Just One Kiss

by Vahnati

Can change the world. Or at least, save someone's life from falling to darkness and despair. In an AU where Zuko and Azula develop an intriguing relationship the night before the eclipse, things take a bit of a different course for all involved.

5. Old Friends (That Don't Want You Dead)

She awoke to the feeling of someone nudging her as forcefully as they were persistent.

"Come on, you have to wake up!"

Mai's eyes shot open, then closed just as quickly when the light nearly blinded her.

"Finally, you're awake." It took her brain hardly a second to register Ty Lee's voice. Even with her head pounding like a drum and disorientation so bad she couldn't remember where she was, she recognized that perky tone with ease.

"Uggh," she moaned as she sat up, barely able to squint against the sun's bright, angry beams.

"Come on Mai, we've got to go. We have to keep looking for Azula and Zuko, let's go!"

Slowly Mai was able to adjust to the harsh light well enough to actually keep her eyes open. She looked around nebulously and took in the surroundings. Sparse trees, a small brook, foothills all around. Wilderness. Very definitively wilderness. There was a small circle of charred sticks and ash where last night's campfire had been. Or at least, where it must have been, she decided. Mai shook her head vigorously, trying in vain to settle the jumble of thoughts tumbling around inside her head.

"Where-"

"We have to get going Mai, come on we don't have any time to lose let's goooo!" Ty Lee whined, at this point practically pulling Mai up as if she was going to drag the girl across the Fire Nation.

"Alright, alright, I'm up, you can let go of me now Ty." Mai replied in a bored, scratchy voice as she waved her friend's hands away like she was dismissing a servant. Mai stood, dusting herself off and checking her sleeves to make sure all her knives were in place. It was a habit so ingrained inside her muscles that she didn't even have to think about doing it, just as she didn't have to think as her fingers brushed over the tips to know that every single one was in place and accounted for.

"My head's killing me," She deadpanned. Ty Lee regarded her friend curiously.

"Yours too? Huh... weird." The perky acrobat commented, scratching her head. "I guess ours heads must really miss pillows."

If it were anybody else, they probably would have looked at the girl like she were mental, but Mai was well enough acquainted with Ty Lee for this to register as a pretty standard remark, so she shrugged it off. It wasn't as if she had any explanation for their simultaneous headaches.

"Do we have any food?" asked Mai, and Ty Lee went to digging in their pack, humming thoughtfully as she rifled through until with a cry of eureka she withdrew a small, paper wrapped package. She peeled the paper back to reveal some hardened square bread. "How delightful." said Mai, sounding anything but enthusiastic about it.

"Well, at least it's something." Ty Lee pointed out, but even she had to cringe as she took a crackling bite. If she had hoped that it would get better the more she ate, she quickly found the opposite to be true. Focusing on the feeling of food in her stomach over the taste of said food helped, but not by much.

Mai considered the brick of bread in her hand and decided with a sigh, "I guess with food like this we can at least walk and eat. We should be able to reach the Western Air Temple before day's end if we get moving."

Ty Lee nodded, and without another word took off along with Mai towards the rising sun, loud crunching filling her ears and a feeling of excited anticipation swelling in her chest as she drew closer to reuniting with her friends, one step at a time.

---

"Bend your knees Avatar!"

"They are bent-"

"Bend them more!"

Aang groaned as if he had been doing the same thing over and over without success. In a way it was true. "Yes Master Jeong Jeong..." he grumbled, much to Azula's dismay.

"What did you just call me?"

"Nothing! I said 'I've been bending them all along'." He lied, his back stiffening reflexively at the piercing glare she was giving him.

Azula's eyes narrowed at the visibly frightened boy, "You called me Jeong Jeong. Why?"

"That was the name of my first Firebending teacher, all he ever did was tell me to bend my knees, breath and feel the sun."

Azula blinked, "Your first Firebending teacher was Jeong Jeong? Admiral Jeong Jeong, the deserter? He had white hair and a scar over his eye?"

Aang nodded, mumbling without much enthusiasm, "That's him alright." That's when he got slapped, hard.

"You ungrateful little insect! Do you have any idea how lucky you were to have a master of his caliber for a teacher!? Admiral Jeong Jeong was an absolute genius when it came to Firebending, he did things with his fire people never dreamed possible! You should be so lucky! If only that idiot hadn't gone and done something so stupid as deserting..."

Zuko, who had thus far been content to sit and spectate while his sister drilled Aang on the finer points of, well, the basics, perked up at this with a sudden thought. "Hey, Azula." She turned her head, questioning him with a quirk of her eyebrow. "We aren't exactly on the 'loyalist' side of things anymore ourselves. Teaching the Avatar Firebending is pretty high on the list of actions considered treasonous by the our dear old dad the Fire Lord."

Aang winced mentally. No matter how sincere they appeared in their intentions to help and not harm him, he still couldn't quite get used to the fact that his mortal enemy's children were helping him now. The fact that one of them had chased him around the world with the intent to capture, and the other had more or less killed him, still lingered in the back of his mind, and only served to further exacerbate that feeling of general awkwardness he felt every time he looked into golden eyes that weren't immediately set to attack him.

"That will only be an issue if the Avatar loses, Zu-Zu." Azula told her brother, then redirected her attention to Aang with glaring intent. "That's why you will bend your knees!"

Snapping to attention, Aang took his widest, lowest stance yet, an exaggerated look of concentration etching into his features. Zuko sighed where he sat.

"Maybe I should teach him the basics. They're about all I know, and you'll need all your... patience, for the advanced stuff." Appealing to Azula's ego was usually a smart path to take, but his hesitation with the word 'patience' would cost him later, that much Zuko knew for certain. Still, it appeared to work out as Azula simply shrugged.

"Fine by me, just don't ruin my Firebending student by making him soft like you, Zu-Zu." She taunted as she sauntered off, waving her hand dismissively behind her as she left. While making fun of him was always a sure bet to irritate her brother, not giving him a chance to fire back was something that really dug under his skin. The best part of all? Now the Avatar would be left to deal with an angry Zuko for a teacher. That would certainly prevent any slacking off.

Now what to do? Azula asked herself, a sudden wealth of free time on her hands. She supposed she could socialize with the Avatar's friends, but as it was there was only one of them that didn't make her want to jam her own fingernails into her ears and claw out her eardrums. Azula sighed dejectedly. Though she'd never admit it, she missed her friends. Intolerable as Ty Lee could be and insufferable as Mai was, she missed their company, or at the very least, missed having people she could sit and talk with who weren't war enemies four days ago.

"Hey Sunshine." If she had been anybody else, Azula might have jumped from the surprise, but being Azula she played it off as if she had known the blind little Earthbender was leaning against the wall around the corner the entire time.

"Must you call me that? I have a name you know." The Firebending princess stated with an odd mixture of annoyance and acceptance, as if she were dealing with a child that was teasing her on purpose, but was ultimately harmless.

"Yeah? So do I, what is it?" Toph fired back without missing a beat.

Azula blinked at the impertinence of this girl, then realized immediately that she was clueless as to the answer. It was one of those things you couldn't exactly lie about. "I'm sorry, have we met before? I can't seem to recall..."

Still, she could try.

Toph stared blankly, which didn't surprise Azula, then barked out a laugh, which did. "Good one Sunshine, or maybe I should call you Mrs. Sparky?"

The Firebender blanched at the snipe, then demanded, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, come on Sunshine, you don't have to lie to me, even though you can. I saw you and Zu-Zu dancing in the woods together, I know-"

"You saw us?" Azula asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I did, every step. It's kind of the reason you're still alive, which your welcome for by the way." Toph let the information sink in before continuing, "Look, I know the truth about what's up between you and your brother, but that doesn't mean I'm going to go blabbing about it, so don't worry your pretty little head about it."

Azula couldn't muster a word, and her cheeks were practically as scarlet as her pants. In a matter of minutes, someone she had never paid any mind to before had called her out on one of her most private and well guarded secrets, all without batting an eyelash. She was about to chastise herself for losing control in such an awful manner, then remembered that the other girl was blind, so collecting herself, she played it off as if she had never even been embarrassed in the first place.

"Let's pretend what you're saying is true. Why are you so alright with it? Wouldn't it disturb you?"

"Pff, please, sleep five feet away from Sokka for a few months and you'll find disturbing. It doesn't affect me, and it's none of my business. Whatever makes you happy, and Sunshine, I got a feeling you could use some happy."

Toph's words struck a chord somewhere inside Azula, to the point where she actually found herself caring who this Earthbender was, if only to better understand her. Tentatively, she asked "What's your name?"

