A/N: This is a very very very VERY long comeback chapter. I apologize for my long absence, and I hope this chapter makes up for lost time. For newcomers, please tell me what you think, it would be much appreciated.
I am actually dragging this out another... probably two chapters. I was going to combine this chapter with the next scene, but the I saw the length and decided otherwise. ;)

That day seemed like the hottest of them all. The sun wavered in the sky, seemingly melting under its own heat as the three weary travelers shuffled through the sinking sand. Iroh and Zuko had donned their Earth Kingdom hats once more, but Feng Jie did nothing. Unless she concentrated on the memory of heat, she didn't even feel the dry air press down her throat. The sun above them said that they were almost three fourths done with their journey, and that the buzzard wasps' nest was very close. In fact, Feng Jie let her light wind-dragon's feet carry her quickly over the sand without sinking, and as her companions struggled to the top of a very high dune, Feng Jie glanced down cautiously at the slumbering hive.

Iroh and Zuko finally made it to where she was standing, and both gasped at the horrifying sight. The drone from the large rock hive was enough to drive a man mad, and the hive itself was huge enough to hide a few Fire Nation warships. Zuko had never seen a buzzard wasp, but the sound had him petrified already. Iroh shivered in his boots but said nothing, looking to Feng Jie for instructions.

Feng Jie was a little put off herself. She hadn't remembered the hive being so big. Then again, that was forty years ago, and most of the hive was made of buzzard wasp saliva. They had probably multiplied and spread their luminous spit enough to double the old size... The wind spirit visibly shuddered.

"Okay, we're going to skirt around it, because the area around the south and north sides of the hive are all quick sand. We're heading southeast, back to the cave, so we'll be making a straight path, going around the hive as much as we can without going into the quicksand. After we get past the hive and the quicksand, we should be able to head south just a little more, then back to the cave."

Iroh nodded, but Zuko snorted and gave a malicious snarl in Feng Jie's direction.

"That's stupid. We're going to get killed if we go near that thing," he started, but Feng Jie had already started down the dune. She turned and pressed one slender finger to her lips, urging the prince to be quiet. He had no choice but to sigh loudly and follow her. Iroh gave the hive one last apprehensive look before following.

Millions of thoughts were running through Feng Jie's head as she crept through the sand, getting closer and closer to the hive. Her previous idea of running past the beehive just so she could be with Zuko longer... Stupid. How stupid she had been! The man was an asshole anyways. At the moment she couldn't wait until she had dumped him and his uncle in Ba Sing Se so she could go out and discover what happened to her tribe, the Airbenders. But they were all going to die here, anyways, so it all didn't matter. The buzzard wasps were going to zoom out of their dark stinking pit and inject poison into all of their bodies, and this whole expedition would be pointless.

The hive was less than twenty feet away, and Feng Jie turned around once more to give Iroh and Zuko a cautionary signal for silence. The buzzard wasps were extremely protective of their hive, and if they heard any sound coming from outside, they would fly out and stop it from making the sound. The insect birds were infamous for trying to sting the living daylights out of a thundercloud. A lone buffalo-goose would be torn to shreds and dead from the poison before it even collapsed after the buzzard wasps were done.

Zuko made an effort to quicken his steps until he was walking beside Feng Jie. He gave her a furious look and motioned off southward.

"This is pointless," he whispered loudly, "we're all going to die if we don't risk it in the quicksand. Uncle says these beasts are insane!"

Feng Jie shook her head and glared back. "We at least have a fighting chance against these things. Quicksand won't flinch when you punch it," she said wisely in the same whisper Zuko gave.

Zuko growled. "You're only thinking of yourself. We're all going to die out here because you don't want to go back to your cave right away!"

"I AM NOT!" Feng Jie shouted back at him, then all was silence.

The droning had stopped.

"Shit," groaned Zuko. He turn back to his uncle and grabbed him by the wrist, urging him on. It was too late to be quiet now.

"RUN!!" Zuko shouted, and the group took off just as the droning started up again, but this time it was more furious. Then, the first buzzard wasp popped out of the hive, flying at a speed uncanny. It's dark feathered body with a strange curved beak and long, poisonous stinger was enough to send shivers down any spine. And it was heading straight toward Feng Jie, Iroh, and Zuko, with hundreds of its best friends behind.

