So...according to my notes, I started writing this on April 5, 2012.
*coughs*
Look guys, we all know it takes me like ten years to write anything. Let's just be glad this thing's finally seeing the light of day.
So this was originally conceived as the first oneshot in a series of 100 oneshots called Centenniel. I have a list of 100 prompts from one of the old Livejournal prompt table communities (does anyone else remember those? there were some cool ones), and I planned to write one for every year of the war. I still plan on doing that eventually, it's just gonna be very slow-going, and, since it has no overarching plot, isn't very pressing. I'll write more of it as the mood comes to me and I feel like exploring the century that passed while Aang was in the ice.
This story was also conceived as a way to explain Sozin's terrible succession planning. I know I've ranted about and mocked the apparent canon that Sozin waited 'til he was 82 to have Azulon on my tumblr because it's funny and he needs to be called out for that stupidity - but honestly, my headcanon's way different than that. Rather than my Sozin being a first-time dad at 82, I believe he actually had a lot of children and grandchildren. Heirs to spare. Which of course begs the question of what happened to them all...
Well, what happened to them all is I've been watching too many historical Chinese costume dramas and I really like the idea of all these Fire Princes and Princesses and their moms duking it out for the throne. But that only happens after the events of this fic, and I'll probably write something about it in the distant future eventually.
Anyway, the Airbenders aren't the main focus of this fic, but you may recognize some of my OCs from History Repeats. If you're here looking for an Airbender-centric fic about Sozin's Comet, you might wanna try that story instead.
The prompt I used for this fic was "ends." The title is, of course, from Hamilton, and is so fitting on so many levels, lol.
WARNINGS FOR
-Death. Like. Seriously.
-Traumatic injuries that cause death
-Specifically drowning (kinda), falling, suffocation/asphyxiation, and animal attack
-Harm to animals
-Absolute carnage, basically, it's Sozin's Comet people, the first step of the Great March of Civilization was a bloody one
Thank you as always to Stingrae for being the best beta ever. ^_^
I think that covers it! Let's get to it.
When her father had first outlined this plan years ago, Kamiko had scoffed. As much as she believed in her father's grandiose plans for the Fire Nation's future, this one just hadn't sounded feasible.
There were far too many variables to account for, after all. The very nature of a nomadic people made it impossible to get them all in one place. The fact that the places they were most likely to convene were inaccessible mountaintops didn't make it any easier. The amount of firepower needed to combat and subdue a population in which everyone was a bender wasn't a calculation made lightly. And then there was the simple fact that these were Airbenders they were dealing with, and Airbenders could fly away.
"All valid concerns, Kamiko," Sozin had said when she'd brought them up. "Now that you've identified them, I'm going to need your help addressing them. We have a decade before the Great Comet comes, and we need to be prepared to make a perfect first strike."
"At least the comet clears up about half our problems," Kamiko had sighed. Firepower wouldn't be a problem, if the tales were true. The comet's passing would probably consolidate the Airbenders into one place as well - it was due to pass over during their Autumn Festival, when most of them would be gathered in their temples. That still left the issues of how to transport the troops and how to prevent their targets from simply flying away once the attack started. "I do hope you appreciate all the hard work I put into making your visions realities, Father."
"Well, my dear," Sozin said, "I did name you crown princess."
Now, in the thick of battle, Kamiko had to take a moment to be impressed with herself, her father's vision, and her ability to uphold it.
The Western Air Temple was burning, and for the Airbenders there was no escape. They'd boxed themselves in centuries ago, when they'd decided to carve their temple into the wall of the canyon, surrounding themselves with rock on all sides save up - and Kamiko had positioned an entire battalion of dragon riders in the canyon's sky. Judging from the flaming bodies of humans and bison alike falling past the temple's ledge, the troops were performing their duties admirably.
"Your plan is working brilliantly, Eldest Sister!" someone said, and Kamiko felt her satisfied smile drop even as a second voice added, "Thanks to your guidance, I'm sure things are going just as well for our brothers and sisters at the other temples!"
Kamiko shot an annoyed look at the twins. She'd never been overly fond of any of her half-siblings, and she barely knew Kishor and Kesari, but her father wanted them with her to learn from the best. Flattering, but still irritating. She'd rather have her full-blooded brothers Takeo and Nori by her side, or her perfect baby sister Saki, but Sozin had decided to separate his four favorite children so they could lead the attacks on the four Air Temples.
"I'm certain that Father will reward you when he sees how well your plan worked out!" Kishor was simpering, and Kamiko cut him off.
"We won't know how well it's worked out until it's finished," she said curtly. Agni, the twins were just as bad as their mother when it came to flattery - happy to spout out whatever pointless praise came to their mind if it won them even a speck of favor. "Surely Noble Consort Savita has instructed her children in the art of not counting your dragons before the eggs have hatched?"
The twins blinked at her, apparently realizing that they'd overstepped and frantically recalculating their words. Spirits, they were irritating. Kamiko's own sons were far more intelligent and less grating than these two, and Daisuke and Nobu were a few years younger than Kishor and Kesari. Maybe Kamiko should have insisted on her sons accompanying her instead, if she couldn't have her brothers and sister.
Actually, no, scratch that. Daisuke and Nobu were back home, keeping an eye on things in the capital and making sure all their other half-aunts and half-uncles and assorted half-cousins weren't making a mess of things while Fire Lord Sozin and his favored children were off fighting. The twins were annoying, but Kamiko would rather they be annoying with her, where she could deal with them, rather than have them back home sticking their noses into political places they didn't belong.
"Surely Eldest Sister's plan will work perfectly," Kesari was saying hesitantly, and Agni, she sounded so much like her simpering mother when the woman was trying to stay on Sozin's good side. The worst part was that all that simpering actually worked. Sozin had elevated Savita's status to the rank of noble consort, after all.
Well, no matter. Kishor and Kesari might be the children of a noble consort, but Kamiko was the daughter of the Fire Lady.
"We'll see," she said shortly, and she strode away from the ledge, deeper into the temple. "Come on you two, let's go see how the troops are faring."
