There were a couple of missed moments of awesome that I wanted addressed. You'll know them when you see them.
You have no idea how close I came to going a radically different direction when I wrote this. A decision I made at the end of the first section altered the course of the story from where it could have gone in a radical fashion, which would have completely broken it free from the path it now follows. But, for the sake of the story in my mind and the character development in question for the individual, I had to preserve a few things. So mourn what might have been, and enjoy what is.
Zuko scared the hell out of Mai.
After his outburst following that war meeting, a dissonant serenity fell over him. He knew that he should be utterly stricken. He knew that he should be railing against the walls, lashing out at everybody around him. Instead, there was just that suffusive calm. Mai thought that he'd lost his mind. She kept trying to get a physician, but he told her exactly what had been told to him. She understood. And he scared the hell out of her.
He told her more then that. He told her to leave the city, to not return until after the Day of Black Sun. She was one of two people not in the Royal Family who knew about that ominous day. And she was one of the only people who understood the significance of it. One of two, and then the Avatar. Zuko knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the monk was alive. He'd seen Aang during the vision quest with Roku. And that meant that Aang would probably know about the eclipse. Otherwise, he would never have stayed in hiding so long. Azula nicknamed Zuko dum-dum, but he was a Royal, and he knew how to work things out, even if it took him a bit longer to see everything.
Although, it never occurred to Zuko that he'd stopped calling Aang 'the Avatar'.
Zuko rolled up the letter he'd written. He put it in a place only he would know to look. Since Mai knew him as well as he knew himself, it was therefore a place only she would know to look as well. He could have dropped it in her house, but he didn't dare. The eclipse would begin soon. The klaxons were already sounding. The invasion was here. Zuko knelt down, straightening his armor, and placing Roku's hairpiece in place, sliding the pin to hold it in Zuko's phoenix tail. Mai would find the letter, but he wouldn't be here when she did. He looked at those other, damning documents that he had located. He put them away, in a fire-resistant bag Uncle had purchased during the long exile. Every time he thought of Uncle, that rage, that fire of self-hatred rose higher. He had done so much wrong. It was time for him to do something right.
With perfect calm over a searing soul, Zuko walked the halls. The guards were going mad, scrambling to their positions. The invasion would be here soon. That meant that Zuko wouldn't have as much time as he'd like. Luckily, what he had in mind would either be over with quickly, or it wouldn't matter to him at all. He walked through the palace, to the secret places that headed into the volcano, where it still breathed sulfur and circulated magma. He followed the paths he knew by rote, and banged his fist against the grand, metal doors. The guards on either side made no move to stop him, and the doors swung open. Zuko walked inside.
Jeong Jeong looked annoyed, as he usually did around Zuko. "What is the meaning of this interference?" he demanded. Zuko ignored him. He wasn't important or relevant. There was only one in this room who was. Fire Lord Ozai turned from consulting with the Firemaster and toward Zuko. He waved Jeong Jeong away, much to the Firemaster's further vexation. Still, he, and the others, filed out of the room.
"Fire Lord," Zuko said clearly, unflinchingly. "I owe you something."
Earlier
Well, Sokka had just made a proper ass of himself.
Early in the morning, a group of ships came into the port. They were all Fire Nation vessels, but flew the moon flag of the Tribes. Hakoda and Bato had gotten enthusiastic in their months coming to this spot. Not just one ship, but five, all of them to all outside perspective those of the enemy. And all of the allies that remained were aboard. It had fallen to Sokka to explain the invasion, and that's about when everything went wrong.
First, Sokka screwed up, putting up the wrong map. The second he put up was wrong as well. It was then that he gave up and just put up his nice expensive atlas that he knew somewhere within the proper map was. And then, he launched into one of the least inspiring speeches he'd ever heard, doubly depressing because he was the one delivering it. And when he screwed that up, he found himself rambling about how Haru had a mustache now, The Hippo was surprisingly well educated, and that Suki once got Sokka to put on a dress. It was a merciful relief when Sokka's father finally put Sokka out of his misery, and took over the briefing himself. Well, as much as it was a relief, Sokka still felt like a screw up, again.
"We are going to invade the Fire Nation's capital at Sozin City tomorrow, which means we will be setting sail before noon today," Hakoda said. Katara was translating for the men from home, who couldn't speak Tianxia; It might have been the most commonly spoken language in the world, but that didn't mean everybody knew it. "Our first obstacle will be the Great Gates of Azulon, separating Tenko and Bi Zuei Bays. Getting past them won't be easy, but there is a chance that we might be able to slip through before the recognize us," he paused, staring across the gathered fighters. "We cannot depend on that chance. We have alternatives which will allow us to bypass the Gates, but we must carry the deception as long as we can."
Hakoda flipped several pages of the atlas, to show Sozin City. "Our invasion has two stages, a naval stage, and a land stage. We will take the harbors and secure them, which means we need the earthbenders to sweep the battlements and bring down our opposition. We capture the guard tower at the end of the harbor, then move up the main thoroughfare to the Crater Road."
