Chapter 24 FALLOUT
Aang sat on Appa's neck, eyes set on the western horizon. Determined to reach Caldera before night could fall. The sun had passed noon a while ago, and Appa was flying as fast as he could reasonably be expected to with so many passengers.
Everyone was making preparations. Connor re-primed his pistol, as Katara did what she could to heal his lightning burn. Smellerbee was cleaning her gun. Yumi was putting together improvised paper cartridges for everyone. Sokka was resting to speed up his recovery. Zuko and Azula both sat away from their father, silently eating some of the preserved food packed away on Appa's saddle. The air was tense. It seemed like they'd been heading from battle to battle ever since Kozato had found them at the Western Air Temple.
"So what's the plan this time?" Toph asked, leaning over Appa's saddle to talk to Aang.
"We fly high to keep out of sight, and come down right on top of the palace. I go into the Avatar state, and fight Kozato. Once he's defeated, I can take his bending, and force him and the Fire Army leadership into surrender." Aang said sternly.
Another hour had passed, and below, the hills and mountains of the Fire Nation mainland could be seen. Not long after, the gang passed over the great gates of Azulon, and approached the city's port plaza. After Appa ducked behind some clouds, he came out above the city proper and began to descend.
Contrary to the expected raising of alarms, and air-bound cannon or musket fire, there were instead bright green flags being waved above the city's ceremony grounds north of the palace. What looked like the entire population of the urban sprawl had packed into the surrounding area. Aang was intrigued, but cautious. He pulled on Appa's reins and steered towards the ceremony grounds.
Appa was allowed to land without any resistance from the few hundred soldiers standing nearby, and everyone aboard was able to take in the strange situation. The ceremony ground was filled with high-profile members of the Fire Nation Court, military leadership, nobility, and the aforementioned soldiers both home guard and at present many of Kozato's personal soldiers, their uniforms standing out in the crowd. Almost everyone was seated around low tables across the grounds. Sages stood overlooking the event near the temple entrance. Servants were about, providing drinks and food. At the center of it all, atop a small platform halfway to the temple entrance was Kozato, standing tall, the hairpiece belonging to the Fire Lord seated in a freshly tied, (though short) topknot. Silence gripped the crowd.
"Ah, the honored guests have arrived…" Kozato said, holding his hands up to the gang as they climbed off of Appa. "And here I thought you'd never make it before the festivities ended. I do apologize for not sending invitations, but it was expected of you to appear… Of course, you're too late to witness the crowning ceremony." Kozato said with a grin before he saw Toph shove Ozai off of Appa's back. Kozato's mood shifted. "Though I am surprised to see he's returned with you."
Aang, with Connor, Azula, and Zuko hot on his heels, made their way through the crowd to get closer to Kozato. "I don't know what's going on here, but I don't care. Fire Lord Kozato, I'm demanding you surrender now!" Aang said as he pointed his staff at the new Fire Lord.
"You're not exactly in any position to be making demands Avatar." Kozato said before he clapped his hands twice. Every guard got out of their seat, and raised their weapons, pointing to everyone in the gang, though holding their fire. "You sort of walked right into a buzzard wasp's nest... Besides, if you killed me, or my cousins here usurped the throne without public support, you'd only turn me into a martyr. I mean, look how many witnesses there are." Kozato gestured to the crowd. "And that's assuming you're willing and able to kill me in the first place. Fair warning, I am wearing armor under my robes right now." He said, tapping his chest, creating a muffled ringing.
"I could make another headshot at this distance." Connor said, cocking back the right hammer on his pistol.
Kozato tisk-tisk-tisked Connor while waving a finger. "You could, but you and all your friends would die." Kozato pointed behind him to the temple, where guards shoved four people out into the daylight. Mai, Ty Lee, Li-An, and Longshot were all forced to their knees. All but Mai sporting fresh bruises and small cuts, clear signs that they'd been recently beaten.
"Longshot!" Smellerbee shouted, lowering her pistol.
"Oh, so he does know you all." Kozato said, holding a hand to his chest. "You know, he was the hardest one to get talking. Mai knows no loyalty, she gave up whatever was asked of her…" At this, Mai turned to look away from everyone. "And the girls took a little convincing." Ty Lee began sobbing quietly, as Li-An's expression remained that of defiance. "But the quiet one held out enough to make things fun."
