24-10-2017: After two chapters, it's now time for the Winter Solstice. Get ready for my own twist on things as Abby comes face to face with not only Aang, but Roku as well. I won't give too much away so I'll stop rambling and you'll start reading.

11-02-2019: This was my first real long chapter for the story. It's funny how I could barely get out a thousand words in my earlier works but now I'm pumping out stories with over 5k words. Just going back over these chapters is making me notice some of the smaller mistakes that I actually did without realising that they were mistakes so this is me going back over them.

Free For All

Following her escapade with those damned pirates, Abi continued her voyage towards Crescent Island. The rest of her journey proved to be smooth sailing and she encountered hardly any difficulties during the trip. Abi did come across a blockade that was patrolling the ocean boarder between the Earth Kingdom and the Fire Nation, but Abi had enough time to avoid it by travelling North in order to avoid the ships. Within no time, Abi made it to Crescent Island with only a few days left to spare. She made sure to dock the boat closer to the shore of the island in case she needed a quick escape.

Once she'd arrived, Abi gathered her necessary equipment and headed towards the temple. She was well aware that the Fire Sages still occupied the premises, but their loyalty had turned to the Fire Lord in the past one hundred years and Abi was sure that once she revealed her identity as the Dragoness that they'd welcome her with ease. Abi had done some reading on the Fire Sages so she knew that they were still devoted to their spirituality, despite their allegiance so she made a mental note to not disrespect them in any shape or form.

Abi couldn't help but notice how abandoned the temple looked. It almost looked uninhabited, but she knew better. Abi just had to make her way through the temple and intercept the Avatar upon his arrival. As she walked through the lower corridor, the polished floors reflected against her and her shoes made a loud stomping noise which was sure to make it harder to keep the element of surprise. Abi figured that they must polish these floors everyday or something in order to get them like this, since there were now way that these floors were naturally shiny. Everything seemed quiet until she felt the presence of others in the room.

"Who are you? What do you think you're doing trespassing on our sacred temple?" one of the sages, who Abi assumed was the High Sage - because of his hat – asked.

"My name is Abby. I am the Dragoness of the Fire Nation," Abi introduced herself before giving them the Fire Nation salute and a bow for good measures.

"What are you doing here?" the High Sage asked.

"I think you have a fair idea on why I'm here," Abi replied.

"You're here for the Avatar?" the High Sage asked.

Abi nodded her head. "I heard that he'd be coming here on the day of the Winter Solstice, so I made sure to arrive before that time so that I could apprehend him and halt his communication with Avatar Roku."

"Very well. I'm well aware of your status and the power that you possess. It is an honour to have you at our temple," the High Sage said, bowing towards her.

"Please, excuse the formalities. Now there is only a few days until the Winter Solstice and the Avatar is sure to arrive soon enough. I suggest that the group of you try to withstand his attempts and if all fails, I'll take matters into my own hands," Abi said.

"That can be arranged. The day is slowly approaching so we must ready our defences. He could arrive any moment from now and we must be ready to attack," the High Sage said.

Abi nodded in agreement and the sages showed her their many secret passageways that were encased and could only be revealed with firebending. Whilst they showed her the way, Abi couldn't help but notice how a certain sage seemed as though his mind was in an entirely different dimension. Abi made a mental note to be wary of him before she started to mentally prepare herself for the Avatar's arrival.

~*•°•*~

In no time at all, the day of the Winter Solstice arrived, and the Avatar had still not showed up until one particular moment. Abi had been wondering amongst the halls when she heard a commotion from the bottom corridor. She immediately sprang into action and headed towards that direction.

"I'll hold them off!" Abi heard a familiar voice yell.

Abi smirked to herself as she realised that it was indeed the Avatar and he was once again accompanied by his peasant followers. There was no way that Abi would allow the Avatar to get past her. This was as far as he was going to get.

"Do you know where you're going?" the irritating peasant asked.

