Aya's POV

"Suddenly, they heard something down the hall in the dark. Oooh ... It came into the torchlight ... and they knew the blade of Wing Fung was haunted  Sokka draws his sword, stands up and points it toward the fire; yells dramatically. "Ooh-aaah!"

The four of us watched Sokka attempted to tell a scary story and we were unamused by it. Aang and I were laying next to each other while holding hands. We were certainly sitting in a dark and spooky forest with a campfire in the middle.

This forest is creepier than Sokka's story.

"I think I like "the man with a sword for a hand" better." Aang mentions and I nod.

"Water Tribe slumber parties must stink." Toph blurts out.

"No, wait! I've got one!" Katara perks up and I raise an eyebrow at her. "And this is a true Southern Water Tribe story."

"Is this one of those "a friend of my cousin knew some guy that this happened to" stories?" I asked her unconvinced.

"No, it happened to mom." Katara denies and this catches all of our attentions. Aang and I sat up together and Sokka stiffens.

"One winter when mom was a girl, a snowstorm buried the whole village for weeks. A month later, Mom noticed she hadn't seen her friend Nini since the storm. So Mom and some others went to check on Nini's family. When they got there, no one was home. Just a fire flickering in the fireplace. While the men went out to search, Mom stayed in the house. When she was alone, she heard a voice. "It's so cold and I can't get warm!" I grabbed Aang's waist and he wraps his arms around me. "Mom turned and saw Nini standing by the fire. She was blue like she was frozen. Mom ran outside for help, but when everyone came back, Nini was gone."

Sokka hid behind a tree still out of fear and Aang and I were huddled close with our pets next to us.

"Where'd she go?" Sokka stutters out.

"No one knows. Nini's house stands empty to this day, but sometimes, people see smoke coming up from the chimney, like little Nini is still trying to get warm." Katara exclaims and my eyes grow wide.

By now, all of us, minus Katara, were huddled together. Suddenly, Toph straightens up and touches the ground.

"Wait! Guys, did you hear that?" Aang, Katara, Sokka, and I clutch each other tightly, too stiff to move, with Toph standing alertly. "I hear people under the mountain. And they're screaming."

Sokka relaxes his grips and scoffs. "Pft! Nice try, Toph."

"No, I'm serious. I hear something." Toph says seriously and Katara releases her grip from Aang and I.

I clutch Aang's shoulders and he pulls me closer.

"You're probably just jumpy from the ghost stories ..." I reason with her.

"It just....stopped." Toph says with confusion and uncertainty.

"All right, now I'm getting scared." Aang admits, squeezing my waist tighter.

"Hello children."

All five of us scream in terror upon hearing the strange voice and we scramble from the ground. Aang holds me tight to his chest and we see an elderly woman emerge from the shadows.

"Sorry to frighten you. My name is Hama." The woman greets and Aang loosens his grip. "You children shouldn't be out in the forest by yourselves at night. I have an inn nearby. Why don't you come back there for some spiced tea and warm beds?"

Sokka sheepishly places his arm behind his head. "Yes please."

The five of us follow but I stayed by Aang because this woman gives me a bad vibe; something's off about her.

Hama led us to her home and we all sat down at the dinner table for some dinner. Hama pours us tea and I smile sweetly at her.

"Thanks for letting us stay here tonight. You have a lovely inn." I tell her and she smiles at me.

"Aren't you sweet?" Hama walks over to her seat and sits down. "You know you should be careful. People have been disappearing in those woods you were camping in."

That made me stiffen and I bit the inside of my cheek nervously. That's a nice thing to hear on a late night in the middle of the forest.

"What do you mean "disappearing"?" Sokka asks her.

"When the moon turns full, people walk in and they don't come out." She tells us eerily and we became silent. Suddenly, she stands up and holds up her teapot; cheerfully smiling. "Who wants more tea?"

None of us answer and I felt Aang grip my hand securely.

"Don't worry, you'll all be completely safe here" Hama tells us, clasping her hands together and smiles. "Why don't I show you to your rooms and you can get a good night's rest?"

