Avatar: Synergy and Birthright

by AvatarSen

Synergy: After Korra's passing, a new enemy wielding Energybending threatens the next Avatar and any who'd protect him. Born into a world that fears the Energybender more than it respects the Avatar, the new Avatar must pursue his destiny in secret. Birthright: A short story set one year after Synergy, Birthright shows the unknown origins of the Avatar, and his strongest ally.

92. Book 5 Chapter 20

Chapter 20: The Storm

The racing wind and pounding waves of water from below crashed into the cliffside with earth-shaking force. Hanjo rested impatiently on a layer of ground that was slowly becoming a lake of mud. He could feel the earth trembling beneath the force of the storm. Within the trembling were the pounding heartbeats of a thousand fearful soldiers.

They were terrified, all of them. The storm alone was a fearsome enemy to face. Dark clouds overhead obscured its silvery light, but they all knew that the blood moon lurked in the skies above. The enemy was coming. Despite the best assurances of their leaders, the soldiers still feared for their lives. Hanjo feared for them in turn, because he knew they were right.

The air was cold. Oppressively cold, a once in a lifetime kind of chill. Miyani had felt the bite of frost in her time at the South Pole, but nothing like this. She knew the weather was only a small part of it. They were all sitting here, waiting, enduring the storm while they waited for the second wave of nightmares to come crashing down. There was nothing for them to do but cower behind the presumed safety of their walls and wait for whatever end befell them.

Whistler had rarely felt a sky so furiously angry. Republic City had endured a hurricane once, years ago, before she had ever met Sen. The Slums in which she had taken shelter rattled and thundered all night, torn to pieces in the winds. At the time Whistler had thought it the worst a storm could be. Now she knew different. This was the real wrath of the skies. Nature was not just out of balance: it was angry. The destructive fury was evident in every roaring gust of wind.

The rain fell in a pounding wall of solid water. Every raindrop stung like an insects bite as the water made impact, driven by the power of hurricane force winds. Ariak had lived his life surrounded by ice and water, but to see it fill the sky and tear the wind was a whole different beast. He kept his mouth closed, feeling as if he might drown if he breathed in. The ocean seemed to have filled the sky with wrathful waves of water.

Above it all, seemingly oblivious to the fury of the storm and the mournful chill of his soldiers, stood Sen. He had his eyes locked on the horizon. His arms were crossed across his chest as he stood stalwart against the raging skies, unmoving as the winds and water crashed around him. He could not and would be moved. The storm that raged without was nothing compared to the storm that raged within.

Though he stood removed from them, all eyes were still upon the Avatar. Standing motionless like a statue against the wrath of the storm, he served as an icon to them all. Some saw hope, some saw fear, some saw anger.

Whatever the myriad troops saw changed rapidly as Sen's stoic stance finally broke, his head tilting slightly to adjust his view of the horizon. His eyes narrowed as he peered past the clawing winds of the storm.

"They're coming," Sen shouted. His voice carried over the roaring wind, letting all know that the long-dreaded moment would soon be upon them. The cold chill of fear turned to a palpable buzz of terrified tension as soldiers nervously fidgeted in place. Sen locked his eyes on their approach route, watching for the first real sign of his enemies.

He could feel the black cancer of Sarin crawling over the hills now. An empty void where a soul should be, dark even against the darkness of the storm and the black night. Sen clenched his fists tight as he leaned against the ramparts of the northern wall. There were steep hills to the east, and a cliffside drop into the sea on their west and south. Their enemies could only approach from a narrow pass to the North. The darkened abscess of Sarin's tainted soul crept slowly across the narrow path.

While Sen focused on his hated enemy, Hanjo turned his attention to the allies waiting fearfully behind him. They were terrified of the bloodbenders, and for good reason, but no one was truly invincible.

"Remember, keep moving," He warned them. "It's harder for them to control a moving target."

He walked through the ranks dispensing what little advice he had for fighting bloodbenders. They had their flaws, but very few.

"Try to flank them whenever possible," Hanjo shouted. "The storm will make you harder to hear, so they'll be easier to catch off guard. Always remember that any bloodbender is a waterbender too, so be on guard for conventional attacks."

His advice seemed to bolster a bit of morale, but not much. Hanjo frowned and dispensed the last bit of wisdom he possessed.

"We outnumber them. Use our numbers to our advantage. Even the best bloodbenders can only manipulate two or three at a time. Attack in groups of four and one of you will always be able to fight."

With that, Hanjo had nothing left. The oppressive fury of the storm once again filled the sky, as all eyes once again turned to the Avatar, their only means of tracking their enemies in the darkness. Occasional flashes of lightning provided the only illumination in the void of night. Sen peered through the darkness for any physical evidence of their enemies. He could feel their hurried footsteps, but he could not see them.

He traced their motions across the rocky terrain before them. The main bulk of the force travelled through the narrow space between the rocky hills and the cliffside drop into the sea, but a small group broke off and braved the uneven terrain of the stone hills, positioning themselves at the top of the cliffs that bordered the eastern wall of the fortress.

"Kim, keep an eye on your wall," Sen commanded. The Colonel was stationed in a tower along the eastern wall, a decent vantage point to track activity. Sen had no doubt they were up to something. Some kind of flanking strike or diversion. He would not fall for it.

The main host of their opponents paused their march, just around the hill from the fortress. A few more steps and they might have been in sight. Sen scanned the area between the eastern hills and the northern approach.

"Keep your guard-"

His words of caution were interrupted by a pulse through the earth, a tremor noticeable even to those who lacked seismic senses. The host of the Coalition looked around in confusion. Sen, ever more perceptive than the rest, turned his attention to the eastern hills, the source of the tremor.

Lightning flashed, and the sparking white light glistened off the shining black metal of a hammer-like fist, and the spiked armor of its master, Temujin. The flash of lightning faded, and the Fist of Rahm slammed the ground again, sending another shockwave through the earth. Sen's fist clenched in panicked tension as he recalled the pile of rubble that Zu-Shin mountain had been reduced to.

"Move!" He screamed into the night. His tense muscles exploded like a spring, dashing towards the eastern wall of Fort Ganhwa. "Get away from the east wall!"

His terrified commands cut the tension in the air like a blade, shattering the fearful calm that had crushed them all into motionless. Panicked soldiers fled to the west as Sen ran east. He was halfway there when the third and final shockwave rang out.

Weakened by the winds and rain of the mighty storm, and shattered by the blows of the Metal Men, the cliffside collapsed, turning into a hillside into a crashing wave of earth. The earth roared as it fell, louder than any thunderclap of the storm. The screams of the churning earth was met with the terrified scream of the soldiers who threatened to be crushed by its advance.

The dueling screams of terror and force were matched in kind by a roaring shout from the Avatar. He planted his feet and slammed his clenched fists outwards, forcing his will upon the collapsing hill, the force of his bending dueling directly with gravity as twin forces of nature collided. The falling wave of stone and rubble halted only briefly. The wrath of Temujin and his Metal Men would not be so easily halted.

They surged down the falling hillside as easily as the boulders, riding the wave of shattering stone to the fortress walls. Sen, his strength entirely devoted to holding the collapsing cliffs at bay, could only watch as they struck. The armored soldiers used the inertia of their charge to strengthen their impact, crumbling the walls and towers of the fortress with earthshaking blows. The stone cracked, crumbled, and then collapsed under their strikes.

"Kim," Sen said breathlessly. He watched as the eastern tower collapsed. The screams of its inhabitants, the Colonel included, were barely muffled by the stone as it crumbled and fell, crushing everything as it collapsed.

The walls and towers crushed to rubble by their onslaught, Temujin and his soldiers thundered forward. Some of the Coalition soldiers who had just barely escaped the collapse of the eastern wall found themselves the first victims of the Fist of Rahm's crushing blows. Temujin roared into the winds of the storm as the screams of his victims faded into the same hurricane gale.

Sen could no longer spare the effort to hold the falling cliffs back, nor was there any point. Nothing behind the Metal Men advance was left intact –or alive. Sen released his grip on the hillside and let the sheet of crushed stone and mud finish its collapse, burying what was left of the eastern wall in the landslide.

With his full power no longer focused on fighting the wrath of nature, Sen turned to the wrath of men. His burning eyes locked onto the nearest Metal Men soldier. Just before the armored soldier struck out against his Coalition rival with a bladed spear, Sen clenched his fists, crushing the soldiers armor into a useless heap of scrap. The Avatar shifted focus quickly striking out with lances of melting fire and crushing earth against every enemy he laid eyes on.

His sight was one of the only things eh could rely on at a time like this. The ground was still rumbling from the collapse, and the chilling wind made it impossible to sense any heat or hear any movement. Even with his senses so dulled, some things were impossible to miss. The footsteps of a giant were one such thing.

Temujin approached the Avatar, his hammer raised for a lethal strike. Hateful eyes stared out at the Avatar from behind the spiked mask he wore. Sen just smiled back. There were plenty of giants on this battlefield.

The rain hissed and boiled as the blade of white light cut through the hurricane. The blow struck true, knocking Temujin aside like a ragdoll. Even Rahm had just barely been able to resist the force of a combustion blast, and Temujin was a poor imitation of the deceased General. Sen was too preoccupied with the battle to show Miyani any appreciation for her intervention, but she apparently had something to say to him.

"North," she cried out, not wasting any time or words on meaningless details. "North!"

Sen growled quietly as he turned sharply. The bulk of the enemy was charging down the northern approach. The Metal Men were only a distraction for the main event. Bloodbenders.

Kida's legion swept across the fortress approach like serpents crawling through the night, and when they reached the walls they swarmed, their venomous art clawing at the veins of those who stood at the walls. Abominable power was met in kind as Miyani turned her own twisted abilities on the moon-empowered horde, but even her explosive blasts were of little use against the sheer number and unholy power of the horde.

The forces of the Coalition were in disarray, surrounded by enemies wielding powers they could not match. Little by little the circle closed in around them, pressuring the chaotic Coalition further and further. The walls were nearly gone already –a small bastion of lightning benders, and Miyani's arcs of destruction, were all that stood between the enemy and complete control of the fortress walls. Sen looked around the battlefield, striking down enemies as he went, seeking out the one place where he could change the tide of battle.

Then the blackness at the edge of the battlefield shifted. The Hssk was on the move, seeking its partner. Any thoughts of the larger battle vanished from Sen's mind in an instant as his glowing white eyes tracked the black emptiness. Sarin was the only thing that mattered.

