Previously on Avatar…

"The Earth Kingdom…has fallen."

Book Fire

Chapter One: The Awakening

Smiling brightly, Ty Lee practiced her favorite back flip in front on the gilded, golden throne of Ba Sing Se. Once the prized seat of many Earth monarchs, it now housed a new owner; Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and Princess of the Fire Nation, was the new possessor of the elaborate throne. She now sat in it with regal poise, a fist at the end of each armrest and her legs in a graceful cross-legged position. She, too, had a grin, but it was one of a different nature. Beside her and her conquered throne stood her other friend Mai, the only one of the three who didn't show any expression of joy regarding their, or rather, Azula's, recent takeover of the Earth Kingdom's stronghold capital.

"Come on, Mai, turn that frown upside down! We just took over a big Earth city!" Ty Lee chimed, and then cart wheeled over to Mai. Standing on her head and looking at Mai's thin expression in reverse, she smiled again. "That's better."

"So we conquered another city for Azula's dad," Mai yawned. "Big deal. It's nothing new. The Fire Nation army takes over places every day."

"But this is Ba-See…Ba-See… What's the name, Azula?" Ty Lee struggled with the name as she came out of her headstand.

"It's Ba-Sing-Se, you idiot," Mai snapped. "But don't bother trying to remember the name. It'll probably be changed soon to a more Fire Nation name." She leaned against the side of Azula's throne and crossed her arms.

Ty Lee just rolled her eyes, then perked up a little, grinning in a teasing way at Mai, "Why don't you just cheer up, Mai. Remember? Azula said Zuko would be joining us soon-"

"Sorry, girls, but the plans have changed," Standing up, Azula forced a sympathetic smile, even though she had great pleasure in what she was about to announce, "My brother will not be joining us after all." She wanted to laugh at the quizzical look on Ty Lee's face, then turned to Mai. Her friend had a disappointed look of longing in her eyes, but Azula decided to ignore it. For now.

He didn't believe it; no, he just couldn't believe it. After all he had done against their little group of friends, now he had decided to help them? It just didn't make sense to Sokka. Prince Zuko had chased them for so long in hopes of capturing Aang, the Avatar; what had made him suddenly turn sides? There was definitely something wrong here.

Sokka looked across the blazing campfire. The exiled Fire Prince was just staring into the flaming tongues that their source of warmth was giving off, showing no signs of wanting to talk, just like the rest of the group.

It was simply amazing how so much could go wrong in just one day. It seemed so long ago that he had been reunited with his father and helped the Water Fleet get ready for battle. It really did seem that forever had passed since Toph had clung to him on Appa, asking Aang how his training at the Eastern Air Temple with the guru had gone. It seemed so long ago that Aang had been the boy that they all knew and loved, the boy who was so full of energy and life. Now, the young Avatar just lay in Sokka's sister's lap. He would but wake up every once in a while only to have Katara bend the equivalent of a mouthful of water into his frail mouth.

The Earth King wasn't in a much better state. Frantically he would look around at the group, from Sokka, to Katara, to Zuko, to Toph, and finally to Aang's limp body, hoping for some sign that they had a plan that would bring hope back into all of their hearts. Unfortunately, silence was prevailing that night. It was clear that not a soul wanted to talk about their failure in Ba Sing Se, nor the dark future that lay ahead of all of them.

Sokka sighed. As the oldest in their little group (aside from their new companions, Zuko and the Earth King), he knew it was his job to revive everyone.

"So…" He looked to Zuko again, assuming a deathly glare. "What are you planning now? You and your sister?" Zuko looked up. "Because it's only fair to warn you that-"

"I do not work with her." Zuko stated, before reassuming his gaze into the fire. "I want nothing to do with her."

"Yeah. Right." Sokka glared again. "Then how do you explain that?" He gestured towards Aang's body, which was still lying in Katara's arms. "Azula couldn't have been able to plan that alone."

"Do not underestimate her." Zuko did not look up again. Silence resumed. Not even the cat-owls were hooting that night.

