I have recently become obsessed with Avatar; the Last Airbender.

So I wrote an Avatar Fanfic.

I do not own Avatar; the Last Airbender. Just my OC, and her secret. Ooooh, betcha can't wait to find out what that is, huh?

Well, you'll have to wait. And it's not in this chapter; that's a different secret than the huge one you'll all find out down the road. And even she doesn't know it.

PS, I've never written in present tense before, so sorry if it switches to past tense. I'm pretty sure I fixed it all, though...

PPS, Her name's Anala. Just thought I'd let you know, cuz since it's in her pov, it's not really mentioned that much.

And now, without further ado...

Enjoy!

Book 1
Water

Chapter 1
Caught

It's a very nice day outside; for the southernmost of the Earth Kingdom islands. Sunny, hardly any clouds in sight, and not too cold, considering where we live. I walk down the hill that leads to the beach of the cove, daring to go for a swim at such a nippy time of year. Once I'm at the water's edge, I pull my coat off, along with my warm pants, until I'm just in a sleeveless top and shorts. I walk to where the sand is wet, and wait until the next wave comes in and sweeps over my feet. A shiver rolls through my body; it's freezing.

I bend a ball of air around my head, big enough that it's about three times the size of my skull. I then leap into the icy water of the cove, shivering as I float in it's frosty depths. When I'm relatively used to the cold, I duck underwater and swim downward; driving further and further. At last I reach the bottom of the cove, only about 11 feet under. I gaze at all the subtly colored fish darting from one plant to the next, ornate coral protruding from ageless stone, and playful Lion Whales swimming in figure eights around me, seemingly unaware of the water temperature.

I swim further out, feeling less and less comfortable as the bubble of air around my head shrinks with the growing depth and pressure. Soon after, I begin to feel the effects of the water pressure against my body, and decide to return to the surface as my head grows dizzy with lack of oxygen. As I burst from the water, I take a huge, airbender-sized breath before falling back into the waves, only to bob to the surface moments later.

As I look around, it is suddenly very dark outside. Sinister storm clouds cover the sun, and now dark snow is littering the beach. But it wasn't yet cold enough for snow, and I hadn't been under that long. I swim towards the shore, using my airbending to speed along the process. When I reach the beach, I bend down to examine the snow, only to discover that it is ash. I look at the sky again, suddenly realizing that they aren't clouds blocking out the sun, but huge billows of smoke.

I airbend myself dry, pull on my warmer clothes that were laying in a heap on the sand, and hurry towards the hills that block my view of the village. I reach the top of a hill at the same time three others do, coming from the opposite direction.

"Is there a fire in the village?" I ask immediately.

And then it hits me—these are not villagers.

I take them in; three, fierce-looking men, wearing robes of black and red. Two had fiery helmets, and all three had a Fire Nation insignia upon their breast. What looks like the leader of the group has no helmet, and a massive, burn scar across his right eye is the only blemish on his face. His long hair is pulled back into a ponytail, and a harsh look is on his face.

I take an unsure step back, and one of the masked guys says, "She's just a villager."

The scar-faced man—who is obviously the leader—smiles and quickly punches a fist of fire at me. I shriek in surprise, and reflexively bend the fire away from me and into the empty cove.

Whoops. Now I can only use firebending—which is bad, because airbending is my stronger suit—unless I want them to know my secret. And of course I don't.

Yeah, I can bend air and fire. But it's not like I'm gonna tell them.

"A firebender?" he scoffs, "Living in the southern earth kingdom."

"Why?" one with a helmet asks with a sneer. "You a traitor?"

Scar-face's face hardens at this statement, and he signals for them to attack me. And all three of them charge. I defend myself surprisingly well, considering I absolutely suck at firebending, and can't use airbending.

Finally, I can't firebend their vigorous attacks away any longer, so I attempt to use my airbending to knock them all over, then run for it. But of course, Fate has different ideas.

Just as I start to run from the three fallen firebenders, swarms more appear. I skid to a halt and try to change direction, but there's nowhere to go.

Then Scar-face is back up. He walks towards me, his triumphant smile sending chills down my spine.

