Aang took a deep breath, before swinging his staff and smashing down the great metal doors that lead to the Fire Lord.
They clattered to the ground, dust rising in their wake. The group stared down the long corridor to where a figure sat on the throne. It was Azula.
"So, you are alive after all. I expected as much, but it doesn't matter. I've known about the invasion for months." She spoke as they strode toward her.
Aang frowned for a moment, gripping his staff tightly.
"Where is he? Where's the Fire Lord?!"
Azula rose from the throne, gesturing to herself.
"You mean I'm not good enough for you? You're hurting my feelings."
Sokka took a step forward, drawing Space Sword from its sheath.
"Give us the information. You're in no condition to refuse." He demanded.
Toph matched him, her fists clenched and teeth bared.
"And stick to the truth, I'll know if you're lying." She warned.
Azula laughed, the sound ringing against the stone walls.
"Well, I see my hands are tied. As you command, Avatar. I'll take you to see my father."
Aang blinked. He raised his staff threateningly, expecting a trick.
"What? Do you think I'll attack you? I've got no firebending, what could I possibly do to harm you?"
"Don't worry guys, she's powerless right now," Sokka said.
Smirking, Azula lead them through a door to the side.
"There will be guards, of course. Not firebenders, just regular people - like the peasant here."
Sokka snarled at her mockery, a frown heavy on his face. Azula grinned at his anger.
The passage was narrow and winding, turning abruptly in several places. The group travelled for what seemed like hours.
"Are you even leading us the right way? This could be a trap!" Aang exclaimed after a while. "Sokka, how much time do we have left?"
Sokka checked his timepiece.
"Not much, a few minutes at best. We're going to have to dispatch those guards really quickly."
Toph dug her heels into the earth, stopping for a moment.
"I can feel a few people nearby. Maybe seven or so."
Sokka digested this information, before turning to the Princess.
"How many guards are there, exactly?" He questioned.
"Five. The other two must be the Fire Lord and possibly my brother."
Sokka nodded. He turned to his companions.
"Okay guys. We've got to be quick and decisive. Don't give them any time to react, just hit them as hard as you can."
Toph cracked her knuckles and Aang steeled himself. Azula yawned before speaking.
"I could get them to stand down, of course. They're Royal Guards, they'll obey my orders."
Sokka's brow furrowed.
"Will they obey them after we've killed the Fire Lord?"
Aang shuddered as Azula rolled her eyes.
"Airbenders. No stomach for the real world. No wonder you all died out." She mocked.
Toph struck, a pillar of earth smashing into Azula's armoured shoulder.
"Died out? You and your kind murdered them all!" She cried out angrily. "Just as you want to do to the rest of us!"
Azula rose from the ground, shaking herself off. Her golden eyes narrowed into slits as she regarded the earthbender.
"As it happens, I wasn't around for that particular event."
Sokka stepped forward, putting a placating hand on Toph's shoulder.
"We don't have time to argue about the past, the eclipse is nearly over!"
The group raced around a corner and was immediately confronted with a ring of spears.
"Stand down. That's an order from your Princess." Azula commanded.
The royal guards watched her in disbelief for a moment, before one drew himself up.
"We take orders from the Fire Lord only." He spoke firmly. "No one is to go in, not least the Avatar."
Azula wasn't used to being disobeyed.
"Are you refusing to answer to royalty?" She questioned him.
He nodded once, gripping his spear and pointing it at Aang. Azula sighed.
"Very well. Usually the punishment for such treason is death by flame, but in the circumstances..."
A dagger flew from her palm before anyone could blink. The guard gasped in pain, pulling at his throat before slumping to the ground.
The remaining guards and her companions stared in complete shock at the corpse, before the guards suddenly roused and charged with the spears.
Sokka cursed, swinging his black sword to block a strike. Beside him Toph smashed a guard with a boulder and Aang knocked one away with a gust of air.
Azula evaded a thrust by flipping through the air, landing next to the guard with all the grace of winged lemur. Another dagger found its way into a weak point in his armour.
