Here's chapter 2. Sorry for the long wait. I have lots of basketball practice and other fan fics to attend to. So my story wasn't on the front page long enough for people to review.

However, I thank the three people that took their time to review my story, and I hope they spread the word about this through fan fiction community.

PLEASE REVIEW AS WELL!

On the second day of the week, Zuko and Aang realized that they didn't have to get up so early. The doctors wanted to make sure that the Beet flowers took their time to spread through Azula's system, thus, making her more active when both the Avatar and The Fire lord arrived.

So when Aang and Zuko got up that day, and realized it wasn't time to go, for the first time in a long time, they had free time to spare. So both of them got back in bed with their wife's, and when it was later in the morning, they finally had breakfast together with the gang just like they did in the old days. Afterwards, Zuko and Aang challenged each other to a sparring match (which Aang triumphed at) and later in the afternoon, they were finally given a message from a servant that their presence was needed at the Republic City Asylum.

Round 2 of therapy begins. Ding.

Due to a strange an incredible set of events, Mai decided to tag along. While Zuko didn't want to put his wife in danger, Mai insisted that it had been a long time since she last saw Azula, and that she was in need of something to do that afternoon.

Unfortunately for her, she didn't realized how long the therapy process actually took to begin.

She sat on the chair that was provided for her, twiddling her thumbs.

"This is taking way to long," Mai breathed.

"Hey, you're the one that wanted to tag along." Zuko replied nonchalantly.

It was around another 30 minutes or so before Azula arrived at the therapy room. Mailto was sitting at the other end of the table, facing the front, waiting for her. Then the two guards like last time, pushed Azula through the door, awaited Mailto's approval for them to leave, and then walked away, leaving the two in habitants of the room being only Mailto and Azula.

And when the doctors said that Beet Flowers would make her happier than usual; that was an understatement.

Her smile was about as large as the outer wall of Ba Sing Se. her faced looked like it was pulled apart by two sticks against her will. Her smile stretched out to enormous proportions. And that smile gave everyone the creeps; including Mai, who reacted with a giant gasp when she saw how her ex-friend was miraculously different from long ago.

Zuko's hand reached out and brushed Mai's; giving the Fire Lady a sudden calmness that overwhelmed her.

"It's okay," Zuko whispered in her ear.

"I know," she replied. "I'm sorry, it's just Azula is so…"

"Different?" Zuko inquired; fully knowing that was what she meant. He leaned back in his chair and sighed annoyed. "You haven't seen anything yet." He stated giving her a fair warning.

After a good second of looking kind of shocked and angered, Mai finally sat down in her chair, finding her comfort zone, and returned to her old Monotone self.

Azula sat herself down in the seat in front of Mailto, much to his liking. For the first time in years, he didn't have to ask her to sit. He stood up in the room and addressed the audience who was sitting behind the observation mirror.

"Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen," Mailto ever so politely began. "Our patient here; Azula, has agreed to continue with these public therapy sessions. As of last night, we have switch her normal medication from roasted animal glands to a concoction of weeds and Beet Flowers."

Azula turned her head towards the audience. She smiled ever so brightly and creepily to Zuko. When she spoke, her voice was laced with humor and despair. Her insanity was obviously valid, if not totally realistic at this point. Her face seemed happy, but on the inside, Zuko, Mai, and Aang could tell she was suffering.

"Hey Zuzu," Azula replied ever so pleasantly, blissful, and disturbing. "You know what the funny thing is? If I would have known it had been this easy to get free drugs, I would have done this a lot sooner."

She slowly turned back to face Mailto; her creepy smile apathetically fading. The smile was replaced with a face of curiosity as she stared at Mailto while he jotted down notes. It was as if she was interested into what Mailto was writing about her. Mailto finished the notes and placed the clipboard on the table. He looked up at Azula, and stopped dead in his tracks. Her eyes were hungry. It gave Mailto the shakes. He was fearful of what Azula might do to him. He had no clue what was on her mind at this time, and as her therapist, he decided to ask.

"What?" he asked somewhat annoyed and confused.

"Did I ever tell you that you have beautiful eyes?" Azula said with dry passion. "It's just, they are beautiful by themselves, but the real beauty is that they go well with the rest of your face. I mean, it's not like I want to pop them out of your skull and carry them around with me."

