Book 4: Light and Darkness

by ButtonPusherExtraordinaire

Air's murder was a symptom. The Great War was over, but the Greater War endured. The Realms are imbalanced, and Air's loss is but a sign. Years after Sozin's Comet, The Avatar's most ancient enemy reminds The Avatar of his existence. Lies and truths are disordered as the roots are infected from the chaos, to which The Avatar was ignorant. Things must change. The cycle must end. AU!

13. Outbreak

Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I really appreciate it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

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The flight to Hu Xin had begun to take its toll, and as Aang sat in the saddle with Toph and Azula while Appa continued to dart through the sky silently, he felt anxious and weary. Not much had been said during the trip, even when they camped for the previous night and rested. There was a fever in the air, clouding his senses; he only had thoughts about facing Vaatu, preparing diligently for what would certainly be the second time to be face-to-face with the offer of Air returned to him.

But he wouldn't fall for it—he wouldn't!

He knew the odds were against them, but he knew they could defeat this new war, snuffing it out before it could consume the world. It would be a hard fight, but if they struck Airbender-fast, it would be worth it; victory would be theirs.

But he found that the anticipation of the fight gnawed at him; it reminded him of the dreadful anticipation he felt to facing Ozai before Sozin's Comet. His battle then against Ozai was terrible, but the anticipation he felt prior to it was so much worse—so he knew his anticipation was worse than the imminent clash.

Right?

Regardless, he felt thankful that the trip was at its twilight; they neared Hu Xin, perfectly aligned in the rising darkness of Night.

Appa continued his flight with impressive ease, and Aang was amazed; he had anticipated another day of travel before arriving at Hu Xin. However, Appa flew faster than he had ever seen. His friend wasn't the same sky bison he was before Ba Sing Se. Honestly, Aang felt surprised that he didn't simply land. They had been flying nonstop since dawn with only a few small breaks for the body's needs—and it was the same the day before.

It took him by surprise.

Since he healed Appa in Ba Sing Se, he had grown stronger; he was touched by The Avatar and brough back from Death itself. There were bound to be changes, and he saw the evidence of enhancement. He remembered healing all of Appa's old injuries, perfecting his body, reviving from corpse to creature.

It was the only good thing to come out of Ba Sing Se—but he didn't want to think about that.

Dusk was beginning to set, and he could tell that everyone, himself included, was ready for the fight; it would be better to fight than wait. The constant passivity was maddening when they all knew the coming action. With Tui beginning to enter his eyesight, he observed everyone. Toph stared with unseeing eyes at the darkening sky around them, hair wildly billowing in all directions. Since they had departed from the Eastern Air Temple, he had been consumed with thoughts of Toph's apology and offer to be friends again—to try and be what they once were. He felt thankful that she trusted him enough to agree to attack Vaatu and Ozai now rather than wait and let Vaatu and Ozai gather more power.

It was almost like they were friends again—almost. He felt more confident with her on his side and considered telling her that, but he wasn't ready to tell her anything like that.

She didn't deserve to know that yet.

Azula sat next to him and, recently, she had begun to slouch against him, and he did nothing to prohibit the action; he chose, instead, to peak glances at her out of the corner of his eye often. He knew she hadn't slept the previous night because he hadn't, but no words were shared between them to fill the silence; they only laid there, thinking their thoughts, preparing for the inevitable. But the contact of her against him was pleasant; it filled a void inside him. It reassured him in ways that her words couldn't—not that he knew her words would be reassuring.

He knew she disagreed with his plan, but he felt profoundly grateful that she trusted him enough to follow him anyway. She was on his side, which filled him with confidence, and, unlike Toph, she deserved to know that.

He yearned to hear her words.

"Thank you for trusting me," he whispered to her, not caring that Toph would overhear. "I know you don't like this."

Azula hummed against his side, unapologetic about leaning on him to preserve her energy for the coming clash—and he delighted in it, though he knew he shouldn't. He was a pathetic Air Nomad, too similar to that weak, stupid boy. "Victory is possible but not probable. However, victories less probable have occurred with you at command. If anyone can achieve triumph against these odds, it is you. I have no doubts that you will achieve victory, but I do not know when you will be victorious—that is the source of my doubt. I am unsure that victory will be yours today—tonight."

"I've already beaten your father," Aang pointed out, noticing that Toph listened critically, but it didn't matter. "And we survived in the Immortal Realm against these enemies. I rebelled against Vaatu. I'm going to again."

"It depends how experienced his army is," Azula claimed, nodding her head, which pleasantly scratched his shoulder. "Will we encounter novices or experts?"

Toph snorted. "It will be a mix."

"But what of the ratio?" Azula asked, voice more insistent. "That is crucial. Will there be more novices than experts we battle, or will it be the opposite? It must be the former if we are to triumph. Even then, it is a dubious outcome. I do not know if Father is proficient in earthbending by now. I imagine the Dai Li are worthy instructors."

"They would be," Toph admitted, begrudging. "But he's got nothing on Twinkletoes when it comes to earthbending. Twinkletoes beats me, and only Bumi does that. When we get to the Loser Lord, Twinkletoes will raise a spike into his ass while I do the same to his army. That's a permanent solution."

Azula glanced at him, brow raised. "Will you kill him?"

Aang nodded and felt no guilt; he felt only conviction. "Yes. I'm not that stupid boy anymore."

"If he doesn't, I will," Toph said, nodding her head. "I'll enjoy it—if I'm not too exhausted fighting an army."

"I will assist you," Azula reminded. "And with my mastered chakras, my bending and healing are enhanced. I will not wound as easily."

Toph crossed her arms. "That's unfair."

"Only current wounds, not previously sustained ones," Azula dismissed with a wave. "But I will assist you as best I can."

"Looks like you're on your own, Twinkletoes."

Aang preferred it that way because it meant he didn't have to worry about Azula or Toph while fighting Vaatu, Ozai, Agni, and Devi. He could focus completely on his task, which was to defeat Vaatu and prevent the new war.

He trusted Azula and Toph to hold their own.

"I'll be fine," he confirmed. "Ozai is my fight—like before. Last time I was a boy, but I'm a man now. He will look for that boy, but he won't find him."

He felt powerful pleasure at that fact—that stupid boy would never be seen again!

"Father has recovered his prolific firebending," Azula pointed out. "I guarantee you that he has dedicated himself utterly to earthbending. You will defeat him, surely, but with Devi on his side, I suspect she has enhanced his earthbending as Agni likely did for his firebending." Her face was dreadfully serious—as serious as it was in Koh's lair, which he hated! "Agni is Fire, Devi is Earth, and Father will have each as his ally, strengthening him—not to mention Vaatu. You must be ready- "

Aang frowned. "I am ready."

Azula shook her head. "I am unsure you are because you limit yourself to Aang."

"Aang doesn't need The Avatar- "

Toph groaned and threw her hands in the air. "Not this again, Twinkletoes. Just accept you're what you are and you're who you are."

He inhaled with slow intent. "I'm ready to do this. I want to do this."

Azula's eyes pinched. "That is what worries me. You force this solution- "

"So be it," Aang judged. "I'm not letting this war get worse; I'm stopping it now." He looked over the saddle and nodded. "Because we're close. Appa, take us down here. We don't want to be seen; we need surprise."

Appa descended toward a thick forest with graceful speed and landed in a small clearing adjacent to a large lake with trees hiding them from any view. The area was almost like an enormous cave; the stone had been moved away and the rock created a perfect, inconspicuous, resting place.

When he landed on the ground, he sensed Ozai's camp in the distance.

It was a perfect place for Appa to hide away while he dealt with Vaatu and Ozai—and perfect distance for Appa in case he needed a quick escape, but he swore it wouldn't come to that!

It wouldn't!

Appa rumbled toward him and bumped him with his head, to which he brushed his fingers through his fur, directly over the giant arrow. "You're okay, Appa," he whispered. "You're going to be okay while I'm gone- "

Appa groaned mournfully.

"Appa," Aang insisted, staring into his friend's eyes—as he had so many times. "You stay here, got it? No matter what you hear or feel, you stay here." Appa groaned again beneath his hand, and he shook his head. "No, I'm going to be okay. I don't want you to get hurt. You need to stay here; you must stay here." He grinned and touched his forehead against Appa's giant arrow briefly. "It won't be long. It will be Airbender-fast."

Appa huffed and turned into the cove before plopping himself against the wall of the gaping cave. Aang watched him for several moments before he turned around, meeting Azula and Toph's expectant gazes.

"This is it," Azula commented, golden eyes piercing. "Is your conviction the same?"

Aang's lips stretched minimally as the anticipation and determination swirled inside him. "We attack now."

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Azula sighed at Aang's blatant anticipation. It worried her profoundly—because he was possessed by it, quite like she was during the twilight of the Great War. "No, we observe and analyze before we attack. We must have an idea of our enemy and his forces before we commit ourselves to a struggle that could easily end in our demise."

The frustration crossed his face before acceptance came swiftly. "You're right. Let's go."

He spun around and glided across the ground, and Azula glanced at Toph, who looked solemn but nodded. "I'd tell you to get on your knees and suck his madness right out of him if I didn't think this was possible. But he's right—this is our chance."

Azula glared at her. "I think it is possible, as well, but probable? Not in the slightest. I think it is less likely he achieves success now than he did against Father during Sozin's Comet."

Toph blinked in surprise. "Really?"

"There is so much unknown right now," she hissed, hoping that if she could get Toph on her side, they could convince Aang to rethink his strategy. "We operate on a single piece of knowledge—the rest is a theory that relies on other theories. This is not wise."

"Depending on what I feel when we get there, I'll let you know if I still think it's possible. If not, we need to be Airbender-fast, alright—but in getting away from here."

That was the best she could ask for. "I agree."

Toph gestured broadly with her arm. "After you, Lightning Psycho. Twinkletoes isn't waiting for us."

Azula ran with Toph to catch up to Aang, who she feared would simply walk into Father's camp and attack without their presence restraining him. When they reached him, his pace slowed slightly, but no words were said; they were silent as they journeyed, awareness stretched, instincts aroused. They could not make a mistake; they could not alert Father to their presence, lest the element of surprise—the only possible method through which victory was possible—vanish.

They neared the outskirts of the camp, but when Toph went to tunnel them into the ground, Aang waved his hand harshly. "No," he hissed in whisper. "The Dai Li will sense it." Suddenly, he wrapped his arms around Azula's side and Toph's side. "Hold on."

Before Azula could begin to enjoy his embrace, he leaped into the trees with airbending and dashed across several branches, hopping across the vast distance between multiple trees so effortlessly while carrying them, until he stopped. They rested on a sturdy branch that provided brilliant cover while gaping enough to reveal an excellent vantage of Father's camp.

It was impressive.

There were dozens of tents, and many men—Children of Earth, she noted—milled around, walking and talking, carrying supplies or eating food. However, it was not as many men as she had anticipated; she had been prepared for thousands of men on Father's side based on Father's description in the Immortal Realm.

It did not look more than a hundred currently.

Azula gripped Aang's arm in urgency. "We can do this," she breathed in realization, excitement and anticipation mingling inside her. "I should not have doubted you."

Aang shot her a brief grin; his gray eyes glimmered with relief. "We will do this."

"Do you see the Dai Li?" Toph asked, looking nervous as she hugged the tree's trunk from where they all crouched on one of the uppermost branches in the tree. "They should be around here somewhere. I can't feel anything."

Aang was quiet for several moments before he pointed. "There they are. Ozai's with them."

Azula followed his finger across the distant and saw the Dai Li—there were more Dai Li than she thought there would be, probably around forty or forty-five agents—encircling Father, who punched through stones the Dai Li threw at him.

But there was no flame with his punches.

He was earthbending.

It was not surprising considering what she knew and had imagined, but watching Father actively, intentionally use earthbending—something she would have considered absurd and impossible before she and Aang left Ember Island—was something she had to absorb and let register inside her, for her perception doubted the sight instinctively.

But it was true; it was real.

Aang's jaw clenched. "His form is strong."

"What are you talking about?" Toph demanded. "What is it?"

"Ozai's earthbending with the Dai Li; they're training him."

Toph blinked before she scoffed. "He won't be better than any of those amateurs in Earth Rumble VI. What are you waiting for? Let's go fuck their shit up."

"Father may be exhausted from training," she pointed out softly, watching Aang's face. "This is an excellent opportunity."

Aang frowned in consideration. "Or he just got warmed up and is ready for more."

"What are you waiting for, Twinkletoes?" Toph demanded, punching Aang on the shoulder harshly. "You've been going on and on about- "

"I don't know where Vaatu is," Aang snapped, tense. "I don't see him; I can't sense him, either. Until I know where he is, I don't want to attack—because he could sneak up on me."

Azula stiffened as she looked all around, trying to find Agni or Devi in the camp, but they were absent. "Agni and Devi- "

"They're not here," Aang muttered, shaking his head. "I don't feel them. I would if they were here. They're not in the tents if that's what you're wondering."

"It is better they are not here," Azula pointed out. "Toph and I can focus on the Dai Li- "

Toph cracked her knuckles. "How many are there?"

"No more than fifty."

"What about the army?"

"No more than a hundred."

Toph nodded, looking grim. "You and I can take that on while Twinkletoes deals with your dad—and Dark if he shows up."

Aang frowned, head oscillating from position to position as he observed and analyzed the camp. "He will show up—if he's not already here."

Just before Azula was about to describe to Toph her strategy of attacking on the left while Toph attacked on the right before they would meet in the middle and take on the Dai Li, who were in the middle with Father, the flap of the middlemost tent—a massive tent, bigger than the rest, which was surely Father's—caught her eye. A congregation of figures filed out of the tent, and Azula inhaled sharply in recognition.

Those were figures she had seen countless times as a child through her adolescence; those figures, as always, were wrapped in the powerful red robes that bespoke of Agni's favor, a signifier of social importance and spiritual significance—a status so few could achieve; those were figures held in regard second only to Agni, the Fire Lord, and the Fire Lord's direct family.

The Fire Sages.

Azula realized that she had miscalculated—severely. Victory was no longer possible! When Father told her he possessed an army, he had referenced Children of Earth. Thus, she had perceived peasants and unskilled warriors and semi-skilled warriors and several Dai Li agents, not the Fire Sages—the Fire Sages! The Fire Sages were legendary, and any idea she had at facing them in battle ended in her demise.

The presence of the Fire Sages changed everything fundamentally, drawing her attention solely to them when her attention was needed elsewhere. Toph would have to face all the Dai Li agents and the mediocre army, which would result in her death, she would have to face all the Fire Sages, which would result in her death, and Aang would receive no aid in fighting Father, Vaatu, Agni, and Devi, which would result in his triumph.

But it was unacceptable! It was a victory not worth the sacrifice!

She gripped Aang's arm. "We cannot do this," she breathed urgently, feeling frantic. "Those are the Fire Sages. We need to rethink- "

"Yes, we can," he hissed, the determination burning in his eyes. She wished she possessed such determination, but the situation was too implausible and daunting! She had miscalculated! Right when she had begun to feel confident with the plan, believing victory was more than possible, the true depths of their enemy were revealed; there was a significant army, for the Fire Sages were renowned fighters who bolstered any army of which they were part. The only possible victory was if Aang entered The Avatar State, but she knew that he refused to do so and never would. "We're ending this now. If we attack and cut off Ozai, the Dai Li, the Fire Sages, and his small army, it will be that much easier when Vaatu, Agni, and Devi get here." Aang nodded, decided and convinced powerfully, and stood to his feet, leaning his body forward in preparation to bound forward and attack. "We do it now- "

Azula's desperation surged forward as she latched onto Aang's arm. "No!" she hissed, stricken by the panic of seeing and knowing that the Fire Sages—combatants far beyond her collectively, even with her mastered chakras—were allied with Father. "The Fire Sages were concealed from our awareness. Who else is concealed from our awareness? You think Vaatu, Agni, and Devi are not here, but I suspect they are somewhere. Listen to me, please. I cannot fight the Fire Sages and live- "

"Your mastered chakras- "

"That looks like two dozen Fire Sages," Azula snapped, anxious, trying to make him see reason. "With my mastered chakras I could take over half but not the whole! This is no longer possible if we are all to survive."

"I'm with Lightning Psycho on this one, Twinkletoes," Toph interjected, fingers sprayed on the tree's trunk, probing and feeling, cycling to a new position every few moments; she was obviously trying to sense the vibrations ringing through the trunk provided from the ground. Azula had no idea if she sensed the vibrations or not. "I don't like this. This is half-assed. And there are a lot of full asses in this camp from the sound of it. And that's not including the Dai Li and Fire Sages. We can't do this."

Aang's face pinched in frustration. "Yes, we can. We have to- "

"You may be unkillable, but Lightning Psycho and I aren't," Toph hissed, face a mixture of concern and anger. "This is too much. There's only three of us! And those numbers down there only seem to be growing. How many bodies are hiding in all those tents you mentioned? You're only taking into account who and what you can see!"

"I'm The Avatar, you're the Blind Bandit, and Azula's the Fire Princess," Aang defended with urgency. "I'm The Avatar, and you two are part of the most elite benders in the world. We can do this."

Toph scoffed. "Do you realize how many people are down there? There's three of us, Twinkletoes. And you're just lucky that Hitchhiker isn't back there with Appa. You know she'd get the idea to run over here, thinking she can help. You know she'd be crazy enough to. She's a fucking Airbender!"

Aang's eyes ignited with ire. "I'd kill anyone who looks at her wrong. But that doesn't matter—she's not here. We can do this."

Azula shook her head. "We need to retreat, Aang. We did not think this through competently. We did not have the critical information. It appears that almost all the Fire Sages are aligned with Vaatu. They are masters beyond me."

