.i.
Zuko betrays her first.
He leaves Mai a good-bye scroll, even confronts Father during the eclipse. For his sister, who restored his honor, who let him share in her glory, he has nothing left to give.
{Mai carries her letter around until it tears at the corners and Father doesn't ever trust her again and it's not as though she expected better from him and maybe if she keeps repeating that it'll be true.}
.ii.
Her 'friends' betray her second.
Zuko-Zuko-Zuko is always, always what it comes down to, because he might be an arrogant, petulant disgrace yet everybody choses him no matter how hard she tries. This time it's Mai who defies her orders- you miscalculated, she rasps, and it echoes through her head days afterwards. She loses control, comes an inch away from ending her worthless existence, but she underestimated foolish Ty Lee's distaste for conflict and doesn't realize her mistake until swift hands hit her pressure points and she crumbles.
{Didn't they like her, a little bit?}
.iii.
Father betrays her third.
Standing on the airship platform, she throws a spectacular tantrum, angrily protesting to deaf ears. He cares not if the comet was her idea, if he promised that they'd do this together, if she longs to burn the Earth Kingdom to the ground because only that will quiet her heart. She has failed him too many times. You can't treat me like Zuko, she spits out, but he can, because his mechanical girl is just as disposable once she begins to fly apart.
"Azula," he finally snaps, turning to face her- she bows her head and scrunches her eyes shut. "Listen to me. I need you here to watch over the homeland. It's a very important job that I can only entrust to you. And for your loyalty, I've decided to declare you the new Fire Lord."
So he bestows a hollow honor upon her and crowns himself the Phoenix King. She is a child, left alone as an afterthought to rule a war-torn nation without guidance or allies, while he goes on to better things.
{She became the perfect daughter with blood and sweat but never tears, and she won't cry now, even though terror is imprinted on her ribcage.}
.iv.
Mother betrays her fourth.
She hasn't slept in days, she thinks- the sickeningly red sky makes it impossible for her to tell one day from another. There's so much to be done to prepare, and since she banished everyone she has to do it all by herself. Nobody can be trusted, she realizes- the palace is crawling with traitors, like a worm-filled apple. The servants try to choke her, won't scrub the bacteria off her feet. The guards are too slow. The imperial firebenders are hopelessly incompetent. Lo and Li dare question her sanity.
She grins wildly, staring at her reflection- choppy, tattered bangs cover her face and purple shadows ring her eyes. A madwoman stares back.
"It's a shame. You always had such beautiful hair."
Her mother is near the doorway, looking on with pity in her gaze. Better Uncle with his disgusted lectures, the avatar delivering sermons about love and justice and things she will never comprehend, than her. "What are you doing here?" she spits out.
"I didn't want to miss my own daughter's coronation," comes the soft answer.
"Don't pretend to act proud," she scoffs. "I know what you really think of me. You think I'm a monster."
"I think you're confused. All your life you used fear to control people. Like your friends Mai and Ty Lee." They were not my friends. If they were my friends, Ty Lee would be combing my hair right now, and Mai would make sarcastic remarks while keeping a lookout for assassins.
"But what choice do I have?" she demands, spinning around to hide her pooling tears. "Trust is for fools. Fear is the only reliable way. Even you fear me."
"No. I love you, Azula. I do."
She throws her brush at the mirror- it shatters into a thousand glittering pieces. Only once she is alone does she sink to her knees and weep.
{Azula always lies, but she learned from the best.}
.v.
She betrays herself last.
Chained to a grate. That's the sad little drama- Princess Azula, goddess incarnate, destined to go down in history, is chained to a grate, screaming and wailing and choking on her own flames. What a legacy!
Zuko, the final victim of her blitzkrieg, watches her like Mother, sad yet resolute- she's burned a hole straight through his chest, after all, and this is for the best. The water peasant who finally defeated her does not even look upon her pathetic figure, just ducks her head and clutches his arm. "Come on," she whispers, "you need to lie down. She's not going anywhere."
So this is what madness is, psychedelic colors whirling around her in a twisted kaleidoscope, power racing down her jagged chi. And she laughs, because the world is on fire, and all she can taste is ash.
{What a legacy, indeed.}