PART XIII:

"You're the agent?" Azula said, disbelief spreading through her limbs as the fire danced in her palm. Anger swarmed in her, flooding through her system with a shot of adrenaline. The tip of the arrow looked sharp, barbed, and deadly. Ty Lee's finger was firmly on the trigger. "Well, I can't say that I'm that shocked. You turned on me once. Why not my brother as well?"

"No! You're the traitor!" Ty Lee said through clenched teeth, leveling the crossbow at her. "You and your boyfriend!"

Azula glanced at Sokka and then back at Ty Lee, who stared at them, stone-faced beneath her makeup. The acrobat hadn't bothered to change out of her gown, but Azula knew the long skirt wouldn't stop Ty Lee from fighting if it came to that.

She snorted derisively. "I'm sure that's the part that really sticks in your craw."

"Azula," Sokka said warningly beside her. She glanced at him; he looked stunned, his gaze fastened to the crossbow in Ty Lee's steady hands. She hadn't missed how he'd been trying to put himself between her and the arrow. She shoved him back, the thought of him hurt because of her too much to bear. His confession, her feelings, that warm, wonderful kiss…it clung to her like spider webs, draping over her with a dreamy haze.

She wouldn't let someone hurt him. She'd die before she let that happen.

Besides, this was between her and Ty Lee.

"You disgust me. I can't believe you would try to kill your own brother!" Ty Lee said through clenched teeth. There were tears in her big brown eyes. "I mean, I always knew you were capable of it! I knew you weren't a good person, but I never thought you'd go through with it! I'm such an idiot to believe that you could change!"

"Ty Lee… Put down the crossbow…" Sokka said soothingly.

"Yeah, put it down before you hurt yourself," Azula said, stepping forward and wrapping her hands around the bars. "That thing isn't really your style anyway. What's the matter? Afraid you can't take me hand-to-hand? Afraid I'll light that pretty dress on fire?"

"I'm not afraid of you. I could chi-block you within seconds…but I don't want to have to touch you. You're the kind of filth that doesn't wash away, Azula."

"I think we all need to calm down," Sokka interjected, but she and Ty Lee ignored him.

"Take a shot then."

"I ought to put you down like the rabid animal you are," Ty Lee snarled.

"Then do it. We both know you don't have the guts. You never did. DO IT! I DARE YOU!"

"You'd like that, wouldn't you? To watch me lose control. To become you, a murdering bitch with no conscience. I'm better than that. I'm better than you."

Pain flitted through her Azula's heart, like a knife twisted deep inside. Is that what Ty Lee thought of her? What they all thought of her? She glanced at Sokka.

No, not everyone.

She pushed a sharp smile onto her face and said crisply, coldly, "You say that, but which of us is pointing a weapon and threatening to kill the other, hmm?"

Ty Lee's face went still and her eyes flicked the crossbow and then back up at Azula. She swallowed and the anger etched across every inch of her beautiful face slowly trickled away, replaced by a sadness that seemed to stab at Azula even worse than the anger had. She unexpectedly dropped the crossbow at her side and shook her head.

"I came here to kill you. I did. I'm so angry… But I can't do it. I want you to suffer, you deserve to suffer for betraying Zuko. He'll put you on trial for treason. He'll banish you and throw you into prison. He'll strip you of your titles. He'll lock you away just like he did your father. You'll become a ghost, Azula. A sad, crazy ghost locked in a little cell with no one to talk to but the voices in your head. And even that is better than what you deserve."

Azula stared at her, at her old friend, unable to tell her the truth, to say anything in her defense. Terror had gripped her. Thoughts of being trapped in a cell for the rest of her life, trapped like her father, abandoned to her ghosts… Without Sokka…

Her throat constricted and she tightened her hold on the bars, feeling the room unexpectedly tilting beneath her. Her knees suddenly felt like water and she tasted bitterness on her tongue.

"You both can rot in there, for all I care," Ty Lee sneered.

