Chapter 1: The ghost in the land of fire

It was an interesting standoff in the crystal catacombs below Ba Sing Se and few knew what to do.

First, there was the exiled Prince Zuko who stood unsure of who to attack. By his side was Katara looking conflicted. She had been the first to be captured and had spoken with the former prince, now tea maker when he had arrived. Admittedly it was her fault that he was in this mess to begin with.

To their left were their rescuers, Aang and Iroh alongside Toph and Sokka who were supposed to be helping Earth King Kuei escape, however, they were present with the king himself.

Across from their rescuers were arguably the most dangerous duo in the world, Princess Azula and her personal guard Danny Phantom, the otherworldly half human half spirit dark avatar. What was surprising was the presence of the Kyoshi Warriors standing behind Azula and Danny. None of them were restrained so they stood there of their own free will.

Surrounding the group were quite a few Dai Lee agents, all of whom were ready to strike at the orders of their princess however they didn't dare move. No one moved as no one knew what to do, no one except Azula of course. She orchestrated this meeting so naturally she would be prepared.

"Stand down." Her order was directed towards the Dai Lee and they did as were told and relaxed into a position of guards watching the entrance as opposed to elite Earth Kingdom assassins ready to strike.

"If you would, I would like to have a discussion and come to an agreement," Azula spoke.

Zuko turned his attention from Aang to Azula and his glare sharpened and focused on her.

"What do you want, Azula?" Zuko demanded.

"Oh Zuzu, no need to be so hostile," Azula said. "I just want to talk."

Just like before when Aang chuckled, Sokka and Toph both chuckled at Zuko's nickname. He promptly glared in their direction.

"What do you want to discuss, Princess Azula?" Iroh stepped forward and asked. The former Fire Nation general figured that diplomacy was the best option here and if his niece was the one offering it, then it would be best to listen instead of allowing a fight to break out.

Azula turned towards Phantom and nodded her head and he walked forward before he changed from his spirit form back to his human form. It made sense that he would speak, as out of the two of them, he was more trusted by everyone in the room. Although his human form wasn't weaker than his spirit form by much, it was still an action that allowed the others to relax at least momentarily.

"So we'd like to bury the hatchet and offer an alliance," Danny said with a grin. No one had been expecting Danny to say that.

"An alliance with you? But you're Fire Nation! Our enemies." Sokka exclaimed.

"Says the guy who is working with a former Fire Nation general to rescue the Fire Nation Prince." Danny deadpanned. "Also how many times do I have to tell you that I am not a Fire Nation citizen."

Sokka had no counter.

"For once, our goals are aligned," Azula said.

"And what goals are that?" Aang asked.

Azula gave a sweet yet malicious smile and said something that no one expected her to say.

"The defeat of the Fire Lord."

No one said anything as they stared at the Princess who had just proposed treason.

"It's a good deal. We help you remove my father from his throne and end the war, and when he is removed I become the new Fire Lord."

Danny had to admit he almost burst out laughing when he saw the faces of everyone. Honesty, he was still surprised by this and he knew what the plan was coming in. He hadn't expected that this would happen when Clockwork told him to grasp his stolen future.

Almost four years ago, Danny's life changed rather unexpectedly. He died, again. One would think dying the second time in as many years wouldn't be so bad, but that certainly wasn't the case for Danny. The second death really hurt.

Since Danny first got his ghost powers there had always been threats. Some he could handle easily like Lunch Lady and the Box Ghost. Other threats that took a lot more brain power like Plasmius, Skulker and Ember. But there had always been two which Danny considered the hardest to beat, Pariah Dark and himself. By himself, he meant Dark Danny, Dan Plasmius, his jerky alternate future self that really needed a hobby. So behold his terror when his two strongest enemies fused becoming Dan Pariah.

With the King of the Ghost Zone back and now sufficiently fused with an already fused version of Danny and Plasmius, the war started in the Ghost Zone and Amity Park by extension. And it wasn't pretty. In the months leading up to his death, Danny lost a few friends and family. First was his dad, who died with a heroic sacrifice by detonating an ectoranium bomb so that they could get a foothold in the Ghost Zone. Next was Paulina, the first to pick up a weapon and fight to protect the orphan kids that stayed at Caspar High. Ember and Skulker were both casualties of the war. Despite their arguing, they had been a fierce duo when working together. According to Clockwork Danny was the last death of the war, as it was his sacrifice that allowed everyone to permanently seal Dan Pariah.

It was a few days after that that Danny awoke, in Clockwork's tower, surprisingly still alive, although he did have a nasty scar running diagonally along his torso from the axe Dan Pariah had used to split him in two. Danny would learn from the Master of Time about the result of the war but also of his death and inability to return to his world because of said death. Danny had to admit that it sucked that he wouldn't be able to return, however, he was happy knowing that everyone else who had survived would survive.

