The Dragon's Pit/At death's doors

3

A dark horizon spread as far as the eye could see. The ocean, in the distance, hid away countless allies, people who would rally to Sokka's cause once his letter reached them. He just had to be patient. He just had to wait for their arrival.

Ironically enough, he was safe here. The Dragon's Pit was meant to be an unstable, dangerous place by its very nature, that much was true, but it would defend him from outside threats, and for now, that sufficed. The Fire Lord's influence would not reach him in the Black Cliffs.

More brawls had followed the first one. He had watched a few, sitting with some of his fellow gladiators who were nursing their wounds, then talking down the anxious Water Tribe members, who appeared quite impressed by his performance while utterly aghast over the nature of the Dragon's Pit. Sedna had taken over for him shortly afterwards, reassuring her fellow tribespeople that the violent tendencies of the gladiators in the island were not quite that harmful… at least, not always.

But after a while, Sokka had needed to catch his breath. The euphoria and adrenaline dwindled as night fell, and most people in the Black Cliffs had turned in for the night, leaving only a handful to continue fighting amongst themselves if they wished to. The gladiators from Fazhan had accompanied him over dinner, and now they slept in the huts they had built for themselves at the heights of the island.

Sokka had marched to the edge of the dark cliffs within which the Dragon's Pit hid. He sighed, closing his eyes as the sea's breeze brushed against him: the Fire Nation's perpetual warmth and humidity should have annoyed him… for they brought back more memories of a past he still cherished, no matter how painful it had become.

He sat by the edge of the cliff, eyes set in the water… as if wishing, hoping, that the rest of his army would manifest soon. Even if he had a lot to answer for, once they did turn up, the Fire Lord's fall would seem to be closer at hand once they arrived. And he needed to ensure that he did fall. He needed to tear down Ozai as soon as possible. He couldn't let the bastard get away with holding power, with drawing breath, for another day…

He closed his eyes firmly, fists clenched. He didn't want to look inwards and accept the true origin of such feelings… he didn't want to admit why the bloodlust sang so powerfully in his heart this time, or why he was so willing to let it run away with him.

He heard the sound of someone's gait upon the solid rock behind him. Sokka didn't glance back to confirm who it was, but the light grunts and groans as he took his seat beside him gave away the man's identity quickly, well before Sokka glanced at him. The Blue Wolf sighed before offering a timid smile to the Millennium Dragon.

"Got to have plenty on your mind, huh?" Renzhi asked. Sokka shrugged.

"Wish I didn't. Would be easier if I didn't," he admitted. Renzhi sighed.

"Bet you can't sleep, but you ought to try anyway, boss. You can't just…"

"Boss?" Sokka winced. "You… no. Don't call me that, you don't have to…!"

"I want to!" Renzhi smiled, startling Sokka. "Sounds good to me, calling you that. Never was the type to follow orders, you know, but yours? I think I could put up with that."

"Renzhi…" Sokka smiled awkwardly. "I know that crazy fight made me a manner of, well…"

"General of the Gladiators? King of the Gladiators?" Renzhi smirked. Sokka shuddered. "You're a piece of work, Blue Wolf. No one ought to be that afraid of leadership when they're that good at it."

"It's hard to believe I'm good at it when I… got people hurt. Killed. All because of a stupid choice… an error of judgment," Sokka sighed, shaking his head.

"You mean what happened out there? What got you shipwrecked?" Renzhi asked. Sokka sighed.

"I… can't get it out of my head anymore. I did earlier, at times, but… not right now. I fear that if I close my eyes, I'll be right there, yet again, standing against a storm of fire, just as I'm about to reach her. And… and it'll kill me this time. I won't be able to snap out of it fast enough to get away, nobody will be there to save me and I…"

Renzhi frowned. Sokka sighed, covering his face with his hands and shaking his head.

"I… realized it was her ship," he explained. "I saw it from a distance. I… I shouldn't have commanded my men to follow it. My ship shouldn't have chased hers. There was no reason for me to take that risk… even the reasons why I thought I could do it feel utterly stupid now. Taking down the Great Gates already? Why… why bother? I have a large enough army that could have done it when we were ready. What could I have hoped to gain by…?"

"You weren't thinking much with your head. More with your heart," said Renzhi, eyeing Sokka hopelessly. "I never wanted to pry much, kid, but… guess the rumors about you two weren't all that far from reality, were they?"

"Heh. Depends on which rumor," Sokka scoffed. "Bet the Fire Lord's proudly spread word that I forced myself on her or that I deceived her and seduced her so that I could spy on her, as the member of the White Lotus he assumed I was…"

"Uh, well, those were out there too, but… I meant, you two were a thing. You really were?" Renzhi asked. Sokka didn't answer. "I kinda thought you might be. Not that I was sure, you know? But… the way you looked at each other sometimes, it was kinda fishy."

"We weren't exactly great at hiding the truth," Sokka admitted. "But after days like these…"

"What? You don't think you could care for her anymore?" Renzhi asked.

Sokka fell silent: the notion Renzhi brought up caught him off-guard, entirely, because…

Not caring for Azula? Not loving Azula? Forsaking her…?

"There's… there's no way I'd ever stop loving her."

The way he spoke the words sounded like a revelation. Like a shocking fact of life that he hadn't properly embraced before, in all its deep significance… but this wasn't new. He knew he would always love her. The implications, however, of that kind of devotion only materialized now, however:

"It's not that I… ever planned to stop. Of course not," Sokka said, covering his mouth with a hand, eyes wide as his gaze got lost in the dark horizon ahead. "I meant… I meant to love her forever. I told her I always would. No conditions. No hesitation. No remorse. And yet… I guess it's just become obvious that loving her, through all of this, is… is so much easier said than done."

"Heh. Sounds like a nasty realization…" Renzhi grimaced. Sokka sighed, shaking his head.

"I never imagined she'd do the things she's done," he said. "She was ready to… to go to war with her own father to save my life. So… I never thought she'd go to war with me to save him, this time. I… I don't even understand it, Renzhi. I don't know how she… how she still stands with him. I've tried, damn it, I've tried my best to wrap my head around her reasons and motivations, even those that hurt me, but honestly, I… I can't keep doing it. I feel like I'll only truly understand her if I actually find her again, ask her everything I need to ask, so that she answers all my questions, tells me why she's done it all… but now? Now… I feel like that's never going to happen."

"Never?" Renzhi repeated. Sokka trembled, closing his eyes tightly. "Sounds like you've got some dark thoughts on how that battle's going to unfold…"

"More like… it's damn hard for a relationship to be restored after everything we've done that could hurt each other," Sokka said, lowering his gaze. "Would she even want me anymore? Does she? Did… did it hurt her, when she decided to attack me? I… I barely can tell if it did. I'm in so much pain myself that I can't feel hers anymore…"

"Feel hers? What's that about?" Renzhi frowned. Sokka sighed.

"It's… a weird, surreal thing that happened between us. Our chi… aligned. Connected, somehow," he said. "I could feel her emotions sometimes, and she could feel mine. But either she's as miserable as I am, or… or the connection's broken after everything we've done to screw each other over as of late. I don't know."

"I'd never heard of anything like that. Chi connection? Weird," Renzhi said, with a slight smirk. "So, you're not sure there's any salvaging this relationship, eh? This is one hell of a way to break up with your lover, going to war to kill her father… if that's what you're doing, that is."

"Honestly… it feels like, if I do kill him, she'll never take me back," Sokka said, with a weak smile. "How pathetic do I look by hesitating to kill him for a reason that the world would consider so… so weak? Nobody would forgive me if I… if I had the one chance to stop him and I held back because of her. And the worst part is that, if he lives on, she'll never… she'll never truly turn against him. Rui Shi thinks she had already chosen me over him by letting herself love me, and… he has a point, sure. But at this point? She'll never choose me over him. She'll stab me in the back as many times as she feels she must, just as she has ever since she returned to the Fire Nation and left me behind. I… I'm just tired, Renzhi. I'm so tired of… of having to make excuses and think of every possible way to interpret reality so that I can feel like the woman I love is still there, somewhere. Because… what if she's not? What if… if every damn thing I ever wanted to believe in doesn't exist anymore? What if she… if she doesn't even want me anymore? What if everything I've done so far makes her hate me so damn much that she can't even…?"

"If she did… she'd be one sorry Princess of the Fire Nation, that's for sure," Renzhi said, eyes wide. "Don't you know the Fire Nation's the biggest violence-glorifying culture of all time, kid? The way Aonu puts it, at least since Sozin's time, firebenders went on Agni Kais to settle every petty dispute, sometimes just for the fun of it. The royals are the most fucked up of them all, too. They'd put the Dragon's Pit to shame with their thirst for violence, right? So… if she's scared of what you did, or sad that you killed anyone, well, that's one hell of a hypocrite, huh? Haven't they been killing everyone they could for over a hundred years?"

"I… I mean, I don't think she'd be a hypocrite that way. She's aware of how fucked up her nation is," Sokka stated. "And she wasn't exactly on board with the war, the last time we spoke about it. But I guess… she'd expect me to not hurt or destroy innocents. And while I'd love to do that, I couldn't possibly avoid it constantly, you know? I've hurt people. I've messed up a lot."

"So has she. Are you ready to forgive her for what she's done to fuck you over?"

Sokka frowned. The question hung between them, unanswered for now… as his mind revisited everything, indeed, that Azula might have done to hurt him:

She had married Zhao. She had betrayed him in doing so… all be it to deliver their child safely. It hurt, of course it did, but knowing now what he did, all the pain related to that particular matter appeared to be lesser, inconsequential, for he had never doubted she hadn't done it willingly. Even now, he knew as much by heart. Azula would have never chosen another man for a husband, not if she'd had any other choice.

She had directed Ozai to the Northern Air Temple and the Northern Water Tribe. War Minister Qin had certainly revealed that she had done those things unwillingly. Xin Long was in captivity, in danger of death if she stepped out of line. She got hurt by Zhao after doing it, too. The consequences of her actions were dreadful, of course: the refugees in the temple were safe in the end, but the Northern Water Tribe wasn't. And as much as Sokka could indeed hold that against her… he held so much more of it against Zhao, or Ozai himself. More so by knowing that Azula had been cornered into giving up information she might have kept to herself, otherwise.

She had triumphed over Jeong Jeong in Yu Dao. He didn't know, yet, how she had gone about doing so. A wicked, vindictive part of him certainly relished in pride over knowing she had overcome the wretched Grand Lotus who continued to be a headache for Sokka, even after his apparent acceptance of Sokka as his leader. He certainly didn't relish in the fact that she had been involved in the fighting, that people on the White Lotus's army had paid with their lives… but was Azula responsible for more deaths in Yu Dao than the ones Sokka had claimed across all the battles he had involved himself in so far? Was she as filled with remorse for each life claimed as he was? It was easy to imagine she might be… she would likely apologize profusely, sinking into the darkest remorse upon knowing Anorak had been his friend.

