Zuko watches Azula as she sleeps. It's been one week since that dreadful agni kai, and his little sister has yet to awaken. He has top of the line doctors to check on her condition around the clock, and tells them to keep him updated on how she's doing and when she will wake up. But even they don't know when she will awaken. Every time he asks it's always the same thing.
I'm sure that she will wake up soon, Prince Zuko.
Don't worry about your sister, she'll wake up when she's ready. You should be thinking about your coronation.
Based on what you told us, Princess Azula had a breakdown, most likely due to stress and other factors that we don't know about yet. It's hard to determine when she will wake up.
Zuko knows that they're trying their best. But at the same time he wants to scream. These people are supposed to be the best at what they do. Shouldn't they have some ideas of how to wake Azula up? When one of the doctors mentioned his upcoming coronation, Zuko almost firebended at the man. He doesn't even want to think about his coronation, not when his sister is in this state.
Not knowing what else to do, Zuko holds Azula's hand and squeezes it reassuringly, silently promising to both himself and her that she won't be alone anymore.
It's the day of his coronation. Zuko gives his speech to the crowd, promising to lead the Fire Nation into a new era of peace, and ensuring that another war like the one that they just ended will never happen again. As he bends down as one of the fire sages puts the crown headpiece on his head and says All hail Fire Lord Zuko! And the crowd cheers, Zuko feels anything but happiness. All he feels is worry and desperation. Worried about Azula and desperate to get back to her bedside, and spirits can this damn thing end already? He doesn't even remember his father's coronation being this long. Then again, it wasn't like he was particularly paying attention to the proceedings that day, worried as he was about his mother's sudden disappearance. Perhaps if she were here, mother would know what to do about Azula. Maybe she could have gotten Azula to wake up all this time. As much as he hoped that would be the case, his sister's words of my own mother thought I was a monster ringing in his head makes him doubtful.
Katara walks up to him as he's getting ready to make his way back into the palace. She must have noticed that he was anything but alright.
"Are you ok? Is your wound bothering you? Or is it…"
The girl stops herself short, but Zuko knows what she is going to say next. Or is it Azula? Goes left unsaid, but Zuko gets the message loud and clear. He knows that Katara isn't fond of his sister at all (something that he doesn't and cannot fault her for, considering that Azula came close to killing Aang, as well as Katara herself had Zuko not gotten in the way of Azula's lightning) but he remembers the look on Katara's face as they watched Azula screaming and crying as she was chained down, hitting them for the first time that Azula was just like them, a child who was forced to grow up too soon because of the war. A war that ended up breaking her.
Zuko clears his throat, "I was going to check on Azula and see if she's woken up yet. It's probably unlikely, but I want to see her anyway in case she does. I don't want her to be alone if she does wake up", seconds go by before he gathers up the courage to ask Katara "It's fine if you say no, and I'll even understand if you do, but would you mind coming with me to check on her? The doctors that I assigned to take care of her haven't done a damn thing to help her recover, at least not from what I can see. All they keep telling me is that she'll wake up soon, but they won't tell me how soon that is. I'm starting to doubt that they even understand what's wrong with her."
Katara nods her head, "I'll go with you. I've actually been worried about her ever since….that. I haven't been able to get it out of my mind."
Zuko knows the feeling all too well. He doesn't think he'll ever forget the image of his sister screaming and crying.
The two of them make their way to Azula's room. Once they're inside, Zuko looks towards his sister's bed and confirms that she still hasn't awakened. He sighs as he makes his way over to Azula, grabbing her hand as he always does, and takes a seat at her bedside. For a moment he worries that she woke up while the coronation was going on and he missed it, but then tells himself that if that were the case, surely the doctors would have told him the moment the coronation was over. Hopefully.
"Have they told you what Azula's condition is?" Katara asks.
"All they've said is that based on what I told them, it sounds like she had some kind of breakdown. And that's it. Nothing else."
Katara ponders this for a moment, thinking back to when she and Zuko had arrived at the palace to fight Azula, how Zuko had said There's something off about her. I can't explain it but she's slipping and how the girl did indeed look like she was off her game. Wasn't acting like she usually did during battle. How her attacks weren't coordinated or precise, but rather sloppy and all over the place, but still powerful thanks to the comet. Without the comet powering firebenders, Katara has no doubt that Azula would have been significantly weaker than Zuko, something that she never thought would have been possible. Combine all of that with what Zuko just told her, and the conclusion is that whatever is wrong with Azula has to do with her mind. She walks over to Azula's bedside and takes some water out of her water skin and brings her hands to Azula's head. Zuko watches her, confused.
"What are you-?"
