AN: Man I realized I never did a disclaimer now I am probably gonna get sued, and I have no money. Well I guess I could always get a loan from the Avatar Crime Syndicate, I really enjoyed writing the beginning of this chapter, I know it may seem slow, but you must go through this river of fruits and vegetables before we get to the meat of the story.
Sokka: "Yes! Meat!"
Anyhoo, I don't own Avatar, because if I did, Nathan would be in there, and there would be someone with blonde hair, why? Because I never saw a blonde in that show. Okay, onto the story.
Nathan's green eyes fluttered open. The sun was barely above the horizon, and Nathan had no clue where he was. He was leaning against some rocks, his head slightly elevated. He looked around and saw a stream gently moving along, and next to him he saw a girl. Nathan held his breathe, he didn't know who she was, where he was, or why his head hurt so much. Nathan winced in pain; suddenly last night's events came flooding back to his mind. He remembered the beating, reaching the stream, the cutting, the mysterious woman, and then he remembered blacking out. It still didn't make sense; he wanted to know how he got here, when one more memory hit him. Her eyes. Nathan remembered the split second, the girl offering to help, the girl with the blue eyes. Nathan looked over to the girl once more and saw it was the same one, his head was spinning. Nathan wasn't sure if this was a dream or reality, he was in far too severe pain to tell. Another realization hit him.
"I should be dead" He whispered. Nathan looked at his arms, the cuts were gone, on his stomach, the cut was gone, and everywhere he was wounded the injuries were gone. All that was left was a dull ache, Nathan knew it had to be from blood loss; he looked at the girl again, wondering why she saved someone like him. More importantly though, he wondered how.
Nathan looked to his left, and next to him was his duffle, his painting supplies were still in it. Nathan had no clue how he saved, in fact Nathan had no clue how he was here. As Nathan tried to wrap his head around the day's events a voice interrupted his train of thought.
"Oh good, you're awake." Nathan turned his head to see the beautiful girl smiling at him. Her blue eyes wide open, filled with happiness and relief.
"You…saved me?" Nathan asked hesitantly.
"Well, yes, I did." The girl gave him another warm smile.
"Why?" Nathan questioned, wondering why a stranger would be so kind.
"Why not?" The question seemed to confuse her. She gave him a quizzical look. "You were seriously hurt; I couldn't leave you to die."
Nathan sighed and decided to try a more important question. "Where am I?"
"In the Earth Kingdom." She said it as if he should have known that.
"The what? Am I even in Washington anymore?" Nathan had never heard of this place, he had no idea where he was.
"Washington? I've never heard of that place in the four nations. Is that a fire colony, and what's with your clothing?" She asked, just as confused as him.
"Washington, that place in America, you know red, white, and blue. America with McDonalds on every block and the most obese population. Washington, near California, like Forks Washington, Twilight place, horrible series, sparkly vampires." He hissed for effect. "And as far as my clothing goes, it's completely normal, and I have no idea about these colonies you speak of."
The girl turned her head sideways, in confusion. "I think we are far away from America, no one has ever heard of it. Also your town sounds pretty dangerous, I wouldn't stay there." She said with concern.
Nathan chuckled, this girl was worried about make believe vampires. He sighed, he was a long way from home, but he could live with that. "So, thank you for helping me, miss."
The girl seemed to still be pondering the vampires, but stopped and smiled at him. "My pleasure." She then reached for something and put her hand behind Nathan's head. He flinched, knowing the hit was inevitable. She stopped moving , "Did I hurt you?"
"Just get it over with, please." Nathan begged and squeezed his eyes shut.
"Um, okay…." He felt his chin is elevated and something press against his lips.
Here it comes, he thought. Ever so gently water streamed into his mouth and Nathan was so shocked he almost choked. With better judgment though, he drank, and it was refreshing. He thirstily finished the water until it was all gone. The girl smiled at him and he simply stared at her. Their eyes locked, he couldn't look away.
"You have incredible eyes." Nathan said with honesty. The girl was caught off guard by the comment and blushed.
