As Sozin's Comet flies over the sky, its red energy destroys the clouds in its path. While the comet passes through Zuko and Katara make their way to the Fire Nation palace ready to face the enemy.
The young woman looks over at the prince "Zuko, don't worry, we can take Azula." She said even though she was not too thrilled about facing her lover
"I'm not worried about her, I'm worried about Aang. What if he doesn't have the guts to take out my Father ? What if he loses?" He said having his doubts
"Aang won't lose. He's gonna come back. He has to." Looking away "He's the only one who can end this war and bring peace to all of us." She thought
Meanwhile back at the Fire Nation palace Azula sits in the royal spa making sure the servants get her ready for her coronation. Still thinking of the second voice that comes and goes in her head, she reminds herself that she can't trust anyone in her home.
She pops a cherry in her mouth but bites down on something and spits it out "What am I holding?"
The servant looks "A cherry pit, Princess."
"Correct. And what day is this?" she asked
She puts her head back down "It is the day of your coronation."
"Yes, it is. So please, tell me why on the most important day of my life you decided to leave a pit in my cherry ?" she asked throwing the pit at her
"It wasn't a decision. It was just a small mistake." The servant said quietly
Azula is bothered by this "Small? Do you realize what could have happened if I hadn't sensed the pit in time ?"
"I supposed you could have….choked" the servant said timidly
"Yes. Then you will understand the severity of your crime." The princess said sternly
The servant bows "I understand, Princess. Please, forgive me."
"Oh very well since this is a special day, I will show mercy. You are banished. Leave this palace immediately." She looks back at the servants "What are you all looking at? I have two feet that need scrubbing. And make sure you get in between the toes. I won't have my first day as Fire Lord marred by poor foot hygiene." The princess stated
Once she was done with her spa care she went to her room lying on the bed looking at the ceiling. "Smooth, real smooth" she sits up a bit surprised "what do you want now?" she asked/demanded "I want nothing more than to be free but I cant." She gave a skeptical look "free?" "Yea you know freedom, able to do shit out of this body"
The princess was confused by that statement "Why don't you leave?" "Can't I'm you, just trapped" raising a brow in question "trapped?" "Never mind that I'll explain later. Tell me why you banished that servant?" the second voice asked"Because she could have killed me. I can't trust her or anyone else like you said" "Okay, I think your taking this a little too far. Do you really want to know who you can't trust?" that got the princess attention "Who?"
"Here let me give you a little piece of 'proof' so to speak" Azula closed her eyes and sees flashes of her memory come to life. The only thing she sees it the Earth Kingdom symbols and men wearing rock made gloves. She quickly opens her eyes and frowns deeply "The Dai Li" she gets up and walks out of her room.
Minutes later she sits on the Fire Lords throne and instead of the normal flames her father uses she uses blue flames. Reason being is to remember those blue eyes that she keeps seeing in her mind. She sits patiently thinking of a way to get rid of the people she can't trust. Then she sees the Dai Li walking in.
The agents kneel before her "You sent for us princess? is everything alright?" the first one asked
"Actually, everything's not alright. Do you know how long it took you to get here?" the princess asked
"Uhh few minutes I guess" he answered
"Five to be precise in which time an assassin could have snuck in, done away with me and been on his merry way." She stated
"My apologies princess"
"Is this how you plan to treat your new Fire Lord? With tardiness and disloyalty?" she asked
"The Dai Li would never betray you." Quickly speaking the lie
Her lips turned into a scowl "And I'm sure that's just what you told Long Feng before you turned against him and joined me." She paused looking at them "You're all banished!"
All the Dai Li looked up in shock "But…"
"Goodbye." She said watching them walk away "Please send in the next group on your way out." She asked
Meanwhile hovering over the ocean was the Fire Nation airships waiting to attack. Little did they know that one airship cabin from the outside was about to be taken over. Sokka and Suki slowly walk towards the door and put their backs to the wall next to the door. Sokka made a quiet sound and Toph walked up to the door.
Inside the cabin they hear a knock from the door. On the last knock, the door is knocked down by Toph kicking it then she falls forward on to the fallen door and rolls, using metal bending to cover the metal door all around her body like armor. A fire blast hits Toph, but she's still standing, the captain looked surprised. He sends another fireball at Toph, but she rolls backwards avoiding the attack then in the same movement kicks her leg into the air, bending a sheet of metal the captain was standing on up on the ceiling.