Toph cracked her knuckles, but her face was solemn. "And the Dai Li are no joke. I won't be able to take all of them without Lightning Psycho's help; she'll be busy with those Fire Sages. This is a suicide mission if we keep going. All in all, there are too many of them and too few of us—and that has nothing to do with all the other people who are down there, seen outside and unseen inside the tents. This is fucking half-assed. Let's get some more asses on our side like Sparky and Sugar Queen before we do anything."

Azula snared Aang's bearded jaw with firm fingers when he turned away in frustration; she locked their gazes. "We will return," she vowed. "We have this pressing intelligence now and can better inform our strategy. But we are not enough, unless you are willing to accept our deaths while you triumph."

Aang flinched. "Of course not."

"We will meet with Zuko and the others," she continued. "Zuko will raise an army after we tell him what we know. We will refine our strategy, and then we will return here and attack. Victory is more than possible, Aang, but victory will not occur today."

He grit his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut before he nodded with a bitter jerk of his head. "Okay. Let's go- " he cut himself off with a strangled gasp before he whirled around and stared at the middlemost tent.

Azula opened her mouth to demand the source of his distraction, but she saw it—Agni and Devi walked out of the same tent the Fire Sages exited.

Aang had sensed their appearance.

"We really cannot do this," Azula stressed, pulling Aang's arm. "We have to leave."

"We can gain more intelligence," Aang whispered, sounding far away; he was rooted in place—quite like the tree branch on which they stood. "We need this. They've all been one step ahead. We've been trying to catch up to them—now we can."

She hesitated, knowing that he was correct—but also knowing that the likelihood of their discovery increased, as well. They needed to avoid a clash at all costs. "It must be short," she advised, nodding her head. "We listen and obtain what we can, but that is all."

Toph rolled her eyes. "We can't hear anything from- "

Aang twisted his hands, and sounds—voices—entered the air, reaching them, provided by the flowing air currents Aang directed.

"Clever," Azula commended, impressed.

Toph stared in Aang's direction with a suspicious look on her face. "A good trick, Twinkletoes. But have you been hearing everything I've said under my breath and to myself since we met?"

"Not everything," Aang replied, distracted. "Only some things."

"What things?"

"Later," Azula hissed, trying to focus on the new voices. "We need the intelligence. Use your intelligence and listen."

Aang rotated his hands faster, and a clearer sound reached their vantage; the voices sounded like they were an arm's length away. It truly was impressive. Azula strained to listen and analyze, trying to discern something significant in the array of voices that reached them, some speaking higher or lower, some soft or raspy, some intelligently or unintelligently.

Most of the voices were redundant, speaking about nonsense like previous dreams, skilled whores in the closest town, and supply runs.

"We could destroy their supply lines before we get out of here," Toph whispered in thought. "Maybe burn a field growing wheat or something."

Azula nodded. "It is an option," she agreed, not sure it was a wise option, but it was a possibility to keep in mind. "Aang, can you focus on a specific area?"

"With focus," Aang answered. "Where?"

"Where Father is," she said, pointing to the location. "It looks like the Fire Sages, Agni, and Devi approach him. That must be important."

Immediately, Aang swiped his hand, and the voices vanished, leaving a profound silence besides their breathing. His other hand reached out and curled back, fingers arching before his wrist twisted as his arm returned to its previous position.

More voices reached them, but the voices were spaced between each other in rumination, not speaking over each other. And there was an immediate difference more crucial—the vocabulary and subject were different; it was important.

Azula listened:

"If we move to Ba Sing Se now, we can upset its revival and seize it for our own," one of the Fire Sages said. "We will overwhelm the Scourge of Fire and his heir." Azula frowned in rumination at those words. Did that mean the Scourge of Fire and his heir had taken Ba Sing Se and become the new royal family? She would have turned to Toph to ask for her opinion, but the words continued: "It will be an excellent base of operations. The Avatar will not dare set foot back there; he has yet to show his face since his murder."

"He will not have a face much longer," Devi hissed, voice a lash of furious grief. "I carried my children to the Gardens, and I will never forget his crime to me. I will throw his body to Koh, who will take his face. He has always wanted to take The Avatar's face."

"Forgive me, Earth Spirit, but the Face Stealer failed to take Avatar Kuruk's face, and his feud with Avatar Kuruk is legendary. How could he take Avatar Aang's face?"

"Because The Avatar's body will be empty of his primordial spirit," Devi answered in satisfied anticipation. "We will end The Avatar forever, liberating our mother from her prison, and Koh will take his face, shaming him until Time deigns It must begin again."

Azula watched Aang's face at the reveal of his planned 'fate,' but he said nothing; he looked resigned and saddened—but not surprised.

"We will help you achieve it, Earth Spirit."

"You are tolerable for Agni's kind."

"Careful, Devi," Agni rumbled in warning, voice a dark growl. "Our enemy is The Avatar, not each other."

"Seizing Ba Sing Se will allow us a swifter process of increasing our numbers," another Fire Sage pointed out quickly in interruption; he sounded nervous at the realization that a clash of two Elementals was possible. "There is too much chaos on the continent. Those who would be excellent allies do not know of us because we have been unable to spread word of our existence and cause. We are not located favorably right now to gain recruits. Ba Sing Se would be excellent."

"I dislike that location due to its familiarity to The Avatar," one of the other Fire Sages disclosed with a soft precision. "He may recover his wrath, appear, and smite us, which is possible because he knows Ba Sing Se. Its location is excellent, but it is too well-known. If our movement is to work, we must have powerful anonymity to avoid The Avatar's searching gaze. We must hide in Vaatu's shadows until we are ready to face The Avatar and denounce him rightfully."

Aang's face twisted. "They already denounce me," he muttered. "They've denounced me since Roku. Every word they ever said since I awakened from the Iceberg was a lie, especially after the War. They were biding their time, waiting to betray me. I should have seen it. They're traitors to their spiritual inheritance—a more treacherous crime than any other."

Azula nodded her head in agreement but said nothing, choosing to continue listening:

"Fire Lord Ozai has chosen Ba Sing Se. Do you disagree with his judgment?"

"I have concerns. We are not ready to face The Avatar. What he did to Ba Sing Se will go down into legend as a symbol of his impervious power. We cannot experience his power, not now, not yet."

"Fire Lord Ozai," one of the Fire Sages greeted. "When do you wish to take Ba Sing Se?"

"When my earthbending is stronger," Father answered immediately, and Azula's eyes fluttered shut at the sound of Father's voice; it sounded as it always did, ignorant of The Avatar's near presence. She tried to imagine what his voice would sound like if he knew The Avatar was watching and listening to him, close enough to strike in the blink of an eye, but found that she failed to conceive it.

She had never heard Father scared before, after all.

"How long until then?"

"The Dai Li say no more than a week," Father assured with confidence. "They are excellent placeholders until my true master arrives."

"A master beyond masters," Devi gushed, sounding like a proud mother. "He is exceptional in all areas. He rivals my Bumi in his prime, and he will make you as strong as he is."

She saw Aang frown in consideration upon the knowledge that Father's true earthbending instructor had yet to be seen. But what Earthbender was strong enough to rival the Scourge of Fire in his prime? What Earthbender could keep his name unknown to anyone, for no immediate names besides the Scourge of Fire's appeared in her mind—and on Aang's readable face? What Earthbender could have the proud regard of Devi for his earthbending strength besides the Scourge of Fire? What Earthbender besides the Scourge of Fire would Devi endorse as master for a new Avatar?

It seemed unthinkable.

Even Toph looked concerned by such knowledge. "I don't know who she's talking about. I'd say she's full of badgermole shit, but if anyone knows what she's talking about in earthbending, it's her."

"I will give Ba Sing Se to him when I am done there," Father revealed. "My generosity is as great as my bending prowess."

"Your earthbending dedication is remarkable, Fire Lord Ozai," one of the Dai Li commended. "You will destroy The Avatar once you reach maturity in all the bending areas."

"I could destroy him now," Father boasted. "He is nothing next to me- "

"You must be ready to face him," Agni intoned in interruption. "Your power grows along with his. You must ensure your power grows more swiftly; it must be a burning fire going forever."

She could not tell across the distance, but she knew that Father smirked in pleasure. "I am of Fire, and he is of Air. We are supreme, and they are false; they are weak and pathetic—or they were false, weak, and pathetic." She watched Aang's fists clench, and his gray eyes blazed with storms. "I will repeat history and crush him as Grandfather crushed Air. Fire defeats Air always. The Air Nomads were a futile race; they were a blight on perfection as they could not survive; they were a mistake, a mere afterthought next to Fire; they were the afterbirth that mired the world in its depraved pollution, and Grandfather recognized it. He committed himself to righting Life's wrong by obliterating Air's pathetic, disgusting nature from this world and expanding Fire's glory, substituting Air's weakness with Fire's power." Aang began to quiver in place, body vibrating with such energy that the tree itself began to shake; Azula stared at him in dread, knowing Toph did the same, but she was powerless to stop him from listening; she could not pull him away, though she tried. "We absorbed that presence, memory, and energy into ourselves; the world did not become divided into equal thirds at thirty-three percent after Air's demise. Water and Earth stayed the same at twenty-five percent each, but Fire increased its totality brilliantly and assumed fifty percent, absorbing Air's primality—that twenty-five percent—into ourselves, who already possessed the greatest twenty-five percent in the history of the world. And I will do it again to him. He will experience it once more and know what his race suffered while he languished like a eunuch. I will smother him and whatever half-spawn Seeders my daughter bears him and absorb his essence for my own."

Upon hearing Father's cruel judgment—specifically about Seeders, a derogatory insult to weak, feeble Firebenders incapable of control, producing embers that floated in the air and landed randomly, producing other fires, carnage, and potential mass catastrophe because Seeders were the ones who would destroy the world more than anyone else—Azula's widened in dread and knew the inevitable and was powerless to prevent its happening. Before she could say anything or reach out to grab him in a futile attempt, Aang took off, bounding off the tree branch in a rush of wind and surged into the camp; he smashed his hands together, throwing all the bodies into one another before he crashed into Father in a blitz, sending them both tumbling further into the camp, smashing through various tents and other people.

Cries of pain and yells of warning echoed through the air.

Toph blinked, face slack. "Did he just- "

Azula felt fear seize her spine as Agni and Devi dashed after Aang—along with the Fire Sages and Dai Li. "Yes."

"Damn," Toph breathed. "That's some real fucking animosity right there. He didn't say anything to your dad; he just straight-up attacked him. Fuck."

She was reminded eerily of how Avatar Kuruk instantly attacked the Face Stealer in the Immortal Realm, not wasting his ancient animosity on words. But the attack was on, and Aang started it.

"Damn it!" she hissed and bolted after Aang, entering the fray. She would have to trust Toph to find her way down the tree and enter the battle.

It was chaos.

Immediately, a large group of Children of Earth noticed her entrance and attacked all at once, as if an unspoken signal was launched. But Azula was ready; she did not care at all about men who allied with Father. She cared about Aang! She had to get to him! Without restraint, not caring for precision or controlling her flames to keep from burning everything down, Azula blocked and countered, arms blurring together as she smacked her attackers away; she felt and heard the rumbles of earth behind her and to her side and felt grateful that Toph was doing her part.

But it would not be enough until she got to Aang! He could not face Father, Agni, Devi, the Dai Li, and the Fire Sages simultaneously without The Avatar State, which he denied himself! He needed her help! He needed her!

Azula spun around, crouching low as her hands twirled together, and sprang forward, hands extended. Lightning sprang from her fingertips in a massive stream that annihilated all of her attackers simultaneously, blowing them apart, blood floating in the air in a fine spray as limbs and heads crashed into the flaming tents.

She did not waste a second and dashed after Aang, throwing fire where she could at Father's men, who were dwindling swiftly in number, ducking and weaving, pounding her feet as she followed the catastrophic sounds of a clash ahead, swiftly followed by the deep rumble of the earth. When she saw a figure—it was Aang based on the vivid clothing, and part of his clothing was on fire!—launched into the air, she blew plumes of flames out of her limbs and blazed forward, blowing past trees and boulders until she neared the mountainside.

Toph would have to make do and face the rest of the army on her own—Aang needed her more!

Azula appeared in the clearing cradled by the mountainside in the nick of time, watching as Aang crashed against a tree and held his side as he stood to his feet; the Fire Sages dashed at him, but Azula reacted instinctively. She raised a sapphire wall and shoved it forward. In response, the Fire Sages sprang back, and Azula weaved past sudden boulders thrown at her and rock gloves—those damn Dai Li agents!—until she narrowly reached Aang, who smashed his fists into the ground.

The ground gaped suddenly like Heaven itself reached down and ripped out a massive chunk and expanded, but it stopped instantly when Devi shrieked in outrage and slashed her hands forward. Aang lost control, and Azula blasted flames out of her hands to propel herself away from the sudden surge of stone—like an avalanche!—that rocketed towards them from the former gape in the earth. It crashed through the forest and uprooted countless trees, producing more carnage—against earth, ironically enough.

Aang landed beside her.

"Are you okay?" she demanded, assessing his face, which was flushed, but there was no harm—besides his side, likely from a rock or boulder he had been too distracted to destroy or deflect.

Aang glanced at her for the briefest moment before he looked back at the array of enemies. "I'm fine; I'm ready."

However, no attack happened. Before alarm spread through her because she thought Toph had been captured and would be ransomed back in return for Aang's life, clapping hands echoed, producing a rhythmic sound that rumbled in her ears—and, thus, her heart when she saw the source.

Father looked prouder than she had ever seen him when he stepped out of the shadows of the trees on the edge of the mountainside, hands falling to his sides, a triumphant gleam in his wicked golden eyes—he looked even prouder than he had when discussing Zuko's treachery during the twilight of the Great War! "Azula, my daughter, you impress me more than my grandfather!" he commended with genuine awe, a true smile splitting his face; he looked suddenly like Zuko. "You manipulated The Avatar to attack now when he is unprepared, rash and foolish—like his kind! Bravo, Princess of Azula of Sozin's line! You are your mother's daughter. I could have never pulled this off." Father's eyes glanced away from her, which caused her to breathe easier as his hungry gaze fell on Aang with passion. "You brought to me The Avatar so I would not have to wait for my vengeance longer than I have. You are a kind and generous daughter."

Aang's fists clenched. "What did I tell you?" he demanded, voice loud and uncompromising; it matched Father's in intensity. "She's not yours anymore."

Beside Father, the Dai Li and Fire Sages were congregated, awaiting orders, but Agni and Devi were grouped on his other side with more space between them. Near Agni and Devi were the bodies of five Dai Li agents and two Fire Sages, unmoving and lifeless; they were dead.

Aang had killed them earlier before she arrived.

Azula knew there was no peaceful solution now, especially with the way Father and Aang glared at each other, but she was wary to attempt anything, wary of a potential ploy to force her and Aang to drop their guards. She also hoped it would buy them time while Toph dealt with the rest of the army before joining them—and Toph was clearly making headway based on the rumbles of the earth that were not from Devi.

"You are, indeed, a man now rather than a child," Father murmured, staring at Aang. "You have the instincts and desires of a man as that is the form you confine yourself to. That is how I knew your weakness for a woman's flesh and warmth; my daughter provided both to you. Now the god falls—extinct. But worry not, if a half-spawn Seeder is growing in my daughter's womb, put there by you, I will raise my grandson; he will belong to me as the world will with you gone. This is me and Vaatu's world now- "

The air swarmed around Aang, reacting to his obvious anger. "You have one chance—surrender now."

Father blinked, obviously surprised by Aang's audacity, and even Azula felt temporarily surprised—and impressed—by his stubborn boldness, but Father laughed. "I lied. You still are a child."

"And you are still a monster."

"I was not the one who murdered Ba Sing Se," Father pointed out with a sly smirk.

Devi's eyes flashed like the lightning that sparked in Agni's hands. "For which you will pay with all your lifetimes, Avatar! Your fate is that of men—to be forgotten in death forever! You will never live again! The air you love will never embrace you again!"

Positions adjusted swiftly at Devi's words, and Azula found herself following suit, to which Father finally seemed to notice that she had said nothing—nor had she rejected Aang, attacked Aang, or blatantly proclaimed her allegiance to him in Aang's face.

"Azula?" he questioned, and she would have laughed at the bemusement in his voice, which matched the confusion on his face, if she did not dread the dangerous situation.

The situation was poor, to say the least.

She tried to conceive how she could maintain her deception and try to keep the peace, but she conceived nothing but choosing the side she always would—Aang's side. There was no way to soothe Father's ire as she had when she was a child; there was no way to pretend and grovel; and there was no way to prevent his suspicion from morphing into terrifying wrath when he realized that she was allied against him, not with him.

But still, she tried to think! She thought furiously how she could keep herself, Aang, and Toph alive against impossible odds, and the only—only!—saving grace in their favor was Vaatu's evident absence, but based on the unconcerned and expectant expressions on Agni and Devi's faces, Vaatu was likely somewhere close.

"Yes, Father?" she answered, keeping her voice light, trying to prolong the conversation as long as possible. She needed to buy time for Toph to join them.

Father's eyes narrowed. "Tell The Avatar how you deceived and manipulated him."

It was time; it was time to be true; it was time to be real; it was time to let go.

Azula's lips parted, and she dared liberate herself in his presence, dared act as she always wanted to.

She laughed—and she kept laughing.

"No, Father!" Azula exclaimed, feeling a smile stretching her face, and she was unable to repress it—she did not want to! "There is nothing to report to him; there is nothing to tell him. However, there is much to tell you, for the focus of my deception was not on The Avatar but on you! I did not bring The Avatar here to you for you; I brought The Avatar here to you for him—to kill you!"

Silence.

Father looked struck incomprehensible, staring at her like she was impossible—because she was! She was not the Azula he thought she was! She never was! She was not the Azula who emptied herself of everything to meet his impossible expectations!

She would never be her again!