"We should consider my plan," Bato muttered. Sokka scowled at him. Bato wanted to detach part of the invasion force to destroy the pump stacks which Sozin built to keep water flowing into the crater. Sokka had immediately opposed that plan. They were here to bring down Fire Lord Ozai, not to kill thousands through dehydration and wreck the place completely. Most of the people living in that city deserved better than to be the targets of what was little better than terrorism. Luckily, Dad agreed with Sokka wholeheartedly.
"Once we secure the Crater Road, we're going to be in for the fight of our lives," Hakoda said. "That is why we're timing this invasion so that the Eclipse begins once we reach the Crater."
"Pardon me," the Hippo said, his voice much more erudite than his form and features would have led anybody to believe. "But is not our involvement in this battle hinged on the eclipse? Shouldn't it occur while we are taking the fortifications?"
"No," Hakoda said. "There won't be enough time to undertake the entire invasion under the eclipse. It only lasts eight minutes, and that eight minutes must be utilized to its utmost. Namely, by Avatar Aang taking down the Fire Lord while his powers are neutralized. We are here to make sure that he has that opportunity," Hakoda stood before his men, back straight and proud. "I'm not going to lie. This will be the hardest fight any of you have ever been a part of. But by this time tomorrow, we will be on the enemy's shores. By the evening, we will control the city, and the war will be over!"
The people cheered at Hakoda, but Sokka felt like an idiot. "What's wrong, Loverboy?" Toph asked. She had changed out of her Fire Nation garb, and into something like a United Earth Kingdom's army uniform, albeit one of gold and green rather than yellow and green. Short legs and short sleeves, showing her burned arms. She eschewed the customary bracers and the pan helmet lay on her back. Her hair was back in its flowing style, and her signature jewel strung through it. She had also wrapped a set of rusty chains around her arms and along her back. Everybody had abandoned their disguises, except for Sokka, because his old pants were more hole than fabric at this point, and Aang, because his clothes had been blasted to bits in Ba Sing Se. He had to make do with some creatively dyed and stitched bedsheets. It was close enough to a robe to make Aang satisfied.
"I failed again. It was my job to get everybody ready for the invasion, and I screwed it all up," he said. Toph shook her head and shoved him.
"Suck it up!" Toph said. "That's not your problem. That's public speaking. And let's face it, a lot of people suck at public speaking. Sure, your father gets people chanting at him. But if they survive, it ain't gonna be because of his fancy speeches. It's going to be because of your crazy toys and your insane plans. Your moment of glory ain't on that stage. It's out there, with the guys, knockin' heads and takin' names."
Sokka couldn't help but laugh at that. "You always know just what to say," Sokka said.
"Well, I do have a hundred and fifty years experience in being a guy," Toph said, patting him on the back before walking toward Aang. Great. Now the only other realist in Team Avatar was as batty as he was. They were all doomed. Teo rolled up to Aang, and Sokka snooped in.
"Hey, Aang, my father heard what happened to your glider," Teo said. He reached behind his seat and pulled up a staff, extending it toward the Avatar. "He made you this. I hope it works for you."
Aang took the staff, and gave it a twirl. Teo shook his head, and mimed a different motion. Aang tried again, and a broad blue wing snapped out into place. Aang lit up. "Wow! That's amazing! Wait. What does this do?" he asked, fiddling with one of the handles.
"That's for the snack compartment," Teo said, pointing up at a well concealed hatch. A twist, and some assorted nuts fell out of the chamber. Aang didn't know what to make of that.
"Hey, Teo, do you think we could have a chat abou..." Toph said, but Teo turned and began to roll back toward the wharf she and Aang had whipped up when the boats arrived. She looked momentarily crestfallen. "A hundred fifty years as a guy don't help me very much, here," she muttered, then she started walking after the crippled lad. Sokka went with her.
The three of them traveled in the same direction, to the nearest Fire Nation ship. Inside, there was a blast, and then some manic laughter. Sokka couldn't help but smile at that, as the Mechanist came stumbling out, waving away smoke. "Well, there's your problem," he said. "You can't let it touch the air!"
"Hey, did you figure out those plans I sent you?" Sokka asked. The Mechanist turned to him, replacing his fallen monocle.
"Yes. I have to say, your revisions were exactly what the project needed!" he looked positively delighted. "Waterbenders! That's all that they required!"
"Yeah, but what about the other one? The one without the..."
"Oh, that would take time," the Mechanist waved that away. "These are done right now!"
"They are!"
"They'd better be, or we're all sunk!" he exclaimed. Sokka nodded, chuckling to himself. That was kind of the point. He got onto the ship, moving up to the deck. He arrived just about when Aang was done playing with his new glider, and landed beside him.
"It's here," Aang said somberly.
"Yes, it is," Sokka agreed. "Are you as nervous as I am?"