A eerie silence flooded the room. The place was filled with tension, fear, and a masterful sense of dread. Mai turned her head to Zuko, giving him a look of confusion. He replied with only the word "Yeah," Basically telling Mai that his sister had been acting like this for the past ten years.

After a good long ten seconds of silence, Azula broke it.

"It's a compliment." She clarified to Mailto.

"…and we're off to a bad start." Mailto said.

"Well you of all people know I'm not an afternoon person," Azula replied as she placed her hands behind her head, stretched out on her chair and relaxed. Mailto grabbed his notes and placed another tiny sentence down upon them. He placed the notes back on to the table, and gave Azula a look of confidence and authority; as if he was now in charge.

"Well, we're finally here," He stated happily. "For the first time in ten years, we have finally made progress. This was the second main question I wanted to ask for a long time but we have never gotten around to saying it. Now, due to our last visit, I can finally ask the question….."

"…Which is?" Azula stated with a cork in her brow.

"You've been here for almost ten years. How's life been treating you at Republic City Asylum?"

Azula got a distain look in her eyes; as if she were sadden by this comment. She looked up in the air as she searched around in her head for answer. "Well…it's good." She replied shaking her head yes. "I really enjoy it. But, it's missing that one thing to make it feel like home, you know."

"Well what do you usually do here?" Mailto asked.

She popped her neck before she began her response to the question. She twitched her eyes about as she ran through the itinerary of what she had been doing these past ten years at this mental care facility. She seemed like, that in her mind, she was remote and far away from everyone else. Unbeknownst to the audience that was watching, this happened to be her thinking face.

"Mondays, I work out." Azula began. "And then Tuesdays, I work on the arts. I'm actually quiet heavily invested in them, as a matter of fact. And I've written many poems."

Mailto's eyes widen. He was not expecting this from Azula. Many of the people, epically Mailto and Zuko, had no clue that she did this. They never knew that she was even somewhat interested in the arts. When Zuko was young, he use to perform plays in front of his mother, but Azula never seemed interested one bit. Now, she said that she was not just taking part of, but that she was heavily invested in the arts? It was a shocker to everyone there.

"You write poems?" Mailto asked confused. "May we see them?"

"I'm sorry," Azula replied. "It's very personal." Then she leaned back in her chair as she got that distant look in her eyes. "Now where was I? Oh yes, Wednesdays. Nothing much happens then. It's usually my free day. Thursdays, I hang out with my friend Carmine who is two cells down from me. He was transferred here about 8 years ago. We talk about politics, the weather, and moral degradation of society…well, I talk about those things. He usually just shouts out random obscenities. I think he might have some serious issues."

This one comment cause Mai to smirk and almost burst out laughing. Even Mailto had to control himself from releasing a chuckle.

"And you don't think you have some serious issues?" Mailto smugly replied.

"Well no one's perfect dear," Azula stated with a smile as she crossed her arms. Then, she got that distant look in her eyes once more. "And then there's Fridays." And after stating that sentence, she stuck out her tongue in disgust. "I hate Fridays." She replied as a little kid would when he was told to do a chore around the house.

"Why's that?" Mailto asked somewhat interested.

"That's when Sokka, that little weasel, bothers me."

Aang and Zuko looked at each other, since they both knew what Azula meant. They had a strange look in their eyes. It was almost a look of questioning. But both of them were thinking the exact same thing, and the other got the message. Was it wrong to appoint Sokka as the Defensive Attorney over the Fire Lord and The Avatar?

"Well Sokka is in charge of the prosecution against you." Mailto told Azula. "He's trying to get you sent to a main prison of the nation, such as The Boiling Rock, to keep a closer eye on you. He thinks your faking insanity."

"It's too bad my dad isn't around." Azula commented. "He knew where I was coming from."

Zuko thought back and firmly remembered the date of their father's death. About 1 year after the war, Zuko finally received the information from his father about the whereabouts of his mother. Zuko packed up on Appa, and with the gang's permission, went on a personal quest to find his mom and left the Fire nation under the care of his personal advisors. While Zuko was away, a riot broke out in the boiling rock, where his dad was transferred to under personal orders. During this riot, three prisoners found Ozia in his cell, and proceeded to kick him and torture him until finally killing him via fire ball to the face.

