Chapter 53

Final Battle/Awakening

Katara

Battling Azula wasn't going to be as easy as her father had been. Unlike her father we did not have the advantage of the firebending being off. In addition Azula unlike her father would not hide, but be out and fighting along with her two friends. All three of them were exceptional warriors but most alarmingly they had the entire Dai Li at their disposal as well as a small army of loyal fire benders.

The plan to defeat her was simple. The White Lotus, lead by Iroh would break down the wall and attack, the rest of us would charge in after and take each ring as our own. It wasn't going to be easy but we'd manage. I believed that we could do it.

We had set up camp just outside of Ba Sing Se. Depending on how this battle went we might have to camp in each ring as we fought our way up.

"Katara, have you seen Aang?" I jerked from my thoughts by Sokka rushing up.

"No... not for a while. Why?"

"He and Momo are missing." My eyes widened. While Momo was adorable I was much more worried about Aang.

"Any idea where he is?" I asked, breaking into a run to join my brother on his search. He shook his head.

"No, I've asked everyone, they haven't seen him." My heart leapt. Oh please be alright Aang. I thought as I ran, be okay, I can't lose you.

Half an hour later I sagged against a tent. Nearly the entire camp had been alerted. Aang couldn't be found anywhere. My panic had reached levels where nearly any water by me exploded. I was hyperventilating and doing everything in my power to not collapse and cry for my fiancee. I knew that Aang was capable. It wasn't because I doubted his abilities that I was one of the few things that I was confident in. But if he was unconscious he couldn't bend.

Wherever he was she hoped that he was okay.


Aang

I woke up with a jerk. Looking around frantically I tried to figure out where I was. I was laying on a strange shaped patch of land surrounded by moss and trees. Shaking myself I stood. Momo flew above my head, happily munching on a fruit of some kind.

Where were we?


Maddi

I stared at exasperation at the scroll in front of me before grudgingly signing my name. Paperwork. Why was it that literally no matter what world or time I was in paperwork was inescapable?

"It sounds like you're having a hard time." I stiffened. I knew that voice but I hadn't heard it in months.

"Last time I saw you, you were screaming in anger because I had seen a vision of you're past." I stated, signing another piece of paper before turning around.

"I can't say I'm pleased to see you Lung." The deity of air was standing behind me, his ever-changing features almost completely still, revealing his own feelings on this matter.

"I'm not here for a social visit."

"I gathered." I stated dryly before turning to my paperwork.

"Can you make this quick, I have hours of backlogged reading to do." I stated. Staring at the large pile of scrolls in sorrow. Lung snorted.

"Do you regret your choice of knowledge now?" Lung asked, whooshing to stand beside me like a gust of air.

"Cut to the chase, Lung. Oh and no, I will not exchange the ability to read to bend. I need this skill, as Zuko's girlfriend."

"And eventual fire lady. You are aware that the majority of his subjects believe you two to be engaged? All you're missing is the convenient. But you're right." Lung flashed forward so we were staring eye to eye.

"The spirits are stirring." I blinked before narrowing my eyes.

"Last I checked the spirits weren't inactive. You all seem to like popping into my life whenever it is convenient for you." Lung made a hissing sound, a sound similar to a gas pipe with a leak.

"You think yourself so superior to us? Humans and their unending arrogance-"

"You're pretty arrogant yourself or are you saying you learned it from humans?" The look in Lung's face made me freeze. Colour for a split instant filled his translucent form and his features froze completely. It was the same man I had seen in my vision. The human form of Lung.

He vanished.

I stood there, staring into the empty room in cold shock. Lung had come... to warn me of something. Was that his goal? It didn't make sense. Why would he warn me of anything? He owed me nothing, even more he hated me. So what could be able to happen that would make him drop that hatred and come to speak to me?

I had a sudden chill run through my body.

What had I done? Had I risked the lives of my friends? The timeline had been totally altered by my arrival so who knew what was going to happen now?

"Maddi?" I jumped, spinning with a tiny scream of surprise. Zuko was standing in the doorway. I sighed, clutching my heart.

"Zuko." I stepped forward. Zuko gazed at me worriedly then gently cradling my cheek in the side of his hand.

"You're shaking. What's wrong?" Was I? I didn't feel like I was. The story came out, slowly at first and then in a sudden rush of fear and paranoia. Zuko listened quietly.

"It may not be that simple. Besides I'm sure that whatever this thing about the spirits stirring Aang knows about it. I'm sure he and the others can deal with it. Whatever it is. You worry to much." He leaned down and kissed me.

