Rebel: Sorry if it took me a bit to update. I was doing band camp plus I'm lazy. Who isn't? How many people have heard of the nickelodeon avatar contest? Well, I'm entering Selene! Anyways, you know the deal, review because I love them, and I don't get many. (holds up story with most reviews: a measly 6. Then starts to sob)

3. Faded Memories

In the dead of night, a figure stole across the deck of Azula's ship like a shadow. The sliver of moon reflected off the man's pale mask. Slipping past the sleeping guards at the lower decks entrance, the man snuck down the dimly lit hallways toward the prisoner cells.

Selene sat in her cell rubbing her sore arms. She wasn't chained up, but then she didn't have to be since she was in a fire-resistant room. Selene looked around in a futile effort to spot some way of escape. Nothing. Selene leaned against the back wall with a sigh, and slowly slid to the floor. She sat up when she heard a soft tap on the door.

Selene got up and walked over. "Hello?"

"Selene, which key goes to this lock?" asked a muffled voice on the other side of the door.

"The brass one with a flame design on the handle. Who are you?" Selene asked.

"Sorry, but we don't have time to chat." The person said. Selene heard a key clicking in the cell lock. The door swung open, and standing before her was a Fire Nation soldier wearing a helmet with a face plate.

Selene knew that this one soldier was the only thing standing between her and the exit, so she took the opportunity. Selene quickly crouched and swung her leg out to trip the guard, but he merely jumped over. Then as she got up, Selene swung her arm at the soldier's head, hoping to slam him into the wall. Fast as lightning, he grabbed her hand.

"We don't have time for this." The soldier hissed. "The next shift comes in nine minutes. We have to hurry and get you out of here." Selene stood there, staring at the soldier like he was a madman, but nodded. The soldier released her hand, and they began to sneak down the halls. As they walked, Selene kept thinking about those blue eyes she'd seen behind the man's mask, and wondered who this soldier really was.

Soon enough, Selene and the soldier came up onto the deck and ran over to the longboats. "Get in." the soldier said. "I'll lower you down." Selene nodded and went to get in the boat, but stopped as the soldier said one last thing.

"Be good." Selene's eyes grew wide with surprise. She turned, and gently taking the soldiers head in her hands, lifted his helmet.

"Nari." Selene breathed. The helmet slipped from her fingers and clattered across the deck as Selene stared at her brother and memories flooded back.

"Nari!" Selene giggled as her ten year-old brother picked her up. Nari spun around with his little sister in his arms until they were both dizzy. Then Nari fell down in the grass and his sister rolled out of his arms. "You're the best brother in the whole world!" Selene said.

"Have you met every brother in the whole world?" Nari asked as he looked up at the clouds slowly moving across the sky.

Selene got up on one elbow and looked at her raven haired sibling. "No but neither have you, so how do you know that you aren't the best?" Nari chuckled before putting his hands behind his head. Selene laid back and imitated her brother's position.

Selene suddenly sat up. "Do you hear something?"

Nari propped himself up on his elbows. "Yeah. It sounds like an ostrich horse."

The two children looked at each other and cried at the same time, "Father's home!" They raced up the hill to their house, but stopped at the doorway.

"But Tenzin…"

"I'm sorry, Ishi, but we agreed that if the war reached us here, you would return to the Fire Nation. I'd rather you lived at the end of the sky and the corner of the sea than know that your life was in danger."

"Mommy, you're not leaving, are you!" Selene cried as she ran into the house and grabbed her mother's skirts.

"I'm afraid I am, Sweetheart." Ishi said sadly and caressed her daughter's head which was buried in her lap.

Nari stepped in the doorway, his fists clenched. "I'm going with you!" The room went silent as everyone stared at him.

Tenzin broke the sudden silence. "Is that what you really want?" Nari nodded determinedly.

"But Brother!" Selene protested. Nari came over, took Selene by the arm, and gently led her outside. "Why?" she asked once they were outside.

"Listen Selene. Mom and Dad are old. They need us to look after them. One of us has to go with Mom."

"But why not me?"

"Lots of reasons. You love the sea just like Dad, Mom needs a man to protect her, and most importantly, you can't pass for Fire Nation with that white streak in your hair, but no one will think twice about my blue eyes." Selene nodded sadly. Her brother was right.

"You won't forget me, will you, Nari?"

"Never."

