Part III

Katara used her water whip to distract the monster from raiding the cabinets in the west cook room. Little Aki was in the corner crying as the grotesque reared up its slimy slug-like body, mirroring Katara's water whip with a slimy whip of its own, entangling with Katara's. The waterbender used another one but the creature batted it away. Then suddenly it disappeared, leaving a pool of ectoplasm in the cook room. Katara rushed to pick up crying Aki, who was unharmed. Sokka and Suki rushed in at that moment, faces stricken. Suki shrieked, "Aki! My little girl!" She took the toddler from Katara, all color drained from her face.

"What in the ten hells happened!? What happened to my daughter?" shouted Sokka to his sister.

Katara relayed what happened to Sokka and Suki: "The monster appeared when I was getting rice from the cook room. Aki was with me when I heard a smash and Aki screamed when the monster appeared behind me. I pushed Aki out of the way and tried to distract it away from her. It's gone now. I thought Aang stopped the attacks." Aang arrived in time just to hear that.

"I thought I did too. I don't understand why it's attacking now!" Aang was upset and angry. Upset that the creature was still manifesting, and angry at himself for letting someone else get hurt. With the arrival of the solstice, it was going to be twice as hard to exorcise. "Sokka, Suki I think you need to go back home to Kyoshi Island. It's too dangerous to be here and I don't want my niece to be in harm's way again." Suki protested but Sokka cut in.

"He's right, this isn't something we're used to. When it comes to anything dealing with spirits, it's best to leave it up to Aang. We need to go back home until it's safe to return." Suki frowned, rocking her daughter who was now calm. She looked pensive before sighing.

Suki frowned but knew that Sokka was right, the Kyoshi warrior looked to her husband and turned around. "Fine we're heading back."

Katara looked around for Aang to find he had left and Toph was in his place sniffing at the ectoplasm. "Eww, ghost slime."

Katara looked confused. "Toph…where's Aang?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Avatar flew back to the altar with a peach and a kendama for Tenzin. His brow was furrowed in agitation. He set the things hastily on the altar and lit the incense. In the lotus position he meditated. He needed to talk to Tenzin, and fast. Back in the place he was before, Tenzin was waiting for him, holding the toy and the fruit.

"You're angry at me, Avatar. I failed you. I tried to stop it. I tried but it was to strong, and it's only going to get stronger." His voice fell apart into sobs. Aang sighed. He was angry but seeing how guilty Tenzin felt and how he took the blame made Aang realized that he shouldn't direct all his frustration on Tenzin. It wasn't his fault.

"Tenzin, how do I get rid of the grotesque? It's the solstice, and the beast should be completely corporeal Tenzin wiped his tears away.

"I know…I was distracting it on this plane, keeping it busy. But it's going to attack again tonight. And it won't sink back into the spirit world. It will stay in your world. And I can only keep it occupied for so long."

Aang gave out a frustrated sigh.

"That doesn't answer my question, Tenzin. How do I keep it in the spirit world?" Tenzin shrugged.

"I don't know. It's not just one person, Avatar. It's several. I don't know what all of them want. Perhaps forgiveness, Avatar." The ghost jerked his head around. "I have to go! It's corporealizing in the mediation hall! The sun is getting ready to set; this is your only opportunity to stop it! I'll try one more thing to keep it here!" Tenzin was gone; Aang was back in the altar room. The Avatar took his glider staff and flew.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Avatar finally reached the halls and noticed people blocking the large doors. Katara rushed up to Aang, distraught. "Aang, where have you been? The monster is back! Can you do you something?"

Aang walked up to the door. He could hear its screams and thrashings. "I am, Katara. I have to do it now, before the sun sets." He pressed his hand to the door. He then looked to Katara. "Give me one more chance. You need to get everyone out of here. I can do this alone."

Katara frowned and crossed her arms. "I was afraid you'd say that. I know you can do this Aang; you calmed Hei Bai. You can calm this…thing."

Aang smiled wryly. "It's called a grotesque." Those were his final words before stepping into the meditation hall.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The grotesque thrashed about, knocking over ancient antiquities and artifacts. Aang calmly walked up to the creature. The grotesque turned its massive slug-body to Aang who stood by passively. It had the claws of a scorpion, its head was a mass of writhing worms, it had a horrid scent of burnt flesh and it shrieked. It was a sound that was both pitiable and terrifying. It slung a whip of slime at Aang who blocked with a gust of air.

He called out to the grotesque, "Creature of hate, anguish and pain! Why are you attacking my family and friends?" The creature made another mournful sound and threw another slime-whip. "Aaaavaaatarrrssshhh, you…you beeeeetraaaay..." The slushy, liquid voice made Aang's bones shudder. He evaded the slime whips and the claws of the monster.

