"I'll never understand why you let those boys beat you up like that" Rafela started ranting as Azula helped her with making dinner that night.

"They're trying to help me. I was a firebending prodigy, but ever since I was in Forgetful Valley I've been weaker. I was barely able to bend at all when Cara and Bao first found me." Azula explained, her eyes downcast to the floor. It had been four years since she left forest and although her bending had improved she felt that she wasn't even quite at Zuko's level yet, never mind her own former glory.

Rafela gave a sympathetic sigh. She may not approve of Azula training to fight in an underground ring, and Azula could deny it all she wanted but she wasn't fooling anyone, but that didn't mean she felt no sympathy for the girl. Azula was born with a gift, and from a young age was told that she had to be the best. She may not realize it but Rafela could see why her subconscious was denying her access to her full abilities, and she still wanted to prove that she's the best.

"Azula you've come a long way since the kids found you, but you can't forget that you've had to completely relearn bending." The old woman said and Azula arched an eyebrow in confusion. "Well obviously not the motions but you grew up fueling your bending with rage, after what happened in Hira'a it doesn't surprise me at all that you stopped feeling the anger. Your mother told you she loves you and that was all you needed." Rafela explained.

By now Azula was trying to keep from crying, she still hated herself for what she almost did that night. Instead she tried to focus on Rafela's theory of her bending, which she had to admit did make sense. Her bending had been near nonexistent for nearly a year and it only started getting stronger not only when she began to trust herself more but, ironically, when she started actually paying attention to Cara's constant ramblings about energy and light vs. dark and stuff like that. Rafela's gentle hand on her shoulder snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Azula the war is over, and you my dear have already proved your strength. You have nothing to prove to those boys or any of us, but it's up to you if you still have something prove to yourself." She advised and Azula nodded, she knew Rafela wasn't a fan but she would keep training, because she does have something to prove to herself.

"This is bad, this is really, really bad." Sokka muttered as he and Toph rode on one of the police department's two boats, trying to reach the Fire Nation in time to stop Azula.

"What's bad? The fact that your new pal Azula partnered up with a guy who wants Zuko dead, or the fact that you lied to Sugar Queen about it?" Toph questioned

"Both" Sokka groaned, "Not to mention we're never going to catch up to them in this thing!" He exclaimed.

"Would you relax?" Toph questioned in a rather annoyed voice. "If Azula went straight from your place to the docks that means they left at night and probably just got to the Fire Nation while you were at my office. They'll move towards the capital and set up camp for the night so as long as me and you move through the night we'll catch up" She assured Sokka who admittedly felt a little better upon hearing that Toph had a plan, but not much. "While we're on the subject, why DID you go back and give Azula your address?" The blind woman inquired and she had to keep herself from laughing when she felt Sokka's heartbeat begin to speed up.

"Huh?" He asked uncomfortably

"I mean you told me you just wanted to know if it was really her you saw or not, so why did you tell her where you live?" Toph continued to question and Sokka's blush deepened.

"Well she brings Mika with her to work so I just told her that if she ever needed a babysitter I'm usually around." He explained but again Toph started to laugh.

"Right, because you just love to spend your Friday nights at home watching a little kid" she mocked.

"Then why do you think I did it?" Sokka fumed, growing angrier by the minute.

"I think you like her" Toph laughed, now Sokka was mad.

"That's ridiculous! I do not like Azula!" He insisted with disgust

"I can tell your lying" Toph claimed in a singsong voice and Sokka only fumed more as a result.

Just as Toph predicted Jong and his gang set up camp for the night. They decided to camp out in the woods not far from Capital City and go over the plan. The group of five all gathered around their campfire, exhausted and wishing for sleep. But aware that this final run through of the plan, Azula's first run through, was crucial.

"Ok we're all tired so I'm going to cut to the chase. Getting into the city will be easy enough; we can just walk in. They tricky part is getting into the palace. There's a weak spot in the far left corner of the first wall, no guards and a sewer drain. That's our ticket in." Jong instructed, "but once we're in the guards will be on us. That's where Azula comes in." He said, pointing to his reluctant recruit. "Ever since the Kyoshi warriors were there after the war all the guards have been trained in chi-blocking, you're the only one of us who stands a chance against that." He said but Azula only frowned.

"I never thought I'd see the day you overestimate me Jong" she commented as she looked him in the eye for the first time that night, "I may have known a chi-blocker, but I'm not immune to it." She told him but he only grinned, god she was sick of seeing that grin of his.

"Maybe, but you know where they'll aim and how to avoid it." He reminded her and her frown deepened; she couldn't deny that.

"The rest of you know your part, so get some sleep." He ordered and as the other three all got up and walked to wherever they had laid their sleeping bags Azula just looked up at Jong with pure anger.

"So that's it? You dragged me all the way from Republic City just to fight off the guards?" She snapped, getting to her feet and looking Jong dead in the eye.

"Believe me princess, nothing would make me happier than to watch Fire Lord Zuko die at the hands of his sister. But you and I both know that you don't have it in you." He taunted.

A part of Azula wanted to tell him he was wrong, but she couldn't. He was right and in a weird way she was proud of it. She was proud that she couldn't bring herself to kill her brother, because years ago she would have. With one last glare at him she too turned away and lay herself down far away from the group, knowing that tomorrow history would repeat itself; only this time it wasn't her taking the shot. The last thing she saw before she fell asleep, were the faded scars on her arms.

It was supposed to be a normal training session. Jong was pushing her hard, and she was getting stronger. She had to watch Bao today, Rafela and Cara were cleaning and the house smelt awful. So Bao was with them in the field outside of town, watching them as they practiced. Azula never really liked having him with her when she trained, Jong was a harsh teacher and Bao was such a sweet boy. But he couldn't take the smell of all Rafela's expired medicines being dumped out and frankly neither could Azula, so she didn't protest when he tagged along.

