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Bitter Alliance	By : Looneyluna Category: Avatar - The Last Airbender > Het - Male/Female > Katara/Zuko Views: 31138 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- 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
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Act II

Chapter Nine --

The pain of separation gnaws at me as seasons blend together and mark the passage of time. I long to visit Katara’s dreams, but Mahari says it is too dangerous. Instead, I seek the core daily, spying on my father and gathering intelligence for the resistance. Seeing the madness in my father’s eyes as he rants and babbles, I realize how feeble he has truly become. Yes, he controls Sozin’s comet and continues to hold all the nations hostage. But his power has come with a heavy price – his sanity.

I don’t know whether to be grateful or fearful for his current state of mind. Insane, he has lost his focus, but he has gained an edge that most do not consider. The insanity has created an atmosphere of fear that has no rival. My nation’s history is peppered with bloody, nonsensical violence, but it has never been as it is now. Daily executions are held, whether for sport or political motivations, I do not know. Nor do I care.

I have learned my father’s true motivation. As the fragments of Sozin’s comet corrupt the purity of the elements, it seeps into the other realms like a malignant cancer. It is not only our planet that is in danger; it is the very fabric of our existence. Ozai seeks to conquer the Spirit World. With the knowledge of generations past, he will become omnipotent and undefeatable.

I crouch in the dense bushes, ignoring the sting of mosquitoes as they bite into my flesh. The sound of the crickets is almost deafening. I can’t remember the last time I was above ground at night. My father’s madness has provided the kind of distraction that allows me to remain above ground.

My mind wanders. I can’t help myself. Katara is never far from my thoughts. I know she is safe in the desert. So are the children. My father cannot send the fiery rain down for fear that he may hit my daughter. I immediately chastise myself, bringing myself to task.

I focus on what needs to be done. I focus on my father. I have spent months training for the moment that is close at hand. As I crouch in the shadows, I keep my mind blank and my soul dark. I know nothing of troop movements or raids. My connection with my father is both a liability and a gift. The resistance is in place.

I wait for the signal that will herald the beginning of the end, drawing the guards away from their master.

Staying focused grows increasingly difficult as my mind strays to memories of my lover. I have given up trying to remember what she looks like. Only the color of her eyes remains locked in the depths of my mind. They are blue, I think. Besides, my memories would never do her justice.

The ground shifts beneath my feet, rolling toward the nearby garrison. I can scarcely believe we have come this far. It has taken so long to gather the scattered remnants of the resistance to inflict any real damage against my father’s loyal followers. The constant shifting of the tunnels requires round the clock attention from all Earthbenders.

With strategic precision, the garrison collapses in on itself. Not even the metal frame and foundation are able to withstand the laws of physics. Alarms blare and I hear the sounds of war saturate the air around me. Death comes from below, rising from the ground as giant pillars meant to rend the hastily repaired structures asunder emerge – all of them except the throne room.

My father is there. They have left the throne room alone for me to complete my mission – to kill my sire.

He probably knows I am on my way, but I shall make him wait. The bitterness of my revenge pumps through my veins. Reaching behind myself, I touch my broadswords in reassurance. Mahari gave them to me at the last minute, telling me to call upon my natural talents. I ignore the look in her eyes. It is an unenviable look – one that says I won’t be coming back. I don’t need any more distractions.

An explosion jumps high into the night sky, marking the end of the armory.

With practiced stealth, I steal across the courtyard, using the added shadows that the firelight of destruction has afforded me. Slicing through the flimsy paper screens that serve as doors, I enter my father’s lair. I move with stealth past the temple of the Fire Sages and into the throne room. I am a shadow even in my own mind.

I can feel the heat from the ancestral fire as it seethes and writhes in time with my father’s rage. Sheathing my broadswords, I blast the door open with a quick burst of fire that sends the Sages scrambling toward my father to protect the man who is Agni incarnate.

I make no attempt to disguise my approach or contempt as I round the giant red columns that pepper the room.

“My son,” the man who sired me hisses. “Welcome back.”

