The Dragon (Avatar the last airbender story)

Chapter 16: Path of The Heart

   Zuko looked at me guilty, "Kaida. He's the enemy. You have to understand, this is to help you. To help both of us. With him captured we can go home. All of us, you, uncle, and I.""No! This about you and your stupid honor! I don't want this! Aang is my friend! I don't want this! I-I...."   

"I won't let you do this," I stated looking up at him. I got into a fighting stance, "Mushu take Aang and get him out of here. Mira, Mori help Mushu find Aang's friends." Zuko stood and gave me a broken hearted look, but got into a fighting stance anyways. "Kaida. Don't do this. We can go home! We can be a family again." Mushu went to grab Aang, but Zuko attacked him which I counter-attacked causing it to hit the side of the cave and allowing Mushu to grab Aang. "Go!" The all ran out of the cave as I turned back towards Zuko. "I don't want to hurt you Zuko, but I know somewhere deep down that you know capturing Aang isn't going to solve anything." "You're wrong! I don't care if I have to take you and the Avatar back with my own bare hands! This is the only way we can go home and be happy, and no one is going to stop me. Not Zhao, not uncle, not you." I dodged the fireball he sent towards me. I rolled forward and started fighting Zuko in hand to hand combat. "Zuko, stop. Please." "No, you're going to see that I have to do this. For you and for me. It's the only way we can gain our honor back." He succeeded in hitting me in the ribs, which knocked the air out of me. "I have years on you Kaida. You're not going to win." He stated after he had managed to pin me face down onto the cave floor. "I don't have to win..."I mumbled, "What are you-" I coughed as I flipped onto my back after Zuko had gotten knocked into the cave wall by Aang's airbending. "Kaida! Are you alright?" Aang asked as I sat up. I nodded and stood giving him a thankful smile. Zuko groaned as he stood up, "Welcome back." He stated to Aang who glared at him, "Good to be back." Aang held me up as Zuko and he stared at each other, "You'll have to do better than that avatar. It won't be enough to escape." Zuko stated. Aang lifted me onto his back. "Hold on." Aang blew Zuko against the wall again while simultaneously propelling us out of the cave and into the open. I heard a roar come from the sky, "Appa!" Appa landed with Katara, Sokka, Mori, Mira, Mushu, and some other girl on his back. Katara and Mira jumped off Appa's back and ran over to us. "Aang!/Kaida!" Aang let me down, only for me to be grabbed from behind by Zuko. "You two aren't going anywhere." He stated as he held Aang up by his collar. "Zuko, let them go!" He looked up at Mira and Katara who were both in a fighting stance. "Here for a rematch?" He asked, "Trust me, Zuko, it's not going to be much of a match." Katara stated as he dropped Aang and I as Katara sent a shock wave of ice hurtling towards him. When it reached Zuko, she encased him in a pillar of ice that she raised up high, then dropped. When he fell, he became unconscious. Mira ran over and helped me up then she helped me over to Appa, "Kaida, are you okay?" I nodded as Mori checked my face, turning it side to side. "Stop it, idiot. You'll break her neck if you keep doing that." Mira stated as she slapped his hands. "How did you guys get here?" Aang asked me when he was back in Appa. "Lots and lots of climbing." Mira moaned as she recalled the iceberg we climbed. Aang nodded, then started to get Appa ready to take off. "We need to get to the oasis! The spirits are in trouble!" I looked back at Zuko who was unconscious, "Wait, we can't just leave him here." I looked at Aang in surprise. Sokka however, didn't agree with him. "Sure we can. Let's go." "No, if we leave him, he'll die," Aang stated then he jumped down, grabbed Zuko and brought him back onto Appa. "Yeah, this makes a lot of sense. Let's bring the guy who's constantly trying to kill us!" Aang ignored Sokka as he set Zuko down next to me. I stared at him, 'I'm sorry Zuko. But this is the right thing to do. Aang can save the world, I know he can.' "Hey, prince ponytail is gonna be fine. I'm sure of it." Mushu stated. "Thanks, Mushu, but he's not the only one I'm worried about," I explained as I remembered what Aang had said. 'The spirits are in trouble. What spirits?' For some reason, I had a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach as we flew back to the Northern water tribe.  Suddenly, I felt a massive sharp pain hit me in the chest as if I had just been impaled. "Ah!" "Kaida! What's wrong?" I couldn't respond as I heard a loud ringing sound and my vision started getting blurry. "Tui. La." I muttered through the ringing.  "The moon and ocean spirits....We need to save them now." I heard Aang's muffled voice as Mira held me stay sitting up. Soon we arrived at the oasis, Mira helped me down off of Appa. I looked up to see Zhao holding his fist up about to strike a bag that was wiggling, "Zhao! Don't!" Aang shouted at him. "It's my destiny... to destroy the Moon... and the Water Tribe." Zhao exclaimed, I narrowed my eyes at him and went to walk forward, but swayed as Aang caught me. "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 stated looking at me, then back at Zhao. "He is right, Zhao!" I turned my head and saw Uncle which caused me to smile slightly.  " General Iroh, why am I not surprised to discover your treachery?" " I'm no traitor, Zhao, the Fire Nation needs the moon too. We all depend on the balance." Uncle explains, Zhao looks at the bag then back at Uncle. " Whatever you do to that spirit I'll unleash on you ten-fold!  LET IT GO, NOW!" Uncle yells as he assumes a fighting stance. Uncle and Zhao lock eyes for a moment, then Zhao falters, lowering the bag. He kneels and releases the fish back into the water. I feel the ringing stop and my vision clears as the red light of the moon vanishes and is replaced by its normal color. I stand up straight and smiling thankfully at Aang until I heard a cry of anger come from Zhao. My eyes widen as I watch Zhao stand and smite the water with a blast of fire. I feel as though my heart had been ripped from my chest as I feel pain spread throughout my body. I collapse and fall to the ground as everything turns dark. 

