Author's Notes

I know it isn't a performance, but try listening to 'Vendetta' by Park Young Ik.

Chills. Literal chills.

-TheGreatestConWoman-

"Katara," Chiyo tried her best to compose herself, keeping her eyes trained on the princess. "Do whatever it takes to heal Zuko. I'll handle this."

Through all the confusion, the waterbender knelt beside Zuko and started working on his injury before it was too late.

"Y-you're a-alive?!" Azula could not believe what she was seeing. Her friend. One that she, only recently had come to terms with, thought was gone. Here she was, right in front of her. "A-all this time?!"

Chiyo reached out to her. "Princess Azula..."

Azula stopped her hand from taking Chiyo's and pulled it back. "I-it can't be! If you think you can fool me with this, you're all wrong!"

"You have to stop this, Princess Azula. Prince Zuko is not your enemy. We are not your enemy."

She covered her ears, clutching her dishevelled hair and wanting to pull them out. "NO! STOP TALKING! You're not real... You're not REAL!"

Chiyo dared to take one step closer, only to have Azula take two steps back.

"NO! Stay away from me!"

"I am your friend—"

"NO! My friend is dead! Everybody else betrayed me! They all left me! You're not even real! Chiyo would never betray me like this! "

With a swift motion, Chiyo caught Azula's wrist. "I am real. I am alive." She was desperate to show her, hoping to convey the sincerity through her eyes. "And I am not betraying you. I'm trying to save you!"

Azula shrieked and pulled her hand away frantically as if she was being burned. As she stumbled back, she sent a ball of flames in her direction, thinking it would make the illusion disappear.

The apprentice saw it coming and quickly spun out of the way, much like she had always done when she and the princess sparred. "You know I can always dodge those!" She called out to her, hoping Azula would see that she was real. "No matter how fast you were, I was always faster."

The princess sent shot after shot of fire, trying to rid herself of the supposed illusion of her old friend. "GO AWAY!"

Chiyo tried her best to dodge every shot, taking her attacks as far away as possible from Katara and Zuko. Eventually, they found themselves in the Royal Gardens.

Running away was not an option. She thought of her alternatives as she hid behind the old tree. Azula will stop at nothing at this point, and in her state. She would have to use chi-blocking to stop her. It was the only way she can save Zuko and Azula from herself.

But first, she must figure out a way to get close enough to actually perform the technique.

Timing the pause between attacks down to every second, Chiyo charged forward. She used her speed and the lightness of her feet, shifting her weight from one side to the other to avoid being critically hit.

Azula was gripped with a strong emotion as she watched the apprentice run towards her, unfazed by her attacks. Fear. Of what exactly, she was not certain.

Was she afraid of this illusion?

Was she afraid that it was real?

Or was she afraid that it wasn't?

At her temporary lapse of attention, Chiyo was right in front of her and it was as if the world had slowed down. From her peripheral vision, she saw Chiyo's hand about to make contact with her neck and she figured what the apprentice was trying to do.

Azula quickly ducked her head and aimed a punch to her attacker. Chiyo swerved out of the way and tried to reach for the princess's shoulder to paralyze her. The latter jumped high and kicked her arm away, sending the apprentice reeling back in pain.

Laughter.

It was a response that Azula least expected to hear.

And the familiarity unnerved her all the more.

Chiyo held her arm with the other, squeezing it tightly to fight the pain. "That was actually the first time you landed a kick on me, Princess Azula. Well done."

"Why are you defending Zuko?!" She shouted with so much emotion that even she was surprised. "He's a traitor to our nation! He chose to go against father and side with the Avatar! Zuko, the firstborn! The Crown Prince! Banished! You swore that night you would forget him!" Azula's voice broke as tears helplessly fell from her eyes. "You swore you would be my friend! Did you forget that?! Did you forget who stood by you all those times you cried for my brother?!"

