A/N: Hello, lovelies! Long time no see. Unfortunately, as a college student that also works, it's very difficult to find time, motivation, and inspiration to write, so it has taken me far too long to update this story and even change it. Rest assured I have just about finished Chapter 13 and plan to update the story with a new chapter when I'm halfway through or done with Chapter 14.

Something that also held me back with this fan fiction is the fact that I first developed this before Legend of Korra was finished, and as it turns out, I really, really, really hate Legend of Korra. I couldn't stand the characters, the writings, the insane technological evolution and how the unique Eastern representation of various cultures became Westernized, or the numerous plots (and yes, I am aware that Nickelodeon was only greenlighting one season at a time, but there was still too much going on), and I was extremely upset with the ending. I wasn't sure how to incorporate spirits living in the human world and a dismantled Earth Kingdom monarchy into my story. In particular, the Earth Kingdom monarchy was always a major plot point that I didn't want to get rid of.

I have no intention of reading the ongoing LoK comic to figure out how the world will evolve following the cartoon's conclusion, so I've reworked some things to suit my narrative. I do want to stick to canon as closely as possible, but not everything will be the same. Basically, I have decided what has happened to the world between the end of LoK and Sarika's birth.

Another thing that I want to mention now (because it would be difficult to explain in the story) is that the current environment in Sarika's world is intended to be more 1950's-esque to match the technological explosion and 1920's aesthetic seen in LoK. However, things that were created in the Cold War, such as nuclear and atomic weapons, Internet, satellites, rockets, and space programs do not exist because of the lack of competitive incentive seen when the USSR was around (plus there's no need for other weapons of mass destruction when spirit energy can be used in such a way).

Lastly, the original antagonistic organization was going to be something of my own design, called the Scarlet Regime. However, I decided to incorporate the Red Lotus instead, but it's overall objectives have changed with the times and new leadership. I thought it would be easier to take an already established group and have them develop a new mission that matches what I intended the Scarlet Regime to be, and it will be explained why and how the Red Lotus changed in the story.

Whew, okay, I think that's everything. These reuploads are just a few tweaks to my writing and correcting mistakes, but I hope you will get excited for the next installment!

When Sarika regained consciousness, she knew right away that something was wrong.

She was not in her cell. The four platinum walls and sandy ground had been replaced with a bedroom. She gasped and sat upright, startled. Immediately she became horribly lightheaded, and for a moment her vision went completely black. Dizzy, she laid back down and stared up at the ceiling until it stopped swirling.

Sarika examined her surroundings. She was tucked into a rather soft bed with white, fluffy blankets. Across from her was a dark wooden dresser, to her left was a closet, and to her right was a window. The walls were painted lavender, and matching curtains only slightly hid the evening sun that filtered a purple rectangle onto the bed.

After the initial surprise wore off, confusion and fear quickly followed. Her last memory was of Damodar touching, caressing, kissing her. Violating her. And she got mad. She was angry, and then…nothing. He had been on top of her, his lips on her neck…. And in the next instant she was here. But how was that possible?

She wondered just how she passed out. She did feel rather tired. Maybe her exhaustion caught up with her? Or maybe there was something in Damodar's water, and when it got into her mouth, it caused her to black out? But why would he do that? And why would the Red Lotus take her to this place? Had she been transferred to another part of the base, or another location entirely? Why? And why would she be placed in such a hospitable environment so suddenly? Tomiko did not hide things from Sarika, or at least, she had no reason to lie to her. She often delivered news—mostly bad—to her of the outside world due to her supreme arrogance. She would have told Sarika that she was being moved…wouldn't she?

And was she unguarded?

Indeed, there was no one in the room with her. In her large, windowless cell there was just one door, which needed a key to unlock, and was heavily monitored by cameras, so there was no reason for a soldier to be in there with her. But in this room there were two doors, next to the closet and beside the dresser, and she could see no cameras. But that didn't mean she wasn't being watched.

