Ashes of Devotion [ATLA - Azula x OC]

[Rotceh]

Take the time you need ,TL is more important

 

[fireball900]

I rather suspect Bumi will get Toph on her last gasp of power, so that Toph is about to concede... and then Bumi pre-empts her, conceding first.

Bumi will be subtly pumping Toph for information during the fight.

This preserves his army for later. He chose this option in canon, and in this he has only more reason to do so.

 

[Lucernello]

AN: So, I couldn't sleep today, and it is Friday. Screwing my day over for you guys, woosh. There might be many mistakes but I will correct those later with the help of my brother. If anyone wants to help as well they can point them out for me. I would appreciate it.

Also, this is art from a small art streamer I found on twitch. I like supporting people that are starting their journey. It looks nice.
​

Anyway, enjoy.
Luce
​

---

99 A.G

It was finally happening! Toph had spent the last months practicing and working herself until exhaustion against Azula, and sometimes Lin when she wasn't busy. She was confident, as usual, but prepared to face a strong opponent.

The Mad King had accepted the challenge, and with the same wild cheerfulness he seemed to bring into everything, had guided them through the stone corridors of Omashu until the passage opened into a broad arena deep into the palace.

The king reached for the clasp of his cloak and threw the heavy cloth aside. Then, the old man jumped down into the arena, surprising even his own guards, and when he landed, the floor shook in a deep tremor that traveled through Toph's senses.

Toph was already grinning. Not cowed even for a second, she followed him down. Using earthbending to soften the fall as the ground turned bouncy then back to solid stone beneath Toph's bare feet. She extended her senses to map her surroundings, quickly identifying Lin sitting in one of the prepared audience seats and stands, along with Aiku and the officers from Omashu.

She could feel the size of the arena through the soles of her feet. It was a great place for a duel, she had to admit, an advantage to an earthbender for sure. Toph's grin widened before they reached the center.

"It is certainly nice to see the young generation excited." Bumi said, his voice full of laughter as he turned toward her.

"Come on, old man. Who wouldn't be excited? Let's do this!" Toph said, rolling her shoulders as she planted her feet more firmly against the floor. Bumi cackled at that, delighted.

Toph could already see some changes in the King's appearance. He was built big, almost like some of the fighters back in Gaoling. Gone was his hunched posture from before. It was certainly a clever way to look weaker and underestimate him.

"To make this more interesting." Bumi said, spreading his arms, "I want to add some rules for the duel."

Toph lifted her chin. "Rules?"

The king stomped one foot, and the arena floor groaned as a perfect circle rose around them, a thick ridge of stone pushing up from the ground in a clean ring. It was wide enough to fight comfortably, and it was something she was familiar with, having fought in the Earth Rumble tournament.

"Step outside the circle and you lose." Bumi said.

Toph laughed, unable to help herself. "This is more familiar to me."

"Anyone interfering for both of us forfeits the duel. Both of us can concede defeat as we see fit. It is not allowed to collapse the roof… and you are not allowed to pull from my beard." he said laughing, Toph only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Do you want to add a rule yourself?" Bumi asked. Toph shook her head, getting into her usual mantis stance. Bumi looked at her amused, then he lowered into a crooked stance himself.

"Then, let's begin."

Toph waited, listening to the weight of him through the stone. Bumi waited too, impossibly still for several long seconds.

"Show them our might, my King!" shouted an officer, cheering the monarch on.

Bumi's grin widened. "If you are not going to attack, little badgermole, then I suppose I will."

The floor exploded with movement to her senses, before the king could even launch his first rock Toph moved to evade, dodging the boulder that came her way. As she launched an attack of her own that was easily stopped, she had to rapidly turn sideways as a slab tore itself out of the arena and shot past her shoulder; it hit the far wall with enough force to crack it.

Another came low toward her knees, and another dropped from above as Bumi ripped stone from the raised rim and sent it falling at an angle that would have pinned her down had she been slower. Toph drove her heel down and split the low strike in half, punched upward to break the falling slab, then twisted with both hands open and hurled the shattered pieces back toward him.

Bumi laughed and leaned aside, letting the first pieces pass close enough to stir the air around his face, then stamped once and sent a pillar under his own feet. The stone lifted him smoothly, carrying him above the returning fragments before it curled forward like a wave and began to chase her across the circle.

Toph clicked her tongue, half annoyed and half thrilled, then used the same idea to summon up a platform beneath herself and rode it toward him.

The two moving ridges crashed in the center of the ring with a sound like an avalanche. The impact threw dust across the arena and sent vibrations running in every direction, and Toph jumped clear as her own platform shattered beneath her. She caught herself with a rising shelf of stone, landed low, and immediately answered with three angled columns that shot toward Bumi from different sides.

He broke one with his shoulder, bent the second aside with a casual flick of his wrist and the third should have caught his ribs, yet he dropped onto his back with ridiculous ease, sliding under it while the stone beneath him carried him along like a sled.

Toph felt the movement and drove both hands down, trying to trap the slab beneath him, but Bumi rolled with the motion, kicked up, and sent a burst of rock spines toward her before he had fully found his feet again.

Toph crushed them with a wall, although the force behind them shoved her backward several steps and made her bare heels scrape across the floor.

"The audacity of youngsters these days. My bones are not what they used to be, you know? Have some consideration for me, please." she heard him say.

He was strong, absurdly strong, but Toph now truly believed that even if he had an ace up his sleeve, she could win. Still, she had to adjust a bit, he had seen through her disadvantage, he was using his body movement to lie about his movements. His feet telegraphed one attack while his hands did another.

Toph lunged forward, refusing to let him keep the range. She slammed one fist down and sent the wall racing to his position, then bent the floor up around his ankle where he inevitably would dodge away from the attack. Bumi evaded and landed exactly where she wanted him, and the stone snapped closed around both his legs.

