A/N: CONTENT WARNING: Character death! Now I'm the villain in your history. Love and be loved. Read… and review!

The Day the Spirits Take You

[Winter/Spring 103 AG]

Ruki pulls the heavy weight through the fallen leaves. She and Ukuyi drag it along the forest ground for several minutes, never stopping, never slowing. Someone groans but nothing stops them from moving forward. Finally, they arrive at their destination and pull it up onto an empty road. They drag him until he is in the middle of the path and then drop him. Ukuyi steps back and behind Ruki.

The ginger girl, hair falling just below her ears now, stands above the body. Bloodied and disoriented, the man looks up at her. He can barely open his eyes from the pain and facial wounds. He asks her, "What is this?"

Ruki stands in the middle of the forest road and stares forward, waiting. She replies without looking at him, "Us about to make an example of you."

Coughing up blood, the man asks, "To who? You killed all the other guards at my post."

Without warning or hesitation, Ruki delivers a swift kick to his side. He rolls his head and coughs up more blood, which spills out onto the floor. Ruki looks back up at the road before her and waits. She stands, arms flexed, prepared for the moment she has been waiting so long for. Behind her, a caravan of Fire Warriors block the road.

Azula opens her eyes to a brand new world.

The light slips in through her window at the inn. She feels a warmth around her waist and feels a body pull itself into her. A moment later a nose nuzzles against the crook of her neck. She leans back into the body behind her. She whispers, "Good morning, Z. Happy birthday."

Smiling against the soft skin of the girl in her arms, Zirin replies, "Good morning, Empress, and thank you."

"How would you like to celebrate today?" Azula quietly talks to her girlfriend.

"More of the same with you," she replies softly. "But also, I've got a surprise for you today."

"A surprise? For me? Isn't it supposed to go the other way around?"

Zirin retracts her arms and rolls out of bed. She tells her, "I'm well aware, 'Zula. But today is special. We're going to be busy!"

Azula pulls herself out of bed and sits up while Zirin heads for the bathroom. She sits and bathes in the morning sunlight breaking through the window. She reflects on the time they've spent together.

It's been six months since they had left the Garsai Port with Lin. Azula and Zirin have formed an allegiance to one another which has borne much fruit. They'd arrived in the podunk village and found the "haunted" inn that had previously been run by some insane woman, who had imprisoned Firebenders a few years before with a rare type of bending.

Using most of the coin they had earned, they bought the inn from the local government. It provided them with housing, a small, steady income, and a means to launder the money they made in other ways. Azula had renamed it the Firelily Inn, for reasons she wouldn't disclose to Zirin. No matter, the inn has become their little headquarters, hiding in plain sight, right under the Capital's nose.

Under Zirin's leadership they'd successfully recruited about four dozen more girls, growing their size to more than sixty members. The majority of them were Fire Warriors, with maybe a third or less of them having the bending necessary to become Kemurikage.

Lin has become a ferry for them to send their girls out to help with various services. Most of them are brute force in nature, or otherwise are things people don't want to go to the Capital for help with. His travels for them have expanded his own network and enterprises. Things with Ai Zhou were becoming more serious as he was able to better provide for her and the rest of Baochou.

Azula stands up out of bed. She hears the faucet of the bath turn on and makes her own way to the bathroom. She asks as she walks towards it, "What about Ruki and the others?"

Rejoh exits the back of the transport along with three other guards. The driver, Mazo, hops down, making five of them. Rejoh leads the way, hands above his head. He has bright, brown hair and deep golden eyes. The rest of his comrades all have golden eyes and black hair and all keep their hands raised. All of them hold swords or other weaponry above their heads.

They walk out into the middle of the road and face off against a small girl, standing in their way with a group of her colleagues behind her. Laying on the ground in front of her, struggling to breath but living all the same, is what appears to be another Fire Nation guard.

When Rejoh and his group come to a stop, the ginger haired girl takes her cue. She shouts across the twenty or so yards separating them, "He's someone who was with a bunch of someone's who wouldn't listen."

Rejoh, keeping his sword above his head, offers, "Let's make a deal. Right here, right now."

Ruki relishes this response, she is unmoved and yells back, "Yes, let's! Let's start by you handing over everything you're transporting. Maybe then we won't have to kill you."

