{Azula}

The dripping of water had become a familiar noise, constant and never changing. She would sometimes expect to wake up to find her cell half submerged in cold water. When she had first arrived, she had imagined the drip mocking her, mocking her like the day she was defeated by the water tribe peasant known as Katara.

Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, reduced to a restrained prisoner in a cell.

A year and a half had passed since the events where her brother had become Firelord. She would have no visitors, no-one who cared. Everyone she had the potential to be close to, she had pushed away, and now, she was alone.

She sat against the back of the cell, as far from the door as possible, listening to the slight drip somewhere off down the hall. Suddenly, footsteps came echoing towards her, and a voice spoke on the opposite side of the door.
"You're awfully quiet tonight, Princess Azula."
Azula didn't answer. Her mind was elsewhere, and any answer she provided would have just been put down to insanity.
"You may have been in charge once, but in here, I'm in charge, and you'll speak to me when I'm talking to you," He threatened.
Azula turned her head, looking at her bed.
"What do you want?" she said bluntly, wanting the guard gone as soon as possible.
"That's better," he said. "If you want to eat for the next week, you better stop screaming so loud in the middle of the night. You agitate the other crazies."
"Noted," she said.
The man snickered, and his footsteps soon faded into the distance.
In the year that had passed, Azula had endured the worst torments from her insanity. At times, she would wail, as if she was in unbearable pain, other times she would simply not get out of bed, and soil herself constantly. And to make matters worse, the guards where not kind to a young woman incapable of fighting back. She would often picture hurting them, in the worst possible ways. To have them beg for mercy at her firebending prowess. But alas, she had no power. Not now. Not in this cell.
"You're really looking tired Azula! Beauty sleep does wonders you know!"
Azula recognized the voice instantaneously, and turned to the opposite side of the cell to see Ty Lee standing there with a smile.
Azula's mouth dropped open for a moment, but she quickly re-gathered her wit and turned away from her old friend.
"Ty Lee, you haven't changed a bit. You still have an annoyingly shrill voice."
Ty Lee cartwheeled back into Azula's sight, and sat herself on Azula's bed.
"Sorry I haven't visited Azula," She said, with genuine concern in her voice, her face crunched with disappointment.
"I don't want your visit. You betrayed me. You all betrayed me."
Ty Lee hopped off the bed and onto her knees, so she was at Azula's height.
"I was your friend! But I couldn't let you hurt Mai, It just sort of… Happened," she said with an awkward smile.
"You weren't my friend!" Accused Azula, finding her anger. "You were afraid of me! You all were afraid of me! Your fear insured loyalty!"
Ty Lee tilted her head, looking confused.
"Zuko and the Avatar didn't use fear."
Azula tried to lash herself at her, but her chains restrained her.
"Zuko and the Avatar are weak!" She protested.
Ty Lee shrugged, before saying;
"Then… Why did they win?"
Azula closed her eyes, as tears ran down her face. She opened them again with a wild angst.
"Get o-"she paused mid-sentence, looking around her cell for a moment.
Ty Lee was gone.
Azula was panting heavily, but she had managed to calm herself down after a few deep breaths.
Her tears dried, and she exhaled slowly as she continued to sit in silence, listening to the far off drip.
"Are you serious? Are you really letting Ty Lee provoke you?"
The next voice was one Azula also knew well.
"Well, if it isn't the traitor herself," Azula said, turning to face Mai.
Mai sighed. She was leaning up against the opposite wall to her bed.
"Are you still bitter about that? Grow up."
Azula took a deep breath. She refused to let Mai get to her. No, she was far too clever for that.
"I never thought you would turn on me… So what do you want?" She said, staring Mai down.
"I guess," Mai began. "I guess I want to know if there was ever a chance for our friendship? You know, a real chance?"
Azula closed her eyes and shook her head with a smile.
"Mai never really was a people person. She wouldn't say that."
The voice that spoke back this time shot chills up Azula's spine.
"You know your friends are no better than tools. I raised you well, my prodigy."
Azula opened her eyes.
"Father." She said.
"You failed me miserably Azula. You were bested by a southern peasant. You, Princess Azula."
Azula didn't get angry this time, but knew what words to combat her father with.
"Don't lecture me father. You were defeated by a 13 year old child."
He father's eye's suddenly filled with rage, breathing fire from his mouth as he spoke.
"I was defeated by the master of all four elements! If you had defeated Zuko and his bitch, you could have continued my legacy! You are a failure, just like your brother!"
Azula turned away. She couldn't believe she was being compared to him.
"I heard Zuzu visited you. Funny, he never visits me," she said, still not turning to face her father.
The voice that answered back didn't shock Azula anymore then her father's.

