THE CAVE OF THE TWO LOVERS

It had been a few days since Danny had arrived in Aang's world. It took a bit to get used to some of the weird creatures he had seen and the whole people can bend the elements but thanks to Katara, Aang and Sokka telling him everything he needed to know about their world, he was finally getting the rhythm of things. They had told him all about what happened at the North Pole, a guy named Zuko who was after them constantly which reminded him of Skulker and everything else that happened right up to when they met Danny a few days ago.

He had told them everything about his world as well such as his friends, family, how he got his powers and about how he fights ghosts on a daily basis.

It was a beautiful sunny day and the gang were almost at Omashu, they stopped at a river to not only do some water bending training but also to some swimming.

"You guys are gonna be done soon right?" Sokka asked as he lazily floated on the river on a large leaf. "We've got a lot of ground to cover if we want to make it to Omashu today"

"What like you're ready to go right now naked guy?" Katara said sarcastically with a smirk.

"I can be ready in two minutes. Seriously whenever" Sokka retorted back before going back to lazily cruising on the river.

"So you were showing me the octopus move right?" Aang asked Katara.

Katara nodded and answered, "Right"

She then turned to Danny and asked, "Hey Danny do you want to help me out in this part? Technically ice is water"

Danny shrugged and answered as he walked over and stood by Katara, "Sure"

"Okay Aang now let me see your stance" Katara instructed. Aang nodded and then got into a fighting stance.

Katara then noticed something and walked up to him and brought his arms closer in as she said, "Your arms are too far apart. See if you move them closer together you protect your centre. Got it?"

Aang blushed at this and then said with a nervous smile, "Oh yeah. Thanks"

Katara then walked back over to Danny and said, "Okay let's see what you got. Danny get some ice shards ready to throw at Aang"

Aang lowered his arms and the raised them, bending some water around him and spread them out like octopus tentacles. Katara and Danny then started throwing some ice shards at Aang but Aang started bending the water tentacles and deflected each of the shards and then bended a couple of the water tentacles over to Katara and Danny's legs and grabbed onto them.

They both stopped and then Katara smiled and said impressed, "You make a fine octopus pupil Aang"

Aang then started swishing the water around him like an octopus causing Danny to laugh. They all then stopped as they heard some music coming from the distance and then they watched as three men and two women wearing bright coloured clothing started walking up to them out of the woods.

The leading man wearing a blue and green robe was playing a guitar while singing, the man wearing a white robe was beating on a small drum, the third woman was playing a flute and the other man and woman were dancing as they were walking.

The group stopped as they saw Aang, Katara, Danny and Sokka. The leader smiled and said as he gestured to them, "Hey river people"

"We're not river people" Danny said. The man looked at them in confusion and then asked, "You're not? Then what kind of people are you?"

"Just people" Aang answered.

"Aren't we all brother?" The man said in his carefree voice. Sokka walked up to them with Momo on his shoulder and asked sort of rudely, "Who are you?"

"I'm Chong and this is my wife Lilly" The man answered as he gestured to himself and then the woman wearing a brown dress. "We're Nomads. Happy to go wherever the wind takes us"

He then strummed his guitar a little wildly. Aang smiled and said, "You guys are Nomads? That's great! I'm a Nomad"

Chong smiled and said, "Hey me too"

"I know you just said that" Aang said with a raised eyebrow.

Chong rubbed his neck in embarrassment and then looked at Sokka in his swimwear and said, "Nice underwear"

Sokka cringed in embarrassment and then used Momo to cover himself as best as he could before walking away to get changed.

While Sokka got changed, the others were already dressed and Appa was getting the fur on top of his head braided by the third girl of the Nomad group named Serena, Lilly was braiding Katara's hair and placing flowers on her hair, Aang was wearing a flower crown on his head and sitting next to Danny as they listened to Chong's storied and him playing his music.

Sokka came up to them and then Aang said, "Hey Sokka you should some of these stories. These guys have been everywhere"

Chong stopped playing and then said, "Well not everywhere little arrowhead but where we haven't been, we've heard about through stories and songs"

Sokka raised his eyebrows at them not impressed at all but more like annoyed. Aang then said, "They said they'll take us to see a giant night crawler"

"On the way there's a waterfall that creates a never ending rainbow" The man in the white robe whose name was Moku said as he turned around to lie on his back.

