Another day amongst the clouds, it had been like this for the past couple of days. Flying from town to town, stocking up on provisions, and then continuing their journey. Zuko had elected himself the de facto money handler since he was the oldest and knew not to squander it on petty things that he and his friends didn't need. He only ever spent it when absolutely necessary, keeping an insistence on fishing or hunting for their meat and foraging for fruits and nuts as to stave off scurvy and for Aang's vegetarian diet. Though Aang didn't like the thought of hunting other animals for food, he didn't protest all that much as it meant Zuko could focus more on airbending. The screech of a bearded red feathered hawk distracts the young avatar from taking stock of the money they had left (only amounting to a single gold piece, five or so silver pieces and 20 copper) causing him to look about the sky for the bird. Meanwhile, Katara is looking out over the sea of clouds that cover the land below in a large white blanket.

"Those clouds look so fluffy. Like you can just jump into them." Katara muses to no one in particular, but her musings are commented on by her ever sarcastic brother.

"Then why don't you jump into them?" He jives, looking up from a small stick he was whittling with his knife.

"I'll do it!" Aang shouts excitedly before grabbing his staff and leaping off Appa's head. Katara, Sokka and Zuko peek over the side of the saddle and watch him fall into the blanket of clouds leaving a small outline impression of him as he passes through it. It isn't long before he comes flying back over the other side of Appa sopping wet. "So it turns out that clouds are just made of air and water." This conclusion from Aang is then followed by him punching his fist into his palm and exhaling through his nose and drying himself off.

"What is that..." Katara asks, looking towards the forest below. Ahead of them in through the parting clouds a large swath of land has been charred black. Hundreds of acres of once lush forestry had been incinerated. The earth charred black with with the burning of everything that couldn't escape the inferno.

"It's like the land was scarred." Sokka says aloud as the four of them stare at the burned devastation. Deciding to investigate, Aang brings them in for a landing in the scorched earth. The ash and black soot puffing up as they land causing Appa to cough which is soon followed by the others as well.

"It's as quiet as the dead." Zuko says in a solemn tone.

"What happened here?" Katara asks as they hop off of Appa's saddle and onto the ashen soil. "Could a lightning strike have caused this?" A few paces behind her, Sokka found the reason why this had happened. Dozens of boot marks through the ash, the heavy in time pattern of their marching was all the evidence he needed.

"No. This was intentional. Firebenders. Those monsters, they make me sick! They ha-" Sokka's rant is prematurely cut short by Katara shushing him. A few yards away, Zuko stands staring out at the devastation his nation has caused.

"We really are the bad guys... aren't we?" He asks himself before taking a seat in the ash. "I don't know how I can fix this... how any avatar can fix this... I don't even know how to be the avatar."

"There isn't someone that can teach you that... is there?" Katara asks but gets no response from the prince.

"I'm not sure if it's possible, but before the iceberg, when my sister was revealed to be the avatar, Monk Gyatso told us that Avatar Roku would be able to teach her." Aang explains.

"How would he be able to do that? He's been dead for over 100 years and three other avatars have come and gone in his time too." Zuko at this point is basically drowning the others out. Transfixed on the scarred and scorched earth before him for hundreds of acres.

"Maybe since he's a firebender like Zuko, he'd be able to help in some way. He is one of his past lives." Aang ponders.

"But how would I even get in contact with him. It's not like I can make a campfire, stare into it and say 'Hey, avatar Roku, i'm in a mess and could use your advice right now.' Besides, Sokka said it himself, he's dead so he's not going to be able to help me." Zuko, now infuriated with the current situation, slams his fists into the ashen soil out of frustration, unintentionally airbending two paths projected by his hands away from him, lifting the ash and debris. However, Katara notices something in the upturned ash.

"Well it's not all bad, besides. I think this will cheer you up." Zuko is then struck in the back of the head by an acorn causing him to turn and glare at Katara in anger for a moment before noticing what was thrown.

"An acorn? What am I supposed to do with a stupid acorn?! Some way of cheering me up Katara."

"Cheered me up." Sokka says with a laugh before being beamed himself by his sister. "Yeah... I probably deserved that." He relents with croc tears in his eyes from the stinging.

"Zuko, the acorns will one day regrow into a new forest. Sure it was burned down but it isn't gone forever." As he's about to respond however, some rustling in the trees on the barrier of forest surrounding the ash distracts them. From it an elderly man in furs and robes comes walking out of the woods with an awestruck expression on his face.

