A/N: Happy New Year to you all! I'm glad I managed to get this out as I've been in the middle of a lot of birthday events and organising the year going forward, but I hope you enjoy and I'm wishing you all the best of luck with the year ahead!

Word Count: 3664

25. Duelling a Coward (Ozai the Low Life)

Percy uncapped his sword as soon as he heard the lightning. He gave himself one last moment to look back at the princess, trapped against the wall with a broken sadness in her eyes, before he forged on towards the sounds of fighting ahead.

The kids had managed to push most of the way through, but a few Dai Li remained. The group looked demoralised. Echoes of the electric bolt reverberated around them all.

The eclipse has very much ended.

The demigod pulled some of the minimal water around him and pushed it out, exploding the agents away from the kids. They all turned to him in resignation.

"Did you find out about Suki?" Sokka asked, and all Percy could do was shake his head.

It wasn't that he'd completely forgotten about her, but he just couldn't bring himself to talk about anything else with the princess.

"Azula was ready for us. She had back up plans for our every move." Toph said.

"And now it's too late." Sokka looked down.

"Maybe it's not." Aang said. "I could still face him, even with the eclipse over."

At the mention of the Fire Lord, Percy's blood began to boil more. Toph looked at him worriedly as the rest of them felt the ground shift slightly. He took a deep breath in. The deliberating continued, albeit warily.

"No. I don't think that's a good idea."

"No, it isn't." Percy growled.

He saw the bronze light bouncing from his sword, eerily flickering off his surroundings. The demigod could only imagine what his face looked like based on the reactions of those around him. All of them, except for Toph, seemed to shift a little away from him. He didn't particularly care.

"You all need to get out of here, because I'm going to face him."

The anger in his voice left the group stunned for a few seconds.

"What? No, Percy, everyone is counting on me. Let me help you." The Avatar requested.

"He knows you're coming." Toph said to them both. "We need to go out and help our friends."

"I know." Percy interrupted whatever Aang was going to say. "So I'll be a distraction, and hopefully I can get the chance to end him."

The demigod looked on towards the room in front of him.

"Percy, you can't- You can't kill." Aang exclaimed.

"No, Aang. You can't. I can. And he deserves it." His tone darkening.

The rest of them seemed to realise that they weren't going to be able to talk him out of it, although Katara was a little more hesitant to leave him behind.

"You all go back and find Appa. Get out and help the invasion forces retreat in case I don't get that opportunity. I'll make sure to keep their attention."

They all nodded and started running back through the tunnels behind Toph. Percy turned to where he knew Ozai was.

Not here. Not where I could blow everything up so easily, and not where I can't help them all get out in case I do.

"Ozai! You filth!" He bellowed down the hallway. "Let's see what you can do when you fight someone who actually wants to fight back!"

He stalked away, still seething. The demigod came upon Azula's room to see that she was free from the ice. He met her golden gaze again before continuing through without a word.

The boy followed the Fire Nation Royal Palace hallways and corridors, going up stairs and winding passageways towards the surface of the capital. Along the way he encountered firebenders and soldiers. He took out some of his anger on those with swords, disarming them easily with Riptide. The firebenders went down equally quickly, with every step giving him more access to water. Those benders who caught Percy in moments of anger at the thought of what Ozai did to Azula found out just how quick his blade sliced through their armour.

Up ahead, he saw some white light surrounding a big doorway. It was the first non-firelight he'd seen since delving into the tunnels of the volcano.

The throne room.

Percy burst through to see some of the invasion forces being attacked by firebenders on all sides. Right in the centre of which was Siosi and Hakoda. He leapt in the middle of them all and pushed water outwards, creating a wave that took all the firebenders around them.

'Dumbass! You got here!'

His ostrich horse sped over to him and nuzzled his shoulder. The cold, metal armour of little worry to the animal. The demigod petted her back affectionately, the distraction momentarily calming his anger.

"Percy?" Hakoda asked, as they collected themselves. "What happened with Aang and everyone?"

"He couldn't get to the Fire Lord in time. They were prepared." He replied, with a dispassionate rage just beneath his expression.

The mood of them all dropped.

"You guys have to get out of here." Percy continued.

"But we have taken the palace." The chief's second-in-command, Bato, argued.

The demigod was about to continue talking, when a soft whirring sound came from behind. It rose into the air, moving above them as they all started walking out of the palace.

They came out to see all the rest of their forces scattered along the royal promenade looking up at yet another reason to do what Percy said. Through the air, which swirled with stormy winds that matched the demigod's mood, came war balloons. They were followed by armoured airships that cast everything around them into shadows. The demigod turned to Hakoda resignedly.