"Look I hate to be the wet blanket here but since Katara is busy I guess it's up to me" Sokka said which earned him a glare from Katara. "We need to get to Omashu. No side-tracks, no worms and definitely no rainbows"

He then crossed his arms and frowned in annoyance hoping his point got through to their heads. Chong then said, "Woah! Sounds like someone's got a case of destination fever. You worry too much about where you're going"

"You gotta focus less on the where and more on the going" Lilly then added.

"OMASHU" Sokka said it slowly to the Nomads as he got more annoyed at them. They seemed to be not paying attention to what he just said.

"Sokka has a point guys. We need to get to King Bumi so Aang can learn earth bending somewhere safe" Danny said.

"Well sounds like you're heading to Omashu" Chong then said which made Sokka even more annoyed he face palmed himself.

"There's an old story about a secret pass right through the mountains" Chong said a little dramatically. Katara then asked sceptically, "Is this real or a legend?"

"Oh it's a real legend and it's as old as earth bending itself" Chong answered.

He then began strumming his guitar, Lilly began playing her flute, and Moku began beating on the drums while Serena and Wu Xing began dancing. Danny, Katara and Aang started moving their heads to the rhythm of the music while Sokka just crossed his arms and frowned in annoyance as Chong began to sing.

CHONG

Two lovers forbidden from one another

A war divides their people

And a mountain divides them apart

Built a path to be together

He then stopped for a moment and said, "I forgot the next couple of lines but uh then it goes…"

He then began playing again as he sang:

Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel!

Through the mountains

Secret, secret, secret, secret tunnel!

They all clapped except for Sokka for their performance. Sokka raised his eyebrow and just said, "I think we'll just stick with flying. We've dealt with the Fire Nation before. We'll be fine"

"Yeah thanks for the help but Appa hates going underground and we need to do whatever makes Appa most comfortable" Aang said with a bright smile.

Unfortunately that was not the case cause as soon as they were airborne, Fire Nation soldiers started hitting them with everything they got from their catapults of flaming rocks. Appa roared as he narrowly dodged the fire boulders and even with Danny doing his best to shield them all it was becoming too much for them and they screamed.

They landed and walked past the Nomads as Sokka said, "Secret love cave let's go"

The group followed the Nomads to the tunnel. Sokka then asked, "How far are we from the tunnel?"

"Actually it's not just one tunnel, the lovers didn't want anyone to find out about their love so they built a whole labyrinth" Chong answered with his still carefree smile.

"Labyrinth?!" Sokka asked which made him stop in his tracks. Then Danny said, "Uh you couldn't have mentioned that part before?"

Chong shrugged and said, "I'm sure we'll figure it out"

They continued on. Lilly then said, "All you need to do is trust in love according to the curse"

That made Sokka stop in his tracks once again and he asked in slight panic, "Curse?!"

"They really need to stop leaving out those tiny bits of information" Danny said as he pushed Sokka along to keep up with everyone else.

A few minutes later they finally arrived at the giant entrance to the tunnels. There was writing up above it and since Danny couldn't exactly understand the characters from this world he asked Chong, "What exactly is this curse?"

"The curse says that only those that trust in love can make it through the caves otherwise you'll be trapped in them forever" Chong answered. Lilly then added, "And die"

"Oh yeah and die" Chong said in agreement. He then smiled as he said, "Hey! I just remember the rest of that song"

"And die!" He sung as he strummed a cord on his guitar.

"That's it! There is no way we're going through some cursed hole" Sokka said putting his foot down on this.

Moku then turned and saw a bit of smoke heading their way and pointed out cheerfully, "Hey someone's making a big campfire"

"That's no campfire Moku" Katara said with a frown. Sokka then added as he frowned as well, "It's Fire Nation. They're tracking us"

"So all you need is to trust in love to get through these caves?" Aang asked Chong nervously. Chong nodded and answered, "That is correct Master Arrowhead"

Aang looked at Katara and suddenly felt really confident. He then said to everyone, "We can make it"

"Everyone into the hole" Sokka said and they all walked inside the cave.

