A/N: First, let me apologize for the atrocious delay in the update of this chapter. My life has been… well, a pile of putrid donkey poo would be putting it nicely. It's finally getting better though… I think… hopefully. Did I just jinx myself?
Thanks to all you super fantastic reviewers for great feedback and lots of love, and for making me smile when the universe kept trying to smack it off my face. Hah. Love to you all.
Katara held the glowing water steady over Ozai's arm, the blistered skin hissing at the cool contact. Her arms were starting to tremble, like her muscles were made of jelly. The wound on his leg had been deeper and more extensive than it had looked on the surface. At least his arm wasn't so bad.
Silence filled the space between them, heavy and cold and dripping with something that pinched her stomach. Katara chewed her lip and glanced up at Ozai's face, at the lines that formed between his furrowed brows, the hardness of his jaw. His gaze was fixed on the ground. If he noticed her studying him, he didn't let on.
She took a breath in and held it a moment before finally speaking. "Alright. I need answers." Her voice sounded more timid than she had intended. Frowning, she cleared her throat. "What is going on? How did Zuko get here?"
"There's no time for that." His tone was low and even. He didn't look up. "You wouldn't understand."
"Don't do that." The fire in her voice surprised even her and, finally, Ozai looked at her. "Don't you dare reduce me to some gullible, half-witted child. Make me understand."
Ozai jerked his arm back from her. It wasn't fully healed but he didn't seem to care. There would likely be a scar. The water splashed to the spongy earth as he took a large stride toward her, forcing her to step back. "You want to understand?" The words came less harsh than she had expected, though his brows were drawn low. Not scowling really. Just gravely serious. "Fine. I'll show you what's going on."
Katara started to follow him but drew back suddenly. She turned to Zuko, still lying in a heap on the dank ground. The grass around him glistened red. For a moment she thought it was the moon. She quickly realized it was blood. Her mouth went dry. "Wait," she called after Ozai. "We can't just leave him here like this."
"No?" he said flatly, turning around. "Why not?"
"Because he's hurt. He could die." Ozai said nothing. A deep ache spread across her chest. "Please, just let me heal him before we go."
Ozai's frown deepened, forcing lines between his brows. Finally, he nodded. "Make it quick."
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
"What's taking so long? Zuko should have been back by now with Katara." Sokka paced back and forth in front of Appa, picking at the dirt beneath his fingernails. Toph stood nearby with her arms crossed, tapping her foot while Suki and Hakoda sat in the saddle above, keeping an eye on Aang. Genshi sat on the opposite side of the saddle alone.
"Would you stop moving?" Toph huffed. "You're driving me crazy."
Sokka just grunted and shot her a look. He couldn't admit that the constant motion was the only thing keeping him from imploding. Maybe if he just kept moving, the fear and the pain and the anger couldn't keep up. It was all he could do until he knew for sure what had become of his sister.
Toph sighed. "Look, I'm sure they're both fine. Sparky can handle himself. And Ozai doesn't have his firebending anymore, remember?"
"Yeah… somehow that doesn't make me feel better."
Toph's mouth pressed into a line. She blinked and looked toward him for a long moment before her gaze fell away. She knew it was true.
Suddenly, Appa jerked his head up and rose to his feet, startling Sokka to a stop. The hair on the bison's neck bristled as a low growl rumbled in the quiet.
"What is it, Appa?"
Sokka exchanged a look with his friends. He strained to hear anything out of place. The snap of a twig, the rustle of leaves. But there was only the stifling silence all around them.
"Maybe an animal," Genshi offered.
Sokka rolled his eyes coldly. "Have you seen a single living thing on this island since we got here? Yeah, I don't think so."
They waited, tense, hardly breathing. Sokka looked over his shoulder at his father and Suki, who shrugged just as Appa shifted his feet and growled again, deeper and louder this time. Sokka felt it vibrate in his chest and the earth below his feet. The foliage beyond the clearing was so thick, he couldn't see a thing. He reached back and placed a hand on his boomerang, waiting.
