Daughter of Hate

by Blutus Mindpretzel

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

23. Chapter 23

AN: Honestly, just fuck it, new average chapter length is and has been 15000 words, I can't keep this attempt to restrict to 10000 any longer, as here is another one that's knocking on the door of 20000 and I really can't seem to rein it in. Oh, well, it seemed the general consensus was that longer was better anyway, so hopefully this isn't a bad change for most XD.

Hope you're all doing awesome, and quite hope you all enjoy this week's chapter!

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Chapter 23: Why Do You Leave Me Now?

The angle he could see from where they were hidden didn't give Sasuke the best view of the situation, but the numbers that he could see told him all he needed to know.

"How many are you picking up?" he murmured to Kakashi who paused a moment, clearly calculating, before replying.

"Little over three hundred men. The spirits are rather hard to discern, could be more of them."

The pair were hidden in the brush around the back end of the camp, the small rock formation blocking of Sasuke's view of his friends for the most part, but it seemed as though nothing yet had happened given the relatively calm voices he could hear; they were far enough away that words weren't quite able to be picked up on, but he could hear both unfamiliar voices and also those of Aang and Zuko. Kakashi had perked up when they had been down at the beach, saying that the field he had created with jutsu around the camp had been breached and the pair had dashed back in a matter of seconds to hide themselves just on the edge of what looked to be a considerable confrontation. Sasuke could see the two spirits alongside the greatsword wielding man who looked to be in charge of the armored force that had somehow been able to find them.

"How did they know?" Sasuke growled.

"Not sure. But this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that they're tracking you, the odds of them being able to find and follow your airship as well as find you here on this remote island are astronomical. Despite my jutsu, they've found their way right to you."

Sasuke heard Azula's raised voice and he felt a violent and sudden urge to join them. He had a sinking feeling that he was running out of time for some peculiar reason.

"We need to get in there," he snarled quietly. "We don't know what they're going to do if we don't—"

A piercing scream from Zuko split the dawning sky and Sasuke snapped his head back towards the clearing. For a moment, he wondered if the Fire Lord had been attacked, but the cry didn't seem drawn out as though it had been forced from him as a result of physical pain. Sasuke had heard enough screams of pain in his life to discern between them, and hearing Zuko now filled him with a deep sense of dread. Ignoring Kakashi reaching to keep him from springing from his hiding place, Sasuke burst from his cover and raced into the clearing.

He had already been trying to concoct some sort of plan that wouldn't involve putting anyone in danger, and he knew Kakashi had been doing the same as they had remained hidden outside the clearing, but something about Zuko's cry had broken everything down in his head into pure focus on what could have possibly happened to cause a sound like that to pierce his ears. It went against everything he had practiced over the years, all his training, all his instincts and rationale, to rush into the thick of things when the element of surprise remained his best advantage. And while he knew Kakashi, if given the time, would caution against doing anything rash and to take stock of the situation before jumping into anything, he couldn't help but hate the idea of leaving them to face down this new threat while he hid in the shadows.

Not again… I'm not leaving them alone again.

There came a creeping sensation in the pit of his stomach as he reached his friends. His vision pulled back as though the blood were rushing to his head; he watched his hands reach for Jin's shoulder as he pushed past her, then past Sokka and Katara, then past Aang, his eyes searching for Zuko to find out what it was that had caused his agonized exclamation.

At the front of the group, his eyes found Zuko. He saw the tears running down the young man's face as he knelt over a body. Soza was behind him, her body frozen in shock, her eyes wide and mouth slightly ajar as though she didn't quite know where she was.

Then, Sasuke looked at the body.

He had seen enough bodies in his life to know a dead one when he saw it. He had been the causation of so many lives to be taken after all, by his abilities, his blade, his hands, he supposed he ought to know what one looked like.

Ursa was lying on her side, several arrows embedded in her back. Her eyes were slightly closed as though she were rather tired, her mouth ajar and with a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of it.

"She… saved me," Soza whispered, words that sounded as though they were as much a soft evening breeze as someone actually talking.

Sasuke couldn't move. He couldn't blink, he couldn't even quite find himself able to breathe. He wanted to dig his fingers into his skull and pull his eyes from their sockets. It wouldn't have mattered then; blind or not, he would see this forever. He wasn't even quite sure if he was standing there, and if Zuko hadn't spoken to him in a bitter, hateful tone, shaking with grief, Sasuke might have guessed that he was just a specter, being forced to look on a nightmare.

"You did this…" Zuko's voice came, a cracking hiss. "If my mother had never met you, she would still be… she wouldn't have…"

Sasuke couldn't speak, but even if he could, he wouldn't dare have refuted those words. Zuko was right. If Ursa had never met him, she would still be sailing the seas with her crew, living the life she had made for herself. But because of him, she was here, she was… gone.

No.

His legs refused to support his weight any longer and he dropped to his knees, and as he looked at her face, a burrowing feeling of nausea rolled through his stomach. His mind buzzed with indiscernible thought and emotion as he raised a hand towards the side of her face; Zuko somehow didn't object when he brushed several strands of hair aside and as he felt the warmth of her skin, Sasuke jammed his eyes shut.

I… I still needed to talk to her. I didn't talk to her, so much was left…

His mind flashed and he saw a smiling, bloody face before him, two fingers reaching fore his forehead.

"Sorry, Sasuke… but this is the last time."

He grit his teeth.

No! Not again…

Snapping his eyes open, he glared at Ursa's body, as though somehow his anger and will would be enough to bring her back. He couldn't lose her, not when he needed her so badly, not when his mind was such a furious wreck. Ursa didn't deserve this. She had just found her children, had met her grandchild for the first time, and now…

Sasuke buried lowered his head and stared at his knees, unable to look at her. There should have been the rage, but there was just an empty pit within him, as though someone had put a hand through his chest and ripped something out. The hole there now felt like a void pulling every rare, positive emotion he had ever felt into its maw, laughing as it did.

I shouldn't have left camp. Why did I leave? Why didn't I make Kakashi talk to me here? Why does she have to be…

He couldn't even think the word, let alone say it, it would be too unbearable.

"Sasuke," a voice came from behind him hesitantly, and he felt Mai's hand on his shoulder, gentle but urgent. "Sasuke, they mean to kill you and Soza…"

Her voice was trembling, but sounded far better than he knew his would, should he have said anything just then. He ignored her touch and words; of course they were here for him, why else would someone he cared about have been killed just for being near to him?

I didn't just care about her.

Sasuke closed his eyes again and thought to the way she had talked to him back at the inn when they had returned to the Fire Nation, how easily she had been able to pull the darkest and most awful parts of his soul into the open, and allowed him to just talk and vent. How her touch had been so soothing, how she had let him be vulnerable and how good she had felt. The way she spoke to him, the way she kissed him, the way that… she way she smiled.

She made me feel happy.

Within the past day, Sasuke had felt himself come close to tears well more than once, but he had always been able to stifle them relatively easily. He could likely have counted on one hand the number of times he remembered crying, but he didn't even try and stop these tears from coming then; he knew it wouldn't have mattered. The burning wetness spilled from behind his eyelids and landed heavily on his knees with an oppressive warmth as his breath rushed from him in a shaky release. He hated the idea of anyone seeing him cry, but that pride was insignificant in his mind as he opened his eyes blurrily to reach down and put a hand underneath Ursa's head. Zuko made a sound like he was about to violently interject, but through his distorted vision, Sasuke could see Aang's arms wrapped around the Fire Lord and could hear the Avatar sniffling slightly as well. Of course someone with a heart like his was able to see the pain of the two of them and understand what this might have meant to him.

Sasuke reached with his other arm and put it around Ursa's side before he gently pulled her to him, softly cradling her body. He heard a choked sob from behind him that might have come from Jin, or Ty Lee, or both, but any voice just then might have come from hundreds of miles away.

Allowing himself to look down, Sasuke felt his lower jaw tremble as he gazed down at Ursa's face. He wondered what her last thoughts had been? Had her mind drifted to her children? Her past? Him? What had she wanted from the future? To be at peace? To find love again? With… him?

Sasuke grit his teeth before slowly lowering his head to brush his lips to her forehead. He couldn't bear the idea of her body growing cold beneath his very touch and he buried his face in her hair as he had done on more than one occasion. Desperately, he tried to find that peace, that comfort that her touch gave him, but the agony was all encompassing, and Sasuke couldn't escape or hide from it.

Why?

Why did this have to happen?

Why is she gone?

Somehow, he even felt anger towards her, sick and black.

Why do you leave me now?

His body shook with a silent sob as he held her body all the tighter. He wanted to run into the night, wade into the ocean's depths, and tear apart the world with his bare hands. This world, this fucking world, why did it hate him the way it did? Ursa was gone, and he could never tell her what she had done for him, never tell him how he felt.

Ursa… I love you. I love you.

He grit his teeth furiously hard.

I loved you, Ursa.

Words he should have said, words he should have screamed at the stars resounded in his head, brutal and useless. He could hear Soza softly crying now too, no doubt getting a full look at how weak her father truly was. He could imagine Azula's shock at seeing him so pathetic, and everyone else's stares as they looked down at the person who should have been the strongest among them reduced to a this wreck of man. Mai had withdrawn her hand and had no doubt backed away to get a good look at him alongside everyone else, but Sasuke didn't care. What was the point of caring anymore, when the best thing that had ever happened to him had just been ripped from his hands like a flower from the earth.

"How touching."

A thundering voice with the cadence of a vast, creaking ship resounded just enough for Sasuke to notice.

"The demon has emotions then."

Sasuke looked up blankly at the spirit before him, and took note of its gargantuan size, armor and stature. He couldn't see its face behind its helm, but he could imagine that it was smirking. Behind him, he heard Katara's voice ring out, forceful and steeled.

"Sasuke, I know you have to be hurting, but Mai's right; they're here for you and your daughter, and unless you want to just let them take you, we need you right now."

Finding his voice, Sasuke didn't even recognize it when it escaped his mouth, the way it rang out so dead and hollow. He didn't see any reason to stand up and fight, not when it had been proven that time and time again, all that his presence had resulted in was pain, hurt, and now death for those he cared about.

