gemsofformenos: That's true. To be honest sometimes they're needed. It's better than just, BOOM! Next scene! I feel like that would be jarring and take people out of the story a bit. So I do transition chapters. I am happy to say that this new one has a bit more action though and that the next one will probably have more still. "To start to deal with the aftershocks of the events of the storm physically and mentally." And it is definitely only the beginning. "It also has let themngrow closer again." Definitely, it creates a sense of unity. "They all of them still have to face and struggle with their demons." Exactly! "You're ending with a closer look on Ozai's ones." And yeah, I've never done a dream sequence with him before. But I feel like it would weigh heavily on him to almost have lost Azula. "Awesome story. Just keep doing your thing with it. Take care of you and keep on having fun woth your stories." Thanks again and have a wonderful day!

It was over something so stupid, she could have probably forgetten about it entirely if it weren't such a milestone.

Sokka was absolutely convinced that angelfish and angler fish were the same thing. For some reason, it drove her mad and she just couldn't let it slide. After a certain point, she was almost certain that he was basking in his wrongness, flaunting it pridefully and adamantly rejecting facts just to spite and bother her.

She searched up images and presented them to him. She edited side by side pictures of angelfish verses anglers. He would declare that anyone could edit text to make it look like a real search and that all of her images were fakes.

And louder than ever he would declare that the fish were exactly the same. And when those antics became tired, he began stating that that 'angle' was a mispronunciation of 'angle' and therefore that angelfish do not exist.

Azula's face had grown beet with aggravation that day, her patience worn thin. She began bickering with him about other things; about how he was growing his facial hair out because he knows that she hated the scratchy feeling of it while kissing him, that she was blowing him off for surfing and Chan, that he needed to clean his damn room if he wanted her to come over…

It was endless.

She was certain that Toph was watching with a bowl of popcorn. And then he told her that she was too fussy and uptight and that he wanted to find himself a girlfriend that wasn't so high strung and argumentative.

She was thankful for her own stubbornness, lest she'd have tried to make herself more sheepish and timid to appease him. But she would have been fooling herself if she said that she, even if unconsciously, toned it down several notches. It might have been the product of a low mood. She didn't really speak with many people that week, no matter how many times Mai and TyLee tried to coax it out of her.

The following week she'd finally vented to TyLee who had nodded along and got teary eyed on her behalf. Azula sighed, the girl seemed almost more distressed about the breakup than she had been.

Evidently that was how things got resolved. Sokka had been passing by when TyLee's lip began to quiver. He turned around ready to scold her for making TyLee cry and then TyLee had burst out that she was weeping because the two of them had made such a cute couple and she was sad to see it end over angelfish.

How absurd it had sounded when phrased like that.

"Oh man, that is…" his face had gone so very red. "Wow." And he started chuckling.

For some reason Azula had felt compelled to point out, "you shaved?"

Sokka stroked his chin. "Turns out that facial hair nurtured and grown using spite is very patchy and makes you look like a backwoods serial killer."

"At least they'll see it coming this time."

That was their first fight.

That was their first break up and make up.

It wasn't their only fight but it was their only break up.

.oOo.

The storm raging outside leaves Azula with too much time to think. For awhile she and Jet wander the hotel hallways, stealing kisses when Ozai isn't there to groan or roll his eyes. But they feel somehow empty and she thinks that he is aware. Evidently she just isn't in the mood for passion and romance.

She can't quite place its origins but a feeling of sorrow is choking her, muting many of her other emotions. Jet, Zuko, and Katara have all gone to the cafeteria for snacks. She lies on her bed and stares at the ceiling, tuning in and out of Ozai's video call. She knows that the storm has broken the connection when she hears a muttered curse, "dammit." The only other explanation is that Nobu has made another off color remark.

Her father has only complained about the squeaky voiced man at every chance he got. "Nobu should be banned from our meetings, he is enough to have a person drinking again." Is among his most common declaration. It faintly humors she and Zuko both.

He closes his laptop and peers over at her. "Why aren't you with the others?"

She shrugs. "Maybe I think that your AA meetings are more entertaining."

"You can lie to everyone else, but not me." He says flatly. "Are you still thinking about the last storm?"

Azula swallows, it comes to her that, that is a decent chunk of her distress. But it is more than that. Much more. She finds herself staring at the floor with an uncomfortable fluttering in her tummy.

"If you want to talk, I'll be here…"

"I was going to let Katara die." She pauses. "Just like I let mother die."

Ozai inhales sharply. "Zuko is your brother."

"And Katara is my friend. Her family let me stay at their house…"

"I think that it would have been much harder to have lost your brother, yes. But you don't have to worry about that because both of them are alive. Even if Katara had fallen, it might have been for the best. She would have been with her brother."

