But she didn't.

They awoke not long after, but neither could remember of what had happened inside the strange worlds. But when they awoke, both could be seen examining the other. Rei brought up her hands to ruffle the fur at the side of his face, staring deeply into his large eyes. She sighed and laid her head against his. She tried remembering what had happened, but all she could remember was a sense of weightlessness. Of warmth. And of something unknown, as if someone had infiltrated her world.

"Let's go back. They might be worrying by now," Airon nodded his head, and waited for Rei to be seated on his bareback before they flew back. No one questioned where they were, but they were somewhat greeted. Apparently, they had been gone for quite the while. Dinner was served and the two could be seen heading towards the library afterwards.

"Can you remember anything that happened?" Airon only shook his head as he fell against the couch in exhaustion. Rei placed herself against him, staring up at the old paintings of the library.

"Are you okay?" Rei nodded at him and turned her body so that she could wrap her arms around his neck.

"I'm exhausted. Whatever happened, it took a lot out of me," Airon nodded.

"Spiritual energy can be quickly depleted if not controlled well," she nodded in affirmation and snuggled against his fur.

"Airon?"

"Yes Rei?"

"I think... I'm going to go see my brother,"

Having overheard Zuko and Sokka talking about the Boiling Rock, Rei decided it would be the best time to go see Dai. After all, Sokka was sure to mess something up and create a big enough distraction. So a few days later, after Zuko and Aang miraculously got better at firebending, Zuko and Sokka could be seen flying off with Appa. Rei and Airon followed behind, careful to stay invisible. Airon had been rather silent after Rei told him of her plan, and worried for her.

"Your brother is a Captain?" he questioned on the journey. She nodded. "Then he must be powerful. Do you think we'll be able to handle him if he decides to attack us?" she wondered about this.

"I'm his sister so... I just need to see him. That's all," Airon didn't respond. He knew this was something that had probably kept her up at night. Her reasons were her own. The journey there began to drag on forever and eventually the girl began to fall asleep. Airon didn't mind, and shifted her into a more comfortable position before heading down. The saddles were starting to weight him down and was quite happy when he could set himself down. He gently shifted Rei against his side before resting himself.

But it was odd. Somewhere during his dream, his subconscious began to slowly nick at him in irritation. How can you grow tired, Airon? How can you be weighed down by just a silly little amount of kilograms? You could carry tons if you want to. You're a spirit, after all. You shouldn't be troubled. But it did. It troubled him and it ate at his insides. Confusion etched into his very soul as he rested alongside the person who changed his life.

Watching from afar, they realized that Boiling Rock wasn't an easy place to get into. Fire Nation stood patrol all around, and the heat from the pool around the prison was extreme and blinding. Airon watched her stare at the prison in thought, her body slumped against the branches of the tree she sat high up in. Airon tilted his head at her and she noticed his action from the corner of her eye. He's been observing her much more closely on this day. Turning in surprise, she smiled before tossing a few apples at him; the real reason she was up in the tree. She jumped down and landed gently on her feet, her eyes widening as she did so. The fall was a lot more weightless than she had expected, similar to the feeling she had from the other world. As she thought about this, she failed to realize that her gemstone had begun emitting a small light before disappearing. Airon noticed it but said nothing of it. Something was coming, and he didn't want to intervene at such a time. Whatever happened in their dream world, it was now taking its effects in the real world. But whatever had happened, he wanted to know. He wanted to understand why he could look at her the way he was doing now. What changed?

"Do you think you'll be able to withstand the heat so that we can fly over?" she questioned, taking a bite of her own apple. Airon nodded.

"Of course I can. But I think maybe we should leave some of the baggage here," he said, indicating to the saddle on his back. Rei nodded and began to work on the saddlebags before removing the saddle, revealing his bareback. She gently patted down Airon's back, straightening out his perfect white coat. He shivered at the sensation, quickly stepping around to face her. "Do you know what you're going to say to him?" Rei shook her head.

"I'm going to apologize," this surprised the stag.

"For what?"

"For being the cause of him having to fight Aron. I know he didn't really want to," she nodded before heaving out, trying to calm her nerves. "Ready?" he nodded in affirmation. She quickly swung herself onto his back, soon the two invisible and well over the pool of heat. She clutched onto him, only gently. She had no reason not to trust him, although he acted suspiciously recently. Really, ever since they went back to the Fire Nation; there was something... different.