Rejoh slowly lowers his sword down. Behind him Mazo, Yemo, Akurom, and Deeku do the same. They grip their weapons in preparation to attack, but none are sure if Rejoh will do the deed or not. The girls across from them outnumber them two to one. There's at least one that is wearing the porcelain mask, near the leader girl. They knew that meant, amongst their ranks, that she is a Firebender.

Rejoh replies, "That's not going to work for us. In fact, my deal was going to ask you to give us everything you've got. Then we'll take you to the Boiling Rock with us peacefully. No one gets killed in our book, because that's just how generous we are."

Rejoh's deal hangs in the air for a moment. Ruki doesn't reply. No one attacks or retreats. Then, Ukuyi steps up towards Ruki. She stares at Rejoh and company as she approaches, peering out at them from under the mask. Mazo wonders if she is going to attack first, followed by the Fire Warriors. Instead, she stops in front of the beaten guard on the ground. She reaches into her robes and produces another Kemurikage mask. Shaking her head at Rejoh, she leans down and places the mask over the hostage lying down.

"Sorry," Ruki shouts to them, dragging their eyes up to her. "But my deal is the only deal. We don't negotiate."

Akurom steps up behind him and whispers, "How do you want to play this?"

Rejoh doesn't look away from Ruki, but he whispers back, "Not here. Not yet. We'll take them on our terms."

Rejoh tightens his grip around his sword. He raises his fingers in the air and twirls them around, signaling to his colleagues to return to the transport. They start walking backwards, eyes peeled on Ruki and her girls. He shouts back, "Well then we're leaving."

Ruki shakes her head at first before smiling broadly. She shouts back, "Okay friends!"

Rejoh and the others walk back slowly and Ruki adds, "There's plenty of ways to get where you're going."

Yemo, Akurom, and Deeku duck into the back of the transport, where they are shielded. Mazo gets back into the rider's seat of the carriage. Rejoh stops at the back door. He turns back to Ruki and thinks.

He calls to the teenage girl, "Do you want to make today the day the spirits take you?"

Ruki looks up into the sky. She watches some birds flutter away. She contemplates life and mortality. She reflects on a lifetime of abuse and torment. Here in this forest, she would not die by some trees. She looks back at him, "No, but that is a good thing to bring up. Think about it. What if it's the day the spirits take you? Or someone you love? What if that's true? Maybe you should be extra kind to the people in your little carriage there. Because you never know."

They stare at one from the distance, the wind blowing at Ruki's back. She adds, "Like you said. Like it's the day the spirits take you."

Rejoh looks at the small girl. She talks like she already knows the answer. He slowly nods his head. He shouts, "You do the same."

Rejoh ducks his head into the metal box and shuts it behind him. He locks it up tightly from the inside. Seeing this, Yemo double taps the inside of it to alert Meko that they are ready. He steers the horses to turn around. Ruki raises a hand and waves goodbye.

"Her hair is black, like a raven or midnight. She liked to wear it drawn up and held together as a top knot. She's slender, but not soft. She's a prodigy bender and also built like a world class fighter. She's 17 now, her birthday was a few months ago. She has very delicate features. Her eyes are like the sun at golden hour, but they're not a window to her soul like others. They're wide, but alert. Her lips are thin and small, especially without makeup. She has a seriousness in her eyes that is both direct and also chilling. She is always totally focused, yet almost entirely unreachable."

Ty Lee finally stops her description and looks around. She realizes that the other Kyoshi Warriors are staring at her dumbfounded and a little concerned. Suki blinks a few times in surprise. She had asked Ty Lee to help provide a description so their group would know what to look for, but she hadn't exactly expected that.

Standing up, Suki says, "Well, thank you, Ty Lee. I think we all have a very good idea of what we'll be looking for. Now, everyone, you know what to do. Fire Lord Zuko has entrusted us to search the entire Southern Fire Nation. You know what to do if you come across the Kemurikage of the Fire Warriors. Remain vigilant and aware."

She pauses for a beat and looks around. She nods her head at her girls, "Good luck."

Chairs scrape across the ground as the group disperses. Ty Lee awkwardly scratches the back of her head and stands at the front of the room. As many of the girls exit, another comes towards her, slipping between the people leaving. Hair a bright white and her eyes as blue as the ocean, she strides up to the brunette and says, "That was something, TL."

"Was that weird? I feel like that may have been weird. Everyone's auras are giving me weird vibes now."

