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.

9. The Scars of the Past

"Owww… My head," moaned Sokka as he shuffled into the courtyard, finding Aang and his sister and not a single other person.

"Here, drink some water, in fact, drink a lot of it. Your body's dehydrated from that stupid sake last night."

"No kidding," he mumbled, clearly learning of the drink's after-effects on his own. "I feel like I've been baking out in the sun all day, I'm parched!" After downing two cups of water and filling a third, the dry-mouth was gone, but his headache still persisted much like his sister's nagging, something he felt he'd never be rid of no matter what he did.

"You know, you didn't have to drink so much of it." Katara told him, hands on her hips and leaning forward slightly.

"And you don't have to be a pain in my butt first thing in the morning, Katara."

"Neither of you need to have a shouting match this early in the morning." Mai's dry, raspy voice came from one of the entrances to the beach house proper. Rubbing one of her eyes, she looked… less than pleased, with her greeting to the day.

Katara gave her a moment to adjust to the light before offering some water, which Mai accepted without pause. She drained her cup as quickly as all those years of civil obedience allowed and filled another before venturing to question, "I don't suppose anyone's checked to make sure her highness is still alive and breathing?"

The expected lack of reaction didn't seem to bother her one way or the other, though Sokka did physically seize up at the question, suddenly remembering a kiss in the dark and a name. She didn't notice, or didn't let on that she noticed, either way, Mai was remaining a typical Mai.

"Guess I'll go check on her," she said, turning, and stopping in her tracks as she did. There in the doorway she herself had only recently come through stood something that actually sparked a faint, quiet fear in her heart. It was Azula, though the most disheveled version she had ever seen, with hair falling down straight in almost every direction, down past her shoulders easily and continuing still. Her face was markedly paler than usual, but it was the eyes that were the most disconcerting. Framed by falling hair on either side, they appeared deep set and dark, with a wild unfocused sense to them, though they were anything but.

"Water," she demanded, little more than a dry croak in her voice though. Katara pointed at the cauldron of water she had gathered with Aang's help earlier in the morning, but otherwise said nothing as she stared wide-eyed and mouthed open in astonished fear.

Azula prowled forward, seized a cup and bent over to practically dunk her head in the water. She dunked the cup and gulped the water down almost in a single motion, then again and again until after she filled her fifth cup she rose and held the thing in her hand, practically a death grip on the solid stone. Pale death itself would have elicited a reaction far too similar from the few present, and nobody spoke a word waiting to see what she would do next.

At long last, she spoke, voice husky and strained, "Where is that bottle?"

Sokka raised his hands in defensive gesture while replying, "Azula, I really don't think that's a good-"

"I want it destroyed," she interrupted, clearly stating she would speak no more on the matter with her stiffened body language. She downed the fifth cup, and filled it again, blinking deliberately every few seconds, as if reviewing the previous night's events through snapshots in her eyelids. It was clear she was drawing a large blank. She inhaled slowly, then finally demanded, "What happened."

Glances were exchanged before a unanimous chorus went up of, "You got drunk."

Azula visibly cringed from the sound, biting out, "One at a time, or I'm going to snap, Spirits help me if I'm lying."

"I'm pretty sure she's serious," Mai said, with what may have counted as a chuckle from the usually stone-faced girl.

Nobody made a sound, but the fleeting tranquility was quickly shattered by a gleeful shout from directly behind Azula. "Good morning, Sunshine!"

The Firebender jumped practically into the air while shouting a curse that would have earned a legitimate smack across the face as a child. Toph saddled up alongside the other girl, dunking a cup she had made herself not a moment sooner and downing it before pointing out, "You know, making empty threats all the time hurts your credibility."

Azula was clearly forcing herself to calm down, careful to avoid opening her eyes much as she seemed to detest the sunlight. "I'm afraid a blast of fire right now would cause my eyes to explode if I looked directly at it."

This of course caused Toph to chuckle, "Hah! Yeah, I bet. You were hammered last night, Azula. It was pretty good stuff."

"I want that vile bottle destroyed," she grumbled, still not keen to opening her eyes more than a fraction.

"Oh, don't worry, I've already taken care of that bottle, you don't have to worry about him anymore," Toph was happy to tell her with a fox's smile. If Azula had been in possession of her usual cognizance, she would have questioned that smug response, but as it was, she was quite content to focus all her energy on blocking out sound.

It would be to no avail, unfortunately.

"Good morning everyone!" Ty Lee came practically bursting out of the house with a flourish of sound and color. Azula thought, for what could very well have been the last time ever, about destroying the girl on the spot. The very option was stolen from her when arms stronger than a platypus bear's, she could have sworn, grabbed her from behind and tried to see how much air they could force out. Maybe get an eye or two.

"You're up earlier than I expected you to be," she said with a giggle before releasing the "hug" and leaving a shaking Azula that looked like a cat that had water surprisingly dumped on it.

All Azula could eventually manage to choke out in response was, "I was thirsty."

"Me, too!" Ty Lee practically screamed in her ear, or at least that's what it sounded like to the Firebender. Grabbing a cup full and drinking it swiftly, it appeared to have the effects of a magic potion curing any last traces of sleepiness or ailment. Azula squinted in envious rage.

Aang and Katara were just as happy to wish a good morning to the acrobat as she was to them. Great, Azula thought, more people who just just love mornings.

"You have no clue what you've signed up for, do you?" Mai said in a civil enough tone at Azula's side, letting the tiniest of smirks play at her lips.

"I believe I may have made the worst mistake of my life," Azula said in no uncertain terms.

Mai merely quirked an eyebrow, asking, "Would you do it again?"

The ex-princess blinked once, then replied with a simple, "Yes."

Mai held her breath for a moment before releasing an unusually large sigh. Damnit, she really does love him. She doubted even Azula could lie to her right now in her worn down state, but then, she had underestimated the girl before. With her, it was always possible that what you least expected her to do, was exactly what she did.

"Who the hell yells this early in the morning!" came Suki's furious shout as she exited the house, shielding her half open eyes from the sun as she marched purposefully towards Ty Lee. She paid no-one else so much as a second glance as she stopped just half a breath away and glared murderous intent into those doleful, grey eyes.

"What in Kyoshi's name is wrong with you!" she shouted right in the poor girl's face.

Ty Lee's surprise quickly turned to anger and she shouted back with equal force, "I was just being pleasant and cheerful, I'm sorry, is that a crime?"

A shouting match involving Ty Lee with this bad of a headache? Hell no, Azula thought to herself, before interrupting, "Yelling at each other is ill advised if you value your hair." Ty Lee had the sense to understand the threat (she had heard it before), but Suki just looked at her like she was crazy. "It ignites quite easily," the Firebender elucidated with a false sweetness that her face didn't support.

It was clearly going to be an interesting morning.

Aang decided to take the moment to address a rather pressing concern. "So guys, what are we supposed to do about food? There isn't really anything here…" He said 'guys,' but he was clearly directing the majority of his attention on Azula, who's idea it had been to come here in the first place. She got the hint.

"Well, assuming you have some valid form of currency, there's a rather comprehensive market here. Ember Island is a popular spot for a lot of wealthy families to vacation."

The way she said 'valid form of currency' as if expecting them to be bartering with fish and pelts made Toph happy to reply, "Oh, we got money, Sunshine. Hey, Sokka!"

"Way ahead of you, Toph," The Tribesman called over his shoulder as he rifled through Appa's saddle. Hoisting three sacks he turned and came over to a wide-eyed and disbelieving Azula. "Do they take gold, or do we need to get the silver bag?"

Azula pinched her brow and muttered to herself, something about hating herself, then asked, "Where on Earth did you get that much money?"

"I cheated some con-men at their own game!" Toph announced with pride from the girl's other side.

Azula gave the younger girl a brief glance before sighing, "Of course you did." Suddenly, a thought occurred, and she seemed to perk up. "If you have money, and lots of it, then we're going shopping. I need new clothes."

---

Zuko awoke to what must have been lunch by the sound and smell coming from the other side of that door. He could hear footsteps every now and then pass by the door, but none ever bothered to disturb it. There was the occasional "Thanks, Miza!" as they passed.

