Merry Christmas! Happy Hanukah! Happy whatever you happen to celebrate!

I know it's been a while since my last update, and honestly, it's as frustrating to me as it is to you my amazing readers. There are dozens of excuses I could give, but to be honest my previous hiatus really threw me off my writing game. Even more than I initially thought. I tried rereading my story from the beginning to get back in the grove, but in doing so I merely got distracted by many minor mistakes, as well as parts I wanted to add to, or improve upon.

That being said you guys deserve more story far more often! So, in hopes of getting back into my writing groove, after this chapter I intend to go back and rewrite/revamp my previous chapters. Now I know that might sound disheartening, but don't worry. I'm proud of everything that's come before and going through them will go ridiculously quickly. That should get me back in writing shape.

Now I'm not sure if you guys get alerts every time, I replace a chapter so to keep you guys up to date with my progress I'll be leaving notes in the story description in case you want to reread the updated chapters.

Now on with the chapter!

36: Retaliation

As the thunder gradually echoed into oblivion, and their sight slowly returned the gathered humans and spirits were stunned to find the Dark Avatar gone without a trace.

"Master!" Ayeon exclaimed as he bolted forward looking for any sign of the lord of chaos, as he finally rejoined his remaining companions. "Are you two alright?" He asked only to be taken aback as the two turned to face him.

While Kuvira appeared to be unharmed, if a little shaken from whatever had transpired it was Ikki that concerned the minor spirit. To see the normally jubilant air bender trembling with tears falling so freely from her eyes; he could not help but fall to his knees as she rushed towards him, and embraced her tightly. Any lingering anger from that morning's wakeup call now completely forgotten.

"What happened." Ayeon demanded, leveling a no-nonsense glare at Kuvira as the young girl sniffled into his fur.

Releasing a slow shuddering breath that turned to fog in the unnatural chill permeating the vast hall, the metal bender could only meet his yellow gaze for a moment before shaking her head. "Wan Shi Tong recognized Mako as a fire bender instead of the Dark Avatar, and he attacked us. Ikki was closest to him so he went for her first. I tried to protect her, but for some reason I couldn't bend the stone in here. That's when Vaatu intervened."

"That's certainly what it sounded like from the lower levels." Ayeon conceded as he glanced at the prone form of Wan Shi Tong a short distance away, all the while rubbing Ikki's back in hopes of dissipating the fear clouding the young girl's normally bright aura. "But if he was victorious then why would he just disappear?" He asked.

"I don't know why he left. I just know he wasn't going to stop." Kuvira revealed after a moment. "I'm not sure what happened to them. We've both seen them fight before, but this was something else. The power. The only thing more unbelievable than the amount he wielded was how fast he brought it to bear. Wan Shi Tong couldn't so much as touch them. Vaatu took him down faster and harder than Arctos, but he didn't stop. He was going to execute him in cold blood but Ikki stopped him, and he nearly killed her for it."

"By the Balance." Ayeon muttered in disbelief.

"Vaatu?" Sakuya asked disbelievingly, having yet to move from her place by the stairs. "You expect me to believe that Ashmaker, your master is the Lord Sire?"

Finally taking notice of the newcomer Kuvira snapped out of her reverie, and instinctively extended the blade on her right wrist. "Ayeon who the hell is that?" She demanded leveling an emerald glare at the kitsune spirit.

"It's alright; she's not here to fight." The aye-aye spirit reassured quickly, before glancing back to shoot a warning glare at the yokai. "Right Sakuya?"

"Your friend is right." The fox yokai conceded as she tentatively moved closer to the strange group. "There was an unexpected shift in the balance recently, and I came here in hopes of finding out what caused it. Wan Shi Tong doesn't really care for gossip and hear-say, but his knowledge seekers tend to be in the know more often than not."

Stopping a respectable distance from them, she then shifted her attention to the still smoldering form of Wan Shi Tong. "Your master is powerful. There is no denying that, but for him to be who you claim. It's impossible." Sakuya asserted despite certain things starting to make sense. Such as the recent disturbance feeling quite similar to Vaatu's return last harmonic convergence.

While it was significantly subdued in comparison to the lord of chaos's previous resurgence; there was no denying how perfectly the answer fit. It explained everything she'd been tasked with investigating, but the answer, as impossible as it was raised a great many more questions. If it was true. Then there was the Ashmaker's aura, and how similar it was to the first puppet.

"I don't care if you believe us, or why you are here." Kuvira snapped impatiently as she retracted her blade, and stalked forward to look the wild spirit in the eyes. "Vaatu is here, he is out of control, and I need to find him. Ayeon vouches for you so do what you want, but know this. If I even suspect that you are a threat to any of us; I will kill you." She declared with a deathly seriousness in both her glare, and tone.