"No," Aang said. "I can't afford to be nervous. I won't let everybody down again. This won't be another Ba Sing Se."
Sokka really hoped that Aang was right.
Ty Lee turned around sharply when she heard somebody clear her throat quietly behind her. "What is it?" she asked, straightening her clothing a bit. She hadn't expected somebody to come calling on her this early in the morning. She thought she'd have some time to prepare. Azula departed with the sunrise again, not a word said, her cheeks flushed with color. Shame, maybe? Ty Lee didn't know. She pretended to be asleep. Whatever was happening to her oldest friend would have to be sorted out on its own time. She looked at those piercing green eyes staring at her.
"The Fire Lord has requested your immediate presence," the messenger, if it was that, said sharply. Ty Lee felt her heart miss a beat or two. Had he known? Then again, she did technically infiltrate the Royal Palace. Still, Ty Lee couldn't afford to screw up now. Too many people were depending on her. She put on a bright smile, even as she felt so uneasy she could throw up, and followed the woman as she moved through the palace.
Ty Lee was lead into the bunker, deep beneath the grandeur of the palace; it was a deeply buried complex, lashed in iron so earthbenders had no means of entry. At least, no earthbenders that these people knew about. She made a note of memorizing the pathways as she walked them. They would probably be running along them at great speed not too long from now. Finally, Ty Lee was brought to a chamber, layered thick with resilient metal. The Fire Lord's bunker.
"You are the woman who accompanied my daughter in the East Continent?" Ozai's voice came from the back of the room. Ty Lee immediately dropped to the floor, supplicating herself to the Fire Lord. She glanced up at him.
"Yes, Fire Lord. I aided Azula in the annexation of Ba Sing Se," Ty Lee said, trying not to let the nervousness get out of control. She had to stay calm. It wasn't like he was that scary. From the look of his features, he even seemed a remarkably gentle man.
"I hadn't had the chance to congratulate and commend you on your service to this house and to your Nation," Ozai said formally. "Your actions are a beacon to the ambitions of an entire generation."
"Thank you, Fire Lord," Ty Lee said. She looked up again. Jeong Jeong, the Royal Firemaster was staring at her, his darkened eyes shrewd and heartless. She turned back to Ozai. Was that it? Just a commendation? She wondered if he was hiding something. She looked deeper, to see what was going on with his aura.
He didn't have one.
Ty Lee's eyes dropped to the floor as a wave of malevolence and dread swept over her, Ozai its source. She had never felt anything like it. The dead had no auras, and the mad had no auras, but Ozai's was like being tortured for a year then boiled slowly in oil. There were no colors, no textures, no shapes. Just overwhelming terror rolling off him in waves. It struck Ty Lee so deeply, shook her so profoundly, terrified her so completely, that she peed herself a little.
"Is that all, Fire Lord?" she asked, her voice weak. She had to get away. She couldn't be near him. He was wrong. There was something so very very very very wrong with Ozai. She had to get away! Ozai made a dismissing gesture, and Ty Lee quickly got to her feet, and skittered away, hoping there wasn't a puddle where she had kowtowed. She got out of the bunker, and hid in a corner for a moment to try to master her shakes.
They were absolutely right. Fire Lord Ozai couldn't remain in power. Not one more day. She forced herself to move, first keeping a steady gait despite her damp pants and unsteady knees, but it soon erupted into a full sprint as she fought with everything she had to get the hell away from him. She put everything aside in her mind. She had only one thing to do. She had an old friend to save. She raced back to her quarters, not even bothering to slow for servants or nobles. If they wouldn't move out of her way, she just bounded over them.
She skidded to a stop inside her room, tearing off her befouled pants and replacing them, a task of a few seconds. Performers learned to quickly change outfits; she was never so glad she'd learned it as now. She grabbed her staff, and abandoned everything else. Either she would recollect it at her leisure, or not at all. She knew that the gates were in the wrong direction. She had to move fast. She could still feel Ozai on her, like a stinking oil hanging in the air even after it had been burned. She shot out across the gardens, bounding up a gazebo, a tree, and then barely making it to the top of the wall. She had to move faster. She had to outrun fear itself.
She didn't bother taking the path down the vines. She snapped open her glider, and swooped down from the wall to the street, snapping it shut again in a practiced instant. Most people would have only gotten the barest moment's glance at it before it was already folded back up, and she was off, running away from the crater-city, down the paths to Ashfall.
The Great Gates of Azulon lived up to their reputation, Sokka noted to himself. A span of chains, somehow lit on fire, closing off all naval access to bay of Bi Zuei. Next to him, Katara scowled fiercely. "I guess we should have expected better," she said. She stared at him. "Are you sure that your contraptions are going to work?"
"No, but it's too late to worry about that now," Sokka said. Hakoda nodded, and waved a signaling flag.
