This is an amateur, non-commercial story, which is not produced, approved of, or in any way sponsored by the holders of the trademarks/copyrights from which this workis derived, nor is it intended to infringe on the rights of these holders. And so it goes.

NIGHT OF THE ZOMBIE LEMURS

"It was a dark and stormy night. The firebender trembled inside the shack, because even through the thunder and the roar of the tides, he could hear them outside, grunting and snarling as they came closer and closer by the minute…" The glow of the lantern gave Bumi's face an otherworldly glow as he leaned forward, hands outstretched. "They'd followed him across the Earth Kingdom. They'd followed him down to the Southern Water Tribe and up to the Northern. No matter what he did, no matter where he ran…they were close behind and growing nearer by the minute…"

"Look at Tenzin," Izumi snickered under her breath to Kya. "He looks like he's going to faint any second!" And truly, the next-to-last airbender was trembling ever so slightly, his gray eyes wide and constantly glancing toward the windows. Beside him, Lin's eyes were narrowed and her fists tightly clenched, but it was easy to see that she was just as spooked as her friend. Suyin for her part rocked merrily back and forth and occasionally farted.

"Bumi's great at ghost stories," Kya nodded, then sighed. "This is dumb. How come we have to sit with the little kids while the grownups have fun on the other side of the mansion? We're twelve. We ought to be with them!"

"Who says we can't?" Izumi whispered. "Come on. I know a few secret passages. We can spy on them."

"Sounds good. Anything beats zombie lemurs." Kya rolled her eyes as she followed her friend.

Bumi had taken note of the girls' absence, but figured if they got into trouble it was on them, not him. "The firebender had nowhere to run. It had taken ages for them to corner him, but the zombie lemurs were patient. For long years they'd stalked the man who'd killed their airbender friend, and on this night…they would avenge him once and for all!" Bumi abruptly broke character and leaned forward. "You okay, Tenzin?"

"I…I'm fine!" Tenzin declared hotly. "I'm not scared, Bumi! If those zombie lemurs attacked, I could defend us!"

"Yeah. You could blow air on them," Lin snorted. "Don't worry, Tenzin. I'll protect you."

"I can take care of myself!"

"Yeah, right." Nearby, Suyin giggled to herself as another loud poot echoed in the dark room.

"Well, if you're sure…" Bumi shrugged. "So anyway, the firebender peeked out the window and found a zombie lemur staring back at him!" That got a startled jump out of Tenzin, and even Lin shuddered slightly. "He slammed the window panels shut, but he could hear them all around the house…scratching at the walls as they climbed up the walls…"

"Huh," Kya murmured. "I thought this would be more interesting." She moved back to let Izumi take a peek through the secret panel door. Their parents were sitting around a table along with Uncle Sokka, Aunt Suki and Aunt Toph, eating, drinking and laughing uproariously. It looked…boring, to be honest.

"That's weird," Izumi said. "Why does Dad have his arm around your Mom's shoulder?"

"Dunno. Shhh, your Dad's talking."

"…so close I could taste it! Couldn't be more than a half-hour behind you, Aang. I felt like I could reach out and grab Appa, that close!" Zuko sipped at his drink before continuing: "So I've got that ostrich horse going full speed, we're gaining by the minute…and all of a sudden Uncle is moaning and groaning that his back's gone out!"

"You're kidding!" Sokka laughed.

"No! But it's okay, because he happens to know there's a healing house just ahead and they can fix him up. So we get there and the first thing I notice is that they sure didn't look like the healers I was used to seeing! They're all beautiful young women and they give Uncle the full attention treatment—'oh you poor man, you're in such pain let us soothe you!' and of course he's eating it up! I'm trying to decide if I should leave him or stay when all of a sudden I've got a second group of girls around me, suggesting I come in and relax while they 'treat' Uncle." Zuko shrugged. "Well, it had been a hard trip and I was kind of hungry, so I figured ten, fifteen minutes wouldn't hurt. I could still catch the Avatar." Zuko paused and looked around at his companions for a long moment before taking a deep breath.

"Three days later…" The room exploded with laughter. Kya and Izumi glanced at one another, completely bewildered. "I don't get it," Kya whispered.

"Neither do I. Come on, I know a little secret that even your parents don't know! Follow me…"

"A twisted, clawing hand burst through the wall, and then another, and then another! The firebender realized that the zombie lemurs were going to rip his hiding place apart piece by piece, and then do the same to him!" Bumi's voice rose in intensity, as did Tenzin's eyes. "He shot fire blasts at them, but for every one he hit, two more took his place! They were screeching now, their fangs gleaming white from the full moon as the storm grew in intensity…"

"Wait." Lin was frowning. "If there was a storm, how could the full moon be seen? It'd be obscured by the clouds."

"Ahh, but this was a SPECIAL storm!" Bumi quickly responded. "A storm conceived in vengeance and unleashed by dark forces beyond our comprehension! The screeching grew and grew as the zombie lemurs stretched out their long, dagger-like fingers toward the firebender! He screamed in terror as their fangs sank into his flesh, sucking greedily on his blood as…" He blinked and looked around. "Where's Tenzin?"

