Avatar: The Last Airbender Created By: Michael Dante DiMartino, Bryan Konietzko
Avatar: The Last Airbender Owned By: Nickelodeon, a subsidiary of Viacom
All original content and characters © Acastus


Chapter LI – The Crossroads

The moon had appeared and then been swallowed by a ceiling of low clouds. Soon it would be dawn. Gan had slept fitfully for a few hours while Chieng, Tang and the shift technicians worked feverishly to repair Corona. The engineer had resisted when he came to relieve her, but he had succeeded by pointing out that she herself had formulated the repair strategy and all he had to do was supervise.

Chieng awoke a short while later to find the work almost finished. As the work concluded they climbed out onto the rooftop of the Inferno once again. There they could see the dying embers of combat still burning to their south and east. The remains of the enemy's vanguard still struggled, but they were trapped, smashed as they had been between Iroh and Tien Shin. Most of all, the rocket attacks had wreaked devastation upon the enemy as they had at the Field of Coins.

"We're done here," Gan stated flatly, "If there's any chance to save Nikon we have to move now."

Chieng nodded.

"This will make no difference to our decision, but you do realize he may already be dead… and that we may find ourselves alone and unsupported?"

The southeast horizon continued to burn. The outcome was certain, but Iroh and Tien Shin weren't yet finished.

"Yes," he acknowledged, "A risk we are both willing to take."

"We aren't just risking ourselves, Gan," she observed with a slight tinge of reproof, "we are risking our crews as well."

"I'm aware of that," he replied testily, "but we aren't risking them just to save Nikon, we're making a play to help Fifth Brigade do their job. If Nifong slams into Tien Shin's rear before he's ready to turn about we're going to be in major trouble."

Chieng considered this and nodded once again.

"Let's move."


The first streaks of dawn stained the eastern sky. Nikon's belt was empty. The last of the grenades had been used to repel the attack that had ended only minutes before.

Wave after wave of green clad soldiers had been outright destroyed. The first few, including the one when they had run out of fuel the night before, had been little more than skirmishing parties. These had been killed off to a man such that no word had been passed back of their location, though the light and smoke of the firebender's art never failed to attract the attention of the enemy and their location near the great crossroads made contact inevitable.

Now, the main body of Nifong's army was upon them and there was nowhere to run. Exhausted beyond human endurance, they could not run even if they had wanted.

Victory and Great Eastern were now flaming wrecks. Fury had made it to the end, but had finally been flipped when she had run out of fuel. Her exposed belly had been cracked open by a mighty boulder, suffering the same fate as her sisters at Lake Myojin. Nikon, Leng and one of the gunners had made it out alive. Jin, whose bolt hole had been blocked by the ground where the tank had come to rest, and the other gunner, had not.

The grassy steppe lay scorched and burning before them. To the west, perhaps a few leagues past the Hue Road, the landscape had been bright with fire at night and filled with smoke, carried slowly west on the wind, during the day. These tell tale signs of battle had died down hours before. Each of the survivors prayed for deliverance in the hope that the rest of the army had achieved their second objective and was now moving east to rescue them.

None could bear to talk about the possibility of survival, for they knew that hope often proved a merciless cheat. Instead they chose to memorialize their comrades as they fell. Each of them believed it would be the only chance they had to do so and each fully expected their turn to be next. What would their comrades say about them? They would never know.

Nikon and the surviving members of his crew sat, their bodies heavy with exhaustion, their backs resting on the shattered hull of their faithful machine. None of them had liked Jin, but they felt his loss keenly all the same. Tight lipped, faces taut, they waited for the inevitable.

"Jin was a son of a bitch," Nikon commented after a long silence, "but he sure knew how to drive a tank, didn't he?"

"I hated him, my lord," Leng replied without emotion, "but, yeh… he taught me how to drive a tank."

She meant what she said, but she'd have risked her life to save his just the same, and they all knew it. This was no conjecture, she had saved his life many times and he hers. Out here, if you lived long enough, you learned you fought together or you died. It was that simple.

"I didn't really know him," the surviving gunner offered, an older man who'd been with the Army of the Great Divide for many years under General Ho, "but he sure gave more than he got."

Leng made a noise of grudging agreement.

"We'll be lucky if any are left to say the same of us," she observed.

They lapsed again into a melancholy silence, leaving only the sound of the breeze and the burning wrecks. A few moments later a couple survivors from Sparkler and Great Eastern appeared.

"We're all finished, my lord," the commander of the Sparkler announced, taking off her goggles and throwing them to the ground, "Looks like we're all on foot now."

Iroh's friend looked up at the newcomers.

"Yes, Lieutenant," he replied stoically, "so it would seem. Any others left?"

"Yeh, I think there are a few machines running up there," she jerked her thumb to the north, "but most are in the same position we are."

Nikon grunted. There couldn't be more than a couple hundred soldiers left.

"Wenyu, isn't it?"

He was good with names, especially female. Wenyu was easily twenty years his senior, all of it in the service of the Fire Lord, and she exuded the sort of quiet, kind confidence that sustained others in the direst of battles. She was sorely needed today.

"Yes, sir, and thanks for saving our skins earlier."

Nikon grinned brusquely and nodded. They both knew the reprieve would be short lived. A few more tankers appeared, sweaty and dirty, from some of the other machines.

"You gonna let'em have it when they find us again, daimyo?" she continued.

The question hung in the air. Leng and the rest of the survivors surveyed their young commander either openly or by casting sidelong glances. Everyone knew of Nikon's, and for that matter Iroh's, prowess at the national art.