Toph grinned again, throwing her other hand forward, raising bands of stone around his waist and arms before he could settle into another ridiculous movement. The bands locked across his chest and shoulders, binding him in place from the neck down.

Toph could hear several guards gasp from the stands, while Lin leaned forward by the smallest degree.

"Got you, grandpa." Toph said. "Do you yield?"

Bumi's face stretched into a smile and for a moment Toph thought he was mocking her by making a face. Then all of a sudden, the ground behind erupted in her direction. Toph barely turned in time but it was still not enough to avoid a hit.

A blunt column slammed into her side and threw her across the circle, and although she managed to twist her body before landing, the impact still drove the air from her lungs when she hit the floor.

She rolled, dug her fingers into the stone, and stopped herself a hand's width before the raised boundary. For one stunned moment, her mind couldn't come up with an explanation for what happened, but her eyes grew wide once she understood what happened.

The stone bands around Bumi cracked and fell apart and he stepped free without much trouble.

"Being trapped in cold stone was refreshing." he said brightly. "Still, I must commend your creativity."

Toph pushed herself upright, and laughed. Her ribs ached where the column had struck her, and the taste of dust filled her mouth, but she was still awed enough to not care.

"That is so cool! You can bend with your face!"

"Of course, can't you?" Bumi asked, delighted.

Toph spat dust to the side. "Not yet, but I will still beat you without it."

"Ah, I was hoping you would concede." Bumi said.

"Never!"
​

---

Azula's team had infiltrated Omashu very easily. Using the cover of the night they had dropped from the gliders high above into one of the many rooftops of the city.

The city was old, layered, and it clearly had expanded many times over as the streets were both too wide or too narrow. They rose and bent across the mountain like stone rivers, with houses stacked over houses.

Their delivery system worked through the night as well, and the carts that would sail on those stone bridges and passages above the houses made it easier for them to land. No one was looking up and the noise the carts made sliding down muted everything else.

Of course, they had made it even harder for someone to spot them as they had dyed the parachutes black, along with their undercover outfits.

Azula crouched beneath the shadow of a raised stone walkway, one hand resting against the wall while two of her infiltrators knelt over a rough sketch spread across the ground. Now, they were tracing the lines in the small parchment with the map of the city, marking the entrances to their tunnels and military quarters.

The defenders had been moving people into the tunnels, so some entrances were very easy to spot. Some others were old maintenance passages, maybe used for storage supplies in mind, and others had clearly been carved with holding military personnel in mind.

Still, they had made good progress and Azula was confident that they had found the majority of them already. Now the next step was to enter one of those tunnels and find where it led.

Two guards stood near the mouth of the nearest passage, speaking in low, bored voices while their spears rested against their shoulders. Their posture was poor, their attention worse, but they were still present and they had to discuss the best way to deal with them.

Azula listened while her men whispered suggestions to one another, each one quieter than the last, and resisted the urge to silence them forever.

"We could take them quickly." Sergeant Jo murmured.

"And alert the next patrol when their bodies are found. We don't know how big the tunnels are, we could be down there for a long time." Azula replied softly.

The man lowered his eyes at once.

Captain Zhou leaned closer to the map. "There may be another entrance under the eastern steps, Princess. We marked a draft from below, but we could not confirm the passage without crossing the market road."

Azula studied the line he indicated, already weighing the risk, when the faint beat of wings cut through the alley. Her head snapped upward, quickly recognizing the animal.

A firehawk swept down between the roofs, its silhouette briefly crossing the dim band of moonlight above them. One of the guards near the tunnel entrance straightened, turning toward the sound with a frown, and Azula moved quickly to silence it.

Her hand shot out and a knife found its mark. The hawk dropped sharply without even crying out, and one of her men caught it against his chest.

At the same time Azula flicked two fingers toward the nearest lanterns, snuffing their flames. The captain followed her signal and snuffed the next light down the alley, then the next, until the narrow street sank into a darkness thick enough to hide them.

The guards looked toward the dead lanterns but Azula and her team were already gone.

She led the team deeper through the alleyways, moving swiftly through the city away from the tunnel entrance. No one spoke until they had passed beneath a narrow arch and settled behind a storage shed where the only thing they could hear was the delivery system close by.

Only then did they take the message from the hawk's leg.

"If they risked sending this here, then it was urgent enough to endanger the mission." she said.

The captain quickly gave Azula the message. Around her, the infiltrators waited anxiously while the princess read the parchment.

"The duel between Toph and the king of Omashu has more at stake now." she said at last. "If King Bumi loses, Omashu surrenders without a fight. If he wins then the entire civilian population will be granted passage out of the city toward Ba Sing Se."

One of the men stared at her perplexed. "The entire city surrenders, Princess?" he inquired.

"So the message says."

No one was foolish enough to say what all of them were thinking, which was fortunate, because Azula had no answer either. How on earth had Lin managed to convince the strongest earthbender in the world to stake Omashu on a duel was a question Azula intended to ask the moment she saw her again.

Lin had a habit of forcing impossible outcomes, but she wasn't charming enough to negotiate an entire city on a duel. It made little sense to worry about it now, though.

Azula folded the message and tucked it away. "Our mission is over. If Toph wins, the city may become ours before dawn, and we cannot be found skulking under its streets when that happens. If she doesn't we could blend in with the crowd and escape with them but I don't want to wait for that outcome and they may find us anyway."

Captain Zhou glanced back toward the tunnel route. "Princess, we will have to find another way out of the city. I am assuming there will be no assault to cover our withdrawal."

"Yes, you are correct." Azula said.

Azula looked toward the distant walls, thinking. They needed an opening. A small one would be enough if it appeared in the right place, at the right moment, and with the right amount of confusion to make the guards look somewhere else.

"Let's move closer to one of the gates, we will see if an opportunity presents itself."

