"What's wrong with me?" Azula's hands were trembling. All she could look at them over Sokka's corpse. Her vision was unfocused. "What the fuck is wrong with me? "

Ursa wanted to say years of fatherly abuse, but held her tongue. Now was not the time for crude comments. She kneeled next to her daughter and stroked her hair. That is all she knew to do in that moment.

"I killed him." She enveloped one of his hands into her shaking palms. Her eyes were wide at the realization of what she had done. "I laid with him last night. We spoke at length about our wedding plans. We were supposed to bring hope to two nations, and I killed him. All that remains is cold meat and bones."

Azula truly felt disgusted with herself. Even while she was in the asylum she did not feel this way. Every time she looked at her hands she got a dirty grimy feeling. She swore her hands were almost black.

"Azula."

She jumped at her mother's call.

Ursa rose from her knees beside her daughter. "Come. We can find a messenger hawk to send for your people to…...bring Sokka home with you." she attempted to raise her daughter, yet she wouldn't move. She was deceptively small given how powerful her muscles felt. She would be unable to move her if she desired to not be moved. However, letting her stay here and stare at someone she loved, and killed, did not seem good for her mind.

Objectively, Azula saw no flaw in her logic. She was not an idiot. Staring at his body incessantly would not bring him back to life. It's…...it's just.

"I will not leave his side mother." For once, her logical mind was overshadowed by her heart.

"My firelily. staring at the result of your actions will simply make you feel worse. You need….time to get through this."

Azula would not live without Sokka. She couldn't. He pulled her from the darkness, literally, and she repays him this way. No. Azula pushed her mother away as hard as she could the grabbed hold of Sokka's sword, aiming it straight at her midsection.

"NO!" her mother screamed, yet did not dare move. She still had her memories as Noriko and knew that her daughter was not well.

Oddly, a tear streamed down Azula's cheek. "You always deserved a better daughter. I was a monster." She huffed out a breathy laugh. "Tell Zuzu that it wasn't his fault. He believed in me, and he believed in Sokka. I'm the one that destroyed our lives. No one else will suffer because of me."

From Ursa's point of view the next few seconds played out in slow motion. Azula rose the hilt of the sword above her head then plunged it towards her core. Her daughters face slightly winced but her resolve never wavered. Right before it reached her Ursa closed her eyes, she did not wish to see blood pour from her daughter. Only….the squelch of blood piercing flesh never came. Instead she heard a metallic clunk, almost as if the sword was bashed against a wall. She dared to open an eyelid….only to see her dear daughter attempting with every ounce of strength she had to kill herself, yet failing due to some yellow translucent wall protecting her midsection from her wrath. Soon it seemed as if the sword began to shake, then it flew out of her hands and was flung into their home as if it was a throwing knife.

Azula wasn't usually one to be quite this skeptical, but this was ridiculous this was no bending. Her suspicions were even further confirmed when she was lifted into the air by an invisible force. "What kind of magic is this?"

Yellow balls of light coalesced into the form of the mother of faces, and she gently plopped the girl into her open palm.

Azula stared upon the spirits calm face, then sunk to her knees and began weeping and punching her palm, although clearly it was having zero effect. The spirit's calm face also seemed to denote that she understood that the girl was grieving.

"Why? WHY!? Why didn't you just let me die. I…...I can't live without him. I won't. The only thing that would stop me from killing myself is…." Azula had a realization then smirked. She stood and wiped her tears on her sleeves before putting her fists up. "You killing me. Either way I win spirit."

If the mother of faces had eyes, she would have rolled them. Although she did find it oddly sweet that his suitor was willing to commit suicide for him, sweet in a vile way. This reminded her of the boy's antics earlier and how he seemed willing to at least attempt to drag her here even though it was clear that he had no hope of accomplishing the feat. It was as if attempting to help each other made them more stupid. Admirable, and cute, but stupid.

"Before you do something you will regret child, I have an offer for you."

Azula scoffed. "What could you offer me besides the sweet release of death?"

"Despite your current terrible behavior, you and Sokka's dedication to each other has moved me."

"Which no longer matters, as he is dead. I destroyed the only person to ever love me."

"Not quite."

Azula's interest was piqued, so she refrained from smart remarks and remained silent.

"His spirit still remains within him. For the moment. He is fighting to remain with you."

"H-he lives? He had no heartbeat, no breath."

"No. His resolve is strong, but a human spirit cannot remain here indefinitely."

Azula resumed her condescending smirk. "Are you offering to let me speak to him one last time? I would prefer to see him in the next life if that's the case."

"I am able to bring him back to you."

"But…?" Azula knew by the way she spoke there was a cost. There always was with these spirits.

"I need a spark so to speak." She noticed Azula instantly glanced at her hands and quickly assuaged her concerns. "Nothing so crude as that. It would be part of your essence so to speak. I believe you firebenders refer to it as your inner fire."

She furrowed her brow as she clenched a fist over her core. "But if a firebender's inner fire is weakened or snuffed out then….."

"You could die, yes. There is also a chance it may not work and your death will have been for nothing. It is up to you child."

She gave one glance at Sokka's slightly paling body and knew that her resolve had hardened as if it was a stone.

"Yes."

As soon as the word left her mouth Azula felt the life force draining from her body. This seemed nothing like the peaceful balancing of spirit energy that Sokka had once described to her as Ozai had his bending taken away. This was quite literally the most painful thing she had ever experienced. She wouldn't be surprised if her occasional screams could be heard all the way back at the ship.

"I am sorry little one. I am not a lion turtle. My ability to move energy between individuals is not very strong. If you wish to stop now I will do as you wish, but this much is not enough to revive him."

