Author's Note: Here we are; the first day of the second Annual InspiredByFyre! Week. I must say I was amazed by the response I got to my fic, alone, and I can't wait to see the response to all the others. Thank you to everyone who reviewed, and an extra Thank You to everyone who will do something for IBF! Week.
Also, if any of the characters seem out of character in this chapter, please trust me. You have no idea how many showers I've spent planning out every detail to where it all makes sense, so if there's anything absolutely extreme, let me know. If not, wait and see what I have in store :)
Now, I bring to you...

Chapter One: What if Azula Kept Falling in 'The Southern Raiders'?

Ty Lee looked out the large warm window in her room. She sighed, watching the clouds move by as the large airship accelerated.

The young acrobat pursed her lips, before turning to face her mirror. The teen tugged on her braid, groaning as a few strands of hair fell out. She shook her head softly, before grabbing a small jug of water from her countertop, throwing the liquid onto her face to wake herself.

It was incredibly early. Azula had insisted on that. She had said that it was the only way to catch the Avatar by surprise. Mai wasn't very happy about going, but after Azula had promised that Zuko wouldn't get hurt, Mai had reluctantly agreed.

For some reason, Ty Lee didn't believe her.

As an announcement came over the loudspeaker declaring that they were arriving at their destination, Ty Lee opened her door and stepped out into the hallway, only to be met by Mai, who was fiddling with a knife a few feet down the hallway. Ty Lee could tell she was anxious by the way she was constantly moving back and forth on her feet. Ty Lee sighed, walking over to her friend slowly.

Mai looked up with wide eyes, as if she hadn't noticed Ty Lee, and gave off a soft sigh, slowly putting her knife back into her pocket. Ty Lee frowned as Azula entered the hallway, Mai instantly turning to stare at her. The acrobat really wasn't sure what her friend would do as the Princess approached, but Azula didn't seem worried.

"Alright, girls. You can stay down here, but it's gonna get rickety," the Princess said, crossing her arms over her chest.

Mai narrowed her eyes slightly. "Why?" she asked, raising one eyebrow at her friend. Azula bit the inside of her lip for a moment, although the masked expression on her face didn't flinch.

"With all of these airships so close together, they're bound to hit up against each other. And trust me, even the slightest bump seems to cause the entire inside to have an earthquake," Azula said with a slight shrug, her voice giving away no signs of lying.

Although Ty Lee could tell she was.

Mai fiddled with her knife again as Azula began to trail off. As soon as she was out of listening range, Mai looked over at Ty Lee. "She's lying. I want to go watch what's going on out there," the older said, looking in the direction the Princess had disappeared to, just to make sure she wasn't still there.

"Are you sure?" Ty Lee asked.

Mai nodded stiffly, turning to grab a small, hand-held telescope from a shelf on the wall. The older of the two grabbed her friend's hand, pulling her through the hallways. They waited until the Airship was still, when suddenly, the entire airship began to rock.

"Are we going down?" Ty Lee screamed, finding the nearest window and instantly looking out.

Mai rushed to the window as well, shaking her head. "No...look!" she exclaimed, pointing down at the Air Temple. A small metal object glinted in the sun as it was launched towards the temple, exploding upon contact.

Ty Lee gasped as the Airship began to rock again. "What's going on?" Ty Lee yelled, trying to keep from sliding over.

Mai was silent, watching as there was a sudden burst of blue fire flying towards the temple. It was counterattacked by a burst of orange flames, which seemed to be moving toward the top of the airship. The assassin stared as a burst of blue light moved in that direction.

"That doesn't look like not hurting him..." Mai hissed through clenched teeth. Ty Lee looked over at her for a moment, before Mai grabbed her friend again and began to run. "Come on!" she yelled, Ty Lee running to keep up with Mai's quick pace.

The two were now outside, they instantly grabbed onto the rails of the catwalk, Ty Lee nearly wrapping her whole body around it from fear of falling off due to the fact that Mai believed they didn't need harnesses. Mai pulled out the telescope as the Avatar's Bison began to fly around, a shield of rocks over the creature's face. A few bursts of blue fire blew the rocks off, but Mai instantly became distracted by another airship that began to float upwards.

