Chapter 39: The Comet: Part 3
Heed The Call
Towering over Ba Sing Se was a being unlike any seen on Earth, born from the spirit of the world and the spirit of human civilization. It resembled a human being, but with bones of earth, muscles of fire, skin of air, and veins of water. Buildings from a portion of the city composed its armor like links in chainmail, covering most of its torso and limbs. At over half a mile tall and half as wide, it blotted out the view of Sozin's Comet to everyone within its enormous shadow. Eyes of glowing blue crystals looked down on the lower ring, focused on the greatest threat to the city's survival.
Fire Lord Zuko didn't stare back, but was instead trying to put as much distance between him and the elemental giant as possible. Riding on plumes of fire from his feet Zuko rocketed through the streets that remained intact, heading southwest as fast as he could manage. At the same time Zuko swung his burning swords wildly to throw arcs of fire at the giant, not even bothering to aim when the target was so massive. The attacks struck the giant and burned the surface, but there was so much mass that any damage was only skin deep.
A massive foot lifted off the ground and took a colossal step, its sheer size making it appear to move in slow motion. It passed over several streets and came down on top of an entire city block, flattening everything underneath with enough force to create an earthquake felt for miles around. Then the other foot made another colossal step, crossing several more streets and creating a giant footprint in addition to another earthquake.
The giant's large strides easily kept pace with Zuko's flight, shaking the land with every step. Zuko looked up in time to see a colossal left fist swing down from the sky, heading straight for him. He kicked out a blast of stronger flames downward to turn upward, rising into the air fast enough to make the fist miss. It passed just a few feet under Zuko before hitting the ground, pushing through the flames Zuko was using to fly and disrupting his flight.
Zuko landed on a ledge fused into the giant's wrist, getting just enough footing to jump off it. He used a burst of flames to augment his jump to get more altitude, enough to reach a slab of rock on the lower forearm. Zuko jumped again and again to make his way up the arm, getting just above the elbow when he saw the giant's right fist coming at him. At the last second Zuko jumped off the left arm and flew above the right fist, landing on the wrist that was now horizontal.
From there Zuko started running up the right arm, which for the moment was held at a shallow angle. As he ran Zuko dragged the tips of his burning swords against the 'ground' he was on, leaving twin scorch lines along his path. Zuko looked back for a second and saw the left hand coming back at him again, currently higher up than where he was now. So he used another firebending assisted jump to soar upward and through a gap in between massive fingers, reaching the other side and landing on the back of the hand.
Now at the same altitude as the giant's chest, Zuko used sustained firebending to soar even higher. He noticed that the giant's hands were rising upward and trying to grab him, and Zuko knew they would succeed if he didn't act fast. When he reached the height of the giant's head Zuko thrust both swords at it, shooting a massive plume of fire from the swords at the giant's face. His attack struck the giant's left eye and fire spread from there to the side of the head, burning a portion of the face.
When the flames dispersed there was a large scorch mark covering the upper left side of the giant's face, resembling a bad scar on a normal person. It even seemed to slow down the giant's movements, as if pain was interfering. But then scorched stone came loose and broke free, ridding the giant of the scar and making room for more material from inside the head to take its place. In mere moments there was no sign of any damage, like if Zuko hadn't even attacked in the first place.
"Knew it couldn't be that easy," Zuko muttered. He looked around and saw the sky bison fleet to the north, steadily flying towards his position. "Well, at least help is on the way."
Meanwhile a feat of unconventional earthbending was still being employed against the Fire Nation, specifically Toph's stone golem flying on metal wings and propelled by jets of fire from Jeong Jeong, while Sokka's body movements told Toph which way to make the golem move. Sokka had thought he was being clever with that idea, but seeing part of a city turn into an elemental giant told him that he'd been clearly beaten. His surprise was noticed by Toph inside the chest, and while Jeong Jeong couldn't see anything from his position in the back he still noticed that something was off.
"What's going on out there?" Jeong Jeong asked.
Toph relayed the question to Sokka, while also adding one of her own. "Did something big happen?"
"I'll tell you when it's over," Sokka promised. He took a look around and saw the sky bison fleet flying towards Ba Sing Se, the obvious reason being to assist the Fire Lord. He also saw Appa and Anya flying beside the golem in a triangle formation, where Katara and Azula were ready to fight. "Right now, our job is to thin the herd."
Together the three fliers intercepted the nearest enemy sky bison and attacked, starting with the flying golem ramming into the bison's underbelly with both fists forward. The strike made the bison roll in midair long enough for Anya to close in, allowing Azula to shoot a plume of fire that struck down two of the bison's firebenders. Appa was close behind and Katara attached from the saddle, using thrown ice daggers to sever a firebender's safety harness and then yank him off with a waterwhip. Only one firebender and the pilot remained on the sky bison, and both saw their assailants move on to the next target.
A group of four sky bison were closest, still flying towards the city while noticing the pursuit. Firebenders attacked with a barrage of plumes of flame, which crisscrossed through the air as the sources and targets kept moving around. Anya kept flying straight ahead while Azula used her own fire to block the attacks, Appa weaved and spun to maneuver around the attacks, and the golem went up and over the bison.
One of the sky bison broke formation and flew after the golem, getting behind and underneath it while firebenders attacked. Sokka noticed the pursuit and had the golem try to shake it off, having Jeong Jeong use his hands to blast fire for sideways thrust, going back and forth from side to side trying to lose the enemy. Still the sky bison kept up the pursuit, staying close enough for the firebenders to keep attacking.
Then Sokka noticed that another sky bison was just behind Appa, where Katara was under just as much enemy fire as she was. Somehow they'd gotten turned around and were now flying in the opposite direction as the golem, with only a slight course correction needed to have them fly into a head-on collision. Sokka made that correction and flew straight at Appa until the last second, both turning away at the same time and leaving their pursuers to fly straight at each other.
Instead of crashing into each other the pursuing bison followed their respective targets' turns, something that Sokka was not expecting. "Damn, was hoping that would work."
Suddenly fire rained down on the pursuing sky bison, courtesy of Anya diving down with Azula firebending at the other bison. Azula struck down on of the firebenders and burned the bison's side, prompting the pilot to change course to escape further harm. Anya was guided by Ty Lee to fly in front of the golem, leading the charge towards more enemy sky bison.
Azula opened fire on a pair of sky bison up ahead, filling the sky ahead with fire that blinded the enemy to the golem's approach. One of those sky bison had already lost a firebender earlier, and lost another one to Azula's firebending. At the right moment Anya swerved to one side to get out of Sokka's way, letting the golem intercept the sky bison and grab hold of its saddle. The golem planted both feet on the bison's tail and pushed, using enough force to rip the saddle off the bison's back before throwing it away.
