a/n: Hope you enjoy~
Northern Water Tribe
Two Years Later
"Kanari? Wake up, Kanari..."
Kanari rolled over, burrowing deeper in her cozy cocoon of furs and blankets.
"Hey, wake up, Kanari,"
Kanari's eyes flickered open, finding the warm ones of her older sister.
"Haynia...go away..." Kanari snuggled back into her blankets, continuing to refuse to get up.
"You have lessons today you're going to miss if you don't get up," her sister chuckled, stroking her sibling's tangled hair. Kanari bolted up, kicking the blankets off of her.
"Really? I do? Why didn't you say so?"
Haynia only laughed, exiting their home with a few chuckles. The preteen quickly got dressed, sliding her coat and pants quickly on before slipping on her boots and mittens. "Haynia? Can you braid my hair?"
Haynia patted the spot next to her as soon as the young Waterbender had emerged from their home. Kanari wriggled up to sit before her sister as Haynia ran the shell comb through her siblings hair, braiding it with quick nimble fingers. Kanari sat in silence, her brown eyes turned to the sky. The heavens were painted in shades of gold, plum, and pink as the sun slowly rose over the horizon. The village was just awaking, the members rising and exiting their homes as they milled about the town, getting to work. One group was gathering in the center of the community, a group Kanari should have been standing in.
"Haynia! I have to go!" Kanari squirmed out of her sister's grip, giving her a quick kiss goodbye as she rushed down the slope.
The brisk winter wind teased Kanari's braid as she sprinted towards her mentor, rushing through the group of gathering children. Some called out to her as she shoved past them, her eyes glued on her instructor.
"Sorry I'm late, Meguko!" Kanari apologized, dipping her head. "I slept in on accident."
"It's not an accident if you do it almost every day!" Meguko scolded, stroking his graying beard as he did so. Kanari grew bashful as she became suddenly very interested at a pebble on the ground.
"Oh, up you get, Kanari," the mentor beamed. With a pat on the back, Kanari was sent off to her spot in line.
"Late again, Kanari?" Linku, Kanari's best friend muttered, poking her in the ribs.
"Maybe..." Kanari shoved him back playfully. "Pay attention, Linku."
Their gazes turned to the instructor as he began to teach the class, showing them the correct way to flex their wrists and ankles. The class copied, some unbalanced as the move had to be done on one foot.
"Clumsy git," Linku teased as Kanari stumbled, tumbling into the snow. Kanari stuck her tongue out, getting back on her feet and tried the move again.
"Now class, we're going to learn a new move." Meguko announced. He quickly demonstrated, his arms whirling as he raised two water whips from a nearby pool. He went through the move a bit slower, showing him how it was done.
'Right, left, right, left, twist, raise, and...and...'
Kanari only raised a few droplets, and she growled slightly when she realized she was moving her hands in the wrong direction.
"The only move you've really ever have had trouble with, Kanari," Meguko muttered lightly as he took Kanari's hands, moving them through the motions. "You have to concentrate. Half of your mind can't be on the move while the other half is wondering what you're going to eat for dinner or about my son's good looks."
Kanari stopped dead in her tracks, her eyes flying to glimpse at Linku. "Really, Meguko?" She spluttered.
"Yes, I dare," Meguko chortled. "Get back to work."
Kanari sighed, her mind wandering as the lesson droned on. Usually, Kanari loved lessons and learning new moves. Today...she didn't feel right. Something was holding her stomach in a strong fist-not sickness, but maybe a deeper feeling. One that she couldn't figure out and one that her mind kept wandering to.
"Remember-practice!" Meguko concluded, and the lesson ended. The sun was high in the sky as the others cleared out of the village square. Linku stood before her, a smile toying with his lips.
"Wanna go somewhere we're not supposed to?"
A dull pang of fear struck Kanari in the gut, a faint since of déjà vu washing over her. Linku only looked at her expectantly, his eyes shining.
"C'mon, Kanari. You're not scared, are you?"
"No!" She blurted. "It's just..."
"Just what?" Linku continued, his smirk turning coy.
Kanari shook away her mixed feelings. No one knew about the day her and her siblings had broken her father's rules and went out of village, not even Linku. And there was no way the Waterbender was going to let the other best her.
