He couldn't bear to see her writhing on the grounds, much less hear her screams of insanity as he turned to walk away.
"Looks like she wasn't so perfect after all," Zuko muttered bitterly, "if she can come undone with just one defeat." He leaned against Katara, chest still aching from where the lightning had struck. Katara frowned.
"So you're just going to leave her there?"
"Someone'll find her and deal with her. Let's go."
"Zuko-"
"Katara." He sighed, closing his eyes as Azula's screams continued to ring in his ears. "It's not that I don't pity her," he said. "I know why she broke, who drove her to this state. But after everything she did you can't say she didn't have it coming."
"She's your sister," the Waterbender said softly.
"I know." Zuko let her help him climb aboard Appa. "But maybe if she'd acted like it once in a while I'd feel sorrier for her."
Katara said nothing as they flew away into the night, Zuko letting himself fall asleep against her shoulder. I finally beat her at something, he thought, but the memory of her chained and sobbing on the ground chased him into his dreams.
But at what price?