As Sen turned his attention to his lifelong nemesis, Ariak was focused on a more defensive stance. Miyani was one of their most powerful weapons, and the enemy knew it. Bloodbenders swarmed towards her in a horde, intending to overtake her and put a stop to her destructive barrage. Miyani was powerful, but against bloodbenders even she could only do so much. Ariak used his own bloodbending to help keep the horde at bay.

It felt better this way, to turn bloodbending on those who would misuse it. Using it in defense of one of his closest friends also helped to ease the burden it placed upon his heart. There was still a cold chill in his blood every time he reached out and grabbed at the hearts of his foes, turned their own flesh and blood against them, twisting their bodies to his whims. He ignored the pain he felt, and the pain he impressed on others, and focused on defending Miyani.

A rolling peal of thunder of thunder shook the ground. The bloodbenders stopped coming. Ariak and Miyani did not take this as a good omen. The only thing such darkness feared was an even greater darkness.

"Ariak, Ariak, Ariak…" A low voice droned through the fury of the storm. The subtle scrape of a spear shaft through across the stone walls made it very clear who that voice belonged to.

Kida walked down the length of the wall, her ever-loyal bloodbenders parting to grant her passage. The rain drenched her, causing long locks of dark hair to cling to her face, obscuring her shadowy face even further as she regarded her prey.

"I'm almost proud of you. Learning Bloodbending," She chuckled quietly. "You're finally taking this seriously."

She ceased dragging her stolen spear across the walls and gripped it in both hands, aiming the blade towards Ariak's heart. Ariak held tight to his own spear. Miyani grabbed him by the shoulder cautiously.

"Don't let her get to you," Miyani cautioned. Ariak was not always himself when dealing with Kida. He was liable to do something stupid.

"You really want to see this done, Ariak? Come and get me," Kida taunted, before turning her back on them both. Miyani scowled as she realized Kida's gambit. She was trying to separate them. Kida had always known she was no match for Ariak if his friends were involved. She needed to isolate her quarry to stand a chance.

Intending to finish the fight before it started, Miyani sent a bolt of white light chasing after her. The bloodbenders twisted the rain into a wall of water to block the strike. The massive explosion tore out a chunk of the wall and scattered many of the bloodbending horde, but left Kida untouched. As the smoke and fire cleared, Miyani turned to Ariak –only to find him already missing.

As the horde closed in again, she cursed Ariak's stupidity, but her words were drowned in a loud clap of thunder.

The lightning of the storm flashed overhead as the lightning wielded by the Coalition raced across the battlefield. The few strikes of lightning were the only thing preventing the Coalition from being completely surrounded.

For all the trouble it caused, the storm was at least keeping them cool. Creating lightning was blazing hot work. Moldun might have been sweating in different circumstances. Maybe he was sweating, and he just couldn't tell because he was already completely drenched. Didn't bother him either way.

He was slacking a bit compared to some of the other soldiers. Moldun was used to big-game hunting, not shooting at slippery bloodbenders in pitch black storms. The Fire Lord was making a much more impressive showing of himself. Goto had been longing for an excuse to get his hands dirty for a long time. As royalty he was expected to keep above the battlefield, far from violence, but trapped in a fortress, well, he had to defend himself. Goto had a smile on his face and lightning on his fingertips as the battle carried on. It was not to last.

Tracking dangerous game had given Moldun bad aim on small targets, but it had given him an uncanny sense of awareness of when danger was on its way. Right now that sixth sense was screaming louder than any of the beasts he'd ever hunted. The light tap of an airbender landing on the fortress walls silenced the screaming and made the danger self-evident. Moldun froze for just a second, knowing any further hesitation would mean doom. Fire Lord Goto barely heard the cries of warning over the howling of the wind, and of the second, harsher howling that rose in the background.

The Fire Lord found himself abruptly pushed aside, nearly shoved off his feet as he stumbled a few steps to the side. He thought for a second that he'd been ambushed and turned quickly to face his attacker, but he found only Moldun, staring fearfully yet blankly into the sky past Goto's head.

Goto opened his mouth to question Moldun. He never spoke, and Moldun would never have heard it anyway. Before Goto had the chance to speak Moldun collapsed, falling to the ground and revealing the smoking hole in his back.

The others on the wall turned quickly towards their attacker. The howling grey light caught them mid-turn, burning them with the all-consuming light of Energybending. Sarin proceeded forward through their ranks, scorching them with unholy power or tearing at their souls with his Energybending. The dark night was filled with grey light and shimmering blue energy as Sarin tore them to pieces.

Goto's face was accustomed to a scowl, but he pushed it to new limits. He was not going to be made a fool, nor was he going to let Moldun's sacrifice be in vain. The Fire Lord set his footing firm and readied himself, body and soul. Contradictory forces met in the middle in a conflicting battle in his soul and a twisting dance of his body. Lightning sparked, and was unleashed.

Sarin's right hand outstretched, caught the bolt of lightning and tore it to shreds. Flying arcs of electricity scattered as Sarin unwound the energies that held the lightning bolt together, dissipating the power into the stormy night. Sarin's hand twitched restlessly: it was no easy effort to unwind lightning itself, but he would manage all the same.

The last of the sparking blue light vanished into the stormy sky, and Sarin was still standing. Goto froze. He was no Harrier. He could not manage another strike. Not in time. He could hear a familiar scream some distance behind him. It didn't phase Goto in the slightest. The raindrops falling before him seemed to slow down as Sarin's extended hand shifted slightly, aiming towards Goto's chest. The scowl dropped off of his face as Goto watched the gray light begin to shine.

The howling of Sarin's power, the shrieking wind, the scream of despair and frustration from behind him- Goto heard none of it. It all went quiet for a second, just long enough for Goto to enjoy one last moment of serenity before the piercing grey light struck him in the heart.

All the noise came rushing back at once, first and foremost Sen's scream as he lashed out at Sarin, forcing him back, away from Goto. The Avatar landed atop the wall, next to Goto's spot lying on the ground, and continued his barrage, forcing Sarin away. The moment Sarin had been pushed back enough, Sen bent down, kneeling on the ground by Goto's side.

The spark of life hadn't quite left him yet. Sen nodded to himself. That meant he had a chance. Goto was far too stubborn to die, and he had healed Ada from similar damage. Sen reached out towards Goto's scorched heart –only to find his hand stopped by the withered, angular hand of Goto. The Fire Lord turned to look Sen in the eyes as he gripped Sen's hand.

"Take care of my daughter," Goto asked quietly.

The hand gripping Sen's wrapped closed tightly, balling Sen's hand into a clenched fist. Goto's eyes narrowed into his more customary harsh glare.

"And make him pay," Goto demanded.

Lightning flashed, and the roar of thunder shook the ground. Sarin watched the scene unfold in silence as the thunder rumbled. He had always meant to break the Avatar this way –to destroy the people he cared about, to make him watch them suffer. Then he would understand the real source of suffering.

Sen understood perfectly. As Goto's grip weakened and slipped, Sen's hand remained balled into a fist, only clenching tighter and tighter as Goto faded further away.

Sarin let the cold rain fall and the thunder shake the ground as he watched Sen suffer. Then the thunder stopped, but the shaking of the ground did not. The rain stopped being cold. Sen crouched by Goto's motionless body, and around him the storm only grew more intense. Sarin looked at his arm. The rain was changing. It stung when it landed, but not because of the force of the hurricanes winds.

Sen stared quietly downwards at Goto, his muscles tense, his breathing heavy. His fist trembled slightly as the stinging rain washed over him. The rain was falling harder and faster now. The wind blew more forcefully. Every aspect of the storm, every element of nature, echoed one thing: Sen's rage.

In a sudden burst of force, so quickly it seemed impossible, Sen lunged forward, trailing white-hot fire behind him. The Avatar took a few steps forward and hurled his fist towards Sarin, focusing the inferno into a single lance of fire. Sarin hastily blocked the strike with a cyclonic shield of air, but the sheer speed and power of the blow knocked him off his footing.

Without hesitation, striking with speed and force unnatural for even the Avatar, Sen lunged again, this time driving the earth before him in massive spikes. Still unbalanced from the first strike, the crushing blow struck Sarin in the chest, sending him flying backwards. Sen did not let this put any distance between them. He chased after Sarin, with every intent never to give him the chance to recover.

The earthen blow had struck Sarin just barely soft enough to avoid breaking his ribcage open, and the pain was extreme but ultimately ignorable. Adrenaline pumped through Sarin's veins now, pushing him past agony and into a battle ready mindset. He cast his hands out, halting his backwards flight and setting himself on the ground firmly. Sen continued racing forward regardless as Sarin prepared himself for another strike.

The howling rose amidst the fury of the storm, and another lance of grey light struck out. Sen took the blow on the shoulder. It burned through his soaked shirt, evaporating the material, and burnt his skin bright crimson, but his forward charge never stopped. If he felt any pain, he did not show it. The grey light briefly illuminated a face etched in stone. Unmoving, unblinking, but written with a cold, inhuman rage.

Sen did not scream as the grey fire burnt his skin. He did not roar in anger as he gathered the boiling rain into a whip and struck Sarin with it, nor did he grunt in satisfaction as Sarin was knocked off his feet by the blow. The battle continued, blow against blow, power against power, and Sen was silent. He was uncaring, unfeeling, unstoppable, as inhuman as the storm around him. He had transcended rage and become a force of nature, a living hurricane with all its destructive power focused on a single target.

Sarin.

---

A loud scream of pain split the sky as a bloodbender found his prey. The Coalition soldier's body twisted in unnatural ways as the vile art gripped her body. Her fellows, likewise overwhelmed by the dark horde, could do little to help her.

With a defiant shout and a swift airborne lunge, Hanjo tackled the bloodbender and knocked him to the ground. He scooped up a handful of mud, hardened it into a rock, and slammed it down on the bloodbenders head, taking him out of the fight for now. The female soldier collapsed onto the ground as well, but Hanjo was quick to help her back to her feet.

"Come on, we have to do this together," he said breathlessly. He had been racing across the battlefield for what seemed liked hours now. Everywhere he went he found someone who needed help. He was already starting to feel the sting of exhaustion.

