Trip to the Spirit World

When
Every Little
Rain Drop Falls
Dreams Come True For
All

Sante

Zuko awoke to a bright, blinding light. He looked around and it seemed as if he was in an all white room.

He carefully stood up cautious not to worsen the pounding headache he already had. The firebender felt cold, and more chills ran throughout his body. He slightly brushed over his shoulder where he was wounded. The wound seemed to be getting worse and the green seemed to glow and emit an emerald light of its own. His skin was pale.

Zuko walked closer to the light in front of him and the green light from his shoulder began to swirl and lift off of him into the white misty light. It seemed as if the light was drawing him near it, he slowly sauntered closer to it, and his life force seemed to drain away with the light his skin was restored to its natural color

The green glow was fully gone and the stab wound began to disappear. And he was so close to the light his taste buds in his mouth could taste the glow and warmth. His body warmed and was invited by the light to move closer. His throbbing headache slowly withered away as he neared closer to the light.

As Zuko stepped into the source of the light, in a trance, a giggle echoed through the white walls and he quickly turned around. And there in a corner a little girl stood with a smile on her face and with her hand and arm outreached to Zuko. She had tan skin, and long charcoal hair, and round green eyes that glowed in the dazzling light.

Zuko looked mesmerized into her face, she was familiar. He thought to himself quietly and it finally clicked as he thought back to the little girl in his dream,

"Zhy…" he stepped away from the light and took hold of Zhy's outstretched hand. She led him away from the light and into another room. The walls were amethyst and a lavender scent flowed through the air. The room was empty like the last, "Where am I?" Zuko released his grip on the girls hand and all of his pain was restored. His headache was back and the pain of the wound and the glow, and he was cold, and his natural color drained away.

"Ugh," Zuko gripped his head, Zhy quickly turned to face him.

"Lay here," Zhy pressed her hand to his head and her other small tan hand to his abdomen and he fell back onto a bed. It looked as if it appeared out of now where.

"You're in the spirit world," her voice was high and tiny, her voice was youthful. She was almost half the height of Zuko.

Zuko slowly let his hand fall to his side as his pain lessened, "Why?"

Zhy let go of his head and held her hands up and a small bottle appeared in her hands, "You're dying." The bottle began to glow purple like the room and she held the tiny ornament to her chest.

Zuko's face lit up in astonishment and fear, "Dying…" his voice was troubled. And he quickly grew mad as he noticed that annoying smile was still on her face…did she understand what she had said? He is dying!

"Yup, but don't worry I wont let that happen." She opened the bottle and poured it onto the wound. Zuko flinched and the green glow that emitted vanished, and with it his anger.

"I gotta get back to the Earth," Zuko quickly sat up and the bed disappeared with a glow. He fell straight onto his bottom. A chair quickly grew in its place from under Zuko. He was automatically seated. His headache echoed through his ears, and head. He grabbed his head again.

"No, you need your rest," She pressed his head again and he fell back onto the chair that quickly turned into a bed.

Zuko laid back and closed his pale golden eyes, "Well, since I'm here," he yawned he was so tired, "how can we help you?" his voice drifted off in the last statement.

"Shh, all in time…Today you rest, tomorrow you'll find the answers you seek, and then in a while… maybe in a week or a month you will be ready to return to Earth," Zuko slowly opened his eyes, "But I don't have…that much…time." His voice drifted and his vision of Zhy began to blur.

Zhy held a finger to Zuko's mouth, "Shhhhhhh," and Zuko's eyes slowly closed and he fell into a dreamless sleep.

"Is he going to be okay?" Katara sat on a white bench against the wall, the guard close by her. He was also waiting for Zuko's recovery.

They were sitting on that same white wall wooden bench all night, and they were both starting to drift to sleep as they watched the doctor walk back and forth with drug after drug, nodding and shaking his head with a lot of "mhhmm's" and "uhuhuh's."

The doctor was dressed in green with a white headband. The headband had the characters of 'Doctor' in Chinese characters. He was hovering above Zuko, who was not responding. Zuko lay in a hospital bed with white sheets and a cabinet of different drugs beside him.

The doctor shook his head; he tugged on his long white beard and rubbed his white, wiry haired head. "He is not responding to any of the test, the pulse in low and there is no heartbeat…" The guard placed a hand on Katara's back and Katara lowered her head, "Is he gonna die?" a few small tears fell down her cheeks.

The doctor nodded his head, "There is a great chance," The tears began to cascade down Katara's cheeks and the guard tried his best to console her. The doctor took notice of her pain and felt remorse.

