Zuko

Kyoshi…

She doesn't answer.

Kyoshi…

She's gone.

Only the gray granite lingers.

A rough, dry sensation – like the rock's dust – scratches the inside of my chest.

Until I hear a step behind my back, feel the heat approaching my nape – I skip a fire blast. It hits Kyoshi's statue on the face, circles of black ashes stain her.

I'm not sure what comes first, if the utter anger, or the shock of seeing Zhao, Lu Ten, Iroh, and their soldiers in the temple.

"Good morning, Prince Zuko." Zhao drops his bending stance unhurriedly. He is the one that shot. "I didn't have you as a morning bird."

Surprise takes over while the other emotions arrange, "How did you…"

"As military devices, my tracker hawks are trained to return for stocktaking. You shouldn't have kept one as your personal pet."

Hawky planes from the upper ceiling to give Zhao a piece of his mind. With his claws.

"He never liked you," I hiss at Zhao once my hawk returns to me.

Satisfying as it is to see his forehead newly filled with scratches, thinning hair wet with intense red strings of blood… I have to get out of here. (I'm telling the group we're making a book on 'Escape Plans for Every Situation'.)

(I would read something like that.)

His soldiers come at me. I kick the first ones in the line and push them to the others, brushing the way open.

"Hawky, now!"

He resumes his clawing off Zhao's face patch by patch. Same with Lu Ten's. The two of them squeal and throw their arms in the air, hitting each other instead of Hawky in an attempt to do the opposite. (Iroh remains in his inactive performance, so…)

"Hi, Uncle!"

"Not now, Iroh!"

I physically jump over them to get to the other side of the door, (and call Hawky back before Zhao turns him into fried semi-komodo-chicken.) I find out how was it that they got to the peak of the mountain when I get to the temple's entrance.

The sun is out, a horde of Fire Nation soldiers ride komodo-rhinos through the still blooming light into all angles of the temple's grounds. Druk spits fire at them; some of the men throw thick ropes around him to tie him up. With a glower and a growl, I use my firebending to push them off.

"Druk, are you alright?" I jump to his back, Hawky flies over us, "We're leaving!"

The Trio of Fire Fools gets out of the temple. Druk rises just as they exit, and we skip some more fire blasts shot to the clouds.

"You sure you want to leave the Air Nomad legacy behind, Prince Zuko?" Zhao taunts. "It'd be a shame if all trace of the culture got lost."

What is he… No.

No!

No, no, no, no!

He is setting fire to the building!

(The komodo-rhinos also tear down the walls.) (He is destroying the temple!)

No! Kyoshi!

'Zuko.'

I halt.

'There are things you have to leave in the past.'

Crushing down more unwanted guilt… I turn away.

"Druk, take us back to the village."

He heads course there.

And then we get some more fire shots!

"Damn it!"

Zhao had men at the feet of the mountain; they are the ones chasing us. (Damn them!)

"Druk, forget it! We can't guide them home, turn around! I mean – " I glance to both sides "– left!"

He does and we head course to Agni-knows-where.

Druk growls.

"I don't have time to think it much, okay?" I yell.

Hawky screeches alerting us for more attacks, and we soar away from them as we can; it's a long journey of unsureness and fireballs. (At least it's nothing I'm not already used to!) There's a river crossing the forest. Druk lands at the other side, the soldiers can't pass.

"You brat!" They curse at me.

"We got word from Commander Zhao," one of them says, "There's a village formed by Air Nomads close by, all men are required."

I don't outwardly react. I let the dark, dark anger do the thinking for me.

(Which, in perspective, is not a very good thing.) (But I still don't have time to think it much.)

My arms move to create a tornado that carries the soldiers into the fiercely running waters – not the komodo-rhinos; they are innocent – and then I use an airbending current to push them faster and down the river.

I think not all the men will be there; I glower while instructing Druk to fly again.

It takes us more than I would have liked – or needed – to get to the village. Zhao is already there along his army, burning the tents and caging the Air Nomads as they try to escape. Everybody is a blur of terrified figures running for their lives; panicked shrieks and wails fill what I remembered as a peaceful land. The most peaceful one on Earth, if possible.

I don't wait for Druk to settle before extinguishing the fire. Jumping down from his back, I form a strong, nearly solid burst of condensed air. The blazes die, smoke arises.

"Prince Zuko," Zhao's tone is musing. Villain-y: velvety, cliché. "I didn't think you'd arrive soon enough."

"Get away from here," my voice is a whisper with everything but an air of softness. It is the kind of whisper you're afraid of hearing in the dark.

"This is all your fault, Avatar Zuko!" The Air Nomads shout at me. "You brought the Fire Nation to us!"

"I see your little charity cases are very grateful for you," Zhao mocks.

"I said," I click my teeth, "Go away."

