The large group of eight people walked of the the bright and shining arena into the night. The match had lasted pretty long, and the moon was already high in the sky. They reached a fork in the road soon enough.

"Where are you staying?" Katelynn asked.

"A nice campsite." Mer answered simply before returning her attention to Sao. Mavi was still slightly jealous of the new couple that had no problems or arguments.

"Well, if you're going to be teaching Elena later on, you're very welcome to stay at our campsite as long as necessary." Sorella said to Katelynn, Mavi, and Blaize. Elena scowled at Blaize but stayed silent. "We have a great spot!"

"I wouldn't want to impose.." Mavi started awkwardly. "We have our own place in the forest next to the Savir Park."

"Why should you stay in a dark forest? Come with us, you'll be safe. We should stick together if we're going to be travelling together." Sorella argued.

"Do you even have enough room?" Mavi asked, starting to warm to the idea of staying with the group.

"My father is the chieftain of our tribe! The place he got us to pitch our tents is huge." Sorella said excitedly.

"Are you sure?" Mavi asked, biting her lip hesitantly.

"Positive." Sorella smiled.

"Ok, fine. We'll stay with you guys." Mavi relented with a smile in Sorella's direction. She was starting to like her.

"Great! We're going to have a great time." Sorella smiled positively.

"Of course!" Elena replied warmly.

"Just one problem," Blaize cut in. "Where will we keep Dune and Lux?"

"Who?" Mer asked as she turned her attention away from Sao.

"Um... our dragon and phoenix." Mavi mumbled. If they couldn't keep their companions with them, they wouldn't stay at all.

"Woah! That is so amazing! They could stay in our stable tent things with Eau." Mer exclaimed.

"Eau is her pet wolf." Sorella elaborated for her sister.

"Is he... tame?" Mavi asked worriedly.

"He's like a butterfly stuffed inside of a pink marshmallow. He wouldn't hurt a thing." Mer snorted. Mavi looked unsure but trusted Mer. Although she did think a wolf was a strange animal companion. It wasn't like she could ride it or anything. Wolves were too small and skinny for anything other than being a friend. Katelynn told Mer and Sorella they'd return soon with their animal companions and waved goodbye to them.

As they set off in the direction they had last seen Lux and Dune in, Blaize and Mavi stayed painfully silent, Mavi still apparently seething from what he said to Elena. Blaize seemed to only slightly regret what he said, but he was still angry too. And there's nothing scarier than two angry firebenders. Katelynn walked awkwardly between the two of them. Mavi wondered if she should start a conversation, wondering if any attempt at starting conversation would result in a yelling match between the two. She decided to simply stay silent and observe her surroundings. The entire walk there was in stony silence, and Mavi could only hope that upon seeing their animal companions, they would lighten up a bit. But for now, Mavi thought forlornly, it was just as if they weren't a couple at all.

The walk lasted long through the trees. Katelynn brought out her compass. When they reached the campsite, everyone worked silently to pack up.

Do you want to apologize to Blaize? Lux asked as Mavi hooked up a bag to her saddle.

Not yet, I don't feel like I should. Mavi sighed as she looked over at Blaize's tall figure. He was still cute, but that thought just made Mavi more lonely than ever.

You are hurting yourself by holding your grudge. Being too proud is not good. Lux advised. The phoenix picked up her egg and left the nest as she flew away. She knew, from Mavi's memories, who she needed to find. She would simply give a note to someone that Mavi had written, saying that this was Lux, her phoenix.

Dune followed, without taking anyone with him.

"Why are they making us walk?" Katelynn asked tentatively. She didn't want to break the silence or cause a fight, but this was a serious question.

"I think Lux sensed something was going to happen on the walk." Mavi guessed.

"Or maybe Dune just forgot about us." Blaize sighed. They walked out of the forest and back onto the streets. Blaize seemed a lot more lonely than before. He must've felt completely deserted. Mavi felt the need to go to him, but she too was experiencing problems, so she refrained. Katelynn simply looked back and forth at the both of them, confused and utterly lost. Katelynn was always the independent girl. She didn't care much for material things. She didn't understand relationships.

