You know, for some reason I just couldn't imagine myself finishing this fan fiction. It was just weird to think that I would write forty chapters this quickly, but there you have it! Huh…here we go. Boy, I am so excited for the third season.
Chapter 37
Zuko's voice was half-gone by now, as he viciously pounded and blasted the heavy doors that stubbornly refused to budge. Katara! You foolish girl, what are you doing?!
He had never been so desperate in his entire life, the strangest, plunging fear firmly settled within him. What had she told him?
Go to Aang…..
No! He was going to stay right here and open these doors, snatch her out of Azula's path of destruction, and then he was going to finally do what he knew must be done…
But is your fight really with Azula, Zuko? Or is it with your father?
His fist was bleeding, and as he stopped to wipe it on his shirt front there came a voice behind him, casual and demanding as she called.
"Hothead! There you are! Come on, we need to go after Aang!"
The little blind earthbender ran up to him, his uncle close behind. Toph was frowning at the set of vibrations coming from behind the door, not to mention the rage that Zuko was shaking with.
"Is Sugarqueen in there?" she asked softly.
"Yes…."
Toph considered, torn in two between the dangers hanging over her friends. Hurry up and choose, Toph. She considered, their voices flashing through her head. Aang, he would be scared, wouldn't he? This was his final battle; this was what the fate of whole world would be determined by…..she couldn't let him face that alone. She needed to get to Aang. Sugarqueen could kick that psycho's butt any day of the week, that was that.
Twinkletoes….. Twinkletoes needed her. Toph felt that in her bones, like a blow to the gut, and she seized Zuko's hand in her own. He dug his heels in, but the earthbender smacked the floor tile up and pulled the whole thing along.
"Come on! Move it!"
"I can't…"
"From what Aang told me about their fight in Ba Sing Se, those two are an even match. Now hurry up, we don't have any time to waste!"
"Where have the Avatar and my father gone?"
"The temple," Iroh answered as all three pulled away from the door, back down the hall again as Zuko cast another look at it. Katara!
If she dies, I'll never forgive her…..
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Ohhh boy, Katara. What have you gotten yourself into?
She didn't know. Her hands were trembling as she lifted them up in front of her, feet automatically sliding into a fighting stance and tensing herself for the firestorm she was about to get smacked with. And her pouch, pressed against her sweat- soaked back, felt pitifully small. So very, very small….was this really all she had brought with her? Stupid.
Azula, across the room, turned her head to the side in curiosity. Hard to recognize the girl, since she was no longer clothed in blue: now she wore Fire Nation armor, much like Azula's, really. And what had happened to her hair? It looked like it had been shorn off...but the pair of wide blue eyes gave her nationality away. If that was as fierce as the water girl could look, Azula was in for an easy battle.
"Hmm, standing in for Zuko, I see. You're that little waterbender, right? How sweet of you to look after him like that."
Katara tried to draw a calming breath, but it hitched on her fear and came out like a strangled choke. She wasn't ready for this; she wasn't good enough to do this. Oh, spirits help me…
Remember fighting Zuko at the North Pole? He beat you in the end. Well, prepare for something ten times worse, her mind berated.
"Understand," Azula called out, as she slowly moved to the left and judged her prey, "that I intend to kill my brother as soon as I'm done with you. That boy doesn't stand much of a chance: no wonder Father hates him."
Katara glared at that. This was just as bad as Zian yammering on and on before their fight with the dragon, spearing Zuko upon his own self-doubt. At least the prince wasn't here to listen to it this time…. But for some reason, Katara took it all as a personal insult, like it was her the words cut into. She reached up to her shoulders, and with a few clatters she let the outer layer of armor fall to the ground. She would need to be fast: the extra weight would only impede her.
And Azula kept talking, as per usual.
Katara grew angrier still, the fear quickly drying up.
"I can finally be rid of that spineless, worthless, emotional coward, and I can assure you that it's something I look forward to doing. So you may as well make my task easier and get out of my way, because sacrificing yourself is not going to do…."