And she had attacked his ship… a ship she might not have known he was riding on. A ship beelining towards hers. She wasn't alone. She hadn't been with her trustworthy guards, evidently: Rui Shi and the others were with the White Lotus army by now, or at least, they should be… could she afford to show herself as anything but the ruthless, strong military leader her father needed her to be? If she had given herself up to him right then and there… would Ozai simply accept her betrayal and concede defeat in his battle with Sokka over Azula's loyalties? Or would he lose himself to wrath again, just as he had when this debacle had begun, and raze the entire Fire Nation in anger, if that served to prove to Azula that she had no right to turn her back on him?

He shuddered, shaking his head: it didn't hurt any less. None of it did. Not even after seeing it this way.

And yet… he had an answer now.

"I could never… I could never hate her. Not since I became her gladiator," he whispered. "Not since I truly embraced my place at her side. So… is she unforgivable? No. She's not. What does that say about me, huh?"

"That you're hopelessly in love with the girl, I'd say," Renzhi smiled. Sokka sighed, shaking his head.

"I am, but… I'm fighting a war for the sake of loving her freely. I could just give up, you know? I've thought about it more times than anyone knows, I… I could just slip through their defenses secretly, find her, rescue her and only her, and just run away and forget the world. But… what would be the point of saving her if Ozai's grip will never relent anyway? How could I pretend I'm rescuing her at all if we end up spending our lives just… running away? And that's without going into the fact that she wouldn't be likely to want this, either, so…"

"So… you've got to win the war to get the girl," Renzhi concluded. Sokka scoffed.

"Simple. Straight-forward," Sokka said. "I wish it were as easy as that. It would be, if only… if only the girl weren't standing side by side with my enemies. If she weren't their leader… or one of them, anyway."

"I bet," Renzhi sighed. "But that's where you've got to snap out of it, boss. I get that this is a heavy burden on your shoulders, but you're not giving yourself enough credit, I say."

"In what regards?" Sokka asked, his voice defeated.

"You're the Gladiator, kid. That's got to count for something, don't you think?"

Sokka blinked blankly. Renzhi meant to say something slightly deeper than the apparent… but the meaning seemed to elude him right now.

"What, exactly, do you want it to count for?" Sokka asked.

"Kid… you've been down in the dirt, beaten and bloodied, fighting in the worst sand pits in the world just to live for one more day. You fought against those like you, and then, against those who looked down on you. You didn't get it right every time… but before you knew it, you were standing with the greats. You were knocking elbows with the strongest and the smartest, with the world's leaders, and where they once sneered at you, you weren't so worthless in their eyes anymore, now, were you?

"And then… you proved yourself all over again: you took control of your own fate, and now, all the bastards who thought you'd amount to nothing are shitting themselves, knowing you're ready to cut them down if they so much as stand in your way. You can't be stopped. You're… you're carrying a burden, but it's making you stronger, kid. Every step you've taken brought you to where you are now. Every fight in the sand pit, every foe you beat or killed? You carry them with you. The blood you've shed is as good as singing in your own veins… and now everyone in this world knows who you are. They admire you or they fear you… makes no matter, because you're the Gladiator. You're the legend, the hero, the man who came from nothing to wage a losing battle, and you turned it around so that now everyone knows you're going to win it.

"So… you're more than what she made you, kid. You're more than her partner, more than her lover, more than her foil or her curse. You're your own damn self, kid: that's how you've become the damn epic leader you've been so far."

"But… I didn't get here by myself. She was… she's the reason why I could do most of what you just talked about," Sokka frowned.

"You think everyone makes it far on their own? Pfft. More likely nobody does," Renzhi smirked. "She's not the only one who made you, even if she's the most important one, as far as you can tell. Don't mean much, though… because you're not chained to her. Bet you never were, to begin with: you're a symbol of freedom, Sokka. And it's up to you to choose what to do with the freedom you've claimed… and who you're going to extend it to. Big gift you're giving us all, if you truly mean to… damn generous of you, too."

"You make it sound like… like I should just turn away from her," Sokka said.

"Ey, now, I didn't say that."

"Then why are you trying to make me…?"

"I want you to stop thinking of yourself as her thrall. Her second-in-command, or whatever you thought you were," Renzhi laughed. "Because you're none of that. How the hell do you think you'd ever be her equal if you thought yourself her subordinate somehow? If she could rule you, govern you, choose for you?"

Sokka blinked blankly: they were equals in many regards… they had been. She had made many of the biggest choices, yes, the more important calls, but…

But the idea of being the one who could make those calls now caught him off guard suddenly.

Could he truly do that? Was that possible for him? Could he make choices for her…? He had never wanted to do it. But she certainly had done it plenty for him, chief among them the moment when she decided to leave him in the South Pole and take off to the Fire Nation. His return, his defiance… it proved she couldn't hope to do that ever again. That he wasn't going to take this lying down… for he loved her. He wanted to be her partner. He wanted to stand by her side, knowing himself in the right place because she was there, too.

Their relationship had certainly been skewed in her direction at many points, in many regards. Maybe it hadn't been quite as equal as he had wanted it to be at all times…

Maybe he could make it so now. Maybe.

"I'm not telling you to forsake her: I'm telling you that she's not the one who decides who you are," Renzhi continued, with a shrug. "Don't take this the wrong way, but… you don't need her. You really don't."

Sokka froze: that sounded wrong, and yet… he thought he knew what Renzhi was going for when the man smirked at him.

"You're your own boss. And as that's how it is? You get to decide now. You're strong enough to stand on your own. She doesn't have to prop you up… maybe she never really did. But now? Now you're the one who calls the shots. You get to make that choice: if you want her to be part of your world, your life, no matter what she did? Then you go into that city, kid, and go save her. You get to make that choice now, when you didn't before. It's up to you. You carry this whole damn army with you! You're the Gladiator, our leader, and you're here to bring war and hell to the Fire Lord!" Renzhi laughed. "That's no small feat, you know? So… how about you open your eyes to what all that means? How about you realize that…?"

"That I'm free… to be the one who makes the choices," Sokka frowned. Renzhi smiled wildly. "And that includes… choosing her. Choosing to save her, even if she won't thank me for it any more than I thanked her, when she did the same to me?"

"Damn right. I think you've got it now," Renzhi said, smirking proudly.

The meaning of being the Gladiator sank in differently now. Sokka's eyes glowed with renewed clarity... with a sense of purpose that no longer was permeated, charged, with the violence he had not been ready to channel just yet. He breathed deeply, raising his gaze towards the starlit sky…

"I'm… the Gladiator," Sokka whispered, frowning sternly as he pushed himself up.

He turned: the Fire Nation's mainland stood there… behind him, shrouded in darkness, behind the Great Gates that protected it from all assaults. It would fail to stop him, though… everything would.

His hands ached, filled with small scars, calluses, raspy and rough from holding the weapons he'd ever carried into battle. He gazed at them as though he had never looked at them before… his shoulders, so heavy, so burdened, suddenly felt stronger than they ever had been.

His stomach lurched with a kind of energy he hadn't felt before: he had become so much more than he had been ready to be…

But maybe he was ready now.

He closed his eyes, letting the warm breeze rush through him. Letting himself long for her again… knowing she had hurt him. Knowing she had put him at risk. Knowing she had made questionable choices…

And knowing he loved her, regardless of any of that.

He had done plenty of deeds no one ought to forgive him for, just as well. Perhaps they'd just swap dark stories once he was through with everything, then.

He smiled, renewed with a certainty and truth he had not been ready to live up to until now. The shame he had chased away, the fears, the uncertainties… they could no longer drag him down. He could stand on his own… he wouldn't cling to her, rely on her to hoist him up. No… he stood by his own power now. She had given him so much, bolstered his spirit so that a day such as this one would arrive. The day in which the Gladiator could finally step forward into his own future… no longer afraid of owning up to who he was. The darkness in his heart would never conquer him anymore. He opened his eyes to the truth… to the man he had grown into, the man he finally wanted to be, from that day onwards.

"There you go, boss," Renzhi smirked. Sokka sighed, smiling kindly at him.

"You're really something… getting me out of a funk as dark as that one with hard-hitting truths. Not one to sugarcoat things, are you?"

"I'm a gladiator. We're supposed to be blunt and brutal, aren't we?" Renzhi laughed. Sokka chuckled. "Can't go into the ring if you're not ready to give it your all. Hold anything back and you're just going to get torn to shreds, kid. One way or another, someone's going to get hurt… if you lie to the enemy or yourself, it's bound to be you."

"You've thought about those sorts of things quite a bit, haven't you?" Sokka asked. Renzhi shrugged.

"Spent ten years fighting as a gladiator… gotta do something with your spare time, when you're not beating people up," he snickered.

Sokka smiled and nodded, conceding to the older warrior's thinking. True wisdom certainly could be found anywhere, and the extraordinary bender, mistreated as he had been throughout his life, born to humility in the Earth Kingdom while boasting of immense firepower, was a testament to that.

"I will win this war… I will end the Fire Lord's reign," Sokka said, earnestly. "By then… people like you and me will be free. We'll make our own choices. Nobody will be able to contest that."

"Sounds good to me," Renzhi grinned. "I know you might be nervous, standing up to your sponsor the way you'll have to… but you've got what it takes, boss. I know you do."

"It seems odd, I guess… fighting her so that I can return to her," Sokka said, with a sad smile. "I don't doubt everyone will believe I'm crazy for it. Especially after what happened today. But, say… if, or rather, when we succeed, what will you do? What are you going to choose?"

"Oh, me?" Renzhi froze up. "Uh… what'd you mean?"

"I mean…" Sokka smiled a little, though the grin faded quickly. "Will you go somewhere? Will you stay here? Would you ever consider seeing Aonu again?"

Renzhi frowned: that thought seemed to trigger a reaction, though whether it was positive or negative, Sokka couldn't tell right away.

"Well, my relationship with Aonu sure wasn't like yours with the Princess," Renzhi said. Sokka smiled a little.

"I figured…"

"I wasn't his type," Renzhi laughed. Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Oh, uh… guess I shouldn't just say it that way. But, uh, I wasn't anyway. We were just friends."

"Huh… I get it. I think," Sokka raised his eyebrows. "But… wait. He tried to marry Azula, but he's…?"

"Not interested in girls that way? Yep," Renzhi said, with a shrug. "Politics. I kept telling him not to do it, that wasn't the life he wanted, went without saying… but that guy always needed to fit in. Kept feeling lost, you know? Like he belonged nowhere. Feels like that desperation put him in the wrong place in life, you see… now the Fire Lord takes advantage of his brains all because he chose to privilege winning in life over doing the right thing, you know?"

"Did he ever question the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked. Renzhi snorted.

