Battle in the Northern Water Tribe

3

A flaming projectile flew from the ship closest to the shore: it crashed against the thick ice wall that protected the Water Tribe, widening its gap further. Some waterbenders sought to rebuild the broken wall while others focused on using water to nullify the threat posed by the burning boulder.

As much as Katara had been ready to silence the senior waterbender beside her with her bending prowess, she couldn't help but admire the ease with which he shifted water from one stage to the next: in the blink of an eye, the man would be wielding a water whip that would turn into an ice spike, one that was carefully calculated to sabotage the catapult aboard the ship that attacked them.

"Have they used tanks yet?!" Katara asked him.

"We have seen none," Pakku said. "How serious a threat would that pose for us?"

"Could be a bad one!" Katara said. "If any show up, melt the ice beneath them and drown them underwater!"

"Ah… I understand!" Pakku said, as Katara launched an ice spike of her own, targeting the ship's engines, right behind its central tower.

The spike, unfortunately, didn't find its target, but it caused sufficient damage and chaos aboard the ship to make the soldiers panic. Pakku breathed deeply, frowning as he glared at the dark waters before them.

"But perhaps the best way to go about combating that kind of invasion vehicle… is by not allowing it to land in the first place."

Katara frowned, perplexed by Pakku's reasoning. The man seemed to think briefly before breathing deeply and raising his hands.

"I have a difficult technique in mind," he said. Katara raised an eyebrow. "I will need support: the rest of you are to maintain the surface water steady while I turn the water into steam below it."

"You'll evaporate the water…?" Katara said, eyeing him with perplexity. Pakku nodded.

"But this will only work provided I can contain it in a specific water pocket!" he said, glancing at his waterbenders. "Half of you, join her in helping me with this! The other half, keep fighting and hold the line while we prepare to strike!"

The waterbenders accepted the order right away: Katara frowned still, confused by the waterbending master's plan, but she didn't protest as they got to work.

Pakku began moving his arms in swaying motions, shifting his footing and returning to the previous kata. At first, no one could sense that anything was happening – and naturally, neither the Fire Nation nor the onlookers who couldn't bend water saw any difference, regardless of Pakku's spirited motions.

The master waterbender continued to move, though, and as he did, Katara grew aware of the changes in the water underneath that which she held her bending grip. She frowned, reeling in more water to contain that which Pakku was wielding and transforming… and it was quite a massive amount of water at that. The others joined her as well, and together, they helped Pakku continue his technique. The man focused and continued to move smoothly, as if in a dance…

"What is he doing?" Kino, lurking behind a tall pillar with Yue, watched Pakku with perplexity – he had never seen any waterbenders moving around that way without massive water attacks following their movements. Yue had never seen anything of the sort either, so she provided no answer as she watched Pakku fearfully as well.

The master waterbender's arms shifted faster still: new ships were moving in, three of them at the moment, and Pakku appeared to be reaching his limit…

Once the ships had progressed enough to reach the place where he had contained his bending, he stretched out his hands and stopped moving.

"Release! NOW!"

Katara relinquished her hold on the water, as did the others: it was a great relief, for her grip upon the mass she had been holding to contain the explosive bubbles Pakku had crafted underwater was moments away from breaking…

Explosive, though?

Her eyes widened as the burst of bubbles reached the surface with unexpected violence: the sizzling heat poured out, colliding with the hulls of the ships… causing a shift in temperature so sudden, so violent and volatile, that the integrity of the material was immediately compromised.

The metal's structure, so solid and strong, lost its integrity quickly once the temperature shock burst around the ships: before any of their occupants knew what was happening, all three ships were sinking, their hulls cracked and broken, slowly flooding with heated and icy water, clashing against each other.

Katara gasped as she watched the process happen far more quickly than she imagined it would – the shift in pressure had caused multiple holes to shatter the ships, it seemed. As much as she hadn't understood his intent right away, it appeared that Pakku's years of experience fighting the Fire Nation had taught him quite a few tricks on how to keep them at bay…

"That… that was pretty good," Katara told him. Pakku huffed.

"Then you'd best be ready to do it again!" he said. "You handled yourself well with this technique. Ensure to keep up with it anew if we need to resort to it once more!"

"I can keep up!" Katara snapped, glaring at him as she raised her hands, prepared to continue holding off the Fire Nation's attempt to invade the Water Tribe…

For the warships could be defeated. After techniques like these, it became clearer why the Northern Water Tribe had held their own against the Fire Nation for as long as they had…

But the navy wasn't the only Fire Nation force attacking the Northern Water Tribe today.

"Master Pakku! Master Pakku, an airship!"

Katara gasped: her eyes shifted upwards to find an airship was descending in their direction.

"They've failed to land through water… so they attempt it by air," Pakku hissed, raising his hands and glaring at the incoming vehicle.

Was it a weaponized airship? The mechanism at its prow hadn't yet shifted in any significant way. Perhaps it wasn't one of the five weaponized airships… but it was difficult to tell right now. Men crowded at the airship's catwalks, some in flashy firebender outfits, others wielding weapons: among such weapons, bows and arrows appeared to be the most common ones in sight… yet again, more archers had joined the fray, and they were quick to level their arrows at the waterbenders who could only defend with new shields of ice…

They couldn't prepare attacks like Pakku's while they were defending. They couldn't strike against the airship if it was coming down so fast, so dangerously, ready to open the way for the deadly forces aboard the warships that would rush the city as soon as they were able…

"What do we do?!" asked one of the waterbenders, glancing back at Katara: she had knocked down the previous airship, but could she do it again?

Someone beat her to it before she could so much as begin gathering her power to attempt it, though.

"Give me cover… and remove it when I tell you to," Zuko said, climbing an ice platform behind them. The waterbenders froze, glancing back at him with confusion.

"Zuko?" Katara called him, and Zuko nodded reassuringly in her direction.

"I'm going to try something. If this fails…" Zuko told her. Katara gritted her teeth and nodded.

"I'll step in. I'll be ready!" Katara said. Zuko breathed deeply and turned his gaze towards the approaching airship.

His heart clenched at the sight of it… and just so, it burned with outrage, with hatred, with unbridled anger at his father's choices. At every single decision by all the Fire Lords that preceded him, too: none of them were exempt of the responsibility that had seen matters reaching this point. For the second time, the Fire Nation was merely a few hours away from annihilating a culture… and they wouldn't stop there. The Southern Water Tribe was likely to be next, too…

He couldn't allow that. He wouldn't allow it. He was here to stop it, to put his foot down, to show no fear in the face of his father's threatening forces. How he hated him… how he wished he could be right in front of Ozai right now, making him pay for everything he had done…

But that hatred wouldn't serve him well for what he'd have to do next.

Iroh had told him this technique required peace of mind. Try as though he might, Zuko hadn't dared produce lightning out of fear that his frequently rampaging thoughts would sabotage his attempt and cause the power to backfire on him. He knew the theory, he understood the logic, Iroh had been good at explaining how to do it… but Zuko had never dared. He had suspected he would fail, for he had never been able to cleanse his mind and heart as thoroughly as he had during their brief stint in the Southern Air Temple.

He should have trained with Aang and Kino some more… he should have asked for their advice, but he hadn't done it. Fool that he was… he needed that state of mind now. He needed it so desperately…

Otherwise, he might die today. He might never return home.

The thought brought Suki, Mari and Zi to mind. He could picture them so clearly, so powerfully… and his heart was suddenly infused by a wholly different emotion. A fully opposite emotion to the one that had reigned inside him ever since they had learned of what was happening in the Northern Water Tribe.

Suddenly, his mind seemed clearer. It took him a moment to realize it wasn't:

He was in balance.

He couldn't forsake the good within himself any more than he could forsake the bad. He couldn't let hatred take the wheel when there was so much love inside him, too. He wanted to destroy those airships, of course he did… but he wanted to save people. He wanted to save his family. Success here would mean they would survive a little longer still, provided Ozai had sent no troops down south again.

He closed his eyes as he let himself feel for her, reach for Suki with his soul… and he seemed to feel her energy responding to him, her brow pressed to his as her voice echoed in his heart:

"I'll never stop believing in you, Zuko. I'll never stop waiting for you. I know you'll come home to us… and I'll look forward to the day you do. Mari and Zi will, too."

He let those words fuel him… just as his righteous anger did the same thing. And while this was dangerously risky, while he knew this wasn't what Iroh had told him to do, Zuko did it anyways.

