Yula scoffed. "An Agni Kai? Really? What makes you think I'd ever give you that opportunity? I think you'll agree, there's no point in me accepting your challenge when I can simply have my guards destroy you."
"Yes, I suppose you're right," Azula replied, with a gentle sigh. Now was where her masterful art of manipulation came into play. She knew Yula, and she knew she could play this woman like a yueqin. "That would be simpler. You always did like to take the easy way out."
Yula lowered her brow into a confused glare. "What are you talking about?"
"I mean, you were always afraid of a challenge." Lifting a nonchalant hand, Azula glanced over her own nails, as if suddenly disinterested in Yula. "Even when I was training you, you never showed any kind of real drive. You were lackluster, if I'm being honest."
"That's a lie! I pushed myself to my limits when you trained me! I gave everything I had!"
"Yes, but only because I forced you to. Honestly, if you hadn't been so determined to get your family back, you would have given up and gone home long before you ever accomplished anything." Azula gave a simple shrug, and folded her arms across her chest. "You were weak, pathetic, and remarkably annoying to be around. I only put up with you for so long because I had already invested so much effort in you. I couldn't just let it go to waste."
Yula's eye twitched, a scowl contorting on her face. "You're deluding yourself! Lying. I'm not weak. Not anymore. I've become greater than you ever were! Stronger, more powerful, a better ruler, and conqueror. You're nothing!"
Azula huffed out a laugh. "If I'm nothing to you, why are you threatening me with so many soldiers? You have your guards, the Dai Li, even Avan over there just waiting to attack me. Seems a bit excessive for one person who you think is so far beneath yourself. If you're so much stronger, why not accept the challenge? It's not like you should have anything to worry about, and you'd be able to put me in my place yourself. Unless, of course, deep down you're still afraid of me. Behind all that power you have, behind all the bravado and cockiness, you're still just a pathetic, half-baked amateur firebender who knows she can't beat me."
"I am not afraid of you!" Yula countered, glaring with wild, almost frantic eyes. Her face flushed red with ire, arms shaking and chest heaving. "I'm stronger than you! I'm better than you! Better than you ever were!"
"Then why are you running?" Azula asked, with a mocking smirk. "I thought you were all about showing people how strong you are, letting everyone know there's no one who can stand against you, yet here you are backing down from an open challenge that should, by your own admittance, be no trouble for you. Doesn't seem like something a strong leader would do. Seems more like something a coward would do."
"I am not a coward!" she shrieked, her voice shrill and piercing. A pure, seething glower creased across her face, arms quivering with rage. "You want an Agni Kai? Fine! You got one! Just remember when I'm beating you into a charred mess, you asked for it!"
Azula forced down a deep breath to settle her nerves. The first part of her plan had been successful. She'd made Yula accept the Agni Kai. Now came the hard part: actually defeating her. Didn't matter how confident she was in her own abilities, didn't matter that she was a prodigy, didn't matter how skilled she was. Sen's essence burned within Yula, which made the Dragon Empress as powerful, if not more so, than a firebender under the effects of Sozin's Comet. One misstep, and Yula would reduce her to smoldering cinders.
"Azula..." The voice that called her name was tired, weak. "What... are you doing?"
She turned a glance towards the line of prisoners, towards Anraq. The poor man could barely open his eyes, with how beaten and swollen his face was. "I'm doing what I have to, Annie. For all of you. For the world."
"We're not here to talk, Azula." Yula stood back across the top of the temple steps, already removing the cloak and outer robes of her Dragon Empress uniform to reveal a sleek set of combat armor underneath. "We're here to end things between us once and for all, remember? I'd advise you to prepare yourself."
Azula breathed in deep and focused on the empress, her gaze narrow and stern. "I am prepared. I've been prepared for a long time, ever since you first betrayed me. The reasons for it may have changed since then, but the fact remains. I am going to end you."
"You will try." Yula waved off her guards, urging them to step back. Avan led the way, ushering his Dai Li and the other soldiers to a safe distance. When they were clear, Yula lowered herself into an expert stance. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"Cutting right to the chase, I see." Azula cracked her neck from side-to-side and took her own stance. "Good. Let's get this over with."
"Azula." She didn't need to turn around to know who had spoken. She knew the voice—Izumi. "Kick her ass."
