gemsofformenos: You're welcome. And sorry to hear that. :v Especially since it's not the fun kind of busy. It's the little moment of relaxation that are important. "The tension is rising with this little chapter." Indeed it is, things are getting a bit stressful for the pair. And it's about to get straight up angsty. But as you said, they finally get a chance to talk about things and where they stand with each other. "Sokka gives her an answer and the best one she could have hoped for." She's pretty thrilled about that lol, thrilled and relieved. "It will use their hopes and fears to manipulate them. Let us hope that his confession of love will help Azula and Sokka on their way." Hopefully ;)

Guest: I gotta confess that I'm not entirely sure what this means because I, unfortunately, only speak English. But I think that buen means 'good'. So I'm going to say thank you. :D I hope that you are enjoying the fic.

Therecklessone: "Not the type of swamp vision's I was expecting, but none the less perfect." Thanks! I sort of thought that it would be a cop out to just hand her all of her memories back via swamp ex machina. So she got a few of them but she still needs to go out and find the rest of them. "I loved how she is somewhat does not want her memories back as she now fears what she was." At this point she almost doesn't want them at all. "While Sokka seeing past Azula scared him into thinking that this relationship only lasts until she gets her memories back" Yeah, the swamp really amplified that particular fear. "Long Feng would be able to kidnap and brainwash Azula, perhaps as a method to torture her into becoming his." There are several people who aren't exactly fond of Azula who would want to brainwash her.

RadioDog77: lmao of course this site has a review limit. Like I didn't know that but, I'm not surprised. I'm happy that you liked the chapter tho lmao! I would absolutely wheeze if I opened up my story editor to fine a ~surprise~ random chapter about a book nerd beating up a royal fire jock. But Ozai may or may not be involved with this, that is to be seen.

MadMeijin: Nice to see you back in the reviews again! Thank you, I'm so pleased to hear that you still enjoy my fics. Sokkla is where it's at! Though I just finished a Jetzula one that will be posted during Azula week lol.

For the time being, Sokka relishes her tender touches. For once it is she who is doing the holding and comforting. "What did you see, Sokka?" She murmurs. "I can't talk you through it if I don't know what you're upset about."

He doesn't think that he should tell her that he'd seen her. Instead he says, "they were all over...during the war I dropped these people from an airship into the ocean. I didn't really think about it, I guess that I thought that a boat would come for them. Some of them were wearing armor…"

"They were soldiers?"

He nods.

"They were trying to kill you first?"

He nods again.

"Sokka, everyone that you've hurt has tried to hurt you or your friends first."

"I didn't hurt them, I killed them."

"And they would have done you and your sister the same if you hadn't." She replies. She grips him that much tighter.

"They were still human."

"So are you." She replies. "And you have the humanity to feel bad for it. If you were a monster, it wouldn't bother you. You wouldn't have seen it embodied here."

He finally manages to get his erratic breathing under control. Once again he is thankful for her logical approach and her silky delivery of it.

"There are people who are actually, truly evil, Sokka." She pauses. "And you're not one of them." Her voice seems to soften considerably.

"You think that you are, don't you?" He asks.

"I don't know." She response after giving herself time to think it over. "Maybe." He follows her stare as it sweeps over the pipes. "I don't want them back."

"Your memories?"

"Correct."

He wants to tell her that he disagrees, that he could love her even with her memories reawakened. But he can't seem to work past the fears. He'd been a fool to let things kindle this warmly between them.

"Yeah, maybe it's better if you don't. Maybe it was meant to be, ya know, that you lost them in the first place."

.oOo.

Azula's heart plummets, "yes, it probably was." She replies. She isn't sure why it stings so much. She is, after all, the one who had said it first. Perhaps she had been seeking reassurance, looking for him to tell her that she hadn't been that horrifying. She loosens her hold on him and he catches her arms before she can withdraw them.

"You aren't mad at me are you?"

"What, no…" She replies, it is all that she can manage without her voice cracking. She swallows down that unreleased cry. "I said it first, right?" She can't bring herself to say anything else. She gathers that he can't either.

The follow the pipelines in silence. Heavy silence that the swamp seems to amplify. At first she had thought that it was done tormenting them. And it was, as far as visions go. But it cloakes the sound of the cicada-mantis and the toad-squirrel croaks.

