A/N. I had some covid related problems these last few days, but I'm rather happy with this chapter!

I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Quickly propelling himself into the air as the wave of fire came towards him, Aang knew this was not going to be easy. Sure, he had never expected it to be… But this was actually something terrifying. Zuko had taught him that move, but had also said that only very experienced firebenders were actually capable of doing it correctly, creating enough fire to make the arc that went into every direction.

The fire roared underneath him, flying past and dying out in the distance. Landing back on the pillar, the airbender quickly bend down, keeping his eyes on the man in front of him who was already moving in a way Aang could recognize. Another wave of fire was coming if he didn't do something rather quickly.

Punching his fist into the rock beneath him, he searched for the first crack he could find. Toph had taught him that if there was a natural imperfection in the rock, it would take less strength to pull it apart. And to be honest, Aang suspected he would need every ounce of strength he could gather in the coming fight.

As there was a crack just a few yards into the rock, Aang sighed in relief. Looking up towards the Fire Lord, he saw that the man had nearly finished the gesture needed to summon a fireball. Shit! Quickly tearing the rock apart through the crack, he managed to hurl it towards the pillar in front of him. The only downside was now that his own pillar was easy a few yards shorter than the one that was hit by the rock.

As the dust rose from the impact, Aang felt a pang of guilt rise into his heart. He had hurled a hundred tons of rock towards a man… Without even batting an eye. He had not even thought about it for a second… Was this what power did to you? The airbender knew that he was not a bad bender… And that his style was difficult to defend against. He could combine all four elements, and all his teachers had learned from the others, including other bending arts into their own capabilities.

So yes, he knew he was powerful.

But to just hurl a rock towards a man without having a second thought?

From the dust cloud he saw a flicker of light, and realized that Ozai was still alive and kicking… The Fire Lord emerged from the debris, propelling himself into the air with fire coming from his left foot. As the man moved through the air, Aang understood what he was going to do. Before the older man could even change his trajectory, the Air Nomad launched himself into the air too, using his airbending to push himself to cartwheel himself. As his feet pointed towards the sky, he let go of the air around him and began to concentrate on the fire within him.

Feeling the slight change in his chi, Aang let his foot fall down towards Ozai, creating a huge scythe like fire that he flung towards the Fire Lord. There was some relief in him when he saw that he had been right, and the Fire Lord had indeed sent a fireball towards him. Well… Fireball was not the correct term he supposed for what was being flung towards him. It was so much more than that… But luckily his thin fire scythe cut the flames from Ozai into two, dispersing it around them.

Landing on one of the pillars, he saw that the collision of forces from him and the Fire Lord had not left the surrounding unscarred… A huge, blackened circle spread around them, the rock darkened and clearly melting at some points… Spirits, this was really dangerous… Watching the older man land on one of the pillars a safe distance away, Aang thought he could see a small moment of doubt on Ozai's face.

"No one needs to die today!" The airbender shouted towards the Fire Lord. Spirits, he knew that he needed to stop this man… But how could he? How could he, a simple Air Nomad monk, condemn someone? Who was he to do that?

Some would say the Avatar… Others would say he was in his right to punish this man for the crimes committed against the airbenders… But Aang knew, in his heart, that he wasn't the man to do that. So many others had suffered at Ozai's hands… Zuko… The Earth Kingdom… The Water Tribes… Ozai had never done him an injustice, personally at least.

"You do. The Avatar needs to be stopped, and if I can usher in that new era for the world… so be it." The Fire Lord spoke.

Aang closed his eyes for a second. Ozai was just an indoctrinated man… Nothing more than that. He probably really thought the Avatar was an evil person, too powerful to be left alive…

"I don't want to kill you!" He answered, pleading every spirit that the Fire Lord would listen to reason.

Suddenly, a loud roar could be heard from behind him. Turning around, Aang felt his mouth fall open in a silent scream. The air ships had finally begun their attack…

As he watched the fire spread in front of him, the airbender knew, with pain in his heart, that here were people dying on the ground… A part of the air fleet was above the forest, and even if he couldn't see it, he knew… he knew that people and animals were being burned alive, and that the last thing they would feel was terrifying pain and despair.

"Why?" He turned around, seeing that Ozai had moved from his pillar to one closer to himself, "Why do this?"

