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If You Bend It, They Will Cum	By : Datalaughing Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Threesomes/Moresomes Views: 96842 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Warning: No sex in this one. It's pure wall-to-wall action, emotion, and story. If you're just here for the screwing, I recommend the other 13 chapters. They're full of it. If you want to know how the story ends, then keep reading. Just thought I'd let you know up front.
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Chapter 14: The End of the End

They’d been flying around in circles over the Fire Nation capital for a couple of hours. They couldn’t see it, of course, because if they pulled the cloud cover back enough to see it, then there was always the chance, small though it might be that someone down there would spot them. They could see up, though, the sun was their only signal for when to begin their attack. So they needed to be able to keep an eye on it, so to speak.

Aang had taken Katara’s place maintaining their cloud camouflage to give her a bit of a rest, but now he asked her to take over again. Midday was approaching and with it, their best guess for the start of the eclipse. Everyone was a bit on edge, and there was one thing Aang still had to do before they went in.

The plan was for Appa to fly in as fast as possible, drop the team off and then fly back out to hide. Aang was pretty sure Appa understood what he was supposed to do. The bison was a lot smarter than he might look to some. If and when they managed to defeat the Fire Lord or if something went wrong, Aang was supposed to use his bison whistle to get Appa back so the group could make a hasty exit. He had a different idea.

Aang pulled Sokka aside. He shoved the bison whistle into the warrior’s hand. “Take this.” Sokka looked at the whistle and then back at Aang questioningly. “If something goes wrong, I want you to get Katara out.”

“Aang, we’re all staying until this is done, one way or the other. No one is going anywhere.”

“Listen to me, Sokka,” Aang was more serious than he’d ever seen him. “I have to stay no matter what. I’m the Avatar, and defeating the Fire Lord is my responsibility, but I know now that I have another responsibility, to her and to our baby. I have to beat Ozai or die trying. The rest of you don’t have that same burden.” Sokka started to object, but Aang cut him off. “Besides, if he kills me, do you really think you guys will be able to stop him?” Sokka looked like he wanted to be offended, but he couldn’t quite do it. “If I – if we can’t beat the Fire Lord, then you have to get your sister – you have to get all of them,” he looked over at Suki and Toph talking together quietly, “out of there. That’s your responsibility now.”

Sokka wanted to argue some more. The words were in his throat, but he just swallowed them back down. Instead he simply looked at the whistle, at his girlfriends, at his sister, and then back at hand and simply nodded his head. Aang nodded in return and went back over to help Katara. As Sokka watched him go, he was momentarily taken aback by just how much he’d changed from that little kid they’d found in the iceberg. Now he really seemed like the Avatar.

The conversation had happened none too soon, because before Aang could even make his way back to Katara, Iroh jerked up from his sitting position. “It’s time.” The old firebender had felt it before any of them had even seen it. The eclipse was beginning.

Aang leapt into the air, landing on Appa’s neck and grabbing hold of the reigns. “Everybody hold on tight.” He allowed half a second for them to get a grip on something. Katara gave up on holding their cloud together. They wouldn’t need it anymore. “Alright, buddy, yip yip!” And suddenly it was as if the ground had fallen out from under them.

Azula and Zuko both felt it before they saw it. It was as if something had clicked inside of them, or to be more precise, clicked off. The eclipse had begun, and for the next few minutes their firebending would be useless, but so would everyone else’s, and unlike the rest of the firebenders, the royal siblings had come prepared. Zuko had his broadswords strapped to his back. She’s seen him use them, and she knew how impressive he actually was. For her part, she had a few of Mai’s throwing knives inside of her sleeves. She wasn’t quite as good with them as her old friend, but they’d work well enough at a distance. In hand-to-hand fighting there were few that could match her, with or without her firebending. The guards in the imperial city, unexpectedly deprived of their primary method of attack would be no match for them.

She signaled to her personal cadre of earthbenders. It was time. The slab of stone they were on began moving again. They had paused just outside of the crater, waiting out of sight for the moment to strike, and not the moment had come.

Seeing the lead team begin moving the others soon followed suit, and before long an army surfing on huge rocks was cresting the volcano’s edge. The cresting part was a little tricky for the earthbenders and a bit scary for those not expecting it. For a moment it seemed like they were suspended in midair and then they were off again, flying down the other side at mind-boggling speeds. Azula pointed out their target to one of the earthbenders directing their motion, the palace. It was hard to miss, and as the attack force began to spread out along the interior of the crater, each group heading for their designated sections of the city, Azula couldn’t help but allow herself a little smile once again at how well things were going.

Appa was accelerating downward. It was frightening and more than a little bit dangerous, but they’d agreed that it was the only way. The firebending might be off, but they could still have catapults mounted along the edges of the city. The last thing they needed was to get into a dodging game before they could even get to the city. Besides which, there was no telling how long the eclipse would last. They had to make every second count.

Iroh had described the layout of the city and the palace to them in detail. Even so, it took Aang a moment to get his bearings and to locate the palace. He angled Appa in that direction and let his life-long six-legged companion handle the pace. Appa would know better than anyone when it was time to pull back.

The ride was a bit intense and the passengers all had their eyes closed and were attacked, white-knuckled to the edges of the saddle. Aang concentrated fully on making sure they were aiming for the palace, situated against the far wall of the crater. It was for this reason that none of them noticed the combined army descending all around the imperial city.

