Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe had never pictured the world to end up like this. Hate seemed to be the leading emotion throughout the world, not just in the Fire Nation. For her whole life, she had been taught that the Fire Nation was a bad group of people because they hated everyone and thought themselves to be better than the other nations. Yet her tribe was ready to annihilate the Fire Nation soldiers because hate filled their hearts.
Hate was one of the most known emotions known to man. It was easier to understand than love. Love was such a difficult emotion to emulate like hate was. Many people focused on anger and who wronged who than love and goodness. It was much easier to hate than to love. Hate harbored in people's hearts, using its claws to block off love from entering. Once a person learned to hate, there was no going back.
Yue didn't understand why people would fill their lives with hate, though. Wasn't it exhausting focusing on everything wrong with people than trying to find the goodness in them? She had been raised seeing the goodness in others. Maybe that made her naïve. Maybe that made her courageous. If anything, it made her different than everyone else.
"It's too late," Katara said, anguish evident in her voice. Yue looked up at the girl who had quickly become her best friend. She hadn't thought that hope would be burned away from her; Katara always seemed to look on the bright side of things. But not tonight. "It's dead."
The dead Moon Spirit fish hung limp in the dark water. It pulled at Yue's heartstrings, seeing the dead fish there. For every moment of her short life, she had been connected to that small fish. It had given her life when she was a dying baby. Every part of her life had been leading up to this moment. Deep in her soul, she knew that it was her turn to give back to it. It gave her life, so she would give it back. A life for a life was only fair.
"You have been touched by the Moon Spirit," the old man that had remained with them after the Moon Spirit fish died said. He was gazing at Yue with eyes filled with wonder. In the darkness, she could see light shining in his eyes. "Some of its life is in you!"
Yue looked up at the sky. The moon was as dark as the hate that filled the hearts of these people. Yet her heart was filled with the light of the love she had for everyone in this world. "Yes, you're right," she said, her eyes flicking toward the pool of water. Her gaze landed on the limp fish; her soul yearned to join with it once more. "It gave me life. Maybe I can give it back."
She got up and walked to the pond's edge. The water lapped against the tips of her shoes, like it knew who she was. Yes, it did know who she was. Its other half -- the Moon Spirit -- resided in her body. Its soul mixed with hers, making up who she was and who she was going to be. She took a deep breath as she fixed her sights on the dead fish. Somehow, Death didn't terrify her like she thought it would.
"No!" Sokka yelled behind her. He grasped her hand, pulling her back toward him. She stood her ground, though, closing her eyes tightly to keep the tears from spreading down her cheeks. She hadn't planned on falling in love; she also hadn't planned on dying at sixteen, either. "You don't have to do that!"
Yue looked down. A single tear rolled down her cheek, sending tiny ripples across the water. Her image in the blue was fractured because of the ripples. It resembled her life. The ripples were the people that she cared about: her parents and Katara and Sokka. Yet her image was who she needed to be, and no matter how cracked it became, she wouldn't back away from her destiny. All her life had been leading up to this moment in time, and she was ready to fulfill it.
"It's my duty, Sokka," Yue said. Her strong voice carried across the pond of water and echoed around them.
"I won't let you!" Sokka pleaded. His grip on her hand tightened for just a second. In that second, she almost backed out of her decision. Almost. "Your father told me to protect you!"
Yue looked up at the starless sky. The dark moon stared down at her, securing her fate. "I have to do this."
She released his hand before walking closer to the older man who was with them. He had retrieved the dead fish from the water and held it in his gentle hands. The two of them locked eyes, and he nodded toward her. With a quick breath, Yue placed her palms over the dead Moon Spirit. All at once, her limbs grew fuzzy and wobbly, and her vision went dark just like the Moon did when the Spirit died; she took one final breath before everything collapsed all around her, leaving her in a plane of existence between the Human and Spirit Worlds.
An otherworldly glow burst across the heavens as her soul ascended toward her final resting place for eternity. Yue thought that it would be too bright for her human eyes, but it wasn't. She wasn't human anymore. She would never be human again.
All her human memories remained in the back of her mind, but new memories sprung into her head. Centuries worth of the past descended upon her; in a flash, she saw all of human history up until this point. Countless wars had been waged, some worse than what was happening right now, some better than right now, all terrible. Hate was ever-present in these memories as she watched hopeless days and nights pass by in a blur. Yet love was intermingled in there, too. The love of the Spirits as they watched their creations wreck havoc on their precious world filled her soul to the brim, nearly spilling over. After everything that humans had done in the years past, the Spirits still cared for them and allowed them to prosper year after year.
