Broken Angel: Rising Demon

by I LIKE FEAR 1-2

The Age of Man, is over. The Age of Magic, is about to begin. A Demon stands upon the Earth. A beast, named goddess by right of passing. Darkness settles upon the Earth, will this goddess usher in a golden age for humanity? Or will she cast them aside to drown in their own sins? Behold the rise of the demon, and the Kingdom of Albion. (Sequel to Broken Angel)

27. 27: Duel under a Burning Star

Alright, here's the next chapter guys, this ones gonna be a long one. A lot a BS surrounded the making of this chapter, thankfully nothing at all to do with my interest in it. Either parts of the story didn't turn out right so I had to redo them, I had a stint stuck in quarantine, thanks to getting food poisoning, which led my employer to put me into a ten days quarantine to make sure I didn't have Covid, (I don't btw), and then I had some family issues to work on, so this chapter was just a down and out pain to work through. That coupled with my decision to make it through the rest of the Avatar Arc this chapter, led this to going on for quite a while.

Needless to say, it was a roller coaster ride, but I'll be happy to get back to the story proper, I got big plans for some of the stuff coming up that I really wanna get to, and I don't wanna drag out this arc any long, lest I start to resent it for taking so much time. I love Avatar, so I don't wanna go down that road.

Anyway, aside from that and writing for my other stories, I've been doing a lot of work rewriting Broken Angel, some of you might have noticed some of the changes that I've made in the rewrite, for those who haven't gone back to reread the earlier chapters, I've been doing a lot of updating, focusing more on Riley's character, adding more emotional scenes in here and there, and improving grammar and sentence structure. I'm up to the mid 20s in terms of chapters, and making steady progress. I wanted to pose a question to those of you that care, for the rewrite, do you think I should just keep updating the original story with the updated and rewritten chapters, or do you think I should publish a wholly new story, like a Broken Angel rewrite, or something in that regard, that way the original remains as it is? I'd like to hear from you so let me know what you think.

Anyway, time to get back into it. Hope the wait wasn't too unbearable for you, I know it was for me. Anyway, let's begin.

Broken Angel: Rising Demon

Chapter 27: Duel under a burning Star.

"Mom, is that you?" Zuko asked, as he slowly approached the strange new arrival.

"Hello Zuko, it's so good to see you again. You've grown." The woman answered back, smiling lightly towards the young man.

"Mom… what are you doing here? Where have you been all this time?" Zuko asked, taking a step towards her.

"I'm so sorry. It wasn't my intention to leave for so long. I had hoped that by getting away from Ozai, I could reduce the effects of corruption on him, but I was too late. He set a trap and captured me, held me as a prisoner all these years." Zuko's mother answered.

"He was holding you captive?" Azula noted aloud, curiosity dancing in her eyes.

"Yes. I'm assuming he told you something different?" The woman replied, turning her attention to Azula.

"He mentioned that you helped him kill Fire Lord Azulon, and then went into exile." Azula responded.

"I see." The woman said, letting out a sigh.

"Yugito, this is Ursa, our daughter." Riley took the moment of silence to introduce the woman.

"Ursa…" Yugito responded quietly as she got a good look at the woman. She looked a lot like Azula did, though the intensity of her Sharingan left no room for interpretation as to who her parent was. There was an almost frightening level of focus in her eyes. The black sclera, make her look almost like a reanimation, but her skin was not cracked like one. Against the paleness of her flesh, the blackness of her eyes, made it almost seem like her Sharingan was floating in pools of shadow.

"So, I have another sister…?" Toph surmised.

"Yeah. She's Azula's full sister, your half-sister. The only difference between Ursa and Azula, is the mother. Yugito is Azula's mother, I'm Ursa's." Riley explained.

"That's not weird or anything." Sokka mumbled, wrapping his head around this information.

"Well I mean, it does explain why Zuko's mom is giving me the same feeling that Riley does. If Riley is the mom, that must means that the child is a spirit, like she is." Aang noted, earning a nod in agreement from Gaia.

"Alright, well dancing around the issue has gone on long enough. I require a full explanation as to what is going on. These people claim that you and I are sisters, 'mother'. So… why is that?" Azula questioned, pinning Ursa with a glare.

"Because it's true. I am not your mother, Azula. She is." Ursa replied, gesturing towards Yugito. "Or perhaps, she might be, would be a better answer."

"Explain." Azula commanded, folding her arms over her chest.

"Time displacement. One of our half-sisters can open holes in space-time and travel to other times and other timelines. You ended up here, because of a mishap surrounding her powers. I found you here when you were just a baby, and I took you in, and raised you the best that I could." Ursa answered, earning curiosity, confusion, and dumbfounded amazement from most of the listeners.

"If that were true than why did you always treat me like I was evil?! You intentionally took me in, even when you didn't have to, so why go through all that effort just to treat me like a monster?!" Azula snapped at her, losing her composure for a moment.

"We are monsters…" Ursa responded, sullenly.

Azula's eyes went wide at her declaration, before returning to a glare.

"Explain." Azula growled.

"Lady Riley, my Mother, your sire, is a demoness. Here in these lands, we have no words for such evils, beyond calling them 'dark spirits'. Demons are evil, Azula. They are monsters of the highest order. I am a devil, a type of dark creature similar to a demon. You're a half-demon. Just like Zuko. There exists a firm difference between the two of you, due to the nature of your demonic side. Because I am a devil, more controlled and refined, Zuko thus has more control over his own demonic nature, and is less ruled by instinct. You don't possess that same benefit. Our mother is a demon, more power and primal instinct than control. Though her control is impressive. I had to work hard to maintain a calm demeanor and I had to learn how to use logic and reasoning to make my choices, rather than listening to my instincts. Because of my hard work, Zuko didn't have as rough a time as you did, dealing with your demonic nature. Demons are naturally cruel, naturally aggressive, and violent. Of course he had his problems, but he was able to feel remorse, and regret. You were far more ruled by your emotions. Cruelty and cunning have always been second nature to you, so I was harder on you. I was more stern and less gentle. I tried to teach you right from wrong, unfortunately, Ozai encouraged your worst tendencies, causing you to be pulled in two separate directions. I was hard on you and tried to discourage your aggressive nature, while Ozai encouraged it. He barely paid attention to Zuko so there wasn't really any back and forth when it came to his upbringing." Ursa explained.

"If dark spirits are so bad, than why didn't Toph turn out like that?" Katara couldn't help but ask as the conversation hit a pause.

"Yeah, I wouldn't say I have very many violent tendencies." Toph agreed, earning looks from all of her friends, that said that she was full of it. Toph was nowhere near as violent as someone like Azula, but she did employ overkill on more than a few occasions. Toph didn't hesitate to dial it up to eleven whenever the opportunity arose, so while not as violent, she did have the aggression.

"She wasn't raised by a demon, and she doesn't use her demonic power. Zuko is more naturally aggressive because he was raised by a demon, and Azula even more so because she was raised by a demon and she uses her demonic powers, which is why her fire is blue, and burns so much hotter than other Firebenders. Simply being around demons, causes a person's negative emotions to become more pronounced over time. It's not something that's easy to control, and it's even harder to stop." Ursa offered as an explanation, earning a nod of agreement from Riley.

"She's absolutely correct, Toph. You aren't as violent as your half-sister because you were raised by humans. With that being said though, you are still a half-demon, and while a very minor effect, continuous exposure to you causes a person's negative emotions to become more pronounced. Since you don't use your demonic powers, the process takes years, possibly even as long as a decade before it becomes noticeable, but demons were never meant to exist within the confines of reality. Our powers are too vast and alien, and it causes reality to warp and twist over time. You have to fight every day to keep your powers in check like I do, to even have a hope of sparing your friends and family from this deteriorating effect, and I can't even say for certain if it'll ultimately work for me. Ten years from now I might realize that the people around me are a lot more violent than they were when I met them, and I'll always have to wonder what role I played in that happening." Riley added.

"Wow… that's heavy…" Toph muttered thoughtfully, her mind turning towards the Beifongs as she wondered if that was the reason for why they were so paranoid about keeping her safe. Her adoptive parents were never awful to her, nor did they treat her terribly, they simply saw her as weak and fragile and unable to care for herself. They believed that Toph couldn't live outside of their care, and it was something Toph resented them for. But in truth, now she was wondering if perhaps her own latent demonic side had something to do with them being so worried for her safety. Was she actually making them more fearful without even realizing it?

"So… you were harder on Azula because she was in more danger of embracing her true nature than Zuko was." Yugito surmised.

"In simplest terms, yes. This isn't something that's easy to deal with, even as a half-blood. In fact, I'd argue that it's even harder to handle when you're half-human, but Azula's case is also a bit different from Zuko's, as she has more demonic power in her than he does. While she's technically a half-demon, her mother was a Jinchuriki. A perfect Jinchuriki." Ursa agreed, turning her attention to Yugito and offering the woman a quick once over.

Yugito stared back, taking in the presence of her other daughter, the one she 'sired' with Riley. What that actually entailed, she didn't quite know, but it must have meant that Riley was the one who carried the baby, rather than it being Yugito, like in Azula's case. After a moment, a thought struck her, as she rolled Ursa's words through her mind.

"I was a perfect Jinchuriki when I had Azula?" Yugito asked in surprise.

"Yes, you were." Ursa answered.

"What does that mean?" Azula asked, eager to gain further information to help her understand the situation.

"A Jinchuriki is a human vessel for a spirit. Yugito, your birth mother is the Jinchuriki to the Two-Tailed Hellcat. A Tailed Beast, a powerful demon, born of a fragment of the corrupted Tree of Life that birthed magic in the world. A Jinchuriki can sometimes gain access to some of the powers of the entity sealed within them, and with enough hard work and trust, the entity and it's host can form an unbreakable bond by fusing their magics and souls together, linking them permanently. This basically allows them to share in each others power and use it at will. Very few Jinchuriki become Perfect Jinchuriki. Yugito is what's known as a Fully Realized Jinchuriki, meaning she can control the Cat's powers and even transform into the Tailed-Beast by allowing it to partially possess her, but the two aren't bonded to the maximum level. Gaia is much the same with her own Tailed-Beast. Yugito's teacher, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki is a Perfect Jinchuriki, as am I." Riley answered her question.

"Wait I thought Ursa said you were a spirit? How can you have a spirit living inside of you when you yourself are a spirit?" Azula questioned, confused.

"Seals are fascinating things. Technically you can seal a spirit into anything. A pot. A shrine. A Statue. People just make better vessels. The word 'Jinchuriki' actually means, 'The power of a human sacrifice'. As it's meant to entail the cost of sealing away a powerful entity, being sacrificial in nature, which it usually is. But yeah, there is a no limitation when it comes to what you can seal something into, it all just boils down to if the vessel can withstand what's being placed into it." Riley answered her question.

"Huh… Well that's interesting." Aang noted, earning a nod of agreement from Sokka and Katara.

"So because Azula's real mother was actually bonded to this 'Tailed-Beast' she's got more of this dark power inside of her than I do. Making it harder for her to control it." Zuko guessed, taking that from the explanation they were given.

"Indeed. Azula was always a wild and aggressive child, and over the years she became more cruel as she grew older. I did what I could to reprimand her and try to show her that the things she was doing and saying were dark and twisted. Unfortunately, I had no help in that regard. Fire Lord Azulon didn't care about your disturbing comments and actions, and Ozai encouraged them. I had to worry about you and Zuko, with Ozai constantly undermining me when it came to your upbringing Azula." Ursa began, starting by addressing Zuko but than turning towards Azula who was still glaring at her.

"Why did father encourage her to act like that? I mean, if she wasn't even his child, why did it matter?" Zuko asked, his question actually causing Azula's glare to falter a bit, as she took a moment to register that little tidbit of information that she was still trying to find a way to adjust to. Her father wasn't her father, and her mother was actually her sister, making her brother her nephew

"He wanted a weapon. One that could be unleashed to do his bidding whenever called upon. When Ozai learned about what I was, and what I could do, he tried convincing me to use my powers to aid the Fire Nation in the war. He knew that with the raw strength that I possessed, I could have easily won the war and defeated the Earth Kingdom. The only person in the world with the strength to stop me, was the Avatar, and at the time, no one had seen him in over a century. I had no interest in the war, and fighting was never my passion. I can fight, and I've spent a great deal of time learning many aspects of magic and how to use it to my own benefit, but I prefer to avoid combat if I can. I've simply never had an interest in it. It comes with my nature as a Devil, rather than a Demon. Devils prefer subtlety over intensity. They favor plots over conflict. When I found you and brought you home with me, when he learned that you had the same potential as Zuko, he set about trying to mold both of you into his personal weapons. He had aspirations towards becoming Fire Lord, and wanted to have the two of you as tools to aid him in the process, by dealing with Iroh and his son. Things began to change though when Lu Ten died. Ozai tried to make a play at ousting his elder brother as crown prince, but Azulon reacted with disgust at the mere suggestion that Ozai should replace Iroh, simply because Iroh had lost his son. So instead he ordered for Ozai to experience the same pain as Iroh. Azulon didn't know that Azula wasn't mine, didn't really care about anything, really. He was a vile and cancerous old man, who was very set in his ways in how he viewed the world. She ordered that Zuko be killed, so that Ozai would understand the same pain that Iroh was going through." Ursa explained to her sister, earning surprise from both Zuko and Azula, at learning what could have been Zuko's fate.