Toph couldn't help but smirk, it was probably the closest to an outright admission that the princess didn't know as she was going to get. "It's Toph, and don't you forget it Sunshine."

Azula chuckled, "Toph, hmm? How very fitting."

"Oh yeah, and why's that?"

It was Azula's turn to smirk that delightfully cunning smirk of hers as she replied, "Because it sounds tough."

Toph laughed outright at this remark, then walked up and punched Azula's arm, which earned her an incredulous glare. "What on Earth was that for!?" she demanded with a fire ablaze in her golden eyes.

"I like you Sunshine, and that's just how I show it." Azula's anger turned to understanding, and without another word she returned the gesture, and it was the closest she would ever come to admitting she liked someone (aside from her brother of course). The two girls broke into companionable laughter that bounded down the halls like two carefree kids chasing one another to the ends of the Earth.

When the laughter subsided, Azula had an epiphany that struck her as if she had just remembered the whereabouts of something that had been lost for days. "I don't believe I ever thanked you for saving my life. Thank you, Toph. I am truly indebted to you."

"Oh, come off it Sunshine, I didn't actually do anything, I was just there when it happened. If you want to thank someone you should thank Katara."

"The peasant girl?"

Toph's face took on the unpleasantness of one who had just stepped in animal droppings as she shot back, "Her name's Katara, and seeing as she saved your sorry butt the least you could do is remember it!"

Azula was momentarily flabbergasted from the sudden reprimand, the entire situation making her feel like a small child before her mother once again. "Sorry, I... couldn't remember her name. The... peasant thing is all I could think of." She couldn't explain it, but something about the blind Earthbender made her, on some level deep down, yearn for her acceptance, her approval. Despite who she was, or perhaps because of it, there had always been something that seemed more often than not to be just beyond Azula's reach, something she simply hadn't acquired the skill set to obtain at will. Friendship. It was rare that she had even met anyone that she desired to be friends with, but when she did, there was an overwhelming compulsion deep down to make that connection, to latch on and not let go.

It had been years since she had last felt it, back when she was a little girl and had just met Ty Lee and Mai. Now, here was this blind little girl from the Earth Kingdom of all places, and Azula once more felt the strange, compelling urge to build a friendship. She just had to not blow it by insulting all Toph's other friends.

"I'm not interested in excuses, princess. We all have names here, and none of them are 'peasant', so if you don't know them then get to asking. If you're going to join the family, you could at least remember our names." Toph told her, her own anger diffusing somewhat as she did. "Something tells me you're not very good at making friends, are you?"

Azula couldn't help but chuckle. "It's as if you can see right through me," she quipped, the irony not at all lost on her counterpart.

"What about the other two dangerous ladies?" Toph asked, and it took Azula a moment to realize she was referring to Mai and Ty Lee. When she did, she let a small smile born of equal parts nostalgia and flattery grace her lips.

"Mai and Ty Lee? We go way back, to a time when I was, shall we say, somewhat less of an evil bitch." The bluntness with which she made the declaration caused the blind girl's eyes to widen in shock, but Azula merely shrugged it off. She never had any delusions about who she was, and as a matter of fact she just so happened to be quite comfortable in her skin. "We were together all throughout our years in the academy, and we got into all manner of mischief. Of course, being royalty meant I could generally get away with just about anything, but still, it was fun all the same."

"Pff, all manner of mischief? Please Sunshine, you're talking to a pro here. I've been breakin' rules my whole life, whattya got?"

Tapping her chin, the Firebender thought about it for a minute then recalled one particularly nasty prank they had pulled. "Well, there was this group of about four girls who had decided that making fun of Ty Lee's braid was a good idea. They had the poor girl in tears by the time they were through. When Mai and I finally found them, she pinned them all to a wall and I burned every last hair on their pretty little heads off. Then we showed Ty Lee." Toph couldn't see, but Azula had a small, distant, almost sad smile as she looked back to happier times and remembered the absolute glee that her old friend had shone with. "She was so happy she actually kissed me!"

"What!? No way, she kissed you for lighting some other brats' hair on fire?" asked Toph in complete disbelief. Azula nodded her head.

"Way. Ty Lee adores me, she pretty much always has. Why she even gave up her life in the circus, which was supposedly her calling, just to help me track down my brother and the Avatar." she stated proudly, but then her features darkened as the shadow of guilt came over her. "She gave up everything she loved, just to help me," she said in a hushed tone that was more to herself than her companion, a tone thick with disappointment and regret, "and I treated her so terribly, like she was some sort of pawn. I was awful..." Azula fell back against the wall behind her as if the weight of the realization were a physical blow.

Toph was never really good when it came to comforting people, especially people she hardly knew. It was likely because it meant being serious, and she despised being serious. "Hey now, you're not that awful of a person. At least, not anymore you're not. When you killed Aang you were probably that awful, but now, no way." Azula didn't look up, or even indicate that she had heard a thing Toph had said. Instead she continued to gaze bleakly down at the stone floor, a lost, disappointed look in her eyes. "Look Azula," and she did, her attention shifting up if only because her name sounded so foreign on the other girl's tongue, "if you really feel that bad about how you treated her, that's proof you aren't that same person anymore. It sounds to me like you need to sit down and have a nice long chat with Ty Lee, and tell her you're sorry. If she really does worship you, she'll forgive you."

Azula didn't respond right away, instead allowing the young girl's words to sink in. They were wise far beyond her years, and managed to strike a chord somewhere deep down. "Thank you Toph." was all she said, as it was all she could think to say.

Ever full of bravado, Toph just waved it off. "Don't mention it. It sounds like you two really care about each other, I'd hate to see a friendship ruined because you're too much of a stuck up bitch to admit you were wrong and say you're sorry." The princess chuckled, for someone who lied as much as she did the truth was an easy enough thing to spot in this scenario.

A companionable silence fell upon the two for a few minutes, until Toph decided to break it with an entirely too casual, "So did you let her touch your cooch?"

If Azula had been drinking something, it would have been spit on the floor in that instant, so utterly left field was statement from what she had assumed was a little girl, only to realize now that she was actually just the shortest sailor alive. After picking her jaw up from the floor, she finally managed to cry out, "That's disgusting! What on Earth... I am not answering that."

"That means yes!" Toph teased, something that was clearly second nature to her.

"That means you're a gross freak!" Azula fired back, fed up with being harassed by this foul mouthed Earth peasant.

"Oh, get off it. It's not gross when you're doing it yourself, is it?"

Azula huffed, "I'll have you know that I don't do that, it is not proper behavior for a lady." she ranted, and Toph could practically see her sticking her nose up in the air.

The Earthbender was about to make a quip about shooting people with lightning not being ladylike behavior either when something suddenly clicked in her head. "You don't? Well gee, that explains a lot." she deadpanned, then added before Azula had a chance to respond, "You know, if you and Zuko ever decide to rock the bed, you might be wishing you had practiced a little with yourself."

Azula's face was as red as the cherries she loved so much, and felt hotter than a bonfire. "I'm through having this conversation with you!" Turning on her heel, she walked briskly in the same direction she had just come from. She wasn't even certain where she was going, but just getting away from Toph and the horrible awkwardness that was this conversation was all that mattered to her at this point.

The Earthbender didn't make to follow, but she did call after her, "Just think of Zu-Zu! It'll come to you!" Her laughter echoed down the hall after Azula, much to the older girl's chagrin.

She walked for a few minutes before Zuko's clearly frustrated voice came floating from down the hall. The Avatar clearly wasn't a very disciplined student, surprise surprise. Azula rolled her eyes, No point in subjecting myself to that headache. She took a turn and headed for somewhere else, somewhere that wasn't annoying or disgusting or infuriating. Was it too early to just crawl back into bed?

"Uggh," Azula groaned. This was unbearable. She hadn't bathed in days, had been eating mostly wild animals and whatever else they could manage to find, and to top it all off she was almost completely alone. Sure, she had her brother, but Zu-Zu's company was best administered in small doses. His tendencies for the dramatic and penchant for angst could wear on her nerves something fierce, and the only other person who seemed willing to speak with her in a civil manner was an apparently perverted little blind girl with an eerie tendency of seeing right through people. As much as she would never verbally admit so, Azula missed her friends. She missed...

"Ty Lee?" Azula rubbed her eyes, and still there was that tall, slender figure clad in pink, an unmistakeable brown braid trailing down to her hips. She turned around in a heartbeat and her face instantly lit up as she rushed to close the distance in a flash.