"And I thought I was a monster." Azula said, narrowing her eyes.
"We're all only as monstrous as the world allows us to be, dear cousin. You should understand that." Kozato said, his grin returning.
"What kind of game are you playing?" Zuko asked. "And speak plainly."
Kozato huffed. "Fine, take all the fun out of it. Suppose there's no harm in revealing my masterpiece to you all now…" Kozato put his fingers together. "When I was given the chance to become crown prince upon your capture, I knew that Ozai was desperate. After all, if you were running away from home, things must be pretty bad for him, the nation, and the war. I also didn't want to wait for Ozai to kick the bucket once my task was complete. Fire Lords have had a history of longevity, and another hundred years of his reign would only further serve to destabilize the nation. I also didn't want to try killing him directly under suspicious circumstances and cause political fallout."
"You were working against Ozai, the whole time?!" Aang asked, somewhat irritated.
"That's why you've let us run every instance we've met." Azula surmised.
Kozato chuckled. "Well, I fully understood your father was weaker than The Avatar. Why else would he fear the day they were to meet so much? Why put so many barriers between each other until the day of the comet?" At this, Aang lowered his staff slightly. "I took a page out of Azula's Day Of Black Sun playbook. I wanted to string you all along, let "destiny" or whatever you believe in, allow for the two to fight, only for Ozai to lose, and for my rise to power. And in truth, I was willing to kill everyone but The Avatar, as your lives, are inconsequential to my plans for the Fire Nation."
"Then why not just join us? Or let us know about your intentions?" Aang asked.
"Neither Zuko nor I truly desire the throne for the sake of its power. It's a burden more than anything." Azula said.
Kozato shrugged. "It wouldn't matter if I did or didn't decide to ally myself with you. My goals would have been obtained either way. I knew The Avatar was going to have to fight Ozai to save the Earth Kingdom from burning, and I knew he knew of Ozai's plan because the former prince and princes, traitors privy to the plan of purging the nations, must have told him."
"We nearly didn't, though that was an accident." Zuko admitted.
Kozato scoffed. "Well, I did get the family's brains after all." Azula clenched her fists at that. "And even if The Avatar didn't know of the purge, or was otherwise indisposed, I of course had contingencies in place to finish the war and claim Final Victory. Hence my surprise to see you, uncle. If The Avatar didn't kill you, that bomb I had put on your airship should have."
"You did what?!" Ozai asked in an angry growl.
Kozato waved off his uncle's anger. "I had a bomb planted on your airship, timed to go off after the comet passed so that if you won your fight with The Avatar upon your return to the Fire Nation, you'd be blown up. Since airships are full of flammable gas it could have just appeared to be an accident. Conveniently, if your plan to burn down the rebelling section of the Earth Kingdom worked, that would take care of them for me. Should the bomb have failed, and you returned, I was going to blame the rebel fighters we've managed to capture in the past few weeks, then just kill you myself afterward and again blame rebel assassins."
"Traitor!" Ozai roared.
Kozato held a hand up. "On the contrary uncle, I've betrayed no one. You betrayed The Fire Nation when you stopped abiding by the oaths sworn by its lords to rule on behalf of the citizens. Your war, and your father's war, and his father's war were all pointless struggles that have done nothing but cause suffering for this nation's sons and daughters…"
"What would you know of suffering?" Zuko asked. "What selfish reason could you have to care so much about The Fire Nation, about the throne?"
Kozato narrowed his eyes. "It's not about The Fire Nation, it's not about the throne. It's about the men who fought and died for them…" Zuko's expression shifted from anger to understanding. "Men who love their country, and would give anything for it, given nothing in return…" Kozato sniffed once, then cleared his throat. "Regardless of if The Avatar or Ozai died in the fight or the bombing, I fully intended to secure my rule by killing them if needed, so that I can end the war."
Azula and Connor looked at each other as Aang rested one end of his staff on the ground. "You…" Aang started, having heard something similar spoken by Azula before. "You want to end the war?"