Snapped out of her musings Sakuya found herself mildly surprised, yet thoroughly amused by the woman's boldness. Cocking her head curiously her amethyst eyes took in the unusually bold human; her armor, heart rate, aura, scent, everything. The woman was afraid and her anger was mounting to compensate, but otherwise there were no signs of deception.

"I believe you." The yokai admitted with an amused smile. "You may reek of fear, but you are no liar. However, I require far more than the insistence of a human to believe your master is anything other than what I suspect he is."

Sensing that Kuvira was quickly losing her patience Ayeon made to interject, but stopped when he felt Ikki release her hold on him.

"She's right." The young air nomad said drawing everyone's attention as she backed away from aye-aye spirit, and wiped the tears from her reddened eyes. "That wasn't Vaatu."

"What are you talking about? Of course, it was. I saw his eyes; they were different I'll admit, but those were Vaatu's eyes." Kuvira insisted, her anger giving way to concern, and confusion as she turned to face the young girl. "I saw his eyes; they were different I'll admit, but that had to be Vaatu. Mako would never…"

Ikki just shook her head. "You saw his eyes, but you didn't look into them like I did. You didn't see the emotions I did. When Vaatu takes control there is no emotion in his eyes; all you can see is him."

Desperate to refute Ikki's reasoning Kuvira could only scowl as she thought back to every interaction she'd had with the spirit of chaos, and quickly realized the air bender was right. There was never anything to be seen in the crimson light that revealed the grand spirit's presence. Any emotion or mood had to be derived from the spirit's tone of voice, or Mako's facial expressions. In a way it actually made sense as the eyes are often said to be the 'windows to the soul', and Vaatu didn't have a soul.

"Emotion?" Ayeon inquired sounding skeptical himself.

"Satisfaction, rage, and fear." Rasped another voice that startled everyone causing Ikki and Ayeon to jump, while Sakuya and Kuvira whirled around hackles raised and blade re-extended.

"I don't know what the Ashmaker is." Wan Shi Tong continued with a groan as he slowly turned his head enough for one obsidian eye to face the remaining trespassers. "While his aura was deceptively human, his power was undeniably inhuman."

Feeling her temper flare, and with no one to stop her; Kuvira merely retracted her wrist blade, before stalking boldly towards the great spirit of knowledge, and too everyone's mortification swiftly kicked him in the head.

"Where is he?" The metal bender demanded.

Wincing at what should have been a mere tap to him; Wan Shi Tong could only groan in pain as the energy comprising his physical form pulsed in synch with his core as it desperately tried mend, and re-energize as quickly as possible. While the lightning ravaging his body had long since been neutralized, doing so had left him severely drained.

Having been thoroughly beaten down, and too weak to retaliate against such blatant disrespect the great spirit merely suppressed another groan. "I'm not sure." He answered after a moment only to receive a second kick for his trouble.

"Bison shit!" Kuvira snapped as she glared dangerously at the jaded librarian. "I don't know why it took you so long for you to notice us, but when you realized we were in here you came right for us. You know where he is."

"Stop. Doing. That." Wan Shi Tong bit out angrily, his obsidian glare locking with her emerald one; only to sigh in exasperation upon seeing that she wasn't about to back down. "Under normal circumstances I would be able to pinpoint his exact location within these walls. However, at the moment I'm in too much pain to concentrate properly."

Emerald eyes narrowing Kuvira summarily kicked him again. "Yeah, getting struck by lightning tends to have that effect, but unless you want this place burned to the ground you are going to have to focus through the pain, and help me find him."

"As if you could dissuade him? Long have I dreaded the day an Ashmaker like him might return to finish what his forebearers started, and now he's here and nigh unstoppable." Wan Shi Tong hissed mournfully as a deep sorrow filled his eye.

Seeing that, and hearing the owl spirit sound so subdued; Kuvira couldn't help but be reminded of herself after being defeated by Korra. Despite the fact that he'd just tried to kill her, and two people she'd come to care for; she couldn't help but feel a shred of sympathy for the jaded librarian. Though not enough to prevent her from kicking him again if he didn't start cooperating. She could be a very spiteful bitch when she wanted to be, as Varrick, Prince Wu, Suyin Beifong, and Zhu Li could all attest.

"You're right I couldn't stop him if I tried." She conceded coldly as she crouched down to look the knowledge spirit in the eye. "But luckily for you there's a chance I won't have to. You call him an Ashmaker, but you are wrong about him. He's a good man trapped in a terrible situation, shouldering a burden I can scarcely imagine, and what's more nearly every spirit we've encountered so far has tried to kill him, and us. You just so happen to be the unlucky bastard who pushed him too far. Now we came here in peace, and if you want us to leave peacefully then you need to help me. Please."

