A/N: Thank you Worldnotesongs88 for the favorite and follow!

CW for serious injury, death/murder, and potentially inaccurate spirit and bending mechanics, all within the context of a folktale.

Enjoy!

"Did you have any stories you heard growing up?" Jinora asked Mike. It was a calm sort of afternoon and the two airbender sisters had a break from their schooling to spend mildly pestering Mike while he had fewer rooms to tidy than usual.

"…there were a few. My grandpa Chosi likes to make the claim that he was there when the United Republic was first being organized, but I never really believed him. He lived in the northern Earth Kingdom by the time I was born," Mike recounted, remembering how his favorite relative always told him the story when he was feeling down or upset.

"I was there! I was taller than the Avatar, he gave me an excellent recipe for fruit pie!"

"Oh, so he knew Grandpa Aang!" Ikki realized.

"Allegedly," Mike reiterated with a small laugh. "No one has ever backed him up on that." And no one would ever get the chance to.

"What about Water Tribe stories? I've heard some pretty spooky ones from Korra and Grandma, do you know any of those?" Jinora further inquired.

Mike paused. "Hm…the ones I heard might have been a bit different from here…many had spirits involved and were more to keep kids from doing bad things than tell at parties or gatherings." He recalled bits and pieces of some old stories, but nothing in full, except…

"Tell us one!"

He paused one more time, as if getting internal permission, before taking a breath. "There's this one about a spirit named Movu."

The girls leaned in to listen, excited at the opportunity to hear a brand-new story from their grandma's culture, as told by a new voice.

"Movu wasn't always a spirit," Mike began his tale. "He was originally a boy from the North, tall, strong, and intelligent. He was not a waterbender but he kept up with the ones in his village, watching them and copying the way they moved so that maybe he could match their power and grace. He would then meditate every day, trying to connect with the universe and convince it to grant him the gift regardless of his lacking birthright." He would pause after each long section and make sure he knew what was next.

"Was he successful?" Ikki had to ask.

Mike appeared solemn as he continued. "Unfortunately, as he grew, he surpassed the waterbenders in strength and gained the admiration of everyone who turned to him to help protect them from the wild beasts and dark spirits that lived on its outskirts."

"Unfortunately…?" Jinora mimicked.

"The waterbenders grew extremely jealous of his exceptional talent as a hunter and protector. They felt inferior, despite their gifts, because they were, and they decided they wanted him gone."

The two girls waited for him to continue.

"Movu fell asleep after an especially tiring outing one night, and because of an incredibly loud and violent snowstorm outside, didn't hear them enter his home. Armed with spikes of ice they crafted with their abilities, the waterbenders silently attacked him, plunging them into his chest, legs, and eyes." Instinctively Mike brushed a finger by his own right eye, near which was a very faint scar.

The young airbenders gasped, ignoring the incredible specificity of the positions he described.

"He woke up a few days later in a ravine they had thrown his body in and felt that his right eye was gone, replaced by a crystal of ice. His other eye was still usable, if ridiculously spotty. He couldn't move his arms or legs, he could only shiver."

"A snow spirit stumbled across him soon after he woke. It took an interest in him, a human who had merged with the ice, and touched him with its snout and felt his life energy fading rapidly. He was afraid it would eat him, as he only had experience with dark spirits that stole people away and attacked their hunting parties but was completely paralyzed by the ice that had severed part of his spine. He couldn't run away or speak."

"It was not long before Movu knew his time was up…By then the snow spirit had tripled in size, as large as…" he tried to think of a comparison the two would be able to grasp, "a polar bear dog, or even larger, as the snow that had been falling cleared. It had sensed his fear, but also his will to keep himself awake until his breath was nothing but frost, and so had stayed with him."

"It picked him up between its teeth, his body limp and unable to resist. It ran for miles to the land surrounding the North Pole, where its strength grew tenfold. Other spirits smelled the human and gathered round the snow spirit as it lay Movu down in the lush grass. 'Bei, why did you bring us a dead human?' a different spirit asked. 'He has left this world already.' 'Not yet,' said Bei. 'His spirit is strong. I have not seen it exit his body yet.' Bei lay a paw over the hole in Movu's chest, a small piece of their energy flowing through him and back again in confirmation."

"How is that possible? He died already," Ikki had to ask.

"Bei is such a kind spirit to take him so far…I wonder if they still live up there," Jinora said with a sigh.

"Let me finish," Mike requested politely.

The girls fell quiet again.

"Bei stayed next to him for days, months, perhaps years after he died, as time works in strange ways with the spirits. The ice did not melt, nor did his spirit leave him. Eventually, his body moved again, surpassing Bei and the other spirits' notice. When it did, the ice in his chest melted and reformed beside him. He opened his eyes to see the dark greens of the forest around the Pole. His right eye had fully been replaced by the crystal, allowing him to see again, while the other disappeared entirely. It took incredible effort for him to sit up. The spike in his chest had left an empty hole where it had once been. His dark hair had turned a stark white. 'You are still here,' Bei finally observed, helping him stand on legs that felt like barely anything at all. 'You must still have business in this world. I will help you finish it.'

"Movu shivered once more. He still felt cold, so very cold, and exhausted. The chill wouldn't leave him alone. The only warmth he felt was the burning rage inside him. He knew exactly who had done this to him, and they would suffer for it."

"He asked Bei to take him to his village. He rode upon their back, their soft fur prickly to his frozen skin. For the first time, he felt the water in the ice, the strength of the moon that was high and bright in the sky. A feeling he'd prayed for for so long only made the inferno of his rage brighter. His hands shook as he cut through chunks of ice with only a small swipe, the snow curled around and away from them as it fell."

"When they arrived, it was nightfall once again. The village was celebrating a successful hunt. The water benders stood at the center, basking in the adoration of their tribe as they cooked the meat and fish they had captured. They all appeared older, perhaps wiser, but he only saw the wastes of human life they were. A waste of a gift they didn't deserve, the selfish and hateful people they were, and the villagers cheered for them."

"The people of the village couldn't not notice the massive spirit creature standing on the edge of town. The waterbenders prepared to defend the village, approaching the spirit unbothered, which was their first and last mistake."

"Movu slid off Bei's back and took a ghostly breath; the snow fully halted in the air around him. His blackened, frost-bitten fingers curled up and out. He knew the forms, he knew the ways of the water from his years of training and observation, and he would use it well."

The girls had huddled together. "Wh-what happens next?" Ikki asked shakily.

"…" Mike paused and appeared like he'd lost his train of thought.

"Mike?" Jinora said his name.

"I don't…what was the end of the story…?" he asked himself. "There was a moral, some sort of warning, or maybe I remembered it wrong…"

"So that's it? I've never heard of someone gaining the ability to bend after they died, let alone using it…" Jinora had shaken off the unease she'd felt listening to the story. "Is there any evidence this really happened?"

He'd come back around, sort of. "Who knows…the story takes place a very long time ago, any evidence is likely buried in the snow," 'Mike' said slowly. "It could have been real, or some Water Tribe parent made the whole thing up to scare their water bending children into submission." He finally stood up and left the room, but not before saying, "You two don't have to worry about him paying you a visit; the gifts of your family wouldn't lead him to you."

The airbenders looked at the now-empty door and then at each other. "I don't remember Korra's stories being so…" Ikki started.

"Chilling," Jinora finished, rubbing her arm as if it were cold. Her head had ached suddenly towards the end there, even though she'd grown used to his energy being around by now…

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