Shinzo kept his knife-hands raised as he stared at the smoldering hole in his castle, his two teen children standing beside him.
"Go downstairs to your mother," he ordered quietly.
"No, we're staying with you."
"Then get behind me."
The teenagers did, and together, they advanced toward the last known position of the assailant with their father.
"Guards!" Shinzo called. "Do you see them?!"
"No!" One of the men replied as they approached the wreckage, on their way to link up with their master. "Are you okay?"
"Yes! Where is everyone?!"
The two guards passed one of the bedrooms, the door wide open. Inside, a few small fires burned, revealing the lifeless, burned body of a woman laying on her stomach in a pool of her own blood, while outside the room, the equally burned and lifeless body of a man lay on his back next to a sword.
"Dead," the guard answered grimly. They moved on from the grisly scene without entering the room.
Amber eyes glinted in the dark as the men's shadows passed.
Shinzo shut his eyes, sighed and buried the feeling for more pressing matters. "Go downstairs, now!" He shouted at the guards as they appeared around the corner. "There could be others!"
"Right!" The two guards halted, turned and gasped.
Standing in front of them a mere step away was the armored assailant, their red demon mask pointed straight at them.
Just as their arms started to move as they prepared to unleash fire upon their foe, the assailant's hands jabbed forward and two outstretched fingers dug into their abdomens just below their ribs, in the middle of their stomachs.
Searing heat and fire erupted from the tips of the assailant's nails.
The men grunted and froze.
As quickly as the fire had formed, the fingers slashed outward, drawing the piercing jets of flame to the sides and slicing through the men's soft, unprotected bellies. The blue flames flashed as they cut clean through the flesh, sending fountains of blue fire, purple-tinted mist and red gore splashing against the walls.
The men's arms fell and their legs crumpled. Before they hit the floor, the assailant spun around and darted for the stairs.
Shinzo gasped as he heard the cries of his men and viewed the blue light of the attacker's flames. "Stay here!" He shouted at his kids and sprinted down the hallway to arrive at his guards' defense. When he rounded the corner, he stopped cold in his tracks.
Both his men were lying in pools of their own gore, and as dismaying as that sight was—seeing his personal firebending guards slaughtered—his eyes turned to the other horror in front of him: the unguarded stair tower leading down to his family.
He nearly choked. "DOWNSTAIRS!" He shouted. "NOW—!"
ZZZZZT! ZAP-ZAP! ZZZZZT! KRAK!
Blinding blue light flashed. Earsplitting cracks and zaps clawed in his ears and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end with electricity… And fear.
No!
He spun around. At the end of the hallway, behind his teens, stood the outline of the assailant, their body silhouetted against the blinding blue as their hands moved in circular motions…
… And tendrils of lightning swirled.
His eyes widened. His heart sank. It can't be…
In the split second it took for his experienced mind to recognize the futility, his teenage kids had begun their attack.
Horror ripped through his soul. "NO!"
The hall was awash in blinding white and blue. His eyes stung and his ears rattled from a thunderous boom.
The two teens' limbs went straight and the fire died from their hands. Their bodies went rigid and their muscles knotted and writhed unnaturally beneath their skin. Tentacles of ragged, shifting, blinking lightning reached across the hallway from the tips of the assailant's fingers and wrapped around the teens' bodies like vines, constricting them, trapping them, flowing through and around their bodies until rooting into the floor. If they cried or screamed, they could not be heard.
The clan leader could only shield his eyes and ears.
As quickly as the lightning had flared, it vanished in the blink of an eye. The teens' limbs fell limp and their muscles softened. Their clothes smoldered, their skin smoked and their bodies started to fall.
The teens crumpled to the floor like dolls, their skin charred and their lives gone.
The clan leader's mouth gaped in shock as his chest started to heave. Blue fire… Lightning…
After the second it took for his mind to recover, his attention flew to the masked assailant.
The blue fire-and-lightning wielder jerked out of their stance, planted their right foot forward and shot a tight ball of shimmering sapphire out of their right hand.
The blue flames raced toward the clan leader as fast and true as an arrow.
Caught flat footed and dazed, he stumbled backward as he batted the blue fireball aside with one hand.
No…!
Fear and bewilderment made his insides cold.
The assailant stepped forward again and fired another quick bolt with their left hand. He swatted it away and retreated as the lightning and blue fire-bender grew near.
How?! His head shook as he struggled to comprehend and defend.
