Hey Guys! For all of you who are still interested in this story, I haven't completely forgot about you guys, I just haven't really written anything for this as of late as I have been focusing on Alone Times. I spent much of today writing and decided to focus a little more on this story as well as General Aang. Alone Times will have another chapter out soon, but I thought: Hey why not give a little love to changing waters :p

So here you go guys, read and review as always!

Aang:

Aang snapped open his glider after that amazing kiss and took off towards the capitol. Instead of thinking how he might defeat the firelord, he was thinking about Katara. I know it was a little aqwuard at first.. But she kissed me back! She actually kissed me back! After this invasion, we have to be getting together. This filled him with pure joy and gave him further reason to return to his friends. He knew that his plan was very risky, the chance of him actually coming back was very slim at best, but he had to hold onto something, and right now, Katara was that something for him.

As the Capitol city began to come into view, he decided to fly lower to the ground, to avoid any detection while he made his way up the mountain. He had a look of determination in his face as he made his way over the brim of the volcano. He over looked the capitol city and immediately thought that it looked magnificent. The red roofs and stone buildings were a trademark of the firenation. But this.. This was something else. The amount of architecture and time that it must have taken to build this city was nothing short of astounding to him.

Aang couldn't stay at the edge of the entrance to the city for too long though, he had to make it to the palace. He made his way to a low lying roof and ducked into cover. As he made his way to the second roof and down to an alley way, he soon realized that something was very wrong. Where is everybody? Aang thought to himself as he looked around what appeared to be the main plaza of the city, this would be used for the market place or a common meeting ground for the town's civilians. Now, the city appeared to be a ghost town. Seeing this, he took his first steps out into the open, making his way in plain sight towards the palace.

Katara and Sokka:

The Subs had made their way to the firenation capitol's beaches. Though one had been damaged while making their way through the defensive turrets, they had all made it there with no one harmed. Everyone made their way into the cargo hold of the subs, prepared to charge onto the beaches.

Sokka took a deep breath to relax himself before he felt the sub run aground. The doors quickly opened and the warriors, along with the newly invented earth kingdom tanks charged out onto the field of battle.

The tanks had tough armor and were controlled by the soldiers within. Under the command of Hakoda, the tanks where brought into a wedge formation, designed to punch their way through firenation defenses, though soon, Hakoda noticed something: "We have to take out those battlements Sokka!"

Sokka nodded in agreement as he noticed another tank being knocked on its side. Sokka quickly took to the air with Katara and Hakoda. They quickly destroyed most of the battlements with Sokka and Hakoda slicing off the firing mechanisms from Appa's Saddle.

When there was only two left, Katara landed Appa as she was told. "Katara, Sokka, you take that battlement and I'll take this one. Watch each other's back!" Hakoda said as he ran off to his assignment.

Katara and Sokka barged the door open and were met by 2 firenation soldiers. Sokka attack the one with the sword while Katara defended herself against the soldier with the spear.

I can't keep dodging like this! Katara screamed in her mind as she franticly dodged the quickly oncoming jabs from the soldier's spear. When she was getting tired, she noticed a weakness in his last jab, he left his side open. Katara waited for the next strike and with the last of her strength, she strong kicked him in the side. She looked down and saw the soldier roll over, groaning.

Though Katara had dispatch her opponent, Sokka was still in a strong battle with his. Sokka and the firenation soldier were trading hits, blow for blow. Sokka could quickly tell that he was the weaker of the two, seeing that the soldier appeared to be well built. He knew from this that he would have the advantage in the agility game, an advantage that he quickly took hold of. Instead of trading blows again with his opponent, he simply dodged the attack and used the soldiers momentum against him. He quickly stumbles, expecting to strike another sword. When the soldier turned around, he was caught off guard by a searing pain in his leg, which Sokka had just sliced with his sword. Instinctively, the soldier dropped his weapon and put pressure on his wound. He was soon met with a punch to the face. As Sokka looked down, he noticed that his opponent was knocked out cold.

Both Katara and Sokka took out the grenades that they were given by the mechanists and threw them towards the battlement's launcher. As they ran towards the one that their Dad was attacking, they both heard a loud blast coming from where they just were, they both smiled at this. "Good job sis, I didn't know you had that much fight in you."

Katara's confidence went through the roof at her brother's praise: "You weren't so bad yourself you know.." She finished with a smile.

The smile that she had on her face turned into a frown as she noticed her father duck into the battlement. She noticed that the battlement was billowing large amounts of black smoke as an explosion just accord within it.

Hakoda gingerly opened the door, still holding his side. He groaned and fell to the ground.

"Dad!" Both Katara and Sokka said in unison as they made their way over to their injured father.

Katara turned him over very slowly, careful of Hakoda's wound.

"Will he be ok Katara?" Sokka questioned with a worrying look on his face.