Following suit with every logical theory Iroh had explained, Zuko began moving his arms slowly: energy swirled around him, and he harnessed it as charge that took form as small sparks of lightning around his limbs. He shifted from one flowing stance to the other, charging as much of the lightning as he could before it became unmanageable. He was nervous, unsure that he'd be doing the right thing, for this was a choice made by sheer impulse… but the negative and positive energies of lightning, something Iroh had also explained, might just respond to the negative and positive energies within Zuko too.

He was balanced. His mind was not blank, and neither was his heart. The conflicting, chaotic feelings about this matter fell to the wayside as the sparks seemed to fizzle and snap, threatening to bite him, to strike at him if he lowered his guard… but another voice echoed in his heart next:

"You can't be afraid of your own flames."

He breathed deeply: fire pooled within him, but for once, he didn't translate it into firebending: he kept every spark in control, fueled by his overflowing emotions… and yet they remained in check. They didn't overwhelm him, didn't overtake him… they didn't break him.

With a roar most unlike anything anyone had ever heard from him so far, Zuko straightened his right arm:

"DROP THE BARRIER! NOW!"

The waterbenders were quick to listen: Katara gasped as Zuko managed to harness the charged attack he had been pooling within his body… and then he shot it towards the airship, where a new volley of arrow fire was about to be unleashed.

The crackle of lightning cut across the night, as good as splitting the world in half… much as it appeared to split the airship it was fired at.

Screams of shock and fear echoed in the night: the Fire Nation troops watched from afar in utter disbelief as an enemy agent, unknown and impossible to identify from this distance, unleashed the most refined, powerful technique of their nation's bending art. The consequences were immediate too: the airship ceased functions at once, unprepared to receive the electric charge it had only just sustained… more so as the airship's components began to crumble in a heap of fire, collapsing at a short distance from the Northern Water Tribe's bay.

The explosion saw the waterbenders building new defensive shields, protecting their group from the debris that broke from the bursting airship: even so, the ones who faced the worst of it were the Fire Nation troops, namely the latest ships at the frontlines. More screams, explosions and chaos spread, as the airships collapsed atop the warships…

And Zuko just lowered his arms, chest heaving after exerting more power and control than he ever had while bending. His heart raced… his hands still tingled with the power he had not known for sure that he could conjure. It wasn't the right way to go about it, likely… but it had worked. In embracing himself, his fire, everything good or bad, kind or cruel, right or wrong within him, he had found balance… and with that balance, he had saved the Water Tribe for at least a few moments longer.

"He… he did it?! He did it!" Kino exclaimed, from his hiding spot with Yue: it wasn't the right time to rejoice in anything, he knew, but his hands went to the top of his head as he stared at Zuko's figure in disbelief, perfectly silhouetted against the flames of the fallen airship.

"W-what was…? Lightning?" Yue asked, staring at Kino in confusion. Kino grinned at her.

"That's one of the most difficult techniques for firebenders to master!" he said, beaming. "And Prince Zuko had never done it before… but he did it now! He… he's incredible!"

Yue swallowed hard: it certainly had been difficult to give her eyes any credit when she saw the lightning, but it had happened all the same… and it was rather fortunate that the one person who had wielded that attack on this battlefield happened to be an ally rather than a foe. Prince Zuko, though… she truly knew nothing about these allies they'd acquired out of nowhere. They were mysterious, confusing… and they might be the key to the salvation of her people.

"Do you believe he can do it again?" she asked. Kino glanced back at her with uncertainty.

"I… hope so? He did it once, so he should be able to…" he said, turning towards Zuko anew.

The firebender continued to breathe heavily after his exertions, but he seemed to react positively when Pakku and Katara looked to him in appreciative surprise.

"Could've used some more of that in the past, but I'm glad you figured it out now!" Katara said, surprising even herself by smiling. Zuko smiled a little, too.

"Why, Prince Zuko… I did not know you could bend lightning, but that's just one more thing in our favor," Pakku said, with a proud smile. "Ensure to do that again if any other airships come close. I understand you're not used to the technique…"

"But we have no time to waste right now," Zuko said, nodding firmly. "I can't afford to fail… none of us can."

"Then prepare yourself to… uh, though perhaps your lightning won't be all that urgently needed?"

Zuko frowned, as did Katara, when one of the more distant airships seemed to burst into flames for no apparent reason… yet the two of them made a wild guess about what might have happened to it immediately upon glimpsing it: they had more allies other than Sokka and Aang, after all…


Rui Shi didn't know by then how many airships and hot-air balloons had fallen to his squad: one of their own balloons had taken serious damage, and they had needed to rescue its crew and redistribute their numbers across their balloons in consequence. Even so, compared to the numerous Fire Nation balloons, destroyed and sinking in the sea, or crashed against ships that now burned up due to the explosion of the balloons' engines, they had certainly avoided a dark fate far more effectively than the Fire Nation troops had.

His latest target had been another airship, which had proven far easier to destroy than hot-air balloons: simply heading to the top of the airship sufficed to deal severe damage to the engines without taking great risks, for the airship's troops couldn't fight them from the catwalks once they were attacked from above. Yet the balloons were a wholly different matter…

"Rui Shi! Watch out!"

Fei Li's voice cut across the air just as someone on the enemy hot-air balloons, hovering much lower than theirs, took aim at Rui Shi's balloon and fired a flaming arrow right at the balloon itself.

Rui Shi snarled: he succeeded at burning down the first arrow, but a second one cut through the fabric of his balloon right afterwards. He shook his head: they were going down. Much like the previous collapsing hot-air balloon, they wouldn't survive this without taking extreme measures to do so…

"Pilot!" Rui Shi called: the man winced as he watched the balloon's structure weakening by the minute. "Aim at their balloon!"

"W-what?!"

"Do it! Aim for landing on their basket!"

"Landing on their…?" Jianghou, beside him, appeared entirely perplex: how could Rui Shi remain so level-headed right now? Was his strange command proof that he wasn't level-headed at all, instead? It did sound like only a madman could give out such an order…

But even if it seemed such a highly questionable command, the pilot obeyed nonetheless: slowly, the balloon's steering system did what it could to push them further towards that hostile vehicle, right below theirs… arrows flew at their vehicle still, some finding purchase in the balloon's basket, others seeking to cut down the balloon's fabric instead… but once they were close enough, Rui Shi began shooting his own attacks at the enemy, even setting a few of their bows on fire, rendering them unusable before the inevitable crash occurred…

The Fire Nation crew on the balloon tried to scramble away to no avail: Rui Shi leapt over the side of his crumbling basket, dodging whatever the enemy might throw at him, before grabbing two of them by the armor and tossing them overboard unceremoniously. Jianghuo followed his lead, pushing out the third man aboard the vessel before calling at their pilots to join them on the slightly damaged, but nonetheless functioning hot-air balloon they had just taken from the enemy.

"We won't be able to do this every time…" Jianghuo said, as their burning, collapsing hot-air balloon crumbled, as a falling star about to crash into yet another warship in the sea below.

"And we need to get out of their catapult's range as soon as possible," Rui Shi also said, stepping up to the engines and pouring fire powerfully into it. "Higher again. We don't know how long it's going to take them to realize we've stolen a balloon."

In a matter of moments, they ascended sufficiently to reach their allies once more: while some appeared alarmed, even ready to attack at first, Rui Shi and Jianghuo managed to make gestures to give away that they were unharmed.

"Damn… the Fire Nation emblem's not a good look on your balloon, Rui Shi," Fei Li sighed in relief once they were hovering nearby.

"They gave us no choice… but Jianghuo is right. We won't be able to do this every time we're in danger," he said, shooting a glare at the airborne fleet that continued to spread below them.

Their group had progressed above the fleet, about halfway through its ranks by now. There was no denying that they had done a fair amount of damage… but taking down three airships and a dozen hot-air balloons hadn't been enough to turn the battle in their favor. Another two airships had exploded earlier, judging by the glare of the two explosions near the bay… but Rui Shi couldn't quite know what had happened there anyway. It still hadn't been enough to do away with the hundreds of ships pouring in relentlessly, ready to invade the Water Tribe however possible…

And it appeared that they would do so, no matter if Rui Shi and his troops had been fighting against the airborne fleet as relentlessly as they had so far.