"I expected more of a challenge," he begins, "When I defeated the Avatar."

There's a pain in my skull, and then…nothing.

I wake up in a dark room, lit by the glow of a sole lamp. I look at my surroundings to find that I am in what must be a prison, because the relatively small room is lined with barred cells. My clothes are not the ones I was wearing before, and I am now in a plain shirt and pants in the Fire Nation colors. I shiver when I think about how they got there. There are seven different cells here, and everything is made of metal. But mine is the only cell occupied.

I try to get up, but my hands and feet are tied. I attempt burning the ropes, but they must be made of tiny metal fibers, because they just heat up and I burn myself. I curse out loud, and lay back on the floor, glad for the cold metal flooring beneath my burnt wrists. A few moments later, I kick my feet around, realizing that when I laid my ankles against the floor, the ropes became loose around the top. After a little while of kicking around, one foot escapes the bindings, and the other quickly follows. I try the same maneuver with my hands, but they're too tight, and it's really painful.

I sit up, stretching my legs in different directions. It feels really good, and I wonder how long I've been down here. There are no windows in this tiny room, just the one door. There's no way of telling where I am, except I think I must be on a ship, because the floor sways gently this way and that.

I don't know what to do now. There is nothing in the room but me and the lamp. Nothing to help me escape.

I use a cold, steel wall to help me stand up. The chilly floor has leeched me of all my warmth and I shiver. My hands are cold from inadequate circulation, so I wiggle them around.

Seconds later, the door slams open, and a huge Fire Nation guy steps into the room carrying a bowl. He unlocks and opens the door to my cell, places the bowl to the floor, unties my wrists, and leaves without saying a word. But of course he doesn't forget to lock my cell.

There's some sort of broth in the bowl, with the occasional vegetable floating leisurely around in it. I smell it, and my stomach growls. I take a tiny taste of the soup, afraid that they've poisoned it. It tastes just fine, so I start to eat it, common sense reminding me that if they'd wanted me dead, I'd be long gone.

When I'm done, I set the bowl down and wait. For what, I've no clue. I eventually fall asleep, and when I wake up my old bowl is gone, and my wrists are tied again. I scramble into an upright position, wincing as my blistering wrists scrape against the metal cord. They must be starting to chafe along with the burns. I scoot over to the wall and lean against it, glad for the support and the cool metal against my sore wrists.

Just as I was starting to doze off again, the door opens, this time more slowly. An old man comes in, carrying a bowl. He's wearing the traditional Fire Nation colors, but not any uniforms the men wear. He walks up to my cell, knocks on the door, and asks politely, "Hello, my name is Iroh. May I come in?"

"Uh, sure," I say quietly, not sure what to expect.

He unlocks the door, enters, and closes the door behind him. The bowl is placed on the floor in front of me, and he takes a seat directly across from me. In the bowl is some sort of porridge. A 'spoon' is in it, or I guess what passes as a spoon in the Fire Nation—to me it's just a rectangular piece of wood that can be used to shovel food into one's mouth. He gestures towards the food, and my stomach rumbles. It smells okay…

"Looks good," I murmur.

"Then eat."

I lean over so he can see my bound wrists. He makes disapproving clicking, and moves to take them off. His hands are very gentle on my sore wrists, and I thank him.

"Oh, no need to thank me. Sometimes my nephew's ways can be a bit…excessive."

"Your nephew?" I ask in surprise, and then take a bite of the porridge. Tasteless, but hey; it's food.

"Yes. He would be the one that attacked you back in the Earth Kingdom."

I stop eating. He'd said 'back in the Earth Kingdom', so where were we now? He must have seen my look of confusion, because he continues.

"We are now headed towards the northern reaches of the South Pole. It is a little out of our way, but there was a storm that needed to be avoided, and we are in need of more supplies."

"Where are we going after that?" I ask meekly, afraid that I know the answer already.

"The Fire Nation," he replies solemnly, my fears confirmed.

"Why?" I say, in hardly a whisper. "And…what about me?"

"You are the reason we are on our way to the capital of the Fire Nation," he begins, almost sadly, "Where you will be either permanently imprisoned or...killed."

