Burn My Dread FES
By Iain R. Lewis
Disclaimer: Characters and concepts belong to Nickelodeon, some of the concepts are similarly inspired by Persona 3 and Persona 4, property of ATLUS games.
Author's Note: Strap yourselves in, this is a long one...
"When I'm in the box, my hits way outta this bounds."
- Mass Destruction FES
Lotus Juice
Chapter 19: Anima
There they stood.
Shadowy blue light, inverse colored floor tiles, a pixel perfect three-dimensional recreation of an ancient ruin, dressed in ridiculous clothing like characters from an old adventure game. Sokka, the hero, stared at his mirror image, his eyes meeting dark and cloudy, menacing duplicates of his own that were outlined with mascara.
His jaw hung open, and the only noise he made was a stunned grunt. The others seemed more amused.
"Well, are you here to save me? Or did you decide you liked roleplaying the villain more?"
The way he spoke, a shrill falsetto voice like an actor in a bad play, grated at all of their ears. Sokka's brain however wasn't exactly working. Whether that was from embarrassment or anger, well, no one was quite sure.
Yue stifled back a giggling fit, and tried her best to speak without provoking another one, "Sokka, we don't have time to deal with your other self right now."
"She's right, Sokka," Zuko said, apparently having dealt with his amusement already, "He may be in our way, but we have to find Azula before she ends up deleted."
"If you're going to save the girl, be my guest," the other Sokka said, tittering arrogantly, "But be warned, if you don't hurry and find your way out of this world before it's consumed, then there won't be any point in saving her."
Sokka shook off the shock, and his expression of shock was replaced with anger, "What's the big idea? Do you think this is a game?"
"Isn't it?" he asked, sashaying over, "Well, even if it isn't, there aren't anymore save points, nowhere you can go back to if you mess up, Sokka. I do hope you're up to the task this time."
"And let me guess, you know how to get out of here?" he retorted. He kept his eyes level.
"I do. And if you rescue me, I'll show you. But if you go and rescue her, I won't stand for that! I'm the princess here! I'm the important one!"
"So you're making us choose between Azula and you?" Zuko scoffed. "Come on, Sokka, we don't have to listen to this anymore."
"Oh, is that so, Sokka?" his other self retorted, "You can't tell me you're not considering leaving her behind. Aang did, and he was so much better a hero than you'll ever be."
That seemed to get Sokka's hackles raised. "You're right, Zuko, let's go find Azula before she gets in over her head."
Yue stayed close to Sokka as they walked past the other Sokka, casting a glance back at the cross-dressing duplicate. She shivered under the gaze of those calculating, shadowy eyes. "I don't like him," she said, "He's playing us."
"I know," Sokka said, "Because if this really was a game, I'd do the same."
"At least you're willing to admit that that's you," Yue said, relieved, "I would much rather not face whatever it is he would become if you did."
Sokka nodded, his face set in stone. But there was something unfinished about the facade, something not even Yue could detect. Down the stairs they climbed, and down deeper into the ruins.
The wave of deletion continued undeterred by their approach, and Azula for her part remained quick on her feet. Unfortunately, she was beginning to realize that it may be moving slowly, but it was catching up with every wrong turn she made. And, unfortunately for Azula, the rigors of the maze began to take its toll on her.
She was short on breath, and her eyes were beginning to get unfocused. The labyrinthine maze looked primitive, but it continued on forever and didn't seem set to stop.
"I won't let it end like this, not here," she muttered to herself. Xiao chose to abandon her at the worst possible time, and things were beginning to look desperate. She turned round a corner and saw grasping fingers crawl up from between the cracks, She backed away, turning on her heel and began to run.
Through the cracks, another aberration burst forth, its many hands passing around a blade like a baton. It moved swiftly after Azula, reaching out to grab her and pull her down.
In the clear light of day, Katara could make out the creature in more detail. Slick, shimmering black skin that wobbled like liquid with every one of its sudden and jerking movements, carried around on arms that jutted out of every free surface of its body.
The mask that covered its face was incomplete, fragments of it dropping while it moved, evaporating into a dark cloud as it hit the ground, and causing the distortions around it to turn dark and shadowy.
"It looks gross," Katara said.
"It feels grosser," Toph said, "It's jiggling. I - I don't have any words to describe how yuck it feels." She paused, and then grinned, "It's kind of cool, actually."
"Okay, Toph, that's all I needed to know."
"It's, like... ungulating!"
"Toph!"
"What, don't you think it's hypnotic?" she teased.
"No, Toph, it's charging this way at top speed!"
"Oh, right." Toph grinned and kissed her knuckles, "Let me handle this, Sweetness, I don't think you can handle this one. Just stand back and watch the master work."
The ground shattered as she propelled a rock forward, swinging her fist at it with enough force to send it shooting straight through the creature's body. It came out the other end, covered in inky pitch and continued clear into the distance. It craned its head downwards, looking at the hole as the substance refilled it with a loud slurping sound.
"Yuck," Katara muttered. "Toph, that didn't even work!"
"I said I got it!" Toph shouted back in frustration. She moved to launch a rockalanche at the creature when she detected the movement grow more uniform, and its arms grew rigid, preparing to come down for a strike. She shifted her weight, bringing her arms up sharply. The rocks underfoot jutted upwards, forming a barrier overhead.
First a clang as the spines hit the rock, then a loud smack as a series of arms struck simultaneously, turning the barrier into rubble in short order. "How the-" She could feel it move, and she moved to respond, launching the largest piece of rubble at the creature as fast as it could move.
It raised its arm, spine ready to come down at a point on Toph, and then, with the sharp piece of rubble cutting through it at the joint, it fell to the ground and flopped about like a fish on dry land.
Katara grimaced. It looked disgusting as it began to sublimate into a dark cloud. It wasn't just how utterly disturbing the spirit looked, but the damage to the surrounding landscape. The entire world froze in that moment, like a painting under black tinted glass. The fragments were beginning to come apart at the seams as the creature's very presence unraveled the world around them.
Toph was also quickly going through the ground around her.
The creature was busy looking at its severed limb, waiting to convalesce, and it seemed annoyed that its wound was not immediately repairing itself.
"Toph, be careful."
"I feel it, Katara!" she shouted right back. "This is bad."
The creature shook its severed limb and loosed an animalistic howl. It turned its attention back to Toph, its mask shifting upside down like an owl, bringing its remaining limbs up to strike. Toph widened her stance and stopped when she felt her toes hanging over a sheer drop that was not there a second ago.
"Sweetness, some back-up right around now would be good," she meekly squeaked.
"Right!" Katara said, finding the waterskin that appeared with her costume had remained even with the shift in clothes. "Hey, ugly! Over here!" She bended the water out of the skin and formed it into a wide arc as it washed over the creature.