Appa was getting a little nervous and agitated about going underground but continued to follow the group. The Fire Nation then stopped their metal tanks up to the entrance of the cave. The commander then came up and said, "It's too dangerous to go after them. Just close them in, the mountain can take care of the rest"

With that the Fire Nation soldiers fired from their tanks metal hooks which grabbed the top of the cave and then pulled hard causing a massive rockslide and trapping them all inside the cave in complete darkness. Chong pulled out a torch and lit it up giving them some light while Danny lit his hand with ecto energy also providing them with light as he changed into his ghost form. Appa was pounding his feet against the rocks in nervousness and fear.

Katara walked up to the giant flying bison and said as she rubbed his fur in comfort, "It's okay Appa. We'll be fine. I hope"

"We will be fine. All we need is a plan" Sokka said. He then turned to Chong and asked, "Chong how long do those torches last?"

"About two hours each" Chong answered. Lilly then added as she lit up the other torches at the same time, "And we have five torches so that's ten hours"

Sokka quickly put the other torches out and said in annoyance, "It doesn't work like that if they're all lit up at the same time!"

"Oh right" Lilly said. Sokka sighed and then asked Danny, "Danny how long can you keep your ecto energy lit up on your hand and is there any chance you can phase us out of the caves?"

"I can keep my hand lit up for a few hours but eventually I'll need to change back to my human form to rest a moment. As for your second question I don't think so especially with a large bison" Danny answered. "It'll take a huge amount of energy and I might accidentally get most of you stuck between the rocks and the outside"

"Okay" Sokka said. He then grabbed out some scroll paper from his bag on Appa's saddle and said, "I'm gonna make a map to keep track of exactly where we've been, then we should be able to solve it like a maze and get through"

They all then started walking heading deep into the tunnels, hoping to find their way out.

About an hour later they weren't exactly making any progress with finding a way out of the tunnel. Sokka looked at the map he was making in confusion as they once again hit another dead end. Katara then said, "Sokka this is the tenth dead end you've led us to"

"This doesn't make sense. We've already came through this way" Sokka said.

"We don't need a map. We just need love" Chong said still feeling cheerful. He then pointed to Aang as he said, "The little guy knows it"

"Yeah but I wouldn't mind a map also" Aang said.

Sokka walked around and then said, "There's something strange here"

He then closed the map and came to a conclusion, "There's only one explanation. The tunnels are changing"

They suddenly heard a rumble and felt the caves shake, scaring Momo who squealed a little and then hid inside Aang's shirt. That's when Chong started to panic with slight fear as he said gripping his head, "The tunnels are changing! It must be the curse! I knew we shouldn't have come down here"

"But you were the one who suggested to come down here in the first place" Danny pointed out with slight annoyance.

"Everyone be quiet" Katara suddenly said. "Listen"

They all remained quiet and suddenly heard some kind of wailing echoing throughout the tunnels. It got louder coming from the tunnel in Sokka's direction and then suddenly a large monstrous bat came flying out almost grabbing Sokka. It hissed and swooped down at everyone but missed as everyone jumped out of the way.

"A giant flying thing with teeth!" Chong screamed. The bat landed showing it had also four legs and a tail. Danny asked, "What is that thing?!"

"It's a wolf bat!" Lilly shouted.

Danny shielded them all with an ecto shield as it tried swooping at them again, Sokka then swung his fire torch at it but it knocked it out of Sokka's hands and caused the burning torch to land right on Appa's foot.

Appa roared in pain as he got slightly burnt by the flame and then started jumping up and down causing the caves to shake as the wolf bat disappeared into the tunnels. Appa kept running around wildly in pain and fear ramming into the walls and pillars. Suddenly the pillars caused rocks from the ceiling to fall. Aang without hesitation ran over and pushed Danny, Sokka and the Nomads out of the way with a push of air before the rocks could fall on them. Danny quickly put up a shield to protect them from the falling debris while Aang ran over and pushed Katara out of the way before rocks could fall on her.

