Chapter 13: the final battle part - 2
"NOOOOOOOOOOO" Zuko screeched as his flaming breath burned the skin off of Kullo's arm. He didn't wait a second to even see if she stayed down, Zuko launched himself to the overside of the river and crashed near Azula. He had no idea what to do so he smashed some fire onto her neck to try and cauterize it, he managed to stop the bleeding but Azula was still unconscious.
Zuko tried to check if she would survive but he heard the sound of rushing water coming from behind him. Zuko leaped over Azula to protect her from the water but it dispersed and collapsed before it reached them. Zuko looked back and saw Suki flung her fan and hit Kullo's neck, before leaping onto her and engaging her in battle.
Zuko lifted Azula up, she was only making gagging noises and he was still terrified that she might not make it. He ran her towards the way Kullo and him got in but looked back towards a struggling Suki, constantly having to immobilize the arm to prevent her from waterbending.
Zuko considered just running off to get Azula out of trouble, but some more moaning from her convinced him he had enough time to save Suki. Zuko ran back over and launched himself back over the river, just before Kullo could strike Suki down he landed on her and stopped her from killing her.
Zuko covered her with more fire than he's ever created without a comet in the sky. She was bending whatever water she could bring over but was being pushed and held against the floor by Zuko's fire. Zuko had her at his mercy…but then there was a thud. Azula fell to the ground, twitching on the other side of the cave, it was so quiet to the others but to Zuko it echoed louder than he could handle.
Kullo took advantage of this and slashed across Zuko's feet knocking him to the ground. Kullo got a hold of him again, not with bloodbending but by prying the water out of his skin and body. Before Zuko could pass out from dehydration Suki sliced the side of Kullo's arm open with her fan giving Zuko the chance he needed. Suki grabbed kullo's lower jaw as Zuko threw his flaming fist as she prepared to strike with water….Zuko hit first.
The moment his fist touched her mouth he firebended into her digestive system before it burned through the rest of her body. Once Zuko had had enough revenge, whatever was left of Kullo's body collapsed onto the ground just missing the river.
But this was no time to celebrate. Zuko got across the river and ran straight to Azula, she was rather pale and not breathing. Zuko tried to do compressions but they had no effect. Suki swam over and joined them, she stared at Azula with sympathy in her eyes.
Zuko failed. He cradled his younger sister in his arms, why would this happen after everything they went through to get where they were. He felt something on the back of his hand.
He looked to see Azula had reached up and touched the back as her eyes fluttered open for a moment. Zuko was so grateful as he hugged her, he lifted her up and they made their way out of the cave until they reached the sweet embrace of sunlight upon a war torn valley. After absorbing in the devastation of the last few days they made their way back to the capital city.
Zuko sat in recovery with Azula. Zuko hated seeing her in this condition, she had her neck bandaged up, but at least she was stable and getting some well needed rest.
Suki stopped in every few hours or so between helping with the cleanup outside, it was so jarring yet so touching that Suki seemed to care so much about her well being
Zuko almost succumbed to his sleepy eyes when he heard heavy breathing. Axula was awake. She looked hazy and disoriented but they locked glances for a moment before Zuko jumped out of his seat and hugged his sister.
She eventually pushed away to look at him "are you alright?"
He nodded "...You sacrificed yourself, for me"
Azula didn't respond but smiled as they hugged again.
The door creaked open as Suki entered, for the first time during this entire disaster they both seemed happy to see each other. "I brought you some tea-"
Azula leaped out and held her by the shoulders "I'M SORRY I PUT YOU IN PRISON" she said out of nowhere "I'm sorry for the war, and conquering Ba Sing Se, and singling you out, and tormenting your boyfriend, and-"
"Azula, Azula, if you shut up I might forgive you" Suki sarcastically said yet obviously appreciated it "wish…I kinda wish she heard that" Suki mumbled
Azula was finally happy again after everything that happened, but it all drained away when she remembered what happened to Ty Lee. She tried to keep it together as tears formed and emotions were raised. But she eventually broke down as Zuko and Suki embraced her and they consoled each other on the loss of their friend.