"Look!" Haoren roared, pointing towards the bay's broken wall: as much progress as they had made against the hot-air balloons and airships alike, it appeared that a group of the former had broken formation, aiming towards attacking the left side of the icy wall of the Northern Water Tribe…

The attack was consummated mere instants after Haoren spotted them: a sudden explosion flashed in the location, breaching the wall in a new area that, while not of easy access to the naval forces, it might just become an ideal secondary entrance into the Tribe for the Fire Nation's troops, if it was left unchecked.

"Damn it…" Rui Shi snarled: the lightning from earlier remained a mystery, but he hoped it meant the frontlines of the Water Tribe's defenses had found allies who could shoot down the rest of the Fire Nation's airships, if possible… "To me! We're going there, now!"

"You sure?!" Haoren asked. Rui Shi nodded, glancing at him over his shoulders.

"Spread the command! Bring everyone in! It will take us time, but we'll do more to defend the Water Tribe by stopping that attack ourselves… or at least, by tearing apart their forces once we get there!"

Haoren nodded before spreading the word indeed: the pilots set the balloons in motion, veering away from the main Fire Nation fleet and putting safe distance between themselves and the archer enemies who would have gladly taken advantage of any opportunity to destroy their very vulnerable airborne vessels.

But the hazard this group of hot-air balloons represented to the Water Tribe's defenses couldn't be underestimated: an attack from this flank, distracting away from the very delicate defenses the Water Tribe had finally succeeded at crafting in the frontlines, could be the final blow the Fire Nation needed to defeat their long-standing, resilient enemy nation…


The explosion by that corner of the walls had caught everyone by surprise: Zuko hadn't been charging more lightning yet, but he had regained some of his strength by that point. He jumped off the ice platform, glaring in the direction of the smoke, and Katara turned towards it as well.

"Is this… is this everyone that's left?!" Katara shouted at Pakku, who was hard at work building a new defensive layer of wall, one the catapults of the ships were attempting to destroy.

"You mean, are all our remaining able-bodied fighters already here?" Pakku asked. "I frankly don't know! I fear that's the case, but I don't know if there are other survivors deeper into the city…!"

"We won't have time to find more people to support us…" Katara said. "Then… about this explosion…!"

"Go!" Pakku shouted at her, startling Katara. "If you're quite so strong, and the Southern Water Tribe has such impressive masters… I'm sure you and Prince Zuko can handle that, whatever it was!"

Katara had the feeling some of the man's words were coated with passive-aggressiveness, but she didn't have time to waste arguing with him, if that had been the case. She shot a glance at Zuko, who nodded at her before they sprinted off in the direction of the latest explosion.

"What…?" Kino frowned, his previous enthusiasm quickly cooled over once he realized Zuko and Katara were in motion… and that no one else had joined them, too. "They can't…! Rather, they shouldn't deal with that alone, whatever that is!"

"Can you do something to help?" Yue asked: it didn't mean she wanted him to, Kino knew… perhaps she wanted him to not do anything at all, since that way her only personal protector wouldn't join the fray…

He glanced at her, uncertain of what to say: what could he do? What was his strength? What could he possibly provide for Katara and Zuko that they didn't already have at hand? They were extraordinary benders… and while he had his knives and a sword, there was no sense in expecting that he'd be able to use them. How could he even get close enough to an enemy while his two friends were raining elements upon them? Even attempting to approach the enemies from another angle would likely be suicide, they'd spot him and then they'd try to kill him for sure – he'd just be a liability, an obstacle, just as he always had been… just as he always was in the settlement, just as he had constantly represented one all across his life, even when he had served the Fire Nation…

Curses, but the timing of his misfortune couldn't have been more inconvenient. If the Fire Nation troops continued to ignore his very existence, as they had for so long, then maybe he would have a chance to help…

… But wouldn't they ignore him, as always?

The idea sprung in his mind slowly, his lips parting as he processed it. Fire Nation soldiers constantly overlooked him and ignored him… provided he was dressed as one of them. He was nothing special… he was no one special. And that was where his truest strength lay: Zuko and Katara couldn't go unnoticed, but he could.

His eyes shifted towards the scattered bodies of Water Tribe and Fire Nation forces alike: there was a Fire Nation soldier, not too tall, and not too short, lying on the ice only a few steps away from where he and Yue had taken refuge. Physically, he appeared to be unharmed: he had likely been killed through a waterbending technique of some sort.

"Princess Yue…" Kino said, swallowing hard. "I… I may be able to help them. Though I don't know if I'll be effective, I… I might be able to do something now. Whether I can or can't, though… please stay safe and hidden, okay? Find… find other survivors, maybe! I'm sure not every civilian has been killed, there's no way…!"

"The civilians were… were evacuated into tunnels deep inside the casket," Yue explained. Kino raised his eyebrows.

"Oh… that's good! You could take Appa, maybe, and go join them if things go really downhill now, but I hope they won't. I… I'll do my best to ensure they don't."

"What are you planning on doing?" Yue said, frowning heavily as she reached for Kino's forearm impulsively. "Are you going to sacrifice yourself to…?"

"I… I hope it won't come to that, but…" Kino said, eyeing her warily…

A flash of fire, from their left, shed new light upon Yue's features for Kino. He frowned as he detailed her factions again… and while in normal circumstances, his first thought would have been that she was beautiful, something else stood out to him just as it had earlier.

Her eyes were sad but understanding. She didn't want him to sacrifice himself, but she wouldn't stop him if he meant to do that. She was loyal to her nation, to her people… and so, she understood if Kino's loyalty might be the death of him, too.

But along with all of that… there was something familiar about her. Something that stood out… something he couldn't put his finger on right away.

He didn't have the time to try doing so, either.

"I'll do everything a guy like me can do to ensure this battle can be won," Kino said, firmly, clasping her hand gently only to ensure she'd let him go. "I'm sorry I'll leave you for now, but… I'll be back. I hope, anyway. Oh, if you use him… the command to make Appa fly is 'yip yip'!"

He bowed his head at her before rushing towards the dead soldier. Yue, shivering, watched him go as her heart sank with dread: to think her husband had refused to witness this day's arrival, which he had heralded all along, and he had escaped to survive and live in the Fire Nation while turning his back on his people… meanwhile, a total stranger now knelt by a dead soldier's side, quickly undressing him so he could change into the uniform of the Fire Nation occupation troops. No one had asked him to show loyalty to the Water Tribe… the one he had been part of, the one he had known and joined, was the Southern rather than the Northern. He owed her nothing… and while there was fear in his eyes, his determination to do right by his friends and by the Water Tribe far outdid that fear. He was courageous… he was reckless. She had no idea what he'd do… but she had never thought she'd find that kind of sincere, true loyalty in a Fire Nation soldier, let alone did she expect said loyalty to be directed towards the Water Tribe instead of his birth nation.

After removing all the pertinent elements of the armor, Kino ducked behind the ruins of a building to change quickly – the frigid air made matters worse, of course it did, for he shivered violently as he dressed in the cold outfit and armor. By the end of it, though, he set the helmet in place and fastened all his weapons in place… his sword in hand.

"Let's go… let's do this," Kino breathed deeply, calming himself before setting out, running past multiple rows and rows of buildings on his way to where his friends were fighting.

Katara and Zuko had arrived quickly enough to attack and take down the first of the newly invading hot-air balloons: while the vehicle had crashed chaotically against the tall cliff that hugged the city, the men aboard had leapt off successfully and raced towards them, ready for a fight.

It had started one-sided, for their superiority as benders had been apparent right away: Zuko's firebending had been polished beyond that of his foes, and he had proven capable of wielding it at full strength even during the dark period – it was yet another advantage courtesy of his years in the South Pole.

But their ease to fight had changed once the next hot-air balloons didn't aim for landing: arrows began raining in their direction, and Katara had to raise an icy barrier to stop the arrows from finding purchase in either Zuko's body or her own.

"Yu-Yan archers!" Zuko told her. Katara gritted her teeth.

"Is that supposed to mean something to me?!"

"They're renowned for having the best accuracy in the Fire Nation's forces!" Zuko told her. "If they hit either of us, they'll go for the kill, and they might just succeed at it!"

"Well… shit," Katara gritted her teeth, spinning around herself and blindly casting an ice spike in the direction of the balloons, just as more deadly arrows cut into the ice… some aimed right at the spots where their heads had been.

