Author's Note: I LIVE! JFC, I AM SO SORRY YOU GUY. Live has been very hectic for me due to work. Due to several employees getting fired (for various reasons), my job had me working six to seven days a week. I just finished working thirteen days straight, and since we now have two new employees to take some of the load off, I now have time to write again!

Guisniperman: "When you are as old as me, you got plans to make plans. Sadly, some of my plans tend to get a bit mess when they go on for too long."

Julbot1: "It isn't so much that Azula has an appreciation for knowledge, it is more the fact that she still plans to rule to Fire Nation. So, to her, destroying the Fire Nation's History was like someone chopping down an apple tree to me."

Httpkirby: "She is smart, I expect her to be questioning a lot of what she sees around me."

Talkingbirdguy: "I'm sure the Author has something extra just for you at the end of the chapter."

Shetie: "Don't worry, you will find out how Zuko is reacting in about…3...2"

Chapter 7: Fire Nation hates Mew

Act I

Zuko was not happy.

'-and we will have guards watching her 24/7,' Zuko though angrily. 'Guards inside the cell and out. The Avatar will never see the light of day when I am done with her!'

Yeah, really, really, not happy.

Zuko wasn't anywhere he wanted to be. He wasn't in the Fire Nation Palace. Or one of the many Training Fields. Or the Capital City of the Fire Nation.

He wasn't even in the Fire Nation.

Instead, he was on a Fire Nation ship in the middle of the ocean and heading away from his home once more.

'Wasn't even home for two days!' Zuko mentally shouted as he paced the deck of the ship. 'Two years gone, and not even two Agni-damned days back!' Any solider that crosses his path quickly jumped out of the way of their angry Prince.

Zuko was cursing Mew in his mind in every way possible.

Because of her, he was sent out capture her again! Since he did it once, it seemed that everyone around him thought that he could do that again! It took nearly a hundred years to find the Avatar, and he was expected to do it again!

"Calm yourself, Prince Zuko," Iroh stated calmly, placing a hand on Zuko's shoulder to stop the pacing.

Zuko shot his uncle with glare for disturbing his internal rant.

"We have no time," Zuko spat, he moved away, removing the hand from his shoulder. "The Avatar has played as all a fool, and has left the Fire Nation in chaos! The Fire Nation Princess, kidnapped by the Avatar!"

"And we will rescue your sister," Iroh said in the same calming voice.

"How?" Zuko shouted. "It took a hundred years to find the Avatar, and I doubt that we will get another pillar of light and flare to guide us this time!"

"It will not take us a hundred years," Iroh stated with a smile. "You have been gone so long, that you have seemed to have forgotten something."

"And what is that?" Zuko shot a look at his uncle, wondering if he was being serious or not.

"Much like you, Azula will do anything and everything for the Fire Nation," Iroh stated. "And while her… methods are different to yours, she will do what she thinks is best and try to return home."

"With the Avatar in her path," Zuko grimaced.

At that comment, Iroh frowned. He knew the girl since she was a child, and knew that when something was in her way… Hopefully she wouldn't kill the Avatar.

Act II

(Si Wong Desert)

"I am going to kill you!" Azula shouted as she was running for her life.

"Are you saying that to me or him?" Mew called back, running ahead of Azula by a good bit. A look of excitement on her face instead of the mixture of anger and fear on Azula's.

"Both!"

"Oh, well…" Mew trailed off. "Just think of this as part of your training, where if you fail, you die. Just keep aiming for the fin and you'll be- "She cut herself short when a large dark-brown fin appeared in front of them. "-hopefully not dead."

xXx

(Evening)

Azula was collapsed on the sand, too tired to go any further. She was grudgingly happy that the Avatar finally did something to help against the massive Sand Shark that had been chasing them since the Spirit's Library.

She just didn't expect…

Azula forced herself to sit up to see Mew cooking with a small ball of boiling water over a fire. The water was a light brown with pieces of meat in it. Close by the fire was a chunk of the Sand Shark's fin.

Shark fin soup in the middle of a desert.

The aroma of the soup almost being done was enough for the Princess to force herself up, despite her muscles wanting otherwise, and moving over to the fire.

"So, how was your first day of training?" Mew asked happily as Azula got closer.

Azula just glared at her.

"Good to know," Mew the said, as if she gave a reply. "Don't worry, tomorrow's training will be much easier compared to that." She added as a joke.

The glare just got harder.

"Fine," Mew relented. She raised her hand and some sand in front of Azula rose and compressed into hardened sandstone. With a flick of her other hand, part of the soup she had been cooking floated over and dropped with a dull splash into the bowl.

Azula looked down at the bowl with disgust before picking it up. She took a suspicious sniff before looking at Mew quizzically.

"Where did you get enough water for this?" Azula questioned with a frown.

"Water is all around us," Mew replied, moving towards the Shark's fin and removing small pieces of it to cook.

"And where did you get this water?" Azula asked with a scowl. "If I wanted this cryptical stuff, I would have stayed with my uncle." She swirled the murky soup in her hand, checking for anything odd in it.

"Everywhere," Mew smiled, causing Azula to growl.

Seeing as how she was not going to get a straight answer from Mew, Azula forced down the make-shift soup, grimacing at the taste.

"I am going to sleep," Azula stated and threw the bowl into the fire out of disgust where it shattered. "You will train me in the morning." She half stated, half ordered.

"Yes Princess," Mew grinned.

