"Katara, Katara I lost him" Aang told the water bender sadly, but didn't notice that she didn't even hear him. The old man from before was next to her and tried comforting her.
"The sun is rising. Perhaps he will return soon," he told her obviously not sensing our presences. I looked up at the sky just realizing that the sun was rising, had the incident with Hei-Bai taken that much time? Aang looked at the two of them confused and ran up to them.
"What? No, I'm right here!" Aang shouted. When he didn't respond Aang let out a frustrated groan, and began waving his hand in front of the man's face. He must have realized something strange about his hand. He lifted his hand up towards the sun and saw that his body wasn't in it's normal state, it was blue and completely transparent. "I'm in the Spirit World!" he exclaimed as he quickly turned towards us. I saw his eyes widen as he noticed that we too weren't in our regular conditions, revealing our see through figures with the sun's rays. "What's going on?" Aang asked as we walked towards him.
"We are not completely sure ourselves," I said lying to him "but I'll try to figure this out."
"Okay," Aang said feeling a bit more relaxed that he had help.
"I'm going to take a quick walk to clear my head a bit. Brianna you stay here with Aang."
"Oh okay," Brianna said as she turned to her black panther.
"Come on Gin," I said as I motioned my partner to follow me. He nodded his head as he slowly walked along side me on the pathway. When we were positive that we were clear out of sight, Gin started a conversation.
"Do you have a plan?" he asked me as he looked down at me.
"Not yet," I said as I crossed my arms in a thinking position. "From what I remember Roku's dragon will come and take Aang to a Fire Nation Temple. There it will tell him that Roku wants to talk to him during the Winter Solstice. So far nothing seems to be threatening or needs changing. Also getting back to the Human World and saving Sokka also doesn't need to be changed."
"So we basically don't have a role in this episode," Gin said suspiciously.
"I guess so…I don't know why but it doesn't seem likely. I wonder if Roku has something in store for us," I muttered under my breath. Suddenly I felt a chill go up my spine making me search the area around me for anything supernatural. I spotted behind me a familiar blue aura that was coming towards us. "Well speak of the devil," I said as I saw Roku's messenger flying towards us. "We better go to Aang, but I guess we should probably run."
"Understood," Gin said as he motioned me to get up on him. I looked at him wondering why I would need to ride on him but then realized that I might not be able to use my abilities in my spirit form. I quickly got onto his back and clung onto his neck as he started running back towards Aang and the others.
"Rebecca," I heard Aang call out my name as we got closer. Gin jumped into the air and slide across the ground, until stopping to a halt. "What's the matter?" Aang asked as he ran over towards our side. I got off of Gin as I turned towards the young monk.
"I ran into a little…obstacle along the way," I said trying to find the right word.
"Obstacle, what do you mean by obstacle?" Aang asked not fully getting the picture. We then heard a strange roar coming from the woods. "Sokka?" Aang asked the strange sound. A light then appeared from the sky as it revealed the spiritual dragon. "That's definitely not Sokka!" Aang said as he opened his glider. He tried taking off into the air, but just simply glided back to the ground. A bit confused, Aang tried doing some simple bending but was unable to, leaving him feeling helpless. "What? I can't air bend in the Spirit World!" I lowered my eyes as I glanced towards Brianna.
"Brianna, try breathing fire," I told her. She raised an eyebrow wondering why I would ask her something like that. "Just trust me and do it." She nodded her head, still confused, and obeyed. She inhaled the air around us into her lungs as she got ready to blow out a hot fire ball. To her surprise nothing came out except a strange wheezing sound.
"It didn't work," Brianna said stating the obvious as she tried blowing fire again.
"Looks like anyone who comes to the Spirit World is powerless," I told them.
"Okay great so what are we suppose to do about that?" Aang screamed as he pointed our attention back towards the flying dragon. We watched it fly down in front of Aang and stared down at his master's reincarnation. "You don't know where Sokka is, do you?" Aang asked the creature. Brianna and I quickly walked to Aang's side, so that we didn't look suspicious for not trying to protect Aang. I placed a hand in front of Aang and motioned him back a couple of steps. Roku's dragon looked into my eyes then to Aang's, and then touched Aang's head with his whiskers. I watched Aang close his eyes while he entered a vision. "You're Avatar Roku's animal guide like Appa is to me!" Aang exclaimed as the dragon pulled back his whispers from Aang's forehead, ending the vision. "I need to save my friend and I don't know how. Is there some way for me to talk to Roku?" The dragon bends down allowing Aang to board him. It looked down at us as if he had something to tell us as well. We both stood still as he stretched out his whiskers and placed one on each of our heads.
