"If have to defend my honour, I will, Zula."
The Princess smirked with a sense of confidence; although she new her brother was far less a coward than their uncle, she knew he could be soft, and that was unacceptable. He was the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation, now without a doubt seeing that Iroh hadn't challenged their father to an Agni Kai. His show of weakness was despicable in her eyes, although she was rather pleased with the outcome; her father remained Fire Lord, and thus she and her brother were his heirs. Her pleasure in seeing her position of power remain was outweighed by her feelings of disdain toward her uncle, the man who his nation called the Dragon of the West, a title that overstated his willpower. The only redeeming part of the moment was her brother's unwavering desire to defend his own honour, something that Iroh refused to do.
"That's what I wanted to hear, Zuzu." she placed a hand on his shoulder before she gestured toward the door ahead of them, away from the throne where their father was sitting, "Now, let's get out of here, before Father notices us."
The two siblings made their way back to the door, opening it before glancing at the guard who had begrudgingly let them through; he gulped with fear upon meeting the Princess's glare, turning around, as if to tell her he wouldn't say a word. She made a smug grin, her brother rolling his eyes at her antics as they walked on away down the hall.
"So... do you really think he's going to do nothing?" he dared to ask him, Azula sighing with frustration; whoever their uncle was before the siege of Ba SIng Se, he was gone, and had been replaced by someone she didn't understand, nor wanted to.
"He won't avenge Lu Ten, so I guess... he won't do much." she admitted, looking down, "He's not fighting in the war, and he's not the heir to the throne, so I guess he's just an old man. A cowardly one at that." she considered, making her brother sigh.
"I wish I could understand." he told her, "I see where you're coming from, Zula. He's... something's changed about him, and I don't know who he is."
She looked back up, unsure how to respond, "Me too." she simply mumbled, before she decided o change the topic, knowing that it made both of them feel uneasy, "Let's get out of here." she told him, prodding him to continue following her down the hallway, which he did.
"So, did you want to do something else today? Because I was enjoying reading my book, honestly." he asked his sister, who made a small chuckle, knowing that his idea was feeble in comparison to her own; she had a far better idea of something for them to do together.
"Yeah, maybe beat you up." she cracked her knuckles, making Zuko roll his eyes.
"I can hold my own." he declared, making her snicker in disbelief.
"Oh, really?" she questioned him, the Prince's eyebrow twitching with anger.
"You're on." he grumbled, before turning his heels, heading in the direction of the sparring courtyard; the two of them almost broke into a sprint, racing down the hallways, her brother taking the lead early on, but after a few sharp turns, she gained an edge on him, sprinting on ahead with a gleeful smile.
"Aha! Too slow!" she demeaned his efforts as she got closer to the courtyard, which was by that point in sight, the light of the midday sun shining down into the hallways from it.
Racing down the final stretch, she jumped up as she reached the end of the hallway, landing on the edge of the stone tiled courtyard; she raised a fist up into the air, before pointing a finger at her brother, knowing that she had already won in their fight of agility, "Now, let's actually get to the fun part."
Her brother panted, wiping the sweat from his face before nodding, taking a firebending stance as the two of them walked out onto the courtyard. The two of them moved around each other, almost as if he was replicating her own form, which he wasn't- not exactly, at least; Zuko's firebending was more loose than her own, less constrained to forms and brute strength. She might almost call him underhanded in his style, but that sounded more insulting than it actually was; he was adaptive, and that intrigued her, seeing that his skills and pure power were nothing in comparison to her own.
"Come on. Do something, Zuzu." she prodded him, the Prince sending a foot forward, spraying the ground between them with flames; she jumped over his attack and spun her foot around, sending a kick right at him, which he was barely able to dodge by side-stepping the wave of fire.
She shook her head, knowing that the power of her brother's attack was nothing compared to her own, considering that might be because he lacked the drive that she did, but she knew that when bark came to bite, he was more than capable of fighting. He wasn't in that state at that moment, meaning she had an advantage; Azula wouldn't be as stupid to aggravate her brother into beating her, as interesting as it sounded, she wouldn't have her reputation besmirched, especially under the peering eyes of their father.