Iroh's friend blew out a great breath of air and rose slowly to his feet, his body protesting loudly at the inconvenience. Leng and the old gunner followed suit.

"Yuh," Nikon replied, "no point in being coy about it now is there?"

"Nope," she replied laconically, "don't think so."

With one smooth motion Nikon removed his helmet and dropped it on the ground, followed swiftly by his breastplate. He would need the freedom of movement.

"Just give me space everyone," he instructed as he kicked his gear out of the way, "and for Agni's sake don't get in front of me."

Leng stiffened at the instruction, refusing to look at her commander.

"They'll drop everything and target you the moment they see sparks, my lord."

Nikon winked at her.

"That's right, sweetheart, but I've got you to protect me, don't I?"

The words were cavalier, but the sentiment was sober. It wasn't a come on, it was a gesture of respect.

She met his gaze, her expression sad. She'd fought with him for months before he even learned her name. This wasn't arrogance, or a rebuke, she had eventually realized, it was self preservation. Only consistent survival showed fellow soldiers that you were worth the risk of attachment. The last moment of joy she remembered was when Nikon first addressed her by name during the nightmare of the Ping Tou.

Now, she would die with him.

The westerly wind soon brought expected and unwelcome news. The sound of galloping feet on well trodden, broken earth heralded the arrival of the enemy once more.

The survivors turned to face east. The light wind rustled the sleeves of their tunics.

"daimyo," Leng began as the sound of their final encounter grew louder, "I just want to say… while I still can, it's been an honor to serve…"

She was cut off as Nikon stepped forward and crushed her in a bear hug. She returned the embrace, tears streaming down her otherwise stoic face. He lifted her clean off the ground and swung her back and forth like a rag doll before depositing her gently on the ground. His expression never changed.

The commander of the Sparkler smiled grimly at the display of affection. Once separated, she saluted her superior her smartly. The rest did the same. Nikon, his face blackened with soot from hours and days of combat, his countenance expressionless, returned the gesture.

A vast green wall appeared on the low rise directly in front of them.

The time for conversation was over.

As the green tide bore down and the world narrowed once more, he remembered only the grace and beauty of the woman who had captured his heart on the ramparts of the great fortress, yearning in that last moment for the touch of a stranger's hand in a burning, desperate land.


Tojo once again stood next to the elder prince. They had met only an hour before as their units disposed of the last Earth Kingdom soldiers between them. They faced east atop one of the endless and nameless low rises that comprised the steppe. Exhausted, but victorious, they had commandeered a pair of kimodo rhinos from some scouts to reconnoiter themselves.

Flashes of white light on a cloudless day and the dull thudding of the earthbender's art telegraphed the battle that now raged very close at hand just beyond the Hue Road that lay in front of them. Thin pillars of black smoke rose to the sky in the foreground, dwarfed in size by the enormous, hazy grey dust cloud that spanned the eastern horizon.

The view through their sight glasses showed the burning wrecks of numerous Fire Nation tanks. North and south of the smoking conflagration, rivers of Earth Kingdom cavalry and heavy infantry, the body of Nifong's massive Third Corps, moved inexorably westward.

"I don't see any movement, your Highness," Tojo observed tonelessly, "but it's hard with all the smoke. Looks like we're too late to save the armor… Nikon may already be dead."

"Don't be stupid, Commander," Tien Shin replied instantly, his tone angry and sullen at the forced admission of his usurper's prowess, "Where do you think that lightning is coming from?"

He hated that the young upstart had mastered the art of producing sky fire almost as much as he envied his ability to produce the coveted blue flames that burned hotter than his own. The whim of Agni in bestowing these gifts on such an unworthy recipient made him only the more determined to have his throat cut in some Shinjuku alley after their return. He had no need of a treason trial to dispose of such a sewer rat. Macro would see to that.

Tojo folded his sight glass and stuffed it in a saddlebag.

"Do we wait then, sir?"

That was the question. The elder prince's eyes slid over to cast a sideways glance at his subordinate. The question was too probing for his comfort. Tien Shin shared his mind with no one, and those impertinent enough to presume otherwise usually suffered the consequences sooner rather than later. He decided to ignore Tojo's behavior and concentrate on the dilemma.

He turned back to the view ahead, scanning the battle taking place before their eyes. He considered the options coldly.

Behind them the infantry of Second Corps advanced east at regulation pace to maintain formation. The artillery, pulled now by teams of mighty dragon moose in lieu of the tank trains, came up close behind. At that speed they could reach the battle very quickly, but a single command would halt the army for a much needed rest and to scout out the situation. Who would blame him if they arrived too late? Perhaps Tojo was right after all… Nikon and his men were probably already dead. A little extra time is all that would be needed to make sure…

Tien Shin gritted his teeth and blew out a large breath. He folded his sight glass with a vicious snap and put it in his own saddlebag. The decision made, he acted quickly.

"No, Commander," he contradicted suddenly, "Order double quick time, now!"

Tojo blinked and did a double take.

"Sir?" he questioned stupidly, surprised by the decision and uncertain if he had heard it correctly.

His immediate answer was a blue enameled war fan poised at his throat.

"I said double quick time, fool!" the elder prince thundered, "Victory for the Fire Nation is all that matters!"

"Yes, sir!" Tojo responded, his eyes wide and holding his body perfectly against the threat at his neck.

"Deploy the artillery immediately, maximum range! Move the archers up with the firebenders, let the blade carriers follow up behind! Now move!"

Tien Shin removed the war fan right before Tojo kicked his mount into a gallop. Moments later the wall of red surged forward.