Quietly, she slunk out of the bed. Her feet sunk into the plush beige carpet, and she wiggled her toes experimentally. She was still so tired and hungry, and now, out from under the blankets, she was freezing. Glancing down, she gasped to see she was wearing different clothes. Sarika had been wearing a patchwork dress riddled with holes, the worn cloths haphazardly sewn together after she was captured. But now she wore a long, light green pleated skirt and a dark green blouse with long sleeves, and the fabric overlapped, making a V-shape. Another terror swept through the Avatar at the thought of being stripped bare, followed by another wave of confusion at being redressed. What was the purpose?

Sarika took a deep breath and sunk into her mind's eye, envisioning her chakras. The spheres were small and dim, and the flow of energy was slow. They hadn't changed, not that she was surprised. Fear clogged her energies, and her physical weaknesses prevented her from Bending at all. How ironic, she thought bitterly, that the Avatar is but a Nonbender.

Slowly she sank to the floor, fighting back tears. She was so puzzled and frightened—what was she supposed to do now? She just wanted to go home. That was all she wanted. She just wanted to go home and continue living in the village, denying her existence as the Avatar and letting the world sort itself out. She didn't want to be involved in these politics anymore. She hadn't wanted to be involved in the first place! She much preferred her little cottage on the Earth Kingdom coast, a world detached from the Five Nations. No war, conflict, or political strife affected them. And the world had been just fine before she made her identity known. What a fool she had been to let her loneliness consume her!

But Sarika knew to stop lamenting her irreversible decisions. She was the Avatar. It was her job to right her wrongs and fix the world. She knew she didn't have to like it—and she didn't—but she did have to restore balance. No one else could do her duties. The time that it was acceptable for her to cower had passed. Now she had to be brave—or at least feign courage for everyone else.

Deciding she had better investigate, Sarika used a nightstand next to the bed to help her back on her feet, clutching the top as she stood. Her fingers brushed against something. Looking over, she stared at her glasses in shock. That was impossible! They had been broken a month ago! With shaking hands, she picked the eyewear up. They were definitely hers. They had the same tortoiseshell frames, and when she put them on, her vision immediately became sharper and clearer. But how could this be?

Hoping against hope, she reached for her neck. But no, her precious necklace had not been returned. Her heart sank, and for a moment she was breathless with grief. But she swallowed it down, turning her priority to finding out where she was.

Sarika crept over to the white door across from her and turned the knob slowly, holding her breath. There was no sound when she opened it, just a crack, and she peered inside. Once her eyes adjusted to the dark, she released her breath in a sigh of relief. It was just a bathroom.

She entered it and flipped the light switch. To her right was a sink, and above that, a mirror. What she saw reflected there froze her to her core. Blood had dyed her hair crimson and brown. It formed knots and tangles, and her hairline was red. Sarika ran her fingers over her hair frantically, but found no wounds.

"What…?" she breathed. She tried harder to remember what had happened to her, but still nothing came to mind other than Damodar crouching over her. She thought so hard she got a headache, and she put her fingers to her temples to massage it away. She decided to check herself in other places. She pulled the collar of her shirt down, seeing her chest. It seemed fine, and she was relieved to see she was still wearing her undergarment. Then she lifted the back of it, and saw no marks on her back. Finally she pulled the skirt down to reveal legs with no mars.

"I don't understand," Sarika muttered. Her glasses shouldn't here, she shouldn't be here, and there was no way she did not have any scars and physical markings from all the things she'd been through in her life. She had a scar on her left knee from when she landed on a sharp rock as a child, but it was gone now. And she knew, knew Damodar didn't heal all of her. She should've had a burn mark on her hand, when she touched the flames on the stove when she was eight to test her Firebending. But that was gone, too. Sarika had been covered in bruises and burns and scars from training, and Tomiko and the others had purposefully tortured her in a way that would be etched into her not just mentally, but physically as well. She had been fed very little - typically only a small loaf of bread or a piece of fruit a day- and would've expected to look half dead, with bloodless skin, hollow eyes, and exposed ribs. Even so, her body now looked...perfectly healthy.

