Chapter One

Title: Avatar: the Tale of Kazu
Fan Fiction: (In relation to) Avatar: the Last Air Bender
Rated: PG 13+
Characters: All OCs, mention of canons
Chapter One Summary: The young fire bender Kazu watches as her city crumbles to ruble after word that the Earth Benders have found the Avatar, and that his orders were to imprison all fire benders.

I remember my grandmother telling me that when she was my age, in the mornings, birds would chirp, the wind would blow clean and that nature would dictate the way of life. She was a wise, old woman, and she raised me as if I were her own kin. My grandmother taught me how to yield fire and how to bend it at will when I was little, and she taught me that the most important thing about being a bender is that you must always use it for good, and not to harm others. But I wish my Grandmother were here now to tell these ruthless invaders that.
“Check all houses – make sure no one escapes the city border!”
I didn’t know what was happening, only that I had to stay hidden from the men dressed in leather brown. A whole army of them came marching through the city gates, making boulders crash into ancient buildings and town houses, capturing people I knew and those I didn’t just to tie them up in chains and lead them outside the gates. They tore at every wall, every monument, everything they could destroy until they reached the Fire Lord’s palace. Of course, fire benders fought back, but what good are we if we’re unprepared and outnumbered? I took initiative, and I hid in a stable not far from an escape route I knew from Grandmother’s stories.
“Sir, we’ve found something!”
My head shot up, and I saw a little girl with dirty brown hair and scratches on her face trapped in the arms of an earth bender.
“Go send her with rest of them.”
“But Sir, look at her neck closely.”
The earth bender, who I assumed was in charge, leaned into the girl while wearing a skeptical look on his face. His thumb brushed her collarbone and he cackled.
“Looks like we have the Fire Lord’s daughter on our hands. Hello, promotion.”
“Let me go,” hissed the dirty girl, her hair falling into her eyes. Her feet turned outwards and her knees began to fold. Instantly, I knew what she was planning to do. This girl who couldn’t be older than twelve was planning to take on three earth benders. I chewed on my lower lip, hating what I was going to do next.
“Little miss, I can’t let you go. You see, we were sent by the Avatar to destroy your city. Surely, you must know who the Avatar is?” the leader scoffed.
“I don’t, and I don’t care. All I know is that if you don’t let me go now, someone’s going to get very upset,” snapped the girl. The leader leaned back and chuckled, brushing off the child as he turned away.
“Your father is well and truly dead, I assure you. No one’s going to even miss you.”
The girl grinned. “I wasn’t talking about my father.”
At that moment, her tattered clothes burst into flames, the silken fabric burning bright as it scorched the hands of the earth bender holding her. Once released, she acted fluidly, her decisions sharp and quick. First, she dealt with the two henchmen. Together, in sync, they summoned many tiny rocks from the ground to rise into the air, and with one staggering hand movement, the rocks shot faster than lightning, speeding towards her at impossible speeds. But she was quicker.
She dodged what she could, sending her own fireballs as she twisted and turned, distracting the men. Then, with a sly thought in her head, she reached for a broad wooden shield lying on a cart nearby, sending it their way gift wrapped with flames. I was amazed that she could even lift that thing, honestly.
But the fight didn’t end there. She knew the leader was behind her, yet she had focused on the other two that she gave him too much time to devise an attack. It would have been over for her then and there if –
If, I hadn’t stepped in.
Silently, without a word, I sent a dart of fire aimed directly towards the leader’s feet – I had never used fire bending as a weapon before, and the idea sickened me. But I did what I had to. The leader jumped back, and the girl’s head jerked towards the stable. Suddenly, I felt as if I might have made the wrong move. She seemed much more powerful and experienced that me, what says she doesn’t deep-fry me either?
I took a deep breath and flashed the best smile I could.
“Uh, hi?” I offered. Her eyebrow twitched.
But I had no time to dwell on first impressions. The leader had gathered a large number of rocks and compiled them into one hefty boulder, reinforced with many layers of more rock. We had three seconds before it was hurled at either one of us. Without really realizing what I was doing, my feet sprinted to where the girl was, and with a speechless look, I knew what to do.
Our charge was graceful. It wasn’t anything like we marched on through screaming and yelling, declaring our rebellion. It was swift, and nimble. We had to keep the element of surprise. I mean, who in their right minds would charge towards a massive boulder?
As it came closer towards us, my body moved on instinct. It was either that or get crushed. The girl ducked at the last moment, sliding briskly beneath the big lump of rock, and managing to right herself when it had passed her. I, on the other hand, went the easy way. I hopped up atop the boulder in the span of, I say, two seconds, and concentrated a force down to my feet so that when I jumped off it, it crashed downwards, not at something else. And as we had hoped, we landed but inches away from the culprit of the trouble.
“Boo,” whispered the girl, and the leader, wide-eyed and terrified, fell backwards, scrambling cowardly on the floor.
“Yeah, and don’t come back!” I yelled, a sudden burst of adrenaline searing through me. Once he was well and truly gone, I turned to the girl. “Oh, uh. Hi.”
She scoffed.
“We taught him good, aye?” I mumbled awkwardly. The girl ran a hand through her long hair and sighed. She craned her neck unintentionally, and I got a wide and clear view of just what the men were ogling at before. It was a fire burn, a burn that since had been passed down in the royal bloodline after the greatest Fire Lord whom saved the fire nation passed on. It signified the endless respect for the Fire Lord and spoke for our whole nation.
I averted my eyes gingerly and coughed. “You’re the Fire Lord’s daughter. Princess Yuuka. I . . . I don’t believe it.”
“You don’t have to. In fact, it’s better you don’t. We’ll part ways here. You know a way out of the city?” Princess Yuuka asked. I nodded my head and watched as she inspected the location.
“Then go quickly.”
“Hold on, what about you?”
Her face fell. “I still have to find my father. And I need to protect this city –”
“But it’s already lost. And you heard the earth bender, you’re father, he’s –”
“I am the Crown Princess of the fire nation! I can not abandon this city, even if it costs my life!” she yelled. I didn’t know what to say. I understood what she was saying, but I couldn’t agree. She might be more mature than her age gives, but I couldn’t let her run back in and try to take on an army by herself. That's just foolish.
“The fire nation’s army was captured and rendered useless; we should just escape. Please, Princess Yuuka. You said it yourself – you are the Crown Princess. What your people need most now is a leader to round up survivors and save those you can, not run back into the battlefield completely defenseless.”
Her face twisted with indecision, and I knew I was close to convincing her completely. This time I let my tone soften. “Princess . . . let’s retreat, and figure out our next move elsewhere where it’s safe.”
Princess Yuuka looked to me, her ocean blue eyes dull. As a fire bender, it was my duty to protect the Princess from all harm, to keep her youthfulness alive and rebuild our forces so we could stabilize our position among the nations again.
Because if what the earth bender said was true, and the Fire Lord really was dead, then Princess Yuuka is no longer the Princess of the fire nation.
But instead the Fire Lord.

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Written by myself. An old fanfic on Avatar: the Last Airbender I wrote a while back. Its placed in the future of the Avatar world, with a new heroine and Avatar. I absolutely adore Avatar [Its a kids show, I know, but how could you not love it?] and was so obsessed with it at one point I wrote a fanfic! Its currently incompleted, like the rest of my fanfics, but I will post chapter two tommorow!

It only has three chapters so far, soon to finish that, but once I've posted these online, I'll post my Death Note Fanfic! Please enjoy and comment!