Sometimes Azula fights back.

Aang likes it when she does. It shows that he hasn't broken her spirit, at least, not yet. Even without her bending she is dangerous. He can see in her eyes that on some level she understands that this isn't him, that something else is at work here.

He so wants to tell her but this, whatever it is, is stronger than he gave credit to. He tries to fight against it but it is so deeply ingrained inside of him that he is powerless against it. So day after day he watches as he does unspeakable things to her.

He wonders what Roku would have to say about it but it's not like he can ask his past self. This darkness has cut off any contact he has to his previous lives though it seems not to have blocked his ability to channel the Avatar State. In fact, it seems to feed off the incredible power.

Tonight, Azula lays face down in a heap on the cold stone floor. He stands over her watching and waiting for any movement. The part of him that is still Aang rails against the myriad of thoughts that flit through his mind at the sight of bare thighs unveiled by disheveled skirts. With one hand he grabs her arm roughly and rolls her over.

Sometimes Azula fights back with near lethal precision.

Pain doesn't affect him anymore so he doesn't recoil when the blade of the small knife she was hiding in her hand finds its way into his chest. She is quick to pounce, pushing him back onto the floor. Azula straddles his waist and grabs the blade of the knife twisting it. He feels something break inside.

The world tilts as the flow of chi is interrupted lifting the hold the darkness has on him.

"Azula" He gasps her name, blinking suddenly gray eyes at her.

Her bright golden eyes widen. "Aang?"

"You have to stop me." He grits out already feeling the darkness trying to reassert itself.

Nodding in understanding, Azula pulls the knife out of his chest and raises it high. She hesitates though and it is that hesitation which costs her; costs them.

He can tell the moment the flow of chi reasserts itself and the darkness claims him again.

Azula never had a chance.

oOoOoOoO

Sometimes, at night, Aang watches her sleep.

He traces the lines of defined muscles, careful to not wake her while she sleeps on her side facing away from him. Part of him wonders why she is still here, not that he has made it easy for her to leave. Guards follow her every movement but Azula is crafty. He knows she has to be working on something.

Azula will stop him.

Aang's counting on it.

Whatever darkness that had driven Ozai's cruelty before, drives Aang's now. This was the danger in taking the bending of another. He didn't fully appreciate the wisdom the lion-turtle had imparted to him at the time.

He runs one finger down her side over the smooth naked rise of her hip. The fingerprint bruises on the pale skin are a perfect match. Desire rises inside of him and he hates himself for giving into it.

She doesn't make a sound when he takes her again. Her golden eyes are closed even as he slides behind her and lifts her leg. Those eyes don't open until she feels his lips on her neck and she reaches back with a sigh to pull him closer.

Azula mustn't completely hate this. Her nails dig into his skin as she arches back into him in an oh so familiar way. Quiet gasps fill the air and he feels her body responding to his.

He hopes she doesn't completely hate him, though he isn't sure how they could ever recover from this.

Aang's quite sure this will only end with his death and, hopefully, the Avatar spirit will be reborn in someone that can undo the damage he has wrought on the world.

oOoOoOoO

Sometimes Zuko catches him looking.

It's not that Aang's trying to hide his interest in Azula but he doesn't want to be obvious.

Ever since that night by the lake, he can't get her out of his head. Not that he's tried. It's getting in the way of his training though and the others are noticing. Azula notices as well but she seems to delight in tormenting him with light touches, heated looks, or teasing whispers.

He wants to get her alone again, but Zuko is always one step behind them. Sneaking off for their healing sessions is getting more difficult as well and it's taking more and more effort to elude the prince.

There's a festival that night in the little town they find themselves in. When Katara drags Zuko off into the crowd, Azula gives Aang an appraising look as she walks in the other direction. The message is clear and he follows her down an alley which leads them away from the noise of the crowd.

It lacks romance but neither of them seems to mind. Instead, they focus on finding the right angle with Azula's back against the wall and her legs locked around his waist. Her voice is low and throaty as she pleads, begs, and orders. Aang's happy to comply.

When they find their way out of the alleyway some time later, they run into Sokka and Suki.

Sokka raises an eyebrow as he looks at the dark alley they just emerged from to their disheveled appearance. "What have you two been up too?"

Before Aang can answer, Azula speaks. "Hiding from Avatar fangirls. Have you seen Zuko and Katara?"

Mention of the Prince and his sister, draws a look of concern in Sokka's blue eyes. "Why, where did they go?"

Suki sees what Azula's doing. "Come on, I bet they're watching one of the shows." She says as she tugs Sokka's arm and gives them a knowing smile.

When they wander off, Aang gives Azula a look. "You do realize that Katara and Zuko probably do not want to be found right now?"

Sokka makes it difficult for Zuko and Katara to find alone time as well. If only Suki had a big brother tagging along then it could all be evened out.

With a shrug, Azula walks off. "If Zuko is going to keep getting in the way, then he deserves every bit of what he gets."

Aang catches up to her and laces his fingers with hers. "He's not in the way right now."

Azula gives him a smirk as she leads him the way back towards camp.

Oooooo

Sometimes Aang just listens to Azula speak.

There is something hypnotic about the inflection in her voice and the cadence of her words. Even now, as he lays injured and unable to move, she lays next to him speaking softly and soothingly. Her touch is light but searing, as only a Fire Bender's can be, on his skin as she traces the blue arrow tattoo.

The glow is gone. A part of him feels off balance without it but relieved nonetheless.

When her soft lips press against his shoulder, he wants to sigh, move, do anything to let her know that he hears her and he is here.

He is here.

Not that thing he was.

She leans closer and whispers words she never dared to speak aloud before. Hope begins to blossom in his chest as he hears her plead, beg, and order him to come back to her. Aang wants to comply, he really does, but he's not sure he can come back from this.

"I never stopped loving you." Her lips graze his ear as she speaks. "I knew we would find a way out of this."

We.

It wasn't we.

It was Azula.

Always Azula.

He feels her curl against him, gently resting her head on his shoulder but careful of his injury. Her warmth is soothing and her soft breaths calm and slow until she sleeps.

Sleep doesn't come to him this time.

The Spirit World does.

He hasn't been here for over a year, since before Sozin's comet and the absolute disaster that unfolded in its wake.

Roku gives him that weighted look. "It is good to see you again, Avatar Aang."

A wave of relief washes over him at the sight of his former self. "Roku, I…"

The older man holds a hand up. "We have much to discuss."

OoOoOoOo

Sometimes Aang sees the future.

Not that these glimpses always come true. There is always a small variance in the vision he sees and the reality he experiences. Sometimes it is a vision he wants more than anything but the reality leaves him with a bitter taste in his mouth.

These things happen and in the first sixteen years of his life he had grown to accept that this was the hand he was dealt. Aang had made peace with the shortcomings life had to offer him in exchange for the price he had to pay.

The disparity was a sacrifice required of the Avatar. It was one he readily accepted.

However he forgot the variance. One can only account for so many variables but not for all of them.

Azula was that variable. She changed the rules and altered the playing field. Once she was in play, things would never be the same, would never turn out the same. A new reality was created.

He saw what could happen. He saw just how far he would go. He saw how far she would go to stop him.

It was a reality he could have prevented. He could have stopped her from striking him down and stopping him.

But he didn't.

Azula wouldn't be stopped. Couldn't be stopped. She would have had to die in order to be stopped.

Aang sees the future but he hopes that the vision he sees won't be the reality he lives.