Chapter 43.3- And so the Dragons Danced

From the moment the lightning hit him, it was clear that Natsu was struggling to keep up with the channeling. Toji could see arcs of lightning dancing across his body as he tried to redirect it. In the end, he feel to his knees with the lightning still in his body. And then from his knees, he fell to the floor face first.

“Natsu!!!” That scream. His head snapped to the other side of the garden, the other balcony and found Toph there, body covered in sewage for some reason. That was the least of his problems, though. His best friend had just lost, was probably dead. Toji knew he should probably jump down and go in there but he was frozen.. He couldn’t move. His hand was shaking. Not just his hand, his whole body. Toph screamed again, and unlike him, she had jumped straight down and was rushing towards him. Before she got to him, though, his hair flashed with lightning and in a blur he had moved across the field. Toji gaped at seeing Natsu’s hand shoved right into Iroh’s chest. What? How was he even standing?

Toji’s eyes instantly went back to the spot Natsu had collapsed on and noticed the scorch marks on it. He had grounded himself by channeling the excess lightning into the earth. Genius. And the rest of it? Well, Toji could smell Iroh’s body cooking from the inside all the way from here. The Fire Nation Prince never even got the chance to say any last words or to resist the approach of death.

“Rest well, Iroh, son of Azulon and Ilah, Father of Lu Ten. You were truly strong”. Toji heard Natsu whisper down to Iroh’s body with his hand still shoved in the old man’s chest until he lifted his head to look at Jeong-Jeong. There was heat in that gaze.

“Your turn, Master” Natsu said, removing his hand from Iroh’s chest with a squelch and then pushing the body to the side so it landed on the floor. It was clearly one hell of an intimidation tactic because Jeong-Jeong actually took a step back at Natsu’s approach.

“Come at me, bring your best and maybe your death will be painless” Natsu said and Jeong-Jeong flared his fingers, moving like he was about to attack before he lifted a massive fire wall. Even from here, Toji could feel the heat of the wall. Natsu didn’t even flinch at the fire until it died out, revealing that Jeong-Jeong was nowhere to be found, and Natsu suddenly moved to drop to his knees.

Not on Toji’s watch, though. He jumped down and ran across at his top speed, just managing to grab a hold of his friend before he hit the floor.

“You won” he whispered to him.

“I won. Have people sent out to find Jeong-Jeong. Get someone to check in on Azula as well. How’s Toph? I heard her-“ Natsu whispered against his body before Toph’s arrival shut him up. The blind girl practically hurled herself at him in a hug, and it was all Toji could do to keep them balanced. She was crying, he noticed.

“Thank you, Kid. I heard you there” Natsu whispered to the girl, and her light sniffles turned into full-blown bawls.