Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

77. Chapter 77: Pairs Tournament 6

The Captain couldn't have been more disheartened. He had seen this coming to a certain extent, for this had been the story of his life ever since he had become one of Princess Azula's guards, but he had been gullible enough to hope that maybe, just maybe, he would arrive in the Imperial Palace to find she was safe and sound this time. To find that, for once, his job wouldn't be any more difficult than it already was…

Naturally, he had been mistaken.

The panicked look on Governor Tiang's face when the guards asked about the Princess spoke for itself, letting them all know, without uttering a word, that Azula's whereabouts were unknown at the moment. Tiang had been expecting the Princess indeed, but he had assumed she would arrive when her Procession did. Discovering otherwise had alarmed him greatly, and he was quick to send soldiers to scan the entire city to find Princess Azula. Some of the Royal Guards had joined the search, but the Captain had stayed behind with a few others, eating lunch in one of the Palace's dining halls as he sulked, wondering if he would ever do his job right…

"Now, now, don't be so hard on yourself," said Taro, who was sitting next to him as they ate. "You did exactly as she commanded. It's not your fault."

"But I should have known better than to listen to her commands when she's being reckless," said Rui Shi, sighing heavily. "I should have known. I should have sent one of you with her to make sure she'd be safe. I suppose the gladiator could have protected her if worst came to worst, but…"

"You know, I'd assume the gladiator would end up being the one protected instead," said Fei Li, smiling a little. "Half the time I feel like the Princess really doesn't need any protection…"

"It's like we're just in the way…" said Taro, coughing a little when he finished talking.

"Did you forget your medicine again?" Rui Shi asked, as one of the Palace's servants approached the table, bringing a large tray with her.

"Oh, no, not this time! It's right…" Taro said, proudly, patting his pocket only to realize it was empty. His eyes widened, and he started to turn all the pockets in his tunic, panicking when he failed to find what he was looking for. "Damn it! I must have left it on the Barge!"

"Well, that's Taro for you, eh?" said Fei Li, chuckling.

"Is he sick, now? What do you suffer from, young man?" asked the servant, an elderly but slender lady who smiled kindly at him.

"Uh… a breathing condition, is all," said Taro, blinking blankly, puzzled by the woman's intrusion on their conversation.

"Oh, my," said the woman, looking at him worriedly. "I believe I could fix you a proper drink to help you with that, if you'd like. I worked as a healer during many years before…"

"Before becoming a servant?" asked Fei Li, carelessly.

"Before becoming a slave," said Rui Shi, frowning.

The servant was somewhat surprised when he spoke the words so intensely. Yet she smiled at him and shrugged, placing her tray on the table the three men were sharing.

"That would be correct," she said. "But I will admit, life as a slave isn't so bad when you're a slave whose roast duck is greatly appreciated by the city's governor. I can also work as a healer if need be, and my services are quite appreciated. I'm well fed, I have my own room, my own belongings… it has been easier on me than one would expect."

"Well, truth to be told, at your age you shouldn't be working at all…" said Fei Li, and the woman glared at him.

"I may be old enough to be your mother, boy, but I still work as hard as anyone."

"Respect your elders, Fei Li!" Taro exclaimed, looking at his fellow guard with reprobation and earning himself a glare from him. "See, that sort of behavior is exactly why you can't get a girlfriend."

"What the…?! Stop messing with me! That's got nothing to do with anything!" Fei Li exclaimed, jumping to his feet and shaking a fist towards his comrade just as Taro moved away from the table and sprinted towards the hallway. "Get back here, you idiot! You're going to kill yourself if you run like that!"

Rui Shi glared at them and sighed, shaking his head before trying some of the roast duck the old woman had brought them. She was simply watching the other two as they chased each other outside the hall, and she laughed and shook her head before turning towards the Captain again.

"Do excuse them for their idiotic behavior," said the Captain, sighing. "They're Royal Guards, yet they act as though they were rebellious teenagers whenever the Princess isn't nearby…"

"It would seem you're the most serious one of the group, then," said the woman, looking at him curiously as she took her seat across him. "Your behavior isn't at all like theirs."

"I can't be as childish as them when I'm their leader," said Rui Shi, shrugging and taking another bite of the duck. "I will say… Governor Tiang has good taste indeed. I've never had roast duck that tastes quite this good before."

"I'm glad you're enjoying it. I used to make too much of it back in the day," she said, smiling. "My daughter couldn't finish it all by herself. My husband could eat most of it without difficulty, but that was before he was taken from the farming village we used to live in…"

Rui Shi frowned and stared at the woman carefully as she lost herself in thoughts of her past. He analyzed her features to find that he had seen eyes like hers before…

"Your… daughter," said Rui Shi, bringing the old woman back to reality with the sound of his voice. "She couldn't quite finish your roast duck, you said…"

"Ah, yes. She was the sweetest girl," said the servant, smiling. "So even if she was already full, she would still try to eat more to make me happy. I always told her not to push herself, of course, I didn't want her to end up sick…"

"Is she working here with you, perhaps…?" Rui Shi asked, casually.

"Why do you ask?" said the servant, surprised. Rui Shi blushed, despite himself.

"I just… I guessed she would be a slave too, seeing how you are one. I just hoped that, maybe, you wouldn't have been separated. The Princess's gladiator has a maid of his own, a girl who cooks for him and heals him whenever he gets hurt in battle… and I recently spoke with her about her past. She told me she had been separated from her family… so I hoped that, maybe, you wouldn't have undergone the same fate…"

"Well, that's too bad for her," said the servant, sighing. "Many of us were separated from our families… most of us, actually. It happened to me as well. My daughter was still held by slavers when I was taken to Ba Sing Se. I don't know what happened to her… I haven't seen her since."

"And your husband…" Rui Shi muttered. "He was taken away by soldiers?"

"Yes," the servant said, sighing. "It took me quite some time to get used to soldiers after that happened. My first years under the governor's service weren't easy… this Palace was full of soldiers, and I hated working for them at first. But they have been kinder than I expected, and even though I still long for the old days, I also appreciate my luck. So many slaves must have it worse than me… I can only hope my daughter has had some luck as well. Perhaps she is working for a nobleman now, who knows?"

Rui Shi smiled at that, despite himself. The servant stared at him, confused.

"Is something funny…?"

"I just…" he said, sighing and looking at her with a smile. "Your daughter really is a gentle girl, isn't she?"

"She was, yes. Why do you…?"

"And she was also a skilled healer, and a good cook…" said Rui Shi, raising an eyebrow.

"W-well, she… I didn't say she was," said the servant, surprised. "But… yes, in fact, she…"

"And her name… is her name Song?"

The servant's eyes widened as she stared at Rui Shi with disbelief and hope. Rui Shi smiled gently again.

"The roast duck was my first clue," he said, smiling. "She told me once that she hoped you would be cooking some of it for a nobleman… just like what you only just said about her."

"My… my Song? You know her? You've talked to her, you…?" she said, her eyes filled with tears as she stared at him in joyful disbelief.

"Song is the gladiator's maid," said Rui Shi, nodding. "And she is living well enough. She worries about you, of course, but…"

Rui Shi was instantly silenced when the woman stood up, walked towards his end of the table and threw her arms around his neck to embrace him tightly. Rui Shi's eyes widened and his cheeks flushed again, taken by surprise by the woman's sudden gesture. He couldn't even remember the last time anyone had hugged him…

"My Song… you know my Song, and she's alive! She's… oh, this is just wonderful, I… thank you, you wonderful man, you… what's your name?" the woman asked, pulling away shortly to look at the Captain properly, tears streaming down her eyes.

"I… I am Rui Shi," he said, awkwardly, almost as if he had forgotten how to pronounce his name due to how surprised he was.

"Oh, thank you so much, Rui Shi! Thank you, thank you!" the woman said again, crying tears of joy and hugging him once more. Rui Shi could only pat her back awkwardly, gulping but smiling all the same. "You have no idea what this means to me, you… oh, my Song, she's fine… she's fine…"

"Yes… she really is," said Rui Shi, still patting the woman's back, and she laughed and cried more, still holding onto the guard who had delivered her the news she had thought she would never hear…

"And it looks like the one who got a girlfriend is the Captain, eh?" Fei Li said, chuckling under his breath as both him and Taro stared at the scene from the dining room's threshold. "I didn't know he liked elderly ladies, but to each their own, eh?"

"I wouldn't mind if he's got a girlfriend or not… if only I didn't need my medicine right now," said Taro, coughing again. Fei Li glared at him.

"You were the one who ran off on his own accord, so don't…!"

A sudden tremor silenced Fei Li in the middle of his scolding of his friend. Both him and Taro stared down the hallway towards the Palace's entrance, the area where the vibrations had come from. Song's mother released Rui Shi from her grip as well, surprised by the strange event. The Captain frowned, confused. That had felt like earthbending…

"Stay here," he told Song's mother before heading towards the hallway, where Fei Li and Taro waited for him.