The ground came up at them faster and faster. Aang almost wished that he could close his eyes as well. As they soared over streets and rooftops he caught fleeting glimpses of what he thought were people at the edge of his sight, but he couldn’t afford to be distracted. They’d almost certainly seen Appa, but there was nothing to be done about it. He could see the main gates to the palace coming at them. They were beautiful and menacing at the same time, not to mention well-guarded, but the gate wasn’t their target. Beyond the gates was a courtyard, and that’s where they were headed.

Appa made it over the gates unchallenged, missing the top by what seemed like mere inches. Aang wondered absently if the guards outside had even had a chance to try to shoot fire blasts when they saw their approach. There wasn’t time to dwell on it, though. Appa pulled back at the last possible moment, stopping impressively quickly considering his mass and that he was executing the maneuver in the middle of thin air.

As soon as they were stopped, everyone dismounted, each had a task, and no one hesitated for a moment. Aang and Toph quickly turned toward the main gate. The gate itself was made of metal, but it didn’t matter. With a few quick hand motions the two master earthbenders had erected a wall of solid rock on their side of the door, effectively trapping the outside guards outside. They might be able to make it over the top given a few minutes, but by then it wouldn’t matter.

There were only a couple of guards stationed within the courtyard itself, and unfortunately for them the courtyard was also home to a rather large decorative fountain. Before they even knew what was happening Katara sent out two large waves of water, leaving them frozen to the walls.

Suki, Sokka, and Iroh rushed through the doorway that led into the palace proper. After traversing a long, empty passageway they found themselves inside a small chamber with three doors leading off in different directions. Only the center one was guarded. The four men standing almost shoulder to shoulder wore the uniforms of the Fire Lord’s personal guard. If their faces hadn’t been hidden the newcomers would have seen four very surprised looks.

Moving with almost impossible synchronization, Sokka and Suki both leapt into the air, and mirroring each other in swift movements kicked the two center guards into the metal doorway knocking them out cold, before swinging outward with their weapons and inflicting blows to the stomachs and then the heads of the two remaining guards, incapacitating them completely.

A moment later the three benders came running down the passageway as well. Katara ran forward, ready to assist Sokka and Suki if they needed it. Aang and Toph each turned in a different direction to handle one of the two unguarded doors. With a few quick hand motions, Aang tightened the stone frame around the door on the right side of the room, bringing the stone up and over the edges of the doorway. The door wouldn’t even be able to move. Toph ran up to the door and the left side of the room. Tapping the metal once or twice to get a feel for the impurities in it, she took hold and twisted, warping it in its frame. It would never open again. Then just to be sure, they each raised a slab of rock out of the ground to cover the doorway as they’d done in the courtyard. Now there were only two ways in or out of the chamber.

“Ok,” Sokka said. “This is where we split up.”

“Good luck.” Iroh said, turning to Aang.

“You too, General.”

Sokka and Suki kissed. Then each nodded at the other, a silent agreement that they would see each other again. Then Toph ran up and hugged her, much to the Kyoshi warrior’s surprise. She smiled. “You two, be careful.” Sokka just nodded again, and they turned toward the door.

Iroh had told them that anyone trying to enter the part of the palace inhabited by the royal family had to go through this door. The two other doors led into separate wings of the palace used for other things and accessible from the outside but separated from the large chambers that the royal family used for business and living. It was a kind of defensive strategy. If there was an attack, the invaders would have to come through this room. Funneling them through one room and one doorway meant that a small group of guards could hold off a large number of attackers indefinitely. Also, any good firebender could turn the small room into an oven for the invaders relatively quickly. They might have been in trouble had they not caught the guards completely by surprise and without their firebending. If they’d had time to call for backup from within the royal chambers, the attack might have gotten bogged down right there.

Now, though, Team Avatar had managed to turn the defenders’ own strategy against them. There was now only one way from the outside into this room, and that was if any Fire Nation soldiers managed to make into the courtyard before they’d completed their mission. Suki and Iroh would stay behind to guard the entrance and make sure their escape route was secure. Even if the eclipse was over before they were through, they had one of the best firebenders in the world watching their backs. No one was going to easily manage to traverse the passageway from the outside.

Azula’s attack group landed on the roof at the rear of the palace. They were actually tantalizingly close to the Fire Lord’s chambers. Zuko assumed that that was their target. The earthbenders should have been able to make a hole and drop into the chamber, taking the Fire Lord and his guards completely by surprise or better yet, simply collapse the roof, killing them all. The banished prince was a bit surprised to learn that his sister had something else in mind.

She knew, or at least suspected that the Fire Lord’s chamber had thick metal built into the walls and the ceiling to prevent something just like that from happening. It didn’t matter, though. There was another player in this game that her brother still knew nothing about, and she wasn’t about to jump to the end, not when things were going so well.

Nearby were the royal gardens, where they had played as children. Azula motioned Zuko to follow her, quietly in case there happened to be guards patrolling the area. When they got to the edge of the roof, Azula signaled the earthbenders to stay where they were until called for. The less people who saw what went on inside, the better. Then she motioned for her brother to follow as she dropped silently over the edge.

They moved quietly into the hallways of the royal chambers. There was no one around. Azula decided that their father must have really taken her message to heart. She’d sent a warning that a large group of water tribe ships had been sent to gain a foothold on one of the Fire Nation’s outlying islands. Furthermore, she’d implied that rumors were circulating that while this large attack was being carried out a smaller force was being sent to infiltrate the main port and open up an opportunity for the water tribe ships to continue their advance by invading the imperial island.

