Hello everybody. I am extremely sorry for the long update. My life was doing some pretty magnificent things recently. First of all, I had auditions in California for a pilot, (I didn't get the part, but whatever. At least my name is out there). Secondly, I have several gigs set up. Anyone live in Cleveland, Ohio? The band I'm in is playing at the rock and roll hall of fame August 11th. That should be awesome! Along with multiple tests, a school play, and a new YouTube video (a link to my channel can be found on my author's page), I've been so busy; I rarely had time to type. Not to mention, this computer is slow as F*** due to some internal memory storage base problems. But, I'd rather not complain anymore, and instead, I think it's time we get back to the exciting action that is A Method to the Madness.

She ran towards the giant beast, stumbling as she did so. She didn't know why she was tripping over her own two feet at the time. Maybe her fight with Toph left her more damaged than what she assumed. But that ceased to matter at the moment. Her plan was falling into glorious action. There was only one more phase to the operation; one more task, that required doing, less the mission was to be a failure, and Azula hated that word.

Blood trickled down her arm as she grasped the wound tightly. She noted that due to Mailto's poor cutting skills, the doctor had struck a certain muscle in her arm; rendering her unable to fly Appa. A pity as it was, for she would've flown the animal like an animal as well. She needed to arrive back at the Fire Nation Palace as soon as possible. However, in the grand scheme of everything, her wound was just that, a simple wound. The hostages could fly for her. So, screaming as loud as she could, she commanded, "Katarra! Get on Appa and get us out of here, now!"

Katarra, who stood on the ground with Zuko (who was clutching her tightly to keep her from running into the temple), wanted to strike out and lash at Azula. After all that she done to them, and all the pain that she put innocent people through, she wanted to stop her evil night of terror right at that moment. A woman like Katarra could handle many things. But tonight, her boundries were being crossed and Katarra was at the point of breaking. However, noticing the arm, and the viciousness of Azula's facial expression, she lost all resilience and rushed back to Appa.

Zuko stood by silent and bewildered as Azula rushed passed him and onto Appa. He was utterly dumbfounded and confused with the scenery of events he was witnessing. Where was Toph? What had happened to her? Why is Azula in even more of a rush? Why is she cut? What is going on? All these questions, and much more rushed passed his mind as Azula rushed passed him. Luckily, the nudge to his shoulder as Azula knocked into him was just enough shock to bring Zuko back into reality. He took his seat back upon Appa, right next to Daisuke, as the monster took off into the night sky.

As Appa flew, Daisuke noticed all the damage that was inflicted upon Azula. Knowing that she would need some assistance, the old man stated, "You need some help? I use to be a doctor."

Azula shot the doctor a look, as if to say, 'are you kidding me?' and the man immediately went about his work patching the wound with thread from her clothing.

The flight was pacing itself rather nicely; according to Azula's standards. Flying at breakneck speeds, the group really had to hang on for their lives. Azula smiled as this happened before her. Soon, they would be home. Soon, Zuko will witness his demise. Soon, he will realize his fatal mistake. Soon, she will win. Soon.

But in light of Azula's triumph, there was also devastation and anger; mainly coming from Katarra, who was piloting Appa. She was losing her grip on her emotions. Tears began to well up in her eyes as her anger came into a boil. Finally, all that tension and stress broke right when she passed the dark Sakura forest. She remembered that this was where, just at least an hour ago, she witnessed her brother go blindly into the night forest with no possibility of ever coming back. It made her weep, which caused her to pilot Appa fiercely. She yanked on the ropes, causing the beast to come to an abrupt halt. Everyone onboard was shaken and thrown a few feet forward. Luckily, no one was thrown off.

Azula rushed back to her feet and in a fury, ran to Katarra and clutched her hair tightly to the point of pain. "What in Agni Ki was that?"

Zuko's chest swelled with anger as he almost stood up to attack his own sister. But then, out of nowhere, Daisuke acquired a sword and placed it against the Firelord. Zuko was caught off guard by this action. Daisuke in reality didn't know why he was helping the princess. At this point, his paranoia and delusions were most defiantly, delusional. Zuko almost wanted to push the old man out of his way; thinking that his skills with a sword might possibly be nothing more than minute. However, not wanting to risk that chance, Zuko sat back down, and waited for Azula to make the wrong move.

Meanwhile, as Azula held Katarra by her hair, the waterbender continued to cry. "Aww," Azula spat sardonically. "What's a matter with the baby?"

She snapped.

Turning her knees, she gained leverage and swiped Azula's own. The crazy lady fell on her own hide and once this happened, Katarra pounced. Landing several quick, vicious, and horrendously brute punches to Azula's face, she screamed in anger, "YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THAN A BIG BULLY!"