"Death before dishonor!" Father roared in a snarl, taking a step forward, fist raised in a threatening strike; deep disgust and hatred were carved into his face.

"Abide by that yourself!" she snapped. "Let death cleanse your dishonor! Honor lies with The Avatar, Father; he is the most honorable man alive and dead- "

"Lies!" Devi cried out, enraged. "You are a whore, Agni's daughter! You spread your legs for The Avatar, lest he give you death like he did my children!"

"She deserves death," Agni judged imperially.

Father sneered, and the earth rumbled beneath his feet—it was then she realized that Father was without his firebending since Vaatu was gone, which meant that Father was attuned to earthbending, not firebending. "She did this willingly!"

Azula did not care for Devi's judgment—nor even Agni's judgment. "I have remembered all the basic teachings; I have forgotten nothing. But with my memory I have learned; I have matured myself and reached higher and across different realms of understanding; I have reached enlightenment, unlike you." She drew herself up, sapphire flames glowing in her palms. "I lived in fear of you ever since I remember, but now it is you who must live in fear—of me and The Avatar, who is my friend. This is not the Immortal Realm where I am vulnerable; this is the Mortal Realm. I am powered fully here."

Father bristled but held out his hand in promise; his golden eyes were dark and reviling. "All can be forgiven, Azula, if you but kneel at my feet and join me again. All the power in the world will be yours. We will be together again."

She laughed once more, unable to help herself; how freeing it felt! She felt like she was of Air now! It was wonderful! "I already have all the power in the world, for The Avatar is my friend. But you hold no power, Father, only weakness and lunacy. I will never kneel before you again. My loyalty and devotion lie with The Avatar; repent to him, for he is beyond you!"

Father's face twisted in disgust, and his eyes burned like Sozin's Comet, each pulsing with power. "So be it; you were always a disappointment. I never loved you."

"I never should have wanted your love."

The deception was broken and irreparable; there would never be expectations again!

Suddenly, shadows swirled in a display of power, and a blanket of intense, familiar energy fell across the area, and everyone, even Agni and Devi, were forced to take a step back to reorient—but Azula saw that Aang did not need to; he stood tall and commanding, watching Vaatu appear.

There went the lone grace in their favor.

Vaatu hovered near Father, but she knew his attention was on Aang. "Avatar," Vaatu greeted, voice unsurprised and considering. "Your boldness impresses me. You waste so much of your potential, unrealized forever."

Aang stared back at Vaatu with an expectant look on his flushed face. "What, no offer?"

Vaatu hummed. "Would you accept?"

When Aang did not answer instantly, Azula stiffened in understanding that Vaatu's offer entailed Air's 'return,' and turned to Aang in worry; there was a struggle on his face before his eyes cleared as he shook his head. "Not that offer."

"You lack the wisdom of your race- "

"My race is gone because of you!" Aang howled, and the ground cracked beneath his feet before Devi repaired it instantly with a snarl. "When this is over, and it will be over, I'm going to throw you back in the Tree, and I will rip Agni in half and heal Devi of her madness."

Agni's glare rested on Aang. "You would threaten Creation in your pettiness?"

Aang's eyes were equally reviling. "I know how Creation works better than you. These are your last moments, Agni, Father of Flame. Air avenges itself on you through me."

The earth rumbled, but when Azula looked at Devi, it was clear Devi was not the source.

Suddenly, Toph burst into the clearing, chest heaving in exertion, and she looked pale, but beyond the obvious exertion, she looked unharmed. "You fuckers are getting what your army got! You should ask them—but you can't 'cause I killed all of them! That's right—we have you right where we want you!"

Azula admired Toph's bravado, but it looked like she was the only one.

Devi focused on Toph with a frightening intensity. "You dare side with The Avatar? He murdered my children, your siblings!"

Toph swallowed, realizing clearly the significance of her rebellion in her Elemental's eyes, and her chin trembled before it jutted out in conviction. "He's my friend."

Devi screeched in outrage. "Then you will die with him, shame of my essence!"

"Ozai's daughter is the shame of my essence," Agni growled, glaring at her with his twin heads and eyes.

Father's fingers stretched in preparation, but he said nothing, eyes resting on Aang, who he recognized as his opponent. He knew Azula would not clash against him; her foes were the Fire Sages.

For once, Toph did not seem boisterous; she seemed nervous. "I call dibs on the Dai Li," she said softly, face solemn.

Azula glanced at the 24 Fire Sages, all Master Firebenders, and she felt uncertain in her victory. It had been so many years since she had fought, truly, to kill, and this was a fight to the death—it had to be. The Fire Sages would kill her, particularly since Father—and Agni—had smeared her so viciously, and she would have to kill them. But risking a glance at Aang, he stared at Agni, Devi, Father, and Vaatu with an expression of impossible, wild determination.

"Are you sure?" she asked quietly, almost bouncing on her toes in preparation for the massive fight about to commence; both sides awaited the other to attack. It was the first true battle of the new war—sooner in time than was expected.

"When you're done with them, help Toph," he murmured, keeping his gaze rooted on Father, who subtly shifted his position. Her eyes widened, and she was about to warn Aang that Father was about to attack, but Aang blitzed forward and punched his fist, from which a funnel of withering wind smacked Father at Devi. In a blur of brilliant color, Aang pivoted and shot a blast of powerful fire against Vaatu, who snapped to the side from the force of the blow before his shadows expanded. Aang leaped over a boulder thrown at him by Devi before he spun around, wind howling across his limbs until it exploded in all directions.

But before Azula could even react, several things then happened all at once. The Dai Li agents and the Fire Sages all attacked Toph and her in a rush, separating seamlessly, and Vaatu merged with Father, eyes blazing with the amount of power he had gained. With the Fire Sages surging at her, she lost sight of Aang, only trying to stay alive against a mass of mighty, renowned combatants.

This was a fight to the death, unlike any of her experiences in the Great War. She never faced true opponents—as in killers who basked in killing, killers who knew what they were doing. She had faced Aang and the Gaang, all of whom never tried to actually kill her, for they were all as naïve and inexperienced as she was—besides the Water Tribes peasant-bitch. But now she faced the Fire Sages, all of whom were tempered and experienced. They were decades older, and she heard the whispers in her younger days in which the Fire Sages only became Fire Sages by completing holy services in the Fire Lord's name—winning key battles and turning the tide of the Great War, their military victories a symbol of their holy regard for Agni and their Fire Lord.

Next to the Fire Sages, for all her prodigiousness, she lacked experience and combat wisdom. She had fought Zuko and trained extensively, mastering all her katas, but that meant little next to foes of the Fire Sages' caliber. At least she had sparred often with Aang on Ember Island, but she lost those spars each time, even when he only wielded on element. But Aang held back immensely in their spars, for she now understood—or was still beginning to understand—what he was capable of when she caught glimpses of him against his group of enemies.

This was her test against wise opponents whom Agni regarded favorably, unlike her, for she rejected Father, and Agni was on Father's side. Everything was different, and she did not know if she would pass her test and live or fail her test and die. Azula was a girl in the Great War and had a girl's experiences, a girl's fights, but now she was a woman about to endure a woman's fight—and possibly a woman's fate. Father could throw her broken body to the Fire Sages to reward them. Or would Father be so enraged and disgusted with her that he might partake in her broken body himself? Was Father capable of that?

She did not want to consider it—and she could not afford to!

It was obvious that her mastered chakras—and, thus, her enhanced firebending—saved her life instantly against the combined strikes of the Fire Sages, who were relentless and true Firebenders. She had never endeavored to defend herself so arduously, feeling the grueling nature of the clash wane on her. But she would never stop fighting until her death!

Aang needed her help! Toph needed her help! She needed to help herself! She wanted to live in a world without Father's treachery and Vaatu's darkness; she wanted to live in a balanced, healthy world, and she would fight to obtain it!

She flowed through the bending forms, dancing and repelling, focusing only on her defense, analyzing and assessing everything—or trying to—at once, biding her time to strike perfectly and effectively; it was the only way!

The Fire Sages doubled their efforts to subdue—kill—her, and Azula strained, trying to fight off their strength all while the hot fireballs blazed toward her. She began to feel the exhaustion of such a deep and profound fight, but she could see that some of the Fire Sages—the leading ones, attacking aggressively and brilliantly—were tiring, as well; she saw the sweat pouring down their foreheads.

However, she did not know how much longer she could maintain her defense, for she was unaccustomed to defense for such long periods; she was accustomed to offense and attacking!

Knowing if she continued her pace, it meant defeat, Azula shifted her position, and pushed forward while spinning to the side, catching several of the Fire Sages by surprise; it brought her a small opening, on which she acted instantly, not wasting a moment.

She rapidly punched her fists forward, releasing fireball after fireball, a hail of momentum that obscured her vision for a moment—but also the Fire Sage's vision. Taking the opportunity, her arms extended, fingers snapping forward, and lightning sprang from her fingertips in brilliant streams of vivid color.

Seven of the Fire Sages were killed instantly by the attack, dropping to the ground without coordination or awareness, but she did not have the chance to feel the satisfaction or relief. The other Fire Sages were enraged and attacked with more ferocity, snarling and seething, and Azula felt burns appear across her arms, for some of her fabric had become alight with flames.

In grim desperation, Azula twirled her body around, hands braced on other side, parallel to her head as she warded off the potent attacks, gaining momentum and drawing their energy out. When she could not hold the defense any longer, she dove forward, letting the flames explode above her as her legs spun around; flames roared in essence and lashed out in all directions, slashing through trees and skinning the mountainside, leaving a scorched line of memory. Several of the Fire Sages cried out in pain and stumbled back, skin blistered and scarred.

Azula fired another blast of lightning instantly, not waiting for its impact as she sprinted forward. Several of the Fire Sages were blown apart by the lightning, but she attacked those who were stricken by its affect, killing them quickly with flames to the face. She felt the blaze surge toward her from behind and dropped on instinct to the ground; the blaze sailed above her, and she grit her teeth at the other Fire Sages—there were still so many!—and blasted plumes of flames out of her feet, simultaneously attacking them and propelling herself back, away from them, putting space between them.

Immediately, she punched her arms forward with graceful ferocity, feeling her muscles burn as her powerful fire was defended by the group of Fire Sages, who would never rival her individually with her mastered chakras, but collectively, they far surpassed her. Feeling a burst of inspiration, Azula mimicked Zuko's actions from years ago and produced a fire whip, which lashed out at the Fire Sages, who went flying back; some landed on their feet while other landed in a heap of limbs.

The lightning came swiftly from her fingers, and the majority of the Fire Sages rolled and dove away.

They were wise to her preferred method of attack.

But she had other methods, despite her waning energy. She leaped into the air, spun around, and punched her fist against the ground, releasing fire. A massive wave—a shockwave—of fire exploded toward the Fire Sages, who were unprepared after diving away from her lightning and smashed into each other.

Azula fired precise, piercing flames at those too dazed to react, killing them instantly.

Nine Fire Sages remained.

Her lungs burned from the exertion, and it had been a long time since the smell of smoke was so powerful, memorable, and tangible against her senses—perhaps ever.

A rumble of earth caused her gaze to snap to the side, and she saw Toph crush three Dai Li agents underneath a giant boulder before she pivoted and threw the boulder at several approaching Dai Li. But while the Dai Li destroyed the boulder, Toph slashed her hands, extending her fingers in rigid arches, and Azula watched as metal poles from several of the destroyed tents flashed through the air and impaled one of the Dai Li agents through the throat in multiple areas, snapping his head off almost all together; his head hung off the remains of his neck in a grotesque display, and Azula could not look away as the Dai Li agent slackened in shock, as his eyes—they were upside down as his head hung by the remaining flesh of his devastated neck!—bulged in horrified comprehension before it faded by death.

She admired Toph's skill of metalbending and wished she held such a skillful advantage over the Fire Sages, but all she had were her mastered chakras.

Azula dared risk a glance behind her and inhaled sharply when she saw the forest ablaze, for Aang, Agni, Devi and Father/Vaatu battled without restraint, too busy engaged against each other—even Devi!—to pay attention to the flaming forest. How had she not felt it? It became clear when she saw Agni pull the flames to himself and extend them against Aang, who dove to the side as the air howled, smashing into the flames. But Devi was there and smashed a pillar up into Aang's sprawled form; it crashed into his injured side, and she heard him cry out in pain.

But then a bigger pillar erupted upward, and Aang, at the last second, spun over and blasted air as a shield; he rocketed into the air from the impact of the air smashing into the rising pillar. He soared in the air, Father/Vaatu threw plumes of fire at him, Devi threw boulders at him, and Agni launched devastating lightning strikes, which erupted near Aang in the sky, flinging him higher and higher into the sky until she could barely perceive him.

She endeavored to help, but before she could try to help—how could she help him when Agni was Fire and Devi was Earth?—fire blazed behind her, and she narrowly jumped out of the way as the Fire Sages convened, fire ghosting over their fingers.

They were ready for more, and Aang would have to help himself.

She knew he would.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The fight was intense and unlike any fight in his life—in all his lifetimes.

There was an unfamiliarity he had never experienced, to which he had to adjust swiftly and on the fly—because he would be destroyed if he didn't! But he was the only one experiencing the unfamiliarity because Agni and Devi were used to it, and Ozai didn't have to experience it because he was their ally and merged briefly with Vaatu.

Earth and Fire felt different, and he felt cut off from the essence of each, which were connected to his body and spirit intimately. He knew Agni and Devi were trying powerfully to sever the root of his connection, but because he was The Avatar, it was impossible. But denying him the totality of the two elements was very possible—and what happened!

He could use his earthbending and firebending, but he couldn't direct earthbending at Devi or firebending at Agni. Sometimes when he thought he could have delivered a powerful strike against Ozai, Devi or Agni protected Ozai and prevented the earthbending and firebending from harming him.

It was new and strange; it was wrong and maddening!

But Aang continued his fight, for he would win! He would stop this war! He would kill Ozai, desecrate Agni, heal Devi, and imprison Vaatu! He would—he would!

"You came here to die, Avatar!" Ozai bellowed with Vaatu's voice, and the earth shook around them. "We shall fulfill your longing forever! There will never be another after you but me!"

Aang grit his teeth, smacked aside Agni's attack, leaped over Devi's rising mounds of piercing stone, and flattened Ozai against the mountainside with a current of devastating, unavoidable wind. He felt lightning crackle in his hands and just as he was about to unleash it at Ozai, who was recovering, when the ground disappeared from beneath his feet, and he fell into a hole. The lightning erupted from his fingers and stone and dirt and soil exploded into his face, the sound ringing in his ears painfully. After gathering his bearings, he blasted out of the hole and landed next to it; a flash of fire suddenly landed in front of him, and a boulder slammed into his back.

It was only his airbending reflexes that saved him from having his face scorched; he righted himself and spun around, unsurprised to see both corrupted forms of Agni and Devi staring at him disdainfully. Aang glanced quickly towards Azula and was relieved that she seemed to be admirably holding her own against the Fire Sages—he knew she could do it!

How he wanted to suffocate Ozai, depriving him of the air he needed primally, but that took too much focus and concentration, and it was impossible to concentrate adequately with both Agni and Devi assaulting him! Not to mention when Vaatu would burst out of Ozai and fire devastating beams of energy at him, which were more and more difficult to avoid as Agni, Devi, and Ozai began to attack him in rhythm to the energy beams, confining him to a specific area until he was forced into Vaatu's energy beam.

He knew if he was to succeed, he needed to take care of Ozai first and focus on Agni and Devi. He pulled himself on a tornado and avoided Agni's lightning strike before he dropped the tornado against the earth, which released a powerful shockwave. Instantly, he bounded toward Ozai while Devi was distracted and smashed his fists into the ground.

Ozai howled as he was launched into the air, and Aang punched his fist, slamming a massive wind gust into Ozai that sent him sailing to the other side of the forest.

That would buy him a few minutes.

Immediately, his clothes began to smoke from the fire Agni threw at him, and Aang ripped off his shirt, which had a long gash in it. It would be easier to fight, not something Agni could use against him!

Aang sprung back from a rising stone spike, spun once, and released the air as a powerful funnel that howled, smacking into Devi, who stumbled back. But Agni was on him in a flash of flames, and Aang suddenly found his feet trapped in the earth.

Devi wasn't where she last was; she was nowhere to be found.

"I can help you!" he cried out, struggling against the hold on his feet, but it was powerful. However, he could not afford to give it his full attention; he had to stay focused on Agni, who was near him, glaring at him with power! "Let me help you!"

"You are one who needs help, Avatar!" Agni roared, and Aang's eyes almost slammed shut at the terrible brightness. Through dim eyes, he saw Agni rear back and open both of his mouths; sun-like fire spewed from lips, and Aang used his own air and fire to narrowly keep himself from being scorched to the bone—the earth wasn't responding to him!

The heat was unbearable, and Aang grit his teeth, feeling his skin begin to blister—it was too much!

He began to be overwhelmed and, when he could no longer hold on, Devi appeared out of the earth and grabbed his arms, confining him further in place, wrenching his face away.

Aang screamed in agony as Agni's flames ravished the flesh on the side of his face, burning away his hair and beard. In a panicked, instinctive response, he sunk his fingers into the ground and drew the water out of the soil and jerked his hand up. The water smashed into the fire, producing a cloud of steam, and Aang directed the rest of the water from the area in the forest, turning healthy trees instantly into withering masses, at Devi, who struggled against him but held him firmly in her grasp, trapping him further. He groaned, and the water soaking the ground exploded again, rushing towards him in a roaring tsunami, but Aang rotated it around his body before he directed it again at Agni, who stumbled back, his flames flickering, and Aang blew through his mouth, sending the unsuspecting Fire Spirit back even further.

