Ok, I don't own any of the Avatar characters or places. And I don't own Dallas. I'd been walking maybe 5 minutes or so and had wandered around to the street behind my grandparent's when I noticed the housing seemed to stop abruptly, ending in undeveloped forest. That alone is odd in suburban Dallas, unless it was a park but this was definitely not a park. I could tell the difference from cultivated wildlife and "wild"-life. This was definitely the latter, and something felt off; a tingling feeling passed through my body. With nothing else to do I decided to see how big this forest transplanted to the middle of suburbia really was, so I hiked right on in and was immediately barraged with memories of camping trips with the family in Colorado and Oklahoma. Hiking instinct took over and I trekked almost soundlessly through the trees, bushes, and growth until I could smell smoke from either a lot or a very large fire. I also could distinctly smell food.

I should definitely have seen some houses by now… or the road. I began to wonder. Maybe I got lost? Just as I thought this I saw the shape of low buildings between the trees.

Finally! Maybe it's someone's pool shed… or not. I walked into a clearing around a cluster of mud or clay houses, though some could be called huts. Also, I could clearly smell the ocean in the air.

Ok something is definitely not right. I chewed on my lip, a bad habit I know, and walked between the houses into a busy market or street. Old fashioned vendor stalls with things like vegetables or clothing accessories lined the streets. The roofs of the houses were thatched or tiled, and the people walking around were dressed in old-fashioned oriental clothing. I felt like I'd been dropped off in a Chinese Mexico. Everyone around had dark hair, dark skin, and were short. A few men in a cluster down the street wore some weird looking armor.

Definitely not in my Grandparent's neighborhood. I thought to myself as I set off down the street, trying vainly to ignore the stares people would give me as I walked past them.

Everyone wore clothing colored green, brown, or tan: earthy tones. Everyone that is, except the soldiers in weird armor. They wore red, black, and gold and the people in green tended to look afraid and avoid them.

Some of the dirty children after catching sight of my very clean, and odd clothing started following me so I held on tighter to my bag; I certainly didn't want to lose that here, seeing how I doubt those "friendly" soldiers would help me out if it was stolen.

Deciding to avoid them I slipped off down a side street, the children still following of course, and kept looking for some modern sign that I hadn't wandered off to China. Still not finding a trace of a phone or street sign, and beginning to get a little worried, I stopped to get my bearings in an empty crossroads where I could still see the bustling main street of people a few yards away.

Maybe I should call grandpa, see if he's back yet. I reached into my purse, pulling out my cell but found I had no service.

Okay, this happens a lot, don't panic.

I started to breath faster and there was a tightness in my throat, I will not cry! I am strong I can do this. I got myself here, I can get back.

I turned and headed for the busy road when a loud commotion out of sight caused me to pause. There was a loud whooshing noise like wind, a crash, and a bunch of people running and screaming as they scurried to get off the street. A boy and a girl wearing a similar style as everyone else but in blue and white ran past the street opening I was in, then the girl paused and looked back.

"Aang! Come on, hurry!"

The boy's eyes widened as he looked up the street the way they had been headed. "Kataaaaraaa! Nasty Firebenders headed our way!"

The girl, Katara, unscrewed the top from a pouch at her waits, and a watery-looking substance floated out to form a large blast, knocking the red soldiers coming toward them off their feet.

Oh. My. God. Please tell me I was just seeing things. That girl did not just control that water.

I'm pretty sure my mouth was hanging open and my eyes about to pop out of my head but I didn't really care at the moment. Before I could recover my composure, a little boy I could only assume was Aang leapt out of the air and landed next to Katara, nodding approvingly to her.

"Nice bending, Katara!"

"Yeah, now let's go before you-know-who gets here." The older boy scowled.

Because the three were facing the unconscious soldiers, they failed to spot the group of six more behind them silently lower their spears and rush them until it was too late for the three to do anything.

Mind you, I said them. As soon as I saw the soldiers I felt a nagging, or to be more realistic, a literal tugging in my hand. I wanted to scream out and warn them but my face felt frozen and numb. In that split second before the soldiers reached them and the tugging on my hand was almost unbearable, my hand was lifted up in a wide arc from my side to above my head, palm facing down. Following the line of my hand a shimmering line shot out along the ground, kicking up dust, until it reached the kids. It then shot high into the air, catching one of the spear points ahead of the rest and carrying it up and away from their backs.

All of this took place in less than a second, and when the dust cleared everyone was looking at me, standing sideways with my hand held high in the air like I was controlling a marionette.

The soldiers who remained standing attempted to reach through the… stuff that had come from my hand but it was hard as glass. After that, the three shot me grateful but confused looks and ran away from the soldiers. Unfortunately for me, that meant I was now the source of their ire, which was apparent when they turned to glare at me and one shouted "Get the Earthbender!" which they were only so happy to do.

So I did the only logical thing: turn around and run away!

Holy crap! What the heck just happened? I'm dreaming. I've got to be dreaming. I yelped as a hot jet of fire shot past my head. I glanced back to see one soldier's hands wreathed in flames and smoking.

This isn't real! People can't do this kind of stuff!

I took a sharp turn left, then a right, then after that… I can't remember what direction I took. I only knew I was running full out, my bag slapping against my thigh. I glanced back to see if I'd lost them while I turned another corner. I was lengthening the distance between us.

"Oh crap-!"

I caught sight of another person in red armor directly in front out of the corner of my eye and I scrambled to a stop just inches away from crashing. I brought my hands up in front of my chest (what can I say, it's a reflex.) and that's just about how much space was between the soldier and myself when I looked into his face.

The first thing I saw was incredible amber colored eyes in a very surprise face. Apparently he hadn't seen me coming. His hands were half up to stop me from knocking him over but now we just stood there, awkwardly frozen. The second thing I noticed, and thought, was wow, he's um… handsome. And in the middle of running for my life I realized I was blushing bright red. I hate blushing because my entire face gets red, even worse!

Then just as suddenly as we'd collided I heard the clanking of the soldiers' armor approaching and I quickly moved away, running in the direction of the trees I could see above the houses. Glancing back one more time I could see the boy standing dazed, staring after me as the soldiers parted around him like water and came after me before I plunged into the forest. It was only then I realized the boy had a large scar on his face, covering his left eye.

But I didn't stop running once in the woods. I kept going deeper through the trees when I heard running water and headed toward it. When I reached the source of the sound, a wide stream, I saw the three strange kids again, dashing off into the trees as more red soldiers chased after them.

All right, if this is a dream I should be able to do this. Concentrating, I lifted my hands over the water and acted like I was flinging something heavy at the soldiers. Surprisingly, I felt a heavy weight on my mind and the water went rushing through the air straight into the soldiers, knocking them all flat and stunning them. The water continued to flow out along the ground, widening until it looked like an inch deep pond had spread in the middle of the trees.

Wow… this is a cool dream! I grinned to myself. I decided to head across the temporary pond before more of the freakily dressed soldiers showed up, but I failed to see the girl Katara blow a mist at the waters, not seeing me either, and it instantly began to freeze over.

Halfway across the pond I heard the sound of soldiers coming after me and turned to check. Just at that moment, the water beneath me froze and as I took another running step my accursed moccasined feet slipped out from under me.

What I thought was Oh.

What I said was nothing, my eyes widening and mouth opening to make the oh sound.

Then my head collided with the ice as I fell on my back and I was instantly submerged in darkness.