He sent a few volleys of fireballs with his fists, forcing her to manoeuvre around them, ducking before spinning around, creating a ring of flames with her foot that he was forced to jump over; taking advantage of his moment in the air, she sent a fist upward at his chest, hitting him square in the gut with a fireball, flinging him backward. He barely was able to land on his feet, let alone dodge the next attack that came his way, a stream of flames she sent out of her two hands, combining into a tornado of fire throwing him back as he crossed his arms to deflect the flames; her brother wasn't very good at the offensive aspect of firebending, but he had certainly figured out how to use his opponent's bending as a shield. Azula's flames were wrapping around his arms, coiling like snakes, protecting his body while she continued to bend her attack at him.
She jumped up, breaking her stream as she rose into the air above him, using her bending to propel herself higher than she would have been able to reach otherwise, before she thrust her arm down, sending out a fire whip which struck her brother on the face, making him shout out in pain as he was flung onto his back. The Princess cushioned her fall to the ground with her firebending, before she approached Zuko, who held his hands up to his face, which she had mildly singed with her attack; he cringed momentarily as he tried to open his eyes, which were bloodshot after her flames grazed them.
"Damn it!" he growled sending out a stream of flames from his own hand, which she barely dodged by side-stepping it; his fire quickly dampened out as he groaned with pain, drooping down.
As much as she didn't want to get her clothes burnt of by an aggrieved twelve year old, she felt an odd sense of respect toward her brother, who had still continued to fight, despite the mild, though painful looking injury he had received to his face.
"Argh... that hurt." he mumbled, before he scowled at her, "Thanks, Zula." he sarcastically told her as he covered his eyes.
"No need to cry about it. Well, seeing I nearly blinded you, you might want to go to the infirmary." she suggested, offering him a hand.
"Urgh- yeah." he agreed, accepting her hand, "You seem in a more... uh- helpful mood than usual."
"I'm not. I just see who is deserving of my respect, brother."
"Zuko, get up."
The Prince rubbed the sleep from his eyes, hearing his sister's voice outside his tent; he momentarily turned to Suki, who had raised her own head, her face looking groggy as her eyes narrowed at the tent opening.
"What do you want, Azula?" she asked of his sister, who simply responded by poking her head in.
"This is important." she stressed, before her eyes darted to her brother, "Come on. We're going somewhere."
"Can you tell me why?" he simply asked her, the Princess sighing with frustration before she gestured out of the tent.
"It's better if she explains it." Azula simply told him, making him furrow a brow with confusion.
"Sorry... who?"
"Katara, you dummy." she answered his question before her head left the tent, her footsteps moving away from their tent.
He face-palmed, feeling frustrated enough already after what had transpired the day prior; he thought Toph was joking around when it came to the whole field-trip thing, but it turned out she wasn't. He didn't even if know where they were going, but if his sister of all people was being insistent about it, he knew it had to be important.
"Sounds like important. Life-changing field-trip important." Suki joked, making him turn to her with a smile.
"I'll try to make it a quick one." he assured her, "We have things to do, Avatars to train." he sighed, thinking how busy their schedule was; it was all Sokka had been talking about the whole trip on Appa from the Western Air Temple- that and food, of course, as everyone was already hungry when they left.
"Good luck." she simply raised a hand to him as he climbed out of the tent, pulling his pants up in the process; he didn't want to walk around with his junk hanging out, after all.
Tying up his belt, he glanced to his sister and Katara, who were chatting quietly amongst themselves, although he could tell from the Water Tribe girl's expression that she was both determined and angry to complete whatever field-trip she had had in mind. He distinctively remembered her saying something about her idea being impossible, but the fact his sister had dragged him out of his tent at sunrise contradicted that statement; the idea of Katara and Azula working together in the first place surprised him, knowing that other than the fact the Water Tribe girl was healing his sister's injuries, they had no real friendship or liking toward each other.
When he approached, he nervously scratched the back of his head, "So... uh, what did you need me for?" he asked the pair, his sister clearing her throat, gesturing for the other girl to speak.
"Azula told me something that made me realise that... well, what I want." she explained herself rather vaguely, making the Prince raise a brow.
"Sorry... what you want?" he asked her, confused as to what that even meant.
"I want to find the man who killed my mother." she simply told him, his eyes widening at the mention, sending a shiver down her spine.
