Zuko awoke with a start, some inexplicable feeling of dread pressing in on him like a pillow meant to smother one in their sleep. He noticed almost immediately, despite the near pitch blackness of the room, that someone was lying next to him. He didn't have to guess too hard, as he ran a hand feather soft through a sheet of pristine, obsidian black hair. His heart settled noticeably, and all the previous dread dissipated like fog in the rays of a morning sun.

Something was odd though, he realized. She was facing away from him. Never in all the countless nights they had a shared a bed to find comfort with on another had she everfaced away from him, she was always snuggled into him, to convince herself he was still there, even in unconscious sleep. She didn't stir at his touching her hair, so he gently shook her shoulder, at least wanting to confirm she was alright. Still nothing, and panic slowly crept it's way back into him.

"Azula?" He asked cautiously, and in an instant that foreboding sense of dread was back in full force, slamming into him like a physical blow. Despite his every instinct telling him not to, he grabbed her shoulder and turned her to face him. He instantly regretted it, recoiling in horror as her face came into view, or what was left of it at least.

Her eyes were gone, not simply gone but forceably torn out, the bloodstains around her eyes and down her cheeks like a sick perversion of tears. A chunk of flesh had been ripped from her jawline, exposing a revolting view of teeth that almost caused him to hurl on the spot. It was what he noticed last that truly made his heart skip a beat in terror. The remainder of that particular side of her face was black, charred flesh, as if a flaming hand had gripped her and refused to let go.

A voice came from somewhere in the depths beyond, a familiar one but he couldn't quite place it.

"You did this to her." The accusation was as simple as it was final.

"What!?" He shot back in furious disbelief, "I would never!"

"All she wanted was her brother. All she wanted was someone she could love, and you manipulated her feelings. You convinced her to become a traitor!"

"I didn't... This isn't my fault!" He protested, but even he didn't feel the truth to his conviction. This can't be my fault..he thought desperately, weakly, even though the contrary was so obvious.

"Zuko..." His heart skipped a beat at the sound of her voice, and his head snapped to the side to look at her. She wasn't dead... He thought in horror. He had experienced mutilating pain before himself, but this..? He couldn't imagine, didn't want to imagine.. "Zuko," She continued, her voice weak and raspy, hand groping blindly in the dark for him, "Why? Why did you let him do this? We were supposed to win, we were supposed to come out on top." Her voice cracked with the telltale sound of sobs coming on, but all that poured from her eyeless sockets was more blood, thick and accusing. "You were supposed to protect me Zuko!"

"Azula I... I-"

"You failed her!" The voice roared, and with it an inferno that engulfed the room all at once, blinding Zuko with it's brilliance while it simultaneously scorched his skin.

"NO, I just... I don't know what happened!Please, I didn't know! I didn't.. I couldn't.." His voice failed him, he knew his excuses were worthless, because here was the price of his failure, plain for him to see, the beaten and tormented husk of his little sister he failed to protect and turned into a traitor like himself. She was clinging to him for dear life, blood tears pouring out of the holes in her head where such beautiful eyes had once been.

"Zuko!" She cried, terror in her voice as her entire body shook with fear. "Zuko!"

"Zuko!"

He shot up out of bed, screaming, and there was a light thud just next to him.

"Ow, dammit Zuko, that was a little uncalled for don't you think?" Azula's annoyed, but otherwise normal voice came from the darkness. A pale blue flame suddenly erupted in her palm as she stood, dusting herself from the unpleasant fall to the floor.

His good eye was wide, the terror still all too fresh in his mind, and a heavy layer of perspiration coated his skin. His breath came in heaving gulps, and it took him a few moments to consciously calm down and get his body under control. It didn't really work until he looked at Azula, standing there holding her hand up as a torch, and he could clearly see that she was fine. No missing skin, no charred flesh, and her eyes were unmistakeably still in their sockets and working fine, if the obvious annoyance that poured out of them was any indication.

Her glare softened somewhat when she took in his horrified expression, and the fact that he was still shaking physically. She was no stranger to nightmares herself, and though she had rarely, if ever, known her brother to suffer from them, she could only guess that they would be as bad as hers.

"That bad huh?" She sat next to him on their stone slab. A bed was far too generous a term for this thing.

At first he could only stare at her, still convincing himself she was real and they were both alright. Then he just threw his arms around her, and she was certain she could feel hot tears seeping through the fabric of her tunic.

"I thought- It was so-" He hiccuped as he tried to form the sentence, but eventually settled for, "I was so scared I had hurt you."

Her eyebrow quirked in puzzled amusement, "Zuko, of all the things I believe to be true, of all the things I know based on my own experience, there is only one truth that I know without question, in my heart, to be irrefutably, undeniablytrue. You would never hurt me."

Relief filled him as he breathed deeply that enticing aroma that seemed to be a natural part of her, reminiscent of cherry blossoms and hot spices. "You're right, it was just a dream."

"Now let's try to get some sleep. I think we have a long day ahead of us as the Avatar's new prisoners."

