I'm finally back, everyone! I'm soooooooooo sorry for disappearing for such a long time. You have no idea how crazy this last semester was for me! Academic life is driving me crazy. But I wanted to come back to this fic so badly! I really love writing it. I think now I will have more time. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Sorry for any possible mistake, it's 2am in the morning, I'm exhausted, but I really wanted to post it tonight. :)

Azula would always remember the day of the Agni Kai as the worst day of her life. That day she had lost not only her crown, but her pride, her dignity and her sanity. She remembered being chained down to the ground, crying desperately, as her mind faded away into darkness. And after that, for a long time, there was nothing but darkness. She remembered her first days at the asylum. People were often whispering about her…

"Poor girl. Her own brother locked her here." Said one of them.

"Can you blame him? She tried to murder him! She's a monster! A completely mad one." The other replied, sounding desperate.

"Don't say that. She is probably very ill…" retorted the first one. "He shouldn't have done it. He shouldn't have thrown her here and forgotten about her. She is his family…"

"Oh, you don't know what you are talking about! And you shouldn't even be questioning him. He's the Fire Lord now. But no, he had no choice. The worst part about this is that we have to take care of her here… Agni knows what she can do to us."

Since she was back to the Palace, Azula had tried the most not to think about those days. About the Agni Kai. About the things she had done and the things her brother had done to her. She was afraid the darkness would come back. And until that morning she had managed to do it quite well.

But right now as she walked escorted by two of the Kyoshi Warriors down the corridor, she couldn't control herself anymore. She felt as though she was there again. Lying on that ground, crying and completely lost.

She entered one of the Palace's room and there was her brother and the physician. They seemed to be talking about her, because they stopped the minute she came in.

"Azula!" exclaimed her brother, in a tensed voice. He smiled to her, hoping to make things less tensed between them, but failing terribly. "M-morning, this is-"

"No guards or straight jackets this time?" Azula asked with bitterness, cutting him off. She looked exhausted, as if she had spent the whole night awake. "That doesn't fit your style, Zuzu."

Zuko came closer to her, "I just want you to talk to him about everything that happened, okay?" he whispered, softly. "And, please, behave. Don't make things worse. Please, Azula." Now he sounded almost desperate.

The Princess didn't even look at her brother. She remained quiet, she was too mad and depressed to talk. For one second, all she wanted was to let everything burn. For some reason it seemed to her that if the whole world burned, the pain inside her would be weaker. But she didn't do any of that. She only remained still, waiting her brother and the warriors to leave and let her alone with the doctor. Once again, Zuko had left her alone. Once again he had locked her up. He wouldn't change, neither would she… They both had to accept that.

Sokka arrived at the Palace, feeling horribly tired. All he wanted was a nice warm bath, a good meal and a few hours of good sleep. Also, he wanted to see Azula! He couldn't wait to tell her what happened last night. He was so glad they were friends again… It felt so good to be around her, she was so fun in her own scary way... And he loved to know she trusted him now. And she trusted him at helping her… She knew he had his worth. Sokka smiled. Maybe he could never have her in the way he wanted, but at least he could be around her, making sure she was safe and happy. He wondered what he would do when this whole problem was solved… When he was not her guard anymore...

His thoughts were interrupted when he arrived at her office and saw it empty. The boy frowned. Where could she be? She didn't have firebending training today, did she? Maybe at a meeting with Zuko? Luckily, Iroh was walking down the corridor…

"Morning, Iroh!" Sokka exclaimed, smiling to the old man.

"Sokka! You're back! Is everything okay?" asked Iroh, sounding curious. "What happened out there?"

"I tell you once everyone is gathered together. Uh… Have you seen Azula?" Sokka asked distracted.

Iroh sighed, concerned, and that made Sokka frowned. What was happening?

"She's seeing a physician." Iroh muttered.

"What? A physician?" Sokka sounded worried, now. "What happened? Is she sick?" Suddenly, his eyes widened. "Did those assassins do anything to her when I was out?!" He almost screamed, panicking. How could he not think of that?! They used him as a distraction!

