AN: I keep forgetting I can make these author note things. Anyway, big thanks to the fantastic reviews. Great for my confidence to see I'm doing this right! Chapter7 was well received so I hope this delivers on the hype!

(VIII)

The day of reckoning was here. Following her failed coup de tat, Azula was kept under heavy guard within her room. She'd managed to sleep well enough. Self-soothing promises of rulership had a way of softening the anxiety bubbling within her chest. But she had no time for anxiety. No time for weakness. She'd chose her path and she intended to walk it to completion.

When dawn came, Azula had been ready. Fitted in her regal Fire Nation battle armour, the golden hairpin perched elegantly atop her bun, flanking her eyes two ebony bangs dangled in perfect symmetry. The armour was ceremonial proper appearances fitting the future Fire Lod were important impressions. The Agni Kai would, of course, be fought with the traditional garb she already wore beneath the metal shell.

"It is time, Princess." Azula shifted her gaze where she stared into the mirror. Studious eyes taking in her own features.

You look just like your mother.

Was that so bad? Mother was beautiful. Azula scoffed, Weak, too.

She pushed such trivial matters aside. Her mind returning with purpose to the present.

Azula had a second Throne to conquer.

The Guards escorted Azula to the Agni Kai arena enclosed beside the Palace's looming structure. The cast iron doors unfurled with a groaning creak as the guards hauled them aside. The room bathed in soft shadows cast by rows of torches. Metal stands stood before golden pillars, adding their own flames to the glow. It would all be hers soon. Every step was thick with trepidation, within, the walls were flanked with immutable statues of molten rock wreathed in crimson. Some were Fire Lords of ages past, others were animals and spirits. Sharp halberds stamped into the floor with a rhythm like beating drums.

She could kill them all with a flick of her wrists. Azula knew she could. No other firebender alive commanded the blue flame: Not her father, not Zuko, not any man in this room... But had to kill but one monster to fulfil her destiny.

Azula strolled in without a slither of fear. A regal bearing every bit the image of what a Fire Lord should be. She just had to defeat the Pretender to her throne. Her Empire. Simple as the dawn's coming.

The endless rows of guards created a sturdy road to the Agni Kai duelling stand, each step carried further forth by their drumming. Azula cast her eyes out to the large crowd with a smirk. Generals were marked by their grandiose scarlet breastplate and heavy dragon-masked pauldrons. Palace Officials and Calderan nobility wore long robes red like blood, made from the best material their greedy pockets could buy. The Fire Sages hummed, their voices deep, singing songs of flame.

"On this day, the histories will record that an Agni Kai for the Throne was fought. This is to determine the Fire Lord of our great nation." The High Sage turned to Azula slowly, her offences buried in the face of tradition. "The challenge was issued by Princess Azula, of the Fire Nation, daughter to Fire Lord Ozai." Then he moved to Ozai, open palms beckoning for the crown. Ozai huffed and handed the crown to the High Sage. "She will fight her father, the current reigning Fire Lord, Ozai."

Azula spied Zuko lingering behind the pillar closest to Ozai's back. Clutching to the shadows like a coward. She couldn't hold the sneer that took her face by storm.

The High Sage returned to the centre, thrusting his arms up so the crown was in sight of all, it gleamed in the firelight with majesty. Azula hummed, it would look quite fine atop her head. "The rules are simple. The fight will continue until death or surrender. If anyone should interfere on behalf of a duellist, then the Agni Kai is forfeit. If either combatant exits the bounds of this arena, they are defeated. Lightningbending is prohibited, if a duellist should lightningbend, they surrender the crown."

The High Sage stepped back. He walked from the arena to join the interlocked ring of Fire Sages who circled the duelling grounds in a wall of red robes. Each one moved their arms up, flames spread across their conjoined hands into a stable inferno that pulsed along woven strings into a great wall of fire.

This was a real Agni Kai. Reminiscent of the guards who contained her skirmish with Zuko, only so much more power was at stake.

Couldn't have the combatants killing half the room now, could they? Azula needed those servants for her victory.

