Hey guys! So this is my first story on wattpad, and I'm really excited about it. This is my first fanfic that I've ever written, so I tried to stay as true to the story as possible, but there will be a few changes (considering I added in an entirely new character and everything). So, I hope you enjoy my Avatar The Last Airbender Fanfic ^.^
Chapter 1
The Fire Bender That Preferred the Moon
Ruka looked up from her canvas reluctantly. She never liked being interrupted mid painting. And she was really getting into this one. It was filled with vibrant, hot colors such as red, yellow, gold, bronze, orange, and a tint of electric blue. It was regal and bold, and also something she didn’t feel like taking a break from, even if for just a few moments. “What”, she demanded before bothering to see who was taking time away from her painting. “Watch the attitude. Imagine if that was Azula who walked through the door. You’d have ended up with another burn on your hand”, said Mai, leaning against the wall. Ruka smiled at her elegantly gothic cousin.
“Your right. Sorry for snapping”, Ruka said apologetically. “What brings you here?” Mai made sound that sounded like a hybrid between a groan and a snarl. “Azula wants you to get ready for the ball. It starts in two hours”, she explained. Ruka looked at her half-finished painting longingly. Mai rolled her eyes and grabbed her hand. “Come on. It’s not going to go anywhere.” And with that, Ruka was dragged away so she could paint faces instead of canvases.
“There you are! Hurry and do my make-up. You’re way better at it than me”, Ty Lee instructed, doing a random cartwheel to the make-up mirror. Ruka smiled at Ty Lee knowingly. Never again would she trust her with eye shadow; not sense she got a hold of it and tried to make herself look like a dragon. It didn’t work. Ruka began carefully applying bright shades of pink and red on Ty Lee’s eyelids. “It’s a shame that you HAVE to put all this gunk on your face. It covers your natural beauty”, Ruka exclaimed. Ty Lee beamed at the compliment, as she always did. Meanwhile, Mai was applying a crap load of black eye make-up. “You too, Mai. You don’t need that much eye liner.” Mai ignored her and continued adding more and more black to her features.
“Chop, chop ladies. Let’s not wait for the grass grow”, said an impatient voice from the doorway. Ruka had just finished Ty Lee’s make-up and was moving on to her own. “Easy for you to say, Azula. You have servants to do the dirty work for you”, she muttered to herself. Azula flipped her wavy hair back and walked over to her side. “What did you just say?” Ruka fumbled with the eye pencil, nearly messing up in the process. “Hand it over”, Azula commanded. She did as told and allowed Azula to take over the operation. Standing this close to the girl Ruka supposedly called a friend made her tense.
Ever sense they were little, it was obvious that Azula felt threatened by Ruka. While Mai and Ty Lee had grown to become exceptionally skilled fighters, Ruka was the only one other than Azula who could fire bend. It probably wouldn’t have been as bad if Azula felt that Ruka was at a lower level than herself. But at the end of the day, Ruka was just better. So Azula always made it her mission to make her life a living hell.
“There. Finished. Take a look.” Ruka was surprised at the princess’ skills. The way she had done the make-up really made Ruka’s eyes pop. Not that they need that boost as it is. Her eyes had always made her stick out like a sore thumb. They were blue. Very blue. Like royal blue with gold and green specks swimming around inside. They were beautiful, yes, but she never felt comfortable knowing that everyone else in the fire nation had either brown, gold, or the occasional red eyes. People were constantly questioning her lineage.
“Um, thank you”, Ruka said quickly and hurried away to put on her dress. After tying up the back of her dress and putting her hair into an intricate braid, she only had a few seconds to admire herself in the mirror, something she rarely did. “You look amazing”, Ty Lee stated. And it was true. Her simple scarlet dress flowed easily and comfortably, making her body look slim. The gold necklace and bracelets seemed dance against her fair skin. She felt like a princess in a fairy tale, yet completely out of place. “Alright ladies! Let’s head out”, Azula said, and we rushed out the door.
