Okay, I won't say much here. Thank you for all of the reviews on the last one, and I do not own Avatar. I don't own any of the shows I like, sadly, but I'll learn to deal with it.

Chapter 36

The fire was raining down now, one of the decoy ships already gone up in a towering blast of inferno. Kuei hit the deck hard as he avoided a projectile and debris, half crawling over to where Jeong Jeong and Hakoda were at the catapults, hastily loading another missile into the throwing arm.

"Adjust the settings, Kuei!" the firebender general cried out. His breath, strangely, crystallized like the air around him was very cold, despite the heat from the blazes as another explosion rocked the water.

No matter how they battered the enemy, it seemed to be refusing to yield and sink. It was a massive warship, much larger than theirs, not intended for long missions or speed. Just a weapon of destruction.

The Earth King realized that the Fire Nation soldiers would be able to board Hakoda's ship soon, if they were to get any closer. And then the battle would have a whole new playing field.

Kuei gripped the side of the dials, turning them to the new coordinates, lining up the siege weapon with the target, and Hakoda laid a torch to it.

"Fire!"

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Suki knew she was in trouble. Deep trouble, but she didn't let it frighten her. A knife buzzed over head, deflected and sent spinning away by the fan clutched in her left fist.

"You…you can't….dodge me forever..." the Fire Nation woman in blood red robes gasped.

Good, at least she's as tired as I am. More even odds, at least.

Suki struck another fighting stance, pointedly snapping the fans wider as if to welcome any attacks that the knife girl would make. She may not have been very good at hand to hand, knife fighting, swordplay, the works.

But as for tessenjustsu? She was a fair hand at that.

A moment of consideration, and Mai snatched a blade from her belt, one that suddenly opened like a maw of sharp teeth to reveal two hidden blades in the handle. She narrowed her pale eyes, awaiting the Kyoshi warrior to make the next move. Enough of this "tossing things around" business….

Suki came forward, the tessen fans an extension of her arm and her determination, and the outer metal spokes of the right one sliced into the other girl's arm. Swoosh! The bladed fans made a clean gold arc, another slash as the knife warded them off.

The Kyoshi girl made an elaborate twist, turning her wrists outwards and blocking the knives that came swinging at her, judging their comparative power as the two young women pushed against each other. Hmm, the thin red-robed girl is a lot stronger than she looks….

The tessen diverted and came out again, shredding the cloth of Mai's front as she dodged out of the way, and both warriors stooped down from fatigue and a want to keep the vitals guarded. Ah, practicality.

Then the fan and the knife met again.

Suki turned an eye over to Sokka as the metal struck and sparked.

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Sokka couldn't get a hold on her, as he watched the girl fly about, twist under his boomerang, and move with the agility of a snake. Curses! He just needed one good blow: she was accurate, fast, and well-timed, but she was not strongly built and hardened. Not built to withstand a slash, a deep cut, he figured.

But right now he needed to wonder if he would even be able to touch her. He hurled the boomerang out yet again, and the girl snapped down at the waist, letting the wind it brought in its wake ruffle her hair.

And she, similarly, could not get a hold on him. Thus far he had parried every blow perfectly, and Ty Lee knew that she had gone against the first lesson she had been taught, when learning this bloodless technique.

Never let your enemy see your fighting style more than a few times…the smart ones will catch on to it.

So clearly, the Water Tribe boy was one of the smart ones, as he made sure to protect his spinal cord, the joints, the neck, the heart, all those knots of muscle and nerves.

Well, time to try again, both thought. And this time, mean it.

Sokka hefted the machete up once more, charging in and not quite sure what force was propelling him forward. He just moved: he didn't feel like wasting time thinking about it.

Ty Lee did the same, staring into his eyes and wondering where the playful light in the blue had gone….

The two warriors met with a mixture of sounds, clashing, slicing, pounding, which Suki and Mai both turned to see. The most prevalent one was that of smug triumph as the pair collided, bodies still for a second.

"Hah!"

"Heh!"

And both stumbled backwards, a long gash now across Ty Lee's bare stomach, Sokka's right arm hanging useless at his side, both drawing air into their exhausted lungs, and both pushing back up to full height.

Mai turned from Suki to join Ty Lee, pressing shoulder to shoulder as the distant shouting of soldiers and the rage of a larger battle drew near. Both Fire Nation friends noticed that the other was shaking.

