“We still have a minute!” Allen pointed out. “Besides, we’ll head there once the first bell rings. I don’t want to go to history class either. It’s the most boring subject there is!” “At least you don’t have to dissect squirrel-frogs in history like you have to in science,” Wenny grumbled. All four of them giggled. Kat smiled. She had loving, supportive parents and fun siblings. She had a good home, generous friends, and a nice school to go to. Life was good. But it hadn’t always been this way. Seven years ago, Kat had lived in a prison. A prison for Water Tribe natives, and any other high security prisoners of war. Considering that the Northern Water Tribe was the only nation left free, the other prisoners of war were also Water Tribe. And they would’ve been stuck there for the rest of their lives, if it hadn’t been for Betty.

Kat’s older sister was perfect in every way. Beautiful. Kind. Smart. And a good pun-maker. But also very selfless. And so the day Betty turned nine, she volunteered to join the Fire Nation army. That was their ticket to freedom. Kat and her family found a nice, cozy home in a harbor village where Father easily found work at the docks. But Kat couldn’t bear to watch the transformation as Betty was taught to be ruthless, dangerous, and cunning. That went against everything that her older sister was, and Kat was afraid one day, she wouldn’t be able to recognize Betty anymore. The loud rings coming from the school bell shook Kat out of her thoughts. It was the first bell, meaning they had one minute to get to their classes. Kat quickly sorted through her books, and found the right ones. “Guess we should probably get going now.” Allen sighed. “I’m so glad that this is the last class of the day.”

“Cheer up! Betty’s coming home tonight, and Mother’s making stewed prunes!” Kim beamed. Kat brightened up at the thought of Betty and stewed prunes as well. Stewed prunes had to be the most delicious food in the entire world! “See you later!” Kat waved, as she walked towards her next class, which was math. The students still left in the halls were scrambling desperately towards their next class, or trying to find something in their locker. Thankfully, math wasn’t far from Kat’s locker. Entering the classroom, about half of the students were already in their seats, chatting happily to the people around them. Kat found her usual seat near the back, next to her best friend Stacy. Well, best friend outside of her siblings. “Hey, Stace!” Kat smiled. “So how was today? I totally forgot to do my history homework. Mrs. Avalan got soooo mad, since it’s like the fifth time I’ve forgotten to do it! Gosh, school can be so annoying sometimes.”

“Agreed. I forgot to do the science homework. It’s just too much sometimes!” Stacy nodded, putting down the pencil that she had been playing with. “Well, at least we won’t be in school for much longer! When I turn sixteen, I’m starting a gaming business! No more schoolwork!” Kat declared loudly, punching the air with her fist. The others didn’t bat an eye in her direction at all; they had all gotten used to her random outbursts. Just then, Mrs. Huaxian, their math teacher, walked into the classroom. Kat immediately straightened up, and stopped chatting with Stacy. The rest of the class stopped talking as well when they spotted their math teacher.

“Good afternoon, class.” Mrs. Huaxian greeted curtly. “Today we will be going over linear functions. But first, I’ll be going around to collect your homework on coordinate planes.” As she started walking down the rows, Kat stopped watching the teacher and looked around. Then she spotted that Stacy had a new hair clip! It was made of a pretty blue stone shaped like a polar bear dog, with a plain gray metal clip. “Psst!” Kat whispered, trying to catch Stacy’s attention. “Where’d you get that hair clip? It looks nice!” Stacy turned around to speak with Kat. “At that new accessory store down the block from the town hall!” Stacy whispered back. “Remember? It’s the one that opened last week! There were so many great things in there. I wanted the green dog choker, but it was too expensive.”

“Remind me to go there and get something for Kim. She loves pretty stuff!” Kat grinned. “Are there gold chokers or bracelets there? Not real gold, of course. We can’t afford that kind of stuff. Hey, why are you looking at me like that?” Stacy was staring at Kat, wide eyed and looking slightly scared. No, more like above Kat. She gulped, and turned around to see Mrs. Huaxian standing above her, staring down and looking unamused. “Chatting in class again, Miss La?” Mrs. Huaxian mused. “Detention for you and Miss Hinojosa. Meet me at my office after school.” She then walked away, leaving Kat wanting to bang her head on her desk. Kat absolutely just hated school. “Alright, class. Now, does anyone know—” Mrs. Huaxian was cut off, by a sharp knock at the classroom door. She sighed with frustration, and started rambling to herself as she went to get the door. “I swear, if it’s Lee, I’m giving him a month of detentions for being late—oh!”

Kat strained to see who was at the door, but when she did see, she gasped quietly and sat back down immediately. Men dressed in red armor with skull helmets. Carrying spears and just looking menacing. Soldiers. “M-my, welcome! It is an honor, Captain.” Mrs. Huaxian bowed deeply(which Kat had never seen her do before), and stepped aside as the menacing soldiers walked inside. The leading soldier looked more regal, and had more intricately designed armor than the ones in the back. Kat assumed that was the captain. The captain turned to one of the officers behind him, who was carrying a stack of letters, and quietly muttered something to him. The officer nodded, and started walking around the classroom, passing out the letters. Kat noticed that only the girls got the letters.

He then arrived at her row. Kat suddenly got a sick, terrified feeling that was very unusual in her. The soldier came closer and closer to her, and then, set down one of the letters on Kat’s desk. Curious, Kat opened it and started to read the letter inside. Dear Candidate, Congratulations. You have been chosen to participate in the Bending Test at the Fire Nation Capital. What an honor. You have received this letter because you could possibly be the avatar. You’re all thirteen years old, from the Southern Water Tribe, and all girls. Which means any of you could be the avatar. And now, you must come to Capital City to take a bending test, to see if you are the avatar. If you have any questions, feel free to ask some of the soldiers. But they won’t always have your answers. Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you peasants soon. From, Fire Lord Azula Kat read it again. And again. And for the fourth time. Then, She decided to ignore it.

Kat pretended that the letter wasn’t there, that the soldiers were here for the boys instead of the girls. She brought her mind to deciding whether she should buy a bracelet or an anklet for Kim at the new jewelry store, and how she should unleash Cardma on her siblings the next time they played Uno. Kat pretended that the letter was just a fake that Wenny had written and designed. Everyone living the South had one way or another to cope with the constant stress of soldiers. And this was Kat’s way. She never wanted to ever get in the way of the soldiers. Her brain kept reasoning that it was to get out of trouble, but if she dug deep down, there would be this impenetrable barrier holding back deeper reasons that may never be revealed. But she couldn’t pretend it was fake forever. And it only took two minutes before her pretending no longer worked.

“Well, now that you have all read your letters, you know what this is all about.” The captain spoke coolly. “Girls, you will be coming with me now to board your ship to the Fire Nation. From there on, Admiral Shenjin will speak with you in detail about all of this. Now, come along. We don’t have all day.” Right then, things exploded and spiraled out of control as fast as a sea serpent. The soldiers started to surround the room, and nudged the girls roughly to start moving. When one came to Kat, all of Kat’s instincts were telling her to run, to not stand up, to remain rooted. At least refuse politely, or ask if she could notify her siblings or grab some belongings first. But her body wouldn’t comply. It was one of these times, where Kat literally lost control of her entire body.

Kat didn’t understand what kind of a reaction this was. Every time a soldier, commander, or any person in the military gave an order, direct or indirect, she would just lose control of her body as it goes and complies. That happened every time—except around Betty. Kat, or at least, Kat’s body followed the soldiers out of the classroom and into the deserted hallway. Well, deserted of students. There were many soldiers around the hallway, standing next to doors or just waiting. Kat could see Netty in front of her, with her short, dark purplish-black hair. Out of the corner of her eye, Kat spotted Stacy and someone else, someone with long brown hair in braids. Kat didn’t recognize who that was.

They navigated the long, confusing halls of the school that Kat had long gotten used to, until they came to the front entrance. Through the open double wooden doors, she could see a large, closed in wagon being pulled by several komodo-rhinos. Kat wanted to go and quietly chat with Stacy, but her body was still being weird and not complying. Oh, and did she mention all the panicking thoughts going through her head? Ignore all that. The outside looked huge enough. The inside was even larger. There were benches lined with silk and velvet along the walls, and in rows in the center. They looked comfortable enough for sitting, as long as the silk and velvet was stuffed, like cushion pads. Once everyone was inside, the soldiers slammed the doors shut and Kat regained control of her body. Thank goodness, as she absolutely had to sit by Stacy for this. Kat ran over to her brown haired friend, and gave her a quick hug.

“Any idea what all of this is?” Kat asked, smiling weakly. Stacy shook her head. “Nope! I had no idea that we were going to be taken to the Fire Nation Capital for a bending test.” Stacy replied, then started frowning concernedly. “Are you alright, Kat? You were acting pretty strange on our way out.” Kat shook her head fiercely. “Nope!” She lied. “I’m perfectly fine. Just a little shocked.” “If you say so,” Stacy shrugged, sounding unconvinced. They sat in uncomfortable silence, mostly because every time Kat tried to start a conversation, the wagon would open and soldiers would come in. That always made Kat flinch. Why she was so scared of soldiers to this point, she had no idea. It was one of life’s mysteries that she had pondered for years.

After about ten minutes or so, the wagon started moving. Kat stared out the window, watching as the familiar homes and shops and restaurants started to flash by. At one point, they passed by the town hall and Kat spotted the new jewelry store that she had been talking about with Stacy earlier. “Are you really okay?” Stacy asked again. “It’s not like you to be so quiet for so long. If you aren’t, I can get help!” “No!” Kat blurted out rather loudly. “I mean, I’m fine. Besides, I don’t think the soldiers would help out very much either. It’s best not to bother them and draw attention to ourselves.” “I don’t think that’s the case with everyone, but if it makes you uncomfortable, I won’t tell anyone.” Stacy mused. She shot Kat another suspicious look, before settling for gazing out the window as well. Another minute passed in utter silence. Kat decided to spark up a conversation, now that the soldiers were gone.

“So what do you think they’re going to do with us?” Kat started. “I mean, like on the ship. We will need new clothes and stuff, since they’re not letting us pack.” Stacy turned and smiled, probably because Kat’s normal character was coming back. “Oh, I don’t know.” Stacy replied. “They’ll probably give us something to wear. Most likely red….” Their conversation continued until the wagon came to a halt, jostling Kat and the others a little. Kat looked towards the door, tensing up and preparing for her Other Self to come out again. That was what she had nicknamed that reaction years ago. Kat had not made any true enemies during her lifetime so far, except for her Other Self. The wagon door slammed open, but before her Other Self could take control, Kat saw something comforting. The leading soldier didn’t have her helmet on, her fuchsia pink hair spilling out and curling like waves. It was Betty.

Kat sighed a breath of relief. When Betty was around, her Other Self didn’t dare come out. A visible smile started to crawl up her face. “Alright, candidates.” Betty called. “The wagon has arrived at the ship that you will be taking to Capital City. Please follow us to board it.” Kat noticed that her sister’s voice tone wasn’t as harsh and straightforward as the rest of the soldiers’. It had a soft, sympathetic undertone to it, which really set Betty apart from the others. No matter what, her personality could never be erased by any soldier training. Or at least, that was what Kat believed in. Kat stood up immediately, and bounced towards the exit cheerfully. Betty saw her coming almost instantly, and beamed as she approached. “Betty!” Kat squealed, hugging her older sister. “It’s been two months since I’ve last seen you!”

“It’s good to see you too, Kat.” Betty smiled cheerfully. “Now, you should follow the others into the ship now. I’ll talk to you later, when I have more time.” Kat nodded happily, and skipped off the wagon. “You’re almost as tall as your sister!” Stacy laughed as Kat caught up to her. “Now that’s something you don’t see every day.” “I know!” Kat agreed happily. “We always tease her about it. Heck, Kim’s even taller than Betty! To make up for her lack of height, Betty replaces them with puns. Now that’s more scary.” Kat shuddered at the thought of the endless puns that Betty made when she was home. “Geez. Now that, can be more terrifying than being caught by Mrs. Wan in the halls after the second bell has rang.” Stacy gulped.

“No way!” Kat laughed. “Nothing is scarier than Mrs. Wan! We should all know that. Remember what happened to Allen that one time he missed the bell?” Stacy visibly shuddered, which made Kat laugh even harder. But it all stopped when she truly took in the ship in front of them. It was huge, unlike any military vessel that Kat had ever seen. The tall, steel structure looked high above Kat, looking strong and menacing and impenetrable. The front exit had been lowered, and what Kat could see of the dark, gloomy inside so far was not very nice. There were four, seasoned looking soldiers standing by the entrance, two holding sharp, metal spears. When the leading soldier approached them, the soldiers stepped apart and let them pass. Kat looked around as she walked, trying to see where Betty had disappeared to.

It was nearly December, and although the sun was high in the sky, it was still freezing cold. Yet as Kat entered the ship, it was oddly warm. She wondered if it was due to firebending, or some other new Fire Nation invention. They were led down the seemingly endless maze of halls, all looking exactly the same, with boring gray metal and torches lined on the walls. The further they got into the ship, the hotter the halls felt. Kat was starting to sweat inside her thick parka fur coat. At last, they reached a large door in the middle of another hall, which the leading soldier stopped in front of and opened it. The inside was not too surprising. Dull gray metal walls, a Fire Nation banner on the back wall, and many bunk beds in neat rows. There was a long, wooden table down the center, with small wooden benches along each side.

“There ya have it.” The leading soldier turned and said gruffly. “Now, stay here and don’t cause any trouble while we’re gone.” The minute Kat and all the others were inside, the soldiers stepped out and slammed the door shut, probably locking it. Kat wandered over to one of the beds. On each of them, there was a set of silky pajamas, a towel, and some toiletries. She unfolded the pajamas, which were just plain red with loose sleeves. “Well this is definitely interesting.” Kat jumped and turned around to see Stacy behind her, musing at the pajamas that Kat was holding up. “I didn’t expect such high quality material! The Royal Family truly has deep, deep pockets.” “Wonder what gowns we’ll get for the test itself,” Kat joked. She set the pajamas down, and fumbled around her pockets. Kat came across something triangular shaped, and pulled it out, curious.

It was a smooth golden stone, specifically a clip, painstakingly carved thin and into the shape of a triangle. There was a ‘K’ inscribed in the center, painted over with black ink to make it stand out more. Kat ran her fingers over the K delicately. It was the stone that she had carved with her siblings months ago! They had all made one for themselves, with their first initial carved into the stone. Kat thought that she had lost the stone a long time ago, but apparently not. “What’s that?” Stacy asked, glancing over at the triangular stone. “It’s something I made a long time ago. I thought I’d lost it,” Kat responded distantly, clutching the stone tightly. “I hope Betty still has hers. We made these last time she came home.” “Well, the details totally rock!” Stacy joked. “Ha ha, get it? Rock?” Kat grimaced. “Nice try, but Betty could beat you any time.” Kat smiled. “You should learn from her.”

“I’ll try, if she has time.” Stacy grinned back. Kat and Stacy spent the rest of their time just chatting, catching up on stuff, and trying to find some paper and pencil to draw. More and more girls came filing in, and Kat tried to ignore the uneasy feeling she got every time the door opened and soldiers came in. Just as Kat was about to teach Stacy how to draw polar bear dogs, the door slammed open and a tough, weathered looking soldier marched through. There was a long scar across his face, which had been stitched up probably very recently. Just looking at him made Kar feel sick. “Alright people,” he barked. “listen up.” The Other Self instantly seized control, and Kat looked up immediately, her eyes and ears all on the soldier.

“I’m Captain Baracak, and you better all behave on your way there.” He started roughly. “The journey will take four days, and we will be stopping at New Ozai ‘bout halfway there. Admiral Shenjin and I both expect perfect behavior, and no interruptions. Bathroom’s over there, meals will be served three times a day, and you are not to leave the room without special permission. Any questions?” He paused for a moment, before grunting and leaving. The minute he left, Kat relaxed. “Well, wasn’t that detailed.” Stacy deadpanned, before bursting into giggles. “So when will the ship leave?” Kat opened her mouth to respond, but suddenly the engine rumbled to life, and the floor beneath her trembled slightly. “I think that’s your answer.” Kat responded dryly. She sat back on her bed, staring at the ceiling and wondering what adventures could come with this trip to the capital. Speaking of which, where was Betty?

“Kat! I’m here!” Oh, there she was. Kat sat back up, to see her older sister bolting straight for her. She closed her eyes, bracing for a huge hug which came a second later. It literally squeezed all the air out of her. “Hey there, sis.” Kat gasped, out of breath(literally). Even though Betty was sixteen, and in the military, she was still very immature and childish at times. After a couple more seconds, Betty finally let go, a look of excitement in her chocolate brown eyes. “So what’s been going on lately?” Betty asked quickly. “What’s the latest gossip? Trends? Any new friends? Ooh, what about Netty? I told you she’s a nice girl! Or Bea! It’s good to have friends outside of Stacy and our siblings!”

“Slow down!” Kat protested. “Why are you so energetic today? Hold on, I take that back. Why are you always this energetic?! And for your information, I haven’t made any new friends and I don’t need to. Seriously, if you want to talk to them, Netty and Bea are right over there! Don’t bother me about them!” “Okay, I admit, I kinda just want to know more about them.” Betty admitted. “But what about the other questions I asked? Remember the old hotel that got demolished near town hall? What was that turned into?” Kat wondered how Betty could talk this fast. She herself was pretty talkative, but never as good as Betty! “It got turned into a jewelry store.” Kat replied. “And it has pretty good products as well! I was hoping to buy one for Kim, since she’s been begging for a new bracelet or choker. But then….you know. All this happened.” “I get it.” Betty nodded. “What else has happened? Anything good?”

“Yeah. Remember those clips that we made months ago?” Kat pulled out hers again, from her pocket. “Well, I found mine. And I thought I’d lost it forever!” Betty peered suspiciously at the clip, as if checking if it was a fake, before a wide grin spread across her face. “That’s GREAT!” Betty exclaimed. “Here, I still have mine! Check it out!” She fumbled around her pockets, before pulling out her clip. It looked just like Kat’s, except with a ‘R’ on it instead of a K. “I wish I could replay a ‘clip’ of your expression.” Stacy joked. “It totally rocked!” Kat facepalmed. Betty’s eyes lit up. “I could say that about your expression as well! But you just ‘beat me to the punch!’” They then punched each other’s fists, laughing. Kat wanted to bang her head on a table. Here she goes again….

Thx

“Eat chocolate, Kat!” Allen the matcha cake declared, throwing a giant chocolate ball at her. Kat’s eyes widened, and tried to dodge. But her giant cupcake costume tripped her up, and the chocolate ball ended up hitting her straight in the head. But Kat felt no pain. She only….smelled a delicious breakfast of buns and porridge? Kat blinked, standing back up. The giant café table that she and her siblings had been battling on vanished, and was replaced by a concerned looking Stacy. She blinked, sitting up and looking around. Where was she? Where were her siblings? Why was Stacy here? Then the events of yesterday came flooding back, and suddenly made Kat want to crawl back into her dream of Cake Bash and stay there forever. Dealing with Kim’s obsession with fashion, Allen’s big ego, Betty’s puns, and Wenny’s love of art was better than dealing with the Phoenix King.

“Kat? Are you fully awake now?” Stacy frowned. “You were mumbling nonsense earlier! Something about sweetie muffins and matcha cakes and giant egos. What kind of a dream were you having.” Kat blushed, looking away. “The kind of dream that’s full of sweets.” Kat replied, and got out of the bed. The first thing that hit her was the delicious aroma of freshly baked buns and steamed porridge. She looked around, and spotted the origin of the scents on the dining table. A giant pot of porridge, and a large basket filled with buns. “You were sleeping like a moose lion cub last night.” Stacy explained. “I didn’t want to wake you, but I also didn’t want you to miss out on breakfast either!” “Good choice.” Kat nodded. “I’m going to get ready, and I’ll be with you in a minute.”

“Sounds good to me!” Stacy smiled, before walking over to the table. Kat headed to the bathroom, which was surprisingly vacant for this time of day. She washed up and changed in there, before heading back out and towards Stacy. Kat spotted her best friend sitting on the far end of the bench, chatting with another lavender haired girl who was completely ignoring Stacy, a look of boredom and anger on her face. She headed over there, to see what Stacy had gotten up to in the five minutes that she had been gone. “Oh, hey, Kat!” Stacy smiled, looking up as she walked over. “I want you to meet Vixella. I thought since we’d been on here for a while, we should get to know some new people!” Vixella looked up boredly, before turning her attention back to the porridge that she was stirring. “Tell your friend to leave me alone.” Vixella stated monotonously before falling silent again.

“Stacy, maybe you shouldn’t pester her if she wants to be left alone.” Kat said, glancing concernedly at the two of them. “Let’s go find someone else to chat with. Maybe Bea or Netty, like Betty suggested yesterday.” “But we already know them!” Stacy protested. “I want to get to know people that I haven’t met before! I’ve never seen or met Vixella before, since she, well, um,” Stacy trailed off, glancing over at Vixella. “Live in the Icy Fortress.” Vixella finished bluntly. “Listen, I don’t want to talk with you lowly folk that bow down to the Fire Nation and do whatever they want you to do just to stay out of trouble.” Kat was pretty lost. “What?” She echoed. “You people are only ‘free’ because you decided to help our greatest enemy for your own freedom and pleasures.” Vixella spat. “I would rather spend my entire life in a prison rather than comply with the Fire Nation.”

“Hey, that’s not true!” Kat protested angrily. She was not liking Vixella at all. “Then why else would you help the Fire Nation?” Vixella continued furiously. “You think that you’ll be fine. Happy, living under Fire Nation control. And yet you’re helping them capture your own people!” “Betty didn’t do it for herself, she did it for us. Her family.” Kat argued. “She wasn’t selfish in any way! She’s the best sister I could have.” With that, Kat stormed off, going to grab some porridge and buns. She didn’t get this angry very often, but when someone was insulting her family, they had crossed the line. The giant pot was on a two story metal cart, with the pot on the top floor and the individual bowls on the bottom. Kat grabbed one of the bowls, and poured herself a generous amount of porridge(no pun intended[really]). But as she bent back down to grab a spoon, something beige-ish caught her eye.

Kat scanned the entire bottom shelf, and spotted a piece of wrinkled yellow paper caught in the wheel. Carefully, she pulled it out, trying to be as delicate as possible to not rip it any further. Unfortunately, when she unwrinkled it, there were tiny holes in the paper, along with much of the ink smeared off. But some parts were still readable. W__l murder h__ in ____e days ti__ The entire bottom and right side of the note had jagged edges all the way, as if it had been torn from a larger piece of paper. It might also explain why the message suddenly cut off, and the tiny, barely visible ink marks at the bottom. Kat brought her hands to her mouth. Murder. That was one of the two words that was still decipherable. Someone. Was trying to murder someone else.

Kat put the note underneath her bowl of porridge, hiding it with her hand, and walked briskly back towards Stacy. She also grabbed a bun on the way there, the delicious aroma just too tempting. Walking closer, Kat could see Stacy still sitting next to Vixella. And it was pretty clear that both of them were pretty infuriated, and arguing loudly and passionately. Kat wondered why Stacy hadn’t just left yet. “....but you all decided to help them instead!” Vixella cried, throwing her hands up in the air. “In my opinion, you’re all traitors to our once great nation.” “What?” Stacy exclaimed, outraged. “We’re not betraying our people, we’re adapting. Water adapts, remember? We’re adapting so that we can live and survive to see another generation. If we were all as stubborn as you, the Water Tribes would be long dead!” “Stop arguing, will you?” Kat sighed, sitting down. “Stacy, I told you we should just leave. It’ll only end in further argument if we stay!”

“It’s not over.” Vixella stood up, glaring at the two of them. “It’s not over, until I can convince you that siding with our greatest enemy is completely wrong.” “Stop.” Stacy said, sounding more calm than she was earlier. “You’ll get us all in trouble. Just let it go, and we never have to talk again.” “That’s exactly the mindset that’s driven you all to this!” Vixella seethed. “You need to stop thinking about your own so-called ‘happiness and well-being,’ and start thinking about the world’s. There is no happiness until our home is liberated.” “BOTH OF YOU, SHUT UP!” Kat yelled, standing up in front of the two. “Stop yelling and arguing already! It’s not that big of a deal! Now will you listen to what I have to say?!” There was silence between Stacy and Vixella(and most of the surrounding girls) that ended up being broken by Stacy.

“Sorry, Kat.” Stacy apologized. “I didn’t mean for it to get so out of hand! Next time, I’ll try and talk to the girls that seem more….approachable.” “Not.” Vixella snorted, crossing her arms and looking away. “Just get outta here already, you idiots.” Kat shot Vixella a dirty look before pulling out the piece of paper that she had found in the cart wheel, and brought it out before Stacy. “Look what I found.” Stacy carefully took the note and glanced over it curiously, before her eyes widened at the specific word that was not blurred. “Murder? Who’s being murdered? Kat, where did you find this?” Stacy asked worriedly. “It was stuck in the wheel of the metal cart.” Kat responded. “I don’t know what it means or truly says, but believe me, I’m feeling just as worried about it as you are.”

“Sounds like a mystery.” Kat jumped at the sound of the voice, and turned around to see Vixella peering over her shoulder interestedly. “A mystery for us to solve.” “Who’s ‘us?’” Stacy asked incredulously. “I thought you were so set on driving us away, and now you want to cooperate with us?” “Mysteries are my kind of thing.” Vixella grinned. “And I bet a hundred bowls of stewed prunes that it’s something to do with the Fire Nation.” “So you’re only interested in this because it has to do with the Fire Nation.” Kat finished, before rolling her eyes and sighing. “The first thing we should do is identify a lead. Look around for any more scraps of paper. Maybe even check out some guards.” Vixella continued. “The papers could be anywhere, so we have to keep an open mind.” “Yeah, that makes sense.” Stacy agreed.

“Woah, woah, who decided that we were going to start snooping around?” Kat backed up a little bit, slightly nervous. “Let’s just not get involved, and not get in trouble.” “What do you mean? Someone’s gonna die!” Vixella cried, throwing her hands in the air. “This is exactly the type of attitude that I hate. Letting innocent people get hurt while sitting aside just because you don’t want to get in trouble.” “I have to agree with Vixella with this one.” Stacy nodded. “Kat, what’s going on with you? You’re more nervous and jumpy than usual, and what Vixella is saying is right. It’s just not like you to back out on something that concerns someone else’s life!” Kat’s eyes were as round as saucers, and full of fear. Had they figured it all out? About her Other Self? Not feeling hungry anymore, she stood up and ran towards her bed, ignoring the calls coming from Stacy behind her. Kat needed some time to think.

*** “Kat! Wait!” Stacy called, very concerned for her friend. She was about to go after her, but Vixella put a hand on her shoulder, stopping her. “Forget it.” Vixella said bitterly. “She doesn’t understand. She’s careless and selfish, just like almost everyone else here.” The lavender haired girl let out a long sigh. “But you’re different. You’re willing to risk your life for someone else’s.” “Kat isn’t like that!” Stacy retorted heatedly. “She’s just….” She stopped, realizing that she didn’t know what was happening with Kat. Her best friend was very off. She had lost some of her signature charm and enthusiasm, just like that time Nathan lost his favorite hammer. “So should we start?” Vixella said, raising an eyebrow. “It's pretty clear that Kat’s not gonna help, so we should start looking.” Stacy nodded slowly, still confused about Kat’s behavior. “Okay,” she said out loud. “let’s get started.”

*** Stacy and Vixella scoured the room. Checked under all the beds. In the wheels of the cart, before it was carted away(no pun intended). Under the basket of bread buns, in every little crack in the room. Yet they were fruitless, until they took a break. “I’m going to use the bathroom, okay?” Stacy told Vixella. The lavender haired girl nodded, and Stacy took off towards the bathroom. Surprisingly, nobody was in there at the time. Stacy opened the door, and walked in, closing the door immediately after entering. But as she walked towards the toilet, something on the ground caught her attention. Stacy bent down, and picked up a scrap of paper from the floor. It was the size of a fist, and wet at the edges. On one side, it just looked like ordinary wet parchment, but flipping it over, there were some barely legible words scrawled on.

Her eyes widened, as she realized what this was. Another piece to the puzzle! Stacy immediately exited the bathroom, and ran towards Vixella. “Vixella! I found something in the bathroom!” Stacy called excitedly as she ran over. Vixella turned her attention towards Stacy, a smirk crawling up her face. “Alright, let’s check it out.” Vixella took the piece of paper from Stacy’s hands, and put it on the wooden table. This one wasn’t much of a case of the ink being smudged off, but more of it being washed away. He is t_o b__ o_ _ __rea_ to our glo____s nat___. “Oh wow. This one’s even more ruined.” Vixella frowned, as she pulled out the first scrap of paper. “Let’s see if it makes anything if we stick them together.” Well murder h__ in ____e days time. He is too b__ of a __rea_ to our glo____s nation.

“There’s still too many missing letters.” Stacy pointed out. “The message is still indecipherable. And I don’t know how we’ll find the words that fit in the blanks!” “Darn!” Vixella muttered. “And we still haven’t found all the pieces.” “Maybe you need to look outside the box.” A voice pointed out behind Stacy, making her jump. She turned around to see Bea pointing at the pieces, a thoughtful expression on her face. “What do you mean?” Stacy asked, still a little anxious that someone else knew what they were doing. “It sounds like you’ve scoured the entire room.” Bea continued. “But have only found two pieces of evidence. So you need to think—and look—outside the box. Like….outside the room.” Stacy and Vixella both gaped. “That,” Stacy started, but Vixella cut her off. “Is an AMAZING idea!” She exclaimed. “Why didn’t I think about this earlier?”

“What do you mean?” Stacy argued. “It’s not! As much as I want to help whoever this note is referring to, it’s not worth enough that I’ll go through anything to save whoever this is. I don’t even know who he is! Vixella, you’re taking this way too far right now.” “What is that supposed to mean? Defying the Fire Nation is worth everything!” Vixella retorted hotly. Stacy was already very frustrated with her. First she insulted her and Kat, then interrupted their conversation and hijacked their plan, and now she was turning it into completely something else?! Stacy had enough. “This was our mission. Kat and mine.” Stacy said firmly. “I only let you help because Kat didn’t want to do so, but now you’re crossing the line. I’m not helping you anymore. You’re not even interested in why we’re doing this, but simply to annoy the Fire Nation! You’re so reckless and stupid!”

Before Vixella could send back a snarky remark, Stacy stormed off towards her bed. It was about time that she checked on Kat…. *** “Go to the left!” Wenny sang. “Go to the right! Criss-cross!” Kat jumped over a particularly blue laser, which almost singed her foot. She was exhausted, yet there were still more to come. “I might prefer the giant zombie monster over this,” Kim gasped, as her hand accidentally touched a ball of red lasers. “You’ll reconsider once he bashes you on the head with his giant boomerang-club,” Allen grumbled, dodging under a neon yellow spinning laser. Just as Kat was about to fall over with exhaustion, the scene changed and they were back in the graveyard. Looking around, the rest of her siblings were far away, watching her with fearful expressions. Kat understood why they were doing so when she looked to her right.