"I knew it! I knew I saw the bison. Are you the avatar young man?" The bearded elderly traveler asks before being corrected by Aang.
"Oh I'm no-"

"You mean me." Zuko interrupts the airbender, walking up to the elderly man.

"My village needs your help. Desperately."

The journey from the scorched forest to the elder's village took up the majority of the day. The man insists that he leads the way, but due to his old age it takes them several hours to head from where they had landed to the village. Granted, the term ruins would be more appropriate for the description of the partially destroyed town. Its main gates were completely missing and most of the surrounding walls near the entrance were destroyed. The first half of the town, which only consisted of a handful of buildings, was completely destroyed. The only things remaining from what were once homes now reduced to the wood scraps that made up the supports of the former abode. The four are led to the largest building in town where the other villagers are congregated and cowering from whatever had caused the destruction. Entering the town hall, Zuko almost instantly takes note of a mother and child talking to each other near a staircase off to the far corner. The young boy had obviously been crying but the cause escaped the avatar at the moment.

"This young man is The Avatar." The elder introduces, prompting another man with his hair done up in a top knot to walk over and greet him.

"So the rumors of your return are true, and you've returned as a firebender no less. It's a pleasure to meet you." The village chief greets Zuko with a respectful bow prompting him to do the same.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too, I am Avatar Lee." Zuko greets, once again using his fake name. "The elder told us that your village needs help... with what exactly?"

"For the past few nights at sundown, a spirit monster has attacked us. It has even taken several of the other villagers." The chief explains before the elder continues on for him.

"The spirit is Heibai, The Black and White spirit."

"Do you know why he's attacking you?" The chief shakes his head no at Sokka's question before walking to the frame of the door and looking out at the destroyed gate.

"No, what is worse is the past three nights he's abducted one of our own. It's only worsened by the fact that the winter solstice is in 2 days. The solstice is when the spirit world and ours become so close, that the borders between them become almost nonexistent. When the solstice is here, we might all be taken." Zuko doesn't know where to even begin, opting to remain silent and attempt to comprehend the chief's words.

"I don't know what I can do or how I can help." He admits, the rhythmic tapping of the elder's cane on the wood floor stops when he gets to the avatar's side.

"You are the best person to resolve our problem. You are the bridge between our world and the spirit world." Katara notices that Zuko looks visibly shaken by this statement from the elder.

"Okay... th-that's right." Zuko stammers, trying and failing to hide his nervousness.

"Alright, we need to talk over here. Privately." Katara breaks up the conversation between Zuko and the villagers before pushing him over towards the window and out of earshot of anyone else aside from their group. "So do you have any idea how to fix this?"

"None at all, we're doomed." Zuko says feigning confidence, causing Katara to smack her forehead.

"Don't say that, I'm sure we'll figure something out." Aang in his typical optimistic fashion.

"Yeah... we're all gonna get eaten." Sokka is definitely not helping with this situation.

"Well this is just fantastic." Zuko thought to himself, now that he is stuck knee deep in angry spirit monster mumbo jumbo. He wondered if any other avatar had to stop a town or city from another spirit monster. Granted the possibility was extremely likely and now he found himself wondering why he even asked the question in the first place. Right now however, he was focused on one thing. How the heck is he going to deal with Heibai? He's 90% sure talking to the spirit won't solve much, though he was hoping it would... Oh who is he kidding, he's completely screwed. For the moment he needs to at least try to put on the facade that he has an idea of what is happening. Thankfully to keep his mind off the altercation to come, the townspeople were more than courteous enough to provide them with a warm meal and tea. The hot leaf juice reminded him of how much he missed his uncle, especially since his tea is a lot better than what was provided. Though he didn't complain.

Unfortunately for him, the sun dipped lower and lower in the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange, violet and purple. He wished that he had more time to mentally prepare himself for battling the Heibai spirit, but that time was running short. He had just finished the fish and rice when one of the townsmen on watch entered the hall notifying them it was only minutes till sun down. This statement causes Zuko to almost choke as his heart starts pounding out of his chest. He was about to fight an angry spirit that had single handedly destroyed most of this town. So no pressure. Trying to keep his composure, Zuko rose from where he was seated and took a deep breath. Standing to his full height, he begins walking towards the door. Aang rushes up to his pupil and gives Zuko the glyder staff believing he will need it.