"No, no, no…" Iroh rushed to calm him down. "She is fine! Well… it's a mental physician…" Sokka still looked startled, but now he was puzzled too. "Zuko found out about Azula's episode a few days ago." The man looked at Sokka's hand. "And thought it was better for her to see a doctor."

Sokka's jaw dropped as he shook his head in frustration. He couldn't believe it. Now, she would lose it. How could Zuko be so stupid?

"No, he didn't do that… He couldn't do it!" Sokka groaned. "Where the hell are they?!"

Zuko and Suki were talking at the corridor next to the room where Azula and the Doctor were. The Fire Lord was leaned at the wall and the Kyoshi Warrior was in front of him, quite close, their talk was a whisper.

"How mad do you think she is going to be?" Zuko asked in a regretting tone.

"Zuko, I know she is your sister. But it doesn't matter if she will be angry or not. You had no choice!" Suki answered, trying to make him feel better.

"Yeah… But I could have waited more…."

"Zuko, stop it. You do anything but good to her. She is lucky you are such a benevolent person. And lucky I didn't say anything to Katara…"

"Please, don't." Zuko's eyes widened at Suki. Katara would certainly go crazy if she found out Azula had hurt Sokka. It wouldn't matter if it was unwillingly or not, Katara would be furious with her. And Zuko knew Azula would give anything to have a chance against Katara again, after what happened during Sozin's Comet. So he could almost see the whole Palace destroyed in ice and fire… Zuko shook his head. "Suki… I know you don't trust her, and I understand. But I do. After one year living with her. I do trust her. Yeah, she might be still a little unstable - hopefully the doctor will help that somehow - , but I don't want to destroy everything we built until now, because of one episode."

Suki sighed, touching Zuko's arm.

"I know, Zuko, but…"

"Where is she?!" A voice came down the corridor.

Sokka was coming, actually running, toward them.

"Sokka?" Zuko frowned. "What the-" Zuko gasped as he saw Sokka abruptly opening the door next to them. "Sokka! What are you doing?!"

But the boy was already inside the room.

"Sokka?" Azula, who was sitting quietly on the couch, frowned.

The boy rushed to her, his eyes filled with concerned.

"Are you okay, Azula?" He asked sitting next to her and holding her shoulders softly. "What has he done? He hasn't touch you, has he?" He was speaking fast, looking at her as though he was checking if everything was okay to her, his voice sounded desperate, but he was relieved because she looked better than he expected.

The moment Azula looked at him she felt a warm and reassuring feeling coming to her chest. She couldn't help but smile a little.

"W-what are you doing here?" She whispered to him, frowning a little confused, but still smiling.

She was fine. Sokka smiled back at her, relieved. "I-" He tried to start.

"Sokka! What is the matter with you?!" Zuko glared at him.

Sokka stood up, angrily.

"What is the matter with you?" That startled Zuko, who stared at the other guy confused. "After everything she has been through, how could you do this to her? Or will you tell me she wanted to be here? Because I really doubt that."

Azula stood up as well. But she didn't say anything. She couldn't. She was too shocked. She had seen Sokka standing up for her before and even defending her… But this? He was screaming at Zuko, his friend, in front of other people, because of her? She couldn't even remember if anyone had ever done something like that for her.

"Sokka… Calm down, please." Zuko glared at him, gritting his teeth. "Doctor Huei, I'm so sorry… He wasn't supposed to…"

"It's not a problem, my Lord." The Doctor replied, calmly, with a gentle smile. "We were already done."

"Oh," Zuko nodded. "Good. So, how is she?"

"She's fine!" Sokka spoke faster than the physician. "You don't need a doctor to say that! She was just stressed out when the whole incident with me happened! For crying out loud, Azula is right, you really like being dramatic, Zuko!"

"Sokka! Stop it! What's the matter with you?" Suki scolded him, losing her temper already.

Sokka groaned frustrated. Suddenly, he wondered if that's what it was to be in Azula's shoes, having everyone against her, almost all the time. No wonder she was always snapping at people. This could drive anyone crazy.

The physician cleaned his throat, calling for attention.

"Well, the young man has a point." He started, and everyone turned to face him. "The Princess' diagnosis doesn't seem to be, well, as extreme as one could think considering her whole history… Although clearly she is very anxious…"

"Of course she is anxious! Anyone gets anxious when there are people trying to kill them! Believe me, I know what I am saying!" Sokka cut the man off again and glanced at Zuko at the last part.