It turned towards her and adjusted its mask back upright, making a confused whimper that soon turned into an angry screech. It brought its arms up and then, just as suddenly, stopped. A chill formed around it, and the water slowly formed into a long shackle across its arms. "Got you," she said, pleased.
"Nice one!" Toph laughed, "That'll teach it to mess with us!"
"It won't last long, Toph. We need a plan."
"Yeah, I got nothing. Where's Sokka when you actually need him?"
"Or Azula," Katara added, hunching over at the begrudging admission. "Maybe we can, I don't know - some of those cracks are looking really big now, maybe we could -"
"On it." Though she didn't know how she was going to do that. She could feel the places where the gaps were biggest, and they continued to grow, but she somehow didn't think this thing would be all that easy to push into them.
She shifted her feet, letting the earth underneath it churn and swallow it up. She frowned. She didn't know how this would work, but it was worth a shot. Already, she could feel the creature push against its shackles, and she could hear the ice begin to shatter.
"Okay, I don't know how this is going to work, so if you could get to thinking up some back-up plans, Katara."
"I'll try!"
She punched her fists into the ground, and then, once they were firmly rooted, punched again. the cracks became a long fissure, and the earth began to slide as the cracks in the world grew larger and larger.
The creature broke out of its shackles and its arms flailed wildly to dig itself out of the earth.
Toph moved back, trying to move away from the spindly fingers that were grasping desperately for anything solid to pull itself out of its slow slide into the space between. She could feel one of its fingers brush past her hair, and scrambled back.
Then one wrapped around her foot, and she fell into the dirt with an indignant grunt and in spite of herself, she began to feel a little fearful. "Let go!" she said as she kicked wildly at it. Its mask peered up at her, another hand reaching out to grab a hold of her.
She was going to be dragged down with it at this rate.
It was skewered by a lance of ice, "I've got you, Toph!" Katara shouted, melting the lance and launching it through the joint. The creature's howls of pain grew louder as it slid into the nothing between the cracks, its remaining arms grasping impotently at the solid earth.
Toph breathed a sigh of relief, "Way to keep me hanging, Sugar Queen!"
Katara laughed, a big feeling of relief washing over her. "Well, it's gone now, isn't it?"
Toph just stared until Katara's laugh infected her with the same joyous relief. She sniggered, "Man, that thing sure had grabby fingers."
"Bad unspeakable monster, no manners whatsoever!"
The cracks made an unpleasant sound as they got wider, and the laughter quickly faded. "Let's get out of here."
"Oh yeah."
They hurried away from the shattered pieces of the world, climbing up to a more concrete length of field. Katara scanned the horizon for some sign of where to go. "I don't see anything. What do we do?"
"We could try going to home."
"That's a long walk, Toph, I don't think that's right -"
"The base, Sweetness."
Katara paused, and then her cheeks took on a pink tinge, "Oh, of course. Home plate. That makes sense, doesn't it?"
"It just seems the Snoozles way."
The baseball diamond was pretty shattered, as well, time frozen as a pitch sailed past Sokka and was about to collide with the fence behind him. The fragments of the diamond rearranged around them, making a winding pathway down into the nothing.
"Looks like you were right, Toph."
"Go me. I officially know way more about how Snoozles thinks than anyone should."
They shared a nervous laugh as they walked down the winding path towards the pixelated eight-bit doorway at the bottom. "Well, we made it, somehow," Katara said, "Let's find the others and get out of this maze for good."
"Seconded."
Katara pressed the door lightly, listening to it bleep three times as it rose upwards, and stepped through. She found herself falling into a surprisingly large pool of water that surrounded a large statue. It seemed untouched by the glitches that had distorted everything else, and in fact, it looked quite lovingly crafted compared to the 'graphics' around them.
An inscription referred to it as the legendary hero. Katara could immediately tell who it was meant to be. "Aang. Sokka really looked up to you - it shows."
"Why am I wet?"
"Oh! Toph! Sorry," she hurried to help the blind girl out of the water, and started to dry themselves off, "Back to our silly adventure game look, I guess."
"At least I don't have to see mine."
"Oh ho ho ho ho!"
"It's not that funny, Katara."
"That wasn't me." She turned around slowly, in the direction of the voice. "Who's there?" She bended the water out of the pool in anticipation. "Show yourself!"
"It's just me," the voice said in falsetto, "A kidnapped princess who's waiting for her prince."
"No way," Toph said, breaking into a loud laugh, "That's Sokka's other - oh man! He's going to be livid!"
"He already was. He rushed off to save someone else," the other Sokka said, "And now he's got to learn you can't save everyone. You two will do nicely for that."
Katara whipped the water at the other Sokka. It crashed against the ground where he had been standing before she blinked her eyes, making a loud, chip-based noise. Where he'd gone, she couldn't tell - until she felt something graze her back.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you - yet."
Formatting 30% complete...
Azula didn't have time to deal with the monsters that seemed to be crawling out of the metaphorical woodwork around her. She slammed one with a large two-by-two block she earthbended out of the ground and leapt over it.
The wave of deletion followed her undeterred by the monsters it swallowed up as it went. If anything, it was getting faster as time went on, and Azula was not getting any further away from it with everything rising up to stop her.
Where did Xiao go? She was supposed to show her the way!
She skidded to a stop.
Eight-bit skulls littered the floor in front of an immovable wall. A small well of water acting as the only decoration in the lonesome corner. "Dead end," she muttered. She turned back, though she couldn't see the wave of deletion, the crawling sound of the approaching monsters made it clear that she'd have to fight her way through - and that was looking to be more time consuming than difficult.
She balled her hands into fists and glared at the monsters defiantly. "If you want a fight, then you've found it. I hope you don't regret this decision!"
The monsters lurched and then stopped. Azula's stance faltered for a second. What were they doing? One of them flew towards her and landed against the wall, making a digitized splash sound as it hit the well. Another fell in two pieces right in front of her, dispersing into a black cloud shortly.
"Way to go, Zuko! That was impressive!"
"It was okay."
"Oh, don't be so moody, Sokka. I'm sure you would have been just as impressive."
Azula stared at the thinning rank of monsters. On the other side, she could Sokka, along with her brother and Yue, who both were dressed almost as ridiculously as Katara and Toph were."What took you so long?" she asked, angrily, as she shot forth a strong gale to knock a few straggling creatures out of her way.
"Sorry, we got a bit held up," Yue said, weakly, "But we shouldn't stay here. Whatever happened to the last few floors is happening here, as well."
"I'm aware. This place is formatting itself, we'll be deleted too if we don't move."
"That doesn't sound good."
"Oh, don't strain yourself too much, Zuzu, it simply means this entire world is resetting itself to a blank slate. Honestly, you were confused over which button was the 'Any' key before."
Sokka snickered in response, "Seriously?"
