Sometimes they won. Sometimes they lost. Sometimes those victories were hard earned and losses were heavy on both sides. In those fights, there weren't really any winners. Either way, this was war.

Katara froze her water in an arc over her head as another flaming rock slammed into the ground beside her, sending earth and dust into the air. Her heart was racing, her limbs were tired, she was running out of water, and there were still so many soldiers in front of them, and even five tanks was too many when they didn't have a way to destroy them from a distance. She forced herself to stand, the hot wind ripping her hair from its braid and she looked around at the rebellion's forces. Their lines were strong and no matter how hard the Fire Nation pushed, they weren't breaking through. Six years of fighting side by side, blending elements and styles as much as they could, had done nothing but strengthen them. Still, they were tired. Everyone was tired. Something would have to break.

"Master Katara!"

She barely turned in time, ducking as a blast of fire raced toward her. Reaching for what little strength she had, Katara coated her arms in ice up to her elbows and met the oncoming soldier fist to fist, working hard to stay inside his reach the way Piandao had taught her. She wasn't quick enough to dodge a punch and a jolt of pain shot through her shoulder, sending her to her knees. The soldier got a cocky little smile as he reached down, grabbing her hair, and she reached for the anger and the rage, changing her ice gloves to ice daggers. Screaming, she shoved the daggers into his sides as hard as she could. The soldier went down, and Katara lurched forward, falling among several bodies.

"I just need a moment," she told herself, rolling on her back and watching the sky.

More rocks soared overhead, racing toward Omashu. They didn't have the slightest idea how Ozai's forces managed to get so close to them before they'd noticed. Maybe they'd slipped through a gap in the coastal patrols or came from one of the strongholds the Fire Nation still held in the Earth Kingdom. Not that it much mattered. They'd marched on Omashu, perhaps thinking it would be an easier conquest since Bumi was with the White Lotus, looking for the Avatar. Katara allowed herself a small smile. They couldn't have been more wrong.

"Ancestors, help me," Katara groaned, struggling for a second wind as green and gold war balloons flew overhead, dropping bombs on the tanks.

It had taken a while to learn that it was ok to be apart, that even though she and Zuko and Sokka and Suki and Toph were separated, they could still fight just as fiercely. Maybe Ozai had been depending on that—the true strength of the rebellion being scattered across too much territory doing too many things at once. She, Zuko and Toph might have all been in Omashu, but Toph had taken her earthbenders into the desert days ago to work on their sandbending, and she and Zuko were on opposite sides of the battlefield. Sokka was in Ba Sing Se working on adapting more Fire Nation technology for their own uses and Suki was on Kiyoshi, training more Kiyoshi Warriors. They were all doing important work, things that needed to be done if this rebellion was going to survive beyond the immediate goal of replacing Ozai. But, just then, it would have been fantastic to have her friends fighting by her side and lending her strength when she felt she had none.

At least she had one friend she could turn to just then. Her father always said that a good leader knew when to pull back or call the fight, that sometimes it was better to take a moment and regroup. She needed to get to Zuko. Reaching for the moisture in the air, Katara cut down the soldiers in front of her as one of the rebellion's war balloons exploded overhead. They still had too few of them, and yet they were the resistance's best weapon against the near-impregnable tanks when they couldn't get their earthbenders close enough. They were rushing production as much as they could, but there was so much to do, and with Ozai doing his best to remind everyone that he was still a nuisance, they didn't seem to ever have enough time or materials…

Focus. Katara struggled to pull her mind away from a thousand other worries, and focused on the battle. They needed to regroup.

"Fall back," she yelled, hoping she remembered the hand signal and that enough people would notice. "Fall back!"

The Fire Nation soldiers would notice the retreat almost immediately and start working to push them back further than they wanted. She sent two runners to find Zuko and get him to pull back closer to Omashu's walls where they'd hopefully have the support of some trebuchets, or be able to take the high ground. Heaving, Katara turned and ran, giving the command again every time she passed their soldiers—her soldiers—leaping over dead bodies, too afraid to see what colors they wore. She tried to help anywhere she could, freezing metal armor, sending spears into bodies, doing her best to avoid flying rocks and sometimes failing to fully dodge blasts of fire, and certainly failing to sidestep the soldier reaching out for her. They got a grip on her injured soldier, and Katara screamed as nails dug into her, pinching and twisting, and her vision went white and her knees weak as she sank to the ground. Gasping for air, Katara pulled out her tanto knives and blindly stabbed behind her, feeling the metal bite into flesh.

These were not the kinds of battles they fought on their own when they were helping Aang. These were categorically different. They were fierce and primal and deadly. Everyone was fighting for their way of life, and as much as Katara wanted to lie down and not do anything, she knew that she couldn't. Her only solace was the great red burst of flame that exploded over her head, even if it was accompanied by agonizing screams.

"Are you alright?" Zuko ducked a blast, crouching on the ground near her.

"I've been better," she grumbled, still smiling as she accepted his help.

Zuko chuckled as they sent out a few signals, yelling commands, reorganizing their forces. They needed to take out those tanks, and even if they couldn't completely destroy Ozai's forces that day, they had one message to send him:

They would never surrender.

Zuko stood atop Omashu's wall, away from the other generals as they watched soldiers clear the battlefield. He frowned. There were so many bodies, so many dead on both sides. Somehow, they'd managed to escape this kind of carnage when they were fighting with Aang. Or, had they just failed to see it? There was no way that this kind of death didn't happen just because they were a bunch of naïve children. A familiar sickness rolled through Zuko's stomach, and he tried to remind himself that he wasn't the same person anymore, that sixteen year old him might have been desperately lost and confused but he hadn't done…this.

