Sorry I took so long updating this time. I have no excuses. It may be another fortnight or so before I update again, because I'm going to try and right all the final chapters first, so I can keep the pace up by posting one a night. Ok?
Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender.
"You are starting to sound like a prophet."
"No, I'm just using my reason and my instinct."
"How can you know they will be here?"
"Aang was not killed right before them. They don't know if he lives. Now, Zuko and I chased those children a long time. If there's one thing I can be fairly certain of, it's this."
--
It surprised Katara not at all that the threatening presence of Sozen's comet did not distract her or her friend. Though the comet is an object of Fire, it is true that every element affects every other. So, she, as much as the Firebenders, could feel the comet's lethal powers, except that to her it was withering; fire creates steam.
But she didn't care. It made no difference how strong her
waterbending was. She was going to die in one final attempt for Aang. No matter her bending aptitude, she could not hope to fight her way to him.
So what did it matter if she was weaker than usual?
Curious, she considered, that my thoughts are so relaxed. They were almost amusing to her; like a somewhat sardonic interest that comes from looking upon another's discomfort. What did it matter that she died now? No brother left to mourn her passing. No cause left to stay alive for. She had no cause to be scared. No cause to feel anything.
What truly startled her was Toph's reaction. Whereas Katara had submitted to resigned acceptance of the truth, Toph seemed truly to believe that they still had a chance.
Katara smiled. It was just like her to show blind tenacity in the face of impossible odds.
There were no sentries at all this time. What need was there? This day was the most unlikely date for an invasion in one hundred years.
The two girls got to the gates unopposed. They were not even closed.
But there was still a barrier, of sorts. They had no idea what to do next.
--
Aang screamed louder and harder than he had ever before. Azula screamed with him, revelling in his pain. This was life! To torture, to dominate wholly and absolutely, was a thrill set apart; but with the comet roaring overhead, the feeling was otherworldly.
With a shriek of pure ecstasy she drew back. Aang sagged, whimpering and begging, drenched in sweat.
There was a voice from behind. Through waves of pleasure it sounded small, insubstantial.
"I'm… I'm leaving, Azula. I can't watch this anymore. This is not pleasure; this is just monstrous. I'm going."
In effect, Aang saved the courageous man's life. Only the lure of his pain kept Azula from swivelling on the spot and reducing the guard to charred remains for such impudence.
The door clanged open. Forgetting her first ever defection in a second, she advanced on Aang again. Her reason told him his mind would crack soon- he would become a shivering, meaningless wreck, no fun to torture- but even if she could have listened to her reason, she would have chosen not to.
Something did stop her, though. With the door left open she had not heard him enter. His voice echoed around the chamber now, one word: "Stop."
The voice of her bastard brother: Zuko.
She turned. He stood there, straight and tall- a warrior's self-confident stance- unflinching, gazing at her with neither anger nor contempt.
Through such a haze the comet cast, she did not detect the substitute for these emotions- a business like acceptance. In truth, she wasn't really thinking at all. There was something vaguely pleasing about the whole situation. Here she was with the Avatar- Zuko's intended prize, his goal for over a year.
His goal, now hers. Hers to own, to control, to dominate. He had no power over either of them. His expressions were futile!
He started walking. He came right up to her.
"Zuko!" she could not hold her tongue. "I told you this would be an eventful evening."
"So it shall be."
"Come to watch the show?"
"I have come to kill you."
She cackled. The depth of what he said, what he meant, had no impression on her whatsoever. "Oh, you are, brother? Going to fight me, in fair combat? Going to challenge me to an Agni-Kai?"
She should have sobered herself then. Her instinct speaking told her this was serious, so, so serious.
She knew Zuko's habits. He was always flustered when he was angry. When he was angry he acted out of self-righteousness: an easily dominated foe. He was pale now. Cold and pale.
But here, in this junction of decision, the most important of her life, she failed to act. Half her brain was still on Aang and his intoxicating screams. Most of the other half was left to Zuko. But somewhere, a very small part of her reminded her that she had the choice to act. Entirely of her own bidding, she denied that choice.
Zuko shook his head slowly, his callous significance lost on her, and began to quote Fiang:
"The Path of Righteousness is the only path… The only path to which there is no dead end. For if a man's live is what creates his death, a man of virtue cannot, by any means, die in vice. But a liar dies in lies; a trickster dies in tricks. A traitor dies in betrayal."
