Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar, The Last Airbender

Azula looked at her big brother carefully. Something was…very different. His hair was very rough, covering every part of his head except the stretches of his scar that reached past his hair line. The expression on his face was a frown and firm, his skin almost matching the texture of his scar. The sparkling gold eyes stuck daggers in her soul, glowing with hate and anger. Normally Azula would welcome Zuko's stubborn anger, for it usually blinded his judgment and abilities. But this, this hate and loathing he displayed was nothing like that, but just pure kindling to the fire.

"Zuzu, you wouldn't want to hurt your baby sister would you?" asked the Princess in an innocent voice.

Without a word, Zuko got into his battle stance. Iroh closed his eyes and shook his head. When are you going to find it in yourself to admit others are better than you Zuko? I was impressed when you broke yourself from the grief of your banishment, but when you don't accept yourself as yourself, you will never overcome this turmoil.

"Zuko!" Aang swept his arm in a downward arc, bringing a long bridge of air under Zuko's broadswords. The swords jumped upward towards their master.

Azula visibly winced when Zuko caught his weapons. She had heard rumors of the Blue Spirit, and recently found out it was her brother. She had seen him fight with swords before, and could honestly admit she did not want to fight him when he wielded those deadly blades.

Zuko stood still for a moment, his gaze still locked on Azula. Slowly, he let the swords drop to the ground. Everyone gave a silent gasp as the swords made contact with the ground. Again, he got back into his battle stance. Azula smiled wickedly.

"Is he crazy, he can't possibly win without his swords," said Ty Lee behind Mai.

Mai eyed the exiled prince suspiciously. She didn't know what he was planning, but she was sure it couldn't be good.

Azula brought both hands together and prepared for an attack. Zuko prepared for it, but still did not visibly change posture. In one blinding second, Azula's hands shined brightly. The lightning made contact with Zuko, and erupted into a massive fire ball. Katara watched in horror as the area filled with fire and smoke.

But, just like everyone else, she was completely dumfounded to see once the smoke cleared that Zuko still stood in his same position. Azula was taken by complete surprise. Zuko roughly shoved a fist into position in front of him. He then took the other hand, all fingers but his pointer and middle finger folded, and let it glide to his fist.

A light with the intensity of the sun exerted from Zuko's fist. Unimaginable heat overwhelmed everyone but Zuko, and all but Azula fell to the ground. A bolt of lightning had exited Zuko's arms. But it was nothing like the lightning Azula shot, with the width averaging an inch to and inch and a half. This bolt was the size of Azula herself, coursing through the air and rippling the ground. As it came, Azula felt as though time had slowed. Her feet moved in a panic, trying to frantically side step the horrifying attack.

She was just barely able too, the bolt screaming past her and crashing violently into the ground. Thunder boomed as everything seemed to go back to normal. Azula visibly shuddered, suddenly realizing the true capabilities of her sibling. She suddenly felt pain, and looked down to see the cloth part of her clothing was ablaze, and her armor had melted.

Before Azula turned and sprinted away from her brother, she looked up one last time to meet his terrifying glare. Who was this new person? This was not Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation. This was someone else.

Zuko sat silently by the fire. No one dared approach him, terrified by his earlier display of power.

Sokka sat next to Zuko. He seemed to hardly notice. "Zuko, you need to eat something," said Sokka, offering a piece of meat.

"I'm not hungry," he mumbled. Zuko silently poked the fire, his cold gold eyes watching the flames. Sokka sighed and scratched his arm. Without another word, he stood and walked back over to the rest of the group.

Zuko just sat by the fire for the rest of the night.

Just a start, hoping it will get better as I keep writing. Please be honest in reviews.