Azula launched a blast of flame at her three opponents, and with a sweep of his arms Zuko sent it flying off harmlessly to either side.
"You've escaped me too many times." His sister said. "You've embarrassed me, left me alone and friendless, betrayed me. And after you said you cared about me too!"
She narrowed her eyes. "This time you will pay. I will make sure of it."
She threw another fireball, which Zuko deflected before responding with one of his own. Azula sidestepped that one smartly, before blasting one of Mai's throwing knives clean out of the air.
"Yeah, you said something like that last time," Zuko muttered, before lashing out at Azula with a firewhip. No sooner had she ducked under it then she was confronted by another wall of flame coming from the other direction. She jumped up, powering herself to quite a height using her firebending to boost her, and then began raining fire down upon Zuko, Mai and Ty Lee.
Zuko could defend himself against Azula quite easily, but having to prevent all three of them from getting hit was beginning to take its toll. He threw up an enormous plume of flame towards Azula, that billowed outwards as it approached her.
He wasn't trying to harm her with this; just obscure her view. Azula dispelled the fire just in time to see one of Mai's knives whizzing towards her, and this time she didn't have enough time to react.
The knife grazed her leg, causing her to lose concentration. The fire supporting her suddenly disappeared, with a little bit of assistance from Zuko, and Azula plummeted back down to the ground. Ty Lee rushed towards her, hoping to chi-block her before she regained her composure. Unfortunately for her, Azula was faster than that, and she jumped back onto her feet as her friend approached.
Ty Lee was fast, but Azula was one of the few people capable of standing up to her in a hand-to-hand fight, and so they circled around each other, trading blows, as Mai and Zuko tried to find an opening in which to strike without hitting Ty Lee.
As Katara moved her healing-water over the place Azula's lightning had hit Appa, Suki, Toph and Sokka had their attention drawn to one of the hatches opening nearby.
"The crew of this airship knows we're here!" Sokka warned.
Sure enough, the hatch flipped upwards and a head, wearing one of those skull-mask helmets, poked out. He was met by Sokka's club to his head, and was gone as soon as he had appeared; shouts were heard from below as his body collected more of his comrades on the way down.
"How is Appa doing?" Toph asked.
"He's badly hurt, but he'll live," Katara replied.
"Well, that's something. How are we going to take out these airships?"
Sokka looked out over the fleet, seeing jets of flame bursting from the top of one of the ships, where Zuko, Azula, Mai and Ty Lee were fighting. He could not see Aang, or Ozai for that matter, anywhere, but he was confident the Avatar had the situation under control. By now the ships were closing rapidly on the North Pole, where the members of the Order of the White Lotus stood by to defend.
And then a flash of inspiration came to him.
The Avatar, it transpired, did not have the situation under control.
As he sank further into the murky water, his lungs screaming and his limbs refusing to respond to his commands, Aang was forced to face the very real possibility that this might be it.
He might be about to die, and there would be no iceberg to save him this time.
He shut his eyes, and was greeted by the apparition of an old man with a white beard and the red robes of Fire Nation nobility.
"Aang," Roku greeted him.
"It's not going well," Aang spoke, surprising himself given he didn't think he would be able to underwater. "I can't access the Avatar State and I can't defeat Ozai."
"Can't you?" Roku asked. "Is this that business with the last chakra again?"
Aang nodded.
"Well, personal attachment is a wonderful thing, so I don't blame you. I had a wife, Ta Min, you saw her. I loved her dearly. Kyoshi had Rangi, you saw her too, I believe. Kuruk had a wife too, only for a short time unfortunately."
Aang could only nod, wondering why Roku was telling him this.
"Of course, we were Avatars and so had to do the Avatar's duty; but we were also lovers."
Roku looked Aang square in the face. "The Avatar is perfectly capable of doing both, as long as they remember where their priorities must lie. Do not forget that, Aang."
Roku faded, and Aang was left to contemplate what he had said.
As long as they remember where their priorities must lie...
He was the Avatar, so this was obviously his duty to the world. But past Avatars had done this while having plenty of earthly attachments. Why couldn't Aang do the same?
Aang closed his eyes and concentrated. He imagined his earthly attachments; Appa, Momo, his Team Avatar, Katara. Especially Katara. He imagined all of the people tying him to the world. He didn't let them go, not entirely, as the Guru had instructed him to, for he believed he did not have to. Instead, he mentally placed them behind his Avatar duties, a lower priority, but still there.
Something clicked in his mind.
When Aang next opened his eyes, they were glowing.
Firelord Ozai blasted over the cold waves of the northern ocean, and scanned it for any sign of the Avatar.
He was vaguely aware of the sounds of battle coming from above him, but he had Azula and an entire fleet of airships. His enemies, meanwhile, had one sky-bison and seven teenagers. Even if they had proven themselves surprisingly and annoyingly proficient at defying the odds, this was a fight they could not win. Therefore, Ozai felt safe making absolutely sure the Avatar was drowned before he went to rejoin his fleet.
