A/N: Hey, I'm back early! Thank you so much to everyone who keeps giving me feedback! You guys make me so happy! I'm getting really into this, so writing was a breeze! There is quite a lot happening though, so I really hope this doesn't feel rushed or anything. Anyway, hope you enjoy chapter 6: In which Jinora meets a couple of dodgy dudes with funky OC names, and Kai has brilliant bison skills. xxx

Chapter 6. Circles

Waking up was like pulling herself out of clay. Jinora's muscles were so sore and stiff that even opening her eyes was exhausting. In the dark in front of her, she could make out the red and yellow of a bon fire. The flames crackled quietly. The warmth had already warmed her up from her nightly adventure in her pajamas.

Jinora lifted her head from the ground slowly, moaning at the sore pain in her neck. How long had she been out? Under her palms, she felt the soft fabric of a woolen blanket. As she sat up, another blanket fell from her shoulders and curled up by her hip. She rubbed her eyes with one hand, feeling very confused about the situation.

"Morning," a rough voice called out.

Jinora jumped. On the other side of the bonfire sat an old man. The flames lit up his weathered face and danced across his rough features. He was sitting completely still. Just looking at her.

"Who are you?" Jinora asked, surprised to hear how hoarse her voice sounded.

"My name is Tharron," he said and poked a stick into the fire. "I found you passed out farther down the mountain. Figured I couldn't leave you there to freeze to death."

"Thank you," Jinora said.

She couldn't hide how disappointed she was. Everything would seem so much simpler if Kai was here. If Kai was the one who had wrapped her up in blankets and waited for her across the fire.

"I'm Jinora," she introduced herself.

"I'm aware," Tharron said, still staring into the fire.

Jinora always forgot how easily recognized she was with the blue arrow on her forehead. She looked around, not knowing how to continue the conversation. It was still dark. The fire lit up the surroundings a bit. Though all she could see was the steep mountainside on their left, and a path that led down towards the sea to the right. Down towards where she left Pepper.

Jinora felt a sting of worry for her bison. She wondered how long she had been alone by now. That's when it struck her that Tharron had said "good morning".

"Wait, is it morning?" she asked breathlessly.

"Just passed five, I reckon," Tharron said, glancing at his wrist, where there was no watch. "It's hard to keep track of time during a spirit storm."

He knew about the storm. Jinora blinked at him, wondering exactly who he was.

"How're you feeling?" he asked.

"I'm okay," Jinora said, glancing down at her fingers. They were still trembling. She slid them under the blanket. Tharron didn't try to hide the fact that he had noticed.

"Doesn't seem like it," he said.

"What are you doing here? On this mountain I mean," Jinora asked, avoiding the subject.

Tharron smirked a little.

"Hiking with my son. He'll be around shortly."

Jinora frowned at him. Who would be out hiking in this darkness? And especially this close to all those lightnings.

The lightnings!

"Did the lightnings stop?" she asked, looking up.

"Yes, but only for a little while. Republic city is in the very eye of the storm."

"Do you know anything about it?" Jinora asked, sitting up more properly.

"I know a whole lot about it, actually," Tharron said and smirked at her again. "And to be honest, I thought you would as well."

Jinora blinked in confusion.

"What?"

"Everyone claimed you were so bright and in touch with the spirit world. I was sure you of all people would know."

"I haven't been able to meditate in a while," Jinora said, trying to find an excuse. "I - it's been a rough week."

"Hn," Tharron muttered. "The storm is caused by a dark spirit that's trying to go home. That's why the storm is centered here. Close to the spirit portal."

It was so simple that Jinora felt stupid for not figuring it out herself. Especially since this was pretty much exactly what Ikki suggested in the first place. Jinora made a mental note of giving Ikki credit for predicting the future once she got home.

"But how is it causing this storm?" Jinora asked, not expecting an answer. She had had her fair few encounters with dark spirits, and no one had affected the nature to this extent before.

"The spirit is shattered. It is sending out its energy to try and summon all the pieces. That energy is what's charging this storm," Tharron said.

Jinora briefly wondered how Tharron could possibly know all this, before she was grabbed from behind and gagged.

She yelped in shock and moved to bend the air around her, when the pain in her chest returned full force. Her cry was muffled by the tissue that was tied around her mouth. She fell over her knees. She feared she wasn't going to get enough air by just breathing through her nose. She had to calm down.

Meanwhile, someone was tying her hands at her back.

"Talon," Tharron said lowly. "I'm not sure that's necessary."

"We can't risk her leaving now," a much younger man said.