On the move again, Azula was weighing her options and trying to come up with the best way to escape. As they reached one of the gates, she heard a shout rise from the direction of the gate, and she ordered her team to hide.

"Someone stole from my pouch! You have to help me. I was only able to sell a few of my cabbages when they took it from me!"

The cry echoed with such wounded outrage that several nearby voices answered at once. Azula moved to the corner and looked through the narrow gap between two stacked crates. A merchant had stopped near the gate, waving his arms while two guards attempted to calm him.

His cart sat beside him, loaded high with cabbages, the wheels secured with wooden stoppages against the slope of the road. The guards looked already annoyed, and the merchant was trying to explain what the thief looked like.

Azula lifted one hand signaling her team to stay put. She moved alone, slipping along the edge of the shadows while the argument grew louder, as the guards turned impatient. The merchant accused one guard of indifference while the guard just wanted him to move the cart so that it didn't block the road.

Azula approached from the far side, where the carriage blocked her from view, then crouched beside one of its wooden supports. A narrow flame bloomed from her fingertip and she touched it to the wood for only a moment, feeding enough heat into it to weaken it and not ignite.

The support darkened, brittle and quiet beneath her hand. She pressed two fingers against it, snapped it cleanly, then withdrew to her previous position before the cart began to move alone. The merchant did not notice until the whole stand lurched sideways.

The cart collapsed with a heavy crack. Cabbage spilled across the stone street in a rolling wave, bouncing between the guards' boots and scattering the opposite way from the gate.

"MY CABBAGES!" The merchant screamed as if he had witnessed a murder.

Both guards cursed, then rushed to grab the produce before it rolled down the slope and into the open street.

Azula gave another signal and her team ran, snuffing the lanterns and flames as quickly as possible towards the opened gate, keeping low against the gatehouse wall.

The guards were distracted by the merchant shoving a cabbage into their arms while running to get another one. By the time the guards turned toward the darkened edge of the gate, Azula and her infiltrators were already through the gap and moving into the outer road beyond the city.

Only when Omashu's wall rose behind them did one of her men dare to breathe too loudly. Azula allowed herself the smallest trace of a smile as she vanished into the dark road beyond Omashu.

"I'm so good. I bet I could get us into Ba Sing Se, assassinate the King and take over without anyone knowing about it." Azula said.

"No doubt about it, princess. What are we waiting for?" Captain Zhou said, laughing with the rest of the team.
​

---

Toph came to the conclusion that, if she couldn't really read his attacks, then she had to stay on the offensive. She moved again, in a choreography of movements, ripping a chunk of the floor behind him, then she followed with a barrage of compact stones aimed at his knees, chest, and head.

Bumi met the first wave with a stomp that flattened half the arena in front of him, quickly raised a wall behind him, then thrust his chin forward and made the stones around Toph's feet jerk sideways. She stumbled, corrected her balance, and nearly missed the boulder he launched with one hand while his head turned in the opposite direction.

Unable to dodge the attack, she met it head-on with her forehead, breaking the stone apart. Fragments still struck her shoulder and forearm, bruising her a bit and she had to retreat three steps before launching another attack.

Bumi started a dance-like movement, having his fists on his hips while moving his feet in quick succession, evading her attack and elevating earth spikes one after the other forcing her to keep moving out of the way of the incoming attacks.

As she tried to close the gap again, his attacks came hard enough to make each block costly, and she had to keep dodging. His stamina was surprising but she could still keep up, breaking some of the spikes and using them as her attacks which sadly didn't end up hitting Bumi.

Toph tried to send bigger slabs against him but he broke them easily and even spun in his place to redirect one of them toward her. No one was gaining an advantage but she had yet to land a hit on him.

She tried to predict his feet movement and send a discreet attack before he could keep his assault but he just rode her attack while laughing around the ring.

She tried to read his breathing, his weight, the deeper pull of his stance, and Bumi answered by throwing himself into motion so strange that the arena felt full of echoes. He slid, bounced, rolled, planted one hand, bent with his knee, then bent again with his face while his arms hung loose as if he had forgotten he owned them.

Toph was forced backward several times, and a few very close to the edge of the circle. This was the challenge that she was expecting though, winning here really would make her the best earthbender in the world.

He hadn't managed to land another hit on her yet, so Toph was happy to try different approaches. She was a bit worried that the king might have even more hidden talents. He was enjoying himself, teasing and commenting while keeping the combat going.

Normally she would be angry if it were anyone else, but this was the strongest bender she had ever faced, she supposed it was fair for him to be arrogant.

What really got her angry though, was not being strong enough. As the duel progressed, she felt her strength diminishing. Losing here would be disappointing not only herself, but Lin as well. If she won here the soldiers who she had trained and sparred with wouldn't need to risk their lives.

Yet, as she started getting tired, it was clear that winning was not as certain anymore. It was infuriating, and in that anger, something else started showing up in her senses. It was the same warm feeling she felt while sparring with Azula or Lin.

Heat and warmth spread through her seismic sense, and the earth beneath her feet now felt so strange. It was so evident now that she lost focus for a moment and Bumi gave her no time to think about it.

A massive slab rose beneath him and tilted, launching him across, flying toward her in a burst of speed that shouldn't have been possible for an old man like him. Toph raised both arms and caught the impact of his landing through a stone wall before it reached her, but he had already bent the floor under her left foot into a sinking pocket.

Her stance faltered, and the next strike came from the side, a shoulder-wide pillar that forced her to throw herself low to avoid being driven out of the ring. She hit the ground hard and rolled, then punched downward with both fists.

The arena floor shook and her attack finally clipped the king's right leg, but that didn't slow him down. The king pressed the attack and she caught the next boulder and crushed it between two rising slabs.

She bent the shards outward, compressed them into a dense block, and fired it back at him with both hands. Bumi broke it, but the force pushed him backward, and Toph felt the strain in her muscles already after finally landing a small hit.