"W-wait... your mother is dead?" he mumbled, not having heard of that part of the two siblings story until she just uttered it; Katara's expression turned to a grimace as her eyes darted away, being forced to think back to what he could only assume to be horrible memories.
"Yes. The Commander of the Southern Raiders... or at least that's who I think he is, killed her in the last raid on the Southern Water Tribe." she explained, making him place a hand over his face; his grandfather, Fire Lord Azulon, had personally ordered the capture, and if necessary, killing of the waterbending population of the Southern Water Tribe, in order to ensure there was no resistance to the Fire Nation there.
"He was looking for... you." He concluded, the two girls nodding, "I- we, we have to help you fix this."
Katara's eyes widened with surprise, "That... that was easier than I thought it would be." she acknowledged, before her eyes narrowed at him, "Why?"
"I understand what it is like to lose a mother, we both do." he eyed his sister, whose own glare moved from him to the ground, obviously feeling uncomfortable at the mention of their mother; she probably despised her when she had been loyal to their father, but now she was probably more uncertain that ever about her relationship with their mother.
"I didn't- you didn't even say-" she looked to Azula with surprise, Zuko realising that she hadn't mentioned anything about their mother or her disappearance to the Water Tribe girl, despite wanting to help her with an issue of a specifically maternal nature.
"That's because my mother despised me." she clarified, "Well... I certainly think she did. But she disappeared a long time ago, and never came back to save us from that monster." she spoke words that Zuko had never heard her utter, and they stung as badly as the pain of losing their mother did, because it was true; she could have taken them, and they might have been safe and free from their father, free to live their lives as they pleased, instead of being dragged into the hell that was their current familial situation.
"She couldn't have done that. No-" Katara began to argue, before the Prince cut her off.
"No, she did. The abandoning part, not the despising part." he clarified, dropping his head down, thinking how stupid he was to ignore that very fact; as much as he loved her, her actions had indirectly led to his scarring, his banishment, and even the very conversation they were having, when he considered it all.
His eyes turned back to face the Water Tribe girl, "There's another reason, which I'm unsure if my sister mentioned. Our grandfather, he ordered the raids on the Southern Water Tribe; our bloodline is responsible for what happened to your mother as much as the man who committed the act himself."
The Water Tribe girl looked at them with a sight tinge of anger before she shook her head, almost angry at herself, "No. You don't need to apologise for that, not now." she assured them, "Not after what you did." she eyed Azula, not Zuko, knowing what she did; she saw the physical carnage that had been dealt down on his sister's body by their very own father.
"Well, does that settle it? Are we going to do this?" his sister questioned him, his eyes darting to her for a moment.
He remained silent as he considered her own motivations, "Yes. But first, I'd like to have a sibling-to-sibling chat. Alone." he stressed, Katara nodding awkwardly before stepping away.
"I'll go... uh- have some breakfast." she excused herself, before walking off, leaving the two royals standing in the middle of a camp on some random desolate island neither of them knew the name of, at the crack of dawn, intending to hunt down the man who murdered their friends' mother.
"Why, Azula? Why do you even want to do this?" he asked her, confused how she had motivated her self to help her.
"I think you need to remember something, or rather, have it fully explained." she clarified, raising a finger to her chin as she lulled over what she was to say.
"What?" he bluntly questioned.
"Zhao's death." she clarified, "Katara filled in some blanks for me, so I actually have a better picture than I had before." she acknowledged.
"Oh, really. And how is explaining how Sokka somehow killed him going to make me understand why you want to help Katara?"
"It will." she stressed, "Sokka was in love with a girl. Her name was Yue, the daughter of the present chief of the Northern Water Tribe." he explained, making his eyes widen; he remembered that part of what happened, although he didn't know who the girl was, "She sacrificed her life to revive the moon spirit, Tui, who had saved her own life when she was an infant. Zhao killed Tui, and thus Zhao killed Yue."
"And so, instead of killing him, you let Sokka do it?" he asked in clarification.
"Yes. As much as I wanted to burn that snake alive, and do it your name, I knew that the loss Sokka had suffered was incomparable, and that would make his blood-lust all the more genuine." she declared, making his eyes widen.
"You make it sound like you enjoyed it." he mumbled, the Princess raising a brow, seeming confused by his words, which in his eyes constituted a perfectly reasonable concern.