Jinora glanced up at him, tears forming in her eyes. He was in the middle of his twenties. He had the same kind of roughness to his face as his father, but he was much slimmer and handsome. His dark hair was curly, his eyebrows were pulled together in a deep frown, and his eyes were so dark they looked black.

Jinora said up shakily. Keeping to her airbender ways, she sat quietly and decided to let the situation unfold by itself. There was no way she could escape like this anyway. Not with her hands tied and her body threatening to break down at any time.

Talon sat down on the bare ground. Jinora got the feeling he had given up his blankets for her.

"I'm going to explain everything very simply," Talon said. He gave her a look that made it very clear that he was convinced she had no clue of what was going on.

"I already told her about the spirit, Talon," Tharron said.

Talon looked annoyed, but continued anyway. A vein started throbbing at the side of his head.

"So the spirit is trying to become whole again, so that it can go home," he said and arched his brows. "You with me?"

Jinora nodded her head.

"To be whole it needs a vessel. It needs someone to host all its pieces and take it back to the spirit world. We think that's the only place it'll be strong enough to merge into one single form again."

Chills ran down Jinora's spine as she slowly connected the pieces.

"Right now, several of those pieces has chosen you as the vessel. I take it you've been going through a lot of weird things lately? Maybe fever, trembling, hallucinations, uhm... uneasiness?" He sent her a curios look.

Jinora wondered how he expected her to answer while being gagged. Luckily, Tharron also shared that logic.

"Talon, get that off her," he said impatiently.

Talon scoffed and got up. Jinora breathed out in relief when he untied the tissue. She had to roll her jaws to get the feeling back.

"I've not been feverish," she started, "but I've had all the other things. Please, just tell me what is going on."

"Simply put, you are losing your mind to a spirit. It is taking over your body, and is calling for its other parts. That is what's causing all the symptoms you've been having," Talon said, sitting back down.

"The pain is caused by the same energy that is causing the storm," Tharron said, avoiding eye contact. "The spirit is creating a storm inside of you as well as out here."

Jinora looked from one to the other. It was too much. She was losing the one thing she had always been in control of. Her mind.

"Okay," she said. "So what you're saying is that this storm will end once the spirit is back in the spirit world?"

"Yes," Talon said.

"So all I have to do is take it home?"

"She's quicker than I thought she would be," Talon says.

Jinora ignored him.

"What happens if it doesn't get home?" Jinora asked, looking at Tharron.

"The end of the world," Tharron said, staring into the fire.

"The storm will only get worse. We have to act quickly," Talon said.

Jinora swallowed. She looked out across the sea. The lights of Republic city still shone brightly. The light of the portal was so close. A lightning struck across the black sky, just above them. Jinora jumped. The other two just watched her.

"It knows that you are here," Talon said.

Jinora swallowed hard.

"Then what are we waiting for?" she said.

Kai had never been a morning person. But now, in the pitch black of the storm, at six in the morning, he was nearly jumping up and down with pent up energy.

Asami had landed the airship by the harbor and was now lowering the ramp so that they could get out. Once Kai heard it make contact with the harbor, he burst out of the doors and ran up to the island. Korra and Tenzin followed closely behind.

Air nomads and a few of the airbenders on the island had already gotten up and where tiredly attending to their chores. Lanterns had been lit everywhere to give them light in the darkness.

Kai wasted no time in getting into the building where Jinora's family lived. He slammed open the doors, ran up the stairs and down the hallways until he reached Jinora's room.

He hesitated for only a second. What if she was still in there? He didn't want to scare her. He collected himself, tried to calm down, before he gently opened the door.

The warm light from the hallway seeped into the dark room.

The bed was empty.

The window was open.

The white curtains where dancing in the irregular wind.

Jinora was nowhere in sight.

Kai felt his knees weaken under him.

"Is she there?" Tenzin called once he and Korra reached him. Kai stepped aside and let them look for themselves.

"Dad?" The tired voice of Meelo rang out into the hallway.

"What's going on?" Ikki asked, standing besides her brother. They were both dressed in pajamas.

"Tenzin?" Pema called and walked out of the master bedroom farther down the hall. "What's the matter? Is it Jinora?" she asked worriedly and pushed past Meelo and Ikki.

"Pema! Where is she?" Tenzin asked and grabbed his wife by the shoulders.

"Do you mean she's not in bed?" Pema asked, her voice gettig high pitched.

Behind them, Korra grabbed Kai's shoulder forcefully, hoping to prevent him from blowing up or rushing out without a plan. Kai was grateful. Though he felt more like passing out than blowing up.