The golem resumed its flight and left the sky bison alone, which flew away now that there was no one on it. A pair of firebenders on the other sky bison nearby tried to retaliate, but their fires were blocked by Azula shooting her own flames into it. During the firefight Appa arrived with his pursuer still chasing him, heading straight for the bison opposing Azula. At the same time the golem flew up and over the crossing flames and came back down in Appa's path, diving into airspace just after Appa flew through it.
At the same time the golem intercepted the bison chasing Appa and Katara attacked the bison opposing Azula. The golem rammed into the enemy bison's head and made it spin out of control, also grabbing the bison's pilot and throwing him off. Katara sliced through a firebender's safety harness and then yanked him off the bison, letting him plummet down to join the other bison's pilot. One sky bison flew off wildly without its pilot to guide it, while the other backed off to get outside Katara's reach.
"Well… we're making progress," Sokka muttered, seeing the damage they'd done to the sky bison fleet. But there was still more work to be done, as some of the fleet was still on course for Ba Sing Se.
Elsewhere the Fire Nation discovered one large flaw in its improvised strategy to trap the earthbenders retreating from the colonial village. While blowing up the dam and unleashing the river had forced the earthbenders to create a large wall to block the torrent, it also gave them all the water they could want to counter firebending. Whenever someone caught on fire an earthbender would open a small hole in the appropriate spot on the wall, letting some water through to put out the fire and then shutting the hole.
The water wasn't the only problem. Haru in his stone titan was fending off the bulk of the firebenders, charging through large flames to strike them down before they could cook him inside. Quick punches and kicks tossed the firebenders to the left and right, which ever was closer to the raging water that flowed past the sides of the wall. Each time the titan started getting hot Haru signaled to the earthbenders behind them, ordering them to open some narrow holes in the wall to spray enough water at him to cool down his titan.
Then some Fire Nation tanks arrived, having pushed through the defenses of the firebender deserters on the nearby hill. Five tanks lined up side by side and a plume of fire shot out of them, converging on Haru's position. Fire coated nearly the entire titan from the shoulders down, and the heat was so intense that Haru had to earthbend shut the hole in the face he needed to breathe through. While he still could Haru made the titan walk backward to get closer to the wall, where several earthbenders lowered a portion the wall enough to let water spill over the top and drench the titan completely.
When he couldn't hold his breath any longer Haru reopened the titan's face hole, gasping for air while in the manmade waterfall. The waterfall ceased to be when the height of the river dropped below the height of the wall, leaving Haru's titan soaked but otherwise intact. "Okay, that could have gone better."
Amongst the earthbenders the Kyoshi Warriors were fending off soldiers that got past the titan, using their war fans to strike down the soldiers so that the earthbenders could focus on managing the wall. Suki saw the trouble Haru was having against the firebenders, in particular how it appeared that he couldn't do any other earthbending while using his titan. A glance down at her war fans gave Suki an idea, something to help Haru.
"Weapons," Suki muttered. She turned towards the earthbenders and raised her voice. "Haru needs weapons!"
With a little coordination Suki got a team of five earthbenders to start making something for Haru to use. The earthbender team ran up to just behind the titan, and then started earthbending stone out of the ground ahead of it. Their combined effort created a stone shield that was fifteen feet tall, ten feet wide at the top, five feet wide at the bottom, three feet thick, and shaped like a triangle with rounded corners.
"Huh?" Haru muttered, seeing the stone shield come out of the ground to his left. He spotted a handle on the back that was to scale with his titan's hand, so he quickly made his titan grab it. The team behind Haru used earthbending to apply upward force on the shield, making it light enough for the titan to lift it off the ground with just its left arm.
Haru put the stone shield to good use right away, positioning it in between the titan and the tanks when they resumed shooting fire at him. The shield blocked the flames and absorbed the heat, keeping it well away from Haru. Then the titan started walking towards the tanks, pushing back the flames with the shield. And when it was close enough the titan started kicking over the tanks, interrupting the fire coming out of them.
Another team of five earthbenders joined the first, which had followed the titan to maintain their earthbending support. The second team earthbended stone out of the ground and shaped it into a giant stone war hammer, its ten foot long handle pointed straight up and its five foot cubed hammer head on the ground. Like the first team before them the second team used earthbending to lighten the war hammer, allowing the titan to take hold of it in its right hand and lift it off the ground.
"Now why didn't we think of this sooner?" Haru wondered aloud, wielding the war hammer and shield in the titan's hands. With long swings of the war hammer Haru slammed it into the sides of tanks within the weapon's reach, creating large dents in them before tossing the tanks away. And with the shield blocking firebending Haru could approach the tanks attempting to firebend from a distance, which he then disposed of with more swings of the war hammer.
Before long the tank drivers shifted the vehicles into full reverse, driving backwards while firebenders inside continued to blast more fire at the titan. Soldiers and firebenders outside the tanks were out of luck, and most were tossed across the battlefield by the giant stone war hammer. Those that escaped the titan's wrath found themselves under attack from the Kyoshi Warriors, who struck down the soldiers and firebenders to protect the earthbenders supporting Haru's weapons.
The sudden turn in the battle pushed Fire Nation lines back towards the village, far enough for the firebender deserters back at the hill to find a route back to their allies. Three of them continued to throw fire at the retreating tanks, while one made a quick run to reach Suki. "And here I thought we were supposed to lose this fight."
"It's not over yet," Suki said. She pointed at the tanks driving backwards faster than Haru's titan could walk, keeping outside the reach of the giant war hammer and blasting fire into the stone shield. "They're going to wear him down eventually."
Seeing the same possibilities, the deserter nodded. He also saw more possibilities with the weapons created and maintained by earthbending, which could use a little Fire Nation touch. "Then if you don't mind, I'd like to have a word with some of your earthbenders."
In Ba Sing Se the elemental giant left a long trail of large footprints as it followed Zuko's flight, each one holding the possibility of becoming a small lake one day. The trail zigzagged into the northwestern Agrarian Zone, passing through a portion of the inner wall that the giant had kicked down. Untold amounts of property damage were left in the giant's path, indiscriminate destruction of buildings and crops crushed underfoot.
Zuko was trying to lure the giant north towards the sky bison fleet, but the giant wasn't making that easy. A colossal arm kept swinging into the path of Zuko's flight, forcing him to change course to dodge. While flying through the air Zuko kept swinging more and more fire at the giant, making dozens of scorch marks all over its body. Though his efforts made little damage Zuko kept attacking anyway, just in case luck was on his side.