"What's the point… they'll just find us again, kill someone else… just let this end."

Before his dull voice had even finished spilling from his mouth, Katara was in front of him, kneeling to make eye contact. Her eyes, no doubt in deep contrast to his own, were vibrant, furious and full of life.

"The point is that you have people you need to protect!" she shouted. "You have a daughter! Friends! Ursa died to save Soza's life, because she cared about her and cared about you! You're going to treat that like it's meaningless?!"

She drew back a hand and struck him; though he saw it coming, Sasuke made no attempt to evade it. The stinging pain brough the briefest moment of relief as his head snapped to the side before she grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Wake up! This is reality whether you like it or not! We need you!"

The giant figure behind her shifted his weight and released a chuckle that sounded like a rockslide.

"Listen to the girl, demon. Fate has deemed that the woman's life was forfeit this day, and unless you desire others to follow suit, you will heed my words."

Sasuke heard the words, but didn't barely process them. He was focused on a word, a single word, that Katara had spoken to him while trying to force him free from his hurt.

Reality.

And then the spirit too, what he had said…

Fate.

Something bloomed in the weeping wasteland that was Sasuke's black heart just then, something small in the empty vastness around it, but something so bright and powerful that it grew with such a speed that Sasuke could feel that blackness being swallowed up by something, an emotion he wasn't too familiar with. Hope filled him as he dug deep into his memories until he found what he was looking for; his heart began to race, beating furiously against his throat as his breathing began to pick up in pace, shallow and light, and Sasuke had to keep himself from getting lightheaded.

Gently, he lay Ursa back on the ground before him, a last terrible pang ripping through his insides as he looked at her lifeless eyes. He slowly looked up, past Katara to look the large spirit in its expressionless helm, willing his eyes to bore into the giant's. Lips curling, he continued to summon up his chakra, just as he had the moment these two words had resounded in his head. Kyoshi's trick to block his elemental control of ninjutsu, inhibiting even his Susanoo and Amaterasu, had no effect on bringing to bear the chakra he was about to put to use. His body seemed almost as though it were resisting him every moment that passed, like it was trying to keep him from moving forward with his intent. In Sasuke's gut, there was indeed a seriously foreboding sense that he got from pondering this, but it took just one flick of his eyes down at Ursa for his willpower to crush any dread and trepidation his body was trying to force on him.

He saw the face of the old man that he had hated with all his might that day, and felt rather than heard the words from the would-be Hokage.

"It can control the space between illusion and reality… it is the most powerful genjutsu anyone can cast on themselves!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

I need more than that… I will take more than that.

To his own surprise and likely the surprise of the giant spirit, Sasuke's mouth curved in a furious smirk, a savage sneer as he drew up his chakra and held it tightly. He wouldn't fail. He couldn't fail.

Because he didn't know if he could live without her in his life just then.

"Fuck fate," Sasuke snarled at the spirit. Behind him, he heard Kakashi approaching, shouting a warning as he did, his voice more fraught with fear and panic than Sasuke could ever remember having heard as he laced his fingers into a set of seals.

"Sasuke, don't!"

The world around shimmered and flickered as thought his eyes weren't adjusting properly. Sasuke's chakra surged out from his eyes, holding the clearing in an invisible grip as he took a deep, strong breath.

For a moment, it was completely silent.

Then, it was nothing but white.

Sasuke felt an enormous rush as though his consciousness had just been flung from his body, and he found that the white around him was a brightness that made perceiving anything, the ground, the sky, the people around him a completely impossible task. It seemed to him that there should have been pain of some kind, but he could feel nothing beyond his own will and mind as he forced his power against the very material of the world itself.

It was an exceptionally peculiar feeling, as though he were trying to find individual threads and rearrange them in an enormous and complex knit, but when he couldn't find the specific strands, he seized them all at once and pulled them back. A great rush of energy and a sound not unlike a great many voices gasping out at once resounded in his ears, or at least in his perception of sound; Sasuke found that he didn't seem to have ears just then, nor did he have hands and fingers to grip these threads. Everything that was happening to him simply seemed like nothing more than the echo of what physical feelings caused in a person's body.

Don't focus on that… just focus on what you need to do.

The process seemed to last years; Sasuke felt himself seizing at unseeable fabric and tearing at it, forcing it back and shaping the kind his way. Many times it seemed to be a fruitless task, but he never allowed his focus to falter. He knew his end goal and it was only a matter of getting there and if his power would be able to allow for it to be reached.

It will. It must.

In the end, he knew the what he had done had only taken seconds, though it couldn't have felt less like it. So long he seemed to be trapped in the void, the vast and bright space that he himself barely understood. He supposed it was a way for his mind to rationalize what he was trying to do, to generate substance where none actually was and to give meaning to the will he was forcing outwards.

After so long, Sasuke felt his senses return; the ethereal space and visage vanished, and he could see again, hear again, touch again, everything that made him human. He was kneeling in the clearing again, sensing presences beside him and to his back, looking at the force that he remembered had seemingly come out of nowhere, led by the two spirits. Unlike the last time he recalled seeing them, which felt like so long ago, they all seemed shaken, their armored bodies quaking and swaying as though they had just been violently woken from a deep sleep. Even the giant, spear-wielding spirit appeared to be wobbling within its blue aura, a hand slowly drifting to its head.

Looking at them all, Sasuke suddenly realized the absolutely horrible feeling that was assaulting his body. It wasn't quite the pain that he felt following an intense fight as though his joints and muscles were aching from exertion, but rather the uncomfortable sensation that came from a body experiencing an awful fever, the chills, the discomfort that seemed to crawl all over him. There seemed to be a building pain behind his eyes in particular as though a pressure was about to cause them to burst from his head. He grit his teeth and realized that he was where he had been before using the technique, on his knees at the head of his group, pulling in gulps of air as though it was the first time he had ever done so. And when he remembered why he had done what he had, he looked down quickly, and saw that there was no body lying before him.

"Sasuke?"

He heard her voice, and the feverish pain became insignificant to him as he rocketed to his feet, spinning as he did, paying no mind to the enemy before him.

Ursa stood just behind him, beside Soza, and looking both bleary and confused. She was drawing a hand behind her, brushing over her back as she looked at him in mild bemusement.

"What happe—"

She made it no further before he had thrown his arms around her, holding her as tightly as he dared as he pressed the side of his head against her chest.

Thump-thump.

Sasuke heard the beat of her heart and felt it against his ear and he felt his knees wobble; Ursa noticed his motion and put her arms around him too, keeping him on his feet.

"Sasuke, what happened?" she asked him, her voice more urgent now, but he couldn't say anything back to her. It had worked. He had told himself it would, but there had been a part of him deep down that didn't believe such a miracle was possible. And yet he was holding her now, she was alive now.

She was alive.

She was alive.

She was alive.

It took the distant thundering tone of the massive spirit to remind Sasuke that the situation was actually still rather dire, though nothing but elation sang through his heart as he didn't so much as look around.

"I don't know what dark magic you just tapped into, you heretical freak," the voice rumbled. "It is clear the extent of our understanding of you is lacking yet, but I will give you a final warning: it is the will of the Avatars of old that you submit yourself and your spawn to us. If you truly care for the lives of those around you, you will comply."

Sasuke didn't want to listen to this giant asshole who was interrupting this moment for him. His feverish body was drowning in the absolute relief of having Ursa there with him, and he could hear the muffled crying of Zuko beside him, and knew that he probably wasn't alone.

"Dovan, please," Aang's voice sounded out, shaking and sounding slightly pained as well strangely enough. "Kyoshi has made a mistake, if we could just talk to her, we could explain that—"

"There is nothing to explain!" the one known as Dovan boomed out. "Your mind has been deluded by this transgressor; nothing you say an alleviate his crimes!"

He spoke then to the leader of the group that had clearly fallen under spiritual allegiance.

"Again!"

The greatsword wielder shouted out an order and Sasuke finally turned away from Ursa to see the same archers who must have fired initially move to nock fresh arrows, though he saw them look in surprise to find that they still held arrows in their hands. Still, they followed their command and directed their bows in Sasuke's direction.

Sasuke slowly turned to fully face them, ensuring that both Soza and Ursa were behind him even as he felt Ursa grip his wrist tightly. He gently pulled away from her and inclined his chin; in truth, he was still reeling, his mind racing, his thoughts coming in as an incoherent mess. But he reached underneath his relief and happiness, he forced himself to. Sasuke wanted just to turn and hold her again until his body gave out, but he knew the danger that they still were facing.

And all he had to do was remember that they had been willing to kill, and in truth, had killed people near to him, and the heat started to burn again within.

That's more than enough to sentence them all.

His intent had been to slash every single arrow from the air with Kusanagi before they reached him or the group, but before they even let fly, an arc of blue electricity flashed overhead, chaining between the dozen or so archers; their bodies glowed bright and went rigid before every single one of them collapsed. Their surrounding compatriots barely had time to react before Kakashi landed just beside Sasuke in a tight and silent crouch. He slowly stood and looked at Sasuke with his one eye, and Sasuke was genuinely surprised to see the sadness in there.

"Do you have any idea what you've just done?" he asked and Sasuke could only blink at him in confusion and try and muster a response before Dovan released a roar of anger behind Kakashi.

"Sasuke!" he roared and slammed the butt of his spear on the ground; around him, the mass of soldiers tensed, some moving about, some rotating their shoulders in anticipation. Whatever their response to Sasuke's use of his ability had worn off enough to the point that they were ready to go in. He felt Ursa reach out for him again, and he heard several people utter his name in varying tones of urgency and fear behind him. Katara was beside him, shouting at him as he continued to look forward, unfocused and motionless. Everything was a split second away from breaking out, he knew it. And so Sasuke did the last thing he even expected of himself.