"No!" Devi screeched from behind him, and Aang whirled around, froze her feet in ice, and breathed fire into her earth-face until she let go of his feet. Instantly, he pulled himself on a tornado, recognizing that his advantage was from air and water; he couldn't use Agni and Devi's elements at them.

His face hurt! It burned—burned! But knowing if he paid mind to his injury, which threatened the vision in one of his eyes already, that he would become compromised and, thus, defeated, Aang shot water tendrils at Agni, but they weren't effective, and when he shot air at Devi, it didn't work either.

Agni darted up into the air, torrents of flames exploding out of his fire-limbs, and Aang swiftly twirled away, further tornadoes of air forming in his wake as a defense. He grunted when Devi threw a boulder at him and it almost caused him to fall, but he remained mobile.

How was he to defeat them? Ozai and Vaatu would return quickly! He could feel Ozai blazing through the vast forest in the distance, coming closer and closer!

He remembered Azula's advice on Ember Island when she noted the reason behind Sozin's success against Air lied in Air's division across the world. Rather than united locally in a single place, increasing their numbers strength, and experience, they were divided across the four corners of the world, which made it too easy.

Aang had hated agreeing with her observation, but he knew it was true.

The same strategy was needed—divide and conquer.

Aang rocketed towards the Fire Spirit, gathered as much withering wind as he could, and he directed all of it at Agni. The hurricane-force gale smashed into him, causing him to scream in pain as his flames thrashed ominously, and some were almost snuffed out. Aang didn't let up; he screamed, and the air condensed into his palm, and then he unleashed a vortex into Agni. Agni smashed into the ground with a bellow of agony but didn't get up immediately.

It had bought him a few precious moments.

Aang looked down at Devi and acted on instinct; the lightning sparked across his fingers, and he saw her orbs widen before he shot the attack at her. She vanished into the earth, and the lightning exploded into the earth, but Devi was gone. Suddenly, he felt the energy surge behind him but was unable to defend himself against the beam of spirit energy.

The darkness of the energy was intense and utterly painful, and he fell from his tornado, glimpsing, before he hit the ground hard, Vaatu floating ominously through the trees as Ozai blazed toward him with a menacing determination on his face. Immediately, before he could stand and adjust to Ozai and Vaatu's return, the earth swallowed him whole, and no light existed.

Devi was everywhere, her screeching cackle unholy to his ears and Aang struggled mightily, curling his fingers into the soil, but it wouldn't respond. Devi was the Earth Spirit and Aang, for all of his power without The Avatar State, couldn't win against the Earth itself with earthbending.

But he had to! He had to escape immediately! If he didn't, Agni, Vaatu, and Ozai would murder Azula and Toph!

He had to escape—escape!

The Avatar State was the obvious solution, tempting him with its perfection, but he didn't trust himself in The Avatar State—because The Avatar was evil!

His face ached terribly from Agni's burns, and he knew he would look worse than Zuko if he didn't heal himself quickly, but that didn't matter; he could barely see through one of his eyes, but it didn't matter, either, as he was in the ground in darkness.

But there was a way to produce light, and light wounded darkness's totality.

It would have to do! He had to get out! He had to stop Azula and Toph from being killed! It had already been too long!

He was trapped, and while he could draw the water out of the soil, he knew that wouldn't do anything except perhaps make Devi angrier. There was hardly any air in the earth, and he couldn't create any because Devi wouldn't allow him to try earthbending; only firebending was left.

Aang breathed harshly, drawing his inner flame and opened his lips as Agni had done earlier. The fire spewed in torrents and the soil and dirt blackened. Devi shrieked but Aang continued and then he channeled lightning through his curled hands, scorching lines of power sizzling through the earth like a careless butcher.

Devi roared in pain, and the earth around him loosened; he wrenched his arms outward and exploded out of the prison, leaving a crater in the ground. Aang staggered out of the crater, looking desperately for Agni, Vaatu, and Ozai, and felt relief that their attention was not focused on Azula or Toph, both of whom still admirably fought the Fire Sages and Dai Li agents respectively.

The forest was ablaze, emphasizing Agni, who was Fire, and Ozai's figures ominously. Devi formed out of the remains of the crater near him, and Aang leaped back, trying to think critically to defeat him, but he felt inexperienced and out of his depth! He wasn't ready! If he was wiser and more mature, he knew he could defeat them, but his mind felt sluggish from all the pain and weariness; he felt everything compound on top of him, burdening him, and it was a fight against himself to fight as he needed to!

Suddenly, Agni snarled and pulled the flames of the forest to himself, leaving all the trees smoking, charred, and withered. Aang dove to the side, the air propelling him forward with a howl of intimate effort as it clashed against the roar of the flames. But before he could act further, Devi slashed at him and, and a pillar crashed into his injured side.

Aang shouted in pain, and saw Devi commit the same action in a larger flourish, and he knew instinctively what was going to happen. A bigger pillar erupted upward, sharpened at the end for physical devastation, and Aang spun over and blasted air as a shield; he rocketed into the air from the impact of the air smashing into the rising pillar.

The sky did not feel like a haven now as he soared into the clouds and did his best to hover, spinning an airball beneath him to catch his breath. There was no catching his breath as Ozai threw plumes of fire at him, Devi threw boulders at him, and Agni hurled thunderbolts at him simultaneously, all of which erupted near him, flinging him up and up in ascension until he was in the clouds.

Aang fired his own lightning at Devi's boulders and hopped across the clouds, making the water therein thicker so he could jump and have leverage.

Slowly, they were moving locations, traveling through the forest, Aang hopping across the clouds, and Agni, Devi, and Ozai—and Vaatu—trailing him on the ground. He preferred it, as it meant that Azula and Toph were less at risk of death from foes neither could possibly defeat.

Suddenly, the sky filled with fire, and Aang's gray eyes were riveted on the flaming boulders—Agni and Devi were combining their powers against him!—hurtling toward him with erratic but powerful speed; they were far larger than the ones that he had dodged on his way through the Fire Nation's blockade when he was flying to Roku's temple all of those years ago.

They almost seemed like the size of the Moon!

In answer, Aang zoomed forward, roaring with strength as he created massive gusts of wind to deflect the incoming projectiles—there were so many, filling his vision of little else!—blasting his own flames and lightning to obliterate the flaming boulders. No matter how many he destroyed, just as many continued to appear in his vision, seeking to raze and destroy—and Ozai launched his own fireballs and lightning at him!

Thinking quickly, he summoned tornadoes, sending them at the incoming projectiles. As intended, the tornadoes swallowed the fireballs but spit them back out to their source—Agni and Devi. But it didn't affect them as they disintegrated the rock and smothered the flames instantly without effort. He swung his arms around, forming a massive blade that swiped through all of the remaining projectiles, and then lightning exploded from his fingertips, directed at Devi to prevent her for several moments from creating more boulders.

He narrowed his eyes in determination as he watched and felt the crackle of energy approach. He narrowly caught the bolt of lightning, which snapped toward him so quickly, faster than any lightning he had ever encountered, that it nearly struck him down. The lightning spasmed through his form and he raised his fingers, directing it back at Agni, who caught the lightning in one of his hands and, in one smooth motion, hurled it back at him in a surprise attack.

Aang howled in pain when, even after he whirled to the side, he was too slow to avoid that lightning bolt, which slashed and shocked the edge of his arm, and he lost concentration for several moments and fell from the sky. Before he could try to return to the brief haven of the clouds, Agni began slinging lightning bolt after lightning bolt rapidly, not waiting; one action was committed expertly before followed rhythmically by a duplicate—lightning after lightning, all aimed at him.

He gasped and spun out of the way of a bolt that nearly destroyed him, its energy trail leaving a sizzling line of energy that echoed in his ears and made the minimal hair left on his arms rise in warning. But Aang kept blasting himself across the sky with flames and air, avoiding Agni's bolts—and Devi's occasional massive boulder thrown at him. But he was tiring quickly and knew he couldn't keep it up. He was bending too proactively, putting all his energy in his commitments rather than siphoning off for endurance.

He let go and began to fall to the earth like an arrow, wind painful against his burned face before he lessened its impact—only on his face. He ducked and avoided Agni's thunderbolts with precision, not expending any more energy than was necessary as he zoomed down, intended to smash into the earth and hopefully disorient them long enough to smite Ozai with a swift lightning strike, ending the threat he was.

But when he tried to locate Ozai, he noticed that Ozai had begun a rapid pace back to where Azula was, leaving Agni and Devi the honor of killing The Avatar. "No!" he roared, shaking the heavens and earth.

Aang didn't avoid Agni's next lightning bolt and redirected it at Devi, who screeched in pain, blasted back. And Aang did everything he could think of. He smashed wind down from the heavens against Agni and Devi, he pulled water from the clouds and swept them away; he turned the water into ice and impaled them, and he fired lightning at Devi, while pulling chunks of stone from mountaintops as he passed and threw them at Agni.

As intended, Ozai, perhaps provoked by Vaatu, with whom he was briefly merged, rushed back to their aid upon realizing that Agni and Devi were in danger.

He smashed into the ground with the force of a star, creating a massive crater that leveled trees and natural structures in every direction as far as he could see, but he instantly rushed at Ozai while Agni and Devi recovered.

Ozai dove to the side, but Aang uprooted his feet from the earth with a flick of his wrist. He drew water from some of the trees, wrapped it around Ozai and flung him into the distance. He ran after him, trying to put distance between him and Agni and Devi, which meant he could focus on Ozai and Vaatu for a few precious moments before Agni and Devi reappeared.

Ozai fled from him, fire propelling him faster as he bounded through the forest, realizing he couldn't hope to face him, and Aang knew the moment was coming; it was time! Finally, he was getting a break! He and Ozai were alone, and he could kill him and be done with him! He could trap Vaatu back in the Tree of Time! He could desecrate Agni and heal Devi!

He raised a pillar in front of Ozai, who smashed through it, but it slowed him down enough. Aang leaped into the air, spun back, and flipped himself until his feet unleashed two powerful plumes of fire that crashed into Ozai's back.

Ozai fell with a roar of agony, and Aang landed next to him.

They were on the other side of the mountain, and he felt triumph and relieved before he saw the lake. He paled in realization because he recognized it, and all his triumph deteriorated into worry, panic, and dread.

They were near where he had left Appa!

But before he could try to do something—anything!—Vaatu blazed out of Ozai toward him, and he was back in the clash as he tried to keep Vaatu from carving him into the mountain.

XxXxXxXxXxX

The Fire Sages glared at her, catching their breaths, and Azula gratefully accepted the extension of rest; she felt the pressure of exhaustion acutely.

She met their gazes with ire. "Why do you betray The Avatar?" she demanded, feeling her anger mount at the idea. "You betray your ideals for Vaatu!"

"We will become loyal to the new Avatar, the true Avatar!" the foremost Fire Sage shouted. "Once Fire Lord Ozai and the mighty Vaatu are fully, forever fused together, a new era will arise!"

"An era of chaos!" she snapped in outrage and disbelief. "What does Fire teach? Honor and control, which lead to order and tradition, which stabilize the world! What you endorse is the opposite, you damned fools!"

"We endorse Mighty Vaatu's rise! He will herald this world beyond anything The Avatar ever did! The Avatar restrained us, terrorized us, and murdered us!"

Azula recognized madness when she saw it and realized their minds were concluded. They were too far gone, and she did not care enough to try to dissuade them; their lives meant nothing to her. "You have forsaken your titles, everything that made you The Avatar's devotees. You may believe that history will remember you fondly, hailing you as heroes, but I guarantee that you will all be remembered as traitors."

"No, it is you who will be remembered as a traitor, Princess Azula!"

The Fire Sages all leaped forward as a collective, mimicking each other perfectly as if they had practiced and communicated the idea previously, fire blazing from their fists in an attempt to destroy her.

Azula defended herself with a shield of magnificent fire, gritting her teeth as she felt their flames slam into her shield. Within moments, she swept it to the side, separating her arms in a wide arc. "No lightning?" she called out in a taunt, letting the sparks crackle across her fingers. "Are you not serene enough? Are you not at peace with your treachery- "

The Fire Sages glowered at her and breathed deeply, before they unleashed everything that they could summon to destroy her.

She did nothing initially as the flames blazed toward her with hungry ferocity, preserving her energy, but when she saw the victorious shine in their golden eyes, she swiped her hands in parallel directions, catching the flames and rotated them around her body. She added her own flames until a massive globe of pure fire spun around her body, nearly impossible to control, growing and roaring in power, the heat all-encompassing. It was too much to restrain, feeling like Agni himself lashed out at her, but she did her best as she turned the entire globe sapphire.

Azula screamed in effort and condensed the massive glove of fire until it fit into her hands before she shoved her arms outward with a hoarse cry escaping her.

She fell to her knees in exhaustion, watching through panting, sweaty breaths as it looked like Sozin's Comet itself blazed toward the Fire Sages, who were too caught off-guard and unprepared to defend themselves. The flames were so hot and potent that their bodies turned to ashes instantly upon contact, the ground surrounding them smoking.

Harsh pants passed her lips for several long moments as she tried to revive herself, eyes scanning the forest, but Aang was gone—so were Agni, Devi, and Father and Vaatu. However, she knew they were all near based on the flashes of fire and lightning in the distance and the deep quaking of the earth.

Aang needed her help certainly, but there was someone who needed it more. Toph struggled extensively against the Dai Li agents, exhausted and waning severely in strength. When Toph crashed to the earth, unable to avoid one of the Dai Li's collective attacks, Azula's decision was made.

She heaved herself forward and slashed her fingers together; the Dai Li heard the crackle of lightning, but some of them were too slow to avoid the devastating lightning strike, which blew four agents apart.

Azula appeared next to Toph and helped her to her feet; Toph's arm quivered beneath her hands—and Azula did not feel much stronger—but Toph managed a brief grin.

"Didn't know you cared," she quipped.

A small but exhausted smirk crossed her face as she assessed the reformed Dai Li, all of whom—twenty in total, it looked like—eyed her warily, realizing that their odds dwindled with her joining Toph. "Neither did I. Can you feel Aang?"

Toph coughed but shook her head. "No. I've had my feet full."

Azula felt worried that Aang would be overwhelmed by Father, Vaatu, Agni, and Devi, but she knew that he would be okay—he had to be! "We must finish this swiftly," she murmured.

"Princess first," Toph goaded with a half-hearted wave as she crouched in preparation. "I'm only a disowned noble girl."

She stared at the Dai Li, unimpressed with the ground that cracked near her in warning—in an intimidation tactic. The Dai Li were peasant children next to what she had glimpsed Devi—Earth herself—capable of. "This shall raise your renown." She raised her voice to the Dai Li: "It is not too late to switch sides! My brother was rewarded for his treachery and became Fire Lord because of it. What rewards shall you receive? The Avatar is merciful- "

One of the Dai Li agents sneered in outrage. "He murdered our home and king! Millions lie dead at his feet, and he stands above them all like the god he pretends to be! We will help end his tyranny!"

Azula did not feel surprised, but Toph snorted and adjusted her arms in preparation. "It's a wonder any of you can move so well with Ozai's dick in your ass."

The Dai Li became emotionless as they attacked as a large group, showing clear experience of their years fighting together because they moved as a unit and collective, each action committed with the thought of what their brothers-in-arms would do.

Surprisingly, she found that she and Toph fought well together; it was not seamless, and there were some mistakes that nearly resulted in either of their deaths due to their inexperience in fighting together, but it was a worthy alliance.

Toph attacked the Dai Li individually, trying to break up the group, while Azula attacked the collective with waves and plumes of fire, sometimes with a lightning strike, forcing them to focus on her, and their strategy worked as the Dai Li agents began to fall.

"I got this!" Toph cried out hoarsely when there were eight agents left. "Help Aang! He needs it more than I do!"

Azula did not bother arguing and dashed in the direction of the shaking and followed the carnage and devastation in the forest, too frantic to analyze and try to discern what had happened, what attacks were used, who likely committed the attack based on the profound evidence everywhere across the forest.

The journey was long, but she kept her pace and dedication, trailing the destruction and sounds that boomed and echoed louder and more completely, less faded and distorted.

When she reached the other side of the mountain, the sound of roaring waves reached her ears, and she saw Aang—his face looked terrible with profound burns and deep wounds on his arms and gashes on his shoulders!—unleash a torrent of water that was met by a clash of powerful flames, producing a mass of steam that blanketed the area, smothering and warm. But the steam did not stop the fight; it kept going, shaking the ground and quivering the air. She saw Aang battling Father, Agni, and Devi simultaneously, but it was clear he was exhausted as his attacks, while dominant and powerful, were sloppy. Seeing the opportunity presented to her to make a difference, to turn the tide, to end the conflict, Azula hesitated.

Father's back was turned to her—none of them were aware she was there, even Aang, who was consumed by his frantic defenses against his attackers. But Father attacked with power, grace, and ferocity—as he did always.

Azula had to make a choice; she had already betrayed Father and manipulated him, but had she ever, truly, at the end of the day, wanted him dead?

No, she wanted Father alive, for she felt a strange, inevitable fondness for him, despite everything.

But Father would never stop; he would never capitulate; he would never surrender; he would kill Aang if he found the opportunity—and if anyone could find it, it was him.

Azula felt a mist appear in her eyes as the inevitable came to her, deadly in its precision and promising in its persuasion. To make the battle stop, to prevent abomination and atrocity, she had to kill Father—kill Father! Such a thought was once against her willing, but now it was the solution—the only solution. It was the final solution to terminating the possibility of another Great War.

It was the perfect moment! Vaatu was still merged briefly with Father, and while she did not understand Vaatu's power as Aang did, she knew Vaatu would be impacted if she killed Father while they were merged briefly.

Her fingers wound, and she stared at Father's back, memorizing him—for she wanted to remember him as best she could, even though he did not deserve it. But he did deserve it—because he was Father!