I had kissed other men before so the feeling was not new to me but Zuko's kiss was nice. It was soft, and meant to calm me. He didn't push at all, leaving it to me to make the next step. I gently teased his lip.

When we broke away we were both panting and his shirt had shifted so that it wrinkled above the waistline, exposing the bottom of his stomach. For a while we both stood there, trying to decide what to do next.

"We still have things to do." I stated, gesturing at the yet to shrink mountain of scrolls sitting beside my desk. Zuko glanced at them then back to me.

"They can wait a little longer."


Aang

Whatever I was on, it wasn't earth, or at least not all of it. Where the trees and moss grew there was quite a bit of earth before it hit the same strange surface that I had woken up on. I hummed softly to myself. I needed to think. There had to be a reason that I was here.

"Hello Aang." I turned. A dark haired woman with deep storm coloured eyes gazed at me with a small smile. I frowned, why did this woman look so familiar?

"Do you not remember me? I am the woman who helped you master the avatar state." Suddenly it came back to me. That woman had softly spoken wise words.

"Aang, letting go is not forever, it will not make your love any less. Learn this young avatar."

"Who are you?" I asked. She smiled softly.

"I suppose you wouldn't remember me. After all you were two young . The day I finished weening you, the monks took you. That was the way things were in our culture. But a mother never forgets her child, even after death and a hundred years." My face drained of colour. My mother. I knew that I had a mother, every child did but those in the temples were raised by the nuns and monks.

"You're my mother?" I asked, scarcely believing it. The woman nodded.

"Yes." I didn't know what to say. She smiled gently and leaned forward, bushing her hand over my head.

"You take so much after your father, but your love of animals comes from me."

"Why are you here? And why now?" I asked before glancing around, "And did you bring me here?" My mother chuckled.

"I am here because there has been an awakening among the spirits. And yes, I brought you here. There is a skill that you must learn here my son. The world depends on it." I worried my lip. An awakening of spirits? What did that mean?

"The spirits usually avoid contacting humans, since the war began we have been getting quieter and quieter, drawing further back into the spirit world. Normally it would take years, even generations for us to come out and once again interact with the majority of society. However a certain non-bender from another world has intrigued most of the populace. We have moved more quickly in the last few months then we have for over a hundred years." Maddi, that was the girl my mother was mentioning. Maddi had caused this awakening among the spirits. Now spirits were interacting with regular people.

"Is that a bad thing?" I finally asked. My mother shook her head.

"No and yes. Spirits and humans have only ever lived while tolerating each other. There is a great many struggles that occur between the two kinds. I am afraid that you will have your work cut out for you my son." I sighed. When wasn't my work cut out for me? I had never had it easy after all.

"I must leave." She stated, suddenly looking up, "Lung is no longer distracted by your friend. Doubtless he will discover I'm missing." Lung. Maddi had mentioned that name before as well. Saying he was the spirit of air. I had been to busy, to worried about other things to ever ask her more about it. But now.

"Who is Lung?"

"I cannot explain Aang. Ask your friend. She will tell you." My mother turned then paused.

"You have made us all proud." She whispered, her eyes shimmering.

"You're father, Gyatso and I. We have been watching over you this entire time. You're people are always with you. No one is ever the last of anything." She leaned forward and kissed me once in the forehead before vanishing. Look into myself? I sat down and crossed my legs, falling into my meditation position. Perhaps my past lives could shed some light on what was occurring in the spirit world.


Sokka

With or without Aang the battle had to happen. Katara was nearly beside herself in worry for him. I didn't blame her. Aang was our friend, her fiancee, and the avatar. If he just vanished and was never seen again it would be eerily similar to what happened before the war began. He would vanish for years and suddenly return.

I hoped that didn't happen, for Katara's sake.

The beginning of the battle started with Toph and Bumi. The two strong earthbenders strode forward towards the huge wall. The rest of the army stood behind them, watching. Azula had closed down the city after she had taken over, we couldn't pretend to be anything else then what we were, invaders, recusers, the ones who had defeated the fire lord.

Toph and Bumi stopped towards the wall. Both stood back to back, the young tiny girl and the huge old man. Both the most powerful earthenders that we knew. I watched in awe as Toph and Bumi together took down a huge portion of the wall.

Just like that the battle began. Hoards of our soldiers streamed into the city. While Azula's Dai Li tried to raise the wall back up Toph and Bumi made sure that it stayed down. I could see the two of them struggling against at least a dozen Dai Li to keep the wall down.

Then I charged through the wall. There were still Dai Li around, battling others and a eerily large amount of firebending warriors. My sword swung in an arc, not caring who it hit as long as it was an enemy. A blast of fire flew at me. I ducked. My heart was pounding. This battle was relying on us. There was no Aang around this time to make a difference.

