Ruby sat by Azula in the infirmary. It had been about a week since Azula's outbreak in Ozpin's office and finally the fever had gone away. Azula had been in and out of consciousness and barely registered her surroundings in that time. She looked up as the door opened and Ozpin stood in the doorway. "Back again, Miss Rose," he asked.

"Yes, Professor," replied Ruby. "What's wrong with her?"

"It could very well be something she picked up while being here. We're not sure."

"Why is she just now showing symptoms, then?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, Miss Rose." Ruby turned to Azula as she heard her co-captain groan and start shifting in the bed.

"Azula?" The Firebender covered her eyes as the fluorescent lights were the first thing she saw.

"Could someone please turn off those lights," she asked with a groan. Ozpin dimmed them and approached the bed as Ruby hugged the girl. Azula glared at the ceiling. "Ruby… You have three seconds to stop strangling me."

"Oh, sorry!"

"How are you feeling, Miss Agni," asked Ozpin. Azula sighed.

"Like hell," said Azula. She blinked as she shifted her legs and felt something off. "What the hell do I fell between my legs?"

"That would be a catheter. You've been asleep for a week. We've had to keep you hydrated and prevent you from soiling the bed. That IV stand was injecting fluids into your system through your vein." Azula looked at her arm and glared at the needle sticking out of it attached to a long tube.

"Get. These. Out."

"I'll call the nurse to do so."

"Great. I can wait another year with these in." Ozpin left the infirmary and Azula glared as she heard a faint chuckle as he did.

"Are you sure you're ok," asked Ruby.

"Did I have a fever?"

"What?"

"While I was out of it. Did I have a fever?"

"You did." Azula sighed.

"I thought I felt differently."

"What do you mean?"

"Back home this happened to a few people. I wouldn't be surprised if this happened to my brother at some point. It occurs when someone goes through… I suppose you could call it a spiritual shift. In times of internal conflict, it makes the body sick as the mind and spirit start to balance out." Azula held up her hand and lit a flame. Instead of the cold blue Ruby had grown used to seeing, her flames were a deep red. "I'm still working on some issues. My flames reflect that. I'm nowhere near as… calm as I was before."

"That was calm," asked a voice at the door. Azula looked up and spotted Zane and Radiance.

"Come for a peek at more, Ro'Meave."

"W-what?! No! I…"

"She's teasin' ya, Jessie," said Radiance.

"I told you, that's not my name!"

"I know it's not yer name, ya nyaff…"

"Enough," said Azula. "I've just woken up. I'm not in the mood for this. I take it you just passed Ozpin."

"That's why we were coming," said Zane.

"Well you can wait a bit more, Ro'Meave. Unless seeing them remove this catheter is something you wish to see as some sort of fetish." Azula smirked as she spotted a blush just over his ever-present mask.

"I… no… I…" Zane glared at her. "I hate you."

"Noted."

"What's a fetish," asked Ruby. There was a second of silence before Azula genuinely laughed at the girl's naivete, a sight Ruby hadn't seen before and smiled at as Zane shook his head while Radiance chuckled.

"Ruby, we are the same age, yes?"

"Uh…"

"Wait, it's been a week, hasn't it?" Ruby nodded. "I guess we are now, considering my birthday was two days ago."

"That's right! Wait here!" Ruby sped out of the room.

"I doubt I can go anywhere!"

"You seem different," said Radiance.

"Well when you've spent a week trying to get over an internal struggle, you tend to feel a bit lighter." Azula blinked as a petal hit her eye as Ruby returned with a few of boxes in her arms stacked haphazardly above her head. "Ruby…"

"Uh," said the scythe wielder. "Little help?"

"Well don't just stand there, you two. Help her before I get crushed by… whatever those are."

"What," asked Radiance. "Like this?"

"Don't you d…" Azula exclaimed as Radiance tipped the boxes onto her with a grin. Ruby stared at the box in her arms.

"One of those was the cake," she said, slightly disappointed.

"Why was it at the top," exclaimed Zane as he spotted it had landed on Azula's head.

"I didn't know which box was which! Yang wrapped all of them!"

"You don't wrap the cake!"

"How did it come out of the wrapping," asked Radiance as Ozpin, Glynda and the nurse walked in as Azula wiped cake out of her eyes and glared at Radiance as the nurse removed the IV. The blind girl started shivering before shaking her head. "Alright! Stop! That was worse than the viscera!"

"What did she show you," asked Zane.

"Rainbows and puppies."

"That's worse than viscera?!"

"I… SHUT IT!"

"Why puppies and rainbows," asked Ruby.

