A/N. Back for the third part of the story, the Ashes of Autumn. For those who didn't read the other parts: The Gaang, slightly aged up, have largely followed the same path as in canon, but Aang and Katara have been together since Ba Sing Se. Azula, trying to make Aang surrender himself, has ordered Katara to be captured.

The Avatars seemed divided, some arguing to help Aang with the fight against the Fire Lord, while others were against it. After the fight with the princess, the waterbender and Appa tried to get to Wulong, but Katara was knocked out at Kirashi Island (the place from The Headband episode). She had tried to defend herself. However, her waterbending seemed to have disappeared after a voice had threatened her that she wouldn't see Aang again before his death.

So, that is, in a very, very general manner, the story. For more details, which are going to play a role, I recommend you read Flowers of Summer, at least. This story will be slightly darker than the previous ones, with a real M rating (so not only for the smut stuff). There will be war crimes, violence and xenophobia. I don't agree with any of them, not at all, but I can't go around them, as it will make an important base of the story.

For all those back from Flowers of Summer, welcome back. To those joining, welcome too. I hope you will enjoy my story, and thank you for reading this intro. Enjoy the first chapter

And, as always, I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

The guard could see his knuckles whiten from the force he placed on the pike he was holding. As his own eyes followed the dying light of Lord Sozin's Comet, he didn't know what to feel. Three weeks ago, he had left his family's estate near Fire Fountain City, in a general conscription move. Normally, as he was a minor son of a minor clan, he could have hoped to be excepted for some reason or another, but apparently, it had been dire, as everyone had been called up. Sons of farmers, merchants and nobles had basic training together, for two weeks… That couldn't be close to long enough, right? Luckily, his father had asked the head of the clan to make sure his son was well placed, away from any danger.

So, as the sons and daughters of farmers and crafts workers were sent away to the despicable Earth Kingdom, where savages lived and the people were as uncivilized as the most outer islands of the Fire Nation, he had been stationed here, in the Caldara. It was a good position, if you asked him.

Most of the time, they just patrolled the streets during the curfew Lord Ozai had imposed on the whole Fire Nation. From time to time, they caught a delinquent who hoped to sneak out of their parents' house for whatever they wanted to do in the dark streets of the capital. Those were put in the stocks, but that was about all they did.

Until this evening…

The captain had come in the barracks, running, that they were needed for the coronation of the Fire Princess. The guard had not been on duty the previous day, as Lord Ozai announced his intention to declare himself Phoenix King. He had been in one of the shadier parts of the city, finding pleasure where it could be bought. But he had heard about from the other guards of the capital. They had just not expected the Princess Azula to insist on a coronation during the passing of Lord Sozin's Comet.

As he himself was no firebender, he didn't feel or understand the power it brought, but some friends had told him they were sensing the coming of the great manifestation of the Fire Nation's destiny. So, they had been paraded towards the Coronation Plaza, which had been silent as a tomb. He had heard about the coronation of Lord Ozai, as he himself would have been young to attend. It had been a grand affair, with Lord Azulon's funeral beforehand. But this… This had felt wrong.

"Remember your orders. There will probably be an effort to interrupt the coronation of the Princess Azula. Whatever it will be riots from the prisons, or… something different, it doesn't matter. We will put it down, no matter the cost."

The guard had been proud to be part of this moment. He could still feel his heart swell with pride for his nation as the princess came onto the plaza, walking slowly, followed by dozens of Fire Sages, each wearing more grandiose clothing than the next one. This was the dawn of a new age, an era without war. This war, which had been imposed on the Fire Nation by the Air Degenerates. There were rumours that the Avatar had survived, thanks to Pr… to Zuko, the turncoat. But those had to be speculations, because they had told the nation that the Avatar, the last of his evil kind, was dead underneath the Impregnable City.

He had heard about the Avatar, during the last few months. His great uncle, the current head of the clan, had had reports about him, and his efforts to hinder the war effort. It had all been rather petty, and the guard had not cared that much, because he trusted in the ability of his country to stop the Avatar.

