Chapter 13: Cataclysm
Claire's friends looked up at the two as they conversed, questioning why the battle had seemingly ceased.
"Any idea what they're up to?" Lin asked, curiously looking to Kang.
"Casual conversation before the final battle?" Kang asked as he placed his prosthetic hand to his chin.
"So... Final Battle, I'm guessing that means they won't be pulling any punches?" Lin asked him, and Kang nodded.
"As far as I'm aware, this is the first time two Avatars—probably fully realised Avatars—have fought... we are literally witnessing history!" Kang exclaimed with odd enthusiasm.
"But what are the chances of 'history' killing us?" Khana asked with her arms crossed.
"Absolutely certain!" Kang exclaimed, shocking everyone.
"... If we stick around here, that is," Kang quickly added, briefly calming everyone.
Claire's eyes glowed with a brilliant white as Talos' eyes glowed with a piercing dark, thunder rumbling and lightning crackling as their power rose ever higher, the ground quaking beneath them, their hair ties fluttering away as their hair flowed in the surging power.
"We best get moving!" Kang shouted as Claire and Talos collided, a powerful shock-wave pulsing out as Fires of Red and Violet surged around the city.
"To the Magnificent Turtle Duck!" Kang shouted, quickly running to the Derelict estate, followed by everyone else. Zu picked Toph up off the ground and carried her on his shoulders.
"You know I can run just fine, Zu!" Toph lightly scolded him.
"No offence, Chief. But I'm not taking any chances," Zu respectfully replied as he sprinted.
"You Big Softy," Toph jabbed him with a smirk as Zu smiled back.
Claire and Talos' battle raged on atop the ruins of the Heart of Chaos, fists colliding, obsidian rubble and roaring flames being thrown left and right before Talos swiftly sucker-punched Claire's jaw, shooting her across the city and just barely missing the one-year war memorial, Claire's friends watched her fly by as Talos pursued her. Kang and the others arrived at the Magnificent Turtle Duck, but Kang lightly gasped at it.
"Okay, who crashed it?" Kang asked in a melancholy tone.
"ME! NOW COME ON, LET'S MOVE!" Khana shouted, taking aback Kang as he opened the shell for everyone to climb in. Kang, Lin, Khana and Sky took to the cockpit whilst everyone else took their seats within the shell's interior. Kang threw himself into the pilot's seat, quickly revving up the Magnificent Turtle Duck's engines.
"So, Kang. What's the plan? Fly away as far as we can?" Lin asked as she sat next to him.
"No, we're going to follow the fight and do whatever we can to help Claire!" Kang adamantly replied as the Magnificent Turtle Duck took off into the skies.
"Didn't you say we'd 'certainly die' if we did?" Sky worryingly asked.
"I know what I said, but we're not leaving Claire alone, no matter how much she feels she needs to be," Kang sharply replied as he gave chase to the duel of Avatars.
Claire descended towards the water, quickly freezing it and landing atop the ice, but Talos came down with a mighty swing of his blade and fist, shattering the ice and spraying the water into the skies above whilst Claire weightlessly drifted away from the falling water, the False Avatar flying up to catch her.
Claire swiftly materialised the Edge of Balance to her hand, clashing blades with Talos once more as they ascended into the skies, lightning crackling along the chaotic skies as hurricanes formed in the distance.
"Kang, are you sure the Magnificent Turtle Duck can take all this?" Khana asked as the Magnificent Turtle Duck shook.
"Never doubt my creations!" Kang sharply replied as he returned his focus to the skies.
Claire and Talos surged across the skies, slashing and colliding with their blades and elements, but as they duelled a bolt of lightning fired at Claire, seizing her attention, the Avatar outstretched her arms to it, channelling the lightning through her body and redirecting it towards Talos. However, he did the same, redirecting it into the ocean as it cascaded.
The sheer power of the lightning briefly paralysed Claire and Talos in their redirecting poses, the two silently floating as they blinked their normal eyes, their hair stuck up whilst a thin layer of black covered their faces.
