Name: Forgiveness
Disclaimer: I own nothing, I am nothing. I am one with the gestalt. Sue him
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Summary: Even as team Avatar fights the final battle against Ozai, Zuko fights a far more personal one with Azula
Note: Takes place during the final battle, but will undoubtably become an AU when the final episode comes out. Spoilers for season 3 up to and including the Boiling Rock, and including something the creators said about Ozai taking on a new title.
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"Avatar, where are you?" Zuko shouted as me made his way through the rubble and smoke of the destroyed throne-room. Team Avatar, as Sokka had called them, had launched the second invasion less than a day before Sozin's comet was due back, and while their allies and the White Lotus society fought Ozai's troops, they had gone for Ozai himself. Ironically enough, despite having been prophecied to fight the Firelord, Ozai was now calling himself the Phoenix Lord. The change of title didn't change what was going to happen though, but Ozai had been even more powerful than Zuko had expected, and he had ended up seperated from the others when Ozai had brought the throne room down around their ears.
He coughed once as some of the dust caught in his throat, and that caused him to almost miss the flash of movement in his peripheral vision, and only a lifetime of combat, and the honing of instinctual, reflexive reactions in battle managed to save his life as a blast of blue flame shot towards him. He rolled to the side, his eyes unerringly seeking out the target of his attack, only to find the disheveled and angry looking face of his sister staring at him from the dusty cloud that had enveloped the chamber.
"Why won't you die?" she shouted at him, and Zuko was almost taken by surprise at how unhinged she sounded. Azula, who was always in control looked and sounded like she was in the process of losing it. "You're a weaker bender, a weaker person. I should be able to kill you with a flick of my wrist, but like a particularly stubborn cockroach, you just won't die." Her voice was a bit calmer as she swung her other arm forward and sent another blast of blue fire in his direction. He was ready for it now, and slammed his hands together, guiding the incoming flame arround him harmlessly.
"You're losing your touch Azula," Zuko grated out with the closest thing he could to a smirk, even as the entire chamber seemed to rattle with the force of an explosion coming from one of the other rooms. Obviously the battle against Ozai was still going on without him. For a moment he thought about his promise to Suki, that they'd both take a crack at Azula the next time they met, but he really couldn't afford to go find her. Besides, the thought to himself, it was better this way. He launched a counterattack, sending a sweeping wall of flame towards his sister that she elegantly jumped over.
"Don't you dare mock me Zuzu," Azula sneered as she dropped into a low stance. "You've ruined everything for me, over and over and over again, and you're going to pay for that."
Zuko looked at his sister in surprise. "I've ruined everything for you?" he blurted out, before quickly dodging to the side as Azula sent more fire his way. "You had everything."
"You really don't know do you?" Azula asked, contempt lacing her voice. She did stop her attack and drew herself up into what could almost be a neutral stance. "I was always the dutifull daughter. I was everything our parents should have wanted in a princess. I was better at bending, better at fighting, better at everything and somehow you always remained the favorite. You were banished, but even before I told father that you'd killed the Avatar he couldn't wait to welcome you back with open arms." She paused, real bitterness colouring her voice. "All I got was a speech about how I should have coordinated with local forces when taking Ba Sing Se. I took that city, not him, not any of the generals, just me and yet you're the one he showered with respect."
"Maybe he just had higher expectations of you?" Zuko offered, a little surprised that he was actually talking rather than fighting with his sister. "I've always been a failure to him, so any success I had must have made me seem good in comparison."
She snorted derisively. "Oh but it's not just that Zuko. Mum always did like you better, but that was okay. I still had Mai and Ty Lee, and then you took them from me too," Her voice rose to a shout at the end of the sentance, and suddenly Zuko found himself again dodging fire, the blasts coming too quickly for him to respond to, and in his one glance at his sister, he was shocked to see actual tears streaking down her face.