Zuko found out while he was away that the information he received on the whereabouts of his mother were proven false, and since his father was killed in the riot, he realized that the whole plan of finding his mom had to be put on hold. Sure, he was saddened, but there were more important matters on his hands. Besides, he knew that someday he'd find his mom.

"Well that's convenient for you," Mailto replied sarcastically.

"Lucky me," Azula retorted with a smile.

"Then explain to me where you're coming from." Mailto commanded. "Are you faking insanity?"

"No I'm not." Azula quietly barked. Her faced looked scourged and scrunched in pain. She looked as if the question that Mailto asked pissed her off. She repeated her answer again; this time exaggerating each syllable. "No, I'm, not!"

Some of the advisors, and Mai, were a bit shaken by Azula's comment. Zuko, Aang, and Mailto however, remained firm.

"So you think you're crazy." Mailto inquired.

"Now that's an interesting question." Azula replied, as her chest puffed out; feeling a bit self righteous and snobby. "You see, crazy people don't think they're crazy. In fact, they think their getting saner. So really, sane people shouldn't think that they're sane, but that they're actually going a little crazy." Azula left this comment in the air, for people to make their judgments about. Ironically, Mailto began to rub his jaw, as if he were actually taking in to account the things Azula just proclaimed. After a couple of seconds of silence, Azula began to grow a nervous twitch.

"I-i-I can't go to the boiling rock." Azula nervously stuttered. "I wouldn't last a day."

"You can't go to prison, because half of the people that are there now followed you to their cells and would have you to blame for their misfortune?" Mailto questioned. "And some of the people their also killed Ozia?"

"Actually, I was thinking more about personal safety." Azula replied. "Well, with my delicate features, my feather hair, and the fact that I'll be one of the few people in that prison with a vagina. But you know what, good call Mailto. I never thought about that."

Some of the advisors had to hold back a giggle.

"So you do care about personal safety," Mailto insisted.

"Nope," Azula replied. Then she began her tirade. "You see, there's a difference between personal safety, and the fear of dropping your soap in the shower and getting caught in a game of 'grab ass.' You think that they're going to invent a case just for me to avoid that?"

"Well, your mental evaluation is going to decide that." Mailto replied. "That's why we're having these sessions.

"What are my prizes if I win," Azula said with a smile.

"Well, you are either going to get executed, go to prison, get banished, or remain here." Mailto listed off.

"Oh. Cool prizes." Azula laughed as she rubbed her hands together. A strange silence filled the atmosphere. Then, Azula leaned back in her chair and broke the silence. "Well, you're the professional here. What do you think?"

"Well, I don't think a sane person would set fire to a fortune." Mailto commented.

Aang firmly remembered this as well. While Zuko was gone on his personal quest to find his mom, the gang discovered that Azula escaped. They found out that she got out of the Republic city hospital by aid of a couple of mercenaries who wanted nothing more than The Avatar's head, or cash. Azula and the mercenaries cause a bit of panic and pulled off many heist. They received an amazing amount of wealth from knocking over business places and tea shops. All the while, they were getting closer to killing Aang. On the day they collected their reward in cash, the gang busted in to the hide out to find 4 mercenaries and their leader bounded in cloth and a giant pile of money on fire, with a crazy Azula laughing her head off.

"Now, the thing about that whole situation was, I was only going to burn my half." Azula declared to Mailto. "But you see, my half was on the bottom…..I don't think I thought that one through enough."

"But Sokka firmly declares that you are no different from criminals the gang had to face in the past and are dealing with now." Mailto statted.

Azula then got a strange look in her eyes. It was the look that seemed like she was mad, but at the same time, it looked as if though she was interested. She was shocked really. Her eyes squinted half mass, and she spoke in a questioning manner. Her voice was filled with shock and awe.

"No different?" she asked. "No different, you say."

"Well, you stole money."Mailto replied.

"I burned it." Azual retorted.

"You lied."

"Only little white lies dear."

"I'm sorry."

"I meant, I only told little white lies, doctor Mailto."

