The following is a story I made when I was roughly 15, over four years ago. I got some 30,000 something words into it and then lost the wattpad account I had connected to it, only recently rediscovered it. I never published it, so I figured why not now?

Please be light with the criticism. This was done purely out of fun when I was 15, I am now 20.

Prologue

New York was the bane of her. She needed the sun, the grasslands, the wildlife of her homes; not a gray ghetto in the armpit of a booming city. She had experienced this gray depression throughout most of her life, but being in a ghoulish place like this put it at its peak.

She had seen New York only through television before, and had admired the bright lights, the colorful people, the jungle of buildings. Experiencing the forgotten urbans of the city had ruined such expectations. The inhabitants are cruel; their thorns sharpened by the unjust society they were born into, children born into homelessness, wanderers finding themselves without a dollar, not a single penny to spend, all plagued by sins of theft, drugs and murder.

She thought she had seen poverty before. She was dead wrong. And now she was tired of it.

Her father had moved them there in hopes for better work. One of his former union buddies had promised to help him get back in the flow of the movie industry, so they packed their things and scrapped together whatever money they had. Things didn't work out. She watched her life fall apart.

It wasn't like this was the first time she tried committing suicide.

Nooses didn't work, only left her dangling and bruises, and pills were easily punched out of her. Before she had always been too scared to draw blood, but scars that piled up had dissipated from her skin easily. She wasn't scared of damaging her beauty anymore. Her feet dangled from the tall apartment, people looked like maggots worming about on the ground. It had taken some time to find a way up on top, but she had done it. There was no going back. This was permanent.

She got up from sitting, tenderly removing her shoes. She let her body drop from the sky.

Chapter One: Caterpillar and the Sentinel in Limbo

When Nona fell, she braced herself for harsh winds and bitter cold. A sudden crash. She got all of that- the rapid winds whipping at her face, the freezing air, but instead of that life ending impact...the only thing she got smacked with was water.

Or, what seemed like water. It was as if a black hole had opened and swallowed her whole. She sank in a dark, swirling ocean pushing her along its currents. Long curly hair wrapped itself around her head as she was twirled and she fought it away, trying to see. Reaching up to the surface proved futile as it was long out of reach, the glimmer of light seemingly closing up. And then she was left drowning in darkness. The current, dark and fearsome, dragged her along to its bottom. She stopped struggling.

"I am dying. This is what I wanted." Nona thought, accepting whatever fate may lay before her. Her body laid limp before her, and dark waters filled her lungs. She closed her eyes.

But not before being pushed into the hard, incredibly chilling floor of this sea. Her mind went haywire. She felt distorted; her being had passed through the floor after being hammered into it, and it spat her out- into a land so bright it was blinding.

Her ears pounded, her nose burned and throat stung. She felt like she was on fire. Nona heaved in air, coughing up gallons and gallons of the inky liquid, which had in turned sank into the ground of this world. She wheezed, taking in big gasps of air. Her limbs felt grinded and sour, her senses slowly regaining. Soft grains of sand embedded themselves onto her cheek.

Something poked against my side.

"Get up." An ancient, hoarse voice commanded me. I ignored it. I didn't think, I didn't react, I just swallowed in air- hanging onto life.

"Get. Up." He slammed something down against the ground- and suddenly I was blown into a pink, glimmering sky so beautiful it took my breath away. Below was soft sands, a forest in the distance, and a desert in the east. My body floated, gliding slowly down. I felt free. No attachments.

I turned my body in the air, albeit quiet painfully, and touched my feet to the ground.

A man with amber eyes and wrinkled skin stood in garb that was reminiscent of Southern Asian robes; Nepali or Tibet. In his hand was a wooden staff, characters I'm unfamiliar with etched along it.

I swallowed, pushing wet hair from my face.

"So uh," I clutched my hand on my arm."I'm dead, right?" I announced.

He grinned.

"Come along." He turned around and we started to walk away from the sands, stained black with the oil I arrived in.
I was dead, no doubt about it. I chose not to question it.

"Why do you want to kill yourself?" The man spoke without hesitation, without eye contact.

"There isn't a purpose to living."

"Then, if you are given a purpose, would you still want to die?"

"I'm already dead now, aren't I?"

His eyes twinkled and he made a move with his staff and suddenly I went soaring- sucked into something that spat me out in a land as foreign and strange as the one I had just been.

