Daughter of Hate

by Blutus Mindpretzel

The war is over. Azula's motives remain unknowable as her child stands to shake the foundation of everything built since the fall of Fire Lord Ozai. For Toph, Mai, Aang, Katara and the rest, the world is an even more dangerous place than it was when they were children. And despite being long since gone, Sasuke's impact continues to shudder their world, perhaps more than they know.

46. Chapter 46

AN: A very Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate it! It should go without saying, but I will no doubt have all you guys in my thoughts today, you've made this such an incredible experience to share, and I can't thank you all enough for that.

Three, maybe four chapters to go! Depends on how long a couple of these upcoming scenes get. It's been so awesome to hear how much you guys have been enjoying as things have neared the end here, thanks so much for dropping those reviews, love hearing from you guys so much.

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Chapter 46: The End of the Uchiha

Madara lay flat on his back somewhere north of the wall of Ba Sing Se, staring up at the lightening sky. The stars had faded away under the growing glow of the sun that was rising back behind the crown of his head, and he let his mind wander somewhat freely as he gazed at the pale pink and blue above him.

And still… I am defied.

The strike he had been delivered just moments ago hadn't been enough to deal any sort of actual damage to him, but the pure force behind it had been more than enough for Madara's body to go flying what must have been hundreds of meters. He could hear no voices or footsteps or anything that indicated that anyone other than he was located out on that ragged patch of earth. Steam from the Chidori that had struck him wisped up from his body, having been caught by the barrier he had formed around himself.

Kakashi, then. I suppose it was unwise of me to not place him somewhere more secure.

Chiding himself silently for his arrogance, Madara flexed his arms and felt something that indeed was rather worrisome on its own, and something he had known hadn't come from Kakashi's strike. It was a twinge of pain, a burning, more annoying feeling than anything; it certainly wouldn't affect any part of his being beyond that. But nonetheless…

That fire…

He had been so caught off guard by Soza's complete explosion of power that he had allowed himself to be bathed in her furious fire that had come exploding from the head of her most unorthodox looking Susanoo.

Susanoo… how can that be?

He had learned from Koh that the child's eyes had indeed been awoken and upon meeting her himself, Madara had confirmed the inheritance that Soza had received from her father. But how she might have been able to use it to summon a Susanoo, in any form, burrowed into the back of his mind. Perhaps the mixture of chakra from two worlds, perhaps something to do with the genes of Sasuke and the princess mixing as perhaps they were never meant to, perhaps something else entirely, but Madara had known fully well that it had been a Susanoo he had laid his eyes on.

And that fire. The pure power that had been behind it had been something beyond anything he could have expected. Even from Sasuke, the pure energy that Soza had engulfed his Susanoo with dwarfed anything that Madara had so much as touched from the other Uchiha. Even compared to his Amaterasu, something about Soza's crackling blue flames had seemed deeply unnatural in how they had melted the very essence of Madara's own Susanoo, something that he wouldn't have so much as even remotely considered possible. He knew that he would need to keep her from the Infinite Tsukuyomi, at least for a time. She didn't deserve to live in a world where everyone she knew of slept eternally and her father was dead, but Madara would still need time to learn exactly what it was her twisted origin allowed her to wield.

The sun breached the horizon as he saw it wash over the craggy landscape and warm the top and side of his head. Still, he remained where he was, not yet willing to move. He wondered what Sasuke and the rest of them were doing to prepare and stave Madara off yet again. How could they hope to? Surely by now they realized how hopeless it was, and yet he still found himself imagining they would be there waiting to fight him when he returned. Perhaps some of them would try and whisk Sasuke away in secrecy, to take him somewhere where Madara might be unable to find him. Certainly the mother of Fire Lord Zuko and Princess Azula would try and vie for that to be their primary option. It was baffling to Madara how truly enamored with Sasuke that woman seemed to be, such a strange piece of her persona when compared to the rest of her which was clearly very levelheaded and practical. He couldn't decide if she was incredibly brave or blindly stupid in how she had openly challenged him like that. It would have taken the mere flex of his fingers for her life to be stripped away, and she had still chosen to stand guard ahead of the boy who was more or less already on death's door after what Madara had done to him.

Why… why?

It was a single-worded question that continued to pulsate almost routinely in his mind as Madara pulled in a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. Somehow, they were still all banding together to slow him down, to hold him back from finishing this. It wasn't that they were more powerful, that they were more cunning, nothing like that.

But their will… their sheer, damned will. That was all that was stifling him from ending Sasuke and putting the Infinite Tsukuyomi to work.

Somehow, complete loyalty to Sasuke as a person wouldn't allow them to stand aside from a being that they certainly must have understood was able to look down on them as less then insects. It was only through curiosity, interest, and hubris that Madara hadn't just blown them all aside to end Sasuke by that point, but that still didn't explain why they kept stepping up to try and hold him back from bringing this conflict, this pointless violence to an end.

Madara had certainly enjoyed parts of this charade. Getting a good look at the hole Sasuke had dug himself into with so many of these people that he clearly cared so much for and who clearly cared so much for him in return was amusing enough. It was easy to tell how several of the women, and even the young Avatar himself seemed to have been hurt by the fact that Sasuke had chosen Ursa over them. Or… had he really? That blind woman seemed still to have some sort of strong presence in the gazes he would cast towards the group. Regardless, watching them squirm as they had for weeks had been at least moderately amusing, knowing that they had been dealing with so many conflicting emotions had made him feel so entirely certain that they were going to be primed to be knocked to their knees.

And yet… here they were, on their very literal last legs. And they weren't so much as giving him an inch of leeway that they could help. In fact, they rather seemed even more defiant than they had surely been when this all had begun.

Madara chuckled from the ground.

Faced with freedom from this miserable life as I offer their world the only peace that mankind can ever know… and still they fight.

For a brief, amusing, and almost worrisome moment, he almost considered letting them all run to live their miserable lives as they wished. But no, that would never do. When he finally took Sasuke's life, he knew that the majority if not all of their number would be out for revenge on him. They would surely return to the continent they had called home after he allowed them to leave, revenge at the forefront of their minds. Unfortunately, there really was no way he could reward their stalwart nature beyond what he was already offering.

To that end, however, it seemed that there was rather a failure in terms of general understanding. Madara knew that what he was offering them was the most perfect gift that could be granted to a human being: a perfect dream wherein you didn't know that you even were locked within your head, able to have everything you could ever want, be with whomever you'd like, free of death, misery, loss, anxiety, hate, greed, all of those torturous emotions that had forced the necessity of Madara's plan in the first place, the emotions that defied any such idea of the true peace he strove for.

His fingers dug into the dirt as he pushed himself to a sitting position, feeling a surge of utter bewilderment pass through his body then.

Do they not understand what I will be sacrificing myself? I will safeguard over this world and my own, never able to truly experience the paradise that all those sleeping will be a part of. Still… they choose defiance.

Madara pushed himself to his feet, turning to look at the bright sun that had breached the horizon and was now sending its early morning rays to illuminate the landscape with a warm, almost mesmerizing blanket. He thought of how nice it would be to just sit back down and watch it rise as he had done many years ago on the cliff overlooking Konoha.

"Remember those days, Hashirama?" he murmured softly to himself, closing his eyes and feeling the warmth of the sun even seep through them. "Sitting up there, believing that just because we were invincible, we would be able to hold off the conflict our species sows…"

Turning back towards Ba Sing Se with the sun beaming against his side, he rotated his shoulders slowly, giving his body a last stretch.

"What would you do, old friend? Try and stop me too no doubt…"

He took a step forward.

"You'd understand in the end… just as they all will."

Kicking off from where he stood, Madara broke into a sprint without another moment. He hoped that the brief pause he had taken in returning would perhaps give the lot of them a last moment to accept the reality of their situation. Perhaps some comfort, some last embraces for Sasuke… but he couldn't wait any longer. He knew that every moment he gave Sasuke to recover might improve his chances of actually being able to get up and fight again. There wasn't a thing he could do against Madara, of course, but that wouldn't stop it from being an aggravating inconvenience if that ground needed to be treaded again.

And what of Kyoshi and Yangchen? Would they stand aside and allow this to happen? Would they try to defy him as well? Summon the might of the spirits against them? Koh certainly wouldn't show his face; after failing to detain Rangi as Madara had ordered him, he no doubt was remaining in the spirit world to avoid any potential retaliation. Madara held no ill will against the vile creature, however; he rather detested Koh's methods as a whole, but a part of him had somehow imagined he wouldn't be able to hold Rangi on his own, the one woman who had allowed him to hold complete dominion over the spirit army. He imagined that Kyoshi wasn't going to be looking to forgive him for what he had done, but she was also a very practical person, and no doubt would understand the futility in going against him.

As he grew within a couple hundred meters of them again, Madara triggered his Sharingan to provide him a better look at the area he had been standing in just minutes ago. And as he did, he gave his head a small shake.

Sasuke was standing straight up, looking fully prepared to engage Madara once more. His sensei stood beside him, and Madara imagined that Kakashi might have been able to perform some semblance of healing jutsu on him; it surely wouldn't be enough to get Sasuke anywhere near full strength, but it might provide him a small burst of energy nonetheless.

It won't matter.