He would have gone back to sleep, or busied himself with more reading, were his stomach not demanding food at an intolerable level. After an agonizing half-hour or more, the door was finally pushed slowly open to reveal Mizaki holding a plate filled generously with food. She saw that he was awake, but her lack of reaction showed she was just as aware of that fact before she opened the door.

"I figured you might be hungry," she told him, and before he could protest explained, "I cook for an entire ship, there's usually enough leftover to go around. Please, I'd rather you eat it then stuff it in one of those Spirit's awful containers they use to store food in around here." Zuko looked close to wanting to ask, but she smiled and shook her head, assuring him he didn't want to know.

With little other choice, he accepted the food with a "Thank you," then merrily ate away. More like devoured, Mizaki noted to herself as she watched him tear into it with ravenous abandon. The scene would frighten the most veteran of platypus-bears, to be certain. There was little regard for the survivors.

There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask the banished Prince, but she had trouble finding one that would be appropriate. As he finished his food, she finally asked, "So, you're heading to Ember Island, are you?"

Zuko wiped his mouth as he considered the implications, and responded calmly, "It's the next step of my journey." If there was anything Uncle had taught him, it was how to answer rather vaguely while still appropriately.

Mizaki nodded, but she clearly wasn't satisfied with the answer. "I suppose we'll be there tomorrow, late morning/early afternoon." She watched him for a visible reaction, but was disappointed to see not so much as a flinch. Any excitement he may have felt he hid very well.

"So, um… I have a question, but it's kind of personal," she began, unsure of how to breech the subject.

He glanced at her with his good eye, easy enough to do in this cramped space, and decided she seemed harmless enough, and had shown him great hospitality, as well. "Go ahead."

"Well, it's about your sister," she said quite tentatively, as if having his permission to ask might not mean anything afterall.

Zuko's eye widened. Azula? "What do you want to know about Azula?"

She flinched violently, as if referring to the Princess so plainly was a curse word. Then she realized she hadn't been denied, and began explaining, "Well, the last time I heard of the Princess, she had conquered Ba Sing Se. Now I hear people say she's been taken hostage."

"What!?" Zuko couldn't hide the bewilderment in his voice. She had been kidnapped? Who the hell would start that rumor? "By who?" he asked, the impossibility of the very notion clearly reflected in the two words.

"Well…" she started to say, again looking rather shy and not wanting to say the next word. "You?" Mizaki said with a hesitant inflection.

"Me?" Zuko repeated, pausing a moment to consider. Face turning slightly more serious he asked, "Where did you hear that?"

The ship's cook merely shrugged, "It's just the rumor that's going around. She disappeared and nobody knew why. It was at the same time that you… switched sides." She said that last part as if uncertain of what choice in words to use for referring to his turning traitor.

Zuko sighed, leaning against one of the walls as he replied, "That sounds like my father alright. Look, I did not kidnap my sister to use as a bargaining chip with the Avatar. Azula chose to go with me." There was that wince again at the informal use of the Princess' name, though slightly lessened this time.

"Princess Azula chose to help the Avatar? After she defeated him and conquered Ba Sing Se? You know how strange that sounds, right?" The look on his face said plainly enough that he did, but that he was also struggling, as if not to say something that might explain it easily enough.

Zuko did, of course, have an explanation that would make sense. It would just raise a few more questions he would rather not answer. So he bit his tongue. "Yeah, well, it's a long story"

She raised a slim eyebrow, and with her hands on her slightly cocked hip, she looked every bit the inquiring soul with nothing else to do. "You realize we're on a boat for at least another full day at sea, right? We have plenty of time for long stories."

He looked up at her, and for the first time, really looked at her. She had auburn hair, similar to Ty Lee's but maybe a shade darker, and her hair was tied back in what looked like a similar style as well. It was just a coincidence, though, as Zuko had, at one unfortunate time in his life, actually met all of Ty Lee's sister's, and when they said identical, they meant it. This was just another person who preferred the hairstyle. Her eyes weren't grey, either, but instead a dark, rich brown, not the muddied kind of Earth Kingdom peasantry but a deep, glossy kind that you could feel yourself slipping into like a pool of molasses.

He sighed, his weakness for pretty girls having been struck quite thoroughly, once again. "I have to admit, that rumor is half-right. I am the reason she left." Her eyes opened slightly wider, as he expected, but he didn't let it deter him. "But I didn't kidnap her; I asked her to go."

"She went with you willingly? To betray her nation, and to teach the Avatar?" There was no small amount of disbelief in her voice.

Zuko shook his head, "Not exactly. It was the n-day before the eclipse when I asked her," he began to explain, stumbling to wisely amend his story, "before anyone could have known what I was planning. She didn't know what I intended to do, and I didn't tell her. I just said I was leaving, and asked her if she wanted to go."

"Why would she want to just leave like that?"

This part, at least, he didn't need to embellish one bit. "My Father," he said darkly, the weight of the two words settling like an anvil in the small space of the room. "The same man who put this scar on my face when I was a 13 year-old boy, and then banished me to hunt an Avatar that didn't exist for the rest of my life." He paused when Mizaki gasped at that revelation, then continued, "Yeah, that guy. Make no mistake, my sister and I are not traitors, but we will also not sit idly by while Ozai burns the world to the ground." He thrust out his hand to indicate that he would have none of it.

Mizaki paused for a moment to digest the new information, before simply stating, "That's very brave of you. I can't believe the Fire Lord would do something so… awful."

Zuko neglected to mention exactly who's plan it was, finding it sufficient to reply, "Yeah, well, you don't really know Ozai that well. It's pretty normal for the path he's chosen." He didn't stop to think twice about his uncle's influence leaking into his words.

"Well," Mizaki began on a more upbeat note, "I wish you and the princess much luck in your quest to aid the Avatar. Let us hope that, together, the two of you will be enough to help bring down that murderous Fir Lord for good."

At that, the scarred prince allowed a smile, a truly genuine one that, for the first time in days, was completely heartfelt. "Thank you, Mizaki. Your support is greatly appreciated, though not as much as the food, or the boat ride to Ember Island."

Mizaki only laughed at the forced formalities though. "Oh please, it's no problem at all." She let the good atmosphere drift about a bit more before becoming somewhat more serious. "So you're certain the Princess is on Ember Island?"

Zuko nodded, though he couldn't explain exactly why it was such a reflexive response. "I can feel it in my bones, I just know that's where they went. I can't explain why, I just do." He was so sure of himself, it was as if he had seen them there with his own eyes not ten seconds ago.

"Oh," she replied, by now having to force the smile, but she couldn't help the somber timber in her voice so minute Zuko failed to catch it. "Alright then." Remembering herself, she brightened up instantly and struck a new direction for the conversation. "So you've met the Avatar?" she asked, with all the wonder due that particular question.

The young man nodded, a half-hearted chuckle escaping him as he replied, "Yeah, and believe me, the kid's got a lot to learn before he's ready to save anybody." She shared a laugh with him at that, but then he added with some phantom of seriousness, "But he's quick, and clever, and has the luck of a blind bandit, and I believe, Azula and I can teach him what he needs to know to save the world."

---

"Is it too late to change my mind and kill him?" Azula asked with a still-withered-but-much-improved voice that spoke of pure malice and intent to cause great bodily harm. When she was an enemy observing his antics from an outside perspective, they were comical in an idiotic sort of way, but being next to him as he walked through crowds with a ridiculously wide-brimmed hat and greeted every other person as "Hot-man" made her want to throw another bolt of lightning into him. The World's last hope, she lamented inside her own head as she squeezed her brow with nails almost breaking skin. We're completely f-

"Sorry, looks like you're in it for the long haul," Mai answered as she walked at Azula's side. "Still sure you don't want to bring his head to your dad as a gift? He might forget about everything else." She almost sounded half-serious, and Azula was perhaps half-considering it. She waved the silly notion away though, with a swat of her hand in her friend's general direction.

"Dad would never forget about anything." It was a reasonable enough excuse without having to venture into the dangerous waters of admitting she didn't want to because she could almost pretend that he was her friend now. She looked up to notice the monk in question had pulled a ways ahead of them and was greeting somebody as "Hot-man" for the hundredth time. She was second-guessing herself immediately.

Aang was happily waving and greeting people he passed, blissfully unaware of the predator that stalked up behind him, until he felt the nails digging into his shoulder and spinning him around, to come face to terrifying face with a less-than-amused-looking Azula.

