Author's notes at the end.


Azula woke up in a cold sweat, her head ached and spun, but before a coherent thought could entered her mind she had shot up and threw up on the floor next to her bed.

"Looks like someone is awake" she heard a young man's voice shout and a drape flew open letting in ghastly sunlight that made Azula's head hurt even more. A silhouetted figure stepped in to the small room and closed the flap to Azula's relief.

"You probably won't be able to hold down much food today but I'm going to endeavour to keep you hydrated." said the shadowy figure as a water skin poked her in the arm.

At the mere hint at it, Azula realised how thirsty she was, she yanked the water skin to herself and drank it for what seemed to be forever, it tasted awful, not just because of her own gall fresh in her mouth but as if someone hadn't properly rinsed their water skin in weeks.

She threw the empty skin towards the silhouette. "That was awful! When did you last rinse it out?!"

She let herself drop back into her pillow but even as her motion stopped the world kept spinning.

"Meh, I usually don't mind until allege start sticking to my teeth." said the man, his voice ringing with increasing familiarity in Azula's ears.

Azula almost threw up again at the thought but restrained herself. "Uhm, my memories are is a bit fuzzy, last thing I can remember is being pinned to a wall by a Water tribe savage. He must have hit me in the head or something."

"Yeah, tell tale signs of a concussion, had one myself as a child, I don't recall the impact, just waking up with head all bloodied." said the young man.

As Azula reached over to her back to scratch an annoying itch she realised that she wasn't wearing her silk clothing that she was used to, replaced with a wool tunic and pantaloons, it was finely woven unlike the harsh felt that her blanket was made out of, but it still itched the uninitiated skin.

"Uhm, what happened to my clothes?" Azula asked harshly.

"Oh, the girls had to change you out of them, you had… Uhm, soiled yo-"

Azula reached her palm out in the darkness as a gesture, "Stop, if you know what's good for you!"

Suddenly a frightening thought struck Azula like a bolt of lightning, could the unthinkable have happened, she didn't recall how she got out of her predicament and she struggled trying to recall last days events to no avail, "Uhm… We did win, didn't we?"

"Yes" said the man, "Your plan succeeded in most regards. ...But I do believe your father's airships destroyed large portions of the city though."

Azula sighed in relief and chuckled, that would explain the seemingly spartan conditions of her room. "Silly me, for a second there I thought we might have lost and I was being held captive."

"Oh?" The man said surprised.

Azula turned her head towards the silhouette, "Yeah, I must be pretty out of it still, something about your voice… Eerily familiar, we've met before, right?"

"Yeah, you could say that, Princess."

Azula didn't dare to ask the man where as not to offend him, some nobility were notoriously snobby and took offence as a matter of routine, like she would be able to recall every chance encounter with a lowly baron.

Azula raised her hands in the darkness and started opening and closing her fists.

"And... I had a weird dream, I dreamt that my hands were destroyed, I mean, burned pieces of useless flesh and bone." She touched her face, rubbed her nose on the and cheerfully said, "Hello hands, so glad to see you."

She turned towards the young man and said sternly, "Under pain of death, you are not to disclose what you just witnessed to anyone."

The young man chuckled, "I found it kind of endearing… Almost made you seem… Human."

Azula narrowed her eyes in the darkness, she didn't know quite how to make of this last comment, sure, even to mid-level nobility, royalty could seem almost super human, she decided to laugh it off with the young man.

"What? Are you afraid your royals are flesh eating monsters or something?" She rose slightly to her side curled her fingers into mock claws, "Raawr, the tigerdilless is going to eat you!".

"The thought had occurred to me." The man chuckled.

Azula laid back and gestured to the man, "Well, it's good to know one's position in life, and endearing or not, I have an image to maintain. Leave and bring fresh water next time."

The man drummed his thighs as he got up, "Yes… Princess."

"And get someone in her to mop the floor!"

As he opened up the canvas Azula lifted her head to catch a glimpse of the stranger, but couldn't make anything out, she found herself opening her mouth to speak, "Hey… Thanks, I know I can be… A little coarse, but I appreciate you looking after me."

