Chapter 48
Ty Lee gingerly pulled herself up from the ground, struggling not to cry out. Her right leg hurt terribly and she could not put any weight on it. Bruised and bloody, Ty Lee was horrified to see that some of the cuts on her shins were so deep that she could see the white of the bone, and her right ankle had most definitely suffered a complicated fracture. Still, she would not let that deter her and hopping on her much less hurt left leg, Ty Lee quickly made her way over to where she had seen Azula fall, behind a pair of mighty fir trees.
What Ty Lee saw, chilled her to the bone. Azula was lying face down in the muddy ground, next to a large boulder, still and unmoving. Droplets of red were trickling from an open head wound, making her hair all matted with blood. She seemed to have suffered a terrible blow to her torso as her robes were also soaked with blood, and it didn't take a genius to realize what had happened. Azula had first hit her head against a tree in a glancing blow, and then had struck the boulder before coming to rest.
Ty Lee immediately forgot all about her own injuries as she leaned down next to Azula to check on her. She wasn't much of a healer, but she knew some basics on how to stabilize someone who had received a serious injury. Ty Lee first checked for any life signs, relieved to find that Azula was still breathing, although the breaths were coming sharp and shallow. It was clear that Azula needed immediate attention far beyond what Ty Lee could provide. The only thing she could do was to gently turn Azula to rest on her side and make sure the other girl hadn't bitten her tongue and wasn't in danger of choking on her own blood.
Having done the absolute minimum, Ty Lee knew that she needed to quickly find a healer, or else Azula would be done for. Determined not to let that happen, Ty Lee sprang up to her feet and ignoring the jolting pain shooting through her leg, she began to hobble towards the still ongoing battle ahead of her, hoping to attract the attention of one of the waterbenders who hopefully possessed some skill at healing.
The chaos of the battlefield made Ty Lee absolutely sick to her stomach as she approached the grizzly scenes. She could see a couple of the earthbending tanks, one sliced in half by ice shards created by the waterbenders, the other having been shot up by its Fire Nation counterpart. One of the earthbenders had tried desperately to escape the burning tank, but hadn't made it out in time, his charred corpse swinging grotesquely from the escape hatch. A bomb from a Fire Nation airship had struck a detachment of Earth Kingdom infantry, tossing burned bodies all around the crater of impact. An ostrich horse was making distressed noises nearby, the poor creature in its death throes after it and its rider had been roasted by a Fire Nation firebender. These and many more horrors of war would have normally made Ty Lee throw up from disgust, but desperate to save Azula, she bravely soldiered on, all the while calling out for help, but nobody seemed to hear her cries, there was no one to answer, and in the meantime the clock was ticking out for Azula.
Having tried to find help for what seemed like an eternity, Ty Lee was starting to lose hope. She would never think of giving up, however, and shortly afterwards her persistence was rewarded as something, or rather someone, suddenly appeared next to her, Avatar Aang himself, jumping off his glider as he ran towards her. "Ty Lee, what happened?" he asked swiftly, immediately noticing her injuries. "Come, hold on to me, and I'll take you to a healer," he offered her his hand.
"It's not me who needs a healer, it's Azula!" Ty Lee exclaimed in panic. "You need to bring someone to her, she can't be moved!"
"Oh... I better go get Katara, then," Aang reacted immediately, about to dash off.
"Azula is over there!" Ty Lee shouted, pointing at a small copse of conifers near the place where they had crashed. "Bring Katara there!" With that, she began to hobble back to where Azula lay, silently praying that Katara would make it in time.
Ty Lee was about to reach Azula, fighting the unbearably intense pain shooting through her leg, when Aang returned, bringing Katara with him, the waterbender holding on to her ex-boyfriend and still appearing quite exhausted. "Ty Lee!" Katara exclaimed once they had landed safely on the ground. "You're wounded!"
"It's nothing compared to Azula!" Ty Lee replied tearfully, pointing to where Azula lay unmoving. Katara immediately ran over to the injured girl, Aang following her, while Ty Lee needed a little more time to hobble over to the others. "Please, Katara..." she begged. "Azula saved my life... you have to save her, please..."
"I'll do my best, Ty Lee, but..." Katara sighed, kneeling next to Azula's prone body. "Spirits, this isn't good..."
"Please don't say that..." Ty Lee burst into tears, sinking to her knees.
"I'm not giving up on her, Ty Lee, trust me," Katara spoke with grim determination as she retrieved her water flask, her hands starting to weave the familiar patterns of a healer's bending. "This isn't going to be On Ji all over again, I will not allow it!" she added firmly.
"Maybe I should find Sokka..." Aang wondered aloud.
"No, definitely not," Katara snapped, breaking her concentration for a moment. "I don't need his hysterics here when I need to focus. Now please, try to remain quiet!"