Kozato winced. "Bad choice of words on my part… More like, take a less open role in it. I've already spoken with the court and the generals of my army who shifted their loyalty to me." Kozato said, waving to them all, a few raising their drinks. "And we're about to make the most politically important move in Fire Nation history. The Army's coming home, and The Navy's going to be brought back to our coasts. We'll be taking a defensive posture around our colonial holdings, and declare an end to hostilities and further expansion. The people of the Fire Nation will no longer have to pay for Sozin's war. After Ozai's attempt to purge the Earth People, which I know for a fact isn't working, I can apologize to our subjects for my uncle's behavior, begin supporting Earth Kingdom territories loyal to the Fire Nation, and convince those who are not to turn against their own power structure that has neglected them in this war, slowly painting relations with the Fire Nation as beneficial through trade of technology and goods. On a smaller scale, Azula proved this to be possible by inciting a revolution in Ba Sing Se."
Katara leaned over Appa's saddle. "After everything The Fire Nation has done, you seriously think the Earth Kingdom is just going to rip itself apart overnight?" She asked.
"Oh but I don't expect it to take one night, my little savage." Kozato said with a smile. "Twenty years, maybe thirty, but it will work. Think about it. The hero who took the throne from his insane uncle, returns rights to the earth people and gives them more? Of course, half of them will still resist, but the other half will fight and die to avoid the corrupt and uncaring rule of the Earth Monarchy as they did for Azula. The conflict will drag on for a while, but another two decades in a hundred-year war is hardly worth mentioning, and it's not like it'll be us doing the fighting anymore. It'll be locals fighting other locals, and that's the most important part. Shifting the war from one fought on the battlefield to one fought from the shadows will drastically reduce the need for tax-funded propaganda to keep populist support for the government, but all the same, the Fire Nation will still expand as an empire to the far reaches of the map."
Aang glanced around at all the eyes on him, and the guns pointed at his friends. "What is it you want from us then?" Aang asked. "We're still alive, so I'm assuming you need something."
"Or because you like playing with your food." Connor interjected.
Kozato smirked. "I don't need anything. And I'm not some playwright's tragically flawed antagonist, laughing mad, and spilling my plans for domination upon my first meeting with the heroes… I'm only telling you about this all now, because I won our little game the exact moment Ozai asked me to capture you." Kozato leaned over slightly to look down on them all. "I don't even want anything either… You, on the other hand, want to go on living a happy peaceful life with your friends safe and sound, away from conflict and all that hog-monkey wash. So you, do, in fact, need from me, a deal."
"A deal?" Azula asked.
"And a simple one." Kozato said, standing up straight, as he walked off the platform, and navigated through the crowd to stand before the group. "You leave me to do as I see fit with the Fire Nation, never to return to the islands again, forgetting any notion of rebellion or usurpation, allowing me to do what is right for my people…" Kozato leaned over Aang, coming within a finger's length of his face. Aang had to resist gagging at the smell of his breath. "And I won't have you all arrested, interrogated, and then executed for attempting to overthrow me... Save for you Avatar, who I can promise as a result of your reincarnation will face a life of imprisonment after a few... Surgical amputations to ensure you can not escape."
As Kozato spoke, a smile crept upon his face that brought a wave of discomfort to Aang, dwarfing what he'd felt when facing Koh The Face Stealer, as he came to realize that Kozato would take enjoyment in torturing them all if they chose to fight. "You're insane." Aang said.
"On the contrary. I'm the most rational man you'll ever meet." Kozato said, pulling his face away from Aang, as he began to circle the group like a shark that had found a decaying corpse at sea.
Connor finally put away his gun, and spoke. "What choice do we really have then? Being tortured or running isn't much for options."
Kozato hummed at that. "I wouldn't consider it running. You must accept the reality that as far as Fire Lord's go, I'm quite tame in my goals, and reasonable in my actions to obtain them compared to my predecessors. And really, what other options are there?" Kozato held up his right hand and started counting on his fingers. "Zuko was banished during the years that he would have learned to run his nation. Azula I can guarantee knows no other way to lead than through the same fear her father exuded. Iroh might have the wisdom and character to rule as a true Fire Lord, but to what end? He's old, with no heir, and has been far too removed from politics." He came to a stop in front of Aang once again. "Every alternative to my rule ends with the Fire Nation in ruin, either economically, culturally, or politically, and if the Fire Nation is in ruin, then so too will the other nations suffer in ways you've yet to conceive."