With two guards down, the Avatar, Blind Bandit and Sokka were one-on-one. Toph quickly defeated hers with a rock to the skull, snapping his head back. An attempt to skewer Sokka left his guard overextended and the warrior took advantage, running Space Sword in him up to the hilt.
Distraught at the deaths wrought at the hands of his friends, Aang stumbled and a spear caught him on the shoulder. He yelled in pain as Sokka rushed forward, splitting his opponent down the side with his blade.
Blood poured out of the Avatar's wound, but he shook off Sokka's attempt to bandage it.
"The Fire Lord. We're so close..."
Sokka looked to Azula, who was retrieving her daggers. She nodded at him.
"Alright, Aang, but be careful." He glanced at his eclipse watch. "Oh no, we've got less than a minute left!"
Toph smashed the door down with her metalbending. Fire Lord Ozai and his son Zuko paused in the middle of their heated exchange to stare at the injured Avatar and his group.
"Azula! What is the meaning of this? You were supposed to distract them until the eclipse was over, not bring them to me!"
Azula sauntered towards him.
"The eclipse is ending, Father. And the Avatar is right here, in our grasp. And already weakened, no less."
The freedom fighters stared up at her in disbelief. Her perpetual smirk widened.
"Oh, did you really think I was going to help you? You were right, Avatar, it was a trick."
Ozai laughed.
"But of course. You see Zuko, where defiance gets you?" He gestured to Aang.
"Go on, stand by him. His death - and yours - is at hand."
The scarred prince looked at them, before straightening his back and walking toward Aang.
Sokka growled, they had come too far to fail now.
"Eclipse or no eclipse, it's you who'll die today Ozai! You'll pay for all the lives you've stolen! Come on Aang, let's achieve your destiny." He encouraged the Avatar.
A feeling of warmth suddenly spread through the room. Azula held out a palm and a blue flame burst into life on it.
"Looks like the firebending's back on."
Ozai struck immediately, lightning forming on his fingertips and arcing toward the four fighters.
Zuko dropped his swords and stepped forward, catching it with his hands and directing it back at his father. Sokka readied his own blade, but didn't move.
"Aang, any moment now!" He called.
The Avatar shook his head to clear it, summoning a gale of wind to assault the Fire Lord. Toph tore a chunk out of the wall and directed it at Azula, who obliterated it with a blast of fire.
Ozai and Aang traded blows, mainly dodging and deflecting on the young airbender's part. His spear wound slowed him down, allowing the Fire Lord to catch him with a fireball. Aang screamed as his flesh charred.
Ozai's victorious chuckle angered Sokka, who tore forward, swinging his sword with all his might. Ozai narrowly avoided the flurry of strikes, weaving away from the warrior. He ducked behind the throne and gathered his strength, lashing out with another fireball.
Sokka caught it on the chest, thankfully protected by his sturdy Water Tribe armour, and was sent skidding away into the wall.
Azula coiled like a snake, shooting bursts of azure flame at both Zuko and Toph. The Blind Bandit quickly threw up a wall, but Zuko was forced to drop to the ground. His swords were out of reach, but he still had his own firebending.
An attempt at striking back resulted in a brief poof of flame less than a foot long. He stared at his hands in disbelief.
"I always knew you were weak, Zuzu, but that was pathetic even for you." Azula called.
Toph took this moment to pelt Azula with multiple fist sized rocks. She was forced on the back foot, calling up powerful blasts to destroy the stones.
Ozai was also summoning bursts of flame, each intended for Aang.
"Is that it? The mighty Avatar, controller of the most powerful weapon in the world. But you've got nothing left but air."
A rock pillar struck him in the leg, tripping him up.
"The Avatar controls all four elements!" Aang cried, pulling water out of a pouch on his hip.
The water whip slashed across Ozai's cheek, snapping his face to the side and leaving a red welt. The Fire Lord snarled, rubbing at it.
"Yes, every element except fire!" He roared, pulling himself upright. His hands began to glow orange and he unleashed a torrent of flame.
It washed over Aang, searing his skin. He was smashed across the ground, and landed on one of the rocks he had attempted to strike Ozai with. It may have been fortune, spiritual intervention or simply fate, but it collided with the lightning mark on his back.