"Alright Zuko, it's just an angry spirit monster that has destroyed wood and stone buildings and has been terrorizing these people for the past several days. No pressure, you're the avatar it has to listen to you... I hope." He attempts to give himself a pep talk in his mind, walking out into the center of the destroyed village. "Here goes nothing." He says to himself before taking a deep breath and exhaling a small burst of fire for reassurance. "Heibai! I am Avatar Lee and I demand that you cease your attacks on this village!" Zuko yells into the evening air. Twirling and slamming the end of Aang's staff on the ground as some sort of display.

"He's screwed." Sokka says watching this happen from the safety of the town hall, however this statement causes Katara to elbow him in the ribs.

"Huh? Well, I guess that's it then." Zuko says anticlimactically as he shrugs his shoulders and turns away from the destroyed gate. The erie quiet of the empty town keeping him on edge as part of him wants to sprint as fast as he can to the safety of the rest of the group.

As he continues walking back towards the town hall the forest is filled with the evening wind, it sounding as if it was whispers and murmurs. Out from the forest itself an apparition appears behind Zuko. A gargantuan beast with two sets of arms, a piebald color pattern of black and white across its giant form. Almost appearing reptilian, it slowly and silently walks behind Zuko trailing him as if it is a predator and he is the prey. Ahead of him, Zuko sees the expressions of Aang, Katara and Sokka from the window change. Now the three of them are staring in fear at him, or more specifically...

"It's right behind me isn't it?" Zuko deadpans, sighing in frustration. He slowly turns around to face the 15ft tall spirit which is staring down at the avatar. It bearing it's teeth and growling at him. "Oh... Crap Baskets." Immediately after he says this, Heibai rears back and roars at him, it's roar sounding like a cacophony of screams rather than anything animalistic. From it's mouth the scream illuminates the area in spiritual light disturbing the dust and dirt beneath him. Zuko flinches, bringing his leg and arm up to shield his body from the ethereal scream attack from Heibai. Once the screaming stops Zuko hesitantly opens his eye and lowers his arm and foot. "Um... H-hi." Zuko greets, not knowing what to do, a few dozen yards behind him, Sokka hits his forehead with his pal.

"He's dead." Sokka says in all confidence as all hell breaks loose around the town.

Immediately after the statement from Zuko, Heibai shifts across the ground as if phasing out of reality and sliding forwards. The gigantic creature slamming it's larger pair of arms on someone's home before blitzing another house. It swipes the hope away with a single swing before unleashing another ethereal scream destroying another house and toppling the guard tower that was barely still standing. If this monster wasn't destroying the town they were in, Sokka might find the fact that Zuko is currently chasing around this giant spirit monster yelling at it trying to get Heibai to listen to him. In fact he is actually finding it rather difficult not to laugh as Zuko repeatedly shouts "Hey!" or "Listen to me!" or "I'm the Avatar!" as he runs about following Heibai.

"Rrrrraaaggghhh!!! WILL YOU JUST LISTEN TO ME YOU STUPID SPIRIT!!!"Zuko roars, throwing a heavy handed punch and launching a fireball at the best. The orange and yellow flames cascade about the moving ball of fire as it flies through the air before hitting the giant right hind leg of Heibai in the calf muscle.

The flames slam into the spirit's leg before dissipating into the night air causing Heibai to pause and stop his destruction for a moment. Zuko holding his fighting stance, his fists raised in an defensive manner and held towards Heibai. Faster than he could react, Heibai turns and slams one of its smaller arms into Zuko, sending him flying. The young avatar grunting in pain from the impact. Katara and Aang gasp from the strike that Heibai sent Zuko's way but Sokka on the other hand reacts differently.

"That flame-brained idiot is going to get himself killed!" Sokka yells before grabbing his whalebone club and boomerang. The water tribesman hops the ledge of the window and runs outside to assist Sokka.

"No! Sokka, come back here!" Aang yells rushing after the water tribesman, vaulting over the window following him to assist Zuko. "We can't help here Sokka! Let him handle this!" Aang yells trying to be the voice of reason as the two sprint through the rubble towards Haibai.