Ozai stepped forward, his bare skin tightened, hard muscles rippled in the light. "I had such hopes for you." His voice mocked, uncaring and cruel. "But you betrayed me. You betrayed the Fire Nation. Your punishment will be severe."

Azula bit back a hateful grin, "It's only treason if I lose, dear father." She let the armour fall to the ground beneath her with a clatter. "And losing isn't part of my plans."

Her own body tensed. She was no brutish tower of mass like her father, but even at fifteen she'd been raised for war. Broad shoulders thrust out with power and Azula's hands now carved a line in front of her as she faced him, muscles baring fangs at the threat lurking between her and the throne.

The Challenger's chest was wrapped in tight red fire-resistant binding, crimson pants stretched down her legs into metal guards that squashed the material along her shins and lower feet. Traditional wear of the Agni Kai, if slightly appropriated for her sex. Her first act of Fire Lord would be to do away with the silly male-leaning preference in both the military and the firebenders. Her brother was evidence of the mistake such leanings caused.

She stepped forward with her right foot. Ozai's neutral mask slipped into a frown, he moved his left leg aside and punched his fist out and crawled into a deep squat.

Trepidation took the room. The firewalls grew hotter and more stifling. Azula felt beads of sweat licking across her back and dripping down her forehead.

Stretching silence... the whispering of flames... low hymns in the walls.

"BEGIN!" The High Sage's command cut through the tension like a flaming knife.

It exploded into uncontrollable wildfire.

Azula slid her left foot along the ground and an arch of blue flames thrust from pointed fingers and barrelled forth in a swirling blaze. Ozai stepped into the attack with a violent punch that sent a wider, more terrible, beam of fire smashing into the cerulean glow of Azula's. It mattered little to her. She was more skilled. She was faster than he was.

The orange flames ripped down the blue beam and Azula's grin never faltered. She flipped to the side into a fluid cartwheel, a keen evasion, before jettisoning into the air on a wave of blue. She turned her bitter gaze to Ozai and peppered him with blasts. He grimaced as he pulled his foot back and slammed a shield into the path of her projectiles. Then, he thrust both arms out and pushed the shield into a charging net, snapping and crunching along the air.

The Agni Kai challenger would not be deterred by meagre bending such as this!

Azula threw her arms aside and let her fire roast the ground in a shockwave that sent relentless tendrils charging across the arena. The net grew closer. Azula huffed and serrated both feet with fire and slammed through the flaming net with a doublekick, she sucked in a breath and let her feet release at the end of her kick to send a slicing blade of blue spiralling back—turning his own net against him alongside a wave of her own slicing cerulean.

The Fire Lord allowed the charging waves of fire to spread into his skin, he pulled control of the heat and destructive force into his own chi, bending and twisting the roaring blaze into his own instruments. Azula's bladed slice carved the air moments after the net. Azula smirked as her indomitable father was forced to dodge aside with a propelling gust of fire.

Ozai returned her smirk with his own grin. He stood with a bloodthirsty roar and unleashed the captured flames of the returned net into a single impossible mass that seared the whole width of the arena.

Azula's eyes widened in brief panic, but she hardened her resolve, allowing control to settle into her mind. Massive though the range may be, she only needed one precise punch to breach through. With deft agility and great speed she plummeted down through the fireball's mass whilst wreathing herself in her azure armour. The flames groaned and sizzled against her blue armour but the encasing protection was impervious to even her father's power. Azula was poised to slam right into her father like Sozin's own Comet...

But his leg darted out and smashed through the flaming protection with less than a moment to spare before she reached him.

Azula gasped as blue flames from her armour scattered across the ground in hapless embers. There was a light gash on her cheek, the trickle of blood dripped on a cautious finger.

I'm bleeding, golden eyes only hardened with retaliatory promise.