"You need to get out of here, now." He told him.

The Water Tribesman nodded, before calling out orders to everyone. Their tanks began to trundle back into their arrowhead formation, but the demigod just kept his eyes up to the sky. The invasion troops started to push their way back through the firebenders that had rallied in a counter-offensive.

I need a distraction that will help them escape and get Ozai to face me.

"Siosi, I need you to help any of the injured troops get out. I'm going to cover their backs."

'I'm staying with you. I'll help them but I'm not leaving you behind.'

He smiled at his friend before nodding as she trotted off to help carry some of the non-fatally injured men.

Soldiers came out from between the capital buildings as Percy raised his arms. Water fell from the tempest above them and circled around him. He threw his arms forward and swathes of Fire Nation men were thrown back down the alleyways they'd come out of.

The demigod followed the formation of tanks out of the palace and through the streets closest to the centre. His eyes remained on the skies as they punched a hole through the Fire Nation defences that swarmed them. The lighter balloons were pulled around in the winds that seemed to be coalescing into something resembling a hurricane. Percy's anger hid the almost barely imperceptible tug in his gut.

From around the side of the volcano came a glinting of the very same gold and reddish armour that Afosiosi was wearing. Appa landed just in front of them with Sokka and Toph leaping off.

"You two, go help the troops retreat." Percy called out to them, receiving a focused nod from both the kids.

"They've got air power, but so do I." Aang said as he opened his glider, buffeted by the turbulent air. "I'm gonna do what I can to slow them down."

The demigod nodded to him.

"Appa, you and I can help too." Katara offered, leaping up onto the back of the sky bison.

Percy's eyes followed the two up into the sky, watching as they flew through the swirling winds of the storm that encompassed had the dormant volcano. They weren't as tormented by winds as the war balloons and airships were.

Is this storm my doing?

He shrugged and turned with his back to the troops. His eyes were trained on anyone who tried to outflank his retreating soldiers. His mind looked for Ozai.

The winds howled. Nearly drowning out noise of the surrounding battle.

Azula stood, statuesque, in the room Percy had left her in. Her shoulder the only thing burning through the numbness.

He'd rejected her. The very thing she'd been striving for, the thing that she'd allowed herself to be burned for, he'd never even questioned his dismissal of her. Not taking one moment to decide. Her offer was meaningless to him.

The princess wanted to be angry, but all she felt was hurt. And even though her mind was telling her he betrayed her, her heart felt the opposite.

The Dai Li soldiers remained completely encased in the ice, though the natural heat of the room was defrosting them fast enough. She only hoped they hadn't heard any of what happened, they certainly didn't see it facing the other way.

"Who said that?" Her father's scathing voice came from around the corner.

Azula winced away from it, though thankfully before he could see her. As fast as she could, she straightened her posture and tightened her face. Her hair remained unkempt, unable to contain it in time.

Ozai turned the corner, looking a lot less like the untouchable Fire Lord she knew. His hair was down too, his robes were scorched in some places, blackened in others.

"Who said that Azula?" He talked down to her.

The princess pushed all her strength in her voice to keep it from stuttering.

"The bender that I told you about in Ba Sing Se. He led the attack. He said it."

Ozai's balled his fists.

"First, your brother, now this."

His insidious aggression bounced off the walls and attacked her from every angle.

Azula's eyebrows furrowed, wondering what her brother had to do with the situation. As far as she knew, he hadn't been involved in much of her defensive plans.

"Oh, and we'll be talking about your lies about killing the Avatar later."

Her eyes widened and dropped to the floor, ashamedly.

Zuko told him?! Why would he tell him?

A sick feeling plummeted to the bottom of Azula's stomach as her eyes darted around the throne room.

Where's my brother?

"Now, that savage will pay for his words against me and our nation."

Her father stalked out of the room and the princess knew better than to dawdle behind him. She followed along as they both came upon the first soldiers. They were trapped in thin ice on each of the walls.

"Your failure to stop him will not go unpunished."

Ozai was looking down at the soldier, but Azula could tell he was talking directly to her. Her nails returned to their place, puncturing her palms. The Fire Lord lit a flame in his hand and walked past, leaving flickering shadows along the walls of those trapped in ice. Though, she felt her current predicament might be even colder.

Azula used the darkness to hide her wincing and paced slower behind him. Her father stepped over the bodies that cried out in pain, dismembered in the most efficient of ways. There weren't any fatal wounds, but they clearly left the soldiers unable to fight. She shivered thinking about the dark expression on Percy's face earlier and how it was probably all any of those soldiers saw before feeling the intense agony.