He reached within and shut of his rage. It had been ready to burst free, to carry him through as many soldiers as were necessary to ensure the safety of everyone, to tap into that cathartic fury that had sated his agony so many times over. There would be a time quite soon, but to keep everyone safe, he couldn't do this on his own. And they didn't deserve to have to take the sidelines when their lives were just as much at stake as his own. He took a slow breath and cleared his mind as best he could, even with the omnipresent reality that Ursa was somehow alive holding dominion over his mind.

Clearing his throat, he looked up slowly and set his eyes on Dovan.

"Alright, spirit, if you'll leave them be, I'll come with you."

He heard just about everyone burst into angered exclamation behind him, save for Zuko who was still staring in disbelief at his mother and seemed unable to move, and Katara, the one person that Sasuke was hoping would react in some way. She simply glared at him, her eyes wide and furious; internally, Sasuke grimaced and imagined he had a last chance to make this work.

"If that's what it'll take for you to leave them in peace, then I'll surrender," he clarified rather loudly, and when Katara still didn't say anything, he flicked his eyes to meet hers and gave her the briefest, meaningful look, praying she would take his intent from that look. Though her own eyes remained wide, he watched as the anger gave way to understanding and after what was almost a beat too long, she spoke loudly as well, gripping his upper arm violently.

"Sasuke, you can't!" she shouted and yanked him around, and Sasuke was able to take this excuse to turn and face his group. He looked at every expression there, and from the meeker expression of Yue all the way to the dominating and furious gaze of Azula, he could see a similar sickly look in their eyes, even as they all glared at him, expressions that directly matched how he felt; Sasuke tried to think as to why they would be feeling as he was as Kakashi quietly moved to join their huddle.

"What are you doing?!" Mai hissed at him angrily and Sasuke gave her what he hoped was a calming look, one that he shared with all of them.

"I needed an excuse to talk to you all," he said in a low voice as quickly as he dared. "Acting like I'm giving myself up is as good as I think I'll get and if that giant bastard thinks I'm trying to convince you all to let me go rather than actually what I'm doing right now, I'll take it. Katara fortunately caught on to the play."

Katara didn't look any more appeased to know she had understood his intent and instead whispered furiously at him.

"Sasuke, what the hell did you just—"

"Not now," he said firmly, and he saw Kakashi's eye flicker and wondered if his former master understood the deeper meaning behind what he had said. "Right now, we have to deal with these guys and I need you all to know what to do once I—"

Suki's voice sliced out quietly but quivering with an intense amount of contained anger that surprised him.

"Don't you fucking dare, Sasuke… don't you dare ask us to hide behind you. I don't care that we're not as powerful as you, I can't sit here and let you fight these battles, I can't do this again…"

Something seemed to break in her voice and Sasuke found himself continually surprised at just how much she was showing to him just then, Suki, the person who had always shown so much control. Still, he felt the urge to satiate her discomfort as quickly as he could.

"Suki, calm down, I was going to ask for your guys' help."

She blinked at him in equal surprise before looking down towards her feet in what might have been embarrassment.

"Oh," she said quietly. Everyone else seemed equally stunned that Sasuke would so much to even consider something like that. It wound up being Sokka who allowed himself to give a confident smile in response.

"What did you have in mind?" he asked and Sasuke looked around before continuing.

"While I'm talking, someone grab my shoulder or something like you're trying to hold me back, in case they start getting suspicious back there…" he muttered, before realizing he should have chosen his words more carefully as Mai, Katara, Aang, and Azula all reached for him at once, their hands nearly colliding in midair. Glares and uncomfortable looks were passed around for a brief moment before Soza walked over to him and put her arms around his waist. There was a second where Sasuke wondered if she was genuinely upset before her voice muttered up quietly at him as she squeezed him.

"Go ahead, dad."

He had to suppress a smile at his daughter's improvisation before he looked up and put the very simple plan he had come up with forward.

"I'm going in. I know I'm not a hundred percent and will be relying pretty much just on my Sharingan and taijutsu, so Azula and Aang, I need you on my back."

Both looked surprised at being selected and while Aang's surprise faded into a nod of determination, Azula's expression flickered with joy just briefly. Sasuke kept his eye on her just a moment longer as he thought darkly to himself.

The closer she is to me, the better an eye I can keep on her. And I know for a fact she's solid in a fight.

He turned to Kakashi then.

"I need you to soften up their frontline as best you can, keep them staggered since they're just going to keep coming. You're easily going to be the best asset we have here and I think that will leave a lot of heavy lifting to you."

Meeting his teacher's single eye, he tried to put a great deal of meaning into his look; in truth, he didn't really care how Kakashi helped as long as he was keeping his friends safe. He knew that every person there was willing to die, if not for him, then for one another, and Sasuke wasn't letting anyone die that night, not after… not after…

His thoughts came to a grinding halt as the very subject of his spiraling mind spoke up, her voice as collected as could be though still shaking a bit.

"And the rest of us?"

It wasn't lost on Sasuke that Ursa was openly relinquishing this leadership position to him, somewhere she seemed to be very comfortable, but he could barely so much as bring himself to appreciate her as yet another wave of disbelief came over him as he looked at her attentive expression.

She's okay… I can't believe it, she's okay, she's going to be fine, she's—

"Sasuke," she said rather urgently, and gave him a pointed look. It was then that he supposed he might have been gazing at her with an expression that was telling of his relief and affection, and with an incredible amount of concentration, he forced himself to put the miracle behind him for the time being.

"The rest of you, stay tight. There's a lot of them, and any one of you could get swamped if you get caught out. Stick around Soza, and play it as safe as you're able."

Soza looked up at him, eyebrows furrowed.

"What about you? Won't you be in danger of getting swamped then if you're running at them?"

He looked down at her with what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

"I'm real fast. And I'm going to have the Avatar and your mother with me. I'm sure you know just how well they can handle themselves."

She still looked rather disconcerted and made a rather disgruntled face up at him.

"I don't need everyone else to protect me, you know. I can fight really well."

Sasuke saw both Azula and Toph opening their mouths, no doubt about to say something to the girl about how the situation demanded that she be carefully protected, or about how she didn't understand the necessity in protecting her, but Sasuke found the words coming to his mouth rather easily.

"I know, that's why I told everyone to stick with you. I know you'll take care of everyone."

He tousled her hair and she scrunched her face a moment.

"Oh. Okay," she then said, looking at least somewhat mollified. Sasuke turned his eyes up to Jin who, to his knowledge, was the only one of them there who wasn't a fighter. Looking past the rest of them who all looked ready for war with steeled expressions, Sasuke was surprised to find that she looked just as confident as any of them.

"Don't worry about me," she said, and as she moved her arms, Sasuke saw a glint inside the depths of her sleeves. Wondering if Mai had spent time with her in teaching knife fighting, he nodded. Toph cocked her head at him, a look of curiosity.

"One little snag, Sasuke… that other spirit apparently is blocking our bending."

Sasuke, remembering the human sized, tentacle woman of a spirit, gave his head a small shake.

"We've got that covered."

He sincerely hoped that were true as he started to turn.

"Stay focused. Protect each other."

His gaze slipped past both Ursa and Kakashi as he looked back to Dovan and he saw them both with proud looks in their eyes. Sasuke found that he didn't quite know what had come over to him to suddenly feel so confident drawing battle plans in such a heated moment, but the reality of the matter was that his friends were in danger. That would not stand, and he rather wished Kyoshi hadn't temporarily blocked off a sum of his abilities; it would have felt so incredible to swipe every single one of them away using his Susanoo.

"You are ready then, I assume if you—" Dovan started, but Sasuke didn't bother with a response, with a stall for time, or anything of that nature.

"Kakashi!" he shouted, drew Kusanagi and hurled it at where the female spirit stood, head bowed and hands clasped. As the sword spiraled through the air, he saw the smallest shimmer of blue light flicker out and brush against the blade before it struck the protective aura of spiritual energy around the female figure and bounced away high into the night sky. She slowly raised her head and opened her eyes, offering Sasuke a wry smile; when she spoke, it came out as a hissing gurgle, not at all a match to her beautiful face.

"You will have to do much better than that, demon…"

Her jeer lasted just long enough to finish before Kusanagi, acting as a conductor for Kakashi's Chidori energy, blasted a column of lightning from above, illuminating the entire clearing brightly as day. The spirit could be heard screaming as all soldiers within a dozen meters of her were instantly disintegrated and when the light faded, she was lying on the ground, quivering and struggling to move. Sasuke had performed that move several times with kunai whilst training in Chidori under Kakashi and it was clear that his former sensei remembered the move just as well as he did.

Azula and Aang were at his side in an instant and as he saw blue fire roaring to life in the princess's hands, he knew that it had been enough.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, tuning out Azula's inquiry about when to attack, tuning out Dovan's enraged bellowing, tuning out the greatsword wielding leader's shouted order to attack, tuning out everything except himself. It had been incredibly difficult to close off his rage just moments ago, but now that everything had been sorted into place, he could reach within that furnace and pull that anger back out. It quivered within him, desperately burning for a catalyst and for a focus and a purpose. He gave it one with a single thought, one that didn't make sense considering what he had done, but even though the thought was now nothing more than fiction, it didn't matter. Nothing could have harnessed his ire more particularly that those three words.

They killed Ursa.

His eyes sprung open and he dashed forward, not waiting for Azula or Aang to follow him. He briefly saw Kakashi flicker into movement to his side before he reached the first unlucky soldier that had followed orders obediently and charged. Then, he left it to his body and his anger, and let the rest fade away.

---

Sasuke hit the soldiers like a gemsbok bull charging at full speed. The first man he struck was blown completely backwards and the next two to try and converge on Sasuke met similar fates, one lifted clean into the air and slammed back down with relentless aggression and the other seemed to have their neck snapped by a punch thrown by the young man. From there, a great many more soldiers tried to collapse on him before orange and blue fire, wielded by Azula and Aang deterred them. Kakashi seemed to almost be winking in and out of existence as the charging force stumbled and faltered as they surged forward, some falling injured or dead before they even took a single pace.

And yet even with that, dozens of soldiers poured forth towards them and Mai took in a deep breath as she filled her hands with the familiar handles of her knives.

