Soo sorry it's been soooooo long since I've updated, but I been busy. And I had writers block for awhile, so now I have your chapter! Please leave a review it always makes my day, enjoy! And Happy Hunting!
Chapter7: Lies? Maybe Not.
"What is he doing here?" Shang demanded.
Aang smiled and set down his cup of tea. "Shang, Ty Lee, it's good to see you," He said.
Shang pushed Ty Lee behind him, sure that this was a trap.
"Aang, do you know who that is?" Shang said slowly.
Aang sighed and walked over to his friend. "Altoru, or better known to the world as Great Terror," He answered simply.
"Why is he here?" Ty Lee asked quietly.
"Listen, guys, he's Mitsuki's father," Aang said.
"You do not!" Mitsuki yelled for the fifth time, Temeharo had been trying to get her to believe that he had twelve chipmunk-rats in his pockets.
Really, Haro had rocks in his pockets but he tried to pass them off as chipmunk-rats.
"You are such a bad liar!" Mitsuki yelled, punching him playfully and laughing.
Haro laughed too, and he took from his pockets the pebbles he'd collected along the way. Mitsuki grabbed the rocks and threw them at Haro, he lifted his shoulder to block them and began laughing harder.
"See, you shouldn't believe everything you're told!" Haro said, grinning from ear to ear.
Mitsuki's laughing subsided and her smile left. "So, in the cave-" She started.
Temeharo frowned as well, but he listened to what she had to say. "I'm sorry for pressing when you obviously didn't want to talk about it," She said sullenly.
Haro sighed but didn't get angry. He thought about it over and over. Should I tell her?
"Mitsuki." He said before he could change his mind. "Yes?" She answered.
"I think you should know," He whispered. She took a deep breath and waited for him to speak. Which he didn't do for a long time.
"As I said before, I wasn't always a spirit-" He reminded her, trying to start at the beginning. "I was-" A piercing, shrieking roar filled the valley they walked in.
Mitsuki was immediately alert, ready to fight although she had no Star Skill, she'd have to fight hand-to-hand.
Haro was on alert as well, preparing to use his star sword.
A shadow cloaked them, big enough almost to cover the entire green grassed valley.
They both simultaneously looked up. A giant dragon met their gaze, and Mitsuki squealed in happiness.
Haro looked at her quizzically, "Sonna!" Mitsuki yelled as the dragon landed.
Getting the impression that Mitsuki knew this creature, Haro let his sword fade back to light.
Mitsuki hugged the big animals nose and it purred like a cat. Temeharo walked over to ask but there was no need, as the dragon opened its eyes and looked at him he recognized it; Mitsuki's animal guide.
"Hey! I know you!" Haro said, patting Sonna on the head. She let out a roar and he laughed.
"Haro! Do you know what this means?" Mitsuki yelled, although she didn't need to, Haro was no more than two feet in front of her.
"We don't have to walk anymore! We can ride her!" She squealed jumping up and down. Haro seemed to catch on her enthusiasm and started smiling and thanking the animal.
"We are gonna get there in record time!" Mitsuki squeaked, and then surprisingly she threw her arms around Temeharo's neck and hugged him tight.
Taken completely by surprise, Haro didn't respond at first. But then he wrapped his arms around her in a tight embrace.
She pulled back grinning but that quickly faded. She backed up and looked back to Sonna, clearing her throat as the awkward silence fell over them.
Haro could feel the tension rising, so he made an attempt to clear that. "We should get flying then," He said.
Mitsuki smiled faintly and agreed, then climbed up the side of her dragon and sat on her saddle. Haro sat behind her and they took of into the air.
As they ascended above the clouds Mitsuki remembered their previous conversation that went unfinished.
"So, Haro, you were saying earlier?" She asked. He thought a moment then remembered, "Oh, uh, never mind." He said sadly, and looked out over the landscape.
Mitsuki sighed but didn't say anything more.
"What?" Ty Lee demanded, looking at Aang as if he'd just killed three people. "Altoru is Mitsuki's father," The Avatar repeated. Ty Lee fell silent. This wasn't true.
"A lie," She said, glaring at Altoru. He smirked and shook his head.
"It's true, would you like to explain?" Aang asked, turning to Altoru. He nodded, setting down his cup.
"The moon spirit was my wife," He started off. "Yue?" Ty Lee asked in disbelief.
"No. The one before her," Altoru corrected with an annoyed sound. "All of the star spirits were our children-" He went on to tell her the whole story of how when his wife died the Spirit Counsel made up a law so no new star spirits were needed, each star would take on special missions and after each mission was completed the star would fall and lose all their memories, and then become the next star in the sky.
If the mission failed the star spirit was obliterated, the star would fade. "I was angry at the counsel, yes, but I didn't become this evil-bloodthirsty-spirit all the humans thought I was. Not at first-"
"So you admit to being evil," Shang said quickly.
"Shang, give him a chance," Aang said. Shang sighed and let him finish.
"Anyway. I didn't want any of my children to just die! That's cruel," He said. "When humans die they go to the spirit world, but if you're obliterated you die forever. You don't go to a spirit world or even back to the real world, you turn to dust and are never seen again," Altoru explained with a pained expression all over his face.
"So, I decided to become 'evil' or at least pretend to be evil, I got a band of spirits together and we fought against the good spirits, and we became the evil that Mitsuki and the other stars had to fight against. We'd make their fights seem real but we'd always let them win. We made up evil plots and tried to carry them out only to have the stars spoil our plans, it was all going fine, until Mitsuki started asking questions-" He took a deep breath.
"Last mission I told her everything. Which would've been fine except another spirit was listening, his name is Athus and he threatened to kill one of my daughters if I didn't tell the Spirit Council all that I'd done,"
"That doesn't make sense, why didn't he just tell them?" Ty Lee asked.
"He said they wouldn't believe it from him, it had to be me. It doesn't make very much sense to me either but he will probably somehow gain from this," Altoru said.
"Which is why I asked for your help, he's taken Kira to a far away spirit temple and I need to get her out." He said. "Why can't you do it?" Shang asked coldly.
"Evil spirits are forbidden to enter, and since I'm thought of as evil I'll never be able to get through the spirit wall," Altoru explained.
"And since you wouldn't help me I've come for the Avatar's help," He added.
Ty Lee felt a pang of guilt as she looked into his eyes. The love of a father was unmistakable, this was no lie.
Ty Lee took Shang by the arm and pulled him aside, "He's telling the truth, we should help," She whispered.
"Yeah right," Shang replied, smirking and glancing at Altoru.
Ty Lee sighed. But Aang quickly came to the rescue, "It's all true Shang," He said. "I've checked with the Spirit Council and they confirmed the Moon Spirit was his wife and the law was made after she was killed by Zhao," He tried to reassure his friend.
"He tried to kill my family! And you both expect me to just trust him?" Shang yelled back, not caring if Altoru heard. "Ty Lee, you of all people shouldn't just want to trust him! You almost got killed by this guy, lets not let that happen again," He stepped close to his wife and touched her cheek gently.
She sighed as she understood, she tasted death more than once but she couldn't help it, Altoru was so genuine she couldn't bring herself to believe this was a lie.
"Shang. You don't have to trust him, just trust me," She whispered, looking deeply into his eyes.
He let out a frustrated breath and nodded sadly. "I do." He whispered.
"We'll help you," Ty Lee said, turning to Altoru. He grinned broadly and bowed in respect. "Thank miss Ty Lee, thank you," He whispered.
He brought the couple over and set on a table a map and some pictures of the spirit temple. He then told them everything they would need to do,