The world was spinnning, and the warm daydream I felt quickly dissipated from me as a cold bit at my body. I was falling once again.

An ocean laid before me- was it the same hell from before? I didn't want to find out, but I was about to meet it.

I curled into a ball and braved the icy waters. Submerged once again, a thought entered my mind; Was I alive? Is it possible that I survived the fall, and now I'm doped up in the hospital and stuck in a limbo; in a coma? Everything was hurting, my temperature was dropping and I was freezing over.

My mind was in a haze, I didn't know if I was alive or dead, but one thing was clear; If I continued to let panic run its course then hypothermia will quickly claim me.

I fought the icy waters that bit at my skin and broke surface, gasping for air. A deep blue ocean surrounded me, glaciers peaked out of the surface in the distance.

A SHARP booming noise sounded behind me. I twisted my body, I had only been submerged for seconds on end but if my body temperature dropped any further I would be letting this nightmare kill me. What is happening? Is this punishment for killing myself?

A black steam boat tore up the waters, speeding towards my general direction. I tried to shout out "HE-L-P" but my voice was stuck in my throat. A column of onyx smoke pumped out of it, and I again screamed,

"HELP!"

My arms tread the water and I kicked my legs, swimming as hard as I could to the ship. The waters were so freezing it felt like it was burning my skin. Pushing to the ship, I remembered a lesson from my health class in middle school. Swimming in waters under, what, 30 degrees? Fahrenheit without any protective clothing can kill you in at the very least... 15 minutes, and you become lethargic in less than two minutes. And I am incredibly friolero.

I could already tell that two minutes had passed when my limbs wouldn't push as fast as they could, and my breaths became faster and more exaggerated. I stopped kicking my legs and kept to paddling my arms, feeling the ocean swallow me. It was getting hard to just move my hands, and soon I couldn't move at all. I floated on my back, everything below my neck had long lost feeling. My eyes fluttered closed, and I felt myself slipping,
- but a moment later two men in bizarre armor yanked me roughly from the water. The cold air bit at me more than the icy waters had, and I slumped in their grip. Carried up to the deck like a soggy ragdoll. Men in armor uniform gathered along the sides of the deck, posed at attention, a boy and an old man in the center of it all.

They forced me to kneel before the boy. The first thing I notice is the skin around his eye, which is scarred a vicious red. The old man next to him stood shorter than him, with grey hair falling around his face, wicked sideburns and beard, and a bun on top of his head. I rattled in the men's hold, my shivering body quaked. I made the mistake of jerking my arm to try and hug my frigid body, only for them to force me down even stronger, gloved hands bruising my shoulders and I moaned in pain.

The boy strides over to me, his deep red metal armor clinking and his helm bobbing with his head. He used his foot to lift my chin, as if to examine my face, and I quivered at his touch. I'm a helpless girl in arctic waters- and their first action is to treat me like a dirty peasant while I freeze to death.

His mouth moved, but I tried my tongue faster- "Ahh-t th-the very le-ass, c-c-can't I gett a b-blanket?"

That made him angry. Should've spoke sooner, pal.

"If y-ya hadn' noticed, I'm n-not exactly in sc-cuba gear."

"Do you have any idea who you're speaking to?!" He gritted out, fury igniting in his eyes. I stretched my lips to smile- which was hard when you're half frozen- and that made him even angrier.

The short old man stepped forward to interject, "It would be wiser to get this young lady in drier clothes before she dies, Zuko." Zuko? How foreign. Maybe I'm in the Pacific. I'll have to find out when I'm not fucking dying.

Zuko turned around on his heel and walked away to the forecastle of the ship.

"Do with her what you will, Uncle. But we get rid of her as soon as we can. She is not the Avatar."

What's an Avatar?

The men holding me down had brought me up and walked me along side Zuko's uncle. We followed him into the ship, where the smell of coal wasn't as bad as outside.

"I am sorry for our...poor hospitality," the short man spoke.

"Ah, do-ont you wor-ry 'bout it, what el-sse wou-ld someone do to a free-zing stranger." I spat back at him and rolled my eyes. This is bullshit. "If you r-really cared about hospit-talit-tty, t-then you wouldn' haff these m-men yanking me a-around." I muttered under a breath.

But the old man's eyebrows crinkled in worry, as if he felt genuine distress towards me. My face softened at this, and I felt bad for being so mean to a small old dude. I shifted my gaze to the right of me, not wanting to make eye contact. My eyelids grew heavier and heavier and I soon gave in and collapsed completely in the soldier's grip, completely out of energy.