Too many things were running through her mind when they came upon the greyish-white air of the palace. It felt blinding to her, coming up from the bunker, and her other senses quickly became overwhelmed as well. Even from within the confines of the throne room, she was deafened by the berating winds outside.

Her father strode outside, and she followed hesitantly. There was a stark similarity between what she was looking at and what she saw below Ba Sing Se. Except this one was much larger.

Without the crystal catacombs to confine the battle, it seemed the hurricane had built itself completely around the Fire Nation capital. Weaker winds pulled in the balloons and airships from their attack on the invading troops towards the much stronger winds nearer the centre.

Within seconds Azula had to hold up her arms in front of her face against the skin-tearing weather. The storm pulled and ripped away at her royal posture. Her father stubbornly let the winds hit his figure as he stood in front of her.

Her eyes scanned what lay ahead of them. What wasn't obscured from her vision by her father followed the trail of destruction into the eye of the hurricane. Even though she knew who was going to be at the centre, it still sent tingles through her to see him completely and utterly in control of the fight. He was helping their escape, but she figured if he'd had nothing to lose, there wouldn't be any need to.

"Cowardly, and in retreat."

She heard her father's scathing insult before it was snatched by the winds. Azula crinkled her eyebrows.

"He'll learn his place." The Fire Lord continued.

Then Percy's eyes turned to them. What previously were reflections of the glistening lake water were a mirror of the storm surrounding them. They weren't looking at Azula, but she felt their vicious, cold-blooded anger. The princess thought she might've been going crazy because she felt the ground shudder beneath her feet.

The storm seemed to start to drag them in. Azula's hands grasped at a column to keep herself upright. Her father didn't seem to want to use anything to support himself. Ozai lost his footing as the wind picked up.

She wanted desperately to let go and allow herself to be sucked into the swirling vortex, landing at the centre of it, but her father's voice in her head kept her hands stuck where they were. They clamped down almost as hard as when she was having an attack, her nails not doing quite so much damage to the stone and ceramic as it did to her palm.

The princess stole a look back at Percy. His visage a dichotomy to what she saw on the beach. She wanted nothing more than to go back there and see the way his body reflected that serenity. All that power and depth, just relaxing and letting her float wherever.

That boy was lost to her.

Her father managed to regain his footing as he stood up in between her and Percy. Her storm-bringer disappearing behind the royal garments of the Fire Lord.

His troops had almost made it to the edge of the crater within the volcano when Percy saw Ozai. He figured Azula would be there as well, but he couldn't take his eyes off the man that made him feel sick. It was a feeling he was sadly familiar with, and yet it never changed or lessened.

His sharp features and power-hungry, golden eyes were a painful reminder of his past. The demigod's anger only grew. He felt the lava bubbling up from underneath him, so he focused on the sky. When his eyes came back down, he saw the small flames attempting to be ignited by the Fire Lord. Internally, he rolled his eyes.

Well, this is what I'm best at.

The sea-green in his eyes lit up, challenging any further attempts of Ozai to start his fire. Using the voice he had taunted titans and gods with, he bellowed at the Fire Lord.

"OZAI! ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP HIDING BEHIND YOUR ARMY?"

Even with the thunderous winds, his voice caried clearly to all those surrounding him. Percy saw the anger rise in the man facing him and could only find himself to be mildly happy in his suffering.

He saw that his own army was a sufficient distance away from him, with Siosi returning to his side, so the demigod pulled water into a long spire. Grasping it like the 20-foot-long javelin it had turned into, he launched it up towards the most advanced airship. The metal structure was punctured fatally and began its fast descent towards the ground. It exploded as it landed, silhouetting both him and his ostrich horse against the backdrop of the storm.

From his distance away, Percy thought he saw Ozai signal something towards some of the soldiers around him. It took a minute or so, but the rest of the airships turned so their trajectories were aimed at the Son of Poseidon. It only left the lighter balloons to chase the retreating soldiers.

Well, that's their attention then.

His eyes flickered over to Azula. Her wide eyes laying bare her emotional turmoil of the situation she'd found herself in. Percy hated that she continued to stand behind the man in between them, but equally, he hated that he knew why she still felt the need to. It wasn't dissimilar to how the demigod, no matter how hard he tried not to, wanted so desperately to impress and please his own father. Nor how much it took for his mother to end her own situation.

Percy's attention was drawn back to the Fire Lord. He'd finally managed to light a fire in his palm which burned with none of the beauty of the blue flames Azula had. It sucked in the warmth and life that any fire he'd been around had, leaving only the unfeeling, all-consuming heat of the man using it.

