Howdy Yall, and welcome to the SECOND chapter of 2021! Sorry, this chapter wasn't released on Saturday, we had some technical difficulties, but hopefully, we will be back to our normal schedule next week. I also wanted to say that I do stray from Canon in this chapter so plz don't get mad. Hope you enjoy this chapter. Don't forget to Review, Follow, Favorite.

"You know," Azula began as she sat down at the table. She placed her cup of tea that she was drinking at her spot.

"What?" Aang asked as he was in the kitchen cooking some surf 'n' turf with a side of creamy mashed potatoes and corn.

"It's hard to believe that tomorrow we will be in the Capitol," she replied as she took a sip of her tea. She looked at the plate that he was handing her and sighed lightly. Let's hope my clothes still fit from before I left.

Aang smiled and placed the plate in front of her, which consisted of a large cut of beef drenched in butter and seasoning with a large amount of shrimp and scallops on top, a large galop of mashed potatoes, and two ears of corn.

"It's crazy that we've been out at sea for a whole two months," she continued as she started eating her dinner. She moaned lightly at how good her food was tasting, which made Aang chuckle.

"I take it that you like it?" he said with a smirk on his face.

"Nope. It tastes absolutely terrible," she stated sarcastically, which made him laugh even harder.

"I'm glad that you like my cooking so much." He beamed as he dug into his own plate of food. Suddenly, he realized what she had said earlier. "Wait, it's been two months?"

"Yes, Aang," she said simply as she took a sip of her tea.

"Wow, a lot has happened over those two months," he reflected as he moved his hand to his chin.

"Yeah, like that time where you discovered metal bending," Azula said with a smirk.

~~ FLASHBACK ~~

Aang was sitting with Azula on the balcony one morning with the sun barely risen above the horizon. She was wrapped in his arms, basking in his warmth.

"Hey, Aang," Azula said as she continued to watch the sun rise.

"Hm?"

"What's your worst element?" she asked curiously.

"Earth," he answered flatly.

"Really? I would have thought water would have been your worst one."

"Really?" He tilted his head to the side. "Why would you think that?"

"Well, your teacher wasn't the greatest of people...and to be honest with you, she's...kind of a bitch."

Aang remained quiet as he turned over the comment in his head. After a few seconds of thinking, he finally spoke. "Do you not like Katara?"

"What, that Waterbending floozy? Why would I like her?"

"Well, I mean, she is one of my friends. And I didn't think you both would have ever met."

Azula scoffed at the comment and finally turned around fully in his lap. "From the things that she said when you went rouge at the Stronghold, I didn't care for her. She seemed like the type of person to betray her friends."

"So you both met?" Aang asked as he looked into her eyes.

"Yes. When I was Chi Blocked, I heard her talking about only Zuko and not you. If she had truly been your friend, then she would have been talking about getting you back as well."

Aang sat there for a moment and sighed inwardly. He knew that she had a point and was honestly quite disappointed in himself for not realizing it earlier.

"Actually, what DID set you off in that cave?" she asked as she grabbed her boyfriend's hand, squeezing it lightly. "You never talk about it and I'm curious. Usually, you are cool tempered and have a very slow fuse, but Zuko, apparently, can get that fuse to light."

Aang took a deep breath. "Alright, I'll tell you what happened: Zuko basically said that I was absolutely useless. He said that I didn't deserve to be the Avatar. He said that I was a useless asshole who didn't deserve to live. He said that I was the reason why my culture died. He said so many awful things about me," Aang explained through gritted teeth. He looked at Azula, who was trying to calm him down some.

"Aang, I'm so sorry he said those things to you. But you need to calm down," she reassured him in a soothing voice. She gripped his hand and started rubbing it softly.

"I know. I'm just so fucking angry about it! If you think about it, HE'S the one who betrayed HIS country!" he stated loudly as he balled up his fist.

"Aangy, listen to me. I know that you are mad, but you need to let it go."

"I know I need to let it go - it's just really hard!" he exclaimed as he punched the metal deck that he was sitting on.

Suddenly, something amazing happened. When Aang punched the metal, it caved around his fist. Azula looked at Aang with wide eyes. "A-Aang, what did you do?"