"That's Zuko!" Mai exclaimed, focusing the telescope on him.

Ty Lee began to wave happily. "Hi, Zuko!" She yelled. Mai punched her in the arm. Ty Lee pouted her bottom lip as she rubbed her arm, softly muttering, "Ow," as Mai continued to watch blasts of fire flying above their heads.

Since the fighting was happening directly above them, all the two could do was watch little licks of flame dance around. Mai somewhat considered going up there, however she realized doing that could make things worse. Azula might use her as a way to distract Zuko and attack him. Mai bit her bottom lip as suddenly, she heard an explosion from above. She instantly grabbed the telescope to try to look, when she saw Zuko falling about twenty feet away from her.

"Zuko!" She yelled, locking her sights on him as he fell. Her mouth was slightly open as she watched her boyfriend plummet, faster and faster every second. Suddenly, Mai noticed another figure falling, spinning around in wild, uncontrollable circles.

Ty Lee pointed to the spinning figure. "And that's Azula!" she exclaimed. Mai turned the telescope to look at her friend, who was currently trying her hardest to steady herself. The Avatar's bison was now flying at max speed toward the two falling figures.

In the air, Zuko felt his hair whip his face and the back of his neck. He could hardly resist against the wind enough to look over and see Azula falling about thirty feet away from him, spinning in dizzying circles. He turned his head in the other direction just in time to see his friends riding on Appa toward him. At the last second, Katara reached up, grabbing him from the air and pulling him down onto the bison.

He considered thanking her, then thought better of it and turned away.

He looked over the edge of Appa's saddle at his sister, still falling and spinning as fast as she could. She was trying to steady herself, but she was just making the situation worse. "She's...not gonna make it," Zuko said softly, just loud enough for everyone on the bison to hear.

The ex-prince could see Azula kick swiftly, sending out a jet of bright blue fire. He couldn't tell what she was trying to do, but two seconds later, she was spinning in much faster vertical circles, her hair now loose and flying around her body.

Her scream sent Zuko to life.

"We have to help her!" He shouted. Aang was already on it, pulling on Appa's reins until the bison turned, flying down towards the princess. She was still spinning at top seed and letting out soft cries due to being tossed around by the wind.

Azula only caught the slightest glimpse of the approaching bison, and because of her dizziness, she wasn't sure where it was coming from or where it was going. She shut her eyes tightly to keep her hair from flapping in them again, when she heard a loud roar.

Time seemed to move in slow motion for a moment. She opened her eyes again, despite the hair obstructing her already disoriented vision. Her right arm was out in front of her when she suddenly felt another hand grabbing it. She blinked, and suddenly Zuko was below her, his hand clasping onto hers tightly.

As time completely froze, Azula made eye contact with him for a second. His gaze showed fear, sadness, shock, and a hint of relief. Azula realized that maybe, just maybe, Zuko was actually worried about her. That he actually cared...

Time went on full force, and Azula let out a squeal as gravity suddenly took effect. Azula was still falling, and then next thing she felt was her forehead making contact with the side of the bison's saddle.

O

Mai jumped back from the telescope, letting out a small gasp of horror. "Azula's hurt," she breathed, staring at the bison a few hundred feet away from her.

Ty Lee's eyes widened as her head whipped around to look at Mai, her braid flying in the wind. "What?" She didn't ask; she demanded. Mai put her eye back to the glass for a moment, staring in bewilderment.

Down below, Zuko grabbed both of Azula's hands, pulling her onto Appa's back. Zuko slid his hands up near her shoulders as she reached her own hand to touch her forehead. She hissed softly in pain as Zuko stared at her with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked quickly, reaching up to push her bangs out of the way. The rest of Team Avatar was all staring at the Princess speechlessly.

