Disclaimer: I do not own the Avatar. Why? I don't know.
I just wanted to thank everyone for the reviews so here's a shout out for WhiteInnocence, Avtr1200, TwilightDragoness, Kelzu, DeafLizgon, Insane Elvish Vampire Pirate, and Lionessmon. I'm sorry it took so long but my tests are finally finished.
As an important announcement, I won't be able to update in around three weeks. I will be away to Europe from July 1-19, but I will promise you that I will work on my chapters by hand so that when I return, all I have to do is type them up and upload them. Wow, I've been writing chapters like crazy to leave you guys with something before I leave. Hope you enjoy the chapter.
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The darkness lightened, as everyone slowly woke up. Iroh started to get a hold of himself and helped Zuko stand up while everyone was looking around.
"Are we in the South Pole?" Aang asked. The scenery had changed as snow and ice now surrounded them. They were just outside Katara and Sokka's home village.
"Hey! We're home!" Katara cheered and started running into the town.
"Katara! It could be dangero…. Oh whatever. Let's go follower her, before she gets herself killed." And Sokka slowly walked into town followed by Aang, Zuko and Iroh.
They found Katara standing in a middle of the town where the great fire pit was. Her back was stiff like a board.
"Katara?" Sokka asked reaching out to her grabbing her shoulder.
"Look." She pointed to a group of kids playing. There the four teenagers and Iroh saw 12 year old Katara and 14 year old Sokka. Sokka was annoying Katara by throwing snow balls at her.
"Sokka! Stop before I use my water bending!" past Katara cried using her hands to shield herself.
"Never! The only move you know is to make little waves" Sokka said and he continued with the throwing of the snowballs.
"Stop!" A young woman's voice called out. The two young siblings stopped fighting for a moment.
"Sokka, can't you leave your sister alone?" Katara and Sokka's mother scolded. She went to Katara to wipe off the snow off of her hair. She wore a blue wool coat with decorations showing her level in the society. Her long brown hair was placed neatly down, and had similar hair loops like Katara. Her light blue eyes pierced through Sokka. Sokka looked down.
"Sorry mom,"
"Mom!" Katara cried out. She ran towards the image of her mother. Her heart leapt in hope.
"Katara! No! She's not real! It's only a memory!" Sokka cried out, as Iroh, Aang and Zuko watched in sympathy. Katara did not heed her brother's words and continued to run towards her mother.
Katara lunged at her mom with her arms wide. Instead of expecting the similar warmth, comfort and the familiar smell of herbs and charcoal her mother used to emit, all she felt was the cold hard snow on the ground. Katara had gone through her mother like a ghost. Katara started to cry. She kept trying to paw at her mother, her hand only going through the image of her mother. So close… she thought.
She felt strong hands on her shoulders. She looked up and saw Sokka standing above her, holding her steady. Then Aang came by her side, and she started to contain some of her control over herself.
The group watched the memory of the children laughing when all of a sudden; black snow started to fall from the sky. The people in the memory looked up in the sky, wondering what in the world it could be.
"Oh no," Sokka whispered.
"What?" Aang and Iroh asked at the same time.
"If I'm correct… this is the night when mom died…" Sokka drifted off. Night quickly came and everything had Erie quietness to it.
A loud cranking and screeching noise came from the sea.
"A fire navy ship!" Prince Zuko shouted, it was an unmistakable sound to him. And sure enough, a huge battle ship came crashing through the ice, almost penetrating through the walls of the South Pole village.
Then, all of a sudden it came. The chaos of people running and screaming. The red soldiers came at them relentlessly, melting the homes and killing anyone that resisted. It was unmistakably a fire nation raid.
Zuko watched in horror how his people were killing men and women! He watched how a child was dragged from his home by a fire nation solider. Zuko watched as the father tried to protect his son, but the fire nation solider sent a blast at the father's head. The father fell back, with his face burnt off. The mother screamed and started to pound of the soldier's chest, but he just smacked her and she fell hard on the icy soot not moving. The child screamed as he was dragged away.
The once pure white snow was now covered in soot and blood. Women and children were trying to find a safe place, while the men tried to defend their homes and family. Katara started to shake, and Sokka stiffened as they saw they're mother standing calmly outside their home. A water snake floated in midair beside her and without warning, she let it loose.
Katara's mother sent waves of ice at the soldiers successfully holding them back until the captain of the unit sent a powerful fire blast her way. Her water shield melted and was hit badly in the chest.
The fire nation captain walked heavily towards Katara's mother and roughly picked her up. Katara and Sokka's mother moaned, and made no movement.
"You filthy little bitch!" he hissed and he stabbed her with a dagger. The mother's eyes went wide and then slowly they relaxed. She was dropped carelessly onto the ground. She curled into a ball and watched her home being melted.