She looked down at the sink, and realized then how thirsty she was. Not seeing a cup, she plugged the sink and ran the faucet, letting cold water pool until it was halfway full. Curious, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Then she held her hand over the water and, fingers pointed down, moved her wrist up. There was no response, and she choked back a sob.

How pathetic, she wanted to cry, putting her head in her hands. I must be the most miserable Bender ever! How can I escape if I cannot Bend? How could I do this to myself? I've made myself a prisoner!

After taking a moment to compose herself, she cupped her hands in the water and brought it to her lips, swallowing down her tears. She was suddenly overcome with thirst, and drank almost all the water in the sink.

As the water entered Sarika's mouth, soothing her parched throat, she considered that she might had been saved. Maybe she was in someone's home, rescued from the Red Lotus by the people of the Academy. As appealing as it sounded, she remained doubtful. She had only been conscious for a few minutes! Spirits knew what had happened to her and where she was, if she was in danger or safe. But she wouldn't find anything out by waiting, especially if she was still in enemy hands. Sarika shuddered, pure terror rocking her body.

She turned around, and saw a towel rod across from her. She threw the towel that was on it to the ground and took down the rod. It was a metal cylinder, and would hurt plenty if someone were to be hit with it. She hated the thought, but if she had to, she had to, even if it killed them.

Sarika slunk back into the bedroom, clutching the rod tightly with shaky hands. And then she noticed the chair. By the window was a simple wooden chair, and hung over it were red and brown clothes. No, wait. Upon closer inspection, she realized those were her clothes.

"By Raava," she gasped. Yes, those robes were definitely hers, and they were also drenched in blood. "What has happened to me?"

Just then, the other door opened. Startled, Sarika turned to see a boy standing in the doorway. He was about her age, and had brown eyes and hair, an odd curl sticking out from it. He wore robes strikingly similar to hers, with long, oversized sleeves and a navy, sleeveless vest-like garmet over top. He looked just as surprised as she was, staring at her with a gaping mouth.

He had little time to react other than that. Acting on pure instinct Sarika ran towards him, then swung the rod at his legs. With a cry of shock and pain, his knees buckled and he tumbled to the floor. She leapt over him and bolted through the door, entering a hallway. Not knowing where to go, she made a right.

I have to escape! she thought, terror rushing through her veins. In that brief moment, she thanked the spirits she had gone to the Academy - a blessing she didn't often recognize - for Master Aditya's training with weapons and arms and legs. He taught her how to hone her intuition and instincts, to use them to defend herself with quick jabs, thrusts, stabs, and swings. Certainly anyone with arms could use a towel rod as a weapon, but she was thankful that she knew more than others, if she imagined it as a smaller staff. Although, Master Aditya was more of a swordsman. It was Master Surya, really, who taught her the ways of the staff, even though that was mostly for Airbending.

Yes! A stairwell! She flew down the stairs, which ended at another hall. A few lengths ahead of her was someone else, another young boy with brown hair and brown eyes. His eyes widened when he saw her, and with a screech of fear Sarika cracked the rod across the side of his torso. She stumbled from the contact, and her back fell against the wall. She watched him crumble to the ground, and for a brief moment felt sympathy for him. She looked down at him, trembling, hardly able to breathe, and then she glanced up. She felt the blood drain from her face.

She was looking into a room, once that was full of people. For a second they all stared at her, and she stared back. But then several lunged for her, crying, "Grab her!"

"No!" Sarika struck a man who reached for her hands, hitting him on the head. Then another grabbed the towel rod, shouting, "Let go! Let go of it!" But she hit his face, too, and he reared back, holding his mouth.

Now someone else grabbed her weapon, and another took one of her arms, prying her hand from the metal rod. It was ripped from her grasp, and Sarika felt bile rise in her throat. She kicked the man who took her weapon, right where it hurts most. He released his breath and fell to the floor, but clung to the cylinder.