"Thanks, but I think yours are more incredible." She said, with a small smile. Nathan grinned, this girl seemed sweet. "My name is Katara" She said, "What's yours?"
Nathan couldn't respond, Katara, it was a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. When she started giving him strange looks he snapped back to reality. "Oh ya, my name are uh, ummm" He was stuttering and started blushing. "N-Nathan" He finally said lamely.
She giggled at him. "Well N-Nathan, do you have any clue how you got here?" She asked interest in her face.
Nathan didn't want to tell her, not yet. "I, I can't really say, because, to be honest I'm not sure." This was true; the only thing he knew was that the mysterious woman helped him.
"Well that's okay, as long as you're safe. How old are you?" She asked.
This girl was strange to him. "I'm fifteen, you?"
"Fourteen." She smiled. "Are you hungry?"
Nathan heard his stomach growl, but shook his head. "I'm fine." His stomach growled, "Just fine."
She rolled her eyes and pulled out a few nuts and berries, shoving them into his hands. "Don't be stubborn and eat." She commanded in a mother like tone. Something about her tone made Nathan obediently eat. It felt good to have food in his belly and he gave Katara a thankful smile. "Good. Now, I guess I should bring the others to meet you." She said. At this Nathan shot up quickly, causing more pain. He winced, but it didn't hide his shock.
"Others? There are more of you?" He asked, fearing this wasn't just a nice group of people.
"Well of course, there's four of us, well not counting Appa and MoMo, I'm sure they'd love to meet you." She said with a happy smile. Nathan wasn't as excited, he could picture it now. The others in her group were probably a big scary bunch, she was the pretty one. This was probably an elaborate slave trading of human trafficking operation. And Appa and MoMo were probably two horrific beasts that would eat him if he tried to escape. Nathan gulped.
"So um, where are your friends?" He asked, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice.
"Oh they're probably eating breakfast, or just now waking up; we had a pretty brutal day yesterday. Toph worked Aang nonstop, making sure he attacked things like a rock, Aang is so powerful, but he still has much to learn. Toph is frustrating at times, and Sokka, my brother, was mapping out our next route and sharpening his weapons." Katara explained to him.
Nathan's eyes grew wide. This Toph guy must have been super strong. Nathan pictured a huge muscly African American man with a shaved head and sunglasses, probably attacking people like a rock. Even his name sounded scary, Toph, it sounded like tough, that couldn't be good. This Aang fellow sounded like he was the newest recruit, he pictured an eighteen year old who probably knew one too many ways to kill you, and Toph was teaching him more. And Sokka, Nathan shivered, this guy sounded like the scariest. He pictured this guy as the brains of the operation, he saw a mafia type man sitting in a huge chair, mapping out where their shipment of humans would go too, while sharpening a huge knife. This group sounded like a cruel bloodthirsty crime syndicate, and Katara lured them in.
"You sure I have to meet them Katara?" Nathan asked, hoping she would take pity on him and let him escape.
"Well of course! You have to come with us!" She said happily "I won't leave you out here alone."
Nathan grimaced, he always had bad luck. He sighed better sooner than later to face the inevitable. Nathan accepted his doomed future. "I guess I'll meet them." Katara grinned.
"Great, just stay here, and I'll be right back." She stood up and began walking off. Nathan waited for the longest ten minutes of his life, and finally Katara emerged. "I'm only going to introduce you one by one; I don't want to overwhelm you." Nathan smiled weakly as Katara walked in followed by a boy.
The boy looked no older then twelve, he wore a strange yellow and orange robe like attire, he had huge grey eyes, a goofy naïve smile, a bald head, and a huge blue arrow tattooed on it. The boy looked at him, gave a bigger smile and said, "Hi, I'm Aang, I heard Katara saved you, she's a great healer."
"I'm Nathan." Nathan said, still shocked this was the powerful boy Katara spoke of. "You have arrows on you" Nathan said lamely.
