Flaming rocks were being huddled at the Earth Kingdom tanks as (Y/n) took refuge behind one with Sokka, Toph, and a few other soldiers. They had gotten closer to the palace, and were now looking at the map laid out on the ground.
Hakoda, using his daughter as some support, limped towards them. Sokka leapt up.
"Dad! You're on your feet again."
"Thanks to your sister. I'm in no shape to fight, but maybe there's some way I can help." Hakoda said as Katara helped him sit on the ground.
Sokka kneeled down in front of his dad. "Everything's going smoothly and the eclipse hasn't even kicked in yet."
"Let's hope our luck holds out," Hakoda said. Katara walked away from the group a little bit. "Katara, you seem distracted. Is something wrong?"
"Yeah, is that...is that Aang?" Katara was looking up in the direction of the volcano, where someone on a glider was sailing towards them. It couldn't be anybody but Aang.
"What?" Sokka muttered.
Aang landed in front of the group, clicking his glider closed.
"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 pleaded, half joking.
"He wasn't home," Aang said, looking to the ground. "No one was. The entire palace city is abandoned."
Sokka's eyes widened. "They knew."
"Dammit." (Y/n) said through her teeth. How unlucky did they have to be? How on earth did the Fire Nation know?
"It's over. The Fire Lord is probably long gone, far away on some remote island where he'll be safe during the eclipse." Aang explains.
"No, my instincts tell me he wouldn't go too far. He would have a secret bunker. Somewhere he could go and be safe during a siege but still be close enough to lead his nation." Sokka suggests.
"If it's an underground secret bunker we're looking for, i'm just the girl to find it." Toph smiles, pointing to herself.
The Mechanist gave Sokka a timing device, which told them that there were 10 minutes left until the eclipse was due to start. 10 minutes to find the Fire Lord, or 10 minutes to get everyone out safely.
Aang was the one to make the final call, and he decided that they needed to find the Fire Lord. So everyone but Katara hopped onto Appa, and went towards the palace city in the volcano.
Toph felt some tunnels and a hunk of metal deep in the volcano, so she made an opening for everyone to get inside. They left Appa and Momo outside, knowing Appa probably wouldn't fit in the tunnels.
"This way! That ones a dead end." Toph began to run down one of the tunnels.
"What would we do without you?" Sokka praised.
"Perish in burning hot magma." Toph said.
"Yeah, pretty much."
Toph lead them to the end of their path, and in front of them was a bed of half-cooled magma, with fresh stuff spouting up black, cooled rock. "The tunnel continues on the other side, and it leads right to the bunker."
"We'll have to be fast but careful—woah!" Sokka stepped onto the rock, but some lava spewed up from the ground.
Aang quickly cooled it to stop Sokka from getting himself burned alive. "How is that careful?"
"I was wrong. We need to be fast, careful, and lucky."
They all ran across the cooled magma, narrowly avoiding shoots of lava. They safely made it across, but made it to another dead end path.
(Y/n) looked down. There was a huge drop, right down into a river of lava.
"That's great." (Y/n) said, peering down below her. She felt the heat of the lava sting her face.
"Climb aboard and hold on tight." Aang instructed, tapping his glider open.
So, they did. Aang had three people hanging on for dear life on top of his glider as he weaved through pillars of rock, and above the lava river as popping bubbles almost touched them. Aang got them to the other side safely, and they continued running down the path.
They reached a large metal dome with a huge door on it, settled into the rock.
"That's some door." Sokka exclaims in awe.
Toph steps up to the metal, and lightly knocks it as she leans her ear in close. "Not a problem."
She begins to elbow the metal, denting it with each hit. Then she backs up, sticks her index and middle fingers up on each hand, kisses them, and sticks them into the metal, prying it open. She runs through, morning for everyone to follow her.
"I am so glad we added you to the group." Sokka admires, smiling.
They continue running down the tunnel, and whip around at the sound of someone gasping behind them.
Everyone quickly readies themselves to fight, facing an old man in a cloak, who looks horrified.
He throws his hands up in the air. "The Fire Lord's chamber is that way, down the hall to the left and up the stairs. You can't miss it." He says, his speech quick and shaky.