Zuko glared right back at Sokka, "Your other self."
"Oh you're going to play it like that, huh? Cold, man, I thought we were like this."
"You've found Sokka's other self?" Azula's expression brightened, if they could find him, they could find their way out of there.
"Well, yes," Yue said, holding back a giggle, "We did find Sokka's other self. It was rather unusual, even by this maze's standards."
"Oh not you too, Yue! I'm being betrayed!"
"It isn't that bad!"
Azula sighed, "I don't care. We need to find our way there. What about Katara and Toph? Can you locate them?"
"Uh, yes, but we should probably get someplace safer first."
"Oh, yes, the deletion wave is probably approaching. Lead on, Yue," Yue nodded and picked up the pace, running back down the passageway and towards a turn that Azula had not taken earlier. "Sokka, I see you haven't completely fallen into denial."
"Huh? Yeah, I guess not."
"I'm impressed. Maybe we can avoid more of those unpleasant incidents from before."
"Yeah, that'd be great, right?"
"So what is your other self like?" Azula grinned, fully aware that she was touching on a touchy subject. Sokka bristled, and didn't respond. "That bad, huh? It can't be any worse than Toph's or Katara's."
"Oh, it can," he muttered. Yue giggled, and Sokka snapped, "It's not that funny!"
"Yes it is!" Yue said between giggling fits.
"It really is bugging you, isn't it?" Azula was actually a bit taken back by that unfamiliar tone of voice she had adopted. "I will try and not laugh, if that makes you feel better, but if it is causing Yue to double over, I don't know how well I'll be able to hold it back."
"Eh, just try not to rub it in. Who knows what your other self is like, right?" he pointed out, casting her a sidelong glance. Not that she expected to have one. They ran up the stairs following Yue's lead.
"We need to get up three more floors," she said, turning a corner, "They're both up there, and it's directly in the middle of the - the deletion wave?" Azula nodded. It was the best way to describe the oncoming destruction.
"Well, that's just great."
Formatting 50% complete... Please wait...
"We better hurry."
The floor Yue led them to was closed off by a large metal gate with a large lock on it. Azula just stared at it vacantly for a minute before she even noticed that anyone else was talking. Zuko seemed to be just as annoyed.
"Let's just cut it down."
"I don't think we can," Yue said, "Sokka, what should we do?"
He walked up to the door and traced the number above the lock. "Hey, Azula, do you still have that key?"
"Of course." He held his hand out expectantly. She rolled her eyes and from her bag - which had suddenly become very organized - she took out the key.
"One of these days you're going to tell me where you got this," he muttered, taking it and putting it into the large keyhole. Despite the fact that the key was several sizes smaller than the lock, the tumblers seemed to click into place and the large lock fell to the ground, opening the door behind it.
"I can sense... him beyond that door," Yue said, quietly, "Are you ready to face yourself, Sokka?"
He slowly nodded.
"Then, let's not waste any time," Azula finished, heading into the door. She moved a little quicker than she intended, but she was very curious as to exactly what it was that led everyone to react like they did to the very mention of Sokka's other-self.
The door led to a long hallway, where the pixels weren't really corrupted like the rest of the world, and the place just felt dark, foreboding, and yet cartoonish. It seemed to go on forever, the distance being enveloped in shadows that actually had a degree of thickness to them.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Sokka said, weakly.
"Sokka? Sokka! Help!"
"That was Katara!" Sokka's eyes darkened, "She's in trouble."
He ran off ahead of the rest, leaving Azula looking dumbfounded as he broke into a sprint. The echo carried in the long hallway, and she looked back at Yue and Zuko, who similarly looked anxious. "He's going to do something stupid, isn't he?" she wondered, aloud.
Zuko only nodded in response.
"Let's hurry."
A small point of light at the end of the darkness grow larger and more defined, almost blindingly bright as they dashed towards it. Azula clenched her eyes shut as she ran through the light and when she opened them she found herself face to face with a pixelated statue of Aang.
Unfortunately, suspended from that statue, upside-down, was Katara, and Toph besides her.
Underneath them, waving around a pair of golden fans threateningly, was - was -
"That's Sokka's other self?" Azula burst into a fit of laughter, "You weren't wrong, Yue, that is funny!"
"Shut up!" Sokka shouted. "And you, this is your last chance, let them go!"
"Or you'll do what?" the other Sokka said, in a high falsetto, "You made your choice already. Are you going to trade her for one of the others?"
"What? No!"
"Then you're going to fight me, unarmed? No offense, but we both know how little you're going to be able to do. Poor, poor Sokka, everyone always let you tag along, but you knew in your heart of hearts that they were just humoring you. Your little trick with the bat that night was neat, but when it came down to it, you weren't up to muster."
"This isn't about me," he retorted, "I said to let them go."
"But don't you see?" he said, dropping the falsetto, "This has always been about you. Sokka Floes is always about one person, always looking out for one person. Number one."
"I'm warning you, if you don't let them down right now..."
"Oh please. You know, you always hated that Azula named Aang the leader. He was always coming to you for advice, and there you were, idea-guy, toiling away, making the tough decisions and then he has the gall to go and play hero!" He was speaking in the falsetto again, waving the fans about madly, "Always had to show us up! Always! Always! I can't stand that guy!"
"That's not - no, you're trying to trick me. You're saying things that aren't true just so I mess up and you get to do the evil shadowy death thing. Well it isn't going to work. I know you're me. I'm not going to deny you."
The other Sokka shouted, angrily, "You think it's that easy! Mr. Macho Man isn't going to admit his weakness to anyone, but I will. I'll tell everyone just how weak and pathetic you really are!"
Sokka paled, "What are you talking about?"
The other Sokka grinned, his dark, shaded eyes glimmering like a black diamond, "Oh, wouldn't you like to know?"
"This is another trick -"
"Sure doesn't look like it, Sokka. Admit it, your pulse is racing, you're not trying to think about what weakness I'm talking about," he said, his voice low and dangerous, "You're trying to figure out which."
"Oh no," Yue whispered, "His other-self is -"
"I see that," Azula interrupted. It was clear what was happening. Even if he wasn't saying it aloud, Sokka was beginning to deny his other self. The shadows in the room were getting more and more oppressive. She had to do something. "Zuko, we need a plan to free - Zuko?"
He was already gone. "Oh dear."
"Yue, make sure Sokka doesn't say anything he'll regret," Azula said before she broke into a sprint after Zuko. He rushed headlong into the situation, dao blades drawn and ready to cut the girls free.
Unfortunately, the other Sokka looked directly at him and simply smiled. It was the same sort of smile Sokka wore when he had a plan all formulated and he was so cocky and self-assured that he was more than happy to let it show.
