Pre-Chapter A/N: Please do check out the first chapter of the novel I'm working on up on pa-treon- it's completely free to access. What can I say except you're welcome? Here we go. Lovely to have you all here, and I hope you enjoy this one. If you do, feel free to head over to pa-treon and read the next two chapters- I update there on a daily basis so there's always something for you to read.
Somehow, I managed to keep my grip on Aang robes even as we were carried into the hurricane. I could scarcely tell what was going on around us as we were swept around in its grasp, but that did not matter. I had the Avatar here with me, and I was going to put the bastard out of his misery. I raised a fist to his head and landed a straight jab to his face before I felt his feet on my chest, and he kicked me off of him, pushing me further into the hurricane. I tried to force my way back towards him, but something crashed into me from behind, knocking the air out of me.
I tried to strain against the wind currents before another thing hit me. I couldn't even tell what it was. I could tell, however, that I was getting angrier by the second. Instead of, as Jeong-Jeong had taught me, allowing the rage to dissipate, I used it to fuel my bending and used my fire jets to force myself backwards. Against all odds, I managed to shoot myself out of the hurricane. Of course, with as much force as I'd used, it was impossible to stop myself in time, and so I found myself preparing for a world of hurt.
It never came, as I landed in a pool of mud again.
"Thank you, Toph" I said as I swam to the top and began to pull myself out.
"Don't thank me, Dancy Feet, thank her. She's the one that could see you about to go splat," My adoptive daughter said, pointing at Maki.
I gave my friend a look. She looked dead on her feet, of course she did. We'd been fighting for Agni knows how long now, and Combustion-bending wasn't the easiest thing to do for long periods. It took truckloads of power, and shiploads of focus to use. She was swaying and had to keep a hand on a raised platform to remain upright.
"What are we going to do about that hurricane?" I groused. It was heading towards us now, and I could see the glowing bastard in the eye of the fucking storm.
"What hurricane? That's a tornado," Maki pointed out.
"Is there a fucking difference?"
"Hurricanes are much bigger, more dangerous, and they do come with rain and thunderstorms. Can't see any of that here, can we? Besides, hurricanes are caused by pressure, but tornadoes happen because of temperature" She said.
"Temperature?"
"Does any of this even matter right now?" Toph cut in.
"Hold on. You said temperature. If I heat that bitch up, is it going to fall apart?" I asked Maki.
"Tornadoes generally form when cold, dry air meets warm, moist air, creating wind shear and—"
"Yes or no, Maki. We don't have all day."
"Maybe."
"That's enough for me" I said, jetting off towards the tornado. I could feel my inner flame burning brightly. I started with a small explosion of heat and noted how it dispersed some of the wind around me. I could do this. I just had to go all out.
I felt for my inner flames and brought them to the forefront in another explosion of green fire. When I landed on the ground, it was right at the outskirts of the tornado's range. When it got closer and closer to me, I kept my feet pressed against the ground. Or at least I tried to. Thankfully, Toph could feel what I was doing. The ground lifted, locking my lower body into place. Good thing she hadn't stopped at just my feet. That would be a very unfortunate way to get crippled.
The tornado reached me and I thrust out both my hands against its flow. As much fire as I could release, I released. As much of my inner flame as could be unleashed in one go, I let go of. And it worked. The winds pressed against me at first, but eventually, they began to lose their kick. To lose their strength. Any regular fire bender would have died trying something like this. Good thing I wasn't regular then. My verdant flames meant that I could produce more heat and explosive force than any other.
If I'd expected the tornado to die down in a slow gradual manner, I was disappointed. It was like a switch being flicked. One second it was there, and the next, it was nothing. The winds flew up, driven upwards by the heat of my flames and I slumped against the earthen platform holding me still.
The earth dropped away once I began to stand on my own power. Aang landed on the ground right in front of me.
"If I had fought you when I was alive, we would have made a million songs" His mouth spoke the words, but they were clearly not his. He began walking towards me, and then it happened.
A flash of light, a boom of sound, and the lightning struck him. But it struck him wrongly. Tired as I was, I could see the way his body reacted. He was allowing the lightning to flow through him, just like I did when I redirected it. He turned around, fingers aimed at Azula, and then unleashed it. At least, I assumed he unleashed it— I never got to see that much because I was already moving in that time. My inner flame had been whittled down to nothing but embers. I'd have failed to use lightning right then and there if I'd tried. I'd probably have failed to use a firebending attack even.