"Enough, Sokka!" Azula was the one who got mad now. "Stop it, okay?" She glared at him, who looked back at her puzzled. Did she got mad at him because he was defending her? That made no sense. Would he ever understand this woman?

"Go on, Doctor." Zuko asked.

"Well I've prescribed something to help her with that. For now, I think it will be enough." He explained. "And I would like to see you again in a couple of weeks, Princess, if it's not a problem."

"No problem at all." Zuko replied quickly.

Azula only glared at him feeling outraged. And then, there was a silence.

"I-I'm sorry, my Lord." The Doctor started awkwardly. "I… I was actually talking to the Princess." Zuko froze for a second. He felt his cheeks burning a little and then he shook his head, trying to look less embarrassed. "I'm really sorry, but I can't go on with this if I don't have her consent."

"I see." The Fire Lord only muttered, then turned to his sister, with an unamused face. "What do you say, then, Azula?" He knew very well her answer. Never.

The Princess took a long deep breath, before finally saying something. "I will think about it, and let you know, Doctor." She replied coldly.

Zuko couldn't help but frown at her for a second. Why would she say that? The Physician nodded, bowed to Zuko, and left the room, followed by Suki.

"Sokka… Listen… I still don't get what happened here, but you can never do this again." Zuko was serious now, he seemed to be using all his strength to control his temper. "We're friends, but here I'm still the Fire Lord."

"I'm sorry, Zuko, but you gave me no choice! I know it sounds unlikely but after almost a month around her, your sister has become my friend, so I had to do something…"

"You don't get-" Zuko sounded angrier now, but Azula cut him off.

"I'm tired of this…" She said, making her way to the door.

Zuko stopped her, stepping in front of her. The Princess just stared at him, crossing her arms on her chest.

"No, wait. Listen, Azula-" He started carefully, and she groaned. "I know you are upset… And maybe, yeah, I overreacted, I don't know yet…" He shook his head. "If you had at least talked to me about it…"

Azula just sighed.

"Don't worry, Zuzu…" She gave him a fake smile. "Soon you won't have to worry about this anymore."

He frowned, confused.

"What do you mean?"

"As soon as we have control of this situation… I'm leaving the Palace. For Good." She said calmly.

Zuko's eyes widened in shock. Sokka couldn't help but look alarmed as well. What the hell was she doing? This must have been another of her games… It had to be.

"W-what? You can't be serious." Her brother started.

"Well, I am. Now excuse me."

"Azula! No!" He raised his voice, making her look startled at him. "You can't! You can't just leave home because of a disagreement we had."

The Princess breathed heavily. "It was not just a disagreement; you know that… Now let me go." She tried to remain calm.

"Azula, no, you can't…" He shook his head, looking away from her. He just couldn't believe this was happening. Zuko knew she would be mad, but he never thought she would do that. Not after all this time. She was just playing with him... She couldn't be serious. "You can't!"

"Are you saying you are not letting me go? That I'm actually your prisoner?" The Princess asked with a glare now. "Because if that's what it is, then just SAY IT, Zuko! I'm tired of your little games."

"My little games?" He asked, toneless. Perplexed. He looked at Sokka for answers but he looked just as shocked as him. "Can we…" Zuko began, his voice was quieter now, he sounded just really tired. "Can we at least discuss that?"

"Later." Azula replied, looking away, avoiding her brother's eyes.

"Azula…"

She sighed.

"Zuko, I haven't slept the whole night, and I haven't eaten anything yet. I'm exhausted and starving. Please, let's talk about this later." She looked at him now. "I won't go anywhere for a while."

He just nodded, and let her pass. His right hand was rubbing his forehead as he looked at the floor, as though he would find a solution there somewhere.

Sokka started following her, but stopped, "Zuko," his voice was gentler now. "I will go with her, but I want to talk to you and everyone about last night later, okay?"

The firebender just nodded to him.

Sokka speed up to get to Azula's side at the corridor. He looked at her face trying to understand what happened. Was she even okay? He swallowed.