She sucked in a breath as she recovered from the impact. Unwilling to fully accept her father's surprising martial prowess she leapt forward as blue flaming daggers emerged in her hands. Azula renewed the assault. A flurry of punches and kicks. A leg sweep that Ozai stepped over. A triple roundhouse which he shielded with his own fire. Her offense was crisp and perfect, every form was done with elite precision, her mastery of martial arts was as legendary as ever. Blue daggers singed the air with glittering sparks and her flaming feet jabbed and probed, striking bone and beating muscle.

But every strike was invited. Blocked. There wasn't a single chink in her father's defence.

Azula felt the first seeds of doubt settle into her stomach as she punched out and her flaming dagger thrust was swept aside by his hand, she wiced as her wrist bent at a horrifying angle but before the bone could snap she did a frontflip to recalibrate her movement and broke his hold with a counter-grip. Her own attempt was hopeless. Oai barely shifted a foot to dismantle her own hold. He was far too large, far too strong...

Martial arts was not her path to victory.

"I thought I taught you better." Ozai's sneer was menacing. Azula's mask faltered and for a timeless moment, she felt small and helpless beneath his glare.

Then he pushed forth with a flaming front kick and the moment of doubt was over. Azula was pushed back but stopped the kick with a downwards cross-block. But she wasn't allowed to recover there, Ozai pressed his advantage with a furious onslaught of his own strikes and kicks.

Her Father fought enraged and violent, not at all like the calculated elegance in Azula's technique. But it hardly mattered. She wasn't strong enough to contest his sloppy form, wasn't powerful enough to break through his flames. And his rage and violence, unlike Zuko's, was controlled.

Ozai's ruinous smirk lit his face as his shin cracked into Azula's calf leg. She collapsed wide-eyed to the ground, air fleeing lungs as she desperately gasped for breath, Azula's hands darted to her sides and fire burst from her palms. She sailed across the stone and felt the raw heat of the explosive fireball that shattered the ground where she'd been.

Azula wasn't smirking anymore.

She was breathing heavily, heavier than him, but he wasn't untouched. Ozai's skin was marred in the smallest flicker of red near his elbow, light burns, and she spied swelling on his cheek. Even blocking her strikes, her blows hurt, her glancing strikes more so. It didn't matter... A war of physical attrition was against her. Her durability was great but she'd be a fool to deny his was greater, and so far, she was the more hurt of the two.

Another breath rocked her body, hard eyes scanning his visage. She had to tire him out. Bait him into an attack…

Azula flipped to her feet in one motion, turning to Ozai haughtily. "Can't even beat a young girl before an audience of your most loyal Generals, Father?" She mocked with a grim smile. "Pathetic."

Ozai didn't crack, but he was angry. His waist coiled forth in a double-body punch that sent serpentine flames zipping along the ground like chains, then he pulled back just as they reached Azula's defence, his hands raised and slammed together and the flames flared brighter as he held the fire whips in hand.

Azula's mind flashed with concern. She'd thrown a defensive cocoon up by reflex, but he had no intention of breaking her cocoon. He meant to seize it with fiery tendrils and throw her from the arena.

Very tricky, Father. Very tricky indeed.

She dived from the protection just as the whips surged forth. Azula allowed one to continue its pursuit and ducked low into the splits. The other whip thrust towards her body and she stepped back and twisted as she moved, her legs pushed off the ground thrusting her horizontally into the immolating air. She stared at the whip as it sailed inches from her face.

Time seemed to slow...

Then it swept by and she dropped to her feet in a graceful crouching roll. Azula used that momentum to throw her own beam of fire at Ozai in retaliation. He swept the flame aside and punched another of his own, though she didn't miss how the scattered blue fire struck his shoulder and earned him a wince.

She stood and cut through his counter-flames with a spinning backfist then leapt into a practiced combination of kicks, each one brought further harrying fireballs against her opponent's massive form. The same combination she'd used to put Zuko on the backfoot. He countered with a single burning pillar of light. Father wasn't Zuko. Azula grimaced and flipped to the side, evasively countering with a wall of flame that slammed the pillar's charge into a dispersing halt.

