Dawn of a New Prince (Star Wars/Avatar Crossover)

((Mind playing as Azula still, AI? Just until she isn't needed. Which should be very soon.))

(Sure. Where was she left at?)

((Mai was holding her prisoner nearby.))

Azula glared at Mai. She was beaten and she knew it. The question was, how? Zuzu wasn't supposed to be this strong. He wasn't supposed to be in commander of her friends. She grimaced.

"I hope you're happy Mai. Is this how you imagined being with Zuzu would be like?" she asked.

Mai glared at Azula. The barbed question stung more than she would ever admit to. Words failed her, too, because what could be said? Azula knew the truth; she had always been good at reading people.

Worse yet, she feared what was to come. What would Zuko--no, Helios, for this was not her Zuko at all--do with Azula, now that they had her as a prisoner?

***

Katara kneeled by the grave for some time, silent and unmoving. She was past tears; her misery was that intense.

Toph hardly knew she was there. Even the older girl's heartbeat was slow and quiet.

?

"Don't worry, guys. There's still hope, yet." a familiar voice stated from behind those viewing the grave of the Avatar. Upon turning around, they would see the familiar visage of one Avatar Aang. Though he did not look entirely human, as the blue hue to his skin and clothes testified.

Sokka jumped at Aang's familiar voice, eyes widening at the blue hue of his skin. He gulped, "A-Aang?"

Was he here to haunt them for their failure to protect him? They probably deserved it.

*

Azula felt her lips curl into a smirk. So, Mai wasn't happy after all. Not that she was ever happy to begin with. She spoke, "So, Zuzu's finally grown a backbone, Mai. Do you like the new Zuko, Mai? Do you still love him."

Mai scowled before she could stop herself from reacting. Glaring at Azula, she said, "I don't see how it is any of your business."

But the truth was that she was uncertain. Not of her love for Zuko, mind. She knew she loved him. The uncertainty came from one nasty fear.

Did he still love her?

***

Katara glanced up. Upon seeing Aang, or at least his apparition, she gasped. She stood, slowly, but could not budge from the spot. It was as if she were afraid that if she did, he would vanish.

"That can't be Aang!" said Toph. "He's... Well, he's not here, and I'm not sensing anybody but you guys."

Iroh

Iroh's eyes widened in surprise at the sight of the late Avatar. Even his experience with the spirit world couldn't prepare him for this.

"Of course. I'm just curious. It isn't like I have anything better to do than wait for my dear brother to decide my fate," Azula smirked, "My, how he's changed. I wonder if he loves anything but his own power anymore."

She knew that she was hitting a nerve with Mai. Despite her neutral mask, Azula could read her if she paid enough attention and now, her attention was entirely focused on her captor.

*

"I don't think ghosts give vibrations," Sokka commented to Toph, his keen mind noting the translucent quality of Aang's appearance. He seemed to be pure light now along with, what, mist?

Helios

With an outstretched hand, the apprentice lifted his sister up by her neck. "The easiest thing I could do would be to kill you right now," he said, in a scarily devoid voice. "But you are quite a skilled person, able to manipulate people to almost any end. You even had a Jedi on your side. I could use a person like you, a liason between whoever the empire will leave here to control the planet and myself. What do you think?" He dropped her, in order to let her speak.

Aang

"I'm actually here, guys. Well, sorta." Aang said. Appa gave a happy roar upon seeing his dead master, and leaned in to lick him. Though the giant beast appeared puzzeled when his tongue simply phased through the Avatar. Aang gave his bison a sad smile and patted his head.

"Sorry, buddy. We...you won't be able to do that anymore."

Mai supposed she should be glad Helios had interrupted them. Azula had managed to worm her way into her heart with her sharp questions. But the truth was that she almost preferred it.

Because everything Helios did or said now only reminded her that he was no longer her Zuko, and that was too depressing for words.

"Do what he says," she told Azula, pulling up her mask again.

***

"Ghost?" Toph managed to look both interested and freaked out, all at the same time. "Twinkle Toes is haunting us?"

