As he fell to his knees in utter hopelessness, the only thing that managed to pass through his mind was that he had failed.
He had failed to make the sacrifice of his fellow Air Benders mean something. He had failed to keep the Fire Nation from permanently upsetting the balance of the world. But his greatest failure was that he had failed to keep his friends safe.
He couldn't bear to look at their fallen bodies, but he knew that his opponent wouldn't grant him even this small mercy.
The charred green head band was the only thing that allowed him to identify the body of his earth bending teacher, and it was clear that she had not been given a swift death. Her limbs torn from her body to rob her of her amazing ability to see without her clouded eyes, which had been gouged from her sockets after she had been rendered harmless, the sight was enough to make even the most hardened war veteran sick let a lone a 12 year old boy.
Sokka had been allowed to keep all his limbs, but even that did not spare him from feeling the full extent of their enemy's sadistic nature. The bones of the once goofy water tribe boy had been broken beyond repair, bending his arms and legs at unnatural angles while others poked out of his skin. But it was the pony tailed boy's face that made the young air bender desperately wish that he had been graced with Toph's inability to see. For the look of pain filled terror that was frozen on Sokka's face was something that he had never wished to appear on the boy that had become like his brother.
Appa and Momo had also not been sparred from this butchery, for his foe was as efficient with his hate as he was with his brutality. The flying lemur had at least been given a quick death, exploding in a shower of blood and gore that still covered the air bending monk, but Appa had not been as fortunate. He could still hear the bellows of pain that his oldest friend had let out as his body was consumed by blue fire, and the look of helplessness that his bison had shot him had been enough to crush the majoirty of what was left of his spirit.
But his captor was not satisfied with even this. He wanted the last airbender to feel the full extent of his wrath before he decided to grant him the mercy of sending him to the Spirit World. So it was with pain filled eyes as he watched the girl he had loved with all his heart, suffer the sadistic tendencies of his cruelest foe. Watching Katara's body dangle in the air like a puppet as she vainly tried to escape the iron like grip that was slowly choking the life out of her, Aang could only cry out in horror as he watched his smirking adversary close his fist to create the sickening snap of bone that signaled that the water bending girl had finally joined her family in the spirit world.
And as his enemy slowly pulled out the sword that would finally bring an end to the air bending Avatar, Aang could hear the voices of those he had failed to protect surround him in a growing chant that soon dwarfed the mightiest storm.
AANG HELP US.
SAVE US AANG.
HELP US.
PLEASE SAVE US.
AANG. AANG.
Unable to stand the desperate voices of his friends, the air bending monk closed his eyes to await the inevitable. Only instead of a sharp pain in his body, he felt his body being urgently shaken by someone who seemed to carry a greater degree of care than what he deserved.
Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see that instead of a ash choked city, he was in a familiar looking tent, and that the person standing over him was in fact a concerned looking Sokka instead of his would be killer.
"You alright buddy? You were tossing and turning something fierce, for a moment I thought that you would go all glowey again and turn this place into a crater".
Though he meant it as a joke, the Water tribesman regretted his words as a pained expression came over the younger boy's face.
"I'm sorry Aang. I didn't mean it like that. It's just, I've been trying to wake you up for the past 3 minutes, and wasnt getting anywhere".
Gladdened by his friend's concern, and relieved that the visions he had witnessed had been nothing more than a bad dream, Aang tried to relieve the worry's of the older boy with a wave of his hand
"Y...yeah. Just a scary nightmare. I'm ok now".
Instead of merely accepting his explanation with a yawn before going back to sleep, Sokka adopted an expression that the young Avatar had seen many times on the face of his water bending teacher but until now had never seen it on her brother.
Motherly concern.
"I don't blame you. What we went through the past few days, what with the crazy fire bender and that scary guy with the sword and demon powers, its no wonder your having nightmares".
