The wall slid open, and Azula stepped out into a small cell. Behind her, the Dai Li agent sealed the wall again.
Azula observed the decrepit room. Had it really only been a few years since she had lived in a place just like this? Her father sat cross-legged on the straw pallet he called a bed. He looked up at her when the wall opened, and a cold smile curved his lips. Azula appraised him with cool indifference, Zuko's words echoing through her mind.
He's going to turn on you. He's just using you. You're no longer an aid to him. He's going to do away with you.
"How are things going out there, my daughter?" His voice was a low purr that almost sounded affectionate. "Are our plans progressing well?"
"My plans."
Ozai's brows arched as he frowned. "What?"
Azula stepped deeper into the cell. "I said my plans. These are my plans, Father, not yours. And it's because of me that they are progressing." Her lip curled. "Don't forget that."
Ozai studied her for a brief moment. Azula could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he thought of his next ploy, his next move. Then the cold smile was back. "Of course, Princess Azula. I could never forget your invaluable contributions to restore us to power."
She stepped closer to him. Did Ozai shrink back? She blinked, uncertain. "I've been doing some thinking, Father. I don't know how...beneficial…this partnership is any more."
"What are you talking about?" Ozai stared up at her, his brow furrowing. "I need you by my side. Once we take down your brother and reclaim what is ours, we will rule together."
Azula cocked her head to the side. "Zuko told me that I am a threat to you. I suppose I never really thought about it that way."
Confusion flitted across Ozai's face. Azula saw it in his eyes, and there was something more there, something deeper. Something that looked almost like fear.
Ozai stood up. Azula watched him closely. The years in prison, with limited exercise and poor sustenance, were taking their toll on him. His muscles were weak, and his skin was sallow. Grey hairs had begun to streak through his inky hair, and the wrinkles around his mouth and eyes were deeper, more pronounced. Gone was the intimidating Fire Lord she had known, who had ruled with an iron fist. For so long, he had been the only one she had truly feared.
Now she stood before him with the ghost of her brother's words echoing in her mind, and it was as if Azula was seeing him for the first time. He was weak, powerless. The Avatar had taken his bending away, and now what was he? How could her father even think he could compete with her?
"You don't have to listen to him." She turned to the sound of the new voice and found her brother standing outside of the doors to the cell, peering in through the bars on the narrow window. He was watching her intently, his scarred eye trained on her. "You don't have to live in fear of his wrath any longer, Azula."
Something like a smile crossed her face. "I know, brother."
"Azula?" Ozai's voice brought her attention back to him. "Who are you talking to?"
She looked back at the door. Zuko was gone. Azula turned her eyes back to her father. "It's no one."
Ozai appraised her with his calculating eyes. Azula could almost see his thoughts. He thought she was slipping. Maybe she was. She spoke to her dead brother, didn't she? But Azula couldn't think about that now. She needed to focus on this.
Azula drew herself up to her full height. Despite his weakness, Ozai still made her nervous. She wasn't quite afraid, but she was...cautious. Azula had never stood up to her father before. If he could still firebend, he likely would kill her for what she was about to say. But she kept her expression poised and confident.
"There's been a change of plans, Father." Her voice was strong and betrayed none of her trepidation. She narrowed her eyes at him. "The Fire Nation has never had a non-bender on the throne. Even Zuko counts as a firebender. Why should we start now?"
Ozai's jaw clenched, and a tic beneath his eye began to pulse. His hands curled into fists at his sides. Azula watched it all with a grim sort of satisfaction. "Think very carefully about what you are doing, Azula. About what you say next."
"Or what?" Azula scoffed. She stepped closer to him and held out one hand, palm-up. Blue flame lit up the dim space and shadows danced across her menacing features. "You can't do anything to defend yourself. There is nothing you can do to stop me. You are weak." She narrowed her eyes at him. "You have sat in this cell for the past six years while I found a way to escape. I rallied the New Ozai Society and the Dai Li. I found the information about the Conduit. I hired the Kage Noshi." With each statement, her voice rose an octave, uncaring about the prison guards who might hear her. "I sent them after my brother, and they killed him for me. What have you done all of this time, Father, but stew in your own pathetic uselessness?"
She saw the quick movement out of the corner of her eye. His hand cut through the air, aiming toward her face. Azula recognized that move all too well. That had been the same movement he had used against Zuko. If he had been a bender, he would have burned her just like her brother.