Zuko pulled back to give her a smirk, "We're 'special guests'." He reminded her, as if it made a difference. She returned the smirk with a playfully disagreeing expression and slow shake of her head.

"So naive, Zu-Zu." Azula sighed, then added, "Good night."

He moved one arm that was around her up to the back of her neck, and pushed her towards him so he could plant a chaste kiss on her forehead. "Good night."

She tried to put on a look that was offended, but secretly she had wished for more. "You can't just keep kissing me out of the blue, Zuko." He only kept his smirk in return.

"What? That was innocent, as your brother I'm allowed to kiss you like that anytime I want. This on the other hand.."

Once more without warning, he pulled her face closer to his but this time, he sought out the lusciousness of her lips instead, kissing her with a deep, aching passion that once again stole the very breath from her lungs and caused her eyes to sting from the unrestrained power of her own emotions. In a surprised reaction she brought her hands to his chest, meaning to push him away from her but as she found herself succumbing to desire the tension faded out of her arms, leaving her hands to appreciate the well toned muscle instead.

The emptiness that replaced his presence was just as unwelcoming and cold as it had been the first time, and again she had to prevent herself from voicing a want for more. "That," he continued from where he had left off, "we should probably be careful to do in secret."

Despite how hard Azula tried, she couldn't manage to muster up one coherent thought in response, one glib, witty, sarcastic slight that so usually should have been at the ready, so jumbled were her thoughts, clouded by emotional sensations she couldn't place. Instead, she simply stared, eyes shimmering with unspilt tears brimming at the edges.

Zuko, sensing her confusion, simply whispered softly, "Let's get some sleep."

Azula didn't say anything in response, but seemed content enough to lay down with him on their stone bed meant clearly for one person. Her arms wrapped securely around his midsection, Azula snuggled herself comfortably into her brother, resting her head on his chest. Well, He thought ironically to himself, his own arm around her light frame, At least she gets a pillow.

Zuko woke, hours later as the sun was just peeking over the horizon, to the feeling of being constricted forcefully, to the point that breathing was becoming difficult. Before his senses were even fully awake, his hearing picked up on a soft, quiet yet persistent moan.

It took all of a few brief seconds to become fully awake, and to realize that the source of the noise was Azula, squeezing him harder than he would have liked and clearly lost in some bad dream or another. It was rare that she had nightmares whenever she slept with him, but they still happened now and again, and it pained him more than physically to know she was being tormented in a place he couldn't help her.

He shook her, calling out her name, "Azula, Azula wake up, it's just a dream."

"No..." She whined, then mumbled too quietly for him to discern the rest of her words. He tried again, leaning his head closer.

"Azula! Please..."

Her eyes shot open, a wild look of rarely seen terror flashing through them, and her entire body curled into him, every muscle tensing from some tormenting scene that was still too fresh in her mind. She attempted without much success to blink away the tears that had formed in her eyes, but Zuko would pretend he didn't notice. He always did.

"It's alright." He whispered soothingly, a comfort only his voice could provide slowly settling her nerves. He knew better than to ask her about it, it was obvious enough the dream was a bad one, and having her recall the specifics only made things worse. Soothing away the pain was the best thing he could do, so Zuko waited, knowing she'd say something when she was ready.

Light streamed through the small window that Toph had been kind enough to leave them, and with the sunrise came that influx of power that always seemed to melt away whatever lingering fear Azula may have felt. When she could feel her fire burning bright inside of her, it was as if all fears were burned away in a cleansing inferno of her mind and soul.

"It's morning." She said at last, though not so much informing him of something he was already himself well aware of as reassuring herself that it was the truth. Still, he knew his part, and hummed in agreement.

"How's your chest feel?"

"Surprisingly good, actually. Almost like it never happened, though I'm sure she didn't heal me completely. Wouldn't want to put an old enemy back at 100%, now would they?" Azula mused, knowing she was lucky in the first place that she had been healed at all.

"Well if she could bring the Avatar back from the dead, I expect you shouldn't have been too much of a challenge." She laughed once mirthlessly as a rare feeling of guilt crept into her stomach. At least, it was a shared guilt.

Truth be told, Zuko could have stayed the way they were all day and not have cared one bit, it was a rare feeling of peace of contentment that he was enjoying with his sister. Azula, however, would have none of it. Wasting a day so carelessly was for people who couldn't bend blue fire, so with a final sigh of farewell to bed, she rose stating simply, "Well there's no point in wasting away, even if we are prisoners in a cell."

She set her feet to the cool stone floor, and immediately began stretching out the kinks, bones popping in anticipation of the day to come. She reached first up, every joint stretching to it's limit as if attempting to reach the ceiling, then down to her feet, body practically parallel to her legs. Zuko meant to avert his eyes, he really did, but there just wasn't anything else in the room to look at, and certainly nothing that caught his interest as much. Still, the hardest thing to ignore were the thoughts that seemed insistent upon invading his mind, thoughts he knew he shouldn't be thinking but that didn't stop them regardless. Thoughts like how good it would feel to just reach a hand out and squeeze...