I woke up in an infirmary. My heart was beating at a hundred miles a minute, every inch of my body covered in sweat as I moaned in pain- I had a headache so huge I felt the need to smash my forehead against a wall.

There was a man that stood over me, a man with skin dark as night and Guy Fawkes facial hair, who lifted my head and held a cup to my lips- forcing me to drink it. I inhaled the liquid as much as I could for my dry, parched throat- to which the man said "Slow down or it'll go up your nose." The water was like nectar of the gods.

"You've been asleep for the past day. You're quite strong for such a small girl, I've never seen someone break a fever so fast." He said, and I tried to sit up.

"W-where am I?" I managed to burble out, and the man gently laid me back down. What happened?

"Stay down, you're still recovering," His voice was fast, every word spoken with urgency. The man turned around and got to work smashing something up, his hands mechanically reaching for herbs and powders out of the cabinets.

Groaning, I rubbed my temples. The lack of red sleeves caught my attention, and I lifted the sheets.

My clothes were missing and my underwear was replaced with cloth briefs and a knitted top. I crinkled in disgust at the thought of a stranger removing my clothes and- you know what, I'm just gonna not think about it. That's good. Just. Don't imagine it, it'll be like it never happened.

"Where- uh," My voice came out high pitch, "Where are my clothes?" I tried, hearing that my voice was normal again.

His head bobbed up from his workstation, face blank with confusion. "Oh." His black eyes darting beyond me, and I followed their gaze.

My soaking clothes sat in a bin, my phone dropped on top of it all.

Holy shit, my phone!

Falling out of bed, I hissed out "Ow!" and hobbled over to the bin, snatching my phone before I felt hands grab my shoulder.

"I told you to stay in bed!" He scolded, "Stupid girl."

"Yeah, yep, sorry about that," I murmured and fell back onto the bed, huddling up in the blankets. Coddling my phone close, I quickly turned it on. My precious child. It was zipped up in my pocket, so they searched my clothes.

I tore off the otterbox and pat whatever water i felt before turning it on. The screen lit up, and so did my face. It was at 83%, and some pixels were distorted, but at least it was operable. This phone survives my showers, and now an arctic sea. This phone is my ride or die.
NO SIGNAL glared at me from the screen. The clock read 8:14 PM- which is around the time I tried to- or did?-
The light in the room came back to me as my blankets were pulled off- and I shouted "Hey!"

The nurse stood over me, another cup in his hand.

"Sit up and drink this." He stated flatly and shoved it in my face, and I did so.

It tasted revolting and I cringed back, pushing the cup away from my face.

"No, you drink all of it. Unless you want your fever to come back, drink the rest." Looking at the wretched brown liquid and then to the man above me, I grumbled and shot the rest of the contents of the cup into the back of my mouth like a shot glass, quickly gulping and shaking my head.

"So, uh, do you guys save girls from drowning everyday or...?"

"Do you go swimming in arctic waters everyday?" He snorted.

"My dude I don't even know where I am or who you are. If I did something to you, sorry? I'm just tryna make conversation."

"Don't worry about him. He's always like that."
A short, old man entered his room, two soldiers behind him. His face renewed my memory to some extent.

"Can she walk?" he asked the nurse.

"Yes, but she shouldn't over work her body."

"Then, it would be fine if she ate dinner with me? I'll make sure the chefs prepare okayu."

The nurse looked from the man to me with annoyance, then grunted out "Go ahead."

I huddled the blankets around me and rolled off the bed and onto my feet- slowly, slowly- before gliding out of the room.

"Thanks for the rescue," I told him and he nodded his head.
"Would you like a better change of clothes?" He asked and I threw my head up and down.
"I am glad to see you are well. It is not everyday you see a little girl fall out of the sky!"
"Haha, yeah, I don't drop into the middle of no where often either."
We stopped in front of a dimly lit room, the inside rather big and grand for a ship like this. A wide bed sat in the middle, adorned with red and gold sheets, as well as white pillows and decorative throw pillows that looked like they were made from golden silk. A rug of some sort of animal stretched across the floor, a dresser stood in a corner by a mirror and a desk with paper and quill along a wall with a portrait of a beautiful woman, along with a large scroll with figures painted in black ink and seemingly kanji alongside with it. This couldn't be a guest room. Not on a ship like this. Whose room is this?

