Chapter 12: Insomnia induced fights

Hakku was holding his son for the first time.

He has spent the last few hours supporting his wife through labor that now that it was over, he found himself having to seat from his own exhaustion. But he wouldn't let it show, not after all that Umi has done for him. For them.

Kaze was perfect. He had his mother's jet-black hair, and his face shared most similarities with her as well. But it seemed that his eyes retained the same blue that has characterized the people from his own home since the beginning of time.

He worried that this meant that he would also inherit the curse that has been his bending… But that would be a problem for later.

It was night now.

Umi was resting, so he was left alone for now with his son. He wanted to vow that no matter what happened, he'd make sure he could live a life unlike the one he lived, where he could be loved and accepted by those around him.

Of course, at the time, it sounded like an easy plan to follow. Letting him grow up happily in the village that has been nothing but kind and accepting of him, along with his beautiful and bright mother.

But in the back of his mind, he knew his own sins would soon enough catch up to him. He could feel it, everyday slipping closer and closer to him, and he was on the brink of giving in.

He only hoped that, if something happened to him, Ursa and Ikem could somehow stay by her side…

They had come visit right in the afternoon. They looked happy, like they finally started a new chapter of their lives. And from what they told them, they truly did. After so many years of obvious feelings for each other, both finally confessed their love. This was all prompted by Ursa apparently landing the leading role in the next production of Love amongst the Dragons.

He was happy for them. But he could feel it… something was coming.

The figure he's been running from since the day he made the bracelet has only gotten ever closer to him, and it was only a matter of time until he would have to face it.

He's heard its whispers and seen it in his sleep. The dreams he's had keep showing him images that seem too real, as if they were memories instead of machinations of his mind. He'd be shown his parents right as he was born, just like he was right now with his own son… But they weren't happy. The baby in their hands wasn't breathing… They've never told him of a child other than him and his sister, so he knew just by seeing it, that the child was himself. It was him, and he was dead.

It couldn't be real, of course. He was currently alive and well… But he has an inkling that the memories he's being shown are somehow related with every misfortune he's ever had. And more importantly, that it's related to the creeping presence of the whatever led him to destroy the prison he escaped from.

He didn't have long. It could happen right the next day. But he knew it was coming, and he'd have to make a plan before it.

Little did he know that a certain entourage from the capital was making their way towards the little village, and everything as he knew would once again be torn apart.

"Hey, Azula?" Kaze asks as he sit on top of his mongoose lizard. "Not accounting for looks but, what exactly is the point of this… thing we're on?"

The metal monstrosity they were currently riding in was putting his nerves on edge. It was small, cold, and completely devoid of any color other than gray. And the amount of noise it made was simply not okay.

Apparently, the colony they went to was where the Fire Nation handled their many instruments of war in the Earth Kingdom. And among them was what seemed like a giant drill meant to penetrate the massive walls of Ba Sing Se. He hoped that it never saw the light of day, but he had a feeling it would be used very soon.

"Well, it's purpose was to create a vehicle that could easily traverse the mountainous regions of the Earth Kingdom." Azula answers. "And from the looks of it, it's working perfectly." She shoots him a teasing look. "What? Don't tell me it's too much for your little heart."

"I don't know about scary but I'm pretty sure staying in this thing for any longer will make me want to bash my head in the ground." Kaze groans.

Thankfully for him, the vehicle finally stopped, as the captain informed them of the Avatar's group in the distance.

"Ugh, finally." Mai groans from beside him, sharing in his discomfort.

"Yeah, not gonna lie, this whole metal car thing has completely messed with my aura…" Ty Lee follows up with her own complaint.

"Okay, that's it! No more complaining or I'll throw the three of you down the cliff below!" Azula screams as the doors start opening, letting them hop out the car in their mounts.

As they lowered to the ground, they found themselves on a narrow pathway at the top of a mountain, a straight shot towards where the Avatar was.

"Don't you think we're going to far with the sleep deprivation thing?" Kaze can't help feeling a little bad for their little bout of psychological torture.