And unlocked his chakra. The Avatar State kicked in instantly, his eyes and tattoos glowing with the ancient power of the Spirit World.
Ozai stared in horror as Aang rose up into the air with wind, water, earth and fire swirling around him.
Zuko dove to the floor, grabbing one of his dual dao. He was forced to back away as a stream of fire separated him from his second blade.
Toph growled as Azula leapt into their air. She twisted about, attempting to discern where the Princess would land, before a surge of flame crashed into her.
Azula landed back down and surveyed the earthbender.
"That was for my shoulder," she remarked lightly. "Petty perhaps, but if you don't have your revenge then who will take you seriously?"
"I'll take you to the grave!" Toph vowed, picking up one the discarded doors and launching it toward Azula who pivoted away.
"Fire Lord Ozai! You have been charged with upsetting the balance of the universe. You will face judgement for your crimes." The voices of thousands of Avatars past rang through the room.
Ozai attempted to strike the floating Avatar with lightning, but it was batted away as though it was no more dangerous than the wind.
The Avatar's hand rose, the churning elements following his command. Just before he brought it down to finish the Fire Lord off, he froze.
And coughed, blood spurting out of his mouth. His tattoos and eyes stopped glowing as he stared at the sword poking out of his chest.
"I'm sorry, Aang. But this was the price she demanded for peace."
Ozai stared at the Water Tribe warrior as he pulled Space Sword free from the Avatar's corpse. He began to laugh at his victory, before a door suddenly collided with the back of his head and instantly caved his skull in.
Zuko stared at his slain father, dropping to his knees in shock. All his life he'd wanted his approval. Now he'd never get it.
"Cheer up, Zuzu. You'll have all the time you could ever need to gain his love in the spirit world."
Azula's voice was right in his ear. The words rang across his mind uncomprehended for a moment, before her statement sunk in. And then the blade ran across his throat.
Azula threw the dagger to the side unconcernedly, before marching to the unconscious, somewhat burnt form of Toph Beifong.
"Not her," Sokka said. "That wasn't part of the deal."
Azula looked at him.
"She'll be a threat. There's no way she won't be."
Sokka shook his head.
"I'll convince her. She's out cold. She won't know."
Sokka stared at the corpse of his former friend.
"Poor Katara. This will devastate her."
Azula stalked up to him, gripping his shoulders in her hands.
"A lasting peace is worth a few tears and a broken heart. You did the right thing, Sokka."
Sokka nodded. It would haunt him til his dying day, but the needs of the many came before the needs of the few.
"Good. Now, call off your dogs. I can't start cleaning up this country if it's full of aggressive foreigners."
Sokka frowned at the insult, before turning away and taking a slightly charred piece of cloth out of his armour.
"I'm foreign too, you know."
Her eyes raked over his body.
"Oh yes. Exotic is the term, I hear. Won't that be a shock to the nobles? The new Fire Lord's consort is a Water Tribe savage." Azula laughed.
Sokka blinked in surprise.
"Consort? I didn't agree-"
"No? Are you sure? Not many would give up the chance to become the most powerful man in the world. And believe me, the perks are quite something." She purred.
Sokka stopped cleaning the blood off Space Sword.
"This wasn't part of the deal, Azula."
"We can make a new deal. You become my new consort, all your people get to live and the world is a happy place."
Sokka gritted his teeth.
"I already have a girlfriend."
Azula's painted lips curved into a contented smile.
"Yes, Suki, I believe her name is. I ran into her not too long ago."
The colour drained from Sokka's face.
"Oh don't worry, she's fine. I put her in the Boiling Rock, our highest security prison. And she'll stay perfectly fine if you play along."
It was clear that he was out of options.
"Don't look so upset. Do you know how many men would kill to be where you are? Honestly, it's a little insulting." Azula sniffed haughtily.
Sokka went back to wiping off his weapon.
"As it happens I killed to be where I am." He muttered sullenly.
Azula pulled the sword from his hands, casually tossing it to the side before kissing him deeply.
"Well, this is hardly a sacrifice compared to that, is it?"
Despite himself Sokka had to agree.