One

Standing in the shade of a tall mountain, Luke glanced around at his surroundings. There was at least twenty others like him. Dai Li. Normally, they would only be used within the walls of Ba Sing Se. But this was special. A war had just broken out. It was only last year that a comet had past, Fire Lord Sozin had taken advantage of the fire bending boost it had given them and used it to do something unthinkable. He had killed all of the Air Nomads. Word of this spread quickly. Those poor air folk were unable to defend themselves from the extreme power generated from the fire benders. The avatar would have been one of them thousands. It sent slight shivers of fright down Luke's spine. An entire race, not fully a weak one either was erased. That could have been any of the nation; Fire, water, or even Earth! A very frightening thought. None of the men were anything to scream about, except for their bending skills. They were master-class benders. ; Some of the best, in fact. The sun was burning warmly and a soft breeze complimented it well. That day was a good day to die.

It wasn't only the earth kingdom that was to stand against the war. A fleet of solders from the Water Tribe was heading towards them at that moment. They would be there, on that very strip of land by the sea, in a matter of moments. They had many water benders, making them go faster. The towering, white sails could be clearly seen by then, by the Dai Li at that time. The first boat docked onto land and they could see the tiny dots of Water tribes' men jumping off of the boats' low sides into the shallow sea. They began to prowl towards the Earth army with one man, donned in a wolf skin mask, at the front. He was clearly the general. The head of the Dai Li walked towards him with his hand shown, and the two leaders spoke. The small army of men from the water tribe stood in strict formation. The solders were allowed to relax until the time of the battle. A smaller water person walked towards Luke. On their face was a mask made of the head of a snow fox. Falling from behind it was a long braid. This fighter was a girl! But there was no time for prejudices. Her skin was a comfortable tan and her eyes were of shocking blue. A knife made of whale bone sat on her hip and a boomerang was attached to her back. Beneath the mask, her face was painted with the water tribe's war marks she held out a gloveless hand to the Dai Li and introduced herself.

"My name is Abigail of the water tribe; Daughter of General Ouya and Lady Mana Tae. I like to know who I am fighting beside." No one dare take the hand of the young girl. It just wasn't right for a girl to be on the front line. It was Luke who took up her handshake in the end. He introduced himself and then his fellow Dai Li.

"Why are you fighting anyway?" He asked eventually.

"Mainly, I'm here as a healer, but it was always my fathers dream to have his son beside him in the battlefield. Because my brother has only just been born, I took his place at Fathers side." She pauses for a moment and looks up to the general and smiles lightly. "He's my father." She then turned back to Luke with a slight nod. "Hasn't been a lady on the battle field since the last lady Avatar, Makes me feel special."

The sun had long since set in the sky and the armies had set up camp. A mixture of water tribe hide tents and earth kingdom cotton tents filled half of the valley in circles around fires. Around no special fire on benches of fallen logs, Luke and Abigail sat talking and laughing on matters of little importance. They had discovered that Luke was of 18 years of age and a skilled artist. He was interested in the old legends of the kingdoms. Abigail was 15 -nearly 16- years old and was a writer. She wasn't one of the most skilled, but she just enjoyed it. Another reason for her coming her was to escape an enforced engagement with the water bending master's eldest son. On her neck was an engagement chocker made of a white silk ribbon and an undecorated crystal disk in the centre. At that moment in time, they all sat in relaxed clothes. The water bender's war paint had been washed off and her fox-face mask discarded in her small tent. The moon was high in the sky and at half sized. Whilst the men laughed over some adult joke, Abigail lost concentration, and looked up at the starry sky and up at Tui and smiled. She herself had really been in the oasis and had seen the dancing Koi fish.

"What are you smiling about, Abigail?" came the voice of the dark haired master earth bender, crashing through her flashback.

"Oh, er, nothing. Just...Nothing." She shook her head and looked around at the other, older men sitting around the campfire. She let out a yawn and stood up. "I'm going to bed. Night guys." With that, the dark blond water bender skimmed off to her little tent and dove past the flap exaggeratedly.

"Yeah, night." grunted Luke in a somewhat confused and uninterested fashion. The conversation soon grew dull for him too. Following in Abigail's example, he headed off to his tent and soon fell asleep.

The next morning, the fire nation still hadn't arrived. Luke, in his trekking there with the rest of the army, had discovered a nice clearing with a little pool and a rock formation. Great to sketch from. He left before most of the camp awoke, taking a blank parchment and some sticks of charcoal, he walked off with contented calm. The general's daughter was already there. Her hair was loose and her clothes were slightly dirty. Lazily, she made a snake of water dance in the air whist she sat on the top of the rock tower. Abigail smiled down at him cheerfully and said good morning to him in a light tone.

"What are you doing up there?"

"Bending."

"Oh" He then looked at her in thought, then struck on inspiration. "Stay up there, and don't move." She was about to ask about her bending, but he told her to drop the water, and just look like she was. Wordlessly she obeyed. When he was happy with the basic form of the image, he let her relax. She hopped off of the tower and asked to see it. "No, not yet. I'll show you when I'm done." She let out an irritated groan, and continued to play with the pool. "Here." he said a while later. He held the parchment out to her blankly. She took it and studied it.