The black and white spirit is facing down Zuko as he struggles to get back up, still reeling from the swipe, and isn't aware of Sokka or Aang approaching. Not wanting Zuko to get killed by the spirit, Sokka does the only sensible thing in his mind, pulling his boomerang from his back and flinging it towards the giant spirit. The whalebone weapon flits through the air right towards the spirit, before harmlessly bouncing off of its rear end and falling to the floor. Ceasing its forward aggression towards Zuko, Haibai pauses for a moment before suddenly spinning and blitzing both Aang and Sokka. Neither could react in time to even try to get out of its way as the pair found the creatures' large hands wrapping around their bodies and snatching them off the ground. Zuko gasps in horror as Heibai grabs both Aang and Sokka before quickly standing up and rushing towards the spirit.

The avatar sprays fire from his feet to propel himself along the ground closing the gap quickly. Haibai however takes off running out of the town and back towards the forest from whence it came. Forcing the avatar to grab Aang's glider staff that he had dropped when fighting Heibai. Pressing the release for the orange fans to extend outwards Zuko assumes the same position Aang has taught him in their journey and boards the glyder. He pulls his hand from the grip above his head before spraying a burst of fire towards the dirt to assist with speed as he tries to catch up with the spirit that had taken his friends hostage. "ZUKO!!! HELP!" Sokka yells as Zuko continues to airbend under the glider flying towards the escaping spirit. Due to his taller fram than Aang. Zuko's feet protrude outwards further than the back blades of the glider making it difficult for him to fly it straight. However, replicating what he did on the ground to gain speed, Zuko fire bends through his feet underneath the treeline making sure not to get the flames too close to the underbrush or low hanging limbs. This decision to combo Airbending and Firebending simultaneously compensates for his lack of skill with the glider and gives him the boost he needs in order to catch up.

Despite the dire situation he's in, Aang is impressed with his pupil's resourcefulness in his attempt to save them. As the gap gets closer and closer, Zuko darts between sides of Heibai trying to decide between Aang or Sokka. A position he didn't want to be in and a choice he didn't want to make. In a split second decision Zuko tries reaching for Sokka as the older of the two manages to get a hand free. Heibai continues sprinting through the forest, coming to the clearing of where the forest was destroyed by the firebenders previously. A bright ethereal blue light envelopes all of them just as Zuko manages to grab onto Sokka's wrist. Heibai seemingly disappears leaving Zuko to fly uncontrolled and like a rocket into a large totem pole in the center of the burned down forest. He slams hard into the depiction of a panda and plumits to the ground falling unconscious due to the crash and fall.

Zuko awoke hours later, clueless to where Heibai had taken both Aang and Sokka. The defeated avatar slowly makes his walk back to the town where the battle had taken place. He picks up the glider staff that had fallen away from him in the crash and drags it haphazardly behind him as he makes the long trek back to the village. Internally he was cursing himself for his failure against Heibai and his failure to save both Sokka and Aang. He was dreading what Katara would say when he got back, part of him thought she'd kill him. That thought was only momentary, she wasn't crazy enough to kill him. Especially since there is no air nation to be born into again should he die. That there begged the question in his mind as his thoughts wandered. If he died would Aang become the next avatar since he's the only airbender left? His thoughts are interrupted when he hears the village elder speaking with Katara. The girl's folded form sitting under what's left of the ruined gate, in a position that insinuates she had been crying.

"Don't worry Katara, your brother and friend are in the care and capable hands of the Avatar. They'll return soon." The elder explains, wrapping Katara in a blanket to stave off the cold of the morning air.

"Katara? I-I'm sorry. I couldn't save them." Zuko says averting eye contact from her but the response never comes.

"Thank you, I'm sure they'll return soon." She says, her voice still shaky from the experience and from her past tears. The elder turned and returned to his duties with the rest of the townspeople.

"Can you hear me? Katara! You better not be playing some stupid trick on me!" Zuko yells but once again he's seemingly ignored. As he stands there wondering why he is being ignored. He notices Momo fly over and land nearby before crawling up into Katara's arms.

"Hey momo, Aang, Lee and Sokka will be back soon. Maybe they'll even bring you back some litchi nuts too." She coaxes the small lemur as she gets up from her spot on the ground and turns away.

"Hey! Knock if off already! I'm right here dammit!" Zuko yells reaching out towards Katara but his hand phases through her causing him to trip and fall. The avatar now wondering what the hell is going on quickly notices something. His hand is not only blue but he can also see through it. "Oh... that's not good... I'm in the spirit world." He says to himself, feeling his heart sink in his chest.