Gladiator

by Seyary-Minamoto

In a world where the Avatar wasn't found, the Fire Nation took over two nations and they strive to overcome the last one. Water Tribe warrior Sokka seeks to fight for his people's rights, but he's captured by his enemies. His life is no longer in his hands as he fights as a Gladiator, and his fate will eventually depend on the Fire Nation Princess, who needs him for her own ends...

375. Chapter 375: The Final Battle 5

The Final Battle of the Hundred Year War

5

"STOP!"

Ozai had not expected to hear her voice, not only now, but never again.

The effect of her cry was immediate. Ozai's shock and confusion was mirrored by his son's: Zuko, so focused and ready to fight, suddenly turned his head, careless to leave himself open to any attacks… for he might just have assumed, rightfully, that none would come.

The cold determination, the dead-set cruelty in Ozai's eyes changed when his gaze fell upon the figure of his daughter anew: his wounded daughter, whose pristine armor had been damaged yet again, whose hair was in utter disarray, whose flushed face betrayed she had shed tears not long ago…

Who was accompanied by a man in a dark blue armor, with a glare more charged with coldness and mercilessness than Ozai's own.

Had the situation been any different, Azula might just have been pleased to realize her command had been followed by everyone within the Throne Room: be it her father, be it the Fire Nation's forces, be it Sokka's allies… nobody moved, nobody spoke, nobody did anything while she and Sokka crossed the curtain, chests heaving, hearts pounding dangerously fast as they faced their greatest challenge… this time, side by side. His hand had slipped from her waist… but it held hers now, instead. A display of trust, an offer of support… proof that nothing had shaken his faith in her, despite her very worst actions.

Zuko's group stepped aside, no doubt shaken up to see their leader had seemingly achieved his goal: Katara's jaw dropped at the sight of her brother, the wounds upon him… the ones upon his estranged lover, too. It was evident that their reunion hadn't come at no cost. Only one weapon was bound to cut into armor as to leave the clean cracks and gashes upon the golden metal…

They had fought each other. And somehow, they were standing here now, in the aftermath of the battle.

Aang shuddered. His hand reached over to Zuko's shoulder, and the Exiled Prince watched in utter shock and amazement as his sister stepped forward, trembling, her stance imperfect: she was wounded. She had taken damage, she…

"Azula…" he dared say: her eyes shifted towards him only for a moment, as though to stash away in her mind that he had spoken to her, but she didn't dare respond. Instead, she progressed, hand tugging out of Sokka's grip begrudgingly, until she stepped past her brother… until she stood right in front of her father.

Ozai couldn't seem to utter a word. The conflicted feelings in his heart appeared to have left him at a standstill… but the sight of that man certainly threatened to push him over to full-blown disapproval and displeasure: the Gladiator stepped forth anyway, unafraid, unashamed, serving as yet another body that blocked Zuko away from Ozai. Out of sheer sense, it seemed, he hadn't taken Azula's hand again… but he would soon enough. As soon as this encounter with him was over, he…

Ozai snarled. The many dark feelings he had thought he had dismissed resurged in his heart.

"I see," Ozai's voice, charged with vitriol, accompanied the new glare he presented his daughter with: one that Zuko couldn't help but recognize as emotional, opposite to the one he had offered him. "I should not be surprised again that… that you lied to me. That you would claim you'd stand by the Fire Nation but turn on that promise the minute you saw him again…"

"I did no such thing," Azula said, her voice trembling. "I… I am only alive now because he willed it."

Ozai's snarl worsened: curses, suddenly it would have been better if she had just betrayed him. If she had just chosen the Gladiator, for otherwise…

"I was ready to die for the Fire Nation! As I have been, for as long as you've raised me," Azula said, chest heaving. "But… the enemy spared me. The battle is over beyond these walls, Father. It's done. There's nothing to fight for anymore. They've won."

"No!" Ozai shouted. "The Hundred Year War is not over, and it won't be over until I deem that it is! Until either of you bleed me dry, I will continue to stand for the Fire Nation, as I have meant to for as long as I've worn this crown! Surrender… it has never been an option for me, no more than it was for you!"

"Defeat sounds like a better idea, then?" Azula asked, frowning. "Is that what you're hoping for instead?"

"If I die… I will ensure to bring as many of them with me as I can," Ozai growled.

"Including me?"

He shuddered. The very notion sickened him. He truly had not been ready to see her die… much less was he ready to make a choice that would result, unequivocally, in her death.

"You're not as foolish as to let that girl get into your head at this stage, are you?" Shaofeng, behind him, spoke up. Azula glared at him, and she felt Sokka, beside her, thrum with need to reach for his weapons to cut the man down for once and for all. "She has betrayed you! She stands there with your worst enemy right now! She's one of them, what is the point of…?"

"The point, you wretched imbecile, is to save my father's life!"

Ozai's rising anger suddenly froze. Every soldier, tense and ready to act upon the Princess's betrayal, appeared perplexed by the notion… just as the other members of the Gladiator Army were.

"Azula, what…?!" Zuko gasped. Azula shot him a glare over her shoulder, as good as to silence him again, before turning towards her father.

"I could've just let this run its course, if I were the opportunistic fiend your wretched guard thinks I am," Azula said to Ozai. "I could've just… jumped in, joined Zuko, sought to defeat you myself. And… and you've done more than enough heinous, harmful things to me that I should wish to do that to you indeed. I should! And yet…"

"And yet… you'd stay your hand?" Ozai frowned, distrustful. "You want me… saved?"

"You wanted the same for me, didn't you?" Azula asked, glaring at him reproachfully. "You told me… that if he spared me, it would suffice for you. You said it, and now he has! Would you have rather not known he'd done it? Would you have preferred not to ever be confronted by the reality that I… t-that I was allowed to live for at least a few more hours, however long it might be, instead of dying in battle against him?"

Ozai gritted his teeth: the affronted, confused look on the Gladiator's face spoke for itself. He didn't know Ozai had wanted Azula to survive their clash… he didn't know countless things. The man was entirely puzzled, and yet…

"And in having been spared… your first request to your savior, your granter of mercy, was… to come here?" Ozai asked, raising his eyebrows. "To… stop this battle? All of it… along with the acceptance of the Fire Nation's defeat?"

"What difference does it make, at this point?" Azula asked, looking at him helplessly. "The Fire Nation will have lost the war whether you and I live or die. You know that to be the truth. Their army has walked back everything our nation achieved in the war, and they would only continue onwards to destroy us, to erase the very existence of a Fire Nation from history, altogether… if only their leader weren't Sokka."

Ozai gritted his teeth: he glared at the Gladiator, who met his eyes too. The wrathful fury he could see in him no doubt outdid his own, even if Ozai didn't wish to admit it…

Sokka truthfully didn't realize the extent of his own affection towards Azula. He didn't quite know his love for her was quite so overpowering as to annul his every other impulse.

For if it weren't, he would have leapt to kill Ozai already.

Standing near him filled him with feelings as intense as the ones Azula had elicited in him before… but where he had been distraught, now he was vengeful, eager to see that man cut down, no matter if he was here to help Azula save him. No matter if he had agreed to do as she wished. Ozai deserved no leniency, no compassion… he wouldn't listen to reason, for he didn't want to. And yet Azula stood there, desperately hoping that her father would finally give up on his conquest and accept this loss. Even if it was a failed venture, in the end, Sokka would stand by her. His own feelings, his raging fury, would be stashed away for later, once Ozai inevitably disappointed Azula for the thousandth time.

"No doubt it's taking him every ounce of willpower not to overrule your wishes and enforce his own," Ozai said, turning his attention towards Azula anew. "You ask me to accept defeat… do tell, what exactly do you expect that will entail? Your Gladiator's forces will want us dead regardless of whatever he says now…"

"They will. And we still wouldn't have to go down in flames just because they do," Azula said, firmly. "We don't deserve anything less, you and I. The things we've done, the actions we've condoned, the worst of it…! Were I any common soldier in their ranks, I would undoubtedly resent my leadership if two wretches like us survived when so many people have died and been sacrificed over this nightmare of a war! But I'm not a common soldier… I'm Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. I always have been. And that means I get the chance to make… to make decisions. I've racked up terrible ones, one after the other, to my name… and for once, I know I'm making the right one instead. For the first time in… in over a year, I know I'm exactly where I need to be: standing between you and the Gladiator Army."

"Why?" Ozai said, his voice trembling. "Nobody… nobody asked you to stand there at all, why would you be certain that…?"

"Because it's where I want to be. Because this is what my true purpose was, all along," Azula snarled. "I understand their side… just as I understand yours. More than anything… I'm tired of this war. Of this world that has been out of balance for so damn long, and we only made it worse! And just as we did… balance fought back, as hard as it possibly could, proving that the only way we ever find true peace is to learn to forsake all notions of greatness, superiority, beliefs in whatever we were owed, whatever we wish to take from a world just because we're strong enough to seize it!

"But I've never been stronger… than I am with him at my side," Azula said. Sokka gritted his teeth, and his rage over Ozai seemed to stem, if just slightly, as his affection towards Azula rose anew. "I know why he fights… and I agree with him, in the end. Take that as you will, as a great betrayal against you…! But as wounded as I may be now, he could've killed me, bled me to death in the Palace's steps… and even if he had, he still would have failed to cause me any pain worth comparing to the agony you've inflicted upon me."