Aang fixed an irritated look on Kozato. "I think we'll take our chances."
Kozato sighed, as he turned away from the group. "I tried being merciful, if not reasonable, but you've exhausted my patience." Kozato held his hand up as he started walking away, and his soldiers all cocked the locks back on their carbines. "Arrest these invaders and traitors."
"Agni Kai." Azula said, first to herself, catching her brother's attention before she spoke up. "Fire Lord Kozato, I as a fire bender challenge you to an Agni Kai!"
Kozato came to a stop, as his men glanced around awaiting further orders. He turned to face Azula and smirked. "And here I believed your brother would be the self-sacrificing fool."
"Azula, what are you doing?" Aang asked before Zuko put a hand on his shoulder.
Azula stepped past Aang. "If you truly do wish to rule the Fire Nation justly for its people, and want it to prosper, then you'd do well to uphold the ancient laws."
"I know what the right of Agni Kai entails." Kozato said with an eye roll. "And I'm not without honor, regardless of what you believe. If the traditional rules apply, what are your terms?"
"The right to claim the throne shall go to the victor." Azula said, puffing out her chest.
"Is the throne really what's in dispute?" Kozato asked, eyebrow raised. "Your father stripped you and your brother of their titles when you ran from home. As he ascended to Phoenix King, leaving the position of Fire Lord to me, and has since clearly been…" Kozato looked at his mess of an uncle. "Dethroned… It doesn't seem like you have a leg to stand on."
"I'm not referring to the title of Fire Lord." Azula smirked. "I was referring to the title of Phoenix King, as my father's position as such is vacant, and you and I both have a claim to it, being next in line by birthright and administrative position. Titles which I could not be stripped of, as they had not yet been created when I was deemed a traitor."
Kozato chuckled at that. "Quite a loophole you believe you've found."
"A loophole you'd be willing to abide by?" Azula asked. "Unless you're afraid I'd win?"
"What do I have to lose?" Kozato grinned.
"Yeah Azula, what does he have to lose?" Aang asked, somewhat irritated.
Zuko sighed. "I hate saying this, but our best chance of ending the war on our terms is with a fair and honorable duel, and between Azula and I, she's the one that might actually beat Kozato."
"Sundown?" Azula asked.
"As it was written." Kozato said, still grinning. "Does the current venue suffice? Assuming the guests take to the stands, and the tables are removed?"
"It will do." Azula said. "Will it be a bare-chested duel?"
Kozato shrugged. "I could imagine it would be quite a show if so, but you can keep your modesty due to the public nature of the event, however, I won't be wearing my armor, nor a shirt per tradition."
"Then it's settled." Azula said. "An Agni Kai at sunset, for the title of Phoenix King."
The tables had been taken away, and the guests of the coronation had filled the stands on either side of the ceremony grounds. As the sun hovered over the edge of the city's volcanic wall, Azula stepped away from her friends who had seated themselves atop Appa, before the only one who was left to suffer on the cold stone ground cleared his throat. She paused and looked back at her father. He glanced up at her before speaking. "I just want you to know that all of this could have been avoided if only you'd remained loyal to me."
"Maybe…" Azula said, checking over her shoulder, as Kozato was removing his armor and pistol belt, handing it off to his soldiers. "Or perhaps maybe our circumstances would be no better."
Ozai grunted at that. "Before Kozato kills you, I have to know… Why did you truly abandon your nation?"
Azula had to pause for a moment. A sense of humanitarian duty to her fellow man? The revelation that her life had been a lie? Her love for Connor? "Guess we'll both never find out." She said with a smirk, before walking over to her position at the end of the ceremony grounds.
Kozato shed the padded shirt he wore beneath his armor, leaving him in only his padded pants, and leather boots, revealing that beneath the conservative robes or armor he'd always worn, was a body subject to years of service in the army, speaking to a hundred battles both won and lost. Old scars marked a thin torso of lean muscle that had marched an uncountable number of miles.
The two duelists took their positions, and faced away from each other, a fire sage laid a robe over each of their shoulders. With the sounding of a gong, they stood, faced the ceremony grounds center, and shed their outer robes. Azula took up a stance she was comfortable with, as Kozato put one foot forward, leaned back, and made claws with his fingers, left hand forward, and his right hand held back over his head.