"You dare raise your hand against me?" Azula caught the blow against her burned forearm. Pain radiated down her arm and she gritted her teeth. She brought up her right hand, glowing blue with fire, and held it between them. "I think it is you who needs to think carefully about what you are doing, Father, unless, of course…" She lowered her voice to a menacing growl as she spoke her next words, leveling her father with a cool stare. "You need suffering to be your teacher." She brought the flame closer to his face, close enough that a sweat broke out across his forehead and singed his eyebrows.
For the first time, she saw a glimmer of fear in Ozai's eyes. But more prominent than that was his rage. It glittered dangerously in the light of her fire. But Azula was not afraid anymore.
"Fire Lord Zuko is dead," Azula said. "Soon, the Conduit will be here, and I will bring her under my control. Then, I will claim what is rightfully mine: my throne. And you will stay here, in this pitiful cell, where you cannot threaten or control me anymore."
Ozai's lips curled back in a snarl. "Azula—"
She extinguished the flames in her hand and stepped back from him. "There is nothing you can do, Father. You are powerless. Don't forget it."
Azula rapped her knuckles on the damp stone wall, her eyes never leaving her father's. The wall vibrated under her hand and it opened up. The Dai Li agent appraised the situation quickly, and wisely said nothing.
"If you walk away, you will be nothing to me any more, Azula," Ozai warned her. He hadn't moved from where he stood, and she could see the way his hands trembled faintly.
"I'm nothing more than a means to an end to you now, Father," she spat back. Azula stopped just inside the mouth of the tunnel. Her eyes glinted wickedly in the dim lighting. "The next time you see me, I'll be wearing the crown of the Fire Lord. And you will bow to me."
With a wave of her hand, she gestured for the Dai Li agent to close the wall behind them. Azula and her agent were cast into darkness. But even through the wall she could hear her father's enraged shouts of fury.
Azula conjured a small blue flame in the palm of her hand. In the dim blue light, Zuko's eyes flashed. She looked up at him, and a ghost of a smile flitted across her lips.
Zuko smiled back at her. "I'm proud of you, Azula."
She stepped around him and started down the dark tunnel with the Dai Li agent trailing behind her. Whether Zuko followed her or not, she didn't know. It didn't matter anyway. He was dead, and the brother who followed her relentlessly was just a ghost.
Azula didn't say anything as they walked the dark, damp tunnels back to the bunker. The Dai Li agent opened the wall to admit them into her throne room. She was surprised to find that it wasn't empty. A man stood in the center of the room, watching the throne. Azula wasn't surprised to see Zuko sitting in it, but of course, the man couldn't see him.
At the sound of their arrival, the man turned.
Her lip curled. "Ukano."
The leader of the New Ozai Society bowed low to her. "Princess Azula."
She crossed the room toward her throne. Zuko watched her approach, but he made no move to vacate her throne. She scowled at him, and he smirked back at her. Azula turned away from her brother's visage and faced Ukano, opting to remain standing.
"Why are you here? I did not summon you." Her voice was sharp.
Ukano didn't seem able to quite meet her eye. "Your highness...I fear there is a problem."
"Oh? What sort of problem is that?" Azula arched a brow. It couldn't be good, not if Ukano had come without being summoned. He knew better than that.
"It's...Mal-Chin and the noble ladies. We haven't made contact with them in nearly a week." Ukano risked a glance at Azula. "They missed their scheduled meetings with my men. We've made contact with a few of our moles in the palace, and no one has seen them either."
Azula crossed the space between her and Ukano, crossing her arms over her chest. The scorched sleeves of her tunic chafed against the burns on her wrists, but she ignored the pain.
"Speak clearly, Ukano. What are you saying?"
The man hung his head. "I fear...I believe they have been discovered, Princess Azula. It is the only thing that makes sense."
Although her expression did not change, Azula felt a tremor of fear run through her. If Mal-Chin and the others had been compromised, it put their entire plan at risk. If her mother knew her plans, she would be actively trying to stop it. And there was always dear old Uncle Iroh to contend with as well. And although Zuko's death legitimized her claim to the throne, there was nothing to stop their uncle from trying to claim it for himself. And Azula knew that her uncle had powerful allies.