"Let's go, then," Linku took his friend's arm, pulling her in the direction of the outer wall, but instead turned towards an opening in some rocks.
"Linku, we're not supposed to go in there," Kanari uttered.
"That's the point, you dim-wit," Linku laughed lightly, tugging Kanari inside the cave. The cave slid down into a wide, dimly lit tunnel. Kanari shuttered slightly as the temperature dropped before rising as they reached the bottom of the cavern.
"What is this place, Linku?"
A shimmering, slightly steaming pool took up most of the chamber below. Two fish-one white and one black-were wheeling circles in the water, completely at ease. An opening in the ceiling was letting a few rays of pale, watery light reach the depths of the hollow. As Kanari settled down to sit by the miniscule reservoir, a feeling of tranquility washed over her. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all...?
"I have no idea, but why is it off limits?" Linku's eyebrows creased together in confusion.
"It's beautiful here..." Kanari trailed off in slight awe. She took her gloves off, letting her fingers explore the rock she was sitting on. She closed her eyes and tilted her face up to the light.
"It really is. Do you feel..." Linku tittered awkwardly. "It's...I don't know how to explain it. I just...I just feel safe here. Like I don't have a worry in the world, you know?"
"Yeah...I know..." Kanari opened her eyes with a smile as a few snowflakes fell through the hole, gingerly perching on her forehead. She wiped the flakes off, examining them. Her smile quickly disappeared as she noticed the smudge on the back of her hand.
"Kanari, the snowflakes-?" Linku's voice raised an octave or two when he spotted a few more drift through the crack.
The snowflakes were black.
"We need to get out of here now!" Linku ordered, grasping Kanari's arm and dragging her away from the pool.
"Wait! My gloves!" Kanari tried, her reach feeble in Linku's tight grip.
"It doesn't matter, we'll get them later!" Linku shouted. Kanari opened her mouth to object but they were already out of the cave. Kanari wouldn't have given the lost gloves a second thought if they didn't happen to be her brother's.
Most of the town was out and about, staring up at the sky and preparing for the coming onslaught. But it was too late. Just as Kanari and Linku arrived in the center square of the village, the Fire Nation's soldiers broke through whatever barricades the village had prepared. Memories began flashing before her eyes as Linku dragged her through the crowd. Lizards, some bigger than houses, drills poking up through the ground and the Firebenders climbing through, grabbing the feet of the Waterbenders and hauling them to the ground, her father and mother's screams as they called her name, promises being made and broken, Ryhant being taken away and not coming back...
Her vision was swimming and her head was pounding. There was whispering in her ears, whispering of a familiar voice she had heard too many times before-
The Fire Nation's descent was quick and efficient, just like last time. They had made it back to her parents after all as Kanari was enveloped in her mother's arms, her father standing in a protective stance between the Fire Nation and her mother and siblings...
Yet, something wasn't right. Even though her vision was blurred, she knew that Ryhant wasn't among the foreigners before her. She continued to search desperately as one of them spoke.
"I, Prince Zuko, have returned to your tribe in search of the Avatar. You have concealed him from me, and I will not be fooled this time. I know the Avatar is here, existing in one of the children that are existing among you. I am not sure how we were unable to directly pinpoint him last time, but we will find him this time."
"Kanari, you and Linku have to get out of here. They're going to try to take Linku away," her mother whispered. Kanari shook the fog from her sight, clenching her mother's hand in concern.
"Why will they take Linku away?" she whimpered.
"Because he is a boy, Kanari. And they suspect the next Avatar will be a boy. Now please, go!" She breathed, untangling Kanari from her and looping her daughter's arm around Linku's.
"Let's go," Linku exhaled. Kanari clung onto her friend, hoping that her family would be safe while she was gone.
"What happened to the other boy?" a person in the crowd called out to the Prince.
The Prince gazed out into the crowd. "He was disposed when he was deemed useless."
Kanari froze in her tracks as her mother's scream rippled around the area, Haynia's cry of sorrow soon following. Kanari's vision spun once again, but instead of being blurred, her sights were tinted with red.
