A/N: To the reviewer who asked why I have more chapters here on FF than on AO3, it's because I didn't know AO3 existed until a few weeks ago! I decided to post the story there as well because I know not everyone uses FF and I wanted to give more people a chance to enjoy my story :) They'll have the same number of chapters pretty soon, I didn't want to overwhelm readers by putting 24 chapters up all at once. On a related note, I'll try to be better about responding to everyone's reviews, because I really do appreciate them!

Chapter 24

Dr. Liu tapped his finger against his knee. He sat across from Azula, bound in the metal chair she hated with passion. She hadn't said so much as a word to anyone about what happened with Ty Lee's visit four days ago. He wasn't surprised, perhaps a little disappointed that she wouldn't divulge anything he might be able to help her with, but not surprised.

Azula stared calmly back at him, golden eyes bored and flat. Their usual luster was dimmed somehow, lacking the brightness of mischief and calculation. He thought she seemed defeated, similar to how she was when she first came here. Well, when she first came here and wasn't thrashing around in her straightjacket. Kai had already told the Fire Lord his suspicions of Azula's regression, but he hoped they wouldn't prove true.

He'd debated sending any type of notice to the young Fire Lord. After all, the man still had no idea of the intimacy of Ty Lee's visits, the gifts she brought, the remodeling of Azula's room, and the lightning incident. It was probably because he'd neglected to tell Zuko any of those things that he had given in and let slip this instance of truth.

Her injury from the lightning shock had healed considerably with Minah's treatments, but a handful of faded pink zigzags still wound their way from her toes to her knee. Kai knew Azula wasn't pleased about the probable scar. Though she didn't really need it anymore, she had requested a jar of medicinal jelly and bandages so she could treat the marks herself. At the very least, she had a fully functioning leg.

His eyes drifted to her hands, bound and hanging loosely off the thin arms of the chair. On one wrist, a large blistering burn was just about gone. He'd had Minah take care of that as soon as Azula had lost consciousness from the sedative he'd given her. It was an easy enough fix, but Kai was still getting nowhere on why she was doing this. Today was another day, and he decided to give asking Azula another shot.

"How are you feeling?"

"Perfect."

"Have you eaten?"

"No."

"Are you hungry?"

"No."

Kai bit the inside of his cheek. He could tell she wasn't going to budge, but proceeded anyways.

"What happened with Ty Lee that made you burn yourself so badly?"

"Nothing."

Kai couldn't help the burst of laughter that escaped his mouth. He scratched the light stubble on his chin and smiled at her, "I'm no fool. You were doing quite well, spectacularly even, these past few weeks. And then after one lengthy, unsupervised visit with Ty Lee, you suddenly give yourself a first degree burn in a fit of hysterics, all because of nothing? Forgive me if I don't believe you."

"You're forgiven."

Her tone sent a chill down his spine, but her eyes remained detached and empty. He wanted to shout at her, shake her, talk to me! I'm here to help! But he knew she would only laugh and dismiss him even faster. Kai decided to risk taking a different approach.

"Let's make a deal."

Azula watched him, careful to maintain her blank expression, though her interest was piqued. Kai looked for any sign of curiosity, but at finding none, he continued, "You tell me about that burn," he pointed to her wrist, "and I'll grant you a request. Within limitations, of course."

She breathed slowly. Here's a chance.

"Deal," she looked down her nose at him, face suddenly transformed into one exuding imperial confidence.

"The burn was caused by me placing my right hand," she wriggled it in the restraints, "around my left wrist." She shook that one next. "Since I'm a rather adept bender, even your little basement cell can't banish the fire from my blood unless you freeze the place. So I heated my hand as much as I could and inflicted the burn. It hurt and immediately turned red. First degree, as you said. I could tell it would blister but—"

"That's not what I asked," Kai resumed tapping his finger on his knee.

He watched Azula school her expression to feign innocence and she continued matter-of-factly, "You asked me to tell you about the burn. I'm quite sure that's what I was doing before you interrupted." Seeing the look on Kai's face, a smirk tugged at the corner of her mouth, "Oh, I'm sorry, did you mean tell you why I burned myself? That's something you should have clarified before the deal was struck. Now, about that request…"

She clicked her tongue expectantly. The mocking sound grated against Kai's eardrums. This woman. He exhaled through his nose, knowing she had cornered him just because of his word choice. Even when she's maintaining an appearance of indifference and defeat, she's meticulously aware of taking advantage of people when it benefits her.

Knowing his loss was imminent, Kai clenched his jaw and forced the words out of his mouth, "What would you like?"

Azula's smirk disappeared as she savored her victory internally, "I'd like to take a bath in private. Twenty relaxing minutes, no guards staring at me."

Kai raised an eyebrow. That was certainly a more reasonable request than he expected. But again, as it always was with Azula, her words instilled a feeling of doubt in him. It's never so simple with her.

"Ten minutes and the guards will stay outside with the door open."

"Bathing with the door open? That's hardly privacy. Fifteen minutes, door shut. Nothing will happen, it's just a bath."

Kai paled. Reassurance from her feels like an obvious trap. But I can't hope to win in negotiations.

"Done. When would you like this?"

"As soon as you leave."