SMACK!
A clear, exact whip of silver water streamed forward and stung Azula hard across the face with the force of a punch, closing the girl's mouth and widening her eyes as they watched the waterbender pull the whip back in.
"Shut up, Azula," Katara huffed, circling the water in a lazy loop at her side.
Azula's eyes turned to slits. Insolent little peasant.
Azula struck her stance and pushed a blade of lighting out that ripped through the stone floor with the girl in its path, who had barely enough time to throw herself clear. The throw turned into a tumble, and she went head over heels back onto her feet. The water whip sang out again, this time wrapping around Azula's pale throat and hurling her overhead.
The princess landed with an undignified 'thud' on the stone, springing to her feet and punching two quick shots of temperamental blaze out as she rushed in.
Katara saw them headed towards her, digging both fingers into the water that was attached to her heart, the element she was one with. Like spreading a curtain, she stretched the water into a thin, wavering shield and it consumed the blazes within inches of her face.
Gathering the element up yet again, Katara leapt aside as Azula swung out, leaving a trail of fire behind her arm. Katara wasn't fast enough, and caught a direct blow that sent her into the ground, where her body seemed content to remain. But she knew it couldn't. Katara rolled over, back up to her feet, shaking off the hit.
"Ugh…" she coughed.
Azula called another pulse of lightning into her hands, approaching the water girl…
"Huh!"
Katara forced her heavy arms out, and from her hands shot a pair of thin ice daggers, which flew forward wildly to be struck aside by the lighting Azula wielded. Another one with a rushing sound, and it bought Katara enough time to get back up to swing the whip overhead, back behind her, spinning about her body twice, before jutting out again.
It darted through Azula's defenses, and then….
There was a long, thin, clear sound, as the water whip slashed Azula across the torso, left shoulder to right hip.
Azula felt no pain, only a growing, clouding fury, and her very center shook, the golden pool of power now overflowing like a lava pit. How dare that girl? Who did she think she was dealing with? With a roar and a ruthless look in her eyes, Azula threw another river of flame outwards, waiting for her moment.
There! The waterbender was moving to dodge it yet again, and the princess had to admit that she was quick. Quick and flowing. But water runs in a set course, and can be predicted if you know the path of the river….
Azula swung her whole body sideways, the fire following suit. Katara was barely able to push the water between her and the wall of flame as the two collided, and she stumbled backwards. The cloth of her armor caught, and she quickly extinguished the blaze. The backwash of the smoldering heat felt like it was smothering her skin. Ugh, it was so hard to breath in that hot, dry air…..
Azula did not wait for the water girl to gather herself again, but took three long strides forward, wanting to end this quickly. And for a few moments, Katara studied Azula as she approached.
From the little that Zuko had told her of his father and the lot that she had seen of the siblings, their father had not been a very kind and nurturing person. Zuko had had his mother to stand by, his uncle to cultivate what good there was in him. Were people born evil? No, Katara thought. Hatred is something that needs to be taught.
And so she now faced this tragedy, of a girl who had paid far too much attention to those lessons of hatred. She was very certain that no one had ever told Azula "Love you!" or made an impression on the girl. She had just been taught anger, which now sat behind those amber eyes. A puppet of perfect hatred, because she knew nothing else. How sad.
An unexpected stab of pity dug into Katara's heart.
Azula saw the strange emotion inexplicably but unmistakably flash across the water girl's eyes, and she felt her blood surge with rage. Pity? It disgusted her deeply, in any shape or form, and she pulled the fistful of lightning back to smash it into the waterbender's heart. A drop of blood from Azula's wound splashed onto Katara's face.
Okay Katara, time to move.
Katara watched the crackling white light rush out at her, and she swept ahead with the water whip, undercutting Azula's feet as they leaned forward, and the fire princess was brought to the ground once again, cracking her jaw hard and painfully.
"You can give up anytime you want, Azula," Katara almost pleaded.
