Title: The Last Waterbender

Author: Haikoui

Summary: The Southern Raiders found the last waterbender, leaving her mother alive, and took the child with them to the Fire Nation as a prisoner. Zutara AU. The avatar has not been found yet, and Zuko has not been banished yet, either. Rated T (and maybe M at some point… maybe!) for later chapters.

Disclaimer: ATLA belongs to Nickelodeon (and Mike and Bryce).

Notes: First ATLA chapter fic. I hope you all will be intrigued by this first chapter, and I hope I'm not too much of a lazy ass to finish it…

The Last Waterbender

Chapter 1

The last thing Katara remembers is her brother's face as she is lugged to the ship. Sokka, face doused with fear, is crying and screaming for his sister to be returned. Her father is on the ground, spear slammed into ice, with his face in his hands. Her mother is running after the ship as it leaves. "KATARA," she shrieks, running on the ice and almost throwing herself into the water as the ship pulls away. "KATARA!"

"Silly waterbender," sneers the captain as he dumps the girl into a cell. "You should know how difficult it is to hide your bending when you're scared. You should have left your mother to deal with it. Now she will deal with the pain… and it is all your fault." He grins at her, a sharp-toothed grin that haunts her when she falls asleep in her tears.

She can't help it: she thinks back to only ten minutes ago, when she stumbled into her family's igloo and saw the captain above her mother, merciless. "I'll handle this," her mother said gently, and she, weak and terrified, caused the snow around her to move unpredictably. Of course, the captain, whose eyes were trained to detect even the slightest movement, recognized this, and he took her away.

She sleeps fitfully, wrapped up inside herself with only her small parka. Unbelievably enough, she's colder in the cell than outside, but she doesn't say a word because she's scared and timid and does not want to die.

She is lucky in some respect—she's only a child. If she were older, perhaps some of the lower crew on the ship would not pity her. One of the guards who delivers her food brings her a blanket one night—albeit it's a thin one, but she's thankful nonetheless, however thankful an eight year old can be—and she sees the slight sadness in his eyes. But he's still Fire Nation. And he's the enemy. She says no words to him, because she was taught to fight them, and if she's pampered now, it only means she'll be tortured later.

She is on the ship for weeks, sick, tired, and hungry. They give her water, knowing she is too young to do anything with it—she is only eight and the last of her kind from the Southern Water Tribe. They give her food, but it's all mush and doesn't have many nutrients at all. They certainly don't let her on deck. An uncontrollable young waterbender is the last thing they need in the middle of the ocean, even if she isn't trained at all.

When they arrive at the Fire Nation, she is immediately taken to the dungeons, isolated, and lonely. The guards are far more harsh, more unyielding to her small stature. She's given food once a day. No water, unless she begs and grovels for it. Apparently any waterbender, despite his or her age, deserves nothing more than a bowl of stale oats.

One day, several months after her capture when she weighs far less than she is supposed to, the dungeon doors open and suddenly, she sees the guards in the hallway fall to their knees in a collective kneel.

The Fire Lord's son is here, and he is showing the dungeons to his children. The guards have been whispering about it for a while. Katara doesn't know much about the princes of the Fire Nation, but she knows she hates the Fire Lord more than anything, and she knows she hates anyone associated with him.

They take their time moving through the dungeon. Occasionally, Katara hears a scream of rage, presumably from a prisoner, and a harsh noise from one of the guards escorting the Fire Lord's son—Ozai, she hears someone say—and his children follow. Then the dungeons are quiet again. Katara eschews herself into a darker corner of her cell. She shuts her eyes, hoping they won't stop to look at her like some fish in a hollowed out ice cube she had back home.

"Father," comes a voice, "isn't this the last waterbender?"

Katara opens her eyes, squinting at the torch that is suddenly outside her cell. She can barely make out the figure of a young girl, about the same age as her. Katara herself is huddled in the corner, her hair long and unruly, her eyes wide and blue and frightened. She is the picture of pathetic.

Her eyes move to the Fire Lord's son, whose face is obscured by the shadow cast from the torch behind him, held by a guard. He's tall and muscular and hidden away in the darkness. Yet she can sense his power. She can feel the destruction he's capable of causing, and she shrinks away.

The Fire Lord's son—Ozai, she reminds herself—commends the girl for her knowledge with a snakelike voice, says that she is correct, and casts a pitying look at Katara. He carries on, and the girl follows, and it isn't until he moves when Katara sees a boy only slightly older than herself in front of the cell. His eyes are gold and shocked, as though he never imagined seeing a child in such a place as these.