"What should we do, your highness?"
Azula turned away from Ukano. Zuko had shifted in her throne, resting his elbows on his knees. His fingers were tented in front of his mouth as he appraised her with his cool eyes. He seemed to be waiting for her plan, too.
Azula's mind raced. This was not how things were supposed to go...she had everything planned out, every move coordinated. This was not a part of that. But Azula was as cunning and strategic as she had ever been—perhaps more so now that she'd had nothing but time on her hands with which to plot.
Perhaps this could work to her advantage. A cruel smile curled her lips as she looked down at her brother. Yes, perhaps it could.
Azula turned her back on her brother. Ukano looked up at her worriedly. "It appears Mal-Chin and the others are no longer an aid to us. There will be a slight change of plans then." She folded her hands behind her back. "Prepare everyone to attack the palace now."
"Pardon me, princess?" Ukano gaped at her. "You want us to attack the palace now? But, we don't have the Conduit, or Kurai and the other assassins—"
"Are you saying that you doubt my plan, Ukano?"
"Well, no, of course not—"
"Are you saying that your men, and my agents here, are not enough to overthrow a palace that has no Fire Lord, and half of its guards are loyal to me?"
"No, princess—"
"Then we will attack. Tonight." Azula looked back over her shoulder at her throne. Her brother was still watching her. She turned back to Ukano. "Gather our forces, Ukano. I will lead the charge. By dawn tomorrow, we will control the Royal Palace, and I will be the Fire Lord, as I was always meant to be. "
"Of course, your highness."
She pierced him with a cool stare. "And remember, Ukano: failure is not an option. You are dismissed."
Ukano and the Dai Li agent, who had silently remained throughout the meeting, departed. Azula watched them go, and once the wall had been sealed behind them, she turned back to her brother.
Zuko remained on her throne.
Azula laughed, a cruel sound in the still room. "You better enjoy that throne while you can, brother. It won't be yours much longer."
For once, her brother said nothing. He continued to watch her with a calculating gaze. As her brows furrowed, she wondered for a brief moment...did Zuko know something that she didn't?
Night fell on Capital City. And under its shadows, phantom-like figures moved silently through the sleeping city.
It wasn't quite the formidable army Azula had been anticipating—mostly due to the lack of the Conduit's presence—but she knew it would suffice. Word had been sent to her men inside of the palace as well, and they were waiting for her and her men to arrive.
She was even a little regretful that Kurai and his men weren't there. He was strong, and the men he had taken to track down her brother and the Conduit were the strongest of the Kage Noshi. But she was sure that even without them, the night would be successful.
As they approached the palace, her forces split into four groups and began to surround the palace walls. The guards on the top watched them for a brief moment before they turned away.
Azula and a hand-picked platoon of Dai Li agents and Kage Noshi assassins splintered off from the main group. The pair of Dai Li agents opened a hole in the ground just outside of the palace wall. Azula and her men dropped inside. The earthbenders carved a tunnel through the earth, while one of the assassins provided the light in the palm of his hand, guiding them to exactly where Azula needed them to be.
She held up one hand when they reached the proper location. Azula gestured to the earthen ceiling above them, and the Dai Li agents shifted it to form a small hole. Dirt and stone floor crumbled into the tunnel. With a wicked smile, Azula lifted herself from the hole.
She looked around the unfamiliar room. It was a small sitting room, illuminated only by a few oil lamps at this late hour. She could tell it belonged to a child: the curtains and tapestries were woven with pink, dolls sat propped against the cushions before the tea table, and there was just something...girlish about it. Azula glowered at the room.
Kiyi. Her mother's true pride and joy, outside of Zuko.
Azula crept across the room, her booted feet silent on the marble floor. She reached the bedchamber door and opened it slowly. The hinges were well-oiled and they did not squeak. Azula slipped into the room.
A large canopy bed occupied most of the space. No lamps were lit in the bedchamber, but the curtains of one large window had been left open, and the moon's silver glow illuminated the small shape on the bed.
Azula slipped across the floor until she towered over the small figure. Her half-sister. Azula paused to study her sleeping face for a brief moment. She could see herself in the girl's features. Her lips twisted into a snarl.
As quick as a viper-rat, Azula grabbed the girl, clamping one hand over her mouth as she drew her against her.
