Nonbender Wars (Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic)

I made my way down the cobbled road. Makeshift stands had been set up to sell some of the most prized possessions. I ignored the men hooting and hollering for me to step up to their booth and take a look at their jewelry. Just because I was a girl didn't mean that I was fascinated with diamonds and rubies. Being in a prison cell for more than four years would do that to a person.

I passed through the outskirts of the city and into the heart of the marketplace. As I walked, I glanced at the booths around me. If you were looking for something, the marketplace of Ba Sing Se was where you needed to go. From trinkets to herbs to food to tarot card readings, you could spend most of the day at the market. I, however, was on a mission.

"After defeating Fire Lord Ozai, the Avatar moved to Ba Sing Se," the old man said to me. "You will find him there."

I pushed through the throng of people. After ten minutes of walking through the market, I finally found where I was supposed to go. Crossing the street, I walked up a large hill and away from the Ba Sing Se market.

"State your intent," an earth bender soldier said. He crossed his arms and gave me a glare. "No one gets through to the inner sector unless authorized by the Earth King or the Avatar."

"I'm here to see Avatar Aang," I said, my voice strong.

"What's your name, kid?"

"Sazura."

The soldier pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket and scanned it. I breathed in deeply, sifting through my options. My name wouldn't be on the piece of paper. The Avatar had no idea that I was coming, much less who I was. As the seconds ticked by, I felt myself beginning to panic.

What am I going to do? What am I...?

Before I could even finish my thoughts, another soldier grabbed me from behind, his meaty arms circling around my waist. "Hey! She's the girl that escaped from the Capital City Prison!"

Chaos erupted. In seconds, five earth bender soldiers stood in front of me, their arms and legs positioned so that they could earth bend if necessary. The man holding me tightened his grip and began to drag me away. There, for a second, I think they believed they were stronger than me.

They were wrong.

In a matter of seconds, they were all on the ground. The man behind me still clung to my waist in an attempt to pull me to the ground. I stomped on his foot and twisted, grinding my sole into his boot. He hesitated, giving me enough time to deliver my blow. My right elbow came up to connect with his chin. A sickening crack filled my ears. He dropped his hands away from me and toppled over.

I whirled around just as one of the soldiers pulled himself from the ground. A surge of power filled my body and every cell hummed with energy. Grinding my teeth, I pushed the energy away. I couldn't afford to reveal my bending in the streets of Ba Sing Se. I squared my shoulders and raced toward the soldier. He only had enough time to earth bend a group of boulders at me- which I easily dodged- before I rammed into him. He landed on the cobbled stone with a loud thump.

I glanced around the scene and at the increasing amount of onlookers watching the fight. I silently cursed myself. You weren't supposed to make a scene, stupid! But I didn't have time to dwell on my mistakes. Two more soldiers had picked themselves off the ground and were hurling boulders at me. I ran toward the gate made of stone. Just before reaching it, I parted the ground before me into a hole and jumped inside, immediately shutting it afterwards.

"So much for not revealing myself," I breathed, parting the rock around me to make a pathway. I ran down the tunnel I'd made. With each step, the blackness around me grew even more so. Summoning my energy, I made a tiny flame appear in my hand. It pulsed in the pocket of air, giving off a faint glow that reflected on the dirt walls. "Up ahead," I said to myself.

It was then that I heard footsteps. I whirled around. It couldn't be possible. I'd sealed the hole shut when I'd jumped down. Even an earth bender couldn't have made the exact same hole. Not with my powers, they couldn't.

"I don't have time for this," I whispered, shooting forward. Whoever they were, I'd have to outrun them. It was my only option. I raced through the tunnels, bending a wave of air underneath my feet to make me go faster. When I reached my destination, I opened a hole in the ceiling of the tunnel, revealing light. I extinguished the tiny flame in my hand and soared through the air and out of the hole. I closed the hole once more to hide all traces of my tunnel from soldiers. I might need it later in case I needed to escape.

This side of the gate was more laid back and calm. There were a lot less people compared to the busy main strip of the marketplace. I pushed forward, my eyes set on the house at the top of the hill. It was like a beacon, pulsing underneath my skin. Calling me toward it.

When I reached the front steps, the door flew open. A brown-haired girl in Southern Water Tribe clothing stepped out onto the porch, her hand hovering over a water flask hooked to her side. "Who are you?"

"My name is Sazura. I need to speak with the Avatar right away!" I stepped forward.

A stream of water shot through the air toward me. Without thinking, I matched her waterbending with my own. Both water slammed into each other, combined, and then fell to the ground in a puddle. Who I presumed was Katara pulled her water back and dumped it back into her flask. All the while she stared at me with wide eyes.

"Whoa! I thought she was an earthbender, you guys!" came a voice from behind Katara. A brown-haired boy that looked a lot like Katara stuck his head out the door. His bright blue eyes, filled with confusion and mistrust, connect with mine. I look away.

"I am an earthbender," I tell them. "Please. I must speak with the Avatar."

Katara's face turns steely. Her blue eyes go hard. "If you intend on hurting Aang, I will make sure that it will be the last thing you ever do."

I nodded. "Understood."

