It was the year 99 AG, not that the spirits cared, when grey snow began to fall from the sky.

La didn't like the grey snow much. Tui didn't either. It was ugly and some of it fell into their pond, tainting the pristine water. Curiously, they'd both tried eating it but it tasted terrible. What spirit was in charge of the weather and how dare they make the snow taste so gross?

La wasn't alarmed by the ashy snow but Sokka was. The boy had been relaxing on a palace balcony with Zuko and Yue when it happened. The pair had seemed confused but Sokka's distress was enough to rile them up and send them running to Arnook. Something about the Fire Nation?

The next few hours were a flurry. La had spent the past sixteen years watching the humans just like any other spirit but his ancient mind always had a hard time grasping human concepts. Arnook was barking orders constantly and La didn't understand any of them. It was a blessing his mind's eye could see far beyond what his physical eyes could or he'd be very lost.

Arnook's orders seemed like good ones: scouts located an incoming fleet of Fire Nation ships, the Avatar and his companions had joined the fighting force, Zuko was tasked with protecting Yue, and Pakku and his students gathered troops on the mainland. La didn't quite understand the intricacies of the art of battle but he could understand how dire the situation was.

Their efforts, however, were a massive failure. By the time the sun began to set, the teenagers had regrouped in the palace, abandoning their hand in the fighting. Yue and Zuko, having not seen the battlefield yet, looked fine but tense. Katara, Aang, and Sokka, on the other hand, looked absolutely wiped. They hadn't entirely engaged with the enemy yet but already hope was fading fast.

"Tonight is the night of the full moon," Yue informed them. La felt a rush of affection for her. His daughter, that one. She was so smart. "That's when waterbenders are the strongest. With Tui's blessing, we will be able to protect our home."

"Tui? Oh that's it!" Aang snapped as his face lit up. He had an idea. La didn't understand how his wife could be any help but the Avatar had his curiosity. "We should ask the spirits for help."

"How?" Zuko asked. From within his pool, La swished his tail in agreement. What were these humans getting at? "Communicating with the spirits isn't easy."

"Um, hello? Avatar?"

"Oh. Right."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Tell me about Northern Water Tribe spirit stuff!" Aang exclaimed. La wanted to roll his eyes. What a foolish creature. "What spirits do you have? Do they help people a lot? What do they look like? What are they into?"

"Um…"

Yue rose to her feet, taking charge when it became clear Zuko could not. "Come. There's something I want to show you."

Aang, Sokka, and Katara seemed confused by Yue's actions but followed her and Zuko without question.

La could sense Tui's excitement. She was always so pleased when Yue and Zuko came to visit. They didn't know who the koi were, of course, but La found his wife's pleasure in such a simple thing endearing. He loved the pair as well and he'd grown more and more fond over the years but his wife's love for them was truly something.

The group was now close enough that La could see them with his physical eyes if he wished. He didn't need to, of course, and just kept swimming with Tui but the knowledge he could if he wanted to was a comfort. It was rare his physical form was any use.

The Avatar began meditating. La wanted to scoff and splash the idiot boy but Tui was amused by him so he withheld. Besides, he had better things to do. The winged lemur was staring at him and he wasn't about to lose a staring contest with a mammal.

He'd gotten so distracted that he didn't even realize the invaders until a firebender had blasted his way into the oasis.

The group jumped to the defensive almost immediately. The man was named Zhao apparently and he was a wild firebender. Wild, not skilled. La knew a skilled firebender when he saw one. Zhao was powerful but his fire was untamed. Unfortunately, that didn't matter much right now.

Katara flung water from the pool at him. Sokka hurled his boomerang. Zuko shot flames from his fists. The oncomer deflected all of them easily. Only Zuko's fire really seemed to catch the firebender's attention.

"A firebender?" Zhao stated, surprised. He didn't let it slow him down though. He plowed forward, defeating Katara and Sokka with a few blasts and simple disarming blows. Zuko stepped in front of Yue protectively, face hard and determined. Zhao merely laughed. "You fool. The princess isn't what I'm after."

With a flaming hand, Zhao pushed Zuko and Yue aside. La began wiggling in alarm. The firebender was getting too close to the pool for his comfort. What was this human doing? Was he interested in the power of the spirit water? Or… Or did he understand that there was something more going on here?

Suddenly, a hand plunged into the pond. Fear and apprehension echoed through the pool as Tui and La broke their usual swimming patterns to pull away from the invading hand. La dived down deep out of the hand's range but when he glanced behind him to see if Tui was following, she was nowhere to be found.

"Guys! It's the fish! They-" Aang was cut off the moment La surfaced. Like the spirit, he'd been unaware of what transpired. Like the spirit, he looked horrified at the sight of the pearl white koi writhing in Zhao's hand. "Tui!"

