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.

40. Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Victory

Ty Lee took the stairs three at a time as she raced up towards her room to find some clothes to change into. It was truly ironic; just when she had finally thought she was being given the smallest chance to relax, the world had tipped itself upside down on her again, signaling that it wasn't anywhere near done flooding her with anxiety.

She had made it back to her room and immediately fallen asleep but had woken up after only a couple hours in a state of stress that was working her insides into knots. Lying in the dark hadn't helped her situation and she had blearily gotten to her feet, absently pulled on a thin nightgown and left her room with the intention of returning to the fireplace room. Her hope had been that just walking around might have been able to at least slightly alleviate her mind and her immodest state of dress only occurred to her after she saw the back of a palace servant disappearing around a corner. Ty Lee had stopped in the middle of the hall, wondering if she didn't want to go get better dressed as the thin robe that clung to her didn't really leave that much to the imagination and her cleavage was hardly well concealed. The thought had stayed with her only a moment before she realized just how stupid the idea of something like modesty was to her just then. Such was the state of her mind that she doubted she would have minded very much if she were naked.

It brought a rather humorous memory to her from years past as she had continued down the hall. Ty Lee remembered hitting the Fire Nation capital at night after the war ended, teasing Mai that she wouldn't be looking for boys with her and making sure she wore outfits that showed off her midriff, cleavage and legs for maximum appeal. It wasn't often she actually found a guy she genuinely wanted to take home with her, but the lingering gazes she received as she and her friend roamed the streets were always enough to give her a mild thrill. She supposed it was rather cruel to play with boys' minds that way, but at that age, it had been such a deal of fun to her.

She also supposed she had paid for that in the end.

The humor and appeal of the memory quickly faded and the smile that Ty Lee had found pulling onto her face like a ghost quickly disappeared. It hadn't been too long after those nights on the city with Mai that Azula had laid claim to her and she had quickly reciprocated, realizing how in love with the princess she was. It didn't bother her that Azula demanded total secrecy from her, she didn't mind that the only reason she went on dates with boys was to keep up the façade that she wasn't dutifully Azula's behind closed doors, and it didn't bother her that Azula completely restricted her from being intimate with any of the men she went on the fraudulent dates with. Ty Lee couldn't have been happier to abide by the princess's terms. She had gotten Azula in return and nothing could have been worth more than that to her.

And now, it was because of Azula that Ty Lee wasn't sure she'd ever be able to be intimate with anyone ever again.

Katara had strongly advised her to visit healers that had more specified fields of study in order to perhaps fix her up even further, but Ty Lee knew the damage had been done. Even as simple an act as going to the bathroom could be an agonizing chore and she would never be able to so much as move her legs without a twinge reminding her of what had been done to her sex. How ironic that the last person to have been with her before she had been so sexually damaged was Sasuke, the very person that had driven her to instigate the whole event.

And it was her own fault. Ty Lee knew that was true, no matter how much Toph, or Jin, or Suki, or anyone tried to convince her otherwise. Azula might have done the deed, but Ty Lee had known how sick the princess's mind was; she had been ignoring it for years in order to blissfully jump into bed with Azula and with the effect Sasuke had on the princess, it should have been a surprise to no one that Ty Lee was punished in such a way.

She hadn't spoken to Azula one on one since the day it had happened, and that was only partly due to how vigilant her friends had been in making sure that such a meeting couldn't take place.

At long last, as was perhaps long overdue, Ty Lee was rather terrified of Azula.

It was stupid to even think such a thing. Of course she should have been scared of the princess, but Ty Lee had reached a point in her head over the years where she thought she would never be put in such a state. She had seen Azula do a number of horrible things to many different people, had only felt her toxicity increase as the years passed by, and yet through it all, Ty Lee had believed herself to be untouchable.

Sure, Azula would target and hurt those who she believed wronged her, but why would she ever decide to hurt loyal, forgiving, ever-present Ty Lee?

It hadn't taken much. Taking Sasuke and fucking his brains out was all.

Bitterly musing, Ty Lee had pushed into the fireplace room and found it deserted except for one person. Mai was lounging on the couch, looking into the crackling fireplace and seeming to be just as much lost in her own thoughts. It wasn't until the door had closed rather loudly behind Ty Lee that her eyes had flicked over. She too was wrapped in a deep maroon nightgown, though hers was substantially less revealing; by the dark indents under her eyes, Ty Lee wondered if Mai had been able to sleep at all.

The two friends hadn't said a word to one another. It might have been a whole minute they spent just looking at one another before Mai shifted on the couch and made space, her intention clear. Softly, Ty Lee crossed through the room and sat down beside her friend. After another minute, she scooted back just a bit to bump into Mai and was glad when her friend reciprocated and wrapped an arm around her.

They didn't need to exchange words to keep the moment from feeling uncomfortable. The two had known one another long enough that silence was no more awkward then talking would have been, and it suited Ty Lee just fine to cuddle with Mai while they both gazed into the crackling orange of the fireplace. Outside through the massive paned windows, the sky had gone grey making the room feel even more cozy. It was around this time that Ty Lee started to feel a sense of calm for the first time in what felt like forever.

So of course, that was when the door banged open, and Suki dashed in.

Ty Lee had yelped and lunged to her feet, her breasts nearly popping from her robe at the speed of her ascent. Mai rolled her legs over the side of the couch, brow furrowing as Suki looked at them both with wide eyes.

"Kyoshi escaped. Sasuke and Azula are missing."

Seven words. That was all it had taken to send fresh waves of dread dousing Ty Lee's insides and her hands had clenched into sweaty fists as she stared back at Suki. She likely could have remained there frozen for some time, but Mai's more level head allowed her to ask what was being done to which Suki only replied that the chief wanted them all in his chambers at once. She had left the room just as quickly no doubt to try and collect the others; Mai had moved to stand by Ty Lee and had given her shoulder an assuring squeeze before looking into her eyes with a calming look on her face.

"Hey. It's gonna be okay."

Ty Lee could never have expressed how much she appreciated her friend for trying to help sustain her, even when she could see so much tiredness and anxiety in Mai's eyes. But nothing she could have said would have been able to properly calm Ty Lee down and the two left the fireplace room wordlessly a moment later and split off not long after; Mai didn't seem worried about changing clothes, but Ty Lee didn't think that she fancied walking into the chief's personal chambers dressed like she was there for a very particular purpose. The thought had allowed a brisk laugh to resonate in her throat, even as her mind churned miserably.

That was how she had come to find herself running through the hall up to the door of her room, scantily clad and her heart thudding madly in her throat. She slid to a halt in front of it and threw the door open, kicking it shut behind her as she moved towards the dresser beside the bed where her clothes were. Of all the times she had to go wandering around like that without being properly dressed…

"Ty Lee."

For the second time within the last fifteen minutes, she let out a short scream and spun around, bumping against the dresser loudly as she did. And as she clapped a hand over her mouth, she saw she had good reason to.

Azula was standing leaning against the wall just beside the door, her arms crossed. She was wearing a purposeful and somewhat intense expression as her fingernails pressed against the skin of her upper arms while she looked at Ty Lee unblinkingly. She had been so still and quiet that Ty Lee hadn't so much as even caught a glimpse of her out of the corner of her eye what with how high strung she was.

Very quickly, her anxiety had morphed into genuine fear. She hadn't allowed herself to even imagine a meeting such as this, but now that it was actually happening, fear was drowning her veins in ice. A part of her pathetically wanted to scream out in case someone was in the halls and could hear her, but in the moment, all she wanted was not to be pressed against the back of her room with Azula between her and the door.

"Azula," she said breathlessly in reply. She found that her hands had drifted towards her waist, hovering just over her midsection as though unconsciously frightened that the princess had come to finish what she had started.

Azula's eyes flicked down at the movement, and they then flashed with an emotion that Ty Lee didn't recognize having ever seen on the princess's face. Stepping away from the wall and uncrossing her arms, she took a couple steps forward before stopping near the foot of the bed. With the length of a mattress between them, Ty Lee's anxiety only ramped up further as she pressed back against the dresser, trying to concentrate enough to know where she needed to strike at Azula if she needed to defend herself.

It was a terrifying moment when she wondered if, even after all the princess had put her through, would she even be able to?

"Judging by the speed you entered the room, you've been informed about Kyoshi's disappearance?" Azula asked coolly. Ty Lee wet her lips and gave a small, hesitant nod; she hated the idea of how meek she must have looked, in front of Azula of all people.

"You and Sasuke too," she said softly. "All three of you are missing."

The corner of Azula's mouth twitched up in a wry smile.

"That will be the case shortly. Sasuke and I will be leaving the city in pursuit of Kyoshi, whom we intentionally freed, to retrieve our daughter."

Ty Lee heard the sting of pride in the word 'our' as Azula uttered it, but what drew her focus was the meat of what she had just heard.

"You're both… leaving?"

"Sasuke has a plan, and I'm coming with him," the princess said by way of explanation.

"But… but…" was all that Ty Lee could stutter in reply. Through her fear, she imagined Sasuke and Azula marching side by side on Ba Sing Se, ready to fight Kyoshi, Yangchen, Koh and the entirety of the spirit army itself. Even with as powerful as he was…

"That's suicide!" she couldn't help crying out; if anyone could face down such odds on their own, it would certainly be Sasuke, but she found she was speaking more to Azula's case than his.

Why would she go too?

Azula scoffed.

"I am well equipped to handle myself," she said dismissively. "Other than being Soza's mother, I am more than capable of keeping myself safe."

She spoke it with so much confidence that Ty Lee almost believed it immediately without any hesitation.

Some things haven't changed.

The thought drew her mind to a very particular facet of Azula that she hadn't been able to give much thought to and that was the fact that she rather seemed to be a different person since her trip with Sasuke.

"What did he do to you?" Ty Lee heard someone say before she felt her entire body tense with fear as she realized the words had come out of her mouth.

Azula narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at Ty Lee closely.

"What are you talking about?" she asked smoothly.

"Nothing," Ty Lee stammered, immediately trying to backpedal. There was no part of her that actually wanted to instigate something with Azula and while she very much found she wanted to know what had happened between the two of them when they were out at the cabin, she couldn't quite believe she had dared to ask.

The silence only served to add a layer of tension between the two of them.