Ozai's horror upon hearing those words was palpable. Sokka flinched, having failed to understand what Azula was getting at, until she finished that sentence. His distraught gaze searched Azula's beautiful face, as though hoping for more explanations, desperate to soothe her… but he would have to wait to do that later.

"You… you betrayed me ten times as many as I have betrayed you," Azula said, tears burning in her eyes. "You've done things… that even you know cannot be taken back. You've apologized for it…!"

Now Sokka's eyes widened: he turned towards Ozai, astounded, disbelieving, and Ozai glanced at him briefly, almost flustered, before looking at Azula again.

"You know you've failed me," Azula said, swallowing hard. "And I've done everything I could not to fail you, but I… I didn't succeed, goes without saying. I can't be the Princess you want me to be, Father. I haven't been that person in many years now. I can't uphold the Fire Nation only… and yet that's what I tried to do, ever since you dragged me into that dreaded war meeting. I've tried over and over again to be the Princess you need me to be… all be it so you won't hurt me again. So you won't go after innocents in retaliation for my failures. So you won't devastate this nation, this world, out of the spiteful rage I've elicited in you before. Every stupid, terrible choice I've made since I returned to the Fire Nation… has been to placate you. And I have no doubts that once this is over, everyone will judge me for it. Everyone will say I'm mad for having done all the terrible things I did. I might just end up spending the rest of my days imprisoned for my sins, or just isolated, sent away, anywhere so that I might never cause any more harm…"

"That's not…" Sokka mumbled, beside her: she glanced at him pleadingly, and he gritted his teeth, falling silent anew. Azula's fingers brushed his knuckles gently before turning towards her father anew.

"But even though… even though you've as good as condemned me in every sense you have?" Azula said, swallowing hard. "Even when everyone is bound to think I'm out of my mind for it… I don't want you to die for this war to end, Father."

Behind her, Zuko froze. His lips parted as he stared at the back of his sister's head, where her hairpiece seemed moments away from falling off…

She didn't want him dead? How could she not? It didn't matter that he was their father, it didn't matter if he had ever been kind to her, how could it? Ozai was a threat to the whole world, he was responsible for every ounce of pain she had ever experienced…

Beside him, Aang fidgeted. Zuko glanced at him to find his friend's eyes aglow with…

Hope.

Azula's words had given him hope.

Zuko glanced back at his sister… then, at his father:

Ozai's lips had parted, but he couldn't seem to say a word. He was tense… but his shock had been strong enough that he could barely process what Azula had said. His head shook, ever so slightly… before his attention shifted towards the man standing beside his daughter.

"And you… you stand with her in support of that belief?" he asked, skeptical. "Or is she… a stepping stone, means to lower my guard so that you may stab me in the back, just as she least expects it?"

"You deserve to die," Sokka growled: his voice sounded so deep it was damn near unnatural, shaking even his sister when she heard it. "Don't ever doubt it, Fire Lord. And yet… there are people who care for you. People who are so much better than you, and who nonetheless plead for your life, even when you don't deserve that. Thank them for my mercy… for without them, I'd offer you none. And maybe… maybe I'd be a much lesser leader if it weren't for them."

His use of plural puzzled Azula: who was he talking about? Was it just to generalize, somewhat…? It didn't seem likely. But that, too, was something to speak about later.

Her heart ached upon hearing him speak, much more with that deadly tone. His eyes were shining again with that same coldness from when their confrontation had begun: the true source of his anger, of his cruelty, of his need for violence and vengeance, was her father. Sokka wouldn't let Ozai forget as much. But he still respected, trusted her enough to take a step back… to privilege her well above revenge. If she had thought the boundaries of her love for him had been set, those limits had certainly been blown down by what he had just conveyed to Ozai.

Sokka's words shook Ozai: fear surged in his gut. The very sight of him daunted him, of course it did… this was the man who had destroyed Ozai's world. He had turned a nearly-won war into a catastrophe for the Fire Nation, humiliating him openly in countless occasions, defied him, rebelled against him… and he had won his daughter's heart, which might just be the achievement that pained him most of all.

He still remembered that day, so many years ago, when a younger, clever, respectful Princess Azula had knelt where she now stood, requesting leniency for Ozai's latest designs for her. She had wanted to challenge the betrothal he had arranged for her… and she had chosen to do so through a gladiatorial duel.

Nothing would have ever prepared Ozai, back then, for a moment like this one. Had he known what he would face in the future, he might just have refused her request. His amusement, his curiosity, had gotten the better of him… but he wouldn't have lost Azula to this man if he had denied her request. Or would she have simply walked away from the Fire Nation, openly, if he had dared…? Would she have rebelled differently? Would he have pushed her further away if he had continued to force his will upon hers…?

He had done that constantly. He had tried to make choices for her. He had pushed her into corners. He had treated her… just as he had treated everyone who ever wronged him.

His lip quivered before he drew it into a new snarl… a more emotional one than he ever thought he'd display. If he lived on today… he never thought he would, truthfully. He had walked into this Throne Room with the certainty that he would die. That his enemies would perish too, soon after. But this…? This was so much worse than he had anticipated it would be. A chance to live on… granted by his worst enemy, solely because he loved his daughter. And she loved him back.

"You… you don't need me anymore."

His words caught Azula off-guard. She frowned at her father, and his face, torn up by rare emotion, showed her something so much deeper than she had ever thought she'd see:

For once, Ozai didn't hide behind pretenses, or behind his rage. For once, he let her see him for who he truly was.

"You… you've cast your lot with him," Ozai said. "Why would you stand here now… asking me not to fight anymore? What could have ever brought you to think… that this is needed? You don't want me dead… but if this is your choice, you would be better off if I were. Is your mind so clouded that… that you cannot see it?"

"It has been. Right now… it feels clearer than it's been for over a year," Azula said. "I don't ask you to stand down out of… out of blind stupidity, if that's what you thought. I do because… there's no point to fighting on. There's no reason why you should sacrifice your life for a cause you should have stopped believing in long ago. You always wished to break from your father's legacy… and yet you've followed his footsteps and carried on the same war he fought. Do you really think you could prove yourself better than him by doing nothing but following his example?"

Her words struck him in worse places than she had anticipated: his eyes glided towards Zuko, and a dark awareness struck him…

He stood where Azulon had, when he had demanded that boy's death. Where Azulon had watched Zuko's pitiful display of firebending, dismissing everything as a pointless charade. The actions he and Ursa had taken that night… they saved Zuko, and yet, had they? If Ozai had broken his father's legacy altogether… his son would not be in the line of fire anymore. But he had been, from that night onwards. At every point in time, every single dark thought that crossed his mind about that night, every moment spent blaming the boy for his mother's sacrifice, every instance of entertaining the thought of getting rid of him…

He might have been firstborn, unlike Ozai. But when his scarred son met his eyes, a dark knife appeared to twist in Ozai's gut as he wondered if that same worthlessness he could see in him was the one Azulon used to see in Ozai himself.

He trembled, stepping back. The flames before the throne wavered, flickered. A strange display of vulnerability from the Fire Lord, more so in a room so stacked with people, soldiers, allies, enemies…

"You… you achieve nothing by fighting on," Azula said, shaking her head. "Neither would I. You know the battle is over. It doesn't need to end solely with your death. What kind of honor do you think there would be in such a thing? Wouldn't it… wouldn't it please Azulon even more if he caused you to immolate yourself for this war? Don't you think the true way to outdo him is… to let it end? To let a new era begin?"

"It's not so easy as that," Ozai whispered. Azula gritted her teeth.

"It could be. If you let it. You're… you're the most powerful man in this nation. Who could contest your choices?"

"I would," Shaofeng hissed: Azula's pleas turned to deadly steel once she glared at him, but even Ozai scowled in the man's direction.

"Back down," Ozai warned him, though he eyed Azula with resentful resignation next. "A hundred years of war are not as easily walked back from as you may hope. Perhaps I didn't quite pressure you as much about that as I could have, but…"

"You did. I fought in battles myself, whereas you never have," Azula said, bitterly. "But I… I broke free. That's the difference between you and me. I was shown there were other paths, better paths, ways to truly discover the worth of our world, of balance, of peace, of every nation working together…!"

"Indeed. And you seem to be content enough with that, so… again, why are you trying to argue with me on something you know I won't change my mind over?" Ozai asked, as good as pleading now. "If this is to end in my death, then let it. You needn't get in the way…"

"I won't stand for it," Azula snarled. "I was shown all those things… and now I'm here offering you the opportunity to see them, too! That's what I'm doing! Forsake this madness, Father… and you'll have the chance to understand what I did! To live your life differently! To make amends for every horrible thing we've done, to break the chain of sins we've been carrying ever since Sozin began his conquest! We can't fix everything we broke, but we certainly won't fix anything at all unless we try!"

"And his people will allow that?" Ozai asked, looking at Sokka skeptically anew. "No, not you, clearly they would be fools if they refused to let you join them, Azula… but me. Would you truly find a way to accommodate the Deserter's wishes, my own brother's demands, along with Princess Azula's pleas for my life?"

"The Deserter, and the Dragon of the West… are my subordinates now."

Ozai's face twisted into utmost confusion. A rumor of confusion spread across the Throne Room as Sokka raised his head proudly. Azula, beside him, couldn't break the spell he held upon her senses when he spoke those words.

"They've taken my orders for the past year and they will continue doing so until this war is well and truly over," Sokka said. "If they're what you fear… then you fear very little. Azula has asked me to give you a chance, and I only do this for her. Continue to waste it, and whatever agony and anguish she faces over your fate next will be entirely your fault, just as it has been from the moment this madness began!"

