(Music cue: "The Last Agni Kai
")
Here's a clip of the battle for reference.
Katara feels like vomiting from the stress and the duel begins and Zuko and Azula make their exchange ("I'm sorry it has to end this way, brother." "No, you're not"). Azula has an "unreadable" expression, and with blasts of fire, the duel begins.
Katara notices that Azula is energetic, but also out of control, and isn't aiming her attacks. Zuko doesn't need to block, but fires back and retaliates with a firewhip.
Katara notes that her plan has gone out the window, and that it will be a miracle if they pull through. Upon seeing the intensity of the battle, realizes that the fire sages were right to "do a runner." Still, things seem to be looking up- Azula is tiring, while Zuko is not (A YouTube commenter in the video above insightfully points out that Zuko's standing his ground this time). Katara's proud as well as worried or Zuko, noticing that he's winning and knowing what significance defeating Azula will have for him, especially since this time, he's the one making things look effortless.
Azula tries to skate around Zuko, who uses blasts of fire to destabilize her. Zuko uses the "swivel kick" maneuver Katara finds sexy, forcing Katara behind cover, but she emerges to see Azula go flying. She lands hard, and Katara thinks for a moment that she's out of the fight, since she's reaching her limit.
All in all, it's a good analysis of the battle from Katara's perspective, providing a good look at the action and what it means, even though Katara's not (yet) part of the fight. It's also a good show of what the author can do as a straight up Novelization of the series, without trying to prove anything.
Zuko, ready to try "partial redirection," goads Azula, and she then promises to "show him lightning." Katara then comes out from behind the pillar to get a better look, sure that it'd be over in seconds, in hopes of seeing the battle and the war(even if Zuko wins, they only win on one theater) end. Honestly, there are some times when there's no way to put a positive spin on a character's actions.
You know what follows- Azula shoots lightning at Katara, but Zuko intercepts it, completely failing at redirecting it.
At this point, "Enter the Inferno" ends, and we move on to the last episode- "Avatar Aang."
Katara reacts with "Oh sweet spirits NO" and desperately hopes to undo what has happened by any means possible- or impossible, like time travel. But Zuko's been hit, and falls to the ground in the fetal position. Katara rushes over, oblivious to everything and everyone besides him, including the Ax-Crazy princess who's trying to kill her. Azula attacks Katara as Zuko seems to be trying to get up, making the "family physician" quip. This earns her Katara's hatred, but Katara's too busy running behind cover to retaliate until Azula takes a moment to note how "Zuzu" doesn't look so good. Katara waterbends a stream at her, but Azula has already avoided it, and jets toward Katara, who bends some ice to skate away faster than Azula can jet.
Katara realizes she'll have to go on the offensive sooner or later, since she has to defeat Azula before she can tend to Zuko, since his life's on the line. Rather than panic her, though, that thought helps her focus. As she trips, she notices that she's near the storm drain, and has a "Eureka!" Moment as she sees the chains, going into what Yugoda calls "the zone", a state of heightened capability Yugoda experienced in a different moment of crisis.
Katara then carries out her canon strategy to defeat Azula, which is based in part on Zuko's strategy of keeping her from breathing so that she can't bend. It's partly her fault that she had to fight Azula alone, but she makes up for it by getting out of that situation with style.
Now there's one last problem to address- Zuko. While in canon, the problem was resolved in under a minute, here, it's a bit more complicated.
Katara runs over to see Zuko, who's in dire straits. Katara notes that if he hadn't been breathing, she'd probably have killed Azula, albeit regretting it later (and probably giving Aang another lecture if he tried to pull a What the Hell, Hero? on her). But Zuko's breathing, indicating that he's alive, and Katara focuses her attention on ensuring that he stays that way.
Katara notices that if Zuko can't simply soldier on, it must be bad, but it defies her expectations, with everything burnt. Katara doesn't know how he could survive that, or how she could heal it without spirit water, which had been the primary catalyst for healing Aang. But she doesn't want to lose Zuko- her best friend, the other half of "team liquidy-hot" and "(her) Zuko", so she's determined that the lack of spirit water will not be an impediment.
Katara insists that Zuko hold on, and he seems to focus somewhat at the sound of her voice, and insists that she will be "so cross" with him if he does die. Zuko tries to say something, but his lungs and throat are damaged, so Katara tries to convince herself that it will be fine... but in vain.
Katara begins to cry and despair, not even seeing the point of waterbending if she can't save the person most precious to her, but tries to push those thoughts out of her head and focus on her task. Of course, the thoughts about what she'd do without him flood into her head, and she believes she'd never get over her loss. She'd blame herself and even blame Aang for making her use up the spirit water, even though she knows it isn't his fault. Not only is this a nice look at Katara's thoughts, but it's also a good time in which she acknowledges that she's wrong to blame Aang.
Katara makes any number of desperate promises- letting him win every argument, giving him the commonsense stick along with anything else he wanted, and so forth. It apparently gets through to him, as he smiles at the commonsense stick part, and tells her not to cry as he touches her face, a gesture that apparently depletes the last of his energy.
Katara realizes that it's entirely likely that the future she envisioned with Zuko will never come to be, and now's as good a time as any to say it- that she loves him, no matter how hard she tried to deny it. She hopes that he won't die because she loves him, but knows that This Is Reality, and that as his heart stops, The Power of Love cannot save him...
...but the power of bloodbending can. The moon is up, even if the comet obscures it (But is it full? I don't think it's that time of the month), and Katara's misgivings about it fade given what's at stake, and adds "not speaking ill of bloodbending" to her list of promises to ensure Zuko's survival. She recalls Pakku mentioning the healing benefits, and Hama saying that she could "take it further," which Katara interprets as referring to bending the heart's blood. Katara uses her medical knowledge to make Zuko's heart beat in time with hers, and soon, it's beating on its own, proof that Zuko had "a strong heart." Emboldened by her success in spite of what she has yet to heal, Katara soon starts healing him on the inside, with the help of bloodbending, and when she calls for him to come back to her, he does, making this a second Crowning Moment of Awesome for Katara this chapter.
Zuko comes to and thanks Katara, who says she should be thanking him... before scolding him for jumping in front of lightning. Zuko says, quite simply, that he didn't want Katara to get hurt. Katara's tempted to kiss him for that, all day if he so desires, but knows he needs medical attention.
Once the largely extraneous bits at the beginning are done with, this is one of the best chapters in the fic.
What I liked
- Katara's analysis of the battle.
- Zuko's anti-Azula countermeasures come in handy.
- Appropriately desperate healing sequence or Zuko.
- Touching look at Katara's desire for Zuko to pull through.
- Katara saving Zuko with bloodbending.
What I didn't like
- Katara comes off as terminally stupid in exposing herself, although she does come to regret it.
