Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or Fairy Tail

...

The first strike came from the left, a fist made of stone gunning for his face. Natsu knew that such an attack was easily avoidable and really only served to show the rest of the men surrounding him how he would react in such an instance. As tempting as it was to simply smash the flying piece of stone to pieces, he didn't want to give away his strength just yet. Leaning to the side, Natsu allowed the rock to sail past his head with minimal effort. Of course this would have been the case were the people surrounding him weren't able to control stone with a simple movement.

The stone fist exploded in front of him, pieces of debris crashing into his face and dust clouding his vision. He grunted in pain as he did his best to clear his eyes, Natsu could also hear Ty Lee scream out his name and reacted accordingly, dropping low to avoid the weapons which flew over him, momentarily at least before they veered direction and rained down upon him.

"Get down!" he commanded of Ty Lee, the flexible circus performer becoming flat with the ground as Natsu stood at his peak and unleashed a torrent fire from his mouth, spinning in a circle his inferno spread far and wide and all of the Dai Li agents were forced to take defensive measures. Walls of earth burst from the ground, protecting them but giving Natsu enough time to clear his vision. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," said Ty Lee as she sprung back to her feet. "I take it now is where we attack?"

"You bet, I'm all fired up!"

Natsu charged towards one part of the wall that now had him surrounded, Ty Lee staying close to his side. Above them, Dai Li agents launched themselves to the top of their wall and started firing small chunks of stone from their rock encased hands. Ty Lee did her best to weave between the attacks but couldn't help but wince in pain when she was unable to avoid all of them. She watched however as Natsu simply took whatever hits collided with him without hesitation before closing in on the wall, his fist held back and encased in flames.

He stopped in his movements however as a thin piece of stone with a jagged tip shot forth from the wall. He heard Ty Lee scream but couldn't pay it much attention as he looked down at where the small attack pierced straight through his stomach. The Dai Li gathered closer and focused their assault on Ty Lee, the former circus performer now their greater threat.

Or so they thought.

For the skilled Earthbender who stood above where Natsu was impaled, he had thought his job completed. To feel the entire construct he was standing on crumble beneath him through nothing more than the strength of a fire covered fist was almost impossible to believe. As he fell to the rumble below, he could see that same fist coming straight at him, colliding with his face and sending him flying off into the distance.

The Dai Li agents, grouped together as one on equal terrain, watching as the boy in front of him pulled out the stone that had impaled him and threw the bloody rock to the ground. They knew that with such an injury, it wouldn't be long before he ran out of that insane strength of his. From what they had used so far, they knew that whatever attacks they did send would be almost a pointless exercise. Had Azula wanted this beast of a Firebender dead then it would have been easy to do so but their orders were to bring him back alive. The wound he had suffered thus far was nonlethal, provided he accepted medical treatment. Any more attacks like that would be fatal and would bring about the wrath of the woman who ordered them as she pleased. Therefore it was now just a waiting game; so long as they could outlast him, they had won.

"Ty Lee, get behind me," ordered Natsu as blood dribbled down his chin. Ty Lee did as instructed, mildly terrified of the sight in front of her as Natsu gauged the enemies in front of him, all grouped together.

Lightning began to dance around Natsu before fire encased his body. He didn't know how much strength he had left and knew that if he could end it in a single strike he would. "Let's see if this works," said Natsu as lightning flickered about dangerously before he pulled his head back. Having seen this attack before, the Dai Li agents worked in unison to create a thick wall to shield them from the jet of flame that Natsu would expel from his mouth.

Except it wasn't just fire.

Ty Lee could only watch in shock as wielded both fire and lightning into a single attack, the stream of destruction was so vast and wide that whatever shield the Dai Li had put up was completely annihilated. The ground was torn from the Earth and she could hear the screams of pain from the Dai Li as they were blown aside as if nothing more than insects and as the attack subsided she could see that, despite all of the odds, they had won.