"Nope!" the Avatar yelled.

Soon enough, they made their way down the same corridor that Abi was in and just like the last time they crossed each other's paths, they stopped dead in their tracks upon recognising her.

"You've gotta be kidding me!" the peasant asked.

"Well, it looks like you showed up in the nick of time. Too bad this is as far as you're going to get," Abi sneered before sending a large blast of fire towards them.

The Avatar was quick to shield himself and his followers from her attacks while sending his own towards her. Abi leaped into the air and sent a powerful attack towards him with her feet. She didn't stop for a breath once as she sent jab after jab at him. The irritating peasant sent his boomerang towards her but this time Abi was able to dodge it.

"Not today, peasant!" Abi taunted.

Abi continued sending her fierce attacks their way and for a moment she felt confident that this time she would be able to apprehend them. She had them cornered and there was no escape. Unfortunately, she miscalculated the use of the secret passageways as a nearby walls suddenly opened up before something or rather, someone pulled the Avatar down the passageway and shut the door. Frustrated, Abi ran towards the wall and tried to unlock it with her own firebending the way that the sages showed her, but it wasn't working so she assumed that whoever did this had somehow sealed off the passageway.

"Where did they go?" the High Sage asked as he and the sages ran down the hallway.

"Somebody pulled them into the passage way and now it's sealed shut!" Abi yelled, frustrated as she angrily breathed fire against the wall, trying to open it but to no avail.

"We don't have time to waste. We must make it to the sanctuary before the Avatar can contact Avatar Roku," the High Sage demanded.

Nodding in agreement, Abi headed after the sages as they made their way towards the sanctuary to hopefully halt the Avatar's attempt at communicating with Avatar Roku. The whole time, Abi couldn't help but wonder who had pulled them into the passageway. Although, she did have a sneaking suspicion as she noticed that one sage in particular wasn't with them.

~*•°•*~

Not before long, they made it to the sanctuary along with the guidance of the sage who hadn't been with them before but was now insisting that the Avatar was inside. In her opinion, his story didn't add up and she instantly became wary when she realised that it was the same sage who she felt wary towards when she first arrived.

"Look at those scorch marks!" he exclaimed.

Thanks to her many years of firebending, Abi could tell what real firebending looks like and in her professional opinion, that didn't look like any firebending that she'd seen before. Abi would say that it was a failed attempt at firebending. Or better yet, fake firebending.

"Open the doors immediately!" The High Sage demanded.

"Don't you think we should-" Abi tried to reason with them before the sages sent five simultaneous fire blasts towards the door. She watched intently as the large door began to open but once it did, she was quick to realise that the Avatar wasn't inside. It was the lemur.

"It's the Avatar's lemur! He must've crawled through the pipes, we've been tricked!" the High Sage realised.

Just as he said so, the lemur leapt towards him, covering his face and she felt someone grab her from behind, twisting her arm in a way that it shouldn't be twisted before she was pushed onto the ground, with someone's foot keeping her down. She looked up and glared at the sage who had her under his foot.

That traitor! Abi thought. How dare he betray not only the sages, but his nation as well?

The Water Tribe peasants had also joined us and had haltered our attempts at attacking. Abi tried to fight back against the sage who had her, but his foot was pressing down on her so that she couldn't get back up.

"Now Aang!" he yelled, but the Avatar was nowhere to be seen.

"Aang, now's your chance!" the peasant girl yelled.

Abi heard the sound of a struggle before she saw none other than Zuko walk out from behind a pillar with the Avatar in his grip.

"The Avatar's coming with me! Close the doors, quickly!" he demanded as he lead the Avatar down the stairs.

There was no way that Abi was going to let that happen. If the Avatar was going with anyone, it would be her. She'd come too far for this to be for nothing and she refused to let Zuko get all the glory for her efforts. Abi managed to get back up and shove the sage off before sending a fire blast towards Zuko in an attempt to stop him, which it did. But the Avatar also used that as his opportunity to escape so he kicked Zuko down the stairs before running past her at rocket speed. Abi was quick to send multiple fire jabs towards him as he headed towards his peasant accomplices.