The twins scurried after her, and the honor guard followed after them, everyone on high alert as they headed into the corridors. There were still plenty of living Airbenders inside the temple, and the Fire Nation couldn't afford to leave a single one still breathing. A peaceful people they may be, but the fact that the Avatar was somewhere in their keeping made them a direct threat in the present, and their command of the skies made them a potential threat in the future. Better they be slaughtered as pacifists now, before they could decide to actually fight.
Kamiko stalked through smoky halls toward the nearest screams, eyes darting about as she passed. She was keeping an eye out for any living Airbenders, but there was one in particular she was watching for. Intelligence placed the Avatar at the Southern Air Temple as a young boy under the care of Monk Gyatso, but Kamiko refused to fully trust that information. It had been bribed out of an Air Nomad informant months ago, and for all they knew it was out of date for just as long. A single person's location couldn't be counted on in a civilization of nomads. The Avatar could be anywhere - could be any of the children in this temple for all Kamiko knew. For the sake of her father, her nation, and the world's progress, she would burn every last one of them to take out their highest threat.
She stepped over a nun's charred body and into a large hall, where she was nearly run over by something huge and white and covered in fire.
"Sister!" Kishor shouted, grabbing her arm and yanking her back, safely out of the way of two tons of flaming sky bison. The animal barrelled past them, bellowing in pain as it ran about the hall recklessly. It turned back towards them in its confusion, and as it charged Kesari stepped forward, fingers poised, and neatly flung a superpowered fire dart straight between the animal's eyes. It died instantly, falling to its knees, and its corpse slid forward a few more feet from the force of its charge. It came to a stop just before the smirking Kesari, and she gave its head a triumphant kick before turning back to her siblings.
The bison's fur was still burning. Kamiko gave it a disgruntled look as she realized she was going to have to thank her half-siblings for saving her life.
But before she could dredge up the willpower to do so, they were all distracted by a small cry. Princesses, prince, and honor guard turned to find a little girl crouched beside the wall. She was dressed in oranges and yellows, her hair was done up in cow-pigtails, her gray eyes were wide and filled with fear as she stared up at them, she couldn't be more than twelve years old -
Isn't that the Avatar's age? Kamiko thought.
The child's scream was brief, and there was nothing left of her but a blackened, crisp shell by the time Kamiko lowered her hands. The power from the comet truly was amazing, greater than she'd even imagined it might be. Kamiko could feel it singing in her veins, could feel the excess chi ready to burst out into massive, glorious fireballs.
Unfortunately, she could also see Kishor and Kesari opening their mouths, gearing up for another round of ingratiating praise. Maybe she should get around to thanking them - perhaps that would shut them up.
Another interruption saved her from having to do so.
"NO!"
Kamiko whirled away from the little corpse to find an Airbender on the other side of the hall, staring at her in horror. The woman wore a nun's robes, and a blue arrow graced her forehead. Too old to be the Avatar, but they all needed to be wiped out.
Fire flew towards the nun, but the Airbender had earned the arrow on her head. She twisted around, arms reaching for air, and a gust of wind circled around her, blowing Kamiko's flames off course. Kamiko met the woman's defiant, tear-filled eyes, and let a smile grace her lips. This nun wanted to fight? Very well. Kamiko would humor her, before burning her to a crisp. She had nothing to fear. She was Fire Lord Sozin's firstborn, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation, a master Firebender with the power of a comet at her command. And everyone knew that Airbenders couldn't fight. All they could do was avoid and evade.
"I'll deal with this," she told the twins as she stepped forward. "Stay out of the way." She was pretty sure Kishor said something simpering about bringing honor and glory to the Fire Nation, but she barely heard it over the fight singing in her veins.
She launched another stream of fire at the Airbender, who leapt up and over it, coming to a graceful landing some feet away. The nun spun rapidly, hands twisting the air around her, and before Kamiko could re-aim she was caught by a sudden gust of wind that lifted her off her feet. For a moment, she was flying - flying clear across the hall, she heard twin cries from her half-siblings, and there was nothing for her to grab hold of, the wind making her spin too fast for her to twist and land correctly -
And her back slammed into a wall and heard a sickening crunch and felt a sudden, blinding pain in her head and her ribs. She could see the ground several feet below her, and the wind died and she fell face-first onto the stone floor. She felt a stabbing pain in her chest, and it hurt to breathe, and her head - there was something wet on her head…
"PRINCESS!" one of her guards screamed, and she saw Kishor engulf the nun in a fire blast with the help of no less than five of the honor guard.
Kesari and a sixth guard were running to her side. "Eldest Sister!" she cried, falling to her knees. The guard helped her roll Kamiko onto her back, and Kamiko shrieked at the pain that caused. Or - she tried to shriek. It was hard. Kesari's hands hovered ineffectually over Kamiko's chest. "Oh, Agni have mercy - go get a physician!" she snapped at the guard. He bowed and ran off, leaving Kesari to stare at whatever wounds Kamiko had suffered.
She wanted to ask How bad is it? but talking felt like it would be impossible. It was already getting hard to breathe. It felt like she was...like she was…
Like she was too young and had gone too deep into the water off Ember Island, and she could see the sun shining through the blue above her, but she couldn't reach it, she couldn't...she couldn't…
She couldn't breathe.
Kishor came up behind his sister to stare down in Kamiko in horror. She blinked up at him, her eyes wide with panic, but she didn't have the energy to do any more than that. She'd lost energy last time, too, as her lungs had filled with water. But she'd been saved, someone had parted the waves and lifted her out of the sea, she'd been saved by...saved by...
"No healer is going to be able to fix this," Kishor said.
"...Then I suppose that means we are in charge of the conquest of the Western Air Temple," Kesari said, voice shaking slightly. And then she took a deep breath, and Kamiko saw her half-sister's nerves steady. "This is a great opportunity, brother," she whispered.
"...Yes," he said, still gazing down at Kamiko. "You're right, sister. This is our chance to make Father proud."
Her half-siblings were talking like Kamiko wasn't even there anymore, and she realized - Uncle Roku wasn't going to save her this time. No one could. Drowning in water was one thing, but drowning in the blood filling your own punctured lungs was another. She was going to die, and there was no way to stop it, and Kishor and Kesari were acting as though she was taking the entire line of succession with her.
...Except she was, wasn't she? Her sons didn't want to be Fire Lord. She was waiting for them to give her grandchildren for heirs.
