A/N:

This chapter... is a bit heavy. Angsty. Complicated.

I'm dropping this specific note to make sure you all know to weigh your personal situation and decide whether you're in the mood to read this whole chapter NOW or if you're better off waiting a week to read two chapters instead. As usual, I can promise things will get better but I know that everything looks like the end of the world when you don't have immediate access to the next chapter. So... yeah. Be patient, or don't, but I still will say you'll be reading on at your own risk, to a fault. Sorry 'bout that.

Enjoy...?

Worlds collide

2

Yu Dao's port should have seen little activity for months after that battle. Repairs were underway in the infrastructure, where blatant signs of damage gave away locations where some of the defending soldiers had lost their lives. Their deaths were grieved solemn and distantly, for most of them had been stationed in Yu Dao, and they had no family or loved ones in the city itself.

Thoughts of the people she hadn't saved could have plagued Azula, but the anguish of what was to come had far outdone them. The Mayor's carriage brought her to the Barge with her daughters and friend, escorted by Chan and Renkai, along with a shackled Anorak, who wasn't all that enthusiastic about their long walk, even if it allowed him to stretch his legs far more than he had for weeks. It was early in the morning, and this time around, no secrecy was involved in bringing the girls aboard – only in keeping Hotaru's face properly hidden from any prying eyes. Rei would hold her to her chest once they arrived, keeping the blanket snug around the child's frame as she and Song vied directly towards the topmost floor of the ship's tower.

Until then, Azula held Hotaru, soothing her by rocking her body gently from side to side. The motions did nothing to appease the Princess, but her daughter, it seemed, felt safe in her arms, enough to doze off in her grip.

"Guess I relaxed you too much, did I?" Azula whispered, stroking Hotaru's hair gently with her fingertips.

"It's better if you did," Rei smiled a little. "I'll have it easier to take her quietly if she's not restless."

Azula nodded, her heart racing upon hearing those words: Renkai would escort them, while Chan served as a distraction, hopefully a rather flashy one, by taking Anorak to the Barge's brig. Once everyone boarded, they would set out again to the Fire Nation.

Anorak's presence and sworn intent to protect Hotaru appeased Azula's fears, if only slightly. She wasn't sure how waterbending stacked up against corrupt firebending, but she hoped it would be a favorable matchup for the northerner. Seethus, too, might just have learned better than to continue prying after his last encounter with her… but Azula couldn't assume her threat against the wretch had sufficed when she confronted him. Perhaps her father simply had decided not to have him hound her across the sea… perhaps he didn't see the purpose in it, when he could simply play the waiting game. With any luck, the waterbender would prove to be a resilient defender and Hotaru would remain perfectly safe, even when Azula wasn't around to ensure that was the case…

Fears churned inside her gut. Every possibility going forward, every outcome, every unpleasant variable… she almost felt as though she had caught another pregnancy flu, seeing how a perpetual queasiness urged her to throw up her stomach's contents. She held herself together by a measly thread, it felt like… one that would fail to hold her weight and would be torn apart sooner than expected, she feared.

The carriage slowed down, and Azula breathed deeply before handing the child to Rei. Song squeezed the girl's shoulder, planning already on shielding Azula's daughters with her own body, ensuring that no one would be able to see more than they were supposed to. The carriage driver pulled the door open, and Azula climbed off the vehicle.

Shipwrights worked on the damaged ships nearby: the Barge's good fortune saw it escaping the fray in the bay with minimal damage to its hull's integrity. The Princess waited to hear her daughter and friend had followed her off the carriage, then she turned towards the men flanking their carriage. With one nod, she commanded them wordlessly to follow her aboard.

The sailors remained busy, though some appeared rather drowsy at such early hours of the morning, briefly before dawn: they panicked at once when their eyes fell upon the Princess, who crooked an eyebrow as though demanding for explanations regarding their sloppiness.

"E-excuse us, Princess…" mumbled two of them: they rushed off to uphold their cleaning duties, hoping she might not give them any other commands or scold them for irresponsible behavior.

