AN: I don't even know how I managed to finish this chapter this week to be honest, I thought I may never release this week , it had been one of the busiest weeks ever, but I am glad I did.
Enjoy.
***
It was night, Levi and the others were inside the chief's house having a feast, they had just defeated the spirit of the forest and were celebrating their victory.
Appa and Momo were lying outside, they had just stuffed themselves full of food given to them, their stomachs almost bursting, suddenly their ears moved as they picked up a sound, they sprang into attention as they got up and looked in a certain direction.
Out of the darkness behind a house, a small black shape came forward, it was so dark that it almost gave Momo and Appa a heart attack before they calmed down when they noticed how small it was, it was Acnologia in his small form.
'We finally meet, my chief adversaries.' thought Accnologia as he approached them on all fours with his head held high, he had been holding a grudge for quite a while as he had felt that Levi was giving them more attention than him, and now was finally his moment to exact his revenge.
They couldn't help but tilt their heads and look at him in confusion as he approached, but soon they relaxed as they smelled a familiar scent from him and sat back down to relax.
'That's right, bow before your better, feel my mighty aura you lesser life forms.' thought Acnologia, thrilled as he saw them sitting back down, he proudly held his head even higher up, as if he was a king looking down at his subjects.
'What Should I do now?' he couldn't help but wonder as he hadn't thought it this far through, he thought that he would have to engage them in brutal combat in which he would emerge victorious, he hadn't planned for this....instant surrender.
'I guess it is only natural to bow when faced with my greatness.' he couldn't help but think.
Soon though his attention was caught by the uneaten pile of meat next to Momo and Appa. The villagers had never seen such strange creatures so they had just given them everything around hoping it would satisfy them, not knowing they were herbivores so the meat was left untouched.
Seeing Acnologia's fixed stare on the meat and the drool that started to fall from the side of his mouth, Appa moved his tail and pushed all the meat toward Acnologia, even Momo moved and picked up the small leftovers that Appa couldn't push and threw it on the ground besides Acnologia.
Seeing this scene Acnologia didn't stand on ceremony as he dived straight in, barely having the time to take a breath as he devoured the food.
*num* *num* *num*
'Well, maybe you guys aren't half bad after all.' thought Acnologia as he munched on his food.
It took a while for him to finish all the food that was at least three times his current body size, after that he just walked next to Appa and slept as he rested his head on him, the flying bison not minding it at all.
'Seriously this guy!!.' Levi couldn't help but feel stunned as he shook his head helplessly, lost for words.
He had seen everything using his ethereal sense from beginning to end, and he was ready to interfere at any moment. But it seemed that it wasn't necessary.
Although he couldn't help but feel worried because of Acnologia's love of food, 'Will he betray me one day for some steak?.' he couldn't help but think.
'Unlikely.' he thought, shaking his head, he didn't doubt Acnologia's loyalty for even a second, 'But he definitely needs to lay off on food.' he thought as he imagined the scene of a fat black dragon.
***
Next morning.
"I am not sure about this Aang, going into the territory of the Fire Nation? That's crazy even for us." said Katara to Aang as he tried to drag Appa who wouldn't move away.
"I have to Katara, I have to meet avatar Roku, this is the only chance I might get." said Aang with an anxious tone in his voice.
"Yeah, that's if you don't get killed on the way there." said Sokka nonchalantly, getting a glare from Katara.
"Sokka!" she hissed in a displeased tone.
"What? I said what all of us were thinking." replied Sokka feeling wronged.
"Ha-ah, I am with Aang on this one." said Levi as he stepped forward, shocking them all even Aang as they haven't been on the best of terms lately.
"Plus you have me here, what do you have to worry about?" added Levi with a big smile. While his words were arrogant they did bring a sense of comfort to them nonetheless as they all couldn't help but subconsciously relax.
