Chapter 37: The Clouds Break

No part of Kyoshi wanted to carry out what she was about to do.

It wasn't as though the plan didn't make sense from a logistical standpoint: by stealing away his daughter and gutting the woman he cared for, killing both her and the child growing within her in one fell swoop, Sasuke would be forced into aggressive action, careless action, and set himself up for defeat. It was too good a bet, staking that what he cared most for against him. From what she knew and had studied of him, he was a man who disguised himself as apathetic, but hid behind the darker parts of his psyche, the most negative and destructive emotions that he did his best to hide even himself from. Regardless of Yangchen's push for a more peaceful and solution, this would put Sasuke in as vulnerable a state as could be managed and allow for victory.

But as Kyoshi looked down at the woman on her knees before her, everything within her felt wrong.

She looked at Sasuke's lover and saw the desperation on her face as she tried to hide how frightened she was; Kyoshi didn't have much bearing on this Ursa, but she knew enough to know that the fear in her eyes was fear for her children, fear for Sasuke, and most of all, fear for the child growing within her. Kyoshi looked down at the toned stomach she was preparing to slash open and heard the cries of Ursa's two children crash against her ears like vicious claps of thunder.

She felt the furious and terrified eyes of Sasuke's companions on the scene before them. Avatar Aang looked as betrayed and hurt as anyone could be, his innocent and naïve expression twisting in horror as a last plea tore past his lips. Kyoshi would have thought that years of trying to sow peace among the healing nations would have hardened him to the ways of the world, but there was still so much of his being that longed to see the good in everyone and everything that surely what he was seeing now was breaking his fragile heart into pieces. His woman, the one whom had worked with Koh to achieve the very end being played out now, had her face awash in horror at what she was seeing also. Ironic, Kyoshi thought, considering the role she had played in this.

Again, she felt a twinge on the back of her neck and found herself wondering if Yangchen was watching this from afar. She and Koh had both neglected to tell her how this particular part of the plan would carry itself out, and that had been her decision; if Yangchen knew that the method for driving Sasuke into a state of irate recklessness wasn't just taking his daughter, but also killing the woman pregnant with his child… Kyoshi hadn't been willing to risk the fallout for that. It was clear that her fellow Avatar was near the end of her leash as it was, and something like this might completely turn her over. Kyoshi had made damn sure that Koh had told her and only her of what he had learned of Ursa's condition. She had thought that making sure Yangchen wasn't present for this would be the biggest hurdle.

It wasn't.

She was about to take the life of a mother, a woman who was pregnant, before the very eyes of her children. Ursa had found love in Sasuke, so much so that she had given her body to him in such a way. Kyoshi couldn't quite fathom the mentality of this woman and didn't know entirely how someone could be smitten by a being who was so clearly not of their world.

Perhaps that's part of the draw he has on her… that he has on all of them.

Assembled before her were a considerable mixture of people: the present Avatar, the Fire Lord, one of her own Kyoshi Warriors, some of the greatest benders to walk the earth, and others, but they all had the same thing in common. They had been willing to put it all on the line for Sasuke, out of respect, friendship, infatuation, attraction, loyalty, even love. Kyoshi wished she could have dismissed it in her mind as Sasuke using his powers to control them, to brainwash them, but she knew in her heart that wasn't the case.

Why does it have to be this way?

The bitter question was almost automatic in her mind, but just as she had done over and over during her time as Avatar, Kyoshi closed away her emotions and steeled herself. The idea of hurting this woman and killing her might have been a damnable thought, but the trick was simply not to think about it.

That was what she had been telling herself since the day she had come back.

As she listened to Zuko's screams and Azula's pleas, Ursa realized that she wasn't ready to die. It was strange, a true sense of déjà vu came over her that she assumed must have been a result of her thinking back to when she had nearly died, or actually had died, before Sasuke had forced his will on the very time and space that surrounded them. She had been ready to die then, even if she hadn't wanted to, knowing that she'd be protecting Soza, the child of her daughter and the young man she found she had fallen for.

But now, as she felt her pulse hammering in her throat and waited for each beat to be her last, she couldn't keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks, as she continued to desperately voice assurances to her children, pacifying moans as she struggled with her own acceptance and denial of what was about to happen.

"My angels… my children, I love you… I love you…"

She hadn't been in their lives nearly long enough, and saying it now felt like she was barely chipping away at the time they had been apart. Ursa couldn't fathom how she might have been ready to die that day, when there was still so much she needed to say to her children, to do with them, just to be with them.

And knowing there was a life now growing within her, she couldn't keep the agony from her and she gave a shuddering sob against the grip of the emotionless shadows that held her still for Avatar Kyoshi. The eyes of everyone there didn't seem able to tear themselves away, and though she didn't want Azula or Zuko to witness this, the only thing that Ursa could put into words was the love for her children.

Please… I just… I don't know what I want. But it can't end like this.

It felt like Kyoshi had been holding her serrated fan overhead for an agonizing period and Ursa found herself almost wishing it would just end; the anticipation was unbearable.

Sasuke, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry I couldn't protect our child, I didn't know… I didn't know that they knew.

At last, she heard the swift, merciless movement behind her and she felt her breath catch in her throat as the shadow of the tall and imposing Avatar flashed on the ground before her, the rising sun catching her silhouette and casting it over the cold ground. Almost on impulse, Ursa felt her body stiffen and she waited for the burning chill of the fan cutting her open. She knew it wouldn't hurt immediately; she had been injured with enough blades in her life to know that the pain wouldn't reach her for a moment, and with skill and speed like Kyoshi possessed, it might take even longer. Ursa couldn't bear to look down and see the fan digging into her stomach, spilling her blood and insides over the snow-covered dock, and she closed her eyes, preparing for the explosion of pain that was to come.

But there was nothing. She felt like she had heard an almost soft thud over her shoulder, but there was a silence then that was wholly unnatural; the cries of her children faded into nothing, and she couldn't even hear the sharp and anxious breathing of those she knew were still being held before her, and after a moment of being able to hear nothing but the gentle lapping of the waves against the harbor, she dared to loosen her eyelids.

Nothing had changed about the situation before her. Her children, and all her companions were still being pressed against the ground by the shadows that the wretched spirit Koh had seemingly drawn to life, and while their expressions were still tight with fear, their eyes had all seemed to have grown wider.

Ursa slowly tracked her eyes down her front, past the curve of her breast to see that her stomach was still pale and drawn tight, no metal buried in it, no gash or cut, no blood or pain. Trying to rationalize what was happening, her gaze then fell on the shadow of Kyoshi that she had seen laid over the snowy ground before her.