Her arms were pinned to the walls now, and no matter how violently she writhed, they remained clamped to her like iron. There were tons of people now, screaming and shouting, but she hardly heard them over the rush of blood in her hears. Adrenaline pounding through her veins, Sarika desperately threw her legs upward, stopping anyone else from coming near her.

"Let me go!" she shrieked, tears running down her cheeks. "Let me go let me go let me go! No more! I don't want this! Just let me go home! Please!"

"Please, calm down!" A voice rose above the cacophony now, and a man pushed through the crowd. Surprised, Sarika stopped kicking as she stared up at the oddest-looking man she had ever seen. His skin was pale, and yet his eyes were blue. A startling, sapphire blue at that, a blue she only saw in the dark skinned people of the Water Tribes. And his hair! It was…yellow? Why would he dye his hair such a strange color?

Noticing she heard him, the man stepped closer "West." There was a warning tone in someone else's voice behind him, but he ignored it.

"Stop struggling," the man said, steadily coming closer. He tried to speak softly, noticing her terrified eyes, and realizing that she felt she was in danger. "We're not going to hurt you."

She pressed herself further against the wall, but made no attempt to flee. "It's okay; you're safe," the man assured. He got down on one knee in order to make eye contact with her. Now a bit lower than her eyes he said, "I am Germany. What's your name?"

Sarika was even more surprised. Why was he pretending to not know her? Surely she was still in the possession of the Red Lotus! …Right?

"I—I—" she stammered, woozy from all the emotions she felt. Thoughts muddled, she did the only thing she could think to do. She head butted him.

Germany let out a shout, more caught off guard than in pain. He backpedaled away, holding his nose. Sarika slumped forward, dazed. She hadn't expected his head to be so dense!

She had hit him hard. The corner of her vision darkened, and she wasn't sure she had ever gotten such a horrible headache so fast before. I'm going to faint, she realized. She tried one last attempt to break free from the hold of the two men that had her arms, but her movements were sluggish at best. It was easy for them to maintain their hold.

"No…." she groaned, exhausted and petrified. "Please, just leave me be." Those were the last words she uttered before she blacked out.

This time when Sarika woke up, the first thing she noticed were the voices. There were people with her, muttering amongst themselves, sounding urgent and agitated. Second came the pain, which exploded in her head. Caught off guard, she took a deep, shuddering breath, followed by a moan. The voices abruptly stopped, and mentally Sarika cursed, realizing too late she should have stayed quiet. If she had, she could've listened in and learned more about these people.

"Excuse me," a soft, feminine voice said. Someone touched her hand. "Are you awake?"

Reluctantly, the Avatar opened her eyes. She saw a woman with long brown hair and warm green eyes looking down at her worriedly. Sarika would've trusted a person with such a nice face, if only Tomiko hadn't ruined her peace of mind.

"Who are you?" Sarika croaked, looking for the door. She was in the same room she had been in previously, and knew she must have been at least on the second floor of the building because of the stairs from earlier. Unless she was certain she could Airbend—and she wasn't—there was no way she'd be able to go out the window if she couldn't create a cushion of air to protect her.

The woman had just opened her mouth to respond when Sarika clambered out of the bed. Clumsy with dizziness she fell, but quickly got back up and lunged for door, deciding it was better to leave first and ask questions later.

"No, wait—!" the person cried, but she was already turning the doorknob. She yanked the door open, only to run straight into someone else. She looked up, and could only gape. It was the strange looking man from before, with the yellow hair. Out of options—there was no way she'd be able to protect herself from that behemoth—she turned on her heel and dashed for the window. She had learned how to survive falls from great heights with minimal injury from Master Aditya. If she could just put her skills to good use for once—

Suddenly someone grabbed the back of her shirt collar and part of her hair. She screamed as she was yanked backward, and fell to the floor.

