Earth.

Fire.

Air.

Water.

Only the avatar can save us all.

Previously on Legend of Katherine!

This seems a little premature, but basically the avatar's fate is in the hands of someone else now. Between Princess Lizzie gaining new allies and very…unusual…spirit attacks, a lot has happened in the past day. But now that Stacy and Vixella are left to collect the pieces, they must form an uneasy alliance with their sworn enemy to get Kat back. Meanwhile, Azula makes a reappearance…who now holds the fate of the world on her shoulders.

Book 1: Water

Chapter 11: Witch

Kat couldn't breathe.

She felt her breath hitch as she realized just who was standing before her. Tale of Fire Lord Azula's manipulative, cunning, and ruthless nature was whispered at every corner of the planet, from the 'free' villages in the South Pole to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se to the Air acolyte population that lived in the Northern Air Temple and invented new weapons for the Fire Nation. She was especially well known for her drive in the past to crush the last avatar and destroy everything and everyone he loved.

And here Kat was, captured and helpless, at her mercy.

Azula slowly turned around, revealing her pale, flawless skin and sharp amber eyes. She looked just like Lizzie, but a million times worse. She abruptly clenched her left hand into a tight fist, extinguishing the flame in a heartbeat. Kat gulped, butterflies fluttering around inside her stomach.

"Where do we even start?" She pondered, touching her cheek with one finger. "Oh wait, I know. How's Fear doing?"

"Fear?" Kat echoed, sweating profusely under the Fire Lord's sharp stare.

"The little spirit parasite that I implanted." Azula explained, a sickly sweet smile gracing her blood red lips. "Quite the little nuisance to his hosts, grows stronger and weaker depending on the state of their mental stability. You might know him by another name, but you've definitely met him."

"The Other Self." Kat realized, with a sinking feeling in her stomach. "She implanted you?"

"The Queen's little pet is powerful, yes," The Other Self(or is it Fear now?) giggled. "But nowhere near as strong as her master."

"Her master?" Kat murmured out loud, not realizing that Azula heard her until it was too late. The Fire Lord smirked at the little outburst.

"Maybe you two should meet face to face?" She suggested. "After all, it is your destiny. Better happen sooner than later, with me having the advantage instead of you."

Kat could only dangle helplessly from the ceiling as Azula strided confidently to another side of the room. There was a large metal box with a single square opening on the front the size of a cardboard box. Azula snapped her fingers next to the box, which started to move on its own, towards Kat.

The box stopped moving directly in front of Kat, about three meters or so away. Azula gave Kat another one of her sickly sweet smiles, putting two fingers to her lips.

"I'll leave you two alone to talk. It'll just be you and her!" She waved with a very fake cheerful demeanor on as she opened the door and left the room. The harsh slamming sound of the metal door made Kat jump a little, shivering. She turned her attention back to the metal box with the mysterious entity inside, swallowing her fear as best as she could and staring at the little hole.

…

…

…

"Hello again, avatar."

Kat yelped, attempting to jump back slightly from the shock. It only ended up with her swinging on the hook. She could see something dark moving inside the box. Though the dim lighting in the room did not help.

"Hello…again?" Kat echoed, barely able to retain her fear and confusion. "Have…we met before?"

"In your past lives, yes," the person chuckled quietly. She had a voice that sounded as smooth as silk and mostly calm, but with a darker undertone. "but it has been a while. Many incarnations. Perhaps your memory is lacking?"

Kat took a calming breath, as she processed her options here. Whoever was in the box certainly knew one of her previous incarnations, although who still remained unbeknownst to her. But she had yet to catch on to the fact that she remained oblivious of her memories from her past lives, as well as their dormant connection. If she played her cards right, maybe Kat could convince this…thing…that she was fully spiritually inclined and connected with her avatar self.

"It has been a while since we've seen each other, yes," Kat lied in a slightly wary voice tone. "But I still remember you."