When the smoke cleared, Aang and Katara stood up to see they were on one side with Appa and the torch Sokka dropped and dividing them from the rest of the group was a huge wall of rocks and boulders. One the other side, Sokka began to panic and ran over trying to dig his way through but he wasn't getting anywhere and just gave up.

"Yeah it's no use we're separated. But at least you have us" Chong said on a cheerful note.

Sokka cringed and then screamed in total fear and panic "NOOOOOOOOOO!"

He tried digging again but Danny walked over and stopped him as he said, "Sokka it's no use. Better stop before another cave in happens and it causes more problems for us"

"But Aang and Katara…." Sokka began but then Danny cut him off and said, "Will be fine. Let me try something. I hope this works"

Danny focused and concentrated hard and then suddenly an exact duplicate of Danny appeared right next to him with no flaws at all. Both Danny's then cheered, "Yes I did it!"

"Okay Danny 2, you phase through the rocks and stay with Aang and Katara on the other side and I'll stay with Sokka and the others on this side" Danny said.

"You got it" Danny 2 said and then phased through the rocks and went to the other side.

"What was that?" Sokka asked both amazed and shocked at the same time.

"A trick I've been working on. It's duplicated of me or a copy of me" Danny answered. "He will be with Katara and Aang as they try and find a way back to us or a way out while we lead the other group"

Sokka smiled and said, "I am so glad we added you to the group"

Danny 2 made it to the other side of the wall surprising Aang and Katara. Katara then spoke, "I thought you got trapped on the other side"

"I did. I'm a duplicate of the real Danny who's on the other side with Sokka and the Nomads" Danny 2 answered. "I used my powers to create a copy of myself and help out you guys while the real me helps Sokka and the others"

"That's so amazing!" Aang said with a smile.

Danny 2 smiled back and then said, "We better start moving, and hopefully we can catch up with the others and find a way out of here"

On the other side, Sokka was getting really annoyed as Chong and the other's played their music, sang and danced in their never ending cheerful mood. It was starting to annoy Danny a little bit as well as Momo sat on his shoulder.

CHONG

Oh don't let the cave in get you down

Don't let the falling rocks turn your smile into a frown

Don't let the cave in get you down Sokka and Danny

They both just glared at him and then Danny said, "Now's not the time Chong. In case you forgotten we're trapped in a never ending labyrinth and we're now separated from the other three members of our group"

Aang, Danny 2 and Katara continued to walk through the caves and then Katara smiled as she called out, "Guys look!"

They both looked and smiled as they saw the same door. Aang then cheered, "We found the exit"

They all ran over and started pushing the stone door but it wouldn't budge, they both suddenly heard Appa groan and turned to see he was preparing to charge right at the door. With a yell they all moved out of the way and the large animal rammed right into it with his horns.

The door suddenly opened and rolled away revealing not the exit but something else. Danny 2 then said as they entered it, "This isn't the exit"

"No. It's a tomb" Aang said as they looked below in the large room and sitting on a large stone was two stone coffins.

They climbed down the stairs and looked at the two coffins. Aang then said, "It must be the two lovers from the legend. That's who's buried here"

"So the legend is true" Danny said. Katara then shined the light of the torch at the pictures that was engraved on the stone and said, "These pictures tell their story"

Katara then began to read the story, "The two lovers met on top of the mountain that divided their two villages. The villages were enemies so they could not be together but their love was strong and they found a way. The two lovers learned earth bending from the badgermoles, they became the first earth benders and with their earth bending they built a labyrinth tunnel so they could meet secretly and anyone who would try to follow them would be lost forever in the labyrinth. But one day the man didn't come, he died in the war between their two villages. Devastated the woman released a devastating display of her earth bending power, she could've destroyed them all but instead she declared the war over. Both villages helped her build a new city where they would live together in peace. The woman's name was Oma and the man's name was Shu. The great city was named Omashu as a monument of their love"

They were all silent and then Danny said, "So that's why the city Omashu existed in the first place. It was because of these two people"

They both then turned and saw a statue of the two lovers together and some writing which Katara read, "Love is brightest in the dark"

"Oh great! Your plans have led us to another dead end" Moku complained which was really starting to tick Sokka off.

