Chapter Twenty
The Water Temple was half-completed but Katara could make out the form it was going to take. It was different from the other Water Temples she'd seen in that it did not have a sloping blue-tiled roof, but instead a swirling spinneret that reminded her of a whirlpool. The structure itself was round, the outer walls painted a soothing sky blue and two granite pillars framed the open doorway.
The two women approached it slowly, but suddenly a burst of fire blew a part of the dome off and they took off into a run. Azula's hands burned with blue fire while Katara had one hand on her water skin, the other already bending a jagged piece of ice. They ran through the entrance and immediately took cover behind two pillars. Katara glanced at her erstwhile partner and saw that Azula was not interested in teamwork. She smirked and her golden eyes gleamed eagerly as they took in the battle.
Katara followed her gaze and saw Zuko steadily losing ground against his opponent despite his firebending, which he was keeping to a bare minimum to conserve his strength. The way Zuko moved told Katara that he was already injured because the swords he held no longer moved with the carefully lethal grace she'd seen. He was merely slashing now, fighting for his life. His swords slashed through the air but didn't seem to be fast enough to catch his opponent and his twin hooks.
"Twin hooks?" Katara whispered aloud, her eyes widening. "Jet?"
"You know him?" Azula asked, looking over at her.
Katara felt as if her thoughts had exploded into a million pieces.
"I thought he was dead..." she murmured.
Dazed, Katara started to step forward, but Azula put out a hand.
"Please, allow me," she said silkily.
The princess dropped down, one leg bent and the other stretched out to the side, and she fired two blasts of blue fire between the combatants, making them jump away from each other. They both turned in her direction.
"Azula," Zuko said, glaring.
Katara stepped out from behind the pillar.
"Katara? What are you doing here? " Jet cried and his sharp gaze zeroed in on the flame in her hair.
Taking advantage of his shock and pushing aside her own, Katara bended three thick bands of ice around him and froze his feet where he stood, incapacitating him effectively, but she'd used all her bending water to achieve it. His hooks fell to the ground. Teeth bared, Zuko started to step towards him, swords at ready, but Katara ran in front of him, pressing both hands against his chest. Underneath her hands, she felt a wet stickiness of blood and when she looked at her palm, she found it covered with his blood. She looked up at his face, saw the sallow color that only came with a great deal of blood loss.
"You're hurt," she said.
"Yes," he said tightly.
"Katara!"
The raw pain in Jet's voice had her turning around. The years had not been kind to him and his face was scarred from battles fought and lost. His hair was shorn and he had a patchy beard that made him look even older than he was. But his eyes...his eyes were lit up with that manic gleam that had warned her away from him long ago and he was straining against his bonds, ready to tear her apart.
"Why did you do this?" she asked sadly. "What happened to you, Jet? I thought you were...back in Lake Laogai..."
"Turns out I'm a lot harder to kill than the Dai Li thought," Jet said. "Thanks, by the way, for leaving me behind."
"I thought it was...I had to...Aang," Katara fumbled and she took a deep breath. "Why are you doing this?"
"Why shouldn't I?" he retorted. "You know what they've done to my family. They did the same to yours but here you are, fighting with him. What are you doing?"
"She's the new Fire Lady, Jet," Azula purred.
Jet screamed and it was threatening enough of a sound to have Zuko reaching over Katara, but she stood her ground, planting her feet against his strength. Angry, he looked down at her.
"What are you doing?" he demanded. "He tried to kill you and he's been trying to destroy everything I've worked hard to build. He won't stop until I end his life."
"He's right there, Sister," Azula said. "Zuko should lop off this criminal's head with those nice little swords of his."
"This is not the way," Katara insisted.
Zuko looked away. Katara shoved at him and he stepped way from her. He looked very different from the man who'd left days before; his clothes ripped and torn, his hair was loose, in limp strands sticking to his neck and face, his face scratched and bleeding. He looked like a wild animal and she wanted to shake him, wanted to bring back the man who'd held his children and who'd held her hand.
"Get out of my way, Katara, or I'll make you," he said.