As she analyzed the best strategy to continue the fight she noticed that the King was also exerted. His breath was even more uneven than hers, and his stance was more defensive now.

Toph followed that opening with everything she had. She struck low, then high, then low again, forcing him to answer one attack after another. The floor around them shook and cracked as they traded blows.

For the first time, Bumi stopped laughing and his witty comments were not there anymore. She decided to give her all to try to end the fight. With a series of quick and powerful attacks she threw everything she had left at the King.

Bumi, though, blocked and dodged, only getting hit once through the fury of her offensive. Toph was tired after that. Then, with a roar, Bumi summoned a massive wave that rolled toward her in hopes of probably throwing her from the ring.

Toph planted herself and raised both arms, catching the front of the wave before it buried her. The force dragged her heels through the floor and it impacted hard against her; the wave folded over itself, growing higher, trying to drive her backward over the boundary.

Toph bent against it, grinding the stone down inch by inch, but it took her a lot of effort to do so. At the end of the attack, her hands were shaking and she was pushed back towards the edge again.

Toph was exhausted but giving up was not something she would ever do. Trying to regain ground, she drove her hands down into the stone and pulled with every furious piece of herself drawing everything that she had left in her to commit to one last attack.

The arena trembled beneath her palms, the ground broke leaving huge cracks through the ring. Toph could sense that warmth again, even stronger now, and she grabbed it like she did stone. Something similar to mud came forth and she could clearly bend it up.

All around her, heat invaded her senses and she felt fire spread through the ring. She realized she was bending something hot enough to compare it to Lin's flames. The ground in front of her changed.

She kept a small portion beneath her feet solid but the rest lost its clean solidity, the stone glowed and whistled. The air grew hot enough to sting her face.

The entire ring was being liquefied, collapsing into a molten sheet that spread outward across the circle. Toph gasped, yet she did not let go. She could feel it, differently from normal stone, stranger and harder to hold, but still she was able to bend it as she wanted it to.

The molten earth spread in a widening pool, swallowing the floor between them in a slow, bright surge. Bumi jumped back, and for the first time in the duel he looked unsure. Toph stood on the only patch of solid stone left near the edge, breathing hard, sweat sliding down her face as the arena hissed around her.

The lava spread quickly, cutting off Bumi's path and eating through the ring he had drawn with his own bending. He leapt to a narrow pillar he summoned, then another, but the molten earth followed the collapse of each support faster than he expected. He twisted in the air, and landed outside the circle where earth was still solid.

The moment his foot touched down, though, Toph knew she had won the duel. Toph stood trembling on her patch of stone, her hands still lowered, her chest heaving as heat rolled across her skin.

"I am the best earthbender in the world! Don't you forget it!" she yelled at the audience, and it felt so good. Then Bumi began to laugh.

"Well… That was unexpected." he said, amused. "I lost."

Toph swallowed, suddenly aware of how tired she was, how badly her side hurt. She lifted her chin anyway, because she was still standing inside the circle and he was not.

Bumi's grin widened until it seemed too large for his face. "You have a lot of fire in you, literally." he said, laughing at his own joke.

Toph allowed herself a small smile while the heat touched her ankles and she had to bend it away before she got burned. At the same time, she felt dizzy and the heat was not helping her breathe any better.

Exhaustion took hold of her and she felt herself falling, but before she could touch the ground, cold hands caught her. In a gentle embrace, Lin scooped her up and carried her away. She was too tired to feel ashamed of it.

"That was amazing, Toph. Like the legend of Avatar Kyoshi we hear in Chin Village, you just bent lava!" Lin said.

"Of course it was, it's me..." Toph replied, weakly.

"The best earthbender in the world." Lin finished.​

 

[Sharker117]

That is admittable a clever way to do lavabending. One of the most potentially powerful earthbenders constantly living and sparring with two already powerful firebenders.

 

[Henshark]

Toph lava bending because of her connection to azula and lin is awesome but does it go both ways and if so how will it affect the fire benders?

 

[Lucernello]

Toph lava bending because of her connection to azula and lin is awesome but does it go both ways and if so how will it affect the fire benders?

Click to shrink...

No, standard firebenders cannot bend lava. Lava is molten rock, making it a sub-skill of earthbending, not firebending. While firebenders can heat rock to create lava or extract heat from it to solidify it, something we only see once in the show when Sozin is helping Roku fight the volcano initially, they still cannot manipulate molten rock. For earthbenders, it functions similarly to waterbenders manipulating ice. You can think of it as earthbenders accelerating rock particles which generates the heat and then liquefying them using immense focus to overcome earth's solid state

 

[Rotceh]

That was incredible, as always, Luce!
Haha, Toph has combined her earthbending with the firebending training from the army to discover lavabending. She's truly a prodigy.

Well, that will undoubtedly further enhance Lin's legend and prestige within the army—the woman who conquered the city that resisted for almost 100 years without losing a single troop.

And even though Toph is too tired to notice, Lin just jumped into a lava pit and walked through it to retrieve her. If her legs can handle her flames, I don't think lava will be much more difficult.

 

[fwrty]

"I am the best earthbender in the world! Don't you forget it!"

Click to shrink...

This moment needs it's own ember island play.

 

[Rotceh]

Toph lava bending because of her connection to azula and lin is awesome but does it go both ways and if so how will it affect the fire benders?

Click to shrink...

No, standard firebenders cannot bend lava. Lava is molten rock, making it a sub-skill of earthbending, not firebending. While firebenders can heat rock to create lava or extract heat from it to solidify it, something we only see once in the show when Sozin is helping Roku fight the volcano initially, they still cannot manipulate molten rock. For earthbenders, it functions similarly to waterbenders manipulating ice. You can think of it as earthbenders accelerating rock particles which generates the heat and then liquefying them using immense focus to overcome earth's solid state

Click to shrink...

