She would never forget the way her father looked at her as she attacked him. Less than a second, as they made eye-contact, she saw the hurt in his eyes. Later she would ponder on that – perhaps the man wasn't as devoid of emotions as some made him out to be. In that moment she only knew that she was the one who should confront him. Behind her, the others attacked the Fire Guard. She heard Zuko scream, but she wasn't sure if it was in victory or in fear.

She didn't look.

Azula needed to focus on her fight with her father. He might looked surprised and a little hurt, but she was quite sure it wouldn't stop him from killing her.

So she closed herself of from all the other sounds; her friends fighting, a strange high-pitched whistle, the shocked screams of the public trying to figure out what was going on. With a grim sense of victory she realised that her father wasn't quite the puppet-player he thought himself to be. Today at least, no matter the outcome of their fight, he had lost.

Her flames turned red as he dispersed them. She jumped on her throne so that she was now above him, sending a fire bomb his way. He had to roll of his chair, but he was back on his feet quickly. She dodged his attack. Jumped on his throne and send a fire lash in his way. He had to duck again. She felt the heat of his fire bomb, but she had no difficulty letting it disappear. She was in the attack now. She fired at him. Multiple times. As she did that, she quickly glanced at her friends.

They all seemed to be fighting. Alive and well.

She almost lost her footing, as her father attacked. She gritted her teeth and as she ducked, she came closer. They were too close for firebombs and fireattacks now. Instead he attacked with fire daggers.

'You're just as much a traitor as your brother,' the Fire Lord said. He didn't yell. He sounded perfectly calm, to be honest. It unnerved her.

She didn't attack anymore. Instead she just awaited his next move. Her mind was racing.

'I thought you had it in you. To be truly great.'

A fire lasso. The flames turned blue and her father scowled.

'I thought you were strong. That you had what it took.'

A fire ball. She waited for exactly the right moment to duck and jumped towards him. Without hesitating, she firmly hit her fathers shoulder. He moved backwards, shock on his face. His now useless right arm hang beside his waist.

She had to move quickly now. Two moves later the Fire Lord was on the ground, helpless as his chi was blocked.

'Where's Mai,' she said, as she towered above him, her fist aimed for his heart. 'Where is she?'

He looked at her silently.

'Tell me!'

She didn't hear the rest of the world. When Zuko grabbed her shoulder, she almost attacked him as well.

'We need to go,' Zuko said. 'Now.'

'He knows where Mai is,' she said. 'Tell me!'

Her father smiled. He knew they didn't have the time. Azula wanted to repeat the question, but next to her Zuko wasn't as patient. The Fire Lord couldn't move away from the fire that barely missed his face.

'Tell us, or I'll burn your face like you have mine,' Zuko said.

Azula heard the Avater yell her name. Above her, Appa was flying, undeterred for now, but she knew it wouldn't be long before the army would be here.

But whereas her father had taken his chances with her, he did oblige to Zuko. 'She's in the prison block,' he said.

He didn't beg for mercy.

Azula's gaze shifted to Zuko. The conflict was visible on his face – he wanted to have revenge on his father. Hurt him the way he had been hurt.

Azula grabbed his shoulder. 'You're better than him,' she said. 'Come on.'

Zuko still looked at his father as she forcefully pulled him away. 'You alright?' she asked.

He didn't respond, still looking at the chi-blocked Fire Lord. Azula took a deep breath before she took off, used fire to propel both herself and Zuko into the air. They landed on Appa.

'That way,' she said, pointing towards the prison block, before anyone could say anything. She wasn't sure what they were going to say anyway. She knew how it must've looked, her standing next to her father as he declared she was next-in-line to the throne.

She glanced at their faces, but no one seemed about to attack her. Good.

'Mai's there,' she added.

A few seconds later Ty Lee wrapped her arms around her. 'Thank Agni you're okay,' she whispered. 'Both of you. We were so worried.'

'It was very brave, what you did,' Hakoda added. 'Thank you.'

She nodded brusquely. 'Let's go save Mai,' she eventually said. 'Then we can decide what we should do next.'

'You could've killed the Fire Lord.' That was Sokka, staring at her with blazing blue eyes.

She looked away and shook her head. 'I won't kill my father. That's the Avatars job.'

Aang didn't respond. 'Where's Mai, exactly, and how are we going to get her out?' he asked instead.

'Leave that up to me,' Azula responded.

Mai walked through the small dungeon she had been for the last couple of days. She had heard the noises of the crowd and she could guess what was happening. The fire-siblings. She had tried to ask the guards what was going on when they brought her food, but they had told her nothing. She didn't know if it they were being put on trial, or murdered, or if they had to fight each other.

With a frustrated sigh she sat down on her bed, her head in her hands. If only she could do something. If only she knew what was going to happen to her. Was she next? She didn't know.

She could hear the public going wild and her heart dropped a beat. A conviction? A blazing heap of fire that was supposed to end a live?

