Fire and Aether

Chapter 33: The Day of Black Sun Part 2: The Eclipse

      The battle was still underway when Rose and Aang returned.
      "Please tell me you're here because the Fire Lord turned out to be a big wimp and you didn't even need the eclipse to take him down?" Sokka asked.
      "There's no sign of him anywhere. Not even the witches Aurora warned us about. The entire palace city is abandoned." Rose said.
      "They knew." Sokka realized.
      Aang nodded. "The Fire Lord is probably long gone. Far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse."
      "Wait a minute!" Rose said. "He wouldn't leave completely, otherwise he would've set up a trap with the witches. He's probably got a secret bunker somewhere close by where he and they can hide while keeping an eye on the battle."
      "If it's a secret bunker you're looking for," Toph said, "I'm just the girl to find it."
      Sokka explained that they had 10 minutes left before the full eclipse, time enough to find the Fire Lord and finish this. Katara argued that maybe they should leave instead but Hakoda explained everyone knew what was at stake and were prepared to do whatever it took to complete their mission.
      It was up to Rose and Aang to make the choice. "We will fight him."
      With that, Team Avatar gathered on Appa, save Rose and Aurora who leapt on Crystal's back, the seer deciding to join them for this part of the mission just in case they needed to fight the witches as well.
      Rose, Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Aurora continued into the volcano after saying goodbye to Appa and Crystal. Toph led them through the winding spots in the volcano until they came to a spot where there was no floor and only lava.
      "That's where I come in." Rose said.
      She created a small portal, allowing everyone to step through to the other side, avoiding the lava. Next, they stopped at a large metal door.
      "My turn." Toph said.
      Within minutes, she had busted through.
      "I'm so glad we added you to the group!" Sokka shouted as he raced after the others.
                         * * * * *
      Katara had gone back to help her dad who continued to say he wanted to push on with the others. Besides they were making good progress and should reach the palace by the time the eclipse started.
      Already, the sun was beginning to disappear behind the moon. As the firebenders realized it, one of their leaders shouted to retreat to the secondary defensive position. They ran.
                           * * * * *
      An older firebender was walking down the corridors of the secret bunker when Rose, Aang, Aurora, Sokka, and Toph appeared. He glanced over at them and they immediately got into defensive positions, Rose with her aetherbending, Aang with his airbending, Aurora with her wand, Sokka with his sword, and Toph with her earthbending.
      He surrendered. "The Fire Lord's chamber is that way," he pointed, "down the hall, to the left, and up the stairs. You can't miss it."
      They surrounded him. Then Aang smiled. "Thanks." With that, they took off once more.
      They burst through the door to find Azula sitting on the throne. "So you are alive after all." She smirked. "I had a hunch, especially since my brother decided to act so weird. You know he spent weeks mourning you?" She rolled her eyes. "Pathetic. He even broke up with his girlfriend for you. I didn't realize what a heart breaker you were, Avatar. I almost respect you for it."
      "You only act that way because you've never felt love before." Rose sassed back. "You don't know what it's like to love someone. Don't deny it. I know it's true."
      Azula growled. "It doesn't matter. I've known about the invasion for months."
      Aang's mouth dropped open in shock.
                       * * * * *
      Zuko took a deep breath, steadying himself for what lie ahead. With that, he opened the door to find his father sitting on a throne, sipping a cup of tea, his consort and her sister on either side of him.
      "Prince Zuko, what are you doing here?" Ozai asked. "Why are you here?"
      Zuko glared at his father. "I'm here to tell the truth."
      "Telling the truth during the middle of an eclipse. This should be interesting."
      With that, he waved the witches away. Malvina seemed more reluctant to go but bowed and left, sending a piercing glare Zuko's way as she did so.
       "First of all, in Ba Sing Se, it was Azula who took down the Avatar, not me."
       "Why would she lie to me about that?"
       "Because the Avatar is not dead. She survived."
