꧁ chapter three ꧂
the moon spirit

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"I CAN'T BELIEVE I lost him" Katara said sorrowfully as she covered her face with her hands.

"You did everything you could, and now we need to do everything we can to get him back," Sokka consoled, "Zuko can't have gotten far. We'll find him. Aang's gonna be fine"

Sokka and Katara lead Yue and Meiluna on to their large flying bison.

"It's all right, you stay here, Momo, in case Aang comes back" Katara said to the lemur.

Sokka grabbed the reins on the bison,

"Yip yip"

Meiluna did not know what to expect for her first time riding a flying bison, but she was definitely not ready for it. She let out a small squeal as she rushed to grab on to the side of the saddle in fear of falling off, causing Katara, Sokka and Yue to laugh at her.

"How are you not freaked out right now?" Meiluna asked in shock looking at her sister before narrowing her eyes, "Have you already been on here or something?"

Yue glanced sideways at Sokka before a small blush warmed her cheeks, to which Meiluna raised her eyebrows.

"No" Yue mumbled, attempting to hit her sister on the head as Meiluna laughed swatting her hand away.

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"Don't worry, Prince Zuko can't be getting too far in this weather" Yue assured.

"I'm not worried they'll get away in the blizzard, I'm worried that they won't" Katara replied sadly.

"They're not going to die in this blizzard. If we know anything, it's that Zuko never gives up. They'll survive, and we'll find them" Sokka said with a determined look on his face.

"Wait, what's that?" Meiluna asked pointing down at a small figure on the ground.

"It must be Aang" Katara replied, relieved that they finally found the Avatar.

As Appa landed on the snow, Katara easily slid off and jumped in front of Zuko.

"Here for a rematch?" He questioned confidently as he tossed the Avatar aside.

"Trust me Zuko, it's not going to be much of a rematch" Katara countered.

She used her waterbending to launch Prince Zuko into the air letting him fall to the ground and knocking him out unconscious.

Meiluna watched as Sokka jumped off the bison and tried to copy him which didn't go too well as when she landed, she lost her balance and ended up falling face first into the snow.

She wiped the snow off, glaring at her sister who stayed on Appa, laughing at her misfortune.

"Hey, this is some quality rope" Sokka exclaimed as he examined the rope that was used to tie Aang.

"We need to get to the oasis, the Spirits are in trouble!" Aang urged as he propelled himself onto Appa's back, joining the others.

Before Meiluna made her way over, she spared a glimpse at the Prince who lay on the ground.

He was so much prettier when he didn't open his mouth.

"We can't just leave him here" She spoke up still looking at the Prince.

"Sure we can, let's go" Sokka spoke quickly.

Everyone else seemed to agree with him, but Aang looked unsure.

Meiluna knew in the back of her mind, it was probably stupid and naive to save the Prince.
But she didn't think she could live with herself if she had to have his death on her conscience.

"She's right, if we leave him, he'll die" Aang suddenly said.

Meiluna made her way back onto Appa, with some help from Yue and Sokka pulling her up, as Aang retrieved Zuko, bringing him aboard.

"Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us" Sokka rolled his eyes as Appa took off.

Meiluna looked up at the sky noticing the moon turning into a blood red colour. She turned when she heard Yue groan in pain, holding her head in her hands.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked, concern prominent in his tone.

"I feel faint" Yue replies weakly.

"I feel it too. The Moon Spirit is in trouble" Aang said also holding his head with one hand.

"I owe the moon spirit my life" Yue explained.

Meiluna felt herself sadden at the mention of this and sat closer to her sister, placing her hand over hers.

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked curiously.

"When I was born I was very sick and very weak. Most babies cry when they're born, but I was born as if I was asleep, my eyes closed. Our healers did everything they could. They told my mother and father I was going to die," Yue paused for a moment.

"My father pleaded with the spirits to save me. That night, beneath the full moon, he brought me to the oasis and placed me in the pond. My dark hair turned white. I opened my eyes and began to cry, and they knew I would live. That's why my mother named me Yue. For the moon."

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"Don't bother" Zhao scoffed as he threatened to kill the Moon Spirit.

"Zhao, dont!" Aang surrendered.

"It's my destiny, to destroy the moon and Water Tribe" He sneered.

"Destroying the moon won't just hurt the Water Tribe. It will hurt everyone, including you. Without the moon, everything would fall out of balance. You have no idea what kind of chaos that would unleash on the world." Aang tried to reason.

"He is right, Zhao" An older Fire Nation man interjected.

"General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?" Zhao spoke condescendingly to Iroh.

"I'm no traitor, Zhao. The Fire Nation needs the moon too, we all depend on the balance. Whatever you do to that spirit, I'll unleash on you ten-fold. Let it go now!" Iroh warned.

Zhao released the koi fish into the oasis right before he struck them with fire.

Iroh recoiled from the flames. Meiluna stared in shock as she looked up to the sky seeing the moon fade away, making everything turn grey.

Iroh aimed a blast of fire at Zhao. He deflected the attack as he retreated quickly to the other Fire Nation soldiers.