Dashing ever nearer, Madara could see his friends standing all about him as well; the Fire Lord, the princess, Sasuke's pregnant lover, the blind girl, the resurrected silver-haired girl, all of them, all looking fully ready to die alongside Sasuke. Madara drew his chakra up, preparing to deal with the lot of them in a single jutsu before putting down both Sasuke and Kakashi. The two of them couldn't be allowed to live; any jutsu user was far too unpredictable to keep around. Once he had swiftly tossed aside the others, he would be more than able to—

Wait.

A couple dozen yards away he was before he realized that in his moment of pity he had felt for them all being so stupidly willing to try and fight him, their number didn't add up. Three of them were missing.

Turning in mid-step to look behind him, Madara's eyes flicked up to see three Avatars bearing down on him from the sky. Kyoshi was situated just ahead of and between Aang and Yangchen, and as he raised an eyebrow at the three of them approaching him swiftly, Madara saw that all three pairs of eyes looking back at him were glowing brightly.

"Fools," he muttered as he streaked across the ground and drew his hands up to blow them back when they got near enough to strike out with their bending.

Two things happened then, both of which caught him badly off guard.

His Sharingan quickly whispered a warning, and he turned his head just as Sasuke appeared right at his side. He looked into the Uchiha's eyes, but Sasuke's only move was to drive up a powerful punch beneath Madara which connected with the chakra barrier around him and launched him upwards towards the three Avatars.

The next moment, a blinding light flashed bright enough to completely bathe the world in white. Madara felt a strange, almost nauseating pass through him as his head gave a violent rush that brought him very near to blacking out. Defensively, he whipped his body around and lashed out around him with a spinning kick that would have caught anyone trying to get to him in the brief moment that the world had been absorbed by the furiously luminescence, but he connected with no one as he landed on his feet and slid to a halt as the light faded just as quickly as it had flashed.

Kyoshi, Yangchen, and Avatar were all standing near to the rest of the group, all of them looking sufficiently drained and near to collapsing as Rangi, Yue, and Katara rushed to support them. Sasuke had landed nearby to Madara, his knees bent as he looked ready to continue fighting, but he looked as winded as Madara felt.

Fool that I am.

Madara hadn't expected in the slightest that Sasuke and his compatriots would be the ones to initiate combat against him, hence why he had not at all expected the attack from Sasuke and the Avatars. It had been yet again that he had been surprised by their gusto and moxie, and he couldn't help but both be grudgingly impressed by their aggression and mildly annoyed at himself for yet again allowing them to get away with such a maneuver.

However, with that being said…

"I suppose I'm a touch confused," he called out to Sasuke as he slowly started to circle around him to where he could keep a healthy eye on the rest of the group. "What exactly was that little stunt supposed to accomplish?"

Other than that strange sensation he had felt, nothing much seemed to have happened, nor had his defensive barrier that he held around himself seemed to have repulsed anything at all. He supposed that the only reason Sasuke would have thought to provide him an answer in the first place was to distract him long enough to buy some more time, but as it happened, Madara watched as Sasuke tucked himself lower to the ground and dashed right at him, fists tightly clenched. Madara gave a tired sigh.

Truly, it is always to the death with this one.

Not looking to have to deal with another scrum of any sort, Madara triggered his Susanoo to reach out with its large blue arm to snatch Sasuke in his approach and slam him to the ground, ending that play rather quickly.

Or at least that was what he had intended to do.

As he triggered his chakra to perform that very action, he felt the chakra surge, but not a thing happened save for Sasuke getting right on top of him and throwing a punch clean into his face. Just as he had experienced with the Chidori from Kakashi, Madara felt himself suffer no actual damage, but the force of the strike still sent him flying backwards to land heavily on his back.

What?

That was about all he could think blankly as he got to his feet and found Sasuke right back on top of him, whipping his fists and sword in a flurry of frenzied blows that Madara was forced to give ground on. He would repel Sasuke, attempt to cast a Fire Style jutsu, or summon his Susanoo again, or a myriad of other tactics, but found that nothing other than his Sharingan and taijutsu seemed to be with him.

What in the world is going on?

He could still feel his endless supply of chakra being fed into him by his connection with the spirit world, and the barrier around him remained consistent, but somehow, it seemed like all other forms of harnessing his chakra had left him. As he wove about with Sasuke, he caught a faint glimpse of Aang being held up by Katara and it dawned on him. He twisted around Sasuke and landed a hard kick that sent the younger Uchiha skidding away from him.

"That would explain why you haven't come at me with any jutsu either," he snarled. "That was your plan then? Rid me of jutsu, and then what? Such a suppression attack won't last forever, and what's your plan then?"

Sasuke's reply was to rush him with a flurry of fresh strikes which Madara blocked, deflected or dodged with ease; he was now starting to feel sufficiently annoyed with the entire situation. He didn't know exactly how long this negation of the majority of his powers would last, but he supposed that if he wanted to make a proper statement, beating the entire group down with just his fists would be more than enough of a—

Sasuke suddenly leapt backwards in a swift feign and as Madara looked after him, he suddenly realized that he had taken his eyes away from the group long enough for Zuko and Azula to both flash around on either side of him, flames of orange and blue crackling in their hands respectively. When the firebending burst from them, it didn't seem to have been done as an attack against him, but rather as a method to strike him again with a burst of blinding light as the pair cranked the intensity of their fire up to a point that forced him to squint. Gritting his teeth angrily, he lunged in the direction where one of the lights was originating from, intending to subdue at least one of them immediately with a single blow. But as the light started to fade, he felt something grab him underneath the arm and toss him back. Righting himself, he turned to see that Suki had grappled him and kept him from advancing on Azula and Zuko; as he snatched at her, she lunged away.

"Gnats," he growled, knowing his superhuman speed would make the act of running away irrelevant, but a powerful blow that could only have been delivered by Sasuke struck the shield behind the back of his head and sent him staggering forward and he suddenly found himself assailed by a storm of fists and blades from Mai, Jin, Yue, Ursa, and Sokka. The ones he didn't block or avoid, struck the barrier around him and while he was anything but harmed, Madara felt his aggravation rising dangerously. He might not have had access to most of his abilities, but his Rinnegan flashed as he released a burst of Shinra Tensei.

"BACK," he snarled and the five of them were thrown back by the ensuing shockwave, crashing to the ground. He turned towards Ursa, deciding to deal with her first, but just then, he felt his throat grow dangerously dry; looking ahead, he saw Katara ahead of him, her expression tight with concentration as her hands twisted through the air, and he knew immediately what she was doing. Focusing his protective barrier enough to protect the air around his head, he sped forward fast enough to reach her and threw a fist into her stomach. She gasped in pain at the blow, delivered by a fist that could have knocked a person ten times her size to the ground, but before Madara could bring down a second strike to her head, Sasuke had caught up to him, wrapped a hand around his neck and hurled him backwards.

Righting himself, Madara clenched his fists as he looked at Sasuke, fully ready to cut off the head of the group's little snake that they were so pestering him with.

And as it happened, the last place he had been expecting to be struck from was directly beneath his feet.

Solid bands of earth erupted from around them, wrapping tight around his ankles and forcing him forward to his knees; likewise, two more bands wrapped around his hands and pulled them out to his side, effectively holding him just as he had with his shadow possession jutsu not minutes ago. Strained as his body was, he could look to see Toph with her expression grimacing as she struggled to hold him. No doubt her bending was something of an impressive skill, but his pure strength was making it clearly difficult to hold him. And as he flexed against the hold, Madara could tell that, given time, he would be more than able to break free.

The others reached him then, strikes of elements, fists, kicks,and blades being leveled against his barrier in a rather disorienting fashion, doing all they could to try and pierce it. Madara blinked as he pulled against Toph's bonds, looking past the flashing swarm of blows to see Sasuke standing a distance away beside his daughter and Kakashi. Despite his growing anger, he felt a furious smile cross over his face; he ignored the relentless attacks being issued towards him while he slowly tried to pull free of his restraints, shouting at Sasuke as he did.

"This was your plan?!" he barked. "Restricting me to physical attacks?! Even with that tactic, you cannot destroy my barrier, for doing so would mean depleting the entire energy source behind the spirit world! You cannot defeat me!"

He hoped that the fools attacking him would understand the truth behind his words, but they ignored him, continuing to attack with everything they had. He could have blown them back then with his eye, but he decided to allow them a few moments longer to realize the futility of their endeavor.

Fine, then, Madara thought. This suppression will only last so long. And when it's finished, no more. I will end this.

And Madara forced himself to be patient, slowly feeling his limbs come free from Toph's bending, and relishing the thought of stamping the life out of Sasuke when this was finally said and done.

---

It was a rather uplifting sight in a way as Sasuke watched the group assail Madara with everything they had. No attacks reached him, no matter where they landed, but they didn't so much as remotely seem deterred by their lack of success.

They believe that this will work. That they can wear him down. That this will somehow work.

He caught occasional glimpses of their expressions, fierce and focused, not a one of them letting themselves be overtaken by the possibility that failure was an option.

Because if this were to fail… I'd be dead and Madara would put every last one of them to sleep.