The giant zombie monster, big, bulging, bandages and all, was standing right by her, holding his boomerang club in one hand. His bright pale green eyes narrowed between the rotting bandages that smelled like a whale carcass not properly taken care of. But for some reason, the zombie monster didn’t make a move. It just stood there, staring now at Kat. Eventually, she got more curious, and tried poking it. Then, the monster shifted into a man dressed in Fire Nation armor, with a spear in one hand and an interesting braided beard. Kat felt some unexplainable terror rise up inside, just looking at him. The graveyard scene shifted as well. The dead grass that seemed to stretch forever melted into a cold metal floor, and steel walls rose up around Kat. There were bars behind the Fire Nation soldier, and Kat felt shorter and smaller.

“Causing trouble again, brat?” The man mused, almost gleefully. “Don’t worry, you’ll get what you deserve. But first,” a maniacal grin rose up the soldier’s face, practically petrifying Kat in place. “I have to get you there.” The floor beneath Kat crumbled, as the man shattered into small pieces as well, falling into oblivion with her. She landed on some solid surface, just as she felt her consciousness hit the impenetrable barrier in her mind. But something felt different now. Kat stood up, and looked around. She then started walking around, curious. Then she stepped on a part of the barrier that felt soft and worn, like it was about to break. She immediately jumped back, looking down. In front of her, was a bed sized hole in the barrier, where a pitch black smoke was rising. Kat felt repelled by it, terrified, but she still pushed back her fears and reached out to it. Immediately, her mind was overflowing with thoughts, words, and memories.

“She’s just another screaming nuisance!” “Throw her in the ice box. Teach her what for.” “Fight or be fought. This is the way around here.” “You understand where your place is now?” “This...this is what happens to the people who get the guards mad. They’re….broken.” Different flashes of memory came with each phrase. Most revolved around menacing looking men who made Kat feel like her life was about the end, but the last one lasted longer, and she could clearly see Betty standing next to her, looking lost and sad. She looked around, and saw men that were sitting near the pillars. The look in their eyes….it just looked so broken. Like there was no fight left. Their gazes bore deep into her soul, so empty, so dark, so sad. That would never be her. Or would it?

*** “-at! Kat! Are you awake?” Kat sat up in bed, sweating and gasping. The first thing she saw was Stacy by her, looking very concerned. It was kinda of a relieving sight. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Kat mumbled, still a little traumatized and embarrassed. “You were tossing and turning a lot, and looking really scared. What happened? Did you have a bad dream?” Stacy asked, sounding genuinely worried. Normally Kat forgot most of a dream after she had it, but this one was unforgettable. Edged in her mind. The details as vivid as if she were experiencing them right then. Just thinking about them made Kat sick. “Yeah,” Kat smiled weakly. “just a bad dream. Nothing to worry about. Just some zombie monster stuff, and another fairytale adventure with my siblings. Totally fine.” “I wanted to check up on you, after you left.” Stacy said, sounding a little guilty. “I was so caught up in finding more clues with Vixella that I forgot about you….a little. I’m sorry.”

Kat forced a smile on her face, so that Stacy didn’t feel too bad about it. “It’s okay. I get how you can get caught up in things sometimes. How’s that going?” “Not very well” Stacy muttered bitterly. “Vixella’s taking things way too far. Bea hasn’t exactly been helping either, as she suggested something completely out of line and it’s prompted Vixella to do something reckless and dangerous.” Kat suddenly felt more alert. “What did she do?” She asked. “She snuck out of the room to look for more note pieces.” Stacy shook her head sadly, looking down. “I just wish that I could have stopped her in time, or at least kept quiet enough so that Bea didn’t overhear.” “It’s not her fault.” Kat replied. “But we do have to find her before she gets us all in trouble.”

Kat stood up and got off the bed, ready to search for Vixella. They sneaked on over towards the door, hiding in the shadows and trying not to draw attention to themselves. Putting her ear by the door, Kat could hear some low voices coming from the other side. Kat turned back to Stacy. “There are some guards out there, we can’t get out!” “Is the door locked?” Stacy whispered back. Kat tried opening the handle as quietly as possible. It worked. “No.” Kat shook her head. “Then I’ve got a plan.” Stacy smirked. She pulled Kat back, and laid down at the tiny seam between the door and the floor. Stacy then took out three grayish balls, and a….lighter? What was she planning on doing?!

“Stacy, what are you—” Kat started, but Stacy made the first move. She lit the piece of twine leading up to the balls, and rolled them out into the hallway. A few seconds later, the sound of explosion came from out there, as smoke rolled in through the crack. Kat could hear the soldiers coughing and running around outside. “Now!” Stacy whispered, opening the door just wide enough for them to slip out. In the halls, there was gray smoke everywhere, and the sounds of soldiers shouting for the culprit to come out. Kat grabbed onto Stacy’s hand tightly, as they flew down the hallway in one direction. “That,” Kat gasped breathlessly, “was completely unnecessary. We’re going to get in such big trouble!” “What other ideas do you have then, genius?” Stacy deadpanned. The smoke started to clear up, as they approached a turn. Beyond there were just more doors. Here, Kat could hear and feel the hum of the engine much loudly, as if they were near the back of the ship.

They cautiously walked along the halls, sticking to the shadow of the walls and trying not to make a sound. Kat checked the peephole of the first door they came across, seeing if she could spot Vixella. No luck, as it was a busy room with lots of firebenders and coal and what looked like a huge furnace. This must’ve been the engine room. “Any luck?” Kat whispered, turning to Stacy, who had taken the door on the left side of the hallway. Stacy shook her head. “Nope,” Stacy whispered back. “Just an empty office.” They continued checking each door, with Kat’s paranoia level rising with every fruitless result. They were bound to run into a soldier soon; it was inevitable! “Maybe we should just go back.” Kat decided after checking the thirteenth peephole, only to find a training room with lots of firebenders working out. “Our luck won’t last forever!”

“We can’t let our little scavenger hunt get out.” Stacy shook her head firmly. “The soldiers won’t care that you didn’t actually help snoop around, and Vixella will be in so much trouble!” “It’s her fault in the first place.” Kat grumbled. “If she hadn’t gone out, we wouldn’t be in this dangerous situation! I say we ditch her. Let Vixella figure out her own problems.” “Kat, we can’t just leave her out here on her own!” Stacy seethed, clearly getting impatient. “What is going on with you? You’re jumpy, backing out of everything, and acting so nervously all the time! This isn’t you.” “It’s not.” Kat thought bitterly. She didn’t completely agree with what she was saying either, and the acting nervous part was definitely not her doing. It was her Other Self that was acting up. Why couldn't it just be gone?!

“What are you two doing out here?” Kat jumped, and swung her head around to see Vixella standing at the corner, staring at the two, unamused. “Couldn’t you have argued back in the room?” “We were out looking for you.” Stacy explained worriedly. “Why did you leave? It was so dangerous!” “Well, you shouldn’t have.” Vixella snorted, examining her nails. “It’s everyone for themselves here. If you help others, it’ll only dig a deeper hole for yourself.” “That’s not true.” Kat shot back. “And you don’t even care that we risked our safety to help you out here?” “You shouldn’t have.” Vixella replied airily. “I can take care of myself. Unlike you two.” Kat was fuming. How dare she! They just almost threw everything away to help her, and yet she was being so rude and ungrateful?! “You know what,” she yelled. “I was worried about your safety. Stacy, too. But now seeing how ungrateful and selfish you are, I take back everything! You’re….awful!”

Kat was about to go on, but footsteps made her freeze. Soldiers! Curses, why did she do that? Stacy and Vixella seemed to have heard it as well, as Stacy was glancing around frantically, while Vixella was glaring heatedly at Kat. “In here!” Kat whispered, opening the closest door, which happened to lead to a broom closet. Stacy and Vixella followed without another word, and Kat shut the door as quietly and swiftly as she could. Then, she blocked up the peephole and held her breath, praying that the soldier wouldn’t find them. The sound of footsteps grew louder and louder, until it sounded as if it was right in front of them. Kat also heard the sound of doors opening and shutting, along with the sounds of the activities in the room whose door was opened. Then, the footsteps reapproached their door. Behind her, Vixella breathed in sharply. Then the door opened.

Kat shut her eyes, not wanting to see the whirlwind of the emotions on the soldier that had found them. From shock, to confusion, to extreme anger. The soldier would yell at them for being out of the room, and they would be brought to the Admiral, who would reprimand them and give them a hard and cruel punishment. Everyone would know, and she would be so embarrassed. Her parents would be so embarrassed. But after ten seconds, those things still hadn’t happened. Kat was starting to wonder who was at the door, and why it was taking them so long to comprehend who they were and what they had done. Then, Kat? Stacy? What are you two doing out here?” *** Kat’s eyes flew open, and immediately widened in shock at who it was. Long pink hair, flowing as freely as the wind. Chocolate brown eyes that sparkled and made her hungry. Betty?!

“I—um, it’s a long story.” Kat stammered, half relieved and half embarrassed that it had been her sister who found them out here. Stacy looked too shocked to comprehend anything, while Vixella was glaring heatedly. “What are you doing out here?” Betty questioned concernedly, with almost no undertone of anger at all. Kat thanked Yue and La with all her might that she had such wonderful luck, and such a wonderful sister. “What gives you the right to ask us that, traitor?” Vixella spat. Betty reeled back in shock and surprise in being addressed that way. “Vixella! Will you hold your tongue for once!” Stacy exploded. “This is Kat’s sister. She’s a lieutenant! Treat her with some respect, will you?” “We—well, we were looking for Vixella. She snuck out of the room, and we were worried about her.” Kat explained, then shooting Vixella a dirty look. “Not that she actually cared,”

“You guys need to get back to the room right now, before someone else finds you.” Betty started. “I can distract the guards, while you guys get back inside.” “Why are you helping us?” Vixella inquired suspiciously. “Is this part of a bigger plan? Scheme? Are you planning on turning us in?” “Vixella, not everything has an ulterior motive.” Kat growled. “Some people help others out because they want to. It’s something that you just can’t seem to understand!” Vixella scoffed, but didn’t say anything else. Betty started walking towards the direction that they came from, and beckoned for them to follow. Kat quietly walked out of the closet, and followed closely behind her older sister. Betty took them down hallway after hallway, all of them looking exactly the same. If it weren’t for her, Kat and Stacy probably would’ve never found their way back. After what seemed like an eternity, Kat found herself at a very familiar corridor.

Betty stopped, holding out an arm to stop Stacy and Vixella from walking forward, and gave them a ‘I’ll distract them, you get back inside’ look. Kat nodded understandingly, as Betty went to distract the soldiers. “Zhan, Koji, can I speak with you for a minute?” Betty’s voice sounded from the hallway. “Of course, Lieutenant.” One of the soldiers replied. “Let’s go somewhere else to discuss this. It’s something we definitely wouldn’t want the candidates to hear about. And don’t worry, we’ll be back in a minute! Nothing bad will happen.” “Alright, miss.” The other soldier replied, sounding unsure. There was the sound of footsteps walking away from the door, and once they stopped, Kat poked her head out to make sure that the coast was clear. When she didn’t spot any guards, she tentatively stepped out.

Kat tiptoed over to the door, and opened it as quietly as she could. Peeking inside, nobody had taken one look towards them at all. Kat snuck back inside, with Stacy and Vixella on her tail. Once they were all in, Kat closed the door again. When she heard the sounds of the guards coming back to their places, Kat sighed a breath of relief. Miraculously, they had not been caught by any soldier(besides Betty) on their completely unnecessary and dangerous trip. Yet Vixella had learned nothing. That alone, wanted Kat to facepalm. *** Kat stepped out of the bathroom, and let the next person in line head inside. It was nighttime, and they had had dinner not too long ago. The torches were slightly dimmed, the flames smaller and weaker now. She walked over to her bed, where Stacy was sitting, waiting for her.

“Hey, Kat,” Stacy started, looking up. “while you were in the bathroom, Vixella came over to me. She said something that….makes me think that she actually felt a little thankful for us helping her.” Kat blinked in surprise. “Really?” “Yeah!” Stacy nodded. “She said that she realized that the entire world is not like the Icy Fortress. And sometimes, being kind and helpful and having friends is not a bad thing. Especially when they risk something for you.” “Wow.” Kat echoed. “I guess even the most stubborn of people can eventually change through experience.” “Yes indeed.” Stacy smiled.

HOW DID U DO IT

Even I forgot part of it afterward, and had to change it

Thx

Kat looked up in surprise from the drawing that she had been working on. She remembered hearing about this a couple days ago, but she had completely forgotten about it! Plus, she had had no idea where the ship was. Excitement started bubbling up inside her, as her brain started processing what this truly was. She had grown up in the South Pole her entire life, living in an icy cold, boring place, and never left the colony once. Most of the people that Kat knew had never left either, and the only person Kat could think of who had left the South Pole before was one of Stacy’s other friends that was a carpenter and had taken several trips with his father to the Earth Kingdom on building tasks and other boring stuff. This was something that Kat had to remember. She could brag about it to her siblings for months to come! “Are you excited to see New Ozai?” Stacy asked.

“Definitely.” Kat grinned back. It was clear that everyone else here were also very eager. They were all whispering and chattering with each other excitedly, staring at the door with bright eyes. Five minutes later, a group of soldiers came down to escort them all out of the ship and to New Ozai. They navigated the boring halls of the ship that felt hotter than usual, until they came to the exit, and Kat saw the outside for the first time in days. They had docked at a small harbor town that Kat assumed was mainly made up of soldiers and their families from the Fire Nation. The sky had not a single cloud, and the sun shone brightly down on them all. There were seagull-puffins flying around, circling the ships.

They took the metal bridges built after the conquest of New Ozai to the city. Even from afar, Kat was amazed. Most of the mountains were covered in buildings that looked small from where they were, with a giant wall near the bottom. But the sky was slightly darkened by the black plumes of smoke billowing from the city, slightly ruining the earthy look of the city(does that count as a pun?). When they arrived at New Ozai, Captain Baracak spoke briefly with the soldiers manning the bridge, before they were let into the city. They were put into neat lines, and soldiers started walking towards them, choosing a girl to accompany. Kat’s heart sank. How could she enjoy the city when her Other Self was constantly in control?

A soldier that looked a little shorter than the others(by that I mean just a smidgen higher than Kat) approached her, and Kat noticed his or her armor was different from the others, and seemed slightly more embellished than the other officers. He or she kinda looked like Betty—oh wait it was her. Betty had taken off her helmet, and Kat was surprised to see that her normally long and curly hair had been put in a neat top knot. There was a small magenta cake hat on the side of her head, secured by a small hat pin. She actually looked pretty cool that way. “Hey there, little sis!” Betty grinned. “Ready to enjoy New Ozai?” “This has to be the best day of my life.” Kat declared breathlessly, also really relieved that her sister was the soldier accompanying her. “Nobody in my classes have visited places outside the South Pole before. Kim, Wenny, and Allen will all be so jealous!”

“Yeah, you’ll have a lot to gloat about.” Betty nodded, smiling. “So where to first?” “Oh, you know. Everywhere.” Kat giggled, though she was only half kidding. “We may not have enough time to get to everything,” Betty warned. “We’re only gonna be here for half a day. The ship leaves at dusk.” “Well, let’s cut to the chase!” Kat sang, heading in one direction, where a messy cobblestone road led towards one of the delivery chutes. “You’ve been warned, sister! It’s going to be a ‘rocky’ road from here on out!” Betty joked. Kat groaned. “Must you ruin everything with your puns?” She complained. All Kat got back was a laugh from Betty. *** “Send a package of your own! It’ll be delivered randomly to a building in Oma-I mean, New Ozai!” A mailman called. Intrigued, Kat walked over to the man, who was standing next to one of the stations that sent different deliveries to different places. It was very complex, and very interesting.

“Do you want to send a package?” Betty asked, walking towards Kat. “It’s one of the many wonders of New Ozai.” “Of course! Or did you forget that sleepover at Stacy’s house two months ago already?” Kat responded, very excited. “I’ve wanted to do this for ages!” “Do you have anything?” Betty asked, peeking into her pockets. Kat pulled out something that she had drawn earlier; it was a beautiful sketch of the seemingly endless ocean with the sunset on the horizon. Although Wenny was the best at drawing out of the five of them, Kat did have some pretty good skills. “Wow. That’s really nice!” Her older sister complimented. “The details on the waves are so realistic.” “Thanks.” Kat smiled back, and walked over to the guy standing next to the conjunction corner. He immediately noticed her, and gave her a warm smile. “Do you want to send something, young lady?” He grinned. Kat nodded.

“Yeah, this picture I drew.” Kat nodded. The guy took one look and gave her an impressed look. Then, he took out a large mail envelope, and took Kat’s sketch, sliding it in gently. “There you go!” He said cheerfully. “Soon enough, this’ll be shipped to an unknown location, and those who live in the household will be able to enjoy the absolutely gorgeous work you've created.” Kat blushed slightly at the compliment. Was her art that beautiful? Just as they were about to leave, someone bumped into Kat, who was slightly startled. She turned around just in time to see the person drop a bag of silver coins, the precious money just about to spill out. Immediately, Kat caught the bag right before it could hit the ground, and handed it the person. The man whom Kat had bumped into turned out to be an old, feeble man with a dark green cloak.

The man turned to face Kat, and gave her a toothless grin. “Thank you, young lady!” He said. “You just saved me some precious time with that catch! Tell me, what is your name?” “You’re welcome.” Kat responded with a smile. “And I’m Kat. Short for Katherine.” “Well, Kat, do you want to hear a story?” The man asked mysteriously. “Um, sure?” Kat replied, rather unsure. What kind of a random offer was that? “A long, long, time ago, before there were the four nations, people lived on giant animals called lion turtles. The lion turtles granted bending abilities to the people that lived on its back, and different lion turtles granted different powers.” The old man started. “Then, a dark spirit called Vaatu came along. He had escaped from his prison in the spirit world. Wherever he went, he brought darkness and destruction. Turned humans against each other, and also turned spirits dark. It was chaos.”

“Then, a man named Wan appeared out of nowhere. He promised to defeat Vaatu, but it wasn’t an easy feat. Wan was only a firebender, and Vaatu was the most powerful spirit in the entire world! But with the help of the lion turtles, Wan mastered all four elements, sealed Vaatu away in the spirit world, and closed the portals connecting the human and spirit worlds. Wan then spent the rest of his life bringing peace and prosperity to the world.” Kat clapped politely. The story was pretty good, but she was confused on why this old man would just randomly tell her a fairy tale? Who was this man, and why was he so weird? “We should be going now. Thanks for the story, sir!” Kat smiled, before walking away briskly with Betty. Once they were out of earshot, Kat turned her attention to Betty. “Was it weird that he just randomly told us a story?” She asked.

“I don’t know,” Betty shrugged. “though this Wan person sounds kinda familiar. Might’ve heard about him sometime before. To be honest, it kinda ‘lit up my day, and drove the dark away!’ Eh? Get it?” Kat headbanged on the nearest wall. “That wasn’t even that funny.” She grumbled as they walked away. *** “And now this is one of the many architectural wonders of the world!” The tour guide continued on. “The Statue of New Ozai was only completed ten years ago, with all the necessary imported materials and construction work. And today, it stands as one of the mighty symbols of the Fire Nation.”

Kat stared at the colossal statue that rose high above New Ozai. The metalwork, the polished looks, the gold trims, basically everything about this statue was breathtaking! It made their ten foot tall ice statue of Mayor Qin back in their hometown look lame. She wondered where people put their offerings here, if people were not allowed six feet within the statue itself(Eh? Eh? Get it?). “Now, that concludes our tour of Upper New Ozai.” The tour guide put his hands together, smiling at the group. “Any questions before we disband?” “Do people worship the statue?” A young, wiry looking boy asked from behind Kat. He was wearing a matte red tunic and some dark gray pants, and looked around 7 or 8.

“Well, young one, the Fire Sages and some of the long term Fire Nation residents of the city do pray to the statue every sunrise and sunset.” The tour guide explained. “But it’s only a couple dozen people, nothing compared to the number of people in say, Ba Sing Se or Fire Fountain City.” “Well more people should.” The little boy grumbled to himself. “Phoenix King Ozai is the greatest man in the world! Everyone in our village adores him.” Kat noticed that the wide smile on the tour guide’s face became slightly forced.

Kat didn’t blame the little boy. He was probably born and raised in the Fire Nation homeland, and what he was taught and told was different from the rest of the world. Yet just hearing him say that, felt so wrong. The Fire Nation were technically the bad guys. They killed off all the Air Nomads 130 years ago, they invaded the Earth Kingdom and initiated raids on the Southern Water Tribe to take away all their waterbenders. And now, with almost the entire world under their thumb, they were trying to force their culture onto the rest of the world and wash away the native cultures. “Where to next? The diner?” Betty teased. “Why not?” Kat chuckled. But as they walked away from the statue, extreme pain and a blinding white light hit her, as if someone had just stabbed her with a dagger. As the white light faded, Kat saw Betty yelling something with a panicked look on her face, right before everything turned black.

*** Kat awoke on a soft, numbing surface. Sitting up, the first thing she noticed was the fact that she had been lying on snow. Why the heck was there snow in New Ozai? It was the middle of July! Then she noticed that nothing around her looked like New Ozai, or even Earth Kingdom land. Everywhere Kat looked, there was just a thick layer of snow. Like she was in a tundra! But…why? Why was she lying in a tundra? How did she get back to the South Pole? Then Kat spotted a black dot in one direction. Squinting, she could barely make out the shape of an icy wall. She stood up, and tried to walk towards the direction of the…whatever it was. But instead of taking one step, Kat was suddenly propelled into the air by some invisible force. Kat yelped in surprise and fear, protecting her head and bracing for the fall. But it never came. She peeked out of one eye, and realized that she was still hovering in midair. How was this possible?!

Kat tried landing back down, but it just slingshot her at neck-breaking speed towards the black dot. It was like what Allen’s failed ‘slingshot cannonball’ machine was supposed to do, but ten times more extreme. And before you know it, Kat had landed smack in the middle of a village. She sat up, rubbing her head and grumbling. What the heck was wrong with her? Why couldn’t Kat take one step without being thrown half a mile in a random direction? Then Kat surveyed her surroundings. The village that she had landed in looked like a traditional village in the South Pole, but from a long time ago. There were a couple of igloos, a couple of bright yellow tents that looked way out of place here in this land of snow, and a single well made out of snow blocks in the middle of the village. A one and a half story tall ice wall surrounded the village, which Kat realized barely counted as a village. More like a half finished campsite.

Everyone around the ‘village’ seemed busy at work. Carrying jugs of water, washing furs and clothes, tending to the children, and even a couple women skinning two Arctic seals. It seemed like a tiny, yet peaceful civilization. Until it wasn’t. After a couple of minutes, Kat learning how to walk again, and some of the kids starting a snowball fight, the sky above the village turned dark. It looked pretty normal at first, as that was a sign that it was about to snow. Some of the women ushered the younger kids inside, not wanting them to catch a cold. Then the snow started to fall. Small, fragile flakes that landed on the ground and built up on all the already available snow and ice. Innocent, barely noticeable, soot-stained flakes.

Kat gasped silently, bringing her hands to her mouth. This was a common occurrence in her hometown. Whenever a new fleet of Fire Navy ships, carrying new supplies and new soldiers, were about to arrive, the snow would always turn black as a result of the soot being let into the air by the ships. That was an indicator for the men to straighten up any little loose ends in their homes, for the women to prepare for a rush of new supplies in the markets, and for the children to stay inside for the next bit. But here, in this tiny village, where Fire Nation occupation seemed to be nonexistent, where there was not a single male over the age of 10, there was nothing to prepare for.

Yet still, the women ushered the eldest and youngest members of the village into the safer tents that wouldn’t collapse or melt with a blast of fire, and they themselves pressed up against the entrances or went inside to comfort the terrified children. Everyone was preparing themselves for the worst. And it came, only a couple minutes later. Dozens of soldiers, all either equipped with spears or their fire, broke down the wall that protected the village from natural threats. They broke the igloos, tore down the tents, and harshly grabbed every single person wearing blue. Kat felt an urge to hide inside the well, but her feet were glued to the ground and her body wouldn’t move. It wasn’t her Other Self acting up, no, it was just pure terror.

“Take these savages to the prison!” One of the soldiers, whom Kat assumed was the leader, barked. The soldiers cuffed all the natives, even the youngest of the children, and started to lead them away from the sight. Before the all left, however, one of the soldiers lit the entire place on fire, which instantly started melting all the ice and snow. With a deep chill running down her spine, Kat realized something. She had been here before, with her siblings and classmates. It had been a mandatory field trip required by the officials, that they visited one of the former sites where Water Tribe natives lived before the Fire Nation took everyone away. The way the well caved in, the way the walls were all stacked on top of each other, and the way the soot had been infused into the ice, was all so sickenly familiar.

Suddenly, Kat was launched into the air again, this time at a much faster pace. She screamed as the world blurred into a bright white, and only let out a sigh of relief when everything slowed down. But that relief was quickly washed away by terror, as Kat realized where she had landed. She was in front of a tall, dull gray fortress with many guard towers and half cylinders bulging out from the metal wall. It looked just like the infamous Boiling Rock prison in the Fire Nation homeland, but out here. In the tundra. Kat started to feel sick to the stomach, as she realized what this was. The Icy Fortress. Kat glanced over to one of the larger Fire Nation tanks used for means of transportation, and saw that they were unloading the prisoners. All the women and children she had just seen in that tiny village, were now dressed in rags and chains. It was so sickening and sad at the same time.

Kat was so caught up in her emotions at all this that she didn’t even notice that one of the women had escaped, until the soldiers started yelling at her and trying to catch her with a fire whip. The escaped had long, raven black hair that whipped around sharply in the icy wind, and ocean blue eyes that reflected the tranquility of the freezing ocean on most days. But this was not the case now; her eyes were filled with anger and hate and the hunger to survive, it looked more like the ocean at its worst, when a hurricane or tsunami comes around and pounds against the icy shores furiously, sweeping up anything and everything that dares to come into its domain. The woman was the exact image of Mother.

Kat could only watch in horror as tanks quickly moved in to restrain her mother, soon surrounding her completely. Soldiers came out in bending stances, preparing to firebend if she showed any signs of aggression or wanting to escape. It only took two sneaky soldiers to capture Mother again. “Why am I seeing this?” Kat whispered to herself. To her shock and surprise, someone actually responded. “Because the past will better help you understand yourself.” A mysterious voice answered. The ground beneath Kat suddenly crumbled like sand, dark abyss creeping beneath. She plummeted down towards the void, her vision of the snowy South Pole fading the further down she got. Soon enough, Kat could see nothing but darkness.

*** “-at! Kat! KAT!” Kat gasped loudly as she sat up, shuddering and trying to make sense of what she just saw. That was definitely short lived, as a couple seconds later, someone shook her fiercely. Once the earthquake stopped, Kat could finally make out a dull gray metal room, and a very worried looking Betty. “Kat, you’re finally awake! Oh my gosh, I was SOOO worried about you!” Betty cried. “One moment you were fine and walking, and then BAM! You were on the ground, out cold! What happened? Why did you faint all of a sudden?” “And the loudest, most annoying savior award goes to…” Kat muttered sarcastically. Betty rolled her eyes. “Alright, alright. I may have been a little overwhelming right there.” Betty admitted. “But seriously, what did happen?” “I-I don’t know,” Kat responded hesitantly. “I had this weird dream about the South Pole, where a small village was being attacked—”

“That’s quite enough, ma’am.” The healer, who had been standing next to them, cut in with a sharp frown. “Miss La needs to rest and heal. Now I request that you please leave the room to give her some peace and quiet.” Betty’s face fell, but she still nodded understandingly and left the room. It was only then that Kat realized the floor was trembling just the slightest bit, with a faint humming noise in the background. She whipped her head to face the nurse. “Ma’am, what time is it now?” Kat asked politely. “It’s eight in the evening.” The nurse responded curtly. “You were out for the entire afternoon. And yes, dinner did already pass. But I’ll get you some later, when I’ve made sure all your organs are stable and functioning.” A sense of shock and despair overrode Kat. She had missed out on the entire afternoon in New Ozai! It was her one chance to tour an Earth Kingdom city…and grab some custard tarts…but she had missed it.

Her sadness slowly started to transform into anger. How could she suddenly faint for no reason and miss such a big thing? Kat was now furious at herself. That dream made no sense anyway. What does ‘the past will help understand yourself’ mean, and how it is supposed to assist her in her future? Plus, Kat knew everything about herself. Every inch of her identity, maybe except the Other Self’s origins and what was underneath the impenetrable barrier in her mind. But that didn’t matter right now! Kat scowled deeply when the nurse finally left the room, her hands clenched into tight fists. She swore they got warmer for a second, but that was probably just her anger. And was that smoke slowly floating upward? She bent forward to examine what exactly it was. Gray and wispy, it was smoke alright. Very small and unnoticeable smoke. The weirdest thing was that it seemed to have originated from nowhere. Just appeared in midair. What kind of magic was this?

Kat blinked again, making sure she was seeing this right. But the next thing she knew, the smoke was gone. “What was that thing?” She muttered to herself, before shrugging. “Oh well, life has its own mysteries.” Yes. Yes indeed. *** Fire. Flames licking at her heels. A flash of cerulean in the darkness. Then gone. ♪ When you don’t know where to turn to ♪ Earth. Rocks zooming to his fingertips. A glimpse of emerald green in the abyss. Then gone. ♪ And you're sure all hope is gone ♪ She’s there. Waiting. On the same ledge she had waited every night. ♪ When the day you waited for won't come ♪ Yet for almost a year and a half now, he hasn’t come once. ♪ And dark won't yield to dawn ♪ She’s about to leave, sighing in despair, but suddenly hears the sound of a pillar of earth being made. ♪ Trust love ♪ Her cerulean eyes scan the area frantically, excitement and Hope rushing through her blood. Could it be…?

♪ Open up your eyes ♪ A boy jumps down from the shingled roof. Messy brown hair, emerald green eyes, it’s him. ♪ Trust love ♪ Her breath quickens, as they rush towards each other, instantly pulling each other into a big hug. ♪ The truth is there but sometimes in disguise ♪ “You finally came.” She whispered, squeezing her eyes shut and a smile gracing her face. ♪ The way's uncertain but we're together ♪ “I told you, I would never leave you forever.” He smiled. “And I always keep my promises, don’t I?” ♪ Moving toward the light ♪ She let go, lighting a flame in one hand. It shone brightly in the courtyard, like a beacon in the darkness. ♪ When we trust in love and open up our eyes ♪ Propelled by an earth pillar, they leapt onto the roof together, and ran together as wild and free as the wind.