"And you wouldn't have? Justice was served, quite finely at that, and I enjoyed it." she declared confidently, making him sigh; he knew his sister wanted Zhao dead to serve him justice, because he had nearly been killed, and in the end, she wanted Katara to find the same peace by ending the man who had killed her mother in place of her.
"Fine." he mumbled, before his eyes darted up to meet her own, "I understand. I just... I don't want us to do things that we might regret."
"You sound like Aang." she tried to mock him, the Prince looking away, ashamed of what he had done in the past.
"No. I'm someone who has actually gone through with killing another human being, and witnessed someone doing so to save my life. Killing someone, no matter how evil, is something I don't take lightly."
"What about our father?" she questioned him, as if it would undermine his point.
"I don't take that lightly either, but unlike this man, he's someone who is actively trying to destroy our world; he needs to die to fix everything, in the end."
"And what will you do if Katara kills this man?" she furthered her questions, Zuko's eyes turning back to face his sister; he wasn't the person to control others, especially when it was his friends, and such a personal and deep issue.
"I won't stop her. That's her choice to make."
"I need to borrow Appa."
Azula walked up beside Katara and her brother, all of them having had their breakfast and well and truly ready to go do what had be done. Her brothers inane questioning was frustrating, but she knew that dealing with Aang would be worse; he was the kind of person who would be shocked, if not disgusted by what they were about to do.
"Why? Is it your turn to take a little field-trip with Zuko... and Azula?" he eyed both of the royal siblings.
Katara simply looked at her with the same determined look she had had all morning, "Yes, it is."
"Oh. What's going on?" he asked her, his tone rather curious.
Azula almost wanted to laugh, knowing that his curiosity would proceed to bite him in the back, that being his relationship with the girl before her, who for the two was more intimate than a friendship, even if it was unspoken.
"We're going to find the man who took my mother from me." she declared, Azula taking note of Sokka rising up from his seated position nearby.
"Sorry, what?" the Water Tribe boy looked at them with shock, "You can't be... oh wait..." he mumbled, his expression becoming more annoyed than anything, "This is Azula, isn't it?"
"Yeah. That was my first reaction too." Zuko piped up, earning a glare from his sister.
"Umm... so what exactly do you think this would accomplish?" Aang asked Katara, who sighed and shook her head, walking away with a frustrated face.
"I knew you wouldn't understand."
"Wait, stop, I do understand." the Avatar piped up, garnering their attention, "You're feeling unbelievaable pain and rage. How do you think I felt about the sandbenders when they stole Appa? How do you think I felt about the Fire Nation when I found out what happened to my people?"
"This isn't about pain and rage." Azula declared, much to his surprise, "She is beyond that. This is about justice."
"I don't think so. I think it's about getting revenge." he refuted her words, Katara turning back around with an angry voice.
"Fine! Maybe it is. Maybe that's what I need. Maybe that's what he deserves."
Aang's eyes widened, "Katara, you sound like Jet."
Azula had heard about that boy, although she was unsure what he had done; what ever it was, it was comparable to what they were about to do.
"It's not the same. Jet attacked the innocent. This man, he's a monster." she argued, Zuko's eyes widening with surprise, and before he could make any response, Sokka stepped in, placing a hand on his sister shoulder.
"I know you're angry, Katara, but I think you should talk to Dad about this first." he suggested, making her flinch forward.
"What, so he can stop me?" she questioned him accusingly, the Water Tribe teen shaking his head.
"No. I agree with you, actually. Justice is something that is necessary, but you have to consider who serves it."
"It has to be me." she declared, as if he were suggesting their father do the deed instead, which he wasn't, proven by his shocked expression.
"That's not what I'm saying, Katara." he disagreed with her assumption, "I'm saying you need to think about the others affected. She was my mother too, and his wife."
"I know." she spoke in the quietest, least aggrieved voice she had that morning.
"The monks used to say that revenge is like a two-headed rat-viper. While you watch you enemy go down, you're being poisoned yourself."
"I have to disagree with that, guru-goody-two-shoes." Zuko raised a hand, "Do you even know why I'm here?"
"To defeat the Fire Lord?"