Well, in this image you can see more or less the canonical abilities of each element. Toph still has to learn and master lava properly, but Azula's problem is directed towards temperature control, since Lin has decreed that combustion is too complex and probably works similarly to heating the earth to liquefy it... wait, does that mean Sozin at least had the basics of temperature control?

 

[Lucernello]

Well, in this image you can see more or less the canonical abilities of each element. Toph still has to learn and master lava properly, but Azula's problem is directed towards temperature control, since Lin has decreed that combustion is too complex and probably works similarly to heating the earth to liquefy it... wait, does that mean Sozin at least had the basics of temperature control?

Click to shrink...

That is a neat graph. I don't think Lin would endanger the princess with combustion bending anytime soon, no. Sozin had the basics, yes, for sure. It was honestly surprising that it was not developed or mentioned in the series after that.

 

[Lucernello]

It would be cool if someone made a propaganda poster. I'm sure the Fire Nation, with the discovery of lava bending, jumps at the opportunity of making Toph the poster earthbender for others to join the mighty cause of the Fire Nation, or some bs where cooperation leads to more powerful benders if they are on the right side, using Omashus' success as well.

 

[Rotceh]

It would be cool if someone made a propaganda poster. I'm sure the Fire Nation, with the discovery of lava bending, jumps at the opportunity of making Toph the poster earthbender for others to join the mighty cause of the Fire Nation, or some bs where cooperation leads to more powerful benders if they are on the right side, using Omashus' success as well.

Click to shrink...

Mmmmmmm..i have some ideas ,give me some hours

 

[Rotceh]

Here it is, I think it's a bit more complex than what appeared in the anime but... it looks good

Gemini Generated Image lgb76dlgb76dlgb7 hosted at ImgBB

Image Gemini Generated Image lgb76dlgb76dlgb7 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[Lucernello]

Here it is, I think it's a bit more complex than what appeared in the anime but... it looks good

Gemini Generated Image lgb76dlgb76dlgb7 hosted at ImgBB

Image Gemini Generated Image lgb76dlgb76dlgb7 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Click to shrink...

Hahaha, that's great. Although i would have used Toph as the poster child instead of those guys

 

[Rotceh]

Hahaha, that's great. Although i would have used Toph as the poster child instead of those guys

Click to shrink...

mmmmm like this?

Gemini Generated Image 1i91va1i91va1i91 hosted at ImgBB

Image Gemini Generated Image 1i91va1i91va1i91 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

 

[Lucernello]

mmmmm like this?

Gemini Generated Image 1i91va1i91va1i91 hosted at ImgBB

Image Gemini Generated Image 1i91va1i91va1i91 hosted on ImgBB

ibb.co

Click to shrink...

Haha, way better. I might commission one poster in the future, maybe next month, it's a nice addition

 

[Lucernello]

AN: Hello guys, it is still Friday in California so my awesomeness has completed a chapter in a week again against all odds. Be proud of me, thank you.
These are a few sigils for the Fire Nation which I thought would be cool to add to their armor. In future art commissions I will use them.​

Enjoy,
Luce
​

---

I was looking for a march song for the Fire Nation that isn't their main theme and I think this is the one I liked the most: March of Dominance - Andreas Waldetoft

99 A.G

Fire Nation troops and tanks marched inside Omashu. It was a horrifying sight, a parade of red and black filled the main street towards the city's palace and main plaza. The army's march was making the earth around them shake.

Hino was terrified, unable to reconcile what his eyes were witnessing with reality. It was a nightmare come true. The soldiers that were supposed to protect them, had just opened the city gates, surrendering to the ash makers.

As the enemy soldiers marched deeper into the city, Hino followed in a daze through the winding streets, until they reached the main city plaza, outside the palace. As the crowd gathered he saw familiar faces, plastered with the same fear he was feeling.

The soldiers halted at the plaza. Two of them quickly pushed forward with a long wooden crate that they placed in the steps of the palace stairs, then retreated back into formation. Then he saw the palanquin being carried in the middle of the formation.

From it, three figures step out. That is when Hino saw the evil spirit herself. The monster dressed in a young girl's skin and metal limbs stepped forward and climbed onto the wooden crate alongside two other young girls. Hino completely ignored the other two as she began speaking to the crowd.

"People of Omashu, soldiers of the Fire Nation, hear me now. This city has stood for generations upon this mountain, yet today, its very stones witness a change in history. Today, Omashu is integrated into our great Nation. Today, our might continues to spread through the continent."

"To my soldiers, I say this first; I salute you. I salute your spirit, your endless courage. You marched to the battlefield, to the front, and onward with the knowledge that death could be waiting at every gate and every wall."

"You cast off comfort, cast off fear, showing the willpower that dwells within you. Continue to serve now with body and spirit, and our might shall reach every corner of the world. Every fiber of your being should cry in triumph!"

The cheer from the gathered soldiers was deafening, and a terrible chill went through Hino's body. The evil spirit waited for a few moments, letting their cries be heard, then raised a hand to silence them once more.

"To you, my fellow soldiers, I ask: Why do we go so far, committing ourselves to death, suffering, hunger, wounds, sleepless marches, and leaving our families behind? The answer lies clear before us. It is for our country, for the Fire nation and our homeland. It is for the whole world. It is for the future that will be built by those with the strength to secure lasting peace."

"And once we win this war the right way, we will bring that peace to all of you. Not the illusion of peace the rest of the world feeds itself, that one is quickly shattered by stubborn people seeking power. No matter how much we evolve, if we let weak men control our future, war will ignite again. As a promise to you all, as long as I draw breath, I will never let that happen!"

The soldiers clapped and shouted in excitement, again she waited for them to calm down before continuing.

"To the people of Omashu, understand me carefully. I do not ask for your love. I do not require your gratitude. We only ask of you to have the strength to work for your own life, for your own future, to bring order and labor to your lives. Show loyalty. Show collaboration, and this city will continue to flourish beneath Fire Nation rule."