“Alright, it’s your turn now, Stacy!” Kat smiled. “Sing us something modern. Like, only recently released from the theaters.” Stacy seemed deep in thought for a couple moments, before her face lit up. “Ooh, I know!” She exclaimed, before clearing her throat. “♪ Let it go, let it go! Can’t hold me back anymore! Let it go! Let it go! Turn away and slam the door! I don’t care what they’re going to say! Let the storm rage on…the cold never bothered me anyway.” Kat and Vixella both clapped when she finished. “Wow, that was amazing!” Kat proclaimed. “Much better than mine. And Frozen sure is hitting the theaters hard these days! I don’t know how many Elsas they have at Icy South Theaters for all the Frozen plays going on, jeez.” “What’s this Frozen you’re talking about?” Vixella asked curiously. “Is it one of the plays they show at the theaters?” Stacy nodded vigorously.

“Yeah. It just released a couple months ago, and it soared through the charts. Everyone in the South loved it! Now it’s also a popular play in the Fire Nation and Earth Kingdom, as the scripts are finally getting there.” She said. “I don’t like theater plays. They’re too boring and exaggerated for me.” Vixella snorted. “But if this one managed to make this much money, I might check it out. If I can find a theater that is showing Frozen in Capital City.” “It’s definitely worth seeing—woah!” Stacy was cut off when the ship suddenly came to an abrupt stop, sending them all forward a little bit. Kat barely managed to catch herself before she fell. “What was that?” Vixella shouted, sounding annoyed and slightly worried. Kat looked around wildly, trying to see what had caused the hiccup. Then she noticed something disturbing. The ship’s engine had stopped, the soft humming and trembling gone. The floor was deathly silent and still.

“Uh, guys,” Kat started nervously. “this doesn’t seem good. Is the ship supposed to stop now?” “I don’t think so,” Stacy replied anxiously. “We just had breakfast, and we’re not supposed to be stopping at the Gates of Azulon until noon!” Suddenly, there were loud stomping noises coming from above them. Angry shouts, the whooshing sound of fire, the clanging of spears, and…splashing? There were worried murmurs coming from the other girls in the room. Some were slowly backing away from the door, while others were approaching it curiously. Whatever was happening on deck, it wasn’t good, judging by all the weapons and fire noises.

Then there were some of the same noises coming their way. First it was towards the left corner of the ceiling, then it came to the left wall, where the stairs leading up to the deck were located, and then into the hallway that ran outside their large shared room. Kat felt around for something she could defend herself with, if an enemy entered the room. There was a loud thud and groan from outside, before the metal door was slammed open revealing a very wet hallway, some ice here and there, and two buff warriors with blue armor and very wary expressions. Who were they…oh wait. Are you kidding me?! Northern Raiders?!!? “Oh no no no no.” Kat panicked, frantically backing away from the door. The two waterposters(eh? Ehhh?;) scanned the room, a calculating look on their faces. Then, after some moments of hesitation, they pulled up a large stream of water in synchronization, and turned it all into sharp icicles that they shot at them.

Kat hopped over two beds, another girl on the ground, and a random makeup brush(where did that even come from?!) to get to a safer place. She briefly surveyed the room, to see what damage the icicles had done, and what she was met with was slightly sickening. Some of the luckier girls had very minor issues with the icicles. They were stuck in their hair, pinning their clothes to the wall, or something minor like that. The unluckier ones though…well, let’s just say they were not in good shape. “Oh no no no! PLEASE I’M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!” Kat shouted overdramatically. Unfortunately, that only drew the attention of the Raiders towards her. Thankfully, Stacy pulled her behind one of the beds on its side, shielding Kat from the danger. “Calm down, Kat!” Stacy hissed. “This is not the time to be overdramatic! This isn’t pretend Bedwars in the park or something, this is the real deal! We need to figure something out, and fast before more people die!”

Kat hesitated, before an idea began forming. “Yeah! I know!” She proclaimed. “We can find the admiral and ask him to send a messenger hawk for help! So PREPARE TO DIE!” Stacy facepalmed. “What did I just say about being overdramatic?!” She exasperated. “But the first part was actually not bad. If we find the admiral, he can send a messenger hawk for backup! If only we knew where the admiral’s quarters are…” “Wait, I have an idea of where it might be.” Kat said gleefully, her strongest emotions changing every couple of seconds. “Father once mentioned that the most important person on a Fire Navy ship’s quarters are in the back, near the steam engines. YES WE CAN DO THIS!” “C’mon, let’s just go.” Stacy sighed, dragging an overexcited Kat away. They moved from behind bed to bed, until they had reached the open door. Kat, now finally calming down and becoming more sensible, looked both ways before cautiously sneaking into the dim hall.

The hallways were soaked in water. And melting ice. And the dead corpses of soldiers. It was a sickening sight, but the two barely took notice. They had a more important mission at hand. Kat took the lead, checking each corner before turning, and making sure there were no Raiders. At some point, the water and ice stopped, which probably meant the area had yet to be approached by the enemy. Though when they came to what they assumed was the captain’s quarters, it was already full of fighting. “We’re too late!” Stacy cried as the last soldier fell to the ground. “They’re heading in!” The squadron of Northern Raiders who had taken down all the Fire Nation soldiers, were now preparing to bust down the metal door leading to the Admiral’s quarters. But at the last moment, help arrived.

“Get away from the Admiral!” Captain Baracak yelled. He leapt in front of the group, and blasted fire at them in an arc. It did very little, however, as the Raiders just raised a wall of ice that blocked the flames. He continued to fire(no pun intended) strikes at them, but they were easily dodged. “What are you two doing here?” Kat jumped, whirling around to find Betty in her uniform. She had taken off the creepy skull part, which revealed vibrant pink hair and a very concerned face. “W-we were trying to get to the Admiral,” Stacy stammered. “we hoped that if we notified him of the situation, he would send a messenger hawk for backup!” Betty let out a frustrated sigh. “Your intentions are honorable, but it’s very dangerous outside right now. Go back to the big room so you don’t get hurt!” Betty exasperated.

“The room has two Northern Raiders in it.” Kat deadpanned, crossing her arms. Betty’s expression morphed into one of shock and horror. “Oh no! Okay, then—just say out of the way. I don’t want any of you getting hurt.” She said quickly, before racing towards the scene of the battle. “Betty! Wait!” Kat cried, but her sister couldn't hear her over the battle. Stacy put a comforting hand on her shoulder. “She knows what she’s doing,” Stacy reassured, staring at the battle with worried eyes. “I hope,” Kat murmured. *Insert RWBY Volume 6 intro here* Captain Baracak was holding on strong. He dodged all the water and ice, and blasted fire at them whenever there was an opening. He had taken out two soldiers already, but the others were still standing strong.

Betty rushed into the battle, pulling out a set of dual blades she kept on her at all times. She had shown the pretty blades to Kat and her other siblings before, but never had she actually demonstrated them for them. And now, she was about to rush into battle with the dual blades. Captain Baracak roared in fury, his scarred face twisted up and fueled with rage. His flames burned even brighter as he shot a blast straight at one of the Raider’s faces. It was both brilliant and horrifying. Just as the captain was recuperating, an icicle flew right into his stomach, the tip peering out the other way. Time seemed to slow as Baracak’s eyes widened, staring at the fatal wound. ♪ Stay close, move fast ♪ “NO!” Betty screamed, dashing forward at an incredibly slow pace(everything is still slowed down).

♪ The darkness cannot last ♪ Kat didn’t know what to do, what to feel, what to say. Why was this day such a nightmare? Why couldn’t they have had a normal trip to Capital City that was not filled with chaos, mysteries, visions, and death? ♪ No hope, no path ♪ Time seemed to return back to normal, as Betty narrowed her eyes in anger and charged at the Raiders with her dual blades. She managed to knock one out and started on another in a flash. ♪ But we’ve got a dream to catch! ♪ Kat watched in awe and fright as her sister took down Raider after Raider, until they were all lying unconscious on the metal floor. How…how was she this skilled?! ♪ And we cannot wait ♪ “Step aside, Fire Nation scum!” A loud voice shouted. Kat turned around to see another group of waterbenders, these ones looking more armored and ready. She gulped. Could Betty really defeat these monsters?

♪ Trust the way we’re made ♪ “I’m afraid I cannot do that.” Betty smirked, before sprinting at them at inhumane speed. Before Kat could comprehend anything, three of the Raiders had already fallen to the ground, immobilized. ♪ The sparrow’s born to fly ♪ The leading waterbender whipped around, pulling up a wave and sending it churning down the hallway. But Betty had already slipped to his back side, jabbing some points on his back sharply. Wait…chi-blocking?! ♪ The mountain towers ♪ The leader gasped as he fell to the ground with a thud, losing all control of his limbs. The other Raiders took uncertain steps back, not wanting to pick a fight with Betty. ♪ The river knows to reach the sea ♪ “You two! Go! Send the message!” Betty suddenly shouted loudly. Kat immediately bolted towards the admiral’s quarters, before the enemies could stop them.

♪ Rain will help the flowers be ♪ Stacy pulled at the door handle very hard, but it wouldn’t budge. “It’s locked!” She cried. ♪ We’re the same, you and me ♪ Kat looked around frantically. “What is Admiral Shenjin doing?” She cried. ♪ The lightning doesn’t take advice from anyone ♪ “The messenger hawk room then!” Betty yelled back. “It’s the third door to the left—ack!” One of the Raiders hit her with a water whip while she had been distracted, knocking Betty to the ground. ♪ The willow doesn’t need to learn to stand ♪ “Betty!” Kat cried worriedly, but Stacy grabbed her arm as she began to run. ♪ As sun seeks day ♪ They followed Betty’s direction, and entered a room full of cages with messenger hawks. There was some parchment and ink in one corner, and a small window for the hawks to fly in and out of. ♪ We’ll find our way ♪

“Quick! Hand me the paper and ink!” Stacy said. Kat immediately handed her the items, which she hastily scribbled ‘Northern Raiders attacking. Send help fast!’ before tying it to the leg of a messenger hawk. The little thing immediately flew off, and Kat prayed that the waterbenders didn’t kill it. ♪ And we’ll catch that dream together someday soon ♪ Kat looked around the room. She could hear footsteps approaching; was there anywhere they could hide? ♪ We’re rising like the moon ♪ Not a single hiding spot in sight. Kat gulped; this would be a hard one to get out of. End of song *** The high seas. Full of darkness and danger, life and death, beauty and ugliness. Maybe one day it would be a safe place, a place where every Fire Nation citizen could be in without any worries, but those were dreams that took much hard work to achieve. And the first step, was conquering the Northern Water Tribe.

Lizzie stared at the horizon, where the baby blue sky met the cerulean sea. The sky looked so peaceful, so calming, and so safe compared to the sea. The sea was rough, wild, and unpredictable. The waves churned as they headed towards land. She was always cautious and wary of the sea, as they were the place that the Phoenix Empire’s last enemy was most dangerous at. Lizzie was awaiting the arrival of Admiral Shenjin’s ship. That ship was carrying potentially the biggest threat to the empire, and Father had to make sure that the weapon was safely in their hands. That was why she had been sent here, to the Gates of Azulon, to ensure that they entered Fire Nation waters safely. From the direction in which the ship should have been arriving, a small black dot was coming right their way. Lizzie narrowed her eyes at the dot, expecting it to be a ship. But as it got closer, she could tell that it was not a ship, but in fact, something much smaller. A messenger hawk.

Lizzie extended one arm, in which the hawk landed on. She untied the small piece of parchment and unrolled it. It had better be something good, or else Admiral Shenjin would regret wasting her time. Northern Raiders attacking. Send help fast! From the Flaming Wrath Lizzie let out a breath of anger and disbelief. How could Northern Raiders had ambushed them? This close to the Gates and entering Fire Nation territorial waters? Admiral Shenjin also had some of the best soldiers in the entire army! If he could not fend off some petty waterbenders, he was so getting demoted, along with the rest of the crew that failed to drive them off. “Captain!” Lizzie shouted sharply. From behind her, the captain of the ship rushed to her side, bowing slightly. “What is it, your highness?” He asked humbly. “Head a course towards Admiral Shenjin’s ship.” Lizzie narrowed her eyes. “We need to deal with something right now.”

*** Kat stared at the Raiders, fear evident in her eyes. They were both holding icicles in the air, preparing to strike. What could she do? They were trapped. Maybe they should just accept their fate… “Get away from us, you monsters!” Stacy cried, her expression full of anger. She uncaged all of the hawks, who immediately flew at the Raiders, screeching and clawing at their faces. It was an attempt at a distraction that worked pretty well, as the Raiders were now too busy dealing with the birds trying to claw off their faces. “C’mon! Out, out, out!” Stacy cried loudly, grabbing onto Kat and sprinting out the room. Kat was getting way too overwhelmed. So much was happening way too fast for her. But just as they had gotten out the door, a wave of freezing cold water and birds hit them, soaking their clothes.

Kat swung her head around to see that the Raiders had recuperated, and were readier than ever to finish them off. A wave of dread overrode her(no pun intended). They could run, but for how long? “No no no no no!” Stacy yelled. She waved her hand in some weird motion, and to Kat’s extreme surprise, the water around them rose up, formed a wave, and washed the Raiders out the window. Also, ice started to form at the soaked walls. … Stacy stared. Kat stared. Then, “YOU’RE/I’M A WATERBENDER?!” Kat gaped at her best friend. How…what…just how? How had Stacy gone through her entire life without activating that ability? How had she never known about this? Just… Silence. Then everything was but silent. ***

The minute Lizzie stepped aboard the Flaming Wrath, every enemy aboard was fleeing. Their eyes would widen comically, they would abandon their task at hand, and scramble to their submarines. But that was no more after she lit them on fire. Lizzie walked gracefully through the thoroughly soaked halls of the ship, lighting any Raider she came across on fire. It wasn’t that hard to defeat a waterbender, if you knew where to strike. But that wasn’t her main concern. She was here to find Admiral Shenjin, and destroy him. Her Mother, Grandfather, and all the other Admirals had entrusted Shenjin to the Flaming Wrath, the largest and most powerful Fire Navy ship. They had entrusted him in the simple task of accompanying the candidates to Capital City. Yet he repaid them by sailing into trouble, and not being able to fend the enemies off?! Shenjin had stooped to a whole new level of weakness, and he would pay dearly for it.

Lizzie had made her way to the back of the ship, where Shenjin’s quarters were located. But when the arrived, the scene was filled with dead corpses of Fire Nation soldiers and a couple unconscious Northern Raiders. The most annoying thing was, however, the fact that Captain Baracak was one of the dead soldiers. The Fire Nation princess hissed in anger. The door to Shenjin’s quarters were locked. Dead bodies were littered everywhere. And that coward hadn’t even bothered to save his own brother, who was a hundred times stronger and more honorable than him?! That was the last straw. Lizzie heard the sound of footsteps behind her, and immediately swung around, preparing to strike a death blow to the Raider. But it wasn’t a Raider that was there. It was a Fire Nation soldier, holding dual blades and panting heavily.

Once the soldier realized who she was, she immediately dropped into a deep bow. Lizzie stared at her with calculating eyes. There were some questions that were about to be answered. “Where is Admiral Shenjin?” Lizzie demanded coldly. “In his quarters, Your Highness.” The soldier answered. “No one has seen him since the ship departed from the South Pole.” “How many casualties were the result of this incompetence?” Lizzie went on, seething furiously at Shenjin inside. “The exact numbers are unclear, but I would estimate around half the crew.” She responded. “Final question: who killed all these Raiders?” Lizzie said, her voice practically dripping with venom. “I-I did, you Highness.” The solder stammered, clearly frightened by her tone.

“Rise, and speak your name and title, soldier.” Lizzie commanded. The soldier stood back up, revealing vibrant pink hair that was peeking out of where the skull part of the helmet should’ve been. The shade wasn’t too far from Lizzie’s own hair color. “Lieutenant Betty, from the Southern Water Tribe.” She responded. “Lieutenant Betty, you are promoted to Commander, and now officially in charge of the ship and all its men. Congratulations.” Lizzie said offhandedly. Betty’s eyes widened a fraction. “Thank you so much, Your Highness, for this generous promotion. I promise I will not fail you.” She thanked. Lizzie gave her a small, real smile. “I think you deserve it.” She said, before walking towards Shenjin’s quarters. She knocked on the metal door a couple times before breaking it down with a sharp kick. It revealed a very surprised and shocked looking ‘Admiral’ Shenjin, hiding under his desk and trembling.

“Well well well.” Lizzie walked over to the cowering man. “It seems that the ‘brave’ and ‘honorable’ Admiral Shenjin has resorted to hiding in his quarters, cowering beneath all, when trouble strikes. Not very brave and honorable, is it?” “P-please, Your Highness,” Shenjin stammered. “Give me another chance. I am sincerely sorry for my actions—” “No.” Lizzie cut in icily. “You are no longer an Admiral. You are no longer in the military. Someone as cowardly as you do not deserve a place here. You’ll be coming with me, back to the capital, to be tried for treason against the Royal Family.” Admiral Shenjin burst into tears at that statement. Lizzie almost snorted, at how weak he was. Even the peasants who had much lower standards for being strong would consider this worm weak! What a crybaby.

With a snap of her fingers, two soldiers beside her grabbed Shenjin, and started to drag him away from his quarters. Lizzie knew this would not go over well with Mother and Grandfather. He might even be challenged to an Agni Kai or killed! But the news would go over well with a certain boy she knew. Who was always complaining after Shenjin. In fact, once she got back, it would be time to take a little downtown trip with him… Even in the darkest of times, he could always light up her life.

The minute the lieutenant started to speak, girls sped outside the room, like water pouring out from its closed container. The poor man stood no chance against the waves that overwhelmed him. “Let’s GOOOOO!” Kat declared excitably, rushing out with everyone else. They were probably gonna be reprimanded about this, but who cares when Betty’s in charge? After that one incident having to do with the fountain in the middle of town, pretty much everyone knew who her elder sister was. And her gentle, playful personality. “Fire flakes. Royalty. Gummies. Volcanoes! Fire flakes. Royalty. Gummies. Volcanoes!” Stacy rapped excitedly. Vixella looked slightly excited, but it was hard to tell with her.

The first thing Kat noticed when she got on deck was the seas and skies around them. Back in the South Pole, the ocean was always a dark, threatening indigo color, littered with ice flows here and there. The sky was usually covered with gray clouds, and even when it wasn’t, the sun always seemed dimmer. Here, the ocean was a shade of admiral blue, and the sky was as light as the shallow arctic ponds back home. It was overwhelmingly beautiful. “Girls, please keep calm and not overwhelm the crew!” The familiar voice of Betty called. Kat turned her head to see her sister standing at the front of the ship. “We will be docking in less than five minutes.” “I honestly have to say, this is kinda exciting.” Vixella commented as she walked up beside Kat. “One of busiest cities in the world, technically the capital of the entire world, and a place with rich history full of art. Even if all the people there are total jerks.”

“Come on, Vixella!” Stacy teased, gently elbowing the lavender haired girl. “Not everyone’s gonna be super mean and stuff! There’ll definitely be nice people.” “Not convinced.” Vixella snorted. “But anyways. We’ll probably get some time to explore the place. Where to first? A theater?” “Sure!” Kat laughed. “We can watch Frozen together!” At the moment, the ship’s horn blared loudly three times. The first two were long and loud, but the third was shorter and quieter. Kat covered her ears, wincing at the noise. “Hey there, little sis!” Betty smiled as she walked over just as the horn stopped. “Wanna know a little secret about the ship? The way they just sounded the horn is the secret code for Fire Navy ships to state their affiliation with the Fire Nation. Unless you’ve been on a Fire Navy ship, headed to the capital, nobody knows what it is!” “Oh.” Kat mused, not sure what to make of that piece of information. “That’s…interesting.”

“Look over there!” Stacy shouted excitedly, gaining Kat’s attention. “There’s some kind of festival going on!” Kat glanced in the direction that her friend was pointing, and sure enough, saw some small figures marching down the seaside street. The main attraction was a dragon surrounded by drummers dressed in fancy costumes. She could also see a small crowd gathered around, although the details were very blurred from this distance. “Ah, now that’s the beginning of the Sozin’s Comet Festival!” Betty commented, sounding slightly different than before. “What’s that about?” Vixella asked with mild interest. “It commemorates the burning of the Earth Kingdom, thirty years ago.” Betty responded with a more remorseful tone. “The festival begins one month before the official date, and slowly rises, building up momentum as the days go by. It’s almost as big as Lunar New Year, in the Fire Nation.”

Everyone fell silent after that. Kat stared at the dragon parading down the street, feeling slightly sick. So many people died that day…how can anyone commemorate something as dreadful as that? As their ship docked, Kat could already see many soldiers waiting at the pier. The ship adjacent to theirs was already unloading, and some of the guards went with the palanquin that came off. Kat guessed that the rest were escorts for them. From what she understood, they were high priority, as Phoenix King Ozai didn’t want to lose the avatar, if he did have her in his clutches the whole time. As two soldiers opened up the entrance/exit, a rather young man wearing fancy armor that signified that he was of high status stepped forward. But no matter what angle she looked at him, Kat just couldn’t take it seriously. His mustache looked like a boarcupine!

“Greetings, Commander Betty.” The boarcupine mustache man greeted formally. “It is my understanding that Admiral Shenjin has been demoted due to neglect of duty, and you are now in charge of the ship. It is an honor to meet you.” “It is a greater honor to meet you, General Zhan.” Betty responded, bowing. “I have heard much about your great accomplishments and feats.” “Well, we can speak along the way.” General Zhan said, stepping aside. “We need to escort the candidates to the Imperial Royal Palace now.” Kat, along with the other girls, stepped off the ship, and followed Betty and General Zhan. The place…looked so alive. A group of children playing here, a watermelon juice vendor there, two friends chatting from their windows while hanging up laundry up above. So unlike her village.

Her hometown was small, and filled to the brim with soldiers. Everywhere. They were on every block, every turn, every street, sometimes even alleyways. The native citizens were always nervous around them, and the children never played outside the unsupervised park in fear of offending the officers. Here, in Harbor City, there were definitely lots of soldiers. But the people here were comfortable with the soldiers. They didn’t look nervous around them, and some even gave the men dressed in armor small smiles. The children ran around on the streets and played, without a single ounce of fear. It was so different….and in a good way. “One day, this’ll be our hometown.” Stacy murmured. “A place where everyone can be happy and not live in fear of the soldiers.” “That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Kat exclaimed.

Her hometown was small, and filled to the brim with soldiers. Everywhere. They were on every block, every turn, every street, sometimes even alleyways. The native citizens were always nervous around them, and the children never played outside the unsupervised park in fear of offending the officers. Here, in Harbor City, there were definitely lots of soldiers. But the people here were comfortable with the soldiers. They didn’t look nervous around them, and some even gave the men dressed in armor small smiles. The children ran around on the streets and played, without a single ounce of fear. It was so different….and in a good way. “One day, this’ll be our hometown.” Stacy murmured. “A place where everyone can be happy and not live in fear of the soldiers.” “That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Kat exclaimed.

Her hometown was small, and filled to the brim with soldiers. Everywhere. They were on every block, every turn, every street, sometimes even alleyways. The native citizens were always nervous around them, and the children never played outside the unsupervised park in fear of offending the officers. Here, in Harbor City, there were definitely lots of soldiers. But the people here were comfortable with the soldiers. They didn’t look nervous around them, and some even gave the men dressed in armor small smiles. The children ran around on the streets and played, without a single ounce of fear. It was so different….and in a good way. “One day, this’ll be our hometown.” Stacy murmured. “A place where everyone can be happy and not live in fear of the soldiers.” “That’s exactly what I was thinking!” Kat exclaimed.

“That’s because they’re Fire Nation.” Vixella said bitterly. “Of course they don’t fear their own protectors! But it’s different in the South Pole. Nothing will ever be like this there. Especially not in the Icy Fortress.” The lavender haired girl muttered the last part quietly, sounding bitters and…almost remorseful. “Things can change, Vixella.” Kat reminded, looking around them. “And for the good.” “You think that people bowing down to the Fire Nation is good?” Vixella cried indignantly. “Oh wait, nevermind. You told me that two days ago.” “Hey. Sometimes we have to be like the water that surrounds us all. To adapt.” Kat pointed out. “If we can’t beat them, we can learn to live with them. And that’s the less violent way for everyone to be happy.” “But the Southern Water Tribe doesn’t belong as part of the Fire Nation!” Vixella snapped angrily. “We are meant to be a free country, not a colony!”

“There would be too much at risk!” Kat snapped back, getting irritated. “And for too slim of a chance. If we took our chances, we would be ruining the lives that some people have spent so much time building up, from the ashes of their previous lives. This isn’t just about you, or me, or our village. It’s about, and concerns all the Water Tribe nonbenders in the South Pole.” “Vixella, you have to think of the entire tribe’s well being.” Stacy added, shaking her head sadly. “We have no more waterbenders. Half our people are in prisons, their spirits broken by the harsh rules there. The other half live in fear of the soldiers every day. There’s no way we can rebel and win.” Vixella opened her mouth to speak again, but nothing came out. They continued to walk down the street in awkward silence. Kat was glad they had managed to quell that argument before it got too out of hand.

After walking for a good twenty minutes or so, they exited Harbor City and started to take the narrow path up the volcano. Kat noticed some parts were jagged and narrow, buried in a rockalanche, or filled with odd cube shaped holes. It made some parts really extreme to cross. “Hey, what happened here?” Kat asked. “I think it’s left over from the Day of Black Sun.” Stacy replied. “Remember? Earthbenders wreaked havoc on the city. It took forever for the Fire Nation to fill in all the holes and rebuild, and the path up the mountain is still missing some parts near the base.” After an exhausting climb, they finally reached the top. Here, on the outer rim of the caldera, there was little life. Most of the landscape was made up of tall, jagged rocks in a zigzag pattern running around the entire edge, some small, dry shrubs, and the occasional elephant rat skittering about.

Then… They reached the highest point of the rim. Below them was a sea of glittering reds and whites and oranges, surrounding a large, empty, pristine courtyard and the colossal royal palace. Capital City. From here, everything looked so amazing. Although the details were hard to tell from this far, Kat could see—and hear—the busy, bustling streets. It was as busy as a spider-ant’s nest! Kat could see the Imperial Palace as clear as day from here. The palace stood out like a moose-lion in a flock of sea vultures(ahh sorry for the bad reference), despite it being red, like the rest of the city. The area surrounding the palace was barren of streets, buildings, and people, and gleamed in the sunlight. “Wow.” Kat breathed. “This has to be the most impressive thing in the whole world.”

“Did you know that there’s a bunker underneath the city, in case of emergencies, like being invaded?” Stacy said. “It was used during the Day of Black Sun, the only time that there was an attack launched on the Fire Nation capital during the Hundred’s Year War. But I wouldn’t put it past Northern Raiders to try and infiltrate it, though.” “You speak of them as they are enemies.” Vixella snapped angrily. “But they’re our allies, trying to defeat the Fire Nation and free us from their wretched rule.” Kat and Stacy both shot her a dirty look. “Yeah, because they totally wouldn’t ambush our ship and kill many poor, unfortunate souls.” Kat said sarcastically. “Oh wait, they did do that!” The lavender haired girl huffed, before walking away. “Hey, look!” Stacy pointed at the bottom of the hill, trying to change the subject. “I think I can see Princess Lizzie’s palanquin from here.” Her intentions worked, in a way, as they fell silent altogether.

As they made their way into the city itself, Kat was even more amazed with it than Harbor City. The city itself felt alive! And not in a simile context, like Harbor City, but truly. Its capital building was its eyes, the other buildings its body, and the people were its voice. The streets were teeming with people, from vendors calling out the prices of their Fire flakes and cabbages, to everyday citizens, making their way home after a visit to the market, to young children running around and playing on the streets, laughing and occasionally dancing. Picture perfect. Kat wouldn’t mind living in a place like this. Safe, beautiful, happy, and content. Where soldiers wouldn’t bother her if she dressed in red and followed all their rules. Maybe even a friendly smile or wave every now and then!

As they made their way out of the crowded city parts, which were giving off homey vibes to Kat, she suddenly felt very small and anxious. They were approaching the royal palace quickly. There were a lot more soldiers now, guarding the polished quartz ground. Reaching the front of the palace, Kat could see many servants, soldiers, and a palanquin to the side. And in front of it all, two figures in armor and the royal hairpieces in their topknots. Fire Lord Azula and Princess Lizzie. Once they approached close enough, Betty stooped into a deep bow, and so did all the other soldiers. Kat immediately bowed as well, out of respect and a little intimidation from the most cunning and manipulative people in the Fire Nation. And of course, because of the Other Self. Out of the corner of her eye, Kat saw Azula give a wave of her hand, and they all stood back up. The Fire Lord straightened, and looked Betty in the eye.

“Commander Betty.” Azula greeted formally. “I’ve heard of your impressive swordsmanship and chi-blocking skills from my daughter. For a Water Tribe colonial, you have skills greater than some officers in the army.” “It is with great honor to meet you, Fire Lord Azula.” Betty responded sincerely. “Thank you, for your compliments.” “No need to flatter yourself.” Azula dismissed, then turned to one of the servants. “You! Lead Commander Betty and the candidates to their quarters.” Azula turned back to Betty. “I also want to speak with Lieutenant Shenjin. He still has not had a proper punishment for his actions aboard the ship.” Kat heard a menacing tone as Azula spoke those last words, enough to make her shudder and fear what would happen to the once great admiral. If Lizzie was the rattlesnake, able to strike fear into the hearts of others by just appearing, Azula was its venom, deadly to the touch. If you made one wrong move…bam. Dead in a second.

“Of course, Your Highness.” Betty bowed, before the servant that Azula had pointed to started to lead the wall into the palace. The inside of the palace was just as beautifully decorated, from porcelain vases embroidered with carvings and designs to the portraits on the walls to even the designs of the torch holders, made of gold and filled with a brightly burning flame. They passed courtyards that were beautifully decorated with flowers, ponds, statues, lilypads, bushes trimmed to resemble different animals, and turtle-ducks, swimming in the ponds. There were never things this nice in the South Pole! Well, things that weren’t the many creative games that Kat and her siblings came up with. Every time there was a new one, all the kids in the neighborhood would rush to the park to participate in one of them.

Eventually they came to a closed in hallway that was long and the walls were covered with doors. The servant stopped and stepped aside. “These will be your quarters during your stay.” She said. “Commander, I will show you to your quarters right after this.” Betty nodded, then turned to look at everyone. “Girls, you are free to explore the city during your stay, at the appropriate times. But only in Capital City, and not Harbor City.” She announced. “You must be back at noon for lunch, and at 5 in the evening for dinner and curfew. Understood?” Kat and everyone else nodded. She couldn’t wait to explore the city!

