shadowsong26: (Default)
shadowsong26 ([personal profile] shadowsong26) wrote2010-10-01 07:27 pm
Entry tags:

new fic!

my AvatarBigBang submission!

Title:
Cold (Part 1: The Road to Omashu)
Rating: PG-PG/13
Genre: General/Adventure
Warnings and pairings: A fairly twisted mindset in the villain, generous amounts of Azula being creepy, implications of violence towards children. Also, this is an AU, so allies and enemies from canon are significantly shifted.
Summary: After a century of ongoing war between the Fire Nation and the Air Nomads, the new Water Tribe Avatar has still not been identified, though he is nearing coming of age. With a century-long vicious revenge cycle to stop, complete with horrible crimes perpetrated by people on both sides, he will have his hands full sorting things out, given the drastic measures employed by both sides, in some cases not even knowing the full extent of the consequences. Meanwhile, one of the surviving members of the Fire royal family has disappeared from his secret home, and Sozin's Comet will return soon, and those of the Fire Nation who have survived the Air Nomads' vengeance for their original attack have every intention of some brutal counter-vengeance of their own to end it forever. Jiu Shi, granddaughter of the last Avatar and the closest thing the Air Nomads have to a military leader, is determined to stop them at any cost.
Disclaimer: All characters save Jiu Shi are the properties of their respective owners.


Prologue

Many years ago, the Four Nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the Fire Nation attacked.

Harnessing the power of the comet, Sozin and his armies launched a coordinated strike against the four Air Temples. Three of these strikes were brilliant victories, but at the Southern Air Temple, the twelve-year-old Avatar, a boy named Sheng, panicked and accessed the Avatar State, destroying the invading army and saving roughly a third of the temple's residents.

Once he'd recovered from his wounds, Avatar Sheng launched a vicious retaliatory war against the Fire Nation, building an army from what was left of his people and any allies he could scrape together from the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes. Two years after the Temples' destruction, Sheng's army sacked the Fire capital. Fire Lord Sozin died in the fighting, but his consort escaped with their toddler son, Azulon.

The bloody conflict continued for the next several years, the Air Nomad survivors concentrating in the Southern and Western Air Temples, with Avatar Sheng and his family and generals headquartering in the south, and the Fire Nation remnants scattering throughout the world, with Fire Lord Azulon and his family headquartering in what became known as the Hothouse, hidden somewhere in the island jungles of the Fire Nation. As the Avatar's propaganda machine had more success, not being the aggressors in the war, anyone caught firebending was killed on sight, unless they could escape to the Hothouse.

Not all of Sheng's people approved of the path the Avatar was taking, among them his old friend and childhood playmate, Aang. Aang had friends throughout the world, including in the hated Fire Nation. These friends brought him to the Hothouse, which he proceeded to aid in any way he could, forming a great friendship with the Fire Lord.

Many years after Sozin's death, even Sheng began to regret some of what he'd done. He wished for a way to keep those children unfortunate enough to be born monsters alive, and undo what had been done to them by their unlucky birth. A spirit calling himself Lo Qi told the Avatar that there was a way to strip a person of his ability to bend. Sheng eagerly learned this technique and instituted a practice of applying it to all firebenders caught before the age of sixteen. Of all his descendents, only a granddaughter, Jiu Shi, possessed the necessary strength of will to learn this skill, and he taught her once she was old enough and had mastered airbending, that she might share the task of saving innocent children before they became monsters.

Twenty years later, a bit less than sixteen years before the comet was due to return, Avatar Sheng at last learned of the location of the Hothouse, gathered his forces, and attacked.