"He's telling the truth, you know." Katara spoke up. It was the first time she had spoken since Appa had rescued her, Aang, and Zuko from the crystal chambers. "Zuko didn't actually fight with Azula and the Dai Li. He's on our side."

"That reminds me," Sokka said, ignoring her last statement. "No one has quite filled me in yet on what happened down where you guys were. What did Zuko do to you guys, Katara?"

"He didn't do ANYTHING!" Katara said loudly. Aang shifted a little in his sleep. Katara lowered her voice a notch. "Would he be sitting around our campfire if he had?" Sokka's mouth clamped shut. "Toph, tell Sokka. Tell Sokka that Zuko's not lying."

Toph didn't answer. She had fallen asleep with her head leaning gently on Sokka's right shoulder. Sokka glanced down at his small friend.

"Katara, why don't you, the Earth King, and him get some sleep. I'll take the first watch." The truth was, although Sokka was exhausted, he didn't entirely feel comfortable sleeping with someone from the Fire Nation so close to him. He was not going to risk anything.

Katara nodded, and then lay down with Aang at her side. Zuko awkwardly followed suit where he was sitting, then the Earth King, who had been drifting off already, collapsed onto his side with relief.

Sokka sighed, and looked up at the black sky above him and his sleeping friends. Although a pale moon had begun to break out among the gray clouds, there were still no stars scattered across the abyss. He thought of Yue, living only in spirit, and then of Suki, who he had not seen since they parted ways at the entrance to Ba-Sing-Se.

A thought suddenly struck him. He looked to the earthy ground beneath him, his brows furrowed in thought.

Zuko rolled over onto his side. Sleeping had never been one of his favorite activities. It always gave him a sense of vulnerability and exposure. He didn't like being vulnerable, especially with the threat of Azula up in the air. He felt like he should be doing something, not putting himself in a position that left him more defenseless than he already was.

Saw-kuh. That was the name of the Water boy who claimed to be keeping watch. He knew the real reasons that the warrior had decided to stay up; it was obvious. Zuko wouldn't trust himself either had he been in Sokka's position. He knew the unpredictability of his own nation too well.

Sitting up, Zuko rubbed his left eye. It still seemed to tingle randomly since Sokka's sister, Katara, had healed his scar clean off his face. With only a missing eyebrow on that side of his face, Zuko looked almost completely like a normal teenager.

He looked around their tiny camp. Sokka appeared to have fallen asleep beside a series of rough sketches in the dirt. The blind Earthbending girl had fallen onto the ground in her sleep casually next to him. Katara was slumped to the side, her arms still feebly clutching the young Avatar to her chest. The massive Earth King lay on the dirt as well, speaking unintelligible words occasionally in his sleep. The huge brown bear belonging to the monarch was the only other being that was awake, Zuko noticed.

Memories of the previous night's events suddenly flooded his head: his wicked sister, an enormous crystal underground city, Katara… and he recollected the event that still stunned him the most. He had helped the Avatar and his friends. This wasn't like the time he had disguised himself as the Blue Spirit to help the Avatar escape. He had done it for his own personal gain back then. Now…he couldn't figure out why he had done what he had.

The face of his uncle flashed in his mind. He shivered, though it wasn't cold at all. He had never been out in the open without Uncle before, with the exception of the one time he had tried to part ways with him, which, coincidentally, had not ended well. He felt immensely guilty for leaving Uncle back in the cavern to face Azula and the Dai Li. He felt strange, yet free about the whole affair.

Without knowing why, he spoke into the darkness, "I'm sorry." In reality, however, the only thing he was speaking to in reality was the Earth King's bear.

Ex-Fire Nation General Iroh sat in his cell the Dai Li had shoved him in. He was sitting cross-legged in what appeared to be a meditation position when he heard a familiar banging on the barred door. A bowl of leek soup slid in through the bottom bars. Iroh glanced at it, and then gave a weak smile. He looked upwards at the person he could see behind the door.

"You don't suppose that may come with a nice, hot cup of jasmine tea, do you?"