The quiet Barge allowed Azula to jerk her head towards the tower, gesturing at the others to rush in and take her daughters to the safety of her cabin. Renkai obeyed promptly, and Rei cast one more glance at Azula before marching ahead, with Hotaru warmly snuggled in her arms, climbing up the stairs that would take them to hopeful safety.

Azula watched them go, knowing Renkai could help keep them safe. She waited five minutes quietly on deck before turning towards Chan and Anorak.

"Now, then… to the brig," she said, eyeing Anorak remorsefully. "I'll have a futon brought in for your use. Should you need anything else, let me know."

"Will I get three meals a day?" Anorak asked. Azula nodded. "Chan will get them for me?"

"He will. I'd say you can come outside and eat in the dining deck, but I doubt you'll want to draw the attention of so many soldiers and sailors. Best if you don't," Azula said. Anorak sighed and nodded.

"As you wish. Let's go, then."

That he'd be so willing to serve as Azula's prisoner mystified Chan. He cast a confused glance at the Princess, who simply nodded in his direction, before he led Anorak inside the ship, but this time, down to its depths rather than up to the tower. Azula glanced upwards – her tower's windows were open now. They had arrived safely… as she confirmed when Rei stuck her head out of one of such windows and waved at her. Azula smiled a little, waving back.

When Rei's attention was caught by something beyond Azula, though, the Princess turned on her heels to find another carriage had wheeled in, stopping by the one she had arrived in. A glance from a distance revealed the passengers were Mayor Morishita and his family.

They would say their farewells now, Azula knew, and she braced herself for it… though not before a guard stepped up to her, bowing his head respectfully in her direction.

"Princess, the latest haul of bombs, as sent by War Minister Aonu, will be returning to the Capital with us, as commanded by the Fire Lord."

"What?" Azula frowned: the guard offered her the message conveying Ozai's orders, and the handwriting was unmistakably his. "We will transport the bombs? Aboard this ship?"

"Not only ours. We have distributed them as well in the other ships that will be traveling with us," the guard explained. Azula sighed, a dismissive scowl on her face. "Is anything…?"

"No. If it's the Fire Lord's order, there's nothing to be done. Stash them safely. I want no accidents," she ordered him firmly. The man nodded.

"Yes, Princess."

He took off to ensure the Princess's order was heeded: by then, the Morishita family, along with Sneers, approached her in reverent silence. Azula turned her attention towards them, offering a kindly smile and a nod.

"You've made it on time to bid us farewell," Azula said. "It seems a few things aren't fully ready for us to take off just yet."

"Well, that means we won't be too much of a burden as we bid you farewell," Mayor Morishita said, with a kindly smile. "Princess… as humble as you may be, refusing all the credit you're due, ultimately, we owe the safety of the city to you. The circumstances in which we've offered you shelter and aid may not have been the best… I do hope we didn't come up short as we have in the past."

"You most certainly did not," Azula said, earnestly. "I… I felt safe in your home. Which is far more than I can say about my own, as of late. Even if the tranquility didn't last as long as I would have liked… the days after the battle have been some of the most restful I've lived through in the past year. I can only thank you for that."

"Oh, we would have loved to keep you for longer still, Princess," Mrs. Morishita said, with a kindly smile. "The house has been at its liveliest thanks to you and your companions. But now… now you have a duty ahead, and I'm sure you will fulfill it as expected of you."

"I can only hope you're right," Azula said, with a sad smile. "That is why I'm leaving, after all. Fire Lord's orders."

The bitterness with which she spoke the last three words didn't go unnoticed by the Morishita family, but they overlooked it, nonetheless. Kori and Sneers stepped forward next, and where Sneers offered Azula a reverent nod, Kori gritted her teeth before bowing earnestly towards the Princess.