Zuko plowed straight through, ducking down and leaping into the air. "Zuko, you idiot!" Azula called after him, just as the other Sokka moved without seeming to actually travel the distance between the two points. One moment, he was in front of Sokka, the next, his knee was in Zuko's back, and throwing him to the ground.
"See that, Sokka? See how pointless heroics are?" He slammed his foot against Zuko's back. "Pathetic. Why should you even bother trying to save anyone? No one will even care."
Azula sliced the air, forming an edge with the gusts of wind. The other Sokka saw it and disappeared, appearing right in front of Azula, "You missed."
"Wasn't aiming for you," she answered, confidently.
The other Sokka's heavily made-up face hung long, and he turned around. The frayed ends of the rope dangled off of the statue, while Zuko was now breaking the falls - unwittingly - of the two girls. Katara, for her part, was apologizing. Toph had different plans.
"You jerk!" she shouted. "I'm going to make you pay for that one!"
The other Sokka laughed, "Oh you're rich, Azula, really. See Sokka, it took a girl to do what you couldn't. What a pathetic man, having to be rescued by a girl."
"I don't care," Sokka said, "I accept you, I know you're a part of me, I'm not resisting."
The other-Sokka sighed, and said, loudly and aside, "He's coping. Listen, Sokka, you can say it all you want, but it doesn't mean you feel it. I know what you're feeling. Just let it out, come on, you can say it. Just three words."
"You -" He trembled, his fists literally working to contain the anger and humilation. Azula frowned. She couldn't stop it, and for what it was worth - she was beginning to look forward to this.
"Almost."
"You're... not me," he growled. "Stop trying to put words in my mouth, you are not me!"
"FInally!" the other Sokka shouted. The shadows that loomed so oppressively burst forth as though a levee broke, washing over him as Sokka fell to the ground, unconscious. The shrill laugh grew louder and louder as the shadows slowly subsided.
"What the -" Toph stepped back, "Whoa, whoa, what is happening to him!"
"The other self is going out of control," Yue said, "I'm a bit worried, though. I think ... I think he's holding back!"
"Was I this bad?"
"No, Toph," Katara said, "You had a tank."
"Sweet."
The other Sokka emerged from the shadows clutching the twin bladed fans tightly in his hands. The make-up on his face was chipped, his eyes having vanished into shadows. A lemniscate adorned the battle helmet that had replaced the ornate crown, and though they almost seemed like dresses, the pleated clothing he wore was clearly built for battle.
He laughed, his mouth did not move, but his face changed, pieces of discarded porcelain sprinkled on the ground behind him. "I am the true self beneath the mask! I'll prove to you all just how much better I am than that pathetic slouch!"
"Here he comes!" Yue shouted. But by the time anyone heard her, he'd already moved. Azula remained focused on the scene around her. There was no way he was moving that fast, there had to be some sort of sleight of hand involved - behind her!
She ducked out of the way of the bladed fans just in time, but her feet suddenly tripped up in his spinning sweep.
She was nearly to the ground when she felt the earth rise up to stop her, "I got you! Hey, Honey britches, over here!"
She slammed the ground and let the earth rise up around her, anticipating his next move. The other Sokka just walked slowly around them, tittering into his fan like a demented noblewoman. "Come on," Toph shouted, "Or are you chicken!"
"Oh-hohoho!"
"Stop laughing!" Toph grunted, "Fight me like a man!"
It didn't seem to even bother him. Which bothered Azula more than she cared to admit. Either this other self lacked all of Sokka's machismo, or he was more cunning than she gave him credit for and neither of those options seemed, well, right.
"Words, Tophy, hurtful words," he said in sing-song falsetto. "Besides, didn't you hear me move?"
"What?" Toph suddenly shout out one of the barriers out like a slicing blade - right at Katara. "Gah! Move it, Katara!"
Katara stared at the thing for an eternity. She barely even noticed that it never hit her, actually, she just stood dumbfounded, as two fans seared through the rock like a hot knife through butter, leaving nothing but tetris-block rubble on the ground.
Toph was caught in a state of shock, just trying to figure out why she didn't even notice Katara there, and why she just acted, so lost in all of these thoughts that she barely noticed that the other Sokka was on top of her.
Azula, thankfully, did.
Water wrapped around the imposter like a whip, leaving a nasty welt along his face. The porcelain cracking and falling to the ground was quickly replaced by a face like a nasty scowl. "How dare you lay a finger on my fine self!"
Azula gave him a cocky smirk. "Oh, yes, very impressive. You attacked a blind girl. Do you want a medal for your clearly world class ability to pick an unfair fight?"
The other Sokka's face broke into a laughing expression - quite literally. The pieces of porcelain on the ground tinkled in a real manner, even among the eight-bit architecture. The room was coated in red, Azula noticed. They were fighting a major boss, she supposed, the room changed to reflect that.
He walked leisurely around Katara, and over towards Zuko.
With a shout, Zuko swung his blades, but Sokka's imposter caught them on the bladed fans, and then, like he wasn't even there, struck at his back with a fierce kick. Zuko slid across the ground , and rolled to a stop. Another laugh.
He was playing them.
But Azula couldn't figure out how!
"We need a plan," she said, "Everyone, group up."
Zuko rose to his feet, "Forget your plans, Azula."
"Zuzu, you just got taken out with one blow, I think you need to listen to me instead of going off on your little heroics act," Azula retorted. "We're going to lose if you keep going off the handle like this."
That laugh continued, undeterred by the talk. Where had he even gone? They could hear him laugh, but not see him. Azula had a sinking feeling deep in the pit of her stomach. "Yue, are you sensing anything about this one? Anything at all different?"
"Yes, now that you mention it," she said, "It doesn't feel very strong compared to the others."
"Hah, Snoozles is a slouch and so is his other self."
"No, I don't think so," Katara said, "Sokka may not be able to bend, but he's been able to stand toe to toe with some powerful enemies without needing it. I'd say if anything, his other side should become an even more powerful spirit than ours."
"That's why I think he's holding back," Yue said, "Which makes me nervous."
Is he really holding back? He wouldn't be beating them if he was weak, Azula reasoned. The only other explanation was that - "That's not his other self."
"What?"
The fans flew through the air, landing right at Azula's feet. She looked in the direction they came from. The other Sokka laughed from an alcove above them, descending to grab the fans and then slicing upwards with them. Azula barely moved back in time. "It's the only explanation, Yue. See if you can find something we missed before, some trick - something!"
He sliced at her again and she dodged back. Her eyes widened as she bumped into someone, and turning around, there he was, lemiscate gleaming. But he was just in front of her a second ago. No one could move that fast!
"Oh-hohoHO!"
Azula felt it cut her, and she fell to the ground, her eyes losing focus. No one touched her like that, no one could beat her in a fair fight. This was - this was inconceivable. "How dare you!" she retorted, getting to her feet. "I'll make you pay for that!"