"Oh, yeah," the girl in white makeup sarcastically shakes her head and produces a thumbs up. "Not weird at all."

"Shut up, Ayon." Ty Lee whispers.

The room empties and it's just the two partners and Suki left. They are slouched and relaxed but the moment they realize Suki is there to address them, they stand at attention. Their leader approaches and says, "Great job, Ty Lee. One note though: next time could you give a little more detail? Maybe which arms she sticks through her shirt first or how she likes her eggs in the morning?"

Ty Lee feels there is a real criticism underneath and sweats. "I'm really sorry, Suki, it's just… those are things I think about her right away. And you put me on the spot and-"

Ayon chimes in, "She's right, Suki, Ma'am. She can't help it that this girl is apparently a spirit of beauty incarnated."

Suki and Ayon share a further chuckle at Ty Lee's expense. She pleads, "Please, just tell us what village we're going to start with."

"How's about the Fire Fountain Village?" Suki asks, growing serious.

"Fire Fountain?" Ayon asks. "But that's up north?"

"I thought we were going South?"

"There's been some new intel to indicate she may be up North somewhere. Increased activity. You'll start at the Fire Fountain Village and make your way west."

Ty Lee injects, "But if it's just us going north, it'll take us weeks, probably months to cover the ground alone?"

Suki turns to walk away, "Then I hope you two like spending time together."

Ty Lee turns to Ayon, who just grimaces at her partner.

The transport comes to a halt suddenly. Rejoh looks around at the others in the metal containers. Yemo unlocks the slot and slides it open to gain access to the driver. He asks, "Meko, what's going on?"

Standing on his tippy toes, Yemo looks out to see what he can. Meko replies, "We've got more hostiles than before."

"That's not possible." Rejoh says, crossing the metal trailer.

Yemo stands aside and Rejoh looks out through the slot. In the distance he sees another blockade. This time there are twelve girls, including two in the porcelain masks.

"What do we do?" Meko asks.

Rejoh sweats a bit. They're more outnumbered here than before, with double the Firebenders. They should've fought the first time, but now it's too late. Still, he calculates that they can't have that many girls at their disposal. There must be some limit to their numbers, he rations.

He instructs Meko, "Turn it around and go back. We'll find another way."

Meko does as he's told. As they reverse course, one of the Kemurikage walks forward. She idly raises her palm into the sky and shoots red fire up. She's not attacking or trying to scare them. She's letting them know that she can and she will.

The transport comes to a halt again.

The five people in the trailer all look around at one another. Rejoh feels his hair matted against his neck. Before he can say anything the voice of Meko shouts, "Sir, I think you all ought to see this."

Rejoh again walks over, unlocks the viewing slot and looks through it. The sight is bizarre and unfamiliar. Yet there are no Kemurikage or Fire Warriors this time. He closes the slot and locks it again. He walks back to the front and unlocks their metal door. He and the other three all exit before closing the door. They walk out in front of the horse-drawn carriage. They all tightly grip their weapons and look through the forest for any enemies.

Blocking the road this time is not a group of teenage girls, but a line of five haybills. Tied to the front of each bill is a scarecrow, clad in red armor. Rejoh walks up to them and observes, confused. A concerned voice comes from behind him as Meko says, "Sir. Look at their armor."

Rejoh looks back at his driver and then at the scarecrow. He leans in and realizes that they're Fire Nation guard armor, with the insignia of the Taiyang Village. That village was hundreds of miles to the east of here. Rejoh feels extreme concern, seeing this symbol and not knowing what it means. He wonders briefly if the girls had already attacked and undercut other Fire Nation outposts further east.

Without warning fire explodes from the woods all around them. The horses carrying their transport panic and rear back. "Whoa! Whoa!" Meko tries to control them.

Yemo, Akurom, and Deeku all grip their weapons and flash them about. Surrounded by the woodland and a sun not clearly visible under the trees, they can not see where their assailants come from. With quick thinking Rejoh yells, "Let's go! Move these!"

The four men quickly push some of the haybills out of the way, clearing a path large enough for their horses and metal box. The flames come close but land either at their feet or rise high above their heads. Rejoh yells, "Back in the trailer! Quick!"

The three all rush back to the vehicle, flames flying out at them from five different directions. The flames strike the vehicle but don't damage it, as it was designed for such efforts. The men climb inside, slamming the door shut. Deeku quickly double taps and Meko let's the horses go. Flames fly out behind the horses as they charge forward. The trailer caroms off of the haybills and flies down the road without haste.