Katara finally managed to walk forward. She stared at Aang. Her eyes shone with light and life again. "What do you want us to do?" she asked him.

Aang

"Well, there are several things I need to tell you." Aang said. "Like uh...well to put it plainly there...won't be an Avatar anymore."

Aang gave a sort of a grim smile at that revelation.

Katara did not seem too surprised. There was only a grim sort of realization, and she nodded to show that she understood.

Toph, however, wasn't. "Wait. What?" she said. "How come? When you guys kick the bucket, the Avatar Spirit just moves on to another person. Right?"

"Yeah! We just need to find a Waterbender that was born today!" Sokka exclaimed, "Katara can teach him or her Water, Toph can teach them earthbending, we even have Iroh to teach them firebending! Plus you can just appear to them like Avatar Roku to teach airbending!"

*

Azula glared at Zuko, hating how he was talking down to her with every fiber of her being. She stood up, "I am not a dreamer, Zuzu. I know you're more powerful than I am, but if you think I'll be your or anyone's lackey, you have another thing coming. I will rule this world alone and I will cooperate with your Empire. But on this planet, my word is law."

Helios

"That's too bad," Helios said. Within a flash he had his lightsabers lit and sunk them into her chest. He leaned in close to her ear and whispered, "I'll give your regards to father, before I kill him too. Goodbye Azula." He stepped back, pulling his lightsabers from his sister's body before they deactivated.

Aang

"I was killed in the Avatar State. That makes a big difference. Roku told me a while back that if any Avatar were to ever die in the Avatar State, the Avatar would cease to exist in the mortal realm. So...no more Avatar." Aang explained.

Toph's brow furrowed. A sudden apprehension awoke and churned in her gut. "Then... What?" she said, at last. "What can we do now? What about the world, or the Fire Lord, or Vader and his guys? How can we beat them now?"

***

Mai could only gape at what had just happened. She had seen it coming, as soon as Azula had stood up to Helios, but that did not make it any less shocking or grim. She turned away from the sight, not wishing to look at her old friend's body any longer.

"Was that really the only way to deal with her?" she asked.

Sokka gaped. He should have known that the Avatar State would have a weakness, but to end the Avatar's existence if he or she was killed in that State... It was unbelievable. He looked down, "So it's over. Zuko won. And now the Fire Nation or Vader is going to rule the world."

Aang, Roku

"All hope is not yet lost." Roku materialized beside Aang. "The Avatar may be dead, and our world may soon be enslaved by a vast interstellar empire, but there is still hope. Out there in the Stars, there exists two twins born of a Chosen Saviour, similar to the Avatar in nature. These twins are the key to restoring peace and hope to our world, and to countless others. Before their victory was guranteed, but now the future is uncertain.

However, you can use the abilities and skills you have learned here, and will learn, to help these Twins overcome the obstacles placed by Vader and his Empire. And perhaps, with your combined strength, my fallen Grandson and his master will be defeated, and our world liberated. This may be a beginning of a new, dark era for our people, worse than even the Hundred Year War...but you four have the potential to rescue our people from this hopefully brief period of darkness."

Toph struggled to take all this in. She didn't understand most of it, but she knew one thing for certain. Now was the time for action.

"I guess.... We really do have to go up there," she said, though she didn't look towards the sky or stars. It made no difference to her. "But we still need a way," she continued. "Look, Aang, um... Other Avatar guy. How can we do that? We need one of those strange ships, right?"

"And even if we do reach the stars, how do we find these twins? They could be anyone!" Sokka pointed out, forgetting for a moment that he was talking to a couple of spirits.

Aang, Roku

"You will know these Twins when you find them. That is all I can say without further risking things." Roku said mysteriously. "And you will find transportation into the stars soon enough. Changes will be sweeping across our world faster than you will be able to keep up. Radical changes in technology and power. Among other things. Within the year you shall all be able to find transportation off of this world."

"So, what?" said Toph. "We're supposed just hide out, or something, until that time comes?"

Katara drew in a breath. "We could do that. There are many places we could stay, without ever attracting attention. We could do it, if we had to."