If there is one thing I've learned since starting this story it's that writing is a lot like fire bending. It comes from within, and requires both focus, and drive. In my case it's the latter that's been my problem. All this time I've been working on it, processing this story it in my head over and over trying to find the best way forward. Unfortunately without a proper drive moving forward take far more time. This chapter alone I've come up with drafts A through O before deciding to post this chapter. It may have taken far longer than I'd like but I'll be damned before I post a chapter that I feel is unworthy of such amazing and incredibly patient readers. Now by all means I hope you enjoy.

34: Admission

("I told you he'd find us soon enough.") Vaatu said derisively as he sensed Wan Shi Tong's considerable energy draw within three floors of their location, and the distance was closing swiftly.

"It's almost show time. Are you guys ready for this?"Mako asked calmly, making a point of ignoring the chaos spirit riding shotgun in his head.

"Are you kidding? This is our first mission as Team Dark Avatar, and right off the bat it's something as big as getting into Wan Shi Tong's library. This is gonna be awesome! I mean between Vaatu, you guys, and all my Gran Gran's stories we've so got this one in the bag!" Ikki answered excitedly on his left, though despite her overwhelming optimism; Mako could tell she was nervous.

Not so much because Vaatu fed on darker emotions like fear, and their growing connection allowed him to sense those emotions in others, but because he felt her take his scarred hand in hers.

Giving the young air nomad's hand a reassuring squeeze the Dark Avatar turned to his right meeting Kuvira's emerald gaze with a confidant smirk. "You ready for this?"

Returning his smile the metal bender shook her head and sighed. "As I'll ever be. I still think we should have waited for Wan Shi Tong come to us rather than adding trespassing to the already extensive list of things that are liable to piss him off."

Mako shrugged. "It was either risk upsetting Wan Shi Tong, which he is liable to be no matter what we do, or let Vaatu turn my headache into a full blown migraine out of sheer impatience."

("And could you blame me boy? I'd like to see how much 'patience' you'd walk away with after spending 10'000 years trapped in a tree.")

"Besides by this point I'm sure that we've both been in more precarious situations than this. I just hope Wan Shi Tong is a little more reasonable than the last few spirits we've encountered." Mako reasoned as the tomblike silence was broken by the sound of powerful wing beats growing louder, and louder as the library's ancient guardian drew ever closer.

Standing together the three benders braced themselves as after nearly twenty minutes, and descending two floors Wan Shi Tong's massive black form erupted from the nearest opening between the levels, losing a fearsome screech as he twisted back and forth in the air searching for intruders. While the three humans were forced to cover their eyes as the gusts from his wings kicked up nearly a century's worth of sand and dust.

Swiftly catching sight of them the librarian quickly alighted before them. The sound of his powerful wing beats replaced by the threatening click of his razor sharp talons on the stone floor, before finally the ominous silence returned in its entirety.

After several moments the dust cloud settled enough for the three to open their eyes to find the great spirit of knowledge towering imperiously before them.

("Well it's about damn time.") Vaatu growled testily as Wan Shi Tong observed them all one by one, his aura radiating animosity in waves, especially when his obsidian gaze landed on him. While somewhat annoyed by the owl spirit's yet unspoken challenge, Vaatu also felt a surge of anticipation at the prospect of cutting lose and facing a worthy opponent.

Sensing this provided Mako with more than enough irritation to easily hold the knowledge spirit's frigid glare with his own icy amber gaze. Ever since his earlier quarrel with Vaatu was interrupted there had been a considerable amount of unresolved anger and frustration festering between the two halves of the Dark Avatar. The fact that Vaatu was even contemplating picking a fight despite the fact that it would put all their lives at risk yet again was also driving the lightning bender dangerously close to the edge, which was something none of them could afford.

("Would you like to make the introductions, or shall I? If that impressive death glare he's giving us is any indication this place is liable to become far more entertaining than I expected a library to be.") Vaatu mused, taking immense satisfaction in feeling Mako's temper spike in response.

("Not yet.") Mako thought back watching Wan Shi Tong warily. ("Even without our spiritual sense I'd have to be blind not to see that he's different from any other spirit we've encountered so far. He's obviously pissed, and we're in his territory. Our best bet is to wait, let him make the first move, and react accordingly. Either way it's his move.")