There was a moment of silence in the room. Then Kat felt the temperatures drop sharply. The single flame that lit the room faltered in the harsh freeze, and suddenly Kat could see each of her exhaled breaths. An ominous aura radiated from the box, rippling through the room. Kat winced as the wave hit her, making a subtle attack on her spiritual core.

"You can pretend, girl," she whispered sinisterly, all facades of calmness and affability vanishing in an instant. Kat could almost feel a cold hand on her cheek. She shuddered, shifting away. "but you're not fully connected. Not yet, at least."

The sharp drop in temperature faded as quickly as it came, the room returning to the balmy condition it was ten seconds ago. Kat shivered as she pondered just how whatever thing was inside the box had been able to do that. Waterbending? Perhaps, but she would have to be very talented to just alter the temperature like that. In such a short timespan, as well.

"Perhaps we can have a better working relationship. Kat, was it?" The person(or was it a person? Kat was starting to think it wasn't) said in a calculating, business-like tone.

Kat shuddered for the fifth time(or whatever number we're on at this point) since she awoke. Whoever was inside the box, they did not like her. Or her avatar spirit. Maybe both. But the mysterious entity was also clearly much stronger than she was. If Kat tried anything, it would most likely maul her or something.

"The current state of the world is…alright." The entity went on. "But I feel that it could get better. A lot better. And to do that, I need you out of the way."

"W-wait. What are you planning to do? Why me?" Kat stammered, suddenly very befuddled at what she was talking about. "I'm supposed to be the master of all four elements, the bridge between the human and spirit world. If you're trying to change things for the better, why can't I help?"

"That's just it." The person responded coolly. "I'm not trying to change things for 'the better,' as you see it. I'm trying to change it for the worse. Or, the better, in my point of view. And plus," the voice paused for a moment as there were some faint shifting noises coming from inside the metal box. "you didn't choose this life. It chose you. And now you're trapped in a maze. I could free you from this burden."

Kat faltered at her words. This entity literally just read her mind! Metaphorically, of course. If she could actually read minds…aaanyways, moving on! She did want to be rid of this curse. This burden. Kat never asked to be the avatar! If it weren't for it, she could be home right now, spending time with her siblings and eating blubbered seal jerky and complaining to Stacy for the one thousandth time about how school sucked. But no, it was because it chose her to become the next avatar, that she was in this mess. And now this person was offering to get her out of this mess.

But…

If everyone was like her, refusing to comply with the destiny that chose her, what state would the world be in? How would anything get accomplished, become changed? Someone had to try. Some people were eager to prove themselves and become a hero, but were nothing more than greedy skinbags that only cared for fame and fortune. While others were hesitant and unwilling to carry the weight of the world, but were wasting their true potential. If someone didn't stand up, do what's right, even if it's hard on themselves, the former would take charge and the world would become even more corrupt than it already was.

Kat snapped out of her daze, and glared at the box defiantly. "No." She stated firmly. "I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to ruin the world. Destroy everything that generations upon generations of avatars have precariously built. Even if I didn't choose this destiny, and I don't want it, someone had to stop monsters like you. And I will, because nobody else can."

A deathly silence hung in the air, the tension so thick it could be cut like butter. Kat stared slightly fearfully at the box. A faint violet glow was accumulating inside, steadily growing. Then—

PAIN.

Raw, agonizing screams tore themselves free from Kat's throat. Whatever the entity was firing at her, it felt like a thousand hot knives stabbing at her chest. And Kat couldn't do a thing about it. Although despite the tremendous physical trauma it was causing, Kat could feel it lashing at her connections with the elements and her avatar spirit. Her waterbending connection fought back harshly, but the others, as seen they were still inactive, could do nothing to fight the pure darkness starting to eat away at the strand.

Kat continued to struggle and cry as the monster inside continued to ferociously attack her. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally ceased the beam, giving her a second to catch her breath.

Kat coughed and shook, trying to curl up into a ball as best as she could in this position, barely holding back the sobs that threatened to spill from her throat. The fresh wound simmered like a forest after being struck by lightning, its trees and bushes still steadily burning and bringing destruction to life.