How strange and blunt those words sounded, coming from the usually proper and dignified woman. They brought a smirk to Azula's face. "That's the plan."
Azula darted forward with swiftness and precision, leading with a blast of blue flames from her fingertips. Yula swatted the fire away and countered with a searing blast of her own. Sliding beneath the flames, Azula sprang upright with a rising kick aimed at her opponent's head. A heated wave trailed behind her heel. Yula sidestepped and pushed the kick away. She attempted to sweep her own leg around Azula's to trip her, but Azula jumped above the strike, snapping a quick jab of fire square into the empress' chest. Yula gaped in surprise, stumbling back a step.
With Yula's level of power, Azula had to keep this fight in close. If she tried to fight at a distance, Yula would overpower her with ease. Couldn't hesitate or stop moving, either. The moment she paused, she would become a sitting turtle duck. Never slow, never relent. Azula focused on her assault, remaining up in Yula's face with a repeated barrage of attacks, each strike bursting with brilliant blue flames. Yula reeled backwards, struggling to keep up. For all her power, the Dragon Empress lacked the same kind of instinct Azula possessed. She lacked the instinct of a prodigy.
Confidence surged through Azula's heart, fueled by the rising distress in Yula's eyes. As long as she kept up the pressure, as long as she didn't allow Yula a chance to retaliate, she could end the Dragon Empress once and for all. She could win. That swell of hope ruptured when she overstepped on one of her strikes, missing her target by inches. She'd told herself a single misstep would be her end, and so it was. Yula lurched away from the strike and thrust a hand forward, releasing a gargantuan blast of fire from her fist.
The resulting impact launched Azula off her feet and sent her spinning down the temple steps. She bounced against the concrete, each blow drawing a pained grunt from her lips, all the way down to the plaza below. When she fell to a stop, she lay there unmoving, struggling to draw in breath. Not good. Not good at all. At least one of her ribs was cracked, and she could already feel the bruising beginning to swell. Merely sitting upright surged a sharp stab of pain through her body. She clenched her jaw, swallowed the pain, fought through it. Couldn't let something as trivial as a fractured bone stop her.
Azula looked up in time to notice Yula leaping from the top of the steps. She threw herself backwards with a panicked gasp, half a second before the Dragon Empress crashed down with a full axe kick. Concrete exploded with a burning flare, cratering under the impact. The blast continued outward with a roaring shockwave. Azula grunted, shielding herself with her arms. No use. She lifted from her feet a second time and tumbled head over heels across the ground, coming to a sliding stop halfway across the plaza. With a heaving, shrill breath, she pushed herself back to her feet. Wonderful. This fight had gone to shit even faster than she'd feared.
"What's this, hurt already?" Yula laughed, flashing a smug grin. "Here I thought you might actually make this interesting."
Azula grimaced, blocking out the pain with a deep breath. She stood straight, poised and at the ready. "This fight's just getting started."
"And yet it's already almost over. How sad."
Yula thrust her fist forward, releasing a wide, ruinous jet of fire. Azula raced across the plaza to avoid the attack, boosting her speed with her arms held behind herself, her own streak of flames scorching in her wake. She lifted skyward and flew towards one of the side temples of the plaza. Wind rushed around her with gathering speed, as she disappeared over the top of the sloped roof and spiraled towards the other side. Flames erupted above her, missed shots from Yula somewhere in the plaza beyond. Azula scowled, and pushed herself faster. Keep moving. Keep fighting. No matter what happens, don't give up.
A blast of lightning tore through the tile in front of her. She lurched sideways, lifting higher to avoid a scatter of charred debris. Orange flames erupted in her path. Heat scorched around her. She shrieked, pointing her palms forward to change directions. Not fast enough. A secondary explosion ruptured the rooftop in front of her and launched her backwards. She spiraled, uncontrolled, flailing to catch herself.
The world spun back into focus moments before she crashed into the ground. With another thrust of flames in her wake, she soared over the plaza and let herself fall, whirling into a rapid spin. Flames trailed from her heels, coiling a rotating wheel around her with a howling screech of energy as she crashed into the ground below. A destructive wave of fire exploded outward. Concrete tore to pieces, tile sheered clean off surrounding roofs, and water within the pair of long trenches on either side of the plaza evaporated into hissing steam. A cataclysmic blow that would have obliterated any normal opponent.
