Daughter of Hate

by Blutus Mindpretzel

The war is over. Azula's motives remain unknowable as her child stands to shake the foundation of everything built since the fall of Fire Lord Ozai. For Toph, Mai, Aang, Katara and the rest, the world is an even more dangerous place than it was when they were children. And despite being long since gone, Sasuke's impact continues to shudder their world, perhaps more than they know.

13. Chapter 13

AN: Oof, so sorry this is going up so late everybody, but the length of it got the better of me for the better part of the day. I do apologize for the excessive length, but this was the way this chapter had to be. Hope you all enjoy very much, this was a helluva chapter to write!

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Chapter 13: Father

Azula stood with her back to Gaeseric, looking out of the broad window pane on the far side of her chambers. The moon sent a shaft of pale illumination flooding into the room, setting it aglow and inhibiting the need for any other source of light. Hands clasped behind her back, she listened to him speak, taking in each of his words very carefully even as she started to analyze the situation he was laying before her.

Though his first and foremost allegiance was to Gilbert, for reasons that Azula had yet to be aware of, her promise of quietly extraditing Fire Nation immigrants from his home village was enough for her to place him in her back pocket for the time being. He had assured her that no offense was meant at his request, merely that he didn't want Earth and Fire Nation peoples intermingling, particularly in his home. Azula agreed with that sentiment and had made the promise because she didn't want Fire Nation blood mixing herself, though likely for the exact opposite reason that Gaeseric did. There was a mutual understanding that had been reached there, and neither had been foolish enough to suggest that they had differing opinions on the matter.

He was briefing her on a matter that had occurred just a few minutes earlier that evening, just as the sun had been fading beyond the horizon. It had apparently been quite the sudden and extreme happening, and Azula was careful to keep her quiet on it while he narrated the finer points. He had, at her request, been following her daughter from a distance to ensure that she didn't get herself caught up in anything her mother found to be something she shouldn't have been involved in. Despite his almost alienly gigantic size, Gaeseric could move quite inconspicuously it seemed, though Soza's present state of frustrated confusion might have contributed to her not picking up on the fact she was being tailed.

After a brief run in between Soza and Toph, and Gilbert and the two whores who seemed to follow him everywhere as fronts for bodyguards, Soza had attempted to strike down the young lord when his back was turned. In response, Toph had managed to both conceal Soza's attack, deflect it, and ultimately, considering she had been led away in custody, she had taken the fall for the attempted murder.

Part of Azula was distantly furious that her daughter made such an error; not that she had made to kill Gilbert, who Azula found she rather disliked, no, her mistake had been attacking a very important public figure with no thoughts to the repercussions. Azula had made sure to teach Soza at a young age that most people were game to be harmed were it deemed necessary. Even in instances where even something like a near murder were concerned, their status as royalty made sure that they were given appropriate treatment and they had little to fear from a legal standpoint as long as they were judicious and careful with whom they targeted. The civilian boy for example that Soza had burned the arm clean off of years ago had been all too easy an incident to cover up and explain away; he had made to attack her and she had acted in self-defense, or so the capital press had been told. Even if it weren't true, the story was spread as a result of Azula's influence, and she had almost hoped the boy's parents would have dared try and come to her in protest. The whole family could have been killed from there and it would have honestly just cleared things up easier.

But she was careful not to let a single emotion or inkling as to her thoughts to Gaeseric as he finished speaking. When it was clear there was nothing else he needed to say, she dismissed him and after no doubt bowing as he gave her a respectful farewell, he closed the door behind him as he exited her chambers and left her in the light of the moon.

Azula took a slow breath in. And out.

There was a certain pleasure that she took in bringing her façade before others and maintaining that level of control that so put people on edge, but alone in her thoughts, she spread her arms and tilted her head back as she closed her eyes. Not having anywhere she could freely jettison her emotions was difficult enough, but at least on her own she could shut everything else out and let them come and go. That was the only way she could control them. They would cycle back through her like a current, but this practice at least kept them from driving her mad.

Even despite the story regarding her daughter, Azula needed a moment to revel in the fact of the most overarching situation of all, what had grown to dominate so much of her world in a matter of a few words.

Your name… suggestion of your being… even that is enough to make them all react as though an army the likes of which has never been seen is bearing down on us all.

Sasuke had broken back into her life. Somehow, she had always known he would.

Azula had gone about reshaping her world from the moment he left, doing all in her power to put herself past his physical being and realize that he would be with her always regardless; this had brought her a semblance of peace, but the victorious feeling that had come following her realization that she was pregnant had been a tumultuous occasion itself. He was still with her, the way his seed had matured her body, swollen her stomach and breasts, and then finally how he had put her in a place where she could bear his child. Azula had accepted that victory, the idea that Sasuke was with her through Soza, and the impact he had made on her becoming a mother.

But he had come back.

Unable to keep herself still, Azula raised her hands and pressed her palms against the pane of the window, her eyes growing wide as her breath fogged the glass. He was out there right now. Perhaps drawing nearer to her. How was she supposed to react to that?

She wondered what over a decade of maturing might have done for him. Would he have come to realize how much she had been willing to give for his approval, for his acceptance? Did he regret leaving her behind?

Did Azula even want him to?

Placing her forehead against the fogged window, she closed her eyes, breathing deeply and trying to remain in control of herself.

She had made such a concentrated effort to rule out a life without him physically present. Everything she had done was put forth in order to create a world where he was still by her side, even if never as a person. But could that change now? Was that something she wanted?

Letting out a slow, waning sound that was both a moan and a hiss, Azula's tongue slid over her scarlet lips and she drew her nails along her forearms, relishing the chills the sensation gave her. No matter what gossip transpired behind her back, she hadn't given so much as a thought to welcoming a man into her life, but had she done that out of satisfaction that the only thing a man could give her had already been offered in the form of her child? Or was that hope still there, this desire hidden even from herself that there was a chance he could be by her side again?

Growling, she rolled her head back and forth, stretching blood into her limbs.

Memories flickered in her mind of him, but there had only been one point wherein she had committed a moment in her past entirely to memory, the flashes and images and sounds and feelings coming in almost as vividly as they had the day it had happened.

Nearly Twelve Years Ago

Azula's heart pounded in her chest as she led the stumbling Sasuke down the hall and towards the stairs. Truly, she didn't know what she was doing, or even if what she was doing was something she was going to get away with. But she had decided to try and it was that resolve that kept her eyes ahead, ready to scorch away anyone they ran into. There was no plan to what she was doing, no understanding of what would be the best way to go about it, but she was going to make this happen and that was all that mattered.

He was barely able to keep pace with her as they moved quickly down the hall, the sound of the music behind them dying away, the droning of conversation and laughter become nothing but a buzz in their ears. Sasuke muttered something rather intelligible about wanting to know where they were going, but she gave him no answer, just kept pulling him along without a word, doing everything in her power to get him behind closed doors as quickly as she could. What was about to happen had to happen very quickly, and even though Azula would have wanted so much more time in doing this, she knew she didn't have a choice any longer.

He hadn't given her one.

It had taken only a little over an hour to put him in such a state, firing question after question at him about his past, about his eyes, about his abilities, anything to keep him from catching on to what she was doing. And while Azula had actually found herself getting caught up in his talk of his Sharingan and how they came to be, he had finally reached a point where she knew she could fulfill her mission.

Up the stairs they went and down another hall and Azula couldn't quite believe that they hadn't encountered a single person in their swift flight from the party; she finally arrived outside the room that she was being lent for the time being and she threw the door open, pulling Sasuke roughly inside. The door slammed shut and she angrily kicked off her heels, absently furious at how much they had hindered her movements. Sasuke collapsed weakly against the side of the bed, his eyes unfocused and breathing heavy as Azula walked over to him and pulled his body up onto the bed, laying him back before she paused a moment to stand above him at the bedside, looking down at him. He was so helpless before her then, so vulnerable. She could have done anything she wanted with him, and she supposed to a certain extent, she was about to.

She leaned down next to his ear, feeling her heart throb as her lips brushed against his ear and her voice whispered out into the quiet and dimly lit room.

"Sasuke… it didn't have to be this way. But you've left me no choice. I love you… so much, and I can feel it, that you're going to leave me. And if that has to happen, I'm going to make you a part of me forever."

Pulling away, she looked to his face for recognition at what she had said, but she only saw that same unfocused expression looking back at her, mixed with confusion. Azula took a deep breath and slowly climbed onto his lap, hiking up her dress to allow her to straddle him appropriately as she looked down at him with deep adoration and affection.

"I love you," she whispered again and kissed him, letting her lips do the work as she pushed her tongue into his mouth and the reality of what was happening really broke open to her.

She had Sasuke all to herself. No one was coming to look for them, no one was coming to try and stop her from taking what she wanted. As she bit at his lips and sucked his tongue, a smile broke over her face as she realized the freedom she had. She imagined this was how a famished wolf might tear into a fresh kill, eating as though it was the first meal it had ever seen.

I'll take what I want… but I'm going to enjoy this so much as well.

Azula began grinding her body against Sasuke's relishing every bit of his body that she felt press warmth against her as she began to gently moan against his lips. She wished that he was of sound mind enough to grope her body, but it was enough to pull up his arm by the wrist and press his hand against her breast over her dress. After a moment, he began to squeeze at it and Azula let out an ecstatic whimper at his touch.