"Find whatever fits in that dresser there, and knock on the door when you are decent." Iroh reassured me and smiled gingerly. The door was shut before I could have any sort of say, and I was left in silence.

At the very least, it was nice and warm in here. Homely. I stripped the clothes the nurse gave me. My necklace was tangled into my wild hair, but I didn't bother to fish it out yet.

Shuffling through the drawers for something that fit, I realized something- these clothes were strange; they were all robe-like, along the lines of kimono. Everything was also big, but that's what you have to deal with when you're 5' tall. All that there were was dark reds, oranges, bright golds and warm colors in general. I settled for a dark red juban, folding it and tying a gold koshi-himo, then wrapped a black kimono over me, being sure to show the collar of the juban, and tying another waist string.

It felt weird putting on a man's kimono, but it beats a woman's. Wearing kimono when I was younger was so annoying- I always felt like a walking tube.

A man's is much more looser. I tightened and wrapped a gold obi around me, remembering how my mother and baba would wrap me in such clothing. Finally I slipped into a dark red hakama, struggling to tie it. My cheeks heated up. I never wore a hakama before, nor do I really know how to tie it besides seeing my dad showing my brother how to tie it, and that was only one time. I groaned, I was at loss.

Well, its better than being nude. They smelled nice too, like firewood. A nice contrast to the charcoal. After yanking my amethyst necklace out of my hair, twisting the water out of my hair and throwing it into a bun, I powered my phone off, wrapped the ear buds around it, and slipped it into my robes. Pitter-pattering over to the door, I gave two knocks.

The door cracked open and I waddled back, and the old dude pushed the door open with his back. In his hands was a tray with a teapot and three yunomi-cups. The soldiers brought in a table and we sat on the rug. I watched as he poured the tea, a familiar scent reaching my nose.

"Jasmine?" I asked.

"You know your tea." He nodded, a big grin on his face.

His kind eyes brought back more guilt. "I'm sorry for my, um, rudeness earlier." I admitted.

"Oh please, you had every reason to be." He chuckled. "What is your name?"

"Oh, Nona- I'm Nona."

"Nice to meet you Nona, I am Iroh."

Iroh showed me how to tie the hakama. When I asked him what an Avatar is, he looked confused.

"You don't know what an avatar is?"

"That's sorta why I'm asking," I said sheepishly.

He let out a long sigh, looking up in thought and stroking his beard, murmuring, "It has been over 100 years, huh."

"No one has told you of the Avatar? Ever?" He frowned and I nodded. "The Avatar...the Kudayojinzuu is the divine medium who has descended upon the mortal world. Able to bend all elements and is the bridge of the spirit world and the mortal plane,however... the world has been absent of him for a century. "

I stared at him, completely puzzled.

This only raised more questions!

"What...do you mean..." I began, at a loss for words, "...by elements? How does one "bend" an element?" Does he mean like, periodic table?

Iroh looked as blank as I was. "Well, you know. Like," He punched a fist in the air. Brilliant flames shot out in a short column and I yelped- "Firebending, you know?"

Instinctively scooting backwards, I eyed Iroh and his fist suspiciously, gulping before asking "What the *hell* was that?"

"You...you don't know what firebending is?" He asked, as confused as I am. I shook my head vigorously. Edging closer and then settling on my knees, I whispered,

"Do it again."

Iroh grinned and in a flash he was breathing fire from his mouth! Like a dragon! I absolutely love dragons.

"Teach me how to!"

Iroh paused. "Firebending...is..uh..., not everyone can firebend, and at least one of your parents have to be a firebender too."

I sulked. "You're telling me its genetic? That's dumb."

"Genetic?...Now that I think about it, where are you from Nona? You don't look like water tribe. Maybe Earth kingdom? But that doesn't explain why you're all the way over in the ends of the world. And that hair..." Iroh continued to wonder, and I nervously twisted my lips to the side. "I can't think of any sort of place that hasn't exposed a young girl at your age to bending, either."

I sighed. "Well, you see...the truth is,"

Before I could finish, the metal door opened. There stood the boy- Zugo, was it? Helm off, revealing a bald head save for a pony tail. In any other setting, I would've been giggling. The dude looked pretty, but that hairstyle? Nada. However, he looked murderous and upsetting him more would surely give me the death penalty.

