Avatar: The Legend of Azula, Book 1: Air

Cheng stepped back, his eyes widening. He wasn't aiming for her art, just her hand so she would firebend less.

Azula yelled again. This time much louder. "HELP!!"

Toph had seen the motion of what On Ji had done, but couldn't see where the fire was. She quickly put a rock wall in front of her and felt heat go around her. She then broke up the wall and sent it at On Ji.
"Cheng, we need to get Azula and leave. Kuei can handle himself..." She thought about her words and worry for Kuei filled her.

Aang

"Ok, be careful," Aang said, then saw as Ursa was pierced by a knife, and heard Zuko yell out. He looked over at Kuei, he had sent the knife at him, could he have caught it and thrown it at Ursa? Was this his fault? He didn't have time to think about it as the wall came at On Ji, and Aang pulled her out of the way. He jumped up and over to land behind Toph, and sent a blast of air at her.

Suddenly the floor in which Azula was imprisoned under exploded with great force. The Avatar lifted into the air, her eyes pure blue. Upon seeing the state of her mother she gave an inhuman roar. The Avatar jumped to the ground and sent a massive stream of blue fire at Toph and Cheng. Then she sent a powerful blast of air at Kuei, which violently knocked him to the wall.

Cheng's eyes widened as he saw Azula in the Avatar state. The texts were right. It was a terrible thing to hold. He then looked over at Ursa and felt his stomach plummet. This was his fault. He turned to Toph, "We have to get out of here! We can't fight her when she's this powerful!"

Again Toph was hit with the air the little Air Nomad had shot. Just as she flew forward Azula burst from the ground which slammed her into the ground on her back. She then felt flame go right above her face. Cheng said something about the Avatar.
Toph found where Cheng was and grabbed his hand to stand up. After standing up she realized Kuei had been smashed up against a wall. "Kuei!"

Kuei struggled to get up for a moment. That wind strike had been powerful, and had nearly broken his spine. The Prince summoned a slab of rock and launched it at the Avatar. He quickly ran over toward Toph and Cheng. "Run! We have no hope of getting the Avatar now!"

A fierce wind picked up inside the palace halls. Even though Azula had yet to master airbendering, she could still use it quite well in the Avatar State. The Avatar fired to large jets of blue flame at the three.

"You shall not leave alive!" she declared in an inhuman voice.

Quickly, Toph raised a wall to seal them off. "Is this when we go underground?" She asked Kuei. She inspected both men to see if they were intact.

Aang

Azula was nothing short of terrifying right now. She sounded inhuman, and was wielding such power, it was scaring Aang. He had seen her like this before, but it was always terrible to see, and what if Kyoshi came back?

Cheng was silent, still reflecting on what he did. He only nodded at Toph glumly.

Kuei

"Yes, hurry!" Kuei shouted.

Azula

The Avatar tried to take down the wall of earth Toph had summoned, but it was too strong. She attempt another strike when Iroh shouted at her.

"Azula, stop! Let them go, or else we may not be able to save your mother!"

The Avatar stopped her attacks. She gently floated to the ground, and the Avatar State left Azula.

Iroh picked up the dying Ursa and began to ran toward the healer's chambers.

As Toph felt Azula fall back to the ground she had an urge to take her, but she held it back with a glance at Cheng and Kuei. She made the earth around them go down and covered them up and started to make a tunnel.

~*~

Azula sank to her knees and put her head in her hands. As she heard Iroh run off she followed him.

(I am so confused as to what is going on...)

(Toph, Kuei, and Cheng tried to catch Toph, but Cheng accidentally threw a knife at Ursa, causing Azula to go into the Avatar state before the three escaped.)

(Ah ok. Thanks.)

On Ji stood about five feet from her great aunt. She wanted to comfort Azula, but thought that maybe she wanted to be left alone. She couldn't be sure. On Ji felt pathetic. She didn't really help with the fight at all.

[[ I'm back. ^^ And it looks like I didn't miss that much. ]]

(Can't do much without you, Lol.)
Cheng followed Toph slowly, deep in thought. He didn't mean to hurt the woman that bad. Did he kill her?

((Sorry for not posting in such a long time. A series of events had come up in which I had a limited time to the computer.))

Yue

Yue rushed with Iroh toward the healer's room. She could hardly believe all the events that had transpired. Seeing Azula in the Avatar State once again had proved see was still as frightening as ever in that form. Those Imperial scum had been lucky to escape alive. Not many faced the wrath of the Avatar and lived to tell the tale.

Yue deeply hoped that Ursa was going to be ok, but it didn't look like it. The dagger had pierced her heart, after all. Not many could survive it, even if they had a waterbender to heal them. Still, she had to keep up that hope. If not for herself, then for Azula and Zuko's sake.

"Everyone alright?" Toph asked quietly. It was almost as if she was afraid the people above her would hear her.

~*~

Azula pounded faster after Iroh. Her mother couldn't die! She couldn't!

"I killed her," Cheng said dully, not being able to speak loud himself. He continued, "I didn't mean to, but I did."

"You're sure it was you? There was a lot of knife throwing out there." Toph replied. Cheng's dullness was very depressing.

"It was me," Cheng told her with a frown, guild written all over his face.

Iroh

The Fire Lord reached the healer's chambers. He quickly woke her up and had the waterbender look at Ursa. She put the Fire Lady on her examination table and went to work. She kindly asked the Fire Lord and his companions to leave, which Iroh reluctantly agreed to. He trusted the healer's judgement, and would comply with her wishes.

Nearly an hour later the healer exited her chamber. She did not have a hopeful look on her face.

"I am sorry, Fire Lord Iroh. There are some wounds even waterbending cannot heal. This is one of them. The dagger has done too many external and internal damage to the heart to be simply healed. I've managed to surpress her death but....Lady Ursa will not survive the night. She will soon be moving on into the next world. I am deeply sorry, Fire Lord Iroh, Avatar Azula, and Prince Zuko. But I cannot do anything. You may go in now. Ursa needs her family during this time." the healer stated, sounding truly sorry.

Zuko and Iroh immediately rushed into the room.

Kuei

"I'm fine. Cheng, it was not your fault. I grabbed the dagger when it was sent off course. I threw it at Ursa, not you." Kuei said.

Cheng looked up in surprise, glad that he wasn't guilty of killing her but feeling a bit bad for that happiness. He spoke, "That's good, I suppose. It's just the first time I saw someone really hurt."

Azula rushed into the room right behind Iroh and Zuko. She teared up as soon as she saw the state her mother was in. "Mom."

~*~

Toph grimaced. "Not my first time." She wondered if anyone else had been injured. She thought of Kuei slamming against the wall. "You're sure you're alright, Kuei?" Kuei was a very good liar so she could never tell very well.