"Ikki, Meelo, do you know where your sister is?" Tenzin asked hurriedly. Pema raced into Jinora's bedroom to investigate herself.

"Maybe she's on the toilet?" Meelo suggested with the shrug of his shoulders.

"Or maybe she's feeding the bison? Reshelving the library? Meditating? Writing poems?" Ikki suggested at a high pace.

"Is that something she does often?" Korra asked, frowing at the poem part.

"Or maybe she's just out being totally depressed cause she's been missing Kai so much," Ikki said, leaning back on her heels with an innocent look on her face. "She's been doing that a lot."

"No. Tenzin," Pema said stepping out of Jinora's bedroom. "Jinora's been really ill. She's been in pain and I didn't know how to help her, and I still haven't been able to reach Katara, and I planned on getting the doctor today, but..." Pema trailed off when her eyes started watering and her voice failed her.

"It's not your fault, Pema," Tenzin said and hugged her tightly.

Next followed an agonizing long morning of explaining to everyone what had happened to Jinora. Once everyone knew, they split into teams to search for her all over the Island. Naturally - something Kai felt like he had known all along - Jinora was nowhere to be found.

When everyone met up by the temple again, Tenzin was looking even more stressed out.

"No one found her?" he asked. Everyone shook their heads.

"But where could she be?" Ikki asked.

Kai felt like he was plummeting into an endless darkness. Everything was so hopeless. How were they going to find her in this darkness? How where they going to stop the spirit? How were they going to do anything?

A lightning struck on the other side of the sea, towards the south east. Kai felt his anger starting to take over again. He was so tired of the lightnings. So tired of the darkness. So tired of the winds. So tired of the spirit storm.

"You said the spirit is trying to call all its pieces together, right? And that it is using the lightnings?" Opal asked, looking towards where the lightning had struck.

"Yes," Korra said, turning towards the same direction.

"I think I know where she might have gone," Opal said.

Everyone moved very quickly after that. Kai was just praying to whoever was listening that Jinora didn't do anything stupid before he got to her.

"All you have to do is go up there," Talon said, pointing to the top of the mountain - where a lightning had just struck.

Jinora bit down on the insides of her cheeks. It was a terrible idea to walk up to where the lightnings kept striking, but Tharron said that was where the spirits energy was strongest, alas that was where she was most likely to be able to collect all the pieces and get this over with.

Jinora's worries were many, but her sense of responsibility was stronger.

"And you're sure that once it is inside me, it'll go straight to the portal?" Jinora asked for the third time.

Talon sent her an impatient look.

"Yes. That's the whole reason it is calling you."

"And I'll be fine afterwards?" Jinora asked, wishing that she could seem braver.

"You're the only one strong enough to do it," he said.

Jinora felt like he was avoiding the question, but didn't say anything. She was feeling so conflicted. She was usually so sure of herself, so sure of what was right and wrong. But after so many days without meditation and sleep, she felt like a melting candle. Like there was a fire inside of her, and that she was constantly melting away.

"This is the quickest way to end this, for the whole world, and for you," Talon said and eyed her. "Can I trust you to do the right thing?" he asked, staring at her with intense eyes.

Jinora didn't know what else to say. She nodded her head. Felt numb as she did so.

"What if I can't make it up there?" Jinora asked, thinking about the pain that kept crushing her from within.

"The spirit will find you," Talon said.

"What about you and your father? Will you be safe?"

"We'll take care of ourselves," Talon said and untied her hands.

Jinora had to massage her wrists. The ropes had left red marks on her skin. Her tremble had gotten even worse by now. Talon shoved a lantern into her hands and held up a piece of chalk.

"When you're up there, draw three circles around yourself with this," He said and handed it to her.

Jinora held it up and examined it with tired eyes. "What's so special about this?"

"It's... eh, blessed," Talon said.

He cleared his throat when Jinora gave him a puzzled look. There was something really weird about Talon. Jinora got the feeling he wasn't telling the whole truth. Even the chalk was a secret too big for him to spill.

"You're saving the world, Jinora," Talon said and stepped backwards.

Jinora watched him.

"How do you know all this?" she asked.

"For the love of- There's no time," he said forcefully. "You have to go!" He threw out his hands and looked frustrated. The vein kept pulsating at the side of his face.

Jinora took a deep breath. Her bare feet felt so sore already. Her pajamas was so thin and the wind was so harsh. Yet, she was driven forwards by a force from within her.

She started walking. The mountainside was steep, but not too hard to climb, even though it was impractical with the lantern. She chose the easiest route she could find.