Many of the other listeners, reacted with disgust or revulsion at just how twisted this family was. A son tries to usurp his older brother who had just lost his one and old son, so in retribution for the power-play, the father orders said son to kill his own son so that he can know what his older brother is feeling. The idea was absolutely repugnant for the teens, while Gaia and Yugito were left feeling disgusted.

"Grandfather… wanted to have me killed?" Zuko asked, blinking several times as he digested that information.

"Yes. Ozai was torn about what he should do. He was never a loving person, but a lot of time and effort went into raising you, and you were still his blood, his heir. He didn't want to have to kill you, but he didn't refuse outright either. Seeing his hesitance, I approached him with an offer. I'd kill Azulon, and allow him to assume the throne, so long as he spared Zuko, and left Azula out of his machinations. Ozai could be Fire Lord, and indulge in his dreams, while I focused on raising my son and sister. He agreed. And so, in secret, I poisoned Azulon. I was successful in ending his life, but I was immediately betrayed by Ozai, who had the palace guards storm the Fire Lord's chambers while I dealt with him. I tried to fight my way free, but Ozai forced me to surrender, threatening that he had soldiers placed around Zuko and Azula and that if Ozai didn't give them a specific order, my child and sister would both be killed. I surrendered, and he had me placed into a magical cage. An ancient relic once used as a container for spirits. It was heavily damaged, but it still worked well enough. He had me placed deep beneath the capitol, in a chamber of fire, where my body was constantly burned, forcing me to heal it. He intended to use the Spirit Container, and the chamber to keep me restrained until he could enact his true plan." Ursa continued to explain.

"And what plan was that?" Gaia was the one who asked, sharing a glance with Riley as she did. The look on Riley's face showed that she already knew most of this, most likely having had it explained to her while she was healing Ursa before their arrival at the temple.

"I called it the Catalyst. It was a relic I discovered during my travels, long before I came to the Fire Nation. I may not look it, but I'm nearly four hundred years old, and I've had the Catalyst in my possession for nearly a century." Ursa began, earning surprise from everyone, save for Riley, though Gaia and Yugito were the quickest to recover, their surprise stemming from actual surprise, rather than disbelief.

"The Catalyst was a tool that could be used to gather raw power into itself and force that power into the body of a living being. It was a transference tool, and it was very good at it. It could draw power out of a person, neutralize the will of that particular power, and than place the power into another person's body, making them stronger. The Catalyst is not of human origin, that I know for certain, as it seems most effective when used on pure magical beings, but it's effects on humans have always been detrimental." Ursa offered to them.

"So this tool can efficiently take power out of a spirit, say like a demon, and place that demonic power into a human being, making them… what? A half-demon? A pseudo-demon?" Yugito inquired.

"Yes. To the latter as a matter a fact. You've seen the results." Riley replied, nodding towards the remnants of the demons that had attacked them.

"Wait, those things were once humans?" Sokka asked, as his eyes went wide.

"Oh… That's awful…" Katara muttered.

"It is awful. Demonic power is violent and angry. Having it placed in your body is a painful experience. Jinchuriki often have the power of a Tailed-Beast sealed within them at a very young age, so they have years to accustom their bodies to it's power, and even then, even with all that time to prepare, raw demonic Youki will burn and peel a person's flesh right off of the bone. It doesn't even need to be fire-attuned or anything like that, to still basically feel like you were injecting lava straight into a person's body." Riley broke down for them.

"I can't imagine what that would feel like. And it turned them into monsters. Why would the Fire Lord do something so awful?" Aang muttered, not really expecting his question to be answered, more so just talking to himself, but Zuko chose to reply, regardless.

"He saw an opportunity to create more weapons than just Azula and I. If what you're saying is true, and I'm guessing Ozai stole the Catalyst from you when he captured you, than that means these things were made from power he took from you, mother." Zuko surmised.

"Not just me." Ursa replied with a sad smile.

"What do you mean by that?" Zuko asked.

"He used the Catalyst on you as well Zuko, and on you, Azula. He stole your powers while you slept, and used them to create demonic servants to his will. He also used the Catalyst to empower himself. Taking in power from all three of us, to amplify his Firebending. Because of that, he's probably the most powerful Firebender in existence. The only person who even has a chance of matching him in Firebending, would be the Avatar." Ursa told them, Zuko's and Azula's eyes both wide in disbelief.

"Wait so there's more of those things out there?!" Sokka cut in, fear touching at his voice.

"Yes, hundreds more. Possibly over a thousand at least." Ursa answered.

"We could barely handle two of them!" Sokka let out as he hung his head in defeat.

"We were constrained by our location. If they hadn't ambushed us here, we would have been able to put up a better fight. They were formidable though. Hundreds of those things could easily wash over any resistance that we could effectively mount." Gaia noted.

"Mother… do you know about Shakik?" Zuko asked quietly, his question earning surprise from Azula who's eyes snapped to him, than to Ursa as her gut sank and a horrible realization flooded into her mind.

Seeing the look on Azula's face, Ursa could see that her sister and son were both of the same mind in regards to what Ozai wanted with the baby.

"Yes. I know about him. I did have my allies still within court, even from within a cage." Ursa answered, turning her eyes towards Azula, the two staring at one another, as panic began to set in for Azula.

"I need to leave." Azula said, as she turned and started heading away.

"Wait… where are you going?" Zuko called after her.

"Where do you think? I need to go and find my son. I'm not going to let the Fire Lord use his as some well of power to keep making more monsters from!" Azula snapped in response.

"She has a kid?!" Katara asked, dumbfounded, as Aang's, Sokka's, and Toph's jaws fell open.

Gaia and Yugito both shared a surprised look with one another before glancing at Riley who's eyes were wide, showing surprise, obviously this was something she didn't know.

"Wait Azula, you mean he's not here?" Zuko called after her, causing her to stop and spin around, staring at him with confusion.

"Why would he be here, I was taken prisoner from the battle you moron?" Azula spat back at him.

"I know that, I just thought… After everything Ozai did, to you, to the world, to people in general, I intended to stop him, and I wasn't going to let him use Shakik as a hostage, so I intended to take him with me when I left. Capture his wetnurse, and take him away from the Fire Lord…" Zuko began to explain as realization began to set-in, in Azula's eyes and she began to advance towards him.

"But… when I went to his nursery, he wasn't there. The guards were all unconscious. When I saw you here, I thought that rebels may have taken him as a hostage, and that the Avatar may have taken him here to keep him safe from the bombings, or to try and barter for the release of those captured during the invasion. But you're saying he's not here?" Zuko continued.

"NO, HE'S NOT HERE!" Azula snapped, fully in panic mode now.

"Yeah, we didn't take a baby from the invasion or anything. So what does that mean, if the baby wasn't in his nursery, and he's not here, than what happened to him?" Aang asked.

Azula had no answer, and it was obvious that she was growing more agitated with each passing second.

"Maybe it was uncle Iroh." Zuko suggested after a moment of thought.

"What? How would that buffoon have anything to do with this, he's locked in a cage?" Azula shot back.

"No, he broke out during the invasion. I went to his prison cell to release him, but he was already gone. Maybe he's the one who took Shakik and left with him." Zuko surmised as he thought about how the guards at Iroh's cell and the guards surrounding the baby had both been knocked out and restrained in a similar fashion.

"If that's true, than they could be anywhere!" Azula snapped, not the least bit settled at the idea that her son was in the hands of a man she believed to be a bubbly oaf long since disgraced.

"It's alright, If your son is with Iroh, than he's being kept somewhere safe. Iroh is an excellent caregiver, and one of the most powerful benders in the world. No other bender, save for the Avatar, or Ozai could face him in a fight. Your baby will be fine." Ursa offered, earning a glare from Azula as she fumed.

"I know you don't think very highly of him, but you know Uncle Iroh doesn't have a bad bone in his body. Shakik is safer with him than he would be with father. At least with Uncle Iroh, father wont be able to use this Catalyst thing on him." Zuko offered in agreement. Azula let out a grunt of annoyance but didn't argue with his point. If the choice was that her son be in the hands of Iroh or Ozai, now knowing what the Fire Lord intended for the boy, she would choose her goofball uncle every time.

It didn't make her happy, but at the moment she had no way of knowing where Iroh had gone to, so she was stuck.

"This Iroh, can he be trusted?" Riley inquired, glancing at Ursa.

"Yes. Absolutely. Iroh is a good man, he was the rightful prince, once upon a time. The loss of his son sent him on a better path, made him a wiser man, more careful and loving. He's a good person, who knows what it means to protect those you love. He watched out for my son during his exile. I have no doubts that he'll keep the baby away from Ozai, and keep him safe." Ursa answered honestly.

"Alright. Well than I wont get involved and leave it in the hands of the mother. There's still some questions I need answered, but for now, we need to decide on what we're going to do." Riley stated.

"Well with the failure of the invasion, we're pretty much stuck with our original plan to try and teach Aang elements and have him confront Ozai and beat him. That's all we've got at the moment." Sokka stated.

"Well that's not really a necessity, because I'm going to rip that bastard limb from limb, I was more so referring to what we're going to do right now…" Riley responded, anger filling her eyes.

"You're going to kill him?" Gaia inquired.

"After what he's done to my daughter, my grandson? Are you expecting me to do anything else?" Riley replied with a growl.

"No. Not really." Gaia admitted with a shrug.

"I know how much you want this, mother. But you cannot be the one to defeat Ozai." Ursa began, taking in a breath and letting out a sigh as she did.

"Why the hell not?!" Riley snapped in response.

"You care nothing for these lands, or it's peoples, that I understand, but if you kill him, it wont end the war. It wont bring peace, or stability." Ursa began to argue.

"You're right, I don't care. If I have to I'll kill every higher power in the Fire Nation if you want the war ended so badly. Put Iroh or Zuko on the throne, that'll be that." Riley responded, but she earned another sigh from Ursa.

"Perhaps that could have worked months ago, but with the Fall of the Earth Kingdom, the Fire Nation is the only power left in the world. If you destroy it's upper echelons, kill all of the warhawks that support the Fire Lord, the Fire Nation will collapse. It's entire infrastructure is based on a war economy, on domination and imperialistic expansion. With the head cut off from the body, and the war ended, the Fire Nation will enter an economic collapse, it's power destroyed. Without the Fire Nation's support, the world cannot heal, and it cannot be repaired. Who now has the power to rebuild the world? The Air Nomads are gone. The Water Tribes are devastated. The Earth Kingdom has collapsed. Only the Fire Nation remains. Ozai must be dethroned, and a new leader put in his place, someone who can temper the warhawks, and guide the Fire Nation into using it's resources and power to help rebuild the world. The Fire Nation is the only power left on the planet that can accomplish this feat. Beyond that though, if you kill Ozai, it wont be a symbolic victory, he'll fall and another tyrant will rise. Zuko has no power base, no allies. Neither does Iroh. If Ozai falls to murder at your hands, the line of succession will break, and any number of tyrants will simply take over. It'll keep happening no matter how many you destroy. But if the Avatar defeats Ozai, it'll rally the entire world behind his victory. People in the Fire Nation, hold the Avatar in high regards, even if out of fear, fear that he's a tool of their enemies. They need to be shown a better path, they need to be taught to use their power to help the world. Zuko has chosen to fight alongside the Avatar, to aid him in restoring peace and harmony to the world. If they can bring down Ozai together, it'll open a doorway to rebuilding this world. If you kill him, all you'll be doing is filling the world with more violence, and the conflict will continue. I know you seek vengeance, I do too, but this is the home of your grandsons, your daughters. None of us wish to see the world filled with chaos and anarchy." Ursa detailed her full response, her words causing Riley to let out a sigh as she took them in. Everyone could tell that the demoness was not happy, but she was listening, taking in her daughter's words.

"She's right, Riley. You have the power to deal with him, but do you plan on fixing this world too? We can kill him, have our fill of revenge, and go on our way, but what about these lands? This is Toph's home, Azula's and Zuko's too. Ursa has lived here for who knows how long. What if they all intended to return here, or remain here when all is said and done? Do we really want to leave this place in chaos, or would we rather ensure that it's stable, and can survive once we're gone? I don't know what effect Aang defeating Ozai will have, but I do understand the need for a major symbolic victory. The people of this world need a rallying cry. They need someone to guide them. The Avatar saving the world, reaffirms people's beliefs in him, making him a powerful political tool once more. One that could be used to restore balance." Yugito offered in agreement.