The soldier thanked him for his help and then joined him as they took on another bloodbender, then another. Bloodbending at the very least required intense concentration, so it was easy enough to blindside them with a swift tackle. Hanjo managed to knock down more than a few this way before he hit his first major obstacle.

When the bloodbending horde realized they were being outnumbered, they decided to take up numbers of their own. They began to move in proper formations, not disorganized hordes, watching each-other's backs and covering blind spots. With no means of ambush, Hanjo soon found himself in the grip of a bloodbender –and just as soon released.

The bloodbenders had attempted to organize, and there was no greater enemy of organization than the Avatar's primary agent of chaos, Whistler. She struck from above, the one spot they could never cover, and dove into the midst of their ranks, swinging wildly. While the bloodbenders were empowered by the moon, Whistler was empowered by the storm. She moved with the sweeping winds of the hurricane, letting them strengthen every movement and hit the bloodbenders that much harder.

With the miniature hurricane of Whistler's making leaving the bloodbenders in disarray, Hanjo and the other Coalition soldiers retaliated, surrounding the bloodbenders and overwhelming them with numbers. As the Coalition charged, Whistler snagged Hanjo and pointed him towards the walls.

"Explosions stopped," She said. "Big Bang's in trouble."

Hanjo had barely noticed the sudden absence of explosions. They were easy to miss in the lightning and thunder anyway. Whistler was right, though: the battlefield was bereft of Miyani's signature explosive power. That could not be a good sign.

Hanjo followed behind as Whistler led the way to the wall. They stopped to strike the enemy wherever they saw opportunity, but did not linger too long on any fight. It was slow going, having to slog through the muddy terrain and the chaotic mess of soldiers clashing wildly on the fortress grounds. There was only one force that had an easy time moving across the battlefield.

Soldiers on both sides dived out of the way as a burning blast of grey light cut through the battlefield. Avatar Sen stayed just one step ahead of the beam, leaping backwards and retaliating with a wave of water as he moved backwards, putting even more distance between himself and Sarin. The Energybender gave pursuit, and their duel moved further down the battlefield. Whistler shook her head and proceeded onwards.

They reached the wall and Whistler leapt upwards while Hanjo grumbled far behind, having to crawl up the wall with his bare hands. Whistler hit the top of the wall and looked around. She found Miyani pretty easily, not in half the trouble she might have thought. She'd only stopped using her combustion bending due to the close range. Miyani didn't need to risk blowing off any of her own limbs when said limbs were dangerous weapons in their own right.

Just as Whistler landed, an unfortunate bloodbender went up. An uppercut from Miyani caught him on the jaw and sent him flying skywards. Before the first had even landed Miyani turned and slammed a fist into the gut of another bloodbender, likewise sending him rocketing backwards.

"Guess I should've known better," Whistler grumbled. Since she was here, she swung her staff and knocked someone down. Hanjo managed to finish climbing the wall and echoed Whistler's actions.

"Everything's too mixed up," Miyani shouted. "I can't hit them without hitting our own troops."

Whistler sent a bloodbender flying. Miyani caught him out of the air and slammed him down on the ground hard.

"You seem to be doing fine," Whistler shouted back. Miyani barely had a scratch on her. As a combustion bender she was naturally more difficult to bloodbend, and the fact that she was violently beating anyone who came near her also made her hard to manipulate.

"You should move," Hanjo suggested. A chunk of broken from the blasted wall sailed through the air, hammering down a line of bloodbenders at Hanjo's command. "All the bloodbenders know where you are, they're going to keep coming at you."

"Let them come," Miyani growled. She grabbed a bloodbender's arm and swung him like a club, knocking down two others before throwing her unfortunate human club into a third.

"You're not helping anything distracting a few dozen out of hundreds," Hanjo shouted. "We've got to help each other out."

As she broke the face of another bloodbender, Miyani thought about Ariak. He was being an idiot, chasing Kida off into the distance, but he was still a good friend. She could hardly leave him alone with such a merciless beast.

"Whistler, make me some room," Miyani demanded. The airbender was more than happy to oblige. With a lash of air, the bloodbenders were forced backwards, and Miyani had some room to do what she did best. The flash of fire and force burst in the darkness of the night, shattering the bloodbender horde.

Miyani leapt down from the wall, using a bloodbender to soften her landing, and then charged off, throwing blows and tearing down whatever foe she came across, searching the battlefield for one specific target. Hanjo watched her run away.

"You know, when I said work together-"

"-You kind of meant work with us, right?"

Hanjo shrugged. Fighting an army of bloodbenders was just a bit stressful. With Sen being occupied in an earth-shattering duel with Sarin, there was only one other superpower he could trust to watch his back.

After a brief moment of shellshock, the bloodbenders started to pull their ranks back together. Whistler tugged on Hanjo's shoulder, deciding that now was a bad time to be standing in one place. Whistler and Hanjo took a few steps, trying to charge back to the heart of the battle, before finding their paths blocked. His muscles and his massive fangs bared, the bloodbender behemoth known as Shark stood before them.

"Nothing's ever easy, " Whistler groaned.

---

Time had become a superfluous concept on the battlefield. The storm and the battle erased any kind of marker one might use to measure time.

Still, Suda was aware that Temujin had been after him for a very long time.

His armor still pitted and scarred from Miyani's blast, Temujin had crushed his way through the battlefield, looking for a new target to focus his anger on. Suda had been the obvious choice. The Fist of Rahm sent a ripple through the mud as it impacted the ground once more. Suda took advantage of the moment it was stuck in the mud to close the gap and throw a few punches into Temujin's gut.

Metal pounded against metal as Suda's armored gauntlets slammed into Temujin's armor. With a grunt of exertion, Temujin pried his hammer from the mud and hefted it towards Suda. He caught the blow on his gauntlet and stepped back away from the hammers reach. Temujin raised it again for another heavy blow.

A few rapid footsteps were barely audible as they crossed the mud. Leaping high and grabbing onto the handle of the hammer like a gymnastics beam, Ada swung and threw her whole weight against Temujin's hammer. She didn't weigh much compared to the sheer bulk of the hammer itself, but it was enough to set Temujin off balance. As the lord of iron stumbled, Suda charged in to knock him to the ground.

Ada had been oddly defensive of Suda the entire night. She was continuously circling him, watching his back, making sure nothing came close to harming him. It was highly suspicious. Usually Ada was the one on the offensive while Suda played defense.

"Is there a reason you're after me so much?" Suda shouted into the night.

"Because you stand between me and power," Temujin roared. Suda interrupted him with a fist to the helmet.

"Wasn't talking to you," He spat. "Ada?"

Ada finished slashing apart the armor of a nearby Metal Man and returned to Suda's side.

"I'm just looking after my family," She said hastily. "Is that so strange?"

She flashed him a smile as lightning flashed above. Suda glared suspiciously. There was something mischievous in that smile. Suda wasn't sure he liked that very much.

Any suspicion on Ada's strange behavior was cast aside as Suda felt a metal-clad fist slam into his gut. Temujin was not exactly willing to pause for conversation. Suda put his guard up once again as Temujin resumed his hateful assault.

---

Spear clashed against spear as the two tore at one another.

Kida had led them away from the battlefield, putting the sounds of war far behind them. She didn't care about the battle, nor the war. She didn't care about Sen or Sarin, victory or defeat, any ideal or cause. She was here for Ariak and nothing else.

Ariak played defensive, as always. He used the shaft of his spear to block Kida's attacks as she launched strike after brutal, merciless strike. Kida threw herself into every blow, lunging at Ariak again and again like a predator seeking to disembowel her prey. With every strike she grew more and more frustrated.

"Fight," She demanded. She was not here to play games of give and take. She was here for blood.

"I don't want to hurt you," Ariak said. He had spent so long preparing for this, but one look at her and all his guilt came rushing back.

"Then lie down and die," Kida shouted, shoving her spear forward towards Ariak's chest. "There's only one way this ends."

She had been repeating it since their first meeting. She was unrelenting in her quest for Ariak's life. The only thing that would ever stop her was her own death. Ariak refused to accept it that way.

"There is always another way," Ariak pleaded. "Please, just talk to me, talk to someone."

"Shut up!"

Kida responded to his entreaties with nothing but a defiant shout and an especially furious strike with her spear. Ariak blocked the blow, and the unfortunate and seemingly endless dance continued.

---

Dei Sensheng and Lieutenant Ahn-Li watched over the battlefield from afar. There was hardly much to see at this distance: the darkness obscured the fortress almost entirely. The only thing visible were the lances of grey light and fire that Sen and Sarin traded between themselves. They might have made a spectacular sight, but the two spectators were aware of the deeper, more terrible nature of the display.

"Is this all worth it, Sensheng?"

Ahn-Li let the storm bury her. Sensheng had sought some kind of shelter under a rocky ledge, but it barely protected him at all. Ahn-Li didn't bother.

"We have lofty goals," Sensheng said. His voice shook, perhaps from the fury of the storm, perhaps from doubt. "Great risks must be taken."

A burning pillar of grey light tore open the sky. Ahn-Li could hear the horrific shrieking tone of Sarin's Energybending from here. The shrieking howl wounded her ears even from this distance.

The horrific howl continued as Sen sidestepped the beam of grey light. The fact that he avoided the destructive beams was the only sign of humanity he still showed. The blows of raw spiritual power were the only thing Sarin could do to cause Sen pain, and thus he avoided the strikes.

The rage that made Sen all but impervious to pain also drove him to a relentless offensive that Sarin found difficult to defend against. Any trace of his old fighting style, his old technique, was lost to sheer brutal power. The Avatar struck with tremendous and swift blows, indiscriminate and crushing in their fury. Each blow was only barely aimed at Sarin, focused more on simply crushing whatever was in front of him.

The earth rose up in an arc, swinging high and then hammering down towards Sarin. He held his hands high and threw out a wall of burning grey light, tearing apart the hammer of earth on a fundamental level. Not even dust was left behind as the heinous power of Sarin's energybending tore the stone asunder.

"You can't fight the inevitable, Avatar," Sarin taunted. Sen didn't even blink in acknowledgment, simply continuing on his onslaught. The rain above coalesced and froze into lances of ice that rained down on Sarin from above. He swept his hand and enhanced the winds of the hurricane, sweeping the ice aside.

With another sweeping motion, Sarin caught a second gust of air and strengthened it. Sen was caught by the hurricane's wind and thrown to the side, off his footing. He was hurled headfirst into a nearby wall, slamming into it with an oddly glassy crash. Sen recovered quickly, pushing off the wall. He shook his head slightly, grabbing at his face.

