Chapter Nine. I was going to wait another couple of days to upload this but I am home sick and thought, why not? Can't wait to finish this story and start Book 3 because then there is some (slight) interaction with the gang. That's all I'm going to say. Stuff will be revealed that could potentially ruin the story if it has not already been done. But it is my story, and I'll do what I want X) lol. And I'm sure if I don't do what I'm going to do it's just going to be a whole lot of "well... now what?" kind of thing. Anyway, on with chapter nine, I hope you enjoy and I hope you readers still like this story :D I really despise myself for writing this chapter, I'll try to make up for it.

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She entered his tent quietly and she was alert. He was standing at his desk with his back turned to her. She didn't bother calling out, she knew he knew that she was there, waiting to see what was so damn important that he had to interrupt her quiet time. "You know, Kaina, you're actually a very clever girl." Her eyes narrowed at him, what was he even talking about? "But you underestimate those around you."

"Cut the crap, what is this about?" she snapped, getting irritated with him.

"I was just doing some research, on you of course. You look very different here," he motioned her to his desk. She cautiously stood at the opposite end and watched as he slid the wanted poster towards her. No big deal. She'd happily explained the "truth" about how she became a wanted criminal. "You look even more different here."

She couldn't help but gasp and step back in horror as she stared at the next poster. There she was, a child again, wearing the traditional Fire Nation robes and crown, smiling because she didn't have a care in the world. She smiled because everything was normal. Loesan smirked at her reaction. "So Princess Anala lives, eh? I admit I was suspicious of you the first day you came here. You just looked so familiar." Anala glanced at him in horror, watching as he made her way towards her. "You're a bit paler and older, but your eyes betray you. If it wasn't for your eyes, I would have believed you were just another pretty face. Also, you're conversation with your little friend gave me all the information I needed. You have to be careful what you say out loud these days."

He'd back her up against the pole that was keeping the large tent standing tall. He stood right in front of her, ignoring her personal space and grinned mischievously at her. "Not so tough now are we Anala?" he breathed into her face. She couldn't push him away because she was paralysed by fear. He gripped her cheeks in his hand the same way he had done so many days ago and turned it to the left, observing. "At least something good will come out of this situation." He wriggled his eyebrows and leaned towards her.

Before anything could happen, a large boulder flew through the tent and slammed into Loesan, knocking him to the ground and pinning him. Anala left him there, assuming he'd be dead after the impact and wasted no time in running away to see firebenders trying to fight off attacking earthbending soldiers. She rushed through the fire and earth and made her way to look for Meili, knowing the woman couldn't handle herself against such a brutal attack.

She dodged boulders and rocks that were flying around, knocking her fellow soldiers down and squashing some of them. An earthbender tried to block her path but she quickly cut him down with a quick flaming kick to the head.

The tent was practically destroyed and there was only one body lying on the ground. Anala turned the body over and stepped back in horror as Ming's lifeless brown eyes stared into hers. She admit she hated the nurse and wished her dead, but not seriously. Not like this. The small sharp rock jutted out of her chest, right where her heart was located. The blood oozed out from around the penetration. No one deserved that; it would have been so painful. "Kaina," she heard someone whisper in amongst the smoking cloth. She shoved wood and cloth aside and almost gagged as she saw Meili lying beneath it all, the right side of her face severely burnt and a large hole in her side that blood was leaking from.

"Meili, wait there, I'll get help!" Anala said fearfully, looking around for someone or anyone that would be able to mend the old, injured woman. If only Kai was around, she thought desperately. Maybe the young girl was around somewhere close, maybe she'd be able to find her and make her heal the woman's wounds. There were hardly any of their men left, just the earthbenders who were destroying the remainder of men and the camp.

"I don't think that Water Tribe girl will be able to save me," Meili whispered sadly, blood trickling from her mouth. Anala's tear filled eyes widened in confusion. Meili grabbed her hand and brought her close, patting her head weakly and gently, smiling sadly. Anala's tears spilled from her eyes as she sobbed, knowing there was no hope then. It was too late. Tears slid from her eyes, travelled down her cheeks and dripped off her chin.

The woman laughed weakly. "Anala, I'm glad to have seen you alive before I've left this life," she whispered.

Anala was shocked and surprised. How many other people had figured it out? "You knew all along, didn't you?" Anala sobbed, clutching the woman's weakening hand tighter, afraid that if she let go, Meili would die before she got answers.

"I knew the moment I laid eyes on you. You have your father's eyes," Meili said gently as if the destruction of their world was not happening around them. "Tell him... I'm sorry I couldn't protect you." The woman was beginning to fade. "You have to go."

"No, please," Anala said softly.

"Anala, you need to let go... of this anger you have inside you," she wheezed. "Go find your friends, you'll... need them. Go find... your family, and..." whatever the woman was going to say next would remain a mystery for Anala. She watched in terror as the woman coughed and the eyes rolled back into her head. The hand dropped from her grasp.