"All the damn time. Just, not in the way that wasn't convenient for the Fire Lord," he said. "He always stopped short right before reaching the right conclusions, you know? I kept telling him: what's the point in following a leader who believes in destroying everything you are? He'd just give me the same trite answers all the Fire Lord's sycophants would. Didn't really matter how many times I said the shit he'd faced could have been prevented if the Fire Lord were better to people like him, so clearly, means he doesn't want to be better! And Aonu just… kept trying to find a way to earn his respect. Thought that was the answer. The gullible fool."

"Did you tell him to join you, when you left?" Sokka asked. "Maybe… losing a friend could have made him rethink some things."

"Eh, didn't seem like it," Renzhi shrugged. "He didn't fight me over it. Just seemed… resigned, I guess, once I made it clear I wasn't sticking around anymore. So now… seems like the two of us are off to face our sponsors once we ride into battle, huh?"

"Guess it's the worst challenge of all. He was your friend, even if you think he was a gullible fool… wasn't he?" Sokka asked.

"Oh, he was. Strange, how someone with that kind of weird thought system would still be one of the best friends I ever had," Renzhi laughed. "Guess we saw each other clearly somehow. Must be because we were each other's inverse, you know? If I'd been born in his place, and he in mine… would've been a lot easier for me to be a Fire Nation warmonger, with this kind of power, and for him to be a rebel, with his. But… life's never that easy, huh?"

"Not for the likes of us," Sokka said, mournfully. "We'll turn things around. You'll have a chance to give him a piece of your mind properly. Snap him out of it and make him see that he should want no part in Ozai's war. I… I'll do the same with Azula. No matter what it takes."

"I wonder who's going to have a harder challenge. Who's got the more stubborn sponsor?" he said, with a chuckle. "Well, whatever comes out of it… I look forward to charging into battle under your command, boss."

"It's still a little strange for you to call me that… but I guess I'll take it. For now, anyway," Sokka said, with a crooked smile. Renzhi laughed openly.

Midnight had already drifted by them by then: now with his newfound peace, Sokka suspected he should simply rest for the rest of the night… but just as he was making up his mind to fetch the bedroll the Fazhan gladiators had prepared for him, a loud roar in the distance startled him: he knew that voice all too well…

"Huh? That fast?" he frowned, turning towards the dark ocean to the east again.

"What's that? A dragon?" asked Renzhi. Sokka shook his head.

"A sky bison."

It was difficult to glimpse him in the dark, but Appa certainly was flying in the distance, somewhere. Sokka swallowed hard, guessing the other ships had reached the White Lotus after all. Surely Aang, Katara, and who knew if some other members of the group, had rushed in to find him…

"Can you shoot fire upwards? As a signal?" Sokka asked. Renzhi raised his eyebrows.

"Guess that bison is a friend of yours?" he asked. Sokka smiled and nodded.

"Him and the people riding him," he confirmed. Renzhi chuckled.

"You make the weirdest friendships, boss," he declared before raising his fist into the sky to do as Sokka had asked of him.

Deeper into the ocean, Aang and Katara watched the dark water frantically, unsure of where to find signs of the shipwreck, if any were still left… when Katara gasped, glimpsing the bursts of flames, further into the ocean.

"That… that looks like a signal. I mean, I don't know if it's Sokka! But…" Katara looked at Aang with uncertainty: he frowned and nodded.

"We'll deal with it, if it's not. But we have to find out," he agreed. Katara squeezed his arm tight, sitting beside him by Appa's neck, as the bison sped up further.

She had spent the entire day in near agony, fearful for her brother's fate… it didn't make a lot of sense for a firebender to signal them, though. Maybe it was an enemy who had actually captured Sokka, and this was a ransom demand. Maybe they didn't have Sokka at all, and they were merely luring them in. It could be just about anything… and Katara didn't know if she was ready to face it, truthfully. If her brother was in danger, if he had been killed… she might just carry out the final stretch of his campaign as violently as possible, avenging him fiercely, just as she might crumble and be unable to move an inch if her brother was gone. She had already been through this once before, she couldn't face it again. She couldn't stand the thought of losing him again, she couldn't…

Appa approached the island by then: it looked like a broad plateau, solid rock that sank into the ocean. They had been told about the Black Cliffs before, but neither one evoked its name at all as they finally approached the source of the firebending…

To find a tall, sturdy, unfamiliar man with a mask over his face… and Sokka smiling beside him, waving guiltily.

"You… you're okay? You're okay?! Sokka, you blasted…!" Katara exclaimed: she rushed from worried to outraged in a matter of seconds, leaping off Appa's neck to hug her brother, first… then, to punch his arm fiercely. "I was worried sick, and you were just…!"

"Hey, hey, hey… you have no idea what I've been through today," Sokka said, poking his sister's forehead. "If you thought I'd almost died? You had that part right. You just have no idea what came later."

"You… you really were in trouble?" Aang asked, descending once Appa landed safely. "What happened? Why…?"

"Azula happened," Sokka said, his voice grave… but he no longer hid away from the truth, even if it shocked both Aang and Katara as deeply as it did. "I saw her ship. The Royal Barge. I tried to give it chase, hoping she'd be there, delusionally assuming that, if she was, I'd be able to recruit her, or at least ensure that she wasn't in the way when I went to fight her father, you know? Of course… didn't work out as well as that."

"Why?" Katara scowled. "Didn't she know it was you?"

"Don't know. Might have suspected it. Maybe it didn't matter," Sokka said. Katara's jaw dropped. "And no, I don't mean that it didn't matter because I don't matter to her, at least… I hope that's not it. But she probably had to defend her ships anyway, and she damn near killed me to do so, yep."

"She… she's out of her mind," Katara scowled. "How could she…? Sokka, I know you want to think of this as positively as possible, but…!"

"Honestly… I'm not clinging to the best-case scenario anymore, Katara," Sokka said. Katara frowned.

"You're… not?"

"I will fight this war to the end," Sokka said, his voice serene, grave… deep, and pained. "Even if she stands against me… I have to keep going. I have to fight. She's not going to save herself, she's proven it thus far… so if she hates me for everything I've done, so be it. If she'll fight me until the last moment, so be it. I'm not making excuses for anything else anymore. I'm fighting on… I have to. It's what I know I must do. I'm the Gladiator… and I haven't come this far to falter, not even if she's determined to be my enemy."

Katara blinked blankly, startled by his declaration: beside him, Renzhi nodded proudly. The gesture earned him Katara's attention.

"You… you singlehandedly got him to that conclusion? Who… exactly are you, actually?" she said.

"Oh, uh, sorry. Should've introduced you all," Sokka smiled awkwardly. "Katara, Aang, this is Renzhi. The Millennium Dragon."

"Good to meet you, whoever you are!" Renzhi waved proudly. Katara and Aang's jaws dropped.

"Renzhi, these are Katara, my sister, and Aang, the Avatar," Sokka finished. Renzhi laughed.

"A sister! Didn't know you had a… an Avatar? Avatar? What, is that his gladiator name?" Renzhi blinked blankly, his attention shifting towards Aang. The Avatar laughed, shaking his head.

"N-no, but… we'd definitely heard more of you than you'd heard of us," Aang said, biting his lip. "I'm the actual Avatar, and you're… one of the strongest gladiators out there? You… you just live here?"

"Me and a bunch of others, too. About three hundred or more, I think," Renzhi grinned: again, both Aang and Katara were stumped into silence.

"You guys remember that some gladiators were… well, missing?" Sokka asked. They nodded slowly. "Well. Seems like most of them were here, if not all of them."

"And now we answer to the Blue Wolf!" Renzhi smiled proudly. "We're joining him in the Capital when he beats up the Fire Lord. Promised thing!"

"Wait… w-wait, what?! You just… recruited a bunch of people, I mean, a lot of powerful gladiators, fresh out of… what, a shipwreck?" Katara glanced between both Sokka and Renzhi, utterly confused.

"You've got a crazy brother there! If you didn't know that before, you sure know now!"

"Well, I did know that, I just… never imagined the craziness would look like this," Katara admitted, eyes wide. Sokka smiled and shrugged. "Are you okay, though? You sure you can handle what's going on, Sokka? Because…"

"It's my worst-case scenario?" Sokka finished. Katara gritted her teeth. "I know. It's… it's distressing even if I'm… trying to stand my ground against it. I'd never choose this path if I had a choice. I never wanted to. But she has chosen it for me, and if I back down now, everything I've done will have been for nothing. If the Azula I know and love is still there? She will understand that. Worse yet… she might even be banking on that. She wanted me to be strong, she believed in my potential… most times it felt like she was ten steps ahead of me and seeing a broad picture of which I'd barely made out the first paint strokes. Maybe that's the case now, too."

"And what are you going to do if it's not?" Aang asked, uneasy.

Sokka breathed deeply and sighed. He raised a tight fist… a hand strong enough to change the fate of this world, or so he hoped.

"Then it'll be up to me to make her open her eyes to her own potential. Just as she did it for me once," Sokka said. Both Aang and Katara froze. "If I have to defeat her, just as she defeated me countless times… then I'll turn that into a new starting point for us. It's my turn to be the one to dictate our fate… I'm not going to waste it."

"So… you're not giving up on her," Katara concluded.

"Sorry to disappoint," Sokka said. Katara scoffed.

"I… I should be disappointed. Somehow… I'm not. It's more like… you wouldn't be you if you'd ever choose to abandon her for good," Katara said. Sokka chuckled. "When you came home, I felt like you weren't the brother I knew, and I blamed her for that. But… if you turned your back on her now, it'd be even more unfathomable than that, somehow. I don't know if it makes sense to you, but…"

"It does," Sokka said, nodding. "I'm sorry for the trouble I put you guys through… we can keep Appa fed here, though. As for the others, I sent a hawk with a message so you'd know I was here and so that the army would mobilize to the Black Cliffs…?"

"Eh, the bird and us must have crossed paths," Aang grimaced. Sokka sighed.

"No big deal if that's what happened. We just… wait. We prepare ourselves for the future… and we wait."

Sokka sighed, turning towards the Fire Nation anew. The Great Gates, their network of chains aflame, greeted him from a distance. His heart ached, as good as quaked, as he allowed himself the thought he had barely been able to fathom: Azula was there. The mistakes she had made, the wrongness of her actions… they weighed heavily on him, but he would finally be able to learn the truth about it all. He'd finally have a chance to set things right. To understand… to unravel the web of chaos the woman he loved appeared to be entirely bound by. If he had to save her even from herself, he certainly would try: she had done the same for him far more times than he could count.

Soon enough, they would be reunited. They had been apart for far too long. The damage she had suffered might just have changed her far more deeply than he wanted to fathom. Perhaps they wouldn't be each other's future, in the end, perhaps by her choice, by her design… he certainly couldn't force her into anything she didn't want to do. But he wouldn't stand idly by either, watching her collapse under the weight of the world she had chosen to shoulder. The guilt that no doubt tormented her, that she would endure for as long as she might live… it wouldn't matter, much as it didn't to him, whether they were the direct culprits of any crime, if they had facilitated it, willingly or not. The deaths his actions had caused would never truly leave Sokka… but he had learned to bear with that pain, and he suspected Azula didn't know how to handle her own.