This only seemed to tick off Azula more. "Hey! It was your idea to challenge them against their own carelessness!"

"Hey you two, stop fighting. They're going to get away!" Ty Lee tries to settle the air between them.

It seems the lack of sleep was not just catching to the Avatar and his friends, but to them as well.

It's been barely a day and a half since joining Aang and Toph was already reconsidering her life's choices.

They couldn't sleep, and it was all because of that stupid ball of fur behind them leaving a trail.

She was close to losing it, and she was going to let out all her pent-up anger at the four assholes coming their way on their weird lizards.

"I-It's that group from Omashu!" She hears Sugar Queen say, as she suddenly seemed to be losing her balance.

Sensing the four, she didn't feel impressed at all. Just four more body bags for her to beat up.

"We can take them! Even if it's three against four!"

"Uhh Toph?" Sokka speaks up from besides her. "It's actually four against four."

"Oh! Sorry I forgot to count you since… you know… No bending." She snickers as she decided to make fun of him.

"I can still fight!" She hears him shout, which only brings out a laugh out of her. "Okay! Okay! It's those four against us three, plus Sokka!"

"Guys! Can you concentrate, they're almost here and Katara isn't feeling well!" Aang yells, letting his frustrations come out in his voice.

"Fine!" She settles into a crouch. "Look at this!" She says as she pushes her arms out, letting a series of boulders and sharp rocks threaten their opponents from the ground up.

But something catches her attention. One of the three suddenly disappeared from her sight. It didn't help that those three remaining seemingly dodged every single one of her attacks.

'Dammit!'

But where was the other guy?

"Toph look out!" She hears Aang shout, as he uses his airbending to blow her away from what felt like a powerful whip of water.

"Hey! Attacking from the air is no fair!" Feeling peeved that whoever sent that attack wasn't going to fight her square on.

And that's when he appears again. But something was off. His heart was not beating like she expected. It seemed… sorry?

When Kaze sent his frozen whip of water after leaping to the air, he made sure to do it relatively slow enough to be easy to dodge, especially for an earthbender that just threw massive rocks in their path.

But something went wrong. The little girl he attacked wasn't reacting. She wasn't even looking at him.

Thankfully, before his strike actually hit, the Avatar sent her flying away with a powerful gust of air.

He sighs in relief until his ears pick up on her words.

Wait. What did she just say?

"Kaze! What's wrong?" He hears Azula stop besides him.

"It's the earthbender… I think she might be blind." He answers, as his mind slowly puts together the pieces of what he think he heard.

"Was that your idea of a joke?" Azula stares at him unamused.

"What? No! I actually think she's blind… She didn't even react to my jump, and was just about to be hit by my whip before the Avatar saved her… Even now, her eyes don't even seem to be looking at anything."

Azula, looks at the little girl for a second. 'Could that really be true? Then how did she even manage to attack us with that barrage of rocks?'

She notices Kaze strain his face, which he tends to do when he's trying to figure out something. "What are you thinking?"

"Hmm… I'm thinking that maybe she can see with her bending… just like I can sense things in the water without needing to look at them." Kaze seems surprised by the revelation.

"Wouldn't that mean that…" Azula's mind comes to an equal revelation.

"Yeah… She must be a prodigy, just like you and the Avatar… and me." Kaze closes his eyes, as if searching for an answer to an unspoken question, until he finally seems to come to a decision.

"Let me fight her. I wanna gauge how right our theory is." He moves on closer to the group. They all look at him with hostility, clearly weary of what he did back in Omashu. That is except for the earthbender, who wasn't with them back then.

"Who are you?!" He hears the waterbender girl ask, as she tried to get back on her feet. "Why did you join them?!"

Kaze stays quiet, wondering what he should say. He then fixes the girl with his easy-going smile, trying to appear as friendly as possible.

"Sorry! Can't say. Not yet."