I say nothing, keeping my eyes on the holy men who clamor around him. The one on the right steps down, taking a defensive posture as my father watches with veiled interest.

The Fire Sage hurls poisoned daggers at me, which I deflect easily with my broadswords. I dispatch him quickly, slicing bits and pieces of flesh from his body, before I run him through.

Pulling my sword from his body, I sidestep his body as he falls forward. The smell of blood assaults my olfactory nerves, lending a rush of adrenaline to my pounding heartbeat.

I turn toward my father and the second Sage comes at me. He bends the fire nearest him in an attempt to harm me. His attempt fails miserably as I reflect his attempt and turn it back against him. As the flesh peels from his bones, he runs screaming into the night.

The third and final Sage steps in front of his master. His attack is much more focused as he harnesses the fire from the ornate lanterns around the room and sweeps it at my feet. I see the satisfied smirk on his face turn to disbelief as I leap into the air and land safely next to him. Swinging my broadsword through the muscle, bone, and sinew of his neck, it takes a brief moment before the momentum of the action yields its desired effect. His head rolls onto the floor and his carcass falls to its knees.

As I draw closer, I find my father’s sarcastic, impassive features have changed into offended hatred. He is no longer the youthful godlike man of long ago, but a dangerous shell of a resentful spirit, waiting to pass into the next world.

He applauds my display of bravado with mocking pride, not even bothering to stand up to face the threat that is before him.

“Well done, my son.” He spits fire from his mouth and I leap back in retreat, hurling fire from the bottom of my right foot as I bring it down in a round kick. My attempt barely fazes him and he waves it away.

Our destructive element surrounds me. I break through the wall of fire and retreat behind one of the pillars.

“I couldn’t have thought of a more befitting end for the charlatans who coveted my power.” Ozai stands and nudges the headless carcass aside with his booted foot.

Bracing myself against the column, I close my eyes and listen for his approach. I hear only the pounding of my heart and uneven breathing.

“Why have you come back, Zuko?” he asks. “Have you come to beg for forgiveness? Have you come to reclaim your honor?”

He means to lure me out, but I know better than to answer him. The shadows protect me now. The fire lends its strength to the illusions of the dark.

“I see you have regained your bending abilities,” Ozai continues to banter with the shadows. “Did Mahari show you how to seek the core? Or was it Jeong Jeong?”

Across the vast space of the throne room, I see him. More appropriately, I see his reflection in the shimmering waters of the reflective pond. Irony does not sway me any more as I consider the representative of each element throughout the room.

There are a multitude of windows throughout the room, signifying the element of air. By each entrance door, there is a bowl of earth that Agni and his followers are supposed to sprinkle onto the floor. Even the gods recognize the interconnectedness of the elements. Lastly, my lover’s element gleams in the distance like a shining beacon – a ray of hope.

My father stalks me with a limp, tossing short bursts of fire around as though he is unable to control himself. He is hoping to flush me out. “Come out and make it quick, Zuko. Upon my honor, I will make it quick. Although… I could let you live.”

The ancestral fire crouches low and my father’s reflection disappears as he moves behind a grouping of columns. Gripping the handles of my broadswords tighter, I circle the column at my back.

“Go into the desert,” my father’s voice echoes against the walls. “Kill the Water Witch and the male child. Bring me the girl and I shall reconsider the penance for your serious lack of judgment.”

An explosion sounds outside, shaking the very foundations of the throne room and causing plaster to fall from the ceilings. Some of it splashes into the water, disrupting the tranquil pool.

My father chuckles. “My soldiers are chasing your friends away. Who will save you now?” Realizing that I will not answer him, he tosses a circular pattern of fire around the room. All of the pillars are on fire now, including the one I am standing behind. I can wait no longer. I must complete my mission.

Stepping out from behind the pillar, I take a defensive stance and prepare to meet my end. “No one,” I answer him. “I will carry out my mission.”

His sneer is malicious. My father’s laughter is mad and cruel. “Do you seek the core, Zuko? Are you trying to call upon your meager abilities to save yourself?”