While flying west Zuko dived towards the ground, using gravity to accelerate beyond the speeds his firebending could achieve. When he was a few dozen feet from the ground Zuko pulled up, using his acquired speed to soar back up and fly further away from the giant. Zuko rose back up to the height of the giant's torso while seeing the ground whirl by, and just up ahead Zuko spotted the outer wall fast approaching.
Suddenly the giant made a few slightly faster steps that shook the earth harder, and it pulled back a fist past its shoulder. It threw the fist in a far reaching punch that seemed to push the air in front of it, creating small cyclones all around it as the fist hurtled towards Zuko. The fist quickly caught up with Zuko and struck him from behind, knocking him out of the sky and plummeting towards the ground.
Just above the ground Zuko recovered and reoriented himself in time to blast fire down, slowing his descent but not completely stopping himself in time. Zuko hit the ground and tumbled across it for a few dozen yards, coming to a stop just short of the outer wall. "I'm going to feel that tomorrow," Zuko complained as he got back up. He looked up and saw the giant's foot coming down on him. "That is, if I can make it to tomorrow."
Having not enough time to get out of the way, Zuko pointed his swords at the giant's foot and blasted fire into it. Zuko focused his fire as narrow as possible, turning up the heat as much as he could for a small amount of space. Concentrated fire burned into the sole of the giant's foot, hollowing out a portion that was coming down on Zuko. The giant stomped on the ground that Zuko stood on, shaking the very foundations of the outer wall.
When the giant's foot was lifted back up there was a high spot in the footprint, where Zuko still stood after taking shelter within the space he'd hollowed out with fire. Zuko took flight again while the foot was still rising, getting out of the way when the foot stomped the ground again. From there Zuko flew up the side of the outer wall, and when he reached the top Zuko landed on it. Even there the giant still towered over Zuko, a far more imposing obstacle than the outer wall had ever been.
Then without warning a plume of flame struck the giant's head, coming from the northern side. Zuko looked up and saw the flames originating from a firebender on a sky bison, the first of the fleet to arrive and assist him. The giant looked at the firebender before swinging its right arm, swatting the sky bison away with the back of its hand. Another pair of sky bison arrived to replace the first and their firebenders attacked, giving the first sky bison time to recover from the hit.
Another sky bison flew straight towards Zuko, getting his attention with a loud roar. Zuko jumped into the air just as the sky bison reached him, landing in the saddle and finding the company of Mai. "What's keeping the rest of the fleet?" Zuko asked.
"Them," Mai answered, pointing at two sky bison in the distance escorting the flying golem.
"I see," Zuko said. He watched three more sky bison arrive, noticing that some of their firebenders had been lost along the way. The firebenders that remained attacked the giant with all the fire they could muster, drawing its attention away from Zuko and buying him time to deal with it. "Get us above that thing, I have an idea."
"Sokka, we have a problem!"
Toph's words were almost unheard amidst the chaos in the sky, where everything that flew happened to be circling around the elemental giant like a swarm of insects. Plumes of fire were everywhere around the giant, scorching several spots at once while the colossal arms swung at the firebenders on sky bison. At the moment the flying golem was soaring straight up to chase one of the enemy bison, passing by Anya so close that the heat of Jeong Jeong's fire was felt by Ty Lee and Azula.
Several hundred feet higher the flying golem caught up with a sky bison and grabbed a furry leg with the right arm, and then used the grip to pull itself up just a bit higher. With the other arm the golem punched one of the two firebenders still on it, hitting hard enough to snap the safety harness and toss the firebender away. The other firebender retaliated with flames that struck the golem's free arm, which shielded Sokka's face from the attack.
Suddenly the fire keeping the golem flying weakened to half of its intensity, and then began to fluctuate between stronger and weaker burns. "Toph, what's going on!?" Sokka demanded.
"We're losing Jeong Jeong!" Toph reported. She could feel him breathing heavily and sweating like a pig-boar, about to pass out from exhaustion after so much firebending without rest. "I tried to warn you!"
In just a few seconds all of Jeong Jeong's fire went out, and all the upward lift went out with it. All of the golem's weight came back with a vengeance, pulling down on the golem and the bison it still held onto. It was too much for the bison to support and it fell out of the sky, spinning round and round while the bison tried to escape the golem's grip. Under the strain the golem's right shoulder shattered into hundreds of tiny pieces, detaching the arm and leaving the golem to plummet straight towards the ground.
"Oh we are so dead!" Sokka screamed.
Meanwhile Azula was firebending at another sky bison, but was interrupted when the golem fell through the air no more than three feet in front of Anya. "Whoa!" Azula screamed, surprised by the very near miss. She looked over the side of Anya's head and saw the golem plummeting face down, and that she had to act now.
Azula used some fire to sever the ropes keeping her on Anya, and then she jumped off the bison's head and dived after the golem. She firebended from her feet to dive faster than the golem fell, enjoying the adrenaline rush while catching up with the golem. Azula landed on the golem's back and pounded her fist against the stone, getting the attention Toph inside.
"If you want to live, open up!" Azula ordered.
Immediately Toph complied by splitting open the back with earthbending, revealing an unconscious Jeong Jeong inside. Azula grabbed the back of his shirt and threw Jeong Jeong out of the golem, letting him tumble in the air until Anya dived far enough to catch him in her saddle. Then Azula climbed into the empty space where Jeong Jeong had been, all the while trying to ignore the stink of sweat that seemed to permeate the rock.
"Do your thing!" Azula ordered.
Toph closed the back of the golem around Azula and then tightened the space inside, compensating for Azula's smaller size relative to Jeong Jeong. Then Azula used her feet to bend fire through the narrow shafts in the rock, reigniting the fire that provided thrust for the golem's flight. With that thrust the golem moved horizontal and got the wind underneath its wings again, achieving true flight once more a few dozen feet off the ground.
"Man that was close," Sokka said.
"You're welcome," Azula said.
"We're still missing an arm," Toph said.
"Oh yeah," Sokka muttered, looking at the shattered shoulder. But then he saw Appa dive past, getting even closer to the ground below. "What's Katara doing?"
Just above the ground Appa flew towards a nearby river, where he then started flying just above the surface of the water. From there Katara started bending all the water she could muster, coating Appa's back and belly in ice several feet thick. Once she had enough ice Katara guided Appa back towards the flying golem, where they then flew side by side for the moment.