"She hates them more than I do," said Azula. "I noticed it when we passed a child in the street the other day who was drawing and Radiance visibly recoiled when she saw her thoughts." She tried the cake and spit it out. "Is this supposed to be salty?!"

"Oops. My bad."

"Mr. Ro'Meave," said the nurse. "Ozpin. Leave. I need to remove the catheter."

"Of course," said Ozpin. "Zane, come with me please." Zane nodded and followed the headmaster out as Ruby helped Azula pick the cake from her hair.

"I take it this was supposed to be for me when I woke up," asked Azula.

"Yeah," said Ruby. "We all got presents that we thought you would like. I helped bake the cake."

"That was obvious. Leave it to you to mistake salt and sugar when they're clearly labeled."

"All done," said the nurse as she threw the catheter into a waste disposal bin. "You're clothes have been stored away into the locker by your bed. I suggest you start getting used to walking again before you leave the room."

"Of course." The nurse nodded before leaving the room. Azula stood up and Ruby caught her as Azula's legs cramped up from not being used. "Thank you," she grunted.

"You're welcome," said Ruby.

"I hate being dependent on people. But I kept finding myself in that situation when I found myself here." Azula sighed. "I should apologize. I've been falling back on my methods from the Fire Nation and couldn't fully adjust to this… unusual setting, to me." Radiance facepalmed and shook her head as Ruby stared at Azula in confusion.

"What's the Fire Nation?"

"That… is what I was going to tell you all before my…" She cleared her throat. "…Episode. My past. All of it. And then… I need your help."

"Should I call the others?"

"Not until I can walk on my own, which will take a few hours. We need to be in a secure area before I tell you. Some place without any wandering or hidden eyes. I swear, the more I learn about your technology, the more I understand and don't understand, and I hate it."

"How do you think I feel," muttered Radiance as Ozpin and Zane returned.

"I think it's more your lack of intelligence that confuses you, Aiden."

"Oi!"

"Enough," said Azula as she sat down on her bed. "You're both going to be on my team. I suggest you both get along or I will make you." Azula held up a red flame.

"Somehow that's less intimidating without your blue flames," said Zane.

"Is it?"

"Yeah," said Ruby. Azula sighed.

"I suppose I'll have to try new methods of compliance then. Is there something you needed, Professor?" Azula turned to Ozpin.

"Simply checking up on one of my more promising students, Miss Agni," said Ozpin. "Now then, you three, we should leave Azula alone to recuperate on her own before she rejoins us. Azula, let me know when you wish to tell your friends about your secret, and I'll let you use my office again." Azula nodded and Zane set a tea set on the table next to her.

"You didn't make that, did you?"

"No," groaned Zane. "My instructor did. He said it would help you relax and help with recuperating. I'll take you're gifts to Team RWBY's room. Enjoy you're tea." Azula sighed as they left and poured herself a cup of tea. She took a sip and stared at the drink in surprise. It was familiar to her and prepared perfectly. Azula allowed herself to smile slightly before taking another sip and closing her eyes. She breathed out and relaxed as the teas warmth spread through her. She stood up and set the cup down before stretching her legs and getting them used to moving again. After a few moments, Azula paced the room and nodded in satisfaction before sipping more of her tea. She breathed out some more before going through a peaceful kata. Where Firebending forms had fast, aggressive and powerful motions, the one she was using was the opposite. Her Tessenjutsu forms. In the months she'd been on Remnant, she found the style of the Kyoshi Warriors was rather relaxing. Currently, she was using the gentler forms to stretch her muscles and allow herself to get blood flowing properly into her legs.

After a few minutes, Azula finished her forms and her tea and placed the ceramic cup in the pot for ease of carry and exited the room after changing into her clothes. As she exited, she bumped into Weiss and landed on top of her, faces inches apart. "G-get off," exclaimed the Heiress with a crimson face.

"Why are you here?"

"I-I came to check up on you. We're teammates, after all."

"Why don't I believe you then?"

"Because you're a coldhearted bitch?"

"Well I suppose it takes one to know one."

"I'm coldhearted?!"

"You make me seem like an autumn breeze."

"At least I'm not a scary fire breathing dragon of a woman!"

"No, you're a frigid ice harpy who would freeze any man who tries to get close to her."

"Cold blooded reptile!"

"Shrill heart stopping banshee!"

"Having a lover's quarrel, are we," asked Zane above them. They looked up and spotted Zane, Radiance and Ruby, the latter of whom was staring at the two girls with some trepidation.

"Keep talking Ro'Meave, and I'll burn what little of your face I can see."

"Why'd you stop that," asked Radiance. "She was just about to kiss her!" Azula and Weiss blushed darkly before both girls scrambled to their feet. Ruby blushed as well at the implications as Zane shook his head.

