A/N: I do not own Avatar, The Last Airbender. This is where the dream weaving will get a little confusing,but I will do my best to make it as clear as possible. Sorry once again for the epic delay in updating this story. School and work are still wearing me down and my lap top has been acting a little funny...BUT...enough excuses...lets make this better than the last chapter...please read and review. Thanks!

Chapter 18

Chung

Ignorant Fool!

Death is an endless sleep and now I am forever in the dream state. You have no idea what you're doing. You are not the powerful being you once were, and soon you will pay for it.

Ozai...is so far gone and power mad as he ever was. The one person controlling the minds through dream weaving can only control one mind at a time. He will learn soon enough that he can not manipulate both his son and daughter. Even in a waking state he failed with that. It's one or the other. Only the truly skilled can manipulate more than one mind at a time...and in spite of his pride he is not that skilled in this particular art.

And his victim? The circus girl...he can only keep her in a paralyzed form for so long, when he tries to control his children his focus will be gone and she will be free...and with her new found skills..she will become quite the threat...

But until that time...I shall assist my Lady Ursa in the only way I can...

Azula

"ZUKO!" I could feel the unfamiliarity overwhelm my senses as I screamed for my brother.

My legs should have felt like fire and tree stumps with the way I ran after them, but they didn't, I felt as though I were flying. Screaming made my voice hoarse and I started coughing up spit and blood. Father...he is going to kill Zuko...guised as me... I have never felt so sick before, with all of these thoughts rushing to my head.

My Throne...

My Legacy....

My Love.

Nothing lined up anymore. A year ago I would never have been in this situation, running after my stupid brother and trying to save his life from our father, the man who promised me the throne when I was so young, who gave me everything I ever needed to succeed. At my age, I have a legacy, I was the deadly fingertips of the war that spread the fire farther and faster than any general before me. The power and my history tied in so well, but where does that leave Ty Lee? In my old life with my father she wouldn't have a place at all...but now...

I can't take the past into consideration...not anymore...

Racing like the wind I jetted into the desert once again, my path was clear, I needed to save my brother. But it still felt strange....unnatural even. Sooner than I could even imagine I was in front of the cave that I left my father sleeping in. The dreams I had while I stayed there at his side seemed to rush back again. How he and Mother argued with me between them. Fire at one end...and darkness at another...Stepping inside once again was hard because there was not a roaring fire at the other end and I could not see anything. My father...was so far no where to be seen...my eyes only barely started to adjust to the darkness until...

"Azula...?" Came a voice from behind me that felt so calm and almost comforting, though it had a strain of bewilderment to it.

I turned to face my brother, who I had come to save to begin with. He brushed the hair from in front of his face and looked at me with his new wave of concern since my release from prison. Stepping towards me with some caution he gently asked me why I was there...My body froze, some how my pride masked my apparent care for him and I found it pretty much impossible to answer him. Knowing that Father was somewhere behind me made me nervous and for once in my life I felt more afraid than ever before.

There was only one way to answer him...

Zuko

I am a fool. I believed in her so much that...I forgot who she really was. My sister, my blood, family is supposed to mean something but in our case it never did. All of us ended up being so two faced one way or another. Azula...I thought you had changed for the better...

"I am here to find Dad..." She said to me, putting herself into a fighting stance. "Do you think you're going to stop me?"

I didn't want to believe it, but how could I not? Azula was never the disobedient type to our Father. She was always his favorite and even with all of my hope and wishful thinking...there was nothing in this world that could change her. When she stood against me waiting for the fight I gradually found myself in a defensive position, waiting for the first move to be made. I didn't want this though...

"Don't make me regret my decision in letting you out of prison, Azula."

"Oh please." She rolled her eyes. "You know deep down you always had regret for trusting me."

"No. I thought you had changed."

"You wanted me to, but you knew I wouldn't. Why don't you just admit it? You wouldn't even be out here if you didn't trust me. If you really trusted me at all you would be back at the palace without the faintest worry that I would go back to dad. But you're not there, you're here, to kill him."

"To save you." I managed to protest.

"To save yourself."

"I don't need to save myself."

"Oh you do." She laughed. "If you let him run free, you fail as Fire Lord, thus proving that the banished prince is no more than a pathetic little boy with a mark from the very man that damned him to begin with."

"Quiet..." My lips pursed and I tried to silence her.

"Don't be angry with me for pointing out the truth. Come on, Zuzu, you and I both know the cost of you letting him stay alive just inches away from me...just because the war is over that does not mean that everyone agrees with its outcome. There is an entire nation screaming for Ozai's return. You abandoned the traditional values of our country and betrayed it. Anyone who follows you now will regret it once they realize your faults only after such a short time on the throne. You locked him up, he go out, and you let him live."

"I won't let him live."

"Then you'll resort to murder? Thats pretty low even for you, oh benign Fire Lord Zuko." She continued to mock me.

"ENOUGH!" My voice shook as I shot a ball of fire her way.

