Book Two: Earth

Arriving in Ba Sing Se

Previously: "Kaya?" Zuko asked surprised.

"Hey," I said quietly.

"Why do you appear at the most random of times?" he asked.

"I don't mind," Iroh smiled.

I chuckled at his comment and Zuko was rubbing his head, because he was a little bit confused.

"Ugh, whatever," Zuko moaned. "Why are you here anyway? I saw that you were in the North Pole and now you're here all of a sudden?"

"Well, you… I mean we… um did attack the place so it is in bits and pieces," I said quietly.

"Haha, isn't that the fucking truth," Zuko laughed maliciously.

I never really realized that Zuko had such a bad mouth, until now. Iroh groaned in disappointment, while I watch Zuko cracking up from the North Pole being destroyed. He then stopped laughing and went back to his usual serious mood.

I saw a very familiar face on the other side of the station, whom was staring over at Iroh sipping his tea. I hid my face to realize who the man was; mostly the small wheat strand sticking out of his mouth indicated who he was. Jet.

Jet was the person that was frozen to a tree, and that was hysterical. I supposed he was still pretty angry at us, considering we did ruin his plans for him trying to burn down the village.

"Um… I got to go," I said nervously.

"Why?" Zuko asked seriously.

"Someone here that I'm not really friendly with."

Iroh was still sipping his tea very slowly, and Zuko looked concerned for me. I probably should tell him whom it was, considering that he has a bit of an anger problem.

"Who is it?"

"Uh…"

I glanced over slowly and made eye contact with Jet. I rapidly looked away and my hold body got really hot. I froze in place, scared, and sluggishly pushed my bangs over my face, therefore covering my face so it would be harder for him to recognize me.

I had that feeling that he was still staring at me, so I really had to go. I know it would be rude to leave Iroh and Zuko, but Zuko was definitely the definition of being rude.

"I… I… need to go," I stuttered.

I dashed away from them and immediately boarded the train that was about to leave anyway. I sat down in the corner seat and glanced out the small window. I noticed that Jet was going on a different ferry, and so was Zuko and Iroh. This was bad. Very bad. Jet knew that I was with the group at the time, and that could ruin my cover immediately. Zuko would realize that I was with the Aang and the others, and I specifically remember that I used waterbending, while I was with him.

As the train slowly accelerated, I prayed that Jet would not talk to Zuko, and if he did that he would not mention me at all in the conversation.

I have to admit that this has been a pretty bad week for me. I had now lost the group; well more like betrayed, and now Zuko was going to realize who I really was. I was the Avatar, something that I have been avoiding my whole life. I tried to do everything I could to evade this responsibility, but things eventually catch up to you.

I felt alone again. I was upset, and angry with myself. As I stared out the window, I held in my shallow tears. I knocked my head against the window, and leaned against it, closing my eyes. I thought about what my parents would have looked like if they existed. My mom would be beautiful, short, and have strawberry blonde hair. I imagined my dad to be very tall, fit, have some type of beard, along with dark brown hair.

I awoke to the train slowing down. I saw that we were now in Ba Sing Se, where everything looked very orderly. All the roofs of the buildings were in the shade of a dark green. It was by far the largest city in the world, and it was known for being the "Impenetrable City", because of the famous walls and more of advanced technologies that it had. I believed that the walls could only be opened by earthbending, and I am sure that there were other secrets in the cities to be discovered. All I knew about Ba Sing Se that the secret police was called the Dai Li, and that the 52nd Earth King's name was Kuei and that he had a pet bear of some sort. Unimportant really.

The train doors opened and I got up. I quickly stretched and then left the train. I scurried over to the place where the sign said Animal Pickup and Extra Storage. Thankfully, there was no line.

"Um… pickup for a black panther by the name of Milo and the owner's name is under Kaya," I said.

"Yes ma'am he has arrived safely," the man told me. That was a sigh of relief. "Here you go."

"Thanks."

He handed me the cage and I bowed my head, showing him that I was thankful for his service. I would have to get a leash for Milo if I was going to let him out of his cage. Ba Sing Se was a city with a lot of rules, that why there was some peace there because of there orderly structure.

"Hello," a woman with dark hair greeted me. "My name is Joo Dee and I will be showing you to your house." She gave me a wide smile and she also talked like a robot. This freaked me out, because she sounded like she was under control of something or someone and I didn't like it. "Someone will bring your… uh… cat to your house shortly."