As the blood poured from her broken nose, and as her teeth were being grounded to powder, Azula laughed. She laughed even more, in triumph, when she successfully blocked a punch by grabbing Katarra's wrists mid-strike. She countered with a punch of her own, sending the water bender backwards. Zuko jerked at this motion, and again, wanted to help his friend. However, he was still pinned by the sword against his chest held by Daisuke.

As Katarra lay sprawled on her back, Azula secured her wrists behind her with ropes, cackling while she did so. Katarra's frustration got even worst and the bender began to cry some more. Once the ropes were tightly bound, Azula tossed Katarra around till she was facing up at Azula again. She sat against the girl's lap; pinning her. Katarra's eyes know widened with fear.

"A bully huh?" Azula proclaimed as she pulled a knife out from her sleeves. She held that knife against Katarra's mouth. "Let's discuss bullies shall we. I even have a story about some." Then, leaning forward, staring bleakly into Katarra's eyes, she said with malicious intent, "Wanna know how I got this scar?"

The water bender began to sweat.

Azula pulled back, and fiddled with her knife, as she told the story.

"I use to love fishing," she began. "I fished all the time when my family would go out by the beach. But I could never get the little worms, on the hooks. So one day, while the folks were away, these bullies, decided to show my how it's done. And they took their fishing rods, took me out to the end of the dock, and they placed hooks in my mouth. And then they threw me into the water, and reeled me back in! …but don't worry. This story has a happy ending. Wanna know what I did to them? Later that night, while the folks were asleep, I went to their cabin…..with same twigs and branches. I started a fire, which engulfed their cabin…AND THEY ROASTED!...so, from then on, I decided that I would never have, to deal with little worms ever again."

At this point, she lifted her knife into the air, and was just about to bring the blade down, and plunge it into the heart of Katarra…..

When suddenly, something caught her eye. Out in the distance, something small, red, and bright shimmered into the night. She also noticed that whatever it was, it was getting closer. And on top of that, she soon realized that there was more than one of them. Torches, as it were, were heading their way. But who could possibly know that Azula was out here, in the dark, lonesome sakura forest.

When the voice echoed, Azula released a disappointed sigh. "AZULA!" Sokka shouted out in the distance. "YOU ARE SURROUNDED BY FIRENATION GUARDS! DROP THE WEAPON NOW!"

Katarra began to cry even harder, though not from pain or sorrow did her tears originate, but of laughter. She was now the one laughing in triumph. "He's alive," she blurted out. "He's alive."

Zuko's eyes widen at this prospect. Rescue was here, and with rescue came sanctuary. He would be at peace at last. But first, he needed to get off Appa. Knocking Daisuke over in a tremendous burst of energy, Zuko ran wildly towards the guards, screaming, "I'm innocent! I'm innocent."

Time for Azula was beginning to slow down. Vision was beginning to blur. Everything at that moment was starting to turn her dream into a nightmare. Her heart rate quickened, her pours oozed with sweat. It is during these moments that a person experiences a 'flight or fight,' reaction. Azula was a mental patient, a former princess, and a powerful firebender with amazing abilities.

However, when the guards readied their arrows, she chose flight.

She, along with Daisuke, immediately hopped off the backside of the saddle as the arrows wiped passed their heads. Once they collided with the ground, there was one motivation; run to escape. Escape what? Arrows? Death? Whatever they needed escape from, they decided to do so at that very instance, and Azula ran as fast as she could. She ran faster than she ever had before in her life.

Meanwhile, back at Appa, Sokka rushed onto the creature and attended to his sister's needs. "Are you alright?" he asked in a powerful and assertive voice.

She clutched on to her brother tightly. She laid her head down onto his shoulder, and cried without reserve. "You're back. You're alive. You're ok. You're ok." She repeated these words over and over as tears violently fell from her eyes. Her entire body shook, in need of oxygen. But her constant crying deprived her of that oxygen. She couldn't help it, but she repeated these words over and over again, for she couldn't believe it was true. He was alive, she was alive. And there was beautiful, perfect, and absolute truth in the words Sokka said at that moment.

"Everything is going to be ok."

Back in the forest; way back in the forest, Azula and Daisuke caught their breaths. They hid behind two rather large tree's both adjacent horizontally from each other. Azula needed to think fast. Nothing was going according to plan. In order for her master plan to become a successful one, she needed to oversee every step of the operation. She needed to be with her brother. She needed to see him break.

And there was no way she could do this from a thousand yards away, hiding behind some tree. She needed to regroup with her brother. But how? She needed to improvise her way back into the group. What she needed was a disguise. What she truly needed, was inspiration.

Inspiration came, when off in the distance, both Daisuke and Azula noticed the sound a twigs breaking. "What was that?"

"Probably some guards." She stated aloud, not fully comprehending the words flying from her lips.

