Author's note: (I know, I promised the note would be at the bottom of the chapter, sorry! This time it's necessary.) Here be the inevitable angsty Southern Raiders chapter, folks! Much of the first portion is narration heavy, and then the action will come. As a warning, I'm going to ignore the tamer version that was presented in the show, and offer a more realistic, gritty version.

Chapter Three part one: Ashes, Ashes...

"Don't you worry about my strength. I have plenty. I'm not the helpless little girl I was when they came..."

Katara- The Southern Raiders

Today was going to be a good day.

Yan Rha, leader of the elite Southern Raiders, stood at the bow of the flag ship, breathing in one satisfying breath of the sharp polar autumn air and letting it out in a billowing cloud of steam as he surveyed the wasteland that he was assigned to. The Fire Nation truly was in every way superior to this forsaken land of ice- it was a service to the Fatherland that he could help in purifying the world, starting here. Having served in a few other locations, he could testify that though the Earth Kingdom was backward, at least they were somewhat civilized. Looking at the Water Tribes, though, it was clear that they were not part of the great plan that Fire Lord Sozin issued- their land was desolate, their people little more than fur clad savages that ate raw flesh, and even the animals themselves were strange and dangerous. No possible gain could be gotten here, and it was his duty and pleasure to slowly erase the tribes from existence, starting with their benders.

There was only one left, according to his source, and by the sound of it, the person was an untrained person close to the Chief.

That idiot pirate and his captain were finally useful after all these years, Yan Rha mused. A decade of a quiet career here marked by useless biannual reports from those bumbling fools was finally coming to a close. Today, progress would be made at long last.

They would preform an overdue service to the world.

Something was wrong with Aang.

The spirit boy had grown strangely quieter since the trade two weeks ago, and he had begun to look at Katara with such a sad expression when he thought she wasn't paying attention. She glanced up at him now with a concerned frown for the third time in a span of ten minutes as she tugged on the heavy net she used to haul Appa's hay. Aang was currently perched up in the rafters of Appa's igloo/barn hybrid structure, seeming to be deeply lost in whatever he was thinking about once again.

She huffed a sigh, rolling her eyes. So far Katara had been unsuccessful in getting him to open up at all beyond some half hearted conversations, so as a last resort she tried the only thing that she knew would usually cheer him up. "Aang! You haven't told me a story in a while." The little girl wheedled after a moment of thinking, "Tell me what happened after you got caught in the storm! You never finished it last time."

Aang frowned, floating down from the rafters to the enormous pile of golden hay and sat in it, drawing a knee up to his chest and uttering a sad sigh. Just before the trade, he had told a severely abridged version of what had transpired to prompt him to run away, and thankfully Kya had interrupted the tale when she had asked for Katara's assistance in preparing dinner. "Well...there's nothing else to tell, Katara." He admitted. "That's what happens when... when you die young."

The silence between them was palpable, the only other noise in the stable coming from Appa's low rumble of empathy for his boy and Katara's soft breathing as she solemnly stared at him. She had no idea that when he ran away, it would result in him dying. An ashamed flush lit up her face and she looked down at the ground, mentally kicking herself. I'm such a dummy! No wonder Aang's been so sad. I asked him to tell me how he died without knowing it, and he's been thinking about it all this time!

Floating down the rest of the way to the ground, Aang turned away from her in his own shame, grasping Katara's forgotten load of hay and busying himself with feeding his bison as he continued. "My story was cut short because I was stupid, and I'll never know what things could have been like if I had only lived longer. I'm only twelve, you know... er, I was, at least. I never lived to be a teenager, much less to an old age, and I'll never get to know what that would have been like." Aang quickly finished the chore, careful to avoid his friend's concerned gaze as he continued. "Would I have gotten married? Had kids? Would I have become a monk, or would I have become like my birth family and become a proper nomad, wandering around until Appa could no longer carry me? I'll... I'll never get to find out. And that hurts sometimes, to know that my people are gone and that my chance to live a long life is gone too. My story... is done. And what have I got to show for it?"

Another long silence stretched out between the two, broken only by Appa's noisy munching. Katara sat down in the hay, twiddling her hair loopies and solemnly thinking it over while Aang flopped down next to her, slowly descending into a rare depressive mood over the matter.

It was a disheartening thing, sometimes, to be dead.