"Oh, ah… thank you again, Rui Shi! Thank you!" the woman exclaimed once more, smiling happily at him.

The Captain smiled back and waved goodbye at her before racing down the hallway, followed by Fei Li and a coughing Taro. And Song's mother was left behind, staring at the roast duck's leftovers, wondering just who might eat them now…

---

The Green Gates was bursting with activity yet again, for people from throughout the entire city had come to watch the two semifinals of the Tournament. The first fight was already taking place within the sand ring, and the second would begin as soon as the first had ended… yet one of the teams scheduled to fight on the second semifinal hadn't arrived so far.

"Do you think they'll be late?" the boy at the counter asked his twin. "It's a bit weird for royals to be late, but it's even weirder that they're not here yet…"

"It's not that weird," the girl replied. "They are royals, after all. They can get special treatment whenever they want it. Surely they'll show up here any moment now, without even noticing that they were late in the first place…"

"You think? Because…" the boy started, but he fell quiet when the floor underneath them started vibrating…

And suddenly the center of the vestibule cracked open.

The people on the vestibule panicked, some running off while others began screaming, staring at the hole in dismay and utter confusion. The siblings at the counter jumped back as well, terrified and bewildered. There was no way the fight in the sand ring right now would be intense enough to wreck the rest of the building…

And indeed, the crater had nothing to do with the current semifinal combat, as everyone discovered when a girl, covered in dirt and dressed in filthy green clothes crawled out of the hole she had created with her earthbending. An old man followed her, coughing and looking beyond relieved to finally see daylight again, and after him came a dark-haired woman, who helped a dark-skinned man out of the hole. The three of them were covered in dirt as well, and they looked rather worn-out after spending hours on end walking through underground tunnels.

"Fresh air… at last," Iroh said, almost tearful. The journey through the city's sewers had been beyond unpleasant for the entire group.

The twins' eyes widened as they realized just who these four sudden arrivals were. The rest of the people in the vestibule had a harder time recognizing them. Not many of them could tell who these filthy people were, let alone why they had decided to make an entrance through the ground instead of taking the doors…

"Woops, seems like we made quite the scene. Get out of there quick, Iroh," Toph said, stretching her arms as she got ready to close the hole again. "We don't want to make a bigger fuss than this…"

"Why did you bring us out through the vestibule, of all places, Bandit?" asked Azula, grimacing while Sokka grimaced next to her, surrounding his stomach with an arm.

"Can we get something to eat before charging into battle…?" he was asking Azula, pulling her sleeve.

"Sorry, Spicy," said Toph, closing the hole. She also placed back the tiles she had blown away when she had created the crater. The floor was mismatched by the time everything was in place again, but Toph assumed that would be irrelevant in the long run. "I just figured we had to register at the counter, and I thought this way we would save up some time…"

"Save up time and, in the process, earn all the attention we wanted to avoid. Just brilliant," said Azula, sarcastically. "And no, Sokka, I doubt we can get anything to eat."

"B-but I'm tired and hungry, and so are you…"

"We'll have to put up with our needs for the time being," Iroh said, sadly. "We will have a proper meal in the Palace, I'm sure."

"Heh, hard to believe…" said Sokka, pouting as Toph blended the tiles together in order to make the floor completely smooth again.

Azula and Iroh headed towards the counters, finding the two siblings staring at them in disbelief. Sokka and Toph lagged behind, the former still upset over his empty stomach while the latter made sure she had fixed the crater properly.

"Good day to you both," Iroh told the twins, with a kind smile on his face, but the pair of them just kept staring at them in confusion.

"G-good day…" the sister said, nodding in his direction.

"Do excuse us for this unsightly arrival…" said Azula, with a deep sigh. "But we're here at last, and that's what matters."

"Y-yeah, well… don't sweat it. You just broke through the floor, what's the big deal, eh? A-anyways, your fight, uh… your fight will begin once the next one is done, which should happen soon enough," said the boy, gulping as he wrote Azula and Iroh's timely arrival into their upcoming fight's file. "But if I may ask… why did you show up through the ground?"

"We just wanted to make quite the entrance, is all," said Iroh, laughing happily. Azula raised an eyebrow and looked at him skeptically, wondering if he really expected the twins to believe that, but she kept from saying anything regardless.

"Well, that's… that's just fine, then," said the boy, with an awkward smile as he continued to write down the information. "I take it your gladiator will use the same weapons this time as well, Princess…?"

"Indeed," said Azula, nodding, as the boy wrote down the details.

"Very well, you'll be fighting the Amazoness and the Feathered Snake," said the boy. "You can go to a waiting room while the other fight…"

The boy fell silent when he noticed people were returning to the vestibule through the doors that led to the stands. The first semifinal was over, from the looks of it, and several people headed towards the counters, in order to retrieve their winnings after guessing the fight's winner correctly.

"Oh, well, never mind," the boy said, smiling weakly. "I guess you'll be fighting right away."

"Ugh," Sokka complained, behind Azula. "So I really won't get any food, then?"

"You've endured and even won a few fights with an empty stomach," said Azula, sighing. "So you'll just have to put up with it."

"Ugh. We really didn't think this plan through as much as we should have," Sokka complained.

"C'mon, then," said Toph, jerking her head towards the stairs. "The faster we're done with this fight, the sooner we'll reach the Palace."

"What she said," Iroh nodded, and he waved goodbye at the boy behind the counter. "See you later, I hope."

"Uh, sure…" said the kid, as he bowed before the two royals.

But just before Azula turned to leave, to follow the other three to the stairs, she caught wind of what a crass man was saying to the girl behind the counter.

"Come on, now, pay up! I placed a thousand on the Savage Hook and the Iron Rain, and they just won!"

Azula froze on her footsteps and looked at him with a frown on her face. The man was waiting for his money eagerly, a line of people waiting behind him, but despite how hasty he was, he still had enough sense to notice someone was watching him. He looked at Azula with confusion and surprise, failing to recognize her due to her unkempt appearance after the trip through Ba Sing Se's underground tunnels.

"The… Savage Hook, you said?" she asked, turning towards the boy from the counter again. "The Savage Hook is in the finals?"

"A-apparently," said the boy, gulping. "We have to be officially informed at the counter of the fight's result, but if he says so, then he must have won…"

"Indeed, he won!" exclaimed an old man in the line, waving a cane over his head. "And I'm here to collect my money too, so hurry up, girl!"

"Y-you know the procedures, you just have to be patient!" the girl said, nervously.

Azula stood in place, staring at the line of people in front of her. The Savage Hook… The Savage Hook was in the Pairs Tournament. The memory of Sokka's fight against him returned to her, and through it she also remembered the Hook's unpleasant sponsor. If the Savage Hook was involved in the Tournament, then maybe there were even more layers to this riddle than she had imagined at first…

"Azula? Hey!"

Sokka's voice brought her back to reality, and she walked away from the counters without another word. Her companions were staring at her with confusion as she approached them at the foot of the stairs. One flight led up to the upper floors of the Arena, just as it was in the Grand Royal Dome, while the one next to it would lead below, to the stand-by rooms.

"Is everything okay?" Sokka asked her, frowning.

"Is anything ever okay?" Azula replied, raising her eyebrows and sighing heavily. "Never mind. Just focus on your fight, and focus on getting it done as fast as possible."

"We'll do that," said Toph, nodding. "You two should be ready to leave as soon as it's over, don't dawdle. We won't attend the medical check, we shouldn't even need it… but if we want to avoid the Dai Li, we can't waste our time with that."

"Indeed, we cannot," said Iroh, nodding. "Good luck to the pair of you. I'm sure you'll do fine today."

"Let's hope," said Sokka, sighing. "Come on, then. Let's get this over with."

Azula watched both him and Toph head downstairs, a frown on her face. She'd had an uneasy feeling from the very start, but her unease had only increased after this latest discovery. The Savage Hook had given Sokka one of his worst fights ever, and the Savage Hook's sponsor just so happened to be the former Grand Secretariat of Ba Sing Se, the leader of the Dai Li. And while he had lost his first title, the second one might have never been revoked from him….

"Azula," Iroh called her, heading upstairs already. "Let's go."

"Right," she said, nodding and following him, a heavy frown on her face.

Toph looked quite nervous, it seemed to Sokka, as she kept twitching at every little sound and vibration she caught. He would have smiled encouragingly and told her to relax, for they had this fight in the bag, as ever… but he didn't feel too confident either, despite himself. He sighed heavily and patted the girl's back, at which she flinched.

"Come on now," he said. "We can do this. If we've survived all along, we can get by this time as well."

"I'm not so worried about the fight, to be honest," said Toph, frowning. "What if the Dai Li hear we're here? What if they jump on us in the middle of the fight?"

"Well, if that happens it'll be because you jinxed it," said Sokka, shrugging carelessly and earning himself another punch, this time on the elbow. "Ow! Hey!"

"Hell, the Jewel really must like you, if she puts up with comments like those all the time," she said, with a smirk that wasn't entirely heartfelt, and Sokka noticed it. It seemed she was trying to fight back her nervousness by picking on him…

Sokka smiled as well and shrugged carelessly, to Toph's surprise.