The upshot of all of this was that not only had their father sent most of their nearby naval strength to the far north, opening up the chance for her to get her ships through from the southeast, but anyone who could be spared from duty in the imperial city or even the palace itself was being sent to the port to block a potential attack at its source. She’d never dreamed that her misdirection would work so well. It was a benefit of having her father’s trust. If her people and the other players did their work as efficiently as she anticipated, her father would never know about the attack in time to even move to his underground bunkers.

Azula and Zuko crept down the passageways, making their way toward the Fire Lord’s chambers but also trying to avoid any important areas where guards might still be stationed. She didn’t want to risk having the alarm raised before her pawns had time to move themselves into position.

Finally they came to a doorway that looked down the passage leading to the Fire Lord’s main chamber. Zuko began to open it, but Azula held him back. Instead, she cracked it just slightly and motioned for him to watch with her. With the door cracked they could just make out the sounds of fighting somewhere down the passage.

“Who-“ Zuko exclaimed quietly. Zuko knew well that the plan called for only their attack group to be attacking the palace.

“Shh. Watch.”

The sound of fighting grew steadily louder for several moments. Whoever it was seemed to be winning. The battle was moving closer to the royal chambers at any rate. Then, through the flickering torchlight, they saw a soldier wearing the uniform of a royal guard fly through the air from one of the side passages and slam hard into the wall. He fell into a heap and didn’t move again.

“What is going on?” Zuko demanded in a harsh whisper. Azula seemed to know. She seemed to have been expecting this. The fact that she hadn’t told him, while not surprising, was infuriating.

“What’s going on, dear brother, is that you’re about to see why we won’t have to lift a finger to defeat Father.”

Before he could demand an explanation, a figure came running into the passageway, sending a blast of air backward. When Zuko saw it, his breath caught in his throat. “The Avatar.” He whispered.

“The Avatar.” She confirmed.

Thoughts flooded Zuko’s mind faster than he could handle them. That was what he’d forgotten, the piece of information that had been nagging at him. The Avatar was alive. He knew about the eclipse. Of course he knew, he’d been the one to find the information in the first place. That was what Azula had been hiding from him. She knew the Avatar would be here. He wouldn’t miss his one chance to defeat the Fire Lord. Her whole attack was a distraction to let the Avatar get into the palace and kill their father for her. Since the Avatar had returned, everyone knew he had one purpose driving him, to defeat the Fire Lord. No one would be surprised at his arrival at the head of an army to bring down the leader of the Fire Nation. There was just one problem.

“I won’t let him.” Zuko declared, and before Azula could say anything to stop him he took off down the passageway.

Azula smiled to herself, as she quickly closed the door most of the way again. There were several variations of her plan for which she had prepared. She’d known that even if she could convince Zuko to let their father be killed, his obsessive hatred of the Avatar wouldn’t allow the airbender to be the one to do it. Zuko would try to stop him, no matter the cost. In some of the variations her brother survived. She could have insisted that he stay outside with the earthbenders or she could help him in his battle against the Avatar. They had more than enough troops to defeat the Fire Lord without outside help. But Zuko had spurned her, and she’d promised him that he would regret it. So she’d let the Avatar and his friends dispose of her dear brother for her. It would be one less problem to deal with in the long run.

Sokka rounded the corner to stand next to Aang and then spun around to see if the others were following. Katara and Toph were finishing up a few of the guards they’re run into in the last hallway. There had actually been quite a few of them.

“AVATAR!!”

Sokka and Aang jerked their heads around just in time to see a figure barreling toward them, a large sword in each hand, hatred burning in his eyes. “Zuko?!” They both exclaimed. Then Sokka quickly dodged to the side and Aang managed a quick move to avoid the first strike from the two blades.

Katara looked down the passageway and caught sight of the unexpected encounter. “Zuko!” Her voice filled with rage. Having disposed of the last of the guards, she left Toph behind and went flying down the corridor as fast as she could manage. “Get away from him!” She screamed. At the same time she sent a pillar of water speeding in front of her. The veritable battering ram of water smashed into Zuko’s unprepared flank and sent him hurtling into the wall. Toph was right behind her, and as Zuko bounced off of the wall and fell toward the floor she kicked up a small column of rock that knocked him back into the wall again before letting him collapse on the floor.

Zuko was resilient and quickly began stirring again, but as the group prepared to fight, Katara held up a hand. “We don’t have time for this. You three go ahead. I’ll take care of him.”

“But Katara-“

“GO!”

With a quick nod, Aang turned and continued running down the passageway. There was no arguing with Katara when she was this determined, and they didn’t have time to try. The others quickly followed him.

Katara took a step back, and looked at Zuko, her eyes filled with loathing. “Get up.” She practically spit the words out. Not a request, not a command, but a challenge. Katara had brought several skins filled with water, and she was about to make good use of them. She pulled all of the water out. It was enough to form a decent octopus, and she readied herself for the fight.

Zuko picked his swords back up from where they’d fallen and rose unsteadily back to his feet. His head was still ringing from multiple impacts, but his attitude hadn’t suffered. “You’re going to regret sending your friends away.” He brandished the blades. “That is, if you live long enough.”

With that he lunged forward ferociously, but Katara was ready for him. She used the narrow hallway to her advantage, whipping one of the water tentacles out and using it to turn him, so that his own momentum ran him right into a wall. In the split second that he was dazed from this she sent another tentacle out to pluck one of the swords out of his hand. It went flying and landed somewhere behind her. She didn’t care where. There was no way she was letting him past her.

Zuko took a step back. He decided that maybe he hadn’t thought it through well enough. The problem was that without his bending, she had reach on him. The only chance he had was to get in close with his blade. If he couldn’t do it all at once, then maybe by inches.