It had been awfully considerate of the Avatar, to put himself in the sea like that. He hadn't really had to do anything to win this fight; he just set fire to the glider and watched as the Avatar crashed and burned. Given how easily the last fight had been won, this was only to be expected.
Eventually, after flying low for a good five minutes, Ozai became certain that Aang must have drowned by now. Not even an airbender could hold their breath for this long.
Good. He was weak, but what else can be expected from an airbender...
Ozai turned his attention upwards, where he saw blasts of flame coming from above Azula's ship. Clearly his traitor of a son and his traitor friends were there. Ozai had enough confidence in his daughter that he thought she could manage it, but he knew that those infernal companions of the Avatar had thwarted her before. He rapidly gained altitude, intending to join the fight on his daughter's side and deal with the traitors once and for all.
As he ascended, he looked down one more time, and did a double take.
The sea was beginning to glow. Before Ozai had time to react, two enormous pillars of rock erupted from beneath the waves, eventually reaching several metres in height.
And in between them was what looked to be a very angry Avatar.
Aang thrust his arms at Ozai, and one of the rock pillars splintered, shards of rock coming screaming towards him. Ozai barely dodged out of the way, but he was not out of the woods yet. He saw the Avatar rip a ring of Earth out of the other pillar, and it began to circle him, soon joined by a ring of water taken from the sea. Ozai frantically blasted flame at him, but the fire responded to the Avatar's will, forming a ring that took its place alongside the other two elements.
Ozai cursed mentally. This was precisely what he had been trying to avoid! He had hoped to nail the Avatar long before this point, but had been thwarted by the incompetence of his subordinates. Zuko had failed him, Zhao had failed him, Azula had even failed him, and how the consequences of their failure stared him straight in the face.
With horror, Ozai realised that he was dealing with a fully realized Avatar.
Azula managed to land a hit on Ty Lee, sending her flying back several feet. Ty Lee landed on her feet, but this gave Mai a clear shot, and she loosed a flurry of knives at Azula, who ducked under them.
"I never realised how annoying your fighting style is," Azula sneered.
"Thanks, I think?" Mai sounded confused.
Azula began circling her arms. "I made a promise in a forest a while ago, you may have forgotten it..."
Zuko did not have long to react. As he jumped in front of Mai, he remembered what Iroh had told him long ago, but he had never successfully done it before.
Well, first time for everything.
The alternative didn't bear thinking about.
"Goodbye, Mai."
Azula pointed with two fingers at them, and lightning burst forth. As the cold fire streaked towards him, Zuko concentrated, and extended his arm towards it.
The lightning hit his fingers, and Zuko felt a surge of power with him. It took everything he had not to collapse from the power, but instead he guided it through himself, down through his arm, across his chest, and down his other arm.
Azula had stopped in her tracks, her expression suddenly one of pure shock.
"It can't be," she whispered. Zuko pointed at her and prepared to release the pent up energy in a kill-shot, but found he could not shoot his sister, even if she was, well, Azula. He aimed higher, and the lightning arced into the sky, the thunderclap startling everyone as it went.
Azula regained her senses, and smirked. "Neat trick, but it didn't do you a lot of good."
It was Zuko's turn to smile. "Perhaps not, but you should have been looking behind you."
Azula's attention had been so fixated on Zuko, Mai and the lightning redirection that her normally excellent situational awareness had taken a dive.
She didn't have time to digest Zuko's words before Ty Lee's fists were crashing into her arms and legs.
For the second time, Azula crumpled, having fallen victim to a surprise attack by Ty Lee. For the second time, she began cursing them for traitors, shouting for someone to come up and deal with them. The three Fire Nationals could only stare at her, until they heard a hatch opening behind them.
Mai swivelled, but Zuko was too focussed on the sorry sight his sister presented to turn. Mai saw two men climb out, one of whom wore a fancier uniform than the other firebenders they had seen. Mai recognised that uniform as belonging to the Captain of the airship. He advanced towards them, drawing an ornate sword from its scabbard.
"Zuko!" Mai pushed his shoulder to get his attention with one hand while preparing to throw a knife with the other. The captain is coming, he's..."
She was surprised when instead of brandishing his sword at them, he took hold of the blade in both hands and offered the hilt to them.
"He's surrendering?"
Sokka and the others ran along a gangway, with Toph in the lead.
Toph had taken one of the metal walls and fashioned it into makeshift armour, and was now taking the brunt of Fire Nation attempts to repel boarders. Sokka winced as she waved an armour-plated arm and a metal grate smashed an unfortunate Fire Marine into the nearest wall with a sickening crash.
Ahead of them, they saw the bridge, and as Toph ripped the doors off their hinges they burst inside.
The speed and ferocity of the assault took the occupants by surprise. One minute later, after Suki had bashed the last guard over the head with her shield, the bridge was theirs.
"Look!" Suki pointed out of the window at something below them. Sokka cheered.
