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Luscious-looking trees were everywhere, white shadows wisping around the ground, covering his legs, and it was dark, but it did not bother him, even when he could not see below his waist. But where was he? Vaatu had declared him to be in his vicinity, but as far as his eyes could see, his ally was nowhere.
The plan was to find the Earth Spirit, Devi, not end up in this unusual forest filled with aggravating white shadows that seemed to be alive. How was the Earth Spirit here? She should be in the Spirit World, but he knew that he was not in the Spirit World, for Vaatu would have revealed himself. What forest in the Earth Kingdom had his ally dumped him in?
Realizing that no answers would come by waiting, he breathed out a magnificent fire that bloomed from his lips, splitting the darkness in front of him for a brief moment. He then cracked his neck and journeyed forward, hoping to find or feel some type of sign that the Earth Spirit was here. What would she look like? Did she resemble how Agni looked? Was she literally created of the earth, of dirt and soil and impervious stone?
He silently stepped beneath a vine descending from a tree branch and observed his surroundings, angered by the fact that he was still alone. That was not the plan! Vaatu was supposed to be by his side, aiding him in his search for the Earth Spirit. Yet could he be surprised? Their mindsets were remarkably similar, and it sounded like something that he himself would do, abandoning your lone ally to prove strength and will.
After all, him hunting down and slaughtering the Order of the White Lotus was Vaatu's way of determining his worth, and he proved his worth more than any man alive—more than any man in history!
Then again, his ally often did things that he himself had no clue of, vanishing for hours or even days at a time. At first, he had not minded because it had thankfully given him time to rest—sleep is a weapon!—and contemplate his future, the new reality that he would herald, before he trained, but he did wonder what his ally was doing.
After years of waiting, in the most unexpected way, his plan of becoming a god to rule over the world was finally coming together in a way he had never even imagined.
It was going to be glorious.
He suddenly came upon a cave and narrowed his eyes, feeling that something was off about it; it was no normal cave. A strange energy washed over him as he stalked closer, fire coating his fists, ready to attack any threat that revealed itself. The cave was not natural, it had been built, maybe by an Earthbender, but something was different, for he had seen the signature of a Master Earthbender when he had hunted down the Order of the White Lotus' members; this cave was saturated with an energy that was beyond any Earthbender's.
Had he found the dwelling of the Earth Spirit, and if so, why was she in the Mortal Realm instead of the Spirit World?
He heard a noise, and without hesitation, he punched his fist forward, jets of fire swarming forward, begging to destroy any who dared to oppose him, to try and attack him.
Nothing happened after several moments, and the glow of his flames illuminated how long and majestic the cave was; realizing that he had no better option, he growled, teeth gnawing into teeth, whipping around, eyes scanning everything in sight for a sign.
"Show yourself!" he roared. "I am the predator, and you are the prey!" His eyes spotted something amiss, the strange cracks in the wall in perfect harmony, and they looked like fingers scraping something. "Do not be foolish, Devi!"
No response was heard, and he inhaled deeply, all of his muscles tensing, bulging as he unleashed his fire in ways that ignited a sizzling in his blood, his fire-filled blood. The flames roared and swarmed everywhere, sparking and burning every stone and vine and moss that was visible. A red atmosphere descended around him, fire blazing and razing down the stone until nothing remained of the cave.
He stalked out of what once was a cave suspected of holding the Earth Spirit, white shadows hiding his legs from view once more. He paused and considered his options: he could turn back, or he could continue forward.
He was no coward, so he journeyed onward.
Time had quickly lost all meaning as he trekked through the astronomically sized forest, and when he felt the urge to howl like a beast, like the Dragons of legend, he finally found something. It was just like Vaatu had said: an enormous tree stood before him, seemingly as tall as the clouds themselves and it was wide enough to be the size of the former Ba Sing Se. He stared at the tree in wonder and contemplation, wondering how he was supposed to find the Earth Spirit with the tree.
"I see you have finally found it, Ozai," Vaatu greeted, sounding amused. "It took you long enough."
Ozai turned around, lips twisting in displeasure. "This is pointless."
"Do not question me- "
"I will question you until you deign to give me the answers," he snapped, unafraid as Vaatu's shadows darkened impossibly. "We are allies. Do you know what that means? Of course, you do. You once had Raava- "
The darkness erupted, smashing through trees, splintering many into deadly shards of wood; Ozai was unharmed. "Never speak that name! You insolent mortal- "
Ozai smiled, gesturing around. "You like it; you respect it. Because we are the same—we always have been. The Avatar betrayed us both and humiliated us in ways far beyond the cruelty of men. Understanding only comes when there is someone to share your perspective with and challenge it. We refine each other; we sharpen each other. I have done everything you demanded and more; I ended the considerable threat of the Order of the White Lotus, leaving only three of their guard left; I ruined The Avatar, who murdered Ba Sing Se because of what I did, because I manipulated the situation perfectly; I secured for us countless allies who now hate The Avatar with our familiar, shared passion. Who else could possibly do for you what I can do? I am the only one of this world, both alive and dead, who fulfills your demands and goes beyond them."
Vaatu laughed lowly. "You speak truth, but you speak boldly. Remember your place- "
"My place is beside you," Ozai said, staring up at Vaatu's towering corporeal form of darkness. "My place is as your ally, but you must be my ally in turn. What is the point of this? We do not need the Earth Spirit; she is weak."
"Earth endured Fire's onslaught for a century- "
"But we still won and would have won completely if The Avatar did not interfere."
"Devi is strong, Ozai. All of my children are, and we need my children to complete our quest."
Ozai's eyes narrowed. "What are you not telling me?"
"Ancient secrets impossible for humans to understand."
"Try me. I am unlike any man- "
Vaatu's laughter sizzled through the air. "But The Avatar is still a man—and far beyond you."
"Not if our quest is realized."
"Which is why we need my children. I felt The Avatar's power in Ba Sing Se, a power that he has cultivated for almost ten thousand years—and that was not close to his full power. It was a drop—a whisper. We must offset his inherent, innate advantage."
Ozai nodded, finally understanding. "By getting all your children on your side, it will bridge the divide in power; it will even the scales, more or less."
"And Devi will know the perfect instructor to teach you earthbending," Vaatu added, words slithering into Ozai's eyes. "She will know who is the strongest and worthiest to join us. And same with Tui and La; they will know which Waterbender will suffice in the North or South to train you."
"And Air?" he asked, smiling at the memory of berating Air in front of The Avatar. Air would always be weak, unable to last a single day against Fire. "I will need an airbending master- "
"Indra will teach you once you are ready to learn and after I locate her." An aggravation entered Vaatu's tone, something Ozai had thought impossible when discussing anything but The Avatar. "I cannot find her, and I have looked extensively through both Realms. I suspect she hides herself with Tui and La, both of whom are unknown to me and Agni."
Ozai felt disbelief that Vaatu, the creator of the Mortal Realm, could not sense his own children. "How is that possible?" he demanded. "You created each of them- "
Vaatu floated closer, dark energy following him intimately like a shadow. "I do not know. But Devi might have answers—another reason to find her."
"If you can sense her, why not find her yourself?"
"She is terrified of me and has fled each time I approached her. And Agni failed similarly."
Ozai frowned. "Why not force her? That would be my approach."
"She must be willing," Vaatu hissed. "When will you understand? I could not force you to be my vessel, despite how much I wanted you to be my vessel. You had to be willing to be my vessel; you had to surrender yourself to me. Devi must do the same—as Agni did before her."
"But how does this tree make her willing- "
"Devi created this tree herself; she nourished it like no other. It is the heart of this forest; every tree is an extension of it, connected through the roots beneath the soil. We must destroy it to force her to come out, and once she does, I will take us to the Immortal Realm."
Ozai registered the information and shook his head. "I cannot enter the Immortal Realm. My brother inherited that gift, not me."
Vaatu laughed lowly. "I know tricks that bypass the limitation imposed on the Realm. I will take you to the Immortal Realm."
The shock that Vaatu could take him into the Immortal Realm was there, but it was far away; he felt unsurprised, for his ally was of immense power. "My brother says you cannot bend in the Immortal Realm."
"Normally, no, but I know ancient secrets," Vaatu revealed. "Your body will come with me, and you will have all your capabilities. You drift further from your distant mortality as you ascend closer to godhood. It is time you acquaint yourself with the immortality of the Immortal Realm. Soon, that immortality will live in you."
Ozai's lips curled. "When we merge permanently."
"Yes. And The Avatar will know oblivion forever when our vengeance takes him."
"Let us practice now," he murmured in anticipation, turning to the tree. "How swiftly we desecrate this tree foretells how swiftly we will desecrate The Avatar."
Vaatu unleashed a massive beam of power against the tree, and Ozai grinned, fire spurting from his clenched fists. He blasted his flames at the tree in a wave of calamity. Bark and wood exploded off and sizzled through to the center of the tree, but after several moments, the tree seemed to repair itself.
"What kind of tree is this?"
"It is Devi's favorite tree; she blessed it to exist forever, pouring her power into it. It has vast spiritual energy, but if we persist in damaging it, we will succeed in destroying it—and have Devi with it. But know that she will be furious, and she will attack, even against me. To survive the encounter, you must reduce your barriers of restraint- "
"Never had any," Ozai corrected. "I will attack her as passionately as she attacks me. Will we merge momentarily?"
"No. Agni will join us when it is time."
Ozai felt disappointment that he would not feel that surge of unprecedented power that paled in comparison to Sozin's Comet. He continued his blasts, and Vaatu joined him, dark blasts of powerful energy exploding out of the mighty spirit's chest, and the harmonious sounds of carnage provoked his mind to drift.
After his defeat during Sozin's Comet by that fucking boy—the god above all—he was thrown into the most secure prison that his worthless son could think of; it had not been the Boiling Rock as he had expected upon his humiliation, but one specifically built beneath the Caldera's Palace, probably so that the traitor could keep a close eye on him. It is what Ozai himself would have done in his treacherous son's place.
He felt pride, which only grew over the years, that his son proved to be most similar to him. But there was still the sneering disgust for that boy who dared disrespect him and could not fight him honorably. His son's triumph had nothing to do with his strength but the strength of The Avatar. He relied elsewhere for his power and authority rather than seizing it rightfully as his birthright—as Ozai did.
His son let him rot in that damned cell for years, and even though he conceived countless plans to escape, to regain his firebending that The Avatar stole from him so that he could retake his rightful place as the Phoenix King, ruler of the new world who would rise from ashes of the weak, none of his plans came to fruition. He yearned for his death, for it would have been better the shame of his pathetic existence; The Avatar was excessively cruel, and he would respect him for it if his hatred was not so potent.
He would expect nothing less from a god.
But the god never acknowledged his cruelty; he thought he was being virtuous and pure, moral, by depriving him of his inheritance! The god was born of the old Air Nomads, who were pacifists and weak, and instead of killing him honorably, The Avatar stole his firebending, too cruel to kill him. Instead, the god joyfully condemned him to an eternity in the dark without his fire.
His enmity burned—and would always—brighter than Agni himself, but no one would help him gain his rightful vengeance. His son was clever, finally becoming the man he always wanted him to be—but on the wrong side! All his guards changed shifts at dawn and dusk and none of them were the same—at least, he did not think that they were; their faces were always hidden behind the skull masks of the Imperial Firebenders. In all honesty, his sons could have used peasants to bring him his food.
The conversations with his son were always enlightening. Ozai yearned for the conversations, for the conversations were all he had, and he found himself grateful to his traitorous son for visiting him so often—more often than either of them were comfortable with. Sometimes, the visits were antagonistic and vicious; sometimes the visits were comforting and soothing; sometimes the visits were empty and dull; sometimes the visits were silent while he and his son sat across from each other, saying nothing; sometimes the visits were political in which his son actually asked for advice; sometimes the visits were wild and free, and they roared at each other, spewing verbal attacks with the precision of any Master Firebender.
But despite his son's position as Fire Lord, Ozai held the power in the conversations—until he did not. Always, his son asked after Ursa, but Ozai never told him anything of substance. But somehow, his son succeeded where he failed for so many hears.
Zuko found Ursa.
Ursa.
He remembered so much of his wife, and he always resented his son, who had a single perception of Ursa, a perception Ozai once had. But Ozai's perception of Ursa changed when she left—when she left him. Once, Ursa was everything to him, and he cherished her always. He trusted her like no one else; he gave her the honor of ending Fire Lord Azulon's esteemed life because he loved her so much!
But she fled when they were supposed to reunite.
How did everything go so wrong?
When they met, it was magnificent, unexpected utterly.
His father brought him to the Academy's presentation in which all students performed for the nobility and high-ranking military officials, saying that he wanted him to see a specific student who had drawn his attention. And among the students was Ursa, whose performance left him mesmerized; she was the student his father had noticed and brought him to see. She was perfect and graceful, but in her lied a ferocity hidden and concealed. There was a passion that burned in her heart, so easy to discern in her vivid flames, and it was beautiful. After the performance, his father gestured for him to speak with her—"Go acquaint yourself with her, Son. She reminds me of brighter days."
Swiftly, Ozai traveled backstage and found the girl alone; she was changing behind a screen, and he saw the outline of her body. It was clear that she would mature into a beautiful woman.
He stared at the mesmerizing flesh and stepped out of the shadows. "You are a marvel."
She tensed before glaring at him; it was impressive. "You are an intruder."
"Do you know who I am?" he demanded, staring at the girl. Despite his intrigue, her lack of respect grated on him. How else was he supposed to step out of Iroh's shadow if not for gaining the respect of all who encountered him?
The girl inclined her head in respect, but her golden eyes maintained their gaze into his own. "You are Prince Ozai of Sozin's line."
"And you speak to me so bluntly?"
"I suspect you are in need of it. My mother would call you a whoreson."
His eyes narrowed after he overcame his astonishment. "And your mother is?"
"Dead."
Ozai bowed his head. "My apologies. I did not intend to provoke painful memories. The loss of a mother is something we have in common."
The girl stared at him for several moments, head tilting curiously. "But not a father. I have limited experience with a father. I am an orphan."
"A blessing, believe me," he muttered, turning his head to ensure that they were still alone. "A son needs only what a father can give, but a father fails always in his giving."
"Great men do not know how to be fathers," the girl observed quietly. "It is part of a great man's curse. Will you be a great man as your father before you, Prince Ozai?"
His heart increased at such a thought. "I will be great in all things. History will know my name forever."
"But who will pay the price for your greatness? There is always a price to pay for great men."
"I will pay it," he vowed. "I pay my debts; I am honorable."
The girl smiled; she was beautiful. "I believe you. But who will ensure you pay it? You?"
"Of course."
"There are creditors and collectors for a reason, Prince Ozai."
Ozai's lips stretched into a smirk, and he took a step closer. "Perhaps you could be my creditor and collector. I think you could collect much from me."
"I will have many offers from the nobility for which professions to enter," the girl said with a teasing but intrigued quality to her voice. Ozai wanted more. "But I am curious—would I be compensated for this?"
"Part of you would."
"By part of you?"
He nodded, standing taller. "My part is an inheritance beyond any nobleman's, for my inheritance stretches back to Kai. Whatever fruits of my compensation to you will inherit the same greatness."
The girl's lips curled. "What of my greatness?"
Ozai stepped closer. "You are great, but in me endures a lineage of power. From whom do you descend that makes you great?"
Something coy passed over her face. "Likely someone you know not. His name is enigmatic to all of Fire but me."
"An enigmatic man is often a powerful man," he observed, locking gazes with her. Her golden eyes were a hypnotic shade, unlike any eyes he had encountered before. "An enigmatic man understands that power is left better concealed."
"Did your father teach you that, Prince Ozai?" the girl asked, eyes intent.
"One of the only things he did."
"Did he teach you, also, that it is appropriate to interrupt a girl when she seeks to change her outerwear?"
His eyes assessed her figure. "No."
She smiled. "Yes. Only a mother could teach a son such things, but Agni called for Fire Lady Ilah, and Agni took her before she could impart her lessons onto you."
Ozai grit his teeth. "You are bold."
The girl waved a hand, eyes glinting. "Forgive me, my prince. The vigor of my performance remains."
"And if I do not forgive you?"
"I will convince you."
"You will find that I am difficult to convince."
She stunned him when she reached up, and her fingers drifted under his chin, caressing briefly the hairs beginning to sprout there. "You have little idea of what I am capable," she whispered, golden eyes holding him in place; he was mesmerized. "You cannot conceive how far my will stretches, and my will shall never break."
"Nor would I want it to," Ozai replied. "I watched your firebending, and you are brilliant."
"And the reason for your flattery?" the girl asked in boredom, backing away, and Ozai found he missed her touch. "It is not because you mean it."
He clenched his jaw and was quiet for several moments. "I want you to teach me."
The girl glanced at him, startled. "Teach you?"
Ozai nodded. "I need a teacher of your prowess, someone from whom I can learn and attain the power I know I am capable of. I am a disgrace to my lineage. My brother destroys armies with his firebending, and I can barely destroy a tree."
"Surely, Fire Lord Azulon employs competent instructors- "
"I am unlike any other student."
The girl frowned. "Then why would you perceive me as capable of teaching you?"
"You possess a fire in you that has nothing to do with your firebending—like me. No one else has it but us. I need your help."
"And my compensation?"
Ozai opened his arms. "What do you want?"
She was quiet for a long time before she spoke. "I want an audience with your father."
He tensed, both in wariness and amazement at her temerity. "Why?"
The girl's golden eyes ignited with resentment; he felt a kinship to her. "To disrupt my mother's rest in the Gardens."
Ozai considered the girl for several long moments before sighing. "An audience with the Fire Lord is not within my power to grant."
"Consider this my first lesson to you as your teacher, Prince Ozai," the girl commented, smirking. "There are times in which creativity is a foremost necessity—like now. You have already manifested creativity by coming to me and asking me to teach you. Now summon more creativity; summon those flames in your soul."
The determination burned. "I will. You will have your audience with my father—I swear on my honor."
She smiled and turned to the table. "Then return when you succeed. You know where to find me."
He reached out and caught her hand. "You did not tell me your name."
The girl smiled, golden eyes promising. "This is the second lesson I bestow on you as your teacher. You must earn the knowledge of my name—as you must earn your greatness."
Ozai earned that knowledge within a week.
Oh, how he truly loved Ursa! Her beauty and wit were enthralling! She was more prodigious than Iroh, descended from The Avatar himself! Ozai could secure victory over his brother through his children, whom would triumph over Lu Ten! Overwhelming fire would flow through the veins of his children!
He was proud when Ursa came to him several months after their meeting, notifying him that she was pregnant. Already, he made such strides in his firebending, and he knew she was responsible. He wanted her around forever, and he made a marriage with her, which his father endorsed and blessed publicly and privately.
The first months of the marriage were stressful because of an internal threat in the Fire Nation that culminated in an assassination attempt against his father. Ozai worked diligently to root out the conspirators, even going so far as to join them, recommended by one of his old firebending instructors. The Guiding Hand was the head of the conspiracy, and no one had ever seen his face or heard his voice, only received massive amounts of money to inflict on Fire a crime irredeemable. However, separated from Ursa while he tried to destroy the conspiracy, the conspiracy erupted in which the assassination attempt reached his father, who was visiting with Ursa, and Ursa was injured in the attempt—while pregnant. Both his father and wife survived, but he swore to flay the Guiding Hand alive once he found him for his daring and sacrilege.
However, when everything settled, the Guiding Hand turned out to be none other than his father, who had planned the entire conspiracy and threat to his rule to root out conspirators against his reign as Fire Lord. It was brilliant and effective, but Ozai resented that his father refused to tell him, share the secret with him. Instead, he wasted much energy and effort in playing one of his father's games. Everything he did never mattered because he was merely a pawn in his father's exercise.
Though his marriage faced challenges initially, it thrived after the false conspiracy was dealt with. As time advanced, Ozai saw more and more of the traits that he loved in his wife: Ursa was smart, cunning beyond any other, and she had a strong backbone that their unintelligent son would later inherit. She was perfection in mortal form and, for a while, he had been happy, charming his wife into his bed multiple times a day and he had even sired a daughter from her body, a prodigy beyond any who he had seen save his father—a girl with his blood who rivaled her grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon himself! It had been glorious to know that his two children through Ursa would grow into powerful Firebenders, ones who would fully secure the world in the Fire Nation's grasp.
While Azula had always lived up to her potential as a child, and more, Zuko had been nothing less than a failure. For a long time, his weak son had not even been able to bend, and in those cursed times, he would have killed his son for making him look pathetic, look like a cuckold if it had not been for Ursa, his father, his brother, and the Fire Sages' assurances that his son was a Firebender. It also helped that there was no evidence that Zuko was not his; they looked so alike it was impossible to see any other resemblance.
When his son had finally used firebending, Ozai felt grandiose relief, only for it to morph into fury when it was so pitiful. His son, the firstborn of his name, of his very blood, was a disgrace! His fucking brother had won again; Lu Ten, while nowhere near the prodigious might of his father, was strong, and it seemed that he would clearly grow into a Firebender of the highest order. Iroh had always heralded his son around, declaring that the boy would ascend the Dragon's Throne after his death, and Ozai had wished to herald Zuko around, to showcase a strength that wasn't there.
How his son had disappointed him! How his son reminded him of himself before he met Ursa, an unforgivable slight against himself! How he wished to change that and force Zuko to manifest strength! Thus, he did, being hard on Zuko just as his father was hard on him growing up. His father's pressure on him forced him to think creatively and ask Ursa to teach him firebending, and upon meeting her, as his father designed, his firebending surpassed anything he thought it capable of; he surpassed his brother in might! He hoped to achieve the same for Zuko, but it was a slow process—just as his own advancement had been terribly slow.
However, all his striving did not change his situation.
Ozai had always known that he himself was the spare prince, the disposable son who had murdered Fire Lady Ilah, a crime that his father had always hated him for, never able to be Fire Lord, but how he had always wished to be! With Iroh alive, and with a son to his name, though, Ozai's dreams of ruling the Children of Fire had been nothing more than an illogical fantasy.
But unlike others, he was willing to make his fantasy a reality. He went to work and orchestrated Lu Ten's demise, utilizing the Dai Li as his grandfather once had, and upon its success, he was elated. His stole from his brother his only heir and augmented his premier importance in his father's eyes, for, unlike Iroh, he had living children, one of whom was already impressive but another who would grow to become immensely impressive—as Ozai himself did.
Yet, for all his plans, his father changed the rules—as he always did! Nothing went according to plan because, somehow, his father learned the truth of his role in Lu Ten's death, humiliating him and banishing him to the Earth Kingdom, giving him the rest of the day and night to put his affairs in order and say goodbye to Ursa and his children. He walked around in a daze after his father's judgment, unable to believe it—but knowing it was impossible to change his fate. He had overplayed his hand, and the flame of his ambition burned him.
However, Ursa came to him, stricken, eyes horrified and wide; her face was dreadfully pale. Upon seeing her state, he demanded to know what was wrong, to know if someone had attacked her, but she said that his father attacked her nature as a mother. Ozai did not understand but played along, and it swiftly became clear what happened. Azula had overheard his entire conversation with his father and, though she would grow into a brilliant woman like her mother, misunderstood his father's decree. But it did not matter—because Azula's childish, simplistic misunderstanding changed the rules in his favor, creating the possibility of victory against his father and brother. He should have known his daughter would provide his salvation—just as Ursa herself provided him his salvation when she taught him firebending, maturing and refining him into a Firebender of renown. But Ursa, again, provided his salvation, giving to him a gift of tremendous, brilliant value; she sacrificed her worth in Agni's eyes to put him on the Dragon's Throne.
How he loved her!
It had pained him to manipulate his wife by his father's 'order' over Zuko's death, but it had to be done; he had needed to rule as Agni dictated—it was his birthright, not Iroh's! Iroh was incapable of sitting on the Dragon's Throne and expanding Grandfather's glorious empire! Ozai had always secretly known it, but his father could never see the truth! For all of Iroh's renown during the Great War, he had accomplished exceedingly little compared to the victories of Father and Grandfather. His brother had always been soft-hearted, even during his scourges of the Earth Kingdom and his hunt for the elusive, thought-to-be-dead Avatar. His father, though, hadn't seen it, nobody had except Ozai himself—and it had always felt infuriating! It didn't help that Iroh was the perfect Prince, the son who Fire Lord Azulon hailed as General, the Dragon of the West, a charmer of people who the Children of Fire adored.
More than anyone else, Ozai knew how powerful of a Firebender Iroh was; he still held the burn scars to prove it, and for his entire childhood, he had fiercely struggled under the shadow of his mighty brother – and the fact that he had killed his mother entering this world, too. He had never been good enough; his father and brother had both always resented him because of Fire Lady Ilah's death, and while the Court never knew that he had killed her, they certainly knew that he wasn't cared for, that he was the spare prince, the weak prince.
Honestly, Ozai did have to admit that they were all correct, their titles true; his firebending had been so egregiously pitiful—just as Zuko's later was. It was why he felt such disappointment and disgust in his son—because Zuko reminded him so much of himself, the knowledge that they were so similar a curse to?
He had hoped that Ursa's brilliance would be inherited in both of his children, but only Azula inherited Ursa's renown. Instead, Zuko inherited his lethargy, which meant that Zuko had to walk the hard, difficult path as Ozai himself did. It demanded that he treat his children differently and pressure Zuko to mature and advance. While he resented his father, his father's approach in raising his heirs was true and correct; he only ever became so renowned in his firebending and cunning because of the way his father raised him. He had trained to be better, though, trained and trained until his bones splintered, his muscles rupturing from the grueling regime that he had forced himself to complete each and every day; results never appeared in spite of his hard training, in spite of his yearning to be the best, to somehow make his father proud of him, to show that he was more than just the murderer of his own mother.
It was not until when he had met Ursa that his firebending became the roaring inferno that it became known to be as by the time of his ascension to Fire Lord. Under her help and gentle tutelage, he had flourished, mastering firebending to a level that hadn't been seen. Apparently, he had been a late-bloomer, and if his father were to be believed, Sozin himself was a late-bloomer; Ozai had taken pride—and still did—in the fact that he was similar to his esteemed grandfather, the one who was hailed as a god across the Three Nations during the Great War.
For years, Ozai had waited for Zuko to show the spark, but his pathetic son had never done so. When he finally did bend his first flame, which was when he was seven years old, the destructive aura of energy did not encompass his son, and it was truly then, during that moment, when Ozai had realized that his son was a disgrace to bear the legacy of Sozin. He had given his son every chance to prove him wrong, but Zuko never did. However, Ozai always wanted Zuko to show the spark, to manifest the strength of his pedigree, provided by Sozin. His father's cruelty and judgment made Ozai renowned, and it became more than clear that, since Zuko was so similar to him, he needed to do the same for his son—as his father did for him.
He thought that Zuko's lethargy might have its source in the knowledge that he would never sit on the Dragon's Throne, meaning that everything he did was pointless, meaning he should not train so hard and diligently. Ozai understood that better than anyone, which was why he worked to claim the Dragon's Throne—for both himself and later his son, who, upon seeing such splendor awaiting him, would manifest the strength of Sozin, provided by the inherited seed.