"You're referring to the several nights Sasuke and myself spent further north?" Azula asked and Ty Lee could only try and not think about how dry the inside of her mouth was. Her quiet was as good a confirmation as any for Azula it seemed, who adjusted her balance casually and pursed her lips.

"He… he showed me who I am. Who I was, who I would be," she said simply. Ty Lee stared at her, the ambiguous answer not doing much by way of illuminating much. She wanted to ask for clarification, but the fact that Azula hadn't threatened to burn off her arm for sticking her nose in her business was something she had taken as a sign not to press her luck. Every moment she stood in Azula's presence was putting her insides into a worse and worse state. But as seconds ticked by and neither of them said a word, she finally found that she couldn't bear the silence any longer.

"Is that why you came to see me?" she asked abruptly. "To tell me what you and Sasuke did with Kyoshi? And that you're leaving?"

Azula's eyes, which had drifted down towards the floor in perhaps a deep state of thought the princess wasn't even aware she had entered, flicked up. They glowed challengingly in what Ty Lee assumed was instinct for Azula when anything was asked of her.

"Not quite," she replied tightly. "I have instructions for you as well."

Ty Lee swallowed, and the princess continued.

"Wait here in your room after I leave for five minutes. Then, go to the meeting that's undoubtedly been called and tell them all what I've told you."

This caught Ty Lee off guard, and she felt her brow twitch in confusion.

"You… want them to know?"

"Certainly," Azula said flatly, crossing her arms again. "No doubt the righteous comradery shared amongst this little group would inspire all of you to come running south towards Ba Sing Se after Sasuke and I if you didn't know our intentions."

She was probably right.

"As such, I want you to also tell everyone that Sasuke and myself will be handling this on our own. We do not want assistance, nor do we require it."

"But what about Ursa?" Ty Lee asked quickly, her voice high in pitch. "She won't want to let this go! What about her, and Toph, and Aang, and…"

And me?

Azula scoffed again.

"Dead weight. We have a plan, we will be adhering to it, and when the deed is done, we will return with Soza, and this little war ended."

It was such a tantalizing statement and Ty Lee found herself grasping for the hope that it somehow could be true. How glorious it would be if she could just sit back and in a matter of time, Sasuke, Azula and Soza would rejoin them and the war would be over.

But there were far too many unknowns for that to seem possible. What was this plan that supposedly would be able to accomplish all this? Why had they let Kyoshi go, what was the purpose in that? Had Kyoshi been aware of what they were doing?

Was Soza even still… alive?

She wanted to relay all this to Azula and find some solace in what she was hearing, but ultimately, her fear of the princess trumped her curiosity and fear for this plan she was now hearing of.

"Okay."

One of Azula's dark eyebrows flicked up.

"Is that it?" she asked silkily, and Ty Lee lowered her head in what might have almost looked like a bow of contrition.

"Yeah, that's it," Ty Lee replied quietly. "I'll tell everyone what you said."

"You don't want to know more?" Azula asked, sounding almost like she was trying not to sound confused. "You're allowing this to just slide?"

"That's not my place," Ty Lee said, and she felt her eyes widen as she stared at the ground.

There it was. Without even knowing, her mind had done the deed for her. She had just admitted, fully and completely in a matter of four words, that she was still Azula's.

Her vision blurred slightly with tears that she quickly blinked away. There hadn't been any time that she had spent thinking about how their relationship might have devolved by this point, but her own mentality had just informed her that she was as much a slave to her feelings as she had been for years. Looking resolutely at her feet, she waited for Azula to smirkingly reply how glad she was that Ty Lee still knew her place, or laugh tenderly at how submissive her friend still was, but the princess remained still and silent ahead of her.

"You aren't going to—" Ty Lee started to say as she looked up, getting ready to mutter something bitterly about how surprised she was that Azula wasn't gloating, but what she saw burned any thought of speaking from her mind.

She was used to Azula looking at her; even when they weren't in the bedroom, she could find the princess giving her that possessive look. At Fire Nation noble events where she was able to attend as Azula's guest, she could see the piercing desiring gaze the princess would beam at her from across the lavish dinner tables. She would be in the courtyard doing her aerobics and she might find Azula staring at her from the shadow of a pillar or statue with no indication as to how long she had been there. There hadn't seemed to be anywhere she could have gone where, if she was looking at Ty Lee, Azula wasn't eyeing her as a most prized possession. Ty Lee had gotten used to it and when she was feeling particularly wanting of some intimacy, Azula's burning looks had only caused the submissive side of her to flare up and further exacerbate her excited mood. It was this look that she expected to see now, so when she didn't, it was genuinely stunning to her.

Azula's brow was pulled in a pained fashion, her eyes wide and glistening with an almost desperate pain as though she truly couldn't fathom how to handle the situation she was in. Her mouth was slightly agape as though she thought she had found the words she wanted to say but they had escaped her just as quickly.

Ty Lee had never seen her look more vulnerable in her life.

"That's not what… you don't… I can't… " Azula said in a voice that was just as pained as it became her turn to stutter. Ty Lee could only stare at her with wide eyes, unsure of where this could possibly be going but finding herself more and more frightened as the seconds passed.

What's the matter with her? Is she having some kind of breakdown? If so, is she going to hurt me?

Somehow, she found herself missing the usual aura of arrogant poise that Azula conducted herself with; seeing her in such a state only made it feel like she was more unpredictable.

"Azula, please," she said, jamming her eyes shut as panic drove the words from her mouth. She felt the tears she had been trying to stymie spill down her cheeks as she took a shaking breath before continuing.

"I know you're probably still furious at me. I know because of what I did, you might never forgive me. But I'm begging you, if you care at all about me, if you care at all about our relationship, please don't keep doing this."

It was somehow so much easier to talk when she couldn't see Azula, even as she imagined the princess approaching her with a ball of fire in her hand for daring to speak out of turn.

"I know you feel like how you treat me is how I deserve to be treated, but… but…"

Just as she was struggling to find the words, she heard a soft sound on the carpet in front of her and she couldn't help opening her eyes. As she looked back over her room, she was surprised to find that Azula wasn't standing in front of her any longer and as her gaze flicked down, she saw why.

The princess had slipped to her knees and had bowed her body forward so that her forehead was nearly pressing against the floor. Her palms were face down adjacent to her shoulders as she adopted what could only be described as a stance of utter prostration.

Ty Lee's mouth fell open. Azula couldn't have stunned her into silence more even if she had wanted to.

"After all I've put you through, I'm certain no number of words could ever make things… right," Azula said, her silky voice clear even as her face remained directed towards the ground. "But it is more critical to me than I could have expected that I… need you to know something."

Hardly even daring to breathe as she wondered if doing so would wake her from what was surely an impossible dream of some kind, Ty Lee remained as still as could be as she looked wide-eyed at the princess.

"I never should have wronged as you as I have. For years, I have done not but wrong you and Mai both. I ensured myself that was the way things should be and I believed that. But I have recently tasted my own oppression. And have rather lost my taste in dealing it to others."

Her head bowed steeper, and her forehead met the carpet.

"I cannot speak to what might be the outcome of my and Sasuke's departure, but know that, when I return, I am yours to do with what you will. If you wish to harm me as I have harmed you, I will not resist. If you wish to own me as I have owned you, I am yours. However I can, I will offer myself to pay back the pain I have inflicted upon you, Ty Lee, and I will do so for the rest of my life if you deem that necessary."

She waited a beat as though there was more, but she slowly rose then. Getting to her feet, she straightened her back and kept her eyes down and Ty Lee could see the shame and regret burning on her face.

"I don't anticipate your forgiveness, nor do I want it or deserve it. I only wish for you to know my intention moving forward and my willingness to stand by it, regardless of your own intent."

There was a horribly painful moment as they both stood before one another in silence, Azula turning her head away in clear humiliation and Ty Lee staring in stunned disbelief, still not entirely sure she was dreaming.

Something should have been said then, some peace that was more than Azula had offered. There was more, and it made the situation seem deeply incomplete. Ty Lee knew there was more, more that she needed to say, but the moment passed and Azula turned her back and strode purposefully from the room. Her air of confidence seemingly restored she turned out of sight around the door, her hair whipping behind her and the moment she had, Ty Lee dropped to her knees.

In the minutes that would follow, she would drag herself to her feet and dress before complying with Azula's wishes. Walking from the room, she found herself hoping desperately that Azula would be in sight, and she could chase the princess down and say at least something, something to translate her feelings. But of course Azula was nowhere to be seen and Ty Lee was left to trudge almost in zombielike state to the meeting where she knew she would obediently translate to the others what she had been told about Azula and Sasuke's workings.

But even with all the hell that was raging in the world, all Ty Lee could truly focus on was what Azula had told her. And lament miserably in her head that, despite the stunning nature of what she had said, the princess had really rather missed the point.

---

Sasuke didn't bother trying to hide his presence as he approached her room. The jutsu he had cast had informed him that she was aggressively trying to hop into a pair of pants on the floor above him after Suki had banged into her room to tell her the news that he was sure was spreading through the palace like wildfire. He had planned his route carefully and could only hope that Azula had done the same with her route out of the palace. She had haughtily informed him that there was no one she wished to say a farewell to, but he doubted that was true. It was pointless to try and surmise whether it was her mother, her brother, Ty Lee, or someone else she wanted to visit before departing, but it was none of Sasuke's business as to whom Azula needed to talk to before they passed the point of no return.

It wasn't the first time, but Sasuke found himself wondering if he was making a wise decision in letting Azula accompany him. What could she truly aid him with, especially considering what he now knew about the state of Ba Sing Se.

"It isn't your decision to make. I don't suppose it slipped your mind, but Soza is my daughter too."

He sighed as he climbed the stairs. That was all it had taken to convince him. So instead of just him, Azula would be at his side as he slammed into the city with all his might to take his daughter back and end this threat once and for all. Truthfully, it would make his plan easier in the long run, and he knew it would be a headache to try and talk the prideful and headstrong Azula out of joining him without knocking her out. And strangely enough, he was almost finding himself looking forward to her company.

As he rounded the corner into the hall, he saw Toph's door slightly ajar and could hear none of the frenzied sounds he might have expected to hear from a person in the midst of trying to dress in a hectic fashion. He imagined that she had long since detected his approach and was now waiting for him.