"Everybody below decks!" Dad said, and all the inhabitants of all three ships, fighters from Great Whales, from the Tribes, from the ashes of Chin and other villages in the Earth Kingdoms, all of them vanished into the bellies of their beasts. Sokka shared one last nod with Aang, still on the back of his armored bison, before the Avatar and the bison disappeared under the water. Sokka really hoped that this was going to work.
By the time that Sokka reached the launching slip, the submersible was already mostly dropped into the water. He could tell by the klaxons that sounded in the distance that it wouldn't be long until the Fire Nation's quick craft reached them. They had to be quicker. So Sokka bounded onto the submersible's hull, hopping into the hatch and sealing it above him just as the chains let go and it slipped into the water. He looked out the windows. He was standing in a ship that was moving under the water.
"The idea for these subs was brilliant!" the Mechanist said, quite pleased with himself as he began to urge the craft forward. The craft didn't feel brilliant. He didn't know exactly how to stand to stay upright, it was cramped and smelled funny. "Using waterbenders to make it rise and sink, and to give us propulsion made construction refreshingly simple."
"Yeah, thanks a lot, Sokka," Toph said, weakly. "You've managed to invent a more horrible way of travel than flying."
"Helmet?" the Duke, sitting next to her, offered. Toph took it and promptly lost her dinner into it.
"There is one notable drawback," the Mechanist said. "We've only got about an hour's worth of air, so we're going to have to run close to the surface until we reach the headlands, else risk suffocation."
"Any way you think you can stretch that?" Sokka asked.
The Mechanist pondered. "We could tell everybody to breathe less?"
"We will be fine," Hakoda said, moving through the cramped quarters. The only people with any space were the waterbenders, near the back of the craft. They had to have space. They were driving the sub. All the rest of the space was used up by the Earth Kingdom Millipede tanks. Sokka thought he'd have to come up with them, too, but it turned out that they'd been invented about four hundred years ago, and just never got used, because they were so easily defeated by earth or waterbenders. Why they hadn't been used in the war effort so far made Sokka seethe. He wasn't even eighteen, yet. He wasn't supposed to be the voice of common sense for an entire war.
Hakoda glanced over at Sokka's sister, and then gently took Sokka aside. "Do you notice anything different about your sister?" he asked.
"Yeah, she's got her hair-loopies back," Sokka said. Hakoda got a hard look on his face. "So what was I supposed to be looking for?"
"She's acting strangely around me," Hakoda said. "Almost a bit... guilty. Can you think of anything she would have done to make her act that way?"
"Yeah," Sokka said quietly. "But if you're going to hear it, it'll be from her."
"I should have never let that boy near her," Hakoda said, staring out the window at the submerged bison and its airbending rider. Sokka sputtered. "If he sullied her honor, I swear to Tui and La, I'll..."
"Dad," Sokka said. "He didn't sully my sister's honor," Dad was old-fashioned in some ways. "Just calm down. If she wants to tell you what's on her mind, she will. I'm sure Aang has nothing to do with it."
Hakoda glanced back at him, a scrutinizing look on his face. "If you say so."
The ship lurched again. "Ooooh," Toph muttered. "I'm going to need another helmet."
Iroh took deep breaths, feeling the energy from the sun pouring into him. He knew what was coming, and now he was ready. The pool of chi was a resource that few firebenders knew how to properly exploit. Many of them simply took what energy they had, and burned it as fast as they could get it. But there were other ways. Ways that only Iroh knew. He pooled his chi, its capacity restored with his physique. He needed to be ready, to firebend when everybody else couldn't.
There came a rattling at the door, and Iroh turned quickly. His tatters were sitting aside him, from when he was doing one final set of sit-ups. He wouldn't have time to pull them back on. The door swung open... and a girl in pink and a long brown braid quickly snuck into the room, closing the door behind her. Iroh's eyes went wide. When Ty Lee turned, hers did to.
"What are you doing here?" Iroh asked.
"When did you get beefy?" Ty Lee asked all her questions in what seemed like a single breath. "Have you been working out? What's with the food on the floor? Have they been being mean to you? Can you walk?"
"Ty Lee, one question at a time, please?" Iroh said, trying to get her to calm down. She glanced about.
"Step closer," she said. Iroh didn't see the harm, so he moved close to the bars. She leapt forward and gave him a rib creaking hug from the other side of the metal cage. "Oh, I'm so glad you're alright. I need to get you out of here."
"You will not succeed," Iroh said. "There are countless firebenders between here and the exit, and we are only two people," Iroh paused, sniffing. "Why do you smell so bad?"
"You're one to talk," Ty Lee said, pulling back, then she looked a bit ashamed. "I'm sorry. I... I met your brother. He's really scary."
"Yes, I understand that he is," Iroh said. "But that doesn't..."
"Really... scary," Ty Lee stressed. Iroh nodded. He understood.
"It does my heart a world of good to know that there are those who still wish well for me, but... You cannot save me," Iroh said. "I am sorry, but this is something that is simply not in your power."
"But I managed to get the keys and everything!" Ty Lee sounded desperate. "Please, we can..."