"That won't make the Smoke Demons happy," Sokka said beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder. She wondered if he'd noticed her rising panic. It was like a clawing beast inside of her, gripping her insides, struggling to break free.

"The Smoke Demons?" Ty Lee asked, her nose scrunching. "What are you talking about?"

"Aren't you working for them? You're a double-agent! " Sokka exclaimed.

"No, I'm not! You are!" Ty Lee insisted. "How you could you think I'd turn on Zuko? I love your brother!"

"Really?" Azula drawled, smirking, some of her panic fading. "I didn't think you were into men anymore."

Ty Lee's face went cold and she glared at Azula as Sokka made a disapproving noise beside her.

"Oh, it's all a joke to you, isn't it, Azula? It always was. You knew how I felt, how confused I was, and you strung me along. You used me. You mocked me. And I just kept making excuses for you, like an idiot…just hoping… But I see you for who you really are now. Not who I wanted you to be. You're a traitor. A psychopath. I don't need your approval. I don't need your mockery. I have friends I can count on, who support me and love me. Your brother is one of them. I'd never do anything to hurt him."

Sokka's hand tightened on her shoulder and he stepped toward the bars. "We wouldn't either, Ty Lee."

For the first time, Ty Lee really turned her attention on him.

"What do you mean…?" Her voice trailed off as she squinted her eyes at him. Her head tilted to the side and she blinked a couple of times. Her mouth opened in confusion. "Sokka?! Is that you?"

Sokka let out a nervous laugh. "Uh…"

"What the fuck?" Ty Lee exclaimed, backing up half a step.

"We can explain," Sokka started.

"I'd love to hear it," a voice drawled coldly from the stairs, just as the sound of a trigger being pulled filled the air. Ty Lee started and then her body arched forward, a hollow thwocking sound seeming to carry her into the bars in front of Azula, who jumped back.

At the same moment, a fine red mist of hot blood exploded from Ty Lee's chest, along with the barbed tip of a metal arrow. Azula felt the blood on her face as her eyes widened in shock. Ty Lee gasped, blood dribbling out of her mouth and down her chin as she and Azula stared at each other for what felt like hours, but was only a few horrifying seconds.

"'Zula…?" Ty Lee choked, blood bubbling at the corners of her lips. Fear and confusion played across Ty Lee's wide eyes as they stared at one another.

"Ty Lee… TY LEE!" Azula screamed, panic seizing her again. She reached through the bars, grasping at Ty Lee as her body sank down the bars and she slumped on the dirty floor. Azula hit her knees, reaching for the girl's blood-covered face. "TY LEE! DAMMIT, TY LEE!"

There was blood all over her hands. Blood on the floor. Blood pumping out of Ty Lee's chest.

She didn't understand.

Nothing made sense. The world was tilting, gushing by her in hot red waves. She could hear Sokka's voice. Screaming at her to get up. To fight.

Too late. We're too late.

She could hear the stranger knocking another arrow into the slot. Could hear her own labored breathing as she shook Ty Lee's shoulder.

Wake up. Wake up. WAKE UP!

But Ty Lee didn't move.

As Sokka screamed at her, trying to pull her back from the bars, the void, that numb, blissful fugue that had crept over her so many times the past few years, came back to claim her. She let it flow over her like water, stealing the horror, the shock, and the panic and replacing it with…nothing.

For once in her life, she was grateful to be lost in the black, grateful not to feel anything.

Grateful to be gone.

"DAMMIT, AZULA, MOVE!" Sokka snarled, yanking her unresponsive body back from the bars as another crossbow bolt hit the bars and pinged off of it not inches from where Azula had been pressing her face. The assassin cursed and knocked another into the slot.

Azula was limp in his hands, shocked, her arms and hands slippery with hot blood. Sokka pulled her back against the wall and she slumped there, staring unblinkingly at Ty Lee's fallen body. Her mouth was slightly open and a tremble could be seen in her limbs.

"Fuck…" he growled. He knew that look.