"We have to stop this," he muttered.

"Damn right."

Toph and Katara were heading toward him, and Zuko tried to stifle the immediate worry at seeing Katara's arm in a sling. She was a grown woman. She could take care of herself. She didn't need someone like him fussing over her. If it was serious enough, she would have just healed herself. But maybe she was tired and didn't have the energy to do it. She'd looked pretty exhausted when he found her during the fight, and if she had any energy left, no doubt she'd spent it helping others. She always gave everything she had to others, often not saving anything for herself…

"You're not listening to me."

"What?"

Zuko rubbed the back of his head. Toph had her arms crossed and was giving him a smug smile, but Katara was smiling softly at him. He looked away. This wasn't the time or the place.

"Anyway," Toph continued, leaning on the wall, "I agree. We can't let this kind of carnage continue. It's been six years, and all we've done is waste people's lives. I've already told Sugar Queen about my plan—"

"Toph—"

"Don't 'Toph' me."

She flung her arm out toward Zuko, and he took a half step back, not quite expecting her ferocity. She was wearing one of her new metal suits that she'd designed for optimal metalbending, and it did make her more of an imposing figure, despite her still being so small. She was pouring everything she had into this fight, but Zuko still worried. Aang's death hit her harder than she'd admitted. They'd all been changed in ways they hadn't expected. But he didn't want her to give in to anger. He didn't want any of them to become twisted. He wished Sokka was there. Sokka was better at making sure they all laughed.

"Unless we push them, they're not going to be bold enough," Toph said, firmly planting her feet on the ground. "Our so-called leaders are going to tiptoe around what really needs to happen. We need to strike for the capitol and put an end to this."

"If it was that easy, we would," Zuko said, running his hands through his hair. "We could head straight for the capitol, just…throw all our strength at the Fire Nation, but that's not going to get us anywhere. We need a stronger, longer lasting peace, and I believe everyone when they say this is the way to do it. We could kick Ozai out, but right now, I'm know there are too many places where his supporters can hide and rebuild. We need to make the world stronger. Everyone has to—"

"I know the speech," Toph said, waving this away. "But we need to start putting the idea in their heads now, or they'll never do it."

There were times when Zuko really did just want to strike for the capitol. There had to be a way to strengthen world relationships and take Ozai out at the same time. It wasn't right that he should be left unchecked, destroying the world. He'd already burned a huge part of the Earth Kingdom, and even though they'd managed to reclaim some territories, it just wasn't enough. Ozai always seemed to be one step ahead of them, always with better trained soldiers, always with the tanks, with more war balloons, with more people. It was always their people that suffered, their cities; Ozai hadn't felt the sting of war. He never had. He'd always managed to escape everything. It wasn't fair. It wasn't right…

"Zuko."

The voice was firm, commanding. Breaking him out of painful, angry thoughts. Zuko took a deep breath, forcing the fire away from his fingertips. He hadn't felt that kind of pointless anger since he was sixteen. He started to say something to Toph, but she had her arms crossed, no doubt ready to deliver a smart retort. But it wasn't her who called him. Katara had taken several steps forward, her hand on his arm. He hadn't even noticed that she'd gotten so close, and he tried not to blush. He was being foolish.

"She's right," Katara said softly.

She was holding onto his arm a little tighter, her face serious in a way that worried him. They'd been planning something, and Zuko had the distinct feeling that he wouldn't like it. It would be dangerous, but then, wasn't everything they were doing dangerous? They were fighting a war. They couldn't afford to be timid anymore.

"You know I'm not one to blindly rush into things," Katara said, "but she's right. This…this is too wasteful. We can't be defensive forever, always waiting for Ozai to attack. He'll see it as a sign of weakness, and it'll make him bolder. We cannot allow that to happen."

The soldiers were almost done cleaning up the battlefield, taking bodies inside to be identified and prepped for burial. After six years, Zuko had hoped that bearing the loss and the pain would get easier, but everyone kept assuring him that, so long as he was a good leader, it never would. That it should never be easy. Each decision would be harder than the last. Every time he was asked to weigh one course of action against another, to consider what would be an acceptable loss of life…

"I know it's not easy," Katara said, stepping closer to him, her face pained. "I…"

"It's ok." Zuko covered her hand with his.

It felt weirdly good to be able to smile about this, and when Katara smiled, Zuko tried to ignore the fluttering in the pit of his stomach. That was just nerves and nothing more, he told himself.

"I'm still here, you know," Toph said. "We've got a lot of planning to do, so I need the two of you to focus. And when we meet up with Sokka and Suki, we'll have to convince them, too. We all need to be on board with this. Those old farts are going to take a lot of convincing."

Toph slapped them on their backs, probably harder than was necessary, pushing them into each other then heading off the wall. When Katara stumbled, he caught her, and for a fraction of a second, Zuko could have sworn he felt the world shift around him. Or maybe he'd just been listening to his overly romantic uncle for too long.

"You ok?"

Zuko nodded slowly. "Yeah. I think the exhaustion is just setting in."

"Let's meet up with the others and debrief, then," Katara said with a small smile. "The sooner we finish with business, the sooner we can rest."

She headed toward the stairs, and Zuko lingered just a little longer, casting one last look over the battlefield. There was an end goal. Every inch they won, every drop of blood they spilled, was all toward making the world a better place, where there was balance and people weren't cowering in fear.

They had to find a way to convince the generals to be more aggressive. It was time to bring the fight to Ozai.

A/N: Sorry this one took so long. The end of the month at work is always insane, especially with the holidays tossed right in there. Hopefully my writing/posting schedule will get back on track and I won't have such big delays between posting time for this next round.