Murder, battle and other things I did on my weekend - By Seifer Almasy 19 years and 1/4

[noblerworld]

With Cassie missing, Zuko was setting off to face his sister, the Avatar was setting off to fight the Fire Lord and Seifer, who wasn't going with either of them, felt rather like he'd been invited to the worlds biggest birthday party and then told he couldn't have any cake.

"If Zuko's going to seize the capital," he told Arya in a deliberately casual voice, only hoping that she was as eager to cause some chaos as he was, "he needs to arrive there still fresh."

"But there's bound to be some army units guarding the road in," he smiled. "How about we make sure their attention is elsewhere?"

He glanced at her and then at the other boy who had arrived from the Island, Edward or something, "You both in?"

Comments

[coldheartedfire.livejournal.com]

"Nothing to say!?" Azula demanded. "Tell me! Why are you so weak!" Every question was punctuated with lighting, quickly growing more aimless, its real thread only in its power and her lack of care in aiming. The wrong blast might hit Cassie.

[thethirdwonder.livejournal.com]

Cassie could barely believe what she was seeing. She had a whole new respect for Zuko now after seeing him fight in his element. And Azula was even crazier then she suspected.

Her eyes went wide and her struggles to untie herself got more frantic as the lightening started flying everywhere. She barely had time to throw herself behind the wall she was sitting on before a random bolt hit her, biting back a scream as she landed on her burned side.

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

Zuko needs to end this, and now. Azula's aim is getting wilder, to the point of being nonexistent, and sooner or later she's going to fire one off and Cassie isn't going to be able to get out of the way quickly enough.

He quickly propels himself away with flips and bursts of flame in Azula's direction, putting himself as far from Cassie as he can get and trying to keep his sister's full attention with an unrelenting attack. He keeps trying for that blast that will take her down, at least long enough for him to get her immobilized so he can grab Cassie and get out of there. "I'm weak? You're the one that's losing control, Azula!" he calls back, following it up with a sweep of his fists and a giant fireball.

[coldheartedfire.livejournal.com]

Bolt after bolt hit the ground in a haphazard line going his way and Azula laughed, the sound jagged rather than happy. "You're always weak! You could have ended this so much sooner but you weren't brave enough!"

She whipped up another bolt of blue lightning and threw it right at him. "If you're so strong, kill me!"

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

Zuko takes in Azula's lightning with a growl of anger, but no matter how she infuriates him, he can't kill her. He's not going to become her, become their father, taking lives when and how they see fit.

Gathering all his focus, Zuko channels his fury into the raw energy he's holding within himself, and with his feet planted firm, he redirects the lightning - not directly at Azula, but to a spot right at her feet, close enough to have a definite impact but not to be fatal.

[coldheartedfire.livejournal.com]

The lightning hit her through the ground, rocking her back off her feet so hard that she began to smile in triumph. Even if he'd killed her, that was a perfectly good tradeoff for getting Zuzu to take a life. The first one was the hardest, supposedly. Azula couldn't remember.

And then she hit the ground and pain seared through her as her chest rose and fell sharply. She wasn't dead. She was alive and in pain. Fire sparked at her hands but she couldn't collect herself enough to maintain a full flame.

"Finish it!" she gasped. "Or I will!"

[irisewiththesun.livejournal.com]

Now is the moment, Azula weakened and at a disadvantage, and Zuko has to act before it becomes too late. He sweeps in closer, flipping to close the gap faster, landing in a firm stance right in front of his sister. In one upturned palm, he's got a flame, one that starts to grow, orange and red flickering and licking at the air.

For a fraction of a second, maybe half a heartbeat, Zuko wonders what it would have been like to have a real sister. One he got along with, had a good relationship with. He thinks maybe he'll never know...but then he thinks of the hostage he's trying to save right now and it's possible, just possible, he's already started to find out.

He curls his fingers into a fist, extinguishing the flame. And then, no more than a couple of seconds after he lands in front of Azula, he sweeps a leg around quick as lightning and connects with her temple, hard enough to knock her out.