Chapter 6:

Sozin's Comet: The Battle of Ba Sing Se

It was time, the power from the comet was flowing threw her veins. She remembered everything they had talked about. While all the Grand Master's of the White Lotus where to fight off as many of the Fire Nation around the outskirts of town, she was to make her way to the center and gain control. She was to do this, because she had the power of all elements at her side.

She stood next to Iroh, on the raised earth as Earthbenders forced the earth to ride them into the city. Aloria's eyes filled with tears as she saw the state her once amazing city was in. The houses were destroyed; the people who used to live here were nowhere to be found. The anger blocked the pain. She stood tall, and remembered her place in the war. She was here to free her city and help the world regain peace.

The fighting began as soon as the Fire Nation noticed them coming. Aloria dropped down and began searching the streets to find a clear path to the center of the city. But every way she looked there was Fire Nation solders. Cursing her bad luck she decided to pick a route and go. She blasted them away with Airbending. Each street she chose had more Fire Nation solders. She traded off with each element. Fighting her way to what she hoped was the center of the town.

Iroh breathed fire, blasting his path clear. His time in the prison helped more then he wanted to admit. He could hear Bumi's laugh, Master Pakku's splashing, the cling of metal from Master Piandao's sword, but he could not hear anything from Aloria. He hoped that meant she had made it more toward the center and not that she was in trouble.

Sweat started to pour from her; she was having a hard time fighting them off. Her hand slipped to cover her side. The frown on her face didn't stop her from forcing her way further. She was supposed to be some great Avatar, but unlike Aang she didn't have thousands of people's power at her beck and call.

Fire flew past her face, but she continued to push through. Using some water, she healed the burnt skin on her cheek. One after another the solder's fell, and with each one she brought down to their knees, her power drained just a bit more. Her body screamed for her to stop, to sit still and rest. Her need for water was easily taken care of with a simple twitch of her wrist.

Her breath came at short pants when she finally neared the city center. Her mouth fell open and her eyes widened when she realized that this was a trap. She was surrounded and there was no way in her state she could stop all of them at once. They were going to beat her, if she didn't do something quickly. She would not be a prisoner of war.

Her slumped body stood tall, her jaw set firm. She was going to do this and they would see just what she could do. Using surprise, she blew a few of the men away, froze a couple, and incased a few in earth. But there was still ten men surrounding her. Sliding into fighting stance, she prepared herself. She was not going to let this be the end.

If she just somehow get rid of these guys and she would have control of the center of the city and maybe the others would retreat. She braced herself for the fight. Using her skills, she began picking off the benders one by one. To her surprise, there were a couple solders here who weren't benders at all.

It took her a long time, but finally she had it down to just three none-benders. Her bending was almost completely gone. Her strength was suffering and her stance was becoming sloppy. The one thing she didn't know was they had seen her favor her right side. They now knew her weakness. The bruise had been more then she had originally thought and she was unable to heal it.

The three circled her; her eyes followed their movements, tracking every step, calculating every move. They stopped, one behind her, one to diagonal left and right. The one of the left charged along with the one behind her, she side stepped to the right to avoid them, and they crashed into each other. Moments later a hard forced knocked into her right side, blinding her with pain.

She couldn't breathe, she was sure that the rib that had cracked during the mock fight with Sokka was completely broken now. She gasped for air and stepped rapidly away from the three solders. She was still slightly blind from the pain, her eyes darkened around the edges making it almost impossible to see the men standing before her.

They began to stride towards her, her feet struggled to match their pace walking backward. Her back slammed into a wall, right in the center. There was no way she would make it to the edge to get away in time. Using the last of her strength she blasted two of the men who were approaching her away. The last one slammed his sword threw her left side and into the wall behind her. She was only thankful she was sitting now.

The pain was overwhelming, tears poured from her eyes and her head hung down and she began to black out. Her only regret was not finding out if Zuko actually cared about her like she did him. She wished Aang luck, and prayed all their friends would survive this horrible war. Just as she finished that last thought her eyes rolled into the back of her head and the world went back.

Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Toph, Suki and Aang had met up when Aang knew something was wrong. They instantly got on Appa and took off toward the Earth Nation. Zuko stood there praying that nothing had happened and Aloria was still alive and safe.

They landed in Ba Sing Se only a few short hours later. They ran toward the camp of the White Lotus. All the elders stood there, besides Iroh and Aloria was missing.

"Where is she? Where is Aloria," Zuko demanded.

"Iroh told us to wait here till you arrived and to bring you to the center of the city," Master Pakku spoke, all of them were quiet and their heads were down.