"The Fire Nation's power will be needed to help stabilize the world. Zuko or this Iroh would need to take the throne, and work alongside the Avatar to help rebuild the other peoples that were destroyed during this war. We need to be cautious about how we handle this." Gaia added.

Riley was silent for several long moments as she turned her gaze up towards the ceiling.

"What is it you intend to do, Riley? They make good points, but you know what the bastard deserves." Kurama inquired.

"They're right. If this world wants a chance at surviving and rebuilding. Balance must be restored. Aang has to be the one to defeat the Fire Lord. If the Avatar restores the peace, than it'll serve as a rallying cry for the world. Anything less will just be another act of violence. They're right." Riley admitted, despite not liking it.

"So… does that mean you intend to leave the Fire Lord in Aang's hands?" Kurama inquired.

"I'll give Aang everything he needs to beat the bastard. But I have no intentions of letting him get off with a simple defeat. Ozai will wish he was never born, of that I can assure you. He'll get what's coming to him, but for now, I'll let them have their victory." Riley replied as she lowered her gaze back towards her surrounding comrades.

Kurama let out a demonic chuckle as he settled in to observe.

"You're right. I'll leave the Fire Lord in Aang's capable hands. I'll take out my anger on the army of demons he's created instead. They wont be needed in the rebuilding of the world, so I'll vent my frustration there." Riley stated, earning a nod and a soft smile from Ursa, appreciation coloring her visage.

"Well, than we're still where we were before. Aang still has to learn Firebending." Sokka said after a few moments of silence.

"I do. If you're still offering, I'd like to accept your request to train me. You mother was correct, we both have an important role in helping the world to heal. If we work together to bring down Ozai, maybe we'll have a chance at restoring peace." Aang turned his attention to Zuko addressing him.

Zuko stared back and took in a breath. He than offered a respectful bow and nodded. "I have a lot to learn myself. Firebending is wild and dangerous, and a loss of control can lead to accidents. I hope that by taking from my mistakes, you can learn to wield this power with greater care. I'll do my best to help you get ready, you have my word."

"I have a lesson of great importance to teach you as well, but it's one you don't need right now. For now, focus on your Firebending as well as honing the other elements." Riley stated, earning a nod of acceptance from Aang.

"Than, I leave the rest in your hands, mother. For now, I have a favor to ask." Ursa addressed Riley.

"You intend on leaving?" Riley noted, earning everyone's attention.

"Yes. I'll take Azula to find her son. There are things she and I need to work on, deal with. And she needs to return to where she belongs. I would ask your help in locating them, but beyond that, I believe that is where we are needed at the moment." Ursa responded before turning her gaze towards Azula and Zuko, both seemed surprised at her words, though for different reasons.

Riley offered a nod at her response and activated her Byakugan she began scouring the world, sending her sight in the direction of a demonic presence, away from the Fire Nation. Hoping that would be the baby she was looking for. While Riley searched, Ursa addressed her son and sister.

"Mother will locate Shakik with her sensory abilities and I'll take you to him Azula. I wish I didn't have to leave you so soon Zuko, but I know your place is here." Ursa said to them, earning a hopeful look from Azula and a saddened one from Zuko, but he did nod in agreement.

"I wish the same. But you're right. I know what my destiny is. I have to help the Avatar restore peace to the world. Help Azula find her son. Find Uncle Iroh and… when you see him… tell him that I'm sorry. Tell him that I'm sorry for everything, and I'll come find him when this is all over." Zuko said to his mother, receiving a soft smile from her. She then opened her arms for him, and he quickly approached and hugged her.

As mother and son, spent a few moments saying their goodbyes, Riley was able to locate her grandson. The radiant power of the infant, coupled with the heightened magical potency of the old man with him, confirmed in her mind that she had found who she was looking for. A quick observation of the boy's magic, noted some irregularities. His magic was wild and intense, just like his mother. In fact, even as an infant, his magic appeared more corrupted and demonic than Azula's did. A question soon sparked in Riley's mind, 'who was the father?'.

She pulled her vision back from the area and took note of where they were and where they seemed to be heading before she deactivated her Dojutsu, and turned her attention towards Ursa and Zuko.

Her demonic daughter was whispering something to him, and offering him a kind smile. Mentioning something about having time to talk later, and how she'd see him again soon.

Zuko offered her a nod, and she smiled a bit brighter, and pulled him into another hug. She then released him from her embrace and turned her gaze towards Azula.

"Shall we depart?" Ursa inquired.

"Let's go." Azula responded as the two approached Riley.

"I believe I've spotted them. They're almost at the continent, traveling by boat. An old man, a woman, and the baby. There's a town on the western coast, looks like they'll land just north of it." Riley explained, passing images of the town mentally into Ursa's mind.

"I recognize it. I should be able to get us there before Iroh arrives. Thank you mother." Ursa thanked her, earning a nod.

"Good luck, and if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask. We'll meet up again once this is over." Riley said to them, Azula remained silent, preferring not to say anything to the strange woman, while Ursa offered her a grateful smile.

"One last thing before you go. The child's power is intense. Very intense. He seems to possess more demonic energy than his mother. The father, who is it?" Riley inquired telepathically to Ursa.

Ursa was silent for a moment before thinking back a reply.

"Ozai is the father, I'm pretty sure. From the looks of things, I doubt it had anything to do with an emotional connection. And whether it was consensual or not, I'll learn during out time together." Ursa thought back.

"I see. You do understand that even if I let Aang beat him, he's still going to suffer at my hands?" Riley thought to her.

"I know. Just… be patient. Once the Avatar has defeated the Fire Lord, and this world has a chance to heal, I wouldn't mind joining you in seeing to it that his final moments are the worst he could possibly imagine." Ursa mentally responded.

Good to know. He will suffer for what he's done. Consensual relationship or not, he's not targeting my grandchild and my daughter to steal their powers, and he kept you in a cage for years. I'll let Aang beat him, but before his death, Ozai will suffer in an unending hell. And after his death, he'll keep suffering. I wont allow his spirit to ever find rest." Riley finished their conversation.

Ursa and Riley maintained eye contact for several long moments before Ursa turned to Azula and offered her a hand.

"Let's go and find your son." Ursa offered.

Azula stared at the offered appendage for a moment or two before she took Ursa's hand. A moment after doing so, Azula let out a yelp of fright as flames erupted around the two of them, consuming them and causing the two to vanish within the pillar of fire. A moment later, the flames dissipated, leaving scorched earth and an empty space before Riley.

"How did they do that?" Katara asked, dumbstruck.

"Magic. Some sort of space-time technique. Interesting." Riley hummed aloud, before stepping over the blackened ground.

"Welcome to the group Zuko, Good luck with twinkle-toes, hopefully he'll have a better time with Firebending than he does with Earthbending." Toph was the first to offer when the group went silent.

"Uh, thanks." Zuko replied with a halfhearted smile, that perfectly conveyed the awkwardness he was feeling now that his mother had left.

"Well, best bring him up to speed on what's going on, make sure he understands it all." Gaia stated.

The others agreed, and they all settled in. The first question that came up was if it was still safe to remain there, and Riley replied that it was, she'd keep an eye out for any other demons, and she'd know if they came anywhere close to the Western Air Temple.

Once everyone was confidant that they were safe, they set about explaining some things to Zuko, letting him know who Riley, Gaia, and Yugito were. Telling him how Toph was his aunt, Ursa's half-sister. How Riley wasn't human, and as his grandmother, that made him not fully human either. His own mother was also a spirit, just like Riley was, which made him a half-blood, like Toph, or Azula. A lot of this, he'd picked up during the earlier conversation, but now he got the full context of what was going on.

It'd take a while to really come to terms with it all, but he got the gist of it. They told him about magic, and how benders were a type of magical called and Elemental, but as a half-spirt, much like Toph, he wasn't constrained to his birth Element(s).

The subject did come up about how he was also half Elemental, due to Ozai being one, and that led to questions about how he differed from Toph, who wasn't an Elemental, and neither was Azula.

Riley answered their questions with a few theories of her own, speculating that being descended from an Elemental would make Zuko very powerful in Elemental magic, but he still wouldn't be constrained by it. In essence, he had the same characteristics as Toph or Azula, but any magic he used that had ties to an Element, may receive a boost. Than again, that boost could be strictly tied to Fire. Since his father was a Firebender. It was something to observe as time went on. Riley could see that the Boy had a powerful affinity for Fire. Far beyond what would be considered normal for any person. With the right teachings, the boy's Fire based magics could one day surpass someone like Madara.

Conversation continued till late, and while Aang and his companions were a bit hesitant around Zuko, most were willing to give him a chance. The only person who was still holding a grudge was Katara, but given their history, it wasn't hard to imagine why she would feel resentment towards him. Despite wanting to assist her grandchild in dealing with such problems, if he didn't actively come to her for advice or help, she would simply accept that it was a problem he was going to have to work out himself.

Later than night, when everyone began to settle into bed, Yugito and Gaia sat up with Riley, the three discussing this new turn of events and the three of them taking in just how quickly their collective family was growing. Riley and Yugito had gone into this, expecting to find a child, now they had two kids and two grandchildren.

On that latter note, Gaia, Yugito, and Riley had very little of note to offer in regards how they viewed the situation surrounding Azula. Riley informed the two that Ozai was most likely the father, according to Ursa. Neither really knew what to make of that, other than to conclude that either the man was overly charming, or his power was enticing enough to draw in those who were excited by powerful men. Hell it could have been both. Ursa had obviously seen something in him once upon a time if she agreed to have his child. As of right now, none of them knew if he had forced himself on Azula or not, or if she'd chosen to sleep with him. As Shinobi, all three had a very lax view when it came to such actions.

The average lifespan of a shinobi was around thirty years or so. They didn't live long lives regularly, so it was incredibly common for shinobi to engage in vices at very young ages. In their teenage years, you'd find gamblers, drug addicts, alcoholics, and worse. It was sad to see, but with how short their lives were, and with what they were forced to do on missions, no one would fault these magical warriors for finding any sort of coping mechanism.

The longstanding ideal for Shinobi when it came to age restrictions was that the moment you were expected to kill for your village, that was the moment you were considered an adult and could do all the things an adult would. It had nothing to do with mental maturity or cultural norms, it was simply a basic principle where if you were expected to die in the name of your village or country, than you weren't a kid anymore.

So if Azula had only slept with Ozai, there wouldn't be much to say there. She was obviously a warrior, she fought for the Fire Nation, she carried out the toppling of the Earth Kingdom government. So if it was just that, than it wouldn't really be more than a foot note. But there was still the issue that for the longest time Azula had believed that Ozai was her father, and there was the pregnancy as well. One spoke of a mental quirk, as engaging in sex with one's own father was taboo pretty much universally. It was about as taboo as taboo can get. So it spoke to Azula's mentality, now what that mental state was, the three didn't know, but it was something to keep an eye on. It could be an excessively rebellious nature, it could be her demonic side choosing him because of his power, it could be jealousy or a way to strike out at Ursa for the tumultuous past. None of them knew for certain, but it was still a point of issue.

The pregnancy was also a major area of uncertainty. From the sounds of it, Ozai highly benefited from it, so it was possible that it was all part of some plan of his. The idea alone was enough to further piss off Riley, who was silently fuming ever since Ursa had talked her out of just heading out to murder Ozai in cold blood.

The more she thought on the situation, the more she plotted what she was going to do to him. She'd let Aang beat him, stabilize the world and all that, but once Ozai wasn't needed anymore, Riley was going to collect on every slight against her children.

Before she made her move though, she'd have to hear from Azula about her relationship with Ozai. She needed to know if their laying with one another was a consensual act, or one she was forced or coerced into. If it was the former, than Riley could focus on other issues, and if it was the latter, than she was going to make his suffering the stuff of legends.

He was already going to join the ranks of those like Mito, and Harlan Wade, when it came to Riley's shit-list, she just needed to know everything before she began his torture, so she'd know how exactly to gain retribution.

Just making him suffer wasn't enough. She was going going to be thorough when it came to his torture. Very thorough.

"The Catalyst needs to be reacquired before we leave. We need to make sure that it's returned to Ursa's care to ensure that no one else can use it to breed an army of demons like Ozai is." Gaia stated.

"Yeah, terrifying to think about the kinds of monsters that could be made by such an item. Ursa seems pretty strong if my sensory abilities are anything to go by." Yugito noted, agreeing with Gaia.

"Her power has been constantly consumed for quite a while. She's been in a weakened state, and it's left her drained. She did well in hiding it, but she's no doubt still exhausted. It'll be several weeks before she's back to how she was before Ozai threw her into a cage. Bastard… I swear once this is all over, he'll pay." Riley growled to herself, though her mates heard her.