Ty Lee contemplated the grease of blood now on her hand, swallowing to wet her dry throat. The boy had not cut her deep, but she knew he could have. Had he held back….?

"Mai…" Ty Lee whispered hoarsely, "I dunno if we can beat them."

Mai only shrugged, and then spoke back quietly, "If they don't kill us, Azula will."

Azula. They where only as good as the fighting they could do, to that girl. And the image of the two birds, beating their futile wings in Azula's strong, cruel grasp, flashed through both of their minds unbidden.

Suki ran to Sokka, grabbing at him.

"Sokka! Sokka! Are you alright?"

"Uh…well, if you don't count the arm," and he shook it. It only swung limply, as though every bone in it had been shattered, "I'm fine."

And he was. He was Sokka of the Water Tribe. What was the use of one arm? He would fight with a knife between his teeth if he had to, at this point. Suki frowned.

And the warrior girl moved, slowly but surely as the enemies faced each other, to stand in front of Sokka, the fans he had given her spread out deadly blooms.

"If you want him, you'll have to kill me first."

Sokka's eyes widened, and his one good arm forcibly pushed the girl out of the way, shouting to them, "As if! If you want her, I'm the one you're going to have to slice up into little bitty pieces. Not the other way around."

"Sokka! Give me a break! You only have one good arm!"

"So what?! I'm not letting anything happen to you ever again!"

She snorted.

Ty Lee and Mai were very, very still, witnesses to the fierce love the two warriors had just inadvertently expressed. The girls exchanged a single glance between themselves. What were they here to do?

To kill one of them. Or both: they were sure Azula would prefer that they killed both of them.

War.

Death.

Cold-hearted killing.

Tearing love to shreds.

The Kyoshi warriors, the man in Ba Sing Se, the faces all swirling together.

How much more could their two spirits bear? That was the decision to be made.

We're not murderers, Ty Lee thought briefly. I don't want to be remembered that way.

"No more," Ty Lee whispered shakily.

Mai nodded.

And the bird's wings suddenly broke free, away from the vice-like grip, as all four warriors looked to the door which was being pounded upon by a score of Fire Nation soldiers and a light went on behind both of the Fire Nation girls' eyes.

"Go. Go now," Mai ordered huskily.

"What?" Sokka glared, an eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"I said go! Go help your friends…"

"…Mai and I can take them," Ty Lee finished with a smile, jerking an elbow towards the pulsing door. "Hurry up."

Sokka was speechless, gaping at Azula's cronies as they readied themselves for whatever was behind those doors, grasping at Suki's hand as he backed up.

"GO!!" Both cried in unison.

"Thank you," he nodded, and turned to run. The word warmed Ty Lee's heart a surprising amount: no one had ever thanked her for something like that before, and her decision affirmed itself even more.

The doors gave way with perfect timing, the pack of soldiers hurtling in with weapons raised.

"Ready?" Ty Lee shouted to her friend. Was this what Zuko had felt, when he fled Ba Sing Se? This redemption, this liberty? It was like being back on the high wire, above the world.

"Yes." It was Mai's sole response, as a genuine smile graced her features.

And with a hurtling of fists and a storm of knives, the freed women got to work.

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Aang flew along, in leaps and bounds after the Fire Lord who had sprinted down the great steps of the palace, through the battle still raging outside, running over the streets. Where was he going?

Aang's eyes darted to the side for a moment, and he took to the roof tops in another flying leap, getting ahead of the man and dropping down before him, with the staff pointed at his opponent.

"Come on, stand and fight me!" he cried out, trying to sound as fierce as he possibly could. Not working, obviously.

Well then, make him listen to you, Aang!

And with a huff of strain and effort, the Avatar sought out and summoned the water from the nearby well, spinning it overhead with the staff, turning it loose in a rage of white foam upon the man.

There was a flash of steel as the wave rolled towards him, the tip of his blade plunging into the earth. Ozai clung to the grounded sword when the mighty rush of water blasted into and over him, a great pummeling blow that knocked the wind out of the firebender.

The last of the water receded, Ozai still firmly on his feet until he was suddenly shocked off of them by a jutting jab of earth, a plate of it racing across the ground and flipping him onto his back…

Which gave him a clear view of the sun, as it began to re-appear…

The dark eyes widened with a malignant elation.

