Racing through the tunnels, it wasn't long before I could hear the fighting going on so I quickened my pace before bursting out into the open catacomb Aang, Iroh and I had entered before. Surveying the scene, I saw Zuko free his sister Azula from Katara's water whips which she had locked around the princess's feet and hand, intending to slam her down before facing the water bender himself. Shaking my head, I bit back my frustrated tears and rushed forwards, throwing out my hand in order to gather water from the channel as I ran before throwing it between Katara and Zuko who had started to fight each other.
"I thought you had changed!" Katara yelled in accusation as she extinguished the fireballs Zuko had thrown at her before slamming her water arms down at Zuko who had formed his own long whips of moving, breathing fire.
"I have changed." Before either could attack again, my water burst between them before I whipped it back, moving it aside as I brought both of their attention on me.
"Zuko! Don't do this, please. If you are ever going to trust me on something, please trust me now. Walk away from this." I warned him, starting to move closer and circle slightly until I stood between him and Katara, both to shield her and protect him, but she stopped fighting in order to listen to what I have to say. "Please. Walk away with me." Pleading with him softly, I clenching my fists as I struggled to hold myself together. "Zuko…you will regret this decision for the rest of your life unless you correct it now."
"This is not a mistake, this is my own choice to make, and I have made my decision. Get out of my way Kayo!" I refused, staying perfectly still as Zuko took up a fighting stance. I stepped closer, unafraid of him because I knew he could never hurt me. I was telling the truth when I'd said I knew everything about him, and I also knew that he cared about me. I wasn't entirely sure how much or what that translated to, but I knew it was true.
"Please. For me?" Curling my hand around his arm I pulled it down slightly, opening up a way for me to lean upwards and kiss him sincerely, wanting nothing more than to just take him away from all this and run away so we could hide from everything. The war, his crazy sister, all of it. Zuko froze in place, pressing his eyes shut in torment as I kissed him to try and pull him back from the brink, but when I let him go, I saw the same resolve in his eyes as before, unwavering and unchanged.
"Kayo, I won't ask again. Get out of my way." I'd…I'd lost him. He was gone, and there was nothing I could do about it. Shaking my head I backed away from him, crying as I gripped at my chest and felt it almost collapse under the pressure. "Don't look at me like that, I'm doing this for your own good. I'm going to bring you home!"
"I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME!" Yelling with a sudden burst of emotion, the water in the channel exploded like a geyser, causing Katara's eyes to widen as she stared at the sudden eruption as I raged with a fury that I had never felt before as all the grief and sensation of loss hit me like a hurricane. "Not with you. Not like this. I refuse to go home with you, I'd rather die! I'm not going to hold back anymore, even if I have to drag you away by your foot, I'm going to stop you Zuko!" Eyes darkening, Zuko lowered his stance ready to strike.
"Have it your way." Zuko struck at me with the full force of his fire bending so I rushed to bring up a geyser wall, yelling from the effort. Katara rushed to try and go help Aang but Zuko cut her off with a fire whip, forcing her to stop so I sent the wall of water crashing over him.
"Go! I'll hold him." Calling to Katara, I took up a water bending stance and focused on Zuko, pushing all thoughts and memories out of my mind to enter a tranquil state, but no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't get him out of my head. He was fast and powerful, ferocious as he struck with all of his might, probably fuelling his bending with the very same rage and betrayal I felt. We clashed against one another like opposing waves, refusing to break or give way. Pulling two large streams of water towards me I formed two rings around me, punching forwards repeatedly to create ice projectiles which forced Zuko to dodge before he could blast through them.
As the fire came shooting towards me, I brought the rings together to douse the flames before creating extended whips, whipping at the ground to try and catch Zuko's feet but he continued to dodge and move, making it impossible to catch him. "Don't make me hurt you Kayo!"
"Too late for that, Zuko." I bit back, gritting my teeth as I struggled to maintain control. My water bending was starting to get sloppy as I continually lost focus, not used to applying my bending to a combat situation but I continued to hold Zuko off from Katara and Aang as much as I could, even if it meant throwing everything into a single wave to douse him and continually pull him back before creating an ice wall which was several feet tall. Too tall to jump over. "It's not going to be that easy!" Zuko glowered at me sharply, taking in a deep breath before unleashing a fire strike which made my eyes widen in fear.