The man didn't answer, but Aang saw that the ember eyes looked past him, towards the ships. A smile graced the thin lips and the airbender couldn't help but feel disgust. Even an indoctrinated, hateful man should see that this was evil! This was just plainly the wrong thing to do! His own heart, fully aware that he needed to stop the head of the rat snake, wavered at the sight! If he went down there… he could save a few. A few people. That was worth it… But his own feelings were not important now.

No… Now, he knew what his duty was. And he was also aware that his friends had most probably highjacked one of the airships. One less threat… he had seen the one deviating from its course before Ozai attacked him. That was most likely the only chance the people of Wulong Forest had.

The ember eyes of the man in front of him widened slightly, before a slight wrinkle appeared between his eyebrows. Aang wanted to look behind him, try and see what was happening, but he also knew that if he turned around now, Ozai was more than in range to attack him in the back. But there was a screeching sound of metal hitting metal, and it continued as Ozai concentrated once more on him.

The attack began once more, and this time, Aang was not quick enough. He had seen it coming, but as he bent an air shield around himself, he could feel the heat hitting his shoulder. Gritting his teeth together, he quickly looked down, seeing an angry red spot appear on his right shoulder, the one not covered by his tunic. As the fire went past him, he rapidly jumped to one of the other pillars, hoping to tire Ozai out. As he hopped from one to another, Aang realized that this was exactly what the Fire Lord wanted.

Bending some rocks towards him as to force the change of direction, the airbender stopped as the pillars disappeared, making place for the soft rise of the mountain sides. He had come to the other side of the rock field…

Shit.

The pillars had created a good source for earthbending, but the mountain was covered in grass and earth… Earth was good too, but rocks were a safer material to use in a fight… Shit! Seeing that Ozai had managed to rebalance himself upon one of the last pillars of the formation, Aang knew that a new attack was imminent…

Looking around, as he stood on the last pillar of the field, Aang realized that there was nothing he could use to at least save his energy. Fire and air were both elements that required the bender to actually create something… Then, in the light of the flames erupting from the hacking movement Ozai was doing with his open palm, Aang saw what he could do.

There was a small stream coming down from the mountain. In the light of the comet and the sun that had just gone underneath the horizon, he had not seen it… But if he could use the water to destroy the flames that Ozai would be sending towards him… He could use the steam to attack him!

Changing his stance from one for earthbending to one that was used in waterbending, his thoughts quickly went to Katara. Would she be there, doing whatever was happening to the airships? Spirits, he hoped not… Not because he didn't think her capable of doing so… But he didn't want to lose against the Fire Lord with her close nearby…

To spare her that at least…

Feeling the soft pull that was so familiar with the bending art, he managed to lift the water out of the stream. Years and centuries of erosion had apparently created a rather deep stream, because it was more water than he had anticipated. The muscles in his left arm began to tremble as he hurled it towards Ozai's attack. The hissing sound made it clear he had managed to stop the attack. A few seconds later, there was a whole cloud of steam surrounding them.

"Coward!" He heard the shout from the voice that resembled Zuko's so much. Not letting the insult get to him, because frankly, he agreed wholeheartedly with the fact that he was one. But better a coward who didn't want to fight than a man who just killed without blinking an eye. Pulling as much air towards him as he could, Aang pushed it towards the steam. The blow made the cloud fly towards where Ozai was… presumably. He could not see the Fire Lord.

He heard a faint hiss, as if someone was trying to resist groaning, and knew he had at least hit Ozai with the hot steam. Maybe, if he managed to wound the Fire Lord enough… It was still against his own principles, but it was better than actually kill him! If he could just weaken him enough to be able to restrain him…

A flame, long and precise, appeared from the steam and Aang, surprised, tried to bend it away with an air wave. He was too late and felt the fire lick over his arm. Cursing, he jumped off the last pillar, onto the ground below. If Ozai wanted to kill him, he would need to search through the labyrinth beneath them. At least there, he would have the upper hand… Right?

Sliding over the wet ground, he cursed again. Looking up, she saw that Ozai had bent the steam away. Shit... Of course a firebender could also use the heat in the steam to actually bend it. He had supposed that the air and the water inside the cloud were to his advantage, but no… So, no more steam bending. It was too risky. The man seemed to look around him, realizing that Aang had disappeared.

