Chapter 14

"What happened to you Zuko? When I had learned that I was to have a son as my firstborn, I thought that he would be great and would follow in my footsteps, but it looks like you were never worth anything."

Zuko gritted his teeth and started to growl.

"That's enough Ozai! I'm sick of hearing words come out of your foul mouth!"

His father laughed cruelly and stood up from his throne. There was an opening in the top part of the room and the dark sky loomed above it. No clouds were present and the stars shined brilliantly. Katara was trying desperately to open the door but was having no luck. Suddenly she felt the door flame up. Zuko had attacked his father, but the fire missed and went straight to the door.

"Ozai is it now? I thought you wouldn't have changed much, you're a disrespectful grunt just like your mother was!"

Something flicked in the Fire Lord's eyes and his amusing smirk was no longer visible. Instead, his mouth was turned into a grimace and he stood closer to Zuko. He was infuriated by his father's comment about his mother.

"Don't talk about her like that! She was a kind and loving person. You say she wasn't respectful? Look at you; you speak of her like this after she is gone, what do you know of respect?"

Zuko raised his arms in the air and then brought them down with a crossing motion. Two identical streaks of blazing fire sped towards Ozai who pushed them away quite easily.

"You are pathetic Zuko. You don't even deserve to live. Did you really think that you could just come here and fight me?"

Katara was hanging onto every word, every sound she heard echoing in the metallic chamber. She had given up on opening the door; it was pointless. Every inch of her mind was worried about Zuko and she desperately needed to go and help him. That's when it occurred to her that she could communicate with Zuko silently. Katara closed her eyes shut and concentrated on Zuko.

"Zuko, I'm behind the other door. Open it, I need to come in and help you!"

Zuko was about to step forward towards his father, and then all of a sudden his expression loosened up and he stared towards the wall behind Ozai.

"No Katara, I want you to go away. I'm not going to let you near this bastard."

She stiffened when she felt his thoughts in her own mind.

"Zuko, you can't do it alone. If you were so intent on keeping me away, then how come you let me go down the hall by myself? Please, I need to help you, you can't do it alone."

Ozai observed as his son stood rooted to his place, not moving a single inch. He seemed to be concentrating on something that wasn't in the room. The Fire Lord raised his eyebrows and then a sneer made its way to his face.

"What's the problem Zuko? Did you suddenly realize how stupid you are for trying to defeat me?"

The prince's golden eyes shifted to meet the ones of his elder and he narrowed his gaze. He took a deep breath and ran straight for his father. Ozai raised his hands quickly and as Zuko punched the air in front of him, the Fire Lord brought his arms back in a circular motion. Zuko's heart was thudding as he sidestepped around his father who was only inches away from him. Zuko jumped in the air and then cart wheeled his way to the door. With a grunt and a firm pull, he opened it. The door creaked slowly and Katara's blue eyes appeared from the darkness. Zuko looked into her eyes with worry but she smiled at him and put a hand on his arm. Ozai turned around and a boom of ominous laughter ruined the happy moment. Both Zuko and Katara turned around to face the Fire Lord and their eyes narrowed as the door slammed shut.

"This is the most entertaining spectacle I have yet to see in my lifetime. My son, the disgrace you are, is consorting with the likes of water tribe peasants. But then again, I guess we do have the same taste in friends."

Katara's temper boiled immediately as she was reminded of the sickening act Ozai had wanted her to participate in. She ran away from Zuko and pushed her arms straight forwards to Ozai. He stood still, not moving an inch. Suddenly when Katara was a foot away from him she stopped and moved her arms in round vertical circles. She spun around and thrust her arms straight towards him. The sneer was wiped away as an invisible force pushed Ozai back a step. His robe fluttered slightly and then he narrowed his eyes.

"Zuko is nothing like you! Ozai you are the sickest man I've ever met and you don't deserve to live. Tonight you will pay for all that you have done to the world and to my friends and family!"

She took a step forward and pushed her arm up to Ozai's chest, but he growled and grabbed her attacking arm. Katara screeched as the pain ran up to her shoulders. The spot where Ozai's burning grip remained turned bright red and she winced as her entire body twisted and flew through the air. Zuko watched as Katara's body landed with a thud. Tears fell down from her eyes as she struggled to push herself up. Ozai turned his head to his son and cocked his head to the left.

