The Darkest of Bending

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Chapter one: lose your head

Of all the many forms of energy bending to be lost after the rise of the Avatar, The rarest and darkest of forms, was the power of The Quickening. This power was present in only six people in a generation. The Quickening could only be unlocked by killing another human. When someone first unlocks this ability it is called the First Quickening. And it was created from the remains of Vaatu from the first battle he had with Raava were he lost the fight.

In life a quickening is when a mother fells her baby's heartbeat for the first time. But a Quickening Bender is someone who after killing a person, in essence stopping there heart, would take into themselves the chi of the person they killed and in the case of another Quickening Bender. Each time a Quickening Bender kills it will increase the benders speed, strength, agility, reflexes, and rate of healing. These abilities increase by the power of the quickening bender they kill and the will take the benders knowledge. The killer will not however gain the killed bending abilities as they are linked to the core souls of a person.

All Quickening Benders stop ageing when they reach their physical prime. There are only two ways a Quickening Bender can die the first is when another Quickening Bender removes there head and the will die instantly if they kill one of their kind on holy ground.

Quickening Benders can sense each other's presence, even in there un-awakened state. This is so Vaatu can acquire a strong host to help him defeat Raava and The Avatar during the next harmonic convergence. But he could only possess the darkest of quickening benders. He can never possess one who has Raava's light in them. Few remember the Quickening Benders in this age…until now.

ASC 94…

Sokka a young boy from the southern water tribe and on this day his mother was murdered by the southern raiders. Sokka had noticed there ship had stopped about a mile from the village and he had a plan to get revenge. So Sokka had stolen a canoe and was now rowing out to the ship. After arriving at the ship he tied his canoe to the anchor chain and proceeded to wait for the start of the month of darkness to begin as this would greatly weaken the firebenders bending abilities.

Long after the sun had set Sokka started to climb up the ships anchor chain. Sokka was glad it was the new moon tonight for surly La, would not approve about what he was about to do.

Using the skills Sokka learned from hunting pray on the tundra he makes his way to the commander's quarters unnoticed. Sokka draws his hunting knife before he opens the door and walks into the room, seeing the man who killed his mother sitting behind his desk.

"Who is there?" the man says in a gravelly voice without looking up from his charts.

"The son of the woman you killed." Sokka says as he draws his arm back and throws his hunting knife at the man's head.

Sokka watches as the blade pierce the man's head killing him on the spot. Sokka stares in shock the man's chi leaves his body. The chi turns to dragon made from lighting several bolts fly off the dragon destroying anything they touch with a loud boom. The dragon spun around the room before entering Sokka's body lifting him off the ground. Sokka feels both great pleasure and horrible pain as the Dark Quickening unlocks Sokka's powers. The man's now weakened soul enters hell as Sokka falls down.

Unfortunately for Sokka the First Quickening alerts the rest of the crew that something is quite wrong. Sokka quickly pulls his hunting knife out of the commander's skull, he would not go down without a fight, but at least he got revenge for his mother. As the first soldier enters the room Sokka charges him with speed he did not know he possessed. Sokka drives his knife into the man's throat severing his wind pipe and brain stem. More chi enters Sokka raising his abilities more. Unlike the First Quickening nothing fancy happened this time.

Sokka grows increasingly stronger as he kills five more men when his knife, which was really only made for skinning game, snapped in two from the stress put on its blade.

Seeing his broken knife, Sokka grabs one of the swords dropped by one of the soldiers. Sokka is shocked when he is easily able to lift the five pound weapon with one hand. Sokka continues fighting his way to the ship's deck killing ten more men, using the large sword more like a spear then a proper sword. As he reaches the anchor chain Sokka is stabbed from behind by someone piercing his heart.

"I don't know how you killed so many of my comrades little boy. But I will be sending you back to the sea, as is your custom of your tribe." the soft tones of a woman's voice is whispered into Sokka's ear he also hears something heavy hit the deck.

"I am sorry you have to die so young boy. I know what the commander did to your mother and I want you to die with a bit of peace. We were ordered to capture the woman alive. After all we did not what are future subjects to hate the fire nation, if we can help it. We have most of the water benders locked up in a prison. It was the commander who decided to just kill her instead of taking her into custody. I am sorry that I honor bound to kill you, but I can give you a good send off. When I pull my sword from your body you heart will stop. You will not die from drowning or freezing." The woman whispers in the boy's ear.

The woman then presses her nice plump red lips to Sokka's slipping her tongue into his mouth. She then pulls her sword out and throws Sokka into the cold waters below the boy seeing her beautiful face and her long black hair blowing in the cold wind, she also drops her blade into the water. Sokka manages to grab the sword tightly between his arms before his vision goes black and he dies for the first time.

The woman knew the water tribe normally cremated the dead before returning them to the sea, but she was not a Fire Bender. When the ship return's to the motherland she would turn in her resignation. She would then join the abbey that helped her out when she was injured in the earth kingdom a few years ago.