It would have been easy to become overwhelmed by everything that had just happened, namely Ursa's death and seemingly impossible resurrection, as well as that rather horrible feverish feelings that Mai felt in the pit of her stomach spreading to all parts of her body, but no one else was taking the time to falter and she knew she couldn't either. Instead, she focused on the approaching soldiers.

She and Ty Lee had accompanied Azula on various missions over the years, and combatting the Talons was something that came up semi-frequently considering that the fanatical group was based out of the Fire Nation. They were damned hard to track down despite their transparency in their terrorism and objectives, but patterns had emerged regardless; very few of them were benders as a seeming result of Talon leadership finding bending to be an almost sacrilegious practice and the benders they did have among their number seemed to be used for necessity more than anything. The armored type that were bearing down on them now were by far the more common type, and while they rarely amounted to anything special in regards to actual fighting skill, their armor was highly resistant to firebending and close range, they could be brutal, zealous fighting machines. And Mai had never once before seen such a number of them in one place, let alone facing off against them. Still, she never felt fear in combat for herself and that remained true now; her vision was calculating and focused as she stood beside her companions.

"You're not a fighter, are you?"

Mai allowed her gaze to flick briefly towards Soza who was asking this of Jin. Jin looked down at the question and Mai felt a touch of humor at the idea of this query; she, as well as Suki and Ty Lee, had taken turns over the years offering Jin casual lessons in self defense and fighting to the point that she could have easily applied for the Kyoshi Warriors and gotten in without a hitch. She waited for Jin to make some comment in this regard but as always, the woman surprised her with her tact and quick thinking.

"I don't know," Jin said, furrowing her brow as she looked down at Soza. "I think I can handle myself, but I'm not sure."

Soza, who had always seemed unreasonably intolerant of Jin as a result of her mother's tutelage no doubt, gave her chin a sharp nod and took a step in front of her, keeping Jin to her back.

"Don't worry," the girl said firmly as the thundering and shouting of the oncoming horde drew closer still. "I'll protect you."

Mai watched Jin exchange smiles with Ty Lee before everyone turned their attention forward as the Talons reached them and all hell broke loose.

The first wave that would have reached them was denied as the earth shot up in a wave before them, knocking them all high into the air as Toph slammed her foot on the ground. This caused the second wave to stagger and by that point, Mai was already moving; there had been no plan of coordinated attack given, just Sasuke's words to keep together and protect Soza and that was precisely what she intended to do. It had been a long time since she had gotten a chance to do this, but Mai kept herself regularly in shape and by the time she reached the soldier closest to her, she was already a ghost.

Her knives wove precise and intricate patterns as she flitted about, keeping low and never stopping once; her blades dipped into every chink she could find, behind the knees, under the armpits, throats where they were accessible, any tendon she was able to reach. There were times when she wasn't able to entirely predict a movement, and her blades deflected off armor or missed their points entirely, but Mai never stopped for she knew that could likely mean her death. Her advantage was her speed and ability to disrupt; the more of them she could disable or outright kill before they reached the others, the better. She occasionally caught glimpses of Suki and Ty Lee doing the same, using their speed and skill to the best of their ability, and just behind them, she saw Sokka, Yue and Ursa openly engaging anyone they met and while Mai knew that Sokka's skill with a sword was top tier, Ursa was equally as impressive and Mai couldn't help but see Zuko in the woman's movements as her twin blades flashed about her in a perfect dance of steel. Yue too was quite the sight. It should have been impossible for a woman as thin and delicate looking in stature should have been able to swing about a sword like the one she possessed, but she cleaved it masterfully through anyone that got within range of its enormous blade. Any soldier that got past them was met by Katara, Zuko and Toph, who wielded water, fire and earth in a perfect exemplary performance that was indicative of the credence that they were the best of their own fields of bending.

Mai suddenly found herself feeling almost nostalgic, for a time when she was younger, more naïve.

And yet this is where I've always been… killing, and feeling sorry for myself.

Her blade sank into the jugular of a female soldier who hadn't seen her slip up behind, and Mai ripped it out with a touch more aggression than was necessary before dipping away and leaving the fanatic to choke out on her own blood. It always seemed to fall to Mai to confront her demons on her own, she thought bitterly.

---

While he knew that having access to his regular set of jutsu would have made this entire confrontation almost laughably easy, Sasuke had found himself thinking deep down as he had charged in that this might actually instill some semblance of dark and twisted satisfaction in him. The grittiness of dispatching enemies in close range like this had always managed to elicit such feelings in him, but as he punched, kicked, bludgeoned and otherwise mauled every soldier unfortunate enough to be in his way aside, he was surprised to find that he wasn't really feeling much of anything as a result of the ensuing carnage. It was simple enough to think that pulverizing any of these foot soldiers was a tremendous service to his own mental stability, destroying those who would hurt the ones he cared for.

And yet, he felt no such relief. No matter how many times the thoughts flashed through his mind that these were the ones who had tried to steal Ursa from his life, who would no doubt have stolen more, Sasuke conducted himself with precision, nothing more. No emotion beyond that of his purpose drove through his mind. It had been hardly long ago at all that he had torn Gilbert's men asunder upon his interruption of Toph's execution, but that wild adrenaline and joy that came from the violence he inflicted was long gone. Sasuke wasn't even sure he wanted to find it.

Regardless of his own motivational emotion, he was still as fast and intense and precise as he could have been; as expected, Aang and Azula both seemed hardly able to keep up with how fast he was moving, but he mostly had brought them along for the purpose of cleaning up behind him. He might not have been feeling at one hundred percent because of Kyoshi's trickery, but his taijutsu fueled by his chakra was well enough as to be necessary to take down anyone who stood in his path.

Still, my chakra…

Sasuke knew that the technique he had used back in the clearing to save Ursa was perhaps one of the most powerful and costly he could have used, but only now, he was starting to feel just how low his reserves were. They were well enough by far to keep him sustained, but even what he had done should not have drained him so entirely. He couldn't help but grit his teeth as he thought to when he had finally come up against Madara and been so helpless to fight him without Obito's plan; were Madara to show himself then, Sasuke knew he would have been likely just as helpless to fight him. Why had his use of the technique taken such a drain from him?

This wasn't even counting how badly he wanted to rush back to the clearing and not let Ursa leave his sight, but he had to trust his friends to protect her and protect one another.

He forced these worrisome thoughts from his mind and remained focused.

His intent with burrowing so swiftly to the backline of the soldiers had been to first confirm their number, which seemed to be perfectly accurate to Kakashi's estimate, and secondly to ensure that the spiritual presence there wasn't any more than Dovan and the tentacled woman; he knew they would be by far the most deadly to deal with and if he knew that there were no others to worry about…

Sasuke's eyes immediately caught the blue flickering in the back of the trees, wisping this way and that, but the think silhouette of a figure was clearly apparent. For the first time since he had attacked, Sasuke slid to a halt and narrowed his eyes at the specter which wound up being just enough time for a warhammer wielding brute of a man to come barreling towards him. A gust of wind knocked him into the sky before he could reach Sasuke however and while he was still being tossed about, a jet of blue flame pierced neatly through him and dropped him to the ground without a sound, a charred hole burnt from one end of his chest to the other.

The spirit seemed to shimmer again, moving quickly backwards away from the fray; Sasuke, as much as he hated to admit it, knew that he wouldn't be the faster one in catching up to it if it tried to flee.

"Kakashi!" he roared, and his former master was at his side in the blink of an eye.

"I've got it," he murmured in response without a word and flashed off after the spirit which immediately jetted away through the forest, far faster than Sasuke would have even guessed. In the blink of an eye, the both of them were gone and Sasuke was left to stare after them in frustration as Azula and Aang flanked just beside him, a moment before they were besieged once again by dozens of the fanatic talons. And still, Sasuke couldn't keep from that single, perturbing thought.

How… how do they keep finding us?

---

Ursa caught Klefron's swing on the edges of her swords, pulling the blow to her left and away from her body, deflecting much of the force of the blow. While her blades allowed for quicker movements and more of them, a greatsword like that would shatter her own blades should she try and meet him head on, and that wasn't even taking into account the fact that the man was genuinely built like a platypus bear, and such a blow would probably send her flying as it was; Ursa was a strong woman, well able to match out the men in her crew back aboard the Bjorn, but this man's animalistic swings would have been completely impossible to try and go up against.

She had seen Klefron working his way around towards the shadows of the clearing, clearly looking to get at Katara, Toph and her son, likely to try and take out some of the bending advantage their group possessed, the brunt of both their offense and defense. Though it had become quite clear that Toph's ability to detect movement through the ground beneath her feet would have been well sufficient to keep them covered, Ursa had nevertheless moved to intercept the leader and he had held no reservation in taking her on.

Klefron pulled back his greatsword and thrust it towards her head and Ursa snapped her body to the side, the blade finding nothing but strands of her flowing hair. The massive blade whipped up and then back down, slicing towards her shoulder and she let the blow glance off one of her swords while she thrust the other in between the plates of armor of his chest and shoulder, punching a couple inches into him before he snarled and pulled back. Though instinct told her to press her advantage, Ursa could tell he was trying to pull her into falling for a feint and she stayed on top of him without getting in range of his swing. She wanted to rid him of that sword, but his armor and belt were lined with a fair few more weapons including a shortsword and knives, meaning he wouldn't be an easy dispatch once separated from his greatsword anyway. He let his façade fade away when he saw that she wasn't taking his bait, and leered at her darkly.

"We've already killed you once," he snarled. "Once more shouldn't be that hard of a task."

Ursa had to force herself to remain focused; if she let herself fall down that hole mentally, she would lose her edge in this fight immediately.

But there was no keeping her from distantly brushing against the impossible, mysterious and rather frightening reality of what had happened to her. There had been a brief overwhelming pain in her back before things had gone completely dark and the next thing she had known, she was standing beside Soza again, all the archers who had fired at her looking like they had never taken their shots at all. It was almost as though she had somehow moved backward in time, and that wasn't even taking into consideration the sickly feverish feeling that was burning at her joints and insides. Still, there was no time to think about that just then.