The black shape wasn't as it should have been, no longer a highlight of the tall, lean form of the Avatar who had been preparing to take her life. It seemed slightly bloated as though it had grown from its side somehow and elongated in a rather preposterous sort of way. Nothing about its appearance added up at all, and Ursa dared to turn her head then, as much as she was able with the shadows still holding her to her knees.

When she met Sasuke's dark eyes, her lower lip trembled and fresh tears blurred her vision without any possible way of denying them.

He had moved just in the way of Kyoshi's swing and Ursa could see her fan dug into his shoulder a good several inches, though his expression showed no signs of pain. Kyoshi herself too had her eyes on him with a distinctly reserved but most certainly stunned expression on her stoic face, but Ursa only saw this vaguely in her peripheral. Her eyes were only meant for Sasuke's then and she found she couldn't think of anything really to say. When the words reached her, they sounded almost alien sounding out over the deafening silence of the harbor that had fallen.

"You came back," she whispered plainly. It was a stupid remark, but Ursa's mind wasn't working in such a way that she imagined much sense could be made beyond just a statement like that. Sasuke gave her a small smile that didn't extend to his eyes; his black orbs remained clouded with concern, tension and what Ursa knew to be barely contained fury.

"I promised," he still said back, just as plainly and Ursa almost heaved a fresh sob then and there as her heart swelled so much, it hurt.

Sasuke...

Minutes Prior

Sasuke realized that while his mind drifted that he could no longer feel his own body. It felt as though he had become nothing, an aimless presence adrift in some invisible, liminal space. The pain that had driven him into unconsciousness had faded away to a numbing and throbbing in the back of his mind, pressing him further and further away from any real understanding of where he was physically. He knew he was in his own head, he must have been.

But am I dead?

He realized he was more bitterly furious about what had happened than anything. Koh had set the bait and Sasuke had taken it without so much as even thinking. He knew that a being with this shapeshifting power was operating within the world, a being dead set on destroying him, and he had left Koloss's chamber without even a thought to being cautious. And so when he had seen his daughter before him, violated and tortured, there had been no thought to the fact that what he was seeing could have been a lie. The fear, the horror had all been so real to the point that they felt more like permanence in his mind.

Koh had used Soza against him, and it had worked perfectly.

Now, Sasuke was left adrift in his own head, or perhaps someplace else, while he considered and wondered what sort of limbo he was even in at this point. He didn't understand what it had been that Koh had hit him with, but it had been enough clearly to debilitate him this badly, and perhaps more? The vile shapeshifting spirit had told him that it very well could kill him, but this hadn't sounded like the only path before him. Koh had made it seem as though he could have forced his way through the pain and found his way free from whatever attack had been injected into his body.

But Sasuke couldn't see that path and all he could sense was a growing sense of tiredness, as though his mind was pulling him off to smothering sleep. And it didn't seem so bad to him as the seconds rolled by and all memory of what had just happened to him slipped blissfully away. Soon, he didn't even remember why he was in the place he was, or why it had frustrated him so. It was just the pull of the dark and the promise of gentle, permanent relief it was offering him.

Why wouldn't he want to just take the current that his mind was taking him on, out to the sea of oblivion that it was tempting him with? Somehow, he couldn't quite remember why it was that he wanted to be awake in this world that did nothing but weigh burden after burden upon him. He was having trouble now even remembering what those burdens were. Rest from them was all that appealed to him as the numbing of the pain became an almost warm and fuzzy sensation as though his very mind was being laid upon a warm pillow. If Sasuke had possessed any semblance of physical form, he would have almost wanted to reach for a blanket that wasn't there, adding to the comfort that was being granted him.

He couldn't remember why he had even been fighting now. Even if there was a purpose, how important could it have been? It just felt stupid then, to imagine that there was some reason that would have made him consider returning to the suffering of the waking world when he could give up whatever this was and be allowed peace. Peace wasn't something that Sasuke could even remember feeling, peace of mind and peace of his very being. Was it even possible for him to experience? He didn't know, but he figured it was high time he found out. With a sigh that passed through his entire consciousness, he closed eyes that weren't there and began to slip through something he didn't even quite understand.

And then, something strange pressed against his ethereal form, an awfully cold and obstructive sensation, this time feeling as though a single freezing cold finger was pressing flat against the back of whatever form he was currently possessing. It was rather shocking and Sasuke felt his drifting and incomplete mind twisting at the sensation.

"Fight, boy… fight for what you love."

The voice that he heard echoing about him was familiar, but he couldn't place it. It came from that frigid point that he could still feel applying pressure to his form. It was terribly cold, but he could sense a light around it and realized that he had been completely surrounded by darkness, an all-encompassing black. The cold, the light, glared down at him, impossible to ignore, but he could see it being forced back by the comforting darkness. The rest of his nonphysical form was still wrapped and cloaked in the warm comfort that he had been feeling, but Sasuke wanted angrily to push away the cold light and let the dark keep lulling him back to that place of quiet and peace.

But he couldn't quite bring himself to push aside the words the cold light had spoken.

Love… what I love…

Within that split second, he found himself thinking to what it was that he loved and realized that it was the same thing that he had been fighting for, the reason he had been willing to shoulder what he had for as long as he had.

Soza's face came back to him, smiling and confident, and he found that he had forgotten her in the dark. He had just been thinking about her and how she had been used against him to put him here in the first place, and yet somehow, those thoughts felt like a lifetime ago.

My daughter.

He saw Soza sitting in his lap, asking him questions about her abilities, about his past, about who and what she was. He saw her smiling and felt himself smiling back at her, though these images seemed to be reflecting to him through a pane of glass, mere shades of things that had been. Sasuke felt the love he had discovered he possessed for her, an emotion so strong and passionate. The love that had forced him to deny what she had demanded of him, love that had generated distance between them, love that had only pulled him back to her. He tried to reach through the pane and run a hand against her cheek, to tousle her hair and make her scowl in annoyance at him. Anything to repossess the connection with Soza that now seemed to be long since passed for some reason.

But her image began to fade, and so did the cold light that had pressed itself against him.

Sasuke tried to scream as he watched his daughter slip away from him, but it was nothing in a silence he hadn't known even surrounded him. No sound escaped his form, whatever it might have been composed of, but he refused to surrender what he had just seen. As the pale light faded with the cold, he reached deep into the deeply frigid feeling, reaching for what it had given him.

