Chapter8: Almost Isn't Over.

[unedited]

Ty-Lee barely opened her eyes when they were quickly shut to block out the sun that shone brightly in them. She took a look around. She was on a cliff side staring out the opening of a small cave. It was sunrise. The view would've been beautiful except for the fact that she'd been kidnapped. By who was still a mystery to her. She sat up feeling herself enshrouded in fear. She had no idea where she was or how she'd get home. She knew one thing for sure. She was alone. Her capture was no where in sight. I've got to get out of here! She told herself and got up to make a run for it. But as she stepped foot around the corner of the cave she stopped short. There stood a gorgeous young girl. She had white hair, strangest thing Ty-Lee had ever seen. Her eyes were a soft purple, she had beautiful eyes. She was so radiant. Ty-Lee was so surprised, as was the girl, that they both stood perfectly still without a word. The girl blinked several times."you were supposed to be sleeping," She said in a perfect, sing songy voice. "I-" Ty-Lee had no idea what to say to that. "Here, come inside and eat," The young girl said sweetly. As she raised her hand gesturing toward the cave, Ty-Lee noticed her nails painted dark violet purple. The same nails she got a look at before passing out. This was her kidnapper! She was so swallowed in fear and confusion, she froze and couldn't move. "You alright?" The mysterious white haired girl asked. She looked to be no more than 15 years old. "I-you-you kidnapped me," She managed to stumble out. The girls face stayed calm and she waited a moment before replying. "Yes, but only because if I didn't he'd get you," She said at last. "He?" Ty-Lee questioned still a bit scared and confused. How did she manage to get kidnapped by a girl of her age? After all she used to be a Kyoshi Warrior, she could've taken this youngster. But then again, she did sneak up on her, and gave her something to make her pass out. "Yes, come and eat, you need your strength, and I will tell you all about Him," The girl said comfortingly and walked her inside. After starting a fire and cooking a fish to eat with some berries, the mystery girl began telling what she knew about the one she referred to as 'Him'