One lens of his glasses had broken. A single shard of glass had stabbed him in the cheek. Others fell to the ground, landing among the mud. He grabbed his glasses, looked at the bent frames, and then tossed them into the mud. A slight grunt of frustration at the loss of his glasses was the first sound he had made in hours.

He turned aside, ignoring the lost vision, and returned his full attention to Sarin. Barely able to see with his bare eyes, Sen was fored to close the distance and rely on smaller, more focused attacks. He sought the black void of Sarin's soul, ever seeking the abominable darkness.

---

The jaws of the Shark were ever bared in a vicious grin as he fought his way across the battlefield. At first it had been almost too easy to duel Kid'as silent second-in-command. Whistler was far too evasive for the slow and unwieldy Shark, and Hanjo provided a long-range barrage of earth. It had seemed like a sure fight for the first half hour. Then it had become an hour, and then another hour.

Shark showed no signs of fatigue or exhaustion, far different than Whistler and Hanjo. The long night was wearing them down, exhausting their strength. Whistler's evasiveness faded and Hanjo's strength waned as the weight of the night and the long hours bore down on them.

The bloodbender chased them down, as eager to use his bare hands as his bloodbending. His blows were slow and ponderous, yet dangerous, and they only grew more dangerous as fatigue slowed Whistler and Hanjo more and more.

"I'm starting to feel a lot stupider for sending Miyani away," Whistler grumbled.

Miyani had long since been lost in the crowd of battle, pursuing her own agendas. There was no way to track any target in the midst of the chaotic battle. It was a mob of tangled lives and battling soldiers, with the occasional guest appearance from a badgermole.

The battlefield was infrequently torn apart by the massive body of Gun breaching the mud. His appearances were random and unpredictable. The mud and the shaking earth muddled his seismic senses, rendering him functionally blind. In his rare moments of insight into the battlefield above, Gun was quick to action, striking from below in a devastating emergence.

"Hanjo! Get your furball to help," Whistler demanded.

"I've been trying," Hanjo snapped. "I'm not very good at it in the first place!"

"I don't want excuses," Whistler protested. She pointed at Shark. "I want a giant badgermole to eat that guy!"

Her hostility was interrupted by hostility in kind. Shark grabbed at her veins with his bloodbending temporarily freezing her in place and eliciting an agonized scream. Hanjo tossed a swift boulder towards Shark, breaking his hold on her as it impacted his chest. She offered a silent nod of thanks. All of this yelling and screaming was starting to hurt her throat.

Hanjo helped her to her feet and set her facing Shark again. Whistler leaned on him for support, and held tight to his shoulders for a moment.

"I had an idea," Whistler said hesitantly. "You're not going to like it."

"I already don't," Hanjo said. Whistler was not letting go of his shoulders.

With what little strength was left in her body, Whistler grabbed on to Hanjo and tossed him forward, towards Shark. He landed heavily in the mud in front of the bloodbending brute and got stuck in the muck and filth. Whistler, meanwhile, turned and ran away.

With Hanjo helpless and alone in the mud, the ever-sadistic Shark closed in on his prey. Hanjo felt his blood turn cold as Shark turned his full attention towards him. The behemoths hands extended and Hanjo's heart skipped a beat, and then froze completely. The mud around his limbs was that much colder as Shark's bloodbending held him.

Displaying his usual uncanny ability to sense any threat to his master, Gun was swift to action. The mud beneath the Shark rumbled for a moment before bursting open into a flurry of flying mud and soil. Gun's massive jaws flashed above the surface briefly, clamping down around Shark, and then vanished back underground.

Hanjo sat in silence for a moment as the battle raged around him, with only a crater left where Shark had once stood. Whistler quickly returned and helped Hanjo up.

"It worked, right?"

Hanjo stood up and brushed some of the mud off of him, still staring at the hole in the mud.

"You alright?" Whistler asked curiously.

"I think Gun actually ate him," Hanjo said quietly. He continued to gaze at the patch of ground, and Whistler slowly turned her head to join him in staring.

---

The night and the storm continued to rage, far beyond anyone's expectations. The battle continued in an unrelenting stalemate, a constant equilibrium of devastation. Neither side came any closer to claiming victory as the night went on. The longer the bloody stalemate continued, the more warriors on both sides began to wonder if victory was even possible –if they were not simply trapped in battle for the sake of battle.

There were some who despaired at the prospect of such pointless violence: others rejoiced in it.

Lightning flashed and the light caught the metal hides of spear and hammer. Kida and Temujin, both fueled by an unrelenting hate, were perfectly content in violence for its own sake. Their opponents found themselves far more exhausted.

Ariak deflected the strike, much to Kida's frustration. For hours they had struggled, exhausting one another but making no progress. Ariak adamantly refused to make a strike against Kida. As they struggled he pleaded with her repeatedly, but all of his entreaties were ignored.

"Please, Kida, I beg you," Ariak pleaded. His voice was hoarse from repeated pleas. "Think of Ori."

"You already tried that, Ariak," Kida taunted. "Didn't work out for you too well, or Ori, did it?"

"I know you let her go, Kida," Ariak shouted back. "Did you think I wouldn't find out about Ori's 'escape'?"

Kida's taunting paused as her lips pursed in a thin scowl. Ariak took a step away from the violence and held out his hand.

"You can end this, Kida," Ariak said. "I know there is more to you than this hate you feel."

Kida responded with supposed proof of her hatred. Her stolen spear raced outwards towards Ariak's heart as she lunged towards him. She howled wildly as she thrust, roaring above the screaming wind to properly express her rage.

"Just stop, Kida," Ariak begged. "Walk away from all of this!"

"Never," Kida roared. "You know how this ends, Ariak. You or me."

Kida's all-consuming anger carried the battle forward into the storm while her protégé in hatred did likewise across the battlefield. The Fist of Rahm slammed down upon the mud, becoming embedded for a moment before Temujin pulled it outwards for another swing.

The mud bogged down everything as much as the fatigue did. The heavy bodies of Suda and Temujin sank nearly knee-deep into the mud. Every footstep became a battle in its own right as the metal-clad warriors struck out at one another.

While Temujin held the advantage of his ceaseless rage and his heavy armor and weaponry, Suda had Ada's support. Lighter by nearly a hundred pounds than either of the two metalbenders, she could traverse the muck with relative ease. She used her speed and maneuverability to set Temujin greatly off balance, though her swords were of little use against his thick armor.

Ada leaped behind Temujin and grabbed on to the plates of his armor, pulling him backwards. While Temujin was put off balance, Suda grabbed the thick chestplate he wore and pulled the plates apart. They needed to remove his armor to really defeat him. Suda rested the plates apart, but as Temujin focused, the metallic armor fused back together again.

With a metallic roar of anger, Temujin struck Suda in the chest. The blow hit all the old wounds from their first meeting, wracking Suda with pain and knocking him backwards. Ada screamed in concern and rage, throwing all her weight into a massive pull that forced Temujin off his feet, if only briefly. The moment Temujin's armored hide began to sink into the mud, Ada leapt away and towards Suda's side.

"I'm fine, I'm alright," Suda insisted, getting back to his feet. "Just a rough hit, I'm good."

"And what about the next hit?" Ada pleaded. "Suda, just get out of here."

"What, and let you face the hammer?" Suda said half-jokingly. "You'd get squished like a bug."

"There's more at stake here, Suda," Ada said. Her attention turned away from Suda as she heard movement to her right.

"Enough talk," Temujin bellowed. His hammer came down, and Suda and Ada rolled in opposite directions to avoid the blow. Suda jumped to his feet and hurled a fist into Temujin's helmet, followed by another, and another.

"We were having a conversation," Suda shouted indignantly. "It's rude to interrupt."

Suda drew his fist back past his shoulder and then threw it forward like a battering ram. His armored knuckles clashed against Temujin's helmet hard enough to dent the metal and send Temujin reeling backwards. Ada sighed loudly as Suda jumped bravely back into the fray.

The sounds of metal ringing against metal joined the cacophony of battle. The roaring storm dominated all, but underneath the fury of the wind could be heard the screams of anger and of pain, the roar of fire, the massive clashes of earth, and above all else the ear-rending tones of Energybending. The chaotic noises bled together into an overpowering roar, the unmistakable sound of war.

Far removed from the center of the conflict, Kida and Ariak added their own tones to the cacophony. The dull thud of a spear blade against a wooden handle was barely audible in the chaos of the night, but it carried far more weight than many much louder impacts.

Kida retreated a few steps and clenched her spear tightly, her teeth bared in a vicious.

"Why come all this way?" She questioned. "Why learn bloodbending? Why do any of this if you won't just finish it?"

Even amidst the shadows of the night, there was a violent desperation visible on her face. Ariak's refusal to participate in her bloodthirsty game was a constant source of vexation for Kida.

"I don't know," Ariak admitted. "I don't know what I expect from you, Kida. But I know I can't give up on you."

Not everyone shared the sentiment.

The clash between spears of wood and steel was joined by a spear of light. Kida jumped backwards as the lance of power raced towards her, but not fast enough. Ariak was pushed back as the combustive blast exploded just far enough away to avoid injuring him. Kida on the other hand, was blasted backwards, her burnt body rolling towards the southern cliffs as the shockwave pushed.

Miyani lumbered forward, covered in her share of scrapes and bruises from having to search the battlefield for Ariak. Now that she had found her target, though, nothing would stop her. Especially not Ariak.

"Miyani, stay away," Ariak begged. Miyani grabbed him by the shoulder and tossed him aside all too easily.

"Not this time, Ariak," Miyani said. Her red eye glared towards Kida as she stumbled to her feet. Ariak lunged forward to place himself in Miyani's path, hoping to delay her just long enough for him to think of something.

Opportunity would present itself in strange and destructive ways this night. As Miyani paced towards Kida, Sen and Sarin clashed once again. A burst of fire barely grazed Sarin's chest, scorching his robes, and a beam of grey light clipped Sen's shoulder, causing him to twitch in pain. As he retaliated, he called up a hammer of earth and slammed it down. The entire cliffside fortress shook under the impact.