Azula dropped to floor on her fists and started firing off push-ups, and probably just in time for Zuko to avoid doing anything he shouldn't. Still, he had to do something to preoccupy himself and take his mind off of that round, young, supple behind that just begged to be smacked. So he joined her in doing push-ups, the only physical activity he could engage in that wouldn't get him into trouble, not to mention a less awkward use of the blood already pounding throughout his system.

He matched her pace perfectly, and it didn't take long for her to notice the unspoken challenge and up the ante. With every rise, she pushed herself off the ground, clapping her hands before landing knuckle first back on the stone. He answered back easily enough, accepting the challenge with confidence. This was something he actually had a shot at beating her in, there was no way she had better upper body strength than him.

Or so he hoped. By ten she was still going strong, as was he, fifteen she showed no signs of slowing, and he was starting to feel the unmistakeable burn. At twenty she was starting to waver, but taking great pains to hide it. Zuko wasn't sure how many more he could manage. Twenty-five and the burning ache was unbearable, and Azula could see defeat in his eyes, if she could just hold out for a few more. She was herself feeling the burn as sweat coated her skin, and she made no more attempts to hide it as her breathing became ragged. As Zuko came down from his twenty-eighth his arms gave out beneath him, and he crashed breathless and defeated to the stone floor. Azula went on to complete thirty, if only to rub it in, before more or less collapsing herself on the floor next to him, sweating, breathless and wholly satisfied with herself and her victory, however minor.

They looked at each other, and Zuko tried to glare but it didn't hold, and pretty soon he broke out into laughter, not necessarily knowing why, and she was quick to follow suit. "Always a competition with us." Zuko commented.

Azula hummed in contemplation, "We are what he made us, Zu-Zu."

Zuko thought for a moment, seemingly undecided on what his next words should be when he finally asked, with a seriousness that was rarely heard from him, "Do you ever wish Lu-Ten hadn't died? That uncle had taken the throne and then.. then maybe we could have stayed a family, and things might have been different?"

Azula's face remained almost impassive, but for a twitch of her lips that indicated a desire to frown. "I've wished for a lot of things, Zuko." She continued to stare up at the ceiling above them, but her steel resolve cracked and a tear trickled through, and she whispered bitterly, "But that doesn't make them come true." Then, doing the only thing she could think of, she began a regiment of crunches at a furious pace, the physical pain of exerting herself an old, long time friend that always chased away the despair whenever it reared it's ugly head.

Zuko could only guess as to what some of those wishes might have been, but he knew he held his own share of guilt for the heartbreak his sister must have gone through. He was at a loss for words at the moment, so he did the only thing that seemed sensible to him and followed her lead. There was no competition this time though, it was a no contest with Zuko collapsing around fifty, his abdomen feeling as if someone had set fire to it, and Azula going on to finish an easy seventy-five, pretending it didn't phase her but feeling every bit the burn he did.

She didn't let up this time, transitioning straight into her squats seamlessly, and here Zuko already knew he didn't stand a chance. If nothing else, he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that she had him beat in leg strength, as she was happy to demonstrate. While he struggled to finish seventy, she sailed past a hundred like she was born for these. After nearly doubling the amount he did, Azula decided it was good enough and finally sat back down on the stone floor, her legs screaming in appreciation of the rest.

"Wow," Zuko said with a touch of humor, breaking the silence finally, "I always knew you had killer legs but that was something else." She huffed in indignation, the very thought of being objectified by Zukoof all people making her livid.

"Would you like to see just how killerthey can be, brother dearest?" She asked with a falsely sweet voice, a sure sign of a more dangerous Azula than normal. In an instant she was next to him, and before he could even react she had a foot on his throat, slowly crushing his windpipe.

So it was that Toph found the two, sweating, out of breath, and one's foot on the other's throat. Their places didn't surprise her at all, and the very scene itself was hardly unexpected. They had even just been joking over breakfast how if they kept the two locked in a room long enough, one of them was bound the kill the other. Unfortunately, they couldn't make things interesting, as no one was foolish enough to bet against Azula.

"Alright you two, play time's over." Her voice and sudden appearance were only a brief distraction to Azula, but it was all Zuko needed. He expertly twisted out from under the foot, gasping for breath and wondering if she really would have finished him like that. What worried him most was how long it took to decide on the answer. For the second time in 24 hours though, he was eternally grateful to the blind Earthbender.

"You," She indicated to Azula, "go see Katara, I'm sure those ribs could use some more work." Azula blinked in astonishment, entirely freezing up for a moment. Did that little girl just give her an order? As if sensing her very thoughts Toph repeated, "Let's go! What are you, deaf? I didn't come here to ask what kind of jam you like on your toast, you're my prisoner now princess, so get moving!"