They walked down road after road until they appeared once again at the arena. They then headed down a much more crowded street. They were close to Sorella's campsite now. Blaize wasn't looking around him. He was staring at his feet. A car whizzed by, barely missing him. Mavi was paralyzed with fear as Blaize kept walking around, not caring. He wasn't looking around for danger. Within a split second, Mavi's worst fears came true.

A car hit Blaize.

"BLAIZE!" Mavi screamed as his body went flying low over the ground before skidding a few meters away. She ran to his body with Katelynn hot on her heels. Blaize's red hair was covered in blood and dirt. His body looked broken. Was he dead? No, his chest was rising and falling slowly. He was unconscious.

"He's going to die soon if you don't help him." Katelynn whispered.

"HELP ME!" Mavi screamed at the people of Republic City, but no one cared. They just hurried along, running their mediocre and useless errands. "Katelynn, help me." Mavi slowly flipped Blaize over on his back. He groaned.

"I'm so sorry, Blaize, but we're going to have to carry you." Katelynn gently picked up his body with Mavi's help.

"I'm sorry, baby." Mavi whispered into Blaize's ear as she stroked his dirty hair. They walked quickly down the street, leaving a trail of blood. They tried to walk as smoothly as possible, but every slight movement would send a shot of pain through Blaize's body. He was dying. And the last thing Blaize would remember was Mavi being angry at him. Tears streaked Mavi's face, but she refused to let out everything. Blaize needed her, and she would not desert him.

Before long, they spotted a nice and warm campfire in a secluded area far from the road.

"SORELLA! ELENA!" Mavi screamed. She knew they were healers. Elena had learned how to heal on their trip to Republic City. "HELP!" Mavi pleaded as she sobbed uncontrollably. Everyone around the fire rushed out of the thin trees to see what was going on.

"Mavi?! BLAIZE?!" Elena screamed as she saw the bloody figure in Katelynn's and Mavi's arms. Sorella, too, was surprised, but she was more composed and held in most of her fears. Everyone else - Maria, Momo, Mer, and Sao - simply stood there with blank and unbelieving eyes. Mer nearly faint, but Sao caught her as she fell.

"Bring him by the fire." Sorella commanded.

"No, let us do it. We can airbend, so that he doesn't have to move around so much." Maria said as she snapped out of her daze. Elena, Momo, and Maria slowly helped Blaize over to the fire. He looked eerie, floating in the air, a floating corpse.

"He's not dead yet!" Sorella snapped. "I'm going to need a lot of clean water, a semi circular needle, and some suture thread made of a special kind of silk! Katelynn, you have to help me, since you have an extensive knowledge of the human body." Blaize was set down in a green patch of grass, and Katelynn and Sorella ran to his small figure. Mer and Sao ran off towards the sound of trickling water. Mavi just stood there, too afraid to approach her boyfriend's near-dead body. But she did it anyways. She'd have to watch them heal him. She needed to know if he was going to survive or not.

"What do we do first?" Sorella prompted Elena as they waited for the water and other supplies. Elena stared at the fire with blank eyes. Momo nudged her, and she took a deep breath and focused in.

"Clean up the blood." Elena replied with a clear voice. She grabbed several towels from one of her bags. Mer and Sao returned with several potfuls of clear water. Mavi inched closer as the three healers (Elena, Sorella, and Katelynn) began to clean his blood away.

"If you want, you can help." Sorella turned to look at Mavi with a small sympathetic smile. Mavi nodded and grabbed a towel and sunk it into the pot of water. She dried it slightly and began gently brushing the slightly dried blood off of Blaize's forehead. He was feverish.

After a few minutes, all the blood was gone, except for the blood that kept flowing out of one severe gash on Blaize's leg.

"There's most definitely shrapnel from the car in his leg." Sorella said. "Clean it out." Elena obeyed as she bended water into the deep wound. Several pieces of metal, as well as dirt and more blood, flowed into the water as she cleaned it up.

"Good. Now we have to sew it up. Elena and Katelynn, gently feel for any broken ribs." Sorella scooted over to Blaize's knee as Elena took her place by Blaize's torso. Sao handed Sorella a needle and thread. She began sewing methodically with evenly placed stitches. The gash slowly closed up. As Sorella was focused on this task, Elena and Katelynn were gently running their hands over Blaize's chest.