"Sorry," Aang whispered, kneeling next to Ty Lee and supportively taking her hand as they both patiently watched and waited as Katara carried out her healing. Having worked on Azula's head wound for a good while, Katara then moved on to focus her healing energies on her battered torso, spending a lot of time to try and fix all that could be mended. The whole process must have lasted nearly half an hour, and by the end of it, Katara slumped onto the ground, completely overcome by exhaustion.
"Katara! Are you alright?" Aang's voice bordered on near panic.
"I'll be fine... I've done all I could for her, but now I can do no more," Katara managed to reply. "She should be stable to move, Aang. But not on your glider, obviously."
"I can go get Appa," Aang offered swiftly. "Then we can bring you all to Republic City."
"Thank you so much, Aang," Katara managed a weak smile for the Avatar, and he was gone in an instant, leaving Ty Lee to watch over the two prone figures, one badly wounded, the other too exhausted to move a limb.
"Katara? Is she going to be okay?" Ty Lee asked hesitantly. Her leg still hurt terribly, but all she could think of was Azula.
"It's too early to say, Ty Lee," Katara replied slowly. "There are limits to what I can heal with my bending. I closed her head wound and reduced the swelling of her brain, but I can't take away the severe concussion... and hopefully that's all it is. I closed the wounds on her torso, healed the worst of the bruising and mended her punctured lungs. But I can't do anything about her multiple broken ribs, and... well... there's also damage to her spine," she added, her eyes shining with tears as she said that.
"That... sounds really bad, Katara," Ty Lee gulped, her heart clenched with fear.
"I'm not going to lie to you, Ty Lee, it could still turn out really bad," Katara sighed. "Azula could have lasting brain damage... or she could be paralyzed. Let's hope for the best, but even then she will need a lot of time to recover fully."
Ty Lee was weeping uncontrollably by now. "Oh, Katara..." she sobbed. "Why did I have to be so mean to her when she was trying her best to become a better person? If... if she dies saving me... I'll never forgive myself..."
Katara slowly propelled herself up from the ground, despite her exhaustion. She reached out, pulling the crying Ty Lee into her embrace. "Don't give up hope yet, Ty Lee," she tried to comfort the other girl. "If anyone can recover from this, it's Azula. She's strong, stubborn and willful. With the best care available in Republic City, she has a good chance to recover fully. As soon as Aang returns with Appa, we'll get her into the care of the best available healers there are."
"I'm not going to leave her side until I know she's safe," Ty Lee resolved tearfully.
"We'll all be there for her," Katara reassured the other girl, Ty Lee drawing strength from her words as they continued to sit embraced, waiting for Aang to return for them.
Zuko frowned deeply as he observed the unfolding battle from the bridge of his flagship. The engagement was proceeding favorably for the forces of the United Republic and its allies, but still, having a clear picture from above and seeing the shameful slaughter that was taking place in front of his eyes, meant that Zuko could not feel any pride or joy at this impending victory.
It hadn't been such a sure thing, at least at the beginning. The ground battle in the marshlands had been a complete and utter slog. Despite the waterbenders doing their best to slow down the Earth Kingdom army's advance, and despite the devastatingly accurate bombardment from the Fire Nation airships, their opponents had just kept coming and coming, despite their mounting losses, and for a moment, Zuko had feared that their numerical superiority would prevail. The battle in the skies had been going better for the Fire Nation airships, with their far more experienced crews they had managed to disable and down four Earth Kingdom airships while themselves losing just one.
And then... then the Dai Li command ship had finally plummeted from the sky. Their plan to eliminate the Earth Kingdom army's leadership must have worked perfectly, as the pride of the Earth Kingdom's air fleet slammed into the ground in the thick of the battle, taking with it several Earth Kingdom and Fire Nation tanks, and killing dozens of combatants from both armies. With its head removed from the shoulders, the mighty Earth Kingdom war machine immediately began to stutter and stumble. As news spread along the frontline, more and more Earth Kingdom soldiers tucked their tails and ran. Instead of an organized retreat, they had broken into a messy rout, and Zuko had scrambled to send missives to all of his commanders to allow the enemy to escapes. Not all commands had reached their targets in a timely manner, and Zuko felt terribly disappointed and angered upon seeing some of the Fire Nation soldiers cutting down fleeing and panicking opponents, resolving to hold all these men accountable for giving in to their thirst for blood.
Now, staring at the aftermath of the battle, the crashed airships, the smoldering tanks, the bodies of good men most of whom had no personal stake in this conflict, who had died purely for the ambition of the Dai Li, Zuko felt sick to his stomach. He had sworn never to allow the Fire Nation be dragged into a war again, and yet here they were, fighting on behalf of the United Republic, but undeniably, also fighting for their own interests. The only thing that kept Zuko from viewing the entire event as a complete and utter personal failure as a ruler, was his firmly held belief that establishing and preserving the United Republic was absolutely key to keep the Earth Kingdom in check and prevent any further wars from occurring. Now, he absolutely needed to make the United Republic a resounding success, or all the sacrifices that the Fire Nation soldiers had just made on his behalf, would have been for nothing.
