Thirteen hours later. Atop a wall of ice.

The silence was eerie. He hadn't realized it until now, but Aizon had nearly gotten used to the sound of howling winds and raging snow storms. They had been constantly besieged with them over the past few days... the noise had been almost comforting. It's absence now only made the feelings of emptiness in his stomach ache stronger.

There was a haunting stillness in the air. Like some terrible, but unseen event had happened. The calmness felt wrong. The world should've been in uproar. But the world had turned it's back on them now. They sat there in stunned silence as they all realized the horrible truth.

They were all alone.

A group of twelve firebenders hundreds of miles away from home in the heart of enemy territory. With dwindling supplies. And with time running out.

The fleet of battleships that should've been there to greet them was nowhere in sight. There wasn't even a single cruiser ship visible anywhere. They were well and truly on their own now. Why they had been abandoned, no one knew. But their prospects of a successful mission, or even getting back home alive suddenly seemed much more grim.

"Maybe they've won already?" said one among them in a whisper.

"Perhaps they've gone back for reinforcements?" said another.

But they all knew how unlikely either of those was. If the Fire Nation had won, there would be red banners fluttering on every street corner. None were visible. And the Fire Nation would never had fully retreated voluntarily, even if they had needed back up. To do so was disgraceful and against their code of honor as subjects of the Fire Lord.

They all knew the far more likely, yet almost too terrible to consider truth. Somehow, by some manner of disastrous miracle - for the first time in decades - the Fire Nation had suffered one of their worst defeats since the ill-fated siege of Ba Sing Se.

Realizing that, the missing battleships that they had expecting to greet them upon arrival almost seemed like an afterthought. True, the ships had been their only ticket out of the icy hellscape that was the north pole, and that they had spent days traveling to meet. But that paled in comparison to what must've been the death of untold numbers of Fire Nation soldiers.

Even if they had been abandoned at the end of the world, at least they still breathed air. Only the spirits knew how many thousands had been left to drown at sea...

"I don't understand… How could this have happened?" asked Azula - who sat next to him - in a whisper so quiet that almost none heard her.

But Aizon had heard her question. And he was ashamed to admit that he had no answer to give her. None that didn't involve the avatar at least. He struggled to comprehend how the Avatar could have done this all by himself.

Even if he was super powerful, he was still only one man.

Aizon looked back over at the princess and closely examined her face. It was obvious she was in shock. The paleness and wide eyes screamed disbelief. He then glanced over at the rest of the group. They weren't faring much better... Aizon could see looks of despair and hopelessness beginning to take spread. He wasn't sure he looked any better himself...

He tried to think of something to say. Something to comfort his distraught comrades. But there was nothing. His spirit felt crushed.

Up until they had arrived, Aizon had been holding out with a sliver of hope that somehow, someway, Azula would be proven right. That that strange light show had been nothing to worry about... That the Fire Nation would prevail against whatever sense of impending doom he had been feeling.

Aizon had never felt so disappointed to be right in his entire life.

He was suddenly distracted when he noticed how Azula was biting her lip prettily. The sight made a passionate fire burn within him, like he could bend an ocean of fire and never stop.

Aizon had never thought about it before, but there were these things Azula did. These cute little quirks that he found very endearing. The way she chewed her lip whenever she was thinking hard about something. The way she glowed whenever she was angry… It all made Aizon feel strangely hot. Like he was burning up inside despite the frigid coldness around them.

"It doesn't matter," she suddenly said aloud, interrupting Aizon's steamy daydreaming. "The mission continues as planned."

Before Aizon could react one way or another to that proclamation, someone spoke up from behind him. "As planned?! Have you gone mad?" the person asked in an incredulous voice. "Perchance you have forgotten, your highness, but our plan included joining of an invasion force of thousands of other soldiers. We number only a dozen. Continuing as planned would be a suicide mission."

Aizon glanced back to see who had so rudely objected. To his annoyance, yet not surprise, he saw it was none other than the dreaded Captain Shen. The more time Aizon spent around the crusty old sailor, the more he grew to dislike him. Oh sure, he was a sound enough tactician and advisor on the war council.

But Aizon had never met someone in all his life who was so nosy, or inclined to share his opinions when they were clearly unasked for.

That wasn't even mentioning the not-so-small grudge he was now harboring against the Captain for interrupting his private moment with Azula. But none of that was important right now.

Shen was actually making a good point, so Aizon swallowed his pride and decided to put aside his dislike of the old sailor, if only temporarily. Anyway he too was also curious about what Azula was planning.

He gave the Captain a grudging nod before looking back to the princess. "They've defeated our whole army, your highness. What chance do we stand against an entire city?"

But Azula didn't answer his question. She had a gleam of determination in her eyes as she turned to rest of their unit. She motioned them over and immediately began issuing orders with posthaste.

"Hong, Aizon, Zang, Wei, move the tanks into a V formation. Shen, Sun, you two throw up the camouflage nets. Everyone else, unload all the remaining supplies we have…"

When no one moved she threw a burst of blue fire at their feet, making them all jump. "Now!" she snapped.