"Shall we take five?" Talos nonchalantly asked.
"Good idea," Claire replied with equal nonchalance. The two lowered their arms, cracking their necks as Claire pulled out a small amount of water from her satchel, rubbing it along her face and in her hair, bringing it back to normal before flicking it over to Talos, who swiftly caught it.
"Ah, thank you," Talos replied as he did the same as Claire, flicking it back to her as he pulled out two hair ties.
"Hair tie?" Talos asked as he went to lend Claire one.
"No thanks, it'll probably just blow out again," Claire nonchalantly replied as Talos sceptically looked at his hair tie.
"Good point," Talos said as he put it back in his pocket.
"Shall we continue?" Talos asked.
"Let's," Claire replied, their eyes glowing once more as they engaged each other again, the two unleashed a mighty roar of fire at one another, the fires exploding in a display of red and violet as Kang quickly banked away from them.
Claire used the cover of the flames and smoke to fly around and sneak attack Talos, catching him by surprise and sucker-punching him into the remnant explosion, the force of Claire's strike threw Talos towards the south, the Avatar quickly giving chase as the False Avatar righted himself.
Claire lunged towards him, striking out with her fist once more but Talos clasped her attack, pulling her in and slamming his knee into her gut, knocking the wind out of her before unleashing a mighty gale down upon her, throwing Claire down towards the ocean, splashing into it and quickly forming an air bubble around her head.
Talos smirked and launched himself down into the ocean, forming an air bubble around his head as the two duelled underwater, slashing and whipping at one another with the water which surrounded them.
Claire shot herself like a torpedo at Talos, forming a small flame on her fist then delivering a blazing uppercut to Talos, launching him from the ocean as the fire roared through its surface. Claire quickly gave chase, preparing the Edge of Balance as Talos spun uncontrollably threw the skies, The Avatar swung her blade at the False Avatar, but he just barely deflected her attack with his own blade, as Claire swiftly countered with a powerful blast of air from her palms, blasting Talos further into the south.
Claire pursued him across the world, as did the Magnificent Turtle Duck, but as he fell, Talos didn't correct himself as he hurtled towards Kyoshi island, letting himself land in the ocean, Claire eventually catching up to him, seeing the ripples of his fall amongst the turbulent waves.
"Where did you go?" Claire muttered as she scanned the surroundings, but as she did, Lava erupted around the perimeter of Kyoshi Island as the island began lifting into the skies above, with Talos underneath it. Claire gawked at it in awe, as did Kang, Lin, Khana and Sky.
The False Avatar grinned at Claire as he held Kyoshi Island up with his hand.
"Here's a gift! For all the birthdays I've missed!" Talos roared as he threw Kyoshi island at Claire.
"Oh, you cheeky little..." Claire muttered as she watched the island approach, floating firm and outstretching her hands, bending the island to her will, barely stopping it in its tracks and dropping it back into the ocean.
But as she did Talos arched towards her over the island, his blade poised to strike, but as he mercilessly swung his blade, Claire quickly parried his attack with her sword, the metal clinking reverberating across the ocean, sending out a shock-wave and blowing the two Avatar's back.
"I think it's high time to settle this," Claire told him as a whirlpool formed beneath them.
"That's right... Come on!" Talos encouraged her as the water swirled up into the surrounding air, and as it did, a crack began forming in the sky, catching Khana's attention.
"Kang... any idea what that is?" Khana worryingly asked as she gestured to the crack forming in the sky, several others forming as Claire and Talos recommenced their battle.
"Oh, that's not good!" Kang softly exclaimed.
"What is it?" Sky asked as he squinted at the forming cracks.
"If I'm right... Claire is a vessel of Order, whilst Talos is a vessel of Chaos... and because of their battle, the constant clashing of negative and positive energy is sending Our World and the Spirit World on a one-way collision course!" Kang frantically theorised.
"So basically if they don't stop fighting soon we're doomed," Lin replied with her arms crossed.
"Precisely!" Kang replied with his prosthetic finger raised.