He'd have to step in somehow… to fight for her, just as he always had meant to. Ozai had caused no end of damage, and he was the one who had to pay for it. Sokka's promise to Ursa, he knew, would need to go undone: if Zuko failed to deliver the killing blow, Sokka would certainly be ready to do it himself. His sword had cut through more than enough people whose lives hadn't needed to expire quite so quickly… whereas Ozai had long overstayed his welcome. Whatever this game of sins, forgiveness, and remorse might amount to, ultimately, the cycle would not break until the bastard at its head was gone…

And just as he would see Azula again soon, he would face Ozai as well, when the time came.

His heart thrummed with a violent determination, urging him to rise to the occasion he had built with his own hands, with the choices that had brought the world to this last standstill right before the battle that would change their destiny… in which he was finally ready to embrace his leadership and fully embody what it meant to be the Gladiator.


The sudden knock, shortly before dawn, would have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been so loud: the house's occupants rushed downstairs, nervously, and even the young boy who usually would sleep through storms without a hitch now waited by the top of the stairs, as his parents reached the vestibule, then the front door…

Mai gasped once Ruon Jian opened the door, finding a less unsettling group behind it than whatever she had been expecting. The Fire Lord's wrath was unpredictable… it could have arrived in any shape or form, at any point in time. But it wasn't him, not this time…

The Imperial Guard knocking was Renkai, as usual: another one stood behind the rest of the group, his posture different from that of the typical one for firebending soldiers. Between them, Song, Rei… and unsurprisingly, Azula: Hotaru nestled in her arms.

"We're sorry to wake your household so abruptly," Renkai said. Mai tensed up.

"What? Azula…" Mai frowned, stepping across the threshold: Azula stepped forward.

"I'll explain everything inside, if you can help us now," Azula said, darkly. "If not, we have to move on elsewhere and we don't have the time. I need Song, Rei, Hotaru and Anorak to stay here, with you, for the foreseeable future. Can you handle that, Mai?"

Mai frowned: she hadn't even known Azula was in the city again. All rumors about what she had done in Yu Dao suggested that the Princess had dealt the enemy the first true defeat they had faced so far. She should have been welcomed home as a hero, if anything… but the disposition Azula displayed right now suggested anything but that.

But Mai had made promises to Azula long ago, and as confused as she might be now, she wasn't about to bail on her friend when she needed her the most.

"Come inside. All of you," she said, stepping aside. Azula sighed in relief. "Are you being followed?"

"Not this time. Not by any firebenders, at least," Azula said, stepping aside as well so that a distraught Rei, and a grateful but sad Song, entered Mai's house first.

"We'll get everything in the tunnels," Renkai told Anorak, who nodded. Mai scowled in his direction.

"What's this?" she asked, pointing to Anorak. "A new guard?"

"No: an ally concealed as a guard," Azula said. Mai's lips parted, perplexed. "I'll explain everything shortly. They might be bringing too much luggage… if that's the case, feel free to keep the least important things tucked inside the tunnels anyway. Just…"

"Get everything. We'll make room," Mai countered her order, looking at Renkai now. He nodded, reeling Anorak to work quickly.

Azula sighed, squeezing Hotaru, who whimpered sightly, restless and eager to discover the world around her. She couldn't even raise her guilt-ridden eyes to meet Mai's… so, instead, she opted towards bowing her head towards a startled Ruon Jian.

"I'm sorry for burdening the both of you this way. I appreciate your generosity by hosting them, regardless," Azula said, her voice muted. Mai frowned.

"You don't need to apologize," she said. "But I don't like the way you're acting. This is… unsettling, Azula. I've volunteered to help you all along, of course I have, but whatever you're doing doesn't exactly warrant… this. Whatever it is."

She gestured at Azula's face. The Princess's vacant eyes, the bags underneath them, the paleness of her features… Mai scowled at the sight of them.

"You're going to tell me what's going on. At least, while everyone else is setting up and bringing all the luggage in. Understood?"

"Right," Azula said, softly. "If… if that's the sole condition so everyone can stay, then… fine by me."

It was no condition, in truth: Mai had simply spoken the words harshly out of fear that Azula would respond to nothing else. She frowned as the Princess sighed, stepping towards Song – Rei was hugging Yuudai, who appeared to be the only person in the house incapable of understanding that something troubling was happening at the moment, and so, the only one cheerful upon seeing the visitors anew.

"Please…" Azula said. Song nodded solemnly.

"Go. I'll keep an eye out in case anything happens to Renkai and Anorak, but… they should be fine," she said, reassuringly. Azula nodded.

Mobilizing all the luggage hadn't taken as long as Azula had feared it might. Nevertheless, they had spent well over half the night doing that, and everyone was evidently exhausted. The Princess's features never had seemed to contradict the gold of her attire as starkly as they did right now.

Mai grabbed her by the forearm, reeling her into the house's inner garden. She closed the door behind herself, shooting a threatening glare at her servants for good measure – they winced, having woken over the noise too, knowing better than to pry when something they didn't understand was unfolding before their eyes.

With that, though, she turned to Azula with a firm scowl.

"What happened?" she asked. "Why are you here now? I thought you'd won in Yu Dao, I didn't even hear that you'd be coming home…"

"I won. Doesn't change that the war's lost," Azula said. Mai's eyes widened. "Mai… he's coming."

"He?" she repeated. "Sokka? Is… is that such a bad thing? I thought you would want him to…"

"I want him to come. I want him to arrive and put an end to my father's reign," Azula said, her voice mournful, if sincere. Mai frowned. "And I intend to go down with it, too."

"You… what?" Mai's eyes widened. "Are you out of your mind? Azula…!"

"I've done things that cannot be forgiven, more than you'd ever believe…" Azula said, with a weak smile. "Things you'll never see the way I see, because… you've never had to live with this kind of guilt, Mai, and I hope you never do."

"If you explained whatever the hell you're talking about, maybe I could empathize with your situation," Mai scoffed. "Sufficiently as to understand how you've grown so convinced of your eventual death. Especially when the man who loves you beyond belief is coming your way…!"

"I'm responsible for the outcome of the battle in the North Pole," Azula said. Mai frowned. "Every dead soldier up there is on my head. Every dead warrior of the Water Tribe, too. Every single lost soul is gone because I condemned them to my father's wrath. Because I pointed him that way. The Northern Air Temple, the terror those refugees felt, when they had helped me in the past? My fault, too. Yu Dao? I killed waterbenders myself, Mai. I slaughtered them with lightning, wiht no mercy. I commanded every bomb volley that set that vegetation on fire. And then I added my own fire… to the flames that damn near killed Sokka when he gave me chase across the ocean. If you're about to tell me to stop fretting, when the death toll I've racked up without meaning to only keeps increasing? I don't think I want to hear it, Mai. I just… I just want to do one damn thing right, for once."

"And how exactly are you going about doing that?" Mai scowled.

"I brought them here. To you. You'll be able to protect them, escape to your aunt's place if you have the chance, as we agreed," Azula swallowed hard. "Try to go soon. Anorak will join you, he'll help keep you safe. Call Ty Lee as well, have her and Haru join you…"

"What is this madness?" Mai's eyes widened. Azula shook her head. "He's not going to…!"

"He's not alone, Mai," Azula said, firmly. "If there are others with him who are fine with child murder, what will it matter, if he's not? If there are others who will take one look at the civilians in this city and decide they're the perfect equivalent trade for all those lives my father has been responsible for snuffing out so far? This is the exact war we've been bringing to the rest of the world for all these years: this is what we've subjecting all other nations to, not just the one time, as we're facing it now, but constantly, for a hundred years. The compassion of one enemy soldier might save a handful of lives while hundreds and thousands die beyond that compassionate person's reach."

"And you're just going to wait for this to happen? You're not going to fight back, tell Sokka to reel in his new allies and stop them from killing half your nation?" Mai asked. "Azula, if they'll ever listen to someone, it'd be you…"

"Would they? Would he? Should he, after what I've told you I've done?" Azula asked. Mai tensed up. "Not to mention… do you really expect that anything I have to say would give them pause? That they would withdraw their weapons and reel back their bending just because I pleaded for compassion? Because I begged them for mercy? Because I promised not to keep going, maybe? Why… I'm afraid that, with my grand reputation as a betrayer, deceiver, and all-around false bitch, I most likely would only earn their wrath instead."

"But you could still try…!"

"I might," Azula said. Mai froze. "I won't be staying here with everyone. I'll go back to my father, back to the Palace, and help him organize defenses. If all fails, I truly might just have the chance to beg for mercy indeed. But if it's not granted to me? I won't have any of you in danger. That's why I'm here now. The things I've done had a purpose: keeping all of you safe. I refuse to damn the rest of you with me."

Mai's eyes widened. Azula's determination would have been welcome in any circumstances but these.

"You… would ask for mercy?" she inquired. Azula gritted her teeth. "Or are you just saying that to appease me? Because so far, Azula, it sounds like you're just getting ready to die out there. Like that's all you're expecting to happen. Am I wrong?"

"You're not."

She expected more reluctance to admit it. It wasn't so much that Azula hadn't internalized the truth of what she was doing, Mai realized… the reluctance was merely about conveying that truth to others. To those who cared about her.

"You're out of your mind if you expect him to let you die just like that," Mai said, frowning. "But I suppose I'll be vindicated once he doesn't."

"You would be. For however short-lived my survival might be," Azula said. Mai scoffed. "If I lived on, it would be behind bars, in chains, in servitude, I… I don't even know. Whatever they do to me won't be enough to make up for the lives I've destroyed. And if you wish to prioritize my life over theirs, I advise that you think twice of it. I'm not worth all the grief I've caused, all the misery I've stirred up, no matter how unwillingly I may have gone about it."

"That'd be a perfect argument to use… if you were nobody," Mai hissed. "Or if I weren't a Fire Nation citizen. But I am. And you're the Princess. Mind you, I've been taught all my life that you were born into importance you never chose for yourself, and that most people can only dream of. Like it or not, everyone around you will think you matter. Your enemies will, too. As for whether Sokka is friend or foe for you anymore… it's hard to fathom that he could be a foe at all, but he still wouldn't want you dead even if he were."

"Well, he should. For his own damn sake, he should," Azula snarled. "I've done nothing but cause him grief and trouble I was not worth. The only reason why I haven't done anything final about myself, across this past year, is because I had people to protect. What I'm doing now is meant to ensure that all of you will be safe. I'm not asking something easy of you, Mai, I know I'm not… but I need you to be ready to take everyone and leave the city if things get out of hand, which they likely will. Rally up everyone you value. Have Haru dig new tunnels that take you far away from here, once the city is evacuated underground over the upcoming battle. And once you do that… wait until it's safe. Approach Sokka again, with Anorak… with Hotaru. Bring her to him. Rei has… my final letter for him."

"So… knowing that others will protect your loved ones is enough now?" Mai said, trembling. "Doesn't matter if we want you around, if we'll miss you, if we need you…?"