"Feel free to test that theory," she replied coldly and Klefron did, moving with a speed that even surprised her and she had no choice but to lock her swords and catch his overhead swing as it came down. The blow nearly buckled her knees and if not for her years of training and experience, her blades would have shattered and her head would have been split in two, but she was able to catch is just perfectly in a spot where her weapons were surely strained but neither broke.

"You care for him, and his child."

His words caused a chill to run up Ursa's spine with how personal they were. It was different then when Kakashi had talked to her, where she had been able to tell that he truly cared about Sasuke and wasn't asking out of some invasive mindset. Klefron clearly wasn't the same, and he began to smile as he no doubt saw the hesitation in her.

"It's a mistake to fall prey to your emotions and care for monsters," he said quietly, just audible over the enormous clash behind them. "He'll use you just like he uses the rest of them. It's made it so much easier to find you when this misplaced loyalty to him blinds them to the very reason it's not been at all difficult to follow him. Their ignorance to his treachery is astounding, and if you too can't recognize a demon and his—"

"He's more human than a single one of you," Ursa cut him off, and found herself actually smiling at him. "You vilify him, but I've never known a boy with more heart."

Even if he hides it.

"So what then, you think you'll just elope with that creature? Because of something you feel? He'll abandon you, just like he abandoned his disgusting offspring, the horrid wretches they both are. Do you really think he cares about how you—"

Quite suddenly, Ursa felt herself losing control and knew that if she didn't end this quickly, she was going to be in trouble. Because she couldn't listen to this any longer.

In a move that was perhaps far too risky to even be considered, she released both her swords and slipped to the right, empty-handed. Klefron's eyes widened in surprise as the force he was applying gave way to nothing and he stumbled forward; Ursa was completely vulnerable for a moment as her blades dropped to the ground before she reached in and drew one of the man's knives and punched it clean through his eye, sinking up to its hilt as it passed his orbital and pierced his brain. His untouched eye widened and his mouth hung slightly agape before he crashed to his knees and dropped without another word.

Ursa would pick her swords up a moment later and return to the fight, but for the briefest instance, she could do nothing but look down at the man's body, her heart hammering in her throat.

Why did that get me so riled up? He doesn't know Sasuke, he doesn't know what the fuck he's talking about.

And as she rushed back to battle, she couldn't quite shake the thought of both Klefron had been about to say and what he had said prior to his taunt.

"It's made it so much easier to find you when this misplaced loyalty to him blinds them to the very reason it's not been at all difficult to follow him."

---

Mai was just starting to believe that the situation was genuinely manageable before a sixth sense caused the hairs on her neck to stand up just as she heard Ursa's shout and she dove down out of the way of what would have been a killing blow as Dovan's spear whistled through the air. Tucking into a roll on her side, she leapt to her feet with a snarl on her lips, furious that she had nearly been offed by such a transparent and blunt attack, but as she watched the giant man approach, it was clear that nothing about him was normal.

The Talons continued to stream around him towards the group, only to be met by herself, Suki, Ursa, Yue, Sokka and Ty Lee, but with Dovan now advancing on them as well, they were forced to give ground. As Mai flicked her eyes up, she saw Orian propped on his shoulder, holding tight to his helmet, her face glaring down at them angrily; clearly, even despite Kakashi and Sasuke's joint attack, she was still capable of assisting in the fight, even if she was no longer able to block bending. From beneath her hands, small waves of energy were swelling out and disappearing into the aura that already surrounded Dovan. Mai didn't know if this made his protective energy stronger, made him faster, or what the deal with it was, but as she nimbly dodged another swing that came at her a little too quickly for her liking, she knew the pair was not to be trifled with.

"Roll back and fan out!" she shouted to the other close range fighters of the group. She wasn't accustomed to giving orders, but in the heat of the moment in a case like this, she had to call them when she saw them. Everyone seemed to react similarly to Dovan's slow advance into the fight and her call was heeded as they all started to move back and take up defensive positions, ready to dodge when they needed to. The amount of Talons was starting to dwindle and Mai assumed that Sasuke, Kakashi, Aang and Azula running through their backlines had been enough to stifle them, but she would have rather dealt with a few hundred more of them then a giant and a strange sea nymph type creature that she didn't know how to fight.

Sokka slipped in and jabbed at Dovan's knee, but his blade bounced off the glowing shield without so much as a scratch. Zuko's voice rang out then, loud and commanding.

"Get back!" he roared and Mai complied along with the rest of them before a concentrated funnel of fire blasted overhead, hot enough to still feel like she had just put her face near an open oven. The fire splashed against Dovan and while the energy around him seemed to flicker, it didn't dissipate in the slightest. He made a sound that might have been a growl or a laugh as he advanced on them further.

"Don't waste your time. You've chosen death as your response to our offer; for shielding the demon and his spawn, you will all be extinguished."

"Like hell," Toph growled and slammed her hands on the ground in front of her. Obelisks of earth rose up around Dovan's feet and curled over his head, pinning him in. He roared in anger, smashing the pillars as fast as Toph could erect them, but even as she worked on him, the ground directly beneath the behemoth began to moisten rapidly until it was a veritable bog and Mai saw Katara working her own brand of magic to slow him further. He tried to slog free of the swamp that now surrounded his feet before a wave of fire wrapped around him and Toph's obelisks, closing him in a dome of burning flame as Zuko joined the attack. Mai had seen him use techniques like this before, a method where he used his fire to burn away all the oxygen within a space to force anyone within into unconsciousness.

"You think that'll work with them being spirits?" she said breathlessly to him as she drew up alongside him. Zuko's face was twisted in concentration even as he replied.

"Don't know, but Kyoshi made it sound pretty clearly like the spirits that pass over become physical, so I would assume they apply to similar laws as us. Worth a shot anyway."

A few more talons raced up towards them around the giant dome of fire and Mai tagged one right in the eye with one of her knives before Suki, Ty Lee and Ursa moved in to deal with the others. Sokka dashed up to the rest of them, panting just as Mai was, wiping sweat from his brow.

"Hanging in there, sis?" he managed out and Mai had to almost resist cracking an exhausted smile in disbelief at the fact that Sokka was making jokes like that in a time like that.

Who else would?

Katara glared at her brother as Ursa, Ty Lee and Suki joined them as well, no more Talons to be seen emptying from the woods beyond the clearing.

"He's strong," Toph said through gritted teeth, her fingers white against the earth with the pressure they were exerting. "I don't know if we can—"

With a blinding flash, the column of fire was vanished and Dovan burst from it, looking no more the worse for wear at being pinned in by three elements and Mai watched as the fire seemed to almost be sucked into Orian on his shoulder.

She's absorbing the elements' energy and nullifying them. That, or channeling it to make him stronger.

Swinging his arm up and around, Dovan swung his spear with extreme precision and Mai saw the end of it whipping around for Ty Lee who was standing nearest to the spirits among all of them. Her friend grit her teeth and started to tense up to dodge, but Mai knew from the speed of the swing that she wasn't going to be able to and she let out a scream as she took a pointless running step towards Ty Lee. She would never have gotten there in time to push her aside, but at the last second, Yue managed to get between the Ty Lee and the spear, her sword held up and braced against her forearm. The spear hit her sword with a tremendously loud crack and while the blade didn't so much as bend at the hit, Yue was still sent flying back into the rock formation Azula had been perched on earlier. Her body hit it hard and her eyes bulged as blood sprayed from her mouth and she crashed to the ground, sword falling to her side.

Sokka loosed a roar and raced at Dovan, moving quickly enough that the spear's backswing was easily avoided. He slammed his sword against a chink in the spirit's torso armor, but it banged off the blue aura once again. Cursing, Sokka leapt back and dashed back to them, sending a panicked glance to Yue; Katara was already dashing her way to check on her.

"We can't touch him," he said frantically. "How the hell do we deal with this without Sasuke?"

"We don't need him!" Toph suddenly barked quite emphatically and she must have felt all eyes go to her as she quickly followed up in a more controlled voice.

"He's routing all the other Talons and trusted us to handle this and protect his daughter. We're not failing him."

"Toph, how can you fight this thing that resists weapons and negates bending?" Jin whispered. Ahead of them, Dovan stepped closer, moving slowly and seeming to relish the impending doom he was bringing.

"Wear him out," Zuko said. "We have to. I feel his energy sapping to block my fire everytime I use it, and when you guys tag him with your swords, I can see that aura pulse like it's having to spend energy to resist."

"Just hit and run?" Suki asked and Zuko nodded.

"That's the best we can do for now. If you can try and knock off Orian or get him to drop his spear, go for it, but don't risk it unless you have a clear shot."

Mai returned the nod along with the rest of them; out of the corner of her eye, she could see Soza with gritted teeth.

"Let me help," the girl said. "I can firebend just fine and I can—"

"Absolutely not," Toph snapped. "Stay put."

Not sure she had ever heard Toph take that tone with Soza before, Mai saw Soza pull her head back reproachfully as Jin put a hand on her shoulder before Zuko gave the go ahead and they all moved out in a wide circle.

Mai took her shots quickly and frequently. She didn't think her knives would be of much use, but she refused to let herself adopt the mindset that her swift cuts and jabs were doing nothing; if this didn't work in bringing down Dovan, she didn't want to consider the alternative. Matching Ursa and Sokka's speed and rhythm, Mai watched as slowly the giant seemed to grow more and more frustrated. Against any less of an offense, he would have swept through them easily as his swings were wildly fast, but every single one of them were skilled warriors in their own right and were fast enough to avoid the hits when they came. Suki and Ty Lee frequently made attempts to bound up and wrestle the spear away or force Orian off his shoulder, leaping away when he snatched at them; Toph and Zuko hammered at him with fire and earth, and while he sapped the elemental energy from their bending, their attacks found their marks more often then not. Eventually, Dovan seemed to reach a breaking point and Mai couldn't quite avoid a backhand that clipped her in the head that came swinging in a chaotic manner that she didn't see coming. Her head spun as she hit the ground and tried to struggle back up.