The power and authority in Sokka's voice should not have struck Ozai as it had, but it did. A prideful, downright childish part of Ozai wanted to shout back. To tell him he had no right to fashion himself a king when he was a lowly slave… but could that be the case, truly? Ozai had gained his throne through the sacrifice of the wife he had never wanted to let go of, through his privileges as his father's son.

The man standing next to his daughter had earned her affection through means Ozai still couldn't quite fathom, but he had proven more than worthy of it, not only by sparing her today, but by leading his army's forces with sufficient power to daunt even a man of royal blood, as well as a defiant rebel like Jeong Jeong, into following his lead. He had risen from the frozen wastelands in the south and grown into the greatest menace to ever take a stand in their world: the Avatar looked to him with hope and admiration. Zuko didn't dare make a single move ever since he had arrived. Nobody questioned him. His presence was immense, and even though he was below the dais, Ozai almost felt as though he were a giant, as though he were looking up at the Gladiator, rather than the other way around…

"Just… listen to me," Azula said, gritting her teeth, trembling as tears pooled in her eyes. "For once in your life… listen to me, and truly hear what I'm saying, Father. I… I don't care more about vindication, about the pain you've inflicted upon me, than I do about… about you."

"You… you're blinded by foolishness. By emotion. Azula…!" Ozai said, shaking his head and looking at her in disbelief. "If this is your victory, then take it! Take it and run! Flee from this Palace at once after it's done, but just…! Don't ask me to turn my back on everything I've ever known, everything I've ever done, because if I did…! T-then everything… will have been for nothing. Every choice I've made…!"

It had been for nothing.

Ursa was gone. Azula had turned on him. Zhao was dead. Zuko was ready to kill him.

His father had been dead for twenty years, and his shadow still haunted him.

"Ozai…!" Shaofeng hissed: he did not care for the direction this discussion was taking. For the sight of his cold-blooded leader seemingly crumbling under the weight of emotions he wasn't ready to face…

"Maybe… maybe it was for nothing," Azula said, tears spilling down her cheeks. "Maybe there was another way out and you convinced yourself that there wasn't one. And the longer you go convincing yourself that this is the only path forward, the more people you hurt, the more damage you cause, and the less willing you are to believe that… that there could be another way out for you. Just as was the case for me. I… I was certain that I'd die today. You know I was. But if I get to live… if I get to try to fix what I broke? Then so should you. Because… you did a lot more breaking than I did, didn't you? You're responsible for so much more, and you should take responsibility. Only… only a coward would choose death over facing the truth behind their mistakes. There's no honor… no honor in clinging to death instead of facing the consequences for your sins. Whatever it might look like, however much pain you need to face for it all… it still won't be enough to make up for the pain you caused, first. So… are you weaker than those you've hurt? Lesser than those whose deaths, torture and agony would weigh in your conscience if you admit that you were wrong? Is that the true reason why you can't stop now, even when you're being given every chance to back down?"

"You're… calling me cowardly?" Ozai said.

"I've stood in this very room before, facing your wrath with no chances, no hopes for victory," Azula said, glaring at him reproachfully. "Knowing that you would not see reason, and yet hoping that somewhere in your heart you'd find it in you to actually feel compassion for your own daughter, while knowing it was entirely possible that you never would. Would you have done the same thing for your own father? Did you ever?"

Ozai shivered: he did, once.

His father had paid the price for it with his life.

Azula didn't want that outcome for him.

"I can tell you… as far as I remember from that old bastard, he would've done the exact same thing you're doing," Azula said, with a sarcastic grin between her tears. "He would've claimed that the world… the world was the one that was wrong. That he'd rather die than admit his mistake, than accept his defeat! He had to be perfect, he demanded the same from you, and you hated him for it! Could you please… realize that you don't need to be the man he wanted you to be? That you're better off if you're not that person anymore?"

"I…" Ozai shuddered: he looked lost. Entirely hopeless, and helpless… but a spark of something even rarer, a feeling so strange and unthinkable for the Fire Lord, dawned in his eyes as he gazed at his daughter, whose wisdom far exceeded his own…

"It boils down to… to a simple matter, an easy enough question that you should have no trouble finding an answer for," Azula said, swallowing hard: "Would you rather die as the last Fire Lord of the Hundred Year War… or live on as the first Fire Lord of a new era?"

Her words might just backfire on her: there was no guarantee that Ozai would retain his throne under a new era at all, Sokka damn near declared as much… but he held back. He gazed at her in surprise… more so, upon realizing that she might just have cracked through Ozai's hard, stubborn surface with those words.

Ozai had never imagined a future where he might be anything but the Fire Lord who either continued or ended the war, always in the Fire Nation's favor. The very concept of surviving past this… it was unfathomable until she asked that question. His mouth opened, as though to contest her question, but he didn't seem to find the words. He couldn't give her an answer.

Azula breathed heavily, and Sokka stepped closer to her. He knew it might just be the wrong choice, with Ozai watching so carefully, but he placed a hand upon her back, nonetheless.

"Azula…" he whispered. She gritted her teeth.

"Wait. Please," she said. Sokka sighed.

"I will. But… he might not make the choice you want him to. If he didn't… I won't let any harm come to you. No matter who it comes from."

Azula met his intense gaze, her heart aching as she wordlessly begged him not to take action. Not to strike away, not to attack her father yet, not to challenge him in the likely duel this clash would become… Sokka could defeat Ozai, she didn't doubt it. But the very thought of her father and her true husband fighting in such a way might just push her towards the edge of madness.

"Please…" Azula said, again… and she heard her father scoff.

"He listens to you still, does he?" Ozai asked. "If you command over so many forces… control so many fools who couldn't seem to do as they were told until you roped them in, Gladiator, you still cede so much power to Azula? You trust her judgment this much? Is it… so you can avoid causing her further pain? I fear no matter the outcome, there is… there is no conclusion to this tale without any."

"I… I would face whatever pain I must. As it is, you've trained me plenty for it," Azula said, shuddering. "Nothing he could do now could ever… could ever compare to the pain I've suffered at your hands."

"Hence why I cannot… fathom your offer. I… the first Fire Lord of a new age?" Ozai asked, shuddering. "I would have imagined the role would fall to you, as I was left to rot in a dungeon, at best. But you… you would rather I were the first, not yourself? Not even your brother, if you'd rather pass it on to another? What makes you think this would ever work, that…? That they would fathom it? That our own people would not be… cross, displeased, outraged by my failure to deliver on the countless promises of victory I've made in the past?"

"It's the first time any of those things seem to matter to you," Azula said. Ozai's eyes widened. "Public opinion never scared you before. Opposing anyone who dared contest your authority… it never daunted you at all. You've always been certain that you can show everyone that you have true power, more so than anyone else…"

"I wouldn't anymore," Ozai said: Azula frowned as he glanced at Sokka. "It's clear that… any Fire Lord of the next era, be it myself or anyone else, will have a leash that he will hold. Don't hope to persuade me otherwise."

Sokka gritted his teeth. Azula eyed him as well: her father's words came as little surprise, but her heart was not unsettled by them at all. If anything, a sudden, uncharacteristic peace bloomed inside her at the very thought of Sokka pulling anyone's strings…

"If anyone's to hold a Fire Lord's leash… he's the only man I'd trust to do it."

Her words stunned Sokka: he glanced at her, as a new murmur spread across the room over her openly treacherous words: for the first time since she had met him anew, Azula offered Sokka a smile… pained, small, and no less sincere for it.

"So, you openly admit you would sell out your nation to outsiders?!" Shaofeng roared. "Is that what you've said, Princess Azula?!"

"If that's what you heard, perhaps your ears are failing you," Azula growled back at him, her smile fading. "Or is it you're that desperate to be the one holding the leash instead, Shaofeng?!"

Her newest declaration saw the General falling silent… paling, even, under the light of the curtain of flames. Ozai shot him an accusatory glare… before glancing back at Azula.

A new leash… even if bound to a man who despised him, might still be more merciful than that of the one that had held him so far.

For it was, too, a leash that belonged to a man who despised him: Azulon's own leash, brandished by Shaofeng in his stead… by the wretch who had kept Ozai in his control over the past twenty years, constantly pushing him into making whatever choices he found most convenient for his purposes, constantly punishing any humanity Ozai might display. The Gladiator… oh, he hated Ozai, but he loved Azula. There was no questioning that simple fact. If he believed his vengeance would hurt her… then he would withhold it, for her sake.

Shaofeng was incapable of that. He had become a constant in Ozai's life, certainly… but one that Ozai had been increasingly desperate to get rid of. This… this might just do it. His daughter, mad as she might be for believing in him, for wanting him alive, could actually achieve the unthinkable…

She could set Ozai free from Shaofeng, for once and for all.

Trading one puppeteer for another suddenly mattered little… as long as the puppeteer wasn't the man to blame for the very worst of Ozai's choices. For the darkest day in his life. For the day he had lost his wife.

"That's it, isn't it?" Ozai said, looking at Shaofeng with a scowl. Shaofeng scoffed. "You… you've used me as your shield for all this time. Held my very worst against me, that damn night, you…"

"Ozai…" Shaofeng hissed. "You know that I could…"

"You could contest everything I dare say. You could accuse me of… of what everyone already knows," Ozai said, with a disbelieving smile. "You could ruin my life for good? Why… it seems I'm at death's doors as things stand. You would prefer me dead, wouldn't you? A martyr to use against my own daughter… so that power always flows back to you somehow. You've used me as a smokescreen for all this time so you could continue getting away with every dark dealing… and if I accepted her offer now, that would be the end of it for you, wouldn't it?"

