Summary: One little incident has led to the separation of Katara from her friends and family. Now she travels with two firebenders: One a former enemy, the other more powerful then she lets on. But there's more to them all then meets the eye, and it all began with a prophesy of four, plus two to signify the end of the long war… Rated T for BVA, R & R!

Disclaimer: Sadly, I don't own it… (Insert sarcastic comment here)


"Come on, Mac. We'll take you to our place."

"But why would you want me? Why would anybody want me?"

A young teen with brown hair that had a golden shine in the sunlight knelt down to the eye-level of the three-year-old redhead.

She gave her a smile that reflected through her blue-dominated eyes. "That's not a question you should be asking yourself, kid. The real question you should be asking yourself is, 'Why would anybody not want you'?"

The three-year-old smiled a toothy grin and jumped into the teenager's arms and latched on like there was no tomorrow.

A shrill whistle caught their attentions, and the teen stood, the toddler still in her arms.

"Prongs!" a voice called out.

The teen smiled upon hearing the voice, and began looking around for its source.

Then, a boy with long black-brown hair, no older than thirteen years of age, ran up to the two of them, out of breath and with sweat matting his unruly bangs to the sides of his head.

"There you are! Lost track o' ya for a minute there," he said whilst panting. Then he blew his bangs out of his face in a manner that made the two girls lightly giggle.

"So, she's comin' with?" he asked after mustering up a little bit of dignity.

The young brunette looked down at the little firebender with a smile. "Yeah, she's comin' with."

Makayla hugged her elder even tighter, if that was even possible, before letting her grip loosen to shift to a more comfortable position.

"We leavin' now?" The male teen raised an eyebrow to further emphasize his impatience, which earned him a light chuckle from his friend.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're goin', Wolfie, we're goin'," said 'Prongs' as she started walking eastward towards their destination, which was what the two teens called "home".

"By the way," Makayla began, looking back up at the teen nicknamed 'Prongs'. "You never answered my qwestion: Why would you want me? No one else does. They don't like me 'cause I move fire. How come you like me?"

"It's called 'bending'," 'Wolfie' corrected.

"Aside from that," 'Prongs' said in a soothing voice, "they don't like you because they are afraid of what…" She searched for the right word context to say for the –three-year-old's ears. "of what you might, one day, be able to do. Because of that, they will make fun of you, curse you, and some might want to bring you harm."

"Why don't you?"

The female teen sighed out of weariness from answering so many questions. She glanced at her best friend, who nodded in answer to her unasked question. "Because, if we diss you…" The two teenagers' eyes looked down at young Makayla. 'Prongs', whom before her eyes were blue-dominated, became pure amber. 'Wolfie', eho's eyes were seemingly hunter green before, were now a green and gold, and were in a pinwheel patters. Both sets of orbs shone in the sunset. "…then we'd be dissing us, too…"

Makayla's eyes shot open, only to scrunch chut due to the intensity of the daybreak's sunlight.

She sighed. There was no way now that she'd be able to sleep again, due to the sun being up. Being a firebender, naturally, she rose with the sun.

Making up her mind on what to do next, she got up from her little corner of Appa's saddle, and walked to where Katara sat quietly, steering Appa.

"What are you doin' up?" Makayla asked.

"I should be asking you the same question," Katara replied.

Makayla rolled her eyes. "I'm a firebender. I rise with the sun. What's your excuse?" She emphasized her point by poking Katara in the ribcage, gently, which caused Katara to jump slightly.

She then grimaced, not really knowing how to say how she felt, but Makayla understood. "Past experiences comin' back an' bitin' ya in the butt?"

Katara looked at the youngest member of their little group in shock. She had been traveling with them for a mere week, yet she seemed to know them really well, as though they've been traveling buddies for years.

Makayla laughed at the expression. "I know that look well. Both Mom and Dad got those looks all the time."

"Bad childhoods?" Katara guessed.

"Worse than you can imagine," Mac replied glumly.

"Worse than losing your mother to the Fire Nation?" Katara asked bitterly.

Makayla winced, then narrowed her eyes. "Try never ever knowing you mother and losing your father to the Water Nation," she retorted. "Plus, he wasn't even a soldier. HE was retired!"

This comment had Katara dumbstruck. 'No, it can't be true… The water tribes, killing a fire nation father in cold blood?'