Zuko breathed deeply: he'd have to resort to lightning again, from the looks of it. The balloons were staying airborne for now… they needed to tear them down. If only he were faster at charging it… He shook his head, trying to calm himself as he drew from his power anew…

"Be ready…!" he told Katara. She breathed out and nodded.

"I'll lower the shield, hit whatever you can and I'll try to take out the rest!"

Zuko nodded: once he managed to charge enough power, he nodded at Katara: she withdrew the shield, close to shattering as it was, and Zuko launched the lightning bolt right at the enemy.

No more arrows flew out after the lightning flashed across the city again: the bolt didn't strike a balloon directly… but it had cracked the cliffside, and the ice was toppling towards the vessels now. Katara raised her eyebrows appreciatively before jumping into a kata – beside her, Zuko's chest heaved as she directed shards of ice towards each balloon, taking them down from the sky as fast as she could.

Some crumbled outside the Tribe's broken wall, while others simply crumbled at the foot of the tall cliff, inland. Katara breathed deeply, though, nudging Zuko with an elbow as she watched the hostile archers and firebenders leaping out of the baskets of their balloons before they crashed.

"Not over yet!" she told Zuko. He breathed heavily and nodded as he unsheathed his swords.

"No more lightning," he told her. Katara winced.

"Took too much out of you?" she asked. He gritted his teeth.

"It's the first time I ever… I didn't even know if it would work," he admitted. "I'm not used to… I'm a little…"

"Exhausted," Katara concluded, gritting her teeth.

Zuko shot her a worried glance, one he found mirrored in hers: she wasn't in much better shape either, mainly carried forward by adrenaline and rage pooled together into a deadly mix. But if the Fire Nation continued to send troops this way, the two of them wouldn't be strong enough to contain them.

Even so, they jumped out to fight and defend against the soldiers who began their assault as soon as they were on their feet: the archers fired arrows at them, the benders cast flames, and Katara and Zuko dodged and blocked against each projectile, pinned down anew by the enemy's relentless barrage of attacks that didn't follow any set pattern or rhythm: there was no predicting when an arrow would whistle through the air and strike them, for so far, only Katara's barriers had kept that from happening…

"This is getting complicated…!" Katara exclaimed: Zuko gritted his teeth, fearing he would need to charge lightning again, whether he wanted to or not… but how else would they make any progress? At this point, around fifteen soldiers were on their feet, if not more…

And then there was one soldier, too, rushing in from inside the city.

Katara frowned upon glimpsing him: unlike the others, he was coming from a completely nonsensical direction, for no troops had made it that far… was he a lucky survivor from the initial occupation attempt? Was he on his way to rejoin his troops?

… Or was he, perhaps, not on the Fire Nation's side at all?

Her jaw dropped: not a single non-bending Fire Nation soldier today had wielded a silver jian blade. But she knew a former soldier who had taken up learning that weapon in recent times…

"No, no, KINO!" she shrieked. Zuko's eyes widened, his focus breaking at once.

"What do you mean, Kino?!" he gasped, concerned. "Isn't he…?!"

The soldier dashed over the rooftops, past every broken building and wall, sword in tow as he finally reached the other soldiers: they had cast a glance at him and presumably concluded that, with such a uniform, he was indeed an ally to overlook. Some, perhaps, hadn't even seen him to begin with, focused only on attacking the two hostile benders who were defending the Water Tribe…

The first soldier in his way wound up beheaded.

The second one, a Yu-Yan archer, lost his left arm in a single, violent sweep.

By then, the focus of their force began crumbling: a third soldier, his gut was pierced by the deadly blade, slipping right in the weak spots that weren't covered by any armor.

The Fire Nation soldiers began attacking him then: he dodged, jumping to the side, luring them into striking their own allies by mixing in among them. Then, he dealt another cut into someone's thigh.

"What is he doing…?!" Zuko roared, running past Katara's shield.

"No, Zuko…!" Katara shouted.

"Kino! Stop that!" Zuko said, charging firebending attacks that he launched at the enemy forces: the former soldier's sudden appearance and intervention had seemingly caused sufficient turmoil among the enemy soldiers to make it so only a handful of them would still attempt to attack Zuko as he rushed towards his friend.

"Zuko! Slow down!" Katara exclaimed, though she, too, wished to reach Kino right away. The hopeless fool… it was impressive that he would be cutting down members of the invasion force as successfully as he had so far, but it was only a matter of time before any of the archers, still adrift in the air on hot-air balloons, found a clear shot and took him out…

But the first who tried wound up shooting another Fire Nation soldier instead of Kino.

He had caused panic and chaos with his intervention, and in doing so, he was succeeding at taking the pressure away from Zuko and Katara. All he had to do was hold out a little longer, and maybe he'd be able to go back to Princess Yue anyway. If Zuko meant to scold him for it, then Kino would accept it without issue, too, provided everyone survived…

"Stop!" Zuko shouted, but Kino didn't listen. He couldn't afford to. Another archer, another firebender, this one had a spear, that one scorched his clothes – good thing his stolen armor paid off, taking the brunt of the attacks dealt at him –, the other one kicked him over the head, knocking his helmet off…

Zuko roared: the charged firebending attack he launched seemed to serve to disperse the remaining fighters near Kino, just as the former soldier was moments away from being overwhelmed by the enemy…

Then, an arrow whistled through the air.

Katara, exhausted, couldn't raise a barrier on time:

A gasp in his voice seemed to echo in the chaos of the North Pole as the arrow found purchase deep in Zuko's chest.

Katara felt her blood chilling inside her body as Zuko stumbled. As the arrowhead protruded from his back.

As a trickle of blood became visible when one of the hot-air balloons right outside the walls caught fire.

"ZUKO!"

Fighting as fiercely as he was, aware that, for some miracle, he was actually winning, Kino only froze on the spot upon hearing that cry in Katara's voice.

He glanced to his left briefly: the soldiers he had been fighting were distracted by something else, something he couldn't register right away, right outside the walls…

Zuko fell on one knee.

That arrow in his chest couldn't be real.

He wasn't reaching for it with a trembling hand… exposed, as he was, in the middle of the battlefield.

Kino's eyes widened. His body shook with fear…

Then, with insurmountable fury.

Never before had Kino seen red as he did that day. Never before had the bloodlust so praised and sung about in the Fire Nation troops been quite so potent in him…

But he leveled that rage, that hatred, at the Fire Nation's own soldiers.

With a crazed scream, Kino rushed in with his blade once more, hacking away at everyone within sight, this time with no strategic intent… this time, without quite knowing what he was doing. If they were hurting him too, it was fine. It should be him hurting… not Zuko. Not his friend, his ally, his idol, his hero…

He had to go home. He had a family to live for. He had a wife and children waiting for him.

Kino had nothing. Kino had no one.

Kino only had his friends… and he would do anything for their sake.

"H-he's out of his mind!" one of the Fire Nation soldiers shouted: his cry didn't deter the furious Kino, tears spilling out of his eyes as he dealt blow upon blow on armor, against exposed or hidden flesh alike, stopping at nothing as he, unknowingly, created a pincer attack with an unexpected ally…

Rui Shi shuddered as his hot-air balloon neared the crack in the wall, right after his earlier attack had caused one of the enemy's hot-air balloons to catch fire: he had heard Katara's voice crying out Zuko's name. He could see her now, kneeling by the firebender's side, raising water to his chest…

"Fei Li! Land and protect them!" Rui Shi shouted. Fei Li didn't need to hear the words twice.

"Haoren! Qiang! Come with me!" Fei Li roared, as his pilot aimed the hot-air balloon towards Sokka's sister and Azula's brother.

"Get away from…!" Kino shrieked: he didn't know whose balloons they were. He couldn't even think clearly enough to identify they were his allies…

"KINO!" Rui Shi's voice thundered just as the maddened soldier picked up a bow he might not even know how to use.

Hearing one of those soldiers call his name cleared the blinding fog in Kino's mind briefly: as much as the balloon descending near him now was Fire Nation, the man aboard wasn't in uniform.

Rui Shi leapt off the balloon, performing a potent firebending attack, quickly charged and unleashed on the remaining soldiers targeting Kino.

They screamed as the fire burned them, as it as good as exploded on them. Kino froze on the spot, bloodied sword in hand as Rui Shi, landing heavily on the ice, raised his gaze towards him.

"R-Rui Shi…" Kino said. "Rui Shi…! Zuko is…!"