Mouth agape and staring in absolute bewilderment, it took a few seconds for Azula to finally register what she heard, and though she was muttering all manner of obscenities whilst doing it, she did in fact comply with Toph's command, storming past the girl who still stood in the doorway and off down a corridor. After waiting for her to be out of earshot, and perhaps a little while longer just to be safe, Zuko finally found his voice and addressed the blind girl.

"Thanks." It was the first thing that came to his mind.

Toph shrugged, "I didn't do it out of any obligation to save yoursorry butt, Sparky."

"I mean for last night, for helping me. She'd be dead without you."

"Yeah, well, you could say that without me she wouldn't have been in that situation in the first place." She supplied, trying to brush the whole thing off. Zuko scratched absently at his shoulder blade.

"I guess that's true. Still, you didn't have to help, especially considering all we've done to you guys." He couldn't quite meet her eyes as he said this, then realized it didn't matter and nearly smacked himself for it. "But you did, and I am eternally grateful for it."

Toph waved a hand dismissively, "I did it for my own peace of mind more than anything, so don't look too far into it."

"All that matters is that you did it, the reasons don't matter at this point."

Toph shrugged, and that was more or less her way of agreeing and ending the conversation politely. A hanging silence ensued and it took a few minutes for Zuko's curiosity to finally get the better of him.

"So... are we going anywhere or something?"

"Why would we go anywhere?"

"Well there must be a reason you're here."

"The reason I'm here," She began explaining, as if it were obvious, "is to keep an eye on you. We decided the two of you probably shouldn't be allowed out at the same time, ya' know, because of how things went the lasttime you two worked together."

"Oh... I guess that makes sense." He admitted sullenly, past mistakes haunting him all over again.

"Yeeahh..." Toph deadpanned dryly.

Another period of silence occupied the space between them for an indeterminable amount of time, when Zuko suddenly had a thought.

"Hey, do you think I could go get some things? We kind of left all our stuff in the woods last night."

Toph contemplated for a moment, remembering the frantic scramble and supposing there might be some useful things they might need. She shrugged, "Alright, fine, but don't try anything funny. We still have your sister." That last part was a clear threat and sufficient warning.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Replied Zuko in way of thanks.

He followed the blind Earthbender down some dusty old stone corridors, until suddenly he caught the sound of Katara's voice echoing down towards them. "Look, my healing is most effective when administered directly to the skin. Those ribs aren't going to heal themselves, so a little cooperation would be really helpful here!" He could hear his sister's haughty "Hrmph" in his head, and could practically see her supercilious response, arms crossed and head upturned, the very picture of a stuck-up, indignant bitch.

"Alright, fine! Either you take it off, or I do, take your pick princess!" Katara's ultimatum rang clear down the halls, her angry voice carrying quite well, and the battle lines were drawn.

"You wouldn't dare." Azula's scathing reply and challenge one in the same. A high pitched battle cry, a loud thudas a body slammed into a wall, some things falling onto the floor with a clatter and clang, and the obvious, muffled noises of a scuffle were all Zuko heard next.

"Looks like we're taking a detour Sparky." Toph said, as calm as if nothing out of the ordinary were happening just three doors down the hall. She slammed one hand into a nearby wall, commanding the stones to crumble away and a tunnel to bore straight through into the cliff side. He followed, lighting a small fire in his palm to illuminate the way.

After a while the tunnel finally opened up to sunshine, the vivid forest alive with a myriad of sounds and colors this morning. Zuko looked around, trying to get his bearings and remember where the camp was.

"I think it's.." He started, turning his head this way and that and about to pick a direction at random.

"This way, come on." Toph interrupted, her feet remembering everything and not enjoying the prospect of wandering around the woods all day with Zuko of all people. After a short walk they found the campsite, left almost exactly the way it was. Almost. The most noticeable difference being the large bird that was tearing into a sack, searching for food. It withdrew it's head upon hearing the intruders though, and it's face was a menacing mockery of a normal bird. Zuko was familiar with Vulture-hawks, but this one in particular he was quite familiar with. The great avian predator screeched once, loudly, before taking off into the sky. Zuko's good eye went wide.

"We've gotta run, hurry!"

"See, this isn't so bad, now is it?" Katara commented, running her glowing water covered hands over Azula's now exposed chest. Azula's only response was to glare up at the Waterbender who sat atop her, although truthfully it was unneeded at this point. The threat of calling the Avatar in to use stone shackles on her had pretty much taken all the fight out of the princess, and just for good measure Katara had threatened to call her brother in "just to watch." She mentioned him having a thing for the ladies, and Azula's stomach had twisted in on itself at just the thoughtof that savage seeing her half-naked.

So, there she lay on the floor, shirtless and with another girl's hands on her chest. It was all she could do to keep herself calm to just keep breathing, mechanically, methodically, counting off in her head. Inhale, 2, 3, exhale, 2, 3, so on and so forth, eyes moving about wildly and landing on everything and anything she could find that wasn't the other girl. At some point, she had decided to just simply close them and stare at the insides of her own eyelids. Anything was better than being forced to bear witness to the obscenity.