The next day at dawn, Selene and her father stood on the docks and said good bye to Ishi and Nari. As the boat began to pull away, Nari called out to his sister. "Be Good!"

Selene shouted back, "No promises!" Nari smiled and waved one last time to his sister as the docks slowly disappeared in the morning mist.

Selene stood on the deck of Azula's ship once again, staring at her older brother who still towered over her. He grinned.

"I don't see you for ten years, I save your life, and I don't even get a hug? What sort of sister are you?" he teased. Nari suddenly found himself trapped and struggling for air as Selene threw her arms around him and squeezed.

"I thought…"

"You'd never se me again?" Nari finished. "You aren't that lucky."

"How come you helped me? You're putting yourself in danger." Selene said, breaking away.

"Well because, first and foremost, you're my sister, or did you forget that? Also, while I was once loyal to the Fire Nation, after having served Azula, I realize that what the Fire Nation is doing is wrong. If freeing you will help end this, then all the better. It's mainly because you're my sister though. You can't honestly think that I'd put my own safety before yours even after all these years." Nari gave Selene a reassuring smile. Selene and Nari stood there for what seemed like ages until suddenly the alarms went off and shouting came from below, shattering the tranquil moment.

Nari turned at the sounds. "Get out of here." he said without facing Selene. Suddenly Nari felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, and the world before his eyes faded into darkness.

Selene stood over her brother, swinging a pulley by a thick rope. "Sorry about that, but I knew you wouldn't come, and this way they won't suspect you of helping me." she said. She dropped the pulley and jumped into the longboat. Lowering the boat to the choppy water below, Selene rowed until she was out of sight of Azula's ship.

As Selene sat idly in the longboat, she heard the familiar sound of a prow cutting the water. Suddenly, the wolf figure head of the Dark Myst appeared through the night fog, the rest of the sloop still shrouded in the haze of night. Selene smiled.

"Come on, men!" Garth shouted. He had hold of one of the two ropes hoisting up Selene's longboat. Every other crew member was pulling on the other rope in an effort to keep the boat balanced.

"You pull like a bunch of girls!" Garth laughed.

"Actually, girls would've done better. I won't hold it against you of course." a voice said softly behind Garth. Garth turned to face Selene who'd snuck up behind him. "I got so tired of waiting for you lot that I climbed up myself."

"Captain!" Garth said happily. He let go of the rope with one hand, the other being more than enough to hold the longboat, and wrapped his free arm around Selene's shoulders.

"Nice to see you, too. Now would you mind finishing up with bringing that boat aboard? We lost one in last week's storm, so we're keeping this one." With that, Selene retired to her cabin for the remainder of the night.

It was noonday and Selene had taken refuge under the stairs between the main deck and the aft deck. As she sat there enjoying the spray of the sea over the railing and the shade of the stairs, Selene suddenly became aware of the waves lapping up against the side of her ship.

"We have something for you, Selene." The waves seemed to say. Crawling out of her hiding space, Selene stood on the deck trying to let her eyes focus in the sudden light. Then she ran over to the starboard railing. There, tapping the side of her ship was a little glass bottle. Selene tossed a bucket on a rope over the side, and fished up the bottle.

With bottle in hand, Selene retreated to her cabin. Once there she uncorked the bottle and removed the paper that had been careful placed inside. There were actually three sheets of paper. One was a map of Ba Sing Se with certain points along the walls circled in red. The second sheet of paper showed where battalions of men were stationed and where they were attacking. The final paper was a note.

Dear Selene,

You owe me for three now. Not only do you need to repay me for helping you and sending this to you, but you also have to make it up to me for that blow on the head. See you around, and be good Nari

Selene chuckled at her brother's letter. Selene set the letter down and walked over to a covered cage by her window. She pulled off the cover, and a falcon cried out at the sudden light. Selene carefully lifted the falcon out of its cage and tied the two maps to its leg. She walked out onto the swaying deck once more, the falcon on her arm practically bouncing on her arm it was so anxious to be off.

"Go to the place we docked at last; the tree base. Find a man with a scar. This letter's for him." With that, Selene gave the falcon a little toss, and it took off into the clear blue sky. "First I become allies with the leader of the Avatar's Army, and now I find my brother. I wonder what's next." Selene pondered before crawling under the stairs again and falling asleep.

Rebel: Hope you all liked this. There's one last adventure to go. Also, I snuck in an old Chinese idiom/phrase. See if you can find it. Have a good day!