Zugo stalked over to us, not batting an eye when he knocked over the tea. I cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Get up." He commanded.

I leaned back casually. "Why?"

He grabbed me by the arm and yanked me up. "Hey, easy on the arm!" I stumbled onto my feet. "You could've just asked nicer, ya know." I furrowed my eyebrows, and tried to walk past him, but he had a death grip. Iroh looked positively distressed about his tea. Poor Iroh.

"Shut up." His strict voice reminded me of my dad's.

"Uncle, she is a prisoner. Is that not clear? She isn't to be drinking tea or dining with you!" Well excuse me. What's so wrong about drinking tea in a guest room?

Zugo dragged me out into the hall, Iroh got up and hobbled after us, giving me a look that said "Sorry!"

"Zuko, wait, can't we talk about this over some tea?" Iroh called, and I dawdled down the hallway trying to keep up with Zugo's- Zuko's pace. "Hey, man, how about we slow it down? Yeah?" I tried, "I usually liked to be wined and dined before getting rough and dirty," Maybe a joke will work?

That only made him more mad. "I told you to shut up!"

I was thrown into a room that was more like a prison. There was no form of light, so everything was dark, only a small bed occupied a corner. The complete opposite of where I had been before. The door shut closed, leaving me in total darkness. Good job, Nona. Way to score points with the guy in charge.

Why do they let a brat like him boss everyone around anyway? He can't be any older than I am.

I sighed. This sucks. Wandering over to the corner where the bed is, I felt around for it the best I can in a dark cell like this, and laid down fetal position, rubbing my arms. Might as well chill out and listen to some tunes.
Slipping in my earbuds and filling my head with whatever playlist I had downloaded, I let my mind wonder.

Was this real?
If it isn't, it has to be the most vivid dream I've ever had.
One moment I was sure I was going to die. I wake up, and I'm not. I'm in a entirely different world.
Why didn't I just let the waters claim me? Was the confusion of being somewhere as unexpected as a freakin' ocean really the one thing that stopped me? Do I really want to die?

...Who am I kidding. Of course I do.
I closed my eyes. Blackness when I opened them, blackness when I closed. Slow, tranceful tunes mellowed me out. It was one of those times again. The times where I didn't feel anything at all- just numbness. Just disappointment, at my life, at me, at my family. Disappointment and stress. The time where I'm such a sad sack that I don't even want to cry. The time where I do nothing but waste away and wish I would be abducted by aliens, or killed in my sleep, something that would get me away from New York, from Texas, from California.

I guess I got my wish, huh?
It must be purgatory. That's where I am.
I opened my eyes, and stared. I folded my hands over my stomach. I don't feel like thinking right now. I didn't want to feel anything. I just let the music carry me away.

I'm not sure how much time passed, but it was the growing crack of light that brought me back to reality. Someone opened the door, and I quickly removed my earbuds and pressing pause on my music before turning my body towards the door.
That's where it gets weird.
The guard whom opened the door stood there, amazement and fear on his face. Normally I'd ask what was up. But that's the thing- I was up. Literally.
I was suspended in the air, just a foot away from the ceiling, in the same position I was in when I laid down.

"What the fuck?!" I shout, stretching an arm out and turning onto my stomach. Big mistake. Maybe it was my movements, maybe it was my panic. One or the other brought back my gravity and I plummeted back onto the bed with an "Oof!"

"Owww..." I grunted, rolling off the bed and onto my feet. I rubbed the back of my head and blinked, looking at the bed and then to the area I was suspended in. First an old man whose able to create fire out of nothing, and now I seemed to have forgot gravity? Today has been weird, for lack of a better term.

I turned around, and saw that the soldier still lingered in the doorway.

"Did you see that?" I asked, eyes wide. "That was incredible!"

His face screamed terror, though.

"Y- you're...you're the Avatar!" His childish voice exclaimed and I shot him a look.

"Actually, I'm Nona." I retorted.

"You can fly. You're an airbender...Holy shit." He ignored me completely, hands on head.

"No, no. I'm a lot of things, pal. ButI can't do this-" I made air quotes-"airbending, whatever that is, and I sure as hell am not your Avatar." I huffed, hands on hips.

"I need to get you into interrogation straight away!" The boy of a soldier said, probably remembering the reason why he came into my cell in the first place.

...Wait.

I'm gonna be interrogated?

No way in hell.