"No one Knows his real name, but he is called the Great Terror by an old fishing village he used to torment. The Great Terror is a good spirit gone bad," She explained. Ty-Lee listened intently on every word. "He was such a great spirit, always doing what was right, he was one of the wisest of them all, even then no one knew his real name, except Avatar Roku, but everyone in the spirit world, and even those who told stories of him, called him Toshio, which meant 'genius'" The story was getting very interesting now. "Toshio was adored by all spirits, they would come to him with questions and he would give them answers, but one day, a new spirit came into their world, the moon spirit had been killed and a young girl came to take its place." Ty-Lee now began to wonder where she got this story. "They all knew she was coming from the very beginning, but Toshio hadn't expected her to be so young, when Yue became the moon spirit she got all the attention, everyone wanted to help her adjust to being a spirit, everyone but Toshio, he hated her, and so he reverted to tormenting a little fishing village in his anger over the new spirit. He became so evil that no one wanted him around. All the spirits feared him. Except Ko the face stealer. In fact, he stole Toshio's face, but Toshio has three faces so he was fine with losing one of them. One day, Great Terror decided to leave the spirit world and enter the mortal world, like the old moon spirit had. So he became a mortal, but the thing is, he couldn't become human. So he became a Wolf-Bat, and vowed that one day he'd figure out how to become human." Ty-Lee shivered in fear. This was getting creepy. "So one day, he finally did it, he figured out how to be in human form, he could go into something sort of like how the Avatar could go into the Avatar State and become a human being." Ty-Lee gasped. "But only for 20 minutes, he's been dedicating his life to figuring out how to make it last longer, he disappeared for a long time and everyone thought he'd died. Until about a month ago," Ty-Lee took it all in. This was the strangest tale she'd ever heard. A three faced spirit? Wow, and how does this girl even know this story? The questions swarmed in her mind as the girl finished her story. "Last month, I saw him, in his human form. I ran of course, but I heard that he was going to kidnap someone so he could be in human form forever, that person, is you Ty-Lee," How did she know my name? Ty-Lee's heart pounded in her ear. "Why?" She asked boldly. "You wouldn't like the answer," The girl said and shifted so she sat facing away from Ty-Lee. "Why?!" Ty-Lee demanded louder. The girl turned back and sighed as she realized she couldn't argue with this woman. "Alright, he needs you for your baby," She said sadly. Ty-Lee's hand instinctively went to her belly. "Wh-why?" She stammered. "Because when it's born he will switch spirits with it, he will become your child, and your child will become the Wolf-Bat, and once inside your child's body, he will become extremely powerful, that is why I kidnapped you because he almost did," She said with a sad face. Ty-Lee's heart raced like there's no tomorrow. This was terrifying. Losing her child to some angry spirit? That was awful. "But 'almost' isn't over," Ty-Lee said with a shaky breath. "He's still gonna come after me," She said terrified. The girl just smiled mischievously. "Not if I can help it," She said with a laugh. "See, I have a plan, we need the Avatar though, but don't you worry about that I've got it all figured out, we'll get you to a place Great Terror can't go, and you'll be safe while we defeat him," She said assuredly. "But how can I be sure you're not tricking me?" Ty-Lee asked. "Well, you can't," She said bluntly. "You'll just have to trust me," She said hopefully. Ty-Lee took a deep breath. "Ok," She said at last. The girl smiled. "We have to get moving if you wanna live," She said oddly. "Wait!" The girl stopped her packing and looked at Ty-Lee. "What's your name?" Ty-Lee asked curiously. The girl smiled. "Mitsuki," She replied. Ty-Lee smiled at the young girl. Such a beautiful name for a beautiful girl. "My name means Beautiful Moon," She said with a grin. Mitsuki swung her backpack over her shoulder and they headed out. Once outside, by the edge of the mountain, Mitsuki put her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. "What're you doing that for?" Ty-Lee asked confused. Mitsuki grinned that mischievous grin of hers and said, "You'll see," Just then a large gust of wind blew downward and a big shadow covered the mountain side where they stood. Ty-Lee looked up to see some sort of animal looming overhead. It was huge! And the strangest creature she'd ever seen. It had giant wings like a bat, and look like a huge lizard, it resembled a dragon in many ways but in other ways it was different. It wasn't as snake-like as original dragons used to be, it was bigger in size and had more muscle. As it lowered itself to their level she noticed a saddle on its back. "Are we-gonna ride that thing?" Ty-Lee gasped out. "Yep!" Mitsuki said as she hopped up onto its head. "Don't worry, Sonna is a good girl, she won't bite," She said scratching the animal behind its large ears. Ty-Lee carefully climbed aboard Sonna's saddle and held tight. "Here we go!" Mitsuki called holding up the reins. "Yar-nah!" She called to the creature and they lifted off. Ty-Lee had taken rides on Appa before, but this was different. This animal went way faster than Appa at his fastest pace. Ty-Lee held on tight as they twisted and turned to get around the mountain tops. Ty-Lee would surely never forget this, it was amazing.

Mitsuki had decided to make camp three miles outside of Republic City. She said they'd see the Avatar in the morning. "Why not now?" Ty-Lee asked as they lay out their sleeping mats. "Because he isn't home," She replied simply. "How do you know that?" Ty-Lee asked a little curious. "I just do, that's what comes with being a-" She stopped mid-sentence as if regretting that she said something. "With being a-?" Ty-Lee persisted. "Never mind," Mitsuki mumbled. Ty-Lee was dying to know what she would've said, but didn't push it. She just lied down and went to sleep.