"Alright then, Let's do this, we don't have much time left, the winter solstice is today, just before the sun sets." said Levi as they all nodded and jumped on top of Appa bidding the village they just saved farewell.
***
Riding on top of Appa Levi had his hands behind his head as he lay there, he couldn't help but space out a little.
He was thinking about his trip to the spirit realm, he wasn't worried about that as he had already spent two years there and was familiar with it, and he wasn't worried about his siblings or Aang. They were strong enough and getting stronger day by day.
He was thinking about how to break the news to them that he would be separating from them, and if he should tell them where he was going or not.
And it seemed that he had been spacing out for longer than he had realized as the other had noticed, "Levi? You alright?" asked Katara with a worried tone of voice, the other two were also looking his way, and he might have been imagining things but he could feel that Appa and Momo were also paying attention.
"Ha-ah, I am fine sister." he said, sighing as he sat from his lying position with a smile on his face putting them at ease.
"But there is something I have to tell you all." he said and he could tell that Katara had immediately become tense.
'Women's intuition can be really scary sometimes.' he couldn't help but think.
"I will be leaving you guys when we reach Crescent Island." said Levi, shocking everyone.
"Leaving?"
"Why?"
"Where?"
Asked Katara in shock followed by Sokka and Aang, bombarding him with questions.
"Wow, Thank you for your understanding and trust guys." said Levi sarcastically, making the three of them snap out of it and show awkward expressions.
Shaking his head with a smile, Levi thought it over before he decided to come clean, they were already old enough and he couldn't always hide all his activities from them, and if they knew where he was they would worry less.
"I'll be heading into the spirit realm, as for why I can't tell you, at least not now" he said, shocking them.
"How can you even GO into the spirit realm? I thought that was impossible." asked Aang confused.
"It usually is, but not during the winter solstice, if someone has the help of a spirit or has the ability to do it they can easily pass into the spirit realm." said Levi giving a vague explanation.
He had already figured out how to get there yesterday night, he had tried using his spirit body's ability and he had stayed in his spirit state for hours without feeling the slightest discomfort.
From that he discerned that the barrier between the two worlds was already thin enough to allow spirits to exist here, for now at least, and vice versa.
From there he figured out that if he stayed in his spirit state after the winter solstice passed he would be transported into the spirit realm.
It sounded simple and easy but barely anyone in the world could achieve it without the help of a spirit.
"But where will you find a spirit that's willing to help you do that?" Asked Sokka confused.
"Who said I needed a spirit?" said Levi with a smug smile on his face.
"Yeah, of course you don't." replied Sokka with an awkward expression.
"Will you be ok?." asked Katara in concern not even trying to stop him, she knew her brother well enough to know that once he made up his mind there was no chance she'd manage to convince him otherwise so she didn't waste her breath.
"Don't worry sister, I am more sure that nothing will go wrong." Said Levi with a confident smile, but inwardly he couldn't help but have a worrisome thought, 'Did I just jinx myself?.'
'Nah, I am sure everything will be alright.' he thought.
***
"Come on Appa, faster, we've got a long way to go." said Aang to Appa to which the sky bison replied with what Levi could only interpret as a grunt as it sped up through the clouds
"Guys!! We have company" shouted Sokka from the back, "It's Zuko."
Looking back they saw a fire nation ship chasing them and surprisingly enough it was keeping up with Appa.
"Incoming fire." shouted Katara in panic.
Levi though didn't need her reminder as he had already detected it, before Aang could steer Appa out of the way Levi jumped to his feet and moved both hands around.
The others were wondering how he was planning to stop it when they were suddenly shocked as they saw huge tendrils of water form from the clouds around them before shooting towards the flaming rock, wrapping around it before hurling it back towards the ship below.
Of course Levi wasn't aiming at the ship as the rock fell beside it, only grazing it slightly, zuko and the other fire nation soldiers didn't know that though as they were scared shitless seeing the rock miss them by inches.