"No. To save the world... and get my revenge." he declared, much to the surprise of Azula; she hadn't really considered how angry he was about the things their father had done, seeing that he was acting the entire time between their return to the homeland and the eclipse, "If the Fire Lord wasn't my bastard of a father, I wouldn't really care about his fate... but because of what he did to me and my sister, I do. And Katara cares about this man's fate, because if she doesn't get to decide it, then that justice will never come."
She turned to face Aang, her expression seeming more pained than anything, "Now that I know he's out there, now that I know we could find him, I feel like I have no choice."
"Katara, you do have a choice. Forgiveness."
Azula, despite having better judgement, decided that was the opportune moment to laugh at him; he was so blinded by his own philosophy that he couldn't see the truth before him. Pain did not ever disappear, it could only be directed to other places; Zuko was an example of that truth, the Princess knowing full well that he never would have burned Zhao's face if it hadn't been for the mental trauma he experienced from his Agni Kai with their father.
"You're a fool." she declared, "That pain Katara feels, it can't just go away. You're equating her trauma to some kind of thing that she could wish away."
"That's not what I'm saying." he tried to argued in his favour, before her brother stepped in.
"No, it is." Zuko argued in his sister's favour, "You might think that's how the world works, but this is for Katara to decide."
Azula knew what she had decided, and agreed with that decision; Katara's pain could instead be directed away, although she knew that from experience that it was better to face one's demons head on, rather than to just place the blame somewhere else. She herself was guilty of that, knowing that her initial disdain toward her brother had been redirecting her feelings against their mother upon him; it was unfair of her, and she realised that in hindsight, knowing that it would have just been easier to despise her mother for the terrible parent she was instead of taking that pain out on her brother, who was truly innocent.
"Why are you two doing this?" Aang questioned them, turning away from Katara, as she expected he would; if there was anything, the Princess knew he would hate doing, it would be to argue with the girl he seemed to adore so much.
"Because we understand." Zuko explained himself simply, "We understand that pain, and we want to make sure she can rid herself of it." before he moved a little closer to the Avatar, making him feel uneasy, "Do you know what it feels like to hate yourself for three whole years? Because I do. And I can tell you with certainty, whatever Katara has felt since her mother's death, it's probably worse."
The Water Tribe girl had already climbed up onto the sky-bison at that point, making all of them look up at her with shock, "You're just going to take him?" the young Avatar questioned her, Katara's eyes narrowing at him.
"Yes. Because I think, no matter how you feel, you understand as well."
He sighed with dismay, before he nodded, seeming like he had finally given in to the fact of the matter, "Please. I don't want to stop you, but I want you to know, revenge isn't the the only way. Let you anger out and then let it go. Forgive him."
Those words made her face contort and turn away as she reached for Appa's reins; she was so determined that she was simply going to ignore him, and the Princess could even say she was in awe of it- it reminded her of Zuko in Ba Sing Se, who did everything he did to save both her and Suki, without compromise.
"Katara! Wait!" a voice called out behind them; Azula's eyes darted back, seeing Hakoda standing before them, beside Sokka, both of them with the same fearful look on their faces.
"Dad..." the Water Tribe girl mumbled, as her brother and father approached Appa, looking up at her with unease.
"Sokka told me what you plan to do... I- I don't want to stop you." he assured her, before his eyes narrowed, "Please. Do not think that killing this man will bring your mother back. I have learned that the hard way."
"W-what do you mean?" she mumbled, the Chief's eyes falling down; Azula guessed that he had committed some disturbing things, all in the name of avenging his wife.
"I've killed so many men. Especially those sea-raven bastards. The warriors and I have slaughtered full ships of them." he told her, "That hasn't helped me, it hasn't lessened the pain. You need to know that- that everything I did, all that fighting, leaving you and your brother. It was all for her- for your mother."
"D-Dad... I'm sorry." Katara's eyes began to water, her head drooping down.
"No. I'm sorry. What I did, what all the warriors did, even if it did help in the fight against the Fire Nation, it was selfish." he stressed, before he sighed, his expression becoming more serious, "But that doesn't change what happened, and who you're looking for." he acknowledged, before he threw her a bone dagger, which she caught with both her hands, "Do what I couldn't, and if you can't, at the very least make him know. Make him know what did did."
"I- I will." she assured him before her expression returned to its seemingly natural determined state.
