Chapter 49

"I-... I surrender." He whispered, his broken tone coming out as a lifeless echo on the voice of one so young.

"Aang, no!" Katara cried, but her plea went ignored. Her brother held her back, while the silver haired girl watched on silently with eyes brimming with tears.

...

Tanya smirked, her eyes flashing dangerously. "A smart decision." He gave a gesture with one hand, and two of the soldiers flanking her ran over to the tanks.

From each one they unralled a coil of heavy chains; spare anchor chains taken somewhere from the fleet, which had been fastened to the hooks on the back of the tanks.

They approached The Avatar, clamping unnecessarily thick metal cuffs on each of his arms. It almost seemed ridiculous how much heavy metal was being used to restrain such a skinny boy, if one could forget that said boy had sunken entire battleships single-handed in the past.

The tanks reversed slightly, pulling The Avatar's arms far apart enough that it would limit the majority of his bending moves. Tanya took a few steps forward until she was beside Zuko, the faintest touch of amusement in her tone.

"You know, this reminds me of the first time we had a proper chance to talk. Somehow I doubt The Blue Spirit will come along to save you again though."

For a brief moment, so quick anyone else would dismiss it as a trick of the light, Aang's eyes flickered to meet Zuko's. The banished prince felt the uncomfortable emotion that had been sitting in his stomach ever since the moon turned red begin to churn within him.

But why? Shouldn't he be happy? He'd finally caught The Avatar, and in a way that he couldn't escape from this time. He'd finally got it all back: his nation, his birthright, his honour…

Honour? A treacherous voice that sounded suspiciously like Uncle whispered in the back of his head. Where is the honour in this? In anything that the Fire Nation has done today?"

"You know Avatar, you remind me of someone." Tanya said wistfully, looking strangely peaceful for a moment, before her expression curled up into a cold snarl.

"The one woman I can honestly say I've genuinely hated on a deep, personal level. The most self-righteous, hypocritical, psychopathic zealot I've ever had the misfortune of meeting."

She began pacing back and forth, seeming to lose herself somewhat in the memories. "She was a chosen one just like you. Picked by a self-proclaimed higher power for the sole purpose of being a thorn in my side.

Oh, and wasn't she just that! Stubborn bitch just wouldn't die no matter how much I threw at her! You know I dropped an entire building on her once, and she just shrugged it off like it was a pillow fort! It was like the universe itself was wrapped around her like armour, keeping her safe where literally anyone else would have had the common courtesy to just die already!"

Tanya halted suddenly mid-rant, taking a deep breath to collect herself. Zuko watched with wide eyes, slightly stunned by what he'd just witnessed.

He'd never seen Tanya lose her composure like that, made all the more perplexing by the fact that he had absolutely no idea who she was talking about. Was this someone she'd encountered during her raids on the Earth Kingdom?

"But you know," Tanya continued, "despite whatever bullshit cosmic powers she'd been granted, she was still just a human in the end. Still just as prone to making stupid mistakes as the rest of us.

She let her guard down, showed her weakness, and I destroyed her for it." She turned back to face Aang, all hints of emotion stored away behind a mask of cool confidence once again. "And now it's your turn.

Here's the situation Avatar. Right now the Water Tribe is powerless, disorganised and trapped between my forces. As we speak, more and more of them are falling by the second. I could order my men to cease fire right now.

It's clear as day that the Fire Nation is victorious tonight. But do you know what?" Tanya knelt down so she was eye-level with The Avatar, glaring directly into his grey eyes. "I'm not going to."

Zuko fidgeted nervously as the uncomfortable sensation in his gut roiled around sickeningly. This hadn't been part of the plan! Now The Avatar was in custody, all she was supposed to do was transfer him onto their most secure ship and bring the battle to an end! What was she doing?!"

"They can't fight back anymore! There's no need for this!" Aang yelled frantically, his gaggle of friends echoing his thoughts with their own cries of horror.

Tanya ignored them. "The slaughter will stop the moment that you comply with my next order. The longer you take, the more who will die." She shot back sharply. "If you want this invasion to end, there is one last thing that you must do…"

Her eyes narrowed, a flicker of something dark and truly menacing passing across her impassive face so quickly that none could discern what it was.

"... Enter the Avatar State."

...

What?

Aang did not understand. The Avatar State?! Was she insane?! Every time he'd entered into that state before he'd lost all control of himself, and caused wide scale destruction! He'd almost hurt Sokka and Katara back when he found monk Gyatso's skeleton! Why would she want him to tap into that power when she'd practically won the battle already?

"But I can't control it!" He hurriedly replied, very away that every second he wasted meant another life lost for the Water Tribe. "I can't even turn it on at will!"

Tanya did not seem interested in his excuses. "So far you've entered the Avatar State during times of heightened emotion. When the pressure becomes too much for you to handle.

Do you mean to tell me that the systematic extermination of the Water Tribe's warriors isn't emotional enough for you?" Her eyes drifted up to where Katara, Sokka and Yue were standing. "Perhaps you need a more personal incentive then?"

"No! Don't touch them!" Aang shouted, hysteria beginning to take hold. And as it did, so too did the uncomfortable tickle at the back of his skull begin to flare up, the way it had before when he was close to slipping into the Avatar State.

A hint of power must have flashed out his eyes, because all of a sudden Tanya had rounded on him again with the aggression of a hungry predator.

"Yes! That's it! Don't fight that feeling, Avatar! Realise how powerless you are, how close you are to losing the people you care about most, and let that sensation take over you! Let the real Avatar out!"

Aang could feel the power welling up and beginning to trickle up his spine like liquid fire. His vision was starting to grow hazy as waking nightmares, visions of the remains of the massacred air nomads, swam across eyes.

It was happening again! The Fire Nation would wipe out the people of the North Pole because once again he hadn't been there for them! He'd failed his duty as The Avatar!

Whatever instincts screamed at him not to listen to Tanya grew distant and muted as light began to creep into the corners of his eyes. Why not give in? Better a rampaging Avatar than a failed one. Just let the power out-…

"NO!"

A roar of fire, hotter and heavier than anything he'd ever felt before, cut between him and Tanya like a wall, making them both flinch back in fright. The surprise snapped Aang back to reality, clearing his head of the power insidiously creeping up from within him.

It seemed that Tanya had been completely taken off guard by it as well if the look of utter shock on her face was any indication.

"What! Who-" Tanya's head snapped around in the direction the flames had come from, and her eyes widened in astonishment.

Standing there in a firebending stance he'd never seen before, a black cloak billowing around red armour, was a familiar old man with an unfamiliar look of such determination that it almost seemed to glow in the light of the fire he'd conjured.

Tanya seemed dumbfounded for half a second, before her expression morphed into a hateful glare.

"General Iroh!"

...

if you want to read ahead of the public release you can join my p atreon :

p atreon.com/Rimanovi