"No," Iroh said simply, sitting in the back of his cell. "You need to leave this place. You don't want to be here this afternoon."
"But..." Ty Lee seemed to wilt.
"Please," Iroh had a small, warm smile on his face. "Just leave an old man. You have already done more for me just by coming today than you could imagine."
She brightened up at that. She slid the keys through the bars to him. "Are you going to be okay?" she asked, quietly.
"I think that I am," Iroh said. She moved forward, giving him one more through-the-bars hug, then ran back out into the hallway. When Iroh sat down again, he almost cried a bit. So she had chosen the right path after all. He had so worried for her. But now, she seemed to be following the destiny that they showed her. Was it wrong to take her away from one destiny, and blatantly shove her down another? Iroh couldn't say. But she was on the right side, now. Maybe that would make all the difference in the world.
Iroh turned, sitting with his back toward the door, and began to breathe deeply, letting the breath reach down, and nourish his pool of chi. He heard the door rattling again. Iroh pulled the tatters over his shoulders, hiding the keys inside.
"Didn't finish your breakfast?" Warden Poon chided. "Too bad. Ozai said that's all you're getting today. I bet you'd love to get out and stretch your legs, but I guarantee you, you're going to be in that cell for the rest of your life."
Iroh ignored the warden, and continued to stoke his inner fire. The time would come. And when it did, Iroh would be ready.
The subs crested the waters, opening their hatches and disgorging their passengers. Dozens swarmed up onto the hull, getting a deep and well-deserved breath of fresh air. Aang bounded from one to another, using his airbending to suck all of the foulness out and shove fresh air in. It was the least he could do. Especially because today was the Day of Black Sun. He finished his task, and leapt back onto Appa, as the now armored bison leaned against one of the ships.
"Now you be good for Katara," he said. "Don't let her get hurt, alright buddy?"
Appa let out a deep bellow, and Aang was satisfied with that. Aang looked back as a creak sounded, and saw Katara hauling herself up the saddle. He hopped up next to her. The two stared at each other, and he was lost in her eyes.
"Aang, I..."
"Katara, I..." both spoke in unison. "You go first, Katara."
"I just... It's been such a long time," she said. "When I found you, you were just this little kid. You've grown up so much since then. And so have I."
"Yeah," Aang said, not exactly sure how to bring up that... unexpected joy which occurred the day before the invasion force arrived.
"I just wanted to say that I don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for you," Katara said. Aang looked up. That was pretty much what he'd said to her, back when he was still a doofus who didn't even realize she was the love of his life.
"Oh, that's just low," Aang said. But Katara grinned, and she pulled him close, into an embrace. If he could have lived a year inside that moment, he would. "Tomorrow, everything's going to be different, isn't it?" he asked.
"Probably," she said.
"Katara, if I don't come back..."
"Don't you even think of dying on me," Katara warned. They had time for one more, brief kiss, before Aang saw Sokka sticking his head out of the hatch, and making a nixing gesture. Appropriate, because the next to come up was Hakoda. Aang stepped away from the Chief's daughter. He might be the Avatar, but he still didn't want to mess with an enraged father. Hakoda took a few deep breaths, then stopped, looking at Aang and Katara. Aang felt like he was being sized up for a casket.
"Well?" Hakoda said, addressing everybody present. "It's time to submerge these ships one last time. The next time we see the surface, we'll be landing on their wharf. May the gods give us strength, courage, and victory!"
A general cheer rose up from the closely gathered subs, and the people began to bomb back inside. Toph, back in her 'warrior regalia', diverted long enough to slug Aang in the arm before bounding back to the sub and descending back inside. Aang turned back to Katara. "I'll see you soon in Sozin City."
"I know you will," she said. He snapped open his glider, and for the first time in a long time, he soared with the winds. This time, though, he wasn't leaving everybody behind. He was the forerunner. He was the beacon. And when they came, Aang would be ready to end a war. He may be the Avatar, the last airbender to walk the Earth, but he didn't walk it alone. He felt a rumbling in his stomach.
"Huh," he muttered to himself, activating the snack compartment. "I guess that really did come in handy," he said around a mouthful of mixed nuts and legumes.
Dad was right. War was hell. The submersibles scudded up to the wharf, which Toph, the Boulder, Haru and the Hippo turned into a nice easy ramp for them. Then, the Millipedes began to crawl, dragged forward by the lesser but not-insignificant earthbenders inside. They eked their way forward, their hardened iron sides weathering all assaults from the Salamander tanks the Fire Nation employed, but the barrage came from almost all sides, and many of the warriors, particularly the Tribesmen, had to move unarmored.
"Rhino charge!" Bato screamed. Sokka lurched back to his feet, bringing his Space Sword up in front of him. While the others tucked tight and formed a ball of shields with spikes coming out of them – itself an Earth Kingdom trick that the Tribesmen had improved upon – Sokka ran right into the action. One of the rhinos tried to gore him, but he had spent far too much time around Ty Lee for her acrobatic skills to pass him by. He used the missed gore to propel him toward the rider. The rider tried to lance Sokka, but the Tribesman was easily able to split the spear in half, from tip to haft, and check the rider out of his saddle.
