"LET HER GO!" Rali yelled, trying to keep her tears down.

"Hey boss," A scrawny man walked in, talking to the man holding Zanna down. "Isn't she the orphan from that one town?"

"The first one we burned down? Yeah, a great harvest." Rali stared on in horror. The memories of watching her friends burning, the buildings she had grown to love, being burned down.

"Bit too much of a shift, eh boss?"

"Yeah, I think we moved in too quickly here. We probably should have waited, but who knows. I think we made the right choi-"

"SHUT UP!" Zanna yelled at the man, biting the hand holding her in place. The knife at Zanna's neck dropped to the floor, and Zanna with it. She pulled out her dagger, and held it up.

"Hey, bitch, what do you think you're doing?" The man raised his hand up, and tried to pull the dagger out of her hand. Despite his efforts, it didn't budge. "Platinum?"

"You bet, you ugly brute." The man lifted up the knife once more, and launched it towards Zanna, she quickly ducked under it, and grabbed it while it was zooming past her. "Not gonna get me that easily." She pulled it back, and threw it into the ground, hammering it in place with her foot. The scrawny man flung himself forward, and launched fire at her. Zanna jumped over the small ball of fire, and threw a piece of wood at him. The man fell down, and got back up almost immediately.

"Hey, Iluq, take this little girl out for me." A new man ran into the building. He was bulky, and had the same blue clothing on. He lifted some water out of his flask, which resided on his hip. He flung it at Zanna. Zanna moved to her side, barely dodging it. Out of nowhere, the ground under her rose up, trapping her in place.

The boss of the gang stared at Zanna. "Finally caught you. You've caused us too much trouble. How about we end this now?" Zanna struggled, doing what she could to move. But she couldn't even move the little bit of her hand that was exposed. Her dagger was on the ground next to her, and out of reach.

"RALI! HELP ME!" Rali sat on the ground, staring as the town in front of her was burning down. The voice of her friend was drowned out with the screams of her former friends. Zanna struggled, as the big man walked closer to her.

"I think there's something you could give me. Where are your yuan's?" Zanna spit on the man's face, refusing to talk. He picked up the dagger sitting next to her, and held it up to her neck. "You know, I find it ironic that it's your special knife that'll lead you out of this world. Maybe you'll return as a spirit." Zanna struggled, moving her head as much as she could.

"No, STOP! STOP IT!" The man put the dagger up to her throat, and slowly cut a slit from one side to the next. Zanna shut up, she couldn't speak anymore. She fell, the ground around her fell, allowing her body access to the floor.

"Stay there and think about what you did." The man smirked, and walked towards Rali. His grin widening with every step he took. Zanna looked up as far as she could. Her vision was blurry, her blood starting to spill out onto the floor. She watched onward, as the blood drained. The man picked Rali up, and spoke to the others. "I think she'll make a good prisoner."

"N-N-no!" Zanna groaned her last breath, before everything went dark.

Useless. A voice popped into Zanna's head...was it her head? "No." Waste. "Stop it." What kind of avatar are you? "What? Me, the avatar? Impossible. I can't even bend." Exactly. You are the worst there ever was. How could you be the avatar? "D-Didn't I die?" You might be in hell, or heaven. You could be a spirit, or in purgatory. It's all up to you, and how you treat this situation. "What choices do I have? My neck was cut open, I am bleeding out. What could I do?" You know, deep down inside are all the answers. "M-my memories?" If you really are useful, you will know. Zanna opened her eyes, staring into a black abyss.

You aren't who you think you are. "I-I'm not?" She doesn't know. Another voice accompanied the first. How could she not know? "STOP IT!" Then look inside yourself child, find the light inside of you and let it swell. Zanna looked at her chest. It was...glowing? "W-what's going on?"

"H-hey boss. I think you should see this."

"What is it, N-" The big man turned around, and stared at the flying girl. Rali looked up, and looked at her as well. It was…glowing. There was light flowing everywhere. The light emanated from her eyes, her mouth, and, well, everywhere. It was like she was the embodiment of light, as if the sun had entered her body.

"Zanna?" Zanna was hovering above the ground, her head facing upwards, the slit on her throat was...missing. Her mouth was open, and it looked like air was flowing into it.

"Take her down." The big man turned away. The scrawny man shot a blast of fire her way, but Zanna grabbed it, and dissipated it. She lifted her open hand, and trapped the man in a small, stone cage. Iluq shot water in her direction, Zanna redirecting it back, and brought a small pillar out of the ground. His hand locked in place, the man was frozen with his own water. Zanna looked at Rali.

"Let her go." Her voice was starchy, and meaningful. The boss set Rali down, putting her in a stone cage, holding her like it did Zanna. He formed a knife out of a bit of metal in his pocket, and shot it at Zanna. She brought a small block of rock up from the ground, and let the knife get lodged into it. Out of rage, the boss kept throwing little knives at her, letting them get lodged into the rock. After he finally ran out of metal, he started throwing chunks of earth at her. Zanna launched the small block at him, and trapped his arms in a small bit of rock. She watched as the knives just barely missed him, and the rock enclosing him against another. Zanna flew outside, and looked at the fire. She raised both her arms, allowing water to follow her hands. She took the water, little bits at a time, and put out the huge amounts of fire. More thieves tried to run, but Zanna would trap them in rock, just as she did with the others.