Aang was generally pretty good at looking on the bright side and staying positive about his (admittedly kinda rotten) predicament. There were definite perks to being invisible to most, and being able to move through tangible things like they were made of water. It was certainly useful having access to the vast knowledge of his past lives at any given time. But if he was truly honest with himself, he would trade it all in a heartbeat if only he could go back in time and undo his past. It was a lonely thing, to be cut off from everyone he had ever known and loved, and Aang found that being invisible to everyone but Appa and the young current Avatar was a rather harsh penance to pay. It was a quiet, lonely existence most of the time, and he sometimes despaired of it ever changing.

Not that he'd forgotten the offer of a second chance at life- not at all. He simply didn't want it to be hinged solely on Katara's future success or failure, and that was the core thing that was really bothering him. Truth be told, he was afraid to believe in the offered hope, as if doing so was forcing his little friend to hurry and be the world's savior when in reality she deserved so much better. She deserved to be a kid. She deserved to be happy, and not know (for even a little longer) that she had a near impossible task ahead of her, a kindness that was denied to Aang himself. She deserved to live a life without pressure, worry, and fear. The terrible part was that it was something she was cursed to bear, just as he had been. The only difference is that I was a coward and ran away from my duty- Katara will have to face the Fire Lord whether she wants to or not. My friend... could be dead before her fifteenth birthday. Is the price of freedom and peace really worth the sacrifice of an innocent life?

Before he could continue down that dangerous trail of thinking, Katara's gloved hand silently slipped into his own and pulled him back to their conversation. "You know what? Your story really isn't done, you know." She said softly.

Aang blinked in confusion as he tried to pull his mind back to their conversation. "Uh...it isn't?"

"Nope." She turned to face him with an earnest smile. "You might be a spirit now, but that don't mean you're not alive in a way." She scooted closer, surprising the boy as her little arms wrapped tightly around his transparent frame and snuggled into his chest in a comforting gesture. "Mom said that when someone dies, it's only their body that dies. The real them- the inside them, that's a spirit- is still alive and it can't die at all. So don't be sad, okay? Now you've got forever to live and do things. Plus, you're with me, right? We'll make our own story together, and you'll never be alone again!"

We'll make our own story together.

Aang's eyes stung with unshed tears as he wordlessly buried his face on top of her head, breathing out a sigh of release into hair and hugging her back. To his surprise Katara had laid to rest a fear of his that had been there since before he died... and he felt lighter than ever before as the weight finally fell off his shoulders. "Yeah... you're right. I guess death really isn't the end, is it?" He smiled, despite his voice becoming tear roughened against his will. "Thank you, Katara."

"Katara, who on earth are you talking to?"

Both children jumped with a guilty start, turning towards the entry to see a confused and rather dubious looking Sokka staring at them... well, her, at least. "No one!" Katara yelped, jerking away from Aang's arms. Aang flinched too, before remembering that Sokka couldn't see anything but his sister. It must have been an odd thing to walk in on for Sokka, seeing his sister looking like she was cuddling up to nothing but air.

The nine year old's suspicious look deepened as he itched at his ear and studied his little sister's unconvincing poker face. "Come on, you were talking to someone just a minute ago. Who is it? Are they still here?" He peered around the dim interior, and Appa huffed a suspiciously laugh like grunt as the boy even began looking among the bison's sturdy legs.

Katara stood then, stomping her foot in a huff and tossing her braid in a haughty manner. "As a matter of fact, yes! Go 'way. We're talking about something very important."

Telling a person to go away because important things are being discussed have the opposite effect than wished, of course, and telling it to a curious nine year old brother was like telling a weasel to not try to eat an arctic hen. As the siblings traded smoldering glares, Aang decided that now was an excellent time to take Appa out for a bit to clear his head and sort out what exactly happened between himself and Katara. "I'm going to take Appa out for a spin, okay Katara? See you later."

"What? Wait, Aang!"

Too late, he prodded the giant bison forward with a cheerful "Yip yip!" and the two lumbered forward out the stall and flew out of the stable before she could do anything, leaving her crestfallen before Sokka began chortling with laughter. "You do have an imaginary friend, don't you? I thought you were only playing around!"

"I am not!" The little girl scowled, her face flushing red.

"Not what?" he prodded playfully, scampering backward out of the stable and making a kissy face at her, "Playing around with your pretend boyfriend?"

Smack!

"Ow! You treat your invisible friend like this?"

It devolved from there, the pair of siblings shouting as Katara lunged at him in a tackle, wrestling their way outside the entrance and pulling hair and flinging snow down into parkas and (in Sokka's case) pants while calling each other names of the most scathing quality.

"Poop butt!"

"Cry baby!"

"Meanie!"

