I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be starting another story with all the others I have going on... But I just went full bore through Avatar: The Last Airbender, and I was captivated. So much so, that even when I was reading fanfiction for the show in the middle of watching it, I refused to read ahead of where I was! And then I started this, just before the series finale of those four episodes, because the voices were shouting at me to write it down. Thankfully not like a certain crazy somebody's voices, though! Yeah, you fans know who exactly I'm talking about.

Anyway, this is a shameless character-insert. Hopefully she isn't a total Mary-Sue, but I'm just writing this for fun and because it's stuck in my head. Her character has morphed more than a bit since I first thought of her, and I went to behindthename-dot-com to look for real Chinese, Japanese, and Korean names for my OCs since its inception (my character was named Sola, and this briefly Solaris, in my head for a time). The story currently sticks pretty close to the episodes of the show, but since this is told almost entirely from my OC's perspective it should result in some deviations from the original plotline. Still, it shouldn't be too AU in this first book, but we'll see. As of the current moment, in my writing this, I am working on chapter eight, which is for Episode Four. There are twenty episodes, and though I may skip over one or two I will also be adding in some content. I guess we'll all just have to wait and see where the story takes us, because it's certainly taking me on a trip! If I rewrite anything as I'm going along, I'll let you know what chapters have been edited so that you can go back and see what I've added. At the current moment, episodes are split in half so there are only 2,000-3,000 words in a chapter. It seems to work rather well for me.

And I don't normally do disclaimers, but maybe in this case, due to its format, it is a little more necessary. emAvatar: The Last Airbender/em, with its various canon characters and scripts belong to Nickelodeon and its writers and artists. The intro speech narrated by Katara has been altered from its original form by me to fit with my fan character's perspective. Elements of this story were inspired by other fanfiction writers, and incorporated here into what is hopefully a new form. Original Fan Characters in this story are all created by me, though perhaps in part inspired by others, and I guess they're kind of mine, then. I am not trying to steal someone else's plot or characters here, and if it is in any way very similar to another fanfiction author's story then it is because it is a character insert story and follows the plot of the show. Similarities are inevitably going to exist in that box.

Further warnings, I may attempt to get a little bit dark further into the story, certainly near the end. I do not know if I will be able to accurately portray the psyche of a character such as the one I've put together, since I've lived a good life, myself, and I apologize sincerely for any offense this might cause.

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Water: Falling

An Avatar: The Last Airbender FanFiction

by Falcon's Hyperdrive

cross-posted to ArchiveOfOurOwn

as FuzzySlipper

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Prologue: The Old Wives' Tales

"Hanuel? Hanuel, what is it? What's wrong?"

A crinkle of paper, a rush of air, and Hanuel crunched the letter in his hands as he bowed his head over it. "Terrible news, Xiu," he answered. "The Avatar, he has disappeared. Those foolish elders! They should have waited until the boy was of age, not four years prior!"

Clad in dark red robes, long brown hair brought up partially in the topknot customary of her people, Xiu strode forward on the grassy slope to stand beside the tall monk and placed a slender hand on his shoulder. "What does this mean for you?" she asked, voice tight.

"They are calling me to join the search. The boy left from the Southern Air Temple, and those able-bodied Airbenders from the South and East are being sent to look for him. The North and West will search up there, but since the monks know I am in the Fire Nation I am to look to the south."

"And…if you don't find him?"

Hanuel's expression was drawn and tight. "Then I fear the outcome, for both him and the world. We will search a month, then I am to go to the Southern Temple to report. Xiu…" His features softened, and he brushed the tears from her eyes with callused thumbs. "I am afraid," he confessed.

Xiu wrapped her arms around him. "Surely you'll return?"

"I would take you away with me if I thought you would be safe. I do not think that— The Fire Navy has had suspicious movements of late, and you know the words being spread through the nation of 'sharing the light.' They would kill you with me."

"Don't say that! You can't die!"

He bowed his head to meet hers, touching their foreheads together. "I fear I will," he whispered to her. "It is a feeling that I have. If I do survive, I will return to you, I swear. But if not— I leave my heart here with you, forever in your hands."

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Water and earth, fire, air—together these elements give life to the world, and separately we wield their power.

My mother and her mother used to tell me stories about the old days…a time of peace, when the Avatar kept balance between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads. But that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Only the Avatar could wield and master all four elements, and only he could stop the ruthless Firebenders. But when the world needed him most, he disappeared, leaving the world to fall beneath the flames of oppression. A hundred years have passed, and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. I am of that nation, and I wish with all my heart that I wasn't. I see no glory in the war, and my mother's lessons have taught me the truth of its evil. I would go far away from here if I could, and help those that my people have hurt so badly—even if I had to die at my father's hand.

Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads, and that the cycle is broken. I know in my heart that this is a lie. We, my mother and I, haven't lost hope. We still believe that, somehow, with help from the spirits, he is preserved—and that he will return to save the world. It is, my mother says, only a matter of time.