"Maggot!" he roared, seeming to take some joy in striking one of them and moved towards her, raising his foot to crush her. Mai made it partially to her feet and while she stumbled away from the stomp, it only took Ty Lee rushing by and pulling her aside to save her from being flattened as the foot came down with a thunderous crash.

"Watch yourself!" Ty Lee said before zipping back into the fray, though Mai saw her send a nervous glance towards Yue and Katara as she did. Mai cursed her own carelessness before wiping a trail of blood from the corner of her mouth and following suit.

Their tact seemed to slowly work in reverse; instead of wearing down, Dovan seemed to only move faster as a result of their multiple attacks, and Mai could feel her own muscles burning as well as the throbbing her head where her head had been cut by the glancing blow. She could see her companions growing slightly slower as well and it didn't take long for their frenzied battle to start taking its toll. Suki made an overaggressive lunge for Orian by grappling quickly up Dovan's spear, but the female demon blasted her the moment she got close and she hit the ground hard, her breath bursting from her in a pained gasp. Sokka swept in to pull her away a moment before Dovan's foot crushed her, and Zuko hurled a wall of flame to force him to back off while Ty Lee bounded up the giant's back and wrapped her arm around Orian's throat. For a moment, it looked like she might successfully wrest her from Dovan's shoulders before a burst of energy emanated from Orian and lit Ty Lee's body up as though she were being electrocuted. Her back arched and she screamed by which point Mai was already moving to intercept her when she did fall from Dovan's body; she caught her friend heavily and they both hit the ground hard, but fortunately didn't suffer much more damage than that.

"Move, you two!" Toph screamed as Dovan whipped his spear down at them; a wall of earth shot up to meet the spear and while the enormous imbued weapon still pierced the barrier, it was slowed enough to allow Mai and Ty Lee to both lunge away and keep from being skewered.

This isn't working.

Mai took deep halting breaths as she moved out of range of the spear and tried to ignore the burning and aching in her body; as if the feverish sensation hadn't been enough, she rather wanted nothing more than to fall back to the ground and pass out. But as she watched Zuko's face tighten in exertion as he continued to press his bending, as she watched Ursa continue to batter away at the spiritual aura, and as she saw everyone else struggle on, Mai's hands tightened on her knives and she started to move back in.

"Enough," Dovan rumbled then and slammed the butt of his spear on the ground as Orian gestured towards the weapon; the moment the spear connected with the earth, a wisp of energy from her hands crackled down its length and burst out in the form of a shockwave and Mai found herself blasted off her feet alongside Ty Lee, Suki, Sokka, Zuko, Ursa and Toph. It wasn't just a physical hit that seemed to hit her, but she felt as though her energy were being drained and she could only manage to roll over and find that even just trying to push herself to her hands and knees had become a difficult task. Even though she could see the aura around Dovan rippling in what could have been seen as clear agitation of being hammered so much, Mai didn't know if they were going to be able to keep at it enough to bring it down.

"Fuck…" she groaned as pain ravaged her body and saw that her companions were finding it equally difficult to get up, having been similarly affected. Ursa had made it the furthest, making it to one knee, but her head was bowed and her face was contorted with pain, eyes jammed shut. Mai could only watch as Dovan moved his spear slowly to hover just above her head; it caused her stomach to wrench at the idea of how easy it would be for him to bring the weapon down and kill her like one might swat a bug.

"You live… somehow, you live," the giant said, his voice a murmur that still seemed to shake the very earth. "The demon is attached enough to you to quite truly bring you back from the dead. How?"

Ursa said nothing, likely both due to pain and the idea that she probably didn't have any better idea as to what happened than anyone else.

"No matter," he said in as quiet a tone as was likely possible for someone of his size. "No more accidents this time."

The spear came up and Ursa looked up fearlessly at him, even as she clutched at her abdomen. As the blow started to fall, Mai felt her body scream at her as she forced herself to her feet and started to run forwards, not sure what to do, but knowing she had to do something…

By the time it was going full speed, the spear was traveling fast enough that when it stopped, it kicked up a cloud of dust at the force of its descent. And as Mai saw what had happened to stop it, she allowed herself to drop back to her knees, panting and growling as she did.

"Took you long enough, you asshole…"

Sasuke was standing in front of Ursa and had caught the blade of the spear between the palms of his hand as though he had clapped with them together with the spear neatly between them. His face was tensed and tight as he held the strike back and before Dovan seemed so much as able to react, Sasuke shouted out.

"Now!"

Slipping around on both his left and right with exceptional agility, Azula and Aang both parked themselves on either side of Dovan before slamming him with a two ended inferno. He roared as the glowing blue aura flickered around him, seeming to be more transparent then ever and as he tried to pull the spear back from Sasuke in order to swing it around and hit both Aang and Azula, Sasuke planted his feet in the ground and gave a single, sharp wrench. Even without his elemental jutsu, it was clear that his superhuman strength hadn't remotely diminished as the spear left the startled grip of Dovan and Sasuke wrapped his hands around its length. It might have looked absurd in his hands with how large it was, the blade at the end being nearly as tall as Sasuke himself, but wielding it didn't seem to be remotely a problem for him as he launched himself upwards towards the giant spirit.

It became clear that what ever the spear was imbued with held the same properties as the spiritual shield as Sasuke drove it into the space between Dovan's shoulder and arm without any resistance whatsoever, causing the massive armored entity to roar and stumble back. Azula and Aang immediately dropped their attack no doubt in fear of roasting Sasuke as well as their target, but both stayed at the ready. Sasuke leapt to Dovan's shoulder just beside Orian and gave the spear a terrific pull, and the spear's blade rotated about, nearly severing the appendage then and there; Orian caught Sasuke at the end of his pull and pressed her hands against his back and blue energy splashed against him. Though he made no sound, Mai could see the pain on his face as he tried to ignore her attack even while trying to fully rip off Dovan's arm. Feeling a panicked helplessness course through her body, Mai stared with wide eyes at the spectacle before noticing something rather strange. To her, it didn't appear as though Orian still had an aura around her as Dovan did, and she remembered when Ty Lee had attempted to tear Orian down, the same thing had happened when she attacked.

Her energy… can only be used in one of two ways?

She didn't waste one more moment thinking it over and instead drew back her arm and through the knife that had been gripped in her hand. It flew with perfect accuracy to plant itself in the small of Orian's back and the spirit gave a loud hiss as no aura blocked the blade from sinking into her. Her grip released from Sasuke and he gave a sound that was both roar and gasp as he gave a last tug and the spear fully tore Dovan's arm and shoulder from his body. The arm, spear, Sasuke and Orian all went to the ground while Dovan lurched backwards, blood exploding from the now gaping wound where his arm and shoulder had once been connected with his body, his aura flickering madly around him.

"You cannot kill me!" he bellowed. "I am invincible, I am—"

The long end of his spear came crashing down over his ornate helmet and split the metal, bending it down while blood gushed from the eyeholes and from out of the neck. The enormous body rocked back and forth a moment before toppling to the ground unceremoniously, the aura giving a last flicker before puttering out. Sasuke let go of the spear and left it planted in Dovan's skull before turning to look at Orian.

The female spirit looked utterly shocked before her face twisted angrily and she opened her mouth to release another burst of her awful, rasping voice.

"You have no idea what you've brought down on—"

Her voice choked off as Ursa planted a foot squarely on her back and forced her into the dirt. Azula strolled up around Orian, a sick smile on her face.

"It's you who have no idea what you've brought down on yourselves," she said through her smirk. "Sasuke will kill each and every one of you for daring to think you could kill him."

"That's enough," Sasuke snapped as he strode over to Orian and crouched beside where Ursa had her pinned. Mai had made it to her feet and tried to keep from hobbling as she walked over with the rest of them to form a circle around the downed spirit.

"How are you tracking us?" Sasuke asked quietly and she only glared at him. "You didn't find our airship and then find us here by chance."

She continued to keep silent until a kick into her side from Azula caused her to grunt in pain.

"Answer him!" she snapped. "Answer him or I swear, I'll—"

"Azula, quiet!" Ursa shot at her; daughter looked at mother with hate and reproach, but she obeyed the order for the time being; it was clear to feel the tension and frustration in the clearing then from just about everyone. They may have won this battle, but there were still so many unanswered questions hovering above them that they might as well have been preparing for a whole army of spirits to descend on them.

Which we have no way of knowing isn't true.

"You will never be able to run far enough or fast enough to keep us away," Orian hissed. "And you will gain nothing from me, or any other. We will hunt you, we will find you."

Sasuke's lips tightened in disgust and anger as he stood, clearly looking as though he were done with her and her voice raised in pitch as she watched him rise.

"You will never be safe, nor will that disgusting spawn of your seed!"

She looked at Azula and sneered.

"And this one. Pretending to be some sort of high and mighty royalty when she's nothing but an animal for allowing you to mate with—"

Sasuke's foot came down on her neck hard enough for something to snap and Orian's eyes bulged a moment before her body gave a shudder and went still. The quiet that followed became very uncomfortable and Mai looked slowly at Sasuke to see a raw fury in his eyes as he looked down at Orian's now lifeless body.

"Sasuke, I—" Azula started but he turned away before she could say anything to him; Mai watched Azula's face flicker with frustration and pain as she grit her teeth while Sasuke walked away from her. It was impossible to not feel some satisfaction at seeing Azula looking quite so torn over being cold shouldered like that, but Mai felt a twinge for Sasuke as well; for it to be implied that Azula had given him permission to get her pregnant after knowing what really transpired definitely worsened Mai's mood. Sasuke stopped a dozen paces away and looked towards the lightening sky, his face not visible to them and she felt herself starting to feel more and more on edge as she looked around; everyone there was watching Sasuke closely with any mixture of nerves, reservation or outright worry on their faces. Even Soza, who was standing furthest away with Jin's hand on her shoulder, looked like she was trying to make some mental judgement of her father just then. Mai looked to Ursa though and saw the most unreadable of expressions on the older woman's face as she looked to Sasuke's back.

