A/N: Wow! Thank you so much for the support. Here's the second part.

Chapter 2: The Horror

"It's too quiet," Karu murmured into the mysterious, almost blue light of full moon enlightening the dark sea beneath the ship, "Somethin' bad is gonna happen."

Karu was a very old sailor, older than the Lieutenant was (which, unfortunately, meant quite a bit). He had been at sea for over twenty years, had no wife or children.

'My only ladies are the sea and the ship I serve on, sir,' he'd once told the Lieutenant.

The experience that came with it was not to be underestimated. When Karu said that something was wrong, he was usually right.

"What do you think it is?" the Lieutenant asked looking straight ahead into the icy fortress. The Avatar had hit some of the ships, but nothing bad. Yet, it had been a wise decision of Admiral Zhao not to attack during the night.

At day, Agni was taking care of them, but at night, it was La and the tables turned. They were facing waterbenders; only a fool would fight a waterbender on a full moon.

"Don' know," Karu replied, "The birds are nervous as if a storm's about to hit. But I…"

All of a sudden, the moon turned red and the command to attack was hurled over the sea. However, hardly any ship moved. Every sailor, no matter his rank, stared upon the sky. They heard several explosions far away, the marching of firebenders into the city of ice. Not a single ship in sight moved.

"La," they heard a sailor from a ship nearby, "Someone is hurting Agni's sister."

Who'd be foolish enough to…?

The Admiral.

Lieutenant Jee didn't know why he knew, but he couldn't think of anyone else. What sailor in their right mind would try to hurt the moon? Admiral Zhao wasn't a sailor; he was Navy, yes, but not a sailor. He didn't know what it was like to burn in the heat of noon and to bless the cool air at night, when La rose showing them the way.

As quickly as it had come, the moon turned white again, the gloomy atmosphere gone.

Mesmerized, the entire crew stared upon the shining stars and La, who seemed as if nothing had happened. He heard the people's breaths, ragged and shallow. They weren't panicked, but it was a close call.

"Spirits, someone's messing with the spirits," Ryu, the gunnery sergeant exclaimed, "The Avatar will not be pleased."

The moment the words were spoken, the sky and the sea turned dark. Horrified screams were heard all over, some dropped to their knees begging for forgiveness to have attacked the Northern Water Tribe, the place blessed by Agni's sister.

"Start the engines!" Lieutenant Jee snapped everyone out of their stupor. To his relief, he heard several captains giving the same command. They had to leave. It was not a sailor's duty to fight the spirits and the spirits' anger is what they were dealing with right now. He'd rather take an entire battalion of Earth Kingdom soldiers any day.

Why else would La stop illuminating the sky?

Karu fell on his knees, silently singing an old prayer calling upon Agni and La. At first, it was a whisper before it slowly grew stronger. He chimed in through humming for he didn't know the exact words. The prayer swept across the ship, affecting everyone. All those in a position to sing followed Karu's lead. Some (to his grim amusement, all those who'd been aboard the prince's ship for three years) spoke the words; others were more like him, just humming.

The ships around them were affected and a silent chant barely wavered above darkness.

Until it broke off.

"Spirits! What is that?" several people exclaimed. Ice-cold fear rushed through Lieutenant Jee when they saw that… thing rising from beneath the sea. In its heart was a figure he'd seen before.

He didn't lose any second and screamed, "Start those damn engines and let's LEAVE! It's the Avatar!"

He was so glad the old crew hadn't been split up. Those men had faced the Avatar when he was in that state, they'd seen their own men be casted into the icy sea of the poles. There were no questions asked. Within seconds, they were ready to leave.

Admiral Zhao had ordered them to be at the fleet's borders. He'd meant them to be prey for the waterbenders. Who'd have thought it would save their lives?

Several ships around them tried to do the same, but too many men were petrified, some prepared to fight, others fell on their knees crying in fear.

They'd never seen anything like this.

Neither had Lieutenant Jee.

He'd seen the Avatar when the tattoos glowed, but this was above and beyond what he'd witnessed so far. He was so scared, but at least he could move.

The ship turned, but they saw the thing coming closer. The screams were terrible to hear when the water swallowed countless soldiers.

Karu continued singing, as did many around him (who weren't busy getting the damn ship to move. He cursed the size of the battleship once more). However, others screamed at the sailors on the ships that were still at the exact same spot as when theirs had started to turn.

"Start the damn engines!" he heard several people scream. It took him a moment to notice that he was one of them.