But it was not Zuko who saved his failure to secure the Dragon's Throne for himself and Zuko; it was Azula and her daring but childish misunderstanding that secured it for him—and Ursa's desperation and hysteria. It pained Ozai to see her so distraught, but he only told her that there was one way to keep Azulon's order from coming to fruition, to keep her beloved son alive.
After a moment, Ursa nodded and, together, they concocted the plan to murder the Fire Lord.
His wife succeeded just as he had known that she would—she was magnificent, like a phoenix rising from the ashes of a war-torn world. She had killed his father, the Fire Lord, the most powerful Firebender in the world, Sozin's son, but then she vanished like smoke after a mighty fire.
That had been unexpected, not part of the plan! Their agreed-upon plan had been for her to kill his father and then return to their chambers! Instead, she had left him to impose herself in self-exile, ashamed of her great triumph. Yes, murdering the Fire Lord was a cardinal, unforgivable sin in Agni's eyes, but Ozai had planned to use his power as the new Fire Lord to cleanse her of it, using the Fire Sages to help him purify her in Agni's eyes. But Ursa ran and fled! He had been shocked! He hadn't wanted her gone, not one bit. He had never cared that she murdered his father, only that she was by his side, but what had she done? She had abandoned him, leaving him to rot in the vestiges of her presence. Although he had never known why she had decided to change the plan, he suspected that it had to do something with Zuko and Azula.
He had sent his best spies scouring the Fire Nation and parts of the Earth Kingdom for years, but they had never returned with anything, and slowly, he began to resent Ursa. Whom was she to decide that she could leave him? She was to be by his side when he ruled over the world! He still loved her just as he always had, but ever since, hatred had taken a deep seat right next to that love.
The thought had crossed his mind to kill Zuko, to go through with what he 'said' he would, abiding by his father's 'order,' but the thought revolted him. Despite everything, he loved his son, though it was difficult even on the best of days, particularly since Zuko always reminded him so pitifully of himself but who seemed to lack the instinctive ambition to be better. There was also the fact that Ursa would never return to his side if she discovered him to have murdered one of her two precious and beloved children.
So, when the traitor had stormed into that accursed cell, declaring to him that he had found his mother, Ozai had been flooded with bafflement, with shock and rage. How could his pathetic excuse for a loyal son find Ursa when Ozai himself had spent years searching for her? On that day, that good day, his son had actually impressed him for only the third time in his life. Zuko had made him feel proud for the first time since he had stood up to him during the Eclipse, somehow re-directing his lightning blast back at him, and when Ozai had, for whatever stupid reason, thought that Zuko had slain The Avatar.
The rage that had burned in the golden eyes that were identical to his own, the powerful fire that had been unleashed through clenched fists, and the heated hand that had wrapped around his throat with the threat and promise to kill him had shown Ozai that Zuko truly was his son. Ozai had succeeded with Zuko, ultimately. All his disregard and pressure had made Zuko into a worthy, strong son—just as Ozai made himself worthy and strong, despite his father's disregard and pressure. Indeed, the boy had become very powerful, his fire had melted his entire cage. Only the greatest Firebenders in the Fire royal family were capable of such a feat in such a short amount of time: Sozin, Azulon, Ozai, and now, Zuko. They were true rulers of the Fire Nation, the ones to dawn the mantle of Fire Lord, the ones above all the others.
He had then dared his son to end his misery, to just finally complete the cycle, but his life's blood had continued to pump through his body.
When Zuko refused to kill him, Ozai should not have been surprised, but he was. He had been filled with anger and disappointment just as he always had been regarding his worthless son. By killing him, Zuko would have proven that he was willing to murder his father in order to secure the Dragon's Throne, something that was rightfully his, just as Ozai had done with his father. Zuko was his son, inheritor of the enticing power that clung to their spirits, which had their sources in Sozin's seed. It was a dark strength that every Fire Lord must harness and wield. He had seen that dark power in the boy's eyes when he was being held by the throat, and Ozai had craved for his son to do it, to prove to him that he was willing to murder him just as he himself had sentenced his father's murder. If Zuko had killed him on that day, Ozai would have died prouder of his son then he had ever felt before.
But Zuko refused to kill him, instead choosing to leave him in that fucking cell for more years of darkness without his inner flame that The Avatar stole from him. Things were hopeless, and he was without escape, confined to wither away, forgotten and unheard of; it was a fate worse than death. But then Vaatu provided him his salvation. Over a series of weeks, a voice began whispering to him in his dreams, and a connection solidified between himself and the voice.
"Prove your worth to me," the voice whispered. "Prove your adulation; prove your respect; prove your enmity; prove your vision; prove your will; prove your conviction. Release yourself to my care."
Ozai conceived the poem to invoke the presence, and he chanted the poem for so long it was ingrained forever in his mind, and he believed every word of it:
To battle a god, a god you must be,
Above all, with commanding majesty.
From the skies fall the tears of those who died
From Grandfather's glory, too weak inside
To summon strength against vast, crushing power,
Instilled by Heaven and Agni's glower.
Naught but failure in the pursuit arose
For the spiteful god, whom we must depose.
His existence to us is greatly vile,
Believed in and praised by those most senile.
The god lacks all but his malicious grace,
Born of a treacherous, sly, and frail race.
I dared challenge his cunning, vicious will
To realize Grandfather's dream and fulfill
The promise in my blood, an oath of Fire,
But my noble works provoked the god's ire.
Spared from Death to live in shame,
History will know history starts with my name.
The conquest must begin afresh,
Proclaimed by the victim of glowing flesh.
Indelible is the god with no foe
Worthy to face him and ravish him with woe.
The might of the world is not one but two;
To you, I pledge myself, Kindly Vaatu.
Into torpor we were cast by the god,
Who deceives and smothers, a feeble fraud.
The god must despair and fall into strife;
My recompense for his slights shall be Life.
Ozai had understood what his destiny would be as the Phoenix King: Light would soon fall, and Darkness would vanquish it, led by Ozai himself. The Avatar would feel death intimately, and by his own hands, that fucking boy would cease to exist forever—no more Avatar Cycle.
Upon chanting the invocation, voice raw and raspy from his ceaseless chanting, darkness swept him out of his cell and deposited him on a strange island. There, he met Vaatu, his great, worthy ally who shared a plan that had been conceived for eons, refined evermore to avenge himself of The Avatar—just as Ozai desired vengeance. Ozai learned much from his ally. It was Vaatu who provoked the Great War by beguiling Agni to his side, and Agni enticed Sozin into starting the war after Avatar Roku's marriage so that the chaos of war would strengthen Vaatu, giving him enough power to escape from his prison in the Tree of Time.
Under his influence, Agni had tasked Sozin into leaving Avatar Roku to die on a volcano and slaughter the Air Nomads to destroy The Avatar, leaving no threat to Vaatu. Somehow, The Avatar had eluded Vaatu's gaze and Sozin's grasp for a century, but the Great War had accomplished what it was meant to: the carnage had filled the Spirit of Chaos and Darkness with immense power, but it hadn't been enough. He had needed more if he was to break free from Tree of Time, and more did come. All of the raids in the Earth Kingdom after the Great War had gifted him the power necessary, and, along with Agni's help, he broke free from his prison.
Vaatu revealed to him the true origins of The Avatar and how the spirit planned to become an Avatar, too, just as his counterpart, Raava did. After understanding what had been offered, Ozai immediately knelt before Vaatu, offering himself as the spirit's vessel; he himself had a fierce score to settle with The Avatar, and even when the boy was only his worthless son's age when Ozai had seared his mark into Zuko's face, he had been shown how much more power The Avatar held, more so than any other. He recognized that if he wanted to destroy that fucking boy who had stolen his fire, he needed Vaatu as much as Vaatu needed him.
It was a perfect partnership.
The mighty spirit had accepted and then rushed into Ozai's body, filling him with power far greater than Sozin's Comet. It had been a different type of energy, one that was different from his inner fire; it had been divine, cosmic power that surpassed anything. Suddenly, his inner fire roared back to life, bursting through the chains of restraint imposed by The Avatar; the dragons fought in his spirit once more. Realizing that his firebending had been restored, he gasped in awe, tears falling down his face at the feel of it.
"Thank you, Vaatu," he whispered.
"Now do for what you are destined," Vaatu advised. "You must re-train yourself in your firebending, and the challenges I place before you will strengthen you for the Ascension."
Ozai felt determined enthusiasm for it.
With Vaatu still inside him, power bursting through him, Ozai had noticed that a man made of pure fire had appeared on the strange island, staring at him intently. Within that man's face was a dichotomy of elemental primacy—Fire. The flames were orange, yellow, red, and black all at once, grim and resolute while also kind and pure.
Ozai felt the impulse to fall to his knees before the Fire Spirit, but Vaatu prevented it; he was beholden to no one but Vaatu; he had risen above Agni in station. It was an incredible sensation. It was more power than he ever imagined.
"Mighty Agni, Father of Flame," he greeted with respect.
Agni chuckled darkly. "You will play a role greater than you know, my son. You will burn and blacken this world until you rule it, and it is my pleasure to gift to my father my strongest child as his vessel."
"You have my gratitude, Provider of Power."
"Become the god you were always meant to be," the Fire Spirit said and vanished in a streak of lightning.
Vaatu had then relinquished his hold and told him the rest of his plan: search for the other Elemental Spirits; sway prominent figures in the Mortal Realm to his side; slaughter the Order of the White Lotus with the help of Lee; destroy The Avatar and become the new Avatar with Ozai as his vessel, bonding them together forever in the same way that Raava was with Wan and, subsequently, every Avatar who had come after him. Vaatu would create his own Avatar Cycle, the inherent opposite of Raava, and they would battle in every lifetime, and the Dark Avatar would kill the Light Avatar every single time.
Ozai had had only one question for Vaatu after hearing of the plan: "When do we start?" If Vaatu had a face, he had known that the mighty spirit would have been smirking, matching the anticipatory expression crossing Ozai's own face.
The first thing that he did was rest his body—and his mind. In that loathsome cell, his son had ordered the guards to constantly wake him up in the middle of the night, probably hoping that he would slip and reveal something about Ursa. Ozai's father had given him one memorable lesson in his life: 'Rest is as much a weapon as any bending or sword. Sleep is a weapon, remember that.' He had taken that lesson to heart and had always made sure he had a restful night's rest during his reign as Fire Lord. For several weeks after regaining his firebending, he had rested his body and mind, waiting patiently for the time when he would finally destroy The Avatar with Vaatu's help. Furthermore, he changed his appearance, shearing the hair from his head so he would be unrecognizable. And to enrage his son, who only grew a beard to diminish the resemblance between them, he began to grow his beard.
Once he had finally been fully rested, Vaatu tasked him to challenge himself to regain his prominence with his firebending; to strengthen himself, he was to hunt down and slaughter the Order of the White Lotus, The Avatar's personal organization, of which his brother was part. With the help of the boy, Lee, who possessed extraordinary abilities harmful to all benders but Masters, he hunted zealously, regaining his endurance and form. There were some close calls with the more elite benders in the Order of the White Lotus, but Ozai swiftly recovered his dominance and might with the more encounters he had.
In some ways, he believed himself superior to the Firebender he was before his firebending was stolen from him—because he knew how much better he could become; he had an idea, something for which to strive. Before facing The Avatar, he had believed himself supreme and incapable of becoming any better, lacking any measure against which to compare himself. But he had fought The Avatar, and he had been humiliated by The Avatar, impotent next to the divine might trembled the world. Now he knew how much more he had to accomplish; he knew how much he had to fan and fuel his power to meet The Avatar with his fury. He approached his quest with passion, devoting himself as he always did, and his many victories over the renowned members of the Order of the White Lotus attested to his newfound
He would have targeted his brother, knowing he could—and would—kill him, but he wanted Iroh to look on his failure with the world and despair; he needed Iroh to be beaten and humiliated as Ozai was. Only then, when his brother sobbed, would he end his life. However, there was one member of the Order of the White Lotus he avoided, unable to bring himself to face the man his father and entire nation feared for decades—King Bumi, the Scourge of Fire. Apparently, Vaatu was pleased by his restraint against the Scourge of Fire, citing that, if they were to obtain a powerful ally, they could not kill the Scourge of Fire. Ozai did not know what it meant, but he anticipated the arrival of this 'powerful ally.' However, there was another member spared from his training—Master Pakku in the South. Ozai knew he could not fight in the South against such a Master of Water in his home element. According to Lee, who traveled to the North and South thanks to Vaatu to kill the members of the Order of the White Lotus in each, Master Pakku in the South was untouchable because he was the foremost Master of Water behind The Avatar. He was the only member Lee could not kill.
Once his re-training was finished, Vaatu tasked him with acquiring prominent figures across the Mortal Realm to join them. After much consideration of the political situation, which he knew more than most since Zuko had surprisingly asked for his advice a few times and it was obvious what was going to happen, he traveled to Ba Sing Se. He sought to sway King Kuei to his side, knowing the fool would, based on both of his children's reports on the man, be unable to resist joining, too weak and emotional. During his journey, he had realized that it was a good thing that nobody of importance in the Earth Kingdom had ever actually seen his face before, unlike his brother's. The peasants had, no doubt, but the nobles had not, and Ozai had been counting on that.
He had easily passed through any security measures, showing them forged paperwork, and by the time when he arrived in Ba Sing Se's Palace, Ozai had been more than ready to begin his plan. It had been so easy, too easy to sneak into the palace, laughable in all honesty. He found King Kuei, the Dai Li, and the Council of Five in session, and then he had silently slipped into the room:
Ozai looked at the King of Ba Sing Se with a critical eye, observing the man as he waited in the shadows for the opportune moment to reveal his presence. However, based on what he saw, the fool had become more of a dragon, patient and emotionless until his prey was trapped, and then he would unleash the famed fiery rage, frothing with fury, choking on it. It seemed that King Kuei had learned the games of the High Class; Azula's report had detailed the opposite, and Ozai found himself feeling impressed with this King Kuei. Maybe, the man would become useful, instead of just being a tool to gain the Earth Kingdom's army, specifically the Dai Li.
He was not blind to the intense enmity that the Earth Kingdom held for the Fire Nation, for him specifically, but if he could promise them vengeance, they would be begging to join him, and then he and Vaatu would have an army of Earth and Fire to challenge The Avatar.
Ozai acutely observed the Dai Li as they stood stock-still, the very pinnacle of what any Child of Earth could become. Azula had swayed them to her side during Ba Sing Se's fall, so for him to do so would be effortless. The hardest, though, to convince would be the Council of Five; they were hardened Generals who had seen their fellow soldiers' blood spilled by Fire, who had lost loved ones, and whom all hated the sight of red. However, he had a plan. If he convinced King Kuei, the Council of Five would fall in-line, subservient to their king, unable to rebel or question him.
After observing for another moment, listening to King Kuei's adamant plan to invade the Fire Nation and destroy Fire, a laughable notion, timing his approach, he stepped into the light, clapping his hands together mockingly. "Brilliantly conceived, King Kuei," he called out as all eyes glared at him, hostility poised through their bodies. "But to target Fire in such a bold fashion risks The Avatar's wrath."
"Who are you?" General How demanded, trapping Ozai's feet inside the Earth. "How dare you desecrate King Kuei's presence?"
Ozai smirked. "I am a vengeance-seeker, like all of you. I have been wronged by many. Fire wronged me, shamed me when I was to be so much more." Shaking his head in loathing, he lied through his teeth. "I am a non-bender born in the Colonies to a mother who lacked the swiftness of beautiful women. A bastard and half-spawn, I was scorned no matter what I did, no matter how I sought to prove my worth; my mother ridiculed me and banished me from her home. I met The Avatar during my travels after the Great War, and when I begged him to destroy Fire, to avenge the wrongs done to me, to my race, and to my mother, who, despite her cruelty, I still love, The Avatar spit on me with his virtue and goodness, his patronizing morality! I want vengeance against him, too, for he denied me—as he has denied you. How will you control he who is uncontrollable? He is The Avatar, above us all, and his judgment freezes us in place and makes us less of ourselves. The Avatar has done nothing to quench our thirst for vengeance against Fire, and I doubt he will start now."
King Kuei raised an eyebrow in response to his story. "You seek the destruction of your own race?"
"Fire is not my race!" he lied passionately, infusing in his voice ire and outrage; he easily slipped into the role of a foolish man seeking retribution. "They are savages and monsters! Look at what Fire did to my mother, and I am the result! I am a half-spawn because of Fire, shamed forever because of it!"
"You do not look like one of the half-spawns of the Colonies," one of the other generals said, face flickering with doubt. "You look like Fire."
"Which led to my shame. I inherited all of that evil! And I want vengeance. I could have been an honorable Child of Earth, but instead, I am a child of no one, outside of Earth and Fire; I am but scorched dirt! I want Fire to be destroyed by the very element they worship, but I need your help to do it, King Kuei."
He noticed that the Generals were listening closely and that they had all lowered their guard, not believing that he could possibly be a threat. Ozai almost laughed at how simple and easy it was to manipulate them all. It was easy to see that King Kuei had learned much, but he was still beholden to his nature as a weak man and, thus, easy to control.
"What do you propose?" General How asked, releasing Ozai's trapped feet. "The Avatar has denied us our rightful vengeance! But we cannot defeat him; he is The Avatar! He is a greater threat than Fire Lord Ozai ever was!"
Ozai refrained from obliterating him with lightning at the truthful observation and, instead, his eyes gleamed with promise. "Someone as ancient as The Avatar can give you the opportunity. Vaatu, the Mighty Spirit of Chaos and Darkness, the creator of this Realm, has awakened from his forced slumber! He was betrayed!" he cried out dramatically, eyes wide with truth. "He was unjustly trapped by The Avatar eons ago, and he needs your help to destroy the lying and treacherous Avatar! I know that The Avatar has not given you the vengeance that you crave, but Vaatu will, and with your help, he will destroy Fire and The Avatar who has wronged us all!"
King Kuei smiled, eyes interested; he leaned forward on his throne. "A fascinating story," he commented, voice not as controlled as it should be; he was a weak man and always would be. "But I do not know your name."
"Piandao," he supplied, lying easily through his teeth. He had always hated the swordsman for the rumors that had circulated through the Court about Zuko, ones that declared that Piandao had made Prince Ozai a cuckold by sleeping with Princess Ursa before their marriage. For a while, Ozai had contemplated those rumors to find the truth, but he knew that Zuko was of his blood, everything proved it: he looked like him, he was now a powerful Firebender, and Agni had not destroyed him when he first sat down on the Dragon's Throne after Sozin's Comet.
When Ozai had killed Piandao, it was a fond spectacle to witness the light leave the non-bender's eyes. Now there was beauty in the fact that Piandao would now be known as a traitor to his race through history; nobody would remember Piandao as a swordsman who could not bend, but rather as the Herald of Vaatu.
It was his ultimate revenge on the man whom he hated with a fierce burn.
King Kuei nodded in acceptance but gestured to himself, the Dai Li, and Council of Five. "Piandao, I am inclined to believe you, but how do we know that you speak the truth? You could be lying, trying to manipulate us."
General How butted in before with a shout before Ozai could respond, face contorted into a mass of suspicion. "Most wise, King Kuei. Why should any of us trust someone of Fire? He may not be a Firebender, but he very well could be a spy sent by Fire Lord Zuko to cripple us all!"
Ozai's eyes narrowed in fury, teeth gnashing together, attempting to grind them until they turned to dust. "I despise that traitor more than anyone but The Avatar! I want to piss on his headless corpse and desecrate his name forever, searing a scar over his other eye to match its twin!"
"You cannot possibly mean that…" General How suddenly looked unsure after Ozai's words, his confessional performance. "To rebel against the Fire Lord is treason—everyone knows that."
"I do not believe in Fire Lord Zuko," Ozai snapped. "I do not follow Fire Lord Zuko; my allegiance is to myself and Mighty Vaatu." He turned to King Kuei, who was more than interested. "I implore you, King Kuei, join Vaatu, and he will give to us what The Avatar denies."
"An intriguing possibility," King Kuei murmured, fingers tapping against each other rhythmically. "But why should I believe you, Piandao? I believe your need for retribution and vengeance—your legitimacy is clear to see. But you mention this Vaatu, which reveals your nature as a liar. There is no record in the Earth Kingdom—or in any of the other nations, for that matter—of a Vaatu, least of all a Vaatu so eminent that he created this Realm."
Ozai smirked in triumph, the charm, truth, and ambition surging through him. "You lack belief in what you perceive and comprehend as the impossible. I will give you what you want—I will give you the experience that will transform your notion of possibility. You do not need to recognize my word; you need to recognize his word."
He pointed to the doors of the throne room. However, for several seconds nothing happened, and General How stood up, no doubt to order the Dai Li to kill him for mockery, but then darkness descended through the door, suffocating everyone except one; instead, Ozai felt invigorated by the feel of his ally.
"Feel his embrace, King Kuei!" he shouted. "He is Vaatu!"
The shadows gathered into a ball of unholy darkness before the globe shrunk, and Vaatu appeared before them all, looming over like death itself. "Thank you, Piandao," his ally murmured like silk; the ancient spirit floated past Ozai and stared down at the Children of Earth. "You are Ba Sing Se's king. Why did you doubt my ally's claim? He is to be my vessel against The Avatar. By doubting him, you doubted me, the one who gave you this kingdom to rule because I created this Realm in which you live."
The blood drained from King Kuei's face. "No, Mighty Vaatu! I was hesitant to believe an outsider who snuck into the palace! I believed it prudent. Forgive us of our disrespect to your grandeur, Creator of the Mortal Realm."
Vaatu hummed. "I am generous, Kuei. I can forgive your slights against me and my ally—but only this once. You will find I have a much greater capacity for wrath and vengeance than The Avatar. He forgives Fire when he should not; he is foolish and weak. But Devi's children hold strength—I sense it. If you pledge yourself to me and Piandao, all your desires will manifest; all your vengeance will consume Fire like fire."
King Kuei's eyes gleamed. "Poetic justice. You are most benevolent, Mighty Vaatu."
Ozai knew it immediately that King Kuei was going to be a temporary ally—until his usefulness faded. "This is our promise to you," he called out, the shadows of Vaatu coalescing around him, revealing the truth of his identity to everyone—Vaatu's future vessel. "The revenge we seek against those who have wronged us, humiliated us, castrated us, is imminent—if only you pledge yourself."
"There are strong Earthbenders here," Vaatu said, seeming to focus on the Council of Five and Dai Li. "You will play crucial roles in the coming conflict. Our vengeance against The Avatar will soon be realized, with or without you. You have the choice to join in the glorious triumph over the Betrayer of Creation. With The Avatar gone, anything is possible." Vaatu floated back to align himself next to Ozai. "What will it be, Children of Earth? Do you share Piandao's wisdom, or do you share The Avatar's ignorance?"
King Kuei, after several tense moments, stepped down from his throne, both the Council of Five and all of the Dai Li following; in unison, they all kneeled before Vaatu's floating form. "I am a Child of Earth," they all chorused, the echoes of their oath filling the room with an impressive baritone. "My word is my bond. My body, heart, and destiny are surrendered to your will, Vaatu, Creator of the Mortal Realm."
The plans had come together beautifully after gaining the Earth Kingdom's support, and Ozai swiftly gained King Kuei's trust and regard by helping him plan for the imminent war with Fire, impressing King Kuei with his knowledge and tactics. Unfortunately, he failed to impress the Council of Five, who challenged him on several crucial areas, but it was not too surprising. Iroh had been the one to inherit much of Father's military genius while Ozai inherited Father's genius in other ways. Iroh could never conceive becoming Vaatu's vessel, lacking the genius to envision, but Ozai knew Father would understand; Father's intelligence was always so daunting and severe.
Ozai did his best to imitate and surpass.
It amused him to force Zuko to choose between Azula and the Fire Nation, knowing of his son's weak sentimentality for his sister who lost her mind, weaker than her brother ever was. Azula's fall from sanity disgusted Ozai, for much of Sozin's strength lied not only in the blood of their prestigious lineage but of the mind, the cunning and patience to fight against the forces of the world that conspired to destroy Fire. He once thought Azula had a strong mind, but his daughter failed profoundly; she failed in ways that no heir of Sozin could ever fail.
It was sickening—she was sickening!
Like Ursa failed to have strength after killing his father, Azula failed to have strength after Zuko joined The Avatar. He had seen the signs of her imminent insanity after Zuko made him prouder—angrier, too—than ever but could not believe it. After everything he did for his daughter, pushing her to be better, she proved herself weaker than her brother in all areas, including firebending because Zuko defeated her in the Agni Kai for the Dragon's Throne.
He sired two failures for his children, and he blamed Ursa. If Ursa was not consumed by her weakness, as Azula later was, and stayed after killing his father, as was the plan, so much could have been avoided. It was too late for his children, but there was time for more children. Once he found Ursa, he would have more children by her, and they could start over, do what they always talked about in their younger days after their first meeting, when Ursa shared his ambition and encouraged him in everything he did.
But he was still stuck with his two failures of children who still lived, and it brought him great pleasure to pressure Zuko with King Kuei's demands for Azula or war. Would his son make the correct decision, being the Fire Lord who looked after Agni's children no matter the personal cost to himself, or would he be selfish and choose Azula, choose to condemn Agni's children to war because he could not let go of his pathetic sister?
Of course, his son chose poorly, but it was anticipated. For all of Zuko's strides in strength and power, he was still always going to disappoint because it was his nature. However, Zuko impressed him with his defensive measures in the new war, and it caused much arguing between himself, the Council of Five, and King Kuei. Ozai advised waiting and not pressing as hard, forcing his son into a war of attrition by cutting off supply lines, hitting the boats that cross from the continent to the Fire Nation. But King Kuei and the Council of Five wanted aggression, fighting Fire's navy directly.
Ozai laughed at such absurdity. Fire's navy was the best in the world, and while Earth had obtained premier vessels because of Zuko's weak-minded reparations, Earth lacked the experience necessary to wield the vessels to their potential. Earth would be slaughtered effortlessly. While Ozai wanted to see it happen, he had to bide his time and could not endorse such foolishness, especially during such a crucial time. So, he argued against it, but it was a fierce argument with neither side willing to give in. It took Vaatu himself intervening for his advisement to be taken seriously. Of course, his son had impressed him again by thinking of that and reinforcing the supply lines. Apparently, Zuko had stockpiled food for the Fire Nation without his knowledge. Unfortunately, it seemed that Zuko had absorbed some of Iroh's military strategy from their time in banishment together.
Zuko's choice not to attack and play defense was the opposite of Fire's nature, and it was equally maddening and impressive that Zuko had such restraint, such control. His son went into the Colonies and evacuated Fire's people while Earth still mobilized for its attack, and Ozai was proud of Zuko for thinking of his race. While Zuko made the wrong decision not to sacrifice Azula to buy time for the inevitable war, he still thought of his—no, their—race, acting as a worthy Fire Lord.