The three did just as Zuko said, but not without the two firebenders sending powerful blasts of fire behind them first, to slow the beasts down. It did very little to hinder the creatures. About three fell to tend to their burns. Though the companions were running as fast as they could, the buzzard wasps only got closer and closer, until Feng Jie turned and stood her ground.

"We have to fight them!" she yelled back to Iroh and Zuko, who also stopped after realizing how futile their escape really was. They ran back to meet Feng Jie, and together they stood in a small circle, a firebender on each side of Feng Jie.

"Watch for their stingers!" Feng Jie shouted above the horrible noise, "If you get stung, you're dead!"

And then the demons were upon them.

Zuko and Iroh managed to keep the things away with their fire, and any buzzard wasp that managed to get too close got a furious kick in the abdomen from Feng Jie. Her airbending was practically gone, and she had only her body to fight with. Though with a long, spiked dragon tail and claws to boot, who was to say she was unarmed. Countless buzzard wasps fell to her draconic strength, and more pressed back from Iroh's and Zuko's flames. But it wasn't enough. They were hot and tired, even Feng Jie. It would be too soon when one of them would mess up, and they would all die.

Iroh was the first.

It was a small slip up, nothing more, but the buzzard wasp got to close, and Feng Jie couldn't get there in time. She turned to whip her tail into its ugly face, and missed. Time slowed so that every agonizing moment of Iroh's fall was ingrained in both Feng Jie's and Zuko's memory. The beak tore through his shirts... was that blood? There was so much!

"Uncle!" Zuko screamed, and he broke the dying circle, rushing to Iroh's side. Feng Jie took a deep breath, and using every last bit of power left in her body, blew the hundred or so buzzard wasps that were left away. It bought them time, and nothing more. She rushed to Zuko's side, tugging at his shoulder. He turned and made to strike her in his blind rage, but she stopped his hand in midair.

"Give me the emerald!" she screamed into his above the cacophony that rang through the air.

"What?!" Zuko screamed through his tears, "and leave Uncle to die?"

Feng Jie glanced behind her, where torrents of the beasts were heading their way. There wasn't much time.

"He's not going to die!" she growled in a low voice, pulling herself to Zuko's tear-stained face.

"I-I can't let it happen again," Zuko groaned, looking up at the spirit. Strangely, her eyes were blank. She had made up her mind on what she was about to do.

"It was just a scratch Zuko," came Iroh's voice suddenly, one of his strong arms grasping his nephew by the shoulder, "it just grazed me with its beak... Are you sure you want to do this, Feng Jie?"

Time was running out! There was no time for reconsideration! "Yes, I'm sure," she said after a nanosecond, "give me the emerald, Zuko." It was a command, not a suggestion.

Zuko didn't understand what was going on. Why was Uncle so skeptical about handing Feng Jie the stone? Wouldn't the emerald just give her the airbending back?

The prince dug through his bag, until his hand touched the warmth that emanated from underneath the scrap of cloth the stone was wrapped in. When he grasped the Dragon's Tear, the cloth came lose, and tumbled back into the bag as he was pulling the stone out. The sense of strength he felt in that split second he held the emerald with his bare hand was enough to erase all exhaustion. He felt refreshed, and the magic trapped inside that stone made time slow. In those few seconds, Zuko took one glance at Feng Jie, and saw her pleading face and resolute eyes stare back at him, her hand outreached to take the Tear. He gave her one final confused glance before sliding the stone into her hand, letting his fingers graze against her cool palm.

Then time sped back up again, and all hell broke loose.

In one fell swoop, before the pain could seep in, Feng Jie pressed the stone to her heart, and pressed hard. With a burst of otherworldly light the stone sank in, reminding Zuko of that one night where he had let Feng Jie into his guarded thoughts. But what happened next was far different.