"See that Zuko? She is a waste of your time! Even though she might have gotten away from me the first time, she was still punished. And now after all of these years, you will be taken care of like I had always planned."

Zuko glanced at Katara who was struggling to keep on fighting and then he yelled in frustration. His insides burned with hatred and he couldn't take it anymore. Ozai was taken aback as he saw the smoldering heat rise from Zuko's body. He gritted his teeth and stood ready to fight his father. For some reason, Ozai felt a little nervous when he saw that his son was becoming so furious. The power of a fire bender was at its best when the emotional level rose, however the ability to control that power required much skill. With one rapid movement, Zuko gathered his arms upwards and then exhaled as the fire within him grew to its hottest temperature. With cunning, he drove his left first forwards and then his right, repeating the movements one after the other. Nothing could prevent the deadly attacks of fire, which seemed to come at Ozai in all directions. But he was the Fire Lord, and his son was no match for him. Ozai moved his hands in a circle, pulling in all of the surrounding fire that came towards him. He pushed the ball of flames upwards towards the open hole in the top of the ceiling.

Zuko was infuriated even more and then ran up to his father. He spun on one foot and tried to kick the flames from underneath the Fire Lord's legs, but Ozai jumped out of the way and stood above Zuko. His blazing hand grabbed his son's throat and Zuko gasped for breath as Ozai picked him up by the throat. Katara heard Zuko choking and her head turned towards Ozai and Zuko.

"Do you believe me now? Will you stop trying to act selfless? It will do nothing for you. I'm tired of these silly games."

Zuko's body was thrown against the wall and then he fell to the floor with a loud thump and a groan. Katara saw that he wasn't moving and his eyes were closed. A small trail of blood ran down his bright red neck. The water bender heaved herself up from the ground and yelled in frustration. Her heart ached and she needed to get her revenge. She closed her eyes briefly, allowing the concentration to settle in her stomach. Within a matter of seconds she found the flow of chi and the energy of the water inside of her body. Her fingers felt the cool rush of strength; all of her emotions channeled out into one single blow and as she climbed the air with her hands, Ozai looked on confused. There was nothing she could do to him from so far away and there was no water there anyways. He was wrong however because he didn't know about the invisible source of water that she possessed.

Her eyes shot open and she took a step forwards, her arms pushing through the air together. Ozai roared and pushed his arms, causing the flames inside of him to spill out towards the powerful attack she threw at him. The two attacks collided with one another and a loud explosion took its place. Dust and smoke expelled from the collision and the force pushed back towards Katara. Her eyes widened as she lost her balance and concentration. She was thrown against the wall by her own attack and she hit the wall with her head. When she fell to the ground, her world went black.

Zuko began to stir. He had no idea as to what just happened but he knew that they needed the Avatar's help.

"Aang, you need to come as quickly as you can. Go through the door I went through."

The signal went directly to him; Zuko could feel that. He pushed himself upwards with his hands and arms, but then he needed to close his eyes. The smoke had spread everywhere and he couldn't tell where anything was. Hazy glimmers wandered through the mess as the moon shined down through the hole at the top of the room. Zuko looked up and couldn't believe his eyes. The sky was turning from a dark blue hue to a dark crimson color. There was not much time until the comet would come and Ozai would win the war.

Suddenly the dust and smoke settled and Zuko could see everything. Katara's blue figure lay near the wall closest to him. Her clothes were tattered and she wasn't moving. Her sleek dark hair was mangled and it had woven out of its braid. He turned to his father who was standing in his original spot, but he was hunched over and breathing in deeply. Seeing his opportunity, Zuko took a chance to attack the Fire Lord. He closed his eyes just as Katara had and thought of the fire inside of the steel walls. The fire that burned it to its flat state of being was cooled and forever inside of the fortress. Concentrating with all of his might, Zuko called that energy to him and then focused it into a ball. As he was doing this, Ozai looked at him curiously and then realized that the two of them must have learned something that he had no knowledge of its existence.