"Hey! Don't touch her! You just scared her even more!" the woman yelled.

"What did you expect me to do? Let her jump out the window?" a man jeered in response. Sarika looked up to see a nobleman standing over her, jabbing his finger in her direction. Or at least, he had to have been a man of wealth given his formal attire. He glanced towards her and she gasped. His eyes! His eyes were, of all things, purple! Purple eyes, yellow hair—what kind of strange cosmetics were these? Why was the Red Lotus decorating their soldiers so strangely?

The woman glared at him, but when she turned back to Sarika, her eyes grew soft once more. She must have been of Earth Kingdom decent, and judging by her eyes she was probably an Earthbender. Sarika just hoped she wasn't too good of one.

She lowered herself to one knee. Sarika crept backwards, letting a whimper of fear slip from her lips.

"No, no, it's okay," the woman said in a soft tone. Slowly, she extended her arm to her. "I'm sure you have many questions, and I'd be more than happy to answer them. You don't have anything to worry about, dear. My friend and her brother found you passed out and covered in blood just outside her brother's home—where you are now—and they've been tending to you since. Right now, they're taking a bit of a break. But anyway, we're not here to hurt you. We're just here to take care of you. Okay?"

Sarika hesitated. What she said somewhat made sense. Sarika had no idea how she wound up here, and they seemed to know even less than her. And she did have more questions. At the very least, she wanted to know where she was.

"T—Then where am I? And who are you?" she whispered.

The woman's smile widened. "You can call me Hungary. And you're in China now, dear, in the Hebei province."

"Hungry?" Sarika echoed. What kind of weird name was that? She didn't believe that was her actual name, but couldn't imagine why she'd hide it.

But wait…where was she?

"Where?" Sarika repeated.

"China, sweetie," Hungary said again, lowering her hand when she realized the young girl wouldn't take it. "To be more specific, you're in the Hebei province. What's your name?"

"I—China? Is that in the Earth Kingdom?"

"The what?" Now Hungary's smile faded, and her eyebrows folded in puzzlement. "What's the Earth Kingdom?" Then she shook her head. "Never mind. What's your name?"

Sarika didn't answer, and in that pause she felt her gut flip upside down. The world began spinning, and she was overcome with nausea. The room lilted to the left, and she had to put her hands on the floor to stop herself from falling over.

"Whoa, hey! What's wrong?" Hungary asked, noticing the girl grow pale.

"What is the…the Earth Kingdom?" she whispered. Her stomach clenched, and she began to feel a burning pain flow through her veins. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. "The…the Earth Kingdom is the Earth Kingdom! It is my home! I know nothing of a place called China! Why do you pretend to know no nothing so blatantly? Where am I? Where am I?"

Sarika felt as though she was suddenly punched in the stomach, and she fell over in pain. She curled into a fetal position, and she realized that the shift of her vision was actually a shift of energy. Now that she thought about it, now that she questioned where she was and received a strange answer, she felt the power around her change. It was swirling violently into something, something else she did not know. It was not visible, nor was it tangible, but she felt, she knew there was something off. It was like the cusp between summer and autumn when, after days of heat and humidity, a single cool day followed, and on the wind there was an unmistakable feeling of fall. It wasn't there, and yet it was.

Now she realized she was not only far away from home, but beyond home. She was somewhere else—she could feel the Light inside of her quake, adjust. Like a wind, the new energy of this place flowed through her. Her spirit jerked, her body twitched, and it almost felt like her soul was being stripped from her body.

You don't belong here, Avatar, a female voice spoke. Sarika had never heard the voice before, but she knew with certainty that it was Raava, speaking from inside of her. This is not your realm. But you must bear it, my child! I have saved you, and now you must bear the burden of my soul fused with yours. You must experience all you can, learn all you can, to save our world! Only you, my Avatar, can accomplish this task. You must adapt, or all of us will perish. I believe in you, Sarika. I know you can succeed. But you cannot do it alone. And so that is why I, and the Avatars before you, why we….

