(A/N: Big fight scene coming up. The fight scene between Zhao and Zuko. I was debating on how to end this chapter for a while, but I finally came to a decision. Read the Author's Note at the end to see what I mean.)

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter 14: Final Confrontation

Katara made her way through the battlefield. The Fire Nation was in full retreat, but the danger was far from over. So she was heading for the river to get some extra water. Instead she got a surprise as the massive form of an Unagi burst up from under the water.

Katara skidded to a halt, ready to defend herself, but to her astonishment, the Unagi bent down, lowering its head in what was unmistakably a show of submission, as if it wanted her to ride it. Katara couldn't believe what she was seeing. An Unagi never showed submission, and it certainly never let anyone ride it, at least not willingly.

This must be Yue's will, she realized. But if an Unagi needed the aid of a human, and was willing to submit to one, then something, somewhere, must be very wrong.

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Zhao couldn't believe his luck. Right in front of him, the snow gave way to a green oasis. And in the middle of the oasis was a sparkling pond. Swimming around each other in this pond were two glowing fish, one black, one white. He had found the sacred pond of La and Tui.

Standing over the pond, his hand shot out and snagged the white fish. Lifting it up by its tail, he held it up out of the water. The sky turned red as the fish struggled in his grip. In the pool, the black fish was swimming around in a frenzy over the loss of its partner.

Fire appeared in Zhao's hand as he prepared to fry the fish he held. "I think I'll take my fish dinner extra crispy."

Suddenly, from over the canyon wall, an Unagi rose up, just managing to get its head over. It opened its mouth and shot stream of water. Zhao dove out of the way, losing his grip on the slippery fish. It flopped to the ground and thrashed about until it managed to get back in the sacred pond.

Angry, Zhao looked up at the Unagi. He saw a lone Waterbender woman riding its head, using its antenna as reigns. The Unagi sprayed more water, and Zhao was forced to retreat. He headed for the crack in the canyon he had come through, protecting himself from the deadly water pressure of the Unagi's attack.

The crack was still flooded with water, and Zhao was washed out the other end, back onto the frozen river. Coughing and sputtering, he climbed to his feet, trying to regain his balance on the ice.

"Damn peasant." He snarled.

At that moment, the same Unagi burst up from under the ice a short distance away, the Waterbender still rode on its head, controlling the beast.

Katara directed the Unagi to attack again. It opened its mouth and shot out another stream of water. Zhao used his Firebending to slide himself across the ice, out of the path of the stream of water that tore straight through the ice with its great force.

Zhao knew that even if he were able to get close enough to the Unagi to use his Firebending, his attacks wouldn't do much damage. That left him with only one option.

Taking a deep breath and gathering energy, he shot a bolt of lightning at the Unagi. It roared loudly as electricity flowed through it. Katara cried out as well as the electricity flowed through the Unagi and into her.

Seizing the opportunity, Zhao Firebended out of his feet, launching himself in the air like a rocket at the Unagi. When he was near its head, hd created a fire dagger and stabbed into the beast's throat.

Gravity did the rest, pulling him back to the ground. His fire dagger sliced the Unagi open the whole way down. The Unagi roared one last time before collapsing. Fortunately for Katara, she was not smashed between the ground and the Unagi, but after collapsing, the Unagi rolled over slightly and Katara was pinned beneath its head.

The Unagi was dead, and Katara's arms and legs were pinned under its massive weight. She struggled, unable to get free, and unable to us her hands to Waterbend. She could only watch helplessly as Zhao approached her with his fire dagger and a grin on his face.

"I'm going to enjoy this." he told her, raising his fire dagger.

"Give it up, Zhao!" Zuko's voice rang out from behind him. "It's all over!"

The admiral turned to the Fire Prince, hatred burning in his eyes. "Nothing's over as long as I'm breathing."

Despite the situation, a smirk crept up Zuko's face as he pulled off his mask of the Blue Spirit. "I kind of hoped you'd say that."

He charged at Zhao, throwing and kicking fireballs at him. Zhao swatted them away and swung his fire dagger at Zuko. The flaming blade met one that Zuko suddenly created, and the two blades combusted.

Zhao threw a punch, not meaning to hit Zuko, but to shoot a stream of fire at him. Zuko flipped backwards while kicking upward, leaving a trail of fire behind that singed Zhao's beard.

Jumping back, Zhao unleashed a continuous stream of fire at the prince. Zuko jumped straight up over it and created a fire whip that he swung at the admiral. Zhao stopped shooting so he could swat the fire whip away, only to have a second one come at him.

Zuko repeatedly lashed out with his whips while Zhao batted them away, being forced to back away until he came up to a large crack in the ice. Once at the edge, Zhao spun around, shooting fire in all directions, creating a flaming tornado. Zuko was forced to back away, lest he get burned.

Using his Firebending, Zhao launched himself like a rocket at Zuko, gathering a handful of fire in the process, that he aimed at Zuko's face, ready to scar his other side. But Zuko quickly grabbed the admiral's wrist, stopping his attack. Opening his mouth, he breathed fire at the admiral, much to Zhao's surprise, forcing him to retreat.

"Uncle thought he that." Zuko told him, then launched another fireball.

Zhao managed to catch the fireball, but his palms got singed as he tossed it away. It was then that Zuko noticed how Zhao was panting.