I stomped my foot and exhaled sharply through my nose, eyebrows furrowed in anger. I pushrf past the dude before he could grab my arm, shoving his face in the process. I'm not taking this bullshit.

I stormed down the hall, beelining to the room I was in before. The soldier sprinted after me, hollaring at me to stop. I ignored him. If he even tried to drag me around like his buddies did earlier, he'd be getting a face full of fist.

I don't mix well with authorities. I've always held a deep hatred for whatever principal, assistant principal, commandeering types I've had the trouble of meeting. I've been questioned- illegally, might I add, by police just for a fucking bang snap I brought to school. They had me do 5 hours of community service- that part I didn't care about, I had done food drives, puppy dog washing, litter pickings before.

I was pissed that a shitty middle school threw me to the judges over a damn bang snap. They honestly believed I had intended to start a fire. All because of that shitty bitch Janet.

All cops I've met are assholes. All principals, save for my elementary one, are douchebag tools. I'm not falling for more authoritarian bullshit.
Locked up for what? Drowning? Fuck you.

I yanked open the door. Zuko wasn't there. Soldier boy grabbed my arm and I spun around and socked him square in the face with my tiny fist.

He fell back and hissed out "Fuckin' bitch shit that fuckin' hurt!"

I started for the deck, ignoring soldier boy's moanings.

The sudden light was a bit bothersome, and the reek of coal too of course, but my attention focused only on Baldy.
He stood at the forecastle deck, back to me. The soldiers paid no attention to me leaving the inside of the ship. I walked to Zuko, fists balled with anger, but it wasn't until I was almost to him that one of his men noticed me and tried to apprehend me.

One dude launched himself at me, another shouted "Prince Zuko, watch out!"

So he's a prince, huh?

The guy was huge, but I was small and wiggled out of his grasp, kicking away from him and continued to Zuko.
Zuko had turned around, his eyes met mine. His gold eyes were wide, surprised at my sight, but that quickly vanished as the only face I've ever seen from him came back- anger.
"I heard you had some questions!"
"She's suppose to be prepared in the interrogation room. Who was sent for her?!" His voice boomed. I advanced to him, more of his soldiers trying to stop me.
"Whatsa matter, huh?! Whattya so ANGRY about?" I taunted him. His men held me back, I lashed at them but I was over numbered.
"Come here so I can give you something to REALLY be angry about!" I yelled at him.
Zuko closed his eyes and let out a growl. He strided over, glaring down at me.
"Let go of her." His voice was calm. Kinda scary, but I had no fear. Only anger.
Weight of heavy men fell off of me and my limbs felt free. I straightened my back and gave a malicious grin as he stripped his armor.
"You want a fight?" He asked, throwing off his shirt.
"You're gonna get one."

"Stop trying to look cool, its lame!" I laughed.

He gave a strong kick in the air, and I almost laughed again- is he trying to kick me? He's not even close to me! What a showoff.

But a streak of fire blossomed out and sped towards me, I waddled backwards, falling onto my butt, but avoided it by a smidgen. The flames felt burning hot as they passed over me and dissipated, but I couldn't afford to be awestruck.

wait fucking shit he can do that cool fire bending shit and I cant

Zuko calmly walked towards me and I scooted backwards and attempted to get up, but remembered I was in kimono. Fucking kimono! Marching around was one thing, combat was an entirely other level!

I briefly met panic. But I wasn't having that. I can be mad at my stupid idiot decisions later, Zuko is about to turn me into a crisp.
"Ffffuuuuuuck!' I shouted in frustration, and in quick motions I ripped the hakama off, tearing out the tie and slipping my legs out.
Legs freed, but still a bit confined by the other robes, I jumped back, trying to create distance between us.
"Something feels different," a corner of my mind thought. I pushed that thought aside. Walking backwards I ripped off the haori himo and haori.
Bothering with the obi would take too long, and the material of the kimono was too tough to rip. I couldn't make any more space for my legs.
Okay, Nona. Tough it out. He's you're age, you can take him. He's been pampered all his life, anyway.
But there was a glint in his eyes. Had he purposely stopped attacking so that I could remove my binds?

That moment of hesitation costed me. He threw a flame punch, and I ducked down again, jump-rolling my body to the right.
"There's that feeling again," part of me whispered.
Getting back on my feet, bringing my fists up, I studied him and he looked at me like he already won. I grunted. If I got in close combat, I could take him, but his flames kept me away.
I started towards him in full determination.