That still didn't give the twins an excuse. Kamiko had two brothers and a sister, any of whom would make a fine crown prince or princess. She just barely had energy left to be angry at her half-siblings, because how dare they? Oh, she hoped her real siblings put these brats in their place, hoped her sons made sure these little upstarts never amounted to anything -
"No hard feelings, Eldest Sister," Kishor said quietly, stepping over to kneel on her other side and taking her left hand in his. "But you must agree that when Agni gives one an opportunity, it would be remiss not to take it."
Kesari's smile was sharp as she squeezed Kamiko's right hand. "We will tell Prince Daisuke and Prince Nobu their mother died well, and we will honor your memory, and we will grieve your passing with the nation."
You're the bratlings of a second-rate concubine whose mother is lucky she got a two-for-one deal because Father certainly hasn't been interested in her since, Kamiko wanted to snarl at them, but her gasps for breath were turning to gurgles.
It must have made a touching scene for the honor guard to witness from where they stood several feet away - a young prince and princess, holding their elder sister's hands as she passed on. But Kamiko stared up at her half-sibling's faces and saw little grief.
Whatever opportunities you think this has opened for you, Takeo and Nori and Saki will slam them closed, and Daisuke and Nobu will make sure they all end in ashes, she wanted to hiss, but she had no energy for dying words as her eyes slid shut. It was so much easier to sleep.
The monks of the Northern Air Temple were putting up a better fight than Takeo had expected. He was never going to admit that aloud, because Kamiko would put on her best Big Sister Scoff and ask honestly, what did he think, that the pacifists were going to just lay down and die without any fuss? And of course Takeo had never thought it would be that easy, but despite all the strategy meetings and war room conferences he and his father and sisters and brother had gone through over the last decade, it was still a bit of a shock to see Airbenders fighting back with deadly force.
Not that it was much help to them. They were still losing.
The prince stood at the cliffedge, back turned to a burning garden while he gazed off into the red sky and the dragons hovering in it. "Have any gotten past your riders?"
"No, sir," Captain Pransu said, standing proud beside his dragon. "Crown Princess Kamiko's plan is working brilliantly. Between the range of fire from the comet and our strategic placement of troops, we've been able to shoot down any Airbenders who managed to get into the sky."
Takeo turned his eyes downward to look over the edge of the cliff. "So we just have to worry about the ones who have been smart enough to fly down," he surmised.
"It is a little hard to catch them once they've gotten below the treeline," Captain Pransu admitted.
Takeo looked over his shoulder to send his captain a smirk. "So burn the forest."
Captain Pransu smirked back. "It will be done, my prince." He turned to go give the orders to the troops, but paused. "Sir, you should know… I believe some of the bison have managed to escape."
"The bison," Takeo repeated.
"Not many," Captain Pransu said. "But some have managed to slip away into the clouds."
"Away from the dragons?" Takeo asked, turning around to face his captain fully.
"Yes sir. I tried to take them down, of course, but...well, there were a bunch of gliders that were making a run for it. And afterwards, Danxin…" He hesitated, shooting a look at his dragon.
"Out with it, Captain," Takeo ordered.
"It's hard flying right now, sir," Captain Pransu said quickly. "The heat's affecting the air currents, and the Airbenders aren't helping. I couldn't get a good shot."
Takeo looked from the captain to the yellow dragon looming at his side. She stared back at him, impervious. Takeo looked back at Captain Pransu. "Do you have any idea what you have done?" he demanded. "We need them dead! All of them! Even their bison! My father has worked too hard and for too long for us to let this opportunity go to waste!" And Kamiko was going to kill him if she learned he'd left a job half-finished.
Captain Pransu's knees hit the floor in proper supplication. "I'm sorry, my prince," he bowed. "I failed. I deserve to die."
All the proper responses dictated by court protocol, and normally Takeo would be pleased to keep shouting criticism, but they didn't have time for etiquette right now. "Get up," Takeo snapped, whirling back around to glare at the mountain range beyond the temple. "We need to hunt them down. So long as there are sky bison, there can still be Airbenders. Those things are the original Airbenders, after all - " He broke off suddenly, a creeping horror filling his gut.
It wasn't something he could put into words - just a slow feeling of oncoming realization, comprised of vague understandings and cultural knowledge and memories falling into place to solve a puzzle he hadn't even been aware of.
"Dragons are the original Firebenders," Kamiko had scolded once, glaring at Takeo and Nori while she wiped little Saki's sticky face. "They are intelligent, they understand right and wrong, they can read hearts, and they are capable of making decisions for themselves - and that is why you can't blame Zhua for eating all the mochi!" Saki's little red dragon had hissed smugly at that assessment, the traitor.
Takeo slowly turned around, back towards where Captain Pransu and Danxin stood against the flaming temple. He locked eyes with the dragon, and felt something curl in his stomach.
Sky bison are the original Airbenders.
Danxin stared at him, her reptilian gaze impassive.
But before Takeo could fully process his thoughts and decide what to do with them, there was a shout from the temple's nearest doorway.
A pair of Fire soldiers flew threw it, coming to a heavy landing ten feet away. They were followed by an old, bald man whose head was graced with blistering red burns and a sky blue arrow tattoo. He saw Danxin and Captain Pransu and Takeo, standing at the edge of the charred garden, at the edge of the cliff. His stormy eyes locked on the royal insignia that graced Takeo's topknot.
Takeo didn't think he'd ever seen a monk look so hateful. He reached for his fire and launched himself toward the Airbender in a complicated leap that he'd used countless times before, flames flying from fists and feet. It was a flashy move, one of Takeo's favorites - he had always valued it for how it exemplified his power, and as the perfect way to win an agni kai by terrifying his opponent. It was meant to be intimidating.
The old monk wasn't intimidated. Perhaps, with his temple in flaming ruins, he was past the point of intimidation. With a wordless howl of rage, he gathered the wind and threw it straight at the Fire Prince while he was still mid-air.
In his leap, there was nothing connecting the Takeo to the ground - no way for him to scramble for purchase. One second, he was preparing to descend upon the Airbender just a few feet below him - the next, the wind had launched him a hundred feet away, and suddenly the ground was a lot farther down. And then the wind carrying him died, and Takeo had a split-second to stare at the burning temple, at the angry monk, at Captain Pransu's horrified face -
And then he was falling.
