I think I said I was going to post this relatively quickly ... obviously that didn't happen. Sorry to keep you, all my lovely readers, waiting so long.

No real excuses except I had trouble with the end of this season arc.

See end note for important updates.

Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 9: At the Crossroads

They halted just inside the open door of the throne room. Something was wrong, the stand off between small crowd of Dai Li and Azula made that obvious. Ty Lee appeared next to him and Mai.

"…double-cross you." The bare-headed Dai Li at the front said. Dai Li, arrest the Fire Nation Princess. And find the pr—"

Azula cut him off. "You said you could deliver me the Avatar. Where is that help, Long Feng? We have captured the king, the council, and bait for the Avatar. You've done nothing but put together this pathetic grab for your lost power."

He turned to his agents. "She would have us disbanded, who will protect the city, our traditions without us?"

"That little speech is nice for the people, but you don't think your own agents believe it, do you? It was always for your own power. But true power...the divine right to rule...is something you're born with. The fact is, you don't understand that. I can see your whole history in your eyes. You were born with nothing. So you had to struggle and connive and claw your way to power. Whatever you hold over them is nothing compared to their knowledge that I could destroy them all if I so wished. Be glad I'm satisfied by eventual disbandment. If they prove themselves more useful than they have thus far, I might consider letting this merry band continue, despite my brother.

"So its their choice. Isn't it?" She leaned back, completely unconcerned.

The herd of Dai Li looked at eachother, Zuko moved back behind the doorframe and out of sight of the agents. There was no need to endanger the game Azula was playing. Then they moved. Surrounded Long Feng and man handled him into a state of bondage.

As soon as the first hand grasped his shoulder and pressed down, Long Feng bowed his head in defeat. "You've beaten me at my own game."

"Don't flatter yourself. You were never even a player." She smiled, in that bone chilling, self satisfied way. "Mai, Ty Lee take Long Feng to the cell next to his puppet. And guard them."

He moved back into the doorway and met his sister's eye. Mai and Ty Lee took the head of the Dai Li away and the agents stayed awaiting Azula's orders with the trepidation of any who knew her.

The Dai Li were sent to wait in the ruined old city center, while Zuko and Azula ran with two of them toward the crystal cell. The waterbender wasn't visible from the opening. They entered, the Dai Li taking them down on a shelf of earth. He tried very hard not to react to the small stone shrapnel that came flying off the ground at him. He couldn't see any hitting Azula's face.

The cell was empty, but footsteps echoed from the tunnel at the far end and in the darkness there was a flash of blue. They hadn't gotten far. The siblings gave chase and just as the tunnel opened into an underground city, they caught up.

The waterbending girl, hand-in-hand with the Avatar and beside them, Iroh. A momentary beat of a pause where everyone stood in a faceoff, the trio inching back into the open space. Then Azula moved striking an arm out and from it, a snake of high blue fire trailed around the other girl. In surprise and fear the Avatar and waterbender recoiled, releasing eachother. Iroh stepped forward, between the two pairs, even as Azula rushed the gap by the wall toward the girl, and grabbed her drawing a finger tip of flame threateningly close to her throat.

Zuko stood frozen in place, trying to process his uncle's presence. Here, with the Avatar. With the Avatar, helping the Avatar.

"Zuko." Uncle started in that so very reasonable tone, as though any of this was reasonable. Something snapped, red-hot and angry inside him. An anger that burned in a directionless rage. It was familiar, the same anger that had gotten him out of bed and ordering a within days, and climbing in ruined temples before his bandages were off. The same that had fueled him through repetition after repetition of forms until he took a step closer to Azula's ever proceeding progress.

"Let her go!" The Avatar shouted at Azula.

"Hand yourself over, Avatar, and she's free to go." Zuko bargained.

"You don't need to do this," Uncle reasoned toward him from the side.

"Yes I do. Come on, Avatar. You or the girl?"

"Don't do it Aang!" But it showed in her big blue eyes that she knew that plea wouldn't work.

"Shut up. Or you'll join the other Southern benders," Azula threatened.

"Let. Her. Go!"

"That's really up to you, isn't it?"

"You don't have to do this, Nephew."

"Yes, I do!"

The airbender lowered his staff and stepped forward.

"Aang, don't!"

"I have to, Katara. I can't let them hurt you." He set the staff down and offered his hands to Zuko.

Ignoring the disappointed expression of his uncle, he took and bound the offered hands quickly. He took care to secure each knot and wrap around his chest too, pinning his arms down. He'd learned valuable lessons in binding airbenders since winter.

Once the Avatar was in Zuko's grasp, Azula pushed the watertribe girl away from her.

The girl's face was furious as she whipped around once steady on her feet. And Zuko barely glanced up from the ropes in time to see a very large wave coming for him. He hunched into a steadier stance and locked his grip on the rope bonds. The wave struck and carried him back into the tunnel several yards. The avatar landed on top of him, having been carried with him by the death grip he held on the rope.

A more precise attack came at him with a water ball, it evaporated in a puff of steam against a fire blast he sent to block it.

