"No!" The ragged scream tore from her throat as Aang fell from the sky, his eyes closed and mouth slack. As his body fell into the ocean, Katara whirled on her attackers, brandishing long tendrils of water whips. Azula had followed them, had found them, and had destroyed them. Appa had been struck down from above, his large saddle bursting into flames from Azula's lightning. Many of the Avatar's allies had died in the resulting crash, among them Haru and most of the non-benders. Some escaped into the surrounding forest with Firebenders fast on their trail. Katara, Suki, Sakka, Aang, and Toph had stayed to fight, back to back in a circle against the swarming Fire Nation soldiers. Aang, his chi still blocked, did his best to defend his friends before Azula sent the deadly bolt of lightning into the scar on his back. Without even a sound, he dropped into the ocean.
Katara lashed out, the edges of her whips narrowing into sharp ice razors as she swiped through the necks of twelve Fire Nation soldiers. She didn't stay to watch the blood tide to the ground as she rounded on the next bunch of attackers, snarling. Sokka fought bravely back to back with Suki until the sheer numbers of soldiers overwhelmed them and they fell to their knees. Toph sucked soldier after soldier into the earth to rot until she was encaged in a box of wood and dragged away by a squad of Firebenders. She screamed and drummed her fists to no avail. No one was listening.
Katara stood alone in a circle of red. Tears streamed down her face but she pushed her grief down and attacked with a yell of rage. Coils of water streamed for the Firebenders and they advanced, blasting fire towards the long blue figure. Any water she had evaporated. The smell of singed hair filled her nostrils and her eyes widened. She was going to die. Stretching her fingers in a clawed gestured and swiped towards the nearest Firebender. He felt ice fill his veins as he tried to scream but instead his right eyeball popped. Katara smiled, lost in a red haze of grief, fury, and survival. She turned her gaze to the next Firebenders, intent on stopping his blood in his veins, when the butt of a sword to the back of her neck turned everything black.
Watching from above, high above Azula's airships, Zuko saw his last hope fall to the ground from Admiral Zhao's blow. His hand grasped the strings of his ship, knuckles white. What was he supposed to do now? Gritting his teeth in frustration, he wheeled his airship and flew away. Undetected.