"I'm a pretty lucky guy if that's the case, then."

"Heh, you're way too lucky, I'd say," Toph declared, now smiling a bit more earnestly.

But her mood was dampened again when the gates of the stand-by room swung open, allowing them into the sand ring… where two of the most unusual gladiators Sokka had ever seen awaited them.

One of them was rather tall and burly, and she bore weapons and an armor that looked just as deadly as the glare on her face. The armor was covered with blades and spikes that made Sokka grimace, wondering just how many people had died upon being body-slammed by this fighter. And while this gladiator looked rather menacing and fierce, her partner wore an armor covered with feathers that Sokka found completely ridiculous at first sight. The Feathered Snake had long hair and delicate features, while the Amazoness's were the exact opposite of that. They were both non-benders, seeing how they carried weapons with them: something about the pair sent chills down Sokka's spine, and not of the good kind.

"Heh… this already feels like it's going to be fun," said Toph, smirking proudly as she sensed their two rivals through the sand. "Leave the big one to me."

"Gladly," said Sokka, grimacing.

"And so, the second one of our semifinals begins!" exclaimed the megaphone man. "This time featuring two seriously deadly fighters from the Jade Range, the Amazoness and the Feathered Snake, who'll be fighting against the Royal Dome's Blind Bandit and Blue Wolf! Who will make it past this fight and into the finals to face the Iron Rain and the Savage Hook?"

"W-wait… What?!" Sokka said, his eyes widening at the second gladiator the announcer mentioned.

"What's the big deal?" said Toph, frowning. "Come on, dummy, focus."

"It's just… yeah, sorry. I'll focus," said Sokka, gulping. He had never imagined he would face the Savage Hook again… suddenly, winning this fight wasn't all that appealing anymore.

"So get ready, gladiators, and… FIGHT!"

With that cue, Toph immediately launched an attack at the Amazoness in the form of a boulder. But the woman swung her bastard sword upon the rock Toph had tossed, and she shattered it with such ease that Sokka almost was left gaping at her, surprised that someone other than himself could accomplish such a feat…

But his attention had been claimed by their other rival. The Feathered Snake had jumped and spun in midair, tossing the feathers attached to his outfit straight towards his enemies.

Toph sensed the man wasn't on the ground anymore, but she couldn't feel his attack coming since he was airborne. Sokka only had an instant to jump at her and knock her off her stance in order to help her avoid the feathers.

"What the hell?! Get off me!" Toph exclaimed, as Sokka stood up and pulled her with him again.

"That guy fights with projectiles, Toph!" Sokka exclaimed, grimacing. "And if he's got a name such as that one, it's probably because they're poisoned or something creepy like that. We have to do something about him or else…!"

Another attack of feathers stopped him from talking, but this time Toph sensed it. She brought forth a wall to defend them, and the feathers were caught by the sand. She continued to bend the sand as a tall wave, and she used it to push the two fighters away from them with a powerful move.

"Poisoned, you said? Crap, is that even allowed?!" she asked, panicking slightly.

"I've never heard otherwise," said Sokka, gulping and withdrawing his two predilect weapons from their respective scabbards. "We have to take him out first, Toph. His outfit is covered in feathers, so we'll have to knock him out or else…"

"Gotcha," she said, nodding and bolting forward, set on taking out the slender fighter now.

Yet it was easier said than done. The Amazoness tore through the sand wall through brute strength, bringing her companion along with her. Once she had cut through the sand, she flung her sword at Toph. The girl, racing towards her foes as she was, couldn't possibly stop to take a stance in order to defend herself from the weapon. Upon seeing this, Sokka threw his boomerang as fast as he could, and fortunately, it hit the sword and knocked it off course just before it could strike Toph.

The Blind Bandit struck her arms forward, and a pillar of earth struck the Amazoness's breastplate, but it only served to push her back shortly. The attack failed to damage the opponent at all.

Toph gritted her teeth, confused by how difficult it was to fight against this woman. She had never had any trouble in her fights before, she never needed to go too far to keep her foes in check… but this one was stronger than she had expected. And not only was she strong, but the teamwork between her and her partner was remarkable as well. When the Amazoness didn't attack, the Feathered Snake would.

Toph jumped back again and brought forth a new wall to protect herself in case the Snake attacked once more, and just as she had expected, the man leapt… yet, upon seeing she was defending herself, he decided not to attack to keep from wasting his needles.

"We must get the earthbender," said the Snake, pulling out his own sword. "The other one will be easy enough to defeat once we're done with her."

"You're right, Lau," said the Amazoness, with a deep voice. She winked at the Snake, and he smirked proudly before they both separated, circling around Toph's wall.

Sokka missed the exchange of the other two. He was ready to defend himself in case they came his way. He clutched his sword tightly, hoping to get a chance to recover his boomerang, which lay near the place where Toph had pulled up her wall.

"They're coming around the wall, Toph!" he shouted, and the Blind Bandit had already sensed their opponents' movements.

"I know!" Toph replied, splitting the wall in two and shooting both halves rapidly towards her foes.

The Amazoness braced herself for impact, and with her shoulder she cracked through the wall yet again. The Snake, on the other hand, was so swift he jumped over the wall the Blind Bandit had bent, and he spun in midair again to shoot his feathers at both Toph and Sokka.

"He's doing it again!" Sokka shouted, and Toph instinctively brought up a shield of sand that encircled her entire body, making it so she couldn't be hurt by the Snake anymore.

Sokka wasn't as lucky. He had to run to get away from the deadly, sharp darts concealed as feathers, and in doing so he just so happened to race straight towards the Amazoness. He grimaced and started to run back through the same way he'd come, just as the Snake landed on the ground again.

"Afraid, are you? Hiding in a cocoon is pathetic!" the Snake shouted at Toph, striking the sand shield with his sword just as Sokka raced away from the Amazoness.

Sokka knew he could stand a chance when it came to swordsmanship… but the woman towered over him, and her armor wasn't only a defensive mechanism. All those spikes and blades looked as sharp as her bastard sword, and if her partner used poison in his projectiles, her armor might be coated with some of it as well.

He quickly scrambled atop one of the rocks in the sand ring, hoping to gain an advantage over his opponent in this way. The Amazoness glared at him and, using the blades on her forearm guard, she started to climb her way towards where Sokka stood. It was truly fortunate that her armor was heavy enough to slow her down as it did… for had she been any more agile, she might have stopped Sokka from cutting through the blades on her left forearm with a swift stroke from Space Sword.

The Amazoness dropped to the ground, although it wasn't that steep a fall. Sokka didn't pay her much heed, his eyes focused on the blades he had cut, which were still attached to the rock. He didn't see any liquid of any sort on them, so the Amazoness' weapons probably weren't poisoned after all…

"You are just as much of a coward as that earthbending brat," said the Amazoness, her deep voice taking Sokka by surprise. "Get down here and fight me properly!"

"I would, but I won't" said Sokka, smiling and shrugging. "I suppose I really am a coward after all."

The Amazoness roared in anger and ran towards the rock, and when she collided with it she actually managed to move it, rolling it over with her sheer brute strength. Sokka's eyes widened as he started to panic, and he had to jump off the rock to avoid falling stupidly…

He jumped and hovered over his enemy for an instant, but it was enough for him to turn around to face her. And once he did, he used Space Sword to slice his foe's sword in half.

When she noticed he had cut her main blade, the Amazoness roared in anger and charged towards Sokka, who, again, had no other choice but to run for his life. And in the meantime, the Snake continued to strike the shield where Toph hid.

"Get out of there, you miserable little blind git!" he exclaimed, sweeping his sword back and forth to no avail.

Then, without warning, the shield Toph had been using started to shrink, as the sand solidified into rocks. The Snake watched with confusion as the stones wrapped around the Bandit's body completely, only leaving a small opening for her to breathe through.

"So, tell me, Snail," Toph said, smirking. "How are you going to poison me now?"

The Amazoness stopped pursuing Sokka when she realized her partner was in real danger. She ran to assist him immediately, allowing Sokka to take a breath, panting heavily… and to pick up his boomerang, to his joy and relief.

"Oh, I missed you, buddy," he said, breathing heavily as he watched the fight before him.

The Feathered Snake was unable to land any blows on Toph now that she wore the rock armor. The earthbender had trapped him with sand, seizing his body and ripping off all the feathers from his armor so he couldn't use them anymore. Yet before she could deliver a finishing blow, the Amazoness tossed the hilt of her broken sword at Toph's back, making her lose focus on what she was doing.

"Well, and then we're the cowards…" said Toph, shaking her head. "Attacking your enemy from behind? Not nice, big one!"

With that, Toph kicked the rocks on her right foot straight at the Amazoness' face. The woman could have defended herself from the attack if only her sword had still been intact. All she could do was turn away and get struck on the side of the head by the stones.

"Rong!" the Snake shouted, tearing free from his sand bindings and picking up one of his feathers.