As the other rhinos broke against a cluster of stabbing spears, Sokka could see his father, surrounded by firebenders. He wouldn't be able to last much longer isolated as he was. Sokka shouted the commands that he'd accidentally learned back during the invasion of Chin, and the beast followed Sokka's commands as it would any Fire Nation soldier. Ahead, Hakoda was brutally effective, shielding himself with a dead firebender, as his spear, already red with blood, lashed out at others. When Sokka came close, he finally hurled the weapon away, impaling a soldier as he swung up into the saddle.
"You came just in time, I was beginning to wonder if everybody else had left," Hakoda said with a bloodthirsty laugh. That was Sokka's father. Kind and compassionate with his people, but brutal with his enemies. It was part of the reason he'd risen to Chief. "And where did you learn to ride rhinos, Son?"
"Long story, Dad," Sokka said. "We're getting pounded out here! Those battlements are damaging the Millipedes."
"Then we have to bring them down," Hakoda said. Sokka brought him back to the cluster of men, and Hakoda leapt off, barking orders. The strongest earthbenders moved to the walls, pounding their fists into the stone. Even the reinforced stone couldn't hold, and their earthbending tore the turrets which were hurling down explosive death crumbled and collapsed down the wall. Two down, three dozen to go. Katara landed Appa nearby, pulling water from the jugs on the back of the tanks to refill her flasks.
"This is taking too long," Sokka shouted over the din.
"You've got a better idea, Sparky!" Toph shouted back as she rolled in on a wave of stone. Sokka rubbed his chin for a moment. A blast smashed into the side of an already damaged Millipede, and the whole thing tipped over onto its side. The Hippo righted it, but it was obvious that it wasn't going to run true again.
"The Boulder sees that we're being surrounded!"
Sokka looked back, and saw that indeed, Salamander tanks were closing in from the mouth of the river. A few of the Whalesh who had elected to remain with the crafts were pinned down, while others surged toward the invasion force. Sokka looked up at the turrets on the walls. "Bringing the turrets down takes too much time," Sokka said. "But if we can make it so they can't aim at us, then they'll be useless. Can you bring up a wall cutting off their line of sight?"
"Easily!" the Hippo exclaimed.
"Should the Boulder protect our vulnerable backside?" he turned to face the Salamanders behind him.
"No need," Hakoda said, pointing to the beachhead. A huge form began to well up out of the water, dripping and sopping. It was green, disgusting, huge, and familiar. He'd almost gotten drowned by it in Misty Swamp. It was Hue. Hue began to do his crazy plantbending, smashing aside the Salamanders, and giving the Whalesh a chance to push the Fire Nation back.
"We need to keep pressing forward!" Hakoda said. He grabbed a lost Fire Nation spear, and began to press his attack, even as the battlements above slowly went silent, unable to see or fire upon their targets. Sokka was pleased for a moment that his plan was coming together so nicely, until he realized that his father was running, alone and unsupported, to deal with a turret himself. Sokka heeled his stolen rhino toward the fight. Hakoda quickly pulled himself up into the slit which kept firing explosives at the army. What was Dad thinking?
Sokka had just gotten close when he started hearing the screams of pain, then a hiss, then an enormous explosion. His eyes went wide, and he raced to the back of the turret, and saw Hakoda lying on the ground outside, clutching his side. A chunk of shrapnel roughly the size of Sokka's hand was jutting out of his lower ribs. "Dad!" Sokka shouted, abandoning his rhino. He turned toward the army. "Katara! Dad needs help!"
He didn't know how she heard him over the war, but she must have, because she made a bee-line directly for Sokka, leaping off of Appa before the bison even hit the ground. She rolled, and immediately pulled out her water, trying to heal him. "I need to go somewhere safer!" she said. Sokka understood. Healing took time. They didn't have time here.
"Then we haven't got time to waste," Sokka said. He pulled his father up and limped him toward Appa, even though he could guess how much pain his father was in. Appa quickly dodged and weaved through the air, landing near where Hue was now dominating the beachhead. When they landed, and Hue used a plant limb to lower Hakoda to the ground, Sokka turned on the monstrosity. "What took you so long? We were getting slaughtered out there!"
"I was communing with nature," Hue said sarcastically from inside his living shell. "It takes a long time to gather this much seaweed."
Sokka turned away from the Whalesh waterbender and to his sister. "How bad is it?" he asked.
Katara shook her head. "I can stop the bleeding, but he's badly hurt," she already eased the shrapnel out of the wound. The blood pooled, rather then jetted, so that was a good sign. Or was it? Sokka didn't know wounds very well. She worked her healing mojo on it some more. "This is going to take some time. Dad, you're not going to be able to finish this fight."
