Here is the forty-fifth chapter in Book 4 released on time as planned. This is the third of the four chapters in the final major arc of Book 4. This is also the last of the three chapters that had initially been one and as such is the last of those confrontations that are going on in the main battle. The only other thing to mention here is that I have been working hard on the draft of Book 5 and I expect to finish the complete draft before I upload the next chapter so the whole series will be completed as promised. However, that is all I have to say for now so just sit back and enjoy the 45th chapter in the fourth installment of Avatar: The Tale of Harry. Book 4: Family.

Disclaimer: As always I own nothing related to these two great works of fiction.

Chapter 45

Dominique swore as she leapt over the railing of one sinking ship and onto the deck of another that was still floating, using some sea water to aid her in making it over the second railing cleanly. Rolling upon landing, Dominique popped up and slashed her sword at the nearest enemy, opening up his throat in a well-practiced move. She didn't have time to see the body fall to the slick deck as she pressed forward and engaged the next enemy on the deck of the ship. Dominique was in the haze of battle which simply meant keep moving and fighting until it was all over.

After she had realized that the battle had begun before the ramming thanks to one of their own ships being hit from beneath it and alerted the others, Dominique had ignored the other commanders and engaged the enemies on the front lines as soon as she could. She was going to fight from the front the way the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe was expected to do.

It hadn't taken long for the battle to begin in earnest as the ramming and boarding ships of the Principate made contact with the combined fleet. As soon as that happened, Dominique had engaged the enemy that had clearly been sent to her flagship. First it had been the ones who had boarded her own ship, fending off the wave of soldiers with ease though losing her father's spear in the process, before a bomb crippled the ship and she had to bail.

After that, Dominique had jumped from ship to ship, ignoring who's it was, fighting with her bending and sword against anyone wearing the uniform of the Principate. She didn't really know what was going on outside of her immediate surroundings, she was focused on her own fight and her own survival as she fought and killed those who wanted to kill her. She was a whirlwind of death and water as she cut her way through anyone who opposed her and those she was protecting.

Every time a ship fell, either by being sunk or overrun by numbers she couldn't counter, Dominique and the other Southern soldiers with her would leap onto the nearest ship, or if they couldn't use waterbending until they reached it, to either attack or defend the ship. She had no idea how many died with her or how many of the enemy that she killed; she was just concerned with stopping the Principate. That was why when the water whip lashed out at her on the latest ship she was on, Dominique only just noticed it in time.

However, she wasn't fast enough to avoid it. The powerful, razor thin slice of water came out nowhere and was aimed right at her neck. Only Domonique's finely-honed battle reflexes and her current state of battle haze save her life and prevented her from being decapitated. At the last moment Dominique ducked and turned her head to take the blow on the side of her wolf helm. The move saved her life, though she wasn't unscathed.

Whoever the waterbender was that had attacked her was clearly very good. The blow had enough force to knock her helmet off and over the side of the ship. In addition, the razor thin blade of water had cut through the helmet and slashed Dominique across the top of her hairline sending her staggering from the impact and taking out her left hair loop. The blow spun Dominique around and she fell to one knee to avoid a follow up attack.

The cut was deep enough to bleed freely, and Dominique had to blink blood out of her left eye as she looked up and towards where the attack had come from, wiping her face with her sleeve to clear away some of the blood. It took a moment for her vision to come into focus but when it did, the sight that greeted her made her blood run cold.

Standing by the bow of the boat, using water from the sea that framed her like some vengeful water spirit, was a blond woman in standard Principate attire. That alone was normal enough as the Principate army was mixed. What made her standout though was that she was covered in blood that clearly wasn't hers, she had a gleeful, mad look in her eyes, and her breastplate had a red waterbending symbol in the center of the golden laurel wreath that was embossed on it.

There was no doubt who the woman was. It was Sylvia, the Blood Unique and the most dangerous of all the fanatical Uniques that served James. It was no surprise that she was part of the naval assault given her bending and Dominique was going to have to deal with her. She was probably the only one at sea who could go toe to toe with Sylvia.

