Azula, Flames Of Change

Chapter 15: Family parting

The sounds of battle echoed through the walls of Omashu as Azula stood at the edge of the city, her gaze cold and focused. Below, the White Lotus forces were engaging with her new weapons, fire and lightning tearing through the battlefield. The destruction was beautiful in its precision.

But Azula felt nothing.

Behind her, Iroh approached slowly, his footsteps deliberate, carrying the weight of their shared history. His once-warm eyes were filled with sorrow and understanding, but also with a quiet resolve.

"Azula," Iroh began, his voice calm but firm. "There is still time to end this. You don't have to continue down this path. I know you're not beyond redemption."

Azula turned her head slightly, acknowledging his presence but refusing to meet his gaze fully. "Redemption, Uncle?" she asked, her voice devoid of any warmth. "Why would I want that? Redemption is a burden for those who feel guilt."

Iroh stepped closer, his heart heavy with the sight of his niece—once fierce and proud—now cold and distant, a shadow of the girl she had been. "You think you've found strength in detachment, in cutting yourself off from your emotions, but this is not strength, Azula. This is despair."

Azula's golden eyes flickered for a moment as if considering his words, but her face remained expressionless. "You're wrong. I've never been stronger. Without fear, without need, without doubt—I am free. You, Uncle, are a relic of the past, clinging to weak ideals of peace and harmony."

Iroh's face hardened slightly. "If peace is weakness, then I would rather be weak than see the world consumed by hatred and destruction. This isn't the future you wanted, Azula. This is the path your father laid out for you. I know somewhere inside, you're still fighting for something greater."

She turned to face him fully now, her posture rigid, her eyes empty. "There's no fight left, Uncle. Not for anything greater. Not anymore."

Iroh sighed deeply, his heart breaking for the lost child standing before him. But he knew that words alone would not reach her. Slowly, he removed his outer robe, revealing the firebending stance he had used countless times in the past.

"If words cannot reach you," Iroh said solemnly, "then I will do what I must."

Azula's expression remained cold as she calmly removed her own cloak, revealing her lean, powerful frame. "If you insist on dying here, Uncle, then so be it."

The air around them grew tense, the quiet before a storm. Iroh bent his knees, his arms steadying into a familiar form, while Azula remained poised, barely moving, her grey eyes unblinking.

Iroh and Azula acted in unison Iroh once more displaying the skill that earned him the moniker of the dragon of the west, and Azula responded in kind. Fire breath collided with Fire breath, red/orange, met blue/grey in a dazzling wave of fire and sparks. 

Once the clash ended Azula acted swiftly moving on to unleashing a flurry of fire balls from her hands each one aimed with deadly intent, Iroh only a split second behind found himself falling on the defensive. 'Her transitions are incredible,' remarked Iroh internally while utilizing his own fire to deflect the flames while moving back as Azula advanced. 

He drew the girl in, and when she was an appropriate distance away swiftly shifted his feet and sent a low stream of fire that forced Azula to retreat, a burst of fire pushing her back. Iroh quickly moved to the offensive, Azula now on the defensive. 

However Azula instead of trying to defend by deflecting the flames as Iroh did she leaped off the side of the tower she was on. Iroh was surprised by this and quickly moved to see Azula's hand shaping a grey flame, it was shaped into a massive blade of fire that was swung cutting through the watch tower like a hot knife through butter. Then mere seconds later the top spire started to fall Iroh atop it.