I didn't have enough water to deflect it, all I could do was dodge but as I did so, another blast of fire shattered my ice wall and caused it to burst outwards, debris slamming against me and several hit my head as I cried out and threw up my arms instinctively to cover my head, hearing Zuko yell my name in a panic as I then remembered the fire. Lifting my face, I was barely able to see the condensed golden flames before they slammed against me directly, burning at my arms and tearing a scream of agony from my body as the heat licked at my skin and scorched at my face as I was thrown back.
Striking the ground with so much force I momentarily lost consciousness, though even whilst blacked out I could still feel the pain from the burns which tore up my arms, face and neck. If they hurt this much, then it had to be bad. I felt someone drop at my side, shifting me so that they could slide their arm underneath my head before I was lifted off the ground, calling my name fearfully. Cold water suddenly lapped against me and I felt the burning sensation fade away as my body was submerged up to my neck, but without the pain I lost the final shred of consciousness and fell completely under until I woke up later.
I was still in the catacombs, but a disturbance in the ground around me had brought me back. The ground was shaking so I blinked, focusing gradually on the blurry images of the crystals above me before I suddenly realised I was surrounded by Dai Li agents. Crap! Reacting on instinct I flung my arms and legs up, whirling my feet as I stood on one hand to make the water spiral around me and shoot outwards, hitting the agents in the face and freezing their heads in order to throw them backwards. Katara had formed a giant ring around her with several tendrils in order to fight off the agents surrounding her, and the prince and princess were also closing in on the Avatar with agents at their backs too.
When the burning sensation on my arms returned, I spluttered out a cry, turning my hands over to see them red raw and severely burned. I could feel it all over my body, my clothes burned in several places including my front and legs so I quickly surrounded myself in a cocoon of water, holding my breath before focusing on my own energy and chi, pressing my fists together to focus on healing. The entire bubble lit up and a soothing sensation overcame me as I took the time I'd bought for myself in order to heal. I knew I wouldn't have more than a few moments, but it was all I needed to completely heal the lighter burns and reduce the severity of those which were worse, especially those on my arms.
Sensing movement in the water, I reacted by throwing out my leg and sending a column of ice outwards, hitting the Dai Li agent in the stomach and doubling him over before the bubble exploded in a flurry of ice shards which forced them to raise defensive walls, allowing me to quickly escape from their encirclement and look over towards the Avatar. He'd encased himself inside a crystal tomb which glowed from within, making me frown momentarily before a Dai Li agent suddenly appeared and the earth rose around my foot, trapping me with a yelp. I fought them off, using pure desperation and willpower to keep myself from being captured until all at once, a rush of power rippled outwards and I sensed it in the air before I turned and saw the crystal dome explode.
The backlash of the cosmic energy which surrounded the Avatar as he rose up in the air, glowing all over with power was enough to rattle me to the bone, staring in awe as he rose above everyone. He started to raise his hands, preparing to deal with all of his enemies at once when I saw movement behind him. Before I could react, Azula shot a powerful bolt of lightning out of her fingertips, striking Aang in the back which caused a resounding shock of horrified disbelief to course through me, unable to comprehend or process what happened. Then, all I felt was a hellfire of wrath towards the princess, who had killed a child in front of me. The sound I released was something I never knew I was capable of as Katara rushed over on a wave and I pulled up all the remaining water available, even dragging it out of the waterfall as I swept away all the remaining Dai Li agents then slashed at Azula, the wave moving towards her which forced her to jump into the air, just as I expected.
Holding out a hand, I created a spiked ice wheel before I flung it, letting it arc through the air straight at the princess who had no means to dodge and no time to do it before she saw the ice weapon, having been too focused on the wave. It was probably the most violent thing I'd ever done, as I fully intended to hurt Azula for Aang's sake, and when I saw the scarlet rush of blood from the scratch on her cheek, I couldn't help but feel a cold satisfaction well up inside me. Quickly looking over to Katara and Aang, I rushed over to them by surfing the water, running to their side in order to help somehow.
Having recovered from my attack, Azula growled in fury as she and Zuko approached us, fists ready to strike but before they could make it too close to Katara and I with Aang, a sudden blast of fire hit the ground and cut them off, forcing them to turn to their new target just as I had moved to cover Aang and Katara with an outstretched arm. "You've got to get out of here! I'll hold them off as long as I can!"