"Ah good, that didn't kill you." Sylvia said the madness clear in her voice. "I was hoping to fight you face to face Dominique, I have never gotten the joy of facing another bloodbender in single combat."

As Sylvia was speaking, she ripped out the blood of the nearest Northern Water Tribe soldier and shuddered in a way that Dominique recognized, it was the shudder of a woman experiencing sexual pleasure at that very moment. It was a grotesque, disgusting, sight and one Dominique had hoped that she would never see but it seemed like second nature to Sylvia.

"I am no bloodbender, cunt." Dominique growled as she repressed her gag reflex at the sight as Sylvia spattered the blood all over herself with clear joy in her actions. "I am nothing like the sick fucking freak that you are."

"That's not what the Princeps told me." Sylvia said sweetly as the flicked her wrist and effortlessly broke the neck of a soldier trying to charge her before tossing the lifeless body over the edge. "He says that the only way you were able to stop him from cleaving that pretty little head of yours in 2 was with bloodbending. You remember, when you lost your duel against the man you love."

"Well, the Princeps is lying then." Dominique spat trying not to rise to the anger that she feeling at Sylvia reminding her of her wrong feelings for James, well former feelings as he was no longer the man she fell in love with. "I only did what I did in desperation and to save my life, I still don't know how I did it. It revolted me, that feeling of controlling someone's body, even a monster like James's, is wrong. I never want to do that again to another living being, no matter how evil they are."

"That's what they all say but once you have a taste you have to have more and trust me honey, it gets better." Sylvia said with glee as she hurled 2 more soldier over the side and into the railing of a nearby ship killing them on impact. "Let me teach you, I can show you how good it can be to bloodbend someone and be in complete control. Soon you will enjoy it like me and let me tell you it is positively orgasmic to use it to kill someone. I've already had four in this battle and I know I'm going to have many more before we win."

As if to emphasize her point, Sylvia ripped the blood out of another soldier and moaned in pleasure as the blood covered her. It was probably the most disturbing sight Dominique had ever seen and only served to reinforce her need to end this insane bitch before she could do even more harm in this battle.

"You're blood mad." Dominique said in horror as, yet another person was killed, drenching Sylvia in even more blood that she was clearly getting off to. "You have given into the bending and it had driven you mad just like all the others who have abused the forbidden art that is bloodbending. I will never become like you. I will never take pleasure in killing or lose my mind."

"Shame, very well, you will die instead, which works for me because I don't like rivals." Sylvia said and that was when Dominique realized that they were the only 2 left on the deck, everyone else was either dead or had fled from the insane Blood Unique who was pleasuring herself by killing them. "I look forward to testing my skills against someone who can prevent my bending though, you are an actually challenge. My will is greater but not worth the risk you pose me. With you out of the way, I am unstoppable until I reach the city."

"I guess some sense of sanity is still in there." Dominique said as she slowly stood, adrenaline filling her blood once more as she fell into the calm state of mind she used before engaging in battle. "I will make sure that that is the last sane thing you ever say."

"Bring it sister." Sylvia taunted surprising Dominique with the honorific only Southerners used with each other. "I will enjoy ending you and delivering your head to the Princeps as the last threat of the old South is defeated. You are a rallying point for those down there because of what you stand for so it is fitting that a fellow Southerner will end your claim to the now destroyed Throne."

"If you are of the South then you know that I am your fucking Chief." Dominique said angrily, she had not known that Sylvia was from the South even when they were at the Academy together and doubted it was true, just something to anger her and force her to make a mistake. "I will reclaim my Throne and I will ensure that all of those who defiled it are punished. I am Dominique, Chief of the Southern Water Tribe and while I still live the South will be free."

"I only serve the Princeps, only he is legitimate in this world now." Sylvia shot back as she drew a southern machete from a sheath over her shoulder. "So come at me, my Chief, come and meet your maker at the hands of one of your forgotten citizens."

Dominique didn't say anything. All she did was give a battle cry and charged at Sylvia as fast as she could on the uneven, rocking deck. It was time to end this bitch and the major threat that she posed.