Aang responded, "Creature! I am sorry for my betrayal. Please forgiv-" Aang's sentence was cut off when something cold and gusty pushed him into a wall from the left. As his body slammed against the stone, he looked up to see a pale figure impaled on a bony spine, pinned to the floor It was Tenzin, who had just pushed Aang from the spine that was supposed to be for him. Tenzin turned his head to Aang and looked at him with apologetic eyes. "I'm sorry, Aang…I couldn't keep him back. Please, Aang, jus-!" A veil of slime covered Tenzin, devouring him and making him another part of the horrid conglomeration. Aang watched as the creature slithered over Tenzin, laughing throatily.

"You…can't win. Gakahahah!" Aang dodged another bone spine as he struggled to combat this creature that seemed to grow stronger every minute. Aang didn't know what to do. The sun was setting now; come nightfall this creature would become corporeal permanently. There was no way he could win. Once it became a part of the living world it would be unstoppable.

Aang remembered something as he sent a gust of air and then a wall of stone that did nothing to stop the grotesque from its assault. Maybe it wants forgiveness. Aang rolled to the right and sent a fireball at it. It burned a bit of its slimly body away, which regenerated moments later. Aang decided to give Tenzin's suggestion a shot.

Bowing low to the ground, he spoke loudly, "I understand your anger and your grief; I wish to forgive you, spirit, for all of your sins and transgressions here. Please, spirit, I only wish you peace and closure." The grotesque didn't take the opportunity to strike the Avatar; instead it burbled and spoke.

"Avatar…aaaaavaataaarsssshhaaa, it's hot..it's so hot! It's burning!" and then, "I want to go home! I want to see my wife! Please please let this be over!" Aang shuddered as several voices spoke and called out, some begging for mercy, others wishing damnation, some just crying. Aang realized he should have done this from the start. This wasn't hate from the grotesque, this was sorrow, and this was pity. (ed: works for me!) He lifted his head up to the creature that looked like it was melting piece by piece. Aang continued to forgive the monster. "I am sorry for all the sorrow I have caused. I forgive you, I forgive you all and I too ask for you to forgive me."

(ed: made this a new paragraph) The monster screamed and shuddered as it fell apart and melted into separate beings. Aang eyes widened: it wasn't just a handful of ghosts, but hundreds! Soliders, eyes dead and guilty. Young acolytes and old monks. There were even the hulking spirits of a few bison. They all stared at Aang. Now divided, they chanted as the twilight was turning their spirits into freezing mist: "Remember, remember, remember, remember..." One by one the ghosts faded into the icy mist.

Aang stood up and wrapped his arms around himself, not knowing if he totally destroyed the grotesque. Chattering he asked, "Will you at-t-t-tack the t-t-t-temple again?" He was answered with silence. Sighing, he walked to the door, feeling the coldness creep into his bones when a small voice said, no…no we won't. Aang turned around, his breath misting in front of him.

The grotesque was not truly obliterated, just made harmless. He hoped to the spirits this would not happened against as he left the room.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Three months passed and the temple was not attacked again. Aang had a chill for several weeks until it vanished suddenly. He explained to Katara what happened, and she seemed both sad and relieved. "Well at least it didn't gobble you up," she said, smiling softly at Aang.

When Sokka and Suki visited again with their daughter Aki, Suki asked a question: "What about that room? Will it be permanently sealed?"

Aang nodded and explained, "Th miasma is freezing to the touch and probably dangerous, and there is nothing I can do. I did however prevent it from forming into a solid mass. The fog is just leftovers. I consulted with Lao Shu Ping recently; she's impressed that I even divided it. She says that only time will wash away the mist."

Suki nodded, accepting the answer. "I suppose the crisis is finally over, people are returning, everything is back to normal." Sokka gave a thumbs up to Aang, "Nice going though, no more creepies!"

Aang laughed and retuned the thumbs up. "Now I'm going to feed Appa and finish up some chores," he said. Standing up, he kissed Katara's cheek before walking down the hall.

Sitting by the old altar, which he had not visited since that night, Aang sighed and left a peach. It was an empty gesture since Tenzin was probably reincarnated, or maybe part of the miasma. Still, it was Aang's way of saying 'thank you' to him. He had saved Aang's life and died…again. Turning away, Aang was about to open the door when he heard that same small voice.

"Thank you."

The End.

AN: Sorta a holloween-ish kinda fic, I really had a hard time writing this, I might have to edit again. D: Anyway please read and review.

Bard Child. Special thanks to Bob and Pete.