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

Mai frowned. "Yes. He has..." she said.

And even she was not sure if the change was good or not.

***

Toph frowned. "It might take her a while to get out here. It's crazy. I can't "see" much of anything at all!"

"Ha. I almost miss the weak, naive Zuko," Azula sneered.

*

"There's not much else we can do but wait," he told her with frown, "If we get out from behind this wall, we could be blown off the mountain!"

Toph shuddered at the thought. There was no way they would survive falling off a mountain. "I'm not saying we should move or anything," she said. "It's just... I know you're in bad shape, but you won't say so 'cause you don't want me to worry about you, or something like that."

Sokka frowned. Was he so transparent? He sighed, "I know, but I'll live. Don't worry too much, okay?"

She hesitated. How could he ask that of her? She cared about him, and he was hurt. Of course she was going to worry!

But Toph also realized that worrying herself sick would not help either one of them. She sighed.

"Fine. But only if you don't worry about me."

Sokka frowned. That was a good counter. He sighed and nodded, "Okay, but only if you promise not to do anything too dangerous."

Darth Vader

Without saying a word or gloating in some other form, Darth Vader raised his saber high and brought it down to chop off the head of Zareal. The Dark Lord had to admit, the Jedi had put up a good fight despite the futileness of his efforts. But nothing would stop his death now.

Mara

The Hand brought up her weapon just in time to prevent her decapitation, but the edge of Helios' blades managed to nick her shoulders. Mara growled with anger at the intense pain that brought, and rushed toward her foe as soon as he landed. She made a cut to his stomach before reversing and changing course toward his head.

Avatar Aang

The Avatar quickly fled the center of the temple once he was satisfied the Dai Li and their master was no longer threat. Using his new and incredible powers, Aang rushed through the temple, heading toward Zuko.

Helios

The Sith dodged her strikes by falling back and rolling to his feet. He grabbed hold of her with the Force, lifting her by the neck. With a sick grin, he tossed her out of the room, off the mountain. He didn't have time to gloat, the Avatar was coming and he still had a former threat to take care of.

Zareal

In his last moments, the Jedi's mind cleared, and he relaxed, feeling the Force flow through him, his life and blood. He would miss it. Then his head was split from the neck, and the body collapsed, it's host now at one with the Force.

Pathik smiled as he felt the power of the Avatar. Truly, it was amazing to see the power of the Force in action. He frowned, however, when he sensed Zarael pass away. He turned to Katara and spoke, "You should go check on Toph and Sokka."

He turned his gaze so he could see Vader in the distance. Perhaps he could hold off the cyborg for a little while.

Katara nodded. "Okay. I will." She could tell that he was planning on taking on Vader, whom she could just see in the distance. "Be careful."

She ran out of their small square and down the rubble-strewn hallway. It did not take her long to find Sokka and Toph. They had taken shelter behind a half fallen wall. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw how badly they looked.

"You two are crazy!" she shouted.

Toph just smiled. "Crazy like a cat-fox!"

"We're warriors, what do you expect?" Sokka quipped. Nonetheless, he was happy to see his sister and he grinned at her.

"Besides, it doesn't matter. Aang's going Avatar on Vader and Zuko! We're going to win!" he told her optimistically.

"I hope so..." said Katara, sighing. She shoved away her doubts and fears as she crouched beside her brother and Toph. "Now hold still, and try to relax. This will take a while."

"Start with him, then," said Toph.

Katara saw Sokka's broken arm and winced. "I'll do my best." She waved an arm, and water surrounded Sokka's arm. With her free hand, she handed Sokka a strap of her water-skin. "You might want to bite down on this."

Sokka nodded, taking the strap in his mouth. He knew from experience how painful his sister's healing could be before things got better. It wasn't her fault, though, and he'd prefer intense pain at the moment so that he'd be able to move his arm in the near future.

"Just be sure to only treat serious injuries," Sokka told her, not wanting her to waste water.

She nodded. "I already thought of that. I have to conserve enough energy to help everyone."

The water she controlled began to glow, and she slowly and carefully began to set Sokka's bone. She knew it would be very painful, but she was not nearly as experienced with healing broken bones as she was burns and small scrapes.