“Guess this means two to a room, huh?” Kat turned around to see Stacy smiling at the door, tugging at her bag. Kat smiled back, before putting her bag down on the floor and collapsing on the left bed. It was SOOOO soft and cozy! It was nothing like the rather stiff bed that she shared with Kim back at the South Pole. A pang of nostalgia hit her. If only Kim could be here to see and feel all of this, and Allen, and Wenny…. “Stacy, would you choose to live with your family and life back in the South Pole, or to spend your life here, where everything is so….royal?” Kat asked out loud. “Well,” Stacy started uncertainly, “this is definitely very tempting. I’ve never felt something like this before, and I can’t imagine what the service would be like. But my life back home isn’t terrible either. I have a great family, a good home, and we aren’t in any trouble with the Fire Nation. That is more important to me than riches and extreme comfort.”

“Me too.” Kat quietly agreed. For a second, she imagined that she and her family were Fire Nation royalty. They could have such a good life and still be with each other! But the minute she considered that, Kat shook the idea out fiercely. The Fire Nation royalty were all cruel, cunning, and manipulative. If they had been born royalty, there was no way that their lives would be so happy and free. “Hey, Stacy, can you hold off unpacking for a bit?” Kat grinned, turning to face her green eyed friend. “‘Cause I’m so ready to start exploring Capital City!” *** “GAAH! FIRE FLAKES! TOO HOT!” Kat giggled as Vixella ran around in circles with her arms in the air. What did she expect? It was fire flakes, after all! Stacy was also giggling. “Here, have some watermelon juice.” Stacy handed her one of the watermelons to Vixella, who must’ve gulped down half of it in one go. She then relaxed, sighing, relieved.

“Now I’m glad I got the sweet buns instead.” Kat snickered. “I hope the fire gummies aren’t as hot,” Stacy said concernedly, glancing down at her cup of fire gummies. She popped one into her mouth, and her eyes comically widened, her face blushing red. Stacy took a big gulp of watermelon juice, before shaking her head intensely. “Nope.” “Oh dear.” Kat frowned. “Is everything here going to be this spicy? I hope not.” “Don’t get your hopes up.” Stacy panted. “If fire gummies, which are supposed to be sweet, are this spicy, I doubt anything would be less.” “Ice cream! Get your ice cream here!” Kat turned to see a vendor on the side of the street, with a cart of ice cream. “You know what, let’s all get some non-spicy ice cream.” Kat suggested, grinning mischievously. “There’s no way that can be spicy!” Kat, Stacy, and Vixella walked up to the ice cream stand, and all decided on one delicious flavor.

“Three strawberry cones, please.” Kat said politely, handing him three copper coins. The man took the coins, and scooped up three strawberry ice creams for them. Kat took two and gave them to Stacy and Vixella. “If this ice cream is spicy, I swear I’m going to make my own food in the royal kitchens.” Vixella muttered. The three of them all took a bite of the ice cream, and thankfully, it was not spicy. It was cool and sweet, like what all ice cream should be. “Yeah. I’d warn you away from all things that have ‘Fire’ in its name.” Kat turned around to see a boy around their age with dark brown hair and green eyes standing behind them, smiling. “I learned that the hard way when I first came here.” “Thanks for the advice,” Stacy joked. “What’s your name?” “I’m Joel.” The boy introduced. “I’m actually from New Ozai, but my father is a carpenter and he has a client here in Capital City. I came along to learn from him.”

“Nice to meet you, Joel.” Kat said. “Is this your first time in Capital City too?” “I’ve actually been here a couple of times before, along with my father,” Joel admitted. “I have to say, my favorite part of Capital City would be the Royal Palace. The architecture is just stunning!” “I can see where you’re coming from,” Vixella agreed. “but I like the liveliness of the city itself more. It’s something I’ve never seen before.” “Really?” Joel blinked. “Where do you come from?” “The Southern Water Tribe.” Kat responded. Joel’s expression morphed into one of sympathy. “Oh,” he said. “I see. The recent introduction of active Fire Nation soldiers there had caused the relationship between the natives and firebenders to be…rather tense. At least, that’s what Father told me.” “Man, this talk is making me crave a bowl of Water Tribe noodles,” Stacy mumbled, rubbing her stomach with one hand.

“Well, I don’t know of a restaurant in Capital City that serves Water Tribe cuisine, but I do know someone who does know how to make Water Tribe noodles!” Joel offered. “She doesn’t live far from here, in fact. I can take you guys to her!” “You’re too kind.” Stacy refused politely. “I’ll be fine.” “She and her brother are actually from the Southern Water Tribe, you know.” Joel went on. “They came as children. Sapphire’s been longing for someone from their birth nation to talk to!” Kat’s eyes widened. “Really?” She asked excitedly. Joel nodded comfirmatively. “C’mon! I’ll lead the way.” He said, beckoning for them to follow as he headed down the street. Kat exchanged looks with Stacy and Vixella, who both gave shrugs.

“I’ve never met someone as nice as Joel before!” Kat thought as they followed. “But that is a bit suspicious. Is he just a kind soul, or plotting something?” “Are we safe with him?” *** “Who knocks at the garden gate?” Kat could see a single blue eye through the peephole. She looked promising! Water Tribe people often had blue eyes. She did! But what she said…made no sense at all. “One who has eaten the fruit and tasted its mysteries.” Joel responded. Apparently what she had said made complete sense to the boy, which puzzled Kat even further. What kind of a secret code was that? The wooden door opened, revealing a woman probably in her 30s or 40s. She was wearing a red tunic, like everyone else in the Fire Nation(of course), but the rest of her features screamed Water Tribe. Ocean blue eyes, dark brown hair, tanned skin. Kat was feeling gleeful about this, for some reason. Why? …the author and Kat do not know.

“Hey, Joel! I see you brought some friends along!” The woman greeted them with a wide smile on her face, before turning to them. “Sorry about the code. We had some issues with robbers in the past.” “It’s okay.” Kat responded. “Makes perfect sense.” The woman stepped aside, opening the door wide. “Come on in!” She smiled. Kat and the others stepped inside, which was a very cozy apartment. The first thing she noticed was the different color schemes. Not everything was a solid red or black or yellow. On one table, there was a small earthen statue of a fire ferret in a sedate shade of green, most likely from the Earth Kingdom. There were also some minor bits and pieces painted blue, like the wooden edge of the mirror, the frame holding up the lantern on the ceiling, and the edge of the center rug. “...seriously, T—Dung! I don’t know how to get through to you! Stop leaving dirt trails all over the house!” An unfamiliar voice shouted.

“Well you stop intruding in my business! I thought Sapphire was supposed to be the mom, huh?” Another voice retorted. “Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” The woman that had answered the door said, crossing her arms as two people walked into the living room. One looked like he was also from the Water Tribe, with his blue eyes and tanned skin. The other girl looked significantly shorter and her eyes were glazed over. “Wang! Dung! We have some visitors!” Joel called. The two snapped out from their deep conversation, noticing Kat and the others. “Oh, hi!” The guy, Wang, greeted. “My name is Wang. What are your names?” “I’m Kat, and these are my friends Stacy and Vixella.” Kat quickly responded. “We’re from the Southern Water Tribe.” Stacy added. “Really? That’s amazing! Wang and I are from there too!” The first woman who answered the door exclaimed. “Oh, and by the way, I’m Sapphire.”

“Nice to meet you, Sapphire!” Stacy smiled. “Joel brought us here because of Water Tribe noodles.” Kat punched Stacy’s shoulder playfully. “Be more specific, Stace!” She teased. “We’re here because Stacy said she wanted Water Tribe noodles and Joel said he knew someone who could make them.” Vixella said, crossing her arms. “Well I sure can!” Sapphire smiled warmly. “Come sit with us; I have a lot of questions! I haven’t been to the South Pole since I was a child!” Kat smiled back. “Of course!” *Insert You’ll Be On My Mind here* Kat had to admit, she was really enjoying herself. Normally, she was antisocial and shy around strangers(especially soldiers), but there was something about Sapphire that made her open up and chat openly as if Kat had known this woman for years.

She could feel the impenetrable barrier in the back of her mind growing warm. Whenever Kat descended on it, she was filled with…undesirable snippets. Each would last less than a second, and just make her head hurt. Most of them went too fast to make out any details, but Kat caught a glimpse of…a theater? And…ice and snow? But what stood out the most, and lasted the longest, was the face of a young girl with ocean blue eyes, just like hers and Sapphire’s. Stacy was really enjoying the time as well. She had struck up a conversation with Wang, who kinda reminded Kat of Betty with his terrible puns. And of course, halfway through, Sapphire left and came back with a steaming pot of Water Tribe noodles. They tasted just like the ones served at McSouth’s, or even better, like the ones Mother made.

Even Vixella was settling in, making small talk with Dung and Joel. Seeing her so relaxed, gave Kat hope that they could become lifelong friends in the future. If the circumstances let them. ♪ You’ll be on mind ♪ Modernization, funny skits, to even fashion trends they talked about. Time flew by so quickly that day, and it made Kat feel like she was back home, chatting with her siblings while munching on seal blubber jerky. ♪ I’ll be dreaming ‘bout this ‘till the end of time ♪ The laughs they had while talking about Betty’s accident with the town’s fountain, the hardcore expressions while playing some cards at one point, their sleepy faces after devouring the entire pot of noodles. ♪ We are young, we are free, down for the ride ♪ But like everything in the world, it came to an end at some point. ♪ Might be over tomorrow but we got to stay forever ♪ This day was definitely going to be on Kat’s mind for quite some time. End of song

“If I had a butter knife, I would’ve killed you all sooner!” The echoes of ghost Wenny shouted. “Demon in the vents! Murber!” Betty added as well. Kat glared at the translucent apparitions. “Shut up ghosts! You’re not supposed to be talking!” She snapped. “She did get this from you, Wenny.” Betty retorted crossly, crossing her arms(do ghosts have arms?). “You were the one pretending to be a frog or squirrel in the vents that one time! And then Kim copied you as well!” “This was your intention that one time on Polus, wasn’t it?” Wenny shot back. “To be evil imposter twins with Kat! But then she betrayed you with a stabbing in cams!” “Stupid dead ghosts, shut up!” Kat shouted loudly. All of a sudden, the cafeteria faded away into darkness, and everything turned into crumbling clay that fell into the abyss. She was left standing on nothingness, surrounded by nothingness. Then she fell.

Down, down, down, to the very place Kat had been a couple days ago. Except the hole on the impenetrable barrier had turned into a large crack, leaving a large crevasse in between. It radiated death, doom, and darkness from afar. But inside…was a whole other story. *Insert Red Like Roses, Part 1* Darkness. A dark, twisted tree. And the many appendages of what seemed to be a giant scorpion, many times the size of Kat. And then… The face of a beautiful woman with flawless, porcelain skin and long, black hair, staring right at her. *** A short, buff guy standing in front of Kat. A sea of green behind him. Golden metal fans at the edge of her vision. Then lava. Heat. The shaking of the earth. Strong winds blowing wildly. Everything seemed to become dizzy and unfocused, as the world blended together into a mushy mess of dull colors.

♪ Red like roses fills my dreams and brings me to the place you rest ♪ Kat felt like she was swimming in pitch black quicksand. She could feel her arms and legs getting heavy, as she fell down towards a distant light. ♪ White is cold and always yearning, burdened by a royal test ♪ Suddenly, Kat was in a different place. A place where ash and soot littered the skies, lava and half molten rocks being chucked out of some place behind her. The ground trembling as fierce as a dragon. And an old man wearing red standing in front of her, staring down with merciless amber eyes. ♪ Black the beast descends from shadows ♪ Kat was struggling to see what was going on. The man seemed to have left, rocks and lava were still constantly sailing above her head, and a scaly red beast seemed to have curled around her.

♪ Yellow beauty burns gold ♪ The scene blacked out and switched to yet another crazy, unexplainable sight. Kat was confused. Wasn’t she just playing some murder game with her siblings? How did she get here? White. White. White. That was all she could see. A blinding white light. Then, Shocking pain went through Kat’s body. It felt like she had been electrocuted or something! Electric blue and black crept along the edge of her vision. The scene flickered. Blue and black were taking over the white. The sound of a door slamming and something being locked. Falling. Zooming along the Si Wong Desert, then returning to a girl with chocolate brown hair. It was all so confusing… “Back for more, brat?” Yet it wasn’t at the same time.

Kat turned around to see the same Fire Nation soldier from the zombie dream. Everything about him seemed so familiar, and brought a sense of dread and terror upon her. But she had never met this man before! At least, she couldn’t remember ever meeting him. The dreams—no, visions came flooding back in. Or maybe, memories. Fire. A freezing half cylinder room. Hundreds of Fire navy ships in the sea. Phoenix King Ozai staring down at her triumphantly, for some reason. As Kat fell even further down, the memories became more rigid and flaky, as if it could shatter with one touch. A giant moving island with the face of a lion. A black spirit, with ominous red markings. A light version of the spirit, with glowing white energy radiating from its body. “He will return again.” A voice suddenly whispered. Kat was quite startled, looking around in midair for the source of the voice. There was nothing, except for half destroyed memories she was sailing past.

Then she landed. On what seemed to be an ancient tree. Kat looked up, and saw the trunk extend far up, back to the surface of the barrier. She then noticed one memory, embedded in the heart of the tree. A fragile orb, intertwined within the wood. Kat carefully reached out to touch it, not wanting to destroy such a precious thing. The moment her fingers made contact, the wood parted and the orb floated up towards her. Kat gently took the orb from midair, and brushed aside some of the tree dust on its surface. It unearthed a blinding white light that shot high up into the sky like a beacon of hope. Then the light morphed into the shape of the same spirit Kat had seen in an earlier vision. Pure white body and yellowish-blue markings. A second beacon lit into the sky, this one glowing black, and morphed into the second spirit. Black body and blood red markings. If the white spirit was the embodiment of light, this one would be the embodiment of darkness.

Then the two locked gazes(can spirits do that?), before charging at each other. Kat watched with curiosity as the two lunged towards each other with extreme ferocity. They locked into a ball, constantly struggling to keep the other at bay. “They’re like ying and ying,” Kat realized. The struggle between the forces of good and evil, represented perfectly by these two spirits right here. After some long(and boring) tussling, the light spirit finally managed to ground the other spirit. She(do spirits have gender? Kat was so clueless to everything spiritual. It wasn’t like they had a Spirits 101 course in Shuang High) stood triumphantly above the dark spirit, staring down coldly. “Darkness shall not rule the world this time!” She declared. “I will not allow it to destroy this realm!” “Oh, don’t worry about it, Raava,” he snarled. “I will be back one day. Keep that in mind.”

With that, the dark spirit dissipated, leaving only the light spirit(Raava?) left. The scene then faded away into minuscule specks of white dust, blown away by the hot, dry breeze. Suddenly, all the memories Kat had fell past came crashing down, shattering like glass when it hit something. She instinctively shielded herself from the downpour, but nothing came. Kat opened one eye to see what had happened. Instead of standing in a field of sharp glass, all the memories were now orbs intertwined in the branches of the ancient, tall tree, each emitting a pale glow. “These are your memories, Kat.” The same mysterious voice whispered. “No, these aren’t!” Kat protested. “How do I even play out in some of these scenes? Some of the orbs are thousands of years old! I’m 13!” She felt the hot breeze growing stronger, whipping her hair wildly around the void. Kat swore she saw a spark at one point.

“Yes, they are. You’re special, a—” The voice continued, but it zoned out in the ever-growing stronger wind. The sparks Kat had been seeing earlier turned into small flames the size of a marble each, which grew larger and larger until it was a roaring dragon tornado. “A firestorm,” Kat thought, her heart skipping a beat. She had heard of these deadly, rare, self-sustaining flaming tornadoes before. They happened every once in awhile in the Earth Kingdom. How did one start in her mind? Kat had no idea. The firestorm lurched out towards her with one of its fiery tentacles, grabbing her leg and swinging her upwards. Kat felt like her insides were about to explode, as she was tossed and spun around by the firestorm. They were going up, up, up, past the ancient orbs and coming by some of the newer ones she actually remembered. The tornado shattered what was left of the Impenetrable Barrier, and continued to surge upward. But it was growing weaker the further up.

Kat squinted at the faint light coming from above her. There it was; her consciousness. She could almost reach it…but that was when the firestorm vaporized and turned into plumes of smoke. Kat desperately tried to grab on, before she plummeted back into the roots of the darkness, but to no avail. Kat almost lost hope—until her hand caught onto one of the glistening, dangling white vines. Sparing not a single second, Kat instantly climbed up the vine, determined to get out. When she reached the glowing barrier, Kat tried punching it to break open a hole, but all it did was make her fist really hurt. Looking around, she spotted a large, sharp thorn on the other side of the vine. Kat broke off the tip, and smashed the barrier with the thorn. Some of the barrier cracked and fell off, leaving a hole the size of an orange.

Renewed with energy, Kat continued to stab at the barrier until the hole was big enough for her to climb up. She wasted no time in crawling up, onto the blinding white light— End of song *** “GAAH!” Kat gasped as she swiftly sat up in bed, sweating profusely. She looked around, trying to see if anything had changed. But everything looked like what it had been when she went to sleep. The two four poster beds on opposite sides of the room, the elegant nightstands next to them, the faint moonlight coming in through the light silk curtains. The only difference Kat noticed was the fact that the poster bed to her left was empty. She was confused; where had Stacy gone? The bathroom? But the small lavatory to her right wasn’t lit up either! So where could her friend be?

*Ten minutes earlier* Stacy laid in her bed, staring at the crimson ceiling, bored as ever. It was around 1 in the morning, and she felt no exhaustion at all. To her right, Kat was sound asleep, letting out loud snores and occasionally twitching, for some reason. So instead of counting koala-sheep or singing herself a lullaby(she had tried that three hours ago), Stacy decided to think about the recent turn of events. First, the notes. Why there were weird notes scattered about the ship had been a complete mystery to her. Stacy didn’t know what they were supposed to mean, either, as they had been unsuccessful at deciphering the clues. Plus, Kat refusing to join in made it all much more frustrating as full. Why wouldn’t her funny, silly, friend participate in such a thrilling mystery? It was okay to break the rules every once in a while! Plus, she had no problem in pranking the owner of South Delights every week!

But…the minute the owner had threatened to report them to the soldiers, Kat had backed out immediately. She stopped going to South Delights, and avoided the shop and the owner at all costs. It was so confusing to Stacy, who had only been 6 at the time. The guards in the south didn’t care about rules and whatnot. If the bakery man had called the soldiers, they would have ignored the issue. Everyone in their village knew that! But Kat never took any risks that involved soldiers. Stacy decided to put that thought aside for now, and went onto the next strange event. In New Ozai, she had had a spectacular time. The mail cart systems, the statue, even the New Ozai Field Museum that had been labeled dull and unimpressive back home. But Stacy had heard that during Kat’s time, she fainted halfway through and didn’t wake up until they were back on the ship. That had worried Stacy a lot at first, but later the worry had morphed into confusion.

Why would Kat faint all of a sudden? She wasn’t sick or ill, to Stacy’s knowledge, and hadn’t acted weird recently…oh wait she kinda did. But that was still unexplainable. And finally, the biggest shock of all, the northern raiders and her waterbending abilities. The Raiders boarding the ship, seeing all the death, death, and doom, was already traumatizing enough for Stacy, but finding out that she was a waterbender? It stunned her for the rest of the day. Speaking of waterbending… Stacy sat up, scanning the room several times cautiously, making sure that no one was awake and definitely not watching her. There was only Kat in here with her, to her knowledge, but who knows who could be watching?

She soundlessly slipped out of bed, and walked over to their bedroom window. Stacy glanced over at Kat one more time, before quietly unlocking the window hatch and pushing the glass open. The cool night air flowed in eagerly, gently whistling a nighttime lullaby. The stars twinkled like little flames in tiny lanterns, and the moon shone brightly(and eerily) above. Stacy carefully climbed out, making sure not to scratch the white walls or make a loud landing. Once she was out, Stacy snuck towards the sheltered pond behind the walls. Everyone knew of the famous turtle-duck pond in the Royal Palace, which was a place that held many memories for many of the royal family’s childhoods. But few knew about the other pond, hidden in between two rooms with no doors or windows outlooking the place. But Stacy had read many books on the Royal Palace, and already knew the place like the back of her hand(even though she had never been here before).

Clambering onto the roof, Stacy tried to stay low as she briskly walked towards the gap in the tiled rooftop. Without even looking, she jumped down the instant she was close enough. This pond was definitely less well-kept. The pond’s edges were jagged and faded into mud at some parts. The grass and bushes were overgrown and uneven. Vines crawled up the white walls, their thorns threatening anyone that dared to touch them. Cobwebs hung from the dusty corners, where their hosts were feasting on the abundance of insects that they had caught in their webs. Stacy approached the pond in the center, stopping at the edge. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. What she had seen on the ship…Stacy had to make sure that it had not just been an illusion, a figure of her imagination. She soaked her hands in the cold water, putting forth her full concentration. Slowly, Stacy lifted her hands out of the pond. The water was still there.

Stacy opened her eyes, and blinked several times to make sure that what she was seeing was real. The water was clinging to her hands, even after she had lifted them out of the pond. She had not been seeing things. What happened on the ship was not an illusion. Stacy was a waterbender. For real. “That’s a neat trick right there. Who knew that waterbending could be so peaceful as well?” Stacy jumped, letting the water fall to the ground, and spun around to see a cloaked figure standing in the shadows. She started to panic. Someone had seen her waterbend. Stacy was in hot water(no pun intended haha). “Don’t worry. I’m not gonna turn you in.” The person reassured monotonously. “You might as well be the only waterbender left in the Southern Water Tribe. It would be such a shame to see such a young soul, a young spark of hope, go to waste.”

Stacy relaxed by an inch. He/she said they wouldn’t turn her in, but if there was one thing she had learned over the years, it was to never 100% trust someone from the Fire Nation, soldier or not. The mysterious person extended a hand. “Come with me.” “I—why should I trust you?” Stacy asked suspiciously. “Sometimes, you just have to take a leap of faith.” The guy responded vaguely. Stacy hesitantly took the hand, preparing for the worst. But that did not mean she was expecting a pillar of earth to boost them up back onto the roof. “AAAAA—” Stacy shrieked, but was cut out by a hand on her mouth. Even through the dark red cloak, she could see emerald eyes glaring at her. “Do you want all the soldiers to find us?” He hissed. “Well you never told me you were an earthbender!” Stacy retorted hotly. She was about to ditch the guy and head back to her room when a voice sounded from behind. “What is going on here?”

Stacy swung around to see another cloaked figure standing behind them. The first stranger’s green eyes flashed with brief panic, before switching over to decisive. “I’m really sorry about this,” he said, before something hit her hard on the back of her head and everything went black. “I really messed up.” Stacy thought as her consciousness faded away. *** Lizzie blocked another blow from the elite swordsman, retaliating with a nimble jab of her own. The swordsman staggered back, losing his footing for a second. Lizzie took this opportunity to knock out her opponent, finishing the spar with a powerful kick to the stomach. The swordsman was flung across the courtyard, and hit one of the support pillars with an ‘oof.’ Lizzie brushed nonexistent dirt off her hands, staring triumphantly at her fallen opponent.

“Excellent, Pupil Elizabeth.” Master Piandao acknowledged from the sidelines. “Your style has evolved drastically since we began. It is truly unique and yours.” Lizzie smirked. “What’s next, sir?” She asked. “I believe it is time that you chose your own weapon.” Master Piandao responded thoughtfully. “Come with me.” Lizzie could barely restrain her excitement as she followed the elderly man away from the courtyard and into the labyrinth of halls that made up the palace. They took an oh so familiar route to a large room, which was Master Piandao’s temporary bedroom and workshop. Lizzie knew about the collection of different unique weapons in there, but had never seen them firsthand.

Master Piandao slid open the doors, revealing…what looked more like a blacksmith shop than a bedroom. There were weapons everywhere. Everywhere! On the ground, stacked and displayed on shelves or just leaning against something, attached to little clips on the walls, and Lizzie swore she saw a bunch more inside a large metal chest. It was breathtaking. Lizzie walked over to the nearest weapon, which looked like an enlarged metal boomerang. The end curving inward was sharp and shiny, but the outer edge had some…boxy stuff attached to it. Lizzie examined the weird contraptions curiously. “We have been experimenting with some new weapons lately.” Master Piandao commented as he walked over. “What you are holding is a Shooterang. It works like a boomerang, but can shoot sharp blades attached to durable strings with the press of a button. Kinda like retractable arrows.”

“These…are very unique.” Lizzie commented, barely able to hold in her excitement and maintain a formal appearance. “Feel free to check out all the weapons in the room. We have some of the newest and most advanced technology here.” Master Piandao said, as he walked over to his large wooden desk. Lizzie didn’t need to be told twice, as she started checking out weapon After weapon. Claw bracelets, saw armbands, metal crossbows that could be folded into a sword. They were all so amazing, but none really called to her. Not even the axe with an arrow shooter. Then, as she was walking over to a pair of roller skates that had detachable, foldable swords and the ability to boost the wearer’s speed with firebending, Lizzie stumbled and almost tripped over something. As she caught her footing, Lizzie looked down to see what had almost tripped her.

It was what looked like a metal chain, except instead of hollow metal ovals, it was made up of small, sharp, square metal pieces who gleamed in the light. Lizzie glanced over to its mother weapon. It was a midnight black katana with a cylindrical shape thingy next to the holding part, where the user could reel back in the chain. Lizzie approached the weapon curiously. There was something about it that made her feel excited. She had yet to touch it, but Lizzie already felt like she had known the blade for a long time.

Master Piandao noticed her curiosity towards the katana and smiled. “Ah, that would be one of our newest additions. The blade works like a normal katana, but the interesting part is the metal chain attached to it. The metal on the edges is sharpened to extremes, so it can slice through objects easily, just like a knife. It can cut through wood and leave a significant dent in other metals! The cylinder that the chain is actually retractable, so the chain can quickly be ready for use in battle. The hard part would be wrapping the chain around it again after you’re done using it…”

Lizzie picked up the weapon and walked over to some of the dummies in Master Piandao’s room. She unsheathed the katana and sliced at it swiftly, leaving the wooden dummy beheaded and chopped into pieces. Lizzie then pushed back the cylinder, like Master Piandao had said, and let the chain fall to the ground. She then tested out the chain on another dummy. It worked just as well as the blade—better, even! If it could do as much damage to wood as a sword, Lizzie couldn’t imagine what it would do to flesh. “This is it.” Lizzie said out loud. “It’s perfect for me. I can feel it.”

“A weapon is an extension of your body. Some even feel so attached that it’s like the weapon is a part of themselves.” Master Piandao commented, as he stood up and walked slowly towards her. “I remember the day I picked my sword. The feeling I got…it was indescribable, yet amazing.” “Don’t waste your time talking about the stuff I know.” Lizzie thought absentmindedly, as she twirled her katana around. The rest of Master Piandao’s monologue quickly zoned out, and she was only brought back to the real world by the sound of the door sliding open. Lizzie immediately looked towards the door, annoyed at whoever had interrupted them. But that annoyance soon turned into exasperation and, even she would never admit to anyone else or even herself, a little bit of fear.

“Hey, darling.” An o so sickeningly familiar voice purred. “How have things been going so far?” It was Duye. Duye was probably the most annoying person in the world. Scratch that, he definitely 100% was the most annoying person in the world. It was a miracle how he could maintain his disgusting character, even through all the character transformation and diplomacy lessons he had gone through, as he was from a highly respected noble family. And the worst part was, Lizzie was engaged to that big, empty bag of foam.

“We were just picking out my new weapon, Duye,” Lizzie responded icily, trying very hard to not let the venom slip through. “It would be very kind of you to leave us be now.” “But I had some free time, and what better way to spend it than to be with the Crown Princess, who just happens to be my fiancé?” Duye smirked back. Lizzie swore one of her veins popped. “It was very nice of you to pop in, but it’s now time for you to go.” Master Piandao cut in, staring at Duye with a very exasperated and irritated look. “And I believe I was very clear that no one, other than the Fire Lord and Phoenix King, could come in without my permission.” The smirk on Duye’s face was quickly replaced by a scowl that he was not trying to hide at all. “Fine,” he spat. “I’ll leave. But my dear, you can’t evade me forever.” Duye’s scowl returned to a scheming grin. “And do remember, our wedding is coming up in less than a month.”

“That is quite enough, Mr. Weng.” Master Piandao growled. “Go.” Without another word, Duye slammed the door shut, causing some of the more unstable items in the room to tremble slightly. “I cannot wait until we have to get married.” Lizzie deadpanned. Master Piandao let out a chortle. “I am also glad you have a sense of humor, Pupil Elizabeth,” Master Piandao commented with a small grin on his face, before his expression morphed into a more serious(and slightly concerned) one. “but in all seriousness, I do wish young Duye learns to mind his words and actions. Your mother and grandfather are not blind, after all.” “I completely agree.” Lizzie responded, staring at the closed door. The sooner she was rid of Duye, the better. That worm would be better off not being Fire Lord.

*** “Is the mission almost done, father?” “Don’t worry a thing about it. It’s certainly done. I’ve already sent the assassins. Nothing can put my granddaughter, and our glorious nation’s future, in jeopardy.” “Good.”

Which part?

Oh I see it now it’s death, doom and darkness

The girls had all been woken up bright and early in the morning(“I would KILL the person who ordered the servants to wake us at this time, if it wasn’t most likely the Fire Lord herself!” Vixella complained), and ushered to one of the grand lavatories of the palace. Each of them had been given their own private bathroom, all the washing supplies and functions on the bathtub that a girl would ever dream of, and 45 minutes to wash up. The bathtubs had each been the size of a queen sized bed, filled with rose petals and oils, and heated to just the right temperature. There were all different kinds of shampoos, conditioners, body washes, and even more products lined up against the golden trim of the bathtub, along with a list of instructions. It was something like what their local spa offered, but enhanced 100 times.

After Kat had finished bathing, she put on her wrappings and a bathrobe before walking and heading to the ‘makeup section,’ as the instructions had phrased it. Kat was very torn between feeling super relaxed and pampered, or nervous as heck. Her mind was a tornado, displacing all her thoughts and causing a throbbing headache. Uhh… Then Kat spotted Stacy and Vixella over at one corner, chatting away as the servants rushed around with oils and brushes and makeup. Conveniently enough, there was an empty seat right between the two. She briskly scurried towards them, not wanting someone to take the seat at the last minute. “Oh, hey there, Kat!” Stacy smiled as she walked over. “Isn’t this amazing? I’ve never felt so pampered before!”

“It’s suuuuuper lovely.” Kat responded with some giddiness. “But I still can’t decide if I’m excited or absolutely terrified.” Vixella and Stacy chuckled at the last statement. “Tell you what, I kinda feel that way as well.” Vixella grinned. “Mixed in with some anger. Okay, a lot of anger.” She added after Stacy and Kat had given her dubious looks. “Makes complete sense.” Stacy commented. “We’re about to meet the most powerful and feared ruler in the world. But don’t worry; if we do everything right and not get cocky, nothing bad will happen.” “That’s not always true,” Vixella muttered bitterly, turning away.