A collage rippled out of the light, and Sasuke saw the faces of the people he cared for; there was Jin, Ty Lee, Sokka, and the others and he grasped at them with as much willpower as he could muster. Some of the images were stronger than others, easier to brush against with how much connection he felt to them.

He gripped at the visage of Aang and saw himself and the Avatar standing in the greenhouse, sitting in that tent, standing on a beach. Sasuke looked at Aang's almost tentative smile and felt the Avatar lean against him, a gesture that was intimate, but didn't make him feel uncomfortable somehow. He saw himself put an arm around Aang through the pane, but the image began to fade.

Sasuke snatched at the next image and found himself standing beside Mai. She was laughing, a sound that rarely issued from a mouth that so much more frequently aired out sullen and moody comments, and he could see the genuine happiness in her eyes. He wanted to touch her, to ask her to pull him free of this encroaching void, but as he pressed against the pane and looked into her eyes, she began to fade.

He seized another as Mai vanished into darkness and found himself standing nearly nose to nose with Yue as she looked up at him with a sad smile, her hands on his chest as she asked him something, words that were muffled and that he couldn't understand. He heard himself reply something in that same distorted tone and he watched tears track down her cheeks. She closed her eyes and pressed her forehead against his before that sight too began to fade.

Starting to feel more desperate, Sasuke groped at the passing images ejected from the cold light and found himself sitting beside Azula on the side of the bed that had been in the cabin they had shared. She was looking down and away from him, looking ashamed and lost, but was clearly doing what she could to hide it. Sasuke watched himself sit beside her in silence before he reached out and took her hand, holding it gently in his own. Azula's eyes glowed with sadness, and she bowed her head, her eyelids clenching shut. She stifled a sob and Sasuke began to lose her too as she began to fade.

Knowing he was out of chances, he saw the single, strongest point from the cold light that had nearly completely disappeared into the black and he grasped it with a fervent, desperate wish.

Ursa was lying beside him in bed, stroking the side of his face as she looked at him lovingly and sadly, strangely. He saw himself standing beside her on a hillside, watching as her hair was tossed in the morning breeze, her beautiful face looking towards the rising sun. He saw himself on top of her while she looked up at him with ecstasy and affection, and he saw her lean in to press her lips against his, a feeling he couldn't reach through the pane that he watched this all through.

His ethereal being was desperately trying to hold onto the sight of her, and Sasuke watched as he walked up to Ursa among the trees and took her hand. She turned and pulled him to her, holding his head to her chest and he could see her heartbeat more than he could feel it. He tried to scream again, hurling his love at the pane, but it no more passed through the pane as the visage of Ursa did. And then, to his misery and mounting agony, her smiling face too began to fade.

And then, so too did the cold light, and he was left in the darkness with the pane before him.

Sasuke's consciousness turned downwards as the black enveloped him once more. He could still sense the pane ahead of him, but the images were gone, faded into nothing. Desperately, he tried to listen for the voice that he had only recently found a bane on his warm comfort within the black, now wishing more than anything that it would return to him, bringing with it the images of the people he knew that he truly and deeply cared for. That darkness that he had been so willing to slip into felt nothing but oppressive now, and yet somehow, he couldn't believe otherwise that it was all that he had left.

Am I dead?

Perhaps that had been what the cold light had been. His last images of what was most important to him flickering out as a final reminder of the people that he had failed. They couldn't win the war without him, Sasuke knew that. Had he doomed his own daughter? Had he doomed Ursa and their unborn child? Had he doomed them all?

It hurt too badly to think about. He didn't care to spend any more time reflecting on what he had done, and Sasuke quickly reached for the void once more, even as he hated it with every inch of his being. It would be better to allow it to have him then to be forced to remain where he was, stuck thinking about how he had let everyone down and how he would never be able to—

"Hey, Sasuke."

He blinked. Then he realized he had blinked.

Sasuke looked down and saw that he was kneeling in the blackness. He could see himself. He could feel himself. He was no longer just hovering in nothingness in that ethereal sense. Blinking, he raised his head and saw the pane of glass still before him, but it was no longer just black on the other side of it.

Toph stood where the images had once been, arms crossed as she smiled almost pityingly at him. Her eyes were still glassy from their blindness, but Sasuke couldn't shake the feeling that she was looking right at him.

"Don't give up, asshole. Your kid needs you. We all need you."

She turned her head down slightly, looking almost like she was amused at some embarrassment she was feeling.

"I need you."

Her eyes came up and locked with his once more as she drew back her shoulder, the side of her body briefly waning into the darkness. Then her arm shot forward with a closed fist at the end of it. The pane shattered with a crash that was far louder than a piece of glass that size should have warranted, and her fist continued through towards him. Sasuke just caught sight of her smiling before she hit him, her fist connecting hard with his shoulder and sending him topping backwards.

Sasuke roared a breath of life as he suddenly found himself gasping for air, his eyes fixing on the pale blue walls and ceiling around him with perfect clarity. As his heart pounded and the oxygen slammed blood into his head, his vision blurred and he bowed forward, his palms hitting the ground as he rested on his knees. Gone was the cushioning warmth of the black he had just been trapped within and now as dry, cold air filled his lungs, Sasuke felt his body aching feverishly all over.

He remained bent double, trying to let his body recover and resume some semblance of normalcy with his heart rate and breathing. It felt to him that he had just been taken and placed in some sort of state of suspended animation before being unceremoniously returned to reality, with no oxygen in his body. As his physical form recovered, so too did his mind reel in an attempt to place him appropriately within his own memories.

"You survived," a soft, wispy voice said through the pounding of blood in his ears. Jamming his eyelids tightly shut and squeezing them there, Sasuke forced them open and looked around, his mouth still agape as he pulled in air as best he could.

Koloss was sitting just behind him, thin legs crossed and its one visible eye peering tiredly out from behind the wrappings that wove tightly around its body. There was almost a humorous aura about how it was looking at him, like it had been waiting for him to wake up.

"Even after I placed my energy within you, I still wasn't sure you would survive," the being murmured. "You still continued to fade, but… you clearly found whatever it was you were looking for."

A cluster of thoughts brimmed in Sasuke's mind, and he looked in confusion at the frail being; he felt his hand reach unconsciously behind him and he found a rather freezingly cold spot in the middle of his back, right where he had remembered being touched within the void.

"That… was you?" he managed to get out through gritted teeth as the very act of twisting his body seemed painful. Koloss nodded slowly.

"I found you here on the floor, withering within yourself. There was little I could do, but I gave you what I was able."