It felt as if my body was being moved as I saw a vision of an area completely filled with darkness and fog. It area gave out a lonely and empty feeling as we continued to be pulled towards our destination. I spotted a small faint glow ahead of us. It was then I realized that the glow was getting bigger and brighter as we moved closer to it, until it was literally in front of me. A human figure with a cloak stood with their back facing me. The cloak was white from the head to the hips and then faded into black until it reached the ground. It looked like the grim reaper, but it didn't feel evil. Its eyes were covered by a hood and I could barely make out its lips. It slowly turned its body until it was completely facing me. I couldn't tell the gender of the person by its few visible features, but for some reason I could tell that it was attractive. It slowly moved its lips as if it was trying to say something, but I couldn't hear it. All too suddenly the vision ended.
"Did you see that?" Brianna asked me. I nodded my head indicating that I was listening, but at the same time I was still thinking about the mysterious person from before. "What did it say?"
"We finally meet…" I said recalling the movement of the lips. Brianna and Aang looked at me as if we were in a horror film, but I ignored them. Something about the way it said that to us, it seemed so sad but I couldn't explain it. Even though I couldn't see that person's eyes I could just sense the sadness, like it regretted something. I let my mind wonder to think about the stranger that I had seen in the vision.
"Hey Rebecca, are you okay?" I heard a voice call me, which forced me back into reality. I looked up at Aang who had Brianna sitting behind him on Roku's dragon.
"Yeah I'm fine, just thinking" I told him as I got up on the dragon. Nyoko and Gin took this as a sign to go back into their charms, knowing very well that Roku's dragon was much faster transportation than them. Aang looked down over at Appa and Katara who were looking down at the ground, obviously worried.
"I'll be back, Katara" he muttered under his breath while I knew Brianna probably gagged in her mind. "Take me to Roku!" he commanded the spiritual dragon. The dragon obeyed him and flew off into the sky, ignoring any creature that happened to be around us. It was clear to us that none of the living could see us, but something was nagging me in the back of my mind. Just as we came to a familiar looking mountain pass I finally remembered what it was. I looked down at the path searching for the great ex-general that was supposed to be riding half naked in this scene, while being held captive by local earth benders.
"Where is he?" I muttered under my breath and continued to search below us. The trees around us seemed to be moving past us in a flash, making the task of finding Iroh harder. Somehow, to my surprise, I heard the sound of animal footsteps and chains clattering coming up ahead. I was able to focus on the sounds and then spot Iroh who was just up ahead. I tapped Brianna on the shoulder as I pointed down the road. She didn't seem to understand what I meant until she saw us pass by a small group of earth bender soldiers, but by then she only saw a faint image. As for me I was able to look back at the group and make eye contact with the wise uncle. I smiled at him as I gave him a slight wave before he was clear out of sight.
"Ah man, I missed him!" Brianna whined under her breath so that only I could hear. I let out a small chuckle as I patted her on the back as we continued to fly.
"Don't worry we'll see him and his nephew soon enough. Although I don't know if that's a good or bad thing," I told her half joking. We were now crossing the ocean and headed towards a small island with a large volcano centered in it. I spotted a red temple, which I recognized as Roku's temple. When we were about a good ten feet from the temple the dragon stopped. He lifted his head over his long body and looked down at Brianna and me.
"Oh, I get it 'Avatar only' zone. Come on Brianna, better call out our own rides." Without another word I jumped off the dragon. I placed my hand over my charm and summoned Gin, who caught me before I landed into the ocean waters. Gin and I flew back up to the dragon as we waited for Brianna to summon Nyoko, but she didn't dare to jump off like I did. When Brianna was safely off of our scaly friend and onto her own winged creature, I looked towards the dragon.
"Take good care of him. We'll be over here waiting," I told him. He gave me low growl before he flew towards the temple.
"Now what?" Brianna asked me. I shrugged my shoulders as I leaned against Gin.
"Sit tight and wait. It's not like we don't know what's going to happen in there."
"I know that, but how long do you think they'll be?"
"I don't know. How long does it take to look at a statue, get a vision, and then come back?" I asked her in an obvious tone.
"Twenty four hours!" Nyoko said jokingly. Gin and I gave out a heavy sigh while the other two laughed together.
"How long do you think we'll have to put up with them?" Gin asked me.
"Until the day we die, wait no, I think even when we're spirits we'll still be stuck with them." Gin laughed at my joke. I looked up at the morning sky as I began humming to myself.
"What song are you humming?" Brianna asked me when I was half way through the song. I looked over at her but then just rolled my body over towards the opposite direction so that my back was facing her.