Aang, who at this point was too terrified at what he had just done, ignored what his girlfriend said and simply stared at the dent that he had made.

"Aang, I need an answer!"

"I...I don't know how this happened! I simply punched the ground."

"Wait...didn't you say that Earthbending was your worst element?" Azula clarified while falling into a thinking pose.

"Yeah, but what does that have to do with metal?" Aang asked, confused as to where the Princess was going with this.

"Well, metal is made out of tiny particles of Earth. What you just did was use the particles in the metal to bend it, thereby creating metal bending! Aang, you just created a whole new kind of bending!"

Aang looked at his hands and smiled. She sounds so proud of me! "Yeah! I guess you're right! I can't believe I was able to do that! Man, am I awesome," he added smugly.

"Katara doesn't know what she's missing," Azula said, smirking as she leaned in and kissed Aang on the lips.

~~ END FLASHBACK ~~

"To my defense, I didn't know what I was doing," Aang mumbled as he ate his food.

"Yes, but now that gives you something else to do while I'm away! You know that I will probably be busy doing meetings or Fire Nation Army stuff, right? Who knows, maybe you'll discover another sub-element to bending," Azula spoke while she cut the meat that was on her plate. She was taking slow chunks out of the steak and loved every bite of it.

"Well, there aren't too many other ones that I don't know. Besides, maybe you should focus on getting the technique that I taught you down." Aang smirked as Azula choked on her tea.

"What are you talking about?" Azula asked with a hint of nervousness in her voice. "I totally have that technique down!"

"Sure you do. And I'm from the Fire Nation," Aang replied sarcastically. "It's okay to not be the best at something."

"No, I am a Fire Nation prodigy! I will get this even if it kills me!" Azula shouted boastfully.

Aang chuckled. "I have no doubt that you won't master it. I'm just saying that it is a rather hard technique to master in the first place."

"I don't see you having any problems with it," she mumbled with heat.

"Well, that's because I already know the technique, Zu," Aang said as he finished his dinner and sipped his water.

"Fine, whatever! At least I didn't blow myself up when I was learning how to generate lightning."

~~ FLASHBACK ~~

It was a nice, cool morning on Azula's ship. Aang had been doing his normal workout with Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. They had only been at it for about an hour now and Azula was going to teach Aang something new.

"Alright, Aang. I'm going to be teaching you something new today," Azula began as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh?" Aang raised an eyebrow slightly. "What will I be learning?"

"You will be learning how to generate and shoot lightning!"

Mai and Ty Lee's heads immediately snapped up and they looked at her with shock and worry.

"Zula, are you sure that he can handle it?" Ty Lee asked cautiously as she got up and moved towards the Princess.

"Yes," she stated, determined as she smiled at Aang. "I am very confident in his abilities to create lightning."

"Alright, I hope that you know what you are doing," Mai said as she started backing up from the monk.

"Everything will be absolutely fine. Trust me! Do you guys not believe in Aang?"

she asked as she eyed her friends.

"No, it's not that at all! It's just that he's really new to Firebending," Mai stated calmly.

"Yeah, Zula," Ty Lee chimed in as she, too, eyed the Avatar. "Don't you think that you are taking this a little bit too far too fast?"

"No," she said simply. "I don't think I'm going too fast for him at all."

"Yeah guys, c'mon! Have some faith in me!" Aang said in a childish voice. He was currently stretching and getting ready for whatever Azula was going to teach him.

"Alright, let's do that, Aang. First, what I want you to do is feel the energy inside of you," she said as she started walking over towards him. "If you can feel it, you'll feel two energies. A positive energy and a negative energy."

Aang did as he was told and started to look inwardly upon himself. As she was talking, Aang was trying to find these energy fields. Alright, so I need to look inwardly, but not as deep as the chakra points, or going to the spirit world. Wait, I feel something. I think I found it.

"Alright, I think I found it. It feels like the forces are pulling on each other and spinning," he explained as he kept his eyes closed.