A girl's voice suddenly cried out from somewhere outside the canvas curtain; "Snoozles! We've got company!"

The man turned back, "Stay here, I'll be back soon."

"Snoozles" giggled Azula, obviously a nickname but she found it cute.

Azula could hear an argument erupting, though she had a hard time making out individual words she could make out individual voices, one of them belonging to… "Zuko..." Azula sighed, the last thing Azula wanted to deal with now was his gloomy demeanour, he was probably coming to bitch about the Avatar being alive or something equally tedious, dad probably had a few questions for her, she would put in a few words of defence for Zuzu, unless he had gone and mucked things up by opening his mouth without her present, like a common criminal who can't wait for his solicitor before speaking to the gendarmes, she'd get chewed out naturally, as for Zuko, toss of the coin really, it was unlikely that dad was in a horrible mood after the victory.

"WHAT?!" Screamed the voice of the young man who had been attending Azula, "YOU SENT COMBUSTION MAN AFTER US!?"

Azula's eyes shot open and she really perked up her ears, of course she hadn't the faintest clue what or who they were talking about but leave it to Zuko to piss anyone off so royally.

The voices grew as indistinct as they were angry and Azula couldn't help but feel amused, she wished she could have been a gnat-fly on the wall observing this conversation, but as it stood, she was just too tired and nauseous to move, any movement of her's caused her head to spin like she was on small boat in heavy seas.

The argument seemed to have reached a climax and he could hear the young man say; "I don't know what game you're playing at, just get this message to the Fire Lord already!"

Azula smirked, Zuko demoted to a errand boy being yelled at by low nobility, this was even greater than him being banished, at least now she would be able to relentlessly bully her poor brother.

As everything quieted down again, sleep found her again.


Sokka stood by the temple fountain, looking out at the canyon, he was suppressing a desperate anger, of all plots Zuko had come up with this was either the dumbest or the most brilliant because Sokka couldn't figure out his angle. Zuko had seemed genuinely surprised when they mentioned that they were holding Azula captive and had at first refused her ransom letter. "Maybe Toph is right and the idiot actually thinks he can join our crew!" He let himself think for a split second before his anger peaked again and he kicked a rock off the edge. "The bastard is probably just trying to remove a pretender to his throne."

He knew that they would have to move camp in the morning at the latest, there was no way an imminent attack wasn't inbound seeing how fast Zuko had tracked them down, he knew coming to the Air Temple was a bad idea, like it wouldn't be the first place where the Fire Nation would look, despite the evasive run south.

He took a look at the small outcrop by the wall covered by a canvas tarp and bars of metal to keep their most valuable prisoner who was still blissfully resting away her hangover, thinking her jailers were her servants and nurses but Sokka knew she had to suspect, too exhausted too care, but he somewhat enjoyed the deception.

Katara had taken her turns watering and feeding the Princess, who had told him the Princess hadn't talked much, as far as she could tell, the Princess believed she was being held in a makeshift field hospital and just wanted to rest. "If I sit up, I want to puke, just leave me be!" the Princess had told her, and Katara quickly cleaned the cell with some water bending without the Princess having been any wiser.

Try as he may, Sokka couldn't help but feel guilty over assaulting the Princess like he did, and there was a genuine fear that whatever happened, her father or brother would exact a vengeance upon him at least as terrible as he would bring about on someone who attacked Katara in a similar fashion. He had totally lost control over himself and that shook him to the bones.

Suki would be with him still, he thought to himself looking wistfully at the stars but the fear of the Fire Lord's vengeance almost made him want to abandon his plan, walk over to the Princess's cell and make sure she'd never talk about the events of the day before, or about anything else for that matter.

Aang came up from behind him. "I'm sorry Sokka, I honestly thought we would have a good week here before the Fire Nation found their way here."

"I wished so too." Sokka sighed, "I really need a vacation after this ordeal."