Sasuke thought to the familiar voice he had heard while within the dark, the cold touch and the light that had come with it. Prior to being graced with those sensations, he remembered how close he had come to giving into the dark and accepting the void, Sasuke felt a lump rise in his throat from both shame and gratitude.

"You saved my life," was all he could think to say as the hammering of his pulse slowly worked its way down to a calmer level.

"You say that as though you are surprised," the child replied softly. "Though it was your desire that saved you. What was it that brought you back?"

As Sasuke thought to the final visage he had experienced, he didn't answer.

"I came here to kill you," he said bluntly. "I broke into your chambers and brought the threat of death right to you."

"And yet I yet live," Koloss said back, just as matter of factly. Shakily, it rose to its feet, its knees looking to be threatening to buckle. Sasuke almost felt as though he needed to reach out a hand and offer support to the frail being.

"You believed that your only opportunity to move forward was to end my life in what you thought would have diminished the threat of the returned spirits. I was at your mercy, your blade at my neck. And yet I live."

It continued to stare at Sasuke with its tired, morose eye.

"Why? Why did you choose to spare me?"

It hadn't been as simple as a reason, Sasuke thought. He had looked down at Koloss and seen the willingness of the small being to die, what had almost seemed like a desire to be put to an end. Kusanagi had been there, angled downward and would have been so easy to pull back and swing down in a single, life-ending arc. And Sasuke had felt the resolve. He hadn't expected the end of his quest to look the way that it did, but expectations didn't matter.

Something else had, however.

Sasuke couldn't have figured exactly why it was that he had felt his memory flash to seeing himself standing in the middle of an empty street, looking up at his brother. He would never be able to forget the feeling of being abandoned, the sensation of pure loss and anguish that had accompanied his discovery that night. He remembered how he wished that he might die too, as to be spared the pain of what he had witnessed, but Itachi had spared him. Sasuke would spend a great many night lamenting his brother's decision, but when he learned why it was that everything had transpired as it had, he had also learned of the chance he had been given and knew that his wish for death would have gained him nothing. Perhaps he had allowed his desire for revenge turn his own world against him, but had he given into despair that night, had his wish for death been granted, he would never have known the people he knew now, the ones that had helped him cling to life in the vacuous pull of the abyss.

Peace, he thought, was more than just a release of what weighed him down.

"You were betrayed by the people you thought you loved and whom you thought loved you in turn," he replied quietly. "From the moment you were a child, you were being used. Maybe that just rubbed me the wrong way. You were never given a chance to live, and I would rather find another way to win my war than take your life."

Even as he said the words, he hated the lack of logic in them. He could practically see Azula sneering at his weakness, see Toph furrow her brow at his decision, and even imagine the flicker of disappointment in his own daughter's eyes that he hadn't found the will to do what was necessary.

But Sasuke knew deep down that it wasn't necessary, not really. He was sacrificing an innocent life on a gamble that he knew nothing about. So, the power was tied to Koloss. Did that guarantee that killing the weak being would achieve this end? He had heard Koloss tell him what it knew of its own significance and had been able to tell that the being was practically asking to be killed. It was dejected, it was tired, it was lonely, and had been that way long enough for generations to pass off in the Four Nations while it rotted in the cold, north of the Water Nation.

Maybe I am just getting soft… but I somehow know that I did the right thing.

Right up until he had allowed the decision to cloud his mind so much that it had compounded horrible with the illusion Koh had used against him, and he had nearly been killed in a shameful display of ignorance. But now, if what Koloss said was true…

"I misjudged you," Koloss said plainly, stumping weakly in what looked like an effort to pace, clearly difficult given its physicality. "You believe in the necessity of your mission, but you don't let your notions of what is guide how you act. You never abandoned your task, but instead chose to proceed towards your goal in a different manner, even though the supposed easiest path was before you. I rather supposed… that humanity wasn't capable of such complex thought."

Flexing his muscles and stretching his body as much as he dared, Sasuke cursed to himself. Perhaps at another time he would have been willing to listen to the quiet monologuing of the creature before him about its changed perception of humanity, but at that moment there were far more pressing matters, not the least of which being his body returning to strength. He didn't want to ask, but he sensed immediately upon thinking of it that Soza was gone, and it wasn't a mystery whom she had been taken by.

I've struggled with Kamui in the past, only really able to use it on physical things… but I have to use it now to get back to the city. I can tell everyone what's happened, and from there… I guess it's back to Ba Sing Se to get back my daughter.

He was distantly surprised at how little he was panicking over the fact that Soza must have been taken, but he supposed that his overwhelming sense of purpose was shielding him from such unnecessary feelings. Flying back with Susanoo could be a risky drain on his chakra, and he knew that Kamui would get him there faster, and easier.

"Is something the matter?" Koloss asked, its childlike and rather hoarse voice bringing Sasuke back to remember that he was in the company of an exceptionally bizarre being.

"My daughter has been taken," he very nearly snapped. It was quite the stupid question; not only had Soza been wrenched from him, but he also still had an army of spirits he was going to have to get through one way or another. Seeming almost embarrassed that it hadn't taken this information into account, Koloss looked down in a gesture of apology.

"Forgive me. I often have to remind myself of human connections and relationships, so removed from them that I am."

"It's fine," Sasuke said quickly. In the back of his head, he had already resolved to try and do something about this being's situation, but it would have to wait. Preparing to tap into his eyes to pull himself into Kamui, he was stopped as Koloss inquired of him again.

"Perhaps I might be of some assistance?"

This was enough to give Sasuke pause as he looked back with a furrowed brow.

"You told me yourself that you've lost your connection to this body that was meant to be your protection. You are part of a power source you can't even harness or control; what good would you be able to do for me?"

He hadn't meant it to be a rude response, but there really wasn't anyway around it. That, and Sasuke didn't have time for manners.

Before him, Koloss turned its head left and right with an almost infuriatingly slow speed, but there was something curious about its movements. There was a tangible sense of anticipation from the creature, as though it were experiencing something it had longed to but had never been able to achieve.

"Once… that was true. Not but very recently as a matter of fact."

Its single visible eye looked back to him, and Sasuke could see almost something like excitement flickering there.

"You spared my life, and in doing so, I received the opportunity to save yours."

Sasuke felt the cold sensation near the small of his back still present.

"When I did… I realize how it was that my parents bound me in the way that I've been forced to live. I never understood that it was that they separated my connection to the physical world even as I was forced to live within it… the body they made me, physical… the world beyond, physical… and me, in physical form, but unable to be one with any of it."

