Happy Valentine's Day!

Responses to Reviews:

RonaldM40196867: They all have nice cultures in their own ways (apart from the classism in the Earth Kingdom or the militarism in the Fire Nation.) But even those flaws don't define them.

Zigzagdoublezee: Jet's parents are still alive here, and his village is still standing. The war only started a few months as opposed to a hundred years ago. So he's much less damaged than his canon counterpart and less willing to contemplate doing something like this. The Fire Nation, on the other hand...

As Always, Please Review!

Gembul raced through the air, the dam growing larger and larger in front of them as they approached it. Nobody spoke. Everyone knew that the stakes of their mission were incredibly high, and they might not have much time.

Katara was still hard at work, trying to heal Jet. The leader of the freedom fighters was stirring feebly, on the edge of consciousness, occasionally murmuring something that Yue could not understand. The Avatar had also, knowing that a battle was imminent, taken the sword she had been gifted by Poppy out of its saddlebag and tucked it into her sash once again.

As they got closer, more of the detail of the dam could be seen. And it was obviously enormous. A walkway ran along the top of it, with the water to one side and an enormous drop on the other, towards the rocky ground far below. The front of the dam had several holes drilled into it that Yue was sure shouldn't be there, and as they got closer she could see what looked like rope leading from the holes towards a group positioned at the top of the dam, to one side.

Yue's eyes narrowed. There were the saboteurs. They had got here just in time.

"Hold on!" Rinzen shouted over his shoulder.

He put Gembul into a shallow dive, picking up speed as they approached the group. As they sped closer, some of the saboteurs looked up and saw them. There were also men in green, chained on the ground; the earthbenders who they must have forced to help them install their bomb. Yue saw very familiar faces, their eyes widening in shock, and then Gembul was apon them with a crash, simply landing on top of the closest one and flattening him. Yue scrambled off the saddle, followed a moment later by Rinzen, Sokka and Suki.

In front of them, Azula, Lu Ten, and their minions settled into fighting stances. There were now noticeably fewer waterbender traitors with Lu Ten, Yue noticed. Toph must have put a few of them in hospital.

The two Princesses, of the North and of the Fire Nation, regarded each other with mutual hostility.

"Are we interrupting something?" Yue asked, slowly, deliberately and threateningly unsheathing her sword. The pale white blade caught the light reflecting off the water and gleamed. "Gone a bit too long without destroying someone's life? Thought I'd drop in and ruin your plans, again."

"On the contrary, you're just in time," Azula grinned. "We're about to win the war!"

She looked down to where the rope- a fuse, presumably- lay on the ground at her feet, leading off towards the dam. She raised her leg and kicked towards it. A blast of flame eminated from her foot and washed over the fuse, lighting it. The spark immediately began racing away.

"No little girls to save you this time Avatar! You're mine!"

Yue's eyes widened in shock, but before she had a chance to do anything Azula was attacking, swinging her leg around in a wide arc that sent a curved wall of flame at them. Yue reached around and gestured, causing water to rise from the reservoir behind her and rush in front of their group, shielding them as it boiled and hissed. It dropped to The ground, barely missing the lit fuse as it raced past, and then both sides were charging to meet each other.

"Rinzen! Katara! Someone!" Yue was yelling. "Stop that fuse!"

"I'll try!" Rinzen leapt away. Then Ty Lee was in front of Yue, swinging at her with a fierce grin and obvious confidence. A moment later though, she had to roll out of the way as Suki's longsword slashed through the air where she had just been. The Kyoshi Warrior advanced, swinging at the chi-blocker with practiced, precise strikes which Ty Lee fairly easily dodged. As their fight moved further away, Yue was confronted by Lu Ten.

"I thought you said you would be the enlightened one," she sneered. "Is drowning thousands enlightened?"

"This is war. You obviously don't want to understand."

Lu Ten attacked, punching fireballs at her. Yue rolled out of the way of one, and used the contents of her waterskin to stop another. Then Lu Ten was suddenly gone and Azula was there, slashing at her with precise darts made of flame.

"Do you even know how to use that?" She asked, gesturing to Yue's sword. "I thought Snow Savages didn't like their women fighting."

Yue felt anger surge through her at the Fire Princess's words as she brought the sword up above her head and slashed it downwards. The movement caused a stream of water to burst out of the reservoir behind her, loop over her head, and come crashing down towards Azula, who was knocked backwards with a cry.

Yue didn't have much time to feel triumphant though, as suddenly Yura was in front of her, with his hunting-knife drawn and a snarl on his face. He slashed at her, barely missing. The second time Yue managed to raise her blade, parrying the hunting knife with a metallic clang. They snarled at each other for a moment, and then Yura kicked her backwards. She rolled back in the grass, seeing Rinzen attempting to put the fire out with airbending but only managing to speed it up for a moment, and then Yura was advancing on her. Katara had joined the battle now, and Yue could see her a distance away trying to take on Azula and Lu Ten at the same time.

Yura towered over her, and grinned nastily. He brandished his knife, and just before he had a chance to use it something silver spun through the air and clattered into the back of his head. His body jerked and then fell backwards, as the boomerang returned to Sokka's hand.

"Thank you," Yue told him, smiling.

"You're welcome," Sokka helped her to her feet. "Now, the bomb?"

The two of them set off after Rinzen, who had given up trying to airbend the fuse out and was now trying to stamp on it. But the Air Nomad was running out of platform, and to make matters worse Azula broke free from the melee. Yue suddenly remembered they were leaving Suki and Katara alone against pretty overwhelming odds.

"Sokka! Help them!" She gestured back. Sokka looked at her for a moment, and then nodded, doubling back the way he had come as he drew his club. Now it was a race between Yue and Azula to get to Rinzen, but as Azula realised this she stopped and planted her feet. Blue electricity lit up between her fingers as Yue felt all the hair stand up on the back of her neck.

"Rinzen! Watch out!" She yelled.

Azula pointed at Rinzen and launched her thunderbolt. But Rinzen was slightly faster and had leapt into the air, jumping clean over the top of the blue energy. He used his airbending to keep himself aloft for a couple more seconds, until it had truly gone, and then floated back down onto the walkway.

but Azula's distraction had done its job. Yue watched with horror as the spark reached the edge of the platform and fell away, down the face of the dam and towards the hole.

"Run! It's going to blow!" She yelled at the Air Nomad. Rinzen grabbed his glider-staff and launched himself into thin air, wings appearing a moment later and carrying him aloft. Both Azula and Yue turned and began to run, Azula with a look of triumph on her face. The group fighting on the grass took one look at the looks on their faces and scattered, searching for any cover they could find.

And then the fuse reached the explosive charge buried deep within the dam's face. Yue reached the edge of the dam and threw herself down on the grass, covering her head. Gembul roared and took off, flying away as fast as he possibly could with Jet still in his saddle.

For a moment nothing happened. And then there was an ear-splitting explosion, and she knew nothing but noise.