It was like a bonfire being ignited, revived, and Ozai hurtled to his feet, turning loose a river of fire equal to the water one that the Avatar had just hit him with.

"Whoa!" Aang cried, rapidly pushing aside the flames as they rushed him. No! He had lost his chance! And as the sun began to reappear, slowly but surely, he was hit by another stream of blaze, jumping over this one.

Ozai smirked coldly, but then leapt from the earth.

A tide of flame carried him, up, up over the Avatar, back down surely onto his feet, and he kept running, with the Avatar in pursuit, destruction in their wake as both barreled through the city.

They where approaching the temple.

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Katara realized it too, as a firebender nearly roasted her when she met him in the hall. Her mind flew into a panic as she pushed a dagger of ice out into the man's leg, bringing him down and darting around him. Now the advantage was gone!

Aang!

Zuko!

Aang, where had he gone? She stopped to draw in air as she considered that. He must have found Ozai by now, he must have. So where would the two be? She heard the clashing of swords, the roaring of flame, somewhere through the walls. Aang had Toph and Iroh with him, Aang was ready, and Aang was strong. He still needed her, though, and Katara began to hurry forward.

But what about Zuko? Her heart plunged as uncertainty crept into her, as a horrific realization dawned on her, and she halted in her tracks. Zuko and Azula. Between the two, Katara was not sure of who was the better bender.

But from what she had seen, from the hateful way that Zuko referred to the princess, the master was probably Azula. Azula and her lightning, the lightning that had nearly killed Aang….

But she was Zuko's sister.

His sister.

And Zuko's heart, while covered in a hard iron exterior, while guarded against the world….what if…?

Zuko….Aang….

And Katara turned, decision made, and she ran as though whips where at her heels.

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Azula could feel it now, humming in her system, and she had to stop and savor the return of the power as her frozen blood thawed.

She tossed the pathetic blade aside and it landed with a thin crash as she turned her face upwards, titled it towards the sun that hung beyond the roof overhead.

"Your luck just ran out, Zuzu. Father always said that I was the one who was born lucky."

He looked at her, those golden eyes now so unreadable, and he too cast aside his sword.

Azula smirked, and without further hesitation plunged her hands greedily into her center of power, seizing it and unchaining it. Wild, untamed, vicious, and with no emotion whatsoever. An instinct to kill, nothing more. Azula was but a vessel for it. Just precision and death, although the rush in her veins was wonderful.

And the lighting rocketed up and out her arm, a straight path given it as it incinerated a trail through the air towards Zuko.

He dropped down, feeling the incredible heat that stroked his back, and threw a windmill of blaze up at her.

Azula smacked it out of the way, springing aside and sending another stream at him, this one of smooth, blue fire.

And Zuko stood his ground, feet rooted in an odd position that Azula had never seen in firebending before…the feet were too wide, the knees too bent.

He reached out both arms, twisting them around the tunnel of sapphire flame, and in one fluid motion like the flow of water, Azula found her own blaze rushing back, ready to devour her.

"Ah!"

She smashed her arms into it and dissipated it, drawing up another crackle of lightning that accumulated in her hand, and she hurled it at her brother.

Zuko stepped into it.

He received the lightning through one hand, a tremor running through his body as the power traveled, and the lightning came out his other, that little trick he had oh-so-conveniently gotten hold of back in Ba Sing Se.

A blinding flare of white light, a clap of thunder.

Azula acted.

The lightning, the raw fire energy, blasted a crater in the floor where Azula had been standing, and she was now over on the left, crouched. She trembled as the adrenalin flooded her veins, forcing down the anger that was welling up in her chest.

Let nothing show. No emotion.

"What, so you're just going to turn all of my attacks against me? How unoriginal," Azula grinned slyly, although her eyes showed no amusement. "You were always so dull, Zuzu."

She expected him to become riled, to become angry, and to possibly let slip the power she felt radiating from him. But he didn't.

Zuko instead launched himself, hands swirling with fire, and he crashed it into her, blow met by a fist covered in blue flame. The Fire Nation heirs hit the ground with a thud, their element coiling around the other's throat, brushing by the ear, as they threw each other off.

"Scared, Azula?" he dared to ask.

"No," she lied.

That said, Azula suddenly pivoted and ran, out the doors, down the hall, Zuko's fires chasing her all the while. Down this way, up that way, a chase that was broken up by periodic, loud blasts of fire.