"You destroyed property."

"I don't think we really need ancient air nomad temples."

"…..Well what about murder?" Mailto asked curiously.

Azula then flashed a creepy smile. It was a smile that sent a shockwave of chills and suspension across the room. Mai even went frigid for a second, as she herself was a bit taken back by Azula's strange sense of confidence. She leaned back in her chair and stretched her hands behind her head. She popped her fingers and her neck. She had a strange sense of certainty and aplomb about her movements. It was as if she was prepared to answer this question since birth. Then she spoke.

"When bad guys kill," Azula stated. "They either do it to gain a profit, or it's because there petty little emotions got involved. So when bad guys kill, it's either strictly business, or it's entirely personal. When I kill, I do it because it's fun. I kill, cause I find that it amuses me."

"Which leads me to believe that you don't care what the outcome of your actions is," Mailto replied. "As long as it amuses you."

Then, Azula said it. It was seven words that changed the atmosphere of the room; from interested, to fearful.

"Have you ever seen a dead body?"

Mailto's eyes widen in fear. Aang, Zuko, and Mai tensed up in their chairs. The whole place now reeked of dread and morbid fear. Azula just sat at the other end of the table, staring at the confused and scared Mailto. And Azula looked as if though what she just said was nothing out of the ordinary.

"It's a simple question." Azula replied seriously. "I've seen my share."

Mailto tried to reply. However, he found that the fear cause him to stumble a bit at his first words.

"….o-of course I've seen a dead body." He replied.

"Now, I'm not talking about the bodies that you see at funerals." Azula explained. "I mean, that's where they all end up. I'm talking about the type of dead bodies, where that little spark of life just disappeared, only a second ago. And all that's left is an eminent object, covered in its own blood and guts." She paused as she savored the look of fear on Mailto's face. "Now, have you seen any of those dead bodies?"

"…..no." Mailto fearfully replied.

Azula at this point, found that creepy smile that she had at the beginning of this certain therapy session, and flashed it to all corners of the room. Zuko, Aang, and Mai, involuntarily flinched as Azula looked pass them. She reached down onto the table, and picked up the bud of a beet flower that was given to her at the start of the therapy session. She fumbled around with the bud in her fingers.

"Well," Azula proclaimed with a smile. "Stick around with me long enough and you may just get your chance at seeing a real dead body." And with that, she popped the bud into her mouth. And then she proceeded to laugh.

The air around them was cool and relaxing as Appa made his descent into the fire nation palace; where Aang was staying at for the time of Azula's final week of treatment. As Aang controlled Appa steadily, he landed the group of three quietly in the almost pitch black darkness of the palace's courtyard. Aang made sure that he and Appa didn't make a noise; not a peep.

When Appa finally landed, the first one off the giant air bison was Mai. She landed in the courtyard with ease. Then she looked off west. Aang quietly used his air bending to gently levitate to the ground, and then he was off to meet his wife. Zuko did the exact same thing, and gently placed a hand on Mai's shoulder as she looked off into the sky.

Mai looked…strange. It wasn't a look of confusion or deep thought, but of that strange realm in between. She was tuning out as she got lost inside her train of thought. Even when Zuko placed his hand on her shoulder, she still kept on spacing out. Then Zuko leaned into her and kissed her right cheek; sweet and syrupy. And when he whispered into her ear, she was brought back to reality.

"Mai…"He asked affectionately. "What's wrong?"

She placed her left hand on his hand, calmly. "…..Nothing really," She breathed out. "It's just…Azula, you know. She's getting worse."

Zuko groaned in remembrance of the hours prior to this moment. He remembered how his sister acted to day, and he could confidently proclaim that this was by far not one of her lesser days. However; noting that Mai had never seen his sister after her admittance to the Mental care world, he could understand how it would seem like this would be Azula's worst days to Mai.

"I know." Zuko statted as he kissed her neck. He leaned in closer to her and gripped her in a hug. "She's been getting worse ever since the end of the war." He declared. "It's really been downhill from then."

"She didn't even act like the Azula I knew." Mai exclaimed. "I mean; sure there were hints of deception in her voice, and she did have some of those sarcastic comments, but she was completely insane."