The assailant launched a double-handed volley from each two fingers brought together as one, the ensuing fireball twice the size and speed as the last.
He crossed his hands in front of himself to break the attack, causing the fireball to explode in a shower of cobalt and cyan petals. The force knocked him backward and his feet stumbled as they landed on the pile of rubble near the opening in the wall. He stood on a plank that teetered on a curved tile. He struggled to stay balanced as the sapphire flames swirled and dissipated around him.
She's supposed to be…?! His mind swam.
Through the fires and smoke that curled through the hallway, he spotted her sprinting toward him, dressed in the armor of an Imperial soldier.
His jaw clenched. Impossible!
The princess leapt forward. She landed on her left foot, pivoted and fired a vicious stream of blue flames from the bottom of her right boot, her momentum and the force of her thrusting kick throwing the surge of flame all the more faster.
The approaching sapphire glimmered in the clan leader's eyes. It struck his chest with the force of a wave, lifted him off his feet and carried him out of the hole in the wall. His burning body careened outward into nighttime void… And disappeared.
Azula ran to the edge of the hole in the wall, next to which was the shattered opening in the adjoining bedroom that she had used to vanish through and ambush the unsuspecting guards. She looked down.
Splayed upon the ground, next to the drawbridge, was the clan leader's body. His limbs were twisted and bent, his clothes were burning and a pool of dark liquid formed beneath his head. He did not move.
Her eyes narrowed and her upper lip curled. Good riddance. She didn't waste any time.
The others!
She raced down the hall, toward the stairs to intercept the escaping five. Where'd they go?! I can't let them escape!
She skidded to a halt and turned for the stairs.
They've seen my blue fire! They've seen and heard my lightning!
She jumped down multiple steps at a time, her boots hitting the planks hard and sending shock waves of pain through her abdomen and left knee. She clenched her teeth and bared the pain.
Her heart was a lump in her throat and hammered in her ears. Her chest heaved and labored as her flanks stretched painfully with each breath. Her shoulders, upper arms and legs burned with fatigue.
When she rounded the turn of the stairs and landed on the platform, she spotted a group of four huddled by the front door, illuminated in a dim orange glow. One of them held a flame to one of the hinges she had melted shut. It was the woman with the two small kids. There was one more person with them.
The teenage girl held the hands of the two small children while her firebending aunt struggled to fix their only escape. The hinges were melted. Why were they melted? How long would they take to fix? She thought she had heard lightning and thunder from up stairs! Now she didn't here any fighting at all! Was it over? Was the attacker gone? Had her uncle and guards stopped them?
Suddenly, heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs. Her heart pulsed with fear. Was it the guards? Uncle Shinzo? She turned her head to the stairs and her face melted in horror.
"AUNT!" She screamed.
Azula planted her feet in a wide stance and moved her arms in wide, spiraling circles, drawing inward toward her stomach. Electricity crackled and flashed around her, building in intensity with each completed motion. She ceased the motions, held the massive amount of opposing energy in each hand, took aim, and—
"AHH!"
A heavy blow followed by sharp, stinging pain screamed through her outer, right thigh. The muscles in that leg faltered. She stumbled and she lost her aim.
The lighting flew from her fingertips in a chaotic, scrambled mess. The ragged bolt struck the wall above the door and exploded, throwing chunks of burning wood and splinters outward and all around.
The teenage girl and her aunt threw their bodies over the two small kids as their backs were pelted by the burning debris.
Azula's lightning flickered for a second then vanished in the blink of an eye. The muscles in her right leg ached viciously. Something hot and liquid ran down her skin beneath her armored skirt. A second later, her right leg failed completely. She lost her balance and tumbled down the stairs as something long, hard and sharp twisted and pulled her flesh while she rolled down the steps.
She hit the floor hard. Her head spun. Her eyes saw stars.
"Wha… Wha…?" She gasped for air, dazed and in pain.
"AUNT! GET HER!" A teenage boy called.
Fear and panic shocked her mind to life. Turning her head up, she spotted a teen boy with a bow and arrow in his hands, placing an arrow against the bow's cord. Just as he planted his feet, drew the bow back and took aim, orange heat and light surged from her left.
Her eyes widened. In one quick, coordinated motion, she jabbed her right hand at the bow-wielding boy and swept her left hand across herself at the firebending woman. A narrow sheet of shimmering cyan roared into existence. The approaching orange fireball struck her rapidly-formed barrier and split in two, one half zipping past her head and the other streaking past her feet, while her own bolt sped toward the boy.
