Zuko watched the sand drift underneath his feet, the wind shifting directions every few seconds.

"This is where you fought my father?" Zuko asked, looking at the rocky landscape before them.

"Yeah," Aang replied, fidgeting just a little. He hated to remember how uncertain he felt during that battle, and how close he had been to taking Ozai's life.

"Let's go," Zuko said after several moments of silence.

They moved on.


The first wave appeared almost zombie-like, their eyes not entirely focusing on the combatants, and yet still fighting. They made little noise, even when injured, and some even continued to fight when clearly they could move little.

It made Katara nauseous.

"Take them down, but try not to kill them," Bee ordered sharply, her voice piercing the sound of battle. In the heat of the fight, some forgot the real enemy.

Even then, Katara knew that some of these brain-washed people would not survive. In her ice-form, she couldn't heal, but she could slow down the bleeding. She decided to stay in her ice form, letting other healers deal with the wounded, and attempted to freeze as many as possible. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Toph creating domes of Earth to trap individuals.

And when she thought that for sure the wave wouldn't end, suddenly the sounds of battle ceased. Katara saw on the grim faces of Bee and Longshot that they had lost people.

Shrouds covered the dead.


Jet glared at the ceiling.

"Look, when I said I'd help adapt the armor, I didn't say you'd just be able to go out there and start fighting," said Teo.

Hahn looked amused. Jet almost said something, but knew that anything he said would eventually get to Katara, or worse, Toph. Then he really would be eating dirt instead of staring at the ceiling.

"Out of curiosity," he said, managing quite well to keep his voice level, "Are there pictures on the ceiling, or am I hallucinating?"

Silence greeted this statement. He glanced over, and Teo's eyes were wide as he stared at the ceiling.

"What does it mean?" Hahn asked.

"I…I don't know," said Teo. "It's scrambled with a bunch of other things, and some of it is definitely garbage, and probably some is coded."

Jet huffed as he tried to get up and utterly failed. "Great. Even more crap to deal with."


They moved through the trees, wearing clothes in the shades of leaves, their faces painted similarly. Their job was specific: do not engage the enemy, but capture the princess.

"Do you see her?" whispered one.

"Not yet," said Haru.

Mai remained silent, her eyes scanning the numerous individuals they passed. They were consistently sending back information to their teammates about what to expect, but since they stayed on the periphery, they knew little about what lay at the heart of the army.

So far, the few Leaf that had tried to infiltrate deeper had not responded. Mai wondered if they still lived.

A howl echoed around them, the sound something Mai could not identify. For just a moment, the small party stopped, each glancing at the other, eyes widened with shock.

Haru shook, but from his tense, nearly shaking stance, Mai knew that he desperately wanted to move towards the sound.

"We're too few," she said.

"That thing is huge, whatever it is," he replied.

"And that's why we wouldn't win if we tried to go after it."

She glanced at the others, a few members of Bee's Freedom Fighters and one other member of Leaf.

"I know," said Haru.

Mai attempted to move forward, but suddenly found herself falling.


The howl seemed to cause everyone to stop moving.

"What the bloody hell was that?" Bee said after a moment.

"I'm guessing nothing natural," said Hahn, having joined the others for the next wave.

"They can't….do you really think they'd do something…?" Katara couldn't finish. The very thought of what the scientists might have done, even from the little that they could decipher, left her mind reeling.

Toph remained silent.

"They sent innocents first," Longshot said, and then became silent again. The words implied that if they could do that, couldn't they do anything?

"They're coming!" The cry arose.

What the fuck is that?" someone yelled.

They looked, but nobody could actually answer. It looked like a composite of varying animals.

"Chimera," whispered Hahn.

The soldiers behind the creature appeared alert. Katara thought she even recognized a few. These were not the mindless souls they had sent first.

Katara glanced at Toph.

Toph's form sparkled.

"We go for the Chimera," she said, not even bothering to turn to face Katara, not that it would matter.

The creature pounced.


Mai automatically moved, years of practice kicking in. It was a good thing, too, because if she hadn't trained with Ty Lee, she would have found herself unable to move.

She noticed that Ty Lee's eyes were dilated, her eyes not quite focusing. Yet more than anything, the lack of Ty Lee's smile spoke volumes.

"Why are you following?" came the voice, though her eyes never left Ty Lee's form.

"Azula," she greeted.

Mai silently cursed the odds. She didn't want to hurt her friends, but they held no such qualms. Even in the best of times, Ty Lee still remained far more agile than her.