"Yes princess!" they all chorused, before rushing off to follow her directions.

Aizon ran over to his tank and threw open the driver side door. It took a little bit of coordination with the other drivers, but after a few minutes, the four tanks had shaped themselves into the letter V, with the opening pointed toward the city.

When Aizon then stepped out of the tank, he immediately noticed the change a shadow come overhead. A white net was being stretched over the tanks, making the sky all but disappear from sight. A rustling from behind alerted him to the fact that a stack of supply crates higher than the princess was quickly being built.

He also noticed that the other soldiers looked different too. Gone from their faces were the morose and gloomy looks. Now everyone moved about with a sense of urgency, looks of focus and purpose etched in their place.

Aizon's observations of the men stopped when a heavy-looking table laden with scrolls was brought out from one of the tanks. A pair of soldiers set it down softly before the princess.

In what seemed like no time at all they had finished. A makeshift command center was now in place and ready for use. They all looked to Azula for further orders.

"Everyone gather round," Azula called them closer.

The eleven members of the war council all huddled around the table she stood in front of.

"Now, pay close attention, because I will not repeat myself twice," she said. And even though she spoke in a whisper, no one failed to hear her.

"I'll admit, what has happened to the fleet is baffling. Baffling and unfortunate. Very unfortunate..."

She glanced sidelong at Shen. "And as the good Captain here has pointed out, it will force us to change a few things... Nonetheless, this... inconvenience... does not give you an excuse to abdicate your duties. You are all still soldiers of the Fire Nation. No one here is thinking of desertion, I hope?"

No one dared to make a sound.

"Good. Because if any of you were planning on deserting, I'd wouldn't hesitate to personally shove each and every one of you off that cliff behind you..."

There were a few audible swallows and nervous glances at the now seemingly unnervingly close sheer drop behind them.

"Now then. Then the new plan is simple. Outnumbered as we are, we don't have enough men for an all out assault. Instead, our method of attack will change to more suitable ambush style tactics..."

She unrolled one of the scrolls, revealing a map of the city, and jabbed a finger into the center of it. "We'll attack here. The main palace. Under the cover of darkness and under my direct command. Numbering only twelve, we make up a small enough force to be able to slip past the patrols and capture the chief covertly."

"But your highness," protested an army captain, Wei, if Aizon remembered correctly. "These are the waterbenders we're talking about... They reach the height of their bending ability during the night, while we are simultaneously at our weakest... Might it not be wiser to attack at noon, when we are at the advantage?"

"I'm glad you asked Captain," Azula smirked. "The short answer is no."

Then she turned to Aizon. "Care to elaborate Lieutenant Aizon?"

Aizon looked up a bit startled. He had been thinking of how difficult it would be to remain undetected long enough to reach the palace. He had no idea why she was asking him about the bending ability of waterbenders.

He began to sweat a little bit as he felt the curious stares of the other soldiers on his back. But staying true to Jeong Jeong's training, Aizon ignored the pressure, and calmly took a moment to think his answer through.

"Well," he slowly answered, glancing down at the map and noting the marked route through the city. "They'll expect us to attack during the daytime, won't they? If we want to catch them by surprise, we should attack at night when their guards will be down."

Azula graced him with a rare smile, making his cheeks heat up despite the cold. "Precisely correct Lieutenant. Never forget: superior numbers are defeated only by superior strategy. The element of surprise is our greatest advantage right now. Attacking in the daytime would give up the one edge we have on the filthy mongrels."

Her finger trailed from the center of the map to the edge. "This is our position, and in order for us to reach the palace undetected, and for this plan to have any chance of succeeding at all, it is of the extremely important that you all hear me now. No one is to firebend without my command."

She looked every one of them in the eye. "I say again, no one is to firebend without my command. Not one spark. Not even to heat some tea. Unless I, and I alone, explicitly give the order, no one is to firebend. Do I make myself clear?"

There were nods of agreement and a chorus of "Yes princess" before she continued.

"Good. Maximum discipline is of the utmost importance in order for us to have any hope of vanquishing the enemy..." A look of sheer loathing came over her face.

"The small minded cretin. They're probably celebrating their victory right as we speak. Eating and drinking with abandonment, leaving only a skeleton crew of guards to patrol the city perimeter..."

She crushed her fist closed and slammed it onto the table. Her amber eyes were alight with a burning passion.

"But their carelessness will be their downfall. Tonight, we capture the chief and his family. Tonight, we bring down the city walls from the inside. Tonight, we turn an unfortunate setback into a mighty triumph. Tonight, we snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!" she was nearly yelling by the end, but her speech was so inspiring, and said with such conviction, that no one seemed to care.

They all clapped enthusiastically and cheered. She grinned demurely and held her hands up for quiet. Instantly silenced returned.

"Yes, tonight we bring glory to Fire Nation... And tomorrow. Tomorrow we hand the city over like a gift wrapped present to reinforcements… Any questions?"

No one said anything, so she nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent. We leave at sundown. Be ready… Dismissed." She grabbed Aizon's arm before he could leave. "Lieutenant Aizon. Bring me your messenger hawk."

