CHAPTER RATING: T (Language, Violence.)

A/N:

A note on the labels "Part A/B": I've only done this one other time. The only reason I have to do this is because the two segments of the chapter are so different from each other, but neither is long enough to warrant being a chapter on its own.

With that done...Let's do this!

Chapter 28-A: Cloud 9

The sun was beginning to descend across the orange sky as they neared the island.

"You know, this place is farther than I thought it was." Sokka held his hand over his eyes like a visor while looking at the single landmass. He looked back at Aang and Katara, their faces expressing nothing but pure peace and content. "They're not up yet? Seriously, how long have they been in there?"

"For all we know they could have been going into the Spirit World for weeks!" Toph shouted back.

"What do you think they're doing in there?" Suki asked.

"Fooling around." Toph replied with a blunt tone and broad smile.

"Fooling around?" Suki began moving her hands in front of her. "How do you do that in the Spirit World? I mean, can they-"

"DON'T!" Sokka interrupted with a shriek at the top of his lungs. "Please! Suki, don't. I'd rather not have thoughts of my sister and the Avatar fooling around in the Spirit World! I don't need those thoughts in any world!"

"I'm just saying..." Suki extended her fingers and brought them back into a fist. "How do you...Feel anything?"

Toph snickered, and called the attention of everyone else sitting on the sky bison.

"...What?" She shrugged her shoulders.

"What's so funny?" Sokka asked.

"Well, I just find it hilarious how you find the idea of them just cuddling overbearing, but then..." Toph burst into an uproarious laughter.

Suki and Sokka then looked at each other. Their expressions seemingly has seen the face of death itself.

"...Y-You know...?" Suki whispered.

"Into a little...Roleplaying, are we? 'The weak Fire Nation Spy, and the Kiyoshi Warrior that would do anything to make him talk.'"

The familiar feeling of embarrassment and shame returned to Suki and Sokka.

"HOW DO YOU KNOW?!" Sokka screamed. With her arms crossed, Toph tapped her biceps with one finger.

"You'd be surprised by all the things you can see and hear without your vision." She grinned.

...

"What do you make of them?" Tia whispered to Lin, letting a silent wind carry her words to only his ears.

"We haven't been out of the temples in a long time." Lin answered. Tia looked into his blue eyes. "And I don't ever remember my father being so eccentric as Sokka is."

"They are interesting people indeed." Lin looked towards Tia, her green eyes shining with an orange tint.

"And I don't ever remember mother being as blunt as Toph." She quietly laughed. "But no matter what the Elders taught us about being suspicious of outsiders...I believe that if the Avatar trusts these people, so can we."

"And I'm inclined to agree." He smiled.

...

"Are you sure about this, Aang?" Katara asked with a shaking voice.

"It'll be fine, Katara. He barely even notices us. It'll be just like riding Appa." His hold around her hand tightened, and he learned over a massive cliff, hundreds of feet tall, overlooking a stretch of infinite emerald plains, occasionally interrupted by huge trees whose shadows casted the veil of night onto the grass. Below him, the giant Elephant-Impala. It's body was slender, perfect for sprinting across the open plains, covered in golden fur, it's head was adorned by two giant curved horns, and protruding from the sides of its mouth, long, slender, ivory tusks. The size of the Spirit-Beast made it so that the drop from the cliff to its back was only forty or fifty feet below them.

"Wait." Katara tugged him back. "Remind me again, why are we riding him?"

"Because we want to get over there." Aang pointed to another area of in the distance that looked like a small black spot from where they were standing.

"What's over there?"

"I don't know...Come on, Katara!" He laughed. "This is why it's called exploring!" His grip around her hand tightened. "Don't worry. We're spirits here. We can't get hurt." He leaned over the cliff again, looking at the Elephant-Impala.

"Are you sure about that?"

"..." He shrugged. "Trust me?" He smiled before pulling her forward, and pushing her off the cliff.

"A-Aang!" Katara plummeted to the ground, she screamed with an intensity she didn't think possible. With her eyes closed, she prepared for the worst possible fate.

Then, she felt him again. His laughter easing her fear, with his arms wrapped around her waist, he altered their position in the air, giving them a steady-yet snug landing onto the large beast's back.

She grunted in slight surprise with the landing.

"See? I told you it wouldn't hurt." He smiled. Katara pushed him back and laughed.

"Is this always how you're going to force me to do things I feel uneasy about?" She grinned.

"Only when I'm sure that I'm right." He laughed.

A large groan interrupted their conversation, as they were faced with a giant black eye looking directly at them.

"Humans?" The voice was deep, but more wise and comforting that intimidating. "What are you doing here? And what are you doing on my back?"

"We...uh..*ahem*" Aang cleared his throat, returned to his feet and bowed. "I am the Avatar, and this is my girl-" He froze for a moment, caught off-guard by the redness in Katara's cheeks. "-FRIEND. My friend, Katara." He recovered.