It was no simple tremor. Even those not possessed of a seismic sense could feel the sheer force of the shaking earth as the cliffside rumbled. A few loose stones broke from the cliff face and plummeted into the churning seas. Gun jumped out of the soil as the tremors continued. Hanjo looked at the mud beneath his feet. The forces of nature, wind, rain, and ocean waves had crushed the cliffside in a hundred different ways, and the battle above had likewise fractured it as earthbenders clashed and badgermoles tunneled. The cliff was falling apart.

Hanjo was not the only one to draw such a conclusion. The metal helmet of Temujin, crafted in the likeness of Rahm's merciless gaze, turned to the east, towards the ruins of the nearby cliff. His face was obscured, but Suda could feel the vicious smile form under Temujin's helmet as his mind birthed the wicked idea.

Gripping the Fist of Rahm with both hands, Temujin raised his hammer high.

"Temujin, no," Suda pleaded. "Your own men-"

"Better we all die than my enemy lives!"

With that heartless proclamation shouted to the heavens, the hammer fell.

The shockwave could be felt across the fortress. It was a slow rumble at first, barely different than the previous tremors. Then the shaking started in earnest, the ground trembling as it collapsed, and the ground below began to scream as it split. Slowly, surely, fractures formed, splitting the mud and the cliff as it all began to fall apart.

The southern wall began to sink downwards, the churning waves below only growing more chaotic as large stones dislodged from the cliffside and plummeted downwards. Hanjo took one look at the ground beside him as it split into a massive chasm. He turned upwards and raised his voice.

"Run!"

In an instant the battle ceased, both sides forgetting their hatred for one another and fleeing from the prospect of the fall. Even as they began to scatter in terror the fortress began to collapse upon itself, the first chunk of the cliffside breaking free in a thunderous crack. The southern wall broke free and hurled itself downwards into the abyssal depths of the sea below, carrying unfortunate occupants with it. A few desperate souls near the edge of the broken cliff hurled themselves outwards, a lucky few barely managing to grasp the intact cliffside, but far more falling short and plummeting downwards to join the south wall in the depths. Even those who landed found no guarantee of safety: the wall crumbled under the hands as the cliff continued to collapse.

Suda turned towards the collapse and slammed his hands against the ground, reaching out to the crumbling cliffs with his formidable power. For a brief moment the slow destruction halted, and the cliff stabilized, earning a few desperate souls some small seconds to run, but it was not to last. With the cliff still crumbling below them, Temujin turned his hammer to Suda.

The first blow struck him in the back, knocking him down and releasing his grip on the cliff. The fortress once again began to tremble and break under the weight of seismic forces. Slowly realizing that he could do nothing so long as Temujin stood over him, Suda turned back to the ironclad warlord, striking at him with a hammer fist.

Suda screamed aloud in rage as the collapse continued, and he beat Temujin with armored fists. Temujin only laughed.

"Finally," the monstrous Temujin chuckled. "I have your hatred."

The collapse continued as Suda rained heavy blows upon his enemy. The cliff collapsed into fractured chunks, slowly breaking off one by one as the earth tore itself apart. The massive fractures raced outwards, away from the fortress, towards a far different battlefield.

Miyani paused and turned away from Kida as the fracturing stone expanded outwards. She watched in shock as the fortress collapsed before her eyes, shock that turned to horror as she watched soldiers of the Coalition and the Energybender both be consumed by the collapse.

As the massive chasms in the stone raced towards her, Miyani's first instinct was to flee, an instinct which forcibly repressed itself when she remembered her situation. Ariak was still here –as was Kida. She turned her head, and saw, sure enough, that Ariak was running towards Kida. She growled quietly in anger and chased after him.

---

The ground shook and shuddered, and Whistler stumbled as the earth tilted to one side as the cliff broke to pieces. She was a safe distance from the collapse, far enough away that she had no fear of falling –though she felt some unmistakable urge to go to the cliffside, to try and help. She felt sick standing here and watching the chunks of stone fall, carrying friend and foe alike into the abyss below.

She looked at her staff and shook her head, trying to talk herself out of it. She couldn't glide in these conditions. At least not well. She'd be blown side to side by every breeze and gust. The wind changed directions every few seconds. She could do almost nothing.

But almost nothing was still better than nothing. She cursed the conscience she'd developed and ran towards the collapsing cliffs. She dashed across the battlefield, pushing against the horde fleeing the collapse, and found the high ground. She watched as the cliff continued to crumble, a few desperate souls still seeking to escape the collapse. They had been too far from safety when the break had begun. They would never reach solid ground in time.

Whistler scanned the fleeing crowd and recognized, at the far end of the break, their old host Master Yakkul. She grit her teeth, chose her target, and unfolded her glider. It was barely out before it caught the wind and pulled her skyward. It took a few seconds for her to regain even a tenuous sense of control, and when she did it was only barely. She was at the mercy of the storm, only hoping that the chaotic winds would carry her closer to her goal.

It took all the power and focus her weary mind could muster, but Whistler managed to ride out the winds of the storm, gliding towards Master Yakkul. A bolt of lightning in the air illuminated the metal frame of her glider, catching the swordsman's eye. He was a few steps short of safety and he knew it. Whistler's glider quickly became his hope for salvation. He changed course to meet her and held out his hand to the sky.

The wind clawed at Whistler's face and blew cold rain down upon her, but for now the sky seemed to show mercy. The storm twisted and turned unpredictably, but Whistler managed to ride the chaotic winds towards the falling cliff, and towards Yakkul's outstretched hand. She reached out in kind, hoping that she could reach him in time.

The storms mercy ended.

The fury of the storm reignited in fullness, and Whistler was caught in the suddenly changing winds. She screamed furiously into the storm as she was swept away, Yakkul and the collapsing cliff vanishing as the world started to spin out of control. She could feel herself moving upwards, left right, every which way, and she clung to her glider for dear life as the storm made her its plaything. Eventually she slammed into something, she wasn't sure what, her left arm bearing the brunt of the impact as she came to a violent halt.

After a moment to contemplate her pain, Whistler opened her eyes and tried to flex her arm. The agonizing pain she felt told her not to try that again. She tilted her head and tried to orient herself. She had been thrown to the collapsed ruins of the eastern cliffs, a fair distance from the battlefield. She turned towards the fortress, and saw that the cliff she had been heading towards –and everyone on it- had already fallen into the sea.

Whistler leaned back, pressed her wounded arm to chest, and stayed there. She was drained, body and soul. The storm and the battle had taken any will to keep fighting out of her. She laid in the ruin and rubble and let the exhaustion that had been chasing her finally catch up.

In the fortress, Hanjo found himself chased by the earth itself. With every footstep he could feel the earth collapsing just under his heel. He stayed one step ahead of the collapse at every step, just barely abreast of a deadly fall. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a chunk of cliff break free just a second too quickly, and a bloodbender fell into the darkness below.

The pace of the collapse was slowing now, as the broken earth collapsed bit by bit and approached more stable territory, but it was no less deadly in the meantime. The many soldiers in the fortress were exhausted by hours of fighting, hardly in good conditions for this sudden sprint. Few could keep ahead of the plummeting stones, with wave after wave of soldiers falling into the abyss below.

Breathless and afraid, exhausted in every way, Hanjo slowed pace by pace, until he could no longer keep running. He felt the earth sink out from under his heel and then his entire foot, and Hanjo slipped downwards. Gripped by panic, he threw his hands forward to grab the earthen cliff and sunk his fingertips into the muddy soil. His frantic earthbending took hold, barely holding the cliff in front of him intact, as the earth continued to crumble on either side.

Hanjo's eyes went wide and he turned from side to side, watching others plummet and fall while he clung to his lone outcropping of stable rock. He saw Suda, Ada, and Temujin clashing in the distance, among others still struggling or fleeing in the night.

"Help me," He called out desperately. His grasp on the earth ahead was tenuous at best. It would not last. Desperate, Hanjo turned his eyes towards a source of howling.

Whether out of simple ignorance or a deliberate attempt to ignore it, Sen had not acknowledged the collapse of the cliff. He still clashed with Sarin, heedless to the disaster unfolding behind him. Howling grey light clashed with strikes of earth, fire, air, and water, as their duel continued.

"Sen!" Hanjo called out. "Sen!"

Perhaps it was the distance. Perhaps it was the winds of the storm. Perhaps it was the howling of Sarin's Energybending. Or perhaps Sen was simply so absorbed in his hatred, so completely consumed by his rage, that he was deaf to anything else. Whatever the reason, Sen never acknowledged the cries of his friend.

Some loyalties never faltered, such as the loyalties of a pet to his master. Shaking the muddy ground with his footfalls, a heavily panicked Gun ran back towards the breaking earth. The tremors and the collapsing stone frightened Gun greatly, but no amount of fear would prevent him from helping his master. Reaching the last stable hold that Hanjo clung to, the badgermole gingerly clamped Hanjo in his jaws and pulled him upwards, away from the cliff.

When they were a far distance from the collapse, Gun released Hanjo from his jaws and let the exhausted earthbender cling to his fur instead. Gun lurched further forward, away from the chaos and trembling earth that confused and frightened him, before collapsing in a furry heap far from the battlefield. Hanjo released his grip in the badgermoles mud-splatted fur and slumped to the ground, joining his pet in rest.

---

As the distant cliffs of Kida's battlefield began to fall to pieces, the lunatic bloodbender lurched to her feet and limped forward. Wounded by Miyani's blast, she found herself unable to keep pace with the collapse of the earth below, and slowly began to feel herself sink downwards. The spear she had stolen from Ariak long ago was the first to fall into the blackness, followed not longer after by Kida herself. As the earth fell to pieces beneath her, she stopped moving entirely, staring forward with black eyes, expecting to see nothing but the cliff in front of her as she plummeted. Instead, she saw Ariak, and her eyes widened.

"No," he declared, shouting in defiance of the sky and earth. He grabbed Kida and pulled her forward, just ahead of the falling fracture, and pulled her further still. He attempted to race them both forwards to safety, but Kida dragged at him like an anchor, slowing his pace and holding him back. Ariak only pulled harder as his footing fell out from beneath him.

The last few chunks of earth broke free, and carried Ariak and Kida down with them. Miyani screamed and plunged to her knees at the cliffside, carefully but quickly leaning over. Her heart stopped in relief and surprise as she saw Ariak, dangling from the cliffside, barely clinging to his spear as it stood embedded in the rocky cliff face. One hand clung tightly to the shaft of his spear, the other wrapped desperately around Kida's wrist as she dangled below him.