But somehow, Toph knew exactly what I intended. I stretched a hand out and the knife flew into my grip, handle first. I didn't need to bring my fire out of my body. It did a good enough job inside. Aang was still occupied with his lightning, and so I moved. I moved faster than I'd ever moved before, spurred on by adrenaline, desperation, and who knows what else. This was my one and only shot. If this failed, I was dead. But it didn't fail. Azula's lightning bolt had been massive, and it seemed he was not as practiced at redirecting lightning as he should have been. The electricity numbed his reflexes. He tried to turn as I set off, but he was too slow. His body did not respond as it should have.
I stabbed the knife into his back, straight into where I knew his heart would be, and then I twisted it.
—
"Well, that's a fucked situation" I said as we all stared at Azula's body. We had laid both her and Aang next to each other, dead as they were.
"Extremely so," Toji agreed. He'd been standing next to Azula and so had sustained a few burns on his body, but he could still stand, and that meant he could still plot.
"We burn the bodies" was the first thing Maki said.
"Why?" Toph wondered.
"Azula is dead from a lightning strike. Guess who happens to be famous for tossing lightning around?" She asked.
"But it wasn't him. It was the Avatar".
"Yeah, most people will believe it, but there will always be rumors— especially if we do what I think we should do. It's best to burn the Avatar as well. Looking at him, it's obvious he was stabbed from behind. Can't have something like that gathering whispers, can we?" She asked.
"We can't" I agreed easily. The Fire nation nobility could be extremely anally retentive about their rules of civilized combat, and stabbing an enemy in the back was a massive no-no.
"What do you think we should do? Swear to Zuko?" I asked.
Toji snorted, like the thought itself offended him. I could relate to it.
"He's the heir. Firelord Ozai never explicitly disinherited him, and while his banishment might have made Princess here Heir Presumptive, she's dead. He's the eldest and only son of the last FireLord. The last living soul with the blood of Sozin. We can't just ignore that" She was right, but there were a few problems.
"Bend the knee to someone who had to cavort and plot with water benders, traitors, and the Avatar to seize the throne? I would rather die" Toji said, spitting to the side. This was a new side to him, but not an unexpected one. Whether he liked to remind people of it or not, he had still grown up in the Zenin family.
"Dying is likely either way. I did kill his Uncle, the man who was a father to him" I said idly, still watching the bodies as they laid. Death was a funny thing. I'd died before, and I'd felt nothing before I came here. Maybe it was time to rest. Aang had been a good fight, but I was tired. Bone-deep weary. I'd just beaten the strongest that this world had to offer. Might as well leave on a high note, I thought to myself.
"Then we don't bend the knee" He said. I tilted my head. I'd considered it, yes. But we had no legitimacy for a rebellion. Azula was someone we could rally behind. She was a pretext we could use. With her dead, there was nothing.
"Becoming an outlaw doesn't much appeal to me" I said. I had gotten used to a certain level of luxury and stability. A life on the run appealed little. This palace was over and done with, and without the army, I had little chance of maintaining a hold on Ba Sing Se. But I could take the Dai li with me and retreat to a smaller city. Taking Omashu again would be almost easy at this point. It was a distinct possibility, I figured.
"That's not what I mean. Azula is dead— not like she was that good a leader in the first place, so to hell with her, and Zuko is worthless. Why do we have to bow to either of them? In front of me, I've got the only FireLord worth bowing to" He said, pointing at me.
"That's a silly idea. My family hasn't married into royalty in generations. I don't have the blood." I said.
"This is what I think about their blood right to rule," He said, and then spat on the ground again. He was in a terrible mood, I could tell.
"What gave Ametaratsu and Tsukuyomi the right to take the first thrones of the Fire Nation and kill dozens of our ancestors until everyone bent the knee? Nothing, I tell you. No blood right. Just the right that the strong have over the weak, and you just killed the fucking Avatar. There's no one stronger—"
"It was more a group effort" I pointed out, but Toji was already moving on from that.
"I say you lead us. Kill that traitor Zuko and take the throne. If anyone dares oppose your rule, send me to their gates, and we can plant their heads outside ours when I'm done with them" He said.
"He does have a point," Maki pointed out.
"You agree with this?"
"Not at first, but Toji does make a good point. The Fire Nation values nothing more than she values strength, and you've been the strongest fucker around for a long, long time. Besides, you'd make a much better lord than the rest ever could. The people respect you. You are a decorated war hero. And for better or worse, you were officially engaged to the Princess before she died. It gives you enough legitimacy to lean on. You wouldn't spit on the sacrifices of thousands by trying to end the war with anything less than complete victory. The world will see a strong Fire Lord on the throne, and they will tremble" She said. I turned to Toph. She was being oddly silent.
"Why are you looking at me? I'm with them. It would be cool to be the FireLord's daughter" She said with a laugh.
"Okay, even if…and that's a massive fucking if— I want this, how do we get everyone to say yes? The military was only on-side because of Azula. With her gone, there's no chance the generals won't turn into squabbling children. They won't bow to me. They don't like me much just as I don't like them much".