Aang put his hand on Sokka's shoulder, "You and me both, buddy, maybe try and find another spirit library?"

Sokka chuckled at Aang's last comment and there was a brief pause before he continued, "Well, the good news is that with the Earth Kingdom conquered, the comet is redundant."

Aang's eyes darted up and down for a second, "I hadn't thought about it that way."

Sokka nodded, "Me neither, my attention so occupied with the invasion that I never considered the aftermath."

Aang's face lit up, "So we could wait for another eclipse, then?"

Sokka laughed, "Or we could help you master all the elements, properly this time, might take years, but the results will be worth it."

Sokka heard a yawn emanating from the Princess's cell, "Well, I think it's time to give the Princess the bad news." Sokka started off towards the cell.

"Oh, servants, I'm feeling rather peckish." a gleeful voice sang from Azula's cell, that made Sokka almost believe she had escaped and left someone human in her stead.

"Coming Princess!"

As Sokka fumbled with his key, he sighed, enjoying what he felt could be the last moments of peace for a while.

"Sleep well?" Sokka asked as he opened the drape and saw Azula smile in the dim light of a crescent moon stretching her arms in the air. "Like a Princess".

"Huh..." Sokka pondered to himself what that meant, did she sleep well or not? But in the end, he decided it didn't matter. "Hey listen, we're going to head out in the morning so would you mind wrapping up whatever stuff you have and be ready in about half and hour or so, I'll be back to cuff you soon." Sokka said matter of factly.

Azula blinked and laughed for a second before she abruptly stopped, "Wait… You're serious?!" She caught a glimpse of the bars behind the tarp, her face sank and the only thing she could think to say was, "Oh crap..."

Sokka looked down at the canvas in his hand, "Katara better be right" he thought, or the piece of thick cloth was the only protection provenance had afforded him and he would soon find out. Azula punched towards him and kicked off her blanket, in his minds eye he could almost see it turn to flame but it just fell harmlessly to the ground in front of him.

Azula had felt that something was wrong even before her arm was fully extended but she was still shocked to see the figure standing by the doorway unharmed and she tried to bend another flame towards him to no avail. As she ran through maelstrom of emotions she could for the first time make out his face in the dim light. "You!" Azula spat out with venom. Sokka, secure in his opponent's handicap, took a slight bow and grinned, "Me!"

Azula's anger flared up as she thought back to the water Sokka had given her, it must have been poisoned, she had heard of similar things, of people being bitten by rat-vipers and had their bending significantly diminished, they had already drugged her, she recalled that much, but it hardly mattered in the moment.

She sprang forward to attack Sokka, bending or not, she was going to claw his eyes out, break his nose, knee him in the groin, there were plenty of ways to hurt a man, when Sokka took a step back, parried her first blow, hit back, stepped back, parried, hit, repeat until his back was to the bars and Azula fell numb with her face to Sokka's chest.

As he propped her up she didn't know what she hated more, her situation or how much she actually enjoyed his scent.

Straining to open mouth her cheek pressed tightly against Sokka's chest, "You'll pay for this! Whatever you've done to me, you'll pay!"

"A gift from your friend Ty-Lee, indirectly at least, I managed to pinch a book on Chi-blocking on one of our adventures through the Earth Kingdom, though I confess, I've yet to find much use for it since my sword usually solves the same issues." Sokka said gleefully, "And if you recall, she even taught me those dance moves."

Azula rolled her eyes and sighed deeply, at least that gave a plausible explanation to how she was captured, right?

Sokka lifted the Princess into his arms and carried her to the bed. "Your feeling should be back-"

"I never make the same mistake twice you know, I will escape." Azula said threateningly. "And you will pay, I swear by Agni, the Sun and the Moon."

Sokka, smirked at the mention of the Moon and chuckled knowingly before he cleared his throat, "Like I was about to say, in about fifteen minutes you should have regained control over your body. Pack your stuff and be ready to leave in twenty-five minutes when I'm back to cuff you." Sokka moved close to Princess's ear, "Believe me Princess, I have dark side to me that you wouldn't believe and I promise you, you don't want to see. Had it been up to me, your no-good brother would be an icicle on the North Pole right now."