When the flames cleared, Yula remained poised, standing still with her palms held up in front of herself. Not even one hair out of place, as though bending away Azula's fire had taken no effort at all. With a slashing grin, the Dragon Empress snapped a punch forward, releasing a massive, concentrated fireball from her knuckles. Azula's heart lifted, eyes widening at the sight of it. She lunged away.
The fireball exploded as though a meteor striking the ground. Sizzling waves of heat engulfed Azula. She flipped through the air, the world a blur around her. Dull pain flashed into her chest, turning her vision white until she blinked it clear again. The sky appeared in front of her. Oh. She was on the ground, staring upward. When had that happened? With a heaving groan, she forced herself upright, legs trembling beneath her. Come on, don't falter now. Don't show weakness.
Another fireball hurtled through the air at her. She chanced a counter blast of her own, thrusting out a concentrated stream of fire at the burning missile. Her blue flames dispersed into flickering embers upon impact with the fireball, forcing her to recoil and throw herself out of its path. Same as before, the resulting explosion spun her across the ground. She caught her balance long enough to land on one knee and push herself straight again. Almost. A sharp stab of pain ruptured through the side of her torso, lifting a hacking cough into her throat. Definitely a broken rib. Gritting her teeth, she swallowed the pain back down and forced herself to remain standing.
Didn't last long. A rippling wave of flames scorched across the ground and flared at her feet. She stepped back, swiping her arm forward in desperate attempt to bend the fire away. Not enough. While she prevented the flames from incinerating her, the resulting shockwave tossed her airborne, little more than a rag doll on the wind. She crashed to the ground with a dull thud, her clothes singed and smoking. Her hairpin popped loose and scattered across the concrete, causing her hair to fall free around her shoulders. Another pulse of agony knifed into her ribs. No good, come on. Get back up. She stumbled upright to her knees, her chest heaving with shrill, gasping breaths.
"Do you remember our first Agni Kai?" Yula approached with flames burning in her palms. "I do. You mocked me. Humiliated me. Made a fool of me. Now I return the favor. I'm not going to end this quickly, Azula. I'm going to humiliate you. I'm going to make you suffer."
Azula made it halfway back to her feet before a paralyzing jolt of pain forced her back to her knees. Yula kicked out another blast of fire, this one weaker than those before it, purposefully holding back. The flames exploded across the front of Azula's chest and threw her flat against the ground. Again, she tried to drag herself upright. Didn't even make it to her elbows before Yula struck a second time, kicking her across the plaza with a wave of fire.
The assault repeated. Yula struck her with successive shots of fire, each one launching Azula helpless across the plaza, while Azula clawed and scratched her way upright again. At times, Yula allowed her to pull herself back to her knees. Never for long, before knocking her down again. And again. And again. Not enough to kill her, oh no. Only enough to hurt her. Only enough to humiliate her. To make her suffer.
Azula coughed a bloody spray, watching the sky whirl in circles above her. Move, damn it. Get up and do something. She couldn't let Yula keep using her as a punching bag like this. Couldn't let herself fail. Her body didn't respond. No matter how many times she attempted to stand, Yula struck her down again. This was pitiful. Pathetic. In spite of all her skill, all her determination, all her strength, Azula hadn't provided the least bit of a challenge to the Dragon Empress. Yula had defeated her yet again, and now here she lay. Broken, beaten, a shade near death, unable to defend herself. She had failed, and now she paid the price. She would die, her friends would die, the world would fall to this madwoman...
It was over.
Yula relented her assault with a tired sigh, taking several steps back with a twisted grin curling across her face. "Alright, I think that's enough. Even beating you is getting boring now."
Azula rolled over and clawed her way back to her knees. She let her head hang, chest heaving deep, desperate gulps of air. Blood trickled free from her nose and lips. Her vision blurred, and her ribs seared with a pain that gurgled her insides on the cusp of vomiting. Still, she kept going. Her legs quivered, barely holding up her own weight as she slowly, painstakingly stood upright. She remained hunched, unable to rise to her full height, but she did not fall. If she was to die, she would do so on her feet.
"Still fighting, even after that," Yula said, with a shake of her head. "Admirable. Foolish, but admirable. In any case, I think this fight is about over. Enjoy your last few moments."
