AGAIN, I'm sorry I disappeared! I try to update this fic at least once a month, but it's not always possible. I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)

"Wh-what are you doing here?" Azula managed to ask after several seconds. Her voice was completely hoarse. She was breathing with difficulty, for a moment she thought she was going to pass out. "Why didn't you tell me she was here?!" She shouted to Ty Lee, fuming.

"I-I tried. But you kept talking and talking…" The girl was almost crying apologetic.

Mai, who had stood up and come closer to the girls, was still perplexed.

"Wait. Is that really serious?" Mai asked looking at both Azula and Ty Lee.

"No!" Azula's first reaction was denial, but it seemed impossible to come out to any excuse for this.

Mai just kept looking at her, waiting for a decent explanation.

"Just, please, promise you won't tell anyone, Mai." Ty Lee begged, placing both hands on Mai's shoulders.

Azula couldn't help but let out a laugh of disbelief. Like Mai would be nice to her.

Mai crossed her arms on her chest. "First, I want to understand. How did that even happen? The thought of you doing anything like that is already disturbing. But with Sokka?" Her voice was back to the plain tone of usual, but she seemed disgusted. "I knew you went crazy but I didn't know it was that bad." Now she was just enjoying insulting her ex-friend. "However, giving it a second thought, I think he is even crazier…"

"Mai, stop…" Ty Lee groaned, nervously.

She seemed to be waiting for the other girls to start a fight at any moment.

For an instant, Azula frowned at Mai, as though she was thinking of what she had said. But then the firebender just sighed, "Fine, insult me as much as you want. Now, what do you want to keep your mouth shut?"

Mai just raised an eyebrow, "What I want?" She said tonelessly.

"Why are you even here, Mai?" The Princess asked, frustrated.

The girl just shrugged. "I came here to tell you and your brother about what I heard at the party. Isn't that what you begged me to do the other day?"

Azula simply ignored the insulting tone in her former friend's voice. The first thing she noticed was that Mai hadn't talked to Zuko yet. She thought by now the girl and her brother would be already back together. Wasn't that what both of them wanted? But then she worried about another thing. Mai would talk to Zuko. And now she knew about the Princess and Sokka. Azula's heart started racing again. Her brother of all people could not find out about her night with Sokka.

"All right, Mai, listen." She stopped, glancing at Ty Lee, looking for some support. "You cannot tell anything you heard to my brother, do you comprehend that?" The Princess' voice was calm, but clearly, it was a threat.

Mai, however, never seemed to take Azula's threats that serious, and she certainly wasn't going to start that now. Instead, she only frowned and asked, "Since when do you care about Zuko's opinion about your personal life?"

Azula glared at her, losing her temper. "Well, I don't. But my brother has this terrible talent for ruining everything around him and consequently everything around me! And I'm pretty sure he will find a way to ruin this for me as well!" She shouted the last sentence.

Mai's eyes suddenly grew wide. She looked genuinely shocked. That confused Azula. That Zuko was good at ruining things wasn't news to anyone. And Mai knew Zuko very well.

Mai turned to Ty Lee as though she was looking for answers, then she stared at Azula again.

"You actually like him!" She sounded so perplexed that she didn't even sound like herself. Both Azula and Ty Lee looked at Mai startled because they had never seen the girl showing exasperation like this. Mai turned to Ty Lee as though she was looking for a reaction or further explanation. "Aren't you shocked with this? She – Azula – is actually liking someone? I didn't even know she had a heart in the first place!"

The Princess just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

Ty Lee giggled. "I know! Isn't it adorable?" She asked happily as Azula glared her deadly.

"Enough, both of you!" The firebender responded annoyed. "Mai, I'm serious…"

Before Azula could start another threat someone knocked on the door. Her eyes widened in surprise.

Her brother.

Great. And people dare to say I'm lucky.

"Zuzu," She turned around to face her brother who looked awkwardly to the girls. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh…" He started. The Princess noticed his eyes on his ex-girlfriend. "Mai... Hey. I didn't know you were- Uh, the servants told me Azula was here."

Mai sighed, her face emotionless as usual. "It's fine, Zuko. We were just talking."

Azula swallowed hard. She had no idea what she would do if Mai decided to spill the beans.

"Exactly," The Princess gave her brother a disgusted smile. "Now if you excuse us, I want to finish this conversation. I'm going to be out there with you in a minute." She said harshly and coldly.

Despite his disapproval look, Zuko nodded and left the room.

