EDIT 7/2/16:

Hello new readers!

I'm well into the sequel of this fanfiction, but due to a few glaring mistakes made by my sixteen year old self (that I didn't have the motivation to change until I was twenty-two...so that's six years of procrastination...YIKES) I will be slowly but surely re-writing this fanfiction. Main events/character choices will not change, but I will be going through and combing through my work with a much more experienced and grammatically correct eye. Basically I'm just doing some serious editing. Hopefully I catch everything, but in the words of Christina Perri...I'm only human.

So if you enter into this fanfic and read this first chapter and then wonder why there are more mistakes/cliche blabbers, know that it's a work in progress and that no one understands this story's flaws better than myself. I hope to edit at least one chapter every two days, so I should be done editing by the end of August, if the writing gods smile down on me. Wish me luck!

ANYHOO I sincerely hope you enjoy the story! For all of its flaws I really do love it and the potential hidden beneath my sixteen-year-old tendencies (which shall soon be edited so YAY)!

If you like what you see...

PLEASE REVIEW! =)

Water: Twist of Fate

a "Avatar: The Last Airbender" fanfic

by Sapphire-Raindrop

Chapter 1: Grand Entrance

The air was hot and humid in the forest, which was unusual weather for so late in the fall. The birds congregated noisily in the shade, pushing and scolding to get spots out of the blazing sun. The insects—usually quieted by the chill that accompanied the fall and winter months—took advantage of the heat to chirp and click anxiously, filling the forest with unrelenting song. The river that cut through the hiking trail gurgled as it ran by. A sturdy log had fallen across it, creating a make-shift bridge.

A teenage girl was walking up the dirt trail, avoiding large rocks and other hazardous objects. Her sandy blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail, and she wore a tank top and shorts, along with running shoes. The skin of her brow shone with sweat but it didn't seem to faze her, instead making her smile as she tilted her face back to better enjoy the sunshine.

"Dakota, wait up!"

The sixteen-year-old sighed but waited patiently as her younger brother struggled to quicken his pace up the arduous hill. The boy panted heavily, strands of his dark hair sticking to his forehead and sweat running down his face.

"Are you alright, Henry?" Dakota asked.

"Why…are you…so fast?" Henry wheezed, and she laughed, reaching out to ruffle his hair as she approached the river.

"If I'm going too fast for you, just say the word and I'll slow down," Dakota said, smirking at her brother's indignant sputters that no, she didn't need to slow down, just that he was put at a disadvantage with his much shorter legs. A temporary setback, he assured her, as his inevitable growth spurt would put an end to all that 'slowing down' nonsense.

Nodding along with her brother's determined excuses, Dakota lightly jumped onto the tree trunk that stretched across the river. Her leg muscles—honed by years of gymnastics—adjusted unconsciously to perfectly balance her weight, and she skipped across with ease. Henry huffed at how effortless she made it seem, and jumped up onto the branch, swaying unsteadily as he inched forward across the wood. He refused to look down, and had his arms stretched out as wide as they could go, providing him with more balance.

Dakota laughed at his expression and Henry stuck his tongue out at her, marching by her onto the shore. The girl merely smiled and followed her brother as he walked up the trail.

Henry looked back at her, and grinned. "Hey Coda, guess what?"

"What?"

"The last season finale of Avatar: The Last Airbender came out yesterday! Mom let me stay up all night so I could finish it."

"That's the show with the robots, right?"

Henry sighed, as if speaking to a very small child who was ignorant about such crucial topics. "No, it's the one with the bald kid with the blue arrow and the angry fire guy with a nasty scar on one side of his face. The Avatar can control all four elements, and…"

Dakota let her mind wander as the siblings made their way through the trees, nodding every now and then but only half-listening to her brother's words. It wasn't that she was trying to be rude; it was just that she never really got into the whole magic and alternate world genre. Dakota liked to focus on reality, not fantasize about what might be or what might have been. The idea that people could ever shoot fire out of their hands was ridiculous, and as tempting as flying on a giant bison sounded…it just wasn't possible.

But Dakota knew that the TV show was important to Henry. He had figurines of every character on his bedside table. He would prattle on and on about them every day at the breakfast table and their parents would listen intently, smiling and nodding.

Because that was what was taught in the Robbins family. To be accepting of others, to not judge and dismiss on a whim.

Dakota's attention was pulled away from her brother at the faint glimmer of bright blue light. It came from a curve of the river a hundred feet to her right, partially obscured by brush. Dakota blinked slowly a few times in order to check if she was just imagining it.

"And then, in the big final battle, Fire Lord Ozai is about to win, but at the last second Aang goes all glowy and takes away..." Henry trailed off, looking back at her in confusion when he realized she had stopped walking.

Dakota turned to see that their lunch spot was only a few hundred feet further up the trail, marked by large boulders. Satisfied with the prospect of letting her brother be alone for a few minutes she turned to her brother.

"Henry, I'm going to the bathroom, so why don't you take my backpack and wait for me at the top? I'll be a few minutes, so you can start eating without me."