"Oh," I murmur.

I push the rest of the porridge away, no longer the least bit hungry. He looks from the bowl, to me, and lets out a big sigh. I wrap my arms around my knees and tug them closer, the child-like notion of 'if I make myself little, they can't see me' running it's course. He sighs again, takes the bowl, and begins to stand.

"Why?" I say quietly as his hand begins to pull the cell door open.

"Because," he begins with a deep breath, "My nephew has it in his head that the only way to restore his honor is by bringing you back to his father, the Firelord."

"But…I'm nothing special," I try, but he looks at me doubtingly.

"The master of all four elements? You call that nothing special?"

"Well, not all four," I clarify, "Just Air and—sort of—Fire."

"Ridiculous," he laughs. "Just because you have not yet mastered all of the elements, does not mean that you do not—"

"But I don't," I state, hope flaring up in me. It's some sort of mistake! "I can only bend Air and Fire. I'm not even from a family of benders—of either kind of bender that I am!"

He pauses. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," I say with a sigh of optimism. "Very sure."

"Then we have a very big problem on our hands."

And he exits the room without another word.

Iroh forgot to tie my hands back up, but still I can think of no way to escape.

So his nephew was the prince of the Fire Nation. Prince Scar-face. And he'd said something about restoring his honor; the question was, how had he lost it?

I lay down on the hard floor, putting my arms under the back of my head and stretching out my legs. I'm not really tired, but as time goes by and I have nothing to do, I become drowsy. I fall asleep for a few minutes, then wake up. Then I do it again, before settling into a half-awake, half-asleep sort of state.

The door abruptly bursts open, and three large men enter, open my cell, and drag me away. I am now wide awake. I try to keep pace with the two holding my arms as we follow the third, but I'm so much smaller that I can hardly keep up without running. We go left, then right, and then left again. We reach a stairway, and the men practically carry me up them so I don't fall behind. I wonder where we're going?

The first one opens a door, and brilliant light reaches us. I close my eyes immediately, the brightness hurting them. I am taken outside, my feet no longer touching the ground. We go towards the front of the ship, and an icy wind blows through my thin garments. I open my eyes slowly, and see that we are approaching Prince Scar-face and Iroh. I look around before we get there, and see that glaciers float around the ship, reflecting sunlight everywhere.

When we reach him, my captors throw me to the ground, and step back. Prince Scar-face looks down at me and scowls.

"So, you told my uncle that you are not the Avatar."

I nod.

"How can I know that's true?"

I open my mouth to reply, but I can think of no way to prove that I cannot bend water or earth. Proving that you can bend two elements is one thing, but proving that you can't? He would just think I'm lying.

And suddenly I think of something.

"If I could bend water, I'd be long gone by now," I say quietly, not wanting to make him angry; I get the feeling that he's the type of person that becomes enraged in an instant.

He raises an eyebrow. "Or you haven't learned it yet," he suggests. "Or, you're lying."

"Well, how am I supposed to show you that I can't bend two elements?"

He looks thoughtful for a moment, then turns to Iroh and mutters something to him. Iroh's eyes go wide, and he begins to say, "I do not think your idea is—"

"Silence, Uncle!" Prince Scar-face yells. Then he turns to me. "Follow me."

I obediently follow him, afraid to do anything else. If I were a better airbender, I could escape over the water. If I was a better firebender, I could have fought them off back in my village. But I am not a master airbender or firebender, so I will do what he says.

"This is how you can prove you're not the Avatar," he says, pointing over the railing.

"Nephew, I do not think—"

"It doesn't matter what you think, old man," Prince Scar-face says angrily. I really should find out his name… "Look over," he tells me, and I obey.

I look out at the black, unwelcoming water below. Chunks of ice float around randomly, and I know it is absoutely freezing. I feel a hand on my shoulder, and I tense up, bracing myself for the fight I'm sure he's planning.

But instead I'm pushed forward, falling down into the icy waters of the arctic.

Oooh, a cliffy.

So what do you think so far? Please review, and tell me!

Your Pal,

SuperOreoMan