However, he did find himself wondering, how and why he was still alive if he had died in battle. Clockwork was all too eager to explain. As a result of Danny's actions, the young Halfa would be reincarnated in another world. Reincarnated wasn't actually the right word, it's more like Danny, as he was now would be brought over into another world. Clockwork didn't go into detail on why he wasn't being reincarnated or anything of the sort, however knowing that the time ghost could see all of time, Danny had a feeling that he was being sent to this world for a particular reason.

Clockwork may have been vague on the reasoning however, he was more than happy to provide other insights. Such as teaching Danny about the world he would be staying in. The world itself was an interesting one, with human beings with strong spiritual connections and the ability to control one of the four elements. Danny was surprised to learn that the world itself was currently developed in a one-hundred-year-old war, actually a ninety-seven-year-old war, but it was close enough. What surprised him even more was that Clockwork asked him to choose the side that was the oppressors in this war. Danny didn't understand how he was supposed to go from saving the world to siding with flame-thrower nazis, and Clockwork didn't particularly feel like elaborating on that. After two months of staying in Clockwork's tower, Danny begrudgingly agreed to side with the Fire Nazis. Had he agreed sooner, he might have prevented the crown prince from having his face scarred by his father.

He figured that Clockwork had some kind of foresight into what his life would be like, and there was probably a reason for him wanting Danny to go and pretend to be evil.

Sometime after that, Danny was ready to leave for the new world. He had studied up enough about the world that he had a pretty good cover story as well as knew enough about the world he would be entering. Clockwork had insisted on it. When the day came for Danny to depart, Clockwork gave him a parting gift, it was a bag with contents inside that would assist him in time. Clockwork really liked being vague.

With the gift received Danny was sent away, to the world of the Avatar.


Xiaomei was many things, a scholar of spiritual affairs, a former soldier who had served under both Lieutenant Zhao and General Iroh, a member of the White Lotus in secret, and currently the highest-ranked female Fire Sage of the current generation and bearer of the title of Dragon Priestess. What she wasn't was someone who would get surprised easily.

So the fact that she was surprised today was just a testament to how surprising the recent events were. Each of the nations had specific seasons which were associated with them. The Air Nomads were associated with autumn, The Water Tribe was associated with winter, the Earth Kingdom with spring and lastly the Fire Nation with summer. For that reason, many of the important spiritual holidays for the Fire Nation were during summer as that was when their connection to the spirits was at its highest.

That wasn't to say that there were no spiritual connections in the other seasons. The Winter Solstice was one of the only two days that the light would shine on the statue of Avatar Roku. However, most spiritual events typically occurred in the summer. So Xiaomei was not expecting a massive rupture of spiritual energy right in the middle of Winter. She had been meditating when she felt a disturbance in the energies surrounding the High Temple in the Fire Nation Capital. It was as if a large tear just appeared in the world.

As soon as the energy came the temperature dropped dramatically as winter had been unleashed within the temple. It seemed that wasn't inaccurate, Xiaomei found as she left her quarters. Upon leaving she could see her breath and felt shivers from the sudden cold. A flame came to life in her hands in an attempt to stave off the cold and she made her way upstairs towards the source of the disturbance. Many of the other sages were also similarly reacting, all eagerly curious as to what had happened.

Xiaomei ascended until she reached the floor that was dedicated to Avatar Szeto. The room was frozen solid and at the centre of the room was a sight which surprised her to no end. A boy who looked no older than sixteen, unconscious on the ice. Floating above the boy was a spirit, with green skin, red eyes, a purple cloak and a staff in hand.

The spirit said nothing. He simply looked towards Xiaomei before he faded away. Xiaomei had so many questions which she wanted to ask, as after all her training, she had never seen a single spirit. However she had more pressing concerns than the spirit, and that was the boy who lay in the centre of the room.

She wasted no time in giving orders to some of the other sages in the room.

"Don't just stand there, bring me a mat for the boy." She ordered.

She inspected the boy as she got close. He was pale, but it didn't look like it was from sickness. His hair was raven black and snow white. The complexion of his skin was unlike any she had ever seen, certainly not a Fire Nation citizen. He wore clothes unlike any she had ever seen as well, nothing that indicated any information about which nation he might have originated from.

She checked his pulse first. It was slow, unnaturally so, but it was there and the steady rise and fall from his chest indicated that he was breathing.

"Remove his tunic," Xiaomei ordered.

The two nearest sages nodded before they proceeded to carefully remove the boy's shirt. Another surprise, the boy had the body of a soldier which was riddled with scars, one scar in particular looked as though he had survived being split in two. His upper body was lean and toned. The young man had clearly seen a lot of combat. That might be problematic further down the line when the Fire Lord heard, and he would hear, about the boy's arrival. However, once again this wasn't important now.