With a deep, steady breath, Yula held a hand forward. A small bead of flame sparked in the center of her palm, quickly building with a screeching hiss of energy. The bead ruptured and poured forth in a colossal, raging tidal wave of fire, so powerful it threatened to consume the entire plaza. Azula swallowed, staring helpless at the blaze racing towards her. Heat surged closer, burned stronger, engulfed her, until all she saw was a flickering wall of orange and yellow.
"Azula!"
She heard Annie's voice amongst the call, but not only his voice. Everyone's voice, all mixed together in a frantic cacophony over the roaring flames. Izumi's voice. Kuvira's voice, Iroh's, even Korra's. Mako, Bolin, Asami, all the world leaders. All of them calling for her. All of them depending on her. Urging her to fight on. All their lives hanging on by a thread. How could she give up and let herself die like this? How could she fail like this? How could she let everyone down? Everyone she'd tried so desperately to make amends with? To prove that she had changed, and could be better? She'd done so much, come so far... Her story couldn't end like this.
She wouldn't let it.
As the flames consumed her, Azula turned her body and whirled her arms in a guiding circle. She closed her eyes, eased in a deep, steady breath, and let her chi flow outward in a spiraling wave. This fire didn't have to be destructive. It didn't have to be violent, or terrifying. It could be beautiful. It could be peaceful.
It could be life.
Continuing the whirl of her body, Azula took control of the flames and guided them around herself. They lifted higher, towering above in the form of a blistering cyclone, with her safely in the center. The flames continued skyward and took on a new form. New colors. Not only orange and yellow, not only blue, but green, purple, white, and every color in between. Like the great firebending masters Ran and Shaw, she took those flames and turned them into something wonderful. When at last the flames flickered into dimming embers, she stood straight with a look of peace and calm settled upon her. She lowered her arms steadily, eased out her breath, and opened her eyes once again.
"How... how did you do that?" Yula took a step back, staring with wide eyes. "That's not possible!"
"Are you forgetting who you're dealing with?" Azula slid one of her legs back and shifted into her signature bending stance. "You are not going to beat me with fire."
Heated fury tore across Yula's face. "Is that right? Well that's just fine. I don't need fire to kill you!"
The Dragon Empress pulled her hands back, focusing a spark of lightning at her fingertips. She charged it, letting it build until smaller bolts crackled outward around her. With a shrieking yell, she pointed her fingers forward and released the sizzling wave through the air.
Azula narrowed her eyes, remained focused. This was it. One last chance to turn things around. One last chance to set things right. With a single, deep breath, she raised a hand and caught the lightning against her fingers. She let the energy in her body flow, guiding it along a pathway down her arm to her shoulder. From there, she sent it farther south in her body. The energy crackled upward, building in the center of her chest. It tightened, and knotted, sizzling with a sharp pain. No, no, no. Not there. What was she doing wrong?
"Remember, Azula." A calming voice echoed through her mind, wrapping over her with the reassuring warmth of a security blanket. "The stomach is the source of the energy in your body, and is known as the sea of chi. From the stomach, you direct it up again and out the other arm. It is absolutely critical that the lightning pass through the stomach on its way out your body. If it passes through your heart, the results could be fatal."
Azula's breath stuttered. She blinked, and a figure appeared in the flashing aura surrounding her. A familiar figure, reaching out to guide her arms. Ghostly and translucent in appearance, but unmistakable all the same. "Zuzu?"
"Are you focusing your energy?" Zuko asked, with a driving insistence in his voice. Stern, confident, reassuring. Everything she needed. "Can you feel your chi flowing in, down, up, and then out?"
Easing her breath outward, she let her energy flow away from her heart and down into her stomach. There, she felt it build, felt it empower her. Exhilarating and terrifying, all the same.
"Yes," she said, with a renewed surge of confidence. She blinked again, and Zuko's form vanished. "Yes, I can."
From the sea of chi, Azula guided the energy back up her other arm. Holding that arm forward, she pointed her fingers directly at Yula, who stood frozen in the follow-through of her strike. The entire process took but a moment, leaving the Dragon Empress with no time to defend herself. Nothing she could do, except stare at Azula's counter with dawning horror creeping into her gaze.
As the lightning burst forth from her fingertips, Azula met Yula's eyes with a fierce, hateful glare. "This is from Zuko!"
