49. SOKKA LEAPS UP TO AANG. "Can we outrun them?"
Aang shakes his head. "I don't know. Maybe, if we can get up to speed…"
"And assuming that they're not traveling light, just to prevent that," Katara points out.
"Which we have to assume they are," Sokka says. He turns back to the airships. "Fuck me, they're big."
Toph pulls at her hair. "Fucking fuck-ass competent fucking villain fucks!"
My uncle's eyes fly wide. "Young lady!"
I roll my eyes. "Not now, uncle." I reach up, touch my face. "Anybody got any bright ideas?"
"That seems to be the catchphrase of the day with you guys," Suki observes.
"It's an everyday catchphrase with us," Aang says, "which doesn't solve the problem."
My uncle rises, taking a hand of Suki and Toph's in each of his. They stand together, and he smiles at each of them in turn. Somehow, Toph seems to know what he's doing, because she smiles back. The only sound is the roar of the airships. My uncle turns his smile on the rest of us, looking at each of us in turn. When he speaks, his voice is soft and kind.
Just like always…
"Ladies, gentlemen, I think we all know what the solution is: Stand and fight. We can outrun an army, and definitely s hip, but not those three monsters over there. If we're lucky, we can win, and we can survive."
"And if we lose?" Aang asks.
"Then we face our destiny together."
Silence. The wind dies. Aang drops the reins. He turns to Sokka. "Well?"
Sokka smiles. "As good a time as any, I suppose. I mean, it's not like any of us actually thought this was going to work, right?"
My uncle nods. "Then, if there are no objections, I believe that we should all stand together, here at the end." He walks over to the lip of the saddle. Hand-in-hand, Suki and Toph go with him. They stop, stand tall, close their eyes.
My scar should ache, but it doesn't.
As good a time as any…
We take our positions, a ring along the back half of the saddle. We hold hands, fingers tight. We don't shake, we don't cry, we don't rage against the darkness. We did our best, and at the end of the day, how many can say the same?
We can…
Aang anchors the line, the Sokka, Suki, my uncle, Toph, Katara, and me. I like to think that, there at the end, we hold each other the tightest, tighter than anyone has ever held anyone before. Around us, the airships' roar grows and grows, a thousand-thousand angry bees shattering the night. Below us, the Royal Guard cheers and chants my father's name, a desperate tone in their calls as they try to blot out their disgrace. I blank them out. I hope the others do, too.
I open my eyes. "Katara?"
She opens hers. "Yes?"
I look to her. "Can I tell you something?"
She looks to me. She smiles. "Not yet, Zuko, not yet."
I chuckle. "And why not?"
"Because I refuse to believe this is the end. But, for what it's worth, I know, because I want to say the same thing."
I nod. I lean down. I kiss her, soft and light. She kisses me back, nuzzles my cheek as we part. We look back to the airships. They're growing larger with every second, looming, filling the sky. They seem impossibly huge. Impossible…
But what does impossible even mean?
It means nothing…
Nothing…
A thing…
There…
A thing…
There…
In the sky…
Like a moth, slicing down out of the clouds…
What is that?
"Guys?" I say. They open their eyes, look to me. I point. "The fuck is that?"
Aang gasps, but it's Katara who says it.
"Lobsang!"
I don't know how we know, but we do. He flies a glider, like Aang's, only bigger, more complex. He dives down towards the first airship, and I swear I can almost hear his laughter, his big booming chuckle, there amidst the din. We look down over the saddle, but see nothing. No rescue, no cavalry, just one lone Air Nomad, a kind man with soft eyes and a lot of dirty jokes, puffing on his pipe.
He's not puffing on his pipe now…
The first airship never knows what hits it. Lobsang lets go of the glider. We watch as his falls. His body slows, and then he smashes into the side of the airship. We can hear the metal bending and grinding from here. We see a form, a tiny man in yellow, dashing up the side, his arms waving, his legs swinging, the wind turning into a gale. The airship grinds and groans, and then it's turning, turning and bending and folding in on itself. It veers off course, towards the second airship in the line.
They touch…
Metal screams…
The form dances and swirls across the top of the first airship, leaps to the next.
Light…
The explosion rips across the gulf between us. The two airships twist and bend around each other, the propellers slicing into their shells. Fire mushrooms out from between them. Flames spit from the holes and tears. We can feel the heat on our faces.
"What the hell is going on?!" Toph screams.
"Lobsang," Sokka says, "Lobsang is doing something insane."
"He's saving us," Katara says. She turns to Aang. "Aang! Get us the fuck out of here!"
Aang nods. He tears himself away from the line, bounds into the pilot's seat. He screams, jerks the reins with all his strength. We're almost hurled off the side by the force of Appa moving. None of us notice, though. Our eyes are on the spectacle behind us.
The last airship isn't flying in perfect line with the others. It's slightly above. It sees the other two go down, and it starts to veer up into the sky. The figure stands alone, surrounded by flames. He turns to us. He waves.
I swear I can see him smile…
The figure is off. He races along the crumbling airship beneath him. Air moves, wind swirls, and then he's flying off into the night sky. Yellow and red darts across the air, and then he's rolling along the top of the final airship. He vanishes from view. We can't see anything. He's gone.
Gone…
I don't know how describe what happens next. I really don't. I know what I was doing. Katara had buried herself in my arms, her face deep in my chest. I'm holding her tight. Tears are burning in my eyes. Toph is collapsed on the floor. She sobs, hysterical, inconsolable. Somehow, she knows what's happening. My uncle is down beside her, his arms around her. She can't stop crying. Suki is shaking her head. She's on her knees, her hands on her mouth, tears pouring from her face. She doesn't understand. Sokka is sunk down to the floor, as if he's been knocked to the ground by a punch to the gut. He holds his stomach, and his face is pale and blank. Tears roll down his face.
And then, somehow…
I don't know…
It's like the final airship is folding in on itself. It's like it's being held by a massive hand, and this hand is clenching its fingers and crushing it like a sheet of paper. Metal bends and folds like tissue. The air feels thin and empty, as if the very wind is being sucked from the world and hurled at the ship.
I swear I can hear laughter on the wind…
When the ship goes up, the explosion is like a new sunrise. The sun hangs in the air, vanishes, and all that are left are men and scraps of metal falling into the sea.
We don't say a word. We watch the ships fall into the sea, not even the wind able to dry our tears.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is it for Lobsang. I'm actually pretty fucking bummed right now. I really liked him. Out of all my OCs, he was my favorite. But you know what they say: Sometimes you have to kill your darlings.
For the curious, I'm totally not going to spell out what Katara and Zuko were about to say. I leave that up to you to decide, though it should be pretty obvious. I have a very special moment planned for that declaration, and I'm not going to go back on it for all the tea in China.
In the next chapter, the Gaang is really fucking depressed. Not even finding the fleet will cheer them up.
