((A/N : This is my first fanfic, so bear that in mind when reviewing but feel free to be mean. But I think this is a very good start, considering that I'm a 13 year old who's never writen anything before outside english class.))
The Final Battle
There was a scream behind him and Sokka turned just in time to see Mai fall as Toph's pillar of rock rammed into her back, not as fatal as the one he remembered Long Feng using on Jet 2 months ago but the same style. A stone tent encased Mai, and she was trapped, her shouts adding to the din.
Then Sokka felt a jab on his back, and as about half a dozen more rained on his limbs he knew he'd looked away from his own opponent, Ty Lee, for a split second too long. He thudded to the floor, limp as a dead fish and unable to do anything other than watch and an earth tent covered him too, again Toph's work but to protect him from any stray blows instead of to trap him like Mai.
He could see a little of what was going on, and what he saw didn't look very positive. Azula and Iroh fought a terrifying battle, dominating half of the Fire Lord's room with lightening strikes. Aang and Ozai fought with a rain of fire blasts. Katara had just run forward and started fighting Ty Lee, being careful to keep the acrobat at a distance. Toph stood in the middle of the semi-chaos, striking blows into every fight.
The fight continued in this way for a few minutes, but then the worst blow so far was struck, a deadly blast of lightening to Iroh's chest. He never even had a chance to defend himself before Azula was gloating over his lifeless body. The whole room paused, even the Fire Lord, and there was silence as Toph ran to where Iroh lay. A tear leaked from her eye as she struck a bending stance and Azula smiled cruelly.
"Are you my newest opponent?" taunted Azula, and Toph stiffened her whole body before sending a rock towards Azula, answering her question.
Azula easily dodged the first rock, and the battle started again as dozens of huge rocks shot towards her, cleaved out of the thick wall. She laughed, a humourless sound that just strengthened Toph's hatred.
Ty Lee floored Katara, who fell like Sokka, and she joined Azula. Toph started losing her fight, although she did manage to keep Ty Lee at a distance, eventually knocking Ty Lee to the floor, where she scuttled away after a fire blast from Azula singed her hair.
Toph fought as hard as she could, but with every blast of fire Azula sent towards her she visibly tired, and it seemed that the fight would end with Azula killing Toph and joining Ozai against Aang, but then came the turning point for the finishing battle.
The doors exploded open, literally, and in the smoke stood a lone figure. He hesitated before running into the room to beside where Toph stood, and she didn't recognise the man, although Azula did.
"You're late, Zuzu." she said, and Zuko looked at her with something close to hatred flaming in his golden eyes.
He silently sent a blast of fire towards her, and she gasped. 'He's picked up a few tips…' she thought as she dodged his blue flames.
Toph stood back and found herself unable to sense the flames because of the intensity and speed at which they sped back and forth, terrifyingly hot. The battle was even more deadly than the one going on between Aang and Ozai. Toph shot up a wall in front of her and sent rocks flying at Ozai, to afraid to aim at Azula because she couldn't tell which was Zuko and which was Azula, they were moving so quickly, and she didn't want to risk hitting the one (apparently) on their side. But she could feel Aang tiring, and Ozai seemed to be just as strong as when he'd started.
"Too slow, Zuzu!" taunted Azula, "You'll have to be quicker than that! Or do you want to go down, too weak to fight properly?" and Toph noticed the strange feeling that Zuko felt, a mixture of plain hatred and something deep down that kept him from fighting his hardest. "You'll go down like our boring old lump of an uncle! He's gone Zuzu – but you'll see him soon!" and the thing holding Zuko back snapped.
A roar of anger and Zuko shot a deadly blast towards Azula, and her hard, taunting expression didn't waver as the blue flame hit her square in the chest, tearing open her flesh. Another roar of anger shot from Ozai as he saw his daughter dying and he fought against Aang twice as hard. Aang was pushed backwards off his feet by the heat and Ozai stood above him, his face split in a terrifying grin that Aang could barely see against the fear blocking all his senses.
But before Ozai could finish Aang off, Toph acted. She made a pulling movement with her hands, and Zuko at least knew what was going to happen before it happened. Toph cried "Earthbend, twinkletoes!" as the solid stone wall and ceiling collapsed onto Ozai and Aang. Toph waited with her fingers crossed for a second and she sank onto her knees, trying to feel a heartbeat in the rubble. There was a split second where she couldn't feel Aang's heart and she gasped, but then there was a steady beat, and she sobbed with tears of relief flowing from her eyes.
Whilst Aang dug himself out of the mountain of destroyed palace Zuko crossed the room to where his sister lay gasping on the floor, trying desperately to stay alive though the pool of blood gushing from her chest showed that there was no way she'd live.
"Zuko…" she gasped out, a awful gurgling choaking sound in her voice "I'm – sorry." She said.
"I wish it could be some other way." Zuko told her honestly, and as he watched the life disappear from her eyes he wondered if she'd meant what she said. 'Was she really sorry?' he thought.
"Please, save her." Toph, Zuko and Aang heard, and they turned to find Ty Lee helping (they rubbed their eyes, not sure if they believed it) Katara to her feet. "Please." She begged, gesturing to Mai, who lay bleeding across the room. Her earth tent had been hit when Toph collapsed the room, striking what seemed to be a deadly hit.
Katara paused, searching Ty Lee's pleading face for a second before she ordered "Fix Sokka first" and pointed to where Sokka lay, looking useless.
"Uh yea, this won't hurt, will it?" Sokka said as Ty Lee lent over him, but before he'd even finished speaking Ty Lee had straightened up. Sokka stood up and stretched, and Ty Lee bounded back to where Katara stood
"Now please help her!" begged Ty Lee, and Katara agreed.
Katara knelt over Mai, who was barely conscious, and she ran her water-covered hands over Mai's dark-clothed body. 30 seconds later Mai struggled into a sitting position and Katara stood up. "I've done all I can." She told Ty Lee, who ran to Mai's side.
"Mai, are you ok?" Ty Lee begged, a look of worry on her face.
"I've been better." Mai said, and Ty Lee hugged her and Toph, Sokka, Aang and Katara were surprised to see Mai hug her back.
Zuko crossed the room to where his uncle's body lay, and his tears leaked down his face and mingled with Iroh's blood.
"He is – dead, isn't he?" Katara asked, turning her eyes upon the mass of rubble that hid Ozai's body, where a trickle of red blood was starting to seep out.
"Yes." Toph answered.
Aang, Toph, Katara and Sokka left the room together, leaving Mai and Ty Lee to comfort Zuko. There didn't seem to be any reason to stay, and they silently walked towards where Appa stood (lazily blowing Fire Nation soldiers off their feet as they tried to capture him.) and boarded him, flying away from the palace.
((Please read and review! It's my first story, I NEED reviews!))