"MY PRINCE!" he heard Captain Pransu scream from above, and then there was a fire blast, and, "Danxin! Go!"
Takeo saw the dragon drop from the cliff, and she plummeted straight towards him, holding her wings close to her body until she'd caught up with Takeo's fall. Then she matched her speed with his, hovering just above him as they both fell.
She'd come after him alone, her saddle empty. Captain Pransu was presumably still up on the temple, dealing with the Airbender.
Takeo didn't have time to examine why that fact filled him with dread. He held his hands out, tried to grab hold of anything - Danxin's foot, her snout, even her whiskers. He reached for her, but she didn't reach back.
He felt panic well up in his chest. How much further to the ground? A few seconds? A minute? "Danxin!" he shouted. "Help me!"
Her eyes bored into him with that same impassiveness from before, and he grew angry.
"I am the Fire Prince! I order you to help me!"
Aside from simply falling, she made no move.
His breath hitched. "Danxin," he said, "please. Please! Help me! Please!"
She looked into his eyes only a moment longer. Then she flapped her wings, hovering in midair. He screamed as he fell away from her. She turned away from him and soared back up the cliff, leaving Takeo alone with nothing but his cries and the roar of the wind in his ears and the terrifying feeling of nothing solid. No help, no hope, no chance.
Five seconds later, he hit the jagged rocks at the base of the cliff.
Nori stood in a hall in the Eastern Air Temple, beneath a towering statue of a meditating Avatar Yangchen. The tall walls were lined with stone statues of peaceful Air Nomads wearing impeccably-carved robes and serene smiles - a far cry from the haggard appearance of the flesh-and-blood girl standing before him. The little boy cowering behind her with wide, fearful eyes appeared unharmed, but the girl - well, the girl was a mess. Her robes were blackened, her hair singed. The sleeve and skirt on her left side had been almost completely burned away, leaving tatters of charred cloth and blistering red skin behind. She was shaking, her breath coming in pained gasps, and her eyes were hard and filled with anger.
She didn't even have her arrow tattoos. Nori wondered how on earth she was still alive. He wondered who she'd fought against, and whether they were still alive. He'd never have expected an Air Nomad girl to put up as much of a fight as this one apparently had. She reminded him a bit of his daughter Tomomi, though of course Tomomi was far more skilled than this brat. Tomomi won her fights without sustaining such grievous injuries.
The girl was watching him closely. She was too old to be the Avatar, and the boy she was protecting was too young, but both of them had to die anyway. Nori smirked at her. "I can see you've fought well, and I'm impressed you've survived this far. But you won't be able to get past me. It'll be easier for you if you just give in." He conjured his fire daggers. With the power of the comet, they were more like swords. "It'd be quicker. Less painful."
She snorted, though she eyed the flames coming from his fists warily. The boy behind her whimpered and grasped at the unburned side of her skirt. She breathed deeply a few times, in and out, in and out, and her gasps for air soon evened. "I'll take my chances," she told him.
Nori chuckled. "You can't possibly think you can escape. I have a thousand soldiers under my command, with orders to kill on sight. Your bison are dead, and even if they weren't, you'd never be able to outfly our dragons." He gave her a pointed look and added, "And you're not in the best shape, yourself. There's no way you're getting out of here alive."
"Maybe you're right. Maybe I'm not." She glanced at his topknot. "You're that bastard Sozin's son, aren't you?"
Rage swept through him. "Don't you dare talk about the Fire Lord that way!" He threw fire at her, and she ducked to the side, yanking the boy with her. He gave a little shriek, but it was out of fear rather than pain - the flames missed them by inches.
"I'll talk about your damned family however the hell I want! Mine is dead thanks to you!"
"You insolent peasant!" She was nothing compared to his father, his sisters, his brother, his daughter, his nephews, himself. Hell, even the least of his half-siblings was worth more than she was. They were powerful benders and leaders, the rulers of the greatest country in the world, direct descendents of the Fire Spirit. They were destined for greatness.
She was destined for death.
"I may not get out of here alive," she said, voice low. "But I think I'll have the pleasure of taking you with me."
Her claim was so ridiculous, he laughed. He laughed, and then he unleashed a river of fire from his fists, aiming it straight at her. She screamed, but she also drew wind around her and spun the flames away - and the boy away with them, blowing the frightened child halfway across the hall and out of the line of fire. Nori would deal with him later - the girl was his priority, and he shot another blast of flames at her. A few got through her shield, caught on her clothes, but she paid them no mind. She was already bringing the wind around again, parrying his next blow. He snarled, clenched his fists, and leapt at her, fire daggers at the ready. One grazed her thigh, and she shrieked but stood firm. He brought his other hand around, ready to cauterize her throat -
- and stopped as, suddenly, his flames sputtered out.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. He felt weak.
He couldn't breathe.
Nori slid down to his knees in front of the Airbender girl. He looked up and saw her soot-stained hands hovering in front of his nose and mouth, fingers curled like they were holding something. He looked up further and met her frightened face.
In a shaky voice, she said, "Papa once told me...the power in firebending comes from the breath." Her fingers twitched around the air she held in front of his face - the air he so desperately needed.
He wanted to yell at her, scream at her, threaten her, kill her.
Beg her.
But he couldn't talk. He could only look at her. Her gray eyes were stormy with hatred and horror, and she looked scared and determined all at once.
He looked around desperately, searching for anything that could save him and came up empty. Halfway across the hall, he saw the boy staring at the two of them, his eyes and mouth wide open. Nori cast a final glance at the enormous statue of Avatar Yangchen, at the peaceful sculptures smiling down on them from the walls.
The girl looked at them too, looked at the boy, and for a moment her expression was one of extreme guilt. Then she met his eyes again, and her gaze hardened.
"I told you," she whispered. "I'm taking you with me."
Nori barely heard her. He was already floating away.
Another orange wing broke through the red clouds, and Saki immediately hit it with an expertly-aimed fireball. The two boys who'd been sharing the glider screamed as it caught fire, the flames quickly jumping from the wood to their clothes. Saki aimed again and hit them with another, more powerful blast, making sure they were completely engulfed in flames before they fell back through the clouds they'd come from.
