"Yuan?" He recognized the muffled voice of his sister. "Can you hear me?" He opened his eyes, but the blinding light was too much for him and he could only groan in response. "He's up!"
"Jian, keep it down please. You're giving me a headache."
"I assure you that you have given me several heart attacks over the past 24 hours. What's the last thing you remember?"
"I don't know. It's all a big blur. Gah, I feel like I've been run over by a truck." He started rubbing his neck.
Jian stared at him for several moments. "Wanna talk about that bruise that was there before?"
"Bruise?" Mizuki.
"I see that glimmer in your eyes. Spill the beans, little brother."
The dreams. Yuan Fen coughed in embarrassment and he could feel the blush creeping in on his face. "Oh boy, you don't want to know everything."
"So Mizuki did give you that bruise," Korra presumed.
"Yes and no, she wasn't all there in her mind…"
"Same thing happened to you," said Jian.
Yuan Fen sat up in his bed. "How long was I asleep?"
Jian waved her hand side to side. "Eh, give or take 12 hours. Do you remember trying to bash me with a suitcase?"
"I remember… I'm so sorry, Jian. I just felt anger and frustration…. I just wanted to be with her and everything was in my way, including you."
"Why didn't you tell anyone when Mizuki gave you that bruise? How did she do it anyways?" she asked.
"I thought it wasn't real. That night when Askari and Mizuki left. I took a walk in the garden and I found her, dancing in the moonlight… She was so beautiful..." he said wistfully.
His sister snapped her fingers in front of him. "Keep going, lover boy."
"She kissed me and then she bit me." He knew how crazy it sounded in his head, but there was nothing their group couldn't stand to believe anymore. "It was so surreal. She lulled me to sleep, because I woke up on the porch, thinking it was all a dream in the end. I thought I was the one going crazy, imagining Mizuki doing that to me."
Tenzin stroked his beard. "If this was a chakra, it still doesn't make sense. Why attack Yuan when Mizuki was present?"
"I don't think it was. It really was Mizuki in her physical body… I think something's wrong with her. Wait, she talked to me that night!" Yuan Fen racked his brain for answers. "The sound chakra, located in the throat. It's been inside her the whole time!" he realized.
"How could we have missed it?" Jian questioned. "It's been infecting her then."
"The remaining ones become more powerful and malicious each time we encounter them. We weren't prepared at all," Yuan concluded.
"But now you have me again." Korra clenched her fists. "I have to save her, not just as the Avatar, but as one of her best friends."
He dug his hands further into the pockets of his coat. He had never seen Republic City like this: deserted, quiet… frozen in ice.
"Isn't it beautiful?" her voice chimed in. She walked towards him, wearing a beautiful silk purple gown with glittering crystals around the hem and a high collar.
Her appearance and manner was so similar to that of a queen's that he nearly bowed in front of her. "Mizuki," he acknowledged.
She frowned and wrapped her arms around herself. "You look at me as if I'm a stranger. I thought you loved me."
"Should you manipulate those you love then?" he retorted.
A flash of pain appeared in her eyes, but she retained her proud stance. "I admit I was… overzealous in my advances. But do you deny that you didn't desire it as well?" she contested.
"Then what was the effect of that mark you left on me?" His heart, mind, and body had conflicting opinions about her, and he was afraid he would lose control to her again in this dream.
"It strengthened our bond, did it not? How else could we share so many pleasurable dreams?"
"Your corrupt sound chakra is inside you isn't it? That's why you can speak again. It's poisoning your mind, Mizuki. And it used you to poison mines as well."
She sat upon the icy ground, her gown spread out around her, like a glittering purple flame in the middle of the frozen wasteland. "She tried to. But she was a pawn of my Light Chakra, the one that tried to destroy everyone's memories of me so it seemed like I never existed." Her eyes narrowed. "She tried to take me from you. Make both of us forget our love and that was the most unforgivable thing. That was her mistake." She laid a palm to the ground and the ice began cracking around her, but it did not shatter.
He shuddered, but he knew he was not in immediate danger. "What did you do?"
"My sound chakra was sent to weaken me from the inside and my Light Chakra showed me terrible, awful dreams. You died in front of me so many times!" she cried out. Yuan could hear the sound of nearby buildings starting to crumble. "She wanted me to yield, but I refused. I was not the weak little girl everyone else always thought I was." It began snowing, but Yuan Fen could see the snowflakes falling everywhere else but around them. "I crushed them both and ground them up until I was in control of my body again."
"So you have seven of your chakras now?" He gulped. "What about the final one?"
"I need Korra and now she's back, isn't she?" she mentioned matter of factly.
"Mizuki, don't-" He blinked and he was in his bed again. He pounded his fist on the mattress. "Damn it!"