"Bold words, for a little parasite without a plan or a single spark of the strength needed to take me down." The creature hummed, sounding slightly amused at the pain she had just caused. "How naive."

There was a sharp rapping at the door that sounded like the chorus from 'Pop Goes the Fire-Ferret.' The creature inside the box let out a small, frustrated and barely audible sigh of annoyance.

"Yes, yes. I'm done talking. We can put the plan into motion now." She said, irritance flickering across her voice.

The metal door slid open with a loud creak, as Azula stepped back inside. She caught sight of the aftermath of the attack and smirked cruelly. "So soon? I thought you would have so much to talk about!"

"Don't test me." The creature inside the box said bluntly, with blatant vexation. Azula inclined her head slightly.

"Of course." She said, stalking up to Kat, the click-clack of her heels on the steel floor and Kat's ragged, uneven breath the only sounds in the room. The Fire Lord paused in right in front of her, examining her blackened wound.

"Pitiful." She snorted. "But alas, some avatars are just born to be weak. Yet you still can be of use to us." She abruptly grabbed Kat's bound hands, and threw her onto the floor. Kat let out a small yelp of pain at the harsh impact, grimacing at a forming bruise on her face.

"Let's go. Guards!" Azula snapped. A second later, two guards in full-fledged armor entered through the door in a uniform manner, grabbed Kat's shoulders, and dragged her roughly out of the room. Kat stumbled, her legs turning to jelly from lack of use. She gasped and gritted her teeth at the stabbing pain from her wound every time she moved.

Kat was forced along the narrow metal hallways in…wherever she was. Most likely a prison or holding facility. The air was hot and dry, the torches every couple meters giving the place a faint orangish glow. The uncomfortable warmth only made her feel like her stomach was on fire.

Eventually, the seemingly endless hallways widened up into a larger steel room, this one slightly cooler and more relieving. Kat could hear the sound of waves sloshing and feel the faintest breeze from somewhere behind the maze of crates stacked up to the ceiling.

Soon enough, Kat figured out where the breeze was coming from. The room opened up completely on one side, built right at the edge of the sea. Concrete piers had been carved in and built out to allow smaller ships to dock inside and larger ships to dock outside. Many small Fire Nation sea scooters were parked indoors, floating on the shallow, brackish water. But what caught Kat's attention was the giant vessel outside.

It was about as large as the ship that had taken Kat and the other girls to the Fire Nation, except it looked ten times more fortified. Sharp spikes lined the side of the ship and on the front entrance, as well as several additional cannon holes under deck. Kat didn't see any windows without barbed wire over them either. It was like a mega-prison ship. Or maybe it was for that purpose.

"Now this is the part where you take a long nap and wake up nice and tucked in at home. Where you can finally be of use." Azula suddenly spoke, a sadistic smirk crawling up her face.

"Wait, wha—" Kat didn't have any time to respond or comprehend what she was speaking of, before a heavy metal boot rammed against her chest, hitting the exact same spot that the beam of energy had attacked earlier. Pain shot through her systems wildly, and her wound felt like liquid fire.

A few moments later, Kat blacked out from the agony.

"Welcome to Sufin Island Coordination Outpost, how may I—oh! Princess Lizzie!" The exhausted-looking receptionist jumped once she noticed who was at the front desk, immediately dropping into a bow. "I am sorry, Your Highness. How may I be of assistance to you today?"

Lizzie beckoned for her to stand up, before speaking. "I would like to access the records of recent activity around the region." She responded candidly. "All of the notable events, from major military movements to mere bandit activity."

"Of course, Your Highness!" The receptionist responded quickly, fingers flying and eyes darting back and forth as she fumbled through the documents. "I'll have someone escort you to the archive immediately!"

In less than a minute, two seasoned guards came and escorted Lizzie up the stairwell of the comms center. They stopped at the fifth floor, pushing open the double dark oak doors and revealing a library of scrolls, containing priceless information that some people would do anything to get their hands on. And some holding the info Lizzie needed to locate the avatar.