What are you doing?

He asked himself the question even as his feet continued to move him forward. But even as it echoed in his head, a much more accurate query resounded.

Why are you doing this?

It was just going to be pain, for both him and her. So why was he looking to do this right now? Especially after what he had juts exchanged with Ursa?

Because I have to.

Sasuke stopped outside the room and brought his fingers up to rap gently on the door, not hard enough that it wouldn't swing open. No reply came from within, and he knocked once more, a little louder.

"I'm not naked, if that's what you're worried about."

Not able to keep himself from smiling at the snarky remark, Sasuke pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

Toph was standing beside her bed with her arms tightly crossed. Her nightshirt was resting on the ground by her feet and she had pulled on a tight sleeveless top in favor of it, exposing her built but still lean frame. It had been weeks and still Sasuke wasn't used to seeing her as someone other than the sassy kid who had annoyed the hell out of him over a decade ago. Toph still spoke with the same fire, possessed the same energy, but it would have been fruitless to deny her maturity at that point. They were nearly the same height now instead of him having to look down at her and her womanhood was—

Stop it.

He reached behind him and softly closed the door to give them some ensured privacy.

"Going somewhere?" he asked, deciding to test both how open she was willing to be with him just then and to see if she'd call his bluff on how coy he was being.

"You know damn well where," Toph snapped, leaning down to pick up the nightshirt and fling it aggressively onto the bed. "Couldn't let it sit, could you? Just had to pull a stunt, right when everyone had just the smallest chance to rest?"

"Is that what you've been doing?" Sasuke asked, leaning against the closed door. "Resting?"

Toph fixed him with a disdainful stare as she leaned against her mattress to straighten her pants.

"You're out of your fucking mind if you think I was taking a nap when we know that Soza's…"

She didn't finish her sentence as she tightened her lips angrily.

"What are you even still doing here?" she snapped. "If you're going to leave us and go after her, then just fucking do it."

Shaking her head, her jet-black hair tossed about gently.

"I can't believe you stayed at all, not knowing whether or not you daughter is even—"

Hearing aloud what Toph was about to suggest would have irked Sasuke in more than one way, so he opted to cut her off before he became any more worked up than he already was himself.

"She's alive."

Toph stopped moving from where she was and turned her head just slightly towards him.

"What?"

"She's alive," Sasuke repeated. He didn't elaborate on how exactly he knew that but made sure to put as much assurance in his voice as he could. He also knew that Toph would have been able to tell in a heartbeat if he was lying anyway.

"Fuck…" Toph said with an expulsion of air from her lungs. Her entire body seemed to slump, and she tilted her head back, taking deep breaths as she closed her eyes; it was only then that he realized just how much of a relief he had just given her.

"She's alive," he said a last time and Toph bent forward from where she was sitting on the bed, resting her forearms on her knees. Her body gave a shivering quake, and she made a noise that sounded like a stifled sob.

"I'm going after her," Sasuke said. "Azula and I let Kyoshi go on purpose and we're taking the fight to them. I just…"

Turning her head quickly towards him, he could see the tears in Toph's eyes as she looked at him intently. She was clearly readily anticipating what he was going to say next and Sasuke didn't see any reason in stalling his reason for being there.

"I needed to see you before I left."

She said nothing and remained where she was, leaning against the bed with her arms on her thighs as she looked towards him closely, her unseeing eyes still seeming to stab clean through him. Sighing, Sasuke looked down at his feet.

"I don't know what I'm doing, honestly," he said plainly. "I probably shouldn't be here at all. I just talked to Ursa and it hurt, to say goodbye like that… so to come here now, I—"

Toph's single word interruption was like an icy hand clasping around his throat and he cut off as she pushed slowly to a standing position, her expression making it look like she wasn't sure she even recognized him.

"What are you doing?" she asked, her voice making it sound the same. Sasuke shifted his weight, feeling very put off by how she was reacting to him.

"I just told you, I don't know, I came by because—"

She gave her head a sharp shake, her eyes never moving away from his direction.

"No, not that."

Toph took a slow step towards him, then another before stopping a few paces from him and sinking the room into a brief bout of supremely uncomfortable silence.

"What's wrong?"

Her question resounded in his head once and again and again while Sasuke tried to figure out what exactly it was about her voice that had sent chills up his arms. This wasn't something he had heard yet from her since his return and it had caused him to feel even more unsettled then he already was.

It was then that he realized that Toph's voice was laced with deep, tempered fear.

"Nothing's wrong," he said, perhaps too quickly and Toph gave her head another shake.

"No, no, NO!" she said, her voice jumping in volume to a shout. It looked she resisted stamping her foot angrily as her leg gave a sort of odd twitch before she jabbed a finger at him accusingly.

"You just said that you told Ursa 'goodbye'!"

And Sasuke got it.

To anyone else, it would have seemed like the simplest of statements; he was telling Ursa goodbye. What more was there to it than that?

But Toph had heard it. No one else but her would have been able to catch the sneaking undertone that his words carried and the intent with which he had unconsciously applied. It was that intent that was causing her face now to blossom with fear and distress. And even though he wanted rather badly to, he knew there was nothing that could alleviate her then, nothing that wouldn't have been a lie she would have snatched up just as easily.

"What the hell is that?!" she nearly roared. When he didn't reply, she stepped forward and gave him a hard shove in the chest. "What the fuck is that, Sasuke?!"

He hadn't known how Ursa had seen it and he had been even more surprised still that he had been able to talk her down at all. It was clear to him that convincing Toph everything would be alright would fall as a different task entirely.

"You must have misheard me," he tried, speaking as firmly as he dared, but as he should have known, this only served to further exacerbate her worry. She dug her fingers into her scalp, gritting her teeth and letting out a cry through clenched teeth. Angry tears were dropping freely from her eyes now, splashing the carpet in dark stains.

"Don't!" she yelled, voice cracking. "Don't do this! Sasuke, please, if you… if you don't think you can win…"

Not seeming like she wanted to do other than let her words connotate her meaning, she trailed off, swallowing hard. Closing his own eyes, Sasuke released a sigh through his teeth and tilted his head towards the ceiling.

He hadn't been able to hide it from Ursa or Toph, the sinking, repressive feeling that had been completely unshakable over the last twenty-four hours. He imagined it had been just as present even before then, though he likely hadn't wanted to even attempt considering it.

Madara could very well be an unbeatable foe.

But it doesn't matter.

That was exactly what he had told Ursa. Maybe Madara was unbeatable. Maybe Sasuke didn't know what he could use in his arsenal to defeat someone of this caliber. Maybe he really was scared of what his failure to do so might mean. But it didn't matter.

Sasuke had to win. One way or another, he had to completely and utterly defeat Madara, Kyoshi, the spirits, their whole damn world if he had to. For as he imagined Ursa holding him, pictured the child growing in her belly, and looked at Toph's weeping face before him, nothing could have been more clear to him. He thought of picking up Soza and holding her tight against his chest and nothing else could have seemed plausible.

One way or another, he had to win.

"I'm out of time," he said simply, trying to think of something that would excuse the uncertain aura of his voice. "Soza is alive, but I don't know for how much longer. I just wanted to see you again before I left."

There, had that been so difficult? If he had only just said that to start, perhaps all this could have been avoided.

"And Madara?" Toph sniffed.

Or maybe not.

"What makes you say that name?" Sasuke said levelly. Toph gave another sniff and wiped her cheeks, looking furious at herself for crying at all.

"Who else would make you feel like you couldn't win a fight?"

Running his tongue angrily against the edge of his teeth, Sasuke wondered why it was that women could play him so easily. Azula could get the upper hand on him whenever she wanted, Ursa could crack him open into vulnerability like an egg, and Toph could read him like a book.

"Madara or not, it makes no difference," he grunted as apathetically as he could. Putting emotion into his voice would only pull Toph's concerns further down, even if he tried to enforce the same aggressive confidence that had been enough to compel Ursa not to push the subject. Regretting more and more the weakness that had led him to come see her, Sasuke squared his shoulders and tried to find his strength.

"Don't worry about me," he said. "Azula and I will end this and bring Soza back."

He said it with enough resolve that it almost seemed perfectly doable to even him and he felt a twinge of assurance that Toph would no doubt see it the same way now. For a few seconds, she stood in front of him, her face unreadable and her cheeks still glistening with tears.

Then, with a last hearty sniff, she seemed to find some resolve of her own.

"No."

He blinked at her for a moment, his mind going blank.

"What?" he managed to ask.

"You missed a part of that," Toph clarified as she crossed her arms and then, unbelievably, she smiled. "You meant to say, Azula, Toph and I."

Sasuke felt the side of his mouth twitch involuntarily at her before it really hit home for him what she had actually just said, and it became to utter the single syllable response.

"No," he said, starting to raise his hands. Toph's smile widened, and he could see her pushing it through her own anxieties. Perhaps the idea that she had caught him off balance was contributing to the rather mischievous grin she now was fixing him with even as her eyes continued to swim with tears.

"No, no, no, absolutely out of the question," he said, feeling more sure of those words than any he had yet spoken.

"Azula's coming," Toph refuted. "I'm just as able a bender as she is."

"That's… completely a different situation," Sasuke stuttered, unable to believe he was even having this discussion. "She's Soza's mother."

Toph's smile faltered just a touch then.

"And you think Soza means any less to me because we're not related by blood?"

Jamming his mouth shut to keep a violent curse from passing his lips, Sasuke turned away. He knew full well that Soza's best friend and perhaps the person who had been the most present in her life hadn't been Azula. Sasuke only needed to imagine having to stay behind as literally any of his friends was in need of rescue to even get the slightest idea of what it would feel like for Toph if she was forced to stay in the Northern Water Tribe while he and Azula made their move.

"There's no guarantee of safety for anyone," he started, but knew that resorting to a ploy like that was as stupid as Toph made it sound when she laughed.

"You fucking kidding? You think I've ever backed down from something because it was dangerous?"

Turning her back to him, she pulled her hands over her shoulder and yanked her shirt up. Sasuke had to keep himself from hissing angrily as the scars that had been burnt into her skin were thrown into vibrant relief.

"You think I even had a thought of hesitating when I took that flak for Soza when she tried to take out Gilbert?"