"Thanks!" Aang chirps, running the direction the man told them to go.
"Only 30 seconds until the total eclipse." Sokka informs the group as they run.
They approach another large door with a Fire Nation insignia on the top of the frame, and a torch on either side of the door.
Aang slowly inhales, then exhales. "I'm ready. I'm ready to face the Fire Lord."
Aang uses his glider to blow the doors open, the metal clanging into the chamber. The four run in to face...
"So, you are alive after all."
Azula.
"I had a hunch that you survivals, but it doesn't matter. I've known about the invasion for months."
Azula looks sickly smug, like she got everything she wanted. Of course she did. She seemed to be one step ahead of them at all times.
"Where is he? Where's the Fire Lord?" Aang demands.
Everyone had themselves in a battle ready position facing Azula.
"Hm, you mean i'm not good enough for you? You're hurting my feelings." Azula teases.
"Stop wasting our time and give us the information," Sokka says. "You're powerless right now, so you're in no position to refuse."
"And stick to the truth. I'll be able to tell if you're lying." Toph says.
"Are you sure? I'm a pretty good liar," Azula steps down closer to the group. "I am a 400-foot tale purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings."
Toph pauses, her face scrunching up. "Okay, youre good, I admit it," Toph then encases Azula in rock. "But you really ought to consider telling the truth anyway."
The earth around Azula cracks, and crumbles off of her. She nonchalantly dusts off any remaining pebbles. "When I left Ba Sing Se, I brought home some souvenirs..." Familiar figures drop from the roof to the ground. "Dai Li agents."
Aang blows a gust of wind at Azula, but the agents quickly put up a walls between Azula and the group.
Aang breaks it down, and they begin to advance on the agents. They mostly target Aang and Toph, those who were able to give them an immediate threat.
Sokka and (Y/n) shuffled through the gaps, and followed Aang as he advanced on Azula, narrowly avoiding any rocks the agents threw their way.
Azula was too quick for Aang to get a hold of, and she retreated back from the way they came. The group started to run after her.
"I can't pin her down." Aang called.
They ran out of the chamber, and a Dai Li agent ran between them and Azula. Toph took care of the agent, trapping him in a metal beam and bending the metal to hold him there.
"Wait, guys!" Sokka yelled from the back. "Stop attacking. Don't you see what she's doing? She just playing with us. She's not even trying to win this fight." Sokka was staring daggers at Azula.
"Not true, i'm giving it my all." Azula says.
"You're trying to keep us here and waste all our time." Toph accuses.
"Um, right, I think your friend just said that, genius. And since you can't see, I should tell you i'm rolling my eyes." Azula taunts.
"I'll roll your whole head!"
"She's just baiting you again." (Y/n) says.
"Okay, so what do we do, just ignore her?" Aang asks.
"We don't have a choice. We just have to get out of here and the Fire Lord on our own somehow." Sokka explains, turning around to walk the way they came.
"It's a trap. Don't say I didn't warn you." Azula says.
"Ignore!" Sokka yells.
"So, Sokka's your name, right? My favourite prisoner used to mention you and (Y/n) all the time," Azula says, making Sokka stop in his tracks. "She was convinced you were going to come rescue her. Of course, neither of you came and she gave up on you."
Sokka yells, and runs towards Azula. Toph bends some rock to Azula's wrists, restraining her to one of the tunnel walls. Sokka slams a hand down on Azula's shoulder.
"Where is Suki?" He growls through his teeth.
"Sokka! She's not going to talk." (Y/n) said, pulling on Sokka's shoulder.
As much as (Y/n) wanted to know what happened to Suki, she knew Azula was still baiting them. Sokka wasn't backing off.
"Sokka!" (Y/n) yelled. "She's not talking because Suki is okay. She wouldn't be silent if Suki was dead."
Sokka took a breath, and backed down from Azula. He wanted to know where Suki was, and he knew that (Y/n) did too, but he trusted (Y/n)'s judgement. Azula would've told them that Suki was dead if she really was. It would've hurt them a lot more than the silence.