If Azula herself were embarrassed by the situation, Katara was no better off herself. It was the bones that needed healed, but unfortunately, you couldn't touch bone without touching skin, and the skin she found her hands on at this moment was so baby soft and flawless, but above all it was hot. Not the normal kind of body heat a person might radiate, her flesh felt like there was a fire raging beneath the surface. She pressed down, trying her best to ignore the way the plush, supple mound of flesh felt under her fingers.

"Is this still part of the healing session, or have we moved on to recreational fun?" Azula's sarcastic, taunting voice snapped Katara's attention back from wherever it was and she reflexively scowled. Just as easy as Zu-Zu, hm?Azula thought, smirking to herself.

Azula had heard people say sometimes that someone "Just exploded" in fury, but she had always simply assumed that was a figment of speech. So imagine her surprise when the next thing she heard, and felt, was a violent explosion that shook the very foundation of the temple.

Zuko and Toph raced through the forest at breakneck speed, and the former couldn't help but be amazed by the latter's ability to navigate so seamlessly between clusters of trees and even simple undergrowth. His own depth vision being limited in the last few years, it was pretty impressive to say the least.

They came bursting through the trees in a flurry of leaves, Zuko skidding to hault in order to avoid running straight off a cliff, Toph simply stopping inches from the edge without even having to think about it. She shifted her foot, something unseen suddenly catching her attention. "Stop!" she tossed an arm out to the side, blocking his way, "He's under us." The way her brow knitted and voice never faltered, Zuko found himself taking her word for it.

He looked out across the chasm to his right, and could make out the small shapes of people he recognized very well from far away, sitting at a fountain and oblivious to their imminent demise. Thinking quickly and looking around, he found a few vines hanging over the side of the cliff. Finding one that he deemed strong enough to hold him he grasped it in both hands tightly, and when he heard the unmistakeable sound of someone taking a large, deep breath, his legs reacted for him and the next thing he knew, he was sailing through the air, out into a foggy abyss.

The vine stretched to it's limit and Zuko swung back like a pendulum, his target coming into sight, a look of pure furious concentration plain on the large assassin's face. He was preparing to deliver a devastating, concentrated explosion of Firebending via the third eye tattoo on his forehead to an unsuspecting Avatar and friends below. The man unleashed all his fire at once, and just as he did Zuko crashed into him, throwing the attack off by several dozen yards and sending the man himself spinning as he recovered from the surprise push.

"Stop!" Zuko commanded, trying to sound authoritative and powerful but failing against a man three times his size with a metal arm and leg. Still, no one could say he didn't try. "I order you to stop hunting the Avatar! I won't pay you!"

The assassin simply grunted and shrugged the scarred prince off, literally. Though his targets were alerted to by the explosion, they were still standing about, dazed and unsure. He saw his window, and tossing Zuko away with a simple shove of his thick arm, he breathed as deeply as possible, then squeezing his diaphragm, he expelled all of the energy in his body once more, sending one fruit sized ball of fire screaming through the air, emitting an audible shock-wave a second before exploding furiously enough to shake the Air Temple to it's very core. Aang only barely managed to construct an emergency wall of ice to intercept the blast using all the water in the fountain.

Frustrated, Zuko tried a different approach, hopefully one that would resonate with the man. "Fine, I'll pay you double to leave them alone!" Again, he simply ignored the attempt to persuade him into abandoning a target. He had never failed to take out a target, never, and this one had managed it twice now. This was no longer about the money, or even the fact the Avatar was an enemy of his country. This was personal, and either the Avatar would die, or he would.

Giving up on obviously futile diplomacy, Zuko charged his hired assassin, fire building in his fist. It was child's play to intercept the small fist in his steel right hand, extinguishing the paltry flame. With a violent toss, his opponent stumbled backwards, and while he was disoriented the assassin decided the pest had to go, launching a mental fire bomb at the scarred young man. Zuko only just brought his arms up to fend against the attack, but the force of the explosion itself forced him to slide back until he disappeared over the edge of the temple floor.

Satisfied that his target had fallen to his doom and was no longer a nuisance, the burly assassin returned his attention to the far platform, only just in time to notice one lone, unfamiliar figure going through an odd set of movements, dazzling, bright tendrils of electricity dancing in circles about her.

"What the hellis going on!?" Azula yelled as she and Katara ran through the temple passageways.

Katara didn't need to think about it longer than a few seconds, responding with a hard determination, "Combustion Man." Azula looked upon the other girl in bewilderment, but before she could say anything another blast erupted into existence, and the two girls doubled their speed.

Rounding the corner, they found Sokka and Aang ducking behind a corner, hiding from the onslaught of fiery devastation. If they were wary of Azula's presence, it didn't show outwardly, as all of their attention was focused on the man blowing things up with his mind.

"Was that Zuko?" Sokka asked incredulously, and Aang nodded. Their lives had just been saved by their oldest nemesis, and Azula's eyes went wide. Zuko..?if Zuko was fighting a Firebender of this caliber... She shuddered at the thought, then made the decision to peek around the corner.