The two soldiers stood guard by the door as Lizzie started to read through the information. Nothing seemed out of place so far. The usual: drug deals, village raids, merchants going mysteriously missing, although there was a higher than usual vanishing rate in the area where the avatar had been kidnapped.

Lizzie moved onto investigating larger movements in the area. A shipment of weapons to Ba Sing Se, a commander's fleet passing by a few days prior, Fire Lord Azula arriving with a high-security prisoner at Long Feng Containment Facility—wait, what?!

The Fire Nation Princess blinked twice, backtracking to the last part. What was Mother doing here?! Wasn't she supposed to be investigating an increasingly growing Northern Raider movement at Whaletail Island? Lizzie read and reread that part several times.

"Fire Lord Azula with topmost high-security prisoner at Long Feng Containment Facility, newly arrived?!" Lizzie muttered to herself. "Rest of details classified?!" She let out a growl of frustration, scanning the shelves with a sharp eye, looking for a certain scroll that would help her solve this puzzle. Just what exactly has been going on at the faculty lately?

"Fire Lord Azula's doing what?!" Stacy shouted. Lizzie nodded in confirmation.

"She's taking the avatar down to the South Pole, most likely," Lizzie responded. "Although it has yet to be confirmed, due to the tremendous amount of classified information," (glares at the wall) "Why else would she need an entire fleet of top-notch prisoner and fighter ships to the Southern Water Tribe?"

"This is bad." Vixella grumbled, touching her temple. "Really. Bad."

"You're telling me," Stacy growled, clenching her fists. Lizzie leaned back on her throne, letting out a long, deep sigh. For a couple seconds, all was silent on the airship, with the exception of the steadily humming engine. The flaming lanterns in the room suddenly all flickered brighter for a brief moment as Lizzie's anger and frustration was let loose for a split second.

"So…now what?" Stacy broke the silence, a deep frown upon her face.

"Hmm…we go to the facility." Lizzie decided, a plan slowly forming inside her head. "We—no, I confront the Fire Lord about what she's doing here, whilst you two go and find Kat…wherever she is."

"But technically, wouldn't the Fire Lord have more power over you?" Vixella argued. "I mean, she is, well, the Fire Lord. And how do we know you won't backstab us and run off with Kat once we get her back?"

"How do I know you won't do the same?" Lizzie smirked. "It's a delicate game of trust and risk. And here, I hold the upper hand. Azula's supposed to be somewhere else, so I can confront her with the good gracings of the Phoenix King, the only other person in the world that holds more power than she does."

There was a moment of unsettling silence, as the avatar's little 'protection squad' processed Lizzie's words.

"That's actually not such a bad idea." Stacy said at last. "You also have a point with the trust and risk. We can't do this alone. But we can together. You distract Azula, while we get Kat!"

"Great idea!" Lizzie jumped at the new voice, her gaze immediately swinging to the now opened door. A familiar head of curly strawberry blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes stared back, grinning.

"Meghan!" Lizzie scolded angrily, stomping over to her hyper friend. "I told you to stay in the bedroom with Lauren!"

"Yeah, but she got bored." Lauren responded unexpectedly, her head also popping out from the doorway. "And there's a development in comms. One of the commanders wants to talk to you."

"Who is it?" Lizzie asked, straightening her posture and her headpiece.

"Commander Betty." Lauren replied.

"Private Airship #10234 here, patching into Spark City CCT."

"Spark City CCT responding. Welcome, Princess Lizzie. Please give me a minute, I'll patch you through to Commander Betty immediately." A monotonous voice replied, static filling the radio connection as the call started transferring. A few short moments later, the call cleared up, and a soft, clear voice came through.

"Crown Princess Lizzie." Betty said through the transmitter, pausing momentarily before continuing. "I assume you received my message, Your Highness?"

"Get to the point." Lizzie snapped. "I have a very essential plan I'm organizing after this."