"You wouldn't know it, it's too depressing for you" I told her jokingly but it was partly true.
"Oh Rebecca," I heard her yell out to me and was probably waving her hands around.
"That and…." I paused for a moment as I looked down at the dark surface of the ocean, "I was thinking about Alex." Brianna didn't respond and I knew it was because she was thinking about her parents and dog back home. For me, Alex was the only one I truly couldn't live without. The feeling of loneliness slowly took over my chest and I subconsciously grabbed onto my robe, trying to ease the pain.
"Rebecca…" Brianna said to me in a worried voice.
"It's nothing," I told her as I clenched at my chest harder. I wanted the pain to stop, but I didn't know how. I could feel all three of them focused on me. Brianna and Nyoko stared at me, because they weren't sure if I was okay. Gin remained silent but I could feel that he was being aware of me. I rubbed my head against his fur, as a sign that I was going to be okay, but truthfully we both knew that it might not happen.
((OOOO))
"Hey guys," I heard a familiar voice call to us. I turned my body over to the voice and saw Aang flying over, riding Roku's dragon.
"That took longer than I expected," I muttered to Gin who nodded his head, agreeing with me.
"What took you so long?" Brianna asked as we got onto the dragon and our partners reentered their chambers. "Do you know how sore my butt is?"
"Sorry," Aang apologized as the dragon took off. "I wasn't able to talk to Roku, and his dragon had to explain that I could only meet him when the Winter Solstice comes and hit the statue of Roku. The only problem is the Winter Solstice is tomorrow, and I don't know how we're going to get though the Fire Nation" Aang told us sharing the information, which we already knew. We could tell that Aang was worried from both the look in his eyes and the fact that he was practically shaking from worrying too much. Brianna patted the boy's back in hope that it would calm him down. This helped, somewhat, and was able to make him stop shaking.
"Don't worry Aang, you've got us!" Brianna said cheerfully. Aang looked at Brianna and then me, his eyes begging for comfort. I let out a chuckle as I gave him a reassuring smile.
"For once you can trust in what Brianna says," I told him. Aang laughed at this while Brianna protested at what I had just said, but I ignored her completely. "Hey look there's the statue," I said as I pointed towards the ground with my eyes. They all looked down as they saw the familiar destroyed grounds and panda statue, which had Aang's body sitting on top of its head. This surprised me since I knew that Aang's body was left on the ground, but I shook the thought away knowing that it wasn't really important.
Roku's dragon suddenly dived down towards the ground but at the last second turned to the side and went though the back of the statue. Brianna and I went straight through and fell to the ground, back in our solid structures. Unlike Aang who had reentered his body in order to come back into the Human World. He floated down to us and helped Brianna and I up from the ash covered ground.
"Come on, we gotta go save Sokka." Aang said as he helped me to my feet. Brianna and I nodded our heads in agreement as Aang opened up his glider. Brianna and I summoned Gin and Nyoko again and hopped onto them as we followed Aang to the village. The sun was starting to set and the clouds were turning purple, telling us we didn't have much longer to wait for night, which meant another visit from Hei-Bai. I looked down at the village and quickly spotted the only patch of blue in the entire green and gold painted village. Aang flew down to the ground and was quickly greeted by Katara with a warm hug. She then went after us and greeted us with hugs when we landed onto the village grounds.
"You're back! Where's Sokka?" Katara asked as she turned towards Aang.
"I'm not sure," Aang said with his head hung low. The sun was now completely set which was a sign to get ready for another meeting with Hei-Bai.
"Where were you guys?" Katara asked not completely understanding the situation.
"The Spirit World," Brianna said happily. Katara's eyes immediately widened at what she had told her. Aang let out a groan while I slapped myself in the forehead. "What?" Brianna asked us confused as to why we were upset.
"Couldn't you have waited until I gave a better explanation instead of just telling her like that?" I answered Brianna's question with a question of mine own. I gave out a heavy sigh as I looked over to Katara. "To sum it up when we went after Sokka we lost him in the Spirit World and somehow Aang was able to go into the Spirit World because he crashed into the ground. His spirit separated from his body and when he finally regained consciousness, Brianna and I had found our own way to get into the Spirit World. We met up with Roku's dragon and now here we are." I told her not wanting to give away the fact about meeting Roku on Winter Solstice just yet.
"Wow sounds like quite a trip," Katara said amazed with my story.
"Yeah well there'll be more to tell after we rescue Sokka."
I understand that some of you may have been confused as to how Brianna and I got into the Spirit World, so to get straight to the point we didn't separate from our bodies.