"I am surrounded by nitwits."

"Hey," exclaimed the Princess and Heiress. Ruby and Radiance said nothing, Ruby because she was imagining Azula and Weiss kissing and Radiance because she half agreed with Zane and would punch him later for insulting her.

"You two are so similar it's frightening. Can we get going now?"

"Not until you pay for that nitwit comment," said Weiss.

"For once, I agree."

"I believe Azula has something she wanted to tell us before her little episode," said Zane, not intimidated by the two girls in front of him. "We should get your other teammates and JNPR and head back to Ozpin's office. Can we please hurry this up? I need to get to work at the café."

"Fine."

"And keep the teapot, Agni. A gift from my sensei." Azula grunted before walking on ahead, the thought of kissing Weiss running in her head and her face slightly turning red as she did. "By the way." He turned to Radiance as the other three walked ahead. "Who was trying to kiss whom?"

"Yes," said Radiance.

"You're not going to give me a clear answer, are you?"

"Not on your life, Jessie."

"Stop calling me that!"

"I'll call you whatever I want ya bassa!" Zane groaned.

"If my school life is going to be this aggravating all the time, kill me now."

Thirty minutes later, Azula had told the three teams her true history and Ozpin showed them the footage of her arrival in the Emerald Forest with Zane looking away as her body was first revealed from the ground and Nora covering Ren and Jaune's eyes. Azula stood calmly beside the headmaster and Glynda as she assessed the group in front of her. She tried gauging each of their reactions based on their states of shock and disbelief. Ruby, ever the optimist, broke the heavy silence first. "Oh my god," she exclaimed. Azula grunted as the young reaper tackled her to the ground in excitement. "One of my partners is an alien!"

"Stop strangling me," demanded Azula as she tried to pull Ruby's arms from around her neck.

"If I hadn't seen that," said Weiss. "I would've thought everything we just heard an elaborate lie."

"Why tell us now," asked Zane. "You had all this time, why now?"

"Her Lien was stolen by a hacker who had a secret camera in this office," said Radiance. "They knew her secret and since she doesn't know enough about this world and I'm blinder than a bat, we needed help trying to get to the hacker that did this."

"I still don't get why…"

"I needed you to trust me," said Azula as she held Ruby at arm's length. "This felt the only option."

"You needed us to trust you," asked Blake. "Or you needed to know you could trust us?" Azula sighed.

"Both, I suppose. Since I arrived in this world, things have been so different for me. I've had to change to adapt, learn to temper myself and not be… like I was. I had to observe more and distance myself less to achieve what I wanted, blending in."

"I'd imagine not being waited on hand and foot was a real eye opener," said Zane.

"It would be the second time I would see this happen. The first being on Ember Island in the Fire Nation. I was there with my… friends… and my brother for a sort of vacation and no one knew who I was. It was… unnerving. Until then, everyone in the Fire Nation had known who I was, or at least in the Fire Palace."

"No doubt feeding to your ego," said Blake.

"I'll admit, I'm a bit of a narcissist. Having people know who I was at first glance was acceptable and enjoyable. When no one at Ember Island knew me it was… intriguing. And… embarrassing. When I behaved how I normally would, people gave me looks of… annoyance and disdain. It didn't click then that people… normal people… didn't act like I did. So I reacted the only way I knew how, like my father."

"That explains some of your behavior," said Yang.

"When Ty Lee and Mai betrayed me… no… when they protected me from myself, I snapped." Azula rubbed her arm as she felt slightly uncomfortable. All these eyes were on her and she could only see the same three emotions, shock, sadness, and from Weiss, familiarity. "I started to see a pattern. The more I behaved like my father, the more I started controlling people who did not want to be controlled, who were not soldiers or who were completely defiant, the less control I saw I really had. I…"

"You couldn't think of a different way of doing things," said Weiss. "You never interacted with normal people who weren't near you out of a sense of fear or obligation because of who you were related to." Azula didn't need to look at Weiss to hear the recognition the heiress had on that front.

"What happened to your mother," asked Ruby. Azula grimaced slightly before turning from the group to look out of the clock face window.

"I don't know. And… I couldn't care less."

"Why?"

"Despite this change, I still believe my mother only saw me as a monster. I behaved how my father wanted, acted in my own self-interests, following his example. And I saw the look in her eyes whenever I did. When my cousin died, I thought my mother would be happy if it meant that Father would be Fire Lord since my grandfather was most likely going to disown my uncle Iroh." Azula failed to notice Zane's sudden jerk at the mention of the name, but Radiance managed to catch a glimpse of a wizened old man with a long grey beard, one that matched the image in Azula's mind. Radiance shot a look at Zane who tried to calm his mind and glared at Radiance, feeling like she managed to get a glimpse of his memories. Radiance pushed him away from the group without them knowing and glared at him.