"You'll learn to get by without me," Azula said, softly. Mai scoffed. "I know it sounds absurd… I know you want to show me I'm wrong, you always do, but can you truly justify saving my life at all costs? Have you pondered what that would mean?"

"Have you considered that I'm selfish enough not to care for the implications?" Mai said. "You matter to me, to all of us. Just as you were hellbent on keeping us safe, we'd do the same for you. The only reason why you get away with this is because… because you know we have no power to force you to do anything you don't want to. And you're making the most of that."

"You said… you've been raised to treat me and my family as more valuable than yourself," Azula whispered. "As though we were the greatest priorities any Fire Nation citizen ought to have. We're voices of authority, aren't we? If that's how it is, you're supposed to listen to me. To do as I say. If you'll make me command you as Princess of the Fire Nation, I will."

"And what if I'd rather not listen?" Mai huffed. Azula smiled.

"Then you'd prove you're not someone who would blindly and carelessly follow the ruling family's demands. Which means that, regardless of how you were raised, you can make choices that go against that upbringing."

"Such as letting you kill yourself out there," Mai scowled. "Or try to. Azula… just stay here. Just stay with your daughters. What exactly is stopping you?"

"Running away from the consequences of my actions does not befit me. Not as much as you might wish it did," Azula said, darkly. Mai scoffed. "What, exactly, do you think would happen next? The White Lotus would hunt us down, and I'd be the surviving member of a fallen administration of the Fire Nation left to answer for all the shit my father pulled. Whether I was a willing accomplice or not wouldn't matter to most of them. I'd be banking on Sokka's charity to survive that with the lesser punishment possible… and what for? So I can spend my life behind bars, unable to raise my children anyway? So I can never witness the new world that will be built on the wake of my father's fall?"

"It doesn't have to be that way," Mai said. Azula nodded.

"No: it won't be if I don't run away. Like you said… if Sokka will spare me, if he will fight for me even if I don't deserve it? He'll do it whether I'm in that battlefield or if I'm hiding away with the rest of you. But I will be nothing but proof of the spinelessness of my family's legacy if I just hide from every damn mistake I've ever made. If my father had never called me in for that war meeting? If he had never involved me in the war again, I… I could very well hide with all of you. I would still feel guilt over so many things I've done wrong… but I might just feel worthier of surviving past this battle than I do right now. I've cast my lot with my father, whether I should or shouldn't have… I've sentenced myself to this fate. Running from it will only make me all the more deserving of what's coming."

Mai shook her head… but the emotion across her features gave away that she hardly knew how to continue contesting Azula's words. The Princess watched her, eyes narrow, awaiting a new protest, but none came. Mai sighed, lifting her gaze to meet hers.

"You… you can't leave without saying goodbye to Ty Lee."

That wasn't the response Azula had braced herself for. She crooked an eyebrow, and Mai clenched her fists, shaking her head.

"I don't agree with this. I don't like this. I hate that you're so determined to believe yourself worthless, and deserving of all the misery your father has inflicted upon you," Mai said. "But… maybe you have a point. Maybe… maybe you wouldn't be the Azula we want to keep safe if you just behaved yourself and hid away with everyone instead of running headfirst into danger. But… I just wish you would be fighting for what you actually believe in. That you wouldn't sacrifice yourself for a cause that isn't yours and hasn't been, not for a long time."

"I'm afraid I forced myself into that position when I came back here," Azula said, with downcast eyes. "If I'd just stayed with him when we left… maybe I would have a different, less miserable fate ahead. I might just be fighting by his side, even, to break all of you free. But for now…"

"Are you going to try to… to help him win, somehow?" Mai asked. "To stand aside so he can succeed?"

"What a sorry excuse for a Fire Nation Princess I'd be, if I did that," Azula said, with a sigh. "I'll do my best to minimize the necessary fighting. But I will fight, if there's no other way out. I will stand before my forces, and hope that they will surrender peacefully, should I go down, as I most likely will…"

"They'll want to fight for you. If you fall before their eyes… there's nothing they wouldn't do to fight for you," Mai said. Azula smiled sadly.

"Guess we're all twisted in this nation. Devoted to the wrong causes, the wrong people… always ready to put our lives in the line for those who don't deserve it. I'm no better than that, with my father…"

"If this is what you want… the future we'll face? Hopefully Zuko will make it better than you expect, once he's Fire Lord," Mai said: Azula's heart clenched upon hearing those words. "It'd have to be him… if it isn't you."

"If it is him… please watch over him however you can. As strong-willed as my brother may be, understanding politics has never been his forte," Azula said. Mai sighed.

"It feels wrong, agreeing to that. No matter if I think he'd be a fine Fire Lord if you can't be, I… I would rather he weren't one if it's only happening because you…"

Mai didn't say the word. She snarled, instead, frustrated with herself, with the circumstances… Azula sighed, stepping forward and clasping her shoulder kindly, but firmly.

"You'll live in a worthier world than the one we've known thus far. Don't shy away from it. Don't run away from it. Don't resent it just because I won't be there too. Changing the world isn't less worthwhile because of me… it never was about me, to begin with."

"I have the feeling Sokka will disagree with that notion," Mai said. Azula sighed.

"If he proves you right, feel free to mock me, whether to my face or in spirit, depending on how things turn out. But… he shouldn't disagree with it anyway. Not after the things I've done," Azula whispered. Mai sighed.

"You did it under duress… so fuck anyone who pretends you were willing to support your father without any coercion. You weren't."

"Doesn't change the reality of the things I've done," Azula sighed. "I would be no more merciful to anyone in my position than the White Lotus are bound to be with me.

Mai sighed. She stared down Azula, hard, for a long moment. Then, she shook her head before shoving off Azula's hand.

"Don't even think about going anywhere until I'm back," she said, walking past Azula. The Princess raised an eyebrow. "I'll find Ty Lee. You're not doing anything until she's had her say."

"You know she won't change my mind either," Azula said. Mai scoffed.

"Of course I know. Doesn't change mine about finding her and making sure she can say goodbye to you. Whether it's a long-term thing or a brief one, doesn't matter," Mai said, her voice cold, even if it trembled with emotion. Azula gritted her teeth but nodded.

"Fine. Go. I… I have until noon anyhow."

"Good. I'll be back before then," Mai sighed, shaking her head and marching out of the inner garden.

Azula swallowed hard. Somehow, this was much easier in her mind than it was turning out to be in reality. Arguing against Mai was never easy, but Mai's surrender, her submission, her relenting, hurt more than she expected. Azula could see just how badly it affected her friend to know that she would soon face perils beyond anything she had confronted before. The last thing Azula could have ever wished to do was cause her loved ones any grief or anguish… but it appeared that she was fated to do exactly that these days. It was not the way she would have preferred to see her life draw to a close… but she sighed, knowing her chances to choose a different fate had all run past her.

She knew it was her fault. She knew her errors of judgment had brought her here. She had been blinded by emotion, by undeserved loyalties she owed to the wrong people. By her wishfulness, at times, by her naivety, at others. She had failed to trust the man she loved to fix this mess… and now he proved he always had it in him to rise higher than anyone else in their world ever had. If only she had stayed with him… if only she had set aside her pride, if just for a moment, her assumption that only she knew the right answer out of any ordeal, perhaps they would indeed fight side by side now, saving the world from her father's cruelty…

But if she had stayed, Ozai would have unleashed the full force of his army upon the South Pole. If she had trusted Sokka to handle it while she convalesced in the early days of her pregnancy, she would have caused him undue stress along with everything else he already would have had to contend with. The Water Tribe might have been better defended than it appeared to be… but could it field the assault of Fire Nation airships, accompanying the naval forces? The North had nearly been annihilated by Zhao's wretched plans. Would the South have fared any better, if they had been assaulted by a larger number of ships?

If they had survived, the White Lotus would have refused to broker a pact with her. She, too, would have refused to bargain with the man who had caused her downfall through his deceitfulness, along with the one who nearly had killed Sokka in what still remained one of the darkest nights of her life, if no longer the darkest one altogether. She might just have argued against the alliance Sokka's entire war was staked on… they, too, would have likely refused to trust her out of principle. She would have made his journey all the harder just for being there… at least, it was easy to imagine she would have.

And perhaps all of that would have been fine, provided they stayed together. Perhaps the hardships would have been bearable, so long as it was the two of them, fighting side by side… but what if they weren't? What if their strong bond fell apart when Sokka made the hard decisions she couldn't avow? Decisions to strike at the Fire Nation, to endanger their civilians, to tear apart their colonies and cities to show Ozai he would never win… She snarled at that thought. At standing by as Fire Nation people begged her to save them… as she betrayed them, by all effects, as far as they were concerned.

Life on the other side would be no easier… for no matter what she chose, she would betray an aspect of herself, tearing her own soul apart out of her inability to conciliate her impulses, what her heart yearned for, her responsibilities, her burdens. There was but one thing in this world that contained both her devotion to Sokka, and to her nation, in a perfect, peaceful balance…

She sighed as she marched out of the room as well, following the voices of Rei and Yuudai. The girl appeared to be trying to mask how distraught she felt, and she gazed at Azula in grateful wonderment once she entered the room. The boy looked at her too, a little apprehensive to continue their conversation, even though Azula wasn't paying attention.

"Don't mind me," she said, softly… approaching the bassinet in which her baby nestled now.

Rei watched her, eyes tearful, as Azula leaned down to pick up the awake, restless and bored Hotaru. The child squealed when her mother took her into her arms, fully trusting of Azula's strength, of Azula's embrace…

The Princess sat on a chair, holding the girl tightly against her chest, face pressed to Hotaru's dark hair. Her lips brushed against Hotaru's brow multiple times, as she cherished the child, and everything she embodied, more vividly than ever.

She could have spoken, for she had countless things to say. But for now, she chose, instead, to sing. To offer a small, soothing song for her child, of the sorts she had typically refused to sing for the baby's father. She sang, and she would continue doing so until Mai and Ty Lee arrived. By then… she would say goodbye. The thought of leaving Hotaru with no memory of her, no reminder of kindness, pained her… but surely she would forget this, she was a child after all, far too young to truly create or retain specific memories…

But that didn't stop Azula. It couldn't. Her heart demanded that she tried… that she sought to settle her daughter's confusion, that she calmed her young soul, that she offered her a song about hope, about a brighter tomorrow, even if it was one Azula would not be likely to live long enough to see for herself.

After a while, Rei ushered Yuudai to go help in the kitchen. She made her way to Azula, taking her seat beside her before wrapping her in a tight embrace, along with Hotaru. The Princess sighed, letting her head rest on her daughter's shoulder, allowing her to comfort her, to ease her sorrows, however briefly as she might do so. They shared no words, for none needed to be spoken: it was a gentle embrace, for every instant spent together was one more moment to value, to treasure, before the last inevitably arrived.

