Azara stared up at Sozin's Comet, which had just started to enter the atmosphere, with an anxious expression. Katara glanced between Zuko and Azara, noting their similar looks of concern.

"Don't worry, you two. We can take Azula."

"It's not her I'm worried about. I'm worried about Aang. What if he doesn't have the guts to take out our father? What if he loses?" Zuko wondered, staring ahead.

"Aang won't lose. He's going to come back," Katara insisted somewhat confidently.

"He has to," Azara added grimly, following the Comet with her eyes.

*|*|*|*|*

Meanwhile, in the control room of a Fire Nation airship, Sokka, Suki, and Kesuk watched as Aang and Fire Lord Ozai battled in the distance with amazed expressions. "Go, Aang! Airbending slice!" Sokka cheered, setting down the telescope and slicing his arm down.

"Shouldn't we help him?" Suki asked, glancing out the broken window. Sokka turned from the fight outside back to his friends.

"The Fire Lord is Aang's fight. We need to stay focused on stopping that fleet from burning down the Earth Kingdom."

"And how do we do that, Captain Boomerang? I can't see outside of this floating hunk of metal," Toph pointed out, crossing her arms over her chest.

Sokka glanced over at the other airships before turning to the others with a wide smile on his face. "Airship slice!"

"Is he normally this crazy?" Kesuk whispered to Toph, who shrugged.

"You get used to it."

Sokka took over the controls, pushing the airship higher into the air as they tried to catch up with the other airships. The firebenders aboard the other airships started to release sustained fire blasts, burning the landscape below them.

"Whoa. That's a lot of fire, isn't it?" Toph asked, leaning on the ship. She stared down at the fire, feeling the insane heat radiating off of the blasts even though she couldn't see them.

Sokka spun the wheel hard as they hovered just above the other airships. Pulling another lever down, he steadied the ship before driving it forward again. "It's gonna be a rough ride! We need to get to the top of this thing. Fast!"

Sokka grabbed Toph's hand, tugging her along. Suki and Kesuk pulled up the end of the group as they rushed through the airship. "Then what?" Suki called, running beside Toph.

"Watch each other's backs, and if we make it that far, I'll let you know."

Suki and Kesuk shared a concerned look before following after Sokka and Toph. They managed to reach the ladder to the roof before their airship crashed into the others. Suki led the way up the ladder as the airship started to break away. Sokka narrowly missed getting pulled into the debris of the crash, before hurrying to catch up with the others.

"Alright, now what?" Kesuk asked, helping Sokka up onto the roof.

"We try not to fall to our deaths!"

Sokka, holding Toph's hand, led the charge to the front of the airship. As Sokka and Toph reached the front crown of the airship, a large crack appeared in the ship, dividing the group into even halves. Suki and Kesuk fell back, their part of the airship separating from Sokka and Toph's part.

"Suki! Kesuk!"

Sliding down the metal hull, Suki and Kesuk managed to jump from their old airship to another that was still flying. The two teenagers appeared to have been shaken up by the near-death experience, but they were alive and well enough to continue on their own.

"We're okay! Just finish the mission!" Suki yelled back, steadying herself.

"Sokka, I think we've gotta," Toph warned, grabbing onto Sokka's shirt, "jump!"

Sokka and Toph jumped from their part of the airship down below as an explosion went off behind them. They rolled as they landed. Debris quickly started to rain down on them from the residual explosion. Sokka scrambled up onto his knees and covered Toph with his own body, only picking his head up once the sound of the explosions ceased.

*|*|*|*|*

Back in the Fire Nation, Zuko directed Appa to land at the back of the royal plaza as Azula's coronation progressed. Azula was knelt in front of a group of Fire Sages at the front of the stage. The Head Fire Sage held the Fire Lord crown aloft in his hands. However, he paused when he noticed Appa flying down, clearly shocked at the appearance of the sky bison.

"Sorry, but you're not gonna become Fire Lord today," Zuko announced, jumping off Appa, and landing with a determined look in his eye. "I am."

Azula laughed at Zuko's words, waving her hand to the side. "You're hilarious."

Azara's eyes widened with concern as she took in the sight of her sister. Azula used to have a full-on temper tantrum if one of the servants made her top knot slightly lopsided. Now . . . Azara didn't know how to describe her sister's state.

Katara and Azara slid off Appa's back, moving to stand behind Zuko. "And you're going down," Katara warned, her tone deadly.

As the Head Fire Sage moved to crown Azula again, she stood up, waving him back with her hand. "Wait. You want to be Fire Lord? Fine. Let's settle this. Just you and me, brother. The showdown that was always meant to be. Agni Kai!"

"You're on," Zuko replied, causing Azara and Katara to shoot him surprised looks.

"Zuko, she's just messing with you!" Azara snapped, knowing that he was going to do something stupid. Like taking on Azula by himself. Again.

"She knows she can't take all of us, so she's trying to separate us," Katara pointed out, agreeing with Azara.

"I know. But I can take her this time."

"Zuko, this isn't going to end well. You need help," Azara insisted as Zuko continued to glare at Azula.