"He left a few minutes ago," Lin answered. "He looked SCARED," she added with a derisive snort.

"Uh-oh."

"That's weird." Izumi scratched her head as she looked around the empty bedchamber. "She was supposed to be here. She promised Dad that she'd stay put…"

"Who?" Kya demanded.

"Oh, just my aunt…"

Tenzin knew perfectly well that zombie lemurs didn't exist. He knew beyond any shadow of doubt that this was just one of his big brother's crazy tales. And he certainly knew that, on the impossible chance that zombie lemurs DID exist, his airbending skills were more than enough to take him out of danger.

Tenzin knew all this…but it wouldn't hurt to double-check with his mother, who also happened to be the most powerful waterbender on the planet. Just in case. He was the next-to-last airbender; it only made sense to take no chances.

The hallways were dark, though, and to make matters worse they all seemed to look the same to him. Tenzin crept along one wall as quietly as possible, acutely aware of the odd scratching noises coming from outside. It was probably just some old tree branches brushing against the house, of course. Zombie lemurs didn't really exist. Everything was fine, or at least it would be once he found his mother.

Tenzin rounded the corner and collided into something. Eyes wide, he glanced up to see what it was and immediately regretted it. Its eyes were golden and glittering with something akin to madness and infinite wisdom. It stared down at his trembling form, a slow smile stretching across its lips and widening to reveal razor-sharp teeth. It wore a wild main of black hair with white streaks and looked quite ready to attack in a heartbeat.

It regarded Tenzin for a long moment and took a deep breath.

"Boo."

"I think the scream came from around here," Katara cried as she and Aang raced down the dark hallway. "Tenzin? Where are you, sweetheart? Mommy and Daddy are coming!"

"What could possibly scare him so badly?" Aang demanded. "And where's Bumi? He was supposed to be watching Tenzin and Toph's kids…" He paused and craned his neck. "Over there! He's screaming again!"

"Hold on, honey!" Katara yelled as she led the way to her son. They found him a moment later, sheet white, screaming for all he was worth, and bearing a significant wet stain down both his pant legs. The source of his terror stood nearby, watching the scene with dark amusement.

"Hello, water peasant," said Azula. "Avatar."

"You deal with her," Katara ordered as she swept the terrified Tenzin in her arms. "It's all right, honey, I'm here, you don't need to be afraid, it's all right now…"

Aang stared at Azula for long moments. "What are YOU doing here?" he finally demanded.

"It's my family's estate, remember?" Azula said with a dismissive snort. "Even I'm allowed outside the palace on occasion, Avatar." She rolled her eyes dramatically. "Of course, I had to promise Zuzu I'd behave and stay out of sight because perish the thought that I be allowed to mingle with the lot of you."

"Given that you're out here scaring my son," Katara snapped as she tried to soothe Tenzin, "I'd say that Zuz…Zuko had good reason to make you promise."

"Oh, please," Azula sighed. "I was bored. Ty Lee just had to join your little party and leave me all alone. Besides, I was hungry." She leaned down close to the still-frightened Tenzin. "Hmmm. A bit too skinny for my tastes, but one can't be choosy..." She laughed as the boy started screaming again.

Katara glared at her husband. "DO SOMETHING!"

"You could start by taking him upstairs and changing his clothes," Azula suggested gleefully. "I thought they were potty-trained by now. Is this an airbender thing, Avatar?"

"Azula…" Aang struggled to control his temper. "All right. Katara, let's get Tenzin away from here. Azula, I'll accept this as an accidental thing for the moment, but for the rest of this trip, you stay away from the children or I'll speak to Zuko."

"Oh my," Azula motioned dramatically. "I am undone at the hands of the Avatar! Whatever shall I do?"

"I mean it, Azula."

"Fine, fine. I'll behave. Take Junior away from here, though. He smells like he did more than wet himself."

"How is he doing?" Aang asked a short time later. Katara raised a finger as she shut the bedroom door.

"He's settled down," she whispered. "It took a while and a bit of water healing, but I think he'll sleep now. Did you talk to Bumi?"

Aang shrugged. "I found him in his room. He was lying on his bed and claimed he'd been reading a book the entire time."

"And you BELIEVED HIM?" Katara hissed, her voice rising. "Aang, when is the last time you saw Bumi reading something that didn't have pictures of naked women in it?"

"I know, I know," he said quietly. "But after Lin confirmed some things, I went back and lectured him about scaring Tenzin like that." He smiled despite himself. "It sounded like a really good story, too. Something about zombie lemurs…"

Katara shook her head and rolled her eyes. "Honestly…"

Tenzin lay huddled in his bed, exhausted but eyes still wide open. He could still hear the scratching from outside. The wind hissed ominously in tune with the crashing of the ocean waves in the night. It was going to be a long, long time before morning, but that wasn't what was filling his heart with dark dread.

It was knowing that there were scarier things out there than zombie lemurs…and they were REAL…