But as he had stood underneath the colonnades of the Coronation Plaza, spear in hand, he had doubted himself, for a moment. The stories that had been whispered about the Avatar when he was younger, that he had to be more Spirit than man, had scared him as a young boy. Even now, as he stood tall and proud at eighteen, it had been a rather chilling notion to actually come face to face with it.

"In Agni's name, on the first day of this new century, we, the Fire Sages of the Caldara, come together to cro…"

The words had died down as a soft bellow, from some sort of animal, could be heard. The guard had known he could not move, but he had still searched all around with his eyes. The animalistic groan sounded once more, and there had been a small flash of white in the orange-tinted sky. He had not seen what it was, but a few moments later, a man marched onto the Plaza, through the Royal Gates, followed closely by a woman whose features had made his heart skip a beat for a second, before he had realized who those people were.

The traitor Zuko, and the water savage. The orders they had received about her… Well, it was quite unsettling, to say the least. But when he had seen her, he had understood. If the orders were to be believed, this woman was the paramour of the Avatar, and he would do anything to get her back. And to be honest, for once, he could see the human side of the Spirit. Anyone would do anything for a woman like that.

But the traitor and the savage had ignored the soldiers and marched straight to the middle. The good princess had surely been expecting it, because she had seemed more than ready. Challenging the traitor to an Agni Kai! That demanded respect, as those fights were to the death… The guard had admired her courage as she had stridden down the steps of the temple, taunting the traitor and the savage. It was only just, as they had interrupted what should have been a glorious moment in their nation's history.

The traitor had spoken to the savage, when he had accepted the challenge. The woman had seemed furious, and in his opinion, those emotions had only enhanced her beauty. It was captivating how much this undomesticated human could capture such emotions and feelings… But after a few moments, her shoulders had slopped, and she had nodded. As she had made her way to the colonnade where he was standing, the captain called for all guards to assemble near the northern gates. Feeling a slight pang of disappointment in his heart, he had obeyed. As he had joined the ranks of the soldiers, the guard had watched with growing horror what an Agni Kai, fought under the Lord Sozin's Comet, looked like.

In a way, a dangerous and brutal one that was, it was beautiful. The blue flames of the princess had collided with the orange one's of the traitor, and the walls of fire had erupted, crackling and sizzling from their intensity. But after a few moments, he had seen what his comrades did too, because there had been murmurs in the ranks.

The Princess was no match for her brother.

The flames of the Princess Azula had been bright blue, but their strength weakened, to be crisscrossed with pale, white and yellow. The firebending of the prince, however, had remained strong and precise. And they had all watched with horror as the princess fell. It had been the traitor's turn to taunt her, and the guard had been appalled. The mocking words… That was no way to talk to your own sister. But the Princess has stood up, tall and proud, and fought on. The lightning she had created was surely meant for the traitor, but the guard had seen that the trajectory was wrong…

He had followed it with his eyes, seeing that instead of the traitor, the savage, standing near the Royal Gates, would be hit. This time, a groan had escaped his lips, as they all had learned the sacred rules of an Agni Kai. Anyone attacking a bystander was immediately considered the defeated, and worse, was expelled from all rituals of Agni, as he or she had disgraced themselves in the Spirit's eyes. But surely, surely, such a person wasn't considered an innocent bystander! They had all heard the stories about the savagery of the Water Tribes during the battles in the frozen south seas. No, the Fire Sages would all agree, this would not count.

But then, the traitor had done something the guard had not expected. He had jumped in front of it.

As the burning flesh could be smelled even from that distance, the guard had not understood. By all accounts, the waterbender was the paramour of the Avatar… Why would the traitor Zuko even bother with saving such a person? During training, most of the time, the drill sergeant had been quite clear. Friends and family died during battles, but that was not important, as the bigger picture was so much greater than their petty lives and wishes. Of course, the guard had no desire to die, but during a fight that was deciding the fate of the Fire Nation… Why would the traitor do that?

But as the smoke cleared, the guards had all gasped as one. Because the water savage was clearly not accepting this. She was stepping forward towards the princess, with such a hateful glare in those blue eyes that he took an involuntary step back, as did many others.