Aware that the battle was won by now, Zuko was about to give command for his generals to start organizing return to Republic City, when one of his aides called out to him, looking perplexed as he pointed in the air behind them. Zuko instantly turned around to be faced with the surprising sight of Appa landing on the deck of his flagship, the deck creaking a little from the weight of the sky bison.
"Aang, what are you doing here, and on Appa's back?" Zuko called out to his friend.
"Is there someone you can hand over command to?" Aang replied with a question of his own. "The battle is won, isn't it? You need to come with me."
"Why, what's wrong?" Zuko asked impatiently, suspecting the worst from the grim look in Aang's eyes. Katara, did something happen to Katara?
"It's your sister. She's badly hurt," Aang explained quickly. "I just took her, Katara and Ty Lee to Republic City. Azula is being tended to by the healers as we speak, but I thought you'd want to be there yourself."
"Damn right I would!" Zuko exclaimed in worry, running up to the sky bison and quickly climbing onto Appa's back. "We need to find Iroh first, I need to explain the situation to him."
"Maybe we should find Sokka, too," Aang suggested. "He should probably be with her, too."
"True, let's grab Sokka as well," Zuko nodded in agreement. "What happened, Aang, do you know?" he asked as Appa took off from the deck of Zuko's flagship.
"Ty Lee got knocked off from the Dai Li airship. Azula jumped after her and heroically saved her life at the last moment," Aang spoke grimly. "I have to say, Zuko... I didn't think I would ever have a reason to say it about your sister, but Azula is a hero. I hope I'll have a chance to tell her that myself."
"I hope so too," Zuko replied, feeling numb from the crushing fear. He had just gotten Azula back for good, and now fates conspired to take her away again? This life can be terribly unfair at times, Zuko thought to himself. I'm so proud of what she did, saving Ty Lee like that. I hope it won't be at the cost of her own life... but I can't blame her for doing that. I'd have most likely done the same myself.
It didn't take Aang long to locate Iroh, Zuko's uncle holding a brief war council with both Sokka and Hakoda, all three men looking surprised upon seeing Appa landing nearby. Zuko and Aang didn't waste any time climbing down from the sky bison and running up to the others. "Uncle, can you wrap things up for me here?" Zuko asked hastily, not wanting to waste more time. "I need to return to Republic City. Sokka, you need to come with me."
"Of course, nephew, I'll take care of everything and we'll see each other in Republic City," Iroh nodded.
"What's going on, Zuko, why do you need me?" Sokka asked. He was looking no worse for wear, except for some spatters of blood on his armor, but it didn't look like the blood was his.
"It's Azula, she's been hurt," Zuko explained, dragging a shocked looking Sokka with him, then together with Aang boosting him up and onto Appa's back.
"What happened, how badly is she hurt?" Sokka asked, finally regaining the ability to speak once Appa was up in the air, hurrying back to Republic City.
"I'm not going to lie, she's in a pretty bad way," Aang replied grimly. "She's not in danger of dying, but the healers are worried that there might be some long term damage. They will know more once she regains consciousness."
"I can't believe this..." Sokka sank to his knees, looking utterly distraught. "I must be cursed or something! I bring terrible misfortune to all the girls I'm trying to date!"
"I'm sure it's not you, Sokka," Zuko patted him on the shoulder, feeling bad for his friend. "With all of us there to support her, I'm sure Azula will pull through eventually," he added, wanting, no, desperately needing to believe that.
"Yes... yes, you're right, Zuko," Sokka nodded, looking slightly more upbeat. "She's strong and tenacious as a polar leopard, I have to believe that she will recover. How many times did we fight her in the past and thought that we've finally taken her down, but she always came back for more."
"I'm sure she'll recover. Unlike thousands of others," Aang added with a conflicted look on his face. Zuko was aware of what the bloody battle must have meant for someone with Aang's pacifist beliefs, but he still didn't like how he brought it up when his sister was busy fighting for her life.
"I appreciate everything you've done to help save my sister, Aang," Zuko replied evenly. "And if you have any issues about what happened during the battle, I will be happy to discuss them... after I've seen to my injured sister, if you don't mind."
"Sorry, I didn't mean to be insensitive," Aang apologized. "But what happened in that battle can't happen again. I'm resolved to not let it happen."
"Good, and I'll support you in that," Zuko shrugged. "There was only one side that wanted this conflict, and that side wasn't ours. You know that perfectly well."
"I kinda feel like you guys have some issues that shouldn't be aired right now and we should really be focusing on helping Azula," Sokka frowned at the frostiness that had set in during the conversation between Zuko and Aang.
"You couldn't be more right," Zuko replied earnestly, clapping Sokka on the shoulder again, Aang also nodding in agreement. "It's Azula we should be thinking about. Let's do everything we can so that I can have my sister and you can have your girlfriend back..."