Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender is about as much mine as the ability to focus on finals what with all this sunshine and springtime. That is to say, not at all.

Rebirth

I opened my eyes and it was bright, so bright.

Where am I?

The last thing I remember is the Xirxiu and his rider. The woman's eyes gleamed evilly as she tossed her ebony bangs out of her face and cackled in triumph. She was dressed in red. Same Xirxiu, different rider, I remember thinking.

The Avatar – my friend, my ward – tried to steer me clear of the Xirxiu's paralyzing tongue, but it was too late. The red ribbon lanced out, caught me on my vulnerable belly, and I could feel no more. I crashed.

Fire, blue as the Water girl's eyes, crackled from the crowing woman's fingertips, sizzled across the air, and struck the easiest and most helpless target – me.

Darkness fell.

Now, as my eyes slowly focused and my groggy head cleared, all I could see was brilliant bright light all around me. The open plain was gone; so were my passengers and attackers.

Am I, once again, the last one left?

I had lost my bison family long ago. It appeared that I had lost my adopted one too. Life was so unfair.

I tested my legs and tail. Everything seemed to be in fine working order and the Xirxiu's toxin purged from my system. Suddenly, I realized that while I was floating, I was not flying. Panic seized me; what fearsome magic could levitate a six-ton airbison?

I bleated and began churning my feet in a futile effort to move. Nothing.

Dejected, I ceased my struggling. That's when I saw him.

A keen, wise-looking dragon hung calmly in the air in front of me. He was a dazzling sight: powerful muscles flexed and rippled under sapphire scales that sparkled with the same luminosity of the unknown source all around us. Two long whiskers dangled serenely from his jaw and a blue crest splashed up his jowls to peak in jagged horns on his head. Two leathery wings rested, folded, against his sides. He seemed so exotic, so foreign, and yet I felt as if we shared some common thread of being.

I…know you.

He chuckled, a laugh that I not only heard but felt. It was inside and outside of everything, as if the dragon's amusement reverberated through the threads of space and time itself.

Yes.

Who are you? Where am I? Why did you bring me here? Where are my companions?

You are in the Spirit World, Appa-malika-shantu. Normally, you wouldn't be able to cross over like this without your Avatar with you, but I suppose the shock from such a fierce blow would be enough to send you here. Do not worry, your humans and the lemur are capable of fending for themselves.

So I'm…I'm dead?

No. Remember the ceremony, long ago in the Air temple, when you first met the Avatar? Your souls were bound together; so long as his life-spirit still burns, you will not die.

So that's what the burning feeling was. I thought I had accidentally eaten a bee. But you still haven't answered my first question: who are you? How do I know you? I've never seen a dragon before.

The dragon began growing brighter. Soon I had to screw my eyes up against the blinding light radiating from him. With a flash, the brightness faded to a bearable level once again and I beheld a truly amazing sight.

Before me, around me, above and below and everywhere else in between, stood hundreds, perhaps thousands, of other animals. There were some of every kind I have ever seen or heard of and even more that I haven't. They stood in all shapes and sizes, colors and patterns. I even saw a few airbison among them, here and there. They all glowed the same brilliant white.

I – we – are you.

I scanned the sea of faces before me. Countless eyes of every type gazed back steadily, calmly. Here, a large wolf with splendid silver fur panted at me patiently; there, a chestnut stallion with an ivory blaze splashed across his forehead pranced proudly in place. To my left, just next to a slinky, sashaying leopard, was a phoenix, orange flames flickering from its golden feathers. In the back, a roly-poly panda lay serenely next to a sleek qilin. There was even a massive lizard-like creature, larger than I could ever hope to be, reared up on two powerful hind legs and displaying a gargantuan jaw packed with glistening, razor-sharp teeth.

Me?

You see Appa, just as the Avatar is the spirit of the world manifested in a human body, so too is his animal guardian. We are not chosen at random, mere beasts selected to bear the duty of serving the Avatar, but also one spirit born into a new animal body each time.

My hearts fluttered and my head reeled. Was it true? Was I really once that tawny lion, sitting quietly at the feet of the dragon? Did I once roam the icy tundra of the North as that polar bear, or soar through the skies with the feathered wings of that griffin?