"Need a hand?" Katara asked.
Sokka smiled. "Sure."
Katara bended some of her collected ice into a tiny stream that carried her across the gap between bison and golem, landing on the base of the right wing and making some ice to secure her legs to it. Then she bended the rest of the ice into water and made it flow off Appa, placing some of it on the remains of the golem's shoulder. Katara bended the water into shape and froze it into an arm of ice, which was twice the size of the old arm with sharp shards of ice for clawed hands.
"Sweet," Sokka complimented, liking the look of the ice arm.
With its new appendage the golem flew up towards the nearest enemy sky bison, which was currently attacking the giant's knee. When it was close enough the ice arm slashed at the bison's side, cutting through the saddle and some of the fur underneath. Before either of its two firebenders remaining could retaliate the golem grabbed the severed side of the saddle with its stone arm and pulled it off the bison's back, revealing the bottom of the saddle before slashing at the other side with the ice arm.
The saddle came off the bison's back and fell away with the firebenders, leaving behind the pilot who was holding onto the reins for dear life. Another slash of the ice arm severed the reins and freed the bison, and a swing of the stone arm tossed the pilot away. Without any guidance the sky bison immediately fled from the flying golem, perceiving it as a threat that it had to escape. Sokka let it go and turned his attention to the next target, having the golem fly ever higher to reach it.
"I'm not quite following this idea."
Suki wasn't the only one confused by the firebender deserter's suggestion. The handful of earthbenders available were scratching their heads as well, questioning how the idea would work in practice. Sure they could do as the firebender asked, as the specified earthbending wasn't a problem for a group. It was just difficult for them to see how it would be helpful.
"It would be best to see it in action," the firebender said.
"If you say so," Suki said. She looked at the fight between Haru's titan and the retreating tanks, which were stubbornly staying out of the stone war hammer's reach and burning through the stone shield. "Then you guys had better get started."
Everyone took a few steps away from the firebender, making plenty of room for stone to be earthbended all around him. First a sideways stone cylinder was earthbended into shape with the firebender inside, ten feet in diameter and six feet long with sides two feet thick. Then a hollow stone tube was created and added to one end, which was five feet in diameter with one foot thick sides. On one edge of the opposite end a stone handle was added, scaled to fit the hand of Haru's titan.
Suki knocked on the side of the new weapon. "Are you okay in there?"
"As ready as I'll ever be," the firebender said, though his voice seemed to echo inside and warped as it came out the narrow end.
"Okay then," Suki said. She turned towards the battle and gave the command. "Haru, Catch!"
While blocking fire with the stone shield Haru looked towards Suki, seeing the new weapon next to her. The group of earthbenders combined their efforts to launch the weapon at Haru, using constant earthbending to keep it intact. Haru dropped the stone war hammer and grabbed the weapon in the hand of his titan, holding it by the handle while the earthbenders supported the weight with bending.
"Umm…" Haru muttered. "What am I supposed to do with this?"
"Just aim it," the firebender instructed. "Pick a target and I'll do the rest."
"I hope you know what you're doing in there," Haru said, wondering why someone was inside the weapon.
The titan swung the weapon around and pointed it at the closest tank, providing the firebender inside a clear line of sight through the open end. He punched to firebend into the hollow tube, using the confined space to compress and accelerate the fire he made. A narrow but powerful shot of fire came out the other end and hit the tank, striking with so much force that it exploded into a ball of flame that scattered tank parts all over the battlefield.
"Holy mother of…" Haru cursed, surprised by the new weapon's destructive power. He aimed it at another tank and another shot of fire struck the target, destroying it as well. "This thing is way too dangerous to exist!"
"It won't when the comet leaves," the firebender said.
"Oh yeah," Haru said, figuring that normal firebending wasn't strong enough to make this weapon work. "Then we'd better make the most of it."
After dropping the stone shield the titan gripped the weapon in both hands, one hand on the handle and the other underneath the firebender's feet. Haru aimed it at the tanks one at a time and shot after shot of fire struck with deadly accuracy, destroying one tank after another. Panic set in among the tank drivers and they slammed their feet on the pedals, fleeing backwards as fast as the tanks could drive. It wasn't enough to escape the deadly shots of fire from the weapon, especially once the titan started advancing while shooting.
Behind the titan the earthbenders and Kyoshi Warriors advanced as well, providing support for Haru as well as striking down Fire Nation stragglers. Total chaos broke out among the Fire Nation troops and they scattered in every direction, clearing the way back to the colonial village. Individual soldiers that remained found themselves spared from the titan's weapon, only to be hit by a Kyoshi Warrior's fan or sword.
In seemingly no time at all the battle reached the village, surprising locals who believed the Fire Nation had repelled the earthbenders. The titan walked into the village's streets and opened fire on tanks that remained, destroying the last defense the Fire Nation had there. Soldiers that remained fled from the village in droves, leaving behind the residents that cautiously walked into the streets.
In the center of the village Haru stood in his titan, amazed at the turn of events. "Well what do you know? We won."
Nearby Suki looked around the village, seeing the earthbenders and her fellow warriors begin rebuilding streets damaged in the conflict. "We've won this battle, but we don't know about the war."
In response to that Haru broke apart his titan from the inside, letting the pieces of it fall amidst the street. He walked over to Suki and then earthbended the ground underneath them, raising a mound of earth that was ready to be moved across the continent. "Then let's go find out how the others are doing."
Even though he was no longer flying under his own power, Zuko still didn't have the opportunity to rest in the saddle of a sky bison. Mai was guiding it straight up into the sky as fast as it was able, getting as much altitude as quickly as possible. The air was getting thinner and thinner as they passed the mile high mark, making it harder to breathe and difficult for the bison to ascend. A few hundred feet higher and the bison could no longer fly higher, as there wasn't enough air to bend for upward flight.
In between deep breaths in the thin air Mai fought to stay conscious. "Are you sure about this?"
"As much as anything," Zuko said, breathing just as heavily as Mai. "It's the only thing I haven't tried yet."
"And for good reason," Mai argued. She had to pause to get in a few deep breaths. "Lightning is dangerous by itself, but this is just insane."
"It's been an insane day," Zuko reasoned. With his swords in his hands Zuko jumped off the bison.
As he fell through the air Zuko focused and started making the arm motions for creating lightning, or at least the closest he could get to it while in free fall. The first two fingers of each hand were pointed parallel with the sword edges, as well as crackling with electricity as the lightning began to form. The electricity was drawn into the metal of the swords and stored there, building up greater and greater power as Zuko repeated the arm motions over and over.