"I'm aware there are some rumors going around, and some of you are confused. The only rumors that are true are that King Bumi surrendered after losing a duel against a dear friend of mine. Let me introduce you to Toph Beifong, on my right, who through her use of her talent and Fire Nation fostering, recreated lava bending, something only heard of before in legends, and used it to defeat him."

"As such, earthbenders will be allowed to work with firebenders in the future, to build cooperation and foster these talents that your people already have in them. Those who want to volunteer and work with us are more than welcomed to be part of our combined might."

"But…do not mistake our mercy as weakness. Raise your hands against us and death shall knock at your door. You have seen our might reaching to the very skies. Do not think for a second…that our advances would never be used against you if you rebel. Do not force your children to see burned flesh merely to salvage your own broken pride."

Hino's fear spiked and he could see the threat was very real. 'The monster would take our children and make them watch as they kill us', he thought. After a small pause, the ash-maker spread her arms wide and smiled.

"My brothers and sisters-in-arms: Omashu has fallen, but our march does not end at these gates. The Earth Kingdom still cowers behind the walls of Ba Sing Se, and until that city crumbles, our work is unfinished. Only a polar-bear-dog long deprived of its fangs and claws does not fight, and we are no such creature. You are the hand of the Fire Nation, unbroken after a century of war."

She crossed one of her arms, fist on her chest, still smiling.

"My life, I give for my country! With my hands I fight for our forefathers! With my mind I seek ways to better my nation. And with my feet, may our march of civilization continue. For the Fire Nation!"

"FOR THE FIRE NATION!" chorused the rest of the soldiers, hitting their armor with their fist in the same motion as the evil spirit, the sound felt like thunder.

As he exited the plaza hurriedly only one thought ran through Hino's mind: 'She must be stopped.'
​

---

The war council was discussing small matters. Ozai only cared about the status of the main fleet that would venture north toward the last bastion of Water Tribe opposition and was just patiently waiting for another report that would surely arrive soon.

As the council was discussing the addition of new rank insignia into the armor of the army, something the Renshi family had proposed, he wondered what to do next. He didn't have to wait long, luckily, for a runner to interrupt their session.

"Sirs, I have an urgent report, it concerns Omashu, my lords." he said.

"Go ahead, read it for us." Ozai said.

As the soldier read the scroll they had received, the war council was stunned into silence for a few moments. As he finished, however, it exploded in chaos of ministers and generals shouting.

"Outrageous!"

"They dare lie to us all?!"

"What is this report?"

Several people screamed in disbelief.

Ozai silenced them all by flaring his power and the flames of the throne room almost reached the roof. No one in that room could believe that they had taken Omashu without suffering a single casualty.

General Shu had sent in the report that he had not even participated in the overall surrender negotiation, which was information he didn't already know. The operation to infiltrate the city and gather intelligence before the attack had quickly turned into a duel for the sake of the city instead, one where the surrender terms were spoken.

Against all odds the doors of Omashu had been opened the next morning and the army had just marched right in without any opposition. Just like that, the last consolidated resistance from the Earth Kingdom in the south fell. They still had some reports of people living inside Si Wong's desert, but truly they kept mostly to themselves and they had no real resources that would merit taking them over.

Ozai already knew that General Shu was telling the truth as he had received his usual reports from Azula herself. Placing his daughter among Commander Lin's troops had been a clever play to spy on her. Her meteoric rise alongside her accomplishments could turn into a threat after all. So far, all of her reports placed her as one of his most loyal tools of war.

If the commander were older, then maybe he would be worried, but she was young and raised by a loyal noble family, there really was not a lot to worry about. True, her military accomplishments could be compared to those of his brother, but she didn't grow up with the idea of being the Fire Lord, Ozai was sure she had never even thought about it.

If she ever displayed any rebellious ideas, Ozai would give the task of eliminating her to Azula. For now, he would give the carrot instead, and the opportunity to lead the campaign against Ba Sing Se. She was clearly more qualified than General Shu at the very least.

"I have received reports from other sources that claim the same outcome, gentlemen. So please, take this news as the truth." the Fire Lord said. "It is already verified."

"Of course, Fire Lord. As expected of our great leader, you already knew what happened." General Bujing said.

"Yes, I, of course, knew already. A few details were missing so that is why I was waiting on the general's report. We must applaud Commander Lin's ability to force a surrender in a duel against one of the strongest earthbenders, who had defied us for decades. Even the late Fire Lord, Azulon, had trouble dealing with him. That she has also triumphed without losing any of our troops speaks of her brilliance. I motion now for her to be promoted and I intend for her to lead our campaign against Ba Sing Se. Is anyone against my judgement?"

No one spoke up against him, naturally.

"Good. Now, I want to discuss another opportunity that my advisors have pointed out. Let's use the lava bending phenomenon to our advantage to recruit earthbenders to our cause. The fact that they can call forth this ability makes them worthy of being part of our great nation in my eyes."

'And more tools to use to finally realize my goals.'
​

---

Azula had been summoned to the temporary command office in the palace. General Shu was talking with Lin already when she arrived.

"Again, thank you for giving that speech for me, commander. You truly inspire the troops, young people like yourself have such a way with words nowadays." General Shu said.

"You honor me with your words, General." Lin replied.

"If I may speak frankly, I've received concerning reports about your overall character, and I'm glad I didn't listen to them. You brought a great victory for our nation." Shu continued.

"To be perfectly honest, it was Toph Beifong's victory, not mine. If anyone should receive praise it would be her." Lin said.

"It was your idea to get close to the girl, to nurture such a talent and prodigy able to best the king. Anyway, I will be leaving soon to the mainland again. I have already sent my report home and they are waiting for me to march towards our ship to the west. I hope to see you again soon, Commander. Princess."

The general bowed to Azula and left them behind. As soon as he was gone Lin turned to her.