"Azula's angry," Yue observed.
"Calm down!" Katara shouted, "He's going to eat you alive!"
"She isn't listening," Yue further bemoaned, "Oh, this is just dreadful. What does she mean by this being a fake? I'm positive that's his other self! The spirit and Sokka feel almost identical," she fretted further, since she'd never had her senses fail her before.
It was a kind of all-knowing might that came from being practically a deity. The Moon Spirit saw all, watched all, and so there were very few illusions that would get by - in fact, she would shyly admit, she was the one more likely to cause illusions than be tricked by them.
As Azula's gusts of wind blew out a brazier and cast the room into further darkness, and the other Sokka brought his fans down upon her, she suddenly noticed something she hadn't before.
For the briefest of moments, she could sense not one fake Sokka, but two.
"She's right. This is all wrong," Yue murmured.
"What is it?" Katara asked. Zuko and Toph rushed in at the other Sokka, Toph shot out square and L shaped blocks at him, and Zuko's swords seemed to slice clean through him. The next moment, they both fell to the ground.
"Nearly simultaneously, no one is that fast - we're only seeing one, but there are others. At least three," Yue said, "I'm certain of that. They must be able to hide themselves somehow - but I don't understand how!"
Azula's gusts of winds interrupted Yue's concentration, throwing another corner of the room into darkness as the lights were blown out. The other Sokka just laughed haughtily, and lured Azula closer. She was walking right into a trap and - Katara struck first, forcing the other Sokka's hand. "No way, you're not going to ambush Azula."
"Don't make me hurt you," he sneered in a falsetto.
"Oh, I'd like to see you try."
"Katara, out of the way. I know what I'm doing," Azula retorted.
"Azula, he's not alone!" she said, "There are others all over, at least three, probably more."
"I don't care!" Azula retorted, "This fool needs to learn that no one disgraces Azula Houou and gets away with it."
For not the first time since she entered the maze, Azula missed her firebending. She'd sear that lesson into his flesh that way, which seemed altogether satisfying, though possible impossible if the rest of his body was made of porcelain.
A sound of broken porcelain - behind her? But he was in front of her. Something didn't add up. The attack came from her side, though, knocking her to the ground. She felt a heavy boot on her stomach. "Stupid girl. I can't believe how arrogant you are, thinking you can outthink me. I outsmarted spirits a thousand times more cunning than you!"
"You were almost there, too!" He pressed down hard on her belly, leaving her winded and disoriented. "See how sad you are? I even gave you a hint."
What was he talking about. If only she could push his foot off of her, she could get back at him. What sort of hint could he be talking about? "Get off."
He brandished the fans, "Oh, I don't think so. I'm going to enjoy this."
Toph was the first to respond, "Yeah, right! Eat this!" She kicked an s-shaped block of earth at him, and it collided straight with his face. The porcelain fell to the ground, and an unearthly laugh emitted, distorted and yet, still horribly haughty.
"Oh-HOhOhoHo!"
Another porcelain mask appeared to replace it as he brought his hands up to his face, "That was the best you could do, Toph?"
Toph hesitated, "Oh, I'll show you what else I can do!"
"Toph, don't!"
Yue's warning came too late. Just as Toph began to charge at him, he shifted. Almost like he'd never left, and yet, Toph's body rose up into the air like she'd just been struck. The briefest sensation of relief was fleeting as a waking dream. Yue fretted.
"Who's next? Zuko?" Sokka waved his bladed fans around, "Katara? I'm waiting. I mean, I can wait all day, but I don't think 'zula's got the time. That right, 'zula?"
"Shut up," Azula said, "If you even try it, you'll be dead."
The other Sokka's face changed to one more perplexed, "Will I?"
Zuko and Katara stood transfixed. Neither one seemed to be moving a muscle. "That's right, you will." Zuko exchanged a glance with Katara, who only nodded. A quiet agreement. Wait and see, she told him, Azula seemed to have things in hand.
Which remained as frightening as when it had been her as the enemy.
The other Sokka looked at his fans, and then frowned, "I doubt it."
Azula tensed her body. She hadn't had time to test the theory, since she only came up with it a second ago, but the principle was sound, at least, from what she'd observed with Toph. All she had to do was let him push her down.
As he readied his blades, she could feel her body push against the earth. She refused to move. The earth would have to instead.
And she'd do everything in her power to make sure it hurt him when he pushed again.
Blades glimmering in the dimming firelight, a momentary sense of understanding, and then the sound of the earth rebelling against the force pushed upon it, the other Sokka's helm and mask were entirely smashed by the explosion of blocks that sounded as Azula pushed herself down.
He reeled and crumpled like a ragdoll. And then, there only momentarily, was gone.
"That was not very nice."
The anger on his face was evident, and he looked none the worse for wear. He stepped forward, and Zuko's swords came up to him. The blades repelled him, but Zuko wouldn't stop. They parried and struck each other in a complex framework of blade strikes masquerading as dance steps. Zuko struck, which was dodged, and then Zuko in turn dodged the other Sokka's strike. This repeated across the floor, until Zuko's blade struck true, and yet, as the image faded, it was clear that the whole time, Sokka had been behind him.
"No!" Toph struck first, preventing the bladed fans from touching Zuko. She threw a punch and then slammed a spire of earth around his back.
As the other Sokka repelled the attack, his attention turned to Azula. Katara insisted on looking her over for any more cuts, and Azula didn't have time for that. "We need to get those lights."
"Azula, you're not thinking straight."
"I am," she said with wild eyes. "Those lights are the source."
"I thought you weren't a fan of darkness."
Azula grumbled, "Don't think I'm happy about this!"
Katara sighed, "Okay, I'll get the lights on the far side." Azula nodded, turning back to the task of blowing out the lights. She heard Zuko grunt as his blades cut through thin air again, and glanced over her shoulder.
Golden bladed fans coming in fast, she thought, rather sedately even by her own admission, he was getting a bit nervous about what she was doing.
That was good. That she could work with. She ducked under the attack and spun around, letting the winds build up around her as she did. If he was going to interrupt her, she may as well use him to get this done quicker.
The room was dimming on the other end, with the tired hiss of flames being extinguished by water. Katara remained focused on her task, and tried to ignore the feeling that Sokka's other self was avoiding her for some reason.
In fact, she wouldn't be standing if it wasn't for him.
Another brazier extinguished, another question for another time. Azula was taking her time on her end. She hurried towards them. Another light dimmed, and then another. Azula ducked and dodged around the other Sokka's strikes expertly, and her moves all threw attacks directly at the braziers around the room.
"I noticed you stopped laughing," Azula taunted.
"Oh be quiet, you harpy!" he answered in shrill falsetto. He'd caught on, and now she was having difficulty reaching that last corner of the room. He knocked her down with a kick and drew up the bladed fans.