One of the firebenders shoots at Toph, who shields herself with the metal plates on the floor. Sokka and Suki both dodge to the sides of the door, avoiding the fire blast that was sent at Toph. The earthbender jumps up from behind her shield and kicks to the side, bending a large metal pipe from the ceiling and sends it towards the firebender pinning him to the wall. She swings her leg to the other side and bends another part of the metal from the floor up at another firebender who was about to attack but is pinned to the other wall.
Then she springs upwards now clinging to the ceiling. She crawls towards the front of the cabin. The last firebender shoots at Toph but misses. She jumps down from the ceiling behind him. He swings his arm around to catch Toph with an attack, but she blocks his arm with her metal covered arm. He holds his forearm painfully. Then Toph delivers a straight punch to his face.
Sokka and Suki watch as he flies through the door and hits the wall. They look in to see if the cost was clear and walk in. Toph peels the metal from around her head then quickly sheds the rest of the makeshift armor off her body.
"That's how it's done." The young fighter said proudly
"Good work, Toph. Time to take control of the ship. Take the wheel." He said smiling
"That's a great idea! Let the blind girl steer the giant airship." She said sarcastically
"I was talking to Suki." He stated
"That would make a lot more sense." She said
Suki walks up and takes the wheel "What are we going to do about the rest of the crew ?"
"Take us down closer to the water. I've got an idea." He grabs a speaker connected to a tube and speaks differently "Attention crew, this is your Captain speaking. Everyone please report to the bomb bay immediately for hot cakes and sweet cream. We have a very special birthday to celebrate."
The crew stops what they are doing and starts to gather into the bomb bay. Once there they stood around waiting for the so called special birthday to begin. Little do they know that they were standing right above the ocean.
"Hey. I'm Quin Lee, I work up in communications." Said a firebender
"Oh hi, I work down in the engine room. That's probably why we've never met before. Big airship, you know " the engineer said
The firebender shrugs "Huh"
"Yep" looks away
"So, do you know whose birthday it is?" he asked the engineer
Then another firebender walks up to them happily "I can't believe the Captain remembered my birthday! He really does care." Right after he said that the floors opened and they fall into the ocean
Once the engineer comes up he sees the firebender "Happy Birthday."
Sokka looks out the window staring at the main ship "Fire Lord Ozai, here we come." Then grabs the throttle and pushes it forward
Back at the Fire Nation palace Azula sits on the throne leaning against one of the pillars. She hears footsteps and looks off to the left spotting Lo and Li
Li speaks up "Azula, we heard what happened. Why have you banished all your servants ?"
"All your Dai Li agents ?" Lo asked
"And the Imperial firebenders ?" Li questions
"None of them could be trusted. Sooner or later, they all would have betrayed me. Just like Mai and Ty Lee did." the prodigy said "What the fuck! No they didn't. How do you even remember that?" "Shut up its none of your damn concern" her thoughts cut off by the twins.
"Azula, we are concerned for you and your well-being." They both said at the same time
She glares at the twins "My Father asked you to come here and talk to me, didn't he ?" she asked standing up "He thinks I can't handle the responsibility of being Fire Lord. But I will be the greatest leader in Fire Nation history." "Ox-bull shit!"
Lo spoke "I'm sure you will. But considering everything that has happened today"
"Perhaps it's best you postponed your coronation." Li said finishing her sister's sentence.
"What ! Which one of you just said that ?" Azula asked angrily only to see Lo and Li pointing at each other "What a shame. There's only one way to resolve this. You two must duel each other. I order you to fight an Agni Kai." She demanded
Lo looks at her sister then back at Azula "But"
"We're not firebenders." The twins spoke
"Alright, fine." She points at Li "Lo, you're banished." Points at Lo "Li, you can stay." Then walks off
"But I'm Li. So who's banished ?" she asked only getting a shrug from her twin sister.
As Azula walks off into her room again not knowing what to do next. She gets an unexpected visitor.