He'd seen it in the mine. And in Rinchaka Falls. She wasn't going to be any help, not until he could snap her out of it, and he definitely didn't have that kind of time.

Another bolt hit the wall not an inch from his face, gouging out a large chunk of volcanic rock and sending little bits and pieces into his eyes. He ducked and wheeled on the door of their cell, his hand fishing into his shirt, searching for the key Zuko had given him.

He cursed the guards for having taken his dagger. He had nothing to fight with now. The plan had been for Azula to protect them both with her Firebending…but that was clearly not going to work any longer.

"This would go a lot faster if you'd just hold still," a wheedling voice said from the stairwell.

"Who are you?" Sokka growled as he crouched protectively in front of Azula. He grabbed the leather thong holding the key around his neck, undoing the knot with a hard yank. "Show yourself!"

"You want to know who I am? How about I ask you who you are, Tazeo? Because I distinctly heard that dead bitch call you 'Sokka'. Explain that to me."

"She was mistaken," Sokka said through his teeth, inching forward, toward the door of the cell. "I'm Tazeo."

"She didn't seem to think so. Too bad I killed her. I coulda asked her some questions. Very interesting questions. And then pinned your murder on her. Maybe I still will? Who knows? I haven't thought that far ahead. My orders were non-specific."

"And why are you going to murder me?"

"Because you failed. Tazeo. Sokka. Whatever your name is. You failed the Smoke Demons. You were set a task, a very important task. You were supposed to kill Zuko. You and that crazy bitch failed. And now I have to compromise my position, my identity and fix your mistakes. I have to get my hands dirty! ME! The indignity of the whole thing!"

As the words echoed off the high dungeon walls, a bearded man stepped out of the shadows, his lips pulled back from his teeth in a sneer. He had narrowed eyes and a belly just going to seed, but his arms still looked powerful. He was still dressed for the ball and the embroidered gold insignia designating him as a member of Zuko's Council glittered on his right shoulder.

It took Sokka a few seconds too long to recognize Councilor Osamu's face and even longer to conjure up his name. He'd never had much contact with the Council, after all.

But, it wasn't hard to forget the face of the man who had danced with Azula just a few hours prior. He'd watched them dancing from the crowd, watched the man put his soggy hands all over Azula, and watched Azula's reaction to him. He'd made her uncomfortable and nearly triggered a panic attack.

Sokka had threatened him. Had hated him for touching her, for scaring her. He glanced at Ty Lee and felt rage and sorrow spike through him. His hands folding around the key in his grip, letting the cold, murderous personae he'd created in Tazeo slip over him like a second skin. He'd had months to try him on, to learn who he was, to fill him out. Becoming him was easier than breathing.

Tazeo was a murderer. Tazeo was ruthless. Tazeo was dangerous. Tazeo would make this bastard pay…but it was Sokka who would enjoy the things he did this time, instead of feeling sick and guilty, and he knew it.

"Osamu."

"That's right. I believe we met this evening. You threatened me. Shoe's on the other foot now, isn't it?" the man said, inching forward.

"You're one of Zuko's loyal advisors. He put you on the Council himself. Why would you betray him?"

"A true Smoke Demon wouldn't have to ask. Just who are you?" Osamu sneered and then lifted the crossbow. He took aim just as Sokka lunged for the cell door. He knew he'd never get the key in the lock in time, but he knew that he had to try.

His eyes caught on Ty Lee's dropped crossbow, and the metal fan at her hip. If he could get to them…

Desperation sent adrenaline jolting through him as he fit the key into the lock. He heard it click, just as Osamu fired.

Sokka screamed in pain, his knee buckling around the arrow now lodged in his upper thigh. Blood drenched his pants leg as he gripped the arrow, attempting to wrench it out. He looked up at Osamu and saw the bloodthirsty expression on the Councilor's face.

"You should have killed Zuko. This could have gone a lot differently for you," Osamu said as he knocked another bolt into the firing mechanism. "You could have been rewarded. But just like Han-Jin, you have to be put down. We do not accept failure in the Smoke Demons. She won't allow it."

