~Chapter 14~

~Siren's Keep part 2~

Zuko looked at the woman his face paling. "You-you can't be Azula! Who-who are you?!"

The woman smiled her gold eye glowing bright. "Why Zu-zu don't you know your own sister?" She pouted. "I'm hurt."

Zuko looked at his father who seemed to be in a complete trance. "What have you done to my father? What the hell are you?"

The woman let go of Ozai and calmly walked over to the bars. "Why, I'm your sister silly."

Zuko snorted fire. "No, you're not! I buried my sister! I held her cold body in my arms!" Tears started to run down his cheeks. "My sister is dead!"

The woman chuckled biting her lip. "She is isn't she?" The woman stretched out an arm towards Zuko. "Do you want to join her? I can tell you miss her dearly. You know she died crying….so alone if I could cry I might have."

Zuko made fire with his hands. "YOU! YOU'RE THE REASON MY SISTER IS DEAD? WHAT ARE YOU?"

The woman's eyes suddenly grew big and she shrunk back a little. Zuko narrowed his eyes trying to figure out what the woman was going to do next until he jump at an almost familiar voice spoke behind him.

"She's a siren my good Fire Lord." The voice was soft but it had an edge that frightened Zuko to his core. The Fire Lord wracked his brain trying to place where he had heard the man's voice before. "And most likely she is responsible for not only your sister's death but also your friend Sokka's too."

"How do you." Zuko tried to look at the person behind him but was stopped.

"Don't turn around Fire Lord, don't take your eyes off the Siren. Do that and you're a dead man. Keep your eyes on her and you might live to see old age."

Zuko keep his eyes locked on the Siren. "Who are you?"

"He is death!" The siren hissed. "He murdered my sisters!"

"I sent them too the Book Keeper, just where I'm going to send you!" The man's voice was stern. "Or if you come quietly and don't harm the man your coiled around I can escort you to the spirit world. It's your choice my dear."

"But North Star I want to stay here." The siren pouted. "Have you no kindness for your own kind?"

"No, I saw the memories of your victims the way you toyed with them." Ira practically spit out those words. "So are you coming easy or not?"

The siren put a hand around Ozai's neck. "New deal, you fight me if I win I get to be free, you win I'll go to the Book Keeper without a fuss and all those who've I'm entrance go free. Can you accept?"

Zuko's heart jumped in the cruel realization that he was nothing more than a pawn in this discussion. He wanted to look back at the man who knew so much so he could read his face but Zuko kept his eyes on the siren and her glowing gold eye. The silence in the room as man was considering the offer was enough drive Zuko crazy.

"Deal, siren. Now let's go somewhere away from these humans."

"And have your lackies free my treasures while I'm away? I think not. Let's fight right HERE!" The woman lunged at the figure behind Zuko her nails just catching the tip of Zuko's right ear as he dove to the floor.

"Get your father and run!" The man yelled wrestling with the siren. "Get everyone you can out of here!" The man threw the siren into another room and with a wave of his hand made the cell bars turn to rust and blow away. "Go!"

Zuko nodded and grabbed his father leading him out of the room and into new chaos.

.o.

Katara had seen the two people talking to seemingly nothing. She recognized the armor as something that Aang had mentioned and then she spotted the sword of black steel. She became pale. Was that the person responsible for her brother's death? Was he here to kill more of the people she held dear? Her fear turned to anger. Not if she had anything to do with it.

She hit the man in armor hard with a water whip. The man stumbled forward and turned while his companion turned and summoned a blue flam with one hand. She threw it at Katara before charging right through her. It was like ice water pouring through her soul. Katara had to catch her breath and turned to the female now behind her.

"You-your spirits?"

The masked woman nodded and pointed to the gate. She then grabbed Katara's sleeve and tugged on it with an invisible hand.

"You want me to leave?"

The woman nodded.

Katara took a step but stopped. "I'm sorry but your friend has my brother's sword." She made her water turn to ice. "I can't let him keep it."

.o.