Her father had little use for intelligent battle thoughts. Great as he was, powerful as he was, the man was a hammer made to beat on nails. Azula was intelligent. Enough to use a fire wall in ways fire walls were never meant to be used. She pushed the flaming wall forward, circling her hands as she took control of each singular inch of the flames, then, as it neared, she manipulated the strings of fire like puppets. Her fist slammed into her palm...

…And the fire wall splintered into a premature series of small explosions that rocked the Fire Lord from his feet.

Ozai let out an audible grunt as he was thrown across the ground. Azula would've smirked had she not had a keener eye. He'd blocked the impacts with a thin flaming shell.

He was unharmed.

Though his pride is certainly wounded.

Azula pushed the attack. This time flaming spikes shined into a mass behind her and she sent them racing forward to skewer and impale. Her father roared. His hand slammed into the ground and the obsidian rock seemed to erupt with bathing clumps of fire. Azula's own attack was absorbed into his, added to the bolt of rolling red that surged in and out of the ground beneath them. He let out a grim chuckle as his whole body began to blaze with fire, pouring more and more chi into the veins of the earth itself. The arena erupted, cracks in the ground surged like volcanos, the heat was beyond reckoning. Beyond imagining.

Azula went wide-eyed, a silent breathless gasp of fright pulled from her throat.

So much fire…

Her own words laughed at her.

What kind of firebender winced from fire?

Fear. Real fear. She'd never experienced it before, not like this...

Not since the night mother left.

She couldn't predict an attack she couldn't see. The burning geysers grew closer still. There was no escape. Azula slammed her forearms together as a larger bubble of blue fire enveloped her in a tight embrace. She waited. She waited to ride out this storm. Her father's might was boundless, but his energy was not. An attack of this magnitude was taking everything he had... She hoped.

She had to hope. If he tired, she could move to counter… To win… She was losing the exertion game. Tiring him out was a failing strategy. He needed to tire himself out. Then... one decisive blow. Yes, that's it. Finish this now. She could end him as he poured his will into this terrible attack.

He was vulnerable.

Azula tensed as her muscles boiled beneath her exhaustion. Then a yelped cry pushed from her throat as she felt the flaming geysers finally reach her, piercing into her defence, shredding the blue armour into mists. With each curling tendril she poured more of herself into the blue flames. The shell grew brighter, harder, even as she grew weaker. She took hold of the fiery bubble and pushed outwards with all her might. A loud scream crawled from her throat. Then the shell exploded outwards, rippling and morphing, it slammed the terrible geyser away. Blue flames immolated the arena, enveloping the red, devouring it, eating it. They bathed the flaming walls of the Agni Kai's barrier until nothing but cerulean remained. The impact was so great the entire room shuddered and every inch of the battlefield was ensnared in flickers of blue fire.

The Princess felt her energy sap away as she slunk to her knees, harsh panting breaths wobbled her nauseatingly weary form, raspy and low. The pain in her throat was suffocating. Tears clung to her eyes, pulled from the exhaustion of battle.

It had to be enough. She'd given everything, all she had, all she could. Never had the Lord of the Blue Flame pushed herself to such an extreme.

Azula stared up through the fading blue flames...

…And her heart wrenched in her chest and a pit of dread settled into her stomach. "No—"

"Yes!" Her father cut her off with a bark, stalking forward, skin blackened but not burned, breath heavy but controlled.

Azula realized with horrifying clarity she'd succumbed to the very plan she elected to beat him with. She tired herself out.

Before she had a chance to comb the battle for every little mistake, Ozai's hand thrust out.

Dancing fires glittered in the blue blaze.

And Azula screamed. Hot white pain invaded every nerve she possessed. Her mind recoiled against the sensation of scorching flesh. She knew all about the appliance of such pain, but not so much how to receive it…

She could only curl into herself and shiver on the floor, begging, pleading for feeling to return. The pain died into an angry throbbing and she flexed her bicep. Feeling. She could move her shoulder. The muscle hadn't been charred, which meant it wasn't third degree. That was good. Even if the fires bathed her upper right arm, across her shoulder, her upper right back, reaching for her neck...