"Hi! My name is Ikki of the new air nation. This is truly an honor." Ikki said with equal parts respect and excitement as she stepped forward to perform a traditional air nomad bow before either he, or Kuvira could stop her.

"For you perhaps," Wan Shi Tong said dismissively, not even sparing the girl a glance as he continued to glare at Mako. "For me this act of treachery is the 'final' straw."

"One break. Just one freaking break; is that seriously too much to ask?" Jinora lamented wearily as she and Azula descended deeper into the forsaken depths of Tartarus, the hateful cries of Yokai echoing in the distance keeping her constantly on edge.

At her side the former princess merely shrugged an armored shoulder. "Evidently the universe thinks so peasant." She replied easily with an amused smirk on her lips, earning her yet another heated glare from the distressed air nomad.

"This is serious Azula." Jinora hissed quietly as the surrounding mist grew thicker. "That flower was my only hope of finding my little sister, and now Jaeger has it."

"Lot of good it will do him." Azula muttered sarcastically, having already considered every conceivable complication the seemingly unimportant flower could cause them since leaving Koh's Haven.

"Jaeger may have the flower, but Koh has his face thanks to you. He has no eyes, so he can't use the flower himself. He has no nose, so he can't track us or your wayward sister by scent. His spiritual senses are useless without having sensed your sister's spiritual energy once before so he wouldn't even know where to begin looking for her. As for the likely hood of him tracking our spiritual signatures it is possible, but I seriously doubt he's in any condition to track anything right now, what with him leaping head first over a sheer cliff. You're welcome by the way."

Jinora remained silent. As impressive as the princess's analytical and tactical prowess was; her reasoning did little to untangle the knot of fear lingering in the pit of her stomach. No matter how much she wanted to believe otherwise, she just couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.

Seeming to sense her unease Azula sighed. "Spirits, how the hell did uncle put up with this for all those years with Zuzu? Look; while that flower would have been useful it doesn't really matter now. The spirit world may be a big place, but between my uncle and his tea time buddies your sister is as good as found, so I suggest you cast your worries aside, and focus on the task at hand."

"Excuse me?" Jinora asked, surprised that the historically monstrous princess Azula was actually showing her compassion, or at least trying to in her own warped way.

"You heard me peasant. Lighten up, or you could get us both killed." Azula said her tone turning deadly serious as she began tracing her sharp, almost claw like finger nails along the stone ridge they were using to guide them through the fog bank.

"Yokai feed off of negative energies peasant, and they haven't been able to feed properly since the first Avatar banished them down here over ten thousand years ago. So I suggest you keep your emotion under control, because if any one of the millions of starving Yokai down here catch even the slightest whiff of fear, or despair they'll all come running, and the grand spirit's help us if they find a pair of Raava spawn in their midst."

"Raava spawn?" Jinora asked curiously, having never heard such a phrase before.

The former princess nodded. "That's what you and I are known as down here. My maternal great grandfather was Avatar Roku, and uncle Iroh mentioned you were the granddaughter of Avatar Aang; correct?"

Jinora nodded.

"That means we're both blood descendants of Raava's human incarnations, and because of those blood ties our soul's posses a 'unique' energy signature, a very powerful signature that any and every Yokai down here will recognize in a heartbeat. It's probably why Jaeger was so fixated on you in the first place. Any normal human caught down here would be slaughtered on sight, but if we're caught down here well let's just say that there are worse fates than death."

Flashing back to the cat yokai viciously tearing his way through the Nether Roots to get to her, and the murder she saw in his eyes; it wasn't hard for her to believe the former princess.

"Fortunately for your little sister almost all of the Yokai are stuck down here with us, over ten thousand years worth of pent up aggression and nothing better to do. Wow I guess the universe really won't cut you a break." Azula concluded with a patronizing smirk that pissed of the air nomad to no end.

Before Jinora could offer a retort something occurred to her. "What do you mean by most? Aside from Pandora, and Koh; Yawgoo said that all the Yokai were banished down here."

