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I'd like to apologize for the wait. I rewrote this chapter a hundred times and am still iffy about it, a friend of mine joked I need to put a 'deleted scenes' thing up because of how many drafts I have for this chapter. Also I have no artistic ability past guns and me and my nephew, so if anyone is interested please feel free to draw some stuff to go along with this story or Draco. I would love you for it! Post it on Devi and tell me. I would love to see what y'all can do and if I'll probably ask nicely to us it as the cover art here for the stories. Thank you and as always:

On with the show!

Disclaimer: …

She sat, curled into herself under the huge garden tree. Her father had been working her tirelessly in training and she was taking advantage of one of her few reprieves from the pain and fatigue that came with. It had been a month since she'd come back from academy and she hated every second. Her mother had let Ty Lee over once the first day she'd come back, but had refused since without explanation. It had angered the young princess like nothing else her mother had ever done, because it hurt.

She'd hated the academy until she'd met Ty Lee, and then it changed. She came to love it there, if only because she had the other girl to play with. The headmaster had been ready to send her back to the palace, until she'd made friends with the acrobat. The pink loving girl was a little off, yes, but she didn't care, the aura reader had given her something that no one had ever given her: unconditional love. Even when she'd play a little too rough or say something meaner than she'd meant to the acrobat would let it go and praise her for something entirely unrelated. It had been odd at first but then the fire bender began craving it, needing that little bit of absolute adoration. Now she had none. She was back to having to overcome her brother's short comings to her father, and with no idea how to please her mother. Hadn't that been the point of the academy? For her to make friends? She was so confused.

After a moment of the conflicted thoughts her head began to hurt, anger and confusion mixing, into undirected frustration.

"Azula, get out, mom and me are gonna feed the turtle-ducks!" her brother called into the garden, walking out with a loaf of bread.

She glared at him, the unfocused anger suddenly zeroing in on her brother, "I can stay here if I want dum-dum."

"Nuh-uh, mom doesn't want you here," her brother replied, glaring at her and trying to look intimidating, even though she was almost as tall as him.

It hurt, but she wouldn't show it, glaring right back at him and about to retort until he beat her to it.

"Why else would they send you away for so long?" he smirked at her. He'd never been sent out of the palace for anything, though their father had tried to send him to the boys' academy.

"Shut your mouth, Zuzu, or I'll shut it for you," she growled, fist clenched at her sides.

He swallowed, knowing his sister had been in a violent mood since she'd come back. He said nothing, and she turned back to take up her place under the tree. But of course her brother wasn't as smart as she'd thought he'd become, and under his breath, thinking she wouldn't hear it, he whispered, "Maybe next time it'll be for good."

It set her off like a misplaced arrow in a moose-lion's flank. In a second she was on him, no flames, just fists. Even without using her bending, her brother ended up with a bloody nose and black eye.

"Azula!" her mother grabbed her arm roughly as she made to take another swing, "enough is enough! There is no need to be acting like this!"

The sudden spark of anger and energy died, turning into simmering embers in her gut. It was just like her mother to come at the last second, when she could only see one side.

The young princess folded her arms across her chest and stared away towards the other side of the garden, away from her mother. It had become a habit in the academy to shut down when she was being yelled at or disciplined- a habit her father had approved of, since it was better than crying. He mistook it for her listening to him. Her mother mistook it for her ignoring the older woman. In reality she was simply trying not to cry in frustration for not being able to speak her side.

"I can't believe your behavior, Azula." She held back a snort; her behavior wouldn't be bad if Ty Lee was there. "You've been nothing but a holy terror to everyone here." Her mother grabbed her arm roughly and turned her so they were eye to eye, the older woman having knelt down, anger in her eyes, "Is that what you want to be? Instead of a lady, you'd rather be a monster?"

'You'd rather be a monster.' The words rang in her head, the implication clear even to her young ears, 'you are a monster.' As if someone had turned off her bending, all her blood ran cold. Her mother thought she was a monster. It made her sick and dizzy and it hurt. Worse than the soreness of her muscles at the end of training, worse than when she would accidently burn herself, worse than anything she'd ever felt, it hurt.

She hid it as quickly as she'd felt it, grunting her acknowledgement of her mother's words and fleeing just as quickly.

Everything in her chest hurt. Her mother thought she was a monster. Was she? Was that why her mother was so cold to her? Was that why she'd taken Ty Lee away from her, because she feared her monster daughter would hurt her? Was that why she herself had been sent away? The pain and hurt of the words paved the way for guilt.