"If you greet one more person as 'Hot-man' I am going to see how long it takes a flame the size of my pinky nail to bore through a human skull, starting at the eye." He had never heard her say something with such a dead-serious tone in the entire time he had ever known her. With wide, terrified-squirrel-bunny eyes, he nodded his head with vigorous enthusiasm, to which she replied, "Good."

She let go of him and meandered onwards once more, leaving the all-powerful Avatar to steady his nerves and heartbeat for a moment. Katara, who had by no means missed the little exchange, came stomping over in a huff of annoyance that was clearly about to manifest itself vocally.

"Can you believe her? She's impossibly rude all the time! How can she just threaten you like that?" she demanded, throwing her arm out in tandem with her words, and very nearly smacking Mai in the face in the process.

"Give her a break, she's still pretty hung-over from last night. Besides, if she didn't do something about it, I was going to say something myself. He keeps talking like he's from a hundred years ago, he's going to draw attention."

Katara didn't hesitate to say, "He is from a hundred years ago!"

Mai only scoffed though, or at least, gave her own sighing version of a scoff, "That doesn't mean he needs to be talking like it, though. I would think the Avatar would be wanting to keep a lower profile around here."

"That still doesn't excuse her threatening Aang like that! It was totally- hey!" she shouted, as the other girl simply yawned and began walking away. "I was talking!"

"I know, and it was really boring listening. I'm going to go find something to eat." Mai didn't even bother turning around as she gave her mechanical reply, and left a sputtering, irritated Waterbender in her wake.

"… Boring!? Did she just call me boring?!"

"Yeah, but that's just Mai." Ty Lee said, as if it were as simple as the sky being blue or water being wet. "She thinks everything's boring."

This didn't quite have the calming effect she had expected, however. "What is wrong with you people!?"

Ty Lee blinked once in surprise, before quickly adopting a very alien expression of anger. "Excuse me? What have I ever done to you!"

Katara's mouth dropped and she froze right there in the street, as if someone were Bloodbending from somewhere off to the side. "You paralyzed me and blocked my w-bending!" she stumbled to correct herself, realizing she was well within earshot of passersby.

This mistake did not go unnoticed by the sly acrobat though, and she grinned with triumph. "Oh that, pff, you were asking for it. But if you really want revenge, go ahead, hit me with your bending," Ty Lee drove that last word home like the nail it was, and Katara could only glare daggers at her while restraining herself from making one fairly poor mistake.

The Waterbender bit her lip just long enough for the smug older girl to turn around with an I told you so look about her and trot off to join her other, actual friends. "It's like they're all psychopaths!" she shouted with barely contained rage funneled through exasperation to the other 4 people, her actual friends.

Sokka, ever the first to diffuse any and every Katara-situation (as he had decided to refer to them), calmly explained, "That may be, but they did raise a valid point. If Aang's drawing unnecessary attention to himself, he's increasing the chance someone might recognize us." He turned his attention to the Avatar himself. "You don't have hair anymore, just a hat. You can't keep greeting everyone we pass, it's just not good sense."

"Well, I guess so," he admitted sheepishly, scratching at his shoulder-blade all the while. Sometimes, it was easy to forget that a hundred years had actually passed, and that he hadn't just woken up from that stormy night less than a year ago.

"Hey, Dunderheads. This place smells like a good spot to get some food," Toph's voice rose above the crowd to reach the ears of all she intended, and they in turn converged on her spot. Azula appraised the modest food stand.

"Your nose knows good food, Toph. The Smoldering Ember is one of my favorite places to eat on this island. Though I should probably warn you, the food can be a bit spicy." Azula took the lead in approaching the man behind the counter, then proceeded to rattle off an order of sesame komodo-chicken, extra spicy along with a few nit picked details. The others were still staring at the menu, except for one of course, for whom such an endeavor would have been a waste of time.

Toph stepped forward anyways shortly after Azula had paid the man and stepped to the side. "Make it two of whatever she just ordered." Before the man could raise a single word in protest, she had already slammed down what she assumed was enough money. It was, in fact, several times more than enough, so the man graciously took the coins without another word.

"Gutsy move, Bei Fong."

Toph only blew air between her lips though, "Anything you can handle, I can handle."

Azula smirked in response, though the effect was lost on her compatriot. "Well, I certainly hope you're right, otherwise, you just made a big mistake."

Meanwhile, the two siblings from the Southern Water Tribe had finally decided on a dish that sounded safe enough, and Aang had proceeded to haggle over getting a kalamari-salad minus the kalamari. The man was perplexed, but ultimately acquiesced, under the condition he would be charging for the full meal.

Several minutes later and Toph was fanning her tongue desperately while panting like a polar bear-dog that had just run the circumference of Ba Sing Se's outer wall. Her face was a red to match Aang's old headband, and her eyes were so wide you'd think she had suddenly gained the ability to see. Azula just stood there with her arms crossed and a look that said perfectly I tried to warn you, but you're a stubborn idiot. After letting the poor girl suffer for a bit to learn her lesson, she signaled for the man behind the counter and ordered a glass of coconut milk.

After draining the entire thing in a single gulp, Toph could finally manage to speak again. "You weren't lying."

Taking just a moment to appreciate the irony of those words and how they tasted, Azula replied, "I've been eating this food my entire life, no offense, but it isn't something you can just jump into."

"No kidding," piped up Sokka through a mouth of food. "One time, I got a bag of flaming fire flakes that killed my taste buds for a week!"

Azula raised an eyebrow at the oaf, giving him a look that told him he was as much before asking, "At what point did the name flaming fire flakes not give you the impression that they may be hot?"

"Thank you, my point exactly!" Katara agreed, only afterwards realizing who she was agreeing with.

"Yeah, well, at least I didn't blow our cover at the Fire Festival by jumping up on stage and you-know-whating that guy's fire dragon!" Mention of one of the Avatar's earliest goofs caused the young Airbender in question to give a weak chuckle as he scratched behind his head.

"I didn't want Katara to get hurt," he offered, and for as cheesy of an excuse as it was, it was also the truth, and somewhat touching.

Azula rolled her eyes as she interjected, "This time, if anyone threatens your precious Katara, you'll have to handle the situation with good old fashion hand to hand fighting. There will be no Bending of any kind while we're in hiding, especially not from you." She was certain to stare right at the Avatar so there was no confusion as to whom she referred.

Upon finishing her own meal, Azula was feeling markedly improved, though she still had a somewhat throbbing headache to contend with. At least it didn't feel like her every muscle was made of slush, and she could finally stop cursing the Sun's existence. Her wardrobe, however, was going to need changing, and as much as she told herself it was because they were two sizes too big, she couldn't ignore the fact that they still smelled, if faintly, of Zuko. "Toph, are you ready for our little shopping trip?"

The Earthbender perked up at that question, albeit a bit dubiously. "What do you need me to go along for?"

"You're paying, remember?" Toph harrumphed in return, but was otherwise willing to go as she vaguely remembered the past conversation.

"Mai, Ty Lee, why don't you come as well, I don't think she's going to be very helpful in judging the outfits. The rest of you are free to do whatever you want, just don't get the town guard after you." With that, the four girls ambled off further down the street, until they were finally out of earshot.

Katara blanched at their retreating backs before finally finding her voice. "We're free to do whatever we want? As if we need her permission?! She's unbelievable! Aang do we really have to keep her in the group?"

"Not if you want to teach Aang how to Firebend," Sokka noted, though immediately regretted doing so as his sister shot him a glare which would have likely melted steel.

Quick to intervene as always, Aang explained to the ever-bickering siblings, "Azula just has a… different way of doing things. She didn't mean anything by it, I'm sure. It's just… old habits?" When he failed to convince even himself with his last words, it was little surprise that Sokka and Katara both looked more than skeptical. With a sigh, he tried again, "Look, remember when I said that all people are capable of great good or great evil? Well, if all you do is expect her to betray us, she probably will. If you want to bring out the best in someone, you have to believe in the best of someone."

Katara crossed her arms in front of her chest in an all-too-familiar gesture before replying, "Aang, I still feel just as badly about this as I did when her and Zuko first showed up at the Air Temple, but I'm also still going to trust your judgment. If that's who you want to be your Firebending teacher, then fine. I just hope it doesn't backfire on all of us."

