"I had lost some of my story progress one time, because the program crashed and the file was damaged after this incident. I only lost two chapters but I was so angry, because I had writen them very well, in my opinion and I haven't managed to recreate the exact form they were before from my mind. Different case, I know, but you have my sympathy." I feel like every time something like this happens, the second version is never is good as the original. "It seems to me, that Azulas attempt to end her life is a turning point for a lot of characters and also could affect a lot more." It is, she and Katara are both very crucial characters. For better or for worse, her attempt was a game changer. "Teo may have found a way back to his father and he has found a way to Azula." Indeed, I won't get super into his relationship with his father yet, but in saving her, he has gotten through to her. "TyLee is renewing her friendship with Azula and like I said, I think she will also start to support Mai." And yeah, even before the attempt she was planning on doing that, but the attempt-bad as it was, kind of solidified that goal. "Azula for herself finally dares to open up more to Teo, TyLee and Katara." And Azula herself, though she hit an all time low, has finally realized that she isn't as alone as she though. Unfortunate as it was, the attempt had pushed her to start making amends. As for the guilt, that will be rough. All of the characters feel it in their own respects. Zuko is actually really, really out of the loop and they won't be sharing this info with him as it would be detrimental to his recovery process. "And a threatening Ozai might jump in at every second, blaming Azula for putting more shame on him and his company and for blaming her, that as she had planned to end her life, she wasn't even capable to do it right." Ozai is not quite done with Azula, you are correct there. Though I won't get into that just yet. "But my hope is, that he simply wouldn't accept her as his daughter anymore. This would still be a hard strike for her, but on long term a less painful one." Yes, that would sting a lot at first, but it would do her well. "She doesn't blame Aang" That's correct, she was the one who told him to have fun, so he's in the clear in that regard. "And it's good to see, that she tries to offer Suki a hand after she was so mad with her. In this case Azulas attempt to comit suicide has also affected her decision." It very much did. She didn't want to put Suki in a position where she felt alone enough to do something rash. "The idea with the note from her mother and the way, Katara has reacted at this encouragement was a clever decision from you." Thanks! It was a last minute addition too. "Normally she wouldn't put Suki in such a misery and it may sound strange but it was some kind of a healthy reaction due to the situation, Katara is in right now." Yes, she's not thinking that clearly. "The air is not completly cleaned between both, but I think no permanent damage has been done to their friendship." It's a start, there's going to be some resentment, but she isn't going to write Suki off. "It's good to hear from my tough girl again, unfortunately some bad news about her eyes. This is gnawing at Toph and even more she would admit to the others. But her alien quote was a typical Toph, I think." I had to give Toph a little cameo. She hasn't been forgotten but (like Zuko) her story isn't in the spotlight currently. I had to give her some sassy remarks, but even those are hiding some fear. "I really enjoy my first High School Fic. Like I said, a good conection between the plots. Good job, keep on having fun with your stories." Thanks, I'm really happy to have your support and reviews while I'm writing my first really long high school AU!

Jet got loaded into an ambulance and he was getting loaded into a cop car. Jet the rapist, the predator. He got a cushy trip to the hospital. And he was off to jail. Chan cursed again, they ought to be thanking him, he was the hero in this situation. Hell, that Sokka guy was a pretty decent hero.

But instead of a congratulations they had cuffed both of them and were hauling them off.

"This is fucking ridiculous." Chan muttered from the backseat. "I saved her! I didn't do anything wrong."

"You have a record Mr. Haga." Remarked the woman behind the wheel. "In fact, I do recall being one of the officers to escort you home after your last incident." She paused and he knew that she was going to ask his least favorite question. "Did you take your medication tonight?"

"No, I…" What was he going to say? He couldn't tell her that he'd been drinking. He was horribly lucky that they didn't see any alcohol, and even luckier that he had parents who could pay them off if they did. "No, I forgot, I was a little busy."

He let the conversation die there, finding it lost under many layers of red. Jet had well and killed his closest friend and he was going to walk as a free man. He had been conversing with Jet this whole time, if it weren't for Chu-Leng, Jet probably would have been the one to fill in for Ruon-Jian.