It was a few minutes later when she heard the wall above her explode. Mai screamed, trying to move away as debris rained down on her. As she pushed her back against the wall, she stared at the small hole that had appeared out of nowhere above her bed. A second explosion followed. A third as well.

Mai's mouth fell open as she saw Azula's head appear. 'No time to explain,' she said, as she extended her hand.

'Mai!' Zuko yelled.

'Zuko?' Mai was shocked. Both of them here, alive. 'How?'

'No time!' Azula yelled. She jumped down the hole she had created and ran towards Mai. Zuko followed her.

Azula pulled Mai along with her and she followed.

'We need to hurry,' Zuko said. 'The army's there.'

He pointed into the distance.

'Hold on,' Azula said, as she grabbed Mai.

The latter had barely time to register what happened before she flew through the air, eventually landing on top of a flying bison.

'Get us out of here!' Sokka yelled.

'Higher!' That was Azula, who was the only one who stood as Appa flew as fast he could, trying to get out of the danger zone. The first fire balls already flew towards them.

'Zuko, I could use your help,' Azula said.

The others listened quietly as she explained everything that had happened. 'Although I do feel I've wasted my last chance with me father,' she admitted. 'But that's not the worst. It's… he thought I would be happy if Zuko were dead. And he thought I wanted to kill him.'

'Me?' Zuko asked.

'Both of you.' She sighed. 'It's the reason he banished me. He feared I wouldn't be able to wait for the crown.'

'But you are, how old, fifteen?' Hakoda asked.

'Fourteen,' she corrected him.

'So you were twelve when he banished you?'

She shrugged.

'Father,' Katara said softly, as Ty Lee put her arm around Azula's shoulder.

A few minutes everyone was silent. They had left the land of the Fire Nation behind them and were now surrounded by water. Above them, the cloudless sky. It could have been such a beautiful day.

'I hate him,' she whispered. 'But at the same time…'

'He'll always be your father,' Aang said. 'I understand.'

'That's not it,' she said. 'Or maybe it is, I don't know. But when I look at him… I always just think of what it could've been like. What it should've been like.'

They made camp in the woods, far away from every form of civilisation. Azula washed herself in the river. When she returned, Zuko had made a small fire. Azula sat down with a sigh, staring into the flames.

'You know you did the right thing, don't you?' Katara asked, as she sat down next to Azula.

'I know.' She sighed. 'I just wish I knew what is the right thing to do next.'

'What do you mean?'

Azula shrugged. 'I am a banished princess, again. But this time I'm also with my brother. What do we do – return and dethrone him? Kill him? Leave him be.' She didn't look at Katara, but instead she stared at the flames as the turned blue. 'I don't know what's best for the Fire Nation.'

'I think you'd make a great Fire Lady,' Katara said. 'Or at least a creepy one.' She smiled as Azula chuckled.

'I don't know,' she admitted. 'I never really thought that being Fire Lady was my future. I always thought Zuko would be. Fire Lord, I mean. And I accepted that, because I figured that I could be useful to my country without being Fire Lady. And have more freedom to do what I think is important.'

'And what do you think is important?' Katara asked.

Azula's face softened. 'I've always thought that there not enough female generals,' she admitted. 'And I think the schooling we get is old-fashioned. Not that I would want to be a teacher, but perhaps I could… well perhaps later on I could become a firebending teacher.' She smiled. 'When I'm old. But I want to make my country a better place, for all of us.'

'And stop the war, of course,' Katara said.

Azula smiled. 'That would be Zuko's business. I'd be fine advising him against the war, but I wouldn't want to make the decision.' She sighed. 'But I guess a world without war would be nice for a chance, wouldn't it?'

'We only have three weeks until the comet,' Toph said. 'So what is our plan?'

For some reason they all looked at her.

'Avatar, you have to fight my father before,' she said. 'Because after – it'll be too late.'

Aang looked at her with his big grey eyes, silently begging her to change her mind.

'I'm not going to kill him,' she said.

'No one said you'd have to kill him,' Sokka said. 'You could just, you know, keep him busy.'

'No,' she said. 'Zuko and I will be in the Fire Nation as the comet returns, claiming Zuko's throne after you've killed my father.' She looked at the Avatar. 'This is your job.'

Aang wanted to protest, but Hakoda was first.

'I think she's right,' he said. 'We can't expect her to fight her father. It's not right.'

'I know you can fight him, Aang,' Azula said. 'Way better than I could. Because, in the end, I know I won't be capable to… to do it.'

There was a brief silence.

'What makes you thing I could do it?' Aang asked.

Azula didn't have an answer for that.

'We still have three weeks,' she eventually said. 'We will train every day.'

'Three weeks for you to change your mind,' Aang said as he tried to smile convincingly.

She smiled, but she didn't respond. Instead she thanked Hakoda as he got everyone a bowl of the soup he and Sokka had been preparing.