“C’mon, Vixella! Even the Phoenix King wouldn’t stoop that low, to bully and punish people for doing nothing!” Kat chuckled. Then she realized what those words that had slipped could do, and quickly looked around to make sure no one had heard her. Thankfully, most of the servants were on the other side of the room. Speaking of them… A dozen servants carrying a plethora of items walked over to the trio. Some held trays full of fresh fruits and snacks. Others held clean, steaming towels in woven bamboo baskets. The rest were juggling with fragile bottles of perfumes, oils, creams, and other cosmetics, miraculously not even appearing to be struggling with carrying all the glass items. Kat assumed that their confidence was from years of experience with carrying multiple fragile items.

Without an explanation or anything, the maids instantly went to work. For Kat, they first put a cooling mask on her face, which smelled faintly of cucumbers. Next, two of them started to work on her fingernails. A third maid was combing through her royal blue hair. Not very gently though, as Kat winced at the tugging. Kat sat through the (technically not) awkward silence, just glancing around while the servants worked. The large room was filled with the sounds of scraping, metallic items clanging against each other, and the occasional splashes of water. Kat definitely preferred the tranquil bathroom to this weirdness. This gave her some time to think about the strange dream she had had two nights ago. Kat was starting to suspect that the weird twists were not just figures of her imagination, but they might have some aspect of reality to them. Just how they ended up beneath the Impenetrable Barrier? Kat was clueless.

Speaking of the Impenetrable Barrier… Should it even be called that anymore? After all, Kat had pierced it twice now, if she remembered correctly. Before, the barrier was a strong, unforgiving wall of steel that ran infinitely inside her mind, and not revealing one bit about what secrets it held beneath. Now, it was more like an old, brittle shell. It still looked strong on the outside, but if you hit it in the right places, the barrier would crumble and leave an opening in its walls. Maybe it could be called the Penetrable Barrier? No, there were still times when she couldn’t get through. Sometimes-Crackable Barrier? Too long. About-To-Break Barrier? Pfffff! That’s just weird! Kat ended up chortling at the last idea.

“What’s so funny?” Vixella asked curiously. “Nothing, nothing.” Kat responded. “Just thinking about stuff.” Kat then started to think about how things would go after this trip was over. So much had happened in such a short amount of time…Kim, Wenny, and Allen would be soooo jealous! Could she ever go back to renting out podcasts with the krew and recording their vlogs? Without bragging about her adventure every two seconds, anyway? Kat was snapped out of her thoughts by one of the maids lifting the mask from her face. They then started to rub all sorts of oils and creams onto her face, also spraying her with perfume every once in a while. All the overwhelming scents of lavender and sea salt and sunflower was starting to make her head throb.

“...meetings across the Fire Nation weren’t enough. They’re expanding to the Earth Kingdom and Southern Water Tribe now!” One of the maids that were applying some cool, mint green cream to her face whispered quietly. Not quietly enough anyways, as Kat was still able to hear her. “Really?” Another maid responded curiously. “I wonder how many supporters they’ll rally that are not from the Fire Nation.” Kat narrowed her eyes. Just what were they talking about? Meetings, expansion, rallies? Some kind of revolution? Coven? Cult? Whatever they were talking about, it didn’t sound good so far. Unfortunately, the next part of their conversation was cut off by them walking away briefly to retrieve a hairbrush, but came back soon enough. “....Lotus wants nothing to do with any revolutions.” Well, out goes that theory. “All they want to do is aid those similar to them.”

“Well, I think it won’t be long before they start taking drastic and violent measures to burn those revolutions to the ground.” The second maid commented. “So hey, have you heard about the Firebending Ferret? Leona says they’re on fire!...” Their conversation faded out as they left to get something else, leaving Kat frustrated and mystified. Whenever she caught wind of something fishy, Kat absolutely 100% needed to get to the bottom of it. Well, unless it involved angering soldiers. “What? No way! Yellow goes horribly with purple! Do something else. Like typical red!” Kat glanced to her left, where Vixella was arguing loudly with the maids over what color eyeshadow she should wear. Knowing the stubborn, strong-willed girl, she would probably get her way with wearing red eyeshadow. “How about white? White goes well with everything!” Stacy suggested.

“No, no, white is only allowed for solemn and religious occasions!” One of the older maids shook her head fiercely. “Plus, Phoenix King Ozai especially requested for yellow to be the main theme at this event.” “Stop arguing and just go with yellow, Vixella.” Kat said, mildly amused by how serious the maids were acting over such a small detail. “Plus, if Phoenix King Ozai requested it, we should just follow it.” Stacy shot Kat a look of concern, which made her slightly nervous. Kat had done her best to hide her Other Self from everyone else, but she feared that sooner or later, the cat would be out of the bag. The rest of the time passed by them having a random conversation about aquatic game ideas, and they ended up talking about llamas. The maids were taking quite a while to finish everything; then again, it was all a super expensive and exquisite experience, so of course it would be this long. And boring.

After the maids had finished doing what just seemed like rubbing a bunch of creams and oils onto their faces, Kat and the others were led to another room, which was lavishly decorated with lots of red silks, velvets, and fabrics. Mannequins lined the walls, each with a copy of the same dress on it. Each of the gowns were made of scarlet silk, with a crimson velvet waistline and many different layers and jewels embedded within. From layered orange fabrics peeking out at the bottom to tiny sapphires and emeralds studded into the hem of the dress, there was a lot to marvel at about the stunning frocks. “Are we going to be wearing these?” Stacy breathed in, her eyes wider than Kat had ever seen them before. “That’s right!” A tailor that Kat hadn’t noticed until now responded proudly. “Nothing too much, but still respectable, in the Phoenix King’s standards.”

“This is nothing too much?” Vixella gaped. “I’ve never seen something this extravagant in my whole life! How much did it cost for all those diamonds sewn in at the sleeves?” “Well, we are at the heart of the Fire Nation, in the home of the richest family on the planet,” Kat commented, amused at her friends’ expressions. “this probably won’t even make a dent in their deep, deep pockets!” “Of course not!” The tailor scoffed from the side(who Kat had already forgotten about again). “Even the most extortionate gowns wouldn’t stop this royal family in terms of money!” He then clapped his hands, gaining the attention of all the girls. “Now, everyone, pick a dress and change into your dress in one of the dressing rooms to the left. In ten minutes, we’ll be leaving for the exam courtyard!”

Kat eagerly rushed up to the nearest mannequin. She took a minute just to admire the beauty of everything on the dress. Everything from the embellished gems to the silken feeling of the fabric(no pun intended, ha ha) to even the fine golden embroidery near the hems. Only after that did she take the gown off the mannequin, and rushed into the nearest vacant dressing room with it. Once she had put on the divine gown, Kat took a good look at herself in the mirror adjacent to the door. She looked absolutely stunning; it was beauty beyond words(a.k.a I don’t know how to describe what she looks like). But there was one last thing to do before she went outside. Kat took out the little yellow clip she had made, and replaced the sapphire on the choker with it. It may not be expensive or gorgeous, like everything else on the dress, but it held a special place in her heart and Kat needed this to complete the look.

Kat stepped outside the dressing room, trying to find where Stacy and Vixella were. Doing that was like…well, finding a needle in a haybale. Everyone looked exactly the same, with the same outfit on. It didn’t help that quite a number of the girls had dyed hair as well. “Kat! Over here!” Kat spun around to see two familiar faces standing next to the exit. Stacy also looked stunning in her gown. Meanwhile, Vixella was a whole other story. Her lavender colored hair really clashed badly with the bright reds and oranges. But then again, one look at her expression would give you the full summary. “Wow. You guys look awesome!” Kat complimented as she walked over. “Same to you!” Stacy grinned back. “Unfortunately, Vixella has decided to be a little grumpy about this.”

“They probably prepared this before you told them about the color combination, Vixella.” Kat giggled. “But I do think some blue would go pretty well with both purple and yellow. I think I had a blue hair clip somewhere…” “Don’t worry, I have one.” Stacy said, pulling out a translucent snowflake hair clip from her dress pocket(Victorians were geniuses). “Here you go!” Vixella took the hair clip from Stacy and looked at it curiously. “Is this made of ice?” She questioned. Stacy sweatdropped, and Kat glanced concernedly at her friend. The hair clip was really well made. If it was ice, then that meant…Stacy had used her secret waterbending abilities to make it. Vixella had not known about her waterbending abilities just yet, as Kat was afraid that she would try and get Stacy into irrational and dangerous plans to try and ‘overthrow’ the Fire Nation.

“Uh…I don’t think so. It’s just something I found while roaming Capital City.” Stacy lied. “Okay, well whoever made this must be quite talented,” Vixella mused, not digging further, to both Kat and Stacy’s relief. She clipped the snowflake onto her lavender hair, which actually did match both purple and yellow well. “Candidates! Line up, and we’ll be heading to the testing courtyard now.” A tall, stern woman called out sharply. She was wearing a black robe and had one small, half moon spectacles that strongly reminded Kat of Mrs. ‘no-nonsense’ Wan. The nickname that Betty had given the hall and lunchroom supervisor years ago still stuck to this day. Kat felt some small instinct pull her towards the door, getting in the quickly forming line. It was unexplainable…or it was just the Other Self again. “Stop,” Kat muttered under her breath.

“No.” To her surprise, the Other Self responded. Great; now things were just getting weirder! It was already strange enough that this unexplainable entity existed, and now it had a mind of its own? What were the spirits thinking?! “Why do you even exist? Two souls cannot coexist peacefully. I’m the original, so you should just return to where you came from!” Kat thought angrily to her Other Self. “Silly girl. I have more power than you think I do; it won’t take long for me to start gaining more control of your body.” Great. How come the Other Self’s consciousness sounded like a guy? “No. At the end of the day, light will always triumph over the forces of darkness!” Kat shot back, borrowing a quote from a book she had read. “How naive. But just you wait. I will prove you wrong.” The Other Self giggled maniacally, before…just vanishing.

“And things just get weirder.” Kat sighed internally. Suddenly, they went through another doorway and intense, bright light filled her vision. Kat hadn’t really been paying attention to where they were going, as she was so caught up in her argument with her Other Self. Once Kat’s eyes adjusted to the bright light, the first thing she noticed were the odd items stacked around the edge of the…whatever they were in. Tall porcelain jars filled to the brim with water, jagged boulders leaning against the white walls, and a basket of leaves next to it all. Why were they here? Then she saw them. Three magnificent thrones, made of gold, embedded with the shiniest jewels, and had the most intricate carvings that one could dream of. But what caught Kat’s attention the most was who were sitting on the thrones.

To the left, was Crown Princess Lizzie. Unlike their first encounter, her hair was half up in a topknot, and half down, all polished and combed. To the right, was Fire Lord Azula. Unlike her daughter, the Fire Lord had all her raven black hair up in a topknot, with the royal hairpiece tucked in from behind. The two figures already intimidated Kat very much, but it was the person that sat in the middle throne that made her want to freeze right there, on the spot. He had the same raven black hair as Azula. The same half up, half down hairstyle as Lizzie. Except his hairpiece was of a much more intricate, amber phoenix. The same color as cold, calculating eyes. Phoenix King Ozai. *** “Let me take over.” The Other Self whispered in the back of Kat’s mind. Kat brushed his consciousness aside angrily.

“No way. Besides, nobody’s giving me any orders anyway! It doesn't make sense.” Kat shot back. “But I can sense your fear. It gives me power. You’re paranoid of the Fire Nation. And that is my advantage.” The Other Self smirked. Kat growled in a low voice. “Just shut up. I am not going to let you make a fool of me, especially in front of the Royal Family.” Kat snapped inside her head. She tried not to look in the direction of the Phoenix King, afraid that a glance could give the Other Self more power. They all split into neat rows, facing the Royal Family. Kat kept her gaze on the floor, as Azula started to talk.

“Candidates from the Southern Water Tribe. I assume you all already know why you’re here, so let’s just get to the point here.” Azula said in a sharp voice. “So the basic idea is that you will all go through three bending tests to see if you are the avatar or not. Waterbending, earthbending, and firebending. It’s not that difficult, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you peasants still manage to struggle.” Kat noticed some angered looks and disgruntled murmurs, but ignored them, hoping that the Fire Lord had not seen them. “The test will begin shortly. In the meantime, keep quiet and don’t make any commotion.” The Fire Lord continued. The courtyard stayed unnaturally quiet as the servants in the area started to pass out jars of water to everyone. Kat fiddled with her fingers nervously on her silk gloves.

Slowly, the servants placed a large jar of water in front of every girl in the courtyard. Once that matter had been settled, Azula rose again to speak. “First, is the waterbending test.” She explained unemotionally. “You will have five minutes to try and bend the water however you can. You may begin.” Kat stared into the dark water inside the jar, an uneasy feeling growing in her stomach. This could possibly reveal Stacy’s hidden waterbending abilities, if her friend accidentally bent the water. Kat took a deep breath, before setting her hands in the water and trying to mimic the bending motions that she had seen the Northern Raiders do before. The water didn’t budge.

Kat heaved a big sigh. What was the point? All of this had brought nothing but bad luck upon them. Some personal, some all the girls experienced. From the mysterious notes, to the weird vision, to the Northern Raiders attack, and then the Impenetrable Barrier whatnots! It all was just…too much. “You can’t go on like this. It’ll take its toll on your mental and emotional state, and grant the Other Self more power.” Kat chided herself, after processing her thoughts. Instead, she focused on the happy memories, from now and the past. The nice dreams, about among us and cake bash. Vixella arguing with the maids over whether yellow went with purple. All those laughs she shared with Stacy, her siblings, and all her other friends back at the South Pole. Those memories brought a small smile to Kat’s lips.

Kat continued to attempt to ‘waterbend,’ which was more of her just quietly playing around with the sloshing water. Kat already knew that she wasn’t a waterbender; there was nothing to prove if the truth was already revealed. After five minutes, the servants came along again, took away their jars of water, and replaced them with stone boulders. Kat stared intently at the Fire Lord, waiting for further instructions. “Next, is the earthbending test. This should be self-explanatory, but I guess you peasants are too uneducated to figure it out yourself.” Azula continued onward. Kat was a little disgruntled at this rude remark, but did not make a face or anything. “Try and earthbend the rock. Kick it, punch it, through yourself at it, if you’re dumb enough. Just don’t kill your self.” With that, the sassy Fire Lord sat back down on her throne.

Kat stared at the boulder, and shrugged. With that, she started waving her hands around randomly, seeing if the chunk of earth would fly off in some random direction or not. To no surprise, it didn’t. When the five minutes of doing random things with the rock passed, the three members of the royal family all had very different expressions as the servants brought over a basket of leaves for the firebending test. Princess Lizzie looked extremely bored, Fire Lord Azula looked mildly amused at their pitiful and random attempts to earthbend, while Phoenix King Ozai’s face held no emotion in particular. Just a cold, calculating look.

“Finally, the firebending test. The Fire Sages will come along and light a small flame on your leaves. Your objective is to keep it from spreading and burning the leaf into a crisp. Not like I’m expecting anything,” Azula scoffed. This time, Phoenix King Ozai shot his daughter an unreadable look. But apparently Azula had been able to decipher it somehow, and stopped with her sarcasm immediately. Once the Fire Sages had lit Kat’s leaf, she stared at the slow burning flame, unsure of what to do. This wasn’t physically trying to move elements that were already there, but more of a concentration thing. Maybe. The Fire Lord hadn’t exactly been very clear on what to do with this one. Kat stared at the leaf intensely, imagining a not burnt version of it in her mind. She squeezed her eyes shut, and peeked out from one a couple seconds later. Was it her, or was the minuscule flame spreading slower—

“Knock knock! Your guests have arrived!” Kat swung her head towards the direction of the mocking call, as did many of the girls in the group. At first, she was horrified at who would speak to the most powerful people in the world that way, until Kat noticed who was there. A large squadron of Northern Raiders, all perched on the roof, and with their water drawn in a combat-ready position. Well isn’t this is just dandy. *** Phoenix King Ozai stood up immediately from his throne, narrowing his amber eyes at the intruders. “And what exactly are you here for?” He asked icily. “Hand over the avatar, and we won’t cause any trouble, you sphynx,” The lead waterbender commanded sternly. The way he spoke to the Phoenix King, it was almost comical. As if Ozai would actually take him seriously! Kat might’ve just burst out laughing right there, if it weren’t for the possible impending doom looming over their heads.

“And you expect me to comply, just like that?” Ozai laughed. “You must be fools, then!” His smirk then twisted into a face of pure rage. “Get them!” He roared suddenly, making Kat jump. Oh dear. This would not end well. Firebenders rushed towards the rooftops where the Raiders were stationed, blasting wave after wave of schooling flames at them. The waterbenders retaliated strongly by vaporizing every wave of fire that was sent their way, even firing some icicles during the intervals. It was a fierce battle between two opposing elements, and Kat was caught in the middle of it all. “Forget about the soldiers!” The leading Raider shouted out over the flames. “The girls are your utmost priority! The Avatar cannot fall into the wrong hands!” With that command, many Raiders slipped past the wall of firebenders, running straight towards their group.

The royal family jumped in as well, blasting fires left and right and center at anyone wearing blue that entered their line of vision. But it was not enough. Raiders started picking up girls near the outskirts of the group, immediately bolting towards the roof once they had picked them up. Kat was frozen in place. What should she do? What could she do, in such a fierce battle? Run, hide, and not get roasted by a soldier or kidnapped by a raider? She could also feel the presence of the Other Mind again, lurking in the corner of her consciousness, preparing to take over if any command was given. “It’s too much, Father! We cannot hold them long enough until reinforcements arrive!” Azula shouted over the battle. Ozai stopped for a second, as if thinking of a reply, before his face hardened.

“Then kill them! Kill them all! If I can’t have the avatar, no one can!” He roared furiously, sending his fiery blasts towards the girls as well. Kat’s fellow sisters started running and screaming and panicking, but she was frozen in place, too stunned to move. “Kat! Let’s go! What are you waiting—look out!” Stacy screamed, as a blast of bright orange fire was sent right towards Kat, sent by the Phoenix King himself. Time seemed to slow as Stacy dashed over, and jumped right in front of her. Kat couldn’t breath. The flame was getting closer. And closer. Oh god, her best friend was going to die because of her— “NO!” And everything went white. *3rd person objective POV* A blinding white light showered the courtyard. For a couple seconds, nobody could see anything. Then when the light faded, it revealed Kat standing in front of Stacy, vanquishing the flames that had threatened her friend’s life merely seconds ago.

Kat’s eyes were glowing white. She then went on to gather all the water in the courtyard, either from the jars, the puddles, or straight out of the Raiders’ waterskin. They formed a protective dome around the girls, which hardened into ice. It looked like an icy masterpiece from a master waterbender. Which, technically, that was what Kat was, right then. Kat started to float into the sky, standing on a small, steadily forming dust devil. From outside the ice dome, the Phoenix King held an expression that was a mixture of both shock and rage.

“The Fire Nation has reigned over the other nations for more than a hundred years now, but I promise you, Ozai, that your era is coming to an end.” Kat, well, more like Kat and the voices of all her past lives, boomed. Her eyes glowed brightly for a few more seconds, before turning back to normal. She faltered, the dust devil vanquishing, making her fall back down to the ground. Stacy caught her friend, who was now half unconscious. “You’re…actually the avatar.” Stacy whispered, her eyes as wide as dinner plates. She appeared very, very shocked. Maybe even to the point that she was about to faint. Every other girl in the ice dome seemed to be the same way as well. Time seemed to stop, as everyone stared. And stared. And stared. Until fire shattered the entire dome.

*Back to Kat POV* Kat awoke to the sound of shattering ice. She leapt up into the air, gasping, trying to remember what had last happened. Her head was throbbing so hard…and so was the Other Self. “It won’t take long for you to succumb, poppet!” He sang, giggling maniacally at the end. Kat grunted angrily at that stupid nagging voice in the back of her mind— “After so many years, you’ve finally decided to make a reappearance! Isn’t that so, avatar?” Kat’s head shot up, her gaze immediately landing on the threatening figure of the Phoenix King. He had on a triumphant smile, as if he had already had her safely in his clutches. Well, technically that was true, but there was still the chance of the Raiders! “Now, come with us peacefully and none of your little friends will have to get hurt.” He continued, his smirk not fading one bit.

“Stay in control. Stay in control. Stay in contr—AAH!” Kat felt the Other Self dash right out of the shadows, pouncing on her consciousness and ripping it away from the controls(no pun intended. Or is this really a pun?). Kat staggered, clutching her head in desperation. The shadows of the Other Self continued to creep out, forming little shadow arms and grabbing onto her tightly, pulling Kat towards them. Kat tried one last time, a desperate attempt to escape and take back control, but the shadow hands didn’t budge. “Now you will know how I feel all the time.” The Other Self hissed in satisfaction, before throwing Kat down a chasm and fully taking control. Kat’s eyes turned amber.

*** Kat fell down, down, and down, back under the Impenetrable Barrier, and landed in a shadowy cell. A video camera of sorts took up the entirety of one wall, showing what she was seeing through her eyes. The entire place just reeked of her Other Self, and Kat assumed that this was probably his prison. “Let me out, you monster!” Kat shouted furiously, pounding frantically at the window. The glass did not budge one bit. “I’m going to lock you away in the same cell you imprisoned me, and leave you there to rot for eternity!” The Other Self purred sadistically. “But first, I need to ruin your life, and make you watch every second of it!” Not-Kat started walking towards the Phoenix King and his soldiers, a monotone expression on her face. Kat tried kicking the glass, but that didn’t work either. She felt useless. These takeovers had happened before, but never to this scale where Kat couldn’t even feel her own body!

“Wait! Kat! What are you doing?!” Stacy cried from behind her. “I must go with the Phoenix King.” Not-Kat responded monotonously. “And follow every order he gives.” “What the hell is wrong with you, Kat?!” Vixella demanded. “I know you have this weird thing with firebenders and soldiers, but…” her friend started to sputter in the background, at a loss for words. This time, instead of punching the glass, Kat decided to go up. She bent down, and jumped up as high and hard as she could, trying to destroy the top ceiling, where she had originally fallen from. The impact left a big crater in the ceiling, which was groaning and swaying in the aftermath. Kat grinned

She continued to punch the ceiling, which left crater after crater. Kat heard the Other Self growl in frustration, before trying to suppress her back down, but to no avail. Kat continued to work at the ceiling, until one, particularly strong hit broke through, and left a decent sized hole in the shadowy wall. Kat smiled triumphantly. She could feel some jet stream blowing in, sucking her upward. Kat jumped up one final time, which sent her flying up, past the Impenetrable Barrier, and back to the controls room. The Other Self screamed in anger at this, and lunged right at her, trying to drag Kat back down to his cell. “Not day, beastie!” Kat shouted at him, before dodging and running towards the controls. But at the last moment, the Other Self managed to grab one of her legs with his shadowy, extendable hand, pulling her back while moving closer towards her.

Kat continued to move towards the controls. It was right there…but the Other Self dragged himself into it as well. As Kat regained control of her body, she felt the Other Self still tearing away at her. Her eyes flashed between blue and amber, and a small sphere of wind started accumulating around Kat. “Kat!” Stacy cried, rushing up to her friend. “Kat, it’s alright. We’re here for you. There’s nothing to be afraid of. Don’t let the Phoenix King bring you down!” Kat felt calmed and motivated by Stacy’s words. She started to radiate an aura of relief and happiness, which the Other Self hated. He jumped out of the control room, and back under the Impenetrable Barrier, where he would lurk…for now. Her eyes returned to its normal blue, and the wind slowed and came to a stop. “Thank you,” Kat breathed, before turning to the Phoenix King, a defiant look in her eyes.

“I am not going with you. Your era will come to an end. And I will be the one to stop it.” Kat said firmly. Stacy and Vixella came up behind her, also glaring at the Phoenix King. “Really! And what exactly are you going to do about it?” He smirked. “Guards! Arrest them!” All the soldiers in the courtyard immediately rushed towards them, but Stacy jumped forward, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Then, she slowly moved her hands upward, which the water followed. Stacy then swung it all at the incoming soldiers, who had slowed their pace, due to the fact that a southerner was waterbending, which literally froze them all in place. With ice.

Everyone else in the courtyard, except for the three royals, of course, were also frozen. Metaphorically, by shock. Azula and Ozai looked like they had expected this to happen, and Lizzie had a smug grin on her face for some reason. Like she already knew…? No, that was impossible! Kat was the one who knew Stacy’s little waterbending secret before now! “Come on! What are you three waiting for?” The leader of the squadron of Raiders barked at them. “Let’s go! Now!” He and the others made an ice staircase with their waterbending, and beckoned for them to come.

Vixella grabbed Stacy and Kat’s hands, and started running towards the bridge. “Let’s go, people!” She shouted. Kat shook off the slight feeling of shock she had gotten from earlier, and focused on getting to the staircase before the soldiers did. But as she climbed the stairs and got onto the rooftops, Kat couldn’t help but feel guilty, about leaving all those other girls behind. Who knows what the Fire Nation would do with them, now that they knew about the avatar and that one of their own was a waterbender! But mostly, Kat felt super guilty about leaving Betty behind. It’s funny that, as common as fear is, we often underestimate its power. -Ozpin

“We can’t keep this up forever, sir! I’m afraid we’re gonna half to split!” The raider who had just covered the flames shouted. The leader looked back, a torn expression on his face. Kat could read what it meant easily; he didn’t want everyone to get captured, but he also didn’t want to risk leaving the avatar and her friends to travel alone to a safe place. “We’ll be fine, sir.” Kat reassured quickly. “Just tell us where to go, and we can get there on our own.” “I’m not completely sure if that’s completely true, but you do have your friends.” The leader responded doubtfully, and Kat winced. She knew exactly what he was talking about—her Other Self. It had been suppressed, for now, but it was still there.

“But I suppose with some help, you could make your way to the North safely.” He muttered to himself. “Fine. I know a place where you can go to be safe for the meantime, but you need to make your way to Spark City. We have an outpost there. A rather large outpost. There’s not enough time to explain everything, our agents will explain everything once you get there. Here.” He quickly pulled out a card from his uniform pocket, and tossed it to Kat. “Go there. And quickly! It won’t take long for the soldiers to catch on!” With that, the leading raider veered sharply away, with the rest of the waterbenders following. “Wait—oh no.” Kat started, but they had all already left. She swung her head around frantically, and noticed a sheltered alleyway nearby. Kat and the others ducked into the area, staying still until the soldiers had passed.

“Sooooooo…now what?” Vixella inquired. Kat pulled out the card that the soldier had given to her, taking a good look at the address. “We go to this location then, I guess.” Kat shrugged. “But I do think we need disguises. These clothes are too…fabulous and extravagant for commoners to be walking around Capital City in them,” Stacy added. “And where do we get that?” Vixella exasperated. Kat poked her head out, scanning their surroundings. Conveniently enough, they had landed right beside a courtyard full of drying clothes over some volcanic vents emitting hot, misty fog. The guard that was on watch duty had also ironically fallen asleep. “What about there?” Kat pointed. Vixella blinked, before sighing.

“The universe just loves to prove me wrong, doesn’t it?” She mumbled as they cautiously made their way over to the drying clothes. The three of them looked through rows and rows of lavish garments, all too fancy and clearly from someone of higher status for them to wear. Kat looked through the different flocks and tunics and leggings hung on the thin strings. They were all made of expensive fabrics, like velvet and silk, and were heavily decorated with jewels, beads, and exquisite patterns. But as she went between a toddler sized leopard-lion skin onesie and a heavy, scarlet dappled gown, Kat noticed a slightly less colorful outfit hidden between the two. It was a hibiscus tunic with a pair of slightly darker pants, with minimal gold embroidery and no significantly outstanding parts to it, except for a detachable emerald brooch. Kat shrugged to herself. This was probably as good as it would get.

She went back into the alleyway to change, and took off the emerald brooch, instead replacing it with her homemade golden clip. Kat then walked back out to see if Stacy and Vixella had any luck. “Found anything yet, girls?” Kat called. Stacy and Vixella’s heads popped out from the ensemble of red garments. “I think I found something that’ll work,” Stacy responded. “So did I. Now let’s just hope that none of these are royal family maid uniforms or something.” Vixella grumbled. Stacy and Vixella took turns changing in the alleyway, and the results were not bad. Stacy was wearing a scarlet red cape over a striped shirt, along with mahogany colored pants. She also wore some golden arm cuffs that might’ve actually been real gold, but shhh! Details! Nobody will actually notice anyways.

Vixella had on a carmine top that opened up below her waist, turning into a cape of sorts, flowing behind a pair of redwood leggings. Stylish, yet adjustable for combat. Which, they would probably be doing a lot of. “Alright. Now that we’ve got our outfits, we should head into town to find this home.” Kat said as they snuck out through a secret passageway that Vixella had discovered. Probably for easier maid access to different rooms of the palace. “That’ll be easy. We have the address! The hard part is actually getting out of the palace.” Stacy remarked grimly.

“There’s security guards all over the place, watching every inch of movement from here to a quarter mile out! There’s no way we can get out easily.” Vixella pointed out. Kat opened the trapdoor that they had come, letting the bright light spill in. Once her eyes adjusted, she noticed that they were in a storage room filled with empty and full wagons, many of them ready to go. And some with just enough room for three girls to hide in. “I think we just found our way out.” Kat smirked. *** “Okay, that was terrifying! We’re never doing that again.” Kat panted as they staggered out from the alleyway that they had landed messily in. “You’re telling me,” Stacy responded weakly. Vixella immediately scanned the street, looking for some kind of directory or at least, street sign. “This is Vermilion Street. We shouldn’t be too far from our destined location.” She reported.

Kat glanced around warily, making sure one last time that there weren’t any pursuers onto them. “Then let’s heckin go!” Kat, Stacy and Vixella made their way down the street as casually as possible, with Kat being the vigilante(in a literal sense, not like a rogue policemen), Stacy scanning the area and locating possible hiding places, and Vixella being the map reader. Despite their terrible luck, they somehow managed to make their way to the address unscathed. Only to be greeted with another shocking surprise. 71049 Willow Road, Floor 3, Apartment #2. No wonder the address had seemed familiar to Kat. “Oh, hello again, girls! Have time for some Oolong tea? Dung just came back from the market with some!”

They were the spies in disguise?! *** “So let me get this straight.” Vixella shook her head fiercely, trying to comprehend all that had just been said. “You’re the former Team Avatar, who somehow all managed to make it out alive of Sozin’s Comet, and are now working in the detective branch of the Northern Raiders?!” “That pretty much sums it all up,” Wang, who was apparently Sokka, confirmed. “I still can’t believe it!” Stacy breathed. “Meeting the original Team Avatar? It’s a dream come true!” “But now you’re part of the new Team Avatar,” Suki finished, smirking. “And that means you need a new team name!” “We have more important matters at hand than names, Suki.” Katara cut in, with a stern look to the former Kyoshi warrior. “Namely, training Kat and Stacy in at least some basic waterbending forms.” “Oh yeah, that’s important too.” Sokka nodded.