The second gong was struck, and Azula was the first to move. Thrusting two fingers forward, she unleashed a powerful and precise jet of blue flames toward Kozato. Her older cousin reached out with his right hand while retracting his left, and stepped forward, clawing the attack from the air, before thrusting his left palm out, creating a five-pointed blast of fire.
Azula stepped forward and blasted a sweeping attack from her right leg across the battleground, cutting through the attack. Ending with her back to Kozato, she followed through the motion by swinging her left leg out and jumping into the air, then sent another kick high with her right leg again, two more crescents of flame heading towards Kozato.
Kozato kicked his right foot up, splitting the first fire blast in half, before planting it firmly in a lunge, and bringing either clawed hand down, ripping the next two out of the air. Hands behind him now, Kozato swept them upwards as if flipping a table, which created a head-high wave of fire to surge forward.
Azula used all four of her extremities to jet herself over the wave attack and gain ground towards Kozato, before trailing flames behind one heel and spinning forwards, bringing down a column of fire onto him, as she landed in a full front split.
The young man simply sidestepped the attack with a spin, and as he did, Kozato tore some of the flames away, the blue fading into orange under his control, and dragged it behind him like a heavy sack, before bringing it overhead, and slamming the flames into the ground, the blast, with his own added heat spraying out across the ground.
Thinking quickly, Azula tilted to the right, firmly planted her hands on the ground, and swept her feet out and behind her as she'd seen her brother do before, catching the incoming spray of flames, and redirecting it all around her, before allowing the momentum she'd gained from the spinning kick to take her into the air just enough so that she could right herself, face Kozato, while at the same lean into a simple strike with her left fist forward, and her right cocked back.
With hardly any effort Kozato dragged his left hand up and across his body as he stood, tearing the attack out of its flight path, sending the blast up into the air where it fizzled out. By now the distance was closing between them, and it was becoming obvious how the two would continue to fight.
Azula tilted herself forward, and let fire trail behind her from her hands and feet, sending her flying across the ceremony grounds, as Kozato tried to intercept her with a sweeping claw of three thinner blasts of fire created by his left hand. Changing the vector of her thrust, Azula shot to her left and ducked under the attack, coming up on Kozato's side, where she tilted her entire body back and stopped propelling herself forward. Now on Kozato's open flank, Azula thrust both fists forward, unleashing two wide cascades of flame, which shot towards the sky as it reached Kozato.
Having kept the attack up for over a full ten seconds without any change, Azula assumed from previous experience that Kozato would surely be dead if not at the least burned, and so ceased her twin attacks, but when the blue flames flickered away, Kozato still stood, right hand forward, fingers splayed and curled, left hand held back in a fist, the palm strike having deflected the attack. Other than steam coming off of his body from evaporating sweat, he looked to be completely unbothered. Suddenly Kozato lunged forward, and before Azula could draw flames to match him, his left hand had wrapped around her throat.
Kozato squeezed, and with his arm outstretched, lifted Azula off the ground in an impressive display of physical strength. The gathered audience gasped in awe, as Kozato held Azula overhead by her neck. Unable to breathe, Azula wrapped her fingers around Kozato's forearm and tried burning him, but without her breath was unable to so much as increase her body temperature. Kozato chuckled. "Like this little trick? Picked it up in the colonies. No air, no fire." Azula's face started to turn red, and Kozato lowered Azula slightly to bring her closer. "I'm not going to enjoy watching you pass out, but it seems like this is the only way I'll be able to burn you." He said, gathering a flame in his right hand.
In a moment of desperation, Azula spit in Kozato's eye, and he grunted, before turning and throwing Azula backwards towards her side of the stage. Gasping for air, Azula massaged her neck where Kozato's hand had been, as Kozato rubbed the spit out of his eye. Azula stood back up, as Kozato turned to face her again. "Oh come on, that was just dirty, and you know it." He said.
"As if strangling me is any more honorable?!" Azula shouted. "I made a mistake coming into this duel. I thought that maybe I could defeat you without having to sink so low as to commit murder, but clearly I miscalculated."
"Alright then, come on!" Kozato said, slapping his hands to his chest. "Strike me down! You've tried to before and it didn't work."
"You had your armor then." Azula retorted.