"But... Claire's winning right?" Khana uneasily asked as they watched them duel, Fire, Air and Water thrashing around as the cracks grew ever further.
"No... she isn't... but neither is Talos. They're evenly matched!" Kang exclaimed as he watched them.
"Oh, we're doomed," Sky dauntingly replied.
"Not if we can help her!" Kang told them, but a daunting realisation came upon them.
"And that person is going to have to be you," Khana replied as Kang nodded.
"Khana, take control of the Magnificent Turtle Duck," Kang told her as he handed her the steering stick. The Kyoshi Warrior took it without hesitation as Kang stood up.
"Shout when Talos is vulnerable then open the shell, and Lin you slam that door shut when she does!" Kang instructed them, the two nodding as Kang made his way into the shell room, catching everyone's curiosity as he did.
"Is everything alright, Kang?" Zu asked as Kang dauntingly looked to him, silence falling on the room.
Talos delivered a mighty blow to Claire's gut, propelling her up into the air and towards a crack in the sky, gawking at it in awe before chasing after her. Claire flew through the crack, appearing in the Spirit World, shortly followed by Talos, poised to strike whilst Khana watched them fly through, soaring towards the crack.
"We're not going into that thing, are we?" Sky frantically asked.
"Yes, we are!" Khana confidently replied as she shot through the crack, following Claire and Talos into the Spirit World.
The duel of Avatars surged across the skies, parts of their surrounding area warping to the Chaos whilst others remained unaffected as the two soared over Iroh's teashop, shortly followed by the Magnificent Turtle Duck.
"Kick his butt, Avatar!" Xiong cheered as he pumped his paws in the air.
Talos slammed Claire into the side of a mountain, cleaving out part of it with her. But Claire quickly regained her composure, bending the remaining piece of the mountain up, melting them into Lava and unleashing a barrage of lava bullets, but Talos weaved through them like they weren't even there, outstretching his hand and unleashing five raging streams of violet fire towards Claire.
She quickly leapt into the air, kicking out five blasts of air from the ball of her foot in quick succession, striking and evaporating the violet fire as Talos flew in towards her, blade ready to cut her down. But Claire summoned the Edge of Balance to her hand, standing atop the centre of the cleaved mountain. The Blades of the Avatars collided, Claire gripped the handle and Spine as the sheer force of Talos pushed her bag, the Avatar digging her feet in as Talos over-zealously smirked, but Claire fiercely glared back at him.
"You will accept..." Claire growled, dismissing the Edge of Balance and ducking under Talos' blade as it slashed over her, leaping up and grasping Talos by his throat.
"MY EXISTENCE!" Claire shouted, slamming Talos into the cleaved mountain, the entire monolith crumbling as they fell through. Talos shook his head as the two descended through the rubble, clashing once more.
"Why? WHY!?" Talos snarled as Claire parried and dodged his attacks.
"Why do you still rival me!? I have sacrificed everything EVERYTHING to achieve my destiny, to achieve this power!" Talos shouted as the two clash their blades, standing steadfast amongst the rubble.
"So why!? WHO DO YOU STILL RIVAL ME!?" Talos agonisingly asked as Claire shook her head.
"Being the Avatar isn't about power!" Claire replied, pushing him off and slashing at him as he stumbled.
"It's about fighting to your last breath to protect what's important," Claire told him, lowering the Edge of Balance to her side as Talos shook all over.
"You threw away everything you ever had, me, Kazel, Unalaq, The Northern Tribe... it's no wonder you aren't worthy!" Claire proclaimed as Talos snarled, roaring and charging at the Avatar, blade poised to strike, but Claire dismissed the Edge of Balance, pulling an earthen gauntlet to her hand and uppercutting Talos, slamming him through a looming crack in the sky, swiftly giving chase as the Magnificent Turtle Duck followed.
The two appeared back in the mortal world, Talos dazed from Claire's attack as she began bending up a gigantic tsunami behind her, shocking Talos and Khana as she flew through the crack.