A female airbison glided noiselessly to me. A sharp pang raced through my hearts as I faced, for the first time in over a century, one of my own kind. We touched horns and lifted our tails in traditional greeting.

As if that was the cue, all of the gathered animals before me suddenly let loose a deafening noise in perfect unison. Wolves pointed their noses and howled, tigers opened their jaws and roared, birds of prey spread their wings and screeched. The female bison blasted a mighty groan, and I heard myself trumpeting along.

Gradually, as the cacophony died down I looked at them all again and understood. I saw myself in thousands of bodies: mammalian, reptilian, avian. I ran on two legs, galloped on four, flew on six. I had talons, I had claws; I had wings, I had tails.

And inside each one of my many bodies throughout the ages, the same spirit lived on, the essence of love and devotion, friendship and duty.

I am them and they are me.

The female bison turned to me. You must return to your Avatar. Your time is not yet up.

I knew this too, but I still looked at her sadly. I missed my kind dearly.

I know. But we will meet once more.

I inclined my head in a slight bow. I look forward to that day. Until then, I shall continue to protect and love the Avatar with all that I have and all that I am.

She rubbed her cheek softly against mine. And that, she whispered, has always been what you – we've – done best.

She stepped back. Once again as if on cue, all of the animals, my past selves, acted in perfect synchrony, this time glowing brighter and brighter as the dragon had earlier. I didn't feel so compelled to close my eyes against the light now. I continued to watch my past reincarnations shine with increasing luminosity. Despite the sheer numbers of them, it was as simple as looking into a clear pond and seeing my own reflection. It was seeing my own reflection.

The light grew even stronger. I could only make out vague outlines of some of the larger animals: the dragon, a rhino, an elk, the big bipedal lizard. For a brief, bizarre moment, I saw the silhouette of something that until now, I had only thought to be the stuff of legend. It was a giant fleshy tube, tapered on one end and ending in a tangle of waving tentacles. I was a kraken? You're joking.

As everything faded into glaring whiteness, I felt a sharp pain on my tender nose. It stung once, twice.

"Appa?" The voice of my young Avatar sounded like it was coming from far away, through a long, long tunnel. "Appa, come on! You're really scaring me! Appa?"

A suction started pulling me backwards. I couldn't see anything, and the universe of light became as dark as a moonless night. Dimly, I heard the female bison's whisper. We will meet once more.

My eyes snapped open. The concerned face of the Avatar loomed in my vision, accompanied by the worried countenances of the Water siblings. My head was spinning again, and my nose smarted.

"Appa! You're awake, buddy!"

"You took quite a beating there, old boy," the Water boy added.

I lowed and wobbled to my feet. There were signs of a struggle and the wood of the surrounding trees were blackened. Against one thick bole lay the Xirxiu, hogtied. His rider was a few feet away, unconscious and bleeding from a cut on the forehead. The final member of the Avatar's traveling party stood over her, at the ready should she wake up. He looked up when he heard the Avatar's voice and his stony features melted just long enough to form a relieved smile.

"After Azula knocked you out, Zuko went berserk and attacked her. Katara hit her off of the Xirxiu and we had a fight," the Avatar explained, stroking my forelock.

"We better get out of here," the guardian of the downed woman warned. "Appa, let's fly as soon as you can."

I hummed an affirmative and the youths clambered aboard. I took off just as our attacker began to stir. Despite the intense ordeal I had just undergone, I felt remarkably well. Refreshed, even.

The Avatar sat at his perch on my head. He leaned over and petted one of my ears. "I thought we'd lost you, old pal. I thought I'd lost you. I'm glad you're okay, because I don't want to think about life without you around."

You won't ever have to.

We soared on through clear blue sky and puffy clouds.

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A/N: Can't you just see an Avatar, probably Fire or something, stomping around on a Tyrannosaurus Rex? Also,I wonder: how much good, exactly, is a giant squid to an Avatar?

Partially borrowed some of RedNovember's imagery from LTE. This is sort of what I saw when Katara was seeing Aang, Suyan, and all of the other Avatars.