"Can't I just bring him in the car with us?" I asked.

"Nope," she closed her eyes and gave me an annoying large smile. "City rules, and we must follow the city rules, because if we don't follow the rules the city would have chaos."

"Look I wasn't asking for a whole background story," I said annoyed. "It was just a yes or no question."

She kept smiling at me, which made me very uncomfortable. Usually smiling was a comforting, but she overdid it. I guess it was part of the job. I would never want to be a tour guide for this place.

"Take me to my house," I commanded her and through a piece of paper over to her. I wrote down the address after I got the ticket. I had already paid for a weeks rent before hand.

She took me to a carriage and gestured for me to go into it, which I did. She came in with me and then the carriage started to move. I glared her down and she kept smiling at me. What a freak.

I glanced out the window and it looked like we were in the poor part of town. As we kept traveling down farther, it looks like the people got wealthier. I didn't like how it was segregated between rich and poor people. I thought it was cruel and stupid.

"No signs of the Fire Nation, right?" I brought up.

"What!" she shouted in a worried tone. "No, of course not! Why would you even bring that up?" She seemed offended somehow.

"Well, only because there is war on, like, the other side of the world," I informed her. "Geez… calm down lady."

"I'm so sorry," she smiled at me. "We just don't like to talk about the war."

"Obviously," I muttered under my breath.

She looked upset for a moment, but then went back to her smiling.

The carriage began to slow down and then it came to a halt. I kicked the door open and saw my medium sized house. I liked it a lot, because it wasn't too big or too small.

Joo Dee handed me my bags, a key for the house, and then she said to call if I needed anything. I nodded, but I promise I will not be calling anytime soon. She was super annoying, and I hoped that all the tour guides weren't like that.

I grabbed my bags and walked up to my new home. I took out the key she gave me earlier and opened up the door. The house was nice. It had what every house only needed, but maybe something extra. It had a bedroom, a kitchen, a living and a bathroom. It was very spacious and nice and cozy.

I set down my bags and I heard the doorbell rang. I opened it up and a man greeted me. He made me sign some papers and then handed me the cage that Milo was in. I thanked him and then shut the door in his face.

I unlocked the cage and Milo greeted me by recklessly licking my face. I pushed him off playfully and tapped his head. He purred and then started sniffing around the new house.

It took me three hours to unpack and set everything up. I was exhausted by the time I was done. I also went out once to pick up a bed and a collar along with a leash for Milo. He didn't like his new collar but he had to wear it, so he would have to suck it up.

I also picked up some groceries along with some blankets for my bed. The house did come with much, only stuff that was attached to it. Luckily, there was a mattress that came with it. It should of; I paid enough for this house.

BOOM.

I got up immediately, and Milo came running toward me. I heard the ground shaking and at first I thought it was an earthquake, but I knew that wasn't it. It was something much worse.

I got dressed into some casual clothes, and threw my pajamas onto the ground. I ran out the door and left Milo inside. I climbed up a tree and then jumped onto the roof of my house. After that I jumped from house to house, getting near the wall. I jumped off the house and landed on the ground. I ran toward the wall and saw earthbenders, that looked like the Dai Li, earth bending themselves up the wall.

I jumped onto one of the rocks that was going up the wall and the soldier was surprised. I took out my pocketknife and put it near his throat.

"Keep going or I'll slice your throat open," I threatened him.

He began to sweat, but he did as I said.

We got to the top of the wall and I ran toward the other side of it. The wall was shaking and the people up there looked terrified. I got to the edge of the wall and saw a huge drill going into it. The wall was being drilled down.

Fire Nation.

Hey guys, I just wanted to apologize for not updating in like a month! I'm currently updating all of my stories today. I feel really bad, and sorry for such a long wait. I have been super duper busy with school, and I just got a new tutor and ugh! I've been busy.

But I'm really happy for those who are still reading. Thank you so much for waiting and I hoped you like this chapter :) I wrote it today along with my other story, Diabolik Lovers, which is a new anime by the way. If any of you are into romance and vampires, that anime is good for you. But it's a little weird.

Anyway I will try to update the next one sooner. Thanks for waiting :) And by the way, I started a youtube channel that goes under the name of LazyAnime. There is a link on my profile. It's just like AMV's of anime and such. It's just fun to make and such. I'll also try and make more action in the next chapter!