He nodded with his head towards the outside of the cell, "And if you're going to be too much trouble, I'll leave you big wet spot on the canyon floor."

Azula scoffed, if it was meant as a threat it had failed, Azula smiled a satisfied look with her eyes and as Sokka pulled away she added; "We aren't so different then, you and I".

Sokka just smirked and huffed in return but in the back of his mind he couldn't help but feel maybe she was right.

"I'll let you in on a little secret" Azula said with a wicked grin on her face. "The moment, you pinned me to that wall, I felt jealous of your precious little Kyoshi warrior, that passion and anger."

Azula looked deep into his eyes, looking for any sign of reaction, he was good when in control but she could still tell and she decided to pull the rug a little bit from under him to test him and she grinned with demonic glee; "Of course, it wouldn't have stopped me from killing you, hadn't your little friend intervened to save you." She rolled her eyes as if imagining the moment, "I probably would have sliced your jugular first, then driven the blade into your heart, just to make sure-"

Sokka slapped her face lightning fast, it wasn't very forceful, but the sting of it shocked Azula as her face dropped, "You wouldn't have survived the attempt." Sokka said self-confidently and nonchalantly as if he had proven his point. "Even if you had managed a fatal blow with that little dull razor, it would only have taken me a second to cut your head off." He patted the hilt of his sword as he said it. "Go ahead, test me." he added with an arrogant smirk.

Azula just returned his smirk, "Wouldn't you have liked that, dying together like that, our blood mixed together in deadly passion play."

His smirk faded as he looked down at her with his eyes formed in that arrogant predatory squint that probably had left a dozen broken hearts strewn across his journey. "You should be regaining some motor function Princess, start packing."


The Gaang and the B-team were making the last preparations to leave, Haru, Teo and the Duke had found an old bison saddle in one of the storerooms in the temple.

The Duke was helping Teo strap himself in while Katara was tying Appa's reigns.

"A little grease wouldn't hurt this old saddle but it's better than nothing." Haru said to Aang.

"Finest Air nomad craftsmanship, it will hold." Aang responded.

Sokka turned his head to scan around. "Has anyone seen Toph?" he said slightly concerned.

"No" responded the Gaang in unison.

"Huh, I need her to metal bend some cuffs for the Witch-Princess."

"I thought you said she couldn't bend?" asked Katara, "Which I told you, if you had listened!" her toned changing from inquisitive to annoyed.

Sokka was scanning around for Toph, "Yeah, but I think we can't be too careful with a hostage as valuable as her." "Hostage!" Scoffed Katara, "You make us sound like common bandits."

"Semantics." Retorted Sokka before returning to scan for Toph "Where is that girl?"

Sokka brought his open palms to his mouth "TOPH!"

He waited for a few seconds. "We should have been on our way by now."

Just then a tunnel opened by the cliff wall, "Help, Zuko attacked me!"

Everyone ran towards Toph to help her, Haru and Sokka picked her up and carried her towards Appa while Katara was examining her, her feet were really badly burned. "We really should take care of this right now."

"If we lift her onto the saddle, can you begin working on her feet, while the rest of us continue preparations?" Sokka asked worried.

Katara shrugged her shoulders; "Not the best surface but I guess we have no choice."

"It's just I have creeping feeling that time is running out for us." Sokka said looking over his shoulder into the canyon.

As they lifted Toph onto the saddle Katara climbed up and began her work.

Sokka ran towards the cell. As he reached it and fumbled with the key, a thought occurred to him, he opened the cage door but didn't step in, in fact, he closed it and took a step backwards, his instincts serving him well, the canvas pulled away from the opening in the wall and a pair of canvas covered feet crashed through the bars.

"Damn it!" Shouted Azula. In a blink of and eye, standing on her hands upside down she pulled her legs free from the bars and kicked the canvas off before she rolled backwards into a crouching position.