“I know a place that’s under the protection of the spirits,” Katara offered. There’s a fairly large lake in the center. The Fire Nation can’t get in. We can train there safely!” “And…what about me?” Vixella asked, sounding slightly disappointed. Kat suddenly felt bad for the nonbender. “I can train you in some basic sword movements at the local gym,” Sokka responded immediately. “I know it’s hard to be a nonbender on a team of powerful benders, but it’ll let you have at least a little bit of defense!” “Oh, thanks!” Vixella grinned, energized again. “Well, we should probably split paths and start the training ASAP.” Toph piped in, for the first time in their conversation. “We don’t want a nasty surprise from suspicious soldiers and being unprepared.” “Agreed.” Katara nodded back. *In the forest, with Kat, Stacy, and Katara*

“So…what will we be learning first?” Stacy inquired meekly, as they headed towards the center of the spiritually protected forest. “Well, we’ll start with basic forms and exercises, and maybe some breathing techniques if you really need it. It depends on how much time we have before the Fire Nation catches on.” Katara replied. “Wow…that sounds ABSOLUTELY AWESOME!!!” Kat squealed avidly. “So what would be first? Water whip? Icebending? Oooh, maybe giant waves!” “First we need to get to the lake.” Katara responded playfully. “Speaking of which…” the master waterbender pushed a jumble of brambles aside, revealing a large, crystal clear lake with the smoothest, brightest reflections and the softest sandy shoreline. Kat could barely contain herself, as she kicked off her shoes and leapt into the balmy sand. It felt soooo warm, like never before! Keep in mind, she had grown up in the South Pole. Sunny beaches were nonexistent in the frigid, icy tundras.

“Wow. Just…wow!” Stacy breathed in, also taking a step onto the sand. “I’ve never felt something like this before!” Katara chuckled. “I felt the same way when I first felt sand as well!” She responded spiritedly. “But let’s not get distracted. We’re here to learn waterbending.” Katara walked over to the edge of the glowing lake, and drew a smooth, clear bubble of water from its serene waters. That immediately caught Kat and Stacy’s attention, as they both quickly scrambled over to Katara’s side. “How do we make water float?” Kat asked. Which, was kinda a dumb question. But the water was making her mind mushy and her thoughts bouncing all over the place. “That’s for later. We’ve gotta first learn the very basics. Starting with stances.” Katara replied back.

*Scene shift to Vixella with Sokka and Suki* “First, let’s get you into the right stance.” Sokka instructed. “Get into kind of a boxing stance, but keep your feet flat on the ground and a good tail length apart. This way, you won’t be unbalanced and easy to knock over in fights.” Vixella followed Sokka’s instructions intently, making sure her hands were in the right positioning and her feet were spread apart. The warrior nodded approvingly. Vixella felt that all this was right, except for one part…her weapon of choice. Sokka had given her a sword to practice with. Nothing fancy, just a metal sword made with decent materials. But it just felt…wrong. It was too long, too wide, and too heavy for her. Vixella needed something lighter, something more versatile, nimble, yet formidable.

“Now, swing it in a wide arc like this.” Sokka demonstrated with his own blade. “Make sure you adjust your foot stance properly while swinging, to keep balanced.” Vixella tried copying, but the sword felt too heavy and floppy in her hands. She stumbled, the sword missing the target by a mile, and almost tripping herself in the process. Vixella stood back up, facing Sokka and Suki(who was just watching with a small bag of fire gummies, as if it were a movie). “That was not a terrible start,” Suki commented. “But it was inaccurate and kinda shaky. Is there something wrong with the blade? Does it feel too heavy?” “Exactly!” Vixella responded. “The blade feels too long and heavy and just not swift enough. I think the sword wasn’t meant for me.”

“Yeah, that’s what I would say, but with the stances? I’d say you’re a natural at that! So I think what you need is something like a sword, but lighter and more agile…” Sokka commented, trailing off into some random muttering. After a while, his face lit up. “AHA! I’ve got it!” He exclaimed excitedly. Sokka dashed off towards the weapons room, while Suki and Vixella waited with mild curiosity. A few seconds later, Sokka came back carrying what looked like a fencing sword with a flatter sword part. The handle was exquisite and decorated with metal swirls. “A…rapier?” Suki echoed curiously. Vixella took the rapier from Sokka’s hands and examined it, intrigued. It felt lighter than a usual sword, with a smaller, long dual end blade. She got into the stance that Sokka had taught her earlier, and tried the move again. This time, the blade swung quickly and cleanly, cutting straight through the air. Sokka and Suki stared at her, looking impressed.

“I think we found the right blade.” Suki mused, a small smirk playing at her lips. *Insert Touch the Sky here* Kat copied the waterbending move with careful precision, moving the string of water slowly through the air. The water wobbled slightly at first, but followed her movements perfectly onward. Kat glanced towards Katara, who gave her a small smile of approval. “Uh! Why is this so hard!?!” Stacy cried in frustration as her water splattered down to the ground for the third time. “Remember, Pupil Stacy, you must keep your emotions under control.” Katara advised. “If you let your emotions get the best of you, it’ll make bending ten times harder.” ♪ Today, I change my place in history, ♪ Stacy took a calming deep breath, and attempted the move again. The water rose with one movement, and followed the path that Kat’s best friend carved for it this time. Instead of falling back into the lake violently, it returned without a splash.

♪ Today, I’m gonna start a brand new life ♪ “I did it!” Stacy exclaimed happily. She then tried the move again, a little more quickly, which also went by without a hiccup. ♪ Done with suffering, had enough of misery ♪ “Good for you!” Katara beamed. “Now, let’s try an easy offensive move.” The waterbending master pulled up a stream of water from the lake, and grabbed it like a whip with one hand. “The water whip is easy to do if you utilize your emotions in the right way. Don’t let them control you. Use them to your advantage instead.” She stepped back, and swung the water whip fiercely forward. ♪ Finally on a path that’s headed somewhere bright ♪ Vixella reeled back from the strike, panting. She dodged another blow from Sokka, ducking left, before swinging her rapier in an arc at his legs. Sokka barely managed to dodge that blow, and staggered as he regained his footing. ♪ I feel a different kind of energy ♪

“Nice one!” The wolf-tail warrior complimented as he stood back up. “You’re really getting the hang of this quickly!” ♪ Kicking everything to overdrive ♪ “Well, I have a good teacher!” Vixella smirked back, winking. Sokka laughed, before getting back in a combat-ready stance. ♪ Switched-on, revved-up, turbo-mode vitally ♪ “Let’s give it a go again.” He said, as Vixella got ready as well. ♪ Find it hard to believe that I feel so alive ♪ “Oh yeah!” Vixella grinned, as she ran towards Sokka with her rapier again. ♪ Just watch me go, see me fly ♪ Kat leapt daintily over the lake, making sure to temporarily freeze the water beneath her feet with every step. The ice was so small and unnoticeable and melted quickly that it literally seemed like they were running on water! This could be a useful trick to get away from firebenders.

♪ Don’t look for answers, don’t ask why ♪ “This is amazing!” Stacy cried from behind Kat. ♪ Can’t explain the way I feel ♪ Kat let her next step sink into the water a bit more, and then waterbending the liquid to propel her upward with the next jump. She felt like she was flying; the wind in her hair, the feel of soaring, she could almost get addicted to this rush! ♪ I’m soarin’ like I never have before ♪ When she came crashing down onto the lake, Kat quickly made sure to use the water beneath her to propel her upward, and then freezing the ground beneath her to create a sturdy ice raft. Who knew waterbending could be so fun, once you got past the boring basics? ♪ Flying self-assured and free ♪ For a moment, all of Kat’s troubles went away. The Other Self, being the avatar, the entire nation after her, all of the bad stuff in her life. It made her feel so detached from her earthly tethers…Kat felt so free. ♪ And I somehow feel I finally feel like me ♪

Vixella leapt from platform to platform in the jungle gym, practicing her acrobatics and agility. She swung onto a metal rod, making a loop before flying forward and landing perfectly on the soft flooring beneath. ♪ I looked in the mirror, and I gotta say ♪ “Great! Now come after me! Let’s see how fast you can navigate through the obstacle course!” Suki called, as she leapt over a cone and went running into the mess of obstacles. ♪ It’s been a long, long time since I felt this way ♪ “Challenge accepted!” Vixella smirked, as she tucked her rapier into her belt and chased after Suki. ♪ Right now, I’m just a bit surprised ♪ Vixella leapt over large boulders, slid under high beams, pulled out her rapier and started cutting through the vines that were blocking her path. This felt so natural to her…and for a second, the lavender haired girl stopped paying to just enjoy the feeling. ♪ Cause I feel just fine, and I might just touch the sky ♪

“Always keep your guard up!” Suki cried all of a sudden, before leaping out of nowhere at Vixella. ♪ I might just touch the sky, oh ♪ Kat shot icicle after icicle at the tree, repeating the pattern of getting water, freezing the water, and shooting the ice. Each icicle shattered after impact, but left a mark in the birch tree. ♪ But if I don't, I'll know that I dared with pride ♪ “Move quickly! Throw your icicles in all different directions to make them more spread out and harder to dodge!” Katara instructed. ♪ Though I fail, I grow and tomorrow I'll touch the sky ♪ Kat focused on hitting all different areas of the tree, the icicles striking the trunk and trembling from the aftershock, like a dart. She smiled. Waterbending was coming to her so quickly and easily! But there was still much more to learn. And Kat would crush all of those challenges easily. *End of song*

“Let me tell you, twinkletoes, things always sound easier than it seems.” Toph advised wryly. “I can’t even count the number of curveballs that got thrown at Aang back in the day.” “Well, we should be going. The next airship leaves in less than an hour!” Stacy said, opening the door to the stairwell down to the bottom floor. “Bye!” “Bye!” The Gaang chorused in unison. Kat smiled as they shut the door, and started to descend the stairwell. “Do you really think that we can do this on our own?” Vixella asked, sounding slightly uncertain. “The Fire Nation is a dangerous place to be, especially for you!” “Oh come on!” Kat laughed nonchalantly. “This’ll be easy! Nothing bad can happen from here on out!” “Don’t jinx yourself,” Stacy mumbled as they exited the apartment complex.

The streets of Capital City seemed more…tense than usual. More soldiers were perched at every corner than earlier, and a lot of civilians were huddled in groups, whispering to each other with nervous expressions. “I guess news about me got out, huh?” Kat pressed her lips together, frowning. “That’s why we need to be careful.” Stacy responded quietly. “C’mon, let’s hurry and get to the airport.” The trio cautiously made their way through the streets of Capital City, with Stacy and Kat taking on the roles of vigilantes again, and Vixella the map reader. Everything was fine…until they got to the market plaza. “Um, Kat?” Stacy whispered anxiously. “Why are there so many guards here?” Kat looked away from Vixella’s map, and realized just how many soldiers were in the square. Nearly a dozen by every street! This was definitely out of the ordinary. Even compared to the other streets.

Then a hand came out of nowhere and patted her on the shoulder. Kat froze in place, slowly turning around and praying that it was one of the Gaang. Pale skin, blue eyes, gumdrop pink hair, and red and black armor. Nope, this definitely wasn’t Katara or Suki. This was Princess Lizzie herself. *** “Well. It seems the avatar has decided to show her face in Capital City again.” Lizzie said in a slow, deceiving and cold voice. Kat’s eyes widened, and her hand slowly reached to uncap her new waterskin. “Nope!” Stacy chirped all of a sudden. Lizzie’s attention immediately swung to the green eyed girl. “What did you say?” The Fire Nation Princess asked, in an annoyed tone. “I said, nope!” Stacy chirped again, this time narrowing her eyes. “Kat’s not going anywhere with you.”

Before anyone could do or say anything, Stacy had uncapped her waterskin, drew a strand of water, and swung it fiercely right into Lizzie’s face. She staggered back, clutching her cheek, a flame igniting in her icy blue eyes(metaphorically. Not like, maiden power flames lol). “Run!” Vixella screamed. *Insert Die here* Lizzie roared furiously, shooting a large pink fireball at Kat. Kat extinguished it with a wall of water, before turning the remainder into ice daggers and firing them at the Princess. “GUARDS!” She barked angrily. “GET THEM!” Immediately, all the soldiers in the square dashed towards the trio, flame daggers and fire whips igniting in the hands. But while Stacy and Kat were busy with Lizzie, Vixella took matters into her own hands and charged at the soldiers.

♪ It was just fine ♪ Immediately, a dozen fireballs blasted towards her. But Vixella boosted herself upward, over the flames, and charged with her rapier. She knocked three unconscious with one head blow, and then swiped at their knees when another dozen came around. Soon enough, there was a pile of unconscious bodies around her. ♪ We lived in peace ♪ “Anyone else wanna give it a shot?” Vixella smirked, winking. The soldiers stepped back hesitantly and fearfully. ♪ Looked to a happy ending ♪ Meanwhile, Kat and Stacy were trying their best to hold Lizzie off, but the princess’s years of training and discipline outbested Kat and Stacy’s newbie skills by a long shot. Kat struggled to keep in control of her water, her muscles aching from all the focus. Her waterskin was almost empty as well, most of the water that had once been there now vaporized by Lizzie’s pink flames. ♪ The days were bright ♪

“Seems like you’re running out of water, avatar,” Lizzie smirked, as she produced a fire dagger in one hand and rushed towards Kat. But before she could get to her, Stacy barreled into Lizzie’s side, an ice dagger in one hand. ♪ They shined like gold ♪ “Get AWAY from her!” Stacy roared furiously, throwing the ice dagger at the Fire Nation princess. Lizzie managed to vaporize it easily, but wasn’t prepared for the torrent of water that shot out from the nearby fountain like snakes, their tips turning into ice and headed straight for her. ♪ Every step ascending ♪ A couple soldiers escaped from Vixella’s battle and headed straight for Kat, fireballs in their hands. Kat grabbed a torrent of water from the fountain as well, and unleashed it upon the soldiers, throwing them back.

♪ Our dreams came true ♪ “We need to go, guys!” Vixella shouted over the battle. “They’re calling for reinforcements, we need to lose them!” ♪ Our path was clear ♪ Kat comprehended Vixella words as a sense of dread overwhelmed her. She had a point. They needed to get out of the battle somehow, and they would soon be three amateur fighters against the entire Fire Nation army in the capital. ♪ The moon watched safely from above ♪ “This way! We can throw them off!” Stacy called as she splashed a bunch of soldiers back, carving out an exit onto a nearby street. ♪ But every smile is not the same ♪ “You’re not going anywhere.” Lizzie snarled, narrowing her eyes and swinging a fire whip at them. Kat vaporized the fire with a water bubble, before drawing the remaining liquid into her waterskin and bolting after Stacy.

♪ And every heart’s not filled with love ♪ As Kat pushed another one of the countless number of firebenders back with a water whip, another snuck up on her from behind. But just as he was about to strike, Vixella snuck up from behind the soldier and knocked him off balance with her rapier. ♪ For mankind ♪ “Thanks,” Kat flashed a smile at her friend, before running to back Stacy up. ♪ Look around it’s getting very hard to find ♪ “Over there!” Stacy called, pointing to a gathered crowd near the square. “We can lose them there!” ♪ Every open wound ain’t simply healed by time ♪ The trio bolted towards the crowd the instance they had a chance, pushing past startled citizens. The soldiers immediately bolted after them, but Kat, Stacy, and Vixella pushed to the back and stayed still. ♪ But vengeance’s always sweet ♪ Where are the avatar and her little friends? I want them captured at all costs!” Lizzie demanded frustratedly.

♪ Feel it everywhere and you see it growing ♪ Kat glanced around panickedly as the soldiers surrounded the crowd, pushing into the people and examining everyone with a careful eye. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all… ♪ Enemies arise and the hate is flowing ♪ “There you are.” The cold voice of the Fire Nation Princess purred smugly from behind Kat, who froze at the sound. She was too afraid to turn around and face the fire devil. Instead, she bolted through the crowd, making sure to stay within the civilians and not run out. Here, Lizzie wouldn’t dare attack, because there would be unnecessary collateral damage as well. It was a dirty move, but Kat had no other choice. ♪ Shattering the moon and bloodying the sky ♪ Suddenly, a midnight black blade swung down towards Kat. She gasped, barely having enough time to see it coming and definitely not enough to dodge it. OH…

♪ The machines of war will fuel both sides ♪ Suddenly, a silver rapier came to her aid, blocking the katana fiercely. Its violet haired wielder glared ferociously at Lizzie, holding strong against her crushing might. ♪ And the greed will only grow more lies ♪ “Head for the you-know-where!” Vixella shouted, stepping aside as she let go of their weapon lock. Kat nodded, before pushing through the last of the crowd and ducking into a dusty alleyway with lots of trash cans and garbage dumpsters to hide behind. Stacy followed quickly afterwards as well. ♪ Farewell to the days of peace ♪ Kat leapt on top of a dumpster and used it to boost her up onto the roof. Soon enough, Vixella swerved into the alleyway, and followed her and Stacy onto the shingled rooftops. ♪ ‘cause now it’s time to die ♪ Suddenly, a black…boomerang-hook of sorts latched onto Kat’s elbow. She gasped, trying to pull it off, but before she had a chance to do so, Lizzie was pulling her weapon back.

♪ Die ♪ “Heeeeelllp!” Kat shouted in a long, exaggerated manner. Stacy and Vixella immediately rushed to her aid, snapping the hook back into its katana form. ♪ Die ♪ “Let’s move it, people!” Kat shouted, as they bolted along the red rooftops, eventually hiding into another alleyway, further from the Princess and her troops and on another street. “Guess Toph wasn’t wrong,” Kat thought, pressing her lips into a thin line. “avatars do have the worst luck.” End of Song *** “Welcome to Capital City International Airport, how may I be of assistance to you today?” “We would like three one-way tickets to Spark City on the earliest leaving airship, please.” Stacy responded politely to the airport receptionist, who had soft, pale beige locks and shimmering emerald green eyes.

“Of course.” The receptionist started to write something down on her clipboard. “The earliest leaving flight to Spark City still with available seats is Aircraft #10372, leaving at 3:25 P.M. What are your names? I’ll need them to certify your purchase…” Kat zoned out of the boring exchange with the receptionist, instead settling for continuing to admire the beauty of the Capital City International Airport. Flight had drastically improved over the past 30 years, after the invention of the earliest airships. The smartest Fire Nation scientists teamed up with Earth Kingdom inventors to create the Airship 103. It was a sleek, stylish model that traveled at a maximum speed of 400 mph. They used propellers to lift themselves into the sky, instead of gigantic balloons, and had a large passenger carrying capacity. Now, there were airports all over the Fire Nation and major Earth Kingdom cities, although one had yet to be built in the Southern Water Tribe.

This airport was especially famous for its modern aesthetics and cleanliness. The floors were made out of heavily polished quartz, its pillars made of cleanly cut marble and lined with 100% transparent glass all around. Potted plants and wooden benches were added around the place for aesthetics. “...your flight will be leaving in an hour, please head over to the security check and then enter the waiting center. Have a good flight!” The receptionist said cheerfully, jolting Kat out of her daydream. Her eyes darted between the receptionist and Stacy, who was waving back as she started to walk away. “Girl, stop zoning out.” Vixella teased, as she grabbed her bag and followed after. Kat mumbled something under her breath, as she followed her two friends.

Getting past security was a bit of a pain. Water from outside was strictly prohibited to be taken past the checkpoint, and any metal was confiscated. That alone caused a problem with Vixella’s rapier, not to mention its intended purpose. Luckily, Kat managed to distract the guards by making a water fountain ‘malfunction’ nearby, which drew all the attention in the area, and allowed them to sneak through. ‘Water pipe miscalculations,’ eh? Kat, Stacy and Vixella then just chillaxed in the waiting mall, as it had been nicknamed. Here, all passengers waited for their planes to be ready to board, where there was literally a mall they could shop at during their wait. From popular fast food restaurants to Fire Nation souvenir shops to even designer clothes stores, there was a lot to take in here. And boy did they waste no time getting to the good stuff!

Kat had been wandering around one of the souvenir shops, occasionally examining a keychain or T-shirt with disinterest. She didn’t even know how she’d ended up in here; souvenir shops were trash anyway. All they sold were overpriced lockets made with fake gold, rip-offs of popular candy brands, and just more bad stuff overall. Why did they even bother?! But as she walked past a stand full of picture frames, one caught her eye. The frame itself was a dark crimson with cheesy pink hearts dotting the wood, which was just as boring as heck. But it was the placeholder picture inside that caught her attention.

A happy family, beaming at the artist who had drawn the sketch. They were at some beach, most likely Ember Island, judged by the background. The father and mother were standing beside each other, holding hands and laughing. Their youngest child, a son, was sitting on top of the father’s shoulders. The other four children were all gathered around the couple, one hiding shyly behind her sister, and another making a goofy face at the sketcher. Kat’s heart ached at the picture. This was the image of a perfect family. This was what her family could never be. Kat had never wanted any of this, if she still hadn’t made it clear. The Fire Nation occupation, the fearful lives, the Other Self, being the avatar, Betty’s hard decision, everything. Their family was never whole. It had always been shattered and fragmented.

With Betty out of their lives, training to become something ruthless and cunning, it could never fix the hole in their hearts that she occupied. Father always seemed forever stressed from the Fire Nation soldiers, and mother was forever fearful of them taking another one of her precious children. Kim, Wenny, and Allen weren’t too involved, but they were just as confused and scared as their parents. And herself… Kat didn’t even want to think about her bitter fate. About being the avatar. Why couldn’t the avatar spirit have chosen someone else? It would at least make their lives—her life—a bit less complex. It wouldn’t fix all their problems, but at least lessen them. A single tear rolled down Kat’s cheeks. She put down the frame, unable to stare at the expectations that would never be fulfilled. This was the real world. The real world was cold. The real world didn’t care about spirit, or childish wishes, or any of that.

It was to survive, or die. *** “...sooooo, what now?” Stacy said, fiddling with a pen in boredom. “I dunno, didn’t Katara give us some cards to play or something?” Vixella shrugged, skimming through a religious book that had been in one of the drawers. “Don’t look at me,” Kat said, reeling back when both of their gazes landed on her. “Vixella was supposed to be responsible for entertainment and food!” Vixella sputtered indignantly. “I was not!” She snapped, her cheeks turning just a smidge bit red. “Whatever, we don’t need cards anyway.” Stacy brushed it off, before her sharp gaze landed on Kat. Kat suddenly had a bad feeling about this. “I have something else to ask you Kat.” “Ask away!” Kat responded slightly nervously. Please, please, please don’t let this be about…

“Kat, what happened to you, at the test?” Stacy asked. “It was like someone else took control of your body! And your eyes!” “Yeah. You completely ignored me!” Vixella added, frowning slightly. Kat took a deep breath, before opening her eyes and preparing to speak. This would be hard to explain… “That…wasn’t me.” Kat admitted, looking away at the wall. “It was a mysterious entity that’s been inside me for as long as I can remember. They take control every time a Fire Nation soldier gives an order, direct or indirect. I’ve taken to calling him…the Other Self.” Stacy and Vixella’s eyes were wider than saucers. “In the past, I’ve been able to stay in control for most of the time.” She went on. “But lately, he’s been restless. Right before the test, he gained a conscience. I’m afraid that means that my grip on him is slipping. And when Ozai told me to come with him…I’m afraid that’s when we switched roles.”

Kat took another deep breath, before continuing. “He locked me deep inside my own mind, and took control of my body. It was the scariest thing of my life, until you, Stacy, managed to break me out of his trance.” “That’s terrible!” Stacy put a hand over her mouth, a horrified look in her eyes. “Is he…still fighting for control?” “So far, no.” Kat admitted. “I think that he’s been locked away better this time. But I can still sense him there, fighting to get out.” “Well, I want to have a word with him.” Vixella snarled, jumping up unexpectedly. “Taking over you like that, without your consent? He needs to be taught a lesson.” “Vixella, calm down!” Stacy cried worriedly. “If Kat does let the Other Self out, she might not be able to control him. That could end disastrously for us all. It wouldn’t be wise.”

“You know what, I think it’s time we got answers as well.” Kat cut in unexpectedly(and most likely without thinking). “He’s been quiet for an unusual amount of time, considering our circumstances. It’s better know what he’s up to, instead of letting him lurk in the shadows, scheming and plotting his next move.” Then there was silence. Again. Very unnerving silence, as Stacy and Vixella stared intently and fearfully at Kat, prepared for his arrival. Kat took probably the third deep breath in less than five minutes. “Other Self,” she said out loud, both fearful and curious as to whether it would work or not. “you can come out now. I grant your permission.” … … … “Well what an interesting turn of events this is. Summoning me from my prison? This must be my lucky day!” Kat winced at the o so familiar voice. Stacy and Vixella perked up at the flicker of emotion.

“Did it work?” Vixella demanded. Kat nodded shakily. “He’s out alright,” Kat responded. “Now I just need to…uuuuhhh…hold on.” She sat down, before mentally stepping out of the control box and into the main control room inside her head. There he was, the Other Self, in all his glory. Just a simple orange mist, yet enough to give Kat shivers. He was under her thumb at this time, but Kat knew just exactly how powerful he could be. “May I?” The Other Self bowed mockingly. Kat sighed, touching her fingers to her forehead. “Just…keep it moderate. Stacy and Vixella just wanna talk.” Kat instructed reluctantly. “And don’t even try anything. I’m the stronger one now.” “Oh, don’t even!” The Other Self chirped as he skipped over to the control box. “Now, to get the real show on the road…”

With that, the Other Self was absorbed into the control box, now officially in control of Kat’s body. Kat shivered at the thought of that. Why did she think this was a good idea again? Oh wait, she wasn’t. Stacy and Vixella visibly tensed as Kat’s eyes shifted from its normal ocean blue to a fiery amber. A small smirk came across not-Kat’s face. “My, my, what do I owe the pleasure of being in control again?” He teased. “A talk? Seems like a stoopy idea to me, but I won’t complain.” “Why do you even exist?” Stacy asked, getting straight to the point. She sounded furious and disgusted at this monstrosity called ‘The Other Self.’ “Ooh, attitude!” The Other Self gasped mockingly. “And my creation is not supposed to be spoken of. I have always been here, and I always will! There is nothing else to say about it.”

Vixella scoffed. “Why won’t you leave Kat alone?” She demanded. “Why can’t you go haunt someone else instead?” The Other Self smirked again, a spark igniting in his amber eyes. “Everyone is different.” He said, a serious tone overcoming him. “But you all start out happy, cheerful, and blindly naive. But then others divide you. Fear, doubt, hatred, mistrust, and all those other emotions overwhelm you. If you fall and lose yourselves to them, well…then I’ve found my next host.” “But…Kat never really had any emotional struggles.” Stacy protested weakly, sounding more unsure by the moment. “At least, she never showed it. Kat was always strong, bold, and funny! How…when?” Kat felt sick to the stomach. So his existence was because of her past mistakes…mistakes she didn’t even know about. She sat down, hugging her knees to her chest.

“I’m afraid that’s not for me to reveal.” The Other Self sighed over dramatically(and to Kat’s relief). “So! Anything else? Ooh, maybe I can explore the ship?” “No way.” Vixella frowned, glaring profusely. “Let Kat back in charge. I think we’ve had enough of you, you sociopath.” The Other Self gasped melodramatically. “I’m not a sociopath!” He protested in a tone that stated otherwise. “And I hope I never have to deal with you two again!” With that, the orange mist popped out of the control cube, still pouting childishly. Kat rolled her eyes as she entered the control box again. “Stupid psycho,” Kat muttered as she regained control of her body. There was a moment of awkward silence in the room, as Vixella and Stacy struggled for words after the unexpected visitor. Kat raised an eyebrow, before sitting down on one of the soft cushions, so done with that awful jerk of a devil consciousness.

“Me-ow!” The Other Self gasped comically inside her head. “That hurts!” “Shut up, shut up,” Kat muttered to herself, feeling a headache coming on again. “I don’t need your unhelpful and rude remarks now, or at any time—WOAAAH!” All of a sudden, the airship shook violently, nearly knocking Stacy and Vixella off their feet. A glass vase on one of the tables slid off and shattered into pieces. “What was that?” Stacy cried, dashing to their window. Vixella quickly grabbed her rapier from her bag, eyes scanning the room for any possible places someone could sneak in. Kat also got onto her feet, and rushed towards their window. “What is going on?” The Other Self hummed with excitement, and Kat scowled in annoyance. He was REALLY NOT HELPING!! But then she saw what was attacking the ship.

A large wave of black clouds and smoke, complemented by tinges of dark scarlet and vermillion, was surrounding the airship, steadily catching up. It shot bolts of purplish-yellow lighting at its metal sides, bringing along an army of…wait, what were those things? Tiny black dots continued to emerge from the cloud, all looking different. Some had wings, some had long, fancy tails, and others just looked like shapeless blobs from afar. Kat felt a sense of dread accumulating inside her. Whatever it was, these creatures were against them. All of a sudden, a wave of midnight black translucent liquid shot out from the dark swarm of clouds, dissipating the red metal that made up the airship. A bird-like creature also landed on the side, clawing at an exterior pipe angrily. Kat felt the ship jerk again, then started to tilt to the left.

“Uh, are we falling?” Vixella called out slightly anxiously. The ship tilted even further, throwing everyone towards the left wall. Kat gripped a metal handle on the opposing wall, afraid to let go. “I think we AAAAAAAAAHHHH!” Stacy’s sentence was cut off as the airship suddenly began to plummet down at neck-breaking speeds. The feeling of falling ignited a tsunami of fear inside of Kat, her acrophobia coming into play again. Kat felt the Other Self smirk inside. “Someone’s a scaredy-kat!” He sang cheerfully, as if falling out of the sky was just another normal day thing. Kat desperately tried to peek out of the rapidly tilting window, to get a look at what was happening outside, but then a spurt of the black liquid splashed onto their window, covering their only exit to the outside. There was a sizzling sound, as well as the acrid smell of something burning, as the glass quickly became thinner and weaker.

Kat lost her grip on the metal bar, and fell onto the opposing wall. Her stomach was screaming in protest as the airship plummeted down towards the ground. Her mind was freaking out 1,000% strong. This was not how the avatar fell, death from a falling airship! After a couple minutes of endless terror, Kat felt the jolt. Everything was thrown back into the air, as the impact shattered the rooms closest to the ground and mangled the rest out of repair. Suddenly, the entire world flashed white briefly before it turned black. The last thing Kat could hear before she hit the wall again was, “Sweet dreams, little kitty-kat. You’re in for a real treat once you awake.” *** “Rise and shine, poppet!” … “Your fear is strong. Thanks for giving me more control, dearie!”