"What do you think about this deviation? I'm not sure how exact Elizabeth's methods were supposed to be, but we encountered a third child and two grandchildren. Seems somewhat odd to me, but perhaps I'm overthinking it." Gaia mused.

"It is odd. Considering all of the time and effort that older Elizabeth put into making sure I could find all of her siblings, you'd think there wouldn't be any mistakes. I'm not entirely sure what to make of it." Riley responded to her musings with a shrug.

Yugito made a noise of agreement but said nothing. It was a bit odd but she didn't know enough to determine if it was worth being concerned about, or if it was just a mistake.

"Regardless, Aang is going to fight Ozai before Sozin's comet arrives here in a little over a month. When the time for the battle comes, I'll deal with the army of demons, you two just focus on helping deal with Ozai. I didn't want to say anything when Ursa brought up it needing to be Aang who beats him, but I'm concerned that by stealing Ursa's powers and adding some of them to himself, Ozai may just be too powerful for the boy to handle. He's got potential, don't get me wrong, but I'm not sure he can handle a threat like that in only a month's time. He'll need all the help he can get." Riley said to the two.

"Why not take him and Zuko into Kamui for some extra training?" Yugito suggested.

"I plan on offering it to them. Turn a month into six months, or a year. I'll do what I can to make sure he's ready, but if you guys are serious about having Aang deal with him, don't expect me to be anywhere in sight-line of the prick, because if I see him, I'm gonna kill him." Riley responded.

"I know you would, and I know how much you want to. When it's all said and done, you can do whatever you want with him. Right now, for our children's home, we need to be smart about how we handle this." Gaia said to her, as Riley folded her arms over her chest and glared at nothing in particular.

She had to fight to keep from getting pissed off. Riley loved her family enough to respect their wishes, but only to a certain extent. Ursa had asked that Aang deal with the Fire Lord so that such a victory could be used to help restore balance and rebuild the world. Riley agreed with her request and found her logic sound. Ursa had asked only for Aang to be the one who defeats Ozai, she never mentioned what would become of the man after he was defeated. Had she asked for Riley to spare Ozai, the answer would have probably been 'No', but she had asked for Riley to wait, to give Aang a chance, and that was something that Riley could manage, even if she found her hatred for the man growing the longer she mulled over everything he'd done to her family.

It was a major source of agitation, and she knew that every day until she had her revenge, these feelings would fester. So she'd use that, and draw upon that hatred. She'd spend the next few weeks coming up with every vile and twisted form of torture she could think of, all for when the day finally came when she met the Fire Lord in person. The thought of his anguished screams brought a smile to her face.

Yugito and Gaia could both tell that Riley was not in the best of moods, so they let her have her space. Come the following day, Aang's Firebending began, or it would have, except that Zuko had seemingly lost his mojo.

His attempts to Firebend met with failure, or at least the end result was relatively weaker than he had expected. He met with failure due to his attempts to adjust his personality and try to remain calmer and more focused, instead of relying on rage and anger. It turns out those emotions were a rather integral part of his bending process, and without them, his Firebending was considerably weaker.

So that left Zuko with a choice, either go back to relying on his anger to fuel his powers, or find another way. He chose the latter, and he and Aang decided to take a trip to a nearby ancient ruin where Firebending had been created. The two boys hoped that there, they could find older, more refined methods of harnessing Firebending, without the need to rely so heavily on anger, and rage.

Riley kept an eye on the two while they traveled, though she kept her pursuit quiet to all but her mates. She simply sent a clone to follow the two and make sure nothing bad happened to them while they carried out their investigation.

Things quickly went a bit wild when it turned out the ruins weren't so abandoned after all. The people living there captured the two and forced them to partake in a ritual to meet with the local Firebending masters that they worshiped. Aang and Zuko were tasked with carrying a flame to the peak of a mountain and presenting it to the masters, if they failed, than they'd be killed.

Naturally the two complied and made their attempt, which ended in Aang's fire going out, and his attempts to address the situation leading to Zuko's fire going out. With nothing left to do, the two were left to confront the so-called 'masters', which turned out to be two Asian Dragons. The dragons were a surprising sight to the two teens, since as far as both knew, dragons had gone extinct due to the Fire Nation hunting them for glory. Zuko's uncle Iroh was said to have hunted the last Dragon, but it seems that he had lied to make people think they were all gone and allow the two dragons here to live in peace.

Aang and Zuko than performed a special Firebending dance, which was based off of the movements of the dragons. As a reward for succeeding in the dance, the dragons spewed forth a spiral of flames that wrapped around the two young benders but did not burn them. They were treated to a multi-color display of flames that, even from a distance where Riley's clone observed, looked breathtakingly spectacular.

The masters quickly retreated back to their dens afterwards, and Aang and Zuko returned down the mountain. The locals demanded that they keep their mouths shut about their existence, but beyond that, allowed them to leave without further issue.

Both had, had a few revelations in regards to Firebending that helped them adjust to it, and by the time they returned to the Western Air Temple, Zuko was able to bend again without much of an issue, and he was able to start Aang's training.

Several days passed as the Aang delved deeply into the art of Firebending. During that time, Riley continued to offer training to the rest of the teens, and even offered a tips and tricks to Zuko if he wanted them. The young man was receptive to her offers, but it was obvious he was a bit weary around her. Than again, he was weary around everyone. He had a troubled life and had done things he wasn't proud of, and many of the people in this group had been hurt because of him, so he walked on eggshells with the others.

Sokka didn't seem to have much of an issue with him, and just treated him normally. Aang was already warming up to him. Toph was her usual self and didn't have an issue with him. The only one who did have an issue was Katara. She and Zuko had gone through something at one point in their past, and she no longer trusted him. She kept a close eye on him at all times and analyzed everything he did.

Definitely a source of frustration for the young prince, as well as those around them whenever Katara would get snippy. No one blamed her though, and Zuko didn't hold it against her even if he was trying to earn her favor.

With that wedge set firmly within the groups make-up, Riley decided it was best to just get everyone focused on something productive, such as training.

Now that Zuko was able to effectively train Aang in the ways of Firebending, Riley offered the group a place to train, somewhere, where they'd not only be safe, but they'd also be able to extend the time they had left.

She told them about Kamui and how it was a dimension that she controlled and could alter the flow of time within. So the few weeks they had left could be extended nearly indefinitely if Riley wanted it too. The only limits to the time dilation was how much power Riley put into it. The more extreme the difference, the more power, so if she was planning on intense training, she couldn't just stop the passage of time, or come as close to stopping it as possible, but if she wasn't doing intense training, and was just focusing on minor things, she could turn seconds on the outside into many months within her ocular dimension.

When she brought the teens to the pocket dimension, they were dumbfounded by the sight, all save for Toph who couldn't see it. The astounding landscape, and exaggerated landmarks made it seems so unreal. Mountains that pierced the heavens, trees that were thousands of feet high, it truly was a mind-blowing sight.

Within the pocket dimension, Riley turned hours into days for the group to continue with their training. She had food and water held within, so there was no real reasons to leave, beyond just getting back to something familiar.

After getting past their amazement, they were able to begin training. Riley continued to teach Katara, Toph, and Sokka how to access and control other types of magic, meanwhile Aang focused on learning Firebending. The process was intensive, and he showed a natural affinity for it, once he moved past his hesitance for the element.

Practice continued for several days within the pocket dimension, and everything seemed to be moving along swimmingly. An issue did arise when Zuko alluded to the heavy burn scar on the side of his face, and mentioned that Ozai had been the one responsible for it.

Maiming one of her grandchildren instantly got added to the list of his crimes, and Riley spent the remainder of the day angrily pacing by herself in the forest, cursing and blowing up the occasional tree as she tried to keep her temper to a manageable level.

Riley remained agitated for another day or so, and eventually Sokka sought her out to ask about if it would be possible to leave Kamui for a day or so to go on a fishing trip. He appeared thoughtful, and there was obviously something on his mind. Even more interesting was that Zuko was volunteering to go with him.

Riley allowed them to go, and they ended up taking the War Balloon that Zuko had used to follow them from the Fire Nation. Riley watched after them and for the next day or so she kept an eye on them as Zuko and Sokka infiltrated a Fire Nation prison set on an island in the middle of a boiling lake. If Riley had to guess, Sokka was aiming to locate some of the prisoners captured during the invasion, most likely he intended to locate his father.

The two were able to infiltrate the island, and hid as guards. They didn't immediately locate Hakoda, but they did run into a young woman who shared a few intimate moments with Sokka, showing that the two definitely knew one another and had a close relationship with one another.

While they were there, Zuko was discovered and taken prisoner, and around the same time Hakoda arrived at the prison. Riley kept a close watch on the situation to make sure that Zuko stayed safe. Thankfully, Sokka, Hakoda, Sokka's female friend, and another prisoner were able to bust Zuko out, and they planned an escape. Using the warden as a hostage, they started a riot and stole aboard one of the gondolas that led to the island and used it to escape.

Once they had made it clear they stole the airship that had been used to bring prisoners to the location, and used it to escape.

It was an interesting excursion, and Riley was impressed with how well Sokka and Zuko managed to work together. It was clear the two had bonded from their journey, which Riley was happy to see.

Returning with Hakoda, and the girl who's name was Suki, along with the prisoner who'd also aided them, lifted the group's spirits, especially Katara's.

Sokka and Zuko got a stern lecture from Gaia about running off on their own, but she did admit that their tenacity and skill was impressive. Though she did caution the two that they could have been followed or tracked by more demons.

Riley offered that she didn't sense any approaching, but that she agreed it was still a risky moved, and they should be far more careful in the future.

Both boys accepted their warnings with their heads held high. They'd succeeded in their efforts and the group felt better for it.

The following day, Aang and Zuko resumed training in Kamui along with Katara, Toph, and Sokka. They were within the pocket dimension for nearly two weeks doing nothing but training, though on the outside only several hours had gone by.

Riley was alerted to a demonic presence approaching their location by several clones that she had left to guard the Western Air Temple.

More lava demons attempted to slink into the area, but Riley's clones dealt with them before they could make it close enough to attack the group.

She informed the others about the attack, and this led to them all deciding that it was time to uproot and move to somewhere else. So they exited Kamui and quickly packed, and moved locations. Zuko ended up taking everyone to the vacation home that his family owns out on a resort island. The group ended up camped out there where they continued their training, using the next few days to extend to another few weeks on teaching.

The added time allowed Aang to become very proficient in his Firebending while also improving and fine-tuning his Earthbending and Waterbending. During this time, Toph also managed to learn how to activate her Byakugan, which was something that blew her mind as she used her ability to see magic, to memorize the magics of her friends, seeing them in their purest forms.

It was tiring for her at first, and but she was able to grasp it's abilities far quicker than Hyuuga normally did. Toph's Seismic Sensing ability, already allowed her to 'see' in every direction around her, so she was used to taking in a three-hundred-and-sixty degree view of things.

While Toph learned to activate the Byakugan, Riley and Gaia actually took some time to learn how to tap into Toph's Seismic Sensing, an ability she had also taught to Aang. The technique involved using Earthbending to sense vibrations so only someone with a strong Earth Affinity could learn it.

This training helped keep Riley's mind off of Ozai for the duration of training so that she wasn't constantly thinking about what she was going to do to him.

Because it was only those who were training, who were brought into Kamui, Riley let out the teens after a week or so at the end of every day so they could spend time with the other people they'd brought with them, like the kids who fought in the invasion, as well as Hakoda and Suki.

Days began to blend together for the group, and it was obvious that mental exhaustion was starting to kick in. Nearly four weeks of training in only a few days on the outside, all to prepare for the final confrontation with the Fire Lord.

Unfortunately, the time came where they had to take a break. None of them were Riley, and they couldn't endure such long training trips without preparation. Gaia and Yugito were relatively fine, but the teens were starting to show their exhaustion which wasn't a good thing. So Riley called a halt to the training for a few days to allow them to rest and spend time with their friends.

During this rest period, and with the teens in a grouchy mood, a confrontation was had between Zuko and Katara, what they had fought about wasn't known to anyone other than Riley who had overhead them, but it was obvious that Zuko was left feeling guilty, while Katara was angry.

Seemingly confused, Zuko took the time to approach Riley and ask her what he should do about their situation. As the oldest person in their group, and a spirit, he hoped that she'd share in the wisdom of his uncle. The young man had learned in his years of exile to trust in the wisdom of his elders, those who'd been around long enough to know a thing or two.

"What do you think I should do?" Zuko asked after having explained the situation to Riley, as well as the source of Katara's frustration which was Zuko's betrayal at Ba Sing Se, after the two teens had shared a moment of understanding between one another.