Finally, she could take it no more and she slid down the length of his body and pulled his pants roughly down to his knees, and when she saw it, it was enough to practically paralyze her where she knelt, staring down at it with wide eyes. She had spent many a minute fantasizing over what Sasuke's manhood would look like, but it was even more perfect than she had imagined it. It was of such a perfect size and shape, though she had a fleeting moment wherein she wondered if she was going to be able to take it.

Of course I can. It doesn't matter how much it hurts; the pleasure… oh, spirits, the pleasure it will give me will make it so worth it. What it will give me is worth any price.

With a shaking hand, she reached for it and inhaled sharply as it twitched the moment her fingers brushed its length. She stroked the tips of her fingers against it and bit her lower lip hard to keep herself from just moaning at the mere touch of it before spreading them over the shaft and lifting it up to point towards the ceiling. Gently and methodically, she began to stroke it, measured trips up and down its length to pleasure him and get him ready for her as she felt her own sex practically quivering in anticipation. Any second thoughts she might have had were drowned out by her excitement and hunger for him.

Lying ahead of her, Sasuke moaned something, again rather intelligible, but Azula heard words like 'please' and 'don't stop' muttered amongst his drunken rambling and she reached out with a hand to cradle his face. She realized that tears were spilling down her cheeks and she couldn't quite fathom why.

"I know, Sasuke, I know, I made you feel good. This is going to feel even better though, I promise."

For a moment, she knelt there above him, running a finger over her face, dragging over the tear tracks that had pulled her makeup down her face in dark lines. She tilted her head back and closed her eyes as the liquid ran slowly down beneath her chin, along the length of her throat where it pulled its way down between the cut of her dress, angling along the curves of her body to run towards between her breasts and she smiled another wolfishly hungry smile at the ceiling.

"You're mine now."

Suddenly overcome with the desire to be one with him, Azula began viciously tearing at her clothes, pulling her dress down over her shoulders and down the length of her body where it slid down her legs alongside her soaked underwear. She considered a moment removing her stockings as well, and in a perfect world, she knew that it would just have been her and Sasuke, not an article of clothing on their bodies as they pressed against one another, but Azula knew she had to be grateful for what she had just then. There was a part of her as well that hated the idea of having to settle for less than what she actually was getting, but as she thought to the fact that she was only moments away from taking Sasuke inside of her, that anger fell away into wisps of nothing with ease.

I need this… I need this so bad.

There was so much pleasure in the pain of just being that close to him, that ready to take him inside her and still to just deny herself that final triumph and joy. Azula found herself thinking to all the times she had found herself caught up in her desperate want for him, the physical need she had been forced to deny as he had only hesitantly reciprocated the most minimal of her advances.

She knew it was because of the others; she had no doubt Katara had laid her own claim to him before they had found her and Sasuke in that cave, Mai was surely up to some tricks of her own, and Toph had been openly pining for his affection since he had arrived. Hell, even that dirty worthless teashop girl might have been trying to lay some moves on him, Azula wasn't blind to the looks that Sasuke had occasionally passed towards Jin. He wasn't to blame of course, it was the result of those rotten sluts and their seductive tendencies that had pulled him so far from her.

"It feels like my whole life has been building up to this," she whispered quietly as she pushed herself up on her knees and whimpered at the feeling of baring her body to Sasuke like this. A part of her almost violently wished there was an audience to watch them, spectators to stare with wide eyes as Azula claimed what was rightfully hers. This would never do of course, but the ideas of eyes other than Sasuke's being on her made her feel a rush of even more excitement.

The head of his sex pressed against her opening, and Azula bit her lower lip hard in anticipation. She wanted to remember this moment forever, the moment she had taken him and finally won. Down below them in the main hall, everyone was celebrating the end of the war, but this was Azula's victory; the war could have gone on forever and as long as she had this place in time all to herself, she would never have noticed.

He breached her entrance and she gave a throaty cry of pleasure as her body clenched and shook with delight. Slowly, she eased herself down his length, unable to register anything else in the universe as he slid deeper inside of her; finally, as the head of his sex hit as deep as it could, she screamed wildly, throwing her head back. It took several long moments for the waves of bliss to allow her mind the ability even to think again as she came down from what had felt like the most impossibly perfect reaction.

She turned her head down to look at him as she panted desperately, and she saw him looking up at her, cheeks flushed and eyes trying weakly to focus. It was the small leak of drool running from the corner of his mouth that brought a wild smile to her face and she threw her head back again, this time letting out an ecstatic cackle before she leaned down to lick at the sides of his mouth to not let any of him go to waste.

"That's right… let yourself go in the pleasure of my body, Sasuke. Lose yourself in how good this feels."

Even as she gently rotated her waist, the feeling of him moving around inside her was enough to make her clamp her walls on him as tightly as she could, ignoring the pain that his girth inflicted on her. There was a quiet groan that released itself from Sasuke's mouth and Azula moaned back at him.

"I know… I know, it feels so, so good."

It was then that a wave of sadness struck her with startling force and she felt tears that had nothing to do with the painful pleasure of their bodies becoming one leap into her eyes. She knew then why she the tears had come.

"We could have had this… this could have been us. Forever."

But even as she acknowledged the feelings of regret and resentment, she threw them aside with a furious snarl and began to ride him, losing the bitter emotions amidst the sea of lust that engulfed her.

It made her feel so complete, and so whole; she was Sasuke's woman in that time, in that room, taking every inch of him within herself. She loved how he looked up at her, mesmerized in his drunkenness, watching her body glisten with sweat, her face a mask of pure pleasure.

Not a mask. This is what I'm meant to be.

Just this very thought brought her to climax again and she howled her satisfaction as she pressed him against her insides, as far as she could manage without him literally splitting her open. There was nothing else but this moment, this experience and she found herself practically sobbing with happiness; she never could have fathomed that something could have felt this good, or this right.

But she knew that this was something that could never last, not with what Sasuke had told her and with what she knew would have to happen in the coming future. She wanted to take this moment and preserve it for all time, never truly letting him go, but she knew that there was nothing that could be done beyond finishing what she had set out that day to do. Azula had nearly forgotten about it amidst the pleasure that had so violently taken ahold of her.

Bending over to press her chest against his, she ran her hands over his hair now damp with sweat and moaned covetously in his ear.

"I'm ready. I'm ready."

She repeated this final desire like a mantra, praying that her very will would be enough to bring this reality into being and as she heard him let out a moan that was as much a whimper as anything else, she looked down into this face with a deep affectionate gaze and kissed him again.

Say it. Make it real.

"I want you to make me pregnant."

Again, the words expressing that dark desire of her heart were enough to bring her over the edge again and she felt herself leak uncontrollably over Sasuke's waist as she gave a pathetically feminine whine, her head spinning again.

Sasuke made a somewhat strange noise and Azula gave a sharp gasp as she felt him starting to twitch about inside her. She knew what was coming and the very thought of what was about to happen sent fresh tears down her cheeks as she smiled widely down at him, ignoring the burning in her thighs as she began to ride him even faster.

"Do it," she panted, the excitement in her voice causing her words to tremble. "Do it now, Sasuke, please—"

Without warning, Sasuke's entire midsection heaved sharply, and Azula screamed in pain and pleasure as he thrust up against her womb, more deeply than she thought she would have been able to take. A vast and blooming warmth rushed its way through her insides as though an egg had been cracked upon deep within her, its substances flooding her interior. Sasuke continued to violently twitch inside of her as she jerked with him before his body collapsed back to the bed and he let out a sigh, his inebriated eyes drifting shut at the release he had just been given.

Azula wanted nothing more than to sit there and keep him sheathed inside of her, but she remembered that there was more to what she needed to do. With a gasp, she pulled herself free of him and rolled onto her back to lie beside him; tucking her legs up to press her knees against her stomach, she gently rocked herself around, smiling broadly.

It was then that the reality of what she had just done really hit her.

I did it. This is going to work.

There were no guarantees, she knew that logically, that's just how it was, but some part of her knew already that this was going to be successful. He was going to give her a baby and it was possible he would never know he had done it.

Unbeknownst to him or anyone else, the alcohol she had spent the night tipping into him had been laced with a drug that the Fire Nation's inquisitorial forces had been known to use on victims of interrogation for cleanup purposes. It promoted bleariness, lack of coordination, and short-term memory loss of several hours and Azula was hoping that this would be enough to make him forget any of what he knew about what had just happened.

He was sleeping beside her now, she could tell by his relaxed and slow breathing, eyes closed as the faintest hint of drool still dribbled down his face. Azula continued her exercise for a few minutes longer before she stretched her legs out beside him and rolled onto her side. She knew she ought to move along with the remainder of her plan, quickly wash herself and change into her spare outfit before she dragged him to his room where the guards would make sure he was kept careful watch over. Then, she could return to the party and allay suspicion that anything like what she had just done had happened. Though with how much she had seen Mai, Suki and some of the others drinking, that might not have been something to worry all that much about.

Still, she couldn't quite bring herself to move.

Because she realized that despite what she had just done, this was going to be the last time she ever saw Sasuke and tears leaked from her eyes yet again. She hated how weak she felt being in his presence, but knew that after tonight, it would be over. She could move on, and this would be her secret until it was too late for anyone to try and force otherwise to happen. Even better, no one would know that it had been Sasuke behind her conception.

But Azula would know.