Azula left the room after a few minutes. Ty Lee had convinced Mai not to tell anyone about Azula and Sokka for now. The Princess couldn't help but wonder if her former friend would use that against her at some point, but she couldn't think of that now. She had a lot to do.

The first thing she saw when she stepped out of the room was her brother's worried face. Clearly, he had had a terrible night of sleep and was very stressed out. She just sighed. Mai, now her brother. She did not expect this day to be so tiring, and it was still morning.

"Azula…"

"I know, Zuzu. You want to talk. Let's go somewhere else, where I can sit, relax and drink some tea, while you annoy the hell out of me." She said faking a smile.

"Yeah, I do. But not now. We need to go to the city…" Azula couldn't help but feel a little angry that her brother simply ignored her insult. He could at least have rolled his eyes or get a little mad at her. "Some political leaders are there to see what happened to the town hall. I need to go there and reassure them I will fix this, that these men will be found and locked up… I thought you, Sokka and Aang could come with me." Zuko suddenly stopped. "No. Maybe you shouldn't come… It might be dangerous. But I thought…" He ran his hands through his hair, frustrated. "Sorry, I'm so tired I'm not thinking straight."

Azula groaned. "Don't be ridiculous, Zuko! Of course, I'm going!" She frowned at him. "I'm going to get Sokka and Aang, while you do something about your face. You look terrible!"

Now, he rolled his eyes at her, pissed. "I haven't been sleeping well these past days…" His voice didn't come out that angry though, on the contrary, it almost sounded like an apology. He seemed indeed very tired. And upset.

For some reason, that made Azula feel a little guilty. No, that's ridiculous, she thought, pushing away that weird feeling. It wasn't her fault if he was feeling like this. He was the idiot. He betrayed her, she shouldn't be even helping him anymore.

"Well, it doesn't matter. The nobles and the rest of the people mustn't see you like this." She said as she walked way to find the other boys.

Earlier that morning…

Sokka smirked as he left Azula's room. His hair was still down and messy, his shirt untied and untucked. He didn't seem able to control his happiness though. He had wanted that night for so long… It was so … Perfect. He was still smiling when he turned around and saw Aang standing right there, next to his room's door, frowning very confused.

"Sokka?" The monk asked, raising one eyebrow, observing Sokka's state. "What- Why were you in-" Suddenly the boy's eyes widened.

Before Aang could say anything, Sokka rushed and pulled him inside his room, locking the room.

"Okay, Aang, you can't tell anyone!" Sokka shouted, grabbing his friend's shoulder.

Aang's eyes grew even bigger. "Wait, am I right?!" He seemed even more shocked now. "Were you and Azula…?"

"SHHHH…" Sokka's heart stopped and he covered Aang's mouth quickly.

If anyone listened to Aang, he was dead. Azula would certainly kill him for letting the Avatar know about this. And if he died, his sister would probably bring him back to life only to kill him again for sleeping with her worst enemy.

Sokka took a deep breath and let Aang go.

"Okay… Yeah, we were. We are together…"

"WHAT?!"

"Well, at least I think we are. I don't know… Nothing is clear with her. But last night was the first time we…" He swallowed and blushed as he saw Aang's jaw dropping. "But I don't know if we are together, together. I need to talk to her…" He paused, breathing with difficulty. "Aang, please, listen to me. No one can know about this. Please. You need to promise you won't tell."

The Avatar blinked at Sokka for several seconds before saying anything.

"I can't believe it!" He shook his head but then he gave Sokka a genuine smile. "I mean, I came here because Katara was worried about you!"

Sokka frowned, confused. What was Aang talking about?

"She thought you got involved with this whole situation because you wanted somehow to get back Suki…"

"What?!" He gapped. "Why? I told her Suki and I are just friends now!"

"She thought you might be lying." Aang explained. "Mostly because Ty Lee has told her that Suki is interested in another guy. She thought you might be upset about it and hiding it."

"What? Another guy? Who?" He asked suddenly really curious, but then he just shook his head. "That's not important now! Aang, you must promise me you won't tell anyone. And, most importantly, that you won't tell it to Katara."

Aang widened his eyes again. "What? Sokka, Katara is my girlfriend! I tell her everything!"

"No!" Sokka shouted, desperately. "Aang, look, you were my friend before you started dating Katara! As my friend, you owe me this!"

"Sokka-"

"Come on, Aang, can you even imagine how mad Katara will be when she finds out about this? Azula, too…" Sokka groaned as he sat down on his bed, annoyed.

Great. When things finally worked out between them, something like this happened. Azula would freak out… And she would blame him.

