A/N. Hey, a short chapter, and rather boring, but, for the story, it was important. I had to introduce Azula, and the ending helps the next chapter, which will be more interesting. And yes, I know I promised a chapter for The Path After the Battle, but that is coming tomorrow, I promise!

I don't own Avatar the Last Airbender.

Shaking the last of Appa's fur out of the bag, Aang sat down. He could sleep here. He was just too exhausted.

Toph had woken them up after just one hour. She had felt something come towards them, and it had been those crazy people from Omashu. With a vehicle. That tracked them because of Appa's shedding. It had been horrible. The whole night, his friends and he had travelled and tried to get some sleep, but to no avail. Each time they touched the ground, crazy blue fire lady, knife-throwing girl and the one that punched you to oblivion were there. Every. Time.

It had been so bad that Appa had fallen asleep in the sky. After their… landing… Katara and Toph had fought. The airbender had tried to calm them down, but then the earthbender insulted his bison, and he had just lost it. Causing Toph to leave them. For some reason, that punched some sense into him, and they had decided to clean Appa, escape the three ladies and then search for Toph. Good plan.

Now, the airbender was standing in a deserted village, in the middle of nowhere. If their theory was correct, the three girls would follow the fur, and have their track go cold in this village.

But why not try and find out who they were? Aang sat down, waiting for them.

After two hours, he could feel the sun getting lower, and suddenly, a shadow come between him and the light.

"Alright, you've caught up on me. Now, who are you, and what do you want?" He stood up, opening his eyes. In front of him stood the firebender with blue flames. Her face had something familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.

"You mean, you have not guessed?" Her voice sounded like those from Fire Nation nobility. Each word was carefully pronounced, and not once did she stutter, "You have not seen the family resemblance?"

She laughed. It sounded so… unnatural. As if laughing was just a façade, she had given herself, and she wasn't used to really laughing. It sounded… Sad. Who could live like that?

The girl put a hand in front of her left eye and began speaking in a gruff voice.

"I must capture the Avatar to regain my honour!"

He didn't respond, but in his head, Aang realized who that was. His knowledge of Fire Nation royalty in this age was bad, but even though he knew that Fire Lord Ozai had two children. Zuko and a daughter. This had to be the daughter.

"You can laugh." The princess commanded. Sighing, Aang just shook his head.

"What is your name? I'm Aang." The airbender took a step towards her. She took a step backwards, without taking her ember eyes from him.

"Of course, you wouldn't know me. I'm Azula, Crown Princess of the Fire Nation." She said, radiating confidence.

"I thought women couldn't reign over the Fire Nation. I seem to remember they skipped Sozin's older sister for that reason." Aang said. It seemed weird that she would claim to be the crown princess.

"Times change Avatar. My father is a progressive leader. And it's not like that joke of a brother is going to be Fire Lord one day." Ah. There it was. She probably expected to be the next in line. But she wasn't.

"So, what now?" He asked. Aang knew what was coming and was gripping his glider. Oh, how he hated this. Fighting people.

"Now? Now it's over! You're tired and have no place to go! You can run, but I'll catch you. I'm not going to fail like my brother."

That caught Aang's attention. Thanks to the information given by Prince Zuko himself, and by the rumours in the Earth kingdom, they had pieced together why the burned prince was chasing them. For some reason, he had been disgraced by his father, and the only way to regain his honour and his place as Fire Prince was to capture the Avatar. This was three years before Aang had been discovered by the Water Tribe siblings.

But if this Azula was afraid of failing, what about her? Had she been given the same task? And under what circumstances?

"I'm not running." He had to assume his role as Avatar here. Even if Aang didn't want to fight her, the Avatar needed to stop this war. And she would probably continue it. So, she needed to be stopped.

"You really want to fight me?" She sounded amazed, and happy. The airbender felt a pang of fear in his heart. A person happy to fight was either very stupid, or very sure of their ability to smash you to a pulp.