"We'd rather know why you're attacking," countered Haru. Mai glanced at Azula, catching the frown that marred her face for a second, before dissolving away.

Several other soldiers joined the fray, some appearing brain-washed like Ty Lee, and others clearly enjoying the prospect of carnage.

Ty Lee moved to attack again, but this time a wall of Earth blocked her path.

"I can fight her alone," she snapped.

"Or you can shut up, and we can fight together," countered Haru.

Mai opened her mouth to reply, but said nothing. She knew why it bothered her so much whenever she and Haru exchanged words.

He wasn't Zuko.

As a child, she dreamed of being the Lady of the Fire Nation, of supporting Zuko and having his children. When she got older, she loved him, and he also managed to drive her crazy.

And she watched him, even as he watched another. She almost laughed when she realized that it hadn't been another woman that caught Zuko's fancy.

Haru wasn't Zuko. His anger wasn't as explosive, and his affinity lay with Earth. Yet, she saw similar passion for duty in both and, more importantly, the sense to protect. It wasn't a question to them. It was a necessity.

Tears stung her eyes, but she let them. Haru didn't say a word as the two of them wove around each other, blocking Ty Lee's disabling moves and Azula's flames.


The throbbing in her head seemed to merely intensify as the fight wore on. It didn't help that the whispers merely seemed to get louder.

Yet what echoed most in her head were the man's words. She had been told to fight. Why? She didn't know.

Her mother's voice seemed to get louder, calling her name, especially when they knocked Ty Lee out. Angrily, she fought, and yet the two fighters wouldn't stop, even when she burned the man's arm.

She would have laughed that a good kick to the head seemed to end the fight. The crown on her head flew off, hitting a tree and rolling a bit away. She simply stopped moving.

Azula knew who she had been, in a rather foggy sort of way. Now, she remembered. The bloody crown had seemed to cut through any real coherent thought.

Too bad that the loss hadn't stopped the voices.

"Bloody hell," she spat, as the two fighters stared at her in wonder. "Where the hell are my medications?"


She wasn't fast enough, and neither was Toph. They tried, oh they tried, but the Chimera moved faster.

For each moment that they stalled it, it seemed to manage to bring down several fighters. Katara saw that some of victims were not on their side.

"They can't control it!" she yelled to no one in particular.

Toph altered her form for just a second to try and create a wall. She was nearly torn in two, saved only by changing back at the last second.

Katara tried to grab it, and freeze it in place. It merely leaped away.

And landed on Hahn.

"No!" she yelled, even as Hahn fought as well as he could from underneath the beast.

She wouldn't make it, and this time she'd lose another possible love.

To her utter surprise, the thing suddenly flew off of Hahn. She saw that he was hurt, but he seemed to already be healing himself. She didn't have time to really wonder at this, because at the moment, she was too busy watching a new fight.

Jet moved so that he stood in front of Hahn, watching the stunned Chimera shake it's head.

"Sorry I'm late," he said, smirking. "Now, shall we dance?"


Bee glared. Mostly she glared because if she didn't, she'd probably do something stupid like burst into tears of relief.

Overall, she wouldn't call it a complete victory. She was lucky she hadn't lost Longshot, but he'd never carry a bow again. Yet many others had died. She knew names of some. Other's she'd never know.

"Do you think this time it's over?" Jet asked softly, looking at Longshot's sleeping form. He thankfully wasn't smirking now. The fight with the Chimera hadn't looked like fun at all, and she was sure he was littered all over with cuts and bruises.

He probably also knew she'd probably strangle him if he even flashed a tiny smile at her.

"It better be, or I swear I'll blow something up," she replied, earning a few blank stares from a few survivors.

"It's good to be alive," said Jet seriously.


Katara watched over Hahn, mostly to make sure she wouldn't have to drug him again. A healer had helped wrap up the worst of the injuries, and then the idiot had gone off to try and help heal others.

True, he had managed to help his own healing along, but did he really think that meant he could just ignore his injuries and do whatever he wanted.

"Men can be real idiots, you know?" said Toph. Teo gave her a mock glare. His own fingers were wrapped after sustaining a few minor injuries.

"I know," Katara replied.

"…heard that…" mumbled Hahn, half asleep.

"Eh, you'll forget it later when you're doped up," said Toph. Katara laughed.


He kept his eyes closed, even when he knew they approached him. He could feel their heartbeats and hear their breaths.

When they stopped, the Dark Avatar stood up and opened his eyes.