"You're still having dreams about her? I thought Korra cured you of that," Jian commented.
"Well, I healed him from the dark spiritual energy." Korra turned to Yuan Fen. "That doesn't erase the powerful connection he and Mizuki share."
"Powerful?" He coughed to clear his throat. "But she's after you now," he admitted.
"How do we know this isn't a trick? She could be pretending so she has a chance to go after Yuan again."
"She wouldn't lie to me. Even with all that dark energy, twisting everything inside her, especially her emotions, she wouldn't lie to me. She still loves me enough to tell me the truth," he proclaimed.
"With seven of her chakras, she'll be immensely more powerful than we've ever seen her," said Tenzin.
"I'll be ready. I'll enter the Avatar State if I have to. I have no other choice."
"Guess we just have to wait for my brother's girlfriend to attack one of her best friends," Jian summarized.
"I love how you put things in perspective," Yuan said in a deadpan voice.
Askari panted as he ran up the steps to Air Temple Island. He didn't expect a polar bear dog running towards him. "Whoa, girl!" Naga stopped in her tracks right in front of him. "Please tell me Korra's here," he pleaded. Naga responded with a lick on the face.
"You missed out on a lot today," Pema said as she set a cup of tea for Askari.
"Thanks." He gladly took a sip. "So the spirit vines attacking people weren't because of Mizuki?"
"Nope, Kuvira's harvesting vines from the swamp and it affected the Spirit Wilds," answered Korra. "Also she's using the vines to create some kind of weapon."
"Should I be glad to hear my little sister isn't the only one who's engaging in rampant destruction?" He set his cup down. "Mizuki should've attacked by now. She left before I did. Of course I had to scrape ice off myself because of her. Again."
"Maybe I should enter the Spirit World to try to find her," Korra suggested.
Tenzin shook his head. "Too risky. You barely managed to reenter the Spirit World. We don't know what Mizuki is capable of anymore."
"Maybe I should ask Zaheer," Korra joked.
"Now I'm glad to hear he's chained up, even if he did help the Avatar this time," said Askari.
"He feels responsibility for Kurvira's rise to power."
"Ah, the old enemy of my enemy is my friend." Askari tapped his fingers on the kitchen table. "I need to speak with Yuan Fen though. I have questions for him."
"Er, do you know what happened to him because of Mizuki?" Korra asked worriedly.
He placed his elbows on the table and rested his head over his hands. "Do tell."
For a second, Yuan Fen almost wished Mizuki would arrive in his living room rather than sit across from her brother. Almost.
"Ahem, sorry about to hear about your um-" Askari pointed to his neck.
"Ri-right." Yuan Fen nodded his head. "It's fine, my sister was pretty smart about it. Restrained me, got Korra to heal me quickly."
"I heard."
Does he know? Is that why he's here? Oh spirits, please let me know if he does know. But I'd rather he didn't know. "So… how are things?" Yuan Fen wanted to pound his head on the coffee table.
"Things, things could be better, Yuan." Askari placed his hands on his knees. "So, those weird dreams were caused by a love bite from my sister?"
"Yes?" Well, I can't lie to him, that'll get me more in trouble. I'm at a disadvantage here.
"Yuan, I deem myself a reasonable man. I've usually stayed out of my sisters' love lives. Mizuki was a married woman once."
Please stop, or at least let me go crawl into a corner and die from shame.
"Please sit up straight. I assure you I don't want to engage in this conversation any more than you do. At least you don't have to talk about this with my father."
Yuan Fen imagined Fuyuki slicing him into bits and pieces with his sword. "Continue," he wheezed.
"There are many things that can become a man's weakness. Money, power, his own arrogance… many times it's a beautiful woman."
"Yes, Mizuki is a very beautiful woman! Please tell me what you want!" Yuan Fen shouted. He couldn't handle the tension any longer.
"Fine, what are your intentions towards Mizuki right now?" Askari calmly demanded.
He could feel his jaw waiting to drop to the ground. "What? You're joking. What have we been trying to do all this time? Trying to get her back to normal."
"You know that's no longer possible. She'll never be the same again, Yuan. Even if she's still human, the spirit side of her will always lie in wait." Askari got up and began pacing around the room. "The two of you, always drawn to each other, but always separated in the end… How frustrating must that be for you?"
Yuan Fen stood up from his seat. "It has nothing to do with what I want!"
"That's not what she told me." Yuan Fen slowly sat back down. "Everything she will do is because of her desire to be with you. Will you risk everything to save her? Or will you fall into temptation to be with her? If you refuse her, you will probably suffer the most out of all of us."
"Everything she will do is because of the dark energy corrupting her. If she unlocks her last chakra, she might even have the power to destroy the world. The real Mizuki would never want that to happen. She'd give up everything to make sure of that… including me. All I want is for her to come back to us, human or spirit."