"Drool face!"

"Stupid head!"

The two bickered so loudly that for a few moments it escaped their notice that the normally white snowflakes that drifted lazily downward had been steadily growing black until they both froze mid-sentence, their hands still grasping each other's hair as they tilted their faces upward and stared in confusion at the unnatural snowfall. As the soot tainted snow continued to fall, it dawned on the children exactly what this meant.

A raid.

Sokka's mind flashed back to Gran Gran's stories of the ferocious raids in her younger days- where waterbenders were snatched away, never to be seen again, while countless others were killed in the deadly round ups. The cold fingers of fear started to wrap themselves around his heart, though the fear was not for himself. Katara was the last waterbender in all the South Pole. The raiders only came to find waterbenders... and from the look on Katara's face, it appeared she had thought of the same thing.

"Sokka... what should we do?" She asked, looking at him in worry. Others had now noticed the back snow and panic was starting to set in among them as the women herded children back into their respective igloos and tents while the men scrambled for their weapons, not even taking the time to paint their faces as they rushed to meet the swiftly approaching firebenders.

The boy gulped his growing fear down. Warriors were never afraid. Warriors were brave. Warriors protected the helpless elders, women, and children from Fire Nation monsters. Katara was looking up to him and asking him to be brave, without realizing it. Sokka found that in a weird way, her fear gave him the courage to forget his own, even if it was only for a minute. "Go find Mom." He directed, grabbing her shoulder and looking her in the eye like Dad did when he gave orders. "Gran Gran is away at the other village so she should be safe, but the Fire Nation will be looking for you, 'cause you're a waterbender. You need to hide with Mom, and Dad and I will make them all go away. Ok?"

Katara offered a wobbly smile. "Ok."

Sokka nudged her forward, but she turned and surprised him with a fierce hug. "I'm sorry I called you a stupid head. Be careful."

"I'm sorry I teased you... even if you are kinda weird." He patted her awkwardly on the back, before disengaging and prodding her towards the direction of their home. "Now hurry up! They're almost here."

Nodding once, Katara offered a smile before dashing away, while Sokka paused for one brief moment to watch her before turning away in the other direction.

I gotta run and hide, Katara thought to herself anxiously, dodging the other women and children who ran, and running even faster as the war cry from the men behind her signaled that the Fire Nation had already landed. I can't let anyone find out I'm a waterbender!

It was hard, running in freshly fallen snow with such short legs, and harder still to run in her thick parka, but it didn't stop Katara from running as fast as she could through the lanes. She chanced a look over her shoulder, and fear gave her an extra burst of speed when she saw that her father and the men were badly outnumbered, and they couldn't stop some of the Fire Nation soldiers that started streaming into the village itself.

After a few close calls, she finally made it to the house, her lungs burning from running so fast in the cold as she swept aside the thick sealskin curtain that acted as the door. "Mom!" She cried, not even three steps past the threshold before she found herself skidding to a halt with a gasp.

Mom wasn't alone.

A Fire Nation soldier had already found their home, and was standing before her kneeling, rather rumpled looking mother with a frightening expression on his face and his fists clenched. The house was in a disarray, as if Mom had been putting up a struggle, and the smoking, sputtering remains of the bedding on the floor suggested that Mom had thrown water on it after it caught fire. They both turned to see her, Mom's deep blue eyes widening with alarm and the raider's piercing brown gaze darting from Mom to her in less than a second. Katara's heart seized up in her chest as she stared at the armor clad man.

"Let her go!" Mom cried, "And I'll give you the information you want."

The man's lips, which had been tilted down in a frown before, hardened into a thin line of irritation. "You heard your mother," He barked, "Get out of here!"

Katara trembled, her belly twisting horribly tight as she looked at her mother. Home was supposed to be safe- where else was she supposed to go? What would happen to Mom if she left her here alone with this man? She hadn't noticed it before, but a faint pattern of bruises were already showing up on Mom's neck (where was her necklace?), the finger shaped marks just visible within the confines of her fur trimmed hood. The fear that the man would do her harm was now overpowered by the fear that he was going to hurt Mom. She whimpered. "Mom... I'm scared."

"Go find your Dad, sweetie," Mom commanded firmly, "I'll handle this."

The soft smile Mom gave her did nothing to relieve the escalating fear Katara felt. She looked up at the armor clad man, who was still waiting for her to leave, and met his cold, hate filled eyes. The frozen moment in time seared itself into her memory before she took a tentative step backward and ran back the way she came.