“You’re just a silly little girl, still crying over your mother.”

“How dare you?!” Katara sent a tentacle whipping toward him, but Zuko was ready for it this time. He stepped forward slashing at it with his sword. The water that he separated from the main body fell, formless, to the ground. It only took Katara a fraction of a second to call it back. She couldn’t afford, after all to lose much, but that moment of distraction allowed him to inch a bit closer.

“You won’t get out of here, alive you know. Even if you beat me, even if you beat my father, there’s an army of firebenders out there. You won’t stand a chance once the eclipse is over.”

She lashed out at him again and again he sliced the watery tentacle in half before it could touch him, gaining another couple of inches. “The Fire Nation will get a new Fire Lord, and things will go on like they have. You won’t change anything.” Another whip, another slice, another inch. “You’ll all die. Your little blind friend.” Another whip, another inch. “Your brother.” Another whip, another inch. “Even your precious Avatar.”

This time Katara sent out two water lashes. Zuko got one, but the other sliced deep into his clothing, leaving a bloody gash in his left bicep. She wasn’t playing around anymore. Those water lashes cut like razors. The pain sent him back a bit, losing over half the ground he’d gained.

“Don’t test me, Zuko.” She warned. “You’ll regret it.”

He laughed. “I must have hit a nerve that time.” Her eyes narrowed, and she sent out another two lashes, one he parried, the other he cut in half. “I thought you were just a scared little girl playing hero.” Three lashes now, but he cut the one in the middle and slipped between the other two. “But maybe there’s something more. You love him don’t you?”

She attacked again, screaming, rage flowing out of her through the water. He stopped one but more cut at him, slicing into his arms and legs, but now he moved forward through the pain. He had found a weakness, and he would press it. “That’s too bad.” He was very close now, but her eyes were locked to his, fire against fire. “That’s really too bad because I am going to kill him myself!”

She screamed again, throwing all of the power that she could at him, but he was ready for it. He rolled, avoiding most of the attack, though one of the lowest tentacles bit deep into his shoulder. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t use his sword arm for a moment, but he didn’t miss the opportunity to stick out one arm and trip her as he rolled past.

Katara lost her footing and fell. She also lost her concentration and the water she had animated with her impressive talents fell to the ground and began spreading across the floor. Before she knew it, Zuko had his other sword back. Now doubly armed once again, though the injury to his right shoulder left that arm hanging almost limp.

Katara didn’t dare to move. If she began to get up he could be on her before she’d found her feet. She simply stared up at him, her eyes filled with all the rage and hate she could muster. “You’re an evil person.” She told him. “And to think, for a minute, underneath Ba Sing Se, I thought you had actually changed.”

“I am the prince of the Fire Nation.” Zuko declared. “That will never change.” Suddenly the truth of that statement hit him hard. He was the prince, and despite what his father or sister or anyone else might think, he was a loyal prince. He couldn’t let Azula succeed. He couldn’t let anyone hurt his father. It didn’t matter what happened. He had to defend his nation and his family, because that was the kind of person, the kind of prince that he was at heart.

This moment of revelation stopped him dead in his tracks for just a moment, but that moment was all the master waterbender needed. The water that she had been controlling had been spreading across the ground while they talked, and now a good amount of it was right at his feet. She reached out, creating another limb from the water, not a thick one, but strong enough. It wrapped itself around his leg and then she pulled it back hard. Zuko fell hard, flat on his back and his two swords skittered off in either direction.

Katara was on her feet again in an instant, and before he could make a move, she had her foot sitting on his stomach. She looked down at him, the hate in her eyes now mixed with something else, maybe just a hint of a superior smirk or just a dab of pity for the prince on his back.

“You’re an evil person.” She repeated. “Everything you’ve done since I’ve known you has only made the world a worse place for everyone. It will be better off without you.” So saying she raised her arm, and the small tendril of water turned into a vicious looking icicle, and then her arm came down with lightning speed, aiming it right for the center of his chest.

“Mai.”

Katara hurried after the others. She hoped they hadn’t gotten far, and she really hoped that she hadn’t wasted too much time with Zuko to be able to help. She found the three of them standing outside a huge set of metal doors. These were the main doors to the Fire Lord’s inner chambers. They’d apparently run into a good number of guards because there were quite a few bodies lying around. Some appeared to simply be unconscious. Some were obviously considerably worse off. Toph was tapping on metal, trying to get a feel for the impurities.

“I don’t think they’re going to open up just because you knock.” Sokka said. He was joking, but it was distracting.

Katara elbowed him as she walked up. “Leave her alone.” Aang beamed to see her again, and the pair exchanged a loving embrace.

“Where’s Zuko?” Sokka asked, now deadly serious.

“Gone.” Katara said matter-of-factly. “For good this time.”

Sokka nodded solemnly. Then under his breath, “It’s about time.”

“I think I’ve got it.” Toph announced. She pressed her fingers into the metal, which bent, giving her a good place to grip. Then in one quick motion, she twisted the huge doors out of their fittings and sent them flying inward. Not wanting to miss out on the surprise factor generated by their entrance, the four of them followed quickly behind.

Azula had watched Zuko disappear down the side passage. She’d seen the water hit him and the others disappear around the next corner. So she could only assume that the waterbender had stayed back to fight her brother alone. Azula wondered vaguely if he was up to the challenge. She rather doubted it, not without his firebending. That Water Tribe girl was good.

As if to confirm her thoughts, a few moments later the waterbender came hurrying out of the side passage and ran off after her friends. Azula crept after her as quickly as she could, not even bothering to look to see what had happened to her brother. She could imagine easily enough, and it was no less than he deserved for how he’d dared to treat her.