The figure shifted in position so that a triangular brimmed hat of a Dai Li member was visible. Suddenly, a glove made out of hardest stone surged through the bars, knocking the old man into the iron wall. Iroh slid to the floor, groaning.

"That'll teach you not to give us any lip." The head in the window disappeared. Iroh's eyes slid open for a moment, glancing at the empty window, then the leek soup. He reached for it, but before he could satisfy his strong pains of hunger he passed out into unconsciousness.

Images flashed through his head. First, a father held a young boy of about six years old up in the air. They were both smiling and appeared to be laughing. Then, the same son, now a teenager, hugged his father as he left to join his comrades dressed just like him in dark red armor and ready to go off to battle in the name of their nation. Next, an older, shorter man stood beside a different teenager who was wearing the same army uniform but had a strange scar over his left eye. They stood on the deck of a black iron ship, both staring out across the sea. The old man smiled, and then put a hand on the young man's shoulder.

In his temporarily peaceful slumber, the one known as Uncle Iroh smiled.

Feverish dreams engulfed the young Avatar. A female Airbender who was half bald with a tattoo like Aang's, a strong, fur-coated male Waterbender, a tall, Earthbending warrior woman, and a wise, elder Firebender played in turn before his eyes. They all seemed familiar to him somehow. He knew that he had met them each only recently, in a dream that now seemed far away. Already their named were fading, and the female Airbending Avatar's advice had already slipped out of his mind.

In his dreamworld, Aang was riding Appa. He was laughing along with Katara and Toph at something Sokka had said. Zuko rode with them, too, but he looked distracted. Suddenly, arrows were flying through the air. Aang realized they were flying over the Fire Nation's capital. An arrow struck Sokka in the throat and Katara in the heart, and his two friends fell, blank-faced, off the flying bison. Crying out, Aang made to jump after them, but a hand grabbed him from behind. A scarless Prince Zuko, ponytail and all, whispered a sneer to him.

"She's mine."

Aang called out for Toph for help, but the blind Earthbender had fallen from an arrow as well, he realized. He squirmed to get out of Zuko's grasp to face Momo on the other side, but only more shock awaited him. His flying lemur had no face. Turning back to see the front of Appa, he noticed that his furry friend was losing altitude by the second. Looking up into the clouds that were getting farther and farther away from him, he saw the sad, pale face of a Fire Nation noblewoman, her hair dangling around the sides of her face. Part of her once beautiful hair had been pulled into a messy topknot with the crown of a Fire Nation queen sitting on her bun. Aang watched the clouds turn red as the woman's face vanished, and a vicious blue dragon came soaring straight for Aang and Zuko…

Breathing heavily, Aang's eyes snapped open. Sitting up, he realized that he had been lying on a bed in the middle of a small metal chamber. He rubbed his eyes. Something wasn't right. As he vision cleared slightly, he noticed the main colors of his bedroom. Red and black. Slowly turning his body to face the wall behind him, he saw that a tapestry hung with an insignia of a red flame with three tendrils on a black background. Fear surged through his entire body.

Leaping out of bed, Aang noticed his staff was leaning against the wall by a door. He grabbed it before charging out of his only escape. Once outside, he ran at top speed down the metal encased hall.

Finally, he saw a flight of stairs. The only thing that was passing through his mind was that he needed to get out.

Once at the top of the stairs, he felt a cool breeze against his body. He shivered, realizing now that he was barely clothed with only a singed pair of pants and several bandages across his torso. He clung to his wooded staff for support as he dragged himself across the deck of what he now knew was a Fire Navy ship.

"Aang!" Aang turned his head fractically, searching for the source of the call. Soon he was surrounded by men in Fire Nation Army uniforms.

"What do you want with me?" Aang shouted. Their heads turned towards one another. One of the soldiers stepped forward.

"Aang, it's us." He lifted his helmet to reveal that he was, indeed, a friend. Sokka's familiar face stared back at Aang, grinning.

Suddenly Aang felt very dizzy. He stumbled backward…

"Somebody catch him already!" Another familiar male voice called out. Before Aang blacked out, he felt the strong hands of a royal Firebender keep him from hitting the hard, metal deck.