A/N- Well, randomly one night a couple nights ago, I got a really good idea for a Sokkla fic. I didn't have time to write it down, so this isn't quite what I had originally thought of, but the basic idea is the same. Hope ya enjoy. :)

Chapter 1: Cartoon Heroes

She has never been scared. Even back when she was little, nothing ever scared her. If she was naïve, she would call it being without the fear gene but she is not naïve.

Some people would even go so far to call it a blessing, to be able to not fear anything, but they are fools.

Her father called it a gift, and called her his prodigy, the one who would be able to master lightning one day because she felt no fear. He had taught her to feel nothing, said those who cared were weak, and that her gift would allow her to rise above it all, to be powerful beyond measure.

But she knows better.

It is not a blessing, but a curse, something she has been stricken with her whole life.

All her life it has forced her to be strong, to put on this fake mask in which everything is all right, that she's never been better. This mask that showed nothing but strength eventually turned to cruelty and coldness. Soon the mask became her, became who she was, and there was nothing else. And the worst part is that there is nothing she can do to stop it. She is trapped in someone else's body, an all powerful fearless machine that stops at nothing, and will not let anything get in its way.

She had watched helplessly as she had shot lightning at the Avatar, almost killing him. And now she watches helplessly again as her brother crumples into a heap on her ship. It is history repeated, just as what happened oh so long ago, back when she met him the first time in years after his banishment.

She watches as her body convulses into laughs, she is now laughing at his foolishness of trusting her again. She betrayed him not once, not twice, but multiple times and yet he still trusts her. He just wants to go home so badly that it is pitiful. Almost as pitiful as her situation, at her inability to break free of the cycle she has become a part of.

Her fingers move into graceful patterns, deadly patterns that bring forth the lightning that her father had said she would control all those years ago. The lightning swirls around her, finally coming to a point as she brings her fingers together, then streaming right toward the shaking heap lying some yards away, the heap called her brother. She cannot look away, cannot do anything but gape in horror, unable to move. The cycle repeats itself, but this time something is missing. Their uncle is no longer around to channel the lightning away from his nephew, no longer able to save him.

So she is surprised when suddenly her brother leaps up, grabbing her fingers in his hand. He channels the lightning through his body and shoots it out through his other hand, letting it explode on a nearby cliff, much like his uncle had done all those months ago.

And then comes the defining moment where he kicks her off the ship, paralyzing her body as she falls into the water. She hits the icy cold water with such force that it is not a surprise that she is paralyzed, but she knows better. It is not the shear force that is paralyzing her, or the fact that her brother (the child her father had always considered weak) finally had it in him to channel the lightning away from himself, finally had the strength in him to fight back against her and win.

It is because for the first time in her life, she feels fear.

And that itself is enough to shock herself into oblivion, shock her enough to freeze her and make her unable to move as she falls farther and farther down into the water. She knows the water is deep and that there are no guards on the ship this time to save her. She is on her own, will have to trust on her own instincts to save herself.

But for once, she does not want to be saved. This fear, this feeling that is enveloping her now, comes with a peaceful feeling that she has not felt for a long time, not since before her mother's death (maybe even before that).

She is dying and she has never felt more alive.

And so with powerful resolve that is finally her own, she lets go.

The blackness surrounds her and then there is nothing.

He sighs. He has been fishing all day with no luck at all. He curses his bad karma; the spirits must be out to get him or something. After seeing all the fish at the market, he should be reeling in baskets of fish. But no, he is sitting here, bored as ever and still unsuccessful.

He has almost dozed off when his fishing rod alerts him to a bite. Finally, a fish! He thinks, shaken out of his reverie. And a big one he thinks after struggling with it for quite some time. It's really heavy is his next thought. But after all this time with no luck, he isn't about to let it get away.

When it almost pulls him in, he thinks for an instant of letting it go, but quickly decides against that notion. He steps into the water, and walks closer to his tugging line.

Finally, he pulls hard on the line and a bit of his catch comes out of the water.

And instead of seeing scales and fish flesh, he sees cloth, he sees wet clothes.

What the…… he wonders, seeing the clothes. He pulls hard, and after awhile, figures he is close enough to touch it, whatever it is. He decides quickly to grab it and then proceeds to drag it out of the water, straining with the effort. He almost kills himself doing this (whatever it is, it's really heavy) but continues to drag it behind him until he is out on the water and on the beach.

He turns around, waiting to see some dead corpse of some random solider; but instead gets the biggest surprise of his life when he sees who the person is.

He gapes at the body, not really believing what he is seeing.

What the heck is that psychotic bitch who nearly killed Aang doing here?

A/N- Yes, Azula floated all the way from where she nearly drowned to where Sokka was fishing. I made it so they weren't very far apart at all (though it may have seemed like it to both groups) because otherwise there is no way Azula would have survived. I think you can only be in the water without breathing for a few minutes, 5 or 6 minutes max (before you kill too many brain cells or something) before you drown.

It's still a pretty big stretch that Azula survived, but this is my story and I'll do with it what I please. XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed the first chapter. (You'll be seeing the next chapter pretty soon. ;))

And please review!

EDIT (12/22/07): Going through this fic again before writing the next chapter (chapter seven now), I realize I made a lot of grammatical errors and the like. All that I found are fixed now. Also, the structure of some sentences were reworded so that they make more sense as well, sorry about that! XD

EDITEDIT: Wow, my fic's a year old now :O