A/N: So sorry for the disappearing act, things in life came up then I just didn't have the time to try to update this, also I have been quite stomped on how to end book one (I know, I know. It is too short to suddenly end book one but this is not entirely based on the Gaang, certain key elements however are shown and for the showing of character development of the Gaang. This story mainly revolves around, Azula, Katara, and Nereus.

Piercing dragon eyes scan the corridor of the west wing of her home, looking for a certain tanned Firebender for their usual chat. This was out of the norm for her pet, especially as of recently since the mutt had been stitched to her side. A sudden act like this couldn't go unchecked. Armored boots clicked against the marble floors as she scanned the corridor for the mutt.

She also tried to bury that strange little feeling that arose when she woke up to find her pet missing. Her pet wouldn't abandon her, no not after what they went through growing up. Not when they only had eachother. She was the only friend she had left in this place, her others was either ripped away or chased away by their familes.

With a small growl she closed her eyes and refused to think about them at the moment, they were not here at this very moment, they were not the ones she was currently trying to find.

"Where in Agni's name did that mutt go to now?" she thought to herself as she rounded a corner.

Flashes of fire alerted her of a Firebender currently in training, she knew for sure that her father was in the war room right now, and she was here so she certainly was not training. And the guards wouldn't dare try to use the royal training grounds this late in the evening.

"Nereus..." she said in a quiet breath as she looked through the creaked open double doors to find her pet in the middle of preforming a Expert Kata.

Nereus had been training a lot more lately... mainly to keep her attention focused on something that apperently she wasn't ready to acknowledge. She had noticed the actions earlier on when she had tried to ask her about the dream, yet the mutt acted so... mature suddenly and kept the apperant secret to herself. Sadly her secret was already out in the open, she just didn't know it yet.

Azuzla sighed lightly as she watched the muscles in those shoulders ripple and obey its Master's command to keep a small wall of fire up, and by small it was in truth the very height of the columns in the training grounds. That strong back flexing ever so slightly to bare the weight that the fire was creating. The concentration in those golden eyes reflected the very fire it witnessed.

The Princess blinked and slightly shook herself away from her inner thoughts, she shouldn't be glaring at her Pet like this. It wasn't right. It isn't right, no matter what her mind continued to try to do.

But was it really a bad thing?

Yes! Yes it was! Picture the Princess of the Fire Nation in love with her Pet, that wasn't just the only insult to her bloodline, no her Pet happened to be raised by savages of the Water Tribes! Oh so many great Fire Lords and Ladies would roll in their graves.

Wait... she retraced her thoughts for a certain word... 'love'? Where had that astrocity of a word come from?

No she couldn't... no... that is impossible, she was attched to her pet, no more. No less.

With a flick of her wrists she decided to join in the spar to calm her mind. A small dart of a fireball shot toward the tanned Firebender's head.

Nereus must have happened to sense the attack and as quickly as she could spun the wall of fire to deflect it. That harmless blue orb of heat mended itself with bright orange and blended in before becoming it. Azula got into her normal stance and sent more attacks at her pet, really she wanted to attack the very thing that caused these strange emotions inside her chest.

Mayba she was becoming ill, she thought as she sent an arc of blue toward bare feet. Maybe someone had poisoned her somehow and it was slowly killing her. She shook her head as she dodged a ribbon of orange from licking her cheek, no her senses were quite clear. And it would be pretty humilitating if she died from poison, wouldn't it?

She stuck out her index and middle finger and began the form for the one thing she has been training for.

She enjoyed the fear in those golden eyes as the owner's limbs twitched in their dance and the flames they commanded withered into the air.

"Master?" That voice asked strongly, seeming to try to sound uneffected.

But she seen the fear flash in those eyes, her pet also feared her as much as she cared for her. That was good, she was familiar with the emotion fear. She understood that exceptionally better than love.

With a jab of her arm, a spark fizzled out and withered as well.

Nereus was quick to sheild herself as a reflex and braced herself for any possible pain.

Azula smirked slightly in satifaction as she stood tall and dusted her clothing off. She didn't like that the lightning didn't work but she was glad for the reation. She was in familiar territory now. Now she felt secure. Now she felt calm.

"A real battle will not be so merciful, pet." she said coldly, relishing in the way her pet dropped to her knees and laid her forehead against the ground.

"Please forgive me..." Her pet whispers so quietly that she thought it be the wind.

Azula stared at her for a moment longer, she was starting to realize something in her adrenaline pumped mind.

She wasn't feeling satifaction, she was feeling disapointment. She wasn't feeling secure, she was feeling so alone. She wasn't feeling tranquil, she felt an uprising in her chest.

"Get up." she barked angrily, a small sense of pride filled her as she watched the girl before her jump to her feet.

Curse these emotions!

"Tonight, meet me here for a little spar." she said coldly as she walked out.

"As you wish... Master..." she heard behind her but refused to look and continued to storm to her room.

(00)

Night fell a lot quicker than she would've liked, however it had given her enough time to think things through.

The servants were still in the process of cleaning her room, she had made quite the mess in her confusion and rage, sending fireballs to curtains and throwing ceramic jars across the room.