"RENSHU!" The teen girl cried. "NOOOO!"
The blue fire burst against the boy's eyes and nose as he let fly the arrow.
The arrow was a speeding blur in the dark.
"AHHH!"
Azula grit her teeth and screamed as horrendous pain exploded in her chest, beneath her armor, as if she had been struck by a knife at the end of a hammer.
The teen boy dropped the bow and collapsed to the floor, wailing and writhing in agony while the teenage girl and children screamed in terror. The clan woman fired another blast.
Azula bit down on her teeth and roared as she drove her body to action. She spun on her back, ignoring the splitting, searing pain in her belly, and kicked both legs at the attacking woman as if it would be her last.
She might die tonight. Princess Azula might vanish from existence, from history, tonight, but she would go down fighting, as a princess, as a soldier.
She thought of nothing but her mission, her purpose, her need to destroy them. She conjured every last bit of energy she could muster and channeled it from her stomach, down her legs, through her chakras and into her feet for her final assault.
A ball of blinding blue light flashed. A stream of azure flames erupted from the bottom of her metal soles like blue magma bursting from a volcano. It bathed the entire room cyan-sapphire, exploded down the path aimed by her legs and tore across the distance between her and the firebending woman.
The woman's meager orange fireball was swallowed by the onrushing pillar of blue as if it had been doused in water. It engulfed the woman's attack and did not slow. The vicious surge of flame struck the woman unopposed and burst against her body as solidly as a log thrown with force.
The criminal woman was thrown backwards into the door, the back of her head smacking the metal frame. Her clothes singed away, exposing her skin; her skin singed to black and peeled, exposing her flesh; her flesh turned white, then red, as fat and muscle were exposed, and boiled to steam as they was scoured away by the flames.
The children and teen girl screamed and dropped to the floor as the attacker's flames blew outward along the wall and nearly struck them.
In an instant, the stream of fire ceased. The woman wobbled and her head lolled. She slid sideways along the door and collapsed onto the floor in a heap, her chest and abdomen black with char and glistening with oozing blood. Her eyes were closed. She did not move.
Azula's legs flopped to the floor, her muscles spent and her energy drained. She took deep, heaving breathes while her sweat started to feel cold and her vision turn fuzzy. "No…" She whispered to herself, recognizing the sensation. "Get up…!" She gasped. "Still… Danger…!" She shut her eyes and winced as she struggled to move her limbs, the shrill cries of the teenage girl and children ringing in her ears.
"Oh my god!" The teenage clan girl cried as she viewed her motionless, horrifically burned aunt and her wounded, crying brother. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the two until her attention fell to the blue fire-throwing, lightning-wielding attacker lying at the base of the stairs. Their armored body had fallen still.
The teen girl's teeth chattered and her body shivered while her two younger cousins lay beneath her, cowering and crying.
The attacker's body still didn't move. The teenage clan girl glanced at the attacker, then to her aunt, then to her brother. Her eyes studied the bow and set of arrows lying next to him. Clamoring to her feet, she shuffled over to her brother… And hesitated. Her hands were shaking. She glanced at the motionless attacker again, turned back to the bow and reached for it shakily.
A spurt of blue fire splashed against the bow, setting it aflame.
"Eeep!" The teen girl yelped and pulled back promptly, turning her head to find the attacker on their feet and their red mask pointed at her. Two arrow shafts stuck out from the attacker's armored chest and leg as if they were a pin cushion, or a fearsome warrior rising from the battlefield.
"Oh…" The teen girl shivered, deeply. Her gut wrenched solid and her face turned white. She folded her arms across her belly instinctively and stared with wide eyes at the recovering violent force.
Azula's knees shook and her breath came in ragged gasps. She had to brace herself against the stair's railing to keep from falling. Her nostrils burned, her eyes watered and she could almost taste the acrid smoke that filling the castle's interior. She scanned the burning scene.
"Please let us go!"
Azula's eyes darted to the teenage clan girl's. The clan girl stood next to the ailing boy who continued to writhe disgustingly on the floor, his cries and wails grating to her ears. Had the clan girl been a firebender, she would have attacked by now. She must not have been.
"Please!" The teen girl's voice shook. "We're not our uncle and his gang! They're not their father!"
The two small kids were huddled against the wall, hugging each other, next to the scorched, bleeding, lifeless woman. Their eyes shifted between being wide open with fear and squeezed closed in terror.