Shakily nodding his head in agreement with the older boy, Aang couldn't help but feel a tiny bit relieved when Sokka chose not to push the conversation further, even if the last part of his statement only brought about more worry.
"Well, try not to worry about. We've beaten powerful enemies before, and we can do it again. So lets get some sleep. After all, how is the Avatar supposed to save the world if he's too afraid to get some descent shut eye"?
And though he did nothing but nod his head at Sokka's suggestion, before he finally drifted off to sleep, Aang kept wondering how he could keep his friends safe when as the Avatar, danger kept following him.
...
"So let me get this straight. You both had tracked those Water Tribe peasants to the river, where you trapped the water bender to a tree with a few carefully placed knives, and Ty Lee managed to render that pathetic idiot motionless with her chi blocking skills. Am I missing anything so far Mai"?
Though Azula's tone was silken with danger, the knife thrower sounded largely unconcerned as she answered the fire bender's questions.
"Yes that's right".
Eye's narrowing even further at her friend's largely emotionless response, though she was somewhat satisfied by the fact that despite their evident failure her companions had still managed to beat their opponents, Azula turned her attention to the chastised looking acrobat.
"And just when you had achieved victory, the Avatar's bison knocked both of you into the river, allowing his allies to interfere in my carefully laid plan to ensure that our glorious nation will emerge from the war as the sole power in this world. Do I have that right Ty Lee"?
Receiving a subdued nod of agreement from the usually perky girl, the Fire Nation Princess pinched her forehead in frustration as she tried to figure out her next course of action.
Thanks to the unfortunate failure of her comrades, the Avatar had managed to slip through her fingers yet again. And what's more, not only did she fail to properly deal with her disgraced family members, for she was sure that her uncle would manage to survive his injury, but now she had to content with yet another potential hindrance to her plans. But unlike the fools that had alerted Zuko to the nature of her mission, or even to a certain extend her royal advisers and friends, Ketsueki possessed enough influence with her father to make him completely independent of her own authority, and was powerful enough to ensure that her regular means of coercion had no effect.
"You alright Azula? Your aura just became a little bit darker. Like a setting sun that suddenly got covered by a sudden thunderstorm".
Shocked out of her musings by a concerned sounding Ty Lee, Azula moved to reassure the flexible girl that she was fine, only to have a most unwelcome voice speak up on her behalf.
"She's probably just mad at herself for failing to succeed where the rest of her family failed. I mean Sozin failed to kill him, her grandfather and father couldn't find him, and her brother, despite his rather admiral persistence, continues to have his plans to capture the young Air Bender foiled at the last possible second. So I'm unsurprised that Ozai's favorite child would be less than thrilled with today's results. Something which we happen to have in common. Isn't that right Princess"?
Her eyes widening in shock as she heard the mocking voice of perhaps the only person apart from her father who couldn't be forced into submission, Azula schooled her features into a mask of glaring indifference as she turned to face the smirking visage of her father's most skilled assassin.
….
Smirking as I watched Ozai's daughter try to conceal her unease at my presence with all the superior posturing that had been drilled into her since birth, and noticing that both of her admittedly attractive comrades had adopted stances that only the most trained of observers would recognize to be hostile, I kept my tone light as addressed the pair of non-benders.
"While I applaud your ability to recognize your master's displeasure at my presence, I suggest that you stand down. It would be unfortunate if I had to vent my more violent frustrations on such lovely creatures like yourselves".
Though they were hesitant to do so, which I suppose was understandable given the fact that I had done nothing to make them at ease with my sudden presence, a quick wave from Azula managed to convince them to agree to my request.
However, that did little to stop suspicious glances from being sent my way as the princess recovered her ability to speak, and attempted to establish the fiction that she was the one in control of the situation.
"Not that I agree with my friend's caution, I have to ask you Ketsueki why are you here? I would have thought that you would be too busy tracking down the Avatar to bother with a late night conversation".