       "What?"
       "She's probably on her way here right now."
       "And how do you know this?" Ozai asked, fury in his gaze.
       Zuko exhaled sharply. "Because I know her. I'm in love with the Avatar. We're soulmates and we share a very special bond, a soul bond."
       "What?!"
       "That's how I know. I know because I felt she was still alive. I can feel her even now. She still loves me despite everything I've done to her. That's something you never gave me. Your love is conditional. I had to earn it. I never had to earn her love. She loves me without condition."
       "GET OUT!" Ozai screamed. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT RIGHT NOW!"
       "That's another thing. I'm not taking orders from you anymore."
       "You will obey me or this defiant breath will be your last!" Ozai growled, standing.
       Zuko pulled out his swords. "Think again!" he told his father. "I'm going to speak my mind and you are going to listen!"
      Ozai huffed but sat down, curious as to what his traitorous son had to say.
                              * * * * *
       "Where is he?" Rose demanded. "Where is the Fire Lord?"
      "What?" Azula teased. "You mean I'm not good enough for you? You're hurting my feelings."
      Sokka moved forward, sword poised, ready to strike. "Stop wasting our time! You're powerless right now so you're in no position to refuse."
      "And stick to the truth." Toph added. "I'll be able to tell if you're lying."
      "Are you sure?" Azula asked, standing and moving closer to Team Avatar. "I'm a pretty good liar." A pause. "I am a 400 foot tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings."
      "Ok you're good. I admit it." Toph admitted. She stuck Azula inside a block of rock. "But you might want to consider telling the truth anyway."
      Azula smirked as the rock broke away. "When I left Ba Sing Se, I brought home some souvenirs." The Dai Li agents then dropped from the ceiling. "Dai Li agents."
      Time for another fight.
                         * * * * *
      As the eclipse started, the inventor told everyone to put on their eclipse glasses. They quickly did so.
      "Quickly now! We have to secure the palace by the time the eclipse is over. Otherwise we'll be in for the fight of our lives."
     With that, everyone not a member of Team Avatar swept into the volcano and through the city. Once the firebenders realized they had no firebending, they quickly surrendered. The invasion moved in.
                         * * * * *
      Zuko stood, swords raised, a strange feeling overcoming him. For so long, he'd always done what was asked of him and now he was dealing his doom if his father decided to fight when the eclipse was over.
      "For so long," he stated, his voice ringing throughout the chamber, "all I wanted was for you to love me, to accept me. I thought it was my honor that I wanted. But really I was just trying to please you. You, my father, who banished me just for talking out of turn. My father, who challenged me--a 14 year old boy--to an Agni Kai. How can you possibly justify a duel with a child?"
     "It was to teach you respect."
     "It was cruel and it was wrong."
     "Then you've learned nothing!"
     "No I've learned everything!" Zuko argued. "And I've had to learn it on my own. Growing up, we were taught that the Fire Nation was the greatest civilization in history. And, somehow, the war was our way of sharing our greatness with the rest of the world. What an amazing lie that was.
     "The Aether Realm is greater than us and has never declared war. Their people live in peace and prosperity. You see? The war doesn't gain respect or show our greatness. The people of the world don't respect us. They fear us. They don't see our greatness. They hate us. We are the bad guys in their eyes and they're right!
     "We deserve their hatred. We've created an era of fear in the world. And if we don't want the world to destroy itself, we need to follow the example of the Aether Realm. We need to replace the fear with an era of peace and kindness."
     Ozai laughed cruelly. "Your uncle has gotten to you, hasn't he? And your peace loving girlfriend? Oh this is amusing!"
      "Yes they have. They both have shown me the way. The true way to get my happy ending."
      He smiled, love for his family and his soulmate shining in his brown eyes. Fire Lord Ozai frowned at the look. Could his son really turn on him over a traitor and a teenage girl? Why?
