Thank you for the long wait. It's finally winter break for me and I have time to catch up with my writing. I'll have to warn you, this part may seem kind of quick with the action parts. I have a hard time with those, but I wanted to include them. So…enjoy! ;)
Previously…
"There is no way you can win!" Azula exclaimed, panting, "Surrender now Zuko, and I promise that they will go free."
Zuko looked over at the terrified people, not sure what to do. All others had stopped fighting at this point and watched the two siblings, wondering what would happen next. The fire wall intensified. The prisoners looked around them in terror as the kind woman looked toward Katara and Zuko with sadness in her eyes. Katara noticed and understood the meaning. She placed a hand on Zuko's shoulder.
Azula laughed in her brother's hesitance. "Clearly, the Fire Nation needs a strong leader. You might as well give up now."
Zuko glared at the deranged power-hungry princess and replied, "Not a chance." Azula shook her head and the flames rose in height.
A large shape came overhead and dumped tons of water, licking away the flames. All eyes looked up as the cloud-like shape bellowed and lowered to the ground. Light from the rising full moon revealed a giant bison and his two riders.
"You stared the party without us I see." Sokka replied, sliding off of the bison's saddle. Aang leaped down to the ground with staff in hand.
"Would you like some help?" Aang asked questionably to the two.
"Gladly," Zuko answered, confidence in his voice.
The airbender gave Katara a smile. "Glad you're okay, Katara."
"Nice to see you again sis,"
"Thanks, Sokka." Katara softly replied. She was just glad to see her brother. He returned a warm smile.
"What took you guys so long to get here?" Toph asked as she joined them.
"Hey, at least we made it in time." Sokka replies defensively. "It wasn't hard to find with fire all over the island."
"Where's Suki?" Katara asked.
"I'm here," a voice called from far off to the side. Dressed in her regular Kyoshi uniform without all of the make-up, Suki joined the others. Katara restrained herself from giving her sister-in-law a hug right then. Soon, they were surrounded by other Kyoshi warriors, prepared to fight. "I brought reinforcements." Suki boldly replied.
Azula looked around at the new arrivals. "Oh, good. Everyone is here," She paused, recognizing one of the Kyoshi Warriors, "Even those who betrayed me." Ty Lee looked down in disappointment. One of the other Kyoshi Warriors hooked arms with the acrobat, letting her know that they would stick with her.
"You're done for, Azula!" Zuko angrily exclaimed.
Azula gave her brother a smirk. "We'll see about that." With a swift punch, blue fire hurled toward them. After evading the attack, more fire surrounded them as guards followed suit. Soon, everyone was fighting their own small battles. Zuko continued his fight against his sister.
After evading a fire ball heading in her direction, Katara looked worriedly at the frightened group near the cave entrance.
"We need to get the refuges to safety." Katara called to a few Kyoshi Warriors.
Three girls hurried over to Katara and they quickly formed a line to help and protect the prisoners as they went through, out of danger. One by one, Azula's guards went down. The Fire Princess, noticing the diminishing size of her fighters, began to look worried of the possible outcome.
"You're outnumbered Azula," Zuko boldly replied, "Stop now and we can end this peacefully."
Azula let out a loud huff. "We'll see about that." Clapping her hands together, a massive shield of fire bulldozed toward the Fire Lord. After clearing the dangerous element, she was nowhere in sight. He carefully looked around to see a huge ball of blue fire hurling with great speed from his right. Reacting quickly, he dissipated the fire, but fell back from the force of the impact. Zuko looked up to see his sister standing directly in front of him.
"You look a little tired Zuzu." She menacingly replied. After letting out a deep breath, he stood up and struggled to return to his stance. "It's over brother." She bellowed.
Once mostly everyone had made it to the safety of the ship, Katara spotted the dueling siblings. Seeing Zuko weakened and Azula preparing for another dangerous attack, she spun around to the ocean to collect water. Noticing the bright reflection of the full moon, she knew what she had to do. The Waterbender let herself relax, feeling the energy move throughout her body to her fingertips. As Azula began to shoot a fire blast at her brother, the fire disappeared as both of her hands became stiff. Soon the firebender lost any control of her movements as she unwillingly bowed to the ground. She looked horrifically at the master Waterbender as Katara walked over, firmly looking at Azula while making slow, careful hand movements.
It grew quiet as all eyes were on the invisible force containing the Fire Princess. "She's—down," Someone replied. Azula's soldiers gave up their defensive postures and began to surrender.
Seeing this happening infuriated the power-hungry princess. Through her teeth, she irritably said, "I did not go this far to be brought down by one measly Waterbender." After struggling, she managed to free one hand from Katara's dangerous grasp. Soon, she had back control of both arms and prepared a deadly attack.
"This is the end, Katara." Before she could do any further damage, a metal bar hit her on the back of her head. Azula slowly tumbled to the ground. Katara watched as the kind woman she had befriended dropped the bar to the ground and kneeled next to the fallen princess. She brushed strands of hair from her face gently. "I'm sorry," She softly spoke.
Toph touched the ground near Azula. "She's only knocked out." She answered to the silence of on-lookers. A small band of Azula's guards stood together, looking fiercely at the Fire Lord. Once Katara came in eye contact, they gave up and surrendered with the others.
Zuko's captain timidly approached his master. "What will you do with them, my Lord?"
Zuko glanced over the surrendered guards carefully. "Take these traitors and put them with the other two down below. I will deal with them later." The Fire Lord's guards rounded up the traitors and brought them to a separate ship.
"What about Azula?" Sokka asked, taking a quick glimpse of the fallen young woman.
"If it would be fine, Lord Zuko," Ty Lee began, "The Kyoshi Warriors will personally take her back to your royal prison to be heavily guarded with your most trusted." The other female warriors nodded in agreement.
"Very well," Zuko replied. A warrior each took an arm and braised the unconscious Azula. As they led her away, Katara watched the woman who had saved her life, looking after the girls sadly. Reaching out to the woman with open arms, Katara gave her a comforting hug.
Zuko placed his hand on Katara's shoulder as he looked up at the home-driven people anxiously watching on his ship. "It's time we go home."
Now, as you can tell, I am very close to the end. There's still one little thing I want to finish up for it. Tell me what you think of this story so far.