"You and me both, sister. You and me both." And for once, the siblings from the Southern Water Tribe were in agreement.

---

The small merchant vessel cut across the waves swiftly as it continued it's steady course to the north-east. Even if Zuko was stuck below deck and couldn't actually watch the ship as it sailed, he knew the feeling well enough, and he would have known if it was rough weather out there just from the way the ship rocked back and forth. The ever-present hum of heavy machinery below deck was a familiar companion from all those years spent searching in vain for an Avatar that was hiding below the waves the entire time, and it came as no surprise that the noise reminded him, ultimately, of his uncle.

He had long since decided that it wasn't too surprising the old man had broken himself out of prison. He always had been a legendary Firebender, and a cunning military leader. The eclipse was probably as much a blessing to his escape as it had been a curse to those charged with keeping him captive. Not to mention, the man could create a bolt of lightning out of thin air. One timely application of that ability and he was as good as free. Still, that didn't leave Zuko with any hints as to where his uncle had disappeared to.

Not for the first time since that fateful day, Zuko found himself begging for forgiveness with his thoughts, to a man that may as well have been on another continent. For all he knew, he was.

Uncle Iroh, wherever you are… I'm so sorry.

As sorry as he was for what had transpired underneath that cursed city, he couldn't bring himself to regret it all, not entirely. To choose the Avatar over his own sister? He couldn't even stomach the thought. He snorted out a breath of entirely too-hot air, though it wasn't outright fire. Damned if he did and damned if he didn't, it was a situation he couldn't have won in every aspect, no matter what his decision may have been. One way or another, one member of his family would have left that fight in chains, and something told him that his uncle had handled it far better than Azula ever would have.

Azula… he threw his head back, banging against the metal wall he had taken to sitting against, though not hard enough to actually hurt himself, just enough to maybe knock some sense into him, if he was lucky. Right, lucky, he chastised himself. He knew better this far into life. It was abundantly clear that his luck had run it's entire course the moment he wasn't delivered as a stillborn. So he sat, a traitor Prince stowed away in the bowels of a merchant vessel, surviving only by the good graces of people who, in all reality, owed him nothing.

That Jee hadn't turned him in the moment he spotted his scarred face back at the harbor was nothing short of a miracle, and then this girl, who's entire family had been killed because of this stupid war that his family had started generations ago, gave him shelter and food. It was almost too good to be true. If he stopped and thought about it long and hard enough, he might have convinced himself that it wasn't.

His thoughts were interrupted by the door opening, albeit slowly and not fully, to Mizaki bearing a tray laden with food. Leftover scraps from the crew's dinner, but food nonetheless. "This is all I could get for you, I hope it's okay."

Zuko gave her an earnest smile, "Thank you, Mizaki, it's more than enough." He could have easily eaten twice as much in one sitting, but courtesy dictated certain responses. She returned his smile.

"Well, I'm going to go take care of the dishes, I'll come back in a little bit for these," she said, as she placed the tray down at the tiny desk. She exited just as quietly as she had entered, leaving the young man to eat in solitude. If he was completely honest, he much preferred it that way. There was something to be said for the serenity of solitude, that void wherein a man and his thoughts might mingle freely amongst one another.

What are you even doing? was the first thought to come unbidden to the forefront of his mind. As usual, the voice that questioned him was Azula's. It helped to pretend there was someone else inside his head questioning him, that way it didn't feel like he was answering himself in his head. He may not have been certain about what he was doing, but he certainly knew why. How can you even be sure this is the way to go? That second one, not quite so easy to answer. Still, it wasn't as if he had much of an option in the matter.

The fact that the boat he happened to find himself stowed away on was heading to the place he was sure he needed to go seemed only to be some kind of cosmic intervention to him at the time, and he had never really stopped to question it. Curiously enough, it was almost as if his mind didn't want to question it.

And why would that be? If the second question had been hard to answer, this one was surely impossible. He dreaded the implications of the most logical answer. Even so, the boat sailed on, with only the most gentle of rocking motions to prove it was even moving at all.

He finished eating before he had even realized it, and no sooner had he drained the remainder of his water did Mizaki come bustling in to clear the dishes. Oddly good timing, he thought to himself, but just as quickly he tried to look for something else to occupy his mind. This was another subject his brain seemed to have no desire of looking into.

There was little else to do to occupy himself, so Zuko once again found his attention drawn to the books underneath the young cook's hammock. As he thumbed through to the place he had left off at in Fire in the East, he couldn't help a part of his brain that counted every minute that passed, reminding him that he was getting closer all the time.

---

Azula's golden eyes burned in the mirror as they inspected the crimson dress for any slight flaw, anything at all. When she was satisfied with the one side, she turned to inspect the other, every bit as meticulously, until at last Mai's loud sigh broke the silence.

"You either like it or you don't, let's not take all day." Azula reared on her as if ready to take off the girl's head with her bare hands right then and there, but stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ty Lee standing helpless to the side, almost toppled under a pile of outfits that towered well over her head. "I think you have enough anyways."

"Oh, I suppose it is enough, isn't it? Fine. Seamstress!"

The little old lady who owned the shop scuttled forward, eyes bright and eager for the prospect of this sale. "Are you certain you have everything you need, dear?" Her voice rasped with the decades of salty air, and her years seemed to weigh her small frame down, but she was still plenty spry enough whenever a sale was imminent.

Azula didn't even give the stack of clothing so much as a second glance as she replied, "Yes, I believe this should do." She turned to Toph, who appeared as though she may have actually been asleep for how bored she was, then prompted, "Toph, could you be a dear?"

Toph's eyes never even opened as she reached into a pocket and pulled a small bag of coins out. "This enough?" She tossed it with a flick of her hand, not even waiting for an answer, and the old shopkeeper looked panicked for a brief moment, but Azula caught the bag for her with childish ease.

"Here, for the clothes, and for you being such a forgetful old lady that you won't even remember a group of young women buying anything from you today." She waited for the older woman to nod before extending the coin purse, inside of which were dozens of golden coins, any one of which were more than fair compensation for all the clothes.

The four of them exited the shop and re-entered the blinding sunlight just as throngs of people were milling about for the lunchtime hour. "Oh boy, because there's nothing I love more than crowded streets." Toph's sarcastic comment drew everybody's attention, but Ty Lee in particular gave her a baffled look.

"Don't crowds bother you? Since, you know, you can't see?" she asked, lowering her voice at the end as if it were some kind of secret.

Toph just gave her a look of utter disbelief, or at least she gave it to Ty Lee's general direction, before turning her attention to Azula and asking, "Is she always as dense as a rock?"

Azula could only hang her head and sigh as Mai snorted quietly behind her. "Unfortunately, Ty Lee isn't always the sharpest stick in the bunch."

"Hey!"

"-But," Azula continued, flicking her eyes to her friend in a familiar gesture, only this time, there wasn't a demanding authority in them, instead it was a warmth that melted Ty Lee's heart, "she's the best friend anyone could ever ask for, so we forgive her."

Even Mai was impressed, though her face was as impassive as if she had been told the sky was blue. "She's got you there, Ty. You can be pretty stupid sometimes." She gave her friend a small, delicate smile, then added, "but you can also do five summersaults in the air and knock people out with your knuckles. I bet there's no nerds at the university who can do that."

Ty Lee thought about it for a moment, humming as she did so, before declaring triumphantly, "You're right! Who needs smarts, I'm plenty special just the way I am!"

"Don't forget, nobody looks better in pink."

"Why, thank you, Toph. I do look great in pink, don't I!" The four girls fell into a comfortable silence as they made their way down the street, heading back towards the beach house. It was at least five minutes before Ty Lee finally shouted out, "Hey!" Toph had a merry chuckle that was quickly joined by Azula, and eventually even Mai and then Ty Lee herself.

The group reached the beach house within an hour's time, and Ty Lee quickly excused herself to unload the massive burden of clothing. Mai claimed to be tired and wished to lie down for a nap, so Azula found herself heading out and towards the beach, which was coincidentally where Toph was headed as well. The two walked together in a comfortable silence for a while with neither showing any inclination to speak.

