Azula has a little brother WHAT! Again I didn't see that coming. I keep surprising myself.

Excerpts of Chapter 4, the Dream Chapter, are in here to explain Azula and Ursa's conflict. What did Ursa do to Azula? Guess correctly to get a mention in my author's note.

Duck and cover kiddies a lot of bombshells are going to be dropped

Now what everyone has been waiting for; Azula vs. Ursa

I do not own ATLA but I would have bought the movie rights so M. Night wouldn't have screwed up my vision (takes a deep breath). I do own my vivid dreams and OC's.

Book 4: Air: Exodus

Chapter 5

Her world turned black. Her heart was beating rapidly. The sounds were a cavernous hall of echoes. Give me wings Agni; let me fly to another destination. The woman stepped closer, brushed aside her bangs and beheld the eyes. No, I wish it to be a hallucination. "Azula?" she heard her name from the woman's lips.

It was confirmed, the woman before her was her mother. Ursa circled her daughter caressing her soft cheeks crying, "My beautiful daughter"

Azula's world came into focus as rage took over her eyes. All reasoning escaped her mind. Out of all of the things that could be happening to her, Azula didn't need this. The emotions were too numerous to deal with at once. All Azula could do was react. "YOU!" shouted Azula pointing at Ursa.

Aura ran outside and went to Han-Lien's side, holding the confused and trembling boy. "Azula, please do not be angry!" urged Ursa.

Azula let out a primal scream and picked up buckets throwing them at Ursa, who ducked each one. Aura struggled to hold the young boy back as Ursa gave her the signal to not intervene. Azula set her eye on a broom, which she chose to jousts Ursa. Azula heaved the broom like a javelin as it hit the ground. Objects had lost their use so she charged toward her mother, reaching for skin she could puncture, but only ripped at Ursa's garments. The adrenaline surged in Azula, who finally grasped her mother's neck and wrapped her hands around her throat squeezing with force. Azula wanted her mother to suffer every breath and feel her life come to a climax. This was all the boy could take. He elbowed Aura and ran to Ursa's side. He wedged himself in between Azula and Ursa. "Leave my Mother alone!"

"Mother," Azula repeated. She looked to the boy and then to Ursa. She loosened her grip and fell to her knees. Disbelief set in and so did the realization that she had a little brother.

Ursa caught her breath and coughed up air. Silence. She looked to Azula with a heavy heart. "Aura can you please take Han-Lien? I need to be alone with Azula."

"She's going to kill you Mother: she's a monster!" he protested giving Azula a death glare.

"Hush boy! Do as I say!"

The boy looked at Azula in a stunned disposition and his mother's stern eyes. He finally conceded. Aura put her arm around Han-Lien and ushered him slowly away from the scene. "Come on little flame let's mess with the cabbage merchant and haggle a price." The boy shook his head and reluctantly left staring at his mother, whose side he wishes to be at.

Azula was on her own island of loss and hurt. She wasn't angry or tearful but stared in the distance. Ursa tried to hold Azula, but she snatched herself away. "How old is he?"

"Nine," Ursa said lowly.

She was pregnant at the time of her banishment. Azula couldn't dare ask who the father was; it was obvious the moment she looked in Han-Lien's eyes. Wouldn't Ozai be proud to have another boy? Her concerns lied elsewhere. How much did her brother withhold from her? "Does Zuko know about the boy?"

"Yes, but he just found out a month ago."

Her "dear son" was just in the dark as she was. "Does Father know?"

"No, he doesn't," she said solemnly.

Azula looked over to Ursa suddenly grabbing her throat again. They tumbled inside the house. Ursa struggled to free herself from Azula's grasp. Azula gritted her teeth crushing her mother's windpipe. Ursa placed her hands on Azula's and moved her to an embrace. Azula's mouth was fixed in a frown, but her eyes told the truth; this is what she wanted all along. Tears poured out of her eyes. Her body couldn't take it anymore. She hiccuped, shedding tears on her mother's chest. Azula tried to squirm, weakly, unsuccessfully. Deep down she wanted her mother to hold her close and tell her that she loved her. How could Azula trust Ursa after everything that happened? How could Azula want Ursa's love after her countless rejection? Azula didn't care she just wanted this moment to last. Ursa patted Azula on the back and moved her to a nearby stool. "I'm going to make us some tea."