"AZULA!" Sokka grunted, glancing at her, but she was rocking back and forth in place, staring at Ty Lee and the blood on her hands. "SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Azula's eyes flicked to his just as Osamu lifted the crossbow and took aim on her. She saw the arrow in his leg, the blood pumping out of him onto the floor. Her shocky eyes narrowed and she flicked her gaze to Osamu.

"No."

Her voice pierced the air just as Osamu fired. Azula rolled out of the way, lashing out her arm and tossing a bright bloom of blue flame through the air. The arrow bounced off the wall as Osamu cursed and dived out of the way of the fire roaring toward him.

The fireball exploded with a bright pop against the stairs.

Sokka didn't gave Osamu time to reload. He kicked the door open with his good leg and scrambled across the bloody floor toward Ty Lee's lost crossbow.

Sokka's fingers grabbed it, but it was knocked away Osamu charged at him, bashing him in the face with his knee. Sokka felt his nose break and pain blinded him, blood gushing down his lips and chin.

Osamu's fist came down into his face a half a second later, and he reeled back against the bars with a grunt of pain.

"How they ever trusted you two incompetents, I'll never know," Osamu snorted, shaking his fist as Sokka tried to clear his blurry vision.

"Get away from him."

It was Azula, her voice quiet and cold as it laced through the air like an arctic wind.

"They should have put you down years ago," Osamu sneered, lifting the crossbow at her. "Crazy bitch."

"I said get away from him."

Azula's eerie blue fire filled the warm air, lending demonic shadows to Osamu's bearded face. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a grimacing smile. A second later, he whipped the crossbow across Sokka's face, knocking his head back into the bars.

Sokka slumped in the pool of Ty Lee's blood, coating his face with the wet, sticky mess. He groaned and reached for the fan at her hip, but Osamu put one booted foot against his chest, pushed him back into the bars.

"I'm going to kill you for hurting him. For killing Ty Lee. For trying to kill my brother," Azula said in a detached voice. Sokka's head was spinning, the pain in his leg superseding all of the other cuts and bruises. "And because I just don't fucking like you."

Osamu laughed and put the crossbow against Sokka's temple. The tip of the arrow dug into the bone and he winced away.

"Do it and I'll kill him."

He could see Azula out the corner of his eye. She was standing against the wall of the cell, flames dancing above her bloodied hands.

"Kill him and they'll be scraping charred bits of your flesh off this floor for decades."

"You don't have the guts."

"If she doesn't, I do," Zuko said from the stairs. He was dressed in dark clothing, his hair pulled up into a high ponytail. Suki was beside him, holding a short sword. Her gaze flicked from Sokka to Ty Lee on the ground beside him. Her eyes widened.

"Your Highness!" Osamu said, wheeling on him. "I stopped the prisoners from escaping!"

"And what were you doing down here, Osamu?"

"I wanted to question the princess. I got here just as one of your bodyguards was releasing them!"

Zuko's gaze flicked to Ty Lee and something in his face went hard and merciless. It reminded Sokka of the boy he'd first met all those years ago, relentless, driven, angry. Zuko looked just like Azula in those moments.

"Put the weapon down, Osamu."

"Sire…" Osamu stammered, shifting in place.

"Put it down," Zuko barked, flames bursting to life in his hands too. His were orange where Azula's were blue. The light filled the narrow hole of a dungeon, blinding Sokka, whose head was floating now. His whole leg felt like it was on fire. He tensed against the dig of the arrow at his temple. "As your Fire Lord, I command you."

Osamu went very still and his chin lifted, the careful air of obsequious groveling he'd put on the moment Zuko had appeared slipping away from him in an instant.

"My Fire Lord? You?" Osamu sneered. "You're not worthy of the throne, Zuko. You or your whore of a sister!"

Zuko pulled himself up, his face blank and cold, as if the sight of one of his trusted Councilors turning on him wasn't a shock to the system. "How long have you been working for the Smoke Demons?"