The bolt struck Yula's chest with devastating force, lifting her clean off her feet. She launched backwards and crashed into the ground with a dull thud. Lingering vestiges of electricity crackled around her, jolting across her singed, smoking armor. She lay unmoving. Quiet, death-like. The silence shattered with a pained, hissing intake of air, as her fingers began to twitch. She made an attempt to sit upright, only to fall back immediately with a harsh cough and a weak spasm of her arm.
Alive, perhaps, but defeated all the same.
"H-help... me..." Yula uttered, shifting a slow look up at the steps in front of the temple.
She focused on her guards, and the Dai Li next to them. Not a single one moved to help her. They remained standing in rigid formation, staring at her with indifference. Avan averted his gaze, hidden beneath the wide brim of his hat. Yula blinked at them, shifting her eyes back and forth in confusion.
"They're not going to help you." Azula approached the fallen Dragon Empress, reaching over her shoulder to draw her dual swords into her grasp. "This was an Agni Kai. You lost." She brought the blades down and crossed them over Yula's neck, pressing the sharpened edges so close they drew thin lines of blood. "You're not the Dragon Empress anymore. I am."
Yula snapped a wild look up at her, eyes quivering and streaming with tears. "N-no... please, don't... it wasn't supposed to be this way! I was just trying to help people! You can't do this! Please!"
"You destroyed this world. You broke it. You ruined people's lives, you killed countless innocent people. You killed my brother. You tore your own family apart! And for what? For power. For your own ego. You're nothing but a selfish, twisted monster, and you should die!" Azula tightened her grip on the handles of her swords, pulling them back in preparation to carve into Yula's throat. Yula screamed, and closed her eyes. With a deep exhale, Azula stopped herself and lifted the swords away, sheathing them over her shoulder. "But I'm not going to kill you."
"W-what?" Yula cracked her eyes open, choking on a rasping sob. "But... why?"
"Because you're not worth it," she muttered, "and because it would be too merciful a sentence. You don't deserve death, Yula. No. You deserve worse. You deserve to live with the knowledge of your failure. You deserve to live knowing that you lost everything. In spite of everything you did, in spite of all the power you gained, in spite of how much you accomplished and assured the world you were strong, in the end you were still too weak. You were still nothing. You get to live knowing that no matter how hard you tried, no matter how hard you worked, I was still better than you. In more ways than one."
Yula shook her head from side-to-side, frantic and panicked. "No, no, no, no! That's not true! I was strong! I was strong! Wasn't I? Wasn't I strong?"
"No, Yula." Azula raised her boot and stomped downward, slamming the back of Yula's head into the ground. The former Dragon Empress grunted and fell limp, immediately unconscious. "You were vile, and I made you that way."
With a pained sigh, Azula stepped away from the unconscious woman and looked around the plaza. Everyone was staring at her. The guards, the Dai Li, even the brave citizens who had stayed behind to watch the entire event. Several reporters stood among them, cameras aimed at her. Let them stare. She still had things left she needed to do.
Pain roared back into her body, as the adrenaline of battle faded. She marched forward with buckled legs, forcing herself to remain upright on her way up the temple steps. When she reached the top, she focused her attention on Avan and the line of prisoners.
"Release them," she said.
Avan stared back at her briefly, before shifting a glance towards the unconscious Yula in the plaza below. With an indifferent grunt, he turned to the prisoners and began removing their chains.
Anraq was the first to be released. He stumbled towards Azula and wrapped his arms tight around her, burying his swollen face against her shoulder. "You did it... Spirits, I don't know how, but you did it."
"You don't know how?" Azula uttered a weak chuckle, tightening her arms around him in return. "Please, was there ever any doubt?"
A grunting laugh burst from his throat. "No... No, I suppose there wasn't."
Azula stepped away and heaved out an exhausted breath. Her eyelids drooped, leaden and tired. "I think... I think I need some rest."
She blinked, and her vision went blurry. Seconds later, her legs turned to jelly and she felt herself falling, crumpling to the ground. Annie's voice called out to her, muffled and distant behind a thick, syrupy wall of fog. A warm, comforting sensation wrapped over her. Was she dying? If she were, why wasn't she concerned? Why did she feel so... content, as though an enormous weight had lifted from her shoulders? How strange.
With a soft, gentle breath, she let her eyes close, and embraced the enveloping darkness in her mind.