If there's feeling. The skin will heal. This was not his punishment... This was his victory.

Azula hissed with newfound defiance.

"The Agni Kai is over. The defender will remain Monarch. Fire Lord Ozai has won." The High Sage's voice mocked her, offended her, the sound of the fire walls falling. The Agni Kai being over...

Azula's face contorted wildly and enraged, she punched up at Ozai with fleeting might. A loud thunderclap crackled through her fingers and Ozai's face morphed into brief panic as he leaned aside as the arcing electricity carved past by a hair's breadth and smashed into a pillar causing a cascade of rubble.

If she wasn't heaving her breaths with abandoned fury, she'd be startled to note she'd generated lightning instantaneously.

"You embarrass yourself." Ozai chided as he gripped her wrist, agitating Zuko's gracious gift, then wrenching it aside harshly. Azula bit back pain and tears. Her wrist burned and broken now. Not that that mattered at all.

It was the failure that hurt most. Defeat. A horrible, nasty infection that settled on her skin like filth.

"I should kill you, but that hardly seems fitting." The Fire Lord threw her arm aside and the Princess winced. "Death is too good for you. You do not fear death. No, you will become nothing." His voice grew harsher. "You will be an exile. A traitor to the Fire Nation. Hunted by the Earth Kingdom. Hated by all until your existence fades from memory. You will be forgotten and wretched. This is my punishment for you."

Azula's eyes widened as she found the strength to rise her head. A blazing ball of flame crawled towards her face and terror and panic struggled to take hold. But Azula would not waver. She stared, golden gaze resplendent in the flames, defiant and goading.

"NO!" Zuko's voice slashed through the room. A thousand heads turned to regard him.

"I—Let me, Father…" His voice crawled out hesitantly, a mere whisper, but Ozai's indignant anger melted into a smile.

The Fire Lord nodded. Zuko's slow steps carried him forward. "Show your sister the price of treason, my son." A hand settled on Zuko's shoulder and Ozai smirked wickedly. "Make me proud."

Azula's defiance seemed to melt. The thought that Zuko would so eagerly inflict such torment on her made her sick. She'd been cruel, she'd been abrasive, but she was his better—now, in the eyes of her father, he was her better. Was this how he attained revenge? By mutilating her? Perhaps he found amusement in scorching her face after all the mocking she'd delivered upon him.

What would mother say? Azula hummed, letting herself chuckle at Ursa's imagined outrage.

"Even this I'll wear better than you, Zuzu." Azula still smirked through clenched teeth. Grief, confusion, pain and rage wrestled for control. "I was a fool to trust you—to bring you home. I should've had the Dai Li kill you after I killed the Avatar!"

Ozai didn't even shift. Whether he thought her a liar, or just did not care, was irrelevant. The last secret she had to hurt Zuko was swept away like ashes in the wind.

Zuko knelt slowly. Burning fire whirled in his palm. Azula found his eyes with a heated glare of malice and spite. She couldn't reconcile her vision with her emotions. Zuko's were the polar opposite of her own: There was no harshness, no hate, they were soft and sorrowful glittering under the sparkle of hidden tears.

She couldn't ever begin to understand.

"Azula, scream." He whispered

"What?"

"SCREAM!" Then his hand shot up and clutched her face.

The pain was fierce, the burning sensational, settling deep into her skin. Then realization lit up behind the eyes of a scared girl. These weren't as intense as the flames Ozai used to mark her shoulder: a wound which hadn't even breached the muscle.

He was going easy on her. Sparing her. Saving her from her father's wrath.

No.

Her eyes hardened beneath the blaze. He was just too weak to inflict true suffering. He wanted to hurt her without hurting his delicate conscience too much.

Hypocrite!

She wanted to laugh even as the pain soared across her eye.

Azula steeled herself for appearances; Then let a howling scream rip from her throat.

The scream was a lie.

Azula Always Lies: All she wanted to do was cackle through the pain.