Of course she hadn't. Toph would risk the most awful pain right up until death for anyone she cared about and Sasuke knew that right now was absolutely no different. He drew a hand through his spiky black hair and tried furiously to think of an angle that would allow him to feasibly deny her joining them.

She's a great fighter, she'd be able to look after herself.

This was of course assuming that the only thing she needed to worry about was spirits. If it came to it, neither she nor Azula would stand a chance against Madara.

And if I don't stop him, that will be inevitable.

He was left with the unpleasant task of pondering in his head if it wouldn't just be better to knock Toph out as he had thought about doing already, but as though she had read his mind, she spoke up, her voice low and slightly dangerous.

"And if you're thinking about trying to stop me or knocking me out…" she muttered. "I will bring this fucking palace down and let everyone know what you're doing and what you've done. I will fight you tooth and nail over this, don't think I won't. If you're going through with this, I'm not trusting that wicked bitch of a princess to be the one to watch your back and definitely not when Soza is at stake."

Her next words drove a dagger into his heart.

"I might still love you, but I love your daughter a hell of a lot too."

Sasuke was as backed into a wall as he could be. Toph might have been able to blow apart the room with a twitch of her feet and he would most assuredly be able to be faster than her in that instance. Putting her to sleep and ensuring himself time to leave with Azula before she had a chance to tag along wasn't the problem.

The problem was that if he made that choice, he very well could break their relationship forever. And her confession wasn't making things any easier for him either.

Toph must have known that as well for the tears came fresh down her cheeks, but there was no longer any fear on her face. She looked confident, hopeful even.

Because she already knows what I'm going to do.

Sasuke allowed himself a moment to turn to the wall and let the inanimate surface be a siphon of his rage as he bellowed and slammed a fist into it. The entire wall splintered with cracks, but Toph said nothing at his brief outpouring of frustration. He might have been the most frustrated because, in his head, he was already realizing that Toph and Azula combined would make his plan for rescuing Soza infinitely a simpler task than it would have been with him on his own.

Ultimately, he tried to tell himself that it came down to whether or not he was willing to put Toph in danger, but in his heart, he knew that it wasn't his right to make that choice for her. He would never have forgiven her either had their positions been reversed.

Why the fuck did I even come and see her?

"Alright," he finally growled. "But let's get going. This is going to be tight enough on timing without having to explain to Azula why there's three of us now."

---

Soza walked down the dimly lit maroon hallway, feeling smaller than she ever had in her life. Proportionally, it didn't make a great deal of sense. The man she was walking just behind wasn't very tall, nor was he physically very imposing.

But the very aura that Madara exuded made her feel like she wanted to curl up in a ball and clap her hands over her ears while jamming her eyes shut.

It was a pathetic sort of desire, but Soza couldn't help herself. She had never met anyone in her life who came anywhere near giving off the raw presence that this man possessed. Had any other captor she had never met come into that room where she had been imprisoned with Kakashi and asked her to come with them so they might have a talk, she would have certainly channeled her mother's haughtiness and pride in her response. But like a dog with its tail between its legs, she had dutifully followed him through the door without a word, her body tensed, and head slightly bowed.

Though she probably knew more about Madara than most people within the Four Nations, Soza was also aware that still meant she knew very little. She had heard stories from her aunties about the end of the war, a subject her mother was very cagey on, and she had tried to listen in around the campfire when Aang had started to talk to Kakashi about him before her father had come out of the tent and ended the conversation.

"Never assume anything about an enemy, my darling little lotus. Unless you've heard it from a source you trust infallibly, or have confirmed it with your own eyes, never assume there is an inherent truth to an assumption you might make regarding a foe, no matter how much you believe it to be authentic."

One of her mother's many lessons buzzed in the back of her mind as she walked, and she did what she could to heed it. By that mindset, there were truly only two things that she could know for certain about Madara based on what she had heard to that point.

Firstly, Madara had played an enormous role in the end of the Hundred Year's War, and secondly, he was from the same world as Sasuke and Kakashi.

Which could only mean that he too wielded powers beyond Soza's understanding.

She still thought to her mother's words about not knowing these things for certain, but she couldn't imagine not knowing that this was true. He had defeated Kakashi, someone who had been at least physically up to her father's speed and skill, he had been able to hold them in a room where an attempt at escape would ravage one's mind, and she hadn't missed the fear in Kakashi's voice when he had tried calling out to her before passing out. Soza didn't necessarily trust Kakashi, but she knew of his abilities and Madara seemed to easily surpass them.

So, she followed obediently after him, not entirely sure where they were going, but not daring to ask. The halls they moved through were completely deserted which was a change from when Soza had been brought in and she hadn't been able to turn her head without seeing a spirit or two moving oddly about the palace. She wondered if that was merely by consequence or if they were avoiding Madara. Or had even been ordered to.

"I must admit I'm surprised," he suddenly said as they walked, his rumbling and powerful voice invading Soza's ears and making her arms tremble. "I would have expected one as fiery as you to have spoken up by now, at least to ask me a question or something to that nature."

Soza wasn't sure if she was being challenged or not and was genuinely frightened when her own curiosity asked a question for her automatically.

"So, you're working with the spirits?"

They continued their pace and Madara didn't say anything for a few moments before he said in an almost remote tone.

"Is that all, then… how disappointing."

Feeling shame that she didn't even quite understand, Soza felt her cheeks flush as they neared a large set of ornate double doors. They opened well before Madara reached them and as she followed him into the throne room, Soza could see no one opening or closing them from within as they shut behind her.

The room was lit only by soft orange lights burning along the sides of each wall, throwing much of the room into a flickering darkness. It all felt much larger and empty than Soza remembered, likely because the times she had been in this room in the past, it had been full of royalty and nobles. The throne itself was unoccupied and as they walked towards the few steps that led up to it, she felt sure that Madara was going to ascend them and take his seat where the king of Ba Sing Se only ever dared sit. Somehow, a throne seemed not enough for a person of his stature; it should have been larger, better lit, perhaps with servants bowing to him as he passed. Everything about Madara's being made it seem like there should have been more surrounding one of his presence.

But he didn't. Instead, he climbed only two stairs before sitting down on the third and resting there casually. He looked at Soza through his unnaturally grey eyes which didn't blink as she stopped a few steps from him reluctantly. A looming silence fell over the throne room in which Soza tried very hard to keep from fidgeting or appearing nervous which she supposed might very well have been unavoidable considering her circumstances.

"Are you frightened of me?" Madara finally asked. It was a question that, asked by another enemy, might have suggested that they were trying sufficiently to taunt or provoke her, but Soza could hear nothing but genuine curiosity in his voice. Feeling her rattled mind drawing a blank, she retreated into thoughts of her parents, trying to imagine what they might have said in reply.

"I'm wary of you," she decided to say. "I know very little about you and so I'm not doing my best not to draw any conclusions."

It sounded rather mature to her coming out, but the brief pride she felt at such an answer was swiftly quashed as Madara flicked an eyebrow at her.

"You sound like a politician," he rumbled, and his eyes narrowed a fraction. "And I only wanted a yes or a no."

Realizing that he was waiting expectantly, Soza prevented herself from swallowing as provoked by her nerves. For the briefest instant, she considered defiantly denying that he frightened her whatsoever, channeling her mother in the purest way she knew how. But it took only a glance at Madara's piercing eyes to know that such a lie would be seen through in an instant.

"Yes," she said quietly, shame burning her face once again. She felt naked before him, not even entirely human, as though she were some subspecies that only deserved to be looked at in passing. Madara certainly was glancing her that way, as though she were some animal the likes of which he had never seen before.

"Why?" he asked, his voice as curious as ever.

Where is he going with this? Soza thought angrily. She was feeling the twinges of annoyance that would have had her snapping at anyone else, but she didn't dare offer anything other than a quiet and polite reply.

"I don't know your limits," she said. "I don't know what powers you possess. I don't know where you lie in terms of siding with the spirits. But I've heard from others what you did at the end of the last war."

His pointed grey eyes widened a touch.

"Did they? And you find me worthy of fear purely due to the fact that I rused your father, grandfather and all others?"

Madara gave his head a small shake, his mane of black hair moving side to side.

"I merely told a lie, child. That is nothing to find fear in; no human is immune to the charm of lying, for one reason or another."

Soza's mind immediately jumped to the nature of her conception and what her mother had done to achieve it.

"But you fear my known nature. That is more understandable. Our uncertainties are what give us our fear after all, all fear is born of that unknown."

It was deeply concerning to Soza the amount of power he seemed to command even just where he casually sat on the stairs before the throne.

"You interest me greatly, Soza," he said, and she shivered involuntarily. Hearing her name spoken by such a voice was nothing short of bone chilling. "But I don't seek to keep you in the dark in all facets."

He spread his hands in a dubiously candid gesture.

"What would you like to know of me?" he asked, smiling at her.

Soza stared at him in bemusement before her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"Anything?" she queried in careful puzzlement, and he nodded once.

"Anything."

The idea of it was rather like the opening of a treasure trove for her. She had learned from her mother that one of the greatest prizes one could win beyond power and control was that of knowledge. Knowledge was its own form of power and many thousands of people had been killed in the span of the earth's lifetime over the pursuit of such a reward. And it was now being offered to her freely by perhaps the most mysterious person she knew of.

It came with the added facet too that it certainly seemed too good to be true and Soza decided to tackle this suspicion to start.

"Why would you be willing to tell me anything truthful about you?" she asked. "How do I know you won't just feed me lies?"

"Oh, you mean like your mother? Lying about where you came from, not telling you the nature of your father? Or your father for that matter, unwilling to tell you even the most basic things about his own being, which in extension apply directly to you?"

Soza had stiffened sharply while he was talking.

"That was different," she said sharply. "They chose not to tell me; it wasn't that they lied."

"Lies of omission," Madara said with a small smirk. "You are the most important person who has ever been born into this world and they hid you from even the most simple facts about who you are."

Soza was not so stupid that she was going to fall for him trying to get a rise out of her, but before she could tell him off, he continued on, seeming to brush aside such a subject as though it didn't matter in the slightest to him.

"But to answer your question, you asked how you know I can be truthful?"

She gave him a slow, stern nod.

"Simply put, unlike those around you, I have nothing to hide."