"Don't say that!" Said Zuko. When Azula turned to face him, she gasped to see a younger version of Zuko staring back at her. She looked to his left side, and saw no scar.
"Zuzu," she said with a sigh. "I was wondering when you would show."
"I had to see it to believe it. Azula in chains. What happened to you?" Questioned the child Zuko.
Azula sighed, resting her chin on her knees. She was growing tired of this.
"It doesn't matter what I say. You're not real. None of you are. This is all in my head."
The little Zuko came down and sat next to her.
"No, but these walls are real. The war was real. Your defeat, and your situation, is real. So now, what are you going to do, princess Azula?"
Azula sat, looking at the younger version of her brother. It was strange for her to see. But he was smiling, and the hatred in her gut faltered at a flicker of hope in her heart. In that moment, she remembered. Remembered what it was like to be in control. To be cunning. To be the prodigy crowned princess of the Fire Nation. But in her silence, she heard the far off drip, and was reminded where she was. And what she was doing. And her flicker of hope was extinguished, and replaced by another memory.
"Zuko, do you remember when we went to Amber Island as children, and I was pushed over by a man with a long beard?"
Zuko smiled.
"Yeah, you cried for ages!"
Azula let out a faint smile.
"Do you remember what you said to me back then to make me stop crying?"
Zuko's smile faded at the question as he shook his head slowly. Azula smiled.
"No, neither do I," she said.
Another voice spoke softly. This time coming from her bed.
"He must have said something very kind to you. I'm happy when you two get along."
Azula didn't raise her head. She didn't want to look her mother in the eye.
"You started all this. It all began with you," she accused.
Her mother's footsteps came closer, as she dropped slowly to her knees, and raised Azula's face to meet her own.
"I'd never wish this upon you Azula. I love you."
Azula let a tear fall.
"You had a funny way of showing it. You always loved Zuko more."
Not that I care.
Her mother smiled, a faint smile admitted upon the helpless, as a mother smiles to her child when they say something innocent.
"Azula, you can cast blame on everyone. Zuko, Ty Lee, Mai, The Avatar, your father, me, but the actions that lead you up to this point were your own. And only you can take responsibility for your failings. It's time to admit that you can't do everything alone. It's time to admit responsibility for your short comings. Like when you told your father that Zuko had killed the Avatar. Passing on blame will come back around 10 fold. It's time to stop using fear to control people."
Azula stared at her mother for a second.
"Don't lecture me mother. I'm not a child anymore."
"You are never too old to stop learning, just like your uncle Iroh. He learned true love at an older age, with the birth of Lu Ten."
Azula's stomach bubbled with rage. The thought of her uncle and brother sickened her. The thought of becoming like them, by quelling this rage, seemed like an impossible goal.
"You are still young, Azula," her mother spoke again. "Far too young to spend your life locked in here, stand up, and become the princess I always wanted you to be, not the one your father crafted out of pressure and hatred."
Azula smiled wickedly. Her mother had finally given her an opening in which to exploit.
"You can't lecture me on such things mother! You were pressured into killing Grandfather Azulon by father… Don't think I didn't figure it out… You did it to save Zuko."
Ursa smiled again.
"Azula, if Zuko's situation had been reversed to you. I would have done the same things I did that night."
Azula gasped, this time unable to contain her surprise. But her logic soon kicked in, as she buried her head in her knees.
"These are just words… Words from an Illusion in my head… You think I'm a monster."
Her eyes drifted to the left.
"You don't love me."
Suddenly, Azula felt the warmth of her mother press up against her. She wasn't quite prepared for the hug her mother had given her. She wanted to scream. She wanted to shout at her to never touch her again, but the warmth, not like the heat from fire or anger, the warmth that filled her like a tea pitcher fills a mug made her sink into her mother's arms.
She didn't know what to say. Her mouth would drop open, only to shut again a second later. She just realized that she was crying. Azula slowly raised her hands, and returned the hug. Tears ran down her face, and her mother said words that she thought she'd never hear again.
"I'll always love you, Azula."
Azula sprang back to her senses, as if she'd been shot with lightning. Her eye's darted around the room in an almost insanity, as she let the childish word escape her lips.
"Mom?"
Her mother, was gone.
Azula's head sank for a second, before she realized her hands weren't behind her back.
Her head filled with confusion. She slowly brought her hands to her face, and realized she had become unshackled. The marks on her wrist, still dark red from where she had been bound. Her breathing escalated, and her heart rate began to sore.
How? How is this possible. It's in my head! It's all in my head!"
She had to confirm the dream. She pushed her back against the wall and slowly began to stand. Her unchained legs wobbled, weak from malnourishment and lack of blood. Pins and needles shot through her legs, as for the first time in months, she stood up by herself.
She almost couldn't believe it. Her chest rose and fell quickly, as an unbelievable feeling of freedom filled her. She couldn't stop herself from letting out a slight chuckle, that became a silly, rising giggle.
She came to her senses and took a deep breath. Now was not the time for insane tendencies. She was unbound, and now she needed to think of a way out.
She had no idea what time of day it was. Time became meaningless in the dark cell she was in.
She had only been served dinner the last few days, and she wasn't sure how far off the Orderly was to delivering that meal.
She brushed her messy un-kept hair from her face. Now was a good enough time as any to see if she could still produce fire.
She dropped into her old fighting stance, but her legs could barely hold her up. She pressed her index finger and her middle finger together, breathed, then extended her arm towards the lock on the door with as much speed as she could muster.