"It doesn't matter how hard I try, I can't figure your reasoning," he ignores me. "You're willing to sacrifice your legacy, your country, your people… To make yourself an enemy to the world. The other nations have hated you for the past century. And with reason, you abandoned them. And you were expelled from your country. You're just a banished prince. No home, no allies. Your own father didn't even want you. At this point, you're no better than a stray dog. I almost pity you."

He lights up his fist, "Almost."

As soon as he shoots me, his men take the cue to attack in pack. Some of them physically, some of them with more firebending. They are a numerous group, much more than all the times we have fought. It is a real army. (Zhao probably thought he'd need them for killing the rest of the Air Nomads and finish the work from a hundred years ago.)

It's difficult to fight outnumbered like this; they manage to strike me. With their fists, their fire. Multiple times. Several times. Eventually, the coppery taste of blood grows heavy inside my mouth.

One of the men strangles me from behind while some others try to further immobilize me.

"Everybody get out of here!" I tell the Air Nomads. (At the very least, the Trio of Fire Fools seems to have shifted their focus to me.)

I kick, spin and push the oafs off me. Make the idiot trying to asphyxiate me hit his head against a tree.

Burns and bruises all over my body begin to swell. I fall against the log as well, trying to regain air.

"Tired already?" An all too familiar, unwelcome voice appears near my ear. "Your time with the pacifists made you lose your fighting spirit?"

"Shut up," I bark at Zhao. (Something like that.) I can't get enough oxygen to put force in my voice.

"The most astonishing part is that you could prove you still have an ounce of loyalty left if you only stepped out of the way. Make a life for yourself somewhere else. No problems to worry about, yours or somebody else's…"

"While you kept massacring people?"

"Well, yes."

A beast-like hunger for justice explodes inside me, making my voice as beastly: "I would like to see you try!"

I launch a saw-like blast of fire in one twirl. He skips it, but there are true surprise, commotion, and… fear in his face.

A rueful smile tugs my lips. He is forgetting I chose this, I told him I had. This – the Air Nomads, the world, my Avatarhood – are the cause I'm willing to fight for. Nobody decides for me anymore.

I serve no one.

With new vigor fueled by rage, I go on attacking him. He commands more soldiers to come at me, I knock them out.

"You know, for being a Commander, you sure like to make your subordinates do the dirty work."

He smirks unequivocally evil. "I do plenty."

His eyes go to the Air Nomads who continue trying to escape. He shoots at them. I rush to block it, the fire flows over my arm. Sparks burn my skin, nose, and lungs.

"It's not very honorable to involve civilians in crossfire," I glower. "Not that I expect you to know a thing about honor."

"There is honor in continuing the missions of our forefathers." He shoots at some more Nomads; I block it yet again. "And they are not 'mere civilians' if they should have been exterminated years ago."

"What is it with you, Zhao? Why are you so…" I block another blast. "Why are you so obsessed with torturing everyone?"

"I must admit that I take great pleasure in torturing you."

And that's exactly why he keeps shooting.

"Then me. Why are you so obsessed with destroying me?"

He shrugs.

I don't know why I bother.

Throwing a flare at his feet, I shake him off balance. Then block at shot coming from my left side, directed at my scar.

It was from Lu Ten.

We size one another from the short distance.

"I don't want to fight you," I tell him.

"You'll have to."

He firebends and I redirect it back at him. He shoots another blaze, preserving that… unfeelingness. Expressionlessness. All of this remains as protocol to him, a means to an end. Is this something I could have prevented from happening? That indoctrination? Zhao is just a racist cartoon villain, but Lu Ten… he is a product of war.

I finally throw him away with another attack, the few soldiers left charge at me. I don't even use my bending to send them flying. After that, I send a fist-sized airbending explosion to the side of Zhao's face still on the ground.

"You know, Zhao, there is one thing you're right about," I say, walking closer to him. "There's nothing left for me to lose, nor for me to gain. I could destroy your weapons and kill your armies on a whim, without earning anything from it. How unfair that someone gets to use that much power they do not deserve."

I watch his face deforming into a disgusted sneer. Yeah, that's what it feels like to look at you, you jerk!

He fires pointblank at my stomach; it's so strong it flings me to hit another tree.

Blood pools in my mouth, I cough it.

Zhao is on his feet, coming to me, and raising a cutting attack. "Remember what I said about tempering your tongue?"

I can't stand.

I can't move.

A whistle sounds, "Hey, douchebag!"

Before I get to blink, one of Sokka's hand-carved arrows inserts in Zhao's shoulder. (Ouch!)

His howl of pain is tearing and long. Too goddamn long. Thank Agni, Gyatso uses airbending to shy him away.

"Guys," I smile past the blood once Katara, Aang, and Sokka kneel at my sides. (Gyatso stands guarding us from more attacks.) "You came back."

"What happened to you?" Sokka squeals. "No, wait… Don't answer that. Better this: can you move?"

I try to. "No," I grunt.

"Don't force yourself," Katara helps me lay back down.