Sasuke sensed a presence behind him, and he whirled as his hand reached for the handle of his sword. Not willing to allow himself to be taken off guard again or fooled otherwise, his Sharingan flashed to life, but he found that the only company that had joined him and the meek spiritual being was a group of well over two dozen of the possessed armor suits that made up the defenses of the enormous giant body they were but miniscule inhabitants of. Hands gripping their weapons that also flickered with the same-colored energy, they looked at him through emotionless slits in their armored heads, but none made a move towards him. As he looked past the main group, he could see many more spilling out into the hallway beyond the antechamber and found he could sense a great many more than he could see.

"Be at ease," Koloss murmured. "They have not come to fight you, but rather have come by my request."

Sasuke only slightly relaxed.

"Why might you have called on them?"

There came a deep, resounding rumble that Sasuke could hear far off in the distance, as guttural and powerful sounding as an earthquake. Stumping up weakly beside him, Koloss looked up at the soldiers and raised an almost skeleton-like thin arm.

"I offer you all within my power," it said softly. "My protectors, my ability, myself. You have spared my life and restored my connection to this world. Perhaps that can be of some use to you."

Turning his head down, Sasuke looked at the childlike being that was offering him this in a state of mild bemusement.

"I'm going to war against your own kind," he said slowly. "You just learned that you can interact with the physical world again; wouldn't you want to not get involved in a conflict like this?"

Thus far, the only real emotion that Sasuke had been able to sense from Koloss's words was tiredness and occasional, mild interest. But now, when he heard the meek, hoarse voice again, it was tinged just ever so slightly with bitterness.

"My parents… hated what I became. They abandoned me in a shell and left me in the cold and dark. I have no kind, no one to call my own."

Then, there was mild amusement as well.

"You have shared more words with me than anyone ever has on top of the other good you have done me, the kindness and compassion you have shown to something you surely perceive as a monster."

Koloss moved his outstretched hand closer and put a hand delicately against the blade of the foremost soldier. The armored spirit almost seemed to resist and pull the sword away, but it remained obediently where it stood; when Koloss pulled the hand away, there was a blackened singe against the palm of its hand, burning past the wrappings and scarring its already frail appendage. But it looked almost monstrously relieved at the sight, looking down at its hand as though it were the most precious treasure in the world.

"But I will aid you, Sasuke Uchiha, if not purely for my aforementioned reasons, then for my own interest. There is something about you… I wish to see your journey through to its end."

Sasuke wasn't sure exactly what, but there was a deeply foreboding essence to the being's words rather than a reassuring one. But as he looked at Koloss and the rather countless, black-armored soldiers before him, he allowed only a nod. There wasn't time to waste on such concerns, not when they were nothing more than a feeling. He felt something else starting to concoct in his head, and for the first time since he had awoken from his state of near death, he allowed himself to feel a touch of hope and he threw it in with the familiar, sickening sense of hate that once again was becoming his guide.

Present

For a moment, they remained in the strangest sort of limbo, Ursa on her knees being held by the shadows and Sasuke standing between her and Kyoshi, the Avatar's weapon still embedded in his shoulder. When the Avatar finally did speak, none of the shock reflected on her face was discernible in her voice.

"Sasuke," she said in a low, controlled tone. "Your attempt to save this woman is admirable, but you've surely noted the state of your other companions."

The shadows, for emphasis, seemed to pull their bladed arms near to the throats of Azula, Zuko, Aang and the rest, several of whom winced, but none of them took their eyes from Sasuke.

"Stand down," Kyoshi continued sternly. "Or you will be forfeiting their lives. And standing as you are now, I don't imagine…"

She pressed the blade of her fan further into his shoulder, and Ursa felt her blood rise as she saw this happen. Sasuke's expression still betrayed no sign of pain or anything of the sort.

"… you are in a state to do much about it."

Sasuke's gaze drifted up to look over his friends and Ursa saw the heat glinting in his eyes.

"Forfeiting their lives…" he murmured, almost in a dreamlike sort of way and she watched his body bend just slightly before something very strange happened.

There was a loud poof and a small cloud burst around where Sasuke had just been standing, though it began to clear almost immediately. As she looked, Ursa saw that where he had been standing just a fraction of a second before, a log was now suspended briefly in the air, Kyoshi's fan driven deep into the wood.

Ahead of them, there was a blinding flash of white and blue light as Ursa smelled the ozone in the air, and the shadows holding down the group were blasted away in the blink of an eye. Another shadow, though one quite different from the spectral beings that had been holding them all hostage, ripped towards Ursa and she felt the chilled appendages of the shadows holding her release their grip and she was pulled to the side.

In a moment almost too fast to comprehend, Sasuke had pulled her to safety, destroyed every shadow that Koh had conjured, and was now standing between Ursa and his friends and companions, watching almost with cold amusement as Kyoshi stared down at her weapon that was now buried in a piece of timber as though she couldn't even bring herself to believe what she was seeing. Pulling her top back down over her midriff, Ursa got shakily to her feet and a second before Zuko and Azula both had reached her and gripped her arms tightly as though they were children once again, she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Sasuke's lower neck.

He's back.

As Avatar Kyoshi wrenched the metal from wood with a splintering crack, Koh's body gave a great, twisting heave and he released an awful sound that was both a roar and a scream.

"How have you returned?!" he screeched at Sasuke, losing his self-control for the first time that Ursa had seen. "You should be in that great tomb of a body, withering away and suffering in your own twisted hateful mind!"

Though she had no bearing necessarily for what Koh was referring to, she watched Sasuke bristle as the grotesque spirit addressed him. He turned his head slowly and locked eyes with Koh, his chin inclining as his face pulled in an expression of raw hate. Though it was only readable through his body language, Koh almost seemed to shrink slightly at the glare.

"You…" Sasuke growled. "You… dared… to use my daughter against me like that?"

His hand reached behind him and withdrew his blade, the sound of the metal being unsheathed scraping out over the cold morning air. Sasuke slowly raised the sword and directed it towards Koh, slowly releasing a breath of air through his nostrils. As he did, Ursa thought she heard a distant and rumbling thud, like the far-off splintering of a glacier.

"You've done such wrong to the people I care about and to this world… but just for what you did to me, to Soza… I'm going to make you hurt."