… “Alright then. I’ll simply have to—” “GAAAH!” Kat sat up abruptly, her mind racing and her thoughts panicking. She was sweating profusely, as she quickly examined her hands. Nothing more than just a few scratches and bruises, so… “I’m…not dead?” She muttered, confused, to herself. Kat swore that the fall would’ve been the death of her. But…she was still alive? “UuUUuuhHhh…” Kat’s head immediately swung towards the direction of the voice, immediately scrambling to her feet, rushing towards the sound. Please, please, please, let Stacy and Vixella be alive… She pulled aside a sheet of gnarled metal, holding her breath in desperation. Underneath, it revealed a half conscious Stacy, her face covered with dust and tiny cuts, but definitely still alive and breathing.

Kat let out a huge sigh of relief. But it wasn’t done just yet. She rushed over to where she had last seen Vixella, and searched through the pile of rocks, rubble, twisted metal pipes, and a silk curtain for her lavender haired friend. Just as Kat found her unconscious body behind a pile of smashed splinters that used to be a wooden drawer, she heard a familiar voice from behind. “Kat?” Stacy croaked weakly. “Is that you?” “Stacy! You’re alright!” Kat cried, tears of joy coming to her eyes. She rushed back over to her, with Vixella in her arms. Stacy struggled to push herself up into a sitting position, before shaking her right wrist to rejuvenate it. “C’mon, stupid wrist, come back to me!” She muttered. Just as Stacy regained feeling in her right hand, Vixella began to stir as well.

“That’s because we just fell from one, Vix,” Stacy deadpanned, chuckling. Kat stood back up, and walked cautiously towards the shattered window. It had been broken into several pieces, most on the ground, and the top was covered by a wall of ice that had somehow miraculously formed. If Kat was able to break the ice, it could also function as a hatch to climb out of the broken airship. Kat took a breath, and punched the ice. With the help of her waterbending, the ice shattered into smithereens, some large chunks and others barely visible on the wall/floor. Kat turned back to the others, who were slowly standing up. “C’mon!” She called eagerly. “I’ve found a way out!” Stacy and Vixella stumbled over to the window, and Kat created an icy ladder out of the remaining ice. Kat was the first to climb out of the crashed airship, and the sight that she was greeted with was jaw dropping.

The ship was not on fire. There were no traces of the black cloud, on the ground or in the air. The sky was the same clear baby blue as it had been when they first took off, without a single white cloud in sight, nevertheless a black one. But the weirdest part was that most of the ship…was gone. Their room had crashed into a large clearing in a swampy forest, apparently severed from the rest of the airship. And…it was surrounded by a layer of ice. Stacy poked her head out, and gasped faintly. “What happened here?” She murmured curiously. Kat stepped out to give her some room to climb out as well, her eyes still on the mysterious sheet of jagged ice surrounding their, and only their room. “Where did the rest of the ship go?” Vixella demanded once she noticed the odd scenario they were in. “And where did all this ice come from?”

“I have no clue,” Kat shook her head, still a little disoriented and alarmed. “but we need to find civilization ASAP, before some demon monster comes crawling out of the forest, and tries to eat us. We’re also on a limited supply of food and money, so we’ll have to find a way to—” Kat stopped abruptly at the sound of rustling in a nearby thicket patch by the forest. Her breath came to a hitch, as she slowly reached towards to uncap her waterskin. Vixella and Stacy heard the sound as well, as Vixella pulled out her rapier and Stacy also uncapped her waterskin, drawing out a stream of water. Kat eyed the saltgrass warily, holding her breath. Then a dark, seaweed green head popped out. Kat nearly threw an icicle spear at it the moment it appeared, but she was barely able to restrain herself. It didn’t look like it was evil or hostile, it just looked like a very…lost…eel-hound.

Kat sighed a deep breath of relief. Then the thought came to her—what was an eel-hound doing here? She cautiously took a step towards the aquatic beauty, an ice dagger still in her hand, just in case. The eel-hound noticed her, and shied away slightly. Taking a closer look, Kat noticed that it was gorgeous. The eel-hound had hechromilia, with one amber eye and one crystal blue. Its sleek, water covered skin shimmered in the sunlight, and the gills around its neck fluttered gently in the faint breeze. Kat took a couple more steps, when the eel-hound didn’t move or attack. She warily held out a hand to the creature, smiling nervously. “Hey,” she murmured. “What are you doing here?” The eel-hound whimpered, reaching forward and nuzzling its head into Kat’s extended hand. Kat immediately relaxed. She gently cupped its seaweed green cheek, brushing it softly.

The eel-hound tentatively walked out from the thickets, circling Kat and sniffing her curiously. Kat giggled when it sniffed her face, then giving it a good lick with its tongue. “Look like someone’s got a new pet,” Stacy teased as she and Vixella made their way over. Kat kept on smiling, patting the eel-hound’s head gently. “She needs a name.” Kat said out loud, her gaze still fixed on her new pet. “Got any suggestions?” “How do you know it’s a she?” Vixella inquired curiously. “It’s not huge, first of all,” Kat replied. “Males are usually twice as tall as females and much larger. Adult females are usually the size of a large horse, but they’re faster and more agile than males.” “Hmm…how about Enzy?” Stacy suggested. Kat gave her a doubtful look. “I don’t think so,” She responded. “It sounds weird.” Kat Junior?” Vixella tried meekly. Both Kat and Stacy gave her the ‘really?’ look.

“No.” Kat deadpanned, before her face brightened with an idea. “I know! Kiaria!” “Kiaria,” Stacy echoed, a small smile creeping up her face. “I like the sound of that.” “Well then, it’s settled.” Kat slung her right arm over Kiaria’s neck, who let out an odd noise of satisfaction. “Welcome to the group, Kiaria.” So after the trio then picked up what was left of their supplies and refilled their waterskins with the mysterious ice, and although their current situation was less than ideal, they rode off from the scene with a smile on their faces in the end.

Kat loved her new eel-hound Kiaria dearly. She knew their future held mysteries and many, many struggles, but she also knew that they would face them together. Because in the end, she would not make the same mistake that her predecessor, Avatar Aang made. Kat would face her struggles, her fears, and ultimately, the Phoenix King together, with her friends by her side. And she knew that if they played their cards right, this would all turn out in their favor in the end.

Lizzie walked briskly down the cobblestone street, glancing occasionally at a street sign. Her signature pink hair and o so familiar face was hidden by a dark red hood, which she used to disguise her identity to remain unnoticed. She made her way to the grainery construction site where many dutiful builders were already hard at work, continuing to lay out the frame of the storage. There were two girls that stood out from the sea of uniform workers; the two girls that Lizzie was looking for. One of them had curly strawberry blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes. She had a cheerful, energetic personality, as portrayed by her overeager bouncing and squeals every two seconds. The second girl had midnight black hair dyed indigo-violet at the tips, and was a bit more calm, listening to the first girl’s ideas with mild enthusiasm. They were Meghan and Lauren, Lizzie’s best(and only) friends.

Lizzie entered the plot, and took down her hood. Meghan and Lauren immediately caught sight of her, and they both immediately dropped into a deep bow. Although that lasted shortly, as Meghan instantly sprang back up and gave Lizzie a giant hug. “Lizzie!” Meghan squealed. “Oh my gosh, it’s soooo good to see you again! It’s been like, forever since we got assigned to oversee construction on this village! How’s things back at the capital? Did anything interesting happen with the bending test?” “It’s good to see you too, Meghan, Lauren,” Lizzie smiled, moving on to give Lauren a hug as well. “And about the bending test; that’s why I’m here.” “What is it?” Lauren asked, a frown forming on her face. “Was there an interruption?”

“To say the least,” Lizzie winced, thinking back to the chaotic events of the test. “Turns out, one of the girls was actually the avatar, and then there were infiltrators that broke into the palace, and then she entered the avatar state…it’s a long story.” “You’re gonna have to try and explain it.” Lauren hummed, looking both absolutely shocked and unsurprised at the new development. So Lizzie had to sit down with her two friends, grab a couple hotcakes and cups of jasmine tea, and explain the whole situation to them. An hour and a half later, Lizzie was absolutely exhausted from all the talking, and Meghan and Lauren’s jaws were dropping. “So wait. The avatar got…possessed? And then another one of the girls was actually a waterbender?! Whaaa?” Meghan gaped, before dramatically falling to the ground from shock overdose. Lauren looked stunned.

“And now you need us to try and track the avatar and her friends down.” Lauren concluded. “This is…a lot to take in.” “You’re telling me!” The pitiful, whining voice of Meghan rose from the ground. Lizzie facepalmed. “Yes. And it’s best if we leave as soon as possible. I know for sure that the avatar will be heading to the Northern Water Tribe to master waterbending, so the most ideal location to take off from would be Spark City.” She explained. “We’ve caught wind of a Northern Raider outpost there, but it has yet to be uncovered. It’s the best lead we have so far.” “I guess this is gonna be a long journey, huh?” Lauren sighed. *Timeskip to Later* “I hate flying!” Lizzie felt the urge to bang her head on the wall, as Meghan slumped out of her seat, complaining for the fifth time since they took off.

“I know, Meghan,” the Princess seethed, barely keeping her annoyance under control. “but this is the fastest way to Spark City. Or would you rather ride a train for three days through potentially unsafe swamps and forests and volcanic mountain ranges?” Meghan immediately sat back up, shuddering. “Volcanic mountain ranges? Sheesh, no thanks.” Lizzie let out a deep sigh, before refocusing her attention on what was going on in front. “Captain, how much longer until we get to Spark City?” She commanded. “In approximately five hours, your Highness,” the captain responded, his eyes focused on the steering wheel and the front window. Lizzie let out a mix between a scoff and a sigh. Lauren chuckled at that. “Maybe you should let Meghan explore the ship instead?” She suggested warmly. Lizzie gave her a deadpan look.

“And let her destroy everything? No thanks.” She crossed her arms, looking to the other side, only to see Meghan lying on the ground, eating a platter of mini ice-cream cakes. Lizzie sighed, facepalming. “Oh the other hand, it might just get her out of here and give us some peace and quiet.” Lizzie muttered. Suddenly, the captain turned to look at her, which was unprecedented so far. “Your Highness, we’ve spotted some weird flying creature up ahead.” He reported. “And an…eel-hound…with riders chasing the volant animal.” Lizzie stood up, walked over to the front window, and narrowed her eyes, squinting at the blurs down below. “Bring us down,” she commanded. “let’s see what this is all about.” *A few minutes earlier* “We need a team name.” Vixella groaned from the back of Kiaria’s saddle. Again. “I thought we were over this?”

“But if we don’t have a team name, what are we?” Kat argued. “Team Avatar 2.0? That’s soooo unoriginal.” “But every time we try to come up with a team name, we just end up arguing and sulking for the next hour!” Stacy sighed. “Plus, The Froggo Flippers is just weird.” “Oh, that wasn’t me.” Kat reeled back, laughing nervously. “I think Vixella came up with that one.” “No, you’re the one who thought we should call ourselves the League of Fire Nation Butt-Kickers,” Vixella grumbled. “No seriously, guys, we need a name.” Kat frowned, a look of seriousness flashing across her face for a moment. “See, even Kiaria agrees! Right, Kiaria?” She glanced down at her eel-hound, who let out a snort of indignance.

Stacy groaned. “How much longer is it to the next village? I don’t think I can take this much longer.” “It’s almost like this area is cursed to make us get all riled up,” Vixella observed, before her eyes widened mischievously. “orrrr maybe it really is.” “It’s not haunted, Vixella,” Stacy responded monotonously, having given up dealing with the others. “It’s just another completely normal forest, like every other forest we've traveled through.” She glanced up at the towering oak and pine trees lining the side of the road. They grew in a straight line, either with curving branches or straight, pointing sticks. Stacy frowned. It looked almost too normal…

“I got a new idea!” Kat exclaimed suddenly. “We can call ourselves the Demon Slayers! It’s perfect—” She was cut off by a series of high pitched, squeaky noises from the surrounding forest. It sounded almost like a mix between a rat and a snake. “I think we have guests,” Vixella frowned, unsheathing her rapier and eying the surrounding forest sharply. There was rustling in some berry bushes nearby, and then the odd shrieking came again. Kat and Stacy uncapped their waterskins, armed and ready. Then the weirdest creatures burst out. They looked like goblin-fishes, with their large pointed ears and chin, pointy body shape and tiny arms, but eventually the limbs gave way to a large, slimy fish tail at some point. And they were floating. “What…are these creatures?” Stacy asked, indignation and disgust evident in her voice.

“I don’t know.” Kat responded, her blue eyes narrowed at the pack. “But, I think maybe…spirits?” There was no other viable explanation for what these things were. Plus, they did radiate a mysterious energy… “Dark spirits, to be precise.” The Other Self informed unexpectedly. “Spirits corrupted by darkness and negativity. They’re very uncommon as well, which’ll make this battle more interesting to watch!” Kat didn’t get a chance to tell that to Stacy and Vixella, before the group attacked. Their amber eyes glowed, along with their claws of the same color, as they lashed out against the trio. Kat blocked a strike with a little bit of ice, before breaking the wall up into icicles, firing them with diligent aim at a group. They cawed out in pain, as they dissipated into a puff of magenta smoke upon impact. Kat smirked. These things weren’t so hard to fight!

Stacy and Vixella weren’t having much trouble either. Each of the creatures vanished into a puff of smoke with each chop and every swipe from a water whip. Too easy! “I think that’s the last one!” Kat called out as she vanquished the last spirit in sight with a water tentacle. Her gaze scanned the area one more time, before shrugging and walking towards Kiaria, who had backed herself next to a tall birch whilst the battle had been ongoing. “Welp, that’s probably the easiest challenge we’ve come across so far,” Vixella remarked, blowing some dust off of her rapier. Who she also yet had to name, to Kat’s disappointment and outrage. “Wait!” Stacy froze in place, her senses keen on picking up the smallest vibrations. “I don’t think we’re done yet. There’s more.” As if on cue, another trio of the spirits burst out from the treetop canopy, baring their teeth and snarling.

“Oh come on!” Kat complained, heaving a sigh as she uncorked her waterskin again. “I thought we were finished here!” The three spirits burst forward, eyes filled with hatred and thirst for blood. But suddenly, all of that negativity was replaced by pure, undoubted fear. The creatures paused in midair, and immediately scrambled back into the forest, their tails between their legs. Kat frowned. “Is that normal?” She questioned, slightly confused and worried. Stacy and Vixella looked just as perplexed, and the Other Self only let out a small, excited giggle. Not helpful at all. “They ran away out of fear.” Stacy noted as she cautiously walked back towards a startled Kiaria. “But what were they afraid of?” “I—” Kat was cut off by a weight that suddenly landed on her, knocking her down to the ground, dazed. It was like someone had thrown a boulder at her head! In the back of her mind, the Other Self cackled maniacally.

“KAT!” Kat heard Stacy and Vixella scream in unison. But she had no time whatsoever to comprehend what was going on, as the entity seized her arm and slammed her down onto the ground. Panic flooded Kat’s body as she kicked frantically at whoever—whatever—was attacking her, alarm bells ringing. It proved to be in vain, as it grabbed her again, and flung her towards a tree like a ragdoll. Black spots started to cloud her vision. “She’s here!” The Other Self sang cheerfully at the back of Kat’s mind. “Who?” Kat thought dazedly as she started to lose consciousness. “You’ll find out soon enough.” He chuckled quietly, strength returning to his voice for a second before everything faded out into nothingness. *** Lizzie had no idea what to do when her mother announced that she was getting a fiancé on her fifteenth birthday.

The Fire Nation heiress had lots of ambition. Dreams of a beautiful world, where the Fire Nation controlled every aspect of this planet and provided every single one of its citizens with grand amounts of wealth and prosperity. Lizzie wanted to protect, conquer, share their great country’s wealth with the rest of the world. She had never once considered the idea of marriage. Yet here she was, hearing the exact same words that she had dreaded. “Marriage?” Lizzie echoed, still a little shocked, but immediately hiding it in a facade of mild interest. “To whom, Mother?” “I’ve spoken with your grandfather, and we’ve decided on a wonderful young man from the Weng family.” Azula answered coolly. “He is exactly your age, and is extremely gifted and knowledgeable in the art firebending and the history of our glorious nation. Although his attitude could use some work.” Lizzie never knew how badly that sentence meant for her future.

“I’ve already contacted the Wengs.” The Fire Lord went on, walking to the bedside mirror in Lizzie’s room. “They are ecstatic to have their son marrying a member of the Royal Family. It will bring great honor to them—and great benefit to us.” Lizzie swallowed her simmering anger and frustrations, before speaking. “When will I meet him, Mother?” “Soon.” Azula turned away from the mirror, heading towards the closed doors leading outside instead. “And Lizzie.” She turned back one more time, a cold, calculating look in her deep amber eyes. “You’re a member of the Royal Family. Do not disappoint me.” Lizzie bowed again. “Yes, Mother.” She had originally been slightly curious about meeting her new fiancé. Who knew what he was like? Mother might’ve just been bluffing about his attitude and attributes to get her to comply. So Lizzie made sure to take extra care on possibly impressing her future husband the day they were scheduled to meet.

And boy, was he. a. JERK. Duye Weng, the supposed ‘angel son’ of the Weng family, was nothing but a wolf in koala-sheep clothing! He appeared formal and nice enough, but on the inside, he was the EXACT. OPPOSITE. Lizzie wanted to do nothing more than go to her mother and grandfather, and beg for them to change their mind about Duye after the meetup. It only added salt to the wound that Lizzie met the true love of her life that day as well. That night, Lizzie had been sitting at her bedside table, wanting nothing more to do than bang her head on the wood. Duye. Was. Such. A. Nuisance. Lizzie took a calming deep breath, before deciding that a stroll through the streets of Capital City would help her relax a little. Forget about Duye, and that he even existed.

Capital City was beautiful at night. Flaming lanterns were strung across buildings, creating a beautiful dappling effect with its light. Late night street vendors were still outside, selling their fiery treats to bypassers. Most of the people out at this time was to get to the Town Square, where there was a popular circus performer that staged his shows late at night. But instead of walking amongst the street-goers, Lizzie slunk along the rooftops, watching the commotion from above. And that was how she met him. It appeared at first to just be another shadow. But as Lizzie got closer, she managed to make out a faint silhouette, draped in a…forest green cloak, of all things. Alarm, confusion, and wariness immediately surged through her body, as Lizzie slowly backed away from the mysterious figure. But it was too late.

The person had already spotted her, and turned his head towards Lizzie. He unveiled his hood, and smiled at her. “Hey,” he had said. “it’s beautiful up here, isn’t it?” “Who are you?” Lizzie demanded. “Are you from the Earth Kingdom?” “Does it really matter?” He sighed, looking away again. “Why can’t we just all be friends? Does wearing a color that is not red make you a traitor immediately?” Lizzie hesitated, considering his words. But why else would he be here, sitting on the roof instead of down with the other folk, disguising himself in a green robe? “Come sit with me.” He offered. “The fireworks are about to go off.” “Why should I trust you?” Lizzie narrowed her eyes at the stranger. “Why shouldn’t you?” He responded. Lizzie nearly sputtered. That’s right, sputtered. But without a good excuse, she begrudgingly sat down beside the figure.

The two watched the happy residents of the city walk past on the streets in complete silence. Lizzie’s attention kept darting towards the stranger, who was completely focused intently on watching those below. “What are you planning?” Lizzie snapped, finally having enough of this nonsense. “Nothing.” The stranger responded nonchalantly. “Really! Not everything has to have an ulterior motive. Sometimes, you do it out of the kindness in your heart.” “What’s your name?” Lizzie asked, narrowing her eyes. “What’s yours?” He replied. Lizzie wanted to melt this stranger out of frustration. Yet oddly enough, that was the seed that blossomed into a beautiful relationship. *Switch to Stacy & Vixella POV* “KAT!” Stacy screamed, terror filling her body as she watched in horror as the…beast…slammed her best friend onto the ground, before throwing her at a tree.

The spirit that was attacking Kat had appeared out of thin air. And it was…massive. Twice size of a platypus-bear! It had silky dark indigo fur with poison green horns and a mosquito-fly’s beak. It was also…dripping? Some kind of weird clear liquid. Stacy pulled out a stream of water from her waterskin, and slashed it at the beast. It didn’t even flinch at the sharp sting. Instead, it clambered over to a now unconscious Kat, grabbing her with its jaws, and then started to twitch uncontrollably. Stacy’s eyes were huge, and her hands were shaking as the spirit continued to shake. Two large bumps was starting to form on its back. Then, It sprouted wings. Clear, dark blue wings with spiderweb patterns inside tore themselves free from the skin of the spirit, splattering clear liquid all around the place. Stacy leapt back as a puddle landed right where she had been standing, which was now making some odd sizzling sound.

“Give us back our friend!” Vixella roared, charging at the spirit with her rapier raised. The spirit…scoffed, batting her aside with one paw. Then it leapt off the ground, it’s wings flapping hard to keep it flying in the air. It flew rapidly away from the two of them, further along the trail. “No, no, no!” Stacy shouted, leaping onto Kiaria as fast as a bolt of lightning and pulling on her reins. “C’mon, girl! Let’s go!” Kiaria sensed that something was terribly wrong, and immediately sprinted after the spirit. Stacy grabbed Vixella while cruising along, swinging her onto Kiaria.

It was a pretty even chase for the first part. The spirit couldn’t get ahead, but Kiaria couldn’t catch up either. It was when the trees started to thin and they entered a more mountainous area that had Stacy worried. So she let go of the reins, drew a blob of water, and fired icicle shingles at the spirit. To her dismay, it did nothing to damage or hinder it. The spirit swallowed the icicles upon impact and immediately closed up the wound like nothing ever happened. “It’s gonna lose us in the mountains!” Stacy cried, visibly distressed. Vixella glanced down at Kiaria, who was panting heavily. “I don’t know how much longer Kiaria can keep up!” She frowned. Stacy furrowed her eyebrows, deep in thought, before an idea came to mind. “Wait!” She exclaimed. “Vixella, I’m gonna get you up there.” Vixella shot her a slightly doubtful look, but nodded anyway.

Stacy steered Kiaria up a seperate, narrower path that got them to about the same height as the spirit was flying. She then grabbed Vixella with a water tendril, and flung the girl at the spirit. Stacy made sure to wrap the water around the spirit’s leg, ending up losing a lot of her water supply and freezing Vixella to the creature’s back leg. Interesting. The spirit glanced back at the girl clinging onto his leg, scoffing again. It then veered slightly left, smashing her into the side of a cliff wall. Most of the ice shattered into pieces(which Stacy then recollected below), leaving Vixella literally hanging on for dear life, with nothing but her bare hands to stay on. Vixella then grabbed her rapier with one swift movement, and stabbed it into the spirit’s side. It didn’t open up and close the wound immediately, letting the blade stick inside. Vixella and Stacy let out a sigh of relief, knowing that she was less likely to fall now.

As they chased further up the mountaintops, splotches of snow became common in the scenery speeding past. Stacy grabbed a particularly large pile of it and threw it at the creature. The creature growled in annoyance, before dropping Kat out of its mouth and onto its front paws. It transformed its head into one of a lion, and let out an earth-trembling roar that rang crystal clear across the entire mountain. Then the peak actually started to rumble, as more of the goblin-fish from earlier burst out from the rock, these ones covered in ice at the joints. They also looked tougher, Stacy noticed with a wince. *Insert Sky is Falling here* Stacy steered Kiaria past snarling and screeching goblin-fish, some still half buried in the ground, her mind both panicking and groaning in exasperation. Seriously?!

“Did it just mutate its head into a lion?” Vixella shouted from on the now-manticore. Stacy shrugged helplessly. Sure it did, but how?! Stacy took half of the remaining water in her waterskin, and formed a long icicle spear out of it. As they zoomed along the mountaintops, she slashed it fiercely at any goblin-fish that dared to attack, even butchering one in half. Still, there were even more spirits than ever now, even some new mini-dragon spirits flying above. Just another day in paradise! ♪ Here comes another nightmare, another fever dream ♪ Meanwhile, with Vixella, she was having some trouble hanging onto her rapier, with the manticore swinging left and then veering right all the time. She caught a glimpse of an unconscious Kat hanging in the spirit’s arms, before it blocked her vision with its wings again. Vixella then had to swing sharply left, to avoid one of the dragon spirits from chomping her foot off.

♪ The horror just won’t stop; an endless scream ♪ On the ground, Stacy could tell Kiaria was getting tired. Her pants were becoming more audible and heavy with every step, and she barely managed to dodge a swipe from one of the ice goblin-fish at one point. Stacy glanced around concernedly, then noticed a river that veered onto the trail. An idea came to mind. ♪ But this is not subconscious, we’re not imagining ♪ Stacy pulled on Kiaria’s reins, wielding her to the right. The eel-hound seemed very relieved as she plunged into the river, riding along with the river currents. Stacy helped her out a little by bending the water to their advantage. ♪ We’re wide awake, this is reality ♪ But all of a sudden, another spirit lunged out from the water, this looking like an actual eel with sharp claws and a row of spikes on its back. Stacy gasped as it headed straight for Kiaria, and barely managed to deflect it with a blade of water.

♪ Our world’s lost without a soul ♪ Back on top of the spirit, Vixella was very close to falling off. The manticore was constantly smashing her into walls, and she was losing grip of her rapier. It also seemed to be slowly healing the wound, pushing her blade back out. ♪ We’re losing all control, not getting closer ♪ Suddenly, one of the dragon spirits charged at her again, this time butting its head right into her rapier, causing both to fall out. Vixella let out a scream as the spirit above slowly became smaller and smaller. ♪ Every step is just another dose of torture ♪ “Vixella!” Stacy cried, quickly sending a stream of water turned ice slide to catch her fall. Vixella slid down the slippery ice slide, before falling into the rapids of the river. Stacy grabbed her friend’s arm, and swung her over to the back of Kiaria.

“Thanks.” Vixella flashed a small smile quickly, before turning her attention back to the spirit, which was slowly gaining an upper hand now. “Now what? How do we get up there?” “Maybe we don’t have to,” Stacy said out loud, another idea forming. “Maybe we just need to ground it!” “How?” Vixella cried, very confused at the new possibility. “Give me your rapier, Vix,” Stacy ordered. “We’re gonna cut off its wings.” ♪ Better cover up your eyes my friend the sky is falling ♪ Vixella tossed her rapier hesitantly to Stacy, who pulled out a vine rope she had been making earlier. She tied one end to the handle of the rapier, and gave the other to Vixella. Stacy then aimed, and threw the rapier up towards the spirit, striking it right at the joint where the wings met the body.

♪ Can’t outrun the ruin of our lives ♪ Stacy then created another tendril of water, and wrapped it around the other joint of the manticore’s wings. She then froze the tip, cutting it into the flesh(or is this flesh? This is a spirit, so idk lol). The spirit screeched in pain, but continued to flap its wings even harder. ♪ Be prepared, we’re near the end, the final days are calling ♪ “Stacy! Look out!” Vixella suddenly screamed. Stacy snapped her attention towards the front, and noticed a dragon spirit that had landed on a rock right in the middle of the river. Stacy gasped, letting go of the water tendril, and quickly formed an ice ramp for Kiaria to jump over the dragon. ♪ Hold on now ♪ Stacy and Vixella let out a breath of relief as they completely soared past the spirit. But in the moment, Stacy had let go of the spirit’s other wing, and Vixella’s rapier was slowly coming loose as well. But then she noticed what was in front of them.

♪ The sky is falling down ♪ “Huh?” Stacy murmured, then her eyes widened. The mountaintop cut away abruptly right at the edge, revealing a large, gaping ravine that they were approaching very quickly. “HALT!” Vixella yelled frantically, grabbing Kiaria’s reins and pulling on it sharply. Kiaria let out a screech of surprise and panic, trying desperately to come to a stop before the fall. But she fell sideways as they stopped, and sent Stacy and Vixella tumbling rapidly towards the fall. Vixella stabbed her rapier into the snow, but in vain as she lost her grip and the two of them descended down, down, and down into the rocky crevasse. End of Song

As the airship descended down onto the mountaintops, the first thing Lizzie noticed was all the odd marks around the place. There were white scratch marks all over the rocks surrounding the trail, and the small river that ran along the path was sloshing and much of the water had spilled over its banks. As if something had plowed through its waters carelessly. Interesting. “Woah, what happened here?” Meghan mused curiously as she and Lauren stepped off the platform. Lizzie inspected one of the rocks with a lot of scratch marks more carefully, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t have the slightest clue either,” Lizzie responded. “But it’s best we should travel further down to the trail to see where it leads to. And also, be on your guard. We don’t know what left these marks, it could possibly be something very dangerous.” As she spoke, her mind sifted through the possible suspects who left this mess. Earthbenders? A pack of saber-wolves? Not very likely, as saber-wolves preferred temperate forests to alpine mountain ranges, and who knows why a band of earthbenders would be doing out here, out in the middle of nowhere in the Fire Nation. “Your Highness, there are shattered fragments of ice up ahead.” One of the scouts reported as he came running back. “They look too perfect to have been naturally formed.” “Waterbenders?” Lizzie raised an eyebrow, humming inquisitively. “Certainly unusual.” Maybe there were Northern Raiders setting camp here, on their back to the North Pole, or, if she were very lucky, the avatar herself.

“What does that mean?” Lauren asked as they paced along the rocky trail. “It means we are going to find something worth the trouble at the end of this path.” Lizzie smirked. Lizzie, Meghan, and Lauren, plus a dozen or two of accompanying soldiers, made their way down the road. This was not a very commonly used road, and only the occasional merchant or traveler made their way through here to a remote hamlet. These mountains were also said to be filled with unknown dangers that had yet to be charted, as every explorer sent here never came back. It gave Lizzie some chills at the thought of what could possibly have killed so many experienced firebenders. “We’re approaching a ravine, Your Highness,” another scout reported. “and there’s a female eel-hound at the edge. It has a saddle on it, which could possibly mean it is tamed.”

“An eel-hound?” Lizzie hummed. “Very interesting. Let’s see what exactly is going on here.” The group made their way to the edge of the ravine, where, sure enough, a small, juvenile eel-hound was pacing at the edge of the deep, sudden drop. Trained eel-hounds were extremely expensive and hard to find, and nonetheless also very dangerous when upset or untamed. But this one looked more…distressed. It was letting out worried sounding whines, and also kept nodding its head towards the ravine. “Should we detain it, ma’am?” One of the captains asked. Lizzie raised a hand. “No.” She responded coolly. “I think it might be useful after all.” Lizzie walked over to the edge, where the eel-hound was pointing, and took a look down. The ravine was certainly intimidating, with its yawning drop and jagged cliffs. But that wasn’t what caught her attention. It was the two bedraggled, unconscious girls lying on an outcropping a couple meters below the top.