"What is he…?" Sokka said, glancing at Azula. She gritted her teeth, sharing his confusion.

"I… I don't know exactly. But whatever it is, he can't get away with it," she said, frowning heavily. "Whatever he holds over you, Father, if that's the true reason why you haven't forsaken Azulon's legacy…!"

"Be silent!" Shaofeng roared.

"Don't raise your wretched voice to her!" Ozai exclaimed: another burst of confusion spread across the room. Azula's heart pounded upon hearing it. "You… you're even more opportunistic than I was. Always have been, always were, and I… I knew it all along. I trusted you, naïve fool that I was…"

He glanced at Azula, who shivered, whose lover scowled distrustfully, still… and he shook his head.

"But I cannot understand… to this moment, I cannot fathom that you would do this for me, Azula," he said. "You… you owe me nothing. Perhaps you never did. I have been… a miserable excuse for a father to you. To… to the both of you."

Zuko froze. A yelp almost escaped his throat, startling Aang and Katara, near him: his father hadn't just acknowledged him too, had he? He hadn't possibly…

"You could close your eyes and let me end," Ozai said, snarling. "It would be easier. Much easier for you. To turn around… let them finish me. I might not even fight back. Why would you not…?"

"Why?" Azula said, looking at him in disbelief. "I… I guess you don't understand it, do you? Just… just as I didn't, not for a long time, not until… until someone said those words to me. I suppose… you've never heard them? No one's ever… of course not. You haven't said them, either, so…"

"Azula…?" Sokka called her. She breathed deeply: she gripped Sokka's hand gently, and then she let it go.

She raised her gaze, and her eyes glistened with clarity as a burning feeling in her chest, so familiar, so well-known, so important and valuable, dared bloom in her heart… for who should have been the wrong person. For someone who had never proven worthy of it.

But just as Sokka had demonstrated today, someone's worth had very little to do with another person's willingness to save them:

"I offer you this… because I love you, Father."

Shaofeng winced. His disgust upon hearing those words was matched by the rising murmur of confused voices: battlefields were not the place for any such words, and this was, indeed, supposed to be one…

But just as Sokka had wordlessly forsaken his blade, when he had the chance to cut her down, Azula had done the same for her father now. His pleas, his insistence that she could have him killed instead, that she could even avenge herself for all the anguish and pain he had inflicted upon her, faded to nothingness…

His eyes widened.

His hands trembled.

Where he had been cold and impassive when enemies had first crossed that threshold, now he seemed moments away from falling apart under the weight of emotions he had never learned to handle before.

A dam appeared to break within him. An explosion, so potent, so fierce, that he had never experienced until that moment. Its trigger stood where she did, unwilling to waver, to take a single step back, to take back her words…

"You don't… don't deserve this. You didn't earn it," Azula said, openly: the heart she had just unlocked appeared to bleed out, more so as she stabbed it more painfully with her new statements. "No daughter… no daughter with sense, with self-preservation instincts, would ever hold those feelings in her heart for you. But… I didn't lie to you when I told you, that day, that you had been my whole world once. I wanted nothing but to be just like you. To follow your example, to be the heir you needed…! Until I opened my eyes to reality. Until I realized that wasn't who I truly ought to be in life. I found… I found a new purpose. I found friends, loved ones, people worth fighting for, treasuring, beyond you! I lived a life I truly cherished! A life that was so much more valuable than I realized… a life that was constantly taking me away from you and the path you wanted me to follow.

"And even then, I cared for you. I… I could never walk away from you, not completely, because you're my father. Because no matter where my life might lead me, no matter how much pain you might inflict upon me, a part of my sick, twisted heart will always care for you. And I wouldn't have realized this, I wouldn't have known this, I wouldn't have come to accept that I love you… if it weren't because I've tried to truly tear myself from you only to find that the greatest resistance came from within me. I… I can't forsake you. I know, in my mind, that I should… just as you do. But I won't. I can't. You're my father… and that matters more to me than power. Than strength. Than victory. Than fulfilling all your expectations. Even if you didn't care that I feel this way, even if it meant nothing to you… it wouldn't change that, in all your cruelty, you still couldn't persuade me to forsake you. That… that is your fault, I'm afraid. You've raised me into… into this mess of a person who can't even hate the boot that has kicked her into the ground a million times over. So I'm sorry if that complicates matters for you, but it has complicated them enough for me as it is. I love you… and I was ready to pay with my life for it. Hell knows… hell knows I'm only here because someone loves me, too."

Sokka gritted his teeth, lowering his head. If this didn't do it… Ozai certainly would be beyond saving. Even so, his vindictive needs, his vengeful urges, dimmed under Azula's words. He watched her affectionately, pained upon hearing her confirm a truth that he had already known, difficult as it might be to accept. As much as she cared for Sokka, her choices thus far had allowed no other interpretation: her loyalty to Ozai obeyed reasons far deeper than the ones she had acknowledged openly until now. Rebelling against the man might just be the worst challenge she had ever faced… it was never easy for her, but here she stood, trying anew. Fighting to save his life, just as much as Sokka had fought her, to save Azula's own.

"Call it a weakness… call it stupidity, if you wish," Azula said, her voice trembling with emotion. "But the feeling that allowed me to… to discover gold fire could never be either of those things. If it is… then ponder what it means that my weakness is the sole reason why you might survive today at all. Perhaps… perhaps imperfection and weaknesses aren't quite so unthinkable, if they might just be the only thing to which someone can cling in order to live on."

A revelation only a handful of people knew, the true source of gold fire, no doubt caught Ozai by surprise. His eyes flickered to Sokka… realizing the warrior was not shocked by what she had said. He had known… he had known Azula's gold fire came from a feeling so different from that which ruled Ozai.

Her love for the Gladiator had been the key for gold fire.

Azula's ceremony had happened so long ago… Ozai's stomach twisted as he gazed at Azula again in despair. She had been lying to him about her relationship with that man for so much longer than he knew… for so many years, across so many encounters, so many moments… when had it begun? When had the Gladiator started changing her world? And how on earth had Ozai been quite so stupid not to notice…?

He had fought for her right not to marry Kuan on her twenty-second birthday. He had defended her and helped her survive when they had been lost in that forest. He had been alone with her on countless opportunities, anything could have happened, and perhaps it had, since so long ago…

He had been losing Azula for so long and he hadn't realized it. He had treated the Gladiator as a curiosity, an amusement, assuming Azula only regarded him with more dignity and respect than most slaves due to what he could accomplish for her. He had thought the fool would never amount to anything, seeing him as lesser, as insignificant, as ultimately meaningless…

But he had won Azula's heart. Unlike Ozai, who had controlled it from the moment she was born… Sokka had won it, fair and square. She had given it to him, freely.

Would she have ever loved Ozai if he weren't her father? No, that went without saying… for no one else did. No one else had ever…

Ursa. His heart pounded painfully at the thought of her. At the realization that Azula's devotion to him, to her Gladiator, and his for Ozai's daughter… it all evoked a familiar feeling he had long forsaken, allowing it to age, to fade, to be buried in darkness. But he knew that feeling… he knew what it meant to be ready to do anything for someone else, no matter how many times they wronged you, or hurt you, or…

He had loved her.

Across all this time, he…

He covered his mouth with a hand.

Sizzling tears spilled down his cheeks.

He couldn't remember the last time he had wept.

Azula froze on the spot. Even Sokka was speechless as the Fire Lord, for once in his life, betrayed emotions that would do nothing to aid his wrathful firebending, that would likely jeopardize his authority, his position of leadership before a nation that only ever glorified violence and cruelty.

He closed his eyes tightly: Azula loved him. He had given her no choice. The poor girl… she was no better than he had been over his own father, craving his acceptance and approval for all her life, fearful of losing them, dreading the pain of knowing herself insufficient for her own parent.

Where Ursa had been his balm, Sokka had been hers. And where Ursa had never spoken those words to Ozai… Sokka had spoken them to Azula.

Perhaps that had changed everything.

Perhaps that was, in the end, the power that truly had granted Azula a better fate than the one Ozai deserved.

"W-what are you…?" Shaofeng scoffed, stepping back, away from the Fire Lord. "Ozai!"

The man didn't answer. It seemed as though something deep inside him had snapped. As though something had broken…

And as it fell to pieces, so did the curtain of flames that stood between them. Little by little, the flames before Ozai dimmed in power, just as he shrank in place. Just as he knelt, head bent in a respectful gesture that some people struggled to see. Azula's eyes widened: her father… humbling himself before her? Before everyone? Was that truly what was happening now? Ozai couldn't have…

He couldn't have surrendered. Her father didn't… even if she had come here to give him that chance, it wasn't possible that he'd take it, or was it?

Her breath hitched: his hands rose to his top-knot.

He clasped the hairpin, slipping it out of place, and he removed the hairpiece.

His hair fell as a curtain around his features. The fire dimmed further…

Then, everything was darkness.

Some firebenders, in frantic panic, crafted bursts of fire, of light, in their hands. Voices rose, asking for torches, and as small points of light began to bloom within the room.

