Sorry about the long wait everyone. I went through surgery. Truly nothing serious, but it did screw up my muscles for a while. At any rate, I'm back.
Aang was still reeling. He couldn't believe that Azula was dating anyone, let alone Earth King Kuei. Aang thought he was the most forgiving human being on the planet. Clearly he was mistaken; Kuei was. As the King greeted them, Aang found himself staring, quite openly at the ruler. He knew he was being obvious, really even a little rude, but he just couldn't help himself. The news was just so…so BIG!
The King, being a naturally good host and a pretty amiable guy, ignored Aang's wide eyeballs and, showed his guests onto the porch where the dogwood blossoms were just starting to lose their bloom. "I'm happy you're all here. Except," the King frowned, "wasn't her therapist requested?"
"Unarqa wanted to get to work right away," Zuko explained. "She left with your psychiatrist the instant we landed; she'll most likely have a session with Azula after that."
The King sighed with relief. "This therapist seems very dedicated to her work. That encourages me. I will just have to meet her at her convenience, then."
"How uh…is she?" Aang asked. "She's not ummm…. What I mean to say is….is…"
"Aang's wondering if she's crazy."
"The therapist?"
Aang facepalmed. "No, your girlfriend!"
Kuei smiled, a little sadly. "She's always going to be, I think. I'm well aware of her condition and I have the resources needed to care for her. She loves me. I can tell."
"But…she threw you in jail," Aang protested. "She took over your kingdom!"
"I remember." He shrugged, a goofy smile on his face, as though Azula's gravest crime had been knocking over a convenience store. "She did it with such style, didn't she?"
"But, she's…evil!"
Kuei set his head in his hand. A bored, somewhat annoyed look was starting to creep into his eyes. "You're not really telling me anything new. I do beg to differ with you on whether or not she's evil however. I believe she has a certain edge," he smiled wistfully, "an edge I won't ever have. And that's why she's perfect for me." He looked at Zuko. "The Firelord should be assured that I have the finest staff helping her. Dr. Ping has been working with her for the past three weeks. He says that her extreme intelligence and self-loathing are her two greatest barriers. Unfortunately I think she poses the greatest danger to herself, not me. At any rate, Firelord Zuko, why don't you go and see for yourself? I think seeing you would lift her spirits," Kuei frowned as a sudden thought came to him, "what about her mother?"
"Mom is the interim ruler while I am in your country," Zuko explained, "but she is anxious to hear about Azula as well."
"That heartens me," Kuei said, his eyes welling a little, "but I will miss her."
The two teenagers dismissed themselves from the King and decided to go check on Azula. As they were walking away, Aang started to feel less floored by the prospect of Azula dating the Earth King. In fact, he felt a strange peace welling up in his chest as he crossed the hall to the back of the palace where Azula was being kept with the bison. Granted, Azula still wasn't his favorite person, and they would never be best of friends…but he did enjoy her quirky sense of humor now and then, and she was his best friend's sister, no matter how strange or impaired she was.
And there was Kuei….who overall was a good guy. He was an incompetent and spineless ruler, but a good guy nonetheless. He was also missing something, something that he needed in order to rule effectively…respect. How did one earn respect? Through competence. How did one become competent? Through intelligence and experience and the bravery needed to employ and portray both.
And then it hit him: Azula had all the qualities that Kuei didn't. Kuei had all the qualities that Azula lacked. She was the yin to his yang, the evil to his good. He was the good cop; she was the bad cop!
They might be crack inspired. They might a pair beyond belief. But in an odd and messed up way, they were completely perfect for each other.
Aang dropped his staff and slid against a garden column as they stepped outside the palace. A snort popped out of him. Several giggles and tears followed, and before Zuko could ask "what's so funny?" an uncontrollable laughing jag had the Airbender crumpled on the ground. He was pounding the earth with his fist and hiccupping.
Zuko gave him a look. After several snot-filled minutes, Aang pulled himself together enough to eek between chuckles: "I never thought I'd say this, but they work! They really really do!"