Askari nodded his head in approval and smiled. Well then," he clapped his hands, "that settles it. I'm satisfied."
"Was-was this some kind of test?" Yuan stammered.
"Hey, had to make sure you didn't go crazy like my sister. Especially with the weird shared dreaming thing you have going on with her. By the way, I don't ever want to know the specific details. Never tell me."
"Promise," he immediately responded.
"Maybe you are the only one who can get through to her now," Askari mused.
"Yuan?" He could hear Lili sniffling from the receiver. "I dreamed about my father."
"Lili… you missed him more than you realized, right?"
"Uh-huh," he could hear her choking back another sob.
"You and Askari should meet up with us at Air Temple Island."
"Ok."
"See you soon." He hung up and walked over to Jian who was sitting on his couch with red puffy eyes.
"Her too?" Jian asked. He nodded his head.
The atmosphere around Air Temple Island was of utmost misery as their group sat around the dining table.
"He looked just as I remembered him when I still considered him my father. The same smile, he even picked me up in the air like he did when I was little," Lili recollected.
"Dad wasn't like that in my dream. He was the same age Mom is now. They were both so happy together… I haven't seen Mom smile like that in such a long time," Jian mentioned. "I'm glad we sent her away from the city."
"That's the worst of it, isn't it? Seeing your parents happy together again. It almost makes you wish you never woke up," Asami admitted. "My mom looked like she did in my old family picture."
"Same with my parents. Bolin was there too. He acted as if our parents had always been with us. I almost thought I was the one who remembered incorrectly before I woke up," said Mako.
"That's the power of her Light Chakra. It deals with illusions," said Yuan Fen. "She must be here already."
"Before she left, I told her that I never thought she would be a cruel person. She left because she didn't want to hurt anyone. So what has she become now?" Lili questioned.
"She suffered quietly through the years. I think part of her wanted to inflict a part of that back," Askari assumed.
"I think she's saving the worst of it for me then," said Korra.
Jinora ran into the room. "Korra! She's in the Spirit Wilds. I felt a surge of energy there again."
Korra, Mako, Yuan Fen, Tenzin and Jinora slowly walked through the Spirit Wilds. "Do you sense her right now, Jinora?" Korra asked.
"It comes and goes. She must be moving around."
"I finally… get to see you again," her voice echoed.
"And now she's nearby us," Mako replied. Their group nervously surveyed their surroundings.
Korra yelped in pain, she could feel a painful sensation around her wrists as if something tried to snap them off. It spread to the rest of her body and she fell to the ground in agony.
"Bloodbending," Tenzin realized. "Mizuki, no!"
Korra entered the Avatar State and a mini tornado appeared in the Spirit Wilds, revealing her location. The glow from Korra's eyes disappeared as she stared at her. "Mizuki, we're friends. I don't want to hurt you. Let me help you." Korra's heart nearly broke looking at her. She had never appeared so weak and emaciated, her clothes were torn and ragged. "I shouldn't have left you go off on your own. I've ran away from my mistakes all these years, but I'm done running."
"I was ready to move on, to relieve Yue and retake my place as the moon spirit. But I was weak… I still wanted to stay with all of you even when it went against my duties. My indecision literally tore me part, my chakras were split and I dragged Meiyu and Kaimu along as well."
Korra heard yelling and turned around to see the spirit vines had entangled her group. "Let them go!"
"You shouldn't have dragged them into this. You're the one who let me sacrifice myself during Harmonic Convergence," she responded.
Korra launched a blast of firebending, cutting the vines and her friends landed on the ground. "This ends now!" A swirl of water appeared around Mizuki as Korra began using her spiritual healing technique. The water dissipated, but Mizuki merely stood there. "It didn't work…"
"You can't save me, Korra. There's only one way for this to end." Mizuki launched a ring of icicles that Korra barely dodged. "And I don't intend on losing." A dome of water appeared around her as she launched several ice shards. Mako, Tenzin, and Jinora combined their firebending and airbending to melt them.
Korra wiped away a tear. "I'm so sorry." She entered the Avatar State again and charged toward Mizuki. She firebent and burned through the spirit vines that were sent towards her. She wrapped a water whip around Mizuki's leg and flung her through the air. Instead of doing a perfect landing or trying to cushion her fall, she slammed into the ground, creating a fissure.
She got up from the ground, bloody and bruised, and began giggling. She looked at the cuts on her arms and legs and she laughed even harder. "It's so easy to detach myself from my body… I don't even feel a single ounce of pain… I don't have to feel anything anymore!"
"Stop… please stop this," Yuan Fen pleaded.