This only seemed to tick of the waterbender even more. "What does that even mean?! You betrayed your people and joined their side! And for what?! What could you have possibly gained by doing that?!"

Her voice is laced with so much anger and venom that Kaze can't help but wince at them. He takes a deep breath. He knows he can't reveal much just yet, but even then, he wants to answer with honesty.

He fixes the group with as much of an honest gaze as he could. "I didn't betray anyone. Everything I'm doing…" He looks back at his own group behind him, and his head goes over everyone he's cared for, his family and Azula at the forefront. "Everything I'm doing is for the world that we want. I'm fighting for what I believe in, and for the people I love. That's it."

This is when the Avatar finally speaks up. "How can you say that?! The Fire Nation has done nothing but tear apart people's lives! You have done nothing but ruin the world we live in!"

Kaze knows that he's right, and he can't bear to think that he's added to that list of crimes, even if he actually hasn't. So, he once again settles for honesty.

"I'm sorry… for everything the Fire Nation has done to you." He says simply, before he pulls water from a small cannister he prepared after the fight in Omashu.

This only sends the three he faced before into disbelief, their faces straining with doubt and anger.

His own friends behind him also seemed taken aback.

"No, you're not!" The waterbender starts, pure hatred in her voice. "Stop lying!"

But before he could answer, the earthbender suddenly speaks up. "He's not."

Everyone stares at her in confusion. How could she possibly know?

"He's not lying. I can tell by the way his heart beats."

Kaze can't help the smile crawling up his face. It seems their hopes were right, this girl was special.

She steps forward. "I'm Toph! And I'm going to beat your ass for messing with my sleep schedule."

Kaze laughs lightly. "And I'm Kaze. I feel bad about that by the way." He returns.

But before the fight could start, he turned to Azula and the others. "You three focus on the others. Leave her to me."

"But…" Azula stares at him with worry before she takes a breath and gives him her usual confident smile. "Don't get yourself killed." She walks towards. "Or I'll kill you myself." She shoots him a final glare before her eyes soften as she gives him a kiss on the cheek. She then mounts back on her lizard. "Come on! Let's get the Avatar!" She urges Mai and Ty Lee, who follow in turn, not before giving Kaze their own worried looks.

"Toph! Are you really doing this?!" The watertribe boy shouts as he starts running back to their bison, Avatar and waterbender in tow.

"Don't worry! I'll just thrash this guy real quick and then catch up to you guys!" She gives a thumbs up.

As Azula and the others close in on their group, the avatar wills the bison back into the air.

Knowing he most likely shouldn't hold back, Kaze pulls out all his water and spins it into an orbiting ring surrounding him.

The air stands still, as both fighters wait for the other one to make a move.

But sensing no movement coming from him she decides to start of the fight by stomping the ground and sending a barrage of spikes towards Kaze.

Even so, Kaze is undeterred, as he bends his water in front of him into a spinning circular saw of ice, tearing through the stones, leaving him unscathed.

The attack sends a cloud of dust into the air, and Kaze decidedly tries to take advantage by gliding through it and approach Toph with blinding speed.

But, as he soon would realize, Toph clearly didn't need to see him with her eyes to spot him, so she once again pulls three massive boulders and shoots them at the moving Kaze with pinpoint precision, forcing Kaze to move quickly from side to side in order to avoid them. They're close hits, but ultimately, he manages to dodge them skillfully.

Figuring that getting closer to her would probably end up with him squashed between two rocks, he decides to focus his attacks on the long range.

He focuses all the water into both his arms and extends them in front of him, stricking in a barrage of tentacles that forced Toph to box herself with rocks in order to block them. The tentacles relentlessly smashed into the her shield, quickly chipping away into it, to reveal an ever-nervous looking Toph. It seemed the shaking of the water striking set her balance off, as she had to force her feet to dig into the ground to stabilize her.

Feeling pushed into a corner, Toph tries to send multiple spikes of earth into where she felt his heart beating. But Kaze easily counters it by freezing his hands into giant fists of ice and punching the spikes into multiple pieces.

