Chapter 5-

The trial begins.

The guest sat silently. Azula's face was stone cold not a hint of emotion in sight. The avatar looked down at a piece of paper sitting in front of him and cleared his voice.

"Princess Azula of the Fire Nation," Aang started, "During your time participating in the Hundred Year War you cause suffering and pain to thousands of people. You took over the great city of Ba Sing Se and hurt me and many of my allies. And you don't seem to feel any regret for your of your actions during the war, we the leaders of the nation have asked for your answer to these charges"

Silence filled the room, only for a moment.

"How do you plead ? "

No one said a word. The court room feel under a thick layer of tension. Then a small laugh filled the room. Azula's blank expression turned to a small smirk.

"Not guilty."

The room gasped in awe.

'So they are idiots' Azula thought to herself

Whispers and rumors flew around the room like hawks.

"How can I plead if I haven't even heard any of my so called 'crimes'. " Azula said drawly " As far as I know, I haven't committed any actual war crimes but I doubt you would be aware of what constitutes a war crime in the first place. I know you are new at this Avatar but please at least try to get it right if you are trying to needlessly punish me "

Everyone expect Azula's face feel. Frowns scattered across the room. The world leaders glared at her, but the Earth King especially looked nervous at what she had just said.

"I-" the Avatar scrambled for his words.

"Sorry," he said with his head hung low, "your crimes are Abuse. Destruction of property. Mistreatment of your workers. Stealing. Murder. Attempted genocide, and…cheating in an Agni Kai"

The whole courtroom was plunged into silence. Some were wondering if the Princess was in despair over the weight of the charges...

Then a blood freezing, high pitched laugh filled the air. Everyone froze. The noise didn't even sound human. Azula sat smiling, not a sweet smile you would expect for a teenager. A smile of evil and hatred. A smile that could make a grown man cower in fear.

"Me, cheated, ha you make me laugh Avatar" Azula could hardly believe what she was hearing.

"What do you have to say in your defense" Chief Arnook said with a cold unwavering tone.

"Hypocrisy and royalty" The single word Azula said held so much confidence.

"What?! That's your defense?! Ridiculous!" The Earth King yelled dripping with rage and venom.

"What the King means to say is , explain please " this time it was Zuko who had been uncharacteristically quiet for most of the trial.

"We'll as you should know dear brother being fire nation royalty come with its perks." Azula said boredly as if explaining something to a child.

"I'm aware."

"Well since none of you are from the fire nation or know our law I will explain it to you." Azula explained "As the crown princess I am given full and unconditional command over my troops. I am also given the right to treat my 'workers' as you put it, by any means I choose."

"Bu-" the Avatar started.

"I'm not finished" Azula interrupted " Also I never 'mistreated' my workers, I simply banished a few undesirables that crossed me , which isn't a war crime in and of itself by the way , but would constitute revision in the Fire Nation for how workers should be treated I admit that much and if anybody had mistreated their workers it would be my dear Zuko "

" WHAT ?! " Zuko shouted in surprise.

" Yes, the former crew of your ship regaled me with tales of you not listening to any of their suggestions and constantly yelling at them. And having no problems putting their lives at risk for the sake of capturing the Avatar, which you all so conveniently forget " Azula pointed out with a glare " So if anybody should be charged for mistreating workers it would be my dear brother "

The world leaders were dumbfounded at her defense, unable to spot any real holes in it.

"As for my charge for destruction of property and stealing I have nothing to say except for you are all a bunch of hypocrites." Azula said spitefully.

Eyebrows furrowed at Azula.

"I can assure you for every time my fire has burned property of another person the Avatar has blown someone's roof of or the blind Earthbender their has crumpled somebody's home as least a dozen more times than I ever have " Azula pointed out " In fact, didn't my brother set Kyoshi Island on fire ? Which was supposedly a neutral territory, which he broke the agreement of in search of the Avatar, thereby attacking a neutral party which IS an actual war crime "

Zuko gulped as the Earth Kingdom gave him a look, on top of Suki crossing her arms and looking away. Knowing how true it was.