Though Koh didn't directly acknowledge this threat with any sort of response, the quiet was almost just as telling; Ursa didn't know what it was that had transpired exactly between the two, but whatever it was, she could practically feel the blood boiling from Sasuke just ahead of her. She wanted to reach out and wrap her arms around him, to calm him down and tell him that everything would be okay, but somehow, she wondered if even her touch and reassurance would be enough to bring Sasuke down at that point. Though he stood just in front of her as just a man, she could feel the hate and fury wafting from him, and she felt as though she were looking at a swelling storm cloud rather than a person. And even as she felt anxious hopefulness coursing through her veins that Sasuke had returned, Ursa couldn't help but feel deeply saddened at the fact that Sasuke had fallen into such a dark place once more. His burning eyes, his spiteful expression, his white knuckles, his tense form all were plainly visible and Ursa wanted nothing more than to pull him away with her, somewhere far away from anyone else, where she could just hold him and give him all of herself in an attempt to calm him. But she knew bitterly well that this day, there was likely nothing she would be able to do for him.

If there was something to take heart from however, Ursa noted how everyone had moved to gather around Sasuke; Azula and Zuko were still by her side, but the entire group moved to congregate around them, Sasuke in the center and Ursa felt the corners of her mouth pull just slightly in what might have been a smile.

No matter the conflicts that he was with them, no matter what's happened between them all… he's what brings them together like this.

"Good to have you back," Sokka remarked out of the corner of his mouth, but his gaze, like them all, remained resting solely on Kyoshi and Koh. Ursa's ear twitched as she thought she heard the thud again, and when she saw Toph turn her head almost like a tense dog, she knew that she wasn't imagining the sound.

"You have some sort of plan?" Suki asked quietly, but Sasuke didn't respond, nor did he really seem to acknowledge that any of them were there in the first place. Ursa could guess why; the hate that was boiling in his eyes was likely clouding everything to him save for his desire to no doubt lunge forward and begin hammering on the beings who had tried to hurt those close to him.

With a violent jolt, Kyoshi and Koh suddenly kicked backwards off the ground of the harbor. Propelling themselves backwards into the air, they righted and hovered several dozen meters back and above where they had just been standing. The movement had been almost strangely sporadic, but as Ursa looked down, she saw the reason. The snow at Sasuke's feet had been impacted hard as it swirled around his feet, having been blown back by the sheer force of him tensing. It had been such a subtle motion that Ursa hadn't caught it, but the spirits clearly had and she watched as Sasuke continued to glare at the pair of them now floating ahead of them.

"Azula."

At her side, Ursa felt her daughter relinquish the tight hold that she had been maintaining on her arm and step forward at Sasuke's word. Azula's face was stricken with wet tracks that had come from her panicking, but her expression was almost as hateful as Sasuke's as she too stared at Avatar Kyoshi. There came another distant thud and Ursa felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up as she, along with Toph, Ty Lee, Jin and Yue looked around.

"What is that?" Sokka breathed and Suki gave a shake of her head, eyes fixed resolutely ahead. Ursa forced herself to look that way again, feeling that the scene before her took precedent over the rather chilling sound.

"Where's our daughter?" Sasuke growled in a low voice that quivered just slightly. At his side, Azula inclined her chin slightly and Ursa watched her daughter's hands tremble at her side.

"She… gave herself up. To try and protect us," she replied in a near whisper. If anything, Sasuke almost seemed to grow more still at her words.

Behind them, Aang lowered his head and it was clear just how distraught the young man was.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke," he murmured weakly. Katara stepped near to his side and reached gingerly for his shoulder and Aang tensed as her hand touched him. From where his head was still bowed, she saw anger on his face too.

Ahead of them all, Kyoshi's voice boomed out powerfully, ringing strong through the cold air.

"Surely you cannot be expecting anything but slaughter should you try and resist, Sasuke," she called to him. He hadn't moved since Azula had informed him of Soza's whereabouts and he didn't make any reaction to Kyoshi's words then either.

"If you try and fight, you will be dooming the ones that you have fought so hard to protect."

She gestured behind her.

"This army will ravage this city and destroy all those who try and oppose our will. Give yourself up, you and your would-be matron."

Ursa felt Zuko's hand on her arm tighten its grip and she felt a surge of emotion as the entire group seemed to close slightly tighter around her. Even Mai and Toph, who no doubt still resented her for what she posed, Yue as well, they were ignoring those feelings to protect someone they truly owed no responsibility towards.

"We possess an army," Kyoshi rumbled and in rather chilling synchronization, the thud boomed alongside her words, almost like it had come from her mouth as well, louder than ever. But as Ursa watched, she saw Kyoshi's eyes flick up at the sound as though she too were unsure of what exactly it could mean. Koh twisted in the air around her as she looked back to Sasuke and gave a small shake of the head.

"How do you expect to fight us?"

As Kyoshi's question echoed around them, Ursa looked to Sasuke as did they all. His black spiky hair whipped in the breeze before he slightly inclined his own head.

"With this one," he muttered in a voice that only the ones just around him could surely hear.

Ursa blinked in confusion at his words, wondering what he could possibly mean. He couldn't have been referring to the Northern Water Tribe's army, that was a last-ditch effort at best and Tangith himself had made it somewhat clear that such a fight would only end one way. Sasuke couldn't have been talking about their small group either; Ursa, Suki, Sokka, Ty Lee, Mai, Yue, and Jin were all significantly experienced in hand-to-hand combat with weapons or otherwise, and Aang, Zuko, Azula, Katara and Toph were some of the best benders of their generation. But Ursa thought to the island where they had battled the two spirits and the number of extremists who had joined their cause, and remembered how even just so few spirits had given them an uphill battle; what could they hope to manage against so many?

But as she watched, Ursa realized what it was that Sasuke was playing at.

With wide eyes and shock on their faces, they all watched as the space around Sasuke's head began to swirl, further and further until it was like a flattened funnel cloud twisted with a center near his eye. There came a strange hissing sound as the space seemed to almost be pulling inwards on itself; then, Sasuke grit his teeth and all the sound in the air seemed to fall into dead silence before a black explosion issued from the swirling around his face.

Like a massive fountain of darkness, shadows burst into the pale blue sky and it was after a few moments that Ursa realized that they were humanoid shaped; black armor closed around what looked like pure, deep purple energy as they erupted from Sasuke's eye, dozen after dozen bounding furiously into the sky. Their hands clutched weapons, swords, spears, blades of all kinds, that all seemed to hum with the same sort of energy that made up their bodies.

The entire process of Sasuke issuing them outwards took only seconds, but by the time that shadows stopped seeming to pour from him, they had completely flooded the sky. A genuine carpet of black now loomed above them as hundreds of armored specters floated in the air, casting a vast shade over the harbor. Feeling her shoulders slumping weakly, Ursa stared at Sasuke, wondering how many more times he would reveal an ability that she had no basis for comprehending, let alone understanding. The rest of the group was now craning their necks as well, staring in various states of disbelief at what had just occurred above them; even Toph, who couldn't see the dark, must have sense the shadows as they blocked out the light and she rather looked the most uncomfortable of any of them.