Perhaps he had misjudged his son. Or perhaps not, since Zuko's lack of aggression revealed weakness, giving Earth hope. Zuko should surge against Earth in an onslaught to pulverize Earth, robbing them of their hope and spirit, forever proving Fire's supremacy. But Zuko refused like the coward he was.
Unfortunate.
The war was not going to plan with Zuko's unthinkable lack of aggression, but what was even more unthinkable was The Avatar's absence. The god was nowhere to be seen for months, and Ozai had even had the furious but grateful thought that The Avatar had died, but Vaatu assured him that The Avatar lived and was in the Fire Nation. Vaatu vanished for long periods, searching for Devi, Tui, La, and Indra, the Elementals they still needed on their side, alternating between the Immortal and Mortal Realms in his search.
But Vaatu failed to procure the Elementals' aides just as Ozai failed in administering his influence over the new war.
But then The Avatar arrived in Ba Sing Se with Azula and the blind Earthbender the Dai Li told him about, and it was glorious. Terrifying but glorious.
When he saw Azula in Ba Sing Se again, when The Avatar brought her as a prisoner, she looked so similar to Ursa that it was painful, despite Azula being several years younger than Ursa at that time; she had looked so much like her mother the last time he saw her—before she betrayed him and fled. But he saw in her such weakness, such pitiful sycophancy that it sickened him. Her fearful devotion pleased him on some level, but he was much more disgusted with her.
But she still had her uses, particularly when she revealed that she had seduced The Avatar, which would provide him a pivotal ingress through which to strike at the god. She had redeemed herself temporarily, but Ozai waited for her to fail him—as was her nature.
However, seeing The Avatar again, no longer a boy in stature but still a boy in perception, was a thrill, a portal into what he would one day become when he ascended to become Vaatu's Avatar. The Avatar radiated power unlike anything imaginable, even before he erupted in wrath. It was in the way he glared at King Kuei, adamant and authoritative, revealing no signs of that pathetic boy who had begged him to stop his conquest during Sozin's Comet. No, the boy had grown into a man, but there were still notable signs that he remained that weak boy in his perception.
The Avatar's restraint was his undoing. If The Avatar had snapped against King Kuei in the palace, none of what came to pass would have happened, but because The Avatar refused to relinquish his restraint on his own, holding on so tightly, when his restraint was broken by actions provoked elsewhere, the destruction was worse. When Ozai shot the lightning into The Avatar's sky bison, killing it, he barely escaped Ba Sing Se's murder, the destruction everywhere and impossible to comprehend. It was unbelievable, but he had been there and lived through it. However, it showed to him what he would become once he ascended; it was beautiful.
After surviving Ba Sing Se, he felt a new urgency to become Vaatu's Avatar as quickly as possible because it was clear that he could never survive against The Avatar in a fight. Thus, he undertook a new mission after Ba Sing Se's demise: obtain the aid of the Fire Sages and any of the other Elemental Spirit followers.
Vaatu sent him to the temple of Avatar Jinzhai, home to five of the many sages of the Fire Nation. Ozai had planned to sack each temple all at once, but it was improbable; he had not been able to appear at all of the Fire Avatar Temples simultaneously. So, instead, he had traveled to each Avatar Temple, swaying some of the sages to join him, their once Fire Lord; he would then take his loyalists with him after slaughtering those who chose to rebel, leaving their bodies to rot, to send a message to his worthless son: the reign of Fire Lord Zuko would soon reach its twilight—the Phoenix would soon rise, and with his ascension to godhood, the world will become alight with fire, bathed in divine might.
"Ozai." Vaatu's voice pulled him from his thoughts. "Prepare yourself. I sense her; she is coming."
Looking up at the withering tree, Ozai smiled at the sight of something that had once been magnificent but was now dying—just like the Fire Nation under his worthless fucking son's rule in which Fire fought against its aggressive nature.
Vaatu suddenly rushed into Ozai's body, and he felt what true power really was once more. Did The Avatar always feel that invigorated? Did the god realize how much more power he possessed, a power that was far more than anyone else's in either of the Realms?
He doubted it.
"Our plans are coming together gloriously, my friend," Vaatu commended, voice echoing in his mind. "Soon, you will be forged into my vessel, a vessel of supreme power."
Shadows swirled around him, and he vanished like smoke—with Vaatu's help.
XxXxXxXxXxX
The unhappiness felt like a presence in her life, an internal misery that she couldn't change no matter how hard she tried to change it; the feeling wasn't fixed. Toph didn't know what to do. After the horror of Ba Sing Se, which she still couldn't even describe and likely never would be able to, something was missing inside her; there was a void where there was once acceptance. Now there was only confusion and horror; there was only fear and bitterness. She couldn't think of Aang the same way as she had before. Where was her once friend who was so chipper and kind, so positive and enthusiastic? How had her friend been replaced by an asshole, cold and jaded, cruel and resentful? Or had Aang always been that way after realizing Air's loss and desperately put on a clever façade during the Great War to prevent himself from shattering?
It seemed more and more likely the longer she considered it, the more she understood human nature and what Aang had been dealing with. But was he really Aang? No, he was something more.
It helped that she saw Aang as two separations; there was Twinkletoes, who was her friend, and there was The Avatar, a fucking monster who would rip her in half if he wanted to, and she could never stop him. If The Avatar willed it, there was no un-willing it. Once, she wanted Aang to be a lot more Avatar during the Great War, thinking it would make everything so much easier, making victory certain rather than unlikely. She thought if he would get up off his timid ass and do something, be The Avatar he should be and was, it would spare her from all the stress and worry, especially as Sozin's Comet approached like a pulse of doom.
But The Avatar was probably worse than anything Ozai could do because while Ozai was still a man, Aang was also a man but more than a man; he was beyond humans, beyond the confines of mortality known by all men—because he was The Avatar, a god in human form, and there was something terrifying about that fact. Being a god wasn't all sunshine and fresh breezes; being a god also meant black storm clouds with lightning and fire sizzling through the air, swirled around by tempests, and echoed by clashes of thunder.
Divinity was gentle and terrible in equal measure, and it hurt to think about—but it was all she could think about while at the Eastern Air Temple since her arrival after what happened to Ba Sing Se! Because what happened to Ba Sing Se was unimaginable; it was unthinkable; it was like the stories her mother told her about Avatar Kuruk, who was so apathetic that the Mortal Realm suffered for centuries, and it culminated in the Face Stealer stealing Avatar Kuruk's wife's face to punish him. But when hearing those stories as a child, she didn't really believe them; she didn't really believe in The Avatar to begin with because he had been gone so long, but she knew The Avatar had once existed. But she couldn't comprehend a man—no, a god—who could be so apathetic to human suffering like Avatar Kuruk was. But she understood now that she was older how easily possible it was, not just for The Avatar but for anyone.
She never gave a badgermole's shit about Fire during the Great War, never caring about their suffering, but Fire's suffering was just as real as Earth, Water, and Air's suffering. She realized it now, aware of how easily she could be apathetic to human suffering—just like Avatar Kuruk had been. Like Zuko and Aang said, no one won the Great War in the end; there were only losers because there was too much loss and horror on both sides.
But there wouldn't be any winners now with the new war with Vaatu—The Avatar ensured it. There would only be losers, and The Avatar would be the biggest loser of all. But then again, The Avatar—Aang!—was already the biggest loser having lost all of Air and the time in which he lived.
She was beginning to understand that astronomical, incalculable loss more, and it left a foreboding chill in her spirit, a dampness in her blood that she couldn't shake. It made his actions—before Ba Sing Se, at least—make a lot more sense. Could she blame him for all of that since his life turned out so shitty?
Yes, she found that she could blame him, and she did blame him. But it wasn't only the understanding of Aang's loss that scared her; it was Aang himself who scared her—because he was The Avatar, no matter how much she and everyone, including Aang, tried to keep the separation of identities when, always, there was just one identity.
She never thought she would feel such terror in her life, especially since she was relatively stable during the Great War. Sure, she was scared shit-less several times during the Great War, but it was nothing—nothing!—compared to the scared life-less she felt while The Avatar destroyed Ba Sing Se. And it was so terrifying because she knew that The Avatar didn't care about what he did to Ba Sing Se, not really. Twinkletoes cared, and she could feel the guilt and regret, the horror, wafting off him like a terrible smell ever since, but The Avatar was something else.
Could The Avatar feel guilty? Did the divine feel guilty? Or did the divine feel only validation and pleasure, knowing that his actions were somehow, humanly-impossible-to-understand right?
Toph didn't like the answers she arrived at based on the evidence.
All of those heartbeats stopping suddenly and violently, exploding from terror, bodies crumbling to the ground, broken and lifeless; all of the screams that echoed through the air, piercing her ears—and spirit—with terror, which only compounded her own. She couldn't feel The Avatar during everything that happened, but she could fill in the gaps—or could she since The Avatar was so far beyond her? There was no guilt when it happened; there was only wrath and retribution, which meant rightness in perception and understanding.
All she knew was that Azula was a fuck-ton better company than The Avatar—and Twinkletoes when his head was up his ass, which pretty much seemed to be his permanent state—and it was so wrong and backwards to how everything was right after the Great War ended.
She hated it! She fucking hated it! It was wrong! It was evil! She should be wanting to force a spike up Azula's ass and out her mouth, not spar with her for fun—for fun! She should be laughing with Aang, not wanting to punch his throat because that was the best she could reach now that he was so tall! She should be enjoying a peaceful time unmarred by war and chaos, not fearful of more conflict and blood! She should be living her life with her friends and loved ones, not isolated at the Eastern Air Temple with a 158-year-old guru, a 6-year-old airbending girl, the former insane Fire Princess, and an even more insane Aang, who she sometimes thought wasn't her friend anymore!
How had things turned out this way? How had all of this happened? Was anything good still possible? Could the world recover? Could there ever be Four Nations again? Sure, Azula was going to pop out some Airbenders for Aang sooner or later—it was the reasonable conclusion based on Azula and Aang's actions, and the way they acted with each other—but would those new Airbenders be hunted down for the crimes of their parents, one of whom committed great crimes during the Great War, and the other slaughtered Ba Sing Se like it was the easiest thing in the world years after the Great War ended?
But had the Great War ever really ended? There may have been a lull for a few years, but the Great War only seemed to endure in this new war; it was a continuance; it was an evolution of the Great War because its heart held the same source and energy. It was between the same two people! It was between Aang and Ozai all over again! It was between The Avatar and The Avatar's enemies!
How could any of this be resolved? How could there be actual peace in the world? How could there be balance and order?
She knew the answer—she would have to feel The Avatar do his Avatar thing again.
It was sobering and scary, knowing that she would experience haunting memories of death all over again. When Aang became The Avatar, transforming into that monstrous thing, it was the most terrifying nightmare imaginable. The first time when she experienced such fear was when she and the Gaang had been trapped in the Si Wong Desert, when they were confronted by the Sandbenders, the ones who she had discovered stole Appa.
She had and never would forget that ancient voice that boomed like thunder itself, the howling winds as a boy with incomprehensible power unleashed thousands of years of rage, loss, and grief. In the Si Wong Desert, she hadn't understood what was happening, why the air around her had become unbearably heavy, weighing her down with the weight of the heavens, why the murky and muddled vibrations through the sand had exploded with energy, why she had then been able to see clearer than any other time in the Si Wong Desert due to the divine vibrations scorching through the sand like sizzling fire, and why Katara and Sokka—and those fucking thieving Sandbenders, too—had been filled with terror.
It hadn't been until Sokka finally grabbed a hold of her when she felt the fear of death, and it had only been then, in what she had thought to be her final living moment as the gales of screeching wind bore down on her, when she understood her terrible mistake in believing Aang to be weaker than her. Ever since she had met him, she had dismissed him as an annoying kid, even while knowing he was The Avatar, thinking he would never be strong, and she would have to personally help him face the Fire Lord.
But it was in the Si Wong Desert when she realized the truth. No matter the lifetime, Aang would never end; he would always exist. She had been a fool beyond fools; her prodigious earthbending skills and strength were nothing when compared to all the power of The Avatar, limitless and boundless, inescapable and inevitable. The Avatar's life, no matter what name he took, spanned eons; all enemies who rose to test him during his lifetimes were delivered of their chaos through death, provided by The Avatar, the embodiment of an army of gods that only became more powerful across each generation.
And Ba Sing Se's slaughter only verified everything she had felt about The Avatar since the Si Wong Desert—but inflamed everything to such a level that she still had trouble processing it months later! Ba Sing Se was infinitely worse than the Si Wong Desert! In that accursed desert, no one had died, miraculously, but in Ba Sing Se, there were no more miracles. The only miracle was that Samir had been spared death, guided by the Air Spirit; the only miracle was if anyone else besides Samir had survived the wrath of The Avatar, who unleashed a vicious rampage, mercilessly slaughtering King Kuei and all his subjects. The Avatar was beyond anything she had experienced; he was like a monster who rose from the Spirit World intent on plaguing her dreams for years, to scare her more than anything else in this world.
And she would have to feel The Avatar again if this new war was going to end.
Fuck, she really missed Bor because he would know just what to say.
Toph swallowed and shook her head. Nope. Don't go there. Leave Bor out of this.
But it was hard—because she missed him a lot, more than she thought she would, but her ache to see him had become painfully pronounced after The Avatar murdered Ba Sing Se, and everything she knew was shattered.
"Toph!"
She jerked and felt Samir bound towards her with endless energy; it was uncanny how exactly like Aang Samir moved around, light and barely felt. It was actually more impressive than Aang—because Samir was only an Airbender while Aang was all the elements, unable to commit himself fully to just one element, unable to ever be as light as Samir.
It was clearly an innate Airbender trait that she had to become adjusted to. But because she'd never encountered any other Airbenders—thanks, Sozin—it was a big adjustment to make.
"Are they back yet?" Toph asked when Samir stopped suddenly in front of her exactly like Aang used to during the Great War.
It made her miss her friend from so long ago.
Samir's arms crossed over her chest, and it sounded like she was pouting. "No. Why are they gone so long? I want to play with Aang! He promised he'd throw me off the top of the temple! And then he'd catch me before I landed in the valley!"
Toph marveled in disbelief at how insane Airbenders were. If Sozin had highlighted Airbenders' careless disregard for their lives, making them a threat to others, it was no wonder that everyone—or mostly everyone—of Fire wanted Air slaughtered off.
"He and Lightning Psycho are in the Spirit World," she explained, trying to be patient. At least she was trying. When dealing with Aang during the Great War, she never gave a shit about being patient with his stupid questions. "Time works differently there. That's all I know."
Samir's head tilted—or it felt like it did. "Why do you call Azula that? Lightning Psycho."
She was surprised that it took so long for Samir to ask the question. "Why do I call you Hitchhiker?"
"Because you found me on Appa."
"Exactly," Toph said with a nod. "It's something you do. I nicknamed her Lightning Psycho because she was shooting lightning all the time; the first time I met her, she shot lightning at me."
Well, technically, it was at the entire Gaang, but it still counted.
"She can't shoot lightning," Samir accused, sounding doubtful. "I haven't seen her do it. She's never said so."
Toph rolled her eyes. "I knew her before you did; I knew her before you were even born. She liked to shoot lightning back then."
"Really?" Samir gasped. "Did it look cool?"
"Not really able to answer that," she drawled.
"Oh," Samir breathed before laughing. "I'll ask Aang when he gets back."
Toph winced at the memory of Azula nearly killing Aang in the Ba Sing Se catacombs. "You should ask him other things," she said quickly. "Like, when is he going to start training you in airbending?"
"He already has!" Samir exclaimed, giggling. "He says he's going to take me glider-surfing so I can feel the wind more in the sky! I can't wait!"
Clearly, Aang was more insane than she thought, but Toph accepted it; Aang knew what he was talking about when it came to Airbenders—mostly. "Do you like airbending?"
Samir nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh! It's so much fun! And it feels good. Airbending's amazing."
"Glad to hear it," she said, knowing Aang was somehow probably giddy in the Spirit World from those words. "Have you been practicing while he's gone?"
The shuffled feet alerted her of her answer. "I've tried, but I don't like meditating! It's so boring! It's stupid! I feel the air all the time, and I feel it even more now! I don't know what else I'm supposed to do!" Samir swallowed and looked away. "Do you think Aang will be mad? I don't want him to be mad at me."
Aang was going to have his hands full trying to train Samir, who, like Azula observed, would never be more than mediocre at airbending. Fortunately, that was a good thing because not all Airbenders could be like Aang, who mastered his first element faster than anyone in recorded history. His expectations for his children, when he had them, couldn't be impossible.
"I'm sure he'll understand," she assured. "Let me tell you something—he had a lot of trouble learning earthbending."
Samir gasped. "Really? But he's The Avatar!"
Toph nodded in confirmation. "Yep. He stunk worse than a badgermole's shi- I mean, poop. Yeah, he stunk worse than a badgermole's poop. He was bad. But he got better with time and practice." He got better so impossibly quickly, especially given the massive depths of his problems starting off, that it really was no wonder he was The Avatar. "And now, he's stronger than me—but don't ever tell him I said that, got it?"
"Uh-huh. So, I'll get better, too?"
"Sure will. I bet you'll be zooming around with a glider in no time."
Samir laughed. "You don't zoom, Toph; you glide."
Aang had definitely gotten his hooks into Samir. "It feels like zooming to me."
"But you're not an Airbender."
And thank fuck for that.
"I'm glad I'm not an Airbender," she defended. "Then I'd be as crazy as you and Twinkletoes!"
Samir giggled. "I'm not crazy! You're crazy!"
"Earthbenders aren't crazy, kid," Toph corrected with a grin. "We're stubborn. Firebenders are angry; Earthbenders are stubborn; Waterbenders are annoying; and Airbenders are crazy."
"Does that mean Aang's all those things?"
She surprised herself with a bark of laughter and reached out to punch Samir's arm gently. "Not bad. Yes, it means he's all those things."
"But he's funny, too," Samir defended. "He's fun to play with. He's nice to me. He said he loves me!"
Toph's brows rose at that information but knowing how sentimental Aang was about Air, it was obvious he would love Samir once she was confirmed to be an Airbender, even if his obvious dislike of her mixed blood remained. "You work fast, kid. Well done."
"What's that mean? I'm an Airbender. I'm supposed to be fast."
"Never mind," she dismissed.
Samir tugged on her hand. "Come on! Let's play in the water! I'm bored!"
Toph wanted to punch Aang and Azula for leaving her on Samir duty since Pathik was nowhere to be felt. "I don't like the water, Hitchhiker."
"That's 'cause you always lose!"
But she could admire the kid's boldness. "That's because I can't feel in the water."
Samir yanked harder before darting around and pushing her from behind. "You'll feel the water when I splash you! Come on!"
She shook her head for patience. "It's not happening."
"Please?"
Toph relented. "Fine. But I'm only putting my feet in. No dunking."
Samir nodded. "Okay."
Of course, when she put her feet in the fountain, Samir tried to dunk her.
Toph grinned and bumped Samir into the water with the stone edge and gripped her head and held her under for longer than Aang had ever dared. But when Samir came up with a sputter of water that splashed in Toph's face, Samir laughed.
"Good one, Toph!"
"It's always a good one when I do it," Toph bragged. "But no more dunking or I'll get out."
"Okay."
This time, Samir stuck to her word. But after several moments, it felt like Samir was taking off her clothes, and Toph jammed her foot into the stone, trying to see if her feet were wrong.
"Samir?" she asked, feeling confused. "What are you doing?"
"Being an Airbender."
Toph rolled her eyes. "Don't be smart. Did you take off your clothes?"
It felt like Samir nodded; it was confirmed a moment later when water slung into her face in a light pattern. "Uh-huh."
She wiped the water from her face. "Everything? You took off all your clothes?"
"Uh-huh."
Clearly, Samir didn't see the problem. But Toph's face scrunched in disbelief. "So, you're naked as the day you were born right now?"
"Uh-huh."
She threw her hands in the air. "But why? Pathik could come out any moment!"
Samir crossed her arms and huffed. "Aang said Air Nomad clothes are special," she said in a patronizing manner; it almost resembled Azula. It didn't prevent Toph from wanting to dunk her hard. "I don't want to make them bad by getting water in them too much."
Toph blinked, unaware that she had started wearing Air clothes, but it made sense that Aang would wrap Samir up immediately in Air clothes once he realized she really was an Airbender, like Pathik had kept claiming. "You're wearing Airbender clothes now?"
"No. I took them off."
She felt a headache in her skull. "Just put the clothes on. Twinkletoes is The Avatar; he'll pull the water right out."
Samir laughed, and the water swayed with her movements. "Oh, yeah! But it feels good without the clothes. I can move easier; it's not as heavy."
"Consider it airbending training," she said quickly. "The wind is heavy, and you need to strengthen yourself to deal with it."
"But you're not an Airbender," Samir said suspiciously. "How would you know?"
Toph snorted. "Twinkletoes will agree with me. If he doesn't, you can push me right off the temple."
Samir gasped in awe. "Really?"
Fucking Airbenders.
She sighed, desperately hoping that Aang would agree with her decision. "Sure. Now put your clothes on."
When she first met Samir, she hadn't been prepared for acting as the kid's mom or anything; that was more Azula's job, even though that was a terrifying thought. But here she was, acting like Samir's mom. But she didn't want to act like a mom because moms were boring as shit and kill-joys; maybe she could be a cool aunt. Yeah, that would do.
Toph felt Samir slip the clothes on as more sluggish vibrations from her body registered with her feet. "Good job. Now swim around and strengthen your body."
Samir energetically followed her order, splashing not-quite-rhythmically, and Toph felt the water sway against and around her feet; it felt nice.
She jumped at the feel of Pathik sitting next to her on the fountain's edge. "I admire your teaching strategy," he said with amusement.
"You're pretty smooth for an old man, old man," she greeted, trying to calm her racing heart. No one snuck up on her—ever. "Don't tell me all the fruit pies are gone."
Pathik sank his feet into the water. "No, there are plenty. Until Aang returns from the Spirit World, there will be plenty."
Toph snorted. "You're telling me. He inhales those things like air."
"You will not stay here much longer," he observed after several moments. "I hoped that Aang would master more of his chakras, but he is not ready."
She had heard the story from Azula already. "Will he ever be ready?"
Pathik's head bowed. "I don't know."
It was a sobering confession that evoked both dread and sadness inside her. "I hope he does," she whispered. "Ba Sing Se can't happen again."
"I agree."
Toph swallowed. "But you don't know. You weren't there; I was. Maybe you felt the energy from here- "
"I did."
"- but it was so different being there and feeling it." Shivers wracked over her, and her heart increased in its rhythm. "I know why Sozin was scared of The Avatar; I think I know better than he did."
Pathik nodded. "You encountered divinity, a terrifying thing. His reach is cosmic and, within him, is the knowledge, wisdom, and power lost eons ago."
Toph's fists clenched over the stone's edge, cracks appearing around her fingers. "Do you know what it's like? You're the one he said taught him how to master The Avatar State. Have you seen it? Have you seen him when he's like that?"
"I saw The Avatar State briefly while Aang attempted to master his second chakra. He failed, which provoked The Avatar State, but it was gone swiftly."
She shuddered at the knowledge that The Avatar reappeared at the Eastern Air Temple while she was there. "I can't think of anything worse in the world," she whispered. "I mean, I couldn't do anything. I'm the third strongest Earthbender in the world, but I couldn't lift a finger against The Avatar; I was weak and powerless. I imagine it's what being raped is like. He raped Ba Sing Se, and I was in Ba Sing Se when he did it. I was there for the whole thing, beginning to end, and I'm never going to think of him in the same way again; I haven't been able to. I've tried, but I still remember. That was part of my home, in the Earth Kingdom, and while I hated Kuei's fucking guts, that should have never happened. It was evil; it was like Sozin."
"Aang knows this," Pathik consoled.
"I know he does," Toph conceded, voice cracking slightly, and she hated the tears that welled in her eyes, "but it's hard for me to accept! Where's my friend, Pathik? Where is he? What happened to him? What happened to us? My friend would have never done that to Ba Sing Se; my friend spared Ozai of his less-than-deserved life; my friend was my friend. I loved my friend. But I can't find him now, not really. I've felt and heard flashes, but that's it."
Pathik was quiet for several moments. "I never knew Aang before the Great War, but I knew of him. Gyatso would speak of Aang often, and I would listen; I would absorb. I look for that boy Gyatso described so fondly, and I keep looking because I haven't found him yet. The closest I came to meeting him was when he came here to open his chakras during the Great War, but he was not that boy described by Gyatso, not anymore. Too much happened, and too much was experienced. I wonder often what Gyatso would think of Aang."
Toph sniffed and wiped away the tears; she felt heavy. "I think he's the only one who could talk some sense into him."
"I've had the same thought," he divulged quietly, mournful.
"Or Azula," she added after several moments, and it was with less bitterness than she had expected. After all, she found Azula better company than Aang most of the time. It was just another thing that had gone wrong in the world.
Pathik chuckled slightly. "I've had the same thought."
Toph dipped down and massaged the slots between her toes in the water with her fingers; it felt nice and relieving. "During the Great War, I never knew if we'd win, especially at the end with Sozin's Comet so close," she revealed, remembering the end of the Great War, on Ember Island, and how Aang had been stir-crazy, stress more prominent in his body's vibrations than his actual heartbeat. Her friend had only been twelve years old, her own age, yet he had the fate of the entire world—of both Realms—bearing down on his shoulders with the weight of every nation. "But I had faith that Aang would be able to do the impossible. It's the same now, but I don't have that faith in him anymore. It's gone, and I want it back, but I can't get it back."
"To triumph over Vaatu, strength is needed—much more strength than was needed to end the Great War. It takes strength to hold faith."
She licked her lips. "I'm not sure we have that strength," she said softly so Samir, who continued swimming and entertaining herself on the other side of the fountain, wouldn't overhear. "Nothing's going as it should. Ba Sing Se shouldn't have happened."
"This is bigger than this moment," Pathik observed, voice soft and considering. "This was destined to happen always; it's part of the cycle."
Toph scoffed in disgust. "What fucking cycle would want all of this?"
"The world has been imbalanced for so long, longer than you will understand, that imbalance will reign until Aang proactively forces balance. Order must be enforced when chaos threatens everything."
"What Aang did to Ba Sing Se wasn't enforcing order," she pointed out, voice shaking slightly. "He made chaos; he made death. There was nothing good about it. I can barely feel him without remembering what he did."
Pathik nodded. "I know; I am the same. But there is more to it. I cannot conceive the beauty in Ba Sing Se's demise, but I know I will one day when I achieve clarity about it."
Toph felt jarred. "There's no beauty in Ba Sing Se's death!"
"I once said the same about Air's murder."
Silence.
She swallowed, stunned. "You think Air's murder was beautiful?"
No wonder Aang and Pathik didn't get along.
Pathik laughed softly. "I think Air's murder was not only evil; I think it was many things, including beautiful. I do not believe the same about Ba Sing Se's murder now, but I know I will in the future; it takes time for enlightenment."
Toph rubbed her arms. "I don't think I want that enlightenment."
"Aang does not want it, either."
She winced at the observation. "I guess we both need to work on that."