As we got up, Aang wrapped his arm around me and leaned down to my ear.

"Don't leave my side, Angel."

I nod and continue moving with him.

——

That night, I could not sleep and Aang couldn't either. He knew something was off with me; he could sense it.

"Tell me what's on your mind." He says as he holds me in his arms as we stare at the moon that shine in the night sky.

"I feel like Toph was right, something's off. Hama seems off, she's not normal." I admit and it was silent for a few moments. "I can feel it."

"I'm not doubting your senses, but let's keep this on the low for right now. But, if something happens, we will do something." Aang tells me and kisses my cheek.

"Okay." I nod and look back at my boyfriend. "I love you."

He smiles, softly. "I love you too."

——

The next day the gang and I were at the market with Hama gathering food and goods. Katara and Hama were getting along great, I mean we all were, but Katara and her were especially close.

Toph, Aang, Sokka, and I were walking through the marketplace with buckets or packages in our arms. I was carrying large bucket of potatoes in my arms, and it wasn't heavy to me because of the recently muscle I've grown from training.

"You won't have any ash bananas till next week?" We over heard a villager ask a shop owner.

"Well, I have to send the boy to Hing Wa Island to get them, and it's a two day trip." The shop owner informs him.

"Oh, right. Tomorrow's the full moon." The village remembered and this intrigued me. Full moon? I know waterbenders are strongest during that moon phrase, but why is it unsafe?

"Exactly. I can't lose another delivery boy in the woods." The shop owner says in a hushed voice and my eyes grew for a moment. That's not suspicious at all.

"People disappearing in the woods, weird stuff happening during full moons? This just reeks of Spirit World shenanigans." Sokka mentions and I scoff.

"I know, it seems off to me." I agree.

"I bet if we take a little walk around town, we'll find out what these people did to the environment to make the spirits mad." Aang suggests and I nod.

"And then you two can sew up this little mystery lickety-split, Avatar and Fire Angel style!" Sokka expresses and I grin with Aang.

"Helping people...that's what we do." I say proudly and smile at my boyfriend.

We approach my sister and Hama shortly after.

"Why don't you take all those things back to the inn? I just have to run a couple more errands. I'll be back in a little while." Hama suggests and I was suspicious about where she would be going, but I stayed quiet.

"This is a mysterious little town you have here." Sokka mentions, walking up to her.

"Mysterious town for mysterious children." She replied ominously with a creepy smile, before she saunters off. This left Sokka suspicious and we went back to Hama's place to unpack all the groceries.

"That Hama seems a little strange." I blurt out. "Like she knows something, or she's hiding something."

"Yeah, Aya's right." Sokka agrees.

"That's ridiculous. She's a nice woman who took us in and gave us a place to stay." Katara reasons and picks up cabbage. "She kinda reminds me of Gran-Gran."

"But what did she mean by that comment, "mysterious children"?" Sokka retorts.

"Gee, I don't know. Maybe because she found five strange kids camping in the woods at night? Isn't that a little mysterious?" Katara argues back and that's hard to argue on. She has a point, but Hama, herself, is still a strange woman.

"I'm gonna take a look around." Sokka tells us and walks away and up a flight of wooden stairs.

"Wait, Sokka!" I call and we followed Sokka up the stairs.

"Sokka! Sokka, what are you doing? You can't just snoop around someone's house." Katara berates our brother.

"It'll be fine." He dismisses and I saw him peek into a room.

"She could be home any minute." Aang says and we continue down the hallway.

"Sokka, you're gonna get us all in trouble and this is just plain rude!" Katara scolds Sokka, who tugs on a cupboard door.

"I'm not finished yet." Sokka says and grunts as he tries to get the cupboard open. "Come on..."

The cupboard suddenly opens, revealing several wooden puppets stowed inside. The dolls fall forward, held together only by their strings. All of gasp with shock and Aang and I grab each other as Sokka withdraws his sword, backs up and points it straight at the puppets.

"Okay, that's pretty creepy." I speak as I keep my arms around Aang.