But Toph was counting on this.

Taking advantage of the distraction, she shatters her rocky shield into tiny pieces before sending them flying towards Kaze.

But once again, Kaze reacts quickly enough and blocks the pellets with a circular ice shield in front of him.

The battle stales, neither side really gaining ground.

Toph's frustrations grow, she's never had this much trouble beating up someone with her earthbending, she's supposed to be the best in the world, but it seems like everything she's throwing at him is being calmly deflected.

She's been constantly monitoring his heartbeat and it's stayed beating slowly the entire time. In other words, he wasn't feeling threatened, like at all.

'Dammit! Just who is this guy!' She mutters before putting both hands on the ground and sending multiple rushing ground fissures towards Kaze, followed quickly by launching herself to the air with an earth column and landing with enough force to create a barrage of massive columns towards him.

Sensing his heartbeat once more, Toph manages to hear it speed up at her unavoidable attack. But something seemed off. His breathing didn't betray what she usually senses to be fear or panic… Instead, it felt like he was excited.

As soon as she sensed this, she notices Kaze once again bend his water into two tentacles coming from his arms, but now their tips had a different shape. Something like a hook of ice.

Sensing danger, Toph bends one final column to launch herself back, but it's too late.

Kaze managed to use his tentacles to grapple himself into one of the massive columns approaching his way, letting him swing himself to the air with a flip, avoiding all fissures she sent his way.

Then in an incredible bout of waterbending, he forms a massive spike of ice while in midair, before launching it into the ground with all his strength, shattering the ground where Toph was currently landing.

Toph tried to balance herself by digging her legs to the ground and willing the rock near her to remain stable, but she couldn't.

As soon as she landed, her left foot slipped, making her balance slip just enough for Kaze to send a final torrent of water right after melting the giant spike of ice.

But before it could hit her, she managed to bend a final wall of stone in front of her that only barely managed to block her right side. But her left side was still caught with the water, and she was sent spinning to the ground with a loud thud.

'Shit! I need to get up!' She thinks as she tries to make her way back into her feet, but a sudden chill takes hold of her entire body.

Finding his chance to finish the battle, Kaze split his torrent of water into multiple smaller drops and sent them straight to the ground, freezing them on contact. By mixing the ground with large patches of ice, Toph could no longer sense her surroundings, as her feet simply freeze whenever she tried to move.

She couldn't believe it. Someone beat her, fair and square. And now, she couldn't know what he would do with her. At the very least, the fight was kinda fun.

After days of traveling on his own, Zuko still didn't feel close to finding what he was looking for.

Even when he helped Lee and his family, the fact remained that he was still seen as a monster and a killer by the entire world. He felt lost and dejected, and he figured he might need to find something else that might guide him.

That was when he managed to come across a rampaging metal machine that was tearing through the land. And it was chasing someone he already was very acquainted with. The Avatar's Bison.

Sensing a chance to get answers from his sister, and maybe help him find a way to move forward, he decides to tail them.

After what felt like half a day of chasing, Zuko finally came into a clearing where he saw Azula, Mai and Ty Lee. Although the absence of Kaze did catch him off guard, he'd thought him and his sister would be attached by the hip after reuniting, considering how much he had to suffer through Kaze constantly talking about her in the academy.

But that didn't matter, what matter was getting to his sister, who seemed to go through a different path in the forest right back into the desert, while Mai and Ty Lee went a different way.

Seeing Mai again sent a pang to his heart, but he ignored it, figuring that he had to focus on the present.

And so, he made his way to the path his sister took.

The fight took more energy than he expected.

The earthbender, Toph, really kept him on his toes. Every rock was thrown with so much power and precision that he had to counter with equal urgency.

But at the very least, it seemed both managed to end the battle with no real injuries. Just a massive frozen mountain instead.

Sighing at the sight, he makes his way to where Toph was currently sprawled in the floor, shivering by the freezing ice by her feet.