Azula stared daggers into where he thought the mother of faces' eyes would be. "Did I say to stop? I don't care if you have to take every last drop of my inner fire, you will bring him back."

While the Mother of Faces did not much appreciate her tone, she had to admit that she admired the girl's tenacity. She hoped that inner fortitude would be enough in this scenario, for as she could tell it would be cutting it extremely close.

Sokka felt every muscle in his body ache as he groaned and opened his eyes.

'Am I dead'

His heart rate, or the ghost equivalent of it instantly spiked. That giant flash of light and Azula's face right before she realized she was going to hit him and not her mom entered into his mind. That beautiful yet terrified face.

'Of course you're dead you fucking idiot.'

Not even the avatar himself lived through that. There was no Katara there to save him like she was for Aang and Zuko either. He was one hundred percent guaranteed to be in the afterlife. The afterlife surprisingly looked like the little town he was was just in though. He placed his hand over his chest, shot up, and looked around. No spirits. No spooky animals. Just the same old town he was in before. Maybe this is how spirits started their journey. Who knows. Every time he heard Aang or Iroh talk about the spirit world it did seem pretty goofy, even if they liked to say it was balanced and elegant. He did just have to ask a giant tree lady with three faces for a favor.

"You're awake." A voice said behind him. He jumped a little then turned around. It was…..Azula? He cocked his head. It had to be his fire lily. She even had some of the same cadences in her speech. It looked like her, but she was a fully grown woman. Late thirties maybe? He couldn't tell. He was always bad at guessing ages unless he overanalyzed it.

"How are you?" He said with a giant goofy grin.

"I'm perfectly fine thanks to you. I don't know how to thank you." She said with her own bright smile.

Now he was certain. No one smiled like that besides Azula. "I know exactly how." Sokka practically pounced on her. And gave her the biggest kiss he could. He smirked a little when she squeaked and put her hands on his chest, but kept peppering her lips with passionate kisses, until suddenly he was jerked off and flung onto his back.

"Did the lightning give you brain damage or something fool?"

Now THAT sounded exactly like Azula. His eyes shifted in the direction of the voice and there she stood, exactly as he remembered her. He once again shot up. This time looking between Mature woman Azula and current Azula. This wasn't possible.

"Does spirit world have clones or something?"

Azula slapped her face so hard that she was afraid it would leave a permanent mark on her porcelain skin. "You are not dead idiot."

Sokka looked at his hands, as if that was the perfect indicator of whether he was alive or dead. "B-but I was dying. I felt it."

"The Mother of Faces revived you then went back into the forest."

Sokka scratched the back of his head with an idiotic smile. "Oh." He jumped and pointed at the older woman. "Then who is she? Did the mother of faces clone you?"

Azula smiled. She loved Sokka, but sometimes even his pain and discomfort were too much for her sadistic tendencies to not enjoy. "Sokka, I'd like to introduce you to my mother, Ursa." She smirked at his dumbstruck face, and his mouth that repeatedly opened and closed. It was as if no air could reach his lungs at all as no words would depart his lips.

Sokka could only stutter out single syllables at this point. It sounded as if the two words he was attempting to say were I'm and sorry.

Ursa saw that her daughter was enjoying this and decided to put and end to it before the poor boy died from shock. "Well Sokka, that was an interesting idea for a thank you. Although I can't say I'll be open to it again as I am a married woman."

That seemed to at least stop his stuttering, but Azula decided to crack one of her jokes that he seemed to love so much while glancing at her nails, feigning disinterest. "Normally I would kill you for such a transgression, but I have already killed you once today so I am fairly sure that is off the table."

Before Azula could even glance back at him he had his arms wrapped around her waist and his cheek nestled into her hair.

"I love you Azula. That was a….bad….moment. But I understand that you were not really yourself. Just know that I don't think you're a monster. You may need a little more help, but we have all the time in the world for that. You'll get there."

Azula tensed, but she understood. She had just killed him after all. "I understand. I must atone in the dredges again to gain your favor. You are much more generous than the old me would have been, thank you Sokka. Even if I have to spend years in that dark room I will await your return." She was surprised when her phrasing made him grasp her even more firmly. Although when she looked into his eyes what she saw actually terrified her. Sokka had never looked at her that coldly before, or anyone from what she could recall.

"Don't ever say anything like that to me again." When he saw her gulp then slowly nod he felt as if she fully acknowledged his point and his smile returned. "We can have mind healers come to the palace once or twice a week, and maybe I can have Katara try to create some medicine or something. She's been saying that some plants seem to have healing properties, maybe one can help with your mind! Yea! Mind plant medicine!"

She wasn't sure what part surprised her more. That he still wanted to unconditionally love her and have her by his side, or that he really thought a plant or some type of medicine could make her less crazy. And people thought she was the insane one. She shook her head and raised a hand to his cheek to look into his eyes. She began to squint was she seeing things? Although Sokka seemed to be doing the same thing. They both said the same thing at once, as they finally took the time to notice it.

"What's wrong with your eye?", What do you mean what's wrong? One of your eyes is Blue/Amber."

They quickly let each other go and walked over to the nearest window. Had they both gone mad? No, no they had not. They now each had one gold and one blue eye.

Sokka turned to Azula with a quirked eyebrow. "How did you say the Mother of Faces brought me back to life?"

Author's note: I'm not sure how much cross reading there is between my stories, but I am sorry for my absence. My father became extremely hard to take care of towards the end of last year, and then he passed on Christmas day. I didn't feel much like writing after that.