I don't own anything. The Last Airbender belongs to someone else. Enjoy.


Imprisoned

The group had been traveling for a while now, so much so that they had exhausted the supplies that Bumi had given them. Currently, Katara and Aang were sat on the forest floor, waiting for Celina and Sokka to return from hunting and gathering. Smiles appeared on Aang and Katara's faces when they saw them coming back.

"Great, you're back! What's for dinner?" Aang asked.

"We've got a few options. First round nuts and some kind of oval shaped nuts, and some rock shaped nuts that… might just be rocks. Dig in!" Sokka said, dumping the contents of his bag out. Aang and Katara looked unimpressed.

"Seriously, what else ya got?" she asked looking over at Celina. Reaching into her own bag Celina pulled out some fruit that she had found and tossed it to Aang and Katara.

"Hooray! Celina to the rescue!" Aang cheered and took a bite out of the fruit.

"Don't get too excited, I only found enough for tonight. It is winter, after all, not much is growing," Celina told them. Everyone nodded, understanding that relying on the land much longer wouldn't do them any good. Suddenly a loud noise disrupted the calmness of the forest.

"What was that!?" Sokka asked worried. Another noise echoed throughout the forest.

"It's coming from over there!" Aang pointed out. Celina, Aang, and Katara rushed off in the direction of the noise. Hiding behind bushes the three of them (plus Sokka who managed to catch up) found the source of the noises to be a younger earthbender. He seemed to be practicing.

"An earthbender!" Katara said excited.

"Let's go meet him!" Aang suggested.

"He looked dangerous, so we better approach cautiously," Sokka said. Katara had other plans as she stepped out from behind the bushes to great him.

"Hello there, I'm Katara! What's your name?" she introduced herself. The earthbender looked over at Katara in surprise before running off, blocking any chase with the boulder he had been practicing with. "We just wanted to say hi."

"Something has to be going on to make him run away like that," Celina pondered to herself.

"Hey, that guy's gotta be running somewhere, maybe we're near a village and I bet that village has a market!" Aang thought out.

"Which means no nuts for dinner!" Katara exclaimed excited. Celina and Sokka watched as she and Aang went running off.

"Hey! I worked hard to get those nuts!" Sokka shouted after them. Momo, who had attempted to each said nuts earlier flew off after them. "Yeah, I hate 'em too."

"Come on, let's go," Celina said, pulling Sokka with her.

o

Aang was right in there being a village nearby. Celina went straight to work in purchasing rations for their journey. She had taken up the job mostly because the others got too distracted by other things. Katara helped her on occasion but still, Celina was the only one to really be trusted with their money and spending it on supplies. When they were just finished in the market Katara spotted the earthbender from earlier and chased him into a shop. Celina, Sokka, and Aang followed after her, finding her confronting the boy.

"Hey, you're that kid! Why did you run away before?" Katara asked him.

"Uh, you must have me confused with some other kid," the boy replied, trying to worm his way out of the conversation. He was trying to hide that they saw him earthbending, Celina figured out that much.

"No she doesn't, we saw you earthbending," Aang popped in.

The woman the boy was speaking up immediately closed the windows to her shop before turned back to the boy. "They saw you doing what?"

"That's not allowed here is it?" Celina asked, piecing everything together. Before the woman had time to reply there was heavy banging on the door.

"Open up!" a man commanded.

"Fire Nation! Act natural!" Sokka told them after peaked out the window. Celina watched as Sokka, Katara, and Aang got in unconvincing positions. She turned her attention to the boy who was freaking out so much that the Fire Nation soldiers would know something was up immediately.

"You need to relax," she whispered to him. The boy tried to relax but couldn't, he was toast if he kept it up. As the door opened Celina used some quick thinking and kissed him. If he was going to draw attention to himself it might as well be for a different reason, one that wouldn't make soldiers suspicious. He tensed up a first but relaxed, enjoying the kiss. When they broke apart Celina noticed that that Fire Nation soldiers had threatened his mother into paying more money. She also noticed that the boy was looking at her all dreamy eyed. She quickly split apart from him, hoping he didn't get the wrong idea. Sure she just had her first kiss, but it was only to save the kid's butt, nothing more.

"How long has the Fire Nation been here?" she asked the woman.

"Are we going to ignore the fact that you just kissed a random guy we just met?!" Sokka exclaimed. Celina chose to roll her eyes at her brother and focus on the woman.

"Five years," she answered. "Fire Lord Ozai uses our town's coal mines to fuel his ships."

"They're thugs," the boy said, breaking out of the dreamy state. "They steal from us and everyone here is too much of a coward to do anything about it."

"Quiet, Haru. Don't talk like that," his mother scolded.

"But, Haru's an earthbender, he can help," Katara said coming to his defense.

