The heavy pellets of rain seemed to purposefully assault the young Avatar as he made his way through the storm. Throughout his life he had felt a constant affinity with nature- animals, elements and events seemed to conveniently work in his favour or at least show signs of companionship- and support.

While a normal person would simply believe that the storm was harsh, Aang felt an acute stab of misery and anger at what he was sure was the world taking yet another step to disassociate itself.

Objects began to appear in front of him, the misty outlines becoming ships and people. An unreasonably unaffected parasol protected an enshawled figure from the harsh wind and rain of the stormy onslaught. "So are we enemies again?" Aang's voice came out remarkably clear despite the loud howling of the wind and crashing of distant thunder.

The figure turned to revealed Princess Azula looking fairly unconcerned and unsurprised. "Enemies- friends- to be perfectly honest I've had a hard time keeping track." Azula's whitish grin shone out from under her parasol, presenting a devilish visage when combined with the clash of lightning and thunder that played in the background.

A sickening bile began to rise up in Aang's throat causing an unwanted grimace as he forced the feeling back down.

"... Don't look so glum. Getting rid of me would be a win for you- dust doesn't guilt quite like the living."

"I don't want you dead Azula." Aang was sick of it- sick of her endless taunting- sick of her. He was sick of the world turning against him for doing what he had to. He would prove that he wasn't a killer even if he had to kill her to do it.

"The ambitious don't fear death- only obscurity." Aang recognised the words from last night's dinner- clearly she was quoting something from her youth or she was simply meticulously psychotic, or both.

Azula chose that moment to turn and ascend the metallic walkway up to the hull of her ship.

As the boat pulled out in to the raging storm, none on board noticed the small flying shape that had attached itself to the side and disappeared.

--

AN: Rare author note- just watched the finale, great episodes but the complete lack of Azula closure was like a dagger to the chest. No 'Zuko hand on shoulder', no words of sympathy. Just a meaningless spot of Katara/Zuko friendship development and a meaningless victory for the blandest/ least interesting character in the history of history.

I don't know how they could possibly do it, but if this isn't addressed somehow I'm going to go nuts.

(PS the breakdown was very in character though. It's a shame we were also cheated out of a Mai/Ty Lee/Azula meetup afterwards. Clearly the writers hate me personally.)