"My...my lord, maybe we should avoid using the catapult for now." said a fire nation soldier from beside Zuko with a shaky voice.
"Just stay on their tails." said Zuko agreeing with him but too proud to say it as his eyes bore into Levi's form, this was the first time he had seen him in action and he couldn't help but shake when he remembered all the times he had encounters with him, thanking his lucky stars he hadn't provoked him into action back then.
"We can still turn back now Prince Zuko, we are still in Earth nation waters so the fire nation won't be able to arrest you." Came Iroh's wise voice from behind.
To which Zuko completely ignored, "No we are going after them no matter what, I am chasing the Avatar my father will understand why I came back." he said as Iroh could only shake his head.
***
"Wow, that was amazing." came Aang's excited voice from the front.
"It was nothing." said Levi. And it was the truth, it barely took any effort from him, before he continued as he pointed forward, "Don't be so happy just yet."
In the waters in front of them there were dozens of fire nation ships, maybe even reaching a hundred, each one of them at least three times the size the one Zuko was in, forming a tight blockade, stretching for as long as the eye could see.
Each ship had at least one catapult loaded with flaming rocks ready to fire at them at any moment, seeing this scene all of them couldn't help but get tense.
"Leave it to me." said Levi as he stepped forward, even then the others were still tense, they knew he was strong but they were facing hundreds of fire nation ships, surely even Levi would have a problem dealing with them. Soon and without any warning hundreds of giant flaming rocks fired at them.
Taking a deep breath in, Levi jumped from Appa and landed on top of a small cloud that surprisingly carried his weight as if it were solid.
'Now, even I can't deal with all of this.' thought Levi as he stared at the hundreds of flaming rocks rushing his way, 'That's if I don't use limit breaker of course.' a smirk covered his face and he activated Limit breaker and immediately the world froze.
'I'll never get used to this.' he couldn't help but think as he observed everything around him.
What felt like minutes of him observing every detail around him, and even making out the faces and expressions of the people below on the ship was but a second as huge tentacles of water sprang out of the clouds around him, hundreds of tentacles, even dwarfing the massive amount of flaming rock.
The tentacles moved swiftly and wrapped around the rocks so fast that they almost broke the sound barrier before flinging them back down toward the ships below, this time Levi didn't have any reservations as he hit the ships with extreme accuracy, not a single rock missing its target before he jumped back towards Appa turning Limit breaker off.
Even from this far in the air he could hear the tragic screams of the drowning and injured Fire Nation soldiers below, screams that sent a chill up the spine of anyone who heard them.
Sokka and Katara couldn't help but have stars in their eyes as they eyed Levi, especially Katara, as for Aang he had a complicated look on his face as he looked at the carnage down below, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
Soon Appa passed safely over the dying fire nation soldiers and their damaged ships, leaving behind a scene as if a huge battle had just unfolded. Nobody would believe it was the work of a single person if they hadn't witnessed it themselves.
***
"So that's the avatar." said Commander Zhao as he watched the bison fly away mistaking Levi for Aang, he was still shaking in fear but he was still standing on his two feet unlike most of his troops.
He had been in countless battles and led countless others, but never had he seen something like this.
Suddenly he didn't want to chase him anymore, he didn't feel as brave as he was previously and neither did his soldiers. But they still had a duty to uphold, and so Zhao had no choice but to order his soldiers to regroup and salvage what was left of their morale.
It was a while before Zuko's ship reached them and Zhao could see the shocked and fearful expression on his face, he still had a grudge against the prince, and seeing this scene he couldn't help but feel a bit better inside, even if he completely understood what the prince was feeling.
Standing beside him was Iroh, unfazed! Drinking his tea as if he hadn't seen the catastrophic event that just took place, he even smiled and waved at Zhao.
"Sir? What should we do?." asked a fire nation officer.
"Let them through, I have a feeling they'll lead us right to the avatar." said Zhao.
***
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