At the mention of 'bathroom', Henry was already grabbing her backpack (which held their lunches) and scampering away up the hill, carefully skirting the sharp rocks that littered the trail. Dakota watched her brother's dark hair blow around wildly on his head as he buffeted against the wind, and then turned to investigate the source of the light. Henry hadn't seen it, so it was most likely her imagination, but there was no harm in checking, right?

The water was eerily calm, the surface glassy and pristine as the girl knelt beside the river. The water seemed to be made of light, pulsing every now and then. Definitely not her imagination.

It seemed harmless enough, and her curiosity was piqued. It was such a clear, good color. Years of encouraged caution fought for acknowledgement as she sat there, trying hard to resist the urge to touch.

Dakota's need to explore got the better of her, however, and she tentatively dipped her hand into the water.

Suddenly, there was a low ringing in her ears and the world around her seemed to shiver and spin as something grabbed hold of her hand. It wasn't another hand; rather, something sticky and thick. She couldn't scream, she couldn't struggle, because the ringing in her ears made it hard to think. It made it impossible to speak, it made it hard to breathe properly.

The strange energy was pulling Dakota in, allowing her only a few moments of confusion before she was yanked headfirst into the bright blue light. She expected her head to hit the riverbed, but instead she continued to fall, the light growing so bright that she was forced to close her eyes. She felt cold and then very hot, weightless and then so heavy that it was no wonder she kept falling.

Without warning, the light disappeared. She opened her eyes only to find herself high up in the air, with no ground beneath her and nothing to hold on to.

Gravity moved against her, and, screaming, she dropped like a rock towards a mass of inky black water that was ringed by icy glaciers and snowy cliffs. There was a ship below her too, and it got larger and larger as she fell.

At most, five seconds passed before she hit the water. Those seconds were both the longest and shortest moments of her life. So long of a time to really let the fact sink in…the fact that she might die if she hit the water at the wrong angle. And so short of a time, so short of a time to remember how to breathe and to let herself wonder where the hell she was.

The wind whipped past, tearing through and quickly breaking her hair free of the elastic that kept it in a ponytail. The air was frigid, and she shuddered at the thought of just how cold the water would be. Her only hope was to somehow make it to the ship, but the ship wasn't a ship that belonged to friendly fishermen. It was a machine built for war, with bright red flags. There was a black symbol on the flag that was vaguely familiar, but she didn't have time to focus on it.

Dakota hurriedly put her hands out in front of her so that she didn't land on her stomach and crashed into the water, not quite making a proper dive but it was better than if she had let herself fall on her back or stomach. It still hurt, though; it felt like a train had just rammed into her shoulders and face. She let out an involuntary scream underwater, bubbles floating upwards towards the surface.

She didn't waste any more time thinking; she began blindly kicking towards the surface and trying to conserve air for as long as she could.

Dakota panicked when she didn't break the surface after a few agonizing seconds. How far down was she? Would she reach the surface before her air ran out? Her lungs were burning and aching but then, with a rush of clean oxygen, the girl's head emerged from the water. She choked and gasped for breath, struggling to stay afloat.

The ship beside her was massive, a wall of iron, and she saw figures running around on the deck. Several soldiers in dark red and black armor lowered a buoy of sorts, yelling to Dakota. She was too far away to hear properly but she grabbed a hold of the flotation device when it came close enough, her entire body shuddering as she was slowly pulled out of the water.

Zuko, banished Prince of the Fire Nation, stood at the front of his ship, staring out at the desolate glaciers with cold golden eyes. His left eye and ear was surrounded by a horrible scar, one that continued to haunt him even after nearly three years. The rest of his head was bald except for the high ponytail that whipped around in the wind.

His armor was padded and insulated, so he barely felt the cold that permeated the air and the wind of the South Pole. His lips were tight in anticipation, and his eyes widened at the sight of something flaring up in the sky. It was powerful and a bright electric blue. Zuko's eyes narrowed as his uncle Iroh ambled out of the door, blinking and yawning.

"Uncle, look! It has to be the Avatar!" Zuko pointed viciously towards the light, and Iroh sighed, leaning against the doorway.

"I see, Zuko. But how can you be sure?"

"What else could it be?" Zuko snapped, his ponytail flicking around to brush against his cheek as he turned to stare at the bright light once more.

The sounds of faint screaming filled his ears, and he looked around in confusion, wondering who could possibly be screaming. The wind made it hard to hear properly, and after a second or two he looked up—

—only to jump back from the railing as a blur of red and blue fell inches away from the metal edge of the boat, hitting the water with a loud splash. Zuko rushed to the side to see what the object had been.

There was nothing but a large circle of rippling water. He squinted, trying to see what could have possibly fallen, and saw a shadow of arms and legs, pumping furiously to try and get to the surface. It was a person who had fallen…but how?

Zuko looked up from where the person had appeared, only to see clear blue skies and nothing to give any sort of hint to how the person had appeared. Did it have something to do with the Avatar's light?