It took Aang several more minutes to collect himself before they were able to cross the greens to the barn.
# # # # #
Something wsn't adding up. Over the past week, Dr. Ping had jacked up the mediation to dangerous levels. He'd intensified his sessions with her through what therapy he knew. He'd pulled out the ink blots, done sedative assisted hypnosis and everything short of electroshock therapy to rid Azula of her hallucinations. And still…still they were persistent.
The physician took another sip of tea. He'd been through four cups already that day, and it was doing little to tie things together for him. At Unarqua's advice, he had started with the stack that chronicled Azula's yearlong stay at the Fire Nation Asylum. The hallucinations she endured during her hospitalization weren'tanything like what she was describing. In the Asylum it was always mother. Mother didn't trouble her in the least these days.
Either the Fire Nation doctors were horrid at keeping medical records, which given their track record with patients, was likely.
Or this wasn't a hallucination they were dealing with.
Then, what if anything, was it?
# # # #
"Azula I am so sorry you are having so much trouble! " Unarqa related as she implored Azula to lie down on the couch. Unarqa had cleared out all the bison, save for Dominatia so the three of them could have an intensive session together. Azula was Lord of all the Bison, but Dominatia was the only certified therapy animal of the group.
Despite Unarqa's best efforts, however, nothing seemed to be working.
Azula was unusually resistant. Unarqa had never seen her like this. Her lips were set thin, her eyes indignant, her arms crossed against her chest. She had ignored Unarqa's request entirely along with a half dozen other requests for her to sit down, drink some tea, enjoy a shoulder massage, etc.
"My therapy animal is in need of more training," Azula said, as though Unarqa hadn't requested anything of her. "She's withdrawing from alcohol and I think she's getting the shakes."
Dominatia flattened her ears against her head and considered her mistress with a wry, annoyed look. She puffed defiantly out her nostrils before focusing on the corner where Sozin was glaring at them again.
Unarqua cocked her head, not fully convinced of Azula's diagnosis. "Azula, Dominatia seems very fixated on something."
"I told you," Azula said, with the calmest demeanor she'd had since she started down crazy road, "she's having withdrawals."
Dominatia snarled in annoyance and flicked her neck just enough to check her mistress with a look before staring at the corner again.
Unarqa took a cleansing breath. Although she had trained Dominatia, and did provide her with reinforcement instruction from time to time, this wasn't what she wanted to focus on today. Nevertheless, she could see that Azula couldn't be re-directed until her request was taken care of.
Unarqa decided to humor her for the moment. "When did Dominatia quit the alcohol?"
"A couple weeks ago," Azula said. "And she's been extremely indignant ever since! I told her to talk to a doctor before doing it..but no, she wanted to do it cold turkey-hawk! No medical assistance, absolutely none!"
Dominatia snarled at Azula again, but didn't take her eyes from the corner. She was shaking a little, though not for the reason Azula suspected.
"And now she's ignoring me," Azula threw her hands up, somewhat annoyed that Dominatia continued to respond only slightly to her insulting rant. Part of the fun of living with a non-judgmental- alcoholic ten-ton-magical beast was the ability to get arile out of her. But Dominatia only wanted to growl at the corner.
Unarqa approached Azula and placed a tentative hand on her shoulder. "If I take Dominatia outside and work with her for a few minutes, do you promise to open up to me? I can see that you've been through a lot, but…"
"I know, I know…I have to focus if we can have any progress. Constructive not destructive behavior," Aula bit out. "I get,and yes I promise to focus. Just, deal with my alcoholic therapy pet, please!"
Unarqa led a somewhat resistant Dominatia outside. The beast warbled in protest, but Unarqa was very good at soothing distraught people and animals alike. "She has a guard with her, Dominatia, she will be all right."
Unfortunately for the well-meaning therapist, there were two things that she didn't know. The first was that this guard was part of the personal King's guard, trained by none other than Azula. While it was true that she had given the guards wonderful training, it was also true that, Azula, being Azula, always kept the best combat techniques for herself.