"Since they came to me. I jumped at the chance to betray you."

"Why?"

"Because you're unworthy to sit the throne when there are others who would do right by the Fire Nation. Who would rule us with a strong hand. Who would provide sons and heirs to the throne. Madness runs in your family. Azulon was power-mad, sadistic! Ozai was even worse. Your slut of a sister is insane. It's only a matter of time before your psyche is as scarred as your face, Zuko. I don't want a mad king."

Zuko took the insult with barely a blink. "Who is the leader of the Smoke Demons?"

"You think I would betray them? You think I would stoop so low? I'm loyal only to them!"

"I always knew you were a toady, Guo's mouthpiece. I kept you on the Council because you had good contacts in the trader's guilds. I didn't think you were capable of an original thought or deed… You just say whatever Guo wants you to say. Is that the leader of the Smoke Demons? Is it Guo?"

Osamu grinned. "I'll never tell."

"Yes, you will," Azula said.

She had come up behind Osamu, who had let himself get too close to the bars. Like a snake striking, she shot her arms out through the bars and grabbed hold of the back of Osamu's robe. He stumbled back, slamming his head against the bars.

Sokka grabbed the crossbow at the same moment, whipping it out of his hands and bringing the butt against the Councilor's knee. The man cried out in pain.

"You killed her, you fucking piece of shit," Azula growled in his ear. "You hurt Sokka. You're going to pay."

"Let him go, Azula," Zuko said, striding forward as Azula lifted one hand. Blue fire danced along her fingertips, then lightning sparked from her thumb. "He has information that we need. We have him surrounded. He won't get away."

"He killed her," Azula said in a shocky voice. Sokka looked up at her, his swimming gaze focusing on her.

"Zuko's right, Azula. We need him to talk," he said wearily.

"I'll never betray the Smoke Demons. They'll come for me. You'll see."

"And when they do they'll kill you. Isn't that how this works? You failed, Osamu. They'll kill you to keep from talking."

"I'll kill him first," Azula said in his ear, bringing her hand down toward his face. Osamu squirmed, trying to get away from the heat of the flames.

"Azula…"

"You'll talk, you piece of shit. But first…"

"No! AZULA, DON'T!" Sokka and Zuko shouted together, but it was too late.

Flames engulfed one half of Osamu's face. The man screamed in pain squirmed in her grasp, trying to pull his face away from the white-hot fire. The smell and sound of sizzling flesh roiled through the air, making Sokka sick to his stomach.

"STOP IT!" Suki cried, starting forward, but Zuko stopped her.

"Let him go, Azula," Zuko said sharply, his voice carrying across the dungeon. Azula let go of Osamu's collar, the flames dying in her palm.

Osamu stumbled forward, his mouth open, the flesh on his face smoldering, burned red and crispy black. He glared at Zuko and reached for him, hatred in his gaze. He never made it two steps; his eyes rolled up in his head and he hit the floor in a heap in front of Sokka.

"Well," Sokka said tiredly into the sudden silence, "that went better than expected."

The smell of burnt skin filled the air with a nauseating stench that cut through Suki's shocked and horrified senses like a knife. She pushed past Zuko and skidded on her knees across the stones toward Sokka and Ty Lee's fallen forms.

"Are you okay?"

"No," Sokka said shortly, grimacing, his face covered in blood. "Bastard shot me in the leg and broke my nose."

"Oh, spirits…" she mumbled, reaching for the arrow lodged in Sokka's thigh. It was bleeding sluggishly and when she touched it, he hitched in a breath and knocked her hand away. "Sorry!"

"What took you guys so long?" Sokka asked through his teeth.

"We had to wait for the stables to clear, so we wouldn't be seen. We went as fast as we could. I'm so sorry…"

"S'okay…it's just a scratch," Sokka said and blinked sleepily.

Zuko crouched down beside them and surveyed the damage. "Sokka, you've lost a lot of blood. We need to get you to a healer."

