A/N: Hey y'all! I'm so sorry it took me so long to update this, but I had so many things to do. I barely have any time to check my account anymore! And that sucks! Well, enough chit-chat, y'all have waited long enough for this, so here it is, along with some cyber-chocolate chip cookies to enjoy whilst you read!

Previously on Avatar:

Oh, my gosh. My girlfriend is gonna be my executioner. Zuko thought to himself. Realization dawned on him. That was the other secret she was always talking about! She was an assassin! And not just any assassin, either, but a dang good one at that.

"Well, ladies, shall we get this execution started?" Ozai asked.

Chapter XVII: Assassinations

Shaiya nodded.

"Before we get started, would it be too much to ask if our little Avatar friend can stay and watch us make his friends suffer." Shaiya asked, poison dripping from her voice.

"Well, it might teach him a good lesson about meddling in people's business." Ozai said. Shaiya walked over to a nearby pillar, untied Aang's ropes and tied him up to the pillar loosely, leaving Ozai unaware.

Quickly, Shaiya moved back to Onya's side.

"So, Ozai, is there a specific one you want done in first?" she inquired.

"Please, kill my son first. If not for his mistake three years ago, he wouldn't be in this position. But I do not want you to kill him quickly. Make him suffer."

"Oh, I'm good at suffer. Give me a chair and something to tie him up with that's fireproof." The guards at the doors stood still. "Now would be nice ya know!" Shaiya yelled.

The guards jumped to life when she yelled at them. Five minutes of silence, and glances between Shaiya and Zuko, later, the guards returned with a metal chair and fireproof rope.

"Shall I get the prince, ma'am?" one of the guards asked.

"No, I'll get him." Shaiya said and the guard nodded. Gracefully, she walked up to Zuko and untied him. He put up no fight, but just looked at her with a solemn face and fear in his eyes. She winked and drug him behind her. When they turned their backs to Ozai, Shaiya began whispering.

"Okay. Lemme get one thing clear. I'm not gonna kill you. I'd rip my own eyes out with bear claws first." Zuko smirked.

"Anyway, I'm gonna ask 'Daddy' if he wants to say anything. I know Ozai. He will. When he does, and I'm glad he's so predictable, he's gonna walk up to you and say it. Then he'll tell me to kill you. Naturally, I won't. Then, I'll 'pretend' that my sword slips, right into Ozai's neck. Then, Onya will untie you, Aang will break free, and you two will take over the battle. Onya and I will go and untie the rest of our group. Frankly, I don't care either way about the rebels. If we make it that far, I'll explain the rest." Shaiya finished just as they reached the chair set up ten feet from the base of the steps, which were tall.

Shaiya slammed Zuko down into the chair and she held him while Onya tied him up.

"So, Ozai, do you wanna say a little something?" Shaiya asked.

"As a matter of fact, I'd love to." Ozai said as he stood up. He made his way to his son and began his speech.

"So, my son. You failed in your task. I sent you to go find the Avatar. However, I expected him to be dead, so when the Fire Sages reported the news of his existence, I was more shocked than anyone. I expected you to be wandering the world in search for a man, or in this case, boy, that had been dead for a century. But no, you," Ozai turned his attention to Aang, "You had to come back now. Why couldn't you have waited until after I conquered the world!"

"Well, sorry. My bad. Didn't know that I, the worldwide peacemaker was supposed to wait until after a war to come and save the day. Sure sounds stupid to me." Aang retorted in his sassiest voice.

"Shut up, Avatar. At least I know that you will not be able to stop me. I will finally rule the entire world, as will my beloved daughter when she grows of age and I am too old to rule. Anyway, son. You are a disgrace. You shamed me once, and no longer do I have to put up with you and your attitude. I will smile in my sleep tonight knowing that my traitorous son is dead. The boy that shamed me will no longer live. Unless you happen to have no blood in you. That is the only way you won't die through what I'm about to put you through. But just to make sure you will die, let's run a litmus test. Dagger, Zatikaku."

Ozai said as he extended his hand to one of his bodyguards. Zatikaku handed the Fire Lord his trusted dagger. Ozai took it and held it right in front of Zuko's left cheek.

"Now, to see if you can take pain." Ozai lit his hand, causing the holes in the tip of the dagger to shoot fire. Zuko's eyes widened. He had seen his father do this to people before. He would cut out their eyes, then stab them in the heart. He felt tears prickling behind his eyes. He prayed Shaiya would stop Ozai before he killed his son. And that's when it happened.

"Get that dagger away from his eye now." Shaiya growled. Zuko knew it. She wouldn't let his father touch him with a ten-foot pole.

"Excuse me? What did you just say?" Ozai asked.

"You heard me, jack-ass. Get that dagger away from his eye now." she said. Ozai stood up and faced her.

"Do you know who you are talking to? I should have you put to death for that." he remarked.