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" The princess frowns "Nothing is wrong with me, I am perfect just the way I am. So shut up." "What you're doing is wrong. This isn't the real you" the second voice said "Yes it is, it's perfect. You're not the real one you are not right in my father's eyes" "Fuck your father he didn't do shit for you; he treated you like shit!" Azula held her head with both hands "Shut up you don't know that!" she nearly shouted "Yes I do! I'm you and I know what he has done to you! Fuckin think Azula think!" "NO SHUT UP!"
"REMEMBER WHO YOU TRULY ARE DAMN IT!" Azula squeezed her eyes tightly holding her head "SHUT UP!" shooting large blue flames from her mouth hitting the roof of her bed room. She breathed heavily with her eyes open then she looked up seeing a large black scorch mark on the ceiling.
She walks out her room and goes somewhere else. As she walked out she couldn't help but wonder was the second voice right or was it a lie. She shook her head and kept walking "No I'm perfect, I am everything my father wants me to be. And he loves me for that." She walks into another room.
Azula stands in front of a large mirror. She starts to fix up her hair and pulls it into a top knot. She takes a red ribbon and begins to tie it. She looks up at her reflection and sees that her finger is caught in the knot. Frustrated, she yanks her finger out and grabs a pair of scissors from the table next to her.
"Alright hair, it's time to face your doom." She says as she grabs her bangs and cuts them. She grins madly till she heard another voice
"What a shame, you always had such beautiful hair." Her mother said standing behind her
"What are you doing here? " Azula asked
"I didn't want to miss my own daughter's coronation." Ursa said
Azula glared at her mother in the reflection "Don't pretend to act proud. I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster." She said looking away
Ursa looked at her worrying "I think you're confused. All your life you used fear to control people. Like your friends Mai and Ty Lee." She concluded
"But what choice do I have ? Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way." Azula conclude and looked at her imaginary mother "Even you fear me."
"No. I love you, Azula. I do." Her mother spoke softly
Azula closes her eyes remembering those blue eyes. She lowers her head as tears streams down her cheeks. Her grip tightens on her hair brush then she suddenly turns around and angrily throws the brush at the reflection of Ursa, shattering the mirror. She falls to her knees and starts to sob.
Wiping her tears away "No one loves me. Only my father does." She said standing up "He was always there for me as long as I was perfect for him" she looks at herself "That woman ruined my life and so did my mother, they made me imperfect. If I ever see them again I swear I will kill them." And with that she turns around walking out of the room.
Meanwhile Ozai stands on top of a large rock like pillar grinning at his opponent "After generations of Fire Lords failed to find you, now the Universe delivers you to me as an act of providence." He said happily
"Please listen to me. We don't have to fight. You have the power to end it here and stop what you're doing." The young Avatar spoke
"You are right. I do have the power. I have all the power in the World!" he shouted sending large amounts of flames coming out of his mouth and fists.
Aang gets into battle stance ready for anything. After Ozai was done he punches the ground sending his attack to the Avatar but it's easily dodged. Aang earthbends the top of the pillar and throws it at the firebender but Ozai dodges it and launches himself towards the Avatar.
Back at the ceremonial plaza at the palace where the Fire Lord is coroneted; Azula is kneeling at the top of the plaza steps, wearing the Fire Lord robes and with her armor underneath. Behind her are several fire sages. The leader of the sages holds the Fire Lord diadem above Azula's head.
The first sage speaks "By decree of Phoenix King Ozai, I now crown you Fire Lord" he pauses looking up.
"What are you waiting for ? Do it!" she said annoyed then she looks up seeing Appa land.
"Sorry, but you're not going to become Fire Lord today." Zuko said jumping off of Appa "I am."
Azula laughs looking at her brother "You're hilarious."
Katara walks up next to Zuko and spoke "And you're going down." Looking at her lover "what has he done to her? That's not my Azula. It's someone completely different"
Azula's eyes widen seeing Katara blue eyes "You!" she pauses the sage to stop the crowing "Wait." She stands up "You want to be Fire Lord Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni Kai!"
"You're on." Her brother spoke
Katara looks back at him a bit surprised "What are you doing ? She's playing you. She knows she can't take us both so she is trying to separate us."
