Seifer Almasy

Cassie groaned as she slowly became more aware. First it was the pain in her burned side and then it was the fact she couldn't move. Then, she recognized Zuko's voice calling her name. She frowned as she opened her eyes, "Zuko?"

What was going on?

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He can't help the relieved exhalation as Cassie opens her eyes and speaks. "Don't worry, Cassie, I'll get you out of here," he calls, in a much softer voice than the one he's been directing at his sister.

Then he clenches his fists again and turns back to her. "You and me, Azula. Agni Kai. Right now."

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"Right now?" Azula asked, standing up. "Afraid to go somewhere out in the open and challenge me publicly?"

Azula snapped her fingers at some guards and she ran as they grabbed Cassie. "I accept your challenge! If you can catch me!"

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Cassie screamed as they wrenched her up by her arms, pain radiating from the burns on her arm. And it was the pain that helped her become fully aware of what was going on. She began to struggle against the guards, despite the pain. "Zuko! What's going on?"

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For a split second as Azula takes off, disappears toward the outside, Zuko wants to just grab Cassie and run. He knows he can take the guards holding her without a problem. He also knows he can't just leave it at that, that Azula will only chase them down again and if she catches them, it'll be worse. He has to end this now.

"You're going to be okay, Cassie. I promise," he swears to her, glaring at her guards before he takes off after Azula.

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She was, for once, good to her word and stood waiting for Zuko in an open pavilion, eyes glittering with malice. "Can you really make those cute little promises, Zuzu?"

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Normally, even without her powers, Cassie could have taken the guards holding her. But her injuries were painful and her strength zapped. So her groan was more in frustration then pain as they dragged her out so she could witness the battle. Thankfully, they sat her down on a small wall so she didn't have to try and stand as well as everything else.

She hated to admit it, but she was going to have hope Zuko would rescue her.

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He can feel it, the way the comet's making his bending even more powerful, and before they even start Zuko knows this is going to be one heck of a show. He can't think about that now, though, about how it's going to look. He needs to do some quick thinking, try and figure out how to bring his sister down without killing her. Probably it would have been wise to plan something in this case, but Zuko's never been a planner. He's also never been a murderer.

"Why don't you attack me and find out," he says in reply to Azula, and he knows Cassie's there, watching, but he can't afford to pay attention to her right now, all his focus on his sister.

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All the planning and murdering genes had gone to her and Azula had every intention of claiming her brother's life if he was fool enough to give her the opportunity. She was all too happy to start, drawing an arc of blue fire from fingertip to fingertip and forcing it towards him. Zuko would break.

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Cassie was used to see super powers in action, but there was something about the bending of this world that seemed so much more intense, more personal. As much as she knew her life hung in the balance, she had a feeling that she was about to watch something epic.

Even as she still kept attempting to free her hands behind her back.

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Spinning once first to wind it up, Zuko plants his feet wide and blocks Azula's blue fire with a wave of red, thrusting his arms in front of him and sweeping them aside to make it part like a sea of flame that neutralizes Azula's attack.

He doesn't hesitate, knowing she won't either, and follows it up immediately, bringing his hands together and then sweeping them back out again, two huge, spiraling plumes of flame issuing from them as he makes another circle with his hands and then another, pushing them out and lengthening them until they're like twin horizontal tornadoes.

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He wanted to make it a dance then. Fine. Azula could do that. She raise her hands, pulling up a wall of fire and shoving it toward him. The comet blazed in her veins and the wall grew and grew, spanning the entire pavilion before curling and wrapping through his columns, forcing its way toward him.

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Zuko creates a wall of his own, sending it giant and blazing in Azula's direction and planting his feet as the walls collide, one blue and one red-orange, the force of it sliding him backwards but he manages to stand firm.

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There was something beautiful about the colors, even as the walls of fire dissipated against one another, floating off like river leaves. Azula would not relent though.

"I'm not letting you win, Zuzu!" She shrieked. "You don't deserve to!"

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"Don't call me that!" he roars back, kicking a wide arc with one foot, then jumping and kicking the other foot straight out. He follows it up with blasts from his hands, each plume of fire he sends impossibly large.

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"I'll call you what I want! I'm better than you! I should have been born first! I should be fire lord!" She punctuated every statement with another burst of flame and a kicked arc of fire, close enough that she hit his foot on the follow through.

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Zuko counters every move as quickly as he can, but he's not quick enough to prevent getting hit, and he immediately kicks into a backflip, stifling a yell.

"You won't be Fire Lord, Azula," he yells as he comes back with his fiercest attack yet, flipping and twisting as fire issues from his fists and his feet. "I'm Crown Prince and I will take my rightful place on the throne!"

In truth, he doesn't know if he deserves to be Fire Lord. He doesn't know if the things he's done have served to make him unworthy. But he does know that the last thing the Fire Nation needs is to be led by his sister.

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"You!?" Azula faked a laugh. "An exiled prince? One who couldn't even kill the Avatar? You're a joke! You're nothing compared to me! NOTHING!" Her eyes were narrowed and wild as she sent out another spray of fire. He didn't deserve to be half of what she was and she would not let him take this from her. Never. Never!

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Zuko doesn't say anything at first, just keeps on pushing, keeps on sending out red-orange bursts to meet and overtake her blue. He doesn't let up, and he's sure one or two have gotten through. "Is that all you've got?" he challenges, pushing out another wall of fire.

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"Not good enough for you!?" Azula demanded. "Does little Zuzu really need an extra challenge." Cold fire jittered through her veins and Azula grinned. "I've got something just for you."

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"Let's see it, then!" Zuko calls, planting his feet and getting into the right stance. "Bring it on."

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The taunts went quiet. The very air seemed to weigh more now as Azula raised her hands above her head and a crackling bolt of blue lightning twisted above her head. Its power surged through her and Azula grinned, sending it right toward Zuko.

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Zuko's ready for it, but he still lets out a soft grunt as he takes the lightning in, feels his body absorbing its raw power. It slides him backwards, though not as far as their father's had, and he concentrates hard, focuses on channeling it correctly.

His hand stretches out, two fingers extended, and for a split second it's pointed right at Azula. But for all she's done, their entire lives, Zuko can't bring himself to kill his sister, and so he moves his arm and redirects the lightning into the sky.

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She wouldn't let him see her stunned but her whole body tensed, ready to leap away and escape his lightning. But then he threw away his chance, sent it up and away and Azula just snarled.

"Afraid to end my life, brother!? Afraid to grow up!?" she shrieked. Lighting and blue fire rained down haphazardly in her rage.

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