A.N.: I am truly ashamed that I let two years slip by without updating this! I thank you all so much if you're reading this for the first time, rereading it to get reacquainted, or have left reviews or added it to your favorites. I really do appreciate it! If you are rereading this, I have begun to rewrite this, to extend the details, and work out some errors that I made in the original form. I will be not only updating what is already here, but I will be adding new chapters, and concluding this story by the end of the year. Thank you again for your patience and I hope you are all still interested!

Of course I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender or any of the characters except for Kelyin, Ren, Shaya, and the Outcasts. Though you will later find out, I'll make it clear now that everyone is 3 years older. Zuko was 16, now 19, Katara 14/17, Sokka 15/18, Aang 12/15, Toph 12/15. Also, the events of this story were written after the second season, so please disregard all events from the final season of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

/. /. / CHAPTER 1: The Abandoned and the Savior

/. /. / FIRE NATION PALACE

Consciousness woke him once again, making him relive every one of his plaguing injures. After months of praying for death just to end his suffering, the Gods continued to ignore his pleas and Zuko was left to rot in his cell. He willed his swollen eyes to open, but they would not obey. They never did. His whole body screamed in agony with the slightest movement. The damp stone floor of the prison cell was freezing against his naked skin. He couldn't remember what day it was, or exactly how long he'd been there. He didn't even care anymore. The torture sessions had become routine. The agony let him know he was still alive, even if only a shell of a man who had once been worth something. It all seemed so long ago now. His conquest for the Avatar, his endless pursuit of the water bender, her brother, and the small blind earth bender. It felt like a century or more had passed since those days. Now, he was nothing more than his sister's plaything. Something to stab, punch, whip, or burn when she was angry. His once strong, muscular body was now long and lanky, rake thin, and covered in bruises, scars, and burns. His face, already having been marred by his father at a young age, was now abysmal, swollen and sliced so severely that it could barely pass for a face, serving no other purpose than to cover the front of his skull. His mouth was a crooked line among the other scars, his nose had been broken enough times to be turned into a lumpy attachment of flesh in the center of his destroyed visage. No one would ever recognize him as the once future heir to the Firelords throne.

The heavy iron door to his prison cell swung open. It felt like mere minutes since his last torture. He tried to brace himself for the upcoming onslaught of fresh pain. His sisters heartless voice assaulted the ear still capable of hearing. "I've grown bored with him. Throw him into the wood and let him rot away there. Looking at him make me ill and the smell of him fills the dungeon."

"But, Firelord Azula, there aren't any woods in the Fire Nation." The voice of one of her guards. To think, he used to be Zuko's guard, following his orders as he and his Uncle searched for the Avatar aboard a Fire Nation ship so long ago.

"Do I look like I'm an imbecile? You honestly think I don't know my own lands! I don't want him anywhere in the Fire Nation! He was a traitor to the Firelord and a disgrace to our family name. He doesn't deserve to be in this great land! Take one of the smaller ships and go to one of the other nations. Find a deep empty forest and leave him there so he'll never be found. I don't care where, just do it!" He could hear the sharp metallic clang of her metal tipped boots as she turned and stomped out of his cell, barking orders at various guards as she made her way down the hall.

The two guards stepped forward and grabbed him roughly by the arms, dragging him across the rough stones. A thin trail of blood was left in their wake as the skin of Zuko's useless legs was scraped away on the floor. He pushed himself into unconsciousness, silently praying that they would just kill him instead. Perhaps the god would finally show pity on him.

- - - -KYOSHI ISLAND

The young water bender gathered sticks from around the edge of the forest. It didn't seem possible that three years had already passed since Aang, the Avatar and last Airbender, defeated Firelord Ozai. The Fire Nation was forced to retreat back to their small mass of land, but the Firelord, formerly Princess Azula, ruled what was left of the nation with an iron fist. Prince Zuko had mysteriously vanished as soon as Azula took over her fathers place. Rumor was that she'd had him executed, just like her own Uncle, taking no chances at being overthrown as ruler.

Aang was now traveling the world with Appa and Momo, helping anyone and everyone that needed help while keeping a watchful eye on the Fire Nation. She and Sokka were currently living on Kyoshi Island. They had roamed as nomads for about two years until Sokka heard from Suki. Now he lived in the village with her. Katara still preferred to roam by herself a bit. Though the island was small, she had set up camp on the other side of it at the edge of the forest by a clear calm stream.

Katara set the pile of sticks on the stony bank of the stream by her tent, a few yards from the wall of the forest. The breeze picked up and she closed her eyes, letting the wind flow over her, trying her best to pretend she was back on Appa, riding to some new journey with her friends. She opened her eyes and looked up at the sky, sighing. It was a beautiful day with a brilliant sun and a cloudless sky. On days like this, she missed the old adventures with Aang, Sokka, Toph, Appa, and Momo. She walked beside the stream, reminiscing about the days gone by. She was oblivious to her surroundings, buried in her thoughts.