The group began to walk down the tunnel again, hoping to avoid any more empty taunts.
"I healed fine, in case you're wondering." Azula says.
That one was aimed at (Y/n). "I wasn't wondering."
"Well, I did. Don't know about your boyfriend, though. How does it feel to know you're the reason he almost died? I'm surprised he's still here."
(Y/n) stopped walking. Sokka looked back at her, and Aang looked at (Y/n) sadly. Toph had her head tilted to the ground. They all knew how much (Y/n) blamed herself for that, how she felt like she couldn't stop it. How she could've done something else. If she hadn't shot Azula, maybe—
"It's not your fault." Sokka whispered to her.
Aang grabbed (Y/n)'s hand, clutching it tight. (Y/n) squeezed back.
"Maybe I should've aimed for you instead. It's what your parents wanted, right?" Azula continued. Sokka saw (Y/n)'s eyes squeeze shut as she tried to resists Azula's taunts. "After we learned that you were a traitor, they were tortured and sent away. Awful fate, really."
Too many thoughts were running in (Y/n)'s head, and she couldn't quiet them. The vision she saw in the swamp told her they were both dead, but finding out now that they were alive was almost a relief.
That was (Y/n)'s last straw.
She let go of Aang's head, whipping around to run towards Azula. She gave Azula a hard kick to the stomach, causing the girl's knees to buckle, her weight only being held up by the rocks holding her wrists to the wall.
"Where the hell are they?" (Y/n) yelled.
Azula smirked and looked up at (Y/n). The look made her stomach drop. "They? There's just one, now."
"One?" (Y/n) croaked. Tears were welling up in her eyes.
She had an awful relationship with both of her parents, but she couldn't be there to say anything else to the one that died. The tears were free-falling down her cheeks.
"One." Azula smirked.
"You evil bitch!" (Y/n) stuck her leg up to kick Azula again, but she was pulled back by someone.
Sokka. He had picked her up, and thrown her across his shoulder like a potato sack.
There were crashes heard above then that (Y/n) hadn't heard, which made Sokka grab (Y/n) before she did any more damage to Azula.
"Oh, sounds like the firebending's back on." Azula says.
Azula kicks, and her signature blue fire erupts from the kick. She propels herself up on the wall, and breaks her cuffs with firebending. She lands on the ground of the tunnel, facing the group.
"Dad's all the way at the end of the hall, then down a secret stairway on the left. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to see you now." Azula informs, then runs down the hall.
"Fuck! I used up all of our time." (Y/n) instinctively gives Sokka's back a light frustrated punch as she's still thrown over his shoulder. "Sorry."
"It's not your fault, (Y/n). Azula was ready for us. She had every move planned out." Sokka soothed.
"And now it's too late." (Y/n) finally relaxed on Sokka, giving up all of her tension.
"Maybe it's not too late," Aang said. Sokka let (Y/n) off of his shoulder, keeping a hand on her lower back to steady her as she wiped tears from her eyes. "The eclipse is over, but I can face the Fire Lord anyway."
"No, I don't think that's a good idea." Sokka said.
"But i'm ready. I came here with a job to do and everyone's counting on me." Aang fights, puending his palm to his chest.
"The Fire Lord knew we were coming this time. We thought we had surprise on our side but we didn't. It just wasn't our day. What we need to do now is go help our friends." Toph explained.
Aang looked down to the ground. "I guess you guys are right."
"You'll have another chance. I know you will." (Y/n) put a hand on Aang's shoulder.
Aang looked up at her and nodded. They had to get out of here.
They left the tunnels, boarded Appa and went down to the original battlefield.
As they flew, they saw tons of Fire Nation war balloons and airships. It was terrifying.
They landed on the ground, and Katara ran up to them.
"It was all a trap," Sokka explained, hopping out of the saddle. "Azula knew we were coming and she's plotted out every move. We've just gotta get to the beach as fast as we can. If we can make it to the submarines, maybe we can get away safely."
"They've got air power, but so do I," Aang announced, whipping his glider open. "I'm gonna do what I can to slow them down." Aang took off on his glider.
