young girl might grow up to be a water bender too… and that is my order! Take any water bender!" he yelled again.
"As you wish, but don't come crying to me when you have Prince Ozai to answer to when she turns out to be no more than a pretty face." He said as he leaned down to pick up Katara's mother's body, throwing her over his shoulder. Katara tried to get out of the mans grasp but it was no use, he was much too strong. She tried to scream out, maybe her father was somewhere around, but the solider Zhao's hand muffled her screams.
"Ah, Ah, Ah my little fire lily, your coming with me." Zhao said to Katara as he looked around for a pillow case. He found what he was looking for in a pelted sack over a pillow, quickly stuffing Katara's little body into it. Katara scream and scream hoping again that someone would hear her screams.
"Oh be quiet you little wench!" he yelled to her with a cold tone, quickly taking his elbow and hitting her on the head with one motion… and that's when Katara's world went black.
A/N: Thank you for reading! Chapter two will be up soon despite my computer problems...