Over the years, Katara had grown into a beautiful young woman. Her hair was no longer kept in the usual braid with the loops of hair in the front. It was now pulled loosely into a half and half style, the top half was twisted up and held by two ivory combs that Aang had given her for her birthday. The bottom half fell to the middle of her back in soft waves. Her ocean blue eyes, intelligent and guarded, stood out remarkably against her darker skin. Though almost as tall as her brother, she was petit in build. Her gentle feminine curves were deceiving, hiding her agile movements, cunning flexibility, and most of all, her strength as an incredible Water Bender, one of the best in the Southern Water Tribe. She still wore the Water Tribe color of blue, but her outfit had matured along with the rest of her. Gone was the simple blue dress, replaced by clothing she herself had designed. Dark blue pants hugged her hips and tucked into her heavy calf high brown boots. A lighter blue sleeveless tunic clung to her curves, ending a few inches past her hips. The tunic was split up both sides. Brown leather cords held the sides closed while still leaving a glimpse of skin at the sides. The cords stopped six inches above the top of her pants, allowing peaks of her stomach and back when she turned a certain way or when the wind blew the cloth to the side.

The smell of smoke snapped her from her thoughts. She looked up to see that she had reached the end of the stream where it opened up into the wide ocean. There, at the other end of the beach, a small Fire Nation boat rested.

Her eyes grew wide and she quickly dove into the forest before she was sighted. What was a Fire Nation ship doing here? Was Azula planning a secret attack on Kyoshi Island? Why only one, small ship?

These were all things that Katara thought to herself as she snuck through the forest silently, determined to find out what was going on before alerting the Kyoshi Warriors.

"Where should we put him?" The mans voice was gruff and surprisingly close by. Too close for Katara's comfort. She kneeled down, summoning a ribbon of water from the ocean to fly through the trees to her waiting hand. She formed the water into a dagger of sharp ice as a second voice spoke, this one even closer than the first.

"Doesn't matter, just drop him here." A light THUD was heard along with a barely audible moan. "I doubt he'll last out here for more than two days.

"I don't think he'll even last through the night."

"Let's get out of here before the Firelord comes out here herself. We'll end up looking like him if we take too long."

"Should we at least take the shackles off of him? Give him one last dignity?"

"He's going to die anyway, what's the point? It's not like they're hurting him, he's not even conscious. Come on, I want to get out of here." The heavy footfalls of the two men trailed away, back toward the ship.

Katara waited a few moments, making sure the men were far away, before she slowly stood. As she heard the ship pull away, she let the icicle dagger turn back into water and fall to the ground. A Fire Nation prisoner? Dragged out here to die? She cautiously approached the area where the voices had come from. Though the ship was gone, she was still on high alert.

A naked mass of flesh lay a few feet ahead of her. She couldn't restrain the gasp she let out at the site of the unrecognizable man. "Gods, what have they done to you?" She kneeled beside him. His scarring was the worst she'd ever seen. Cuts on top of burns on top of more cuts. His eyes were swollen, forced to remain closed. His face and scalp were so badly burned, no hair could grow, leaving him bald and without eyebrows. He was curled into a fetal position, his arms shackled at the wrist behind him. A new stream of water came through to her waiting hand. She directed the water around the chain between the shackles, making it freeze. "I'm going to help you, so please don't try to fight me when I touch you." She carefully hit the chain with a rock, making sure to avoid his hand. He flinched as the chain broke. "Can you speak?" He remained silent. "I'm going to hold your hand. I want you to squeeze once for yes, two for no, and nothing if you don't know." She took his hand and held it gently. "Can you stand?" Two feeble squeezes told her no. "Is anything broken that you know of?" He didn't move. He didn't know. "Do you remember who you are?" One squeeze, yes. She was slightly relieved to know he hadn't lost his memory. "I am going to go get help. I will be back as quickly as I can, I promise. There are no beasts in these woods, and the Fire Nation ship has left. Nothing will harm you." He squeezed her hand twice. "I can't help you unless I move to you to clean water like the water by my camp. I need help to move you. I will be back quickly, I swear I will." She gingerly pulled her hand out of his and took off running toward the other side of the island where the village was. Where Sokka was . . .

/. /. / POST SCRIPT AUTHORS NOTE:

P.S.A.N.: Yet again, I thank you so much for sticking with this. My goal is to have this completely rewritten and updated with all new chapters to finish up the story by the end of the year so I can start the 2nd part. In the rewrite of this chapter, written in June of 2010, 298 words were added. I am really trying to add detail and substance due to a couple complaints in the past that my chapters were too short.