"That is very noble of you, Chief Hakoda." Zuko made a curt smile at him, Azula just as well making a similar appreciative expression; she didn't know the man at all, but from what he had just said, he seemed be a far better father than their own, and actually acknowledged his wrongs.
"So is that it? Are you just going to go and find him?" Sokka asked of them, the three all nodding.
"You haven't really said anything." Zuko admitted, making the Water Tribe boy look away.
"Do what you have to do." he simply told them, looking away with a grimace, "I don't want to have to think about that day again."
"You won't." Azula simply assured him before she climbed up onto the sky-bison, sitting down on the saddle, looking back down to Aang momentarily.
He looked back up at her, Zuko and Katara poignantly, "I hope you do what's right."
"Right and wrong are beholden to the believer. Whatever Katara does, is by default, right." she declared, making her brother snarl with annoyance.
"If you quote our shitty father's inane philosophies one more time I'm going to smack you over the back of the head."
"Try me."
"There!"
Zuko's voice woke Katara from her slumber, and she knew at that moment that she was ready; she was going to face the Southern Raiders, and the man who killed her mother. She looked up and saw Zuko looking through a spyglass, eyeing a ship in the distance.
"See those Sea Raven flags?" he asked her, grasping the spyglass as it was thrown into her hands, looking through it to examine the ship, "It's the Southern Raiders."
As she looked out to the ship with a determined glance, she responded with as much determination as she could muster, "Let's do this."
She heard a grown behind her, coming from Azula, who had been asleep at the time just the same; her head peered up looking to the ship, "Are we here?"
"Yes. Get ready." her brother warned her, as the three of them sat on Appa's saddle, getting closer to the water's surface.
The Princess stood up, her fingers arcing down as if she was about to fire lightning on the ship; Zuko placed a hand on her shoulder, "No. We're going to use stealth, not force." he told her, the three of them sitting down as Katara waterbent a bubble around them, the sky-bison dipping under the water's surface.
She used her bending to make coils of water which she pulled up the edge of the ship on each side, using them grab a few of the soldiers, throwing them off the deck; as Appa moved further through the water under the hull of the ship, she lost control of her coils, but didn't worry, knowing that they would resurface soon enough. The sky-bison rose up on the other side of the ship, and she quickly began to regain control of the water, bending two waves up on either side of the ship, before sending the water onto the deck of the ship, throwing the men on-board off their feet and all but off right off the deck. As Appa came down to land on the deck, the group jumped off of his saddle, Katara immediately focusing on the last remaining soldier on the deck; he made a feeble attempt to firebend at her, only to be thrown off the deck by a funnel of water that she bent out from behind her. She glanced around the deck before looking to Zuko and Azula, who both nodded at her, seemingly in reassurance; the trio barged through the doorway, making their way down the central hallway of the bridge, Katara's hands ready with a coil of water around her arms. Suddenly, a door opened as if out of nowhere, and a soldier brandishing a broadsword popped out; Zuko skilfully grasped the man's arm, seizing his weapon as he threw him back into room from whence he came. Locking the door shut with the soldier's own blade, he turned to face the other two, who he followed on down the hallway. The Water Tribe girl looked toward the door at the end of the corridor, and the three of them stopped outside of it, the Prince turning face her with a serious look on his face.
"This is it, Katara. Are you ready to face him?" he asked her, his sister leaning forward with a similar face.
"Are you ready to do it?" she almost prodded her, Katara's hands tensing as she began to bend the water toward the doorway, screaming out a battle-cry at the top of her lungs.
The door opened, revealing a soldier standing in the middle of the room, who bent flames right at them, Zuko dispersing them with ease, before he sent another volley of flames their way. Azula stepped forward, swinging her foot around, deflecting the fireball to the side; the soldier, who she assumed to the captain of the ship, and thus the Commander of the Southern Raiders, stepped back fearfully as the Prince bent flames at him, standing by the steering wheel with a firebending stance.
"Who are you?" he questioned them, making Azula laugh mockingly at him.
"You'll figure that out soon enough." she declared, before she sent a fireball right at his head, the ball being flung back, screaming out in fear; the utter terror on his face made Katara realise he knew who he was dealing with, quite specifically.