Kai nodded in assent, feeling incredibly uneasy about something. Azula had that effect, to make people second guess themselves, even if she was being truthful. He asked if there was anything else she wanted to discuss, knowing the answer before the question even left his mouth.

"No. I'd like my bath, if you don't mind," Azula smiled at Kai, sending another shiver down his back.

The doctor waved the guards over to undo Azula's bindings. She stood and stretched her limbs out once they finished, sweeping her long hair behind her shoulders. Her eyes did not miss the way the guards watched her through their masks.

Kai motioned for Azula to step back to her bed, while he had the guards unlock the barred door and screech the metal chair out. He reentered the room and walked into the tiny bathroom, turning the tap to fill it with chilly water.

"Once that's full, the guards will leave. Fifteen minutes."

He gave Azula one last suspicious look, before exiting the room and dragging the awful chair with him down the hall. She remained sitting on her bed until one of the guards shut the water off in the door-less bathroom. They left the room, shut and locked the door, and Azula immediately strode up to the bars to thoroughly examine them.

How many freezings had she experienced now? Close to twenty? It was hard to recall, but she hoped it was enough to do a little damage to the iron barrier that kept her in here. She needed them to be weak near the walls of the room, otherwise any breaking she might be able to do would be obvious to the guards and they would catch wind of her intentions.

Azula paced the stretch of bars at the left side of the room, furthest from the outside door. She gripped a hand around them and pulled hard. A bit of the iron flaked off in her hands, but they rattled as soundly as if they'd just been installed. She cursed, stepped back, and aimed a kick at the bottom third. Vibrations reverberated through her leg, but again, there was no discernable weakness.

I'm wasting time, this isn't going to work. Azula walked through the open barred door and entered the bathroom. She dunked her head in the cold water and quickly washed it with Ty Lee's shampoo. Now she at least looked like she'd taken a bath.

Probably ten minutes left. Her eyes frantically scanned the bars from every angle as she traced their surface with her fingertips. No use, it's no use, they're solid, they won't break. They'll never break. Her hair was dripping down her back, sending a chill through her body. Long black locks stuck across her cheek and neck. She didn't bother pushing them away, her eyes searched wildly for any flaws in the metal. Anything, anything, anyth—

Gold eyes locked onto a new target. Hinges.

Hinges are weak. Hinges are thinner than the diameter of a bar. Azula hurried back into her bed area and up to the door, hands reaching out to test the integrity of the moveable metal. The hinges were understandably thicker than a normal door's. Four sets, about three inches tall, lined the right side of the frame at even intervals. She swung the door back and forth, hearing a slight creak that wasn't originally present.

She raked her eyes over every inch of each hinge and her heart skipped a beat. Cracks. The first, second, and fourth ones all have them. They were only a hair's width, but they would surely have weakened the metal.

Five minutes. Azula knew she was cutting the timing way too close, but she had to try. She had to make sure she could still do it, or else there was no point in this whole burning and freezing charade.

She took a deep breath and stepped back closer to her bed. Closing her eyes, she calmed herself, cleared her mind, and began the motions of conjuring lightning. Nothing extensive, just a little zap like I did in the patient care room. Azula's arms circled in front of her, she lost all sense of doubt and worry, instead losing herself in the serenity that came only with lightning.

She could feel the energies and the charge before she even opened her eyes. The electricity danced around her hands as she concentrated. Keep it small. Azula extended her hand, pointed two fingers at the topmost hinge and released the built up energy.

The bolt was small, but still an audible cracking sound reverberated through the room. Azula held her breath at the gamble and sincerely hoped Ty Lee's information about not being able to hear things from the hallway was correct.

Since no guards immediately rushed inside to investigate, she assumed she was safe for another minute. She went to the bath and removed the stopper to drain the sudsy water. Returning to the bars, she watched the remnants of the bolt fizzle out against the metallic surface. A grin spread across her face. The hairline fracture had widened slightly.

There was a pounding at the door and Azula retreated to her bed as the guards took up their posts once more. One quickly locked the bars, and she noticed just the barest wobble at the top as it shut.

She rolled over in her bed, back towards the door, and sorted through the thoughts rapidly flashing through her mind. One strong hit and those hinges will buckle. The door should still be able to stand with the locking mechanism holding it up, but I'll need something to secure it in place anyways.

Ty Lee had given her a ribbon along with her royal crest. In a pinch, she could use that, but it would be painfully obvious to anyone entering the room: the damn thing was bright pink.

Azula cursed and hoped a new, more reliable and inconspicuous solution would come up. The fight with Ty Lee had renewed her determination to get out of here. She hated the feeling of being trapped. Of people coming to see her like she was an animal in a zoo.

You're just running away instead of facing your problems.

She ignored that part of her brain and the part that wandered occasionally to Ty Lee. Kai had told her that Zuko was preventing her from visiting again. Azula supposed this was a good thing. She did not want to see the woman again, afraid of the cursed feelings that might induce. Instead of dwelling on such distractions, she could focus wholeheartedly on leaving this metal tomb within the next week.

She briefly remembered the plea that had entered her mind the night she was sedated. Wanting anyone to come back to her. To try and put up with her for her own good. She gripped her arms tightly and felt a familiar anger begin to boil at the thought of who might come back.

I don't need her. I don't need any of them. I just need to get out of here.