"You know your glare is entirely unnerving," said Zane under his breath.

"You know Iroh," Radiance stated in a whisper.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play stupider with me, Ro'Meave. I saw the image of her uncle in your mind when you should have no idea what the hell he looks like. What's he doing here?!"

"He's here to help guide her, now shut up."

"Guide her?"

"The Spirits knew she would go through a lot of changes in this world because of the difference in scenery and lifestyle here. Those changes would make her question exactly why she was chosen for this and she might fully reject the notion of being a Guardian. Iroh guided her brother to better understand the balance within himself, he can do the same for Azula. They used the Spirit of Time to send him here two years ago. This is his second life. And his last."

"Meaning when his time is up here…"

"It's up for good. Sensei has been through a lot. He deserves rest. You will not mention a word of this to Azula. If she feels that Iroh is here as a manipulation from the Spirits, it may bring out the worst of her."

"And if she learns we've been lying, which she will about you, there will be hell to pay."

"I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Now can we please get back to the discussion?" Radiance glared before walking back to the others.

"Can we please leave this for another day," asked Azula as she finally turned back to the group. "Right now, I need your assistance."

"With the hacker," asked Yang.

"Yes. It occurs to me that whoever this L is, they've been watching me almost exclusively. Which means they probably know everything I can do. I want to find him and make him pay for stealing from me. But I don't know anything about this world. I need… help."

"That must've been hard," said Blake.

"You have no idea. I'm used to just ordering people around. Actually asking is… new to me."

"To be fair," said Jaune. "You didn't exactly…" Jaune spotted the warning glares from Weiss and Radiance. "Never mind."

"No. You're right. I didn't ask. I just… stated." Azula took a long breath before getting to her knees and bowing her forehead to the floor, lower than she's ever bowed in her life to her father. "Please. Will all of you help me?" Radiance leaned against the wall as she 'stared' at each of the students in the room while Ozpin quietly sipped his coffee.

"Of course we'll help you, Azula," said Ruby as she moved to her co-captain and put her hand on Azula's shoulder. "Right guys?" She looked at her team expectantly and Weiss sighed.

"I can't exactly leave you two alone," she said. "You'd probably let Azula wreck half the town helping her get her revenge."

"Retribution," said Azula. "It's cleaner."

"That doesn't make me feel better. Which just means I'll have to keep an eye on both of you."

"If Ruby's in," said Yang. "So am I." Ruby looked at Blake who stared at Azula for a moment. Azula looked up at her and the secret cat Faunus sighed as she shook her head.

"Fine," said Blake.

"You know my answer," said Radiance. "Jessie?" Zane growled before turning to Azula.

"It would mean getting some experience with working with you two," he said. "Fine."

"We're in," said Jaune, Pyrrha and Nora nodding behind him.

"So," said Ozpin. "Do you have a plan for finding this 'L'?"

"Radiance said one of the Malachite Twins is known for hacking herself," said Azula.

"Who's that," asked Yang. Radiance chuckled and caught her attention. "What?"

"You've actually met them before," she said. "You fought them when you went to Junior's looking for information and wrecked the place."

"Oh, them! Wait, we're going to Junior's?"

"That's right," said Azula. Yang smirked.

"I can get us in."

"We should keep that interaction small," said Azula. "I think they remember you just fine."

"How do you know?"

"That's where I met Radiance. And they had a picture of you in the back. They gave you horns, a goatee and a thin curled mustache drawn in red ink. Like how you draw Weiss on occasion."

"Does he now?!" Azula smirked as Yang's eyes turned red. "Then we should pay him a visit."

"Radiance, you wait here. I'll go with Yang alone. I doubt her vehicle can fit more than two. The rest of you, wait for me to tell you where to go and meet us at the location."

"Try not to make too much trouble," cautioned Glynda. Azula smiled at her and the whole group felt a bit unnerved.

"Whatever do you mean? We're just going to have a chat with some old friends."

"I think I'm more scared of her now than I was before," said Pyrrha as Azula and Yang left.

"What happened," asked Radiance before waving in front of her face to Ruby.

"Azula smiled. It was kind of creepy."

"Ah. Thank goodness I can't see. Her sadistic smile is unnerving."

"This smile was more 'sweet' than sadistic," said Weiss. Radiance shuddered at the thought of Azula coming across as sweet and innocent. Someone as sinister as her should not labeled as sweet.