"Azula!" she cried as she threw her arms around her old friend, a little tighter than necessary but that much was to be expected at this point. "I knew we'd find you, what happened, we were so worried, where's Zuko?"

"Ty Lee! Breath." commanded Azula, knowing when to stop the exuberant girl before it got out of hand. Sokka and Katara, who had apparently been the first to 'greet' the newcomers, exchanged looks before the latter addressed Mai.

"Is she always like this?" asked the Waterbender with a humorous note of concern.

"No, she's usually not this tame." the raven-haired girl explained without so much as a hint of caring one way or another about her friend. "We've had a long day though."

Katara looked like she had just been slapped, and Sokka just smacked himself. "Great," he intoned, "the whole gang's here. Let's throw a party."

Ty Lee gazed wide eyed at the tribesman as if he might literally explode like a mine and leaned into towards Azula's ear. "Did you really let these weirdos capture you?" she whispered, just loud enough to subconsciously convey a threat, knowing that the weirdos in question could hear and seeing that she couldn't even pretend they were a threat. Azula knew there was more to Ty Lee than met the eye, she always had, that's why the acrobat was around. Contrary to popular but not so vocal belief, the princess did not associate with idiots. It was a subtle cunning more than a logic and numbers based intelligence, but it was intelligent, and dangerous, nonetheless. Tricking people into underestimating her was far too easy, and she loved a good fight.

"Captured? What on Earth gave you that idea? Ty Lee how did you-"

"You didn't get captured!? Then, that means..." she stared with eyes turned to saucers of disbelief in an instant, "Zuko really did kidnap you..." the saucers filled with overly dramatic tears before Azula could admonish her with a look.

"Ty Lee." she said, as flat as if the girl had told the single most unamusing joke in history. The theatrics haulted immediately. "Zu-Zu didn't kidnap me."

The Water Tribe siblings exchanged equally befuddled expressions, and Sokka couldn't help but mutter clearly, "Is she serious?" looking as if the acrobat had claimed fire made plants grow. Katara could only shrug, an appropriately mirroring look that claimed insanity was plausible and it was probably best left at that.

Azula sighed with the resignation of one who, despite their talents at it, couldn't lie in this situation. "The Avatar... isn't an enemy anymore." She could tell this would require explanation, but at leat this much was expected in case this situation had ever occurred.

"Don't give me that look Ty Lee. When I conquered Ba Sing Se I completed more duties to the Fire Lord than I ever owed. I destroyed the Avatar, brought my brother home, and ended the war, which by the way wasn't even on the to do list. I am free to pursue my own interests at this point."

Azula said it with all the confidence and certainty of a practiced speech, and every eye except for Mai's, who even though she was still impressed knew how to hide it, went wide open in unabashed awe.

"Man she's good." Katara remarked as if she didn't realizing who she was complimenting. Sokka could only shrug.

"Hey I bought it." he remarked as if it were a very well sold product, shrugging and scratching at his chin with his eyes closed.

Ty Lee could only stare. Only Azula could make something like blatant treason sound not only justifiable, but as if it were the right thing to do despite everything else that had happened. She had never successfully won an argument with the princess yet, there was no point in even trying and this much if nothing else she had learned with absolute certainty. "Whatever you say Azula!" It was as if she had never even worried in the first place.

"Wow," a new voice startled everyone, and Toph appeared just a few feet behind Azula, "I can see why you like her Sunshine." Arms crossed, leaning against a wall and sounding every bit like the person who would strike such a pose, a self satisfied smirk to top it all off.

Before Ty Lee could be offended by the remark, Mai interjected by asking, "So where is the Avatar, and Zuko for that matter."

Azula took a breath and Toph's voice rang out, blunt and slightly, perpetually, amused, "Sparky's teaching Aang the basics on, what was it Sokka, jerkbending?"

Sokka laughed, "Pff, yeah, ahh that was a good one." Mai rolled her eyes.

Joy. Idiots, just what we didn't have enough of.

"You two still haven't answered my question," Azula accused, retaking control of the conversation the moment she saw the opportunity. Ty Lee and Mai directed their attention to her, perhaps without even thinking about it, and she continued, "how did you find us?"

Azula felt the shift in Ty Lee before she saw it, thanks to their proximity, and then she heard, in the most unsettling tone she had ever heard her friend's voice take, "Because traitors leave an obvious trail."

Before anyone could even react, Ty Lee had her knees to her chest and her feet on Azula's sternum, kicking off and launching the Firebending into the corner of hallway right next to where Toph leaned, back-flipping in the air as she was kicked back and landing with a perfectly balancing arm out and a determination planted on her face that couldn't be shaken by the most horrendous of explosions.

Mai launched a hail of knives on the Water Tribe siblings, but Katara's quick reflexes had a wall of ice up protecting her and her brother. The ice melted and formed a whip in one seamless motion, and Mai only just ducked in time to avoid the business end. She shot a leg out, the device strapped to her ankle launching an arrow for her adversary's shin. Sokka caught the bolt directly where the tip met the shaft with his black sword, constructed of the metal harvested off a meteorite. The metal arrowhead tumbled and struck harmlessly on the thick Water Tribe skin, but Mai was equally unharmed and had regrouped with Ty Lee.

"Ty Lee what the hell!?" Azula's shout, for as menacing as it was, didn't affect the acrobat in the slightest bit as she launched into a renewed charge on the still recovering Firebender, closing the distance at a rate that alarmed the princess.

A wall of Earth exploded into existence between Azula and the charging Ty Lee, but the acrobat lept it without thought, flipping in a ball over the peak of the eight foot construction and landing flawlessly between Toph and Azula on the other side, wasting the space of a blink to set to work striking for specific points on their bodies.

Toph, completely unprepared and far too close to react in time, caught a few quick knuckles and toppled helplessly to the floor, like a puppet with it's strings cut. Azula only just avoided the hasty attacks based on intricate knowledge of her opponent's style. While it saved her for the moment, that same knowledge frightened her as she realized her opponent's style would hit her, sooner or later, and when it did that was the end of it. It was only a matter of time, so she needed to think quickly, but her mind was still somewhat clouded with the confusion of what had happened.

As Mai renewed her projectile assault on the two Water Tribe siblings, it was Katara's turn to defend them as Sokka attempted a counterattack. Closing the distance was the most important thing, he knew this, which is why he dashed ahead with a speed he didn't know his legs had. He attempted an overhead swing, only to feel the vibration and hear the clang that signaled him meeting opposing steel.

Mai had a three point shuriken in her left hand, and with it she had deflected the tribesman's swing, pivoting and spinning on her heel as she did so and only Sokka's eyes were fast enough to watch as she brought her right hand around with her to strike directly for his throat. Katara's water wrapped around her wrist at the last second, pulling the girl off balance for just long enough to allow Sokka the regain his poise.

It was in that close proximity encounter with his would be killer that Sokka noticed her eyes, and just how utterly blank and empty they appeared. "Katara, they're brainwashed! Her eyes are just like Jet's were, I bet Ty Lee's are too!"

Despite her preoccupation with avoiding a series of dangerously accurate punches, Azula heard the observation at the corner of her consciousness. If there was one thing she could do, it was hear, usually orders, over the din of combat. Her training was nothing but it. She examined her friend's eyes, and found a shocking revelation in their dullness. It was as if Ty Lee wasn't even inside her own head, and it turned Azula's stomach.

"Her eyes! It's like..."

"It's like she's not even a person." Katara finished confidently, already knowing the words her ex-adversary was looking for based on personal experience. "She's been brainwashed by the Dai Li."

Azula nearly lost her focus, and consequently her control over her body, when the information clicked. "My Dai Li did this?!" she demanded, sudden fury stoking her internal coals.

"Oh you didn't know?" Sokka carped with a palpable lack of amusement. "Your Dai Lee can brainwash people. Bet you're glad you brought them with you now."

Azula should have been angry with this peasant's presumptuous tone with her, but she was far too blindsided by the revelation that she was ultimately to blame for this. Hell, she didn't even know they could do that, let alone that they would be used against her so... so... atrociously. Her own best friends, turned against like she wasn't even a person, let alone a person they had been friends with almost all of their lives.

"What do we do?" she asked without hesitation, recognizing immediately the direness of the situation and valuing the opinions of people who had dealt with this already. Neither Sokka nor Katara seemed to appreciate it for what it was, their own minds agreeing on the importance of dealing with a brainwashed Mai and Ty Lee.

"We have to try and subdue them," Katara commented, striking out at incoming knives and arrows with water turned to ice turned to water as she followed with immediate counter-strikes, buying time if nothing else. "They're still the same people, they just don't have control over their bodies. We can not kill them."