Aizon's eyebrows went up into his hairline. "Shadow? I left him back in the ship," he replied confusedly. Aizon hadn't had much opportunity to use the bird, and he had only decided on a name before they had boarded the ship for the north pole.

He had picked Shadow because of the way her striking black feathers made her disappear like a shadow whenever she took flight.

Azula shook her head. "Someone loaded him into the wrong tank by accident. Go ask Commander Zang. I expect he'll be happy to get rid of the bird," she said cryptically.

Aizon looked at her funny before he nodded and walked away to find the commander. He found him a few minutes later sitting behind one of tanks. He was accompanied by two other sailors whose names escaped Aizon at the moment.

Even though he had seen them all countless times at war council meetings, there were a few people who he just never ended up speaking with.

"Commander Zang," Aizon called to the youthful blonde man. He was probably the second youngest person on the council besides Aizon.

"Lieutenant Aizon was it?" the commander replied after sizing him up. "The princess seems to favor you quite a bit, doesn't she? I wonder how you managed to impress her so much… Care to share your secret, eh Lieutenant?" the commander asked with a conspiring grin that made Aizon irrationally angry for some reason.

He swallowed the strange feeling and shook his head only a bit too fast. "Can't say I know what you're talking about. But I am here on the princesses' orders. I need my messenger hawk."

Zang laughed condescendingly. "Oh Inky is yours is he? Should've figured. Annoying little bird that one is. Kept me up half the night with his incessant squawking."

Aizon grit his teeth. "Her name is Shadow. She's a girl… and she wasn't supposed to be here in the first place anyway."

"Whatever," Zang rolled his eyes. "Hey Yang," he said, turning to the person on his left. "Go get inky for this Lieutenant Ezon guy."

"You got it boss," Yang replied, before jumping into the tank next to them and rustling around for a bit. A few seconds later and he returned cage in hand, with shadow sitting on her perch inside sound asleep.

"Here ya go," he said, shoving the cage into Aizon's hands and waking shadow who gave an indignant screech.

"Thanks," Aizon bit out, before promptly turning and walking away. He ignored the answering laughter and made his back over to Azula.

"One messenger hawk as requested princess," Aizon announced, setting the cage down on the table. He avoided shadows accusing eyes.

Azula didn't say anything, but opened the cage and took Shadow out. The bird hooted softly at Azula, and held her leg out to take a scroll bearing the royal seal. "Take this to Admiral Zhao," she said in a clear voice, before tying the scroll down with a bit of string.

Shadow nipped her hand gently before hopping off the table and taking flight. Aizon watched her go until she vanished out of sight behind a patch of dark clouds in the sky.

"Such a beautiful bird you have there Lieutenant. You simply must tell me where you found her sometime…" Azula said after a few seconds.

Aizon turned and looked at her with a disgruntled face. "Was it really necessary to bring her along? She's only a messenger hawk. They're not meant to fly in cold conditions like this… You could've killed her!"

Azula regarded him seriously for a few moments before answering. "Yes, Lieutenant Aizon. It was absolutely necessary to bring the only messenger hawk aboard the ship that I could find... Actually, our very lives may be depending on that bird… now if that will be all, you're dismissed."

But as he saluted and walked away, Aizon couldn't help but feel anything but comforted. After this was all over, he was going to get Shadow the biggest mouse to eat.


As the last rays of sunshine disappeared below the horizon, the eleven firebenders lined up behind their princess. "Remember, no firebending until I give the signal," she said. And with that they took off.

Or rather, they climbed off. One by one they climbed down a swinging rope ladder to the bottom of the ice wall. Aizon was glad their special issue boots had spikes attached to the bottoms, because he was sure he would've slipped off the ladder ten times over by now otherwise.

After a few minutes of grunting and quiet cursing, they all made it down to the bottom of the rope ladder. No one said anything, and they all turned to the princess. She held a finger to her mouth for quiet, then slowly pulled the ladder from the wall.

She managed to catch most of it before it made too much noise, then she laid it on the ground and covered it with snow. She dusted herself off and motioned them to follow. "This way," she whispered.

They all got behind her and followed single file, the only noise being their hushed breaths and the soft crunching of snow as they quietly marched deeper into the city.

It was only some unknown time later, when the sun had fully gone down, that it finally occurred to Aizon just how massive the northern water tribe really was. It had to have been at least an hour since they climbed down the ice wall. And yet, it seemed like they had made hardly any progress at all towards their target- the palace.

Aizon had to hand the snow savages one thing. They sure knew how to sculpt their ice. He had never seen such beautiful architecture before. The building themselves sparkled like glass under the moonlight.

Just as he was admiring another intricately carved bridge that went over crystal clear water, he bumped right into the person in front of him. Aizon looked up to see that Azula had signaled them to a stop. Knowing better than to ask aloud what the problem was, he screened his eyes and looked around carefully.