...

Appa swerved through the heavy firepower that the flying bison was more than used to at this stage. Aang's guiding hand and Katara moulding the large amounts of water at her disposal ensured that the animal of years gone past faced no danger. The flying bison roared as he was directed downwards, the soaring animal nearly crashing into a tower as he descended low enough for his passangers to leap off to a nearby rooftop.

Aang watched with a heavy heart as Appa flew off into the distance knowing depending on the outcome of this war, he may have held onto the fur coat of his companion for the last time. A fireball spearing past his head snapped him back to reality as he moulded his own fire to combat the attacks heading his way, he and Zuko keeping all assaults at bay as the rest of the group scaled to the ground floor one way or another. Toph, for her part, merely leapt off the rooftop having gained a rough understanding of how far from the surface she was, and smashed into the ground before unleashing all of her Earthbending prowess, creating a fortified barrier to protect those only now just reaching the ground floor. Toph's barrier even reached the rooftop, allowing Zuko and Aang to quickly make their way down to where everyone else was with speed.

"Everybody remember the plan," said Sokka, nobody having to clarify that they did remember what was required of them before they fanned out, splitting up into smaller groups each with their own task. Unsheathing his fabled space sword, Sokka looked towards his only compatriot in Toph who was looking back at him. "Have you figured out where the bulk of their forces are?"

"That way," she replied, pointing off into the distance.

"Then let's go smash some heads," said Sokka trying to his own fear, knowing full well that Toph had likely already seen through his bravado.

"Don't worry, I'm scared to," she said seemingly haven read the mood, startling Sokka somewhat. "What? We've gone well beyond enemy lines to a place where everyone is trying to kill us; there's no escape route, there's no Plan B, there's only success or failure and frankly, the odds are not in our favor."

"Our job's not the hardest one though," said Sokka knowing that perhaps he had left the more troubling aspects of the mission to his sister, his girlfriend and Zuko's girlfriend. Mai, Suki and Katara had been tasked with keeping the air force grounded. Zuko had explained in detail how the dozen odd blimps fit into his father's plan and how fire would rain down on all who opposed them. Because they were such an important part of the Fire Lord's plan, while they may not have been the most heavily guarded number wise there were sure to be more than a good number of enemies positioned there.

Sokka had told the three girls that they didn't have to technically destroy the ships, even if they could simply get away with disabling them and causing enough mechanical failures to confuse the Fire Nation for more than twenty four hours. Unfortunately, that was all he had had to say on that topic as Mai had quickly cut him off stating that she knew exactly where the flying vessels would likely be located and, as such, she would select her team at will. Sokka had wanted to contest that straight off the bat but Zuko had told him that such an activity would be pointless, garnering a small smile from his girlfriend.

Grabbing his boomerang from its pouch, Sokka let loose and watched with satisfaction as it collided with the helmet a soldier was wearing before returning to him, ducking as he gripped his weapon to avoid a small fireball. Follow up attacks were blocked as a slab of ground rose up and shielded his back, Toph multitasking as small pieces of stone flung out in multiple directions, seeking out their intended target and delivering crippling damage. With all of the immediate danger out of the way, she gripped onto the steel beams that held the tower up before using her recently discovered metal bending and crumpled the support, the entire structure collapsing. "Let's go," she commanded, sprinting off with Sokka by her side.

It was weird, of all the people that she could have been fighting with, for all their bending powers or superior fighting abilities, she was kind of glad that it was Sokka that was standing by her side. She would never tell him such a thing however, she had a reputation to uphold after all.

...

Aang and Zuko charged towards the palace, both of them getting the grating feeling that they were running straight into the middle of a trap. The forces they had encountered up to this point had been dismal, as if solely there to show that Fire Nation soldiers were still present. There weren't even enough to slow them down in the slightest.

"Something doesn't feel right," said Aang.