"Um, it is good, but why do I have a fox tail. And ears. And paws. And why have got wings?" She asked somewhat innocently.

"I like to draw anthros." She looked up to him with a confused expression. "They're a kind of animal that walks on their hind legs when they'd normally be on all four. They're just pretend, but I read about them once when I was young and they inspired my imagination." She made a little 'O' face and smiled back at the picture with a nod.

"Can I keep it?"

"Sure, why not? I mean you did sit there for ages for me, so ok." She smiled up at him brightly, and got to her feet.

"Thanks, I owe you." She then started to walk back to camp with the sketch in her hand. He tried to refuse a dept, but she swore to write a tale in reply. No getting her out of her deals.

Sitting inside of her tiny tent, Abigail tapped her brush against her head in thought. Her legs were crossed and she faced away from the tent entrance with a led tablet on her lap. She was writing a letter home to her mother. Set between her folded legs was an ink block and a small dish of water. At that moment, she had very little on the letter, having no inspiration and not much happening. Slowly, her mind began to wonder. She thought back to when her father first decided to head out to war. He had just spoke up to his army when Abigail slipped up beside him. Recently, she had completed her healing training, and in her spare time mastered sword play and boomerang flinging. Ouya continually refused at first, but when Abi had demonstrated her higher skill and talent, he reluctantly agreed. He taught her how to put on the war paint, defend herself from arrows and even some low level Water Bending moves. A rustle of the flaps of her tent distracted her from her trail of thoughts, she turned her head around to see Luke standing just inside of her tent. A brown eyebrow raised on her face as she wordlessly asked him what he wanted.

"Scouts have reported Fire Solders in the distance. They'll most likely be arriving in an hour at most, so be ready." He reported formally and flatly. With a nod, Abigail turned back to the way she was facing and hastily packed away her calligraphy equipment. She got out her grey and white paints and set her fox mask to her side. Her water skin was full and lazily discarded by the entrance to her tent. Luke, in the meantime, had vanished to ready himself for the pending battle against the Fire Nation threat. She replaced her dress with a heavy battle tunic and strapped her boomerang holder to her back and strapped her knife to her hips. Dipping her long fingers in the paints, the teenage water bender smeared them cold colours on her round face in a tribal style. With both hands on her white fox mask, Abigail lowered it ceremoniously onto her head. She then got to her feet and grabbed her water skin, darting out of the loose flaps of her seal hide tent.

Two opposing armies of foes stood ready to fight each other in perfect formation. A gentle breeze made loose hair dance on the heads of solders, healers and scouts. The generals of both armies sent silent glares to one another over the grand distance of the huge clearing. The Fire Bender in charge of the Fire Army pulled his long sword out and pointed it at the Water General and, without diverting his cool, sinister glare gave the first order of the battle.

"Charge!" He yelled at his troops. The first row of Fire Nation men ran forward, drawing their weapons or creating fire. They let out a proud roar as they shot closer to the Earth and Water warriors. A moment after, General Ouya ordered his men to go as well. Luke and Abigail both were in that first line. They charged past General Ouya with an equally powerful roar. The 39 year old general watched his only daughter dart past him in shock. He reached out to her, but it was too late; she was too far away! Ouya didn't want her fighting: Not yet at least. The lines of fighters clashed together with a flash of metal, earth, fire and water. Soon after, the rest of the solders followed. Swords hit shields. Fire stuck earth and water. Burned, cut or crushed bodies fell at the feet of their killers. Knowing none of the famous water tribe mercy, Abigail took the lives of the killers of the Air Nomads. Her whale bone blade dripped blood of Fire Benders and her healing and attacking water was no longer clear, but a muddy-bloody colour. The full lips of the Water Bender were curled into a sinister snarl and her clothes and skin splattered with fresh blood; some of which was her own. Dirt and grass stains from dodging attacks also joined the gore of blood on her person. Luke was in a much cleaner state. He used his excellent Earth Bending skills to keep the blood thirsty Fire Nation away from him. With the use of styles from across the four nations, he diced through his enemies with frightening ease. Swords posed no threat to him either. A simple flick of the wrist would send an arrow of rock up from the ground either breaking the strong sword or striking the heart of the wilder. With the overwhelming power of the Earth and Water Benders, the Fire Nation number gradually lessened. The numbers going from almost one on one to 10:1 to the Earth/Water army's advantage. Knowing he stood no chance, the general of the Fire Army looked around him at the many faces of Earth and Water men in a panic. He signalled to him men to retreat, and made his own escape from the solders into the vast forest beyond. A cheer from the victorious side was not missed by the fleeing man.

A/N: My older brother requested this fic. The main two characters are based strongly upon thier real world counterpart. -Luke, in reality, is my older brother and I am Abi- However in the real world, we don't bend. Nither do I have tanned skin: It is paisty.

Stay tuned for more battles, more OC's and more death. Yes I am a very morbid girl.