"Ozai…! Ozai! What the blazes are you doing?!" Shaofeng's voice rose: had he seen him somehow? His fist rose, and a plum of fire illuminated the Throne…

Nobody was there.

Azula gasped upon sensing a presence before her: a strong, large hand, clasped hers.

By then, enough lights bloomed across the Throne Room to reveal his silhouette. Her heart caught as her father stood before her, shoulders hunched, eyes downcast… she had never seen him like this. She had never seen her father so…

Defeated.

"Your compassion… is out of place," he whispered. Azula gasped, trembling. "I… I do not deserve it. I do not deserve you. You have been… the greatest blessing in the life of a miserable man who should have had many, and yet only… only counted two among them at all. Your mother… yourself."

"Father…" Azula shuddered, tears blooming in her eyes, much as they had in his…

He placed something metallic, smooth, upon her palm.

A quick glance revealed what she already suspected.

She held the five-pronged crown, for the first time in her life.

"What are you…? No! Father, this isn't what I…!" Azula gasped. Ozai, however, offered her a weak smile.

"I… subject myself to your judgment, Gladiator."

Sokka's jaw dropped. Zuko, behind them, gasped as he watched his father, illuminated by the flames of the firebenders within the room, falling to his knees…

He bowed fully, his brow to the floor, before Sokka.

As much as she had wanted her father to surrender, this outcome had not been what Azula envisioned at all. Her heart seemed to beat faster than ever before as she met Sokka's confused gaze…

She had succeeded.

For the first time, her father had relented. He had surrendered.

"You…" Sokka's face seemed to contort with confused emotions, with utter disbelief as the man he despised the most offered him what, in the eyes of any lesser man, would be the perfect opportunity to execute his revenge… "You're actually… you're giving up? You're accepting the war's over? That the Fire Nation…?"

Ozai didn't respond. He remained where he was, as though unconcerned with appeasing his greatest enemy's concerns… for ultimately, he was.

His surrender, his defeat, was not for the Gladiator Army's sake, of course: he surrendered for Azula.

Her eyes couldn't contain the tears anymore: the sight before her was unthinkable, just as the weight upon her hand caused her whole body to shudder in confusion, in disbelief…

Her father had fought for that crown, for that throne, with the fierce determination of a man who would allow nothing to get in the way of his ambitions. He had forsaken everything for the title of Fire Lord, immolating his family to climb towards further power…

She had known he was more likely to keep fighting. That she would surely witness his fall at her brother's hand, or at Sokka's, perhaps even the Avatar…

But his surrender took the shape of his forsaking of his title. He had granted her a curse in the shape of that crown. He believed himself beyond redemption… for perhaps he was. But his final gift to her, perhaps the only one he had ever granted her, was that hairpiece, that crown… a gesture that spoke for itself regarding what he truly valued now, at the end of all things. He had made every wrong choice so far… but for once, he had chosen her, completely.

Every set of eyes within that room could witness the unthinkable now. No Fire Lord had ever been brought to his knees. No Fire Lord had ever capitulated in this manner, ceding his throne to his daughter. No Fire Lord had ever acknowledged his greatest enemy's prowess this way… for no Fire Lord would ever accept defeat, choosing death over disgrace, without fail. In Ozai's case… it appeared he had chosen both.

All hands that gripped weapons appeared to tremble with uncertainty. What now? What could anyone do next? How would anyone know how to proceed like this, with a new apparent Fire Lord, holding the crown she had just been granted, and a surrendering one, kneeling before his astounded, disbelieving nemesis?

"This isn't… it isn't possible," Zuko whispered: his father, brought to his knees by Azula's words… by Sokka's very presence. Mere moments before they arrived, he had been ready to fight his father for his life…

Now, he trembled violently at the miraculous scene before him. At Ozai's willing surrender. At his full-blown choice to grant Azula his crown.

He couldn't fathom it. It had to be a dream, it couldn't be real… one glance to his side revealed that Katara was as utterly shocked as he was, mouth open. At his other side…

Tears spilled down Aang's face.

The Avatar's hope had not gone to waste.

The one man in the world who had always believed in the goodness in every person's heart, who had grieved for every loss on a battlefield, be it that of allies or foes. The only one who, without knowing the Fire Nation leadership directly, had been willing to believe that there could be more to them than the warmongers they had always acted as…

He saw his hopes, his wishes, fulfilled in the unbelievable promise represented by Ozai's unexpected surrender.

Blood had been shed constantly, for so long. It was his fault, of course: Ozai's responsibility in the war thus far could not be erased, and it wouldn't be…

But if he surrendered now, it meant it truly was over. Aang's primary goal, the purpose so many had expected from him, would have been fulfilled… and it wasn't by his hand that it had happened. It was Azula… it was Sokka. It was their compassion, their joined forces, the unbelievable strength they held as one unit, that had brought Ozai's unparalleled pride and cruelty to fade… to disappear in the face of that day's challenge.

"You can't… c-can't give this to me. Father…" Azula blurted out, despite herself. "I can't… c-can't do this. You're the Fire Lord. It's you, not me, it's…"

"You… are the heir I've chosen. And the sole reason why I may so much as choose a successor, to begin with," Ozai said: he pushed himself upright, though he didn't rise to his feet. His attention remained set on the Gladiator, and his golden eyes glistened with an unexpected clarity. "She will be… a better Fire Lord for your world than I ever could be. Surely you agree to that, Gladiator?"

"I… I do. But…" Sokka said, staring at him in confusion. "If you give up now… if you put down your crown, then it's up to her to finish the war? Is that what you're…?"

"My troops… will stand down."

Azula and Sokka exchanged a shocked, confused stare as a rumor of noise spread across the room anew. Zuko turned, glancing about himself as a number of guards appeared to be unsure of how to obey that order. Of what to do, what to say, in the face of their leader's apparent surrender without so much as fighting at all…

"The Hundred Year War… has ended," Ozai said, firmly. "The new Fire Lord would have it be so… and I… I agree. I relent. I have… I have been defeated. I do not deserve any manner of honorable treatment at your hands, Gladiator… whatever you need to do, do it."

Sokka snarled, fist tight as he shivered in place: if he had Space Sword, if it hadn't been left behind in the Palace's gardens, the temptation to cut down the man would have been that much stronger. Casting it aside might have appeared to be a mistake… but perhaps this way, he would be much more likely to make the right choice.

He raised his gaze towards Azula. She looked at him in disbelief. She didn't seem to know what to say, what to do, any more than Sokka did…

"It's up to you," Sokka said, softly. Azula gritted her teeth.

"Thank you," she whispered, her chest tight with emotion: gratitude, affection… all of it merged with disbelief that any of this could be happening at all. She would keep her father alive, and whatever that might result in was a matter to ponder, to worry about, in the future. For now… that sufficed.

And she was free: Sokka stood there, strong and stalwart, the picture of the heroic warrior that the Fire Nation could only dream of raising among their own. He would've fought, if this had been a fight at all… but it wasn't one, not anymore. He wouldn't push it any further… this was as far as his war would go.

He had saved her, and in doing so, he had changed their world for good.

"Father…" Azula called him. Ozai gritted his teeth, turning his head towards her, remorse clear across his features.

"You… you were wise. Always. You could see so much more than I ever did," he said. "She… she will be the most fortunate child, to be raised by you. The… the both of you."

Sokka heard those words, just as well as Azula did. Ozai's acknowledgement… Ozai's acceptance of their child. It was unthinkable, unfathomable… for that child had been at the core of the Princess's existence: protecting her had been Azula's greatest priority. He had never pushed his luck. He had never attempted to see Hotaru at all… he had always known who her father truly was.

His acceptance meant nothing at this stage. It couldn't erase all the harm and damage he had already inflicted before… but Azula's heart pounded with a profound disbelief: peace might be possible, whether deserved or no. Her father… she might not need to protect her daughter from him so fiercely anymore. They might just be a family… as they always should have been. As…

Heavy footsteps on the throne's dais.

By the time Azula turned to react to it, the whooshing sound of a projectile, of steel cutting through the air, had thundered in the suspenseful silence that lingered after Ozai's uncanny surrender.

It moved too fast to be stopped.

It cut across the distance between the Throne, the empty canal upon which the flames usually burned, in the blink of an eye.

Sokka noticed the movement from the corner of his eye.

It was aimed towards her.

He couldn't jump out fast enough.

"NO!"

His voice, urgent and desperate, matched the spear's speed as it hurtled towards the Princess who, overwhelmed by emotions, by every single shocking change and choice across that unforeseen day, only managed to take one step back.

She was sent flying before she could react to the threat.

Her brother's arms caught her when he released his swords.

"Azula…!"

She gasped: her chest heaved, after being shoved back so violently…

But the spear didn't protrude from her body. She wasn't bleeding, she was fine, she…

She was barely starting to compose herself when she heard a gurgling cough… a splatter of blood.

The weapon pierced right below Ozai's collarbone, instead.

"F-Fath…!" Azula gasped: the tears in her eyes started spilling well before she knew it, as she trembled in Zuko's arms.

"Father!" he shouted, holding her upright as best he could.

Sokka, a hand raised, stared at the sight before him in disbelief: Ozai had shoved Azula away from himself. The spear protruded from his body in such a way…

It would have caught Azula as well if he hadn't pushed her.

Ozai had shouldered the damage alone, sending her back… taking the weapon that had been cast to slay him along with his daughter.