Once the Airbenders disappeared into the cloud cover, Saki relaxed and leaned back a little. She couldn't say she was enjoying this work, exactly. She'd enjoyed the planning portion - the strategy, the intelligence gathering, the supply distribution. That had been fun, a massive puzzle of politics and strategy games. But the actual execution of all that planning...no, she wasn't enjoying this part very much.
Granted, she didn't like friendly sparring much, either. She didn't think she'd ever be able to find fighting enjoyable. Necessary, certainly. It was why she was so good at it. As a Fire Princess, she'd put in the time and training needed to be able to fight off enemies and assassins and scheming half-siblings. A royal life was a dangerous one, and much as Father and her sister and brothers loved her, Saki had been taught from an early age that she needed to be able to defend herself without their help.
But to her fighting was a chore, not a hobby, and now that the fighting was paired with actual killing, Saki was finding she disliked it more than usual. She wished there was some way for the Fire Nation to accomplish its goals that didn't involve so much...unpleasantness.
She didn't dare voice such thoughts aloud, though, because it would make her family fuss. She could have just stayed home. No one would have thought less of her. It was no secret that Sozin's favorite children were those of his first wife, the late Fire Lady Huali, and out of the four of them he had a definite soft spot for Saki. Kamiko, Takeo, and Nori were also exceedingly fond of her, since she was the baby of the family - of their family, anyway. She had plenty of younger half-siblings, but none of them counted.
Her father and sister and brothers had been brimming with excuses for her to not feel pressured to come along - Father had been about to even name her regent in his absence, even. They'd been surprised when Saki had insisted on joining them to oversee the attacks, worried that she wasn't prepared for what she was getting into. She'd been worried about that, too. But she'd helped them plan it all, hadn't she? She wanted to be there to see the first of the Fire Nation's plans come to fruition.
So regency of the Fire Nation went to Saki's nephew instead, and Father had arranged for Saki to join him in the attack on the Southern Air Temple. He'd given her command of a regiment of dragon riders, and stationed her in the sky - away from the worst of the fighting, the worst of the carnage - and left her with orders to shoot down anything that tried to escape. Simple, clean kills, very little actual fighting, and a bird's-eye view of all she'd worked for finally panning out.
It wasn't so bad up here. A little boring - Father was doing so well attacking the temple that there were very few Airbenders who made it off the ground. But that was alright with Saki, who found herself marvelling at the comet's power between kills. Like everyone else in the Fire Nation, she'd grown up hearing about the comet's power. She'd read the eyewitness accounts from its previous visits, which had been carefully recorded by the Fire Sages and clan leaders of centuries past and were now kept in the royal library. But nothing could have prepared her - could have prepared anyone - for this amazing feeling of supreme power. Even her father had been surprised.
She conjured a flame and juggled it between her hands, marveling at how intensely it burned. It was a pity the comet wouldn't be around long. Saki hated the idea of living out the rest of her life without this power. Especially since eradicating the Air Nomads was only the first step in the Fire Nation's great march of civilization. Father wanted to take Ba Sing Se, eventually. Saki had no idea how they were going to do that without massive firepower. And maybe if they had this kind of power all the time, the Earth Kingdom and the Water Tribe would see that there was no winning, and accept the Fire Nation's rule without more fighting…
Also, being able to shoot off fire blasts this large really was fun. Not even a non-comet-powered dragon could compare.
Speaking of dragons…
Saki dropped the flame in her hands as another gust of wind caused her mount to shift in the air currents. "Hey, Zhua," she said. "You doing alright?"
Her dragon huffed, and Saki smiled and stroked the bright red scales on his neck. Zhua was her best friend and most trusted companion, and had been for years - they'd bonded as children, when she'd been a chubby little five-year-old scrabbling over the beach rocks at Ember Island, and he'd been a five-foot-long juvenile snuffling around the same rocks for crabs. They'd grown up together, closer even than Saki was with her own siblings, knowing each other inside and out.
But he'd been in a grumpy mood lately, and Saki couldn't figure out why. Zhua wasn't even cheering up from the giant fire blasts they were making together today. Saki thought it might be the wind. The intense heat from the super-powered fire combined with the bending from desperate Air Nomads was making for some...interesting air currents. It was making the dragons tense. But much like Saki's aversion to fighting, a few wild winds weren't stopping them from carrying out their duty, and Saki was glad to be here with Zhua during this glorious day in Fire Nation history.
She thought of her older siblings at the other temples, carrying out the rest of the eradication. Hopefully the twins hadn't driven Kamiko mad, and Takeo wasn't making any stupid improvisational decisions, and Nori was keeping his cool and staying level-headed throughout the attack. Saki hoped things were going as smoothly for them as they were here. But then, why wouldn't they be? They were the sons and daughters of the most powerful man in the world; master Firebenders with the blood of spirits running through their veins and the power of an entire comet at their fingertips. And they were up against weak, evasive pacifists. Monks and nuns. People with no knowledge or experience of fighting or conflict.
Really, it was just too easy, even for someone as averse to fighting as Saki was.
She wondered if any of them had found the Avatar. Their informant claimed he'd be here, at the Southern Air Temple, but Kamiko had scoffed and said they'd better not place all their trust in the words of an Air Nomad traitor whose allegiance had been bought and could just as easily be sold. The surest strategy would be to seek out and kill every twelve-year-old, just to be certain. Seeing as the Avatar had yet to emerge from the temple and fight back, Saki believed her sister had a point.
There was a sudden movement from below, and Saki looked down to see a few sky bison emerge from the clouds. The animals took one look at the dragons above them and, bellowing in panic, dropped back below the cover before anyone could take a shot at them, wind gusting in their wake.
Saki checked the straps on her helmet and safety harness before looking over at her lieutenant. "I'll handle this. You keep anyone else from getting through." She hunched forward, taking hold of Zhua's horns. Maybe a hunt would help him loosen up. "Let's go!"
Zhua plunged into the clouds.
When they emerged, they had a better view of the temple. Fire blazed from the trees, the gardens, the orchards. Flaming figures leapt from windows and tried to fly, but didn't get far before they were shot down again by soldiers on the ground. Charred corpses were scattered over the steps and pavilions. Bison with burning fur ran or flew about aimlessly, like mobile bonfires that bellowed in pain and crashed into each other. A few flaming lemurs fell to earth as fire ate at their wings. The smell of smoke and cooking meat was overpowering, and everywhere was the sound of crackling fire and terrified, agonized screams.