Mira's POV

"Kaida!" I exclaimed as I rushed over to her side with Mori, I went to place a hand on her when her eyes shot open. I jumped back as she stood on her own, she walked towards the pond as her Uncle and Zhao fought. They stopped when they saw her, however, "It seems that I've also found the legendary Dragon also." Zhao smirked and went to grab Kaida's hand, but when he touched her she turned and blasted him away with water. She continued walking to the pond, "Kaida?" "No, don't touch her." Iroh stopped Aang as he tried to reach out to Kaida. My eyes widened as she managed to walk on the water towards the center where she stood. "What's happening?" I asked Mushu, "It's Ryuu." He whispered scared, I looked back at Kaida who was still just standing in the center of the oasis. "Why is she standing there?" "It's waiting." "Waiting? Waiting for what?" "For the Avatar. There's an unbalance in the world now, Zhao killing Tui caused the world to become unbalanced. It's waiting for the avatar to fix it." He explained. "Ryuu is a spirit?" "It's the Imperial dragon spirit. Kaida is more intertwined with the spirit world than the avatar which is why Ryuu is using her as a vessel. It's also why she was in much greater pain than the avatar and princess Yue were when Zhao attacked Tui. Kaida and the avatar represent Yin and Yang, good and evil, darkness and light, male and female." I looked up at Aang as his eyes and arrows started to glow, "No, it's not over." He walked forward into the pond just like Kaida. Suddenly Aang disappeared into the pond and the water surrounding the oasis turned blue and a giant fish like creature emerged from the oasis and started attack the fire nation army. I ignored the conversation between Iroh and the Princess as I watched Kaida start firebending. Kaida created a giant Dragon made of fire which helped Aang attack the fire nation army. "Mushu? Kaida's never been able to produce Black fire before." "Ryuu combined his powers with Kaida to create The Black Dragon. Just how the Avatar has fushed with La to stop the fire nation's attack. This could be either very good or very dangerous...." He mumbled the last part. The princess gave her life to become the new moon spirit which caused both Kaida and Aang to stop fighting and return to their normal selves. Kaida swayed slightly and Mori and I rushed forward to help her, "Mira? Mori? Is it over?" She asked looking up at us. "Yeah. It's over. You need to rest." "Okay." She nodded and we helped her out of the pond. Iroh took her from us, "She's very weak. We must find Zuko and leave as soon as possible."He explained, then he saw our faces. "What's wrong?" "Well..."

Kaida's POV

I smiled as I watched Aang, Katara, and Sokka hug. "Oi, Princess of the Dragons we gotta go." I looked back to see Mira and Mori waiting for me with a boat. "Kaida?" I turned back around to see Aang looking at me. "Aang. I just wanted to say goodbye." "You're leaving already?" I smiled apologetically at him. "Yeah. Water tribe and wanted princess of the fire nation don't really go together." He gave me a sad look, "Yeah. Thank you. For everything." "Why are thanking me? I didn't really do anything." "You fought your brother to save me. And, you helped me save the northern water tribe." I smiled at him, "We make a pretty good team huh?" "Yeah. So I guess this is goodbye then." I nodded, "Yeah." "Will we see each other again?" "I'm positive we'll be see a lot more of each other." I stated with a smile. He returned it, "I'm hope so....While I was in the spirit world, I ran into a woman. She said her name was Mulan." "You did?" "She said our fates were intertwined now. That we're like Yin and Yang. She said it's because you chose to follow your heart, you chose to help me." I looked at him in surprise while he smiled softly at me. He hugged me, "You're not a monster Kaida. Being the Dragon doesn't make you a monster. Being you and following your heart makes you a great person and a great friend." I smiled and hugged him back. "Thank you Aang. I'll see you soon." We parted and I went to get on the boat with Mori and Mira. I waved goodbye as Aang waved back at me, 'We'll see each other soon Aang. This isn't the end. It's just the beginning.' I thought as Mira, Mori, Mushu, and I set off towards some unknown destination.