Airon frowned as his hooves began to heat up, his eyes blurry. He could feel his body start to shake but willed to it calm. His body began to weigh him down, an odd sensation he had never experienced before. It was a... material feeling. Of course, he would not dare tell Rei this. She would have forced them back, but this did send warning signs into his mind. It hadn't been his imagination.

He held out until the other side, where they hid at the shore. Airon breathed heavily, shaking his head in agitation.

"Airon, what's wrong?" Rei questioned, herself sweating and rather dehydrated. He shook his head, and kept shaking it while he paced gently around her in a circle.

"No, it's nothing," Rei held suspicion, her eyes wide with disbelief, but instead looked up. This wasn't the time to be dealing with such things. Not on enemy territory.

"We're going to have to go invisible and search for him that way," Airon nodded, his breath gone now, and waited for Rei to launch herself onto his back again. He dematerialized, and headed through the prison wall. They landed in a cell, two ruffians having a go at each other. Almost royally, Airon huffed and exited the cell, the two slowly heading through the walls of the prison.

"Where do you think we'd find your brother?" Airon whispered to her.

"I don't know. He could be anywhere," she whispered back, two nearby men staring at the empty space in confusion. "And all of the guards are wearing helmets. That could be a problem. But he's a Captain, so I don't think he should be wearing one..." the halls were long and confusing. The maze that was the prison held many prisoners, most thick and tough looking. They wandered around aimlessly, confusion etched into their brows. They walked through many guards, shudders passing through them. They headed to a clearing, where they immediately heard the ruckus. A fight was brewing, and one of the participants looked quite familiar.

"It's only been a day and Zuko's already got himself arrested," Rei responded with a sheepish laugh. Zuko was pulled away by many guards, and was taken to another side of the prison. A thick man looked satisfied at Zuko's capture, but Rei wondered why. She gently told Airon to follow them, and so he did. It turned out that Zuko was thrown into a type of cool room, as per a plan.

"Where is Sokka then?" Airon questioned as they exited the scene, seeing guards heading towards the cool room. Rei wondered at this as well.

"This place is extremely large. He might even be disguised. We'll worry about them later. But for now, we have to find Dai," Airon could sense the desperation sipping into her voice and took off in a gallop. She clutched onto his mane, pressing herself against his back. He eventually slowed down to a trot before setting himself dead still. Rei frowned at this, and rose her head in question. She immediately realized why Airon had stopped, and stared ahead at the surrounding Fire Nation members. They all had their weapons raised, the sharp steel pointed directly at their faces. It took only a second for Rei to realize that they weren't invisible, and began to feel the panic seeping in.

"Identify yourselves!" one of them demanded, stepping dangerously close with his spear.

"Run?"

"Run," and with that Airon scaled back and began running full force down the halls. Now, as they passed the cells and guards, all had turned to regard them. It felt like a mini army was on their tails, but by the speed they were going, it could have been mistaken as a full-fledged army. "Turn intangible!" Rei shouted, her teeth grinding against one another. She felt Airon's muscles tense up, his breath hitching in his throat. Finally, his voice broke and he shouted it out.

"I can't!" Rei frowned at this and instead chose to focus at the task at hand. Looking back, she sighed deeply. She gripped Airon's back and swung herself around, her body now facing the army. She took a deep breath, her eyes closed in concentration. She opened them, and held out her hands in front of her. She focused all her spiritual energy, readying her attack. Since going on her intense and questioning adventure with Airon, she had gotten quite familiarized with her abilities and no longer felt ashamed to use them.

She felt a soul enter the control of her hands, causing her to smile widely; yet in surprise. Had she always felt like a puppeteer, taking the power of others for herself? Just as she were to grab the second's soul, she was rocketed off Airon's back as he had suddenly come to a halt. She felt her hold on the man slip, her body rocketing forward into the awaiting soldiers. She could hear a screech from behind, and immediately recognized it as Airon's voice. She whipped around to see a guard viciously elbowing Airon right below his neck, rendering him unconscious.

"Airon!" she screamed, and soon felt a metal armoured hand clam around her mouth. Her body tensed unnaturally at this and she tried striking at the metal arm. Of course, it was all in vain. She saw Airon get dragged off, and a thought passed her mind as to why he couldn't dematerialize at this stage? He had great improvement from the time he was kidnapped by the Earth Kingdom, so why couldn't he escape now?

What was happening to Airon?