Monster… maybe she was. If so, than it would make sense. She swallowed hard. If she was a monster she wouldn't deserve love, she'd deserve the fear and anger she was met with. Wouldn't she? She'd made it to her room by the time she'd gotten to that thought and looked dully around. Her feet took her to the huge floor length mirror that took up a large portion of one wall. Her reflection was in shadow- the curtains had been drawn for the day to keep the furniture from bleaching. She raised a hand and lit a small fire ball to see herself clearly. What she saw made her next breath sharp. The fire light exposed her reflection with blood smattering her clothes and hands. Here and there dirt mixed in from the garden's soil that had been upturned in the beating. Her own image scared her for a moment.

"Monster."

-D.-

Ty Lee jumped awake. She hadn't meant to fall asleep, fearful that Azula would wake up angry. She looked around the airship's small room for the noise that had woken her, and found it to be the unconscious fire bender. Azula was restless in her dreams, twisting and struggling with her bonds. The smell of burning skin met her nose, and she looked down to see smoke rising from the metal shackles around the princess's wrists as she pulled at the restraints.

"'Zula, don't do that! You're just burning yourself!" the acrobat grabbed the princess's hands in her own, trying to calm the still sleeping, struggling girl. Of course it did little to still the dragon, and instead the fire bender gripped the acrobat's forearms and pulled her from the ground in her struggles. Panicked at suddenly being lifted and feeling the heat of the princess's hands rising Ty Lee hit a point in the middle of the fire bender's arm. Azula's hands cooled almost instantly, loosening their grip on her arms. She had to catch herself when Azula relaxed again and let her go completely.

She looked from the sleeping fire bender to the uncomfortable chair she'd been settled into a moment before. Self preservation was overridden by the longing for the other girl, and the need for the comfort and warmth of the dragon's body. Her own sleep had been restless since Azula had left and now that they were together again she couldn't bring herself to move away. She knew the guards would be unhappy but she couldn't bring herself to care. She shifted herself onto the bed and Azula, pressing her ear to the dragon's chest, over the fire bender's heart. The slow familiar rhythm lulled her to sleep.

-D.-

The nightmares were back, and with them came the hallucinations. She'd been out of the asylum for a month now, and while she'd vastly improved she had yet to fully recover. One day she was fine, the next she was trailed and trialed by ghosts. The episodes were fewer but their intensity grew worse each time. She never told the others, not even Ty Lee. Her freedom was tentative and while the others tolerated her bad moods she was more than sure they would not hesitate to toss her back in her cell if there was even a slight chance she was still unstable. So she suffered through her hallucinations and nightmares in silence, lashing out at the others when it became too much to handle.

Her loss of sleep to the nightmares, combined with the dull roar of obscenities the visage of her father shouted at her back and the mountain of work her brother had pawned off to her guarantied it would be a lashing out day. The palace staff had developed a sixth sense for her bad moods and learned to avoid her. The members of the gaang had taken the hint when she'd set her brother's food on fire at lunch and had made themselves scarce. But there was one person who would never leave her side, no matter how badly she lashed out.

She knew it was partly for Zuko's request that Ty Lee watched her, and more so out of the acrobat's love for her. Normally the other girl was a comfort to her on the days when everything was too much, but today was not going to be so simple. Not when it was Ty Lee her hallucinations decided to target.

"She'll turn on you again you know. But you probably don't care. You enjoy playing lap dog to a faithless bitch so long as it keeps your bed warm." Her father's voice growled, for her ears alone.

She held in the retort that longed to be snapped back, trying hard to continue her training. Ty Lee sat on the sidelines watching and applauding her private performance. Ozai stood in the sparing grounds with her, glaring her down as she ignored him.

"That's right, continue your show for your mistress, mutt. Degrade a century's worth of your ancestors and your own pride to entertain your whore."

She swung at him, glad that she'd already been taking down invisible foes so that it seemed a part of her training to the watching acrobat. Glad also for the roar of flames that drowned her own low growl, "Shut up. That's not true, and you know it."

He snorted at her, "If it weren't true you wouldn't care." He growled back, dodging the blast without moving.

It was true in part. Since she'd returned to the palace she'd felt like the acrobat's pet. The fierce dragon caught and collared willingly. People still respected and feared her enough to give her the proper graces, but she had taken notice of people's changed demeanors when the acrobat was with her. They took more liberties with their actions. Alone she was still the feared and terrible war hound created from a century's worth of fighting prowess, but with the acrobat she was leashed and tame. She hadn't been bothered by it at first, until people began using it against her.