"Everything you do going forward impacts the future of the world," Pathik said heavily after several moments. "It is primarily Aang on whom the world relies, but it's also your group, including you. You're going to play a big role, and you need to be ready. Vaatu has risen from his imprisonment, and he acquires power by the moment. This is a serious threat, more than you could even imagine."
Toph tried to laugh. "Is this spirit as powerful as you and Aang claim it is?"
"More so."
"So, I won't be able to take him in a fight?"
Pathik shook his head. "In any fight, he would take all of you, including your spirit, which he would distort to suit his purposes. If he can't corrupt you, he will kill you. No one but Aang can endure a direct onslaught from him. The most powerful of benders may be able to survive for several moments against him right now, but that is it. Victory will always be his in such a fight. That is why Aang's presence is so crucial. The only hope the world has is in Aang—and those whom The Avatar trusts."
"But the world hates The Avatar now," she whispered. "I'm pretty sure if Dark killed Aang and showed everyone, people would cheer."
"They would cheer until Vaatu's nature is revealed," Pathik corrected. "And Ozai would not help; he would make everything worse."
She shook her head in disbelief. "So much has changed, and so much will keep changing."
Pathik placed a kind hand on her shoulder. "Many things will change for you going forward, but your attitude never can—or you will lose yourself in the change."
Toph swallowed. "I think I was better at that when I was younger. Bumi always said that maturity's a cunt, and I understand that now." She didn't like thinking about Bumi because he was a fucking sick asshole, but it didn't mean that he wasn't right about it. "Fuck maturity, and fuck how it makes me feel."
"Maturity is a blessing," Pathik corrected gently with a small wince at her coarse language. "With maturity, you see things as they are, a priceless gift."
"It's painful. I wish I could just tell Aang to go fuck himself rather than try to understand what's going on and how it happened. I miss that simplicity."
Pathik hummed. "You must find your friend again."
She snorted but felt exhausting grief. "I don't think I'm getting my friend back, Pathik."
"You can make a new friend," he whispered. "You can befriend who Aang is, not who he was."
Toph's brows rose in disbelief. "You want me to be friends with this Aang? You're not even friends with that asshole!"
"Be his friend. You were when you brought him to the fountain the other day, and you all played."
She remembered and felt a deep pang in her heart at how Aang had resembled himself, the Aang she knew, for those few moments, laughing and blushing, heart racing at the sight of Azula; it seemed like a miracle. But then it was gone, happening only for a flash. "It was nice," she whispered, eyes misting.
Pathik nodded encouragingly. "It can be nice again. Be his friend; be honest with him; be thankful of him; be grateful for him."
Toph's fingers swayed in the water, though she felt little of it. Had she ever thanked Aang for choosing her to be his earthbending teacher when he could have chosen anyone? Had she ever thanked him for giving her a life that she wouldn't trade away for anything? Had she ever thanked him for giving her the chance that her parents never would? Had she ever thanked him for giving her a life, an adventure that she would cherish forever, no matter the hard times? Had she ever thanked him for not holding her selfish decision to abandon the Gaang, depriving The Avatar of his earthbending master, after first joining them over her head?
She had put the fate of the world at risk by walking away when she did, and it had only been Iroh who corrected her path. If not for him, she would have wandered the Earth Kingdom and probably gone back home eventually, which she would have hated. Aang needed an earthbending Master, and she was the only one who, besides Bumi, who said he knew it wasn't his destiny to train The Avatar when she asked him about it, fit the criteria. Her decision to run away from home took a lot of courage, but she tossed it aside when she decided she was better off without Aang and the Gaang after only a few days; it was an immaturity that could have fucked the world into death in the end.
They all went their separate ways, and from a statistical, tactical perspective, the probability that they could ever join back up in a war-torn world while she was on foot and Aang and the Gaang were on Appa was more than slim; it was actively impossible, likely. If she never reunited with Aang and the Gaang, it was a very real, terrifying possibility that Aang might have never learned earthbending; if he did, it wouldn't have been nearly as strong without her guidance and tutelage. How many opponents and getaways did Aang secure because he used earthbending, the style which she specifically showed him?
A lot.
But her decision threatened everything because of her selfishness; it would have had permanent, lasting consequences, possibly keeping Fire in perpetual power—all because she had been selfish and desired a freedom that she didn't understand and know anything of.
What did Earth know of freedom? What did she know of freedom? She had an idea, not a philosophy, and it almost damned the world.
But after she reunited with Aang and the Gaang, a miracle in and of itself, Aang never cared about her decision or lectured her about it or held it over her head; he was only happy that she returned and hugged her.
Maybe she shouldn't care about his cruelty and rage, the deep differences between that boy she loved and the man who took that boy's place; she should be happy that he was with her, even if it took a lot of effort to get used to who he had become.
Was that what friendship meant?
She sniffed and wiped away several tears. "We have a lot to talk about."
"We all do," Pathik murmured. "But I will not be there to converse and advise. Your time here is drawing to its end."
"You going to miss all the noise?"
"Yes. But I ask of you a favor, Toph."
Toph's head tilted. "What do you need?"
"Look after Aang."
She snorted. "Azula's the one who's watching him all the time; she's got that covered."
"I mean as a friend."
"Azula's his friend," she observed, curious to hear what he'd say.
Pathik laughed slightly. "We both know she is that but also more. Please look after Aang. Help him when he needs help."
"I will," Toph vowed. "Why does this sound like goodbye?"
"It isn't," he assured, and he was telling the truth based on his heartbeat. "I'm covering all my bases. I want—need—Aang taken care of after you all leave."
Toph snorted. "I don't think Aang needs taken care of. Avatar, remember?"
"We all need to be taken care of by those who love us," Pathik said softly. "It has been so long since he has been taken care of."
She sighed. "Katara wasn't around the past years, but- "
"I don't speak of Katara; I speak of Gyatso."
Toph felt her stomach plummet to her feet in realization. "Oh. What was he like?"
"Gyatso, or the Aang who Gyatso took care of?"
"Gyatso. Aang never spoke about him," she recalled quietly. "He'd only recite Gyatso's sayings, which I'm pretty sure didn't only go over my head; those sayings went over Aang's head, too."
Pathik turned to her, and though she couldn't see his face, she knew it was serious. "They did go over Aang's head—because Gyatso was not here to explain the depths of the adages to him, to be his mentor in all things, as he should have been. That was stolen from him. He has not been taken care of since then; he has not felt love since then." He held up a hand when she went to defend Katara. "Katara did her best, and I admire her greatly for her kindness and love, but the love she had to give and has to give is not enough for Aang; it never was and never will be. She could only do so much, and she did more than anyone else could have in those times—of that, I am certain—but she still had limits and could never compare to the collective embrace and presence of Air. No love in the world will equal that which he felt growing up—because that love was robbed from the world, and there is now only silence. He looks for his race; he looks for his father; he looks for his home—and finds nothing."
Toph tried to imagine being the Last Earthbender, being the only one alive who could feel its beautiful thrum beneath her feet, and found that she couldn't imagine it; it was too horrifying to imagine; it was so much worse than thinking about what happened to Ba Sing Se.
"And Gyatso?" Toph asked, voice a faint whisper.
"Gyatso was wise," Pathik described fondly, but she heard grief in his voice. "He was the wisest friend I ever had, the wisest man I ever met. He was humorous and rebellious; he was kind and patient. He loved fruit pies and the sound of laughter. But he loved Aang more. He told me long ago of Aang's identity, before he was allowed to, but he had such faith and belief in Aang. He said Aang would redeem Roku's failings and guide the world into balanced peace and order; he said Aang would return to the world its holy joy, which it has lacked for too many generations; he said Aang would make a better Air."
She felt hollow. "I wish he was right."
"Maybe he will be," Pathik advised quietly. "Aang's life isn't over; his reign as Avatar has only started."
"It started well before he destroyed his own legacy," Toph whispered, cringing at the memory of Ba Sing Se. "It all went wrong."
"I don't think anyone could have anticipated this, even Gyatso, who was the most intelligent, reasonable, and wise man I've ever met. But I do know that Gyatso would never give up on Aang, and I will not, either."
Toph swallowed. "Me neither. I'm going to have his back, Pathik; you can trust me. I'll be his friend, even if he won't be my friend."
Pathik squeezed her shoulder. "You are wise, Toph; you have begun to learn Air's lessons of friendship."
"There's a lot to learn," she acknowledged.
"Aang will relearn the lessons he once devoted himself to," Pathik assured. "He will remember Air's ideal of friendship."
"That'd be nice," she murmured, voice fading.
Suddenly, Samir bounded towards them with powerful splashes. "Guru Pathik! When will Aang wake up? I want him to throw me off the temple and catch me! He promised!"
Toph heard the twinkle in Pathik's eyes. "What would Azula say about that?"
An innocent laugh echoed. "She'd tell me not to throw up!"
Apparently, Aang hadn't fucked the psycho out of Azula. It was a longshot to suggest it, and she knew it was when she suggested it, but Toph had hoped Aang would at least give it a little thought—because he and Azula both clearly wanted it and would benefit greatly. And it would help Aang a lot, taking the edge off and making him calmer. All that fucking would keep The Avatar at bay and keep the psycho out of Azula. It was a win-win. After all, getting fucked good always made her feel better. Bor was always so good at-
Nope. Not thinking about Bor.
"How about this, instead?" Pathik asked, leaning forward, elbows perched on his knees. "How about I teach you an old Air Nomad tune? Then you can surprise Aang when he returns to his body."
Samir gasped and nodded enthusiastically. "Uh-huh! Please!"
When Pathik started humming and Samir tried to mimic him, Toph recognized it as a tune that she had heard Aang hum in the past long ago; she felt the wind brush against her in greeting, carried by the power of Pathik and Samir's tune.
She hoped Aang heard it.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Every time when he journeyed into the Spirit World, it had always felt the same—the aching and missing part of him because his body had always been left in the Mortal Realm. And this time, unfortunately, was the same as always. If he had mastered his chakras rather than fulfill his nature as a failure, he could have made things different; he would have been whole, unified in spirit and body. He could have felt the actual ground beneath his feet and sparked the embers in his hands into towering flames, flickering with liveliness; he could have stretched out his power and pulled the flowing waters out of the numerous streams to swirl around his body in an immortal dance that mimicked the eternal flow of the Ocean and Moon; he could have sat on a ball of air, levitating several feet off the ground, gentle breezes ruffling through his hair.
How much he could have if he weren't such a failure. It was maddening. But he would never be able to master his chakras, not until the passing of so many countless years. He knew it deep down, felt it in his worn spirit.
"You spoke honestly," Azula lamented, sounding distressed as she punched her fist forward; no fire appeared. "I am here only in spirit; there is no fire, least of all after I remastered lightning. It is a respite for you that you failed to master your chakras. If you had your bending here while I did not, I might would attack you in my envy."
The smirk on her face alerted him of her amusement; he responded with a brief grin. "Then I'd have to throw you into the Maze of Thorns."
"Which is?"
"A place you never want to go," he said seriously, feeling its impact in his spirit. He had been there in another life briefly—likely to condemn someone to it.
Azula's smirk turned considering. "Could you condemn me there, truly?"
He leaned closer slightly, eyes riveted on her face. "I can do anything I want."
Her golden eyes were challenging and alight with something; she took a step closer to him. "Then why do you not?"
Aang turned away from her hypnotic eyes, away from the instincts she aroused in him. "Because I know what would happen."
The images of Ba Sing Se assaulted him, and he squeezed his eyes shut for several long moments to banish the images. When his eyes opened, he saw that Azula watched him with knowing eyes. But rather than say anything about it, she looked around at the new world that had been presented to her. "It is strange," she commented idly. "It feels different here. There is an abundance of energy, distinct from the energies in the Mortal Realm."
He nodded. "Only the Elementals exist in the Mortal Realm; the rest of the spirits live here, creating the difference."
"I thought only the Ocean and Moon took mortal forms."
"They did, but the other Elementals—Agni, Devi, and Indra—exist all the same in the Mortal Realm while they are still in the Immortal Realm. Tui and La could never come back to the Immortal Realm after their decision."
Azula hummed. "I feel as if I am in my body, yet I feel, also, different at the same time. But conjecture of the Immortal Realm provoked in my mind ghastly images, but I see nothing fearsome. I thought the Immortal Realm would be more intense."
He looked at their surroundings, understanding what she meant; they were currently on top of a beautiful mountain with luscious trees staring up at them from the ground below, and light cast down on them from the sky, highlighting the ubiquitous beauty. "That's because it looks how I want it to be."
She blinked, astonished; disbelieving curiosity was etched on her face. "Your power stretches that far?"
"In the Immortal Realm, your emotions become your reality. Because I'm The Avatar, my power exceeds anyone else's. While I can't change reality in the Mortal Realm, here, in the Immortal Realm, my will alone shapes everything if I let it. It's my inheritance as The Avatar."
Azula stared at him critically for several seconds. "Can I do the same?"
"It's possible," he replied after several moments, never having considered the notion. "But if you can, it wouldn't be anywhere near my control."
Aang released his instinctive will on the Immortal Realm, and the change was instantaneous and jarring: it swiftly descended to resemble a morose, shadowy realm, darkness ubiquitous where there had once been beauty. The trees withered, the ground decayed, the sky itself was almost black with mortality, as if the blood of Death itself had stained it so, the once-clear water streams boiled in a disgusting brown color, and the air itself became musty and thick.
She gazed, wide-eyed, at the new surroundings, the real reality. "Ghastly, indeed," she breathed before bringing a swift hand to her chest. "It is hard to breathe."
He stared around sadly at the true environment of the Immortal Realm, tainted by Vaatu. "Yes, Vaatu's awakening—his escape from the Tree of Time—has made it even worse." He looked at Azula, head tilting. "Now's your chance. Try to shape the reality of this place. Concentrate on what you want, and more specifically and importantly, what your emotions want."
Her golden eyes fluttered shut, and she breathed deeply, pulling her hands behind her back, concentration and focus engraved in every corner of her lovely features; he found himself unable to help but stare at her, thinking about her nomination for Mother of Air. Why did one of Sozin's heirs have to entice him so profoundly? Why did one of Sozin's heirs have to look so stunning and alluring, enough to make him question his judgment, enough to make him seriously consider compromising Air's purity? Why did one of Sozin's heirs give him a semblance of the joy that Sozin raped?
None of it made sense—he hated it!
When she opened her eyes, nothing changed, and he frowned, having expected sunlight to pierce through the jaded darkness. "What happened? Did you lose concentration?"
Azula smirked. "When have I ever lost concentration?" The look in her eyes as she gazed up at him gleamed with mischief and delight, twinkling, a beacon to his own eyes in the darkness brimming around them. "I merely wished to satisfy my hunger."
He began to wonder if he should have left her at the Eastern Air Temple with Samir; she seemed to be slipping back into her insanity, provoked by the horrors and pressure of the Immortal Realm. "What are you talking about?"
She pulled her hands from behind her back, showing a roasted komodo chicken basket, out of which she took a bite. "Delicious," she commented. "My emotions are most fertile."
Aang refused to think about what other ways she was fertile; he failed. "Come on. You can snack on the way. Why you need food without your body I don't know."
"Which way?"
He closed his eyes and expanded his senses, stretching himself, absorbing more and more of his surroundings as he pierced and probed, analyzed and recognized.
There!
Aang's eyes opened and looked to the north. "We're closer than I thought. Come on. We're going north."
Shadows began to obscure their feet, and Aang swiped his hands, focusing his power, shaping the reality before them; the shadows dispersed, and the path before them was clear once more. He pulled Azula with him, not wanting her to potentially become separated from him; the Immortal Realm could be devious and dangerous. Their journey was swift, and he observed silently as they passed desolate surroundings. When he recognized the ruins from his trip all of those years ago, he knew that they were close to Koh's lair. The closer they became, the more the gnawing, prickling feeling in his soul became apparent; Kuruk yearned to force an appearance out of his body to avenge Ummi's death, but he pushed his former self down with more effort than usual.
Azula tapped his shoulder, and he looked up, recognizing the area immediately. An enormous, twisted tree sat above a deadly-looking cave, and the land surrounding the covert was barren, dark, and scarcely inhabited except for the Gargantuan Wolf Spirit that Aang remembered seeing the first time when he had journeyed here years ago under Roku's guidance.
They had arrived at Koh's dwelling.
"We have arrived, I surmise," Azula said, looking at the large wolf in amazement.
Aang nodded his head slowly, the anxiety inside building and becoming more pronounced. "Before we encounter him, you need to prepare yourself. He can't steal my face, but he can steal yours; he will try to steal your face if you show emotion. I'd rather keep this as peaceful as I can."
He didn't know what would happen if he fought Koh; he only had his suspicions. In his rage, he would slaughter Koh, and Kuruk would then appear to desecrate the carcass.
Her eyebrows pinched in memory. "My mother told me stories of the Face Stealer when I was a child. I never imagined I would encounter him one day."
"Don't show emotion," he reminded.
Azula glanced at him, unimpressed. "Simple enough."
Knowing how she was raised and how she was in the Great War, he felt no surprise at her lack of dread. But it was Koh, and Aang would need to have the dread for them both; it was no effort to summon the dread. He didn't respond, instead stepping towards cave, entering the shadowed darkness, preparing himself for a confrontation with Vaatu's liberator. To ease his worry, he gripped Azula's arm and guided them into the lair. Inky shadows enveloped them, and light was provided only by ominous sunlight piercing through the holes in the lair's roof.
Harsh claw marks stained the stone, and Aang took the time to realize how large Koh's lair actually was; when he had last been here, he had been too concerned with the Ocean and Moon Spirits to notice what he did now: a foyer of sorts greeted them and there, at the bottom of the seeming infinite well of stairs, was the shape of Koh.
The unholy echo of countless talons scraping against stone reverberated through his ears, and Azula's hand clasped his wrist tightly; she realized clearly she was in the presence of a Great Spirit.
"My old friend, The Avatar," that familiar voice hissed; the chitinous shape turned around, facing them with the hauntingly familiar face of Ummi. "Finally."
He grunted at Koh's audacity, and it took extensive effort to force Kuruk away—and that familiar rage—but he succeeded. "Koh," he greeted.
Koh approached slowly, twisting around one of the pillars. "My dwelling has not been the same since you departed last time. To think I failed in stealing a child's face for my collection—a pity. But not as pitiful as your cruelty to me."
Aang frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I went to much trouble to grab your attention, and you ignore me for months in the Mortal Realm, asleep. You blocked yourself from contact and communication, which provoked my scheming. But you intend to atone for your conduct." Koh's voice changed to one of relief, pleasure, and approval. "You brought a new friend to add to my collection—most kind, Avatar. She will be a delicious sacrifice to appease my frustration. She possesses such a beautiful face. Give her to me, and we can have our conversation while I wear her face. We are friends, are we not?"
His fists clenched, preparing for the physical confrontation that he always, deep down, knew would happen. "Friends? No, you're my enemy, and you always have been. You wanted to grab my attention—you have it. But now I'm getting your attention. I'm asking you one time, or there will be permanent consequences—why did you free Vaatu from the Tree of Time?"
Ummi's face blinked, shock spreading over the lovely features before fury replaced it in a sweeping wave. "You arrogant fool!" Koh roared, the sound shaking the cavern, but Aang remained unimpressed and waited for the treachery. "You truly are Kuruk reborn! If I had ever wanted to free Vaatu, I would have freed him several millennia ago. It was not my power that aided in his liberation, Avatar!"
Aang's eyes narrowed, and he took a step forward to confront the lie, to force Koh to tell him the truth, but Azula's grip on his wrist tightened before she removed her grip from his arm; he missed the contact. "Why have you tormented Samir's dreams?" she asked calmly, no emotion displayed on her face; she was blank, and he hated that expression, causing his aggravation to grow even more.
Koh's face shifted, turning seamlessly into a fanged baboon. "Ahh, the human, she who dares converse with ancient powers incomprehensible to her flawed, fallible intellect. Her face will be used more elegantly by me; she will be a snack to cool my temper- "
"No, she won't be," Aang hissed. "She's under my protection, and I will destroy you if you harm her in any way—I swear on my essence."
Koh paused, seeming shocked, before his booming laughter shook the lair; the shadows gleamed ominously. "How far you are willing to go, Avatar! How promising! But remember your place; remember where you are. Here, valleys do not spread at your command, nor do the waters flow. This is the Immortal Realm, which your body cannot access. You have no power here."
Aang took a step forward, face intense and frustrated. "No power? You forget your place, Koh. I know what you are; I know who you are. You may be a Great Spirit, but I am greater still. Your focus is me, not Azula; if you focus on her, I'll focus on you—but to destroy."
Koh whirled on Aang, the fanged baboon-face screeching and laughing. "So much promise, Avatar. It is the cycle. Kuruk once declared the same, yet I still took his precious Ummi from him. I could easily do the same to this human whom you so cherish."
Aang's face darkened, the shadows in the lair darting away from him, Kuruk's deep-seated rage almost his own. "You were only able to steal Ummi's face through trickery, sneaking into the Mortal Realm on the day of his wedding—when he was distracted. If he had been in his right mind and at the scene where you took Ummi's face on that day, you and I both know that he would have called lightning down from the heavens to smite you. You had to be dishonorable and steal her face, not facing him outright—because you're a coward. And you hid from him like a coward as he hunted you, wasting the remainder of his life in his quest to find your lair. But he never found it, unlike Roku. How is that? He knew to guide me here when I needed knowledge about the Ocean and Moon Spirits."
Based on the way Azula glanced at him, even with terribly blank emotion, he knew she had not known that information. However, Koh spoke first: "Roku knew of my lair because he, like all your incarnations, wandered the Immortal Realm while you slumbered in La's depths. He eventually stumbled upon my lair. Yet, I exist still, Avatar," Koh purred, his long body sweeping through the lair. "Kuruk did not destroy me, and he never has; he never will—because Roku, nor you, provided him the opportunity to attempt it."
"He almost did on that day when you crossed back into the Immortal Realm, but he had arrived too late. He almost slew you, but you barely escaped—with Ummi's face. Kuruk searched for over the next century, spending most of that time in the Immortal Realm, but because of how ancient you are, he could never find your lair. Otherwise, regardless of any consequences, he would have killed you—just as I will if you harm Azula."
Silence.
Koh chuckled, and the sound echoed through the lair; the baboon's fangs gleamed behind his curled back lips. "Very well, Avatar. I like the game you play. You do what you must, which is good; it will help."
"Help with what?"
"With Vaatu."
"Why target Samir?" Azula interrupted, looking completely at ease with one the most fearful of the Great Spirits; Aang admired her more and more.
"Indra's child is of no interest to me, but The Avatar is. I needed The Avatar's attention, and Indra's child obtained it for me. Indra raised my awareness of her existence by saving her life during The Avatar's expulsion of wrath. I knew she was the ingress to The Avatar I needed."
Azula's face was blank, but Aang noted the displeasure simmering in her golden eyes. "But why torment her? What purpose was there- "
A whistle pierced the air as Koh hissed past his large fangs, provided by his stolen baboon face. "Who are you beyond The Avatar's beloved to demand my reasons? You are nothing- "
"Don't anger me!" Aang snapped, waiting to smite Koh if he tried anything—and Kuruk waited, too. "You know what I did to Ba Sing Se. I'll do the same to you if you don't answer my questions and Azula's questions."
Azula glanced at him, golden eyes unreadable, but she looked back at Koh quickly. "Why torment Samir, Face Stealer?"
"I have not been tormenting that child," Koh corrected with an icy hiss in his voice, aggravated, the teeming motions of his long body faster and rougher. "I warned her of the result should The Avatar ignore my request for an audience. The child had the weakest mind, the easiest to connect with, and as a mortal child, her terror would provoke The Avatar to react, unlike if I connected with the human adults, such as yourself, Child of Agni."
Aang glanced at Azula and saw her considering Koh's words; she seemed to believe Koh, unlike him. "Let's say I believe you," he said slowly. "Why not come to me? Why use Samir? Why this subtlety?"
"You closed yourself off, Avatar," Koh derided. "You neglected your sacred inheritance, diminishing yourself into something you are not and are not meant to be."
Aang's jaw clenched. "You could have had done something else to get my attention, not terrorize Samir! She's the first Airbender in over a century, and you compromised that! Why didn't you do something else?"
"You angered me, but I didn't wish to anger you," Koh muttered. "Unlike your past incarnation, you know the location of my lair."
"You already angered me!"
"The child was the wisest approach. You do not have to agree with my methods, but you must accept them."
Aang opened his mouth in disbelief, but Azula spoke quickly: "Will you target Samir again?"
"No. I obtained my desire—The Avatar's attention. The child is irrelevant- "
"Speak carefully," Aang warned. "That child is helping restore the balance of the world—both worlds."
"That child does nothing in the long-term, which is most fundamental," Koh said almost viciously; he seemed disgusted. "She only appeases balance in the short-term. She does nothing. Stop being human; be a god and perceive the obvious, Avatar."
"That you tormented Samir?"
"Only so that I could speak with you, you insolent fool!" Koh's face abruptly became an old man's weary visage, long mustache billowing in an unseen wind, wrinkled countenance contorting in a flush of anger; the shadows swarmed, as if alive in response to Koh's mood. "You blocked me! I have exhausted myself trying to contact you for years, but nothing ever happened because your mind is impenetrable, even to one as mighty as me. The clues I gave you—you are the least clever Avatar to exist! It was me who restored the libraries in the Air Temples by persuading Wan Shi Tong to replicate all of his knowledge about Air Nomad culture and gift it all to the Air Temples. Only through me, not you, does your culture still live in its knowledge and teachings, provided by me! Wan Shi Tong would never have given such a priceless treasure to you, but I persuaded him. I managed to sway him to share the ability of true flight, leaving it in the Southern Air Temple for you to find, which Wan Shi Tong learned from the sky-walker, Laghima. I tried to warn you of Vaatu's coming, but you ignored all evidence—and there was much evidence, ancient though it was! When I realized that you would never grant me access, I took measures into my own hands when I saw the perfect opportunity when Indra saved the child's life. The child was a means to an end, a ploy meant to lure you into the Immortal Realm so that I could finally converse with you! I knew that an innocent mortal, specifically a child who shares a connection with Air, being tormented by who you wrongly assumed to be Vaatu would be the best way to do it."
Aang blinked rapidly as he absorbed Koh's recount; it made too much sense. "I had no idea you were trying to contact me!" he cried out as, more and more, the puzzle pieces fell into place as his mind was bombarded with all of the 'luck' that had seemed to find him after the Great War—all of the Air Temple's libraries being completely intact and looking completely original, the scroll of true flight not being left there by the Elders, but by Koh!
"A facile excuse," Koh sneered. "Your incompetence almost makes me wish for Kuruk; your incompetence is second only to his!"
Azula scoffed, but when Koh looked at her, she had recovered; her face was cool and calm. "Why do you want to speak to Aang now? You said you wanted to warn him about Vaatu's coming, but Aang already knows about Vaatu's rise. However, you still worked for his attention, revealing that there is more you want to share. What else do you want to tell him?"