"Yes, that's what you are supposed to feel." Azula smiled at her boyfriend who blushed back. Then she walked towards the middle of the ship and got into a stance. "Lightning is created through the process of pulling those energy forces apart, then letting them slam together. The energy created is surged through your body and must be released through a single point - like your fingers." She then started swirling her arms around in circles. Aang could see the electricity around her body and was in awe. She then stepped forward and pointed upward towards the sky. Suddenly, a single stream of lightning surged through her fingers and entered the upper atmosphere.

"You know, after all the times you've done that, it's still incredible to watch," Ty Lee stated in wonder as she gazed at the sky.

"So that's why he calls you Sparks," Mai said, smirking at her friend and continuing to watch the show that was taking place.

"Wow, that was amazing. And you can still feel the energy in the air," Aang stated.

Azula gave him a confused look. "What do you mean?" she asked, as she couldn't feel anything in the air.

"Well, you can feel the electricity in the air," Aang explained as he started to move his fingers through the air. Small sparks and crackles could be seen and heard as he bended the air around him.

"Yeah, I can't do that," Azula explained while sweat dropping.

"Oh well, it must be an Avatar thing. I'll ask Roku about it later," he said nonchalantly as he got into the same stance as Azula did.

"Now Aang, I don't think you're ready to create lightning. I said it was okay for you to learn, but doing and learning are two different things," Azula explained as Aang chuckled.

"Don't worry, Zula, I know what I'm doing," Aang reassured as he started swirling his arms around rapidly.

"No, I don't think you do," Azula said as she took a step back from her boyfriend. She knew that he was about to blow himself up due to his lack of patience.

Aang went through all the motions that he had seen from when Azula had done the same thing. He could feel the energy around him and smiled. Who's the prodigy now? He pointed his fingers towards the sky but lightning wasn't released into the sky. Instead, it was released around him and shocked him. Simultaneously, a reaction with the energy already in the air gave rise to more energy to converge onto Aang, which caused a small explosion.

When the smoke cleared, Aang could be seen with his clothing shredded everywhere, along with smoke and soot on his body. He was groaning in pain and displeasure. Azula walked over to him, smirking.

"You knew this was going to happen, didn't you?" he grumbled as he couldn't move properly and was sore all over.

"Of course I did. I knew that you were going to blow yourself up from the fact that you didn't close your eyes. Don't get me wrong, there were mistakes at literally every step of the process, but you actually did better than a lot of other people when they first learned to bend lightning."

"What usually happens?" he asked as he continued to try and move and stand up.

"Well, usually they shock themselves and kill themselves due to the large amount of electricity in their body. You, thankfully, didn't do that. Due to your skills at looking inwardly at your body, You were able to properly separate the two energies. Where you went wrong was that you didn't know where to send the energy, allowing it to go everywhere and not out your fingers, which is where you want it to go, also creating an explosion that temporarily paralyzed you."

Aang cursed to himself as Azula walked over to him and sighed in defeat. "Alright, I get it. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have rushed into things like that. Will you properly teach me?" he asked as he attempted puppy dog eyes.

"Yes - I'll teach you how to properly channel and wield lightning. But don't expect it to be a cake walk. Do you understand?" Azula commanded in a tone that signified respect and authority. She smirked at Aang, who sighed once again in defeat.

"Yes, Princess Azula."

~~ FLASHBACK END ~~

"Yeah, yeah, I know: the Avatar blew himself up by trying to create lightning. Laugh it up," Aang spoke in a defeated tone as Azula was laughing at him while they both remembered the memory.

"Well, I did tell you that you weren't ready for it. But you didn't listen to me," Azula explained as she continued to laugh at the memory.

"Yeah, I also know that I had to make your favorite chocolate cake the day after as a 'please forgive me' gift," Aang recalled as he took both of their cleared plates back to the sink to clean them.

"Oh my Agni, that cake was so good!" Azula moaned in delight at just the thought of that cake.

"Well, since it is our last night on this ship before we arrive at the capital," Aang noted as he walked towards a tupperware container with a white sheet on top of it, "I figured that you wouldn't be able to have it for a while, so I made it for you." He lifted the sheet and under it was a glass cover that was covering Azula's triple-chocolate fudge cake.