"Yeah," Zuko replied. "I mean the thing about dead bodies. Normal people don't find amusement in death."

That's when she did something out of the ordinary. She lifted Zuko's hand off her shoulder, and spun him around to face her. What caught Zuko's attention were her eyes. They had this strange look of curiosity and sadness. And she never, got sad about anything. She was always monotone; even in times of distress. But Zuko had seen this look before, and it was the look of we need to talk. Zuko already started scolding himself and coming up with excuses in his head. What did he do now?

"Zuko," she asked caringly as she stared into his eyes. "Do you promise not to get mad about what I say next?"

Zuko found some realive that he was not the cause of the look that Mai was providing. However, he was interested of what she had to say. "It's okay dear," Zuko stated. "You can tell me anything."

She took in a deep breath in anticipation. The words were in her mouth, but she feared that Zuko wouldn't understand. She looked around the courtyard, praying to the spirits that no one else would spot them at this moment. And then, upon exhale, she looked at Zuko back into his eyes, and said the words that surprised him.

"I think your sister was right."

Zuko's eyes immediately widen in confusion. His breathing even stopped. The fact that the two words 'Azula' and 'right' were even in the same sentence staggered him. To Zuko, the only time that those two sentences should ever collide was if the sentence was 'Azula likes to kill people with her right hand.'

"What?" he whispered harshly.

Mai furrowed her brows. "You promised me you wouldn't get mad."

Zuko shook off his anger, fully remembering the promise he stated earlier. "You're right. I'm sorry. It's just….what do you mean by that?"

Mai looked down at her feet, waiting for some confidence to come to her, and then she stared into her husband's eyes like a lost puppy would to a possible owner. "Well, the whole theory that she had on crazy people…..I think she was going somewhere with it." Then she immediately defended her self. "I'm not saying I agree with her on everything. What are kidding? I'd be a mad man if I believed ever word that came out of her mouth…..It's just; you know how you told me that Mailto asked her if there was a method to her madness."

"Yeah," Zuko replied.

"Well, I think that method is philosophy." She stated. "I think she's just trying to get a point across. And so far, she's being very deliberate."

Zuko had the strange look of confusion in his eyes for a mere two seconds, then he leaned his neck down, and kissed his wife on the hand; very lovingly. His kisses trialed up her arm, and then right to her face. Once he got there, he gave her the look of reasoning, and understanding. It showed that he fully understood her, and that he was about to explain some import key elements to keep in mind.

"Mai," he stated lovingly. "I understand why Azula may sound right to you. In fact, sometimes I think to myself that there may be some truth ascending from her lips. But you have to remember one thing. She's completely mad. This is the same woman who put people's lives in danger, for years. This is the same woman that lied to our faces, and then turned around and threw us in jail. These pearls of wisdom are coming from a lady who has visions of her mother. And even if she's right on some things, I don't think we can trust her. Not just yet."

Mai gave Zuko the strange look of astonishment. There was no gaping mouth, but there were the eyes heavy with affection. She leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. She broke back and looked at him with the most understanding eyes.

"You're right." She stated.

"I always am," he stated with a smile.

And for one of the rare times that Mai did it, she smiled ever so brightly. "Smug bastard." She said with a laugh. Then she kissed him again on the lips.

The next day, Zuko awoke to the most horrendous smell. It was an awful smell that caused his body to almost shake in disgust. He immediately went forward in his bed and plugged his nose. His eyes actually started watering. The smell seemed to spread across his master bed room. he got up from his bed, careful not to disturb his sleeping wife, and then once his feet touched the floor, he began to try and find the source of the smell.

He found that the smell was outrageous, and seemed to be the same everywhere. Except, he found one small difference in the range of smells, and noted that the closer he went to the left, the more horrendous the smell was. He started going towards his left, trying to find the source of the smell.

And then he saw it.

At the very end of his master bedroom, the smell raged like an animal in a cage. It seemed to be coming from his bedroom closet. And as he looked through the tears in his eyes, he could see a piece of papper posted on the master bed room closet. He became curious, and started walking over to the papper. He found out that it was a note, possibly a letter; noting his length. And even more surprising, was that when he held the piece of papper up to his face, he found that the letter was addressed to him.