She saw her brother attacking the man, but to little effect, and when he reared back to deliver an fatal blast, she watched in horror as he was nearly thrown from the platform to tumble, thousands and thousands of feet to his death. He had managed to grab a large root hanging from the bottom of the walkway, and seeing her opportunity, Azula rushed out from behind cover to deliver a decisive, finishing blow.

The other three onlookers watched with transfixed amazement as Azula went through her motions, reaching out to the positive and negative energies around her that responded instantly, blazing with a pale light that sizzled angrily upon being torn asunder. She met her enemy's eyes as his attention focused on her, and without pause he readied his own attack to answer with. In the next instant, a lightning bolt tore through a conflagration, and two equally immense explosions resounded throughout the canyon.

A metal arm sailed, end over end, down into the fog choked chasm below, while in the opposite direction a small body trailing black smoke in it's wake soared through the air, a helpless victim of gravity's undeniable power.

It took Aang a moment to register what had happened, but in the next instant he was running across the stone floor, making for the edge and extending the sails on his glider as he jumped fearlessly out into nothingness. He didn't see a dangerous enemy right then, he saw only a person who was falling to their death, and that very thought is what fed him an extra burst of speed as he rocketed through the air, chasing after the trail of black smoke.

Weightlessness... It was such an odd feeling, to be like a feather, listlessly drifting on the wind, carelessly oblivious to all else in the world. Only, she wasn't floating gently to the ground. She was falling. Falling, it felt like, through fire.

Something in the back of her mind screamed for her attention and Azula suddenly awoke, eyes snapping open to a horrifying reality. Her skin burned from her proximity to the blast, and smoke trailed her like a signal flare. She tried her best to remain calm and think about the situation, but the ringing in her ears made her head feel like it was splitting open, and concentrating on anything in particular seemed impossible for the time being.

The disorientation quickly passed though, as survival instinct pumped adrenaline into her veins, providing a much welcome reprieve from the hurt. With her new clarity, Azula tried to calculate her options quickly. Time was not on her side.

If I propelled myself towards that cliff wall with my bending, I could probably use my hairpin to... Shit! she smacked herself mentally as she remembered, I don't have my stupid hairpin, that's what I get for listening to my stupid brother and his stupid ideas, stupid, stupid, STUPID!

"..la!"

She caught something, someone's voice it sounded like, just barely audible over the roar of the wind in her ears. Azula looked around frantically, unable to tell if it was real or just in her head.

"A-zu-laaa!" He called out, louder this time, trying to catch the falling princess' attention as he raced to catch her before the ground did. Aang's last shout seemed to work, as Azula's head jerked in his direction and he just caught the flash of her eyes. She was still a ways away though, and falling at terminal velocity, something that was difficult to match on a glider, even for an Airbender.

Azula saw him, but wasn't sure where exactly to go from there. She supposed all she could do would be wait for him to catch up with her, but he seemed to be going so slow...

The fog finally parted, and much to Azula's horror there really wasn't much room left between her and the ground. If that weren't bad enough, the ground wasn't ground at all, but instead jagged, deadly stalagmites of all sizes that waited patiently to impale her. She didn't have a choice, she had to act fast. The Avatar clearly couldn't reach her in time, but maybe shecould reach him.

Worth a shot...she said to herself, knowing that if this didn't work it was all over. With one mighty inhalation, she focused her fire through her right hand and foot, spinning her in mid-air so that her head was angled towards her pursuer, and then, giving it absolutely everything she had, she rocketed towards him, jets of azure flame shooting out from her hands and feet.

The sudden act caught Aang unawares, but he quickly chided himself for allowing anything she did to surprise him at this point. He saw his opportunity though, and with a renewed vigor sailed towards her, and when they were just close enough he shouted for her to grab on, which she just barely managed to do with one hand. Her talon-nails dug painfully into his calf, the sudden, piercing pain causing the young Avatar to cry out and lose focus. The glider wobbled dangerously, but years of training kicked in and Aang quickly stabilized them, blocking the pain out of his mind for the time being.

Zuko eventually managed to climb back up to the platform, just in time for a hole to be blown out of the side of the cliff. Toph emerged from the tunnel looking as casual as ever, and noticing Zuko's presence asked, "What the hell happened? It felt like an earthquake!"

"My sister happened.." He said smoothly, attempting to mask the awe in his voice but not well enough for Toph's fine tuned ears.

"You mean princess sunshine just savedAang?" She asked with obvious disbelief.

Zuko simply nodded, so preoccupied was he with something in the distance that he forgot exactly who it was he was talking to. "Now I think he's about to return the favor," he commented, watching as the young Avatar took off after a smoking object. "Come on, let's go see if the rest of your friends are alright."

They raced together across a stone catwalk that connected the two sections of the Air Temple, making it to the empty fountain at just about the same time that Aang and Azula came gliding in. As soon as her feet touched solid ground Azula released her grip, stumbling a few steps before being caught by Zuko, who proceeded to hold her tightly to his chest. Words were irrelevant as they embraced one another with a tenderness that was almost as if...