How ironic that the end goal of this plan was closer to that then they could have ever known. At this point, Sasuke knew everything was waiting on him; Kyoshi had told him that, with as concentrated a burst of her attack as she was going to release, backed up by Yangchen and Aang's collective energy, a person with as much power behind him as Madara did would be suppressed in his ability for perhaps ten minutes. This was purely based on her consideration of how it had affected him back when she had used the same ability to knock Sasuke out of the air and restrict the majority of his jutsu, and her understanding of how much more power Madara was backed by than him. Sasuke knew for certain that time was waning, but it was clear that at least for the time being, Madara was being successfully restrained as Toph strained next to him.

Still, he remained where he stood. He knew Kakashi was waiting for his signal, and he knew that for this plan to come to proper fruition, the next step was waiting entirely on him. With only a few actions, he could end this once and for all and he knew time was running down.

And yet still, he didn't move.

"Dad… why isn't it working?"

As he looked down to his daughter and saw Soza looking up in fear at him, he realized then why he wasn't moving, even with time moving with a dangerous speed all around him.

It was because he really, truly did not want to do this.

To his right, he saw Kyoshi, Aang, and Yangchen with Rangi standing protectively ahead of them. They were all looking ahead with varying levels of shock and frustration, as they witnessed what they believed to be the culmination of their plan having no effect on Madara. To them, to all of those attacking Madara, to Toph, to Soza, to Katara who was weakly sitting up with pain on her face from the strike she had taken, Sasuke knew that every single one of them was quietly digesting the fact that despite hindering Madara as they had, he wasn't dying. Sasuke knew that he could never die from what they had done to him thus far.

Go.

He told himself that, cursing himself for his weakness. To hell with his fear, with the fact that he so desperately wished that this wasn't what he had to do. His feet felt rooted to the ground as though he too were being held in place by Toph, but every bit of it was entirely in his head, he knew that.

Looking at his daughter filled him with such a powerful mixture of hurt and courage that it felt almost suffocating.

I want more time… just a little, not much… just a little.

No answer came to his silent prayer though, as he knew it would never have. Turning, he knelt down in front of his daughter. She looked at him with terrified eyes; he found himself wondering if she had somehow awoken her Mangekyo Sharingan during her explosive burst of emotion, or if there was something else that had allowed her to summon that Susanoo like being around her. Just another thing that he wouldn't be able to know.

There's so much I still want to tell you.

And yet, he would have to settle for this.

His hands went to her shoulders, and he relished the warmth of her body and the knowledge that she was his daughter.

"Soza… I need you to promise me something."

He spoke it quietly but with enough force to put across the gravity of it. Sniffing, his daughter gave a firm nod.

"Don't lose yourself to hate," he said, gripping her a touch tighter. "No matter what, don't let yourself be consumed by it. I fear me and your mother both gave you a solid share of that emotion… but you have to be better than her and I. Don't let the hate rule you; whether you feel it for Madara, Kyoshi, me, anyone else, feel it, but then try and let it go. It will make you miserable and it will eat you alive if you let it. And… take care of your mom and grandma for me, okay? They'll need it, Toph too. Take care of each other."

She blinked at him with a touch of confusion then.

"…why would I hate you?" she whispered, but Sasuke only leaned in then and hugged her as tightly as he dared. He couldn't have stopped the tears then; this would be his one, brief chance for them. There would be no time for tears in just a moment.

"I'm proud of you," he said, his lips just near her ear as he tried not to let her hear the fact that he was crying. "You've grown so much since the day I first laid eyes on you, more than I ever could have at your age. You're strong, but you have such a heart… and I'm so sorry I have to hurt it now."

One last squeeze as he embraced his daughter with agony worse than any pain Madara could ever inflict on him surging within his veins.

"I love you, Soza. I love you so much."

He pulled away and ignored the pull at his clothes that she gave, her voice sputtering weakly up at him, no doubt as she failed to comprehend both what he was saying and what he was implying. It hurt his soul horribly, but he knew that worse still would be looking at his daughter and knowing that he was having to leave her again. He stepped to the side, ready for the next of the two goodbyes he was being allowed.

"Sasuke… I can't hold him much longer," Toph said through gritted teeth. She hadn't seemed to notice the words he had spoken to Soza, so focused was her concentration, but she still seemed to have recognized his approach. "It doesn't seem like anything's working that they're doing; I really hope you've got more to your plan than this, because otherwise—"

She stopped talking, her face going momentarily blank. She didn't release her grip on Madara or her bending, but her body slackened somewhat, her mouth remaining slightly agape.

Sasuke smiled as the tears ran down his cheeks, keeping his pointer and middle finger pressed against her forehead for a moment longer. No words came from him then.

None would have made a difference anyway.

I'm sorry.

As a brief memory flickered in his mind of a younger Toph cuddled up beside him on a warm beach at nightfall with the sound of the waves gently lapping nearby, Sasuke dug as deep as he ever had to withdraw his hand. Turning, he heard Soza cry a last word towards him, but he continued to force himself to keep from acknowledging her; his willpower already felt so splintered, he knew the danger that would come from so much as looking at her again.

Kicking off hard, he fired a single bolt of Chidori away from him to burst above in a quick flash. And with that, the end came into motion.

Sasuke released his own burst of Shinra Tensei directly downwards, catching every single person around Madara and flinging them backwards to land near Toph, Soza, the Avatars, Katara, and Rangi. Just as he was completely left alone in his bonds, Madara's head turned towards Kakashi who flashed directly in front of him, close enough to grab every bit of his attention; Sasuke saw the air around his sensei's face start to swirl and heard a bellow from Madara and knew that the sliver of time he had been waiting for had just been granted to him.

Letting his leap carry him directly down to land behind his foe, he lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Madara's neck as the other Uchiha turned away from Kakashi, distracted as he had been to not have an attack ready with his eyes to stop Sasuke from reaching him.

And Sasuke triggered an ability that he had swore he would never resort to again, though this time, he knew its consequences would be much different.

There came a last moment then, as the ability rose to the surface of his mind, his eyes flashing with power. He looked out towards his companions, watching them all get to their feet to look at what was happening before them. Sasuke found himself wishing badly that he could just give them all a last word, something to tell them each; he owed every one of them an apology, he thought, as he looked to Suki, Ty Lee, Katara, Sokka, Jin, Zuko, wishing badly that he had the time even just for that. But his eyes passed over Mai with regret, over Yue with misery, over Aang with sadness, over Azula with a deep pain he had forgotten he still had, but they came last to rest on Ursa.

He looked at the woman who had made him feel a love he would have sworn he ought never have been able to feel, looked at the growing understanding in her widening eyes, and saw her mouth opening, no doubt to cry out for him.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, knowing none of them could hear his last words to them.

Ursa… please forgive me.

There came a fleeting image of Ursa, their child, surrounded by Zuko, Azula, and Soza, all of them smiling fondly at their mother who harbored so much regret for not being there for them, and the thought gave him strength.

She'll be okay… they all will.

Two last tears breached his eyes and spilled down his face as he looked to the sky one final time and found a smile on his face then.

They'll be okay.

His fear was banished in that moment, and he felt his face crack into focus and intensity. His technique triggered then, just as it had that night on the island and just like then, Sasuke felt the same word pass through his mind, even as he corrupted it and twisted it for his own purpose, no longer becoming the technique Danzo had used upon him, even as he thought the name of it.

Izanagi.

At once, he could no longer see Ursa, his daughter, or any of the others as a whiteness as bright as anything could be erupted around him, and he felt an almighty rush through his gut.

"What are you doing?!" he heard Madara scream then, all arrogance and superiority gone from his foe's tone, but it was also far off and muffled to him. He couldn't see Kakashi or Madara then either.

He saw the threads ahead of them as his consciousness throbbed with tremendous agony which he knew was from Madara's resistance of his ability, just as he was able to grip the threads that he knew had been there. Sasuke hazily remembered the effort that it had taken to rearrange them as he had back when Ursa had been taken from him, and knew that this at least, was easier to understand now than it had then. A brief thought passed through him, the idea of trying to resist Madara's presence and actually arrange this without him having to take the lives of all three within his jutsu, but he shook that aside. If he failed in that aspect, it was all over, and Madara would win.

No chances. End it.

Imagining an invisible sword flashing through the abstract zone he now felt suspended in, Sasuke cut every thread before him.

At once, the pain was gone. He could no longer feel Madara's rage, he could no longer sense anything at all being suspended in that void with him. Everything was lifting and numbing his tired mind as though he was being drifted off to sleep. He really did indeed feel so tired.

Sasuke couldn't feel anything then that made real sense to him. He couldn't remember why he was there, why he had been crying, why he had been hurting, where his body had gone, where he even was at all. All was floating away from him then, and he couldn't muster the strength to reach out and grab at. The white was becoming even far away then, bright and dark fading to relevance to him. Then, rather strangely, he felt a thought, a memory, and he felt a hand take his. His ability to understand anything around him had left, but it didn't bother him that badly.

Sasuke felt a breath, or what felt like a breath wash from him then.

And then, to the best of his understanding, he ceased to be.