"My princess, I need to return to Chin Village to organize our resources and workers. You will be in charge of handling Omashu, alongside Governor Tozo and a few of my administrative workers from Chin Village. They will be making most of the decisions and you will be supervising."

Azula didn't want to leave her side, she wanted to be with her during those small periods of time when they were not fighting. The princess really hoped the war would come to an end soon.

"I don't like being left behind." Azula commented.

"I know, sorry. I will come back here once everything is prepared. The Fire Lord will probably want to march to Ba Sing Se. I hear that we are planning an invasion of the Northern Water Tribe capital, this war could be won by the end of the year if both targets fall. Having all of my army alive also means there won't be delays either, so I need to make sure our lines will not suffer from lack of supplies once we begin our march."

"Are you sure you will be sent there?" Azula asked.

"I'm confident that General Shu gives me too much credit for our victory here, and he was in charge of sending the report back home. The war council will surely want to send me there."

"That is true. Where is Toph by the way?" The princess asked.

"I believe she is entertaining the late King Bumi right now. She wants him to teach him some other techniques but so far he has refused. I hear he is enjoying retirement. Still, we must not underestimate him, he found the hidden assassins that I have posted near him already, went in and said hi to them." Lin said.

"So she is staying with me?"

"Yes, Azula, for the moment she is staying here. I think she thinks of you as her friend already, and we owe her for winning the duel, even if it wasn't what we were expecting initially."

"Good, Wenxin will be thrilled, we want to test some of that new bending she discovered." Azula said.

Lin paled for a few seconds. "Please be careful with him, it's hard to find good instructors for the army."

"He will be fine… most of him anyway." Azula said, smirking.

Lin sighed, then she got serious again. "Azula, I actually have a mission for you for your stay in this city."

"Oh? Go on."

"You will be tasked with creating a rebellion." Lin said.

"Ah fun." Azula said, rolling her eyes.

"Indeed, it's hunting time, Azula. You will use the tunnels we have uncovered to lure resistance with the promise of an organized rebellion. Then, alongside a few of my agents, you will either capture them or eliminate them. Capturing them will lead us to their families, but I understand if they resist more than they should."

"At least I will be able to use my newfound vision. When are you coming back?"

"I should be able to return in a month's time. The railway tracks' construction is progressing smoothly and the northern colonies are already working to assist us when we reach them."

"I hope there are enough rebels here to entertain me until then."

Azula did consider a few plans to force Lin to either take her with her or for her to extend her stay, but only in her head. She knew that doing that could delay the end of the war if they were not fully prepared. In the end, she didn't voice those plans.

Lin snorted. "Only you, princess. I will see you soon, take care of yourself."

'I will miss you.' Azula thought.

As the princess watched Lin's back walk away, she suppressed the small pain in her chest. She was really not happy about this, but at least she could take out her frustrations on some peasants soon.
​

---

Kaien held the kettle and used his chi to heat the water. As the nobles gathered in his home kept bickering among themselves, he carefully served his tea just at the right temperature.

"...Lord Renshi, please take this seriously."

"Gentlemen, I assure you, the only reason you are not ashes right now is that I'm taking you seriously. You are threatening my entire family with this treacherous speech, so rest assured I'm taking you seriously."

"Then… what do you think?" asked Lord Sei'naka.

"In short, you want me to support removing the Fire Lord from the throne, mainly due to the new taxes affecting the noble families the most, he also made nobility titles ornamental, while also taking our soldiers, factories, ports, and influence in the name of the war effort." Kaien summarized.

"That Ozai has done so when the war is coming to a close means he is trying to centralize all power to him before it is too late, and you want my daughter to take the Fire Lord's place. Did I miss anything?" Kaien asked, calmly.

"Eh, no my lord. We know a coup in the middle of a war would hit our nation quite badly, but if we continue through this path we will lose everything our families have ever worked for. Your daughter would have a claim, through her mother's lineage, one of the last living relatives of the Saowon clan. She is now said to be elevated to General at the age of 18, the youngest ever in history. The people think of her as being blessed by Agni herself by her appearance, and her accomplishments make her very popular, both nationally and in the colonies as well." said Lord Sei'naka.

"Fire Lord Ozai holds too much power and he has enough support for a coup to fail tremendously, something that would at best end in civil war, and at worst in our immediate deaths for treason." Kaien said.

"If we do nothing our families and our history and power will be taken away from us. Our ancestors' work would be lost if we do nothing. Moreover, if this blatant display of power has no opposition the Fire Lord will feel inclined to continue doing as he pleases."

"He already does as he pleases, Lord Ty." Kaien said.

"Well I say it is time for him to stop pushing us. The noble families still hold a lot of political influence, and the only family still deeply loyal to the Fire Lord is the Ukano family. Led by a cowardly and ignorant weak man, who only cares about being the Fire Lord's bitch." Lord Sei'naka said.

"Again, how do you plan to do that without the conflict ending in a civil war at best, or our deaths at worst?" Kaien asked.

"By convincing your daughter to use the military to make Ozai step down. We have asked around, she is extremely popular with the masses, they wouldn't oppose it if it is her taking over. The Fire Lord using her as propaganda is backfiring on him." Lord Ty said.

"You are forgetting I have a son as well. To argue that she has a legitimate claim to the throne would be to invite people to question why we are not choosing the eldest of my sons for the throne. Even with her popularity this would generate a problem with the population."

The argument made them silent.

"I suggest you come up with a better plan, gentlemen. If you want this to work, you need to plan with the most stable outcome in mind. I'm willing to turn a blind eye for now, but if I feel that you are leading me to my family's demise, I will report you straight away and clean my hands. Still, I am open to hear from you again in the future."

"Right, we will return with a more polished alternative then." Lord Ty said.