"At least I'm thinking of ideas and trying to get us out of here Moku" Sokka retorted back.

"Wait a minute. We're thinking of ideas? Cause I've had this idea for about an hour now" Chong pitched in.

"Yes! We're all thinking of ideas!" Sokka stressed out.

"Sokka maybe Chong has an idea. Let's just hear him out" Danny said. Chong smiled and said, "Thanks glowing boy. If love is the key out of here then all we need to do is play a love song"

Sokka face slapped himself in the forehead in annoyance and said to Danny sarcastically as Chong and the others started playing their love song, "You were saying?"

"Remind me not to ask Chong for any more ideas or his help in general" Danny groaned.

Danny suddenly groaned a little as he suddenly changed back into his human form and then Sokka asked, "What's wrong?"

"Just feeling a little weak from lack of energy. I better call my duplicate back and stay in my human form for a bit" Danny said.

"Do what you need to do" Sokka said. Danny nodded and then started calling back his duplicate.

Danny 2 felt the original Danny calling him back and said, "I have get back to the real Danny but he'll send another copy of himself hopefully soon"

The two nodded and then in a flash Danny's duplicate was gone. Aang then asked, "How are we gonna get out of these tunnels?"

"I have a crazy idea" Katara said but then she blushed with a little embarrassment. Aang then asked, "What?"

"No it's too crazy" Katara said. Aang then asked, "Katara what is it?"

"I was thinking….the curse said we would be trapped in here forever unless we trust in love" Katara started. She then faced Aang as she continued, "Well it says here that love is brightest in the dark and has a picture of them kissing…."

"Where are you going with this?" Aang asked feeling slightly confused.

Katara smiled and continued to blush as she suggested, "Well what if we kissed?"

Aang's eyes widened as he repeated the question, "Us kissing?"

"See it was a crazy idea" Katara said looking down. Aang however smiled at the idea and repeated, "Us kissing"

Katara then giggled and said, "Us kissing? What was I thinking? Can you imagine that?"

Aang then chuckled a little and said, "I definitely wouldn't want to kiss you"

His smile then dropped as he realised what he said. Katara then frowned and then snapped, "Oh I didn't realise it was such a horrible option"

"No what I meant was is that if it was a choice between kissing you and dying…" Aang tried with a weak smile but Katara scoffed and became offended. Aang then tried, "What?! I'm just saying that I would rather kiss you than die! That's a compliment"

"Well I'm not sure which I would rather do!" Katara snapped and then stormed off while handing Aang the torch.

Aang groaned at his mistake, "What is wrong with me?"

He then followed behind Katara out of the tomb.

With the other group, Chong and the other Nomads were continuing to play their love song as they continued to walk through the tunnels. Sokka and Danny trailed behind them, Sokka was getting more annoyed with the Nomads by the second.

"I hope Aang and Katara are doing okay" Danny thought in his head.

Aang, Katara and Appa kept walking. They all then stopped as Aang looked down sadly as he saw their torch was almost out of flame. He then asked, "We're gonna run out of light any second now aren't we?"

"I think so" Katara answered.

"Then what are we gonna do?" Aang asked. Katara looked down and said as she faced Aang, "What can we do?"

Katara placed her hand on top of his gently and they both smiled sadly at each other as their flame went out. Suddenly a light came on and they looked above to see glowing crystals on the roof, showing them a pathway.

The other group was still walking but then they stopped when they suddenly heard a strange animal noise echoing throughout the tunnels. Momo screeched a little as he got scared and ran off Sokka's shoulder and onto Danny's clinging his tail around his arm tightly.

They all then turned and they could see up ahead seven wolf bats charging towards them ready to attack and feast on them. Danny changed into his ghost form ready to fight them but instead the wolf bats took to the air and flew right over them.

"Hey you saved us Danny" Chong said cheerfully.

"No I didn't. They weren't even attacking us" Danny corrected. Sokka nodded and added, "Danny's right. They were trying to get away from something"

"From what?" Chong asked.