Soon the swords began to overflow with electricity, spawning arcs of lightning that followed the blades as Zuko swung them around. There was nowhere for the lightning to go while Zuko fell out of the sky, so it kept building up more electricity and the arcs grew larger and longer. Lightning coiled around Zuko in spiraling arcs that seemed to dance around each other, appearing to cross each other from outside but never actually touching each other. The very air seemed to charge in the presence of so much electricity, to the point where Zuko's skin started to tingle enough for him to fear a static discharge causing problems.
Then Zuko thrust both swords towards the giant below while keeping the blades parallel, using intense focus to bend all that lightning back into the weapons. All that electricity confined in metal made the swords shine brighter than the Sun and Sozin's Comet combined, as if a new star had ignited in the sky. Electricity came back out of the swords and combined in the space between them, coalescing into a single massively supercharged bolt of lightning.
And then Zuko fired the lighting.
In a blinding flash the supercharged bolt of lightning seared through the air, followed by all the booming thunder of a natural storm all at once. In seconds the lightning struck its target with deadly precision, the center of the elemental giant's chest where a person would have a heart. Searing heat from the lightning burned into the chest deeper and deeper, all while electricity spread throughout the giant and boiled its watery veins. And then the lightning punctured the giant's entire torso, coming out the backside and striking the ground behind it.
Immediately the giant came to a sudden stop. Its eyes looked down at the gaping hole in its chest, and their glow began to flicker. The veins of water rapidly vanished in rising clouds of electrified mist, and the muscles of fire began to dwindle and burn out. One leg took a step back before falling onto its knee, making the other leg bend the other way and bring down the giant partway. Pieces of buildings broke off around the wound and fell back to earth, crushing anything and everything that lay underneath. The arms went limp and hung at the giant's sides, while the rest of it went very still.
Still falling through the air Zuko's arms were shaking and his hands were completely numb, yet still intact after taking that deadly gamble with lightning. For a second Zuko almost forgot that he was in free fall, too absorbed in the sight of his greatest foe brought down to its knees. A very powerful reminder was the ground fast approaching, prompting Zuko to firebend with his feet to fly again. His arms were in no condition to steer his flight so Zuko only went for a controlled landing, letting the breeze drift him to the top of the outer wall and land there.
Once his feet were on solid ground Zuko let his arms drop, hearing the tips of his swords clang against the rock. He took a few minutes to do nothing but breathe, being very exhausted at the moment. And then Zuko started laughing, and could not stop himself. In that moment Zuko felt like he could do anything, and that he had truly earned his title of Fire Lord.
When Zuko finally got himself to stop laughing he took in a few deep breaths, and then looked around for a specific sky bison. "What's keeping Mai?"
Several minutes earlier…
Without Azula to attack the sky bison fleet, Ty Lee focused her efforts on keeping Anya out of enemy fire. She took a moment to finish securing Jeong Jeong to the saddle, just in case Anya flipped over while he was still unconscious. But while she lacked the means to deal with the firebenders that remained, Ty Lee noticed that there was one bison that had no firebenders at all. And that bison was ascending high above the fleet, and Ty Lee had Anya follow it higher into the sky.
When the air started to get thin Ty Lee saw a body fall by, and it was gone by the time she recognized it as Zuko. "Did he just jump?" Ty Lee wondered aloud. She turned her head around in time to see Mai's bison dive after Zuko, following him towards the ground but keeping some distance behind him.
When the two bison were at the same altitude Mai spotted Ty Lee, and both of them made eye contact. And in that moment Ty Lee saw something for the first time, Mai's normally expressionless face turning to anger. Until now Mai had wished that Ty Lee hadn't been with the rogue sky bison, but seeing her up close forced Mai to face the truth.
"Traitor!" Mai yelled.
Hearing that word from a friend froze Ty Lee, driving home just how much she had to lose if Zuko won the battle. It was one thing to run away from home and join the circus, there was always the option of returning home to her family. But now there would be no going back for Ty Lee, not unless she was truly on the winning team.
An incoming knife pulled Ty Lee back into reality and she pulled her head back, watching the knife fly by above her eyes. More knives and some small daggers followed in a barrage of blades, which Ty Lee avoided by twisting her body back and forth. Ty Lee yanked on Anya's reins to make her turn sharply to the right, widening the distance between bison and making it harder for Mai to aim at a moving target. Some of Mai's knives struck Anya's side and head, but merely bounced off her thick fur or failed to hit vulnerable eyes.
Mai stopped her attack to take her bison's reins and guide it towards Anya, flying fast enough to catch up and intercept the target. The bison flipped upside down and flew above Anya, where Mai held on with both legs and then threw more knives straight down at Ty Lee. When Mai stopped throwing to grab more knives Ty Lee pulled back on the reins as much as she could, which got Anya to ascend and slam both saddles together.
Amidst a crunch of twisted metal Mai lost her grip and fell into Anya's saddle, where Ty Lee was waiting to disable her harmlessly. But Mai knew exactly what to expect from Ty Lee, keeping her eyes on Ty Lee's fists. Each time Ty Lee moved a fist to strike a pressure point Mai swung her own fist into Ty Lee's wrist, deflecting the strikes meant to paralyze her. After several attempted strikes both girls realized they were in a stalemate, as Mai couldn't get on the offensive while deflecting Ty Lee's attacks.
A blinding flash from below interrupted the fight, so bright that it hurt both girls' eyes even with Anya's body in the way. Thunder followed the flash and nearly deafened them, leaving a ringing in their ears after it passed. In response to the light and the sound Mai stepped backward to prevent Ty Lee from exploiting the momentary weakness, stumbling into the damaged edge of Anya's saddle. There Mai tripped over the saddle, falling over the side.
Just in time Ty Lee closed the distance and grasped over the saddle's side, grabbing hold of Mai's left hand. Even though they had just been fighting, Ty Lee didn't want Mai to fall. "Give me your other hand!" Ty Lee yelled, feeling Mai's grip starting to slip through her fingers.
At first Mai reached for the hand of a friend, but stopped before taking the hand of a traitor. Instead Mai slammed her free fist into Ty Lee's fingers, forcing her to let go. Mai fell off the bison's side and plummeted through the air, all while Ty Lee stared down in horror. While she fell Mai tried to aim her fall towards the nearest Fire Nation sky bison, but all of them were constantly in motion and were all too easy to miss.