The girl gave off the slightest bit of a nod. "Yeah...I'm okay." Zuko could tell she was just repeating what he had said, and she said it so softly and breathlessly Zuko hardly heard her. She moved her hand from her head down to in front of her face, and her eyes locked on the scarlet liquid dripping from her fingers. She groaned in pain, reaching her hand back up slowly in an attempt to wipe the blood from her forehead.

Zuko held on closely to her as Katara scooted over and moved her hands up to touch the firebender's head. Azula hissed sharply, instantly pulling back, her head now buried in Zuko's chest.

On the Airship, Ty Lee was leaning as far over the rail as she could, trying to see what was happening.

"I-It looks like Azula hit the Bison's saddle or something. She's moving a little...but she keeps rubbing her forehead," Mai narrated, not taking her eyes off the scene below through the telescope. "Zuko's holding on to her. I-I think she may have blacked out."

Ty Lee wrapped both of her hands as tightly around the rail as she felt her shoulders fall. "No," she muttered under her breath, feeling her eyes cloud with tears. She felt her chest tighten, and she fought with every part of her not to break down into sobs.

Mai was still staring, mouth slightly agape, at the scene below. She shut her eyes for a moment, before turning around to walk back inside the airship. "We have to get down there to her," Mai said, throwing the telescope aside. "Come on!"

The silence on the Bison was enough to make Zuko scream – which, he considered doing. Azula wasn't moving anymore, her broken head now rested up against Zuko's shoulder. Katara had her hands moving constantly, water moving with them up against the Princess' forehead.

After a moment, Katara sat back. Zuko looked up at her with worried eyes. "How bad is it?" he asked softly.

Katara took a deep breath. "Luckily, she didn't break her neck. How she managed to do that is beyond me, but..." Katara ran a soft finger along Azula's head. "I think she'll be okay if she gets bandaged up," she said softly.

Aang nodded, grabbing Appa's reins. "Yip, Yip!" he said, whipping the reins, which caused the bison to fly upwards.

Sokka pursed his lips softly. "So...what are we gonna do now?" he asked slowly, raising an eyebrow as Zuko pulled Azula's bangs from her face again. The older of the two sighed softly, shrugging his shoulders.

"I guess she'll go back home," he said, shifting Azula slowly. The Princess groaned half-consciously, causing Zuko to cringe. "I don't know if she can get on the airship by herself. One of us will have to go with her."

Suki locked eyes with him. "We'd be arrested. Probably taken back to the Fire Nation and killed. We couldn't risk that," She said, looking at Azula as she shifted slightly.

Sokka looked over at her. "Well what else can we do?" he asked with a shrug. He looked to the side as Appa approached the airship, and his eyes instantly locked on Azula's friends, Mai and Ty Lee. They were standing, holding onto the rails for their lives, on the catwalk closest to the bison.

"Azula!" Ty Lee exclaimed, jumping on Appa as soon as the animal was close enough. Katara jumped back in surprise as Ty Lee instantly rushed over next to Azula.

Mai was a little more patient, waiting until Zuko grabbed her hand to get onto the bison. She looked over at her friend with wide eyes. "What happened?" she asked, looking at the princess' bloody face.

Zuko shook his head. "She hit the side of the saddle, but Katara said she's gonna be okay..." he trailed off as he saw Katara cringe slightly. Zuko narrowed his eyes. "I don't know how well the airship doctor could take care of her until she gets home."

Ty Lee frowned. She turned to look at Katara. "Could you help her?" she asked quickly.

Katara's eyes widened. "I-I think if I really worked on it...I could..." she looked over at Azula for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I think so," she said firmly, looking back at the young acrobat in front of her.

Ty Lee smiled widely. "Really?" she asked excitedly. Katara nodded, forcing a small smile onto her face.

Aang smiled, as well, grabbing firmly onto his pet's reins again. "Where to?" He asked the group, which had now gotten larger by three fire nation teens. Zuko looked up in thought for a moment, before looking back at his friend.

"Ember Island."

Wanna see where all of these ideas came from? Check out the Original InspiredByFyre! Fic, Fyre's Guide to Creativity at s/6322746/1/Fyres-Guide-to-Creativity