HER HOPE RAN away as she watched both Kali and Xi Feng leave their ships. The crews of all three ships also followed. Her almost suicide mission just became possible. Guilt also filled her heart, for the young man beside her was dragged into this.
"Lee, take this." She handed him the energybending scroll from behind.
"What for?"
"Burn it." She ordered.
"But we're right…"
"Just burn them. I don't want them to get that scroll."
"Come on Grandma," Xi Feng called out, "Hand them over. Maybe I'll kill you and the boy faster."
"Lee, burn it!" Katara ordered louder.
"No, don't do it!" Kali called out stepping a bit forward.
The firebender lit it up. Katara got the chance to sigh with relief.
"Miss Katara," the firebender gulped, "Now what?"
Katara gave her niece a glare. The Avatar returned it.
"We hope." She said.
"Hope?"
All of their drinking water exploded from their containers. The sound caused Lee and some of the Phoenix's unsuspecting men to take cover. Katara then used the limited time to throw ice spears at the thugs, hitting those who froze from surprise. Lee soon followed suit, lighting everything in sight on fire. The Stone Phoenix stood and watched as her men slowly tired the two benders out.
"Come on Grandma, just give up. You don't want to go to the afterlife tired, do you?" she taunted.
"Come on Aunt Katara, just quit." The Avatar mumbled to herself.
"Lee, do you think you can fly one of those ships?" Katara spoke out of breath.
"No." he started, "I don't know the layout of them."
They were back to back. Katara was running out of water quickly. They were both breathing hard. Cuts from bended sand caused many scratches on their arms and faces.
"Kali, kill one of them."
The master waterbender was staring down her niece. She was looking for any signs of moves from the Avatar. She caught the split second look.
"Lee, catch that!"
"Catch what?" he turned.
"Just don't let the chi hit your heart!"
He suddenly caught a painful burst of energy, and followed the waterbender's advice. The waterbender redirected his other arm to an air ship with a quick snap of water.
The firebender was shocked to see what had happened as one air ship blew up form the lighting. His mouth was catching blowing sand.
"Look out!" Katara called.
The young firebender turned, only to miss watching sharpened rocks to crash into his chest. Katara reacted to help him, but she was too late. The young firebender was already dead as he hit the ground.
"Too bad the full moon isn't out." Xi Feng taunted, "I promise to make your death slower."
"Lee, forgive me." She said out loud to herself.
The elder bender got into a prefect stance. Many of the thugs watched her swing her arms around, not knowing what she was doing until they noticed dried out bodies of their teammates fall to the sand. The sudden wave crashed into the other two airships, completely destroying one and disabling the other. The remaining thugs stood, waiting for their leader to react. Not only did the old woman before her refused to die, she wrecked years of recruiting and stealing. Xi Feng was not going to toy with this woman anymore. Kali was torn between admiring her aunt and wanting to painfully end the woman's life for not teaching her about the darker lessons of waterbending.
Katara finished pushing around the wave, and let the water collect in the oasis. She then turned to the earthbender who corrupted her niece.
"I don't need a full moon." She growled.
The earthbender dropped to her knees, holding her throat. Kali turned to her teacher. Her eyes went wide; blood was being coughed up from her friend's mouth. Betrayal, anger, and adrenalin filled the Avatar, as the Phoenix collapsed to the ground. The wind picked up. Sand was blown into everyone's eyes.
"Shit."
That was the only word Katara let out before the Avatar State was released, and she was thrown into the air. She attempted to bend the oasis to break her fall, only to have most of it taken from her. The master waterbender hit solid rock.
The Avatar relaxed. She didn't realize what she had done until she looked at the body in the oasis. Guilt filled her heart for a moment.
"You should have just given the scrolls to me." She fought the tears, as she took the airbending scrolls.
She ordered the remaining crew to repair the damaged ship. They were heading back to their mining camp.
DO YOU really think friendships can last more than one lifetime?
'No, not all of them,' she told herself.
Black went to white. She held her hands up to block the light that was blinding her. She let a gasp out. Katara, the best proclaimed waterbender in the world, was looking at her late parents, brother and husband. They all had saddened looks. She knew that she had failed. She was dead, and it hurt.
She let her knees fall out from under her, covering her face.
"Katara?"
She led the young firebender to his death.
"Katara?"
She looked up. The former Avatar was kneeling beside her.
"I failed." She finally let out.
"At least you had a better death. Eaten by an Owl Spirit was not fun."
"Sokka!" his father slapped the back of his boy's head.
"Ow!" he rubbed his sore spot, "Well the original three of Team Avatar are finally dead. Yay us."
"Sokka, you're not helping." Hakoda warned.
Katara cleared her throat, "I don't understand how they found out where to find us. I never told her anything about the desert."
"Um, well," Aang tried to lighten the mood.
"Mr. Goody Goody here, decided to have a chat with my daughter about his death story." Sokka interrupted and finished.
"What!" she jumped to her feet.
She caught her reflection; death had portrayed her younger, free of gray hair and wrinkles. Her dead husband was going to give her some back.
"You told her? Of all the life lessons to give the enemy, you gave her the right one to succeed." She turned and stormed off.
"That went well." Sokka stated as Aang sighed.
She knew that the Spirit World was never ending. She could walk for miles, and nothing new and surprising would replace the brown.
She corrected her last statement about life; she didn't fail, she was betrayed. She didn't greet any of her family. As they tried to calm her down, she'd ignore them by taking another path. She continued cursing her husband and brother until she ran into someone.
"Sorry about that. I'll try to pay…" her eye's widened, "Guru Pathik? Did you die too?"
"Young Master Katara, I'm about to teach you about energybending and spirits."