Disclaimer: I OWN NOTHING! Well...I do own the girl...who is nameless. Until I name her...or not.

Azula: I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE!
Zuko: BUT I HATE HER!
Sokka: We all do, man. We all do...except maybe TyLee.
WHO HATES NO ONE! ^_^

"Has she…has there been any change?"
"No. I'm afraid she's the same as when she was brought here."
"I see."

Zuko turned away from the woman. His gaze drifted to the shaking form on the bed, a form he knew all too well. After their Agni-Kai at the palace, Azula had been taken to Ember Island, to the old estate there. Zuko had spared no expense to refurbish it to its former beauty. The doctors and healers that stayed with Azula had all said there was no chance of a recovery. She had been brought to them, writhing and sobbing, and since then hadn't made a sound. That was over a year ago, Zuko was now Fire Lord and the nations had been restored.

Walking towards the door he sighed, his sister would never be healed. She would remain a caged beast in her own home, a captive inside her own mind. She would live and die here. After all she'd done, even he couldn't stand to see her like this.

"She's wrong you know." The voice was quiet and sad; it came from the shadows beside him. It fit its owner, delicate and reserved. He could see her fear in her trembling body and wide eyes. What Azula had done to this one, he thought, must be terrible.

"She's wrong about Miss Azula. She's really getting better." She whispered, "She talks now. Only at night but she does." He gasped a little at the thought and she turned to look outside. "I hear her cry at night too. She thinks she's speaking with Lady Ursa. She spoke of you last night. She knew you were coming."

"Why haven't the others told me?" He could hear the anger in his own voice, like bitter liquid running into his heart.

"They don't listen." Her lashes swept down to her cheek, and her expression darkened. "They don't want to think that a person can do something like that. They'd rather believe that she's a monster." He watched as a tear trailed down her face, it cut through her face powder like a razor. "She's only ever spoken to me once, it was so sad."

"What do you mean? She talks to you? YOU you? As in complete sentences?!" enraged he fisted his hands in his sleeves. Why would Azula talk to a peasant? This wasn't the sister he knew!

"Only once when I first came here, I heard her crying. She thought I was a ghost. She told me she was afraid of ghosts. The next night she wouldn't speak to me, only to herself. So I stayed and held her instead."

"Held…her?" The thought of his sister in such a fragile state, it wasn't a thought Zuko liked to entertain.

"She seems to like it. They hired me to pick up after her. Do house chores, bathe and feed her, that sort of thing. She likes to have her hair brushed." A tiny smile, maybe the girl was as crazy as Azula.

"Lady Azula! What are you doing up?" the screech was deafening, and as the two of them turned they saw what the doctors were making such a commotion about.

Azula walked oddly, the legs seemed unable to support the weight and her head rolled forward and back as she stumbled towards them. The girl hesitated, as if wondering if she should help her. But Azula moved towards her even further and fell into the woman's open arms, sobbing.

Dropping to her knees, the girl pulled Azula close and smoothed her hair. Her hushed whispers lulled Azula's wails to a quiet snuffling. Zuko had never seen his sister so weak. Without any idea of his own doings, he stepped forward and fell to his knees as the girl had done. He took his sister's hand and held it.

"Are you going to stay this time?" the horse murmur caught his attention. "Will you promise to love me? You never loved me. You hated me. Monster, you said. Evil, bad, monster girl. I promise I'm good. Mother, please, don't go this time."

"I won't leave you, Azula," whispered the voices of the two. One soft and sad, one strong and proud. They glanced at one another, "We promise neither of us will leave you."

Fin