"Zhao!" a voice shouted, boiling with almost as much rage as La felt in his tiny body. "Release the moon spirit or I swear… Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you tenfold! Let it go now!"

If La was the Wolf, he would've howled his support. If he was Blue, his flames would match the rage boiling inside him and dance alongside the fury of his newcomer. If he was Tienhai, he'd raise the waves higher than this man could dream. But he was just a fish, a weak little fish, and he could do nothing but watch.

"Uncle?" Zuko called out cautiously. He sat up from where Zhao had tossed him and Yue aside. "Uncle Iroh?"

The newcomer's gaze flickered to the younger firebender and surprise enveloped his features. "Prince Zuko?"

"Wait, Prince?" Yue, Katara, and Sokka screeched in unison. La wished they'd have this moment later. His beloved was in the hands of this mad man! She was in danger! They could worry about their trivial human titles later. They had to save her!

This Iroh man seemed to have his priorities straight though. He raised his fists into a firebending stance and edged closer. "Zhao! Release the spirit!"

Zuko, Katara, Yue, and Sokka still seemed confused as to what was happening but Aang seemed to understand exactly what Zhao was planning. "Zhao, stop. Don't do this."

"It is my destiny to destroy the Northern Water Tribe!" Zhao declared, lifting Tui into the air. She was thrashing and La's heart leapt for her. He wanted to scream at this horrible man holding his wife hostage. Could he see that he was hurting her? How scared she was? How could he do this to her?

La could feel Tui's gaze on him. She was asking- no, begging- for his help but he couldn't do anything but watch helplessly. Why had they chosen such weak forms? They were old and tired but that didn't mean they could live an easy life. Why hadn't they chosen lion sharks? Or sabertooth squid? Maybe then they wouldn't be here right now.

Tui seemed to understand her fate. She was a great spirit. She couldn't be plagued by denial or false hope. La froze, just watching her. He felt a wave of her love for him waft through the air. It felt like a goodbye.

"Destroying the moon won't hurt just the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world," Aang told him with a tone far more wistful than someone so young should have.

"He's right," Iroh said with a nod. He lowered his fists. "Please, return the spirit to its home."

Zhao fell silent. Katara, Sokka, Yue, and Zuko got to their feet and watched him cautiously, ready to lunge if he made the wrong move but curious to see if he would make the right one. Slowly, Zhao lowered to his knees and slipped Tui back into the pool.

La could barely contain his joy. He swam over to Tui and they curled each other in happiness. Silently, he showered her in his love and affection. The fear he felt, the gratitude he felt that he was still with her, he knew she could feel it all and she returned it. La's heart swelled. He knew Tui loved him but it was always nice to be reminded. And now that Zhao had released her, they could just swim in their love peacefully.

Their reunion was cut short by a slice of fire.

Tui's body, charred and burned, went limp.

She was always so beautiful. Her scales were pure white, as white as the moon's surface, and always so pristine. Now they were black, broken, and flaky. Her eyes, always so full life and compassion, were now dull. Lifeless. Lifeless as the rest of her was.

Grief tore through La's form, both physical and spiritual. All he could see was his beloved wife dead and sinking. Above, the moon turned red, as if painted with blood. Behind him, Zuko and Yue had dropped to their hands and knees, screaming. La wasn't aware of any of it. He couldn't be. Not when he hurt so much.

It was a deep pain. One he didn't know he was capable of. Why would he? He was a spirit. Spirits were detached from the world. Immortal, calloused to the emotions of beings made of flesh and blood. But he was flesh and blood now too, wasn't he? He wished it wasn't. He wished he and Tui had remained in the spirit realm with Agni. Maybe then it wouldn't hurt like this.

The agony was rippling. It coursed through him like a lightning bolt. Never letting up, never sparing him from its cruelty. And he let himself feel it. He had to. He could do nothing to save his wife. He was weak and he deserved whatever karma he got for it.

Zuko and Yue's pain was physical. Katara and Sokka went to their sides, alarmed, but were quickly discouraged. Zuko lashed out with one arm blindly, wordlessly telling Sokka to stay away. Yue sobbed into her hands and shook off Katara's worried grip as best as she could. The siblings exchanged a terrified glance, unsure what had befallen their friends.

The first crack should have told them. Bones broke and realigned, skin became scales, eyes lost their humanity, the noises they made became primal, their bodies grew- They were transforming. And it was nothing like Katara or Sokka had ever seen.

Seconds later, Zuko launched himself into the sky and Yue reared her massive head up. She winded her thick body around the oasis while he beat the air aggressively with his broad wings. They screamed, voices reverberating deep in their chests and collecting all the suffering lingering within just to let it out. Dragon and serpent before the blood red moon… It was a sight to behold and the only one La could see.

It filled him with rage.

This human… These humans, they'd hurt his beloved. No, they'd done more than hurt her. They destroyed her, him, the young mortals he considered his own, and his friends that resided within them. That was unforgivable.