Riley listened to his problem and thought on a proper solution. Katara was a kind young woman, and she was of the forgiving nature, but betrayal was a difficult pill to swallow, and it was a hard thing to forgive. From the sounds of it, Zuko had shown remorse for his past actions while hunting the Avatar, and Katara had offered him a chance, extended him trust, but when offered the opportunity to return home, and receive the love of his father, he took the chance.

He obviously regretted that decision now, but that doesn't change what he did at the time.

"Betrayal is never easy. Offering someone, an enemy even, your hand in friendship, and having them spit in your face is something not easily forgiven, or forgotten. You're remorseful now, and I believe you've done a lot to earn forgiveness from those you hunted, but some people are more sensitive to such things, they guard their hearts more closely. I'm a lot like Katara in that regard, if I ever offered someone my hand in friendship and had them slap it away and turn their back on me, I'd feel pretty put out. Add on to that, having them show back up later, regretting their decision and feeling bad for it, would make me rueful. Being betrayed hurts, and it hurts for a long time. If you want to genuinely earn her forgiveness you need to let the wound have time to heal. Keep on with what you're doing and prove yourself through your actions." Riley expressed as Zuko turned thoughtful.

"I know that's what I should do, but what if it takes to long. What if we're in a bad situation and she wont trust me, and someone gets hurt? What if she wont believe me when it really matters? I know I screwed up, I just wish there was something I could do to fix it." Zuko asked in response.

"Look, you're in an interesting situation. You're my grandchild, and if you want me to put an end to her comments, and her glares, I can do that. I can address the situation head on. Right now you're all getting ready to put your lives on the line and fight against a megalomaniac, his army of Firebenders, and his army of demons. You're fighting to save the world, so in that respect Katara needs to grow up and move on. She needs to move past it and put the mission ahead of her hurt feelings, because it's only causing friction in the group, when you need unity now more than ever. It wont be a pleasant conversation and she may be resentful, but I can make her understand that now isn't the time. But I don't think you want me to do that. You want to be her friend, which is something commendable. You want to make things better, and right the wrongs you've committed. Unfortunately, that isn't something I can really help you with. Katara's forgiveness is hers to offer, and hers alone. If you want it, you need to truly earn it. And in the end, she'll only give it when she's ready. If you're set on this, than maybe go and speak with Sokka, or Hakoda. Ask them about Katara, and what they think you can do to try and get on her good side. She's a good person, and I know in her heart she wants to forgive you, but it's a struggle. It's difficult to forget those who cause us pain, and difficult to forgive them. I'm a spiteful person, so I often don't forgive those that hurt me. Katara is different though, so if you wanna fight for her friendship, than you'll have to be ready to put in the work." Riley explained to the young man, earning a thoughtful look from him.

Several quiet moments passed before he spoke again.

"Thank you, for your wisdom. I think I'll go and speak with Sokka and Hakoda, maybe they'll be able to help me." Zuko said to her.

"Good luck." Riley offered with a smile.

"Thanks. One last thing before I go, since we're already talking. My father… do you… really plan on letting Aang handle him?" Zuko asked, eyeing her curiously and with a bit of caution.

"You don't think I should?" Riley questioned in response.

"No. Mother was right, I think Aang needs to be the one to defeat him. But Aang's a pacifist. I've seen it during his training. He's naturally skilled at Firebending, but he has difficulties in focusing it during combat training. Fire is dangerous and deadly, and he's cautious about using it on practice dummies, or your clones. I don't know if he'll be able to kill him or not. And… well… I don't know if my father will stop unless he's killed." Zuko explained to her.

"Zuko… don't worry about it. Aang will beat him. Ozai will likely survive the fight, but he'll be dethroned. But… he wont live much longer after that. I gave your mother my word that Aang would be the one to beat him, but I have my plans in regards to Ozai. He will die, of that, have no doubt." Riley responded, her tone serious and focused.

Zuko took in a deep breath and offered a slow nod.

"I know it's what he deserves. I wont say anything to the others." Zuko stated quietly.

His eyes were downcast, though he wasn't necessarily sad. Despite everything that Ozai had done, he was still Zuko's father, and a part of the young man had always yearned for the Fire Lord's approval, much how Riley had always wanted Minato's approval when she was a child. Hearing that he was going to die very soon, wasn't a comfortable thought, no matter what his feelings were for the man.

"Thank you, for keeping this quiet. I have one final lesson to teach Aang, once this war is over, once he beats Ozai. It wont be comfortable lesson, he's still young, and like you said, he's a pacifist. But it's a lesson he needs to learn sometime in his life, and I'm hopeful that by learning it now, it'll keep him safe in the future. It'll probably be the last thing he and I share, so I hope, as a friend, you'll be there to help him understand it. In the short time we've known each other Zuko, you've proven that you've absorbed much of your uncle's wisdom. I know I might not be making much sense right now, but I think you'll understand when the time comes." Riley said to him, placing a hand on the young man's shoulder and locking eyes with him. He offered a slow nod, earning a smile from Riley. She than released him and turned away, heading off, and leaving the young man to his thoughts.

Not long afterwards, Zuko did as Riley suggested and spoke with Sokka and Hokuda, and not long afterwards, he had approached Katara with an offer. Riley later learned the reasoning for what happened afterwards, had to do with tracking down the man who had murdered Katara's mother, but Riley didn't have that context at the time. Still, Zuko and Katara attempted to take Oppa to go searching for the killer. Aang confronted them but didn't try to stop them, instead encouraging Katara to forgive and not allow vengeance to sour the person that she was.

The two departed, and just like with Sokka and Zuko, Riley sent a clone to keep an eye on the two.

The first thing they did was attack a ship. They snuck on board and confronted the ship captain. Katara even used Bloodbending on him, but not long afterwards they left and headed elsewhere.

They made their way to a village in the Fire Nation and stalked an old man as he made his way home. Katara's emotions showed that this was most definitely the person they were looking for.

She attacked him, and held him at bay with her Waterbending. She even created a dome of ice spears that were primed to rain down on him.

In the end though, she couldn't bring herself to kill the man, and instead chose to depart, leaving the old man a crying blubbering mess on the ground.

When they returned to the camp, Sokka, Aang, and Hakoda were waiting for them, Aang having revealed to brother and father what Katara was doing when they came looking for her.

They confronted her, worried about what had happened, but she settled their fears when she told them that she simply couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to become the kind of monster that took her mother from her.

Sokka and Hakoda both reassured her, and Aang praised her for letting go of her vengeance and choosing forgiveness. She countered his praise though by claiming that she hadn't forgiven him, and that she never would, but that she was ready to forgive Zuko. She offered him her thanks for helping her, which he accepted.

Afterwards, Zuko and Aang shared a moment to talk, where Zuko questioned Aang about what he was going to do in regards to the Fire Lord.

Aang didn't immediately have an answer, so Zuko left him with his thoughts.

Several more days went by with another training trip, but it was quickly becoming apparent that Katara, Aang, Sokka, and Toph were losing their drive. It was an interesting sight, and a curious one, considering that even with Riley's ability to expand time, they had still wasted quite a bit of their remaining time before Sozin's Comet arrived. They only had a few days left before then.

Zuko also took notice of their lackadaisical nature and addressed it.

Riley, Gaia, and Yugito were all very interested to hear what they had to say. It was Sokka who started off by admitting that they'd kinda given up on the idea of beating the Fire Lord before the Comet arrived.

It was a surprising thing to hear, but the group rationalized that the whole point of stopping the Fire Lord before the Comet arrived was to stop the Earth Kingdom from falling. Given that the Earth Kingdom had already been taken over, that ship had sailed. So as far as they were concerned, there wasn't really a need to rush. Aang wasn't ready yet to fight the Fire Lord, so it was best not to rush it.

Their logic was reasonable, except that Zuko immediately threw a wrench into the plan, when he informed everyone that before the eclipse, Ozai had called a meeting of his generals, where it was decided that they would use the power boost provided by the Comet to lay waste to the Earth Kingdom, and quash any and all thoughts of rebellion.

When asked why Zuko had never mentioned this, he pointed out that they had also neglected to mention that they were just gonna wait to take on the Fire Lord. This left everyone in a bit of a bind.

"We have only a few days left until the Comet arrives. With the aid of Riley's pocket dimension we can expand that time to several weeks, or even months, but there is the major issue of mental exhaustion. Aang needs to go into the battle fresh and ready to fight for his life. So that further limits our remaining time. He'll need at least a day or two to just relax and mentally prepare himself. Constantly training, constantly working will put a strain on everyone, but I think we should still take the time to refine our skills as much as possible." Gaia stated.

"Yeah… unfortunately you can't help people's anxiety. The more time you have to train, the more confidant you'll be, but it's still gonna be the hardest fight of your life. He's the strongest Firebender, he'll be empowered by Sozin's Comet, and he's enhanced himself with Ursa's demonic magic. Taking him on is gonna be a pain, no matter which way you slice it." Yugito agreed.

Aang was pacing back and forth, obviously fretting.

"Unless you go at him with the intent to kill, you may not be able to beat him." Riley noted, causing Aang to stop and stare at her for a moment.

"I-I don't know if I can do that." Aang admitted.

"I'm not saying you have to kill him, but he's going to try and kill you. If you don't fight him with the same ferocity, he's going to have another advantage." Riley warned him, causing the boy's shoulders to slump and for him to let out a sigh.

"How can I fight him like that? Going after someone with the intention to kill them goes against everything the monks taught me." Aang said, more to himself than to the others.

"You have a heavy responsibility placed on your shoulders Aang. I know it isn't fair, and I know it's hard, but Ursa was correct when she said that is has to be you who beats him, if this world is going to have any chance of healing. So many people rely on you, and are counting on you. If you don't beat him, than this world may face generations of chaos and bloodshed." Gaia offered to the boy, earning another sigh and a slow nod from him.

"Take some time, reflect on what must be done. We'll go into Kamui tomorrow and train some more, refine your skills and come up with some strategies." Riley told him, earning a nod of agreement from Aang.

So with a plan in place to spend the next few days training and getting Aang ready for his confrontation with the Fire Lord, everyone went to settle in for the night. Aang traveled down to the beach to spend some time meditating and thinking.

Everyone gave him his space, knowing that he had a lot on his mind.

Riley settled into bed with her girlfriends, the three laying with one another cuddling as they though about what they were going to do, and how to best handle this situation.

Their discussion lasted well into the night, nearly past midnight without making much in the area of headway. Eventually they just decided to sleep on it.

About halfway through the night, Riley sat up, something feeling off. She extended her senses outward, searching for what was wrong, while Gaia and Yugito both sat up, alerted by Riley's sudden movement.

"What's wrong?" Yugito asked.

"Something. Something is off, but I don't know what." Riley replied. She used her senses to seek out any threat nearby, but nothing immediately showed itself.

She quickly removed herself from bed and exited the room they were in. Gaia and Yugito followed behind her as Riley began to patrol the estate, looking for whatever had triggered her senses.

After about ten minutes, she still couldn't find anything.

"What the hell is going on? Why do I feel like something is wrong? What am I missing?" Riley thought to herself.

Her eyes suddenly went wide and she activated her Byakugan. Her gaze quickly pierced into the rooms of her companions, taking note that all of them were in their beds, save for one.

"Aang's gone." Riley stated aloud, alerting Gaia and Yugito to the source of the issue.

"Aang's gone? Can you find him?" Yugito asked in reply.

"One moment." Riley responded, extending her senses and her sight to try and locate where he was. Her sensory range was large enough and her abilities focused enough that she could easily find anyone she had met before, if they were on the same planet as her. This world was much smaller than the Earth, so it shouldn't have been difficult at all to pin down his location.

Surprise and a bit of panic began to set in as she found nothing. There were no traces of him, no signs of where he could be.

"Shit!" Riley muttered.

"What happened?" Gaia inquired.

"I can't find him. He's… just gone…" Riley replied as she turned her gaze to Gaia, confused and now worried.

"I'll go wake the others." Yugito offered, quickly heading off to do just that.

"What does it mean if you can't find him?" Gaia asked as Yugito left.

"He's either buried under a powerful magical signature like Ursa was, and it's covering him up, or he's not on this planet anymore." Riley replied, deeply concerned.

Gaia was silent for a few moments before offering a nod.

A few moments later and the whole gang was gathered and told about what had happened. Aang was missing. The first thing the teens asked was if Riley could find him, but she reported the same information she'd shared with Gaia, to them.

Next thing to do was simply go and look for him, which is what they did.

They split into four groups. Riley went off on her own, flying around in search of him. Gaia and Yugito hopped on a cloud of sand to fly around searching for him. Sokka, Katara, and Hakoda took to the skies on Oppa, while Toph and Zuko searched the island. They all agreed to meet back up in two hours if they couldn't find anything.

That time came and went, and nothing. No one could find a trace of the Avatar. Though Sokka did make an interesting point that Aang's lemur companion Momo was also gone.

"Well that's great, what do we do now?" Toph asked.