"Mom!" Little Katara yelled, but she was also being dragged off too by another solider. Sokka came after her and started to pound on the solider when Katara's father came. He quickly slayed the solider that was holding the past Katara.
"Get out of here now!" he yelled at them and started fighting again. The two younger siblings ran to their fallen mother. A pool of blood engulfed her.
"Mom!"
"Mom!" Katara and Sokka yelled.
Past Sokka was trying to drag Katara away from the dangerous battle in their village.
"Come on Katara! We have to go!" past Sokka cried out.
"No! She needs us!" past Katara screamed. Tears were streaking down her cheeks and freezing to her face.
"She's gone Katara! She would want us to get out of here!" Sokka screamed.
The memory stopped and then fast forward. Colors rushing around them, making them all dizzy.
Then suddenly it just stopped. The colors around them refocused and they were near an icy shore. A fleet of boats could be seen and men were getting on, loading the boats. Fourteen year old Sokka was walking with his sleeping bag, and mask war paint on his face. He had a determined look in his eyes. Sokka's father found him arriving at the ship.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to fight with you dad," Sokka replied determined.
"Your too young."
"I'm strong and I can fight!"
"Sometimes a man needs to know where he's needed the most. You're needed at home, to take care of your sister and gran gran."
The past Sokka stood there looking down. He felt his father's hand on his shoulder, comforting him. Then slowly he walked away boarding the ship.
The two Sokka's, Katara, Aang, Zuko and Iroh watched as the fleets slowly drifted away into the rising sun.
Everyone was silent until a raspy voice broke out.
"I'm sorry," Zuko spoke out. Everyone turned to face him. Zuko shifted uncomfortably as the teary eyes stared at him. It's not my fault that they died… But he still felt tainted and guilty somehow.
"Why are you sorry? You didn't go and kill people! You didn't go and kill my mother! Or did you?" Sokka snapped; anger rises within him. Usually Zuko would be fired up, but instead he was dead calm. A depressed calm.
"I know… it's just that… I have to take responsibility for my people's actions sometimes…" Zuko said trying to find words to explain his feelings.
Iroh's face softened into a frown. "Zuko, you cannot blame yourself for this! This is war! War is not fair or honorable or very pretty for the matter. You should not feel guilty for the things that every solider in the Fire Nation has done."
"But I still do." Zuko tried to explain. Everyone went quiet for a moment. Katara's face went into an soft smile. Zuko's apology made her feel a little better. Maybe he's not all that bad…Katara thought but they were interrupted by a loud clapping noise.
"Well done! Well done!" The mischief demon applauded. Once again, the memory stopped in mid motion, and the demon was floating in the air with his legs crossed. He glided down to them in almost a dreamlike state. "I see that your hearts are stronger than I expected. Well, I wouldn't get too confident, because I know I will break the next heart I choose." The Mischief Demon stared at Zuko. A shiver ran down his spine.
"What do you want from us?" Aang demanded. He had enough of this! He wouldn't let his friends get hurt anymore.
"Well your actually dumb for an Avatar, no? I will repeat it again slowly," The demon walked closer to them, but Aang stood his ground. "I want revenge…" he hissed. Yellow teeth could be seen from underneath the cloak.
"Why do you want revenge?" Aang asked calmly.
"Because," The Mischief Demon explained, "of what you did to me almost over a hundred years ago." A blank expression appeared on Aang's face. "Don't tell me my old buddy Roku forgot to tell you about me and what I did?" His tone had a sweet chill tone effect. "Tsk tsk I suppose he thought of me not of a threat… won't he regret his mistake." The black cloak billowed behind him, even though there was no wind.
"Enough talk!" Sokka yelled. "I'm going to finish this," and Sokka through his boomerang at the Mischief Demon. The demon easily dodged it. He saw Sokka smirk. How pathetic and the demon raised his hand as the boomerang flowed into its hands. Sokka's smirk disappeared.
"Well, I'm bored with you two… let's go with Zuko's memories." The demon drawled in delight. This boy's memories and life is almost like a feast to me. I will certainly have fun with this one. The demon thought.
Before anyone could do anything, the mist surrounded them again. It slowly clouded their minds as the familiar darkness over took them once again. And before Zuko passed out he heard the demon's voice whisper Let's see how you do Prince Zuko…
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Wow, I really tried to make this long for you guys. Katara and Sokka are hard to do, since there really not my favorite characters. I tried listening to Holocaust music to try to make the Fire Nation raid as real as possible. I hope you guys like it. It's hard to get into a character's mind. But now, I can't wait to post Zuko's memories. It's gonna be really, really long. Have a great summer! Oh yeah, and someone mentioned when the demon said that Zuko looked cute. Well, he's just my very interesting character demon (if you know what I mean).