She was afraid he would cut her down, but Katara took a deep breath and put her hands over his sword grips. He started to pull back from her, but she held fast, daring him to forcibly remove her. His eyes narrowed...but he stayed.
"We'll bring him back to the palace. Put him in the dungeon and try him in front of your people," she said. "They should see the face of the man who did this to their country and see what kind of leader you are..."
"Not this time," he said and broke her hold.
He shouldered past her, swords slicing through the air, but before he could reach Jet, the other man broke free of his bonds and surprising Zuko, slashed at his body with a hook. Zuko jumped back but lost his footing and Jet took advantage. His hook caught Zuko in the shoulder and he pulled hard when the hook met flesh and bone. Zuko's scream echoed in the temple and he dropped his swords as he wrenched at the embedded hook with his free hand. Katara reached for the broken shards of ice and hurled them at Jet, one dart going clean through his hand and he let go of the hook he'd stabbed into Zuko with a bloodcurling scream.
"Fountain," Zuko gasped, gesturing with his head towards the front of the temple where on a platform, a round fountain sat.
Katara felt for the water lying underneath it and she stood in front of Zuko as she grabbed at the water, swirling it around Jet and forcing him into the defensive. She heard Zuko's grunt and the clatter of metal hitting the ground when he pulled the hook free. He was on his knees but he swayed, falling forward and catching himself with one hand. Slowly, he lowered himself to the ground, his eyes closing. Blood flowed freely from his wound, pooling on the stones beneath him.
"Azula," Katara said, realizing that the princess was merely standing to the side, enjoying the show. "I need to help him."
With an idle shrug, Azula made a line of fire in front of Jet as Katara called her water back. She knelt next to Zuko, turned him over so he was laying on his back. She put a hand over his shoulder wound, stopping the bleeding and slowly healing it. Azula moved and stood in front of them, holding Jet at bay with nothing more than a chilling smile.
"You really want to go up against me?" she asked.
"What?"
She swept her right arm to the side, separating yin from yang, and the air crackled with her power. Jet ran at her, weapons at ready, but Azula was faster than he was. She fired lightning at him, but didn't hit him, the blast landing at his feet. He reached her but his hook only hit air when she dropped down to sweep his feet out from under him, but he leapt up, avoiding her. He hissed a single word at her, but Katara heard it.
"Backstabber."
The water she was about to use on Zuko turned to ice, headed straight for Azula's neck, but the princess was too fast. She jumped out of the way, shot jets of flame at both Katara and Jet. Katara started to bend a wave, but Zuko pushed her out of the way. The flames hit him but he pushed them to the side with an almost careless hand.
"Azula," he snarled. "Traitor."
"Must be refreshing to call me that for once," she retorted.
Zuko was back on his feet. He took a deep breath, wiggled his fingers. Katara stood next to him and she raised her arms, calling the water to her. Beginning the octopus form, she waved her arms from side to side and the water followed her. Zuko picked up his swords while in the protection of the circle. Despite being covered in blood and wounds, there was a coolness to him now, a serenity that had been missing earlier. When he swung his swords, they sang through the air with confidence.
"Very dramatic, Zuzu," Azula drawled. "Well, at least now we're in for an entertaining fight. Right, Jet?"
Deciding it was safer to be on Azula's side than to have to battle three benders, Jet positioned himself next to the princess.
"I should have known," Zuko spat. "You're nothing but dirt, Azula. I should have ended you a long time ago."
She laughed without humor.
"Like you could have. You kept me around because if I'd gone up against you, you'd have lost and you know it."
"Then why did you even bother staying?" Katara threw out.
"I'm not friends with the Avatar," Azula said with a shrug. "I have to pick and choose my battles, Sister, and it's hard to find a lifestyle quite like the one I'm accustomed to while on the run. That's an experience I'm more than happy to let Zuzu have on his own."
"Stop calling him that. He's the Fire Lord. Jet, for all your hatred of the Fire Nation, look who you're fighting with."
"Didn't I just hear the Fire Lord call her a traitor? Any enemy of his is a friend of mine," Jet returned. "Besides, she saved my life, which is more than I can say for you."
"Is it that easy to grow your own stooge these days?" Zuko mocked.
"I am no one's stooge," Jet raged.