She dodged it and the fire hit the back of the cave. The flames touched something to make it grow much larger and soon after this rotting smell followed amongst the smoke. What did I hit?

Azula turned sharply and backed away from the flames. Soon she stood beside me and we stared in awe at the flames, as if hypnotized.

"Zuko..."

"Did I...?"

"I think so..."

"No..." My eyes then burned from the smoke and tears welled up. "Father..."

"You killed him!" She pointed to the burning corpse not too far away from us.

"No...it can't be...it can't be real!" I stepped closer and forced myself to look upon my father, who burned and burned...his eyes looked towards mine but he did not move. He was dead...dead because of me. Looking back to Azula, she looked dead herself...her face was blank and her body motionless as she watched the flames rise. I reached out for her but before I could come close she twitched and looked beside her...as if looking to someone else...and her body...seemed to fall into an embrace...but...no one was there...? She broke down right in front of me and started crying like I had once seen her before...after our Agni Kai. But instead of crying alone, she looked as if someone was trying to hold her... Facing her completely I tried to calm her down.

"Azula...?" I put my hands upon her shoulders and made her face me.

Her eyes spilled with tears and then widened as she shook and screamed my name...then as fast as lightning could strike there was a tight grip around my neck that burned tremendously. A force that spun me around and knocked me down onto the ground. Feeling dizzy and breathless, I looked up at the dark figure before me...

"Father..." I mumbled before passing out.

Aang

"Zuko?" I called to my sleeping friend.

He was tossing and turning a lot, and mumbling incoherently in his sleep. I was dozing off myself when I heard him scream and cough. When I woke up completely I saw Sokka over him trying to revive him from what looked like some kind of suffocation. Moving into action I managed to pump some air into his chest.

"ZUKO!" I tried to shake him awake.

Sokka sat him up right and we did all we could to wake him...eventually he came out of it. Coughing up smoke and his eyes now dry and reddened he looked around anxiously and demanded to know where we were at once.

"We're heading to the cave we found Azula...remember?" Sokka tried to refresh his memory.

"I hope we aren't too late..." His voice was groggy sounding and hoarse.

"Try to get some more rest...you look exhausted." I suggested calmly.

"No." He shook his head. "We're not even safe in our dreams, if anything we're worse off."

We stared at him for a moment, not sure what to think exactly. Dream weaving wasn't something we were used to. Its method was practically unknown all over the world, only a few people have ever studied it and until this point I'd never even thought it was a legitimate form of bending. But what could I do? This can't be ignored...so to the best of my ability I offered the Fire Lord this much...

"It will be over soon, I promise."

That's all I can do for now...

Azula

Everything is gone. Everything I have ever worked so hard for was just burned away in front of my eyes by my stupid brother. I felt nothing, not even numbness, my mind blocked out all feelings I could ever dream to possess. With my Father dead I was nothing, any chance I had at restoring my former life and honor was now gone.

Everything is gone now...

"You don't mean that..." Came a voice from the dark side of the cave that lead outside.

Turning slowly I saw a faded pink figure standing by the entrance of the cave. My jaw must have dropped dramatically because she laughed...my Ty Lee...back again and looking perfect as always. Cautiously I approached her, I could not believe my eyes. The girl I left in that quaint village singed with burn marks all over her body looked...absolutely perfect and untouched. My dream come true, she was well again and smiling at me. But behind her smile and deep within her eyes I could tell she was upset with me for leaving her the way I did. Some how, I always found myself submitting to her will...no one ever noticed before but my love for her made me almost like a slave...to her or the feeling...I'm not sure which.

Slowly I approached her, my eyes slowly gazed at the ground and I son found myself staring at her shoes. She laughed and slid her fingertips beneath my chin and lifted my face up to look at no words said she leaned in and kissed me gently. Pulling away she looked right into my eyes and told me what I had so long waited for...

"Let's go home."

Ozai

"Yes...let's go home."

And undercover once again, I planted the seed of hope in her head and she left with her makeshift lover. Soon enough...things will go as planned.

Ty Lee

What time is it?.... What day is it? ....Where...am I?

Time didn't have much meaning now, I know I was asleep for a long time...long enough to catch the surprise of the Avatar's friends...and Suki who has apparently been waiting a long time for me to wake up. I remember waking up for a little bit once during my time there...and it was comforting...no one knew because unfortunately exhaustion and fear forced me to keep my eyes closed before being noticed. Azula was with me...I knew it wasn't a dream because she was right there by my side and...well..I was surprised to see her with me. Had it been a dream I wouldn't have been so shocked to see her. I didn't want her to leave again so I just....made myself seem helpless so she would stay. There would be no reason to leave if she knew I was so hurt...right?

"She's gone...she bolted after the guys left."Suki seemed horrified when telling me the news.

"I'm done." I said, almost in a laugh. "I'm not putting up with her anymore."

"Good." Suki sighed with some relief that I soon countered.

"She can't run from me anymore. She won't." I swore to myself and anyone that was a witness. "Whether she likes it or not...she will not run from me again when I get her."