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𝐕aatu hovered above the Tree of Time, looking down at the team. Meanwhile, Unalaq looked rather amazed at the sight of the gigantic evil spirit. However, Cloud was nowhere amazed, and for the first time, she was terrified of what it could do to them or to the world, especially to Korra since she has Raava fused within her. She didn't want to leave her alone with Vaatu. She could almost feel his wicked power from where she stood.
The darkest of them all tried to fuse with Unalaq but Korra entered the Avatar State and stopped him with a large blast of fire. She caught Unalaq with airbending, lifting him off the ground and flung him back through the portal. She went out of the Avatar State and turned to her three friends behind her. "Don't let Unalaq back in the Spirit World."
"We're on it." Bolin nodded, and the two brothers ran towards the portal where Unalaq was thrown in.
Cloud lingered for a second, placing a reassuring hand on the girl's shoulder but soon hugged her. She couldn't refrain herself from doing it. She broke off the hug and patted her friend's cheeks, sending her a light-hearted smile. "Be careful, okay? I'll see you later."
"I'll see you later," Korra smiled faintly.
Then she went running after the two brothers and entered the portal with an unnerving feeling in her guts.
The airbender appeared in the South Pole, finding herself between the two brothers. They stood in a fighting stance, vigil and cautious. From an unknown part of the forest, a mysterious assailant attacked them with rapid ice spikes. Mako grunted but his little brother protected them with an earth wall, Cloud moving closer to him out of instinct as she clenched her fists together.
Then she realized she wasn't holding her staff. Her eyes widened.
"I left my glider!" Cloud exclaimed, slapping her cheeks from disbelief that she actually left her precious baby in the Spirit World alone.
Mako and Bolin ignored her exclaims and started attacking with their respective elements in the direction of the attacks. However, her dramatic cries were cut off short and were interrupted by a barrage of ice spikes coming from the opposite direction, forcing the three of them to separate, managing to dodge the attack.
Cloud stood up with a deep frown on her face, airbending the snow off her clothes and looked around for the assailant while her two friends started doing the same thing. From irritation, the brunette did a side flip as she airbends a crescent-shaped air swipe, deflecting the ice spikes that were coming straight to her, precisely cutting them in half to stop them from getting closer.
"I don't know if we can win this fight," Bolin breathed out after he was thrown off towards his brother and the furious airbender.
"We don't need to win," Mako said determinedly. "We just need to stop Unalaq from getting back in the Spirit World."
"But to do that..." Cloud clenched her jaw. Then yelled as she stood in an airbending stance, her eyes darted everywhere around the frozen forest and the portal. "This coward needs to show themselves!"
The answer they got was another barrage of ice spikes, and honestly, at this point, Cloud was tempted to make an air nuclear but that could blow them off the face of Earth, so no. That's too much of an overkill. She wouldn't actually do that... Maybe. Bolin stopped the attacks with an earth wall. Cloud had a small frown on her face while the two brothers kept vigil, hiding behind the two earth walls to protect them.
"Unalaq?" Bolin peered over the rock. "Are you out there? He must've gone home?"
But as he peered over the rock again, his ex-fiancé, Eska, suddenly peered over from the other side.
"Hello, my feeble turtle duck," Eska said with her usual monotone voice before she knocked him off with her waterbending.
She didn't even notice Desna crept up behind the firebender and knocked him unconscious too. When she realized she was cornered, she did the only thing she could think of and airbent a growing air dome that pushed them over. But the twins managed to halt their fall with waterbending. She profusely blinked at them, but before she could even do something else, the two blasted water at her until she hit the nearby tree, causing her to feel disoriented before falling into an unconscious state.
When she opened her eyes, she blinked in shock when she saw an unconscious Korra with Vaatu looming over her like she was some sort of insect. Desna and Eska soon followed after them as they entered the portal.
"Stop!" Eska shouted and she bends out three streams of water, trapping Mako, Bolin and Cloud in ice blocks.
Cloud felt a chilling cold run through her bones, her pale blue eyes were filled with fear, watching with wide eyes as Korra mustered as much strength as possible and threw a fire blast which Unalaq blocked with a blast of water. Cloud didn't even care that she was encased with ice━all she cared about was Korra right now. Vaatu flew over and entered Unalaq, who stumbled before standing erect again, but with the imprint of Vaatu on his chest, and his eyes glowing orange-red.
He did it. He fused with him, but that's not the worse thing. It's when Unalaq approached the Northern Portal and touched it. The overlapping portals energized, engulfing Unalaq with purple energy, who let out a blast of dark energy from his mouth. A blinding light shines from his body. As the energy dissipates, Unalaq opened his eyes, glowing an orange-red, finally creating the Dark Avatar.
"We are now one!" Unalaq roared. "Now a new era for spirits and humans will begin! And I will lead them all as the new Avatar!"
He will never be the Avatar, at least the one that people know. Cloud thought in disgust.
Korra started walking forward as she yelled back, "Well, I'm the old Avatar, and my era's not over yet!"
A proud smile appeared on the airbender's face at least for a few seconds before everything went downhill. She trusted her. Korra was more than the Avatar. She was a strong person, a smart bender despite her reckless tendencies, and most importantly; she was her friend, the best of friends she ever had, and Cloud knew that nothing could take her down unless she was truly down.
Besides she would always help her as long as she could, after all that's what real friends do. She would be there every step of the way, even it if meant putting her own life in danger. There was no way this was going to end this way.
