Aya's POV

It was peaceful and calm day for us. Aang and Katara we're practicing waterbending, Sokka was resting peaceful on a large leaf that was floating in the water nearby them with Momo on his stomach. I was playing with Bubbles in the water and having a calm and relaxing time with her.

Bubbles is from the Water Tribe so she was very happy to be back in the water.

I was dressed in a two piece swimsuit that was white. Katara was wearing a similar outfit to mine, Aang removed the top part of his clothes, and Sokka was just in his underwear.

"You guys are going to be done soon, right?" Sokka asked from his leaf. "We have a lot of ground to cover if we're going to make it to Omashu today."

I looked at my brother and rolled my eyes at his lazy and relaxing position.

I gave him a smug smile. "Like you're even ready to go right now."

"Yeah, naked guy." Katara added and I giggled. Bubbles leaped onto my back, chittering happily in the process and I almost fell over but managed to stay on my feet.

"I could be ready in two minutes. Seriously." Sokka defended, brushing hair out of his eyes. "Whenever."

"Doubt it." I muttered under my breath.

I frequently watched Aang and Katara practice. Aang was definitely improving, Katara is a great teacher.

"So, you were showing me the octopus form?" Aang asked, changing the subject.

"Right, let me see your stance." Katara instructed.

Aang assumed his stance to form the octopus and I noticed that it wasn't quite right and Katara noticed too.

"Your arms are too far apart." Katara criticized. "Aya, can you help him?"

I blushed at this. Katara gave me a smug smile and I agreed.

"Okay." I swam over to Aang and corrected his form. "See, if you move them closer together, you protect your center. Got it?"

I learned a thing or two from watching my sister practice.

Aang's cheeks turned a bright pink color and mine turned a deep red.

"Oh yea... thanks."

I released the Avatar from my grasp and moved a few feet away to observe.

"Okay, let's see what you got." Katara said.

Aang bends the water into a globule which transforms into an whip-like octopus with eight tentacles. He maneuvers the tentacles around as Katara sends shards of ice toward him, fending them off by either dodging or hitting them. At the end, he wraps a tentacle around my sister's leg and pulled on it.

"You make a fine octopus, Pupil Aang." Katara spoke proudly.

Aang dances around playfully in the octopus form causing me to laugh. In the distance, I was able to hear music and we all noticed an odd group of people playing music on instruments and they were singing.

"Da, da, da. Don't fall in love with the traveling girl. She'll leave you broke and brokenhearted." One if the men in the group sang. We watched them approach us and Sokka  unexpectedly falls of the leaf and into the water. I snickered at this.

"Hey, river people!" The man called. Bubbles swam over to me and I picked her up.

"We're not river people." Katara told the man.

"You're not?" He asked, puzzled. "Well then what kind of people are you?"

"Just...people." Aang shrugged.

"Aren't we all, brother?" The man questioned. I rose my eyebrow at this.

Sokka walks out of the water and over to the man with a suspicious expression. "Who are you?"

"I'm Chong and this is my wife, Lily." The man greeted. "We're nomads, happy to go wherever the wind takes us." Chong strums his lute-like instrument like how a rockstar would.

"You guys are nomads? That's great! I'm a nomad!" Aang beamed.

"Hey, me too!" Chong repeated.

"I know... you just said that." Aang said, blankly.

"Oh..." Chong noticed Sokka and leaned closer. "Nice underwear."

Sokka was only in his underwear and he hastily put Momo in front of his lower region and shuffled away in embarrassment.

I giggled at this and let Bubbles cling onto my arm again.

——

Turns out the nomads are very friendly. The girls offered to braid mine and Katara's hair and they did Appa's fur as well. Lily made Aang a flower crown too, she offered to make me one but I'm fine with the one Aang gave me. Katara was getting her hair braided with flowers into it. Lily braided my hair first but I was planning on taking it out later. I like having my hair down and free.

All of us were lounging around just relaxing but Sokka was pacing back and forth.

"Hey, Sokka, you should hear some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere!" Aang chirped. I was laying next to Aang as he spoke.

"Well not everywhere, Little Arrowhead. But where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs." Chong explained.