Everyone had the same question, but no one wanted to ask it.

It was Katara who, after nearly a minute, dared to try.

"Sasuke… what did you do?"

For a moment, he didn't move but as he slowly began to turn, there was a flash from the trees and Kakashi appeared, just as fast it seemed as Sasuke. Sasuke turned his attention that way then, seeming just fine to blow off Katara's question.

"Did you get it?" he asked and Kakashi straightened, sliding a pair of kunai away as he did.

"Barely. Tried to pin it down, but when it got close to the ocean, I knew I didn't have a chance, so I took it out with Chidori. Body disintegrated as well."

Mai looked around and saw that both Dovan and Orian's body has started to shimmer and evaporate where they lay.

"Good," Sasuke muttered. "That's all of them then."

"Good?" Kakashi asked, and Mai listened to his voice rise in volume. "No, Sasuke, there is nothing 'good' about any of what has just happened."

Shooting him a dead-eyed look, Sasuke growled back.

"What are you talking about? We're all alive, and they're all dead."

"That's really where you're going to draw the line?" Kakashi asked, his voice just a hair's breadth from being a full-on bark.

Though she had only just met him that night, Mai found that Kakashi's raised voice, tinged with anger, didn't seem at all characteristic of him. There was something rather uncomfortable about the way he was talking to Sasuke and Mai could see that alongside her, Ty Lee, Aang, Toph, Zuko, Sokka, Jin and Soza all had taken a step back, as involuntary a response as a cringe. Yue had come over with her arm around Katara's shoulder, but the pair had also stopped without getting too close to either Sasuke or Kakashi. Ursa was standing stiff alongside Azula, the pair of them looking like they had at least briefly forgot their animosity for one another as they watched the confrontation play out.

"Sasuke, do you have any idea what just happened?" Kakashi snapped angrily and Sasuke's face contorted slightly as he pulled his head back in resentment.

"Why are you angry about us walking out of here in one piece?" he replied sharply and this prompted Kakashi to fly into considerable clarification.

"I suppose we'll ignore the fact that your enemy is tracking you and you have no reasoning for why, the fact that the very denizens of this world are being turned against you, and the fact that you aren't truly sure how to fix all this."

He took an aggressive step towards Sasuke then.

"Do you have any idea what you did back there? With that jutsu?"

Mai felt her throat tighten; were they going to get an answer? As to how Sasuke had… brought Ursa back, so it seemed, from the dead?

"I did what I had to do," Sasuke said in a low voice and his former master shook his head in frustration.

"No, you don't know what you did, you haven't a clue what actually just happened."

"What, are you going to get after me on some moral high ground?" Sasuke snarled. "That I shouldn't have used Izanagi because it defies the natural order of things?"

Kakashi didn't respond to this immediately and Mai watched him closely. She didn't know what this Izanagi was, but it clearly had a significant part to do with whatever Sasuke had done.

"That wasn't Izanagi. Doesn't using that jutsu cause blindness as is?" he finally said, his voice sounding tired now.

"What are you talking about?!" Sasuke shouted. "I used the same jutsu that Danzo used on me! My RInnegan prevents the blindness from taking place; I used Izanagi and removed its effect from myself over to—"

"That wasn't Izanagi, blindness or not," Kakashi repeated and Sasuke seemed to be growing extremely agitated by the line of conversation.

"Stop saying that!" he yelled. "What else could have accomplished what I just did?!"

"Sasuke…" Kakashi managed to murmur out; his angry demeanor had vanished as quickly as it appeared, as he seemed to realize that Sasuke very much didn't know something he did. "Do you know what Izanagi actually does?"

"Do you?!" Sasuke shouted, his pitch high. "Considering I had it used against me several times, I would say so! It applies illusion against reality to negate that what has happened or is happening and—"

"And that's not what you did," Kakashi said, cutting him off cleanly.

"What then?!" Sasuke snapped.

Kakashi took a moment to put a hand to his face and for a moment Mai assumed he was putting it there as a gesture of consternation, but she saw in actuality that he was pushing back his headband to reveal the eye he usually hid. When she saw it, she saw the same black and red patterns, akin to what Sasuke could do with his own eyes.

"I watched you and everyone here when you cast that genjutsu," Kakashi said. "My Sharingan let me analyze every piece of your technique and warned me as to what you were going to do. That's how…"

The words seemed difficult for him just then and he sighed.

"When Izanagi is used, the purpose is to prevent things from taking place as they happen. Ursa was… when you started your technique, you should already have been too late. And you didn't do what you intended when you did."

Looking rather breathless, Sasuke's voice was still harsh, but it quivered as he spoke.

"Meaning?"

Turning his head, Kakashi looked over at Mai and the rest, addressing the silent audience to this aggressive conversation.

"Forgive me," he said. "But might I ask you all; when the light faded, after Sasuke used his jutsu… did you feel a strange sense to both your body and soul? A feeling of sick dread perhaps? Or like that of a fever?"

Mai didn't reply but she looked around to the others as she heard Kakashi describe exactly what she had been feeling since that moment. Everyone else exchanged looks, some of them nodding to which Kakashi inclined his head in turn.

"I thought so… I experienced the same."

"What does that matter?" Sasuke snapped. "Just because everyone experienced some weird feeling—"

"You felt it too then?" Kakashi asked and Sasuke tightened his lips as though he had just been pinched.

"What does that matter?" he repeated stubbornly, the tension firm in his voice. For a moment, the two only stared at each other before Sasuke suddenly reached up and clutched at his eye, his throat tearing with a scream of pain. Azula cried out and stepped forward, but stopped as Kakashi raised a hand.

"What's… what's happening…" Sasuke growled and Mai could see blood leaking from between his fingers.

"Your eye," Kakashi said calmly. "It's rejecting what you used it for. I've seen ninja's bodies do this before… a technique is used that is so deadly, or dangerous, or calamitous, that the body naturally tries to shut down any chance you might have to use it again. Right now, your eyes are trying to close off any way you could ever use that jutsu again."

Sasuke slowly took his hand away from his eye, and Mai saw that it was half closed, blood leaking from over his eyelid.

"Alright then," he snarled. "You're so sure I didn't use Izanagi, that my body is now rebelling against me because of what I did… what's different? Why wasn't that Izanagi, and why is my body trying to shut down me ever using it again?"

Kakashi stared at him flatly, his eyes rich with sadness and the gravity of his words.

"Sasuke, you didn't apply illusion to reality. You forced reality into becoming an illusion. And in doing so, you didn't bring… bring Ursa back to life."

Mai felt her breath practically rush from her lungs as she listened with her heart pounding in her ears.

"You might have been able to do what you had intended and made her death an illusion… but either you didn't understand the control you needed in order to make this happen, or the power of your eyes was more than you were able to handle, or something else… but…"

He still didn't seem comfortable with what he was saying and Mai could see Sasuke practically squirming where he stood.

"What?!" he yelled and Kakashi whirled back to face him.

"Everyone here, every single one of us… you, me, all of them…"

He closed his eyes.

"You killed every person here, including yourself. You killed them by destroying reality within this clearing and making your illusion reality."

She wouldn't have thought it possible, but Mai felt as though the feeling within her had only gotten worse. The sensation had been bizarre, certainly, that had occurred during that blinding flash of light between when Ursa had been dead on the ground to when she had been standing again, but to think that… that…

I… we… died?

"In your head, the reality you were experiencing couldn't be real. You tried to change a specific part of it, but your power spread far too much, and the illusion you were forcing into reality encompassed more than just Ursa. I'm sure it wasn't your intention, but…"

Kakashi didn't need to say any more than that. The weight behind his words was damning enough and Mai felt her legs quivering beneath her; beside her, it must have been a touch too much for Jin as she dropped to her knees besides Soza. Everyone wore a look of utter shock as they looked around at one another and down at themselves. Sokka was running his hands over his chest as though expecting his fingers to pass right through, and Ty Lee had reached over to grab Suki's wrist tightly as though it were her very lifeline onto sanity. Toph had turned away and put her hands behind her head and looked to be breathing very heavily as Zuko was looking about as though looking to see something to relieve this madness. Aang was bent double like he was going to be sick and Katara now looked like she needed Yue's support just as much as the silver-haired girl needed hers. Ursa's face was that of a statue as though she thought that any reaction to this revelation would break some sort of spell and Soza had walked over to her mother and put her hand in hers, but while Azula didn't pull away, she didn't seem to notice her daughter either. Her eyes were locked onto Sasuke with what Mai would have assumed was that same insane obsession that still seemed to grip her after over a decade, but there was something else in her predatory eyes now, something much more frightening.

It was nothing short of pure reverence.

The look on Sasuke's face was impossible for Mai not to recognize as she had seen it so many times in the mirror after fights with Zuko, that look of denial that there was any fault with her and the accusations she had thrown at him. Sasuke was shaking his head, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. No words left his mouth as his eyes glazed over with no doubt raging thoughts over what had happened. Kakashi turned away slowly, clearly having decided that he had said enough. Mai felt herself stumble back, her own mind spinning; what did this mean, what could she even take away from this? Was this even her? Was this her own body she was even in? Was this even her own… mind?

Out of the corner of her eye, Mai watched Ursa step forward and reach out for Sasuke.

"Sasuke, it's going to be—"

To her shock, Mai looked on as Sasuke batted aside her arm.

"Don't touch me!" he snarled and walked off into the trees. Ursa looked after him with a look of raw pain and regret on her face. Kakashi watched him go as well before taking a step towards the group.

"I'm sorry for putting this on you all now… but I would recommend you prepare to leave now. If they found you here…"

"You're right," Zuko said, his voice breaking even in just those two words. "Just… I think we need a minute or two."

Kakashi said nothing and nodded before pacing off into the dark himself, far from the direction Sasuke had gone.

At a touch to her shoulder, Mai turned to see Ty Lee looking at her, eyes wide and breathing heavily.

"Mai…" she murmured. "Am I… are we…?"