"My friends," she screamed. "My allies, my country, my parents. Everyone loved you more, forgave you for everything you did and I was left alone." She threw her hands together and Zuko swallowed as he began running for cover. He'd used the same move as she was powering up in the caves under Ba Sing Se while fighting the Avatar, and true to form a few seconds later a huge blast of fire began going in his direction. He barely managed to dive behind some rubble as the wash of blue flame smashed it's way past him, smouldering his clothes, and heating his skin faster than he could use his own firebending to dissapate it.
"It doesn't have to be this way!" He shouted over his shoulder, only to sense a presence above him. Azula was standing on the rubble, a triumphant but insane look in her eyes.
"Oh yes it does brother mine. Oh yes it does."
She was just starting to launch fire at him, a blast he knew he couldn't possibly dodge when the whole world around them seemed to heave. Despite sitting on a solid floor, Zuko found himself rolling to the side and Azula was nearly flung of her perch, disappearing behind some other debris, as huge chunks of the ceiling came raining down. He blasted one piece of the falling roof, and desperately dodged the others as the whole palace seemed to tilt for a moment. Whatever was happening in the battle against Ozai was definitely reaching it's peak. After a few moments, the room seemed to stop trembling, and he quickly got up, searching for his sister.
What he saw turned his blood cold. Not far from him, half buried in rocks, was Azula, a large pool of blood under her suggesting massive injury. "Azula," he shouted as he ran over to her, sliding to the ground and cradling her head. As soon as he touched her, her eyes opened, but only one of them appeared to be tracking him, the other was filled with blood.
"Z...Zuko?" she managed to gasp out.
"I'm here Azula," Zuko said, shaking his head, even as he knew that she'd be dead within moments. The pool of blood under her was increasing steadily, There was enough rock crushing her lower body that there was no real chance for survival, but he couldn't let it end the way things stood now. Second chances, he thought to himself. Even for Azula. If she was going to die here and now, he'd be with her to the end.
"Zuzu, I want," she manages to say, before she coughed once, and became still, her eyes fluttering closed. Zuko gave an angry, wordless cry as he held her head to his chest, tears running down his own face. He would never know what she had wanted to tell him, if they had been words of apology and reconciliation, or words of anger and hatred.
"Goodbye Azula," he whispered. "I hope you find a better place on the other side, and that you know that despite everything else, I love you and forgive you."
It seemed pitiful, but it was all he could offer under the circumstances, even as shouts nearby reached his ears. He held onto his sister, a self-confessed monster, and realised that even though she had tried to hurt him and kill him for years, he still loved her, she was still his sister, his flesh and blood. And for just one moment he didn't see the evil manipulative witch that she had been raised to be, but the kind girl with whom he'd run on the beach on Ember Island as a young child. He had been willing to fight Azula, and if he was entirely honest with himself, he had been willing to kill her, but some part of him hadn't stopped hoping he'd be able to turn her around. He'd been given a second chance, several of them actually, as had many others that the Avatar had come across on his journey, and he had hoped, oh how he'd hoped in some dark corner of his heart, that he could have given one to her.
He stayed right there for what felt like a long time, but probably was only minutes cradling his sister and saying quiet prayers for her when a flash of blue appeared near him.
"Zuko," Sokka shouted. "We've got to go, the whole palace is-" he stopped abruptly as she saw who he was holding, and for a long moment said nothing, as expressions ranging from disbelief and joy to disgust and concern flitter over his face. The Watertribe warrior took a deep breath and began talking again. "Zuko, Ozai's been beaten but half the palace was destroyed and the other half is beginning to break apart. We need to leave."
He looked up at the young warrior with whom he'd had a very strange sort of friendship after they'd escaped the Boiling Rock together, and he couldn't make himself move. "I can't leave her. She's my sister," he said, hoping it would explain enough. Apparently it did, as he nodded and turned her head towards the door and shouted for Toph to come help him. Zuko gave him a grateful look even as the young Earthbender approached, and knew that Sokka understood.
-finis-