Toph only realized the man was about to attack when it was too late for her to do anything about it. The Snake's eyes blazed with fury, and he aimed at striking Toph's foot with the needle he had picked up…

But again, a soaring boomerang kept Toph safe when it caught the Feathered Snake on the forearm, digging into his skin and spilling his blood on the sand.

Toph would have thanked Sokka, but she was too focused on finishing the fight off to be grateful right now. She brought forth another stone pillar, right underneath the Snake. It struck the man on the chin, knocking him backwards and leaving him stunned on the ground.

In the mean time, the Amazoness got ready to charge towards Toph again, but Sokka was ready with his sword this time. He attacked through the Amazoness's left flank and he struck her powerfully with Space Sword, cracking through the thick armor and hurting the woman's ribs.

The Amazoness was knocked off balance after that, but she didn't stop moving despite the wound she had sustained. She crawled her way towards her stunned partner, fearing the worst for him.

"Lau… Lau, are you alright?!" she said, shaking him. His eyes were out of orbit, and he just groaned weakly in response. Yet knowing he still was alive was good enough to please the Amazoness…

And soon she fell unconscious atop him, when Toph struck the woman's head with a heavy rock.

"That ought to do it," she said, panting and stepping away.

Ten seconds passed by, and neither of their opponents moved. Sokka sighed with relief when the megaphone man declared both him and Toph as the winners, and the Blind Bandit turned towards him with a smile, lifting a fist that Sokka bumped half-heartedly, his relief beating his enthusiasm when it came to finishing this fight unscathed.

"That one wasn't too easy, but that was that," said Toph, heading towards the stand-by room. "Come on, now, let's go. We've got no time to waste standing around like this."

"Right," said Sokka, nodding and following Toph towards the stand-by room while the other gladiators were tended by the Arena's staff. "They should be waiting for us at the vestibule, right?"

"They'd better be," muttered Toph, biting her lower lip.

The earthbender frowned as they strode towards the room, her hands balled into fists. Sokka frowned as well and looked at her worriedly as they stepped inside it.

"Toph… what's wrong?"

"I've got a seriously bad feeling," she said, between gritted teeth. "Let's just get out of here before…"

Just as she said the words, the green door slammed shut behind them.

Sokka glanced back instinctively, but Toph had already struck a fighting stance again.

"I knew we couldn't drop our guard!" she shouted, tearing a chunk of the wall and tossing it towards the hallway just as several men in green started to sneak into the stand-by room.

"Dammit!" said Sokka, as Toph used her prowess to bend the floor under the Dai Li upwards, squeezing them against the ceiling before they could do so much as strike a stance of their own.

"We've got to scram! I don't know how, but we've got to…!"

The air around them suddenly became warmer, to their confusion. Toph lowered the earth she had lifted, and they found two streams of fire, one orange and one blue, were currently forcing back the Dai Li agents that Toph hadn't caught with her technique. The Dai Li were being pushed down the hallway, in the opposite direction of the stairs that led to the vestibule.

"Come on, you two!" Iroh exclaimed from the hallway, yelling at them. "They've found us! We've got to go, now!"

"Go where?!" Toph yelled, stepping over the unconscious Dai Li in the stand-by room as she made her way towards the sponsors. "We can't stick to the plan if they've already found us!"

"We can still try!" Azula replied, jumping and performing a wheel of fire in midair. The attack struck one of the Dai Li on the chest, knocking him breathless and rendering him unable to keep fighting. "Let's go!"

Sokka nodded and obeyed immediately, and Toph followed him, uneasy. As the other three raced the steps up the hall, to the vestibule again, Toph stopped and collapsed the hallway on itself, keeping the few agents that were still conscious from chasing after them.

"What are you doing, Toph?!" Iroh asked, staring back at her.

"They'll have a harder time following us if they've got to get through this rubble first!"

"True, but come on, quickly!" Iroh urged her, and Toph nodded, racing upstairs along with him.

The vestibule was even more crowded than before, and reaching the doors would prove difficult amongst the multitude… but while Azula had hoped the crowd would be an advantage for them, she was proven dead wrong when more Dai Li agents appeared at the doors that led to the stands, shooting their rock gloves towards them.

"Damn it!" Azula grunted, jumping and kicking at one of the gloves powerfully as the people near her screamed upon being caught in the crossfire.

"Azula!" Sokka shouted, pulling out his club and striking another of the hands. "We're surrounded!"

"They're not holding back!" Toph screamed, running towards Azula and Sokka. "If we don't get out of here, they'll hurt everyone else!"

"Or maybe we will!" Sokka acknowledged, grimacing. "We have to get out of here, fast!"

Azula kicked another array of fire towards the Dai Li at the stands' threshold before turning towards the chaotic multitude. Most of them were screaming, terrified and confused, and some ran to the doors while others simply tried to scramble out of the Dai Li's reach. It was one of the biggest commotions Azula had ever witnessed… and unless the four of them got out of the building soon, these people were bound to fall prey to the Dai Li's merciless attacks. They clearly didn't care for collateral damage: their eyes were set on their prize, and they'd do anything to obtain it.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" Azula shouted powerfully, her authoritarian voice startling the people who were heading to the doors.

To her relief, her command was heard, and the crowd parted just as she had needed them to in order to allow Azula, Iroh, Sokka and Toph to run to the gates. Iroh was the one who turned this time and shot fire back at the four Dai Li that had jumped down the stairs to seize them, and they pulled up walls of earth to shield themselves from Iroh's attacks.

The streets, to Azula, Sokka and Toph's chagrin, were also crowded with Dai Li agents by the time they were past the tall green doors. As soon as they stepped outside, the earthbenders began attacking them, and it was up to Toph to pull up earthen walls as well to defend their group, walls the Dai Li soon shattered through their own bending skills.

"This is a mess!" she shouted. "We're not going to make it anywhere at this rate!"

"We just have to stay out of their grasp somehow…!" Azula exclaimed, attacking the Dai Li that approached from her right. Her fire kept them at bay, but more of them kept appearing regardless.

"How many of these guys are there?!" Toph screamed, as she manipulated the earth the Dai Li were bending against them. She used the rocks on their hands to break their bones, delivering some serious damage at last… but it hardly seemed to make a difference. For as soon as one agent fell, two more appeared out of nowhere to take his place.

"They're coming!" Iroh yelled. He had been defending the group from the Dai Li that were still inside the building, yet it seemed the ones they had defeated at the stand-by room were conscious again and had resumed their pursuit.

"Damn it, just… Toph, shoot us up again!" Sokka yelled, and Toph frowned.

"What for?! Do you have some sort of flying dog that will save us this time or something?!"

"Xin Long isn't nearby, Sokka!" Azula shouted, unleashing a bolt of lightning towards one of the Dai Li. "He won't be able to…!"

"I know, but we need to shake these guys off!" said Sokka. "And there's something else we can ride if we just get the right boost!"

"Something else we can…?" Azula repeated, before understanding what Sokka meant. Upon lifting her gaze she found one of the train's tall railings was not too far from where they stood. The train wasn't nearby at the moment, so it was their best option… "Toph… Toph, do it! The train!"

"The tr-…?! Oh, fuck it, you two are insane!" Toph exclaimed, and with a strong stomp on the ground, the earth underneath Azula, Iroh, Sokka and Toph shot upwards diagonally, hurling them towards the train's railing.

They darted through the air, the wind buffeting their faces as their bodies followed the trajectory Toph had roughly calculated. Yet they landed, somewhat painfully, on the train tracks she had been aiming for. Iroh fell on his back, and he groaned when his head hit against the rim of the railings. Azula dropped on her knees instead, her tall boots protecting her from taking a worse blow. Toph managed to land on her feet, to her own surprise and relief. Sokka almost landed safely as well, but, as unluckily as ever, his legs collided against the side of the railing. The momentum caused him to fall over forward, slamming his face on the tracks.

"Ouch…" he said, pushing himself up and rubbing his bleeding nose.

"Okay, okay, so we're on the train's rails. And what now? They'll come get us any second now!" Toph exclaimed, turning towards the others with a worried face.

"Don't fret…" said Sokka, wiping his nose clean. "We're not staying here for long."

Toph felt the vibrations of the approaching train and she swallowed hard. Azula and Iroh stood up as well, turning towards the vehicle that was speeding through the rails.

"We're going to jump on the train's roof," said Azula, sternly. "Once there, we'll be on the move and they'll have a hard time keeping up with us."

"It sounds complicated for all of us to jump on it," said Iroh, gulping as well. "But if there's nothing else to do…"

"It's either that or being run over by it," said Sokka, shrugging. "Choose whatever suits you best."

Iroh laughed nervously at that, but he bit his lip as he watched the train approach. Azula moved forward, studying it carefully as she came up with a scheme on how to board it.

"There's a ledge on the wagon," Azula said, frowning. "There will be no need to jump too high to hop onto it. Toph, Uncle, the two of you will ride on the ledge. Sokka and I… we'll jump on the roof."