It was so… alien, just walking alongside this girl who, not even a month ago, was a sworn enemy, someone she would have just as soon stuck a knife in and been done with. The opportunity was there, now, easy as taking candy from a child. She even had the knife, hidden as it always was. Mai's birthday present to her all those years ago, it had never left her possession. She reached her hand out and wrapped an arm around Toph's neck, bringing the smaller girl in somewhat closer.

Toph's face never flinched though, even if she had never 'seen' the arm coming. Azula just couldn't help herself, and decided to ask, "You don't worry about me, at all?"

Toph didn't bother hiding the smile that formed on her face, and as she made to reply, she turned her head, and whether by some secret, innate ability, or just pure dumb luck, her eyes caught Azula's squarely, and she felt pierced by that milky green gaze in a way she couldn't quite describe. "Should I be?"

It was strange, how her mind worked. Exactly as it always had, decisively and without hesitation. She pulled Toph in closer, giving her a sideways hug as they walked along. "Yes," she breathed, so quiet and comforting despite the implications of that answer. Toph's smile simply grew larger.

"How do you do that? Even right next to you, I can't feel your heart skip a beat when you lie."

Azula simply took a deep breath, then let it all go in one nice, long, relaxing sigh. "Years of practice, Toph. Years of practice…"

Only now did the Earthbender's smile falter, as her expression took on a more thoughtful tone. "Man, I thought I had it bad with my parents, but you and Zuko take the cake. I can't imagine how awful that must have been."

Azula simply shrugged. "It wasn't all bad, although admittedly we did go a bit far down a wrong road or two. There were good times, though." Toph could tell simply from the way she had said it that some of those good times had been here, and the princess was already reliving them in her head. She decided to let it be though, and the two continued their walk in amiable silence until at last they reached the sandy beach.

It was there that the found the rest of the group, with Suki lounging about on the beach, apparently sunbathing, Sokka doing something similar only in the water, and Katara racing with Aang on boards made of ice. The entire scene was so picturesque, it almost made Azula gag on the spot. Two weeks until Sozin's Comet arrives, and he's playing in the water like a child.

As if sensing her thoughts, Toph said, "Relax, Sunshine. Maybe you could use a day off yourself." Azula was about to respond, but the Earthbender kept going. "I may not be able to tell when you're lying, but you can bet your crown I can sense when your mood changes, especially this close. Your body temperature just went up at least ten degrees in two seconds."

Disentangling herself and taking a step away, the Firebender made to stand as if they had never been touching one another in the first place, and she looked to be stiff as a tree for it. "Yes, well, there should be plenty of time to relax when we're all rotting in our graves just two weeks from now. The Avatar is nowhere near prepared to take on my father."

Toph sighed, weary of keeping the secret any longer, and told her new-found friend, "Look, Aang's decided he isn't going to fight the Fire Lord until after the comet. He just isn't ready, and it's not like there's a rush now that the Earth Kingdom has officially fallen. You were there for that one, I'm sure you remember."

Azula was absolutely dumbstruck, but it didn't take more than a heartbeat's time for her expression to immediately morph into rage. She stalked over to the shoreline without another word to Toph, and when she reached it she pivoted, dashed forward a step and leaned her entire body as sideways as she could go, punching out with both fists to launch a massive burst of blue fire over the water.

Aang had enough time to yell for Katara's attention before diving under the water to avoid being reduced to ash. When he resurfaced, he expected several more attacks to be incoming, but all he saw when he looked towards the beach was the source, standing with her hands upon her hips and glaring pure malice directly at him. He raced forward over the surface of the water, wary of an attack that never came, until he reached the sand once more, and Azula herself.

"What the heck was that for?!"

"Why didn't you tell me you had given up!"

The Avatar, who had only moments before been infused with righteous anger, now felt himself being slapped with confusion. "What?"

"Fighting the Fire Lord. Saving the World? Why didn't you tell me you had given up!? Why did I waste all my time on you when you're nothing but a spineless sea-sponge that would have done better to stay at the bottom of the ocean!" The air immediately above Azula was starting to become hazy.

By now, Katara had reached the shoreline herself and joined the others, who had all by now come to watch and, if necessary, intervene. "What's going on?" she asked, to nobody in particular.

It was Sokka who answered, "I'm… not sure."

"What do you mean I've given up? I haven't given up on anything!" The Avatar insisted, regaining something of a spine and meeting Azula's anger head on, rather than shrinking back from it. "I'm still going to take down Fire Lord Ozai, there just isn't any reason to rush it. Now that the Earth Kingdom has fallen for good-"

"Thanks to you, by the way!" interrupted Katara, though Aang didn't let it derail him.

"- There's just no reason to fight him until I've completely mastered all four elements."

Azula stared at the monk for a moment as if to confirm he was actually there and she had heard him correctly, and then her lips grimaced into something between a sneer and a smirk. "You think there's no reason to fight? You think because we threw a Fire Nation banner over the walls of Ba Sing Se that we've won, that everyone has laid down their arms and sworn fealty to my father?

"They resist him at every corner of the Earth Kingdom, as they have for decades! He isn't going to sit idly by and allow it to continue, not when he has the power of Sozin's Fucking Comet at his disposal! My father intends to use his fleet of airships to rain down fire over all of the Earth Kingdom, reducing the entire continent to ash!"

By this point, pure terror was reflected in the face of every person present, in none more so than the Avatar himself. "So go ahead, enjoy your little beach party. I'm going to go pack my things and find the deepest cave I can to hide in, because if my father ever finds me…" she trailed off, unable to finish that thought, then turned and began to walk away, muttering, "I can't believe I trusted you."

"Azula, wait! You never told me about your dad's crazy plan, I had no idea!"

She turned around, clearly still unimpressed with the current situation. "It shouldn't have made a difference! You should have known better than to just let Sozin's Comet come and go. Do you really think my father would let that much power just pass by without using it to do something horrible?" By this point, Ty Lee had made her way down to the beach, with Mai in tow.

"We saw a big blue fireball, did we switch sides again?" the knife-wielder asked in a manner that said the answer was inconsequential to her.

Azula simply crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the Avatar as she responded, "No, the Avatar has just decided he wants my father to burn down an entire continent."

Aang was starting to get frustrated, if his pinched features were any indication. "No, I don't! I just don't know how I'm supposed to beat the Fire Lord, it's too soon! Without the Avatar State…"

Azula blinked, confusion overriding anger for half a second. "What do you mean, without the Avatar State?"

"I mean ever since you shot me with that lightning, I haven't been able to enter into it. My chakra is blocked." He didn't mean for it to sound as accusing as it did, admittedly, but the truth was the truth.

The Firebender appeared thoughtful for the moment, as dangerous a look on her as any, and she was quietly humming to herself. "If lightning caused this problem, perhaps lightning can solve it."

The Avatar's eyes shot wide. "Uh, no thanks, Azula, that's really not necessary, I'm sure I can find some other way-"

"Relax, you dolt, I'm not going to launch a lethal bolt at you. Again. Perhaps a smaller one can kick-start some glow though." She began flexing her fingers as she sauntered towards him. "Turn around."

"What? No, this is insanity!" Katara shouted, finally done being a silent onlooker. "I don't care what you say, I'm not letting you shoot any more lightning at him!"

"Oh for the love of the Spirits." Azula muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose as she did so. "Look, to create lightning you have to separate the positive and negative energies that are all around us at all times. The more energy you separate, the more powerful the resulting lightning will be. If, however, I want a weaker amount, I simply split less energy. Like so." She proceeded to twirl her finger in a circle, swirling her wrist along with it to draw a small circle in the air. As she did so, the unmistakable tendrils of energy trailed after her finger, and after a few seconds, she simply thrust her finger out and off to the side. The bolt of lightning, if it could be called that, struck a nearby tree with little more than a buzzing fizzle and some smoke. It left a slightly blackened spot on the trunk, but otherwise caused no serious harm.

"See? Harmless if you want it to be, really."

Katara was still clearly not convinced. "The answer is no, you aren't shooting any lightning at him, period!"

Aang, however, didn't seem quite so sure. "Wait, Katara, I think it might-"

"You can't be serious! Aang, think about what you're saying here."