She followed at a distance and when she saw the girl rejoin her group in front of her father’s chambers, Azula hung back, waiting to see what they would do. When she saw the girl break down the door with hardly a motion, she was not entirely surprised. A metalbender. She’d suspected as much after the incident in the prison at Ba Sing Se, but to see if confirmed, and so much power. It was an interesting new development.

Once they were inside, Azula crept up and took up a position outside the door. She could hear the voices inside. This was perfect. She was quite content to simply stand outside the door and bide her time. Even if the Avatar and his friends couldn’t defeat her father, and she had to admit that it was entirely possible, surely they could at least wear him down enough that she or the men under her command could finish the job. After all, she was his beloved daughter. She had to suppress a laugh as she tried to listen to the exchange within the chamber.

“Fire Lord Ozai!” Aang declared after the party had rushed into the room, “Your was on the world ends here.” Ozai was sitting on a throne on a raised platform that seemed to take up a large area of the room. Fire surrounded him and on the ground in front of him were about a dozen royal guards.

“We will see, young Avatar. Guards, attack!” Ozai seemed satisfied to sit and watch for the time being, possibly hoping to have his firebending back before being forced to face Aang himself. The airbender wasn’t going to give him that chance.

“You guys take care of the guards.” Aang said, “I’m going after Ozai.” With that he leapt into the air, over the heads of the guards and onto the fiery platform.

Sokka and Katara started to advance on the guards while they were distracted by the flying boy and trying to decide which way to turn, but Toph, hearing them move, held out a hand. All she needed was a moment. The floor was wood-paneled, an odd choice, she thought, considering how much fire probably got thrown around in here. Still, she could feel stone beneath the small sheets of wood. She couldn’t see a thing, and she wasn’t going to be much good to anyone like that. So before the battle was joined she was going to change the playing field some.

Toph spread her legs out, getting into a solid stance and holding her hands out to either side of her. “Hold onto something.” She said, just loud enough for Sokka and Katara to hear her. Sensing that she was planning something big, the siblings ran to the nearest of the supporting columns and took hold as best they could. A moment later, Toph started a series of quick hand motions and foot stomps. The entire room began shaking. The ground undulated, breaking the wood paneling apart and sending many of the guards sprawling to the going. Wood planks and splinters were flying in every direction, but the earthbending master wasn’t done. Pillars of earth began erupting from beneath the flooring, breaking apart large chunks of wood and even sending a couple of the guards flying into nearby walls.

By the time she was done, few of the guards were still on their feet, mostly only those who had managed to grab hold of support pillars themselves when the shaking started. The once-beautiful floor was completely obliterated, shards and splinters lay everywhere, but most of the pieces had been bounced to the edges of the room, and the stone underneath was exposed.

“Now!” Toph exclaimed, letting her friends know that the time had come. As they ran forward to take care of the remaining guards, Toph took a moment to feel the room out. The firebenders had lined the stone walls and ceiling with metal. She could feel it plainly, but not the floor, for some reason. Maybe they thought the wood would solve the problem. A mistake on their part, but not one that the blind earthbender would be complaining about. The raised platform, though, was another problem. The foundation was stone, but there was a metal plate above that. If Aang and Ozai kept their fight confined to the platform, she wouldn’t be able to help. She decided that was probably the way he wanted it. Then she created a pillar of earth and launched a guard into the ceiling as he tried to attack Sokka from behind.

As Aang jumped through the air toward Ozai, he could see that the impression that the Fire Lord was sitting within the flames was an illusion, created by a line of fire in front of him and another, higher one behind him. In between there was actually a relatively roomy wood-paneled strip leading from one end of the platform to the other. It was on this strip that Aang landed firmly his staff in his hand, just a foot from the Fire Lord. Ozai barely acknowledged his presence, as if it was completely unimportant to him.

“Give up, Fire Lord. You can’t win.”

Ozai spoke with a quiet, sinister power. “I’m afraid I don’t agree.” As soon as the final word left his mouth he moved, lightning quick. A sword was in his hand, as if it had gotten there by magic, and it slashed straight for the Avatar’s neck. Aang managed to lean back just enough to avoid the strike by a hair’s breadth.

The strike was followed by another and another, the Fire Lord out of his seat now without breaking his attack. Aang dodged one after the other steadily moving back, and now the area between the two fires didn’t seem to allow quite as much room for movement as it had a moment ago. He swung his staff out to block the sword strike and give him an opening for attack, but the sword swing had more power behind it than he had anticipated, and instead the staff was sent flying to the ground below.

“You’ve lost your weapon, Avatar.”

“I don’t need a weapon to beat you.” Then Aang leapt backwards, his feet narrowly avoiding yet another sword strike and just before hitting the wall he created a sphere swirling air, and rode the air scooter along the outside wall, well out of Ozai’s reach. As he went he dug a few small pieces of stone from the wall with his earthbending and pelted the Fire Lord with them.

Wielding his sword like a master Ozai blocked each and every attack. He kept his eye on the Avatar as he made his way around the room, but he didn’t move to go after him. If the last airbender wanted to draw this fight out, that was fine with him. The longer it took the more chance there was that the eclipse would end and the firebending would return. After that, the boy wouldn’t stand a chance.

Aang finally dismounted at the opposite end of the small strip of wood, his view of the Fire Lord now blocked partially by the throne. Generating a huge gust of air, he sent it flying down the fire-trimmed alley, directly into the throne. It was so powerful that the seat of Fire Nation authority was uprooted and tumbled toward its owner. Aang then sent a large chunk of rock flying just behind it.