Azula only snorted at that, and fired off another streamer of flame at the waterbender. Katara pulled the water into its path, arm howling in protest from where a solider had smashed her up against a wall earlier.
Azula smirked.
She made a strange, flourishing motion with her wrists, and the flame suddenly coiled like a snake around the thin weapon of water, crushing in on it as it was seized from Katara's grasp.
No!!!!
With a hissing sound that was her death sentence, all the water vanished into steam, pushed away overhead, and before Katara could try and pull it all back in, she was hit by another pummel of fire that she was glanced by, a faint burn now on one shoulder.
And now she was at Azula's complete mercy…but she could tell Azula was as exhausted as she was: how long could they keep bending with the injuries they had sustained?
Her reaction time must be slowing down. Her accuracy, her strength, everything…..
Katara watched as Azula stood for a few seconds, catching her breath in front of her. Just for a few seconds, but Katara would take it.
Sprinting forward, she reeled back and hit Azula with a plain, boring, old- fashioned right hook that the tired amber eyes did not see coming until it was too late as it struck her face and she stumbled aside. Fair enough, Katara found a fist in her face a second later, and boy, was it going to be hard to fight with a swollen eye.
She kicked almost blindly outwards, hitting Azula in the side of the leg, and then Azula smashed a foot into her, a high and well-trained roundhouse that struck her in the side. Well, that hurt.
Angrier than she had ever been in her entire life at this little peasant that refused to roll over and play dead, Azula kicked a flare of flame upwards, sweeping it into Katara's face, and the waterbender was forced backwards again, searching.
Water, she needed some kind of water, and she had no idea where to get it. The dueling arena had not exactly been designed to accommodate the needs of waterbender, there where no big basins of water here. Why hadn't she listened to her own advice to Aang? "When you fight the Fire Lord, it's not as thought you're going to have a river nearby…."
Hurry up and think of something, her brain ordered.
Think of what?
Another inferno flew out at her, and Katara dropped down again to duck under it, feet sliding apart and eyes never leaving Azula as she did so, with one hand supporting her against the floor. But her hands were slippery with blood and she lost her balance, slid forward, pushed her arms out at Azula as if to stop her, stop that rush of pain and death, hold back the scream she knew was about to explode from her throat….
Her blue eyes snapped wider.
And she found something.
Yes, definitely, there it was, calling and cycling, the smooth balance that she found so much comfort in…
What was this?
Why did she…..huh?
And with a spark in her eyes, Katara pulled as hard as she could.
As she had stepped forward to emphasize the motion of her attack, Azula had found herself brought to a halt as though she had hit a wall. Why could she not move? For some reason, her whole body had been seized and grounded in place as the waterbender had flung her arms in front of her. And now…
But Azula's train of thought was brought to a grinding, sliding wreck as she gasped, as she felt like something was being plunged into her chest, and she hissed in pain as it probed, coiling around her lungs, setting itself up and wrapping around her veins…
Get out! She ordered.
Katara winced.
Unfortunately, the force obeyed at the same moment that Katara yanked her arms back again.
And Azula watched in a stupor as a thin, long ribbon of water suddenly shot out of her own hand, flowing off her fingers, beading and gathering on her ghostly skin, and slipping away into the water girl's grasp as she seized it. Azula bit her lips that were suddenly very dry, her breath shallow and parched.
"Wh…what…. did you just…?"
Katara looked at the water now dancing between her hands, eyes wide with awe, and she shook her head in confusion. Water within the body itself? After all, we are composed of all the elements, balanced….but she had only taken what she needed. No more, because Azula's inner fire had cast her out with a bang, and forced her backwards.
But now she at least had her water again…..and she turned her eyes upwards too late to see the flame rushing her. Oh great…
Although her head was spinning and light, Azula was able to savor the wail of pain as the waterbender's leg was scraped by the blaze, the unpleasant and yet welcoming smell filling the Fire Nation woman's senses.
Katara pulled out of the way, but the blaze brushed her anyway. She had never gotten hurt so often in previous s battles, but as the stakes rose, so did the scale of the fight, she supposed. And now her nerves were screaming and smoldering.
