Chapter 1 - The Discovery

It was Zuko who found her, lying awkwardly on her side with the waves lapping her calves and one arm half buried in the sand.

He carefully laid two fingers against her throat, flinching against how cold her skin was. He found her pulse and it surprised him how relieved he was. Her heartbeat was erratic and weak, fluttering faintly against his fingers, but definitely there.

She didn't stir when he pushed her thick hair away from her face. All her exposed skin - her face, neck, and arms - were covered in cuts and scrapes, as if she had decided to go running through rose-brambles.

He carried her back to the ship quickly, wanting to put distance between her and her element.

He ordered two men to stand guard on the cell and to inform him as soon as she regained consciousness. He thought to himself that maybe the tides of fate had finally turned in his favor.

It was midday when one of his men banged on his bedroom door, telling him that he needed to come quickly. The prisoner had woken up, but something wasn't right.

She was standing in the corner of her cell banging her head against the wall when he arrived. Zuko was momentarily shocked. He expected crying, screaming, complaining, poor attempts at water bending, but not madness.

"Sir, since she woke up she's been doing this!" said one of the guards, breaking him out of his stupor.

"Open the cell you idiots!" said Zuko impatiently. She was no use to him damaged.

He pulled her away from the wall roughly, and turned her around to slam her back against it, holding her by her wrists.

"What the hell are you doing!" he yelled in her face. Then he was staring into her eyes in shock. Instead of the familiar defiant blue of the water tribe, her eyes were black. Pitch black, and bottomless. A chill ran down his spine, and he knew instinctively that it wasn't the waterbender girl who was staring back at him. It was something… else.

"Get my uncle," said Zuko faintly to no one in particular.

Then she stared to laugh, but it wasn't her laugh. It held a note of cruelty that made the sound inhuman. The flames lighting the room began to flicker ominously, and her laughter increased in volume.

Thoroughly unnerved, Zuko shook her and yelled in her face once more,

"Stop it! Snap out of it!"

The edges of the shadows in the room began to blur, and round dark figures with long thin arms blossomed like drops of ink on parchment across the walls. They flitted around the cell, seemingly straining against the walls. Thoroughly unnerved, Zuko let go of the girl in surprise.

She took a step towards him, eyes suddenly narrowed in calculation.

"What a lovely heart," she said in that unnervingly inhuman voice, a voice far deeper and darker than her own.

She went unnaturally still for a moment before lunging forward with her hand curved like a talon, aiming for his chest as if she were going to scoop his heart right out of his chest.

Zuko dodged and grabbed her arm, using her momentum to slam her against wall. He pinned her with his weight.

She struggled with much more strength than a girl her size ought to have. She nearly managed to wretch her arms out of Zuko's grip, struggling with so much force that he was worried she was going to dislocate her own shoulders.

"Don't just stand there! Help me restrain her!" he yelled at the remaining guards, who had been standing slack jawed and shocked.

Before they could do anything, the girl managed to break free. She put one hand on his chest, and with an evil smirk, she pushed him, sending him flying into the wall behind him and knocking the breath from his body.

She advanced towards him with a predatory glint in her black eyes.

"What should we do now sir?" asked one of the guards fearfully.

"FIREBEND YOU FOOLS!" yelled Zuko, struggling to get back to his feet.

"But I'm not a firebender!" replied the other guard, scratching his head.

The girl lunged and Zuko dodged.

"Jin, firebend! Ma Tun, you're holding a spear! Use it!" yelled Zuko in frustration, still dodging the girl's pursuit.

Finally, Jin sent a fireball at her. She ducked at the last moment and sank into a crouch, hissing at him like a cat and shifting her focus away from Zuko.

She moved towards Ma Tun with inhuman speed, sidestepping his spear to grab him by the throat. She threw him into Jin, as if he weighed nothing.

Zuko threw a fire-whip at the girl. She flipped away with an angry hiss and flitted out of the room.

Zuko was side-tracked from pursuing her out of the cell when the shadowy creatures on the walls suddenly started shimmering. He watched in horror as they began peeling themselves from the walls.

They were like small balls of dense black smoke, with indistinct edges and reed-like limbs. They had two very bright spots for eyes that gleamed like gemstones with malevolence.

They reached for Zuko, trying to smother him. Zuko lashed out with fire and most shrank away from him. Some disappeared into puffs of black smoke.

"Take care of these… things!" yelled Zuko at the two guards, who had recovered by then.

Zuko sprinted away, intent on pursuing the girl and stopping her before she could do too much damage. He followed the sound of yells and the trail of black shadows peeling themselves from the wall up the stairs.

His crew were fighting the shadows in a panic, but for every one they struck down, another peeled itself from the walls.

Zuko sprinted around a corner just in time to see one of his men being thrown bodily out of the mess hall ahead. His cry was cut short by his impact with the wall outside, and Zuko heard that horrible voice laughing manically from within.

Inside the mess hall was chaos. The black creatures outnumbered his men three to one.

The girl had the ship medic pinned against a wall by the throat. The helmsman tried to punch a fireball at her, only for a smoke creature to launch itself in the way, and another to grab him around the waist and pull him away.

With a running leap, Zuko performed a side flip, bringing his leg down powerfully to produce a lash of fire.

It nicked the girl's cheek when she was too slow to dodge, and she hissed with rage.

She dropped the medic to launch herself at him, leaping halfway across the room in one bound, clearly aiming for his chest. Zuko dodged, and then found himself on the defensive, having to continuously dodge.

The girl was relentless in her pursuit of him, lashing out with bared teeth and the aggressiveness of a disturbed buzzard wasp.

"Give me your heart Prince Zuko!" she shrieked.

Abruptly all the black smoke creatures in the mess hall stopped fighting his men, and started converging on him.

They grabbed his arms and legs, clinging like tightly coiled snakes.

Zuko struggled furiously, but through sheer numbers, they were able drag him down, until he was pinned spread-eagled on his back and hardly able to breath.

It happened so quickly that the crew were too stunned to move.

The creatures were uncomfortably warm; Zuko was suffocating under their combined weight. They all had what felt like a pulse, beating in harmony. Zuko vibrated with the staccato rhythm.

Thump thump, thump thump…

His could feel his own heartbeat speeding up as he struggled to free himself. The pulse of the creatures sped up to match. For some reason this panicked Zuko beyond all reason causing him to wretch his arms and legs even harder to get free, but it was in futile. The creatures held him too tightly.

Thump thump thump thump thump…

The girl approached him with a predatory gait, one hand curved into a claw. Zuko was terrified.

Thumpthumpthunp…

And then just as suddenly as it started, it ended, with General Iroh upending a bucket of water over her head.

The black smoke creatures vanished instantly, and the girl collapsed into a heap on the floor.

This happens towards the end of season 1, after the Northern Air Temple and before the Waterbending Master.

Please review I love feedback