Four years earlier in the Fire Nation…

Azula woke up feeling sick. After the feeling passed, she noticed she was not laying in her huge bed in the palace, that's when the memory of what happened earlier returned to her. Daddy swam out to save Zuzu from drowning after he tried to save a turtle crab from a hawk. Zuzu always did like turtle's.

Azula had suddenly felt sick, before she saw her momma get hit over the head by a strange man. The last thing Azula remember was being held to a woman's chest as rag was placed over her mouth before she blacked out. As a princess Azula was taught to cooperate with the kidnapers and wait for rescue.

But her mother, who was a strong proud woman, said she should always try to escape. Azula also wanted to kill the man who hit momma, no one was allowed to hit momma and get away with it. She would not hit momma even though momma sometimes smacks her, since the last time she hit momma Azula had to help the palace staff do their work with a sore bottom for a week. She did learn she liked to cook and was quite good at it too, that would make infiltration so much easier. And besides, she also usually deserved it when momma smacks her.

Azula looked around the room as she laid in the bed she had been set on. She sees the kidnapers were smart enough to remove anything that could easily be used as a weapon, as a matter of fact the only thing in the room was the bed she was laying on. Lucky for Azula she was a fire bender and although she was only supposed to know fire meditation right now.

Momma had taught her a few techniques that could be used offensively like the fire welder technique. This move was remarkably similar to the fire dagger technique. Azula heard footsteps approaching the door and quickly lays back down and closes her eyes most of the way. Her natural luck holds out as the man who hurt her mamma walks into the room.

When the man is close enough to her Azula sprung out of her bed and latched onto the man's face. The tiny five year old girl quickly congers up her welding blade and rams it into the man's head frying up his brains. This causes the man to fall on the bed dead. Azula started for the door determined not let the man's death get to her until she was safe. That's when the man's chi left his body and Azula received her First Quickening, as the man was not a bender all that happened was a lightning storm of chi was released from the body. Azula can't believe the pain and pleasure that fills tiny little body as the chi lighting enters her.

In the other room…

The woman heard the havoc of the First Quickening going on in the other room.

The woman who helped kidnap Azula stood at a height of five foot five inches. And had the body of a goddess with large round DD-cup breasts and a large heart shaped ass. She had long well-toned legs and nice large child bearing hips. She had been alive for the past six hundred years. She was also related to Azula being her direct ancestor on her mother's side. She also looked a bit like Ursa's great grandmother Ta Min.

She was both sad and glad that Azula would be the one to end her life. The woman who was named Tin-Tee had grown sick of her immortal life. But she had also killed so many powerful quickening benders, becoming one of the most powerful of quickening benders in the world. The only one stronger than her was the man who she fell in love with, the man who gave her a beautiful daughter, and the oldest of the quickening benders, Kurgan. Kurgan had disappeared about two hundred years ago in his homeland, the South Pole. She figured he was hiding out on holy ground or on a holy lion turtle.

The last hundred years had been hard on Tin-Tee with the war. She knew the air benders built two new temples over the last three hundred years, the northern and eastern air temples in preparation for the attack. She knew the Air Nomads were extremely patient and were acting out a four hundred year plan to bring their brand of peace to the world. The only problem with their plan was the western air temple, the only temple not attacked during the preemptive assault on the air benders. Sozin had issued orders to only slayed the Air Bending Masters before bringing the children to the Western Air Temple.

She knew this because she helped Sozin attack the Southern Air Temple. She was to distract the Avatar well the attack happened. Monk Gyatso told her the boy had left as he died of a heart attack in her arms. She had started looking for a quickening bender worthy to end her life after the attack. She initially only took the job to help kidnap one Fire Prince Ozai's children so she could protect then, instead she found someone worthy to take her place. She saw the tiny girl come out of the bedroom.

Tin-Tee shot a fire blast at the girl who barley dodged the blast Azula then called her welder blade and snuck around the now burning chair. Azula knowing how close the woman was, ran around the chair, jumped raising her left hand. She planned to slash the woman so she could escape. Tin-tee bends her body in such a way that the girls fire blade burned through her neck severing her head from her shoulders.

A massive golden dragon bigger then both Ran and Shaw erupted from the Tin-tee's neck destroying the house. It twisted around in the sky scaring several locals before the female dragon crashed into Azula granting all the power and knowledge Tin-Tee accumulated her life to the girl. Azula's tiny five year old body was lifted off the ground as she absorbed the massive power of Tin-tee. The powerful quickening was too much for the little girl and she passed out. Three days later Azula would wake up laying in her bed with her mother holding her.

Present…

Sokka body still clutching the woman's sword washed up on an island. An older man in very old style of water tribe clothes found the boy on the beach. The odd thing about this island is that it has no snow on it and the foliage was still green despite the artic conditions of the South Pole. The man picks up Sokka knowing the boy was like him, an immortal quickening bender.

"Well my young friend will you turn out to be a man who gives into the darkness of your power or will you be worthy to take my place as you possess a seed of Raava's light." The man says in a very deep voice. (Think kurgan before his throat is damaged."

The man proceeds to take Sokka deeper into the island.

To be continued…

I did borrow some aspects from highlander including characters adapted for the avatar world. But this is not a true crossover.