She could, and intended if necessary, to overtake him.
It would also have benefited Unarqa to know that Azula was manipulating her again. What was on her mind was getting the crazy to vanish through any means necessary. Or, what she thought was the crazy. Dr. Ping's medications had only softened the Kyoshi warrior and hadn't done a thing to Sozin. Zuzu should be here soon and even though their relationship had improved in the past couple of years, her pride still suffered a little when she lost it in front of him.
She preferred not to let Zuzu see her this way. And right now, she really wanted to be alone. Well…almost.
"Oh, guard," Azula said with an uncharacteristic sweetness. "Could you come here please? I want to show you a new technique."
The soldier at the other end of the room, who had been silent and emotionless until just then, swallowed uncomfortably.
# # # # #
"AANG THAT IS DISGUSTING!"
They were right in front of the barn's main door when Aang had, quite suddenly and unceremoniously, vomited all over Zuko's boots.
Zuko, being Zuko, didn't usually react to much, but it was just so out of the blue that he couldn't help but recoil and yell.
"I'm sorry," Aang gasped, "I don't…I don't know…."but before he could explain himself he was vomiting again. This time he managed to avoid Zuko, but he still belched a healthy amount onto the lawn. Then, out of instinct, he started to back away from the barn.
"I…I can't go in there," Aang said with a strange realization. "Something in there is making me sick."
"What are you talking about? I'm fine! Unarqa, Azula and about half a dozen nurses are in there right now. No one's running away puking. "
Aang swallowed against the taste of bile in his throat and shook his head. He was on his knees, staring at the ground in front of him. "Something very, very bad is in that barn Zuko," he said solemnly.
It was Zuko's turn to laugh, "I know! It's my sister, remember?"
Aang shook his head and put his hands to his temple. "No. Something way worse than her!" He looked at Zuko. "You go check on Azula. I'm going back to Kuei's garden. I need to meditate. There's an evil presence in that barn, and the only place I can confront it is in the spirit world."
# # # #
"You see, it has nothing to do with strength and everything to do with mental wherewithal. You have to defeat your enemy up here, and after that, well physical defeat merely seals the deal." Azula touched the tip of the guard's sword to her temple as she spoke
The guard, who was looking up at Azula from his seated place. He was tied with saddle rope to a column in the elaborate barn, and he nodded enthusiastically. His eyes seemed a little sheepish. After all, Azula had just physically incapacitated and hogtied him to a column of the barn. "So, uhh, does this mean I can go now?" he asked.
"No, I need you to stay there for a little bit."
"What should I do?" That voice again. The one that was so like her own, only perhaps an octave higher, because, well it was hers.
In the time it had taken for Azula to incapacitate the guard, Sozin had vanished, but she was back.
Azula ran to the marble feeding trough where fresh water had been poured for her bison. And of course, she was there, in the water's reflection her eyes sharp and malevolent beneath the Kyoshi makeup.
"You should die," she told her reflection.
Kyoshi Azula smiled. "But I am you."
Azula's knuckles went white around the knife she was holding. "No you're not!" she screamed. "Not anymore." She leaned over the trough. Her voice was so loud it was stirring the water. Her eyes wide and gleaming, her tiny frame quaking with unrestrained rage. The knife clanged against the side of the trough and Azula was reminded of its presence. A conclusion came to her, and then a thought. "I'm tired of listening to you. I'm going to shut you up now. For good!" She plunged the knife into the trough and the Kyoshi Azula vanished behind a cloud of red bursting in the water.
The next thing she knew, an intense, searing pain was tearing through her abdomen, her knees were on the ground, and she was pulling the last 1/3 of the bloodied blade from her body.
She heard the guard screaming for help as she passed into darkness.
A/N: NO WE'RE NOT DONE YET! I'M NOT GOING TO END IT LIKE THIS. JUST HANG IN THERE KIDS! IT DOES HAVE A HAPPY ENDING, I PROMISE.