Chapter Two: The Past and the Present

The boat was finally coming to a stop. I looked out over the northern waters, thinking it would be the last time I saw it. If I was the Avatar I'd have to go through training to learn the other elements as soon as possible and I didn't know if I was ready to leave my comfort behind yet.

Nanico took my hand and held it for a moment. I looked at her, tears falling down again. "Hey Ria, don't worry. We will get through this, I know you lost a lot already but things will begin to look up." And she hugged me.

I hugged her back but I felt alone and scared. I knew it was only a matter of time before I was taken by these things, zombies as Kabo called them. I still didn't fully understand it all but I knew I couldn't sit and wait to die. I got off the boat and looked around.

We had docked near a giant wall. Two men were outside it guarding the slit in the wall that I could only guess was the only entrance into whatever lay beyond. Kabo packed some things up and then started to walk towards them. Nanico motioned me to follow so I did, keeping just behind him.

There wasn't much snow on the ground and I could see the grass poking up through the snow. Suki and Spot were right behind me and Nanico took up the rear. We got to the entrance quickly and the men stopped us.

"State your business." The one on the left said. They were wearing Earth Kingdom armor, probably bite resistant to protect against the zombies.

Suki stepped forward and flashed a badge. The men gasped and bowed. "Lady Suki, I must apologize. So long as no one is infected you may proceed immediately."

She smirked and looked around. "Anyone got any bites they wish to tell us about? The flame machines will find out if you don't pipe up now."

I looked confused. "Flame machines? What do you mean Suki?"

"Right, this is your first time away from the Northern Water Tribe. They never used anything to spot the infection. Well over here we have machines that can detect the infection, sort of seeing if your chakra is normal I guess. If it's even slightly messed up the machines will open up and Firebenders will take care of the threat. So did you get bit Ria?"

I felt around my body. There was nothing except stale pee. "No I didn't. Could we possibly hurry this up? I need to change out of these clothes."

Everyone nodded in agreement to the hurrying up so Suki turned to the men. They pushed against the wall and it opened right up. I gasped when the rock finally stopped. The view was amazing. The area dipped into a valley that was made into a rather large city. People were running around the edge of the valley, just living life like nothing had happened, like there wasn't anything to be afraid of outside these walls. The plague was a thing of the past once you got past these walls and I liked it.

I started to walk down towards the city and stopped at the start of the decent. "Oh wow, what a beautiful city!"

Suki came up behind me smiling. "Yep, the safest place on the planet right now. New Ba Sing Se. After the initial infection the city of Ba Sing Se was hit pretty badly. There was nothing left to even scavenge. The survivors of the attack made their way to this valley and set up walls to protect them from the zombies. At that time nothing was known about zombies or the virus. Despite the lack of knowledge New Ba Sing Se started to grow, both in population and in size. It was becoming a well-known safe haven for refugees. That's about when those were created." She pointed down the street to a large machine. "They house a few Firebenders a piece and the general idea is to see any change in a person's chakra levels. See when a bender is infected with the virus they loss all ability to bend because the virus attacks the chakra veins running throughout your body. Then it poisons you and kills you, that poison being what causes the body to reanimate. So after those were invented this city became a soft of Heaven. No zombies getting in, only non-infected humans, benders and non-benders alike, it doesn't matter. A human is a human these days. It didn't used to be like that." She finished her story and started to walk down the road.

I followed her at a steady pace, looking around. The inner walls were guarded by lots of men in armor. These ones weren't just Earth Kingdom armor, there was Fire Nation and Water Tribe members guarding the place. I guess if you wanted a home here you would protect it.

"So am I the only thirteen year old left?"

Suki laughed. "I wouldn't say that, but I'll bet you're the only thirteen year old Waterbender left. The tribes were hit hard in the first few years. Come, I'll take you to someone who can explain these things to you."

She started to run and slowed down to go through the machine. She made it past and I followed. There was no issue so I kept going. "Okay Ria, there will be one more stop before we get into town. Sometimes the initial scan doesn't find the virus so they do a double check."

We came up to one last machine and this time there was a small line. A man, a woman and two children stood in front of us. They were arguing with a man in Fire Nation armor.

"She isn't infected." The man was saying.

"Then have her walk through the machine and we will test that. I cannot let you in the city without going through the machine." The soldier was saying.

"But those things make us sick, it doesn't react well with our bodies!" he kept arguing.

Suki and I stopped just short of the children, two little boys who looked maybe six years old. Twins from the looks of it. The mother seemed to be nursing her right arm while watching her husband argue with the soldier.

"If you won't go through the machine you can just turn around and leave the city. The rules are in place for the safety of every individual inside the city limits.