Just tough it up, Nona.

I ran at him. He gave another flame kick, doing a move out of some martial art, and I saw it coming. I twirled my body around it, sighing in relief when I saw it dissipate, but another ball of flames greeted me as I turned my head.
I quickly brought my arms in front of my face. The flames hit them and forced me back a little but I stood my ground and hissed out in pain, then continued my advances. Zuko's face changed to a look of- was it impressed? Surprise? But hardened again. I threw my arm back and gave a fist to his cheek, but he caught my arm before contact, spinned me around and twisted it around my back and pinned me to the ground.
"Enough games. Give up," He hissed in my ear.
Fuck no.
"Do you get off on power or something?" I spat in his face.
He had my arms pinned behind my back, one of his knees between my thighs. But I clamped my thighs around his leg, rolling sideways and pushing up- and then our roles were reversed. I was on top, my legs wrapped around his waist. The lower half of the kimono has long since ripped from both the singe of his fire and the movements of my legs wearing the fabric down. I pinned his arms against his side, since I was too short to hold them over his head. A badly improvised hold overall, but Zuko looked...amused. Like he was surprised I could even counter his hold, despite it being a shitty counter. He was making fun of me.

Before he could do anything, I tucked my chin and slammed my head into his face. He roared and flipped me off of him, I hit my back hard but scrambled back up. I wobbled a little, everything dizzy from the headbutt, but we were at each others neck. A flame fist in his hand and a kick ready in my leg.

"My Lord, please!" A voice called out, but the two of us paid no attention.

Zuko punched and I let the flame hit my side, along with his fist. It hurt. It hurt like a bitch. Like a thousand wasps, but I screamed and looked him dead in the eye, grabbing his shoulder and kicking him square in the nuts.

"Please, she's-"

He doubled over and I slammed his head into my knee. A hand dug into my thigh and he dragged me down and elbowed my stomach. Hard. I wheezed and moaned, rolled over onto my side.

"She's the Avatar!" Soldier boy yelled out.

Zuko paused, standing over me, looking to the soldier and to me. I stared up at him, giving him a big shit eating grin.

Our chests rose up and down as we panted. "No," he finally said. "The avatar is over a hundred years old. He's not some weak, tiny little girl."

Fuck you.
"This little girl just made your nose bleed, and I'm not sure your family jewels are doing too good either, bud." I snarled.

Suddenly, a bright column of light shot out in the distance against the cold blue sky. Everyone's eyes watched it, jaws dropping. Except mine. They can admire their dumb light, I'm not finished. I jumped to my feet, ready to punch Zuko in his stupid face, but someone held me back.

"No, Nona. You need to have those burns looked at." I turned around. Iroh.

"And maybe a nice cup of tea, too."

Zuko had already forgotten about me, back to barking orders. Something about setting a course towards that light. I pushed my hair out of my face, it had long fell from its bun, the ponytail lost somewhere in out fight. Adrenaline wore off and my body ached, bruises decorating it.

"I'm gonna need some ice," I grumbled, following Iroh back into the ship. A strange growl erupted from my stomach.

"And whatever's for dinner, too." I admitted. "I don't suppose you can give me Zuko's share?"

Iroh gave a hearty laugh, and I let out a small giggle too, but quickly added, "I'm only half joking. Don't be surprised if he's angry and hungry later."

-
thank you for reading

some notes:

nona is half japanese. i originally wanted her to be racially ambiguous, but i thought it would be interesting to see an asian in the avatar world, a world heavily inspired by asia, and how an asian would react to such a world. also, i never really see black or latino or mixes of them in fiction at all, so i wanted her to be part black and latina as well.
I also intend to give a more... justified/realistic rendition of the avatar world. "little" stuff like instead of bastardizing and monolith-ing the entirety of Asia and spitting on chinese, the nations will have their own respective languages and alphabets. but this world wouldn't work without a "common tongue" (English)

this also means this story will be dark. there will be lots of upcoming graphic content such as death, violence, drug use, and rape.

I'll make a terminology thing sometime lmao I'm lazy

(edit of january 2020: I never did the terminology and I have no clue how I came up with some of the words. ie Kudayojinzuu but I roughly remember doing the research to make sure it correlates to the description of the avatar. I actually am Japanese myself, but I am American. I can barely speak the language lol.