"That's what happened to Mom," Makayla stated, as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. She then got up to go dig in the food bag.

"You're sure?" Katara asked in a hushed whisper. Then a thought came to mind. "How many years ago was this?"

Makayla shrugged. "Eleven. Almost twelve. Why?" She looked up from the bag.

Katara sighed mentally in relief. "No reason." 'At least it wasn't Dad…'

There was silence, save for the wind, for a few precious minutes.

"What about you?" Mac asked, out of the blue. "How long ago?"

Katara looked confused for a second, before realizing what she meant. "Six years. Then three years ago my dad left to fight in the war."

Makayla shrugged again and went back to busying herself by rummaging through the bag of food. "Are we outta jerky already?" she called out, her voice muffled by the bag.

"Yeah, Sokka ate all of it."

"Darn it! There goes our protein," Makayla said sadly, crawling out of the bag.

"We have nuts, too," Katara said absentmindedly.

"I'm allergic to nuts. Remember?" Makayla pointed out.

"Oh, yeah. You had that huge sneezing fit," Katara recalled. "Nearly burned Appa's fur."

"Yup, and now, if I have another one, blame it on Sokka."

"Blame what on Sokka?" Aang asked, just waking up.

"Blame what on Snoozles?" Toph asked immediately afterwards.

"We're out of jerky," Katara explained from Appa's head.

The two pre-teens groaned and fell back on their sleeping bags, obviously getting the meaning behind the message.

"Wait," Makayla looked confused. "I thought you didn't eat meat, Avatar Aang."

"Yeah, well, I'll take meat over Sokka's 'rock-shaped' nuts anyday," Aang retorted, bringing the girls to giggles.

"Agreed," Toph said in between giggle fits.

"Hey, I tried, okay?" Sokka mumbled through his sleeping bag.

"Does that mean you're up?" Makayla asked, only to be responded to by loud snores. "Guess not…"

Katara sighed. "I'll get him up…"

The next few seconds happened too quickly to recall correctly for anyone in the group. Katara had stood up to go wake up her brother, when a fluttering feeling ran through all of them, save Momo, who was flying.

Makayla had screamed in fright, but the others seemed rendered helpless, unable to do anything, save for looking shocked. Oh, how close to accurate that word comes in describing just what was happening to them.

The scream the little firebender gave was short, for she collapsed afterwards, unconscious. The others quickly followed the suit.

They awoke around the same moment a short time subsequently, all with splitting headaches.

"I feel like somebody opened up my head and deep-fried my brain," Makayla had commented. Toph laughed at that assessment, but whole-heartedly agreed, saying, "I hear that that's what a hangover feels like."

"Well, in that case, I'm never drinking. EVER!" The two girls started laughing all over again.

"Is he up, yet?" Aang asked, referring to Sokka.

Toph couldn't tell, so it was up to the other two to look.

"Still sleeping!" Makayla exclaimed. "Un-be-lievable. Your brother sure is a lazy one, eh Katara?" No response was heard.

"Katara?" Aang called out, worry evident in his voice.

"This isn't funny, Sugar Queen!" Toph exclaimed.

"You smell that?" Makayla asked, out of the blue.

"Smell what?" Aang asked, temporarily distracted.

"I smell something burning," Toph said in response to Makayla's query. "It's strong, so whatever's burning is alive, or was alive, at least…"

Horrified looks appeared on each of their countenances. Then those who could see looked around for any traces of fire.

They saw it behind them. It was a column of smoke. It was very far from their position, and even though they were far from it, they could easily tell that it was more than just a bonfire or a barbeque.

"Fire Nation!" Makayla hissed in distaste, suprising the other two with the level of utter hatred she expressed vocally, over her own nation.

"Fire Nation! Where!" Sokka sat up, just then deciding that it was a good time to get up.

Makayla pointed towards the smoke, and Sokka looked.

"What happened there?" Sokka wondered aloud.

"Not sure," Toph said. "All we know is that something big happened there, and that we're down one person."

"'Down one person'? What do you mean down one-" Then it hit him.

"We've got to get back over there!" He shouted, getting up quickly to get over to Appa's head.

Makayla felt a red flag go up in her head. "Wait, what? NO!" She tackled Sokka. "No, no, no! Bad idea! Very bad idea!"

"Lemme go! We gotta rescue my sister!" He thrashed, trying to throw her off.