The next morning Ty-Lee woke up to find Mitsuki gone. She sat up strait half scared to death, but then she saw her sitting by the fire in a meditative position. Ty-Lee got up and walked over to the bag of food. "For a minute there I thought you were gone," She said with a laugh. But Mitsuki didn't answer. Ty-Lee walked around to her face and gasped. Her eyes were glowing blue! And so was the little purple star under her eye! But, as she looked closer she recognized the glow. She'd seen Aang's eyes glowing in the same way when he had to use the Avatar State. But how? There wasn't more than one Avatar in the world at a time. So how could this girl be in the Avatar State if she's not even an Avatar? Mitsuki's eyes slowly stopped glowing and she bowed her head with a sigh. "I've got it," Ty-Lee heard her whisper to herself. "Mitsuki?" Ty-Lee breathed out with a heavy breath. The girl jerked her head up and stared in disbelief. "I-uh-what did you-see?" She stuttered through. "Your eyes were glowing like the Avatar! But that's impossible, how?" She said in shock. Mitsuki sighed defeated. "I might as well tell you," She said disheartened. "I'm a spirit," She said bluntly. "A-a spirit?" Ty-Lee repeated. "Yes, I'm a star spirit," She said with a slight smile. "A star spirit?" Ty-Lee pushed for an explanation. "Yea, each and every star has a spirit," She went on. "I am the spirit of the star closest to the moon. It's called the moonstar, I was chosen by Merroku to come down and help someone who was hurting, and I did, but Merroku told me you'd need help as well, so I came to help you and here I am," She said with a bright smile. "Oh, that's amazing!" Ty-Lee said in awe. Mitsuki laughed. "Yea, I suppose," She said in response. "Well, lets go see the Avatar then," She said as she stood. They hopped aboard Sonna and flew toward Air Temple Island, home of the Avatar and his family. Mitsuki told Ty-Lee to wait with Sonna while she went to get Aang. So she waited. Ty-Lee watched as Mitsuki walked toward the building. At first she couldn't figure out what she was doing, she was heading strait toward a wall. There were no doors at this side of the temple. Then the young spirit did something completely strange. She walked through a solid wall! The wall got a weird blue-ish tint as she walked right through. Ty-Lee waited, and waited, it seemed to be taking Mitsuki a long time to get Aang outside.

As Mitsuki entered through the wall she looked around. There was no one in sight. She took a few steps forward and stopped abruptly. She heard giggling kids coming down this hall. She quickly took a leap upward and stuck to the ceiling as most star spirits could do. A little boy came rushing passed unaware of the spirit hiding above him. Then another, older boy chased after the first one. Mitsuki closed her eyes, the younger boys name was Tenzin, the older, Bumi. She smiled as she saw all their memories psychically. As soon as they were gone she came down from her hiding place and searched for the Avatar. She searched almost the entire temple but there was no sign of Aang. She stopped short as she turned a corner into a room that the Avatars wife stood in alone. She turned on her heel to walk out but Katara turned as well and saw her. "What are you doing in here? How did you get in?" The voice from behind her called. "I-just walked in," She said as truthful as she could. "I was looking for the Avatar," She said turning to face Katara. Katara looked her up and down. She was strange enough with her white hair, but that purple star under her eye was just plain weird. "Where is he Katara?" She asked gently. Katara gasped. "How did you know my name?" She countered. Even if she had been caught off guard Mitsuki's face remained steady and calm. "Doesn't everyone? I mean you did help save the world from Ozai," She said as an excuse. Katara relaxed a little. "Oh yea, I suppose I did," she said with a smile at the memories. "But Aang is upstairs in the bell tower," She said. Mitsuki smiled. "Thanks!" She said and ran off.

Ty-Lee couldn't think of what was taking so long. Although waiting always seemed to make things seem so much longer than they actually were. She'd just have to be patient and wait for the spirit girl.

Up at the bell tower, Mitsuki creaked open the door revealing the Avatar sitting in a meditative position, his back turned to her. She closed the door taking a deep breath. She assumed the crisscross position on the floor and closed her eyes. She went into her Spirit State to speak with Aang.