                           * * * * *
       As the Dai Li attacked, Aang, Aurora, Sokka, and Toph fought them off while Rose took off after Azula. One Dai Li agent blocked her path with rock and she burst through it, pinning him to the wall. She punched Azula in the face, wiping away her self satisfied smile for a moment.
      Azula took off running, using acrobatics to escape, Rose following behind, using a portal to catch up with her again. She knocked out another Dai Li agent and sent rocks falling over Azula yet she escaped again, bursting through a wall and leaping over Sokka in the process.
      "I can't pin her down!" Rose shouted to the rest of the team. "She's too quick!" They ran faster. "I'll have to take an extreme measure."
      With that, she focused her power on her Aetherbending, sending two spirits to grab Azula, finally pinning her down. "Oh you got me!" Azula bemoaned in a joking manner.
      "How'd you do that?" Sokka asked in surprise.
      "Oh, Sokka, you know I've been practicing. But I can't hold her for long so hurry."
      "Rose," Aurora warned, "don't waste your energy. She's trying to waste our time to help her father escape and wasting your energy so you can't fight him when he gets his power back."
      "Just ignore her."
      Rose let go of the power and the group headed away from Azula. "It's a trap." she called after them in a sing songy tone of voice.
      They ignored her.
      "So Sokka's your name, right? My favorite prisoner used to mention you all the time. She was convinced you were going to come rescue her. Of course, you never came, and she gave up on you."
      Sokka lost his cool and attacked her. "Where is Suki?"
      She smirked.
                       * * * * *
      Zuko paced a bit as he finished up his speech. "After I leave here today, I'm going to free Uncle Iroh from his prison. And I'm gonna beg for his forgiveness. He's the one who's been a real father to me."
      Ozai chuckled again, trying to bait Zuko by reminding him of how much of a failure he thought his brother was.
     "But I've come to an even more important decision. I'm going to find the Avatar. I will tell her the truth...that she's the one. She's always been the only one for me. That I love her to the depths of my being. And I will beg for her forgiveness. Then I'll join her and help her defeat you."
     "Really now?" Ozai smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. "Since you're a full blown traitor now and you want me gone, why wait? I'm powerless, you've got your swords, why don't you just do it now?"
      "Because I know my own destiny. Taking you down is the Avatar's destiny. Mine is to be by her side when she does it." He replaced his swords and walked away. "Goodbye."
      "Coward!" Ozai shouted. "You think you're brave enough to face me but you'll only do it during the eclipse. If you have any real courage, you'll stick around until the sun comes out." Zuko ignored him. "Don't you want to know what happened to your mother?"
      Zuko turned around. "What happened that night?"
      "My father--Fire Lord Azulon--commanded me to do the unthinkable to you, my own son, and I was going to do it. Your mother found out and swore she'd protect you at any cost. She knew I wanted the throne and she proposed a plan. A plan in which I would become Fire Lord and your life would be spared."
      Zuko frowned. He knew then what his mother had done.
      "Your mother did vicious, treasonous things that night." Ozai continued. "She knew the consequences and accepted them. For her treason, she was banished."
      A tear leaked out Zuko's good eye. "So she's alive?"
      "Perhaps." Ozai said in a moment of softness. Then that moment was gone and his anger shone through once more. "Now I realize that banishment is far too merciful a penalty for treason. Your penalty will be far steeper."
      At that moment, the eclipse ended and Ozai rushed forward, attacking his son with lightning but Zuko redirected it back to his father, knocking him to the ground.
                        * * * * *
     Azula continued to ignore Sokka's questions until she realized. "Oh sounds like the firebending's back on." She attacked Sokka and escaped her bonds. "Dad's all the way at the end of the hall and down a secret stairway on the left. I'm sure he'll be more than happy to see you now."
     With that, she ran off.