The lightning split the air, directed by her precise fingers at Father's back, but a flaming hand snapped across the slim distance and plucked the lightning, which stopped instantly, out of the air before it struck Father; it buzzed in a powerful grip.

Agni caught the lightning she shot at Father!

Azula gaped at him, staring at him in shock as Agni turned to her, holding her lightning—her lightning!—in his hand, unharmed, impervious to its devastating impact. Father was unaware of the attack, still attacking Aang, but Azula did not dare attack again, not with Agni glaring at her with disgust. A sneer crossed Agni's face before he threw her lightning back at her.

She dove to the side, narrowly avoiding the assault, which slammed into the ground and created a shower of dirt that sprayed her. But that was not where her attention lied. Her gaze shot up in panic when she heard Aang cry out in pain.

She watched as Vaatu's beam smashed Aang across the length of the area into the mountainside, and he laid there, panting for a moment. She gasped in terror and distress when, suddenly, three spikes of stone ripped through Aang's body violently, spewing blood and sinew everywhere, protruding through his back and out his chest.

Azula scrambled to her feet, with fire in her hands, and dashed to him in a consuming panic, but Agni appeared in front of her, severe and imposing. Suddenly, her fire vanished from her hands—against her willing.

She was going to die, she realized distantly.

Her only chance of survival was if Aang entered The Avatar State, but she knew he would rather die than enter it again; he did not trust himself in The Avatar State, not after Ba Sing Se's murder.

"You caught it," she whispered, astonished, trying to peer around him to see if Aang was still alive, but only Agni filled her vision with his massive frame.

"You threw it."

Her awe cleared for disgust. "You are a dutiful son, Father of Flame, helping your father as you do," Azula mocked, daring a look to the side when she saw a blur of color; she saw Aang fighting Devi and Father/Vaatu, even with the spikes through his chest. She was in awe and had no idea how he accomplished it, for he was impossibly hurt and should not be impossibly fighting, making his grievous wounds worse!

She knew intellectually that Aang could be hurt, but she never imagined that he would actually be hurt, not truly. He was The Avatar, supreme above all. He murdered Ba Sing Se like it was the easiest thing in the world—because he was a god. But it was not mortals he faced now but other gods, all lesser than him, but united in numbers while Aang deprived himself of his nature, refusing to go into The Avatar State.

She feared for him. Unlike any moment in her life, she feared for him; she felt imposing dread that she would watch him die.

Unlike any of the fighting in the Great War, which was easy and almost lethargic—because she never experienced true war and fighting—this was all chaos; it was all ruthless and vicious. Seeing Aang fighting Agni, Devi, and Father/Vaatu, it became apparent how out of her depth she was due to the devastatingly brutal attacks committed by Aang, Agni, Devi, and Father/Vaatu.

It was clear to her—she was a mortal amongst gods.

Merged temporarily with Vaatu, Father had elevated himself to godhood—forever inferior to Aang, of course, but still mighty. She was a more capable mortal than likely any other, but she was still mortal, and watching Aang battle Fire and Earth with airbending and waterbending, while simultaneously fending off Father/Vaatu was awe-inspiring. She thought she understood Aang after Ba Sing Se, but she realized she still had understanding to attain about The Avatar—if authentic understanding was actually possible, which she slowly realized was most unlikely.

In what was formerly Ba Sing Se, it was a god extending his wrath to mortals; it was a god not fighting but reacting; it was a god almost lazy in his actions, unconcerned. But now Aang was a god fighting other gods actively, wielding the elements as they needed to be wielded, harnessing his transcendent instincts propagated by his eternal genius to battle, every move made displaying a perfection in bending beyond conception, even with the unbelievable mortal wounds Devi delivered to him. The legends of The Avatar understated his capabilities—to a severely disgusting degree. But that made her awe glimpsing him all the more real and genuine. She was incredibly grateful she never faced The Avatar during the Great War, only Aang.

But she still felt terrified that he would die before her eyes! She refused to let that happen! But Agni prohibited her action!

Agni chuckled, low and deep. "You are an unworthy daughter, helping your father's great enemy as you do."

"Father is his own great enemy," Azula replied. She tried to fire a blast of flames at Agni, but no flames appeared—as she knew would happen.

Agni had deprived her of her firebending.

A massive bolt of lightning—the same lightning bolts Agni threw into the heavens earlier to try to kill Aang—coalesced in Agni's hand, stretching and elongating beautifully. Azula was mesmerized and never imagined such lightning was possible. "You could have been brilliant," Agni intoned, his eyes of fire condemning her. "But you chose poorly."

A boulder whizzed past Azula, which Agni smashed to pieces, snarling at Toph, who was bloodied but alive, appearing in a rush of frantic, uneven footsteps.

"You're so full of shit!" Toph snapped in greeting, panting heavily. "Great Spirit, my ass! You're just Ozai's bitch, you know that? Father of Lame is more like it!"

Agni fired a blast of hot flames, and Toph raised a wall in front of them. "Did he really catch your lightning and throw it back at you?"

"And smothered my firebending," Azula notified tersely, worried about Aang. "We have to help Aang; he is wounded grievously."

Toph shoved the wall forward, which Agni punched apart with a flaming fist. "Go help him. I'll deal with this fucker."

Azula hesitated, glancing at Aang, who held on, but it was barely; his body was noticeably failing him because of the spikes through his chest, which were somehow still there. He somehow continued his battle, but it was distressingly obvious that he neared his limits.

"I am no help to anyone," she whispered in dismay. "My fire is gone as long as Agni is here."

Toph clapped her hands and smashed her fists down on the ground, which opened beneath Agni, trying to suck him into the earth, and Azula understood what Toph tried to do—diminish Agni's presence by trapping him in the ground, which would hopefully unsmother her firebending.

But Agni was an Elemental, the Provider of Power and Father of Flame, one of the Great Spirits, offspring of Raava and Vaatu.

Agni broke free effortlessly, particularly since Toph was exhausted of her strength and vigor, and he spread his hands in an arc above his head, extending vibrant lightning across the length of his wingspan. Before Azula could warn her, Toph raised them upon a platform of earth high into the air, putting a long distance between them. However, it was not a reprieve; it increased the danger!

"No!" she cried out, realizing what would happen and gripped Toph's arm in preparation.

Agni fired the lightning at the platform, destroying it, and Azula and Toph plummeted to the ground. She tried to brace herself, fire flames out of her feet, but nothing worked; she was powerless and saw the inevitability of the ground approaching with swiftness.

But there was a blur of color, and Azula felt a flushed, bruised, burned arm—Aang's arm!—wrap around her and land her semi-gently on the ground, along with Toph. But Aang, trembling and gasping, was off instantly, attacking Agni with wild ferocity, staggering in his movements with labored breathing and sweat pouring down his face—like the blood pouring down his body from his impossible wounds!

"That's a lake behind them, right?" Toph demanded, crouching low.

Azula nodded, feeling panic when Father and Devi approached—both seemed tired but nowhere near as tired as she, Toph, and Aang were! "Why- "

Toph grunted and heaved her hands.

The ground beneath Aang and Agni buckled and shuddered before it acted as a spring; Aang and Agni were launched into the lake, submerged. Instantly, her fire returned to her, and an unbelievable amount of steam clouded the air as the water in the lake evaporated, while the remaining water took on a blue hue, glowing vibrantly. However, there was so much steam emanating from the lake, which continued its diminishment as Aang and Agni thrashed under the water, that her visibility was compromised severely.

"So he could heal," she breathed with a cough at the harsh, warm steam entered her lungs. "Excellent strategy. We have company."

"I know that better than you," Toph muttered.

Father shot a wave of fire through the thick steam, and Azula swiped it away. But no other attacks followed. Father and Devi appeared through the haze, clear enough to distinguish but still obscure in precision of detail.

"You can still surrender, Father," Azula called out in mockery.

"Whores surrender to dominance, as you did, Azula," Father sneered with Vaatu's voice, which chilled her to her spirit. "Death before dishonor! There is no surrender! Never!"

Suddenly, Toph shrieked in dismayed incomprehension and horror, and Azula looked at her in confusion; there were no wounds on her, but her milky eyes bulged in terror, filled with miserable tears. She looked at Devi's cold, immovable face and realized what happened—Devi had smothered Toph's earthbending, the source of her vision, and Toph felt the depths of her blindness.

"No, please!" Toph screamed, voice wavering with the force of her stricken devastation. "Give it back! Give it back! I can't see! It's mine! I need it! I need to see! I need to feel!"

"Only if you help us kill The Avatar!" Devi demanded, staring at Toph with cruel disgust—but Toph would never know.

Toph's face paled before a snarl split her features. "Fuck you, you cunt! I hope The Avatar murders all your fucking cities!"

Devi's eyes widened before the sneer consumed her features. "You are a disgrace to my essence! I should have never blessed your ancestors!"

Azula wondered why Father had not attacked but did not waste another moment. She acted on instinct and attacked Devi with the limited energy she had remaining. Devi was forced back, surprised, and based on the sounds behind her, by attacking Devi so unexpectedly, she released her hold on Toph's earthbending—as Agni had released his hold on her firebending when he was launched into the lake.

She separated herself from the ground, expending much of her energy to hover from flames jetting out of her feet. But she kept attacking Devi with wave after wave while Toph attacked Father, but based on the minimal gains made, she knew it was futile.

She and Toph were defeated quickly and trapped in prisons of stone made and strengthened by Devi. Even with her firebending, enhanced by her mastered chakras, Azula could not break free, though her severe exhaustion played a large role.

"I thought we'd make a better team," Toph grumbled, muted; there was a devastation on her face from not having her earthbending. "Instead we get fucked by One Cunt and Two Cunt—and Three Cunt."

"Aang will figure it out," she murmured, trying to meditate to restore her energy and firebending strength, but her exhaustion was bone-weary; she had not felt so exhausted in a long time, for the battle—or battles within one large battle—was extensive and consuming.

Toph sighed. "Let's just hope he doesn't break the world when he does."

Father stared at the remains of the lake with a gruesome expression on his face. "He has weakened Agni profoundly."

Devi's stone prisons tightened around them. "He will surrender to us for the lives of these betrayers."

"Avatar!" Father roared, his voice—Vaatu's voice—erupting through the air with haunting precision. "We have your friends!"

Immediately, Aang appeared out of the water, and all his beard and hair were gone, burned away from his face and scalp from the force of Agni's flames, along with all his clothes, leaving him naked, and the gruesome wounds on his chest were much smaller, though still existing. And there were deep burns all over his body, some deeper than others.

But Agni was defeated!

Azula was amazed at Agni's state. Before, Agni was composed of flames, but now, he looked like a simmering volcano, with fire beneath the surface trapped—or doused. But Aang dragged Agni by his dormant foot—there were no flames!—and smashed his body into the ground. Suddenly, Aang raised the rest of the depleted lake and slammed its remains on top of Agni's body and froze him in a massive globe of ice.

Aang's gaze rested on her and Toph, and his face—it looked so strange seeing him without his hair and beard!—tightened. "Don't harm them," he said, voice desperate. "This is between us- "

"Your whore inserted herself in this when she engineered this clash," Father judged in a seething fury. "Her punishment has only begun. As has your friend's."

Suddenly Toph's cage opened, and Azula struggled fiercely when she saw the look on Father's face—she had seen it before! But she was powerless and trapped as Father extended a long flame dagger in his hands and horrifically stabbed Toph, again and again, in her stomach. Toph gasped, lips parting in shock, and blood dribbled past her parted lips while Azula bowed her head in grieving shame, feeling sick to her stomach—and spirit.

Aang screamed in fury but did not dare move when Father immediately pivoted, raised Azula's head, and held a fire dagger to her throat; it dug into her skin, and Azula hissed between her teeth at the searing pain, but looked at Aang, hoping her eyes conveyed her demand to attack and finish the fight!

Agni had been defeated, and only Devi, Father, and Vaatu remained—a much greater possibility of triumph, especially with Aang restored slightly in strength since the water in the lake had helped heal him!

The sacrifice was worth it! She did not want Toph to die, nor did she want to die, but if it meant Vaatu, Father, Agni, and Devi's defeat it would be okay. Aang had to know and understand that!

But based on the look on his face, he did not understand it.

"A slow death for a slow mind," Father decreed in satisfaction.

Toph gurgled, choking on her blood slightly before she croaked: "I'll been seeing you in the Gardens, Cunt One. I'll jam a spike into your ass."

Aang glared in hatred at Father. "She's right."

The tension built as Father and Devi wondered if Aang would attack, but Azula acted. "Father, I repent of my dishonor," she said, injecting her voice with desperation and shame. "Forgive me of my- "

Father smacked her across the face with his free hand, and the flame dagger dug in more significantly. "You are but a scheming whore and will be treated as such!"

"I confess of my errors," Azula tried again, knowing she had to enrage Father to such a degree that he moved his position, which would allow her to act, which would allow Aang to act. "I can and will obtain Sozin's greatness by- "

Another harsh smack—one much stronger and more violent—connected against the side of her face, and Azula's head snapped to the side, digging into the fire dagger more. The tears misting in her eyes were from the pain of the fire dagger and the smack.

"I will appease your rightful wrath- "

Finally, Father ripped on her hair, drawing her head back all the way until her gaze, upside down, rested on his snarling face, rooted above her. "There is no appeasement for your treachery!"

Azula smiled. "I know."

She exhaled a plume of flames into Father's face, burning him as he sprung back in a roar of agony; when he sprang back, his fire dagger pulled back, slicing through a small area on her neck but digging through her shoulder and collar bone, gliding through, separating bone, muscle, tendon, and flesh. Her lips parted in agony but, instantly, Aang blitzed Devi, smashing her into the mountainside with thunderous power as the elements answered his summons.

Azula was freed from her prison, though with a limp arm! She dashed to Toph, who laid in an expanding puddle of dark blood. Her hands covered the wounds on Toph's stomach. "This will hurt," she warned as her hands cradled softly but firmly, preparing to ignite and cauterize.

Toph's milky eyes were hazy, but she had enough awareness to flinch. "Do it."

Azula released the flames and cauterized Toph's wounds, keeping her persistence despite Toph's shrieks and screams of pain, holding firm as Toph thrashed, body revived in strength and urgency.

However, her senses remained sharp, and she gasped and whirled around, not done with the cauterizing process, and barely managed to prevent Father's assault from scorching her and Toph; it was severely gruesome trying to defend herself with only one arm against Father's attack, as her other arm was limp and unmoving, stricken dumb by Father's fire dagger, which had numbed whatever connection her mind had with her arm.

Father's face was a snarling, twisted mass of rage and burns; some of his beard has been burned away, and his eyebrows were gone. But the expression on his face was too familiar to her.

"Never has a father sired a more dishonorable daughter!" Father judged in disgusted venom before he sprang forward, the flames and rocks an extension of his body; the flames were noticeably stronger, but he was terrifyingly proficient with earthbending.

Azula defended herself as she could, but with the exhaustion threatening her body and poisoning her limbs, one of which would not work, there was nothing to do but buy time. When one of Father's boulders slipped through, crashing into her chest, she tripped over Toph's quivering body, slipping in the pool of blood until it smeared across her elbows and knees as she oriented herself. Immediately, she spun around—an easier feat with the slick blood beneath her—and fired lightning at Father, who jumped to the side, with one hand.

Before she could prepare a defense, Father's hands clapped together before spreading. A wave of earth buckled under her before it rocketed toward her and slammed into her with terrible force.

Azula crashed into the mountainside with a gasp of stunned agony, and she panted, holding onto the stone with quivering hands, eyes watered from stress, exhaustion, panic, and pain. Father stalked to her, face menacing and determined; his mind would not change.

There was no appeasing him.

She knew she could not defeat him, even if she was rested and prepared; Father was beyond her always.

Azula saw Toph—blind, immobile, and recovering—try to stand to her feet, but she only managed to draw herself up to her knees with quivering breaths, face a mass of haunted misery.

Suddenly, a familiar roar exploded in the sky, reaching her, and Azula paled when she saw Appa—he must have heard Aang's scream of devastated rage when Toph was stabbed and decided to investigate, despite Aang's command!—dart into the area and land on the edge of the lake, near Agni. Before Father could react, Appa roared, and a vortex of wind erupted through the air, which Father narrowly avoided as he disappeared into the earth and reappeared on the other side of the clearing with a sly but calculating smirk on his face.

Frantically, Azula lobbed sloppy attacks at Father from her position with one arm—Appa could not be killed again!—and tried to find her voice, to warn Appa, to demand that he flee to safety due to the battle's danger, but her voice failed her; she had always relied on her voice as a child and adolescent to ensure her survival, but her voice failed her now! It was horrifying!

But her heart plummeted to her feet when the iceberg near Appa—the one in which Aang had trapped Agni—begun to melt; steam clouded the air, and a piercing orange, red, and yellow color pierced through the haze to illuminate their surroundings intensely.

Agni.

"Aang!" she managed to scream in warning, voice raw and torn, cracked and hoarse.

A powerful boom echoed in the forest before Aang appeared in the clearing in a blur of pale color—because he was naked. He cried out in fury when he recognized Agni appear out of the glacial remains near Appa. Her mouth opened in dismay when she saw Father plant himself behind Aang with the victorious look on his face, but Aang acted before she could.

"Get away from him!" he thundered, enraged, before he smashed his arms into the ground. Secondly, he grabbed water from the lake and slashed Agni, but the water evaporated on contact with his flames. Instantly, Father and Agni were launched to the other side of the clearing by the combined attack, opposite of Appa, to whom Aang ran desperately, appearing in the blink of an eye with his airbending.

Her body ached as she pulled herself away from the mountainside; several of her ribs were broken, and each breath she took produced in her agony and extended her exhaustion. Her limbs were burdens too heavy to lift as Agni and Father launched a combined assault at Aang, who stood in front of Appa in protection with a dark, wild look on his face.