"I know…!" Rui Shi said, pushing himself up with difficulty and grabbing Kino by the shoulder. "But this isn't over! We have to protect them now! Stay sharp and strong, Kino!"

The soldier snarled, but he nodded firmly as he raised his sword: Rui Shi's hot-air balloons had arrived on time, but new soldiers were pouring in through the crack in the wall anyway, others rode in on hot-air balloons too, clashing violently with the firebenders aboard Rui Shi's hot-air balloons.

Around twenty soldiers already laid dead around them: only three of them had been killed by anyone other than Kino.

He roared fiercely, brandishing his sword anew as he, Rui Shi and the rest of the firebenders in his command, whether those mid-flight or those on the ground, rushed in to hold the line by slaying however many Fire Nation soldiers attempted to enter the Tribe through that gap in the wall, killing everyone they had to in order to keep Zuko safe, to ensure Katara would be able to heal him…

"Stay with me, Zuko…!" Katara shouted, waving water over the arrow… knowing, however, that both removing it or keeping it there would be hazardous for the firebender.

Already weakened after so much lightning, Zuko's eyesight was becoming blurry. He breathed heavily, confused, unsure of what was happening other than that Katara was with him… other than that his heart somehow kept seeking Suki where it wouldn't find her. But somehow she kept coming to mind… somehow, he felt like he was seeing her one more time. That she might be looking at him… that she might be reaching for him, and he dared reach back…

And then, the sky caught fire.


Silence hung between them as they glared at each other: Zhao looked moments away from jumping on to the next tier of the city from the street they stood in, all be it to get away from Sokka, even if that would likely result in severe bodily damage… perhaps more than he could sustain, regardless of the spiritually charged water he had ingested. But who knew how fearless Zhao might be while he believed he was indestructible…?

Was he really, though? Sokka dreaded he'd find out the truth about that quite soon, judging by the tension between them, and the crazed, slow smile that spread over Zhao's face…

"Looks like you used some too, didn't you?" he asked. Sokka's brow drew together. "The water, I mean. If you hadn't… surely you'd have a scar to match Zuko's by now. Suits you… he's the royal holding your leash at the moment, isn't he?"

Sokka scoffed: just this poor beginning heralded nothing good for the exchange he was supposed to have with Zhao. His glare turned skeptical as he thumbed his sword's handle, firm in his hand.

"I'm pretty damn sure that what you did to me wasn't even a tickle compared to what Ozai did to Zuko… maybe you have a soft spot for me still, don't you?"

"I…! Don't patronize me!" Zhao hissed, glaring at Sokka fiercely. "Soft spot? I thought you were a fool child, playing games you didn't understand! And you clearly didn't! Neither you nor her…! I warned you, damn you, from the moment I knew…! I told you this would never end well for you! She was not meant for you!"

"She sure as fuck wasn't meant for you either…" Sokka hissed, and Zhao barked with laughter.

"And whose fault is it that I was forced to make her my wife?!" he exclaimed. Sokka winced. "You… you and her, you were reckless, pathetic, childish! Did you get off on the thrill of sneaking around, of persuading her to go against her father's wishes? Did it even occur to you that you meant nothing to her?! That you were but an amusement, meaningless, so easily discarded and forgotten…!"

"I miss the days when it wasn't so obvious that you're in love with the sound of your own voice," Sokka hissed. "Shut the hell up, damn you! I'm not here for your ridiculous interpretations of things you can't even hope to understand…!"

"You're the one who can't!" Zhao hissed. "I already told you: she didn't even mourn you! She has replaced you! You were nothing to her…! And you should have known that from the start. What could a mongrel like you mean to someone like her?!"

"I… don't care," Sokka hissed: he knew the answers to those questions by heart, and he had no interest in debating that with Zhao. The less of his drivel he heard, the better. "And if you keep pushing me, I can't guarantee that I'll hold my sword hand for another moment. Stop it already, Zhao…!"

"You'll threaten me, then?" Zhao said, with a disbelieving smirk. "Here I thought you realized there was no point in doing that…!"

"You damnable piece of shit, just listen to me!" Sokka roared, eyes glowing with anger as he raised his sword in the firebender's direction. "There's only one scenario here in which you survive long enough to see the sunrise, Zhao! Surrender now, call off the attack, and I won't kill you with my own hands! Am I clear?!"

"You… you have no right to so much as pretend you can order me around!" Zhao said, his voice grating on Sokka's nerves. "That you've dared come this far doesn't change the truth… you're nothing. You're a worthless nobody! And me?! I'll be the conqueror of the Northern Water Tribe! I will destroy this wretched city and everyone living in it, I would have done it years ago if your sabotage hadn't paid off as it did…! Oh, yes, I remember all too well her drivel, her rambling about the airships not being a good fit for this campaign: look at them now! Watch as the entire North Pole melts under the power of our might! You… you and your people could never measure up. You're worthless!"

"Right. This worthless man has managed to take back over half the Earth Kingdom from your so-called worthy forces, though," Sokka said, glaring at Zhao with disgust. "I didn't even need to bring a full army here… just a handful of my allies and your grand plans are in the gutter now. You know it, don't you? You can't win. You're not going to trick me again. I won't give you another chance to burn me. The next time I kill you…"

"You can't kill me, you wretch…" Zhao said, glaring at him fiercely. "The oasis's water…!"

"You drank it," Sokka finished for him. "You don't even know what its true power is, though. It healed you? Is that what you think it did? Because, heh… your stance's still off. You're not even done bleeding either. You drank the whole thing… and yet your immortality is this flawed? Maybe… maybe it was no such thing to begin with. Or maybe it was, and the spirits deemed you unworthy of being healed, I don't know… sure can't blame them if that's what happened."

"Amuse yourself all you like… this water will ensure my survival while you waste away in the common ditch this freezing tundra will become!" Zhao roared. "I will live on for as long as I care to, I have already survived you once and I will do it as many times as needed until I've snuffed the light out of your eyes for good!"

"Heh… and how long before the water's effect runs out?" Sokka asked, skeptical. Zhao snarled. "Look at you… you can't even stand straight. How long before the effect fades for good, huh? How much more damage do you think you can take? Because I can keep hacking away at you until I've ground your very bones into powder… you've ensured to make me hate you enough to do that. So…"

"You, hate me?" Zhao repeated, scoffing and shaking his head. "This is all your fault! I would not be here now if it weren't for you! I wouldn't bear this damnable hairpiece on my head if it weren't for you!"

Sokka's heart sank: he hadn't so much as wanted to look at it… but there it sat. That symbol that had once belonged to the woman he loved most, the very crown that signaled her as a Princess of the Fire Nation… and now it sat on Zhao's head instead.

He could tell it had bothered him. He could see it wasn't something Sokka would ever be comfortable with… and so, Zhao smirked. Zhao sneered. Zhao glared at him, even so, pleased regardless of his uncontrollable rage, for finding and exploiting the enemy's weaknesses was the best way to attain victory.

"It angers you, doesn't it?" Zhao asked. "It sits wrongly with you, and of course it should! If you had bothered listening to me back then, you would have never been in this position! You wanted what you should have never tried to find, you miserable savage! And all for… for something so entirely worthless, too. What kind of man would ever immolate himself and the whole world around him… for someone like her?"

Sokka closed his eyes: his rage was certainly building far more powerfully now. If Zhao said so much as another word against Azula, he would lunge. He would move forward, and he would cut out his tongue, hoping the man would choke on his own blood…

"Enough," Sokka said, voice dangerous and deep. "Your delusions about whatever's going on in the world are none of my concern: surrender now, Zhao, and order your troops to stand down! I mean it, damn you!"

"Ah… an ultimatum?" Zhao said, with a chuckle. "That does ring a bell… ah, I remember why: 'Come back a man worthy of being my daughter's husband… or you might as well not come back at all.' Care to guess who said those words to me? Care to guess who gave me an ultimatum, too?"

Sokka winced: Ozai had threatened Zhao… for Azula's sake?

"Don't even act surprised… you knew that was her goal. You knew what she has always been aiming for," Zhao said, shaking his head. "And that pathetic fool, Ozai… from the moment that girl was born, his mind was warped into madness. Wanting her to embody his legacy, pretending her potential was greater than his own…? She was but a girl! A fool woman whose greatest power lies in manipulating anyone who'll hear her poisonous words!"