"Maybe if we backtrack towards Hing We Island, maybe we can go around them?"

"That won't work. She would expect-"

"Shut it." Yemo commands.

With very little lighting, the group reviews a map, discussing work around for their path. The only person not craning over it is Rejoh. He stands off to the side as the trailer bounces with each gallup. He works through a thought until he mutters to all of them, "This is exactly what they wanted."

Deeku looks back at him, "What?"

"They didn't shoot at us."

Deeku looks around at the others, incredulous. He looks at Rejoh and says, "Of course they did? Have you lost your mind?"

"No. They didn't," he mumbles. Everyone else looks up at Rejoh. "They shot at us but they didn't shoot at us. They were shooting low into the ground, or high above our heads."

This settles amongst the group. Rejoh adds, "They could've killed us. They had the jump, we couldn't even see them. They wanted us to rush through the blockade. We're on their path."

Deeku looks with wild eyes at Rejoh, realizing that he's right. He shakes his head. "No, no, no."

Deeku leans further over the map, looking for any alternative path. He mutters, "By now they have to realize we're late, right? They'll send out a search party for us, right?"

Yemo shakes his head slowly, "We didn't send out any notice we were departing early. They're not expecting us until tomorrow morning."

Akorum is older than all except Meko. He fought on the front lines of the Hundred Year's War. He has found that all of life is just one battle after another. In moments like these he has learned the importance of remaining composed. He calmly announces, "Yemo. We will get there and then we will get home."

Yemo looks through the dim light at his comrade. He nods. Akorum asks, "You have a girlfriend, yes? How long have you two been together now?"

"Five years. I… I'm going to propose."

This is followed by mumbles of excitement from the others. Akorum reassures him, "Damn right you are."

Next, Akorum slides open the viewing panel to the driver. "Hey Meko, you've got a whole family back in Caldera, right?"

"Two kids. Liko and my son Jamu," he starts. With a smile he shouts back to them, "And we've got another on the way!"

The group now shouts their approval. Someone shouts, "And you weren't going to tell us?"

Meko shouts back to the group, "Lot going on, didn't get around to it."

Akorum asks, "How'd Liko take that? I know when Jamu was born…"

He trails off. Meko thinks about his daughter running away from home when he delivered the news last week. "Not well. She'll come around though."

"Yes, she will," Akorum replies, shaking his head. He turns towards their leader now. "And Rejoh, your son, Chuma. He's a spitting image of you. You too will get home to him."

Deeku thinks about how he has no one back home for him. Rejoh doesn't register what is said. He just wonders if it's too late to return to the Capital

The carriage comes to a stop. Rejoh opens the slot.

Through the fading light he observes. Seventeen girls. Five masks. All holding weapons. All staring at them. All waiting.

He whispers to Meko, "We're going back."

Meko directs the horses to turn around.

The girls watch them go.

The carriage comes to a stop. "Rejoh, get out here."

The guards in the trailer exit and leave the bounty behind. They come out and walk out in front of the horses, the setting sun barely breaking through the dense forest they are surrounded by. They've retreated to the point where they crossed the haybill blockade, but the haybills are gone. Instead, there are felled trees blocking the path. Rejoh feels his pulse pounding as he realizes that they had blocked their route home. What scares all of them most though is what is in front of them.

Sitting on the ground, arms tied to the trees, is the nameless guard they had seen earlier, when they came across the first blockade. He wears the porcelain mask still and sits in a pool of his own blood. The girls had ruthlessly smashed apart his legs. Just looking at him Rejoh could tell he would never walk again, and may not even be alive at this moment.

Softly nearby they hear a crackling noise. Somewhere amongst the tree blockade they begin kindling. The trees begin to go up in flames. Rejoh and the others watch in horror as it begins rising.

Suddenly, a voice calls to them, "You're treating your people good, right?"

Rejoh and the others stand at attention, gripping their weapons, falling into a protective huddle. The girl from earlier, from their first blockade, speaks to them amongst the smoke and shadows.

"Like it was the day the spirits take you? Or maybe one of theirs?"

Arms shaking, fear spiking, the group prepares for an attack. They prepare for their unseen enemy to finally come and get them. They are not ready. None are ready for today to be the day.