Zuko rushed in, swords flashing in the dying light. The other Sokka's fans collided with the swords, and grunted, angrily, "And you, too, Zuko?"
"You're ticking me off," Zuko retorted. "Stand still!"
Azula leapt to her feet, "Keep him busy, Zuko. I need to finish this, now." She broke into a run, ignoring the other Sokka calling her to stop.
Zuko didn't really want to think about how he'd pin down someone who appeared to teleport. He'd have to improvise. "Hitting a girl, Sokka? You sunk to a new low," he grinned.
The other Sokka frowned, the fragments of porcelain falling from his face to the ground. "You have no idea what you're about to see."
Azula leapt up and descended with a large whirlwind around her, the flames flickered as the winds Azula grinned as they flickered out, covering the room in darkness. Now she was going to find out just what the trick was.
Yue screamed.
She was hoisted up off the ground, a nearly invisible string wrapped around her.
"Yue!" Azula rushed over, leaping through the air to sever the line. What was going on! This was supposed to clear things up!
"Azula, look out," Yue called out. Azula turned around. Two of him - there in plain sight, moved towards her, their fans moving strangely through the air, like their arms were being moved from somewhere else. She looked up.
The ceiling writhed, hands holding onto bundles of strings that moved them like marionettes. Hanging at the center of the room, arms jutting out from his back, a more grotesque and monstrous version of the other Sokka hung. The arms seemed to all be attached to the writhing hands, each of them working the strings of a marionette.
His make-up was yellowed and ancient, the red was faded almost to nothing, and the lemniscate on his helm had been broken. You could see through the make-up to the other side of the helm, and that alone was disturbing, especially with those red points of light making up his eyes.
"This is the spirit's true form," Azula frowned, "The rest of this time we were getting beat up by puppets? How - how embarrassing."
"Just point me at him so I can beat him up!" Toph shouted. The other Sokka's feet dangled just above the ground, rendering him mostly invisible to Toph. When it spoke, it spoke in a deep, inhuman voice - and yet it still seemed to be affecting a falsetto. The resulting noise was, at least by Azula's admission, disturbing. But that may just be the feeling of standing in darkness, where the walls and floor just disappeared into emptiness, and that feeling came over her again.
"I am the true self!" The sword he held - if held were the right word for the thing jutting out of his arm - was black on black, nearly invisible if not for the gleam of red from the light coming from his eyes. "Just because you managed to see past my trap, don't think you've won."
The marionette Sokka's moved back to life as the arms started to move violently, shifting the entire weight of his body with them. There were many of them, each wearing a different expression on their faces. They moved in on Azula like a small army.
Zuko felt wires wrapping around his ankles and soon was hoisted upside down. He swung his blades around at the cords and found himself falling to the ground in short order. More and more wires shot out of the lingering hand.
Its gnarled fingers wriggled as the wires wrapped around his arms and flung him up into the air. Another hand awaited him, clenched into a fist. It rushed towards Zuko. Zuko grunted and shoved his head forward.
Fist collided with skull. Skull came out the victor.
The other-Sokka seemed entirely too unconcerned with that. The marionettes moved precisely, amazingly coordinated all at once. He brought up his arm, the edge of his blade shining brightly. And then he brought the blade down.
It collided with the large block of stone that was fired straight at him.
"Shouldn't have spoke up, bozo, I can find you just fine."
The other-Sokka's face had an empty, lifeless smirk on it. "I bet you can." He motioned with one of the massive, gnarled hands for her to come. "Bring it."
He stepped on the ground, and Toph smirked, "Got you right where I want you." She let the earth underneath him start to sink, and with her next movement, stepping forward with apparent care, she sent a rising spine of rocks over towards him.
He moved through the air like he was flying, suspended by the giant arms that shot out of his back unnaturally. The giant sword rose up. "No way!" Toph said, bringing a barrier of stone up in front of her.
The sword collided and shattered the barrier, but he reeled far, leaving himself unable to follow up immediately. Toph moved back, kicking up big earth walls and shooting them out at him.
Katara thought, all in all, it looked very impressive, but she couldn't figure out why he was ignoring her. He could easily have assigned some of the marionettes to her, or maybe wrap her up in wire like he was trying to do with Zuko - though Zuko seemed to be managing out of them by himself with surprising ease - or even focusing on her himself, along with Toph. She had a water whip at the ready, and she slowly approached him.
She wondered if maybe, just maybe, he hadn't noticed her? She had to make this strike count. If she could just break his concentration it would all coming falling down like a house of cards. She knew this, because she was his sister, regardless of how terrible and monstrous this thing was.
She readied the whip. He was almost in range and - he looked straight at her. He knew she was there, and yet, there was no move made to stop her. "What -"
"Katara, do something!" Azula shouted from the mess of marionettes. Their sharp fans seemed to sail just by her.
Toph focused on the defensive while Zuko wormed his way out of another set of wires and made a break towards Yue. "Right. Just, something, fine," she said. She figured Toph, despite her pride, was in the most trouble, so she let loose the water whip, turning it solid ice as it collided.
The blow hit the other-Sokka clean in the face. He raised it back up and focused on her.
Now she was in for it. "Don't make me hurt you, sis."
"Sokka -"
"I want to savor that," he said with a low, growling tone.
Katara frowned "You want to fight me alone?" She smiled. This was her chance. "Fine. You and me. Just like old times, right?"
The other Sokka paused, letting Zuko cut loose Yue and looking over at the marionettes piled on top of Azula. "Make sure no one interferes, or they won't even see the blade."
"What are you doing, Katara!" Toph shouted, "First off, I had him, second off, what are you thinking, he's going to murder you."
"I got it, Toph," Katara assured her, though the quiver in her voice did not go unnoticed. "Just stay calm."
"Like - ugh, fine, Sweetness, if you get yourself cut in half, you won't hear me crying."
The marionettes withdrew and Zuko's blade lowered as the wires stopped coming after him. The other-Sokka smiled lifelessly at all of them.
"What's going on?" Azula shouted, "Why are you taking him on alone?"
"Don't worry," Katara said, "I've got this. You can't hog the spotlight all the time, Azula."
She drew the water up from the pool in the center of the room. It was dark like the shadows, but it felt no different from any other watersource she'd used. She prepared herself. "Getting scared? Can't abscond, sis."
Formatting 90% complete... estimated time remaining... 20 minutes...
"I wasn't planning on running," she retorted. "I'm just getting ready." Not that she had much time, she thought, glumly.
"Well, whenever," he said, sitting in mid-air. He waved the sword arm around boredly, "Though it'll be over before you even act."
Azula wished he would shut up. Toph wished Katara wasn't being so stupid. Zuko just wanted this to be over with.