"Kani, no!" Linku hissed, quarreling with Kanari as she attempted to struggle out of his grip.
"So, if we could have the boys step through you gathered her and towards my uncle, he will deem who we take."
Kanari followed the Prince's gaze to where his uncle had set up a small table and had set a few artifacts on it-the chimes, the cup of water, the rock, and the candle.
'This is how they took Ryhant away...Linku has to get out of here or they could take him too!'
Kanari stopped fighting Linku, clasped his hand, and let him lead the way out of the crowd. They were making good time too when two Firebenders stopped them, and grabbed Kanari and Linku, tugging them towards Zuko with weak cries of protest.
Linku was shoved at Zuko as the guards presenting the two Waterbenders to their Prince.
"We found these two trying to get away," the solider holding Kanari growled, his nails digging into the back of her neck. Kanari writhed in his grip, her fight slackening.
"Kanari-" she could barely distinguish her sister's plea as her ears began to ring.
Zuko's lip curled in disgust as Linku glared up at him. "Test him, Uncle, and bring her forward,"
Kanari was thrusted forward, and she stumbled but managed to stay standing. Zuko grasped her by her hair, throwing her neck back.
"Trying to run away, hrm?" he hissed. "Trying to run away with the Avatar? He's the Avatar, isn't he? And you've been hiding him from me, haven't you?"
The Waterbender's eyes flickered over to the side. There was a thump as the rock hit Zuko's feet.
"You were hiding him from me!" Zuko hollered, raising his hand as if to slap her, but he stopped when Kanari's hands flew in the air to protect herself. Instead, Zuko tossed her aside and grabbed Linku by the collar.
"You have been in hiding too long, Aang," Zuko growled. "It's time you show yourself again, Avatar. You're coming back to the Fire Nation with us, so I can finally please my father. We're going home!"
Kanari had just climbed back to her feet when Linku had been grabbed and was being dragged to the ship.
"Save him. He will only die, Kanari,"
As these words whispered in her ears, Kanari's only thought was Ryhant. Ryhant was dead. Ryhant was being dragged away from her once again, except this time it wasn't her brother, it was her best friend. And no one was moving to help him.
Hatred and anger for her tribe and the Fire Nation boiled in her veins, covering them in a layer of frost. With a surge of adrenalin, Kanari leaped forward, screaming her friend's name.
"Linku! Linku!"
"Kanari! Run! I'll be fine!"
"He will not be fine, Kanari. Save him or he too will die."
"No! Linku! LINKU!"
Suddenly, a large wall of rock emerged from the ground, blocking the Firebender's path. But Linku hadn't moved.
Kanari had.
"Only you can save him, Kanari, for you are the Avatar."
Prince Zuko stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes not on the Avatar, but on the girl. No, she wasn't just a girl, she was the Avatar, not the pretender he was currently holding hostage. He had been at the back of the entourage, so he was the first to turn to face her. And just as he turned to face her, his eyes locked with those startlingly familiar eyes, seeing not this girl, but the child he had held captive with his knife three years ago. The same blaze was there when she had pivoted to face him when he had finally let her go, her eyes blazing with hatred like they did now. He had once held the real Avatar and not known it. The strange markings on her hands that he had gotten glimpse of moments ago before he had thrown her down and she had recoiled away from him, hands raised. He had not questioned it because his mind was preoccupied with thoughts of the fake Avatar, when he had seemed real. And the other fake Avatar he had captured, the one called Ryhant. This was his sister. She had been nearby when the test items all did their part in telling who was the Avatar. That was why they had moved. That was why the rock had rolled to his feet both times when he had been holding her. But really, the rock had been rolling towards her. Fixated on those brown eyes, he saw what he needed to know, to confirm his suspicions. As she glared, her eyes flashed blue for a heartbeat, before flashing back to brown.
The blue had been the exact shade and color of Aang's eyes. He was standing not before...Kanari...but Aang. No, the reincarnation of Aang, and the reincarnation of many Avatar's before her. Instead of an arrow marking-the marking of an Airborn Avatar-she had the marking of a Waterborn Avatar. She was the Avatar.
"Seize her."
a/n: That's the chapter! Now, may I direct you to the blue button below? :3