"No, please don't leave me," Anala sobbed, picking up Meili's limp hand. She sobbed, ignoring the commotion around her. She clutched Meili's hand as if it would bring her back to life. She'd been like a mother to her more than just a teacher. She just couldn't accept the fact that the only woman to ever truly act as a mother toward her had died. Gone. Like so many others she'd loved.

A boulder flew past her. She was thankful it did because it brought her back to reality. She took one last look around at the place she'd called home for months before turning on her healing and running, just like Meili had told her to. She felt like a coward who could do nothing other than run away from the things that hurt her.

Tears blinded her as she ran from the scene. Memories flashed through her mind vividly. Her uncle's face grinning maliciously, her brother laughing, her father looking proud, Baku above her, sneering wickedly as his two men beat and burned her, Kai's grinning face as they ran from the pirates, Fritz's sheepish smile, Loesan's smirk, Lamon's face inching closer to her own, Meili's gentle smile. Faces continued to flash through her mind, faces of every person she'd ever known.

She ignored the fact that the rain was now beating down harder than she'd ever felt it before. She ignored the fact that the lightning struck the ground dangerously close to the path she ran on. She only stopped and took the weather in when she was on the top of a mountain, her sides aching with pain. She looked to the sky angrily and screamed louder than she had ever in her life. Her tears were being washed away by the rain. "WHY?" she bellowed at the sky. She groaned and gripped her hair, kneeling over and falling onto her knees. She slammed her fists into the ground bellow her and screamed. "WHY ME?" The thunder rumbled across the sky followed by lightening flashing across as a response.

She fell onto her side in the mud, shivering from the cold and watched the rain fall from the sky, praying for the pain to stop. "I HATE YOU!" She screamed at no one in particular. She felt drained as she looked to the crying sky. "Please, please just help me," she begged anyone who was listening. But her plea was only met with the cracking of thunder and the splatter of rain against the ground. She sobbed and curled into a ball, passing out from exhaustion in the cold mud with no one to comfort her. They were all gone. All of them.

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The sun's rays were burning holes harshly into her face. She blinked her eyes open and closed them as the rays of the sun blinded her. The mud had dried around her during the time she'd slept and had to push herself out of the earth which crumbled around her. She sat up and rubbed her aching head before she turned to study where she was to find she wasn't alone.

A familiar boy sat across from her, slightly aged since the last time she saw him. His hair was dark brown and his skin tanned from spending hours in the sun, also from the dirt that had clung to his skin. The green eyes stood out the most. Her chest filled with hope upon seeing him. "Fritz?"

The boy grinned as if he was happy but his eyes betrayed him as they displayed worry and concern for her. "You remembered my name this time?" he joked. Anala cried and brought him into a hug, sobbing into his shoulder. He held onto her without saying a word, clutching her like he never wanted to let her go in fear she'd disappear completely.

She let the tears fall free and be comforted by a familiar person's embrace. She'd never been so grateful to see anyone in her life and cherished the moment. He gently shush her and patted her back in comfort until the tears stopped and she just lay limp in his arms, drained of energy.

He noticed the sudden loss of strength and picked her up with ease, carrying her down the side of the mountain. "Since when did you get so strong?" she slurred tiredly.

"Since I've been an earthbender," he chuckled. She lay limp in his arms, staring at the wide, blue sky above her, secretly glad that out of all the people that could have found her, it was him.

He took her to a small shelter made from trees and earth and rested her on a soft bed of leaves. He patted her head and sat beside her. "Get some rest," he told her, handing her a cup of water for her to drink. "You should rest somewhere not so cold and muddy and out in the open." She smiled sadly at him, curled into a ball and tried to sleep. It was hard however since the earth that was stuck to her skin irritated her. She sat up ad looked at Fritz.

"Is there a river or lake around here I could wash off in?" He looked at her cautiously, as if he was having a battle inside his head whether to tell her the information or not. "I'm not going to kill myself, I just want to wash. I've got mud all over me." She looked at her hands to notice a small amount of red on them. As well as some blood, she thought, almost gagging as she remembered Meili's state.

"Only if you're sure," Fritz said, sounding very unsure. She gave him a look to show she thought he was an idiot for saying that. "It's just that way. Be careful, please." She nodded and took off in the direction he pointed, quickly stumbling upon a small lake. Instead of striping she jumped straight in and let the cool water soak away everything. She floated on her back and looked at the sky through the thick leaves of trees that hung over the small lake.

Birds flew through the sky carelessly. Only after a moment she began to cry. She didn't sob as loudly and obnoxiously as she had when she was on top of the mountain the previous night. She just let the tears run from her eyes and meet the cool liquid she was floating in. She made no attempt to wipe away them and just let them flow, thinking it was better to let it out than to keep it bottled up until the point where she exploded.

Things would be very different from then on, she'd figured that much as soon as Loesan had called her to tell her he'd figured out just who she was exactly. She wondered briefly if she'd ever have any normality in her life or if it would continue to change. Everything in her life would seem to settle down and she'd get into a system before a small event happened which threw everything out of balance and made everything change to the point where she'd have to e-adapt to life. She wasn't sure how much of it she could take. And what would happen if someone figured out who she was again?