As silently as possible, the airbender moved into the shadows of the pillars, slowly making his way to get around Ozai. It was not very honourable, but then again, burning half the Earth Kingdom didn't give you the right to an honourable treatment during a fight. Scanning the sky, Aang remarked that no air ship was visible, but he could hear faint noises of metal hitting the ground, and he felt the trembling of the rocks under his feet as something quite heavy had hit the ground. His earthbending senses were not good enough, by a long shot, to actually see what was happening all those miles away… But spirits, he hoped that his friends were as safe as possible.

"Where are you?" He heard a cruel voice speak. It was clearly a trained voice, one used during speeches and so on. It was precise and loud, without shouting it. The pillars made the words echo around him, and Aang stood still.

"Air Nomad. Come and fight… I won't hurt anyone if you do so."

Gritting his teeth, Aang vowed to himself that at least, the first part of Ozai's promise would be true. He would not hurt anyone else.

"I know you value your friends…" The voice sounded closer, and glancing up, the airbender saw Ozai standing on the pillar in whose shadow he had been standing.

"My daughter told me all about it…"

Aang's eyes widened as he realized something. Of course Azula would have told her father about every weakness she had learned of…

Oh no.

No…

Not that.

Please, don't let her have talked about that.

"I know you love the daughter of the Water Tribe leader… Come out Avatar. I suppose it is your friends that are meddling with my soldiers. Come out and I promise to be merciful."

Aang inhaled as silently as he could. Ozai knew. Of course, he had known. The airbender had not doubted that fact… But a small part of his heart had hoped it was not true. At least, the Fire Lord's words had confirmed what he had hoped. Someone was fighting the air fleet, and those could only be his friends. He supposed that at least, Sokka was up there. Only he knew how one worked, and it was very probable that his friend was up there.

Who else? Aang doubted Zuko would come even this close to his father. No, the firebender had to be somewhere else, perhaps with Appa. Toph would never come near a place she could not feel her way around. And even though the air ships were of metal, Aang supposed she would have stayed with Zuko. So, the only thing he could even imagine was that it was Sokka, Suki and Katara being a nuisance to the air fleet.

"Mercy is not given by threats." He spoke, loud enough to be heard by Ozai. Quickly moving away from his hiding place, he used airbending to propel himself as he began to run. He was not going to make this easy! And if he stuck to his tactic to wear Ozai down, hopefully being able to tire the man or wait out the passage of the comet, he needed to at least try and make him move.

As he bolted towards the west, towards the dunes and the coast, Aang knew that this was not going to work. Tire Ozai out was one thing, but then? What then? If he managed to restrain him, but nothing else, what then? The Fire Lord didn't seem to be someone you could just imprison… He would break out immediately.

Then, there was the idea the lion turtle had given him. Sure, it could work, but the fact that he was running like a scarred little boy wasn't something someone pure of heart would do. No… Someone pure of heart would stand their ground, fight the Fire Lord, because they knew they would win. His own heart was not pure, it was riddled with doubts and fears… And that is why he didn't want to try it. How could he?

He felt the air change, as if the atmosphere burned away and the oxygen in the air disappeared nearly entirely. Aang had come to associate that with the fact of firebending, but never in these quantities… A second later he understood. Behind him, half the rock formation lit up, and he saw the sudden change in direction in which the shadows pointed.

Quickly jumping behind one of the columns, he felt the heat before flames roared past him, missing him by just a few inches. The sparks from the fire rained down around him, and he hissed as the pillar above him cracked and small rocks rained down on him. Quickly putting an arm above his head to protect himself, he slammed his other hand in a fist against the rock. The crack widened and the whole pillar flew towards what he supposed was the epicentre of the fire. Meaning, Ozai.

Feeling his heart rate fasten slightly at the strength needed to do this earthbending move, Aang knew he had just made a mistake. Ozai didn't seem to tire out that easily, something that surprised him… But he himself had just done something way too difficult.

Suddenly, from the corner of his right eye, he saw movement. Ozai had not been where he had thought! Instead the man appeared on his right, propelled in the sky by flames erupting from his feet, and before he could run away, Aang saw a great wave of flames coming towards him. The fire in front of him was white, and he could guess that that meant that it was hot. Too hot. As quickly as he could he extended his hands, creating an air shield. The fire clearly required a lot of oxygen, for Aang felt how much strength he needed to make the shield being much more than usual. The flames hit the hardened air in front of him, pushing him backwards. Letting the force of the attack throw him backwards, for he knew that earthbending himself into place would only weaken him, Aang suddenly felt himself hit rock.