Suddenly the whole placed began to shake and something busted through the tunnel walls. When the smoke cleared, it revealed to be a giant badgermole! Another one then came behind Chong and the Nomads.

One of them then stamped their feet into the ground and placed a wall behind them and then the other stomped into the ground and created a large crack in the ground, separating Danny and Sokka from the Nomads. Sokka screamed as he fell on his back and he and Danny started backing up to the wall, Danny got ready to blast the badgermole that was coming closer to them when suddenly they stopped as soon as Sokka accidently hit a string on Chong's guitar.

"Sokka keep strumming that guitar" Danny said. Sokka nodded and then picked up the guitar and continued to strum a steady rhythm.

"Hey those things are music lovers" Chong said cheerfully.

"Okay you guys want to help us out here?" Danny pressed as he started doing a bit of a dance to Sokka's rhythm.

Sokka then sang, "Badger moles coming towards us. Come on guys please help us out"

Chong pulled out another guitar and they all started playing music as Chong sang.

"These things are made up of some kind of crystal and they glow only in the dark" Aang said as they continued to look at the glowing crystals.

Katara smiled and added, "That's how the two lovers found each other. They just put out their lights and followed the crystals"

She then noticed the crystals leading to another door and said, "That must be the way out"

Aang and Katara then hugged each other. Aang then began to say, "So…um…."

"Let's go" Katara cut him off and started heading for the door.

Aang shook his head but then smiled at her. He and Appa then followed her and in just a few metres they were outside finally out of the tunnels. Appa stood on his two feet in relief and then laid down on his back, happy to finally be no longer underground but outside once again.

"What about Sokka and Danny?" Aang asked completely forgetting about them.

They both suddenly heard a rumble coming from the mountain and before they could say anything, the two badgermoles came bursting out of the mountains. One of them had Sokka and Danny on their backs and the other had the Nomads on its back.

"Sokka! Danny!" Katara shouted happily.

Sokka and Danny climbed off the badgermole as Danny changed back into his human form. Danny then asked, "I'm glad you're both okay. So how'd you guys get out?"

"Just like the legend says. We let love lead the way" Aang answered with a smile.

"Really? We let huge ferocious beast lead our way" Sokka said.

After the Nomads climbed off the other badgermole, they all waved them goodbye as they went back inside the tunnels and sealed off the holes they came through. Katara hugged Sokka feeling glad her older brother was okay.

"Why is your forehead all red?" Katara asked as she noticed the red mark on Sokka's forehead after they pulled apart.

Chong suddenly came up to them and said as he gestured to Aang, "Nobody react to what I'm about to tell you but I think that kid might be the Avatar"

Sokka once again slapped himself on the forehead giving him another red mark. Danny then said sarcastically, "Does that answer your question?"

"So are you guys going to come to Omashu with us?" Aang asked. Moku shrugged and answered, "Nope"

"Okay well thanks very much Moku" Aang said and they all bowed and then started walking off.

Chong placed his flower necklace around Sokka's neck and then said, "Sokka I hope you learned a little something about not letting the plans get in the way of the journey"

He then hugged Sokka. Sokka said nothing but then grumbled, "Just play your songs"

Chong let go and smiled as he said, "Hey good plan"

He then left with the other Nomads while strumming his guitar. Aang smiled at Katara for a second but then looked away while Katara blushed a little.

They then continued walking. Another few minutes went by and they were climbing up the hill where over it was the City of Omashu. Sokka then said, "The journey was long and annoying but now you get to see what it's really about. The destination. I present to you the Earth Kingdom City of O…"

He stopped dead in his tracks and all their smiles dropped as they saw a horrible sight and Sokka said, "Oh no"

The symbol of Fire Nation beared against the Earth Kingdom symbol, smoke came from newly built factories and there were now metal bridges leading towards the city. The city had been completely taken over by the Fire Nation!

THE END

AUTHOR'S NOTES:

I'm so sorry about the long wait for this chapter. I was so busy with uni homework that I never got a chance to update this story.

Mikaela2015