The Avatar approached Sokka, placing one hand on his shoulder.

"Buddy, calm down. It won't be that bad…"

"Of course, it will, Aang!" He sounded so angry, Aang stepped back. Then he sighed, shaking his head frustrated. "You have no idea how Azula is…"

"But… If you are that afraid of her… Why did you…"

"What?!" Sokka looked at his friend incredulously. "I'm not afraid of her! No, it's not that!" He rolled his eyes. Sometimes he completely forgot Azula's bad reputation. "It's just… She is really complicated… emotionally. It was so hard for her to open up and I know she might freak out if Katara or anyone else finds out about this…" He paused, leaning on his knees and resting his head on his hands. "Let me just talk to her first…"

Sokka noticed the monk frowning at him. "Wow!" The young boy exclaimed as he sat next to him, "I don't remember the last time I saw you like this because of a girl. You really like her, don't you?" He asked in a calmer and nicer tone.

Sokka felt his face flushing. Was he that obvious?

Of course, he was.

He only sighed and nodded, throwing his arms up in frustration. "Yeah, I'm crazy about her! Happy? Don't ask me how that happened! I don't even know!"

Aang chuckled at his friend's reaction and Sokka glared at him outraged.

"It's not funny!"

"I'm sorry…" The Avatar replied, still smiling. "It's just kind of ironic. You in love with the Azula of all people…"

"Shut up, Aang." Sokka groaned. "Yeah, probably. But it doesn't matter, okay? I need you to promise that you won't tell anyone!"

Aang looked at him with widened eyes, but then after a while, he only sighed. "Okay. I won't tell Katara for now."

"AAH, THANK YOU, AANG!" Sokka shouted as he finally breathed normally. "You are the best, seriously…"

"But you know that's not something you keep in secret for a long time, right? And I don't want to lie to Katara! So, you need to find a solution for this, soon!" The young monk said in a serious tone, staring at his friend.

Sokka only nodded. "You're right, I will-"

A knock on the door cut him off.

Both boys looked at the door curiously. Their eyes widened as they saw the Princess entering the room.

"Azula?!" Sokka shouted standing up anxiously.

"Sokka, I need-" She started in a very casual way, but frowned when she spotted Aang. "Oh, hello, Aang." Her semblance, as well as her tone, changed immediately.

"H-hey, Azula!" The boy gave her a nervous smile.

For a second Sokka could swear she looked suspicious at him, as though she suspected he had told Aang anything. But before he could think of his next action, she started talking again.

"It's a good thing that you are both here. Zuko wants to go downtown now to check how things are there. He wants you to come with us, Aang." She said coldly. "Get ready quickly, you two. We are leaving in half an hour."

The city was a mess. People were around the destroyed building, talking out loud all sort of things. Some nobles were blaming the peasants and the ones who came from the colonies. Some commoners were blaming the nobles. But most of them were just blaming the Fire Lord.

Azula noticed Zuko tensing up as they approached the crowd. Feeling empathy for her brother wasn't something very usual for the Princess, mostly when she was still mad at him for treating her as lunatic, but at that moment she couldn't help but feel bad for him. She knew what it was to be judged like this, she knew how their people could be cruel. They had been cruel to both of them.

She could hear here and there someone saying Ozai wouldn't let things come to this. That he would do something different and better. Every time she heard something like this she waited for Zuko to snap.

The Fire Lord didn't do such thing though. Even though he seemed beyond tired and on the edge, and he managed to ignore this kind of comment and only listened to ideas and suggestions from different kind of people.

A part of Azula felt jealousy. The night before, at the party, she almost lost it in front of everyone, because people were whispering about her and because of what Jiang said to her. When did Zuko become better than her at controlling his emotions? She pushed away these thoughts. Now it wasn't the time to compete with Zuko.

She saw Jiang and some other men coming to talk to her brother and the Avatar, asking permission to expel foreigners from their cities and asking for money to keep their cities safe. They were using the chaos to get what they wanted. Money and more power over the commoners. Just like it was with Ozai. Looking at Jiang again gave her chills and she cursed herself for being so weak.

"I don't know how you guys can do it." Sokka whispered, startling her. He was next to her, leaning close so people wouldn't hear him.

"Do what?" She asked, confused.

"Politics. Dealing with these governors and nobles all the time. It would drive me crazy…" He complained, rolling his eyes.

Azula shrugged. "Funny you said that. You are such a great strategist. I could totally imagine you working in politics."