The boy was placed on a mat, and Xiaomei began to get to work. Similarly to how waterbenders could heal wounds with their water, firebenders could do similar techniques, although their abilities weren't as restorative as a waterbender's. Since the war had started there weren't as many firebenders who could use this technique as many of them focused on honing their combat skills over anything else. Xiaomei on the other hand had insisted on learning the technique.

Flames danced above her fingers before she brought her hands close to the boy's chest. Xiaomei let out a calming breath before she began her energy reading. It was a type of fire bending that allowed the user to read the other's energy. To her surprise, the boy's energy was nothing like she had ever detected.

All benders had a particular energy to them. This boy had an energy that far surpassed any bender she had ever met, including General Iroh. There was no denying that he was powerful. His energy was also different. Compared to any normal bender, their energy was like that of a domestic animal, calm and tame, it made sense and was easily commanded by the user. This boy's energy felt like a wild animal, it was raw and powerful. The energy was the same but the way the energy shaped itself was vastly different.

Xiaomei stopped her energy reading and released a sigh.

"Lady Xiaomei," one of the sages, junior to her in rank, spoke up, "what should we do with him?"

Xiaomei considered her words carefully.

"We have confirmed that he is still alive. Alert the Fire Lord and tell him of what has transpired here, we shall wait for the boy to awaken so that we might learn from him what happened." Xiaomei answered.

There was no disagreement, which was good. Xiaomei gave the best answer that would likely satisfy the elder sages as well as the High and Grand Sages.

The two sages who had assisted her picked up the unconscious boy, his shirt and the strange bag that had been in his possession and carried him down. The remaining sages, Xiaomei included, decided that they would do their best to melt away the ice that coated the room. The entire time Xiaomei found herself thinking that it was certainly no coincidence that the boy had arrived in the room dedicated to Avatar Szeto.

~00000~

When Danny stepped into the portal that Clockwork had conjured up, he hadn't expected to fall unconscious. Danny silently cursed the time ghost as he awoke with a headache that felt like he was stuffed into a Fenton Thermos and tossed into a washing machine. The next time he saw him, Danny promised to give Clockwork a piece of his mind.

"Good morning."

Danny froze before turning to face the woman who sat across from him in the room he had awoken in. The woman in question looked like she was in her early forties. She had black hair which was tied up in an important looking topnot than it probably was and amber eyes. She wore robes that were different shades of red.

"Uh, morning," Danny responded cautiously.

"My name is Xiaomei, I am a Sage and priestess at this temple," Xiaomei introduced herself. "How about you child?"

Xiaomei seemed kind enough so Danny figured he would tell the truth.

"I'm Danny Fenton, a wandering traveller," Danny responded.

Xiaomei paused, seemingly taking note of his strange-sounding name. Danny had expected this, according to Clockwork, this world was almost entirely Asian, at least by his understanding. Obviously, it wasn't an Asian world, since Asia wasn't even a place on this Earth, but when compared to his Earth, this world seemed like a mix of several Asian cultures.

"It is an honour to meet you, Danny," Xiaomei said. "If I may ask, where did you travel from?"

Danny chuckled nervously. There was the million-dollar question. But luckily Danny had spent the last three-plus months in Clockwork's tower preparing to answer this question.

"You probably won't believe my story," Danny responded after his chuckle.

"Maybe, maybe not. You may still feel free to share." Xiaomei spoke.

Danny nodded, eager to share his story. Taking a deep breath the halfa started his story. Telling this story, the way that he would, was the first step in his new life, one which would see him befriend the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation as well as her friends. One which would see him be named the Dark Avatar. One which would see him face off against and befriend the actual Avatar.

"I travelled here from the spirit world," Danny said with both of his eyes, changing from their usual icy blue to their unusual toxic green.


CyberActors15: Greetings Mortals and Readers alike, my name is CyberActors15 and welcome to my latest fanfiction. I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. Some important things to note about this story. Firstly if you hadn't inferred this story starts a few years before the start of Avatar the Last Airbender, shortly after Zuko has been banished. Additionally, I am shifting around some of the ages of some of the Last Airbender characters, just a little bit. More information on that in the later chapters. There is a reason for that and I will explain more in the later chapters as well. Just letting you know now so that I don't get any reviews saying that certain characters are supposed to be certain ages. Trust me, I know. The character Xiaomei is an OC of mine, and yes there is a reason why I used an OC besides any of the three Fire Nation citizens that are canonically members of the White Lotus. The reason for that will be revealed eventually. The first five chapters have been completed and the next will be posted ten days after this chapter. Otherwise, that was all I really wanted to say. If you enjoyed it, feel free to leave a review also check out my Linktree for more of my story content. /cyberactors15 If you didn't like it, feel free to leave a review and tell me why. Feedback is always appreciated, and Criticism only makes me a better writer. Until next time, peace!