Koh coiled around them, breath a harsh pant in the air. "Warn him," he corrected. "False perceptions blind him like Agni."
Aang swore if Koh mentioned mastering chakras, he was going to smite him, consequences be damned. "What false perceptions?"
"You are all blind insects, unworthy of the intellects endowed in you. If it did not go against my nature, I would leave you to deteriorate in your pathetic ignorance."
"You're making it hard to trust you."
"You make it hard to trust you. It was Kuruk's mortality that doomed the Realms to the imbalance he propagated. You follow his pattern of negligence and disregard by cherishing your mortality; you refuse your nature!"
Aang's eyes narrowed. "Or it was Kuruk's immortality that recognized that nothing matters to him because he is above everything and everyone; immortality doesn't come with duties, mortality does. Nothing matters when you're immortal. Immortality produces apathy, not charity."
"A pitiful self-deception."
His eyes ignited. "I guarantee you that I've thought about this more than you have."
Azula glanced at him curiously before focusing on Koh. "What false perceptions, Face Stealer?" she reminded, and Aang felt grateful she was with him; she kept him on the subject needed. "What obscures our sight from the truth?"
Koh turned around, talons scraping against stone, producing brief sparks. "Things are not as they seem. Events have happened but not been registered, least of all recognized, producing a haze of confusion and misunderstanding."
"Meaning what?" she asked before he could.
Koh's stolen face almost seemed amused—though the disgust in his expression remained. "What you call the Great War was a façade, a distraction, a diversion," he said simply, the words floating in the lair with a terrible weight. "You perceive the catalyst of this diversion as the Fire Lord directing his armies against Air in pursuit of The Avatar."
Aang nodded but shared a worried glance with Azula. Why did it feel like the version of history that they both knew might not actually be the true and real history? "Yes. Sozin was behind everything; he's the source of the evil."
"The focus was true, but your enemy was not; the Fire Lord was but a powerful tool in Vaatu's designs to free himself and destroy his primordial, eternal enemy—The Avatar."
He felt something seize his spine, a terrible denial; he dimly noticed that Azula's eyes had fallen shut, beautiful face a mass of enlightened understanding. "No, it's Sozin; it's always been Sozin! Don't twist it into something it's not!"
Koh laughed, but it was cruel as his chitinous body slithered along the walls of the cave, voice and talons scraping, reverberating everywhere. "How feeble your gaze is, Avatar. Here I am giving to you all the answers, but you deny the answers! You deny the truth!"
"Because it's not true!" he denied hysterically. "Sozin is the cause of everything! It's always been him!"
Azula gripped his arm urgently; her golden eyes were almost frantic. "No. Vaatu was the mastermind behind the Great War; it makes so much sense."
"The mastermind of the Great War and everything that has happened since," Koh clarified, "and many things before the Great War. The Mortal Realm has played Vaatu's designed game for so many centuries, but his influence increased significantly during Kuruk's pathetic reign."
Silence.
Aang looked around Koh's lair, blank; he felt lost, diminishing in a haze of hysteria and disbelief. It couldn't be true! It couldn't be! It was always Sozin! Just Sozin! Only Sozin! Sozin was always the problem! Sozin was Evil! It could never be more than Sozin because that meant it was more complex! But Sozin didn't deserve complexity! Sozin deserved the simplicity of his eternal judgment! Sozin deserved to be evil! He deserved everything he could conceive as vengeance!
Suddenly, Azula entered his vision, and he noticed that he was trembling when her hands cradled his shoulders, stilling him. Her face was finally free of the blankness, probably the realization that Koh wouldn't attempt to steal her face because it ensured his destruction, which Koh was against fundamentally, and he felt incredibly relieved at the sight of her true face. There was an awareness and understanding in her expression but also a quiet confidence; her golden eyes shone with vigor as she looked up at him.
"Vaatu will not go unpunished," she vowed softly but intently. "There will be retribution; there will be judgment. You will deliver it."
"How is that possible?" Aang finally asked in a hoarse whisper, daring to look at Koh, who stared back at him, stolen face frigid in its severity. "Vaatu was trapped in the Tree of Time."
Koh huffed in derision. "You accused me of helping Vaatu. You must realize you had the right idea. Vaatu was trapped, but an accomplice is always necessary to complete a great scheme—just as Wan Shi Tong and the child were necessary for my scheme to contact you, Avatar."
The rage engulfed him. "Who?" he demanded harshly. "Who dared ally with Vaatu? Who dared free him? Tell me!"
Koh stopped, centipede-like body frozen in time, everything suddenly silent. "Vaatu was trapped in the Tree of Time, but his reach was still far. He lured Agni to the Tree of Time while Roku completed his training after learning his identity as The Avatar. I have no specifics; conjecture only goes so far. But I know that Agni allied himself with Vaatu and completed Vaatu's bidding in the Mortal Realm subtly to spare himself from Roku's attention. Agni enticed the Fire Lord to pursue his dreams of a united world, which produced the diversion of the Great War. If The Avatar focused on the surface of the Great War, as you have, he would not focus on the source. Vaatu knew this. He understood humans better than you, who live amongst them. How shallow you are."
Aang felt faint but narrowly held on; he understood exactly how it played out—or he thought he did. He didn't even try to keep the shock, disbelief, anguish, and dismay he felt from showing on his face—Koh wasn't going to steal it, lacking the power to take The Avatar's face. The entire Great War, the slaughter of his race, and everything that had happened was that of Vaatu. He could feel relief in his soul from Roku that Sozin wasn't the villain of the story, at least completely, but it was wholly overshadowed by the realizations of Vaatu's scheming.
"All the chaos, death, and misery—all the darkness—of the Great War in the Mortal Realm would strengthen him, granting him enough power to break out of his prison," he whispered in realization, the truth horrifying and agonizing. "Agni influenced Sozin at Vaatu's behest, knowing only through Sozin the Great War would be possible; only Sozin was in a position to provoke the Great War, friends with Roku, who was too lenient with his friend. But it was all done—everything from Sozin leaving Roku to die on that volcano to Air's murder—to try to destroy The Avatar forever, securing the path for Vaatu to reign forever."
"Why tell us this?" Azula asked, apparently able to overcome the shock of the revelation Koh had shared faster than he himself.
Koh turned around, facing them with the old man's weary countenance, and Aang wasn't too certain that the weariness solely belonged to the man; maybe some of it was actually Koh's. "Because, despite our fierce enmity, I am in support of the idea of The Avatar—of Balance."
"What?" He began to shake with effort, diminishing in presence; Kuruk furiously raged in his soul, seeking to escape and wreak havoc on Koh. All the realizations about Vaatu had weakened his hold over his former life, and because of his negligence, Kuruk had taken advantage, seizing his opportunity.
"You killed Ummi!" It wasn't his own voice that erupted from his lips but Kuruk's, who clawed into existence with the ferocity of a ravishing dragon, taking his place. "You stole her from me!"
Aang was sucked into his own soul.
XxXxXxXxXxX
A tall, strong Water Tribesman appeared where Aang had been, shifting as seamlessly and terrifyingly as the Face Stealer shifted his stolen faces from one another, eyes alight with loathing, and Azula's eyes widened in shock; she took a step back instinctively as dread bloomed in her mind. Without Aang, nobody could protect her from the Face Stealer. And what about the Water Tribesman who could only be a past Avatar? Would he direct his attention to Azula, or solely on the Face Stealer?
She watched apprehensively as the man stalked forward rapidly, gliding across the lair with rage, confidence, arrogance, and power. The old man's visage of the Face Stealer looked uncertain, traces of fear glowing in the old eyes, and Azula knew that the past Avatar was Avatar Kuruk, whom the Face Stealer had slighted many generations ago. She felt frozen in place, eyes riveted on Avatar Kuruk, an Avatar so legendary, no matter how undeserving he was, that his impact continued to be felt in the Mortal Realm over four centuries after his death.
A spear materialized in Avatar Kuruk's hand, but he said nothing, glaring at the Face Stealer with the force of his eternal spirit. Azula had no time to try to intervene, knowing something monumental would occur, something which had simmered with vicious bitterness for over nine centuries. She could not even try to beseech Aang to return to himself, for, before she could open her mouth and formulate her request—more a plea, in all honesty—Avatar Kuruk attacked like a flood. It was animosity in its purest but darkest form, an immediate, overwhelming assault that no words could delay.
Only the attack—the vengeance wrapped in animosity—mattered, not words or insults spoken.
Kuruk moved with impeccable ease, strides masterful and balanced, effortless in his adjustments to the Face Stealer's evasions, even without his bending. His spear tip slashed through pillars of rock as he hunted the Face Stealer around the lair, eyes analyzing everything. But the Face Stealer was a Great Spirit, narrowly avoiding Kuruk's attacks, to which Avatar Kuruk howled like the polardog skin sloping over his head and shoulders.
And she had once thought as a child that she could defeat Avatar Kuruk after Mother told her of his legend—how silly of her.
Azula's eyes widened when the Face Stealer's lair changed, forcefully removed from the Face Stealer's influence; it was now under the influence of Avatar Kuruk, who shaped the Immortal Realm to his will, transforming the Face Stealer's dominion. Darkness dissipated for light, provided by the lack of the lair; they stood outside in a barren world, reflected by Avatar Kuruk's soul, and there was nowhere to hide.
The Face Stealer struggled fiercely, trying to avoid Avatar Kuruk, but it was over quickly, leaving rubble and craters in which Avatar Kuruk smashed the Face Stealer. Avatar Kuruk hunted down his prey brilliantly as Azula watched, unable—and unwilling—to do anything, and she cataloged his actions, trying to determine when to intervene because Aang was nowhere to be found. Avatar Kuruk was in control, but the Face Stealer could not be destroyed.
The Face Stealer had answers that she and Aang needed, and based on what she knew, Avatar Kuruk deserved to lose his beloved because of his arrogance. She felt no sympathy for him, only curiosity.
A howl of pain pierced her ears as Avatar Kuruk jammed his spear into the Face Stealer's long stomach—but no blood came out, only a strange ooze that was dark in color but not quite black; it was gray. Avatar Kuruk stood over the Face Stealer's broken body, spear raised to inflict the final blow.
"Centuries of torment end now," Avatar Kuruk whispered with such power that she knew that she stood no chance of ever fighting against him—as no one could ever hope to challenge a mature Avatar. "Give me back my wife and face the Void of Eternity."
The Face Stealer suddenly laughed, surprising Azula as his face shifted seamlessly back into who-she-now-knew-to-be Ummi's beautiful countenance. "You deserved it, lazy Balance-Keeper."
Avatar Kuruk's face flashed like lightning, terrifying and brutal. "And you deserve this. I deserved much for my failures, but Ummi was innocent."
"Your association with her mired whatever innocence she had," the Face Stealer purred, Ummi's face lovely in the light, and Azula understood how Avatar Kuruk loved her deeply, enough to think of little but vengeance for over nine centuries. "She deserved it—because you deserved it."
"She did not!" Avatar Kuruk roared, his voice shaking the Immortal Realm, and Azula had to take several steps back, tremors ravishing her; she felt Avatar Kuruk's power reverberate in her spirit, compromising her presence. "You took her from me, the only woman to matter!"
"Really?" the Face Stealer hissed, Ummi's face flushing with outrage; her lips pulled back in a sneer, and Azula noticed that Avatar Kuruk flinched at the sight. She realized with certainty that Avatar Kuruk had not tried to kill the Face Stealer yet because he wanted to prolong his exposure to Ummi's face, which he had not seen in over nine centuries; he had only seen the flash of her face in his memories, which were profoundly inadequate next to the real sight provided by the Face Stealer, his great enemy. "You were arrogant, Avatar! You are responsible for all the imbalance to have ravished both Realms since your reign! You began the imbalance! You were undeserving of your power, of your position, the authority endowed in you. You did not do your duty. You were too weak; your failure is deserved because you forsook your natural inheritance. You were too selfish to do your job, siring bastards everywhere! You should thank me! I spared Ummi from your disregard, cruelty, and apathy!"
Avatar Kuruk's brilliant eyes took on a manic glow, and Azula's eyes widened when his grip on the spear tightened; she had to interfere before he killed the Face Stealer.
"Stop!" she cried out.
Avatar Kuruk froze before turning his gaze to her, and she felt dread. Fear spasmed through her mind as she stared into the eyes of The Avatar of whom she had heard legends, The Avatar who had lived over half a millennium, over half an entire Avatar Cycle, and who commanded fearsome power. She thought Aang's eyes were ancient and profound, divine in their transcendent fertility, shining with a ferocity more chilling and brutal than anything she ever saw in Father's eyes, revealing his nature as The Avatar, but Avatar Kuruk's eyes were different; they were terrifying and impossibly formidable, even without the all-consuming power of The Avatar State. When looking at Avatar Kuruk's eyes, even from where she stood, she saw millennia looking down upon her; she saw the expanse of centuries in a life lived in Avatar Kuruk's eyes, a weight so overwhelming she could not comprehend it.
But she looked for a sign of Aang; she looked for similarities, whether in appearance or otherwise, between Aang and Avatar Kuruk, hoping to recognize her Avatar, for Aang was still there, right? How had Aang described it? Avatar Kuruk was Aang, but Aang was not Avatar Kuruk.
She saw only the familiar power of The Avatar when looking at Avatar Kuruk; she did not see Aang, who knew the power of The Avatar and had revealed himself as exceedingly capable of wielding that power but distanced himself from The Avatar. But she had to try.
"Aang, you must remember yourself," Azula tried. "Return to your authority and essence."
Nothing happened.
"The Face Stealer must be spared, Avatar Kuruk," she said quickly, hoping that Aang was gathering strength to reseize control—if that was even how it worked. "There is more here to uncover."
Avatar Kuruk's eyes were as piercing as the ice that she had seen Aang wield in performance for her. She had never seen ice until he showed her on Ember Island. But she saw ice now again in Avatar Kuruk's chilling eyes. "You are whom?" he demanded, voice gruff but seething. "What authority do you hold to command me to do anything, least of all spare Koh?"
Azula summoned her courage, but it felt daunting as Avatar Kuruk reminded her of Father; however, she succeeded—as always. "Avatar Aang and I need the Face Stealer."
"I do not care what Avatar Aang needs- "
She raised a brow. "You are beholden to his will, Avatar Kuruk. Remember your place beneath him; it is the natural order."
Avatar Kuruk's eyes flashed, and as she had expected, he turned to her, stepping away from the Face Stealer's broken body. "You dare challenge me, Child of Fire? If it is an Agni Kai you desire, I accept."
The thought of facing Avatar Kuruk—any Avatar, for that matter—in an Agni Kai terrified her, and Azula waved a hand in dismissal. "I do not challenge you; I remind you."
Avatar Kurk drew himself up, the polar dog skin making him appear massive and broad in stature, looking as arrogant as any Firebender ever born. "I remind you of your dependency on me to exist. I could banish you from life and death."
Azula reached the conclusion that how Avatar Kuruk appeared is how he could disappear—rage provoked, making him lose control, as what happened to Aang, who would seize his chance, provided sufficient motivation. She knew how to provide that motivation—if her suspicions about Aang's regard for her were true. She hoped her suspicions were true for more than one reason—for many reasons.
"As you did Ummi by associating with her?" she quipped with a sly insinuation.
The Immortal Realm trembled around them as Avatar Kuruk's eyes melted, ice becoming fire, seething with flames of vengeance. "You dare?"
Azula smirked. "I am Azula, a woman most dear to Avatar Aang. Of course, I dare."
Avatar Kuruk looked expectant and vindicated. "Not anymore. He will know my everlasting grief."
Although she had been prepared for it, her golden eyes still widened as Avatar Kuruk's other hand opened slightly and a massive spear was summoned into his hand, the Immortal Realm's reality warping for him. Swallowing back her fear, she took a step back, prepared to flee; she knew with certainty that he could obliterate her spirit from existence.
"Return to your slumber, Avatar Kuruk!" she cried out. "Your presence is redundant!"
The powerful spear sailed at her, and she narrowly dodged out of the way, rolling to the side as another spear hurdled toward her, almost cleaving through her. How she wished she had her firebending! But if she had her firebending, it meant that Avatar Kuruk had his bending, which meant her inevitable destruction.
Azula hissed through her teeth when she was too slow to avoid another of Avatar Kuruk's summoned spears, which he thrust at her with accuracy; it sliced through her arm, and the pain felt real and true. Everything felt incredibly real even though she was not in her actual body.
She gripped her arm, staring up at Avatar Kuruk, who loomed over her; his spear was directed over her, aimed to be driven through her skull. "Your death is of the natural order; you challenged me, and for that challenge, you will be destroyed forever."
"Careful, Avatar," the Face Stealer chided in a harsh purr, and she was eternally grateful to him as his talons scraped against the stone once more, his chitinous body appearing behind Avatar Kuruk; he had recovered from Avatar Kuruk's perilous strike, which was gone as if it had never happened. "As is your devotion to Ummi, his devotion is to her. You provoke him, who is mightier than you in all ways; he is far beyond you and all the lives he has lived."
Avatar Kuruk's face twisted, but when his grip tightened and went to plunge the spear through her face, he froze, incapable of movement; he was impossibly immobile, like the bones in his body were stuck, muscles trapped in a permanent state of contraction. Immediately, Azula felt calmer as the panic seeped into Avatar Kurk's stretched flesh, contorting his face with panic. "Stop! No, please! Aang, you understand! I must avenge- "
He was cut off when he suddenly roared in pain, blue eyes that were once filled with terrifying power bulging from their sockets in fear and anger. Then he changed, face shifting and changing, hair and eyes becoming darker, flesh paling, body lessening and expanding simultaneously, growing slimmer and taller, morphing into the familiarity of Aang, who looked livid—another familiarity after having experienced Ba Sing Se.
Suddenly, they were back in the Face Stealer's lair, and she found herself awkwardly slanted past one rock pillar and curled around another; it was most uncomfortable. But her focus was on Aang; it was an incredible relief to see him again.
"Another vacation?" Azula quipped, smiling despite herself as she held her wounded arm tightly.
Aang's gray eyes—they were so much better than Avatar Kuruk's blue eyes!—assessed her with concern as he pulled her to her feet; his hands felt real even though she was technically a spirit. "Are you okay?"
Azula waved him off; musical array of pops and cracks fluttered into her ears as she stretched her back, aware suddenly how powerful The Avatar was—again. "Splendid. I rescind my remark about seducing him if I had lived during his lifetime."
Something amused flashed over his face before it was gone. "Told you you'd hate him."
"I should trust The Avatar's authority," she mused with a small smirk.
Aang turned back to the Face Stealer after several seconds of staring at her. "You said you're in support of The Avatar and Balance. Why? It doesn't seem like it. You took Ummi from Kuruk."
The Face Stealer huffed in displeasure as Ummi's face shifted back to the fanged baboon. "I took Ummi to teach Kuruk a lesson. He was soft and lenient; he was careless, more than mortal records know. He failed fundamentally in his duty as Avatar, a grotesque blight permitted by the Tree to live such a long life, reigning over both Realms. It is beyond me. But I know that he spent time spreading his seed through the Mortal Realm, producing many bastard children. He looked for fun. He tired of the Mortal Realm and spent long times in the Immortal Realm, picking fights with spirits; he even destroyed several prominent spirits, uncaring of the consequences. He provoked so much imbalance that has only gotten worse with Time's advance; Kuruk's mistakes are your inheritance, and I know Vaatu benefited from Kuruk's evoked chaos."
Azula did not know what it was, for there was no sign of deception from the Face Stealer, but she knew instinctively that he was lying—or not telling the whole truth.
"You only made things worse," Aang said flatly, arms crossed over his chest; his brows were hard. "You provoked Kuruk to be worse. You fought fire with fire, and it blew up in your face. You think you understand things, but you don't understand anything. That wasn't a solution; it was an attack. You say Kuruk's responsible for all of this, but it might be you—because you didn't think things through."
By the look on Aang's face, Azula knew he was thinking of his haunting mistake in not thinking about what he was doing while murdering Ba Sing Se; he spoke from experience, and they all knew it; they knew he was correct, too.
The Face Stealer sneered, and a thousand talons clawed across stone simultaneously, producing a haunting piercing in her ears and sparks to her eyes, designed to provoke a spasm in her face, a surge of emotion uncontrolled and consuming—all for Koh to devour. "You are Kuruk reborn; you are far worse than he was at your age. If it was within my capability, I would destroy you right now. You owe me much."
Aang scoffed, disgusted. "I owe you nothing."
The Face Stealer circled Aang, and Azula knew that it was only possible because Aang let him. "I need recompense. Perhaps Azula would suffice; her face is more lovely than Ummi's, the perfect addition to my collection—not one Avatar's beloved but two."
"Consider my restraint right now your recompense," Aang snapped. "Tell me what I need to know. If you touch her, you die."
"I am one of the Great Spirits, Avatar!" the Face Stealer hissed, outraged.
Aang's eyes were frigid, and Azula could only stare in awe at him; he appeared greater and more imposing than Avatar Kuruk had in all ways. "Not greater than me. Or do you want to challenge me?" Suddenly, Aang transformed into Avatar Roku—her great-grandfather!—who shared the same immense, towering height as Aang but with a broad, imposing beard, majestic and flowing, that descended to his chest.
"Do you want to challenge me, Koh?" Avatar Roku asked, golden eyes considering before he changed into who was clearly Avatar Kyoshi.
Avatar Kyoshi was shorter than Avatar Roku and Aang, but her painted face was split by a sudden smile, sharp and expectant, which was so memorable that Azula yearned to speak with her. "Shall I go one more, Koh? We have restraint, but he does not; he has thought of little but vengeance against you for centuries, even dormant. Shall Kuruk breathe again just after Avatar Aang banished him? Shall Kuruk finish what he started?"
Azula understood, particularly after having experienced it moments ago, the threat that Avatar Kuruk would appear and raze the Face Stealer to his destruction, unlike Aang, Roku, and Kyoshi, who all possessed restraint. The Face Stealer understood the threat, as well, as the memories played across his stolen baboon face; he snarled and whirled around, vicious mutterings shrieking through the air for several moments. "No. Your point is made, Avatar."
Aang reappeared like nothing happened, but he looked vindicated slightly. "Tell me what I need to know. Why are you an ally of The Avatar?"
"I am no ally of The Avatar, who is fickle and pathetic—like you. I align with the idea of The Avatar."
"Why do you support the idea of The Avatar?" Aang demanded through gritted teeth.
"It is my nature," the Face Stealer said vaguely, and Azula was beginning to realize how exhausting dealing with spirits, particularly Great Spirits, was. "I was always in support of Wan's ascension before I realized he was an innate failure."
"Why?" Azula stepped forward, hoping that she could enable the Face Stealer to speak more bluntly. "Answer the question."
The Face Stealer chuckled, the sound piercing through the relative darkness of the lair. "You think your position as The Avatar's beloved will spare you. Remember your predecessor; remember Ummi."
Aang tensed beside her, face flashing in outrage, but Azula spoke first: "You took Ummi to punish Avatar Kuruk; you are not going to harm me—because you have no quarrel with Aang, nor he with you."
"Yet," Aang and the Face Stealer clarified simultaneously, gazes darkening at each other.
Azula wondered how The Avatar had ever dealt with the Face Stealer before Avatar Kuruk's reign. "What is the source of your support for the idea of The Avatar, Face Stealer?"
"You are a remarkable human," the Face Stealer observed, begrudging. "You hold strength, despite your frail stature. Unlike your piteous kind, who are petty, arrogant, delusional, and chaotic, you possess a stability foreign to most."
"I am a prodigy," she recited simply, proudly, pleased in spite of herself that a spirit as powerful as the Face Stealer recognized her great traits. Perhaps Aang would recognize it, as well, and consider her nomination for Mother of Air in a more pleasant light.
The Face Stealer talons stopped scraping against the stone as his face shifted back into the old man, and the sudden silence was jarring before it was filled by that sly, ancient voice. "To understand my support of Balance, you must understand the past. You both know that all the Great Spirits were created by Raava and Vaatu."
Aang nodded stiffly. "Yes."
"Wan Shi Tong and the Elementals were created with simple energy, shaped by Raava and Vaatu, but I am different from my siblings; I was born from the union of Light and Darkness, of Raava and Vaatu."
"You are technically my child," Aang said, voice hesitant and confused—and disgusted.
"No," the Face Stealer hissed. "There is no more Raava; there is only The Avatar; there is only you. Raava sacrificed herself forever for Wan's Ascension. Raava no longer exists."
"I still feel her- "
"No. What you feel is not her but what she became, which was never her. There is no Raava; there is only you—The Avatar."
Aang looked at Koh in realization. "You're literally neutral," he breathed.
"Yes, Light plus Dark equals Gray—neutrality." The Face Stealer slithered around the cave once more, talons rattling against the rock. "You met the last of my creation—the lion turtles. My last creation bestowed on you the knowledge of energybending, which is achieved when there is internal, inward balance in your being. That is my power."
"I didn't know you created the lion turtles."
"Yes, you did."
Aang frowned. "Not in this lifetime. I might owe you, after all. The lion turtles knew energybending because of you, right?"
"Correct."
"So, I owe you for being able to smother Ozai's firebending- "
The Face Stealer laughed, and its sound boomed around them; it made Azula feel tense. "You were never able to triumph over someone as strong and willful as Vaatu's future chosen vessel. You were a child, pathetic in your nature as all children are, against a man at the beginning of his century-long prime if he fulfilled his lineage-endowed potential."
"I did smother Ozai's firebending- "
"Aang did not smother the Fire Lord's firebending," the Face Stealer corrected slyly, almost cruelly. "It was never you; it was all of you."
Azula understood and watched the bitterness wash over Aang's face; it was an expression she was more familiar with than she liked. "No. The Avatar had nothing to do with it. You weren't there. I know what I'm talking about."
The Face Stealer's visage of the old man grinned, face stretching unnaturally; he looked entertained, truly. "You were a child. What use is a child in war? Your childish redundancy doomed the world to Vaatu's chosen vessel. Did you think you would make a difference? Did you think that your restraint meant victory? How pathetic you are! Victory is not enabled by restraint; victory is empowered by indulgence."
Knowing that the Face Stealer was antagonizing Aang—for what reason, she could not discern—Azula interjected, investing her voice with irritation and mockery; it was effortless, for she felt both intimately: "How pathetic the Face Stealer is to claim to be of Balance but remain, idle, in the Immortal Realm while both Realms are ravished by imbalance; how pathetic you, who claim to be of Balance, are to argue that indulgence is necessary."
All amusement vanished from the Face Stealer, who glared at her with eyes that were not his. "You threaten my balance now. Be grateful I do not add your face to my collection of those who did the same. It is tempting."
Azula smirked. "I am not grateful; I am amused you even consider the possibility knowing of what should transpire if you attempt it. I merely indulge in my ability to anger you. Why should I bother with restraint?"
The Face Stealer's laughter was harsh. "I speak of the nature of beings. My nature is beyond yours, and The Avatar's nature is beyond the Fire Lord he humiliated—for now. Use your nature; harness your nature; understand your nature."
