Author Note: Hey! This is my first Avatar fic. There are probably a million other things I should be doing right now (including stories for that I need to continue), but this kept nagging at me. So I wrote it down. This chapter is highly Azula centric. Basically, this is my explanation as to why she shot lightning at Katara in the finale. I hope you all like it. Please Review!

Disclaimer: I don't own AtLA. If I did Zuko and Katara would have ended up together.

A is for Azula's Insight

She was a people person. Next to her unparalleled bending abilities, her ability to sniff out others' secrets was uncanny. She had to admit, however, some people were easier than others were. Mai certainly had her fooled. Traitor. Ty Lee, as well, proved she was more complex than her innocent expressions led one to believe. No matter. They both got their just desserts. Her brother, on the other hand, was as transparent as they came. Sure, he tried to guard his feelings, especially when she was near, but his eyes were too honest, too expressive. Through them, she caught every subtle nuance, every hint of doubt, fear, anger, and—very seldom—triumph.

It was during the coup she organized at Ba Sing Se that she first detected something amiss. Zuko and her imbecile for an uncle were in a heated discussion when she and the Dai Li burst into the catacombs. The Dai Li had Iroh imprisoned before the old man could blink. That left her and Zuzu. Looking back, she wondered why she had given the fool a second chance. She should have just imprisoned him along with their uncle and taken the Avatar down herself. If anything, the blame fell on her love of tormenting Zuko. She could bother him if he was locked in some cell back in the Fire Nation, certainly. Yet, that did not have the same appeal as knowing she could haunt his step, make him nervous, and irritate the living daylights out of him on a regular basis. Whatever her reasoning for doing it, she offered Zuko a second chance. What surprised her was how reluctant he was to accept her offer.

He should have agreed eagerly on the spot. That was what the Zuko she knew and loathed would have done; accepted her invitation at redemption blindly without thinking about the consequences. Instead, there was hesitance in his eyes. Initially, she attributed his disinclination to her fat uncle speaking his ridiculous proverbs and whatnot in his ear. That would have made sense. Zuzu always had a pathetic attachment to the old coot. She almost would have believed this explanation too, if not for the swift, wistful glance Zuko shot at the makeshift arch where the Avatar must have gone.

So, she was not the only one making offers. It mattered not, she decided. She knew Zuzu better than anyone and therefore, knew how to make her promises sound infinitely more enticing. All she had to do was drop a single key word and she knew he would be hooked: honor.

She smiled delightedly as she watched her handiwork unfold across his face. Turning on her heal to allow him to mull it over and to insure that the Avatar did not escape, she sauntered into a larger cavern where her prey was attempting to flee. To her surprise, the Avatar was not alone. Oh, yes. That's right. She threw that Water Tribe peasant into the catacombs shortly before she apprehended her brother. Curious…

It took Zuko long enough to make a choice. The Avatar and the water peasant had her cornered (not something she was accustomed to) when he joined them in the cavern. At first, his fighting stance was pointed at her. He would not really attack her. She was his sister. More importantly, it would mean forfeiting everything he had spent the past three years trying to regain—his crown, his honor, Father… Then, very deliberately his stance shifted and he was shooting jets of fire at the prepubescent Avatar. A crooked grin crossed her face as she rejoined the fray.

In the chaos of everything, opponents switched and it was she who was forcing the Avatar to dance for his life. Meanwhile, Zuko was locked in a battle against that peasant who had the nerve to call herself a bender. The girl had enveloped her arms in water, giving them an almost tentacle-like quality. Instead of taking advantage and exploiting her weaknesses, Zuko mimicked her, creating long, fiery sleeves, which he whipped at her just as she whipped hers at him.

What was the matter with him? He could easily take her down if he made use of his agility. It was almost as if he did not want to fight her. That was the moment the notion first entered her head. Between her attacks at the Avatar and watching Zuko's pathetic "attempts" at fighting the water bender, intuition was ringing in her head. The Avatar made no offer to him; Zuko's much more aggressive attacks at him earlier made that plain. No, the Avatar made no promises, but the peasant girl did.

Her assumptions were confirmed when she heard the water bender's voice ring out inside the cave, "I thought you had changed!"

She had attempted to broach the subject with Zuko several times after Ba Sing Se fell. She never asked outright what the girl had promised him but tried to trick him into giving something away. Apparently, he was not as stupid as he used to be. He evaded her insinuations, often with a brooding expression on his face. After a while, she grew bored with her little game and let the subject drop. There were far more interesting ways to tease and torment Zuko. Mai certainly seemed more chipper these days…

She had nearly forgotten her notions completely until the day she attacked the Western Air Temple. She was almost irked by the fact that the band of idiots had chosen that as their hiding place. Really, could they be any less original? They took all the fun out of the chase by making it too easy. The only solace she took was knowing that she would finally rid the world of her no-good-treacherous-brother once and for all.