Azula scoffed. "And you believed that senile old turtle? I'll admit the great spirit of wisdom tells a good bedtime story and his sage advice is slightly more useful than your average fortune cookie, but when you need specific and accurate information you're better off speaking to Koh, or Wan Shi Tong."

"As for the Yokai however yes the majority of them were banished down here, and are now bound to this place by the very oaths they swore to Vaatu's self proclaimed successor, the first Daiyokai. There are however a handful of Yokai who escaped the fate of their brethren. The few who are even aware of their existence know them only as the Seekers. Unlike the Wardens who were each chosen for their strength, power, and ruthlessness too help him command his vast legion; the Seekers were handpicked by the Daiyokai for their unwavering loyalty to him and him alone. That's what in turn leads to our current problem. Unlike the rest of his horde the Seekers weren't forced to swear oaths of loyalty to the Daiyokai in the names of the four, which means while the rest of the horde were bound to serve whoever claimed the mantle of Daiyokai the Seekers were free to do whatever they could to restore their master should he ever be overthrown. When Raava became the Daiyokai the Seekers went into hiding, and have been biding their time ever since."

"How many Seekers are their?" Jinora asked with a frown as she quickly processed Azula's enlightening history lesson.

"According to Koh there were no more than six of them," Azula replied as she nimbly made her way down the descending rocky terrain. "And over the last ten thousand years Pandora's managed to eliminate two of them, and even identified Jaeger as the third Seeker, though he's not much of a threat now."

"That still leaves three Seekers unaccounted for." Jinora asserted worriedly.

"True," Azula confirmed with a shrug. "But honestly out of the billions of spirits in this vast world what are the odds of your sister coming within a hundred miles of even one of the only three Yokai able to leave Tartarus?"

"Come on. Come on. Move it!" Sakuya shouted back impatiently as she raced up the next staircase, easily taking six steps at a time with her long bipedal stride. "I thought lemurs were supposed to be faster than that?"

"Raava damnit! I am an aye-aye, and I am moving as fast as I can!" Ayeon exclaimed trying his hardest just to follow within six yards of the kitsune yokai. "It's been twenty floors already, and I still can't sense Wan Shi Tong at all. Do you think he's already encountered my master and his pack?" He asked worryingly.

"It's hard to say for sure." Sakuya said reaching the landing of the twenty third floor, pausing for only a moment to glance back down at him. "Inside these halls Wan Shi Tong is almost as undetectable as I am." She admitted forebodingly before taking off like an arrow through the veritable maze of colossal bookcases, heading straight towards the next staircase.

"What do you mean? How is that possible?" Ayeon asked, briefly closing his yellow eyes in hopes of locating the jaded librarian's energy signature.

Having closed the gap between himself and the upper floors considerably, he could now more easily discern the energy signatures of his companions. Ikki, Kuvira, even Mako and Vaatu's oddly mixed aura all of them shown like a beacon to him now, but for whatever strange reason he couldn't sense Wan Shi Tong anywhere. Just like Sakuya he was somehow unable to locate the knowledge spirit. Between the level of raw power naturally emitted by greater spirits like Wan Shi Tong, and the fact that he couldn't be more than a dozen floors away now; it should have been impossible for him 'not' to sense the librarian.

"I don't understand. Is he not here?" He asked hopefully as he came up alongside the kitsune spirit, knowing it was highly unlikely.

"Oh he's here alright." Sakuya said sparing him a sardonic look. "And no there's nothing wrong with your senses. It's this place. It's his territory. Between dwelling here for centuries on end, and pulling it back and forth between the worlds; every inch of this place is saturated with 'his' spirit energy. What you've probably mistaken for the library's ambient energy is actually Wan Shi Tong's own energy signature. Unless you're a greater or grand spirit it's almost impossible to locate him, let alone anticipate his movements."

"That's not exactly comforting fox." Ayeon snapped with a glare.

"I'm a yokai. Did you really expect me to be? Besides you asked for answers squirrel, not comfort." Sakuya said giving him a wolfbatish grin. "If you want reassurance then look at it this way. All these openings between the levels are wide enough for Wan Shi Tong to fly from one floor to another quickly and easily. There was never any chance of us reaching your pack before him. More than likely he's already found them which is probably a good thing."