First Feng Jie gasped, and that gasp turned into a scream. That scream sounded human at first, but soon it transformed into a monstrous growl, then a roar fit for a behemoth. Iroh gasped behind Zuko, and even the buzzard wasps' drone seemed to skip beat. Before their very own eyes Feng Jie lost control of her shape, her jaw elongated as well as her whole body, her arms and legs shortening. Zuko had almost forgotten how Feng Jie had looked as a little snake-lizard thing, but this was marvelous. It... she was over twenty feet long, at a guess, with a snaking torso and swirling, twisting blue markings dancing across her white scaly body. A glorious golden mane ran all the way down her spine, starting between two lovely black horns and ending at the tip of her tail. Her legs were thin but muscular, ending with scaly black talons that scratched at the sand.

Her head was beautiful, Zuko concluded after a moment of gazing over her. A thin, wolfish muzzle grinned to reveal rows of pearly teeth, and those green eyes shined through the dust like lighthouses at night. They were like a pair of cut and perfected emeralds set amongst ivory...

Something was wrong, though. Her eyes...

There were no pupils. Everything in those sockets was blanketed out with a green haze.

"Feng Jie..." Zuko called out, but the monster didn't respond. She was panting heavily, ignoring everything around her. Only when a very brave buzzard wasp attempted to sting her through those scales did she come to life.

It was lightening fast. Suddenly the dragon flashed through the air, twisted around so that her huge maw clamped down on the unfortunate buzzard wasp, spilling blood across those white scales and splattering it across the sand. The fight had seriously begun.

After seeing their comrade fall, the buzzard wasps attacked the wind spirit with gusto, but all fell prey to that gaping jaw. She was faster than Zuko had ever seen, and Iroh had sat up after stopping the blood from flowing out of his chest. She shot through the air like a coiling and uncoiling whip, striking out into the air to catch a buzzard wasp and drag it to the ground in a bloody finale. They kept coming, but each and every one lost its life to the crazed wind spirit. She kept writhing and twisting in the sand, catching each unfortunate buzzard wasp in her jaws before snapping the beast clean in half, spraying the desert with stinking blood. Zuko's eyes widened and he backed up from the monster that used to be Feng Jie. God, what had he done? He had tossed the Dragon's Tear to her, and now…

It was then he noticed that the massacre had stopped. Zuko looked up at Feng Jie, a bloody beast standing still amongst the bodies of the buzzard wasps and panting heavily. Zuko looked to her eyes again and saw how the green glow spilled out of her eye sockets and illuminated the white skin of her face.

"Feng Jie?" Zuko called softly in the silence that pounded in his ears. No buzzard wasp was left to emit any buzzing. Iroh took in a sharp breath behind him, but Zuko ignored his uncle.

Feng Jie growled, swaying in place, blood dripping from her teeth as she breathed quickly and shallowly. Zuko glanced down at his uncle's wound and saw that it was shallow, thankfully. He then stood, and took a few paces toward the wind spirit. She growled again. Zuko took one step back, but tried to find some sort of emotion in Feng Jie's eyes. It was hard, and she saw his fierce gaze, and looked away, as if ashamed.

"Feng Jie…" Zuko started, feeling strange talking to a monster. He kept his voice low, soothing, because he feared what he just saw in Feng Jie, and the only thing he needed now was for her to unleash such wrath up him and his uncle. "Feng Jie, you saved our lives. I should… thank you." She growled again, but this is time it was nothing more than a low rumble, as if she agreed. She dipped her head in acknowledgement, but averted her gaze still.

"I am… ashamed, Zuko."

Where did the voice come from? Zuko looked at Feng Jie, but her mouth had not moved. Her voice had come inside his own mind.

"Why?" he asked aloud, stepping even closer still. Feng Jie then backed off, rearing her head like a horse as she snorted and growled.

"I am a monster, Zuko!" she cried silently, "I can't control this… it… it hurts, Zuko."

Zuko looked up suddenly at Feng Jie's cry of distress. Even when they had first met, almost a week ago, the pain that she bore in her cave was nothing to what he heard now. Before it was as if she was bearing an old wound. But now… it sounded as if that wound had been torn fresh.

"Zuko," Iroh had stood and came to stand by his nephew. One hand had a piece of cloth against his wound; the other was on Zuko's shoulder. Zuko looked to his uncle, and the calming presence of the man that taught him wisdom gave him a kind of strength that he had only felt when he touched the Dragon's Tear. Zuko thought upon how he had heard Feng Jie and Iroh talking about another part of her curse, the final part that had to do with true love, and stepped forward.