"Also when it comes to the matter of stealing you should be charging my brother as well " Azula once again had to point out "While in his banishment he stole countless things from not only the army but from innocent civilians of the Earth kingdom. Not to mention he tried to burn down the South and North Pole."

" This isn't Zuko's trial, its yours " Hakoda argued.

" Yes, but maybe it should be if you are all going to blatantly try to blame it all on me " Azula spit back.

The world leaders and Avatar looked among themselves for a moment.

"Fine, you've made your point. How about murder and attempted genocide? What 'defense' can you come up for that." The avatar said angrier than any of the others have heard him since Appa went missing.

"As for attempted genocide, I was never with my father for those plans, he left me at the palace to become Fire Lord " Azula broke through that easily " So I never 'attempted' anything..."

" Fine, what about the murder ? " Avatar switched to that.

"The only person I 'murdered' as you so kindly put it is you and it was while you were about to go into the Avatar State to kill everybody in the catacombs for as far as I knew. I saw a chance to save myself and Zuko and I took it " Azula explained " And you seem to be doing just fine."

Avatar quickly back down on that front, the world leaders started looking nervous as all of their accusations towards her were shot full of holes.

Azula resisted the urge to smirk, she was on the winning side , now she had to go for the offensive.

"Not only that but we were at war and killing an enemy combatant isn't a war crime . In fact none of my 'crimes' that you brought today even suggest that I am a criminal of war." Azula said " There is a difference between an act of war and committing a war crime, but I doubt any of you care enough to learn that definition. And there is nothing that I've done that the another person in this room hasn't already "

The world leaders looked struggling to say something...before somebody took the initiative.

"Princess Azula" chief Hakoda said firmly whilst standing up.

"You have made a good argument for each of your accusations but that doesn't not dismiss the fact that you created in you so called Agni Kai and tried to kill your brother and MY daughter. There is nothing you can say to get us to change our minds about you."

Rage grew in Azula's eye. But so did her smile. Her eyebrows rose and she purred, "Can't I ? " she challenged " For one, cheating in Agni Kai isn't a war crime, then again most of you don't even seem to understand that concept to begin with-"

" Get to your point " Hakoda grumbled.

" Well, while cheating in an Agni Kai is a real crime within the Fire Nation that would result in my position as royalty being judged...I never technically cheated in an Agni Kai. That honor falls to Zuko "

" SAY WHAT !?"

The courtroom broke out into screams and insults all aimed at the princess. In any other normal situation Azula wouldn't have shown emotion like that but she has a feeling as soon as she accuse Zuko's honor he will forget about this and her plan will work.

" What are you even talking about Azula !? " Zuko shouted in surprise.

" For one, please explain how exactly I 'cheated' in our Agni Kai " Azula prodded him to continue.

" You attacked a non-combatant outside of the dueling arena

" Ah ! But there are no explicit rules within the terms of an Agni Kai that states that, now does it ? " Azula argued back " The rules are usually established between the two parties before the Agni Kai, you only stated that if YOU defeated me, the crown would be yours...but it wasn't you who defeated me, was it Zuko ? "

Zuko's face went pale as he knew where this was going.

Azula smirked she was getting the outcome she hoped for some chaos before she would lay the final blow and hopefully if everything worked out, freedom.

"Azula explain." The Avatar explained.

"Well, since no one here appears familiar with the basic rules of an Agni Kai, perhaps I should explain " Azula took a deep breath "An Agni Kai is a duel between TWO firebenders. The battlefield is reserved for these two fighters. If anyone is to step even a foot on the field they have breached the honor and truth of the duel. When the water bender stepped in the battle grounds she interfered giving me or my brother the right to attack her. I shot lightning at her not my brother. I had no intent of killing him but to simply stop him from stealing my crown that he gave up the rights to when he betrayed his family and nation. My brother was defeated and the water bender continued to fight me just to defeat. Technically speaking , I had won the Agni Kai fairly and the honor of the Fire Lord is nothing but a lie."