"Damnit I am an aye-aye, and how the hell is that a good thing?" Ayeon demanded in exasperation.

"Because if Wan Shi Tong has already encountered your master then that means they're being civil at least for now. If your master is strong enough to shift the balance as you claim he has, then I'm pretty sure we'd be able to hear them if they were tearing into each other." Sakuya reasoned giving him what he supposed was reassuring smirk.

Her smirk quickly disappeared however when a powerful explosion sent a resonating boom through the library's cavernous halls, and rained dust down upon their heads. "Then again I could be wrong."

"Oh no. How much further is it? Ayeon asked desperately as he felt another tremor pass through the floor.

"It's hard to say for sure, but that explosion felt like it came from somewhere down the right wing about two floors above us." Sakuya replied her own curiosity practically driving her up the wall by this point. However one did not become the omega of her particular pack, let alone survive for centuries in Tartarus by being reckless. Even if she was dying to know who would be bold enough to challenge Wan Shi Tong in his own domain; she wasn't about to rush in blindly, and risk getting caught in the crossfire.

Closing her eyes and focusing her spiritual senses she reached out in search of the jaded owl spirit and his opponent in hopes of pinpointing their exact location. With any luck she would also get a clearer picture as to what was going on, and who Ayeon called master.

While it was true Wan Shi Tong could roam completely undetected within the walls of his library; his camouflage was very different from her own. Where she could naturally conceal her aura; Wan Shi Tong's camouflage was merely a byproduct of his reclusive nature, and the effect it had on his environment. One she had figured out the secret too decades ago.

The great spirit of knowledge may have been able to roam the corridors of his library undetected by even her keen senses, but that was only if he kept his emotions in check. Doing so prevented his aura from fluctuating which in turn made it impossible to differentiate his energy from the ambient energy emanating from every inch of the library.

Whatever Ayeon's master had done to piss the owl spirit off; it was enough to shatter Wan Shi Tong's unwaveringly calm façade. Now she could sense the librarian plain as day, but this in turn presented a slight complication. With them both being in such close proximity to each other it was difficult to properly sense the aura of Ayeon's master through the maelstrom of Wan Shi Tong's own furious energy.

Difficult, but not impossible.

While it was her nature to keep the absolute lowest of profiles; time was of the essence, and she wanted answers. Closing her eyes to help focus her keen spiritual senses, Sakuya released a quick but powerful burst of her energy.

Being a minor Yokai it took quite a bit of her energy to pierce the veil of a great spirit like Wan Shi Tong. Were she to get in a fight she'd be at a major disadvantage, but then again combat was never truly her forte. Unlike most Yokai who actively sought out, and reveled in confrontation; she preferred to watch, or avoid them altogether.

No she was far better suited for reconnaissance missions, which was why she was her Alpha's first choice to figure out what was causing the balance to shift for the first time in over a millennium. Her skills were only exemplified further by the fact that unlike her comrade and Alpha's second choice Jaeger she was smart enough to look for information in a library.

After a few moments of intense concentration her efforts were rewarded as Wan Shi Tong's ambient energy was displaced just long enough for her catch a discernible glimpse of his mysterious opponent's aura, only for a chill to run down her spine as she recognized the aura all too well. Even after ten thousand years. "It's not possible." She whispered in disbelief.

Startled by the kitsune spirit's unexpected energy pulse, and his sense of worry growing with every distant explosion Ayeon made to snap at her, but his reprimand died the moment he saw the look of pure shock in her amethyst orbs. "Sakuya?"

"It's not possible." She said again looking up at the ceiling in disbelief. "It can't be him. It's been over ten thousand years. It's not possible!

"Sakuya you're not making any sense. What's not possible?" Ayeon asked, confused by the unexpected change in the Yokai's demeanor.

Instead of answering his question however; Sakuya turned, and bolted off into the library at top speed.

"Hey; what's not possible?" Ayeon exclaimed, taking off after her. "Sakuya?!"

Sadly I cannot promise that the next update will come quickly, but I certainly hope it comes faster than this one did. I hope you enjoyed it, and by all means please leave a comment, or review, and I promise as long as it may take; I have no intention of stopping this story until it's finished. So until next time enjoy.