Disclaimer- I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of its characters used in this story.

Author's Note:

I am really really really really sorry about how long it takes between updates. Its insane how busy I am. I did not even have time to watch the new Avatar episode this week when it aired, so I set my VCR timer to record it. I was busy clean up to today so I didn't even get to watch it till just a few hours ago. By the way, the new episode was AWESOME... even if did deal a crippling blow to Zutara fans such as myself. But Aunt Wu said "powerful bender" not "Avatar", so Zuko and Katar still have a chance, right? Please?

Anyways,a HUGE thank-you to the people who took the time to review my story. In response to triquetraperson's question, I have no clue when season two starts but I think you were asking when Nickelodeon would begin airing the rest of the first season. It kindaresumed this past Friday so I hope someone else told you in time for you to see it. If not,the episodeis going to be on again this next Saturday so you'll still get to see it. You'll just have to wait another week, whichwill betotally my fault for not telling you in time. Please forgive me! I really hope someone told you in time...

Okay, done with all that stuff. Now on with the story!

Chapter 3- Dragon Eyes

The doctor gave Zula a concerned look as she started to pull back as if something was burning her. The medicine should not have any effect like that; maybe it wasn't the medicine.The doctor watched as Zula'seyes widened in pain and then she suddenly slumped to her side unconscious. Panicking, the doctor moved to check her pulse. She was still alive, and she certainly wasn't cold anymore. The doctor looked perplexed at the girlwhile the Captain next to him moved restlessly. Zhao had to leave in the morning; he really had no reason to spend more time waiting around. The doctor no longer needed his help and all he was doing was standing here waiting to see whether or not she would live. The Captain decided to leave and began to walk out the door.

"Get the Fire Lord," the doctor called to him as he left.He did not have thetime, or the desire, to tell theFire Lord, butthe solution was easy enough.As he walked through the hallways he paused to go into a room where guards were quartered. He barged it and several of the soldiers woke up, just looking at him bleary-eyed and bewildered.

"One of you get the Fire Lord. Tell him his daughter is ill, maybe even dying," he barked at the idiots who were staring at him. He walked out of the room determined to get some sleep before he left tomorrow. The soldiers looked at one another.

"I'm not getting him," one of them said as he turned to go back to sleep, "He doesn't take bad news very well."

"Hey Hevah, you get him."

"No way. You can get him. I would prefer to keep my head intact."

"Well someone has to get him," one of the soldiers pointed out to his comrades.

"Not me."

"I won't either."

"Find someone else."

"No way, no how."

"Are you kidding? Soldiers are expendable. I sure don't want to be the one around when the Fire Lord loses his temper."

The soldier sighed. They were going to have to find someone willing to tell the Fire Lord.

You will die shortly, but the child you gave birth to is not a no-name. In fact, before everything is over I can guarantee most of the world will know her name."

In the darkness Zula began to wonder if she was dead. If so, the afterlife was incredibly boring. There was nothing but darknessstretching across empty space. No—she could not be dead. She could still feel that fire raging within her, slowly burning her away. It ate at everything inside her, it was something too wild to contain. Suddenly her feeling of coldness earlier didn't seem quite as bad as it did. She grimaced in pain and wondered how long it would take her to die. She began to walk across the empty plain.

She could feel within her another flame suddenly flare, too, to join the one already there. It was a lot weaker than the first,and it seemed to try and shield her from the other fire. The thin wall it created between her and the stronger fire was slightly comforting in its own bizarre sense. The strong and the weak fire almost seemed to battle each other within her. It was strange, the sensation was both painful and fascinating at the same time.

Zula pressed forward in the darkness ignoring the battle within. She needed to know where she was at. She was strong, no fire would prevent her from trying to figure out where she was.

She bumped into something solid in the darkness. She reached a hand forward to feel what was obstructing her path. The curved surface of it felt hard and almost metallic, but it slightly stirred beneath her fingers suggesting that it was alive. She slowly backed up to look at what the black lump was in the darkness. A slight glow gathered around the dark lump and began to get brighter; and that's when Zula found herself face to face with a dragon.

It was a spirit, no doubt about that. It glowed blue and seemed slightly transparent. Zula stared in confusion at the sight in front of her. The dragon towered over Zula and its scales reflected the glow about it into silvery beams that pierced the darkness around it. Its tail suddenly moved to wrap itself around the dragon's legs, all while the dragon lazily stared at Zula. She looked at it cautiously as she tried to remember where she had seen this dragon before. There were many drawings, carvings, tapestries, and statues of dragons throughout the Fire Nation. Where had she seen this particular one before?

The seer paused to try to think of something that might help. She wanted to give the dying woman the comfort of knowing life would go easier for the child. The seer unclasped the necklace around her own neck and tied it around the child's tiny wrist.

The seer had been the spokeswoman for Fate her entire life and only now, at the end of it, was she actually beginning to understand Fate. It had all been so connected, a part of a plan. She had thought nothing of it when she had given the child her necklace. It had just been a sudden impulse that had seized her and refused to let go.

She had prophesied how powerful the girl would become. Simple enough, she was just saying what Fate was telling her would happen.

She had given the Fire Lord's daughter the necklace. Not so simple.

The necklace strengthened her own power; there was something powerful about the necklace. To give something like that up was no ordinary whim. Fate had done it. Fate had wanted her to give up the necklace as to make its prophecy come true. In a way she, the old woman, had made the prophecy become true without even knowing it.

The necklace. That simple piece of jewelry. That was how Zula was to become so powerful. The old woman found it slightly wondrous that what affected lives the most tended to be something small and simplistic; ordinary objects easily overlooked in the hustle and bustle of life. Fate, however, did not overlook such small things. Those who become the most successful are those who learn to use the most ordinary things to do wonders. Without that necklace, the girl would never become who she is to be.