Immediately Ty Lee had Anya dive after Mai, racing to save her live even if she didn't want it done by her. But Mai was diving headfirst with her arms against her sides, minimizing wind resistance to maximize speed. There was one sky bison below on a downward flight path near Mai's dive, which Mai was hoping would be in the right place at the right time. Ty Lee saw the same bison and had a clear view of Mai's descent vector, just slightly off from what was needed for the bison to catch her.
All she needed was a slight nudge.
Reacting instead of thinking Ty Lee cupped her hands behind her back, and in one swift motion she thrust both hands towards Mai. Down below Mai felt a change in the wind around her, enough for a slight push in the direction she needed to go. With no time to spare Mai intercepted the sky bison and crashed into its furry hide, just barely missing the side of the metal saddle. The bison's fur cushioned Mai's fall and proved plenty of handholds for her to grab onto, but Mai still screamed in pain when there were loud cracks in her legs.
Just a few seconds later Anya dived past the bison that caught Mai, where Ty Lee saw the bison's pilot already moving to pull Mai into the saddle. Even a brief glimpse was enough to see that Mai's legs had broken in the fall, but she was still alive. Ty Lee sighed in relief once she knew Mai was going to be okay, but then stared down at her hands. The hands that had created the wind that saved Mai.
"I'm an airbender?" Ty Lee muttered, still staring at her hands. She thought about how people might react if they found out. She knew that most would not take it well, but there was one person that would celebrate it. "Well, I suppose Aang will be happy."
"Aang Is Down!"
Katara's scream sent chills down the spines of everyone inside the flying golem, but for various reasons. Toph was mostly confused, having no idea how well Aang had been fighting the entire time. Azula was shocked by the distressing news, having no idea what could possibly bring down the elemental giant. Sokka was hearing a confirmation of what he saw below, that the elemental giant really had a hole in its chest and wasn't moving.
"Then it's up to us," Sokka said. He searched the sky and the ground for the Fire Lord, and found Zuko standing on the outer wall. "There! We can end it all there!"
The flying golem started a shallow dive towards Zuko, and along the way it reached the outer wall first. From there the golem flew just above the top of the wall, staying just a few dozen feet above the surface. Katara made the ice arm hold its fist in front, waiting for Sokka to have Toph and Azula dive at the right moment to strike Zuko with it.
Zuko saw the golem coming and swung both swords up, bending a thick vertical arc of fire aimed for the golem's head. Sokka saw the fire coming and had the golem swerve to his right, getting most of it out of the line of fire. The middle of the left wing was hit by the fire, heating up the metal so fast that it started to glow red. Metal screeched as it was weakened by the heat and stretched by forces of flight, and in just a few seconds half of the wing snapped off.
Instantly the golem lost control of its flight and spun around in circles, unable to compensate for the broken wing. Toph did her best to keep the golem upright with earthbending, while Azula did her best to slow down the golem with timed firebending. Their efforts did little to stop the golem from colliding with the wall below it, hitting it feet first and dragging against the rock. While sliding on top of the wall the golem stopped spinning with its backside forward, allowing Azula to shoot fire into the oncoming space to apply thrust against the golem's momentum.
The golem slid past Zuko before it came to a stop, where the lower half of its legs had been grinded off by friction. Its left hand was on the floor for stability, leaving the ice right arm and remaining wing up in the air. Once the golem was halted Azula stopped firebending, to prevent it from going the other way and lose control again. Then everyone let out a sigh of relief, considering themselves fortunate to have been above the wall before the fall.
"Is everyone okay?" Sokka asked, feeling a little bit queasy.
A small hole opened in the golem's chest and vomit poured out. "Does that answer your question?" Toph asked when she finished throwing up.
Katara was about to complain, but the subject quickly changed when she saw fire heading her way. "Duck!"
The warning got Toph to focus again and make the golem duck underneath the firebending attack. Now that the golem was standing on solid rock Toph ignored the vibrations she felt from Sokka, no longer needing his eyes to anticipate danger. She took a few seconds to repair the golem's legs with fresh stone before charging at Zuko, whose swords were set ablaze once more.
Though exhausted after all the fighting done today, Zuko held his ground and faced the approaching threat. "I've beaten that trick before, and I'm going to do it again," Zuko said.
Zuko charged at the golem and swung both swords to bend twin fire arcs at it, which crashed into the golem's left arm that blocked it and scorched the stone so much it started to crumble. At close range Zuko leaped on flames from his feet and got over the golem, swinging his swords down on the head. Katara bended the ice arm into water and put it in the way of Zuko's burning swords, letting fire and water clash and combine into steam.
While landing on the golem's left shoulder Zuko crossed his swords and then swung them, bending a large X of fire towards Katara. She used all the free water she had to shield herself from the fire, but the heat melted away the ice that secured her to the right wing. Katara fell off the wing and her back slammed against the stone below, followed by all of her remaining water splashing on the stone all around her.
Suddenly Zuko lost his footing as the entire left shoulder collapsed, brought down by Toph severing the burned limb with earthbending. The golem took a few steps back and then leaned forward, followed by Toph making the entire torso spin at the hip to swing the intact wing down and towards Zuko. At the last second Zuko rolled out of the way and then slashed so close that the blades cut into the golem's back, where metal and fire carved through stone and opened a hollow space inside.
And Zuko found a blue oni mask staring through the hole.
"Surprise!" Azula shouted, right before blasting fire with both fists.
Zuko let himself fall backward to get out of the fire's path, seeing flames pass over his head to scorch rock behind him. When Azula stopped firebending Zuko leaped back onto his feet and got a little distance from the golem, where he used his burning swords to block another attack from Azula. With one sword Zuko shot fire into Azula's fire, and with the other sword Zuko slashed an arc of fire at the golem's legs. Fire burned and weakened the stone legs so much that it could no longer support the golem's weight, shattering the legs and making the golem fall with Azula's side face down.
After the golem slammed into the wall Sokka ended up staring up at the red sky, and then tilted his head back to see Zuko closing in for the kill. Suddenly the middle third of the golem's torso was ejected from it, propelled by earthbending towards Zuko all while Sokka screamed as he was carried along. Zuko jumped over the ejected part and let it pass underneath him, completely ignoring Sokka's screaming the entire time.
Toph walked out of the golem's remains and set foot on the solid rock of the outer wall, then grabbed a large chunk of the golem with the intact wing still attached. With earthbending Toph threw the entire chunk which took the wing with it, sending it straight at Zuko. Metal and stone clashed with metal and fire, the latter pair prevailing as Zuko's burning swords cleaved through Toph's thrown wing, leaving twin pieces that almost crashed into Sokka.
"Watch it Toph!" Sokka yelled, completely stuck inside the golem piece he was still inside.
