1. what really happened

A/N: Okay, this is a repost. I reread and reedited the first three chapters I had written, decided I had made a few errors I couldn't live with, and had to redo it. So this is it! It's my first, so please don't be too cruel, and if you are cruel, at least be cruel in a way that's helpful. Thanks!

This is dedicated to my mom, who, although she is overbearing at times, loves to read what I write.

Disclaimer: I'd laugh if the Avatar creators wrote fanfic and spent a lot of their time coming up with witty disclaimers. I, however, do not own avatar. So sad.

Chapter One: What Really Happened

"Concentrate, Sandria, this is not difficult. Just keep your arms up and attempt to not bring them down."

" I'm trying, Uncle Iroh, but it's not going too well." I sighed and resumed the stance I had been working on, this time with my arms up, guarding my face. I stood there, waiting for my uncle to critique and correct it, but after a minute or two of standing still, I looked over at the man trying to teach me advanced firebending. "What is the matter?" I asked, seeing a hopeless and worried look on his face.

He sighed. "Zuko, what else?"

My bewilderment must have shown on my face because he sighed again and said, "You really don't keep up with what goes on around here, do you?" I gave him a pointed look and replied, "No. I'm here to learn firebending and the day I turn eighteen, I intend to leave and never come back."

"There is to be a Fire Duel today." He explained.

"So? Ozai has those nearly everyday. Why should that worry you?"

"This one has required attendance." He said. My eyes widened. Required attendance was reserved only for the fights between those who had been shown extreme disrespect and the offenders.

"I do not understand." I said. "What does this have to do with Zuko? What did he do?" I stopped the stream of questions I wanted to ask when I saw the look on my uncle's face.

"I am afraid this is my fault." He said in a quiet tone. I waited silently for him to continue. "Zuko wished to go into a war council, but, of course, he being underage, the guards would not allow him in. He came to me, asked to be let in, and I'm not sure why, but I let him join me as I went in, with only a warning not to speak."

"Oh, no." I said, seeing where his story was going. "He didn't."

"He did." Iroh affirmed. "One of the Generals suggested a plan for distraction that involved using new recruits as live bait. Zuko, of course, spoke out against it. He was right, but he should not have spoken."

"Oh, no." I repeated, "And then…"

"And then Ozai told Zuko that he had shown the ultimate disrespect and that there was only one way to solve it. Zuko looked upon the general and claimed he was not afraid to duel the old man."

"Idiot." I said. "Did he know?"

"That he would be dueling his father? No, apparently not. To my knowledge, he still does not know. They took him away to prepare before I could tell him of his mistake."

"God above." I whispered. "What time does it start?"

"In about ten minutes. We should probably be leaving now."

"Uncle," I said, "Is there nothing we can do? He won't win. There has to be a way for us to help him."

"No!" he said sharply. "Trying would only earn you a duel, also."

"But Uncle Iroh! He's my brother!"

"Yes, but the rest of the fire nation doesn't know that. They will see only a half br- someone of who is not of pure fire blood attempting to interfere. They will not allow it. You could be killed."

I glared at him. "Someone who's what, Uncle?" I said, my voice deceptively calm. "A Half-breed? Is that what you were going to say? Well, guess what? I am a half- breed. Half water tribe, half fire nation, and a better firebender than most of them ever will be. So what if I am half Water Tribe? I'm still half Fire Royalty and they will do well to remember it." Little tendrils of flame licked my hands, betraying the anger behind my calm façade.

"How can they remember what they do not know? You forget, the Fire Nation does not know of your existence. They only see a, to use your term, Half-Breed servant lucky enough to work in the palace. Your father has-"

"Do not call him my father." My voice dripped with venom. "He doesn't deserve the title."

"Fine then." Iroh corrected himself, "_Ozai_ has not exactly announced his affair with a water tribe woman, nor has he publicly claimed you as his daughter. You will be made to face him if you attempt to help your brother, and as talented as you are, that is a fight I do not think you can win." He looked at me. "Promise me you won't interfere."

I looked down. "I promise." I said, crossing my fingers behind my back. I would not leave my own brother to fight a battle he could not win against an opponent that he wouldn't face. Looking at my hands, I sighed and extinguished the flames.

"Good." Iroh, taking that as a sign of my defeat, stood and prepared to leave. "Come, we must hurry. It would not be very good if we are late."

The arena was huge, built to put all Agni Kai on display for the public to see. I walked through the grand entrance with Uncle Iroh to a spot near the front next to my half-sister Azula, who looked far too excited at the possibility of her brother being humiliated. I remembered the words of Ursa, my stepmother, "What is wrong with that child?" and I wondered that myself as she turned and "slipped" knocking me into one of the great pillars in the hall. My face burning with embarrassment, I picked myself up, cursed Azula under my breath, and awaited the chimes of the clock that would signify the start of the hour and of the duel.