Saki wrinkled her nose at the sight, but otherwise didn't pay attention to any of it. All her focus was on the bison that weren't burning. "There!" she shouted. They weren't far - just a few hundred feet away, still trying to escape. "Zhua, get closer," she ordered, readying her arm for a fire blast.
Zhua launched into a complicated coiling motion that was good for maintaining stability in a wild air current, but that otherwise...didn't actually move them forward.
"...Zhua!" she shouted, watching the bison get farther away.
Zhua growled.
Saki gaped at him. "What is wrong with - I don't have time for this!" she huffed, looking back at the bison. She took a deep breath, filling her lungs to the brim with air, and with a forceful exhale she aimed her fist and punched.
The bison were hundreds of feet away - far out of range for any normal firebending. With the help of the comet, however, fire could travel much, much farther.
Saki watched with satisfaction as the animals went down in a blaze. Underneath her, Zhua snarled.
"Zhua!" Saki said. She scratched him behind the left horn, right where she knew he liked it. "Come on, buddy, talk to me. What's gotten into you? What's wrong?"
He huffed, a puff of smoke and flames coming from his mouth.
"What's wrong?" she asked again, and then there was an explosion from the temple below. She looked down to see a mass of fire and air swirling near the bison stables. When it cleared, she saw an old, wizened Air Nomad standing at the epicenter. He was surrounded by the bodies of fallen Fire soldiers.
And he was facing off against Fire Lord Sozin.
Even from hundreds of feet up, Saki could hear her father's shout. "WHERE. IS. THE AVATAR?"
Saki gasped. "Zhua, let's go." Zhua snarled again, and Saki, losing her patience, smacked the top of his head. "Zhua!"
With a grudging growl, the dragon dipped down toward the earth.
"I really couldn't tell you!" the old man was saying, dodging a fireblast from one of Sozin's honor guard. "Would you like me to take a message?"
"Where is he?" Sozin shouted.
"I told you - I have no idea!"
"Stop lying, Gyatso!" Sozin said, just as Zhua touched down not too far from the men. Sozin shot a brief look at the dragon and his daughter before turning back to the Airbender. "You were one of Roku's greatest friends! Of course you'd be responsible for his reincarnation! You know where he is and you are going to tell me!"
Saki gasped as she slid off of Zhua's neck and started to run towards her father. Her dragon was still growling angrily, but she paid him no heed. Gyatso. They'd found Gyatso. Here it was, right in front of them - information on the Avatar. They were close, so close, if only they could make the old monk talk...
Something moved at the edge of her vision where the doors of the bison stable were, something small and white and fluffy, and without even thinking Saki turned and -
- at the very last split-second she refrained from throwing fire. Instead, she grabbed the bison calf by its nubby little horn as it attempted to run past her. It was so very young, she didn't think it was even able to fly yet. So much the better - at this size, it weighed the same as a Komodo rhino hatchling, easy to wrestle into submission for a princess who'd spent her childhood playing with a dragon. The calf squealed and wriggled under her, but Saki straddled its back and held it down firmly. She looked towards her father and Gyatso.
"You'd better get talking," she told the monk, igniting a fire dagger over the calf's head. The bison struggled harder, but her grip was unyielding. "Tell us where the Avatar is, or watch me carve this little thing up."
She didn't really want to. Massive instantly-incinerating fire blasts were one thing, but this wouldn't be a clean kill. At least it wasn't human.
"You would torture an innocent animal to death," Gyatso said, "so that I might tell you where an innocent boy is, that you might also put him to death?"
Saki gritted her teeth. "Are you going to make me torture an innocent animal?"
"I am not making you do anything," Gyatso said. "This is your decision entirely."
Saki glared at the old monk. But then she saw her father, looking at her in approval, and she steeled herself. She didn't like fighting. She didn't want the blood on her hands to be so literal. She didn't really want to torture a small animal, and she certainly wasn't going to enjoy it. But for the good of her country? For her father's vision? For the Fire Nation's future? This was a small discomfort to bear, and a small sacrifice to make.
Saki made her choice.
"It's your decision to not talk," she said, and she plunged the fire dagger into the calf's back - not deep enough for a fatal injury, but enough to make it scream.
And then, without any warning, Saki felt something stab into her back and lift her up off of the calf and the ground, snarling. It took her a moment to realize that she was impaled on her own dragon's teeth.
She screamed. Dimly, she heard someone else screaming. "SAKI!"
Zhua had her by the torso, so her arms and legs and head were free. Saki pushed her hands against Zhua's snout, desperately trying to make him let go. "Zhua, Zhua please, Zhua what are you doing..." She tried to call her fire, but she was in so much pain and breathing erratically. She couldn't focus. "ZHUA!" We're friends, she thought desperately. We're best friends. I love you. Why are you doing this? Why...
And then there was a sudden flurry of red armor as someone leaped onto the dragon's face. "Let her go, you beast!" Sozin snarled, and he plunged fire daggers into the dragon's eyes. Zhua's mouth opened in a roar of pain, and Sozin pried his daughter from his teeth. He hurried her away from where the dragon screamed and thrashed, laid her down on a patch of earth that was just as charred as everywhere else. He looked at the holes in her chest and abdomen and knew it was too late. Not even armor could provide protection from a dragon's jaw strength. "Saki," he said, over and over. "Saki, Saki."
"Father?" she asked, and a bit of blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
"Saki," Sozin said, unfastening her helmet's straps and removing it from her head.
"Gyatso," she gasped. "Where - " she broke off with a whimper and a shudder.
"He won't get far." Sozin ran his fingers through her hair. "He'll pay for this."
"Zhua...?"
"That monster?" Sozin threw a glare towards the blinded dragon, which was still thrashing against the burning bison stable. "He'll pay for this, too. They all will."
Saki shuddered again. She tried to speak, to tell her father no - Don't take it out on Zhua, please, please, don't take it out on Zhua, I don't know what's gotten into him but please - but she couldn't.
She couldn't do anything but breathe.
A few seconds later, she couldn't even do that anymore.