Ah, there it was, Azula saw it now through the open doors. The perfect place to settle their little duel.

But as her hand extended to pull the door open wider, a hammer of flame ploughed into her back, sending her flying forwards and onto her stomach as she tried to repel it. She hissed, and turned herself over painfully.

Zuko stood there over the gasping firebender, a fistful of blaze in one hand as he looked down at her.

Looked down at Azula.

Azula, his sister.

His sister.

And for that one deadly moment of hesitation, Zuko paid dearly.

"Father always said you were spineless, too" the princess spoke coldly, and then let a huge blow of fire leave her, striking her brother head on. It made him roar with such a wonderful pain, Azula thought. Almost as good as when her Lord father had burned him in the Agni Kai.

Zuko fell backwards, and Azula laughed, struggling some to pull to her feet, but then throwing the doors wide and dancing in.

"Look, Zuko!" she cawed triumphantly, spreading her arms about her as she stood in the room she had led them to.

Eyes watering with pain as he got to his knees, clutching his torso where she had struck him, Zuko saw it.

The Agni Kai arena.

It still echoed bad memories, but this time around he knew who his opponent was, and would not turn the other cheek from this match.

"Now, let's be formal about this," Azula said, hands now before her and twirling a blue flame in her fingers. She was in pain, he could tell by the way she clenched her jaw, but her voice did not betray it.

"Now, Zuzu, back in Ba Sing Se, I believe you challenged me to an Agni Kai, yes?"

"You heard me correctly."

"Wonderful," she spat acidly. "I hope the offer is still there."

"Oh, most definitely."

And he took a few steps to move forward, now fearful and angry as he considered that Azula was probably still his superior in firebending, even after the training, the battles. All for nothing. What had made him so strong that day in the throne room? He could not tell. But he took another step forwards anyway…

And something shot past him, an arm brushed against his, and he saw the person dodge quickly around him.

Through the doors, into the room with Azula, slamming the doors behind them, and Zuko lunged forward to grasp the closing barrier, as a voice shouted in his face,

"ZUKO! Go help Aang! He needs you! You have to do this together, it's the only way!!!"

The doors closed, he heard a bolt being slid into place, and he started beating against the unyielding surface, crying out a name over and over….

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So there they were, finally, as Ozai barreled up the worn stone steps where his ancestor had stood that cold night 100 years ago. And the Fire Lord reflected upon the irony of the situation, as he remembered the story that his son had so loved as a child.

This war had begun with a great duel between an airbender and a firebender.

Between the last airbender left in his temple, all those around him fallen, and the most powerful firebender in the world.

And so it shall end, Ozai thought. And with any luck, fate will be as accurate in determining the outcome as it has been in arranging the opponents.

Aang and Ozai.

Gyatso and Sozin.

The Fire Lord raced into the temple, into the massive open stone hall, where he was going to conclude this battle once and for all. There: he had done what was asked of him.

And there was a rush of air, as the boy's small foot alighted upon the first temple step.

In the Spirit World, a pair of blazing golden eyes snapped wide open, an involuntary shudder of excitement indicating something unmistakable as it raced forwards.

"Finally!"

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Azula's eyes widened marginally as she looked upon the warrior's battered frame across the stone dueling ground. Both had already been through quite a fight, both were injured as it was. And yet they were still standing, the other warrior near the door leaning on it and listening to Zuko strike it from the other side, thinking.

As tough as Zuko was, she knew, she knew, that he would not be as cold as to kill his own sister. But Azula shared no such compassion.

She would rather suffer herself than let anyone she cared about suffer.

And the Fire Nation princess, rooted in her spot, watched as the newcomer slammed the bolt on the door home, sealing Zuko out.

And them in.

A pair of very wide, very cold blue eyes, like the ice fields up north, turned on her.

"Hi, Azula. Looks like it's just you and me now," Katara smiled grimly.

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A/N: Okay, how many of you saw that one coming? Yes, I want to have Aang and Zuko face Ozai together: that's where the real struggle will lie for Zuko, I think. And Azula and Katara in the Season 2 finale? Waaay to short a battle, if you ask me.

Oh, and don't forget the spirit that started this whole thing. Well, see you all in the next chapter. This one got up really fast: I'm using up my weekend , I'm just so eager to get this finished. Review, tell me what you think!