"There's something off about her; I can't explain it but she's slipping," Zuko trailed off. Had the situation not been so tense, Azara would have certainly let a sarcastic comment fly, but instead she could only stare with concern at her brother. Zuko turned to Azara and Katara. "And this way, no one else has to get hurt."

Azara stared down her brother for a moment before conceding and nodding. "Be careful," she said simply, before leading Katara away.

Zuko took his position, kneeling at one end of the arena. Azula did the dame, kneeling in front of the stairs to the stage. The Fire Sages had run off, most likely to take cover from the no doubt highly destructive Agni Kai that was about to occur. Azara looked distraught as she glanced between her siblings.

"Hey, Katara?" she whispered out to her friend.

"Yeah, Azara?"

"Have you ever watched a family destroy itself?" Azara asked quietly, willing herself to remain calm. Katara shook her head solemnly. "Well, I think you're about to."

Zuko stood up first, turning around, and lowering into a stance. Azula did the same, pulling off her outer Fire Lord robes, and discarding them carelessly to the side. "I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother," Azula rasped, clearly unsteady on her feet.

"No, you're not," Zuko stated, his eyes narrowed with concentration.

Azula smirked, lowering into an off-balance stance, before spinning and sending a sustained blast of blue fire at Zuko. Raising his hands, Zuko release a fire beam of his own. Blue and orange met in the center of the courtyard, spilling up and to the sides of the arena as neither Azula nor Zuko was willing to back down.

As the flames dissipated, Azula leapt forward, doing three spinning kicks towards Zuko. Each wave of flames was cut through by Zuko with clear precision. Zuko released a beam of flames, planting his foot as it hit Azula's own. For a moment, the two beams simply met, before they slid to the side, grazing each other, and decimating the buildings behind them.

The beams died off after a moment, the glow of the flames fading. Azula looked back at the building behind her in surprise when she noticed that it was now on fire from the power of Zuko's blast. Turning back to the fight, she released another fire blast at Zuko, who countered with a wall of fire. Azula breathed heavily as the attack wore down before growling and getting back up.

Zuko raised a fist and punched it towards the ground, releasing two circling fireballs towards Azula. Using her rocket propulsion, Azula managed to dodge Zuko's attack, before flying forward. As she neared Zuko, she released two fire blasts at Zuko, before moving to circle Zuko with her quick rocket propulsion abilities.

Zuko crouched, spinning a wall of flames around himself to protect him from Azula's assaults. After blocking Azula's fire blasts, he sent a series of his own at Azula, who managed to always remain one step ahead of him. Realizing that he would never be able to beat her speed, Zuko came up with a new idea.

He got on the floor, spun around, and kicked flames from his feet towards Azula. She managed to create a fire wall to stop Zuko's fire from hitting her, but her defensive move quickly sent her off balance. Azula rolled to the ground, pausing for a moment, before slowly picking herself back up. Her hair now undone, she turned to Zuko with murderous intent in her eyes.

"No lightning today? What's the matter? Afraid I'll redirect it?" Zuko taunted, causing Azara's eyes to widen in fear.

"Zuko, no," she gasped as Azula swung her arms around.

"Oh, I'll show you lightning!"

Azula moved her fingertips in large circles, generating electricity haphazardly, as Zuko breathed deeply, assuming his lightning redirection stance. Azula held her fingers together, ready to release the bolt when she noted Katara standing to the side of Zuko. With a smirk, she stepped forward, releasing the lightning bolt from her fingertips towards Katara.

"Katara, watch out!" Azara warned, but she was too far away to do anything to save her friend.

Zuko, on the other hand, jumped in between Katara and the lightning, taking the bolt to the chest. Azara gasped in horror as Zuko tried to redirect the lightning midair. Some of the lightning was redirected through his arm, a bolt cracking across the sky, but Zuko failed to redirect all of it. He dropped to the ground, twitching from the residual electricity, before rolling onto his back, and holding his wounded chest with his hand.

"Zuko!" Katara and Azara screamed, rushing forward. Spotting Azula out of the corner of her eye, Azara jumped forwards, blocking Azula's flames from hitting Katara and herself. Getting into a defensive stance, Azara kept her gaze trained on Azula, who smirked in response.

"Get to Zuko. I've got this," Azara told Katara, who grabbed her arm.

"We should do it together. She can't take us both!"

"She's my sister! She's my responsibility! This is my fight!" Azara shouted before blocking another fire blast from Azula with one of her own. Azara straightened up, before turning back to Katara. "I'm ending this cycle, now! Go help Zuko!" Katara sighed but relented and ran over to heal Zuko, who was still convulsing on the ground.

Azara turned to face Azula, her hands raised as she prepared for battle. Azula merely laughed maniacally, stumbling around on her feet.

A.N. So, the next chapter/final episode will be where Azara and Azula finally fight it out. I loved Katara's ingenuity in canon to defeat Azula, but this whole book had been building towards this moment, so Azara's gonna be the one to face her sister.

But jeez, we're almost to the end. Thank you all for reading this far and for voting and commenting along the way!