As he’d anticipated Ozai sliced through the middle of his wooden throne with ease, but surprisingly, his reflexes were also quick enough that he spotted the stone flying straight toward his head, and with a quick motion deflected it harmlessly away.

“You’ve learned your lessons well, young Avatar. Running and cheating, deception and cowardice are the trademarks of the lesser bending arts. It is unfortunate that no master of the superior discipline was willing to teach you. Then you might not have needed this eclipse to cover your pathetic assassination attempt.”

Aang took the information in. The Fire Lord didn’t know that he’d found a firebending teacher and mastered fire. He let that fact sit in the back of his mind. Maybe there was some way he could use it to his advantage before this was over.

“Sokka!” The three other members of Team Avatar in the room turned to look toward the entrance as Suki came running in. Sokka ran to intercept her, and the two embraced.

“Suki, what are you doing here?”

“General Iroh said you could probably use my help. No one had even managed to get into the courtyard yet.”

“Yet.” Sokka emphasized. “This wasn’t the plan.”

“He said, judging by how long it was taking, he didn’t think they wanted to risk coming in until they had their firebending back. He said if they started using fire in that confined space it would probably be better if I wasn’t there.”

Sokka couldn’t argue with that logic, though it did seem strange that no one had tried to get in yet. He couldn’t imagine them all waiting around outside for the eclipse to be over … unless they had something else to deal with.

Before his mind could get too far along that line of thinking, Suki brought him back to the present. “What’s going on?”

“Aang is fighting the Fire Lord.”

“Shouldn’t we do something to help.”

“No.” The voice was sure and authoritative. It had also come from Katara. She knew Aang better than anyone, and she knew that if he could, he would want to defeat the Fire Lord on his own. He felt like it was his responsibility. Katara wasn’t going to deny him that chance. However, she’d gotten back most of the water she’d dropped in her fight with Zuko, and if things started going badly for the Avatar, she would be the first one to his side. What she couldn’t understand was why they seemed to be just talking now. Aang knew better than that. Ozai would draw the fight out as long as he could to get his firebending back. She only hoped that Aang knew what he was doing.

“My grandfather was an old man when he killed Avatar Roku and began this war. I am in my prime, and you are nothing compared to Roku.” Ozai was just taunting him now. Aang sent another blast of air at him, but all it did was ruffle the Fire Lord’s clothing. Ozai smiled imperiously. “Is that the best you can muster, Avatar? Pathetic.”

Aang had sized Ozai up rather quickly. He was conniving, a schemer like his daughter. No surprise there. And now he was tying to goad Aang into getting angry into attacking without thinking about it or failing that just delay him long enough for the eclipse to end. Aang didn’t know how long it had been since it started, just a few minutes he thought, though it seemed like an eternity. All he had to do was let Ozai think he’d succeeded.

Aang screamed, his face contorted with anger, and he began an airbending enhanced run at Ozai. It was the moment the Fire Lord had been waiting for. He prepared his sword to meet the airbender’s attack head-on, but when he struck, the air was empty. Aang had gone into a slide, below the sword strike and raised a foot at the last second. Most of the energy from the run was sent through his extended leg squarely into the Fire Lord’s unsuspecting stomach. Ozai went flying backwards with a loud, “Oomph!”

Then, taking a page from Toph’s book, Aang used his earthbending to extend a small column of rock from the wall at just the right moment (it couldn’t be very big because beyond the small layer of stone was a sheet of metal) to bounce the Fire Lord back toward him. Then a well-placed kick, augmented with another powerful gust of wind, sent Ozai tumbling through the air toward where the others were standing.

His sword fell from his hand as he flew, but them much to everyone’s surprise, the Fire Lord managed to turn what should have been a serious fall into a back handspring, pushing off the ground with his hands at the right moment to flip backwards and land firmly on his feet again.

These brief moments of contact with the newly exposed stone floor were enough for Toph. With the subtlest of foot movements, she sent out a wave of earthbending that caused the rock under Ozai’s left foot to turn into soft sand before his movement was completed. His foot sank a couple of inches and then the floor hardened again. The completely unexpected instability of the floor sent him off balance and he fell backwards with a “whump.”

Aang came soaring through the air, landing firmly right next to the sprawled form of the Fire Nation’s unquestioned leader. Sokka called out his name and threw him his staff. Aang twirled it around quickly once and then placed the end of it at the Fire Lord’s throat. “It’s over.” He proclaimed.

“I don’t think so.” Ozai replied, smiling once again, and he suddenly sent a burst of fire flying at the Avatar.

Fortunately for him, Aang’s firebending training had made him somewhat sensitive to it as well, and Iroh’s declaration at the beginning of the eclipse had told him what it felt like. So when the eclipse ended and the ability to firebend returned, Aang knew it as well.

He leapt backwards spinning his staff as a focus for his airbending to dissipate the ball of flame. Ozai wrenched his foot free quickly and got back to his feet, shooting more powerful fire blasts as he did so. Aang dodged or dissipated each blast in turn, but the Fire Lord had more brute force than just about any firebender he’d faced. He knew he wouldn’t be able to hold out for long. One fire ball he redirected, using what looked for all the world like airbending but was actually firebending and sent it back at Ozai.

This was a critical moment. If Ozai had realized that the Avatar had learned firebending, he might have been more cautious, but anger cloud’s the judgment of even the most shrewd, and the embarrassment of lying on his back with this child at his throat angered Ozai to no end. He decided the time had come to finish the fight. With a swift motion he sent an enormous bolt of lightning at the Avatar, confident that the game was at an end.