"Aww, Aang! You didn't have to make that for me! Although, I really do appreciate it," Azula said as he brought the cake over to her. She smiled and kissed him on the cheek as she cut herself a piece of the cake.

"So, are you ready to go back to the Fire Nation?" Aang asked as he cut himself a piece as well.

"Honestly, I think I am ready. You've never been there, right?" Azula asked as she swallowed a bite of her cake.

"Azula, I'm 117 years old. Of course I've been to the Fire Nation. In fact, my Air Nomad Academy group was the last group that Sozin ever let into the Capitol. He gave us a tour of the Palace and everything. It was super cool."

"Wait, that was YOUR group?" Azula asked as she continued to eat her cake.

"Yeah...wait, how do you know about that?" Aang questioned back.

"Well, there are written accounts of the last Airbenders in the Capitol. There were two monks, a child monk, and twenty children. I guess you were the child monk, since you already had your tattoos," Azula explained.

"Yes, I was that child monk that was on the trip. I wasn't revealed that I was the Avatar yet as right when I got back from that trip, I was told that I was the Avatar."

"Well, isn't that ironic," Azula said, smirking, which made Aang raise an eyebrow.

"Not realizing that one of the kids that you let in was the very child that you were trying to kill?" Aang asked sarcastically.

Instead of answering the question, Aang and Azula simply started laughing. They were laughing for what seemed like a few minutes until both started to calm down.

"Did you honestly think it would ever end up this way?" Aang asked as he placed the empty cake container on the counter. He walked over to Azula, who was smiling at him and guided her to the balcony.

The sky was a very dark shade of blue. The only light was coming from the full moon in the sky. There were multiple different twinkling stars in the sky and the ocean breeze was soothing on the skin.

"Honestly, I didn't think this would ever happen," Azula stated as she wrapped her arms around Aang. "I didn't think I would ever find love in this life. I thought that I would always be alone." She turned to face Aang, who was simply looking out into the ocean.

"What do you mean? You are an amazing person. Sure, you're a little icy sometimes, but I know you mean well," Aang explained as he continued to look off into the distance. "Why would you ever think that you don't deserve something like this?"

"Aang...I'm a monster."

"What do you mean? I've noticed that you keep calling yourself that, but never wanted to call you out for it."

"Aang, a long time ago I was a different person then I was now," she explained, which earned a chuckle from Aang.

"Yeah, you don't need to tell me that. You always wanted to kill me and now I want to start a family with you someday."

"No, Aang. I was a ruthless, bloodthirsty monster. I was the right hand to my father. Anyone he told me to kill, I killed. All the screams, the loss of life, everything," she confessed, which made Aang hold her closer.

"Azula." Aang looked at her with concern flashing in his eyes. "What do you mean?"

"When I was eight, it was me, my mother, my father, and Zuko. We all used to live as a semi-happy family. We used to go to this place named Ember Island and we even had a vacation house there," she reminisced in a hollower tone. "We were happy. I used to spend time with Father and Mother. Zuko was always scared of me because of the fact that I was better at bending than he was. I mean, sure, I was a little mischievous, a burnt toy here, a prank there, but all of that changed in one afternoon." She paused so that she could catch her breath and then continued.

"I was playing in the yard one afternoon and I saw a fox trying to kill some birds. I didn't want the birds to get eaten, but I also couldn't take on a fox all by myself. I tried to scare it away, but it wouldn't listen to me. When it was about to hurt one of the birds, I ran and tried to reach it. But, the only thing that came out was a torrent of blue flames."

Aang gasped at the story and looked at his girlfriend. "You killed it," he whispered.

All Azula could do was nod her head. "I killed it and the birds flew away. Mother came out of the house and saw the dead fox with blood leaking everywhere. She didn't see the bird as they had already flown away. She...she called me a monster. I had killed an innocent fox. I was a monster. Then she saw the blue flames and ran to get my father. When he got there, he saw the flames, too, and..." She stopped talking suddenly as a wave of sobs overcame her.

"What happened?" Aang whispered into her ear as he held her close.