The Fire Lord who had never fought any battles, who had never cared for the wellbeing of anyone but himself… he had risen into incoming danger, shielding his daughter from a lethal blow.

"NO!" Azula finally shouted: she raised her gaze towards the source of the spear…

One of the non-bending soldiers behind the throne was bereft of a spear now, trembling as he gazed at General Shaofeng, who had ripped his weapon off his hands in an instant. The General snarled: his eyes remained set on the crown Azula had just dropped, when her father had shoved her out of the way of danger.

"I meant to get the both of you in one go… but I'll still slay your wretched heirs here and now, Ozai! It was about bloody time I did anyway!"

"You…!" Ozai snarled: blood rose to his teeth, and he struggled to move at all, but he attempted, nonetheless.

"This nation will not fall… this war will not end with our defeat! I won't allow it! You're a sorry spectacle, an embarrassment to Sozin's legacy! Pathetic lout!" Shaofeng roared. "Men! Strike down the traitors! The traitor Fire Lord and his wretched kin! Slay…!"

The hand he raised, fire in his fist, fell cleanly off his wrist when a flash of blue cut across it.

His command, given as it might be, crumbled instantly: he screamed just in time for Sokka to rush in, jumping on the dais, catching his boomerang anew. His face, instead of a cold mask of cruelty, was a wrathful snarl instead.

Of course it couldn't be that easy. Of course, the Fire Lord's surrender could not be as straightforward as that… for the true puppeteer behind him would not stand for it.

"MEN!" Shaofeng shrieked: Sokka's glacial glare turned to the side.

Where around twenty of his men stood by Shaofeng, only five obeyed their leader's command. The others remained frozen in place, no doubt chilled by the sight of their leader attacking the Fire Lord callously… the realization that the true traitor to the Fire Nation was the man they had obeyed thus far.

"FATHER!" Azula shrieked, pushing herself towards Ozai, who stumbled as he struggled to rise to his feet. "Father, don't…!"

"He will not… h-he will not touch… you…!" Ozai growled: he raised a hand, fire bloomed upon it…

It faltered. He trembled, he stumbled… and he watched as the Gladiator dashed across the dais, his club in hand, ready to finish off Ozai's true enemy. The man who had stood behind him, all along… with a weapon ready, throughout almost twenty years, for the Fire Lord's back.

A swirl of darkness surged within the room as chaos rose. Blasts of smoke and ashes joined Sokka, keeping two of Shaofeng's loyalists at bay while Sokka struck down the other three. Shaofeng screamed, launching bursts of flames with his remaining hand, watching as the blood burbled out of his stump in utter horror and disbelief…

A handful more of Shaofeng's loyalists sought to fight alongside their leader, rising out of the ranks of the troops that stood at the lower level of the Throne Room: this time, however, Fire Nation forces, as well as the members of the Gladiator Army and White Lotus, present within the room, put a stop to them…

But Azula didn't join the battle. She held her crumbling father, shivering, tears spilling down her face at the sight of that spear, halfway through her father's body. She turned him upwards, even if he soon wound up choking on his own blood for it.

"No…! No, please, no…!" she said, desperately: her brother knelt by Ozai's other side…

Their father was dying.

It was what Zuko had set out to do, and yet…

His whole world had taken a tumble on that day. Suddenly, he wasn't the prideful, strong man he had always hoped he'd be: he was a child anew, and his father's acceptance was all he had ever craved. Suddenly, he remembered what Ozai had meant to him before he had become his bane, his curse, everything that went wrong in his life. None of the pain could be erased… but for a brief, foolish moment, Zuko had let himself imagine a future that Ozai might be part of, just as Azula had. For that blink of an instant before Shaofeng's full-blown betrayal, it had seemed that they'd need to set their minds to the possibility of a life, a world, where Ozai might still have a role to play…

And just as he let himself wonder if that could be possible, if the change in his father might one day result in a greater transformation, perhaps enough for Zuko to finally make peace with him, that singular spear had put an end to all such thoughts.

"Let me… let me try," Katara's voice startled Azula: she glanced over at the waterbender, finding her kneeling beside her. "I can… I-I can try to heal him. I…"

Her hesitation gave away just how insecure she was about making the offer at all. How she questioned herself for even saying those words… why should she ever do that? It was the Fire Lord. She had spent her entire life wanting his death…

And now she uncorked her waterskins, pouring out her water and pressing it to the wound upon Ozai's collarbone, finding herself in a dreaded, similar position to the one she had been in, in the Northern Water Tribe. Zuko's latest scar wasn't all that far from where this spear had landed, upon his father's skin instead…

But the weapon was larger. The damage was greater. His heart, his lungs, were bound to be compromised in worse than ways Zuko's had been.

Azula glanced at her, desperate hope blooming in her heart as Katara snarled, attempting to mend whatever she could, to slow down the flow of blood with her water. Zuko gritted his teeth, rising to his feet and clasping the spear.

"If I remove it… could you do better? Katara…!"

"Give me a moment!" Katara said, snarling. "When I tell you to… Aang, please…!"

The Avatar rose, taking the spear as well. Azula's tears spilled over Ozai's face as she shifted, raising his head, placing it upon her lap: he might just breathe better this way… her hands couldn't stop trembling. Her whole body was cold, her whole system was as good as collapsing as the worst sight she'd seen presented itself before her… just as hope had bloomed, it had been stolen away. Just as she had believed in him, for the first time in years, her father was…

"You… A-Azula…" Ozai blurted out. "I never… n-never deserved…"

"Don't…!" Azula sobbed. "Please, don't say… d-don't say anything, Father, don't…!"

"I was… a worthless…. W-worthless father…" he said: his eyes rose to Zuko. The man who stood over him snarled too, containing his tears as best as he was able.

"Yes. You were. And that's not stopping us from doing our best to save you, so…! Fight on, you bastard! Fight on!" Zuko shouted.

"Now!" Katara said.

Zuko and Aang yanked the spear out: Katara's waterbending was quickly in place, her hands fully pressing upon the wound to contain the hemorrhage as best as she was able.

The bright, glowing water turned red. The Fire Lord coughed, eyes as good as losing their focus… but as vague as his vision might be, he could still glimpse his daughter's face. One more time. One last time…

"A… zula…"

"Hold on! Father, please…!"

"The one… o-one thing I ever… I ever did right…" he said: his lips curled into a smile, and Azula shook her head violently. "You were… the one thing I… I could never… the one I couldn't lose…"

"Don't say that…!" Azula sobbed: she gripped his hand, bending forward as she felt him fading. "Father…! Father!"

Her voice, so heartbreaking, seemed to put a stop to the fighting once again: Shaofeng's soldiers crumbled, many slain, others simply surrendering. Shaofeng himself stood against the wall, glaring at the furious Blue Wolf, whose club had risen towards him… his eyes flickering fearfully towards the dark entity that stood beside him, having burnt many hostile foes to cinders by now.

"Do it," Seethus hissed. Sokka snarled. "Otherwise, I will. Otherwise…"

"Shut up. You should've done it ages ago, if anything," Sokka snapped. Seethus huffed.

"Fire Lord Ozai's death…!"

"Will be pinned… on you!" Shaofeng croaked: Sokka scowled at him. "The world will believe… that all you dare say happened in this room is a lie! That you and her… you planned this all along! Their legacy ends… here! Now! Your wretched, disgusting half-breed will never survive if I die here, she will be the next…!"

The club struck Shaofeng under his chin violently: he bit his tongue hard enough to choke on the chunk his own teeth cut off. He screamed, spitting it out, and the blood leaked off his mouth as pain arose all across his head, surging down his body.

Violent impulses guided Sokka as he struck Shaofeng's legs next. It was a technique he had resorted to, in the past: he had learned it in the Amateur Arena. Disabling his opponent, the certain way to prevail in battle…

Only one blow left. A final blow. Shaofeng was as good as finished…

But his whimpers, his unintelligible words, gave Sokka pause as he pondered the previous ones he'd said, instead.

Chest heaving, heart pounding, he remembered the men he had slain this way… the men he hadn't. Jet, Renzhi… it had been no different then. He had the privilege of choosing who would live, and who would die, by that point. Gladiators, they were worthy of living on… Fire Nation spineless traitors, capable of anything to get ahead, weren't.

But if Shaofeng's threats were true, his survival could serve a purpose still.

The man's reach was wide, unthinkable, so broad Sokka could hardly fathom it. He had forces beyond the ones in this room… resources Sokka knew very little about. Was there any chance that he could use them to destroy Azula's life? That any loyalists could come chasing after her, intent on assassinating her, the same way Shaofeng had intended to? Would they spread falsehoods pertaining what had happened that night if there was no one alive to take the fall for killing the Fire Lord?

He held his club, bloodied as it was, and scrutinized the terrified, incomprehensible Shaofeng for one more moment: killing him could put everyone in jeopardy. They didn't know, not to this moment, just how far his reach went. And who would know that better than Shaofeng himself…?

"He… will live," Sokka decided.

"No!" Seethus growled: Sokka raised his club towards him now, startling both him and Shaofeng.

"You make a sorry excuse for an assassin… for a protector of your lord," Sokka growled. "If you were here all along, why only act now?!"

"He ordered… I failed, but that… that doesn't mean you should, too. You must…!"

"I must do… what's right for Azula," Sokka determined: Seethus tensed up. "If someone gets to decide what to do with… with her father's murderer? It… it will be her. It's her choice. Her right."