Sokka raised an eyebrow to her. For a second he thought she was mocking him. She had said nice things to him before, but it was in very specific moments. Not naturally like this. He felt stupid at how much he liked it.

Suddenly, he wished he was alone with her. He wanted to touch her, and smell her hair, and kiss her mouth. One night wasn't enough. He shifted his weight uncomfortably. Sokka came back to reality when he heard someone scolding the Princess, blaming her for the mess.

He froze as he saw many people gazing at her. Last time she came out in daylight like this she got mobbed. Why did she come again? He should have stopped her. Yeah, like she would listen to you. Sokka noticed Azula was nervous too. Before she could do or say anything, her brother was already there calming everyone and taking the blame.

The Princess chewed her cheek nervously, feeling humiliated.

It didn't take long for people to forget her again and only focused on shouting and discuss with her brother.

"Are you okay?" Sokka asked in a low tone.

"Yeah, sure." She faked a calm voice.

"Okay, I have to say I'm really impressed with Zuko. He's handling everything so well and he is really making it up for you, Azula."

The Princess glared at him. Was that supposed to make her feel better or worse? Fine, Zuko was nice to her, but he wouldn't need to do this if she handled this kind of situation in a better way. She bit her bottom lip. At least she wasn't on the edge of having a panic attack as she did the night before, but still… She should be able to control herself better. She should at least be better than her brother at this. Mostly when he was at such a terrible state.

Ignoring these thoughts, the Princess faked calmness and turned around to talk to one of the governors who had just approached her.

Hours later they came back to the Palace. Azula was sat next to her brother in the carriage. She could see how overtired he was. The Princess herself was exhausted. And she bet Zuko would want to talk to her as soon as they arrived home. She sighed at this thought.

She knew what he would say, he would tell she had to drop the idea of leaving the Palace. She had to stay with her family, and blah blah blah. The truth was she hadn't thought of leaving in a while, but she liked to know she had that option. And she liked her brother to know she had this option, so he would never treat her that way again.

As they walked down the Palace's corridors, Azula waited for Zuko to come to talk to her, but it didn't happen. Actually, everyone was in silence since they left the city center. At some point, she just got tired of waiting.

"So, do you want to talk to me now?" She asked in a rough way.

"Hm?" Zuko frowned at her. His thoughts seemed to be far way. "Oh… Sorry, Azula. Can we talk later? I really need to rest now. And then, we have to gather everyone together to discuss what happened last night… Can we talk after that? Or maybe tomorrow?"

The Princess looked puzzled at him for a second.

"Fine." She answered coldly, before leaving him and heading to her room followed by Sokka.

###

"I can't believe my brother!" She groaned as she closed the door behind Sokka.

The boy raised one eyebrow. The last thing he thought they would do when they were finally alone was talking about Zuko.

"What do you mean?" He asked, getting closer to her.

"I thought he wanted to talk to me. After everything he had done, I thought he would at least try to say something…" She shrugged. "Not that I care. Actually, it's better this way! But he said he didn't want me to leave the Palace, I think it was a lie… Maybe he only wanted me at the party. To show everyone how nice he was to have his crazy little sister back to the Palace."

Sokka just stared at her incredulous.

"Seriously, Azula?" He rolled his eyes at her. "Your brother is probably exhausted after this morning. Come on, it was horrible, mostly for him! Of course, he still cares if you leave or not, he is just tired…"

The boy sighed, but then suppressed a smile. Now that he was able to understand her better, he had to admit it was funny to see her struggling with her emotions like this. She liked to pretend she didn't care about Zuko's opinion but she clearly wanted his attention. "Don't worry, okay?"

"I'm not worried!" She glared at him.

He chuckled and nodded, as he caressed her face. "Of course not."

Azula gave him an unamused look, before stepping forwarded and kissing him. Sokka pulled her closed and kissed her deeply.

He loved how this became something natural for them. He wanted it to become normal so badly… He just hoped she wouldn't freak out when he told her about Aang. He slipped his arm around her waist, still kissing her. Well, he didn't need to talk to her about that now, right?

"Sokka, I need to tell you something." She said when they finally broke the kiss. Her voice sounded worried.

"What?" He looked startled at her.

"Someone knows about us."

His eyes grew wide. Oh shit.

"What?! When did you talk to Aang?" He asked, nervously.

Azula narrowed her eyes to him, confused.

"Aang? No! I was talking about Mai!"

"Mai?"

"Wait, the Avatar knows?!" The Princess shouted, desperately.

Thank you for reading it! Reviews will be appreciated! :)