---

It was blinding, but Aang couldn't look away. The sphere of light that had just completely enveloped Sasuke, Madara, and Kakashi had completely washed out everything around him in a brilliant, all-consuming light and even as he squinted, he couldn't tear his eyes from the sight of it. Despite the exhaustion that clung to his body after he had just given Kyoshi as much of his energy as he could muster, he staggered forward towards it, somehow feeling that he had to be near to the impossibly powerful source of light and a hand grabbed his wrist to keep him from getting any closer. There was no sound beyond a strange thrumming noise that prevented Aang from hearing a single other thing, making him feel that it was just him and the sphere, nothing else.

Then, it shrank with a speed that matched just how quickly it had come into existence and was gone.

Aang could hear a soft breeze over the rugged terrain then as sunlight blanketed over him and the others, somehow not as brilliant in its radiance as the sphere had been. Where it had floated before them, there was only a small crater where it had extended downwards into the ground, indicating that a spherelike shape had indeed once been there.

But there was no Madara. No Kakashi.

And there was no Sasuke.

Aang couldn't move from where he stood. A minute passed, and no one around him did either. No one said a word, or even seemed to breathe. They might all have been dead for all Aang knew, but he couldn't bring himself to turn his head, or really move at all. He just looked at the dead space before him where three men had stood just moments ago and even emotion seemed to be beyond him just then. He couldn't feel anything, let alone react to anything. There didn't seem to be anything to react to for some reason.

Another minute passed and finally, someone broke the silence and moved in his peripheral vision, breaking a spell that Aang hadn't even known had settled on him. His eyes fell upon Soza who took several jerking steps forward, her hands drawn into fists to her chest as she looked tentatively forward.

"Dad?"

Her quiet voice felt like a tsunami washing over Aang's ears and he started to finally shake. She took another several steps towards the crater, her voice ringing out then, a touch louder.

"Dad?"

She stopped a few feet from where the crater was before dashing forward and sliding down into its depth of several deep inches. Her head looked around swiftly then, and the desperation in her movements became apparent then. She whirled after several seconds, looking back at the lot of them.

"Where is he?!" she cried out, her eyes demanding an answer. Of the well over a dozen adults standing before her, not a one offered a word in response. They all remained where they were, statues built by their own shock and disbelief. Soza stared at each of them in turn, her brow furrowing in progressively growing anger.

"SAY SOMETHING!" she suddenly screamed, her voice cracking and ripping at Aang's ears. "WHERE IS MY DAD?!"

When her furiously hurled words elicited no response again, she started to storm about in the crater, her black hair whipping around her face in frenzied desperation.

"What did he mean?" she asked to herself in a frantic sort of mumble. "That I'd hate him? Where is he? What did he just do? Where is he? Where—"

Azula took a step forward then, and as Aang finally found the strength required to turn his head, he saw her face, still unmistakably beautiful, but now seeming almost corpselike as though all life had been drained from it. She looked at her daughter almost blankly, her voice haunted and hollow as it touched Aang's ears.

"He's gone, Soza," Azula said, sounding like her throat was swollen. The raging emotion was clear from her tone even as she looked forward with an almost petrified look on her face, her back stiff and hands hanging loosely at her side.

He's gone.

What she had just said then actually resonated with Aang, moments after he had heard it. There was something about it that made him almost want to laugh with disbelief, but no sound came from his mouth.

He's gone.

He's gone.

There was a scuffling sound as Soza scrambled from the crater and raced towards her mother, blind fury masking her face as tears streaked from the corners of her eyes as she ran, her mouth formed in a gritted snarl. As she reached Azula, she threw a fist into her mother's stomach, a blow driven by pure emotion rather than concentrated force; Azula's face barely twitched at the strike as Soza glared up at her.

"SHUT UP!"

She hit her mother again and fixed her gaze on the ground, the fury still pouring from her face, teeth grit in an expression that Aang found was somehow even more terrifying than anything he had ever seen on Azula's face. He saw a child on the brink of complete devastation, a sliver of denial being all that was keeping her from falling part. She was sliding then, Azula's words pulling her away from any sort of safe haven she was able to cling to. Aang wanted to say something that might somehow stave off what he knew had to be coming, but just as he couldn't bring himself to move in any significant sense, Aang could feel his mind buzzing blankly, words on their own seeming impossible to even generate.

Azula wasn't looking at Soza then, as her daughter beat against her with her fists. Her gaze was locked ahead on the crater that had formed by Sasuke's passing.

Passing.

Aang felt his body start to shake with what he knew was a flood of anxiety and pain, and he suddenly found himself wishing he was anywhere then where he was. He knew there were a myriad of people around him who would see him just as they saw Soza now. He didn't want anyone to see him fall apart as he knew he was about to; it was impossible to ignore, the way that the hurt and the pressure in his gut seemed to be mounting. Aang knew what had happened even as his own rationale did everything in its power to block out such a reality.

Soza's punches were growing weaker, and it only struck Aang then how he never would ever have expected to see her dare to strike her mother in such a way, the only thing seeming a stranger sight was the way Azula was letting herself take the blows. The princess continued to stare right ahead towards the crater, her gaze never wavering, and Aang wondered if she was even aware of her daughter any more.

"Don't…" Soza said, in a voice that was half a whisper and half a moan. "Don't say that… please… don't let him be gone… make him come back, mother, please… make him come back… make him…"

And finally, words seemed to be beyond her and she slumped to her knees, her forehead pressing against Azula's thigh as her body shook with a few quiet sobs before Soza gave in. Her small body shuddered as she wailed, nothing but despair to be heard in the sounds. As strong and mature as she had been forced to be, she became just what she was then: a child, being forced to reconcile with the fact that their father was gone. Her crying further pressed against Aang, and though he felt no tears in his eyes just then, he felt his shaking grow worse.

Azula's hand brushed against the top of her daughter's head and, without looking, Soza reached up to grab desperately at it. Mother and daughter gripped one another's hands tightly as Soza continued to sob against her mother's leg and as Aang looked, he saw too then that Azula was crying as well. Her expression was stoic, her face steeled, but the agony and regret in her eyes was unmistakable. The tears tracked down her cheeks as she stared towards where they had last seen Sasuke, thinking who knew just what then.

"It's a trick."

Toph's voice rang out clear and present amongst them. Aang looked over to see her face directed towards the crater as well, her expression almost eerily blank. Soza's loud wails quieted away at the sound of her friend's voice, but she didn't turn from where she remained pressed to her mother's leg, sniffs coming from her regularly.

"It has to be," Toph continued, taking a step forward that looked almost like it hadn't even been a movement she had made under her own power. She took another, and another, closer to the shallow crater; she seemed almost like a marionette, her body not seeming to be under normal control.

"He… wouldn't," she said then, as she neared the side of it, the clairty of her voice wavering then. "He… couldn't… not like that… not to us…"

She neared the edge of it and turned her head down. Aang recognized the look, the way she stood. She was reaching through her bending, try to sense more than those who stood behind her. Aang could feel the certainty emanating from her, the same way he had heard it in her voice; in Toph's mind just then, there was no chance that what every single other person was thinking just then was true. Azula's words were lies, Soza's tears were misguided, and the shocked silence that held them all so firmly in its grasp was nothing more than something brought on by foolish misconception.

Aang desperately found himself wishing he possessed the same mindset just then.

"Stupid…" Toph muttered, kicking at the ground near her feet. "Stupid…"

She turned her head back and forth as though she had suddenly just received the gift of sight and it was going to be what let her confirm that Sasuke was still there.

"Where are you?" she growled. "Where are—"

Her whole body seized then as though someone had just lain ice against the small of her back. Toph bowed her head and Aang heard what sounded like the stifled beginning of a moan.

"Where are you…" she said quietly in a voice that was infinitely weaker than the assured snarling she had just been using. "Where… where…"

And then, just as Soza had, she dropped to her knees. Her fists came back then and slammed into the ground with enough force and will behind them for a quake to come rippling out from the strike, nearly knocking Aang and the others off their feet.

"DAMN YOU!" Toph howled, throwing her head back towards the sky. "THAT WAS IT?! THAT WAS YOUR MASTER PLAN?! DIE, FOR US?! COULDN'T YOU EVER THINK ABOUT ANYTHING OTHER THAN DYING FOR US?! WHAT DID IT MATTER THAT THERE WERE PEOPLE THAT LOVED YOU, THAT NEEDED YOU?! I DON'T FUCKING CARE THAT YOU DIDN'T BELONG HERE, WE NEED YOU!"

The roar echoed up towards the heavens that were being split by the daylight of dawn and Aang heard a pair of soft crying sounds behind him that he imagined must have come from Jin and Ty Lee. Toph slowly turned her head back towards the ground then, and towards the reality of what they were facing.

"I needed you, you son of a bitch," she said dully, almost like she could no longer be asked to care, her voice sounding as broken and hollow as Aang had ever heard. She remained on her knees, her fingers picking at the dirt until Aang could see that she was shaking.

"Couldn't you have stayed just for me?" she croaked miserably and Aang knew she was crying.

He couldn't see her then as the tears swam into his eyes with an almost frightening speed and he started to cry, taking the smallest sliver of solace in the fact that he was not alone. The hand that had grabbed him turned out to be Katara's, who gently pulled him to her in an attempt to comfort him. Remembering what it was that she had done, Aang tried to shove her back, but it was weakly done and Katara only stood to his side, patient and quiet until he broke down and practically fell into her arms.

I didn't get to talk to him. I didn't get to just admit how I felt, to really just make peace with how I was feeling. I didn't thank him enough for what he did, how could I ever hope to?