Seethus clearly meant to protest further… but Sokka's words stopped him from speaking: his attention shifted towards the Fire Lord… towards the harrowing sight of his daughter cradling his head upon her lap, holding his hand as the blood didn't stop spilling, regardless of the waterbender's best efforts to contain it. By then, even the Avatar had knelt with her, seeking to help somehow…

But Ozai was beyond saving.

He would die.

If Ozai was dead…

He had chosen to surrender when he had. He had decided… that his daughter, her lover, everyone here was worth sparing. That their lives were valuable. That his ultimate plan to bring everyone to hell with him, should he face his death, might just not be necessary…

But at the sight of his lord's demise, what was left of Seethus's humanity seemed to fade alongside with him in a burst of emotion and resentment alike.

He had one final command.

He had been given one last order.

He had been told to wait until Ozai was beyond help… to wait until the final blow had been struck. He was meant to hold back, and he had failed to do so…

But he could still fulfill his lord's final will.

"It… will be done. Lord Ozai."

Sokka frowned: before he knew it, Seethus had faded into nothingness.

Shaofeng coughed, choking still: Sokka snarled as he turned to the man, delivering a sharp, strong kick to his stomach, causing Shaofeng to roll over and cough all the more, losing his breath before a final blow against the top of his head knocked him unconscious.

Sokka's chest heaved: a part of him screamed, insisting that he shouldn't have held back. He should have killed the bastard… but he hoped time would prove that he had made the right choice, no matter if it was difficult to see it that way right now.

He raised his gaze, and his heart shattered at the sight of Azula's tearful face. At the sound of her heart-torn voice, calling for a man who, it seemed, was about to draw his final breaths.

"Where is…? Seethus…? A-Azula…"

"Father, please…! Just hold on, please…!"

"R-run…" Ozai said, struggling to swallow. "Azula…"

"I won't… w-won't leave you…"

"He… he might just… A-Azula… you must… live…"

"I… I…! I thought…! I wanted you to…!" Azula sobbed, shaking her head. "Please, don't…! Please, I…!"

She raised her hand, forcing herself as best she could to conjure fire: Katara gasped at the sight of it, blue as it was. The Princess closed her eyes, evoking thoughts that she struggled to find place for… trying to choose memories would not do. But perhaps… perhaps the future she had briefly felt, right within her grasp, so briefly she had barely allowed herself to think of it.

A future where Ozai would hold Hotaru for the first time, and the girl would laugh as he marveled over her.

A future where he and Sokka bickered over dinner, where she would placate them as best she could, knowing their enmity would never truly fade, but that they would endure for her sake.

A future where she would change the world, breaking it free from Azulon's hold, from the rotten legacy of her ancestors… and her father would be there, seeing all of it with a smile, as his hair grayed and he no longer fought against it. As he approved of her choices while working with his own hands to make amends for everyone he had wronged. As he restored so much of what had been lost… as he accepted a new life, a humbler life, in which he would still fail to atone for everything wrong he had ever done, and yet he would try. He would try…

A world where he might just speak those words to her, too. For even if he hadn't…

As fucked up as her father was, as many mistakes as he had made, as inhuman as he had been across the years… what he had done tonight convinced her that he loved her, too.

The flames she pressed upon his chest were bright gold.

She shrieked: everyone standing with her watched as her tears spilled, as her own heart seemed to bleed out in time with her father's. As she gave him every ounce of power she could offer, as her chi appeared to purify itself further just for his sake. Just to cleanse him. Just to heal him… so that together, they might heal all the more. So that one day, she might just stand side by side with him and feel worthy of the crown he had bestowed upon her when she had least expected it...

The fire burned across his clothes, scorching his skin… seeking to mend his body.

"My… child…"

His hand squeezed hers one final moment. For one instant, awarded to him by gold fire.

Then, his grip faded.

The gold fire had mended what little it could… but it had been to no avail.

Azula's whole body trembled, as her sobs wracked her entirely: she pressed her face to his chest, and she wailed with desperation. She gripped him, her whole body ravaged by pain she couldn't fathom… for her father, the bastard that he was, had done the worst thing he could have done for her. Saving her, unconcerned with losing his own life while doing so… how could he do such a thing, when she had come here expressly to save him? When everything she had done had been for the sake of preventing the very outcome she had failed to stop now?

Ozai drew his last breath: when he did, Azula's heart shattered.

---

She was used to the nightmares. To the visions of a past she had wanted to push away. To memories unwanted, unwelcome, unlike the pleasant ones she often craved.

She wasn't used, however, to a strange pain that bloomed inside her heart shortly after she fell asleep under the influence of that potent tea. She was so much more conscious than she thought she would be, in the darkness of what had seemed to be a dreamless night, at first…

She raised her gaze when a light bloomed in the distance. Her brow drew together… and she floated towards it, or perhaps it approached, in a wild rush she could scarcely understand. But it took the form of someone familiar… someone she craved, someone she missed, every day of her life.

It wasn't a memory. It wasn't a swamp vision. It was none of the means through which she usually tried to see him…

"Ozai?"

Ursa blurted his name, confused, perplexed…

He smiled at her.

It wasn't one of his usual, clever smirks. It was nothing like the smiles he always offered her in the past. She had never seen such a tender, warm expression upon his face as he neared her… as his hands cupped her face.

"You… are as beautiful now as the day we met."

"W-what…?" Ursa shivered: he had never said words of that nature in her visions of him. His kind smile caught her off-guard already, but those words… "Ozai. O-Ozai, is… is it you? Are you actually…? N-no. It can't be… a-a bond? A spirit bond, like the one between…? No. You wouldn't be. You and I, we couldn't possibly… at this point? That's not possible. If we were bonded that way, we would've seen each other before, we would've…!"

"Perhaps it could have happened sooner… if I had not been the fool I was. If I had not wronged you, as often as I did," he said. Ursa frowned.

"You… you can't be real," she decided. His laugh was probably the most authentic trait of Ozai's, besides his handsome face, so far. "You… how?"

"Our daughter…" he said: Ursa's eyes widened. "She is… she is as extraordinary as I always knew. But… it isn't for the reasons I thought. It isn't… because she was the prodigious firebender that I wished I could be. It isn't her brilliant mind…"

"Ozai…?"

"She is extraordinary… because she takes after her mother."

Ursa's jaw dropped: Ozai's kind smile culminated in a gentle embrace, reeling her close, so close…

He felt real.

So much more real than ever before.

But she couldn't feel his heartbeat.

"Ozai… O-Ozai, what is happening? Ozai…" Ursa said, pulling back, her lip trembling. "Why are you here now, w-why are you saying these things, what…?"

"I… I don't know if I will go to wherever you are now…" he said, his smile sadder. "I hope not. I hope… I hope you still live, Ursa. I hope you're still in this world. That you may see it for the both of us, once she builds it alongside him. Once they change everything… once my father's legacy is well and truly destroyed."

"Ozai…!" Ursa shuddered, gripping him desperately. "No, no, no, you're not…! Ozai, don't you dare! You didn't just… y-you didn't just show up in my dreams in this way just to tell me this is goodbye! Ozai…!"

"I… I never said it. Not to you. Not to Azula. I should have…" he said, swallowing hard, pressing his brow to hers. "My heart… it belonged to you, always. My soul… it will be bonded to yours, even in death. My sins are my own… I drag them with me to hell, gladly so. Please… return to the Fire Nation. Find a way back. She… she is so much kinder, so much more compassionate, than you ever thought. You failed to wake her… to admit your missteps that night. Don't fail again, Ursa. Don't. I… I was enough of a bane upon her life. You… you can be the balm that heals the wrong I caused. It's… it's a heavy burden, but perhaps, one that will become a boon instead. She needs you, Ursa. They will need you. And I… I would have stood with you. I would have accepted anything you had to say to me, I would've gladly died under your own weapon instead of this one, but…"

"No! Ozai, you can't be…! Don't you dare die on me! D-don't you…! S-Sokka, he said he'd let you live! That if he could save Azula without killing you, he…!"

"It was not… not by his hand that I was slain," Ozai said, with a heartfelt smile. Ursa's tears spilled faster down her cheeks. "It was not his doing. Nor was it Zuko's. Our son… and yet he did not make our mistake, in the end. He did not… did not follow our example. You… you must be proud. He's so much stronger than I ever was. And I'll never… never be able to see it for myself. I'll never be able to do better by him. To seek to amend so much of what I broke.

"So, I… I will be selfish and ask you to do it for me. To stand with our children… to encourage them to live, to teach them everything you can. To return to their lives… to protect them as well as you already did once before. I… I've failed them in more ways than anyone could know. I broke her heart, Ursa… just as I now break yours."

"D-don't… you didn't break mine, no, you… well, shit, you did, but…" Ursa said, sobbing and shaking her head. "Don't go. Please… I needed to yell at you. To tell you what a wretched bastard you are. For both of them. For Zuko, for his banishment, his scar, his pain… for Azula. For how you destroyed everything she ever cherished…! For how you tore her away from him, just as I was torn from you! You… I wanted to yell at you for all of it! You deserved to hear it, damn you! You…!"

"I would have… would have gladly heard every word," Ozai smiled. "I don't know that I deserve to so much as look upon you anew, but… b-but before I'm well and truly gone, Ursa…"

"No, Ozai, please…" she sobbed, shuddering.

"You've lived without me this long. You've carried on without me… you've survived, and you still will," he said, tilting her head towards him. "I wish we had never been apart… that I might have been free to tell you that I loved you, for I always did."