"I don't care about the center of the city; I want to know where Aloria is!"

Despite his protests, they followed the elders to the center. Aang knew something was wrong, King Bumi didn't have his glint in his eye and he was unusually silent. The foreboding feeling mixed in threw all their emotions the closer they got to the city center. They walked into it, to see Iroh leaning over against the wall, his back to them. He stood up slowly and turned around, his face was grave.

"Honestly, there is nothing I can say that will prepare you for what you're about to see," tears began to fall and the sadness roughened his voice, "so; I will merely let you see for yourself."

He stepped out of the way. Aloria was sitting on the ground, her head was hung down. It looked almost like she was asleep, but the large puddle of blood around her body let them know it was more than that. A sword hilt stuck out of her left side, but that was it. No part of the blade could be seen.

The group began to cry at the sight of their friend whose body lay there unmoving. It seemed like a dream, a nightmare they would all wake up from soon.

"Aloria," Zuko cried, "Aloria! NO! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

Zuko ran to her side, and ignored the blood. He kneeled next to her. He could see her right side, as her shirt had been ripped to shreds.

"What's this bruise," Zuko asked his Uncle.

"She said it was nothing. Just a little bruise she got from sparring with Sokka, but before battle, she explained to me that she had thought it was a bruise and she had attempted to heal it with her own water healing, but it turned out to be a fracture in her rib."

Sokka's mouth dropped open and the tears fell harder, "You mean this is all my fault?"

"No, Sokka," a small voice drew their attention to the girl held to the wall by the sword, "It was not your fault, not at all. Not even a little bit. I wasn't strong enough."

She began to cough, blood sprayed everywhere. She lifted her head up, her eyes were soulless and her face was sunken and shallow from the loss of blood.

"You're alive," Zuko cried and grabbed her right hand, holding on as if he let go she would leave forever.

"For the moment," her voice grew weaker.

"Is there anything we could do Iroh," Katara asked.

"Maybe if you had some spirit water from the Northern Water Tribe, you could use your water healing, but that alone won't be enough."

Everyone's eyes turned to Master Pakku, and the frown on his face let them know that he did not have any of the sacred water on him.

"Would she live long enough for us to make to there and back?"

"She would probably pass away before you even got there."

"What if we took her with us, and the whole ride there, Katara used her water healing to keep the bleeding at bay," the desperation in Zuko's voice was almost heartbreaking.

"You guys don't have to worry so much about me. I have come to terms with my death. I helped save my city. I did everything I needed to," even to her it sounded like she was trying to convince herself and not them.

"But, I haven't even told you how I feel," Zuko's voice was raspy as the tears began to appear again.

"That's okay Zuko. Because just having you as a friend was enough for me. I don't need to live to know you are going your own way. I understand that you have Mai, and my silly crush I've had on you since I was five would become nothing more than that."

Zuko went to reply, but stopped when he noticed she was unconscious.

"She is having trouble breathing. We need to get her on Appa now and get to the Northern Water Tribe."

"Zuko, her wish is to let her die. You cannot force her to live," Iroh demanded.

"She is wrong! I love her, and I will not let her die this way! She doesn't even know that I love her too. She thinks I've chosen Mai, but she is wrong."

"Right, we need to move quickly," Aang snapped, catching everyone's attention.

Katara was next to her, waiting for the second the blade left her body. She pressed her hands to her wound and she didn't stop. They were helped onto Appa, and Appa took off flying the fastest he could.

Every breath she took and let out the gaang feared would be her last. They all held their own breath when she breathed out, and let it out when she breathed in. Every minute that drug by brought her one step closer to death. Katara was on her right and Zuko was on her left. He never moved, clutching her hand in his. It was now on Appa to get them to the Northern Water Tribe so Katara could use the special water and heal her.

It would be almost three whole days before Appa landed them in the city. They raced against time to get Aloria to the spirit oasis. They laid her on the soft grass. Katara dropped her water healing and pulled some of the spirit water, applying it quickly to the wound. When the wound closed, Katara pulled away her hands. The bruise on her right side was even gone.

Everyone held their breath, waiting for something to happen. Waiting for her to sit up and tell them all to stop worrying, or for her to yell at them for doing this against her wishes.

The minutes ticked on into hours, and still nothing happened.

"Maybe it didn't work," Sokka pointed out.

"Maybe, she died before we got here," Aang sat there staring at her body.

Zuko moved forward, and pulled her into his lap, holding her body against his, resting his forehead against hers. Her body was ice cold; he couldn't tell if she was breathing. All he knew is she was gone. The trip had been for nothing and the one person he loved more than anyone else was gone.