"Close!" said Sokka with a smirk and pulled his sword, "Why don't you be a good girl and come with me." Sokka could sense that she wasn't quite out of the fight yet, so as he opened the door again he was ready.

"Ha! Good girls aren't your type!" she shot at him and took a fighting stance, she probably had a weapon on her, better she reveal it now, as he was ready as he could be, rather than her reveal it later and with someone else, but he had a plan to catch her off guard.

As she got up he raised his sword and brought it up to neck level with her and then, he whipped the tip of his across her chest in one fluid motion and her tunic began to fall apart revealing her breasts.

Azula gasped as she felt cold air on her naked skin, she raised her hands to cover herself and in doing so, revealed what could have been part of her hair pin which she had hoped to use as a stabbing weapon.

Still weary, Sokka slapped the piece of metal from between Azula's fingers with his sword and quickly stepped into the cell and grabbed her by the hair, yanked her out of the cell and threw her face first into the ground at his feet. Azula was about to get up to make her fight or flight when she felt a cold point of metal biting the back of her neck instinctively making her push herself as flat to the ground as possible.

"Don't feel too bad Princess, I would have treated you the same way regardless. Remember that little game of perfidy you played on us when we first met?"

Sokka grabbed a hold of her wrists with his free hand and leaned in so he could sheath his sword.

"A prisoners first duty is to escape, right?!" Azula exclaimed as Sokka began to tie her hands.

"Ha! By feigning surrender?! You know that's a war crime?!" retorted Sokka.

"Rules of war, set down and forced upon the Nations by an Avatar so ancient no one even knows if he really existed and even fewer know by name! Plea-ease!" Azula said with a sarcastic tone.

Sokka yanked her up by her tied arms, sending a jolt of pain down Azula's shoulders, "Does this turn you one Savage? I bet your little Kyoshi whore loves being thrown around in bed like a rag doll." Azula spit out in anger, and admittedly excitement.

At this comment Sokka slammed her against the wall, pinning her by her lower neck with his left elbow and stretching his right arm to bring the point of sword to rest on her trachea.

She scoffed and continued "You know what else those rules forbid in war, Savage? Rape, and even the Avatar was wise enough to write down in his rules for warfare that a crime committed by one party could be avenged by the other to bring balance and mutual restraint." A wicked grin crept up on Azula's face, "What say, savage, my perfidy in exchange for your rape." She pushed out her chest bareing her breasts under her tattered tunic.

Sokka felt his face go red with embarrassment and he let his sword fall by his side. As Sokka let his guard down, Azula jerked her head forward and kissed him on the mouth forcing her tongue between his lips and for a moment she thought he could feel him reciprocate, until he slammed right back up against the wall.

"Do that again and I'll bite that serpent's tongue of yours..." He paused slightly as he inched close enough that he could feel his breath, and whispered "...Clean off!"

Azula smiled and Sokka yanked her by the shoulder away from the wall and started marching her towards Appa where everyone had watched the encounter wide eyed.

Aang was the first one to break the silence "What was that?!" he asked.

"Oh, an in depth discussion on international relations and politics." Sokka answered sarcastically.

"He's not even lying." Azula said and winked at Katara as Haru pulled her onto Appa's saddle.

"Hey, Peasant!" Azula shouted at Katara who turned around with grimace on her face. "Your brother is going to make some girl very happy some day!" laughing wickedly and turned towards Sokka and winked, "A girl can only hope." sending a blush through his cheeks that quickly turned to anger, he turned to Katara, "Katara, don't answer to peasant." he moved towards Azula and slapped her across the cheek and as she winced in pain he added, "It's not dignified."

"Okay, let's all just follow Sokka's initial advice and ignore her" said Aang as he climbed into the saddle and Sokka grimaced at Aang over his comment before he went and took his seat.

Azula looked at Sokka and laughed, "You're too easy, thought you'd be a challenge."

Aang took the reigns from Katara who went to sit between Haru and the Duke.