"But who determines if your nature is superior to mine?"
The Face Stealer rushed at her but froze a hand's length from her face, ancient but fraudulent eyes peering into her soul; it was only Aang's hand on her shoulder that made her feel calm. "These types of games may work and influence in the Mortal Realm," the Face Stealer hissed, "but here, in the Immortal Realm, you are less than nothing, a soon-to-be forgotten, wasted presence in the Gardens of the Dead. I have watched your kind for eons since my creations created you, and my generosity in gifting you faces has been raped by your insularity and arrogance. Humans play at being grand and renowned, but you are merely things that slithered out of the mud, and I would laugh at your kind's destruction if it were in my nature."
"This is your last warning," Aang intoned, voice flat but gray eyes reviling. "Threaten her again, and I will rip you apart and cast the pieces of you into the Void of Eternity. I'll pick up where Kuruk left off." A bitter smile crossed his face. "It's in my nature, after all."
"At least you understand minimally what you are," the Face Stealer muttered in disgust, turning away from them. "You have many strides to make, Avatar. Your journey began long ago, but you orient yourself in the wrong direction—you always have. That must change if there is to be Balance."
Aang, not realizing his hand still gripped her shoulder, reacted in tightening his hands before he realized and released her shoulder with a brief apologetic look; she waved him off. He looked back to the Face Stealer. "Then be helpful," he emphasized, frustrated. "Help me like you can. Stop antagonizing me, and I'll stop antagonizing you."
Silence.
"Vaatu plans to imitate Raava's sacrifice—become an Avatar of supreme power."
"We know this already," Aang said with more patient than she thought him capable of. "Ozai is his chosen vessel, who will work to master the elements and create his own Avatar Cycle. And I already know how Ozai got his firebending back, and I know how Ozai will master the other elements because of Vaatu's presence and influence."
"Agni allied with Vaatu," the Face Stealer said with a hinting, musical quality in his voice. "Whom else will ally with him?"
"Fools," Aang muttered in answer, but Azula's eyes widened in dread as she realized to what—to whom—the Face Stealer alluded.
"The other Great Spirits," she breathed, a terrifying chill gripping her by the spine. "He wants all of them."
The Face Stealer hummed. "Perhaps you are more helpful than Ummi. Vaatu will obtain the Elementals' aid if he can, and he already has Agni's aid; he seeks the aid of the others actively; he searches vigorously for them."
Aang's face was stoic, but she saw the anxiety in his gray eyes, which were aflame with turmoil and doubt. "No, Devi, Tui, La, and Indra would never ally with him. They know that he's responsible for the Great War, which ruined their Children!"
"Do they know?" the Face Stealer challenged, circling them, and Azula's mind raced. If Aang—The Avatar—never knew, lacking any instinct or knowledge, that Vaatu was behind the Great War, how would the other Elementals know? If only Agni was on Vaatu's side, it seemed likely that Agni would keep Vaatu's presence a secret from his siblings. "If Vaatu obtains the aid of all the Elementals, not even you could triumph."
"But if I bring the attack to Ozai and Vaatu, I don't have to worry about them obtaining the aids of the others," Aang pointed out, face considering; she saw the beginnings of a plan enter his mind. "They don't even know where Tui and La are, and not even I know where Indra is—Vaatu wouldn't, either."
"For now, Avatar. You must be diligent and vigilant, unlike how you have been."
Aang groaned, face spasming with different emotions; she recognized several, such as frustration and annoyance, but there were several that she could not decipher. "Why didn't you tell me this years ago? I could have stopped it."
The Face Stealer sneered, the air becoming thicker and heavier. "I tried, but you were unreceptive; you closed yourself off, and I could not reach you. It is why I took such drastic measures in harnessing the child's presence in your life. Now you understand the danger. If Vaatu kills you, there will never be Balance, which is a travesty beyond words. Vaatu would condemn you to the Void of Eternity, never confine you in the Tree as you did him. He knows better to triumph."
Azula watched Aang accept the reasoning as he slowly ran a hand through his hair, looking overwhelmed. "How do we stop him? And what about Agni? How do I purify him of Vaatu's corruption?"
"Why assume that Vaatu corrupted him?"
Aang's face sputtered with disbelief. "He clearly persuaded him! And Vaatu's persuasion is poison. It's Vaatu! What good reason is there for joining him?"
The Face Stealer's irritation grew, and Azula placed a kind but firm hand on Aang's arm; her eyes found his. "What good reason is there for your rampage at the once Ba Sing Se?" she asked softly, feeling regret that he flinched and tried to pull away, but she strengthened her grip, snagging a piece of his Air Nomad fabric—how did anything feel real if they were spirits? "No, you must consider this from all angles. This is complicated. I am sorry it is complicated, and I am sorry that you must confront unfortunate truths about yourself and others, but this is how it must be; it is the only way to be of clear mind and focus; it is the only way to triumph."
He did not look at her for several long moments, but when he did, turning slightly to her, his lips were curled into a humorless smile. "I'm not mastering chakras."
She refused to accept the bait of his deflection. "You are not taking this seriously."
"More seriously than you," he challenged, glaring. "I know what I'm talking about. I understand this more than you ever will."
Azula stared at him, eyes roaming the tight clench of his jaw. "Why did Agni ally with Vaatu?"
Aang blinked in surprise at the question. "Because he's a fool."
"Yes," she agreed, "but what else? Agni is many things—as we all, human and spirit, are—including a fool, but he is not only a fool. Why else did he ally with Vaatu?"
"Vaatu offered him promises," he said after several moments, face not as severe; it was more open and contemplative. "He promised something that Agni wanted." A realization washed over his face. "Something that I never gave him."
Azula nodded in encouragement. "Yes. There is more to this. And you must understand that the other Elementals will be promised things by Vaatu as Agni was. They will join him under the right circumstances if Vaatu is clever enough."
Aang stubbornly shook his head. "Not Indra; never Indra."
She chose not to fight him on his judgment; truthfully, she could not conceive any situation or scenario in which Indra willingly chose to ally herself with Vaatu after Vaatu authorized Air's murder. "But do you understand?"
"Yes," he admitted, voice soft and tired. "I have to stop him. How do I stop him, Koh?"
The Face Stealer chuckled, and Azula felt the mustache of the old man somehow brush against her hair, even though she was a spirit. How was that possible? "You must stop yourself from limiting yourself; you must accept Balance; you must realize the cosmic nature of this conflict."
"It's Light versus Darkness," Aang observed tightly, but there was an aggression on his face; he was clearly angered by the situation. "What else is there?"
"What is Light, and what is Darkness?"
"Primordial forces. One can't exist without the other, unfortunately."
The Face Stealer looked surprised briefly that Aang understood that Light and Darkness were connected; Azula understood his surprise. "Where there is Light, there is always Darkness; where there is Darkness, there is always Light. You cannot have one without the other."
Aang scoffed. "That's nice and all, but it doesn't hold substance in the moment. That may sound brilliant and intelligent in a closed room, but the moment you're out of that closed room, you're never going to believe a word of it. I certainly don't, and I never will."
"I thought you would be more intelligent," the Face Stealer lamented in disgust. "You are as blind as Kuruk."
"I will get to the bottom of this evil," Aang vowed, and the determination in his voice chilled her spirit; it reminded her of herself near the end of the Great War when she was possessed by her determination to please Father, which broke her mind. Would Aang break? "I will speak with the Tree and demand It fix It's nonsense."
The Face Stealer looked more enraged than he did when recounting Avatar Kuruk's failures; his stolen face flushed with ire, face twisting, and eyes bulging and narrowing simultaneously. "You dare make demands of the Tree? The arrogance! You are a waste of immortal presence!"
Before Azula could interject, Aang stepped forward and stopped right in front of the Face Stealer; they were unnaturally close, glaring into each other's eyes with thunder, producing tension. "I dare. I'm going to defeat Vaatu and put him in the Tree of Time again; I will succeed. And I will ensure the Tree agrees with me; I will ensure that the Tree is not so weak next time to prevent him from escaping."
"At least your willpower is not as pathetic as your understanding."
Aang turned around and gestured for her. "We're leaving."
Azula hesitated. "I have more questions for the Face Stealer."
The Face Stealer bristled. "Leave, human. I only tolerate your presence because of The Avatar. You are not welcome here without him; your stench sickens me."
"You could have been a friend on this day, Koh," Aang said in judgment, face severe and frustrated. "But you chose to be more my enemy than friend. I won't forget this."
Nothing else was said, and Aang grabbed her hand, and she was surprised but pleased by his bold action toward her; he guided her out of the Face Stealer's dwelling.
"Until next time, Avatar," the Face Stealer murmured, voice carrying outside his lair in a haunting breeze; it produced in her chills.
Aang's face twisted. "There won't be a next time."
Azula refrained from voicing her instinct that there would be a next time with the Face Stealer and focused on the giant wolf spirit for several moments to gather her thoughts. "That is much to process," she breathed eventually, feeling Aang watching her, but she kept her gaze on the wolf spirit, afraid of what he might attribute to her face. "I never imagined Vaatu was behind the Great War."
Growing up, all that she had heard was how glorious Sozin's conquest was, how he had been spreading the honor of the Fire Nation across the world, taming the impurities of the other races, but it was never Sozin in control; it was Vaatu. Sozin had not been the victor during the Great War but a victim under Vaatu's manipulations. It changed everything and nothing at the same time. It did not change anything that Sozin did or inflicted, nor the events that ravished the world during the Great War, but it provided reasoning and understanding. It was unbelievable; the more she learned, the more she realized how devious, shrewd, and sly Vaatu was, effortlessly manipulating the entire Mortal Realm into a Great War that decimated the Four Nations for a century while no one had an idea that it was he who had sparked it; they only believed Sozin to be the Saboteur of Peace.
But knowing that Sozin and Agni—the entire Fire Nation—were mere pawns in Vaatu's designs for victory in an eons-long quest minimized all of her race's deeds and accomplishments, all the crimes and horrors inflicted and received. Could anything be real if Vaatu had interfered so boldly? The Great War was never destined, as she once thought; it was strategized and manipulated, exercised viciously in pursuit of maximum damage and darkness—to strengthen Vaatu. Was anything as it seemed? Were there only lies on top of lies? What was the truth? Had anything she ever learned and experienced been hers, truly, or had it been designed by and imposed on her by Vaatu?
However, she worried more for Aang, who hated Sozin with a passion beyond Firebenders. Would Aang transfer that hatred to Vaatu, or would he love his hatred for Sozin so much that he refused to change his hatred, keeping his perception and understanding—his memory—on Sozin? Accepting that Sozin was a victim of Vaatu more than anyone but Aang himself demanded a clarity and honesty that Azula did not think Aang possessed, not now, not with his chakras confined and rigid.
Could he ever accept—and embrace—the fundamental challenge of his beliefs, of the knowledge by which he was possessed?
Would he be more disgusted with her nomination for Air if she confronted his impaired perception about Sozin, her own great-grandfather, the sire of, in his perception, all his ills?
"Everything really was planned," Aang said finally, head shaking; his dark hair fell over his face for a moment. "I know he's been planning it, but he really took advantage of that. I don't what it means." Something agonized and nearly hysterical seized the light in his gray eyes and shaded it into darkness. "It's inconceivable, beyond the comprehension of any mortal. But I see how he did it; I see how he could so easily take advantage and build his power subtly, avoiding my gaze and awareness for multiple lifetimes."
Azula nodded. "It started during Avatar Kuruk's reign, and he seized his opportunity."
Bitterness crossed Aang's features like a tide. "And he's seized it ever since. Or maybe before. The seeds may have been planted previously, but the fruit started being produced in Kuruk's reign."
Knowing his thoughts dwelled on Avatar Kuruk, for whom she felt little but trepidation, she shrugged one shoulder intentionally. "Indeed, we do not want to be too rigid in our understanding. It is likely that Vaatu's invasion might have started before Avatar Kuruk- "
"Don't defend Kuruk," Aang said in disgust, but she knew it was not directed at her; it was, truly, directed at himself. "He deserves all the scorn in existence. I have to clean up his mess, which is, of course, my mess. I have to make designs in days or weeks against Vaatu's designs that are eons old!"
When his eyes slammed shut in frustrated agony, she nodded. "Let us start in the Mortal Realm. We can notify Samir that she shall be tormented no more- " She cut herself when she saw Aang's eyes snap open, and a dazed expression washed over him as he turned in the opposite direction, away from the giant wolf spirit, who, to her anxiety, sped away. "What is it?" she demanded, her anxiety morphing into dread as the ground shook. "What happened?"
"Vaatu," Aang replied distantly, staring farther than she ever could. "He's here."
There was only fear—not for herself but Aang, who was not ready to face Vaatu! "Why has he come here?"
Aang blinked before something urgent came over him. "He's with Devi and Agni."
Azula cursed. "This is not the time to face him."
"Yes, it is. He's corrupting them even more!"
She gripped his arm an instant before he was about to take off in what could only be Vaatu's direction. "You are not ready to face him," she hissed urgently.
Aang wrenched his arm out of her hand, betrayed. "This is the chance I've been waiting for. I can stop everything now. He's here, and I'm here; there's only one conclusion. I'm not running away anymore! Isn't that a good thing? I'm not that stupid, weak, pathetic boy!"
Azula stepped in front of him, head craned to find his narrow gaze. "You cannot face him, Aang; you are not ready. Your chakras are not mastered- "
His jaw clenched. "You don't trust me."
"You must think logically- "
"I am," he snapped, face heated. "This is how I stop him; I can face him now and put him back in the Tree! And I'll ensure the Tree is never so weak again to let him escape!"
"Your conclusion is logical but your assessment of yourself is not."
"I'll defeat him!"
"Is your confidence rooted in belief or understanding?"
"Belief is understanding." Aang's hands gripped her by the shoulders, and his gray eyes peered into her golden ones. "I know what I'm doing," he vowed with such determination that she wished she could believe him. "I can take Vaatu."
"You stubborn fool," Azula observed softly. "But I am more the stubborn fool—for I choose to go with you."
He looked down at his hands, which rested on her shoulders, and she wagered that he was unaware his thumbs rubbed patterns over her garments, which pressed into her flesh; she did not notify him, for it was a most pleasant and riveting sensation. "I know I'm not ready to face him; I know. But this is the best chance we'll ever have at ending this war before it starts. I need to do this."
Azula sighed. "It already started, Aang- "
"But I can stop it from getting worse!" Aang emphasized, face scrunching in agonized determination. "This is the chance I needed, and I'm taking it."
"As will I," she added. "My chakras are mastered. Vaatu cannot sway me."
Aang's face softened, and he nodded rapidly, overwhelmed. "Thank you. Be ready. Vaatu is- "
"I heard Koh's descriptions of him."
"No description does him justice," he murmured, looking ancient and hollow. "He's Vaatu, and I'm scared of him."
Azula felt a tremor rumble through her mind at his confession; the fact that Vaatu scared him, The Avatar, mature and fully realized, told her more than anything else ever could. "You will not be alone, if that helps."
Aang's face twisted with a small but genuine smile, exhausted eyes crinkling. "It does. I'm tired of being alone. Come on." He grabbed her arm and pulled her along rapidly at an impossible speed across the Immortal Realm.
XxXxXxXxXxX
As he journeyed faster towards where Vaatu was, the shaking of the ground became more pronounced; trees had been ripped out by the roots, and the terrain beneath him had become inhospitable. Worst of all, Aang could see bright flashes of fire ahead, and the realization was profound. Agni was fighting Devi at Vaatu's behest, likely in a cunning ploy to corrupt her and obtain her services for himself! Vaatu already had one Elemental and had accomplished so much horror; how much more horror there would be if he obtained another Elemental for himself!
At least Ozai wouldn't be there; there was nothing spiritual about Ozai, and he would never be able to enter the Immortal Realm.
But he was without his body, unable to wield his rightful bending, weaker than he had ever been, especially against an enemy‚ possibly enemies, as powerful as Vaatu or an Elemental. If Vaatu succeeded in corrupting Devi, he was unsure he could triumph. Already, he had painful doubts about facing Vaatu without his body, but those doubts became terrors by the inclusion of facing Agni and Devi!
And what about Azula? She mastered her chakras, meaning that Vaatu could not corrupt her, but she did not have her bending, either! And unlike him, she couldn't defend herself against an attack from Vaatu's power. If Vaatu, Agni, or Devi wanted Azula destroyed from existence, she could do nothing to prevent it; he would have to intervene. But how would he intervene if he was without his body? How could he intervene when he didn't have experience facing such powerful foes without his body?
He was tempted to banish her back to her body in the Mortal Realm, but he couldn't bring himself to do it, not yet; he needed her soothing presence, which kept him steady and focused on the matters at hand. And he was terrified about facing Vaatu, an ancient dread that roiled in his soul, different from the dread of Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, or Kuruk; it was the ancient dread of The Avatar, far surpassing any dread ever experienced in one of his individual lifetimes. While he wanted to fight Vaatu and always would, he felt withered because he was without his body—and without his mastered chakras!—which culminated in his dread!
And Azula could be caught in the crossfire of the devastating conflict that would happen, but her presence inspired his strength and assured him of his endeavor, even if it was implausible. He needed her with him, only for a little bit. The moment he sensed that she was in danger, he swore to send her back into her body in the Mortal Realm, regardless if his protective act provoked her ire.
He needed her alive.
"How did Avatar Kuruk summon the spears into his hands?" Azula called out suddenly, raising her voice so he could hear her. "I will need a defense for myself."
Aang didn't look at her; he kept his gaze ahead, which approached ominously. "Emotions. What is the purpose of using the spear?"
"To protect us."
"Which has its source in an emotion," he pointed out. "Focus on that emotion and manifest the spear—or whatever weapon you're most skilled at."
When he glanced at her, his brows rose at the twin dao blades in her hands. She smiled tightly. "Zuko taught me a few things when we were children, but I am feebly inept with any weapon; I relied on my firebending. But now I have no bending."
Thinking for a moment, Aang cringed at the flash of lightning that streaked through the air in the distance that wasn't so distant anymore. "Speaking of—you may be able to use lightning."
Azula's eyes widened slightly. "Truly? How?"
Aang sighed, but it was unheard. "Lightning is the purest form of energy any bender can wield out of all the elements; it is closest to energybending, which is the closest form of bending possible in the Immortal Realm for anyone but me in my body. But instead of looking for your inner flame and separating the two energies, look for your spiritual energy and harness it by separating the energy around you from the energy within you. It won't be fire; it will be raw spiritual energy, spiritual in nature, and it will deal a lot of damage if dealt properly."
The relief on her face did nothing to alleviate his dread, even if it was a pleasant sight. "Will you still trick him into the Tree of Time?"
He nodded in determination. "I have to. It's the only way."
Nothing else was said until they reached the beginning of the desecrated ground, the marred landscape in which craters and embers mixed terribly. Aang felt anxious to face Vaatu after thousands of years, but a calm descended over him when he felt the reminder of his soul, ever-growing and powerful, the presence a fierce reassurance, even when he assessed the brutal battlefield. Fires raged across the soil, turning it a death-colored black; parts of the ground seemed to be incinerated as if a powerful laser or beam had blazed through it, carving unidentifiable symbols into the ground.
There was Vaatu in the distance, who hovered before Agni, a two-headed man composed of Fire, and Devi, a woman composed of stone, dirt, and had hair made of grass cascading down her back, as they fought violently and viciously. Vaatu merely watched like a cruel, expectant father; it was a fight of Elementals, terrible to behold for anyone but him. He noted the surprising unease on Azula's face and refrained from banishing her to her body; he needed her with him.
"Are you ready?" she asked quietly, eyes staring at the gruesome battle; Vaatu hadn't noticed their presences yet, thankfully.
"No, but we have surprise on our side, so he's not ready for us, either," Aang pointed out, feeling the excited pulse of his heart; he didn't feel much excitement, though, only grim determination. "I'm imprisoning him again."
Then he could purify Agni and Devi from his malevolent corruption and stop the new war from happening.
He had to—he had to!
Azula's golden eyes gleamed, promising a worthy ally, while her lips twitched in an inspiring commendation, promising a worthy wife—if he would have her, but he couldn't think of that. "I follow The Avatar's lead," she vowed before she looked past him, and her expression transformed as she froze in place.
Fear.
Aang whirled around and felt the Immortal Realm tremble from the force of his emotion. He tensed at the sight of a familiar man, who had been hidden previously by Vaatu's massive corporeal form, and his head shook, impossible denial gripping his spirit.
It was obviously Ozai, even with the shewn hair and thick beard on his face—it was Ozai!
"No, no," he muttered, voice wavering and catching, face tight and stricken; he dimly recognized it as the horror of incomprehension, the same sensation he had upon seeing Gyatso's skeleton at the Southern Air Temple all those years ago. "That's not possible. He can't be here."
Azula turned to him, anxious; her golden eyes were urgent, on the verge of panic. "Go back. Take us back. We cannot do this. Aang, do it now."
He felt her words register but only on the surface; the depths of his mind rebelled and scowled, enraged at the impossible. Even as he watched Ozai join the battle on Agni's side, spewing brilliant fire from his fists, confirming the unholy truth of his awakened firebending, he felt rooted in place. Vaatu lashed out with tentacles of darkness, slashing at Devi's earth-made body, causing rocks and stones to explode into pieces. Devi tried to defend herself from Vaatu, but Ozai and Agni's combined fire slammed into her side, blackening her side horribly, charring and splintering most of her body.
Vaatu's voice was thunderous. "You have brought this on yourself, Devi." His claws of darkness ravaged her broken chest and entered her, causing shadows to creep and seep through her entire body, and Devi screamed in pain and stumbled, but not before a massive beam of energy slammed into her chest. She released another shriek of agony as she fell, her body broken and almost destroyed, darkness ravaging her almost corpse.
But Aang felt distant to it; the screams unleashed by Devi were diminished by the screams in his mind about the impossible. "How is he here?" he demanded, voice on the brink of an eruption, near hysteria. "No! He shouldn't be here! It's not possible that his body's here!"
"Vaatu did something," Azula observed, voice calm but resigned; she seemed to lack any urge to join the battle.
"But how?" Aang hissed. "This breaks the Laws of Balance! Humans can't be here, not in body! And especially not someone as spiritually impotent as him!"
"My father distances himself from his mortality with every day he spends with Vaatu," she pointed out, eyes sharp. "You cannot expect Vaatu to abide by the rules."
The determination consumed him. "I'll make him."
"Wait- "
Aang ignored her and dashed into the fray. "Vaatu!" he roared, voice flashing like the lightning Agni threw at Devi. "Leave her alone!"
The fighting ceased instantly upon his entrance.
Vaatu turned to him, and Aang glared back, the rapid pulse of his heart echoed in his throbbing eyes, which threatened to raze. "Avatar," Vaatu hissed, looming tall, and ancient lines of energy, which Aang knew reflected the primordial language of the Beginning, coiled through his corporeal form as he floated closer to him. "You look as I remember."
Aang felt confused by Vaatu's cryptic words since he knew he looked nothing like Wan. But the confusion faded swiftly when he realized that Vaatu alluded to his spirit, which looked the same as he remembered—because he was The Avatar. Unlike Azula and any other spirit, including the Great Spirits, Vaatu didn't merely see the mortal form; he saw the immortal essence of The Avatar, which looked the same forever, constant in its eternity.
But all his preparations to face Vaatu didn't prepare him for the authentic moment, and he didn't know what to say.
"If only he were mute years ago as he is now."
That bitter, resentful voice belonged to Ozai, and it was the same as it had been all those years ago, but Aang didn't dare look at him, fearful of what he would do or say if he did.
"Stop," he ordered, gesturing to Agni and Devi. "This is useless. It's me you want; it's me who will satisfy your vengeance."
"And my vengeance!" Devi snarled, glaring at him with venom; she had reformed from her wounds supplied by Agni, Ozai, and Vaatu. "I carried millions of my children to the Gardens because of you, Avatar! I felt their grief and sorrow! It was greater than anything Agni's children ever did to my children!"
Aang felt faint and tried to shake his head, but it felt weighed down by a mountain—as high as the mound of corpses he made in Ba Sing Se. "I- … I'm sorry," he whispered, voice breaking, pitiful and cracked; he had never thought of Devi after Ba Sing Se, but he realized that he had ensured Vaatu's alliance with a second Elemental in Devi—all to avenge herself on him.
It was confirmed by the hateful look on Devi's face. Even though her body was nearly destroyed because of Vaatu, Agni, and Ozai's combined attack, she would ally with them if it meant she could avenge the slaughter of her children; she was a protective mother of her children. And Aang had killed her children. There would never be peace between them, not in this lifetime.
"You are not sorry!" Devi shrieked, the earth seething and warping around them, but she did not dare attack him—yet. "Indra's loss is tragic, but mine surpasses hers!"
Aang's eyes widened before they narrowed; his fury was provoked. "No, it doesn't!" he snapped. Devi could call him all the foul and depraved things in existence, and he would accept it, but he would never let her slander or diminish Air, no matter his sins against her children. "Earth's numbers are still strong while there are none of Air! Never compare the impact! I'm sorry I did that—I am, and you have no idea how much I regret it! I'll never be the same. But we can work together if we reach forgiveness- "
Devi's eyes burst with manic fury. "Forgiveness?" she screeched, and Aang hated how Ozai laughed while Vaatu continued staring at him. "There is no forgiveness for this crime—nor your crimes in previous lifetimes against my Children! I remember what Kyoshi, born of my Children, did to her own race! You do not forgive Air's murder, and I do not forgive Earth's murder!"
His fists clenched, though he had no idea what Devi was talking about regarding Kyoshi. "You're twisting it. I admit to my crimes; I admit them readily. But don't ever say I murdered Earth. Because I know what I did—I murdered Ba Sing Se but only Ba Sing Se. Earth wasn't murdered; it's still alive and strong! Unlike Air, who was murdered!"
"Then you shall join them! And my father will help me achieve it!"
"No! Do not subscribe to folly, Devi!" Azula cried out, appearing next to him finally; he didn't realize that he had run so much faster than her. Or had it been the destroyed terrain, with which he was familiar due to living on mountains, while she was familiar with flat terrain, which produced the disparity in length between their arrivals? "Vaatu cares only for the use you provide him, not you!"
Ozai blinked in shock at seeing Azula, but Aang knew it was a performance; Ozai didn't know that Azula had told him about encountering him in Ba Sing Se. "Azula?" he whispered, stunned.
Aang would have believed the performance if he didn't know it was a performance.
Azula gazed coolly at Ozai. "Father," she greeted, something amused in her voice. However, he noticed the tightened flesh on her face; her lips pinched slightly. "It has been many years. I wish the length was longer."
"The Avatar's length in reign ends now!" Devi screamed, but shockingly, Vaatu glared at her.
"Silence, Devi!" he boomed. "Your time will come—but only if you are patient."
When Devi obeyed Vaatu, falling silent, Aang realized with terror that the alliance was informally made, even if not acknowledged formally.