He wasn't weak. He wasn't a mere fish. He was La. And he was powerful.

He reached out blindly. He grabbed something, he wasn't sure what quite yet, and he consumed it. The water that surrounded the oasis swelled and became his body. Yue shrieked as the waves pushed against her and she gained a body of water to swim in. Diving into one of the tributes, she headed for the ocean and La let her. She deserved to destroy however much she wanted. They didn't deserve pain, the humans did. And they were going to be the ones to distribute it.

Zuko flew up even higher and breathed a spiral of fire into the air. Even though he was made of water, La could feel the power behind it. Heat seemed to radiate from it. Satisfied that the dragon would be alright, La turned away to continue his ramage.

He wasn't sure where the humans were. The good ones, that is. The ones who tried to help. The ones who failed. He tried not to step on them but he didn't really care if he did or not. He just wanted others to feel the agony he did.

Dozens of thin limbs extended from his body and he swung them around almost childishly, crushing everything in sight. He felt powerful. Was that the Avatar in his belly? His power that he was harnessing? He didn't really know. He really didn't care.

The ocean responded to his fury. It grew violent worldwide. A few dozen of the Fire Nation ships nearing the coast were flipped upside down, their crews plummeting into the freezing waters. La grabbed a few Fire Nation soldiers and flung them into his mouth. He wasn't hungry in a physical sense but eating satiated him in an entirely different way. He was pretty sure Zhao was one of those soldiers too. He couldn't be sure but by everything he once held dear, he hoped so.

Distantly, he was aware of his allies' distress. Katara, Sokka, and Iroh were running around doing… something. What were they doing? Chasing Zuko and Yue? That was stupid. Zuko could swallow any of them in a single gulp if he wanted to and Yue was a dozen times his size. Puny humans couldn't stop them.

They were succeeding though. In some way. La was a tad bit curious but his grief and wrath was still too overwhelming for him to really see what they were doing. They'd returned to the spirit oasis. What could they hope of achieving there? At least Yue and Zuko weren't thrashing anymore. The oasis had been his home for such a long time. La didn't really want it destroyed quite yet.

Katara, Sokka, and Iroh were saying something. Some of the humanity had returned to Yue and Zuko's features. They couldn't transform back, not with the moon red and their giver of life gone, but they seemed in control again. Control was stupid, La thought. He wanted them to keep raging and ramaging with him but if they were calming down, there wasn't much he could do about it.

He eyed them a bit more carefully. The Avatar was slipping out of his grip as his fury's hold on him loosened but he didn't really mind at the moment. What were the humans doing?

Zuko seemed distressed. And confused. Yue seemed… resigned. La didn't know what to think of that. She rumbled affectionately and pressed her forehead against Zuko. Zuko blinked a few times and nuzzled her back but still looked lost. He didn't understand what was happening. La did though. The scene was just too familiar.

He couldn't bear for Zuko to feel the same pain he did. He couldn't. The grief, the anger, the agony- Zuko didn't deserve that. No matter how much La was hurting right now, he knew Tui had loved Zuko as her own. Yue too. They were the last things he had of her. They couldn't-They couldn't- He couldn't lose them.

Abandoning the Avatar, he reclaimed his spirit form and hurried to the oasis but he was too late.

Yue put her muzzle into the oasis and a brilliant light filled the cove. Her body went limp, collapsing half in the grass and half in the water, and she began shrinking. Realization flashed in Zuko's eyes and he reached out for her, trying to stop her, but it was too late. He too began shrinking until only the human shell of the dragon remained.

Tears flowed freely from Zuko's eyes as he took Yue's hand and held her in his arms. He begged, begged her to stay with him. He told her how much he loved her, how much her friendship meant to him. How she was the only thing in the whole world that made him happy and how being around her made him feel less alone. He promised her that he would always make her happy if she stayed. He offered to trade places with her. Please, anything…

She was dead by the time La arrived. The moon turned white again and the rage of the seas had died. Now there was only the hereafter. The sweet, sad, excruciatingly painful hereafter.

Still in spirit form, he wrapped himself around Zuko. Like this, he could feel the Blue Spirit's soul thrumming in harmony alongside Zuko's. He was grieving as well. Maybe even more than Zuko. He'd grown attached to Yue but he'd known Tui as long as La. He'd lost two friends today.

La embraced Zuko, letting the boy's sobs wrack both of their forms. Zuko's anguish was La's. La's anguish was Zuko's. Never before had he felt more connected to a human. Not even seconds ago when he and the Avatar were literally one. He didn't want to let go. His boy was hurting, just like him, and he didn't want to let go.

But then the darkness was gone. The burns, the wounds, on the white koi's body were healed. La knew it wasn't his wife but it was enough. Silently, he unwrapped his spirit from Zuko and sank into the pool. A second fish joined Yue in the pool and harmony was restored.