It hurt.

He could feel a small rock pierce his leg, luckily not very deep, but the warmth spreading through the left part of his trousers indicated that there was blood. Cushioning his head with a small air pillow, he managed to avoid too much damage, but still, his leg and back hurt. No time to deal with the wounds now, he knew he had to move to avoid another attack. Looking up, he saw Ozai had come down from the pillars and was now running towards him, hands against one another with long fingers pointed straight at him.

He knew that.

Fuck.

As he put some weight on his leg, he could have screamed from the pain, but he gritted his teeth, quickly bending the rocks behind him in a sort of earthen armour. It was not perfect, but he had seen Toph use it during their training. And it had seemed unmovable and quite safe. As the fire hit the rocks, he knew he had made a mistake. The comet enhanced not only the quantity of the fire apparently, but also the quality, for the rocks around him began to hiss and crack, and some even melted.

Letting his senses go around, he felt that Ozai's face was just inches away. The Fire Lord seemed rather good at predicting what kind of bending art he was going to use, which surprised him to be honest. No one had been able to counter his airbending the first time they encountered it…

Well, no bending then.

Lifting his rock encased arm, he punched Ozai in the face.

The flames halted immediately, and a soft yelp of surprise, very un-Fire Lord like escaped from the man in front of him.

"Forget my mercy." He heard the man grumble as he spat. Through his earthbending, Aang sensed that two teeth fell to the ground. Not surprising, when someone was hit with a rock in the mouth.

"I'll enslave your friends. Sell your woman to anyone who will want her." Aang lifted his arm again, but this time Ozai seemed prepared and stepped aside, "You have lifted your hand against Agni's embodiment."

Did the Fire Lord really believe that? Spirits… The airbender nearly felt bad for the man, being indoctrinated into believing that he himself was a sort of spirit… Sure, Aang knew that he himself was kind of the same thing, being bonded to the Avatar Spirit… But he had never seen himself as something like that.

He stomped his right foot down, shifting the ground underneath himself away from Ozai, creating as much space as he could between the Fire Lord and himself. Now, he needed to get away. He had surprised him by using physical force, something he hated to do, but he had no choice. He needed Ozai to be angry, to be as predictable and violent as possible. Only then, and really only then, did he stand a chance. If the Fire Lord had a cool head, thinking clearly, he would never be able to defeat him.

He needed him to be angry and hurt.

"Ozai! Stand down! You are just a man, led astray!" He shouted. Aang had understood, finally, that there was no use in trying to show this man the reality. But if he could use his mercy in a way to annoy the Fire Lord as much as possible… Letting the rock fall of him, he saw that the man was looking in his direction, blood seeping out of his mouth and nose.

"Vermin!" Then, the flames appeared once more.

Pushing himself upwards, Aang landed lightly on the nearest pillar. His leg still hurt, but the adrenaline was making sure he didn't feel it too much. Suddenly, from underneath, a blueish light appeared.

Fuck.

The airbender quickly fell flat against the rock as lightning roared past him. He could feel the hairs in his neck and on his arms stand right up. Fear gripped his heart, as he knew how much that hurt… And this time, there would be no Katara and Spirit Water. Spirits… Could she see this from the airships? Would she feel her own heart drop miles into the ground at the sight? Aang knew she was afraid of lightning since the fall of Ba Sing Se… And had come to associate it with him dying…

No.

He was not going to die. At least, not from lightning. He refused that.

Another bolt flew past him, and he knew he couldn't stay there. Looking around, Aang jumped to the next pillar. As he did the same thing over and over again, he could feel the static energy from the lightning hiss past him each time he appeared in Ozai's view. Gritting his teeth, he knew that if he didn't stop the Fire Lord now he would not be able to withstand this any longer. One moment or another, the lightning would find a path to him and he would be done for.

Except…

Except the thing Zuko had taught him. Iroh had invented it, and Zuko had used it against Ozai during the Black Sun. And his firebender friend had been clear that it was no joking matter, but that in a fight, it could save your life…

Ozai appeared on the column in front of him, and, looking around him, he saw that the Fire Lord had forced him to the extreme west of the rock formation. To the west were only the dunes and the coast, while slightly to the north was a burning forest… And burning airships. At least six lay on the ground, burning… Even from this distance, he could hear the shouts and the despair…

Turning back to the man in front of him, Aang saw him make the movements needed to channel lightning… He himself had never even wanted to dabble into it, and Zuko had been adamant they would not even try. But he had been shown the moves.