And then from behind him, there came a voice so haunting and full of malice that Sokka's body went cold, like plunging into a pool of ice. White knuckles clutched around his weapon as he turned to see Aang's face twisted in an unnatural way, the other-worldly voice forcing its way from his mouth, filling the air like a noxious gas. "Finally."
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
Something terrible was brewing. Katara could feel it twisting and kneading her stomach as she followed Ozai through the too-quiet forest. Any minute now it would boil over, and she could feel a scream building inside knowing there was nothing she could do to stop it.
The pulse in her fingertips marked the passing seconds. The air felt heavy in her lungs despite the chill. Through the tangled web of branches above, the moon pierced the sky like a drop of blood and she shuddered. So when the thunderous growl came from somewhere up ahead, powerful and threatening, she gasped, instinctively grabbing onto Ozai's arm.
Her mind raced. Wait… She knew that growl. Of course she did. It had to be Appa.
Suddenly a chorus of voices broke out beyond the trees, shouting at each other about something she couldn't understand. There was one word, though, that kept rising to the surface. Aang.
Her stomach churned. Ozai was leading her to Aang? Why would he do that?
And why were they shouting at him like that?
A voice she recognized rose above the others just long enough for her to pick it out. Sokka? Katara gasped. There was no mistaking that melodramatic lilt.
"My brother's here?!" she croaked out.
Ozai just started forward again, and after a few paces he led her into a large clearing.
Katara stumbled to a stop. A wave of numbness prickled down her body and then a wave of heat. Her gaping mouth moved but no words would come. So many familiar faces. Faces she thought were gone from her life forever.
The shouting ceased and heads turned as their presence became known. Her eyes swept over them and lingered on the form of her father, rising to his feet on Appa's saddle.
"Katara," he grated out, his voice thick with emotion.
She turned back to Ozai then, her eyes hot with brimming tears. She shook her head back and forth, choking on the thickness in her throat. Before she could speak, he wrapped his hand around hers, warm and firm, though his eyes were trained on the faces before them. "Just trust me," he rasped under his breath.
There was that word again. Trust. But if he wanted her to trust him, why wouldn't he trust her to know what was going on?
"Get your coils off my daughter! Katara! Get away from him!" Hakoda drew his battle club and jumped to the ground, taking thunderous strides toward them. Ozai stepped into his path, his hand still around hers.
"Not so fast." He held up his free hand casually, as though her father weren't charging at him with a huge weapon at the ready. "I still have business with the Avatar."
Hakoda skidded to a stop, nostrils flaring. "And you have it all wrong if you think I'm letting you dictate one more facet of this negotiation."
"Well then it wouldn't be much of a negotiation, would it?" Ozai smirked.
Hakoda pulled his club back threateningly, his lip curling. "Let go of her! Or spirits help me, you'll spend the rest of your disgusting life wishing I had just killed you." Katara knew that look. He wasn't bluffing. She tried hard to swallow.
"Tell him, Dad!" Sokka yelled from behind him.
Ozai gave a condescending chuckle. "Very well. But if you think I'm holding her back, I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment." He released her hand and stepped aside. His golden eyes locked onto hers as he extended a hand toward her father. "Katara."
The lines in Hakoda's forehead smoothed slightly as he looked from Ozai to Katara. He stepped forward and cupped a hand to her face. "Katara, sweetheart, are you alright? Did he hurt you?" His arm reached around her neck to wrap her in an embrace.
Katara squeezed her eyes shut against the tears and backed away, unable to lift her face toward him. Instinctively he leaned after her, his hand falling to his side.
"Katara?" His voice was scratchy from the hurt. "What are you doing?"
Ozai pulled her to him gently and wrapped his arm around her. She pressed her body into his, hoping that somehow she would disappear. A warm tear escaped down her cheek.
"What did I tell you?" Ozai pressed a slow, soft kiss to her head, his eyes trained on Hakoda with a smirk. "She's mine."