Ursa yelped. The cry that left her lips upon hearing those words would've caused her to crumble to her knees, were she awake, but Ozai held her upright. His spirit was as lively as it ever had been just now, more sincere, truer to himself than he ever was…

He pressed his lips to hers, and she fell silent for it.

She wanted to say more. To plead with him.

To beg him to stay in this world. To demand that he lived long enough for her to reach him.

But she felt his spirit, his soul, fading in the wind.

A new emptiness bloomed inside her chest.

Ursa opened her eyes in Ba Sing Se, and she knew Ozai was dead.

---

The scuffles between corrupt guards and lawful soldiers dwindled as the latter overpowered the former. Once they were over, they gave way to silence. Entombed, suspended silence.

The only sound that interrupted it were the contained sobs of a heartbroken Princess, still bent over the lifeless body of her lost father.

No one else wept. No one else mourned him. Not the way she did. No one knew how. The confusing events to take place within the Throne Room that night had shaken all witnesses. That there was ever a chance for the war to end without the Fire Lord's death had seemed impossible… and yet he had surrendered, only to face the fate everyone had expected, when no one had anticipated it anymore.

Sokka still stood atop the dais, glaring at the unconscious Shaofeng. He shuddered, wishing he had been faster. Wishing he'd noticed what the bastard was doing well before he could try it…

Ozai didn't deserve to live on, but Azula certainly didn't deserve the excruciating pain she faced now, failing to save the man who had held her up and destroyed her in equal measure. Knowing as she did that Ozai had been no good to her, no good to anyone, she had still loved him, as she had confessed earlier… and he had finally seemed ready to do better, for her sake. Losing him just when he made that choice… it was an act of cruelty that only a treacherous monster like Shaofeng was capable of.

Zuko held the spear in his hands still. He snarled, breathing heavily before breaking the silence with a roar:

He snapped the spear in half against his knee, shoulders rising and falling. He dropped the shards, and he shook his head.

He raised his eyes, startling Sokka upon finding so many conflicted feelings in Zuko's hurt gaze… a gaze that fell upon Shaofeng. He snarled again, reaching for his swords, and Sokka held up his hand, stopping him.

"He's… to blame for what happened here," Sokka said.

"I know he is… for more than you can imagine, too," Zuko said. "Cutting his hand off isn't enough, Sokka, he…!"

"There's more at stake here than revenge," Sokka said to Zuko, gritting his teeth. "Fact is, Katara… please, can you help me? Stop… stop his bleeding. We can't… can't let him die like that."

"Why not?" Katara asked, looking at him in disbelief. Even her voice was charged with unsuspecting emotion. Sokka breathed deeply.

"Because I don't know what the hell he's planned… if he actually dies here and now," Sokka said. His words startled those who listened. "It sounded like… like he's got more people on his side than just the assholes who tried to help him just now. We can't let them get away with… with more harm than he already did."

Zuko's emotional reaction dwindled, looking at Sokka in amazement that Katara shared: how could he remain level-headed right now? How could he still think about these things when everything felt so bleak…?

Katara rose to her feet: she cast one glance at Azula, her eyes charged with empathy she never anticipated she'd feel so strongly, before joining her brother in the dais.

"I hope you're right about that. I really do," Katara said: she squeezed her brother's hand gently before kneeling, seeking to cut the blood flow from Shaofeng's arm first, then setting up to seal the wound however possible.

Sokka sighed: he hardly wanted to do this, for he couldn't handle Azula's tears on any given day… this would be worse than it ever had been. The pain she was facing, after finally finding hope for her father, after hearing him say the things he had… it had to be devastating.

Thus, she might just need him now, more than ever.

He climbed down the dais, approaching her slowly. He only stopped shortly before the pool of blood that had spilled from Ozai's body… finding a golden, gleaming hairpiece on the marble floor. He knelt, knowing he had only ever resented that shape before… but now, the honor in the Fire Lord's title had been restored, at long last, when for once in his life, Ozai had made the right choice by giving up on his crown.

He collected the hairpiece and its hairpin, slipping them into his sash before approaching Azula, wrapping his arms around her shoulders.

She turned into his embrace without hesitation: if anything, it seemed his presence spurred her to cry all the more, as he rubbed her arm comfortingly, ensuring that she'd know she wasn't alone.

Unfortunately, he hadn't approached her only to offer her kindness.

"Azula…" he called her. "I know this is… this might be the worst moment to ask anything of you, love. I know it is. But… I need you to resonate, right now."

"W-what…?" she sniffed. Sokka pressed his lips to the top of her head.

"Seethus was here."

His words forced Azula to return to reality, even if the tears didn't quite stop spilling. She wiped them hastily with a bloodstained hand, unable to so much as look at Sokka… to even conceive letting go of the empty body her father had once inhabited.

"W-what did…? You… you saw him?"

"I fought alongside him for a moment. But he… he wanted Shaofeng dead. I stopped him."

"You didn't have to…"

"I did. He… he's the one who did it. He'll face the deserved consequences for it," Sokka said, firmly. "I won't let him, or his wretches, spin this shit on you. He threatened that would happen, and… not a chance. I know it sucks, but we need him alive."

"Even with so many witnesses… that could have happened?" asked Aang, shivering as he watched Sokka with uncertainty. It was Azula who answered though.

"With his reach… his cruelty? Yes. It could," she whispered, sniffing again. "But… if Seethus helped you, t-then…?"

"He said something… when it looked like he was about to be gone," Sokka said. Azula shivered as she sobbed again. "He said… 'it will be done, Lord Ozai.' And then he vanished."

"He…?"

Azula frowned. Her eyes fell upon her father anew: just before his very final words, he had said something she had disregarded at first. Something she had given no importance to, so much more focused on trying to keep him alive…

He had told her to run.

She trembled. Even though the tears still spilled down her face, even though the grief was so fresh she couldn't possibly set it aside, much less when she continued to look upon her father's tranquil face in death, Azula closed her eyes, and she focused.

So many sparks of fire… so many, save for the one she had often found in these halls. The flames of her father's inner fire were gone. She held back the urge to cry harder for it, she snarled and forced herself to focus…

To focus on the one source of fire that was different from the others.

She found it in the corridors… headed towards the basement.

"H-he's… going to the basement?" she said. "I don't know why he'd…"

"The basement?" Zuko repeated. Azula opened her eyes, glancing at him. "Who's there? What are you talking about?"

"Seethus. The assassin your father worked with," Sokka said. "He has… a twisted kind of firebending, a…"

"Corrupt. His chi is… corrupt. Like mine was… worse than mine," Azula said. Sokka's eyes widened. "He's always… on the verge of life and death somehow. I don't know how it happened, I… I don't…"

"But it's… firebending?" Zuko repeated. Aang frowned. "Does it act like… like normal firebending does?"

"I suppose in some regards, but… not quite all, I guess?" Sokka said, glancing at Zuko. "Why?"

"What did you think… he was going to do?" Azula asked Sokka, glancing at him now: so much as looking at him pained her, she wanted to do nothing but hug him and never let him go… but it wasn't the time. Not when something dangerous might just be afoot.

"I was worried that he might be trying to do something dangerous… hell, I don't know, maybe kill someone specific, beyond this room, under Ozai's orders. Someone who wasn't in this room. But if he were after Iroh or so, he's not going to find him in the basement. He's halfway across the world as it is…" Sokka said.

"He won't find Uncle Iroh, but… he will find bombs there."

Both Azula and Sokka frowned: Zuko's remark caught them off guard as he stared at them worriedly.

"We saw them, on our way up here," Zuko said. "We didn't know… shit. The shit he was saying. Before you arrived! He… he kept talking about how… how everyone would go down with him, pretty much! How… we wouldn't win, even if we got him? Is it because…?"

"Aonu," Azula said, chest heaving as thoughts she had disposed of, finding them pointless for now, returned to mind. "He… he said the volatile bombs… were sent to the basement. He thought… we would've had a better chance at defending the city if we could use them in battle. But my father… h-he wanted them there instead. He…"

Run.

"He told me to run."

Sokka froze up. Azula's chest heaved as she turned towards him, tears still spilling down her cheeks.

"J-just now… he… right b-before he…" she said, her voice hitching.

Sokka snarled, fist tightening:

Ozai's final order to Seethus. It was easy enough to imagine what its condition was… for he had witnessed it himself.

Should Ozai perish…

"He's going to destroy the Palace, the whole damn city with his corruption," Sokka said, tensing up further as his grip on Azula strengthened. "The bombs… if his fire failed, because it is a different kind of fire, nothing would come of it. But if it doesn't, the bombs will amplify it, as they do with all fire, and…!"

"What's going on?" Katara asked, glancing back at them with horrified, wide eyes.

"We're in danger," Aang said, shivering. "We need… we need to get out of here. We need to leave, right now!"

His words urged Azula to let go of her father and flee… but she didn't dare. Not yet, not now. Not even when she might be about to face an even worse challenge than the ones she had already confronted on that day…

But if she didn't move, if she didn't take action, the entire city would join Ozai in death. All the people who were supposed to be safe, underground… the basement, connected to so many tunnels, would surely pour its corruption towards the civilians, too.

Hotaru.

Whether he had regretted giving out that order or not, it hardly mattered anymore: if the assassin succeeded at last at the task he had been given, Ozai's final command to Seethus would obliterate the Fire Nation Capital.