The reports trickled in one by one. Kamiko, dead from lungs punctured by broken ribs. Takeo, who fell thousands of feet before meeting his end. Nori, found collapsed in an empty hall, no marks on his body but bloodshot eyes and red and purple blotches on his face. Saki, murdered by her own dragon.
To make matters worse, no one had found any signs of the Avatar. That secret had died with Gyatso.
The Air Nomads, at least, were finished. There were likely a few still out there - they were nomads, after all. Surely some had been away from the temples during the comet. And there were others who'd settled, married into families of the other nations. Even here in the Fire Nation, Sozin knew there were Airbenders in Fire families.
Once, he'd thought perhaps he would be merciful. That he would spare those Airbenders who'd become Fire Nation citizens. But not now. Not after these losses.
The fallen Fire Princesses and Princes had been cremated on the field of battle, and their remains were brought back to the Fire Palace. Sozin stared at the four urns before him, and felt the future go up in flames. After so many years of planning and politics, his nation's great march of civilization had finally begun - but now he wasn't sure how it would continue.
He had other children, but none could compare to his favorite four. By all accounts Kishor and Kesari had proceeded with the conquest of the Western Air Temple adequately, but they would never match Kamiko's brilliance. Nor could any of the others match Takeo's talent, or Nori's determination, or Saki's…
Out of all his many children, Saki had been the only one to befriend a dragon.
Sozin would have revenge for that betrayal. So a dragon had deemed his daughter unworthy? Then he deemed their entire species worthless. They would be dealt with just as effectively as the Airbenders living in his country.
His children were dead. Huali's children were dead. Huali herself had been dead for years, and now he had nothing left of her.
Well, almost nothing.
He found Tomomi in front of their family portrait, a bundle of white cloth in her arms. Sozin stepped silently to his granddaughter's side, and for a moment they stood quietly side by side in their plain white mourning robes, gazing at the painting. Himself and Huali, seated on ornate chairs and regal in their dotage. Kamiko, Takeo, Nori, and Saki arranged standing around their parents, tall and proud. Kamiko's hair was done up with the ornate hair ornament he'd had specially commissioned when he'd named her crown princess - he so bitterly regretted giving the original heirloom to Roku. Daisuke and Nobu were at Kamiko's side, and Tomomi herself at Nori's, all of them preteens. The portrait had been painted years ago, before Huali's passing.
"Hello, Grandfather," Tomomi said after a moment. "I don't know if anyone's told you yet, but Concubine Faiza died in childbirth as the comet was passing overhead, and you have a new son." She lifted the bundle of silk in her arms. "Say hello to your father, Uncle Azulon."
The newborn was asleep, and incapable of saying hello to anybody.
"Azulon," Sozin repeated.
"Faiza named him," Tomomi said. "She lived long enough for that, at least."
Sozin spared a pang of grief for this other, lesser loss. Faiza had been a sweet young woman, but one he'd barely paid attention to. She'd only lived in the palace for a few years, and he had never bothered elevating her above the rank of concubine. She'd been kind and respectful towards Huali and her children, however. Sozin had taken note of that.
"Is there any particular reason why you are carrying your newborn uncle around?" he asked. Tomomi, like her father and aunts and uncle, wasn't overly fond of half-relatives. She'd been on friendly terms with Faiza though. They were about the same age.
"His mother isn't alive to look after him, his mother's family is a minor clan with little power, and I'd rather not any of my half-aunts or -uncles decide it's too easy an opportunity to pass up."
Sozin gave her a warning glance. "You're being paranoid, Granddaughter. My children would know better than to kill a royal infant. Especially after the losses we just suffered."
Tomomi bowed her head, but she didn't look repentant. Just malcontent. "Please don't blame me for worrying, Grandfather. These are strange times. I can't help but be on edge."
Sozin looked at the painted faces of Daisuke and Nobu. "How are your cousins?"
"They're doing as well as I am."
Which meant his grandsons were feeling terrible.
"Are you going to name Daisuke crown prince?" Tomomi pressed.
Daisuke hadn't wanted to be crown prince. Neither had Nobu. Kamiko had decided that, when she became Fire Lord, she would choose her heir from one of her grandchildren. "I suppose," he said quietly, "that I should."
Tomomi's malcontent gave way to a split-second of actual anxiety before she hid it behind a serene mask. "Grandfather, who else would you name?"
"I have many children," Sozin said tiredly. "Perhaps another will prove themselves more willing and capable than Daisuke."
"But you named him regent!"
"A temporary position that he could handle in the short term." He sighed. "I should have named Saki regent."
Tomomi was silent.
"I have faith that my family will have honor," Sozin said, reaching toward the bundle in her arms to stroke Azulon's cheek, "and that my children will focus on the glory of the Fire Nation, rather than on fighting each other."
His granddaughter's face was perfectly placid, the exact type of mask her father had donned in court. Despite the lack of emotion, Sozin was certain she had no faith in his hopes at all. Sozin wasn't stupid - he knew for a fact that his many children did not always get along. He knew that he had perhaps, unintentionally, caused rifts between half-siblings. But he would hope that his offspring would honor the wishes of their father. He would hope that they wouldn't start fighting amongst themselves, when he needed them to fight for him.
But more than that, he hoped Tomomi understood how highly he valued her and her cousins. How much he'd rather have one of Huali's descendants on the throne than anyone else's. "Would you want to be Fire Lord?"
Tomomi looked at him. "If Daisuke and Nobu reject the title of crown prince, it would be my honor to be crown princess."
"It may come to that, then," Sozin murmured. "I won't allow my children to fight like vulture-hyenas over the throne, Tomomi. I need them to fight for the Fire Nation. I can't have them wasting time and effort on a foregone conclusion. One of Huali's descendants will be the next Fire Lord, and there is nothing anyone can do to change my mind. I won't allow it. We must focus on the future, and on the Great March of Civilization."
Tomomi looked relieved, albeit still unconvinced. Sozin supposed he couldn't blame her - the Fire Court was a complicated place, and she'd just lost her father, and her aunts and uncle. Tensions were running high. But she didn't dare contradict her Fire Lord. "I, for one, will be sure to fulfill your vision, Grandfather."
"Thank you, my dear," he said quietly. "I am going to need your help."