"I can't work with his clothes on." Elena growled.

"I agree, his clothes are bound to contaminate any of his wounds." Katelynn nodded towards Sorella, who was just about done with Blaize's gash. Now there was a long row of lines on his right outer thigh. Sorella tied off the last stitch and ripped it off with her teeth. She then began to pull off Blaize's pants, gently. Elena and Katelynn did the same with his shirt. Mavi wanted to look away at the indecency.

"Mavi, it's okay. Don't feel embarrassed about this. Would you rather have him die or lie naked in front of his friends?" Mer patted Mavi's shoulder.

"Thanks." Mavi croaked out as she looked on. Blaize was lying naked on the ground. He had another deep gash near his crotch that they had not seen before, due to his pants. Mavi wriggled uncomfortably at the sight, but she endured. Elena and Katelynn kept feeling his chest for any broken ribs. Sorella cleaned up his other gash with water before stitching it up as well. It was a smaller gash, but it was deeper as well. Mavi could slightly see some bone. A tear ran down her cheek once more as she gently brushed Blaize's hair, which was still matted with blood. Fresh blood.

"I have a few broken ribs over here." Elena announced as she held her hand on Blaize's chest.

"There's a gash over here." Katelynn pointed to something on Blaize's lower back that was oozing blood.

"There's fresh blood in Blaize's hair." Mavi whispered. Sorella's head snapped up when Mavi spoke. She quickly finished stitching up his inner thigh wound and ripped the thread off.

"A head wound?" Sorella gasped. She ran to her satchel and pulled out long shears.

"What are you going to do?!" Mavi cried as she eyed the shears warily.

"Cut his hair off." Sorella pushed Mavi out of the way and began chopping off Blaize's beautiful red hair. As it all came falling to the ground at Mavi's knees, a bleeding wound was revealed. There was a slight dent in his head.

"Wow he's lucky he survived." Elena murmured.

"Go heal his leg wounds." Sorella snapped at Elena as she began examining the head wound.

"But you already stitched it." Katelynn reasoned.

"Yes, but I only staunched the bleeding and held his skin together. His wounds are deep and they will need some water healing." Sorella glanced up at Elena as she nodded and turned to his inner thigh wound. She bended water out of a pot and placed it on the stitches as she closed her eyes and concentrated. The water glowed a bright electric blue, the same color as Mavi's eyes. Nothing happened on the surface, but Mavi knew that deep within Blaize's leg, the wound was beginning to heal.

"He has a dislocated shoulder..." Katelynn reported. Sorella began to sweat. There were too many wounds to deal with.

"Pop it back." Sorella said. Katelynn shook her head. She didn't know how. "Fine, clean up the lower back wound!" Katelynn slowly flipped Blaize on his side and began to wipe at it with a wet towel. Sorella bended water out of the pot. They were low.

"I need more water!" Sorella growled. Sao immediately got up from his position on the floor and picked up the pots and ran back to the river. Sorella wrapped the water around Blaize's head and it glowed blue. Mavi heard an ominous crack and winced as she sat by Sorella.

"Is everything okay?" Sao asked as he came back with two full pots of water.

"Don't worry, that's just his skull snapping back into place." Sorella reassured. Soon, the shallow cut on Blaize's head disappeared as well, leaving a bald head. Sorella turned and crawled over to Elena.

"Is the wound healed?" Katelynn asked Elena. She nodded. They gently flipped Blaize over onto his side. Elena worked on his outer leg wound while Katelynn and Sorella worked on his still bleeding back wound. Soon, it was completely gone. It didn't need any stitches. Sorella rushed over to Elena, who had also finished healing Blaize's other leg wound.

"They aren't completely healed, I just did the best I could." Elena muttered. She was frustrated.

"Don't worry, I'll continue. You feel his left shoulder. It's dislocated. I know you can set it back, I believe in you." Sorella bended more water out of the pot and began to heal once more, filling the campsite with the blue light. The moon was beginning to set, and sunlight began to filter into the trees. Now the campsite was glowing blue and orange. Elena hurried over to Blaize's shoulder without protest. She felt his shoulder.