I sheath my swords, knowing I will have to fight fire with fire if I am to weaken him. Feeling the warm tingle of flames gather within my core, I hurl it toward my father in a long, blue burst of the hottest flame.

He breaks my attempt with his forearms, staggering backwards and ducking behind a burning column.

Emboldened, I pursue him, summoning my entire being and attacking with every move I know.

He is like a caged animal, lashing out in all directions, his strikes deadly, but unfocused. I can feel his madness skirting the edge of my thoughts.

“We are one,” his voice hisses in my mind. “Kill me. In death, I shall grow stronger. Flesh of my flesh, through you I am immortal.

Images cloud my mind – visions of carnage and bloodlust. I watch as I make my way through the desert, finding the oasis that Katara and the children call home. I move around the glacier and into the desert abode. Darkness surrounds me, and when I open my eyes, a woman and a child are dead at my feet.

“That is the future, my son,” Ozai rasps harshly. “I am a part of you. You think me insane with power. I am omnipotent, claiming domain over all that is of this world and the next. The future will be written in blood – the blood of your son and lover.”

I feel the weight of his presence within me. I stagger and fall to my knees, the last vestiges of hope flying away as if it is an elusive butterfly. This is a power I have no defense against. My father is inside my mind, feeding my fears and nightmares.

Flames encircle me. They feel real as they lick at my skin like a cruel lover’s kiss. I am reminded of how quick and efficient my father was during the Agni Kai of my youth. He toys with me, taunting me with his power.

“The power of the sun is ten fold that of the core of this planet,” he informs me, his cackle of satisfaction drifting along the flames that burn my skin.

“Did you really think you could defeat me?” he asks, circling me as I feel patches of my clothes melt against my skin. The fire is blue. By nature it should burn quickly, but my father has tempered the element and it works at my flesh with agonizing efficiency.

I make no sound as the pain calls to my spirit. By all rights, I should be dead. His laughter rings in my ears as I search for the technique that will end my suffering. Closing my eyes I abandon all hope and welcome the fire around me. I take it into my body and I feel it searing my internal organs.

“I have seen you in the fire,” Ozai taunts me, as I grip my broadswords in my hands. “I control everything, Zuko. All of the elements yield to me. Water evaporates. Air is consumed. Earth turns to liquid. Fire is my gift to the world. Only I can call upon the true nature of the beast! I control the sun.”

I try to speak, but I can’t. My throat burns.

My father climbs the stairs and sits on the throne. “Once I claim your child as my own, I shall have dominion over the Spirit World,” he sneers, licking his lips. “And I will have the Water Witch as well. I will keep her, break her will, and use her over and over again. I could die of thirst just thinking of her.”

Katara! Her memory surfaces through the haze of pain, a whisper of encouragement for my desperate soul. I look at my father. He is older, his madness taking away from his youthful looks. His quest for immortality will hold me hostage forever. If he claims dominion over the Spirit World, no one will be free.

My clothes have melted against what flesh remains. My spirit will never rest unless my father’s accompanies it.

With the last of my strength, I toss the sword in my right hand into the air, catching the hilt and redirecting the blade’s deadly path. There is no sound as the metal catches my father in the chest, impaling him to the back of the ornate throne. The flames rise above me as blood spurts from his wound and mouth. The look on his face is indescribable.

Fire consumes me as his wrath heralds my own death.

“Zuko!” a voice cries out as darkness consumes me.

--

End Act II

A/N – Of course, Zuko isn’t dead. I was going to include a Katara part, but I think this chapter can stand alone. As always, thanks to all who have reviewed. It keeps the creative fire of the muse burning. (He he! Pun is intended.)

To say the least, this story is going on a long hiatus due to my surgery. I’m just glad I was able to finish this act before that.

I really have to thank Moncapitan, Savriti, and Spleefmistress. They smack me around and give excellent constructive criticism when it is needed. Thank you, guys!
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Bitter Alliance