Chapter 2- Your Spirit Leaves Home

"Come and catch me Sifu Aye Aye!" A laugh left a spirit's mouth as they jumped over a root, running down the hill as they heard their friend's footsteps coming closer.
"Like anyone will outrun me!" Another spirit shouted, making the first continue to laugh and keep running.

The spirit world was big to run around in, nothing ever happening to any spirit ever. The spirit kept on running and hopping through tall grass, trying to get away from their friend. As they laughed, they slowed down as they realized they haven't heard their friend running or yelling.

They stopped and listened for anything.
"Hello? Sifu Aye Aye?" The spirit called out, looking around for their friend, but no spirit was around. The spirit tilted their head and continued to walk around. Maybe they were in the spirit fog... yeah, they must've have wandered too far!

They just need to find their Sifus, that's all! They just need to-

The spirit stopped, standing a few feet away from a... human? They had (H/C), with a bandana on their forehead, and green clothing.
"H... Hello?" The spirit called out, a little confused, and took a step closer.

But the moment they took a step, the human snapped their head up to look at them, making the spirit to freeze.
"What..." They breathed out, fear surrounding her body.

The human... it looked dead. Their entire stomach was bleeding out, dry and fresh blood dripping onto the floor. One of their eyes was missing entirely, only a hole was replaced their sight. Hair a complete mess, clothes ripped and dirtied up. It was something the spirit didn't want to ever see again.

Taking a step back, the human's head snapped to face spirit, which made them feel tired, their whole body heavy, and no longer afraid.
"W...who... are... you...?" The spirit slurred out, and eyes became droopy, world around them spinning.

"You... name is...."

"My name... what is my name...?"

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"And that's what happened in my dream," You finished, fiddling with some sticks as your other spirit friends were listening in.
"That's sounds scary," One said, walking over to hug you.
"Yeah, but I bet you weren't afraid, right?" Another beamed up at you, and you snorted.

"Of course I wasn't scared! I'm the bravest spirit ever! Not even my tail could scare me!" You boasted, your tail flicking about.
"You sure are," The first spirit smiled, and they all went off to do their own things as you kept fiddling with some sticks.

"How's my favorite little one?" You looked up to see Aye Aye standing in front of you, a mischievous smile on his face as you smiled back. You always liked his company, he always knows how to comfort you.

"Hello Sifu Aye Aye, I'm just completing my little project, I hope you'll like it," You grinned a toothy grin, and turned back to your project. All the while Aye Aye is trying to peer over you, but you kept blocking his view so he won't be able to see it.

"Is it done yet?" Aye Aye peeked over your shoulder to catch a look at the thing you were working on, in return you pushed him away with your tail.
"Not yet," You smiled, playfully turning away from him to resume your project. Aye Aye faked a pout and crossed his arms.

"It better be something good if you're taking this long to finish it," He huffed, but knew that he would wait for years if it means to see the things you make for him.
"Aaaaaannnnd... I'm done!" You grinned and lifted up your project.

"Woah!" Aye Aye gasped dramatically, but paused.
"What is it?" He asked you, and you blew a raspberry.
"It's a little shooting thing! I place a stick in here," You started and picked up the stick you were fiddling with, and placed it in a little holder.

"And you aim, then squeeze the little trigger!" You aimed somewhere random and shot the stick into the grass, where a loud squeak was heard and a spirit flew up with the stick in its fur.

"Sorry Furryfoot!" You quickly apologized and bowed as Furryfoot simply squeaked again and flew off.
"I think you skipped the part of aiming," Aye Aye teased you, making your ears heat up in embarrassment.

"What's all this ruckus and teasing I hear?" You both heard the familiar voice of Iroh, and you perked up at the sight of him.
"Check this out Sifu Iroh!" You beamed and shows him your shooting thingy.

"My, that looks fascinating," Iroh smiled softly, and that made you proud. Suddenly, you started to cough, and you kept coughing until you were on your knees. You felt hands on your back, rubbing it soothingly as Aye Aye allowed your head to tilt down.

You eventually coughed out something, and you felt fine.
"Is that all the blood?" Iroh asked you, and you wiped left over blood from your lips.
"I don't feel anymore," You smiled at him. It was always a regular thing for you to cough out blood, it didn't hurt at all, just messy.

"I feel fine now, thank you Sifus," You got up and wiped your pants. Then, Aye Aye placed his hands on your shoulders and gave you another mischievous grin.

"Try and show Iroh your aiming technique,"

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"Alright, don't panic, just aim like you said," Aye Aye kept on trying to distract you, and you were about to leg sweep him.
"Breathe in little one, and relax," Iroh soothed you, and you quickly squeezed the trigger, the stick launching through the air, and missed the little target, going into the forest.