"Go!" the girl said, gesturing to the door.

The Fire Sages worked together to shut the door as the Avatar zipped past them, jumping over their heads and avoiding the multiple fire blasts that went in his direction. He barely made it through the door just as it closed and as Abi sent another large blast towards him. A bright, fluorescent light seeped through the door, almost blinding her in the process. The sages along with Abi and Zuko tried their best to open the door with their firebending, but to no avail.

"Why isn't it opening, it's sealed shut!" Zuko yelled.

"It must've been the light. Avatar Roku doesn't want anyone else inside," the High Sage said.

Zuko turned to face the treacherous sage. "Why did you help the Avatar?"

"Because it was once the sages' duty. It is still our duty," he answered.

Abi glared at him. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your life rotting away in prison. I've heard that traitors are treated excellently in prison."

There was suddenly a gentle clapping noise heard from behind them and Abi turned around to see none other than Zhao and his men show up. Of course, he had to show up. And now Zhao was going to take away all of the effort that Abi had put into this mission and take the glory for himself like the selfish prick that he was.

"What a moving and heartfelt performance. I'm certain the Fire Lord will understand, when you explain why you betrayed him," Zhao said to the treacherous sage before turning to face Zuko. "And Prince Zuko. It was a noble effort, but your little smokescreen didn't work. Two traitors in one day. The Fire Lord will be pleased."

Zuko scowled as Zhao's soldiers grabbed him from behind. His attention then turned to me. "As for you, Abi. I'm not sure how you managed to figure out to come here but either way, you won't be walking away with your prize."

"And why not?" Abi asked.

"Don't you remember Daisuke's orders? I'm sure that he'll be glad to hear that you deliberately disobeyed his strict orders by trespassing the blockade and entering a sacred temple without his approval," he smirked.

Abi glared at him. "What are you gonna do about it?"

"You are going to join those peasants over there and watch as I capture the Avatar. If you do not comply with me, I'll take this straight to Daisuke, so he can deal with you appropriately," Zhao said with a disdainful smirk that Abi so badly wanted to wipe off his face.

Abi attempted to fight back as two of Zhao's soldiers held her against her will. She was then dragged over to where the two peasants were chained, and she was unceremoniously shoved against the pillar before the chained her to it. Just her luck, she had to be put between the two irritating peasants. On the other hand, Zuko got his own pillar. The lucky bastard.

"You're too late, Zhao! The Avatar's inside and the doors are sealed!" Zuko seethed.

Zhao smirked, "No matter. Sooner or later, he has to come out."

Of course he was going to, then Zhao was going to take the Avatar and find a way to get Abi in trouble like he always did. She could feel someone looking at her though, so Abi turned to her right to see Sokka looking at her with a confused look on his face.

"What?" she asked.

"Aren't you two like, I don't know, allies or something?" he asked, pointing to Zhao.

Abi scoffed, "Hardly. He's nothing but an arrogant jackass who gets in my way."

"But you're both Fire Nation," he pointed out.

Abi rolled her eyes, "Thanks for pointing out the obvious, genius. Just because I'm from the Fire Nation doesn't mean that I'm best friends with everyone."

"So, what's the deal with you? Are you like an assassin or just another crazed firebender? I'm leaning towards both," he said.

Abi was beyond annoyed by this point. She turned to his sister, ignoring him as she asked, "Tell me, peasant. Is your brother always this… obnoxious?"

She nodded, "Yes."

"Hey, you're supposed to be on my side!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Oh, you know I think it," his sister argued.