"Then this should be easy for you." Kozato said, grinning as he held his hands out to either side. "I'm not afraid of dying for my country." Azula stood still and took a step back. "Or perhaps, you don't really want to? My my, what could have happened between the eclipse and now that would make you hesitate to cast lighting, save for under desperate circumstances."
"I blew a man into paste." Azula said coldly.
"Really? So that's what lightning does to people?" Kozato asked, seeming curious, before he pulled his right hand towards the sky, and his left to the ground two fingers extended, angry red electricity trailing from them. "Lo and Li never mentioned that." Azula went wide-eyed, though all the same, she bladed her body, and held her hands up. "But, I guess we can test your claim." Kozato said, crossing his arms, then pulling his extended fingers across each other. Kozato cocked his hands back to either side of his torso before thrusting both fingers forwards, the twin arcs of electricity surging through the air, coming to a focal point at Azula's outstretched right index and middle finger.
With her left hand, Azula pulled the current into her own body, down into her stomach, where she held it for a second as she spun on the ball of her left foot clockwise, backstepping from the attack. Facing Kozato now with her left side towards him, Azula pulled the current of energy up through her arm, and then let the bolt of red lightning fly out her left hand.
"Oh." Kozato muttered, before the red lightning jumped across the stage, and struck him in the chest. The man seized and shuddered, screaming through clenched teeth, as every muscle in his body locked up. Falling flat onto his back, Kozato's entire body bridged, only his heels and head touching the ground, before the effects of the lightning strike wore off, and Kozato unclenched his jaw, and sucked wind.
Though the lightning Kozato was able to generate, and Azula had redirected, was unable to kill due to it being of a far lower wattage, (mostly owing to Kozato's lack of proficiency,) it still left a nasty little burn on the man's chest. "Holy shit." Azula said, feeling her own heart racing. "I did it."
The sages rang the gong, concluding the duel. As Azula looked around, unsure of what to do, Kozato sat up with a grunt. "You're sparing me, yes?" He asked, still slightly winded.
Azula re-composed herself, then put a finger to the edge of her lips. "What kind of example would I be setting if I went around executing all my political opponents?"
Kozato chuckled and stood with a groan. "As I figured… Phoenix Queen…"
"Mmmh." Azula hummed. "It's a bit pretentious… The Phoenix rules no longer, and so the position of Fire Lord takes its place."
Kozato scoffed. "You almost make it too easy." He muttered under his breath, taking the Fire Lord's hair piece out of his small top knot, and tossing it to Azula. "Here. I would hope you know what to do with all that power."
Azula smirked, as her brother and several of their friends approached from behind her, Sokka, Suki, and Yumi staying behind on Appa. "Of course I do." She turned to Zuko and held out the hairpin to him. "It's yours."
"What?" Zuko asked, in confusion.
"I'm abdicating the throne!" Azula said loudly enough for the entire gathered audience to hear. "As the firstborn son of former Fire Lord Ozai, and Lady Ursa, Prince Zuko's birthright as heir to the throne is restored, and with my stepping down, he is to be crowned Fire Lord. Until his coronation, with no contest, he is to be Acting Fire Lord, and exercised all the powers and duties therein."
Zuko's eyes met Azula's, and she nodded firmly. "This was your destiny, brother, not mine." She said as he took the pin.
"So what, now?" Zuko asked before Connor shoved past everyone else.
"Uh, we should probably call off the army, like, right this second." Connor said.
"Oh, uh!" Zuko said before he looked up into the stands where the high-ranking officers were all sitting. "I need someone to write this down. Halt all military operations effective immediately, a cease-fire is being declared." As Zuko walked over to the stands to speak to the generals and admirals, followed by Aang. Azula, Connor, Katara, Toph, and Smellerbee quickly rushed to help their captive friends, not a single one of Kozato's guards willing to get in the way, as he held a hand up to stop them.
Conner and Toph were quick to tear apart the cast iron chains binding the four captives' wrists, and immediately Ty Lee wrapped her arms around both Mai and Azula. "Are you ok?" Azula asked before Ty Lee released them both, as Smellerbee embraced Longshot off to their right.
"I'm fine." Ty Lee sniffed, as Katara began healing the girl's wounds with her water. "I'm sorry for getting caught trying to follow you."
