Nightmares and Fears

A:N: This is yet another one-shot about a villain, this one about Azula of the Fire Nation. This one's in third person. Writing wise, I feel this story's different than my usual and is somewhat better, but character-wise... I don't think this story fits Azula exactly. So I'm not all that sure. As always, I hope readers enjoy.

I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender. Avatar is owned by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietkzo.

"I love you Azula. I do."

Azula continued her glare at the figure of her mother. She clenched the brush in her hand.

"Liar!" With all of her strength, she threw the brush at the mirror, which shattered and fell to the ground. She continued to stare at the empty mirror, parting heavily. It took minutes for her to calm down, when she heard crying.

"Silence!" Azula yelled out, hoping to see someone. No one was there, but the crying continued. "I said 'Silence'!"

"Help,"A young girl whispered helplessly. Azula looked for the girl as her voice continued, "Please.... It's cold in here... please help me...."

"Where are you? Is this some sort of sick joke?!"

"It's dark in here... please help me, I'm scared...."

"Stop it, shut up!" Azula clasped her hands around her ears before turning back to the broken mirror. She gasped.

A three-year-old Azula stared back, shivering.

"Don't hurt me," The young Azula whimpered.

"Get away!" The real Azula exclaimed, backing away from the mirror.

As the real Azula backed up, the younger began to crawl out of the broken mirror. As she did so, her skin became dead white, her fingernails cracked and broken and her beautiful Fire Nation tattered and dirty. Her hair was much longer and covered her face, but her eyes could be seen through: they were black and dead.

"Help me," The figment pleaded again, her voice now raspy and screechy.

Azula retaliated by trying to use lightning, but when she pointed at the apparition, fire blew up in her face, throwing her back a few feet away. She jumped back up, retreating backward as the apparition began to walk in her direction. With some distance between the two, Azula gave shot after shot of blue fire. After about two minutes of blasting the fire turned into a normal scarlet and began to lose its ferocity; as she got tired, she could only shoot out small flames. She fell to her knees, panting as she stared at what looked like the remains of the girl. It was dust.

"Why Azula?" Ursa's voice asked, "Why did you do that? What happened to you?"

The dust rose and began to approach Azula, who continued to crawl backward until she reached a corner of her large room. As the dust continued forward it began to form a body, starting with a dress and the arms. The last of the details were those of Ursa's face; as she knelt down beside Azula, her kind eyes were the very last, them shining toward her daughter. She lifted her hand, gently caressing Azula, who flinched.

"Get away from me," Azula told her, keeping her eyes closed.

"You can't hurt me," Ursa told her quietly, "No matter how many times you try, you can't. You won't be hurting any one any more. You can't use fear to control someone because if they find your fear, they will use it against you with no hesitation."

Azula gave a somewhat hysterical laugh, "I have no fear. This is all just a trick of the mind."

Ursa gave a demonic smile, "Oh, really?" She asked. Her voice was no longer caressing and gentle, but haunting.

Azula opened her eyes to find the young, beautifully dressed Azula returned. She held the real Azula's hand.

"Don't worry," The young one said, "It'll be over soon."

"Wha-- What?"

"It'll be over--" A flash of lightning occurred and the young Azula returned into her demonic form.

"SOON!"She roared, showing her nasty black teeth. She lunged toward Azula.

Azula awoke in her dark cell; she had been imprisoned a few days earlier. She rested soundly for the first time in ages. Unfortunately she fell asleep the moment the Avatar took her bending away.

That was it. That was her fear: A loss of power. By losing her bending, she lost her ability to control and manipulate people. She was no longer a firebending protege.

She had nothing; she was nothing.

There was nothing left of the proud, demanding Azula.

Azula pulled her knees to her chest and began to sob, her face in her knees.