Azula sat on the stool trying to grasp at the floating puzzle pieces of this mystery. It wasn't pleasant being on the receiving end of being lied to. She never understood the onslaught of reactions from her victims; now she knew with more clarity than ever imagined. Azula felt like a fool displaying all of these emotions.

Azula had taken a look at her mother. Ursa countenance was filled with exhaustion, unlike the woman she had so much hatred for. There were silver wisps that would glisten in the light and her once lustrous eyes began to dull. Azula felt as if she were looking into a mirror of the future. Ursa laid out teacups and put the herbal loose leafs in the bottom. She poured the water in a copper kettle and lit the fire on the simple terracotta stove. Ursa sauntered over to Azula, sitting on a nearby stool, freeing a deep breath and began to speak, with difficulty. "After you told me about Azulon's plot to have your father kill Zuko, I went to Ozai to interrogate further into the situation."

Azula recalled that day many a night; it was the first time her mother had truly raised her voice and then came the shock; her mother slapped her face:

"How can you behave this way I didn't raise you like this! You are nothing but a bully, no worse; you are a cold, hateful, monster!"

Two sentences that made the outspoken young girls eyes pool with tears; she could only helplessly say, "Momma"

Her mother, who was proud of Zuko and smiled at his failure, calling him a fighter, proclaiming her love for the boy, was now a taciturn maternal, sickened by her daughter. She expected those words from her father, but her mother, never.

"I walked in to our bedchamber and Ozai had the royal jade encrusted gold dagger. He was a man divided and angry. He felt insulted that his father would try to take away his son because he was more ambitious than his brother, your Uncle Iroh. For the first time he called Zuko 'my son'. Together we conspired to save Zuko and give your father the throne. It was our first honest moment. It was that night that Han-Lien was conceived. I had to leave immediately and took a servant girl with me. I had to shed all affiliation with the Fire Nation and left with the ship of refugees. I hadn't known I was pregnant until I arrived in Binjwen."

Little Azula went to her room that night dejected and sobbing, burning everything she could get her little hands on. "I hate you momma I hope you die!"

The next morning her mother disappeared. Azula was happy now she had a parent in power that cared and now Zuko would be rejected. It would be the last time she cried.

"I've thought about you and your brother every day since I've arrived here. Han-Lien wants a real family and he's so angry. He has so many restrictions placed upon him. He's becoming rebellious and wants to firebend. Most of all, he wants to see his father so badly."

The tea kettle whistled putting Azula on high alert. Ursa got up from her seat and poured the water into two tea cups and placed them on a tray. As soon as Azula saw her mother coming forward, her heart raced. She recalled the vivid dream she had before waking up in the mental facility. With each stride her mother made toward her, she became tense.

Step…there was a shadowy figure trying to kill her.

Step…her grandfather entered carrying a bowl wearing his ceremonial white burial robes.

Step…he wanted her to drink the bubbling green slime with a snake slithering inside.

Step…Azulon drank it and he gagged and turned to ash. She couldn't save him because she was trapped.

Step…when she reached him, Azula sifted through the remains and pulled back blood. Why out of all times? Why would this moment, that small part of the dream be brought up now?

Azula couldn't fully process the significance however her hands trembled as if comprehending. She gripped at the fabric on her dress. She was trapped in a mirage of confusion. Azula's emotions were like a wave, one moment she would be anxious and the next she would get incensed. "Azula is something wrong?" Her mother stood over her offering her tea.

This time she couldn't tie up her emotions and put on a façade. Azula swatted away the tea cup, shattering pieces to the ground. She didn't trust her mother: she misplaced it once, this was the last time. "This is what you wanted me to do isn't it? You wanted me to cry and get upset. You get some enjoyment out of my suffering?"

"That's not true."

"This was your plan all along. Satisfied now your favorite is Firelord, your estranged husband is imprisoned, and his protege daughter a disgrace of the Fire Nation. Well played mother."