"I don't know, we have to get back to the medical tent that was set up on the beaches." Katara replied.

"No, I have to get back to my men!" Hakoda forced out with clenched teeth.

"You're not going anywhere other than the healing hut Dad." Katara firmly replied as they both helped him onto Appa.

The healing did the best she could in healing his side, Hakoda sat back up with a grimace on his face. "He can no longer fight today, he needs to stay here." Said the healer.

"I can't stay here, who will lead the men? They are counting on me." Hakoda began, but Sokka quickly cut him off.

"I'll lead them." Sokka firmly said.

"No offense Sokka, but you weren't exactly doing the best this morning in front of them." Katara flatly stated.

Sokka just slumped his head: "Thanks for the support little sis."

"Anytime Sokka" Katara said while smiling.

Hakoda looked up at his two children with pride in his eyes, "I know you can do it Sokka, you are a strong warrior and a good leader. I see a lot of potential in you, get back to the men and win this day. I will be right behind you."

Sokka took one last look at his sister and his father. "Take good care of him Katara"

"Don't worry about us Sokka, watch your back and stay safe." Katara finished with a hug.

Sokka quickly took off on Appa towards the front lines again and started to bark out orders: "Get the tanks in wedge formation, we are taking that tower. Warriors in the middle! Charge!"

Aang:

As he finally got to his destination, he noticed that the palace wasn't guarded at all. In fact, the palace was completely empty in the front. Aang was not deterred by this, though he was a little worried. He blasted the front door open and with much emotion, he yelled: "The Avatar is back!"

He soon let down his stance as once again, there was no one there to fight. The same thing happened as he blasted the firelord's down in as well. Aang looked around the chamber with horror: Where is he! Aang's mind screamed.

As he fell to his knees he spoke again: "It's completely empty, like they knew that I was coming…" At this realization, and took off in a full sprint out of the palace. Taking off on his glider, he made his way towards the battle below.

Sokka:

The tanks had been making great progress, they had already captured the tower and had moved into a defensive position while Bato and Sokka began to plan the next move. "We need to figure out how we can make it past those lines of tanks, every time we send something at them, we are pushed back to our defensive position." Bato stated with a look of concentration written on his face.

"Do you guys need any help?" Hakoda said with a small smile. Sokka thought he was seeing things, but quickly dismissed this as he saw his father strongly leaning on Katara for support.

"Dad! How are you feeling?" Sokka quickly asked as he made his way over to his father.

Hakoda immediately motioned him off: "Let's not worry about me right now, let's figure out how we are going to get past those mechanisms."

"We can try borrowing under them. That way they went be able to see a surprise attack from behind. We can disable them while they focused on an attack from the front." Toph added.

"Dangerous.. But I like it!" Sokka stated with a finger pointed to the sky.

As soon as he said this, he noticed a figure coming towards them. "This can't be good" Sokka said in a very serious tone.

"What? What is it?" Toph asked as she could not see.

"Aang!" Katara screamed running over to him. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Katara began to fuss over every square inch of his body, making sure that he was unharmed. To her relief he appeared ok.

"I went to the palace city and there isn't anyone there… It's like a ghost town." Aang said with a look of defeat on his face.

"They must of known that we were coming than!" Sokka said as he slammed his fist into the ground in Aang.

Katara spoke up: "What should be do? Should be retreat or should be stay and fight"

"I don't know Katara, I don't think the firelord would just up and leave his city, he would have to stay close to the fighting so he could still lead his nation, and something tells me that he has a secret bunker up on that mountain." Sokka finished while pointing towards the volcano for emphasis.

"I'd be able to spot any hidden bunker if you got me close enough." Toph said confidently.

"These men came to risk everything today" Hakoda said firmly.

"No. Hakoda, I want you to get your men out of here. I'll stay and try and find the firelord, the rest of you need to get out of here. I will meet you guys at the Western Airtemple."

"No Aang! We are a team, we stick together!" Katara adamantly spoke.

"Katara is right, we have to stay together." Both Sokka and Toph said.

"It wasn't a request guys, I am telling you guys to get out of here."

"Well we are telling you that we are staying." Sokka said.

"Fine. You guys can stay, but Katara, I need you to try and get everyone back down this hill and towards the subs." Aang said firmly.

Katara looked utterly defeated: "But I can still help!"

"Katara, I know you can still help, you can help by leading these people down to the subs, I am leaving all of these people's lives in your care, because I trust you. Your Dad needs you to do this, I need you to do this. For me." Aang finished with a pleading look in his eyes.

Katara doubted he knew it, but she couldn't ever say no to that look, it softened even her hardest defenses. "Fine, I'll do it. But all of you better come back safe or I won't ever forgive myself. Got it?"

Katara had switched into mother mode; automatically, she held authority over Aang and Sokka. "Yes Ma'am" They both said in unison.