Aang sat alone in the quiet of the bell tower. He thought he heard the door creak open, he figured Katara was checking on him. He smiled to himself. She was so caring. That's why he loved her so much. "Aang," He heard a voice with an eerie echo. He opened his eyes, but there was no one in the room. He shrugged it off and closed his eyes again. "Aang!" It called louder. This time the voice was, it almost sounded like it was in his mind. "Spirit world," He barely heard it whisper. That's when he decided he better go into the spirit world. Maybe that's what the voice was telling him to do. So he took a deep breath and tried to cross over into the spirit world.

Finally Aang was in the spirit world. He looked around. He was in that same watery place as when he went looking for Ko the face stealer all those years ago. As he took a look around he saw a girl hanging upside down in a tree. The girl had red hair and ember eyes. "Hello," Aang said with a grin. She smiled too. "Hi," She said with a wave of her hand. "Did you call me here?" He asked. "No, that was Mitsuki," The girl replied simply. She flipped around out of the tree and landed on her feet right in front of him. "My name is Kotori," The girl said. "But some people call me Rhed," She smiled beautifully. "I can take you to Mitsuki if you want," Aang wanted to find out why she called him here so he accepted her offer and she led him away from the tree. As she walked he noticed she had red bird-like wings that resembled a Phoenix. As he stared at them they opened up and she began flapping them. She ascended slowly into the air just above his head. "She's right behind that tree," Kotori said pointing to a large white weeping willow tree. "Thank you," Aang said but she was gone. He walked over to the tree and peered around the other side. Everything looked grey or white, just behind the tree there was a small waterfall emptying into a creek that seemed to flow forever. In front of the creek sat a lonely girl with white hair. At first glance Aang assumed it was Yue, but a closer look and he knew it wasn't her. "Mitsuki?" He called. She turned to face him and smiled. "I need your help Aang," She said. Aang walked over and sat beside her.

Ty-Lee sat up strait as she saw Aang and Mitsuki walking out of the temple. "Alright, he's gonna help us!" Mitsuki said happily. She jumped aboard Sonna and Aang climbed into the back with Ty-Lee. "What're you gonna do exactly?" She asked curiously. "I can't tell you yet," The young girl said with that same smile she always used when she said something mysterious. The only thing Ty-Lee could get out of either of them was that it had to be done at night. She hated not being clued in on what was happening. But, nonetheless, she was patient.

Finally nightfall arrived. Aang lit a small fire while Mitsuki went off into the woods. She was hesitant, at first, to leave them alone, but seeing as Aang was the Avatar she figured they'd be fine. But as she walked through the woods she felt bad about leaving them. Great Terror was a very mean, powerful, and relentless spirit, if they should come head to head with him, they'd be in trouble.

Back at the camp Ty-Lee begged Aang to tell her what they were gonna do to her. He couldn't tell her, she didn't know the danger of telling her. "I can't say, if I mention it Great Terror will hear and he'll find a way to get to you," He tried to make her understand. "But what you're going to do isn't gonna hurt me right?" Ty-Lee asked, fear present in her tone. "No, if it was gonna do that I never would've gone along with it," Aang said with a comforting smile. A twig snapped. "It's ok!" Aang said immediately standing in front of Ty-Lee to protect her. All was silent. Deathly silent. Aang held his breath. What was out there? He didn't know. He could only hope it was Mitsuki. Ty-Lee didn't dare utter a sound. Whatever was out there had stopped moving. For the moment. Even the birds stopped singing and even flying. There was only the crackling of the fire to be heard. An utterly terrifying screech filled the air as birds flew from their resting places to find a safer place. Aang was in a fighting stance almost as soon as the sound rang out. "It's him," He breathed. Ty-Lee was terrified for her life, and her baby's life. She breathed heavily keeping behind Aang. She had never been more scared in her entire life. Her heart stopped. There, strait ahead, a pair of red eyes glared at her from behind a bush. "Look out! Ty-Lee!" Sharp teeth, then darkness.