The skin under her feet and her palms got scraped up quickly, but she couldn't stop. She had to get up there. Even if she was getting the feeling it wasn't her decision to do so anymore.

One more lightning struck down in the top of the mountain. Jinora jumped into a tiny pocket in the mountain, and pulled her legs up to her chest. The thunder that followed was so loud that it hurt her ears. She covered them with her hands, forsaking the lantern by her feet.

What was she doing? How could this be the only way to save the world? She took three deep breaths before she dared to stand up again. She put a hand to the mountain side to stabilize herself and nearly cried out when she saw her skin.

It was like in her dream. Starting from her fingertips, her veins turned black. She shook violently. Felt paralyzed. Watched as the black raced up her arms and reached her chest. She held up the collar of her shirt and watched as the black covered her entire body.

She was sure she could feel them now. All the separated pieces of the spirit inside of her, fighting for her awareness. She breathed in slow, raspy breaths of air.

There was only one way to stop it. She had to face her nightmares. She had to keep climbing.

Lefty was stressed. And it was because of Kai.

He hadn't even bothered to saddle up. He just jumped onto Lefty's back and gave the command. He wanted to tell Opal not to when she climbed on after him, but forced himself to see reason. He needed help. The fact was that he and Opal were a good team. They had a good chance of finding Jinora together.

Tenzin took the others on Oogi. Kai was grateful. He couldn't take the constant debate in the group anymore.

"Kai, are you okay?" Opal asked, breaking the tense silence Kai was creating.

He was sitting on his knees on Lefty, gripping the fur so tightly his knuckles turned white.

"No," Kai said. "It's like I'm feeling all the bad emotions all at once."

Opal put on a worried face. She probably knew there was nothing she could say that would help him feel better. Kai felt bad for putting her in that situation. For her sake he loosened his grip on the fur and sat back with his legs crossed.

"It's ironic," he said. "This all started with me wanting to get back to doing peace missions, like we used to do together. That's exactly what I got."

"Kai," Opal said. "You never wished for this."

"No, but she didn't want me to leave. I shouldn't have left her here," he said. "She had a nightmare the night before we left. I didn't think much of it then, but now I'm starting to think maybe that was the beginning."

"None of us could have known that. We didn't even know what we were up against."

"No, but..."

"So just shut up," Opal said sternly and punched him in the arm. "You know you're not helping anyone by blaming yourself. Now let's focus on finding her."

Kai rubbed the sore spot on his arm.

"But how? I can barely see the sea under us," Kai said, squinting in the direction where the lightning had struck. The city light cast a faint light over the horizon of the mountain, but that was it. He couldn't even remember which one of the tops the lightning had struck.

Suddenly, an idea struck.

"Ikki said that Pepper was gone, right?" Kai suddenly asked.

"Yes?"

"Hey, Lefty!" Kai said, and leaned over Lefty's ear. "Can you maybe find Pepper's scent?"

Lefty growled something that sounded positive to Kai. Then Lefty took a sharp swing to the left and flew them farther out into the sea.

Behind them they could hear the confused growl of Oogi. Kai turned to check if they were following them. They were thankfully right on their tail.

"Lefty's caught the scent of Pepper!" He called out to them, not sure if they would be able to hear him or not.

Only five minutes later, Lefty and Oogi landed on a grassy hill on the mountainside. Kai and Opal slid off at once, and just as they had hoped, there was Pepper. She had concealed herself between a group of trees.

Kai approached her quietly. She must've been spooked by the lightning and the thunder.

"Hey, girl," he said softly.

She seemed to recognize him and waddled carefully out of the trees. Leaves fell over her as she moved towards Kai. She pushed her big snout against him, and Kai suspected that she had been out here for a long time.

She was wearing her bridle. Jinora had meant to go out here.

"Do you know where Jinora is?" he asked, stroking the side of Peppers head.

She growled weakly and turned her massive head towards the mountainside. A tiny path was leading up towards the top of the mountain. Kai couldn't believe Jinora would go up there, but what other lead did they have?

"Is she okay?" Opal asked as she approached them.

"Yeah, she's just spooked," Kai said and turned to the others.

"Is that Pepper?" Tenzin asked and hurried over to them.

"Yes, I think Jinora left her here and continued up on her own," Kai said and looked up at the steep hillside.

"Just your average midnight-midstorm mountain hiking," Bolin said.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's fly up there and get her," Korra said.

Jinora was so afraid that the lightning might strike again. She was at the top of the mountain. At last. The ground was only stone. It was a wide, slightly tilted surface. One wrong step and she feared she would be falling to her doom.