The two Dai Li that had come down with them finally appeared in the tunnel behind him, in no visible hurry to be involved. The girl began retreating back toward the opening, toward the water source Zuko hadn't seen yet. In that direction also was quite a lot of fire. Azula was fighting Uncle with the same determination she would compete in gymnastics with Ty Lee when they were young, he had gotten away from her earlier she would not let him this time. He ducked a waterwhip as he advanced on the waterbender hoping to force her back to the flame show, but it was slower going than he'd hoped with an airbender to drag with him. He was also pretty sure the kid was trying to trip him, that or he was really bad at walking while led. Ducking below a second whip, he tripped. His ankle was trapped in ice. To catch himself, he let go of the Avatar.

"Katara!" The Avatar called, hoping in place, his back and bound hands facing the girl.

Zuko ground his teeth and exhaled, the ice melted as his body heat rose. He managed to tackle the Avatar before the ice-edged water whip could free him, however, it did slice across his side along his lowest rib. The overly-happy round face of a bald monk was infront of him. There was a second in which he questioned why the kid was so happy in this situation, before he was flying backwards into the cave wall, pushed by a gust of wind blown from the kid's mouth.

The collision with the wall and then the floor hurt. There was a beat of silence when everything stopped around him. He didn't need to look up to know that Uncle looked concerned but unsure whether he could approach and Azula had paused to appreciate his pain with a satisfied smirk that also looked so unsurprised at his failure.

He had come too far to fall short now. He was going home despite three and a half years of obstacles. He had gotten the surrender of the Earth King and led the defeat of the Council of Five. Getting and keeping ahold of a twelve-year-old was not supposed to be more difficult than those. These were just extras, they meant nothing without the Avatar.

Flame knifes erupted from his fists and as he pushed himself up they grew into fire whips. Fire restarted behind him as well. Out in the open area of the underground city near a large water feature the avatar and waterbender were running, a wave building behind her to plow through the Dai Li that had formed a blocking line in front of the entrance. He flung one flame out in front of the fleeing pair. They stopped. The water wave that diverted to come at him was split with the other fire whip. He rushed toward them, reengaging as he got closer, weaving around and blocking water attacks, while dodging the channels of wind that cut through the water and fire.

There was no chance of active aid from the Dai Li for him, but they couldn't risk Azula's wrath by failing to stop the Avatar's escape. There was a split-second in which he spotted an opening, the airbender was inhaling deeply. He sent a blast of fire toward the boy's core and he was blasted back into what remained of the Dai Li wall from the waterbender's sweeping attack using thick watery limbs. He was grabbed by the few smart ones who had grounded their feet against being swept away. The Avatar captured, he could put focus on the attacks that had suddenly intensified from the waterbender. They weren't at the North Pole this time but there was a very large and available supply of water nearby. He caught the airbender preparing to blow another gust of wind and ducked, allowing it to sale over his head.

But instead of hitting him, it sailed across this battlefield and knocked Azula back and off her feet. Which freed Uncle for a moment.

"Miss Katara, go to the others. I will try to get him."

"But-"

"Go! He will not go without you safe."

She ran dissatisfaction and tears in her eyes, and Zuko let her, the avatar was captured and he didn't really care about the girl beyond that, nor did he really want to hurt her.

The air crackled with the precursor to lightning, and he turned to see which of the other firebenders was about to fire. Azula had regained her feet and leveling her arcing fingers toward the retreating blue back. Uncle was out of reach to repeat the move he had done on the ship back in the early spring but he did shift to catch it in midair, the lightning instead soared into the cave ceiling above Zuko. Rock fell and he managed to dive out of the way of falling stalactites and large stones, but not the massive dust cloud that engulfed the area. Fire in his hands didn't illuminate his way out just gave an orange glow to the particles around him.

"Zuko?" he heard Uncle call with concern, like he hadn't just almost dropped a ton of rubble on top of him.

Another boom of lightning striking stone.

Suddenly a wind picked up and the dust was gone. His cover was gone but he could at least see again. The dust was gone but the wind was not, it kept going and picked up. The dust hadn't disappeared, it had been taken up by the wind and drawn into the source. Small pebbles were beginning to tremble against the wind at his feet. And he turned to see the Avatar glowing and rising off the ground. The sphere of wind like a barrier and a ring of dust was solidifying into rocks. The Dai Li were now small hillocks encased in protective stone cocoons.

This was not good in any way, shape, or form. A little lightning had brought down quite a bit of stone, the destruction that might come of the Avatar State in this subterranean place with all of them in it was not something he wished to experience.

He ran, as the heat from the fight between master firebenders kept going behind him and the heat moved with the wind.

Even higher heat on his back, had him turn back to see fire that was raging in his direction, it was far less controlled than he expected from either of the combatants. It was orange and a streak of blue lit up behind it. It came around him, barely missing grazing his arm and wrapping partially infront of him until it was pulled off course by the wind sphere. He supposed it was meant as a barrier between him and the Avatar; and wasn't that just the encouragement he needed from his uncle. Instead, it was being swept toward the levitating Avatar.