Suddenly, an idea popped into her skull. A mischievous grin emitted itself across her face. This would be perfect. No one would notice two guards coming back from the woods. Even better than that aspect, was the fact that no one would care. In everyone else's eyes, it would just appear that two guards rejoined the group. She needed a way to reach Zuko, and behold, this was her way; to disguise herself, along with Daisuke, as Firenation guards.

She slowly crept out from behind her tree and took shelter against another tree a few feet away. She stalked her prey as she did so. Luckily for her, the dark forest became even more abysmal and indistinct due to a slight fog forming in the air. She could still spot the two silhouettes of the guards slowly pacing themselves towards the trees. They looked rather small for guards, and quite frankly, due to their body language, they appeared to be nervous. Perfect.

As time passed, she inched herself closer and closer to the guards. Her smile grew wider and wider, and her thoughts grew even more evil than they were just a few minutes ago. At exactly ten minutes of stalking, she attacked. She lashed out from behind a tree, and threw a shuriken, striking one guard in the throat. As he collapsed, and as the other guard stood petrified and paralyzed in fear, Azula jumped out towards him. Unlike his counterpart, his death wasn't necessarily so quick and sweet. Instead of cutting, she decided she would rather like to use blunt force at that moment. Taking advantage of the thick bark of one tree, she dragged on guard by the ears and slammed his face repeatedly into said tree until his entire face appeared to have either exploded or imploded. Either way, he was dead; quite dead. This brought Azula no remorse, but internal happiness. She was thrilled. The plan could now continue on.

She gave Daisuke an outfit and told him to place it on. Sucking in air, along with courage, Daisuke placed on his uniform and both he and the psychotic princess made their way back to the crowd of guards up ahead. As Azula and Daisuke hid themselves amongst the people, the crazed lady realized that it appeared the guards were awaiting orders. Orders for what, she had no clue. That is, she had no idea until Sokka called for everyone's attention.

"Alright everybody," Sokka proclaimed. "Here's the plan. Azula and the old man could still be out in the woods. As long as that is apparent, Ba Sing Se, the Firelord, and most importantly, the people, are not safe. So we will divide into search parties, and search these woods up down, forwards, backwards, and sideways too until we find these two misfits. Bring them back, ALIVE! Even though they broke the law, it doesn't mean we have to. Now, any questions?"

Azula raised her hand on that moment. Sokka pointed towards her, and she spoke. "Sir," she said in an unrecognizable voice, which would've impressed actresses everywhere. "Wouldn't be best if we take the Firelord home? He's been through a lot sir. And by taking him home, we are also taking him away from the forest, thus, we are taking him far away from Azula."

"Good idea," Sokka commented. Pointing at Daisuke and Azula, not knowing who they were, he appointed them the task of taking the worn out Zuko home. The rest of the group broke off into their subsection and started scavenging the forest, looking for the criminals.

After a while, all that was left on Appa, was Zuko, and the two guards to which he owe internal gratitude to. As Appa rose into the air, Zuko gave forth his hand, asking for it to be shaken. "I am truly and deeply grateful for you assistance young man." Zuko stated just like a passionate leader. "How can I ever repay you?"

"Easily," the guard said, losing her fake voice.

Zuko's heart sank. His eyes widen. His breath hitched, and his brain hurt horribly.

Azula took off the mask, smiling an evil grin which struck a very deep and dark spot in Zuko's soul. "Go to sleep." She commanded.

Zuko passed out, obeying his orders.

When he woke up again, he found that he was on hard ground. Distinctly, he recognized this ground as the plaza in front of his palace. It was metallic by nature, but was in fact marble that was crafted by Toph to look like metal. It had a dark crimson red tone to it, and looked amazingly well, complimenting the palace itself. That palace stood in front of Zuko at an angle, and it was at this moment he realized that he was still on the ground. He rose up, and as he did so, his vision lost its ambiguity and came into crystal perfect view.

He studied his surroundings, and immediately noticed his sister standing upright, still in costume, minus the mask. She stood tall and proud, and in its horror, she also stood happy. She smiled as she stared at the palace, and for a few moments, Zuko didn't understand why.

But then he remembered. The time bomb, his brain shouted.

Zuko tried to stand up as fast as he could, but his beaten and tired legs caused him to stumble and fall back down. Azula heard this, and directed her attention to Zuko. "Glad to see you're awake."

"What time is it?" Zuko involuntarily asked as he stood up again.

"It's about 5 minutes till midnight." She announced. "We made perfect timing on our little trip. Thank god Appa is a fast little beast."

Zuko could hear a iron bell go off in his head when his deranged sister announced what time it was. In 5 minutes, the palace would explode, killing not just the Avatar, but Mai as well. Mai, his precious Mai. His one true love. How could Azula, his won twin sister, do this to him?