"They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler!" Aang expressed.

"On the way, there's a waterfall that creates a never-ending rainbow!" The guy that was named Moku added, laying on his back.

"Look, I hate to be the wet blanket here, but since Katara and Aya are busy, I guess it's up to me." Sokka began and we both shot our brother a glare. "We need to get to Omashu. No sidetracks, no worms and definitely no rainbows."

Sokka folded his arms stubbornly.

"Wow, sounds like someone has a case of destination fever. You're worried too much about where you're going." Chong chuckled in a calm voice.

"You got to focus less on the "where" and more on the "going"." Lily added, gesturing with her hands.

"Oh. Ma. Shu!" Sokka explained, impatiently.

"He does have a point." I spoke, glancing between Katara and Aang. "We need to find King Bumi, so Aang can learn Earthbending somewhere safe."

"Sounds like you're headed to Omashu." Chong realized.

Sokka got irritated and smacked his forehead.

"There's an old story about a secret pass right through the mountains." Chong continued.

"Is this real or a legend?" Katara asked.

"Oh, it's a real legend. And it's as old as earthbending itself." Chong started to strum his lute and began to sing. The other nomads join in playing their instruments as Katara, Aang and I sway to the music. "Two lovers, forbidden from one another, the war divides their people and the mountain divides them apart! Built a path to be together!" He stops singing. "Yeah, I forget the next couple of lines, but then it goes..." Chong resumes singing. "Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel! Through the mountains, secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel! Yeah!"

As he finished, we all applauded him, besides Sokka.

"I think we'll just stick with flying." Sokka told him. "We've dealt withe Fire Nation before."

Sokka came over to us and Aang stood up.

"Yeah, thanks for the help, but Appa hates going underground." Aang agreed, flashing a cute smile. "And we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable."

——

"Launch!"

"AHHHH!"

Well, flying didn't really work. We got attacked by the Fire Nation once we took off. We headed back to the nomads and agreed to take the tunnel.

"Secret love cave, lets go." Sokka agreed, wearily. We had scorch marks all over our bodies and we followed the nomads to the secret tunnel.

"How far are we from the tunnel?" Sokka asked as we strolled past the ruins of a temple.

"Actually it's not just one tunnel. The lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love, so they built a whole labyrinth!" Chong explained.

Sokka halts in his tracks and turned to us in shock. "Labyrinth?!"

"I'm sure we'll figure it out." Chong grinned with hope. Sokka continued forward and we followed.

"All you need to do is trust in love..." Lily began, "according to the curse."

Sokka halts again but we continued walking.

I heard a loud groan.

"Curse?!"

Not to long after that, we arrived at a large tunnel with dark entrance. Bubbles tightened her grip on my arm and I saw her look away.

We both hate the dark. I'm scared something will jump out at me and kill me, I know I'm overreacting but it's just a fear I have.

"Hey-hey! We're here!" Chong announced.

"What exactly is this curse?" Sokka asked. My eyes wandered all over the cave and I instinctively grabbed Bubbles and held her close. She groaned at my actions but didn't move.

"The curse says that only those who trust in love can make it through the caves. Otherwise, you'll be trapped in them forever." Chong informed us.

"And die." Lily added.

I swallowed nervously at that. Dying. Not something you want to hear.

"Oh yeah, and die." Chong remembered. "Hey, I just remembered the rest of that song!" He stands before the entrance and strums his lute as he sings in an ominous voice. "And die!"

"That's it!" Sokka blurted out. "There's no way we're going through some cursed hole!"

"Hey, someone's making a big campfire!"

I turned to see Moku pointing towards gray smoke that was rising over the mountain.

I wish that was a campfire.

"That's no campfire, Moku." Katara remarked in a serious tone.

"It's Fire Nation." Sokka added with a heavy glare. "They're tracking us."

"So, all you need to do is trust in love to get through these caves?" I heard Aang say but I continued to stare at the smoke.

"That is correct, Master Arrowhead." Chong replied.

Third Perdon POV

Aang turned around and spotted Aya. The young water tribe girl's brown, braided hair swayed slightly as a breeze went by. Aang stared at her with adoration and thought she was the most beautiful girl ever.