As the last chime struck, Zuko dropped his banner and turned to face his opponent, and in all of my twelve years I had never seen anyone look so frightened as he did. He quickly realized his mistake and dropped to his knees to beg for mercy. Ozai, of course, had none to give. Ruthlessly, he attacked his fourteen-year-old son who remained on his knees bowing to the mighty firebender, with only the comment that Zuko was to learn respect from suffering. I could not look away. Uncle Iroh turned and tried to make me turn also, but I couldn't force myself to, so I watched with tears running down my face.

When the attack finally ended, Ozai announced to Zuko that he was banished and the only way for him to regain his stature was to return with the avatar. After hearing the announcement Zuko collapsed and was carried, unconscious, off the platform. Ozai turned to leave as I whispered, "Sorry, Uncle," and jumped up onto the dais. I heard my uncle gasp as I shouted, "You coward!"

The Fire Lord turned and looked at me. His gaze was terrifying, filled with hatred and a small token of fear that I could not place. I shook with terror at that look, but kept my voice strong. "You send your own son, whom you almost killed off on a mission that you yourself could not complete. You are filth! Worse than it! You are a monster!"

It was so silent in the hall that my words echoed. Then, from the audience, I heard a voice say, "You dare question the firelord? I see this as extreme disrespect! I say she should duel the firelord in Zuko's place!' Ah, Azula. I heard murmurs of agreement from the audience. I turned, looked my father in the eyes and said with a conviction I didn't feel, "I am not afraid."

My opponent turned slowly and, then with sudden speed, fired a huge ball of fire right at my head. Thanking my uncle silently for training me so intensively, I threw myself out of the way and attacked with everything I had. It wasn't enough. As I turned around to begin a final attack, I was hit with a great bolt of lightning. I screamed as I felt the back of my neck catch fire and burn. The world turned black, and then I felt no more.


	2. Two years later

A/N: I had to post these two together just because I kind of left you hanging in the past and I didn't think that was fair. Anyway, if Biology doesn't kill me, I intend to have the third chapter up by Thursday of next week. I've decided to write chapter four before I post chapter three, that sort of thing. Well, thanks for reading! By the way, the disclaimer goes for the whole story, because even though I'm brunette, I was born blonde and I'd never remember to put on every time.

Dedicated to my dad who supports me even when he thinks I should be studying instead of writing.

Chapter Two:

Two Years Later

I looked into the calm pool and touched my hair. "Yikes," I said, "Red isdefinitely _not_ my color." Sighing at the necessary change in my appearance, I got up and began to wash the red dye from my hands. It had taken me nearly three hours to gather and pound enough berries to cover my shoulder-length-almost-black brown hair with the deep red. "Thank God my eyes are Water-blue and not fire-gold. At least I don't have to worry about being recognized because of them. That would be all I needed." I picked up the bowl I had used to gather the berries and shoved it forcefully into my pack. Perhaps a little too forcefully; it went flying into the pool.

"Honestly, Sandria, can you not even pack up right? It's no wonder you were beaten if you're as weak as to not even be able to pack up! Can you even call yourself a Firebender?" I shouted to myself. I don't remember exactly when I had picked up the habit of talking to myself, but after nearly two years of isolation, the loneliness must have gotten to me. I knelt by the side of the pool and attempted to reach into it to grab my pack, but to my dismay I found it out of my grasp. Grumbling to myself I took a step into the water and yelped. "God!" I yelled as I sprang out of the icy water. "That's _cold!_" Frustrated, I flamed at one of the nearby bushes that I had gathered my new hair color from. "Stupid cold water! How on earth am I going to save my stuff from being FISH FOOD!"

Suddenly, feeling stupid, I turned around preparing to heat the water to a temperature that I could stand, but when I drew a breath, a huge explosion knocked me to the ground. I turned to look at the bush I had set on fire when another explosion, albeit a smaller one, forced me down again. A patch of burnt berries landed next to my ear emitting a faint pop as they burned out. I stared at the once-red berries, and as I stared, I understood. These were Legu Berries, famous for their color and for their explosiveness.

Legu Berries, now where had I heard that term before? Oh, in my advanced fire theory book. I reached behind me for my book to look for the article on the highly explosive berries and realized that they, along with the other contents of my pack, were floating on the lake of newly volatile liquid. Reluctantly accepting the fact that I couldn't heat the water for fear of blowing it up, I gritted my teeth, piled my hair on top of my head, and forced myself into the pool to save my beloved books.

As I climbed out, I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the pool. I had changed a lot over the last two years, and not only my hair color; that was just a disguise. I had gotten taller, my hair longer, and I now had a vivid scar that ran across the entire length of the back of my neck and disappeared into the back of my shirtline. I sighed and took my hair down from the knot that adorned my head, letting loose a cascade of newly red hair that hid the scar well. I looked at my face next. My new hair, though the color did nothing for me, framed my face well, giving some softness to the angles, and although my eyes were a water blue, they still tilted upward slightly to give away my fire ancestry and right before the pupil there was a small ring of gold.