It is so very quiet and this time she doesn't have the words nor will power to break it.

She'd just got him to admit that he loved her and she is certain that they are already growing distant. He doesn't hold her hand as tightly. And she doesn't feel right letting him hold it at all. She has an itching impulse to dash off into the swamp and let herself disappear.

To follow the manifestations and let her false father 'get her back on track.'

She almost brings herself to a halt but ultimately decides that she needs to see this mission through. In part she is thankful for the drab and dismal mood, it somehow puts a shroud over her anxieties about entering the compound.

Sokka flicks his boomerang and when it fully captures the attention of the guards, she gives them a quick stun. With disguises acquired they quietly scope out the compound. It isn't particularly large but it is teeming with activity.

Wheezing and smoking machines pump spirit vine juice through tubes throughout the facility. She watches their cogs whir and their pulley systems work diligently to keep the vine juice moving. Tubes of the stuff bubble, glowing a faint bright purple. Looking at it all, she nearly trips over a bump in the floor.

She sees firebender and earthbender alike strapped to gurneys. Several of them are being pumped with vine juice. Azula cringes, imagining herself strapped down, veins beating and pulsing with a faint glowing purple. On one occasion she finds a waterbender, this girl bears the same scars as she. But there are more of them.

She begins to feel dizzy.

Dizzy and her mind begins to sway and disconnect.

Sensations are growing fuzzy and she feels as though she is drifting away from herself. Drifting away until she finds her face upon the body of the waterbender. She looks away and shakes her head.

"Are you alright?" Sokka asks. It is the first time she has heard his voice in well over two hours.

"I'm fine." She whispers.

She has to be.

She has to keep it together.

She clenches her fists.

"Ah, there you two are!" Exclaims a suave voice. "I've been looking for you." He points at Azula. Despite the chill that blossoms within her soul, raising each and every hair on her body, she keeps herself impassive.

"Whatever for?" She asks, thankful for the stolen masks and identifying badges.

"We believe that we finally have a success and we would like you to record the notes since he was your patient."

"Of course." Azula replies.

The man leads them down the hall and past a series of corridors. Along the walls snake veins of luminescent purple. A consent and steady flow of spirit energy that is readily available for tapping into throughout the complex.

She watches a door swing open as another scientist makes her way out. Azula only briefly catches a flash of lush green. There is a massive clump of roots writing and thumping like her heart in the center of the floor. She notices that all of the tubes lining the walls, seem to branch out from that single mass.

She can't quite be certain but she thinks that she had caught sight of bark...perhaps a tree trunk.

As she tags along and time image cements itself in her brain, she is confident in her theory. Along with the manmade tubes, she had seen vines. They don't grow from beneath nor sprout up between tiles. There had been no tiles at all in that room. It's floor is the swamp's floor. They had built this room around a tree and the lumps she has been seeing in the ground are its roots.

She shudders to herself.

They are drawing energy from the swamp itself, a seemingly infinite supply of it.

It is evil in a way that she hadn't even seen in the impersonation of her father. It is madness beyond the look she'd seen in her own eyes.

The room they come to is worse still. It hosts massive shelves, nearly filled with jars. Jars that contain tissue that she refuses to try to identify. "He is over there." The man points to an adjoined room.

The boy within is bound to the floor by metal chains. The earthbender trembles as they enter. "Go on, boy, show them." The doctor scoffs. "Firebend."

"But I'm an earthbender." He winces.

"Not anymore." The man turns to them, speaking mostly to Sokka. "I know that you're our newest team member, so I'll fill you in." He pauses. "This boy here, is the first success that we've had with an element swap. We have used the spirit vines and a few careful snips and cuts to the muscles surrounding his chi points to remove his earthbending abilities and fill them in with fire."

Azula's stomach churns. "That's brilliant."

The man laughs. "Of course you think so, you think that all of your plans are brilliant."

She forces her own laugh. "Because they are."

"Yes well, Long Feng wants us to create benders who can master two elements. This is a start, but we will need to find a way to do the transplant without having to get rid of the person's original element."

"Well yes, of course." Azula agrees.

"Now." He turns back to the earthbender. "Firebend."