…
The ball was positively absolutely undeniably and reliably… boring. There were hardly any people their age and if there were, they were either clinging to their parents like a lost puppy or working their way up the social ladder. While Ruka probably could have been doing the same, she preferred to keep a low profile and not get caught up in politics. Besides, she knew that her views on the war and such were completely opposite of the people around her. Unlike most children, she never let her parents mold her beliefs and values before even getting a chance to think for herself.
“Where is Zuko”, she finally asked. Ty Lee and Mai looked at her while Azula simply scoffed. “He’s in a war meeting. It’s his first one”, Mai replied, sounding slightly more interested in the conversation than usual. “Oh, that’s good news. I’m glad he finally got to go”, Ruka said. She had always admired Zuko’s charisma and energy when it came to doing prince like tasks. It was a bit humorous seeing the way his golden eyes lit up when he talked about it. She liked it when his eyes did that. They were gorgeous. “Psst. Whatever. He only got to go because he begged Uncle to let him. I swear, that man spoils him rotten”, said Azula aggressively. She was obviously jealous.
“When do you think they’ll be done”, Ruka asked. “Right about now, actually.” She turned around to see Zuko, looking tired and worried out of his mind. “What happened? You look upset”, said Ruka, reaching out to touch his shoulder. He shrugged her off and looked pessimistically at the floor. It reminded her of Mai. “I don’t want to talk about it”, he said and walked away without looking back. “Maybe I should go after him”, said Mai looking a tiny bit worried. Ruka felt a pang of irritation towards her cousin. “Just leave him be”, said Azula. “He needs his space.”
Later that night, Ruka found herself wondering the gardens of the palace, watching the moon’s reflection shimmer in the pond. She had always preferred the moon over the sun. While the sun was a beautiful thing, bright and glorious, the moon’s subtle glow and calming persona always drew her in. Of course, she never told anyone this. Fire benders are supposed to thrive in the sun and feel more powerful. She just felt there was a different power within her when the moon came out.
The water seemed to speak to her. She wanted to watch it ripple. Bending down, Ruka extended her hand out to the water. “Ruka! What are you doing”, yelled a voice just before her hand made contact with the clear liquid. She clenched her fist angrily and turned to face her over protective father. “Well, I was enjoying the solitude, but I suppose it was too good to last”, she said sarcastically. “How many times must I tell you to stay away from the water? Do you really want to end up like your mother?” Ruka’s mother had drowned back when she was just a baby. She didn’t even remember what she looked like, and they didn’t seem to have any photos of her to jog her memory. She often found herself painting pictures of what her mother might have looked like. All of them had blue eyes.
“It’s just a pond, father. I couldn’t possibly drown”, Ruka said reasonably. Her father dragged her away none the less. He’s being ridiculous, she thought to herself. What could be so bad about a little water?
Ruka pulled away reluctantly. Her father turned to look at his angry daughter glaring up at him. “I’m so sick of this. You never let me do anything, ever. I’m not a child. I’m thirteen. I can take care of myself.” He looked as if he were about to slap her, but kept his voice steady. “Just do as I say. I’m your father.” Ruka’s anger ignited into rage. She didn’t know what came over her. She was usually an obedient girl that did as she was told. But today felt different. Every bit of her body was shaking and every muscle was tensing up. She felt a power surge through her. It was like how it felt when she fire bended, but then somehow different. It felt cooler and more graceful. Then she heard a loud splash from behind her.
“What the-”, she began, turning around. The pond had turned to a gizzard of sorts, like a volcanic explosion. Did I do that? she thought. Then it hit her. Blue eyes. Never knowing what her mother looked like. It all made sense now. Ruka’s mother was a water bender.