The woman reached out. "I'll do it, I'll go through the machine. I'm confident that I'm not infected." She stepped forward. The man had the boys look away just in case something went wrong and he watched his wife start to walk through. Lights came on when she got into the machine and a gate swung closed on either side of her. The man yelled but before he could do anything a powerful bust of fire engulfed the woman.

I gasped and turned away, shutting my eyes tight as her screams filled the air. I heard the sobs of her family as they were unable to help the woman. I began to cry to and Suki took me in her arms and hugged me. I grabbed on tight to her and cried some more.

It wasn't long before I heard the soldier say, "I'm sorry for your loss, I didn't mean for it to happen but we can't let infected people into the city. You can attempt to pass through or you can turn around, that's all I can offer you."

That didn't help the families crying. I didn't blame them, the lack of support angered me. I just stood there unable to do anything about it and Suki took my hand, leading me onward through the machine. We passed by just fine, going through a new ash pile that used to be a woman.

"That's the harder side of the machines, when someone does walk through infected." Suki said. She had a hardened look on her face.

"It angers me that we can't do anything about it."

"Yeah but what is there to do except contain the threat? It's not like we can just cure the infected people by blinking our eyes. All we can do is keep moving and stop the threat before it worsens."

I knew she was right but I couldn't help looking back. They hadn't moved from where they were and from what I could see they were still crying their eyes out. I wanted to help but I just couldn't and that made me feel even worse, the feeling of being useless, just like back in the tent with my mother.

I pushed my emotions to the side and kept moving forward with Suki. We passed some pretty neat looking buildings, all with smiling and carefree people working inside. None of them had to deal with the plague while on the inside but I stopped myself from being resentful because most of the people in here were refugees. They had lost everything too, just like me.

Faces blurred by as we walked, many people I didn't know nor cared to know. I just wanted to be home, safe and sound in my sleeping bag. Suki stopped short and I walked into her, taking me out of my depressive stupor and back into reality.

"Here we are, this is her getaway home anyways." And Suki pushed open the door into a small room with a kitchen and a couple doors leading off into other rooms. The place was nice for a refugee house which is to say I thought it belonged to a refugee until I met the owner of the place.

A beautiful girl, a Water Tribe member from the looks of her, stepped forward. She wore a kind smile, long dark hair with two braids down the front and bright blue eyes. Her clothes consisted of long dark blue robes over a shirt and pants that looked a lot like mine.

She smiled, "Suki, long time no see. I suppose the Northern Water Tribe was wiped out?"

"Mostly, there were only a few survivors. They are in town, all except one. He went off searching for this girl here," she pointed to me, "and should be in town in the next few days. Otherwise yes, the Northern Water Tribe is no more. I did all I could to help but there were too many zombies."

"I understand Suki, thank you. And I presume you brought this one for a specific reason?" the woman looked to me. I backed away shyly.

"Ria don't be shy, no harm is going to come to you. Yes I brought her because her thirteenth birthday was last week, on the day of the memorial."

The woman gasped. Obviously she knew what Suki was talking about because I had no clue. I was lost in all of this, just standing here waiting for them to tell me I could change my clothes.

"Thirteen, and on the exact day of the memorial. Are you sure Suki?"

"Yes, have a word with her, get to know her. I'm sure we all will be doing that in the near future. I must go meet Sokka now, we are to have dinner tonight." And Suki turned away and left.

I looked at the woman, she really was beautiful but her eyes showed a deep pain, the kind of pain I was feeling. She smiled at me, "Did Suki tell you who I am?"

"No ma'am." I said shyly.

She reached out her hand but I was reluctant to take it. "Don't be shy, my name is Katara. I'm a Waterbender just like you."

I gasped, a sudden realization forming in my head. "You're Katara, of the Southern Water Tribe. You were going to wed Avatar Aang before everything happened. I'm so sorry." I bowed to her.

She blushed and smiled. "No need to bow to me, the past is the past. It's not something I can change." Her smile faded quickly and she began to stare out the window.

I knew I had to cheer her up because I had been the one to remind her of Aang so I decided to tell her everything. "I had to kill my best friend when the camp was attacked. Also I had to watch my mother die while I sat uselessly waiting for the end."

Katara looked at me. She smiled again, "You remind me a lot of myself, Ria was your name?" I nodded my head. "When I was your age I had to escort Aang around the world so he could master the elements and stop the Fire Nation. Now it's worse, I lost so much back then and now it seems I keep losing more and more. I don't know what I will do if I lose my family. I worry about them every day, after me and Sokka lost contact with our dad I was devastated."

"How long has it been?"

"Two years. We fear the worst but hope for the best. It doesn't look like he'll ever make it home." Tears were rolling down her cheeks. I felt the same, I didn't know what had become of my dad after he went looking for me.

"Tell me more about the beginning of the infection. What happened to you in the first few years?" I was eager to hear all I could about it.