Chuckling at the royal's admirable attempt to regain control of the situation, something which I had no intention of allowing, I allowed my expression to slowly lose its jovial tone as I fell into the role of a heavily annoyed assassin.
"Oh come now your highness, there's no reason to be so hostile. Especially since it was through no fault of my own that the Air Bender managed to escape the grasp of the Fire Nation. I might even go so far to say that the results of today's battle were directly caused by your incompetence in failing to ensure that his support system was fully removed".
There is something highly satisfying in being able to criticize a growing psychopath (might be sociopath) without worrying about suffering any violent repercussions. I'm sure that if her comrades were to speak out of turn they would not be as fortunate. But I suppose we can't all be blessed with prodigal bending abilities, not to mention the support of a tyrant with an inferiority complex.
"Perhaps if you weren't too busy playing around with my brother and those Water Tribe peasants, not to mention more aware of your surroundings, you wouldn't be here to accuse me of something that you yourself were incapable of doing".
Ah and theirs the well-known venomous comeback of a royal who is unable to accept full responsibility for her actions. Such a shame that I am in no mood to accept full responsibility for today's failure, but I suppose I am being a little unfair.
After all, the monk wouldn't have gotten away if it weren't for the timely interference by his friends. But as much as I hate to admit it, if I wish to form a productive alliance with this little entourage, I'm going to have to forgo the pleasure of venting my frustrations in the usual method.
"I suppose there is some truth in your words Princess. But the fact remains that victory would have been ours if not for the sudden appearance of the Avatar's allies. Which I point out wouldn't be the case if these lovely ladies had been more successful with their missions. Speaking of which, I'm afraid I failed to catch the reason for your apparent failure. So if you would be so kind as to inform me how a trio of sleep deprived children could get the best of you, I would greatly appreciate it".
Despite the fact that I had managed to confuse them with my sudden change in tone, the pair of non-benders nevertheless remained slightly weary as they proceeded to answer my question.
"Well, as we've already explained, after successfully locating the Avatar's Water Tribe allies, Ty Lee and I proceeded to engage them before they had a chance to regain their strength. The water bender was easily defeated with a few well-placed knives, while her brother didn't stand a chance against Ty Lee's chi blocking skills".
Seeing the pony tailed girl nod her head in agreement with her slightly dour looking companion, I chose to remain silent as the pink wearing acrobat proceeded to offer her own account of what happened.
"Yeah it was almost sad at how quickly we beat them. You would think that they could have gotten some sleep while riding that bison of theirs, but it was clear they didn't. But yeah, Mai and me managed to easily beat them, but we kinda forgot about the bison so…well, you get the picture".
Their lucky that unlike their sovereign, and probably their so called friend now that I think about it, I am able to recognize the difference between failure caused by incompetence, and failure caused by circumstances beyond their control.
Otherwise, I'm pretty sure that at least one of them might be suffering from a little bit of paralysis, followed shortly after by the delightful sensation of having their chi turn against them.
Adopting an expression that was far more welcoming than that of the currently glowering royal, I decided to make sure that I didn't hold the failure of the 2 non benders against them.
"I see. Well I suppose I can't blame you for your mistake. Apart from the late Admiral Zhao, and the princesses' out of favor family members, few people have been confronted with an ill-tempered sky bison, so it's only natural that you wouldn't immediately classify it as a threat. I trust that such an occurrence won't happen again"?
…..
Having chosen to remain silent as her father's 2nd most powerful asset berated her friends for their failure, Azula found herself incapable of containing herself as she decided to finally intervene in this potentially dangerous interrogation session.
"As much as I enjoy the sight of my friends being interrogated by someone of your competency, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to put an end to this. I've already ascertained whether or not they are to blame for todays failure, and since they are under my command, I'm afraid that you have no say on whether they deserve to be punished for their actions".