Within a little over half an hour, though, Mai returned: the sounds by the vestibule gave away that she had delivered on her promise, and Azula sighed as she pulled back from Rei's arms.

"Can you hold her for now?" she asked, offering Hotaru to her older sister. Rei nodded.

"Anytime," she said, softly. Azula smiled and kissed her brow.

"Thank you, Rei."

Azula rose to her feet, somber and uncertain. She could hear Ty Lee's voice, the urgency with which she spoke proving she had been briefed on Azula's latest ordeals. The Princess stepped out into the corridor, and she found her friends standing by the front door, their voices shaking with emotion… until Ty Lee's gaze fell upon her.

Azula had only taken a couple of uneasy steps towards her when her friend sobbed, tears spilling down her cheeks before she broke into a sprint indoors: normally, either Azula or Mai would have chided her for behaving that way, but not this time. Not today. Instead, when Azula hugged her back, it was the tightest embrace she had ever offered Ty Lee.

"Azula…!" Ty Lee sobbed. "M-Mai told me, b-but…! Azula, please…!"

"I'm sorry," was the best the Princess could give her: a response of that nature only warranted more sobbing.

Mai sighed, stepping closer. Haru, too, was there, to Azula's surprise. He appeared tired, and his downcast eyes fell upon her with no end of remorse and compassion. Even so, he kept his distance, allowing his wife to share that final moment with her childhood friend.

"I-I can't… c-can't believe there's no other way, you…! Y-you're just being stubborn, I bet, and…! And Sokka's going to…! I mean, I don't know, but I think he's not going to hurt you and then…! T-then you'll just feel silly for making us worry, you'll see…!"

"Oh, Ty Lee," Azula sighed, as her friend's shoulders shook with another sob.

"I've told her that already, in my own way. She's still hellbent on going forward with this, though," Mai whispered. Ty Lee sobbed again as she pulled back, her cheeks red, same as her eyes.

"You're just impossible, Azula… you always have to go and take the worst way into and out of everything," Ty Lee whimpered. "And then it somehow ends up being better somehow, o-or your reasons end up making sense one day, b-but…! This isn't fair. It just isn't… it's never going to be! You deserve better than to run into danger like this, t-than to lead the Fire Lord's forces…! He should do it himself! You should just stay with us…! Y-you should stay with us. Please…"

No amount of pleading could change Azula's mind: it wasn't only Ty Lee, for Mai had done it briefly beforehand. Song and Rei hadn't so much as tried, already aware of what the result of that particular discussion would be… Azula had regarded this as her inevitable fate since the war meeting in which she had aided her father for the first time since being torn away from Sokka. No incentives, no persuasive arguments, could change her heart anymore.

"On your wedding day… you said you were grateful to have chosen us to be your friends, didn't you, Ty Lee?" Azula whispered. "On our first day of school. You…"

"O-of course I did… of course I am," Ty Lee sobbed. Azula smiled.

"Then I guess today's the day when I… when I say that I'm grateful, and lucky, that you chose us as you did. As miserable as my life has been on many accounts… the two of you made my childhood so much better than it would have been otherwise. Than it had been, right until I met you."

She looked at Mai too, who appeared to scowl with frustration… even if tears blinked in the corners of her eyes. Azula sighed compassionately.

"I never meant to put you through this kind of ordeal. I… wanted to be the reliable one, rather than the one who relies on others," she said. "If… if I'd made better choices, maybe I wouldn't have to put so much on your shoulders now, but…"

"Azula, you could put a mountain on our shoulders, and we'd carry it wherever you wanted us to," Mai huffed. "Though… not without complaining, I certainly would complain the whole way through, but…"

"I'd deserve the complaints if I put that on you," Azula smiled sadly.

"It's not that we wouldn't want to do whatever you ask of us, Azula…" Ty Lee whimpered. "But… I can't stand to think that this could be the last time we ever…"

She sobbed and dropped against Azula's shoulder again. The Princess sighed, patting her back kindly.

"I… I forgive you."

Ty Lee's sudden statement caught Azula off-guard. Mai, too. The Princess raised an eyebrow.

"For… what I'm doing? Or are you talking about something else?"

"Y-you… you stole my bowl of mochi. That time. I know you did. You said you hadn't, but I know…" Ty Lee said: Azula's eyes widened, and Mai covered her mouth with a hand as she snorted. "You remember! I'm sure you remember…!"

"Y-you mean, when we were ten…?" Azula asked, with an awkward smile. Ty Lee gasped and pulled back, tears still spilling down her face.

"So, you DO remember!" she said, with another sob. "W-well…! You're forgiven for that, so see? Y-you can just… stay with us because I'm not mad at you for that anymore. For eating them, or lying, or…"

"I…" Azula started, but she couldn't hold back an unexpected burst of laughter at Ty Lee's sentence. Mai, too, laughed with shaking shoulders as Ty Lee's own shook with sobs instead.

"See? I… I forgave you! I did!" Ty Lee whimpered.

"It really doesn't sound like you did," Mai chuckled. Ty Lee scoffed at her.

"I said I did!" she insisted.

"You're trying to tell me that… t-that over the course of the past sixteen years or so, you've held a grudge on me for my lies over your mochi bowl?" Azula repeated. Ty Lee's cheeks flushed, though not so much due to her crying anymore. "You mean that… for all this time you've been punishing me for it? How, exactly, were you ever…?"

"I mean…! I forgot about it often, okay? I did!" Ty Lee confessed: both Azula and Mai laughed again. "But sometimes I'd think about it! Less often as time went by, sure, but… b-but I'm just saying stuff like that doesn't matter anymore, okay! S-so…"

"If that's truly the case, well… thank you. And I'm sorry, yes, evidently, I did eat your mochi that time, but…"

"I KNEW IT!"

The new burst of laughter that shook the corridor seemed entirely out of place, perhaps because Mai's voice, out of the three of them, was the loudest. Azula shrank away from an upset Ty Lee, though what upset her was harder to ascertain by now.

"You totally ate it, and you said you didn't and you had TWICE the mochi that I did and…! Azula, that's not just rude, it's very unhealthy! How did you not put on weight after that?! I bet you did! You just tightened your belt so nobody would notice, but I bet…!"

Ty Lee had to shut up, though, once Mai wrapped an arm over her shoulders, the other over Azula's. Pouting, Ty Lee's chin landed on Azula's shoulder over the group hug Mai instigated between them as the Princess and Mai continued to chuckle at her outrage.

"Y-you have to survive that mess now. To make up for my mochi…" Ty Lee mumbled.

"Didn't you say you'd forgiven me?" Azula asked, amused.

"I changed my mind," Ty Lee pouted.

"You two… you're a pair of idiots, you know that?" Mai laughed, pressing her brow to Azula's temple. Azula couldn't seem to hold back a heartfelt, if melancholic smile. "And you always have been."

"At least we made you laugh. At times. Such as this time," Azula pointed out. Mai smiled.

"Don't think I'd ever heard Mai laugh that hard, to be honest…" Ty Lee mentioned. Azula chuckled, shaking her head. "But I wasn't even trying to be funny…"

"That's probably why it was," Azula determined. Ty Lee groaned, shaking her head and hugging them both tighter still.

"Well… you're an idiot too, Mai! So, it's not just me and Azula!" Ty Lee exclaimed. Mai laughed, shaking her head.

"Sounds like it's our time to be completely honest about everything we've been waiting to say, huh?" Mai said, before nudging Azula. "Got anything fun to confess? Any long-term grudges left simmering for too long, that you never got to confront us over?"

"I don't think I…" Azula said, though she frowned after a moment. "Well. There's the matter of you two dunderheads betting on my love life. I'm certainly not over that one."

"Oh, come on, now…" Ty Lee started dismissively, though it wasn't long before she started smiling too. "Mai ruined it, though! Jerk knew I was going to win, and she just had to go and make a new bet…!"

"Wouldn't have won that one if you'd just agreed with me instead of choosing the opposite option," Mai smirked. "Was kind of obvious what would happen, if you ask me…"

"It wasn't! It so wasn't, you're just messing with me and…! And I deserved my winnings! I earned them fair and square!"

"Well… you probably should have gotten them, yeah. And much earlier than that, too," Azula smiled guiltily. Ty Lee turned her attention to the Princess, eyes wide. "I… really have screwed you over far too many times, haven't I, Ty Lee? I… I'm sorry. But… I wasn't really sorry when I did it. Or when I stole the mochi…"

"She's done dumb things to mess with you right back, it's no big deal," Mai decided. Ty Lee scoffed.

"I… might agree, if I find out what Azula is talking about now, to begin with!" she said. Azula smiled sadly.

"What you saw in your backyard that day… when I said you were crazy? That you had imagined the whole thing?"

"The… oh. Oh!" Ty Lee gasped, pulling back. Azula laughed, and Mai smirked knowingly at Ty Lee. "Well, I knew that! I did! But…! Oh, Azula, you complete and utter jerk!"

Azula bent over slightly, covering her face in shame as Mai chuckled again. Ty Lee pouted, hands on her hips.

"Made me question my sanity! Made me think I was delirious! But you… oh, you were getting handsy with him since that early on, you sneaky…! Mai! You owe me! I told you back then, that was ages before Zuko and Suki were ever even…!"

"Nope. I still don't owe you shit."

"Mai!"

The three childhood friends appeared to not know whether to cry or laugh in the end: time was ticking by, and as entertaining as their confessions might be, the truth was that Azula would have to go soon. The sun had risen already… her father expected her by noon. Renkai, Anorak and Song were all done bringing in the many belongings they had brought from the Palace by now, too.

"Y-you have to go already?" Ty Lee asked, recognizing Azula's expression as the Princess glanced through the garden's door, finding the morning sun gleamed powerfully upon the world by then.

"I… I should," Azula admitted. Ty Lee shivered.

"You… you shouldn't. But you will because you're… you're stuck," she said. "I wish I could help more, Azula, I do, but…"

"You'll both help where it matters most if you stay here, safe, with everyone else," Azula said, clasping their shoulders. "Take… take good care of yourselves, both of you. And… and please, protect my girls. I leave them in your care… I beg you both to do your best to save them from the consequences of this battle. Take them out of the city, do whatever you must, just… keep them safe until Anorak can find Sokka. Until… until he's sure that Sokka will protect them now, too."

"He'll want to," Ty Lee said. "But… he'll want to protect you too, Azula. So… maybe you'll come back with him. Even if you don't want to."

"That… that would be a rather positive outcome for all this," Azula said, with a weak smile. "Not very likely, but… maybe you'll be right about this, Ty Lee."

"No maybes about it: I am right!" Ty Lee declared.

Azula chuckled, shaking her head as she reeled her oldest friends into a new embrace. The two of them trembled… no doubt aware that it might just be the last, if Azula's dark projections of the future took place, instead of the optimistic ones they would have preferred.

"I'll… get ready to say I told you so, once you're inevitably proven wrong," Mai said.

"Me too," Ty Lee pouted. Azula chuckled.