Rei was painfully tugged through the prison, her hands having been clamped by metal shacks that disallowed her to soulbend. She was dragged into a room with a single chair, and she was thrown into it. Her chin met with the wooden chair, and she could already feel the bruise forming. She readjusted herself to sit normally, and folded her right leg across her left; giving off a strength-worthy posture. But truthfully, she couldn't get her spiritual companion out of her mind. What was wrong with him, and had this been going on a while?

She didn't have time to ponder to the fullest because the door was slammed open and a figure with heavy boots entered. Rei didn't look up to regard the person, and only listened to the heavy steps and creaking of the door falling close. The figure stepped forward with haste steps, but she dare not look in the fury-filled eyes she imagined. But instead of whatever she imagined would go down next, two gloved hands gently traced her jawline before pushing her head to look up at him. Her eyes immediately widened.

"Dai?" her older brother had mixed expressions on his face, his eyes clearly clouded at the many thoughts. But evidently a smile broke out on his face, and he leaned forward to pull her close to him.

"Reiko," he said gently, embracing his younger sister he hadn't seen in years. "You're alive,"

"Yeah. I am," she could only reply, as her hands were still bound behind her back. It was quite uncomfortable and in response, she gritted her teeth as the painful chains struck her wrists. Dai seemed to notice her discomfort and pulled away from her to unlock her pains.

"B-but how? You were so young!" Dai gritted his teeth, starting a pace in the dark room.

"It's a long story," she shrugged, nervously chuckling as she readjusted her seating position, her hands now free.

"How?" he demanded, causing Rei to stare at him in confusion. "How?!" he demanded louder. Was this him? Truly him? Her brother who had wanted nothing more than to protect her? He demanded for a third time, coming close to her face with his arms holding her down. He had changed. Life had hardened him to the point of no return. This was why her siblings preferred not to have long conversations about him. Still, she did come here to give him an explanation. She owed him that.

"There was a spirit-," and thus, she began.

Airon awoke to found himself chained to the wall of a dark cellar, much like the ones he had been in before. He slowly arose onto his hooves, the metal chaining dangled as he moved. How? he wanted to shout at himself. How? This time, their capturing was all his fault. He was the one who was weak and because of that, he had to watch Rei get pulled back into the arms of an enemy. His fault. It pained him, greatly. Even more so because of the strange feeling he had ever since they woke from the dream world.

He wanted to see her. Lay his eyes on her and protect her. He wanted no one to step close to her, although selfishly. Not even her family. He wanted to encircle her and never let anyone come near without the loudest protests possibly from him. And he felt bad; bad for feeling like that. He knew they were bonded, spiritually compatible; but this was something weird. Rei was starting to change: gaining the ability to walk on water, fly and, most possibly, began intangible. She was turning into her own spirit, the ultimate Master Soulbender. Whilst she became stronger and stronger, Airon became weaker and weaker. Rei was gaining abilities that would evidently be able to replace Airon, taking all of his usefulness with it. Furthermore, while Rei was becoming more like a spirit, Airon was becoming more like a mortal. And that terrified him.

He became weak, needing to rest and sleep to recharge his energy for the day. Intangibility became harder to sustain and he found himself in a material body that weighs him down. He now actually felt his muscles and how they were being affected, weighing down by the number of objects he has to carry around. He now has a breath, something unbelievable because he never thought to even have lunges. He was losing his spiritual capabilities, become a material being with material wishes; and that caused Rei to get captured.

Why was this happening? And why now? Was the dream world not created to align themselves with each other and access the new soulbending capabilities? What happened to their spiritual capability, or was that a thing of the past now that Airon's spirit and soul were weakening? He was behind. Far behind. His precious Rei was advancing, something he was overjoyed by. But, what would happen when she no longer needed him? Even after all those promises and her desperate attempts to keep them together, would she leave him? For power, her family, the other spirits?

His legs shook and tumbled underneath him, revealing his fragile state. His mind raced and desperation filled him. These emotions were unknown to him.

If he was no longer a spirit, would she leave him?

Or, more frightening, would he leave her?

*************************

I apologize. Truly. I stalled this too much and it took a while to figure everything out with the story (and my life) again. Tell me, my dearest readers who has given me so much commentary on the previous chapter, the most I have ever received - my dear, poor soul- ; tell me your thoughts? What do you expect to happen now? How curious are you to discover the truth, the future, the change that will come to these precious characters? What are your predictions?