Ahead of them, Koh was twisting about in an almost frantic sort of way, clearly put off by the sudden force that had gathered before him, but Avatar Kyoshi was wearing an expression that Ursa found rather odd. It looked almost like she was… impressed.

The thud sounded again and it now seemed to shake the ground beneath them and Ursa started to realize how overwhelmed she was starting to feel, mostly because she had a deep sense of dread that something was about to happen. This feeling seemed to have fallen not just on her as Mai quickly moved to Sasuke's side, mirroring Azula; the princess looked over with an almost defensive look around Sasuke at Mai's movement, but she ignored Azula, looking at Sasuke with an almost frantic panic in her eyes.

"Sasuke, you can't be about to—!"

He held up a hand and she swallowed off her words, her mouth closing but eyes still locked on him fearfully.

"They took my daughter. They tried to kill Ursa. They would have killed you too."

His gaze locked with Kyoshi and his hands crushed into fists at his side.

"I… am so sick of them."

Ahead, Koh called out in his hissing, rasping voice.

"How do you think your daughter will react when she learns that your missteps led to the deaths of the people she cares about?"

Slowly, Sasuke bowed his head, turning it towards the ground as Koh finished his words with what could just as well have been a taunt as advice.

"Think about the people around you, Sasuke… after everything you've done for them, are their lives truly worth sacrificing?"

Ursa felt a sickening wrench in her stomach at Koh's words; she had heard many a similar quotation from her late husband, a man who had done everything he could to emotionally manipulate her into acting a certain way and doing just what it was that he wanted, and she could sense that Koh was doing the same now.

None of them dared speak as they all looked to Sasuke in a state of frightened anticipation. He hadn't seemed to react to Koh's words beyond turning his head downward, the shadows cast by the army he had just spawned throwing his face into further darkness. His hands still curled into fists, Ursa saw Azula flick her gaze down towards them and she gently began to reach for one with her hand.

Then, Sasuke gave a deep inhale and bent his torso slightly back as he turned his head towards the sky. Ursa watched as his eyes flashed red and purple and black before he released a roar towards. The sound shattered Ursa at her very core as she heard the strain, the frustration, the agony that he was feeling all compounded into a single drawn out shout. It was primal and ripe with as much emotion as could be, and it was hard to believe that Sasuke didn't collapse then and there after releasing so haunting as sound.

As it ripped from his throat and permeated over the harbor and sky, Ursa found that, despite the odds against them and how much it killed her inside to hear him in so much pain, she was deeply relieved that she was standing behind Sasuke; she hated it deep down, but the raw intimidation that he possessed by power and presence alone would likely have been enough to terrify any enemy into submission when they saw him this way.

Almost.

Avatar Kyoshi pulled back towards her army, giving a shouted command of her own that wasn't quite audible, Koh following in her wake. At once, all the flying spirits that had been holding position above the army streaked into action, diving directly towards them in a sea of streaks of blue. Sasuke raised a single hand and snapped his fingers; at once, the vast cloud of armored beings above them removed their shadow from the harbor as they lunged forward to intercept. They blasted through the pale sky with just as much speed and ferocity and met the spirits in midair with a vibrant explosion and clash of light.

As though the spectacle wasn't enough, Ursa's eyes were drawn to the gargantuan ray like spirit that had now inclined its massive body and was now angling towards them as well. Should it reach them, it would have had the mass to completely flatten them and the entire harbor underneath it, but Sasuke merely gazed spitefully at it as though it posed no more threat to him than a raindrop. And a moment later, she understood why.

One last booming thud resounded and as she heard Jin cry out behind her, Ursa turned and watched as a giant pillar with the width of a large building descended from the sky stepped into the fortunately unpopulated town square. As her eyes struggled to make sense of it, she saw what looked like a more spread shape on the bottom of the pillar and saw that it extended upwards to meet a great mass where another pillar also extended from.

It was with pure, shocking clarity that it became clear it was in fact a giant body that had just stepped over the palace itself and into the city.

Had there been clouds in the sky that day, the top of the giant would likely have been far obscured, but as it stood, Ursa could see its head by turned her head back almost parallel to the sky. It seemed to be made out of some dark material that she couldn't be certain of from that distance, an almost smooth granite kind of texture. It was fully humanoid in shape, and so tall that it had been able to step over and into the city without any trouble with clearance whatsoever.

Its body seemed to almost pull back as though it had encountered a strong gust of wind powerful enough to force it backwards, but as they watched, its arm came back and fingers, each joint well over the size of a full-grown flying bison, clenched into a titanic fist. With a mighty thrust that seemed to creak against the very air it pushed through, the giant arm tore its way through the sky and came down with a thunderous retort against the top of the ray-like spirit. A shockwave rippled out at the incredible power of it and instantly, the spirit's descent became one directly downwards and within seconds, it had come down from the sky to impact against the spirit army, flattening a great portion of the army against the bay and sending a sizable wave swelling out from the epicenter. As it raced towards them, Aang and Katara rushed up to bend the part of it aside that would have smashed into the harbor and washed them all away; Katara looked to be struggling with the task as they forced the great wave around them to create two bisected walls of water that blew over the rest of the harbor.

Through all this utter madness, Sasuke looked entirely unfazed by what had just happened; his face was still rich with fury and hate, and he turned back to regard them all. His state was completely different from the group's and as she looked around Ursa couldn't see a single person who wasn't paralyzed in some state of shock. Even Azula, Katara, Mai and Suki, all of whom seemed to conduct themselves with a dignified sort of presence, were gawking at the sight. Ty Lee had slumped into Yue who was holding her weakly, both girls with wide eyes and mouths agape, a decent match for Zuko, Sokka, Jin and Aang.

Sasuke seemed to look at them with almost something like impatient disdain and Ursa could sense what he was about to say before the words even left his mouth, but it wasn't her, but Toph that stepped up to confront him.

"Don't you dare!" she cried out to him, and his eyes flicked to her. Toph, though she couldn't see the barely contained rage that masked Sasuke's face, had certainly heard the roar he had unleashed moments ago and it was clear by the look on her face that she felt genuine fear in confronting him now. But she had done so anyway, regardless of how she felt.

She knows that he won't hurt her. No matter how angry, how truly incensed he is, she knows Sasuke would never hurt her. Would never hurt any of us.