Azula rolled her eyes. "Ugh! I'm trying to save your life! That's your brother let him keep his sword." She gritted her teeth. "If you could hear me this would be so much easier."

"Go try to get the others out Azula!" Sokka yelled sheathing his sword. "I'll deal with Katara!"

Azula nodded. "Fine! But watch yourself. She's a real water witch!"

Sokka phased through a waterfall attack. "Showing some concern form me Azula? Death really changes everyone!"

"I don't really care about you peasant but I don't want you to get your soul hurt….it's a pain I wouldn't wish on anyone." Azula clenched her fists. "Don't read into much! Just go fight with your sister!"

Azula left the two to almost immediately run through a wall and scare the living daylights out of Suki and Ty Lee. Suki fainted into Ty Lee's arms while she shook like a leaf.

"Wha-what do you want?" To Azula's knowledge Ty Lee had never looked so frightened. Part of Azula wanted just to hug her and assure her everything was ok like Ty Lee had done for her during those horrible nights in the asylum but she couldn't, not like this. Instead she grabbed a bucket of pain and as quickly as she could spelled out exactly what she wanted Ty Lee to do.
Ty Lee read the writing on the wall. "You're not going to hurt me? You just want me to leave with my friends?"

Azula nodded.

Ty Lee picked up the unconscious Mai. "Hey, are you a ghost?"

She nodded again.

"So do you know dead people? Well I guess you would. Odd request, I know, but if you ever run into Princess Azula, you know if you do that and she didn't get sent to somewhere awful, could you please tell her that I miss her." Ty Lee looked down. "And that I wish she hadn't run away and died. If she had come to me I would have tried to keep her hidden. I never told anyone this; that asylum I don't think they were helping her, I think they were making it worse and I'm sorry I didn't speak up and help her when I had the chance." She shook her head. "look at me blubbering like an idiot while you just want me to get out of here."

Azula watched them go before falling to her knees. The few memories she had of the asylum hit her hard like a knife to her heart. She remembered metal prongs and pain. Even in her spectral state she didn't feel safe anymore. She rushed out of the room to see Katara blast Sokka's armor apart scattering the pieces across the yard. The helmet and sword landed right by Azula's feet. She grabbed the helmet but froze as Katara came near and grabbed the sword. From across the yard Zuko appeared holding her father.

"Katara! We need to get out of here! Leave that woman alone! She's dangerous!"

Katara gave Azula a look before taking the sword and running off. Behind her a tower crashed down. The guards that had been milling around suddenly stopped in their tracks and collapsed. To her right Azula could see the flying bison becoming smaller with everyone that had come plus and extra.

Azula sighed and held the helmet up to eye level. "I don't suppose you can pull yourself back together can you?"

"I…. don't think so….I can't really feel the rest of me. She hit me pretty hard with that watch… I feel really scattered." Sokka replied.

Azula looked at the rest of the armor. "You look really scattered too. I'm not going to pick you up, you know. You'll just have to wait for your girlfriend the moon to do that."

Sokka sighed. "Great…tonight's a new moon she's not coming tonight. You can't do me a solid and help?"

Azula sighed. "I guess Ira will asked me to help anyway but you'll owe me peasant."

"Hey! I'm the guy who convinced Ira to come save you! I was the one that found you! I even died for you from this point of view you owe me." Sokka said indignantly. "I tried to save your life."

Azula put the helmet on a bench and picked up a glove. "Yeah you did such a good job with that. Now we're both dead but I won't say that it's not an improvement… I mean really life was not as kind to me as it was to you." She placed the glove under the helmet and watched amused, as it seemed to come to life."

"You were a princess in life! If you hadn't gone mad you're life would have been wonderful but you lost your mind! Speaking of lost, are all these guards dead?"

Azula checked the pulse. "No they're just sleeping. As for that lost my mind comment I didn't want to! It was the stress it just got to be too much! And-and…." She stumbled back. "Why is he here?"

"Why is who here? Azula I can't see who you're talking about."