"Leave him alone!" Aang roared, his voice splitting the air with command, followed swiftly by a torrent of lightning that even Agni himself had to dive away from rather than catch or smack aside.

Azula watched him for several moments before she noticed Toph crawling toward Aang from her dangerous position with shaking hands, fingers digging into the ground for imprecise traction. She tried to run to Toph to help her get to Aang quicker, wanted to, demanded herself to, but her body felt dead and lifeless; she was unsure she had ever felt so exhausted.

She was a mortal amongst gods.

Agni and Father launched attack after swift attack at Aang, who responded, and the forest was on fire; everything felt like it was on fire, and Azula hated and dreaded it because her firebending would not respond to her—Agni had deemed it so!—and the burns on her arms began to reflect Father's burned face! Her own face began to reflect Father's face as the fires rose and expanded, roaring in power, matching Appa's bellows!

It was chaos!

Toph screamed at several points where she crawled over flames, burning her hands and knees! Azula could not reach her as the intensity between Father, Agni, and Aang was too much, particularly since her firebending was smothered with Agni's revival! She managed what she could, entering the fray on her hands and knees, feeling the thrill and terror as flames roared above her body, and her limp arm felt ruined forever with the weight she put on it as the split bone grinded against its severed half; if she stood to her feet, she would be consumed.

She compartmentalized the extensive pain and went in different directions, trying to reach Toph, to help her, to pull her to the scarce remains of the lake, closer to Aang, but everywhere she turned, more flames appeared, raging and out of control, seizing ground and consuming more and more—more and more! Everything was uninhabitable! And the areas behind her from which she came were afire, trapping her!

Before she could call out to Aang to finish the fight—or enter The Avatar State, such was her desperation!—Appa groaned with judged finality and heaved himself to the side with astonishing grace and slammed his tail against the ground.

A gale of powerful wind swept through the clearing and blew Agni and Father—and Toph, she noted dimly—off their feet, sending them tumbling back.

Aang whirled around and focused on Appa, frantic and desperate; he pushed Appa, shoving at his head with great strength. "Go!" Aang cried out, trying to force Appa away physically. "You don't need to protect me, Appa! Go! Now!"

But Appa was immovable and demanded to protect Aang—and die with Aang if that was the conclusion.

Azula refused to let it come to that.

Something gripped her heart, an instinct provoked by her spirit, and she turned around, knowing what she would see when she heard the crackle.

Father's arms wound in a dreadfully familiar motion, golden eyes fixated passionately on Aang's vulnerable back—on the scar she once gave him—as Aang heaved at Appa, trying to force him to move. Azula had no time to think—only react, react, react! She had to react, and it was instantaneous because she wanted Aang to live, even if it was without her.

Azula had no firebending to advance herself more swiftly as Agni had robbed it of her, but she had her heart, which provided all the speed, vigor, and determination possible. She knew she was going to die and see Grandfather again, for she never learned lightning redirection, but she did not care; she did it anyway.

As Father's hands arched in violent rotation, Azula screamed in effort, forcing herself to run faster through the flames she could not control, burning her severely, but she kept going and going, legs pumping and pushing, and she dove at the last moment. She saw the bright stream of powerful lightning descend toward her, watered eyes fixated on it, unable to look anywhere else before her end.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Aang heard the crackle of lightning behind him and panicked, pushing on Appa with more insistence. "No! Appa, go! Do it!"

He couldn't let Appa be harmed again, but Appa wouldn't move, snarling and glaring behind him with furious, predatory eyes! He cried out in anguish and felt hysterical before he whirled around and felt everything fade away from his perception, from his senses—because he was too late to stop it, too slow to react, too defenseless and vulnerable, incapable of moving his arms as the attack already approached with inevitability.

There was only the flash of a thousand sensations and thoughts as the brilliant lightning surged toward him, an inevitable lash extending from Ozai's rigid, steady fingers; there were the final streams of air in his lungs; there was the ground beneath his feet; there was the well of his heart; there was the depths of his mind; there was Toph, who laid in the clearing amongst the raging fires, body semi-drained of its priceless supply of blood, who he knew would never survive if he died because he was the only one who could—and would—heal her; there was Azula, who he knew would die from Ozai and Agni's disgusted toward her; there was the hope that both Toph and Azula would find soothing rests in the Gardens; there was the knowledge that he would be reborn and take his rest as Aang, be done with the blight that was Aang's life, and move to another, opening his eyes and breathing again in nine months; there was the understanding that Air would die with him, and Air would be lost forever because of his evil nature.

He wasn't ready to die, but he wanted The Avatar to die, but The Avatar was unkillable; the best he could do was die as Aang, and he could do that. He could leave his successor the burdens that haunted and broke him; he could leave Air's revival to his successor, who could find Indra and heal her from her affliction since the Attack, who could mate with Indra if it was necessary—anything was worth the price of Air's return.

May his successor be stronger and wiser than him; may the world be saved from Vaatu; may the world forget Aang's name forever as Aang was a blight of evil.

It was time for Aang to die—as he should have when he murdered Air or when he learned he was The Avatar. It was natural; it was right; it was true.

Aang accepted the imminent lightning, saddened and resigned, but a body—Azula!— appeared in front of him in a diving dash a moment before the lightning struck him!

Azula was struck instantly and powerfully by the lightning before she was blown back against him by its devastating impact. Aang's chest was bruised by the harsh, unnatural collision, and he was launched back and crashed with Azula in his arms against Appa, who loomed over him, growling in terrified rage.

She was dead—he knew the haunting truth immediately.

He didn't need to look at her face to know, but he did anyway, distraught and disbelieving. Her face, despite its burns and the soot staining areas of her flesh, was smooth and unharried, calm and serene—in her death. There was no color on her face, and her lips were motionless, still and stiff forever, never to move again and give life to the melodious laugh and clever words she wielded by the nature of her tongue! There were no golden eyes to look at, love, and get lost in as those mesmerizing, soothing eyes were shut forever!

Aang's gaze rested on her wound without comprehending it, but when he finally did, the tears filled his eyes, and something inside him broke—like it had inside Azula. The wound on her chest was large and extensive, a mass of devastation; her clothes were burned away, blackened in patches, and her left breast was destroyed from the nipple over, leaving half a breast, blackened and scorched inside. Blood and melted fat dripped down the rest of her chest to mix with the ruined fabric of her garments.

The lightning had annihilated her heart. The evidence was horrifying but clear—visible to his anguished eyes! From the depths of the wound, where her heart should be, there was an unidentifiable organ of desecrated, ruined mass, rumpled, charred, and imploded. And there were other extensive wounds on her arms, burns and gashes, and there was a gruesome charred slit on her neck and through her shoulder, which showed the blackened bone through the pale, dead flesh.

Azula was dead.

Aang's fingers brushed over her burned, soot-stained cheek, and he rebelled at the understanding ravishing him! She couldn't be dead! Not her! Anyone but her! She was as dead as Gyatso and his race! She was gone forever, condemned to the Gardens when she should live in the Mortal Realm and cherish and experience as all mortals! But she was gone—destroyed and murdered!

He couldn't heal her, not like he had Appa in Ba Sing Se—because the spirit was gone. Azula's spirit was gone, lost in the eternity of the Immortal Realm. He had been able to restore Appa because he could revive his consciousness, which was separate from the spirit as animals had consciousness but no spirit while humans had consciousness and spirit.

His lips touched Azula's lips in desperation, pressing urgently and hysterically, but it was wrong and not like he had imagined—because he had imagined! Her lips were as cold as the North and South, unappealing and wrong—so wrong, wrong, wrong!—rather than warm and inviting! They were motionless, stiff, and immobile; they weren't malleable and wouldn't move against and with his in a dance of greeting and union!

She was gone—her spirit was gone!

Suddenly, he remembered who was responsible now for her spirit, collecting her spirit and placing her into the Gardens.

Aang's gaze rose slowly until it rested on Agni, who hesitated upon seeing his hateful glower. "Her spirit awaits me, Avatar- "

Aang roared, cutting Agni off, and he kept roaring, tearing his throat and ruining his vocal cords, but he kept roaring and screaming, holding Azula in his arms. It was only when Appa squealed in fear that he stopped, but his anger only grew—his hatred rose like a flood!

Ozai was frozen, body extended in its previous action, immobile; he stared at Azula's body before glancing at his fingers, looking betrayed, like he couldn't believe he had killed his daughter.

Clearly, he had not wanted Azula dead, likely so he could prolong her torment and suffering to 'teach her lessons' as he did when she was a child; he had wanted Aang dead—only Aang.

But Azula was dead, and Aang snapped.

A swift and terrible rage flooded through his body, the likes of which he had only experienced two other times—when Appa had been taken from him. He noticed that he began to shake and felt the bitter tears spill down his face in globs of misery. Images flowed through his mind in a blur, memories of Azula, the one woman who he loved, the woman who he wanted to be his wife, his Mother of Air. He should have trusted her! He should have loved her as he yearned to! Why did he not trust her? Why was he so weak and pathetic? Why did he only tell her of his doubts in her rather than his gladness in her? Why did he never tell her that while he doubted her conviction and authenticity in being the Mother of Air, he was exceptionally glad that she offered herself to him, showing a profound willingness and eagerness to dedicate herself with honor and strength to help him revive Air—unlike anyone else he had ever encountered!

But now she was gone.

His fists clenched painfully, his nails drawing blood, but he didn't care. There was only one thing that he now cared about—avenging Azula. Aang dimly noticed that the ground through the entire forest began to shake, that the water in the lake began to lurch and sway, cowering before his rage, that the mountain shuddered and groaned, and Heaven darkened with its glower. He felt the power of The Avatar State sweep through him, and he hated himself even more; he could have saved Azula if he had acted swiftly and mercilessly.

He had vowed to never use The Avatar State again, but he surrendered to it; he didn't try fighting against it, letting it consume him, and he basked in it as he felt the unholy primordial wrath sweep him away, compounding with his own. He united with his memories and selves, becoming one and ultimate rather than divided and peripheral, embodied by his eyes that glowed pure white with fathomless power.

Azula was dead!

The Avatar healed instantly of all his wounds, and his roar shook the world as Heaven trembled in holy fear, and terror stretched across Ozai's face, Agni's face, and Devi's face, but it was not enough. He needed more! He wanted everything! Azula deserved vengeance! She was his chosen Mother of Air! Air was deprived again of its presence because Azula was gone!

The Avatar cradled Azula in his arms, felt her body emptied of its spirit, and gently lowered her to the ground before Heaven thundered in wrath. He surged forward with a fierce scowl and lashed out at Devi, who was closest. She snarled and sneered in terrified rage, hands striking him with boulders, but each crumbled upon impact; he was stronger.

Attacks registered behind him, but he defended effortlessly as the water from which Agni freed himself returned and bounded toward Agni and Ozai, smashing them together. Simultaneously, he wrenched Devi's hair and grabbed her by the face; her eyes bulged and frothed through the lines of his fingers, and he let the lightning flow.

Devi's head exploded, and The Avatar unleashed more lightning at the rest of her body, preventing her from reforming. Within moments, after extensive flashes of colossal light, Devi's body disintegrated like dust.

The Avatar felt no vindication, only wrath; he turned to Ozai and Agni, both of whom tried to flee, but he appeared in front of them. He snared Ozai by the throat with a snarl, blocked all his frantic, desperate attacks, and threw him into the sky while forcing Agni to his knees. When Ozai reached the clouds, The Avatar reached out and wrapped him in the clouds, confining him and pressuring him, squeezing and choking him, squeezing the life out of him. Not even for all his strength, for there was great strength, could Ozai, enhanced by Vaatu, break free, trapped.

He knew that Vaatu would not—did not—dare leave Ozai's body, for he knew he would be defeated easily and imprisoned again in the Tree. However, The Avatar was not concerned with imprisonment; he wanted wrath and destruction! He would throw Vaatu into the Void of Eternity and seal him there forever!

Once Agni was dealt with, he would deal with Vaatu.

The Avatar left Ozai in the clouds and turned to Agni. "You endorsed Air's murder, breaking the fundamental balance of the Realms. Your punishment must be as grotesque as your crime. It begins now."

Before Agni could defend himself, The Avatar's arm rose. The mountain that stretched across the length of the lake and split the massive forest for miles groaned and shuddered before it rose at his command, lifting into the sky, unconnected from its primal dwelling, casting an inescapable shadow, depriving sight of the Moon. The Avatar rotated his hand, and the mountain twisted, circling in the air until it began to spin rapidly, creating powerful gusts of wind that lashed into its former home. Agni thrashed but remained trapped as The Avatar demanded, impotent to Power.

The Avatar arched the mountain higher, past where Ozai was trapped in the clouds, restrained by his grip of control before it began its hurtling descent.

"Avatar!" Agni roared in plea. "Do not do this! You will set a terrible precedent!"

The Avatar's gaze locked with Agni's as the mountain tore through the air, creating a haunting whistle, muted across points and sharper at others. "I follow the precedent you set. This is your consequence; this is your demise."

The mountain slammed into Agni with the force of the world, shaking the entire continent to its foundations as The Avatar ensured, torturing Agni with the weight of his crime of apathy, cruelty, and disregard. He crushed his fist and dissolved the mountain into a wave of pebbles and rocks and slammed it into Agni again and again. Finally, he crushed his other fist, and the former mountain turned into a mound of powder, towering above trees and brilliant in its white and gray color.

The Avatar lifted the powder and directed it at Ozai trapped in the clouds, pelting him and choking him, making him swallow the powder until he felt Ozai shudder and jerk, vomiting uncontrollably and defecating in his prison, turning the cloud an ugly murky color of brown, which dripped to the ground in small sputters like rain.

Agni was broken, lying across the ground, body devastated and incapable of healing—not for a long time. The Avatar gripped Agni's flattened chest and stomach, fingers digging into the body, tearing through flesh, bone, and muscle; he wrenched his arms in opposite directions, ripping Agni in half in a shower of energy.

Agni dissolved in his fingers like dust, disappearing.

The Avatar spun around and yanked Ozai down from the clouds with a harsh flourish of his glowing hands. Ozai screamed as he fell across the sky, and no matter how he jettisoned powerful flames from his feet to go in a different direction, The Avatar would not let him, holding him in a grip of impenetrable air that directed him where he wanted.

Ozai smashed into the ground before him, body crumbled before it began to heal—the influence of Vaatu's presence. Then Ozai laughed, spraying blood in the air that The Avatar swept aside and curled around, directed it back at Ozai, who shuddered before he continued his laugh, shaking his head like a rabid beast as he glared back at The Avatar. "I ordered her to continue her seduction, but I never imagined a god would actually love a whore. You love her—I see it. You love my daughter; you wished to put in her Airbenders."

The Avatar almost obliterated him instantly but refrained, drawing out the terror and wrath, though it would never be enough. "You killed Azula."

Something crossed Ozai's face before it was gone. "She was always going to die. You killed her by making her fond enough of you to die for you. The daughter I raised would have never ruined herself by such a folly. You corrupted her; you killed her, not me."

The Avatar snapped and blurred forward, propelled by a deep scream of rage, smashing into Ozai with enough force to break bones. They flew into the forest, and he held Ozai's shaking form down, trees breaking from their bodies, but it was not enough! No, he was enraged; he wanted to watch the subtle change in Ozai's eyes as life was extinguished, watch as Vaatu was thrown into the Void of Eternity. They would suffer; they would know true pain! The mercy that he had shown Ozai less than a decade ago was a terrible mistake, one above any other—it was a shame above all shames, a folly more naïve and immature than any in the history of the Realms! The mistake would soon be rectified, and Azula would be avenged!

"Avatar!" Ozai screamed, and fire burst through his lips, but The Avatar blew it out with airbending, snapping Ozai's head back from the force. He gripped Ozai's neck tightly, his glowing white arrows a beacon to his eyes as he smashed his other fist into Vaatu's vessel; blood splattered his face, but it was not enough!

The Avatar released Ozai, watching as he tumbled to the ground, viciously colliding with the protruding boulders until he stopped, blood pooling out of several wounds.

Bursting with primordial power, The Avatar glared down at Ozai, tears streaming out of his white orbs. "You killed her, and for her death, you will die. And Vaatu will know death as well as he can in the Void!"

A sphere of air wrapped around Ozai's mouth, robbing the air from his lungs, and he fell to his knees, bloodied skin stretched thin as he desperately tried to breathe. Firebenders relied on their breath for producing their flame and now, Ozai could not even summon a spark to defend himself. Right when he felt Vaatu about to exit Ozai's body to try to save him, The Avatar released him, and Ozai sucked in gasps of air with trembling breaths.

"Remember my promise," The Avatar intoned in wrath, recalling his words to Ozai in the Immortal Realm, and reached to Heaven, pulling holy lightning down until it dazzled in his hands, illuminating Ozai's bloodied, stricken, hateful, and frantic face. "Whatever happens to her happens to you. Her death by lightning means your death by lightning."

"You can save her!" Ozai bartered, desperate.

The Avatar froze before the world shuddered around them; several areas became flattened instantly. "You lie!"

"I know how fond of her you are. You want to revive Indra's children through her. I can ensure that happens."

"What does that mean?" He sifted through his lifetimes of memories, knowledge, wisdom, and experience but found no understanding about what was offered to him "How is that possible? How?"

"Agni's duties are delayed," Ozai hissed, panting in pain, but The Avatar knew it was Vaatu who spoke—or Ozai relayed Vaatu's words to him. "Azula is not in the Gardens of the Dead, not yet. She is in limbo—she is between her life and her death. You can bring her back and fasten her spirit to her body if you heal her body."

The Avatar released the lightning in front of Ozai's sprawled form, flinging him back from the force of the explosion of soil, which sprayed the air. "Tell me," he demanded, appearing in front of Ozai when he opened his eyes.

