Zuko woke up feeling his sister holding him tight. Her embrace was desperate, her hands were shaking, and he could see tears streaming down her face. She looked both scared and relieved, as it would often happen after she had a nightmare.

"Bad dream?" he asked, getting only a nod as response "Do you want to talk about it?"

"No" she said, closing her eyes and hiding her face on his neck.

That didn't surprise him. Azula almost never talked about her nightmares, and the few times she did, Zuko was pretty sure his advice had been absolutely useless. The first time his sister told him he understood her better than anyone else, he thought she was being sarcastic.

He tried his best to reassure her, repeating words that now felt almost like a mantra to him. Her dreams could sometimes be almost as disorienting as her hallucinations, so Zuko would usually try to ease her back into reality.

"It wasn't real, Azula. We're safe now. We're in our home. We're together. No one will ever hurt our family again. I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Slowly, she calmed down, and after a few moments she regained some composure, no longer crying and looking more aware of her surroundings.

"We should get going" she said, getting up only to be pulled back to bed "Zuzu, come on, we have work to do."

Azula was obviously trying to act tough, but Zuko could see how shaken she had been by whatever happened in that nightmare. There was pain in her eyes, her body was tense, every little move she made gave him the impression that she was preparing to either attack or flee, and her words and tone let him know she was desperately trying to focus on something other than whatever was currently on her mind.

"You're not going anywhere until you feel better."

"I'm fine, I swear" she pushed him away and tried to break free of his grasp.

"Liar."

Azula rolled her eyes "If you say so" she managed to escape for a brief moment, but Zuko grabbed her and threw her on the bed "Zuzu!" he held her wrists against the pillow and used his weight to keep her where she was.

"And aren't you the one who's always telling me we can do whatever we want? We're staying here until you're okay."

"I am okay. You're being ridiculous."

He ignored her protests, kissing and caressing her all over, whispering in her ear... soothing his little sister like she clearly needed him to. Once she stopped fighting, he embraced her, one of his hands running up and down her back while the other played with her hair "It's okay that you don't want to talk about it, but I'm not letting you pretend nothing is bothering you."

"It was just a stupid dream."

"Doesn't mean you can't be upset about it."

She sighed and gave up on her pretense completely, just letting him hold her. They remained silent for a long time, until Azula finally spoke up again "You were hurt" his eyes met her's and her voice became sweeter "I thought I lost you" new tears were forming in her eyes, and Zuko wiped them away before gently embracing her once more.

"Nothing is gonna happen to me."

"I know. I will make sure of it" before he could even start worrying about what she could have meant, Azula gave him a quick kiss, making his mind go blank "But I still worry about you" she kissed him again, a little longer this time, then rested her head right above his heart. Zuko temporarily pushed his concerns aside took to keep comforting her.

"Nothing will take me away from you" he promised "I'm going to fight to protect what's ours, but my priority is coming back to you. Being by your side, where I belong."

Azula held him so tight it felt like she was trying to fuse her body with his, but he could also almost feel her fear slowly fading away.

"I'll never leave you."