After the fire was put out, and the raiders trapped, Zanna felt strange. As if her neck was opening back up. She landed herself, and started walking. Everyone was staring at her, yet, she felt too ill to notice. She walked towards the hospital, when everything went dark once more, and she fell face first onto the ground.

"ZANNA! WAKE UP!" Rali was yelling, trying to get through the guards holding her back. There were healers in a tent, trying to close the wound on Zanna's throat. They had to do a quick patch up, so that they could help the other citizens. "LET ME THROUGH! SHE'S THE ONLY FAMILY I HAVE LEFT!" Rali pushed, and threatened the guards. She needed to see Zanna, to make sure she was ok. Rali only wanted to give her a hug, and tell her everything was going to be ok. Ever since she lost her sister, Zanna was all she had. "PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!" Zanna started to twitch, her head slightly lifting. The healers moved out of the way, just enough for her to raise her head.

Zanna opened her mouth, but had to move it slowly. "Rali, It's ok. Let the healers do their job, and I'll be right there." Her voice croaked, pain spilling out of every sound. Zanna slowly put her head down, and the healers continued to move the water over her neck. Rali fell to the ground, tears in her eyes. She picked up the checklist she had brought with her.

"Hurry up. Please," Rali whispered to herself. It took 5 hours, and Rali had to wait through each one. She sat there, forcing herself to stay awake – Despite turning to night. Eventually, Zanna was healed. But, it was going to leave a scar. The healers didn't know why, but there was no getting rid of it. Zanna walked up to Rali, who was just barely awake, and picked her up. "ZANNA!?"

"Always gotta keep your guard up." Rali slipped herself out of Zanna's grip, and moved away from her. "R-Rali?" Zanna took a step closer, but Rali kept her distance. "What? What did I do?" Rali stared at Zanna, fear in her eyes.

Rali stared as she spoke. "Y-You don't remember?" Zanna pulled a blank, and stared confusedly at Rali.

"Remember what? I blacked out, and woke up on the garb, with the healers doing a quick job on me." Rali shook her head.

"You woke up, and started floating...just...there." Zanna's face turned blue, her hands starting to twitch. "The raiders got pissed off, and started throwing everything they had at you. At first I was happy, because you were bending. Fire-bending at that. But, then they threw water at you, and you threw that back. The boss threw rocks and metal at you, and you used a chunk of the earth to block it. You trapped them all, every one of the raiders." Zanna took another step, Rali backing up again.

"You know I can't bend, I can't do anything." Zanna looked around, seeing everyone trying to get away from her. Everyone was either running, or staring in disbelief.

"Zanna," Rali slowly walked up to Zanna, putting her hands on Zanna's face. "You're the Avatar." Zanna pushed Rali's hands off her face.

"No, I'm not."

Rali shook her head. "What happened while you were passed out?"

"Nothing happened! I just blacked out. Dammit, Rali, I'm your friend. I'm not gonna lie to your fucking face!" Rali backed up, the fear in her eyes growing. Zanna looked around once more, everyone was backing away from her. She turned towards the smeltery, and ran as fast as she could. Tears formed in her eyes, as she ran past crowds of people. The town she grew up in, the people she had made friends with, could she really stay here? Put these people in danger, just because she might be the Avatar? Or was it the fear consuming her? The fear that no one would accept her for anything but being the Avatar.

Either way, she had to leave. Even if I am the Avatar, I can't put these people in danger. She ran, and tried to get out of sight. It didn't take long, but she found herself inside of a forest, one of the local ones. No one was around, not even a spirit. Zanna turned away from the town, and got into her fighting stance. Her feet were sturdy, her mind was clear, and her hands were loose. She lifted her hand, trying to focus on every last grain of earth in front of her. But nothing happened. She couldn't even lift a pebble. "I knew it. I'm not the Avatar." Zanna turned around, and walked back towards the smeltery, smirking at the mere thought. "Me, the Avatar? Not possible." She kept repeating the same things to herself the whole way there.

Zanna finally reached the smeltery, and opened the hatch to her room. Since it was just under the actual smelter, she had to use other means of keeping the room cool. Mainly, there was just a vent from the surface, breathing air down. For when it was scorching hot outside, like today, Zanna would close the vent, and turn on a device that was given to her. As far as she knew, it didn't have a name, but it worked wonders. It took the air around it, and blew it in whatever direction it was facing.

"Fucking finally. Peace, and quiet." Zanna closed the flap over the vent, latching it in place. She turned around, and turned on the device, and fell face-first onto her bed. "It's gonna be a long day tomorrow." Zanna closed her eyes, and did what she could to sleep.

AN: Starting with this chapter, I'm gonna try to make them at least 2,000 words.