ATLA: Book Three: Fire [Makki]

Chapter Fifteen

"Try and top that, Sokka," Toph crossed her arms.

"...Ta-da!" Sokka presented his sand-sculpture.

"Is that a... blubbering blob-monster?" Aang asked.

"No, it's Suki!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Huh, that was my second guess," I teased before me, Aang, and Toph started laughing.

"Suki, we'll all understand if you break up with him over this," Toph smirked.

"I think it's sweet," Suki smiled before Sokka planted a large kiss on her cheek.

"But, it doesn't even look like–"

Aang was interrupted by a large fire blast that came soaring through the sky, destroying Sokka's Suki sculpture. As a reflex, Aang, Toph, and I all ran from the scene. Once the sand cleared, we watched as Zuko landed on the beach and charged towards Aang as he cowered behind his Appa sand-sculpture.

"What are you doing?" Aang exclaimed.

"Teaching you a lesson," Zuko glared before destroying the Appa sculpture.

Aang continued to run from Zuko as he blasted fire at him. Aang soon began to use his air bending to jump onto the cliffs that led up to the beach house. Zuko climbed up the cliffside to chase him.

"What happened?" Katara asked as she came to shore.

"Zuko's gone crazy!" Sokka exclaimed. "I made a sand-sculpture of Suki and he destroyed it... Oh, and he's attacking Aang..!"

Together, we all ran after the flaming prince as he chased after the Avatar. We watched as Aang hopped through the environment around him before fleeing into the beach house, and Zuko was right on his tail the whole time. By the time we were able to reach the house, Zuko came flying from one of the balconies. We all ran up to him.

"What's wrong with you? You could have hurt Aang!" Katara exclaimed at him as Aang joined us.

"What's wrong with me?" Zuko stood up. "What's wrong with all of you? How can you sit around having beach parties when Sozin's Comet is only three days away?"

All of us simply looked at him, all feeling a bit guilty for not telling him what was going on.

"Why are you all looking at me like I'm crazy?"

"...About Sozin's Comet–" Aang began. "I was actually gonna wait to fight the Fire Lord until after it came?"

"After?" Zuko asked.

"I'm not ready," said Aang. "I need more time to master fire bending."

"And, frankly, your earth bending could still use some work, too," Toph added.

"So, you all knew Aang was gonna wait?" Zuko asked us.

"Yeah, for a while, actually," I said. "We're sorry for keeping it from you, but we were a bit afraid of how you would react, and rightfully so."

"Honestly, if Aang tries to fight the Fire Lord right now, he's gonna lose," Sokka stated bluntly. "No offense."

"The whole point of fighting the Fire Lord before the comet was to stop the Fire Nation from winning the war," Katara explained. "But they pretty much won the war when they took Ba Sing Se. Things can't get any worse."

"...You're wrong," said Zuko. "It's about to get worse than you can even imagine. The day before the eclipse, my father asked me to attend an important war meeting. It was what I'd dreamed about and wanted for so many years. My father had finally accepted me back. But in the war meeting, we discussed why we were unable to fully gain control over the Earth Kingdom and my father turned to me for a suggestion of what we should do. I spoke of the people of the Earth Kingdom and how their hope keeps them strong. From that, my father had decided that during the comet, he would completely wipe out the Earth Kingdom and cover it in flames with an army of airships; destroying the Earth Kingdom, their people, and their hope. I wanted to speak out against this horrifying plan, but I'm ashamed to say I didn't. My whole life, I've struggled to gain my father's love and acceptance. But once I had it, I realized I'd lost myself getting there. I'd forgotten who I was."