Instead of even attempting a reply, Mai wrapped her arms around her friend and held her as tightly as she dared before jamming her eyes shut. She didn't feel like this feeling would ever go away, but as she held Ty Lee, she did her best to pretend otherwise.

---

Sasuke stumbled through the trees, cursing Kakashi with every breath he pulled in. He didn't believe that it could have happened, even though he knew it was true.

I died. I killed myself and everyone… and I brought us back.

It was a power that no one should have been able to wield. It should have been impossible to wield. And yet…

I didn't… I couldn't have.

He knew that he couldn't have done what Kakashi had said happened. No, he had never used Izanagi before, but… but how, no matter how much his emotions had been raging, how could that have even been possible? He wouldn't have dared go through with that if he had known that… he would never have risked everyone's lives if he had known…

Sasuke knew why he was so furious. And it wasn't because of what he had done.

It was because of—

"Sasuke!"

He heard Ursa behind him, and it was impossible to shake the feeling that there was something terrible behind him he didn't want to face. Walking faster, he heard her coming through the brush behind him, still calling his name. Pushing past trees, and ignoring the cuts opening as branches whipped past him, Sasuke cut off his chakra entirely, not even allowing his body to heal in the slightest. He didn't want to feel chakra, he didn't want to have the sensation that it was active in his body. Not after—

"Sasuke!"

Gritting his teeth, he moved faster and the moment he did, he had to come to a sudden stop as he looked ahead of him and realized he had come to stand over a steep gulch. Another step and he would have been toppling deep into its maw.

He heard the steps slowing behind him and he closed his eyes. For a while, it was silent with just the wind moving through the trees as the sky grew pinker on the horizon. And when Ursa spoke, her voice was the most comforting and yet painful thing he could have felt just then.

"Sasuke… will you look at me? Please?"

"Leave me alone," he managed to get out, his voice hoarse. As he might have guessed, that hardly did the trick.

"No," she said. "Not until you talk to me."

"Why?" he asked, the hairs on his neck rising slightly as he heard her step closer to his back.

"Because I care about you. I want to know that you're alright—"

"I'm not," he snapped. "And there's nothing you can do to change that."

She fell silent a moment before he heard her move even closer.

"Don't shut me out…" she murmured, and even through the comfort she put into her tone, Sasuke could hear the reservation and he jammed his eyes shut angrily. "Just please look at me…"

A hand brushed against his shoulder and he whirled, knocking her arm aside again.

"Didn't you hear me?! I told you to leave me the fuck alone! Can't you get through that your thick fucking—"

In that moment, Sasuke realized he had done the very thing that he had been desperate to avoid. The reason he realized he had felt that fear at his back while Ursa had been following him.

He had been terrified to see her face.

She was looking at him with a mixture of fear, pity and hurt and as he saw the life in her eyes, he took a step back on instinct; his foot slipped against the edge of the precipice he stood on and he winced as his body slid backwards. Ursa was faster though and grabbed him by the upper arm, pulling him back to solid ground. Now face to face with her, Sasuke kept his eyes down, not willing to look up at her again. Seeing her just then had sent such a wave of anxiety through his veins and he couldn't bear to repeat that. He let her wrap her arms around him however and hold him to her breast, pulling him down slightly to rest her chin gently on the top of his head.

"Sasuke, honey… please… please talk to me."

The plea in her voice wasn't something he could miss and he closed his eyes as he rested his head against her.

"I saw you dead."

God, no.

The image was burned there, forever. She was here now, he tried to tell himself, but it wasn't something he could wrap his head around still, even though he had literally destroyed reality to alter the course of what had happened.

I can't…

Her hand that had been stroking the back of his head gently came to a halt. Sasuke figured that these words were coming out no matter what at that point, and he didn't dare to try and stop them then.

"I saw you lying there with arrows in your back… not breathing, your eyes empty. I… I just…"

He pulled back from her and pushed, causing her to stumble back. Anxiety was hammering him to the point of wanting to just leap into the gulch if it meant feeling a rush of adrenaline to distract from this, even if for just a moment.

"I don't care what I did to bring you back!" he shouted. "I don't care if I risked my own life, or anyone else's!"

Turning away, he tightened his fingers into tight fists.

"And I know I should," he said, voice wavering. "I should care. There's people back there I would do anything for, but even with that… I would have taken that risk again in a heartbeat if it meant saving you."

He swallowed deeply, trying to keep his voice steady.

"I... there was a moment. I was mad at you. Because... you left me. You left me when I knew I needed you."

The melancholy on Ursa's face was enough to nearly shatter him as she tried to reach for him again.

"Sasuke, you can't let what happened destroy you like this. And you can't let yourself think that potentially killing yourself and everyone of those people back there is worth my—"

"I'd rather be dead than not have you in my life," Sasuke blurted out and his heart skipped a beat in his throat. To this, Ursa said nothing and he kept his eyes locked on the ground at her feet. He hated this more than anything; he could fight any number of men, women, monsters, demons, spirits, gods, anything, but just talking… just being open like this was breaking him.

"I don't know what we are," he said. "I don't know what I can call this because I don't think I've ever felt it before. And I hate myself for feeling it in different ways for people other than just you. I want it to be just you. But I'm… no, I lied. I do know what to call this."

His fingers were numb as he closed his eyes and his heart leapt in his throat.

"I love you, Ursa."

There.

There.

"I don't know what that means, but I know I love you. I've never felt this way for anyone, even as I look at some of the other girls and would be lying if I said that there isn't… something there as well, but… damn it all, I don't know what's right or wrong anymore with my heart. I just killed myself and everyone I care about here because of my emotions, just to bring them back because of the same. It could have gone wrong, Kakashi's right, I could have ended every single one of us then and there had I stumbled just the slightest bit. But I can't shake the feeling that I would have done it again. And I can't shake the guilt I feel for being willing to do that to everyone else, and I can't shake the guilt for thinking I could ever not risk everything to save you."

His voice was flat and low as it always was, but he meant every word of what he said. The frustration of not understanding his own feelings was making him want to tear the island in half with his bare hands.

"Please, can you just pull it from me…" he muttered. "Just take this, because I can't handle it anymore. I don't want to bear it."

Ursa still said nothing, but as his words faded into the dawning air, she walked to him and put an arm around him, pulling him close again. Her other hand pressed against his chest and he knew she could feel his heart thudding there.

"You don't have to do it alone," she whispered to him. "I'm not asking you for anything, Sasuke. But I…"

She faltered with him, but he could tell it wasn't because of a lacking of sincerity in her mind. When she continued, he heard a pained relief in her voice, as though these were words she had been wanting to say for her whole life.

"I love you too."

Sasuke's gut throbbed with an impossible, intense heat.

"I didn't think I would ever love again, but you taught me that wasn't true."

Ursa kissed the top of his head.

"But I'm telling you, I don't need you to reciprocate anything from me, not right now, not ever. This world… this world is falling apart and it's falling right down on your shoulders. I know your mind… oh, Sasuke, I can't imagine what is going on in your head. No one should have to deal with this, but please know this: I'm with you through this. For whatever you need. And when this is over and you are able to really have a chance to think… I'll wait for you, and will accept whatever you… you decide."

Sasuke heard the hurt in her words, the pain that he might not choose her, but he knew she meant it just as much as she had.

"I… want to reciprocate," he murmured. "And no matter what, I can't… I can't lose you."

I can't.

He looked up, finally opening his eyes and saw her looking down at him with tears in her own.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered and before he could even think of stopping himself, Sasuke reached up to pull her down into a kiss. For a moment, she just held her lips to his before she met him with just as much vigor. Alone, they kissed again and again, and Sasuke could feel his pain somehow worsening and lessening at the same time. He drug his fingers through her hair while she held him tightly and he worked his lips against hers.

"Just… please, can you just hold me awhile?" he asked quietly against her and without a word, she lowered herself to the ground to sit, pulling him with her. When they both were sitting, Ursa pulled him to her lap, holding him against her while he tried to keep from curling up in his frustration and pain. She held him tightly and rocked him ever so slightly while he listened to the beating of her heart, and he was hit with another wave of anxiety as he remembered her dead eyes looking up at him. The way she held him now was nothing like the airship time together had been, that comfort wasn't remotely the same.

But it was comfort, and with his guilt hammering his mentality into a black pit, Sasuke wouldn't have traded it for anything.

---

Katara looked at Ursa and Sasuke, trying to keep from cutting her lower lip as she bit it in anger. Of course this woman had managed to beat her to him, of course she had again been there first. She had intended to confront Sasuke over what he had done, to shout at him over the stupidity of his action; Katara's own insides were crawling as she tried to wrap her head around what had happened, if she had really died and been reborn per Sasuke's will. But the fact that he had gone forward with using an ability that he didn't truly understand or know how to use, and carried out something like that was something she wanted to just rip into him over.

And then… maybe she could spoken to him about something else.

But Ursa had such a hold on him, it was impossible to imagine that Katara would ever be able to find time alone with him again. Whether it was her, or Toph, or Azula, or Mai, or Yue, or who knew, Katara had been feeling nothing short of furiously discouraged, something she had done her best to keep to herself, though it had come out in full force just before Kakashi had appeared with an unconscious Sasuke slung over his shoulder. She had tried to see him alone on the airship, but had overheard him talking with Yue and stormed off; she had tried to see him alone in the tent after he had been brought back to him, but Aang had fully committed to sitting and watching him; and she had tried to see him when he had stormed off, only to find him arguing with Toph, causing her to storm off silently yet again.

And now… now Ursa had him. And she didn't just have him alone.

Somehow, Katara couldn't quite pull her eyes away from the almost pained makeout session the two of them were having; there were tear tracks running down Ursa's face, but that didn't at all impede on her passion as they pressed their lips together. She wanted to interrupt, to come up with some terrible excuse for intruding just to see the discomfort on Ursa's face, but she couldn't.

When Ursa lowered them both down to sit so she could hold him, Katara couldn't keep still and forced herself to turn from where she stood hidden amongst the trees to silently march away. Fate couldn't keep her from confronting him forever.