Claire mercilessly threw the tsunami at Talos, catching the Magnificent turtle Duck in the crossfire, but Khana retracted the wings in time, piercing through the Tsunami and launching out of the other side, quickly ejecting the wings once more.
Talos watched the Tsunami approach, taking a deep breath as he punched his fist through it, weaving the Tsunami around him and throwing it back into the ocean, but as he did, Claire leapt in with the Edge of Balance, cleaving through Talos, quickly grappling him by his hair and throwing him across the skies.
The two soared across the Earth Kingdom, Talos' wounds quickly healing as Claire loomed over him, intending to strike once more, and as their fight rage on, Eamon saw them fly by, smirking at them as they did.
"You've got this, Claire!" Eamon loudly cheered as the tips of Claire's and Talos' blades collided, sending out a shock-wave as Talos fell back towards the Ocean.
The two Avatars landed near the shore as Claire slammed down on the ground, letting loose a spiky monolithic rock formation, but Talos landed atop the highest one, looming over Claire as she stood on the lowest point.
"Oh, great... now he has the high-ground," Claire groaned as Talos chuckled to himself.
"This has been quite the battle, Claire. But now you're at quite the severe disadvantage!" Talos taunted her. But before Claire could reply, the Magnificent Turtle Duck soared behind Talos as Khana quickly turned to Kang.
"Kang, quickly! He's monologuing!" Khana shouted as she hit the shell button and Lin metal-bent the door shut. Kang began arching his arms around his body as lightning surged across the room. Claire looked at Kang, seeing the lightning surge.
"Let go of my earthly tethers..." Claire scoffed as she shook her head, feeling an invisible weight lean onto her as she looked up to Talos
"Without those tethers, I never would have come this far," Claire muttered to herself as Talos raised an eyebrow to her.
Whilst Claire kept Talos distracted, Kang brought his hands together in front of him, a faint blue glow emitting around him as Claire quickly bent the water from her satchel, throwing it at Talos, soaking him as the False Avatar bewildering looked to himself and Claire, and with a merciless thrust of his arm, Kang shot a bolt of lightning from his fingertips, Azula's spirit appearing and mirroring his movements as Zuko's heart skipped a beat.
Azula's spirit turned her head to the Fire Lord, smiling to him as the bolts of Kang and Azula coiled around each other, striking Talos directly. The False Avatar agonisingly roared as the lightning surged across his soaked body, descending from his Avatar State, as Claire began leaping up the spiked monolith towards him, and as the lightning ceased, Claire delivered a mighty hay-maker to Talos' Jaw, knocking him from the monolith and towards the ocean.
Claire swiftly froze the water beneath Talos, causing him to land and slide along it, however, he quickly stood back up, charging at Claire as she landed, but with a spin and thrust of both her fists, she knocked him back to the edge of the ice.
Talos desperately unleashed a torrent of Water at Claire, but she bent up a bow of ice before her, parting the water like a ship as Talos desperately roared, his body crawling with electricity as he unleashed a stream of violet fire, but Claire met it with her own stream of crimson flames, overpowering Talos as he stumbled back.
Claire bent the ocean water to her side, letting it flow towards Talos as she unleashed an icy breath upon it, Talos charged through the icy water, painfully roaring as his body slowly stopped, his limbs freezing as he outstretched his arm to her, but as the ice breath ceased, Talos became completely frozen, standing before Claire like an ice statue.
"FINISH IT!" Kang shouted from the Magnificent Turtle Duck as Claire sprinted along the ice towards Talos, her hand turning a translucent blue as he leapt over him, swiping her hand from the crown of Talos' head down to the base of his spine, the ice shattering as she cleaved Raava's spiritual essence from him. Immeasurable pain surged over Talos' body as he fell forward, and Claire stood triumphant with Raava in hand.
"Raava... welcome back," Claire sombrely spoke as Raava's spiritual essence infused with Claire, feeling the rush of energy course over her body before descending from the Avatar State, but Talos forced himself back up, his body limping over as his legs quaked.
"No... give... them back," Talos demanded as he shuddered, but Claire shook her head.