Blearily, he distantly imagined that he probably looked rather similar to how Soza looked crying against her mother just then.

There was so much I still had to tell him… so much. I wanted him to be a part of my life for the rest of it, no matter what that meant. I didn't need him to feel the same sort of thing about me, I just… needed him.

He thought to Toph's words and felt a surge of vile, sickening anger in his gut towards Sasuke just then.

Toph's right, Sasuke… weren't we worth staying for?

Guilt immediately overwhelmed his spike of rage then, and he couldn't believe how selfish it had just been to feel genuinely angry at Sasuke for what he had done.

Because maybe that really was it. Maybe that was the only way he could win this. Giving himself up to ensure that Madara was removed too.

Aang's fingers dug into Katara's clothes as he held onto her, frustration resurfacing amidst the rest of his bubbling misery.

Why couldn't there have been another way? Why, why, WHY?

The pain was too much then for him to care if others knew just how badly he was falling apart as he let the sobs overcome him. The weight of everything was crashing down around him as Aang thought to the war, the spirits, the weeks of stress and fear, Kyoshi, Koh, and Madara. And he would have gladly accepted all of those and so much more if it just meant that Sasuke could still be with them.

---

It's over.

What a peculiar thought that was, Mai mused somewhat blankly as she listened to the sounds around her. For one reason or another, Aang, Toph, Soza, Ty Lee, Jin, and Yue were all crying audibly over what had just transpired, this final nail in the coffin of their miserable escapades that had swallowed them over the past several weeks. Sokka and Azula were both crying more silently and though neither Zuko, Katara, nor Suki were shedding tears, their stony faces could have allowed them to pass for statues. Mai didn't dare look at Kyoshi, Yangchen, or Rangi; she feared that if she did, no matter what expressions they were holding behind her, she might not be able to keep herself from rushing Kyoshi and trying to choke the life from her.

It's over.

It was, but as she now knew the cost that had needed to be paid for such an ending to be achieved, Mai would have been ready to allow herself to continue to suffer through this misery for years and years longer if it meant taking back what had just occurred. All she had wanted hour after hour for what seemed like so many days was for this to be over, and yet here that very end was, and Mai couldn't have wanted anything more than to give it back. She wanted to fall to her knees and pound uselessly at the ground and demand the universe give Sasuke back to them. She wanted to cry just as much as Soza was, letting the hurt run its course. She wanted to let out a single, awful scream, putting every awful feeling she was currently experiencing into it.

But she did none of these things. Instead, she stood where she was, feeling rather dead inside.

It took her a moment, but she realized then that Ursa was one of the few not shedding tears over what had just occurred. Mai looked towards the older woman and saw a chiseled expression of restrained pain, but not much else on Ursa's face. She could feel her brow furrowing as she tried to figure how this could be, especially after all that had passed between her and Sasuke.

I don't get it… how could you not be crying? You've gotten to know him, spend time with him, learn about him, learn about yourself, see more about Sasuke then maybe anyone's ever known, and now, you're pregnant with his child. No doubt you were getting your strength every day from imagining that one day this might be over and you two could run off hand in hand into the sunset to go start a perfect little family.

Mai's hands clenched into fists at her side, the strength with which she was gripping them being almost numbing.

And you're not crying? If that was me… if Sasuke had decided that I was the person that he deemed to be so perfect, so worthy of sharing that with… if I was… pregnant with his baby…

The thought didn't hardly allow her to remain angry at Ursa, for the mere idea of such a thing and then losing Sasuke had her gut twisting in ways she would never have thought possible. Feeling her lips curling, Mai turned away from Ursa, not able to stand looking at her anymore.

You weren't there for Zuko and Azula when they needed you the most… now how are you going to tell that baby what happened to its dad?

Such a cruel and spiteful thought was enough to finally bring tears to Mai's eyes, tears filled with sadness and no small bit of hate towards herself. Just because Ursa wasn't openly sobbing like Aang or Toph or Soza, that didn't give Mai any right to look at her and—

Soza… oh no…

She felt her body shake with a small sob of her own then that she managed to keep relatively silent.

She's just a kid… she's had to grow up so much in just a few weeks on top of meeting her dad… and even though he still was kind of a dumbass from time to time, I don't know if she's ever had such a good influence in her life other than Toph.

Not sure how she was even able to, Mai turned her head just enough to see Soza's slumped form against her mother. Azula had slowly lowered herself to her knees then too to allow herself to cradle her daughter, who looked and sounded to be completely beyond consolation.

How can she be expected to say goodbye now?

"Aang."

It was Kyoshi's voice that Mai heard then, smoothly speaking Aang's name. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise and the nausea that had come from her grief only increased as a powerful flush of anger was added to it. That woman had no business speaking now, not to Aang, not to any of them. Regardless of whether or not she had been forced into this by Madara, this was just as much her fault as his, and if she was about to try and intrude on this moment of grief that they were all stuck sharing together just then, Mai was not about to allow such a thing. She started to turn, her mouth forming a snarl as she prepared to snap the Avatar into silence, but she stopped as she looked up into the tall woman's expression.

As she might have expected, Kyoshi's expression was stoic, almost indifferent. If there was pity within her, she wasn't allowing such an emotion to make it onto her face. But Mai looked into her eyes and found, with a powerful surge of confusion rippling through her, that they were shimmering.

What?

Kyoshi was not crying, but the glisten in her powerful eyes could not have been missed.

Why… where would these tears even be coming from?

Katara too was glaring at Kyoshi as she held Aang to her, but he slowly pulled just a touch away from her so that he was able to look towards the other Avatar. The rest of the crying around them had dwindled away into reserved sniffling then; Kyoshi so much as speaking at all seemed to have reminded everyone that while the greatest foe they had yet faced was gone, she was still there. Regardless of whether or not they had come together in their effort to take down Madara, the hostility that still lingered could not be overstated.

Kyoshi wasn't looking to a single one of them other than Aang, nor did her eyes move as she spoke, keeping them locked fixedly on him.

"We have to get back to the palace. We need to end this."

"End it?" Suki asked, and though she had looked perhaps the least affected by what had just taken place, her voice was dry and strained. "What do you mean 'end it'? Did you miss what just happened?"

"Even if Madara is gone, he still has left a mess of the spirit world," Kyoshi replied. "He used Vaatu and Raava to harness the energy that the spirit world exudes and channeled that for his own purposes; if the two of them remain trapped as they are, that energy will remain in limbo, unable to be transformed back and put back into use for the spirit world."

"And you can't do this yourself?" Katara snapped. One of her hands kept coming up to gently stroke down the back of Aang's head and down his neck, clearly in an effort to both calm and reassure him. Based on how red his eyes were, he had indeed been crying quite badly; Mai had seen Aang cry before as he was a person quite given to his emotions and the emotions of others, but as she looked to him now, he looked quite as bad as Soza did. Mai still was having trouble with the idea of forgiving Katara, let alone trusting her…

If she hadn't did what she did, would Sasuke have gone off and done this? Would things have ended up any differently?

…even after they had dealt with Koh as a team, but seeing Aang the way that he was, she couldn't keep from siding with Katara.

"You're two Avatars," Mai felt herself snap bitterly. It was incredible to her how relieving it was to just put her cold anger and grief to words, and also how alien they sounded to her ears just then. "You can't deal with this and let Aang be? Especially after all you've put him through?"

Yangchen's expression was swamped with tiredness and guilt as she didn't dare to look at anything other than the ground by her feet. And even though she clearly was ready to stand by Kyoshi through hell and back given the look on her face, Rangi remained silent to these remarks. The response was left to Kyoshi who gave it without her expression flickering in the slightest.

"You are the present Avatar, Aang, the one connected in mind and soul to Raava. Yangchen and I could likely free the pair from their restraints, but without you to link back with Raava, I'm unsure if she would be able to imprison Vaatu back within the Tree of Life as she once did with Avatar Wan thousands of years ago. She was unable to put him there in the first place without the aid of Wan's soul and without you to aid her, I fear Vaatu's reimprisonment will be a struggle."

Her expression didn't change, but her voice lingered then with a touch more intensity as she stressed the importance of her words.

"I don't know how much time we have either, with Madara's grip on them having been relinquished. We need to return to the spirit world and put things back as they were. Then, I can safely command the spirits to leave the material world and can close off the connection."

Mai hated how easily Kyoshi was able to speak with any sense of rational thinking just then; inside her own head, Mai's grief was still overflowing, but hearing what she did now, it was all being numbed by this talk of reason. Of course, based on what Kyoshi said, Aang ought to go with them and end things. But why should he have to? Anyone could have seen the look on his face and understood just how badly damaged he had been by all of this and telling him he had to suck it up and keep perform his duty as Avatar didn't seem at all right.

It's not fair.

No, none of this was fair. Here they all were, battle-hardened adults each and every one of them save for poor Soza, and yet they had been just as rendered into silence and agony as she had been. Aang having to struggle through that to do what necessary—

Ahead of Mai, Aang sniffed loudly and wiped his cheeks with his sleeve. The action did nothing to make him look any less miserable than he already did, but he gave a firm nod without looking back at Kyoshi.

"Okay."