"ZUKO!" A shout comes from down the hallway.

"I-I'll be right there, Father," he calls back, stepping closer to her.

Katara presses herself against the wall as much as she can, dipping her head into her knees. She's sweating. The sweat trembles in her fear.

There's a slight cough and she looks up despite herself.

"My name's Zuko," he whispers. Katara thinks to herself he's not very good at whispering, that he's actually very bad, because whispers are supposed to be quiet, and here he is whispering the loudest she's ever heard anyone whisper.

She steels herself and glares at him, as hard as an eight year old can glare.

"Are you really a waterbender?" he asks, a little louder this time.

She says nothing.

"What's your name?"

Still, she remains silent.

He huffs. "Fine. Waterbending peasant." He seems to try his hardest to look powerful and stalks away. There are echoes from down the hallway as he joins his father and sister, Katara assumes, and she retreats into the corner again and puts her head in her knees. The tension in her fades.

No one has called a peasant before. She clenches her hands into fist and squeezes her eyes shut. No one has ever called her that. How dare he call her a peasant? Didn't he know—

But of course not. His father is the Fire Lord's son, and he himself is the grandson of the Fire Lord. She's heard stories about the Fire Lord before. Terrifying ones. That must mean the boy is a prince, and the other one, a princess. That means they are automatically the enemy.

Katara does not move for a very long while.

"Wake up," says a voice not too far away from her. Katara's eyes open only slightly, and she stares at the dark world around her through slits.

"Wake up," says the voice again, harsher this time, and suddenly, there's a tight hand around her forearm. She tumbles forward, coughing, and falls onto her stomach. The voice tchs and kicks her at her shin.

"Wait," snarls Katara, twisting her head and glaring at the guard with the torch in his hand.

"You've had your time waiting. Hurry up. One whole year here and you know nothing of the protocol. Get up, waterbender."

Katara pulls herself to her knees and casts hard eyes at the guard. "I don't normally get the pleasure of an open cell door," she spits at him. "What's the hurry?"

"All prisoners have to be in a lineup for General Iroh today."

Katara lets the guard take hold of her forearm again. She's bigger now, nine and a half, and she hates it. It means a year of her life has been wasted all because the spirits chose her to be a waterbender. "Better start a riot, then."

There's a slap on her cheek. It's hard, knocking her face to the side, and she turns and spits blood back in the guard's face immediately. He glowers at her and wipes his face, hissing, "Watch your mouth."

She knows when she's gone too far. Saying nothing, she matches his glare and waits before he drags her down the hallway with him.

When they reach some hall Katara's been to only several times in her year as a prisoner, she doesn't see a General Iroh. She sees a rather nice looking middle-aged man standing in the room with a younger man beside him. His hand is on the man's shoulder, who is taller than the first man himself, and he is smiling at the prisoners who are lined up in front of him.

"Thank you," he says graciously to the guard who brings Katara in. A couple of other guards have brought in some other prisoners at the same time, but as far as Katara's concerned, she is the only one who is a child. There are a handful of teenagers, but no one near her own age, and she feels even more alone in the sea of so-called criminals. And then, she realizes, the nice looking middle-aged man in the middle of the room is General Iroh.

General Iroh watches all of them carefully, then says something to the man beside him. The man looks at the line of prisoners and shrugs before murmuring something back—and then his eyes lock on hers. He says nothing to the general as she levels an icy look at him, and then he smiles ever so slightly. The general catches his look and finds Katara in the prisoner lineup before asking the man something else.

When they are finished whispering and muttering and debating and anything else Katara has no care for, General Iroh motions for a guard to help him. He points at several in the line and they are pulled roughly to the general himself. He nods appreciatively and they are sent somewhere to the side to wait. This happens several times, and it isn't before there are at least twenty of them in a corner waiting when she is pulled out with a handful of others.

General Iroh places a hand on her shoulder as she is sent with the rest of the prisoners. "Lu Ten," he says to the man at his side, "would you be so kind as to introduce yourself to our guest?" He turns away and calls out some more prisoners.

"I am Prince Lu Ten," says the man, bowing. "That is my father, General Iroh, Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, Dragon of the West."

Katara says nothing. Vaguely, she notes that the general is the son of the Fire Lord. She didn't know the Fire Lord had two sons.