Miyani reached downwards, pressing her chest to the ground to extend her long arms as far down the broken cliff as she could. She pushed herself as far as she could, until she could feel her shoulder stretching out of its socket, but her fingertips could not quite reach Ariak's spear.

"Ariak," She screamed aloud. The confused hunter, still shocked from his fall, looked up at her –then down at Kida. He could see Miyani's hand only a few inches from his face. It was out of reach of the hand that clung to his spear, the hand that kept both him and Kida from falling into the abyss, but it was not out of reach of his other hand –provided he dropped Kida.

Hurricane waves and jagged rocks waited beneath them. Kida looked down at the deadly abyss beneath them, and did not flinch. She looked back up at Ariak, as he looked at her in turn.

"Let her go, Ariak," Miyani pleaded. Rain washed over her face, as did her own tears, as she begged aloud. "She's not worth it!"

Ariak looked downwards wordlessly. Kida stared up at him, her eyes as black and hateful as ever. Her impartial face broke into a vicious scowl.

"Do it," She screamed up at him. "Finish it!"

Ariak looked at his hand wrapped around her arm. All it would take was to relax his grip for a moment, and she would slip away. He watched her dangle in his grip and remembered her words. You or me. Only one could walk away from their conflict.

He took another look at his hand and hers. Her hand, loose and aimless in his grip, not holding on to anything.

Ariak's eyes narrowed, and he set his jaw. He looked up at the cliff, and at Miyani's outstretched hand. Already exhausted, and still dangling from the cliffside, a normal man had no hope of climbing up with Kida still in his hands. But Ariak was not normal.

His teeth clenched and a low roar of pain escaped his lips as Ariak turned his bloodbending upon himself.

Playing puppetmaster with his own body, Ariak forced his arm upwards, with Kida still in tow. He screamed in pain as the forceful manipulation of his own muscles tore at his blood. Little by little he pushed himself upwards with the unholy power. His skin broke out in massive bruises as his veins strained against the pressure of bloodbending. Miyani stared onwards speechlessly as Ariak achieved the impossible through the most horrific of means.

After herculean effort and inconceivable suffering on Ariak's part, the two finally reached the top of the cliff. Ariak dragged them both upwards, standing on his feet for only a second before dropping his spear and collapsing into an exhausted heap in Miyani's arms. Kida fell forward as well, meeting only the earth as she fell. Her hands clung to the earth for a moment, unable to believe that it was actually beneath her. She was still alive.

But slowly, inevitably, the hands that clung to the earth snaked outwards, seeking the spear Ariak had dropped. Once again she stole Ariak's spear, clinging to it tightly and pulling herself to her feet. Miyani's face split in a heavy scowl and she stood to face Kida. Ariak stood in turn, holding Miyani back. Kida raised the spear as Ariak stepped forward.

"Novu," Ariak said. Kida froze as if her blood had turned to ice. Miyani stood still as well, though entirely out of confusion.

"Kalla," Ariak gasped weakly, holding his hand out calmingly. Kida lowered her spear and took a step back. Confusion was evident on her face, a confusion that slowly morphed back into her all-too familiar rage. She raised her spear again.

"How dare you," She roared in anguish, lunging forward with her spear. Miyani caught her and threw her aside, but Ariak soon pulled her away from any further violence and continued.

"Novu and Kalla," He repeated. "Those were your sister's names."

"Shut up," Kida cried out desperately. He rage was joined in equal measure by despair now, and she lashed out blindly with her stolen spear, cutting nothing but the air.

"They were your family," Ariak said desperately. "The only family you ever knew. They meant everything to you."

Kida screamed loudly and dove forward blindly. Ariak stepped aside and she lunged at nothing but empty air, falling to the ground and collapsing there for a moment, her body lurching unsteadily as she fell.

"And we- I- cut them down like they were nothing," Ariak said mournfully.

Kida rose, but did not turn to Ariak right away. She clutched the stolen spear tightly and let out a shrieking wail before turning and lunging blindly once again.

"They meant everything to you but nothing to us," Ariak said. "If their lives had no meaning, how could anyone's?"

Kida turned to face her opponents slowly and quietly, and again Miyani saw that hollow blackness hidden behind her rage.

"How could yours?"

Ariak stepped forward weakly, but found himself unable to stand. He collapsed to his knees on the ground in front of Kida. He stared up at her, mournful and pleading.

"All this time, you've been saying you or me," He said. He hesitated a moment, staring deep into Kida's eyes. "You wanted it to be you."

Kida stared back with eyes as black and empty as they had ever been. That hollow hopeless had always been there, hidden behind the veneer of rage, almost invisible –except to the one person who truly cared to look.

"Novu and Kalla. Their lives mattered, Kida," Ariak begged. "Your life matters. Don't throw it away."

Lightning cracked and thunder rolled, and Kida rose. She grabbed the spear in both hands, raising it high with a scream louder than any thunder. Miyani tensed and stepped forward just in time for the spear to fall.

There was a dull thud as the metal spearhead struck the mud. Embedded deep within the earth, the spear shifted slightly as Kida collapsed against it, pressing her face against the wooden handle. Her scream sank low into a mournful wail as she sank further and further with it, her body trembling with choking sobs of regret.

She rested there, her eyes cast at the ground, as her tears were buried by the rains of the storm.

---

The battlefield had settled, both literally and figuratively. The collapse had ceased, and with it much of the battle. Fatigue had turned into complete and utter exhaustion, and one by one the soldiers of both sides had begun to faint, unable to move their aching muscles any further. Bloodbenders and Coalition soldiers alike laid motionless against the crumbling walls of the fortress, ignoring their conflict out of sheer exhaustion.

A few of the brave, the determined, and the powerful still clung to conflict. Barely-conscious Coalition soldiers dragged bloodbenders through the mud as they wrestled. Temujin weakly swung his hammer at an increasingly exhausted Suda. Through it all, Sen and Sarin perservered.

Their duel continued at the ruined north wall of what was left of Fort Ganhwa. Grey light tore the sky and was met with retaliations of all four elements as the Avatar and the Energybender continued what seemed to be a never-ending duel.

"Where have your boasting and your threats been this evening, Avatar?" Sarin questioned hoarsely. His voice was giving out from repeated taunts towards the Avatar, all of which went unanswered. Sen was still as quiet and as cold as the grave, his only response an angry blow of air towards Sarin. The air faltered oddly under his control.

"Do you finally feel the proper fear of the inevitable?" Sarin asked. "Do you finally understand that defeat is your destiny?"

This taunt drew a small reaction from the Avatar. His eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared as Sarin once again boasted of his destiny. Sen despised the concept. There was no true inevitability. The world belonged to those who shaped it, as Sen did now.

He threw both fists upwards, calling up a stone to match each. Sen threw his left fist out in a swift punch, forcing Sarin to the side as he dodged, and then threw out another strike with his right. The second boulder caught Sarin in the side, knocking him against the wall, leaving him briefly exposed.

Sen's glowing eyes caught the moment of weakness and focused. His left hand reached out and sparked with the fire of rage, a white hot lance of heat that raced towards Sarin's heart. Sarin pressed himself against the wall as the burning lance raced towards him. Sen watched the fire soar towards Sarin's heart, and he smiled.

The fire faltered and Sen's hand twitched and contorted as if struck by lightning. Pain exploded outwards from Sen's eyes, twisting his body with agony as the burning surged outwards from his eyes and into the rest of his body. He forced his white eyes shut and clutched at his temples in agony as the pain wracked his every nerve.

Sarin, unburned and unharmed, rose slowly as the Avatar convulsed. The Energybender stepped forward curiously as Sen fell to his knees, still clutching at his head.

In a sudden burst, Sen let out a deep gasp for air and released his head, slamming his palms down on the ground. The Avatar panted breathlessly as he looked at his hands. His fingers twitched, and he looked upwards to see Sarin approaching.

There was no light, no power, in Sen's eyes. The Avatar State had faltered, faded, and finally vanished. Sarin stepped forward, one foot in front of the other, like a cat about to pounce on its prey.

"Even the Avatar State fails you," Sarin taunted. "Now do you see?"

Confusion vanished from Sen's face. Something inside of Sen had changed –but it was not his rage. He took one look at Sarin and felt the same anger he always had. Sen clenched his fists.

Lunging to his feet and throwing his fist forward, Sen struck Sarin with a solid punch to the gut, knocking the air out of Sarin's lungs. The Energybender reeled backwards from the blow, only stopping as he hit the bricks of the Northern Wall, and Sen chased. His next punch went high and powerful, towards Sarin's face.

Sen's bare knuckles cracked against the bridge of Sarin's nose. Caught between the hammer of Sen's fist and the stone of the northern wall, Sarin's skull gave in to the force of the blow. The pressure focused on the bridge of Sarin's nose, and the bone and cartilage separated in a vicious crack. Sen smiled as he felt Sarin's face crack under his knuckles.

Sarin threw his hand out in a panicked blow of air to send Sen flying backwards. With some distance from the Avatar, Sarin stopped to press his hands against his nose, and when he pulled them away, they were coated red. Sarin's broken nose continued to pour out blood as Sen came at him again, kicking Sarin's knees out from under him.

As Sarin collapsed, Sen grabbed him by the back of the head and slammed his face into the stony wall. Maybe the Avatar State had left him. It didn't matter. Nothing would stand between him and Sarin's defeat. If it had to be done with his bare hands, so be it.

Sen might even enjoy it.

---

Metal rang against metal like a bell striking noon. Suda caught the blow from Temujin's hammer on his gauntlets. The blow set him spinning, falling backwards and collapsing into the mud.

Suda's weary muscles begged for him to stop, but he knew he could not. Somehow, Temujin was still fighting fit. If Suda stopped now, there'd be nobody left to stop the warlord's rampage. So many others had already collapsed, making them helpless prey for the Fist of Rahm. Somebody needed to stand between Temujin and the helpless.

His metal gauntlets rattled as he got back to his feet. They were dented and cracked from blocking so many strikes. Suda look at his wrists, at the YU engraved upon the metal, and remembered Yoki. Thinking of her was the only thing that had kept him going for so many hours, but even that power had begun to fade. Love could only conquer nature for so long. His heart could not drive his weary muscles much longer.

Suda ran forward, fists swinging, and met his usual result. His knuckles bounced off of Temujin's metal hide, and Suda was answered with a strike from the Fist of Rahm. He was knocked backwards yet again.

