Part Of Me.

Too young.

Chapter one.

A small girl stood in the cold snow, watching as it turned to black. She had never seen such as this before, too young to know what it meant, unaware that it would change her short life, cause her to grow up far too quickly.

"I'm going to find mom." She told her older brother before running home.
The people around her were running as well but for an entirely different reason, spears and axe's in hand, mother's clinging to their children.

"Mom!" She shouted reaching the small hut she and her family shared. She couldn't have known what she was walking into. She couldn't have known the pain that would follow that would stay with her for years to come.

She met her mother's terrified gaze as she knelt before a man in armor like she had never seen before.

"Love, it's okay." Kya told her six year old daughter. Putting a hand up, Kya briefly shot a look at the Fire Nation soldier in front of her before focusing back on her little girl, praying to the Spirits she would leave. Kya had feared this day would come since the moment they discovered their baby's abilities.

"Just let her go and I'll give you the information you want." She said firmly but her eyes were pleading with the man, silently begging him to leave her baby alone.

Katara stared at the stranger in the odd armor.
She didn't know why he was there or what he wanted, but her heart was beating too fast and her small legs shook.

"Mommy.... I'm scared." Her quiet voice whispered as she looked to her mother, wanting her to hold her close and make the man leave.

"Go find your dad sweetie. I'll handle this." Kya said with a tight smile, fearing this would be the last time she saw her youngest.

The man whipped around on the small girl, causing the child's mother to call out and grab the back of his armor in a feeble attempt to keep her child safe.

"You heard your mother! Get out of here!" He yelled, his voice hard and cruel.

With a small yelp, she ran. Once the girl was gone he shoved the water tribe woman off of him, a sick grin on his face as she fell.

"Now... where is the Water Bender?!"

"If I tell you, will you promise to leave the rest of the village alone?" She couldn't let them destroy her home, her family, she couldn't let her sweet little girl fall into their hands.

He nodded.

The lie was bitter, but for the people she loved, she'd tell a thousand. "It's me. Take me as your prisoner." Hakoda forgive me please.

He smiled and with a laugh that sent chills down the brave mother's spine said the last words she would ever hear.

"I'm afraid we won't be taking prisoners today."

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Fire Nation.

A young boy lay in his bed, covered with red, silk sheets, dreaming of finally beating his sister in their favorite game.
He wished more than anything to make their father proud, to be remembered as someone great, to have people say his name in awe, but it seemed that no matter how hard he tried, he was always a disappointment.

As he lay dreaming in Innocents, he had no way of knowing that this early morning, before the sun was even above the horizon, would change him and set his destiny in an entirely different direction.

Hands shook him awake.
"Zuko! Zuko my love listen to me."

He rubbed his golden eyes, trying to clear the sleep away.
"Mom?"

"Listen my love, everything I've done has been because I love you. Never forget who you are."

She pulled her little boy close, wishing with every fiber of her being that she didn't have to let him go, that thing's were different. But they weren't. Leaving was the only way. His life meant more than her own.
His father's cruel voice rang in her ears and chilled her blood.
I will do it.

Her heart was broken and her hands shook as she carefully laid her son back down.

"I'll see you again." She whispered, pulling her hood up and rushing out of the palace that had become her hell. She prayed to Agni to watch over her babies, to keep them safe for her.
Tears fell like rain. She loved her children, but their father was a monster. She hated him, hated him for ripping her away from her family, hated his cruel treatment of her son and his control over their daughter.

She looked back only once, unaware the fate that awaited her two children. The fate that will scar them both in different ways, that will strengthen one, and break the other. It's best she didn't.

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The lives of two children from two different worlds changed in one day, mother's lost to save the lives of those they loved. Fate is a cruel mistress with cold hands.
These children had no idea that fate would choose them, too young to understand destiny.

Now, their journey begins....