She reached out and ran a hand over the side of his face, her nails gently sliding against his skin as she felt her heart beat with affection and love. No matter what he said, she would love him always, even if he ran from those feelings.

So for now, for this moment, she would touch him and just covet this time that she could spend alone with him, just him and her. The last time she would see him and the last time she might ever feel truly happy.

And with the last words she wanted to say to him sliding to the tip of her tongue, Azula leaned to him, closing her eyes as she whispered.

"You will always be a part of me."

Present

Azula released a throaty moan that quivered inside her as her eyes closed while she relived the memory. She supposed at the time that she had possessed doubts that her plan wasn't going to play out the way she wanted it to, but in essence, it had gone as perfectly as it possibly could have. Stealing him away, taking him, and becoming impregnated, and then concealing the fact of it so superbly, it had all gone off without so much as a hitch. And it had given her exactly what she wanted, even more so than she had thought at the time.

The door banged open and Azula turned to regard the rude entrance, already knowing who must've been coming running, the very topic of her thoughts.

The very reality of her victory.

"Mother!" Soza cried as she dashed into the room, the opened doorway once again sending a sheet of yellow light bathing into the room in a rectangle of color, the girl running through it to reach Azula. Without another word, she threw her arms around Azula's waist, gripping her tightly as though she was some anchor to reality. And as she looked down at her daughter, she knew that perhaps that's exactly what she was to Soza, some final bastion that was going to tell her everything was alright.

Ah, my beautiful little lotus… I don't want to have to break you like this.

There truly was a devastating pang that cast its way through her body at the thought of what she was going to have to do, but she only had to remind herself that Soza would understand one day.

"What's the matter, sweetheart?" she cooed, putting a hand to her daughter's face and lifting it to face hers. There were no tears on Soza's face, but her words came in gulping heaves as though she were sobbing.

"Mother, it's my fault, it's all my fault, I shouldn't have done it!"

Azula had to keep herself from frowning; she needed this to be a painful moment, but she had been very diligent throughout Soza's childhood to expressly teach her that nothing she did could ever be considered 'fault.' When she or her daughter made a decision, there was no need to ever look back on it as though they had made some error in judgement. Every choice needed to be relished and accepted.

"Soza, darling, I'm certain you've made no mistake, this is surely all some misunderstanding for you."

Her daughter shook her head wildly.

"No, no, you don't understand! I was the one who attacked Gilbert, Toph was just protecting me, she's protecting me now! You have to believe me!"

Ah, and this would be the moment, would it? Azula tightened her lips and smiled at her daughter before lowering herself to one knee in order to be on eye level with her.

"You're a very good person, Soza," she said. "That's one of the many reasons I'm so proud of you."

And the hammer falls.

"But you mustn't let your feelings for her cloud your judgement. The choice that Toph made is a consequence that she must accept."

Her daughter, her pride, joy, and triumph, blinked at her through dumbfounded eyes. So mature she was, yet still so young. Azula pressed on, knowing that there was no turning back, even if some weak, motherly instinct was trying to suggest that.

"Toph has her reasons for feeling so hateful towards the young Lord Gilbert, and we cannot claim to know exactly what passed through her mind when she made to kill him. You are trying to protect her and that's very noble, but—"

Giving a tight and sharp inhale, Soza pushed back, hard, from her mother's grip. Her eyes were shimmering now, and wide as could be. Azula truly wished life could have been simple and kind to her daughter through everything that happened to her, but now here she was, a child experiencing the gravity of a situation she had no control over for the first time.

"You don't believe me…" she practically breathed and Azula remained on one knee, keeping careful eye contact. It was critical that Soza believed Azula held no reservations about the fact that it was Toph that had instigated the event and not her own daughter.

"I believe you are simply trying to help Toph being as close as you are to her. But I also know that recklessly throwing yourself in this direction is pointless endangerment to yourself."

"They're going to kill her!" Soza practically screamed, her voice cracking. "And it's my fault! Why aren't you listening to me?!"

Azula winced, a twinge of annoyance pricking at her this time. Again with the speaking of faults was her daughter as she looked to be on the verge of having some kind of breakdown then and there. Seeing the girl she had so delicately groomed over the years be reduced to such a state was starting to wear on Azula's mind and she rose to her feet, towering over Soza.

"Mind your tongue," she said smoothy, letting the dangerous tone she rarely used enter her voice. On top of her child's senseless blaming, she was not going to be disrespected. "You will cease speaking of this. To anyone. Toph has made her decision and we all must abide by it."

Her words came out much more disjointed and forceful than she would have liked, but her daughter's panicked words were having a strange effect on her. Suddenly, she very much wanted to be left alone.

Ahead of her, Soza continued to back up, shaking her head, her whole body quivering before she turned and sprinted from the room with a strangled sound of desperation. Azula watched through the open door and waited until long after the sound of her daughter's footsteps had gone running away before clenching her fists and thrusting them in two sharp motions. Twin jets of fire came bursting from her closed fists and punched both doors, slamming them shut and leaving deep black burns on their surfaces. Enveloped once again in darkness and the soft glow of the moonlight, Azula took deep and slow breaths, trying to ascertain why exactly her pulse was beating so erratically in her throat.

The more her current condition became apparent to her, the more her head started to slam with that same pulse, a vicious angry throbbing. Turning away, she faced the window again, staring out the window as the reason for her present anxiety became crystal clear.

Azula realized she couldn't stand seeing her daughter so distressed.

But for things to get better… they're going to have to get worse.

Clenching her teeth, she turned her head upwards to face the black ceiling above, aggressively grappling control back over herself. She would call Ty Lee, she decided. That girl was always good about making her distractions fade into nothing.

It would be several more minutes before Azula called in her personal guard and ordered them to bring Ty Lee to her. She was trying very hard to push the sight of her daughter's horrified and betrayed eyes out of her head; in truth, they were as damning a sight as she had seen in well over ten years.

---

Pacing furiously in front of the iron bars that he knew its occupant could snap like twigs, Aang forced his body to pull in deep breaths, even as each one shook his body to its core.

The holding room was large enough to accommodate all its visitors, half of it reserved for the cell and the other half open with benches against the left and right walls. On one of those benches sat Sokka who had his head bowed and his hands pressed to his face, perhaps to hide tears. Suki sat beside him, a hand seeming to almost involuntarily be massaging his neck while she glared at the cell's occupant. Beside them leaning against the wall, Mai stood with her arms crossed and her gaze resolutely placed on the floor. She might have been a statue for how much she was moving.

Katara was in much worse condition than Aang would have expected, so perpetually in control as she always seemed to be. She was sitting with her back against the bars of the cell, tears streaming freely down her face as Zuko stood beside her, a hand reaching down to hold her shoulder even as the Fire Lord himself looked in danger of being both sick, and flying into a fit of rage. Aang marched ahead of the both of them, the only one really moving and, at least how it felt to him, the only one seeming to have any stake in wanting to actually do something about the situation at present.

His anger, panic and impatience got the better of him and he stopped pacing to shout a question that had already been asking several times to the cell's occupant.

"Why won't you tell us what happened?!"

Toph sat against the back of the cell, looking infuriatingly apathetic with her current predicament. She shrugged at his question, offering the same response to the same question.

"I already told you, it's just how it was written up in the report. I snapped, and tried to kill Gilbert."

Spinning away, Aang grit his teeth and threw his head back as he let out a snarl of frustration. He had spent a great deal of time in the previous two days bemoaning just how helpless he felt towards the current matter of Sasuke, but that was nothing to how useless he felt now. This was the most distracted he had felt from the painful secret he had been forced to protect at Roku's behest, but he would have rather been given the burden of every dark secret in the world than have to be in the position he was in now.

"Toph, don't bullshit," Katara said dully from where she sat with her back to her friend. Her voice was defeated, a sound that made Aang furious; had everyone truly given up?

"I know that you've totally had the rug pulled out from under you since the news of Sasuke got to us," Katara continued, her voice still low and broken. "But not even you, no matter what Gilbert could have said to you, would have made you stupid enough to think that trying to kill him was a good idea."

"And on top of that, you're not the type to try something like that," Mai added quietly. "You'd be the type to kill him completely, if your mind was set to that. There's no reason he'd still be alive if you wanted him dead."

Aang found his gaze locking on the sullen Fire Nation noble for a fair few seconds; though he had very little mental space to think about it, her curious behavior had been occupying parts of his mind all day right up until Suki had rushed up to him in the main hall and breathlessly told him the news about Toph. Mai's aloofness had been more than a touch disconcerting, but with the situation at present, Aang honestly found it incredible to think that such a thing was even occurring to him right then. Almost immediately, anxiety and despair washed back over him as he looked back to one of his oldest friends, held away from him by iron bars.

"What are you afraid of telling us for?" he asked desperately, letting that emotion talk for him rather than his anger, walking to the bars and clasping them. There were a hundred ways he could remove them from his path; part of him wanted very badly to do just that, if only so he could walk to her side and hug her. Despite her baffling apathy, she looked terribly alone.

Toph shook her head slowly.

"I made a choice and I have to pay for it," she said simply and Sokka was suddenly on his feet, his expression dangerously wild.

"They're going to kill you!" he shouted, his voice reverberating off the walls of the holding room. "Why don't you care about that?!"