Aang laughed. "Yes, I guess my tattoos are strange, you see, these show that I'm a master airbender." Nathan blinked and Aang looked at his clueless expression. "You know, airbender, we went extinct one hundred years ago. I'm the last of my kind; it's kinda a big deal." Aang said, trying to sound smooth, and failing. Nathan only blinked again, is this kid for real? Aang sighed, "You have no idea what airbending is do you?" Nathan shook his head. "Well then, I'll show you!"
Aang hopped up high into the air and underneath him was a ball of air, Aang rode around on it until it dissipated. Aang smiled, and then shot a gust of wind into the water, causing it to splash. Nathan's jaw dropped. "You just, the air, and the, but…that isn't possible!"
"Ah, but it is." Aang laughed and sat down. "You aren't from around here are you? Do you even know anything about bending?" Nathan shook his head. "Ah we have a lot to tell you, but for now I'll let Toph meet you. Aang waved and walked off, Nathan shook with fear.
This Toph guy was going to walk in and smash his face, Nathan knew it. Despite being wrong about Aang, Nathan knew he was right about Toph. He wondered if Toph was a bender too, and whatever these benders were, they seemed powerful. Nathan gulped as a young girl walked in and sat herself squarely across from him, dropping to the ground with a thud.
"Sup" She nodded, seeming to look right through him with minty green eyes.
"You're T-Toph?" Nathan was confused.
"Well ya, when Twinkletoes said I was coming in, who did you expect, The Fire Lord?" Toph said sarcastically.
"Well it's just when I heard about you I expected a really big muscly guy, not a young girl." Nathan explained.
"So you don't think I can beat you up?" Toph said, anger rising in her voice.
"No, not at all! You have this presence that screams power, and I completely believe you could probably kill be in a hundred different ways." Nathan spoke quickly. Toph gave him that see through glare, and then to his surprise started laughing.
"I like you, and your common sense to know me and my earth bending could kick your butt. Welcome to the group." Toph stood up and walked away, which only left, Nathan swallowed.
"Sokka" Nathan pictured the head of the whole operation and could only picture what element he could bend. This guy had to be extremely powerful, brilliant, cunning, and completely evil. Nathan was scared beyond scared, wondering what these people will do to him, when he saw a boy about his age in blue attire walked towards him. The boy had his hair in a ponytail and some kind of weapon sheathe on his back, Nathan couldn't tell what it was, but it looked scary. The boy sat down in front of Nathan and began looking him up, down, and all around, as if inspecting him.
"Hmm" The boy said, "I'm Sokka, Katara said your name is Nathan and apparently you are gonna be traveling with us, which is great, all we need is someone else to feed." He said sarcastically. "So, what can you do?"
Nathan was confused, Sokka probably wanted to know his talents so he could know how much he would fetch in the black market. "I um…. Can't do anything." Nathan replied.
Sokka gave an over exaggerated sigh, "Well this is just great. Stupid sister, always having to help people." Sokka took a deep breath and smiled at Nathan. "Welcome to the group."
"You mean, I'm a member?"
"Of course, we aren't gonna leave you with nowhere to go." Sokka said with a grin
"But would if I don't want to be in your crime syndicate?" Nathan asked shakily.
"Crime, what are you talking about?" Sokka's eyes seemed to bulge "We're the good guys! We have the Avatar! We are gonna stop the fire lord and the hundred year war!" Sokka yelled defensively, standing up. Nathan gave him a blank stare. "You have no idea what any of that means, do you?" Sokka asked a bit calmer. Nathan shook his head. "Wow, Katara wasn't kidding when she said you had no clue what world you were in. Well I better explain everything I can."
Sokka then told Nathan everything he knew about the world. He explained how certain people could bend the elements, how there were four nations, how Sozin started the war, how airbenders were exterminated, how Aang was the Avatar, and just about everything else.
"Wow" Nathan said, his head spinning.
"Ya, it's a lot to take in, let's get you to camp and get some food. I'm starved." Sokka said rubbing his stomach. He helped Nathan to his feet and allowed Nathan to lean on him as he grabbed his bag and they headed towards the sight. As they approached the group, Nathan noticed a giant fuzzy beast and yelled.
"Watch out Sokka! There's a huge monster right there!" Nathan yelled in fear. Sokka chuckled.