"I am! Katara, this might help, and at any rate I have to try! Anything that might reactivate the Avatar State has to be given a chance." He was resolute in his words, but his eyes were pleading for her to understand. "Your healing water hasn't fixed it, maybe this will."

One of Mai's eyebrows rose half a centimeter. "The Avatar is going to let Azula shoot lightning at him? This I gotta watch."

Suddenly Aang was feeling rather self-conscious with all of the eyes upon him, so he said, "Actually, I'd like if we could do this alone. Nobody around means no distractions."

"Or witnesses." Mai deadpanned, but otherwise made no move to follow as the Avatar and the Princess of the Fire Nation walked down the beach a ways.

When they were out of earshot, but not quite what one might call secluded, Azula asked with some amount of concern, "Are you sure you're okay with this? It is somewhat dangerous, even in small doses."

"No, I'm not sure," he said, and she made to question him further but he continued, "but I have to try. My only realistic hope of beating the Fire Lord in two weeks' time is the Avatar State. Without it…"

It took Azula a moment to think of anything meaningful to say in response, and it almost settled into an awkward silence, when she finally said, "You'll have your friends." For Aang, that didn't seem like such a good thing.

"I would be putting them in so much danger…" he said, obviously struggling with the idea of involving his friends versus the reality of him needing their help.

"Toph I wouldn't be too worried about, she could probably take my father herself given the right circumstances." They both shared a short laugh. "Katara would be useful for backup, but if she were smart she would strike only when his back was turned and then run away immediately after. Sokka… Well, I suppose somebody needs to keep an eye on big and fluffy, don't they?" Another laugh.

They only took a few more steps before Aang decided they were alone as they could be. He sat lotus-style on the ground and Azula sat in a similar manner directly behind him. She inhaled sharply upon finally seeing the damage her attack had caused up close for the first time. "Still that bad looking, huh?" Aang tried to sound humorous about it, but there was an undeniable tension in the air that simply couldn't be ignored.

Azula began to raise a hand towards the angry, scarred flesh, then hesitated. "Does it hurt to touch?" Her voice held no hint of malice, or anger, sarcasm or haughtiness. There was only a respectful, somewhat remorseful concern. Aang was certain he had never heard her speak so softly, and probably never would after this was over.

"No, it's not so bad anymore. I really don't feel much back there." He was only lying somewhat.

She continued moving her hand, until she was almost touching him, and then she extended a single finger, being incredibly careful to avoid scraping the flesh with her nail, until at last her skin made the barest amount of contact. He tensed immediately, but otherwise made no sound, or gave any other indication that he had felt anything. She withdrew almost immediately, suddenly unable to bring herself to look upon the repulsive reminder of her own destructive malice.

After a moment, she managed to say, "I'm sorry." Aang just turned his head so he could look at her with one eye.

"It's alright. I've already forgiven you, Azula."

She couldn't help herself from asking, "How?"

Now Aang turned so that he could look at her with both of his eyes, then stated as confidently as if he were saying the sun will rise in the morning, "Because you're not a bad person, and because you deserve it."

The Firebender gave a lazy half-smile that she didn't quite feel. "You know, you're the second one of your little group to tell me that I'm not a bad person."

"That's because it's the truth," he insisted, placing a hand upon her knee in a gesture of kindness. It was as alien a feeling to Azula as everything up to this point had been, so as with everything else, she let it slide.

Tired of wasting time, among other reasons, the princess at last said, "I think it's time we focus on the real reason we're here, Avatar." Nodding his head in response, Aang turned back around so that his back, and the horrible reminder, were once more facing Azula. She thought hard for a moment about exactly how much might be a safe starting point, at last opting for just a couple twirls of her finger.

As she pointed at the dark red center of the wound and felt the energy release, there came a very soft zap and the Avatar tensed for a second before relaxing once more, giggling as he announced, "That tickled! But, I don't think I felt any Avatar State powers coming on. Try a little more juice, I'm sure I'll be fine."

Annoyed at having her fearsome Lightningbending referred to as a "tickle," she had no qualms with upping the voltage. Pulling her arm back as her wrist made a constantly twirling but otherwise random pattern, Azula shot her arm forward perhaps a tad harder than she had planned to, and as a result her fingers were somewhat closer to the Avatar's scar.

This time, the energy shot into him and jolted him around for a few seconds longer than the tickle had lasted, but ultimately ended as well. Aang was still breathing, and alive, of that he was sure, but his eyes were wide open, his back was smoking, and he was fairly certain he had gained a sixth sense for a few brief seconds. For as painful as it had been, he knew he had never felt more alive in his entire life, and for the short time the euphoria lasted he felt that, if he were to suddenly be of the opinion that the nearby mountain would look better a few feet to the right, well, he could probably have a say in it happening.

Directly behind him, Azula was simply sitting wide-eyed and astounded. "You were glowing," she eventually managed, but found little else to back it up with.

"I felt like I was glowing," Aang answered, voice still full of wonder at what he had just experienced. After gathering his wits, he finally demanded, "Do it again."

Azula considered for a moment before answering, "It seems that the closer I release from, the more energy gets pumped into your body. Nothing is lost in air travel time." Understanding what she meant, Aang looked over his shoulder to give her a nod before taking a deep breath and steeling his nerves and mind.

Azula scooted back enough so that she could fully extend her arm without going past (or through) her target. She was pretty sure she knew just how much energy to separate this time, and so set about the task, using her entire right arm to draw a serpentine line in the air before tucking her arm in. She waited only a second, and then thrust forward, as sure and true of a shot as any she had ever made in her life.

At the very last instant possible, a wind picked up, and Aang felt himself rock backwards, just a few inches. Just a few inches further back than Azula had calculated for, and when her arm extended, she could feel the unmistakable break of her nails through someone else's skin. Then the lightning released.

For Aang, everything went white as the most intense, searing pain of his life ripped through his entire body. For Azula, a moment of terror at having killed the Avatar, again, was replaced by a moment of pure dread upon realizing she had, in fact, killed the Avatar, again. She looked frantically down upon the smoldering body and saw that he wasn't breathing, and after a moment of silent deliberation, she cursed to herself before dropping down to her knees.

Plugging the boy's nose, she pressed her lips to his, and forced a breath into his lungs that inflated his chest like a balloon. She pumped down on his chest several times before administering another breath. She wasn't getting a response, and panic was starting to seep into her bones.

Aang lay there, somewhere, nowhere, who could say? It felt peaceful though, tranquil, like nothing in the world was happening to anyone, anywhere. Sitting up, he looked around himself, and what he saw startled him. There were people, all of them facing him, lined up for miles and miles, in a line that curved and spiraled above him, and they all stood still as statues, all of them except for the one immediately next to him. Avatar Roku looked down at Avatar Aang and extended a hand to help him to his feet.

"We need you, Aang. The world needs you. You have to wake up, you have to go back." Before he could say anything in response, Roku lifted a single finger, and pressed it to Aang's heart. He felt a jolt, but before disappearing altogether, he saw one last thing happen to all of the people assembled in this almost eternal line. All of their eyes lit up with a pure and blinding white light.

Azula slammed her fist down on the boy's chest in exasperation when she failed and failed again to bring him back. It was at that exact moment, however, that he decided to come back. Aang shot up, gasping for air and gulping down all he could. As such, it took him a moment to notice the golden eyes staring at him, wide with astonishment. It took him another moment to notice the light being reflected in those eyes.

He looked down at himself and confirmed it; he was glowing. He was in the Avatar State. And he was aware. That single fact, more than anything else, excited him more than he could have ever thought possible. Wordlessly, he stood up and took a step towards the ocean. He lifted a single hand, bending it at the wrist as he did so, and in response a 20-foot swell of water rose up at his command. He let it return to it's natural state, then turned, still glowing, to see a triumphant-looking Azula watching him with what had to be pride. At last, he allowed the power to diffuse, and his arrows returned to a solid blue.

"Congratulations, Avatar. You're an Avatar once more."

Excitement overpowered reason as Aang leaped forward to wrap his arms around the completely astounded Firebender. Azula was too incapacitated by shock to react in the short time it took him to say, "Thanks, Azula, you're the best!" and promptly run off.

She turned to watch the trail of sand that rose in the Avatar's wake and mused to herself, "Yes, I suppose I am." She turned back to look out over the waves one last time before making her way back towards the beach house.