Nothing came from Toph in reply to that and Sokka made a sound like he was trying to keep himself from crying that petered off in an angry snarl. In a move that was honestly rather brave to Aang, Suki reached out and gripped Sokka's wrist intently, keeping him from joining Aang in storming about the room. It spoke to their relationship how fearlessly she met his eyes when he looked down at her, and when Sokka glared down at his wife, his angry mask fell away to pure and mellow misery. He dropped back down heavily beside her and Suki once again cast a venomous gaze towards Toph and Aang could see tears in her eyes.

It was seemingly a completely hopeless situation and Aang couldn't quite fathom that he had even wrapped his head around it. He was being told, that because of something he didn't even believe Toph had done, she was going to be taken away. Forever, from all of them.

It wasn't possible.

It wasn't fair.

He would have been lying if there wasn't a part of him that was already trying to wrap his head around how best to completely just defy the law of the land, break Toph free and take her away somewhere where she could be kept safe. He knew he couldn't allow this, how could he, she was one of his best friends, and he was just supposed to accept that—

The door banged open from the far side of the room and Jin rushed in, followed by Ty Lee. The latter had gone to fetch Jin from her shop to bring her to the palace as quickly as possible, despite it being the middle of the night, citing through tears that their friend ought to be have been informed as soon as possible. Aang and the other had agreed and she had left, to return now about a half hour later. She wasn't sobbing as she had been earlier, but her eyes were still red and raw, her cheeks still glistening from the tears that didn't seem to stop coming.

Aang's attention was brought to Jin however as she walked right up to Toph's cell.

If he and Sokka had been furious, Jin was on an entirely different level.

When she spoke, she wasn't shouting, but her voice was quivering enough for it to make it very obvious to tell that she was fighting back screams.

"You're going to tell me right now what happened."

Toph made to open her mouth but before a word left it, Jin spoke over her.

"And I don't want to hear some crap about you trying to kill some fucking slimeball just because he rubbed you the wrong way. Something happened that you're not telling us."

As this had clearly been the story she had been about to reiterate, Toph closed her mouth and lowered her head, directing her face towards the ground. Slowly, with shaking hands, Jin reached out and wrapped her fingers around the iron bars ahead of her and gripping them as though her sheer will would shatter them.

"Damn you, Toph. Haven't you figured none of us are buying this? You're going to tell me you went from falling apart after hearing about Sasuke to just being fine with the fact that you're…"

She trailed off and the hardened anger splintered a moment as her voice wavered.

"… that you're about to die?"

Ty Lee's face twisted in silent agony and she dropped to her knees in the center of the room. This finally seemed to inspire some life out of Mai who walked to her friend and knelt beside her; the moment her hand touched Ty Lee's shoulder, the girl buried her face in Mai's chest and shook with quiet sobs. A bitter smile turned up the corner of Toph's mouth just ever so slightly.

"You make it sound like I want this," she said and Jin's face got about as close to the bars as she could get without touching them.

"Don't you?" she practically seethed. "Is this because of Sasuke? Are you trying to get yourself killed? Why? Are you scared of seeing him again?"

Her tone dropped slightly.

"Do you think you can't handle seeing him again?"

Toph shook her head, the humorless smile remaining on her face.

"He has nothing to do with this."

Jin made several occupants of the room jump as she slammed her palms against the bars of the cell before turning away, snarling over her shoulder.

"Hasn't he always with you?"

After staring at her slumped and apathetic body for over an hour, Aang saw Toph seem to perk up slightly at this, bristling somewhat. Jin must have seen it too because she was back in front of the bars in a split second.

"Isn't that why you've been quietly miserable for years?"

Toph rested her forearms against her pulled up knees and then put her head on her arms, her voice sounding slightly distant as she spoke to the ground.

"Shut up, Jin."

"Just admit it, Sasuke's had you wrapped around his finger even when he's been a fucking ghost for over a decade."

Toph made no reply and Aang watched as Jin's face started to melt into something much more desperate and miserable. She pressed her forehead against the bars of the cell, letting out a shaky exhale before quietly speaking again, the change in her voice making it sound like she was a different person.

"Please don't ask me to watch you die, Toph."

From where she sat, curled up and motionless, Toph had nothing to say to her friend's plea and after something like a minute, Jin turned away from the bars and slumped down to sit with her back to them, similar to how Katara was positioned.

It was a nightmare, Aang thought, as he stared around at the room full of miserable and broken people. Despite the anger that had broken out, so much shock still hung over the cell, this atmosphere of disbelief that no one could quite fathom that they were very possibly about to lose Toph. They would all remain in that room throughout the entire night, some of them falling into fitful bouts of sleep due to exhaustion and angst, and others, like him, remained up the whole night. Aang experienced hundreds of plans that flashed through his head, all insane rescue plans or ways to figure the truth; before going to Toph, he had gone to Gilbert, the only person he knew to have been a part of the incident, but the lord wasn't seeing any visitors, and it was clear he was avoiding Aang intentionally. The Avatar knew that Gilbert's demand for the death penalty was something perfectly in line with the laws of Ba Sing Se, and Aang had gone to see him with every intent to force him into redacting the demand. But every plan he thought of, from confronting Gilbert, to breaking Toph out, to flat out trying to use his own influence to change this sequence of events for the better. But every time he thought that he might have some strategy cooked up, he realized it would either put Toph or others in just as much danger as she was in presently.

And if Toph was so certain of her timeline of events, there was nothing that could be done. Not without making a fugitive of himself or others. The way of his world dictated that he could do nothing but stand by and be with her in her final moments. He wanted to be furious with everyone in the room for being so defeated in this moment, but the more he thought about it, the more he realized they had just been able to accept the reality of the situation before he had. And Aang hated himself for beginning to arrive at that same conclusion.

It wasn't until Katara slowly stood to pull him into a long hug that he realized he had been crying himself.

---

Toph was numb to her fear.

She should have been in a state of absolute panic and fright at the fact that she had been condemned to death the following evening. She should have been using her powers to escape captivity and go on the run if that was what it took to survive. More than anything, she should have told her friends at the very least what had actually happened earlier that night, why she had truly nearly killed Lord Gilbert in the gardens behind the palace.

But if she left, she knew it would only make things worse.

If she gave into fear, it would do nothing but hurt her more than she already was.

And she would never do anything to put Soza in danger, so telling anyone, even her closest friends, the truth was something completely out of the question.

But despite giving into the nature of her position, Toph still couldn't quite feel her fear. Because something else had happened to her that not even Gilbert or his bodyguards or Soza knew. Something that was only privy to Toph, because it had been much less something she had done, and something she felt.

While she had been getting escorted downstairs by the soldiers who had taken her into custody, she had felt that fear for certain, starting to bubble up at the idea she was going to be executed for her actions. This had worsened when she had been put in isolation for near two hours on her own, with nothing but her anxious thoughts to keep her occupied. It had hit a deep low when Captain Xing had entered the holding room and quietly informed her that, per Gilbert's demand and after the information had been reviewed from the scene of the crime and from the witnesses (apparently Soza was considered too young to even be called in for questioning. That, or Azula was keeping her away from it all), she was to be delivered a swift execution the following night.

When she was left alone again, her first thoughts had gone to her parents. They would never be able to be given word in time, but she wondered if she would be able to give Jin a message for them. It was a stupid thought to wonder if she could request a stay of execution; Gilbert would scoff at such a request considering his entire mindset at that moment was no doubt purely focused on making a statement. No one tried to kill him and lived to tell the tale. Her friends had entered the room shortly after in a flurry of panic, anger, and fear and had that been the end of it, Toph imagined that she would probably have broken down in front of them. Nothing hurt quite as badly as hearing them in such dire straits as they moved from pleading for the truth, to angry shouting, to various states of despair and defeat.

But she had felt it.

It made her heart thunder and her fingers feel numb. The fear that should have been swirling about her insides was about as distant a feeling as could be.

It gave her the ability to think that, just maybe, things were not as they seemed. It helped her power through listening to them all hurt just as much as they were, and somehow, it gave her an inkling of hope.

Because not since the day it had been placed on her back had Toph once felt her mark singe with just the smallest burning sensation like she had that night.

---

Gilbert hadn't slept a wink.

He rolled from his bed, feeling exhausted and yet wildly awake at the same time. The sun was beaming through from the pane ahead of him as morning rose in its inevitability and he rubbed the back of his neck with a wince. He had replayed the attempt on his life what must have been hundreds of times by that point, and it wasn't anything that played any less on the sudden anxiety that felt to be drowning him. He felt the slight shake beneath his feet, the sudden roar behind him and the cloud of dust that had proceeded the earthen slab that had clipped him and sent him to the ground hard. Bowing his bed, he clasped his head in his hands while he sat there, unable to rationalize what had happened, still. Even with hours having passed, he couldn't shake the nearness to death's door he had been.

It had been so long since danger had even really meant anything to him, and for something so perilous to have happened, he was finding it difficult to grapple with.

There came a rapping from down the hall in the living space of his residence, and he couldn't help but jump at the sudden sound despite the reserved nature of it and the lack of any real volume it had, but he grit his teeth in anger at his pathetic reaction. Leaping from his bed, he whipped on a robe and stormed down the hall, feeling a souring relief that his anger was overpowering his nervousness just then. Marching directly up to the door, he flung it wide, his mouth opening to shout down Mie or Rei, whom he had left explicit instructions with to ensure that he wasn't disturbed.