Aang received the bolt through his staff, channeled it up his arm, into his stomach, just as Iroh had instructed him and back up out the other arm, sending it on a direct return path toward the smug Fire Lord.

Ozai didn’t even have time to fully assimilate what he was seeing before the bolt of lightning struck him full in the chest and sent him flying into the opposite wall where he crumpled into a heap. They could all tell that he wouldn’t be getting up again.

Aang’s friends, stunned for a moment, suddenly broke out in cheers. They ran to the Avatar, hugging him with cries of, “You did it!” and “We won!” Katara kissed him deeply and passionately. The nightmare was finally over or so they thought.

Out of the silence pervading the rest of the palace came the sound of slow, steady clapping. They all turned toward the doorway where Azula had appeared, standing over the body of her now-deceased father. “Very impressive, Avatar. You’ve defeated the Fire Lord.” She said it with that smug manner and sinister smile that made the bottom drop out of people’s stomachs. “I suppose there’s only one thing to say now.”

Team Avatar took up fighting stances. Defeating the Fire Lord may have been Aang’s responsibility, but Azula was someone they all wanted a piece of. “’Goodbye’?” Katara suggested?

“Clever, but I was thinking of something more like, ‘Now, slave!’”

Only one of them understood her meaning, but the rest didn’t have time to guess. “I’m sorry, Sokka.” Came a voice from behind them, but quicker than any of them could react the sound of Suki’s metal fan’s rung out, and the person nearest her dropped to the ground.

“KATARA!” Aang’s anguished voice seemed to fill the entire palace as he rushed toward the fallen waterbender, for that moment not caring about anything else in the world. The fan had struck true, biting deeply into the back of Katara’s neck, shearing her beautiful hair before slicing into her spine. She fell forward, the life already gone from her eyes.

Suki didn’t stop at the one move. She knew Aang would rush to the side of his lover, ignoring all else, and she was already in motion to intercept him when, before the waterbender’s body had even hit the floor, two slabs of rock emerged from the ground on either side of the former Kyoshi warrior and crushed her body in between them, before quickly disappearing back into the ground, taking all evidence with them.

Toph’s sightless eyes stared at the spot where she had disappeared for a long moment as Aang and Sokka rushed to Katata’s side. “Katara.” Sokka choked out, but one touch, one look told him that she was already gone. Then he looked at where he’d seen his love disappear. “Suki.” He couldn’t believe it. He’d seen it with his own eyes, and still he refused to believe that it was true. Then he looked toward Azula, his eyes filling rapidly with all the hatred in the world. She was laughing. “YOU!”

“You didn’t know?” Azula asked, her calm, superior voice mocking the loss of life, mocking his pain, pain without measure, without depth or breadth. “When I began my work on her, her mind was almost gone. She was desperate for sensation, for feeling. The Kyoshi warriors had addicted her to it. And I gave her what she craved. Broke her mind, bent her to my will until she belonged to only me, body and soul.” She said it so flippantly, so coldly. “Did you really think a few weeks with you would change that?” She her dark, evil laugh. “She was the perfect slave right to the end.”

Sokka screamed with rage and threw the first thing he could lay his hands on, his boomerang, as hard as he could. Azula actually plucked it out of the air and dropped it to the ground. Then Toph began, her white/green eyes filled with tears that couldn’t obscure her senses. Shards and pillars and columns of rock began emerging from the ground, assaulting Azula from every angle, but somehow the princess managed to avoid every strike, and she did it as though none of it were even a challenge. She wasn’t even fighting back.

While Toph had her distracted, Sokka turned back to Aang. He was still kneeling over the body. Sokka knew how he felt. He’d lost a sister and a lover in as many seconds, not to mention the life she was carrying inside of her, but they needed Aang right now. “Aang.” He called out. The Avatar did not respond. Sokka grabbed his shoulders, and spun Aang around. “Aang, we have to – oh no.”

Aang’s eyes were glowing more brightly than he’d ever seen. The tattoo atop his head was aflame with blinding white light. Sokka let go and quickly took a step back. Aang’s face was contorted with anger, fury unlike anything Sokka had ever encountered, and as he rose into the air, gradually becoming surrounded by the telltale glowing ball of energy that signaled his descent into the Avatar State, Sokka knew deep down that no one could stop him now.

He reached out and took Toph’s hand, disrupting her attacks on the nimble Fire Nation princess. “We have to go, Toph.”

Toph had felt Aang lift off from the ground, but beyond that she had no idea what was happening. “What about Twinkle Toes?”

“We have to go, now!” He began moving and pulled her along behind him. Trusting in his judgment, Toph followed suit, and as they ran she raised a wall of earth in between them and Azula, creating a safe path for their escape. Sokka even had a chance to scoop up his boomerang as they left.

“Run!” She yelled after them mockingly. “Do you see, Avatar? Even your friends abandon you now.” Aang didn’t say a word. He floated there, glowing, but there was the slightest tremor, something deep below them was moving. “Do you think you can frighten me with your Avatar tricks? I’ve killed you once in the Avatar State. It’s not too much of a chore to do it again, and this time you don’t have anyone to save you from your fate.”

She walked toward him, almost unconcerned with the incredible power he was displaying. She took a moment to get into a good stance and then with a familiar set of hand motions, launched a bolt of lightning at the glowing airbender. Much to her surprise, the lightning simply crackled around the edges of the sphere of light surrounding him and the shot off into one of the chamber walls.