"Wow, I can't believe I'm saying this, but thanks Zuko, Azula," The Avatar's voice snapping the siblings back to reality, the two separated to face him, "You guys really saved us out there."

"Well, I suppose you saved me as well, Avatar-"

"Please, call me Aang. If you're going to be a part of our group, you should at least know our names." His meaning wasn't lost on anyone, and all involved sported shared looks of shock, with the notable exception of Toph, who merely grinned to herself.

Sokka and Katara exchanged similarly worried expressions before the former asked, "Aang, are you sure about this?"

"Yes." He replied confidently, without even thinking twice about it. "I saw something in you back there," he said, directing his attention again to Azula, "when you attacked Combustion Man. It wasn't anger, or contempt, he was just an enemy, threatening someone important to you. It wasn't personal for you, it was just.. necessary. I don't agree with what you did, but I understand why you did it, and I guess... I guess I understand also, why you attacked me."

Azula's eyebrows rose in surprise, but before she could respond Aang continued, "It wasn't personal, it was just what you felt you had to do. So I forgive you, and would be honored if you taught me Firebending, because I know it's what Ihave to do."

Azula thought carefully for a moment about what the young Avatar had said, then casually replied, "Alright, wewill teach you. It was Zu-Zu's idea after all."

Aang smiled and bowed respectfully in traditional Fire Nation manner, which the two siblings returned with bows of their own.

"Aang, how can you trust them?" Katara finally voiced the worry that had been on the tip of her tongue this whole time. She didn't even seem to care that they could hear when she added, "They could kill us all in our sleep!"

The Avatar simply shook his head confidently though, "No, I don't think so. If they really wanted to kill us, they had the perfect opportunity back there when Combustion Man attacked us. Trust begins with it being given. And besides, we have Toph! Nobody can sneak up on us with her around."

Katara's unamused glare spoke volumes to her mistrust, but with a defeated sigh she conceded, "Fine, if you think this is what you should do, I'll support it." She said, though she sounded every bit in opposition to the idea.

"I'm sure. In fact, I think they were meant to be my Firebending teachers. If you think about it, we don't know any Firebenders better than we do these two!" He exclaimed with that naive, childish exuberance that showed just how truly carefree of a kid he really was at heart.

Zuko and Azula shared bemused looks to one another before the latter announced, "Well I'm glad you're so enthusiastic. You begin at sunrise tomorrow." She gave him a familiar, threatening glare as she added "Don't be late." in a frighteningly sweet voice. Zuko had to keep from laughing or else he would spoil all her fun, and if there was one thing he knew better than to do, it was spoil Azula's fun.

"Well, what if I'm a littlebit late?" Aang asked hesitantly. Azula simply shook her head.

"Oh, don't be late."

Aang gulped. "Sunrise it is then?" The two siblings nodded.

When everyone turned to head in separate directions Zuko caught up with Toph. "Wait a minute." The blind girl turned to give him a puzzled look. "We still need to get our stuff.."

Toph thought about it a second and then shrugged, "Oh, alright, I suppose you probably still want that stuff eh?" Zuko nodded, much to the Earthbender's chagrin. "I assumeyou're nodding."

"Oh, yeah, uhm... sorry."

"Alright, come on Sparky." She headed for the nearest wall and, without hesitation, punched the wall and a tunnel tore into the cliff side. Azula and Zuko both followed her into the darkness, simultaneously lighting small torches in the palms of their hands and creating a frightfully beautiful clash of bright red and soft blue that danced and warred with one another across the walls as they went.

They found their old camp easily enough, but unfortunately much of their stuff lay strewn about carelessly, torn pieces of cloth dotted the scene and bits of food could be found here and there. Something suddenly moved, leaping up onto a nearby log, but they relaxed upon seeing it was a harmless badger-frog. The animal croaked once.

"Oh yes, thank you sooomuch for watching our stuff for us." Azula drawled, and Toph couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"You know this frog?"

Azula nodded, "We're old buddies, him and I. We go way back." The simple way in which she said it gave Toph pause.

"Has anyone ever told you you're a bit screwy in the head princess?"

Azula smiled predatorily, but the effect was sadly lost on the blind girl. The menacing tone she used, however, was not. "Yes, as a matter of fact they have. They've just never said it twice."

Zuko handed his sister a torn up sack with shredded flaps dangling off the sides, and what appeared to be a dark red liquid dripping out of the bottom. "Sorry, looks like his bird found your bag of cherries."

Azula huffed forcefully, "Why that worthless little sky rat! Go find it! I want roast bird tonight! I'll boil it's eyes in it's own blood! I'll-" She carried one with her rant, listing a number of colorful ways in which she would make this creature wish it had never existed.

"Ruined! Everything is ruined, even my pic-" She stopped dead in her tracks. Without another word she tore furiously through the remnants of her satchel, until she found the item she was searching for. "My picture.." she sighed heavily as she drew out the picture of a younger Zuko. It was soaked with the dark red juices, a blood-stained perversion of it's former self.