"Right." Betty said. "Fire Lord Azula wants you to at the Northern Air Temple outpost as soon as possible. She says they're preparing an offensive, and all commanding officers are to be there."

Lizzie growled. This was certainly just another foil to stop her from locating the avatar! "Tell her I can't. I'm about to locate and successfully capture the avatar…near Ember Island." She fabricated the last part, hoping to throw Mother off.

"It's mandatory for all offensive Fire Nation troops, ma'am." Betty responded, sounding slightly concerned and fearful of Lizzie's anger. Or it might've been the fact that she mentioned Kat. "She's drawing in all the troops stationed in the Earth Kingdom, from Ba Sing Se to O—New Ozai and even some from the Icy Fortress! Phoenix King Ozai will also be arriving once all the troops are in position, leading this offensive himself."

A sinking feeling arose in Lizzie's stomach. Why would Grandfather need so many troops centered at one point? There was only one explanation…

"Fine." Lizzie said out loud, irritation evident in her voice. "Tell the Fire Lord that I'll be heading to the Northern Air Temple—right after I locate the avatar."

There was a pause on the other side, and Lizzie heard the faintest sound of a scratchy, static-filled growl that didn't sound like Betty.

"Alright." Betty responded, fear flooding her voice more clearly now. "I'll inform the Fire Lord."

"Goodbye." Lizzie spat bitterly into the communicator before slamming it down on the transmitter machine, rubbing her temple. What was Mother doing? Why did she have the avatar? And why the South Pole? So many questions, all left unanswered.

"Goodbye." Lizzie spat, before there was a loud 'thud' as the call ended. Betty swallowed a deep sigh of relief, and turned to the other call left open on the other side.

"You did the right thing, Betty." Azula said complacently. "Keep up this work and I'll have you promoted to general in no time. To think! The youngest in history, and from the Southern Water Tribe, nonetheless! It'll definitely be an astounding accomplishment in the books, not that you haven't already made your mark."

"I don't care about getting promoted or not." Betty responded firmly, but with zero irritance or ungratefulness in her voice. "All I want is the guaranteed safety of my family."

"Of course." Azula hummed satisfactorily. "Your family is already well-off, with your newly acquired ranking. But if you were promoted to general, your family would be amongst the Fire Nation nobility. The wealthiest and most respected people in the world! They would never have to live in fear, or suffer, ever again."

Betty hesitated, considering the benefits. Lately, she just hasn't been her funny, joking self. After Kat revealed herself to be the avatar and fleeing from the Fire Nation, Betty had been more stressed and perturbed over the safety of the rest of her family. Azula had come to her one day, with an offer to secure the safety of her parents and siblings that Betty just couldn't turn down. In turn, Betty helped the Fire Lord manipulate her daughter into veering off Kat's track, and preparing the inevitably approaching offensive in a few weeks. Betty had upheld her side of the deal, and therefore, Azula had held hers. But if she were promoted to general…her family could live tranquilly in the heart of the Fire Nation, where no outside dangers could harm them. No more surprises, no more life-changing reveals.

By doing Azula's mysterious and random bidding, that could be easily achievable.

"Fine." Betty said out loud. "I'll aid you further."

"Good." Azula simpered. With that, there was a softer 'click' than the one that had sounded when Lizzie ended her call, and suddenly Betty was all alone in the communications tower, the eerie silence adding to the yawning gap she felt in her chest. Betty knew that this had to be the right choice. She was saving her family, and securing a bright future for them.

So why did it feel so wrong?

Sigh...this is the part where I put LOK on an indefinite hiatus because of my lacking motivation to continue it. I do hope that one day I can come back to it, especially with some of the more interesting and exciting plots I have planned for the future, but for now, it's going on hiatus. I will be starting a new RWBY and Black Butler crossover next week, however, and I do hope that some of you can check it out. Completely different fandoms, I know, but still.

I just want to say, thank you to all of the readers that have kept up with the story in the past months. It really means a lot to me that people are actually taking the time to read the story that I spent months to write.

So, until(the uncertain) next time! –Frosted Petals