He rested his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands. This was frustrating all the way around. Maybe it was time to call it quits, the parties, the cliques, friendships…

It took all of his willpower to not deliver a blow to the carseat in front of him.

Friendship, what a load of bullshit. The fake ones stay and the real ones die.

It was time to quit Usha too. When he got out of this cop car and to a cell phone, he'd cut her out as fast as he could manage.

He'd cut them all out, if he had to.

He tightened his fists, he was teetering on the edge of an outburst. All of those people in his house and not one of them would ask if he was alright. They'd approach him and make inquiries, sure. But those questions will only be about when the next party is.

They pull him out of the vehicle, and not gently.

He found himself in a room with only a table and two chairs and he wondered if he should be demanding a lawyer.

His parents were going to kill him.

Absolutely kill him.

And they didn't even know just what had transpired in their house.

A man sat down and introduced himself as officer Yu-Ron. Needless formalities. He'd been in this building enough to know the man's face and see his name tag. Yu-Ron sat down and sighed. "I was hoping that I wouldn't have to see you back here so soon."

"Yeah, well, maybe fighting cripples and shoving my ex wasn't thrilling enough for me." He wished that he hadn't said it, out loud it sounded as awful as it was. "So I guess I had to go and beat the fucker who harassed my friend until he died."

Just what the hell was he doing, dropping all of that without a lawyer in sight.

Yu-Ron nodded.

He had just dropped a blatant confession. Was bail even an option in cases like these? "Look, I was defending that...that girl, what's her name? We both know I'm an asshole, but even I have boundaries. He was trying to...he was about too…" He rubbed his hands over his face. "He was going to...rape someone. In my house. At my party. I couldn't just let him do it okay."

Yu-Ron remained quiet. A tactic that he fell for every time.

"Look, man, I think that he did it before." Chan sputtered. "That's why TyLee was there. Because she knew. And Ruon knew and that's why Jet made his life hell." He rubbed at his hairline and slapped his hand down on the table. "Fuck, man, I couldn't stop it from happening. I couldn't save my own friend. I couldn't let it happen again."

He was truly a fool offering so much information without a lawyer in sight. He leaned back in his chair and held his palms to his hairline. He released a puff of a breath. "I need my pills, man."

.oOo.

It was a relief to wake up in his own bed, even if it was 4:25 in the morning. He didn't know how many strings his parents had to pull to keep him from waking up on that stiff holding cell mattress. He didn't know if they had pulled any at all. Perhaps his own cooperation had done him well for a change. Maybe, saving Katara had been a good enough reason…

He was almost certain that he was going to be pulled in for a second round of questioning eventually.

Chan tried not to think about that as he brushed his teeth and set it down to find his comb. He slicked his hair back and sulked to the breakfast table. The house was still a horrible mess and his father was sitting in the middle of it, flipping through a news article. "I wonder how long it will be until this…" he gestured about the room, "makes the papers."

He didn't think that it would take a long time at all, actually.

"How many times do you expect us to do this for you? How many times are we going to bail you out? Did you know that we are going to have to cut back on our food budget and take a lower tier phone and internet plan for this?"

He did not.

"Your medications cost money that you are spending on parties and possible jail time." His father continued.

"One of these days you're going to do something that we can't bail you out of." His mother added. He hadn't even heard her rifling around the pantry. "From the sound of it you almost had."

Chan didn't want to do this right now. He fished his pills out of his pocket and popped two, he'd be needing them to take him through this conversation. He wished that she would just give the pills time to take effect.

"We let you throw all of these parties, Chan. We let you invite as many people as you want. We even let you have beer! All we asked was that you didn't get the cops called on you and that you had the place clean by the time we got home."

He wanted to scream at her, to throw it in her face that maybe she should have been more strict with him. It began to occur to him that maybe he hated their constant absence. That maybe all of this freedom was too much for him. Perhaps the spike in the magnitude of his parties was some sort of challenge. A way to indirectly beg them to tighten their rules.

"There are cigarettes all over the place, beer bottles, a bag of-I don't even know what this is! I even found one of your party guests passed out in our bathroom this morning! God, what else has gone on in this house that we haven't seen?"

He didn't speak fast enough so his father interjected. "Have you even seen everything that goes on in this house."