The residents had no warning--Aang had been unable to beat the army there--and the Hothouse was destroyed, though not without great cost to the Avatar's army. Sheng himself was killed by a concentrated effort from Azulon and his two sons, all three of whom gave their life for this hollow victory. Prince Ozai's consort and Azulon's two grandsons--Lu Ten being about twelve and Zuko only a year old--managed to escape. Six months later, Princess Ursa had a daughter, as well. Less than two years after that, Ursa was killed by bandits. Lu Ten took his cousins and disappeared, hiding somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. Jiu Shi, now thirty, put much of her effort into tracking the fugitives down, as did Aang and an old friend of Prince Ozai's, Zhao, who was one of the primary commanders of the remnants' forces.

The Water Tribes, upon hearing of Avatar Sheng's death, began keeping a very close eye on their children, but became more and more concerned as none of those born at the appropriate time seemed to fit all of the requirements. The one who came closest, a boy named Sokka, grandson of the Southern chief, had such a blatant disregard for his gift that his candidacy was rejected.

And now, the Comet will return all too soon. The Water Tribe Avatar has yet to be identified. Prince Zuko has vanished from where he and his sister and cousin were living. Zhao and other leaders of the remnants of the Firenation are plotting to take advantage of the comet's power to get some revenge of their own. And Jiu Shi is determined to stop them, whatever the cost.




South Pole, Winter, 97 ASC
All Heading Dates Based on the Official Calendar of Ba Sing Se

"I already know how to bend," Sokka complained for the umpteenth time. "Master Adlartok passed me a year ago."

Katara counted to ten three times. "Gran-Gran wants us to learn Northern style, too," she told her brother, yet again.

Sokka grumbled some more under his breath, but tossed his bedroll into their boat anyway. "Wish Mom would let me go to the University first."

Right now, so do I, if it would shut you up, Katara thought, but just shrugged. "Not everyone in the North Pole is a bender. I'm sure you can find some way to entertain yourself outside the lessons."

He made a face. "I know, but they'll make me go to the lessons anyway."

"We've been over this, Sokka," their mother said, coming up behind them. "You do this to make your grandmother happy, then you teach your sister the combat moves their laws won't let her learn, then you can go to the University in Ba Sing Se."

"Yes, Mother," Sokka grumbled, then went to grab the last of his packs.

--------------------

Somewhere in the Mountains Near the Southern Air Temple, the Same Day

Zuko waited until the door had been slammed behind him before he slumped to the ground. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I'm usually better than that...

Of course, if he hadn't risked exposure the way he had, the wildfire would've reached the town and there would have been casualties. He'd thought there was no one to see...

But one of the Hellbitch's hunters had been in the area, a disturbingly attractive woman in black leather with a shirshu. He flexed his hands, bordering on hysteria. At least I can move again...

He closed his eyes and took in a deep, shaky breath. Stop it. Just stop it. Panic isn't going to fix it. Panic isn't going to fix anything. Just hope that Lu Ten and Azula got out okay, that the Hellbitch didn't get them, too...

He needed something to do, something to keep himself from shutting down. I won't give Her that satisfaction, he thought, grimly. He stood up and started pacing around the cell, examining every inch of it. The Hellbitch might have broken him, but he'd find a way out of her prison. He wouldn't let her display him to the world.

--------------------------

Chin, The Same Day

Lu Ten jerked awake, panting. He hadn't dreamed about the night the Hothouse had been destroyed in years. He sighed, rubbing at his eyes, and got up to start pacing again. He wouldn't sleep again tonight, anyway.

Three days. I said I'd give him three days before I went looking. Tomorrow morning makes three days. Azula had been even harder to manage since her brother had disappeared. Lu Ten assumed--all right, hoped--that he'd tracked that wildfire a longer distance than planned, and was just late coming home. The alternatives...

I think I've taught him enough that the fire wouldn't've killed him. But if he tried to control it...He shivered. If Zuko had been caught bending, he would be dead by now. Or worse.

The second-best scenario was that Zuko had worked to contain the fire, and overreached himself. He wouldn't be in very good shape when they found him, but it was better than getting himself caught.

If he isn't home by noon, I'll take Azula and go looking, Lu Ten promised himself. And he'll be all right when we find him. He has to be.

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