The attack was pushed towards Ozai with all of Zuko's strength, but he stood up and stood his ground, redirecting the attack upwards just as he did with everything else. Zuko saw Ozai breathing in deeply and he realized that his father was becoming more tired as the battle wore on. Up above, the crimson color was turning into a bright orange glow with a hint of red hidden around the white moon. Suddenly, Zuko felt a surge of heat as Ozai's attack knocked him back. He stumbled over his legs and fell to the ground. With the last bit of energy that remained in his body, Zuko shot the invisible force residing within him at his father's feet. Ozai winced but stood firmly. A smirk appeared on his face when the room went dead quiet. Zuko and Katara weren't moving at all and as he looked up towards the sky, he knew the comet would be there soon.

"Finally, I am at peace with everything. No one can come and stop me now. That is of course…"

The door from which Zuko came in was shoved open and when the dust settled, Ozai could see the Avatar's figure clearly. Aang quickly looked over to his right and saw that Katara and Zuko were lying motionless on the floor. His fury bottled up inside of him, but he breathed in deeply and tried to remain calm. The last thing he needed was to die while in the Avatar state. He stepped inside with his staff and Ozai laughed out at him.

"What have you done to them Ozai?"

"Nothing Avatar. They did it themselves. I'm being completely honest. Their cunning wasn't good enough. I'd be surprised if they were still alive."

Aang gritted his teeth and pointed his staff towards the Fire Lord.

"Is that all you are going to battle me with? A silly little staff? Tonight I shall take in all of Sozin's energy from his comet and you can't stop me!"

A smirk sliced the young boy's face and he took a step, jumping up into the air.

"That's what you think."

Aang came down towards Ozai, but he was ready with a fire attack of his own. When Aang saw the attack coming towards him, he had to spin his staff to get the flames away from him. He landed back on the ground and then started to spin his staff in vertical circles all around him. The room began to live as the ground shot up around Ozai. The metallic floor shined on all sides of the Fire Lord and then his anger exploded. Fire met steel and it slowly melted to the ground. Aang narrowed his eyes and then decided to run around the cooling metal. A massive tunnel of wind encompassed Ozai and the steel stopped melting. Ozai panicked for a moment as the steel started to cave in on him. He needed to get the comet's power. And that was when he realized that he had a few secret weapons.

He pulled out two little bags from his robe and opened them. Aang had stopped running and the wind was swept away through the roof. His heart thudded inside of his chest as he saw the steel fall to the floor. Ozai stepped up to the Avatar and snickered. Aang's eyes widened and he felt the powers inside of him being drawn away. There was nothing he could do about it. The Neutra Jewel and the Jade Jewel were both glinting into his eyes. His body began to feel weak and he whimpered. His only weapons of attack were gone. There was no water in the room, and there was no fire. Suddenly, Ozai fell to the floor with a thud as Aang pushed him down with a clever positioning of his blazing fire attack. His arms came back to his sides and he placed them on the staff. Ozai growled angrily and grabbed the jewels once more. He had tied them on two separate strings and he put them around his neck.

"That was clever Avatar, but I won't underestimate you again!"

Suddenly Aang heard a rustling nearby and then he realized that Zuko was stirring. His thoughts were closed in on his and then Zuko connected to him.

"You have to break the jewels with the opposite element!"

"But how do I do that if they are both opposites?"

Ozai saw the same distant and concerned look on the Avatar's face as his son had before. Suddenly Aang's eyes flashed back to the Fire Lord, and he understood what was happening. Without a second glance, Ozai ran to his son and kicked him in the ribs. Zuko moaned and then his mouth fell open and he blacked out once again. Aang's fury began to boil inside of him again, and he thought of a way to get rid of at least one of the jewels. Before Ozai could turn around, Aang ran towards him and when he did turn, the first thing he saw was the staff flying right at him. The Fire Lord had no time to react and the crushing impact hit his chest. The Jade Jewel broke off into a million little glimmering pieces and Aang ducked behind a wall of steel that he had bended. Ozai's shocked expression didn't prepare him for what happened next.