Apparently he had not. "It was a house party, of course I don't know about everything!" He hollered.

"A girl was assaulted in our guest bedroom!" Mrs. Haga shouted back.

"Yes! I stopped that from happening! That's why I was in…"

"You wouldn't have had to if you didn't host a party like that in the first place." His father argued.

"So what? Are you going to ban me from having anymore?" He questioned. "Maybe you should have been responsible enough to do that in the first place. You're my parents."

"We were trying to give you freedom." His mother rebutted.

"We have given you everything you wanted and then some." His father raised his voice. "We let you choose your own career path, we let you…"

"Oh for fuck's…" His hands were clawing at his hairline again. They were really throwing all of that at him. They were going to pin it all on him. God forbid, they ever came home to give him something to do other than party. "Maybe if you guys were actually around I wouldn't need fucking strangers for company!"

Maybe if he hadn't lost Ruon…

"Do not use that word around your mother!" Mr. Haga snapped.

"Christ!" Chan slammed his fist against the wall. "At least keep yelling at me for something that fucking matters." They were making him wish that he had woken up in a cell. He made his retreat, knowing very well that they wouldn't follow him. He wanted them to. He wanted their fury, he wanted consequence. At least fury and punishment was attention. But as soon as his foot met the first stair the conversation was over.

Likely it wouldn't come up again unless he brought it up.

They had better things to do; a vacation to be had or a family business to run.

He wished that their hotel chain would go under. They'd lose all of their luxarey, but at least he'd have parents.

He needed a distraction, something. Anything. He turned on his computer and glanced over his social media accounts. According to the drunks and the ignorant it had been a successful party. He almost clicked out.

Almost.

Usha had so kindly uploaded a few pictures of Azula. He knew he vowed to cut her out, but lord did Usha know how to create a distraction. He had his own image of Azula to share, he supposed that she would be a good distraction. She could handle it, she always did, so he commented on the post.

.oOo.

Monday passed by cruelly uneventfully leaving him plenty of time to think about Ruon and Jet. He stopped at Azula's locker with Chu-Leng and Usha to slip a few notes in the girl's locker. For once he was content to follow instead of call the shots.

He took his seat in June's class.

"She making this too easy." Chu-Leng snickers.

"Yeah, she really is." Chan agreed, watching the girl in question enter the room.

As Azula took her seat, Chu-Leng leaned over again. "I mean first she gifts us with a goldmine of photos and then she leaves us a nice window to put them all in her locker. This is rich dude."

He didn't know what Chu-Leng was expecting him to do so he just snickered along until his friend retreated.

As soon as the boy did, Chan wished that he would have kept the conversation going. Because now he was thinking again. He was thinking about his nightmare. It was a horrible thing really, he was back at his party but, oddly, it was he under Jet-his pants well and discarded. TyLee and Katara were there too, in later stages of Jet's sick fantasy. Azula was there too, the old Azula. Smaller and smug-er, with a wickedly delighted gleam in her eye. She was watching. She didn't care, in fact she was almost amused. She let Jet straddle him. She laughed as he did so.

Irrationally, think of the dream made him mad at the real Azula.

Irrationally, he wanted to hurt her for what she had allowed in his dream.

She didn't know…

By third hour he decided to skip the rest of the school day. It was a drag. At least if he stole away to do doughnuts in his car, he wouldn't think anymore. So he pulled his car into the nearest gravel parking lot. He shifted the car into first gear. His adrenaline spiking as he accelerated, he turned is wheel sharply to the right. He yanked on the hand break. Feeling the car slid and spin takes the edge off of the spinning of his mind and his world.

He didn't know how much time and gas he wasted. He didn't know how much dust he'd kicked up. It didn't matter because at least his mind had quieted. At least the adrenaline had calmed.

.oOo.

It had been a temporary fix. He was angry all over again and didn't have enough gas for anymore drifting. Not that it would help anymore, he'd driven ridiculously fast on Tuesday as well, that kind of adrenaline was losing its power. Dream Azula entered his mind and he latched onto that image as he emptied soda can after soda can into his locker. He finished each by violently flattening the can on the floor and whipping it across the hall as hard as he could, only stopping when he heard the tell-tale heel clicks of a teacher. He scrambled away, hiding in the crowd, waiting for Azula to arrive.