"And I'm sure you take pride in being above that, don't you?" Sokka said, with a sardonic grin. "You're disgusting…"

"And you're a mindless buffoon!" Zhao hissed. "You and Ozai…! Oh, but you're the same, wanting that girl for your own reasons! Him, for her power…! You, for whatever you found between her legs, I suppose! Though, frankly… if that sufficed for you, you are terribly unseasoned, boy. That frigid insipidness… that's what appealed to you, is it? To think a woman as tasteless as that would be the source of so much strife in this world…"

Sokka shuddered violently as he felt bile rising in his mouth. His sword hand shook: he had to hold back to end this battle with the least amount of casualties… but could he do that? Would he even try to do it for a moment longer? Zhao could see the effect his words were having on him… he relished in it, even, smiling with that sadistic glee as Sokka failed to temper his rage…

"This… is your last chance," Sokka said, his voice level, but incapable of hiding his true feelings. "I know what you're doing… I see it plain and clear. You want me to attack mindlessly… you're baiting me. This is the last time you get to decide whether you'd rather protect your life or die as the spineless fucker you've been proving to be over the past months. That I… that I've even given you so much as one chance is a damn miracle as it is, you piece of shit! You don't deserve to live for another second, but you only get to do it if you withdraw your troops now! Do it, Zhao…! Do it, and I will spare your miserable hide even if you don't deserve to live at all! Take advantage of this last chance… or the darkness you told me to put to good use will make your death as painful as possible, for as many times as I get to kill you until your damn water is spent!"

Zhao scowled… and to no surprise, he shook his head, lips curling into a threatening smirk.

"You can't kill me… but I can kill you," he hissed. "And after I'm done with you and the Water Tribe?! I will return to the Fire Nation. This shall be known as my first victory as Fire Lord… for with my second victory, I will take that five-pronged crown for myself!"

Sokka's eyes widened: was Zhao serious about what he'd just said? Of all things he could have declared, this shouldn't have given Sokka pause…

"You… you want to kill Ozai?" Sokka asked. Zhao laughed at the question, smirking in disbelief.

"I want him dead… even more than I want you dead!" Zhao hissed. Sokka's lips parted in utter confusion. "I never wanted this hell! I never wanted this damn hairpiece, the fanfare, the expectations…! But now that he forced them on me, he will pay for them with his life! I will see to that!"

"You can't be… a coup? That's what you're planning?!" Sokka asked: he glared at Zhao, failing to recognize him, to understand who he was altogether. The man who had sworn any vows to him in that prison cell had died long ago… though perhaps he had only ever been a front. Perhaps he had never truly existed…

Indeed, Azula had been right about Zhao's true nature all along.

"You're… you're just a liar," Sokka concluded, shaking his head. "You change tunes, you play games, you shift from one skin to the next until you find the right thing to do to ensure your survival! But this…! This is who you truly are, isn't it?! Now you're unafraid of death because you've found a way to cheat it, or so you think…! And you're a madman, you're impossible to be reasoned with, and you'll have your entire fleet immolated in a pointless farce! You'd see every man in your command killed just so you can sit on a throne of corpses in the end?! This… this is who you really are. This mindless, pathetic excuse for a Crown Prince…!"

"Don't even pretend you understand me!" Zhao hissed. "You don't know any of what I've had to face in life, boy! You don't understand half of it! What it means to know your life is so easily bought and sold, right on the edge of a knife, at the mercy of a heartless man who wields a power he never earned?! To know that any misstep means death?! To know that any failures will be paid for in your own blood?!"

"Oh… that's just rich," Sokka said, with a sardonic grin. "You're telling the man who spent two years in the Amateur Arena that he doesn't understand any of those things?!"

"You don't!" Zhao roared: the emptiness in his words wasn't apparent to him, clearly. "You don't know what it's like to see that crown, towering over you… tempting you to reach for it! To take it for yourself! I…! I never wanted this power, but now that I have it, I will not hold back! I will end this war with the Fire Nation's victory! And Ozai… Ozai will die, and his dynasty will end! For I will kill her too, you hear me?! She will die just as well as her beloved father does…!"

Sokka snarled: he lowered his torso, taking one step, then a second one… but he didn't move fast enough to stop Zhao from finishing his threat:

"Just as well as your half-breed aberration!"

He only had one moment to move, to back down further, towards the ice railing that lined the end of the road, before Sokka's sword cut across his armor. Had he remained even slightly closer, even just a mere inch further, the blade would have cut across most his body cleanly…

Instead, it rose to his face: the tip of the blade cut into Zhao's eyeball, piercing it out of his skull as the man screamed and howled in sheer horror.

The need to get away from the threat saw him pulling back further: the street's ice railing broke under his weight, and so, Zhao fell.

Sokka snarled: for a second time, he had failed. For a second time, any opportunity to stop Zhao from spouting his drivel, to make him reason with his own madness, with the world around him, had gone to waste. How could anyone ever make that man surrender? How could he ever be persuaded to back down? Out of sheer pride and nothing else, he'd sooner allow Sokka to kill him than withdraw his troops.

Perhaps his completely destroyed corpse would suffice for Sokka's purposes. Showing his disfigured dead body to his troops might deter them from attacking any further…

It should have been disfigured by then… a fall from this height, to the next tier of the city, should have killed anyone… but Sokka glanced over the broken railing to find the man still lived, even if he was disoriented. He had turned around… and he clutched at his eye. Had it not recovered? Surely it hadn't… and it wouldn't, provided Sokka's suspicions about the water's uses were correct.

But there was no time to ponder such thoughts: Sokka stabbed the ice upon which he stood with Space Sword, using the weapon's sharp edge as a sliding peg that carried him down to Zhao's level: he wasn't dead yet, not after the second deadly blow… a third one might do it. If not, a fourth. If that failed, then he'd simply keep going until he stopped moving.

Ozai's death would be fine by Sokka. He had no true concern on that front, even while knowing it would hurt Azula to lose her father. If Zhao simply wanted him dead, joining forces with the White Lotus could have even suited him quite nicely… but that wasn't what Zhao sought. No… he needed something else, something worse, something far more twisted than simply stopping Ozai from destroying every life that fell into his accursed hands.

Zhao wanted revenge. Mindless, careless, thoughtless revenge on those he had been wronged by… and it seemed as though no one had earned his hatred with quite as much success as Azula had.

If his fate hadn't been sealed before, it certainly was as soon as he threatened to kill her and their daughter.

Sokka landed just as Zhao managed to amble out of the way, casting a fireball at Sokka that the Gladiator swept out of the way with a single swing of his sword. Zhao shrieked: his face was a bloody mess… his eye was well and truly done for, Sokka thought, a deserved harsh awakening for a man who thought he'd escape all pain through his attempt to claw at immortality. Twisted as it might be, Sokka relished in knowing he was inflicting that kind of pain on the man… the man who had attacked Azula. The man who had married her against her will. The man who had confessed to having taken advantage of her… who had demeaned her and insulted her in every way he dared. The man who threatened to kill her… as well as their Hotaru.

It didn't need to come to this… but Zhao himself had chosen this path. If he meant to regret it now, it would be too little, too late.

Zhao screamed again, and his firebending was far too weak to serve as any threat to Sokka: the Gladiator slid past the next barrage of fire, drawing out his club and slamming it mercilessly under Zhao's chin. The man was sent rolling over the ice: the impact had to crack bones, Sokka had certainly heard it happen…

And even so, Zhao pushed himself back up.

Sokka roared with blinding fury, racing towards Zhao as he raised a hand in the air: he shot plumes of fire upwards, and if Sokka had been in any better shape, he would have recognized the meaning of the gesture… but his mind, his heart, were entirely muddled and overtaken by his unnatural, unusual need for violence.

And so, he tackled Zhao, knocking him down a flight of stairs, rolling down them as well if only briefly, before breaking his fall with his weapons. His chest heaved underneath his armor, but Sokka rose back to his feet and took to running anew, his eyes still set on the man whose death continued to elude him… for once, he wanted to kill and was failing to do so. For once, he wasn't torn up about dealing death to someone he had known… for this was what Zhao wanted. It was the fate he had chosen. It was why he had taunted Sokka… and it was how he'd learn painfully, if late, what the true boundaries of his magical water would be.

After gravity's grip finally brought him to the ground anew, Zhao pushed himself back up somehow: his left arm appeared unusable. His eyes were stricken by panic, and he took to running again, shooting fire in the air with his right hand as Sokka finished rushing down those stairs.