The beast nodded, waiting for him to continue.

"We're sorry to have jumped on you without asking permission first, but...Could you take us over there?"

"Hmm...The Avatar?..." They trembled with anxiety as it paused. "I'd gladly assist you." The old voice came. "Now, hang on." Aang nodded to Katara, and they took hold of each other, and the golden fur of the Elephant-Impala.

It seemed like only a matter of seconds before the small black dot in the distance became its own realm within the Spirit World. They were surrounded by a beautiful shade of eternal blue, looking towards a shoreline, and an ocean that stretched towards the horizon. Amid the thousands of stars that dotted the sky, there was a full moon.

Together they ascended, climbing up onto the Elephant-Impala's crown, and as the great beast lowered its head, they slid down it's massive tusks onto the white sand.

Aang bowed to him again, before he stomped away back into the green plains.

Katara felt strange. She felt a peace within her that she hadn't known before. It was a peace that could wash away all of her past fears. Her eyes were transfixed on the moon, it's light coated the sand with a sapphire tint that matched her eyes.

Aang turned back to see Katara, slowly walking down the shore as if she was possessed. He took slow, alert steps towards her.

"K-Katara...?" She stopped in her tracks, and he continued to advance. He held out a hand, and reached for her shoulder. "Hey...Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She took his hand and eased it off of her shoulder. "It's just...It's the full moon. It makes me feel so..."

"I guess the saying is true, we are all bound by our spirits." He took her hand again, and sat her down onto the sand. "It's so weird." He gazed at his hand around hers. "We're only spirits here, but everything feels..."

"...Real." Katara finished for him.

Side-by-side, they laid next to each other, in silence, the waves crashed against the sand, and not a word was spoken for the longest time.

"Aang?" Katara finally spoke up.

"Yeah?" He replied.

"Would you stay with me here?"

"Of course! I'm right here, aren't I?"

"That's not what I meant." Katara sat up, and looked at him with her soft eyes. In her mind, she wondered if he really understood what she was talking about.

"Well, I'm right here." He answered nervously. "And at some point we need to get back to the physical world because Sozin's Comet is still coming, and I need to stop the Firelord, and then I'll probably have to do other Avatar stuff, and-"

"Aang!" She took his hands into hers. "Will you be with me...When I have to stay here..." His expression softened. "Would you stay with me...Forever?"

The realization hit him, and he looked away. Trying to find an answer. Trying to find the answer that she wanted to hear, and the answer that he wanted to give.

Another silence fell upon them, and Katara's hand loosened with the fear of rejection. But Aang took another tight hold onto her hands.

"I may be the Avatar." He said with a smile. "And I may be reborn, but just like Roku, Kiyoshi, Kuruk, and Yangchen. I do have my own soul. And I'll be right here beside you."

"You promise?" He knew it wasn't true, but he felt as if he could see tears in her eyes.

"...I promise."

...

The same night from the Spirit World had overtaken the Physical World when Aang and Katara opened their eyes, finally returning to their bodies. They opened their eyes, and with blood flooding to their cheeks, gave each other a warm smile.

"What the hell took you two so long?!" Sokka's irritated tone interrupted them. "Don't tell me you spent the last 5 hours, fooling around!"

"I wouldn't be talking about fooling around if I was YOU!" Katara shot back, and once again, the faces of Sokka and Suki lost all blood.

"Why, what's wrong?" Aang asked.

"Look over there." Lin pointed to the walls of Ba Sing Se. Behind those walls there were four stacks of white smoke, evenly spaced around the upper-ring, in the courtyard where they would have landed. "A few weeks back, you said that you were meeting someone here?"

"Yes, we were…What do four fires tell?" Katara asked.

"Four fires. Four white trails of smoke. Death on two fronts. An execution is about to take place." Everyone sat up at Lin's observation.

"Aang. You don't think…"

"Zuko's Uncle would never order an execution. We have to save them."

"Who are we saving?" Tia asked.

Aang took a deep breath. "Prince Zuko, Princess Azula, and their Uncle, General Iroh."

A silence came over the two airbenders.

"What?!" Lin shouted in an outburst. "Excuse me, Avatar. But you are going to risk your very life to save the children and brother of the tyrannical Firelord?! The one who has caused our people to go into hiding for the last one-hundred years?!" A light shockwave came from his hands as he shouted.

"They're not like him. They're different. I've seen it myself."

"I'm sorry, Avatar Aang. But we cannot do that. We cannot save them. Not after what they've done." Tia replied with shame, regret, and hatred in her voice.

"...I understand," He took a deep breath. "If you choose not to come with me, then all you can do is be safe. If I don't return. Go back to the Eastern Air Temple." Aang grabbed his glider, and returned to his feet.