"Ahhh!" Katara sobbed in pain, tears spilling down her face and accumulating into the water she already clutched. Wow, now that was painful. Imagine it all over your face…She needed to heal it….but Azula was standing there….so little water to work with as it was…..
And she made her choice.
The water whip struck out again, taking a wide, arching path as it whistled down onto Azula, and the fire girl raised her arms, fighting to stay on her feet as the world spun beneath her. The blue flame in her hands lengthened itself out, growing and becoming more agile, until a water whip and a fire whip faced each other, reared up like snakes and swaying before striking.
Swish! Thwack! The two whips dodged and darted, both trying to pass through the other's barrier and land a final blow. Caught in a sort of dance, really. Azula's movement's mirrored Katara's as both turned and twisted, a step forwards, and step back. A glance here, a near miss there, a sword duel between elements.
The water whip lashed down at Azula's feet.
The blaze roasted the air a hair's breath away from Katara's left ear. Her eyes narrowed with concentration, and she swung her arm upwards. The water mimicked her.
Wham!
The cool silver water turned in on itself and hit Azula from behind, snapping her neck downwards, and her hair fell from its crown. The bronze in the shape of a flame clanged on the floor, and neither took any note of it.
Another strike, worsening the cut Zuko had made with his sword on Azula's back and yet another lash that brought the firebender down on her knees, clutching at the wound on her front. The blood just didn't seem to want to stop flowing…and then a hook of water caught her there, too, and Azula was tossed backwards.
Flick! The water wrapped around Azula, freezing her hands in place.
Katara's insides twisted in pain as she landed hard on the burnt leg, cursing her bad luck and cursing her own weakness, noting that she was shaking even harder now, commanding that she pull herself together. The rest of the water whip coiled back, the end of it crackled as it crystallized, frozen into a precise point, and Katara hurled it forward like a spear, letting the water stretch thin, with the ice glinting in the firelight…..
Azula saw it coming, and she took a long, careful breath, in and out, anger overriding her exhaustion as she realized that she too was shaking. But the cold fire roared to life within her once again, her hands exploded from their icy handcuffs, and the lightning pulsed up and out of her like a heartbeat, splitting the atmosphere of tension around the combatants.
And the lightning struck the lance of water.
Perfect.
Given a clear and easy path to follow, the lighting continued on its course, incinerating the trail of water, driving forwards, and its target realized what had just happened as the blow struck her.
There was a spark, a burst of white light, as the lightning crashed against the waterbender, sending her flying backwards with a gasp, tossing her onto her back and making her land with a snap that Katara was pretty sure was her arm.
She groaned, head against the cold and uncaring stone floor as the water lay useless around her, and she heard Azula practically shriek with frustration.
"Why are you still alive?! Die already, you miserable little peasant!"
Why was she still alive? Katara had no idea, and she wouldn't be alive for much longer if this kept up.
There was nothing left. Nothing left in her. No more water, no more strength, no more blood to lose, no more stops to pull out. She was spent.
There was a snapping, a fizzing, and Katara was able to lift her head just enough to see the white fire building around itself and Azula, dancing and circling as the girl traced a path with it. The final blow.
Katara closed her eyes.
And instead of blackness, she saw Aang there. Aang, Toph, Sokka. Zuko. Dad. Who was going to look after them? The thought came to her, as it had on the bridge in Geming. They needed her. She needed them. What would dying to for them do?….And she saw her mother lying in the snow, drawing her last breaths and spending them on words of encouragement.
"Never give up…."
Yes, Katara thought, I just may have enough left. You never know if you don't try.
Azula took a few shaking steps that built up into a charge, the lighting singing and roaring like an animal within and about her, her heart leaping as she moved to land this blow, to win, to win and then cast this worthless peasant out of her way.
Katara sat herself up, coughing as she got to one knee, the other throbbing, her one good arm reaching back to grasp imaginary water.
And it found something else there instead.