Just then, an ostrich horse ran past, and a guy jumped from its back. He was wearing old clothes, two sizes too big for his skinny frame. Short jet-black hair was half hidden beneath one of those hats the farmers used to shade their face from the sun. The same hat hid most of the man's face.

"Yes. I do." He said, and Aang recognized the hoarse voice. It had been in his nightmares since waking up on the South Pole.

"Zuko!" The airbender was amazed. Was the guy on his side now? Would he really fight his sister? So the rumours were true! He had been branded a traitor!

"I was wondering when you would show up Zuzu." Azula said, crossing her arms over her chest with a smug smile.

That name broke something in Aang. Because of the exhaustion, he had been serious and stoic outwards, but hearing that the guy who literally chased him from one Pole to the other had the nickname Zuzu? Spirits, just too good. He had to tell Katara that one.

"Wait… Zuzu?" Aang couldn't help but laugh at the pained expression on the firebender's face. Priceless.

"Back off Azula. He's mine."

Ah. So Zuko wasn't on their side. He was still trying to capture him.

As Aang looked from the scarred firebender to Azula, he caught something. Zuko was holding a finger up toward the airbender, in a sign of Wait. It looked like he was warning Aang. But from what?

He quickly discovered. Azula blasted her brother through a building! Her own brother. What was this messed up family?

The airbender didn't want to stay and find out. His duty was to stop those two. But realistically speaking, he wouldn't be able. So, he tried to fly away. But then, a soaring pain touched his ankle, and he fell down, narrowly avoiding the blue flames coming towards him. He glanced down to his left leg and could see holes in his boot. From which blood was seeping slowly. Perfect.

Gritting his teeth, Aang managed to run away while Zuko and Azula battled it out. The airbender ran up a flight of stairs and glanced back down. The girl had just thrown her brother back, who was holding his arm. Azula didn't hold back. Each time Zuko and Aang had fought, the firebender had been careful not to burn or hurt him. Aang thought it was because the prince needed the Avatar alive, but a small voice inside said Or maybe he didn't want to hurt you because he is a good person underneath it all.

But Azula didn't care. She had managed to wound Aang and burn her brother's arm.

She followed him up in the stairs. Aang quickly took a right, and the floor fell away, rotten to the core. Rapidly making an air ball, he sat on it, waiting for Azula to fall down. He wouldn't hurt her. But if she hurt herself… well, that wouldn't be his fault, right?

Of course, she didn't. She managed to stay against the wall, not falling down. Zuko wasn't so lucky. He fell through two stores of the building. The airbender ran past Azula, pushing her to her brother. If he survived the fall, so would she.

But he didn't make it past the stairs. Azula shot fire at him, and he was forced to run straight up against the wall. The fire flew past his left and cut a good part of the wall clean off. Falling down inside a room, timbers from the roof collapsed on his already injured leg. Well… That hurt. Azula entered to room, calmly, through the front door. Encircling him with her blue fire, she spoke, for the first time since the fight began.

"So this is the greatest threat to the Fire Nation? It took me two minutes… Disappointing. Father will be pleased. After I'm done, we'll just have to kill all the children of the Water Tribes…" Smirking, she lifted her right hand.

The Water Tribes… Of course. If he died, the next Avatar would be born to the Poles… In his head flashed to images of crying parents, holding their children while soldiers burnt them, killing them. No. He could not allow that. Not again.

But before he could even try something, a tendril of water winded itself around Azula's arm, pulling her away from the airbender. Looking past the firebender, Aang saw something that filled him with hope and dread at the same time… Katara.

"Leave. Him. Alone." He heard the water tribe girl mutter, before she bended the water, cutting the timber away from his leg. Then, she ran, pursued by Azula.

Standing up, and hobbling outside, the airbender could see Sokka pushing Azula away with his club. Each time the boy fought benders, Aang was impressed by the fact he could hold his own, and that more often than not, the benders would lose the fight. Sokka was a real force of nature in a fight.

The three of them managed to hold off the princess, but she was just too good. When she pointed her fingers towards Katara, alarm bells rang in his head, and several voices cried out, saying Lightning or Get out of the way!