"That's just Appa, he wouldn't harm a Spiderfly, well unless you put Aang in danger, then he becomes a monster." Sokka explained. Nathan made a mental note to himself to not piss off Aang or Appa. As the two boys approached the group Katara looked up at them.
"What took you so long? I finished making lunch five minutes ago!" She said angrily.
"Chill, sis. I was just telling our buddy Nathan here about our world." Sokka said quickly, he seemed frightened by Katara. Nathan nodded in agreement and Katara's gaze softened when she saw him.
"How you feeling?" She asked with a bit of worry in her tone.
"I'm doing better, thanks." Nathan reassured her. Sokka helped him sit down and as they all got settled to eat, a flying monkey landed on Aang. "Aang! On your head!" Aang looked up and laughed.
"That's Momo, he's a flying lemur, or a lemur bat, he's harmless." Aang said. Momo chirped at Nathan then proceeded to chase a bug. Katara began passing out bowls of soup, as she handed one to Nathan, Nathan began handing it to Momo.
"What's wrong Nathan?" Katara asked with confusion.
"I thought this was for Momo" Nathan said, just as confused. Katara laughed.
"It's for you, Nathan" Katara said with a smile.
"This whole thing!" He asked in disbelief, Nathan never got a full bowl, not even his birthdays. Katara nodded and Nathan expressed a grateful thank you, and then devoured the soup. After he finished his bowl so quickly, Katara poured him another, and Nathan greedily ate it. He ate four bowls and finally stopped. "That was delicious Katara, thank you."
"Ya thanks Katara." Aang said.
"Good food Sweetness" Toph remarked.
"It was good, but could of used more meat" Sokka shrugged.
"Well you're all welcome." Katara smiled, and then everyone ran off to their various activities, leaving Katara, Nathan, and a pile of dished. Katara began collecting them, and Nathan started to help. "What are you doing now?" She asked.
"The dishes, I always do them." Nathan said casually. "I always though I was the one who was supposed to do them."
"No you need to rest." Katara said.
"I'm really fine, I won't move that much." Nathan said, as he continued to clean up dishes. Katara sighed and let him help, but as she started washing them she wouldn't let him help.
"I'm a waterbender; it's easy for me to do." She explained. Nathan watched her do a few movements and water washed away all the food remnants from the bowls.
"Amazing!" Nathan exclaimed. He had never seen someone move water. Katara simply laughed at his expression.
"That was nothing" She said "Wanna see some real waterbending?" She asked. Nathan nodded and Katara held her hand out to him, he flinched and cowered away from it. Katara gave him a look of worry. "You okay?"
"Umm ya, I just thought you were going to…nevermind." He hesitantly took her hand as she led him to a river.
Katara stood in the river as she looked at Nathan at the shore. He was getting better, but he still wasn't at full strength. This boy was a mystery to her, she knew nothing about him, and yet, something drew her to him. Maybe it was the way his eyes were filled with a deep hidden pain, maybe it was her instinct to help someone who was hurt, or maybe she just did. Nothing made sense to her at that point so she just went with it.
"Ready?" Katara called to Nathan. He gave her a thumbs up and Katara began bending. She started with some basic water whips, made a few waves, then started picking up. On her next wave she made it huge and sent it towards herself, then at the last second cut in perfectly in half so she didn't get a drop on her. She then shot up on a pillar of water and as she free fell towards the river she caught her feet at the last second, then froze the river under her and skated across it, coming to a halt in front of Nathan and simultaneously unfreezing it.
"That was unbelievably incredible!" Nathan exclaimed. His face was filled with joy, and she noticed that his eyes too seemed to smile, she liked that.
As Katara dried herself off Nathan continued to go on about her bending. "I'm glad you enjoyed it." Katara laughed.
"I really did!" Nathan said. Katara sat down by Nathan.
"So what do you think of this place?" She asked.
Nathan smiled "It's really something else, this place is beautiful, the bending is beautiful, just like you."
Katara felt herself blush "T-thank you."
"I'm only telling the truth." Nathan said bluntly, looking at the water. This only made Katara blush harder.