He looked pathetic, asking why she was there. Was it not obvious? The Dumb-Dumb could never get the simplest of facts through his head. She did not know why she thought this would be an exception. On top of being a dense hog-monkey, he was also a pathetic fighter. It comforted her a little, knowing that once Zuzu, the Avatar's fire bending instructor, was out of the picture, the Avatar would be easy to take down as well.

The fight was short and she was on the offensive. Her only frustration came from him swiping away each successive blast of blue fire. He made only one legitimate attempt at an offensive strike, coating his fist in fire just as she did to hers. The siblings' fists met and the shock of energy sent the pair flying of the side of the war balloon.

They were both plummeting to their deaths when she caught sight of that obnoxious flying bison swooping down. Atop the enormous saddle was the core of the band of morons—the blind earth bender; the water tribe warrior that Ty Lee asserted on several occasions was cute; her favorite prisoner whom she referred to as "Fan Girl"; the Avatar, and that pesky water bender peasant. She watched as the girl's arms stretched up and reached for her falling brother.

Fury that he yet again survived rocketed through her, but not before she noted the look of absolute trust that Zuko gave the peasant as he reached for her hands. The Avatar's groupies turned in the saddle to watch her fall with what she could only assume was hope. She was not about to give them the satisfaction of watching her die, not when she had unearthed a weakness in her greatest adversary.

She tumbled to the side of the cliff where she stabbed a dagger into the hard granite. She watched with satisfaction as each of their faces fell with disappointment. Zuko's expression she saved for last as she smirked knowingly at him. Call it a hunch, but she believed there were more than friendly feelings brewing in her brother's heart for that low life, water tribe wench.

She would have to test her theory. Soon.

The day the comet came would be a turning point for her. Her mind was burning with a glorified vision of herself as the new Fire Lord. Victory could be tasted on her tongue. The last thing she was thinking about was her pathetic excuse for a brother.

One could only imagine her frustration when he arrived to disrupt her coronation.

He was not alone, she noted somewhere in the back of her buzzing mind. Dumb-Dumb brought his water tribe girlfriend. How quaint! Perhaps this was her lucky day. She now had the golden opportunity of ridding the world of two pests for the price of one. First, however, she had to separate them.

Zuko agreed willingly to her challenge of Agni Kai. Fool. The water bender looked worried at the prospect of her precious Zuzu fighting someone he had yet to defeat. She watched her brother murmur something to the peasant girl and the expression on her face became resolute. Zuko kept his eyes ahead, trained on his opponent, on his sister.

She assumed a loose fighting stance. These little squabbles were getting old. As much as she enjoyed winning, she really just wanted to be free of Zuzu and his whining. He too assumed a combative position, his scarred face uncharacteristically calm. Where was the boy who could not control his temper? That boy was easy to undermine. The boy who stood before her was collected and self-possessed. Maybe she should be concerned…no! It mattered not! Even if Zuzu had magically improved, she still had one more ace up her sleeve.

There was no denying that Zuko had improved, much to her fury. She had never seen this kind of control from him. Strangely enough, as his control strengthened, she felt hers slip through her fingers. She should have finished him by now! This was bad. This was very bad.

"No lightning today?" Zuko called out to her from the other end of the arena. "What's the matter? Afraid I'll redirect it?"

She gritted her teeth. Truth be told, up until that moment she was unsure she would be able to have the precision necessary to produce lightning. Yet at the sound of his insufferable voice making ridiculous insinuations (her afraid? Ha!), she felt her wrath well up within her and she snarled back "I'll show you lightning!"

Static swirled dangerously around her as she took her aim at her brother. Zuko inhaled deeply and prepared himself for her strike. She almost gave in and shot the bolt at him when a flash of blue caught her eye. Behind Zuko and a little to his right stood that water bending peasant.

She bared her teeth in a triumphant sneer. Amidst all the chaos of the Agni Kai, she had nearly forgotten the little wannabe bender standing off on the sidelines. She had it now, her ace in the hole. One way or another, this would destroy Zuzu.

Her arm extended and she felt the force and power of the lightning surge through her veins and out her fingertips. The arena filled with blue light. The electrical current shot out towards the girl with the blue dress and stupid hair loopies. Poor Zuzu only had seconds to react. His golden eyes—identical to hers—opened wide with horror as he saw the direction the lightning had taken. His eyes glanced back at the helpless peasant and all her suspicions were confirmed.

Everything seemed to move slowly. "No!" Zuko shouted, leaping out in front of the girl, absorbing the blow into his chest.

The water bender's eyes widened, horrified by the display, as Zuko crashed to the ground. "Zuko!" she shrieked running forward.

Meanwhile, the dealer of the blow cackled victoriously at the sight of her twitching brother on the ground. Poor, Zuzu, she thought. At least he died for something honorable: love. Another peel of laughter filled the courtyard as she scoffed at the notion. Once a Dumb-Dumb, always a Dumb-Dumb.