"I am still your friend." Chiyo moved towards Azula, one step at a time. "I may not remember all of the past, but I do remember you. How you defended me against those girls at Ty Lee's party... How you sneaked into Lady Suiren's wing to bring me treats from the kitchens... How you commanded me to spar with you, pretending you would go easy on me..."

"If you do remember," Azula failed to notice the other moving closer. "Then why are you choosing the losing side? Why Zuko?" From behind Chiyo, her mother appeared, the Lady Ursa, looking at her with eyes filled with sadness that mirrored Chiyo's. "Why does nobody choose me?"

Azula had always been so strong and determined in Chiyo's eyes when they were young. Now she saw her as she truly was. "Azula, the choice never was between you or Zuko. It's always been about choosing to do the right thing. And that is ending this war, and bringing peace and prosperity back to our nation, and to all the other nations." Chiyo reached out once more for Azula. "And you can do it, too."

"What if this is all just a trick? A trick that my mind is playing to get the best of me? Chiyo could have never survived the high seas. That's right! This is all an illusion!"

"She is real."

She looked up at her mother who had her pale hand gently resting on the apprentice's shoulders.

"She is telling the truth."

Slowly, the princess was losing grip of reality. Her unfocused eyes darted back and forth between Chiyo and her mother. There were far too many uncertainties for Azula's liking.

A million thoughts raced through her mind. Thousands of voices tried to drown out those thoughts with their harsh words. But the voice that stood out most was that pf her father's.

'It's a very important job that I can only entrust to you.'

Her father had entrusted the throne to her. He had entrusted the whole nation in her hands. Only her father trusts her. Only her father believes in her. It has always been this way since the beginning.

What uncertainty was there to doubt?

"Princess Azula..."

It was too late. With her judgement clouded with anger, hurt and fear, Azula took Chiyo's outstretched hand in one of her own.

And harnessed lightning with the other.

Zuko groaned as he tried to stand up. His eyes looked frantically around for his sister. "Where... Where is she, Katara?"

She pulled the water back and looked at him guiltily. "Chiyo... she—" She didn't have to finish her sentence for Zuko to know what was going on. Despite the pain that was wracking his entire body, he limped as fast as he could towards the sound of his sister's shouts.

Katara hooked one of his arms over her shoulder and helped him look for them.

"Azula, the choice never was between you or Zuko. It's always been about choosing to do the right thing. And that is ending this war, and bringing peace and prosperity back to our nation, and to all the other nations. And you can do it, too."

Zuko heard Chiyo's voice and he all but sprinted towards them. As he turned the last corner towards the Royal gardens, he saw his sister take Chiyo's hand.

And he saw Azula raise her other hand to strike her with lightning.

"AZULA, NO!"

But the princess wasn't fazed, nor did she slow down. She raised her hand and directed the lightning straight at the apprentice.

Indeed, Chiyo was right.

No matter how fast Azula was, she was always faster.

Chiyo used her free hand to send a quick, forceful jab towards Azula's gut. That critical hit put an abrupt halt on the princess's lightning right before it made contact with her skin. The jab was then followed by two sharp hits on Azula's shoulder and neck.

She never planned on hurting Azula. But if this was the only way to stop her, then so be it.

Azula fell just as she had after Ty Lee had paralyzed her back in the Boiling Rock, but before she hit the grass, Chiyo caught her. She knelt on the grass and held her.

And when she looked up and saw the tears from Chiyo's red-amber eyes, she broke down.

"You were real after all..."

Azula cried as she never had before, her whole body writhing not from physical pain, but from one that was far worse. She shrieked and shouted out her anger, her frustration, her shame, and her pain. It didn't help that she could barely move.

All that agony and inability to act upon it drove her to madness. She wanted to thrash about, lash out. Her breath came off in heaves, her words slurred by the sobs that escaped her.

The apprentice pulled the broken princess close and hugged her tight.

"I'm here, Azula. I'm here."