He truly loves her.

He turned to Chong with confidence.

"We can make it."

Aya's POV

"Everyone into the hole!" Sokka ordered and we followed my brother inside. I reluctantly followed him but stayed close to Aang as much as possibly.

I hate the darkness.

As we walked further into the cave, we heard loud noise and saw that cave's entrance got closed off. The Fire Nation probably locked us in.

Appa, obviously in discomfort, starts pawing at the wall of rocks wanting to escape.

Katara approached our flying bison friend.

"It's okay, Appa." Katara assured him, petting his fur. "We'll be fine."

"I hope." I mumbled, gripping Bubbles closer. Aang noticed my nervousness but I averted my eyes from him.

Thankfully, we had torches to help us see.

"We will be fine. All we need is a plan. Chong, how long do those torches last?" Sokka asked.

"Uh, about two hours each." Chong answered.

"And we have five torches, so that's ten hours." Lily added and stupidly lit the rest of the torches.

I rolled my eyes at this and shook my head. I just want to get out of here.

"It doesn't work like that if they're lit at the same time!" Sokka snatched the four other torches and stomped the fire out with his foot.

Lily grabbed her head. "Oh right."

Sokka got on Appa to grab something. "I'm going to make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been. Then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through."

Katara, Aang, and I exchanged unsure looks. Sokka walked forward with an empty page and pencil and continued our way down the path in hopes of finding a way of escaping.

We followed Sokka all throughout the cave but we ended up going to about ten dead ends. I was getting exhausted and more and more scared as we got further into the cave.

I stayed behind with Aang, Momo, and Appa with Bubbles still in my arms.

"Sokka, this is the tenth dead end you've led us too." Katara mentioned to our brother who was puzzled.

"This doesn't make sense. We've already came through this way." Sokka spoke with confusion.

Sokka turned around and marched passed us.

"We don't need a map. We just need love. The little guy knows it." Chong stated, pointing at Aang as Sokka marched by him again.

"Yeah, but I wouldn't mind a map also." Aang reasoned.

Sokka walks down a darker side of the tunnel while looking at his map.

"There's something strange here. There's only one explanation." Sokka stopped and turned to us. "The tunnels are changing."

Right on cue, the cave rumbled and Bubbles hid her face in my chest. The rumble didn't last long but we were all panicking now.

"The tunnels, they're a-changin'. It must be the curse! I knew we shouldn't have come down here!." Chong spoke with regret.

"Right, if only we listened to you." Sokka remarked, sarcastically.

"Everyone be quiet!" Katara called. "Listen."

We all became silent and in the distance we could hear a low snarl within the darkness of the tunnel. I took a step back but and I bumped into Aang and he grabbed my shoulders firmly.

Suddenly, a bat flies out of the darkness and swings by us. Aang moves me away and stood in front of me.

"It's a giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong exclaimed. The bat lands on the ground and I recognized it as a wolfbat.

"No, it's a wolfbat!" I exclaimed before it took off again. It flew around and Sokka tried to hit it with the fire from the torch but couldn't reach it. Hot cinders fly off the torch and land on Appa, who yelps in pain and runs around the tunnel frantically.

The wolfbat flees as Appa runs around, which single off Aang, Bubbles, and I from the group. Appa headbuts the cave which caused debris and rocks to fall down.

I was the furthest away from everyone and Aang leaped forward and airbends everyone else out of the way of the falling rocks.

Above me, falling rocks came crashing down and I couldn't move out of the way fast enough. Aang sprinted towards me and pushes me and Bubbles out of the way of the falling rocks and debris.

I landed on the ground with Aang right on top of me. He opens his eyes and we immediately make eye contact. He sits up and offered his hand and we both stand up. The section of the cave we ended up in was closed off from everyone else besides, Appa and Bubbles.

Aang and I share a look.

"I guess we should try to look for a way out." I suggested and he nodded.

I let Bubbles go and she crawled over to Appa. I grabbed a lit torch and we walked forward together.

"Aya?"

I turned and saw Aang looked worried.

"Yes?"

"Are you okay? You looked scared."