He didn't see anything at first. But then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw them. Two water tribe guards were marching back and forth at the entrance to a street across from them. And if the way Azula was glaring at them was anything to go by, those two guards were blocking their way to the palace.

"Can't we just go around them?" Aizon asked in a whisper.

Azula glanced at him over her shoulder. "No. This is the most direct path. Going around would take too long. We can't spend too much time out in the open, or we could be spotted before we can even reach the palace… No, we've just got to get by them somehow."

Aizon closed his eyes to think. The guards must've known that that entrance way was the most direct route to the palace. There was no other logical reason for them to be there guarding such a small area. But if they knew that, then the guards would also probably sound the alarm at the slightest sign of a Fire Nation attack…

"Could we just take them out physically?" asked Aizon quietly. Even if they couldn't just blast them with fire, Azula could probably reach them in three jumps, maybe two.

But Azula shot his suggestion down. "Not enough cover. They'd see me coming before I could get close enough. If I had Ty Lee here, sure. She could probably even do it with her hands tied behind her back… but otherwise no…"

Aizon didn't know who Ty Lee was, but the thought of having someone's hands tied behind their back gave him another idea. He hurriedly whispered it into Azula's ear, and felt his stomach stomach flip when she smiled delightedly at him.

"That just might work Lieutenant…"


Akas sighed tiredly as he once again completed the five foot circuit between the two buildings that made up guard post. He didn't know why they even had to put up guards anyway. It wasn't like the Fire Nation was going to attack again, not after they just got so thoroughly trashed by the Avatar.

He cast a resentful glare at his youthful companion-in-guarding tonight. Why they let children into the guard, Akas had no idea.

Young Earrok was spirited, he would give him that. But he was also far too naive in Akas's opinion.

Earrok was always saying stuff like that they "had to be ready for anything" or how "you never knew what could happen." He snorted. What a load of whale dung.

He nearly ate his words when the sound of footsteps approached, making him turn around so fast he nearly slipped on the ice underfoot.

"Halt! Who goes there?" he heard Earrok call dramatically. The boy quailed under his angry glower, and stepped back to let him handle the situation.

From across the adjacent street came a sight that Akas was becoming far too used to seeing. A single warrior was leading what looked to be a dozen prisoners behind him. Their Fire Nation armor instantly made him tense.

"Taking some prisoners to the palace dungeons, eh? Hope you all enjoy your stay," he said with relish. Akas had no lost love for firebenders, and he even spat at a few as he let the warrior and his prisoners pass without complaint.

"Dirty, rotten, good for nothing ashmakers," he grumbled at them, watching with seething hatred until they disappeared around the corner.

"Shouldn't we have asked that warrior who he was? I didn't recognize him…" Earrok began, only to stop short at the look Akas was giving him now.

"Foolish boy. Of course you don't recognize him. Are you really so arrogant as to believe yourself important enough to be familiar with all of the hundreds of warriors serving the chief?" he thundered.

"Well no. I didn't think that-"

"And there lies the problem. That's the problem with your generation. You never stop to think before you speak," Akas interrupted. He launched into another diatribe about how the youth didn't respect their elders anymore, the passing prisoners the furthest thing from his mind.


Hours later, when the moon had nearly reached its peak in the sky, the group of twelve came to another halt. They had reached what could only be the royal palace of the northern water tribe.

If Aizon had been impressed with the architecture before, he was blow away now. The palace resembled a pyramid, and it was surrounded by a glimmering pool and numerous flowing waterfalls. His thoughts went back to the mission.

They had briefly thought about just continuing to pretend to be Aizon's prisoners, but ultimately they had decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. And so it was without any regret that Aizon had tossed away the waterbender uniform he had taken from a corpse.

They had then steadily made their way through the shadows once more, creeping ever closer to the center of the city.

Luckily, they didn't come across any more narrow, heavily guarded alleys to go through. And the few times that they did come across more guards they easily avoided them. But now that they had finally made it to the palace, completely undetected, what would they do now?

Go in with fire blazing? Or did they continue in stealth?

Once again all eyes turned to Princess Azula to look for leadership. She nodded at the sign of loyalty and took a moment to catch her breath before speaking quietly. "Right. Here's where it gets tricky. Up until now we've simply evaded the enemy... But there'll be no more of that now. The palace will be too heavily guarded to get in unnoticed."

She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them, her golden eyes were shining with excitement.

"The fate of the world rests on our shoulders. What we do here will be written in the history books forever... let's not mess it up, shall we?"

She stood to her full height and walked confidently up the stairs to the front gate of the palace, the rest of the unit close behind her.

"Halt! Who goes the-" the call of the guard was cut short as a bolt of lightning arched through the air and struck him with such force that he smashed clean through the door behind him.

"Was that the signal to start firebending?" Aizon asked.

Suddenly a shrill ringing sound started wailing from inside the palace, clearly an alarm of some sort.

Azula smirked at him. "No. That was."


Admiral Zhao held his head in his hands as he moaned from the blistering headache he was currently suffering from. He had tried to drink his troubles away last night. Just tried for a few moments to forget his humiliating defeat and near-death at the hands of the cursed avatar.