"My daughter I─"

"You're not happy to see your mistake: your problem child?"

"I have done all I can for you."

"Have you truly done what is within your power? Perhaps if the situations were reversed, you would become a cohort of Zuko and slay the evil Firelord Azula."

"Fine, Azula get it out of your system, go on; tell me how bad of a mother I am!"

"The only reason your sleep is disturbed is because you've abandoned your precious son. You never cared about me! I've come to accept that love and honor is a lie and only power and privilege gets you to the top."

"Yet here you are, under asylum."

"That was father's failure, not mine; he kept the family together."

"How does scarring and banishing his son represent family togetherness?"

"Always defending Zuko, he can never do wrong. He was out of line and needed to be taught respect."

Azula had been preparing this moment, rehearsed every word of what she would say to her hateful mother. It looked as if the woman had become defeated. It was high time she learned what true pain is. She would make her suffer not physically, but emotionally, where it hit her worse.

"You couldn't even say goodbye to me, but you have time for Zuko, the one and only true love of your life."

"I wanted so badly to say goodbye: I was too ashamed."

"Ashamed that I would send father or the guards to kill you, please I wasn't that wise. You must come up with a better defense mother."

Ursa's face turned to a white sheet. She stared at Azula. "Oh Agni, you don't remember!"

That statement took Azula completely off guard. "What did you do to me?"

"No…I…," Ursa took a deep breath and walked a few feet away, "I know you hate me, but I've always tried to nurture you and keep you from taking the wrong path."

"The subject is not closed!"

"I hadn't realized the impact of my leaving. I didn't know how much you needed me."

"There is no impact! I was fine without you and I'll go on being fine; as you recall I'm a cold hateful monster."

"If I could take back those words I swear I would. I'm sorry for hurting you truly and deeply. There are no excuses, but I love you Azula and my hope is that you can find it in your heart to forgive me. "

"It's too late to make amends Mother. I suggest you continue the practice of my childhood by pretending I don't exist."

"As you wish," Ursa said tearfully.

This was not Azula's ideal. The tension sliced through the air leaving a deafening silence. They sat on opposing sides of the room both unbending, uncompromising.

By the time Aura and Han-Lien arrived the friction had arisen to epic proportions. The boy looked to his mother and immediately hugged her. "Don't cry mom."

"What a kind and gentle boy," Ursa whispered to her son.

That statement was the final blow to Azula's ego. She felt herself crying again. No, she wouldn't succumb to tears. Aura took Azula's arm and ushered her outside, Han-lien not being too far behind rushed to Aura. "Are you mad at my mother? Will you come back?"

Aura rustled his hair, "Yes I'm angry with her, but that's grown up business and nothing can keep me from my little spark. Go inside with your mother okay."

The young man shook his head and hugged Aura tightly and ran inside.

Azula distanced herself from the scene and caterwauled as fire burst from her hands. Azula blinded by grief saw Aura as a nemesis pushing her against the tree. "Why didn't you tell me she was here?"

Aura, who was freshly versed in combat, reversed the gesture with Azula now being pinned to a tree. "Your mother lied to me! She swore on Han-Lien that you knew everything. None of this is my fault." The heavens opened up as the sky wept and the wrathful turbulent winds rocked the now saturated young women. Azula refused to take shelter and she ran in the direction of Aura's house. Anywhere but here, she prayed.

Her muddy clothes lay heavy and sodden on the granite tile. Azula was reduced to an innocent form as she sat in the bath tub, the warm water surrounding her like a fetus in her mother's womb. Azula had run out of tears and breath, stripped of dignity, the bridge to her sanity was burnt. No one loved her. She was her father's puppet, Zuko's pet project and her mother's monster. She saw on the basin a pair of shears. She grabbed the sharp forged twin knives and brought it to her wrist. Dare she spill her own blood? With a trembling hand she bit down her lip and peeled the skin, squinting. She felt the throbbing vein. She puffed heavy warm air, making a small scratch. She threw the scissors as the metal slid across the floor. She sank into the bath, hands across her face. Tonight wasn't the night for suicide.