"Feng Jie…" Zuko ignored her growls of protest and came within touching distance. There he stopped, standing in front of her, her eyes turned away in shame, when he saw it. There… the Dragon's Tear could be seen through her scales, where her heart should be. A faint green glow pierced the scales, beating in time with her heart. Feng Jie saw what he was looking at, and backed up even more, but Zuko refused and followed her. Before she could stop him, Zuko was close, and he pressed his hand against her heart. She growled, but understood what he was doing. There was no way he could though… he was just human.

Zuko pressed his hand against her cool scales firmly, and he felt the power of the Dragon's Tear underneath. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to do this, but he remembered how it felt when Feng Jie had welded with his own soul, and he remembered how she pressed herself against his heart. Maybe he could do the same.

"Hold still," he whispered, and he felt her shiver. Then he searched for the Tear, and he felt her body get… thinner? It was as if she was made of water, and he dipped his hand inside. He gasped as he felt Feng Jie's feelings, the shame, the fear, and most horribly of all, the craving for more blood, for power, for destruction. Zuko shuddered, but then he grasped the Tear in his hand, and pulled. It didn't budge. Feng Jie snarled in pain.

"It's stuck!" she cried in his mind, and Zuko almost let go.

"You still want to be this monster, Feng Jie," Iroh said from where he rested, "A part of you still wants the power that the Dragon's Tear holds. If you want to be released from this spirit body, you must feel more like a human."

Zuko released his grip on the Tear and drew his hand out of Feng Jie. She snarled once more, but it reduced to a purring, unhappy growl. She turned to Zuko, looking him in the eyes, and nodded at what Iroh had said.

"I do want to be… human again," she moaned inwardly. Her glowing eyes closed, and deep down she tried to remember everything that she had seen, heard, and felt as Jie, young airbender. Nothing resurfaced. The picture of an apple appeared in her mind, but she could not taste it. The sun gave light, but she could not feel it's warmth

"I can't…" she mumbled… and Zuko felt the pain she had in her voice.

"Feng Jie," he whispered, and placed his hand on her muzzle, touching her wolfish nose in a weak gesture of kindness. Then she knew what to think of.

Zuko. Zuko and his brusque way of yelling at her. Zuko, and how he grabbed her tail and forced her into the sun. And oh! How they had landed in a tumbled mess after Zuko had fallen, and she was buried in his heady scent and warm body and how their fleshy, human bodies were pressed together. She had felt like… like any teenage human, limbs tangled together in heated passion.

Zuko watched as Feng Jie's wind spirit body shuddered and shook, and he removed his hand and watched in wonder as her body shrunk and twisted and popped. Feng Jie opened her eyes, but couldn't see Zuko through the horrible green haze. She groaned, and even though she shrank back into her human-like form, the Tear just wouldn't leave her body. She pushed and yearned and wished for it to fall out, but it wouldn't. Zuko saw the pain Feng Jie was in, and was surprised to see her topple from her wobbly feet, into the bloody sand.

"It's getting dark, Zuko," Iroh claimed as Zuko ran forward to scoop Feng Jie up into his arms. "We must leave this place before any more buzzard wasps emerge from the hive."

Zuko nodded, though he barely heard. Feng Jie was unconscious. What on earth was wrong with her, and why couldn't she get the Dragon's Tear out? Zuko stood, carrying the wind spirit gently as Iroh lead the way. He vaguely knew the way back to Feng Jie's cave, but where the quicksand's hiding places were now a mystery, and it was extremely dangerous to travel. As soon as they were a good distance from the hive, they rested for the night. Iroh tended to his wound, using some the plants from the Dragon Tree's oasis to create a salve. Zuko set Feng Jie on the sand as gently as he could, staring hard at her face, willing her to open her eyes again. Why wouldn't she wake up?

Zuko turned and groaned in exasperation. There were emotions twisting inside him he had never felt before. It was excruciating, because they all revolved around Feng Jie, and her still form brought him agony.

"Uncle, what should we do? What's wrong with her?"

Iroh gazed carefully at his nephew, gauging the amount of feverish worry that was branded upon the scarred face.

"It is up to you now, Zuko. The right thing should come to you."