The taller Avatar regarded him for a moment as though unsure of whether or not to believe he was actually agreeing with her assessment, but she eventually took a slow step backwards and then turned her back on them to start walking back towards the city. Rangi followed immediately and Yangchen gave Aang the look that Mai might have associated with a heartbroken mother having to explain to their child something horrible before her face tightened in pain and she turned too to follow after Yangchen.

For a moment, the group just stood there, silence wrapping them tightly as they stood united in their collective and various levels of agony. No one seemed to have the desire or the function to move, but eventually, slowly, Suki put an arm around the shoulder of her husband and turned him away. Sokka went without a word, his eyes downcast and cheeks still stained with tears. Mai knew that he was just as pained about Toph as he was about Sasuke; he had always treated her as a little sister, and Mai imagined that he was dealing with likely some anger of his own towards Sasuke for what he had done to Toph.

Aang started to practically hobble after them, looking hardly in control of his own movements as he did. Katara followed after him with a nervous look behind the hurt in her eyes, staying just at his side in case he were to stumble or collapse from any mixture of exhaustion, pain, and grief. She didn't look back to where Sauske's final moments had taken place and Mai tried to wonder if she was ever going to be able to look at the waterbender as a friend again for the part she had played in all this.

Ty Lee and Jin seemed to reach a silent agreement at some point then and they both gingerly started to move forwards; though their faces were red from crying, they reached Toph with the determination of friendship in their eyes. They both stood near her a moment, both on either side of Toph, before they slowly made to try and help her up. As Mai could have expected, Toph's initial reaction was to bat their hands away with the vicious speed of anger and though they both pulled back, neither Jin nor Ty Lee was put off by her sharp response. Several long seconds later, they made to try again, and though they were met with a similar physical reply, Toph's strikes at their hands were weaker, so much so that, when they tried again, she didn't seem able to resist them at all. They helped pull her to her feet and it was clear that without the aid of the two of them, Toph might not have been able to walk all that easily on her own. As the three passed by, Mai didn't dare look at Toph's face; she hated the idea of seeing her just then, not willing to imagine what seeing the earthbender just then might do to her.

Her heart throbbed badly as she laid eyes on Zuko. He had moved to the side of his sister and niece, looking completely helpless as to how lead them away from that place. Slowly, he lowered himself to a knee beside them, laying a hand on each of their backs respectively. He said something quietly to them that Mai couldn't catch, but as she watched, Azula suddenly pressed her face into Zuko's shoulder, giving a heaving, silent sob as she pushed herself against her brother while still holding her daughter tightly. Without a word, Mai walked over to them, even as she felt tears drop from her own eyes; as she reached them, she looked down towards Zuko who looked up at her with a mixture of agony and relief. They exchanged nods and Mai bent down to put her hands on Azula's shoulders as Zuko gently pulled away from his sister to lift Soza in his arms. Sniffling, she weakly wrapped her arms around his neck with a hollow look in her eyes, as he held her to him and, though Mai knew that he had never exactly had the closest relationship with his niece, his eyes swam with deep emotion at the touch from Soza. He held her tightly to his chest as Mai carefully pulled Azula to her feet, keeping the princess close to her.

She felt a confusion just then that she couldn't quite identify as she felt the princess against her before it realized her that it wasn't what she was feeling that was confusing her, but rather what she wasn't.

This… this is the first time I think in years… that I haven't hated her.

There was no way she could ever know what it was that was passing through Azula's head then as she cried silently against her, but Mai supposed it wasn't her place to guess at or ever know just what regret and agony was tearing Azula apart. For all she had done to Sasuke, to her family, her friends, her own daughter, perhaps now it was just now coming together for her, the gravity of what she had done. The gravity of what could never be truly healed from might finally be reaching her.

Did she ever even tell Sasuke she was sorry?

Still, Mai couldn't muster up the energy or emotion to be angry at the princess just then. Almost her entire being was wrapped up in misery, her racing thoughts likely being all that were keeping her from falling apart just as some of the others had.

As she and Zuko started to follow after the others with Azula and Soza in their arms, Zuko stopped to look over his shoulder and Mai followed his eyes.

Ursa, who hadn't so much seemed to move, let alone speak, had moved to stand where Toph had just been kneeling. She stood still as a pillar, her long dark hair tossing in the breeze as heavy rays of morning sun flowed over their sides. Mai was caught up then by the desire to see Ursa's face just then and a fear of what exactly the older woman's expression might have been just then. But she could tell from the anxiousness on Zuko's face that he wouldn't be able to walk away from that place and leave his mother there, and Mai found that she agreed with that sentiment. Still, that didn't change the fact that they needed to get Soza and Azula away from there as well, so they were in something of a predicament.

Just as Zuko looked like he was about to call out to Ursa, which Mai found was something that rather terrified her to imagine even speaking to the older woman just then, Yue moved between Mai and Zuko, looking at the Fire Lord with a soft smile that didn't reach her eyes that were still red and clouded with pain.

"Go on," she said quietly. "I'll stay with her."

Mai looked at Yue with her brow starting to furrow slightly before she looked back to Zuko and then back to Yue. What had happened between Yue and Ursa back on the airship, though it felt like years ago, still was a fresh memory in Mai's mind; she remembered the venom and rather unrestrained jealousy that had come from Yue, how she had almost seemed like a spoiled little girl in the way she had conducted herself.

In her defense, that many years out of touch with the rest of humanity and then thrust back into all this… I'd say she's rather been handling herself well, given the circumstances.

It wasn't that she somehow was imagining that Yue was going to take this opportunity to gloat that Ursa hadn't been able to sweep Sasuke away after all, but of all the people to stay by Ursa's side…

"Alright," Zuko replied softly with a nod, his eyes looking to Yue with appreciation. "Thank you."

She nodded back to him and turned to move slowly and gently towards Ursa, her silvery hair flowing behind her. Stopping a half dozen paces away, she remained at attention as though she were Ursa's bodyguard or servant, not saying a word or moving beyond that. Somehow, the sight of her standing there alleviated some of the anxiety Mai was feeling about leaving Ursa where she was, and she met Zuko's gaze silently. With silent understanding passing between them, they moved to follow the procession back towards the city.

As she supported Azula on her side, Mai couldn't help but look back over her shoulder, surprising herself with how much she found herself hoping that the woman she had found herself so jealous of might not have been completely overcome with despair. Then, that thought gave way to grief of her own, and Mai let herself cry silently as they walked towards the towering wall of Ba Sing Se.

---

Yue stood as close as she imagined was safe to Ursa, not entirely sure what had possessed her to volunteer to do what she was doing.

That's a lie… I know exactly why I'm the only here, standing with her.

She imagined that the majority of the group likely saw the relationship between her and Ursa as a strained one, but they had seen only Yue's brash behavior aboard the airship, the way she had gone after Ursa in that deplorably accusing fashion. None of them had been there for the words they had exchanged in the days following, nor had they seen the way Ursa had comforted Yue when she had spoken with fear of the potentiality of what would come when the war ended. And even when she had felt herself wrapped in the arms of her parents, she had always remembered in the back of her mind who it had been that she had coaxed her to return to them in the first place.

Yue knew that she hadn't been looking to follow after Kyoshi and Aang for a reason; things were indeed coming to an end now that the crux of everything had been destroyed. Madara was gone and it sounded as though Kyoshi had every intent on ending things as quickly and efficiently as possible. And Yue knew fully well what that might mean.

Am I going to have to… go back?

During the entire trip over on the airship she had done her best not to think about that brutal inevitability, but it had pressed itself upon her with its looming shadow. Yue couldn't stand the idea of having to let this new chance at life go, even if the entire purpose of her being here had been a ploy to trick Sasuke. She didn't care if that had been the case; her relationship with Sasuke was real, the people she had met again after so long were real, her parents were real, her life was real.

Was she going to be asked to give that up?

Sasuke wouldn't have let—

Her heart shattered, repaired, and shattered again, and Yue felt her innards lurch sickeningly as grief in the form of an anxiety attack suddenly lashed at her mind. She steadied herself with deep slow breaths.

Don't think about him. Don't think about him.

She knew what might happen if she dared to go down that path.

With a considerable effort, she forced the thoughts away and breathed out a slow sigh quietly. There was no time to waste thinking about such things outside of her control. She was there for Ursa and she wasn't going to let herself forget that.

The sounds of footsteps behind her faded away into nothing as she was sure the group had moved far enough away and was regrouping with the spirits and the Earth Nation army to confirm the end of the conflict. At that point, she and Ursa were about as alone as they could be.

Yue looked up towards the clouds that had started to roll in. The sun was still low enough in the sky that its rays were vibrantly cast over the landscape, but as it would climb higher, it would no doubt dim behind the thick carpet of clouds above.

How fitting would it be if it just started raining, Yue thought bitterly.

She was shaken violently from her musings at the sound of a frail voice trembling out just ahead of her.

"…Yue…?"

Looking up quickly, she fixed her eyes pointedly on the back of Ursa's head who hadn't seemed to have moved at all, even if she had most certainly spoken just then. It took her a moment to even remember to speak.

"Yes?" she asked almost breathlessly, barely able to muster the words past her own fear and grief. Ursa's body slowly drew up as she pulled in air before releasing it in a shuddering breath. Her tall and impressive frame seemed slighted then, no longer appearing at all as the powerful and composed woman that Yue had come to know.