Aang punched the steel that was in front of him numerous times, and then tiny balls of steel came pelting towards Ozai. He winced each time that it hit him, but then he regained his composure and began to send fireballs at each of the oncoming balls of steel. As this was happening, Ozai was completely dazed at the Avatar's skill. Steel wasn't even a part of the earth, so then how could he be bending it? Little did the Fire Lord know that the Avatar had learned to combine all elements as one. Through his training with Jeong-Jeong, Aang had practiced combining each of the elements. He punched the steel and the fire within it mixed with the power of earth bending. After many rounds of the attacks, Ozai missed one and it hit its target, the Neutra Jewel. The jewel didn't explode into little pieces and shards, but instead a white puff of smoke grew and Ozai looked down to see no jewels hanging around his neck.

"So, did you really think you could outsmart the Avatar?"

Ozai looked up but Aang wasn't there. He had skidded on his air scooter and flew around to Ozai's back. The air welled up and Ozai's head was covered in his robe. He yelled in frustration and suddenly felt a weight missing in his robe. Aang pulled out the fierce crimson ruby from its pouch and smiled.

"Looks like you're missing something."

Ozai's eyes bulged out when he saw the Carmine Jewel hanging from Aang's neck. He started to run towards him and screeched.

"You might have my bending, but I can still crush you!"

With one swift motion of his staff, Aang sent Ozai flying and he hit the wall with a loud boom. The Fire Lord fell to the ground and moaned, a hand on his head.

"It's time I finally saved the world."

Aang closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. All of the energy in the room came flowing towards his hands and a round ball of air formed. He smoothed his way around it adding shards of the steel and drawing the power of water from inside his body. It made its way through his veins and his fingertips, into the expanding ball of chi. Finally, as Aang took one last breath, he pushed the growing ball towards Ozai. The fireball blazed and twirled as it approached him. The sky above was becoming as bright as fire and he looked up longingly, but the Carmine was burning awesomely on the Avatar's chest and he could do nothing about it. The attack hit the wall where Ozai stood and a massive explosion occurred, sending Aang against the wall behind him. Clouds of gray smoke and debris filled the room and everything became quiet.

..:-:..

Aang woke up and pushed himself up so that he was standing. He put a hand to his head and shook it.

"What just happened?"

He looked around the Fire Lord's room and gasped. Everything looked like a battle had just occurred, and then he remembered the defining moment when he defeated Ozai. He was nowhere to be found and Aang knew that he was truly gone, in body and in spirit. Aang stumbled through the piles of debris and finally came to Zuko. He shook him vigorously and Zuko began to stir. Aang helped him up and then he put his hands to his ribs.

"Is it over?" Zuko asked after clenching his jaw and wincing.

"Yes, it is over."

The first thing that came to Zuko's mind was the woman in blue.

"Where's Katara?"

"I think she's beyond that pile of debris, let's go look."

Aang helped Zuko stand up and he gave him his staff so he could use it for support. When they reached the other side of the rubble, Zuko saw Katara's still form just as he had seen after she went down. Her hair was sprawled all over her face and he knelt down beside her instantly, throwing away Aang's staff. Aang picked it up and saw Zuko pull the hair out of her face. He looked away and sighed.

"Katara, can you hear me? Get up, it's over. Aang defeated my father."

He pushed her a little bit but she fell back to the same position. Zuko swallowed hard and then tried shaking her again.

"Katara, wake up, please wake up."

But the more he moved her, the more lifeless she seemed and then Zuko's heart began to beat faster. His head pounded and his fists flamed with fury. Her head rolled off of his lap and onto the floor. Aang stood near them and saw tears stream down Zuko's face. His golden eyes looked straight at the wall and he gritted his teeth angrily as he wept.

"She's gone… I can't believe… I shouldn't have opened that blasted door!"