Katara walks over and closes the cupboard; a bit weirded out. "So, she's got a hobby. There's nothing weird about that. Sokka, you've looked enough. Hama will be back soon."

Sokka ignores her and ascends up to the attic.

"Just an ordinary puppet-loving innkeeper, huh? Well then why does she have a locked door up here?" Sokka asks, gesturing to the locked door that leads to the attic.

"Probably to keep people like you from snooping through her stuff!" Katara argues, defensively.

"We'll see." Sokka says and peers through the keyhole into the room. "It's empty, except for a little chest."

"Maybe it's treasure." Toph guesses.

Sokka grows excited, his eyes getting wide, and uses his sword to pick the lock.

"Sokka, what are you doing?" I ask him cautiously and release my arms from Aang. "You're breaking into a private room!"

"I have to see what's in there." Sokka declares.

The door unlocks and creaks open. The five of us step cautiously inside; Sokka puts away his sword and approaches the small chest.

"We shouldn't be doing this." Aang states.

Sokka attempts to open the chest, but it's locked.

"Maybe there's a key here somewhere." Sokka says looking around.

"Ooh. Hand it over!" Toph says and takes the chest from Sokka. She removes her meteor bracelet from her arm and earthbends it into the shape of a small key, which she sticks into the keyhole of the chest.

"Come on, come on!" Sokka eagerly cheers and I anxiously tap my foot.

This is wrong, she could be home soon and then we will be in trouble.

Katara and I both peer over Toph's shoulder, nervously.

"This isn't as easy as it looks." Toph says as she tries her best to unlock the chest.

"Guys, I don't know about this ..." Aang says nervously.

"This is crazy! I'm leaving!" Katara declares before turning to leave.

"Suit yourself! Do it, Toph!" Sokka encourages.

Katara turns to leave the moment Toph signals that she has successfully opened the chest, holding her thumb up. All five of us eagerly surround the box in a huddle, anticipating what we will find inside.

"I'll tell you what's in the box."

All of us, except Toph, scream and turn sharply to find Hama standing in the doorway. Sokka guiltily hands her the box. Hama reaches inside and pulls out the item that was inside. We look in anticipation as she lifts out the item and the item was a blue comb.

"And old comb?" Sokka asks with shock.

"It's my greatest treasure. It's the last thing I own from growing up in the Southern Water Tribe."

This astonishes Sokka, Katara, and I.

"You're from the Southern Water Tribe?" I questioned, stunned.

Hama sets down the come. "Just like you."

"How did you know?" Katara asked.

"I heard you talking around your campfire." Hama informs us.

"But why didn't you tell us?" Sokka wonders.

"I wanted to surprise you!" Hama admits. "I bought all this food today so I could fix you a big Water Tribe dinner. Of course, I can't get all the ingredients I need here, but ocean kumquats are a lot like sea prunes if you stew them long enough

Aang sticks his tongue out in disgust. "Great..."

"I knew I felt a bond with you right away."

I didn't that's for sure.

"And I knew you were keeping a secret, so I guess we're both right." Sokka adds and he grimaces as Katara hits him in the arm "But I'm sorry we were sneaking around."

"Apology accepted." Hama says and turns to the side and motions with her hand. "Now, let's get cooking!"

——

That night, Aang went out and fed Appa, Momo, and Bubbles so they don't die from starvation.

When he came back, we all sat down at Hama's dinner table and she sets down a bowl of soup.

"I'd steer clear of the sea prunes." Aang advises Toph.

"I thought they were ocean kumquats." Toph remarks.

"Close enough." Aang states.

"Who wants five flavor soup?" Hama asks.

All five of us raise our hands in acceptance and Hama situates her hands over the bowl and suddenly uses waterbending to summon a globule of soup and fill each of their bowls. All of us stare at her in astonishment as four streams of soup land gracefully into each of their bowls.

"You're a waterbender!" Katara beams with delight. "I've never met another waterbender from our tribe before!"