A tantrum was what she would mostly describe the scene as. She was a little embarassed that she had resolved to doing that but it had helped her think things through, though tonight she wanted to make sure if that answer was true.

As she had ordered earlier, her pet was sitting on a patch a grass under a tree to block out any light that the moon was able to give. Those golden eyes shining eerily in the night like her own.

As those golden orbs find her own, Azula sent a vibrant ball of blue toward her.

Bare feet sprint into action and immediantly launch their owner into the air a few feet away from the blast, then swift hands and arms twich and snap to perform their own katas to launch a golden orange ribbon toward booted feet.

Azula flipped away from the attack and in doing so sent her own ribbons of blue toward her pet.

This was the one being to plague her mind more than her father, more then Zhao, more than even the mysterious Air Nomad.

This lowly mutt...

She swung a armguard at her unaware pet and connected to a temple. Nereus grunted softly as she stumbled upon her bouncing feet. However her pet had came back with her fists gaurding her chest and face and her feet contantly bounced from one to the other, now expecting a physical attack.

Azula had copied the stance as well and quickly went into a roundhouse kick which was blocked by a forearm wrapping around her shin and twisted.

Using her as a prop, the princess brought her other leg up and slammed her boot against her head, causing the pet to let go, once she had a foot on the ground she spun around and sent a fist at the girl's chest.

"Gah!" came from the pet as she was pushed back by the force.

Azula immediantly gotten back into her original stance and preformed a kata which sent a tongue of flame toward the bent over pet.

Nereus saw this with the corner of her eyes and violently swung an arm upward to cause her own flame to race toward the tongue, both flames slammed into each other and sent a gust of wind at both benders.

It was enough to make the pet shield her eyes and it was enough for the princess to send yet another flamed attack to the tanned mutt on the ground.

It irked her ever so more that the pet dodged yet again. She wasn't one to use offense as she had tried to train her to do, more of a defense. Constantly dodging, sheilding away attacks, never once getting burnt.

The only way to injure her pet as she wanted to was to get in close, physical attacks aways seemed to throw off her pet in her defenses.

She wanted to hurt the thing that cause so many uknown emotions in her chest, she wanted so badly to hurt them but she would have to do.

She sprinted forward, her pet in the process of doing a quick kata, and quickly spun around to send a swift shin to the side of her pet's ribcage.

A loud gasp of both pain and surprise came from the pet but quickly jumped away to try to get a defensive stance. However Azula wasn't letting up so easily, she was furious, and when she was furious it usually meant that she was going to end up in bruises the next morning.

Azula landed many swift punches and kicks, yet none of the blows was making her feel any better, if anything her chest felt inflamed with a sense of... regret? Regret for what? Perhaps it was the usual feelings...? No... she was certain that she felt regret with every impact.

But why?

She growled deeply before tackling the pet into a tree and pinned her against it, Nereus coughed lightly from the impact as she slightly sagged in exhaustion. They had been going at this for the whole night, any moment now and the sun would surely rise.

But so far they weren't even worried about the time, right now, both eyes of golden descent stared into eachother, one of a mixure of fear and confusion and the other in a mixure of uncertainty and realization.

"Mast-" the pet was about to speak but painted claws covered her mouth too quickly.

"Hush." the Princess demanded, still staring into her eyes with so much focus.

When did her pet suddenly grow so tall Azula wondered as she leaned up close to her pet, she could feel the quivering heart beat against hers and felt the ever so slight tense in those strong shoulders. She leaned closer and slightly felt the shaky, short breaths brushing her cheek. She also felt something that she was surprised to feel, the emotions in her chest had went away, the surge of regret blown away.

She felt like she was in peace.

So she was right after all.

Confused golden eyes stare into a set that dimmed and clouded with each passing moment, she swallowed thickly as she felt the hand that held her mouth slide off and stroke a cheek softly, she winces as a reflex but soon relaxes.

Azula smiles ever so slightly, she was right about so many things then. She stroked her thumb against a bruise just under the pet's left eye and let her other hand let go of a wrist.

As she was about to lean even closer in both looked up to the sky and noticed that the moon was a blood red, the calm night suddenly becoming dark and dead.

"What in Agni's name...?" she murmured to herself but was soon knocked from her thoughts when her pet suddenly clutched her head and fell to her knees in pain.

"Nereus?" she asked a bit higher than her voice usually was accustomed to, she gently grabbed her pet's shoulder's and held her up to inspect her.

"T-the voices! T-They won't stop! Please make them stop!" her pet wailed as she pulled away from her Master's hold and curled up on the grass, still digging her fingers into her hair and tightly closing her eyes.

"Nereus calm down! Everything is fine!" Azula commanded as she edged closer, she was half tempted to call for the healer in case her pet was becoming even more hysterical.

Yet her pet didn't listen, as she continued to hear her beg for the voices to stop, Azula had gotten up and ordered for the healer and a few guards, but by the time she had walked back to her pet, she noticed that the tanned Firebender had passed out during her strange fit.

She sighed lightly as the healer and guards took her pet to the infirmary, she would've followed yet she was more worried about the moon being this eerie color, she felt as if it was dead.

For a strange reason... she knew that this was going to be the last thing to surprise her during this time.