Ignoring the mixed looks of disbelieve and admiration she was getting from her two friends, though luckily they were smart enough to remain silent while she attempted to intimidate the slightly older assassin, Azula fought the urge to scowl as Ketsueki not only failed to be cowed by the expression that had always intimidated even the most heartless of soldiers, but also responded in a manner that was far from the level of respect that her position deserved.
"Actually Princess I beg to differ. Since you've already proven that you lack the necessary strength to carry out the Fire Lord's orders, not to mention the fact that your body count pales when compared to my own, I'm afraid that I have to question your ability to make intelligent decisions. But I suppose I shouldn't be too surprised. Your so used to getting your own way that when confronted with a small set back, your immediate response is to blame others for your own misdeeds".
Eye's widening in shock as they bore witness to a sight they never thought they would live to see, though they were somewhat nervous as to what sort of person could possibly have the nerve to speak to their friend in such a manner, both non benders braced themselves for the inevitable explosion that was sure to follow in the face of Azula's humiliation.
Luckily for them however, the Fire Nation princess appeared to be just as weary of upsetting the smirking Ketsueki as they were of provoking her anger. Though that didn't stop her from delivering one final retort before seeking to end the rather tense meeting that had unexpectedly transpired.
"Though I appreciate your concerns for my apparent lack of independence, I assure you that today was the last day the Avatar would escape our grasp. Now if you don't mind, the 3 of us have some further planning to do, and would hate to keep you from your own task of hunting down that Air Bending Monk".
…
Though I kept my expression blank, internally I was smirking at the audacity of Ozai's pampered pet to treat me like I was some low ranking solider. It was not often that someone possessed the nerve to dismiss me so easily, let alone survive long enough to tell others, but I digress for her final comment helped me reach a conclusion that I had been mulling over for some time.
By himself, the Avatar poses no threat.
Yes he has the ability to go into the Avatar State, and yes he is in the process of learning another bending art to add to his list of active skills, but in the end he is nothing more than a naïve child relying on his friends to keep him going.
Without them, I doubt that even the disgraced prince or the late Admiral would have much trouble bringing him back to the Fire Nation in chains. But with them, the Air Bender has successfully travelled the world to reach the North Pole, massacred tens of thousands of soldiers in the process, and now threatens to undo a century's worth of conquest just by convincing the Earth Kingdom that they can win the war.
And as the day has already proven, even when exhausted beyond measure, his group of friends are able to prevent the princess and her friends from landing that finishing blow. It had been a close thing however, and I truly believed that all they needed was that little bit of help to accomplish the very goal that my people have labored towards for the past few centuries.
Decision made, I allowed my voice to adopt a more congenial tone as I addressed the turned back of the deadly fire bender.
"A fantastic idea you highness. I would be most delighted to hear how you intend to ensure that today's little debacle does not happen again".
…
She must have misheard him. For it had sounded like he was suggesting that he forgoe his solitary mission and join forces with her.
Though it pained her immensely to admit this, Azula had to concede that there was a fair amount of logic supporting such a move. While she was confident in the skills of her non bending friends, the day's events had proven that more was required in order to successfully keep the Avatar's friends from getting in her way. And despite his lack of proper respect for her position, her father's assassin had already shown himself more than capable of defeating any foe that stood in his way.
Only problem was that his presence might end up causing more harm than good. For not only would he claim the right to finish what her great grandfather had started all those years ago, but he might also cause her to lose face when she failed to punish him for his insolence.
But knowing that her father would only care that her appointed task was done, Azula made a decision that would unknowingly influence the final outcome of the war.
...
And thats another chapter done...woohoo XD.
Apolgoises for the long wait, but other stories have prevented me from giving this the full attention that it deserves (which I suppose could also be said of my other works lol)
Been a good couple of days come to think of it..same week this chapter was posted, updated my Overlord Story, and 2 chapters for new Monster Musume story.
Hopefully next chapter won't take as long, but pointless to promise that it will be soon. But I assure that this one is not abandoned.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed this. And as ALWAYS...REVIEW XP