"But I have to lead the men," Hakoda said weakly, pink froth spattering out of his mouth when he spoke.
"Just stay here. The fight is over for you," Katara said. Sokka sighed. Toph was nothing but right. This was Sokka's moment of glory.
"I'll do it," Sokka said. "I'll lead the men."
Hakoda gave him a look, then a small, knowing nod. Sokka would have beamed with pride, but right now, he was just tired, desperate, and no small bit afraid. He pulled the wolf head helmet off of Hakoda, and settled it upon his own shoulders. Katara looked at him. "Keep yourself alive," she said.
"Keep Dad alive," he replied. Then, he moved forward, into the breach. For glory and valor and all of that other stuff that Dad said to make people feel good about sticking sharp things into people. His own Space Sword had its fair amount of red on it, but he didn't have time to think about that. He didn't have time for anything but now. And now, Sokka, of the South Water Tribe, led an invasion on the Fire Nation, with less than two hundred troops, on a Day of Black Sun. Tui La, he must be frickin' insane!
Ozai's eyes glinted as Zuko took a deep breath, throwing aside the bag. "So," he asked. "What is it that you owe me, my son?"
Zuko's eyes narrowed at that twist of inflection. So, either Ozai had started that rumor, or else enjoyed its benefits enough not to contradict it. "Five and a half years ago, I did something shameful," Zuko said. He unbuckled his armor, letting it slide to the ground with a clatter. "I spoke out of turn in a war meeting, incurring the wrath of those around me. And when given a chance to remedy this disgrace, I chose to be a coward. I chose not to fight," Zuko said. His words had been chosen very carefully. They weren't true, he didn't mean any of it, but they needed to be perfect. "In doing so, I dishonored myself and my house. What I owe, you, Father," he twisted the inflection as Ozai did, "is a proper Agni Kai."
Ozai stared at his son for a long moment, then erupted into laughter. "I had always known you were a fool. But I never thought you were suicidal."
"Does that mean you won't complete the Agni Kai you started?" Zuko asked. Ozai's laughter guttered down to chuckling. He smiled, casting off his robes.
"I'm surprised to see this from you, Zuko," the Fire Lord said. "I had thought you contented with your acquisitions, your fame and your status. Your little... woman."
"She isn't my problem anymore," Zuko said.
"You didn't answer my question, Zuko," Ozai said. He turned, taking up a firebending stance. "What do you want, from this?"
Hearing Ozai unknowingly parrot Iroh's words that almost brought Zuko to the brink of his own destruction brought a smirk to Zuko's face, and hatred into his hands. He'd had an answer then. That answer obviously wasn't the right one. "I'm just getting my honor back," he said. Then, he lashed out, a blast of fire which seared an electric blue across the room.
It had never occurred to Zuko that he would win this. But it had to be done. Somebody needed to stand up to Ozai, and today was the only day that Zuko could do it. What Zuko had in power, from whatever source Zuko couldn't say, Ozai had more of experience. The blue hot punch was smashed aside, turned by a fist wreathed in golden fire.
"There," Ozai said, a smile on his face. "Now, you are fighting as I would expect a son of the Fire Lord to. Not as a weakling and a coward."
Ozai lashed forward, creating two roiling balls of flame which coursed through the air. Zuko stepped forward between them, and moved through a Kata he'd developed from waterbenders, turning the fire not aside, but around him. He then lashed it forward, adding his own azure fire to the mixture, a rope of deadly, multicolored fire, powered in part by Ozai, surged toward the Fire Lord. Ozai's eyes went wide, and he rocketed up out of its path, held aloft by blasts of fire at his hands and heels.
Ozai wasted no time responding. He twisted in the air, launching two axe kicks, which slammed down onto Zuko. He powered through the first with a shockwave of percussive force, but the second threw Zuko to the floor, batting at his singed clothing. Ozai laughed as he landed. Zuko didn't like that sound at all. He twisted, spinning himself to his feet, and letting the fire tear away from his legs as he did so. Ozai cut through the ropes of fire, and continued to advance.
"It's good that you didn't face me when you were still a child," Ozai said. "Your defeat would have been just as humiliating, but now, at least, you have the spine to put up something of a fight."
Zuko didn't answer him, instead creating an enormous percussive blast, one that even at the great distance between he and his father would knock the other man back. Ozai didn't even lose his footing, only staggering back a few paces. Then, Ozai got a smug look on his face, and began to gather fire around his hands, sweeping out toward Zuko in a great wave. Zuko stood his ground, slamming his hands together and focusing his chi out along them, into a knife just past his fingertips. The fire parted along that knife, flowing to either side of the Dark Prince.
Ozai looked more than a little surprised at that. "I must say, I am impressed," Ozai said. "Perhaps I was mistaken in putting all of my attention on Azula. It seems I have another worthy vessel before me. Who would have ever thought it would be you?"
"I'm not looking for your patronage," Zuko said, settling into a more traditional firebending form. "Besides, you and I both know that you would never have me on the throne. It would abase your sensibilities too much to see a bastard as Fire Lord."