The boy raised an arm and the gentle column of water that the girl was riding up the waterfall into the light streaming down surged with a gush that sent her out of sight with a squeak of surprise that was audible even over the flapping wind and whoosh of flame.

And he ran, ran toward the Avatar in all his power, to capture him. It wasn't the stupidest thing he'd ever done, there were more dangerous plans, fleeing into a blizzard perhaps. But even as he felt the wind wanting to pull him in faster than he was running, he knew this was stupid, and probably going to get him very fantastically dead. If he didn't, they'd all be dead anyway, in a far less spectacular fashion. Better to go out in a way that wiped away a reputation of pathetic cowardice.

A very large wave of water came crashing over him, whether it was meant for him, the guideless flames surrounding him, or Azula on the other end of the area, he didn't know. And as he surrounded himself with flame that hissed and cut through the wave, it didn't matter, he kept going, with absolutely no plan of what he would do if he made it into arm's reach. Either this levitation was very slow or everything had taken far less time than it seemed, because by the time he was trudging through a vortex that sucked the breath from his lungs and bombarded him with walnut-sized rocks, the Avatar was only a head higher than him.

He reached up, and that was what got the Avatar's attention. Empty eyes of blueish light turned on him. The fires had been doused on the other side of the rubble, and Azula stood steaming slightly. The Avatar's hand twitched in a way that shooed several rocks in her direction, those glowing eyes never leaving Zuko, while dust formed a point and moved toward his own face.

He made a split-second decision and the only thought in his head was that an unconscious Avatar was much easier to handle. His left hand grabbed the flapping collar while with all the speed he could manage his other hand drew out his dao and struck the pummel against the bald glowing head just within his arm's reach with practiced force.

The glowing ceased, the wind stilled, the spike that was mere millimeters from puncturing his arm fell into dust, the flying rocks dropped into the pile of ceiling rubble, and the Avatar collapsed to the ground, his upper body held off the ground by the collar Zuko still held in his hand. His right arm fell heavy to his side and he stood in the stillness.

Azula and Uncle were still as well, staring at him.

Azula recovered first, with a fireball that was blocked in time but pushed him back a few steps. Uncle looked back at him and he tensed, half raising his sword in defense against anything that might come. He'd seen Uncle fight when cornered and wasn't sure to what extent his uncle had turned to the Avatar's side.

Uncle's shoulders slumped, in a way that was meant to be hidden by his relaxing stance into a surrender. A single Dai Li appeared from somewhere and encased uncle in green crystals around his chest and arms. Another came by his side and reached for the Avatar.

"No. I will take him to the cell myself." He wasn't going to let them disappear with the airbender like they had with the Council generals.

The agent pursed his lips and decided that disappearing into the floor was a proper response. The other was escorting Uncle away. Zuko hoisted the unconscious

Avatar over his shoulder and joined them back toward the palace and a newly opened tunnel leading further down.

He couldn't look Uncle in the eye as they walked side by side and his uncle didn't say anything.

Once both prisoners were in cells and chained out of reach of the bars, he returned to the throne room. Or rather was left to find his own way back to the main palace by the Dai Li. Azula was waiting there, sitting very comfortably on the throne.

"Looks like you're going home." Zuko felt a smile creep onto his face as he reached down to retrieve his mask from where he'd left it earlier. "Don't get too cocky. Remember, I own you."

"What?"

She swung off the throne, and approached him until she was on the step that put her level with him. "Do you know who the Fire Nation's most wanted is aside from you and our traitorous uncle?"

"Admiral Jeong-Jeong?" He guessed, but his grip on the masked tightened involuntarily.

"You shouldn't play dumb, it just adds to the general impression. It's the person who is guilty of multiple counts of sabotage. Or is it treason? Who repeatedly stole sensitive military intelligence, and military supplies, not to mention aided in the escape of the Avatar from Fire Nation custody. It would be a shame if Father found out who that was. Really, Zuko, petty theft in the Earth Kingdom; how low could you sink?" And now he understood why she was keeping him around, it was no inexplicable partnership, she still, as always, held all the cards.

"I'm going to sleep."

"Beauty sleep won't do you any good, brother." He was too tired to respond, he'd take that as a 'good night'.

He found the first room with a bed and collapsed into it.

So that's our new end for season 2.

But this story is not finished. More is coming, we still have season 3 to cover after all ;). I won't be able to post for the rest of July bc of work but at the beginning of August I'll have an interlude chapter that covers the last few chapters from Iroh's pov, followed by the continuation of the series into season 3 of the show which I will hopefully get a back log of chapters together for a fairly regular posting schedule. While over on AO3 this is a series, I'm just going to post everything as chapters of this same story here on FF bc its harder to find related fics on here. So stay tuned and keep an eye out for those!

In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what happened, what you think is going to happen going forward. Complaints, compliments, theories, analyses? Let me know what's on your minds! (you've hear it before elsewhere, the engagement helps the muses) Also, do you want to know what the Gaang get up to in the wake of Ba Sing Se?