Chapter Three: Truth and Consequences

Staring up at the morning sky, he breathed in the cool, fresh air, and basked in the warmth of the brilliant rinsing sun. He listened to the hypnotic chirping of the parrot-doves, and let his mind wander. Deep in thought, he didn't even hear his girlfriend, Mai, sauntering up behind him. Wrapping her hands around his stomach, Mai hugged him intimately. He was startled at first, but relaxed quickly to the tender embrace of Mai.

"Am I still aloud to touch you whenever I want, Fire Lord, or will I be thrown in prison?" Mai said jokingly.

"I can maybe reduce your sentence, but I don't have a problem dating a criminal," he returned in jest.

He turned around and wrapped his arms around Mai and leaned in. Mai leaned in as well, and they shared a tender kiss. He leaned out and looked into eyes, their foreheads resting on each other's.

"Well, good morning," Mai said, blushing just slightly.

"Back at you," He returned, rubbing her nose with his. Mai pushed him away and put her hands on her hips.

"Geese, don't make me throw up. I can only handle so much romanticism, you know," Mai said sarcastically, smiling as brightly as the sun rising in the east.

"Well, maybe if you'd stop being so great, I wouldn't have to play Mister Romance all the time," he replied just as sarcastically.

"Don't stop. It's a good role for you," Mai said as she placed her hand on his face. Kissing his cheek, she turned away and leaned on the balcony.

"So, what's on the agenda for today? I was hoping we could do a nice picnic in the Fire Lily field," Mai said as she stretched.

"Sure, I've got time. I'm not doing much today besides-," he answered before he was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"You may enter," he said with authority. An imperial firebender entered the room in a hurry. Nearly running up to him, the firebender bowed in respect.

"What is it?" he questioned, sounding just a little irritated.

"Sir, there's a problem…at the prison…" the imperial firebender said hesitantly. Taking in his words, his happy demeanor quickly faded to rage.

"Azula…" he said, clenching his jaw in fury.

The girl rushed to the royal throne room, having been called for an immediate audience with him. The girl's shoes clacked on the marble as she hurried to her destination. Reaching the curtained entrance, the girl moved the curtains from her path and walked in. Inside, ornate pillars and rows of intense flame were present. He was there sitting on the thrown, with a troubled look on his face. He looked at the girl and offered a slight smile, but it quickly faded. He got up off his thrown and walked up to the girl. They bowed to each other and then hugged. He then stepped back and took a deep breath.

"Zuko, what's the matter? Your messenger made it sound urgent," the girl said in an alarmed tone.

"It's Azula. She's, well, how can I say this," he replied with difficulty.

"Just spit it out!" The girl demanded, obviously anxious to hear about the situation.

"Azula's taken over the prison," he said bluntly.

The girl's face showed confusion. Taken back, she took a moment to think.

"Wait, what do you mean by taken over?" she questioned, still bewildered.

"After your last visit, she broke out of her cell and took down every guard that got in her way, all because she wanted to take a shower. Now she has the guards scared half to death! So scared that they'll obey her every command," he answered in a rush.

"Okay, I can see how that's a problem, but why do you need me? Can't you take care of it?" the girl inquired, still not understanding.

"Perhaps you didn't hear me. The guards are scared out of their minds of Azula! And I'm too busy! I can't handle running a nation and running an insane asylum at the same time! Katara, I need you to go over and talk some sense into her, or at least take her down," he said in frustration. In response, the girl showed a mischievous look on her face.

"Oh, so I'm just another one of your subjects, here for your command?" the girl teased.

"No, I don't mean it like that-," he stated, trying to change the girl's view on the subject.

"Oh, no, no, I understand. I'm honored to serve the Fire Lord," the girl commented in an attempt to make a joke. In response, he his rolled eyes, annoyed at how his friends constantly liked reminding him that in their eyes he wasn't Fire Lord, but a close friend. He smiled as he shook his head.

"So, in all seriousness, will you help me out here?" he said almost as if he were pleading.

"Sure, I think I can lend a hand," the girl answered with a cynical tone. After he thanked the girl, the two hugged and then bowed. Soon, the girl was off to the prison to offer her assistance, but she had no idea what to expect once she arrived.

As the girl was escorted inside the prison by a guard, she could immediately sense the oddity. The guards were hurrying about in a nervous fashion, and the inmates were unusually quiet. The girl looked to the guard escorting her and noticed that he too was in a jumpy state. Something's definitely wrong here, the girl thought to herself.

As the girl came upon her holding cell, she noticed that the metal door was unlocked. The two guards beside the door looked as though they weren't so much as guarding the person in the cell, but protecting them. One of the guards pushed the door open for the girl. The girl was overwhelmed with annoyance. Some maximum-security prison this is! The girl thought as she placed her hand on her hip.