"Is the cold getting to you?" Zuko asked. "It kind of makes it hard to catch your breath, doesn't it. I had a hard time dealing with the cold at first too. But while you've been staying in your nice warm base this whole time, I've been training these past months to adapt to the cold, to learn how to breathe properly, and use my Firebending to keep my body temperature up. I do it without even realizing it now." He smirked. "But you can't do that, can you, admiral? You have to make a conscious effort."

Zhao snarled. "I can do things that you can't too."

He began gathering energy. Zuko recognized the movements and prepared himself. As Zhao shot the lightning, Zuko absorbed it into his body through his middle and index fingers. Just as Iroh had taught him, he was careful not to let the lightning pass through his heart.

Zhao's eyes were wide in surprise as he watched the prince take the lightning into his own body and then fire it right back at him. He only managed to avoid being struck by shooting fire downward to launch himself up in the air.

He landed a short distance away and shot more fire at Zuko. The Fire Prince mimicked him, the two flames colliding with each other in a stalemate. The two began moving closer to each other, unleashing more fire all the while.

Zuko could feel the heat burning his skin as he and Zhao got closer, the collision point of the two streams of fire building up. They were mere feet apart when the collision point exploded, throwing both of them back.

They both jumped to their feet at the same time, glaring at each other. During this standoff, Zhao couldn't help but to taunt his opponent. "Hey, prince, how's it feel to betray your own people?" He received no answer, but Zuko's glare intensified. "Do you think you're one of them? Time to wake up."

He began the movements to create more lightning. Zuko braced himself, ready to redirect it again. But the wicked smirk on Zhao's face had him on edge.

Suddenly, Zhao turned towards Katara, who was still pinned beneath the Unagi, trying desperately to get free. Zuko realized what Zhao was about to do and used his Firebending to launch himself in front of her, just as Zhao unleashed his lightning. He didn't have time to redirect it, and instead was struck in the center of his chest.

Zuko cried out and went down. Katara's own cry joined his as she watched him fall. Zhao's smile widened as he walked calmly over to the fallen prince. Reaching down, he grabbed Zuko's hair and lifted him up. Zuko cried out, but his fried body wasn't responding to his attempts to fight back.

"Idiot boy." He told him, then threw Zuko towards a hole in the ice.

"No!" Katara cried, struggling as much as she could.

Zhao smirked at her. "Be with you in a minute, my dear."

As if he were taking a pleasant stroll, he walked over to the half conscious Zuko, who hadn't moved from his spot. Grabbing the back of the Fire Prince's shirt, he dragged him towards the opening in the ice. "You betrayed us for these water peasants. If you love the water so much, then you can drown in it."

He forced Zuko's head underwater and held him there. Zuko struggled, but his movements were weak. Zhao kept him pinned down, drowning the Fire Prince in the freezing water. Unable to breath, Zuko couldn't gather the energy to Firebend; he couldn't even heat his body enough to simply burn Zhao's hands. Slowly his struggles lessened until he went completely still.

"It's almost over." Zhao said as if he were talking to a child.

Behind him, Katara managed to free one of her hands. Using her Waterbending, she forced the dead Unagi off her, and immediately created a water whip. She struck Zhao into the back of the head as hard as she could.

Grunting, Zhao released Zuko and turned around, only to have an enormous icicle strike him in the chest, coming out his back.

With shock and disbelief written all over his face, Zhao looked down at the giant icicle sticking out of his chest, then back up at Katara. She didn't give him a chance to react. She Waterbended the water from the crack in the ice up and around Zhao. Letting out a puff of breath, she froze the water, entirely encasing Zhao in a prison of ice.

Under the weight of both Zhao and the block of ice he was trapped in, the ice beneath his feet broke, and Zhao sank down into the cold dark depths of the abyss in a hibernative state. Even if by some miracle he did managed to get out, he would die from the large hole in his chest within minutes.

But all thoughts of Zhao had already left Katara's mind as she hurried to Zuko's side. Grabbing his shirt, she pulled his head up from underwater. He was blue in the face, and she saw right away that he wasn't breathing. Quickly she used her Waterbending to extract the water from his lungs.

Zuko coughed and sputtered a few times, but was still seemingly unconscious. Looking at his chest, she saw the real threat to his life was from where he had been struck by the lightning. Gathering water in her hands, she quickly scanned his body for damage, and was horrified to feel his heart slowing down.

"Zuko!" she cried desperately. "Zuko!"

She received no response. She had to act fast; there was precious little time. Reaching around her neck, she pulled out from the inside of her coat a small vile hanging from a thread. Uncorking it, she bended the water out. The small amount of water glowed with a holy light. It was water from the spirit oasis.

Calling upon her healing powers, she covered the spot where Zuko had been struck by lightning with the holy water. As the water sank into his skin, the wound instantly healed, but left behind a starburst shaped scar in the center of his chest.

Zuko sucked in a gulp of fresh air and began coughing. He panted rapidly, trying to replenish his supply of oxygen he had been denied. But slowly his breathing returned to normal and his eyes cracked open to see Katara's tearstained face hovering over him.

Reaching up, he caressed her cheek, and she covered his hand with her own, staring at him lovingly.

"Thank you, Katara." He whispered.

She smiled down at him. "I think I'm the one who should be thanking you."

(A/N: I decided to stray a little bit from the real Avatar plot. I know Quaritch was killed by Neytiri in the movie, by I like the idea of Zhao being imprisoned with death waiting for him should he ever escape, so I changed it up rather than simply having him die from the icicle I substituted for the arrow. And, of course, I took some parts from Zuko's battle with Azula, but it fit the role perfectly. Final chapter coming up, so keep a look out for it.)