Percy felt his ostrich horse move closer to him after presumably helping most of the injured soldiers.

"Siosi, step back."

'Are you sure? I'm with you-'

"No, I'm sure. You're not getting hurt for me. I'll meet you in between here and the trail back down the volcano. Just stay out of sight."

'Alright, whatever you say.'

Percy appreciated how she didn't argue as he kept his focus on the man in front of them.

With the storm remaining turbulent above their heads, the airships had to fly in lower towards the ground. As they'd lost that aerial advantage, they all appeared to be keeping a bigger distance to him than their fallen ship had. Though Percy knew that wouldn't protect them.

The smaller ships seemed to have managed to pinball their way around the worst parts of his hurricane and were making their way towards the rest of the Gaang, but the demigod trusted both Aang and Katara's abilities in taking them down.

"So, the savage thought he could decide to challenge me?!" The Fire Lord bellowed.

Percy almost scoffed. If he was less angry, he probably would've. While he heard Ozai, he was pretty sure the winds helped him do so.

"You're just a scared child who could barely stand against my daughter! What hope do you have against me?!"

The son of Poseidon could tell he pushed a little more power in his firebending because a decent flame burnt on his fingers. Percy's own words rose out of him, almost a muscle memory. He hated titles, and boasting, but he always was satisfied when he saw the effect his words had on those despicable enough to hear them.

"I am Perseus Jackson!"

He raised his arms in the air as a smaller version of his hurricane took him off his feet. Not as powerful as his Achilles-cursed version, but definitely enough for the mortal in front of him. Ozai was no Hyperion.

"I'm the son of the sea, shaker of the earth! I've faced stronger spirits than you, doused brighter flames than you could possibly imagine! I am the bane of all those who've faced me! And all those who've met my blade have failed!"

Percy pulled Riptide from his pocket and drew it within the storm. His glowing bronze blade appearing out of nowhere to those that watched. With it raised, it gave an eerie golden-brown hue to his storm.

He swung his blade a little before settling in his stance, one that felt like second nature to him. The tip pointed right at Ozai's neck.

"And you are next!"

He could see the rage behind Ozai's eyes as a blast of fire came towards him. His blade scythed through it, extinguishing what wasn't pulled apart by the storm. All the Fire Nation troops around them stood stationary as Percy's personal storm advanced on their ruler.

The Fire Lord leapt up into the air and cut down with his leg towards him but Percy merely pulled a wall of water in between them and kept advancing. Riptide moved through the air almost too fast for Ozai. He barely managed to duck his head out of the way of the strike.

A quick punch at Percy's chest was doused of any fire and forced the Fire Lord to back even further away from the demigod. Swivelling in a practiced dance, the demigod swung his sword around his back to evade more slow jabs from his opponent before leaping and striking at Ozai's shoulder. The celestial bronze dug into the metal before he felt it sink into the skin. He ripped it out towards the side as their leader staggered backwards.

The Fire Lord blasted a stream of fire into the ground to launch himself into the air and partially away from him. Percy's eyes followed as his bloody hand moved away from his shoulder, the very same shoulder Azula had been wincing over minutes earlier. He enjoyed the shock in those golden eyes.

"See, that's the thing, Ozai." He said, with a palpable distaste. "You are the child. The coward who holds onto everything with fear. A disgusting perversion of humanity that was given too much power over others. I've met too many like you to count, and every one of them deserved a fate worse than they got."

He raised Riptide to be pointed straight at him.

"But let it be known that my sympathies will never be given to you. And you will get what is coming."

A/N: There is another invasion chapter. This one is (similar to the first two) very much a two part-er. I hope you enjoyed! I'm not 100% sold on the speech/Percy's indictment of Ozai, so I might go back and touch it up a little if anything comes to me. There is a lot of more subtle things in this chapter though that I hope you liked as well as finally getting our first Ozai-Percy confrontation. As always, let me know what you thought! You reviews are always appreciated.

Now for some replies:

Backpack Bandit: You could very well be right. I definitely won't spoil what's going to happen, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless!

ant-death: Yeah, I get that. Ao3 is great, although I'm not as used to it as the others and you seem to get less feedback and reviews over there generally, but it'll continue to be updated.
In regards to the story, I think the general rule of thumb I'm using for this story is if you didn't see it happen/I didn't write it, it happened the same or as near as makes no difference as it does in canon. And of the confrontation, none really. Azula is on the brink but still able to plan almost perfectly for everything she comes up against, which is important to her character for me. Although she couldn't plan for Zuko.

Guest(1)/HellRaiderS/Death Fury/LaMan99/Jaydog123/Sons of Death: You're very welcome and thank you! I hope you all continue to enjoy it!