Nothing happened.

She gritted her teeth. She quickly hypothesized that it must have been from lack of sunlight over a long period of time. Without firebending the chance of her slipping out of the asylum had been cut in half of an already shaky chance.
She knew better than to try and produce lightning in her current state. Her positive and negative energy was an intertwined storm inside her, her cracking sanity could spell a messy result.
She had no choice. She sank back down to her sitting position, put her hands behind her back, and closed her eyes. She would have to wait.

Sometime later, footsteps were coming down the corridor. Azula raised her head.
"Dinner," said the orderly as he unlocked the door.
Azula smiled, this had been the chance she'd been waiting for. The orderly came in, leaving the door open behind him, as he had done countless times before.
The young orderly must have just been in his early 20's. A skinny man with a pale face, not uncommon in the underground "asylum."
He leant down, cracking the chopsticks and took a ball of rice up in them.
"Here it comes. Open up," he said.
Azula drifted her gaze towards him. Now was her chance.
She darted a swift punch directly into the young man's face, making him reel back in surprise.
She quickly scooped up the chopsticks and brandished them like weapons. She may have been weak, but her training was all she had now.
The orderly gained his senses quickly, but Azula had jumped over him and bolted for the door.
She felt the orderly's hand reach up and catch her ankle. She fell face first, and the orderly took his chance.
"Help! Help! A patient is escaping!" he yelled franticly.
Her plan was already falling apart, and she wasn't even out the door yet. She flipped on her back, kicking the orderly in the face with her free leg. The orderly let go and clutched his nose in pain. Azula scrambled to her feet, and turned to run outside when.
Thud!
She had connected the guard standing in the doorway and had bounced off him like a kuai ball.
She fell back onto the floor with a thud, losing the chopsticks in the process. This was it. Her plan had failed. The Guard rushed forward, handcuffs in hand.

What happened next was in such a fluid and quick motion, Azula did not at first register what had transpired. The flash of speed followed by the guard hitting the ground. Azula turned. There was now a cloaked figure standing between her and the orderly.
The orderly looked up from his whimpering, but the cloaked figure moved fast again. He grabbed the orderly by the shirt and threw him against the chained wall. He quickly turned, and to her shock, grabbed Azula's ragged pants and ripped off a fine strip. Azula retreated immediately, covering the bare patch the figure had torn from her leg. The cloak spun around, and gagged the orderly, whilst chaining him up in the same chains once used to bind her.
He turned again. This time focusing on Azula. She gapped at him and felt she needed to say something.
"Who are yo- Hey!" she protested, as the figure swept her up into strong arms, before taking off outside the cell.
"What do you think you're doing?" she protested angrily.
"Shut up!" replied the voice of a man.
He turned and twisted down the corridors, and Azula got the feeling she was in some crazy dream.
Before she knew it. She felt it. Sunlight.
It stuck her like a thousand daggers at once, but she felt almost instantly better as the sun heated her pale skin.
The man had stopped, turning left and right. They had appeared to come out of a side entrance, and were now on a hilly cliff face.