Shaking Azula grabbed the helmet and pointed it at the unconscious man behind the guard. "Him! He's still here! You might call me evil, but him! He's a real monster! Worse then those sirens or the leviathan!" She backed away now clutching the helmet. "What if he wakes up while I'm still here? He'll try to drag me back! He'll-he'll drag me back to hell!" Azula was practically screeching.

"Azula!" Sokka yelled. "Calm down! He's not going to wake up. Now if you help me put myself back together we can leave. We've done our jobs."

Azula shook her head. "No! No! I can't!" She dropped the helmet and ran away.

.o.

Ira was nursing a cut on his arm when he walked into the prison yard to see armor scattered everywhere and no signed of Azula. With a wave of his hand he reassembled Sokka. "The Siren's been dealt with. Where's Azula?"

Sokka straightened his helmet. "I think she went home. She saw that guy and freaked out." Sokka pointed to a man whom he now remembered as a doctor from the asylum. "I think he might have hurt her in life."

Ira narrowed his eyes. "He did. Even in Azula's jumbled mind, she remembers that man perfectly and what he did to her."

Sokka looked at Ira. "What did he do?"

"I won't give you details, those are for her to share with you if she so choses but I will say this if he had killed her at their first meeting he'd be a kind man."

Sokka looked at the man. "Ira when Azula ran away was she running to freedom or away from him?"

"I cannot say for sure but I would not blame her if she was." Ira looked at the man disgusted. "Come let us leave before I burn him alive."

"I thought the living shouldn't fear the dead." Sokka asked keeping in step with him.

"They aren't but I'm not the dead, I'm a spirit and the living can and should fear me. Especially scum like him."

Sokka nodded. "Uh, Ira…I hate to tell you this but Katara kind of stole sword after she dismantled me."

Ira sighed. "I shall go an see if I can retrieve it. You check on your sister, Azula."

Sokka took off his faceplate to look at Ira queerly. "Uh Ira, Azula and I aren't related she's not my sister."

Ira sighed. "Maybe not in life but in death you are both my children which makes you siblings in my eyes. Just go and try to comfort her please."

"Fine." Sokka put his faceplate back in. "But I don't think she'll be all that responsive to my 'comfort' but I'll try."

.o.

Sokka found Azula sitting in the garden. She gave him a dismissive look before looking back at a rose bush. "You here to make fun of me or scold me for running away?"

Sokka sat down next to her. "No, I just wanted to check up on you." She gave him a look. "Ok, Ira wanted me to check up on you. I bet he'd be here but he's off getting my sword back and I'm worried about you too. Ira said that man hurt you."

Azula pulled her knees close. "He did, I don't want to talk about it."

Sokka sighed. "Ok, we don't have to but are you ok? I've never seen you act so scared before."

Azula looked away. "I'm fine. I don't need your pity or anything. I'll wait for Ira to get back of find Nix, they don't think I'm a monster."

Sokka was about to get up but stopped. "I don't think you're a monster. Not anymore. Azula you said you're happier being dead than alive, is that true?"

She nodded. "Yeah, dead I've got Ira, Heroto, Nix, no ones making me be perfect or putting me through stress. I like being dead, I feel loved and safe." Suddenly she started to sob. "Only one person misses me back there, only one! But here I-I like to think Ira and the rest would if something bad happened to me. When I met Anubis and he fixed my hand Ira came and looked like he'd start a fight to keep me safe." She smoothed out her dress. "He gave me this dress you know, said he made it for his daughter but since he doesn't have one he gave it to me." She gave a weak smiled. "Isn't it pretty?" Suddenly she looked like she was six years old. "Do you think it's pretty?"

Sokka nodded. "Very pretty…. Uh Azula, how old are you?"

"I'm six!"

Sokka nodded. "And do you know who I am?"

"You're Sokka! You-you, saved me from something." She blinked. "I can't remember from what but you did and…. are you my big brother? I know I have one and you saved me so are you him?"

A/N: Comment if you feel so compelled and this story might get a 3rd part or just feed into the next 'episode' don't know yet. Hope you all have a great day!