Katara took off on Appa to help Aang slow the airships down.
"Everyone, let's get back to the subs." Sokka yelled, running towards the beach.
They reached the shore, and the airships were almost right above them. A trap door underneath one of the ships opened, right as Aang and Katara landed with them.
"Try and find some cover. I think we're about to see some bombs." Sokka called.
Toph bent a piece of the mountain above them, making a wide cover. Explosions rocked the ground beneath them and above them, and their cover cracked. Toph kept it up with pillars. Smoke reached around them, and the rumbling at their feet ceased.
The airships continued past them, not dropping any more bombs or turning.
"Why aren't they turning around to attack us again?" Katara asked.
"They're headed for the beach," Aang said. "They're gonna destroy the submarines!"
"How are we all gonna escape?" Sokka asks.
"I don't think they plan on us escaping." (Y/n) said, still staring out to the airships.
"We're not." Hakoda said, approaching them with Bato supporting him.
"The our only choice is to stand and fight. We have the Avatar. We could still win." Sokka says.
"Yes, with the Avatar we could still win...on another day. You kids have to leave. You have to escape on Appa together." Hakoda says.
"What?" Katara runs to her dad, and he takes ahold of her shoulders. "We can't leave you behind. We won't leave anyone behind."
"You're our only chance in the long run. You and Sokka have to go with Aang somewhere safe. It's the only way to keep hope alive." Hakoda explains. Katara faces her friends.
"The youngest of our group should go with you. The adults will stay behind and surrender. We'll be prisoners, but we'll all survive this battle." Bato says, trying to ease them into going.
"I've got some experience with Fire Nation prisons. It's not going to be easy, but we'll get by." Gary's father says.
"They're at the beach already!" Sokka shouts, breaking everyone from their previous conversation.
Everyone watched with wide eyes as bombs were dropped onto the subs. Water was spouted up to try and stop the bombs, but the swampbenders couldn't hold them off. The subs erupted in flames, and thick black smoke poured into the sky.
(Y/n) pulled Hakoda aside as the youngest of the groups went into the saddle. "Hakoda, Sokka and I are technically adults. We should go with you, we could still try and fight this off. Let Aang and Katara go, and we—"
"(Y/n), no. You're a smart girl, so you know how much the younger kids need you both." Hakoda says.
(Y/n) sighs. "I just feel so guilty leaving you all here. Like we—like I could've done more. I'll just come with you all, and Sokka can stay—"
Hakoda puts a hand on her shoulder. "There is nothing else you could have done. Aang, Toph, and both of my kids need you. They need you there with them. We will all be safe, I promise." Hakoda offers (Y/n) a smile.
(Y/n) smiles, but her eyes were welling up for the second time today. Hakoda pulls her into a hug, then sends her off to help the smaller kids up onto Appa.
Aang sat at Appa's reigns, quietly crying as he waited for everyone to board.
He looked up at (Y/n), then quickly turned away. She gave him a small hug, which he instantly melted into. She gave him a small peck on his forehead, then moved back to the saddle.
Sokka and Katara were boarding, and (Y/n) sat beside Sokka in the saddle as Katara went to Aang.
Aang stood up to face the crowd. "Thank you all for being so brave and so strong. I'm gonna make this up to you."
He sat back down, and Appa took off into the sky.
(Y/n) watched the figures of the soldiers get smaller and smaller as they flew away. Sokka and Katara couldn't stop looking at their dad.
An airship was eerily close to them as they flew away. Everyone in the saddle, which included three extra passengers: Haru, Teo, and The Duke, looked to the airship.
"I know just the place for us to go where we'll be safe for a while. The Western Air Temple." Aang announced to everyone.
(Y/n) was chewing the inside of her cheek with guilt and nervousness.
Sokka's tracing of her scar seemed to tether her back to reality, even if he was subconsciously doing it as he looked out to the passing clouds.
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hi friends!!
sorry for the short chapter there was a lot of zuko stuff happening that was hard to work around lolol
i hope you enjoyed! thank you so much for reading this book, and your comments on all three of my books make me so happy :,)
love ya!!
~sage<3