"It is... my destiny to be Avatar!" Talos added as he limped forward.
"No, Talos. I've seen what happens with you as the Avatar... I can't allow that to come to pass!" Claire told him with a heavy stare.
"What!?" Talos growled as he slowly began standing up straight, stumbling onto his knee, his breath laboured.
"The Cycle would end if Raava and Vaatu chose you, wake up and face the reality that you weren't born to be the Avatar!" Claire scolded him, taking aback Talos as he snarled at her, the avatar letting out a heavy sigh as she gazed upon him,
"Raava... will he live?" Claire asked as a tiny Raava appeared on her shoulder.
"I took the Chaos with me when you pulled me from his body. Your friend will live," Raava informed her before fading back into Claire, remembering the advice given to her by Aang, Roku and Kyoshi.
"I won't see you die a second time. So, I'll spare your life in the name of our past friendship," Claire told him as she turned her back to Talos.
"Don't make me regret it," Claire adamantly told him as she strode away towards the Magnificent Turtle Duck. Talos gritted his teeth as he gazed down at the icy ground, glaring up at Claire as a tear streaked from his eye.
"Trust me, Claire..." Talos growled as he forced himself back up, lunging in towards Claire a final time.
"YOU WON'T LIVE TO REGRET IT!" Talos proclaimed as he poised his blade to strike.
Claire closed her eyes, grimacing as she summoned the Edge of Balance to her hand, swiftly pirouetting around and cleaving Talos' blade arm off, shocking him as Claire spun the blade back to her side, the tip aimed at Talos, and with a merciless thrust, Claire stabbed Talos through his stomach, blood spurting from the wound as Talos doubled over towards Claire, and with a sorrowful inhale, she ripped the sword from Talos, her friend stumbling back as he placed his hand to the wound, lifting his hand to see his palm soaked with blood, his vision becoming hazy, his breath raspy.
"I guess Unalaq... was right," Talos muttered as he fell onto the ice, gazing up to the chaos above him.
"Was this... always to be my fate? Or did envy... set me on this path?" Talos softly asked himself through the pain, his life ebbing away.
"I guess now... I'll never know," Talos finished with a soft smirk, his head tilting to the side as the life faded from his eyes. Claire closed her eyes as tears streaked down her face, The Edge of Balance dematerialising.
Kang quickly rushed back into the Magnificent Turtle Duck cockpit, Khana relinquishing control as she heard Kang approach.
Kang slowly landed the Magnificent Turtle Duck on the water next to Claire's icy island, retracting the wings as the Magnificent Turtle Duck floated atop the water. Kang opened the shell, allowing everyone within to stand up and move out of the room, Sheng quickly marching out and, fixing his hair as he stepped off the Magnificent Turtle Duck, shortly followed by his fellow confused Governors.
"Avatar! We thank you for every-" "Shut up," Claire growled, cutting Sheng off mid-sentence, her words taking him aback.
Kang, Lin, Sky and Khana stepped out from the cockpit, seeing Claire stood over the corpse of Talos. Claire turned to face the Governors whilst the others watched from the interior.
"Do you think there is any glory in this, that warrants any praise from you people!?" Claire snapped at them, Sheng stumbling over his words as the other Governors worryingly looked to one another.
"It didn't have to end like this, but he... he..." Claire sobbed as she clenched her fists, her muscles tightening.
Kang, Khana, Sky and Lin ran off of the Magnificent Turtle Duck, seeing Talos' corpse laid down on the ice, the mad inventor letting out a soft sigh as he approached her, outstretching his arms as Claire fell into him, sobbing into his chest as Kang softly hugged her. Khana tried to approach, but Zu placed a hand on her shoulder, shaking his head as he did.
"I'm so sorry, Claire... I had hoped I could prevent this from happening, but the fight fell to you," Kang softly spoke to her as his hand cradled her head. Claire's tears slowed down as she gently pushed herself back up, looking up to Kang.
"It had to be me... a stranger defeating him... it would've been a disservice," Claire shakily replied as she looked to Talos, trying to hold in her tears.