As Dominique ran she felt Sylvia try and bloodbend her but either the other waterbender wasn't trying too hard to do so or her adrenaline and determination fought it off in the short amount of time Sylvia was applying it. Either way, it didn't affect Dominique and she quickly closed the gap and engaged Sylvia in armed combat.

It was clear almost at once that Dominique had the upper hand in the fight. Sylvia was skilled and could hold her own when it came to bending, the fact that she could bloodbend without a full moon put her in the top .01% of all waterbenders and if Dominique was being honest, Sylvia was probably better than her with bending. However, when it came to a blade, Dominique was out of Sylvia's league. The bloodbender had been trained in the Southern Style of fighting but she had clearly neglected it to focus on her bending, something many talented but arrogant benders did.

That was why Dominique knew she was going to win the duel. Her moves were well honed from years of training and Sylvia was barely being able to block and parry Dominique's vicious assault, only the unstable nature of their footing kept Sylvia in the duel. Well, that and the fact that several times Sylvia had to use the water and blood around them, there was plenty of both on the slick deck, to form an impromptu ice barrier to stop Dominique's sword from landing a crippling blow.

Dominique had the duel in hand and was getting ready to deal the final blow as she forced Sylvia to one knee with a savage kick to the other woman's kneecap the moment Sylvia gave her an opening to land the kick. That was of course when everything that could go wrong did.

Out of nowhere, just as Dominique was bringing up her sword around to take off Sylvia's head, a ship slammed into the side of theirs. It was clearly not intentional; it had been forced there by the wake of the battle and it wasn't a ram but a sideswipe. However, the bone shuddering crash was enough to stagger Dominique and break her concentration, something she'd been unconsciously doing to prevent Sylvia from bloodbending her. That was of course the moment that Sylvia acted.

"Fuck off cunt fucker." Sylvia spat out and Dominique felt her body go rigid from bloodbending.

Instead of instantly dying in agonizing pain as Dominque was expecting, she was simply thrown backwards and away from Sylvia. It wasn't as forceful as she had seen Sylvia do before, likely due to the stress of the fight and the recent ship on ship collision, but it still sent Dominique flying backwards. It had also probably been a move of desperation from Sylvia, something to get a moment's rest bit and out some space between her and Dominique.

Dominique flew backward and slammed into something that was very hard. Whatever it was, it was long, and round and it spun her around as her legs hit it and she flipped over it. She then fell painfully to the deck, her sword skittering out of her hand, as the breath was driven from her lungs from the impact of her back on the unyielding metal.

Dominique just lay there gasping like a fish, her body bruised and battered from the attack. It took a moment for her to regain enough breath to get up and onto all fours on the swaying ship with an audible groan and try and get her bearings once again. This painful crashing to the ground was getting really old really quickly.

That was when she realized that Sylvia had not come to finish her off for some reason. That was odd as Sylvia had the perfect opportunity to end her now that the battle had turned in the bloodbender's favor. It took a moment but as Dominique looked up she saw that Sylvia had begun to make her way towards her before she had been distracted.

A small, lithe figure in the outfit of a Southern Warrior with blazing red hair was engaging the Blood Unique in a bending battle further up the deck. Sylvia had been taken by surprise and was on the backfoot as she incorporated a modified Southern Waterbending style against what looked like the short, sharp jabs of professional bending.

There was only one Southerner currently in the Northern Water Tribe who utilized that form of bending and had the red hair, her cousin Rose. Dominique was grateful for her cousin's sudden arrival, it had no doubt saved her life, but she needed to help her out as soon as possible.

Rose was skilled, she had even killed a Unique when they were behind enemy lines, but she was not on the same level as Sylvia was and had no defense for the latter's bloodbending. If Dominique didn't do something and fast, her cousin would be the latest member of their family to be sent to the Spirit World prematurely. She was not going to let that happen, not again.

Looking frantically around the old ship that they were on, Dominique had no idea what would help Rose on this clearly no military vessel. That was when she saw the thing that she had slammed into. The sight of it gave Dominique a crazy idea but it was one that could work.

They were on an older ship, one that had likely been pressed into service to supplement the navy and help defend the North. That was the only explanation for way there was a harpoon launcher on the ship, well two but Dominique only cared about the one that she'd been thrown into.