Madara got to his feet and walked almost lazily up the remaining stairs to stand beside the throne, putting a hand on the arm of it. Soza could still see him smiling softly as though he was still being greatly amused by some personal joke privy only to him.

"The facades and layers to my plan have all but come to fruition, foiled or not. I have the pieces precisely where I want them. True, I couldn't foresee everything or predict all that would happen; how your father fell in love with that ship captain who wound up being your grandmother for example."

He chuckled, a sound not unlike a low and distant clap of thunder.

"Rather hilarious complication that it became for him…" he murmured before seeming to remember what he had been saying first. "Or how Kyoshi's unhinged desire in seeing her duty fulfilled nearly ruined everything when she almost killed Sasuke upon catching him completely off guard. Or how Koh's plan didn't entirely work out itself, devious though it was. No, child, there were many changes that came about as a result of the workings of fate, but most pleasingly, I could not be happier where I am."

His words only serving to fuel Soza's curiosity to the boiling point, she stepped forward, her hands slightly raised and balled into fists.

"So this was your plan all along?! Everything we've been through, it's been your doing?!"

Madara looked over at her with a slight steeling of his expression as she raised her voice and Soza immediately felt like dropping to the ground and stammering an apology, but she held her ground.

"If you're referring to the pain you've experienced, then hardly. Your mother's rather dangerously psychotic behavior which endangered you and your friends, your father's choices and the consequences of them, and the lonesomeness you must certainly feel are nothing of my making. I imagine they would have happened regardless of my presence."

She had been doing everything she could to keep from getting distracted or thrown off, but with those words, Soza felt herself freeze a touch.

"What do you mean, 'lonesomeness'?" she fired off. "I have my friends, my mother, my grandmother, Toph, and I just got my dad back too! What would I have to be lonesome about?"

Madara released a patient sigh and turned to her, resting against the side of the throne with nothing but darkness behind him and looked at her with a frustratingly patronizing look.

"My dear Soza, I know that if I was born a monster between two worlds, I'd certainly feel some uncertainty about my personal sense of belonging."

Soza's mouth fell open, ready to shout at him, but there were no words to be found and no sound issued from her unhinged jaw. Slowly, she closed it and only stared at him intensely, unable to refute him and unable to respond, she could only lapse into silence.

She had been at odds with her own origin for some time now, she knew, even with as hard as she had tried to keep it even from herself. There had been enough happening that it hadn't been too hard to hide from her own feelings, but it hadn't excused the mornings she had lain in bed by herself for an hour after coming awake in a state of blank uncertainty. It hadn't excused the hundreds of questions she had kept herself from asking her father, nor the resentment she had tried to ignore that she felt towards her mother. She could remember sitting in the snow with Toph while her friend practiced her earth and metalbending outside the compound in the Northern Water Tribe, trying to so hard to muster up the courage to ask Toph if being the child of Sasuke and Azula meant that she was as repulsive as she felt.

Why now was she only able to hear the words aloud when face to face with someone like Madara?

Stop it. He's playing with you. He doesn't really care about how you feel, he's just trying to get you worked up.

The sensible voice in her head was met with another then, however, one that unfortunately made just as much sense to her.

Why? What good would he have to gain in riling you up? He could kill you quicker than blinking at you. What would he trying to prove by making you mad? He knows you're just a kid. There's no reason for him to try and play with you like that.

Grabbing hold of both the voices, Soza shoved them into the back of her mind with the rest of the doubt that had been festering against her own self for what felt like her entire lifetime and shook herself back into the present.

"Fine. So my personal problems, they haven't had a thing to do with you."

His expression seemed to grow almost impressed at her deflection.

"But the spirits and the whole invasion, the reason things have gone so badly for us and the world. That's been you? You speak like you know Koh and Kyoshi, are you working with them?"

His smile returned, very small, but unmistakable.

"That's better," he mused. "Asking the pertinent questions."

Settling himself to half-sit on the throne's arm, he started to speak.

"When I first cast your father into this world as an attempt to see if the passage between was actually feasible, I was amazed to find that the connection by moving first through the spirit world and then here into the physical world was not merely possible, but almost curiously easy as well. In truth, I wasn't even certain would survive the journey, so I was emboldened by his success and made to quickly follow. In our world, you see, at the time of our collective departure, was in the midst of a war of its own that I personally had found might very well be irresolvable, at least to my immediate preferred outcome. So I followed Sasuke and passed through the spirit world to reach this realm, and found something else rather off; the two of us were actually three. A man named Obito had also been pulled through."

"It was the first time during my experimentation that things didn't seem they had gone according to plan. Obito of course possessed the eyes that allowed for the travel to be possible, but there was no reason he should have somehow been brought along at all. He should have remained in our world, poised and ready for my eventual return, but now, here he was and just as lost as Sasuke was."

"I found out only well after the fact that it had been Kyoshi of all people who had pulled him through, after sensing Sasuke's passage. Her goal was to plant a seed in his head that only by defeating Sasuke would he able to return back to his own world and as the short-lived amnesia that accompanied his and Sasuke's forced journey allowed, he ate that lie quickly. Kyoshi had hoped that Obito and Sasuke would destroy one another and the world would be safe once again from such bizarre interference by an alien people. I had been able to mask my own passage which caused her to believe it was just your father and Obito present in her former world and so it became so much more interesting in my attempts to orchestrate my own ends."

"As you may or may not have been told, however, I… suppose I was rather caught up in my own hubris."

For the first time since she had met him, Soza sensed a genuine tinge of anger buried in Madara's voice though it was quickly brushed past as his calm and controlled tone returned.

"I hadn't anticipated that Obito would turn on your grandfather and work against the Fire Nation. My plan that all the warring factions involved would so nearly annihilate one another was put in danger in that moment and I stepped in, shedding the disguise I had taken as Sasuke's beloved brother. I confronted Sasuke and Obito looking to remove them from my design, but alas, in a last ditch desperate effort, they managed to trick me and thwart me. A portal I had managed to generate to fling them back to our own world with unceremoniously deposited a badly injured Obito and myself into the spirit world. I was able to slip past the spirits and watched as they took Obito's dying body and forced it back into our world, and I believe he was killed in the hasty process."

"But now, here I was, trapped in the spirit world and forced to live hidden or disguised. It was the strangest place though and I rather quickly found myself enthralled with learning what I could of it. I learned of the beings that roamed its plains, I learned of the nature of its connection to the material world, and I learned of the… immense and unmeasurable power welled within its depths. A pair of years passed quickly for me before I set my newfound plan in motion."

"I had been passing through shadows and learning what I could through hearsay, possession and occasional interrogation of spirits that I of course had to destroy after my questioning process was finished. But I learned enough to know that the spirits themselves were… most unenthused with your father's presence still in your little world here. Sasuke was certainly doing what he could to keep himself distanced from the Four Nations, but many spirits seemed to think it was only a matter of time before he returned, and things became badly natured once more. And that of course isn't even mentioning the ripple your birth caused. But battle lines were being drawn, spirits who believed that action needed to be taken and spirits who did not. Some seemed to think that, while Sasuke's presence was undesirable, it was not the place of the spirits to interfere. Such was the mindset of Kyoshi."

"She was a deeply respected member of the spirit community and both sides frequently went to her in an attempt to sway her to their side, believing that her being a part of their cause would be what they needed to move the conflict one way or another. But despite her own grievances towards Sasuke and desire to have him gone, she believed interference was unwise and immoral. I could tell the influence she wielded, however, and quickly chose her as my would-be vassal. She would be the first spirit I chose to approach openly, once I was sure that she wasn't in the company of that blasted Yangchen."

"It took some rather callous persuasion, but she agreed to form an army from the spirits so opposed to Sasuke and his effect on your world and she would lead the invasion into Ba Sing Se, but I had a much more secretive spirit in my employ and one who proved just as useful before the true invasion even began."

"I used Koh to quickly stir up dissent against Sasuke in your world. It was my understanding that he was wanted already for leaving the Four Nations after the war had ended, but a quick copycat job of Sasuke supposedly murdering a joint force of benders at an outpost and the world wanted his head. I thought that would make it less easy for him to hide if that became his choice after he was coerced into returning; Kyoshi did a splendid job using the foolish old man Roku to that end."

"Koh's next service was ensuring that Sasuke wouldn't be able to avoid the detection of the spirits. He approached one of your number, one disheartened with her own relationship and still apparently not over her attraction to Sasuke. Though Koh had scouted a couple of the women, that Mai was the one he chose. His seed does not allow for reproduction with a human, but much more usefully, when Sasuke did arrive, anywhere he went, the spirits were able to follow. Leaving the city, the direction you took, the island you ran to when the airship fell under attack, all because that poor young woman didn't know what she was carrying within her."

"But just as quickly as it was proven useful… something occurred. I confess I still don't know exactly what, but something caused Koh's substance to vanish, and with it, the ability to track your little group. It took a couple day's deduction to determine that you had headed north and by then, I had another pawn ready to play his part."

He raised an eyebrow at Soza.

"No doubt you remember that most opportunistic and vile man, Gilbert?"

Stirring a memory that caused Soza to feel that she had his hands running over her body again, she stifled another shiver and nodded. For the most part, her mind was blank; she was trying so hard to absorb all that she was hearing without being stunned into a state of disbelief over all that was being revealed to her. She couldn't even run the possibility through her head that Madara could be lying about it. Somehow, she knew his words were the truth.

"I needed to confirm that you were all north without giving away that I was on to you lot, so I revealed myself to Gilbert. I… strongly suggested he go the spirits and say that he knew where you might be and thus Kyoshi would allow him to go north in her stead and determine whether or not his hunch was accurate. She was in quite the state, you should have seen her, so irate over losing the lead on Sasuke. And it was only through my own hasty research within the spirit world that led me to wonder if perhaps he would have gone north with the intent of hunting that legend of the being whom, sealed within, held the power that connected the spirit world to the material world."

"Gilbert fulfilled his task, but his ambition quickly outgrew his ability. He was supposed to return back with word of your being here, but he instead decided to try and trick Sasuke and capture you himself, no doubt as an attempt to gain standing and favor. He, as the Amaterasu you wield can attest to, failed, and your father was alerted that the spirits were onto him."

Madara spread his hands again.