After several moments of silence, and Mew could hear Azula's breathing take on the rhythm of sleep. With a mischievous look, Mew tossed the soup she was cooking away into desert and silently moved over to the sleeping form.

Bending over to make sure Azula was truly asleep, Mew's form glowed and shifted into a taller form. Her face turned featureless, and her skin changed to orange and blue. Her arms become two long twisting helixes.

Looking down at one of her 'hands' she changed it from ending in a rounded point to that of a sharpened point.

'You wanted power,' Mew thought as she pulled back the sharpened point. 'But my power comes at a cost.' She added before the point came down.

xXx

(Azula's dream)

Azula should have pushed harder to find out where Mew got that water. What Mew knew and what Azula didn't was that the water came from a cactus a hill away. But what Azula knew and Mew didn't was that many cacti had special chemicals in it.

The results of these chemicals…

A young Azula was being dragged down a long hallway, barely ten years old. She couldn't make out who or what was dragging her away, but her struggles to break away were stopped by heavy chains biding her arms and legs.

Everything around her seemed to large, the wall stretched high above her and into darkness she could not see through. The thing dragging her even seemed wrong. It was right next to her, but she couldn't hear it move. Even the pressure moving her felt like a hand wrapped in cotton, yet kept her moving against her will.

Azula screamed and cursed as she tried to fight back in this endless hallway. She even tried to bend fire, but nothing would happen.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the hallway did begin to change. Azula slowly noticed that portraits began to appear every so often, some with people that she only vaguely recognized to some not even showing humans in it.

She tried to rack her brain where she recognized some of these humans from, but found her mind too hazy to put names to the faces she saw.

Suddenly, the thing dragging her stopped moving.

At the sudden change, Azula took this moment to look up and see what was dragging her, but found that the thing was wearing a hooded cloak and couldn't see its face from her position.

Deciding that it was now or never, she tried to put all her strength in trying to break free of this figure before it dragged her any further. Surprisingly, she didn't feel any of the resistance that dragged her forward and could turn around and take a step forward before she saw what was behind her.

There were dozens of figures wearing identical cloaks to the one next to her, but now she could see it… their face. Each on was wearing a mask, half black half white, and a single eye hole on the black side.

Azula took a step back at the sight, unsure of what to do. Her way forward was blocked, and the way back was where these things wanted her to go.

She was trapped.

She was powerless.

She was a child again.

"Why are you stopping us?" Azula jumped, only to be pulled back down hard by the weight of her chains. The thing next to her was speaking in at what could best be described as a loud whisper.

Then, a voice seemed to come from everywhere around her.

"She is out of your domain dark spirits," The voice spoke. Azula couldn't tell if the voice was male or female from the sound, she could almost swear it could have been both at once.

"We are nipping the problem before more suffer," The dark spirit replied. Azula found the pressure before returning and started trying to push her forward. "She will-"

"No, 'She could.'"" The voice corrected, an edge to its voice. "Nothing is set in stone anymore, everything is unknown."

"All the more reason to not risk the chance," The dark spirit stated, the pressure on Azula starting to force her along again. "We will not have another Toz on our hands again if we can help it, and not one with whatever The Intruder's powers are on her side."

Suddenly, a blinding light filled the hall way, causing Azula to close her eyes. But she could hear the things around her scream out in pain.

xXx

(Real World- Morning)

Azula's eyes slowly opened, before being force to close them again with a hiss of pain. It felt like she had a hangover, and her entire body simply hurt. She tried to lift her arm to block some of the sun light, but found it to be weighed down by something.

Finding this odd, she found her other arm was unencumbered and used it instead to block enough of the light so she could see again and found Mew… Holding her arm like a stuffed animal in her sleep.

And Azula did what Azula does when she doesn't like something. Burn it.

So Azula's second day of Training ended up with her running for her life again

xXx

Omake: Wan Shi Tong's List

When Wan Shi Tong created his Spirit Library, he never expected having to deal with so many people and spirits bothering and pestering him for information. As such, he has come to hate a good many of those who have come into his library.

But, a special few have actually managed to make a mark on Wan Shi Tong. So, to preserve the information on how these beings have made a mark on him, he created two lists so that all might now as examples

One list shows people who he likes and is most likely not going to be eaten by him. This list is called The List of Mortals He Likes. Since he can't eat spirits, he left that list just for humans.

Now, the second list contains a list of spirit and human names. The ones on this list are forever banished from his Library and are attack on sight for him and his Knowledge Seekers. This one is called The Spirit's Shit List.

Both are located on the Twenty-Second Floor.

Now, while The List of Mortals He Likes is rather short and boring. But The Sprit's Shit List has been visited by many other spirits for a laugh or to mock the ones who have been banned for all eternity. This is a few selected from the long list;

La, the Ocean Spirit: Cried while reading a romance novel, flooded the lower levels with his tears.

All Dark Spider Spirits: Attempted to eat my Knowledge Seekers, body is on display on seventh floor.

Giant Wolf Spirit: Tried to 'mark' my Library at its territory.

Hei Bai: Deep seated hatred for the number of trees used in making my books. Lost nearly all books from first floor to fourth floor before he was stopped.

Koh the Face Stealer: Would draw his true face over all images of his previous victims' faces. The books had to be burned for safety.

Frog Spirit: Ate over half of the preserved insects.

Vaatu: Evil Bastard.

Zhao: Left papers near a burning candle, resulting fire burned down the Fire Nation Section.