"Get back here, you cowardly piece of shit!" Sokka roared. "Weren't you going to kill me?! Then bloody come here and try! Come here, you two-faced sack of shit! Show me the Fire Nation's so-called strength! Plan on being Fire Lord by turning your back on the enemy as soon as you're outmatched?!"

Zhao didn't even bother shooting flames to attack Sokka anymore: when he felt him nearby, Zhao would simply throw himself off the next tier of the city's streets, as though the impact against ice, or in this case, against the water canals, would be preferable than giving Sokka the opportunity to land a killer blow. That, however, didn't stop the Gladiator from seeking to do so anyway: the next attack he launched was his boomerang, and it cut across Zhao's scalp successfully as he hoisted himself out of a canal and onto the ice. The man screamed: blood splattered over the ice from all the wounds he had taken so far, and he struggled to move…

But when Sokka had thought his victory was at hand, for Zhao barely could continue running, the unwelcome sound of whirring engines reached his ears.

Focused as he had been on Zhao, Sokka had lost track of everything else… including the massive airship that now descended towards the street in which Zhao had wound up after his last, desperate jump.

Firebenders and archers at the catwalks fired at Sokka: he dodged their attacks, but they forced him to back off. They couldn't save Zhao… the man seemed to be beyond salvation at this point, but they might just steal Sokka's chance of delivering the killer blow. He had already killed Zhao about five times over… and it still wasn't enough. The revenge he sought still hadn't been fully realized. The hatred he felt could not be quenched just with that…

And it would never be quenched at all if Zhao's forces succeeded at saving him.

Sokka snarled, throwing his boomerang at the troops on the catwalks: the airship continued to drop altitude, aiming at landing right by Zhao's location, and the struggling man dragged himself towards it desperately. His signal of danger had been visible to his troops… or rather, what remained of them, once his flight from Sokka had taken him too far away from the ship's previous location. The Avatar had surely made short work of those who had accompanied Zhao to the oasis, so there was no point in trying to save them…

Zhao shuddered as he heard the soldiers calling his name: some were fighting the Gladiator from afar, shooting arrows or fire in his direction, while others knelt by the Admiral, anguished to see him in such bad shape.

"Let's go! Tell Captain Zhen to be ready to ascend!" shouted one of the two men helping Zhao rise to his feet.

Sokka let out a ferocious war cry as he rushed down to the next tier, jumping towards one of the ornamental pillars in the area, cutting into it with Space Sword and, once again, attempting to toss the cut surface of the pillar on Zhao and his men… but they were too quick. They sped their way to the catwalks, reaching them when Sokka was barely landing on the same level on the ice as them.

"Go! Go now!"

Sokka snarled, disregarding the pain on his knees over that abrupt jump as he took off at full speed towards the airship… but it began ascending indeed.

"Don't you fucking dare…!" Sokka roared: fire and arrows shot at him, predicting his position accurately, as well as how fast he'd reach the airship, too, if he went at full speed…

The airship ascended higher: it was already at a distance taller than Sokka himself as it took to the sky…

Sokka roared once more, jumping with all his strength and clasping the crescent-moon shaped section of the catwalk, his fingers successfully latching onto it with every ounce of strength he was able to invest into this ordeal.

The Fire Nation troops began attacking him at once: fire threatened to char his hand, and Sokka struggled to change hands, to push himself up – he'd take all those flames to the face if he moved, but he had to do something. They kept rising higher and higher still, he had no choice but to stay here, to cling to the damn metal and hope his hands would withstand the heat of their firebending long enough to deal the final blow against Zhao…

"Cut…! Cut that part! Just… melt it! Break it! Kill him! KILL HIM!"

Zhao's voice rang still, with shocking strength: Sokka snarled as he wondered if the water was simply not instantaneous. Was that the last of his energy now? Or was Sokka supposed to do more still to truly bring him to the brink of death?

But it seemed he wouldn't have a chance to do so: two firebenders knelt by the catwalk Sokka had been clinging to, sharp firebending short blades in their fists.

"Stop…!" Sokka started, pushing himself higher and clinging to the metal as best as he was able. "Don't you dare…! You pieces of shit, let me kill him! I WILL KILL HIM!"

His voice rang in the night, but not as loudly as to scare his enemies into submission: the two firebending blades cut through the catwalk's metal soundly… and then they met in the middle.

Sokka lunged forward and caught himself anew on the metal ledge, caring nothing if he had to touch overheated metal to reach the airship's core catwalks, where Zhao still stood. The man covered the left side of his face with a hand, glaring at Sokka with his remaining eye…

That was the last Sokka could see before the platform he'd been clinging to collapsed under firebending blades for a second time, broken off the rest of the catwalk.

He reached for the metal… he found nothing but air, for they had cut it too far this time for him to reach it: he would fail to reach the center of the catwalk now.

He let go of the chunk of metal he had been holding onto when he realized it would serve him no use: his hands reached up, but they couldn't catch any components of the ship again. The airship was speeding away, ever higher… and he was falling.

He was falling.

He was falling back to the ground.

He had failed.

He couldn't even process the truth of what was happening all that easily: he spun in the air dangerously, gaining momentum as he sped lower and lower, claimed by gravity, hoping his helmet and armor would suffice to protect him… how high had they gone? Just how much more would he drop? He attempted to correct the fall, to break the constant spinning, to resist it…

He landed hard on his back, rolling over the ice as his helmet fell off his head.

He coughed when he came back to consciousness, only realizing too late that he had blacked out, if only for a moment. The blow had been painful… it had been dangerous. If he hadn't survived similar falls before, he would have been far more shocked upon waking up at all…

But the world felt unsteady, unstable, and everything seemed hazy. His head throbbed… the back of it did, in particular. Breathing was difficult, as though he had only just surfaced after spending too long under water…

The airship above him suddenly slowed in midair. Seeing it now, registering how high it had risen, Sokka could only acknowledge that his survival had been a rather lucky hit, after a terribly unlucky day…

But perhaps that luck was about to change all over again, just as the airship started turning in midair.

Sokka gritted his teeth: they were coming back? The ship's prow began turning… it seemed to be aiming towards him now. Towards him, alone…

The engines for the mechanism installed in the weaponized airship alerted Sokka right away… but what could he do? What could he possibly try to do to avoid the brutal attack they were preparing for him when…?

When he couldn't move.

His body wasn't responding.

He let out a huff, glaring as the airship aimed lower, its weapon directed towards him.

The jaws of the mechanism unclenched. Sokka gritted his teeth, deep fear surging in his gut: not like this. No, he wasn't going to die this way, not now, not when he had come so close…!

But he could hear the mad voice of his mortal enemy screaming, with whatever strength he had left…

"SHOOT EVERY CHARGE WE HAVE LEFT…! SHOOT IT ALL! KILL THE GLADIATOR!"

And just as he commanded it, it would be done. Sokka shuddered as he saw the weapon's cannon, extending smoothly until it was ready to channel the volatile gas in his direction. And once it had…

He didn't want to die. He didn't want to lose here. Zhao should be dead… he should have died in the Oasis. He should have died five times or more across their fight…

Had he planned for this? Had he suspected Sokka would overpower him to this extent, and preserved enough charges of the weapon so that its power would be focused on him, exclusively?

Zhao hissed as the soldiers attempted to tend to him, and he didn't allow it: he had to watch as the fire poured on the Gladiator and killed him for good, at long damn last…

It was fitting that Hakkai's death had come from the Gladiator's dangerous use of volatile gas against him… and that now, he too would fall prey to the same kind of fire. Zhao snarled with unbridled madness as he screamed once more.

"KILL THE GLADIATOR! NOW!"

Sokka snarled, hands clinging to his weapons still: he should use his boomerang to strike him, at least. He wouldn't be too good at aiming from this position, but his arms were more responsive than most of his body… he could do it. He could have done it… he should have done it.

The gurgling sound of flames started to gain strength, sparks springing into action by igniting the air itself. Little by little, that fire would come closer and it would envelop him until he was entirely gone…

It wasn't fair. This wasn't the fire he would die for… this was a weaker fire than he should ever be cut down by. If fire were to kill him, only her flames, gold or blue, could ever have delivered his death…

Tears spilled from his cheeks before he knew it: oh, he had tried. He had come so much farther than anyone thought possible… but he had miscalculated. He had failed her… he had failed the world. The White Lotus might continue in his stead… but without a unifying leader, they might just descend into chaos and madness. His family would mourn him, having sent him off believing he could triumph… and she would be anguished, mortified by his fate, who knew if enough to give up on fighting against her father altogether…

He wanted to reach her. To tell her to keep fighting. To beg her not to falter. To urge her not to give in… but what sense would that make, when he had been forced to give up now, as an inferno closed in around him?