"What? What's happening?" Toph replied, irritated.
"Oh, right, sorry," Sokka replied.
They were looking at two figures chasing each other through the air below them, circling and blasting. One of the figures was glowing, and surrounded by rings of all four elements, and it was obviously Aang. It looked like he had the better of the engagement too, for the Firelord was in full retreat, only stopping to send the occasional blast of flame back at the Avatar.
Once this had been communicated to Toph, she cheered too. "I knew twinkletoes had it in him!"
"Now we should probably go and help Zuko and the others," Suki said anxiously. Sokka obliged, and spun the tiller. The airship began to leave the formation, swinging to port. However, they had barely approached the other ship before they saw three familiar figures and one unfamiliar one on one of the gangways, waving at them.
"Is that Zuko?"
"You know, I don't think they need our help..."
Aang had Ozai on the run, he could see it. He had no idea how the others were doing, but all that mattered was his opponent, the man in front of him, his... prey, a voice in his head suggested.
Aang tried to wave the voice away.
He saw Ozai turn around and try to blast him again, but with a wave of his hand Ozai's fire sputtered out barely a foot after leaving his hand. The Firelord gulped, and kept flying. Aang, feeling the power of all his past lives coursing through him, pursued.
"So this entire ship just surrendered to you?" Sokka said incredulously, as they stood on the bridge of Zuko's new airship.
"The captain saw us defeat Azula, saw what's going on down there-"
Zuko gestured downwards, towards the ongoing battle between Avatar and Firelord raging beneath them.
"- and he saw which way the wind was blowing."
Sokka considered.
"Maybe we can use this. Captain, how do these airships communicate with one another?"
The captain, whose name was apparently Sato, answered him.
"Hawks for long-distance communication, signal flags if two airships are next to one another."
"Good, I have an idea."
Sokka leaned over the intercom and pressed the button.
"We have an urgent message for transmission to the fleet. Signal 'Princess defeated. Firelord soon to follow. Old ways over.'"
Sure enough, the flags were run up the side of the balloon, and they could see officers on board the other vessels pointing, rifling through their codebooks, and discussing among themselves. It was a nervous time, as they waited to see what the crews of the other airships would choose.
Finally, the first flags were run up the side of the ship next to them. More ships began to run up flags, and then more, until all of them but Ozai's flagship were displaying the same message.
Zuko frowned.
"I was at sea for three years chasing the Avatar, so I'm pretty sure I know how signal flags work," he said, "but to my knowledge those flags spell out "All hail Firelord Zuko", and that can't be right."
"No, it is right!" A nearby ensign with a code book said. "That really says 'All hail Firelord Zuko."
Zuko felt all the pairs of eyes in the room suddenly on him. Having nearly the entire battle fleet that he had been expecting to fight instead suddenly pledging loyalty to him had not been what he had expected to happen this morning.
Still, he expected that he had to do something if he had their loyalty.
"Captain Sato?"
"Yes Firelord?"
Zuko wanted to say that he wasn't the Firelord, the Firelord was currently losing to the Avatar, but he didn't want to ruin this.
"Instruct the other airship crews to arrest the captain of the flagship of former Firelord Ozai, and tell them not to burn the North Pole."
"As you wish."
Ozai slammed down upon the sea-wall of the city, and stumbled backwards. He was followed by Aang, who glided towards him slowly, menacingly, while pelting him with elemental attacks.
"Firelord Ozai," he said, in one voice and a hundred at once,
A blast of water.
"Your ancestors wiped out my people,"
An enormous gust of wind.
"You sacked the largest city on Earth, and tried to do the same here- twice,
A blast of fire that Ozai barely blocked.
"You tried to wipe out the southern water tribe, you have brought chaos to the world. You would create a pile of ashes and you would call it peace."
Ozai was pinned in place, as Pakku and Jeong Jeong rushed towards them but stopped a respectful distance away.
"And you justified all this by claiming it was best for the world!" The past Avatars mocked him. "No, this is what is best for the world."
Aang made to strike Ozai down but stopped.
"No. I'm an air nomad, I can't kill him."
Pakku and Jeong Jeong looked at him, absolutely flabbergasted.
"What?" Pakku shouted. "Have you forgotten who this is! Do it, or it will only be more trouble down the line!"
Ozai smiled. "Then you are we-"
He didn't get the chance to finish the sentence. He felt the air being sucked out of his lungs. He could not breathe. Panic began to set in as he stared desperately at the Avatar. Then, it all faded to black.
After Aang had rendered Ozai unconscious, his tattoos and eyes stopped glowing. Aang stepped back onto solid ground, and surveyed the figure of the comatose Firelord before him. Then he looked up at the airships far above him. They had stopped short of the city, and made no move to advance. With the Firelord defeated, they had no reason to continue the fighting. Although most of the world did not know it yet, the war was over.
Aang looked out over the ocean, and for the first time in a hundred years, he felt peace.