"Maybe Aang's gone to the Spirit World. Maybe that's why he can't be sensed?" Katara offered.

"Well if that's the case, he would have gone somewhere with a powerful connection to the Spirit World, meaning we still don't know where he is." Sokka responded, earning a sigh from Katara.

"What about you?" Toph asked, turning her attention to Zuko.

"What about me?" Zuko asked in response, confused.

"Didn't you use to track Aang before? How would you go about finding him?" Toph asked, causing everyone to turn their attention to the young prince.

Zuko was silent for several long moments as he turned thoughtful.

"I think I might have an idea, but we're gonna need something of Aang's. Something with his scent on it." Zuko replied after taking some time to think.

"With a direction to now go, the group headed off, taking Oppa and flying to the Earth Kingdom. They made their way to a tavern where Zuko approached a woman. A bounty hunter or a mercenary by the looks of her.

He implored her for her help in tracking down Aang. At first she refused, but Zuko quickly mentioned that they needed to find him soon, or else the world may be destroyed. Hearing that, she reluctantly agreed to help, and led them outside to where her mount, a tracking beast called a Shirshu was waiting for her.

Using the object they brought for Aang, she tried to have her beast track the boy's scent. According to Zuko a shirshu could find anyone, anywhere, based off of their scent. It didn't matter the distance, they could track them.

The beast took in Aang's scent, and then sniffed at the air. It then began to circle around itself and sit on the ground, pawing at it's face.

"What does that mean?" Toph asked.

"It means your friend is gone. Poof, like he doesn't even exist anymore. Nyla would be able to find him if he existed." The bounty hunter stated with a shrug.

"How is that possible? How does someone just stop existing?" Katara demanded.

"I have no idea. Sorry I can't help. Unless you've got someone else you want me to find, you're kinda out of luck." The woman replied and turned to head off.

"Well… shit. Now what?" Yugito asked.

"We need a back-up plan. Riley… can you find my uncle?" Zuko asked.

"Sure. Why would we need him though?" Riley inquired.

"We have no clue where Aang has gone, and Sozin's Comet will be here soon. Uncle Iroh is the rightful heir to the Fire Nation Throne. If Aang can't be here to fight the Fire Lord, than it has to be him. If my uncle can beat him and reclaim the throne, he can do what needs to be done to help fix the world, I know he can." Zuko responded adamantly.

"Well we've got no other direction. I say let's go for it. Maybe your mom will know something." Sokka suggested, knowing that Ursa and Azula had gone to find Iroh a few weeks ago and would most likely be with him.

Without any other real direction, and with time running out, they decided to head there. Riley lead them into the fallen Earth Kingdom, all the way to Ba Sing Se, to a small camp set just within the broken outermost walls of the massive city.

When they arrived, they encountered a group of old men. These old fellas radiated power, most of them powerful benders. From the sounds of things from the teens' reactions, they knew these men, and once Riley, Gaia, and Yugito spotted Sokka's sword instructor among their ranks, they knew that things were relatively safe.

The old guys led them all into their camp where several dozen individuals were gathered in tents. What the group was doing there wasn't immediately obvious.

As they were led into the camp, it was explained to them that those present were members of the Order of the White Lotus, an ancient order that transcended the divisions between the four nations. This group had been brought together by a grandmaster of the order, Iroh.

Not long after entering the camp, they encountered Ursa.

She greeted the group with a smile, and embraced Zuko when the two met.

"Mother, good to see you made it. Did Azula find Shakik?" Zuko asked.

"Yes. Just as you suspected, the baby was with Iroh. She's been fussing over him these last few weeks. It's honestly kind of adorable." Ursa admitted with a chuckle.

"Adorable? Azula?" Zuko reiterated in disbelief.

"I think she'll make a good mother. She obviously cares for her son, cares for him more than she's ever cared for anything, if I'm being honest. It's nice to see a gentle side of her, something that's softer and not so violent all the time." Ursa noted, earning a curious look from Zuko.

"Does that mean the two of you worked out your issues?" Zuko inquired.

"No." Ursa replied, blandly.

"She not talking to you or something?" Riley asked with a raised eyebrow.

"It depends on the day, and what she's currently upset about. It's like an ebb and flow. Some days she's willing to talk all day, others she doesn't want to say more that two words to me. I'd say we're working on it. She's still not too happy with me for treating her so harshly, though after having showed her some of what I can do, and emphasized to her where we come from, I think she's starting to understand just how bad one of our kind can be. Even still… it's hit or miss as to whether or not we're on speaking terms." Ursa offered as an explanation.

"Well… shit. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help." Riley put out there, earning a smile and nod from her demonic daughter.

"Thank you mother. I'll keep that in mind. Now… what are you all doing here? Sozin's Comet will be here in a few days, shouldn't you be training?" Ursa asked glancing around at them and taking note of their sullen looks.

"Aang's gone missing. We came here hoping to find Zuko's uncle. He says that if Aang can't be there to defeat Ozai, the only other person who might be able to restore balance by beating him is Iroh." Gaia answered, earning a bit of surprise from Ursa, but then she turned thoughtful.

"'You' cannot find him?" Ursa inquired, directing her question at Riley.

"No. He's either buried under a powerful magical signature like you were, or he's not on this planet anymore. His friends think he may have gone to the spirit world, which might explain why I can't sense him." Riley responded. Ursa nodded slowly, and seemed to think for several long moments.

"I can try and find him in the spirit world. I know how to reach it. Meanwhile, if you're looking for Iroh I think he retired to his tent to get some rest." Ursa offered to them earning hopeful looks from the teens.

"Thank you, mother. If you could tell us where he is, that'd be a great help. While you're doing that, I need to talk to Uncle Iroh. He and I have some things to discuss." Zuko said to his mother.

She smiled at him, reassuringly, as he seemed to brace himself for his meeting with the uncle he had betrayed.

Zuko was guided by some of the older men towards where Iroh's tent was while Ursa prepared to leave.

"Are you gonna be alright doing this?" Riley inquired.

"Yes. I've ventured into the spirit world many times in my life. I know my way around, and I've recovered a lot of my stolen power. I think I'll be just fine." Ursa responded with a smile.

"Alright, if you need me though, all you have to do is use this." Riley conceded, offering her a Hiraishin kunai.

"Thank you mother. I will keep this with me, but I doubt I'll need it." Ursa accepted her offer placing the kunai beneath her robes.

"Well then, while Ursa checks in the Spirit World for Aang, I guess we need to plan what we're going to do." Riley addressed the rest of the group, earning a collection of nods.

Ursa quickly vanished not long afterwards, her presence seemingly disappearing from the world. After an hour it became apparent that Zuko and Iroh's chat was going to take a while so everyone sort of settled in.

Riley took the time to seek out Azula and actually have a chat with her. She found the young mother sitting at the edge of the camp, her child cradled in her arms as she stared out over the fields and farmlands of Ba Sing Se.

"Hello Azula." Riley greeted her, earning the attention of the young woman.

"Azula… You know, for the last few weeks I've been waking up every day with something new on my mind, and each day it's some new falsity in my life. I'm not a Fire Nation princess. I'm not even a Firebender. My mother is actually my half-sister and my brother is my nephew. My 'father' is actually my 'brother-in-law'. I'm not fully human… Oh! And just today I woke up and realized that 'Azula' probably isn't my real name. It's the name Ursa and Ozai gave me, but it's not the name I had when I was born… so… now I've got that to add to the list…" Azula stated, glancing sideways at Riley, her 'parent', 'sire' according to Ursa. A mother that impregnated her actual mother, through some weird nonsensical magic, that irritated Azula just trying to think about it.

"That's a lot to take in, and not something that's easy to deal with." Riley noted, thoughtfully.

"Hmph. That's all you have to say? Ursa told me you were wise, and intelligent. Said that you were powerful in a way that no one else could compare to. I don't even know what that means, but it's obvious she hold you in high regard. Surely you have some way of explaining this whole situation that doesn't make my head hurt." Azula snapped at her, earning a chuckle from Riley.

"I have my moments of wisdom, and I'd like to think I'm pretty smart, but I'm not all-knowing. You're right to be confused, you're right to be angry. I can speak on Ursa's behalf, but I'd like to think she planned on telling you the truth when you were old enough to understand it. I can hope for such things, but I don't know for certain. Beyond that, I can't really offer much in regards to your situation. It sucks. It really does. Learning your whole life is a lie. It's something that truly shakes you to your core." Riley offered to her.

"You know something about it? Has something like this ever happened to you?" Azula inquired, sensing that Riley did have genuine empathy for the situation.

"In a manner of speaking. The woman who raised me, wasn't my real mother. Or I should say, she wasn't supposed to be. My father, a man whom I despise, impregnated my mother, Kushina Uzumaki, a friend, but a woman who wasn't his wife. He also impregnated his own wife at the same time. So… fearing what would happen if people found out, and fearing what my mother would do to him, using me as leverage, they used magic to rip me from my mother's womb and place me into his wife's womb. I was born alongside their true-born daughter, my twin sister. I lived most of my early life not knowing any of this. I had to learn from a man I was about to kill that I wasn't the child of the woman who raised me and treated me like dirt. I had to learn from him that my real mother was alive, in a coma, because of what they did to her. So I went after her. I freed her, and took her into my life. I can't really understand your situation, just like you can't really understand mine, but there's enough similarities between what happened to us, that I think we can empathize, if we so choose." Riley explained to her daughter, earning confusion, disgust, and a shake of the head from her.

"Huh… sounds like both our fathers were bastards." Azula noted with a rueful chuckle, earning one from Riley as well.

"Seems that way." Riley agreed giving Azula a curious look.

Several seconds went by before Riley decided to clear something up. "Did you love him?" She asked, earning a look from Azula.

"Ozai I mean. When you slept with him. Did you love him, or…" Riley let it hang in the air, and simply waited for an answer.

"No. I didn't, and I don't love him. I just wanted to know what it was like. And if something happened, I wasn't going to have the father be some no-named moron, or creep-faced whack job. Ozai was just a means to an end. I never loved him, never even really liked him. I sought his approval as Fire Lord, but that was it. He was never a father to me. Everyone keeps giving me those looks because I slept with father, but that's never how I saw him, not really. We never had a 'father-daughter' bond, or whatever you wanna call it. He wasn't even really all that good. Honestly I probably should have just sought out some horny teenage boy who'd have actually been interested in having a bit of fun. Now knowing what I know, it's obvious that he wanted a child from me." Azula explained, Riley offered a slow nod as she took in her logic.

"You're a moron, you know that right?" Riley noted, earning an irritated look from Azula.

"Um… Yes?" Azula answered back, like Riley should have already know that.

"Good. So long as you know what you did was stupid, than that's all that really matters." Riley stated, stepping up next to Azula and sitting by her side.

"Really? That's it? Ursa hasn't gotten off my back about it, and you're supposed to be my real mother, and that's all you have to say?" Azula questioned with a suspicious look.

"Listen, Azula… I grew up in a place where magicals like us were often taught how to fight starting at around the age of seven or eight. By twelve or thirteen, we were conscripted into the military and expected to kill and or die for our village. I was eight years old the first time I took someone's life from them. And by the time I was your age I'd killed dozens of people, and I was a horny teenager with a hot girlfriend that I wanted to fuck all the time. The only reason I didn't was because my magic was dangerous to living things, and if I didn't have full control over myself, I might have accidentally hurt or kill her. I know exactly what it's like to be in your shoes. I don't think Ursa realizes this, but you and me, we share a lot in common when it comes to who I was, and who you are now. Trust me, if I could have done it without hurting her, I would have been sleeping around with my girlfriend at the same age your were when you went after Ozai. I'm not alone in that regard either. Because of what kids my age were expected to do in the village I came from, it wasn't uncommon for the kids to be engaged in sexual behavior, or partaking in some kind of vice. We were in a life or death business where each day could be our last. You didn't judge anyone for living in the now, because tomorrow was a lot less likely for people like us." Riley explained to her daughter, Azula listened in, and digested her words as Riley continued on

"I got out of that life before having to really settle into it, but other kids weren't as lucky. You fight for the Fire Nation, you brought down an entire kingdom with your plots and plans. If that's a responsibility you can shoulder, than to my mind, you have every right to do whatever the hell you want. Drink, do drugs, gamble, fuck, I don't really care. I wouldn't want any of these vices to destroy your life, but in the place where I came from, we had a saying, 'Old enough to kill, old enough to… insert whatever vice you see fit'. I'm not gonna rag on you for fucking a guy when you were thirteen, because if you were expected to kill at that age, than that makes you an adult in my book. Killers can't be kids, no matter how hard they try to be. Once you take someone else's life, or put yours on the line for your country, I believe that makes you an adult, and as an adult, you can do whatever you want. Within reason of course, I wouldn't encourage you to do hardcore drugs or gamble away your life savings so that you end up homeless, and if you planned on fucking around, I'd have advised you use contraceptives until you were ready to raise a kid, but otherwise, what you do with your life, or how you choose to fill your time, doesn't bother me, so long as you're not hurting yourself. I understand the need to escape, and I understand the need to live. If I had my way though Azula, I'd have kept you a kid until you were in your twenties. I would have kept you safe and not put you in the position to be an adult until you were really only enough to understand everything and live with the consequences. I would have wanted you to be older before you started sleeping with other people, I would have wanted you to be older before you had to fight and possibly die for your country, but I don't get to make those choices. I can't change what's happened to you, I can't make you a kid again. You did something dumb, and now you've got to spend eighteen years dealing with that mistake. It's not gonna be easy, but as my daughter, I'll be there to help you so long as you'll let me." Riley finished her explanation, as Azula continued to take in what she was saying.