"You will have it. Though I do have a request."
"Name it."
"We know some Airbenders escaped and must be hunted down, and I know you also mean to go after those living within our borders," Tomomi said, her eyes fixed on her father's portrait. Nori's smile was gentle, the hand resting on his daughter's painted shoulder proud. "I want to lead that initiative."
"Of course," Sozin said. "I'll make it official in court tomorrow."
"Thank you."
"I will also," Sozin said, "be issuing an edict condoning the hunting of dragons."
Tomomi gave him a sharp look. "That may be hard to get the people to accept, Grandfather."
"I am the Fire Lord," Sozin said with an air of finality. "My word is the word of Agni. A dragon has spilled Agni's blood, and so their entire species is condemned."
"Well," Tomomi said, "when you put it like that…"
"It will be no different than dealing with any other traitors," Sozin said. "Anyone who objects will be put to death."
Tomomi nodded grimly, and then she sighed at the baby in her arms. "You lucky child. Able to sleep while your father and I discuss this mess."
"Give him here," Sozin said, holding his arms out. Tomomi carefully deposited Azulon into his father's grasp, and Sozin held the newborn with practiced ease. He tried not to think of how he'd held Kamiko and Takeo and Nori and Saki just like this, so very long ago. "Prince Azulon," he hummed, tasting the name.
"It does have a pleasant ring to it," Tomomi said. "Faiza named him well."
"Yes, yes," Sozin murmured, glad that Faiza had named him at all. He had no time for children now, not at his age, with a just-launched war to deal with. He wasn't going to be able to raise this child the way he had raised Kamiko and Takeo, Nori and Saki. No one would. "He has no mother," Sozin realized.
"No," Tomomi agreed. "He doesn't."
Sozin looked at her. "I entrust him to your keeping, then," he decided. "Since it seems you're already keen on it."
"I am," Tomomi said. "Faiza was kind to Grandmother. Her son deserves kindness from Grandmother's family. And I will raise him to be a worthy sibling of the children of Fire Lady Huali."
"Thank you, Granddaughter," Sozin said, handing the baby back over to her. His fingers lingered over Azulon's brow for just one more moment. "Hopefully by the time you're grown, child, we'll have won the world for you, and you'll never have to deal with any of this messiness."
Sozin: I'm sure my many children won't start fighting over the throne! They'll be honorable and focus their energy on the needs of their father and nation!
Narrator: They didn't.
Right, so, a few things...
The events of this fic are a catalyst for...a lot of things in my headcanon, so don't be surprised if you start seeing some far-reaching effects happening later in my other stories. The most immediate is, of course, the sudden destabilization of the Fire Nation's line of succession. With the crown princess dead and her immediate heirs completely unprepared for this responsibility, Sozin's other kids smell blood in the water. Hold on tight baby Azulon - the first 20 years of your life are gonna be rough.
I don't have a family tree prepared right now but I can probably slap one together later. Sozin being 82 means that his oldest kids aren't exactly young, though - they're middle-aged, and Kamiko is definitely old enough to remember when Sozin and Roku were still on good terms.
The Air Nomad informant Kamiko alludes to is Afiko from the old trading card game. The little Airbender girl Kamiko incinerated may or may not be Zeph from my old Vintage Gaang fic, which I should really rewrite. The nun who dealt Kamiko's death blow may or may not be Aang's sister, because I'm sure Aang has an older sister somewhere - and apparently I'm not alone in headcanoning this!
I feel bad for Captain Pransu because he didn't really get to show much character here - but you'll be seeing him again in the Ilah Fic, where he's got a lot more personality. He's just very serious when he's on the job, I suppose. (Honestly this character was originally just called Captain Lee but then last week I realized I could sneak Pransu in here somewhere and get a head start on his characterization so I did.)
You can probably recognize our angry Airbender girl and her little ward from History Repeats. ;) Also I CAME UP WITH AIRBENDER SUFFOCATION SKILLS IN 2012! YEARS BEFORE LEGEND OF KORRA DID IT. I still remember watching Long Live the Queen and thinking "GOSH FRACKING DARN IT BRYKE NOW I CAN'T FINISH THAT FIC NO ONE WILL BELIEVE I CAME UP WITH THAT!" But I did! And that's why the imagery is different than what we saw in LoK - I pretty much kept my description of the act exactly as I originally wrote it in 2012. This is the worst part about taking forever to write anything. Someday I'm gonna make a list of every idea I've had that was either jossed or canonized. /rant
Princess Saki...you may remember she was mentioned in History Repeats. Well, her death was mentioned. Here's how that happened. Please note that while she doesn't want to fight, that doesn't mean she wants peace. Just because you don't get your hands dirty doesn't mean you're innocent. So she may be more sympathetic than her sister and brothers, but she's still a terrible person here. However...she was chosen by a dragon, so I do think that if anyone in Sozin's family might have made a different choice, it would have been her. It's a shame she didn't.
Names!
Kamiko - 上子 - Japanese - "superior child"
Takeo - 剛雄 - Japanese - "strong heroic male", or you can substitute the first word 武 for "military"
Nori - 則 - Japanese - "law, rule, standard"
Saki - 咲 - Japanese - "blossom" (lol nipped that in the bud didn't I?)
Danxin - 眈心 - Chinese - the first character means "gaze intently", the second means "heart; mind"
Zhua - 爪 - Chinese - "claw", however it's also the pinyin spelling for the word 抓, which means "to grab; to catch; to arrest; to snatch"
Tomomi - 智美 - Japanese - "beautiful intellect"
Daisuke - 大輔 - Japanese - "great helper"
Nobu - 延 - Japanese - "to prolong, extend, delay"
Faiza - Arabic - "successful, victorious, beneficial"
Huali - I haven't actually decided what I want this to mean yet...in Hawaiian it means "bright, polished, gleaming, unsullied", and I think that's what I was going for when I named her in 2012, but "hua" and "li" are pinyin for a lot of Chinese words, so I'm not sure yet. Anyway, she may or may not be the girl giggling with Ta Min at Roku and Sozin's birthday party.
My Fire Nation is still such a cultural mishmash. :P
Thanks for reading! Comments are always appreciated! You can follow me on tumblr at caelum-in-the-avatarverse.