Blueeyeddeil06, thank you for being my beta!

The ending battle scenes in Avatar are so beautifully crafted in the show. The colors and the choreography are stunning. On top of that, the musical score is perfect. I'm going to concentrate heavily on the emotional aspects of the battle. After all, this is the written word, and I can't compete with the original.


Akal was on the back of Appa with Katara and Zuko. One last family trip and his mission would be complete.

He was staring at Katara when Zuko sat next to him. "One day, I'll figure you out. If I didn't know better, I would think you were in love with her."

Akal smirked at Zuko, "She adores you. Like anyone else would stand a chance to get between you."

Zuko ran his fingers through his hair, "Yeah, but that doesn't explain you."

"You'll find out soon enough. Don't worry about that. Pretty soon, it's time for me to go."

"To your father?"

"Sort of. It's complicated."

"You really like that word," Zuko teased him. "Any advice you can give me to be a good father someday? I'm worried that Katara will be a wonderful mother and be disappointed in me."

Akal burst out laughing. "While it's hard to be as good a man as my father is, I think you'll do fine."

The discussion didn't go any further when Katara came and sat by them. "Appa knows where we are headed." She was fidgeting nervously.

Zuko took her hands in his, then raised them to his mouth and kissed them. "We'll be fine, Katara. I have too much to live for."

She blushed prettily and said, "If you die, I'll kill you." They all chuckled at that.

When they landed at the palace, Azula was about to have herself crowned Fire Lord. Zuko stood up and stopped the coronation.

"Don't do this. You said you couldn't beat her."

"She's slipping," Zuko whispered back. "I've got this."

"So Zuzu, you've come to challenge me for my crown. Fine. I can put you down before I continue this. I challenge you to Agni Kai!"

"I accept!" Zuko answered back.

Katara backed up but stayed within the makeshift arena. Akal braced himself for what was coming. He knew he'd stay out of the fight until Azula was chained. His mother's ability to defeat Azula was a large portion of why the citizens of the Fire Nation respected Katara at first. He knew it would be painful to watch.

What he hadn't expected was the sheer magnitude of the force of the battle between Azula's red fire and Zuko's blue fire. It was stunning and brutal all at once. He realized his lungs were stinging because he was holding his breath.

When the moment came, and Azula gathered lightning to strike out at Katara, Akal had to hold his hand over his mouth not to scream out a warning. He watched his father dive in front of her and redirect most of the lightning strike. It was an impressive feat.

Katara screamed out in agony when Zuko collapsed, and a crazed-looking Azula went after her immediately.

Katara couldn't redirect lighting, so she dove out of the way of each lighting bolt directed her way. She was scrambling to figure out what to do.

Akal watched Zuko groan and move a bit. He was glad to see his father breathing. Then his attention was drawn by Katara, holding chains and taunting Azula. Azula quickly moved to strike her with lightning, but when she was about to unleash it, Katara threw up her arms, bringing up water from the drainage system below them, and freezing them both in place. It was then apparent how close she'd been to killing Katara. Her fingers were pointed directly in her face. Katara then breathed out and melted the water where she was. She then moved with the chains and melted the water as she went. She chained Azula's now freed arms and chained her down, and dropped all the water back through the grate below them.

In a rush, Azula let out a crazed scream and struggled against her chains in vain. Akal was already moving to position himself behind her when Katara ran to heal Zuko.

He watched his mother heal his father. He smiled as he watched Zuko sit up, cup Katara's cheek in his hand and kiss her tenderly. His eyes grew misty with the touching scene.

He then said, just loud enough for Azula to hear, "It's time for you to die, Aunt Azula. Bye-bye, bitch." Then without remorse, he gathered lightning and stuck her in the center of her back, killing her, just like she'd tried to do to his father. He liked the poetic justice of it.

Zuko and Katara's eyes were drawn by Akal's seemingly sudden ability to bend lightning and watched in horror as he killed Azula in cold blood. They then gasped when he suddenly disappeared right before their eyes. He was smiling at them.

"What just happened?" Katara whispered to Zuko.

He looked at Katara in shock and said, "It must have been Azula who killed his mother. I can't imagine why my sister would have done that."

"All this time, he was planning on killing her?"

"It seems so."

Zuko stood and pulled Katara up with him. "Now we wait to find out what happened to everyone else. Should we send Appa to Ba Sing Se for Uncle? I'm sure he's taken the city back by now." He smiled down at Katara. "After all, he's the Grand Lotus."

"We're not going to discuss what Akal did?" She looked concerned.

Zuko sighed, "We most certainly are. I have a feeling my Uncle knows what's happening. They had a long talk after I left."

"So we send Appa to Ba Sing Se. Do you want me to go with him?"

"No," he took her hand and squeezed it. "I want you here by my side. I want it obvious from the start that we're together."

She smiled up at him and kissed his scarred cheek, "Then I'll be by your side."

They sent Appa off with Mai to go get his Uncle. She had tears in her eyes when she left, but she was polite to Katara.