She wasn't even sure she would be able to airbend at this point.

She was panting as she drew the first circle with the special chalk Talon had given her. As she did, she was constantly reminding herself that she had to do this. It was the only right thing to do.

A nagging feeling in the back of her head, told her that if she needed to convince herself it was the right thing - was it really?

The winds seemed to come from every angle. She was so cold by now, that her tremble had spread to her entire body. Her fingers were numb. The black veins were even more visible as all color left her ice cold skin.

Her pajamas was dirty and ripped on her knees. Her hair was windswept. Her eyes were sore from squinting so much.

Next to her stood the lantern. The light in it was getting weaker. Jinora suspected that the oil was running out. It was best to speed things up a bit.

She drew the second circle just inside the first one. And then the last one inside the second one.

A lightning struck at once. Jinora jumped to her feet; her heart racing inside of her. She dropped the chalk, but paid no mind to where it went. From the light of the lantern, she could only just make out a dark silhouette, standing on the neighbor top in front of her - only about twenty meters away. It was tall as a building and haunched over. Strangely shaped.

It was standing so still. Like a wolf, watching its pray.

Jinora fought the urge to run away. It was gonna be fine. She just had to stand there a little while more.

It moved without sound. Leaped effortlessly from its top to the one Jinora was on. Jinora was paralyzed as it hovered over her. She could see shades of purple, shining in the light of the lantern. The spirit looked like it was made out of a million diamonds. Or was that all the pieces it had been split into?

"Let go of all fear, let go of all fear, let go of all fear," Jinora ranted under her breath. She stared the spirit right into its shiny black eyes. Waiting for it to do whatever it was it needed to do.

"Look!" Opal shouted over the wind.

A small light at the top of the mountain. It flickered in the darkness, but Kai knew. It had to be her.

"Down there!" He shouted, hoping that Tenzin and the other's could hear him over the loud wind.

Lefty dove into the air. Pepper followed closely.

Behind him, Kai could hear Tenzin shouting something, but it was too hard to make out the words. He was too dead set on reaching Jinora before something bad happened.

They came closer and closer. Kai could make out her slim figure now. Her white pajamas. Her bare feet. Her brown hair. She was staring at something far above her. She looked hypnotized.

"What is that?" Opal asked in a frightened voice.

Kai followed Jinora's eyes. It was hard to see at a distance, and especially in the darkness, but as they got closer, Kai could see it. The spirit. The giant spirit from the mural. Hanging over her, like a beast, ready to charge its prey.

He didn't have time to plan it, he just leaped. The exact thing he probably shouldn't have done. He could hear Opal cry out for him, but it was too late. He pulled out the wings on his suit and cut through the winds like a knife.

The ear deafening sound of thunder rumbled through the sky. Kai had a second to worry that this impact might break every bone in Jinora's body, before he crashed into her, grabbed her waist, rolled over the edge of the mountain, and fell into the air on the other side.

He grunted in pain as he landed on Peppers back. The fur was soft and cool. The bison flew away fast. Kai panted. His heart beat frantically. He could swear he could feel it all the way up in his throat. He looked back at the mountaintop. He couldn't see the spirit. Was it gone? Had it given up?

Korra jumped off of Oogi and landed on the mountaintop, ready to battle the spirit, but it seemed to have vanished.

Kai turned to look at Jinora.

A cold feeling of despair filled him at the sight of her. She was lying completely still in his arms. Her skin was white. Her collarbones were exposed with black veins zigzagging across her skin. Kai reached out and grabbed her hand, felt dizzy when he saw the veins had turned black there as well. He entwined his fingers in hers, watched as they trembled over his knuckles.

"Jinora?" he said softly. "Jinora, I'm back."

He lifted her trembling hand to his lips and kissed her fingers tenderly. He felt his own walls crumbling down inside him. He wanted to cry out at the top of his lungs. What if she didn't wake up? What if she hit her head when he plunged into her?

What if he had killed her by trying to save her?

"Kai?"

Kai nearly jumped at the sound of her voice. He expected to see her brilliant, brown eyes. The kind, loving expression she always sent him. But instead, her eyes were black. There was no white, no shades of brown. Only black.

She looked completely inhuman.

"You're back," she said and closed her eyes. Turned her head to weakly nuzzle into the crock of his neck.

Kai couldn't move. He felt frozen to the bone.

All the way back to the island he held her close to him, while his heart beat just as frantically as when he jumped through the air to save her.

He was too late.

A/N: BAM BAM BAAAAAAAM