"Earthbending is forbidden. It's caused nothing but misery for this village. He must never use his abilities," Haru's mother said, confirming Celina's theory.

"How can you say that? Haru has a gift. Asking him not to earthbend is like asking me or Celina not to waterbend. It's a part of who we are. Haru can help you fight back. What can the Fire Nation do to you that they haven't done already?" Katara argued.

"They'd take him away," Celina said. Everyone looked at her, Haru and his mother surprised that she figured it out. "With earthbending forbidden the Fire Nation's not gonna allow them to stick around to fight back. Once found out they'd take him away just like they have done with all the others. Isn't that right?"

"Yes, just like his father," his mother nodded sadly.

o

Haru led the group to his family's barn. "My mom said you can sleep here tonight, but you should leave in the morning," he told Aang, though he looked at Celina when speaking.

"Thanks. I'll make sure Appa doesn't eat all your hay," Aang thanked. Celina looked over at Appa who had his mouth stuffed with hay, happily chewing away. Aang walked away, leaving Celina alone with Haru.

"So about that kiss…" Haru brought up smiling at her.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Celina apologized.

"No, no, I didn't mind. In fact, it was nice," Haru told her. Celina blushed. She wasn't expecting this. "Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Uh….." Celina stalled, not knowing what to say. Luckily for her, she was saved when Katara walked up to them.

"Hey, Haru, can I talk to you?" she asked.

"Yes! You two go talk," Celina encouraged pushing them out of the barn. Once they were gone Celina leaned against the barn walls and let out a sigh of relief. She looked up to see Sokka staring at her with his arms crossed.

"Can we talk about that kiss now?"

"Ugh! Why does everyone want to talk about the kiss? It was just something I did to make things look less suspicious," Celina ranted annoyed.

"So you don't like him?" Sokka asked, a bit more relaxed.

"No," she answered. There was silence between the two of them.

"So… that was your first kiss. Saving someone from the Fire Nation," Sokka stated.

"Yeah, I guess it was," Celina said.

Katara returned later and told their group about her and Haru's talk, along with Haru saving an old man by earthbending. They had just settled in for the night, seeing that they were leaving early the next morning. Celina chose to set up her sleeping bag near Appa. She'd grown close to the bison during their travels and Appa was more than happy to have her next to him. He'd become a comfort to her and her a comfort to him. The next morning when the group was packing up to leave Katara came running back into the barn in a panic.

"They took him! They took Haru away!" she shouted.

"What?" Aang asked confused.

"The old man turned him into the Fire Nation. It's all my fault, I forced him into earthbending," Katara explained emotional.

"Katara, slow down, when did this happen?" Celina asked taking hold of her sister's shoulders.

"Haru's mother said they came for him at midnight," she told them.

"Then it's too late to track him, he's long gone," Sokka said.

"We don't need to track him. The Fire Nation is going to take me right to Haru," Katara said.

"And why would they do that?" Aang asked.

"Because they're going to arrest me for earthbending," Katara said determined.

o

Katara's plan had gone wonderfully as they used the ventilation systems of the mines to trick guards into thinking that Katara was earthbending. They had her taken away to a rig off in the ocean. Celina, Sokka, and Aang watched her from afar on Appa. Sokka had given her twelve hours to find Haru and once night fell, the group flew to the rig to pick them up.

"Your twelve hours are up, where's Haru? We've got to get out of here," Sokka told her, staying in the shadows.

"I can't," Katara said. "I'm not leaving. I'm not giving up on these people."

"What do you mean you're not leaving?!" Sokka quietly exclaimed.

"We can't abandon these people. There has to be a way to help them," Katara said.

"Maybe she's right. What do you say, Sokka?" Aang asked.

"I say you're both crazy! Celina, you've got to agree with me," Sokka said turning to Celina.

"No, Sokka. We should help free them," Celina told him before turning back to Katara and Aang. "So what should we do?"

"I tried talking the earthbenders into fighting back, but it didn't work. If there was just a way to help them help themselves," Katara said.

"For that, they'd need some kind of earth or some rock… something they can bend," Sokka offered, jumping on board.

"But this entire place is made of metal," Katara complained.

"No, it's not. Look at the smoke," Aang pointed out, motioning to the smokestacks on the upper reaches of the rig. "I bet they're burning coal."

"Looks like we found our earth," Celina smirked before the group went into planning.

o

Celina waited on an ice shelf she created off the side of the ship, bending water she gathered from the ocean around her. She was to come up and help with the fight with the earthbenders, or try and fight off the Fire Nation with the group if the earthbenders didn't go for it. Celina was very much hoping that she didn't have to resort to Plan B. So she stood there and listened for when she needed to come in.

"There's the intruder!" a Fire Nation soldier shouted, having spotted Sokka.

"Stay back, I'm warning you!" Sokka warned.