"W-wait, wait, what?!" Sokka asked, his eyes widening.

"Toph can't use her earthbending to hurl herself atop the train," Azula said, looking at him sternly. "If she did, she'd deform the train's tracks; the train could be derailed because of that, rendering this entire endeavor useless. Iroh can't jump high enough to reach the top of the wagon, and there's not enough room on that ledge for all four of us. Get it yet?"

"Ugh… alright, alright, point taken," said Sokka, gulping and stepping forward as well. "This'd better work…"

"We'll pull you two up after we're on board," Azula told Iroh and Toph, turning towards them briefly. "Make sure to get on that ledge, alright?!"

"Got it," said Toph, grimacing and readying herself to jump. Iroh swallowed hard again, wiping his sweaty palms on his clothes.

"Let's do this," said Azula, turning forward again, and Sokka nodded.

They both ran, Azula dashing before him for she wasn't as exhausted as Sokka was. She jumped first, boosting herself with fire to reach the wagon's roof with ease, and Sokka followed, using all his strength to jump as high as he could.

They landed on the roof, as planned, but the momentum made them roll across it, and they struggled to hold on somehow. Meanwhile, Toph and Iroh hopped on the ledge as well, and they were currently pressed completely to the outside of the train, the speed of the vehicle ensuring they wouldn't fall off it despite the ledge was so small they could hardly stand on it.

Sokka crawled on the roof, the wind making it almost impossible for him to stand up properly. He looked towards Azula to find she was clutching at the rim of the wagon, the only way she had managed to keep from falling off. From where she was, she could glance down to the streets… and she grimaced when she saw the Dai Li, tiny green specs down below, chasing after the train. They weren't fast enough to catch up to them, but they still trailed after the vehicle relentlessly.

"T-they're still after us!" Azula exclaimed, her words blown away so fast that Sokka didn't catch what she said.

"Azula!" he shouted, stretching a hand towards her to pull her to the center of the wagon.

She grimaced and reached out for him with some difficulty. Soon enough her hand clasped his, and he helped her crawl towards where he was. Together, they crept towards the front of the train, where Toph and Iroh were still pressed to the wall.

"Hey!" Sokka exclaimed, earning their attention.

"Took you long enough!" Toph shouted, struggling to talk as well.

Sokka looked back at Azula, grimacing as the wind threatened to blow them off the train altogether. He struggled to get on all fours, and she soon followed his lead.

"I'm going to grab you!" Sokka told her "And you'll pull those two up!"

"The two of them?!" Azula asked, staring at him in disbelief.

"Well, one at a time!" Sokka replied, matter-of-factly. "C'mon, it won't be that hard!"

"As if…!" Azula started, but she was silenced when his arm went around her waist. It didn't matter if she knew he was doing this because it was necessary… she couldn't help but be flustered by being touched like this by him.

Nevertheless, she leaned down while Sokka held her strongly, and she stretched a hand down towards where Toph waited.

"Give me your hand!" Azula shouted, and Toph complied with some trouble, grazing Azula's palm with her fingertips.

The Princess squeezed Toph's hand hard and pulled up with all her strength, and the earthbender held back a groan as she was lifted onto the roof. Both Azula and Sokka sat up as they brought her above, and Toph panted once she was with them, a displeased grimace on her face.

"Whoever had the great idea of putting us on this train will pay once we're done with this…" Toph growled, bitterly.

Before the other two could so much as say a word to her, she slammed a hand on the wagon to elevate the ledge where Iroh had been left by himself, in order to lift the man up to the roof with them. Iroh was surprised by what Toph had done, but he seemed pleased he wouldn't have to be pulled as she had been. He crawled up next to the rest of them while the other two just stared at Toph accusingly.

"Why didn't you do that in the first place?!" Sokka squeaked.

"I didn't think about it until just now!" Toph said, as they all crawled to the center of the wagon, still struggling to stay on the train's roof.

"We're still being pursued by the Dai Li!" Azula shouted. "I just saw them chasing after us!"

"Damn it," Sokka grunted. "Is this the train that goes to the Palace?"

"I don't think so!" Iroh replied, grimacing and pointing at a building behind Sokka.

Sokka turned and looked at the Imperial Palace, disheartened. They were moving in the exact opposite direction they should be headed to… their luck had been so awful so far that he could have laughed about it if only the fierce wind had allowed him a chance to do so.

"What are we going to do?!" Toph asked, grimacing. "If we keep going in this direction…!"

"For all we know, the Dai Li could catch up to the soldiers operating the train when we reach the next station," Azula said loudly, struggling to speak despite the roaring wind. "And if that happens, we won't have any means to get away from the Dai Li anymore."

"And we'll put everyone in that station at risk if we just lead the Dai Li there," Sokka added, gritting his teeth. "We have to think of something else right now. There has to be a way… is Xin Long really that far away?"

"He's not going to make it back in a matter of minutes, that's for certain!" replied Azula.

"We can't count on the dragon, we've gotta do something else!" Toph exclaimed. "There has to be something…!"

"There might be," Azula said, shaking her head so her hair wouldn't bat against her face. "I… I think I have an idea!"

"What is it?" asked Iroh, looking at her with despair. Azula looked at him, knowing he was probably the only one who would agree with her plan once she'd conveyed it.

"We have to split up," she declared, and as she expected, both gladiators stared at her as though she had lost her wits.

"What the hell?! What's that going to accomplish?!" Toph exclaimed, looking at her in disbelief.

"They're after you, aren't they?" Azula shouted. "They didn't come after me and Iroh while we were in the Arena, they just headed downstairs to find you two! By splitting up we could mislead them, and if we succeed at that you'll have the opportunity to reach the Palace! Once you're safe, far from their reach, they won't have any reason to chase after the rest of us anymore!"

"Azula, that's crazy!" Sokka exclaimed. "That's only going to work if the rest of us manage to bait them away from Toph somehow! And how the hell would we accomplish that?!"

"It can be done!" Azula replied, with determination. "Uncle… you'll jump off the train and make a run for the Palace. You're in good enough shape to run there, aren't you?"

"I hope so…" Iroh said, gulping.

"Avoid following the train tracks, that way you won't be likely to run into the Dai Li. You'll fetch the guards and soldiers, and you'll inform them of the situation!" Azula shouted. "Sokka, Toph, you two will drop at the next station. Toph can make a hole so you two can take the tunnels again. Do your best to reach the Palace from underneath. It worked once, it can work again!"

"B-but then what about you?!" Toph asked, worriedly.

"As for me… I'm the bait," Azula said, and Sokka refused instantly.

"What the hell?! No!" Sokka yelled.

"I can do it!" Azula replied, staring at him with determination. "I can leave a trail for them to follow, and at the very least I'll get a large number of them off your backs!"

"But where's the point in doing that?!" Sokka asked, frowning. "You could just come with us…!"

"And let them follow you two into the tunnels?!" Azula asked. "If I act as bait, at the very least they'll have to split up to chase after all of us! The train's speed works to our advantage! Even if they continued to follow the train, they would probably not notice how Iroh jumps off and how you two drop off at the station! The only lead they'll have to follow will be me!"

"That's exactly my problem, though! You can't fight all these guys on your own!" Sokka retorted.

"After all this time, you're going to underestimate me?" Azula asked, but there was no hint of her trademark arrogance in her voice. Maybe the wind blowing against her kept her from sounding like her usual self… or maybe she really wasn't as confident as she wanted to pretend she was.

"Azula, this is completely crazy, you can't just…!" Sokka exclaimed, but she silenced him with a glare.

"It's the best thing we can do now, and the sooner we start, the better!" she exclaimed, looking at Iroh. "Jump off as I told you, Uncle, got it?! Splitting up should make it easier for at least one of you three to reach the Palace. Whoever gets there first will get my guards and Tiang's soldiers, so they help us fight and restrain the Dai Li. Got it?!"

"I… it's a very risky plan, Azula!" Iroh said, gritting his teeth. "How do you plan on being bait anyways?!"

"You're about to find out!" Azula declared before turning away from the group. They watched her worriedly, save for Toph, who simply sensed her movements on the wagon's roof.

"Spicy, don't do anything too reckless!" she called out. "That's supposed to be my thing!"

"Oh, it is, Dirt Worm!" Azula replied, with a smile. "But if you dare do anything reckless this time around, I'll kill you when I see you again!"

"Heh… I wish I could say that right back but I'm not going to see you at all, am I?!" Toph exclaimed, trying to lighten up the situation somehow.

Azula actually was amused by that comment as she took her position at the edge of the wagon. Sokka looked at her worriedly, half of him wanting to tell her not to follow this plan while the other half urged him to go with her. Azula glanced back at him and gave him a confident smile this time.

"Azula…!" Sokka said, grimacing. He wanted to say something more, clearly… but all he could muster was: "D-don't get yourself in trouble, will you?!"

"The ones in trouble will be them, not me!" Azula retorted, still smiling before she started to charge her body with firepower.