"Okay, is everyone onboard?" asked Aang, Katara did a redundancy headcount, "Yes, Seven plus One!" as Momo crept up behind Katara's shoulder, she then shot a look at Azula, "And the Bitch-queen over there". Azula throwing her tongue out at Katara as defiant gesture.

"Alrighty then," said Aang, "Yip-Yip".

Appa took a running start off the edge and with some effort took off.

As Aang began a circling ascent out of the canyon, Azula carefully slipped her ropes, they were well tied, but not well enough. To her right was the cripple and to left was the Earthbender boy, followed by the peasant and the kid. The invalid section was complemented with the blind girl and then opposite her eyeing her like a butcher-hawk, the Savage.

Azula would gamble that these soft-hearted idiots would give a damn about the cripple, after she had slipped her ropes she used her free hands to slip her tunic slightly up her back so she could get access to her underwear, in between her shapely buttocks she had hid the remains of her hairpin.

She moved quickly, with her right arm she grabbed the cripple from behind the neck and anchored her hand on the left side of his jaw, and sprang back behind the saddle.

"Okay, land this beast or the cripple gets it." She pressed the hairpin against Teo's neck who groaned out in shock.

Sokka had leapt up and grabbed his boomerang from behind his back, he had reflexively thought about throwing it so it would return to hit Azula in the back of the head, but stopped himself as he realised there was no way he could account for all the variables while in motion and inside the windy canyon.

"What's going on?!" yelled Aang as he banked Appa slightly down, to their luck.

Everyone would swear they couldn't hear the explosion but they certainly felt it.

Sokka was thrown to the saddle floor at Haru's and Katara's feet, Azula hung on to Teo for dear life as the explosion forced Appa down towards the treeline.

As the bison crash landed, most passengers were thrown clear in different direction across the forest.

As Appa touched the ground, Aang spun around and scanned for his friends.

"Is everyone alright?!" Screamed Aang, only to be answered with distant pained moans that mostly morphed into Yeses.

Toph felt the ground with her hands. "It's him, Combustion man!"


Zuko had heard the explosion and instantly suspected what was happening. He dropped all the fire wood he had spent the early morning carrying and headed for the edge of the Wester air temple.

There had been no further explosions which could bode good or very bad, and Zuko prayed in his head for the former. He sprinted the distance in a time that even surprised even him.

As he reached the edge and looked down, he could neither see or hear anything out of the ordinary.

Zuko looked around and as he did he heard another explosion in the woods to his right.

"NO! Stop!" Screamed Zuko as he ran towards the source of the explosion.


Azula had been caught by a tree branch and was carefully making her way down, without her bending she really had no contingency plan to break her fall.

She had heard several more explosions nearby, although she didn't know exactly what was going on she had her suspicions, a powerful bounty hunter with a unique bending ability who's name escaped her, he must be after the Avatar and this was her chance to escape.

As she got to ground level, she smiled in the direction of the explosions and as she was about to run in the other direction something sharp and cold snapped across her cheek, as she ran her hand down her face she felt the warm wetness of her blood.

It was the Water tribe peasant with her water whip who stared at her, her face contorted with rage.

Azula dove behind the tree for cover and started crawling fast through the bushes and away, when suddenly it was like all the life had been dragged out of the leaves around her, her eyes itched and her mouth and skin felt impossibly dry as shards of ice, some big as knifes rained down everywhere near her.

She had never seen or imagined water bending like this and felt really naked and exposed as she partially was, both literally and figuratively.

As she was about to continue crawling forward she could feel something tug at the hem of her tattered tunic, Azula turned around and saw that of the shards had landed right next to her and had pinned her tunic to the ground, as she pulled it out she saw that the Water Bender Witch was bearing down on her.

Suddenly she took a Water bending stance that Azula did not recognise, but she felt tingly and weird pressures all over her body. Azula was now genuinely scared. The Witch was feeling her on the inside, she knew it, she could feel it and with each passing moment her grip on her got stronger as she started to lose control over her muscles.