"So do you know when you're going back to your world?" Katara asked. Nathan tensed up and he instantly brought his arms around himself in a defensive way.
"I don't know" He simply said.
"Did something happen there?" Katara asked, gently touching his shoulder. Nathan pulled from her grasp like in animal retreating from a beating stick. He didn't respond and stared straight ahead. "I understand you don't want to talk about it, but maybe I can help." Katara said slowly.
"I just want to be alone. I appreciate everything you've been doing, but I'm not really in a good mood. I don't really want anyone to see me, like….this." Nathan said, his voice wavering, like he was trying to avoid crying or yelling. Katara couldn't see his face since he turned away, but she decided to back away.
"I'll be at the campsite, we have dinner right after sundown, if you aren't back, one of us will come get you." Nathan simply nodded and Katara stood to leave. She walked away, she knew this poor boy had been hurt, he built a wall to avoid being hurt farther as she saw. Katara knew she needed to help him, all she could do was hope, hope was all she seemed to have lately.
Sure enough, by sundown, Nathan made his way back to the camp, as Katara saw him coming, she smiled. She had just finished dinner and he sat down quietly, his eyes were red, but his face was straight. Katara sighed, as Toph, Aang, and Sokka made their way back for dinner.
"Smells good." Aang said.
"I'm starved." Toph said.
"Fooooooood" Sokka moaned. Katara chuckled and handed everyone a bowl, everyone laughed and talked, while Nathan simply ate in in silence.
"And then the fire nation soldier said 'That's not a messenger hawk, that's my wife!'" Sokka said. Everyone roared with laughter, Nathan cracked a small smile, and when Katara saw this she felt much better.
"Hey new guy, why you being so quiet?" Toph said, her eyes looking in his general direction.
"Oh, I'm just thinking, that's all." Nathan said quietly. Toph rolled her eyes.
"I may be blind, but I know when someone's got stuff on their mind, kid." Toph said, even though he was older and bigger than her.
"You're blind?" Nathan asked in shock.
"Well I think the award for obvious statement of the century goes to new guy here" Toph chuckled, "But to answer your question, yes, I am blind." Toph then explained how she sensed vibration through the earth as Nathan intently listened.
"Wow, so I guess you can see Sokka trying to steal your food?" Nathan asked. Toph punched the approaching water tribe boy in the face.
"Yes, yes I can." She said. After that, Nathan began laughing along with everyone else and the rest of the night was enjoyable and fun.
After dinner, everyone went to bed, excluding Nathan and Katara, Nathan continued to help her with the dishes and Katara washed them. "You should probably rest, we're gonna head out tomorrow." She explained. Nathan nodded and began to walk off, but stopped.
"Katara, I'm sorry about earlier, I know my actions were uncalled for and confusing, I just, I have some things about my life I don't like to think about. But I really just want to say thank you, you're so kind, and wonderful. So thank you for all that you did for me." He smiled at her and began to walk.
"Nathan." He stopped. "When I found you, I saw the rock in your hands, I don't know if those wounds were self-inflicted, and I don't really care. All I know is that someone either hurt you in a way no one should be hurt, or someone drove you to the point where you thought dying was a better fate. Whatever the case, I want you to know I won't let that happen to you again, and I won't judge you for it. If you ever want to talk about it, I'm here, and if you don't, I'm still here. I guess what I'm trying to say is that we are all here to help each other, we help our friends, and you're our friend now."
Nathan stood still for a while "Thank you" He spoke quietly, it was short, simple, but expressed his gratitude. He needed no other words and Katara knew that.
"You're welcome" She said, as Nathan walked off to bed. Katara smiled, she had hope for Nathan, she knew she could help him, and she was determined to do so.
AN: Can't say how soon I'll get the next chapter up, hopefully within the week, depend how busy I am with important stuff. *Hides video game* So I hope you liked the chapter, read, review, eat some cake, if you don't have any go buy some, with a duck on it. Have a nice day.
One more thing, to the one person who reviewed you made my whole freaking day dude! Thank you!