The others moved away from her instinctively when she suddenly shot into the air, propelled by a powerful blast of blue fire. She flew upwards, speeding into the air as she continued to release jets of fire, leaving the brightest trail of azure flames behind her.

"So that's how she planned on being bait…" Iroh said, thoughtful, before staring down at the ground behind them.

Just as Azula had anticipated, Iroh watched how the Dai Li in pursuit of the train changed their direction when they saw the stream of blue fire. It was so dense that they couldn't tell if Azula was flying by herself or if she had taken her companions with her. Iroh sighed deeply before leaning over the edge of the wagon, knowing it would be best if he did as Azula had told him.

The drop wouldn't be too heavy, but Iroh still calculated to fall on a group of bushes down below. He glanced towards Sokka and Toph, the former still staring after his sponsor.

"This is my stop, then!" he shouted. "Make for the Palace, you two, as Azula said!"

"Be careful, alright?!" Toph shouted, grimacing as she turned towards him. "I don't like the idea of you running around like that!"

"You think I'll lose my way or wander into a teashop?!" Iroh asked, before laughing. "I won't be so careless today, my friend!"

"You'd better not be!" Toph screamed, and Iroh looked at her worriedly, understanding through her voice tone just how conflicted she was by this entire situation.

"We'll be fine, Toph!" he said. "You told me so, didn't you? Just before we reached Ba Sing Se…!"

"And how the hell was I supposed to know this would happen back when we were still on that ship?!" Toph retorted, and Iroh laughed.

"We'll make it, so you were right, Toph!" exclaimed Iroh. "We can do this, all four of us!"

"Iroh…" Toph said, biting her lip.

The old man waved at Sokka, who stared at him in disbelief as well before Iroh dropped at last, landing just on the spot he had meant to. He bounced off the bush and rubbed his buttocks, having poked his bottom with the branches. He watched the train speed away, and he frowned with determination before climbing off the bush.

"And now… to the Palace!" he declared, following Azula's advice and running far from the train's railing, hoping to avoid the Dai Li agents that might still be in pursuit of the train.

"Damn it…" Toph muttered, back on the roof of the train's first wagon. "This is just…"

Sokka looked at her worriedly, moving towards her with difficulty and patting her shoulder.

"C'mon, don't act like it's hopeless!" said Sokka. "Those two can take care of themselves, you'll see!"

"Of course they can, but this isn't right!" Toph shouted, dropping her head. "The sponsors fighting for the gladiators…? What sort of twisted logic is this?! They're giving us a chance to get away unharmed by putting themselves in danger! This is just…!"

"I get how you feel, Toph! Believe me, I do!" said Sokka, gritting his teeth. "But… but all we can do for now is follow through with what Azula said…!"

"Like hell we're going to do that!" Toph snapped. "That fire's she's flying with, it's leaving a big trail behind it, isn't it?! You can see it, can't you? You can see where she went!"

"W-well, yeah, I can. Why?" Sokka asked.

"Because you're going with her!" Toph shouted, startling him. "And I'm going to make sure Iroh reaches the Palace safely!"

"What the…?! What?!" Sokka exclaimed, his eyes widening. "How?!"

"Stay on this train if you can, and just wait for it to lead you as close to her as you can get!" Toph exclaimed. "It should help, shouldn't it?!"

"B-but…" said Sokka, before shaking his head and frowning. Yes, actually… that felt right. He didn't know if it would work at all, but he needed to go to Azula. All the same as Toph had to follow Iroh. "You're right. We're going to do this!"

"They're our sponsors after all!" Toph said, swallowing hard, but speaking with determination despite her unease. "And we're supposed to save their butts, both inside and outside the Arena! That's… that's what you guys have been doing for me, after all! It's only right for me to return the favor somehow! Because we're a team, right?"

Sokka actually smiled at that, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder and nodding.

"We can do this, Toph. We can do this!"

The earthbender smiled at him, despite herself, and Sokka gripped her shoulder firmly as they approached the station. Toph sensed the train slowing down, and she raised her head towards him inquisitively.

"We're at the station now," he said. "The Dai Li don't seem to be after the train anymore… so go ahead and make your way underground again. Cover your tracks, and bend your way through those tunnels as fast as you can!"

"Gotcha," she said, nodding, as the train came to a stop. "Say, Dog…"

"What?" Sokka asked. She turned towards him with a heartfelt smile, surprising Sokka.

"Thanks," she muttered, before hopping off the wagon and surprising the people on the platform.

Sokka pressed his body flat on the roof, hoping that they wouldn't notice he was there altogether. He turned his eyes towards the blue fire that still blazed in the sky, not too far from where he was now. And he grimaced as he watched, even from this distance, how the boulders and chunks of earth soared dangerously towards Azula…

---

Iroh didn't remember having run like this in over twenty years. He had to stop to take deep breaths every now and then, but he soon pressed himself to continue, striving to reach the Palace somehow, despite how difficult the entire ordeal seemed to be.

People stared at him as he passed by, for an old man running as if he were being chased by a demon was quite unexpected sight in the Upper Ring. Iroh simply smiled awkwardly at whoever looked at him and he just kept running, telling himself he would have to lose some weight indeed… if only he had been fit he could have reached the Palace already! Or at least, he liked to think he could have…

He did his very best to avoid the train tracks, which wasn't that difficult a feat, for it was easy to recognize them from afar. Yet he saw no Dai Li agents nearby…

Naturally, as soon as he allowed himself to think that he had outrun them, he heard the unmistakable sound of the ground cracking behind him, and he turned just in time to find at least ten agents behind him, all of them lifting boulders from the ground, aiming them straight towards Iroh.

"Attacking your elders isn't nice!" he shouted, but his words were ignored by the Dai Li.

Iroh had to do his very best to evade the attacks, and he couldn't quite avoid all the rocks. He kicked an array of fire at the Dai Li, but it served for little other than to buy him a few seconds of time to continue running.

To his relief, he realized he was only a few meters away from the stairs that led to the entrance of the Imperial Palace by now. Iroh panted as he ran towards it, still turning once in a while in order to know just where the Dai Li would toss their rocks next.

Upon reaching the stairs, though, one of the glove rocks grabbed him by the heel, and Iroh fell face-first on the steps. He groaned and used his fire to strike the rock attached to his foot, but it served to no avail, for the Dai Li agent only tightened his grip around Iroh…

The two soldiers keeping watch at the Palace gates stared down in confusion, not quite grasping what the situation was at the bottom of the steps. They started to climb down, thinking they'd have a word with the Dai Li about whatever they were doing this time…

And it was then that a mild quake shook the entire Palace, for, right at the top of the stairs, a massive crater opened up. And Toph climbed out of it, accomplishing her second impressive underground entrance in a single day.

"GET-OFF-HIM!" she shouted, and with such prowess as to amaze the Palace's guards, the girl started to bend enormous rocks out of the ground to toss them at the Dai Li agents below.

She struck the agent who had been attacking Iroh on the head, knocking off his helmet and leaving him unconscious on the floor. The soldiers stared at her in utter disbelief… until one of them stopped and realized who these two people were. The Princess was supposed to stay in the Palace since several days ago, and one of her companions was her uncle, while the other was an incredibly skilled earthbending girl…

"It's the Princess's companions!" he yelled at the other one. "We have to help them!"

"W-wha…? W-well, if you say so!" said his partner, gulping as they both raced down the stairs towards where Iroh lay, rubbing his aching foot.

Iroh still managed to kick a few fireballs with his uninjured foot, but he hardly needed to defend himself at all. Toph was raining an array of rocks upon the Dai Li, and whenever they attacked her in return she would manage to manipulate the earth they had bent and turn their attacks right back at them.

Iroh was truly relieved when the two soldiers arrived to help him. They surrounded him with their arms and helped him up, and now, with his weight between them, they raced up again.

Toph continued to attack from the higher ground, avoiding hitting Iroh and the soldiers as she shot more and more rocks… and suddenly there was fire raining down on the Dai Li as well.

She stopped attacking as men dressed in long, red tunics, were helping her defend Iroh. She raised an eyebrow as she recognized the presence of the nearest one… was it the Captain of Azula's guards?

"Were you the one who caused that tremor just now?!" he asked, jumping in midair and kicking a powerful stream of fire towards the Dai Li, who had to back down upon the fierce attack.

"I guess so!" Toph replied, before returning to attacking the Dai Li along with the Royal Guards that were helping her.

The Dai Li backed down, disappointed by their failure. If only they had managed to seize the old man to use him as a hostage… that way they still could have succeeded on their scheme partially, and they could have caught the earthbender too if she had come fetch her sponsor. But she had been smart enough to fight from the Palace's premises…

"Don't you dare attack me or my friends ever again!" Toph shouted, just as the soldiers that were carrying Iroh finished running up the stairs.

And with her fearsome war roar, Toph bent the stairs, breaking them off the ground and tilting them forward, making them fall slowly on the spot the Dai Li agents had been standing on. The earthbenders scrambled in the most unsightly manner, accepting defeat despite clearly not wanting to.