Kiyi woke with a start, a scream pressing against the palm of Azula's hand as she thrashed against her captor.
"Stop struggling, or I will hurt you," Azula hissed in the girl's ear.
The girl's struggles weakened, and Azula carried her through the room, back to the hole in the floor where her men waited.
"Get up here now," Azula snapped at them. The Dai Li agents and the Kage Noshi pulled themselves into the room. Kiyi renewed her struggles in Azula's arms. "Tie her hands together now, and gag her. She's not a bender, but I'm not taking any chances."
"Yes, princess." One of the assassins moved towards them, a coil of rope in his hands.
The girl's bare, small foot lashed out and caught the assassin in the groin. He faltered as a pained grunt left him. Azula reared back, digging her nails into the soft flesh of Kiyi's cheek as the girl struggled harder. Azula brought up her other hand and let fire form on the tips of her fingers.
"If you play with fire, you're going to get burned," Azula snarled. The girl let out a terrified whimper and went limp in Azula's arms. "That's what I thought." She looked at her men. "What are you waiting for? Tie her up!"
The men moved toward Azula and the girl. But before they could restrain her, the doors burst open and two women with white-painted faces poured into the room. Azula's lip curled back in a snarl as she recognized the Kyoshi Warriors.
"Get them!" Azula hissed to her men.
The Dai Li launched earthen handcuffs at the warriors, but the fan-wielding fighters ducked out of the way and moved forward. The Kage Noshi attacked, engaging the Kyoshi Warriors with their blades. The warriors put up a good fight, but it wasn't enough to best the Kage Noshi, and soon their bodies lay discarded on the floor.
"Now tie her up," Azula commanded.
Soon, Kiyi's hands were bound together and her ankles were tied. Azula deposited the girl on a cushion and pointed her flame-encased fingers at the girl's head, a silent threat.
"W-who are you?" Kiyi hiccuped out, her eyes wide in the dim room. Tears streamed freely down her pale face.
Azula leaned in close and smiled devilishly. "You don't know? Why, I'm your sister, Azula."
Kiyi cowered back in fear, her breath stuttering in her chest. Azula laughed. She had wondered how much the girl would know about her. Given her reaction, she knew enough to be afraid. Good.
Behind her, the bedchamber door opened. The Kage Noshi assassins and the Dai Li dropped into attack positions, but Azula kept her flaming fingers pointed at the young girl's head.
A young woman wearing a dressing robe stood in the doorway. She took in the strange men and the woman before the small girl, and fear dawned coldly on her pretty face.
"Kiyi!" The woman started forward, but Azula gestured menacingly.
"If you come any closer, I'll give her a scar to match her brother," Azula hissed. She appraised the woman. She must have been a nanny of some sort. A cold smile curved Azula's lips. "Actually..be a dear, won't you, and go fetch my mother. I think it's time for a little family reunion."
The young woman hesitated, her eyes darting back and forth in uncertainty. When she saw that none of them made a move to harm her, she turned and fled.
Sokka awoke with a start. His skin was slick with sweat from his nightmare. All he could remember were blue flames.
He reached out beside him, searching for Suki, but found his fiancée wasn't there. Sokka sat upright and rubbed his throbbing temples. He'd forgotten she was guarding Princess Ursa.
The past few days had been quiet. The traitors hadn't given them any new information, but Mai's intel had been invaluable. Sokka was surprised. He hadn't expected the Fire Lord's melancholy ex-girlfriend to be an ally.
But because of her, they knew where her father's secret hideout was located. He had tried to convince her to join him, Mai had said, using her breakup with Zuko as a catalyst. Mai had turned him down and pretended she didn't care either way, but she had realized that she could use this to her advantage. Over time she had begun to work her way in to gather information, intent on passing it along to Zuko. "He was a bad boyfriend, but that doesn't mean I want him dead," Mai had explained. Her father, believing she was finally seeing the truth of things, had only been too willing to divulge the New Ozai Society's plans to his daughter.
The New Ozai Society had been plotting ways to overthrow Zuko ever since he had taken the throne at the end of the war. But nothing solid could be had until Azula's escape from prison. She had found them, and with her father, they had begun to plot against Zuko. And somewhere along the way, Ozai and Azula had learned of the prophecy and the Conduit. From there, it was just a matter of scheming and biding their time until the prophecy was upon them.