Azula brought the lightning about, laughing to herself, and Katara watched the missile come as she extended her arm….
BOOM!
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Toph needed to get somewhere fast. Now. And there were too many in the way, too many vibrations, and she was but one very small earthbender. Zuko pushed against her and grabbed her by the shoulders, roughly moving Toph out of the path of a sword as they tried to move through the battle that boiled on in the streets.
Her irritation awoke, the bodies crowding her.
She hated being caged.
She hated being trapped as she was now, with Iroh and Zuko shouting, flames rushing, chaos howling in her ear….Aang needed her! Someone needed her, and here she was stuck behind and among these squabbling people…..
She was shoved from behind, knocked over…..
And she snapped, pushing both arms out, her lungs bursting out an order.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!!!"
There was an almighty, rumbling, bone-rattling, thunderous sound as the earthbender stepped forward, raising one small foot and bringing it crashing down, and a huge crack appeared that spread, growing, splitting, yawning apart as the two islands of earth were parted like a sea, a massive chasm springing into existence that forced the crowds away from the Avatar's three companions, and a Fire Nation solider screamed as he tumbled down into it.
"Miss Toph??" Iroh asked, trying to call through the stony mask that had positioned itself over the girl's face. Her hair had come loose around her, now whipping in the wind like the wing of a black bird.
She did not hear him, but her blind eyes were blazing with power as she raised one foot to step off of the small platform that she had created, to plunge into the dark cavern below.
"No, Toph, what are you doing?!"
Thud!
A plate of earth tore away from the abyss' side, appearing beneath her foot as she planted her first step onto it, dragging the two stunned firebenders forward, the earth flying out to meet her as she did.
Wham! Wham! Wham! Wham! The bridge through the gorge appeared, and her brisk, powerful stride quickly became a run as she moved, seeming to walk on air with a land path appearing just in time to catch her.
Nothing was going to get in her way, that was for sure.
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Aang blinked hard, looking at the Fire Lord as he stood there, feet rooted and hands spread apart with a cold, serpentine smile across his face.
Aang breathed a sigh, a gust of wind swiveling around him as he did so, and tried to ignore the fear pulsing through him that was certain to cloud up his mind.
Well, let's go, then.
Aang spun and pushed forwards, a scream of wind blasting down the long hall, extinguishing the torches as it went, pushing into and knocking the Fire Lord back a few steps. But he stayed upright, and a torrent of flame was sent out at the Avatar. Aang moved to push it aside, but it suddenly reared up, cycling around like a pinwheel, and then dipped down and began to spin about him, a speeding wall of flame trapping Aang there.
Ozai observed the funnel of blaze that he had imprisoned the boy in, whipping his arms around to hold it in place before he pulled his shoulders up in preparation to bring the fire closing down….it all collapsed in on itself as the fire crested like a wave…..
Then there was a massive shove against him that knocked Ozai's concentration off, threw him to the ground as the whole earth shook, the flames dissipating, and he squinted through the smoke screen.
All of the stone tile around where the Avatar had been standing had been torn up, built suddenly into some sort of casing in which a crack appeared. Followed by a second, a third….and like glass shattering, the entire shield was pushed apart, the debris hurtling across the room as the Avatar emerged unscathed. He brushed his shoulders off.
"Gotta do better than that!" the boy had the audacity to grin.
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"Uh."
There was a soft 'fzst' as the lightning shrank and died, the smoking crater around the two crumbling. There was a hissing of a few sparks in the air. A drip of blood, the drawing of breaths.
Katara's eyes were glazed over now; nearly delirious with the pain she was in.
Azula's cold, mocking amber eyes moved over the waterbender's face…..
And down to observe, with a sort of detached curiosity, the pearl-handled dagger that the girl had just plunged into her.
Hmm.
Azula coughed with delayed surprise, tasting dull iron wetness in her mouth and squinting slightly. That knife, it looked so familiar. Where had she seen it? Somewhere. Sometime that felt very, very long ago.
Zuko.
And now she was cold again, curses.