"I know. But I can take her this time." he said
The young woman starts to worry more "But even you admitted to your Uncle that you would need help facing Azula." She pointed out
"There's something off about her, I can't explain it but she's slipping. And this way, no one else has to get hurt." He said looking at Katara
Azula carefully watches the young waterbender. Katara looks up and makes eye contact with the firebender. Amber and Blue eyes meet; one full of hatred and the other full of sadness. Katara turns around and walks away with Zuko going to the other end of the courtyard.
"Something's wrong. That's not the Azula I know. It's as if she wants to go after me for something." Katara steps away from Zuko watching both firebenders kneel down at the ends of the courtyard. They stayed kneeling for a couple of minutes then Zuko starts to stand and turns around facing his sister. Azula stands as well removing the Fire Lord robes.
"I'm sorry it has to end this way brother." She said dropping her robes
"No, you're not." Zuko said getting into his fighting stance
Azula smiles and assumes a more awkward stance then she spins and thrusts her palm out, shooting a blast of blue flame at Zuko. Zuko brings his hands up, jumps forward, and brings his arms down in front of him, bending two waves of flame in each hand that come together and shoot forward.
Blue and orange flames collide into a wall of fire. As the flames dissipate, Azula leaps forward on a jet of fire and kicks forward, shooting a blast of fire. She performs three spinning kicks, sending out a wave of fire
Katara quickly steps back and shields herself away from the flames. She carefully watches her lover. "Something's not right, it's not her. Her stance is different and so is her firebending" she feels herself get upset "What did that bastard do to her?" flames flash and she shields her eyes.
Then something green catches out of the corned of her eye. She turns looking closely then her eyes widen seeing who it was. It was a Dai Li agent stalking by looking at the fire princess. Something clicks inside Katara and gets upset.
"YOU!" she yells startling the earthbender.
The agent looks at her and quickly runs off. She follows after him as quickly as she could, just as the agent was about to jump over the gate she waterbends a tentacle wrapping it around his body and throwing him against the wall.
She gets into her stance "What did you do to her!" she nearly shouted looking at him
He didn't answer and quickly sends a boulder her way. She dodges it but he quickly sends a flying fist. She uses her water whip cutting it in two and charges after him. He bends an earth wall in front of him but it gets knocked down by a blast of powerful water. The agent is shocked by what he sees and gets into stance sending five boulders her way.
She dodges one by one as quickly as she could. He sends a sixth boulder flying towards her. Katara looks up and tries to jump back from it but she couldn't dodge it in time so she waterbender an ice wall in front of her. The boulder collides with the wall and Katara is sent back falling over onto the floor.
He smirks and was about to send another attack till something took over his arms. They were acting like they had a mind of their own.
"W-What's happening to me?" he asked panicking
Katara looks at him full of hatred. She somehow managed to tap into the bloodbending technique and used it to her own advantage. She moved her hands forward and made him kneel down on the ground.
"I'm what happened to you. Now tell me what happened to Azula?" she demanded
He grunts and grinds his teeth "None of your damn business girl"
She frowns deeply at that and bloodbends his insides "Azula is my business. And you're going to tell me now or suffer more than you could possibly imagine"
He tries to fight the pain but Katara motions her hands making his chest feel tighten as if suffocating him.
"Alright! Alright! I'll talk! I'll Talk! Just please let me go" he said pleadingly
"No! You give me what I want and I'll let you live. Now tell me!" she demanded
"A couple of days ago Fire Lord Ozai ordered us to assist him with perfecting his daughter. All we had to do was immobilize her." His breath hitched feeling his chest tighten more
Katara started to close her fist slowly "Is that all?" she asked coldly
The agent shakes his head and speaks "No we had to make a special marking for her, her father said something about marking her like her brother Zuko."
Katara eyes widen then quickly narrows slowly closing her fist more "IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE?" she yelled
He winces in pain and spoke as quickly as he could "We were ordered to brainwash her to make her perfect for Ozai, we basically whipped out most of her memory. But apparently she's unstable. I was ordered to keep an eye on her no matter what."
"And!" she asked seeing if there was anything else wrong with her lover
"And that's all I swear. Please just let me live." The earthbender pleaded
Katara looks into his eyes staring him down then slowly lets his body go making him fall to the ground "Get out of here before I end you" she said coldly watching him quickly run away in fear.