They gained distance, but the Avatar and, as it seemed, the sea itself, drew closer, ready to kill them all.

They heard the splash of people jumping into water; the moment they resurfaced they were screaming for help or started swimming towards the only ship moving away.

His men arrived with ropes faster than he could hurl the command. Using stones as a weight, they threw the ropes into the water so they could be grabbed by the Marines.

When the thing was close enough to be felt, Lieutenant Jee had the feeling as if his blood had turned into ice. He stared at the glowing, small boy.

Catching the Avatar was more important than the safety of the crew.

The prince had said it, though his actions had proved otherwise. Looking at the horror in front of him and the mass destruction it left behind, Lieutenant Jee knew that Prince Zuko had been right.

Catching the Avatar was more important than he'd ever given it credit for.

Karu sang louder and the men that were not occupied with getting the ship out of harm's range or getting the sailors out of the water did the same.

He was not humming, he was not singing.

Proudly, he stood at the ship's stern and was therefore the closest to the thing.

He whispered, "Not my crew. Take me, but leave the men alone."

The prince would have done the same. He'd stopped hunting down the Avatar whenever his men were in danger, he'd be standing right where he was now, ready for battle.

Never give up without a fight.

He'd heard the young man say this once.

What Prince Zuko hadn't said back then, was just how scary it was to show courage.

The moment he thought it was over, that he would be soon facing Agni himself, the sky shone bright again.

La had returned.

The thing looked up longingly and, right in front of them, turned causing a wave that drew them away from the battlefield, and retreated.

Silence followed.

Nobody spoke until, finally, the shock wore off.

Some screamed, others cried, a few thanked Agni and La for sparing them, but most were mourning the deaths of so many good sailors, some cursing, others whimpering.

Especially those they'd been able to get aboard were mad with grief. One of them even had to be restrained physically for he wanted to jump back into the water to look for his younger brother.

Five! Agni, have mercy! Their crew and nothing but five more Marines had survived.

"Turn around the ship, maybe we'll find some survivors. We have to move before the Water Tribe does," Lieutenant ordered and nobody complained. It took a moment before enough were ready to follow his command, but under tears and curses, his men got a grip, stood up and got to work.

True Fire Navy Sailors they were.

As the ship finally turned there was deathly silence while they were gazing upon the sea looking for any sign of life.

The Fire Nation's fleet had sunken.

"Curse you, Avatar!" Kyan, their healer, whispered as he put yet another blanket around the ashen white figure they'd pulled out of the sea, "Agni shall crush you, Avatar!" his last words had been screamed into the silent graves of their countrymen.

Especially younger Marines couldn't stop shaking. The divers tried to stay in the water as long as they could looking for survivors who were unable to scream anymore, but the polar water stole their very breath and they had to give up far too early.

Koi, the oldest and most experienced diver, stayed in the icy trap for so long, he was too stiff to move when the rope to take him out was wrapped around him. His teeth were chattering, his entire body trembled, "Never thought I'd ever fear the sea. Now I can't wait to get ashore," he kept mumbling as Ryu was warming him up.

"Wish the prince and the general were here," Karu stated quietly when he was supplying the sailors from the other ships with steamy hot water they were supposed to drink.

'Me too,' Lieutenant Jee thought wistfully, but instead of saying that, he asked, "Why?"

"Never noticed that temperature, no matter if warm or cold, was always more bearable with them around? Guess Sozin's line can do more than just casting deadly flames, sir."

General Iroh, for sure. The prince? No. That boy was still struggling with basic moves after three years of training under the Dragon of the West. He definitely hadn't been capable of using such advanced techniques.

There was no sense dwelling on it, anyway. The prince was dead and they had to leave.

By dawn, they'd already gained some distance to their fellow sailors' icy grave. It hurt to leave the dead behind, but they had no choice.

Out of thirty people they'd found alive nearly drowning, only twenty were still alive when the sun touched their ship.

In honour of the countless Marines dying that night, they went ashore a small island not too far outside Water Tribe territory and started a fire to burn the bodies.

Some were on their knees, unable to keep themselves upright, others were sitting there in a meditative position to breathe. Nobody screamed, but many soundlessly cried.

"Let's get off this cursed ice," Lieutenant Jee said firmly when he thought that the majority of his men were capable of carrying on.

They weren't safe here, not yet. They had to find Fire Nation territory as quickly as possible. There, they would be able to grieve and rest.

'My Prince, I'm sorry for not listening to you when you told us that the Avatar had priority. May you rest in peace! At least, it was fire and not ice that claimed you.'

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