"Katara stop! You can't win this fight!" an older voice pleaded.

"Listen to him well, child. You're one mistake away from dying where you stand," the warden told Katara. Celina suddenly felt the rig shake, signaling that Aang managed to get the coal out for the earthbenders.

"Here's your chance, earthbenders! Take it! Your fate is in your own hands!" Katara said, trying to inspire them. She was met with silence.

The warden laughed at her. "Foolish girl! You thought a few inspirational words and some coal would change these people? Look at these blank, hopeless faces. Their spirits were broken a long time ago. Oh? But you still believe in them? How sweet. They're a waste of your energy, little girl. You've failed," the warden mocked her.

Celina sprung up onto the deck of the rig. Looks like she was going with Plan B. Everyone gasped, surprised by the waterbender's appearance. "Looks like we'll have to inspire them with a bit of fighting of our own," Celina said to Katara, giving her half of the water she had on her. Celina then turned to the warden, water whipping him on the side of his face.

"You little, bitch," the warden growled at her. He prepared to throw some fire at her when a piece of coal flew at him, hitting him right in the middle of his forehead. Celina turned around to see Haru twirling lumps of coal in his left hand, anger clearly present on his face. The warden responded by sending a blast of fire at him. Haru braced for impact which didn't come as a mixture of water and coal created a wall protecting him. Celina was responsible for the water portion of the wall while an older man stepped forward, getting in an earthbending stance. That must have been Tyro, Haru's father that Katara told them about.

"Show no mercy!" the warden shouted.

"For the Earth Kingdom, attack!" Tyro shouted back. An all-out fight broke out the gang and earthbenders against the Fire Nation soldiers. Water, fire, earth, air. All four elements broke out in a fight on the rig. Celina chose to stay away from the warden, fighting against Fire Nation soldiers alongside some earthbenders. Their spears had no effect on her as soon they tried to stab her she'd use her waterbending to grab them from their hands. Momo flew down to take them away for her. At one point during the fight, Haru and Tyro did some father-son team up and sent a boulder of coal towards the door of the rig, blasting a hole into it.

"Get to the ship! We'll hold them off!" Tyro shouted to Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Celina.

"Don't let them escape!" the warden ordered. Fire Nation soldiers tried to barricade the door by using firebending. Aang, however, created a small tornado that the four of them used to shot at the soldiers, knocking them all down. Tyro was busy with two other earthbenders as they gathered all the coal with the warden and all his men on it, bending it out of the ocean.

"No, please! I can't swim!" the warden pleaded.

"Don't worry, I hear cowards float," Tyro replied before dropping them into the ocean. Everyone cheered at their victory before boarding the Fire Nation ships and headed back to land. Aang and Sokka swam next to the boat on Appa as Katara and Celina looked out to the rig. Haru and his father approached them.

"I wanted to thank you two for saving me. For saving us," Haru thanked them.

"It was all Katara's idea," Celina pointed out, giving her sister the credit she deserved.

"It was just a little coal," Katara blushed, embarrassed by the attention.

"It was more than just coal. It was you, the both of you," Haru said. His smile towards Katara was one of admiration but his smile towards Celina was one of adoration. Celina coming to his rescue certain didn't lessen his crush towards her. She shifted feeling a bit uncomfortable.

"Thank you for helping me find my courage. My family and everyone here owes you two much," Tyro told them.

"So, I guess you're going home now?" Katara asked.

"Yes, to take back my village. To take back ALL of our villages! The Fire Nation will regret the day they set foot on our land!" Tyro said announcing to the earthbenders on the ship. He turned back and looked at Celina as Haru and Katara went off to talk.

"So you're Celina. My son has told me a lot about you," Tyro informed her. Celina blushed embarrassed, wondering how much Haru could have told him. After all, they had only known each other for less than a day before he got captured. "You really are as pretty as Haru said."

Celina was fully uncomfortable at this point. She wasn't pretty. She wasn't beautiful. Everyone in the South Pole taught her that. She was a freak and loser and someone who didn't fit in. No one would want her. Katara was beautiful. Katara was pretty. She was the girl that all the boys should go after.

"My mother's necklace! It's gone!" Katara cried out. She ran over to Celina, flinging herself into her sister's arms. "It's gone, Celina. It's gone."

"It… it'll be alright, Katara," Celina tried to reassure her. She held her tightly, rubbing her back to try and soothe her like their mother used to do. "It'll be alright."


Thanks for reading. Be sure to leave me a review and a crazy "So Tell Me About Yourself" answer.

"So Tell Me About Yourself" is an inside joke between me and my friends which started from my one friend's hatred for the typical getting-to-know-you question "So tell me about yourself". She, being so annoyed with the phrase, gave a silly answer that she murdered people in their sleep. When she brought it back to me and my other friend we both gave a silly answer. That is where the idea for my account name came from.