Back at the Agni Kai battle Zuko punches forwards, releasing a powerful stream of fire. It collides with a stream of blue fire from Azula, both attacks push against each other for a moment before slipping to one side. He continues his blast of fire while keeping enormous blue flames on his other side at bay. He could feel his footing slip so he pivots his foot to strengthen his stance.
Both Azula and Zuko stop their attacks. Azula looks back at the plaza behind her, which has caught on fire from Zuko's attack. She turns back to Zuko. Angry and scared, she charges forward and leaps upward on a blast of fire, which she swings down at Zuko. Just before the attack hits, Zuko spins his body in a circle and thrusts his palms out to the sides, creating a wall of flame that splits the blue fire in half.
The flames die down and Azula is crouching on the ground worried and panting heavily. She grits her teeth and narrows her eyes in determination. Then Zuko punches forward and two immense fireballs are launched at Azula, spiraling and intertwining to create one massive fireball. Azula's eyes widen seeing the large blast heading her way then at the last second she dodges to the right on a jet of blue fire, just narrowly avoiding the fireball.
Azula thrusts herself forward while in the air, rocketing over the ground on jets of fire from her hands and feet. She punches forward twice, launching two huge blue fire blasts. Zuko places his hands near the ground and shoots a blast of fire, thrusting himself into the air and avoiding one of Azula's attacks. Zuko spins around in midair and swings his heel downward, which creates an arc of flame that blocks the second fire blast. As Zuko falls back down, he swings his arms down, creating a blast of fire that destroys a third blue blast of fire.
She flies forward over the ground. She banks to the right, avoiding Zuko's last fire blast. Azula shoots a blast of fire at Zuko and begins to circle him, followed behind by an enormous trail of blue fire left from the streams of fire propelling her. Zuko defends himself by creating a large sphere of fire around him. He then tries to attack Azula with blasts of fire as she circles around him, but she is too fast. He stops shooting fire blasts at Azula and crouches on the ground performing several spinning sweep kicks, creating a powerful ring of fire that expands outward. She tries to stop herself and attempts to block Zuko's attack with a shield of blue fire, but she is too late and it connects.
Azula falls forward and rolls across the ground due to her own momentum, gasping in pain. Azula picks herself up, breathing heavily and hunched over. Her hair has come undone, and she stares at her brother with anger and contempt, baring her teeth.
"No lightning, today? What's the matter ? Afraid I'll re-direct it?" he brother asked a bit cocky
After he said that Katara came back as quickly as she could, she looked over at her lover worried seeing how heavily she was breathing.
"Oh, I'LL SHOW YOU LIGHTNING!" The prodigy shouted and starts to produce her lightning.
She sees her brother get into stance. Once she was done she notices Katara standing right behind him "But first I have to get rid of that little bitch who ruined me" She smirks briefly and then extends her arm and fingertip to the left of Zuko, releasing the lighting at Katara.
Katara stands in fear seeing the lightning head her away "Azula" then she hears something and sees Zuko jumping in front of her.
Zuko extends his finger out and absorbs the lightning in mid leap. Katara watches with shock. Then Zuko hits the ground, letting the lightning escape from his other arm. An enormous bolt of lightning erupts into the sky above, lighting up the entire crater. Zuko lies on the ground, twitching as electricity surges through his body. He groans as he rolls onto his back, holding his chest.
Katara hears the painful groan "Zuko!" "I can't let her kill her brother. She's not a killer" she thought and started running towards him only to be halted by a shot of lightening.
She looks over to her lover seeing her hunched over and swaying from side to side. Azula begins to laugh maniacally and rushes over to the waterbender. Katara's eyes widen in fear and starts to retreats not wanting to harm the firebender in anyway.
Meanwhile back at the battle field where Ozai and the Avatar are fighting at. He approaches Aang quickly grinning. Aang quickly runs across the water using his waterbending but as soon as he hits land he trips. He glances over his shoulder seeing the Fire Lord right behind him then with quickly thinking, he earthbends a protective ball around himself.
Ozai laughs seeing this and slowly walks up to the ball "You're weak! Just like the rest of your people. They did not deserve to exist in this world, in my world. Prepare to join them. Prepare to die!" He lifts both arms up and leans back before smashing both fists into the ball, releasing a powerful blast of fire on impact. Ozai jumps several feet back and charges forward thrusting both fists releasing a blast of fire at the rock.