Azula would have been offended, if it weren't for the pressing circumstances forcing her thoughts. She realized instantly that they were, at the very least, justified in their assumptions that she would resort to such violent and permanent methods to deal with this situation. She didn't have time to argue at any rate, as Ty Lee lept towards her, fists flashing out to strike positions that Azula could only defend because she knew how to from experience. Those laughably one sided bouts with Ty Lee when they were younger were definitely, surprisingly paying off. She caught Ty Lee's hands at the wrists, knowing to avoid the knuckles at all costs. Pushing the acrobat's arms away and kicking her in the stomach, she managed to buy some time at least to breath.

It was at that absolutely perfect time that Aang and Zuko emerged from the hallway, drawn by the sounds of commotion to call Firebending practice quits for the day. They saw Toph's body lying on the floor at the end of the hallway while still approaching the opening, and so exited the corridor fully prepared for a fight. They just weren't prepared for who they were fighting.

When Zuko caught sight of Mai his initial, unconscious reaction was to step towards her and try to explain himself, but when she launched a shuriken in the direction of his chest without blinking an eye he remembered himself and tried to catch the projectile with a split-second reflex. He was partially successful, stopping the knife before it pierced his chest. He just didn't catch it with his hand.

Zuko cried out as the pain shot through his arm like lightning, blood splattering both his shirt and the ground as the knife tore into his forearm, a handle protruding out one end and the pointy tip poking out the other.

Aang took a step, twirled in mid-air and landed with a swing of his staff that sent a shock-wave of air to intercept Ty Lee in mid-strike against Azula, effectively launching the acrobatic hand to hand master on a tumbling path across the stone floor, only to land on her feet, recovering her balance and poise in a manner usually reserved for felines.

"What the heck's going on?" Aang cried out, taking up a prepared stance with his staff at the ready beside Zuko, who was clutching at his arm and gritting his teeth, small rivulets of blood trickling down to his elbow in a multitude of paths, only to converge at the bend and drip off onto the floor in a steady pattern. He had to regain his focus though, pain was nothing new to Zuko.

Sokka charged the duo while Katara yelled in response, "It's Mai and Ty Lee, they've been brainwashed just like Jet!"

While Zuko regarded it like a foreign language, Aang understood the words instantly, solidifying his resolve to defeat his new opponents in a non-injurious fashion. "Toph, are you okay?" he asked, looking down and behind him to the blind girl lying on the floor, as limp as a boned fish.

"Oh, you know, aside from the fact I can't see, I'm just dandy Twinkletoes, thanks for asking." It was the way she said it, as opposed to the words she said, that told Aang his Earthbending teacher would be just fine.

The ringing sound of Sokka clashing with Mai once more caught his attention, and without contemplation Aang stomped the ground, raising his arms as he did and bringing them in towards each other. A cone of Earth erupted from the ground, completely encircling the knife-thrower and clamping in on her before she could react to the new, unexpected type of attack.

It was only Ty Lee left, but if anyone were to underestimate her now they would quickly be wishing they hadn't. She stood prepared to take on an entire battalion of soldiers with only her fists, and no-one was foolish enough to make a hasty first move towards her.

Zuko couldn't help but glance to his sister, noticing her disheveled appearance and considering what had happened. She had probably been the most unexpecting person to be attacked by Ty Lee, and that had likely cost her a good deal of pain. This momentary distraction would be his undoing though, as Ty Lee rushed the Firebending prince with a speed he had never seen nor expected from the acrobat, leaping over his head in a flip and striking out at his shoulder blades with precision strikes. When she landed neatly on her feet, Zuko landed brusquely on his face, grunting in frustration as the air was knocked out of him by his sudden encounter with gravity.

Ty Lee didn't waste a second in striking towards Aang, who was only able to raise a guard in time because Zuko had been unlucky enough to be her first target. Knuckle struck wood again and again as the acrobat searched tirelessly for an opening, and it was all the Avatar could do to keep up with his staff. At this rate, he worried about the possibility of it being broken, and at just that moment his opponent seemed to be thinking the same thing. She reared back and prepared a blow that would shatter the annoying piece of wood, but just before she could strike a pair of arms wrapped around her, pinning her own arms to her sides.

"You need to stop her now!" Azula shouted, and an agreeable census arose with her decree. She knew her hold wouldn't last, she just didn't anticipate how it would be broken. Ty Lee brought her heel up with all the strength of her leg, catching the princess in a spot that, contrary to popular belief, still hurt like all hell, much to Azula's surprise. Tossing her head back, Ty Lee reverse headbutted her leader, breaking free from the hold as Azula clutched at her nose, blood pouring out over her hand and seeping through her fingers in an instant.

"OW, dammit Ty Lee!" she screamed, the idea of immolating her friend being briefly considered as it flitted through her mind. Even if she did want to, however, it wouldn't be that easy. Just hitting Ty Lee was an accomplishment not many could claim, and for good reason. The girl was quick, a fact she demonstrated again and again as she dodged, ducked, and tumbled away from water whips, sword swipes and air attacks as if she were a master toying with her students.

Those grey, empty eyes only ever came back to Azula though, and the Firebender felt suddenly very vulnerable with her lack of stance and hand covering half of her face. Ty Lee saw her opportunity and took it without hesitation, dashing for her prey with zero regard for anybody else.

Since her bending was out of the question, Azula decided she would have to fight dirty. She stepped back and twisted her body to avoid a knuckle aimed at her shoulder, then promptly flicked her own blood into Ty Lee's eyes. Brainwashed or not, she couldn't help but blink as the liquid made contact, and it was enough of a distraction for Azula to reach behind the girl and latch on to her braid with her left hand, at the same time slipping her leg in between and behind the other girl's. She yanked hard on the braid and pulled her leg back towards herself, sending Ty Lee to the ground with ease.

Azula fell on top of her friend without hesitation, straddling the girl right below her bust while pinning her arms at the elbows with her knees. Ty Lee thrashed with vehement malice, snarling like some feral animal and even snapping her jaws at one point in a futile, but no less frightening, attempt to bite her oppressor. Azula struggled to remain on top of the other girl, but the real challenge was keeping those arms pinned down, and to make things just perfect, blood was still just freely pouring down her face and dripping all over herself and her friend. At a loss for what to do, she did the only thing that made sense and socked Ty Lee square in the jaw with a blood-soaked fist, a wet pop resounding as her knuckles met bare skin and left an angry crimson smear on the girl's cheek.

Ty Lee raged over the blow, murderous intent set in her listless grey eyes as she renewed her thrashing attempts for freedom. Using her legs for leverage, she lifted herself up just enough to wiggle one arm out, but instead of striking for a pressure point, she reached up and grabbed a handful of Azula's hair, yanking it hard enough to jerk the Firebender's head to one side and cause her to yell out in pain. Her golden eyes narrowed and locked onto empty grey ones that mirrored her own with a look that said one thing.

It was on.

Azula grabbed the hand and pried the fingers off of her hair, but Ty Lee had little trouble pulling her hand out thanks to the slick blood covering the other girl's palm. She grabbed for something, anything, but in the struggle of limbs all she managed was to tear Azula's shirt at the shoulder, causing it to sag just down to the first hint of creamy flesh that budded outwards. Small red droplets began to immediately adorn the exposed skin in stark contrast. Ty Lee bucked like a wild animal, desperate to be free but Azula refused to be moved. She did bounce though. A lot.

Sokka had gone from focused combatant to eager spectator with all the astounding self control of a hog-monkey. Aang's curiosity had been similarly piqued right around the shirt ripping, but he still felt he needed to do something. "We should help her." he said, stepping towards the two girls only to have a hand stop him.

"We can't interfere Aang, it's against the rules." Sokka told him, but the younger boy looked at him with blatant, outright confusion.

"What rules? What are you talking about Sokka?"

"You know, the rules. This is an officially sanctioned catfight, we, as men, cannot break it up or otherwise interfere with it's outcome." he explained as if there were a handbook on the subject and he knew it by heart. The sound of fabric tearing once more commanded the attention of both boys, and Aang nodded sagely.

"You're right Sokka, I think it might be best to let them work this out on their own. They're friends after all, right?"

"You bitch!" Azula screamed in response to another attack on her attire, and then proceeded to smack Ty Lee across the face with enough force to turn the girl's head.

Sokka answered with a devilish grin, "Yep. Best friends."