And Katara, Katara brought the water up around her like the tendrils of an octopus. "Okay, Sokka. Bring it." The marionettes rushed first. Katara kept her focus. They all moved close, but none of their blades touched her. She kept perfectly still. If she flinched, she'd miss it.
The actual hit - it would come from - yes, behind her. She turned the tendril lashing out and deflecting his arm. He was still relying on misdirection. Typical Sokka, act like a complete idiot when he was only a partial one.
He reeled with the deflected attack, but swung back, his sword at the ready. Katara leapt back. After all she'd been through, dealing with this shouldn't have been quite as uncomfortable as it was. Lash after lash, it would leave welts if she thought this imposter Sokka had any flesh to welt.
Instead, he seemed to move side to side like he was riding some amusement park ride, and that unchanging smile did little to dissuade that illusion.
The groping fingers descending from the ceiling, however, did.
The other-Sokka grinned, readying his sword with incredible flourish. The water splashed harmlessly where Katara was standing as she was lifted up to the ceiling.
"Katara!" Toph shouted, getting ready to run out.
Azula's hand fell on her shoulder, and she tightened her grip, "No. Katara has this under control."
"Yeah, right! She's one person against an evil Sokka with like a really big sword!"
"I must agree with Toph, this one is much stronger than I anticipated," Yue said, "She's not going to do much on her own, Azula."
"She'll be fine," Azula answered, "Isn't that right, Zuzu?"
Zuko looked over at the mention of his nickname and scowled, "What are you talking about?"
"Katara. She's going to be just fine, isn't she?"
He shrugged, "Probably. Sokka's little trick isn't going to work."
"How can you say that," Toph grumbled, "Maybe my being blind is sort of messing with this? Enlighten me, oh wise President Zuko."
Zuko grumbled, "Fine. Katara's a waterbender, and a good one. She wouldn't have let that stance break for anything. She's playing a gambit."
The other-Sokka stepped forward, readying the sword to skewer her.
"And for all his brains," Zuko said, "Sokka's ego doesn't let him do anything that isn't big."
He slid his feet into a wide stance.
"And Katara's the one person who knows that better than anyone."
His feet kept sliding. "What the - Katara!" That low grumble got even deeper as he fell of his feet and was pulled back by the long arms, the wood struts that reinforced them bounced. "Not bad, Katara, not bad at all."
He dropped her and then moved forward, his arms propelling him through the air. "Too bad it isn't enough!"
Katara raised the ice off the ground, letting it return to water and she prepared to face his charge head on. "I hope she knows what she's doing," Zuko muttered.
"Now Zuko's not so sure about this. Azula, can't we do something?"
Azula shook her head, "She's got him where she wants him. He thinks he's setting the speed of the match, but he's not. Katara's been reacting to every change of pace too well." The strike sailed through the air as Katara ducked to the side, letting the water solidify as he sailed through it. "She's been anticipating it. It's like if I had to fight you again, Zuzu, I just know you too well."
"Like that worked out well last time," Toph scoffed.
"I'm afraid I don't follow."
"Oh, right, memory blanking."
She sighed. One of these days she'd figure out every little detail they were talking about. Right now, she was too busy watching the other-Sokka react to the ice that had wrapped around him. He broke free, and tore at his face to remove fragments from his eyes.
Katara struck with a series of ice lances. One went right through the sword arm, detaching it at the elbow. The others went after the large arms controlling the marionettes. They stuck inside the narrow, skinny bits of flesh-like material, and did little but cause him irritation.
Well, obviously she was still experimenting with that part of the equation, Azula reasoned, but she had faith in Katara. Which disturbed her more than anything, actually, but she wasn't about to let that show.
"You know, sis, this has been fun, but I think it's high time I get to finishing you."
He looked at where the sword arm had once been, and frowned, "Oh, I see. Very clever." He looked over at where the sword dropped. The arm was missing, but the sword, hilt and all, looked perfectly normal on the ground. He frowned. "There's something I forgot to tell you, Katara. I'm not left-handed."
"Oh, I figured that out," Katara said.
Sokka waved his left hand about, vaguely, "I'm a little more omni-dextrous. I'd explain the joke to you, but you wouldn't get it."
"Katara, above you!" Yue shouted.
The hands fell down, some of them far too short, and the grunt of irritation from the other-Sokka indicated that it wasn't for want of trying, but most of them came awful close. Katara just ran through the empty spaces and launched a wave of water at the other Sokka.
The massive hunch of his back from exerting so much force made it so he couldn't respond in time, and the water washed over him with enough force to push his back to the ground. The resounding thud was loud, and it startled the captive audience.
"She did it?" Toph sounded incredulous.
Azula smirked. She wouldn't have expected any less. Waterbending, with her brief crash course on it, focused on reaction instead of control, and Sokka, whatever good there was to say of it aside, was always trying to control every variable. Katara just had to see, react, and turn that control on its head.
In a lot of ways, Sokka hadn't stood a chance. Idly, she wondered if perhaps all of their styles had some manner of counter. It wouldn't surprise her, and when she had time, she made a note to discover hers and remove it.
Katara for her part, chose to react. As soon as he hit the ground, the long arms along his back came crashing to the ground. The wood poles attached to them clattered as they touched the ground. He groaned angrily, and slowly pulled himself to his feet, even as more of the arms fell around Katara.
"Katara!"
He tried to lift one of the arms, the marionettes that laid crumpled on the ground rising up with it, their fans at the ready. Katara turned as soon as she heard the noise of the armored dresses scraping against each other, the water she held at the ready lashing out in a wide arc.
The first reeled back, throwing the arm wildly out of shape, but the next came through and struck her. The razor edge left a long, straight reminder on her arm, and she pushed back. The other-Sokka didn't seem at all pleased.
"Not bad," she said. Water wrapped around her arm and shimmered. When it dropped, the cut was gone.
"I won't have you emasculate me like this!" he hissed, launching himself up onto his feet and charging. The marionettes moved behind her, and the other hands were brought to the ready. Katara turned on her heel, and struck out against the marionette-Sokkas. The fists collided with her as the ice wrapped one of the puppets up, and she shrieked in pain.
"I was afraid of this," Zuko said, "He's getting serious."
"So, we jump in?"
"Not yet," Azula said, looking anxious, "Not yet."
"Come on, even you can't want to watch Katara get steam-rolled by this thing!"
"She can beat him," Azula responded.
"Maybe," Zuko added.
"Oh dear. Oh dear," Yue repeated to herself.
The arms didn't immediately continue their pummeling. They were too long, too lanky to really control. It took time for them to move into position, and the frustration at this was obvious in the grunts and mild curses the other-Sokka grumbled. The arms were built for puppeteering, to be puppet-master behind the assault and not the agents.
The marionettes, though their numbers were dwindling, still moved with enough speed and coordination that Katara was beginning to grow distracted. "Come on, Sokka, playing with toys, still?" she grunted as she cut one loose of its strings with a narrow strip of water.