He was left standing at the entrance to his room with his mouth agape as he observed the scene before him. Both women were on the ground, clenched up and grasping their right shoulders, looks of intense pain stifling their faces. Their swords lay beside them, having been drawn, but discarded due to the nature of their owners. Standing just before the door, looking radiant, menacing and stunning, Princess Azula smiled politely at him, even as her eyes flickered with the menace she had clearly just shown Mie and Rei.

"Good morning, my lord," she said, inclining her head in a just barely sociable nod. "I hope the day finds you well?"

She was playing with him already and Gilbert couldn't help but give a small smile at her conduct. Azula surely knew full well what had happened the previous night as a result of her daughter, and no doubt by looking at the state of him, it hadn't exactly been something he had easily been able to recover from. Yet here she was, pretending to imply differently. Gilbert thought he could rattle off one a single hand the number of people who would dare speak to him in such a way, and she was one of the miniscule few to that grouping.

"Tolerably," he said in reply. His eyes flicked back to the two women on the floor and Azula followed his gaze.

"Your whores have quite a bit of spirit," she remarked and nudged Mie with her toe as a child might nudge a dead animal they found in the street.

"Are they…?" he started and she gave her head a dismissive shake.

"The waterbenders in the hospital wing will have them patched in no time. Their wounds are small, if rather debilitating."

Having watched both Mie and Rei perform under extremely strenuous circumstances before appointing them as his personal guard, Gilbert knew their wounds had to be to have them both on the ground so helpless as they were. He couldn't even see their wounds, but he had no doubt that Azula's precision was a skill that had long since been honed to perfection; she likely would need very little of her infamous blue flame to put them both in such a state.

"Regrettable, but they were quite adamant on keeping me from seeing you," Azula said, turning her smile back to him. Gilbert had to force himself to blink; she truly was a gorgeous woman, even with her seductive eyes flickering with such eternal malice.

"Is there something particular I can do for you, your highness?" he asked, wishing to relieve himself of her presence as quickly as he could.

"There is," she replied simply. "It has to do with—"

Suddenly, Gilbert found himself incredibly aware of the topic to which she was about to address him over, and anger bubbled up within him again, giving him the drive to interrupt and snap over her. He surprised even himself by jabbing a finger aggressively in her direction while he did.

"The answer is no. I've had just about every one of that rotten Beifong's friends come crawling up here to beg me in all manner of ways to spare her life, but in case it wasn't clear, she tried to take mine! I will not be subjected to another request to spare the life of some underhanded, emotionally stunted girl who seems to think it is her place to take the life of another merely for words spoken to her! You'll forgive me, your highness, but I will not be listening to any more nonsense to how I'm wrong, to how there must be a misunderstanding, or whatever ploy you're about to attempt, no more! Not from a soldier, or a Kyoshi Wariior, not the damn Avatar himself! And not from you."

From what he knew of Azula, he knew that there were very few people who had ever dared speak to her so aggressively and rudely, and fewer had lived to tell the tale. He was confident in his own position and status to figure that he would not experience any particular repercussions himself, but after the incident last night, that confidence was not as unshakable as it had once been.

But strangely enough, Azula only smiled wider at him.

"My dear lord, you misunderstand my intentions."

She took a step into his room and Gilbert couldn't help but take a step back to allow her entrance. Her long fingers reached out and gripped the front of his robe gently, keeping him from backing away further and Gilbert could only swallow as she closed the distance between them to a very intimate level.

"I am not here to ask you to relinquish your claim on Toph Beifong's life. I… truly, could not be happier that this is happening."

This hadn't been what he excepted and he could only continue to watch her as she smiled at him almost how a child would fawn over their child.

"I merely was hoping to make a request of you. To… perhaps liven up the evening a touch. As it would be of great personal satisfaction to me. And to you as well, I think."

Gilbert allowed his eyes to track her up and down a moment before replying, his voice even.

"I'm listening."

---

Ba Sing Se, despite its incredible size and population, was a city given to a proportionately small amount of crime, much to the pride of its citizens and politicians. The city hall, a vast and impressive building of marble white, saw many bills and debates pass through its walls, but due to the nature of how crime operated in the city, it very, very rarely saw use as its other purpose. Crimes were most often dealt with through settlements, payments, services or other concessions made by the criminal to the city or those who had been wronged in the crime. Corporal punishment as such, was just as rare within Ba Sing Se's city limits as could be. That was the other use that the city hall had been built for, and not in nine long years had it been put to this use.

That day however, that long streak of peaceful interactions within was to come to a close.

Before the sun had even risen, facility workers entered the vast and spacious hall of while marble pillars, clearing out the many tables and chairs that faced the front of the room. There, furthest from the entrance to the building was an area of raised floor that was elevated by three steps of marble stair; atop it was where the speaker of any particular meeting would move to be heard and seen by all, to stand at the pulpit and address the people settled within, a cabinet beside the pulpit wherein pertinent documents were stored. Today, the pulpit and the documents were removed as well as a panel in the floor, square and about a foot and a half in either direction. Uncovered when the panel was moved was a hole in the floor. Several workers then brought out a wide wooden pole that was fitted into the hole, rope wrapping around a metal band on the far side of it. The pole became the only framework within the wide hall besides the stairs that led up to it and the columns around the room that stretched to the ceiling. A brown, rigid object, one of the workers couldn't help but feel a chill run up his spine for what it was to be used for. He followed his compatriots from the room and the door closed with a loud boom, leaving the wooden pole alone within the enormous space to be left alone until the sun passed over and dipped back down towards the horizon.

If the pole's purpose could give it sentience, it would no doubt have been counting the hours down until the moment its constrained and judged would be laid against it, to shed blood and pay for their sins.

---

Soza stood in front of the mirror in her room, looking at herself and trying to recognize the stunned and blank face in front of her. At face value, she was everything she needed to be, her Fire Nation royal garb fitted to perfection, her hair done up and flawless, not a strand out of face. Her makeup was spotless, putting several more years on her age than eleven would suggest. She looked as spitting an image of her older mother as could be.

Behind her, her mother sat at the desk, taking on the meticulous task of getting her hair in order just as she had done to Soza a minute ago. Her movements were smooth and controlled, an utter contrast to how Soza was feeling, unable to walk, unable to even move. Flicking her eyes over as she finished, her mother smiled, stood and moved to stand just beside her, the both of them looking in the mirror together.

"You look beautiful," she said quietly, running her fingernails gently down Soza's neck. This was a gesture that she had done for as long as Soza could remember and had always been something she had found to be a very comforting feeling, but now, she realized she very much didn't want to be touched.

"Her family… any friends not here… they're not going to be able to see her again," she heard herself say, almost mutedly. "She only got a day to be with Auntie Ty and everyone else."

"Mmm," was all her mother said and Soza felt her teeth grind in her mouth. For a moment, the both of them stood together before Soza decided to overstep; it felt like it was all she was able to do, after the entire day had felt like it was her personal hell.

Somehow, she had been able to hold onto her obedience to her mother and hadn't taken what she knew to anyone else. More than once, many times more than once, she had wanted to go sprinting from her room and scream the truth of what had happened at the top of her lungs. She had been walking through the hall at one point and seen Auntie Ty at the door to her room arms wrapped around Jin as she sobbed miserably. It had been an almost impossible moment for Soza and the only thing she had found herself able to do was sprint back to her own quarters and throw up in the washroom. She would never have guessed before that day that it was possible to feel this horrible, but her obedience to her mother had remained, and her mouth had remained sealed. So much of it for her she realized was that if her mother didn't believe her, what made her think that anyone else would. She was just a child after all, a girl who likely didn't have a clue what she was talking about. Why would they listen to her?

Her obedience felt like it was all she had, but now, she felt even that start to quiver.

"Why does she have to die?"

Just based on the barely noticeable change to her mother's posture, Soza could tell that even just a question this simple was aggravating to her.

"It's not my place to say, the laws of this—"

"The laws are wrong," Soza said stupidly, even as the words felt like the only truth that had been uttered in an eternity.

"Soza, I will not hear more of this," her mother said curtly. "Are you going to be too caught up in your own anger to be there for Toph when she needs you most?"

The question was just as cutting as anything that her mother could have snapped at her in reproach of her rudeness and the damning realization that this was going to be the last time she would get to see Toph struck her to her core.

"Let's go," her mother said, voice remaining of a biting and merciless tone. "We should be leaving now."

As if she hadn't just been rocked with such a wave of anxiety, fear and panic, Soza heard these words and felt her gut drop to her feet. Spinning, she looked up at her mother as she fought to keep her breathing in check.

"Already?!"

Her mother furrowed her brow ever so slightly and placed a hand on Soza's head.

"Sweetheart, you were staring at this mirror for what must have been hours. It's well late into the afternoon by now, we should be getting to the city hall."

In a blurr, Soza felt herself get pulled gently along as she and her mother worked their way from their room, down the hall, and through the palace to the front door. Soza barely even noticed the guards bow respectfully to them as they passed, something that had always given her great satisfaction in the past. As they stepped out into the afternoon sun, Soza felt another pang as she saw the colors of the sky growing deeper into indigo. She also realized that this was perhaps the first time her mother had ever willingly taken her from the palace grounds on her own, yet another happening that didn't make sense to Soza's mind. She was filled with such a feeling of discomfort then as her mother put a hand on her shoulder.

"Stay close to me, it's just a short walk from here to—"

Crying out, Soza pushed her mother's hand away, desperately trying to keep her tears at bay.