Every muscle in Hakoda's body jerked tight. The veins in his temples bulged as he swung back the club with a feral growl.
"Fire Lord Ozai." Just as he was about to lunge forward, a terrible, unearthly voice resounded from somewhere in the clearing. Katara jumped at the sound, her eyes searching for the source. "I believe you've been looking for me."
Katara had to blink hard before she realized in horror that Aang's mouth was moving in unison with the words. That voice was coming from inside him!
And then she realized something else. She had heard that voice before. The spirit that had appeared to her and Ozai in that monster-infested cave. He had said he wanted to help them. That he was on their side. Katara had wanted to believe it then. She would have believed anything in order to get out of that demon haven. But now the words smelled like a foul lie. Whatever the spirit wanted, she was sure it wasn't good.
Ozai must have recognized the voice too because a corner of his mouth curled up slightly.
"Yes," he replied assertively. Ozai took a step forward, past a seething Hakoda. "You took away my firebending. I want it back."
Katara felt something inside her crack. That's what this was about? His stupid firebending? Her mind was spinning. How did he intend to get it back? It's not like Aang would just walk up and hand it back to him. Unless, somehow, Ozai had discovered a way to energybend it back into himself… Unlikely.
The spirit inside Aang laughed. "And you think I'd do that simply because you asked?"
"I think you'll do it if you want Katara back."
Katara's head spun toward him. What? From the corner of his eye, Ozai shot her a look. She forced herself to breathe. He was bluffing, of course. This was why he kept telling her to trust him. Still, she couldn't ignore the nagging ache near her heart.
At the sound of her name, Aang's face twisted. His body began twitching and contorting violently against his restraints in the saddle. Suki tried to wrestle him down, but Aang sent her flying off like a loose crumb. With a loud snap, the bonds broke free as he rose into the air, his eyes and tattoos glowing brightly. But not white. They were glowing a brilliant, frightening red.
A wind current burst into a spiral around him so powerful that it echoed like a small explosion, driving everyone back. Katara's ears popped with the surging pressure as the trees were thrashed into a violent frenzy. She screamed and clutched at Ozai's arm, shielding her eyes against the dirt and debris to look up at Aang. The rage had contorted his face into something almost unrecognizable. Was that spirit controlling him? Or was this really what Aang had become?
"Kkatarraa." His voice rang out in a booming, echoing thunder. "Yyourr ddecceitffulnness aandd iinffidelityy hhaave sseealledd yyourr ffaate! Yyourr ffrienndss hhavve bbroughtt ssufferingg uponn tthemselvesss wwhenn ttheyy cchose yyourr ssiidee. Yyouu wwiill alll ppaay fforr the wwrrongss yyouu hhavve iinfflicttedd upponn mmeee!"
The wind whipped and lashed the hair around her face. All around, there was the terrifying clashing of branches like a thousand fingers being snapped and broken. All of the elements came to circle around Aang violently. Something whizzed by Katara's head, nicking the skin on her ear. She turned to see a rock the size of her head crash into a tree, crumbling to the ground. More and more chunks of earth ripped from the ground and spiraled around Aang's glowing body before hurtling toward everyone below. With a sweep of his arm, he sent a ring of fire fanning out and grazing the moist earth with a hiss of steam. Katara barely dodged the wall of flames with a water shield.
"Katara, now's your chance!" Hakoda's voice bellowed. "Run for it! Ozai won't be able to stop you!"
Squinting against the wind and dirt, she leveled a grave look on him. There was so much she could say but no words with which to say them. He would never understand. None of them ever would.
She tore her gaze back to Aang, his lean muscles tight and bulging with the wrath etched into his face. What had happened to the sweet, cheerful boy she once knew? That spirit must have taken control of him. It was the only explanation for the evil she now saw before her. He was a prisoner in his own body. He needed help. And there was only one way that Katara could think to help him.
Ozai.