For one insane, completely and utterly mad moment, he had almost refused to take the now disgraced Prince Zuko's hand. To think that he had nearly committed suicide out of some juvenile sense of spite like that… Well, he didn't want to think about it. Hence the hangover.

There was a pounding at his door. "Admiral Zhao! There's a message here for you from Princess Azula!" came the nearly begging call through the sealed entrance. But he ignored it. That psycho witch was probably just writing to him to gloat about what was no doubt his upcoming execution.

"Go away!" he yelled back, slurring his speech. Just because he had been humiliated by the avatar didn't mean he had to put up with princess prissy's rubbish. He still had some dignity left in him, however minuscule that amount may be.

The pounding continued insistently. "Admiral Zhao, please open the door! The princess is urgently requesting your aid at the north pole. She says she'll need reinforcements to hold the city!"

In an instant, Zhao felt himself sober up like he had just taken a dunk in the freezing waters beneath them. Requesting aid? At the north pole? Holding the city?! He scrambled to his feet and rushed over to open the door, heedless of his disheveled appearance.

He wrenched open the bulkhead and ripped the letter from the sailor's hands. "Give me that," was all he said, before he walked back into his quarters and sat down at the table. With shaking hands he tore the letter open and began reading.

By the time he had finished, for the first time in a long time, there was actually a smile on the admiral's face. This was his chance at redemption. Of course, he would've liked to have taken the credit for conquering the north pole all to himself, but he would take what he could get.

"Shall I set a new course for the north pole?" asked the sailor still standing in the open doorway. He sounded a bit unnerved, probably unused to seeing him so happy. But Zhao didn't care about that right now.

"Yes. In fact, tell the engineers to double our current speed," answered Zhao. "I don't care if we'll need a refueling on the way back. Just make it happen!" he continued when the sailor looked like he was going to argue.

"Yes Admiral!" the sailor saluted, before rushing off to relay his orders. Zhao stroked his beard as he contemplated the unexpected turn of events. Perhaps he had been focused on the wrong royal heir all along…


Aizon ducked underneath a lethal looking shard of ice and returned fire with a stream of flames so hot it burned white. The answering screech of pain he heard a second later let him know he had hit his mark.

Things were not going as planned. The waterbenders were much better prepared than they had expected. Four of their number had been immediately cut down by paper thin, yet razor sharp sheets of ice. Just like that. Instantly killing a third of the entire unit. The bloody savages hadn't even given them a chance, they just cut their heads right off! Aizon had booked it down the nearest hallway when he saw the body parts go flying.

He tucked and rolled beneath a spear jab, and when he came up he punched out both arms, sending dual beams of blazing light that took one screaming man's arm clean off, while the other caved a boy's head in.

Aizon ignored the spray of blood and brain, and kept running. He had been separated from the rest of the group for a while now. He didn't even know if there was anyone left. Right now he was just focused on staying alive.

Aizon huffed as he ran forward and threw himself against the floor when he heard a whooshing sound from behind. Just in time too, because as soon as he hit the deck, dozens of knife-like icicles stabbed into the door in front of him.

He rolled to the side a second before the spot he had been in was deluged in ice water. He jumped to his feet, kicking out a wide arc of fire in the process. That bought him enough time to finally get a glimpse of his opponent.

An old man who was half balding, with long hair on the side was standing there regarding him. He had a pencil mustache, and severe wrinkles on his face, almost like he had been frowning his whole life.

"Firebender. You made a grave mistake when you stepped foot in our palace tonight. I will dispatch you to the spirit world just as I did to six of your brothers. There will be no mercy."

Aizon laughed in his face. "I think you'll find that I won't go down so easily old man. I've been trained by the crown princess herself! If you want me, come and get me!"

The old man was not amused. "So be it," he said frowning. He didn't wait another second to send a tidal wave careening down the hall.

Aizon's eyes widened, but he moved immediately to plant his feet firmly to the ground. He then brought his hands up and generated a firewall of massive proportions. Then the water hit him.

Aizon's legs buckled under the strain as he felt the roaring fire pull on his energy. Huge jets of steam billowed down the hallway as the water tried to put the fire out, only for Aizon to increase the power every time.

For twenty minutes this went on, the element of power fighting to survive against the rushing onslaught of the element of flowing. It had devolved into a battle of pure willpower, and Aizon had that in spades.

Finally he felt his opponent weakening, and he seized the chance to finish it. He poured on the power and charged through the flames, ignoring the pain as he jumped through his own fire. He landed on his feet and had his hand out, ready for anything. But there was so much steam everywhere that Aizon couldn't see more than a foot in front of him.

He remembered what Azula had taught him about fighting in the dark. "Close your eyes. When you can't see anything, your eyes will only blind you more," she had said. It sounded good, and was fine in training, but convincing himself to close his eyes in the middle of a battle for his life was another thing.

Out of nowhere a dozen giant tentacles made of water flew out of the steam and wrapped around his arms and legs. He struggled, but the hot steam was making his eyes water and his concentration falter. Finally, out of desperation, he closed his eyes and opened his other senses.