Iroh turned back to pick up the dead koi fish sadly.

"There's no hope now, it's over" Yue said in disbelief.

Meiluna became aware of the tears pricking her eyes as she felt an overwhelming hopelessness consume her heart.

"No, it's not over" Aang said.

Meiluna looked over at him and saw that he had entered the Avatar State, his eyes and tattoos illuminated brightly.

She watched as Aang descended into the water, seeing a blue lightning like energy expand from the oasis island into the water. As it moved to the edge, a large amphibious creature rose, facing out towards the sea.

Meiluna's eyes widened at the sight of Aang controlling the creature as he moved forward towards the Fire Nation soldiers with the Northern Water Tribe members by his side.

"It's too late, it's dead" Katara sighed as she watched the koi fish in defeat.

"You have been touched by the Moon Spirit, some of its life is in you" Iroh spoke gently, looking at Yue.

"Yes, you're right. It gave me life, maybe I can give it back" Yue agreed softly.

Meiluna felt her breathing become more shallow as her eyes welled up with tears once again.

"No! There has to be another way" Meiluna argued, holding on to her sister tightly.

"You don't have to do that" Sokka begged, reaching to stop Yue.

Yue simply gave both of them a sad smile.

"It's my duty" She stated.

"I'm not letting you go" Meiluna shook her head, tears freely falling down her face.

"Your father told me to protect you" Sokka stood in front of her, a silent plea in his eyes.

"I have to do this" Yue spoke as she took a deep breath, removing herself from her sister's hold, instantly placing her hand on the koi fish.

"Yue!" Meiluna tried to call her sister back, knowing it was already too late.

She saw the koi fish begin to glow as Yue closed her eyes slowly.

"No! She's gone," Sokka cried out catching Yue before she fell, "She's gone"

Meiluna rushed over to her sister's side, her knees giving away as she cried,

"Yue, please don't leave me"

She desperately tried to use the water nearby to heal her sister, crying harder as she watched the water simply soak through her clothes.

As her tears made contact with the grass, little flower buds began to emerge around her sister's head. Sokka watched in awe as the flowers slowly blossomed and bloomed right before him.

Iroh placed the koi fish back in the oasis, making the entire lake light up until the energy from it floated up into the air forming the image of Yue.

She moved to Sokka before she spoke,

"Goodbye Sokka," She placed a gentle kiss on Sokka's lips, "I'll always be with you"

Yue then made her way to Meiluna.

"Yue, please come back," Meiluna barely got the words to come out, "I need you here with me"

Meiluna felt her voice shake, her hands lightly trembling.

She floated down to meet her eyes.

"Please promise me you'll stay with me" Meiluna begged, looking at the ground unable to face her sister.

Yue lifted her chin up with her hand. She placed a soft kiss on the top of her head, watching the front pieces of her once dark hair, transform to match the snow white hair that Yue once had.

"I love you Luna"

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"I've decided to go to the South Pole. Some other benders and healers want to join me. It's time we helped rebuild our sister tribe" Pakku informed Katara.

"What about Aang? He still needs to learn waterbending" Katara asked looking confused.

"Well, then he better get used to calling you Master Katara" Pakku smiled.

Katara returned the gesture, then looked over where she saw Chief Arnook and Meiluna standing with Sokka looking up at the moon.

"The spirits gave me a vision when Yue was born. I saw a beautiful, brave, young woman become the Moon spirit," Chief Arnook sighed, "I knew this day would come"

He wrapped his arm tightly around his remaining daughter.

"You must be proud" Sokka replied.

"So proud, and sad"

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Aang, Katara and Sokka stood in front of Appa ready to leave the North Pole, saying their goodbyes to everyone as Meiluna pushed her way through the crowd.

"I want to come with you" She said firmly as she stood in front of the trio.

The three looked at each other, silently coming to agreement when Tulok slowly approached her.

"I'm sorry about your sister" He spoke softly.

Meiluna remained silent, unsure of how to respond.

"I'm calling off the betrothal"

"Are you even allowed to do that?" Meiluna asked in surprise.

She watched as he took the necklace in his hands and tossed it far into the ocean.

"You don't belong to me," He told her, his eyes still focussed on the sea, "I'll miss you though"

She smiled lightly, hugging him gently. Tulok let her go, stepping back as he noticed Meiluna's father step towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder with a worried expression on his face.

He couldn't bare to lose another daughter.

"I have to go" Meiluna stated to her father.

"Meiluna-"

She cut off her father,

"I couldn't save mother," Her father watched her with sadness, "And I couldn't save Yue," She took a paused for a moment,

"Please let me help the Avatar save our people"

Chief Arnook couldn't speak. He didn't want to think of what would happen if his daughter never returned.

He shook his head adamantly.

"You can't let Yue die for nothing!" Meiluna cried out, fresh tears rolling down her cheeks.

Her father was shocked to see her emotional outburst when she was usually so calm and collected.

"I forbid you from going"

"I must help the Avatar and restore honour to the Northern Water Tribe"

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