"Now tell me," The Fire Nation man's gravely voice lowered menacingly as he turned back to Kya, his already tall stature seeming even taller as he drew himself up and stared imperiously down at her. "Who is it? Who's the waterbender!?"

Like hell I'll tell you. Kya mentally snarled as she glared back, refusing to cower before this monster. How did you even know there was a waterbender here at all?

In an instant she realized it could only be from the trade- Hakoda had been asking around for a master to teach Katara. It must have been one of the Earth Kingdom traders who passed along the information. Thankfully, the raiders didn't seem to know who it was they were looking for. Perhaps she could buy some time. "There are no waterbenders left," She replied bitterly, "Your people took them all away a long time ago!"

"You're lying!" He drew within inches of her face, one spidery hand snagging a fistful of her parka while the other cocked back, smoke curling faintly from his fist. She hissed in a combination of fear and defiance. "My sources say there's one waterbender left. We're not leaving until we find them, and we're not afraid of using dirty means to extract the information we want! Either you make this easy, barbarian squaw, or you and your entire village will suffer the consequences, orders or not!"

Outside the walls of the house, Kya could faintly hear the shrieks of other women and children as they too were being interrogated, and the scent and noise of things burning (Spirits, was that the scent of burning hair?) was becoming steadily stronger. The warriors couldn't hold them all off- there were too many soldiers, and all of the warriors were nonbenders going up against highly trained firebenders. It was clear that if she didn't act quickly, even more people were going to die, and Katara's identity would be revealed.

She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat, her fear melting away as regret took it's place. Baby, I'm so sorry. I'm so, so sorry... "If I tell you, will you promise to leave the rest of the village alone?"

The hand that held her coat loosened and let go. Miraculously, the man tilted his head in a nod.

She closed her eyes, her mind lingering for a single precious moment on her children and her husband. In that one instant, she knew she was never going to see them again. Pain filled her whole being at that prospect, but an iron resolve gave her the strength to utter the words that would draw the wolves away from her family. "...It's me. Take me as your prisoner."

She steeled herself as she heard the flickering sizzle of static forming at his fingertips, it's cold blue light glinting off the sharp curves and points of his armor and illuminating his empty smile. "I'm afraid we're not taking any prisoners today."

Tears that had nothing to do with the cold wind stung Katara's eyes as she ran as fast as her short legs could carry her into the thick of the chaos and noise of the raid all around her. Mom was in trouble, and it was up to her to find Dad and make the monster in the house go away, no matter how horribly afraid she was. The mantra of find Dad find Dad find Dad drummed in her brain to the beat of her footfalls, and soon she was heedless of the violence around her as she fixated on the all consuming need to find Dad's familiar form in a churning sea of reds and blues that filled nearly every lane and path now. Dad, oh Daddy...where are you?

"Katara, move!"

Aang's terrified shout reached her ears seconds before a brilliant burst of flame arched into her path, and it was a very lucky thing that Aang's warning came when it did, or she wouldn't have had the time to dodge the stray blast. She twisted to her left to avoid the blistering hot flames, slipping as she did so and falling on her hands and knees as it shot over her head. Aang was by her side in a second, pulling her up and gripping her shoulders. "Are you hurt?" he asked, his voice pitched a little higher than normal as he quickly scanned her for signs of injury.

"I'm ok," She panted, "don't worry."

"We've got to get you out of here," Aang grasped her hand, casting a quick look around at the surrounding melee, "They're looking for you, I'm sure of it. We can't stand around here out in the open!"

Katara stubbornly dug her heels in the snow when he tried to make her run with him. "Aang, wait! We've got to find Dad!" She yelled, trying to wriggle her wrist out of his grasp. "Mom's in trouble and we've gotta help her!"

The spirit boy's frightened gaze narrowed slightly in mild annoyance, but he relented and let go of her. "I think I see him over there." Aang said after a moment, pointing Dad out just a few yards away, below the ridge that sheltered Healer Kuthruk's hut. "Stay close to me, ok? I'll make sure no fire hits you."

They ran the rest of the way, thankfully no one noticing the small girl dashing her way to her father as Aang used himself as a shield to ward off any fire blasts that might come her way. Katara skidded over to the lip of the ridge just in time to see her father sharply twist a soldier's arm and shove him shoulder deep into the igloo's front wall. "Dad!"

He looked up, his fierce countenance morphing into alarm as he spotted her. "Katara, what are you doing here? Get inside with-"

"Please Dad, come quick!" She pleaded desperately, sliding down the snowbank to his side. "Mom's in trouble! There's a strange man in our house!"