Shouts and screams echoed all around me but I could not spend a second to listen. I had to remain focused. The war, these people, the future all depended on what happened here. It might take a day or a week but we would succeed. We had to.

There was no other option.

The army rushed through the fields and farms, long abandoned under Azula's regime. Azula's army had tanks, we had our own weapons as well.

"Sokka! Look out!" I knew that voice. I spun as Su Sen threw himself in the way of a steel bolt. The arrow struck him in the chest. I froze. Su Sen was one of the warriors who could not bend. A sword user like me. He had a little brother who he had spoken of. A girl who he had wanted to ask her to marry him when he returned.

Su Sen had been one of my friends.

I dropped to the ground. His breathing was laboured. The shot wasn't in his heart but it was deep, the feathers just barely showing from his chest.

"Tell my family for me... Tell them I died with honour." He whispered. I shook my head.

"You're an idiot. You're not going to die." I barked back. He coughed, blood spilling from his lips. His breathing was staggered and painful. Another arrow flew towards me. I swung my sword. It hit the black steel with a reverberating tone.

"Go." Su Sen mouthed, blood pooling from his lips and to his chest. I stood, grabbing a shield dropped nearby to stop another arrow. Hurriedly I pulled a knife from the inside of my tunic. My ceremonial dagger. The one only to be used on animals, the one that marked me as a man among my tribe.

"Take it." I whispered, knowing he wouldn't hear me in the explosions and screams of battle. I dropped it to his chest. He nodded to me and I ran off. There was more I had to do. Tears pricked my eyes but I forced them back. Su Sen and I both knew why I had given him that dagger. It would bring him to the Spirit world quickly and with no more suffering. All he had to do was use it. It was the only way I could honour my friend for his sacrifice here. The only way that I could give him peace.

"I promise." I whispered to myself, "I will not forget."


Azula

I paced. Father defeated? That was not possible. No, something else had happened, something that had to do with them. The avatar and his friends. I hated them. I hated them all. I screamed in rage, throwing a vase. It shattered against the wall.

"That was not very nice." That voice. I turned. My mother stood behind me, her eyes mocking.

"I thought I taught you better then that." She taunted.

"YOU TAUGHT ME NOTHING!" I howled, charging forward. My so called friends had abandoned me. Ty Lee had run off during the day of the black sun and Mai followed her not soon after, stating that she stood by Zuko. My big brother. He was the disgrace. The traitor. The world would see that. I would make them see that I was right.

"Did I? You're right. The only one I cared about was Zuko. He at least had a soul." Fire burst across my hands. I blasted it towards her. Eyes alight as the fire danced over her body. I revelled in her screams, her cries of anguish. She would torment me no longer.

I stormed out, kicking the charred body as I went, one corner of my mind picking up the fact that the woman I had killed was not wearing the robes of the Fire Lady but a servant. The rest of my mind ignored it. I felt like my brain was splitting in half. Even after I had succeeded against Ba Sing Se. The impenetrable city. The city that was said could never fall. Her success against me haunted me in the dark. How was it a pathetic, peasant and her lot could defeat a princess like me? And not once but multiple times. How could she have known?

The words I had so long ago dismissed came to my mind. Spirit walker. Spirits didn't exist. I told myself. Father had taught me that long ago. There was nothing in this world other then ourselves. We were the only race and the firenation the only one that deserved to live. The other races were weak, pathetic, using sup-par bending techniques.

Father could not be gone, he had taught me, loved me, when no one else would. My mother had hated me. Zuko had been afraid of me. I wasn't even sure what Ty Lee and Mai thought about me, either back then or now.

Father had been there when everyone else abandoned me. He would not, could not, abandon me. He was impossible to kill, impossible to defeat.

The news I had been given were lies. I would make sure the messengers would suffer for their words. No one would survive my wrath. But first off, there was a group of five who believed themselves above the great firenation. I would kill every one of the avatar's friends and I would kill Maddison last. She had ruined my life in ways that the avatar hadn't even dreamed of. She would pay for it. If I had to kill every person she loved. She would pay.


A/N: Hi everyone! I promise I'm not dead. Just wishing you all a late christmas/any other holiday that you may celebrate during that time and a happy new year. Also we are now down to a grand total of two to three chapters before Change the World is over. Of course there will be a sequel, as you all know. And lastly, I apologize for being so late. I swear there is something that watches me and when I say that I won't be busy laughs and fills my schedule full. Anyway let me know what you think.

Princess Kassie Out.