Callum Runchman: I'm glad you liked it, although I think it's shorter because a lot happens very quickly, and if I were to combine a few chapters they'd start to become overlong. She is indeed, and if you noticed in this chapter, she's starting to see more and more of her father's true character. Her descriptions of him begin to degrade from his perfection in her eyes. It's quite funny you bring up Sith Lords as I've been delving into deep Star Wars canon recently, and he very much reminds me of Siths and their code. I hope you enjoyed this one!

Artorias78: It is indeed a shame that she is still with the pointy bearded psychopath. I do hope she can get away from him soon... Prolonging my readers' suffering? Who would do that? That's awesome and thank you! I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Xedornox: No problem! I'm glad you liked it! He really wouldn't, but I just love writing and seeing Annabeth as his anchor. Even without her, her memory still helps him and I think that's just about the most Percabeth thing there is.
As you can see by this chapter, restraint wasn't truly possible, more of a redirection of anger in this case. Katara did indeed mention that and Toph has made comments about Percy's earthshaking being unlike any kind of earthbending she does. There has been a moment with Avatar State Aang and Percy, but I guess you'll have to wait and see for more :) I hope you continue to enjoy it!

Lordgoth: Well, I hope you like what I do with my story. I understand you want for that, and I won't spoil anything about the story, but the ending doesn't really rule out anything.

Jctherebel: I'm glad you liked it, and they really don't. There are few people that do though, even in Percy's universe. He rarely flexes all of his muscles and is pushed. It's like, the battle of Manhattan and Tartarus, and that's pretty much it.

CRUDEN: It sure does seem like it, I hope you like it!

fallyear1: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it! I get that, the catharsis that comes from Ozai's potentially imminent downfall is a very large incentive for me writing and I'm assuming you all reading. My main thing with that is, I don't want it to be done in a manner that decreases the impact for any of the characters. So I hope you enjoy what I do with them all!

Guest(2): Absolutely! I hear that feedback. I think these few chapters read much better as a whole rather than as shorter chapters, but for both my engagement sake and for people's attention span's sake (as I've looked into the available data from these books), it works better like this. Not too much more than 6-7k words in each. If I were to structure these chapters in the manner I'd like, that'd be looking at much more like 9-10k words. But I appreciate that constructive criticism and will definitely review the flow of these chapters.

Deeznuggets2121: I'm glad you liked it! It was definitely a line where I was slightly proud of myself for it haha. I hope you continue liking the story!

screwthefates1806: That's awesome! I hope my writing is good enough that you continue to be excited by my updates!

Guest(3): I unfortunately don't speak Spanish, but if what google translate is telling me that says, well then it's awesome you blew through my book so quickly! I hope I can provide you with much more!

Crazzytony: I'm glad you liked it, we definitely see more of that rage in this chapter as well! I do hope you enjoy what I do with this book! But I refuse to spoil any of my plans for the future with it haha

Aurumeda: I appreciate that! I do indeed have onedrive saves of it now, so that's all good, and a few backups on google drive. It was just very unfortunate timing that I did a lot of writing in a short-ish space of time and that was when my laptop decided to off itself.
For Annabeth, I agree. This was really meant to be her passing. The previous Annabeth chapter was the romantic gut-punch, I guess you'd call it. This gave much more finality to her not being there for him as a friend. There have been moments he's thought about them, namely on the Serpent's Pass, but you're right, I haven't mentioned them much. For one, I think people generally overstate how close they are as a group. I'd love for them all to be best friends, but they are never really shown to be. A sequel from the perspective of his universe sounds interesting, but not for me as a writer really. I would need a lot more of a direction than that to write something about it, but it's a fun idea! Also, I really don't care about punctuation unless it's within my own writing haha

DragonHighElder: I truly appreciate that! I'm glad you're enjoying everything! I did a lot of reading/watching in regards to both series to "research" before I started writing, I just hope it's paid off.
In regards, to love interests, I won't give you any indication of what's going to happen. The description of this story really is just because I want the two main characters to appear first, and an Azula redemption (or potential for one) is the main reason why this story exists. I do appreciate your opinion on that though, and you not wanting to tell me what to do with my story. Don't worry, there will definitely be more Percy and Ty lee interacting. I enjoy writing them a lot. Thank you and I hope to get through everything too! I hope you enjoy what I write for it!

Trol la la lol: Well... it wasn't bare hands, but you may have gotten something even a little bit close to Tartarus mode in this. I do hope you enjoy what I do with this story as it continues!

Thank you so much to you all for replying! I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much! Till next time!

-PS