"Azula come on! You pathetic, worthless, sorry excuse for a bender! Make me flinch for once!" Jong bellowed, god she hated that Bao had to hear that. He didn't mean a word of it; at least Azula hoped he didn't. But after a year and a half of doing this every day they were starting to get desperate, so Jong was trying everything he could to bring the blue fire out of her.

She shot another orange blast at him and missed, he'd had enough. He came at her, with every intention of knocking her out cold with his bare fist. But that's not what happened.

Not in front of my little brother she thought to herself, and she unleashed a large, wild, blue ring of fire. For a moment she was proud, adrenaline filled her body at the marvel; she had done it.

But then she heard a cry.

Turning her head she saw Bao had his own ideas when he saw Jong charging her and had run onto the training field, now he was on fire. Without a moments hesitation Azula diminished her flame and raced for the boy, she tried to pick him up but the moment she touched him she jumped back in pain as the fire burned her forearms. Thankfully Bao still had the sense to stop, drop, and roll but Azula only helplessly watched as he did so. The instant the fire was out she scooped him up in her arms, not even noticing that his nine-year-old body had grown to heavy for her to carry long distances ages ago. She just held him and ran; unaware of what happened to her friends.

She ran all the way through the village and burst into the house, screaming incoherent words until she had the attention of Rafela and Cara. She didn't hear a word of what either of them was saying; she only registered that Cara was taking Bao from her and Rafela was grabbing her arms, which she yanked away.

"Alright, alright, let me see." Rafela said gently as she took Azula's hands and even more gently pulled her arms down to examine them. "Alright now go to your room and calm down. I'll be up soon with some bandages" she said, noting that Azula's burns were nowhere near as serious as Bao's.

Reluctantly Azula went into the room she shared with Cara and sat on her bed. All she could think about was that this was all her fault. She was the one who wanted to get back to what she used to be, to the monster she used to be. Now Bao could be permanently scared for life or worse and it was all her fault.

We're both lucky if he's only scared she thought to herself. Bao's entire body had been up in flames; his chances of survival were slim.

Not even two minutes later when she heard Cara crying she knew that it was only confirmation of her fears, and she couldn't face that. She didn't wait for bandages and she didn't wait for Rafela or Cara to tell her what she had done. She knew that her friends had been contemplating the idea of leaving town for a few weeks now, so she climbed out the window and they left.

Azula's eyes snapped open, it was still dark out and they weren't supposed to leave for a few more hours, but she heard something. She looked around; all the guys were still asleep. Maybe she was hearing things?
"Azula" a whispered voice called from within the trees behind her, and it was definitely real.

She rolled onto her stomach and scanned the forest, almost jumping when she saw a pair of mesmerizing blue eyes staring back at her.

"Sokka?" She asked as she quietly got to her feet and leapt into the trees to meet him. "What are you doing here? Where's Mika?" She demanded angrily.

"Relax I left her with Katara" Sokka told her

"You what?" Azula nearly shouted, a murderous glare in her eyes.

"Oh I'm sorry, would you rather I sent my sister after you?" Sokka asked, crossing his arms.

"You shouldn't have come after me," Azula growled.

"I had to!" Sokka exclaimed, "Azula this is crazy and I can't let you go through with it-" he began to lecture but he was cut off.

"You don't even know what's going on!" She shouted

"You're helping your old friends take Zuko out," he said plainly and the look on Azula's face told him he was right. "Azula why are you doing this?" He asked her, his voice almost desperate.

"Calm down, I'm just getting them past the guards. Jong's the one taking the shot." She said

"That's not any better, if Zuko goes down because of your friends then it's still blood on your hands. What would Mika say if she found out her mother's a murder?" He questioned and for a moment Azula looked away, hurt.

"Do you honestly think I want to do this?" She asked, turning back to look Sokka in the eyes. "Do you honestly believe I want to play a part in the murder of my own brother?" Mentally she added a regretful again, "Of course you do. It wouldn't surprise you in the least. Well let me tell you that I'm not that person anymore, the only reason I'm doing this is because I don't have a choice. If I don't take out the guards then Jong is going to kill Mika." She explained and she tried to leave but Sokka grabbed her wrist.

"You honestly don't think you could take him?" He asked and she didn't respond. "You know, I don't know what's happened to you in the last eighteen years but this isn't the Azula I know." He pleaded with her.

"The Azula you knew was a monster" She growled

"The Azula I knew was a fighter. She wasn't anyone's puppet and she always had a plan. She could take out an entire army by herself. If things didn't work out then she adapted. She never gave up"

Azula didn't say anything, just looked away as tears filled her eyes.

"Go through with it if you want to, but I know you could take this guy. Even if you truly believe you can't protect Mika you don't have an excuse, because I've got your back" he promised then released her, hoping she'd turn around and go with him, but she didn't.

"So how'd it go?" Toph asked when Sokka returned to their own little camp, his feet dragging.

"I don't know," he answered.

Azula frowned when morning came and she found herself outside the palace walls.

"Last chance princess, if you want that shot it's yours." Jong offered as he opened up the sewer grate, Azula narrowed her eyes at him in an expression which told him no.

Once they were inside they only got a few feet before guards were on them, just as Jong predicted.

"Hey, you there!" One shouted, because one always does, as roughly seven or so guards approached the group.

Azula took a deep breath; it was now or never. Knowing she wouldn't regret it and hoping Sokka wasn't lying when he said he'd have her back, she raised her hands over her head.

"What are you doing?" Jong demanded and she couldn't help but smirk.

"Giving myself up" she answered.