Ozai's grin returned. "So you have heard the rumors."
"They're true," Zuko said. "You aren't my father. You never were."
Zuko surged forward, two fingers of each hand leading, and a flurry of blue balls of fire seared toward Ozai. He twisted a wave of fire in front of himself and the blasts were spun away, detonating around him and throwing shards of rock before Ozai's feet. Ozai looked at him, unimpressed.
"Now I'll have to refinish that floor," Ozai said. "Just another of the manifold costs of having you in my family."
Zuko lashed out again, this time imparting a massive backspin on his column of fire. When Ozai tried to deflect it, he found that it would not obey him. It knocked him aside, an irresistible pinwheel of fire. Ozai's visage went from amused to infuriated. He began to bend, and a particle of fire appeared in his hand. It swelled and snapped, then blasted toward Zuko, popping and cracking as it flew. Zuko's eyes went wide, and he dove to one side, letting that concentrated explosion slam into the door behind him, blasting it open. Zuko kipped up, taking a calming breath as Ozai did the same.
The Agni Kai was only just begun.
Aang flew above the city, moving carefully from rooftop to rooftop. He had to be subtle, here. As much as he would love to announce to the world that the Avatar had returned, so much so that it burned desperately in his belly, he knew that this was his one shot. But something wasn't right. The people milling about, the klaxons ringing around the crater, it all seemed appropriate, but for some reason, one that Aang couldn't put a finger on, he felt uneasy.
Aang soared from a roof into an open window just across from the palace. He blinked as he looked around. This room was much darker than most that he saw in the Fire Nation. Like its owner wanted it drab. And there were knives aplenty on racks along the wall. Still, Aang didn't have time to critique interior decorating styles. He had to go up. He moved upward in the house, to the messenger hawk pens. They keened at his intrusion, but with the noise in the city, theirs would be overlooked. Another pause, to make sure nobody was looking for him, and then, he soared again, this time into one of the upper windows of the Royal Palace.
He expected he would have to fight his way down, but the Royal Palace, quite unlike the crater-city outside it, seemed utterly abandoned. Not so much as a whisper wafted across the floors. He moved quickly, summoning an air scooter to make it relatively quiet, and zipped along the palace, moving downward to where Ty Lee had told him he'd find the throneroom. She hadn't bet he'd be there, but it was a good place to start. Aang leapt off his scooter and smashed through the doors leveling his staff before him. The throneroom, as feared, was empty. There were other destinations.
Aang surged through the palace again, and still, he saw nobody. No servants, no guards. Nobody. He shot through the Fire Lord's chambers, through the gardens at the back. Nothing! He let his scooter dissolve as he reached the front doors of the Royal Palace. Ozai was nowhere to be seen. Nobody was.
"Fire Lord Ozai!" Aang shouted in frustration. "Where are you?"
Sokka leapt off of the tram right before it slammed into the wall. A second later, the fuses he'd lit all set off the barrels of blasting jelly, bringing down the wall and causing the entire central tower to issue cracks up toward its highest reaches. If Sokka were inside and saw that, he'd probably get out the first chance he could. The Millipedes that remained walked up the pathways, the fighters packed behind them to protect them from the firebenders which still walked the tower courtyard. But they'd broken through. They were in Sozin City. Only two miles to go.
Appa landed nearby, and Katara slid off. The Millipedes were already pushing through the streets, and the men were holding firm between them. "What's going on? Is Dad alright?" Sokka asked.
"He can walk," Katara said, supporting her father's weight. "But he won't be fighting today."
"I had to see it for myself," Hakoda said. "See my son, the warlord."
"I'm not a warlord, Dad," Sokka said, distracted. "I'm just the guy with the sword and the boomerang."
They were pushing the soldiers and firebenders back, but Sokka got a weird feeling. Bato moved to Sokka's side, clapping a hand on Sokka's shoulder. Bato looked down at him with a grin on his bloodied face. "The invasion is moving along nicely."
"The Fire Nation is falling back," Tyro, the white bearded earthbender, said. "As long as we keep up the pressure, we'll march them right down the other side of the volcano!"
"Sokka, we're on our way to victory," Bato said triumphantly. Sokka turned away, with a glance to his sister and his father. Ahead, a Salamander tried to run Toph down, but she punched it a few times, and it collapsed into an assortment of useless parts. The Whalesh, with their katana swords and waterbending kept the soldiers and firebenders out of the their forces way. The earthbenders changed the battlefield to suit their desires. Sokka scowled.
"It doesn't feel like victory," Sokka said, trying desperately to figure out what was so out of place. The Crater Road was right ahead of him, switchbacking up into the mouth of the volcano. So close. But still, that feeling. "Something just isn't right."
To be continued. Yes, I'm a bastard.
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Review-based Edit: Damn it, you're right. I meant to start that rumor back in chapter 4. Gimme a second and I'll correct that error.