Kaien hoped they wouldn't come to him again if he was honest. Still, the prospect of his family ruling the Fire Nation was also alluring, but it needed to be done right, he could come up with a few ideas of his own, but he would be careful never to voice it or write it anywhere, spies were everywhere after all.
​

---

Aang woke to voices in the dark and the heavy warmth of Appa's breath against his side. For one confused moment, he thought he was still dreaming, because the sky above him was black and crowded with unfamiliar stars, and the snow beneath him had gone hard from the cold.

His fingers were numb, his teeth had begun to chatter sometime in his sleep, and Appa's fur was the only reason the wind had not frozen him through. He tried to sit up, then stopped when a lantern rose over the curve of Appa's shoulder and showed Katara climbing toward him through the snow.

"There he is!" she called, relief breaking through her voice so strongly that it made him feel worse than if she had sounded angry.

Sokka was behind her with two women from the village, each carrying a spear and a lamp. A few others followed at a distance, bundled in thick furs, their faces half hidden against the cold. Aang blinked at them, still too tired to understand why they had come after him when they had been the ones to send him away.

He had thought the banishment was final. Katara reached him first and dropped to her knees beside him, placing both hands on his shoulders as if she had to make certain he was real.

"You idiot." she said. "You were going to freeze out here."

"I was fine." Aang murmured, then sneezed so hard that their hoods were removed from their heads.

Sokka blinked at him. "Yeah, that was very convincing."

Aang glanced past him, toward the sea. "I take it the village is fine?"

One of the older women shook her head. "No ship came our way. The flare must have burned itself out before anyone saw it, or there was no one close enough to answer."

Katara helped him stand, and Sokka placed a blanket around his shoulders.

"If you make me walk through the cold again, I will personally make you rebuild my watchtower without gloves." Sokka muttered.

By the time they returned, the lamps had been lit inside the igloos, and the whole village seemed awake despite the hour. No one cheered when he came back, and no one apologized either as he hoped they would.

Sokka and Katara told him he could sleep with their grandmother and he realized part of his worries had to be buried until the next day.

The next morning, Aang was given new clothes, because having to constantly use air control to keep himself from shivering was exhausting.

They were thicker than anything he had worn before, layered in blue and white, with fur at the collar and cuffs and boots that made him walk like he had borrowed someone else's feet. The children still stared at him first because of the arrow on his head, or because he was an airbender.

At first, their questions came quickly and happily. 'Could he fly without the glider? Could he make snow spin? Could he lift a whole boat? Could he make Sokka's hair stand up forever?'

Aang answered what he could, smiling more easily than he expected, because curiosity was normal for smaller kids. He enjoyed the time playing with them but at the same time, he started to realize the situation in the village. There were no older men, something that would be unthinkable to him for a Water Tribe village.

As time passed, the questions turned uncomfortable for Aang. It happened when one of the older women asked which temple he had come from. Aang said the Southern Air Temple because the answer was simple and the truth. The woman's expression tightened.

"The Southern Air Temple was invaded. Hakoda, our chief, sailed close to that territory, there was no sign of anyone there." she said carefully.

"To reach the temple you would have to be an airbender. I don't mean to discredit your chief, but they could be hiding way too high for anyone to see." Aang said, a little too fast.

Sokka's grandmother sat near the fire with a blanket over her knees, watching him with sad, steady eyes. "We would have seen them at least once or a whisper of them, young one. But I have been alive for a long time and the whole island where the temple is located has been silent ever since."

Aang pulled his sleeves over his hands, staring at the stitched edge of the Water Tribe coat because it was easier than looking at their faces.

"That can't be right. The temples can only be accessed by airbenders. If, as you say, the Fire Nation threatened them, they might have gone into hiding, the monks would know what to do. But we are pacifists, I can understand why no one saw anyone else if they went into hiding."

No one answered immediately and Aang avoided their faces. Katara sat beside him, close enough that her shoulder nearly touched his.

"Aang, I think you were trapped in the ice for a long time." she said, gently. "Even if they somehow lived, I don't think it will be the same."

"I know, you already said it." he said, though he hated the way his voice sounded.

"Alright… just, don't put your hopes too high."

He swallowed, feeling the broth from that morning turn heavy in his stomach. "I think I should travel there. I wanted to, but Appa is still a little weak."

Sokka opened his mouth, then seemed to decide against whatever he had been about to say. The village elder spoke after that, explaining what she knew of the war. It was a grim reality for Aang.

"I don't think I want to talk about this anymore." Aang said.

A few days later, Aang had begun teaching Katara a few katas and what he knew about bending in general. But again, fate didn't seem to like him much for he accidentally waterbent while trying to explain the flow Katara was attempting to do.

He was about to lie and say he didn't know how that happened, but one look at Katara's face was enough for him to know it wouldn't stick. His hands closed around the edge of his sleeves instead.

"I am the Avatar." he said, the words coming out quieter than he intended. "But I didn't want to be. It meant losing my family."

Katara's hand found his wrist, warm even through the fabric. "I'm glad you survived, Aang. And you returning now gives my people a lot of hope. The world needs you, more than ever."

"I… I don't know what to do." Aang said. "Still, I want to search for answers and maybe my kin can help me. I won't lie to you, Katara. It's quite scary and I don't want to believe they are gone just yet. When Appa is recovered, I'm going to the Southern Air Temple, and I'm going to see it for myself."

"Then I will come with you. You did say you could take me to the North Pole. We will both need a waterbending master to teach us."

"It's a promise then."​

---

Next chapter - Grief & Anger

 

[Rotceh]

Wow, Zuko didn't find Aang, that's a huge change.

Hmm... I wonder if this will affect the timeline much.

And I love the emblems.

 

[Lucernello]

Wow, Zuko didn't find Aang, that's a huge change.

Hmm... I wonder if this will affect the timeline much.

And I love the emblems.

Click to shrink...

It is a huge change, although...Well, where is Zuko right now?

I'm glad you liked them!