"Do you mind telling me just what you think you are doing?" She growled at the man, having mixed feelings about being rescued in such a fashion.
The man finally looked at her, and she caught a glimpse of his face.
"I'm busting you out," he said, and with that, she saw a glimmer of white teeth as he smiled.
Azula sharpened her focus on the man, before seeing a flicker of light out of the corner of her eye.
"Behind you!" she yelled at him, as the guard's helmet caught the light of the sun.
The man put her down so fast she thought she had been dropped, and he turned to face the pursers.
The guards quickly closed in, encircling the pair in six groups of two, one firebender, and a spear wielding guard at their sides.
"Give up!" yelled the man in front of them. "You're surrounded!"
The man backed up to so close to Azula, that she could have bitten his leg.
"You heard me! Relinquish the prisoner and you won't be harmed!"
The man raised his arms out in front of him, a form Azula instantly recognized.
"I'll never give in!" He yelled, and with that, he launched a fire ball directly at the man who issued the threat, catching him off guard and making him topple over onto his back.
Azula smiled.
A firebender still loyal to my father. He hasn't forgotten about me.
"Attack!" yelled the downed guard.
All the firebenders stood forward, firing six streams of fire at them both.
The man spun around, controlling the streams of fire in to a giant inferno sphere around them.
Azula scurried away from the edges, and realized she was clutching the man's leg to escape the intense heat of the flames. The man planted his foot, and extended his arms out to his side, unleashing a wide, thick circle of fire back at the attackers. The fire connected them all, and in their confusion, the man had swept up Azula again and charged directly at the firebender behind them.
The guard was getting up from the blow he had just been dealt, but the man jumped straight on top of him, sliding him down the twenty feet hilly cliff face, using him as a sled.
He jumped off the man and stepped quick into a sprint, still holding Azula close.
They were running down towards a beach, where to Azula's surprise, there was a Fire Nation ship, identical to the one Zuko was exiled on, waiting for them.
He ran up the boarding ramp, yelling at the men on deck to hoist anchor, and depart immediately.
He slowed down into a walk as he neared the accommodation deck, and Azula had noticed everyone staring, then realizing she had her arms wrapped tightly around the man's neck.
Her embarrassment quickly turned to anger, as she struggled free of the man, dropping to the deck before he could catch her.
"Let go of me!" she growled. "I can walk by myself!" she summarized, as she slowly began to rise to her feet, her hair dangling in front of her. The man said nothing, but she could feel his eyes on her back as she began to move forward. She didn't know where she was going, as long as it was on her own. Her legs wobbled after two steps, before they gave out on the third as she collapsed to the ground. Her legs still asleep underneath her. She heard the man rush forward.
"Azula… Let me help you," he said, leaning down to her, extending his arms in invitation. She pushed them away.
What's his angle? Who is he?
"I don't need your help? Who are you? Why did you rescue me from that place?"
She tensed up immediately, realizing she had just admitted to being rescued.
The man moved forward again.
"You look tired, Azula. And hungry. My men will show you your quarters, then I will explain why I have brought you here, I promise."
With that, two mean walked up to her, both helping her to her feet. The two men, she instantly recognized, as Ex Dai Li agents.
The cloaked man walked up to the accommodation deck, latching the door open, and began to head inside. Azula's eye's zeroed in on him.
"Wait! Aren't you at least going to tell me your name?"
The man stopped, and turned, pulling back his cowl at the same time.
Azula was surprised to see a young man, far younger than what she had imagined, staring back at him.
He must have been around her age, maybe a year or two older. His light brown eyes were surprisingly soft, and his short black hair bristled in the breeze. Above his left eye, a horizontal scar, cut roughly like a glancing blow of a sword. He smiled. A smile that had an unsettling effect on her, which cast her back to a memory of Chan on Ember Island.

"My name is Azazzle, Good to see you again, Princess Azula."