It had been… mesmerizing. The Fire Princess was clearly the better bender, for the water savage took off, fleeing to the colonnade, when the first flames appeared. As they all watched this battle, they didn't need orders to keep still. The hate and distaste between the two women could be felt from yards away, and no one was willing to step between them.

"Your father is dead. Aang is coming."

Those words sounded from the colonnade in a slightly lilted accent, drawing out the vowels. Aang… Was that… The Avatar? Perhaps it was the word for that Spirit in the savage's language? But… Lord Ozai was dead? Fear gripped the guard heart at that moment, as he had not understood the possibility. Surely the woman was lying, trying to destabilize the Princess!

There had been other words spoken, but they had not heard them clearly. However, suddenly, a great wall of ice appeared into the colonnade, with shapes moving into it. The princess was a capable firebender, she would have melted the ice and made short of work of the waterbender…

But when the ice melted in one fell swoop, they had all heard coughing and gasping… And the princess had been in chains. The waterbender had stood up, a smug smile on her lips. She had whispered something in the princess's ear, before turning to where the traitor lay.

The soldiers had all looked at one another. What now? What were they supposed to do at this moment? Should they follow up on Lord Ozai's orders, and capture the waterbender? If Lord Ozai was dead… And the princess captured… Who was Fire Lord?

Surely not…

No.

Not the turncoat. The Fire Sages would never allow that to happen. But the guard had watched with horror as the traitor stood up, helped by the savage, to limp towards the temple. In that moment, the soldier had not known what to do. Should he step up? Looking sideways towards the captain, he had been surprised to see that the captain… Had not been there. Had he… fled?

They were witnessing… a successful coup, weren't they? Agni… And to his shame, the guard had just stayed standing in the ranks, waiting for an order… Any order. An order to kill the traitor, to capture the waterbender… Like they had been ordered to, when they had arrived here! What… What now?

Suddenly, the savage bolted away, running towards the Royal Gates. He had seen the tears and the laugh on that face, making him uncomfortable. How could such a being convey such strong emotions? How had the Spirits made such a thing? Of course, she had to be a simple tribe's woman, but to see such expressions on her face, things he had never seen on the faces of the women he had been with… Made him doubt for a second.

The guard had steeled his heart. This was the charm of the savages, nothing more. So, he had watched her run away, flying away on… Something. He didn't have the words to describe what the beast looked like, but it seemed out of another age. Something ancient, that didn't belong in this era.

It took a few hours. The temple, which had caught fire during the Agni Kai, kept burning. As they stood in the ranks, the guard watched the princess sit on her knees, laughing, crying and screaming her lungs out. That was no way to treat someone of the Royal Family, and certainly not the future Fire Lord… Or was she? Was she the future sovereign? Or… Or was it the young man, sitting on the steps of the temple, ignoring the blaze behind him, his scarred face trained upon the sky. The Fire Sages huddled around the traitor, whispering to him, and the traitor cutting them off in brutal, abrupt way.

But then, there were screams coming from the caldera… He knew it. The coup had been organized, and now the killing of the loyalists had begun… But the screams didn't die down. As a shadow passed the plaza, the soldier had looked up… To see one of those airships flying over, losing altitude with the second. But during training, they had said a true Fire Nation soldier stood his ground and didn't run. So, he stayed put, wavering only a moment before putting his heels against the ground, firmly placing himself where he stood.

The crash was behind them and sounded as if it came from the Royal Gardens. That had to be Lord Ozai, returning from the battle. Battered, but not beaten. Because how could they? They were the Fire Nation, the winners of a thousand battles. The savage had lied to the princess, and now, their Phoenix King was returning from ending the corruption of the Earth Filths. Now, he would show his son the true meaning of loyalty and return the Princess Azula to her rightful place at those steps, receiving the Fire Lord's crown.