She stepped away from the door. I ran up the remaining stairs and brushed past her. As I entered the room, I could feel her heated gaze on the back of my head. I had to bite back the urge to ask her if she had a problem. It wasn't the right time to go looking for a fight.

"Katara?"

The Avatar entered the room. The sight of the arrows tattooed across his body almost made me gasp. In a way, it was beautiful. Still, it must have caused a lot of problems when he'd been running from the Fire Nation years ago. The teenage boy glanced from Katara to me, questions in his eyes.

"I'm Sazura. I'm sure-"

"When addressing the Avatar, you bow!" Katara shouted.

Her words stung. Resisting the urge to engulf her in a sea of flames, I knelt down in front of the Avatar. "I'm sorry, Avatar Aang. I wasn't.. I didn't know..."

A smile split across the Avatar's face. "You don't have to bow to me!" He glared across the room at Katara, who looked away. "Katara was just joking." Under his breath, he muttered, "I think."

"Clearly you can waterbend," Sokka said. "And we just got a report from the soldiers at the gate claiming that the girl who escaped from the Capital City Prison used earthbending." Sokka ran a hand through his ponytail. "There's only one answer to this... You're some kind of robot! So who sent you, huh? Who's trying to mess with Team Avatar now? All of you people should know by now that we're unstoppable!" He pulled out his boomerang and shot it through the air. "See? Look at how awesome I am with the my boomie!" Because he wasn't paying attention, the boomerang came back around and hit him in the side of the head. "Ouch!"

The Avatar's gaze was piercing. "Is this true?"

I pulled myself from the ground and looked the Avatar in the eye. "Yes."

"Prove it!" came a voice from the right. I glanced over to see the earthbending master, Toph, with her arms crossed over her chest. Although she was blind and couldn't see me, I felt her heated glare on me nonetheless.

"Yeah, prove it!" Katara yelled.

I whirled around to face her. "Fine. You don't believe me? I'll show you." Summoning all the energy inside my body, I sent a burst of air toward Katara, who immediately jumped out of the way. But before she could respond, I sent a wave of fire toward her. And then caused a ripple in the ground that knocked her off her feet. And, finally, my waterbending sent her flying through the air. She waterbended a wave of water to push her forward and back onto her feet. With eyes full of fury, she sent a group of ice shards spiraling toward me. I dodged out of the way, rolling on the ground and then back up into a crouched position.

"Stop!" Avatar Aang yelled, jumping in front of us. "Fighting isn't going to solve anything!"

"Yeah. It looks like we've got a bigger problem to deal with," Toph added. "Like how she can bend all four elements."

"I've already told you! She's an alien!" Sokka screamed, flailing his arms in the air.

Avatar Aang turned to me. "Sazura, how is this possible? An Avatar is only reborn when the previous Avatar dies." He pointed to himself. "Clearly I'm not dead."

"I don't know," I admitted. "I'm not sure why any of this is happening. I developed all four elements a couple years ago. When Fire Lord Ozai realized that I could be another Avatar, he had me imprisoned. Even after the war, I was left there to rot." I glared openly at the Avatar. "Why was that? I've done nothing wrong! Nothing at all! I thought when Zuko became Fire Lord that I would be set free, but instead I had to break myself out!"

Avatar Aang glanced away. "I... I didn't know, Sazura. Fire Lord Zuko didn't know, either. If he had, he would have set you free."

I took a deep breath, hoping to calm the rage inside my body. "Fine," I said eventually. "Whatever. It's in the past now." I moved toward a table in the center of the room and sat down. "I came here because there's something I have to tell you."

The room grew quiet with anticipation. All eyes were on me. I closed my eyes for a second and took a long drag of air. What I needed to say next would tear everyone's life apart piece by piece. I opened my eyes. There was no going back now.

"Along with the ability to bend all four elements, I can also see into the future. And what I saw was..." I swallowed hard. "What I saw was another war. This time the non-benders attack the benders. The weaponry that the non-benders have can neutralize bending."

"That means that no one will be able to bend," Katara breathed.

I nodded. "It's not good. Without our bending, we're unable to stand a chance. They have more advanced technology than we do. So much more. When the nonbenders form the NUAA, short named fr Nonbenders Unite All Alliance, and attack the benders, thousands die. Within a year, all benders are wiped out. Gone."

Avatar Aang had fallen to the ground and put his face in his hands. Katara ran over to console him. Toph, blinded by rage, earthbended a boulder and shot it through a window. Sokka held Momo, Aang's lemur, close to his chest. He wiped tears from his face. As I witnessed the friends fall apart right in front of me, a sick feeling consumes my stomach. Because I wasn't done. Not yet.

"Avatar Aang?" I whispered.

He looked up from his hands. Tears streaked his cheeks, but he ignored them. Seeing the sadness in my face, his eyes widened. "What is it? What more could you possibly say that would make this worse than it already is?"

I swallowed hard. Looked him right in the eyes, and said, "In my visions of the future, I saw the leader of the Nonbenders Unite All Alliance."

"Who is it?" But his voice was already breaking. He knew.

"You were their leader, Avatar Aang. You start the war."