"You better go. It's gonna get real hot. You go get where you're going."

The group retreats to their caravan and turn back up the road.

Sokka looks at his reflection in the sword. He thinks about all the people who fought, and killed, and died so he could get this back in his hands. Everyone who tried to be a hero, everyone who was just trying to make a living. Get to their next meal that day. Not long ago he had been in their place.

How much blood had been spilt to recover it from the bottom of the Mo Ce Sea and bring it to him in the Southern Water Tribe. There was a bill due for that sacrifice, and someday, someone would come to collect it from him.

He remembers the day a few months ago Captain Seker brought it to him. He had heard the story of how it was acquired. Seker hadn't been angry. He had been fearful.

They had lost so many men, while Azula lost no one.

She defeated his best sailors with ease & even her non-benders had shut down their enemies with tactical ingenuity.

Then, after all of that, by some grace of the spirits, she had the moral backbone to leave him the sword and not bankrupt them. Seker had told Sokka, 'She's a monster, but a monster with a conscience.'

Seker had said that he could live with knowing she was out there because he didn't think she'd double cross me again. That the sword had been a matter of circumstance and pride.

Sokka paid them extra for their troubles and ensured them safe passage back to Garsai District Port. In the time since that meeting with Captain Seker he had diluted the message to just one point:

'She's a monster.'

The carriage is stopped. The sun is all but gone beyond the horizon as long shadows cover the land. They are huddled together, trying to decide what to do. Their only path of retreat has been blocked, each route they've pursued has been met with more and more Fire Warriors and Kemurikage. They are just about out of options when an idea pops in Deeku's head. He ruminates on it for a few minutes and finally interrupts the conversation and arguments.

"Alright, so we know that they are in front of us, and probably behind us, right?"

There is a tense agreement to this.

"They know all of our paths and where the carriage can go or will go. But what they don't know is who is in the transport at any given moment."

The tension lifts at this suggestion, but the fear replaces it quickly.

"I suggest, once the sunsets and we're covered in darkness, that you all slip away into the woods with the bounty. I will take the horses from checkpoint to checkpoint so they believe they continue to have the upper hand. By the time they stop me, you'll all be long gone."

Rejoh shakes his head, "I can't let you do that. We won't leave anyone-"

"With all due respect, I think this is our only option. And it's my option. Let me see it through to the end."

Rejoh's voice is pained as he tells him, "They'll kill you."

The others share the same look as they all turn to Deeku. He replies, "I've lived a life of a coward. I ran from every responsibility that's ever come my way. If I am to die, let it be in service to our most glorious Nation."

This comment resonates amongst the group. Rejoh searches his eyes and finds a man ready to die for his brothers. He sticks his hand out and they shake. He tells Deeku, "Thank you… for everything."

Meko is thankful beyond belief that Deeku has volunteered for this. Once the shadows come, they won't be able to tell that they swapped the drivers. He knows he has been spared an unfortunate ending.

Yemo begins crying and hugs his comrade. While this goes on Akurom offers, "Are you sure? Deeku, I am willing-"

"Thank you, but I will be the one. I have nothing back home waiting for me. All of you do. And besides. You deserve a life that knows peace, old friend."

Akurom chortles. 'Peace?' He thinks. 'I don't know if I deserve that yet.'

The four soldiers quietly drag their cargo around the woods of the Northern Fire Nation. They are just a few miles away from their destination and the plan has worked flawlessly. No one dares to speak about the fate of Deeku. They occupy their minds with other discussion.

Akurom tells Rejoh, "Sending us Nonbenders, without protection made sense. It was unsuspecting. We left ahead of schedule. There was nothing special about it at all. If someone discovered our plans then there must have been a leak of some sort. We can figure that out when we get home."

Rejoh pulls his chain from the front along with Akurom. Meko and Yemo cover the rear, tightly gripping their own chains. Rejoh looks across the way at Akurom and shakes his head. The old veteran continues, "But for me, decision making is more important than the outcome. Fire Lord Zuko has great decision making abilities. This was the right decision, even if-"

From nearby they hear a crackling noise. Akurom stops talking instantly. They all freeze on spot. The crackling noise spreads, it grows. A flame appears in their peripheral. Smoke begins wafting out of the darkness towards them. All five men bend at the knee and swing around wildly looking for the sources. Rejoh panics. They have been found.

He shouts, "Go!"