Zuko's luck never seemed to run out. Unfortunately for him, all he had was bad luck. He had landed facing away from where the action currently was, instead staring across the dusty stone floor to Toph who was also relegated to lying motionless on the floor. "What's going on?" he more demanded than asked, an unsettling, anxious feeling growing in the pit of his stomach from being able to hear the skirmish but nothing more.

"How the hell should I know?" Toph fired back with an obvious lack of amusement. "I wish I could see, it sounds like it's getting good."

"Can't you like, I don't know, see anyways? I mean, you're obviously blind, but that's never seemed to stop you."

"Sorry Sparky, I use Earthbending to 'see', and so long as my chi's blocked I'm as blind as, well, me."

Zuko groaned, and then more fabric was heard ripping. He cursed his stupid luck. It was either Azula's or Ty Lee's clothes getting ripped, and either way, it would have been at least nice to watch.

Katara stomped past her brother despite his protesting, determined to end this quickly deteriorating scuffle. "This has gone on long enough, we need to subdue Ty Lee."

Her brother didn't appear to share the sentiment. "What's the rush? I think they deserve a little more time together, this could get interesting." Katara opened her mouth to disagree, but then stopped to actually take in the situation.

Azula, someone she had thoroughly despised not more than a week ago, was literally a bloody mess. Her usually perfect, pristine hair was hanging around her head in dirty clumps with stray strands poking out in random directions here and there. Her clothes were torn in several places, in some spots coming dangerously close to obscene, and everything from her skin to her outfit and even the girl underneath her was splattered and smeared with her own blood. It took Katara a moment to realize that the entire scene was actually somewhat gratifying, considering who it was.

More ripping, followed immediately by Aang calling out to a distracted Sokka, "It got more interesting!"

Azula made to backhand Ty Lee, but the acrobat saw it coming and turned her head to greet the vulnerable hand, catching the side in her teeth and biting down hard enough to break skin and draw more of the princess' blood.

Azula howled from both pain and rage, screaming with primal rage, "OW! MY FUCKING HAND!" Enough was enough, and Azula was absolutely fed up with this shit. Taking her other hand she grabbed the side of Ty Lee's head, raised it a few inches and then promptly and mercilessly bashed it into the stone beneath, the resulting dull thud causing the three spectators to all wince visibly.

A livid, disheveled Azula covered in blood and a tattered shirt that looked about three threads away from not being a shirt anymore sitting on top of her was easily the last thing Ty Lee had ever expected to wake up to. Well, almost the last thing, at any rate. "Azula?" she asked tentatively as if she didn't quite believe what she was seeing.

Azula blinked, her arms freezing just before administering a second bashing. Her mouth hung open, and she blinked again before finally responding. "Ty Lee, is that really you?"

The girl giggled, "Who else would I be silly?" Ty Lee's eyes went wide as her senses came back enough for her to fully appreciate her friend's appearance. "Azula, you're covered in blood, what happened?! And your shirt, it's-" she paused to fully consider the damage, then leaned her head a few inches closer, eyes wide as she whispered conspiratorially, "Azula, your shirt is really ripped, I can practically see your royal parts!"

"YOU happened Ty Lee!" Azula told her, at last convinced that the girl was no longer a threat and reassigning her hands to wardrobe protection detail.

"I... what?" Ty Lee breathed in disbelieving confusion. Finally having a chance to take in her surroundings, the acrobat looked around and noticed the two bodies lying motionless on the floor. It was hard to argue with the evidence on display in front of her face, but that presented an entirely new problem. "But I don't remember doing any of that! I-"

And that's when her pain receptors decided to kick back on. "OW ow owwie owowowow Oww!" One side of her face stung, the other throbbed, and the back of her head felt like it had been split open with an axe that was still lodged in there. She grabbed for the back of her head, that most intense of all her pains commanding her attention first, and felt slick, warm goo coating her palms. Her face turned horror-stricken when she reviewed her hands, "Uhhhzula, I don't... feel, so..." and with that she promptly fainted. Or passed out, perhaps, would be a more accurate description.

Katara rushed forward to examine the damage, lifting Ty Lee's head gingerly and feeling the cut on the back of her scalp. Her eyes widened, "Jeez Azula, why didn't you just slam her head a little bit harder and crush her skull?!"

"She was trying to take a chunk out of my hand!" the still very much irate Firebender shot back defensively.

"She was brainwashed!" Katara admonished while calling the water from her skin and forming a small cap around the injured girl's head.

Azula fumed, but didn't continue the argument, looking down instead at her friend and feeling a sudden knot forming in her stomach. She hesitated before asking in a much calmer, almost scared voice, "Will she be okay?"

Katara shook her head, "I don't know. I've stopped the bleeding but her skull... I'll do my best."

Zuko and Toph still remained as they were, but with the fight clearly over the former was beginning to get antsy. "Hey, what's going on? Seriously guys, this is starting to get old."

Azula looked over towards the two and then called to the boys still standing, "Come on, the least we can do is sit them up against a wall."

Approaching her brother she looked down, something between annoyance and amusement hiding behind all the blood on her face. She looked as though she had been eating someone's heart while it was still beating, and Zuko knew he had never seen her look worse, and he couldn't help but chuckle. "You look pretty rough."

Azula practically snorted, "At least I can move." She nudged him in the side with her foot to emphasize the point, smirking with satisfaction all the while.

Sokka walked up looking down at Zuko, then trailed his eyes up Azula's body until he met with a lethal pair of golden eyes. Despite the death glare, her voice was sultry and low as she told him, "Look at me like I'm a piece of meat one more time, Sokka," the way she said his name made him shudder from both excitement and terror, "and I'll cook you like one. Then I'll eat you." Given her appearance, he couldn't help but believe her threat, and so nodded his head rapidly to convey his understanding. "Good, now help me lift Zu-Zu, he's a big boy."

In no short order, there was a line of bodies sitting against one of the walls, every one of them looking worse for wear but some more than others. Azula sat with arms crossed and looking like something out of a horror story, Zuko next to her with his head hanging limply against a shoulder and a knife sticking out of his arm. Next to him sat Sokka followed by Aang, both appearing more or less unscathed, the few specks of blood on their clothes not belonging to themselves, and at the end was Toph, also limp but otherwise unhurt, save for a harmless bruise on her cheek where her face had violently met the floor upon her collapse.

Katara finished with Ty Lee, a grim look on her face that said she had done all she could, and hoped it was enough. Standing, she looked to the other girl, forgotten in her Earthen cone prison and still entirely under the hypnotic control of the Dai Li's brainwashing methods, as attested to by her blank, more expressionless than usual eyes. "So what do we do about her?"

Nobody responded immediately, though it was apparent to Katara that her brother wanted to. Toph's voice rose up to break the silence after it was clear nobody else would, "We could have Azula knock some sense into her."

Everybody chuckled, including Azula, except for Sokka who was outraged. "What!? If I had said that, which I wanted to, I would have gotten hit!"

"Yes, you would have." Azula agreed, then reached across her brother to punch Sokka in the arm, and when he demanded what that was for she replied simply, "For thinking it."

Aang shook his head, getting back to the important subject of Mai. "I think we need to find a way to bring her back that doesn't involve brain damage or crushing skulls."

"So much for the fun way." Azula cajoled with a derisive gesture of her hand. "So how do we do it? I assume you have experience with this?"

Aang nodded, "Yes, back in Ba Sing Se. The Dai Li brainwashed one of our friends, Jet, and used him against us. I was able to get through to him by reminding him who he was, of what it meant to be a Freedom Fighter. What we need is something that resonates with her deeper emotions. Got any ideas?"

Azula and Zuko exchanged identically knowing looks before the former remarked, "Right... so, skull bashing it is."

Aang blanched, "What!? I just told you what you need to do-!"

"What you told me is that we need to get through to Mai emotionally, in which case, I'm afraid we're out of luck. In case you haven't noticed, Mai isn't exactly the touchy feely type, she's about as emotional as a rock." Azula explained, then huffed in annoyance at the disbelieving stares she was receiving. "Even if she was, I wouldn't have a clue how to go about triggering them, she's not exactly... my..." turning her head as she spoke, she met Zuko's eyes as she said at last, "girlfriend."

Zuko's features hardened with determination. "Right, I'll see what I can do." After a moment of nothing happening, he added with much less intent, "Uhh, after I can move, that is."

After an adequate amount of time had passed and Zuko could finally move again, he got up on shaky legs and made his way over to his brainwashed girlfriend. He peered into her eyes, and though they looked right back at him, he could just feel that she wasn't looking at him, those dull, listless eyes seeming to look right through him, focusing on nothing in particular. It was like looking at someone you knew intimately and seeing someone else altogether. It was an eerie feeling to say the least.

