The Warrior's Gambit (Zutara)

XLI

But even that was not enough.

"We're losing," Aang yelled to Iroh, watching as the people that he felt a need to protect screamed and yelled as they bled out, or as they sobbed over unmoving bodies, or as they cowered. These were refugees...they were not fighters, not most of them, and they were kind. They were against a team that was ruthless and seemingly endless. "Where is Zhao?" Aang asked, spinning around.

"Doubtful he'd come down here right now, he'd wait until the grounds are all but won," Shen sneered. Aang shielded his eyes, staring up. There were two blimps still in the air; the third had already been taken down by Iroh, but he hadn't been able to get the other two. Zhao would be in the biggest one, Aang was sure.

Aang ran and grabbed his glider.

"Aang, what are you doing?" Ty Lee asked.

"I'm going to give myself up. He wants me, Ty! It's me he wants!" Aang yelled back over the bedlam.

"No, you can't," Ty Lee cried, furious, "You can't do that, Aang."

"They're going to kill all of us if we don't! I can't unlock my spiritual side here, I hardly know how to do it without interference! The only way to stop this is to give Zhao what he wants."

"He'll kill you," Ty Lee said, grabbing his hand, stopping him from taking off.

"He might," Aang agreed with a grave nod.

"Who is to say he won't kill us all anyway?" Shen questioned. "Aang, don't be foolish."

"I have to believe I can make a deal with him. We're out of options, sir," Aang said, feeling as hopeless as he had that moment when he'd had to kill Roddon, the Airbender who was found in the Earth Kingdom, to keep everyone else safe. He'd started to feel like he could regrow his nation here, but if there were no one left...

"There is always another option. We just need to keep fighting," Dhakiya said, "Let's go and meet them! We've been on the defensive for far too long, Aang," she said, grabbing her glider fashioned from the dark wood of the Swamp.

"I'm with you, Avatar!" One of the older Airbenders named Diki agreed. She had lost both her children in a city raid to find airbenders, and held the truth- that it was she and her husband who were true Airbenders- in her heart. Though she was as old as Iroh, her loyalty and might were strong. Her husband Dechen gave a 'hear-hear'. Ty Lee nodded warmly.

There were only five, but it had to be enough.

"Okay," Aang relented, "Let's go. Quickly now- before they realize what's happening. We take out the blimp, alright? And we will try to capture Zhao."

"We will get him," Dhakiya said with fury. "I won't let us not."

"Bargaining chip," Iroh said with an agreement. "We'll continue to fight down here, Aang. Go, now!"

Aang jumped and ran off the porch, his acolytes taking to the air behind him. He rose higher and higher, showing them how to grab an airstream to bolster under their fabric wings. He headed for the smaller blimp first; as they approached, they ducked and danced in the air to avoid arrows, canons, and firebombs sent hurtling their way. As they landed on the top of the blimp, Ty Lee quickly incapacitated the guard and he bounced onto the cover...and then right off the side. Only Aang leaped to try to save him, but he slipped through his fingers.

"Guys!" Aang said, eyes wide with a sense of horror.

"He was going to be dead in a few moments anyway," Dechen said uneasily, wincing. As he stood to rip a hole in the fabric, an arrow caught him right between the bones, straight into his heart. He gasped, falling back off the blimp and into the endless sky.