How he knew, he didn't understand, but he moved to get Katara out of the way. Just when he reached the waterbender, the ground beneath Azula's feet moved, causing her to fall down. Behind the firebender, stood Toph.

"Hey, need some help with this crazy bitch?"

Azula, seeing she was clearly outnumbered, ran away. Though an alley, she moved with more grace than Aang had ever soon from a person who wasn't an airbender.

At the other side, a shadowy figure bumped in the firebender, and she fell down. He and his friends quickly moved through the alley, only to see Zuko and Iroh standing next to the princess. The older man looked at his niece, with such ferocity that Aang finally managed to imagine the bender as a young man, hammering the walls of Ba Sing Se. That man was the most dangerous, he realized immediately. Maybe Azula was a prodigy. Maybe Zuko was fuelled by pure anger. But Iroh? He was the calm and dangerous one.

Standing in half a circle around Azula, whose back was against a wall, smirked.

"Enemies and traitors, all working together. I know when I'm beaten. A princess surrenders with honour." She put her hand in front of her, as a sign or surrender.

"Don't trust her." Aang heard Katara grumble next to him. But Iroh hadn't heard. He put his own hands down, and the compassionate look was back in his eyes.

"Niece…" The man said, sounding sad, as if he was watching a great tragedy while looking at his family member. The moment of inattention was enough for her, though. Quickly bending a small fireball, she hit her uncle.

Aang didn't even think. Iroh had defended the Moon Spirit. Bending an air tunnel towards the princess, he couldn't help but smell the burned flesh. Was this what the Temples had smelled like… After?

He saw his companion's attack, and the combination of all their prowess made a small explosion, right in front of the princess. When the smoke cleared, she had disappeared.

Turning around, Aang saw Zuko sit next to his uncle. Coming a bit closer, the airbender saw to his relieve, the chest of the old man rise and fall steadily. He wasn't dead.

"Get away from us!" The scarred boy shouted, rapidly glancing over his shoulder.

"Zuko, I can help…" Katara took a step forward, but before even reaching the old firebender, Zuko bended fire above their head.

"LEAVE!"

They left. Aang didn't like it, but they couldn't help someone who didn't want to be helped. Sokka took his arm and helped him hobble to Appa. When he was on the saddle, the water tribe boy took the reins, and directed them to the air.

"Here… Let me." Katara sat next to him, bending water around her hands to heal him. Her touch gave Aang instant relieve. Was it the healing water, or the fact that it was Katara? He didn't know.

The sun went under, and before too long, Appa began to descend towards a small rocky mountain, with a flat top. That would do for tonight. What a day. And night. When Appa touched the ground, Sokka managed to grab his sleeping bag before collapsing next to the bison, already snoring.

Toph wasn't much better. She didn't even bother to get down off the saddle, but rather felt her way around, finally finding a soft spot against some of their bags and went to snore even louder than the boy next to Appa.

Aang looked around, trying to find a place to sleep. But after what had happened, he could feel adrenaline course through his body. He wouldn't sleep immediately, that was clear. After the healing from Katara, his leg felt like new, and he jumped down, walking to the etch of the mountain. Maybe the wind coming up from the valley below would help to calm him down. Sitting there, he could feel the stress fall off his shoulders. Peace…

Aang didn't know how long he had been sitting there, but at some moment, the silence around him was broken by a small voice.

"Hey… care to share?" It was Katara, standing next to him, with a blanket.

Answers :

Gabriela N. Gonzalez : Yeah, Toph is going to be great lol! And that concept is for the next chapter, when they talk about the scroll. A whole Kataang chapter…

Jjsmith103 : Of course Katara would be apprehensive about the whole One person deal. That is normal, way too much responsibility! I also liked to include the fact that he saved things from the temple. Of course, a sixteen year old wouldn't leave without at least some basic necessities.

Ashley Barbosa : Thanks! Well, this chapter is a little less great, but it was very important!