All heads turned to Zuko. She was right none of them knew the rules of an Agni Kai and they were not going to trust the word of solely Azula. With all heads turn to Zuko the crowd filled with fear and tension. Zuko looked down and put his hands to his head. With a sigh Zuko looked up and his sister then to the judges and said, "She's right. Those are the rules of an Agni Kai. And she right I have no honor. I cheated this crown but I won't give it up so she can run my nation into the ground."

Hope filled the courtroom. Everyone thought this was the end. Zuko would sentence Azula and everything would be merry and well. Those dreams were cut short when Zuko spoke again.

"However,"

Azula smirk was back.

"As I did cheat and my sister won I will grant her whatever she wishes as long as it isn't explicitly dangerous or harmful to anyone including herself."

The courtroom was shook. How could he do this. Was Azula going to walk free. No this couldn't be happening. They could lose. She couldn't win again. This wasn't how this was suppose to go. Azula was suppose to get punished and now she's getting rewards. Zuko had to be tricked by her so he would let her guard down then he could attack. Something. Anything. She had to be brought to justice.

" ABSOLUTELY NOT ! " The Earth King shouted in objection " You are in no position to just let her off the hook Fire Lord ! You are clearly biased in your decision ! She needs to be judged fairly for her crimes against the world-"

" Fairly ? Is that what you call it ? " Azula cut in with cold anger lacing her voice, as she glared at the judges present.

" W-What on earth are you going on about now ?" The Earth King withered under her hard glare.

" For one thing, none of you judges gathered here are impartial or non-biased in the slightest " Azula pointed at Kuie " I took his city " She then pointed at the Hakoda and Arnook " These two are watertribe and bound to be biased towards Fire Nation " She then turned to Aang " I fought against him in a war and you-"

She turned to Zuko last.

" Are my brother. Whom took my throne from me and yet somehow end up maybe the best person to judge my fate " Azula pointed out " Better than this fool playing King "

" Y-Y-You have no right to speak to me like that ! Not after what you did !"

" Oh ? So you pride yourself on being a just king who is merely wanting to get justice for his kingdom ? " Azula questioned.

" Of course ! You must be punished for your-"

" If that is true than why haven't you gone after Mai or Ty Lee ? My two associates who were just as involved in the conquering of your little city as much as me. Or how about Iroh, the one who ACTUALLY committed genocide and launched a 600 day siege on the city " Azula posed many questions, the Earth King and judges had no good answers too.

" T-that...that was just because-"

" Because I was the easy target, right ? " Azula said spitefully " The scapegoat you and your precious generals could make an example of to save face over the fact you got dominated by a literal 14 year old, and you knew nobody would defend me...nobody who cared at least " She shot a look at Zuko, who looked away in shame. She turned back to Kuei and smirked sadistically at him " Tell me did you feel humiliated ? Small when I took your precious city ? I hope you did..."

" HOW DARE YOU ! YOU DO NOT GET TO-"

" Would you perhaps like me to bring up the war crimes committed by the Earth Kingdom ? " Azula cut in and she relished in seeing Kuie's face lose color.

" What ? What war crimes ? " Both Zuko and Aang asked.

" I take it you both never bothered to think about it or read some reports, but its true " Azula said "I'm sure if you read some reports, you would find plenty of reports about actual war crimes committed by Earth Kingdom troops, which include but are not limited to, torturing captured prisoners, raping innocent fire nation people, attacking non-combatants and many more but we would be here all day "

Whispers and mutters started up again...as the Earth Kingdom people present hung their head in shame, knowing how true it was.

" Is this true ? " Aang asked.

" W-W-Well, you see-"

" You should be aware Earth King, that the Avatar's earthbender can tell when people are lying so maybe think wisely on what you say next "

Kuie sputtered and couldn't think of a proper response before bowing his head in shame.

"...We will talk about this later " Aang said calmly " But for now, Zuko can pass his judgement on Azula "

" Right well, so getting back to my previous judgement..." Zuko began.

"What is it that you want Azula ? "

Azula smirked.