Sokka shook his head to clear the thoughts away. He had thought he'd left behind the days of warfare and strategy with the end of the Hundred Years' War, but he had apparently been wrong. Because if Mai was to be believed, and he thought she was, then that meant they were on the brink of another war—a civil war within the Fire Nation. One that involved a deadly battle between Aang and the Conduit.
He laid back down and closed his eyes. He needed his rest. Tomorrow, he and the Kyoshi Warriors were going to storm Ukano's hideout and arrest them all. But there was something eating away at him, some niggling feeling in the back of his mind. It felt like the hairs on the back of his neck were raised, and his instincts were telling him that there was danger nearby. Sokka had learned to trust his instincts.
"One patrol won't hurt," he muttered to himself as he slipped out of bed.
Sokka buckled his belt with his scabbard around his waist. He left from his bedchamber and started toward Princess Ursa's bedchamber in the Royal Suites. As he went, the warning bells in his head screaming danger grew louder until he found that he was sprinting through the corridors. He couldn't help but notice the lack of guards. Where is everyone? Sokka wondered as he pounded up a flight of stairs.
Sokka ran past a bank of windows in a long corridor. Bursts of orange caught his attention. Sokka skidded to a stop and pressed his face against the cool glass.
In the courtyard below, men were fighting. In the flashes of fire, he recognized the palace guards. They were attacking the Kyoshi warriors! What was going on? Sokka also saw the familiar green and black robes of the Dai Li. But even more startling than that were the black-masked men attacking the Kyoshi Warriors. A chill went through him.
The Kage Noshi.
"No," Sokka whispered.
Then he peeled himself away from the window and ran for Ursa's room.
The attack came from nowhere.
One moment, Suki was patrolling the halls of the Royal Suites with one of her warriors, Yoko, and all was quiet.
The next, men in black masks seemed to pour out of the shadows and swarmed them without any warning at all.
Suki and Yoko fought hard, throwing themselves into the thick of the attackers. She felt the satisfying crunch as a nose broke behind the mask. Her hand stung from the contact with the hard metal, but Suki didn't let herself linger on it as she brought her leg around in a roundhouse kick that threw the assailant into the wall. He crumpled to the floor and lay still.
Suki recognized the black masks: the Kage Noshi.
She spun around, ready for the next attack. Yoko was fighting off three of the Kage Noshi assassins. Suki launched herself into the fray, a whirlwind of arms and legs that dealt devastating blows.
But the assassins were just as well trained as the Kyoshi Warriors—if not better, although Suki would never admit it out loud. Their style of fighting was different from the Kyoshi's. Where they used their opponents' force against them, the assassins lashed out in a succession of quick jabs before withdrawing to circle around and lash out again. Suki found herself spinning and twisting so much she was nearly dizzy.
But Yoko and Suki were not ones to back down from a fight, and the two of them employed all of their skills to take out the assassins. The men were felled before them quicker than Suki could have imagined.
For a brief moment, Suki thought they might win. They were outnumbered two to eight, but she and Yoko had dispatched half of the assassins. She knew this fight was only just beginning though. They were like snail-ants: where there was one, there were more.
Suki also suspected that this wasn't a coincidence. What were the odds Azula's assassins would attack the palace the night before Suki and Sokka were going to raid Ukano's hideout? She didn't like those odds at all.
Suki jammed the closed end of her fan into the neck of an assassin. He dropped with a thud to the marble floor, and Suki was suddenly very grateful that Ty Lee had joined their ranks. Her chi-blocking came in handy.
In the heat of battle, Suki never saw the assassin that came up behind her. He brought his hands down on the top of her head, and this time, it was Suki who dropped to the marble floor.
Sokka burst through the heavy double doors of the Royal Suites. The sounds of his heavy footsteps was muffled by the plush rug that covered the hardwood floor. The empty halls were dimly lit by wall sconces. Sokka was aware that he should be more cautious in case the enemy had infiltrated the Royal Suites, but he didn't want to waste any more time. How long had the palace been under attack while he slept?
He felt like he was failing before the fight had even begun.
Sokka rounded the corner of the hallway that led to Princess Ursa's suites. He had only been there a handful of times over the last few weeks, but he knew the way well. He knew Zuko's personal suites were nearby too, down another corridor, and Kiyi's rooms were just a hallway over from Ursa's. The acting Fire Lord had made sure to show Sokka their quarters, in the event that something like this happened, and Sokka was suddenly very grateful for that tour.