A gust of wind sent a choking cloud of dust at her face. Katara coughed and tried to shout over the clamor. "Whatever you plan to do with Aang, you better do it," she hollered, "or he'll crush us all to a pulp before you get a chance!"
"How do you suggest I do that? He's twenty feet in the air!"
A flaming fire ball whizzed between them and they barely had enough time to jump apart before it caught on loose clothing. "I'll help you if you promise me one thing! Whatever you do, don't kill him!"
Ozai didn't respond at first. She could feel her chest growing tight when finally he gave a grim nod.
The sound of screams tore through the clearing. Through the fog of dirt and dust, Katara could only watch the horror unfold in terrifying slow motion. Toph bent earth manacles at Aang's hands and feet while Sokka simultaneously launched a boomerang attack. Aang quickly and effortlessly smacked Toph's manacles away and bent the earth up under her feet so quickly that she couldn't counter. She went flying and crashed into a nearby tree. Her body fell limp to the ground. The boomerang went reeling in a completely new direction on the winds. It didn't come back. Appa was roaring through the mayhem to get Aang's attention but he didn't even seem to notice. He was focused only on destruction and chaos.
Suki, Genshi and Hakoda were doing all they could to dodge Aang's attacks. A suffocating ache was squeezing her chest. Everyone she loved was falling around her, fighting for their lives, at Aang's hand no less. Katara saw Sokka crumble to the ground as a huge chunk of rock slammed into the side of his head.
"No!" she shrieked, running toward her brother. A wall of fire came to block her path. No sooner had she skidded to a stop than a shower of ice spikes rained down around her. Katara tried to bend them away but they hailed down too quickly, too powerfully. There was a deep, searing pain in her shoulder. She cried out, clutching the wound through torn clothing. It was already slick with warm blood.
The adrenaline was pumping the pain away as she dodged another blaze of fire, deflecting more chunks of ice and waves that nearly knocked her down. Aang roared and Katara dug her feet into the ground as a damaging gust of wind forced her back. He was giving her no room to steady herself and counter, she could barely keep up the defense. If she didn't find a window of opportunity to strike back soon, they were all done for. Aang's chest swelled with a deep breath and his arms drew back to ready what looked like a monstrous attack. There was the slightest breath of a pause and Katara didn't waste it.
She shot her arms out and stiffened her fingers, concentrating on the warm pulse throbbing under her control. Aang roared, his arms slowing to a stop and trembling in mid-air. Katara huffed, grinding her teeth, and struggled to hold her ground against Aang's super human strength. She could feel his chi churning and crashing inside him. He was impossibly powerful right now. She knew if it weren't for the blood moon, she would have no chance against him. Even now she felt his power matching hers and slowly prevailing. She wouldn't last long. Ozai needed to move fast.
Her fingers curled with a groan as she forced every last scrap of energy into dragging Aang toward ground. He was fighting her hard and her control was slipping. Katara risked a glance at Ozai. His ashen face had gone slack, his eyes wide – she had seen that look in Zuko's eyes on her quest to avenge her mother. Shock. Fear. Countless emotions in between. Katara felt sick to her stomach with an odd mixture of shame and exhilaration. She shoved it down and tried to think past it.
"Go now!" she shouted. "I'll hold him as long as I can!"
Ozai blinked away the shock and then gave a grim nod and shot off toward the roaring boy. Aang's feet touched the ground as Ozai grabbed hold of him forcefully, placing a thumb on his forehead and the middle of his sternum. Katara waited in agony for something to happen. Her arms were burning and shaking. She ground her teeth, sweat pooling at her eyebrows and upper lip. Aang's body was starting to move against her force and all she could do was hold on helplessly as her strength drained away. What was Ozai doing? Why wasn't it working? If this failed, they were all done for.
Katara let out a groan as her arms fell limp, sapped of all her strength. Dread turned to panic. They had failed. There was no way they could beat Aang in this condition. Only then she noticed how their faces tilted toward the sky, how their mouths and eyes gaped open. And suddenly blinding beams of red light burst from their eyes and mouth. Katara screamed and scrambled back, clutching at her chest. Thoughts blazed like a wildfire through her mind. What was happening? The sight was both breathtaking and horrifying. It took her a moment to realize…
Was Ozai energybending?! How was that possible?!