She knows that he is trying to help, that he is doing his best. "That's awful, father." She says flatly.

He sighs. "You know that I am not a very comforting person."

She nods. "Yes. But I still want to talk to you."

"Well continue then." He prompts.

"I think that she is angry with me, she knows that I picked Zuzu."

"I'm not angry." Katara replies as she closes the door. "I care about you and Zuko more than you guys know. But I would have chosen Sokka if I had to make that choice. He's your brother, Azula and losing a brother…" She falters. "I can't even explain how it feels."

"Probably a lot like losing your mother…"

"Yeah." She trails off. "Can I sit?"

Azula makes room on the bed.

"Is that what has been bothering you?"

"One of the things."

"What are the others?"

Azula stares, with tired eyes, at her palms. She hasn't checked the mirror, but she is fairly certain that she has rather prevalent bags under her eyes. Decidedly, she is glad that she isn't on the ship right now. That in itself is exhausting enough. She lays down upon the mattress and clutches a pillow.

"You aren't sleeping well?" Katara guesses.

"Correct."

"Do you miss home?" Ozai asks.

She shakes her head. "I've been having dreams."

"Dreams?" Ozai inquires.

"About mother." Her grip tightens.

"Let me guess, she asks you why you couldn't save her?" Katara asks.

"No." She is quiet for a very long time, the knots in her stomach build and tighten. She bites the inside of her cheek. "She doesn't say anything at all. She just goes under and I don't see her again." She is surprised that she can keep her tone so level with such an intense wave of sadness is building up in her brain. "And then I see the bloody foam and the sand."

Katara swallows.

"I haven't had that dream in a while." She adds quietly. "I thought that I was done having them."

"Well, you were just put in the exact same situation as before." Katara points out.

"I know."

"And this time it worked in your favor." Ozai comments. "You saved your brother and Katara." He clamps a hand on her shoulder. "That is power, dear. That is something to be proud of. Carry it into your dream."

"I'll try." But, for as much as she fancies control, she isn't a lucid dreamer.

"I dream about your mother too." Ozai admits upon growing tired of hearing only the hum of the air conditioner. "She asks me why I didn't tell her to stay home." He pauses. "I should have. I had a feeling about that day and I ignored it."

There comes a flash of lightning so bright and then the room goes dark. The air conditioner's incessant whir is cut short, leaving them with only the sound of rain falling as heavy as the death they speak of.

"Why is it always like that? Why do we always feel so guilty?" Katara asks.

"Because, when there's nothing that you can do, the mind fills itself with fantasies of what you could have done if you had only been stronger." Ozai answers.

Azula isn't sure if this is true for her, but it is the only answer that anyone has ever given her. She grips the pillow tighter, if only she had seen it coming. And she thinks that, that is a better answer "We feel guilty because we keep reminding ourselves of what we could have done if we would have just seen it coming."

Her father suddenly looks so very far away.

Her head pounds and aches as it tries to work through guilt and grief so freshly resurfaced. Doubly so when Sokka's face slips into the mix.

The door crashes open.

"They found someone in the storm!" Jet declares.

"They're trying to get them out of the water." Zuko adds.

Azula nearly covers her ears. The last thing that she needs right now. She isn't sure why, but she gets to her feet and heads for the door.

"Azula where are you going?" Her father asks.

"To the beach."

"For what?!"

To be stronger, she notes to herself. For who, she isn't sure. Perhaps only herself, to prove that she can beat the storm and the ocean more than it has beaten her. She had lost her mother and Sokka to it but she has kept if from stealing Zuko twice and Katara once. She will fight the ocean until the score is so tipped in her favor that the nightmares will cease.

"You are not going out there!" His voice is raised but she keeps walking.

She feels his hand clamp around her wrist, bruisingly hard. This time she doesn't flinch. "Let go, father." He is already dragging her back into the room. "Would it matter if I said that you're hurting me?"

"I'm hurting you?" He asks. "That storm will hurt you more than I ever can."

"I'm going to help them rescue the sailor, father. I am going to do it so that the nightmares will stop. I am strong, I know what is coming. This time I am going to stop it."

Ozai rubs his hands over his face. "You enjoy raising my blood pressure, don't you?" He asks. "We'll go out there together."

"I'll go too." Zuko replies.

"So, you wanna watch TV or something?" Jet asks Katara.

"First of all, the power is out. Second of all, if they're going into the storm, so am I."

Jet groans. "And I thought that my reckless hero syndrome was bad."

Azula narrows her eyes as she makes her way down the hall. She has already decided the outcome of this fight. The storm won't fracture another family. The dreams will leave her mind.