Makayla held on tighter. "Will you just shuttup and use that head of yours!" she yelled. "Turning back may be exactly what they want!"

Sokka stopped struggling.

"You claim to have good instincts, right? So, what do they say about this happening?"

Sokka actually thought about that for a minute before realization hit him and he glanced over at Aang.

"Exactly," Makayla said, already knowing what he finally figured out.

"They want Twinkle Toes," Toph assessed. "and they might be using Sugar Queen as bait."

"So, what do we do?" Sokka asked, sounding defeated. They all looked at Aang, but he seemed indecisive.

At last, Toph spoke up. "Not that life will be easier without Sugar Queen and all, but we can't go. Not yet. We'd need some type of battle plan. But, first of all, we'd have to find out exactly where she is before we could do anything, anyway."

Aang gave a dejected sigh, which the others noted.

"Hey, chillax, man. She's a waterbending master, right? I'm sure she can take care of herself. If anyone tries to do anything bad to her she can just bend the liquids inside of them and then get away."

The others looked a mix between disgusted and horrified.

"What, you didn't know that?" Makayla asked innocently, obviously unaffected by how utterly gross the mental pictures were that formed in the others' minds from her words.

"Who told you that?" Sokka asked, being the first to recover.

"Mom…" The young firebender's eyes suddenly welled up with tears, and she looked away.

"You miss her, don't you?" Sokka's voice softened.

Makayla only nodded.

"When did you last see her?" Aang asked, genuinely curious. She had never talked much about her family, save a few details, like her father's hoppies and occupations. They were not awake when she was conversing with Katara, after all.

"A little more than a week," Makayla whispered. "That's when Katara found me."

"She said that you looked like you ran into trouble. What happened?" Aang asked, taking advantage of this time to find out more about their new ally.

Makayla's expression hardened. "Well, if you must know, me and Mom were attacked by sake-driven ear-" She quickly stopped herself, remembering something at the very last second, and cutting herself off mid-word.

"Earthbenders?" Toph asked. Makayla just nodded. Toph snorted in disgust. "Figures. Earthbending guys like to prove how tough they are, so they drown themselves in rum and sake."

"I don't wether or not Mom got out," Makayla continued. "Just like now with Katara."

She turned and looked at Sokka earnestly. "Don't give up hope. Pretend that she's immortal, if you have to, just don't give up hope."

She smiled and sniffled, whipping her eyes with the back of her hand. "And who knows? Maybe she'll find us, first, before we could even do anything."

Suddenly, Sokka started cracking up.

"What?" Aang asked.

"Nothin'," Sokka said, still chuckling. "Just Got a funny mental picture of Katara swinging a machete around at firebenders while letting out a battle cry."

The others cracked up as well. Even Momo seemed amused.

"That's the spirit, Sokka!" Makayla exclaimed. She then quickly got into a meditative pose, pretending she was an oracle. "I see…" she whispered. "I see… Katara standing triumphantly over Fire Nation soldiers that are twitching in agony!"

They were laughing now, their spirits had lifted considerably.

"That'll be the day…" Toph muttered, still giggling.

The remainder of the morning they flew in silence, but it was a comfortable one, each of them thinking of different scenarios of which Katara came out victorious.

Makayla looked over at Aang in pity. 'He likes her. Heck, even a blind man could see that Aang likes Katara. But if I'm right, then Katara was ment to be a key to the end of the Great War. Sorry Aang, but you'll need to find someone else to like, maybe someone your age...'

Makayla then knelt down and prayed. 'O Lord of all creation, please shower your blessings down upon us, and upon Katara. Precious Lord, please protect her, whom has become precious to me and has been precious to them. And please, if she's alright, protect Mommy, too. Your will be done.'

She opened her eyes and held back a startled gasp. A lion spirit "stood" before her, one that Makayla knew well. After all, Leo was her spiritual guide.

"Granted," his deep voice spoke into the wind before vanishing…


A/N: Grrrrrrrrrrrr, I hate being grounded. SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO sorry for the delay, but I have good news: I'll have chapter 7 up by the end of the week! It's already written, now it just has to be typed...

Also, this will be the last chapter that we'll be seeing what's happening with the "Gaang" for a while. Gotta get to the real part of the story, ya know...

Please remember to review!

-Alchemist Astrid