"I apologize if this seems confusing," says Lu Ten, smiling slightly. He has no trouble smiling at anyone and everyone, Katara notices. "We are heading off for Ba Sing Se soon, and my father is looking to acquire some soldiers. We've been at sea establishing new colonies everywhere, so we had to come home before we head to our biggest conquest of all."

She says nothing still, and he continues, "I heard you are the last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe."

Still silent, she watches him.

"I didn't know you'd be a kid," he says. "But you're the only waterbender in these dungeons, anyway, and it's pretty easy to tell." He motions to her eyes.

She looks away.

"Obviously we can't use you as a soldier for Ba Sing Se," says Lu Ten, "but you can be an assistant to my father."

An assistant? She turns her eyes back on him. He can see the fear in her eyes as he adds, "Not to worry. He will come to be a second father to you."

How could he suggest such a thing? She doesn't care that he's so tall, or that he's a prince. She gathers all the saliva she can and spits at his feet.

Immediately, there is commotion, and four guards are holding every single limb from her body. "You dare act that way to a prince of the Fire Nation?" demands one guard.

"Put her down!" commands Lu Ten.

"My prince—"

"Immediately!"

"Yes, my prince," says the guard, and all four of them lower her to the floor.

Ashamed, she doesn't look at the prince in front of her. She didn't expect so much power in his voice, and she certainly didn't expect the words that came out of his mouth. All of the Fire Nation is scum, so why is he acting decent?

General Iroh, who saw everything, tells the guards he has acquired all the manpower he needs, and he approaches Lu Ten with a smile quirked on his mouth. "What is your name?" he asks of Katara, who is still too confused to respond.

"I apologize for the way the guards treated you," continues General Iroh when he doesn't receive an answer. "That is no way to treat a young lady such as yourself."

Katara is about to cry. She needs to hate them. Why are they making it so hard?

"Please," says Lu Ten, coming up beside his father, "what is your name?"

"Katara," she says before she can stop herself. She slaps a hand on her mouth, terrified.

General Iroh smiles. "Well, Katara. Are you ready to leave these dungeons?"

When they leave, she lets the tears slip from her eyes. They trail down her cheeks and betray her emotions to the world around her. The prisoners General Iroh has recruited are sent to be trained for the front lines, and she, Katara, is given a bed in the humble servants' quarters as he promises to pick her up before they leave for Ba Sing Se.

"Ba Sing Se is a key Earth Kingdom city, eager to resist the Fire Nation," says Lu Ten when he escorts her to the servant's quarters in the palace. "Fire Lord Azulon wishes for its capture."

"Why?" Katara says it before she can stop herself. It's the second word she's said to him, including her name.

Lu Ten's face is unreadable. "To expand the Fire Nation empire and its prosperity, of course."

He stops at a door and the guard beside it opens it for him, bowing at his waist for the young prince. Guiding Katara inside, he says, "This will be your home for the next few months as the rest train. When we depart, we will be gone for a long while. The head of servants knows you are here, and you will be taught to serve." He casts a grin at her. "Hopefully it's better than the dungeons."

She stares at the room in front of her. There are beds. Blankets. Light. Granted, there are many beds because all the servants sleep in one room, but there are beds, and blankets, and she catches the sob in her throat just before it comes out. Why are they making it so hard to hate them?

"Thank you," she whispers.

"You're welcome, Katara," says Lu Ten warmly. "I'll see you around the palace a little bit. You will probably be with the other kids, though."

She nods, her fists clenching at her sides, trying to keep her emotions from surfacing. Soon, she is by herself in the servants' quarters. When the rest of them come at night and prepare to sleep, they are surprised to see the young child in a bed, enclosed in a fetal position, and sleeping with tears dried on her cheeks.

The months pass slowly. She works with the other children her age. They work with her like she is any other servant child, but she knows they are uncomfortable, because she's a waterbender. When they go to bed every night, she hears what the older servants say about her.

"Prince Ozai is furious," says one of them, when Katara is supposed to be asleep. "He says it was foolish of General Iroh to bring in the waterbender. He says she's dangerous."

"The general says she's too young to do anything," says another. "She's not trained. She's almost ten, so what can she do? It'll take her years to master her element, and besides, she doesn't have a teacher here."

"At any rate, Prince Ozai is trying to get her out and back into the dungeons."