'Maybe I went too far with that…" He thinks as he sits beside her.

"Hey… you okay?" He asks nervously, expecting anger or hostility towards him. But instead, her face seemed surprisingly calm.

"Eh, ignoring the fact that I can feel my body freezing, I'd say I'm doing just great." She says sarcastically, but without any real edge.

"Who are you?"

"Me?" Kaze is taken aback by her question. "I'm… Kaze. That's kind of it, to be honest."

"So, you're saying that you're just some random guy who happens to not only be a waterbender working for the Fire Nation, but also incredibly strong. Strong enough to beat the greatest earthbender in the world." Toph turns to where she thinks he is, eyes settling somewhere around him.

Kaze chuckles at her comment, it seemed that she held herself in similar regard to Azula and her bending. "Well… There's a lot I still have to figure out about myself… And I'm sure one day I'll be forced to tell you and your group the truth. But…" He sighs, melting the water in the ground, sensing no more hostility from the girl. "But for now, I am your enemy. And that will be true for a while."

"Huh… Well for an enemy, you sure are way nicer than even some of my allies." She huffs, getting back to her feet and sitting beside him.

"So… what now?"

"Well… I have to get back to the others before I miss out on something important?" Kaze responds, standing up.

"Wait. So, you're just going to let me go?" Toph asks in surprise. "Are you sure you're a villain? Because somehow, your heartbeat reminds me of Twinkletoes."

"I'm not sure who that is but… I'll take it as a compliment. Either way, I don't see a reason to capture you or anything right now, so yeah, I'm letting you go."

Toph remains quiet for a second, probably trying to ascertain his honesty. After a while she just huffs and smiles.

"You're a weird guy, you know."

Kaze just laughs at this. "Yeah! People tend to tell me that… In any case, let's have rematch next time we see each other."

"Sure, just know that I won't lose twice." She moves and punches him on the arm.

"I'm gonna hold you to that!" Kaze finally says, as he bends his water into a water jet that lets him glide quickly through the forest.

Azula was once again furious at her brother.

He just had to come out of nowhere and once again meddle with her plans.

"What do you think you're doing here Zuzu?! And where is uncle?" She asks, but the only response she gets is the Avatar laughing at her brother's given nickname.

"I need to talk to you!" He says as he starts attacking the Avatar.

Anger rising, Azula simply starts firing at both people in front of her. "Can't you see I'm busy!"

"I want to help! I know you're planning something, and I want in!" Is Zuko's response as he quickly deflects a blast of blue fire, then dodges an air strike from the Avatar.

"No! I won't have you ruin my plans with your stupidity!" She starts firing even faster, forcing the Avatar to run into a nearby rundown house.

"I can help! I promise, Azula!" Zuko pleads, dodging his sister's increasingly fast fireballs. He quickly realizes he has to fight back in order to get Azula to calm down.

And so, the battle between Azula, Zuko and the Avatar levels the already broken-down little town into a series of burnt down houses.

"Hey! Aren't you two siblings?" The avatar suddenly calls out as Azula chases him inside the flaming interior of what looked like a cantina. "Why are you fighting?"

"That's none of your business, Avatar!" She keeps her barrage of fire, shooting with enough intensity that the building starts collapsing.

But the Avatar is quick, and he's able to dodge and deflect her blasts with properly timed swings of his staff and jumps.

She's starting to lose her patience on both of her opponents, so she just settles to start firing lightning and see if it scares them enough so they can run away already.

But as she starts going through the movements, a voice brings her out of her murderous thoughts.

"Azula! What's going on?" It was Kaze, who quickly made his way into the town by surfing in a jet of water.

"What's going on?! My stupid brother is what happened!" She points at the other firebender who is currently shooting fire at the Avatar.

"Wait, what's he doing here?" His brows furrow before he finally takes notice of the scene taking place. "Wait, no, what are all of you doing here anyway? Where's Mai and Ty Lee?"