Surprisingly enough, it was the same two girls who had been accompanying the avatar. Though Lizzie didn’t see Kat anywhere around the place, they could provide some very useful information for her hunt. “Pull those two up, and bring them back to the airship for questioning.” Lizzie commanded, before narrowing her eyes and smirking. “They could be the keys to our hidden treasure chest.” *** Stacy awoke to a throbbing headache. It wasn’t even funny. It felt like a hundred drums banging against her scalp, making her ears ring louder than ever before. Stacy let out a groan, trying to press her hands against her ears. But…they wouldn’t budge. Stacy snapped open her eyes, and the first thing she saw was the abundance of red. That alone immediately started up her alarm bells, with panic steadily rising inside her. Stacy’s eyes darted around frenziedly, taking in every little detail about the room. Nothing she saw boded well for them.

The only good thing about their situation was probably that Vixella was still there, right next to Stacy. But…everything else was just…UGH. They were in a large metal room lined with red banners and velvety red carpet. There were glass panes lining the front of the room, as well as an assortment of different complex machines filled with buttons and levers and switches that Stacy knew nothing about. A single man wearing heavy red armor was controlling the steering wheel in the center. On the opposing wall, there were three black and crimson thrones lined up against the wall. The ones on the side were smaller and less lavishly decorated than the center one, and there were two guards on either side of the trio of thrones.

Two girls were seated on the side thrones. One had curly bubblegum pink hair and a very excited demeanor, while the other had straight bright violet hair, and was calmly reading a book. But it was Princess Lizzie herself who sat in the center throne, staring straight at Stacy and Vixella. Stacy let out a loud sigh. Again? Seriously? Why couldn’t they go more than two days without running into their nemesis? And judging by their positions and clothing, the two girls on her side were Lizzie’s henchwomen. “So the sleeping beauty has finally decided to awaken,” Lizzie proclaimed loudly, a smug grin on her face. “although the other is still snoozing.” “What do you want?” Stacy narrowed her eyes, hissing mistrustfully. “I think you know already.” The princess giggled, before straightening her demeanor. “Where is the avatar?”

“Well, unlucky for you, we don’t know either!” Stacy retorted hotly. “She got carried away by a spirit. We don’t know where Kat is now, or who kidnapped her.” “Isn’t it the spirit?” The other pink haired girl questioned curiously. “You could find it, and along with it, Kat!” “I doubt that spirit kidnapped Kat just for itself,” Vixella cut in unexpectedly(Stacy hadn’t even noticed she had awoken!). “someone else most likely sent it.” “Geez. I wonder who would want to capture the avatar at this time.” The other purple haired girl said sarcastically. “Oh wait. Practically the entirety of the Fire Nation.”

“Meghan, Lauren,” Lizzie said in a ‘don’t test me now’ tone. The two other girls immediately went silent. The Fire Nation Princess then turned to Stacy and Vixella. “This is…concerning, to say the least. Whoever kidnapped the avatar has a very strong connection with the spirits, first of all, so it most likely isn’t just any other bounty hunter. We need to find who they are—and outsmart them.” “Well, now that we’ve told you what you want to hear, can we yet?” Vixella grumbled. Lizzie snorted. “Of course not. I can’t have such powerful pieces on the board just let loose like that.” Lizzie clasped her hands together, a calculating smile forming on her face. “Instead, I have a proposal for you.” “And what is that?” Stacy growled, still a little salty from last time.

“None of us have any idea where the avatar is. But, we share a common goal and each have unique skills and information to offer to one another.” Lizzie went on, standing up from her throne and walking slowly towards the front of the room. “If we come together, we have a better chance at locating the avatar. It would be a temporary alliance that benefits both parties. Fair enough, isn’t it?” “But we all know what you’re gonna do with Kat once we do find her.” Vixella spat. “And we can’t let that happen. Even if we have the same short-term goal, our long-term goals still divide us.” “We’ll cross the bridge when we come to it,” Lizzie dismissed offhandedly. “What matters now, is finding the avatar.”

As much as Stacy hated to admit it, Lizzie had a point. As the Crown Princess of the Fire Nation and Phoenix Empire, she had access to a lot of open resources to easily locate Kat. Nobody would question her for it either, as it was an assignment from the Phoenix King himself to find the avatar. With their help, they could get out of their pinnacle very easily. Another way to say it, they were practically stuck between a rock and a hard place. *** “....oh, she’s here, she’s here, the queen of my heart!” “And so is the king, I can surely tell!” “It was such an honor to be planted inside such a special soul.” “Beware, little kitty-kat, your time here will be a show.” The first thing Kat heard was the Other Self cheerfully singing praises inside her head. That was before she had regained full consciousness as well, so it just sounded like a lonely echo in the empty void of her mind.

Soon, the line which formed the edge of Kat’s consciousness began to sharpen as she drew closer to awakening. She could feel her emotions starting to become panic-stricken, as Kat recalled the previous events. Did they do it? Had Stacy and Vixella managed to rescue her? Sound and scent were the first of Kat’s senses to return. She smelled something acrid and…soot? Something charred, or burning. The sharp click-clack of heels slowly focused as her ears reawoke(is that a weird way to describe it?). A sense of touch came next. The first thing Kat noticed about that was that she couldn’t feel the ground. Secondly, she felt that her arms were suspended above, on some kind of hook, which probably meant she was left dangling in midair. Kat already had a bad feeling about this. If taste returned, Kat didn’t notice it. It would only strengthen her sense of smell, which only made the charred scent stronger. Something was definitely burning.

Finally, Kat felt her sight return, as she very slowly began to blink open her eyes. The first thing she saw was a dark gray flooring, as well as her soot-stained clothes from the battle against the goblin-fish earlier. Judging by the smoothness of the ground, it was probably metal. The alarm inside continued to accumulate, Kat barely managing to retain it back. “Other Self? Any info you might wanna provide?” “I’ll leave this to you to discover.” He giggled back, quiet for once, despite all the commotion he had been making earlier. Kat blearily lifted her head, squinting as everything came into focus. Red, black and gray decorated the room, and…oh no, OH NO. Her eyes immediately shrunk into tiny pupils filled with fear. Oh Yue and La, this was…

She was wearing heavy black armor with gold and red trimmings, her midnight black hair tied in a neat topknot with the Royal Headpiece tucked behind. Her bangs were barely visible from this angle, only the tips peeking out. And in her left hand, a burning blue flame. “The long lost avatar, found at last. Took you long enough, Aang.” The most manipulative, cunning, selfish, and deceiving person in the world. Fire Lord Azula.

She felt her breath hitch as she realized just who was standing before her. Tale of Fire Lord Azula’s manipulative, cunning, and ruthless nature was whispered at every corner of the planet, from the ‘free’ villages in the South Pole to the Upper Ring of Ba Sing Se to the Air acolyte population that lived in the Northern Air Temple and invented new weapons for the Fire Nation. She was especially well known for her drive in the past to crush the last avatar and destroy everything and everyone he loved. And here Kat was, captured and helpless, at her mercy. Azula slowly turned around, revealing her pale, flawless skin and sharp amber eyes. She looked just like Lizzie, but a million times worse. She abruptly clenched her left hand into a tight fist, extinguishing the flame in a heartbeat. Kat gulped, butterflies fluttering around inside her stomach.

“Where do we even start?” She pondered, touching her cheek with one finger. “Oh wait, I know. How’s Fear doing?” “Fear?” Kat echoed, sweating profusely under the Fire Lord’s sharp stare. “The little spirit parasite that I implanted.” Azula explained, a sickly sweet smile gracing her blood red lips. “Quite the little nuisance to his hosts, grows stronger and weaker depending on the state of their mental stability. You might know him by another name, but you’ve definitely met him.” “The Other Self.” Kat realized, with a sinking feeling in her stomach. “She implanted you?” “The Queen’s little pet is powerful, yes,” The Other Self(or is it Fear now?) giggled. “But nowhere near as strong as her master.” “Her master?” Kat murmured out loud, not realizing that Azula heard her until it was too late. The Fire Lord smirked at the little outburst.

“Maybe you two should meet face to face?” She suggested. “After all, it is your destiny. Better happen sooner than later, with me having the advantage instead of you.” Kat could only dangle helplessly from the ceiling as Azula strided confidently to another side of the room. There was a large metal box with a single square opening on the front the size of a cardboard box. Azula snapped her fingers next to the box, which started to move on its own, towards Kat. The box stopped moving directly in front of Kat, about three meters or so away. Azula gave Kat another one of her sickly sweet smiles, putting two fingers to her lips.

“I’ll leave you two alone to talk. It’ll just be you and her!” She waved with a very fake cheerful demeanor on as she opened the door and left the room. The harsh slamming sound of the metal door made Kat jump a little, shivering. She turned her attention back to the metal box with the mysterious entity inside, swallowing her fear as best as she could and staring at the little hole. … … … “Hello again, avatar.” Kat yelped, attempting to jump back slightly from the shock. It only ended up with her swinging on the hook. She could see something dark moving inside the box. Though the dim lighting in the room did not help. “Hello…again?” Kat echoed, barely able to retain her fear and confusion. “Have…we met before?”

“In your past lives, yes,” the person chuckled quietly. She had a voice that sounded as smooth as silk and mostly calm, but with a darker undertone. “but it has been a while. Many incarnations. Perhaps your memory is lacking?” Kat took a calming breath, as she processed her options here. Whoever was in the box certainly knew one of her previous incarnations, although who still remained unbeknownst to her. But she had yet to catch on to the fact that she remained oblivious of her memories from her past lives, as well as their dormant connection. If she played her cards right, maybe Kat could convince this…thing…that she was fully spiritually inclined and connected with her avatar self. “It has been a while since we’ve seen each other, yes,” Kat lied in a slightly wary voice tone. “But I still remember you.”

There was a moment of silence in the room. Then Kat felt the temperatures drop sharply. The single flame that lit the room faltered in the harsh freeze, and suddenly Kat could see each of her exhaled breaths. An ominous aura radiated from the box, rippling through the room. Kat winced as the wave hit her, making a subtle attack on her spiritual core. “You can pretend, girl,” she whispered sinisterly, all facades of calmness and affability vanishing in an instant. Kat could almost feel a cold hand on her cheek. She shuddered, shifting away. “but you’re not fully connected. Not yet, at least.”

The sharp drop in temperature faded as quickly as it came, the room returning to the balmy condition it was ten seconds ago. Kat shivered as she pondered just how whatever thing was inside the box had been able to do that. Waterbending? Perhaps, but she would have to be very talented to just alter the temperature like that. In such a short timespan, as well. “Perhaps we can have a better working relationship. Kat, was it?” The person(or was it a person? Kat was starting to think it wasn’t) said in a calculating, business-like tone. Kat shuddered for the fifth time(or whatever number we’re on at this point) since she awoke. Whoever was inside the box, they did not like her. Or her avatar spirit. Maybe both. But the mysterious entity was also clearly much stronger than she was. If Kat tried anything, it would most likely maul her or something.

“The current state of the world is…alright.” The entity went on. “But I feel that it could get better. A lot better. And to do that, I need you out of the way.” “W-wait. What are you planning to do? Why me?” Kat stammered, suddenly very befuddled at what she was talking about. “I’m supposed to be the master of all four elements, the bridge between the human and spirit world. If you’re trying to change things for the better, why can’t I help?” “That’s just it.” The person responded coolly. “I’m not trying to change things for ‘the better,’ as you see it. I’m trying to change it for the worse. Or, the better, in my point of view. And plus,” the voice paused for a moment as there were some faint shifting noises coming from inside the metal box. “you didn’t choose this life. It chose you. And now you’re trapped in a maze. I could free you from this burden.”

Kat faltered at her words. This entity literally just read her mind! Metaphorically, of course. If she could actually read minds…aaanyways, moving on! She did want to be rid of this curse. This burden. Kat never asked to be the avatar! If it weren’t for it, she could be home right now, spending time with her siblings and eating blubbered seal jerky and complaining to Stacy for the one thousandth time about how school sucked. But no, it was because it chose her to become the next avatar, that she was in this mess. And now this person was offering to get her out of this mess. But…

If everyone was like her, refusing to comply with the destiny that chose her, what state would the world be in? How would anything get accomplished, become changed? Someone had to try. Some people were eager to prove themselves and become a hero, but were nothing more than greedy skinbags that only cared for fame and fortune. While others were hesitant and unwilling to carry the weight of the world, but were wasting their true potential. If someone didn’t stand up, do what’s right, even if it’s hard on themselves, the former would take charge and the world would become even more corrupt than it already was.

Kat snapped out of her daze, and glared at the box defiantly. “No.” She stated firmly. “I see what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to ruin the world. Destroy everything that generations upon generations of avatars have precariously built. Even if I didn’t choose this destiny, and I don’t want it, someone had to stop monsters like you. And I will, because nobody else can.” A deathly silence hung in the air, the tension so thick it could be cut like butter. Kat stared slightly fearfully at the box. A faint violet glow was accumulating inside, steadily growing. Then— PAIN.

Raw, agonizing screams tore themselves free from Kat’s throat. Whatever the entity was firing at her, it felt like a thousand hot knives stabbing at her chest. And Kat couldn’t do a thing about it. Although despite the tremendous physical trauma it was causing, Kat could feel it lashing at her connections with the elements and her avatar spirit. Her waterbending connection fought back harshly, but the others, as seen they were still inactive, could do nothing to fight the pure darkness starting to eat away at the strand. Kat continued to struggle and cry as the monster inside continued to ferociously attack her. After what seemed like an eternity, she finally ceased the beam, giving her a second to catch her breath.

Kat coughed and shook, trying to curl up into a ball as best as she could in this position, barely holding back the sobs that threatened to spill from her throat. The fresh wound simmered like a forest after being struck by lightning, its trees and bushes still steadily burning and bringing destruction to life. “Bold words, for a little parasite without a plan or a single spark of the strength needed to take me down.” The creature hummed, sounding slightly amused at the pain she had just caused. “How naive.” There was a sharp rapping at the door that sounded like the chorus from ‘Pop Goes the Fire-Ferret.’ The creature inside the box let out a small, frustrated and barely audible sigh of annoyance.

“Yes, yes. I’m done talking. We can put the plan into motion now.” She said, irritance flickering across her voice. The metal door slid open with a loud creak, as Azula stepped back inside. She caught sight of the aftermath of the attack and smirked cruelly. “So soon? I thought you would have so much to talk about!” “Don’t test me.” The creature inside the box said bluntly, with blatant vexation. Azula inclined her head slightly. “Of course.” She said, stalking up to Kat, the click-clack of her heels on the steel floor and Kat’s ragged, uneven breath the only sounds in the room. The Fire Lord paused in right in front of her, examining her blackened wound.

“Pitiful.” She snorted. “But alas, some avatars are just born to be weak. Yet you still can be of use to us.” She abruptly grabbed Kat’s bound hands, and threw her onto the floor. Kat let out a small yelp of pain at the harsh impact, grimacing at a forming bruise on her face. “Let’s go. Guards!” Azula snapped. A second later, two guards in full-fledged armor entered through the door in a uniform manner, grabbed Kat’s shoulders, and dragged her roughly out of the room. Kat stumbled, her legs turning to jelly from lack of use. She gasped and gritted her teeth at the stabbing pain from her wound every time she moved. Kat was forced along the narrow metal hallways in…wherever she was. Most likely a prison or holding facility. The air was hot and dry, the torches every couple meters giving the place a faint orangish glow. The uncomfortable warmth only made her feel like her stomach was on fire.

Eventually, the seemingly endless hallways widened up into a larger steel room, this one slightly cooler and more relieving. Kat could hear the sound of waves sloshing and feel the faintest breeze from somewhere behind the maze of crates stacked up to the ceiling. Soon enough, Kat figured out where the breeze was coming from. The room opened up completely on one side, built right at the edge of the sea. Concrete piers had been carved in and built out to allow smaller ships to dock inside and larger ships to dock outside. Many small Fire Nation sea scooters were parked indoors, floating on the shallow, brackish water. But what caught Kat’s attention was the giant vessel outside.

It was about as large as the ship that had taken Kat and the other girls to the Fire Nation, except it looked ten times more fortified. Sharp spikes lined the side of the ship and on the front entrance, as well as several additional cannon holes under deck. Kat didn’t see any windows without barbed wire over them either. It was like a mega-prison ship. Or maybe it was for that purpose. “Now this is the part where you take a long nap and wake up nice and tucked in at home. Where you can finally be of use.” Azula suddenly spoke, a sadistic smirk crawling up her face. “Wait, wha—” Kat didn’t have any time to respond or comprehend what she was speaking of, before a heavy metal boot rammed against her chest, hitting the exact same spot that the beam of energy had attacked earlier. Pain shot through her systems wildly, and her wound felt like liquid fire.

A few moments later, Kat blacked out from the agony. *** “Welcome to Sufin Island Coordination Outpost, how may I—oh! Princess Lizzie!” The exhausted-looking receptionist jumped once she noticed who was at the front desk, immediately dropping into a bow. “I am sorry, Your Highness. How may I be of assistance to you today?” Lizzie beckoned for her to stand up, before speaking. “I would like to access the records of recent activity around the region.” She responded candidly. “All of the notable events, from major military movements to mere bandit activity.” “Of course, Your Highness!” The receptionist responded quickly, fingers flying and eyes darting back and forth as she fumbled through the documents. “I’ll have someone escort you to the archive immediately!”

In less than a minute, two seasoned guards came and escorted Lizzie up the stairwell of the comms center. They stopped at the fifth floor, pushing open the double dark oak doors and revealing a library of scrolls, containing priceless information that some people would do anything to get their hands on. And some holding the info Lizzie needed to locate the avatar. The two soldiers stood guard by the door as Lizzie started to read through the information. Nothing seemed out of place so far. The usual: drug deals, village raids, merchants going mysteriously missing, although there was a higher than usual vanishing rate in the area where the avatar had been kidnapped. Lizzie moved onto investigating larger movements in the area. A shipment of weapons to Ba Sing Se, a commander’s fleet passing by a few days prior, Fire Lord Azula arriving with a high-security prisoner at Long Feng Containment Facility—wait, what?!

The Fire Nation Princess blinked twice, backtracking to the last part. What was Mother doing here?! Wasn’t she supposed to be investigating an increasingly growing Northern Raider movement at Whaletail Island? Lizzie read and reread that part several times. “Fire Lord Azula with topmost high-security prisoner at Long Feng Containment Facility, newly arrived?!” Lizzie muttered to herself. “Rest of details classified?!” She let out a growl of frustration, scanning the shelves with a sharp eye, looking for a certain scroll that would help her solve this puzzle. Just what exactly has been going on at the faculty lately? *** “Fire Lord Azula’s doing what?!” Stacy shouted. Lizzie nodded in confirmation.

“She’s taking the avatar down to the South Pole, most likely,” Lizzie responded. “Although it has yet to be confirmed, due to the tremendous amount of classified information,” (glares at the wall) “Why else would she need an entire fleet of top-notch prisoner and fighter ships to the Southern Water Tribe?” “This is bad.” Vixella grumbled, touching her temple. “Really. Bad.” “You’re telling me,” Stacy growled, clenching her fists. Lizzie leaned back on her throne, letting out a long, deep sigh. For a couple seconds, all was silent on the airship, with the exception of the steadily humming engine. The flaming lanterns in the room suddenly all flickered brighter for a brief moment as Lizzie’s anger and frustration was let loose for a split second. “So…now what?” Stacy broke the silence, a deep frown upon her face.

“Hmm…we go to the facility.” Lizzie decided, a plan slowly forming inside her head. “We—no, I confront the Fire Lord about what she’s doing here, whilst you two go and find Kat…wherever she is.” “But technically, wouldn’t the Fire Lord have more power over you?” Vixella argued. “I mean, she is, well, the Fire Lord. And how do we know you won’t backstab us and run off with Kat once we get her back?” “How do I know you won’t do the same?” Lizzie smirked. “It’s a delicate game of trust and risk. And here, I hold the upper hand. Azula’s supposed to be somewhere else, so I can confront her with the good gracings of the Phoenix King, the only other person in the world that holds more power than she does.” There was a moment of unsettling silence, as the avatar’s little ‘protection squad’ processed Lizzie’s words.

“That’s actually not such a bad idea.” Stacy said at last. “You also have a point with the trust and risk. We can’t do this alone. But we can together. You distract Azula, while we get Kat!” “Great idea!” Lizzie jumped at the new voice, her gaze immediately swinging to the now opened door. A familiar head of curly strawberry blonde hair and chocolate brown eyes stared back, grinning. “Meghan!” Lizzie scolded angrily, stomping over to her hyper friend. “I told you to stay in the bedroom with Lauren!” “Yeah, but she got bored.” Lauren responded unexpectedly, her head also popping out from the doorway. “And there’s a development in comms. One of the commanders wants to talk to you.” “Who is it?” Lizzie asked, straightening her posture and her headpiece. “Commander Betty.” Lauren replied. *** “Private Airship #10234 here, patching into Spark City CCT.”

“Spark City CCT responding. Welcome, Princess Lizzie. Please give me a minute, I’ll patch you through to Commander Betty immediately.” A monotonous voice replied, static filling the radio connection as the call started transferring. A few short moments later, the call cleared up, and a soft, clear voice came through. “Crown Princess Lizzie.” Betty said through the transmitter, pausing momentarily before continuing. “I assume you received my message, Your Highness?” “Get to the point.” Lizzie snapped. “I have a very essential plan I’m organizing after this.” “Right.” Betty said. “Fire Lord Azula wants you to at the Northern Air Temple outpost as soon as possible. She says they’re preparing an offensive, and all commanding officers are to be there.”

Lizzie growled. This was certainly just another foil to stop her from locating the avatar! “Tell her I can’t. I’m about to locate and successfully capture the avatar…near Ember Island.” She fabricated the last part, hoping to throw Mother off. “It’s mandatory for all offensive Fire Nation troops, ma’am.” Betty responded, sounding slightly concerned and fearful of Lizzie’s anger. Or it might’ve been the fact that she mentioned Kat. “She’s drawing in all the troops stationed in the Earth Kingdom, from Ba Sing Se to O—New Ozai and even some from the Icy Fortress! Phoenix King Ozai will also be arriving once all the troops are in position, leading this offensive himself.” A sinking feeling arose in Lizzie’s stomach. Why would Grandfather need so many troops centered at one point? There was only one explanation…

“Fine.” Lizzie said out loud, irritation evident in her voice. “Tell the Fire Lord that I’ll be heading to the Northern Air Temple—right after I locate the avatar.” There was a pause on the other side, and Lizzie heard the faintest sound of a scratchy, static-filled growl that didn't sound like Betty. “Alright.” Betty responded, fear flooding her voice more clearly now. “I’ll inform the Fire Lord.” “Goodbye.” Lizzie spat bitterly into the communicator before slamming it down on the transmitter machine, rubbing her temple. What was Mother doing? Why did she have the avatar? And why the South Pole? So many questions, all left unanswered. *** “Goodbye.” Lizzie spat, before there was a loud ‘thud’ as the call ended. Betty swallowed a deep sigh of relief, and turned to the other call left open on the other side.

“You did the right thing, Betty.” Azula said complacently. “Keep up this work and I’ll have you promoted to general in no time. To think! The youngest in history, and from the Southern Water Tribe, nonetheless! It’ll definitely be an astounding accomplishment in the books, not that you haven’t already made your mark.” “I don’t care about getting promoted or not.” Betty responded firmly, but with zero irritance or ungratefulness in her voice. “All I want is the guaranteed safety of my family.” “Of course.” Azula hummed satisfactorily. “Your family is already well-off, with your newly acquired ranking. But if you were promoted to general, your family would be amongst the Fire Nation nobility. The wealthiest and most respected people in the world! They would never have to live in fear, or suffer, ever again.”

Betty hesitated, considering the benefits. Lately, she just hasn’t been her funny, joking self. After Kat revealed herself to be the avatar and fleeing from the Fire Nation, Betty had been more stressed and perturbed over the safety of the rest of her family. Azula had come to her one day, with an offer to secure the safety of her parents and siblings that Betty just couldn’t turn down. In turn, Betty helped the Fire Lord manipulate her daughter into veering off Kat’s track, and preparing the inevitably approaching offensive in a few weeks. Betty had upheld her side of the deal, and therefore, Azula had held hers. But if she were promoted to general…her family could live tranquilly in the heart of the Fire Nation, where no outside dangers could harm them. No more surprises, no more life-changing reveals.

By doing Azula’s mysterious and random bidding, that could be easily achievable. “Fine.” Betty said out loud. “I’ll aid you further.” “Good.” Azula simpered. With that, there was a softer ‘click’ than the one that had sounded when Lizzie ended her call, and suddenly Betty was all alone in the communications tower, the eerie silence adding to the yawning gap she felt in her chest. Betty knew that this had to be the right choice. She was saving her family, and securing a bright future for them. So why did it feel so wrong?

Her body was constantly aching, trying everything to manage the yawning cavity of damage that had been done to her. Kat tried to curl into a tight ball, but every little movement caused a spike of agonizing pain. So instead, she looked inside. Kat had centuries of knowledge, wisdom, and experience buried within her, that she was just barely beginning to unlock. They were all down there, somewhere beneath the not-so-Impenetrable Barrier, just waiting to be learned. Maybe she could accomplish more from looking within herself instead of looking out.

The more Kat explored, the more she discovered. Apparently, her mind was organized like a road. Alongside the road were different stops, all with different purposes. Her unlocked memory archive, the core of her bending, senses generator, etc. But there was one at the end of the starry path, one that was left unexplored. An intensely glowing white orb that was…leaking…something. The white orb sat within the palm of a gigantamized Kat, a hardened and determined look on her face. It was all within a starry, endless swirling galaxy, the path she took faintly illuminated by a crystal clear shield of hard light. Well, at least, that was how it was supposed to be.

The mysterious white orb at the end of the street was exerting some sort of purple ooze. It was runny, like water, but at the same time, sticky like glue. It always gave Kat a nauseous feeling whenever she touched it. After the fifth encounter, Kat had decided that the purple goop was to be avoided at all costs. But the worst part was that it was everywhere. It coated the hard light road, plastered to the surface and the sides. It was melted into her senses generator, shriveling up all the controls and creating an acrid stench in the immediate vicinity. It sizzled into the ground of her bending core, making splotches of darkened, tainted wood on the floor that Kat had to hop over. The only place that Kat hadn’t seen it so far was her memory archive, but she had a feeling that it was there as well.

This time, as Kat closed her eyes and sank into the blissful oblivion of her mind, she had a particular goal in mind. Kat had been to chicken to do it earlier, but she couldn’t delay the inevitable for any longer. She had to see what was producing the ooze—and if possible, stop it. When Kat reopened her eyes, she was inside her consciousness road again. For some reason, the acid looked even worse than the last time she had come, which was only an hour or two ago. The ground looked eaten into and slightly charred, and there was an odd sizzling noise coming from the large purple puddles. Kat took a sharp breath inward, and cautiously navigated around the mysterious liquid. Kat stopped in front of the glowing white orb for a moment, taking a calming breath. Here, the bright light was so brilliant that her eyes were groaning in protest at the intensity. She ignored the resistance, closed her eyes, and walked inside.

That turned out to be not such a good idea, when she found herself falling a second later. Kat snapped open her eyes wide, glancing around as the wind whipped past her face. Darkness greeted her in every direction. Kat couldn’t see anything, or feel anything, or even hear her own screams. The void was suffocating. But then, it all went away. The tightness in the air suddenly vanquished, as Kat fell onto a hard, metal surface. She rubbed her eyes dazedly as she got back up on…wherever she was. The room Kat had landed in was pitch black, darkness swallowing anything and everything. Kat brought her hands up to her face, but her vision still showed nothing. Then… A voice… A very familiar voice… “Hello again.” Kat’s breath caught in her throat. This…was the Other Self’s prison. This was where the toxic ooze was coming from?! Oh spirits…had she destroyed her own mind by unleashing the Other Self?!?!

“It was bound to happen sooner or later.” “Where are you?” Kat demanded, eying her surroundings, even though she couldn’t see anything. Then…a light in the distance… “Over here.” Kat tentatively stepped towards the white light, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the brightness. Once the initial shock had worn off, Kat could make out a figure about the same size as her holding the light in its hand. Was this…the Other Self? “My name is technically Fear. But call me that if you want.” “Ok, stop reading my thoughts.” Kat said out loud, irritated. Just because it was a parasite-thingy didn’t mean it had to breach her privacy! “Nope.” Kat stopped a few feet away from the light source, afraid and hesitant to go any further. The Other Self let out a low chuckle, which was a far cry from its normal hyper and psychopathic self. “I know why you’re down here.” It said. “Curiosity. Questions. So ask away!”

“Why…” Kat paused to think of how to phrase her thoughts. “How are you doing this? Why are you emitting toxic stuff all of a sudden?” “I’m not a creator. I’m merely a channeler.” “What?” “I’m simply helping the dark energy corrupt you.” “Oh. Why?” “When I said you could ask questions, I meant thoughtful, meaningful questions and not just stoopy one-word questions that you already know about.” Kat scoffed indignantly, crossing her arms. “Well, how do I get out of his hole of oblivion?” “Figure it out yourself.” “And here I thought you could only be psychopathic and never sarcastic or deadpan.” Now it was The Other Self’s turn to scoff. “Fine. But only to stop you from annoying me for eternity. And someone has to take control of the body sooner or later.” “Wait. One last thing.” Kat said, right before the Other Self could teleport her up. “Who…are you?”

The Other Self laughed, a semblance of its normal psychopathic self showing. “Didn’t Her Grace and Azula make it clear?” He responded mockingly. “My name is Fear. And I’m a parasite that leeks off of negative emotions, embodying their worst nightmares.” “Yes, yes, I already know that.” Kat said, the edge of her lips twitching downward. “But…why me? I know I still have a lot to learn and explore about myself, but what was it in my past that caused you to come here? Just how bad could it be?” “Oh, believe me, had I not neutralized your memories, you would’ve mentally and emotionally crashed a long, long time ago.” The Other Self scowled. “You should be thanking me.” “Well, whatever it was, I could’ve handled it!” Kat huffed, glaring at the light source aggrievedly. “I don’t need you to tell me what I can take and what I can’t. You’re just a parasite!”

There was a moment of silence, before a low, insane-sounding chuckling. It started out small, but increased in volume and pitch. Soon enough, it sounded like a hundred clowns laughing at Kat, their deranged voices echoing through the chamber. Kat felt her annoyance and anger wilt away into fear, suddenly feeling very small. “You—you think you can control me?” The Other Self chortled maniacally, gasping for air. “Let me tell you one thing I’ve learned over the centuries—if you can divide a person, tear them apart, any semblance of power they once had will wash away. I AM Fear. I fear no one—except for one person—and I certainly won’t let a little broken avatar stand in my way either.” The second he finished speaking, Kat felt herself being launched up, up, thrown out of the encroaching void.

Before Kat could comprehend anything else, she was back outside the glowing white orb, fallen onto the translucent road in her consciousness. She let out a sigh of frustration. That had not gone as smoothly as she wanted it to. Not that she had planned on meeting the Other Self in person, though. “Relying on a creature as wicked and manipulative as Fear for guidance? My, my, I think I really slacked off on my job with you.”