"You truly saved this city, just as I saw you would in that swamp dream," Kori whispered. Azula tensed up at the mention of the location, but she said nothing, nonetheless. "And I wish we could do more to make it up to you, but…"

"Kori, you owe me nothing," Azula said, earnestly. "The aid you have offered me is worth more than I could ever express. You protected my family, and nothing could ever matter more to me than that. If anything, I believed I was indebted to you, instead. So, considering what we've done for each other, how much I imposed upon you…"

"You didn't impose, if anything, I wish we could have done more for you," Kori said, sniffing and shaking her head.

"My daughters are safe still. They were for as long as you helped me protect them, whether aboard your family's ship or in your home. That's more than enough for me," Azula said, with an earnest smile. Kori covered her mouth with a hand, closing her eyes tightly.

The Princess sighed, cutting across all matters of decorum as she stepped forward to wrap her arms around Kori. The earthbender forsook all manner of restraint too, gripping Azula tightly and weeping on her shoulder. They didn't speak as they held one another, withholding words of hope, promises and remorse alike. No one knew what awaited the Princess in the Fire Nation this time. No one knew what might befall Yu Dao in her absence, either. She could only hope her stratagems to protect the city would continue to keep it safe while she couldn't be there to lead its defense it herself.

"Take care of yourself, Kori," Azula whispered as they pulled back. Kori sniffed again and nodded.

"You'll always have a place here. We'll always be ready to help you, no matter what," Kori said. Behind her, Sneers nodded promptly. Azula offered him a kind smile as well.

"I know. And if things ever stabilize in my life, and my future, I extend the same courtesy to you, should you ever visit the Capital or the Palace. Of course, I don't advise it now, but it might be a possibility one day," Azula said: she struggled to say the words, but she got them out, nonetheless. "Farewell. Thank you for everything."

The Morishita family bowed to Azula, tearful smiles upon their faces. Sneers watched her wistfully, and Azula held his gaze as a deep understanding passed between them, without words. He owed her nothing, victim of the Fire Nation's cruelty as he was. His efforts to protect and defend her family would never go forgotten or ignored. The respect he had offered her, perhaps a mirror of that which he felt for Kori, touched Azula deeply. She had never expected anything from Sneers, assuming instead that he would wish to join the rebel forces… but the loyalty he displayed now was personal, rather than to any given cause. He stood by Kori as the strong gladiator he ever had been… as the partner she deserved. Azula smiled, nodding in his direction one last time, before the kindly family that had taken her in for the past months finally turned around and walked away.

The Barge didn't begin moving for another hour. Azula checked and confirmed everything was prepared for their journey. The other ships that meant to accompany her on the voyage back to the Fire Nation awaited to depart as the sun started climbing over the horizon. The bombs were safely distributed into the cargo holds of each ship to ensure that no one vessel would be carrying the potential threat alone, and decreasing the possibilities of heinous accidents by splitting up the dangerous weapons. For further safety, the ships would travel properly spaced across the sea, as another precaution to ensure any losses or accidents would only affect the single vessel in which the eventuality might happen.

With that, the ships took off by midmorning: slowly, they drifted out into the ocean, towards an uncertain future that filled Azula with even more dread than before. She was returning to her father… to the assassin who might be under orders of capturing or killing her daughter. He also might decide to do either of those things without her father's command. It was also the hostile place where the dark shadow and reach of General Shaofeng might just close in around her before she knew it.

There would be no safety in the humble home of a family like the one she had just left behind. No harbor upon which she and her closest companions might find respite. Even now, she couldn't help but engineer thoughts and ideas on how to best protect Hotaru, going forward. The child had reached her fifth month by now: even if Azula didn't wish to leave anyone else to tend to her, Hotaru was growing enough that she wouldn't need Azula quite as desperately as the child still thought she did. If it were necessary, and it most likely would be… it would be possible for Hotaru to stay away from the Palace, from her mother, for far longer than a few hours or even a single day.

But if Azula could prevent that from happening for a little longer, she would do so. She returned to her cabin, finding her daughters and Song simply sitting within, rather than hiding in the secret room this time. Renkai had remained by the door, guarding them, and he nodded at Azula before marching away to organize the guards and ensure everyone was handling their duties correctly – as well as checking on Chan, who would be in the brig by now, guarding Anorak.