"We haven't done anything!" The enemy clan girl continued to plead. "Right? That's why you're here? To-to—" She stammered. Her chest began to hyperventilate. She took a deep breath, swallowed and regained control. "To get revenge?" She managed to complete.
The clan girl's voice was tremulous and pitiful. She was certainly not a firebender. She reminder her of Zuko facing their father.
The masked, armored assailant did not respond.
"Please don't harm us!" The clan girl cried desperately and began to sob. "Please!" She wailed. "Let us go! We're just kids! We're innocent!"
Azula's eyes lingered on the two small children for a moment then flicked to the teenage girl's. The clan girl's face was wrung with pain and her eyes full of tears. She and her appeared to be the same age.
Azula's brow lowered and her eyes tightened to a glare. "We are not innocent."
She raised her left hand… And finished the task.
-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-
Azula hobbled down the beach as quick as her wounded legs allowed. Behind her, fading into the black, the enemy castle roared with orange flames.
She arrived at the boulder and knelt down to retrieve the telescope and cloak.
"Ooooh!" She moaned as the muscles in her legs struggled.
Stuffing the telescope into her belt and draping the cloak across her shoulders, she gave one last look to the castle and took off down the beach.
I need to get far away from here fast!
Her right shoulder ached from the sword strike. Her laminated metal-and-leather armor had held firm but the speed and strength of the blow had left her bruised. Hopefully nothing was broken.
In addition to the sword strike, her right breast stung from the arrowhead that was lodged there, her armor having stopped it from penetrating fully. Every time she moved her right arm she felt the arrow grind against something hard within her. She was certain the arrowhead's point was pressed against a rib.
The other arrow was lodged in the meat of her right thigh at about the same depth into her flesh. Her armor had not stopped the arrows completely but it wasn't meant to. It was designed to be light and nimble, and especially light given that she was both a girl and young. Instead, her armor was intended to protect her from slashing blades and long range arrows. The dead clan boy's arrow however had most certainly not been long range but, fortunately, the arrows themselves were lightweight and their heads small. As of now, she had singed off the arrow's shafts, leaving their barbed heads lodged in her body. She needed Doctor Izumi to remove them.
She ran across the wet sand so the waves would wash away her tracks. She barely ran. It wasn't even a jog. Her wounded right leg dragged while her burned left leg struggled to bare the pain of charred skin. Fear and desperation drove her to move faster.
"Get to the hospital!" She whispered sharply, gritting her teeth to will herself through the pain and fatigue.
The skin of her belly seared from its burn while cool air wafted through the burned, lacerated openings in her tunic. She winced with every breath as her sore, out-of-condition, literally burned muscles of her abdomen expanded and contracted. It felt as if her flesh was being peeled apart, and her heart beat fast and felt like a lump in her throat while warm, viscous blood oozed down her right leg and chest. Her pace slowed.
"Keep going!"
Her eyes widened as she strained to move faster, to stay awake and alert. The beach began to transition to pebbles and boulders as she neared the industrial sector of the city and the castle faded from view entirely. Her sweat turned cold. Her mouth tasted like metal and her eyes began to narrow.
She breathed faster and harder. "Get out of here!" She whispered sharply, gritting her teeth. "Get… To… Izumi!"
Her left foot came down on a loose, shifty rock. She slipped. Her left leg gave way and her right leg collapsed under her weight. She fell face forward into the sand.
"Oomph!"
She hit the ground hard, her exhausted and physically weak left arm crumpling. The arrow in her chest pressed harder against the bone.
"OW!" She clenched her teeth to muffle her cry and shivered as she rode the painful waves. Not having the strength and energy to spring back to her feet, she rolled onto her back to escape the stinging pain.
She gazed up at the night sky, her chest heaving, the back of her head resting peacefully against soft pebbles and sand.
"Get up!" She commanded, knowing even the shortest delay could spell doom.
She strained her muscles but her limbs wouldn't budge. The stars began to turn fuzzy. Her vision started to fade.
"No!" She breathed harder. "Get… Up! Keep… Going!"
She tried again to conjure the strength to rise but her limbs were glued and her eyes were having trouble staying focused. The sand beneath her was a cushion and the cool ocean air was soothing to her burns. Her eyelids started to close.
"No!" She gasped. "Keep going!" She grunted in one last ditch effort to stay awake. "Keep—"
Her eyelids closed and she knew no more.