Planting his feet firmly on the ground, Aang assumed the stance he had been taught. Let him come. This time, he was ready for the attack.

The bolt was precise and terrible, much stronger than he had anticipated. Aang extended his hand and index towards the bolt letting it touch him as he had been taught. The burning sensation hurt, going from the tip of his finger straight into his arm.

Channel your chi to guide it to the stomach, not the heart. If you do that, you're dead.

Zuko advice echoed through his ears as the rushing sound of blood mixed into it. Forcing the burning towards his stomach, he moved his right arm as to pull the burning from his belly button to his right hand. The sensation burned past his lungs and into his right shoulder. As he pointed his hand towards the Fire Lord, the blueish light illuminated the man in a different light all of a sudden.

Aang saw a scarred man, looking at him. In those ember eyes, so much likes Zuko's, the airbender saw only fear. No greater destiny, no arrogance, and no pride. Only fear. And then it hit him. This was how the world would look at him if he did this… With fear. Avatar Aang, the killer of Fire Lord Ozai. He had just hurled the man's lightning right back into his face… Sure, it had been necessary… But if he could do that to him, he could do it to anyone.

No.

No, he would not win like this.

With great effort, he changed his hand's position, pulling it upwards. The lightning bolted out of his right index finger, making the burning sensation leave his body. The energy drop suddenly left him weak and the adrenaline failed him for a second, letting him feel the wound in his leg. Dropping to one knee, Aang smelled something burning. Looking down, he saw that his clothes had been burned, and that there were angry red marks all over his torso… Spirits, Katara had made this tunic for him…

Really Aang? Fashion despair, right in a battle?

Looking up, Aang realized his mercy had not been shared. Ozai stood on the pillar, with an evil gleam in the eyes that had looked so much like Zuko's… But now, he just saw incredible evil…

Quickly bending a small rock wall in front of himself, Aang knew it wasn't enough. As the flames hit the earth, it exploded right in front of him. The power hurled him backwards, right of the pillar and into the air. Small fragments of rock flew past him, cutting him several times. One particular flew right into his shoulder, the one that had the scar from his fight with Azula and Zuko under Ba Sing Se. The pain as that pointed fragment drove into his flesh made him snap out of the dazed state, and looking down, he suddenly realized that the explosion had hurled him just above the water of the bay.

Bending the water beneath him, he managed to make it catch him. The cool water was all around him, and it made him think of Katara… Would she have seen this? Spirits, please don't let her look… Pushing the water, he made it drop him right back near the rocks.

He had not realized that it had been too far from the ocean, and the energy it had needed had been too much. He stood on his feet, barely, bleeding from a dozen cuts, from his leg and from his shoulder. Spirits… This was going to go wrong.

The positive point was that the water had extinguished his clothes…

Looking up, he saw Ozai coming.

Behind him were the dunes… left and right no help… To the north was the burning forest… And he was alone…

The darkening shadows lit up when fire erupted from Ozai's fist, and Aang rapidly bend a small sphere around himself, made up from the rocks beneath him. As soon as darkness enveloped him, the rock heated, just a bit…

Shit… He had imprisoned himself. There was no escape. Feeling his heart drop, he knew he had just lost. There was nothing he could do. Ozai had him right where he wanted him. Cornered and alone.

If anyone can hear me… I need help. I can't do this… I'm not the pure-hearted person the lion turtle though I was. I can't do this alone. And if you can't help me… at least help the people I care about. Let them escape. Don't let them die. I lay down my life, willingly, if that sacrifice means their safety. Please save my friends… Please don't let anything happen to Katara… I beg of you.

Answers:

Jjsmith103: I decided to do three POV's for the battles (Katara, Aang and Toph) and then the aftermath will just be… well, we'll see. But yeah, being blind is already horrible enough, but imagine having to fight the biggest battle while seeing only the inside of one airship… As I was writing this I saw your review, and I had to laugh, because I had just impaled Aang's shoulder lol! But for sure, he is not coming out of it with just a few wardrobe items poorer lol.