"I can get there on my own!" she snapped angrily before turning and breaking into a run, away from the palace and away from her mother.

Her feet pounded against the hard stone of the streets as she twisted and turned through them, cutting through alleys and taking sharp turns in an effort to lose her mother, who Soza knew had to be following her. As she ducked into a particular alley however, she looked over her shoulder to see that she was in fact alone, no one pursuing her.

At least she believes that I can make it to a building on my own.

The thought sent another miserable stab through her and as she looked back forward, she had no time to stop herself from colliding with a person walking down the street as she came dashing out of the alley.

Somehow, she was able to keep from being knocked clean over as the person she had crashed into was a fully grown man. Spinning away from him and righting herself, she turned towards him with a snarl on her face, ready to verbally berate him as furiously as she would anyone for so much as daring to come in contact with her. Maybe this would be what she needed to pull her mind free of the hurt and pain that was thundering against her. She stared up at him, mouth ajar and ready to bite off the man's head, until she actually took a moment to look at him.

There was something about his very presence that caused the anger she had been about to vent towards him to dissipate. He was projecting something invisible, yet incredibly overwhelming. Soza had gone her entire life so rarely encountering a single person that she believed to be unworthy of being beneath her, but this man not only seemed to have that aura, but something else entirely. He peered down at her from black eyes that seemed to paralyze her where she stood, his face cast in shadow as the sun that fell lower into the sky struck the back of his profile. His brow furrowed under the mess of black hair that ran over his head.

"You alright?"

His voice was smooth and low, and Soza had to clear her throat before responding. The words that came from her mouth felt entirely outside her power.

"Fine."

It must have been despicably obvious by her expression just how mentally savaged Soza felt because the man didn't leave it at that.

"Is everything okay?" he asked, and while his voice was chilled enough to suggest that he might not actually care, the fact that he hadn't continued on his way and had bothered to ask said otherwise to Soza and she lowered her head, feeling shame burn behind her ears.

"My friend's about to be killed because of something I did."

Out of context, it was quite the ludicrous thing to say and, looking up at the stranger's face, he felt the same way. His brow had furrowed much more and he cocked his head at her.

"What are you talking about?" he growled and Soza gasped as tears she couldn't hold back any longer streamed down her face, her words cut off moment to moment as she hiccupped through her sobs.

"I… I tried to kill someone, and she… she made it look like she had done it so… so that I wouldn't get in trouble. And now… she's going to be killed for it."

Standing in the middle of the deserted street save for her and the man as the sun burned orange as it touched nearer to the horizon, Soza felt as pathetic as she ever had. So lost she felt that she was spilling her guts to this complete stranger, a man who had nothing to do with her. Waiting for him to walk past her and leave her to her misery, which is what she would have done, Soza was surprised yet again as the man instead knelt in front of her. She looked into his black eyes and felt that it was rather like looking into a mirror.

"Who is this friend?"

She sniffed.

"Why does that matter?"

The man said nothing in response to this, and after a few seconds, Soza answered bitterly.

"Toph Beifong. My best friend. I can't…"

Sniffing again, she pressed her eyes against her sleeve to keep from ruining her makeup worse than she already had.

"I can't stand the idea of…"

She trailed off then as she looked forward and realized she was now alone.

What…?

Looking down the street, then to her left and right, then behind her, she couldn't so much as catch a glimpse of the man whom she had run into. After a minute or so, she resumed walking the street towards the city hall and when she neared it, as she saw all manner of people walking silently and solemnly up the stairs, Soza saw her mother atop them, waiting for her by the door. For a moment, she considered telling her mother about the man she had encountered, but she felt a sickly savage thought that, if her mother hadn't believed her about Toph, what made her think she would believe her about the mysterious man who had disappeared not minutes ago.

---

To Katara, it felt almost like a dream.

Or, more appropriately, a nightmare.

She made her way into the city hall that she had been in many times before to find it missing its rows of pews, missing its pulpit and any real semblance of furniture. The only thing of note within other than the throngs of people who had turned out for this most awful and horrible event was a wooden pole stationed at the head of the room, on the raised part of the marble floor where the present speaker of any given meeting usually stood to be seen and heard by all.

It was a very different thing that was to be seen and heard that night.

The congregation gathering before the makeshift pillory was a truly mixed group. There was no milling about, no discussions being carried out by those arriving. Everyone simply organized relatively well before the front of the room, the only sounds coming from the shuffling of feet as people filed in.

Katara saw Governor Bradley and Chief of War Dreyer standing relatively near the front of the room, surrounded by what looked to be the entire semblance of the United Nations Council. This in an and of itself was a rather curious sentiment, but judging by the hard look on Bradley's face, he might not have given them a choice. It was no secret that he held great appreciation for Toph for all she had done in training with Ba Sing Se's earthbending academy and the multiple times she had offered her bending prowess for several municipality related incidents. The governor looked just as much as anyone like he was trying to hide how distressed he felt.

Many members of the Earth Nation military were also present, most of which had no duty-related reason to be there. Captain Xing, General Gokan, and many who had trained with or under Toph stood in full military dress, present and at attention, almost as though they were waiting for a commanding officer to approach. Several Water and Fire Nation military members were present as well, Katara recognizing General Ungo of the Water Nation and Ambassador Ixa looking ahead with hardened expressions.

There was a great deal of high-ranking officials and nobles as well mingling around which Katara found was something she quite disliked. It made the event seem even more impersonal than it already was; some part of her felt that no one except those who knew Toph should have had any right being there.

Suki had outdone herself in a certain sense. She, and near three dozen of her most adept and highly qualified Kyoshi Warriors, were all present and in full uniform and dress, complete with war paint. Beyond usual mission and training related activities, getting in full dress was something they only did during high end celebrations and for the funerals of very distinct and important figures. The fact that Suki had gotten her Warriors together for this occasion in particular spoke to the open spite she wanted to show towards what was happening. The tempered expressions that she and the rest of them wore spoke to their deep resentment, and it was no surprise that many of the nobles and officials were casting them nervous glances as though expecting them to explode into action and move into open revolt, but the Kyoshi Warriors remained in formation, silent and motionless.

Amongst the soldiers on duty, it seemed that Gilbert hadn't placed a great deal of faith in the abilities of the Ba Sing Se military to guard him; also present within the hall were about twenty of his personally hired guard. They usually didn't follow him around as an entourage but were always waiting on standby to come to the aid of their master whenever requested. It was rumored that Gilbert had groups of these soldiers in every city he frequented, thus allowing him to drum up a small battalion of trained and capable fighters whenever he deemed it necessary. Despite their identical dress, the armor and sigils of those who served a lord, Katara knew them to be a mix of benders and nonbenders, but they all were of skill exceptional enough for Gilbert to have selected them for the position they held. They stood somewhat spaced out, but looking at them, Katara could see they were forming something of a semicircle around the man who was no doubt paying a good deal to protect them.

Despite the fact that this should have been quite the victorious moment for him, Gilbert himself didn't look particularly smug as Katara would have expected him to. He was accomplishing quite the feat in a sense, condemning and having a well respected and liked person put to death, but he looked almost harried, like he was badly on edge. His two bodyguards remained loyally by his side, looking as attentive as they always did, but they kept casting glances towards Azula as though expecting her to pounce for some reason. Even despite the strangeness that was Gilbert's attitude, Katara wanted rather badly to take the water in his body and flush it all to his head, and pop him open like a watermelon left out in the scorching sun. And she knew she wasn't alone.

Zuko was fully decked out in his finest Fire Lord garments and the expression he was wearing could have allowed him to pass as a person who had never met Toph, but the deep and quick breaths he seemed to be taking indicated that he was trying to keep himself from being sick. Sokka had dressed up in his military garb very much in the footsteps of his wife, and he was standing shoulder to shoulder with General Ungo, but his expression was much worse off than Zuko's. As Katara looked at her brother, his eyes were glistening and the muscles in his mouth seemed to be pulling like he was about to break into sobs to mingle with those of Ty Lee.

The girl in question was somehow on her own two feet, though she had Jin and Mai at either shoulder, ready to give her support if need be. She had shaken off their hands as she had started crying however and had her face buried in her hands as the sounds of her agony echoed around the room. With the capacity approaching hundreds of occupants, the vocalization of her tears seemed almost uncomfortable but no one would have dared try to calm her down just then. Jin had tear tracks streaking down her face as well, but her mouth was a thin and tight line as though she were forcing herself not to fall to a worse place. Mai's expression was rather odd, almost floaty, as though she wasn't sure where she was.

Azula stood perhaps in the dead center of the room, as near to the front as anyone else was. Katara felt her stomach churn as she looked at the princess and saw, while her expression was passive, there was something akin to wild eagerness in her eyes that made Katara want to march over there and smack the smugness from her body. Azula's hands were on the shoulders of her daughter who stood just in front of her; despite Katara's relative dislike for the young girl, it seemed insanely cruel for her to even be there, and she wondered what sick thoughts were churning in Azula's head that made her think that it was a good idea to have her daughter with her. Soza herself was pressed against her mother, as though she was trying to back away. Her expression too was somewhat composed, but there was a franticness in her eyes and her makeup had run a bit already down her cheeks, indicating she had already done a share of crying.