As Katara and the invasion force made their way back down the mountain, she noticed the eclipse was about to begin. Our last chance, gone. She quickly scolded herself for her waning confidence in Team Avatar, but she couldn't help it.

Zuko:

Zuko was sitting alone in his room, writing a letter to his soon to be ex-girlfriend Mia. As he finished the quickly written note, he placed it in their main living area and left for the underground bunker that his father had told him of. He was going to face his father, not matter what.

As he made his way through the winding corridors, he had time to think to himself. What am I going to say to him, how will I even approach him. Spirits, what am I saying, he's my darn father. Why should I be afraid of him! But that thought soon was betrayed when he tentatively reached for his scar mark on his left eye. That's why I should fear him.

With one last deep breath, he opened the door that he knew that his father would be waiting just behind. When he walked in, he immediately noticed the long line of imperial firebenders that were in front of him. "Zuko? What are you doing here?" Ozai said with a cold and calculated voice.

At least I know where Azula got it from. Zuko thought, but he was soon pulled out of his trance and he spoke: "We need to talk"

"You wait to talk to me until there is an invasion outside and an eclipse is upon us? This should be good." Ozai said but quickly added for the guards to leave him as well so that they might talk to him alone.

"For the longest time, I thought that the firenation was the greatest nation in the world. I know now how completely stupid that notion is, the firenation isn't great, people are afraid of us. They hate us!" Zuko began.

"Zuko. Those are treasonous words, especially coming from a prince." Ozai calmly replied.

Zuko essentially ignored what Ozai had said and continued to rant: "I thought that if I captured the Avatar, I could regain my honor that somehow I would gain the love and respect that I thought I wanted from you. It's now that I realize that I don't want you love or you respect and it's for that reason that I am telling you that the Avatar is alive, he is probably even leading this attack now."

With these words being spoken, Ozai's face turned to that of an enraged man: "Get out of my sight if you know what is good for you boy!"

"No! I'm done taking orders from you, you have no power anymore, since the eclipse, you can no longer firebend" To back up this statement, he drew his duel swords and pointed them threateningly at his father. "You will sit and you will listen to me." Zuko finished.

Ozai had no choice but to wait for his power to return. "Very well."

"This war needs to end; the firenation has to bring about a new era of love and peace." Zuko said with much emotion in his eyes.

"I see Iroh has finally gotten to you." The firelord said with a strong laugh.

Zuko smiled: "Yes, yes he has. For that reason, I am leaving here and breaking him out of prison, I am also going to join the avatar and help him defeat you."

"Why wait, you have your swords, you can finish me off right now." Ozai said with a smirk.

"It's not my destiny to defeat you, it's the Avatar's" Zuko simply replied as he began to leave.

"Coward!" Ozai said as he quickly stood up: "You have the courage to face me while I cannot bend, but you turn and leave when I am only mere minutes form regaining it?"

"I am not afraid of you any longer; I have nothing left to talk to you about." Zuko said as he opened the door.

"How about your mother?" Ozai said while smirking, knowing he had won.

Zuko quickly closed the door and said 4 simple words: "Where is my mother?

Aang and Sokka:

Aang, Sokka, and Toph raced through the winding paths and came upon a large metallic door, deep in the mountain or volcano. Sokka pushed at the door and it would not budge.

"Move out of the way Snoozles and let a professional handle it" Toph finished. She knocked on the door three times and then easily bent the medal away.

"I am so glad I let you join the group!" Sokka praised.

They made their way through another corridor and found a government official. They prepared to attack him when he quickly told them the information that they were looking for: "The firelord's chamber is down this hall, take a left, and then go up the stairs, there is a secret panel not too far from that stair case that will lead you to his chamber.

"Thank you!" Aang happily said before running off with his companions towards the firelord.

As they entered the chamber, it was not the firelord as they had all expected it to be, but it was Azula instead.

"Ah, looking for someone?" She calmly said as she sat on the thrown.

"Where is he?" Aang bellowed.

"You're going to have to be more specific…" Azula stated flatly.

"Where is Ozai?" Sokka replied angrily.

"I'm hurt, but you're just going to have to settle for me." She said with fake emotions. Though Azula was fast, she quickly found herself encased in rock.

She was quickly freed by what appeared to be out of her own doing. "But how?" Aang began. But his question was quickly answered as two dy-lee agents fell from the ceiling, ready to defend her while she could not bend.

And so a battle ensued were Azula used her evasive skills to dodge all of the attacks that were thrown at her, after a few minutes, Aang told them to stop attacking.

"Why twinkle toes, she's getting away!"

"No Toph, don't you see, she is just wasting our time. We should just ignore her for now." Aang finished.

While Azula was momentarily distracted, Toph immobilized her and both her protecting agents in earth and metal respectively.

"Tell us what we want to know or I swear.." Toph began as she stared the captive Azula down.