Like a blind man seeing for the first time, he was suddenly aware of a million sounds at once. With deft movements he fire punched his way out of the grip of the tentacles, or rather, he followed his gut instincts and did it. He didn't actually see himself do anything. Still keeping his eyes closed, he listened closely to everything around him.

He could hear nearby sounds of battle. The distant blare of the alarm. The hissing of the steam. A trickling of water from the ceiling... and a footstep! There! He performed a kind of twirl and blasted the spot behind him with a torrent of blistering hot flame.

A yelp of pain sounded from the left, and he heard a body smack into the wall before crashing to the ground. Aizon opened his eyes and saw the old man lying face down at his feet. All his remaining hair had been singed off, and his brown skin had been burned red and raw. Aizon gave him a viscous kick to the head for good measure, taking cruel satisfaction in the sickening crack he heard.

He turned to leave. He chuckled to himself when he noticed that the knife-cicles the old man had launched into the door had been melted into puddles. He tried the handle, but it didn't open. He growled in frustration and slammed himself against the door, but it didn't budge. "It's no good, they must've barricaded the door," he muttered to himself. Suddenly his arm was twisted back and he almost got ready for round two when he found himself face to face with Princess Azula.

"Princess!" he exclaimed in pleasant surprise. "Boy am I glad to see you, I had almost thought that I was the only one left."

Azula grinned at him. "Lieutenant Aizon. I suppose your death would have been a waste," she said as way of a greeting.

There was a trail of broken and bleeding bodies behind her, but there was not a hair out of place on the princess otherwise. If it wasn't for the blood and bits of gore splashed on her armor, Aizon could've mistaken her as someone who had just gone out on a bit of a stroll for some fresh air.

Aizon grinned back. He was truly happy to see her alive. He would never have been able to live with himself if the princess had been killed on his watch.

"It's nice to see you too," he said cheerfully. Then he pointed over at the door. "I can't get through. I think the it's barricaded."

"With me Lieutenant. Just as we trained," she replied, pulling him to stand with her a few feet back from the door. Aizon took a moment to center himself - not an easy feat when you were soaked in water and covered in blood - then he nodded at her.

Together they performed an odd kind of dance, twisting and twirling around each other, their bodies rubbing and touching in an almost sensuous manner. Electricity was rapidly gathering in the air around them, and their hair stood on end as the energy seemed to build to a crescendo.

Then, at the last possible moment before disaster, they simultaneously thrust their hands forward and unleashed a combined beam of pure lightning so powerful the resulting explosion knocked them onto their feet as it impacted with the sealed door.

It was lucky too, because pieces of wood and bits of razor sharp ice went shooting everywhere. Aizon didn't hesitate to throw himself over the princess in a protective manner. No sooner had he done so did he feel something rip into his momentarily exposed side. He barely felt anything at first because of the adrenaline still pumping through his veins.

Finally, mercifully, the flying shrapnel stopped, and Aizon rolled off the princess with a groan. That was when he looked down and saw to his horror his own blood pouring from a wound in his side. It had only been exposed without armor for a second, but that was all that had been needed.

"Oh spirits of the islands. I'm toast," he looked up at Azula who was strangely watching him in amusement. "Go on without me princess, I don't think I'll make it." Aizon found himself even more perplexed when she rolled her eyes at him. How could she be so casual when he was dying?!

"Oh quit your hysterics Lieutenant. I've invested far too much time and effort in you to just let you die… Besides, you're the only one left now, and I can't do this alone."

"But-" was all Aizon managed to say before she knelt down next to him and held up a hand of scalding hot fire. Was she going to put him out of his misery?

"This is going to hurt," she said. Then she released the fire onto his bleeding wound, tearing a scream from his mouth before he bit down on his tongue hard. Aizon had to blink hard and rapidly to stop the tears from flowing. It would do no good to cry in front of the princess, no matter how much it hurt.

"There. All better," Healer Azula pronounced. And indeed, when Aizon looked down again, the wound was cauterized, and the bleeding had stopped.

"That's going to leave a scar."

Azula looked at him with mock concern. "Would a little kissy on your boo-boo make you feel better?"

Aizon's face turned a bit red, but he managed to keep looking her in the eye somehow. "Let's just agree never to generate lightning like that again in close quarters."

"Whatever you say Lieutenant… C'mon, up you get," she said, pulling him to his feet. Aizon swayed a bit before he got his bearing. He looked at her with a grateful smile. "I guess I owe you my life."

"Hmm. I would say that I owe you mine as well, but it's your duty to lay down your life for your princess anyway."

"It was my honor to serve," Aizon drawled sarcastically.

Groaning from the other room distracted them from any further banter, and with a glance and a two nods, they both slowly crossed over the destroyed threshold into what looked like the throne room. It was exactly like how you'd expect a throne room made from ice to look.

Everything from floor to ceiling was covered in a reflective, mirror like surface. An elaborately carved throne with swirling designs and ivory figurines inlaid in it glittered like the purely driven snow. The throne itself was surrounded on both sides by totem poles composed of various polar animals.