The other Sokka didn't respond. He was too busy searching for where the sword landed.
"Sokka?"
She turned around, taking a kick to her stomach the hurt a bit more than she expected. She saw him searching, and knew exactly what he was looking for.
"We need to get that sword," Azula said, realizing exactly what was happening, "If he gets it back, Katara's back to square one."
"And that's bad."
"That's really bad, now that he's focused," Azula continued. "He's not going to try for the big finish, he's just going to stab."
"That's probably right."
How the tide of battle turned on her, Katara wasn't sure, but when she saw Zuko and Toph running for the sword, she felt a bit of relief, as well as a knot tighten in her stomach. How Sokka would react to this would be - well - it'd be interesting, at any rate.
"Sokka!" she called, "I said I find it embarrassing as your sister to see you playing with dolls!"
That got his attention.
He stumbled over, the weight of the arms slowing him down considerably. "What was that?" he asked in his low, grumbling, and yet strangely feminine voice.
"You heard me."
He let out an unintelligible scream and came at her with his long arms. The attacks came down like a rain of blows, and Katara reacted, moving through them, attacking those she could. The arms landed on the ground when severed and laid there like long poles in the mud, only, these poles had strange, almost claw-like appendages still attached.
Which was all the more disturbing. Katara ignored that and just focused on Sokka. He looked lopsided. The arms on his one side outweighed the ones on his other, and the lack of balanced also seemed to bring with it a hesitance. He pulled back his attack and started to fumble backwards.
He looked around, desperately, and saw that Toph had grabbed the sword. "Katara!" she said, "Here!" She threw the sword across the ground towards Katara.
"What am I supposed to do with it?" Katara shouted back.
"Azula said to give it to you, so I did. You're going to have to ask her what her brilliant plan is."
That wasn't going to happen, Katara glumly thought. Even if her pride let her ask, she knew Azula would just look at her like she were some manner of imbecile.
The important thing about a sword that she knew was that the pointy end goes in the bad guy. Well, she wasn't going to get in close enough like this. She needed to make an opportunity. She picked it up. She bended the water up into a wave over top her, she could feel droplets falling on her head, and the could see the other-Sokka unsure of what to do.
"Oh no," he grumbled. "This isn't going to be pleasant."
"Yeah, no kidding," Katara retorted, washing the wave down on him. She bended the water around him, letting it slowly solidify. The arms were held at uncomfortable angles, and his feet dangled above the ground.
He struggled to get free.
"Now!" Azula shouted from the sidelines, but Katara didn't need Azula's commentary.
She ran forward with the sword and brought it down in an awkward and slow slash.
"No!" The other-Sokka's scream echoed as the darkness subsided. Around them, the wave of deletion seemed to stop, just short of the room they were in. The eight-bit pixels seemed to brighten, they looked almost cheerful.
The monstrous other-Sokka faded into the darkness as well, leaving only the princess behind. And Sokka woke up with a start. He came face to face with the buzzing deletion wave. "Whoa, what just happened -"
The other-Sokka stared at him and broke down into a fit of tears.
"Oh, oh man, it happened didn't it?" he said.
Katara just stared at him and sat down. She breathed heavily. "Sokka, remember when we used to fight and Dad would throw a fit?"
Sokka blinked, looking her over, "You look like you went ten rounds with a boar-q-pine."
"You could put it that way."
"I can't ever win, no matter what I do!" the other-Sokka cried out, "I just keep losing!"
"Oh, right, you - I know you, now," Sokka said, lamely. "Okay, let me just get my words together. I'm pretty bad at this when it counts."
"Just hurry up, there's no telling how long this place will continue to exist!" Azula snapped.
"Right, right. Look, me," he said, sitting by the sobbing Princess Sokka, "I know we made some big mistakes, and, well, I wasn't the best person to my friends all the time, either. I know you're me, now, and I know why I created you. I don't know how many times I kept thinking about the Solstice. Aang gave up everything to save us, and I kept thinking, maybe if I went back to this point, or did something different back then, he'd be here now."
He sighed, "But life doesn't work that way. You can't just go back to a save-point and make that other decision, so I've got to live with the consequences. Aang seemed like he knew the whole time just what he'd have to do - I can't just blame myself for not knowing back then what I do now. It's just making things all complicated."
The other-Sokka looked at him with wide eyes and nodded, slowly.
As he disappeared, so did the room they were in. It seemed like they were floating around in space, again, and in the distance, against the white light, a door appeared. Sokka looked down at his uniform and sighed, "Guess I'm back to being just Sokka, Normal Guy."
"Oh thank you!" Yue said, happily, "I have my modesty back!"
Katara stood up, and shook her head, "Oh, Yue." She walked over to Sokka, "Hey, big brother, you forgot this."
"My sword!" he said, eyes widening, "You found it!"
"You tried to stab me with it - the other you - pretty badly, too."
"Were you praying alone in an ancient city?"
"Not that I knew of," Katara added, quietly. What was he talking about?
"Then you were probably safe," he said. "So! Let's go and - whoa that's catching up with me."
"Let's get back into the maze," Azula said. "Zuko, help Sokka stand, I don't think we're getting very far with him on his feet."
"Whatever," Zuko muttered.
"Whatever? What happened to my amenable and friendly big brother?" Azula asked. He just glared at her. She probably deserved that one.
And as they walked towards the door, Azula turned back and noticed that above the plain of white, in pixelated letters that cast a shadow on the ground, was written: You Win. Thank You For Playing.
"Of course," she said, smirking. She always won.
"... Needless to say, my ego was returning in full. By this time, I think I was beginning to view myself not just as a temporary replacement for Aang, but his successor. It was a dangerous line of thought, and I think it began to seep into how I led the group, just a bit. I was more draconian, more imperial.
I could see it was beginning to grate on Zuko. I didn't think anything of it. Zuko hated authority that wasn't his own. Father issues, doubtlessly, rooted from our father's brilliant parenting. Even I, his beloved daughter, could see that as a father, President Ozai was not particularly skilled. Still, for the longest time, he was the only parent I had - or the only one I cared to admit, anyway...
Which is why it shouldn't have been so surprising what came next. In fact, I was surprised it took so long. We'd soon discover the next door, and I would soon be forced to confront the reality that I was not only mortal, but I was also only -
- even now it's hard to admit -
- Human."
To be continued
Author's Note: Two days late, but certainly not a dollar short. I think this is safe to say the longest chapter I have for the story. A two phase boss-fight, a showdown, and set-up for the next arc, all of which I was tempted to split down the middle, but, I think the chapter works best as a whole. There are only two or three more mini-arcs before the finale, too, which is exciting. I hope to reach that point before July 6th, but that's seeming more and more unlikely.