Oh. No. You. Don't.
Instinct, honed to an edge from years of training kicked in and both siblings reacted. Flames were parted with a piercing shove, forcing it apart and deflecting most of it, sending red, blue, green, purple and gold swirling around them. It was amazing. It was incredible. It was going to kill them.
Wings flapped and moved the fire back towards them, wind and firebending driving it towards them even as fanged maws spewed even more fire. Azula moved through the panic and shifted her arms, narrowing and focusing the funnel keeping death away. It bought a little more time and played the two fires against each other; the two forces now pushing each other aside. Zuko caught on quickly, feeling the shift and matching it.
Dragons were powerful firebenders, easily out matching the best of humans in the sheer quantity of their fire and endurance. They were creatures of fire and might, half-spirit descendants of the first dragon to cross from the Spirit World, overflowing with energy. But they lacked subtlety. Their fire streams lacked the sharp impact used by humans to compensate for the draining effects of prolonged generation of chi-fuelled flames. Less energy reserves forced efficiency on human firebenders.
And a hundred years of war against enduring rock had taught them everything there was was to know about impact.
oOo
These masters of multicoloured fire, had read them and judged them unworthy. She, Azula, Princess and prodigy, wielder of bluefire and lightning, conqueror of Ba Sing Se, unworthy?
She would show them unworthy.
She would make them choke on unworthy.
Azula pushed the fire back and lashed out with a vengeance.
oOo
You. Will. Not. Beat. Me.
Not now.
Not after everything it took to get here.
I won't die here.
Not. Like. This.
You Will Not Touch My Sister!
Hands still shaping the tight block, Zuko charged a tiny, invisible ball of fire between them. And then he pushed.
oOo
The Sun Warriors watched as the dragons breathed fire. At first it had seemed they had decided to destroy, but the swirling fires appeared as they had for Iroh, so they must have been wrong. Only the dragons looked angry... And the swirling flames shifted, and weren't moving upwards...
What was going on?
Whispers broke out and even the chief couldn't keep the baffled expression off his stony face. It soon shifted to a concerned look Ham Ghao had only seen when the Eternal Flame nearly went out that one, dreadful time. What could-
The swirling flames leapt out one side and blue light flashed over them all. Ran collapsed with a choked growl, limbs thrashing and wings jerking. Shaw's fire stream suddenly ceased with a muted thud, smoke and blood spilling out nostrils and slacked jaw as he too collapsed, motionless. Ran finally stilled and her gargled noises followed her into death.
Masters!
oOo
Azula watched the red dragon finally stop moving, and turned to see how Zuko had faired. The blue dragon had vomited up more blood than she had ever seen, at least from one being. From Zuko's stance he had repeated his firebeam form with more success thanks to his practicing. It was even blue this time. Very messy, and very effective. A little too quick and plain for her liking though, a spinning, bladed blast of fire through the throat left just enough life left to watch it fade away into darkness, and the heat seared the wounds as it went. Much cleaner than a wild explosion.
"'Little Dragon Zuzu' doesn't have a quite the right ferocity behind it, perhaps you should get a new name." And she began to laugh. He joined her in the sheer giddy relief. They were alive. They were alive.
They had slain dragons.
And the Sun Warriors weren't looking particularly happy about that.
Well, damn.
oOo
They were... laughing? Ran and Shaw, the last true Children of the Sun, slain by their hands, and they laughed?
What kind of creatures were they?
Demonspawn.
None of his warriors were reacting, and the chief couldn't blame them. Their Masters, their gods, killed by those wielding blue fire. It didn't make any sense. The blue fire was a gift, the third Great Gift. First was the spark within themselves, life and all along with it, given to all. Second was the red Fire outside themselves, and the knowledge to wield it, given to the chosen. Third was the blue fire, legendary power to rekindle the world and so bring new life to dying embers, given to a handful in all of history.
That they should kill the last dragons, Givers of Fire, was beyond insanity.
But then no one ever said Sozin's line was sane. Besides the Fire Nation.
A few tense seconds passed with no one moving while the full impact of what had happened sank in. The Masters were dead, killed by the outsiders. What could they do but attack?
The chief grabbed his spear, lit the sky with a stream of fire from its tip and bellowed his war cry to the Sun before racing up the stairs. Less than half of his men followed him but he did not notice, lost to his grief buried in anger. They climbed the steps many at a time, shouts ringing out and fires flaring to their command.
It was only as they reached the halfway mark that the chief realised he had lead his men up a straight staircase towards those capable of killing the Masters. He started to send his fire, but it was too late.
Twin bolts of lightning struck down in a beautiful tapestry of overlapping blue-white tendrils, and he knew no more.
oOo
The Sun Warriors seemed unsure of what to do, so they waited and caught their breath. They didn't have to wait long. The chief lead some of his men charging up towards them while the rest stayed down. Perhaps they meant to destroy the single pillar holding them up? But why charge in first?
Oh. This wasn't some crafty scheme, it was just some savages rushing in. Simple enough. Azula took her stance and slowly charged her lightning. No need to rush, the staircase was quite long and high. Zuko copied her, slow circular movements, a pause, then release.
Lightning flew, men fell, and tumbled down the stairs. Some fell off the sides to a sickening satisfying crunch on the hard rock ground, but the chief managed to stay where he fell, his forward firebending stance letting him fall on his face.
Those who had remained on the ground broke their circle and fled, returning to whatever hiding place they kept in their ruined city. Either to cower or to return with in force. Not that it mattered much either way.
She turned once more to the red dragon she had slain, and sighed. Such a waste. Why did they have to attack? It was pointless, useless, wasteful, and... damn it all, she wanted a dragon! She inspected it more closely. Female. Maybe...
Azula walked over and looked at Zuko's dead blue dragon. Male. So there might be a chance after all. "Follow me, Zuko. I think they might have left us some presents."
oOo
A/N: Dear anonymous Grottenschlecht, whoever said they won't? I do wish you had account so we could PM, but here we are. I too can't stand how ridiculous this is getting, and will be editing these chapters as soon as I can think of how do go about it. Let me address somethings first though. In canon, Azula can overwhelm and defeat an unrealised Avatar Aang incredibly easily with a smile on her face the whole while. Katara gives her some difficulty, though I think this might be either her faking difficulty to draw Zuko to her aid, or simply because she might not have fought a waterbender before; it's not like there were lots of them running around.
Zuko on the other hand gained an enormous amount of power over the course of the show, even before he met the dragons. And we have seen first hand how quickly talented but untrained benders can become 'masters' with the right teacher and circumstances, just see Katara, or arguably even Aang. Zuko has now had even longer, and with his prodigy of a sister teaching him in an environment where he finally feels accepted and at home. He taught her things too, was accepted back by his father and even taught his father the lightning redirection technique. Basically, things are better now than they have ever been since his mother disappeared. Wow, long A/N. Oops.