The four men all run forward away from the smoke and shadows, away from the burning forest. They pull the body in chains and run for a few seconds through the darkness.

A massive fireball explodes out of the darkness right before Rejoh and his compatriots. It illuminates everything so they can see in the darkness. A single Kemurikage holds the flame before them as the smoke draws nearer. Branches crack now from all around them. The four men wander into an opening, encircling the fifth body at their center. They come to a stop and realize they are completely surrounded.

There must be fifty or more adolescent, teenage, or older girls surrounding them. Rejoh counts no fewer than fifteen of whom are wearing the Kemurikage mask. Meko spots amongst the Fire Warriors someone he knows too well. He shouts, "Liko?"

His daughter stares at him with spiteful eyes, never looking away. Quickly the father's mouth dries up. The soldiers try to take stock of their situation but it is utterly hopeless. They only wonder why the girls have not descended upon them already.

"Great! You made it!" An all too familiar voice greets them. Rejoh, sweating profusely, eyes up a ginger girl with lilac eyes. She approaches him with hands clasped. "Welcome to where you're going."

Rejoh looks at her and begs, "We can talk about-"

"We're done talking," Ruki tells him, changing tune. She drops the kind voice and adopts a serious look in her eyes. "Time to listen."

Turning to the girls all around her, Ruki announces, "Alright, let's get him unchained, and get them all on their knees."

Some of the older girls move in on them. They quickly disarm the soldiers. There is no fight. The men do not stop them. They watch as the girls take their swords and blades and step away. Four girls each take a chain of the prisoner. They search the soldiers without qualm and take the keys they each had on their person. They unlock the chains and then push the men forward.

Rejoh is the first into a clearing, being lit by some of the Firebenders. Rejoh quickly has his awe cracked open as he finds Deeku, on his knees already, whimpering. Right before them is the carriage and metal transport they had rode in all day. The horses are gone. There is another carriage that sits beside theirs, although this one has a covering that blocks the riders. The sort of seating you would see reserved for royalty. The crowd of girls encircle them.

Without warning Rejoh feels someone kick him in the back of the leg, then shove him down onto his knees. This is followed instantly by all of his fellow soldiers and the prisoner. They all kneel on the forest floor in front of the metal box, their carriage, and the royalty one.

Ruki strides out to the middle of the semicircle. She looks around at her six guests and she smiles benevolently. "Alright! Full house. Let's meet Mom."

She bangs twice on the royalty carriage. A moment later the door opens.

Azula follows Zirin out of the carriage they'd been sharing for the entire day. Her eyes struggle to adjust to the light initially but the flames dim and the darkness becomes easier to see. When the lighting is no longer jarring, the sight of what they have stepped into takes its place.

She stands in a clearing in the woods, late in the evening, with almost their entire collection of Fire Warriors and Kemurikage surrounding them. Standing before the pair of leaders are six men, all kneeling before her. Five of them are soldiers, traditional guards from what appears to be Caldera City itself. One has bright, brown hair but the rest have the traditional black hair and golden eyes. They sweat and fear and some of them cry.

The last man is what surprised Azula the most. On his knees before her, staring with absolute confidence, is a man she has seen most of her life. Even when he was out of it, he tormented her dreams and nightmares. Her own father, Ozai. His hair is longer and slightly more grey after a few years in prison. He had made her what she is today. He looks almost calm in this moment of peril.

"Zirin," Azula says quietly. "What is this?"

The short haired brunette doesn't reply. She simply entertains her guests. She walks around all of them before finally asking, "Do any of you know how much effort this took?"

None of the men reply. She continues, "We really pulled out all the stops for today. We had to use everything at our disposal to get you here. Just so we could show you what we are capable of."

Azula stands awkwardly in the background and doesn't say anything. She watches her girlfriend take charge. Almost as if on cue, Zirin points back to Azula, "Now I know you all know who she is."

Zirin unseaths a blade and steps forward, holding it to Deeku's neck. "Tell me, little man, what's her name?"

Squealing like a pig, Deeku quickly replies, "She's the Dragon Empress."

"That's right!" She says and steps away. Gleefully she looks down at the little man. "That's right."

She walks towards Azula now and stands beside her, turning to face the group. She announces, "You kneel before Princess Azula, the true ruler of the Fire Nation. The Mother of the Kemurikage. The Leader of the Fire Warriors. The Dragon Empress."