Zuko saw that his crew was already releasing a rescue buoy and leaned over to watch as a slender and shaking figure heaved itself onto the circle of foam, clinging helplessly as the men on deck quickly began reeling the buoy in. Zuko frowned as he saw that it was a girl, and an eyebrow rose in speculation at the outfit she was wearing. It was a bright red shirt with no sleeves, and shorts that barely reached mid thigh. What kind of clothing was that? And in the South Pole, no less?

Iroh peered curiously at the girl as she was pulled onboard by the crew, his expression curious and calm as the girl collapsed onto the metal surface of the deck. Her sand-colored hair—a color that Zuko had never seen before—was soaking wet and stuck to the nape of her neck and her cheeks. Zuko waved the other men away with an order to set a course towards the light and faced the girl with a scowl.

"Who are you?" he ordered, and the girl didn't seem to hear him, her blue-tinged lips tightly pressed together and her arms clenched so securely around her torso that it looked almost painful. Zuko growled in annoyance, and whipped out a sword. Iroh reached out as if to bar his way, but Zuko ignored the older man, placing the blade tip under the chin of the girl. At the contact, the girl seemed to come to herself, and slowly let her eyes flicker up to meet his.

There was a dull look to her dark brown eyes, a result of the icy coldness of the water, no doubt. At the sight of his face, those eyes widened impossibly wide, and her mouth dropped in shock. Zuko frowned, not liking the way her eyes lit up in recognition. He had never met this girl in his life-he would have remembered that hair of hers if he had-so why should she act as if she knew him?

"I said," Zuko lifted the sword so the girl was forced to tilt her head upward. "who are you?"

"D-Dakota." The girl was shivering so much that it took several tries to get the name out, and Zuko went on, his eyes narrowing.

"How did you get here?"

"I…don't k-know. I was hiking w-with my brother, a-and there was this b-blue light that came o-out of the river nearby. I t-touched it, and I was s-suddenly falling towards the w-water."

Iroh moved so he was standing beside Zuko, golden eyes staring at his nephew sternly. "I don't think she's an enemy, Prince Zuko. She isn't dressed like a Water Tribe girl, and she obviously doesn't know of the Fire Nation"

"Fire N-Nation…W-Water Tribe?" The girl was confused as she blinked fuzzily at Iroh. Her breath caught in her throat as she caught sight of Zuko once more. Her eyes were panicked as she caught sight of a few soldiers bending fire in order to fuel the rudders.

"I m-must be dreaming…it's just a s-stupid TV show. I'm going t-to wake up…right?"

And with a shudder, the girl went limp, falling forward onto her side. Zuko stared at her, and the way she continued to shiver even when unconscious. She definitely didn't look threatening; she was the farthest thing from threatening, to be perfectly honest. Zuko felt Iroh's expectant stare, and with a shrug turned to walk away.

"Just get her off of my deck. I don't care what you do with her."

Iroh shook his head at his nephew's tone, and enlisted the help of a soldier that wasn't busy running the upper mechanics of the deck. The soldier slung the girl over his shoulder, her arms hanging uselessly against the soldier's back and the man gripping the backs of her knees in order to steady her.

The three disappeared into the lower levels, the metal door banging noisily behind them. Zuko crossed his arms over his chest, staring out to where the light was still brightly shining.

He had waited two and a half years for this moment, and he wasn't about to give up the chance to regain his honor. He wasn't about to suffer the same fate of those before him…he wasn't going to come home empty handed.

The Avatar would be ancient and powerful after a hundred years in hiding. If Zuko managed to defeat him, his father would have no choice but to bring him out of exile.

Not only would Zuko have his father's acceptance, but he would also have his honor.

Honor was the most important thing.

Fourteen-year-old Katara pressed closer to her older brother as the strange boy stood on top of the ridge, his eyes blue and glowing, the arrow on his forehead glowing just as brightly. There was an unnerving aura surrounding him, as if he was merely the vessel for hundreds of years of wisdom and power, and that only a thread of restraint was keeping all that power inside of him. It made Katara shiver, and Sokka hefted his weapon, his face bereft of any teasing or lightness, focused and ready to defend his sister.

The boy suddenly stopped glowing, and his eyes slid closed as he fell forward, rolling down the icy slope and landing beside the two members of the Southern Water Tribe. Without thinking Katara moved away from her brother and knelt beside the boy. He was incredibly young; if Katara had to guess she would say that he was several years younger than she was. His face was smooth and carefree, and Katara let her hands cradle his head carefully. Katara bit her lip at the blue markings on his forehead and the tops of his hands and feet. He was an Airbender…but hadn't the Air Nomads been extinct for some time now? How had he managed to survive?

All of her worries were pushed aside when the boy opened his clear gray eyes, blinking slowly up at her. Katara breathed a sigh of relief. The boy looked at her blankly, then concentrated hard on speaking.

"I need…to ask you something."

The boy seemed exausted after that much effort, and Katara nodded, moving closer as the boy gasped.

"It's very im…portant."

"What is it?" Katara asked fearfully, and the boy's brow furrowed as he whispered.

"Will you go penguin sledding with me?"