"That's because the Fire Nation wiped them all out. I was the last one..." Hama explains with sorrow.

Once again, another reason I don't wanna be apart of the Fire Nation culture. They are bad people, and I don't want be known as a bad person.

"So, how did you end up here?" I ask her, feeling pity in my chest. I think Aang sensed my sadness and rubbed my thigh with reassurance.

"I was stolen from my home." She begins. "It was over sixty years ago when the raids started. They came again and again, each time rounding up more of our waterbenders and taking them captive. We did our best to hold them off, but our numbers dwindled as the raids continued. Finally, I too was captured. I was led away in chains. The last waterbender of the Southern Water Tribe." As she finished her story, Katara went up to Hama and placed her arm around comfortingly. "They put us in terrible prisons here in the Fire Nation. I was the only one who managed to escape."

"How did you get away? And why did you stay in the Fire Nation?" Sokka wonders with curiosity.

"I'm sorry. It's too painful to talk about anymore." Hama tells us and I felt a small connection with her.

I lost my both my mothers in a raid, but thankfully Ruka survived and she is alive.

"We completely understand. We lost our mother in a raid." Katara confesses.

"Oh, you poor things." Hama says with sympathy.

"I lost my biological mom in a raid for my whole life, until we found her." I inform Hama who gives me a sympathetic look.

"Are you a firebender by any chance?" She asks and I nod.

"Yes, but I have no intention of hurting you or anyone." I inform her. "I don't even consider myself Fire Nation anyway."

Aang grabs my hand and squeezes it, making me look at him with a sad smile.

"I can't tell you what it means to meet you." Katara tells Hama. "It's an honor. You're a hero."

"I never thought I'd meet another Southern waterbender. I'd like to teach you what I know so you can carry on the Southern tradition when I'm gone." Hama offers to Katara.

"Yes! Yes, of course!" Katara beams. "To learn about my heritage, it would mean everything to me"

——

The following day, Hama took Katara to the outskirts of the village so she can teach Katara about waterbending.

When I mentioned that I was a firebender to Hama, she had an uneasy look in her eyes. I can tell she isn't comfortable around me, I wonder if she knows I'm the Fire Angel. My hair is a dead give away.

Toph, Sokka, Aang, and I were wandering the landscape, trying to uncover any signs of disruption that would bother the spirits.

"This has got to be the nicest natural setting in the Fire Nation. I don't see anything that would make a spirit mad around here." Aang mentions.

"Yeah." I agree. "It seems like a normal village, I don't see anything anything.

Being the Fire Angel, I can sense other spirits. I can't contact all spirits like Aang, but I can sense them. I can contact past Fire Angels and past Avatars, though.

"Maybe the Moon Spirit just turned mean." Toph wonders as Sokka deeply inhales a bundle of wild flowers.

This angered Sokka. "The Moon Spirit is a gentle, loving lady. She rules the sky with compassion and ... lunar goodness!"

Sokka dated the moon, just let that sink in for a moment.

"Excuse me, sir!" I look over and see that Aang had caught the attention of a villager walking by. "Can you tell us anything about the spirit that's been stealing people?"

"Only one man ever saw it and lived and that's Old Man Ding." The villager explained to us and this confuses me.

"Where does Old Man Ding live?" I question, looking out into the distance.

——

The four of us search around the village for Old Man Ding. Night time had fallen and it was a full moon, I had an uneasy feeling about it and I did not like it. Something was off about tonight, I can feel it.

We approach an old man that was boarding up his windows.

"Old Man Ding?" Aang says, getting his attention.

"Huh?" Ding accidentally hammers his thumb and he winces in pain. "Ow, dang blame it! What? Can't you see I'm busy? Got a full moon rising. And why does everyone call me that? I'm not that old." He attempts to lift a wooden plank off the ground, but fails to do so. He sighs. "Well, I'm young at heart."

I approach Ding and help him left the board.

"Not ready to get snapped up by some moon monster yet at least." Ding adds on and Sokka helps him nail the board to his window.

"We wanted to ask you about that." Sokka mentions.