"P-Princess Azula?" he muttered her name, returning to his feet, ready to send another fireball their way.
Before he had the chance to do that, Katara used her bending to grab hold of his arm; as much as it disgusted her, bloodbending was more than suitable for her current situation.
"What?" he exclaimed with fear, as his arm moved around uncontrollably, making Katara smile, knowing that his efforts were no use when compared to her bending; he tried to contain the movement with his other arm, but she simply thrust her hands closer, moving his body forward, "What's happening to me?"
She dropped her hands down, forcing his body down to the floor; beside her, Azula's jaw dropped with awe, "What is this? This is the most amazing bending technique I've ever seen."
"Bloodbending." Katara clarified before Zuko knelt down beside the man.
"I want you to think back. Think back to your last raid on the Southern Water Tribe."
The man simply stammered with fear, "I don't know what you're talking about. Please, I don't know."
"Don't lie!" the Prince almost shouted at him, pointing back at the Water Tribe girl herself, "You look her in the eye and you tell me you don't remember what you did."
She brought her arms up, raising the man to his knees, approaching him, despite how fearful he looked; his fearful eyes showed her the truth, and it was one that made her wretch with disgust- it wasn't the man she was looking for. She would never forget his eyes, and those were not his.
"It's not him." she simply declared, dropping her hands letting him free of her bending, "He's not the man."
Zuko looked at her with shock, "What?! What do you mean he's not? He's the leader of the Southern Raiders! He has to be the guy!"
Azula approached the man, grasping him by the collar, "Who was leading the Southern Raiders... seven, eight years ago?" she guessed when the man she was looking for would have been leading the Southern Raiders.
"Y-you must be looking for Yon Rha. He retired- uh- four years ago." he told her, making the Princess curl her lips, before she let go of him, making a grimace of fear, "Wh-why did you do it?"
"Betray my father, you ask?" she looked down at the man with disgust, "Because he's a horrible person, making our nation do horrible things, like what this Yon Rha did to my friends mother." she declared with a tone of confidence Katara knew had to be the truth, "You are lucky you're not the one who did it, otherwise you would have got your guts ripped out from the inside out."
The Water Tribe girl gulped, realising that is what she would have ended up doing with her with power, before she turned away, tears falling down her cheeks. She knew what she had to do, and any mistake she made along the way, it was worth the price at the end; the pain she felt, it had to dealt out properly, to the deserving individual, just like Azula told her.
"Let's go find Yon Rha, and end this."
Watching the man they intended to do horrible things to face-plant in a mud puddle was so poetic to Azula, she wanted to laugh; she refrained from doing so, knowing that it had taken them a long journey to find Yon Rha and follow him all the way to the middle of a field in some random poor shit-hole in the Fire Nation.
Her brother stood above him, looking at him with a disappointed look "We weren't behind the bush." he mocked him, acknowledging that he had set a bush alight a moment prior believing that they had hidden behind it, "And I wouldn't try firebending again."
Yon Rha covered his face with his arms, "Whoever you are, take my money. Take whatever you want, I'll cooperate."
This show cowardice infuriated the Princess more than anything, grabbing him by the collar and hammering him in the jaw harshly, with no firebending at that, audibly dislocating it, "You weakling! You're not even going to fight." before she spat on his face, dropping him down onto the ground, "I've decided it. You more than deserve what's coming for you." she declared, gesturing to Katara, who began to approach him.
"Do you know who I am?"
"No, I'm not sure." he fearfully mumbled, touching his jaw as she growled with anger.
"Oh you better remember me like your life depends on ti!" she shouted viciously at him, leaning in closer, "Why don't you take a closer look?"
"Yes, yes." his eyes widened, "I remember you now. You're the little Water Tribe girl. The daughter of the last waterbender." he remembered, making Azula grimace, realising the implications of his words, that her mother had pretended to be the last waterbender, and paid with her life.
"She lied to you." Katara told him, "She was protecting the last waterbender." she grit her teeth.
Yon Rha's eyes widened with surprise, "What? Who?"
"Me!" she screamed at him, raising her arms, which suspended the rain drops all around them, which began to rapidly accumulate, a dome of water forming all around them.
"Wow..." Azula mumbled with a sense of awe, watching Katara raise her arms, bending the dome up into a huge blob above them.