But curses, he had been so damn close. He had killed Zhao so many times… he had cut him in deadly, dangerous places, but it wasn't enough. Just one more blow might have done it, one more and his attempt to avenge Azula from everything Zhao had inflicted upon her would have been complete…

The fire poured out of the cannon, and Sokka let himself think of her, clearing his mind from all other thoughts: only her, only Azula, at the very last moment.

Once, she had protected him from a barrage of dangerous, deadly dragon fire. Back then, nothing he had ever seen had been as inspiring, as striking a vision as her…

A shadow crossed his vision.

Sokka winced: someone stood between him and the flames.

For a wishful, wistful moment, he thought it was her once more.

But… it wasn't. She was what Sokka wanted to see… but this wasn't her.

Someone else had jumped in. Someone stood between Sokka and the swirling flames.

His hands harnessed the flames.

They harnessed the volatile gas, too.

The cerulean, arrow-shaped tattoos upon his hands and head were starting to glow pure white.

After fending off Zhao's soldiers, freezing most of them, in hopes of ensuring they would survive – even if they didn't appear to be all that grateful for his mercy –, Aang had taken off to find Sokka anew. He had raced as fast as his feet and glider could carry him, moving at full speed until he tracked down Sokka and Zhao… but they had gone so much lower in the city than he expected them to be: the massive airship was what gave away their location.

Sokka had been lying there, unmoving, when he finally caught sight of him: for a moment, Aang had dreaded he might be dead. A wince, the heavily shifting chest, gave away otherwise.

He didn't have time to think: he knew exactly what awaited Sokka at the receiving end of that airship's upcoming attack, with its weapon aimed towards him.

And so, Aang dropped his glider and jumped between Sokka and the fire, putting a stop to it before it could reach his injured leader.

"A… Aang…?!" Sokka managed, his voice so faint it barely reached the Avatar.

Controlling that fierce barrage of fire proved far more challenging than Aang anticipated… he hadn't thought this through in the slightest. He had leapt there at haste, knowing Sokka's chances of survival would be non-existent if he didn't do something, but what exactly was he supposed to do here? He snarled, instinctively knowing he had to bend the push of flames and gas alike… but by holding it back as he did, he only strengthened the power of that promised explosion further, should he lose control of it at all. This wasn't enough: if they fired another charge, he might not be able to endure it…

"I… I need you now. I need you now!"

Aang's voice reached Sokka's ears: his attempt to move, however, was pointless… he couldn't do anything to assist Aang. But did Aang expect him to? Was he the one the Avatar was calling?

A hand joined Aang's. Then another. Then another.

He gasped: he could feel the flow of consciousness, the expansion of his strength, gradually increasing as each Avatar lent him his aid. As he felt Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk and Yangchen, out of thousands more, offering him the strength he'd need to survive this ordeal when it appeared poised to be his undoing, as well as that of the Gladiator…

"Stand with me…! STAND BESIDE ME!" Aang roared: his voice rang with power, with conviction, with the determination and decisiveness his past lives had seemingly dismissed him for lacking. Now, he showed them in spades.

He wanted them to stand by his side, rather than for them take control. He wanted to retain his certainties, his sense of self, while welcoming theirs.

And so, they joined him as he asked of them.

The power of the Avatar State flowed through him… but he was not a tool to a bending boost beyond his reckoning. He was not submitting to the will of his past lives: they offered him their trust for the first time ever, and with it, their millenary power.

The glow of the Avatar State shone powerfully through him, but not so much as to blind him.

The immense power only seemed to increase by the minute… and so, Aang harnessed it, seizing full control of the multiple charges of burning gas they had already fired, meant to burn Sokka into nothingness.

With the strength his past lives provided him, Aang didn't stop at holding the burning air in place…

He reverted its direction, aiming it towards the airship it had come from.

They didn't know what hit them. They wouldn't have enough time to figure it out.

Zhao had meant to watch. He had been right there, by the catwalks on the other side of the airship, eager to witness the demise of the Fire Nation's worst enemy through his sole remaining eye…

There was no chance for him to truly process that their fire had been deflected, turned against them.

The flames reached their airship, setting it ablaze… leading every single crewmember still aboard to draw their final breaths as they were scorched to the bone with the deflected power they had attempted to inflict upon the Gladiator.

He didn't understand. He didn't know what had gone wrong. And yet, just as the fire spiraled towards him, Zhao's mind briefly went to an unexpected place… to an unexpected person.

It didn't have to come to this.

She should have listened to him.

She should have understood he only wanted what was best for her…

But he didn't know what was best.

Perhaps that had been his true failure.

His only thought was Rei. His final thought was Rei. Somehow, he clung to her as those flames enveloped him… and amid all that powerful, scorching light, all became darkness.

Aang's roaring voice echoed through the night: with him, the voices of countless others echoed too. The fire he had begun to bend didn't stop at that airship: the explosion of the first airship provided even more burning air to his use, and upon finding purchase on it, Aang spread it further, encouraged and bolstered by the Avatars backing him up: the fire burned brightly, reaching the next airship by the bay, then the next, then the next, pushing them back with the shockwaves, shoving every last one of them away from the Water Tribe, poising them to crash among themselves, fueling itself off the new explosions born from each burning airborne vehicle…

Every airship and hot-air balloon hovering above the warship fleet caught fire, violently and abruptly, as a burst of orange flames painted the dark skies above with the most unsettling streak of light, the brightest the North Pole had seen for well over six months, if not ever.

They didn't see it coming. There was no warning to be had, no possible way to predict the way the air itself would ignite, but not towards their enemies: their weapon had backfired entirely, proving even mightier than it had ever been believed it could be… but its flames were not melting the North Pole. Instead, they spread towards the disbelieving eyes of countless crewmembers aboard warships, airships and hot-air balloons alike, bringing about an immediate, devastating death for countless members of the Fire Nation's armed forces in flames.

The fire streaked further and further, consuming the Fire Nation's troops: the collapsing air fleet crumbled atop the water-based vehicles, and some of the fire even spread to the navy. The flames didn't seem to quench… the barrage of burning death carried on, further ahead, until the entire sky was on fire.

Holding Zuko carefully, still healing him as best she could with her bending, Katara gasped at the striking sight above them, confusion, fear and hope blooming in her heart at the same time.

Kino, still wrathful and eager to fight, slowed when that streak of flames crossed the sky as violently as it did.

Rui Shi and the former guards gaped in confusion… as did the Fire Nation soldiers who, after having attempted to invade through that gap in the wall, found themselves bereft of comrades, of fellow troops to fall back on… for countless warships were rendered useless as the airships and hot-air balloons collapsed on the bulk of their fleet.

"What in the world…?!" Fei Li gasped: were the circumstances any different, it was possible that a display of firebending of this caliber would have been a beautiful sight… but right now, even if it was leveled against the enemy, it was terrifying.

Pakku shuddered as he stood in place by the partially restored ice barrier: behind him, Yue hid and covered her mouth with her hands at that unlikely, shocking sight: the Fire Nation was being torn apart by its own fire.

Ship by ship, whether in air or water, crashed and burned, falling apart under the merciless, overpowering flames of the fully realized Avatar, taking full advantage of his past lives' strength while in the Avatar State.

Sokka gasped, breathless, his body still unresponsive as he watched what Aang had done, until the Avatar couldn't sustain his attack for a moment longer: he fell to his knees by then… the last of his power appeared to have been spent in deleting the entire enemy force from existence.

And so, they crumbled. And so, the Fire Nation's attempt to take over the Northern Water Tribe went unfulfilled for the last time. And so, the Hundred Year War did not take a darker turn with another destructive victory in the Fire Nation's favor.

Even without Aang's direct bending, the flames continued to consume the volatile gas from all the airships that had been torn apart, as well as all the coal and fuel from the ships, taking in everything that could strengthen it further. The burning streak cutting across the sky didn't dwindle just yet… spreading a mighty light across the horizon that would soon be joined by the first embers of the rising sun.

The light period was beginning, and the Fire Nation fleet had been annihilated.