"I'm fine, just scared of the dark that's all." I informed him with a shrug.

"How? You are the bravest girl I know." Aang told me and this made me smile. "Besides, I'm right here with you. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

I looked at Aang with pink cheeks. "Thanks, Aang."

He gave me a smile in return and we continued our path. In the distance I saw a solid rock door.

"Look!" I exclaimed and ran towards it. I attempted to push but it was too tough.

"We found the exit!" Aang announced. We both tried to push but it didn't budge at all. Appa growled and we stopped to see he was snorting and getting ready to attack the door.

Aang and I look at each in alarm before we moved out of the way and Appa charges at the door forcefully. The force from Appa caused the circular part of the door to creak and it opened. Aang and I hopped into the room and it was not an exit, not even close.

"This is not the exit." I spoke with disappointment.

"No. It's a tomb." Aang told me and we both walked to the edge of the platform. At the bottom, we saw two tombs resting peacefully.

Aang and I heard down the stairs of the tomb while the animals stayed on the platform for now.

"It must be the two lovers from the legend." Aang guessed as we reached the bottom. "That's who buried here."

I leaned the fire close to the panels on the tomb.

"These pictures tell their story." I said and we leaned closer before I began to read. "They met on top of the mountain that divided their two villages. The villages were enemies, so they could not be together... but their love was strong and they found a way. The two lovers learned earthbending from the badgermoles; they became the first earthbenders. They built elaborate tunnels, so they could meet secretly. Anyone who tried to follow them would be forever in the labyrinth. But, one day, the man didn't come - he'd died in the war between the two villages. Devastated, the woman unleashed a terrible display of her earthbending power - she could have destroyed them all... but, instead, she declared the war over. Both villages helped her build a new city where they would live together in peace. The woman's name was Oma and the man's name was Shu. The great city was named Omashu as a monument to their love."

This story broke my heart. Love is a powerful thing and it can be either amazing or devastating depending on how that person reacts.

Once I finished reading, Aang scanned the room and my eyes followed his eyes. Behind us we saw two cravings of a couple kissing and I read the panel that was in between them.

"Love is brightest in the dark."

I studied the couple and thought about the quote. Love is brightest in the dark. It may be dark but if we find love we find light and possibly get out of here.

"How are we going to find our way out of these tunnels?" Aang asked and an idea entered my head.

The couple is kissing and if Aang and I kissed-

Oh my god.

I think Aang and I need to to kiss in order to escape this cave. My heart fluttered at the thought of kissing him and my cheeks turned red.

"I have an idea."

Aya, stop. Shut your mouth.

"What?"

He heard me. Great.

I shook my head and turned away, nervously.

"Nevermind, forget it."

"Aya, you can tell me." Aang said.

Be brave and just admit it.

"Well, I was thinking." I swallowed and spoke up. "The curse says that we'll be trapped in here forever unless we trust in love..."

"Right..." Aang followed.

I turned and gestured to the portrait of the couple kissing, shyly. "And here, it says, "Love is brightest in the dark," and has a picture of them kissing."

"Where are you going with this?" Aang asked, raising an eyebrow with confusion.

Is he really gonna make me say it?

I averted my eyes and my cheeks flushed a darker red. "What if we... kissed?"

This shocked him and I immediately regretted.

"Us kissing?!"

"Told you it was crazy." I turned away and felt disappointment rush through me. He probably wishes Katara was here instead of me.

"Us...kissing." He repeated.

"I mean it's a crazy idea. Us kissing." I pretended to laugh but in reality I actually wanted to. "Can you imagine that?"

"Yeah, haha." Aang laughed. "I definitely wouldn't want to kiss you."

Well, my heart just shattered into a million pieces. That hurt.

Aang realized what he just said and his eyes widened.

"Oh, I'm sorry for suggesting it." I apologized feeling insulted.

"No, no." Aang said realizing his mistake. "I mean ... if there was a choice between kissing you and dying."

I rolled my eyes and turned away. "Ugh!"

"What?!" Aang asked and I felt tears threaten to leave my eyes. "I'm saying is I would rather kiss you than die - that's a compliment."

I think he needs to work on his compliments. That hurt me.