Temujin roared in satisfaction as his blow connected. He had stopped talking long ago, succumbing entirely to his bestial anger. He lived and breathed to strike Suda, to cause pain, to vanquish his rivals. He gladly gave in to his anger.

The Fist of Rahm trembled as Temujin focused on it. He was so close, he could feel it. He was so close to becoming the apex of rage, to achieving the heights that Rahm had reached. Rage flowed through him as thick as blood. The last roadblock on his road to triumph was his one true enemy: Suda. As soon as Suda was defeated, Temujin would be able to do the impossible.

Suda raised his fists again. He would not just give in to Temujin's rage. He stepped forward and bore the hammer blow, striking out with a quick punch. Temujin growled and swept his free hand, striking Suda in the ribs. Suda screamed out in pain as he felt an old injury reopen. He staggered backwards, clutching his chest. Temujin chuckled in satisfaction.

Finally unable to bear the pain and exhaustion, Suda stepped backwards, backing away from Temujin. He wobbled unsteadily as he retreated, and finally collapsed in the mud. He struggled to find his footing again, barely able to move his arms, and almost resigned himself to lying in the mud and waiting for the inevitable to come. Then he felt two small arms grab on to him and pull him upwards.

"Get up," Ada pleaded, her voice so weak it was barely audible. She had overcome her own exhaustion just enough to try and help Suda to his feet. "You've got to get up."

For Ada's sake Suda struggled just a bit harder, managing to get to his feet. Ada helped pull him away from Temujin as Suda clutched his broken rib.

"Go home," Ada begged. "You have to get back to your family. Please, just go home."

Suda looked around, Saw Temujin slowly approaching, and sighed deeply. The simple act of breathing filled his chest with unbearable pain. He stopped moving.

"My family's right here," Suda said. He could not abandon Ada or anyone else. He had given up on too many things in his life. Suda would not give up on protecting the people he cared about.

"No, Suda," Ada said tearfully. She looked up at Suda, once a stranger, an enemy, now as close to her as her own flesh and blood, her brother. He deserved better than a shallow grave in the mud. He had so much more waiting for him.

"What Yoki was trying to tell you before she left," Ada gasped. "Your family. She's pregnant."

Suda did not look back at her. He froze, and his eyes drifted far, far away, as if he was trying to look all the way back to Republic City, to see Yoki.

"She's-" Suda started and then froze in disbelief. His tired face changed, shedding exhaustion. He looked forward towards the horizon, his eyes taking on an odd focus.

"I'm going to be a dad," He said, as if he didn't believe it.

"Yeah, you are," Ada said, taking up a tearful smile. She looked up at her brother, her eyes full of love. "You're going to be a great father. But you have to get home."

Ada's tearful smile turned to Temujin. Suda could hardly care about him or the rest of the world, awestruck as he was by the thought of family and fatherhood. Ada's smile faded. Temujin's hammer raised.

With the last scrap of strength left in her body, Ada tried to push Suda aside, out of the hammer's reach. It didn't work.

Metal rang against metal. Two ironclad fists struggled in midair, metal scraping against metal as the two hands dueled for supremacy. One side, the black fist of Rahm's gauntlet, on the other, Suda's gauntlet, the carved initials of Yoki Uehara flashing on the wrist. He stood firm, unflinching under the weight of the hammer's blow. Suda would not be moved.

Suda's prodigious muscles bulged as he struggled against the weight of Rahm's fist. Temujin pushed down on the handle of his hammer, trying to force Suda backwards. Suda would not be moved.

Temujin tried to pull his hammer back for another strike. The armored fingers of Suda's gauntlet held firm, and the hammer stayed in place, trapped in a forged grip stronger than Temujin had thought possible. Suda would not be moved.

Only a moment ago he had been on the brink of collapse, but Suda was no longer the man he had been a moment ago. He had been a warrior, a friend, a brother, a lover then. Now he was so much more than he had ever been, so much more than he had ever dreamed of being. Now he was a father.

His purpose and his very self renewed, Suda pushed against the hammer, bringing to bear all the purpose, all the responsibility, all of the love that his new role carried with it. He focused it all, and for a moment he was unstoppable. For a moment, he could do the impossible.

Suda clenched his fist, bending his fingers. The Fist of Rahm bent in kind. Temujin's eyes went wide as Suda clenched his fingertips, and the black metal of Rahm's gauntlet shattered.

The tension snapped as the metal reshaped. The hammer warped, and Temujin was thrown backwards by the sudden shift in balance. He fell back in shock, staring upwards as Suda held the handful of black metal high.

The Spirit Metal, the indestructible black iron, reshaped in Suda's hand. It shed the shape of the brutal spiked gauntlet, for a moment becoming an amorphous mass, and then it began to take a new form. In Suda's hands it became no weapon of destruction, no bladed armor, but a shield. A round disc of metal took shape in Suda's clenched fist, an unbreakable shield to hold back all the wrath the world might bring to bear. Suda held his new shield forward, placing a bulwark between himself and Temujin.

"No," The warlord roared. "No, impossible!"

Suda dashed forward and slammed the shield into Temujin's chest plate, proving just how possible it was. The metallic blow knocked Temujin off his feet and into a nearby wall. Suda ran after him, his shield held high, striking another blow with the edge of the black shield. The metal split open Temujin's chest piece and pushed him to his knees.

"It's mine," Temujin roared impotently. "It was my destiny, mine! You don't deserve it!"

"No, I don't," Suda said. He neither wanted nor deserved this kind of power. Suda raised his hand again, holding the shield high.

"But my kid deserves everything."

The shield surged out towards Temujin's helmet. The dark visor, crafted in the image of the brutal warlord Rahm, splintered under the blow. With his helmet shattered, Temujin absorbed the full force of the blow and fell backwards, unconscious. He fell, sinking into the mud, motionless. Suda didn't even spare a second to watch him fall.

He lurched through the mud, his old fatigue slowly returning as the adrenaline high wore off. He stayed on his feet long enough to find Ada, and then he fell into the mud by her side.

"Did she say anything else," Suda asked breathlessly. "Does she know if it's going to be-"

"No," Ada said. "Too early to know anything."

"Oh," Suda said. He grabbed Ada and held his shield over the two of them, just in case. Ada smiled, the only action she could manage.

"You're going to be the best dad ever," Ada sighed contentedly. She gladly relaxed in Suda's arm, eager to finally succumb to her exhaustion.

"And you're going to be a pretty great aunt," Suda mumbled. He closed his eyes and finally rested. The rain no longer fell quite as harsh, and the winds blew a bit more gently as the two fell asleep.

---

The storm was waning, and the night was fading. The wrath of the hurricane began to die as the moon began to sink towards the horizon. It had been a long night and a vicious storm, but it was almost over.

For most the night had ended long ago. Exhaustion or battle had claimed them all. Unmoving bodies laid scattered across the fortress, quiet, almost serene. The waning winds of the storm caused strands of hair or fabric to blow in the breeze, but there was no other motion. Every form on what had once been a battlefield was now frozen in time –all but two.

His muscles burned. His bones were broken. His skin was cut and bleeding. Every part of his body and mind screamed at him to stop, but he would not, could not. Where body and mind failed him, hate pushed him forward.

A weary arm swung wildly, striking his foe across the face. One fell, and the other fell atop them, trying to strike another blow. The first to fall kicked out into the gut of his foe, knocking them away, and the two rolled in the mud, buckled with pain and exhaustion.

The filth of battle coated them, erasing any distinguishing marks, any insignias. The emblems of the Coalition were ripped and torn, grey eyes were caked in blood and mud. Even their distinctive bending had been claimed by the fatigue of the long night. Causes and beliefs had become afterthoughts, symbols and allegiances had been discarded.

There was nothing between the two now but blood and spite. A fist struck a face in a slow punch, and was returned in kind. The pain of the blows were ignored, the fatigue that sought to collapse them was disregarded. Neither would fall unless their enemy fell first. They had battled all night, and they would battle for all eternity if necessary.

One tackled the other, knocking both to the ground, and they fell into the mud, striking blows all the while. The two rolled in the mud, striking and clawing at one another with wild abandon. Neither made any attempt to defend themselves. Each struck viciously, thoughtlessly, hoping to beat the other into submission first.

A brutal strike to the gut knocked them apart, each falling to the side, breathless and exhausted. They stayed separated for a moment, if only because their broken, tired bodies could barely move.

Sen rolled over onto his face and pushed himself upwards. Sarin stumbled to his feet a short distance away. The two staggered upwards, refusing to stay down, and faced one another once more.

Sarin lunged first, diving forward in a quick tackle. His arms wrapped around Sen's torso and pushed him to the ground. Sen slammed his elbow down on Sarin's back as they fell, and quickly pulled his arm back to throw a punch at Sarin's face mud-stained face. Sarin slammed his rival down into the mud and threw a punch into his gut, following it with another strike to the face.

The two traded blows, weak and wild, neither doing much damage to the other. Sen wrapped one hand around Sarin's throat and threw him aside, then rolled on to his belly to crawl through the mud after him. Sarin kicked out to fend Sen off, and Sen stopped as Sarin's boot struck his jaw. The interruption was only momentary: Sen was quickly on to his feet and after Sarin once again.

Sarin struggled to move backwards, but Sen chased after him just slightly faster. As the dueling duo reunited, Sarin kicked him in the knee. He fell, but he fell forward, his fist plunging towards Sarin as he collapsed.

His knuckles slammed into Sarin's gut. Sarin struck out at Sen's face, but half of his wild blows missed, and Sen powered through the few blows that did land. It was a struggle, but Sen eventually managed to wrap one hand around Sarin's throat, the other raised high and then falling down. Sen smiled in satisfaction as his fist cracked against Sarin's jaw.

He felt the blow shake his weary muscles and wrack his fractured bones with pain. He ignored all of the pain. It hurt a thousand different ways, but no single agony or a thousand sufferings combined could overpower the satisfaction of Sarin suffering for even a second. So Sen raised his hand, and he struck again. Then again.

The sound of Sen's fist against Sarin's skull was the only sound in the dark night. The dying rain of the storm fell gently as red rivulets poured out of Sarin's face and dripped into the mud. Sarin struggled and fought, striking at Sen's arms and face, but nothing deterred the beating. Sen continued in an almost rhythmic fashion, raising his fist and dropping it down, letting gravity add strength to his blows where his aching muscles could not.