"Don't tease the rabid dog-wolf, Zuko," Katara said.
For the space of a heartbeat, the four combatants sized each other up, then...
Katara stretched her fingers and three tentacles of water whipped out towards Azula, but the princess rolled out of the way and countered the move with a crack of lightning aimed for her brother. Zuko rolled out of the way and then leapt over the safety of the circle and with a slash of his swords, pushed a wave of fire at Azula. Jet picked up the hook Zuko had dropped, its end still dripping his the Fire Lord's blood, and charged Zuko.
"Take Azula," Zuko called to Katara. "Jet's mine."
He turned to meet the attack. Their weapons met with a loud clash of steel.
"Must be nice to have your own mobile hospital," Jet goaded.
"It really is," Zuko returned and attacked.
Azula kept her distance from the snaking arms of Katara's water whips but her powerful blasts of lightning and blue fire made the space between them inconsequential. As the princess jumped and ran around her, attacking nonstop, Katara saw that being stationary was making her too easy a target. She needed to put Azula on the defensive.
Sweeping her arms to one side, she pushed the water towards Azula, the timing sudden enough to make Azula skid to a halt, the fire she was about to throw at Katara going wild. Katara trapped her in a ball of ice, sealing up the cracks the princess was making but she couldn't keep the ball together when Azula managed to melt the center enough to move her arms. Lightning zigzagged around Azula and despite Katara's efforts, the ice exploded outwards. Lightning was difficult, but not impossible, to stop with water, and an idea began to form in her mind.
Katara's healing had rejuvenated Zuko and he moved more freely, though he'd torn the wound in his shoulder open again. He ignored the pain, focused on flashing hooks that threatened to gut him. Jet moved like a man who had a complete disregard for his own life. He had fallen of the edge and despite his injuries, was moving recklessly, angrily. He ran at Zuko, ignored the cuts and slashes on his own body, ignored blood spilled on the stones. His eyes were glazed with rage and it made him fight like a madman.
Grabbing at the water around her, Katara ran towards Azula. With one hand, she froze ice darts and threw them at Azula; with the other, she formed a water whip. Bringing her hands together, the darts and whip flew from opposite directions to meet at a single point. Azula's eyes narrowed.
Mimicking Katara's move, she burned a trail of fire from her hands, melting the darts, throwing off the whip. She drew her right arm back again, lightning coming off her fingertips as she brought her hand forward. She expected Katara to form a wall of water, but she didn't expect Katara to turn that wall into a container for the lightning. With a speed that surprised them both, Katara morphed the water into a whip and swung it back around towards Azula, bringing the lightning with it.
It hit Azula dead on. Her eyes widened with shock as the lightning passed through her body but in an incredible display of control, she swung her right arm out, shot the lightning back out and hit the remains of the dome above them. As debris fell, smoke covered the air around Azula, obstructing Katara's view.
Behind them, Zuko and Jet were toe to toe, their weapons crossed. Zuko shoved at the other man but Jet didn't budge.
"Bend, you coward," Jet snarled. "Did you want to pretend to be honorable and give me a fighting chance? You know I wouldn't do that for you."
But no fire came from Zuko's hands. He kicked out a leg and Jet jumped back, swinging his hook. Zuko hurled his sword at the other man, knocking the hook from Jet's hand. Taking his remaining sword in both hands, Zuko charged him and slashed at Jet's torso, opening a long wound that was deep enough to hurt, but shallow enough to kill him. Jet started to reach for his fallen weapon, but Zuko kicked him hard in the face, knocking out teeth. Moving faster than his injuries should have allowed him, Zuko shoved a knee onto Jet's chest, forcing him down, and pressed the point of his sword on his neck.
"I wanted to have some fun," Zuko replied belatedly.
"I'll show you fun," Jet gasped and he glanced at Azula.
Unsteady on her feet, Azula dropped down to a crouch and shot a thin beam of fire at the fountain.
The floor beneath it exploded. Zuko dropped his swords and threw himself at Katara, but he fell into her when a chunk of flying rock hit the back of his head. They fell, Zuko's weight knocking the breath out of her. Then there was nothing.