His eyes drifted from the patient to Katara, "Well, there is still a pulse," Katara and the guard both looked up, "Come back tomorrow …maybe…" the doctor sound hesitant in his decision, "The drugs are…taking time to reach his blood stream…" Katara jumped up and the guard quickly stood with her surprised of the sudden movement.

"Thank you so much…" she grabbed his hand and shook it, "He's all I got right now."

"I have to get back to my post, where do you live so I can walk you home?" The guard faced her and opened the hospital door so she could walk through. Katara folded her arms and faced the guard, "I can take care of myself," her tears had dried up.

The guard was at a loss for words and he stammered over what he could muster out, "I-I just th-thought that it would be m-my duty to walk you…uh, home,"

"Why, because I'm a girl?" Katara gave him a glare, she was unaware she was giving him such a hard time. Even though she was saying the words her mind was completely and solely on Zuko's condition.

"Um, no, not at all…" It was obvious the guard was nervous

"Would you ask to walk a man home?" Katara began to walk off onto the still bustling streets besides the hour of the morning. The moon was still high in the sky. She was mad that Zuko left her; she knew he was as good as dead…and she guessed she was taking her anger out on the guard.

"Well, n-no…I just thought it would be a little dangerous for a girl to walk the street at this hour o-of the nnight"

"I'll be fine thank you," and Katara walked off leaving a stunned guard behind, until she remembered she didn't have a place to stay, or the money, "Um excuse me," Katara watched as the retreating back slowly and hesitantly turn around, "Y-yes ma'm,"

"I never did catch your name," she neared him and put a small smile on her face.

Zuko awoke to an all red room. The room walls were a deep crimson which would logically give the room a dark feel, but here the walls glowed and it seemed like everything shined.

Zuko sat up, slowly this time and the bed slowly shrunk into a chair to fit his position. He looked at his hands and they were the normal color they were before he wiggled his head and his headache was gone, he felt his shoulder and the wound was no where to be found. He looked around the room and it was empty, no annoying smiling girl, no nothing.

He slowly got up and stepped onto the floor, and a velvet red carpet unrolled at his feet for him to walk on. He had to admit, this place was a lot better then Earth. Zuko wiggled his toes and stepped with his back in perfect posture, it was like being at the palace again.

He entered the next room at the opening and the walls were a light blue, and a draft blew. The velvet carpet turned into a silk roll and slowly unraveled at his feet. It was deep blue and flowed in and out of the room like a ribbon. He eyed it questioningly. This room was empty too, except for a small burgundy book, which was carefully placed in the center of the floor. It was like the one Katara always clung onto, the one with the changing characters. He wondered how it made it all the way up to the spirit world.

He remembered that Po Chen was the last that had it, he furrowed his eyebrows in thought and sat down and a chair appeared for him to sit.

The chair suddenly disappeared and Zuko fell through the floor onto an open arena. He fell onto his back and a loud cracking sound resounded through the empty place. It hurt bad, it was a long fall. A large pillow then erupted from under him and slightly eased the pain. He slowly got up and walked around the huge arena.

It was huge it looked exactly like the coliseum from that ancient time and era. It was oddly empty, but Zuko wasn't surprised everything else in this place was.

On the opposite side of the arena Zuko could hear a loud giggling noise, and he automatically knew it was Zhy.

"Sorry," Zhy walked over to Zuko with a huge smile on her face, "I just gotta get better with timing!" her voice was joyful and full of happiness, it was seriously starting to annoy Zuko.

Zuko held his back in pain, "Yeah, you do." He slightly glared at her, until he remembered how young she was, "Now, anyway, you told me that you would answer all my questions, right?"

Zhy smiled at him brightly, "Most of your questions, some you gotta figure out on your own," she nodded her head to herself and giggled a little. Zuko eyed her suspiciously; she wasn't annoying she was weird.

"Well, to start off why is this place so empty?"

"I just thought you liked it that way…I mean with all the meditating n' stuff you do." She stated through her forever smiling teeth.

"Yeah, the quiet is nice." Zuko looked around the huge stadium, and everything was silent, except for the little girls eerie sporadic giggling.

"I can make there be people if you want me to!" she quickly said with bright eyes.

"No, no that's alright." Zuko held out his hand as if to stop her. He studied the little girl some more, she was smiling, still. She was smiling so hard it seemed like her eyes and nose were smiling too. She was beyond weird, she was abnormal.

"Well what's your next question? I'll be happy to answer it!"

"I bet you will," Zuko picked one of the many questions floating in his head, "Your father told Katara and I that you would tell us or "show" us how not to relive this curse."