She reached the rest of the group to find them all crowded around the Avatar, congratulating him and telling him how fantastic it was and blah blah. She'd done her good deed for the day, and at the moment, Azula wasn't feeling particularly sociable, so she made her way up the wooden steps towards the house, but couldn't quite bring herself to go inside. Instead, she opted to veer off and follow the grass up to the small cliff-side that was such a fixture in her childhood memories. Sitting down at the top of the cliff, Azula looked out over the ocean, stretching as far as the eye could see, and lost herself in happier memories.

---

Day was bleeding into dusk as Aang came wandering up to the top of the cliff, and it was there that he found her, just as she had been sitting for hours. "There you are," he said by way of announcing his presence, though he was fairly certain she knew he was there.

"Hello, Avatar," was all she replied, in a dull, tired tone. It were almost as if all of the fire had gone out of her.

"You know, you don't always have to be by yourself," he tried to say with a small chuckle, but it had no effect on the girl's mood. When she didn't make any indication she was going to respond, Aang stepped forward and sat down next to her at the edge of the cliff. The sun was just starting to set beyond the horizon, and as it did so the entire scene was painted in a vibrant clash of oranges, yellows and reds. It may as well have been a landfill for all the attention Azula was giving it. She was clearly very far away, and Aang just wasn't sure what to say to her.

It was Azula who broke the silence, however, when she asked, "Now that you have the power, do you think you'll be able to do it? Do you think you have the guts to kill my father?"

It was easily still the hardest problem he had ever faced in his life thus far, and despite all the hours he had asked himself that very same question, he still didn't have a concrete answer to it. "I just don't know," he admitted, sounding none-too-proud of the fact.

She replied in a voice entirely too small to be her own, "I hope someone does."

Aang could only stare in disbelief. "Azula, he's your father, you can't really-"

"Do you think that matters!?" she shot back, anger suddenly infusing her with strength. "Do you think that ever stopped him from…" and just like that, she had completely shut down again, only now there were the telltale signs of tears fighting to escape in her eyes.

That's when he realized what he was seeing, what he was truly seeing, in the princess, with her knees huddled to her chest and her arms wrapped around them. She wasn't just afraid of her father, afraid of what he might do to the world. She was terrified of him, and of what he would do to her, specifically, if Aang failed. Pieces started coming together in his head, forming a picture he never wanted to imagine in all his life.

"Azula," he started, tentatively, knowing fragile ice when he was about to step foot on it, "your father… he's hurt you, hasn't he?"

All at once Azula froze up, as if someone had said a trigger sentence and she were another brainwashed Dai Li victim. But her eyes hadn't gone hollow and void, they were alert, alert and terrified. At last, she managed to breath out, "More than you could ever imagine, Aang." Her eyes looked down and away, as if she were suddenly and deeply ashamed.

There was a part of Aang, the Airbender part, that just wanted to escape, as if avoiding the conclusion altogether would negate it's existence of having ever happened. There was a Waterbender part of him as well, that wanted to reach out and do nothing more than attempt to comfort and soothe this poor, broken girl. Even an Earthbender part of him tried, however weakly, to overtake him, to make him simply become a pillar of stone that was impervious to the aches of another, and by that simple virtue perhaps avoid feeling any pain himself.

Then there was another side, a new side to him. Aang felt a Firebender awaken inside of him, and for the first time in his life he felt the coals of, not anger, but pure rage being stoked inside of him. "Azula," his voice was so much darker then she had ever heard it before, and his eyes were steel. "What did Ozai do to you?"

She squeezed herself tighter and looked away, eyes shut so hard she was causing spots of light to appear in her vision. She couldn't, she just couldn't bring herself to form the words, to part her lips, to do anything.

"Azula-"

"Something," she spit out at last, and it was clear that vehement anger was the only thing keeping pain and sadness from taking over her voice, "that no father should ever do to their daughter." Azula never opened her eyes or turned her head to face the Avatar's, but she never had to. An instant later and he was up, walking back down to the beach house. She never saw the look on his face, the iron resolve in his eyes, that promised one thing and one thing only.

Aang entered the beach house and was immediately greeted by Sokka, though Katara, Toph and Suki were in the room as well. "Hey, Aang, there you are. You find her, she alive, okay?" he asked in all his usual sarcasm, but it was made apparent rather quickly that the Avatar was in no mood.

"No," he bit out, in a tone that instantly had everyone's attention, "she's not okay."

Katara was the first to find her own voice as she asked, "Are you okay, Aang? What happened?" There wasn't any anger, for once, only concern.

He ignored the question, however, and declared, "Everyone, I've come my decision." By now, Mai and Ty Lee had appeared in a doorway, drawn by the Avatar's voice. Mai's eyes were squinted ever-so slightly, a sign she was paying rapt attention and completely alert. "I am going to kill Fire Lord Ozai."

Gasps of shock were understandable, but what the Avatar said next truly cut Katara to her very core. "And I will kill anyone who tries to stop me." Without another word or look at anybody in the room, he walked off to find his room and get some sleep, leaving people in varying stages of shock to looked to one another with nothing short of total befuddlement.

As the others tried to make sense of what could have possibly caused such a shift in the Avatar's demeanor, Katara had some suspicions of her own as to what - or whom - could be responsible. She quietly made her way outside and began to walk up towards the cliff-side when she heard Toph come shuffling up beside her. "I want answers, too," was all she said by way of reasoning, and so together they ascended up the slope.

It wasn't until they got within a few yards, however, that Toph noticed something off in the Firebender's heartbeat and breathing, something the blind Earthbender could identify immediately, but that only made it seem more off, given the person in question. "Katara," she whispered, haulting the Waterbender in her tracks with her arm, "she's crying."

Katara only stopped for a moment before continuing forward, none of her previous anger having abated. "What did you say to Aang." It was clearly more of a demand than a question, and Azula gave the Waterbender a look that told the girl she had no right to make demands of royalty.

"I told him the truth." She felt no obligation to explain herself to Katara of all people. "Why, what did he say?"

"He said he was going to kill the Fire Lord, along with anyone who got in his way," it was Toph who responded, before Katara even had the chance. She added, "He wasn't lying, either."

Azula had mixed feelings about that, and one of them was to laugh. It was probably better that she didn't. "I suppose I told him something he needed to hear, then." She stood and dusted herself, wiping at her cheeks with the sleeve of her robe. "If you will both excuse me, then."

"No, I will not excuse you, I want to know what you said to Aang to make him so angry!" Katara demanded as she moved to block the Firebender's path. When all she received for her trouble was a threatening, golden-eyed stare, she decided to unwisely push some buttons. "What are you scheming at this time, Azula? What lies did you feed him?"

"Lies?" Azula nearly choked on the word as rage came boiling up in her throat. "Do you have any idea what I wouldn't give for everything I told the Avatar to have been a lie!" She was taking angry steps forward, and Katara found herself with no choice but to step backwards in the face of such vehement rage. Suddenly, the enraged princess stopped, curling her lip in disgust and snorting. "You were right when you said I might kill you all in your sleep, because I could, if I wanted you all dead, I could kill you all in your sleep, and nothing would be able to stop me."

Giving her words a minute to sink in, she then continued to explain, "But no, instead I play nice with you all, I teach your precious Avatar Firebending, I even fixed his Avatar powers! Spirits, there's no pleasing you, is there? What shall I do, Katara, hmm? Shall I raise your mother from the dead? Track down the man who killed her? Go back in time and-"

It was Azula who cut Azula off, as it turned out. Her anger having gotten the better of her, she had allowed her mouth to move faster than her brain, but sure enough everything caught up and when it did, it felt like a candle had lit up inside her brain. "What if we do that?" she asked, though Katara took a moment to realize it was herself being addressed.

"What if we do what?" the Waterbender asked in response, suddenly quite wary of the mental stability of this more than dangerous Firebender in front of her.

"Track down the man that killed her," Azula declared, as if it were obvious as the stars shining above.

Katara took a moment to think to herself, uncertainty written all over her face as she asked, "Are you sure you could?"

"Assuming the nearest communication's tower is up-to-date on the location of the Southern Raiders, then yes."

"The Southern Raiders? How do you know it was them?"