"It wasn't your fault, Ty Lee." Azula said, taking the girl's hand. "And it's over now. You're free."
Kozato came up behind the group, and cleared his throat, catching Azula's attention. "I do want you to know that everything I've done is within the confines of Avatar Szeto's War Accords. I've broken no laws."
Azula narrowed her eyes, as everyone turned to look at him. "That will be for a tribunal to decide. The other nations are going to want revenge if not justice for our actions during the war."
"And they shall have it." Kozato said, putting his hands behind his back. "But, seeing as the ones most responsible for the conflict are either already in jail by my hand, dead, or have been…" Kozato looked over his shoulder at Ozai, still sitting cuffed on the ground by Appa. "Neutered… any legal action the Fire Lord takes against me would be purely political… I was going to stop the bloodshed, the same as you. I just had a different answer to the question of how."
Connor scoffed. "You were just going to outsource the bloodshed, like the British are doing in India."
"Well someone has to do the heavy lifting, don't they?" Kozato shrugged not knowing what Connor was talking about. "Either way, let it be known that I cherish my nation's well-being more than anything else in this world, and if I must, I will take away the throne to ensure its prosperity."
"Is that a threat on Zuko's life?" Mai asked.
Kozato shook his head. "A warning. I know exactly what the future holds for the Fire Nation, under Zuko's rule, and mine. I'm telling you now, if we sue for peace, and cave to the other nations, there will be those who want the colonies returned, and our people who have lived there for generations will become targets in another open war. If we do as I suggested, maintain our current borders, and begin a campaign of supporting proxies to fight for us, we will not only be preventing tragedy upon our people but ensure our empire's dominance on the world stage… Of course, there are alternatives I considered... If the right people wish for them to be heard."
Kozato took a moment to look over the four who he'd had in captivity, Mai staring intently at him, and Ty Lee meekly avoiding eye contact. "I do apologize for any suffering I've caused to you four on a personal level." He said, catching Longshot's attention as well as Li-An's. "But that's war for you." Kozato held his hand over his fist in front of him, performing a bow in courtesy to everyone. "I presume the new Fire Lord will call upon the court, royal houses, as well as our esteemed military commanders early tomorrow. I shall see you then." Kozato smirked before he turned and began walking away, his soldiers filling in behind him. "We've plenty of work ahead of us!" He said, without turning to face the group, making his way to the ceremony ground's exit.
Connor scratched his head. "You should have killed him." He said to Azula.
"I should have done a lot of things in the past, but killing Kozato after burning him wouldn't do anything but make me an enemy of the court and his side of the family." Azula said, shaking her head.
"He's been trying to kill us for nearly a month, and now he expects you to work with him?" Katara asked.
Azula sighed before rubbing her temples. "As he said, that was war… And now, we've returned to politics. My cousin might be as much the raging psychopath I once was, but if it isn't clear to you, he's also pragmatic, and has political pull, which Zuko is going to need if he's going to be Fire Lord."
Toph dawned a surprised expression. "Kozato was going to win no matter what…"
"How do you figure that?" Connor asked.
Toph crossed her arms. "If he won the fight, he stayed in power and ruled from the throne, if he lost the fight and died, the Fire Nation court would be doing everything it could to undermine Zuko or Azula, but since he lost the fight and survived…" Toph said before Azula spoke in her place.
"He doesn't expect us to work with him, he knows we're going to, because in the wake of declaring peace his influence is going to be vital to ensuring the court cooperates with the throne." Azula grit her teeth. "I hate not being the most cunning person I know anymore."
"You and me both." Katara said, done with her task of healing. "I'm just glad that the fighting's over."
Connor sighed, looking out to the crowd of military leadership, taking orders from Zuko, Avatar Aang by his side. "I said it before to Sokka… I think our fightin's only just begun..."
AN: And the second book of Gun-smoke and Hellfire comes to a close.
I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.
Book 3 picks up where the canon show left off, branching into comic book territory.
Notice to all reading, if you're interested in stories like this, I highly advise you check out Dimitri2278's A Heart of Ice: Book One, Iron
It's centered around a pioneering army group of Ruskians, from a universe where 1870s colonialism is on interdimensional crack, and the relationship that evolves between an officer, and a princess.
That and it's got that black powder and steam punk aesthetic I have an itch for.