It was almost pitifully easy slipping out of the Chief's dwelling, as Yan Rha found out. His men had succeeded in fully infiltrating the village, and created more than enough chaos to cover the sound of the last waterbender's demise. He pulled his signal horn from his hip and sounded the retreat call as he darted his way back to the village entrance and to the waiting ship, taking the time to kick aside a wounded elderly barbarian man on his way. They pulled out just as fast as they had arrived, and the biting polar wind at his back carried the cleansing scent of fire and ash as they sailed away.

Today was a good day indeed.

What they ran home to was like something from a nightmare.

Mom was sprawled on the floor, the nauseating scent of charred flesh hanging heavily in the air and causing Katara to reflexively throw her hands up to her nose. Dad rushed to her side with a strangled cry, turning Mom's limp form over to reveal the horrific lightning strike near her heart. Mom's blank, lifeless gaze seemed to be aimed directly at Katara.

A long moment seemed to hang suspended in eternity, where it felt as if Katara had been plunged underwater and all her senses were muddled. She was unaware of the pained gasp of Aang as he arrived at the scene. She barely heard Dad's choked sobs rapidly morph into loud screams of sorrow and rage. She was aware of nothing at all but her own pain, and she was helplessly drowning in it as she tried desperately to erase the image of Mom's empty, almost condemning stare from her mind. No...Mama, no, no, no nononoNoNONONOOOOOO!

It was as if a million voices were shrieking along with her in a wordless scream as a blinding, white hot pain and rage filled her bones and seemed to flow out until it filled every bit of her being and extended even beyond herself; lashing out and churning the previously still, tainted air inside their home into a roaring frenzy. Her braid loosened and unbound in the furious wind as she slowly left the ground, the wind carrying her higher while tossing anything lighter than a grown man around the igloo as if they were made of paper. Katara found she really didn't care, not even when she distantly registered that the top of the igloo and the front wall were destroyed in her wrath and that Mom and Dad were somewhere in the middle of the screaming chaos. All she could do was feel, and it was becoming too much for her young mind to process beyond PainPAINPAIN-

A touch.

Someone was touching her.

Katara's hands curled within her gloves as she whipped her head around. Aang's sorrowful gaze met her blinding white one, completely heedless of the violent storm she was generating as he floated up to her level and gasped her shoulders. She trembled with the overwhelming distress and power that coursed through her, and she found she didn't want to fight her friend when he gently tugged her back down to the ground and held her close. "It's ok, Katara," he murmured brokenly, his voice subtly layered with the whispers of thousands of Avatars before him."I know what you're feeling, and it hurts, I know it does. But I promise you, it'll be ok. You're gonna be ok..."

He wasn't sure that Katara heard him, but he knew he had to try to calm her down- he remembered what he had been feeling when he saw what happened to his people, and it was going to be too much for the little girl if her pain was amplified by the Avatar State much longer. So he held on, wrapping his arms tighter around her tiny frame and feeling as if he were trying to hug a raging blizzard instead of the sweet little girl he knew and loved. He hadn't realized he started to cry with her until the Avatar State slowly diminished and drained out of her as she wilted against him, the furious windstorm slowly ceasing and the broken debris from the now blasted out dwelling settling back down to the ground in a noisy clatter.

The deathly stillness that followed was broken only by Katara's weak hiccuping sobs, Hakoda's shaky breathing, and the horrified awe of the murmuring crowd gathered outside.

Author Note: What a monster of a chapter! If it was too wordy and confused, I am so sorry. Please, please, if anyone is willing to be a good beta, give me a PM.

This chapter dealt with a heavy issue (death/ethnic cleansing), and I was trying to be as descriptive as possible. In my view, the Fire Nation at this period is very much like WW2 Germany- a racial purity was being preached, all the while the idea of spreading their superior culture in order to better the world ate away a lot of minds until the concept of ethical morality was forgotten in favor of a hollow promise.

The Southern Raiders did not witness Katara go into the Avatar State, in case you were wondering. The other Water Tribe members did, however, and the news is going to spread like wild fire to the members who didn't see her (ie the other village and the ones who were too far away from her home).

Appa's stable is something like the pen that held Naga in Legend Of Korra, only not underground. Thought I'd clarify that.

Healer Kuthruk is a nod to an AvacadoLove's AU Another Brother. Read it if you can, it's a good story!

Part two is coming up soon, and no worries, it'll fill in a few blanks from this chapter as well as kickstart the adventure!