Zuko looked at the picture with a grimace. It was like someone had ripped out his heart and held it over him while squeezing out every last drop of blood. He shuddered. "It's alright, we'll have a new one made one of these days." He placed a reassuring hand upon her shoulder and she looked up at him. "And I'll be sure they get my good side." That much, at least, elicited a small giggle from her.

With a reluctant sigh of defeat she let the picture fall back into the ruined sack, then without hesitation she washed the entire thing in a furious blaze of sapphire. It was only a moment later when she said, "Shit! I had a comb in there.." Zuko couldn't help but laugh.

"If you two are almost done then?" Toph asked in a way that said she would rather be putting needles in her eyes.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Zuko answered, and the three set off once more into the thicket, while from somewhere in the underbrush a lone ribbitchased after them.

They made it back to the Air Temple around dusk, and Toph led the way to their old "cell." With a quick slide of her foot the stone door slid down into the floor, and she dusted off her hands in a pompous display. "Well, here you are you two, home sweet home. If you're nice, I may even open the window for you."

"Please, we would appreciate it very much. It gets... stuffy in here." Zuko scratched at the back of his head, shifting from foot to foot. Toph walked over to the far wall and with a simple pound of her fist the tiny opening at the top expanded into a window big enough to climb through.

"Anything else?"

Brother and sister shared looks of apprehension. "Well, we could use a-"

"Another bed." Azula finished for him. Toph turned her attention to the small slab of rock and then grinned to herself.

"Ohh, I see what the problem is. Let me just fix that for you.." The Earthbender stomped her foot and thrust out her arms, and immediately the stone responded by sprouting up, effectively doubling the size of the bed.

Azula's expression was a priceless mixture of embarrassment and surprise. "That's not what I-!" Toph simply waved a dismissive hand.

"Relax princess, your secret's safe with me," she stated as casually as if it were the weather as she made her way to the door. As if to emphasize her point before she left she added, "I didn't see nothin'."

It wasn't until after the blind girl had disappeared around the corner that Zuko chuckled, though not for long when his sister glared at him. "That was a good one..." he tried to explain, but gave up when all he received was a harder glare.

"Why would she do that? It's like she thinks we're sleeping together or something!"

Zuko had to think about that for a moment beforing replying, "But we sleep together all the time Az..."

She made to smack him but he quickly ducked his head, just barely avoiding the back of her hand. "Not like that, dum-dum! It's as if she thinks we're... ugh, nevermind. Like talking to a wall..." Azula walked off muttering under her breath plenty of unflattering things about Zuko's intelligence.

What the hell did I ever do wrong, Zuko asked himself, before quickly realizing that there was plenty. One of his most recent mistakes popped glaring into his head, and he groaned as if he had just walked out of his room with his pants on backwards. "Why didn't I ask for a pillow!"

It was hours later, in the middle of the night, that Zuko was awoken by something brushing up against the side of his leg. Of course, it was Azula. Or rather, it was her own leg. She herself would never admit it, even to someone who blatantly witnessed the action with their own two eyes, but the rare occasions she had a happy dream, her leg would twitch in a very similar manner to that of a canine.

Zuko couldn't help but smile and hug her just a tad tighter, not wanting to wake her up. He would always ask the next morning what her dream had been about, and it was always the same one. She only ever had one pleasant dream...

She was running. Running with wild abandon through an almost endless field of knee high grass that glistened a bright, emerald green in the radiant splendor of an afternoon sun. The faint scent of sea foam mingled with the aroma of wild flowers and grass all around, and the sun itself kissed her skin with it's comforting warmth. Sea birds cried as they gave flight, and somewhere in the distance the steady rhythm of waves washing against the sandy shore drifted up to her ears. She was a little girl, no more than 6 or 7, and just ahead of her ran a boy only a couple years older.

The sound of her giddy laughter rang out as she chased after him, swearing up and down that she would catch him. Finally, at the edge of a cliff that overlooked the beach far below, he collapsed onto the ground, out of breath and loving every second of it. She caught up to him just seconds later, spinning to land on her back as she, too, fell into the loving embrace of the Earth around her.

They laid there for a short while, side by side and staring up at the vast, endless sky above, their minds too young and pure to bother needing pointless conversation in order to simply enjoy each other's company. She scooted closer to him.

"Hey Zu-Zu?" She asked, a hint of uncertainty in her voice.

"Yeah?"

"Let's always be like this... for always."

The young boy looked back at her with golden eyes that lit up his face, and simply replied, "Always." She wrapped her small arms around his middle and hugged him as tight as she could, which he returned happily. A small drop of moisture soaked through his shirt, and after a moment he realized she was crying.

"Az, why are you crying?" He asked with all the concern of an older brother.

"Because I'm happy."

He kissed the top of her head, and she moaned in her sleep, a quiet, soft whine that resonated in her throat. Zuko whispered into her hair one simple little word.

"Always."

Author's Note: Luuuv you :3

Thanks for taking the time!