Summoning up the courage, Zuko leaned in to kiss her, pressing his lips to hers as he had done so many times before, only for them to be as unresponsive as a corpse's, though at least warmer. Nothing.

"Mai, it's me Zuko! Don't you remember me Mai? Don't you remember us?"

Mai stirred, then blinked, and when her eyes opened again they were bright and focused once more. Zuko couldn't believe it, nothing was ever that easy for him. "Mai?"

"Zuko." she replied evenly, then frowned. "You stupid asshole. Somebody let me out of here so I can hit him."

Nope, never that easy.

Aang couldn't believe it, "I thought you woke her up, why is she still trying to attack?!"

"I don't know!" Zuko replied, much to Mai's displeasure.

"You don't know? You don't know!? How about because you broke up with me in a letter, Zuko! You couldn't even tell me to my face as you ripped my heart out." Mai's voice actually being raised was a sure sign that she was absolutely furious, and Zuko found himself glad she was still encased in stone.

"Sounds like she's herself again, just a little ticked off at Zuko, but I think we can all understand that feeling." Toph announced before taking the liberty to free their new guest.

"Thank you." Mai said, then redirected her attention to the boy with the scar, looking him up and down as if deciding on something. "I would hit you, but it looks like you already got what you deserve."

She grabbed the knife, telling Zuko, "Hold still." before yanking it out without so much as blinking, then examined the blood, sticking her tongue out in disgust as she did so. Grabbing for Zuko's shirt, she wiped the blood off before he even had a chance to react, and his affronted expression caused Mai to explain, "What? It's your blood Zuko, it's not like I'm going to wipe it off on my shirt. If you didn't want to be covered in your own blood, you shouldn't have gotten hit."

Azula couldn't help but smirk from where she sat against the wall, it was comforting to see some of her influence had rubbed off on her friend. The way she made Zuko's injury seem like it was his own fault was as priceless and sweet on her tongue as an exotic chocolate.

"You threw it at me!" he cried in outrageous disbelief, only to earn a shrug in response.

"And you deserve a second one, so consider yourself lucky." She glared at him, silently challenging the Firebender to say something else, but even Zuko knew better this time. "Seriously Zuko, you brought Azula but you couldn't even bother to ask me if maybe I wanted to run off with you. If I didn't know any better I'd think she was your girlfriend."

Azula, outside the scope of either's attention, ground her fingers into her eyes, already seeing this disaster coming a mile away. He's gonna blow it he's gonna blow it he's gonna blow it...

"I'm sorry Mai, really, I just... didn't want to get you in any trouble. We're committing treason here!" Tossing his arms out in emphasis, Zuko then felt it necessary to explain his sister's involvement, "And if you're surprised to see Azula here, then I guess you don't know her as well as you should. She probably knew what I was planning back at Ba Sing Se."

Azula looked up, apparently trying to decide whether or not what she had just heard was real. Zuko, against all the odds, actually pulled off a successful lie without it all blowing up in his face. To be fair, it was really only a lie of omission, but she was willing to let the point stand so long as he didn't cave. Mai's eyes shifted over to the princess, and she answered with a look that challenged her friend to question the situation, if she dared. After a moment of silent deliberation, Mai shrugged. That's when she noticed Ty Lee lying unconscious on the floor.

"What happened to her?" she asked with a hint of urgency, which for Mai translated to deep concern.

Azula hesitated before answering. "I happened." Mai was just about to shout at her when she hastily added, "She didn't leave me any choice! You were both brainwashed and she was absolutely feral. She bit me!" Azula held her hand up as evidence, angry red dots marking the side of her hand in an arcing pattern.

"What did you do to her?" Mai demanded with uncharacteristic anger, forcing Azula to respond in kind lest she lose face.

"I knocked her out."

"How?"

"I... knocked her head against the ground, somewhat." Despite her best attempts to say it casually, even Azula knew it sounded pretty lame, as did Mai, if her suddenly contorted features were any indication.

"Maybe someone should bash your head into the ground, it might knock some of the bitch out of you!" shouted Mai as her hand went reflexively for a knife.

Azula ignored the multiple snickers at her expense and focused her concentration on her 'friend'. "You wouldn't dare." she challenged, carefully pronouncing every word to emphasize the warning.

Without hesitation Mai let a dagger fly, and it was all Zuko could do to throw an arm out and attempt to intercept the thing. To his credit, he actually caught it in his hand this time. To his discredit, he caught it in his hand, not with it, causing him to cry out in pain as he was yet again pierced by one of his ex-girlfriend's knives.

Katara stood with her hands on her hips and a motherly scold on her face. "Going for the trifecta, or are we done getting stabbed by knives for the day?"

Zuko had to bite down on the inside of his lips to keep himself from screaming, and after a moment he was able to nod in response to Katara. Rolling her eyes, she called her water out once more and gestured for Mai to kindly remove her knife, which she was happy to oblige. She yanked the blade out quickly to reduce the pain, and Zuko readily offered his sleeve, already knowing the direction this was heading in. At least it was already red to begin with, he told himself.

As Katara's glowing water brought sweet relief to the scarred Firebender, Aang took the opportunity to broker peace amongst the group. "Guys, now that the brainwashing, err, crisis, is over, can we stop fighting? I think I've seen more blood today than I have in all my life."

Mai couldn't stop herself from mumbling, "Just wait until Azula starts her-"

"Mai I will incinerate you where you stand!"

Katara couldn't stop a snort from escaping, whereas a confused Aang could only ask innocently, "Starts what?"

"Nevermind Twinkletoes, you don't want to know, it would just give you nightmares." As always, it was Toph to the rescue, her quick wit bringing about a healthy group laugh that even Azula found herself smirking along with, even if she did refrain from outright laughter.

After a busy afternoon of healing, Katara had a waterskin that was filled with more blood than water, so she set off to find a decent source of water to rinse and refill at. "If Ty Lee wakes up, she should probably remain lying down, and absolutely NO strenuous activity. I still don't know how stable that wound is and the last thing we want is for it to reopen internally without us knowing about it. It could flood the inside of her skull with blood, and I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure that would end badly." After everyone nodded their understanding, she set off, along with Sokka, after he insisted that she shouldn't travel alone in "enemy territory". After a short-lived debate, the Waterbender finally just gave in, deciding that the importance of finding more water outranked that of proving her brother to be an overly paranoid idiot.

Aang let a few minutes of uncomfortable silence pass before piping up, "Sooo... if you guys are done trying to kill each other, I'm going to go look for some food for me and Appa. We missed lunch with all this excitement." After it was clear there weren't going to be any objections, he snapped his glider open and took to the skies, disappearing from sight less than a minute later.

Azula stared at Mai who stared straight back, flicking her eyes to Zuko who looked torn between running and breaking down. Noone spoke a word, and the tension mounted to a palpable level until Toph couldn't take it anymore.

"Will one of you just say something already. If you're worried about it getting weird in here, you can relax; we're way past that point."

"I'm just waiting for Zuko to start explaining." Mai said with a calm impatience.

"But I already-"

"Already lied to me? Gee, why am I not surprised at that." she deadpanned, rolling her eyes at the blank, frozen expression she was receiving and elucidating, "Azula figured out that you were planning to join the Avatar and just decided she would come with you? Come on Zuko, you can't possibly expect me to just believe that. Not even Ty Lee is that gullible."

"She's got a point Zu-Zu." Well he held onto that point just as long as he possibly could have.

"Aww, just go ahead and tell her Sparky, she kind of deserves an explanation." Zuko was really starting to get tired of Toph's annoying habit of insinuating herself into other people's business. He would have told her as much if it weren't for the fact he already had one angry, dangerous girl on his hands. Technically two, if he counted Azula, but he couldn't really count her as she was an inevitability. Her anger was a matter of when, not if, and for now he was in the clear. It was the big victories that kept him going.

Zuko scratched absently at the back of his neck, saying, "It's... complicated."

"I'll just bet." Mai replied with all the enthusiasm of a wall.

"It's... well, me and Azula... or rather, Azula and I... well, we're kind of, sort of... I actually don't know what to call it."

"Looks like I stole your boyfriend, Mai." Azula supplied helpefully, sounding not one bit guilty about it either.

Zuko expected Mai to be angry, to hit him, to scream. He expected a lot of things honestly, but her reaction was most definitely not one of them. "So it finally happened, huh?"

Zuko looked dumbfounded and Azula wanted to slap herself. Toph was laughing.

"Wait, what do you mean?" asked Zuko, which actually elicited a mirthless chuckle from Mai.