At the end of Riley's explanation, Azula turned her gaze fully to Riley, surprise flashing across her face.

"You'll be there to help me? Really?" Azula replied, not knowing if she believed that.

"Of course. You actually have a newborn baby sister, who I'm sure would love to grow up with her nephew. I don't know what everyone plans on doing once this war is over, but I'm offering all of my family members the chance to leave with me. I'll take you to my home, let you meet your other siblings, I'll find a place for you, and you can start your life over. Maybe that's something that can help you out Azula, getting away from all this, and having time to just focus on yourself and your son." Riley offered, causing Azula to turn thoughtful.

"That's… an interesting offer. You know Zuzu will stay. They all want him to be Fire Lord. If he stays, I see Ursa staying too." Azula noted.

"Yeah. I think Toph is going to stay as well. She'll wanna stick with her friends and try to rebuild the world with them. It's alright though. If Ursa decides to stay, she can continue their training, make sure their demonic powers are active. With such power actively flowing through their veins, they'll be immortal. It doesn't matter if it take a century or more for us to return… we'll see them again." Riley stated, gazing off thinking to herself as she did.

"Yeah… half-demon… time travel… right. All weird sorcery." Azula muttered, earning a smile from Riley.

"So… why don't we formally introduce ourselves. We know a bit about one another from others, but we haven't had the chance to really introduce each other. I'll go first, my name is Riley." Riley offered.

"Azula." Azula offered after a moment.

"Very nice to finally get the chance to speak with you Azula. And who would this adorable little guy be?" Riley asked, turning her gaze to the baby in Azula's arms.

"This? This is Shakik Azulong, my son." Azula replied, a smile touching at her lips as she turned her gaze down to the slumbering child.

"Well, he's quite the beautiful boy. Looks just like his mother." Riley said with a smile, causing Azula's to brighten just a bit more.

The two sat and talked about the baby for a while, Azula even got around to asking about her newborn sister. It was a quaint bonding moment for the two while Riley waited to hear back from Ursa about Aang.

Come the following morning, Ursa had returned, and had found no sight of Aang in the spirit world. This news was deeply concerning to everyone.

By now Zuko and Iroh had, had their talk, and it was obvious that the two were in good moods. Zuko wasn't as sullen as the day before, while his Uncle appeared to be genuinely happy. At least as happy as he could be given the situation.

Around lunch, the group sat together and discussed what they were going to do.

"If Aang doesn't show up to defeat the Fire Lord, than it has to be you Uncle. It's the only way to restore peace, and ensure that this war ends." Zuko said to him, earning a sigh and a shake of the head from Iroh.

"No, it wouldn't. History would see it as just another act of violence. A brother, killing a brother, to seize power. No. It has to be the Avatar who defeats him. That is the only way." Iroh responded.

"But what if Aang doesn't show up? What if he's trapped somewhere or lost?" Toph asked.

"I wouldn't count him out just yet. I have faith in the Avatar. I do believe that when the moment comes, he will be there." Iroh replied to her concern.

"And when that moment comes, you'll need to be at the Fire Capitol, ready to assume the throne when Ozai is defeated." Ursa stated, addressing Zuko.

"I… I know it's what I have to do… but I don't know if I can. I've made so many mistakes" Zuko admitted.

"Yes, you have. You traveled down a dark path, but you fought your way back on your own. You regained your own honor, and now you must help the Fire Nation regain it's." Iroh said to his nephew.

"I'll try uncle…" Zuko conceded, quietly, but with resolve.

"You need to head for the Fire Capitol, but you need to be ready. Demons could be lurking there, and Ozai has no doubt taken some with him aboard the airship fleet he intends to use to burn the Earth Kingdom. We need to be ready to face them." Riley warned.

"I'll go with Zuko to the Fire Capitol, help him deal with any of the demons there." Katara offered.

"So will I." Yugito offered as well.

"The three of you will have a difficult time, but I know you'll manage it." Hakoda stated, earning a smile from his daughter.

"If they're headed to the Fire Capitol, where should the rest of us go?" Sokka asked.

"Where do you think you're needed most?" Iroh inquired in response.

"I think… someone has to stop those airships while Aang deals with the Fire Lord. That's where I think the rest of us should go." Sokka decided after a moment of thought.

"Yeah, that way if Aang needs us, we'll be right there with him!" Toph agreed.

"What do you think Riley?" Gaia asked her.

"I'll be on the ground, I'll deal with the demons that Ozai unleashes from the airships. I think you and Hakoda should go with Sokka, Toph, and Suki to deal with the airships." Riley replied.

"Very well, what'll you be doing, Ursa?" Gaia turned her question towards Riley's full demon child.

"I'll go with Zuko to the Fire Capitol. Help him deal with any of the demons there, but I'll also be searching the capitol for the Catalyst. If it's not with Ozai, it'll be in the capitol." Ursa responded.

"If it is with Ozai, it may be on his ship, Hakoda and I can try to locate it, while the others deal with the airships." Gaia offered, earning a nod of agreement from Hakoda.

"What about you uncle… what'll you do?" Zuko asked.

"Once… long ago, I had a dream that I would take Ba Sing Se. Only now do I realize that my destiny is to take it back, from the Fire Nation, and help the Earth Kingdom return." Iroh replied gaining smiles from the group.

"Alright then, it's decided. Ursa, brief Gaia and Hakoda on the Catalyst so they know what they're looking for. Otherwise, we should begin planning for how we're gonna handle each of our tasks. Sozin's Comet will be here in three days." Riley said to her surrounding allies, everyone nodding in agreement.

The following day, everyone set out with their tasks in mind. The White Lotus provided transport and direction to where the Air fleet was stationed at, and where it was most likely to attack. Riley headed to the location it would be attacking, while Gaia, Sokka, Hakoda, Toph, and Suki headed for the air base to try and sneak on board one of the airships.

Zuko, Ursa, Katara, and Yugito took Appa to the Fire Capitol. The basic plan for everyone was to proceed with caution, and case, as it looked like there was a strong chance that everything was going to go down on the day the comet arrived.

More and more, it was starting to sound like destiny.

Before everyone departed, Riley provided them all with Hiraishin kunai, with orders to call for her and throw the blade, if they were in need, and she'd be there in a flash.

With that done, everyone departed.

Riley headed for the location where the airships were more likely to commence their assault. Once there, she fell into a meditative position and activated her Byakugan.

Riley extended her gaze out to the air base off shore from her current location, and spent the remaining time they had left, watching.

Time passed, and the day finally arrived. High in the sky above the world, a burning comet began to slip into the atmosphere, triggering a magical event, much like the eclipse that strengthened Fire magic to an astounding degree.

Riley felt the flames within her veins surge as the comet began to pass over, and a smile touched at her lips as she drunk in the power.

On the horizon, the airship began to approach inland. They flew in formation, with the Fire Lord's ship leading the group. At the far edge, Riley could see with her Byakugan, Toph, Sokka, and Suki moving through that ship, while in the center ship, she could spot the demonic essence of the Fire Lord, as well as the presence of Gaia and Hakoda having infiltrated that vessel.

Within each ship was a crew of firebenders, and a clutch of Fire demons.

As the ships began passing over ground, the attack began. Firebenders aboard the ships began blasting the ground with streams of hellish flames. A massive wall of fire erupted out across the land, the strength of the benders and the swatch of flames they could produce was impressive. From the Airship's bomb bays, demons began to emerge, falling from the ships, down into the inferno, where they bathed in the flames and began to rush outward, intent on spreading chaos and carnage across the land.

Riley rose to her feet, just as a familiar presence appeared nearby.

She turned her gaze to see Aang land on a rock not far from her.

With a smirk, she leaped from her position to land next to him.

"Hey there kid, where were you?" Riley inquired.

"Found my way onto the back of a giant Lion-Turtle." Aang replied.

"Kay…" Riley replied, a bit confused by that statement.

"Sorry I was gone so long. I didn't mean to worry everyone. I took the time to do some soul searching and reach out to my past lives for guidance. The Lion-Turtle also offered me some help." Aang offered.

"Well… are you ready for this?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, I'm ready to face my destiny." Aang replied hardening his gaze as he focused on the incoming airships.

"Alright than. I'm gonna go deal with the demons. Sokka, Suki, and Toph, are over on that airship, Gaia and Hakoda are on the lead one, so should I give them a heads up that you're about to swat it out of the sky?" Riley asked with a smirk.

"Could you?" Aang responded.

"Already done. Good luck kid." Riley said to him and than leaped from the rock, and raced towards the inferno, eager to cut down the demons before they could move to far inland.

As she ran, she sent a mental message to Gaia to brace for impact, as Aang had appeared, and was going to knock out the Fire Lord's Flagship.

And boy did he. Using Earthbending, Aang was able to disable the Fire Lord's ship, causing it to begin listing.

The Fire Lord, who had been standing upon the prow of the vessel aiding in the attack on the ground, spotted the boy, and immediately went on the offensive.

Using Firebending to fly, the demonic abomination took to the skies and began to pursue Aang.

Their fight began in earnest, while Riley flew into the inferno, and slammed into the first of many Fire Demons, lashing out at it, and cutting through it with her Zanpakutō.

-Fire Nation Capitol, At the same time-

Zuko, Katara, Yugito, and Ursa arrived at the palace and dismounted from Appa. Standing in formation before the palace was a group of Fire Sages, all appearing in a daze.

"What are they doing out here?" Katara inquired as they advanced towards them.

"I don't know, something is wrong." Zuko replied.

"Kitten, I sense demonic energy coming from them. I think they're possessed." Matatabi warned.

"Guys, hold on." Yugito halted them, her eyes narrowing.

Just as they came to a halt, the Fire Sage's began to advance.

"Please… run!" One of the sage cried out, before he punched the air, sending a super-heated ball of fire, rushing towards them.

Ursa stepped in front of the strike, and with an upward motion, stopped the fireball with her own wall of flames.

"You must flee!" Another sage shouted as he began to attack as well.

"Something is controlling them." Yugito noted.

"The demons Ozai left behind?" Ursa wondered.

Suddenly, the ground began to shape, and the roof of the palace behind the Fire sages erupted as an inferno shot out of it.

This inferno soon took form, revealing a towering serpent of pure flames. Within the serpents jaws, was one of the lava demons they'd fought before. They could see the serpent drawing in the fire from the Lava Demon's body, adding it's prey's power to it's own. As it did, it began to grow just a bit larger.

"Kitten, I think that things devoured the other demons here. All the demonic power I sense from this place is coming from that thing." The Cat warned, earning a nod of understanding from Yugito.

As it did this, the lava demon turned to stone. Once hardened, it was tossed away where it shattered into a thousand pieces.

"What is that!?" Katara asked in fright.

"Oh shit…" Yugito muttered.

"Ah… there you are! And you brought the boy… and… another! Such delicious flames! This world will burn… come to me Ursa… Join your flame with mine, and we will burn it all!" The Demonic fire serpent hissed down at them, it's voice loud and hollow, cutting through the air, over the roaring flames.

Everyone glanced over at Ursa who stared up at the beast and narrowed her eyes.

"Friend of yours?" Yugito asked as she stepped forward.

"Unfortunately not. Zuko, Katara, deal with the Fire Sages. Allow Yugito to handle the serpent." Ursa instructed, earning hesitant nods from the two.

"Are you sure you can handle that thing alone?" Katara asked with concern.

"It's alright Katara, I'm not alone. I'm never alone." Yugito replied as she activated her Tailed-Beast Transformation.

The three watched in fascination and amazement as blue flames erupted around Yugito's body and she vanished in a roaring inferno. That inferno soon took shape, molding into a two-tailed cat, made purely of black and blue fire.

"Wow…" Zuko muttered in amazement.

"So that's the spirit living inside of her… amazing." Katara said in equal awe.

"Yes, it is, now move." Ursa urged them, breaking the teens out of their amazement.

"Such amazing and delicious power… join it with me! Let us burn it all!" The Serpent growled as it shot forward, aiming to sink it's teeth into the hell-cat.