"And here we are now. I don't suppose I need to catch you up on what happened after Gilbert's demise. You and your father departed north, and found yourselves rather successful in finding this Koloss, though little seemed to be gained from it. The being did side with Sasuke, that must have made for quite a sight against the spirit army, and it seems the blight I placed in Koh's reserve to debilitate your father didn't do quite what it was meant to. I'll need to know in time why that was."

He gave a small shrug.

"But there you have it. That's what I have done within your world, not a word of that being a lie."

Soza was reeling.

Koh pretended to be my dad and had sex with Auntie Mai to track us? Kyoshi never led the invasion on her own, she was forced into it? Gilbert came north because of Madara's orders? He's…

She swallowed, feeling sick.

He's really been behind it all?

Soza found herself shaking her head. There was only one other question that came to her at that point, one laced in misery and shock.

"Why?"

The word released from her mouth as a hiss against the broad chamber they stood in, her voice echoing in a whispering echo about the room. It came out much louder than she had intended.

But Madara didn't answer that particular question. He looked at her closely as though evaluating her through some private set of criteria.

"I think I'd like to ask you a question of my own before I answer more of yours," Madara said slowly, peering down at her. Giving a sound that was both a laugh and sigh of exhaustion, Soza dropped her arms to her sides in a gesture of defeat.

"What could I possibly tell you that you don't already know?" she demanded. "Don't you know everything about me by the way you've conducted this war? Spying and observing us all from afar, like it seems you've done? What more could I tell you?"

His eyes burned bright a moment before he replied.

"Much."

Feeling still so completely helpless, Soza glared at him while she silently gnashed her teeth together behind closed lips before finally giving Madara an aggressive nod. He understood her gesture and looked at her closer still.

"Do you believe there is a price too great to pay to achieve victory?"

The question had no bearing to her immediately and she found herself needing to repeat it several times in her head to lock down any actual meaning. Even when she had, it still seemed something so completely beyond her realm of understanding.

"What is victory?" she blurted at him, unable to think of anything else to say. Madara nodded at her approvingly.

"Victory is gaining what you desire. Preserving what you fear to lose."

"You're asking me what I would do for that?"

"I'm asking you if there is any price that would be too great for those ends."

Soza clenched her fists.

"How would I know?!"

He nodded again.

"Indeed. You've never lost anything. So you don't know what the pain would feel like if you did. You very nearly lost your friend, it was what awoke those eyes, those beautiful eyes of yours. But perhaps my question is indeed unfair; how could you know what you desire? And how could you fear loss when you've never experienced it?"

It was impossible not to hear the threat in his voice and Soza tried to keep herself from shivering yet again.

"And you have?" she demanded of him and for the first time, Madara's eyes that had been so passively locked on her flickered with menace.

"Child, I have lost everything."

"And so what are you trying to gain?!" she cried at him and for a moment, she thought he was about to step down and strike her.

"You delude yourself into thinking that you have nothing to offer me. I hear the desperation in your voice, the fear for yourself and others."

He turned fully to face her, looking as imposing as the shadow of a mountain.

"You think I have nothing to give you all but pain? I've heard tell of your mother and the kind of person she is, I find it difficult to imagine that her affinity for pain is something you haven't at least somewhat inherited."

Soza felt him trying to get under her skin again and it was only with great personal restraint that she kept from lashing out in reply. His hands clenched into fists at his side, the knuckles snapping before he unfurled them again.

"I have fallen from a height you couldn't comprehend. And yet I stand to gain it back. That is what this all has been for."

He shook his head.

"But that is not what I asked you."

Moving a hand to the side of the chair so that it almost seemed he was melting into the shadows behind it, he reaffirmed his question.

"I am asking you, if it meant the defeat of me, the spirits, the end of this invasion, and the safety and security of your family and friends, what would it be worth to you?"

His own word previously became the only response that Soza found made any sense to her anxious and frightened mind.

"Everything," she whispered. "Anything."

Madara nodded once more, but there was no encouragement or impressment in his features now. He looked only at her as though she were some refuse he might have nearly tripped over walking down the street.

"Yes, that's right," he growled. "For we are selfish beings by nature, are we not? Altruism finds those who are content, those who are happy with what they have or have no stock in losing it. The rest continue to drag themselves forward, biting at whatever might threaten their existence and what they possess, and what they stand to gain."

His hand moved further into the shadow.

"There, I suppose, is something you two have in common."

There came a very abrupt motion ahead of her and Soza cried out at the suddenness of it. Madara had reached behind the throne very quickly and pulled something free from the shadows that he hoisted into the light and threw roughly ahead of him. The shape found no balance and crashed down the stairs to land near Soza's feet who looked down in shock to identify the sudden new entity.

It took her only a moment to realize that it was Kyoshi lying before her, but she was very nearly unrecognizable. Her arms were bound behind her back with what looked like pure shadow instead of rope; her clothes were ripped and in tatters, clinging pitifully to her body and much of her skin was visible, the surface of it marred with wounds of all kinds. Lacerations, bruises, and burns caused the skin that wasn't its normal pale coloration to be a veritable rainbow of sickening colors, maroon, scarlet, indigo, yellow. Her hair was a matted mess and her headpiece was missing. Her warpaint was all but gone, mere streaks of black and white remaining as her expression was that of someone trying very hard to cope with a great deal of pain. Kyoshi didn't so much as seem to notice Soza who gingerly inclined her head to get a better look at the woman.

"The regaining of a physical form might not have been all that it was cracked up to be," Madara remarked as he moved from the side of the throne and walked past it, stepping down a single stair while his eyes gazed almost imperiously down at Kyoshi.

"Here is a person who gave all they could for victory. Very nearly anyway."

His sneering eyes raised to look at Soza's petrified ones.

"What do you suppose her victory might have comprised of?" he asked and Soza, though trying to fight from falling into a state of further dread, didn't dare want to think of what might become of her if she refused another of his questions.

"Killing me," she said hurriedly. "Killing my father. Ensuring an order of things on this world that she approved of."

Madara grinned like a person about to deliver the punchline to a spectacular joke.

"Not hardly, child."

As if things couldn't have felt more out of reach to Soza, she now found herself blinking almost wearily at Madara.

"What?"

He drew himself up, looking fully like he was about to tell her before his eyes suddenly flicked up past her. Soza felt the presence of something streaking just above her head before she watched a jet of vibrant orange that she realized to be fire appeared to her, jetting at Madara. It struck his front in a burst of heat and color, the force of the ensuing blast being enough to knock Soza off her feet. Her head hit the ground and her vision blurred a moment before she found herself scrambling to her hands and knees, looking behind her where the flame had issued from.

Avatar Yangchen was striding into the throne room with an expression cloaked in purpose and rage. Fire snapped and burned around one arm while a swirl of focused air grouped around the other. The ground at her feet seemed to ripple at each step she took like it was desperately awaiting the command to be set free by her will. As she entered the room, Yangchen looked at Soza intensely.

"Soza, run!" she shouted, her voice not lacking in urgency. Scrambling the rest of the way to her feet, Soza looked back towards the throne where Madara had been standing, expecting and hoping to see his body in a burning heap on the ground; the speed of Yangchen's attack and the power behind it should have been enough to catch him by surprise and level him just as quickly…

She couldn't have been more disheartened to see that Madara was not only completely unharmed, but was now actually sitting in the throne, leaning forward and resting his cheek on his fist which was propped on his knee. He now looked truly amused more than anything.

Soza's eyes flashed back to Yangchen with a fresh spike of fear. Somehow, she knew that this could only end badly and she needed to keep the Avatar from making this mistake. But before a single word of warning could pass her lips, Yangchen had bounded past her, leaping into the air as she drew her firebending and airbending back, shouting at Soza a last time before she did.

"RUN!"

But she did not; Soza could only watch as Yangchen, in all of her fury and power descended towards Madara with all the force of a thunderstorm and found that Madara's eyes were not on the woman about to attack him, but were fixed solely on Soza's. Somehow, he managed to slip a few words to her before Yangchen touched down, as though time had slowed down just for him and Soza.

"Watch closely."

In that moment, she couldn't have imagined doing anything else, rooted to the floor as she felt.

If she really thought about it, the scene that played out before her eyes then would have been something that, even just a month ago, she would have been in utter awe of. But as she watched Madara easily, almost lazily toy with Yangchen, all she could feel was a growing sickness in her belly at the utter dominance she was witnessing.

The moment the Avatar would have touched down, Madara was behind her. Her elemental powers connected with nothing but the throne which exploded at the intensity of her ability, but behind her, the black haired man whirled in midair and caught her in the side of the head with a vicious kick that sent her crashing into the rightmost wall. A bit of it buckled slightly and crumbled down around her as her body went crashing to the ground. Yangchen gasped in pain as she touched down, but seemed to get ahold of herself quickly, jumping to her feet and spinning, propelled by her airbending. Attacks composed of air, earth and fire converged on the position where Madara had landed, but somehow, he went from standing a distance away to being just in front of her. His face was cast in complete shadow as Yangchen's attacks exploded in a ball of light behind him as he came just about nose to nose with her.

"Pathetic," he said softly as her eyes widened with surprise before his fist suddenly had struck her in the ribs just below her left breast. His hand had moved so fast it hadn't even seemed to have shot forward at all, but the dulled splintering crack of what Soza knew were broken bones resounded as Yangchen released a pained gag and blood flew past her lips. Drawing fire back to life in her hand, she whipped it towards Madara's head, but she might have been trying to strike down a flying bison with a feather for all the effectiveness it had. Her hand seemed to pass right through his head before he caught her by the wrist and gave a hard wrench. The joint seemed to give with another dull crack and Yangchen's face clenched in further agony before he yanked her around and tossed her over his hip like a dog throwing a toy.

Yangchen somehow managed to roll to her feet as she struck the ground, but she staggered immediately, her injured hand coming up to nurse what must have been several broken ribs. She winced the moment she touched them before looking back towards Madara with determined fury still in her eyes.

And then he was behind her again, moving far too fast for it to make any rational sense to Soza's eyes. Yangchen didn't even seem able to have a chance to realize he was there before he had swept her legs out from under her; as her body went parallel with the ground, he slammed his elbow into her face which in turn sent her body crashing heavily to the ground. Not giving her gasping form a chance for reprieve, Madara reached down and grabbed her by the hair. Pulling her into a halfway sitting position, he released her just in time for the bottom of his foot to connect with her face and send her slamming back to the ground.