Whether out of luck or desperation, Sarin eventually managed to catch Sen's fist as it fell. He grabbed Sen's wrist with both hands and held it in place, stopping the rain of blows. Sen pushed and pulled, seeking to free his arm, but Sarin held firm. Sen's fist stayed frozen above Sarin's left eye.

Locked briefly in a stalemate, unable to express their mutual hatred through physical violence, the two focused their rage into a staredown. Both could barely keep their eyes open, but still they found a way to glare at one another, as if they could cut their opponent with a sharp scowl. Sen stared down at the bloodstained, mud-caked face of his rival, and he felt an ember of hate burn that much brighter in his stomach. The fist dangling over Sarin's face unfolded.

Sen focused on Sarin's left eye as an ember became a spark, and spark became fire. The dark night flashed bright red as the fire lashed out.

For long hours Sensheng and Ahn-Li had kept an uneventful watch over the fortress. The night had grown long and tiring, but as they were not involved in the battle they had retained consciousness. They had, however, drifted off as they awaited any sign that the battle was one or lost. Their lazy watch over the battlefield was broken by the most chilling scream they had ever heard.

It was a high, shrieking noise that filled the air completely, a shrill and unrelenting note of agony. Ahn-Li and Sensheng jumped to their feet in shock. It was an all-too familiar tone. It was not the high-pitched howl of Sarin's Energybending, but it still came from the grey-eyed Energybender. Sarin's voice filled the air as he screamed in unimaginable pain.

"Sarin," Sensheng mumbled half-deliriously. "That was Sarin, we have to get him out of there."

Sensheng stumbled over the helicopter, one of the last they possessed, and roused their lone pilot. Ahn-Li followed behind more hesitantly.

"Sensheng, the storm," She cautioned. Though the hurricane had weakened, it was still dangerous to fly.

"We risk the storm or we lose the war," Sensheng said firmly.

"Then let it end," Ahn-Li pleaded. She held her hand out towards the fortress. "Look at this, Sensheng!"

Sensheng cast his eyes downwards. The fractured ruins of the fortress were easy to see, the scarred corpse of a battle that had broken the earth itself. Ahn-Li's body shuddered weakly, weighted by the fatigue of the long night and her own guilt.

"It's not worth it," She said meekly. Sensheng could not look her in the eyes. He listened to the rain bounce off the metal hide of the machine.

"Fly," Sensheng commanded. He could not argue the truth of Ahn-Li's words, but neither could he back down. He had committed himself to this course long ago. It would take more than this to make him back down.

The helicopter lifted off, pitching and rolling in the unsteady winds of the storm. It was only a short flight to the center of the battlefield, but it seemed an eternity. Sensheng was forced to see the battlefield up close now, to fly over all the unmoving bodies, wondering all the while if they were simply unconscious –or worse. He averted his gazed and focused on the search for Sarin. It would not be difficult.

The night still rang with the ragged screams of Sarin's agony. The Avatar was some distance away from his rival, perhaps launched into the distance by some panicked spasm of pain. He was crawling his way through the mud towards his nemesis. Sensheng beat him to their mutual target.

Sarin was clutching his left eye with both hands, his entire body squirming as the agony coursed through his every nerve like a poison. Sensheng could see little of the injury, but the blackened, scorched skin told him all he needed to know. He grabbed at Sarin and tried to pull him towards the helicopter, trying to calm him all the while. It was a difficult process, but some of Sensheng's words managed to reach Sarin's pain-addled mind, and he followed towards the helicopter.

Dei Sensheng glanced cautiously over his shoulder and saw the Avatar clawing his way towards the chopper frantically. Sensheng pushed them forward that much faster, reaching the chopper just ahead of the Avatar. He angrily demanded they take off, and the helicopter lifted off the ground, giving him a brief moment of hope.

The chopper wobbled unsteadily and lurched to the side. It was no fault of the hurricane.

Clawing forward on desperate dregs of rage, Sen pulled himself into the helicopter as it took off. The pilot panicked and sent them flying forwards quickly, nearly shaking the Avatar off. Sen's bloodstained fingertips dug into the metal hull and held tight, holding on long enough for him to regain his grip and pull himself further in.

He struggled to his feet and stood, muscles tensed, dripping filth and blood onto the metal floor of the helicopter. His eyes, bloodshot and frantic like those of a rabid beast, scanned the helicopter, focusing on Sarin with lethal intent. He took a single step forward.

Sensheng was no warrior, but he knew the Avatar had to be exhausted. He thought for a moment he might be able to stop or delay the Avatar, and stepped forward. He was swiftly proven wrong. The Avatar, long succumbed to bestial rage, swung his fist and sent Sensheng flying towards the cockpit, never glancing away from Sarin for a moment. With Dei Sensheng out of the way, Sen stepped forward, his red hand reaching out to take hold of Sarin.

Acting out of panic rather than logic, Sensheng reoriented himself in the cockpit, took a quick look back, and then grabbed the control stick, pulling it violently aside. The helicopter pitched to the side as it twisted sharply off course. Sen lunged forward and barely caught hold of Sarin before gravity took effect and pulled him downwards.

Avatar and Energybender both plummeted out of the side of the helicopter, their fall only halted by a quick grab from Sen. The winds of the hurricane caught them and pitched them the other way, rolling the helicopter to the other side, allowing Sen to regain his footing and tighten his grip on Sarin.

The hurricane seemed to have been saving it's fury for just such a moment, as another gust caught the helicopter and rolled it off course. All occupants tumbled and rolled through the shaking, spinning machine. He bounced off the walls, but Sen never released his grip on Sarin. Once again he nearly fell from the flying machine, but clung to the metal hull at the last minute.

He took a quick look around as the world spun out of control around him. When the helicopter finally stabilized, they were upside-down. They were plummeting downwards, with the spinning rotors of the helicopter beneath them. Sen and Sarin both dangled above the rotating blades of the helicopter, Sarin held aloft only by Sen's tight grip.

Sen looked down at the grey-eyed Energybender held in his hand. He took a long look at the blackened burn where there had once been an eye. It was a satisfying sight –but it wasn't enough.

With a smile, Sen let go of Sarin, sending him falling to the whirling blades below.

The helicopter hit the ground, crashing in a shriek of broken metal and fiery explosions. The metal tore and the fire burned, a violent but quick burst of noise and chaos. It faded quickly, buried by the storm.

Then the storm faded, and the sun rose on a deathly quiet battlefield.

---

The world bled back in slowly.

It took Sen a long time realize he was even alive. It might have been minutes or hours he spent, his mind adrift in a black void, before the first sensations of hid body started to return. They were dull, faraway things at first; the muffled thud of a heartbeat, the slight pressure of shallow breaths in his lungs.

It wasn't long after that the full sensations of his body started pouring in, though he began to wish they hadn't. There wasn't an inch of Sen's body that didn't burn with a low, searing pain. He let out a low groan through cracked lips as he became more aware of the pain.

Apparently his ears had begun to work as well, because he could now hear voices, and slight shuffling as someone took notice of his groan.

"I told you he needed more sedative," A harsh voice said. Sen might have panicked, but even in his half-delirious state he could recognize Tlun's impatient scolding. He was somewhere safe, and he allowed himself to relax.

Sen attempted to open his eyes, but found a blinding light staring down at him, and his eyes snapped shut again. He would work to that in time. For now he attempted to move his arms, only to find that they were securely strapped in place with thick bonds. Tlun approached his bedside and put his hands firmly on Sen's arms, holding him place even more securely.

"Can you hear me, Sen?"

"Yes," Sen croaked. The act of speaking was physically painful, but he could manage.

"Good. I know you're thinking about jumping out of bed and getting back to the hunt. Don't. You are exhausted, dehydrated, malnourished, and wounded in more ways than I can count. If you get out of this bed, your body will, and I do not exaggerate in the slightest, fall apart."

Sen could tell that Tlun was leaning closer and closer to his head, to drive the point home more firmly.

"Do I have your word that you will stay in this bed?"

"Yes," Sen repeated. He attempted to nod, but found his neck was stuck in place. Tlun nodded his own head and began to undo Sen's restraints. He had changed a lot lately, but Sen was still honest with his friends. For once he'd stay in bed and let a doctor look over him. It was long overdue.

"All your friends are alright, if you're worried," Tlun said. "They're barely in any better shape than you, though. Several sprains, dislocations, Whistler's left arm is broken, but nothing they can't recover from."

Tlun and the other noncombatants had returned the moment the storm had faded to pick up the broken pieces of the Coalition's armies. It had been a monumental task. For hours after they'd arrived, no one could tell whether the Coalition had won or lost the battle. Perhaps it had been neither.

Sen showed some signs of relief to hear that his friends were safe, but his morose expression remained mostly unchanged. Tlun sighed. Sen's six closest friends were fine, but many others couldn't say the same. No doubt that thought haunted Sen.

"You didn't find Sarin," Sen noted. That would have been the first thing he'd said otherwise.

"No, we didn't," Tlun admitted. He watched Sen cautiously. If anything was going to get him to leave bed, this would be it. "He got away."

Tlun expected some kind of outburst or expression of anger. Much to his surprise, Sen sighed deeply and smiled.

"Not all of him," The Avatar said cryptically, before returning to sleep.

---

Sarin woke with a start and a scream, his body shaking in a spasm as what little medication his forces had been able to scrape together wore off. The last medic they had left quickly quieted him, despite Sarin's struggling. He was still half-sedated, and his muscles were unreliable. Once he had calmed, he took a look around, and found himself half blind.

"My eye," He said aloud. Sensheng nodded coldly. He had been watching over Sarin. He had his own injuries as well, resulting from the violent helicopter crash, but he had managed to drag Sarin to safety none the less.

"Irreparable," Sensheng said. The flames of the Avatar had scorched Sarin's eye shut, leaving nothing but a broad red scar over his left eye. "We did what we could."

Sarin flexed his pained muscles, feeling out every ache and pain in his body. They were numerous –except for one suspicious absence.

"You need to speak to our medics," Sarin said, not yet aware they had only one doctor left in their entire army. "Their sedation is amateurish."

"How so?" Sensheng questioned.

"I can't feel my right arm," Sarin concluded. Sensheng's face soured, and he paused sullenly before speaking.

"You don't have a right arm, Sarin."