Zuko slammed his fists into the ground and then he put his head down next to Katara's. He held it in his hands and pulled her close to his abdomen. Zuko rocked back and forth as the tears kept coming down his face. Inside he felt like the pain his father had inflicted on him was nothing compared to the heart wrenching agony he felt at the loss of the person he loved. It didn't matter that his father was gone, the only thing he wanted more than anything else was for her beautiful blue eyes to open once again and for her to greet him with that loving smile she always had. In the past few weeks he had grown so much with her by his side. She had become a part of him, and now he felt empty and gone himself. The small voice of the Avatar interrupted his thoughts and Zuko looked up at him with calm eyes. The tears stopped flowing and he blinked curiously.

"Do you love her?"

Zuko was astounded that the small boy would be asking him that kind of question, but it made him think about the way he really felt. Aang's voice was filled with sadness and his eyes gleamed as he looked at Katara's limp body.

"Yes, I love Katara."

Aang turned away and closed his eyes. He couldn't deny the truth any longer; he had seen the way she had looked at Zuko and deep down, Aang knew that she had never looked at him like that. Zuko had just confirmed the emotions the two of them shared and he realized that she never loved him they way he had loved her. Zuko looked back down at Katara's gentle, calm face and the tears began to flow once again. His vision was blurry and the droplets of water fell onto her face.

"It's all my fault she is gone… all my fault!"

Suddenly, Aang felt an extraordinary surge of power. He looked up to the sky and saw that the orange and red flames surrounding the moon vanished within a second and the moonlight disappeared. The blazing white fire of the comet came into the view of the pitch-black sky and Zuko looked up to the Avatar with wonder. His eyes and tattoos began to glow and it was then that Zuko realized how powerful the Avatar was. Aang raised his hands towards the comet and streaks of white light shot down into his hands. Zuko put Katara's head down carefully and then he stood up, backing away towards the wall. After a few minutes, Aang turned towards Zuko and he whimpered slightly. It seemed as if he was going to attack him.

But he didn't. Instead, the Avatar stepped forward towards Katara's dead body and he knelt beside it. He closed his eyes and raised his hands, making alternating circles coming away from his body. Then he stopped and put his hands on Katara's forehead. The bright power swept into her body and the Avatar's tattoos began to dim. Suddenly, a white hazy mist started to form around them and it grew towards the top of the room. Zuko had to kneel down and shield his body. When the mist left, Zuko opened his eyes and saw that the moon had appeared in the sky and the comet was nowhere to be seen. He looked around through the shadows and then spotted Katara lying right where she had been before. The Avatar was nowhere to be found, and Zuko rushed to her immediately. When he reached her, his whole body went numb as she began to stir and cough.

Zuko knelt down and helped her sit up. She stopped coughing and then he saw her blue eyes shining at him. He hugged her tightly and the tears fell down his cheeks. Katara wrapped her arms around him and took in the scent of Zuko's burned robes. She pulled away and reached her hand to his cheek. He felt her fingers brush away his tears and she smiled.

"Why are you crying? Didn't Aang defeat Ozai?"

He nodded and then closed his eyes, a lump forming in his throat. The Avatar had given Katara life, and she was once again in his arms. It was incredible, and bittersweet at the same time. The world's peacemaker was gone. He had given up his life in order to save the person Zuko loved. Suddenly, he felt that familiar childish voice ringing in his head.

"Zuko, don't tell her what I did. Promise me. It will be our little secret…"

"I promise… thank you Aang…"

The Avatar's presence was gone and he felt Katara's hands lift his head up. Katara looked at him worriedly and her voice began to shake.

"Zuko, where's Aang?"

All he could do was smile sadly and the overwhelming realization came to her with a magnificent blow. The tears welled up in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks. Zuko pulled her into him and she grabbed onto his shoulders, her fingers curling into his robe. Her body shook with each sob and the two of them sat there, taking in the victory and the loss the night had given them.


A/N: This chapter must have been the hardest chapter I've EVER written for a fic. It took me two days because I know that writing action is my weak point, so please don't flame me if this chapter was terrible, I know it was. All I can do is just hope that you didn't think so… because I always try to make the things I write decent at least :) Sigh… I still can't believe I finished this… it was so hard to write! Lol okay, so what is left? The epilogue, that is right! (even though there was no prologue, I know, I know) xD

Okay then, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I want to thank you for reading and I hope you have an awesome rest of your day!

-Monika-