She barely glimpsed what happened next. Her brother's strong fingers grabbed her left shoulder. A flash of metal. She was aware of a cold pressure between her ribs.
She staggered, failed to right herself, and dropped to her knees. Her own lifeblood poured over her hands. Yes, she thought, ludicrously and ineptly, this would be so pleasurable. I will do this next. Do this to Aang. To watch his blood gush out of him would be, would be…
And then, in the very millisecond that separated her and death, experience from emptiness, she had one other thought; the thought of all evil entities, their final judgement, that ensures they die a mournful death. A thought that encompassed her entire being, and for that slightest time only, became her:
What have I done?…
--
The tall, proud profile of Ozai the Fire Lord was easily distinguishable from the other aristocrats on the balconies.
In order to achieve the best view of the comet, the balconies were positioned facing directly towards the main gate. Even with their necks craned upward, and their senses alive with the power of Sozen's comet, it was difficult to believe that none of 100 aristocrats would notice them, the only movement in a still, silent garden.
They also had no knowledge of where Aang was. They had assumed him to be deep in the palace; an underground chamber, perhaps. But there was no way they could search the entire complex without being spotted.
"Any ideas?" Toph asked, leaning on the gates.
"No. None."
The earthbender didn't realise that she only had even been thinking of "ideas" at all. Katara felt no need for strategy.
"What's the plan, then?"
"I say we rush in there, kill anyone who comes at us, and then keep on killing them until they are all dead and we can search in peace."
Toph grinned. "I like that. It has the advantage of simplicity."
Katara did not return the smile. Her face was pale and strained, and, most disconcertingly of all, lacking even a droplet of passion in her blue eyes.
Slowly it dawned on the young earthbender, new and unreal. A thought she had never considered; that had no place in her mind.
She swallowed "You don't think we can win, do you? That… that this is the end…"
Katara made a small humph sound in the back of her throat.
"This is the end, Toph," she said softly. "There is no need for any more hard decisions."
"But how can you say we've lost? We haven't tried."
Katara dropped her head to her chest. "If you wish to leave, Toph, go ahead. You don't owe us anything. Certainly not your life. But I'm doing this for Aang-"
Toph cut in with a vehemence Katara had never expected. "But what do you think I'm fighting for!"
She stopped lamely. Katara watched her sadly, with regret, with respect.
"I wouldn't be here if not for Aang."
"Wouldn't be on your death bed?"
"Wouldn't be here," she continued with passion- not anger but passion, real feeling. "I would still be a poor pathetic blind girl, trapped in a house- a prison without bars."
She sobbed. "And if somebody had told me I would end up here, about to sacrifice my life for him, I'd still have come along with you. Because, you see, before Aang, I wasn't really alive at all. I was just dreaming, just drifting. Aang did more than just save my life, he created it. He is my creator. My life began with him. It should end with him, too."
She stopped abruptly, feebly. She was no orator. All the same, Katara was in tears. "That's how I feel," she said wonderingly, "exactly how I felt. Before Aang there was just snow and work and trying to feed ourselves. Then he came,"
She smiled. "with his foreign accent, and talent for trouble and agitating the grown-ups. But he was new. He was different. And he was so friendly, to complete strangers. Like he had always been their- our- friend, without us knowing.
And now- well, now I think it's even more than that. For Aang, then?"
"For Aang."
Katara looked back up now, her cheeks tear-stained, and looked at Toph; and for the first time Toph seemed to look right back into her, through and above her blindness.
They had discovered mutual understanding. They were connected now, these two girls from different countries and different classes, in one respect- the most important and all-encompassing aspect of them all. The choice of how they died. And how they had lived.
"On three, then," Toph said. "Why not on three?"
They stood abreast on the threshold of the gates. All their senses seemed to hone in on this one moment. Everything else, everything meaningless and unnecessary, receded. They were scared, but it was a manageable fear. A physical fear only.
Somewhere a man's voice rang out.
Toph licked her dry lips. "One."
Katara whispered, "Head straight for the main entrance, underneath the balconies…"
"Two…"
The man called again.
She closed her eyes briefly. "And I'll see you on the other side."
A hand grabbed her shoulder.
Ok, so a little less happened in this chapter than I wanted to happen. Oh well.
R&R. If you can.