The old device, used for hunting the large predatory fish in the Northern Ocean, was a large metal structure that was loaded with a heavy, large, metal harpoon that was fired using an air canister by hitting a switch on the device. The whole thing was on a swivel platform that allowed it to be turned to sweep the water and fire into it and at the prey they were hunting to secure it for the kill. It was one of the few Sokka inventions that was actually made and one that worked really well.

This one had either been modified or broken to spin a full 360 degrees rather than the usual 180 and thus could shoot across the deck and not just into the ocean. That again gave Dominique an edge as she staggered over to it, ignoring the thick metal cable that was attached to the harpoon so that they could real in their catch, Dominique staggered to the devise and pulled herself up to it.

It took all of her strength to turn it and point the sights right at Sylvia. It was not made for someone of Dominique's build to use, fishing like this was mainly done by men and the equipment took that into consideration, but she managed it with a mix of desperation and sheet willpower. That was when she saw how the fight had gone and it was as she had expected it.

Rose had been outmatched at last. Sylvia had recovered from the initial surprise attack and now had Rose in a blood hold, her chest arcing towards Sylvia showing where the hold was. The bloodbender was smiling gleefully as she held Rose up above the deck, her arm raised and her chest facing Dominique as she stood perfectly still.

"I admire your loyalty and dedication to trying to save your cousin, but you are just not on my level." Sylvia cackled as Rose grimaced in pain from the bending. "Time to join Albus in the Spirit World. This is justice for murdering Oakham."

"Not so fast cunt." Dominique yelled to get Sylvia's attention. "Bend this blood bitch."

Sylvia whipped her head over to Dominique just as she pressed the button to fire the harpoon. The results were something Dominique would never forget.

The harpoon was ejected right at Sylvia at a speed faster than any metalbender could match, compressed air was really useful apparently. It also meant that the bloodbender stood no chance. The heavy, pointy, and fast projectile slammed into Sylvia's chest and easily went through her breastplate before exiting her back in an explosion of blood, gore, and bone fragments.

The speed and the limited resistance Sylvia's body provided meant that the harpoon went all the way up to the flat base that was designed to prevent it from being lost in the catch. When that hit Sylvia a split second later she was thrown backwards and over the edge of the ship by the force of the blow and into the water with a splash.

There was no doubt, she had been killed instantly as no one could survive that kind of injury. That was also made clear by Rose crashing hard to the deck as soon as the harpoon hit Sylvia.

Dominique was so focused on the action that she neglected to notice the metal cable that was attached to the base of the harpoon. She was made aware of it when the cable whipped past her and seared a line of fire into her left side, right below her ribcage. Dominique gave out a scream of pain and toppled off the side of the platform that the harpoon was on and onto the deck with another painful thud as her head broke her fall.

Dominique must have blacked out for a moment as the next thing she knew there was a soothing sensation at her side that could only come from waterbending healing. Groaning, Dominique opened her eyes to see Rose crouched over her, a line of bright blue water pressed against her side where the cable had been pulled across her skin at high speed. There was still pain there but it had subsided to manageable levels, well manageable levels for someone as used to pain as Dominique was.

"That's about all I can do Chief, I was never as good at healing as I would have liked." Rose said apologetically as she noticed Dominique was looking at her. "Dad's not a healer so I didn't really inherit the talent, just the affinity for it that women naturally have. Ginny will have to look at it when this is all over."

Dominique glanced down and grimaced at the broad, angry, red line that the cable had left there that stretched from her hip near her ass and up in a diagonal line along her abdomen. Judging by the wound pattern, it was more of a burn then a cut though there was still blood on her clothes around it. Whatever it was, it was still distinctive, and Dominique knew it would never fade no matter how much healing was applied. It was just another scar to add to her growing collection that seemed to be exclusively on the left side of her body.

"No worries." Dominique said taking a pained breath and ignoring the throbbing in her head. "I've had worse, I will be fine. Thanks Rose."

