Sup. Draconian Calocor here, this particular story I have been working on was a simple thing that I was inspired to write by some fan art on DeviantArt. It was a picture of Ty Lee hugging Azula. My first thought was, aww now that's cute. Then I started thinking about the things that could be done with these two. So I started writing this and it kinda went from there. So enjoy children!

Chapter One: Alone Without You

Darkness, an ethereal blanket of black, wrapping all in its both warm and soft embrace. To the former princess of the fire nation, it was her only companion. Chained deep in the fire nation's prison psych ward it had been the constant for Azula. The solitary confinement cell had nothing in the way of light. It was a small comfort, if nothing else, to know that it wouldn't change, that it was normal. However to the woman chained in the dark, it would never be enough to simply have normal.

How long had it been since she was locked in this prison of stone and metal? There was no way of telling; time was a concept that she could no longer comprehend; there was no way to tell the passing of time. No lights were in her cell, no windows showing the outside world, the only thing that let Azula know that any time had passed was the meals that were shoved through a slot in the solid steel door.

There was not time, no freedom, no light, only the dark. Yet even though she could no longer understand time she would still wonder how much time had passed since she had been incarcerated in this place. The days had turned to week, weeks to months, and months into oblivion. Vaguely she had wondered how long it had been since she had allowed that sickness of mind to take her. How long had it been since she had fallen from on high? How long since she had let herself be… weak?

Alone with the darkness, she had let it take her; let it make her a monster, for a time anyway. The madness, it had festered in her mind since she had lost to that little weakling Zuko. With nothing but this cell and the dark, she let it take her. She had done it to forget, to escape the pain and the memories. The madness had taken it all away, the good memories, the bad ones, the painful ones, and the joyful ones. She had joyfully let it take all of them, all of them save one. That memory she clung too desperately, of a time that was not so dark. Days past, ones not filled with hard stone and endless darkness.

The smell of the sea, the feel of the sand on her bare feet, the soft cool spray of the sea, the warm breeze, the afternoon sun on her skin, warm and soft. All of it giving Azula one of the rare moments when she had felt happy and a little at peace. She had stood there taking it all in, and then she was no longer alone, but she did not mind so terribly much, as long as it was only her. That one girl, who had seen her at her best, and at her worst, who had seen through her carefully constructed defenses and cold demeanor. The one person who had been willing to look past her cruel attitude and hostile looks, she had seen the true Azula, and she had not judged but instead accepted her.

As they stood on the beach, just the two of them, she kept her eyes focused on the setting sun. Suddenly she stiffened; her hand had been enclosed by another. Despite this she forced herself to relax and did not force her hand away from the one enclosing it. They both stood there, simply enjoying the feel of the setting sun on their skin, hands entwined. Azula had felt the shorter girl lean close and whisper in her ear, the words caused the black haired woman to flush, heart fluttering slightly at the words. "I will always be there for you my princess."

The words, how she remembered the words. Even now, even in the silence and darkness of the cell, they still gave her the smallest flicker of hope. Hope that one day she would be free, free to feel the sun on her skin again and to see the moon in the sky. Free to feel the soft winds and the cool breeze, free to see… her. To feel her silky brown hair, her creamy smooth skin, and to see her eyes, the deep grey eyes.

She had lost all of it, her life, and her power, even her. For what, power to rule a nation she had told herself, to be respected and feared and worshiped. All of that would have been hers… but did she even want it? Had it ever been worth it to begin with? It was what she had been raised to expect, it was the norm for her, or at least it was. Now, now this was the norm. These lifeless stone walls, the ragged prison clothes, the darkness as her only friend, was this how she was to live out her final days? It was no less than she deserved, Azula knew she had failed, and this was the price of her failure.

'Pathetic, simply pathetic. What a waste of life, no wonder your weakling of a brother bested you, you're nothing.' The voice. That damned voice. Dripping with insanity and malice, stole into her mind.

"Leave me be, you had your time, I took back what was mine from you." Azula whispered into the empty cell.

'Ooh, I think I touched a nerve. HAHAHAHAH! Poor little princess, your crown is stolen and you're a prisoner of your own nation, the only one who ever loved you is gone, everyone thinks you're a monster, AND STILL YOU WON'T GIVE ME WHAT IS MINE!' The voice screamed in her head.

"Every time I gave you room it showed, they call me crazy, a monster, because that's what you are, that's what you did to me and I won't go back, not to your madness." Azula muttered to herself more than the voice. Silence was the only thing that returned as the words faded, hanging in the air.

Sighing, the golden eyed prisoner lay back against the cold stone and closed her eyes. As sleep took her, she only wished that it came without the price of the nightmares. That was all she had to look forward to in this place, madness and nightmares. What a wonderful world.

"Ty Lee… why did you betray me… why did you leave me in this place?" Azula knew the answer to the question and still she did not believe it. It was not her fault, she had done as she was order, she had obeyed the fire lord and now, this was all it done for her. It was their fault entirely, those traitors, Zuko, Mai, even Ty Lee.

"They did this to me!" she hissed in to the darkness "it's their fault I'm like this!"

Anger flared in her, smoldering and dark, a familiar sensation but no comfort in this place. The cold of the cell seemed to sap her strength, leaving her tired. The anger she had briefly held soon faded as well, it took to much energy to maintain, and she simply couldn't do it right now. With a final sigh, Azula laid her head against the cold stone floor, and let sleep take her.

Her sleep however did not last long. The grinding of metal awakened Azula from her troubled dreams. Turning to the source of the noise, Azula saw that the many mechanisms locking the great metal door where coming undone. For a few moments she simply sat there uncomprehending, as the great metal door slid open. However as the light flooded in Azula covered her eyes yelling in pain; so unaccustomed to light at this point that it was painful to even see it. In a vain attempt to flee from the light she pushed herself into the corner of her cell. Her head was swimming with pain from the sudden overdose of lights, vaguely she could hear voices, but the pain made them sound like gibberish.

Suddenly rough hands seized her, eyes still screwed shut she was unable to see who or what had seized her. Never one to go down without a fight though, she kicked and struggled to free herself from her captors. A sudden stinging pain in her neck ceased her struggles as her entire body began to go numb. Her mind began to suffer similar effects as it went fuzzy then began to fade into blackness.

The last thing that she heard before slipping into unconsciousness was the voice of the madness, insulting her one final time before the black overwhelmed her.

'Heh, so very, very weak.'

So that about it for right now. If you enjoyed leave a comment, or if you feel you see something that is off review please. Your input is appreciated and enjoy, I hopefully will have more up soon.