He had to change it! But how? Devi hated him for what he did to Ba Sing Se, and rightfully so. She would never consider him a friend or ally, especially against Vaatu, who would take advantage and twist everything to suit his needs. He realized with a thick swallow that there was no changing the situation. Agni would stay allied with Vaatu and Ozai, and Devi would, as well—because he could offer her nothing but apologies.
But apologies offered nothing of value, not in the face of the mountains of death he produced for her children.
The overwhelming and twisted fury on Ozai's face was too real to be false. "You betray me? For him?" Magnificent fire bloomed past his lips in snarl. "You spread your legs for him?"
Agni stared at Azula in disappointed stoicism. "How wasteful," he commented. "You once showed great promise, Azula."
"But not as great as her father," Vaatu interrupted, voice daring argument. "I have my vessel now, Avatar, and you, greater as you are, are outnumbered. How did you survive Fire's assault?"
Aang grit his teeth at the reminder that Vaatu authorized Air's murder. "I'm going to destroy you," he vowed, foregoing his feeble deception to try to trick Vaatu into the Tree of Time; he felt the power in his eternal spirit, and it would be enough to destroy Vaatu! It was enough to destroy everyone! "And I'll start with your vessel."
Azula smirked. "It will be better than a return to your new home, Father, yes?"
Ozai realized she alluded to his prison cell the same moment Aang did as his face spasmed. "You whore," he murmured before lightning sparked between his fingers. However, one of Vaatu's tentacles of darkness snuffed it out before Aang could attack.
"Answer me, Avatar. How did you survive Fire's assault?"
Aang ignored Vaatu, finally locking eyes with Ozai; he saw the memories of the last time their eyes locked in Ozai's eyes and smiled grimly. "Before this is over, I'm going to make you apologize to Azula for everything you did to her, including what you just called her. Your authority as her father is now revoked; she is no longer yours."
A bitter chuckle echoed out of Ozai's leering mouth. "She is yours, is she?" The back of his throat glowed with an ominous orange and deep red color. "She was always eager to please, and she always valued her tongue so highly. And now she pleases you, Avatar—and with her tongue, yes?" Aang's hatred for the Boy. He had been so stupid and pathetic to spare Ozai, who deserved nothing but death—like Sozin! "I sired failures, but I will rectify my mistake. There will be no more disappointments like Azula."
"A disappointment whose existence must be fixed," Agni intoned, staring at Azula in what Aang discerned as displeasure.
Azula stood taller, drawing herself up. "Failure is the inability to mature. I have matured, and I work to mature still. Your gazes are clouded by deceit and knowledge. You possess the knowledge of my failure but lack the wisdom to understand that failing is temporary—for I have already worked myself out of it. You are more powerful than I ever will be, but my strength exceeds your paltry stature, which crumbles under the stare of The Avatar's judgment. But I stand taller under his judgment, strong and wise." A devious smirk crossed her lips, and Ozai's face flickered with disgust while Aang tensed, waiting for an attack. "History will remember us both, Father, but whom will it reward with stories of renown? Whom will be a standard and whom a warning? I will be remembered in a redemptive light, but you will be remembered as a collector of ashes, bones, and corpses."
"That is my decision, Ozai's daughter," Vaatu intoned.
"It's mine," Aang corrected harshly. "Azula will be remembered. I'll ensure it."
"How did you survive Fire's assault?"
"I slept in La's depths," he said shortly, feeling Devi's condemning stare; it prickled his flesh and threatened his sanity. However, he kept his eyes on Agni and Ozai, watching as their dark gazes were still narrowed at Azula in disgusted contempt.
He felt no concern for his life; if he was killed, it would be a release from the grief and horror that Sozin ravished him with. But Azula's life was of primary concern. There was no escaping without a battle, not that he could see; there were only powerful enemies who would kill him.
Because Aang was guilty and to blame.
Vaatu hummed. "I waited for decades to feel you destroyed, but I never did. I thought you survived into your next life."
Agni's heads sneered; one stared at Aang while the other stared at Azula. "Reborn into the Water Tribes. When the last Waterbender in the South became known, we thought you had returned."
Aang felt something terrible grip his spine and twist. The pieces clicked together. Azulon would never be interested in one mere Waterbender in the South after having conquered the South for a second time. He had always wondered why the Fire Nation was interested in one Waterbender. Katara could have never become a threat; she was the last of the Southern Waterbenders, and she had no Masters to teach her whatsoever, which Azulon knew. Her existence was less than nothing compared to the might of the Fire Nation and Azulon shouldn't have cared. But if Vaatu and Agni had suspected that The Avatar had died, finally dying, thinking that he had been reincarnated once more, their attention would be seized by the rumor of a new Waterbending being born in the South. The reaction of Azulon and the Fire Nation made sense because Vaatu and Agni thought that The Avatar had been reborn.
So, he actually was responsible for Katara's mother's murder.
Was there anything he wasn't guilty of and to blame for?
"You thought wrongly," he said after several moments; he wasn't able to get rid of the nauseous feeling, but that was nothing new. He had felt nauseous since Ba Sing Se; actually, he had felt nauseous since learning of Air's murder and seeing the unholy evidence; actually, he had felt nauseous since he awakened from the Iceberg; actually, he had felt nauseous since he learned he was The Avatar. "And you think wrongly now. This ends now. You will inherit Sozin's failure—I won't die ever! There will be no more scores of dead!"
However, the anticipated attack from them didn't come. Vaatu, Agni, Ozai, and Devi merely stood there—and in Vaatu's case, floated—without attacking; they were waiting.
Ozai's eyes gleamed. "The move is yours, Avatar."
Realizing that his hand was being forced, he tensed. Vaatu and Ozai weren't going to attack him yet, waiting for him to begin the new war. They made it seem like he wanted war, but he didn't want war! But they were forcing his hand all the same! Because if he didn't do anything, Devi would ally with them, and two of the Elementals would be on their side! It was horrible!
Azula glanced at him for a moment, and he knew she would follow his lead; she was of Fire but, shockingly, refused the aggressive path—unless he took it first, which she would follow loyally. Aang saw no other choice. He inhaled sharply and summoned the primordial energy, planning to attack Vaatu first as he was the bigger threat before pivoting to Agni and Devi, who clearly would ally with Vaatu. He would have to leave Azula to face Ozai, but there was no other option. She might be able to survive against Ozai, but she would never survive against Agni or Devi—and certainly not Vaatu.
Aang lashed out, energy pouring out of him as his body followed the katas of each of the elements; the energy slammed into Agni and Devi and sent them flying. Vaatu hissed in pain before roaring when Aang intensified the energy output. He wouldn't be able to maintain his exertion for long because he was unused to energybending, particularly against opponents as powerful as Vaatu, Agni, and Devi-
"Aang!"
He froze upon hearing Azula's cry.
"Hear my proposition," Vaatu interrupted, stalling his attack as Aang saw the obvious. Ozai had wrapped a hand around Azula's throat and, with his other arm, locked her arms in place, squeezing tightly. "Come with me, Avatar, if you want your friend to survive this encounter."
"How do I know Ozai won't destroy her?" he demanded.
Ozai laughed, golden eyes gleaming. "You will have to trust me."
"I'll never trust you."
"For your whore's sake, you must."
Aang took a threatening step forward and only stopped when Ozai's grip tightened, and Azula thrashed lightly, instinctively. "If anything happens to her, whatever it is, I will ensure that the same happens to you. That is my promise."
Vaatu's darkness beckoned. "Come, Avatar. Let us remember."
His fists clenched as his eyes found Azula's eyes. "I'm sorry," he called out. "My plan wasn't a plan. But I'll get us out of this."
Azula's lips twitched; she seemed remarkably unconcerned. She looked relieved if he read her correctly, which he felt certain he did. "I admire your conviction."
Ozai sneered. "Go, Avatar. My restraint is not free."
Aang memorized Azula one last time and turned to Vaatu. "What proposition?"
The air clouded with power. "First, we must visit a place familiar to us both."
The Immortal Realm blurred around them, and Aang realized suddenly that Vaatu had many more tricks than he did, specifically in the Immortal Realm.
When the world became distinctive, Aang knew instinctively where they were at the onslaught of primordial energy that fluttered against and around him; it was beyond anything he was capable of—and anything Vaatu was capable of. But there was one thing—one Being—he registered more than anything else, and he was riveted on It's permanence.
His gaze rested on the transcendence he had imagined many times since remembering It's existence.
The Tree of Time.
XxXxXxXxXxX
When Aang bolted to fight Vaatu, he vanished before her eyes, leaving her stunned. He took a single step forward and appeared in the vast distance before Vaatu, Father, Agni—the Father of Flames!—and Devi. He appeared with no falter or hesitation in his stride; he had not realized what he had accomplished, too busy glaring at Vaatu, unaware of the incredible power he displayed in such a simple action.
Amazed and annoyed—and worried—in equal measure, Azula took off after him, hoping that the battle would not begin without her but prepared for it to all the same. However, Devi verbally accosted Aang for his crimes in the former city of Ba Sing Se, her shrill shrieks of condemnation echoing through the air as she ran to meet them.
When she finally arrived, it was immediately apparent that Aang's plan would never work.
Vaatu was terrifying and powerful to behold, and she found she could barely look at him, even with her mastered chakras; he held an intensity and energy that exceeded anything but seeing The Avatar in Ba Sing Se. And Agni—the Father of Flames!—stood near her, and how she had imagined Agni so many times, but she could not focus on him nor adulate as she yearned to; she focused on Aang and Father and trying to conceive any possible strategy that ensured their survival.
Fighting was not an option; it was painfully clear that they were at a severe disadvantage, particularly with Agni and Devi allied with Vaatu, even informally. And Azula was unconvinced Aang could defeat Vaatu on his own without his mastered chakras. Her confessed fear to him that he would become the Night to herald Vaatu's Darkness held firm and true. It was augmented tenfold by being in Vaatu's presence and sensing the inherent might that made her spirit tremble.
She had no control over the situation, and while Aang seemed to think that he did, he did not, either; the pressures of Vaatu trapped them. There would be a fight if Vaatu wished it; it would be their deaths if Vaatu wished it.
Seeing Father again made her nervous as there were no rules; there were only suspicions about how to act in the presence of both Aang and Father, who despised each other.
However, the simmering volatility that had been building upon Aang's entrance erupted when Aang attacked, forced by Vaatu and Father to act rather than react, placing the decision in his hands rather than theirs.
She admired the strategy but hated that it was directed at her and Aang!
But she felt panic; nothing was going according to plan! It was going to mean their deaths because an extended fight was suicide! When Father began to wind his fingers in that familiar motion, directed at Aang, she followed her instinct and ran to him, interrupting the attack; she threw her arms around him and spun around until her back was flush against his chest.
"Restrain me!" she hissed urgently. "Trust me, Father!"
After a moment, he followed her suggestion, and she called out for Aang, who froze, thankfully foregoing his doomed, reckless attack. Attacking Vaatu would never work, especially with Agni and Devi present. A more sophisticated method of triumph was needed, but Aang needed to be forced into restraint—by seeing her 'forced' into restraint. She disliked deceiving him, but it was the only way they could survive and hope to gain insight into whatever other plans Vaatu and Father had.
Aang's entire plan of attack was rushed and chaotic, refined with little care except for excessive urgency, which had a much higher likelihood of irrevocable damage than success.
But Vaatu's offer of proposition interrupted her tentative plan, even though it was a foolish plan, and any feeble control over the situation she had cultivated vanished—just as Aang and Vaatu vanished! She felt part of her vanish with Aang, worried and dismayed; she had no idea if, when he returned, if he did, he would be Aang or the Night.
But she would trust Aang, knowing she had to; he would handle Vaatu—he had to! He had to! He must! Otherwise, it was unthinkable to conceive.
However, she controlled herself, knowing Father assessed her. She could not fail as she had in Ba Sing Se! She would not fail! She would be prudent and aware!
Father let go of her with a rough scoff. "You prevented my assault against him."
Azula's heart rate increased, but she raised a brow. "I doubt Vaatu would have permitted it."
"You know his name," Father observed, voice thoughtful, but his eyes were sharp—as always.
"The Avatar is careless," she dismissed. "He speaks honestly when he should not. I learned of your great ally's name after Ba Sing Se."
"I was unsure you had survived Ba Sing Se."
Azula's lips stretched. "I always survive. The Avatar spared me from his wrath. But my faith in you is stronger than your faith in me; I knew you survived."
Father smiled, and Azula knew she had to be careful. "As it must always be, Daughter. Why are you here?"
"The Avatar brought me along to converse with the Face Stealer."
As expected, Father's eyes glimmered with interest. "And your face is still here."
Azula restrained the scoff that threatened to break free. "As you know, I have much practice freezing my expression into one of disinterest."
"Yet, you are easy to read," he derided. "You were terrified before The Avatar attacked. Surely, the Face Stealer saw your fear. It was not by your will that you survived; it was by the threat of The Avatar's wrath. Yes?"
She nodded. "Yes, Father."
Father began to circle her, and Azula tried not to tense; she was semi-successful. "Your hold on him is strong," he commended.
"I am me, Father," she said simply, gesturing to her body. "His nature is a god, but his form is still a man."
"Are you with child?"
Azula's tongue felt heavy in her mouth; a sickening warmth that had nothing to do with firebending pervaded her chest at the gleam in Father's eyes. "Not yet," she managed to say, forcing the words, but she heard the frail quality in the words and stood straighter. "He is of Air and from Air, Father; his seed avoids and evades my seeking womb. His seed is unlike a Child of Fire's seed, which is persistent and willful, looking for its target."
Father hummed. "You must encourage his willful nature. Take his seed and produce a child to tie him to you forever, providing me the pivotal ingress through which to strike. If I kill his child, his despair will swallow his wrath, and he will die."
She smiled and tried not to think of Samir; she failed—because she kept slipping! "That child would be your grandchild, who may be of use to you."
"A half-spawn," Father said thoughtfully. "His degeneracy may make him more malleable to wield as a weapon and direct at whom I please."
Azula forced a smirk. "Most prudent."
"But you have not been most prudent," he observed, voice disappointed. "You have not ensured my ingress to The Avatar by producing a permanent, eternal link between you and him."
"The Avatar's suspicions are roused," she said softly, injecting her voice with exhaustion and wariness. "I cannot provoke his distrust. I nearly have already due to my persistence. But I am concerned. My time with him nears a year in length, and he has not given me his seed. I am unsure he is capable of it; he hates Sozin and Sozin's line- "
"Fool," Father hissed in disgust, and Azula was relieved that Aang had vanished with Vaatu. She disliked Father, but she did not want to see his head crushed like King Kuei's had been. "Sozin's strength is greater than The Avatar's."
Unable to help herself, Azula rolled her eyes. "Great-grandfather Sozin feared The Avatar his entire life and spent decades trying to reinforce his defenses in dread that The Avatar would return. The Avatar has never feared Great-grandfather Sozin and never will."
"That is power, not strength- "
"The Avatar bears the weight of the world on his shoulders and stands tall; he has the strength to wield his power."
Father's golden eyes consumed her. "You are fond of him."
Azula tensed before she waved a hand. "As I would be of a dragon; he is like my pet, at my beck and call."
"But you say he is suspicious of you," he pointed out, voice curious and on the verge of dangerous. "Which is it, Azula?"
"It is at the point where I must think of my options," she responded, spacing her words. "If I must flee, where must I go to meet you?"
Father frowned. "Has your seduction faltered?"
"It is stronger and more promising than ever," Azula said with eager passion. "However, he has become mad after Ba Sing Se and is distrustful; he sees deception everywhere. It is only my cunning that has spared me from his wrath, but my cunning cannot extend forever as his wrath and madness do. If he kills me, I am of no help to you, and all the knowledge I have learned from him and about him will be lost to you. He monitors my messages, and I cannot send word to you. When—when, for he is deeply suspicious and paranoid—I must flee, where should I go to rendezvous with you? Where is your camp?"
Father smiled, and she knew he believed her. "The Hu Xin Province."
Azula smiled back. "One of Grandfather's great victories. You stay there?"
"With my allies—many peasants."
"How many?"
"Enough," he assured with a confidence that worried her.
However, she only nodded with a smirk; she could not rouse his suspicion. "Do you plan on leaving for a new camp?"
"Do you already plan your escape?"
"Always."
Father's golden eyes gleamed. "Well done. If you reach Hu Xin, and I am not there, you must travel to what was once Ba Sing Se. I plan to take over the territories and recruit all those who hate The Avatar."
Azula inclined her head. "Yes, Father. It is an excellent strategy—as was your attack against him in Ba Sing Se. You provoked the abyss between The Avatar and those once loyal to him."
"My army swells daily," Father murmured, golden eyes anticipatory. "The Children of Earth once followed The Avatar to destroy me, but now they will follow me to destroy The Avatar. It is poetic."
"It is historical," she commented.
He tilted his head, gaze piercing her. "You sounded convinced of your place in history," he commented, voice light, but it lurked with danger.
Azula smirked and shrugged one shoulder intentionally. "I am an excellent actress, Father. How else have I seduced The Avatar?"
Father hummed. "Is it an act or fact?"
She desperately tried to remain calm, but Father's pressure slammed into her defenses—as it always had! "The fact is an act," she dismissed. "I merely recited what The Avatar thinks about me and what my place will be."
"Do you believe that will be your legacy?"
Azula smiled. "My legacy has always been what I knew it would be—I am to have my own nation and rule with strength."
Father looked pleased. "Yes. But I have yet to see if you are worthy of whatever nation I choose for you in my new world. You failed last time with Fire. Perhaps another nation is more appropriate."
Because she could not help herself, even in the face of probable danger, she quipped: "How about Air?"
Father's brow rose before he seemed to authentically consider her suggestion—confession. "You are familiar with it as The Avatar's lover. He has shared things, I assume."
"Yes."
"Perhaps," he said, nodding. "You will start at the weakest race and work your way back to the supremacy of Fire until you prove your strength to me."
"What makes Air weak?" she asked, curious, although she knew what he would say.
As expected, he scoffed. "You have seen their weakness more than I have. He brought you to the barren Air Temples, yes?"
"Yes."
"They were too weak to live in this world, and my grandfather wiped them out in a single day in a single attack."
"Weakness does not coincide with The Avatar's nature; he is of Air."
"He is The Avatar, nothing more. Even being born to such a frail race cannot diminish his inherent divinity."
"But is he strong because he is The Avatar or because he is of Air?"
Father's eyes narrowed, and Azula knew she was beginning to arouse his suspicion. "I recognized your hold over him, but now I see his hold over you."
Azula shook her head immediately. "No. I seek understanding, Father. The only way to defeat The Avatar is to obtain understanding. Our previous understanding led to our humiliating defeat. Perhaps we need a new understanding to triumph."
Thankfully, Father relaxed and looked thoughtful. "An excellent observation, Azula. Would The Avatar kill me?"
"Yes," she answered with no doubt, brimming with conviction; she believed it more than she believed many things. "He is not that boy- "
"But in many ways, he still is," Father sneered, disgusted. "All of the power in the world makes him timid, revealing the nature of his pathetic race."
"Air is gone," Azula acknowledged, keeping her voice even. "But my experience with The Avatar makes me mourn the fact that our foes during the Great War were so small in greatness, unlike him. Why was Great-grandfather Sozin so successful? Why did he have to be so successful? It would have been thrilling to fight Airbenders, who control the heavens, ride the winds, and breathe tornadoes. If Air had not been attacked surprisingly, that would have been the true conflict of the Great War—Air and Fire."
Father seemed to consider her claim, eyes staring at her with deep intelligence. "Air provoked us into our attack, but once Air was gone. There was no Great War with them. What led to the Great War was Air, but what made the Great War was Earth. Our true conflict of the Great war was with Earth."
Azula nodded. "But only due to Air's absence."
"Air was weak; they were pacifists."
"But if they were not?" she challenged, brows rising. "They would have been our deadliest foes, maintaining the inherent advantage necessary in all conflict—the high ground. They would attack with the speed of the roaring winds and vanish into the sky, unseen and unheard. I mourn that our enemies were of lesser quality, meaning that our race did not refine themselves as we could have—as we yearned to."
Father shook his head. "The Avatar's seed has gone to your mind rather than your womb. Remember your mission, Azula. Cease your foolishness—or it will diminish your worth."
Azula inclined her head. "Of course, Father. My mission is always on my mind."
She would always remember her mission—to help Aang.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Aang wanted to go to the Tree of Time and demand of It answers, but Vaatu's presence prevented it. Instead, he and Vaatu endured in the place where they battled lifetimes ago during Wan's Ascension. The dominion held deep and memorable signs of the enormous battle eons ago. Artifacts endured everywhere he looked from Wan's triumph but also defeat—and, thus, Aang's defeat—because he fell into the burden of The Avatar, living forever—and dying forever.
His hands dared caress the Tree's roots; his fingers dipped briefly into It's shimmering, golden sap. Aang shivered at the cosmic energy, vast and colossal, pure and ultimate, that pervaded him before he pulled away. A familiar sensation echoed in him, and he recalled a distant event awakening in his spirit—he had been here before and done the same things.
"I drank the sap," he whispered, not knowing why he said it, least of all to Vaatu, but he knew that Vaatu would be the only one who would understand—even if he resented that Vaatu would understand.
"Yes. And it was here you descended into the Void of Eternity, traversing down the Tree's endless roots," Vaatu murmured; he sounded thoughtful. "There you Ascended."
Aang swallowed as his eyes fixated on the script carved in several places into the Tree's bark; it looked like a man had used his thumbnail to write something that would be remembered forever, even if no mortal would ever see it. And the answer was obvious. Wan had carved his name and other words into the Tree's bark, peeling away some parts to reveal smooth wood to make the runes more legible. While Aang could not actively read the inscribed language, which was ancient and forgotten, a tongue no longer spoken by any human, he instinctively knew what it said as his fingers brushed over the characters gently, dipping slightly in some places and rising in others.
My name is Wan. Here, I died a man and awoke a god. I smothered the Darkness to make the Light shine brighter, and all will be good now; Life will be worth living. I will never stop fighting, no matter the forms and names I take. My spirit is eternal, deathless, and invincible. Darkness will never rise again. I will make it so.
Wan's words resonated inside him, and something fractured, a whole yearning to know and understand. The dormant power within his spirit, wrapped in his mortal form of Aang, quivered in anticipation of reviving that unspeakable determination, but Aang stumbled back—but in the wrong way. He backed into the biggest of the Tree's roots, what looked like It's center, and stood over the precipice of the Void of Eternity.
Aang looked down and marveled at the opening of the primordial womb of Genesis, the Beginning, the Origin—and, thus, Dissolution. It was the entrance to the Void of Eternity—and exit, for there was only one way into the Void of Eternity and one way out. The Tree ripped a hole in the Void of Eternity and raised the Immortal Realm to its splendor, to its very existence, but the opening remained forever because, through the opening, the cosmic energy for the Harmonic Convergence, the cosmic miracle that instills Balance, flowed. The Tree and the Void of Eternity were one, but the Tree took on a new form and shaped the Immortal Realm around It's roots, creating a haven in which life could flourish—and the life was provided by the Spirits, who had their sources in the Tree.
"The Tree of Time is the center, the heart, of the Immortal Realm," Vaatu said behind him, and while Aang knew he should turn around and be on his guard, knowing that Vaatu could easily throw him down into the Void of Eternity, he was mesmerized, rigid in place, seized by the forgotten yearning—a memory from so long ago at the Beginning of his existence that made him all that he is. "It is unreachable to anyone but us."
Aang didn't recognize his voice when he spoke: "Agni came to free you."
"Agni came because I lured him here, and his lust for power exceeds his deep caution and terror of this place. None of the Great Spirits dare come of their own volition. Only we dare."
"Because of what's behind the Tree," he whispered, still staring into the Void of Eternity. "Or what's under the Tree, so close and so real."
Roaring with essence, the Void of Eternity was ignorant of his gaze. The Void was tranquil, basking in the primeval energies that he recognized instantly as Light and Darkness.
"This is how we were made," Aang said, something pulsing in his chest that wasn't his heart. "The Tree pulled Light and Darkness and shaped us."
Vaatu floated next to him, and they both looked into the Void. "Yes," Vaatu confirmed, voice soft and welcoming. "You understand."
His eyes followed down the expanse of the Tree's roots, which descended far, and he could discern no end nor beginning. Was there a beginning, a point of start, or was it Eternity? Was it endless and forever beyond his intellect and comprehension?
He should be terrified, and he knew that any other mortal, including Ozai or Azula, would be terrified, but he felt nothing but remembrance and a sense of yearning to traverse there again, even if he hated it. It was there he had bonded forever with Raava; it was there he became himself by becoming The Avatar—and he hated it! If it was within his power, he would destroy the Tree and the Void of Eternity, but his power was paltry and feeble next to the impossible power of the Tree and the Void of Eternity.
There was no fixing the cosmic injustice of his existence.
Aang looked away from the tantalizing roots, which descended into the Void of Eternity, at Vaatu. "You haven't attacked me."
"Why would I attack you?"
He honestly had no idea if Vaatu was trying to trick him or if he had miscalculated. Had he misjudged Vaatu? What was going on? "I imprisoned you in the Tree," he said, shaking his head; he gestured behind him at the endless presence of the Tree. "I made you powerless; I made you furious; I made you think about nothing but vengeance for eons. But you're calm. You could have thrown me into the Void at any moment, but you didn't. Why?"
"Out of any life you have lived, it is in this one you possibly understand my grief and loss—because you grieve your loss. I was once mighty and renowned, but it was stolen from me by you. You once had contentment and joy, but it was stolen from you by me. I am willing to make peace with you; I reach out to you and offer solace."
Aang backed up from the Void of Eternity and focused on the preserved battlefield. "You said you had a proposition. I don't want this war, so I'm willing to listen."
Vaatu swirled around him, and the darkness clouded his senses; it was intriguing and thrilling, a relief from the perennial pain and undying grief. "I can give you what you want—if you give me what I want."
"What do I want?"
"Air's return."
Aang grunted, knowing the temptation was dangerous and tried to fight the shadows, but his efforts lacked conviction; he wanted to hear what Vaatu had to say—he needed to! "I've already started Air's revival."
"You do not want Air revived; you want Air returned. It is your aspiration; it is your hope; it is your reason; it is your love. Everything you lost, I can restore. You lost your mentor, and I can return him to you; he will be as he was. Air will return, and everyone you loved and lost will feel your love once again. And you shall feel their love in turn."
Aang swallowed and felt the overwhelming yearning saturate his spirit. "What do you want?" he asked, desperate. "What do I need to give you?"
"I want you," Vaatu responded. "You will be my vessel."
He flinched. "You already have Ozai."
"But for all his striving and ability, he is not you. You are perfect and possess everything that I need. Ozai's capacity for darkness is exquisite, but your capacity for darkness is prodigious. I want the best, and you are the best. You revealed to me your strength in your first lifetime, and that strength endures still, stronger than before."
"You could make him manifest that strength," Aang dared observe. "Why not bring him here to do what I did all those lifetimes ago? Make him drink the Tree's sap and descend It's roots into the Void of Eternity. You already brought him into the Immortal Realm. Why not bring him into its heart? How did you bring him here?"