"You don't understand, Avatar! We must keep you safe!" Lin grabbed Aang's robe and pulled him back down. Aang pulled away, breaking Lin's grip around him.

"You don't understand!" Aang turned around. His voice began to rumble. The glow of ten thousand Avatars took him. His eyes flashed, and his tattoos shined, even through Tia's makeup. "When I go in there, I will be keeping you safe."

Their heads sunk in shame as he finished the thought. The glow then faded, and his stone-grey eyes came into view again.

"We apologize." Tia began. "We should have never spoken out of line."

"If everything goes wrong. Just go back to the Eastern Air Temple." Aang jumped over to Appa.

"Wait." Katara called to him. "You're not leaving without me."

"Or us!" Suki shouted with Sokka following behind her.

"Count me in!" Toph shouted and jumped over. She cracked her knuckles, and grinned with her unnerving joy. "I haven't seen any action in a long, long time."

Aang looked over at Tia and Lin, he nodded, as if he was saying goodbye, and then turned towards Ba Sing Se.

"Yip! Yip!" And his loyal Sky Bison took off into the air.

...

Chapter 28-B: Azula's Last Command

That same evening at sunset…

Through her fading vision, Azula could see the floor of Ba Sing Se's prison. The red liquid seeping out of her mouth occasionally stained the earthen ground with a deep scarlet. The smell of iron hung heavy around her, her cheek was sticky from the pool of blood she had laid in. The large metallic doors opened before her. Her face struck the cold floor, and the doors closed.

Her stomach still ached from the burns, she'd hoped that they weren't that bad, but she knew her Father's wrath.

If only Katara were here. She chuckled at the thought. To wish for her greatest rival to help her? Laughable. Her nerves still ran high, the adrenaline from a battle with her Father still cursed her muscles.

Then, the sound of someone sipping tea.

"...Uncle?" She whispered.

"Life is a bizarre thing." Iroh's voice rang through the wall. "First, I'm one of the greatest generals in Fire Nation history." He sipped at the tea he had. "Then, an with my exiled nephew. And now, I'm in prison with my niece." He laughed. "Life is bizarre, indeed."

"I'm sorry, Uncle." Azula winced at the pain at her torso. "This is all my fault...What are we supposed to do now?"

"All we can do now, is wait." Iroh reached through the bars, and Azula saw a cup of steaming tea outside her cell door. Weary footsteps carried her to the drink, which she accepted with a firm grip. "Don't blame yourself, Azula." He answered again after another sip.

"It is, Uncle." Azula's voice began breaking. "I sent a messenger hawk to you a few weeks ago. Fath...Ozai, got to it first. I shouldn't have sent that message." She waited for any comforting words. But only heard his breath.

"What did he do to you?" Iroh asked in a tone that Azula could only discern as disappointment.

"He made me fight Zuko. I challenged him to an Agni Kai, and he...Burned me."

"He made you fight Zuko?" Iroh finally spoke. "Now, now. Don't blame yourself. If Zuko fought you against his own will." Iroh's thoughts shifted back to when Ozai had hugged him. "...He had planned this, all along." Iroh's voice was now breaking. "I should have stopped him, so long ago. This is all my fault."

Azula finished her tea, and heard the click of Iroh putting down his cup.

"I wish you the best of luck, Azula." The doors clicked, and she saw her Uncle step out if his cell in chains, accompanied by two guards. "For your sake, and Zuko's. I can fight no more." Tears were streaming down his eyes. "But I am happy. Because now, I can finally see my son." A small smile broke out on his lips. "Goodbye, Azula."

They picked him up, and dragged him away.

Azula crawled into a corner of her cell, and wept. The small window in her cell shined with orange, and she was only awakened when the orange was replaced with darkness.

"Princess!" A familiar voice came. Azula looked up to see an armored guard scrambling towards her cell. He scrambled in a way that was familiar, and fell to his knees before her. Azula walked up to the metal bars, and sat down.

"Get up, Han. I'm not a princess anymore." Her tone was as cold as death. "What are you doing here?"

"We need to get you out of here as soon as possible, Princess! We swore to serve you, no matter what." He began fumbling with the hundreds of keys to unlock her cell.

"Don't. Han. It's over. Just tell me, what is Ozai's plan?"

"Execution. He plans on executing you." His head fell, and bowed before her.

"I've come to accept that." Azula's held out her hands, and cupped his cheek. "Do for me, one last thing, Han. You've always been good to me. Follow one last command for me."

"Anything, Princess."

"Go to the shore. Get the Blue Dragon Lotus. Brew it into tea, and bring it to me." She rubbed his cheek with one thumb. "Before I die..."

She took a deep breath

"...Let me live out one last fantasy."

PUBLISHED ON: 01/05/2015

A/N:

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