"I prefer a more solitary existence. You'll have to make due on your own!" The Cat hissed back, swiping the serpent away with it's paw sending it careening into a building which exploded into flames.

-In the Earth Kingdom, aboard the Fire Lord's Airship-

Another guard was knocked aside as Gaia and Hakoda breached the Fire Lord's personal chambers. The airship was listing badly, moments away from crashing to the ground.

"We have to hurry!" Hakoda shouted as the two separated searching through the room to try and find the Catalyst.

The object wouldn't be hard to find. It was about the size of a grapefruit, a murky blue crystal with three chains wrapped around it. One chain of gold, one of silver, and one of iron.

The two tore through the room, searching for anywhere it could be.

The tilt of the ship didn't help matters much, but it did point them in the right direction, when a large painting of the Fire Lord fell from the wall, revealing an enclosed space behind it, containing the object they were looking for.

The two shared a glance with Hakoda shrugging and accepting the luck they were provided. Hakoda grabbed the object and wrapped it in cloth, and than the two made a break for it.

They made it outside less than a minute before the Airship finally slammed into a rock face, and they managed to escape on a cloud of sand.

Up in the air, the two got a good look at how Toph's group was doing, as their airship cut it's way through the sky on a trajectory to cut across the formation of the other airships. It appeared like they intended to use theirs to cut through the other ships and knock out the whole fleet.

"Good luck you guys." Gaia offered to them as they made impact with the first ship.

On the ground below, Riley ripped through another lava demon, dancing through the inferno, as if it wasn't even there. Spending that long training trip being roasted by Kurama's flames meant that these flames felt almost toasty to her, that and she had literal fire burning in her veins. Already she had killed over three dozen demons and was moving on to the next in rapid succession.

She grabbed one by the throat and was about to cut it down when she felt an explosion of power. She turned her gaze up to where Aang and the Fire Lord were fighting. There she could see the power pouring off of Aang in waves. His strength had just magnified a hundred times over, in a surprising display of might.

"So this is the Avatar State huh? Impressive. Go get him kid." Riley noted before turning her gaze back to the demon in her hand.

-Back at the Fire Capitol-

Zuko delivered a swift kick to the head of a Fire Sage, knocking him unconscious before turning to another, he sent a quick glance towards Katara to make sure she was alright, and he could see another Fire Sage unconscious at her feet, and one more encased in ice from the neck down.

Thankfully, despite their knowledge and skill in bending, the Fire Sage's weren't in full control and were actively struggling against the demon's influence.

Speaking of the demon, it was currently retreating from the fiery two-tailed cat which seemed almost like she was playing with it.

"Come now you overgrown garden snake, I'm not that frightening!" Matatabi hissed, biting into the serpent and spewing out actual hellfire, which began to burn at the serpent's soul.

A shriek of pain tore through the air as the fire demon ripped free and turned to bite the cat. Matatabi caught the serpent's strike with her tails and tossed it aside.

By now, the two fire titans had lit the entire palace, ablaze with their duel.

While they fought, Ursa searched the burning palace, checking to see if she could locate the Catalyst or not.

She had to ensure that it was recovered so that no one could try this again.

"Die!" The Serpent hissed.

"You first!" The cat shouted back, as the two clashed, the Two-Tails quickly overpowering the serpent and wrestling it to the ground. Her tails began to wrap around it as she bit into the creature at the base of it's head and held it with her paws.

Once more that cat spewed out hellfire, though this time she held her prey in place, and made sure it burned away.

The Serpent writhed and screamed as the flames consumed it, and tore through it's soul. It took nearly a full minute but the flames of the demon soon erupted as it's spirit burned away. As the demon died, the Fire Sages were freed of it's manipulations, and found control of their bodies returned to them.

"Are you alright? I hope I didn't hurt you." The Fire Sage that had been fighting Katara offered to her.

She gaze the man a smile and shook her head, showing that she wasn't hurt.

As the Fire Sage's recovered, Katara and Zuko turned their attention to the Two-Tailed Cat which was already reverting back into Yugito. As her shape returned to her, Yugito collapsed to the ground. Thoroughly exhausted.

Katara and Zuko ran to her side to make sure she was alright. For the moment at least, it seemed like the darkness in the capitol had been defeated.

-Back in the Earth Kingdom-

A stream of Riley clones ran down the remaining Lava demons as the real Riley made her way towards a major event that was happening.

Magic was pouring outward, and a red and blue aura filled the sky. The red aura was spreading and as she closed in on it's source, she got a good look at what was happening.

Aang had Ozai constrained and had placed his hands upon him. Their magics were interacting in an intimate fashion, and it seemed like Ozai's magic was overpowering Aang's. Riley moved forward to separate the two, but an explosion of like momentarily halted her, as Aang's power surged forward and threw back Ozai's. Riley watched with keen interest as the process ended and the colors faded. When they did, Ozai's body appeared stripped of magic.

"Holy hell… what the fuck did he learn with that turtle?" Kurama wondered.

"Fuck if I know." Riley noted as she leaped over to the boy, and knelt next to Ozai.

Steam could be seen rising off of him and he was gasping quietly.

Aang was staring down at him, concern and sorrow filling his gaze.

"The dark energy he took from Ursa is poisoning his body." Riley noted as she stared down at him, a cruel smile touching at her face.

"Can you do something about it? I know you hate him for what he's done but…" Aang began, but Riley held up a hand to silence him.

"Don't worry… I'll keep him alive. This isn't how he's going to meet his end." Riley responded, smiling down at him as she placed a hand on his body and began to draw out Ursa's magic, keeping it separate from her own, as she intended to return it to her daughter.

While Aang didn't seem overly comforted by the look on Riley's face, he did breathe a sigh of relief.

"Good job Aang. You did well." Riley offered to him, giving him a genuine smile which he returned.

Not long afterwards, the two were joined by the others. Gaia and Hakoda showed that they had found the Catalyst which they intended to return to Ursa. Now it was just time to head to the Fire Capitol and make sure everything there had gone smoothly.

They did just that, tying up a defeated and exhausted Ozai and made it to the burned ruins of the Fire Capitol.

Riley and Gaia spent some time standing over Yugito who was worn out and simply laying on her back staring up at the blue sky.

Hakoda returned the Catalyst to Ursa, who intended to find a nice safe place to seal it away for a while.

With the Fire Lord in chains, and Zuko ready and willing to succeed him, the Fire Sage's were more than eager to see the tyrannical despot dethroned and someone who wasn't gonna let a demon possess them, on the throne.

A few short days later, Zuko had his coronation and was made the new Fire Lord.

Not long after the coronation, Riley, Gaia, and Yugito decided that it was time for them to depart.

"You're leaving?" Katara asked.

"We've got lives we need to return to. Jobs that need fulfilling. You no longer need our help." Gaia responded.

"Azula's decided she's going with us. Wants a fresh start away form all of this. I'm assuming you two are both gonna stay for a while?" Riley addressed Toph and Ursa.

"Yeah, I can't let these dopes out of my sight for too long or they'll get into trouble." Toph replied with a smile, earning playful banter from her friends.

"Yes. I'll remain to help Zuko and Toph with understanding their demonic natures. I also wish to help rebuild this world. If it hadn't been for me, Ozai wouldn't have had the chance to ruin things as much as he did, I think I need to stay and help make things right." Ursa offered her own answer, earning a nod of acceptance from Riley.

"I checked, and it'll be about sixty-eight years before you see us again." Riley offered, having exited the pocket dimension to see what year it was in the outside world.

"Wow… that means some of us may not get to see you again." Katara noted sadly.

"It was an honor to know you Katara. It doesn't matter if we never meet again, we'll carry our memories of each other with us for as long as we live." Riley offered, earning a tearful smile from the girl. A moment later she approached Riley and offered her a hug, which Riley returned. Sokka than called out for a group hug, which everyone save for Zuko and Gaia partook in willingly. The latter two were pulled into the hug by Ursa and Riley respectively.

As the group shared more goodbyes, Gaia took a moment to speak with Toph. "Make sure to practice learning to control your Wind Element. When we meet again, I hope you'll be ready to develop that Magnet release bending style with me." Gaia offered to her, earning a bright smile from the girl.

"Don't worry about it, by the time you show up, I'll have already mastered Airbending, and I'll even have perfect Metalbending too! You just watch!" Toph responded boisterously.

"I look forward to seeing it." Gaia said to her with a smile.

"I know we didn't get a lot time to know each other, but I wanna thank you for all your help." Zuko offered to Yugito. The woman who was apparently his grandmother, along with Riley.

"No need to thank me. I was happy to help. You what you can for this place alright? I wont be easy, but I believe in you. I know you can do it." Yugito said to him, earning a nod and a smile from the new Fire Lord.

"You take care of your sister and son while we're gone." Riley said to Ursa.

"I will, mother. I waited so long to finally find you. Some years I began to lose hope. Sixty-eight years… seems like a blink of an eye to me. I'll see you again soon." Ursa responded, giving Riley a hug as she did.

Not long after, Riley, Gaia, and Yugito began to head out, going to meet with Azula who was waiting nearby. Azula wasn't really one for goodbyes, and didn't feel it overly necessary except to say goodbye to her only two friends. Mai and Ty Lee. She didn't expect to see them again, but she was committed to the idea of a fresh start with her son.

Before they fully departed, Riley turned back and returned to Aang, offering him a scroll.

"What's this?" He asked.

"When I'm gone, read it. I have one final lesson for you. It's not going to be an easy one Aang, you're a kind young man, with a gentle soul. But you have to learn it. The world is a dangerous place and as the Bridge between the physical and spiritual planes, the chances are good you'll encounter other demons in the future. So… read the scroll… reflect on my lesson. Know that despite it, I think you're a good person, and I'm happy to have known you. If we don't meet again, than let us part as friends." Riley said to the boy.

"We will meet again. Some friendships, transcend lifetimes." Aang replied with a smile.

Riley seemed thoughtful for a moment before letting out a chuckle and nodding. She turned and headed out to the others. They continued on to meet with Azula and depart this place for good.

Zuko had been standing near to Aang and had heard what Riley had said to him. Remembering her earlier words to him, he approached the boy. "What's the scroll say?" Zuko asked.

Everyone turned their attention to him, as his eyes fell to the scroll.

Slowly he opened it and began to read.

"Dear Aang,

I know this will be hard on you, but I have one final lesson to teach you. Never trust a demon, because they will always win in the end. If you think the deal you made will benefit you more, you're wrong, and that's what the demon wants you to think. I made a promise that I wouldn't kill Ozai, that I'd let you be the one to beat him and save the world. You did that, and now the world has a chance at recovering. I kept my promise, and now I've taken my revenge. The man in the cell, that you think is Ozai is little more than a clone. It'll wither and die over the next few months. Anyone who sees it will simply think the Fire Lord died of sickness. Ozai is with me, in a hell of my own making. For what he's done to my family, he'll suffer for the rest of miserable life, and long afterwards. Never trust my kind, Aang. Not entirely. Demons are evil, and if it ever appears like we're doing something for the good of others, it's because we get something of greater value out of it. I am a demon, Ursa is a demon, demons are evil creatures. Both of us will do what needs to be done to fulfill our goals. I hope Ursa will be kind enough to express this lesson to you in the future, but I didn't want to take the chance that she wouldn't. This is my final lesson to you Aang, and I hope that it keeps you alive long enough for you to die an old man, in your bed, surrounded by family and friends. Don't make deals with demons Aang, and never accept their word as truth. Their is always a deeper meaning. Goodbye my friend, know that my thoughts are with you, and I look forward to seeing the world you build.

Your friend, Riley.

P.S. If you and Katara get together, you best make sure you guys got some kids for me to tease when I come back!"

Aang stood in silence for a several long moments before offering a solemn nod. A small smile touched at his lips at the end and he turned his gaze to Ursa who nodded as well.

"Come on guys, we've got a lot of work to do." Zuko offered, getting everyone moving and more focused on something other than what Ozai could possibly be going through right now.

Speaking of which

-Kamui-

Deep within Riley's pocket dimension, Skorge stood over the chained form of the fallen Fire Lord. Hooks dug deep into Ozai's flesh, pulling in different directions as Skorge let out a menacing chuckle.

The man would be here for a long time before he died, and when he did, his soul would be kept in this hell, forever. There weren't many souls that Riley kept, but Ozai's would be one of them. For all that he had done, he belonged to the demoness now.

-To Be Continued-

FUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCKKKKKKKK! Done! It's Done! Avatar is Done! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! Sorry again that this took so long, but I told myself I wasn't doing one more chapter, I was ready to keep advancing so I had to get the rest of the Last Airbender stuff done this chapter. As hinted by the Time Frame, I will be doing a Legend of Korra crossover in the future, but it wont be immediately next. I have other major plans for next. Stay tuned and again, sorry for the ass numbing wait. Ja Ne!