"I'll do." I said to my reflection, praying that, in the rare eventuality I met someone that they wouldn't look too closely at me. I turned to my pack and began to unload it, surveying the damage. My clothes were wet, my food was ruined, and my sleeping roll was covered in mud, but my books, the precious advanced firebending theory books that my uncle had given me, were fine. Clasping them to my chest, I thanked whatever god happened to be listening to me at the time.

The relief I had felt for my books, however, was short-lived. I had a huge amount of work to do, so I set them carefully by a huge tree and dragged my sleeping roll over to a nearby stream. The water there had been too rough for me to color my hair in, but for taking mud out of fabric, it was just what I needed. I rigged up a vine system that held the roll in the water and went to see to my clothes. They were a bit easier to take care of. I wrung the water out as best I could and hung them on the lowest branches of the huge tree, careful to not let them drip onto my books. Stepping back, I thought about drying them with my firebending, but a memory soon stopped me.

I was seven and was working in the laundry departments of the palace with my friend, Zusha, who was about my age. We each were given nine loads of laundry to do before the noon bells, "Or Else!" the maid in charge told us. Even though we laughed at her, she still scared us enough to make us do what she wanted us to, so we came up with a plan. Zusha would wash the clothes, and I would wring them out and hang them up. We even made up a song to pass the time. As fun as this was, after about five loads it got old, so I decided to try and dry the clothes with fire. It worked quite well until I got to the soldiers' uniforms. The uniforms are made with some kind of chemical woven into them that resists fire, but, being young, I just thought I was doing something wrong. I made my fire stronger and hotter until the water on the garments literally boiled off of them. Unfortunately, they caught fire after that and spread the fire to all of the other laundry that had been hung up to dry. Despite my best efforts to control the fire, most of the clothes were reduced to ashes. Zusha and I were in hysterics when the maid in charge ran in to see what all of our screaming was about. Needless to say, we were punished greatly. No supper for a week when you're seven is bad enough, but worse when it is the week of the fire festival.

My stomach grumbled at the memory of it. Leaving the clothes to dry the natural (and safe) way, I scattered the remainder of the waterlogged bread to the crows gathered around. When they chirped at me angrily, one can only guess what I was being called in Crow, I threw my hands up in surrender and said, "It's all I've got. Take it or leave it." They took it and flew off to who knows where as I gratefully sat beneath the tree, ignoring my stomach. I leaned over my books and picked up the one with the section on explosives and settled down to read.

"Legu Berries- Prized Berries found only in Earth Kingdom. Used mainly for their bright red dye and their usefulness as explosives. Many Firebending moves demonstrate this usefulness, see _169, 170, 198, 201, and 246._" I read aloud. "Hmmm…" I mused, "Firebending bad in Earth Kingdom, remember Sandria? Of course," I said , looking around, "there's no one here. What harm could it do?" With this reasoning, I eagerly turned to page 169, ignoring the voice in the back of my head saying, "This is NOT a good idea." The move shown there, entitled The Firecracker, didn't look too difficult, only on the 205th form of firebending. I was in the 204th form, and felt confident that I could master a move only one level up. As I carefully looked it over, the only tricky points I could see would be keeping my balance and flicking the berries up at the right time. "Simple." I said.

I studied the diagram and stood to attempt it. Slowly, I went step-by-step, first without fire. After slipping a few times, I got it right and began it again, even more slowly, with fire. The fire definitely made it trickier. Finally, feeling confident, I tried it full speed without the berries. Success! Oh, how I loved firebending. "Okay," I said to myself. "Lets try this."

I took the first stance, and followed the form carefully. Precisely at the end of the 360-degree spin, I flicked a handful of berries into the air. They caught fire, and zoomed off to my right. I finished the form, calmed my mind, and turned, elated at my success. As I sat heavily on the ground to look over the move and correct my mistakes, I heard the faint pop of the few berries exploding. "Wish Uncle could see this." I said, jubilant at my success. All was well for a few minutes, then BOOM! I turned my head, startled, and saw the whole berry bush blow up and fly right toward my head!

With reflexes born of my firebending training, I hit the ground and rolled away, grabbing my books. As soon as my books were safe, I got up to see what the burning bush had hit. "Oh, no!" I yelled as I saw the fire spreading from the bush, to my pack, and then to the grass. I knew I couldn't control a fire that big, so, wasting no time in trying, I ran to the river and grabbed the first wet thing I could find.

A good ten minutes later, I hit the ground, exhausted. Quickly, I surveyed the damage. "One burnt tree, a roasted bush, my pack and clothes destroyed. Well," I said, "at least my books and sleeping roll are okay." I turned and looked beside me at the thing I had used to put out the fire. It was then that I caught sight of the large, wet, smoldering mess next to me that had once been my sleeping roll. "Crap." I said.

A/N: Hope it wasn't too terrible. I strongly encourage constructive criticism. How can I know what's wrong if you guys don't tell me? Please review!

"I disagree with what you said, but I shall defend to my death your right to say it."

-Voltaire

Good quote

Aly


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