"We're on our way?" Rei asked. Azula nodded, stepping closer to the girl and wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

"We need to straighten some things out, the three of us, right now," Azula said, startling both her companions. "I understand your willingness to stand with me, I appreciate it far more deeply than I could ever say… but we're not headed towards mild danger in the Fire Nation. I brought you with me to Yu Dao because a warfront was safer than the Palace, than that city, for the time being. Nothing suggests that has changed at the moment."

"Do you expect your father will actively seek to look at Hotaru this time?" Song asked, frowning. Azula shrugged.

"Maybe not. That doesn't mean his most dangerous associates won't do it anymore," Azula said. Song winced. "My father is not our only concern. He might not even be the worst one anymore, though I can't attest to that either. My point is, though…"

"We can't just stay in the Palace as peacefully as we did before," Song finished for her. Azula's heart churned to hear someone else say the words she meant to convey. "I kept thinking about it too, regarding… your father's reaction to what we did, too. He had to know we were with you even before the battle… afterwards, rumors about us must have spread far more quickly and right now, we were seen boarding the ship with you. He has to know…"

"He most likely did all along," Azula said, gritting her teeth. "And, yes, winning a great battle might not earn me sufficient goodwill so that he will forgive me for it. What's more… he might pretend it did, only to strike when I least expect it. What no one knew about my intentions with Anorak is… well, he's not coming with us just because he's nice. He's coming with us, as a prisoner… because he agreed to watch over Hotaru too."

"What?" Song's eyes widened.

"You mean… along with us?" Rei asked. Azula nodded.

"I… I've always feared what would happen if I couldn't bring Hotaru to Sokka. Right now… he might not want me to be the one who brings her to him either, considering what I did in Yu Dao too," Azula said, her voice frayed by emotion. "Anorak, however, is on his side. Anorak is a rebel. A member of the Gladiator Army. This means that, if he's with the three of you, he can vouch for your innocence, should they storm their way to victory and destroy everything else in their wake. I certainly hope they don't do that, but… you three will be safe with him. Far safer than with me, at this stage."

"Then… we'll have to go away?" Rei asked, eyeing Azula with confusion. "To separate from you? For… for how long? I…"

"I know this isn't something you want, Rei. I don't want it either," Azula said earnestly, cupping her daughter's face. "But what happened in Yu Dao was frightening enough as it is. I thought I'd lose you and I… I saw red. I lost every last shred of restraint I had left, all be it to save you, your sister and Song. Whether my actions and choices were the correct ones or not, that's not up to me to decide… but if I have to join a new battle, I cannot do it without having protected you as best as I'm able beforehand. So, if you're with people who can keep you safe from the enemy tide…"

"Who do you have in mind? Besides Anorak, I mean," Song said, folding her arms over her chest.

"I… I thought that, after we disembark, the two of you would gather all your things, everything we've brought with us, and take it with you to Mai's place," Azula said. Song frowned.

"Not that I find that a bad idea altogether… but she's still very close to the Palace," she said. "If you want us to be safer…"

"Ty Lee's place?" Azula said, with a weak grin. "Or… the house. But I don't know if that's a good option either. Either way, though… Mai and Ty Lee are strong. They're capable at combat, they'll protect you three if it comes to that. Ty Lee's husband is an accomplished earthbender too. Them, along with Anorak… if Renkai and Chan stay with me, which they might, it means the four of them will protect all of you far better than anything else I can personally do for you anymore. And that's… that's the best choice I can think to make anymore. Whichever side triumphs in whatever comes next… you'll be safe, with my friends and Anorak."

Song sighed… but she nodded. Azula gritted her teeth at her acquiescence. She didn't truly expect Song to protest, but the quiet acceptance of their fate caught her off-guard, nonetheless.