Katara watched as Iroh pushed his way through the crowd to stand at the side of his nephew. He murmured words that Katara couldn't have hoped to make out, but whatever was said, she could tell by the absolutely devastated look on the older man's face that they were words said in grief. Iroh seemed to have no problem hiding his tears and they flowed freely down his face, and the sight seemed to be a bit much for Zuko who broke the façade that he was in control and wrapped his arms around his uncle and they silently held one another in their grief.

As she looked around the room at the bizarrely varied congregation gathered that evening, it took Aang taking her hand for her to even remember what it was like to feel.

"Hey. Let's go."

His voice was soft and shattered, and as Katara looked into his misty, devastated eyes, the dam holding back her own emotions started to splinter. She had always tried so hard to be the one to stay levelheaded, to be the person who could be looked to for stability and calm, but as she looked into Aang's eyes, she found she could be none of these things right then.

"This is wrong…" she whispered. "So wrong."

"I know," he said and Katara grit her teeth, shaking her head.

"Why can't… why can't we do anything?"

It was a question that was unfair to Aang, but it was just as much meant for the universe itself as she looked upward, silently cursing the cruelty that was being shown them all.

"We have to be strong," Aang said, his voice brittle and thick. "Toph wouldn't want us falling apart like this because of her."

Katara found then that it was much easier to let the tears come rather than try and hold them back.

"You're right," she said wetly and squeezed his hand back. Together, they moved towards the front of the room to stand beside everyone else and Katara tried to keep herself breathing evenly as her pulse began to hammer furiously in her throat. Anxiety started washing over her in sundering, dark waves and Aang's hand became the anchor she needed to keep from being washed away. Minutes passed and she felt her heart skip a beat violently as General Gokan slowly broke free of the assembled onlookers and walked up the few white stairs. A scribe crossed the front of the room, his footsteps echoing with a strangely intense volume around the vast chamber as the hundreds of people looking on remained silent. The man handed a scroll to the general who took it and rolled it open; he examined its contents briefly, his face pulling as though he were trying to fight back a look of overwhelming disgust. It seemed to take him several seconds before he even seemed able to speak.

His words only passed through Katara's ears with the barest hint of meaning, not truly gripping her with any clarity. There was jargon about the laws of the city, the rights of those who had been wronged, and the necessity of the duty that was to be carried out that day. She felt a grudging appreciation as Gokan briefly went off script, saying none too subtly how such a sentence for a person of Toph's stature was neither sensible nor fair, and it was only when Dreyer cleared her throat did he get back on track.

"Per the rightful demands of the wronged, Toph Beifong has hereby been sentenced to a dozen curve brands and to… to have her throat opened until dead. So in lies the laws of the land."

By the look on his face, he held absolutely no regard for those laws to which he had just preached and he stalked down the steps to leave the elevated portion of the room barren once more. Katara had heard something most distressing on top of that which she already knew however, and as she turned to Aang, she heard hissing and hushed words of distress around her from Jin, Ty Lee, Sokka and a myriad other people she couldn't identify.

"There was nothing in the execution order about curve brands!" she cried softly to Aang and he only shook his head, his jaw set and the muscles in his cheeks working furiously.

"Gilbert must have gone in this morning and amended his demands," he growled and Katara whipped her head around to see that Gilbert had centered his gaze on Azula, looking at her almost curiously, but the princess made no attempt to look around herself. She remained stalwart and looking ahead with venomous anticipation.

Were it possible, Ty Lee looked even more horrified than she had been and Jin beside her had put an arm around her shoulder and was holding her close as Mai kept an arm underneath her friend's armpit; it rather looked like Ty Lee's legs were about to give out. Zuko lowered his head, eyes tightly shut as Iroh looked away in disgust and Sokka turned to look at his sister, a wild, helpless look in his eyes and she could only shake her head back at him, just as helplessly. Throughout the room, only Suki and her Warriors remained in perfect formation, not moving nor saying a word.

A quiet fell on the room as from the darkly lit side of the room, four people entered into the light before the assembled onlookers as though this were all part of some sick play.

The first man forward was Gaeseric, who of everyone in the room, was perhaps the only one smiling. In one hand, he held a deep vat on a thick black handle, from wherein a handle protruded. Behind him, led by the two guards on either side of her, Toph was led towards the wooden beam that protruded from the floor.

She had been made to dress in the clothes of a common prisoner, simple beige garments that attracted no attention whatsoever. Her expression, somehow, was still almost passive, as though she really, truly was alright with what was happening. Katara watched her desperately as Toph's arms were wrapped around the pole and fastened there. She rested her head against the wood and closed her eyes, and Katara wanted to scream at her.

Tell the truth!

No one had bought Toph's story, but she had stuck by it, and it matched perfectly with the reports written by Gilbert and his two swordswomen. Katara found herself looking almost desperately at Soza, whose eyes were wide, her lips pulled back over her teeth in a look of sheer horror.

What did you see, Soza? Was it really how they've claimed it to be?

There was no fanfare to the proceedings; the guards left what was essentially the stage, retreating into the darkness on either side of the raised marble floor, leaving Toph and Gaeseric alone. Placing the vat on the floor, the hulking behemoth of a man gripped the handle protruding from the metal container and Katara could see an orange glow reaching up from it, lighting up his hand. He withdrew the handle, and the occupants of the room were able to see a curve of metal attached to it, about a foot long and glowing orange with the heat it had been resting in. Katara let out something of an involuntary moan at the sight, a sound she heard conjoin with those of Ty Lee, Jin, Sokka and Zuko, and others. Gaeseric looked at it a moment with a dark smile on his face, before returning it to rest in the vat before walking to stand behind Toph. Their different in size made Katara even more uncomfortable as he reached out and, with a gentleness that surprised her, pulled her loose fitting prisoner garb down over her shoulders and softly ripping it open until it was open down to her waist, exposing her back. Throughout this, Toph made no reaction to what was being done to her, the immodesty she was being forced into, nor fear at what was coming.

As Gaeseric pulled her long black hair around to path over her shoulder and over her chest, Katara, out of the corner of her eye, saw Azula make a very strange motion.

To Katara, it looked almost as though the princess had managed to keep herself from up and lunging forward, her knees entire form twitching briefly. This seemed to be lost on Soza who was looking more and more like she was about to fall into a full on fit of panic and fright, but Katara turned her gaze back forward, trying to see what it might have been that had just caused Azula to have that strange reaction. She saw it rather quickly, placed high on Toph's back; for a moment, she thought it might be a tattoo, at least until she looked closer and realized that the design of it was very familiar.

Where have I seen that before?

She was given no time to think about it however as Gaeseric walked around the side of the wooden beam, grabbed the iron and returned to stand behind Toph. An almost audible air of tension settled around the room and Katara forced herself to breathe as her whole body stiffened. And as the iron moved towards Toph's skin, she closed her eyes and buried her face in Aang's chest, unable to stomach what was happening a moment longer.

---

For Toph, it was a very surreal experience.

She was aware of the massive presence that was with her in the large room, being able to feel the weight of so many through the floor, but even for her enhanced hearing, everything was so very silent. She recognized the heavy steps of Gilbert's massive manservant as he pulled open her meager clothing and took up the iron, the heat of which she could feel well before it came close to her.

Toph supposed she was quite scared then, when she really thought about it.

Her mark hadn't so much as felt the single, most solitary sear since she had been placed in holding, no matter how much she tried to will it to do so. It became almost impossible not to wonder if she had perhaps even imagined the tiny burn in the first place, some involuntary reaction from her body to give her hope.

But now, standing vulnerable before all these people, her friends, her betters, men and women of all sorts, there came the very real, very frightening notion that she might very well be about to die.

So what if Sasuke came back… he's nowhere near here, he's not coming to save me. Fuck, he probably doesn't even remember me.

Her doubts became more overpowering than any semblance of hope could be, and she tried to keep herself from crying. She was already being so humiliated, adding her tears to the mix would only make the self-hate she was feeling worse.

I was so stupid to think that he'd ever come back. Why would he? Why didn't I just let go?

The familiar burning in her cheeks that always came before her tears tugged at her muscles.

Why can't I let him go now?

She could feel Soza's small figure standing near the front of the massive ensemble there to see her punished and wondered what she was thinking. Was she feeling regret over what she had done? Was there relief that it wasn't her up there taking the brunt of this blame? Was there perhaps even some satisfaction that she had gotten away with it? Toph wasn't sure, but if she was as much a spitting image of her mother as a person, that would certainly be how Azula would have read it.

But you're not just your mother, Soza, are you? You have a father, you have someone who means that you won't be just like her.

The heat drew closer to her back and she found herself distantly wishing they had given her something to bite down on. She had seen one public branding before and two floggings, not including what she had seen done to Azula all those years ago, and during those, the person being punished was given a damp piece of cloth or strip of leather.

I suppose since I'm dying next, they don't feel the need to worry about that.

The anxiety hit again, the absolute fear, and she tensed up hard in a way that had nothing to do with the hot iron nearing her skin.

I'm not ready… I'm not ready, I didn't… I never…

Her wild desperation couldn't quite conform itself into coherent thoughts, but when the iron met her skin, any chance of clarity in her mind was dashed.

The curve iron was made to press against the left side of the flesh and then come down in a curve over the rest of her back, a slower process than a standard brand made to induce more pain. Toph had been told that she was to be tortured in this way as well prior to being led out, and she had been wildly trying to prepare herself for the pain she knew was coming, but nothing could have readied her heightened sense of touch to this.