"Why don't you have a seat then? It's a long story." She went and grabbed some tea and poured us a cup as we sat down at the table. "After Ozai was defeated and things calmed down in the world me and Aang decided to go set up a village where anyone could live in harmony. Aang called it Republic City. It was beautiful at first, we have a nice little temple in the middle of a small island overlooking the small village. Many people were starting to come to us to live under our laws because of the benefit of having a peaceful nation to coincide with anyone. Well as the population grew so did the diseases. I think this all really started by mixing wrong medicines together in my opinion. One day it was fine, the hospital was full of sick people, all with various diseases ranging from a simple cold to a nasty heart infection that killed anyone it got in. So the healers were doing all they could, giving out medicine and healing with bending to the best of their abilities. Then one night we lost a patient, it was sad. He had just had his first kid and his wife was so happy until he fell ill. After his death they moved away, to get away from the disease. I think she was infected with the zombie virus when she left, I think her leaving was a small cause of worldwide infection. Soon after his death Aang was in the hospital keeping the healers calm. Little did we know that the guy had reanimated, bit a few patients as well and had them reanimate. I was there that night. I was tending to a couple patients with minor bruising around their wrists, a small fight had broken out. Well there was a loud bang and when I turned around to investigate the zombie was on top of Aang. I instantly lunged at them and destroyed them but they had already bitten him pretty good, the disease working quickly into his blood stream. The healers got him patched up and sent him home with me but he wasn't the same after that. He grew very ill, lost his bending and started to throw up constantly. It was maybe a week after that he died. It tore me apart to see him lying in bed, in so much pain. After he passed we buried him, under the site we had marked for his memorial statue. We never thought the construction would have to be started so soon." She stopped. Tears were quickly flowing down her cheeks.

I took her hand and patted it. "You don't have to keep going if you don't want to Katara."

"No no, I'm fine Ria, thanks. After that, many patients started to grow ill, showing those same symptoms. It wasn't long before we had more zombies on our hands, and back then we had no clue what to make of it. The dead were coming back to life and I learned that the workers had gotten attacked by Aang while working on the memorial. They said he came out of the ground and bit them. I didn't believe it until we looked into the grave and it was empty. That's when reality hit me. I got the gang together, me, my brother, Suki, and Toph. We headed out, afraid of what was becoming of Republic City and wanting answers so we traveled back to the library. You know, Wan Shi Tong's Library. It had been dug up and was open to us again, after our first visit though we were reluctant to go inside until Sokka made us go in. We found nothing, nothing at all on the virus, we didn't know what to call it and all we knew was that it reanimated the dead. After that we made a pact, a pact to be the ones to find the new Avatar, train them and then stop this new threat. So we spent the next thirteen years doing just that, wanting some sort of closure. I doubt I'll ever get that closure but I know that helping the new Avatar to fix this world is the right thing to do. And that Ria is where you come in. Suki brought you here for a reason, and I'm guessing you know what that reason is." She finished her tea and looked straight at me.

I looked at the ground for a while as we sat in silence. I finally looked up, "My mother's dying words were 'you are the…..' and she never got to finish that sentence. It was only on the boat ride over here that I realized what the last word was. Katara, I am the new Avatar." And I went on to explain the weird feeling and happenings on the boat that morning.

"Then that settles it. You undoubtedly went into the Avatar state when you felt scared for your life. I'm sorry this is how you had to be introduced into it. It sucks losing those you love, and to a plague that makes them there, but not really there. Maybe your mother is still out there, no one will go up there knowing that zombies are running amuck around it. But the real question is how long will she be reanimated?"

I stared at Katara. "Are you suggesting some sort of cure?"

"We didn't learn much in the library, but what we did find was useful in the long run, we just needed the new Avatar. That's why we vowed to be the ones to find you and train you. We need you Ria, can you be there for us?" Katara looked deeply into my eyes. I realized me and Katara looked pretty much the same, except I was younger and had hazel eyes instead of the blue.

"I will help you Katara, only because I need you there. This is going to be hard on all of us, are the rest of you in town?"

"Only Suki and Sokka, the others are out scouting for you. We will have to go find them if you are to be trained, and that means finding Toph first. I presume you have adequate training in Waterbending?"

"Of course, the two best teachers the Northern Water Tribe had to offer trained me!"

"Oh right, how are Yuki and Tora? Alive I hope?"

I looked away. I didn't even need to say it for her to know. "They were good people, their memory will live on, believe me." And she stood up. "Right, let's get you in some fresh clothes and be on our way shall we?"

I smiled, the thought of traveling with Katara, especially in some clean clothes, was a thought I liked. I got up and went to change, waiting for the bad days to end and the good ones to begin. Of course it would be a while before those good days came.