"That won't happen. Servants aren't allowed to bend, anyway. She's no different from the firebending children here, and the general's orders are more important than Prince Ozai's."

"Still… it was foolish of General Iroh."

"Yes, I suppose so. But she'll be out soon anyway. She'll be dead before the next solstice."

And those nights, Katara reminds herself that she hates all of them.

One morning, she wakes and finds a servant child—Ming—at the foot of her bed with something that resembled envy with his eyes. "The prince is here to see you," he says, tight-lipped, and runs off without specifying which prince, and Katara feels fear brew in the pit of her stomach. There is one prince she does not want to see, because when she sees him, she will be back in the dungeons.

When she exits the quarters, she finds Lu Ten standing with a young boy in the hallway, who comes up to the bottom of Lu Ten's ribcage. At first, she doesn't recognize him in broad daylight. But then it dawns on her. This is the other young prince of the Fire Nation. Prince Zuko.

"Good morning, Katara," says Lu Ten warmly. "I've just finished breakfast with my family. This is Prince Zuko, my cousin, the son of Prince Ozai."

Zuko, who was apparently waiting for a cue, says, "Hello."

"Hello," she says after a moment's hesitation. This is the boy who called her a waterbending peasant.

Zuko doesn't appear to recognize her. If he does, he hides it well. But she doubts it, because she was in rags and grime when he first saw her. Now, she is clean, albeit in plain clothing, and she is taller. Zuko, however, looks a little bothered with her failure at addressing him properly, but he says nothing.

Lu Ten tells her that General Iroh would like to speak with her, and he will take her to him when he takes Prince Zuko to his father. The two of the older princes, Katara learns, are in a meeting with the Fire Lord and the war council. They walk, Zuko and Katara both silent as Lu Ten speaks amiably to the both of them.

"My father is excited about going to Ba Sing Se," says Lu Ten. "He wants to visit every shop and taste every tea sample they have. Hopefully the King will see reason and will join the Fire Nation. That will make my father's job easy."

"And if not?" says Zuko, who is maybe a couple years older than Katara. Something she can't place is hiding in his voice.

Lu Ten shrugs. "I suppose it'll come to force, then. When the King sees how many soldiers we have, he should yield."

Soon, they are at a set of curtains Katara has passed a handful of times. They are in the fanciest location of the palace, where the Royal Family resides and does work. There, they wait until they hear commotion from beyond the curtains, and Lu Ten motions for Katara to stand straight.

"My father doesn't care," mutters Lu Ten. "My uncle is crazy, though." The last part is so quiet she has to struggle to hear him, and it's clear Zuko hasn't heard, because he's standing as straight as a pillar and looks as though he'll tip right over if someone so much as pokes him.

When General Iroh emerges from the curtains, he smiles so wide Katara fears he'll split his face in half. But immediately after, the second son makes his way out of the curtains, and she feels her heart thump crazily inside her chest. He is taller, more intimidating. Much more intimidating.

"Prince Lu Ten," he says coldly, "why have you brought a servant with you to greet us?" He ignores Zuko, who is trembling with the effort to stand as straight as possible.

From the corner of her eye, Katara sees Lu Ten's jaw clench, but he remains motionless otherwise.

"I asked him to, Ozai," says General Iroh. "I'm going to speak with this young lady about our trip to Ba Sing Se. Thank you, Lu Ten," he adds to his son, who bows respectfully.

"Be careful, Iroh," Prince Ozai replies. His voice is soft and terrifying all at once.

But before Prince Ozai can say anything else, Katara sees something in General Iroh's eyes shift. He no longer looks kind. "Quiet yourself, Ozai," says General Iroh. "You are forgetting your place." He levels a hard stare at his younger brother before the latter's eyes narrow. Prince Ozai looks away toward Zuko, seeming to notice him for the first time, and he says, "Come. You have a firebending lesson to attend. Hopefully you will be more competent today."

As they walk away, Katara sees Zuko's shoulders slump.

When General Iroh sends Lu Ten away, he takes Katara aside and sits her down at a Pai Sho table. She's confused at his actions, because if any of the other servants see her, they will surely be speaking about the general's favoritism. But he says simply, "Don't worry," and holds up a tile. "I don't suppose you know how to play Pai Sho."

She shakes her head. She's still not quite sure how to address him—does he go by "sir"? Or "sire"? She isn't sure. Remembering the look he had given Prince Ozai earlier, she reminds herself that he is still Fire Nation, and that they are cruel beasts, and that she does not want to play with fire.