Ozai grinned and blood poured out of his mouth. "Only if you keep me alive."

Willing to extend belief, The Avatar picked up Ozai and blurred back to the clearing, and he found Toph and Appa crowded around Azula's unmoving, lifeless body. Toph was hunched near Azula, one hand touching Azula's neck, and the other gripping the various wounds on her stomach.

Toph was not moving, either; only her sluggish, diminishing, dimming heartbeat notified him of her life.

The sight enraged him to such a degree that Ozai roared in agony as his grip crushed bone and displaced muscle. Appa squealed in terror when he saw him; the haunting sound did not awaken either Azula or Toph.

Because Azula was dead, and Toph was close to it!

The Avatar ignored Appa. "How do I save Azula?"

"Heal her body and then find her spirit," Ozai divulged, sounding like he hated he had to bargain for his life, but The Avatar did not care. "Reach across the Divide, pull her back, and fasten her spirit to her body."

"How do I do that?"

Ozai sneered. "The Avatar should know."

The Avatar smacked Ozai across the face and gripped the burned jaw harshly; he knew his jaw had looked similar from Agni's efforts before he healed. "You should know that the only reason I do not take you to the Immortal Realm now and throw you into the Void is because of your knowledge of how to save her. How do I fasten her spirit to her body? Tell me!"

Ozai's eyes looked past him, and a triumphant look crossed his face. "You lose the time necessary to heal your friend with your questions."

The Avatar assessed Toph's heartbeat and found that Ozai's observation was correct; Toph's heartbeat was almost nonexistent, to such a degree that Toph herself, if she were conscious, would likely be unable to feel it.

The Avatar recognized that if he was going to heal Toph, he must let Ozai go, for time was of the essence. He knew that if he took Vaatu to the Tree and threw him into the Void, Toph would die as too much time would have passed in the Mortal Realm.

The Avatar struggled with Aang as Aang denied it, shouting at him, refusing to let Toph die, and The Avatar relented—because he was Aang.

The Avatar slashed off Ozai's arm with pressurized shear of wind, released him from his control. Instantly, Ozai howled in agony, spittle and blood spraying the air, and Vaatu appeared and fired an intense beam, again and again, at him, pressing him back as the beam burned his chest from the contact. Shadows swirled swiftly around Vaatu and Ozai, taking them—and the decapitated arm—elsewhere.

The Avatar let them go.

The Avatar State vanished, and Aang blurred, dashing to Toph in the blink of an eye; her breathing was slow and pitiful, on the verge of expiring. He kept his eyes squeezed shut to prevent him from snapping again at seeing Azula's corpse—it was so still like Gyatso's skeleton had been, so unnaturally still and quiet!

He felt the depths of her wound with his bending, letting them register; he had sensed everything in The Avatar State, but everything was overwhelming, which meant he ignored many things. He healed her stomach wounds, where Ozai had stabbed her viciously multiple times for a slow death, and where Azula had clearly tried to cauterize before she had been interrupted.

He couldn't think about Azula, not now—but thoughts of her came anyway!

The tears came with those thoughts like loyal friends, and with each regret and memory that surged through his mind, the urge to look at Azula's corpse became stronger and stronger. When Toph's breathing and heartbeat stabilized, he finally opened his eyes and looked at Azula's corpse again.

It wasn't Azula.

It was her but not her-her; it was a body without essence—without the primal spirit necessary for all facets of life.

Aang felt the tears flow, powerless to stop them, and they spilled out of his eyes and down his cheeks—he was a bigger fool than anyone in history!

It was his fault—just like Air. If he hadn't been so determined to face Ozai, Vaatu, Agni, and Devi, she would still be with him! If he hadn't lost control when Ozai insulted Air, she would still be with him! If he had fought harder and more intelligently, she would still be with him! If he had decided to fight to kill instantly, every action committed in design to murder, she would still be with him! If he had entered The Avatar State immediately, she would still be with him!

Azula had never agreed with his plan, and had told him so, had warned him of its impossibility, and he ignored her and didn't take her seriously.

She died because of him—it should have been him! She should still be alive, living and breathing, laughing and thinking!

Why did she do it? Why did she jump in front of the lightning meant to kill him? Why did she die in his place? Why did she sacrifice herself for him? Why did she, who possessed an indomitable will to survive and keep surviving with everything she had been through, disregard her pattern and willingly save his life, which he didn't deserve? And she knew he didn't deserve it! She knew he deserved to die—that he needed to die! But she saved his life, managing to cross the distance, even with her extensive, substantial wounds, and take Ozai's deadly lightning to her heart.

Why—why?

Why did she leave him alone? Why would she leave him like his race did? Like Gyatso did?

But Air didn't leave him, and Gyatso didn't leave him, either.

Aang had left, committing the most grotesque and sickening crime in the history of the Four Nations—it was his fault! Just like Azula! But why did she decided to do what he did? Why did she do it? She should have let him be reborn into his next life as was his curse as the damned Balance-Keeper. She should have known that her life was more important than his.

But he never told her that—damn his pathetic stupidity! Damn that stupid boy he kept being! The Boy should have been the one to be killed by that lightning, not Azula and not him! It was the Boy! The Boy was the source of everything! The Boy seized control and made him choose to ignore impossible odds and ran away from the Eastern Temple—just like the Boy ran away from the Southern Temple!

"I'm so sorry," he breathed, voice breaking as he stared at Azula, willing with all the force of his primordial spirit that her body would start to breathe, that the color would return to her lovely face, that her lids would open to reveal those mesmerizing golden eyes, and that her lips would open and her tongue would speak the words to express her thoughts in her soothing voice!

He willed it—willed it with all his concentration, vigor, belief, and glory!—but nothing happened.

Azula's body remained as haunting and unmoving as previously—even more so because it was irreversible! What if Vaatu lied? What if Vaatu tricked him?

Then the Realms would perish in his search to find Vaatu and destroy him in his wrath.

"You didn't deserve this," Aang whispered, trying to preserve the strength to speak; he hoped she heard him from in the Immortal Realm. "I did—I deserved this. But not you—never you. I wanted nothing more for you than to live and have a life, but I gave you death. I'm so sorry, Azula. Why? Why couldn't you let me die? Why did you save me? I didn't deserve it." He squeezed his eyes shut, heart destroyed—like Azula's was. "I love you. I want you to be the Mother of Air; I want you to be my wife. I'm sorry I never told you that; I'm sorry I only ever gave you my doubt and distrust; I'm sorry I gave you death."

Aang broke down, tasting the tears on his lips as he wept.

He had wasted so much time. It had been a year since he ran into Azula on Ember Island, and he knew where his thoughts lied about her for the majority of that time, but he denied himself; he ignored and discarded; he rejected and argued. Nothing mattered to him more than Air, but when he met the only woman of the world who clearly, eagerly, and honestly wanted to help him restore Air's place in the world because she not only was fond of him but loved Air and adored the teachings and wisdom refined for eons, he rejected her and told her that he didn't trust her, questioning everything about her.

Azula was descended from Sozin, born of his lineage of powerful evil, and it would always be a fact he despised and resented—he knew it, deep down. His children born by her would have half their source and nature in Sozin, which was intolerable to Air's necessitated purity. But she had committed herself to the ultimate sacrifice not to destroy him, as Sozin did, but to save his life, paying the price that he himself should have paid—because he deserved it while Azula never did.

When the opportunity came for his death, Sozin seized the opportunity and worked to ensure it, killing Roku and giving way for Aang's abominable existence. However, when the opportunity came for Aang's rightful death, Azula seized the opportunity to deny it! She struggled with the extensive wounds of her body, ran through the flames surrounding the area without her firebending, injuring herself further, and sprawled herself in a dive, accepting her certain death with clear eyes and mind.

How did she do it? Why did she do it?

Why—why?

"I'm starting to drown here," Toph muttered hoarsely beneath him.

Aang jerked, startled, but was relieved to see Toph's milky eyes peering up at his general direction; he wiped the salty tears—his tears—from her face and tried to smile, though it was useless. "How do you feel?"

"Like I almost died. What happened to Airbender-fast, Aang?"

He flinched, the remorse withering her spirit; it was his fault she almost died—it was his fault Azula died. "I'm not the Airbender I should be."

Toph smiled grimly. "Because you're The Avatar, not an Airbender."

Aang bowed his head but away from Toph as the tears continued. "I'm sorry this happened."

Toph's hand patted his arm with wavering coordination. "Me too." Something haunted and sorrowful crossed her pale face. "I'm so sorry about Azula. I can't imagine- "

"I'm getting her back," he interrupted with grim determination. "I can get her back; I will get her back."

Toph sat up slowly in surprise, face slack, pulling herself up by gripping his bare arms. "How?" she asked with a mixture of hope and doubt. "Aang, I felt her heartbeat—she doesn't have one. She's gone. I'm so sorry—I am, because I know how much you loved her- "

Aang gripped Toph's trembling hands. "I'm going to heal her body and search the Immortal Realm for her spirit and fasten her spirit back to her body."

Toph's heartbeat accelerated. "Really?" she gasped in awe. "You'll bring her back?"

"Yes. And I need your help."

Toph gingerly stood to her feet with a determined nod. "Anything. What, you need me to watch Cunt One or something?"

Aang's breathing became rough when he leaned down and cradled Azula's corpse in his arms and beheld her extensive wounds up-close for the second time. "He's gone. I let him go."

"What?" Toph demanded, horrified; she sounded scared. "What the fuck? Why would you- "

"So I could save your life."

Silence.

Toph swallowed, and something incomprehensibly overwhelmed overcame her face; her milky eyes swarmed with tears. "Wh- why?"

Aang looked at her, trying to smile; he knew it came out as a grimace. "You're my friend."

Toph stumbled to him and hugged him awkwardly, head slanted against his bare arm, and her hands clutched across his chest, clearly looking for clothing before she laughed brokenly. "You're not naked, are you?"

He stretched his arms, moving Azula's corpse out of the way and saw that he still wore his loincloth. "I have my loincloth."

"You're more like Pathik than you think."

Aang swallowed. "Come on. I need a safe place to heal her body. I don't know how long it will take Agni to reform."

Toph hesitated. "I don't really know what happened, but all I know is that, one second, my bending is smothered, so I can't see or feel anything, and the next, it's not, and I feel you throw that whole mountain into the sky—how the fuck is that even possible, and I've heard about Bumi's assassination attempt against Azulon?—on top of Agni. Then you start talking to Cunt One before you disappear. That's when I managed to reach Azula, and I knew she was dead. That's the last thing I remember. Oh, and Appa licked me, too."

"I healed you. Couldn't help your clothes, though. And I killed Agni and Devi's bodies," he explained shortly before starting to march forward. "Come on. I'll explain more later. I need to start healing her. Appa, take us to the camp we left."

Toph nodded and said nothing as they boarded Appa, who crooned in mourning. Appa took off and, in short order, flew over the mass chaos and carnage that was once luscious nature. The large forest was unrecognizable, a war zone of atrocity and death, brimming with bodies and devastation. So many trees were flattened and crushed, so many stones shattered, the lake empty, and the mountain gone forever, crumbled to powder.

There were still many fires burning across the area, and as they traveled, Aang extended his reach and snuffed out all the wildfires, leaving a blackened and scorched earth. It was better to focus on the carnage below rather than the lifeless weight held in his arms, rather than looking at a face serene in death rather than clever joy and cunning wit.

Aang had wished to hold her many times, to embrace her, connecting their bodies, but he had never imagined the first time he would hold her—truly hold her—would be in her death, embracing a corpse rather than a presence.

"Down here, Appa," he called out in a croak when he recognized the camps, half of which was ruined and burned down.

Thankfully, some of the tents were still standing and looked untouched, and Aang immediately carried Azula into one of the tents when Appa landed—likely Ozai's as it was the biggest and had a large supply of food. He laid her down on the large bed, covered in various furs and didn't spare a glance at the items or ornaments in the tent; he focused on Azula, kneeling over her, hands gliding over her corpse.

After several long moments, Toph coughed behind him, and it sounded like she scratched her throat. "If my feet aren't lying, there's enough food stashed here to last the two of us—okay, four of us with Azula and Appa—for months."

Aang nodded as his hands brushed over Azula's body, assessing where to begin—the amount of damage she had sustained was immense and almost broke him upon feeling, but he powered through, as he had to if he was going to bring her back! "I saw more food stashed in some of the other tents from the holes and gashes in the fabric—firewhiskey, too."

"I need some of that."

He almost agreed but knew he needed to be of clear mind. "Help yourself," he offered, knowing it might help her; she had almost died because of him.

And Azula had died because of him.

Aang's breathing wavered, and his chest felt tight, which pulled on his throat as the tears blurred his vision. But he would bring Azula back—he would! When he brought Azula back, they could share a bottle of firewhiskey in celebration, perhaps—though he knew she preferred emberwine based on what she told him on Ember Island.

"I am not my brother," Azula would say with a disgusted expression as her face tilted in pride when he asked her if she enjoyed firewhiskey, and Aang almost laughed and cried at the memory. "His love of firewhiskey is surpassed only by his affection for his whores."

But he feared what would happen if he drank firewhiskey; it would compromise him. If he was capable of murdering Ba Sing Se with a clear mind rather than an inebriated one, what was he capable of with an inebriated mind?

Aang finally assessed where to begin with Azula, building momentum to make the healing process for her body easier; he decided to start with the major injuries before healing the minor injuries.

Toph reappeared in the tent with a bottle of firewhiskey; she had already downed most of it. "What do you need me to do?"

"I need to heal her," he muttered. "Be on the look-out. Vaatu may come back with Ozai and finish what he started."

"But you'd destroy him if he did that."

"Which is why you need to be on the look-out. I want him to come back."

Toph nodded and took a heavy swig of firewhiskey, kicking her toes in the dirt. "Maybe while I'm on the look-out, I can take care of all the bodies. Something tells me we're going to be staying here for a while. It's going to start stinking quickly."

Aang nodded half-heartedly; he felt exhausted extensively in all facets of his being—physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. "Thanks. I'm going to heal her body. Once that's done, I find her spirit and bring her back—I'll pull her back."

"How are you going to do that?"

He looked away, bitter. "I don't know. 'Reach across the Divide,' is all Vaatu said."

Toph stiffened. "He told you how to save her?"

"He bartered for his life."

"And you believe him?" she asked in painful disbelief. "What if he lied?"

That unholy wrath surged through him, and his jaw clenched. "He would regret it. If he lied, I would hunt across the Realms immediately and never stop until I found him and destroyed him. If needed, I will destroy the Tree to force It to tell me, and then I will destroy Vaatu. Nothing is beneath my doing."

Ba Sing Se taught him that.

Toph nodded, looking saddened. "I know."

He knew, too, thinking of Ba Sing Se. "Just be on the look-out while you clean up."

"I'm on it." She hesitated before she approached softly and placed a kind, grimy hand on his shoulder. "Bring her back. I know you'll do it."

Aang reached up and patted her hand for a moment. "Thanks, Toph. I think it's safe to say we're friends now again."

Toph's laughter had a ring of hysteria to it. "Nothing stronger than telling my own Elemental Great Spirit to fuck herself while you let your archenemy go to save my life."

His lips twitched in exhaustion. "I know. I'm sorry this happened."

"You said that already."

"I can never say it enough."

Toph squeezed his shoulder before letting go and pointing a trembling finger at Azula's corpse. "Tell it to her when you pull her back."

"I will," Aang vowed softly.

She nodded, wiped tears from her milky eyes, and marched out of the tent to begin her look-out and clean up duties.

Aang kneeled over Azula's corpse, hands covering her ravaged chest, molding against her mutilated left breast, needing the skin-to-skin contact; his hands took on a blue hue from the glowing water, which began its restoration. He focused on the veins, capillaries, and heart chambers; he healed the burns of the lightning as best as he could, but she would have two deep scars as he himself did, entry and exit—out of her foot, like his. But once he finished restoring her heart, an exhaustive act, her body became alive.

Her chi blazed, her heart thrummed, and her lungs breathed.

Tears welled in Aang's gray eyes as he realized that her body was alive—she was alive!

Well, her body was alive; he still had to find her spirit, which was the hardest part. He had no idea where to start. He knew she was not in the Gardens for, if she were, she would be lost to him, but she was elsewhere, lost in the eternity of the Immortal Realm. He would have to search forever, and he was determined to; he would find her!

But that had to wait as there was so much more of her body to heal. He had to regrow the muscle, fat, and flesh across her chest, sloping over her left breast; he had to repair all the devastation. He encouraged her blood to warmth and prosper, nourishing the area, and began his exhaustive work, drawing upon much of his energy, which poured out of his hands, helping Azula's body heal. Slowly—too slowly for his liking—her breast swelled, rising incrementally as he concentrated, muscle and fat spreading across the designated areas before flesh stitched itself together over the muscle and fat.

Her left breast looked correct.

Unfortunately, he had no idea if he had actually done it correctly—he had never seen her naked. He had never seen a woman naked before. He had no idea if her breast was supposed to look as it did; he had no idea if it was symmetrical with its twin.

What if he was missing something?

He almost asked Toph for guidance but didn't want to give her the opportunity to tease him about it in the future. Instead, he pulled off the tatters of Azula's upper garb, the fabric singed greatly in multiple areas, feeling harsh against his fingers, leaving her upper body naked. He assessed her right breast, unmarred and untouched by the devastation of its twin, analyzing the swelling angle and comparing it to the other; he compared the nipples; he compared the length, depth, width, circumference, radius, and buoyancy; he compared everything he could think of and see.

It looked healthy to his untrained, inadequate eye, but Toph would be even more inadequate; his assessment would have to do.

Hopefully Azula would not even notice that he had to heal her to such an extent—because she would wake up! She would! She would!