"I'm trying to fight here!" Toph yelled back. She felt Zuko making another fire attack and rolled to one side to avoid it, then rode on a wave of moving stone to get around Zuko and reach Sokka.
One strike later and the stone around Sokka crumbled into pieces, freeing him from that piece of the golem. "Thanks," Sokka said, getting himself out of the rubble.
"You again!" Zuko yelled, seeing Sokka stand up. "How many times must you get in my way?"
"It's what I do," Sokka admitted.
"I'll make sure that's mentioned at your pyre!" Zuko promised, punctuating that with a slash of his swords. He sent a massive wave of fire towards Sokka and Toph, so wide that it nearly reached both sides of the outer wall.
Toph earthbended a stone barricade to block the fire, which barely held up under so much heat. She was ready to repeat the earthbending when burnt stone crumbled, but then she noticed something that drew her attention to the inner side of the wall. "Oh… so that's what Sokka saw earlier."
Zuko didn't like the sound of that, so he turned his gaze towards the inner side of the wall. What he saw grabbed his entire attention instantly, as it was far bigger than anything his current enemies could ever throw at him. The elemental giant was back, its fiery muscles at a steady burn and its watery veins at a low volume. Glowing blue eyes narrowed and glared at Zuko as the giant towered over him, showing that the spirit within was very clearly pissed.
A colossal right fist came down from the heavens faster than anyone thought possible, leaving nowhere near enough time for Zuko to get out of the way. All he could do was firebend with his swords to make a shield of flames, holding the swords above him and focusing the fire so much that the air rippled in its heat. The front of the colossal right fist collided with the top of the wall, cratering the impact site and sending massive shockwaves throughout the entire outer wall.
Being very close to a very large force, Sokka was knocked off his feet. On the other side of the fist Katara was thrown back by rushing winds dragged in its wake, tumbling across the top of the wall several yards. Near her the remains of the golem shook apart and dumped Azula onto solid rock, which seemed to be vibrating intensely at the moment. And all three of them heard Toph screaming in agony, clutching at her overwhelmed feet.
The colossal fist was lifted off the wall, revealing a shallow crater in the shape of a fist print. In the center was a small spot that hadn't been pressed down, on which Zuko was still standing. His fire shield had burned a hollow space into the fist that tried to crush him, but that didn't stop the force from rattling him to his very bones. Zuko's whole body trembled and his breath was deep and uneasy, but his firebending held strong.
Then the colossal fist struck again in the exact same place, pounding an even deeper crater into the top of the wall. Cracks spread from the crater up and down the wall's length, while some pieces of rock broke off the inner and outer edges. When the fist was lifted off again Zuko's fire shield was beginning to waver, barely hiding the crumbling high spot that he stood on. So the colossal fist struck again with even more force, burying half of the fist in the wall and making the growing cracks widen into gorges.
So much intense vibrations had Toph on her side with her knees pulled up to her chest, while her hands were cradling her bleeding feet. "Make it stop… Make it stop… Make it stop…"
Once again the colossal fist was lifted off the wall, revealing Zuko at the bottom of the fist shaped crater. He dropped to one knee and his whole body was shaking, and yet he kept his swords raised and the fire shield burning. But his defense began to waver and dim as Zuko simply couldn't keep it up under so much force. Already Zuko could feel his body beginning to fail him, as he was gradually losing sensation in all of his limbs.
Sokka watched the elemental giant get ready for one more strike, seeing it twist the wrist to hit with the bottom part of the fist. "Oh Man, This Is Going To Suck!"
The colossal fist slammed onto the wall one more time, pounding the exact same place with even more force. The giant's forearm demolished the inner side of the fist shaped crater, turning it into a deep gouge in the outer wall's inner side. House size chunks of stone broke away from the wall and hundreds of cracks grew and widened, threatening the very structural integrity of the outer wall. Everyone around the impact site was thrown back by the force, tumbling down several yards along stone that seemed to be coming apart. And then the colossal fist was lifted away one more time, and was kept ready in case another strike was necessary.
Zuko's fire shield just barely held up during the strike, but was quickly going out. He forced himself back onto both feet and raised his swords higher, bending new fire around the weapons. But that fire sputtered and went out completely, followed by Zuko collapsing and falling onto his back. His arms fell back as his body slammed against the stone, and Zuko lost his grip on his swords and dropped them just above his head. There Zuko was very still, barely breathing and struggling to remain conscious.
The elemental giant spread its arms apart and leaned forward, placing both hands on the wall far from each other. It shifted its weight onto relatively undamaged and stable parts of the wall, and then left its head above the gouge it made and looked straight down. Then the giant's fiery muscles dwindled and went out, followed by the water of its veins raining down on the land below. And then the glowing blue eyes dimmed and changed to the natural green of the strange crystals, signaling that the spirit's work here was complete.
Only the bones of earth and chainmail armor made from buildings remained, a seemingly hollow monument to the destructive power unleashed on this day. From inside the skull Aang climbed down through an open mouth, and he was no longer in the Avatar State. Aang jumped off the stone and fell towards the wall below, airbending an upward current of wind to slow and control his descent. He landed within the large gouge in the wall, and he stood next to the beaten Fire Lord.
Zuko saw Aang next to him, expecting the worst. "You can't do this. It goes against everything you stand for."
Aang pulled back one fist, a clear start for a firebending move. And then he punched with that fist, and shot intense fire from it. For nearly a minute fire burned within the wall's gouge, obscuring the view of Aang's target from above. But when the fire stopped Zuko found himself still alive, and wondering what Aang had been firebending at. Zuko tilted his head back a little, allowing him to see that the blades of his swords had been completely melted into slag.
"Surprised? Don't be," Aang said, refusing to take a life. It not only went against his beliefs, but experience with the previous Fire Lord told him that it would do no good. "You're not worth it."
On his moving mound of earth Haru brought Suki with him to the eastern side of the continent, and over too much time they reached Minara. Seeing the central tower demolished and a lack of intense combat convinced Haru to keep moving, and he didn't even bother to slow down his mound and kept traveling east. It quickly became clear that he had made the right decision, especially when they reached the land northwest of Ba Sing Se.
Scattered around the area for miles were the remains of a few sky bison saddles and several metal platforms, reduced to scraps of twisted metal after falling out of the sky. Among the wreckage were firebenders and rescued pilots, saved from a plummeting demise by the use of intense flames to slow their falls. Haru ignored them and kept his mound of earth moving towards Ba Sing Se, where he and Suki could see the remains of the elemental giant leaning against the outer wall.