By this point, Yangchen's body was quivering and twitching, the trauma she had sustained in such a short period catching up with her physical body. Soza remembered seeing the body of a servant who had once spilled tea on her mother being dragged away, burns on his arms and back having been seared to the bone while his body heaved and spasmed in the arms of the palace guards. Yangchen's body seemed to be in agonized throes as well and as Soza watched her lying there, he could see her face had gone somewhat blank; her head striking the ground in such a way must have taken her out of the moment.

In a way, it was utterly stunning to even witness. An Avatar reborn, one of the most powerful beings to ever exist, being utterly toyed with.

Madara didn't seem content to stop there. He moved a foot to hover over her body and then nudged the area where Yangchen's ribs had broken. She gave a rattling gasp as he did and with a twisted smile on his face, he raised his foot to no doubt stamp down on the injured area.

"STOP!"

Soza felt the word ripped from her mouth as she screamed it. Her plea echoed around the room loudly and Madara didn't move from where he was, foot still poised above Yangchen's body. Slowly, his eyes came up to meet hers, piercing and leering.

"I merely thought I would give you some ideas before I give you your turn."

Yet another sentence that only caused Soza to manage a hoarse, "What?"

Taking his foot away from Yangchen and walking away from her, Soza felt a surge of relief pass through her body. It was distantly curious to her, that she was so frightened for Yangchen, considering she had been allied with Kyoshi who had put them through so much hell in the past several weeks.

But Yangchen hadn't been like the other spirits, nor Kyoshi for that matter. She had always seemed more melancholy than the rest as though her being there was something she truly didn't want. She had seemed to keep from resorting to violence whenever possible, and her handling of Soza from the Northern Water Tribe to Ba Sing Se had been nothing but gentle. Her reluctance to hand her over to the spirits had made an impact on Soza as well, almost making it seem like she would rather she maintain care of their new prisoner. And Soza had found she wouldn't have minded that. So seeing her so badly beaten now and feeling so nauseated might have had something to do with all of that.

Soza blinked and forced herself to look up past Yangchen's quivering body to see that Madara had hoisted Kyoshi's relatively motionless body by the back of the neck as though she were an animal. Dragged her along beside him, he stopped ahead of Soza and threw Kyoshi to the ground, causing Soza to leap briefly in fright.

"I didn't take you here just to talk," he said. "I wanted to offer a gesture of my good will towards you as well. It's no surprise to me that Kyoshi failed to kill you throughout the beginning of the invasion and so I instead decided to have you brought to me."

He nudged her with his toe, and she didn't seem to react. Madara chuckled darkly.

"Don't let her idle nature fool you; she's very much awake and aware. Just perhaps in a state of utter defeat and not willing to so much as get to her feet, unless I ordered it of course."

Feeling like she wanted to pass out from exhaustion, throw up, and cry all at the same time, Soza looked miserably up at Madara.

"How? How do you have such a hold over her?"

He seemed only too happy to enlighten her.

"Soza, of everything you've ever known, what is the one thing that allows one person to hold complete and utter control over another?"

The first thing that sprang to her mind was power, but somehow that didn't seem right. There was more to this, there must have been. Kyoshi had seemed perfectly aware of herself when pursuing them and the times Soza had seen her speak. Madara wasn't using any special powers on her to make her follow his will, she was obeying him of her own free will. And even if he was strong enough to defeat her, even if he possessed that power to beat her down as badly as it seemed he had, Kyoshi wouldn't have let something like that allow Madara to order her around. From everything she knew of the Avatar, Soza knew Kyoshi would have died before kneeling to another.

She reformed Madara's question in her mind.

What's the one thing that would have allowed him to hold complete and utter control over Kyoshi?

Soza turned her mind to her father and tried to think of what might turn him to any means necessary if it was placed in jeopardy.

She thought of the looks that he and her grandmother shared and the word came to her mouth immediately.

"Love."

Madara blinked once and looked at her with mild surprise.

"Well done. Threatening Kyoshi herself would never have been enough to put her under my thumb, but fortunately, there is something she cares for much more than her own self. I found that, I took that, and now she will do whatever I command."

He gestured to her limp form.

"And now, I offer her to you."

On instinct at his words, Soza took a step back and looked up him fearfully.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, her voice high in pitch. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Perhaps she was plague upon you by my word, this is true. But in the end, does that excuse what she's tried to do to you and the people you care about? Reasons aside, has she not been the cause of much of your suffering? Her aggressive and relentless tactics, her brutality, they were not of my design; I asked that you and your father be found and killed, and despite her many attempts, she could not comply. And as I say, I didn't expect her to. She resorted to violence, escalating violence even. She failed."

He gave her a kick in the side and Kyoshi's body twitched as she released a quiet murmur of pain.

"Her servitude to me remains, despite this. Were she to know that the person she so cares for was in fact safe from my touch, no doubt she would leap to her feet and try to escape or attack me. Her reincarnated body heals itself quite quickly and she is quite the strong and powerful person. Your father dealt a considerable bit of damage to her and I, my own, purely for some amusement."

Madara gestured again.

"You must hate her, no? Perhaps more than anyone."

He bent down to put himself on eye level with her.

"When you fried that twisted wretch, Gilbert, did it not give you such joy to do? He worked hard to try and capture your father, did he not? He had tried to have Toph killed, did he not? He sought out your group and shot your mother, did he not?"

His face twisted slightly as though something he had just thought of rather disgusted him.

"He touched you, did he not?"

Another kick was warranted to Kyoshi, a harder one, and she groaned audibly at the strike.

"Are her transgressions not equally punishable?"

Stepping away from her, he continued to look on, but Soza quickly lost sight of him in her peripheral. She couldn't take her eyes away from Kyoshi's body at her feet, Madara's words dredging up the hate that she so held for the Avatar.

"I ask only that you do not kill her. Beyond that, you may do what you like. Punish her as you see fit. That is my gift to you."

His words seemed to come from far away and Soza felt blood rushing in her head, dulling her hearing. The world around her seemed almost surreal as though she were seeing it through a dream.

Madara was right; Kyoshi had done horrible things to her and to her family and friends. Soza had spent hours over the past weeks dipping away into her own twisted fantasies of a moment just like this, where she had the Avatar at her mercy and could make her answer for what she had done. The moment was now, however, dished to her on a silver platter and no longer just a figment of her imagination. Soza wanted to roll Kyoshi over and look into her eyes as she tortured her, watch that stoic face splinter with pain and screams as Soza ran firebending over her as much as she pleased. She wanted to strip off the torn and scorched clothes and look all over the Avatar's naked body for any bit of skin that hadn't yet been cut, bruised, or burned and change that. Fire burst to life in her palm as she tried to decide what would be the first pain she would apply.

This powerful, legendary woman was at Soza's mercy, free for her to do with what she wished.

"A measure of a person is how they treat someone lower than them, regardless of the circumstances. Your character, your heart does not depend on the power you wield, but how you approach others, and who you think about first, yourself or others."

The fire flickered and disappeared from her hand as Soza took a step forward. Slowly, she crouched beside Kyoshi, feeling more vulnerable than ever despite the injured state the Avatar was in. Bringing her head as close as she dared towards Kyoshi's ear, she said quietly.

"They must be pretty special."

No reply came to her after she spoke, but Soza remained where she was. She found that she quite badly wanted some response to this, even if it was just her being proven wrong. She could feel Madara's burning stare on the back of her head and it felt more and more oppressive as the seconds ticked by.

Then, "She's perfect."

Kyoshi's voice was a sparse whisper, cracked and weak, but Soza could make out her feeble response regardless. There was a very strange sense of relief in her heart as she got shakily back to her feet and stepped away from Kyoshi's limp body. While she found there was just as much hate in her heart for the woman, what she had just heard was enough to keep her at bay. The fantasies of seeing Kyoshi hurt had seemingly been fulfilled in a way, and while Soza knew deep down that she wanted to see worse done, she couldn't be the one to do it.

Straightening her back, she looked at Madara and shook her head.

He stood very still as he stared back at her and Soza tried very hard to discern what emotions were roiling behind his unnatural grey eyes. The cracked skin of his features didn't so much as twitch as she denied his offering, and he said nothing in response to her decision.

Then, he made several lightning quick gestures and with two odd sound pops, Soza found herself staring at three Madara's instead of one. She watched as the leftmost and rightmost of them moved forward to hoist the bodies of both Kyoshi and Yangchen and take them from the room. It was a peculiar feeling of dread that Soza had in seeing them brought away as she found herself alone with Madara once more and when it was just the two of them, his presence became all the more stifling.

"With a mother like that, I confess myself stunned that you have any room in your heart for mercy," he murmured softly and Soza looked back at him unflinchingly.

"I also have a father," she said firmly, surprising herself at the strength of her voice. "And mercy had nothing to do with it."

She expected him to press her further as to what she meant, but Madara said nothing more. His relaxed demeanor seemed to have returned and he walked back up the steps towards the throne that had been blown to pieces by Yangchen. Looking down at the pieces briefly, he seemed to decide that it suited him fine enough to settle down and rest his back on a larger piece of rubble. Soza remained where she was as he relaxed, leaning back and letting out a contented sigh.

How can he be so calm right now? After all of that, how is he just… fine like that?

Glancing over at her after a few long seconds, Madara raised his eyebrows at her beckoningly.

"I haven't forgotten about you, Soza. Come on over and pull up some stair or debris, whatever suits you best."

His voice remained as dominating and powerful as ever even as he seemed to have genuinely returned to a relaxed state. Obliging, Soza walked gingerly over to the stairs and set herself down on the first one, pulling her arms around her knees as she kept her back to him. She could still feel him staring at her which she knew would keep her from ever truly being able to untense her body.

"Are you mad at me?" she felt herself ask.

"No," Madara replied from behind her. He sounded amused. "Why would I be?"

"I… I rejected your… gift," she muttered back. To call it a gift sounded so strangely barbaric to her then.

"You gave me quite the gift in return by not taking it," he replied, and Soza heard the intrigue in his voice. She wanted to demand what he meant by that, but could feel him baiting her again and found she didn't at all want to keep playing into his game.