"I'm seeing if healing her mind might work. I did the same thing with Jet back in Ba Sing Se when he was under Long Feng's mind control. Based on everything you've said and from what I can remember about how Azula looked during the agni kai and after that, she most likely has something similar to Jet, just minus the whole brainwashing thing."
Zuko nods wordlessly, hoping that this will work. It has to work. He doesn't know what he will do if it doesn't. He desperately wants his sister to wake up. To give him that infuriating smirk of hers and tease him to no end. He will gladly take that over seeing her like this. Anything would be better than this. After some time passes, Katara slowly removes her hands from Azula's head.
"I did what I could, but there's no telling if it actually worked unless she-"
A groan interrupts her.
Zuko quickly looks at his sister, smiling for the first time in what seems like forever as he watches her slowly move, "Azula? Are you awake?"
Her eyes don't open, but Zuko doesn't feel too disappointed about that. This is the first time that his sister has made a sound and so much as moved since she passed out once she finally stopped crying, and for that, he is grateful.
Whenever Zuko has to go to a meeting, Mai and Ty Lee look after Azula. He knows that the two girls have mixed feelings towards her after what happened at the Boiling Rock, but he can tell that they still care about his sister, if the worried look on Mai's face (which did not happen often) and the tears in Ty Lee's eyes when he informed them about Azula's breakdown were any indication. Even when he isn't in a meeting, one or both of the girls will come into Azula's room and tell Zuko to get something to eat and to get some rest because he won't be of any help to Azula if he can't function due to a lack of food and sleep. He does what they ask but he never stays away from Azula's room for a long time, determined to be there when she wakes up. It's a strange feeling to feel so concerned for his little sister. He can't remember the last time he felt that way. Or if he ever did. He wonders to himself if this is what being a big brother feels like.
Katara comes to Azula's room every day to check on her as well, having decided to stay in the palace until Azula woke up, Aang readily agreeing with her decision. Zuko is always amazed at Aang's seemingly never ending forgiving nature. He's even more grateful for it now than he was back when he was trying to convince them to let him join their group. The healing sessions seem to be working, going by the fact that the tormented expression on Azula's face as she sleeps goes away little by little. Perhaps it means that whatever nightmares that Azula is having are slowly leaving her dreams. Zuko hopes that's the case, because he knows that Azula will be living in a very real nightmare once she wakes up.
Zuko listens to the men in the throne room bicker back and forth, trying so very hard not to set them on fire. He called for this meeting (despite not really wanting to) to begin talks about reparations to the Earth Kingdom and the Water tribes. Of course things erupted into chaos the moment he said that. He really needs to consider replacing his father's council. He needs to undo a lot of things that his father did, but that can wait until after-
"ZUKO!" A voice shouts, interrupting the meeting. Zuko looks up to see Ty Lee. He starts to ask her what's wrong when he sees tears in her eyes. Immediately his brain starts running a mile a minute with thoughts such as No no no, please don't say that Azula is dead and Was Katara's healing not enough? It looked like it was working! His worry quickly ceases when he sees Ty Lee smiling.
"It's Azula! She woke up!"
Azula looks around, confused. For some reason she's in her bed with the water tribe girl looking at her with a happy expression on her face. She can't fathom why that is. The last thing she remembers is being chained down by the girl in front of her, utterly defeated. Anything that happened after that is a blur. Why is she smiling at her enemy? It doesn't make sense.
"I can't believe that it worked! Zuko is going to be so happy to see that you're finally awake!"
Zuzu? Finally awake? What is she talking about?
Before Azula can ask any questions, her door barges open, and Zuko appears. He's breathing heavily, hands on his knees as he catches his breath, almost as if he ran all the way to her room. When he finally looks up, Azula notices that there are tears in his eyes. Stranger yet, he's actually smiling at her. When was the last time Zuko had smiled at her? She can't remember. It must have been a long time ago when they were little and got along once upon a time. Azula is certain that she's dead, because her brother has never smiled at her or cried at the very sight of her and-
Zuko quickly runs to her side and hugs her, crying tears of relief. After all this time, his little sister is finally awake.
Azula is too stunned to say anything, still confused about whatever the hell is happening right now. Zuko seems to be saying something but she can't make out the words, too incoherent to understand. Zuko eventually pulls away from her, wiping his tears as he smiles at her.
"I'm so happy that you're finally awake. Welcome back, Azula."
The moment the words are out of his mouth, Zuko hugs her again, muttering something about how she won't be alone anymore and he'll be here to take care of her. She still has no idea what Zuko is talking about. Perhaps it has something to do with what she can't remember. Azula decides to ask him about it later, though.
She wants to enjoy the first hug that she's gotten from her brother in a long time.