The red cast of the forest suddenly grew brighter, more intense. She drew a breath and glanced up at the bleeding orb in the sky. It wasn't just glowing now. It was beaming, like a beacon in the distance. This place, this night… there had to be something about the way they intersected in space and time that changed the way energy behaved here. Made it more powerful somehow. How else was she able to hold her own against a powerful avatar with the added force of a spirit behind him? She hadn't thought about it in the moment, but there was no way she should have been able to do that.
The forest grew brighter still. The beams of light from Ozai and Aang were so blinding Katara had to squint to look at them. A strange sound, like the building scream of a kettle, was rising from somewhere she couldn't place. Both quiet and earsplitting; at once distant and yet too close, like it was rang inside her own ears.
"Ah!" Katara cupped her hands over her ears but it did nothing to dull the piercing sound. There was a pressure around her head, painful, like her brain might melt out of her ears. And then suddenly, with a resonant whop the sound and pressure stopped. And Ozai and Aang slumped lifeless to the ground.
"Ozai!" she shrieked, running to his side. She threw her body over his, looking frantically from him to Aang. His skin was slick with cold sweat. Katara shook him, bent cold water onto his face, but his body was limp, completely unresponsive. Cold dread was settling in the pit of her stomach.
The scuff of a footstep sounded behind her. Katara stood and whirled around to see Sokka inching closer, his hands held up in a gesture of peace.
"Katara–"
"Stay back, all of you! I won't let you hurt him!"
Sokka froze for a moment. "Katara. Please. We're on your side. We only want you safe. Just… please," he took another step forward, "come away from him–"
"I'm warning you!" she growled. Her voice sounded detached, foreign, even to her. For a moment her eyes caught on her father's. She choked back the hot tears.
Sokka looked at the others and then shook his head with a scoff, his brows drawn low. "What's happened to you?" the words scraped out. "The Katara I know would never choose this… this monster over her own flesh and blood!"
"Not one more step! I mean it!" Katara slid into offensive position, her eyes blazing with the threat of her words.
"Go ahead!" he barked. "You think I'm backing down without a fight? I came this far to find my sister. I'm not leaving without her now." Sokka took a challenging step forward, his arm reaching out to her.
With a sharp groan, Katara ripped every drop of water from the forest around her. She felt the trees and grass and foliage dry up, wither to dust at her fingertips. Her eyes stung with hot tears as her lip quivered, teeth clenched. And then, channeling every fiber of her energy, she blasted the torrent of water at those she had loved – in a different time, in a different life.
.:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:. .:.
A muted voice echoed somewhere in the corners of his mind as Ozai stood, staggering against the spinning white void. His head was pounding and his body felt foreign, weightless, like it wasn't fully bound to him. Ozai tried to focus, but it seemed a long time before the world stopped swirling long enough from him to gain his bearings. When he finally did, all he could see in any direction was a stark, flat landscape, scattered with weathered, crooked rock formations. No life. No sound, not even the wind.
The horizon began to wrinkle, as though rippling with the heat of late summer. In the center, a familiar hair-raising form took shape. Ozai recognized it as the same strange stag spirit that had appeared to him and Katara in the underground demon pit. The one that had urged him on, had assured it was on his side.
"Fire Lord Ozai," came the voice again, clearer this time. "Welcome to the spirit world." The creature walked toward him slowly, its macabre face frozen in that half-smile. It stopped a short distance before him, gawking with those six red, unblinking eyes.
"Or rather should I say… Avatar Ozai."
A/N: Dun dun dunnnnn! I'll try to update sooner next chapter (already have a bit of written). In the meantime, reviews for this chapter/story would be super fantastic. My life pretty much revolves around your reviews, you know ;-) Don't let a girl down.