But laying on the ground before it was a man with long, braided hair, and a string of what looked like shark teeth around his neck. "Are you the chief?" Azula asked him. He must not have heard her, because he only groaned in response. So that was when Aizon grabbed the man by the collar and threw him into the throne.

"Answer her!" he yelled in the man's face.

"Ugh. Yes, for the spirit's sake, yes, I'm the ruddy chief," the man finally confessed. "What do you want with me?"

"We want you to order that the walls of the city be brought down," Azula said like she was asking about the weather.

The man finally opened his eyes, revealing deep pools of ocean blue. "Don't you people ever learn? Wasn't getting your butts handed to you by the avatar once enough?" he asked tauntingly.

No sooner had the words left his mouth did his head reel back. Aizon slapped his face so hard it left a pink print on his dark skin. "Watch your mouth, filthy snow savage. Show some respect to the princess here, or else," he threatened.

The chief glared at him for a moment before looking at Azula in a new light. "Princess, eh? Well princess," he somehow made the word sound mocking. "You can have your trained pup over here rough me up all you want. But I'll never order the surrender of the city. Do you hear me? Never!" he declared in a yell.

There were shouts of alarm down the hall, and the chief's smile only grew manic. "Time's running out little ashmakers. I'll tell you what though, I'm a merciful chief. If you ask nicely, I might decide to let you off with only life in prison."

Aizon made to slap him again, but Azula stayed his hand. "No, he's right."

Aizon felt his jaw drop open. "He is?" he asked in bewilderment.

"I am?" asked the chief in the same tone. "I.. I mean of course I am!" He recovered too late.

Azula nodded gracefully. "Yes, you're right. Time is running out… only not for us."

"What do you me-" the chief didn't get far before he let out a bloodcurdling scream as Azula cut his leg off beneath the knee, sending blood spurting everywhere. She seized him by the throat and squeezed until his face turned blue.

"What I mean is you have approximately ten seconds to order the walls down before I kill you." She gave him a shark-like grin. "I'll tell you what though, I'm a merciful princess. If you ask nicely, I might decide to burn your wound closed before you bleed out."

When she finally relented from choking him, the surrender was instantaneous. "Oh spirits. I'll do it, I'll do anything you ask! I'll order the walls down. Just please! Please just stop the bleeding! Please, oh spirits have mercy!"

Azula sneered at him, it was pathetic how easily he gave in. But she did need him alive… for now.

With far less care than she had done for Aizon, she blasted the chief's now stump of a leg with searing hot blue fire. She relished in his tortured screams as she held his wound to the flame for a little longer than was strictly necessary.

Finally she released the now pitifully wailing man, and not wasting a second, she grabbed Aizon by the arm and pulled him around to duck behind the throne. Not a moment too soon, because in the next instant a dozen fighters burst through to the throne room.

"Chief!" Azula heard one of them call in alarm. "You're hurt. I'll call for a heal-" The chief managed to stop blubbering for a second to speak up. Her heated finger on his neck might've helped encourage him.

"N..no!" he exclaimed fearfully. "Please. There are others who need the healers more than I."

"But chief! You're hurt! Half of your leg is missing!" said one voice.

"You look horrible. Were you attacked? We heard screams coming from here," said another.

But the chief proved to be capable under pressure. "It's nothing. Some prisoners escaped and attacked me, but that's not what's important right now. I want you and the other waterbenders to take the walls of the city down."

Silence reigned, and Azula could only imagine the looks of shock that must've been on their faces.

"I'm sorry Chief, but did I just hear you say you want to the walls of the city - the only thing stopping the Fire Nation from marching right into this palace - to be brought down?"

Oh if only they knew.

The chief hesitated, but only for a second until Azula pressed her heated finger tighter into his neck. "Yes. Bring them down. It's all become too much. This war has cost us enough lives already. My daughter and wife among them. I'm ready to negotiate terms of surrender… the walls must come down for peace."

"But what about the avatar? He could help us again!" she heard someone else object. Azula didn't even need to do anything to get the chief to shoot that suggestion down.

"The avatar can't stay here his whole life. We must make our own decisions about our fate. His help was too little and one hundred years too late, I'm afraid. I've had enough already… we must have peace in our times. Now do as I say!"

Azula had to give him a hand, the man was a talented actor. If she hadn't have been the one holding her finger to his neck, she almost would have believed him herself. There was more silence until she heard a couple of resigned sighs.

"As you wish, Chief Arnook."

She waited until the echoing footsteps faded into silence to step out in front of the throne again. The chief was crying again now, and he looked at her with bloodshot, hate-filled eyes. Gone was the defiance that had previously filled that ocean blue color. All that was left was a shell of a man who was now well and truly defeated.

"You're a monster, you know that? An evil little monster," he said, instantly dropping her smile. But before she could reply, Aizon crossed over to his left side and hit him with a nasty looking right hook that made his head snap back.

