Balance | Old Version

Chapter 115 (Sozin's Comet, Part 1: The Phoenix King)

Elua's POV.

We were all watching Aang as he was training in front of us, Zuko instructing him as he moves. I had finally mastered all the elements, though I was still trying to control them all at once.
"More ferocious! Imagine striking through your opponent's heart," Zuko shouts to Aang as he firebends across the path in front of us.
"Ugh! I'm trying," Aang tells him.
"Now let me hear you roar like a tiger-dillo!" Zuko shouts. Aang turns and stretches his arms out as he roars rather weakly, a stream of fire coming out from his palm and mouth.
"That sounded pathetic! I said roar!" Zuko shouts again.

Aang quickly turns back around and roars, this time strong flames come out of his mouth and hands. The strength of the flames scares Momo and he scurries towards Zuko, hiding behind him.
"Who wants a nice, cool glass of watermelon juice?" Katara asks as she walks outside.
"Ooo, ooo, me, me, me!" Aang exclaims as he starts to run over to her.
"Hey, your lesson's not over yet!" Zuko shouts. "Get back here," He says as he grabs onto Aang's shirt, stopping him from running any farther.
"Come on, Zuko. Just take a break," I tell him calmly.

"Yeah, What's the big deal?" Suki asks.
"Fine, If you want to lounge around like a bunch of snail-sloths all day, then go ahead!" Zuko shouts sharply as he let's go of Aang, then turns around and storms off.
"Maybe Zuko's right. Sitting around the house has made us pretty lazy. But, I know just the thing to change that," Sokka says as he stands up. "Beach party!" He shouts as he takes off his shirt and runs towards the beach, everyone following behind him. I look down at Momo, who is looking over to the watermelon beside me. I smile at him and put it on the ground for him, before following the others.

On The Beach.

I sit on a towel on the beach as everyone else is either swimming or building sculptures out of the sand. I watch in confusion as Sokka walks back and fouth from the water with buckets and seaweed.
"Check out my Appa sand sculpture," Aang says as he stands next to a pretty cool sand sculpture of Appa.
"Not bad, baldy," Toph says. "But, I've been working on my sandbending. You're gonna love this," She says as she bends the sand into a mini version of Ba Sing Se.
"Whoa," Aang says in amazement.
"Try and top that, Sokka," Toph says smugly as they turn to Sokka.
"Ta-da!" Sokka says as he reveals his sand sculpture. The sculpture had seaweed for hair, stones for eyes, a red starfish for a nose, and some more stones and seashells as a smile.

"Is that a blubbering, blob monster?" Aang asks in confusion.
"No, it's Elua," Sokka states. Aang looks at him with wide eyes as his jaw drops, before proceeding to burst out laughing.
"Elua, we'll all understand if you break up with him over this," Toph tells me as she laughs too.
"I think it's sweet," I tell them as I look over to Sokka with a soft smile. Sokka smiles back as he runs over to me and kisses my cheek.
"But, it doesn't even look like-" Aang starts to say, but suddenly the sculpture is ruined as Zuko firebends at Aang. Aang looks up in shock before he starts to run away as Zuko sends blasts of fire at him.
"Zuko! Leave him alone!" I shout as I quickly stand to my feet and run after them.

By the time I catch up to them, Zuko is airbent out of the beach house and into the trees behind it. I run over to him, everyone else behind me.
"What are you doing!?" I shout at Zuko, in shock of what he just did.
"What's wrong with you?! You could have hurt Aang!" Katara exclaims.
"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with all of you!" Zuko shouts as he stands to his feet. "How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only 3 days away!" He states. We all look at each other before turning back to Zuko and saying nothing.
"Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?" He asks us.
"About Sozin's Comet...we were actually going to wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came," Aang tells him nervously.

"After?" Zuko asks in shock.
"I'm not ready. I need more time to master firebending," Aang states.
"And frankly, your earthbending could still use some work too," Toph adds.
"So...You all knew Aang was going to wait?" Zuko asks us.
"I told you we should have told him," I tell the others.
"Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose," Sokka states. "No offense," He says to Aang.
"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war. But, they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se," Katara tells Zuko. "Things can't get any worse," She states.

"You're wrong. It's about to get worse than you can even imagine," Zuko says shaking his head as he turns away from us. We all look at him in confusion as to what he means. "The day before the eclipse, my Father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I dreamed about and wanted for so many years. My Father had finally accepted me back," He states.
"He asked for my opinion on the Earth Kingdom, I said that as long as they had hope they would be strong and hold their ground. He twisted my words into a plan, a plan to completely destroy the earth kingdom and clam the entire world as his own," Zuko explains. "I wanted to speak out against this horrifying plan. But, I'm ashamed to say I didn't," He says as he hangs his head in shame.

"My whole life I struggled to gain my Father's love and acceptance. But, once I had it, I realized I lost myself getting there. I forgot who I was," Zuko states. We all look at him in shock and horror at what the Fire Lord planned to do to so many innocent people.
"I can't believe this," Katara says, shaking her head as she falls to the ground.
"I always knew that the Fire Lord was a bad guy, but his plan is just pure evil," Sokka says as he puts an arm around me in a reassuring way.
"What am I going to do?" Aang asks in worry and fear.
"I know you're scared. And I know that you're not ready to save the World," Zuko says as he walks over to Aang. "But, if you don't defeat the Fire Lord before the comet comes, there won't be a World to save anymore."