We were ready to face this demon. Her hair was mad, her clothes ripped and torn. She laughed mirthlessly as she swept her hands through the air; gathering and tearing her chakra so that it crackled and snarled like a whip, like lightning.
I was afraid. I knew we could win this, but Azula was worse than a starved dragon. We would come out of this with at least one casualty.
Katara, Aang, Sokka and Toph stood beside me. Ty Lee and Mai in front.
"Azula, you don't have to do this," said Mai forcefully, a hand outstretched.
"Pleaaassee!" screamed Ty Lee, tears in her eyes – but Azula's face was grinning maniacally, I had seen that look before, she was ravenous for the fight.
'The Phoenix King will rise from the ashes!" she screamed
Ozai smiled standing behind her
I knew there was no reason in her anymore. Blue lightning slashed through the air, wild and dangerous.
"TOPH!" I screamed, I knew only earth could deflect a lightning strike, there was no way I could know where she was aiming to redirect it.
Suddenly a violet streak erupted across the sky, Azula shot her lightning harmlessly away as she looked up, astonished.
"Good one Zuko!" said Sokka
"That wasn't me,"
"Then who?"
I looked up, an unknown figure in the sky descended toward us. I held my chakra in my fists ready to explode.
The figure came closer. Azula shot a torrent of blue flames at it; the figure blasted violet in return, almost lazily.
"Ursa?" asked Ozai. I looked up at the figure that had just alighted
"Mother?"
She was beautiful; her hair was thick and unbound; she wore purple robes like a queen. That was after all, what she had been once.
"Azula, stop this." Her voice was the same as I remembered it, regal, commanding; but at the same time comforting and warm
"Mother," whispered Azula, her eyes were wide
"Ursa, what are you doing here?"
"I thought I ought to drop in on this family reunion," she smiled, her teeth glittering. She looked for that moment so much like Azula I was afraid.
"My goodness Ozai, I didn't think you could be worse than Sozin at parenting… Obviously I was wrong"
"How dare you! You are my wife!" Ozai whipped his fists around but there was no fire to bend. Ursa shot a violet spurt at him. Ozai screamed.
Ursa laughed. She was completely unlike the mother I'd known.
"Wait, isn't she meant to be on our side?" asked Aang under his breath
Toph shrugged,
"Not everything's fire and water Aang" replied Sokka shrewdly
"So, you've turned my daughter into a rabid animal, lost your kingdom, and on top of that you've lost your bending as well? Well, you always were an overachiever" she smiled again
"What are you doing here Ursa?" asked Ozai again, nursing his hand
"Enjoying my freedom, what else? After you locked my up for twelve years I felt like stretching my legs a bit. O dear, did you get burned Ozai?"
She started toward him, her hands full of violet flames
"NO!" screamed Azula, in an instant blue flames surrounded Ozai
"Azula? You want to save this pathetic excuse for a father?"
"Mother!"
"Look what he's done, turned you against me, against your brother, now you're being hunted down like a peasant. You should be ashamed of this gutter rat."
Azula shot a spurt of flames at her mother. Ursa easily swept them aside without breaking stride. Azula shot again and again, as Ursa walked toward her.
"I've told you before Azula, pick the winning side. I thought you were smarter than this. Did you really think once The Avatar came back you'd have a chance? That your pathetic father would stand a chance against a spirit that can bend all four elements and has done so for millions of years?" she smiled condescendingly,
"Foolish girl!" she spat
"Mother, I-I-I" I couldn't believe it, Azula started sobbing
"Azula, what we have worked for is not in vain!" cried Ozai
"Really? I think the facts speak for themselves," said Ursa caustically
"Ursa, everything I did was for us!" Ozai exclaimed, as Ursa began to close in on him, smiling bitterly,
"Don't fuck with me, you were going to sacrifice Zuko. If you'd even thought for a second before opening that pisspot of a mouth you would've realized that Iroh wasn't interested in ruling- that once he became Fire Lord it would be easy to convince him to abdicate"
Then she paused, and seemed to size him up
"But you're not that stupid… are you. You wanted Zuko dead." She began to stride toward him, the words pouring out of her mouth like lava – I had never seen my father like this, not even when Aang took his bending away - he looked utterly terrified, but at the same time completely in awe.
"After all, Zuko was beginning to realize the idiocy of your schemes. You couldn't deal with someone who actually had his eyes open! You with your pathetic sycophants and corrupt politicians"
She had grabbed Ozai by the collar and was staring him down
Then he said something that I couldn't hear, because my mother let him go.
Lilac flames lanced through the air.
Azula screamed, but the damage was done.
Azula seemed to come to herself; blue flames raced toward Ursa, but before we had a chance to do anything, Ursa had swept them aside. She walked over to Azula, who desperately fought with blue flames; they changed to yellow, then red. Eventually Ursa held Azula's shaking wrists.
I couldn't hear what she said, but Azula sunk into her, sobbing and clutching at her clothes, and my mother held her.
Ozai lay on the ground twitching,
Katara broke ranks and ran over to him, filling her bending water with glowing healing chakra as she went.
"NO!" roared Ursa, and it was all Katara could do to throw herself out of the way.
"This is MY family," she growled
"Get out."
Mai and Ty Lee led the way to Appa, while Aang, Sokka and Katara traded a couple of awkward glances.
"Zuko?" asked Aang as he sat astride Appa's big head
I shook my head, so Aang cried 'Yip yip!' as Appa left the ground with far too much grace with so huge an animal.
I looked back at the scene before me: my father lying on the ground, dead or alive I didn't know, my sister sobbing uncontrollably in my mother's arms, and my mother.
My mother. I hadn't taken my eyes off her since I'd realized whom she was.
Azula broke away from her and ran to my father, dropping to her knees. My mother looked on sadly
"Mum?" my voice cracked, I felt ashamed of myself, but I didn't know why. I wasn't sure why I'd stayed, I felt stupid just standing here.
"Zuko," she smiled at me.
I was suddenly so glad the others had left as my body betrayed me. I let out a sharp shuddering breath; I felt tears pouring down the right side of my face; my nose began to stream; I moved as if through water toward my mother.
But I stopped before I touched her.
"Zuko," she said again
"I am so proud of you."
I looked into her face, I felt like a child again, that confused lost child who couldn't firebend as well as his sister.
She took me in her arms, and for the first time since I was thirteen, I felt tears on the left side of my face. My mother was sobbing into my shoulder, clutching onto me as if she'd never let me go.
It felt strange as I held onto her, I was suddenly aware of how small her body was, how old she was – in eight years I had become a man.
"Zuko" she whispered, "you, you did everything I ever wished you'd do." She kissed my hair and my scar
"I love you, I love you so much – when I was in prison I prayed for you everyday, and you-" she gasped and looked up at my face
"-You've become such a beautiful strong man"
"I love you too, Mum" I whispered through my tears,
We looked over at Azula crouched over my father's body
"Did you- did you kill him?"
"No. I repaid him for all the wrongs he's ever done our family"
I walked over to my father; his face and body were badly burned. Azula had been trying to heal him as well as she could – drawing the heat out of the wounds and covering him in the burn cream that all firebenders knew so well. He would survive, but he would be a cripple for the rest of his life.
In the light of the blood red setting sun our family was together again: blue, violet and red.