"Here, I can help. My dad helped me with my dislocated shoulder once." Mavi helped Elena. The Avatar pulled Blaize's upper body into the air, since he was lying on his left side and watched as Mavi pushed his shoulder back into place. There was a click. "I'll make a sling for him. You go fix his right ribs." Mavi ran over to grab some leaves and began to construct a sling as Elena healed Blaize's ribs. Elena took longer than normal on his ribs, looking extremely frustrated. When she had opened her eyes and let the water slosh to her knees, Blaize already had his sling on and was sitting clean with his pants on.

"What took you so long?" Sorella asked patiently. She was sitting beside Elena while everyone else slept from exhaustion. Mavi was also still awake at Blaize's head, sitting vigil, waiting for him to wake up.

"He had a punctured lung." Elena sighed as she flopped down on the grass. The sun was already in the sky. It was probably already seven in the morning. She had worked all night.

"Wow, I'm surprised you healed it." Sorella nodded. "You've excelled." Elena smiled wearily. "Now we need to get Blaize into a tent." Mavi, Elena, and Sorella worked hard to get Blaize into Mavi's tent, which Sao had generously pitched before he went to sleep.

"Take good care of him." Elena waved goodbye and flopped down inside her tent, which was right next to Mavi's. Before long, she could hear soft snores emitting from within the tent. A smile lit up Mavi's face.

"If anything happens, anything at all, don't be afraid to wake me up. I want to know if anything happens. Even if it's something stupid like 'Blaize rolled over in his sleep.' And when he wakes up, don't let him move." Sorella hugged Mavi gently before returning to her own tent. Mavi looked down at Blaize. He looked weird without his hair, but she would not focus on physical looks. Mavi pulled out another spare shirt and pulled it over Blaize's head. She pulled a blanket over him and laid down next to him. He was breathing regularly now. She loved her new friends. They had stayed up the whole night just to save a guy they had barely met. The Avatar was truly going to be one of the best. Before Mavi knew it, she was drifting off to sleep.

When she woke up, it was the afternoon. She had slept for a few hours. She looked up at Blaize, who was snoring like his usual self. Mavi smiled sleepily. She knew he would wake up soon. Mavi got up slowly and stretched. She was sore all over, and her eyes were slightly puffy from crying all night. Her stomach growled, and she patted it, making sure to eat later.

Before she could do anything else, another growl sounded out around the campsite. But it wasn't Mavi's stomach. Everyone in the campsite was still sleeping peacefully. They were about to be attacked! Mavi grabbed a knife from her backpack and took one last glance at Blaize, who was sleeping so peacefully. She kissed his chapped lips and crept out of the tent. Quickly surveying the camp, she found that the growling was actually coming from one of the largest tents! She ran quickly and quietly to the tent. Preparing herself to be attacked, she ran into the tent and immediately tripped over a large and furry object.

"What in the world?" Mavi spat out fur and crawled over to her knife, which had flown across the tent. She looked up at the furry mass. She couldn't tell what it was, but it was white with a few brown stripes. It was breathing slowly. Maybe this was the back of the animal? Mavi crawled over to the other end of the tent. There was a huge head... with horns... and an arrow on his head! It was a sky bison!

"You must be Elena's sky bison!" Mavi whispered as she poked the animal's leg. Mavi could see now why she couldn't tell what it was from the back. The sky bison was laying down on his side. Mavi sat down next to the sky bison, but then another animal hopped out from the saddle on its back. It was a winged lemur with green eyes that looked vaguely familiar.

"Hello, are you Maria's companion?" Mavi smiled as the lemur landed next to her legs. She rubbed the lemur's long ears and it purred. But before her eyes, the lemur transformed. Mavi tried to scream but a very human hand blocked her mouth, stunning her into silence.

"I'm actually Elena's companion. Theo the sky bison is Maria's companion." The girl said. It was Momo.

"You're a lemur?" Mavi whispered.

"I'm a winged lemur and I have wings." Momo admitted. Two feathery wings showed from behind Momo before they retracted back.

"Elena is so lucky! You can fly and stuff! That's awesome." Mavi laughed once she got over the shock. Momo nodded somberly.

"How is Blaize?"

"He's doing great, I think he should wake up soon." Mavi replied happily.