"You missed," Aye Aye teased you, making you blow a raspberry at him and cross your arms.
"You distracted me," You huffed while pushing the spirit away, but smiled anyway, which made Iroh chuckle.

"You should get it back, reuse what you have," He patted your head, and you smiled, setting your crossbow down and ran off, as the two stayed behind.
"Don't wait up!" You called out, laughing all the way into the forest. Then, Aye Aye's smile flattened as you disappeared.

The spirit looked over at Iroh, and immediately cleared his throat.
"No backpedaling Iroh, why are you not telling her?" Aye Aye immediately got straight to the point, and Iroh sighed.

"She's been through much, and she doesn't even know it. She faced her fears, faced her problems in her past life, why would I want her to remember all of that again?" Iroh told him, and Aye Aye crossed his arms.

"You're being a hypocrite, you told your nephew to never forget who he was, and now you're trapping our little one from who she is?" He accused the old man, who furrowed his eyebrows.

"She knows who she is right now!" He paused, and looked down with sadness.
"She just... doesn't know who she was back then..." Iroh rubbed his face and kneeled down, staring at the ground.

"I can't bear to have her relive all of that again," Aye Aye glared at the man, but exhaled at his words.
"Humans are weird, and they can never change on wanting to hurt the world. But..." He crouched down and patted Iroh on the back a little.

"Like Avatar Wan, you do the wrong things, for the right reason in order to save both people and spirit," Iroh gave a small sigh and stood up.
"Just be careful, hold that secret for too long from her, something might go wrong," Aye Aye gave him a stern look, and walked off.

"I know..."

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"Wow, I didn't expect it to go this far," You panted, stopping to catch your breath.
"Why... am I... tired from running... I'm a... spirit!" You gasped, but smiled as you saw your dagger deep into the dirt.

"Ha!" You cheered as you slid down a hill and swiped up the dagger, turning to the others, with a mischievous smile.
"Guess who found the-!" But as you turned, your smile fell as you didn't see your tree, or the home of Iroh, or the mountains.

You were in an unknown part of the Spirit World. Dark, silent, no other spirits in sight.
"A-Aye Aye? Iroh?" You called out, feeling scared as you were alone. You were all alone...

Why didn't you want to be alone?

"Sunny? Furryfoot? Mochi?" You called out to your other friends, but you heard nothing.
"Raava?" You whispered quietly, hoping that, at least, the light spirit could hear you.

"Poor little spirit,"

You froze in fear, hearing a deep, yet gentle voice. You slowly turn your head to see a giant tree, with the insides warped to be open.
'How did I not see that?' You thought, but you didn't care about that, but what you did care, was who was inside the tree.

It was a spirit, but he was bigger than any other spirits you've seen, black and red colors glowed from him.
"So far away from your masters, so vulnerable from the human world. Or are you?" He chuckled darkly, and you felt a sense of fear.

"Uhh... As much as I would like to talk to you, I uhh, gotta go," You bowed slightly as tried to walk away, but then-
"Why can't I move?" You asked yourself, struggling to lift up your head.

All you heard was a dark chuckle.
"Why must you leave so soon, little one? Don't you want to know more of your dreams? Who the human was?" He asked you, and your eyes widened, realizing what he said.

"H-how'd you know that-"

"Would you like to know who you were as a human?"

Just then, a tiny beam was shot up from in front of you, and you started to feel your body move towards it.
"You will be my little pawn, and let me destroy every single light in both realms," You heard the spirit laugh maniacally, and you could move your arms again.

"N-no! Stop!!" You shouted, trying to grab anything to make you stop moving. You used your sharpened stick to stab the ground and have you hold onto it.
"Sifu Iroh!! Sifu Aye Aye!!" You screamed out, wanting to find your sifus again.

"Help me!! Any spirit, please!! I don't want to go!!" You cried, tears spilling from your face as you heard shouting.
"Little one!!" You looked over to see Aye Aye and Iroh running over, reaching their arms to grab you.

You reached your arm out for them, but the stick you were holding broke, and you were being pulled towards the beam.
"No!! I don't want to leave Sifus!! I don't want to be alone!! I don't want to go!!" You shouted, before you were suddenly feeling tired, and vision was going black.

"NO!!" Aye Aye yelled as you disappeared, the beam no longer there, and the Tree was gone. Iroh's eyes were wide, and he let out shaky breathed as he fell on his knees.
"No..." He choked out, as Aye Aye went to comfort him, tears falling down from his face.

"I'm sorry little one..."