The next day Zuko returned to the city and helped the army and civilian volunteers with what felt like would be years of manual labor. He already sent out word requesting waterbenders and earthbenders but quite a lot of people wanted this to be done as soon as possible. He was with dozens of other digging trenches to drain the water coming off the melting ice towards the ocean.
He spotted Azula helping with melting the ice. Despite her doctor's advice and his pleas she didn't want to be in the hospital any longer than she deemed acceptable.
Aang, Sokka, and Toph arrived….Finally. They were pretty disappointed they missed all the action, everyone blaming themselves over Ty Lee. they didn't however waste a moment before helping clean up the destruction frozen over the city and the damage to the environment around it.
Even after their arrival it took all of them an hour or so to finally meet up, there was still so much to do and still so many people to get to safety.
"I'm so glad you're alright" Sokka said hugging Suki
"Zuko how are you doing" Aang asked seeing the emotional distress
"...better than most" Zuko simply said
"Azula… doctors told us what happened, you ok" Aang said with genuine concern
"Yeah, better than you'd think…I'm really sorry about-"
"It's fine" Aang said not really wanting to do this with everything they needed to get back to "What about Katara"
"She's fine, both of them are at the hospital" Azula assured
"Both of them?"
"Katara and your baby" Suki specified
"...WE HAVE A BABY?" Aang said speechless and terrified
Azula, Zuko, and Suki starred in terror after realizing what just happened. Then ran for the hills to avoid the repercussions.
After a lot of manual labor and shaking hands Zuko met up with Suki and they finally left the digging team. He needed to hury, there were many reporters and scribes he needed to explain the last few days too.
He noticed the New Ozai members being boarded on a ship due course to the boiling rock, with Niuan on it. Zuko and Niuan exchanged glances and the Fire Lord saluted him as he was boarding, Niuan nodded back letting go of his vendetta before sailing off.
They almost made it to the tavern only to spot Azula sitting on the pier, Suki almost went to talk to her but Zuko stopped her, gestured asking for one minute, and walked down the docks himself.
"Hey"
"Hi"
"You feeling better?" Zuko asked
"Physically yes" Azula said, trying to phrase her thoughts correctly
There was silence as they enjoyed the sunset orange sky returning to the Fire Nation after two days of storms clouds "you excited?"
"About what?" Azula asked unsure of what they could possibly be excited for
"Coming home" Zuko assured "now that our little crisis is over your evaluation can happen, and there's no way you won't pass" he praised
"Thank you, I…none of this would have happened if not for you, you saved me brother" she said as he nodded with a smile "trust me none of this was easy"
"Well we're the Fire Lord and the Fire Princess, we could've handled anything"
Azula sighed "...I...I don't think I should be called that"
Zuko raised his eyebrow in confusion, but he had bigger things he wanted to talk about "Are you excited to finally go home?"
Azula sat there trying to chose her words sparingly "I can't" Azula said
"What do you mean?" Zuko said confused
"I…I can't be 'Princess Azula' anymore" she said shocking Zuko "after everything I did, I just don't deserve it anymore"
"Woah woah Azula, don't talk like that" Zuko tried to slow things down but Azula removed her headpiece and let her hair down anyway "we just fixed everything, you can't just not come home"
"I'll still be around, I'll still be close by so we can see each other whenever either of us need….but I just won't get the royal treatment anymore" she said handing him her headpiece as he hesitantly accepted
"Are you sure?"
"...yes, besides what does the Fire Nation need a princess for when it has someone as great as you leading it" she praised as they shared a smile "I'm still your sister, that's more than good enough for me"
And that's mostly it, the threat is gone. Please return in three days for the final chapter, Thank you for reading and Please Review!