"Come on, do it. You don't have the guts. Oh, and I should tell you. I lead a double life. Did you ever wonder why Shaiya disappeared every time you hired me to come and kill someone? Did you ever wonder why Shaiya reappeared every time I left? It's because…" she said as she pulled off her blonde wig and let her long red tresses fall. "I'm both Shaiya and Sehara."

Ozai's jaw dropped. So did every other fire noble's jaw. Zuko smirked.

"You're done, daddy." was all he said before Shaiya attacked. Ozai never stood a chance. Even though he was the most powerful firebender in the entire world, since Aang hadn't mastered the discipline yet, he still fell when Shaiya hit him full speed. She threw punch after flaming punch, kick after flaming kick, cartwheel after flaming cartwheel, until Ozai was so tired he could barely stand.

"Had enough?" she asked triumphantly. He merely looked up at her figure standing feet away, ready to deliver the final blow. She didn't know, however, that the Avatar was the only one that can defeat the Fire Lord.

As Shaiya struck, a great light emerged from Ozai, protecting him from her final flaming blow. She was thrown back into a pillar thirty feet away and was almost knocked out. Ozai stood and stalked over to Shaiya's wavering form. Zuko couldn't take it. He was untied, so he ran up to the love of his life and jumped in the way just as Ozai threw a flaming punch at her. Zuko grabbed her without slowing his stride. He jumped behind another pillar and waited for it to crash.

The crash never came.

Onya had run over to Aang and untied him just in time for him to jump on Ozai's back and cover his eyes. Ozai was burning Aang's arms and trying to get Aang off so he could see where his son and the traitor were and kill them both. Finally, Aang lurched off Ozai's back and hit him hard in the stomach with a huge gust of wind. Aang walked over to Onya.

"Sword, please." he said.

"Sure, here ya go." she replied, handing Aang one of her Long Dao broadswords. Aang walked over to Ozai, who was kneeling in pain. He knew his time had come. After fighting the girl for a good while, he was pretty exhausted, as well. When Aang approached him, he looked up.

"Well, have you ever killed anyone, Avatar?" Ozai asked.

"No, but you'll be the first." Aang said, raising the sword above his head. Before Ozai said anything else, Aang dropped the sword right in the middle of Ozai's neck, beheading him. Aang smirked and then headed to his friends to release them. Onya, finally moving from her shocked state, ran over to where Zuko was sitting, cradling Shaiya in his lap.

"I thought I might lose you for a second there." Zuko said

"Yeah, well, hot shot, you didn't, didja?" Shaiya whispered.

"No, no I didn't." Zuko whispered and he kissed her lightly on the forehead.

"And there's all the proof anyone needs to see that you two love each other." Onya said from behind the pillar. Shaiya stared at her friend, then stood up rather easily, tossed her arm around her friend and they both stood and giggled.

"Hey, uh, ladies, now that this little love-fest is ending, maybe we should get out of here." Zuko said, standing.

"And why would we do that, huh hot shot?" Onya asked. The entire room had just stood and a thunderous applause had broken out. Zatikaku ran up to the Avatar, now holding a bloody sword and walking proudly to his companions, and grabbed the boy in a bone-crushing hug.

"You did it, Avatar! You did it!" he repeated over and over.

"Um… thank… you." Aang whispered hoarsely.

"Zatikaku, before you hug our friend in half, maybe you should put him down." Zuko said, walking up to the pair. The roar of applause was beginning to die down.

"Well, Onya, that actually turned out okay, quite contrary to what I had thought might happen." Shaiya smiled grandly as she spoke.

Now untied, Sokka ran full speed to Onya.

"My god. I never would've guessed you led a double life." he said, smiling. In a flash, he swung his arms around Onya's hips and pulled her into a kiss. On the other side of the pillar, as Shaiya walked up to her prince, he did the same, almost. He turned to face her, held her hands in his, smiled his grand smile which was the key to capturing her heart, and he swung her around, held her close, and kissed her, one hand on her mid back, the other looped around her shoulders. As they released, he smiled.

"I never thought I'd ever do that, much less in public." he mused.

"Ah, well, you did anyway." Shaiya said in return.

"Oh, and Shaiya, there's one more thing." Zuko knelt. "Now, I know I don't have a ring, but I do know exactly which one to get you. Will you honor me by becoming my wife?"

Shaiya felt as though nothing could go wrong. She was free. She had the love of her life proposing to her and she was finally out of her mother's grasp. Nothing more could she want.

"Oh, Zuko!" she yelled as she flung herself into his arms. "Nothing on Agni's great earth could make me say no!"

OOH! How's the wedding gonna go?Will Meiya and Zhao crash it?What will happen between Aang and Katara?Or Sokka and Onya?And will Aang get his burns healed? Just wait until my next chapter:

Chapter XVIII:A Royal Proposal Has Been Made

Now, understand, I took that from a movie.Cyber-cookies to anyone who can guess who it's from! Oh, and the quiz, it's still waiting for more people to answer to it!