Wondering what this note had to say, and why it was posted on his bedroom closet in the first place, he began to read on.

This is what it said.

Dear Zuko,

I'm sorry that you had to wake up to this horrible smell. I can imagine that right now it's even ten times worse than what I smelled. Just knowing that the heat would cause the flesh to cook, it just makes me shiver in the chair just thinking about it. But I had to do this. I felt the sudden urge to. And because of this urge, I couldn't' sleep. It was hard holding on to the underside of Appa's leg for dear life, but I had to get over here. I had to send you this message. My mind was racing with everything that me and Mailto talked about earlier today, but for you it be yesterday, seeing as how you were asleep when I posted this note on your master closet. You looked so innocent, so calm, and you seemed to not have a care in the world, kind of like Ty Lee was. I say was because well, where she's going, she'll always be sleeping.

You may be asking yourself 'what does Ty have to do with this?' well, she's the source of the smell. Her gutted out body is behind you closet door. Ty Lee was kind enough to let me stay in her room when she found me. I guess she won't be making that mistake again. I'm sure that dead flesh is not the best smell to wake up to in the morning. BUT I HAD TO TELL YOU THIS! It was an urgent message that floated across my mind after therapy. I had to tell you. Well, it's not exactly an urgent message; it's more of a piece of advice. And that piece of advice is this.

Life is short.

It's even shorter for some, than for others, as you can tell. And you'd be surprised about how shocked people react, when they realize that they're not going to live forever.

Case in point, there is an old fragile man staring into a mirror, and he realizes that he has now become old and weak. Or, maybe there is a girl in an abusive relationship, and she notices the bruise on her left eye, and knows that it's only going to get worse. Or maybe there's a small child, realizing as he stares into his own reflection, that she's a monster and would cause nothing but harm. OR MAYBE! Just speaking out on a limb her Zuzu. MAYBE, there's a fire lord who finds himself stuck in a position of high power, and yet nothing to do with it. He realizes that all his life will be full of, is stupid followers, asking him to grant request and make laws, and make them happy, day after day, and year after year.

That's why I took Ty Lee along for the ride. She wanted to know where I was coming from, so I killed her. Because if Ty Lee can show you, a REAL DEAD BODY, and how it looks so different than the kinds at funerals, I know that my job is done. When I took her into her room, at first she was resistant. She told me that she feared of upsetting you, and I told her that it was okay, and that where she was going, she wouldn't have to worry about upsetting anybody.

Of course, what am I writing on about! You'll know exactly what I'm talking about when you see Ty Lee in the morning. Considered her gutless and hallow body a present. Think of it as a little 'thank you' basket for all the therapy you've given me. I would have gift wrapped her, but I couldn't find a big enough box.

In conclusion brother, the point I'm trying to make is about morality, and how in today's society, we can so easily lose it. Our lives are no longer controlled by ourselves any more. They are now controlled by the powers that be. In fact, even the powers that be, like you, even have their lives controlled by their fellow followers. But the point is, when you see Ty Lee's dead body in your closet, I plead with you not to think of me. I want you to think about how short our lives really are. I want you to focus on what you want to do, and only consider what they, your fellow followers, want you to do. I want you to realize, that if you have a brain, you should follow your heart. And if someone tries to judge you, kill them in the dark.

Live each day as if it were your last brother.

Cause who knows? It just might be. Just ask Ty Lee.

Azula.

Zuko's heart thunderously pounded as he finished the letter. His eyes were now raging with fear and rage. He was now panicking. He rapidly and fiercely opened his closet door. When he opened the closet door, he prayed to the spirits that his sister was wrong. He hoped to Agni that all his sister wrote down was a lie. He wanted his sister to be wrong, and he wished and dreamed that all his sister wrote down in this letter was just deception and trickery.

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

I am also sorry for any spelling errors or grammer mistakes I might have made. I had no time to look over this so I had to post it right away.

I also apologize for Ty Lee's death, but it was important to the plot, and I hope I havn't offended any Ty Lee fans. it teared my heart out to kill her, but it needed to be done for the story.

other than that, I hope you enjoyed the second chapter.

PLEASE REVIEW!