Azula gathered all her strength and managed to pull away from her grip and she ran away.

"It was worth a shot!" the Witch yelled, as she bent another water whip towards Azula, that caught her on the neck running down the shoulder blade, it almost felt like the Witch had dropped the water on her, but Azula realised the warm liquid running down her back could only be one thing.


Aang had managed to bend himself a shallow foxhole to give him some cover from the bombardment, he covered his head in the fetal position and knew he had boxed himself in. Try as he did small Earthbending moves, the Earth stood stubborn this time and every time he thought he had collected himself enough for a new try, a deafening rumble shook him to the core.

Sokka and Toph had taken cover behind a tree and watched and felt respectively Aang's helpless situation, the crater was growing ever larger and Sokka screamed at Toph to "Do something!"

"I can't see as well with my hands alone Sokka! I'm just as likely to kill Aang as to save him!" Toph said desperately.

"Where's Haru when you need him!?" Sokka moped.

"Not anywhere close!" Toph responded. "But there is someone else" Toph turned her head towards Combustion man. "Zuko!"

The Prince came running towards Combustion man, "Stop! I no longer want the Avatar dead!"

Combustion man, unmoved shot another explosion at Aang. "I'll still pay you, just stop!"

The assassin turned towards Zuko and shot an explosion towards him who dodged it. Sokka saw this and yelled to Aang; "Aang! Now!"

The Air bender shot out of the foxhole, and the assassin turned back to his main target. Zuko ran up to him and grabbed him by his arm that threw off the assassins aim, "I'll pay double, just... Please!" Combustion man grabbed Zuko by the neck and punched him in the face with his mechanical prosthetic.

As Zuko began to slump together and fall to the ground, the assassin began charging up a finishing blow on him when Aang, seeing what was about to happen blew a wind strong enough to throw Zuko away from the path of danger. The low yield explosion hit the ground and behind Zuko that further blew into shrub like a rag doll.

Combustion man directed another blow towards Aang who just barely managed to dodge it.

Zuko in turn, managed to regain himself enough that he mounted Combustion man from behind and began to claw his eyes. The assassin grabbed Zuko the hair with his metal arm and pulled him off, further grabbing Zuko by the belt and throwing him the significant distance near the tree that Sokka and Toph where hiding behind. Toph instinctively bent up a wall behind just behind Zuko, but in her handicapped state striking Zuko in the arm and sending him tumbling before it was obliterated by an explosion.

Suddenly the woods came alive with the screams of Azula who ran up to the assassin and grabbed him by the waist, "Please save me from that Water bending witch!" She pointed in the direction of Katara who's unseen form was whipping slicing down trees and foliage menacingly somewhere in the darkness of the forest. Combustion man unmoved by her plight slammed her to the ground in front of her and rolled up a scroll and studied it pensively for a good few seconds.

He looked at Azula and took a deep breath when suddenly something impacted him in the head. Thrown off for a second, the Assassin took aim at Azula who covered her face in terror, "Why?!" was the only thing she could cry before she felt the pressure wave engulf her and she was slammed into the ground before her world went dark.


A/N; I'm aware that there are a lot of things in this chapter that might rub people the wrong way, mostly with the characterisation of Sokka so in my defence, Sokka is, and was canonically, in a very dark place and is taking out that frustration on the architect of a lot of his misery.

And Azula, would she be so flirtatious with her captor, well, I see her kind of like Julius Caesar when he was captured by Pirates, she expects to get ransomed and come back and wreck everyone's shit up, and if she gets ravaged by a handsome savage in the process, well, that's just a sob story for daddy to really get heads rolling.

And yes, Sokka having learned Chi-blocking is purely me putting an aftermarket turbo on him, either it blows a gasket or it doesn't, but I think that this is a sort of ability Sokka would have attempted to learn if given more time in the library, as far a Chekhov's guns go, it's going to go off at least once again, but whether it's to shoot beer cans or mow down an entire room, we'll see.

Next chapter is going to be a bit longer and will have some focus on Ozai's predicament.