     After some arguing amongst Team Avatar, Aurora said, "We can't beat him today, Avatar. If you try, you will fail. This I've seen. I'm sorry. I foresaw a chance they'd know we were coming but I thought we may've had a chance. Unfortunately, his daughter was more formidable than I realized. The best course of action now is to find our friends and live to fight another day."
     Rose nodded and off they ran.
                             * * * * *
     Meanwhile, with the eclipse over, firebenders took to the skies in one of the inventor's old inventions.
     Rose, Aang, Aurora, Sokka, Toph, Crystal, and Appa arrived at that moment. As Sokka began to explain what Azula had done, Aurora caught their attention.
       "Bad news. They're aiming for the submarines."
       "What?"
       "I didn't foresee Azula's cleverness but I knew there was a backup plan to keep us from escaping. We won't all escape but if we can buy some time, you can help Team Avatar and the children escape before the Fire Nation gets to them. But decide quickly who goes and who stays. We don't have much time."
                         * * * * *
      Zuko escaped from his father in the chaos of the Fire Nation fighting off the invasion. Immediately, he ran to the prisons, not even questioning anything as he leapt over the guards that were laying on the ground for whatever reason.
      He entered the cell where his uncle should've been to find it destroyed, his uncle missing, and the guard on the floor, groaning.
       "Uncle!" he shouted. He grabbed the guard by his suit and asked, "Where is he? What happened?"
      "He busted himself out." the guard replied in fear. "I-I've never seen anything like it! He was like a one man army!"
       Zuko let go of the guard. His uncle had disappeared off to who knows where. He only had one choice: find the Avatar.
                          * * * * *
       "No!" Katara shouted. "We can't leave our families behind. We won't leave anyone behind."
      "There's no other choice." Aurora stated plainly. "In order for the world to have a fighting chance, the Avatar must escape and you must go with her."
      "She's right." Hakoda agreed. "You're our only chance to keep hope alive."
       Families started handing their children over to Team Avatar.
       Ophelia appeared by her daughter's side. "Will, Catie, you must go with them."
       "Mother, no!"
       Ophelia turned to Rose. "My darling daughter, this is what it means to be a parent. Your give up everything to protect your children. You'd die for them if you have to."
      She placed a hand on her daughter's shoulder. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe in you." Tears filled her eyes. "I didn't want to see you grown up. I feared your destiny, worried I'd lose my only blood daughter. I didn't realize that you were ready. You've always been more than the innocent girl I raised. You are the Avatar and, no matter what happens to me, I just want you to know I'm so proud of you. I love you so much."
     Rose's eyes filled with tears. "I love you, mom. And there's nothing to forgive. I knew you always did what was best for me."
      They hugged.
      "Catie, you need to go with them." Will told his wife.
      "You're not coming?"
      "No. Jasper risked his life to save our kingdom, father died for it. Mother is risking her life for this mission and so will I. I'm strong, Catie. I will survive whatever they do to me. But prison is no place for you. Go with Rose. Be safe."
     "And what if you die?"
     "They'll have to go through me first." Ophelia stated proudly. "And I won't go down without a fight."
     The children loaded onto Appa's back along with Aang, Katara, Sokka, and Toph. Rose, Aurora, and Catie climbed onto Crystal's back along with a few of the witch and Aetherbenders' children.
     "I'm gonna make this up to you." Rose promised. "Thank you for being so brave."
     With that, they took off into the air.
     Azula was just behind them. "Let them go. They'll be back."
     Elsewhere in the air, Malvina and Ambrosia rode on a black dragon, high in the sky. "Should we get them?" Ambrosia asked.
     "Oh no, dear sister. Let them run. I have a different plan in mind for the Avatar."
     As Azula's ship and the Witch's dragon flew back to the Fire Nation, an air ship rose in the sky. Zuko stood on it, his gaze one of determination. "I'm coming, Rose. I'm coming to make it right."
    "Where will we go?"
    "To the Western Air Temple." Aang answered. "We'll be safe there."