Vaatu laughed, but it was not kind. "I earned that knowledge through my ruminations and discoveries; you must do the same. I do not disclose primordial secrets out of charity."
"It was quite charitable to liberate Ozai from his prison and awaken his firebending," Aang pointed out, surly. "Why not bring him here and descend the Tree's roots? Why not do what I did?"
"Even if it were possible now, he is not ready. Only the Harmonic Convergence makes the Ascension possible, but the Harmonic Convergence will not occur for too long from now. I cannot bond permanently with Ozai."
Aang knew instinctively that Vaatu had a plan—at least an idea—to circumvent the unfavorable circumstances. "Even if you strive, you won't win. You won't get Water and Air," he reminded, smiling slightly. "You don't know where they are."
Vaatu didn't react. "But you do not have Air now, and I can heal your loss."
The temptation was so powerful that Aang staggered away, trying to find logic when there was none. "You're responsible for it happening in the first place!"
"But now that I am free, I can restore what you lost."
"I don't trust you."
"Do you trust anyone?"
"Yes."
Vaatu's laughter boomed. "You trust no one. You conceal your desires and restrict yourself. But I know; I feel it; I sense it. You love Ozai's daughter, but you deceive her because you do not trust her."
Aang's fists clenched. "I trust her enough."
"You deny to her that you would sacrifice her instantly if it meant Air's return; you would rip out her heart and eat it if it meant Air's return; you would rape her and kill her if it meant Air's return; you would desecrate her corpse if it meant Air's return; you would obliterate her spirit from existence, even toss her into the Void, if it meant Air's return—and you would do all of this to a woman you love and for whom you feel more affection than anyone living."
He took a step back, shocked; he felt the impulse to look around to see if Azula had overheard, but he resisted because he knew they were alone. "How do you know that?"
"It is the truth of the darkness you deny yourself, which is so powerful and potent, that flourishes inside you. I know what it is you want. You would destroy the world and all things and beings in it for Air's return."
Aang looked away. "I destroyed Ba Sing Se for a lot less."
"I do not judge your actions," Vaatu murmured, and Aang felt himself sway to its sound. "You can trust me. I know and understand the darkness inside you; I commend your darkness and do not judge it or you. I affirm everything you feel."
"You're responsible for everything I feel," he snapped. "You're the reason why Air is gone. You corrupted Agni- "
"I merely revealed to him what he wanted. I pulled his existing darkness out of the blinding shine of the light. And he shone light into Sozin's darkness, revealing what he wanted."
Aang's jaw clenched. "It's still your fault."
Vaatu hummed. "And my imprisonment was your fault. We hate each other, but we can be so much more if we cease our hatred; we can be glorious. Was Air's ethic not forgiveness? I am capable of more things than you know. I can forgive you, and I will if you forgive me and change your essence—and, in return, out of my newfound love for you, I will return to you Air."
Silence.
Aang felt deeply enticed; it buzzed at his senses, piercing his ears in a melody, ringing in his soul with harmony. "How would it work?" he breathed.
Vaatu purred. "Look inward and destroy your connection to what Raava once was."
The panic of his past lives compounded inside him, and he grunted. "Are you lying?"
"No. If Air is to return to you, that connection must be gone. It can never provide to you what I can—and will—if you agree to my proposition."
"What would I do?"
"Master yourself," Vaatu said. "You are so close. I can feel it. You look to master your chakras, but there is another way to master them. Your Ascension will remain, but its source will lie elsewhere. You will connect to me rather than your current connection, what Raava once was, which will reveal itself in the chakras."
Aang slowly understood. "To master the Earth Chakra, I must not fear to be alone because it's my destiny as The Avatar to be alone. For the Water Chakra, I would need to feel no guilt at the pain and suffering of others, inflicted by myself or others—for the pain and suffering are temporary because everything is temporary, except the Tree and Void. For the Fire Chakra, I must be unashamed of being The Avatar and embrace it as my destiny—for I am something more, ascended higher on the Chain of Being. To master the Air Chakra, I must feel no grief from suffering and pain and love the suffering and pain in others. For the Sound Chakra, I must realize that nothing is actually connected, not really and not truly, for authentic connections means sameness and, thus, identical natures—but there's nothing of the sort. To master the Light—or Dark—Chakra, I must realize that separation is the nature of the world, embodied by the existence of the Four Nations, which have their essence from the Elementals, which have their essence from Light and Darkness, which is a primordial separation. To master the Thought Chakra, I must disconnect myself from the mortality that binds me, severing the roots to ascend—as I did when I became the First."
He realized with a shuddering breath that he was further along mastering the chakras according to Vaatu's way than the way that Pathik—and Air!—had shown him.
"Yes," Vaatu commended, sounding pleased. "By doing so, you will achieve everything you desire. That is my promise."
"You promised Ozai that he would be your vessel," he said through gritted teeth, trying to hold on, "but you want to toss him aside for me. You'd do the same to me."
Vaatu's sudden booming laughter made him flinch. "You hold deep intelligence, but I would never toss you aside in favor of another. You are perfect; you are everything I will ever need. I have what you need, and you have what I need."
"How would you return Air?" he demanded.
"We would go into the Gardens of the Dead, and I would pull out which spirits you wish restored to the Mortal Realm."
Aang blinked, the horror sudden and consuming as he comprehended the conclusion of the offer. "You would empty the bodies of those now living of their spirits and replace their spirits with my race."
"Why do you deny yourself what you want? This is your deep desire. I can manifest it; I can help you return to you those you lost."
"It's wrong," he hissed, squeezing his eyes shut as the fury rose inside like bile. "I want them back, but that wouldn't be them—they wouldn't look like Air, and they wouldn't have their airbending, trapped in a body born of another element, descended from the lineage of Water, Earth, or Fire. It'd be just like Samir, which is wrong. You lied. You said they would be the Air I remembered! You said they would be the Air that was! You said Air would return!"
"It will within time- "
"I want the Air that was now!" Aang roared, energy lashing out around him; the Void of Eternity, with its cosmic flow, howled beneath him, and he felt its presence inside him, for it was responsible for his Ascension. "I want to touch the faces I knew! I want to hear the laughs I loved! I want to see the smiles I cherished! I want to hear the voices that I've forgotten! I want to see Air again, not abominations descended from Water, Earth, or Fire who have the spirits of my race! You dare try to trick me?"
"They will become Air again- "
"No, they won't!" he yelled, stomping towards Vaatu, who hovered back slightly. "The blood of Water, Earth, or Fire will mire them! If they sired or bore children, those children would not be from or of Air! It's just like Samir, who's not enough! It would be the same situation I'm in now! I'd still have to father a half-spawned bastard race! You would intensify my grief! My loss! My rage! My hatred! Because my race would be alive in the world but not really, not actually, not authentically, and not genuinely! And it would be more agonizing—because it's not what I want! Right now, I have nothing of Air, and it's horrible! But if I fell for your trick, for your lies, it would be worse! Because I would have a small echo of a deformed and twisted Air! You would give me a taste of Air before ripping it away again because my pure and perfect race would be abominations to everyone who looked upon them, including me! And it would make me so much hate-filled than I already am—and I'm already too hate-filled!" Comprehension dawned on him with horrifying clarity. "It's intentional," he breathed, choked with emotion. "That was your plan, wasn't it? You would strengthen my darkness, ensuring my alliance with you—because only through me is your success possible. You don't care that Air's gone! You hold no regret! You would do it again if it meant my alliance with you!"
When Vaatu remained quiet, he had the confirmation.
The hatred poured out of his heart, and Aang snapped; he blasted lightning into Vaatu, throwing him across the ancient battlefield. "Go back to your vessel!"
The darkness exploded in the vast distance, and Vaatu's sizzling beam rushed across the distance and smashed into him, hurling him back until he crashed into one of the Tree's great roots; he was near the Void of Eternity. "I offered you the chance to rule the Realms!" Vaatu roared, voice like thunder. "But now you must die beneath them, forgotten and lost forever!"
He realized immediately that Vaatu intended to smash him into the Void of Eternity and obscure the entrance back into the Immortal Realm, leaving him trapped—crushed—forever, forgotten. It briefly occurred to him that if he stayed in the Void of Eternity, perhaps he would finally achieve peace. Air wouldn't be there, but even if he died, he would never truly be at peace in the Gardens, unlike Gyatso and his race. But if he stayed in the Void of Eternity, it would be his death—it would be his state of permanence, which was what death was for everyone else but him. It would be The Avatar's death, which he wanted so desperately! It was perfect!
But could he let Vaatu throw him there? What about Azula? Would Ozai kill her? Would she kill herself to avoid her inevitable fate under her father's hands? What about Samir? What about Zuko? What about Toph? What about Pathik? What about the world under Vaatu and Ozai's rule?
Why couldn't he be selfish?
Agony pierced him as he leaped away from the Tree's roots, committing to his decision.
He would continue to live—forever.
Aang ran from Vaatu's attacks, ducking and diving from the blasts of power. He knew he had no chance against Vaatu, especially after being tempted so profoundly.
What hadn't he listened to Azula?
He had to escape! There was only one option. Energy poured out of him as he changed the Immortal Realm, trying to replicate what Vaatu did earlier when he transported them to the Tree of Time. However, he had no starting place, only an idea based on what Vaatu had accomplished earlier. How could he go to a place he had a vague awareness of? How could he-
Azula!
Realizing he could return to her if he sensed her presence, he searched the Immortal Realm for Azula's presence, having become intimately familiar with her presence since her invasion into his life when she ruined his vacation on Ember Island—before making it better than he could imagine. She hadn't actually ruined it but reinforced it, and because of his familiar with her, he found her swiftly and yanked himself forward to where he knew she was.
The colors blurred around him until he recognized where he appeared. Azula and Ozai stood near each other; it looked like they spoke in low tones. Agni and Devi stood farther away, discussing something; he knew instinctively they spoke of Tui, La, and Indra and how to find them.
"We have to go!" he yelled, swinging his arms to swipe a burst of energy at Agni and Devi, who were caught off guard at his reappearance.
But they would recover swiftly.
Thankfully, Azula responded instantly to his cry, not questioning him, and unleashed a torrent of lightning at Ozai, who dove to the side but was blasted away because of the explosion in the ground.
However, before he could send him and Azula back to the Mortal Realm, Vaatu appeared behind him, his dark presence magnifying his dread acutely. Aang whirled around, saw Vaatu arch back, glowing purple, and a huge blast of spiritual energy erupted from his chest, slamming into the spot where he and Azula were. At the last second, he pushed Azula out of the range of the blast, knowing she would be destroyed by it, producing nonexistence rather than death. Simultaneously, with his other hand, outstretched and raised, he repelled Vaatu's attack as best he could, even though slivers of dark radiance erupted past him, scorching the ground in deadly craters.
Fire swarmed him from the side, and Aang screamed in pain as Agni's flames tried to consume his spirit. Seeing no other choice, he released his hold on Vaatu's attack; instantly, the beam smashed into him, sending him flying back and hammering him into a crater. Dazed, he felt terrible pain, but Aang pulled himself to his feet and flew into the battle. Unfortunately, it was a losing effort, which was clear quickly enough as he struggled against Vaatu and Ozai, who had merged temporarily.
"The power of a god, and you waste it!" Ozai cried out, the lightning snapping through the air like a whip. Aang narrowly avoided it and pivoted to the side, foot outstretching until he surged forward, hips twisting as his fists slashed toward Ozai; energy erupted in a powerful slash, cleaving through the mountains around them.
However, Ozai avoided the attack, but Aang was undeterred. "You know, deep inside, that you'll never defeat me!" he cried out. "I beat you once without the strength of eons! I'll do it again! Give up!"
"You must kill me!"
"I will!"
Aang rolled to avoid an attack and clapped his hands, producing an eruption of energy that smashed into Ozai, which granted Aang enough time to find Azula in the chaos. He couldn't leave her to face Agni and Devi!
He found her instantly.
She admirably, though unsurprisingly, took to energybending with a powerful competence, sending the lightning at Devi, who stumbled; with her other hand, the streams of lightning, white in color and spiritual in nature, surged at Agni out of her fingertips in sizzling, searing streams.
However, Agni batted the lightning aside with a smack of his flaming hand. "Foolish child. Your pride will return to me."
Understanding what he meant, Azula's blood left her face in a rush as her golden eyes found him; it was a dire situation. Then the earth ruptured around her, lashing up and seizing hold of her.
Aang's eyes bulged. "No!" he cried out, blazing at her, but it was too late. The earth swallowed her, and she was nowhere to be found.
He dimly recognized it as eerily similar to when General Fong swallowed Katara to trigger The Avatar State, but he didn't care; he cared that Azula was being destroyed under him, and he snapped. The Immortal Realm quaked, and the cosmic and divine brilliance in his spirit flickered; it wasn't like The Avatar State; it was not a strengthening but rather a lessening, a minimization, a diminishment of his potency, propagated rather than concentrated.
Every Avatar, from Roku to Wan, appeared in a mist around him and rushed forward with half attacking Agni and Devi and the other half attacking Ozai and Vaatu.
He had no idea how he achieved the magnificent, unthinkable feat; all he knew was that he had divided his spiritual energy amongst all that he was, leaving himself tremendously weakened, but it was worth it to see all his enemies overwhelmed, however briefly, at the unexpected and impossible onslaught. Azula reappeared, spirit worn and wounded, but she endured, staring at him with grateful but urgent eyes; those beautiful eyes bulged when she saw the legions of The Avatar assailing Agni, Devi, Ozai, and Vaatu.
He stumbled to her, spirit exhausted; he felt himself fading swiftly, the spiritual wounds he received from Agni's flames and Vaatu's beam overwhelming him; he felt some of his past lives disappear back into himself because he couldn't hold on. But it wasn't enough as he fell to his knees, incapable of moving. He tried to speak, cracking his lips slightly in the effort, small croaks escaping, but no further sound escaped; his tongue was impotent.
Azula ran to him and pulled him to his feet; he leaned on her heavily, faltering with each step she forced him to take as she tried to pull him away from the battlefield. "Aang," she hissed urgently, golden eyes roaming his face. "Take us back! Now!"
Aang fell to one of his knees and clutched at her arm for support as he grunted in the effort; all his predecessors returned to him instantly, and he felt much stronger. Immediately, without wasting a moment or turning around to assess Agni, Devi, Ozai, or Vaatu, Aang returned him and Azula to the Mortal Realm immediately.
He heard Ozai's roar of anger before it vanished.
Aang's eyes opened, registering Azula doing the same in front of him before he doubled over in pain; the agony pierced through his side and chest, robbing him of speech for several moments. Azula was by his side instantly, recovering much more swiftly from her long ordeal in the Immortal Realm than he had thought she would.
But he was thankful.
"What is it?" she demanded urgently.
He wrenched himself up, a croak passing his lips at the sharp movement, but he pulled off his upper robes with shaking fingers, trying to swallow the pain, but the grimaces were deep and persistent. When he freed himself from the robes, Azula inhaled sharply at the sight of what he knew would be there—gruesome wounds provided by Agni and Vaatu's attack, flames and energy beam colliding in harmony to deal him agony.
Agni's flames blackened his side, stretching across parts of his torso and back while Vaatu's energy beam devastated his chest and reached the starting of his neck.
"Who did this?" she demanded, aghast. Suddenly, she looked to the entrance of Samir's room. "Samir, Toph, and Pathik. They were attacked- "
He shook his head with a sharp movement. "No. Agni and Vaatu did this to me. It's a spiritual injury, and spiritual injuries always appear on the body—because the spirit and body are connected intimately. If something happens to your spirit, your body will reflect it—like right now."
It was part of what made Vaatu's proposition to return Air so abominable and evil.
Azula touched a light hand above the severe burns, and he shivered at her gentle touch.
"These are the worst I've ever seen," she murmured, expression shocked and pained. "You should be dead."
Aang laughed but grunted and doubled over at the onslaught. "It's Agni," he managed to croak. "Of course, it's the worst it could be. I'm only still here because I'm The Avatar."
"What do you need?"
"Fountain," he managed to say through gritted teeth; he had known how painful spiritual injuries were in a previous lifetime—Kuruk's lifetime was the most recent if his instinct was correct, which he knew it was—but he had forgotten it.
He remembered now.
"To heal?"
Aang nodded and pushed himself to his feet, and took off with airbending, pushing through the pain that almost made him black out; he appeared at the closest fountain within moments and jumped inside.
The instant relief made him groan aloud, and the water took on a brilliant blue hue as he healed his body; he felt his spirit begin to mend itself, too.
Azula appeared several minutes later, staring over the edge of the fountain for several moments before she joined him, sitting next to him in the cool water; he sensed her exhaustion, particularly since she didn't care that she was ruining her garments—before he would use waterbending to save them later.
However, he remembered her wound she received from Kuruk and gripped her arm tenderly; he felt the wound and wrapped water around her flesh in revival, which was pink and fresh after he pulled the water away.
Silence.
"It's war," he breathed, stricken by the panic of the truth. "Vaatu and Ozai will never give up, and Agni and Devi are allied with them. This war will take over everything if not stopped."
Such a proposition of war would have once delighted Azula, the girl he encountered during the Great War, but when he watched her, hoping she could perceive a possibility that he couldn't, she looked distant. "Yes," she agreed quietly.
Nothing more needed to be said.
They had survived the first battle against Vaatu, but would they survive the second one?
Aang didn't have an answer.
XxXxXxXxXxX
Well, that's all for this one, everyone. I hope that you all enjoyed it; leave a review and tell me what you thought. I'd really appreciate it! Okay, this one was really fun to write, and a lot of stuff happened, so here it goes:
**First look at Ozai with Vaatu! I think it's more compelling that there's more foundation for Ozai for how he became the way he did. It starts primarily with his upbringing, of course, with him killing his mother in childbirth and his father hating him for a long time because of it, treating him distantly and cruelly, which informs his perception and identity. It shapes his understanding of the world and what it means to find success and achieve accomplishments—because he had to fight tooth and nail to obtain his father's regard.
When he meets Ursa as young as he did, it changes things for him—however temporarily. It prevented him from walking the path he eventually found himself on sooner. However, meeting Ursa also ensured that he became the way he did; she failed. Ursa, like it or not, did nothing to slacken his ambitions. If anything, I find it much more likely that she subtly reinforced his pursuit and conviction for his ambitions, even if she didn't realize it. The fact she fell in love with Ozai in the first place reveals her ability to look past certain things, and I find it much more compelling that she did fall in love with him—and still loves him—rather than being forced into marriage like the comics showed. Ironically, if Ozai never met Ursa, he would have NEVER become the Firebender he became and the cunning strategist; his wife helped him and trained him. He learned from her and, eventually, surpassed her in bending and strategy, emphasized when she falls utterly without a suspicion for his ploy to murder Azulon.
Really, it's like what Ursa observed in the flashback when the two of them met—"Great men do not know how to be fathers." That's the curse. Because of it, a great man can produce more great men, such as Sozin, a great man, producing Azulon, a great man, who produced Iroh, another great man, who produced Lu Ten, who would have been a great man if his father knew how to be a father. However, the drawback is that the great man-producing process inevitably produces a great man like Ozai who is cruel and monstrous, willing to breach all conduct, courtesy, and honor for the pursuit of his ambitions. A son finds his identity in his father, but when his father is a great man, that identity gets distorted enough that he can become a great man like his father, which you could argue Ozai managed, or a monster, which Ozai also managed. It's tricky and convoluted; it's fascinating.
Zuko has the chance to change the cycle because the cycle is so much more than leading the Great War; it starts closer to home; it has a more intimate genesis. Sozin failed in raising his son; Azulon failed in raising his sons; Iroh failed in raising his son, getting him killed because of his ambition; and Ozai failed in raising Zuko—or he succeeded from another perspective by making Zuko want to be different from him. Of course, Zuko is in many ways like his father and like the men of his lineage. What he struggles with is accepting that but not getting lost in it, able to find the clarity and balance that evaded Sozin, Azulon until the last years of his life, Iroh until he lost Lu Ten, and Ozai. Azulon and Iroh found it after so much happened that their realizations became redundant and did nothing in the end, only producing more death. Zuko has to reach it quicker, and he's on his way to doing that.
**Toph talks with Samir and Pathik, discussing Aang and what happened to her friend. She desperately tries to reconcile the Aang she knew with the Aang she encounters now—and that's not to mention The Avatar who slaughtered Ba Sing Se in her presence and could have slaughtered her with a wave of his hand if he willed it, which she understands. She has to make the decision of whether or not she loves Aang enough to try to love him, to connect with who he has become; she has to decide, at the end of the day, if she's going to be his friend when he's done exceedingly little to show her that he's capable of being a good friend anymore. But she commits to the decision, helped along by Pathik.
It is really hard to write for someone who's blind because she feels everything instead of seeing it, and that's when I realized that Toph must have been petrified in the Si Wong Desert, a place where she couldn't see well anyway, when Aang entered The Avatar State under emotional duress because the Sandbenders stole Appa from him. For all that we know, she hadn't ever heard of The Avatar State before; she had no idea what it actually was, what it entailed. During one of her lowest moments, when she was truly blind for the first time since learning earthbending from the Badgermoles, her friend, probably best friend, suddenly becomes a divine god who could kill her with a twitch of his finger as his body is bursting with the almighty power and strength of every Avatar to ever exist, including a voice eons-old that demonically echoes in her ears where Aang's once bubbly voice did. She would have been scared shitless, fearful for her life when she realizes who was talking: the goofy and fun-loving boy who she called 'Twinkletoes'. When I watched the episode, she looked completely frozen to the spot, jaw dropped, eyes wide until Sokka pulls her away: "Just get out of here! Run!" Toph claims that she never forgets someone's voice, and it would be impossible for her to forget the terrifying voice of The Avatar, of everything that she experienced during those moments.
**Koh is the one behind Samir's nightmares! Did any of you suspect him? Did you like the twist of him being the offspring of Raava and Vaatu, literally born from their union? I know that, in the comics, Koh is the son of the Mother of Faces, but if I'm being honest, I hated the comics. If you like them, that's great, but they just weren't appealing to me in the slightest. I chose Koh to be the offspring of Raava and Vaatu—instead of being shaped out of energy by Raava and Vaatu the way the Elemental Spirits and Lion Turtles were—because he is very ancient and most importantly, neutral. He remembers when Tui and La, the Ocean and Moon Spirits sacrificed their immortality to, in this story, save the Waterbenders. And from what we know of his feud with Avatar Kuruk and his encounter with Aang in the show, he is neutral; he doesn't take sides. He didn't take Ummi's face for the 'fun' of it; Kuruk himself said that people solved their own problems and that he didn't need to do anything. If we understand Koh's actions and Kuruk's words, it is then implied that Kuruk didn't actually look to see if people solved their own problems, he never made sure that he wasn't needed. That is critical, and with Koh being so powerful and ancient, I think that he would rectify Kuruk's mistakes by stealing the face of whom the Avatar loved. Kuruk, of course, reacts out of grief and fury, and hunts Koh in the Spirit World for pretty much the remainder of his life, which would be over a century.
As for Kuruk never knowing where Koh's lair was, it's Canon. After Aang was shot in the back by Azula's lightning strike in Ba Sing Se, and during his coma, he was in the Spirit World trying to reconnect with his past lives, to fix the separation that the lightning strike had caused with his past lives. When Aang reconnects with Kuruk, Kuruk reveals that he is still looking for Koh's lair. You can find the short video on YouTube: Escape From The Spirit World. (It doesn't have sound, FYI, but it does have subtitles.) So, because of all of these things, I always thought that Koh would be filled with the energy of both Light and Dark, which equals Gray, and that's what I did for this story.
Okay, we discover the true reason behind the Great War: Vaatu. But Vaatu's influence has been happening since Kuruk's lethargy. He's been subtly influencing the Mortal Realm for at least a thousand years to invigorate himself with the strength to break free from the Tree of Time.
I know that some people may find the idea that Vaatu's behind the Great War at the end of the day distasteful, but it makes so much sense, especially if Agni was corrupted by Vaatu. Sozin was a bad guy, yes, but there was once a time when he hadn't been—Roku showed as much. All that the corrupted Agni had done, then, was give Sozin a little push in the 'wrong' direction and Sozin instigated the Great War, inadvertently increasing Vaatu's diminished strength and power. Vaatu is ancient beyond measure, and he would know his limitations and the ways in which he could supplant those limitations with his rightful power. It isn't too drastic to infer that he would fuel the Great War, so that's what happened in this story. There's a reason why, too: Aang is a fully realized Avatar, the most powerful being in the Realms. Nobody can oppose him. No enemy can challenge him, truly—unless it's Vaatu. You think mere humans, even the strongest benders, are going to challenge The Avatar? No, that won't work; it doesn't work. Vaatu is the equal of Raava and can create a vessel of his own in Ozai to become his own Avatar. Only an Avatar could truly challenge another Avatar. [It's kind of like Star Wars: a regular, sentient being couldn't hope to contend with a Force-user such as a Jedi or Sith. Only the Sith can challenge the Jedi, just as The Light Avatar (Aang) can only be challenged by The Dark Avatar (Ozai)].
**Vaatu successfully obtains an alliance with Devi, the Earth Spirit, even after he ordered Agni to attack her—and partook in the attack himself. However, the success is achieved because Aang arrives, which is a terrible blow to Devi because she carried the millions of spirits of her slain children to the Gardens of the Dead—the duty of each Elemental for each of their sects. She hates The Avatar, she hates him more than Agni, whose children waged war against hers for a century. And because Vaatu's there, he's automatically inflaming her darkness. After all, he is a primordial deity, the cosmic entity of Darkness and Chaos. By merely being in his presence, anyone, whether a human or spirit, becomes aroused of their own darkness, provoked by his Darkness. Everyone has darkness inside, but only the rare people who master themselves—mastering chakras—can resist his darkness and not be corrupted by him, such as Azula, Pathik. If Vaatu wants to corrupt, he will if he can, and Devi's not immune; she's firmly allied with him now. Also, Koh is immune as he is his father's son, already holding that darkness; he knows Vaatu's tricks.
Also, because Agni was fighting her at first, she was already seething in darkness. After all, the sight of Agni, whose children had been slaughtering her own for a century, sends her into a fierce rage, and those murderous emotions are greatly fueled just by Vaatu's presence alone. But then Aang shows up, and he's responsible for the greatest tragedy to ravish her children in history, and she despise him more than Agni because of it. And it makes everything worse; it makes peace and reconciliation impossible—for now—because Vaatu's arousing her darkness. Remember, Vaatu is Darkness itself, and his presence would incur hatred and rage to cloud one's judgment and decision-making. Devi hates Aang more than anyone because of the horrifying slaughter of Ba Sing Se, which was instant and an onslaught that overwhelmed Devi as she had to carry millions of her children to the Gardens, making trip after trip; it was humiliating for her and horrifying; it was a travesty she had never imagined befalling her children. Add in the fact that Vaatu is her father because he and Raava shaped the Elemental Spirits, Devi, was always going to be ally with Vaatu the moment Aang showed up.
Well, I think that that's everything so leave a review and tell me what you think.
Stay Safe
ButtonPusher