He rumbles to himself as he hands her the tile. "Would you like to learn?"

Katara hesitates.

"Perhaps some other time," muses General Iroh. "I would like to talk to you about our trip to Ba Sing Se."

She waits for him to continue while trying to hand him back the tile.

"Keep it! I have plenty here in the palace," says General Iroh, smiling. "Katara, we are leaving for Ba Sing Se in two weeks. That's when the soldiers are finished training. The voyage will be long and hard. You will not see your friends here for a long time."

I won't see them ever again, she corrects bitterly in her mind.

"Lu Ten will be coming with us," he says to her. "He will help you as a brother helps a sister. You are in no place to be put in war." He looks sad all of a sudden. Katara takes a handful of her shirt into her hand and squeezes as she waits for his next words. "You are the last Southern Water Tribe waterbender, and I will not…" The words fail to come out of his mouth before he sighs and finishes, "It is not my destiny."

"You won't send me to war?" she asks suddenly.

He looks surprised at her outburst. She rarely says a word to any of them. A full sentence is as common as a blue dragon moon. "No, my dear," he tells her.

"Will I be with Lu Ten, then?"

The general exhales heavily. "Lu Ten will be fighting."

Her stomach turns. She didn't know that. "How old is he?" She realizes she's never known the man's age, and he appears to be much older than his cousin Zuko.

"He is nineteen," he says, and then continues, "Of course, if the king cooperates, there will be no fighting at all! And then we will all come home victorious, and everyone will be happy." His smile is large and genuine.

Katara smiles back before looking down.

"And," says General Iroh, "I will try to make your time worthwhile."

Suspicious, her head snaps back up to him.

"I have learned several waterbending forms from my time at sea establishing Fire Nation colonies," he continues. "I would be honored to teach you. It will be more useful for a waterbender to use those forms than a firebender!"

He laughs a hearty and full laugh. Katara hates herself for smiling so wide.

Two weeks can pass quickly, she finds. Very quickly. Before she knows it, Lu Ten has brought a small bag to her and is helping her pack two sets of additional servant clothing. "I'm sorry we can't bring you anything else," he says. "You can bring something of sentimental value, though."

She doesn't have anything, and she wishes for a moment she did. That's when she remembers the Pai Sho tile. She packs it while Lu Ten regards her in amusement.

"My father gave that to you, right?" he says.

"He let me keep it," she explains.

"Hah. He's a big fan."

She picks up her small bag and follows him out of the servants' quarters and through the halls of the palace. He leads her outside, where General Iroh is waiting with a palanquin.

Prince Ozai is there, too, to her horror.

He is there with his family, she notices. A kind woman is at his side, her hand holding Zuko's—she recognizes him because he is standing pillar-straight again—and another hand on a young girl's shoulder. Katara remembers the girl as the young princess who had visited her in the dungeons a year ago. Her hands are on her hips and she's smirking.

Prince Ozai bows toward his brother. There's a slight smile on his face. "Have a safe trip, Iroh."

"Thank you, Ozai," says the general. He looks at Zuko and the younger girl and says, "My nephew and my niece. I will miss you both greatly on my journey."

The girl hmphs and says, "Oh, yes, you better."

"Azula!" says the woman behind her.

Zuko gives his uncle a hug. "We'll miss you," he says, his voice muffled in General Iroh's armor.

General Iroh ruffles the young prince's hair and looks up at the woman by Prince Ozai's side. She is startlingly beautiful. Katara feels a pang inside her at the thought of her own mother.

"My dear Ursa," he says, "please write to me often about the palace ongoings."

"You know I will, Iroh," she says gently.

The general turns and directs Katara to a small group of older servants who are also traveling to Ba Sing Se. When she is settled with them, he boards the palanquin with Lu Ten.

Katara hears the shrill voice of the young princess call out, "Good luck, Uncle Iroh," and reminds herself that she hates the Fire Nation and every single person in it.

I hope you liked the first chapter. And I really hope I can keep up with it! I have a bad habit of starting things and then not finishing them, which is why I do oneshots so much because then I don't have to worry about them. If I don't update often, PLEASE bother me about it! I don't care if I haven't updated for five years. Make me update!

Katara is young. She's spent a year in a dungeon. If she's out of character, I'll try to pin it on that. She'll grow to fit her actual personality though.

Thanks for reading! Please review.