Closing his eyes Wan Shi Tong sighed. "When the Ash… your companion unleashed that final lightning bolt I couldn't see what happened, but I just barely heard his coat fluttering beneath the following thunder. He threw himself over the railing, and descended at least at least a dozen floors. He has yet to leave my domain entirely, though for how much longer he will remain here I cannot say. As far as finding him quickly you are better off asking the Yokai. I can sense your spirit companion just fine, but not her. If she can mask her aura from me at such a close proximity, then she is likely able to sense him."

Kuvira sighed, feeling her annoyance double as she turned to face the smirking kitsune spirit. "Can you?" She asked.

"I could, but I don't think I will." Sakuya replied dismissively as she curled multiple tails around her paws. "After all, in my world one doesn't survive for very long by wandering into the warpath of beings stronger than them."

Fighting down the urge to lash out with her cables, the metal bender merely nodded in concession. "Fair enough. Your world, your rules, but what if you don't need to cross him? With my seismic sense I could find him by myself so long as I'm within two, or three floors of him."

Seeming to contemplate her proposal for a moment the fox yokai merely shook her head in response. "More reasonable to be sure, but this is hardly worth my time. I have better things to do than chase after a psychotic Ashmaker with the 'firepower' to takedown a great spirit, whom you also claim is the lord of chaos himself." She explained dismissively as she began to turn away, seemingly ready to leave.

"You wanted answers, didn't you?" Ayeon interjected quickly, catching the yokai's attention before she could depart. "You said it yourself. You came here hoping to find rumors at most, only to find us instead, and now the one person, who can not only answer all of your questions, but prove it as well, is asking you for help and you are just going to walk away?"

Pausing yet again, Sakuya mulled over the aye-aye spirit's question. She could easily just walk away right now, and probably should. However as unlikely as Vaatu's return was, there were few if any other explanations. What's more if she returned to the other chosen with only a paw full of rumors, human hearsay, and unlikely possibilities; at best she'd be sent right back for verification and evidence. Something she should have done in the first place as far as Fenris is concerned, and the last thing she wanted to do was give the alpha a reason to think she was incompetent enough to eat.

Shuddering at the thought; the kitsune spirit sighed. "No; I suppose not. Very well then. I'll take you to within three floors of your master, and you can tell me your whole story on the way down."

Nodding his head in gratitude Ayeon made to leave, only to stop when Kuvira raised her hand to wait. "Hold on Ayeon. I need you to stay here with Ikki, and explain to Wan Shi Tong just how precarious his situation is. I'll go with Sakuya to find Mako." She commanded, her tone inferring the subject was not up for debate.

For a moment the minor spirit was annoyed at being ordered around so casually by the human female, but swiftly dismissed those feelings. As Vaatu's chosen servant he'd already been charged with looking after the child, and this would hardly be the first time he'd brought a formally antagonistic spirit up to speed. Besides Mako was her mate after all. Better to let her deal with him.

"But you said you can't bend in here. You need our help!" Ikki protested, only to be swiftly cut off by the metal bender.

"I need you to stay here, and wait for us to return." Kuvira said sternly, though upon seeing the worry in the air bender's eyes she could only sigh. "Look I know you are worried about Mako. I am too, but we've already underestimated how dangerous things would be in coming here, and you almost died because of it. As far as I can tell Mako tapped into something he didn't fully understand to protect us, and now he's losing control. You said you saw fear in his eyes when he aimed his lightning at you? Can you imagine how he would feel if he actually hurt you, or even killed you? It would probably destroy him."

Feeling tears threatening to return Ikki closed her eyes tightly, and merely nodded. "Alright."

Relieved that the young monk seemed to understand Kuvira offered her a small smile, and a reassuring touch to her shoulder, before nodding to Ayeon, and turning to the waiting yokai.

"Let's go."

Well, there you go, my newest original chapter. I hope you liked it. With any luck it will tide you over till next time. Feel free to check the story description for progress reports.

Also! Thank you everyone for reading, following, and most of all reviewing. As well as a special thanks to Gina for the tough love review. The fact that you and so many others care about my story this much means so much to me, and for a writer like me an occasional boot to the backside is greatly appreciated. Though that is not an invitation for everyone to pile on. Constructive criticism, and respectful requests for updates are always welcome, though 'I love this story reviews' tend to be favored. Ha-ha!

Any way until next time enjoy, review, and happy holidays!