"Azula-" He tried to started, but was cut off.

"Are you hungry?" She asked all of sudden. "Of course, you're hungry. It's you." She sighed. "Let's have brunch at the balcony."

He just nodded and followed her.

Once they got there Azula dropped herself on a bench and order the servants to bring their meal. Sokka sat just next to her. She couldn't help but blush a little. It was so strange how he was so comfortable around her he would simply get so close their legs would touch. When she looked up to his face, she founded his blue eyes staring at her, and she felt her heart racing. For a second, she had forgotten completely about her problems.

"You have to tell me what happened last night!" She suddenly demanded, trying to sound normal again.

"No." He answered fast. "I mean, later. Now… I want to know… What you said to your brother… You didn't mean that, right? You are not really leaving the Palace, are you?" She could feel his eyes burning on her… looking for answers.

She swallowed hard.

"I… I'm considering it, Sokka."

"Azula! You can't do that!" He shook his head, scolding her.

She gritted her teeth and looked away.

"It's not a like I have a choice!"

"Look, Zuko screw up sometimes… But it's not a reason to run away." He said softly.

Azula just bit her bottom lip. She felt her chest tightened again.

"You know what's worst? It wasn't even that bad!"

"What?" Sokka asked, frowning.

"Talking to the doctor. I mean… He is very different from the ones I've met in the institute."

Sokka nodded. "That's really good, right?"

"It felt like… Maybe it can get better… I mean, whatever is wrong with me." Azula looked down, her voice was barely a whisper.

Sokka shook his head.

"Nothing is wrong with you! I told you that!" He almost sounded mad and it startled her a little. "But it's good you liked talking to the doctor…" His tone was softer now. "It can be good for you."

"But I felt horrible at the same time!" Azula shouted all of sudden and Sokka widened his eyes. "Because again Zuko didn't let me choose, he chose it for me. He treats me as a child. A insane child! That's why I have to leave this place… I can't handle this anymore…" She gritted her teeth again, feeling the frustration taking over again.

She didn't know what to do. On one hand she could not let Zuko do that again to her… On the other hand, it hurt so much thinking about leaving the Palace, after everything that happened. It was her home. Where she belonged. She swallowed… Feeling difficult to breath. Now would be a perfect time to try whatever the doctor prescribed to her, she thought. Suddenly, she felt Sokka's hand on hers, and that strange electricity took over her body. She raised her eyes to face him.

"Look," he started, smiling. "Can you please promise me you won't make any decision right now?"

"What?" She frowned at him.

"About leaving… Just wait a little more. You're under a lot of stress… you can't decide something like that. Not now. You love what you do here, I know that! And your family is here…"

"My family is broken, Sokka…" She argued, sounding tired and upset.

"But they are still your family. And although you don't believe it, they love you. And I know you love them too. So just wait until everything is over, let everything cool off, and then you think about it, okay? Would you that for me?" He looked deeply into her eyes. "You kind of owe me that… I've done a lot of things for you these past weeks, Princess." Now he joked, teasing her a little, hoping she would cheer up a little.

Azula had to suppress a smile, and looked away. "Fine…" It was so weird how he could play with her emotions like that. At one moment she was feeling horribly depressed, a second later she wanted to laugh for no reason at all. "I will wait." She nodded and smiled at him.

"Good." He squeezed her hand. "I really hope you stay though… I mean, it will be kind of boring coming to Palace and not seeing you again."

Her cheeks burned. She just gave him a smirk.

At that moment the servants arrived with their food. They finally let go of each other's hands awkwardly, hoping no one noticed that.

"Now. Just tell me what happened last night already, moron!"

They were all gathered at one of the many rooms in the Palace. Azula, Ty Lee and Sokka were sat on one couch, Katara, Aang and Uncle Iroh on another, Toph was on a cushion on the floor and Zuko and Suki on the chairs next to her. Azula decided to act normally with Zuko now that everyone was around. If she wanted to get rid of the criminals she needed not only to work together with Zuko, but also with his stupid friends.

"So they wanted me there to help them finding out the best ways to get inside the Palace." Sokka was telling them. "Apparently Jiang isn't helping them now, because they seemed pretty lost about how to do that without being caught. I don't know when they are coming yet, they didn't say anything."