Aang healed burns across her stomach and sides from where her garbs had burned away during the battle; he turned her over and focused on her back, healing the burns and cuts. Then he focused on her shoulder and neck and healed the large gash and reformed the splintered bones, muscles, and tendons. He restored every wound her body endured, and he hadn't realized in the battle how wounded she had been; there were few areas on her body not untouched by at least a small wound.

Azula's face was pale, revealing no emotion—as she was incapable of it. There was no grimaces or moans of pain in slumber; there was only a monstrous emptiness.

But he maintained his persistence, healing her body.

Once he was concluded, he realized that it was morning; it had been many hours since he started.

He sagged in exhaustion but knew he had to continue. He looked to redress her, for she needed to be covered; she needed dignity.

The pants themselves were fine, but her upper garbs were ruined and, as a result, incredibly revealing. He looked around the tent for the first time, searching for a garment, but he saw nothing of use but a make-shift table with what looked like extensive documents and maps.

He would review those later with Azula when he brought her back—he would succeed!

Aang remembered his torn upper garb in the forest from where he had ripped it off and decided that was the best privacy he could give Azula. He hauled himself to his feet with a grunt, brushed a hand across Azula's cheek, which had lost its icy chill, replaced by wonderful warmth. "I'll be back," he whispered. "This isn't over. You and I aren't over. I won't let it be over."

He stepped out of the tent and felt Toph's location; she was close. He didn't like leaving Azula alone, but he dashed to Toph's location and found her shoveling several bodies into a mass grave, which opened before her and extended the length of a tree; there were already many bodies lying inside.

Toph looked in his direction with a hopeful look on her face. "Is she back?"

"Her body is," he said shortly. "I need you to watch her. I have to go find something."

She smacked her hands together, wiping off dust as she nodded. "I need to eat something anyway. I don't know how Sparky drinks firewhiskey like it's water; it feels like my stomach was burned away."

"How much did you drink?"

"Not enough."

Aang closed his eyes briefly. "Me too."

When he reached his discarded upper garb that he tossed aside during his battle after long minutes of travel, retracing his steps across the carnage and chaos of the former forest, Aang knelt and picked it up. When his fingers touched the garment, he heard a familiar voice:

"Avatar Aang," Tui called out from the sky in the form of Yue, barely visible in light of the morning sun. Agni's body had been destroyed, not his essence, in possession of his immortality, unlike the Ocean and Moon, meaning his light still existed. "I am sorry for the actions that you witnessed."

Aang picked up his upper garb and stared up at her; she looked grim. "You had nothing to do with it," he replied, twisting the garb between his fingers. "My actions are my own—as are my consequences."

"You struck a powerful blow to Vaatu's schemes- "

He bowed his head. "It wasn't worth the price I paid. Azula warned me that this was unwise, but I ignored her; I ignored her to her death. I'm more terrible than Ozai."

"Remember your inheritance, Avatar Aang- "

"Don't lecture me, Moon Spirit," Aang dismissed flatly. "Did you or did you not see where Vaatu went?"

"No. Vaatu is much more powerful than I am; my strength is frail in comparison. Forgive me, but I cannot help you, Avatar Aang."

He nodded, unsurprised. "There's nothing to forgive, Tui. Now leave me."

Tui retreated mournfully, but Aang didn't care. He looked at the devastation of the forest and wondered what other devastation would occur across the world.

He had failed to stop the new war—and gotten Azula killed in his failure.

Aang made his way back to the tents, body sluggish and uncoordinated, but he marched on. When he entered Azula's tent, Toph sat on a stone stool, munching on some beef—procured from the stash, of course.

He said nothing as he dressed Azula as best he could in his upper garbs, checking to make sure that he had dressed her correctly. The garbs were clearly too big for her, but they more than suited his purpose; she was now protected, comfortable, and most importantly, no longer bare.

His head sunk, his hands softly stroking her hair, grief beginning to hit him all at once.

"Her heart's strong," Toph said quietly, sounding amazed. "It's like nothing happened."

"But everything happened," he corrected with a deep, weary grimace. "She's going to remember what happened; she's going to remember that I didn't listen to her; she's going to remember that I killed her; she's going to remember that this is my fault."

"Ozai fired the lightning, Aang, not you- "

"Don't do that," Aang interrupted half-heartedly. "Semantics doesn't change what I did and didn't do."

Toph's face was solemn. "I'm just glad Hitchhiker isn't here."

Aang flinched at the thought. "I have no idea how I'd explain this to her. She would have been killed by Ozai—like Azula was."

"How are you going to bring her back?"

"Follow my instincts. I'll figure it out."

Toph looked worried. "Could everything you've done be reversed? Could she die again?"

"If she does, I won't let her. I'll bring her back again."

She smiled sadly. "Having The Avatar love you has its perks."

"And its consequences," Aang added. "This all happened because I'm The Avatar."

"I would have snapped, too," Toph whispered in consolation. "If he said all that stuff about Earth like he did about Air, about my home and family, I would have attacked, too. It's understandable."

"But it was wrong. I don't know what to do now." He looked at Azula's body, finding a deep relief that her body was vibrant and strong, but she would never open her eyes and speak until he returned her spirit to her body; she was but a shell without essence. "I don't know how long it's going to take me to find her."

Toph frowned. "What are you talking about? You just go to the Gardens, right?"

Aang's laugh was bitter but grateful. "If she was in the Gardens, I couldn't get her back, even if I healed her body. She's in limbo now—between her life and her death."

"What does that mean?"

"I destroyed Agni's body," he explained, running a hand over his stubbled head—it felt weird and actively wrong without his long hair, which he had grown accustomed to and comfortable with; he much preferred having his hair. "But it's not really his body; it's his concentration of essence; the form his nature adopted to interact and complete his duties. One of his foremost duties is taking all the spirits of the Children of Fire, once they die, from their limbo to the Gardens to enjoy their rest. It's the same for all the Elementals; they take the spirits of their dead children and guide them to the Gardens. Agni and Devi are gone for now, but they will reform and pick up their duties immediately once they reform. I have a limited window to pull her back, but I don't know how long I have; I don't know how long it will take me to find her."

Something passed over Toph's face—a realization. "You don't know where her spirit is."

Aang flinched but shook his head in confirmation. "No, I have to find her; I have to search across the eternity of the Immortal Realm for her single spirit amongst so much."

Toph swallowed, pale. "It's like trying to find a single pebble in a field of high grass—if you're not an Earthbender."

"And amongst many other pebbles but on a much bigger scale," he corrected quietly. "Because of it, I can't waste time with moving her; I can't go to a different location; I can't go back to the Eastern Temple. I don't want to stay here, but I can't move her because time is of the essence. I need to stay here with her as I search."

"And you're going to be busy searching, not having time for anything else," she realized. "I'm going to need to be watching things."

Aang shook his head. "No, you need to go meet with Zuko and the others."

Toph jutted out her chin stubbornly as she shook her head. "No. I need to protect you as you search for her, which means protecting her, too, because she can't protect herself."

"I'll take care of it- "

"You couldn't before."

Aang flinched, but Toph did, as well, surprised clearly by the words she spoke. "I will take care of it," he repeated. "There will be no hesitation; there will be no restraint."

Toph swallowed, looking scared. "You'd go into The Avatar State?"

"Instantly if she was under threat," he vowed, meaning it utterly.

"What about being on the look-out while you're busy searching the Spirit World for her?"

Aang smiled grimly. "I'll summon my past lives, and they'll be on the look-out for me."

"You can do that?"

"Yes. We both have a job. I'll get Azula back, but you need to go to the Caldera to inform Zuko and the others of what's happened and of what's going to happen." Aang felt the panic and anger inside him, and it coalesced into his words. "I want them here, all of them. I don't care if Zuko can't leave or if his nobility is paranoid; tell him to name a regent. I want all of them here, with me and Azula. This happened because we were divided; we must be united. We need to all be together."

Toph was quiet for several long moments, clearly thinking hard on his words. "Do you want him to bring an army?"

Aang shook his head. "Ozai's not going to try to seize Ba Sing Se now; his army is gone. He has to start over and gain allies again. But I want all of us together. Tell them that. Tell Zuko that I need him here with me. This is bigger than Fire."

"He's not going to like it."

"I don't like it!" he snapped with a rush of energy before it vanished, leaving him hollow and shaken. "Just tell him, please. If you have to knock him out and bring him, do it."

Toph snorted without amusement. "If I didn't believe you about your limited window to bring her back, I'd knock you out and bring you with me to the Caldera."

Aang didn't bother telling her that she was incapable of knocking him out; she knew it based on the look on her face. "You need to leave now. Once I start searching for her spirit, I don't want any distractions."

She hopped off her stone stool and punched his arm. "Message received, Twinkletoes. I know you'll find her. I'll make sure Sparky and the others get here."

He followed her outside to where Appa lied against the remains of a tree. "Appa, you're going to take Toph to the Caldera, okay? You're going to see Zuko, okay?"

Appa rumbled as he stood to his feet and approached with light steps; he groaned mournfully.

Aang nodded and rubbed his hand across Appa's head. "I know. But you'll be back before you know it. It will be good to see Zuko, right?"

Appa's roar of affirmation lifted his miserable spirits briefly from the haze of grief and horror consuming him.

Toph clapped her hands. "It's you and me, Appa. That means no flips! Just get us there quick, alright?"

Appa huffed but positioned himself for take-off. Toph nodded, satisfied, as she created a staircase to reach Appa's saddle. Before she ascended, Aang gripped her arm.

"I'm trusting you with him," he pointed out. "Don't fail again."

Toph flinched and tried to smile; it looked frayed. "There are no Sandbenders this time."

His grip tightened, and she winced; he felt desperate. If something happened to Appa, he would probably destroy the world. "Don't fail. Please."

She swallowed. "I won't, Aang. But I won't know where I'm going- "

"Appa will know," Aang dismissed, releasing her arm as he focused back briefly on Azula; her body was still there, surviving and breathing. "I'm sorry, but I need you to be careful with him; he's all I have left. He'll take you. Just don't fall off."

Toph paled at the thought of falling from the sky but nodded shakily. "Yeah. Yeah, I can do that."

"And bring a change of clothes for Azula," he added. "She needs it."

She smiled sadly before inhaling deeply as she ascended into the saddle. "Appa, yip-yip!" she cried out, gripping the grips in the saddle with all her strength.

Aang watched as Appa took off, diminishing in the sky swiftly, and all was silent. He stared at the sky for several more moments before he strode back into Azula's tent. The sight of her living body still produced in him a haunting regret and guilt, but he vowed to make up for it. He didn't know how, but he would make up for it—he would!

He sat on the side of the bed and grabbed her limp hand, and the weight of it felt heavier than the sky itself; he had failed her, but never again. The image of the lightning striking her chest, the spasms of energy arching through her body before she slammed into him flooded his mind, and more tears welled in his eyes.

Aang closed his eyes slowly, feeling his true age. "When you talked, I heard the peace in the world that couldn't exist," he whispered. "When I talked with you, I felt that peace for myself—however shortly. You don't compare to my race because you can't, but you come the closest out of anyone I've met. I enjoy you so much, and I'm sorry I didn't tell you that; I'm sorry I didn't show you that. I never thought you'd die, but here we are—because of me. I kill all the best things in my life. I killed Air, I killed Appa, and I killed you. I can't get back the most important in Air, but I got Appa back, and I'm going to get you back. I won't rest until I get you back, whether that's two days from now or two weeks or two months. I'm not going to stop searching for you."

He wished so desperately and powerfully that her hand with squeeze his, show an acknowledgment of presence, but her hand was empty and lifeless; only its softness and warmth comforted him.

"You offered to be the Mother of Air, and I told you that I didn't trust it," Aang said, words wavering with each trembling breath he took. "I told you that I hate it, but I didn't tell you that I loved it, too. The fact you love Air and want to help revive Air makes you better than anyone; it makes you unlike anyone I've met since I woke up in this wrong, damned time. I thought no one but me would ever sacrifice to revive Air, but you proved to me your capabilities and intelligence; you proved your wisdom and talent; you proved your commitment and strength; you proved your honesty and loyalty." Aang's chest felt like it imploded with the force of his emotion as his tears spilled down onto his hand and slid onto her limp one. "I'm sorry it took you dying for me to tell you that; I'm so sorry. I hate your blood, but I love you—I love you. I really do; I know I do. I have loved before across eons, and with each name I took and form I adopted, I loved—and I love again now. I love you." He laughed a broken rasp, voice raw and withered. "I wish you could have known Gyatso; I wish so many things. I think he would like you if he were here; I think he'd love you, too. I'm sorry this is how I tell you; I'm sorry I didn't tell you before. But I'm going to look in your eyes and tell you; I'm going to get you back and tell you that and so many things— I swear it on my essence; I swear it on The Avatar."

Aang pulled back, inhaled deeply, centered himself, and began his search, stretching his senses and awareness into the Immortal Realm.

XxXxXxXxXxX

Phew! That was a tough one. I hope that you all enjoyed it. Please leave a review and tell me what you think. I'd really appreciate it!

**Having already decided to attack, Aang, Azula, and Toph arrive at Hu Xin, where Ozai's camp and his army are. However, it was already a desperate plan—a longshot. Azula was willing to fight until she realized that the Fire Sages are part of her father's army. Then she freaks out, understandably, and begs Aang to stop and not fight. However, refusing to lose any possible gains, he elects not to fight but spy for a little bit to gain precious intelligence because Ozai and Vaatu have been ahead of him the entire time; he has no idea the game that's being played because he's been kept in the dark, cast in ignorance. Unfortunately, Ozai starts to insult Air, which is an unforgivable slight in Aang's eyes that demands swift retaliation in wrath. Aang loses control, snaps, and attacks, beginning a vicious battle that is extraordinarily dangerous because of the lack of numbers on Aang's side. It's only himself, Azula, and Toph—that's it.

Agni and Devi, because they are Elementals, have a special nature in which Azula and Toph rely on them for their bending. Basically, Azula and Toph can have their bending smothered because they are beholden to Agni and Devi for the connection to their bending, and if Agni and Devi wish it, Azula and Toph's bending connections are smothered, and Azula and Toph are without their natural bending connection forever as long as Agni and Devi mandate it (they have to be focused on it, however, which is why it wavers back and forth throughout the whole fight). However, Aang can use all the elements no matter what; his bending can't be smothered by anyone except, literally, himself. But when he fights Agni and Devi, he is limited in the bending he can use because fire will have no impact on Agni just like earth won't have any impact on Devi. Also, Agni can save Devi from fire, and Devi can save Agni from earth. Aang is at a disadvantage because of it—while also dealing with Ozai and Vaatu. And add in the fact that Agni's firebending is, of course, stronger than Aang's firebending, and Devi's earthbending is, of course, stronger than Aang's earthbending. It's a grueling clash between all of them, a battle between gods that Azula realizes she could never participate in when she sees flashes of it.

While Toph dealt with the mediocre army and the Dai Li, Azula dealt with part of the mediocre army and the Fire Sages, and Aang dealt with Agni, Devi, Ozai, and Vaatu. It could end in death very easily for all of them, and, unfortunately, it does for someone and nearly for someone else. When Appa enters the fray (because the battle covers a vast expanse of land, producing carnage and chaos, a true battle of gods), worried for Aang, Aang is distracted, panicked that Appa could be killed (again), and Ozai takes advantage. He spies his opportunity and shoots lightning, but before it can kill Aang (and it would kill him, certainly, and he was waiting for it to, realizing his time is over), Azula dives in front of him and is killed instantly. Thus, Aang snaps, enters The Avatar State, destroy Agni and Devi's bodies, and almost destroys Ozai and imprisons Vaatu when Vaatu promises he can return Azula's spirit to her body. Aang doesn't destroy them and lets them go so he can save Toph (because she was mortally wounded, on the verge of dying from blood less), and Aang gets to work. He heals Toph, heals Azula's body, sends Toph to the Caldera to gather everyone together so they're no longer divided, and starts looking for Azula's spirit, which he has a very limited time to do.

I hope that the whole 'resurrection' angle works and makes sense. Basically, it all boils down to the Elementals, who take the designated spirits of their Children (Children of Water, Children of Earth, Children of Fire, and Children of Air) to the Gardens of the Dead. With Agni's body destroyed, Agni has to reform so he can complete his duties, which creates a backlog of Children of Fire spirits that are, thus, in limbo rather than in the Gardens. Because of it, those spirits can be re-fastened to their bodies, and Azula is one such spirit (along with all the Fire Sages she killed and any other Children of Fire that die during Agni's recuperation). However, it's not only Agni's temporary absence that's crucial; it's the fact that, even if Agni took a century to reform his body, creating an unbelievably large backlog, Aang would still have a very limited timeframe to re-fasten Azula's spirit to her body. Basically, the body relies on the spirit for life, not the other way around. Thus, Aang can heal Azula's body, but her body is always going to die quickly (in about a month or so) without the presence of her spirit, which means he must find her spirit quickly to prevent her body from dying. He's always going to have limited time to make sure Azula remains Azula. I mean, he could, technically, pull someone's spirit out of her body and place Azula's spirit inside, but that would no longer be Azula; it would be an abomination—because it's not only about the body; it's not only about the spirit. Rather, the body and spirit are connected fundamentally. You can't have one without the other, which is why the body can't hold on for longer than about a month without the spirit. Thus, Aang has limited time to return her. Otherwise, the whole act deteriorates into something monstrous—robbing someone's body to place another spirit inside, an unholy act (which was the same thing that Vaatu offered Aang when they were at the Tree of Time, though Aang didn't put together the exact process, but he clearly realizes now), which Aang recognizes as a trick, regardless, because, again, the body and spirit are connected fundamentally. Air would only be back with him in spirit, not body, and he needs both—the world needs both because both matter.

Well, I think that is everything. I hope that you all enjoyed it, and I would really appreciate it if you left a review to tell me what you thought about it.

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