Sokka grimaced, biting down hard onto the leather strap as his bones were set in place. This almost hurt worse than when he broke his ribs some time ago. He nodded as she was done, trying not to make any sounds from pain.

"Well, that's better than resting it for a month," he noted.

"It probably woud have been more than that," said Katara, in a matter-of-fact tone of voice. Her brow was furrowed as she continued to knit the bone together. "And you're lucky the bone didn't break the flesh."

Even Toph seemed a little sickened at that idea. She placed her hand on Sokka's good arm; she knew he was in pain, and though she doubted whether or not she could ever be a comforting sort of person, she still wanted to help him in some way.

Sokka smiled at Toph, knowing what she was trying to do. Neither of them were good at lending comfort so he appreciated the thought. He turned Katara, his smile turning into a grimace as he felt the pain spike up in his arm.

"You ever miss the days where you were the optimist and I was the pessimist?" he asked her.

((AI, Katara and Pathik were in an enclosed area, and Vader was far away from them. You can have Pathik follow Katara and the others and help her heal Sokka and Toph, for now.))

Vader

Darth Vader sensed the Avatar heading toward his apprentice and went in the same direction. If Helios had any chance of killing the boy, then they would need to work together to accomplish such a goal.

((Hm. Well, Zuko and Mai have a few minutes til Vader and Aang arrive. If you two want, you can have them have a quick chat, MST and Big T.))

(Okay. Got it, Magus.)

Pathik frowned as he approached Katara, Toph, and Sokka. He nodded at them and set a hand on Toph's forehead, closing his eyes as he felt the energy of the Force throwing through him into the blind girl, focusing on where she felt the most pain, "You two should be more careful."

Mai thought she could hear something approaching. The winds whipped all around her, and the air almost thrummed. She frowned, not liking the sudden change in the atmosphere.

What could it be?

***

"I've already told them that," said Katara. She was now focusing on Sokka's scrapes and bruises. "They just refuse to listen."

"Hey. We can't help it if trouble stalks us," said Toph. She already looked half asleep, thanks to Pahtik's healing.

"Yeah, it's all a part of the saving the world thing," Sokka grinned as he felt his scrapes and bruises heal. That felt much better.

"Honestly, the two of you remind me of younglings," Pathik told them, shaking his head.

Helios

The Avatar was getting nearer, so he walked over to Azula, stunned thanks to Mai. He lifted his sister from the floor with the Force, suspended in the air. He studied her for a moment, and let her drop, his attention now turned to Mai. "Take Azula out of here, make sure she's alive. I will make sure she suffers, but not while the Avatar still lives," he said.

Mai frowned. "Is that all you ever think of these days? Suffering?" She sighed and shook her head. "But I suppose you really don't want to hear a lecture."

She carefully lifted up Azula and began to carry her away.

***

"I think they're insulting us!" said Toph.

Katara finished off a particularly nasty gash on Toph's leg. "Maybe then you will pay attention," she said.

Helios

"You say that like it's a bad thing," Helios commented. She had a point, all he did seem to think about was making his enemies suffer, but they deserved it, for they were weak. They dared to stand in his way, and that would be the biggest mistake they ever made. But did anything else matter now? Was his only goal in life to make anyone who stood against him suffer? Of course not, I want power, to do whatever I want, he thought. And what is it you want to do with power, an unwelcome voice in his head that sounded like Iroh asked. To rule, to enforce my will on others, he responded. Where once he would have second-guessed himself, he now knew what his destiny was, what his ultimate goal in life was. "And the only one who can stop that is coming," he muttered to himself, and began to focus his mind. With precious moments left before him, he concentrated and gathered his emotions, preparing to unleash them in a fury of the Dark Side.

"Sometimes your elders need to be stern," Pathik told them, causing Sokka to glare at him.

"Hey! I'm older than Katara!" he told him.

"Really?" he asked in genuine surprise, "She always struck me as the older sibling."

Sokka grimaced. He could be responsible if he wanted to. It was just that a warrior had to be reckless when defending what he loved. That's what his dad once told him.