"Did you get a good look at the spirit that took you?" Aang questioned.

"Didn't see no spirit, just felt something come over me, like I was possessed. Forced me to start walking toward the mountain." Ding points to the mountain. "I tried to fight it, but I couldn't control my own limbs. It just about had me into a cave up there." He imitates a walking puppet and Aang and I share a look. "And I looked up at the moon for what I thought would be my last glimpse of light." I noticed Sokka shivering in fear and I raise an eyebrow. "But then the sun started to rise and I got control of myself again! I just high-tailed it away from that mountain as quick as I could!"

"Why would a spirit want to take people to a mountain?" I question with confusion.

"Oh no!" Sokka, Aang, and I assume defensive positions as we hear Toph gasp. "I did hear people screaming under the mountain. The missing villagers must still be there!"

The four is us immediately race toward the mountain in search of the imprisoned villagers.

We stop when Toph feels the ground for vibrations and voices. "I can hear them. They're this way!"

We proceed to sprint toward the mountain.

——

We eventually arrive at the mountain and we stood at the entrance of the cave.

"This is the place." Toph tells us.

"I can't see anything down there." Sokka says and Toph grabs his hand.

"That's why you have Aya and I. Let's go." Toph rushes us and we descend into the cave.

I'm surprised Toph didn't make a sarcastic comment about Sokka saying that.

I form two flames in my hands as we approach a solid metal door. Using metalbending, Toph breaks it down and we proceed to make our way through the tunnel. We found torches along the way and Sokka and Aang grab one each, incase I needed to extinguish my flames. We arrive to see several villagers chained to the walls of the cave and my heart sunk.

"Oh my gosh..." I say in shock.

"We're saved!" A male prisoner gasps when he sees us.

Toph uses her meteor bracelet to unlock the prisoners shackles and I melt some of the other prisoners shackles with my fire.

"I didn't know spirits made prisons like this. Who brought you here?" Aang asks the prisoners.

"It was no spirit." A female prisoner says as I melt her shackles and she becomes free.

"It was a witch!" Another male prisoner exclaims and this bewilders me.

"A witch. What do you mean?" I ask them, helping a elderly man to his feet.

"She seems like a normal old woman, but she controls people like some dark puppetmaster!" The same female prisoner explains to us as Toph frees her hands from the shackles.

"Hama!" Sokka and I exclaim, gritting our teeth.

"I knew it!" I groan and Aang grabs my hand. "I knew something was off about that woman!"

"Yes, the innkeeper!" The first male prisoner agreed.

"Aya's right! I knew there was something creepy about her!" Sokka continues.

"We have to stop Hama!" Aang declares.

"Aya and I will get these people out of here. You go!" Toph informs Sokka and Aang, who nod.

Aang and I share a tight hug, before he runs off with Sokka, and Toph and I stay behind to free the prisoners.

Sapphire, why didn't you tell me Hama was bad?

Because you knew. All I would have done is warn you, and that would've done nothing.

I smiled softly at her words and continue freeing the prisoners.

——

Toph and I freed all the prisoners before rushing into the forest to find Hama, my siblings, and Aang. Toph led the way until we spotted them.

We saw Hama grunting in discomfort and a male prisoner handcuffs her wrists together.

"You're going to be locked away forever!" He declares with hatred and begins to pull her away. I run up to my sister, who was horrified and scared.

"My work is done." She faces my sister. "Congratulations, Katara. You're a bloodbender."

We look to Katara, who is clearly distressed and breaks down in tears. I heard Hama laughing evilly as she is dragged away by the villagers. Katara falls to her knees, sobbing and I put my arm around her shoulder to comfort her. Aang and Sokka both put their hands on her back as she cries with despair.

——

I'm so sorry! It's been a while and I apologize for the wait for this chapter. It's been a crazy month and a half and I'm trying my hardest to update frequently, but I have college starting up next week and it will be difficult for me. I'll try my best and I'm sorry if this chapter was not written well, I was in a rush to finish it.

I'm sorry everyone. Forgive me😩