"Thank you," she said. "I… I'll be grateful to hear those words, if I do. Thank you for everything. I… I owe you both more than I can repay."

"Could repay it by surviving at all costs… but I guess we'll see how that turns out," Mai sighed. "We'll stay strong, Azula… but so must you. We're here for you, for your daughters, for Song… so I don't care how hard it looks, if there's any damn way you can come back to them, you will. Otherwise…"

"We won't let you go anywhere," Ty Lee determined, nodding.

Azula sighed: she didn't feel worthy of such kindness… maybe she never would. But the two women who had stood strong in the face of every hardship she had faced over the past year and a half, offering her their unwavering support, might just convince her to fight for her survival. If just a little.

"Then… I promise," Azula said. Both Mai and Ty Lee hummed with suspicion, and Azula laughed. "I really must have deceived you both too many times, huh? I wasn't being dishonest just now…"

"We'll be the judges of that," Ty Lee decided. Mai smiled.

"Just… be careful, Azula," Mai whispered. Ty Lee swallowed hard and nodded.

"We'll keep everyone safe in the meantime," she said. Azula nodded.

"I… I love you both," she managed to say, words she seldom spoke to them, if ever: Ty Lee whimpered, and Mai's grip tightened.

"And we… we love you back," Ty Lee sniffed. "Right, Mai?"

"Right," Mai said. "Good… good luck, Azula."

The Princess smiled as she pulled back. Mai and Ty Lee watched her remorsefully as she stepped away from them, towards the sitting room where Rei had been, before… to find the girl was no longer there. Azula frowned… turning towards the vestibule now to find her standing there, with Hotaru in her arms, amid crates and baggage. Song, Anorak and Renkai stood with her.

The Princess swallowed hard and stepped towards them. While Renkai would accompany her, to the end, the same wasn't true for the others. Anorak, sensing the atmosphere, stepped forward first, bowing his head respectfully towards Azula.

"I'll make sure to deliver the child safely," he said. "A part of me… would like to join this battle. But I would rather not face you in combat for the second time."

"I'd rather not face you as an enemy either," Azula said, earnestly. "Whatever you need to do, Anorak… make Hotaru's safety your priority. Bring her to him when he's ready. Until then… keep everyone away for good measure. Stand strong and… and good luck, Anorak."

"Thank you," Anorak said. "I'd wish you the same, but…"

"I know you're rooting for my side to lose. I can't begrudge you for that," Azula said.

"I can only hope that you'll cross paths with him. That he may just… defeat you peacefully somehow," Anorak said. "Whatever mistakes you've made… I think I finally understand why he's gone as far as he has for your sake. And… I really don't want to believe his journey could have been in vain."

"It hasn't been. It won't be. I can promise you that much, even if the outcome isn't quite as perfect as we might wish it were," Azula said. Anorak sighed and nodded. "Thank you… goodbye, Anorak."

He nodded, fists tight at either side of his body as Azula, heart tight with grief, stepped past him. Song hugged herself tightly, arms crossed, eyes avoiding hers. The closer Azula came, the more obvious it became that she was trying to contain the sobs, the tears… to little avail.

"I thought… I wished I could've said goodbye. I always thought that, whenever someone was gone from my life," Song admitted, throat thick with tears. "You and Rui Shi sure proved me wrong, though. It… it hurts in its own way. I don't know what's worse anymore."

"Song…" Azula sighed. The healer seemed to break upon hearing her name in her voice, covering her face with her hands. "It's… it's no understatement to say that you've spent the past year saving my life without a break. So… this is a bit of one, I suppose."

"Well, maybe I don't want one," Song sniffed. "Maybe… I'd rather keep on saving you from your self-deprecation and your misery if that means this outcome won't come to pass. If… if you'll come back to us for good. But… I bet you'll say that it's not as easy as that, s-so what am I even…?"

"Song," Azula smiled slightly. Her friend sniffed anew, raising her gaze towards hers.

"I've never had a friend like you," she said. "So… so admirable and so infuriating all at once. I never thought the day would come when I'd be so distraught over the fate of a Fire Nation Royal, ever, but… but here I am. Wishing with all my heart that all my meek fantasies of domestic bliss could be true, rather than… rather than reality. I… I'm sorry that I gave you a hard time whenever I was too stubborn. I'm sorry for every time I made things worse for you without meaning to…"

She broke down in sobs, if quiet ones: Azula stepped forward and reeled her into her arms, rubbing her back kindly.

"You've been… the strongest pillar that could have ever held me up," Azula said, sniffing too. "I wish I'd never caused you any grief at all… but the future will be better. The world that will be built…"

"Is a world you should be part of, too," Song sobbed. "A world where… where you'd belong, Azula. Far more than this one."

"You'll have to rejoice in it doubly, then. For my share, too," Azula said, with a sad, watery smile. "That is… if the worst does come to pass. Those two are adamant that it won't…"

"I… I hope they're right to be," Song sniffed. Azula sighed. "Whatever happens, though, I… I'll do my best to keep Hotaru and Rei safe and healthy. That… that much I can promise. I…"

"You'll find Rui Shi… as soon as you can," Azula said. Song sniffed but nodded. The Princess smiled. "That, too… is something you'll have to rejoice in doubly, for my share. And… and when you see Sokka? Just… tell him I've always thought he had too much potential to fall short of it. The world he's built… it has to be one where he can raise Hotaru safely. Where they can be a family. I know we both wanted to do things right… he still will have that chance, if I don't. And if by some miracle I can be there after all… feel free to shout at me and tell me you told me so, as often as you need to."

"I will do it. All the damn time," Song said, stubbornly. Azula smiled affectionately. "Don't even doubt it."

"I didn't," Azula said, hugging her tightly again: Song's arms squeezed her right back. "You'll never have to run away again, after this time. You'll be free for real, Song. I promise. No matter what comes next… I know you'll be able to live as yourself, with your mother, with Rui Shi… you'll never have to say goodbye to anyone but on your terms. You'll never lose anyone you love again."

"T-that's why I… why I don't want to lose you," Song said, sniffing as she buried her face in Azula's shoulder. "The future I imagined…"

"It was beautiful," Azula said.

"It… it won't be complete without you," Song sobbed. "I… I won't know what to do, I…"

"You'll find a brighter future. Even if it looks bleak now," Azula said. Song whimpered, shaking her head. "I know you will. If I can't be there too… the one thing that makes everything worthwhile is knowing that you, Rei and Hotaru won't have to face hardships and anguish like this again, once this is over. It won't be easy to move forward… but Rui Shi will be there to ensure that you can. I'm sure he will."

"He… h-he'll want you there too," Song said. Azula smiled.

"Then you'll have to tell him that my true, final order for him is… to spend the rest of his life making you the happiest wife this world has ever seen."

Song broke down all the more, clinging to Azula as though to never let go. The pain her friend felt for her sake struck her deeply… almost enough to reassure her that her mistakes could not have been quite so severe, quite so terrible, if someone as kind-hearted as Song cherished her like this. Almost.

"I'm sorry for everything, Song," Azula said, earnestly, tears in her eyes. "I love you… and thank you. I would have been lost without you."

"I… I'm sorry I couldn't do more…" Song wept. "I… I'll wait for you. We all will, so… do as you told Mai and Ty Lee, and… a-and come back. Even if you don't think you deserve it… we can't say goodbye to you. We can't…"

"Then… let's just say see you later, instead," Azula whispered, not knowing whether she wanted the words to be true or not. Song whimpered, no doubt fearful that they wouldn't be.

"F-fine. See you… see you soon, Azula," Song said, sniffing. "I love you too. Please… p-please come back."

"I'll do my best," Azula said, earnestly, rubbing her friend's back kindly.

Song disengaged from their embrace unwillingly… but knowing that someone might need to say goodbye to Azula even more than she did: Song took Hotaru out of her arms as Azula turned towards Rei. Her cheeks were already red even before Azula turned towards her, and she shook her head as she wiped her eyes.

"I-I didn't mean to… t-to make this worse for you…" Rei said. Azula sighed, cupping Rei's face between her hands and pressing her brow to hers.

"If there's one thing you can be sure of, Rei… is that you've never worsened anything in my life. If anything, it's quite the opposite," she said, her heart pounding with anguish as she felt her daughter's reluctance to believe her words. "From the moment you crossed that threshold and entered my room… you've been making my life better, in a myriad of ways. You were scared, once. You thought I'd… I'd scold you for the things that you were used to being scolded for. But the truth was… that you've been a blessing in my life all along. Your company, your kindness, your faith in me… you have no idea how hopeless I would have been without them. You… you breathed life into my misery in ways I never thought anyone ever would. You… you taught me how to be a mother, too. So, dear… never, ever, fear that you made anything worse for me. You lightened my loads just by standing beside me, just by giving me a purpose, something to look forward to every day. As impressive as you may have found me, and as you might still… you've granted me so much more strength than I ever thought I'd have in me again. You showed me I could still love as powerfully as I once did, just as I believed my heart would never be able to recover again. So…"

"I… I…" Rei sniffed, gripping Azula's hands with hers. "I still wish I could do more. I… I want to go with you. I know I won't be… w-won't be any use there, but I… I don't want you to leave. I… I'll be lost without you, Mom, I…"

"You won't be lost at all," Azula said, smiling kindly and reeling Rei into a full embrace. The girl wept on her shoulder, much as Song had. "Song, Mai, Ty Lee, Anorak… they'll be here for you, Rei. They will help you when I can't. And just as… as I thought I'd never recover from the worst thing that ever happened to me, and you proved me wrong? Something… something's bound to do the same for you, dear. So, don't give up hope, okay? The world that's coming… it will be so much worthier of you than this one has been. Follow your every dream… make them come true, study anything you wish to, travel the world! Meet thousands of different people, learn everything you'd like to… you can do anything you want, Rei. You will be able to, once this war is over."

"I… I want to. But… not without you. Not if… if I know you won't be there," Rei sniffed. Azula shook her head.

"I may not be… not like this. But… even if I'm not? You'll always carry me with you. I'll always be by your side."

Azula pulled back, surprising Rei once she drew something out of her sash: the girl's eyes widened upon recognizing the black finish of a knife's scabbard… Azula's knife.

"My brother gave me this knife… it was the first time he did something for me that caught me entirely off guard," Azula smiled, sniffing slightly. "If you ever meet him… show him that you carry it now. That it's yours and that… that you live up to its message, even more than he and I ever did."

Azula unsheathed the blade, and Rei's eyes, once so incapable of deciphering the meaning of ideograms, read these immediately:

"Never give up without a fight," she whispered. Azula smiled and sheathed it anew.

"It's yours now, Rei," she said, taking her daughter's hand and pressing it to her palm. Rei trembled as Azula kissed her brow. "As it should be. Keep it with you… and remember that, for all my faults, I never stopped believing in you, and I never will. Wherever I may go next… I'll always hope that you'll find your way, and that you'll continue to grow into the wonderful woman you've been becoming before all our eyes. Be true to yourself. Stand for no one's bullshit… though as far as I can tell, you've been doing that already, for quite some time, too. Believe in your own power, your mind, your talents, your resilience… because I was not the one who made you valuable, Rei: you always were. If there's one thing I hope to have achieved, in all this time… it was proving that to you. Your potential has always been infinite… you just have to jump forward to seize it."