Mizuki stopped laughing. "I can't." She kneeled on the ground. "You see what kind of a monster I am?" Her shoulders began shaking as she started to cry. "How could I ask you to love me now?" Yuan Fen started walking towards her. "Stay away from me!" she screamed. A purple pulse of energy emerged from her.
"Get down!" Korra warned. She earthbent a wall surrounding them and they avoided the brunt of the blast.
"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry, everyone." Mizuki began sobbing. The ground was scorched around her and Korra put out the small fires on the vines.
"Mizuki, fight this! You're stronger than the rest of them put together," Korra urged.
"I can't," she choked. "Not unless you let me die then. It's what you should have done in the first place. I'm fused with the dark spiritual energy like Unalaq was with Vaatu."
"I'll find the light in the dark again for you. I found Raava again, I can save you!"
"Korra… I'm so scared," she sobbed. "But please don't be an idiot, you can't save everyone. Let me die with the remains of my humanity. If you don't stop me now, I'll destroy the world. There's so much pain and sadness in it… but even if there's more evil than good in this world… the good is still worth protecting-" She writhed in pain and cried out.
Yuan Fen ran to her despite protests from the rest of the group. He held her in his arms and her sobs quieted. "I promised you that I would always be at your side."
"I release you from it," she whispered. "Don't blame yourself, Yuan. This was my destiny. I'm a spirit trapped in a human vessel. It's remarkable that I even lived this long." He choked back his own sobs and took her hand in his. "It'll be okay."
"No, it won't. We were so close this time," he wept.
"I got to fall in love again though... I was happy, even for just a short time with you. I've experienced so much in this life. Thank you, Yuan." She whimpered and her tears fell to the ground. "Please don't forget me and I'll always be by your side." She cried out again and clutched her stomach. Yuan Fen heard the howling of a wolf.
"What is that?" Mako questioned.
"I feel another surge of spiritual energy. A really powerful one," Jinora informed.
"Yuan, back away from her now!" Korra yelled. The spirit vines moved again, but giant ribbons burst from them, entangling Mizuki.
"You should listen to the Avatar. You underestimate the danger you're in," an oddly familiar voice called out.
Mizuki struggled against the binding ribbons, crying out in distress. She gasped and a thin blade appeared through her stomach. It faded away and blood spilled out from her wound.
"Mizuki!" Yuan Fen tried to rush to her aid, but a ribbon wrapped around his legs and he fell over.
"She's still alive. If I wanted to kill her, I would've aimed for her heart." A young woman appeared behind Mizuki who was slowly being encased in purple crystal. Her long wavy dark brown hair was tied up in a ponytail on the left side of her head and she had bangs above her blue eyes. She wore a short dark blue trench coat decorated with gold buttons and matching thigh-high boots.
"What did you do to her?" Yuan Fen demanded. The girl snapped her fingers and his ribbon disappeared.
"I saved all of you. And her as well."
"Can you call them off too?" Mako pointed to the two giant black and white wolves circling around them. The girl whistled and the white wolf lied down on the ground.
"Mora, you too." The black wolf obeyed and a girl identical to the other appeared at her side. She had the same blue eyes and hairstyle, but her ponytail was on the right side. She wore a silver dress with light blue flowers embellished on it. The skirt was cut off on the front side along her knees with a long train trailing off the back. Her silver high heels clicked as she approached Yuan Fen. "Do you remember me?"
"I am one of the last and for Mizuki's sake, you better heed my advice!"*
"The girl from the swamp." Yuan Fen stood up. "But you were-" He raised his hand at the level of his chest. "Younger."
She tapped a finger on her chin. "Hmmm yes. It's almost like I can assume different forms."
"You know her?" Korra questioned.
"Yes, sadly, I did make the acquaintance of this very sarcastic young lady," he replied. He turned back to the girl. "What did you do to Mizuki?"
"I'll let my sister answer that."
The other girl stepped forward. "I temporarily stopped her rampage by injuring her. The ribbons will cut off part of her power while she tries to heal herself, but she will be set free eventually. We can already feel her trying to break through."
"Feel her?"
"They're extremely powerful spirits. I've never quite felt this kind of energy before." Jinora laid a hand on the white wolf that happily licked her hand and she giggled. "I can feel it from their wolves, too."
Yuan Fen pointed to the girl in the dress. "She was the one who led me to start on my journey to find the chakras. We met in the swamp."
"Yes, and you did that part well enough." She ran her fingers through her ponytail. "Now you should focus on stopping Kuvira. We can contain Mizuki for now."
"And what happens after?"
The twins stared Yuan Fen straight in his eyes. "That's up to you," they said simultaneously.
*A/N: Head back to Ch. 33 for their meeting in the swamp. It's been a long while since I updated, but the last chapters are churning out quickly since I've been planning my outlines for a long time. I hope to finish soon!