"But Osamu said there were others. Others in the palace…" Sokka mumbled, leaning his head back against the bars. "We need to…"

"Osamu's alive and injured. We can get more information out of him later. Right now you both need medical attention. And Ty Lee…" Suki turned her gaze on the girl lying in a puddle of blood beside Sokka. Her skin was pale white, her mouth open slightly, eyes closed.

"Is she…?" Zuko asked her in a pained voice. Suki glanced up at him and took an unsteady breath. From the moment they'd rushed down the stairs, Suki had been terrified of the way Ty Lee had been lying there, motionless, surrounded by blood. As she leaned over her, she could see the arrow protruding from just below her breasts.

Please, no… Please…

With shaking hands, Suki, touched Ty Lee's neck, pressing her fingertips against the pulse point. She closed her eyes and held her breath, waiting, hoping. Tears started in her eyes, but she pushed them back, unwilling to give in yet, to give up hope…

After a few seconds, Ty Lee's pulse jumped beneath her fingertips, small and birdlike, barely there and weak. She let out a breath and the tears she'd been holding back burst out of her in a hard rush. She turned back to Zuko.

"She's alive! Just barely, but she's still holding on! We need to get her to the healers now!" she said thickly, licking her lips. Zuko glanced at Osamu and Sokka.

"Ty Lee needs attention more than I do. Take her to the healers. I can hold out for a few minutes," Sokka said, pulling himself up against the bars. Suki stared at him.

He looked the worse for wear, with his nose bent at an angle, blood drenching his lower face and chest, and the arrow in his thigh. He looked exhausted, and not just from the fight.

Suki glanced up at Azula, who was staring at Ty Lee's body in shock.

"Azula?"

"She's alive?"

"Yes," Suki said, standing and pulling the pack off of her back. "Here's some rope. I need you to tie Osamu up in case he wakes up."

"She's not dead…" Azula said, walking out of the cell. She stopped though, staring at Ty Lee. "She's not dead…"

Suki glanced down at Sokka, who had closed his eyes against the pain. This was getting them nowhere. It was time for action. With a hard exhale, she grasped Azula's shoulder and snapped her fingers in her face.

"Dammit, Azula. You need to focus! Tie up Osamu! NOW! We need to get Ty Lee to the healers or she won't be alive much longer. Do you hear me?"

Azula blinked, coming out of her half-trance. She glared at Suki and then nodded, taking the rope with a rough yank.

Zuko bent over Ty Lee, smoothing her hair back from her face with a gentle hand.

"It's okay, sweetheart, we're going to take care of you," he mumbled to her, kissing her temple. Then he scooped her up in his arms. Her head flopped against Zuko's shoulder, but she didn't wake.

Azula was tying up Osamu in the corner, pulling the knots tight around his wrists and ankles. His burned face looked like ground meat. It made Suki sick to see it. That done, she went over and took up another crossbow that was lying at the foot of the stairs.

Suki wondered if Osamu had brought two with him, but couldn't fathom why. The crossbow Sokka had taken from him still had a few bolts left. She had a feeling she'd find out the answer to that later.

"Azula, protect Sokka and yourself. And Osamu, I suppose. I'll send Suki back with a healer. I don't think you'll be going up the stairs any time soon, Sokka."

"Great. I can live down here. This place needs a man's touch anyway," Sokka said, grabbing the crossbow and putting across his lap.

"I'll be right back," Suki promised as Azula passed her. She shot her arm, grasping Azula's biceps. "Watch his fucking back. Don't you dare check out again, you understand me?"

Azula glared at her and then wrenched her arm free. "Get Ty Lee to the healer."

Zuko was already starting toward the stairs, carefully, but quickly, climbing them. Suki followed after, leaving Sokka and Azula back in the basement.

Things had definitely not gone as planned. Ty Lee was on death's door—what had she been doing down there?—Sokka was injured and Osamu was unconscious.

At least they were once step closer to unraveling the mystery of who was behind the Smoke Demons.

Somehow, that didn't make Suki feel any better.