The nerves in her back came to life in sheer agony as her skin was burned by the hot metal. Her eyes sprang open as the muscles in her face contracted to match her entire body as her back arched and she spasmed at the pain. Somehow, she managed to keep from crying out even as the curve of the iron came down over the rest of her back, working its way from left to right. There was a sickening sizzling sound as she felt her body shaking uncontrollably as she iron completed its cycle, and she gasped aloud as it lifted from her body.

This is it.

This is how I die.

The iron came down again, higher this time, and as it scorched her body, Toph pressed her forehead against the pole again and screamed, putting as much of her fear and frustration into the act as she could, trying to muster some relief from the expulsion of sound as her body was marred.

It took her a moment to realize that the scream she had released hadn't been a simple sound.

She had screamed a name.

His name.

And as she thought once more to how much he had so effortlessly controlled her life, she began to sob, a pathetic sound that mingled with her cries as she was burned again and again. This was release was all she had left now, with the seconds counting down to the moment she would be taken away, stolen from the friends she cherished above all else and any chance of being near Sasuke again would be gone forever.

---

Aang had thought he could bear it. He had been mustering his willpower that whole day, preparing for this moment and knowing he had to fight through it for her. He had managed to hang in there when he had lined up alongside his friends and seen the misery and anguish etched onto their faces. He had kept himself in check when Toph had been brought out after the charges were read against her. He had even managed to keep composed when the iron was lain to her body.

But as he saw tears coursing down her cheeks and heard her cry out Sasuke's name in a desperate act, like a child screaming for their parent in a moment of panic, Aang broke.

Bowing his head, he gave a short cry through his clenched teeth and jammed his eyes shut as tears burst forth from them. He could hear Katara crying against him, a sound that only grew in pitch as she no doubt heard his pain. So much of him wanted to clap his hands over his ears, to tune out this awful chorus around him: Ty Lee and Jin were now both audibly wailing, and he could even hear Sokka's own lower pitched crying mingling with theirs. All these mixed with Toph's cries and the terrible sound of her flesh being burned and Aang wanted to shout and wake from this horrible nightmare. He couldn't bear that one of his most cherished friends, someone he had known since they were but children fighting the war of their elders, was being hurt this way, and was about to be taken from him forever.

But he couldn't wake, and he opened his blurry eyes to this personal hell.

Somehow, his eyes came to lock on Soza; with his own gaze cast down to look away from where Toph was being tortured, he honed in on Azula's daughter and saw a horror on her face that he had never seen before.

Throughout all the years he had known her through her childhood, Soza had never once been one to show fear, or pain. She was as stalwart and arrogant as her mother, not showing the slightest sign of regret or conscience, even when she had nearly murdered a boy her age when Ty Lee had taken her outside the palace. Nothing seemed like it would be able to scar her, or even come close.

But her eyes now were wide, terror keeping them ajar as she looked on towards one of her only friends. Her mouth was slightly agape and her breathing was deep and ragged as tears streaked down her face. She was finally nothing short of a scared girl, all masks of royalty and superiority gone. Soza was a child, and she was frightened like one.

She looked in an utter contrast to her mother who had both her hands on the girl's shoulders, directing her forwards as she herself looked on with something Aang could only sickeningly realize to be hunger.

Toph released another terrible scream and Soza suddenly seemed to break free of whatever paralysis had her locked into watching the horrible spectacle and she reached behind her frantically to grab at her mother's hand. Just barely audible over the other miserable sounds that echoed throughout the hall, Aang could hear her pleading with Azula.

"Mother, please! Please make it stop!"

Azula said nothing and Aang watched as she continued to stare ahead in an almost thrilled awe of what was taking place before her and her daughter. Getting no reply only seemed to make Soza burst into a more frenzied state, her voice ramping up in pitch and panic.

"Please! Please no more, I can't stand it, let her go!"

She received no reply, though her mother's grip seemed to tighten on her shoulders.

Very suddenly, Aang felt a deep anxiety that had nothing to do with Toph ripple through him. He watched as Soza's breathing came more and more erratic, and some thickness in the air seemed to fall over the room. Aang felt as though there was a powerful force pressing down omnisciently above them that was causing his stomach to churn worse than it already was.

No, not pressing above him… pressing outwards.

From Soza.

There seemed too to be a strange humming crackle too and as Aang winced involuntarily at the discomfort being pressed upon him, he saw heads turning towards Soza of those who were nearby, indicating this ailment wasn't something he was just privy to feeling. Soza drew her hands up slowly to her chest and they clenched into fists while her breathing was so furious, she looked to be hyperventilating. She bowed her head and gave a single deep shudder before her gaze shot back up and forward as she screamed with all the force she could muster.

"Leave her ALONE!"

There was a vicious flash of black and Aang felt a rush of heat roll over the room. He pulled Katara closer to him and leapt back away from the girl as there came a great snapping sound, like a tree that had just been struck by lightning. For a moment, he found himself blinking away from the black flash, a visual anomaly that he couldn't quite understand: how had the color black caused his eyes to go briefly blind?

As vision returned, he was greated with a most chilling sight. Everyone had moved swifly away from Soza, even Azula, though she still remained within a couple meters of her child. Gaeseric had stopped torturing Toph and was looking on towards her along with everyone else in the room who had backed away to form something near a circle around the girl. Gilbert's men had ran around to stand in front of the raised area of the room, walling off the proceedings from whatever disruption had just taken place. Toph herself was the only one who seemed to be not paying attention to the sudden change in the room's atmosphere, as she panted against the wooden pole, her body limp against it as sweat ran down her face.

Soza stood in the center of the relative clearing that had been warranted her by her actions, wisps of black flame swirling at her feet. Her fists were clenched at her side, and she pulled in deep furious breaths and Aang felt a shiver run down his spine as he beheld the look of absolute fury that held the girl's face; she looked as though she had been through war, multiple wars, and had done nothing but revel in the pain and suffering they caused, the anguish written on her face maturing her in painful detail.

Then, Aang saw her eyes.

It was a sight he would never forget for the rest of his life. What it implied was completely unequivocal.

The pattern of black and red that had taken over her orbs was unmistakable, a truly otherworldly sight as her eyes glared forward with ravenous fury. Tears of blood seemed to streak down her cheeks as she looked on, looking completely unaware of the stir she had just caused.

The shock that Aang felt nearly brought him to his knees as he felt Katara's grip on his hand ratchet up to a numbing intensity. Ty Lee was looking at Soza in complete horror, a fear now mingling in the expression that had been so agonizingly watch Toph be hurt; Jin had dropped to her knees, eyes horribly wide, and Mai had a hand over her mouth as her knees shook where she stood; Sokka looked completely stunned and Zuko had a look of complete despair on his face as he beheld his niece; Suki and her warriors had all assumed readied stances, but Aang could tell from the look on her face that it was taking everything she had to keep it together.

But Aang's eyes moved to Azula, who was finally looking at her daughter.

Tears of joy rolled down her face as a smile pulled the corners of her mouth up to an almost inhuman degree, and Aang wanted to throw up.

The room had fallen even more deadly silent then it had before as the metamorphosis of the child before them gripped everyone's attention. Then, from somewhere out of sight behind those of his men that had stayed to stand guard over him, Gilbert's voice rang out, sounding almost floaty in his inflection.

"Finish her, Gaeseric."

Looking like he had never been more happy to comply with orders, Gaeseric turned the iron that had so recently been used to injure Toph's skin and Aang flicked his gaze to see that the inner end of it was sharpened to a deadly point. The towering hulk of a man moved it swiftly towards Toph's throat and screams from Jin and Ty Lee erupted as Aang felt a cry pass through his own lips, as thoughts of Soza were swept aside as the sudden thought that this was how Toph was to be taken him crushed his spirit. He wasn't ready to say goodbye, this couldn't be how it ended; he had spent the whole day with a part of him believing things would end differently, and now his horrors were coming to final, awful fruition.

But something just out of the corner of his eye pulled his attention ever so briefly.

The people surrounding Soza had fanned out in clear fear of whatever had just occurred, leaving her standing along in the center of the semicircle surrounding where Toph was breathing her last moments. She too was opening her mouth in a scream of pain and denial that Toph was about to be taken away, but she was no longer alone where she stood, with someone standing now just behind her, Soza completely unaware of that person's presence.

Then, that person had leapt over Soza and bounded with a relentless speed towards the pillory.

Gaeseric had time to turn his eyes just slightly before a sword pierced clean through his throat and twisted upwards, nearly decapitating him. There came a rush of cries from the room's occupants as the enormous man's body tipped to the side and toppled like a felled tree.

The man who had just cut him down stood with his back to the room, not moving as Gilbert's hired mercenaries turned towards him, drawing weapons and pulling their bending to life. He barely had even started to turn as they all raced towards him, ready to obliterate the person who had just interfered with this execution.

But as Aang caught sight of the man's face, plastered with the most raw and hateful fury he had ever seen, he felt his body grow weightless.

He had seen this before.

And while he knew there was nothing he could do to stop the whirlwind of gore and carnage that was just a split second away from exploding within the hall, he could only think the name, the name of the man he had never thought he would see again, the man who struck primal fear deep in his heart, the man who had just saved Toph's life and whose mouth was opening in a roar of pure ire.

And then a last thought, a realization of over a decade of pondering.

And Aang wished he could turn back the clock to a time where he didn't know this now inescapable truth.

Sasuke… it was you.