"You guys aren't helping the situation. Go be wimps somewhere else, okay?" the girl said in irritation to the guards. The guards bolted off on her command. I probably just did them a favor, she thought as she watched the guards practically run away. Taking a moment to focus, the girl stood in silence. Ready to go, she entered the holding cell.

The girl could only hang her mouth open in awe. The prison cell had been changed into a royal quarter. In the cell was a massive bed, a vanity armoire, and a feast laid out on a golden table. Lying comfortably in a silk robe on the bed was the prisoner, eating from of goblet of grapes beside her.

"Well, well, if this isn't a surprise. Here for your weekly visit, I assume? If that's the case I'm afraid you'll be disappointed to hear that I'm not really in the mood to have a heart to heart," she said coldly and smoothly as she popped a grape into her mouth.

"Azula, what do you think you're doing?" the girl interrogated sternly.

"Well I thought I was giving you the hint to leave, but clearly you can't take a hint," she returned with vigor.

"I'm not going anywhere!" the girl stated angrily. Her smiled quickly faded as she lowered her head. Her face depicted lunacy and wrath, a face that the girl couldn't help but cringe at.

"I'll make you regret that decision," she said with a hint of rage. The girl simply stood resolute.

"You know what you're doing is pathetic," the girl said to her as she stepped off her bed. She froze in her tracks.

"What do you mean by that?" she inquired as she leaned on her bed.

"Taking over a prison? You've really lowered yourself," the girl said mockingly. She actually looked surprised by the girl's words.

"No, no, I'm agile, versatile, methodic. I took advantage of my situation and environment and adapted. It's what I had to do, it's what I've always had to do!" she rambled in way that suggests she weren't really talking to the girl but to herself.

"Well, here's a question for you. Why not just leave?" the girl asked. Her face changed from an expression of shock and delusion to confusion and distant.

"Come on! You could have easily escaped by now! What's stopping you from freedom?" the girl questioned with solidity. She could only look away from the girl.

"Shut up!" she said almost in a whisper.

"Is the fact that you don't have any place to go? Is it the fact that you have nothing to turn to? Is it the fact that you have no one to rely on? Am I in the right area, Azula?" the girl asked mercilessly.

"No, I have Mai and Ty Lee!" she said in defense. Her face showed that she was slowly coming out of her trance of repression into reality.

"Oh, no you don't! They abandoned you, remember? Because you tried to hurt people they care about!" the girl informed.

"It wasn't my fault they turned! They should have thought less about their personal lives and more about their loyalty. Their loyalty to their country, to their duties, to their princess!" she said in a fit.

"What princess? All I see is a washed up failure. Your right to the throne was removed by Zuko!" the girl returned harshly. The girl felt terrible for what she was saying, but she knew she couldn't stop. The girl had to get through to her any way that she could.

"I'm not a failure!" she screamed.

"You're not? Well, you failed to win the crown, you failed to win the war, and you failed to keep your friends. That sounds like a failure to me!" the girl replied.

"No! Shut up!" she yelled almost as though she were asking.

"Face it, Azula! You know that you have nothing beyond the walls of this prison!" the girl stated bluntly.

She could feel a lump in her throat, her eyes swell with tears, and her head start to ache. Everything the girl was saying was like a strike from a hammer. She could only take so much more bludgeoning before she would completely break.

"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!" she yelled in a hysterical rage.

"No, Azula! Not until you face reality! You've lost everything! And it hurts, doesn't it? It hurts when the things you take for granted, the things you thrived upon and cared about most disappear into thin air?" the girl asked forcefully.

"No, I can adapt. That's what I do," she retorted with the sound of doubt.

"Adaptation is relative to what you're doing, Azula! And right now all you're doing is wasting away," the girl yelled.

"No, please just shut up!" she pleaded.

"Why is this so hard for you to understand? You will never truly adapt until you acknowledge and accept your losses and failures. You'll never truly adapt until you ask yourself the big questions!" the girl explained loudly. She knew she couldn't take much more.

"Who are you? And What do you want?" the girl stated with aggression. The girl could see the tears start to roll down her face as the looked into the mirror on her vanity armoire. As she looked, her face turned from anger to complete sadness and despair. Suddenly, she let loose all her pent up emotions and screamed at the top of her voice as she fell to her knees in tears.

"I DON'T KNOW!" she cried. Never before has the girl seen her give into her emotions completely. Watching her cry so humanly was almost heartbreaking for the girl. The girl ran over and sat on her knees as she wrapped her arms around her. She rested her head on the girl's shoulder as she gripped her shirt in emotional agony. The girl placed her hand on her head as she cried, offering an occasional, " Shh, it's okay," for support. She couldn't take the weight of her emotions by herself, and for once was truly glad for the girl's presence. She continued to cry, letting out all her suppressed feelings.

Suddenly, the girl drew her finger to her cheek, and before the girl realized what she was doing, she wiped away a single tear. The girl discovered that she, too, was crying.