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

Iroh

The old man climbed up onto the cliff. He had survived being thrown off the cliff, but reaching the top again made the victory hollow. Zareal lay dead nearby, and a few moments later, he heard, and felt, the Avatar die. Tears fell down his cheeks for his fallen allies, but he did not waste time. He set off trying to find whoever was left alive.

Helios

The Apprentice stared wide-eyed, not sure what just happened. It didn't take long before he realized he did it. "The Avatar... is dead," he told himself. "I killed the Avatar," he repeated, in a voice that seemed almost regretful. But then he smiled, a sickeningly evil smile, and yelled, "I killed the Avatar!" The Force flowed through him, he felt stronger than ever in the face of his greatest triumph. "Do you see Uncle? Azula? Father? You knew nothing! You were wrong!" He picked up the body with the Force and flung it against a wall. He then tossed it into the cieling, and then slammed it onto the ground, in a Dark Side fueled storm of rage.

Pathik, frowned, taking a deep breath to let out any of his anger he had at the sight of the former Prince flinging the Avatar's body around like a rag doll. He sent a Force Push at Helios when he finally reached him and his Master.

"You have committed a grave sin, Helios. One that I can never forgive you for," he told him.

"No!" screeched Katara. She ripped her hand out of Sokka's. "We can't just leave him here!"

"But he's--" began Toph.

"No, he's not! Don't say it!" Toph flinched away from the wave of emotions boiling in Katara's voice. "We have to get to him, and help him, now! Before it's too late!" She scrabbled and pulled out a second pendant. "Sokka, remember? Master Pakku gave it to me..."

Helios

"A grave sin? This is a triumph," Helios responded after protecting himself from the Force push, merely taking a step or two back. "Your champion of the light is dead by my hand. What makes you think you'll fare any better?"

Iroh

The old master saw Helios fling the Avatar's body around, and then the old Guru confronted him. "I should retrieve his body," he told himself, and wasted no time heading up to the temple.

Sokka's eyes widened at the sight of the small vial of water around Katara's neck. He might have been skeptical, but he had seen for himself what happened at the Northern Water Tribe. That water had power. Besides... He would do anything to save Aang. he nodded.

"Okay. But we all go together. And we need to make sure Vader and Zuko don't notice us," he told her.

He turned to Toph and explained, "Remember when we told you about the Oasis in the North Pole? Katara has some of that water. It might help Aang."

*

Pathik gripped his staff, regarding the young man before him with a mixture of anger, sadness, and pity. He replied, "The Dark Side has blinded you, Helios. Killing the Avatar has distorted the Force on this planet. Everyone will suffer, including the people of the Fire Nation. Do you really not care about them anymore?"

Helios wouldn't be the first one to lose his sense of loyalty to the Dark Side, but maybe there was still a shred of Zuko still alive. Perhaps he could preserve what was left of the Prince before he was lost to the emptiness of the Dark Side.

"Magic water?" Toph sighed. "Well, it's worth a shot, I guess."

"It'll work," said Katara. She gripped the vial close. "It has too."

"But first we need to get over there, and without being seen," said Toph. She moved her arm and ground her feet into the turf. A hole opened up before them. "We'll go under 'em."

Sokka smiled at Toph, just a bit, "Good idea. Maybe you'll be the idea girl when this is all over."

With that said, he entered the hole. He couldn't let Aang die. He was supposed to protect him.

Katara quickly followed. Toph joined them a second later. She shoved past them to take the lead. Pushing out her arm, she lengthened the tunnel.

"Stay close," she said. "I'm guessing it's pretty dark in here, so that means you guys probably can't see."

"Got it," Sokka told her, nodding as he felt his face harden into a firm expression.

Helios

"I was banished from the Fire Nation! I was scarred for speaking out of turn! After I defended Earth Peasants, they turned on me! The Dark Side has given me power, it's liberated me from my sense of justice! This world can die for all I care, it never cared for me," Helios responded. "I don't care who you are, but save your words, they will accomplish nothing." He drew his lightsabers and was on the old man in an instant, slashing at him.