Ursa found it odd that she had thought of Toph exclusively before carrying over that statement to all of them.

"I know what you're about to say!" Toph continued to yell, her voice high-pitched and very nearly panicked. "You're going to tell us all to run, to hide!"

It was a bizarre sight to see Sasuke's attention so locked on Toph as behind him, his armored warriors were now openly waging a furious war against the spirits while the giant had waded into the bay, its enormous legs pulling up waves with every movement it made as its massive arms came sweeping down to attack in great, slow swings at the army's forces that hovered just above the surface of the water. And despite the utter hell that was exploding behind him, Sasuke's eyes never wavered from Toph and Ursa couldn't help but see that his expression had softened while looking at her, even if just slightly.

"I won't!" she shouted, her voice cracking. "Not again! I won't let you just run off to fight this on your own!"

Sasuke's voice was a blade sharpened to pristine quality, cutting against Ursa's ears as neatly as a curved shard of ice.

"This isn't like it was back then, Toph," he said. "This time it's my war. The spirits are here because of me. Kyoshi is here because of me. Soza was…"

He caught up briefly on the thought of his daughter and the fury in his eyes glowed ever brighter.

"… taken because of me."

Toph opened her mouth to further protest, but he continued over her.

"And of everyone here, you are the most at odds. There's little earth for you to reach, you're already at a disadvantage because of the snow and ice anyway."

It was more of just stating a plain fact than anything else, but it was clear that Toph was still at least somewhat hurt by his dismissive attitude towards her ability just then. And quite to Ursa's surprise, Sasuke seemed to notice this himself. Slowly, he paced over to stand just in front of Toph and looked down at her. The anger hadn't diminished from his face, but he said nothing more as Toph lowered her head and grit her teeth furiously. She had started to shake, and her knuckles had gone white as they clenched at her side.

"I have to do something…" she practically moaned in a voice that was barely nearly inaudible over the distant din of the raging battle beyond the harbor. Ursa couldn't quite keep her eyes from the giant that had waded into the fray, utterly stunned at its size, but somehow Sasuke and Toph was just as much something she had to keep her attention on.

"No, you don't." Sasuke's words were simple and to the point; it was clear that part of him was starting to get impatient. "Stay put, stay safe. I'll be back once I've stamped the life out of Kyoshi and Koh."

He turned away from her, and the moment he had taken a single step, Toph's dam broke.

"It's my fault!" she practically wailed. "It's my fault that Soza's gone!"

Sasuke stopped walking but kept his back to the group. Toph's knees wobbled, and Jin quickly took note, moving to her side and supporting her friend. Toph continued to shake where she stood, the words spilling out of her just as the shadow soldiers had seemed to spill from Sasuke.

"Koh fooled me, like the fucking idiot I am! I led him right to you, and that was how he was there! That was how he attacked you, how he managed to get Soza back here! She wouldn't have been here if it wasn't for me, she wouldn't have… have…"

Toph swallowed and grit her teeth, cursing angrily before continuing.

"I have to do something, Sasuke! I have to make this right!"

She didn't seem able to keep shouting just then, and her eyes drifted down in defeat.

"Please…" she whispered.

Ahead of them, Sasuke didn't turn. He didn't seem to move at all for several seconds before he cocked his head ever so slightly.

"We were all fooled," he said in a dangerously calm voice. "Koh appeared before me as my daughter, broken and tortured and—"

"Anyone would have frozen up at seeing that," Mai said sharply. "It was a disgusting, awful trick that—"

"That I fell for," Sasuke finished for her. His fingers were twitching with something like anticipation at his sides. "I fell for his deception, and I'm paying for it now. And honestly…"

He opened his hand and looked down at his empty palm.

"… I don't know what else I could do even if I wanted something other than this."

Half-turning, he looked back at all of them, his eyes landing last on Ursa. She felt herself almost forced to take a step forward as her lips drew into a tight line; she hadn't expected that she would have been able to speak, let alone find the right words to say, but with Sasuke meeting her eyes now, it felt as though she were being almost urged forward by something, some force that was keeping her from letting him go.

"Are you going to ask me not to leave too?" he asked with a tired exhale through his nose. Ursa stopped moving forward and thought. She didn't know what she wanted. If anyone could protect them and demolish the spirit army to the aid of his summoned soldiers and the impossibly large giant that was near waist deep in the bay, still swinging at everything it could reach, it was Sasuke.

So why do I want to beg him not to go?

She knew why, it was a stupid question. The last time Sasuke and Kyoshi had met, she had blown him from the sky, and might have killed him if not for the timely appearance of his teacher. And just as he had been then, he was steeped in hate, an almost desperate desire to challenge at what had wronged him, and Ursa was frightened by the hate. Not of Sasuke himself and what the hate did to him, that more saddened her than anything. No, she was frightened that if he charged into battle now, he was doing so blindly.

"Sasuke…" she said softly, putting as much of her love into her voice as she could, and she felt a surge of hope as she saw his angry expression twitch into softening just briefly as she spoke his name.

"Don't you think that perhaps… perhaps this is what they want? To fill you with that hate—don't shake your head, Sasuke, I can see it in your eyes!"

He had started to move his head in a dismissive motion and Ursa felt fear for him spur on her words.

"I see the anger that's driving you, I can't stand seeing you like this! And perhaps this was their goal, of that Avatar and that monstrous spirit! Don't you think that they would want to do this, to force you into a place where you were so furious you might take to rash and overly aggressive tactics?! Just because of your hate?!"

For a long moment, he only looked at her. His eyes were dark and mysterious, and she couldn't quite read his emotion anymore. Ursa wanted to rush to him, to hold him and keep him from moving, but as she watched him, watched his eyes drift down, she wondered if maybe, just maybe, she wouldn't have to. That was how it looked, almost like he was agreeing or that he was allowing himself to calm down. Her heart jumped in her chest at the thought that perhaps he—

Then he straightened and looked her in the eyes, his own orbs now chips of hateful ice. His expression pulled angrily, and he gave his head a small shake.

"I don't care. They took my daughter."

Ursa closed her eyes, and felt the tears leak from the corners of her eyelids then for she knew what was about to happen. Azula and Toph both released cries at Sasuke, but Ursa felt the sharp gust of air and heard the snapping thud as a mist of snow whipped at her face. Seconds later, she opened her eyes and listened to Toph cry as she watched Sasuke's form bear down on the spirits, leaving her with a pleading, desperate hope that he wasn't as far gone as she believed him to be.