More quietly than even before Azula whispers, "Zirin, what the spirits is this?"

Zirin laughs obnoxiously loud. She tells everyone, "You'll have to forgive us a moment, boys. As all of our girls know, this is a surprise for our Empress. A precious gift from us to you."

Zirin steps forward again and waves her arms at the kneeling men. Azula looks on still with confusion. Zirin explains how they intercepted plans to move a 'high value target' from the Capital to the Boiling Rock. A last ditch effort by some bureaucrat to prove his little prison still had a purpose.

"So we set a trap for them," she tells the gathered. "And now here, we present to you, Empress Azula, the deposed Fire Lord Ozai."

He grins up at her maliciously, "You'll refer to me as the Phoenix King."

Azula narrows her eyes at him but looks away from her father. She looks at her second in command and asks, "Why did you do this, Zirin?"

"Enough of this, Daughter. Tell them to release me so we can get back to work. Together."

This registers with Azula. The idea of working together again. It's something she had always wanted. She had strove for it, fought for it. She had been imprisoned for it. A different time, a different life, a different Azula would have dove head first into the idea. Not the Dragon Empress. She knew it was a lie. A fabrication, a manipulation by the man to get something he wants.

"Empress, you told me, Ruki, all of us, at every turn, that if you could kill him finally you would. We are making that dream come true."

"Stop this, Azula. I am the Phoenix King. If I have proven nothing to you it is that I am always reborn anew. I can not die."

The ginger girl who had tormented Rejoh and his men steps up to Ozai. She spits at him and tells him, "You will die alone."

Azula looks at her third in command. She appreciates her standing up to the man, but finds the idea of 'dying alone' disturbing. Zirin closes the gap between them and offers her a handheld blade. "This is what it means to take no more half-measures, Azula. To hold a blade to your father's neck and finally have the strength to do it. To take the leap of faith."

The flames illuminating the dark flicker across the blade. Azula looks down at it. She has waited for this moment. She has wanted it for years. When she was in the mental institute she dreamed of it. It was always in different ways and places. Always with different speeches. For his failings as a leader, as the Fire Lord, and as a father. For his refusal to be warm with her. For turning her into a monster.

It could be done here and now. With just one thrust, or one slice, or one jab. She could end him and open a new chapter in her life. Faster and quicker than almost anything else she has done in her life. Yet now that she stands at the precipes, she can't bring herself to do it. The road she will go down if she does this, she knows there is no coming back from it.

As much as she wants it, she can't have it.

"No." Azula tells her. She stares into those black, lifeless eyes. "I love you, Zirin. But I won't. Not even him."

Zirin stares into those sunset eyes. She sucks a deep breath in through her nose. Mentally she collects herself. She exhales through the mouth and tells her, "Then I will."

She unseaths the blade and turns away from Azula. She moves towards him. She closes the gap and tells him, "As Ruki said, you'll die alone!"

Ozai doesn't even blink. He mutters, "Insolent child."

In a flash, the moment Zirin stops her momentum to rear back the blade, he is up off of his knees. He rises up and shoves her to the ground. He collapses on top of her and grabs the blade off the ground. It happens so fast that Ruki can barely react. The Fire Warriors and Kemurikage advance but it's too late. He lifts it up above her head!

"ARGHHHH!" They screech into the nothing.

The knife clatters to the ground. The body collapses and all of the girls stop. They stare in shock. Ozai's body shakes momentarily on top of Zirin, before going still. She quickly shoves him off of her. Ruki advances to help pull the dead weight away. All eyes turn to Azula.

The Dragon Empress stands, hand outstretched towards her now dead father. She stares at the dead body with surprise in herself. Zirin had been a moment from death and Azula had saved her. Lightning had exploded from her hand and struck him down.

Zirin makes eye contact with Ruki and shakes her head. The brunette rises up and quickly runs to her dark haired girlfriend. She envelopes her in her arms. Azula feels nothing. Though she physically feels Zirin against her body, she doesn't hear or see anything except the lifeless body of her father. Face down, unmoving. She replays the sequence over and over again in her head.

"You did! You did it. You killed him! You did it!" Zirin hushes into her ears.

It worries her that it had been so easy.

It worries her more that it made her feel so… good.

A/N: This chapter's OST is "Don't Blame Me" by Taylor Swift.

Love always. Tyzula forever.

Notorious