It had started with people simply running to Ty Lee like scared children to their mother when she'd do something they found reprehensible. Then it progressed to people using Ty Lee's kindness to get her to twist the dragon's arm into doing things she normally would have refused. She'd found herself pulled into things like continuing the Avatar's fire bending training and taking over dealings with the Colonies, despite her only true obligation being to quell rebellions.

Regardless of the truth of it she continued attacking him. Each blast of fire he dodged, simply fading to the side, at times the flames went straight through him but left him untouched. While her attacks left him unharmed, his own verbal assault left her with new wounds at every word.

"This is far from your best work. Have you gotten lazy or is it that you've moved your focus from the battle field to the bedroom?" He snorted out. "Perhaps I am wrong about which one of you is the whore."

Her teeth barred and she snarled in frustration at him. She was only vaguely aware that Ty Lee was beginning to get uneasy on the sidelines, noticing her lover's distress.

"You've become no better than your brother. Wings clipped by your hormones and muzzled by some girl. At least he had the good graces to choose a nobleman's daughter, not a circus freak."

She could hear her own growl low in her throat, but missed the gentle whisper of her name from the girl who had been watching passively but now stood worried by the fire bender's erratic behavior.

"You and I both know your nature."He dodged another blow, and circled behind her. "You are a wild animal no better than a monster. If she does not betray you first, you will inevitably bite the hand that feeds." He'd disappeared, the fire glancing harmlessly through him. A sharp cry from the girl he'd been in front of proved Ty Lee was not so lucky.

Her anger dissipated as soon as she heard the pained sound from the acrobat."Ty Lee! What were you thinking getting in the way like that?" She pulled the girl to her, inspecting the burn that the acrobat tried in vain to cover.

It wasn't a bad burn, not at all on the level of Zuko's. It would heal without scaring. "I was worried…" the acrobat replied looking at Azula through her lashes. "You were… You seemed angry…Angry the way you usto get between meds…"The acrobat wasn't looking at her now. It didn't matter. The tears she knew the girl was repressing were enough to fill her stomach with guilt. Never mind that her anger had exposed the fact she was not fully recovered. Guilt overpowered any dread she might have felt at being discovered and she quickly dragged Ty Lee away to find Katara. The water bender glared at her the entire time, muttering under her breath reasons the acrobat should leave the princess though neither of them truly cared what the water tribe girl said.

When it was all said and done the acrobat was left unmarred, the burn completely healed. The only one who could see the scar was the princess herself, and she always saw it, a constant reminder of her father's words. "You are a wild animal, no better than a monster. If she does not betray you first, you will inevitably bit the hand that feeds."

"A monster…"

-D.-

The slow beat that had put her to sleep sped up, waking her when it turned to a thunderous roar beneath Azula's skin. The acrobat sat up and looked down at the fire bender. The dragon's breathing had become erratic. Wisps of blue fire escaped her mouth with each quick heavy exhale. She sighed, feeling the weight of her own exhaustion. She'd dealt with these types of nightmares. Nightmares that made Azula twist and cry out and had led to the replacement of the bed canopies on more than one occasion from accidental flames.

She shifted so that her mouth was near Azula's ear and began stroking her cheek soothingly, whispering for her to calm down. Slowly, painfully so, the princess's breathing slowed, and her arms tightened around the acrobat as much as the chains would allow, before she relaxed fully.

Too tired to move back to her original place, Ty Lee closed her eyes in relief at getting the princess to calm and was asleep just as quickly.

-D.-

"You were fire. Cruel and ruthless and powerful."

"My own mother thought I was a monster…"

"When you're angry you fly away from your problems or you destroy them..."

"She didn't want me to become a real monster."

"Monster… You have no idea."

"Instead of a lady, you'd rather be a monster."

"She already has blood on her hands from carelessness, you and I both know that."

"You are a wild animal, no better than a monster."

Azula groaned, feeling as if she'd been hit by a monorail. She remembered the rain battering her scales, and looking back over her shoulder to see Ty Lee flying after her and then pain. Intense, unbearable pain and suffocating darkness that came with loss of consciousness. Her body's pain and her mental exhaustion from restless sleep kept her lying still where she woke.

Her eyes searched the room, assessing her surroundings without having to move. She found herself in a room with smoothed stone walls. A high, barred window served as the only source of light to be found. She shifted, gritting her teeth when her body complained about the movement and found a wall of bars divided the room in half. A cold stone dropped into her stomach. She was in a prison cell, and she was alone.