At any other time, their petty squabbling would've been fun to watch but Abi didn't have the time and patience to sit back and listen to their annoying voices. As Abi turned to the large door that was protecting the Avatar, she couldn't help but wonder what could possibly be going on in there. Surely the Avatar wasn't having a tea party with all of his past lives. It had to be something important and Abi could only imagine what was going on inside. If only she was a fly on the wall in there…

"When those doors open, unleash all of your fire power!" Zhao shouted.

"How's Aang gonna make it out of this?" Katara asked, worriedly.

"How are we gonna make it out of this?" Sokka asked, troubled.

Waiting for the Avatar to show himself was beginning to get aggravating. How could this possibly be taking so long? For all they knew, he could've already teleported to the Fire Nation using his freakish Avatar powers. Couldn't the Avatar just show up so that Abi could be on her way? This whole trip had been for nothing and Abi shouldn't have even bothered in the first place. For a while, there was nothing happening except the guards patiently waiting for the Avatar to reveal himself.

And that's when it happened.

Suddenly, a bright, blue and blinding light came through the door as smoke streams came out from underneath. It was so bright that Abi had to look away to shield her eyes for a moment. The doors opened, revealing a pair of glowing eyes and Abi immediately knew that this was the Avatar in the Avatar State and that they were about to be dealt with a heavy blow. But Abi couldn't help but notice how his tattoos weren't glowing either, since that was what was supposed to happen.

"Ready?" Zhao began.

"No, Aang!" Katara yelled, terrified.

"Fire!" Zhao yelled.

All of the soldiers cooperated and blasted their fire towards the glowing Avatar, creating a wall of fire. To her complete amazement – and quite frankly, awe – Abi watched as the wall of fire amassed, circling it's host. But that wasn't the only reason why she was surprised. Because standing there wasn't the airbender Avatar. It was Avatar Roku.

"Is that-" Abi began before being cut off.

"Avatar Roku," the treacherous sage said in awe, causing Abi to glare at him for interrupting her.

Abi watched in amazement as the ghostly Avatar drew the circling fire together in one motion. He then sent it forward in one powerful wave that seared the room, blasting Zhao, the sages and the soldiers off their feet while melting the chins that were binding her and the Water Tribe peasants. She used this as her opportunity to break free from her restraints, running from the sanctuary without looking back, knowing that the Avatar was bound to do something destructive and not wanting to be caught in the crossfire. Zuko also seemed to have the same idea that she did as they ran down the spiral stairs together. At one point, Abi could see the lava making it's way through the hardened walls and the soldiers running down as well. She knew that she had to get to her boat and out of this island as soon as she could.

Using all of her energy, Abi ran out of the temple as fast as she could. Abi looked up and watched in shock as it began to sink into the ground and as fire blasted through the walls. Abi ran towards the area where she'd put her boat and jumped into it before setting it off and heading out to sea, looking back as she watched the temple continue to destruct. She looked around to see that Zuko was also heading out to sea, but in a different direction. Abi ignored him, knowing that she had to get to safety before Zhao found her. The chances were that she'd run into Zuko again anyways.

As she drifted away, Abi looked into the sky and she could faintly make out the sight of the bison in the air, but she already knew that it was pointless in following it. Her plan to catch the Avatar might've failed, but Abi knew that there would be plenty of other opportunities that would come her way in the future and she wasn't going to let any of them go to waste.

24-10-2017: Alright, now that's officially the longest chapter that I've written at seven pages and just over 3000 words. I honestly thought about dividing it up into two parts, but I decided against it. Hope liked what I did with the Winter Solstice and there's plenty more where that came from. In later chapters expect to see more revealed about the nature of Abby's relationship with Daisuke and why she's like the way she is. That's it for now so I'll see you guys next chapter.

11-02-2019: Ah, back when 3k words was a lot for me to write. Now that's considered a short chapter for me. One thing that I am trying to do is give these chapters more length to balance the story out, since it just goes from hardly any content to a whole lot of it. Nothing was changed in this chapter apart from the first person to third person so it wasn't that big of a change.