Azula watched Aizon breathe heavily in surprise. She had been so caught up in her little game with the chief that she had almost forgotten Aizon was even there. She felt her anger kindle when she realized that the chief had been knocked out. She had allowed the lieutenant to be physical with him before, when she was interrogating the chief, but now he had gone too far.

"That wasn't necessary Lieutenant," she said with a frown, drawing Aizon's attention away from the slumped form of Arnook. "I was perfectly capable of defending myself without resorting to senseless violence."

Aizon bowed his head. "My apologies, your highness. My only thought was of upholding your honor."

"What makes you think my honor needed upholding?" she demanded.

"Well… he called you a monster," he pointed out.

Azula stalked closer to him, and a ray of light hit the side of her face, leaving her other half shrouded in darkness. "Oh? And are you sure the Chief wasn't right? Maybe I am a monster…" Dark thoughts that she had thought buried long ago resurfaced as soon as she said it. It was only the sound of Aizon speaking to her that dragged her back to reality.

"Because princess, I've been around you almost constantly for nearly three months now. I'd like to think that in that time, I've gotten to know you at least a little bit…"

"And so what? Even if I granted that you knew me, which is disputable, what makes you say that I'm not a monster? Arnook here isn't the first to call me so…" she revealed.

But Aizon was not to be distracted by this detail. "As far as I'm concerned, your highness, you are the complete opposite of a monster. You are someone who gets what needs to be done, done. Even when it seems impossible, you never give up. In my book that's a hero."

Azula considered him carefully. She didn't think she would ever be able to express to Aizon how much those words meant to her. So for now she simply nodded and turned around to hide how she wiped her eyes.

"C'mon lieutenant," she said after she composed herself. "We've got a city to surrender."


Zhao couldn't help but stare in amazement as the flagship of the Fire Navy sailed into the port of the north pole completely unimpeded. The vast ice wall that had held back their entire fleet, and from upon which the avatar had single handedly destroyed their hopes of a successful invasion- was now gone.

Simply gone. The city of waterbenders that had defied the Fire Nation for over a hundred years, now lay completely unprotected and at their mercy. It was almost too good to be true. Just as soon as he thought that, a messenger came up to where he was standing on the deck.

He bowed respectfully. "Admiral Zhao, we've spotted the princess waiting at the dock. She's accompanied by what appears to be the chief of the water tribe… along with the entirety of their remaining forces."

Zhao nearly spat out his tea. "It's treason then?" he asked himself in shock. But the messenger was quick to try to assuage his fears.

"We haven't confirmed that Admiral. The chief appears to be under her command… It's possible that she's controlling them…" He shrugged. "In any event, they say they're ready to negotiate terms…"

Zhao's eyebrows shot up in surprise. Now he was almost certain the princess had gone rogue. The savages didn't have the word "negotiate" in their vocabulary! He scratched his bearded chin.

This reeked of a set up… Well, it wouldn't be the first time he had recklessly walked right into a trap. But he had no choice. The princess was his only shot at getting out of the punishment that surely awaited him back in the Fire Nation. He had to try.

He looked back to the messenger. "Tell the Captain to be ready to leave at a moment's notice… And bring me a contingent of our best soldiers to deboard with."

"Yes Admiral. Right away."


Half an hour later a gangplank was lowered onto the icy dock. Zhao walked off the ship closely followed by a few dozen of the best firebenders they had available. For a few tense moments, there was a standoff between the two groups.

"I see you got my letter Zhao," the princess called out, her voice shattering the uncomfortable silence.

He looked at her for a moment, but then glanced away nervously. He didn't like the way she was smirking at him.

"Indeed I did… though I can't help but wonder why you would choose to follow the path of your traitor brother and fool of an uncle…"

Azula's laugh echoed around them. "You think me a traitor Zhao?"

"Not at all," he instantly denied, still wishing to stay on her good side. "But if you remain loyal to the Fire Lord, perhaps you could explain why you stand against us?"

More laughter sounded out, only this time not from the princess. Zhao noticed for the first time another Fire Nation soldier standing besides Azula. Zhao didn't know who the young man was, but he had the classic good looks of someone from noble stock... and sharp silver eyes that almost instantly made Zhao wary.

He had once seen another pair of eyes exactly like that not so long ago…

"Stand against you?" The soldier laughed. "That's a good one Admiral. Perhaps you should retire from the military, and join the circus instead."

Zhao grit his teeth at him. "Well if you don't stand against us, then why have you decided to greet my ship with a legion of enemy soldiers?"

"That's very simple Zhao," answered Azula, drawing his attention away from the infuriating silver-eyed soldier. "These aren't enemy soldiers."

Zhao snorted. "Perhaps I overestimated you princess. Maybe you're no traitor, only insane… what would you call them? Loyal subjects of the Fire Lord?"

Azula smirked evilly at him. "No, I'd call them prisoners."

A/N: Bloody hell. Just when I thought ten pages was the most I'd ever write for a fan fiction, I went and wrote thirteen pages. Lots is happening in this chapter. And yes, Zhao is still alive! I always thought his death was kind of BS. Anyway, I Hope you liked it! Please review! Fav and follow too.