They stole forward, slowly but surely. Toph made sure to smooth out the path for Sokka and Katara whenever they came to a rough patch, and she never drew too far away from them. The dark did not bother her, but it hampered them.

They soon came to where the fight had taken place. Toph felt a flurry of vibrations and noises, thudding through her element and into her body. She shivered.

"I think the old guy's fighting with Zuko," she said.

"Where's Aang?" demanded Katara.

Toph released a long breath. "Hard to say... I mean, I'm not..."

She trailed off. She didn't think telling them Aang didn't have a heartbeat would be all that helpful or nice. She concentrated hard, searching for anything that might give away the position of his body. She finally came across something, still and unmoving, that she could not budge with her bending senses. It even felt familiar.

"Got him," she said.

Toph sprinted forward. She came just underneath where she felt the discarded body. She burst through the surface and quickly grabbed it, and struggled to pull it back into the tunnel with her.

"Okay, we got him," Sokka announced, catching Aang's body and cradling it. He grimaced. There were burn marks everywhere, especially at his neck. He turned to Katara, "Can you heal him or do we need more light?"

*

Pathik frowned, twirling his staff around, blocking each of Zuko's flurries of his lightsabers. He was in a variant of a Soresu stance, careful to keep moving his staff to deflect any blows aimed at him.

"The Dark Side is a system of betrayal and anger. You will lose everything you care for. Did your Uncle ever oppose you before you chose this path?" he asked the young man.

Helios

"I already lost what I cared for, and when I found the strength to take it back, to surpass what my life was, my Uncle didn't understand. You don't understand. The Dark Side is power. With it, I will finally achieve my destiny," Helios said, drawing back. He seemed to be mostly defensive, and he'd had longer to work with it than Zuko had with his style. He picked up a group of rocks of various sizes, and sent them flying toward the old man.

Iroh

When he reached the temple, Iroh found that someone was already taking the Avatar's body. He was about to leave, when he heard his nephew's monologue. There was certainty in his voice that made Iroh realize that his nephew was completely set. Nothing he could say now would change his mind, Zuko was lost to him completely.

"There's a little light coming through the hole Toph made," said Katara. She knelt beside Aang's body. Her eyes were steely. "I can see fine. And I don't want to wait any longer than I have to."

Toph stood guard close to the hole. "Better get to it, then. We can't stay here forever."

Katara took a deep breath and held out her hand. The water from the Spirit Oasis hovered over her palm and then fell over the worst of Aang's wounds: the entry mark on his back. She concentrated, healing powers washing over her and then Aang.

Pathik frowned as he used the Force along with his staff to deflect the rocks sent at him by Helios. He then thrust his hand forward, sending a powerful Force Push towards the former Fire Prince.

"The Dark Side takes more from you than you can imagine, boy. It takes your soul, your friends, your family, everything and, in the end, as the darkness takes you, you are nothing."

With that said, he lifted up a boulder with the Force and sent towards the Sith Apprentice.

Darth Vader

After freeing himself from his prison Vader concentrated for a few moments before he sent a powerful blast of lightning at the ancient Jedi. With the two of them working together he had no doubt in his mind that they could easily slay the last of the Jedi on this world. And then they could move onto the companions of the Avatar...

General Narrative

The Spirit Oasis water worked its magic, and did a nice job of cleaning up and partially healing Aang's entry wound. For a very brief moment, Aang's eyes lit up in a flash of blue light....before they slowly closed, the light still shining, until it disappeared completely once his eyes were shut. And no matter how hard Katara tried again, his eyes did not open again, nor did his heartbeat return.

The last of the Air Nomads, and now the last Avatar, was truly dead. Nothing could save him now, save a miracle. And in the dark times to come, there would be very few miracles.

((Oh, by the way, MST do you think you could have Iroh leave with the Gaang when they escape? If you don't mind.))

Katara knew, deep down, that she had failed. Aang should have been breathing following the healing session, but he had drifted away as quickly as he had returned. He was as still and cold as he had been when Toph dragged him into the tunnel.