During inspections, no soldier could turn his head, so the guard had kept it straight ahead… Only the hear limping footsteps, dragging over the marble plaza, towards them in a hurried manner. A flash of pale skin and blue walked past him, and the guard finally saw what he had been so afraid of. The Avatar…

The Air Degenerate in front of him, dragging his leg behind him and staggering towards the temple, clouded in spoke… Seemed almost human. A young person, no older than the water savage had been, with regular features… A nose that turned slightly upwards in a long face, a bald head with one long blue arrow tattooed over it and grey-silver eyes searching over the plaza. His torso, naked, was covered in burns and older scars, but what nearly shocked him was the scar over the young man's back, red and angry. What had happened there…

"The Avatar" The Fire Sages had appeared from the smoke, but that traitor had ordered them to let him through… And they had obeyed. That told the guard enough about who was truly in charge now. If the Fire Sages, known to only obey Agni, and the embodiment of that Spirit, meaning the Fire Lord…

Zuko the Traitor was Fire Lord…

No… Lord Ozai was their sovereign. And nothing could change!

The guard watched as the man fell down in front of the traitor, tears streaming from his eyes, laughing. Was he mocking their defeat? How dared he! That Air Degenerate could not even hold a candle up to the fire of this nation's glory! But as he and his comrades looked upon the scene in front of them, another group entered the plaza. There was a man slightly older than the Avatar, his leg broken in a painful angle, helped by a ridiculous small-looking girl around sixteen years old. But what attracted their attention was the man that was being pushed by another woman.

Lord Ozai!

A small cheer could be heard from the ranks, but the guard kept his mouth shut. The Fire Lord was in chains, clearly not the victorious figure he had imagined seeing… What did this mean? The savage had said the Lord Ozai was dead, so she had clearly been lying! But… But this didn't seem like victory.

In his mouth, it tasted a lot like defeat…

"Ozai, for the crimes he committed, had been stripped of his firebending! He is not fit to be the ruler of this nation. Prince Zuko will assume the throne, and I hope he will order the ceasing of the war." The melodious accented voice coming from the Avatar sounded like the beast had looked. Ancient, out of place. From another era, one that didn't have a place in this world anymore.

Stripped… of his own bending? Fear gripped the guard's heart, as he realized that the person he had thought to perhaps be human after all was everything but. Who, in the whole Agni damned world, was able to do that? No one should have that kind of power! And the Avatar was an evil man, everyone agreed on that! No way that he wouldn't use it at a wimp, stopping anyone in his path!

And he had ordered the "future" Fire Lord to do something! If the traitor was indeed their new ruler, it should be the Avatar bowing to him, asking him if there was anything he could do for the Fire Nation! This Spirit could not just say what they were to do, it wasn't right! The Fire Nation had done so much for the world, but apparently, it was going to have to stop the war! How dared this person or Spirit, whatever it was, order them around!

It was then that the princess shouted from her corner of the plaza, where the savage had bound her in chains. The Avatar, looking horribly weak and tired, walked over, listened to what she said, and then, suddenly, lunged at her throat. A few soldiers, the guard included, stepped forward, ready to defend the princess! The Avatar may be a Spirit came to the world to punish them for any crimes he had imagined, but that didn't mean he had the right to just do whatever he wanted.

But the guard stopped dead in his tracks as the wind began to pick up. It had been a still night, but the air was now whipping over the courtyard as the Avatar straightened, still holding the princess's throat, but the man with the broken leg hobbled towards him, putting a hand on the Avatar's arm, forcing it down.

The guard didn't hear what was being said, but suddenly, the Avatar's fist landed into Princess Azula's face. Even from this distance, he and his comrades heard the bones crack. The Avatar lifted his fist once more, landing another blow, before the small girl and the woman that had pushed Lord Ozai were next to him, pulling him away from the princess.

"Where is she! Tell me, or I will do what I promised to do all those weeks ago! What do you mean!" The Avatar looked murderous now, and the guard's knees grew weak at the sight. Whatever human feeling he had supposed resided inside the Spirit, it was gone. Now, there was only pure vengeful rage, hatred and anger towards an innocent woman! What had the princess ever done to him that even began to justify this kind of behaviour?