"I'm just glad I saw you fighting a few minutes ago and came to help out." Rose said as she ended the bending and Dominique tucked her ruined shirt back in before ripping part of her tunic to tie around it and protect her exposed skin from the cold. "Thank the Spirits I did, I arrived just in time to intercept Sylvia as she was heading over to kill you. I was on that ship that crashed into this one."

"You almost died." Dominique pointed out as she sat up with Rose's help. "But thank you, without your assistance I certainly would have died and not had the time to end that insane Unique."

"Would have been worth it to save my Chief and kill another Unique." Rose said bluntly. "We all know that death could come for us, this war has only reinforced that fact, but the South needs our Chief to live so we will all lay down our lives for you. I did what was needed to save you and give you the time you needed to end that bitch. I have to admit, I did not expect that to be how you did it though."

"Yeah we were lucky though it has come at a painful cost." Dominique said as she glanced over Rose. Her cousin was a little banged up but otherwise looked fine at a glance, the bloodbending damage couldn't be seen though. "But then again nothing in battle comes free, my body is a testament to that fact now. I am just glad we were able to end Sylvia."

"True." Rose said as she looked over Dominque and Dominique saw the concern in her cousin's eyes. "I could also deal with the cut on your head though it has stopped bleeding, just ruined your war paint. The bruises you got will have to be healed on their own though, I don't have that level of skill."

"No, it is ok, I will get it all looked at by Ginny if we live through this." Dominique said. "Now where's my sword, I need to get a view on the battle to see what the fuck is going on."

"Here." Rose replied as she handed Dominique her sword, clearly she had retrieved when she came to help Dominique out as she had it ready to go. "Where are you going?"

"To high ground." Dominique said as she looked up and breathed a painful sigh of relief, they were on one of the ships with a tall tower for the bridge and other essential functions. "We have a battle to win, and I need to know where I am needed to help that be accomplished."

Dominque groaned as she got to her feet and sheathed her sword, she couldn't climb a ladder with it out. Ignoring anything Rose was trying to say to her, Dominique headed to the back of the tower where the exterior ladder, really just a series of metal rungs, was. Despite the pain, Dominique knew what she had to do and ignored it as she began to climb.

It certainly took a lot longer than she would have wanted to climb up to the top observation platform, the pain in her side ensured that and she was sure she had reopened it as she felt a wetness where the latest scar was. However, she didn't mind that it was seeping, it didn't matter right now. Neither did the danger of what she was doing. She had to see how the battle was going.

Finally, after what seemed like an age, Dominique reached the top of the tower and clambered onto the observation deck there before standing up on it. She could see the devastation around her, but she could also see that they were holding their own against the invading force. The Principate was on them, but they would not go down without a fight.

Drawing her sword, Dominique ignored the pain she was in as she stood tall and proud and gazed over the devastation beneath her. She held her sword at an angle and pointed to the ground to her right side. Her hair in its braid fluttered around her back. Her face was streaked with dried blood on the left side from the wound she had recently received. Her clothes were bloody and tattered but the Chief of the Southern Water Tribe, the She-Wolf of the Southern Waters, stood defiantly as she looked out over the battle knowing that this was the last hope for the world.

Dominique never knew that Rose saw her as she stood there or that the image she cut would become so iconic when it was recreated. All she cared about in that moment was holding the lines. That and the fact that the true battle for the world was happening over her head while they defended the last free nation from the clutches of the Global Principate.

Dominique hoped that the Avatar could win against the Princeps. That was what this battle would come down to and right now, father and son were almost certainly finally facing off against each other somewhere above her with the very fate of the world on the line. The final confrontation of the Principate War had begun.

Well there you have it, the last and arguably strongest Unique has been defeated and Dominique is solidifying her warrior image, so long as they win the war that is. Up next is the chapter y'all have known is coming from the very start, the final confrontation between the Avatar and the Princeps is now only a week away so stay tuned for the climatic climax of Book 4: Family. Anyway, that is all I have for now so as always please follow and favorite both this and myself so that you can stay up to date with new releases (chapters and stories) and please keep the reviews coming as I do love to hear from y'all regarding my work, it means a lot to me. Until next time.

Stringdog