"Do you want to give him one last goodbye?" Kang asked as Claire nodded, slowly approaching Talos, placing herself before him and forming a boat of ice around him, steadily pulling in the water from the ocean, letting the water partially engulfed the ice boat before pushing the water back out, letting the water carry Talos out to the ocean, and as it sailed into the distance, Claire outstretched her hand, shooting out a fireball from her palm, the fire arch towards the Iceboat, striking Talos' corpse and igniting it as the boat continued sailing away.
"Goodbye, Talos..." Claire muttered as Kang approached her, watching the Iceboat sail away.
"Come on, let's get back to the city," Kang told her as Claire nodded. Everyone made way for Claire and Kang as they walked into the Cockpit, followed by Khana, Sky and Lin.
The others retook their seats inside the Shell as Kang closed it, ejecting the wings and taking off into the skies.
The Magnificent Turtle Duck soared across the calm, chaotic skies, the bleak darkness slowly breaking away as the sun shined through the parting Chaos. Claire noticed the sun shining onto her, looking up from her slumped position. Kang and Claire looked to each other, briefly smiling before Kang returned his focus to the skies, seeing Republic City in the distance.
The Magnificent Turtle Duck gently touched down outside the ruins of the Heart of Chaos, opening up a piece of the shell for everyone to climb out.
Gao and Sheng jumped out from the Magnificent Turtle Duck, looking around at the illuminated ruins as Gao put his hands to his hips, letting out a heavy sigh.
"Once again... this city is a mess," Gao gently spoke as Sheng patted his shoulder.
"Gao, this city is always going to be a mess," Sheng replied with a wry chuckle.
Everyone else leapt out of the Magnificent Turtle Duck, gleefully taking in the rays of the sun whilst Kang, Claire, Khana, Sky and Lin walked towards the ruins of the Heart of Chaos.
"If you don't mind me asking Ava- Claire... could you clean up this mess?" Lin asked as Claire smiled at her.
"I'll do my best," Claire replied as she strode towards the ruins.
"Vaatu, Raava, do you think you can lend a hand?" Claire asked as Vaatu and Raava appeared on her shoulders.
"Certainly, Avatar," Raava replied as the two faded back into her.
Claire closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them, her eyes flushing with a brilliant white light whilst a chaotic black aura surrounded her. She ascended with an Air spout, flexing her arms out to the piercing cliffs of obsidian and earth, pulling them back into the ground, followed by outstretching her arms towards the Obsidian pedestal, slowly pulling it back into the ground and compacting it into the surface, flattening the ground beneath her, finally, she bent the crystals of the ruins and the surrounding water up into the air, flicking the water back into the ocean and gently laying the crystals along the streets leading up to where the Heart of Chaos once stood. Claire slowly hovered back down as she descended from the Avatar State.
"Better?" Claire asked as she turned to Lin.
"It's an improvement, that's for sure," Lin replied with a smile whilst everyone else approached, looking around at the crystals.
"It's a shame about City hall..." Hou sombrely spoke as he looked to where it once stood. But Sokka slowly limped over to him, patting him on the back.
"Yeah... but hey it was due a renovation!" Sokka replied with a nonchalant smirk.
"And with all of us, we'll be able to rebuild it better than ever!" Ho tun told them, swiftly joining the conversation.
"And a statue of all of us in front of it!" Li told them as he put out his fingers like a picture frame.
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Li-" Hou replied with a smirk.
Claire looked to the ruins with a heavy gaze as Kang strode up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Even when the ones we love are gone... slain by our hands or not, they still live on," Kang told her with a soft smile as he gestured to his heart.
"In here," Kang added, Claire wearily smiling as Khana and Sky walked up behind them, Khana wrapping her arm around Claire's shoulders whilst Sky placed his hand on Kang's shoulder.
"And you'll always have us around!" Khana happily told her.
"You got that right!" Sky added with a smirk as Claire looked to her friends, a tear streaking from her eye as she smiled at them, the four looking to the blue sunny skies above them.