Toph breathed heavily, wiping the sweat off her brow before turning towards Iroh, who was smiling at her, despite the pain on his foot.

"You are truly fearsome, Toph…" he said, smiling. "Thank you."

"It was the least I could do for you," she replied, smiling back and placing a hand on his shoulder.

"That's all good, but if I may inquire, just where is the Princess?" Rui Shi asked, looking at them with despair.

"W-well…" Toph said, and Iroh frowned, looking at her.

"Where's Sokka, too?" he asked. "Wasn't he supposed to come with you?"

"Well, we actually talked later and decided that…" Toph started, but another strange phenomenon interrupted the conversation.

The roof of one of the Palace's buildings suddenly collapsed with a loud cracking sound, startling everyone in the courtyard. They turned towards where the sound had come from, and Iroh stared at it in confusion as he watched the bricks come apart. He had the distinct feeling that, for a fleeting moment, there had been a blaze of blue fire by the edge of that destroyed green roof…

---

Flying over Ba Sing Se wasn't as easy as Azula had hoped it would be. She definitely needed to give the skill much more practice in case situations like this one happened again… but in all honesty, she couldn't possibly have foreseen this turn of events. She was paranoid at times, more often than she was willing to admit, but there was no way she could have imagined an entire association of earthbenders would chase after her in Ba Sing Se.

Keeping her arms and legs stretched while she poured all her firepower from them proved a difficult feat when she had to sustain the flight for as long as she could. She gritted her teeth and struggled to evade the rocks the Dai Li tossed in her direction, for steering wasn't all that simple either. There had to be an easier technique for flight than this… and if there wasn't, she'd develop it herself. But she was burning out her reserves of energy, and she'd have a hard time fighting against the Dai Li… unless she changed her trajectory towards the Palace and forgot about fighting against them altogether.

She discarded the idea as soon as she came up with it. If the other three were going to reach the Palace as safely as possible, she had to distract as many of the Dai Li as she could. Leading them back there would make this entire ordeal pointless.

But eventually she couldn't quite carry on anymore. She grimaced as she stopped releasing fire from her limbs, noticing there was a clearing below where she could land. She used her fire again to slow down her descent as much as she could, and everyone nearby fled when the powerful blue blazes danced above the ground just before Azula landed.

Upon placing her feet on the ground again, she realized the clearing was actually one of Ba Sing Se's squares. She panted and looked around herself, noticing there were no Dai Li nearby… but she knew they would appear at any moment. She wasn't as gullible as to think they would stop chasing her.

And just on cue, men in green started appearing at the square. Some of them used their earthbending to boost themselves towards where she stood, at the center of the square. Others just ran to approach her. In a matter of seconds, she was completely surrounded by them.

"Well, well," she said, her hands on her hips. "I'm almost sorry to say the Beifong girl isn't with me."

"We'll get to her in due time," one of the agents stated, stepping forward. "In the meantime, you'll have to do."

"I'll have to do?" Azula repeated, smirking. "You do know who you're talking to, don't you? I am Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, you half-witted, dirt-eating buffoon. I will not be captured by the likes of you."

"So you say now," the Dai Li replied, lifting his hands towards her. "Take her down!"

The men in green jumped forward, and Azula gritted her teeth. The flight had left her even more exhausted than she already had been… but that didn't mean she was going to surrender without fighting back.

The one who had been shouting commands was the first one to fall when she used her hands to produce a wheel of fire that he couldn't fight back against. It struck him straight on the chest just before he could defend himself with earth. Azula smirked when he fell and continued to fight the next ones, flowing from each firebending stance to the next as she performed every movement with precision, trying to be as efficient as she could while striking every earthbender with her fire. Evading their attacks was no easy feat when they attacked her at once, but her fire proved strong enough to tear through their rocks at most cases.

If only the Dai Li had attacked one at a time, she surely would have thwarted them with ease, but they knew just how to use their superior numbers to their advantage. Azula could hardly defend herself while attacked from three different angles at once. She had to produce shields of condensed flames to fight back against the earth the Dai Li shot towards her, but the more energy she spent, the more difficult it became to continue fighting. Her stamina was usually something to behold, but resistance alone wouldn't help her defeat her foes this time…

She jumped to avoid being struck by the earth columns one of the agents brought up under her feet, and she turned in time to find one of the Dai Li was aiming at shooting one of his earth gloves at her…

Azula shot a fistful of flames at him, but before her fire could reach him, something else struck the man on the back of the head, knocking off his helmet with the impact. Azula's fire caught his hair, burning his scalp and making him scream as he scrambled to find a way to recover from such a nasty injury… but Azula wasn't staring at him. Her eyes were set on the blue boomerang that flew back past the Dai Li's formation right after knocking the helmet off that agent's head.

"Sokka?!" she shouted, aghast.

Her call was answered by an attempt at a war cry, and she watched how some of the Dai Li changed their objective upon being attacked by him. He wasn't too efficient against earthbenders on most circumstances, but even so, he managed to use his club and boomerang to make his way through the law enforcers. And upon his unexpected apparition, the Dai Li soon split in two groups, one to fight against the Princess while the others dealt with her gladiator.

Azula gritted her teeth and started to fight more fiercely, wondering just why that fool had bothered coming for her. She hadn't asked him to. So why…?

She shot arrays of fire at the Dai Li agents, condensing her flames again to increase the damage she delivered them as she tried to reach Sokka. His attacks against the agents were ruthless, now having sheathed his boomerang as he used his sword to cut through them instead.

Separated by a single line of earthbenders, the pair attacked the same agents at once in order to reach one another. One of the Dai Li brought forth a tall wall to defend himself and his comrades from Azula's fire, but her attack was powerful enough to tear down the wall, to their surprise.

The earth collapsed on them, and for a second Azula feared the wall might crush Sokka as well, but he actually jumped over it and rushed towards her, a look of relief on his face that contrasted with hers.

"What the hell do you think you're doing, you idiot?!" she bellowed, before jumping and shooting a fire blast at a Dai Li agent that tried to seize Sokka as he ran towards her.

"Well, what else?! I'm helping you!" Sokka shouted, using his sword and club to shatter the hand-shaped rocks the Dai Li shot towards the pair of them.

"I never asked for any help!" she replied, jumping high again. She performed a triple summersault, charging a powerful fire stream she shot through her feet. The attack was strong enough to effectively knock out one of the agents, but again, another one took his place… "I could get out of this mess on my own! You should have stayed with Toph!"

"She's off to help Iroh, and I'm here to help you!" Sokka growled. "And I'm sorry if you don't like the idea of having a gladiator who'd rather fight alongside you than run away…!"

He stopped talking as a Dai Li agent shot a wave of earth towards where Azula stood, fighting against the men before her. He clasped both the club and Space Sword in one hand before pulling out his boomerang and hitting the man on the neck before his attack could reach the Princess. Azula turned just as the wave fell apart, inches away from her.

"Because I sure as hell won't let you do this on your own," Sokka said, their gazes meeting briefly before they both continued to fight.

Azula wanted to yell at him, she really did. She couldn't understand just how he could be so reckless. He was an idiot, no doubt about it… but he wanted to fight alongside her, despite how dangerous it could prove. The Dai Li would catch both of them, for all he knew… but that didn't stop him. He would stand by her side, no matter what.

She didn't know what to think of his outburst of loyalty. All she knew was that her chest was starting to hurt, but not in an entirely unpleasant way. Long ago he had discarded returning home just to save her, and he had also stayed with her, despite discovering some of the darkest sides of her soul… and now he wouldn't let her face the Dai Li by herself. He would stay with her…

"You're… an idiot!" Azula shouted, producing a fire wheel with her legs by spinning in circles. "Jump!"

Sokka did as she said, and the fire grazed his boots as it passed underneath him. The Dai Li pulled up a massive wall at once, protecting themselves from the fire. Sokka gritted his teeth at the disappointing result of Azula's attack, but she hadn't stopped moving. He frowned when he looked at her, finding that she was currently producing lighting…

"Azula?!" he said, grimacing.

"Lift your sword!" she shouted, and he grimaced but obeyed her promptly.

When the Dai Li's wall dropped and they moved to attack Azula, she shot her fully charged lightning bolt towards Sokka. He grimaced and held his weapon tightly, and it vibrated powerfully when the surge of energy hit it. Yet the energy soon left his sword as it distributed towards the Dai Li, their metallic helmets attracting the electricity. Upon releasing the bolt, Azula removed her hairpiece and dropped it on the ground to avoid being electrocuted by her own attack, and she watched, eagerly, as the earthbenders collapsed one by one, stunned by the power of her lightning.

Sokka lowered his sword once the electric power had left it completely, and he panted and rubbed his arm, the vibrations having been as brutal this time as ever. He looked at Azula as she straightened herself, placing her hairpiece on her top-knot again.

"Well, that went… well?" he said, blinking blankly before walking towards where his boomerang had fallen.

"You're truly a fool," said Azula, shaking her head as she breathed heavily. "You didn't need to risk yourself to help me! The entire purpose of what I was doing was to help you three get to safety!"