"They don't need to like you. They fear you" Toji said, making me turn to him in shock.
"You didn't know? How rich" Maki said with a laugh while Toph grumbled before digging some coins from her pocket and dropping it into my friend's waiting palm.
"What were you betting on?"
"Toph here thought you were playing some kind of mental game with the Generals by being such an arsehole. I figured you were just being you," Maki said, still having mirth in her tone.
"We call the Generals back, and you give them two choices— bend the knee or die. You do it now, and then you separate the troublesome ones so they don't get the chance to plot with each other as we sail to the Capital. The Avatar is dead, we have an army, I say we take the capital now" Toji said, and I gave him a different look. This couldn't be coming off the cuff. He'd clearly been thinking about this, and the questions then become for how long, and to what ends?
"Okay, Toji. Let's go with your plan. It's not any more likely to end up with us losing our heads as any other, and the upside is immense. But how do we tell the ships to turn around?" I asked.
"Ships? They never left. What was the point in a retreat if the Princess was going to stay here?" He asked. I facepalmed.
"And we can't burn the bodies. We just need them to tell the right kind of story." Toji said next.
"You want us to desecrate corpses" I said.
"Better than having to deal with the suspicion of not having any bodies at all'" Toji riposted.
"Fine. Do as you will" I said, taking a step back as he began to instruct Toph and Maki on what to do.
First there was Azula. Toph held the body upright with her earth while Toji took a hold of her head, holding it lightly like he was caressing her and then snapped her neck.
"They fought, and the Avatar carried her up in his tornado, and she landed on the ground with a snapped neck when the tornado was finally destroyed" He instructed as he tossed her body up in the air at his full strength. It landed on the ground in an odd angle and left it there.
"Natsu, I'll need lightning for the Avatar" He said before instructing Maki to send a low powered blast into his back that burnt the wound shut and seared the bits of the outfit that had been stained by blood.
"I'm knackered."
"Dig up the energy" He said in a stern tone.
I scowled, pushing myself off from the boulder. I was leaning against. I'd recovered some of my energy at the very least, so it was enough to act as the spark for separating the positive and negative energies before smashing them back together in a lightning bolt that looked more like a stray lance of static. It did a good enough job of browning up the Avatar's skin, however. We would keep both bodies away from the Fire Sage by all means. If the man got a look at them, then he had a good chance of blowing the whole ruse. Luckily, he was my grandfather's man so if things went wrong, we still had that angle to play.
I went back to leaning against the boulder as Toji arranged both bodies atop stone tablets that Toph lifted from the ground. I went from leaning to sitting as I felt the weariness dig deeper.
"Get Long Feng first" I said, feeling sleep beginning to take me.
There was a snapping sound in front of my head and I could barely force my eyes open. They still felt so heavy.
"Here you go, Lord Natsu" Long Feng said, offering me a tea.
"What is this?"
"Specially brewed tea in a Dai Li recipe. It will restore your energy for a limited time, but you will crash even harder afterward." He said as I drank, not caring that the water was scalding hot. What was heat to a Son of Agni? I just needed the energy to get through the Generals.
"And what of the Generals?" I asked.
"Your Lieutenant, Toji, has gone to summon them here as you ordered" He said. I never ordered that, but I trusted Toji to act in my best interests, so I said nothing and waited for the tea to take effect.
When it did, it felt like I had been slapped awake, and not a second too soon as I noticed the line of carriages making their way towards us. I stood up straight, waiting for them to arrive and disembark. Toph and Long Feng stood off to the side while Maki stood right at my side. It hurt me to send them away like that, but if I was going to claim superiority to Zuko on the account that he cavorted with foreigners, saying so with two earthbenders at my side would stink to high heavens.
"My Generals, Welcome" I said, spreading out my arms.
"I wish it was better news that called for me to call you all here. But our Fire Lord has fallen in combat against the Avatar. While I was able to strike him down in time, it was too late to save our Fire Lord from his savagery" I said, and I watched their eyes flick to the bodies behind me.
"So what do we do now?" Sung asked. Oh, bless you Sung. I knew he knew I was up to something. And I knew he would support me, if only because he knew that supporting me would favour him in turn.
"The Fire Lord is dead. Long Live the Firelord", I proclaimed, and my hands produced green flames that I shot into the bodies behind me.
A/N: F in the chat for Aang and Azula? As always, the next two chapters are up on pa-treon. If you just want to read complete chapters and not my work in real-time, then feel free to purchase this story as a collection on my pa-treon page so you get to read each chapter after I finish it and not neecessarily the daily updates available with a regular pa-treon membership- nice way to support this story and me while you're at it. Enjoy!