"I…" she said quaveringly. "I…"

Her head bowed and though Yue craned her neck, she couldn't see Ursa's face past her curtaining long hair that flowed around the sides of her head.

"I…"

Slowly, she turned from where Sasuke had disappeared and looked back; Yue felt her heart splinter at the sight.

Ursa's face was pulled in miserable and agonized grief, her lips pulled back over her teeth as she cried, tears soaking her face. She looked completely and utterly void of hope.

"I don't think I can do this," she croaked in a voice that was both a moan and a whisper. She shook where she stood ahead of Yue, all pretense of composure truly gone now, looking like she meant every bit what she had just said.

Yue stood speechless, trying to figure what she could possibly do to help ease the situation; she had a growing feeling that if she didn't, she might very well break down herself just then too.

"Ursa," she forced herself to say. "I… I don't know what to say… I can't… I can't imagine what—"

Her eyes caught sight of Ursa's right hand, and she saw it massaging the older woman's belly. Yue thought to the child growing within her and she felt her tears burst free without warning as the rush of everything she was feeling finally and fully crashed over her.

"I'm so sorry," she moaned weakly, and her feet moved for her, pushing her forward and in a moment, she and Ursa were in one another's arms, both crying openly, their fear, agony, confusion, and grief all mixing in a horrible concoction that forced them to their knees.

No part of Yue wanted to head back to the city with the others, but she couldn't imagine that anything could have been more painful just then than what she felt while crying with Ursa.

---

Aang looked towards the Tree of Life to see Vaatu within, fully able to move on his own now, but without the ability to leave the cavity within the tree itself. Beyond, Raava's glowing white shape flew up towards the murky sky above where she disappeared into its bizarre coloration where she was to start the lengthy process of reverting the energy that Madara had accumulated and returning it to the spirit world.

Even after relinking with Aang, she hadn't had many words for him. Beyond thanking him for the part he had played in ending the conflict, she had left him fairly quickly afterwards to begin her work. But Aang hadn't missed the reserved sorrow with which she had spoken to him, even if her words hadn't been much more than what he would have expected out of anyone offering him gentle condolences. He had thanked her dully before she had left his side and there hadn't been much more to it than that.

It had felt so strange to him. Years of not having any sort of connection to the spirit world, something that had eaten away at him constantly, and he had finally gotten to the root of the issue. He was linked once more with Raava, his connection restored with the spirit world and at that moment, he couldn't find himself with much room to care. Thinking to all the sleepless nights of anxiety he had felt wondering what could have happened to his connection to Raava and now, he felt nothing at having it brought back. He rather felt he would have traded it in an instant if it meant getting Sasuke back.

"That went well," Kyoshi remarked flatly at his side, Yangchen by her other shoulder. All three of them were even more exhausted now then they had been after combining their energy to allow Kyoshi to suppress Madara's powers. They had needed to hold Vaatu back with a storm of bending while Raava bonded back with Aang at which point she had aided them in imprisoning Vaatu before he had a chance to break free. It had all happened with rather intense speed, but after the day they had gone through, there wasn't much left any of the three of them had to give. Considering how Kyoshi had gone from being pulverized by Sasuke, beaten down by Madara, and then using her power against him as part of Sasuke's plan, Aang was surprised she was still on her feet, and he imagined a piece of that was only due to willpower.

"The spirits are all back through," came a voice behind them and Aang looked to see Rangi walking towards them. She drew up beside Kyoshi and slipped her fingers to interlock with the Avatar's. "Ready to close on your word."

Kyoshi and Yangchen both turned to glance at Aang.

"I guess… this is it," the latter said quietly. Aang didn't reply; he felt about as empty inside as could be. Even the grief seemed to be numbing away as did any sense that he might ever feel something like happiness again.

"It's alright to hurt," Yangchen said, her voice trembling a touch. "But please… don't forget that the world will need you. We'll do all we can to restore balance here… and I'm so sorry that there's nothing else we can do for the material world."

"What else is there to do?" Aang asked hollowly without looking at her. His words came out almost muted against his own ears, swallowed by his own emptiness. "Madara's gone. The spirits are gone. The Northern Water Tribe and Ba Sing Se will need repairs, but that will hardly be anything worse than the rebuilding effort after the Hundred Year War ended."

He looked down towards his feet, tasting bitterness in his saliva.

"What the hell does the world need me for?"

A rough hand landed on his shoulder, and he finally looked to see Kyoshi looking down towards him, her gaze as stoic as ever.

"It needs you just as it always has. The people don't understand what's happened to their world over the past month. Destruction has taken place, people have died. The rest will need answers, and they will turn to you. Not their political mouthpieces, not the leaders of their Nations, not anyone else. They will look to you for the truth and the truth is all they can use to heal."

Aang looked at her apathetically.

"What do I tell them?" he asked plainly. "That everything is alright? That the threat's gone? Pin it all on Sasuke and Madara? They're dead after all, who cares if—"

"No," Kyoshi said and Aang felt his eyebrows twitch as he looked at her and saw that she was smiling just barely. "Pin it all on me."

That was enough for Aang to give genuine pause as he blinked at her in confusion.

"What?"

"They don't need to know that Madara was ever there," Kyoshi said. "The fear that would come of them thinking that such malevolent and powerful beings could openly pass into our world, do you have any idea what that would do to them all? To think that any day, someone like Madara could step through? No, you blame it on me. I took the spirits through, people saw that, there are witnesses who can attest to it. I attacked the world in an attempt to get at Sasuke, I brought all that to try and kill him. This is my fault."

Aang stared at her a second longer before replying quietly.

"You just told me to tell the truth."

Kyoshi gave him a small, cynical smile.

"Whatever you tell them will be the truth. There's nothing else they can check you against, and they will have no trouble believing that I was behind it all with the way the spirits were behaving, thanks to the drain of their energy by Madara through the spirit world."

Rangi was smiling sadly at her side while she spoke.

"Don't bother trying to explain to them the matter of Madara, he shouldn't even need to factor into any of this."

"But…" Aang started to say slowly. He was feeling more confused by the second. "Sasuke?"

Kyoshi shrugged, but Aang could see the flash of emotion in her eyes.

"He was a hero. Regardless of what you omit or change, that's not something that changes. Whether it was in beating me, or beating Madara, he was a hero, is a hero. Just because I despise him for being a part of what initiated all this in the first place and regardless of whether or not his blood is now mixed with that of our people, I won't dare refute that. Everyone saw him as a murderer who came out of hiding after disappearing following the end of the last war, part of our ploy to drive him into the open before settling on using Yue. His name ought to be cleared."

Aang could tell how difficult it was for her to admit that, but something she had said caused his gut to do a small, anxious flip.

"Yue," he said firmly, looking between Kyoshi and Yangchen. "What about her?"

He didn't suppose he needed to state the meaning behind such a question; ahead of him, the two Avatars looked to one another before Yangchen looked to him with a tiny, genuine smile on her face.

"What about her?"

The meaning of her answer was just as simple for Aang to discern, and he felt a chunk of relief then amidst the hollowness that was currently drowning him. He nodded in understanding before looking back to Kyoshi.

"You understand what this will mean, don't you? You served your time as an Avatar for over hundred years. You have a legacy, people who have looked up to you, loved you for what you did. If I take this narrative back… that will all be tarnished forever. Sasuke will be the hero, and you will be the villain."

She didn't even look the slightest bit perturbed by his words.

"History is silent," she said in reply. "Legacy means nothing. What I did as Avatar can be remembered just as the scars I have dealt to this world in recent days. People will choose to see me how they wish, regardless of what good or bad I've done; people disparaged my time as Avatar even before Sasuke, and there was certainly nothing I could have done differently to persuade them otherwise. People don't want to have their minds changed, they want to live in their own set of truths, regardless of ignorance or fact or clarity. Many will surely hate me, yes. But I don't care how I'm remembered."

Her eyes turned to Rangi and Aang could see the emotion passing between the both of them.

"I am as I am," she said. "I would rather the world heal than live in fear, regardless of what they think of me. Madara will only inspire terror. I am a spirit and I will never again walk the material world. If hating me and blaming me is what allows the world to move on, then that is a price I am only too glad to pay."

About that, Aang could tell she was telling the truth. She couldn't have cared less about the opinions of those living anymore than she could care about the opinions of the dead.

"I don't expect to be forgiven," Kyoshi said, an air of finality in her voice. "But Sasuke should be. He more than earned it."

Yeah, he did, Aang thought and felt sudden tears burning his eyes. He turned away from the two Avatars and Rangi quickly, casting his mind about to try and figure a way to change the subject.

"What about Koh?" he managed to get out without his voice shaking. "Where is he?"

"Gone," Yangchen said with an aura of bitterness. "If he was working as closely with Madara as we've come to learn, he will need to be tracked down and found, but he is no doubt buried in some dark, deep hole here in the spirit world, brooding over his failure to find victory."

Koh deserved far worse than wallowing in bitterness and pity, but Aang knew there was nothing he could do about that. Swallowing, he gave a sniff that he hoped didn't sound too much like he was trying to keep from crying.