"I sent them to chase after the Avatar's friends once they split up." She starts regaining her composure, all thanks to Kaze being back with her. "It was pretty smart to be fair. If it wasn't us chasing them, it probably would've worked."

"Don't you think it's time we headed back then? I'd say we've done enough to-" He tries to say but is quickly interrupted by a whip of water going his way, which he manages to deflect in time.

"It's you! What did you do to Toph?!" It was the waterbender girl.

"Wait! She's fine! Don't worry!" He says as he once more starts dodging and deflecting her anger packed series of water whips and slashes. It hasn't been that long since they last fought, and she somehow seemed in better control of her bending.

"Hey! You've gotten better!" He compliments her, but it only earns him even angrier attacks.

He looks to the side, and sees Azula once again engaging with her brother, before the other watertribe boy seemingly comes out of nowhere and attempts to strike her.

Sensing the fight quickly getting out of hand, he decides to finally pull out his own water and shoot a tentacle towards his opponent, grabbing her by her left ankle and throwing her backwards several feet, leaving her groaning on the ground.

Now done with his fight, he quickly rushes to Azula and grabs her by the waist, he then bends his water into a giant bubble, before quickly turning it into a heavy mist, giving them enough cover to escape.

"What are you doing?! I'm not done teaching my stupid brother a lesson!" He feels Azula struggle from his grip, but he holds on tight.

"We gotta get out of here before things get too out of hand!" He whispers harshly. "So quit struggling and let's go." He says decisively, leaving no room for argument as he glides them through the mist with enough speed to get away.

Now relatively far from the desert town, Kaze and Azula found themselves resting by a stream of water.

Azula still seemed angry at him, but he didn't have the energy to argue so he just sat down by a tree.

She seemed to constantly shoot glares at him, which only made him want to quickly make up with her, but they needed rest, that could wait for later.

It is after a single good hour that Azula finally breaks the silence. "…I'm sorry."

This wasn't what Kaze was expecting so he just stares at her in surprise.

"What?" Azula glares at his reaction.

"O-Oh no nothing. I was just caught of guard. Sorry." He tries to compose himself before standing up and moving towards Azula.

He grabs her hands into his. "I'm sorry too, for getting angry."

"It's fine. You were right anyway. Staying in that place wouldn't have ended well for us." She sighs in defeat. "It's just that- I know I told my brother to do whatever he wanted, but the fact that he actually decided to hunt the avatar again sent my head into a fit. I gave him a chance to get out of the conflict and hide somewhere and instead, he chose to ruin it by running back into it like a headless pig chicken."

"Not to say that he seemed to have abandoned our uncle somewhere to go on his own…"

Kaze just stays quiet for a second, considering her words.

"Well, maybe now that he's free to do whatever he wants, he found himself lost at what to do."

"What do you mean?" Azula seems confused at his words.

"I mean, Zuko spent the last three years believing he needed to get the Avatar else he lived the rest of his life banished… and now that he doesn't have that, he didn't know how to go on…" He tried to sound as reassuring as he could.

Azula doesn't say anything for a while, rubbing their connected hands as if relishing in the contact.

"He did say he wanted to help us…" She then speaks up as she put her head in his chest. "I just don't know if I want to involve him in our mission… He might be my dear brother and whatever, but I mean it when I say that he's dumb."

Kaze laughs at her words, the sound a melody to Azula's ears. "Well, even then, I'm sure once he finds out what he really wants, he'll turn out a lot better than both of us will expect. Maybe we can give him a chance when we see him again, whenever that is."

Azula just sighs into his chest, before looking up at him. "You really are unbearably nice. Don't you get tired of it?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Don't act like you don't love that part of me." He shoots back at her.

"Hmm… maybe I do." She smiles playfully "But it's sure to backfire sooner or later, so I'd wish if you started using your own head from now on."

"Don't worry. I'm sure that when it does backfire, I'll have you to help me through it!"

Azula simply answers with a laugh, which only prompts Kaze to lean down.

Azula meets him halfway as the moon settles right on top of them.