Her voice began fading, being replaced by that woman, Hungary, shaking her. "Hey, hey! What's wrong?" she demanded. "Please, tell me what's wrong!" Thinking Sarika still couldn't hear, she tried desperately "Please, I don't want to hurt you! None of us want to hurt you! I want to help, so please, tell me what is—!"

"I am Sarika."

"H—Huh?" Hungary stopped shaking her for a moment, and moved back to stare into her eyes.

Sarika stared back, realizing that the woman before her was not of Earth Kingdom decent. "I am Sarika," she repeated, voice soft yet sturdy. There was no need to hide her identity now.

Emotions swirled through her like a whirlwind, too many to count, too many to decipher. Overwhelmed with the sudden comprehension of where she was, she fainted once more.

"Sarika, huh?" England muttered. Hungary nodded.

"She fainted again after telling me her name. Austria and I put her back in bed, but…before that, she said, well—"

"Hey, what's the etymology of that name?" America cut in, leaning forward in his chair in the great room of China's house. "Maybe that could help us figure out where she's from?"

"I hardly doubt that matters," England interjected. "It definitely doesn't sound like a European name, and she looks Caucasian. Plenty of people these days give their kids names that originate from different cultures." He turned back to Hungary. "Now, you were saying?"

She opened her mouth to speak, but just then China interrupted her. "Well, she definitely has a European skin tone, but her eyes and face look more Asian. She could be half Asian, half Caucasian. But either way, I believe the name Sarika is Hindi."

Hungary tried to speak again. "But what I think is important is that—"

"Wait," now Romano interrupted her, and she tried not to noticeably seethe with anger, "so she's a Caucasian-Asian girl that speaks English with an American accent, found wearing Korean looking clothes, with a Hindi name, in China." He shook his head. "This makes no goddamn sense."

"I agree, but listen, please. She said—"

"And her eyes! Did you see her eyes when she came down here?" Finland said. "I've never seen a regular human with such green eyes. And didn't they look more like yellow-green? How are her eyes such a strange shade of green, especially given her race? Wouldn't her eyes most likely be a deep brown or hazel?"

"Yellow-green? They looked more like jade green to me," Estonia put in, who was standing next to his Nordic friend.

Finland nodded, contemplating. "Hmm, now that you say it, they do! I mean, other nations like Hungary and Switzerland have some really green eyes, sure, and then there's Iceland and Russia with purple eyes, but a normal person with jade green eyes? It's so strange."

"Sarika doesn't know what China is!"

The talking in the room died down. Everyone dropped their discussions and stared at Austria in surprise.

"What do you mean she doesn't know what China is?" China asked after a moment of silence, flabbergasted.

Austria closed his eyes and pushed his glasses up, and Hungary took his place in speaking. "She asked me where she was, and I told her she's in China. She asked if China is in the 'Earth Kingdom'."

"Earth Kingdom?" England echoed. "What the hell does that mean?"

Hungary shook her head. "I don't know. I asked her what the Earth Kingdom was and she went berserk. She said it's where she comes from, and insisted she's never heard of China, and that I was lying to her by saying I don't know what the Earth Kingdom was. All of a sudden she got really pale, fell over, started twitching, told me her name, and then she fainted again."

Germany sighed heavily, feeling a headache beginning to form. "Yes, that's exactly how it happened. I've never heard of an Earth Kingdom before, either, and she seems to be shrouded in mystery." He glared at his brother. "I wish we didn't have to wait for more answers, but someone just decided to leave the room right before she woke up the first time. My nose still hurts from her head butt."

"Hey, I was bored!" Prussia defended. "And I was only gone for a minute to get a drink!"

"Yeah, well, at the very least you could've gone back instead of pausing to chat," Korea puffed, a bag of ice on his right leg.

"Hey, look, I'm sorry she whacked your legs and all, but better you than me, right?"

Hungary smacked him upside the head.