Azula’s face transitioned from smug to surprised to determined in the space of a second. Then she grounded her stance even more and launched another, even stronger bolt at her stationary foe. The effect was the same as before, this time sending a plume of rock exploding where the lightning bounced off into a column. Concerned but not discouraged Azula launched another bolt and then another and another, sending them as fast as she could manage now, one after the other, thinking if she could just apply enough force she could pierce the strange energy shell.

After a few moments she had to stop to catch her breath. When the smoke and rock dust cleared, she saw that her attacks had had absolutely no effect except to decimate the chamber even further. Now getting rather angry she began sending off bolts of fire and then leapt into the air, thinking that she might accomplish physically what she couldn’t with energy. The fire balls and her body bounced off of the shell with equal ineffectiveness.

As she got to her feet she began to realize that the vague distant rumbling had grown stronger, now the ground beneath her feet seemed to be undulating disturbingly. For the first time she was worried that perhaps her plan hadn’t gone as well as she’d hoped. With a last look at the Avatar, she turned and began to run. She had to get back to her Dai Li agents. She had to get away before the boy in the bubble finished whatever it was he was doing. She wouldn’t make it.

Sokka and Toph quickly cleared the distance that had taken them several minutes to traverse previously. Of course this time there weren’t guards to deal with every couple of turns, just their bodies to avoid. They found Iroh standing alone in the room where they’d left him. It didn’t seem that anyone had managed to make their way into the courtyard to challenge him. Sokka ran past him, yelling for him to follow.

Iroh began running, but a quick glance at the empty passage behind them told him that something was wrong. “Where are the others?”

“They’re not coming.” Sokka yelled, the truth of the situation evident in his voice. Iroh bowed his head at the news and kept going. They could feel the ground beneath them shaking now. If Aang was doing what Sokka thought he was doing, they probably didn’t have much time. Sokka pulled out the whistle that Aang had given him not even an hour before. It seemed like so long ago. He put it to his lips and began blowing as hard as he could even before they’d made their way back into the courtyard.

The courtyard was still deserted, other than the guards who remained frozen to the walls, a final testament to Katara’s abilities. Sokka blew the whistle again, searching the skies for Appa’s approach. Iroh approached the wall of the courtyard. He was still rather surprised that no one had managed to get in since they’d blocked the gate. Outside he could hear what sounded like a battle. “There is something going on in the city.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Sokka told him. “We have to go.” He blew the whistle again. The shaking of the ground was getting more prominent with every passing moment. Then he spotted him. The giant sky bison came soaring down from out of the sun, now shining brightly once again, and landed with impossible grace in the courtyard. The three of them quickly climbed onto his back and Sokka took the reigns. “Yip yip.” Appa hesitated for a moment, glancing around as if he was expecting someone else. Sokka understood, but they didn’t have time. “Yip yip!” He demanded again, this time flicking the reigns a bit.

Appa relented and took to the skies. Sokka did his best to communicate to the lovable beast that they needed to go fast. He thought a couple more flicks managed to get the message across and Appa sped away from the imperial city as fast as he could manage.

Iroh was looking at the city as they flew away. He saw what looked like a pitched battle with earth and water benders swarming across the city, plying their skills against an obviously diminishing army of firebenders, but he could also see reinforcements making their way up the mountainside from the port. Strangely, though, he almost thought he could see the entire mountain shaking now.

“There has been an invasion.” He told the others. Toph, of course, couldn’t see it, and Sokka was focused completely on going forward. “An army of earthbenders and waterbenders have taken most of the imperial city.”

“We should go back and help them.” Toph said. She still wasn’t sure what was going on. Sokka hadn’t seen fit to tell them anything. Though an army of earthbenders certainly explained the shaking they’d felt.

“What we have to do is get as far away as possible.”

“Why?” She insisted.

“Because –“ Before he could complete his response there was an explosion so huge that it seemed to rock the entire planet. They felt the shockwave in the air, and it nearly knocked them from the saddle, despite the fact that Appa had quickly managed to put a lot of distance between them and the place they’d left behind.

“Oh no.” Iroh said, his voice sad beyond measure.

“What is it?!” Not knowing what was going on was really starting to irritate her.

“It’s gone.” Sokka said, without even having to look back to confirm it.

“What is?”

“The city.” Iroh told her. “The mountain, the entire island. All those people, gone in an instant.” Plumes of smoke and ash were rising into the sky behind them. Iroh couldn’t bear to look back any longer. Instead he buried his head in his hands.

“But how, oh.” Toph put it all together. Katara’s death had sent Aang over the edge. She knew how powerful he could be in the Avatar State, but power on that scale. It was unbelievable. Then it all began settling in on her. There friends were gone. Aang, Katara, even Suki (and right when she’d started to like that girl). In the heat of the moment it had seemed like a dream, but now the reality began to set in. She felt her way over to where Sokka sat on the back of Appa’s neck. She wrapped her arms around one of his and began weeping gently into his shoulder.

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EPILOGUE? Well, that's the end finally, but I am considering adding a short epilogue, kind of a 20 years later thing. If anyone would be interested in that, just say so.
I really enjoyed this one, probably one of the most epic stories I've written. Let me know what you thought. I am also accepting suggestions for future stories. Someone mentioned an Avatar/JLU crossover that I thought could be interesting. I dunno yet.

So thanks everyone for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you thought. Feedback is what keeps me writing (and the only thing that can stop me, if you just can't suffer through anymore). Hmm, that sounded kind of contradictory, but whatever.

The End! ... ?
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If You Bend It, They Will Cum