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PROLOGUE. THE LEGEND OF THE LOST SAITO
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THE STORY STARTS WITH A FORBIDDEN LOVE.
Hiro Saito was the greatest military general the Fire Nation's ever known. Although he was notorious for the countless battles his troops had won the victories in, the true reason for his success was because he held the dark fire gene in his DNA. Dark fire was the most dangerous of its kind—its flames deadly, disintegrating anything in its path to pure ash. Stemming from a deep rooted sense of anger, of hatred, of a feeling so intense, dark fire can be uncontrollable if not maintained properly. The ability to bend this type of fire was rare and belonged to a lineage of the most powerful fire benders in history, with Hiro being one of them. He was second in command to Firelord Azulon, as well as his most trusted ally. But that all started to change when he encounters an Earth Kingdom refugee, Aimi, who had escaped from one of the Fire Nation's prisons.
Hiro was the only one patrolling the northwest section of the land that night when he came across the girl. His first instinct was to arrest her, take her back to whatever filthy prison she escaped from, but as Aimi begged and begged him to hear her out, Hiro reluctantly agreed. She told him of all her experiences with the nation, of how her home was taken from her, how her family and her were forced into labor camps the Fire Nation kept secret, and opened his eyes to the awful nature of the country he took so much pride in. A part of Hiro didn't want to believe her—didn't want to believe how he could've been so blind to the Fire Nation's cruelty. But hearing the pain in Aimi's voice, he knew there was no way she was lying. To somehow make up for the wrongdoings of his people, Hiro took her back to his home, promising to hide and protect Aimi for as long as he could.
As time passed, the two fell in love with each other. Hiro had kept his promise, but as he became more and more aware of the Fire Nation's discrimination against innocent people, he didn't know how much longer he could fake his loyalty to them. When Aimi became pregnant, that's when Hiro knew they needed to escape—and soon. Together, they devised a plan that would allow them to leave the Fire Nation as smoothly as possible and undetected. All they needed was the right moment to do so.
Just when it seemed like everything was going according to plan, Hiro and Aimi's forbidden relationship had been discovered and they had to flee their home sooner than planned before the Fire Nation got to them first. Embarking on a journey all the way to Aimi's home country, they arrived at the city of Ba Sing Se where her brother, Ji, resided. Overjoyed to see his sister after so many years apart, Ji and his wife gladly provided Hiro and Aimi the shelter of their home. There, Aimi gave birth to their baby girl and they named her Love—because without love, the couple was certain they would've given up hope throughout their difficult journey a long time ago.
A few weeks after Love was born, Hiro was accidentally seen bending dark fire and a tip was sent off to the Fire Nation about the refugee's whereabouts. As Hiro and Aimi prepared to make another escape, they entrusted their daughter's life with Ji while they were gone. They both knew that traveling with Love was far too dangerous, and God knows what the Fire Nation would do with her if they were ever caught. Just as Hiro and Aimi reached the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom, their journey was cut short when the Fire Nation captured them. The couple was seized and executed for their treason, but that satisfaction wasn't enough for Firelord Azulon. He knew Aimi had been pregnant when they'd escaped and he wanted the kin of his greatest enemy, who was also the only other possible dark firebender in the world, too.
The firelord went mad, sending soldier upon soldier to discreetly search the lands of the Earth Kingdom in hopes of finding the baby Saito, but all of it was to no avail. When it became clear that the child would forever be lost in the confinement of the Earth Kingdom, the story spread across the nation like wildfire. What Firelord Azulon considered to be one of his few failures in life became immortalized as the people of the Fire Nation told the story of the lost Saito. It's said that finding the child was as great of an accomplishment as it was finding the avatar—and he hasn't been seen in over a hundred years. Some believed they would be the one to someday find them, and others believed the child wasn't even real.
Prince Zuko, Firelord Azulon's grandson, was apart of the latter. But when his only hopes of regaining his honor are finding either the avatar or the lost Saito, after his banishment from the Fire Nation, he's forced to have a change of heart and set out on an impossible mission. Though, it doesn't seem so impossible anymore when his journey lands him in a little tea shop in Ba Sing Se where he and his uncle are hired. Unbeknownst to him, his coworker happens to be the most popular legend in the Fire Nation, the only dark firebender left in the world, and, not to mention, the key to getting his honor back.
And she was right under his nose.
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author's note: here's the prologue!!! can you guys believe the start of this was actually supposed to be the summary?? it ended up being sooo much information i wanted to put in that i decided to make it a prologue lol. this is basically love's whole backstory which is important to know so that a) you're not confused throughout the story and b) since it's rarely gonna be mentioned before love finds out who she actually is! hope u all are enjoying this so far and feel free to drop a comment to let me know what you think <3