"Yeah, I know, Azula," Sokka replied, sighing and sheathing his weapons again before turning towards her. "But you see, I don't care more about being safe than I care about you."

Azula froze at that, and Sokka only seemed to realize what he had said after he had said it. As usual.

"U-uh… w-well, it's true, you know?!" he exclaimed, flustered, as she looked at him in disbelief. "I'm not going to deny it, I keep doing stupid things, I keep screwing things up between us because I don't think things through half the time, and I keep hurting you even when I don't realize I'm hurting you, and…!"

"S-Sokka, stop talking…" Azula said, looking warily around her.

The Dai Li agents nearby were unconscious, so there was no chance for them to hear what Sokka was saying… but that was only true for the ones they had defeated with their trick of using the sword as a lightning rod. Because, only a couple of blocks away from where Sokka and Azula were, another group of men in green were running straight towards where they stood.

"No, I'm not going to stop," Sokka said, determinedly, his back turned towards where the Dai Li were coming from. "You may not want to hear this now, but I have to tell you now or else, heck, maybe I never will because I keep being an idiot and I keep thinking I can just not say it… but I should! I should have said this since the very moment I knew how I felt!"

"Sokka, for crying out loud!" Azula said, grimacing and shaking her head. "This is not the time or place for you to… to do or say whatever you want to! Shut up!"

"No, I won't!" he declared, as the new group of Dai Li arrived to the scene, without his awareness. "I'm not going to shut up because I need to say it! You need to know that I l-…"

Time seemed to stand still when he started to shout the word, and Azula knew she had to shut him up immediately before the Dai Li could hear what he was saying. If they heard him… if they knew… if anyone else knew…

Sokka had almost finished saying the word 'love' by the time Azula coated her fist with blue fire… and punched him hard on the stomach for the second time.

Her hand hurt awfully when she came into contact with his armor, but the firepower helped both to protect her from getting badly injured by the metal and to deliver proper damage to him. Sokka's eyes widened as he received the unexpected blow and ended up bending over her arm, losing his breath and falling on her shoulder, gasping for breath. And just as the Princess had planned it, his words were completely lost in the moment.

"A-Azula…!" he squeaked, yet he frowned in confusion as she turned around and placed him on her back, so his arms would surround her neck "Azula…?"

"Hold on tight!" she growled, and that he did when she used her firepower, again, to propel the pair of them into the skies, away from the Dai Li that stared at them in utter confusion after witnessing how the Princess had punched her own gladiator.

Sokka would have shrieked if only he'd had any air in his lungs to shout with. He clutched at her tightly with both his arms and legs, looking down at the square they had been on, which became smaller and smaller while they rose through the sky.

The wind buffeted their faces yet again, and Azula made sure to continue rising so they could stay as far from the Dai Li's reach as possible. Her arms and legs shook, already having been subjected to too much strain in a single day, but she forced herself to carry on. She couldn't falter now… not when he was with her.

"Azula…!" he managed to say into her ear at last, weakly. "This is…!"

"Insane?! Probably!" Azula replied, looking around herself as she tried to figure out their bearings.

Once she found the Palace she aimed towards it, hoping Iroh and Toph would be there already. The Dai Li couldn't still pursue them once they were safely inside it, Azula hoped… and this was the full extent of what she could do for them already. She needed to keep Sokka safe, too, and this was the only way to do it. So she continued to fuel herself upwards and onwards, her eyes set on the Palace.

"We're going too fast!" Sokka gasped, gripping her tightly.

"If I slow down, we won't get there at all!" she replied, grimacing. "I can hardly… keep this up anymore!"

"Azula…!" Sokka muttered, looking at her worriedly.

As they crossed the Upper Ring from above, they were finally close to the Palace… but they were too high. Dropping from such a distance could be the death of them. Azula grimaced and stopped propelling them, and she turned in midair to adjust her flight. Sokka continued to hold on to her, dreading the fall even when Azula started to use her fire to fight against the power of gravity… but her power was growing weaker. She didn't have enough strength to slow down their descent as she meant to.

"We're going to crash!" Sokka exclaimed, grimacing.

Azula sent a wave of fire down through her limbs, trying to charge her technique before releasing the flames, but while it did slow them this time, she couldn't hold it for too long. They weren't going as fast as to get splattered against the ground anymore, but they sure weren't slow enough to the Princess's liking… and, to boot, she only realized now just why Sokka had said they were going to crash.

A tall building of the Imperial Palace stood in the direction they were headed to. It was an elegant and fancy building, and Azula almost felt guilty for what she decided to do to it. She grimaced and, instead of using the fire to slow their descent now, she shot it towards the roof they were going to collide with, tearing it apart effectively.

She continued to try to slow their fall after that, but they were only a few meters away from the building already. The fire helped briefly, but they were set to crash anyhow…

And just as they were about to plummet down through the building, Sokka's arms forced them to turn around in midair before Azula could register what he was doing. He surrounded her with his arms, pressing her against him in order to keep her from taking the worst of the impact…

The half-shattered roof ended up falling apart completely when they crashed through it. Sokka's back hit the beams that held the building in place, breaking them with their weight as their descent was finally slowed down painfully with every blow he took. Even so, he continued to hold onto her as tightly as he possibly could, as the ground approached rapidly. He landed on his back, taking most the impact of the fall with his own body as he enveloped her completely with his frame.

They were both knocked out cold for a few minutes, and it was Azula who came to her senses eventually, waking up atop him to find the wreckage and dust around them. She hardly felt like she could move, but she still pushed herself up to her knees right beside Sokka: his head was bleeding from a long cut on his forehead, his hair had fallen out of his usual wolf's tail, and he seemed to breathe weakly… but his breathing alone wasn't enough to reassure her. Not after all the damage he had sustained today.

"Sokka…" she said, shaking him by the shoulders and feeling an awful sense of déjà vu as she did. It wasn't the first time this had happened, was it…? "Sokka, wake up, please. You're okay, aren't you? Answer me, damn…"

"A-a… I… ouch…" he muttered, coming to his senses as she called out for him. "A-a… Azula?"

She breathed out with relief and embraced him when he said her name, but she pulled away after a moment to look at him and assess his damage properly.

"Can you move? Is anything broken? Sokka…"

"I guess I could move if I tried… but I don't really want to," he said, opening his eyes to look at her. "You? Are you… okay?"

"I'm fine… as fine as I could be after that fall," she said, with a weak smile before frowning again, staring at the large cut on the side of his face. "You're badly hurt, you fool… why do you feel that ridiculous urge to shield me every time we fall off someplace?"

"I… I think you know…" he said, chuckling despite himself. "I'm a blockhead, after all… I should be able to take crash landings better than you… thick skull and all…"

Azula actually laughed at that before leaning forward, pressing her lips to his forehead, her hand stroking his face as she held him close. Sokka blinked again, one of his hands reaching out to find her waist.

"Heh… you know, that actually helps," he said, with a weak smile. "Care to… try it again?"

Azula rolled her eyes and looked at him gently, cupping his face in her hand. Sokka swallowed hard as their gazes met intensely again. She closed her eyes before kissing his lips, and he responded despite hardly having any strength left to do anything at all. It was a fragile kiss, but it was heartfelt all the same. Azula felt herself set ablaze as she kissed him, still caressing his face. The thought of what he had been about to say in the square filled her with that sensation she still couldn't get used to, that fire she couldn't bend…

She pulled away after an instant, still looking at him more tenderly than ever. The sight of her with such a warm expression on her face almost made Sokka think he was unconscious and that he was imagining it… but he was certain his imagination couldn't provide him with a sight as beautiful as that kind smile on her face. So it was real, alright…

Azula's attention was pulled away from Sokka when she heard voices outside, and she turned her head towards them, to Sokka's disappointment. One of his hands moved towards her face, but he only caught her arm, failing to find enough strength to reach her.

"Someone's here," she said, smiling at him. "Hopefully it won't be Dai Li agents this time."

"Hell… it better not be," he said, as she laughed. "Azula…"

"We'll talk about everything later," she said, clasping his hand in hers before she moved away from him, listening intently for more sounds.

"B-but I still don't feel so good…" he said, with a weak smile. "I need more…"

"What you need is medical attention, not kisses," Azula said, blushing despite herself.

"I disagree…" he said, still smiling. Azula rolled her eyes but looked at him with a smile of her own.

An earthbender started to remove the wreckage, for those rocks couldn't possibly be moving out of their own accord… and she was beyond relieved when she saw just who the earthbender in question was.

"Is it them?" Toph asked a man next to her, once she had cleared the way completely, so they could reach the battered pair.

"Princess…!" Rui Shi said, staring at her in dismay.

Azula actually smiled at him guiltily, and Sokka groaned when he recognized their voices. Toph and Rui Shi were flanked by other soldiers, and two of them were assisting an injured Iroh, who was looking at them worriedly.

"It's us, Dirt Worm…" Azula said, sighing as the adrenaline surging through her body started to fade out. "We made it."