Heart & Soul - An Avatar Fanfiction

--- Prologue ---

24 years ago ...

A small girl, only four years old, sat on a bench next to a large door in the courtyard of the "Northern Territory Government Foster Home" building. The sky over head was grey, with thin lines of sunshine peaking through the cover in the sky that was a mix of clouds and light smog, and the temperature was normal for once. The courtyard was a large rectangle and had windows covering the walls and a singular large door on each side. The floor was packed red dirt with industrial concrete paths cutting across it, the paths made a huge plus shape, and actual leaving trees sat in each quarter.

It was 2130 CE, she lived in Australia. One of the last places on Earth where you could actually live, albeit not as good as you would have a hundred years ago. The air wouldn't kill you or give you lung cancer. Yet. You could see the sky for over half of a year. There were still tree's and some animals, but they were dying. Every coastal city had to move backwards after water levels rose from climate change. The climate change made summers irritatingly hot and winters skin bitingly cold. 

Life was more expensive too.
The middle class became what the new world called "the real working class", the rich became the middle class, and the poor died or suffered worser. Only the exceedingly rich lived. Everyone else survived.
Corporations either tried to save the environment or destroy it more in their race of greed. Politicians did little work, most becoming the puppets of big mining and manufacturing companies. 
Life was not good.

But back to the little girl.

She sat on her bench in her government issued clay-red pinafore and shirt, kicking her legs back and forward, all alone. 
She was alone in many ways. She had no friends, she had no parents, they died apparently, and she always felt alone.
But why was she sitting on the bench?
Because she had gotten in trouble.
That's actually why she had no friends.
You see, the little girl had quite a poor temper and tended to be rather rude and aggressive towards her foster siblings, and the caretakers. She got in fights, bit kids, said mean things to the adults and was just a generally nasty little child. Why?
Well the caretakers thought it was just her nature, some thought it was because there was something wrong with her in the head and others suggested she see a therapist. None of them were correct.
By all means, she wanted to make friends, but she knew she couldn't. She did want to lose them too, just like she lost her parents.

Voices could be heard from inside the building, just behind the little girl. The sound filtered through a slatted window that the staff had forgotten to shut.
How silly.
She could hear a bit of what they were saying, and she didn't like it.

"That child is out of control!" a nurse hissed to the boss, "She's bitten half of the younglings in her nursery, it's gotten to the point where I've had to move her to a separate room! I'm scared I'm going to lose a finger!"

"She's unsociable." a male caretaker agreed, shaking his blue dyed hair, "The girl only pays attention in class and then when we let the children outside to play, she goes and sits off in the corner and death stares anyone who tries to come near her."

"Not to mention, she's started more fights than the teenagers have. She's only four for fucks sake!" another worker commented.

"Language!" the adults hissed at him.

"There's clearly something wrong with her mentally."

"She's a waste of government money. We're going to get a budget cut if her behaviour continues!"

"Luckily her parents are dead, she would have been a nightmare for them."

"I'm going to quit if I have to deal with another one of her temper tantrums again, I swear I'm going to quit. She's not worth my time."