The Water Tribe girl screamed out a battle cry as she directed the water down toward her opponent, turning it into a multitude of ice spikes; the Princess's heart began to beat like a drum as she watched the spikes grow nearer and nearer. Yon Rha shielded himself, even if it were to be no use, but somehow, the ice spikes didn't pierce him, stopping only inches from his face; Katara lowered her hands, breathing in and out, letting the ice spikes deform into water, splattering all over him.
"I did a bad thing. I know I what I did and you deserve revenge." the cowering man began to ramble, "So why don't you take my Mother? That would be fair." he told her, making Azula scream out in anger; the fact Katara didn't kill him on the spot was bad enough, but that a man that was willing to sacrifice his own mother- he didn't deserve to live.
She grasped the man by the neck, letting her firebending singe his skin, making him scream out in pain, "You fucking degenerate! How dare you?! You think that would change anything?!" she screamed at him, throwing his head forcefully into the mud below.
She turned up to face Katara, "Do it. He doesn't deserve to live. I don't even hate the Fire Nation like you do, and I still want this man dead. The kind of person who could say such a thing, he doesn't deserve your mercy."
"Azula, stop it!" her brother grasped her shoulder, making her push him away.
"No! Zuzu! Shut your mouth! You don't get it." she shouted at him, before turning to face the Water Tribe girl, who looked at her with shock, as much as she could let on with the brooding glare she had on Yon Rha, "There's only one way this ends. This man doesn't deserve to live. So, either you do it, or I will."
"A-Azula..." her brother mumbled her name with shock, sounding unsure if she was truly sane; she doubted her sanity as well, but it didn't change what she saw before her- her judgement was still clear, and it told her the man before her was beyond saving, or redemption of any kind.
"W-wait..." the cowering man mumbled, "Please spare me."
"I always wondered what kind of person would do such a thing. But now that I see, you I think I understand." the Water Tribe girl walked forward, looking at him with disugst, "There's just nothing inside you. Nothing at all. You're pathetic and sad and empty." she told him, before she lifted her chin, almost looking like she was about to cry, "But as much as I hate you... I just can't do it."
Yon Rha cowered before her, and Azula swore she could see a smile on his face, watching Katara as she began to walk away; the Princess grasped him by the shoulder.
"You don't get to smile." she told him, almost as an order, his eyes darting up to her, "How did you do it?"
"Wh-what?" he mumbled, his face fearful once again.
"How did you kill her mother?" she questioned, Zuko looking back to her with a grimace.
"I- I burned her." he told Azula, who simply curled her lips.
"Oh, how simple." she almost smiled at him, before she turned her face into a scowl, "Well then," she began, filling her hand with flames before punching him in the chest, making him scream with agony, "this is a suitable punishment."
Katara looked back at her with shock, as the Princess relished in the suffering of her opponent; more than anything, she appreciated the fact that he had gotten what he deserved, even if it was not by the Water Tribe girl's hand.
As Yon Rha writhed with pain on the ground, she looked at him with a disappointed glare, "You don't die today, Yon Rha. Rather you will suffer with the consequences of your actions... physically, rather than emotionally, seeing that you're rather empty inside that little head of yours." she told him, before she raised her chin, feeling that she had satiated her need to see justice be served.
As she approached her brother and Katara, both of them looked at her with shock, "Wh-why did you do that Zula?"
"Because as I told you, you don't get it. Justice has been served, because if he has no heart, he sure must have a body; so I broke that instead." she declared, before continuing along, the Water Tribe girl's eyes widening as she glanced back to Yon Rha's clearly alive but grievously injured body.
"Thank you, Azula. You showed me the truth." she acknowledged, making the Princess raise a brow with surprise.
"The truth?"
"Revenge is just like Aang said. But that wasn't revenge for you, that was... that was just what you said it was. Redirection." she told Azula, who simply sighed, knowing that she had ignored her own advice.
"Yes, it was. So, I hope Aang hurries up and kills my father, otherwise I feel I'm going to go insane."
"You're not going to go insane." Zuko tried to assure her, the Princess sighing, knowing that he was wrong; her anger was like a disease, and it seemed like there no chance of it letting up.
"You're wrong, Zuzu. That's why father needs to die. So the pain can go away with him."