"How did you guys know I was in trouble?"

Hawky lands next to my head.

"Hawky was the one that went to look for us," Aang explains. "He told Momo something about Zhao and komodo-rhinos, and that you were busy and didn't notice he left…"

"Oh, yeah," I mutter. "Sorry, Hawky, it wasn't my intention to leave you behind."

"Kids, you have to get somewhere safe," Gyatso instructs us.

"Let's get Druk and Appa and get the hell out of here!" Sokka presses.

"We can't leave the village alone," I argue.

Just then, Zhao recovers enough of his composure to boss Lu Ten – who is barely getting to his feet – around: "Don't simply stand there, message the rest of the troops! I need all men in here!"

He has more backup?

"We. Have. To. Go!" Sokka insists.

"We can't leave everyone to their own luck," Katara says.

"And the option is letting some lunatic exterminate the only chance we have of stopping the War?"

"I'm not dead yet," I shove myself up. And growl and return down.

"I told you to not force yourself," Katara repeats. Her hand settled over mine, the one I'm keeping over my stomach in an ineffective method to deal with the pain. "Let me see," she says.

She doesn't wait for an answer before putting my hand down – as gently as the circumstances allow – and shoving my ashy, torn coat and shirt to discover my stomach.

Sokka cringes.

"What? Too bad?" I ask.

"No," his voice grows high-pitched in a falsely carefree, exaggerated way, "Of course not! Nothing our super nurse Katara here can't solve… Right?"

Her eyes remain fixed on the wound I haven't checked.

"Your clothes protected you fairly well from the fire," she probes my abdomen, "but you'll have a bruise all the size of your stomach. The impact was too great, it's already turning red."

"Awesome," I drop my head back.

"Do you feel this?" she questions, still probing. "You aren't dizzy, right? Can you focus? C'mon, look me in the eye."

She leans forward, putting our faces at level with each other. I obey, looking her right in the eye. My pupils follow the blue of her irises. Today is one of the days when her eyes are fluent water currents; I can almost – almost – see them pouring. Some other days they are stabbing ice. There is no in-between.

The earth trembles when a new pack of Fire Nation komodo-rhinos stomps to the camp.

"Now we can leave?" Sokka repeats.

"It wouldn't be a good idea."

We all turn to the voice behind us.

"General Iroh," Katara murmurs, a little too acquainted for addressing a Fire Nation General. Someone from Zhao's group on top of that.

He smiles welcomingly to her but returns to seriousness in short. "If you leave, Zhao will in fact destroy this village and everyone in it."

"Way to set us a trap, old man," Sokka glares.

"He's not saying it because of that, Sokka," Katara interrupts.

"How can you tell?" I'm the one who wonders.

She looks at him once. "I just know."

I would like to frown. I would like to be annoyed at her too-trusting nature, I would like to be angry at Iroh for helping us only behind everyone's back, but… I'm weary. And pained. And still choking on my own blood; and hungry, and weak, and I want this to be over, all of this to be over… In a corner of my mind, I want to faint, to at least let everybody stay angry with me but know they'll be alive for it.

"You guys have to get out of here," I say after a pause.

Katara, ever the perceptive, realizes I'm not speaking open to discussion. "What about you?" she asks.

"I'll be fine," I'm panting – and choking and coughing some more because of it. "But seriously. Run."

"Zuko."

Katara's voice becomes differently urgent. Concerned without intentions to stop me. I don't know if it is that she can tell I can't be persuaded; I am barely aware of my surroundings as of now. My breathing grows heavier as the dizziness grows stronger. Her hand caresses my face but I'm already too far gone to fully perceive it.

Kyoshi… The darkness fogs my mind. Kyoshi, help me…

Katara

It's so strange to hold his face when he is in the Avatar State. His warmth stays human.

He is a vessel.

For nothing other than raw power alone.

It's perceivable in how his body rises so effortlessly, after a second ago when he couldn't get an inch from the ground; in how calm his movements are, meanwhile his eyes emit uncanny white light that provokes a burning sensation only by looking at them.

My palm grows colder immediately after it slides from his cheek.

The others stare in muted astonishment, afraid of so much as breathing in his direction. I am the one that guides them away, taking Aang and Sokka's hands.

We herd the Air Nomads to a corner sufficiently far from the fight. General Iroh sneaks his way back to Lu Ten's side. Zuko – his body – advances to meet the army beyond fearless. Beyond human. Strength reverberates in the atmosphere, the tremor of the rhinos' steps thunders.

I keep on assuring the villagers everything will be okay. It's what I did back at home, it's what I'm good at. And yet…

If I was a complete bender… would I be able to stand on the same ground as Zuko right now, fight alongside him? Fight in the middle of all that, be worthy of the reverence in the eyes of the Fire Nation army. Of everyone.

As the soldiers approach, he performs some earthbending moves, the mountain cracks.

It. Actually. Cracks.