"You'll do what perhaps? Hubble over towards me and beat me at a staring contest, blind girl?" Azula said, obviously trying to egg her on.

"Toph, don't listen to her! She is just trying to bait us." Sokka said.

"Than what do we do? Just ignore her, that's all we can do right now.

As the group was leaving, Azula was getting desperate. "Sokka? Is that your name? I once had a prisoner who would constantly repeat your name, she said that you would come for her, but over time, I broke that spirit in her."

Sokka grabbed her around the neck. "Where is Suki!" Sokka said with tears in his eyes.

"Sokka, we have to go!" Aang pleaded but Sokka ignored him and continued: "Where is she!"

Katara:

Katara slowly trudged along with her father heavily leaning on her for support. They way back down the volcano were gruesome and disheartening for all those who were making the trip. They had to put on their eclipse glasses just a few minutes ago so that they could still see. It didn't matter though; the eclipse was being used as a way to retreat back to the subs. When they made it to the base of the mountain, the eclipse had been finished.

With this realization, the firebenders came back with more force than before. People were going down on all sides and Katara was forced to pick up the pace a little. By the time that they made it back to the original tower where they still had a small amount of forces to defend it, they were down to 25 men and 3 tanks. They used the tanks as a defensive perimeter as they backed themselves up to the wall.

"What should we do Dad?" Katara questioned, worry clearly etched in both her voice and her face.

"We need to pray to the spirits that Aang defeated the firelord, otherwise we are going to be in for the fight of our lives." Bato said from behind her. She looked at her father, his agreement was also written in on his face.

"Let's get the remaining earthbenders into the tanks so that they can better defend this position." Hakoda finally said. His orders were carried out quickly and efficiently, now it was just a waiting game for them.

Zuko:

Knowing full well that he was being batted by his father, Zuko stood and listen to the tail that his father spun for him.

He did not hear all of it because his mind was in a daze. By the end, he knew one thing: "So she is alive than?"

"Perhaps" mused Ozai: "But it has been many years since I exiled her after the death of the previous firelord."

Just as Zuko was about to turn and leave, he felt the skin on the back of his head crawl up ever so slightly, a tall tell sign of lightening. Acting on instinct alone, he turned and pointed his hand out in front of him, catching the bolt of lightning that was thrown at him, and sending it back at his father who was not expecting this at all. When Ozai recovered, his son was gone, off to the prison to free his Uncle.

Aang and Sokka:

"Oh, it looks like the fire's back on." Azula said as she blasted her hands free. As soon as she got in her stance she continued: "He's in the door right down the hallway and to the right, you can't miss it. I am sure he would be more than willing to face you now!" Azula finished as she ran away.

"Darn it! I wasted all the time we had left." Sokka lamented.

"She was playing us from the beginning, we know where he is and we can still face him." Aang said confidently.

"I know our original plan was to face the firelord Aang, but no offense, you can use some training still. Our friends are still out there, they need us most right now." Sokka said with Toph in full agreement.

With the decision already being made for him, he had little choice but to nod in agreement, with tears in his eyes. He had failed the world again.

The trio quickly made their way back to the defensive position that the invasion force had been holding on Appa.

Katara quickly met the trio, her face immediately falling when she realized they had failed. "We have to get out of here" She said to no one in general.

But before anyone could respond, large war balloons appeared from behind the capitol city, moving in on them. "We are going to need some cover, I think bombs are coming" Sokka said as he saw the bay gates opening.

Just as Toph had gotten the earthen barrier up, the bombs began to batter it. When the balloons had passed them, the group expected them to turn around.

"Why aren't they turning around?" Aang asked in confusion.

"Oh no.." Sokka began. "They're going for the subs! They are cutting off their retreat!" Sokka exclaimed.

Just as he finished the sentence, he and the invasion force watch in horror as the subs were quickly destroyed by more oncoming bombs. Now there was no way to escape and the airships were turning back around.

"What do we do?" Aang asked.

"You guys have to get out of here, take the children in our group and retreat." Hakoda firmly said.

Katara would have none of this, with tears in her eyes she objected: "No! We are not separating again!"

"It'll only be for a little while Katara, you guys are the last hope for this world, you need to get out of here so you can fight another day. Do you understand?"

With a look of utter defeated, Katara numbly nodded, making her way onto Appa, but not before fiercely hugging her father with Sokka as well.

When they were all on Appa, Aang spoke: "Thank you all for being so strong and so brave, I will make this up to you, I promise"

Katara saw the self-hatred in his eyes, and immediately was there to comfort him. Soon they took off, with airships giving chase. As Appa was faster, he quickly got away from them. "I know where we can go to hide, the Western Airtemple" Aang said with determination in his eyes.

What they didn't know was that a certain firebender was following them, with nowhere else to go, Zuko now had hope.