But she kept trying. She pushed every ounce of her energy and will into her bending, hoping against hope that somehow, someway, she could bring Aang back again. She felt light-headed and sick, spots dancing across her already hazy vision, but still she kept healing.

Please, Aang, please... Don't leave us. Don't leave me!

But there was nothing. And with each passing moment of silence, more and more of her broke.

"We need to get outta here. Vader just got up," said Toph.

Katara shook her head. It spun. "Aang's not... he's not..." she mumbled, over a thick, fuzzy feeling tongue. "I can't..."

Pathik's eyes widened and he groaned as he was sent back a few feet by the impact of the lighting. Groaning, he pushed himsef up, looking from Vader to Helios. That lightning had taken him by surprise as Vader was still confined to his suit, but it seemed that the unique Force signature of this planet had strengthened him more than he thought, perhaps moreso with the Avatar did.

Knowing that defeat was certain, Pathik positioned himself in a Soresu stance once again. He did not fear death. It was but an illusion, merely a transition from this world to the next.

He thrust his hand forward, sending a powerful Force Push at Helios.

*

Sokka bit his lip, trying to keep himself from yelling in frustration when he saw it was no use. He put his hand on Katara's shoulder, "I'll carry him. We need to go. Afterwords, we'll give him a proper burial. It's the least he deserves."

He knew that didn't help Katara. Nothing helped when Yue was taken from him. But the pain would ease with time, he knew. For now, they needed to escape.

Helios

The apprentice sliced the boulder in half with his sabers, and stood in the center as the two pieces flew by him. He was caught off guard by the Force Push that came after, but merely flipped in the air to land on his feet. He then threw his right lightsaber in an arc that headed straight for the old man. He was good, but he stood no chance against the combined might of master and apprentice.

Katara barely responded to Sokka's words, but she did let him take Aang's body. She seemed to have fallen into a state of shock; her eyes were glazed with a far away look, and her face was set in an emotionless expression.

Toph led them back the way they had come. She shoved the ugly truth to the back of her mind, at least for now. They had to get out of here, before it was too late. There was no way they would stand a chance against Vader or Zuko, not now.

They emerged from the tunnel back in the ruins of the inner Temple.

Pathik frowned as he dodged the flight of Helios' lightsaber, swinging his staff to deflect it before unexpectedly going on the defensive, aiming quick thrusts strengthened by the Force at Vader, particularly the control panel on his chest.

*

Sokka had a blank expression as he emerged from the Tunnel. He didn't feel anything, though he knew this was just temporary. Shock and adrenaline to keep him from feeling anything until the time was right. He looked from Toph to his sister, trying to find the words for what he wanted to say.

"We... We'd better get out of here," he announced. Hesitantly, he brought his hand inside Aang's shirt for the bison whistle, the one he brought so long ago. He blew into it, thought not as enthusiastically as the monk used to.

Toph rubbed at the side of her head, grimacing. "You just used that whistle, didn't you?" she said.

A roar echoed in the distance. Despite all the noise from battle, Appa had heard the call.

Darth Vader

The Dark Lord dodged all of the ancient Jedi's strikes and sent a powerful Force wave at the guru.

Appa

The giant sky bison rumbled as it flew toward its charges, and landed near the kids.

Sokka grinned at Toph slightly, nodding a little as he lifted Aang onto the bison before climbing on himself.

"Come on," he told them, "There's nothing for us here now. Maybe, if we hurry, we can save the Guru."

(I'm okay with whatever fate happens to the Guru)

*

Pathik frowned, being knocked back few feet before tumbling to the side and answering Darth Vader's Force Push with his own.

Helios

The lightsaber flew back into his hand and Helios charged at the Guru as he was trading force attacks with Vader. He went in and slashed at the old man several times in quick succession.

Iroh

Iroh saw the giant bison land and knew he needed to leave with them, or he would be stranded on the temple. He walked up to the group, and saw the Avatar's body, and he bowed his head slightly out of respect for the great loss.