Azula offered her an encouraging smile. Rei trembled again before hugging Azula tightly, as tightly as Song had. She couldn't seem to stop crying now, and the Princess held her tenderly, just as Rei had held her earlier… wishing this moment would never end, but knowing it had to. Knowing it had to…

A soft whimper in a baby's voice saw to that.

Azula tensed up at the sound: the baby had drifted from one set of arms to another and now rested in Mai's. She appeared to understand that something uncommon was happening… something that made everyone around her unusually sad. She cried out… her little hands reaching for Azula.

The Princess sighed, relinquishing Rei… taking Hotaru into her embrace now: her heart, already tender and weak after so many goodbyes that she selfishly wished would not be forever, pounded even more painfully as she held the little girl, whose large golden eyes bore into hers.

"There, there… I'm here," Azula said, softly. Hotaru appeared to settle slightly upon hearing those words. "I'm still here… but for you, I always will be, no matter how far apart we may be, Hotaru. For better or for worse… you carry me with you. Just as I've carried you with me, from the moment you came into this world. We can never… never truly be apart. And I know, I know, you're so young and this is very hard to understand, my love, but… maybe once you're older, you'll understand this way. With… with this."

She had kept it safe all along, carrying it with her as often as possible. Ever since she had reclaimed it in her bedroom, she had only occasionally relinquished it… it wasn't the first time she handed this treasure to Hotaru. Today, she had the choice to keep it herself… but that would not be right, she knew. It belonged to someone else by now… someone who carried her father, just as much as she carried her mother, within her very soul.

Holding Hotaru in one arm, Azula slid a hand into her pocket, withdrawing the bone necklace that had been her talisman and her safety for as long as she had held it. She placed it upon Hotaru's chest, taking her small hand next, seeing to it that she would hold her father's necklace. Hotaru cooed softly, delighted to once again find herself with what she might have always thought of as a toy…

"This is… a far more valuable treasure than anything in that wretched Palace," Azula said, kissing Hotaru's brow. "Hold onto it for me once more, my dear… hold onto it for him. And if… if you're ever lost, or lonely in life? Know that both me and your father have wanted for nothing in this world but your happiness. That… that we got a thousand things wrong indeed, but you, you were the one thing we could never mess up. You're beautiful, my dear… you've saved my life in a million ways just because you exist. So… grow up healthy, strong, full of life. That world your father's building for you… it's going to be yours to explore as best as you can. So… don't be afraid. You've come from… from an extraordinary place. And you have nothing to live up to… nothing to hold as a standard for yourself. Be free, my dear… just be free. Be happy. Be… be loved. And when you meet your father…? Tug on that beard of his for me, okay? Make sure you do that."

She smiled mournfully, as Hotaru held the necklace carefully. Azula sighed, her heart breaking, tears spilling down her cheeks as she pressed one final kiss upon her brow.

"I love you, Hotaru. Whatever happens next… I will always love you, my daughter."

Her heart seemed to break as she readied herself to let go… her whole body shook, and it was Mai once more who cut across the whole group, stepping in to take Hotaru from her mother: of all possible arguments to make her stay, none could have been as persuasive as Hotaru's soft whimpering, her pleading eyes begging her mother to hug her one more time…

Azula swallowed hard and nodded at Mai. Her friend offered her the same respectful gesture as Azula walked backwards, to the door.

Everyone lingered there: Ruon Jian, Haru, Yuudai, Anorak, Ty Lee, Song, Rei, Mai… Hotaru. They were the picture of desolation as Azula pulled further away. Much as it happened once before, in another goodbye that had seemed to be forever, Azula had no idea how she had the strength to walk away at all.

"Take care of yourself, Azula," Mai whispered. The Princess, throat choked, nodded as Renkai opened the door behind her.

Hotaru's cries gained intensity: she stretched her hands towards her mother, as though begging her to return. Azula's remorseful gaze lingered upon Hotaru… wishing she could stay indeed. Wishing she could watch over her as she grew old, every bit as much as she wished Sokka had been there, all along, to experience her earliest days of wonderment and confusion in a foreign world.

He would step in when she faltered. He would fill in for what she could not.

Hotaru would not grow up without a father.

"Goodbye… Hotaru," Azula managed, with a thread of a voice: before she knew it, she was already past the threshold.

Kindly, slowly, Renkai closed the door… hiding the people Azula had been protecting, treasuring most dearly, from view. She covered her mouth, unable to contain the tears that fully spilled down her cheeks once she couldn't see them anymroe: Hotaru's voice, the heartbreaking wails she unleashed, matched perfectly with Azula's silent tears as she hugged herself…

As Renkai hugged her, inappropriate as the gesture might be.

"Come, Princess. We… we have to go," he whispered. Azula wanted to protest… but she knew better than to do so. Not when she had already stabbed her heart yet another time, walking away from the people who meant the world to her for one more time…

She nodded. Renkai reeled her in carefully, guiding her towards the trapdoor.

Hotaru's crying accompanied them until it shut behind them: the somber silence underground was only interrupted when Azula let out a mournful sob.


"I… I'm not sure if you got the right person. I mean, uh, nobody had summoned me anywhere anyway, so I figured I'd come anyhow? But, uh, you seem way too important to want to talk to me? Which, uh, worries me. Don't tell me you're in charge of… prisoners? Are you? I-is that why you called me…?"

Chan trembled under the man's dark glare. He seemed unconcerned with answering Chan's questions… but he might just be filing them for later, intent on unraveling the meaning of the awkward fool's words…

"I've called you because it has been brought to my attention that someone with a troubled history with the Princess is, somehow, serving her now. A rather odd situation… if not uncommon. Somehow, she manages to charm her way through each and every one of her foes as though they didn't know any better. I suppose most of them don't… but you, Captain Chan, you're no fool. You knew what she was like, didn't you? You're the sole man who came close to becoming her official suitor, and you weren't any keener on the match than the Princess was. Curious, then, that you would wind up here, to placate her whims, even if that meant dragging you away from Yu Dao, the city you were assigned to…"

"Uh, I kind of asked to come because it felt like there'd be more things to do over here, actually…" Chan clarified. The man scoffed.

"So, you're an opportunistic buffoon who sought to come to the Fire Lord's Palace and make yourself a place her… but not through marrying the woman you knew better than to accept, long ago?"

"I… huh?" Chan blinked blankly. The man sighed.

"Are you friend or foe for Princess Azula? Are you waiting for the opportune moment to avenge your father's fall? Or are you merely one more leech sucking off whatever you can latch onto?" the man asked. "Answer me now."

"I…" Chan swallowed hard.

The answer to that question was tricky to offer. He had no idea what was happening when a guard found him, struggling with his guilt aboard the Barge, unsure of what to do: the guard told him he had been summoned to the Palace, so Chan followed dutifully, terrified, unsure of how to explain that he had somehow misplaced Anorak… only to arrive in the General's study to find that the last thing he was interested in was Anorak. Odd.

The way he phrased things… it was clear that he wanted one answer. Vengeance for his father's fall? The notion sounded terribly romantic, perhaps too much, if Chan was asked… his father had been a moron, and he had actually intended to break free from his legacy and show the world that their family had not been permanently damaged by his father's foolishness.

Yet the way this general spoke… it suggested that he despised Azula. That he wanted Chan to be ready to conspire against her…

He had to be the man Renkai wanted him to spy on.

The realization brought Chan to breathe deeply, grabbing the armrests of his chair firmly before frowning with resolve he didn't actually feel.

"Fine. I… I want nothing more than to tear her to shreds. To ruin her life as badly as she ruined mine," he recited, speaking words he might have said in the past, to drunken recruits in academy parties who merely ridiculed him for his aspirations. "I want to avenge my father. She thinks she can make anyone into pitiful fools? Well… not me. That's for sure. I'm never going to be charmed by her nonsense. No matter how pretty she may be."

"She's far more deadly than she is pretty. You'd be wise to remember that," the General said. Chan nodded.

"I shall indeed, sir. Then… uh, what more do you need of me?" he asked, with an awkward smile.

Shaofeng smirked: perhaps this fool wouldn't prove trustworthy at all, in the end… but he certainly had a plan. A rather ironic one, at that. Perhaps Princess Azula was fated to wind up just like her grandfather had…

"I need to test you. I need to be certain that you are a reliable asset for me and mine. My forces will focus on protecting the Fire Lord: you, surely, will be assigned to the Princess again. Pray tell, if she joins up with the Gladiator… what will you do, Captain Chan?"

"Me? Uh… fight back?" Chan said, awkwardly. "I'll… rile up the rest of the troops with us! And we'll make sure she regrets her treachery, yes. Though… you think she'd do that?"

"What I think is that she has been doing that since the moment this conflict began," Shaofeng said. Chan's jaw dropped. "She manipulated every element in this riddle to her tastes… none more than the Gladiator himself. She is disloyal to the Fire Nation, seeks nothing but her own advancement, and has merely been biding her time to see her father destroyed by her wretched lover. Do you believe she still holds the Fire Nation's ideals as her own? No one who does would ever fall into bed with a savage, of all things…"

"B-but… she fought against him. I mean, against his forces," Chan said. "I was there, I fought beside her in Yu Dao…"

"Manipulation," Shaofeng said. Chan gritted his teeth. "It earns her Ozai's approval… and it allows her to be close enough to him to stab him in the back when the time is right. Isn't it perfectly convenient to be in his good graces in order to betray him?"

"It… it sounds like it should be. But… wow," Chan swallowed hard. "So… you want me to stop her from doing that, right? Uh… how?"

"Well… there's one way to ensure that she won't even have a chance to hurt the Fire Lord, should she attempt to do so," Shaofeng said. Chan raised an eyebrow. "Feign your approval of her choices, of her betrayals, and once you're indeed standing close enough…"

Shaofeng pushed something towards Chan. It seemed to be a thin, tubular container of a sort. Chan blinked before opening it…

To find a long hairpin, its tip far sharper than any he had seen before. Its intent was clear even before he asked.

"W-wha…?" he gaped at it in confused disbelief. Shaofeng smirked.

"Your position in society will be greater than your father's ever was. You will stand as a trustworthy ally to the Fire Lord, rising through the ranks of the military quicker than anyone else has. You'll have hundreds at your command, any commodities you deign necessary… for you will be the hero who saved the Fire Nation from the greatest threat of all. The threat within the Royal Family itself…"

"I… will be all those things," Chan said: his grip on the deadly, thin blade tightened. Shaofeng nodded.

"This missing prisoner you're so concerned about? He won't matter in the least, Captain Chan… provided you succeed at the sole task I ask of you now:

"Kill Crown Princess Azula."