"Did they say the reason they are doing this?" Zuko asked.

"Not really. But their leader and his son are from the colonies, according to what they've said." He replied. "That's all I know."

"Hmm…" Azula tapped her chin, thinking.

"What is it?" Zuko asked her, his voice more careful than usual. He seemed to be afraid she would snap at him at any second. Although Azula didn't want to be around her brother right now, it was kind of fun seeing him so scared of her again…

"There are still so much we have to find out." Azula answered, her eyes staring at the nothing. "Okay, let's see, what do we know until now?" She seemed to talk more to herself them to the group of people. "Some people from the colonies want me dead…"

"We still don't know the reason…" Zuko said quietly.

"But it's not exactly hard to imagine a reason for that." Toph commented with sarcasm.

Azula was just going to say something back to the earthbender, when she heard Katara laughing. The Princess glared at the waterbender, but before anything worse could happen, Sokka interfered.

"Uh… We know Jiang is not helping them anymore. At least not for now…" He said quickly.

"Why is that? Do you think he already got what he wanted?" Zuko asked.

"But what did he even want in first place?" Aang asked, genuinely curious.

"Good question, Avatar!" Azula looked at him with a smirk, letting the boy confused. "That's exactly the question we need to answer. What does he actually want?"

"Didn't you say he used to support your father?" Suki asked.

"Yeah." She answered. "But that doesn't explain much. If Jiang wanted Ozai back in power, he would never support someone who want to kill me. They know that Father would need my help to be Fire Lord again…" She could see Katara and Aang looking at her sort of startled, and she rolled her eyes. "I'm not saying I would help him, I'm just stating a fact."

"Yeah, you're right." Zuko sighed. "But then what?"

"That's what we need to find out during the party."

"You mean the festival to commemorate the end of the war's anniversary?" Ty Lee asked.

"Yes." Azula agreed. "Many nobles will be here, including him and his co-workers. We need to get information from them." Zuko just nodded to her. "And everyone will have to help with that." She said that looking at people around.

"Even us?" Aang asked, frowning and pointing to him and Katara.

"Yeah. Even you." The Princess shrugged. "Although I doubt the any noble will share political information with the Avatar and his peasant girlfriend."

Katara groaned and was about to stand up to do something, but Aang held her still.

"Azula!" Zuko instinctively scolded her, but then he lowered his voice tone. "Don't do this right now, please."

Azula just rolled her eyes, suppressing a smirk. She couldn't avoid enjoying the whole situation. Most of people there either hate her or were mad at her, but they were just sitting there waiting for her to tell them what to do. Suddenly, she remembered why she loved being Zuko's advisor so much. It doesn't matter if he was the Fire Lord and she had to follow his rules, whenever he needed her help to solve something, she would be in charge again. And not because of her position or her titles, but because of her ideas, her natural leadership's instincts and her knowledge. That's why she had to listen to Sokka and give herself time to think if she was really ready to throw all this away… Because if she ever did, it would be really hard… But she couldn't think of this right now.

"What I'm trying to say, my dear Zuzu…" Azula began. "Is that… They will have their role too, but it will have to be another one. You though," She looked at Toph. "Earthbender. You might be able to help on that, you are a highborn, right? That will help. Zuzu's government might be different from Father's but Fire Nation's aristocracy isn't. Hierarchy, just like power, means everything to them." Azula saw her Uncle shrugging and nodding, agreeing with her.

"If Zuko agrees with that, then count me in." Toph shrugged.

"Good. Ty Lee. You too." She turned to her friend next to her. "You can barely stay a second with your mouth shut in events like this, well, use that talent in our benefit. Mostly with men." Azula gave her a knowing smile. "Now, Zuko, I need more help."

Zuko nodded, leaning his elbows on his knees to face her. "Fine, what do you want me to do, Azula?"

"No. Not you. You and I won't do much because no one would ever say anything that matters to us. We just need to play dumb for them."

"Then whose help you need?" He asked, confused.

Azula narrowed her eyes to him, before saying, "I need Mai's help."

I hope you enjoyed it! Reviews are more than welcomed! Thank you all so much for reading it!