"I guess I'd better go," he finally said, turning to face them again. He received small nods from both Avatars and Aang quickly turned towards the spirit portal glowing behind them that he had passed through with them initially. He found he really didn't want to be with them any longer; being that near to Kyoshi was starting to overwhelm him with a blind anger that he was just now noticing.

"We will be here if you need to contact us," Yangchen said softly from behind him. "I'm sure that's the last thing on your mind right now… but with your bond with Raava restored—"

"I know," Aang said curtly, standing just feet from the portal. He tried to think if there was anything else he needed to say, or wanted to ask, but his mind was drawing nothing up of the sort.

"Close this tight behind me," was all he could think to mutter.

"We will," Kyoshi said, and he could hear the certainty in her voice. Forcing his limbs into movement, Aang stepped through the portal.

The first thing he saw as he left the spirit world were his friends all standing about the throne room in the palace of Ba Sing Se. They were all looking expectantly towards him, some relief flickering over their still deeply pained faces. Aang said nothing as he looked back at them all before turning to regard the portal, staring at it almost accusatorially. Seconds passed as it glowed colorfully before him and then, with a strange sizzling sound, it flickered out and disappeared.

The silence of the room was almost overpowering; Aang kept waiting to see a spirit burst in the door or reappear through another portal, but there was nothing. Every last one of them was gone, the Avatars had left. They were alone again.

Slowly, he rotated back to face the group. He saw Katara, Sokka, Suki, Zuko, Jin, and Ty Lee all looking towards him expectantly and with nerves clearly written on their face. Azula was leaning against a pillar, holding Soza close to her. Both of them didn't seem to acknowledge that Aang was once again with them, their expressions looking like they were too tired to feel even grief just then. Toph was sitting against a pillar adjacent to them, her knees pulled to her chest and face hidden as she bowed it. Ursa and Yue didn't seem to have rejoined them at that point.

Aang supposed there wasn't much to say.

"It's over," he said. "Vaatu is sealed, and Raava and the Avatars are working to restore the balance within the spirit world. It's done."

It's done.

The warmth lifted from his gut and filled Aang's entire body, the emptiness he had been feeling replaced with an urge he couldn't feel himself able to resist.

"It's done," he repeated, his voice cracking as his body started to shake. He saw Katara's face wash with empathy and pain of her own as she rushed towards him.

By the time she reached his side, Aang had exploded into tears for the second time that day.

---

Upper Ring Times Newspaper

-The world of the Four Nations has been reeling for weeks now due to the collage of utterly chaotic events that plagued the Nations one after another. Following the reports that the mysterious fugitive, Sasuke Uchiha, had attacked a joint Fire and Earth Nation outpost not days before the start of the festival celebrating the ten year anniversary of the end of the Hundred Years War, the world was gripped in fear. And only days following, under circumstances that remain unclear, Sasuke himself, as well as an invasion of spirits led by none other than Avatar Kyoshi emerged within Ba Sing Se. Sasuke, along with Avatar Aang, Fire Lord Zuko, Princess Azula, and a small band of other notable individuals disappeared with the spiritual forces brutally occupying Ba Sing Se and other settlements within the Earth Nation as they began their search for the elusive Sasuke. With his reasons for siding with the criminal being unknown, the general public was left unknowing as to Avatar Aang's intentions.

Just three days ago now, Sasuke, Avatar Aang, and their company returned to Ba Sing Se, supposedly to confront Avatar Kyoshi and the spirits. Witnesses say they saw Sasuke walk into Ba Sing towards the palace before chaos broke out. Unconfirmed reports of giant flying humanoid figures, an enormous battle between spirits and the combined militia of Ba Sing Se, and a bizarre phenomenon of the entire sky glowing bright blue with a resounding shockwave that caused damages to several structures. The city of Ba Sing Se suffered much damage overall over the course of the night. By the dawn however, the conflict seemed over, and Avatar Aang and his company were seen within the city moving towards the palace. To add to the confusion, two of the women seen with him were Princess Yue of the Northern Water Tribe, reportedly dead as of eleven years ago, and the mother to Fire Lord Zuko and Princess Azula, who had been banished for the crime of murdering Fire Lord Azulon.

Damages to the city were assessed over the following days and as of yesterday afternoon, Avatar Aang finally appeared to make a statement after a length of silence by both him, Governor Bradley, and the United Nations Council. Speaking before a crowd in the city square that measured in the thousands, Avatar Aang, surrounded by those who had accompanied him in his travels with Sasuke Uchiha, gave the following speech:

"I sincerely ask your forgiveness for not coming before you sooner. But things have been difficult in more ways than one, and while I don't seek to make excuses more than that, I have come here today for one purpose only and I will waste no further time delaying it."

"The truth. This is the truth of what has happened these past weeks, the chaos of which will surely not be soon forgotten."

"Sasuke Uchiha never attacked the joint Nation outpost on the borders of the Earth Nation. Disguised as him was a spirit by the name of Koh, who was able to take Sasuke's form and commit the heinous crime in an attempt to stir up his own kind. Unfortunately, Avatar Kyoshi was one of the many spirits who fell for this ruse; intent on putting an end to the chaos and suffering believed invoked by Sasuke, she led an army of spirits into the world in an attempt to find and end him."

"In reality, Sasuke was attempting to live out the remainder of his life in peace. Following his contribution in ending the Hundred Years War and being seen as a potential criminal, he chose to go into hiding and live quietly. He was thrust into our world by a complete mistake of a phenomena and had no desire to further complicate things with his presence. But with Koh slandering his name and riling up our world against him, he had no choice but to return and clear his name."

"He attempted to reason with Avatar Kyoshi, but she failed to see the truth in his words and attacked him. Knowing of his innocence, myself and my closest friends attempted to hide Sasuke and ourselves until we might find a solution to the enormous problem at hand. In the end, however, Sasuke could see no benefit in living on the run from Kyoshi as the spirits brutally occupied our world. Against our wishes, he went to confront Kyoshi on his own to try and end things."

"Three mornings ago, Sasuke died while being attacked by the army of spirits. Only afterwards did the truth of Koh's actions come to light and the other spirits, including Avatar Kyoshi, came to understand the tragedy of his situation. He never wanted to be in this world, but he still was willing to give his all to protect it, and he was forced to give the ultimate sacrifice for its betterment. Avatar Kyoshi and the spirits returned to the spirit world in pursuit of Koh to ensure he pays for the crimes inflicted against both worlds that have come into being over the past several weeks."

"And that is the truth. Sasuke was falsely accused by our world of being a criminal, despite the countless times that his sense of right caused him to risk his life for the sake of our world, a trait that would ultimately mean his end. He died a hero, an alien to our world, but not afraid to give everything for it."

"I know many will have questions about Sasuke and will want to know more about him and who he was. At the time, I feel dissecting his life would be an insult to his memory. Perhaps in the future, he might be better remembered than this, but I will share briefly with you now who Sasuke was."

"He was stubborn. He was often arrogantly sure of himself. He could be ignorant. Cold, even. But beneath that, he was one of the bravest, strongest, and good-willed people I've ever known. Nothing would stop him from trying to do what he thought was right. He would never be stopped from trying to protect the people he cared most about, and I find myself incredibly, incredibly lucky to have been able to call him a friend. All he wanted was to return to his own world, but he wound up dying for one that he didn't belong to. I know few people who would be willing to make such a decision."

"I ask that you leave myself and my friends from being pelted with questions. We will do our part in bringing any more important details to light over the next several weeks and I will do all I can to assist in the rebuilding."

"But I ask you to please remember that I am human. And I've just lost a person very dear to me. I know that isn't what you want to hear from your Avatar, but I will not lie to you. I am hurting, and though time will heal, for now, I ask that we all focus on rebuilding. Help your neighbors. Volunteer where you can. This has been a dark, confusing time for all of us, and this is where we need to come together most. Thank you."

Several witnesses identified members of the Avatar's personal circle as being those directly responsible for assisting in evacuating the inner ring of the city during whatever climactic conflict took place. The former Princess Ursa, who was reported to be among that number, was taken into custody by order of the Fire Nation High Council the night following the Avatar's address of the city by a battalion of Fire Nation enforcement troops following their arrival in Ba Sing Se. A statement delivered by the council informed that she was being placed into custody regarding 'the nature of her alleged crime and the details of her banishment.' Reports of Princess Azula attacking and injuring several of the arresting soldiers at the time have yet to be confirmed.

Avatar Aang was unavailable for further comment following his brief speech, as were his companions. Though the United Nations Council has given no official word on the matters of the spirit-led conflict, a statement was issued the morning following the Avatar's speech, clearing Sasuke Uchiha of all charges that had been held in question against him following the end of the Hundred Years War. Governor Bradley had this to say:

"We judged him unfairly, that much is clear. His strange powers and abilities certainly perturbed us, and while I cannot state for certain to what extent there is more to uncover regarding this chaotic conflict, I myself can personally assure the public that all is being done to investigate the spirits as well as the entirety of the role Sasuke Uchiha played in it."

Skeptics had already begun protesting in the streets regarding uncertainty over the truth of the events, the nature of Sasuke's death, or perhaps if the man lives still. Much remains mysterious about him, but, for the majority, a near-palpable atmosphere of relief has settled now that this conflict has finally drawn to a close and peace can once again be put to mind.