Disclaimer: Avatar the Last Airbender copyright Dante Dimartino, Brian Konietzko and Nickelodeon Studios.


The icy water hit her unexpectedly, forcing the breath from her lungs in a painful gasp; salt water rushed to fill its place. She choked, sputtering against her element, limbs too heavy to listen to her desperate plea to kick, to swim, to live! She realized she'd unconsciously been fighting the current the entire time she'd been in the Spirit World. Now, her body was too tired to keep going.

A large shadow slunk effortlessly through ice and water, unaffected by the strong current that would soon take her life. She realized with trepidation it was waiting just for that.