He lifts trembling hands and lets a small burst of fire come to them, he flinches back as they explode in his palm. His face, oh Agni, his face. She has never seen such a deep look of horror. She wonders if he is in terrible pain. She knows that he is when she catches sight of the blood leaking from his arms.

Again the room seems to spin and the scars on her arms and belly begin to tickle unpleasantly. She feels faint. On her arms the boy's blood is reflected.

.oOo.

"Are you alright Aikara?" The man asks.

"She actually hasn't been feeling well this morning." Sokka fills in for her. "I think that it's one of these bug bites." He points to a particularly large mosquito-fly bite on her neck. "I heard that these things carry some gross sicknesses."

"Shall we have a look at her?" The man offers.

Next to him Azula looks as though she may blackout at any moment. Still she holds herself up right. "No, I'm fine for now." She pauses. "I will retire for the evening and…"

"Yes, that will be fine." The man replies. "Take the night off, but we need you ready for when Long Feng visits tomorrow."

"Of course." Azula agrees. If he didn't know her so well, he wouldn't have caught the slight tremor in her voice.

He puts his hand on her back. "Have a good night Dr...uh…"

"He's having trouble getting your names remembered." Azula excuses.

"Dr. Ting-Lao." He reminds.

"Oh. I almost forgot." Azula speaks and Sokka cringes. "How is Yion?"

Ting-Lao smiles. "She has been giving us some trouble. We only let one of her sons go." He shrugs. "She may have stolen the princess for us, but she wasn't able to keep track of her. A half an effort earns only half an award."

"Right, yes." Azula replies. "That makes sense."

"Good day then. Rest well, Aikara."

At his departure, Sokka walks with her back down the hall. "Are you really okay?" He asks, preparing himself for a second round of trying to fend her off.

"Just...get me out of here." She replies.

She doesn't let herself blackout until they are a lengthy distance from the facility. He scoops her into his arms and carries her through the bog.

.oOo.

It is dark when she comes to and she is greeted by a cloud of glowflies. They flash and blink around her like twinkling stars. She still feels faintly out of sorts, she sits up and shakes the fuzz out of her head.

From the looks of it, they have made it back to camp. "Have you filled them in?" Azula asks.

"Yup, and in full detail." Sokka smiles.

"Good, thank you."

"Yeah." He rubs the back of his head.

"Where is everyone else?" She asks.

"Either sleeping or finishing their dinner." He pauses. "Speaking of…" He holds out a plate of well cooked fish. "It's really tasty."

Once again, she resigns herself to eating it. Her stomach has been well and unsettled by the day's events and she hasn't eaten all day. It still doesn't make the fish taste any more tolerable. He seems to stare at the fire. At last he decides to break the quiet. "I shouldn't have said that, I was scared."

"Yes, nobody should speak kindly of this." She gestures to her meal.

He gives a slight laugh. "I'm not talking about the fish. I mean that I shouldn't have told you not to get your memories back. They're a part of you. I said that I loved you and that means that I have to love all of you, right?"

"Wrong." She grumbles.

"Wrong?"

"I don't love that you snore when you sleep." She shrugs. "You don't have to love everything about a person. There are some things that you shouldn't love."

Sokka lays down next to her. "That's the thing about love, Azula. Sometimes you can still do it even if you totally hate something about a person."

"But what if you come to learn that you hate everything about that person?" She muses aloud, cupping her hands beneath her chest and eyeing the fabric ceiling of their tent.

Sokka rolls onto his side and reaches out to take her hand. "I don't think that I will. The swamp shows you your fears, not real things."

"It showed me real things." She trails off.

"Like what?"

She continues eyeing the ceiling for a long time before finally telling him precisely what the swamp had shown her.

"But the swamp didn't account for this." He half smirks before moving her hair to kiss her on the side of her neck.

She hums quietly to herself, "I suppose that it hadn't."

"We're so close to figuring this whole thing out." He declares. "How about this!? I said that it was meant to be that you lost your memories? Well, maybe we should let fate decide again; if we can get the research notes, I think that you're meant to get your memories back. If this is another dead end, then maybe you are meant to not have them."

"I hate leaving things to chance." She grumbles.

"But you don't seem to want to make a choice."

She shrugs. "Fine, we'll leave it to chance then."