Her reaction was lackluster. No surprise on her face, no dismayed cry. He realized that she wasn't reacting at all. He was irked even further so he stormed up to her locker and slammed it shut in her face. "Thought that you could use a drink."

"Very thoughtful, Chan." She still wasn't reacting to his satisfaction. No, her voice was flat and emotionless. He didn't understand where her bite had gone. He almost let her walk away. But he couldn't stand it. He needed to coax that spark. He wanted her to lash out at him. He wanted her to say something awful back, something that would destroy him as Jet had broke Ruon-Jian. So he hustled to catch up with her and offered her a round two. "So, are you going to pay me for eating half of the food at my party?"

"I provided entertainment, you should pay me." She had given him wit, but the comment had no power behind it. It was missing the sting he craved.

So he pushed a third time. "That's true, it's a gift that keeps on giving." If he was going to rouse her temper he would have to do better than that. "Honestly, I don't think I've ever seen anyone eat like that! I don't know how you can eat so much at once." He added a laugh. But he wasn't satisfied with his insult, it wasn't even that good. "There's something wrong with you."

He waited eagerly for a vehement, world destroying blow. But Azula never delivered. Instead he watched her attempt to get comfortable in her chair. He had the opportunity for one more insult. He thought that this one would be good enough to earn him the mental slap that he craved. "Careful, you're going to break it!"

The only slap he earned Chu-Leng giving him a high five.

He almost didn't hear Azula mutter a soft, "probably."

Chan stopped laughing, had she really just agreed with him? She wasn't supposed to agree with him. She was supposed to get angry and tear him apart. But her head seemed to dip, she was withdrawing. Something in him stirred unpleasantly. The feeling only grew worse when the bell rang and he watched her leave.

And he realized that he had just created a new problem for himself. He wasn't just thinking about Ruon, TyLee, and Katara anymore. He was thinking about his stupid ex. His ridiculously pretty, highly insecure ex.

He wondered if he should try to catch up to her and apologize. But she seemed occupied at lunch and somehow the thought of apologizing to her sent a trill of fear down his spine.

.oOo.

He didn't see her in class on Thursday and his unsettled feeling grows. The feeling flourishes when they pulled him into the office. It ebbed away some when he saw officer Yu-Ron standing in the doorway. The man didn't speak to him at all as he drove him to the station. "So why can't we just do the investigation here, in school?"

The question went unanswered.

Yu-Ron led him into another room. Apparently Yu-Ron was just his escort. The woman sitting at the other end of the table had a stony and stern wrinkled face. Her badge read, 'Officer Park Yoka'. She addressed him coldly. "Do you know what involuntary manslaughter is, Mr. Haga?"

He swallowed. He had a pretty vague idea.

"Involuntary manslaughter is an unintentional murder, if you will. Perhaps you don't even realize that it is about to happen. It can be negligence or recklessness. It can be drunk driving. It can be a prank gone wrong. Or, it can, very commonly, be bullying."

His stomach sank.

"Around mid afternoon, Azula Kasai was transported to the hospital after she was found in her car with an empty bottle of diet pills and an empty bottle of klonopin..."

His throat ran dry as she listed a third medication.

"Among others, she mentioned your name multiple times en route."

He knew that the woman was waiting for him to say something for himself, but he couldn't seem to sputter anything intelligible. He hadn't wanted her to die, he just wanted to alleviate his school-hour boredom and look cool as he did so. He just wanted a reaction. "She wasn't supposed to…"

"Yes, that is why it is called involuntary manslaughter." The woman laid her icy eyes upon him. "You're very lucky Mr. Haga. Ms. Kasai is still alive. It would do you well to hope that the girl doesn't press charges."

Chan's mind races. His parents couldn't take another hit like that. He was going to have to wipe his social media. The officer seemed to read his mind. "Kasia is a smart woman, she has acquired more than enough proof to pursue a good lawsuit."

Chan leaned back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, he almost wanted to burst out in a fit of bitter laughter right there. He had dodged a bullet with the beating of Jet, but they were going to get him for this. He supposed that Azula would be the one to end his reign of terror.

He just wondered how many other people his ex would be taking down alongside him.