Fate wanted to end the war. It believed the balance of the world was beyond fixing; no sense relying on the Avatar, a spirit hiding away where no one could find it, to ever find balance again. The only solution, Fate believed, was to unite the world under one rule. The Fire Nation's rule.

Fate was forcing its hand to make things go how it wanted. Fate would win, it could twist humanity how it wanted to just so it could get what it wanted. Nothing could deter Fate, it was a force no human could reckon with. Anyone who tried to mess with it was making a fatal mistake. The Fire Nation would win because Fate wanted it to. It was as simple as that.

But then again, Fate didn't count on anyone overhearing the prophecy. Someone even the seer did not know of.

A small glint made the girl turn her attention to the necklace wrapped around the baby's wrist. It was a small pendant of an ornamentally carved dragon. The dragon had small rubies for eyes that flickered blood red as the candlelight reflected in it. The moving flames reflected in the rubies created the illusion of life behind the dragon's eyes. Fascinated, the girl stared at it.
Now Zula remembered where she saw the dragon before, it was the one from her necklace. Zula constantly wore her necklace because it was said to have been given to her by her mother. To consistantly wear it seemed to only honorable thing to do. After all, she was related to that woman by blood even if she never met her.

Had this dragon been her mother's? Whomever it used to serve, the dragon was obviously an animal guide.Odd, the only animal guides Zula ever heard of were the ones for the Avatars.

The rhythm of the dragon's breathing was slightly unusual, but it seemed alltoo familiar to Zula. It was the rhythm of the stronger fire still within her. That was when Zula began to piece everything together. The weaker fire inside her was her own, it was what had left her abandoned during her fever but now had returned. That other fire that was so eager to destroy, so much stronger than anything Zula ever felt before, was that dragon's fire. It had given it to her somehow.

Zula did not want its gift. The fire was stronger, yes, but much harder to control. The dragon snorted at her and she began to reconsider her decision. With that fire she could become the strongest Firebender, impossible to defeat. Forget the dangers, this was her chance. No, this might not be her chance. She could make do with the fire she had, she could still become strong. But not the strongest, that was the catch.

She did not have much time to decide, she could tell that from the impatient movements of the dragon. Till morning, that was all the time she needed. Just till morning. The dragon seemed to know her decision and the darkness faded. She was awake and back in the small cot in the medical ward. Till morning.

It will be hard for the girl, however. Life will not smile easily on her. Pain and hardships will flock around her and hate will begin to consume her.
Pleased with his new strategy, Ozai began to carefully study the other tapestries in the room that he never paid attention to before. The tapestries hung on the metal walls in a perfect row, like a line of soldiers waiting motionless for a command from their Lord. Being of Fire Nation design, they all had flames intricately woven into their design. Weaving, dancing, winding—the flames elegantly curved into complex patterns reaching for the sky. Upward they climbed towards the heavens, home of gods; towards the direction the comet would appear.

Fire.

Element of beauty, power, and majesty. Master beyond the other elements.

Only it deserved to rule an entire world.

The sound of heavy footsteps distracted Ozai from his adoration of the tapestries. Someone approached the room and stood still in the doorway waiting for the Fire Lord to acknowledge his presence.

The Fire Lord glared at the man that had dared to disturb his thoughts. It was General Meroka, a man recently promoted to his position due to the death of one of the previous generals. And he had come at the request of several guards.

"What do you want, General?" Ozai demanded of the intruder.

"I am sorry to disturb you, sir, but a matter of utmost importance has come up."

Ozai growled. The Earth Kingdom was constantly causing trouble. No doubt they have broken through Fire Nation lines once again. The Earth Kingdom always pushed for more ground in a futile attempt to regain what they already lost. Couldn't they see they were fighting a losing battle? Soon, though, they would be conquered, never to disturb him again. What Meroka had to say, however, was far different from what Ozai expected.

"Your daughter, sir—she has taken ill. The doctors don't know what's wrong with her, they aren't sure if she will even live. If you wish to go see her…"

"I do not." Is that the news that the general had been so sure would be of importance to him? He had better things to do than worry about some weak little girl.

The general stared at Fire Lord Ozai. Not go to see you own child in what might be their last moments of life? Meroka had a family, he understood the love and protectiveness a father held for his child. No father would let his innocent children be hurt by anything. Meroka knew the feelings; he would even consider defying the almighty Fire Lord himself to help his children. How could the Fire Lord's daughter be so trivial to him?

"Gather the other generals. I have an important announcement to make," the Fire Lord commanded of him.

"But sir, your daughter…"

"Is of no importance. What becomes of her is her own doing. If she dies it is due to her own inability to live, not of mine. You are dismissed," Ozai spat at the subordinate general.

"Yes sir," came the submissive response.

Ozai looked upon the tapestry of the comet once again. This simple decoration, lost among the numerous rooms of the palace, was going to topple the only nation whose power rivaled his own. It was, all in all, a beautiful piece of art. The colors of the tapestry shone brightly. The flames on the tapestry dyed the cloth a brilliant red; red with the blood of the innocent that would be spilled.

It was time to finish what his father started.

A war that would begin and end with same comet, it sounded exactly like something spoke of in legends. A war destined to be exactly a hundred years, no more and no less. One hundred… and 93 of them had already been fought.

Dawn was breaking and Zula sat alone in the medical ward. The dragon was right, she did need that fire. No one became powerful by themselves. Even Ozai had his father Sozen to help him, while she had no one. She needed someone, and an animal guide was the solution. She fingered the necklace at her throat as she made her decision. She would become the most powerful and feared Firebender the world ever knew, and no one could stop her.
-

Seven years left.

-

The countdown had begun...