Ty Lee and Mai stood outside of the cream-colored double doors that led to Ursa's rooms. Ty Lee was standing at attention while Mai slouched against the door frame, looking as perpetually bored as she ever did. But when they saw Sokka coming, they both stood up.
"Sokka! What's wrong?" Ty Lee demanded to know.
Sokka keeled over, chest heaving from the exertion. "The palace is under attack! There's men—Dai Li, Kage Noshi—attacking the other Kyoshi Warriors." He looked up at the two female warriors. "The guards...the guards were attacking them too."
"Who?" Ty Lee frowned. "The Dai Li? Or the Kage Noshi?"
"No, Ty Lee." Sokka shook his head despondently before he looked back up at her. "They were attacking the Kyoshi Warriors."
Her mouth dropped open.
"I told you guys we couldn't trust anyone," Mai said.
Sokka straightened and started for Ursa's bedroom. "Not now, Mai."
He lifted his hand to knock when noise behind him distracted him. He turned around, hand on the hilt of his sword. A woman in a pale red dressing gown was sprinting down the hall with tears streaming down her face.
Ty Lee bounded across the floor and met the newcomer halfway. "Kayo! What's going on? What happened?"
The young woman collapsed in the Kyoshi Warrior's arms. "It's Kiyi! She has Kiyi!"
Behind him, the double doors flew open and Sokka glanced back over his shoulder. Princess Ursa, her hair free of its royal topknot and wearing a red silk dressing robe, stood in the doorway. Her face was pallid and her eyes were wide.
"Princess Ursa." Sokka turned toward her, but the acting Fire Lord pushed him aside and ran toward the sobbing woman.
Princess Ursa pulled the young woman away from Ty Lee and shook her lightly. "Kayo! Where is Kiyi? Where is my daughter?"
Arctic fear pooled in Ursa's gut. Her instinct had told her to keep Kiyi closer to her, but she hadn't wanted to frighten her daughter, and when Ursa had brought up the idea of having Kiyi sleeping in her room, the girl had protested, saying she was much too old to sleep in her mother's bed. Ursa, despite everything that had happened, had foolishly hoped that the treachery wouldn't get past the palace's defenses and reach her daughter.
"P-P-Princess Azula!" Kayo shuddered as another sob left her. "S-s-she has her, in her rooms! She t-t-told me to-to come and g-get you! That it's t-time...for a f-f-family reunion."
Ursa's hands fell away from the girl's shoulders. Her blood ran cold as her eyes cut down the hallway. Wordlessly, the princess sprinted down the corridor to her daughter's room.
Sokka started after her, drawing his sword. "Ursa, no, wait!" He tossed a look at Ty Lee and Mai over his shoulder. "Come on! We've got to rescue Kiyi!"
"What about Suki and the other Kyoshi Warriors?" Ty Lee quipped as she bounded weightlessly down the hall.
Sokka clenched his jaw. "We can't worry about them. Right now, all that matters is getting Kiyi back from Azula." His eyes narrowed. "And taking care of her once and for all."
"You think you can take on Azula?" Mai drawled as they cut down the hallway to Kiyi's room.
Sokka eyed her. "What choice do I have? Besides, I watched the two of you do it before with my own eyes. I'm sure you can do it again."
Mai and Ty Lee eyed each other with uncertain glances as they followed the water tribe prince.
It didn't matter that facing off against Zuko's sister chilled them all to the core. They would fight her to the death. Especially with Kiyi in danger. If anything happened to her, Zuko would never forgive them. And none of them were prepared to have the Fire Lord as an enemy again.
They skidded to a stop behind Ursa, who had stopped in the doorway to Kiyi's room. Sokka stepped around her, ready to face off against Azula, but he froze when he saw the scene before them.
Two Dai Li agents and two Kage Noshi assassins stood at the ready in the middle of the room, but that wasn't what had struck fear into Sokka's heart. No, what cut through him like a knife was the sight of Princess Azula, pointing her flaming fingers at Kiyi's head.
"Azula." Ursa's voice was high-pitched and too loud in the deadly-quiet. "Let her go."