Azula never had to resist rolling her eyes so much in her entire life as she did right then. "You're from the South Pole, aren't you? Who do you think raids the South Pole?"

Katara thought she had a response for that, but realized how stupid it would sound before she made that mistake. It fell to Toph, of course, to say, "Ha! She's got you there, Katara," to which the Waterbender could only glare, though the gesture was entirely futile.

Turning her attention back to Azula, Katara adopted a much more serious tone as she asked, "So, where's the nearest communication's tower?"

The princess' expression turned thoughtful as she considered the map in her head. "We're on Ember Island…" she mused, though more to herself than either of the other girls. "I would say half a day's journey with your flying bison."

"Appa," both Katara and Toph said at the same time, though only the former saw necessary to add, "His name is Appa."

"Yes, Appa," Azula concurred, sounding caught somewhere between apologetic and out of patience, then instantly adopted her tone of seriousness once more to continue explaining, "From there, it would be nothing short of a day's trip to reach the area in which the flagship may be operating, and then actually pinpointing the ship itself will be another matter entirely, though with the ability to fly and stay high above the clouds, it should be entirely possible. Somewhere in the realm of a three- to four-day journey. If you think you're up for it."

Katara didn't have to think twice before replying, "Oh, I'm ready whenever you are." Her determination wavered briefly after a moment and she added, "We should probably clear it with Aang first, though." She saw that the princess had a remark to make, but forestalled it with, "Believe me, you do not want to steal Appa."

"I was going to say we should wait to leave until midday tomorrow. It will take half a day's time and we'll want to arrive sometime after nightfall. Infiltrating the communication's tower is going to require the utmost stealth, and that's hard to do in the middle of the day."

Even Katara wouldn't argue with that logic, so instead she answered with, "Fine, I'm going to go get some rest in that case." She turned to make for the communal abode, but before taking off she added over her shoulder, "I'll see you at noon."

Azula waited until the other girl was out of earshot before responding with a more than sarcastic, "Can't wait." She sighed to herself, weary after that little exchange, then immediately remembered there had been two. As if sensing her very thoughts, Toph stepped forward.

"Azula…" she was uncertain of how to proceed, that much alone a significant indicator that she had something very serious on her mind. Finally, she seemed to find the words she was looking for, and with a calm voice tinted with a concerned sadness she asked, "What did you mean when you said, 'you told him the truth'? What truth did you tell Aang that made him want to kill the Fire Lord?"

"Only a truth he needed to hear," replied the Firebender, in an appropriately soft tone, though she could already feel the lie on her tongue before she said it, "Either he kills the Fire Lord, or the Fire Lord kills him."

Toph wasn't having any of it, however. "No, that's a lie, even if I can't feel it, I know it is. Aang has never wanted to kill anyone or anything. Even the Fire Lord he wasn't sure about. But now he wants to bury the guy, along with anyone who tries to stand between them? Azula…" She never realized she had taken the steps forward while she was speaking, but now the two stood within arm's reach, and still Toph sounded so desperately concerned when she asked, "What did your dad do?"

Her face froze as her mind raced in a thousand directions all at once, but every single one of them seemed to end in a brick wall, until all thousand of her selves came shooting back to a point in the middle where there was nothing but everything and every sound and every terrifying sound and just a girl huddled on the ground in the middle with her hands desperately covering her head as if she could somehow keep it all out but there was no use, no where to go nowhere to hide and the screaming- crack! And for one serene moment, everything held, peaceful and still, the image reflecting itself a hundred times unto itself, before a thousand million shards scattered into oblivion.

Toph may not have been able to see the obvious facial contortions that signaled a person on the cusp of breaking into tears, but she felt the tremors in the ground as if they had been sent by the mountains themselves, and before her mind could tell them to her arms were up and around the Firebender just as she cried out in unbearable anguish and grabbed hold of the smaller girl as if she were a life-preserver. She screamed a thousand lifetimes of pain, an endless wail of torture that erupted from the very depths of her soul.

Toph had no idea what she could do besides hold the poor girl, and so she did just that. The harder Azula cried, the harder Toph seemed to hold her, until at last the pain flowed away, and the princess had calmed to a quiet sobbing.

The Earthbender had almost forgotten her question when she heard, quiet as a leaf falling upon the grass, "I was eleven." It was as if a knife made purely out of ice had been driven straight into her back and right through her heart. Toph didn't breath, she didn't speak, she could hardly even think. She couldn't remember the last time she had cried, for any reason, but now the tears came as surely as the tide to the shore, as if pulled by another force entirely. Her mouth didn't even follow suit, nor her brow or any other part of her face, it was only her eyes leaking in response to some instinct she couldn't even name. It didn't feel real. She didn't want it to be real, but here it was, real as herself and this other girl and the tears on both their cheeks.

Failing to think of a single meaningful thing to say, but simultaneously knowing that she had to say something, Toph finally settled on, "I'm so sorry, Azula." It was unimpressive, it was simple, but it was all she had. Words just didn't feel like they could matter at this point.

The Firebender shook her head, though. "No, Toph. You didn't do anything." She pretended to gather herself up. "Besides, I'm fine."

"No, you're not fine!" Toph insisted, though not in an angry manner. She still had that sad-concerned tone, though now it was much more pronounced. Azula was about to say something, but was cut-off with, "Look, Azula. You can play the mean girl with everyone else, hell, I'll even back you up on it. But the bottom line is, you're hurt, really, really badly, and there's only one way to let that kind of hurt out.

"Look, I'm not asking you to be a crybaby all the time, but when you are hurting, you don't have to be afraid to let it out," explained the blind little girl who, at that precise moment, didn't seem all that little to Azula. She gave a small smile and added, "And you don't have to do it alone. If you want somebody to hold you, I will, and there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing wrong with someone caring about you, and not wanting to see you hurt and wanting to help you." That last part was said as though it were almost some sort of confession.

"Toph," Azula said, reasserting their embrace for a brief but honest moment, "you've already helped me more than you'll ever know."

At this, the Earthbender could only smile. "I'm gonna keep helping you longer than you can imagine."

"Are you saying I need a lot of help?" Azula asked, pretending to sound offended but failing spectacularly at it.

"Yep." The two girls laughed, and as they did Azula felt as if a true burden had been lifted. She felt lighter, freer, dare she hope, happier?

The princess adopted a slightly more official tone as she said, "Well, if you're going to be on for the long term, you had better grow some. I can't stand being taller than the person who's shoulder I'm crying on, I have to hunch."

"Of course, your Highness," replied the blind girl, with obviously mock reverence. "I'll be sure to eat a second helping of vegetables at dinner from now on." After sharing another laugh, the two began walking down the incline that lead back to the beach house.

Before entering the house itself, however, Azula stopped and began to say, "Remember, don't-"

"I didn't see nuthin'."

Deflating with a sigh, the Firebender smiled to herself as she replied, "Of course." They proceeded to enter the house, only to find the majority of their little gang still up and conversing quietly with each other. All talk died when the two girls entered, Azula looking for all the world as if she had never cried a day in her life, let alone five minutes ago, and Toph with a peculiar damp patch on her shoulder that seemed to bother her about as much as the dirt on her feet.

Of course Sokka had to ask, "Uh, Toph, what's with your-" only to be cut off by the girl in question lifting her chin and then promptly turning her head and spitting on her shoulder.

"Found a new place to spit, got any other questions?"

Which of course could only be answered with, "Uh, yes?"

"Stuff 'em." Her voice said quite clearly that she would hear no more from him, and so Sokka wisely gave up. Next to her, Azula yawned, stretching as she did so.

"I should probably get some sleep. I have a feeling tomorrow is going to be a long day." With that, she made her way to her room, only to notice that Sokka, not for the first time today, was purposefully avoiding looking at her, and come to think of it he hadn't said so much as a word to her all day. Ignoring her own paranoia, the princess made for her bed, her earlier remark not having been a total lie. She felt a tiredness dragging at the very core of her being, and it didn't take long after her head touched the pillow for sleep to whisk her away.

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Author's note: I know, it's been really long. Too long, and I don't have much to say about it other than thank you all for your patience, and I hope it was worth the wait. I'll be trying to make a point of updates, and hopefully we can see this story finished up before... hell, I don't know. Winter? Winter is Coming, at any rate, as is the end of this story.