Wild At Heart (Zuko)

Chapter Twenty

Kali is alone now. Just on the outskirts of an abandoned town. Her ostrich horse behind her, pacing. Zuko had gone on ahead. To check the town. But Kali can feel that this is the right place. That this Avatar person is here, as is Azula, and as she promised Zuko, she will be keeping herself hidden and out of the way. She and the ostrich horse share a look and then she shrugs, turning she holds out her hand and a vine erupts from her hand, wrapping around her wrist and then the roof ledge, pulling her up. She wants to at least be able to see what's going on, to make sure Zuko's okay.

........

In the centre of the ghost town, the Avatar, Aang waits patiently, staring at the path as Azula makes her way towards him. Calm and collected but with an underlying intensity.

"Alright, you've caught up with me" Aang states. "Now who are you and what do you want?"

"You mean you haven't guessed?" Azula asks him. "You don't see the family resemblance? Here's a hint" Azula covers half her face with her hand and then imitates Zuko. "I must find the Avatar to restore my honour" Aang looks unimpressed by her attempt at mockery. "It's okay. You can laugh. It's funny."

"So what now?" Aang asks her.

"Now... Now it's over. You're tired and you have no place to go. You can run, but I'll catch you." Aang stands from the ground, ready to face her head-on if need be.

"I'm not running" Aang argues. A cruel smile spreads over Azula's face as the breeze blows a strand of her hair. "Do you really want to fight me?" Suddenly Zuko bursts into the frame from an alley between the Avatar and Azula. He tumbles off the ostrich horse he is riding, and lands in a crouching position.

"Yes," He stands and throws his straw coolie hat away. "I really do"

"Zuko!" Aang states, surprised that he's here.

"I was wondering when you'd show up, Zuzu" Azula counters and Zuko lands a glare in her direction. Aang laughs a little.

"Zuzu?" He asks. Zuko shifts into a fire-bending position, ready for a fight. He faces Azula, but his arms are outstretched both towards her and towards the Avatar on his other side.

"Back off, Azula! He's mine!" Zuko warns her.

"I'm not going anywhere" She counters as she assumes a fire-bending stance. Zuko looks wary, Azula confident, and Aang worried. Zuko's eyes shift from side to side and he scrutinizes his opponents. Kali appears on a roof close by, but not close enough to draw attention, clinging to a corner, trying to stay hidden whilst watching. She holds her breath, waiting to see who makes the first move. It's Azula, she launches a blast of blue fire at Zuko, who blocks with a wall of his own fire. Though he blocks the blast, it does knock him to the ground with a crash. Kali moves but stops herself. She promised to stay out of it, to stay out of sight. Aang freaks out and jumps into the air with his glider. Azula knocks him out of the sky with a wave of blue fire. Aang lands safely, using his staff as a helicopter blade to both break his fall and dissipate the blue fire in his immediate vicinity. Aang rolls over on the ground to get up, but Azula lands near him after jumping off a nearby roof. He avoids her, gets up with his staff. Zuko has gotten back up and is firing blasts at Azula in the background. Aang is between them now. Azula launches blast after blast of blue fire at Aang, but he dodges and runs around her. The three of them trade bending blasts. None land. Azula chases Aang into the upper floor of a burned building. When the Princess enters, her expression turns to alarm, there is no floor and the drop is sheer to the bottom. Aang is on the opposite from the door sitting on an air scooter. Azula leans precipitously over the edge on the side with the door, her arms flapping comically. Aang smiles and waves at her. Azula almost falls in, but recovers and manages to regain stability standing on a ledge next to the doorframe. Right after she recovers, Zuko runs in and promptly jumps into midair, screaming in surprise. He hits the ground below with a crash. Aang's air scooter is dissipating. Azula fires several shots at him which miss. He dissolves the rest of the scooter, bounds over to her on the ledge and knocks her off. She lands, gracefully and ready for action, next to Zuko who is struggling to get up from where he landed. Aang runs out of the door he originally entered through on the second floor. He runs down to the street level. Suddenly, the side of the building is blown open by a blast of blue fire and Zuko is blown out onto the street. On the roof, Kali's eyes widen.