He and the other soldiers looked on as the copper-skinned man pulled the Avatar to the ground, falling down beside him. The guard didn't hear the conversation between the Water Tribe savage and the Air Degenerate, but it seemed rather heated. But after a few moments, the Avatar stood up once more, with a wild look in those silver eyes. It seemed as if he was doing everything in his power to keep himself as calm as possible.

"You will be sent off to prison now." With that, the Avatar walked away, towards the Royal Gates. Without any trials, or even a chance to defend herself, the Avatar had condemned the princess to a life no royal should suffer! And for what? There was no good reason, in the guard's eyes, for being so cruel towards the princess! Now, he realized why they had been given those orders, concerning the waterbender. The Avatar was deranged, and the only thing that could even restrain him was the power that that savage held over him. That is why Lord Ozai had ordered her capture! To protect and save the Fire Nation from this monster!

The group that had arrived with the Avatar followed, hurriedly, with Lord Ozai in their clutches, while the traitor Zuko also stood, a Fire Sage helping him stand up. As the young man was helped towards the middle of the square, he stopped in front of his sister. The scarred turncoat looked at the princess, whose birthright he had just stolen, and sighed.

"You heard Avatar Aang. Send her to the Royal Prison. Keep her hands and feet tied, and put something in front of her mouth, to stop her bending. And send for the physician, so that he can take a look at her injuries." With that, the traitor waved forward, and the Fire Sage helped him off the plaza.

That left… Well, them. And a few Fire Sages.

Was… Was this it? Who was Fire Lord? No one had been crowned, and Lord Ozai had relinquished his titles, even before this whole absurd story about being stripped of his firebending. That left… no one. The Sages, the Avatar and his cronies seemed to accept Zuko as Fire Lord, but the guard knew what he had been told.

The traitor had been removed from the succession scrolls, his father had said so himself. The only choice, the only option, was the Princess Azula. Sure, there were distant cousins, but the throne of the nation could only pass to a firebender. And those cousins were not.

What about Prince Iroh? His grand uncle had always spoken respectfully about the older brother of Lord Ozai, even though they all knew what a traitor it turned out to be. No, Iroh wasn't an option either. It had to be the Princess!

"You!" A Fire Sage stepped towards them. He had a wispy beard, and only slightly older than the guard himself. He didn't wear his hat, which, in the soldier's eyes was weird, because it was a very important part of the Fire Sage's clothing… But it wasn't his place to ask questions.

"And you four," The Sage pointed to some other guards, "Escort the princess towards the Royal Prison. Lord Zuko ordered so." The word lord was spoken with such loathing that the soldier realized that this Sage wasn't agreeing with what was happening! That was good news, at least one sensible person!

Stepping one pace forward, the guard pointed his chin up, and looked straight forward, as they had taught him at training. Without looking at the Sage, he spoke.

"And then?" He needed to know. Were they to put the Princess in a cell, or just to drop her off? What did the traitor actually want?

"Then?" The Sage sounded pleased, "Who is Fire Lord, private?"

He didn't know what to answer, because he didn't know. How could they say it? Was Zuko the ruler?

"The Fire Sages have not yet crowned one, Devote Priest." One of the other soldiers, whom he had only spoken to once or twice, answered.

"Exactly." Letting his eyes wander for a second, the guard saw the Sage smile.

"Better to make sure we have options… right?" The Fire Sage suggested, and suddenly, the guard realized what was being asked of them. Him, and four of his comrades, were asked to save the hope of the Fire Nation! Trying not to show his excitement about his role in this, he nodded.

"Escort her past the prison, into the forests behind the city." The Sage approached them now, as to make sure no one else heard them, "I'll make sure the garrisons of Fire Fountain and Kirashi Island will know to expect you. But I'll let the Princess decide the destination. There is a boat on the other side of the forests, prepared for these kinds of things."

It felt right. Here was one of Agni's chosen, ordering them to do what was right! And the guard knew that this would be the right thing to do for the Fire Nation! If they managed to get the princess out of here, it was all going to be alright. The traitors and savages had made a vital mistake, and that was going to be their undoing! There was a chance to save the Fire Nation, to save it from a traitorous ruler, from defeat and humiliation!

There was a chance.