Takes place during the day of black sun.
Azula watched from the doorway as her brother wrote his letter, a packed bag resting by his feet. She remained quiet until he finished and turned, all but jumping out of his skin when he saw her. She smiled warmly.
"You've made up your mind then?" Azula asked as he watched her warily. "Good. I'm glad. Come on, I have everything ready." She fixed one of the pins holding her elaborate braid coiled at the nape of her neck and grabbed both travel packs on the way out.
The two of them watched the end of the evacuation from a war balloon. Their father believed they had gone to slow the avatar's forces. Their father was wrong.
Within a quarter of an hour, explosions started down at the docks. Zuko went to steer the balloon there, but Azula stopped him. "Wait."
That paid off, as within the hour, a small band had broken through the defenses and were making their way through the city proper towards the palace. The siblings exchanged a look and took the balloon down.
The invasion party took defensive stances as the balloon came towards them, but Suki and Laith immediately relaxed as Azula waved to them, dressed as close to Narnian style as she could manage. The balloon landed lightly and Laith sheathed his sword, holding out his hand to help Azula out of the basket.
"Took you long enough," she sniffed jokingly, "I thought we intended to defeat my father today, not three years from now."
Most of the avatar's group seemed accepting of Azula for the moment, seeing as Suki and Laith were so relaxed with her, but stared suspiciously at Zuko. Azula elbowed him into going to speak with them before being pulled into a hug by Suki.
"It's so good to see you again, Azula," she said, "Teo's back with the main invasion party, but soon we'll all be together again."
"Excuse me, why are we trusting these two all of a sudden?" The one Suki liked, Sokka, asked in indignation. He apparently was not accepting of Azula.
"Because I'm vouching for her," Suki said firmly, then gave Azula a pointed glare that said to play nice.
Azula quickly revised her next words to be less cutting. "I can tell you where my father's hiding, and I've brought along something you will sorely need," She said, folding her arms.
"And what might that be?" The adult water tribe warrior asked warily.
"A legitimate heir to the throne,"Azula said simply, gesturing to where her brother was awkwardly stumbling through apologies and explanations to an unimpressed waterbender and happy avatar.
"My uncle can't take the throne as he already abdicated and has been in prison since Ba Sing Se, and even if I wasn't too young for it I wouldn't touch the fire nation throne with a ten foot pole," Azula explained, "My brother is of age, beloved by the people, and most importantly, on your side and in favor of ending the war. Having a legitimate Fire Lord to work with will make ending this war exponentially easier."
The warrior shared a look with Sokka, who looked doubtful but reluctantly accepting. "Fair enough I suppose."
"We don't have long until the eclipse starts," Laith said lowly.
"Right, let's go," Suki agreed.
So, now the burning question on everyone's mind is, how on earth did we get here? Well, that is for me to know and you to find out. ;)