"Doesn't matter, we keep going," said Zuko knowing that were they to slow down and halt their process it would spell the end for their plan. He simply hoped that the entire reason they hadn't encountered much interference up to this point was due to the forces having been forcibly fanned out. His father was arrogant and believed that he was the strongest in the Fire Nation, if he felt that he could defeat all that approached him then he would only be surrounded by high ranking officials, the elite of his army. Which in and of itself could turn disastrous.

What worried him most of all however was Aang who had spent much of the previous evening talking back to prior incantations of himself about whether or not there was another path that could be taken. From sunset to the middle of the night, Aang had chatted away with prior Avatars, each champion of the world giving their advice in his time of need. He had returned at some point however, an idea having seemingly formed but by then Zuko had been too tired to question him, having rather slept himself.

He only hoped that whatever Aang had learned would be beneficial to the battle ahead.

Approaching the palace, the gates were wide open, inviting them in to whatever lay before them. They charged on in before skidding to a stop in the middle of the courtyard. As Zuko had predicted, the bulk of the Fire Nation forces were nowhere in sight. The Fire Lord however was standing atop the stairs, his hands placed behind his back with five army generals standing on either side of him. "Prince Zuko, you have returned here once more," said Ozai, not moving from his spot as he looked down at his son. "If you so desperately had wanted to end this you would have killed me when you had the chance."

"It was not my destiny," declared Zuko as he braced himself.

"No, your destiny is to die a miserable death here today, all of your accomplishments will become meaningless and you will be swept away from the history books. All accounts of your existence will be that of the worthless son of Fire Lord Ozai, who though valiant in his effort, had not the strength of mind or body to do what he believed was right."

"Then again, destiny is just that, destiny," continued the Fire Lord. "Words foreshadowing possible outcomes on a future that is yet to be written. The Avatar is destined to defeat me, something which will not happen proving that destiny is nothing to fear. You are the controller of your own fate, and if you were to kill the Avatar I would once again welcome you to my side."

"Never!" shouted Zuko, knowing full well that were he even to strike down his companion then he would be slaughtered. Having pointed a sword at his father the day of the Eclipse had sealed all possible chance of him ever being a 'son' in his father's eyes.

"And here I was thinking we could be diplomatic," sighed Ozai feigning belief that such a plan had any chance of success.

"Zuko," said Aang in little more than a whisper. "I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?" asked Zuko not taking his eyes off of the force in front of him.

"The wound on my back, the one Azula made," said Aang, finding it somewhat difficult to talk about such a topic.

"What about it?"

"…I need you to punch it."

"What?" said Zuko, finally taking his eyes off of the enemy, a small mistake which could have grievous consequences as all of the generals charged forward, bounding down the stairs at an incredible rate.

"Just do it!" commanded Aang, turning his back to Zuko and leaving himself completely exposed. Zuko turned his head to look at the oncoming threat before looking back at Aang and growling, pulling his fist back as he did so.

For Aang, he merely closed his eyes and inhaled, the words of his predecessors circulating through his mind. Their advice felt like it merged into one until such a point as when he couldn't tell which prior Avatar had told him what. He did know however that one of them had told him that he couldn't reach victory without having felt suffering, both for the battle to come and the battle within himself.

Aang only hoped he had interpreted this correctly as Zuko's fist collided with his old would, his eyes shooting open as his Air Bending tattoos shone bright with white light, his eyes no longer showing any colour but that of bright luminescence.

The Avatar had awoken.

...

She watched on from her place in the shadows, joy flowing through after having watched the Fairy Tail member succeed. Like Gajeel before him, Natsu would soon return home. She didn't know why the three Dragon Slayers had been whisked off as they had when Acnologia had unleashed its attack but if Gajeel's efforts had taught her anything she knew that once this war was over, Natsu's reason for being here would end. When that happened, hypothetically, he would return.

Now she could only hope that wherever Wendy had gone she would help end whatever situation the universe had asked of her.

...

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