Katara pulled the knife free, in total shock as the firebender fell forward with Katara's arm no loner supporting her. Katara's instinct acted before her mind did, as usual, and she caught the fire princess before she smacked into the ground.
She was so limp, so heavy, so crushed by all of the hatred that she had lived under all her life.
Azula looked at the waterbender with a sort of worn, tired contempt, and then a hint of regret. Her gaze seemed to travel beyond Katara's face, and she wet her dry lips.
"I failed, Father," she coughed. "I'm sorry. I'm just too tired."
Katara found her voice in time to reply hoarsely, as she laid the girl down on the stone floor.
"No. You haven't failed anybody, Azula. You fought very well." It was the least she could say, really, it was.
Azula considered.
"I did, didn't I? Oh, and peasant…."
"Yes, Azula?" Katara strained to hear the voice.
"Tell my brother that he would have won. He was stronger, I wasn't expecting that. It'll ...make him happy."
And the features relaxed, the eyes seeming to be more at peace, and the breathing faded.
Katara bowed her head down in respect.
Satisfied that she had gotten that message, the waterbender pulled up to her feet with every part of her body crying out in protest.
She decided to allow herself a few minutes of rest as she moved towards the door, took three more steps…
And fainted.
The water she landed in pulled itself up of its own accord, wrapping gently around the girl's wounds, and set to healing them.
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The spirit felt something go off kilter as it bounded forward, through the rolling mists of the Spirit World. That was odd.
It felt as though something had just escaped it, a human soul slipped out of his grasp and saved…but whose?
No matter. He needed to get to his destination with all due haste, there was a deal he needed to wrap up. The spirit was not too pleased by how fiercely the Enemy had combated him thus far, however.
And it never ceased to amaze him.
He had tried to push the Avatar into running away, filled his head with doubt and uncertainty, tempting him to escape. And yet the boy had frozen himself into an iceberg. An iceberg!
He had made sure that Rage worked closely with the firebender who journeyed to the South Pole on a raid, that firebender who killed the two Water Tribe children's mother. For if they both harbored even more hatred for the Fire Nation, how could the necessary alliance ever form?
And yet the Enemy had filled the girl water child with love, courage and compassion, had pushed her to reach out and forgive. Forgiveness, he hated it.
Strife had personally given the female earthbender a huge obstacle to overcome, even before her birth. Who had ever heard of a blind earthbender, after all? Certainly, she would be unable to fulfill her possible destiny as the Avatar's aid.
But the Enemy had taken Toph by the hand, guided her, opened her ears and other senses, and her affliction quickly became a blessing of the highest order.
And the boy, that stupid little prince with so much anger in him! He had come so close! The spirit had roared with joy when Zuko had turned his back on his uncle, had joined with his sister. Haha! Now you're ours, boy!
But something had wriggled free at the last moment, an infection of love planted in the boy's spirit that had grown every day since.
But no matter! Now he was going to get his Avatar, retrieve him for the Master, and he was going to let that world sink into lovely darkness.
There, there it was. The gateway. The spirit, whose name was War, shot forward.
And he was broadsided by a spinning, slicing, whistling gold blur that sent him off course, the hit followed by another one, a swipe of a sword.
He turned his eyes upwards, and War's dark face contorted into a frown.
A man and a woman now stood in his way, barricading his path with weapons at the ready.
"Good to see you, Roku. Lady Kyoshi." The spirit showed his long ivory teeth.
"Likewise, War. And I'm afraid we can't let you through," Kyoshi said casually, as she drew out another fan.
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A/N: Oh my God, I killed Azula!
I just didn't see any other way around it! And that is something that will most likely not happen in the show.
Wow, now I feel really bad…but how else do you deal with someone who's about to kill you? Oh, and now you know why I just had to plant this whole 'shady deal' in. Or maybe I didn't need to. Not too sure.
I apologize to any Azula fans out there:( And if you're wondering, it was her that 'escaped' the spirit. Now on to Aang and Ozai, finally. Whew. Thank you for reading...