"Please Zuko, there's been a little bit more than 'sibling rivalry' between you two longer than I care to remember." She gave him a look that dared him to argue otherwise, which he wisely did not.

After a moment, Zuko found the courage to ask with guarded optimism, "Sooo... you're not mad at me?"

"Of course I'm mad at you Zuko. You dumped me for your sister and left a letter telling me you were turning traitor. Seeing as you've already taken two of my knives though, I don't see much use in staying mad at you."

Zuko blinked, "Really?" That's when he caught the smack across his bad cheek.

"Your sister Zuko!? As if suddenly deciding to join the Avatar isn't bad enough, but seriously? What the hell are you thinking!" Zuko suddenly found himself regretting telling her that he enjoyed seeing her angry.

He held his hands up in a gesture that was equal parts platitude and self defense before finally admitting, "I don't even know anymore, to be honest."

"Why doesn't that surprise me." Zuko heard from not one, not two, but three directions in fact. He couldn't decide who to glare at first, the girlfriend he dumped, the source of all his woes, or the nosey little girl that didn't even know him enough to make such a remark.

"Look," he said a little more forcefully than he meant to, "I didn't plan on everything happening like this. I finally thought about what Uncle was trying to tell me, the questions that really matter; who am I, and what do I want? So maybe I don't know what I want right now," Zuko looked from his girlfriend to his sister, then back again, "but I do know what I don't want. I don't want my dad's insane genocidal plans to go through, and I don't want to live in a world that hates and fears my home and my people."

"That's why I decided I was going to join the Avatar, to teach him Firebending and hopefully help him restore the balance, before it's too late. Azula..." his gaze flicked over to the girl in question and he was already kicking himself for what he was about to say, "was never part of the plan."

"Gee, doesn't that just make me feel so special." Azula said with smothering derision, and Mai quietly took a step away from Zuko. If he thought those knives were painful...

"You know what I mean Azula. That night in your room... I never planned on that night, I never planned on that kiss. But I'm glad it happened, and I'm glad you're here with me now." Zuko told her with a small but honest smile, the kind that lit up his face with all the lost innocence of his childhood and was as rare for him as her own smile was for her. Azula felt just as she had that night, her heart beating too fast and too hard while her chest burned and breathing had become harder than it should have been.

"Well," she began, pushing herself up along the wall and, despite it all, managing to sound perfectly level-headed, "I have only nearly died three times in the last week, so I suppose it's been fun to say the least." Azula let her own smile slip when she met his eyes, and Zuko knew enough to know an 'I'm glad I'm here too' when he heard one.

Azula stepped up next to Zuko, sliding an arm around his back as he placed one across her shoulders, and together they stood in triumphant defiance of all the world, looking every bit ready to fight it. Mai knew enough to know that, together, they had a pretty good chance of winning too.

"So this is what it is." Azula announced to her friend without a hint of reluctance. "Any questions?"

Mai looked Azula right in the eye, something she was one of the very few people who could do for any extended period without cracking, then said with complete neutrality, "Have you guys had lunch yet? I'm starving."

"Lunch sounds great!"

All eyes shot to the supposedly "unconscious" girl still lying on the ground, who appeared to believe that if she just remained perfectly still, everyone would forget that they had all just heard her speak. Needless to say, it didn't work.

Azula rolled her eyes, demanding without sounding like it, "Ty Lee, how long have you been awake?"

Obviously busted, Ty Lee gave up her charade as if she hadn't even tried in the first place, springing to her feet in a single, impossible movement while simultaneously answering with a sly, taunting, "Long enough to know you and Zuko kissed." Before Azula could even protest her sudden movements, the acrobat closed the distance between them to encase her friend in a hug, adding with far too much enthusiasm, "Azula I'm so happy for you!"

"Yes, well, do try to contain your excitement, I don't want you dying on me."

Ty Lee pulled back abruptly, looking at Azula as if the girl had just grown antlers as she sputtered, "What!?"

Before Azula could explain, Mai interrupted, "You have to take it easy Ty, or else your skull might flood with blood." Ty Lee's eyes grew three sizes and her lips trembled from the sudden fear that pulsed through her veins. "You can thank Azula for that."

Even Azula couldn't help but wince as she cursed the other girl who just knew how to rub salt in a wound. She would have set her on fire if it weren't for the much more pressing issue of Ty Lee to contend with. One look at that trembling lip and she knew she was in for it.

"You... you hurt me, Azula?"

"Ty Lee I'm sorry, but you didn't exactly leave me any choice!" It was a pretty lame excuse even by her standards, but Azula just didn't know what else to say. "Look what you did to me!"

Upon revealing the bite marks on the side of her hand, the acrobat's demeanor went from confused and hurt to shocked and appalled in the space of a heartbeat. "I did that... to you?"

"Well, not exactly. Ty Lee, you were brainwashed, it wasn't your fault, you weren't in control of your actions."

"But I still hurt you..."

"And I hurt you, so as far as I'm concerned, we're even." Azula knew it was a lie, knew what she had done was uncalled for and far worse, but she also knew this was the only way she was going to calm Ty Lee down and talk some sense into her. "Look, I'm really sorry for hurting you Ty Lee, but right now it's really important that you sit down and take it easy."

Glancing nervously from Azula to Mai, Ty Lee could see the seriousness of the situation in their eyes, and so taking her friend's advice, she sat down with her back against a large stone pillar. Her curiosity getting the better of her, Ty Lee reached behind her head to touch the bandage, cringing when she felt a fragment of her own skull move under her finger tips.

"Am I- am I going to die?"

"No!" Azula shot back almost defensively, almost as if by saying it forcefully enough she could force the belief to be true, even if the exact opposite was a very real possibility. Ignoring the concerned looks of apprehension she added in a much calmer tone, "Katara said you should be fine, you just have to take it easy and wait for her to get back. And stop messing with it!"

Ty Lee's hand practically teleported back to her lap and she gave a nervous, sheepish grin. Rolling her eyes, Azula asked, "Do you have any questions?"

Tongue sticking out, Ty Lee only had to think about it for a few seconds, then replied, "Just one; who's Katara?"

Leave it to Ty Lee to ask the one question Azula hadn't anticipated. "You've met."

---

Some time later, the two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe returned with much commotion, clearly arguing about some trivial matter or another, as they were prone to do Azula had noticed over these last few days. It almost reminded her of two other siblings she knew.

"All I'm saying is we had the time, we could have caught some fish!" The loud one.

"And I'm saying we should spend as little time out in the open as possible!" The louder one.

"Oh, so now I have to suffer through another meal of nuts and fruits with no meat because you're afraid of messenger hawks." The screechy one.

"You should be thankful you have anything to eat at all while hiding out as a fugitive in a foreign country. And weren't you the one who was going on about 'enemy birds'?" The preachy one.

The two emerged from the cave still going on, apparently, about fish, and the ramifications of remaining out in the open in the hopes of catching them. Azula couldn't believe it, and silently re-evaluated whether or not she could return home and still claim a plausible deniability in Zuko's scheme. If this was the intellectual maturity of the Avatar's group, then they had about the same chance of winning the war as a snowball did of surviving a volcano.

When it became clear that the bickering had no end in sight, Azula decided she would do the humane thing and mediate. By throwing a fireball at their feet. It had the desired effect, as it only took a heartbeat for the argument to die and the two siblings to prepare themselves for a fight, Sokka with his black sword in hand and Katara streaming water out of the skin at her hip. Everybody else was taken just as much by surprise, and the room slowly prepared for an all out brawl, all except for Azula who casually inspected her nails as the last of the embers faded out of existence at Katara and Sokka's feet.

Feeling their disbelieving eyes upon her, Azula perked up, asking with a smug countenance, "Oh, are you two quite finished?" as if she he hadn't done a thing wrong.

Katara tripped over her own words as seething outrage bubbled up inside her like water in a kettle. "What- Are you kidding me!? You just attacked us you psycho!"

Azula put on a face that mimicked someone falsley accused of stealing food from an orphan, "I did no such thing. I was merely trying to get your attention, lo and behold, it appears to have worked."

Sokka's arm fell as limply as his face. "She's kidding, right?"

Katara ignored her brother, instead demanding, "Where is Aang!"

"Oh, going to tell the Avatar on me are we peasant? Well I'm afraid you're out of luck, he isn't here at the moment." Azula took delight in the way the girl's face twisted with anger at the insult, then smirked deviously. "There's no telling how long he'll be gone, or what might happen in that time."