Because she's no longer my sister, his brain retorted back to him as he stood firm. She's a monster. But this was not a time to contemplate sibling rivalry and family problems. This was a time for action. Rushing towards his sister, who stood with her arms crossed, Zuko stated, "You must stop this. I did everything you asked for, and you promised me that-"

"Not everything," Azula interrupted. Zuko shut his mouth close, knowing that the sooner Azula made her point, whatever it may be, the sooner, his wife could be rescued. "I have some questioned you need to answer. And you better answer them honestly. You know how much I hate liars."

Zuko audibly gulped at this prospect. He shook off any worries through that gulp; knowing that if all he had to do was answer some silly question, then this should be a breeze. But anyone who knew Azula knew that nothing was ever simple with her. It was complicated and filled with conspiracy against both her and whoever conversed with her. However, Zuko forgot all this and focused all his attention on answering her questions. "Shoot," he replied.

"Do you love your wife?" Azula asked with a low and dramatic tone.

"Yes," Zuko replied back without hesitation.

"Do you love your wife more than me?" Azula asked with a smile on her facing, hoping it would cause him to stall.

Unfortunately for her, it didn't. "Yes." Zuko answered immediately. Then, loosing himself into a fit of rage, he began to shout out a long rambling rant. "YOU HONESTLY DRAG ME TO HELL AND BACK AGAIN AND EXPECT ME TO STILL PROCLAIM YOU AS MY OWN? I HATE YOU AND I WISH FOR YOU TO DIE! YOU HAVE NO CLUE HOW HAPPY I A THAT YOU'RE NO LONGER BEING BANISHED!"

"So no island?" Azula asked with a smile.

"NOPE! IT'S THE GALLOWS WITH YOU!"

Azula laughed. So far, so good. Her plan was just a moment away from becoming a dream come true. She just needed her partner to hold up his end of the bargain. In the meantime, there was only one more matter to be discussed.

"Lastly, do you love me more than that precious hospital I go to?"

"yes," Zuko replied.

"The sell it." She commanded.

Zuko was awestruck by this prospect. "Sell it, but how?"

"Mailto is the proprietary chief of staff at the hospital, correct?" Azula asked her brother. Before he could open his mouth to reply, Azula added more to her statement. "This means that Mailto owns the hospital, correct?"

"….yes." Zuko said. After much thought, he realized that his sister was right about Mailto's position in the asylum. But what he didn't understand was why such a position and who that position belonged to such a dire importance to his sister.

Then she made her motives clear. "Then bring in a new head doctor. Fire Mailto."

Zuko didn't know how to comprehend this. This whole time, this whole mission, this whole fiasco was all because she didn't want Mailto as a doctor. Why did she cause so much trouble when Long Feng became her doctor? Whatever difference it made, in the long run it didn't matter who ran the hospital in Republic city from now on. Azula was to be put to death tomorrow, and any problems caused by a new owner could be situated after his sister was long gone. "Fine," the fire lord stated. "Where must I sign?"

"Oh, you already did." Azula said in a matter of fact tone. "Right when you woke up on Appa and I had you signed those papers, you signed away Mailto's job."

Zuko's jaw dropped. Azula smiled and walked towards the dumbfounded leader and patted him on the shoulder. "That's not all you signed, but I won't go into details." She turned them towards the palace, and spoke with a smile bigger than any smile she ever produced in her life. "Because if we do, we might just miss the fireworks."

The clock struck twelve.

The palace exploded.

Zuko screamed. He screamed into his voice went raw. He screamed until his sanity disappeared, along with his hopes, dreams, and his love. His best friend; dead. His wife' dead. Both were taken out in one dramatic and cataclysmic explosion. Debris flew passed them, all soaked in flames, and all carrying with them every last ounce of Zuko's life. Memories were flushed down the metaphorical toilet. His life was now no more. He became a broken shell of a man, with no love, no friends, and no feelings whatsoever. They died along with his wife.

But just then, just like the explosion of the palace, another explosion took place inside Zuko's heart; an explosion of anger. He hissed, losing all power in his voice to scream. He spat blood. He jumped up, and punched his sister in the temple as hard as he could. When she fell on the ground, he took both of her ears in hand, and using them as handlebars, made damn sure that his sister was passed out by the time he was through with her.

As blackness seeped into her vision, Azula could only think of one thing. I did it. I did it.

Whoa. That was intense. So I'm hoping you all stick around for the next chapter. Plot threads and loose ends will be tied up and I promise that everything will be explained. I'd like to thank you all for reading this far and hope that you read more soon. Please review and give me your honest opinion. Again, I'm fairly sorry that it took me so long to do this. Life can be just about as frantic as Azula's nature, or even her method, if you catch my drift. The next chapter will be posted sometime in April. I'm pretty sure about it this time.

Please share with friends, please read, and above all else, PLEASE REVIEW!

With many regards,

Welcometofightclub.