"He was proud of me. He was so happy that I could kill such an innocent creature. He encouraged me to keep doing it. After everything that had already occurred, Mother stopped talking to me. She totally cut me out of her life. She would call me a monster who had no humanity. Zuko got confused, so he tried to connect with me, but father told me to lie; lie as much as possible. He would try to ask if I was okay, wondering what was wrong. All I would do was lie. This went on for years. The lying, the killing of innocent people, the rift began to grow more and more until Fire Lord Azulon became ill." She paused again to catch her breath. She looked at Aang, who had a totally neutral look on his face.

"What happened next?" he asked, which made Azula sigh and continue her tale.

"Uncle Iroh had just lost his son at Ba Sing Se. He returned home, a shell of his former self. Since he was the older brother, he was the next in line for the throne. Father thought of him as weak for coming back from battle for something as pitiful as losing a son, so he got angry. Zuko stepped in to try and calm father down, but instead, he lashed out at him and gave him his famous scar. Mother also didn't like the fact that Ozai had now branded his son, so she tried to take him away. Once that happened, Ozai went to Azulon to try and have Iroh removed from the line of succession, but failed. So, he killed Azulon. Once he died, he had me kill my mother. He told me that he thought she was conspiring against him to keep Iroh on the throne. By this point, I was around ten or eleven. I had been conditioned by father to not question orders that he gave. That same night, my father had intentionally not been in my mother's bedroom. I snuck in and was about to kill my mother, but she already knew I was there." She sobbed into Aang's chest and he comforted her the best that he could. He whispered that it was okay and that she was just following orders.

Azula pressed on. "When I saw her turn around, she said that I truly was a monster. She said that anyone who would willingly kill their mother was such. She didn't even put up a fight. The last thing she said to me was that even though I was a monster, she still loved me. At that point, I had had enough and I slit her throat. I killed my mother and was praised for doing so by my father. He said that I was doing it to 'Protect the Fire Nation from weaklings.'

"He said that I was a warrior. Now I know that all he had said was lies. He banished Zuko and Iroh soon after and sent them on the quest to find you. I stayed and became his second in command. I laid waste to villages in the Earth Kingdom, killing important leaders, seducing businessmen and killing them, too. He even had me kill Iroh during the invasion of Ba Sing Se when I took you both captive. I didn't tell him about you yet, but I did tell him that I had his brother. He told me to slaughter him. So, I did. I cut his limbs off, Tortured him, and do you know what he said to me? He said that he was sorry for all the pain my father gave me and to tell Zuko that he was proud of him. I got so angry that I lobbed off his head and burned the remains."

"Aang, how can you possibly love me?!"

She had finally let it out. The question that had been in her mind for so long was finally out in the open. It had been bugging her for weeks on end. She had to try her hardest not to let him see it, but now it was out.

"Azula-"

"NO!" she screamed into Aang's shoulder. "How? I don't understand. I'm a monster. I'm a ruthless murderer. I murdered my family. I almost murdered you! How can you still love me?"

Aang sat there in thought for what seemed like hours, but in reality, was only a few minutes. He pulled her out of his embrace and kissed her on the lips. He held her there for as long as he could before he let her go.

"I love you because you are kind, loyal, funny, smart, cunning, and so many more reasons. I love you because of the fact that you were able to change. You saw that what you were doing was wrong. You were able to change sides. I love you because you make me happy. You told me once that sometimes our greatest weaknesses can turn into our greatest strengths. I wholeheartedly think of you as my greatest strength. You give me a reason to end this war. You may be my weakness, sure - I would go ape shit if you were hurt - but you give me a reason to fight. You give me my strength. Without you, I wouldn't be where I am right now. I love you, Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, because you are Princess Azula of the Fire Nation. I will love all of the good, the bad, and the ugly. And I will love them all for as long as I live." He finished his speech with a smile and kissed her again. When he let go, he took in her shocked expression and laughed.

"D-did you mean all of that?" she asked timidly. She looked at him with tears in her eyes. All he did was simply smile and nod his head.

"I will never stop loving you. I will finish this war and kill your father for all the atrocities he has done," he said defiantly in a serious voice, which made Azula smile.

"Thank you," she whispered into him as she hugged him as hard as she could, as though if she let go, he would simply disappear.

"Thank you."