The smile on Zhy's face dissipated and Zuko took notice.

"Is your father here in the spirit world? That's the only way this burgundy book could have got here." Zuko gripped the book in his hands and showed her.

The smile quickly erupted back onto Zhy's face, "My daddy's in the spirit world!"

"I guess…" Zuko was not at all fond of her giddiness.

"But…how?"

"I don't know, I was stabbed by one of the firenation ghost soldiers before I saw what happened to him."

"Oh no…" the grin on her face fell again and she stared off into the distance, "He got daddy,"

"Who?" The scenery quickly dissipated to white and back into a smoky fog scene.

There was a large grey stone castle with swirls of smoke bandaging it. Around the castle were skeletons, alive ones at that. They stood with axes and swords in their hands. And from around the sides of the castle out of the smog, the same firenation ghost soldiers formed. They trotted around the castle on horses as if to guard it.

Zhy stood next to Zuko, "He's in there…wanna get some hot noodles and tea!?" The smile was back along with the bothersome giggles. The scenery quickly faded into another empty room. It was amethyst; they were both seated on chairs opposite of each other, with a plum table separating them. Two bowls of noodles appeared at their finger tips. Zuko gave her even more suspicion.

"But, aren't you sad about your father?" Zuko pointed into the air, like he was pointing in the direction of her father.

"Of course not…cause I know you and that pretty girl is gonna save him, and my mommy."

"Who, Katara?" The 'pretty girl' part threw him a bit.

"Yeah, if that's what her name is, the girl in blue," Zhy smiled as she indulged herself into another large gulp of tea.

Zuko smirked and laughed a little.

"Don't you think she's pretty, Zuko?" Zuko looked at her, he was taken aback by her question, and to say the least bit astonished.

"Uh, she's alright…I don't really look at her that way." Zuko scratched the back of his head with his large pale fingers. He felt uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"Oh, I just thought after spending two or three whole days together, you would at least look at her that way." Zhy looked at him with raised eyebrows and slowly placed another small sip of tea to her mouth.

"Well, I haven't," Zuko tried his best to drop the subject, but the joyful girl persisted, "I'm just saying…you two would make a cute couple."

Zuko almost choked on his noodles, "Trust me, after we are done saving your family, we aren't going to have to be by each other, and we won't, its never going to happen."

"Never say never," Zhy smiled, she wrapped some strings of noodles in between her chopsticks.

"It's never going to happen," Zuko sipped his tea and reached for his chopsticks.

"I mean really its not hard to believe, you are a cute guy and she is a pretty girl…hmm I bet your babies would be really cute…maybe they would have gold eyes and brown hair or blue eyes and black hair…and the name would be, uhhh, Kako, cause its like mixing your name and her name together! Get it?!" she laughed and giggled and Zuko impatiently waited for her to finish.

"You done?" Zuko tuned out everything she said after, "babies."

"Zuko, think about it I knew you were gonna get stabbed, I knew you and Katara were gonna get separated from the group…I know things."

Zuko thought quietly to himself, she was right, "You obviously didn't know about your father."

"Maybe not, but I know things…like love is in the air!" she smiled and jumped off of her seat. The seat slowly sunk into the floor. She then covered her lips, but the tips of her smiling mouth were seen through it. "I've said to much already," she giggled

Zuko's seat disappeared and he fell through the hole in the floor again, Zhy called down to him from above, "Did you know red and blue make purple?" she giggled again and slowly her smiling face was out of Zuko's view. He fell through the floor onto a bed. The room was red and he slowly nodded off to sleep for recovery.

A month had passed and Zuko only had seen Zhy twice including the first encounter. He was alone. He spent most of the silence meditating.

Every now and then a warm meal would spring out of the floor on a table. And he would often glance in the book for changing characters, but there was no luck. He couldn't get his mind off of what Zhy had said. She did know things a lot of things, and it made Zuko think.

A shrill giggle echoed through his room, he automatically knew it was Zhy. He sighed and turned to face her.

"I think you have had enough recovery time, don't you?" she smiled ear to ear

Zuko stood from his chair and it shrunk back into the floor, "I have thought so for the past month."

Zhy grinned and spoke through her teeth, "Pushy, aren't we…" A hole formed beneath Zuko and he quickly fell through, and again as he fell she yelled to him from above, "Did you know red and blue make purple, hmm, well C'ya later!" she waved cheerfully above him.

Zuko's glowing blue body fell through clouds, and through a roof. He fell back onto his body and sunk into it.

A/N: like it? Review!!