"Aww…" Suki complained, figuring that the battle was over. "We missed it."
Then they both heard the roar of a sky bison nearby, which at first made them worry that it was from an enemy. When Haru turned his head to look at it he saw a familiar bison instead. "Appa," he said, figuring that the bison had seen them coming a mile away.
But there was no one in Appa's saddle or holding the reins. "But where's Katara?"
Before Haru could say anything Appa flew parallel with the moving earth and tilted his saddle towards it, asking them to get in. Haru let Suki jump first and land in the saddle before following, and once he had jumped off his earthbending stopped and the mound halted. When they were both safely in the saddle Haru jerked a thumb at the outer wall.
"I think it's a safe bet that Katara's over there," Haru said.
On the northern side of the gouge in the wall Sokka hurried to Toph's side, where she still laid on her side and was shaking like mad. "It's over Toph," Sokka assured, putting his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her. When it didn't work Sokka looked to the other side of the gouge. "Katara, I need help over here!"
Katara bended some water around her hands and then started running along the wall, taking a route around the intact side of the gouge. She had to jump over several wide cracks in the wall to make it across, and she found her way to Sokka and Toph. Once she arrived Katara knelt beside Toph and put her water on Toph's feet, where the water glowed while healing the source of Toph's agony.
"I got this covered," Katara said.
"I'll check in on Aang," Sokka suggested. He walked over to the edge of the gouge in the wall, being careful to not dislodge any cracked stone with his weight. From the edge Sokka slid down the side, descending a few dozen feet to reach the bottom.
Meanwhile Azula slid down the opposite side of the gouge, reaching the bottom at the same time as Sokka. Then she slowly walked towards Aang while holding a flame in one hand, which suddenly swelled and turned blue. "This would be so sweet," Azula admitted. And then she put out her blue flame. "But a deal's a deal."
"Wait a second," Sokka said. "You're not going to betray us?"
Under her mask Azula smiled. "It's tempting, but incredibly short sighted." She took a few more steps and stopped next to Zuko, where she crouched and removed the Fire Lord crown from her brother's head. Azula stood up and looked at her reflection in the crown's metal, seeing the blue oni mask stare back. "This is much better for me in the long run."
"Fair enough," Aang said.
A weak groan showed that Zuko was still conscious, but he was too weak to get up. He managed to turn his head and see Sokka next to Aang, both of his most hated enemies. Zuko couldn't help but remember the first time he met Sokka, during that false pretense of a parley at the North Pole. The thought got his blood boiling in anger, realizing that if he hadn't been honorable on that day then this one would have had a different outcome.
"This is all your fault!" Zuko screamed, finding the strength to lift his head and chest. "I should have killed you when I had the chance! Sokka!"
Sokka stepped back a little, suspecting that Zuko's scream might be followed by fire. But the fire never came, only a face filled with fury was what Sokka found. Sokka didn't bother to say anything in response, as there was nothing worth saying to the beaten Fire Lord. All Sokka did was look back at Zuko, locking eyes with him one last time. He seemed compelled to examine the face of the enemy, one that seemed perfect for a member of royalty.
That face will do nicely…
That thought sent a chill down Sokka's spine, for it was not his own. Intense cold came over him and brought Sokka down to his knees, and he could not stop shivering. Another presence seemed to emerge within his mind, one that seemed incomprehensible to him. The invading presence seemed uninterested in possessing Sokka's body, merely using it as a conduit into the physical world.
"Look away," Sokka warned.
"Sokka, what's wrong?" Aang asked, having a nagging feeling that something was wrong.
"Just look away!" Sokka begged.
A dark cloud appeared around Sokka, which convinced Azula to twist her mask a little so she couldn't see through the eye holes. The dark cloud rose up and condensed into a physical form, one that resembled a giant centipede. Aang couldn't help but stare as the spirit entered the physical world, but the spirit seemed uninterested in him. Instead the spirit's Noh mask face was turned towards Zuko, grinning as it lunged towards him.
No one watched what happened next, but all three of them heard a scream that Sokka knew would haunt his nightmares.
When Koh was finished he raised his upper half of his body and twisted it around, looking down on Sokka. Koh changed his face to try out a new one, using the face of Fire Lord Zuko. "Your debt is paid, mortal." And then Koh disappeared into thin air.
"What the flameo was that!" Aang yelled.
"A spirit," Sokka answered, rising to his feet. "It's one that I hope we never meet again."
Azula straightened her mask and looked around, and immediately wished she hadn't. She saw Zuko lying very still, and a giant burn scar that covered the entire front of his face. Only his eyes remained undamaged, but they stared blankly with no sign of emotion. Immediately Azula yanked her mask off and threw up, spilling vomit on the stone. Then she placed her oni mask on Zuko, so that no one else would have to see the burn by mistake.
"Okay…" Azula said, turning toward Sokka. "Note to self: Never get on your bad side."
Sokka shook his head. "Can we just get out of here now?"
Aang nodded. He started earthbending the stone they were all on, making it slide up the side of the gouge to reach the top of the wall. There they found Katara still working on healing Toph's feet, having gotten the bleeding to stop and slightly calming her. And then they all heard the roar of a sky bison, belonging to Appa flying towards the wall. Appa landed on the wall and let Haru and Suki jump off the saddle, setting foot on semi-solid stone just as everyone else gathered together.
"Well it looks like the gang's all here," Haru said. He saw Azula holding the crown in her hand and that her mask was on Zuko. "What happened to him?"
"Don't ask," Azula warned. "Trust me, you do not want to know."
A weak groan revealed Toph recovering her grip on reality, though her vibration sight was still blurry after the overload. "Is it over?" Toph asked. "Did we win?"
The sky gradually faded from red to blue, starting from the east and spreading to the west. All eyes looked up to see Sozin's Comet pass into the western horizon, on its way back into space for another hundred year journey. When the last of the comet's fiery tail was gone the sun could be seen again, but only for the last few moments of sunset. Then the sky gradually shifted to the dark of night with stars shining bright, signaling the end of this day.
With the comet leaving and taking its heat with it the power of firebending reverted to normal, dramatically reducing the potential damage that could be done from the air. Regular fireballs petered out over the distance from a sky bison to the ground, unable to inflict any lasting damage. And so the remaining sky bison scattered to the winds, each pilot seeking to save their own skin.
"It seems we did," Aang said. "We won."
A collective sigh passed around, followed by awkward silence. The first to break it was Suki. "Well now what do we do?"
Aang looked toward the city. "We rebuild."