"Then you should go to him and be there when he wakes." Momo suggested. She returned to lemur form and climbed back onto the saddle and disappeared from sight. Mavi nodded and grabbed her knife before walking out and back to her tent. Inside, Blaize was already returning to consciousness.

"Blaize!" Mavi ran to his side as he blinked his eyes open. He tried to get up to greet Mavi, but she pushed him down gently. "Don't move, you'll hurt yourself." Mavi kissed him gently and sat down next to him.

"What happened? Why am I bald?" Blaize slowly used his right arm to rub his very short hair. His left arm was still in a sling.

"You were hit by a car." Mavi muttered. She felt horrible. "I thought you were going to die."

"Oh yeah, I remember now. I was so afraid that I would die with the last memory of you being angry at me." Blaize sighed gravely. "But death is not an option."

"Oh, Blaize, I'm so sorry!" Mavi sobbed as she laid down on his chest. He gently stroked her hair comfortingly. Mavi's sobs died away soon enough, and they laid like that for a while longer.

"It must suck being bald." Mavi commented as Blaize continued to run his fingers through her hair. Blaize shrugged slightly and grunted.

"I'm pretty hungry, you know." He said after a while. Mavi snorted and pulled some beef jerky out of her bag and fed it to him. "I feel so helpless." Blaize sighed between bites.

"Hush and eat. You're officially helpless, and I'm here to help you." Mavi smiled as she stroked his bald head.

"Can you stop that, you're making me feel even more bald than normal!" Blaize complained. Mavi laughed and shoved some beef in his mouth. She then brought out her waterskin and let Blaize drink some.

"Feel better?" Mavi asked once Blaize closed his eyes. He nodded quietly. Mavi smiled and tenderly stroked his cheek before leaning down and kissing him again. This time, Blaize returned the kiss. It grew more intense, but before they could go any further, Blaize winced.

"Ouch." Blaize chuckled as Mavi pulled away, afraid.

"Sorry." Mavi sighed as she laid down next to him.

"This sucks." Blaize muttered into Mavi's ear. "I wish I could kiss you forever."

"Rise and shine, oh lovely firebenders! Glad to see you're back together, now move away so that I can inspect Blaize's progress!" Sorella walked into the tent with a bright smile on her face. Mavi shuffled away and watched as Sorella poked him. His ribs were bruised, but not broken anymore. His shoulder was coming along fine, as well as his back. But when Sorella poked Blaize's leg wound, nothing happened.

"Aren't you going to keep poking me?" Blaize asked. Mavi's eyes widened in disbelief.

"You didn't feel that?" Mavi whispered.

"No, this can't be!" Sorella poked Blaize's leg harder. "Did you feel that?"

"Feel what? Is this some kind of joke?" Blaize muttered as he lifted his head and looked at Sorella.

"Roll on your stomach." Sorella commanded, not answering Blaize's questions. Mavi helped Blaize to roll over. "Mavi, go get Elena, tell her it's urgent."

Mavi nodded. Just before she exited the tent, she could see Sorella pulling Blaize's shirt off gently and running her hands along his spine. Mavi's heart sank as she filled with dread. She ran over to the next tent and entered. There, Elena was curled up, her hair a mess. She was still sleeping.

"Elena? Wake up, it's urgent. It's Blaize." Mavi shook Elena up. She muttered, but as soon as she heard Blaize's name she sat up quickly. She grabbed a hair tie she had bought from a vendor and tied her messy brown hair up, revealing her light eyes and blue airbender tattoo. She ran out of her tent with Mavi following and into Mavi's tent.

"What's up?" Elena questioned when she saw Sorella poking Blaize's back.

"His spine is broken. He's paralyzed from the waist down."

"WHAT?" Mavi and Blaize exclaimed at the same time. "Can't you heal it, like you did with his skull?" Mavi asked.

"My skull was broken?!" Blaize wailed.

"Hush, Blaize." Sorella shoved Blaize's head back down. "I can't heal it. I called Elena over just for that reason."

"Me? I can't heal a broken spine that even you can't heal!" Elena began to cry, her tears falling down her weary and beaten face.

"Yes you can. Blaize, you're not going to die yet. You probably have at least a month. Elena, come with me." Sorella and Elena walked out of the tent.

Mavi began crying all over again. "Blaize, I can't lose you again. Not so soon."