"Iroh no!" I flung out my hand towards him as he expertly took on Zuko, Azula and the Dai Li with precise, controlled fire bending. Katara quickly pulled Aang's arm around her shoulder in order to escape, heading towards the waterfall as I staggered to my feet, starting towards Iroh.
"You must leave, Kayo! Go now!"
"I'm not leaving you!" I continued to move forwards, intending to help him, save him even, but Iroh quickly blasted the ground near my feet to force me to move back, my eyes widening at him as he looked at me with calm but resolute eyes.
"You must go with them. That is your destiny, little Kayo." I hated the fact that I knew Iroh must be telling the truth, and I hated that this meant it really was goodbye. Choking on a sob, I cried out in frustration before I slammed a wave at a couple of Dai Li in anger, sucking in a breath before beginning to turn away, pausing for only a moment to shout back.
"Uncle Iroh! I'll come rescue you someday! I love you!" Sprinting to the waterfall just as Katara reached it, I grabbed hold of Aang and lifted him up completely so that she didn't have to struggle, giving her a firm nod which she returned.
"Thank you." Using her water bending she lifted all three of us up the water and out of the catacombs, making our escape before anybody could follow us. In my arms Aang was limp and lifeless, I could sense no breathing at all, just a slim flicker of chi which was quickly fading.
"You need to heal him, now! You can do something right? We have to hurry!" I said to Katara as we rushed to the surface, appearing in the old sector of the palace where a water vent blocked our way but Katara slashed it open with a fine whip of water, cutting straight through the iron. Wow, water could do that?
"Hurry, we have to get away from here!" Katara led the way as I continued to hold Aang until we were out in the open, where Appa was already flying down to meet us, as if knowing exactly where we'd be. His bond with Aang must be incredibly strong to know where he was at a time like this. We all climbed on board and I quickly let Aang slide down to Katara so that she could heal him, all of us watching with baited breath as she pulled out a necklace with a vial of water inside it, drawing it out and using that to heal Aang's wound at his back. When the glowing water disappeared, for a moment I feared we had lost him when nothing happened, but then Aang jolted and drew in a quick gasp of air, blinking blearily before losing consciousness.
This…wasn't good. Somehow I just ended up coming along with these people, who probably still considered me an enemy. "What happened?" Sokka demanded to know as Katara continued to hold Aang, keeping him close to her in a protective embrace.
"Azula shot Aang with lightning. We almost didn't make it out." A tense silence fell over everyone before several pairs of eyes turned towards me. "Thank you for helping us back there, but that doesn't exactly make you our friend." Katara said to me coldly, holding Aang a little closer as if to drive the point home that I wasn't going to get my hands on him. "You were with Zuko, after all."
"I was with Zuko because he saved my life when I almost drowned at sea. That's why I was on his ship." I murmured in answer, lifting a hand to dry my eyes. "We became close, and I thought we were friends. I guess he didn't care enough to listen to me when I told him following his sister was a dumb idea. Look, I know it's looked like I've been on Zuko's side this entire time, but I've actually been neutral. I didn't want to be part of this war, any part, but now that's all changed. Things are different now, and I'm with you." Lifting my head, I could stop the tears from falling, but I refused to let them make me seem weak. "I'm going to fight, and it'll be to bring the Fire Nation back into order. No matter what it takes, I'm with you."
"You can trust her, she's a good person." Toph immediately spoke for me and I smiled at her, grateful that she was supporting me.
"Well, I guess for now we can't exactly just throw you off Appa, so you might as well come with us." Sokka said with a sigh. "But we'll be watching you very closely!" He warned and I nodded my head.
"Understood." It was then that I realised that there was another man and a…bear? A bear, on Appa's back too. "Um…who are they?" Everyone looked at the people I didn't know before the guy gave a meek wave.
"Oh, that's Bosco and the Earth King." Stunned for a second, I just sighed and rolled with it, too tired and emotional to respond in any way. Instead I just lay down on Appa's back and curled up, making it look like I'd gone to sleep but in truth, I stayed awake all while we flew, thinking tumultuous thoughts in my head until I thought they were going to drive me insane, all the while flying through a starry night sky that on any other night, would have been utterly beautiful.