The princess turned her wild golden eyes on her mother. "And why would I do that, Mother, when having her here gives me everything I want?" Sokka watched her familiar, cruel smile dance across her lips. "You are going to listen very closely to what I am about to say, do you understand?"
Sokka risked a glance over at Ursa. Her eyes were wide with fear and her mouth was pressed into a thin line. She hadn't shed a single tear, but Sokka could see the dampness in her eyes. Whether she was frightened or angry, he couldn't quite tell.
Ursa stared her eldest daughter down. When she spoke, her voice was cold. There was only the slightest tremor to it. "What do you want, Azula?"
"What I've always wanted, Mother." Azula sneered. "I want my throne. And seeing as the Fire Lord is...predisposed, it's mine for the taking."
"I am the regent Fire Lord acting in your brother's stead," Ursa replied. "You have no rightful claim to the throne."
"That's where you're wrong." Azula fixed her mother with a frigid stare, her cruel smile curving her lips once again. "Your precious Zuko is dead."
Sokka heard the audible gasp from Ursa. Behind him, Ty Lee let out a soft, "No." He wondered distractedly what Mai's reaction was...but he only wondered so he didn't have to think about what the sadistic woman before him was saying.
Zuko couldn't be dead. There was no way. He was a master firebender, and he was the Fire Lord, and Katara was with him. There was no way she would have let anything happen to him.
Sokka wished Toph were here...but then again, she wasn't able to tell when Azula was lying before. Only time would tell if she was lying now.
Sokka glowered at her. "If you think you can just waltz in here and take Zuko's throne—"
"Yes, that's exactly what I think. And there is nothing you can do to stop me." Azula looked at Kiyi. Tears streamed silently down the girl's face. "This is what is going to happen now. The acting Fire Lord is going to step down. All of you, as well as your Kyoshi Warriors, are going to surrender. My first act as Fire Lord will be to have you traitors arrested and thrown in jail."
Ursa took a small step forward. A single tear rolled down her cheek. "What then, Azula? Do you think the Avatar won't come to avenge Zuko? Or his friends? If you think it will be that easy, you will be making a grave mistake."
Azula's face contorted into a mask of fury. "Do not tell me, Mother!" She grabbed Kiyi with her free hand, knotting her fist into the young girl's hair. Kiyi cried out as she was wrenched to her feet. Azula pointed her flaming fingers at the girl's temple. Kiyi strained her neck to keep away from the flames, and in seconds, Sokka could smell the odor of burning hair.
"Azula, don't!" Ursa reached out for her youngest daughter.
"Mummy!" Kiyi looked at her mother with unbridled terror. "Mummy, help me, please!"
"The only way you can help her now is by surrendering," Azula said darkly. "What's it going to be?"
Sokka slid his sword into its sheath. His jaw was a hard line and he was sure if he were a waterbender, the iciness of his glare alone would have frozen Azula solid. He stepped toward the acting Fire Lord and rested his hand on her shoulder.
"We don't have a choice," he said quietly. He squeezed her shoulder lightly. "This won't last forever."
Ursa didn't take her eyes off of her eldest daughter. "I know, Sokka."
Azula's eyes did not waver from her enemies. "Tie them up. And if they resist, kill them." She pulled Kiyi in closer, her flaming fingers hovering just beyond the point of burning the girl. "But I don't think they're going to be a problem."
The Dai Li and the Kage Noshi moved toward them, remaining in their offensive stances.
"Just let them do it," Sokka said, just as much to himself as he said it to Ty Lee and Mai. A Kage Noshi grabbed Sokka's wrist while his other hand planted firmly down on his shoulder, forcing Sokka to his knees with a painful wince. As the assassin bound the warrior's wrists with coarse rope, Sokka looked up into Azula's face. "This is only temporary."
She smirked down at him. "Keep telling yourself that."
The Kage Noshi yanked him to his feet. He was dragged backwards from the room. He and Azula stared each other down until he was pulled around a corner. Only then did he let his eyes close as a shallow breath left him.
He had failed. He couldn't protect Princess Ursa. He couldn't protect Kiyi. Sokka had one job...and he had failed it. Zuko was possibly dead. And he didn't know if Katara was alright. He didn't know if Suki had been captured or killed. He didn't know when Aang and Toph might return to the Fire Nation.
All he could do now was wait...and hope that his friends came through.