Breathing heavily, she turned to her father. He looked as if he had just seen a ghost. “No… it’s…not possible”, he said, his voice quivering. “Dad… what haven’t you been telling me?” She tried to hide her swelling anger, but failed miserably. Suddenly, his face went from scared shitless to serious. “You must keep this a secret. If you tell anyone BOTH of us will be killed”, he commanded, then dragged her away without another word.
…
Ruka stared at her half-finished painting quizzically. Part of her wanted to keep going. It would be something to distract herself from the questions swimming in her mind, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. If her rage grew any larger, then she just might take it out on the painting. Instead, she got out her sketch pad and a pencil. She began drawing a woman with long braids and an elegant fur coat. She then got out her colored ink and began painting the coat different shades of blue. After that, she made the skin darker than her usual drawings, and made the hair a dark brown like her own. She added blue eyes as a finishing touch.
Was this what her mother truly looked like? A woman from the water tribes? A woman where blue eyes were a common thing? A woman who could water bend or at the very least have the blood of a water bender coursing through her veins? Suddenly Ruka heard a knock on the door. Before she could respond, the door opened.
Azula was smirking at her and raised an eyebrow. “You’ve been cooped up in here for a long time, haven’t you? Is there a problem? Do you want to talk about it?” Ruka didn’t answer and just closed her sketch pad. But not before Azula got a glimpse of it. “Whatcha got there”, she asked, the devil dancing in her eyes. “Nothing”, Ruka said, not able to look at her. Azula snorted. “Nothing always means something”, she said and snatched it out of her hands. She flipped through it uninterested before stopping at the latest picture of Ruka’s mother. Her devil eyes stared down at it coldly. You could see the understanding sink into her.
“That’s private”, Ruka panicked, grabbing it from Azula’s hands. “I see”, said Azula before leaving her room expressionless. After the door closed, Ruka knew exactly what she had to do, and began packing.
…
Ruka knocked on the door calmly. When there was no response, she knocked again. Finally for her next try, she banged on the door three times, hard. “Oh my god! Calm down! What do you want”, asked Zuko swinging the door open. Ruka marched into his room and sat on the bed. “Make yourself at home then”, he said with a slight bitterness to his voice. He then noticed she was carrying a backpack.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Ruka did not answer; she only looked at his eyes. Those deep, golden, eyes full of wonder. “I heard you have to do a duel for speaking out of terms”, she said. His eyes flickered with determination. “I need my father’s approval back. If doing this silly duel is what it takes, then so be it.” Ruka stared at him longingly. If only she could own such a strong will power. But she was glad she didn’t have naivety.
“You know, after living here for thirteen years, I gained a very useful skill. It’s called keeping my mouth shut. My opinion doesn’t seem to matter to anyone here. I’m only a child, they say. No one has ever seemed to care. Yet somehow, my patients means nothing anymore. My true colors still show. And you know why? Because of these cursed, god damn eyes.”
Zuko looked at Ruka, perplexed. She continued none the less. “That’s why I am leaving. I’m not safe here. Azula knows something she shouldn’t and I just know she will use it against me.”
“Did you do something wrong”, Zuko asked. Ruka snorted. “It’s not my fault. If you want to blame anyone, blame my father. He’s a monster”, she told him. Ruka then stood up and hugged Zuko tightly. “I just wanted to say goodbye before I left. Please, don’t tell Azula I was here. And also, make sure to kick ass at your duel.” He chuckled, but kept a straight face. There was still so much he didn’t understand. “Whatever you’re planning, please, be careful, for me”, he advised. His golden were filled with a sadness Ruka would have rather not seen. “I will”, she promised. Right before exiting the door, she said, “I’ll miss you. You’ll be an amazing Fire Lord. I just know it.”
And with that, Ruka was gone. As if she had disappeared completely.
So then, what did you think? Did you love it? Did you hate it? Please, the more you tell me the more enjoyable I can make this story. I already have a basic layout of what I am going to do, but if you have any ideas, just shoot; I'll see what I can do. Well, I hope you liked it. Astalapasta! ^.^