Katara glared ice spikes at Azula, stance firm and ready to strike out at a moment's notice. Azula stared right back, standing deceptively casually, an insult to how far beneath her she believed the Waterbender to be in terms of fighting capability, though she was still mentally prepared for anything. It was Mai that finally broke the tense silence.

"Are you two going to fight already or what?"

The staredown ensued for a few more seconds before Katara finally declared, "No, I'm not stooping to her level."

This of course, caused Azula to let out a short, barking laugh. "Is that really the best grasp of physics you barbarians have? That stooping involves rising exponentially upwards?" If there was one thing she knew how to do, it was claw her way under someone's skin, picking at all the right spots to get the reaction she wanted.

Without warning, Katara spun around, a lash of water already hurling through the air towards the infuriating Firebender. Azula ducked easily, anticipating the attack with minimal effort. Spinning and lashing out with one leg, she sent a crescent of dazzling blue flame toward her opponent, aimed right for the knees. Twirling and stepping to the side, Katara dodged the attack with hardly a thought, bringing her tentacle of water around with her and re-lashing out at Azula as she closed the distance in a crouching sprint, this time heading straight for the Firebender like a spear.

Leaning to one side, Azula prepared to roll out of the way of the attack, but at the last second the water split in two, creating a scissors around her. Instead of rolling, she used the leg she had placed all her weight upon to leap high into the air, bringing her other leg along with a trail of fire down in a flying axe-kick that struck right at the center of her opponent's attack. In the ensuing clash, steam hissed like a thousand angry rat-vipers and the remnants of Katara's water splashed harmlessly to the floor.

In all the commotion, Sokka saw fit to raise his sword in an attempt to come to his sister's aide, only to have a knife strike the wall not an inch away from his head.

Mai's voice had a foreboding, dead finality to it when she told him, "Stay out of it." It worked wonders.

Katara had to throw her arms up to shield herself from the heat of the steam as her water met Azula's fire, and in that briefest of distractions the latter seized her opportunity, closing the distance and grabbing the girl by the collar of her robe, her other hand raised with two fingers pointing like daggers at the girl's throat. In the adrenaline filled thrill of victory, she almost didn't notice the sharp, cold point poking against her throat. Almost.

Peering down, Azula caught glimpse of the icicle pressing against her skin, in direct line with a rather large and important vein if she remembered correctly. Katara held the makeshift weapon in her hand with all the steadiness of a surgeon, a look in her deep blue eyes that said she was ready if Azula was.

Such was the scene when Aang decided to come gliding back in with a sack full of scavenged nuts and fruits. Upon landing, he immediately noticed the tense standoff and felt bombarded by a wave of conflicting thoughts and emotions. Before he could even say anything though, Toph took note of his arrival and decided to announce it.

"Hey Twinkletoes, welcome back!" If she was at all concerned about the situation, her voice certainly didn't show it. She sounded more as if she were watching a show with actors than a fight between her friends. "What took ya so long?"

As if it was her cue, Katara let the icicle she had been holding melt harmlessly and swatted Azula's hand away as if she were a child. She proceeded to stomp towards the Avatar with a righteous fury in her eyes, shouting as she went, "Where were you!? That psycho attacked Sokka and me, she's insane!"

"I did no such thing." Azula countered with an astounding calmness. Katara couldn't believe her ears.

"You did too! You shot fire at us you-!"

"If I had shot at you, you would be burned, not the floor. I was merely getting your attention, and breaking up an argument that otherwise had no apparent end in sight." Azula interrupted, pointing out the technicalities like it was a pastime of hers. Then again, it probably was. "In fact, it was you who so brazzenly attacked me, I was merely defending myself from your barbaric assault."

Katara's jaw nearly hit the floor, exasperated stutters being the only sound she could muster as she tried her hardest to melt the Firebender with her glare alone. Needless to say, it didn't work.

Aang rubbed at his temples, sighing as he did so. "Alright, it doesn't look like any permanent damage was done, so I think it's best if we all just-"

"No permanent damage!? That's not the point Aang, she attacked us, she's crazy we can't have her around. She's tried to kill us all before she'll do it again, it's in her blood!"

Before Aang had a chance to respond, an unnatural wind picked up and surreal clouds came blowing in from multiple directions, meeting at the point where the Avatar was standing and swirling around and around until the boy was completely obscurred from view. Just as suddenly as they had come in, the clouds shot outwards and were gone. So too was the Avatar gone, or at least, the young Avatar was. In his place stood a much taller, much older man with a great white beard, hair of the same shade that dropped past his shoulders, adorned on top with a top knot and a golden, double pronged crown. He wore long, flowing robes of a grand crimson shade. His eyes burned with a white light in the instant he had appeared, dulling to a more natural appearance a moment later but still containing a power that burned just beneath the surface.

"Avatar Roku..." both Katara and Sokka breathed simultaneously with a shared awe.

"Do you know what else is in her blood?" Roku asked in a gravelly voice that echoed with a supernatural quality. The siblings from the Water Tribe both stared in silent astonishment, while Zuko took the opportunity to bow respectfully.

"Great-grandfather."

Of all the people shocked to hear this, there was none more so than Azula. "You don't actually mean..."

"Yes, my child. I am your great-grandfather. Though it does not surprise me that Sozin would hide your ancestry, it does sadden me greatly. I have no one to blame for this mess but myself, regrettably." The wizened old Avatar looked down as he remembered the failures of his past and contemplated all the atrocities that followed, from those that affected the entire world to the one's that affected his own family.

"My failure to prevent this war has thrown the world out of balance, and caused great hardships to befall many families, including my own." He looked from Katara and Sokka to Azula and Zuko, letting his meaning sink in before continuing. "But now, there is a chance to right the wrongs of the past. Know this, the path you have chosen is not what was foreseen, and it may not lead to as happy a place as you anticipate..." at this, he seemed almost regretful before looking back up with a firm resolution set in his eyes, "It will not be an easy path to walk, but the right choice is often the hardest one. Together, I know the two of you can restore honor to our great nation, and help return balance to the world."

There was a sly glint in the past Avatar's eye as he concluded, "You're the descendants of an Avatar, afterall."

In his next breath, Roku addressed the entirety of the group, "You have all faced many hardships to reach this point, and there are still many more to come. I believe, however, that together you will overcome these, just as you have every previous obstacle. Though some of you were once enemies, the fate of the world hinges upon whether or not you can put aside your differences and work with one another. With Aang's guidance, I know you can do it."

Then, just as suddenly as it had happened the first time, the clouds came rolling back in, and when they disappeared this time, it was once more Aang whom stood there, appearing as dazed and confused as each of them had been only moments before.

Aang blinked. "Uhh, what just happened?"

"Roku came out to tell Katara to stuff it." Toph was helpful enough to offer. "Oh, and say hi to your grandkids."

Aang looked as if he had just been told the moon had disappeared. Again. "My what!?"

"Great-grandkids actually. Turns out they've got a little Roku in them too."

Sokka couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Great, we're finding common ground already. Who'd have guessed."

It was a skill he had developed only through years of constant use, but Zuko could practically feel his sister's attention suddenly shift intently to him. He cringed involuntarily at the sound of her voice, already knowing by her tone that he was in for it. "How long have you known about this?"

"Not that long honestly. A few weeks. It was Uncle who helped me to find out, he sent me a letter that lead me to our secret family history. At first I didn't understand, it all seemed like stuff I already knew, but then he explained to me how the Avatar was mother's grandfather, and that the combination of both Sozin's and Roku's blood was the cause of my inner struggle. He said that good and evil have always been at war inside of me, and that I must choose which path I want to follow."

Looking to his sister, he smiled. "I guess that goes for you as well."

"Gee, and here I thought it was just hormones."

"Let's be fair Sunshine; it's probably both."

So it was that, with a laugh and a cautious optimism, the most unlikely team of friends and enemies looked to the future, to a day when the world would either be brought to salvation by their combined efforts, or reduced to ashes by their failures. Meanwhile, millions of miles away, a massive rock tore through the cosmos, racing towards a bright blue speck in the distance, leaving a glorious trail of blazing fire in it's wake.

---

Author's Note: Well, there you have it. As usual, sorry for the long wait, it is what it is though . For people who worry that I might abandon this story simply because of how long it sometimes is between updates, allow me to ease your fears a bit. I will never stop this story until it is finished, of that you can be certain. That's not to say that it might be some time between updates, life has a tendency to be messy, as we are all well aware, and sometimes the creek just doesn't flow as swiftly as it should, but this story WILL be finished, as a personal favor to myself. Believe me when I say, nobody wants to see this story finished more than I.

As always, thanks for taking the time.