All this love filled her entire being. Her body grew so warm because of the love that cascaded into her heart. From head to toe, her body trembled with the amount of love being poured into her soul. Above all else, love would overcome the harsh wars that were fought. Nothing could stop love from spreading through the world, not even Death. No, Death was just a barrier, holding people back from their love. She knew that this world was built off of the love from the Spirits, and when it would end, it would end with love.
"Welcome back, Tui." The voices that spoke to her all spoke in unison. Every single Spirit rose; most of them were in their Spirit form while some of them were in Human form. They all surrounded her; she wasn't scared, though. She knew it was their way of welcoming her back to them again. "It has been so long, little one."
She wanted to speak, to say something to them, but no words came. Instead of speaking, though, she let her emotions pour out of her. The Spirits all around her swelled with the love she felt, giving her proud looks. "You have made us proud, Tui. You may have fallen from grace so many years ago, but your short time on this Earth has proved to us that you are ready to come back." The warmth all around her cooled down ever so slightly, and there was sadness spreading through the group. "It is time to say goodbye to those on the Earth that knew you."
She wasn't ready to say goodbye. Nothing ever prepared her to say goodbye this soon. Instead of thinking about goodbye, it could be a new beginning.
All that she had experienced hadn't even taken a second in human time. Sokka, the boy that had given her gray life color, cradled her human form in his arms. His face was like an open book; she could see the grief written across it. Her gaze was drawn to the fish as it glowed brightly for a second, swimming in the pond, returning balance to the world. Just as the fish started swimming around, her physical body slowly disappeared from this world. But her spiritual form descended from the heavens, reaching out to the first boy she had ever loved.
"Goodbye, Sokka," she said. Her otherworldly voice echoed around the humans below as they gazed up at her, each with matching wide eyes. These people had given her life a new meaning to it; they had taught her a different type of love. She would be forever grateful for that. "I will always be with you."
With a kiss, she sealed her past. This boy and this world had been her past. She wasn't a part of that world anymore, though. The Spirit World welcomed her back with open arms, and she was ready to fulfill her duties as the Ocean Spirit forevermore. Now, her physical body was that small, white fish swimming around the pond. However, her Spirit lived everywhere else. The Moon touched every part of this world, holding it together and keeping love alive. But she wasn't the only Spirit that gave this world love and light.
Gazing down upon the world she had once lived in, another Spirit joined her on this plane between the Human World and the Spirit World. Warmth seeped into her being as the Spirit closed the distance between the two of them. An ethereal Spirit took her into his arms as the Moon slowly descended below the earth and the Sun slowly ascended into the sky. This Spirit had remained in his human form; he looked like a boy around her age but with the wisdom of ages in his orange eyes. She knew this was the Sun Spirit, but she didn't recognize him. Bright sunlight surrounded him while moonlight pervaded around her. Whenever their respective light would touch, they would get farther apart from each other, yet their love would bring them back again. Somehow, she knew that this was the Sun Spirit.
He spun her around and around and around in this in-between world. The area around them blurred together, leaving only the light of the Sun and the Moon shining down upon the two of them. She knew that this dance would happen every day for eternity. They would forever dance around the fact that the two of them could never be together because one survived at night while the other survived during the day. They were two opposite Spirits that rarely crossed the distance between them, yet she knew that, for the rest of eternity, she would be chasing him, trying to catch up to him for one moment to spend with him. Deep in her soul, she yearned to remain in his arms for the rest of her life hereafter.
"This is our last dance, my dear," she whispered to him. She knew that they were meant to do this dance every season for every year of eternity. Each source of light would try to fight for control, and they would never be able to fully gain it because they needed each other to take care of the Human World together.
"Then make it the best dance, my love," the Sun Spirit said. His otherworldly voice fell upon her ears as he pulled away from her. The Sun was getting higher and higher into the air, while the Moon was falling faster below the earth. With the diminishing Moonlight and the increasing Sunlight, they got farther and farther apart until they fell away from each other.
The Moon Spirit would spend centuries chasing after the Sun Spirit, trying to get him back to her. For humans lucky enough to see this special dance, they would call this the Heavenly Pursuit. It would teach them that love is sometimes tragic, but it is something so very worth it in the end.