I turned around, irritated with the Avatar.

"Well, I'm not sure which I would rather do." I handed Aang the torch and stormed off.

I shook the tears away and tried to think about a different way out of here. 

I took my hair out of the braid that Lily did for me and let it be free.

Aang and I continued are way down the tunnel. We were running out of light and I couldn't reveal my firebending to light it again, so we were out of options.

I had forgotten about what Aang said. It was probably the heat of the moment and he wasn't thinking straight. It happens.

"We're going to run out of light any second now, aren't we?" Aang asked, looking at the torch that was losing light. I stopped and realized that we have to do this. We have to kiss.

"Seems like it."

"Then, what are we going to do?" He asked and I looked up to meet him in the eyes.

"I think there is only one thing we can do." I stated and gently placed my hand on his. Our eyes met and I got lost in his beautiful grey orbs. He was slightly taller then me causing me to look up a bit.

We both leaned in slowly until our lips met and I felt joy and happiness. I wanted the kiss to last forever but I knew it couldn't. The torch light fades and darkness consumes us for a few seconds until the ceiling of the cave lit up to reveal crystals. We pulled away, which made me upset but I didn't show it, and gazed at the crystals above our heads.

Aang looked at the crystals but I looked at him. The powerful bender Aunt Wu was talking about, it's Aang. Aang is the one.

Love definitely is brightest in the dark.

"They're made of some kind of crystal. They must only light up in the dark." Aang suddenly said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I grabbed Aang's hands and smiled at him.

"That's how the two lovers found each other." I realized and gestured to the crystals above. "They just put out their lights and followed the crystals."

I spotted the exit up ahead. "That must be the way out!"

Aang and I hugged tightly for a moment before pulling away.

"So, uh..." Aang began.

"We can talk about what happened later." I suggested. "Let's go."

I ran ahead with Bubbles beside me and Aang and Appa followed.

Appa was the first one out of the cave and flops onto his stomach with his tongue lolling out. Bubbles chitters happily and crawls onto Appa's belly and lays there. I felt relieved when the sun hit my skin and I was attacked with brightness.

Maybe the darkness isn't so bad. You just need a little love to get through it.

"What about Katara and Sokka?" Aang asked.

A rumble came from inside the cave and we turned around. Appa rolled over causing Bubbles to fall but Appa caught her with his mouth.

A huge creature smashes through the cave, sending debris everywhere. Aang and I shield ourselves before we look up and saw Sokka and Katara aboard a huge badgermole. Momo flies out next to him.

"Katara! Sokka!" I called, happily. My siblings hop of the badgermole and they ran over to us.

"How did you guys get out?" Katara asked me.

"Just like the legend says, we let love lead the way." Aang smiles sheepishly.

"Really? We let huge, ferocious beasts lead our way." Sokka told us before waving to the badgermoles. The two creatures crawled back into the cave and earthbended a wall behind them.

My siblings hugged me tightly and I gladly returned a hug. I'm glad they are okay.

We pulled away and I saw that Sokka's forehead was red.

"Why is your forehead all red?"

Chong came over. "Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you: I think that kid might be the Avatar!"

Sokka smacked his forehead again only to increase the size of mark. I giggled at this as Chong stared at Sokka in curiosity.

Aang spoke to the other nomads for a bit until they waved at Aang and walked off.

Chong placed a flower necklace around Sokka's neck before speaking to him. "Sokka, I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey."

Chong hugs my brother and Sokka seemed uncomfortable.

"Just play your songs." He grumbled. Chong pulled away and smiled.

"Hey, good plan!" Chong starts to strum his lute and walks off singing.

"Even if you're lost, you can't lose the love because it's in your heart. Da, da, da ..." Chong sang. As he was singing, Aang looked at me and I blushed madly.

Shortly after that, we continued our journey to Omashu. We were headed up the mountainside to the city.

"The journey was long and annoying, but now you get to see what it's really about: the destination. I present to you the Earth Kingdom city of O-"

Sokka abruptly froze and we were all revealed to a horrific sight.

"Oh no..."

The Earth Kingdom City Of Omashu was taken over by the Fire Nation.