She remained silent, waiting for him to continue to try and provoke her, but he said nothing. Soza was left to her own silence, trying to figure how she could feel so frightened, so sickened, and yet distantly proud at that moment while she sat on that uncomfortable cold step.

---

Azula moved back and forth just outside the city limits, her feet unable to keep her still. A gentle snow had started to fall clinging to her Fire Nation robes that she had reacquired and stinging at her cheeks when the flakes touched her there. It should have been all too easy for her to grow angry at the precipitation she almost felt was intentionally falling at her with its bitter cold, but there wasn't a thing that could have distracted her just then. Her world was in sharp relief, focus being granted to her with a beautiful kind of clarity that she didn't think she had felt since before Sasuke had taken her to that cabin.

No… not even before that.

There had been clarity before he had dived into her mind and torn it apart, but it wasn't like this. Azula knew fully well the clarity she had known her whole life had existed to raise her to greater and greater heights. Her ventures for power and control, her desire to crush her enemies, all of it had gripped her so tightly.

But that wasn't what this was.

This isn't for me.

And why was it that this made it somehow feel so much more fulfilling to her? Why did her entire being feel so much clearer about what was about to happen? Why did her entire life feel so weighed down by a thick, unnatural fog?

All stupid questions. Azula knew fully well what had brought on this change. It was the same thing that had caused her to reciprocate her mother's touch rather than force her away before. It was the same thing that seemed to numb the anger and indignation that should have risen in her so easily over a great many things in recent days. It was the same thing that had led her to kneel before Ty Lee and say what she had, and the same thing that was preventing her from feeling totally disgusted with her repentant actions.

It was the same thing that had allowed Soza to be brought into this world at all.

The sky was dark grey though it was barely pushing into the late afternoon, but the blanket of clouds that had settled and begun to float snow down over the capital must have been good and thick. Azula felt she was in no danger of being seen as visibility was already being reduced around her, only allowing her to see a hundred or so yards in either direction as she walked along the wall. She wondered if pandemonium had yet broken out within the palace, her friends and family scrambling about trying to find what had happened to her and Sasuke.

I hope mother isn't upset with me for not saying farewell… not that it matters, I'm sure we'll seen one another soon enough as is.

She was possessed by a sudden urge to bring her firebending to life and fly back into the heart of the city just so she could assure her mother of that very fact, but she restrained herself. There still felt like there was so much that needed to be said between them, and she didn't know exactly what. But there would be time, once Soza was back with them and this war was all but a memory.

Azula found her thoughts drifting to her overworked, overstressed, and completely overwhelmed brother.

How foolish he must feel.

It was pity rather then disdain that she felt just then and she smiled as she shook her head. Zuzu had always been so terribly outmatched by what he had been forced to deal with, and in recent weeks, he surely had been hit by more than he could have ever bargained for.

I can't quite believe he hasn't tried at Sasuke's head.

But Zuko was a good person, that much Azula grudgingly knew. He had been a good person far before Azula had ever gone to that cabin with Sasuke. That was probably why he always seemed to be in so much distress.

Azula rid herself of the thoughts that were taking her on a deep dive inward. She didn't want them right now, not when focus was all that she needed to think upon. Focus for Sasuke, and focus for Soza. She took a deep inhale through her nose and blew it out into the chilly air; she found that she didn't feel all that cold.

A crunching sound came to alight on her ears and she turned with a smile towards her left. The sound was nothing other than a person moving through the snow and she found herself almost relieved at the sound. It wasn't that she had believed that Sasuke wouldn't come to meet her, but a piece of her had wondered if someone else might have come across her before she did and there wasn't much she could think to say as to why Princess Azula was standing out in the cold just outside the city by herself.

But she could see his silhouette moving towards her, his black cloak making his shadowy appearance all the more imposing to her. The smile remained on her face as he neared her, but Azula was able to identify that it wasn't the smile that she had so often aimed reverently at Sasuke, so captivated she had been with him. Her smile now was one that merely further exuded the focus that she was feeling; she and Sasuke were going to get Soza back. It was still a mystery to Azula herself what exactly were the feelings she now had for him, but even after what he had done to her and the hate she had felt towards him for exposing her, she knew her attraction to all that he was still haunted her.

Quickly, however, she found the smile wipe from her face as she saw that Sasuke was not alone.

He drew closer and closer still until he stopped just a few feet from her, looking south towards the approaching blizzard, his cloak still billowing around him.

"Looks like we'll just miss a storm," he remarked, but Azula ignored him.

Her eyes were fixed on Toph who was standing just beside Sasuke and looking every bit as determined as Azula had felt until only a second prior. Stinging indignation and anger seared at her gut as she spoke.

"What's she doing here?" she snapped towards Sasuke. He didn't look back at her from the clouds, but his lips formed a thin line.

"Nice to see you too, princess," Toph said with that obnoxious insubordinate attitude she always had sported. Azula narrowed her eyes at her as Sasuke interjected then.

"She's coming with, Azula," he said firmly. "That's all there is to it."

Though she thought to have expected that, Azula still felt herself swell angrily at the admittance.

"And why is that, might I ask?" she asked sneeringly. "Of what use is she to us?"

Toph looked fully ready to backhand Azula with a snide comment in turn, but Sasuke seemed intent on keeping any sort of actual confrontation from breaking out.

"You know how good of a bender is. She'll more than be useful in getting Soza back."

Azula turned to him then, not shirking in her glaring.

"Useful or not, you barely conceded to allow me to come, and I believe you only did because Soza is my child as well as yours!"

Sasuke seemed to flinch slightly at that, giving Toph time to interject.

"I'd say we both had just as much to do with raising her, highness."

Snapping her head back to the irritating earthbender, Azula felt herself starting to swell again at what she was implying.

"Enough!" Sasuke barked and his word was barely enough to keep Azula down. He looked intensely at the both of them, and put his hand on Toph's shoulder for emphasis, likely because she couldn't see his glare.

"This is not about to turn into a pissing contest because of who feels they mean more to Soza," he snapped. "As it happens, I think we very well may be the three people who care most for her, and that's the reason I'm trusting you both to keep a level head in getting her back. Because so help me, if something goes wrong and it was because either of you was more focused on—"

"Sasuke, stop that," Toph suddenly growled, she had gone from looking almost smug to genuinely upset herself. "Either of us would die for Soza, if that was what this took."

For once, Azula found herself agreeing with the earthbender and she too looked at Sasuke.

"Of course we would," she added haughtily.

Sasuke looked almost abashed then, as though he hadn't been looking to instigate such a response. And Azula found that she believed she knew why.

"But I'm sure neither of us are planning on dying if that is what has you worked up."

Toph looked in surprise towards Azula as though surprised she had been able to read Sasuke before grinning mischievously.

"Her highness is quite right," she replied and took Sasuke's hand that was on her shoulder and squeezed it. Azula was surprised that the gesture didn't altogether bother her.

Sasuke took a moment to regard them both in turn before a focused look of his own swam onto his face and he nodded.

"Alright. There's been a slight change in the plan obviously, but I think it will work for the better now. I'll explain it once we've moved through Kamui."

Though she and Sasuke had discussed the plan in great detail, the one thing Azula hadn't known was how they were actually getting to Ba Sing Se. Sasuke had assured her that it would be the best way for slipping into the city undetected and catching their enemy by surprise, but only now was she actually hearing of the method.

"About that," she started. "What exactly—"

He shook his head and reached out to take her hand with the one that wasn't holding Toph's and Azula couldn't help but feel her stomach churn at the sensation. She bit her tongue at what she knew this implied.

Damn it.

"I'll explain it afterwards," he assured again, and she could tell that the timing was something that was worrying him more and more. She met his eyes through the falling snow and nodded. Sasuke nodded back and squeezed her hand. Azula wondered if he had done the same to Toph.

Then, his eye flashed red and black; the space around him seemed to spiral and distort which caused Azula to scrunch her face up at how nauseating the effect was. But the next thing she knew, the cold was leaving her, the snow was leaving her, the whole city was leaving her as Sasuke pulled her along into the looming dark, something that should have been quite the frightening prospect to her senses.

But there, hand in hand with him on their way to rescue their daughter, Azula couldn't have been less scared.

---

Madara's eyes lazily opened as he realized he had dozed off, for however brief a time it might have been. Grimacing, he stretched his back which wasn't pleased with him for resting so uncomfortably against the rubble. He got to his feet and looked around.

The throne room was still empty except for himself and Soza, and still very quiet. He looked down to see that the girl had tipped onto her side on the broad step and was clearly sleeping. Her exhaustion and stress must have caught up to her, and she clearly hadn't been confident enough to try leaving the room. He took a couple steps over and stood over her.

Her face was much more relaxed, calm and composed as she rested. There was no more of the endless fear and trepidation that she had watched him with and he found that it was a nice change of pace. Smiling distantly, he undid his cloak that covered him over his armor and laid it over her, tucking it around her shoulders. She truly was just as interesting as he'd hoped she'd be.

He supposed he ought to check in on Kyoshi and Yangchen. They likely were still anything but able to move, but they should be able to answer a couple of his questions. It was an amusing thought to imagine how upset Yangchen must have been, only now learning how Kyoshi had been acting against her own free will in all this. But what Madara had told Soza was true; she was the one who had employed the techniques she had and had so brutally tried to accomplish the task he had given her. Starting down the stairs towards the door, he spoke softly over his shoulder.

"Keep a close eye on her."

He wasn't given a verbal reply, but the rattling hiss from the shadows told him that Koh understood. Madara would rather have liked to punish Koh as well for yet another failure in the hunt for Sasuke that he had committed, but the bizarre, repulsive being was a far different story than Kyoshi. He had been the only other spirit Madara had shown himself to and the only one who seemed genuinely interested in following Madara's lead. For the time being, Koh was right where he needed to be.

Madara exited the throne room and started towards the room where his clones had taken the two Avatars, fighting down a smile. It was going to be difficult not to enjoy just sitting back and looking at the betrayal on Yangchen's face when she learned the true depth of Kyoshi's lie.

But as he walked, Madara couldn't help but think to what he had heard from Soza. It hadn't been at all what he had expected; she had shown such maturity like he hadn't expected and it had stuck with him.

It wouldn't have been the first time, but Madara started to wonder if it wouldn't be best for his plans to change once more.