"Over the past months, the last year, I… I haven't been myself. Or maybe I have been more myself than ever before," Song whispered. "I've been angry. I've been frustrated. I've clung to whatever offered me stability with as much strength as I could muster… and it never feels like it's enough. It's always another horror story, always more war and chaos, more pain and violence… it just never stops. After you've lost so much that you treasure… you don't ever want to fathom letting anyone take something from you again. And in all that desperation, I… I lost sight of reality in some ways, I think. It's not enough for me to reach for stability by any means necessary… I want to do right by those I care about, too. I wasn't ready to listen to what you had to say before… but I think I am now, Azula."

Azula gritted her teeth as Song met her golden eyes with her dark, clear, calm gaze. Song wasn't lying upon saying she had changed over the past year… for it had been a long time since Azula had found that kind of serenity in her friend's eyes.

"If the very best thing we can do for you right now is… staying with Mai and Ty Lee? I'm ready to do it," Song said. "If the best thing we can do is stand aside, keeping Hotaru safe… then we will. It doesn't change that Rei and I want you safe, too. That we would rather you were with us. But I guess I finally understand that… that you can't walk away as easily as I wish you could. You don't belong in those battlefields, if you ask me… but if you must join them, I won't hold you back. I'll just ask you to please make sure to come back to us, as you did last time. You want us safe… we'll give you that much. We'll give you no more cause for concern on that front. Whatever you think we must do to protect Hotaru, we will. If… if you're right, and Sokka wins, we'll make sure to use Anorak to bring her to him, and so he understands the truth behind what you've had to do. Unless… you're not going to tell me not to explain, are you?"

"I… I could. I should, considering it will only be harder on him if… if things come to the very worst possible outcome," Azula whispered. Song frowned.

"That's the thing, though… you won't let it come to that. Just as we won't let harm come to Hotaru," Song said, firmly. "I'm accepting your conditions and requests, Azula: please… listen to mine. Your life is not worthless. Your value is unquestionable, and I don't care how mad Sokka might be about what happened in Yu Dao, he'd be the first to say this himself: he won't want this world saved at a cost he refuses to pay. Even if he's actually upset… I'm sure all he must want is to talk things over. To figure out where you stand. Don't jump to dark conclusions before you know what's really going through his head."

"I… I'll try," Azula said, with a deep sigh. "But fine, I… nobody really knows what will happen on the battlefield anyway. If, for whatever reason, I can't be there and I can't explain anything myself… you can do it. But please… don't hide the worst of it. Don't embellish things. He deserves the full truth. Even if it's painful, he… he deserves to understand just who I've become. He has the right to decide if… if I'm still worth loving or not."

"You are," Rei whispered, trembling. Azula glanced at her helplessly. "I… I don't know enough about who you were before, no matter all your stories, but… I know you are worth it, you still are. You always have been."

"Rei…" Azula whispered. Rei breathed deeply, trying to restrain the tears that nearly spilled down her eyes.

"If Song is sure… then I'll stay too. I'll watch over Hotaru with Song and Anorak, just as you want us to," Rei said. "But… but I'll do it by believing you'll come home to us eventually. I trust that you will. I believe in you more than I've ever believed in anything in my entire life. And as selfish as it is to say that I need you, when there's so much at stake… I do. The world does. Everyone does, even if they don't know it. So… so come back to us, if you have to leave. We'll wait. We'll be patient. We'll stay safe. But please…"

Azula breathed out slowly, wrapping her arms around Rei and pressing a soft kiss to the top of her head. The girl sobbed, hugging her warmly… offering her a pure glimpse into the depths of her heart, the vulnerabilities she hardly ever had allowed herself to experience or feel until she had met Azula.

"I'll… I'll do everything I can to come back," Azula whispered. "And I'll… I'll check on you at Mai's place, or Ty Lee's, or wherever you might go, as often as possible before the bigger battles happen. I promise."

"You'll have to. Otherwise, we might just end up going to the Palace to check on you, instead," Song smiled sadly, approaching them as well: Rei wasted no time spreading an arm and reeling her into the hug, too.

"Please… refrain from doing that," Azula said, with a small smile of her own. Song laughed.

"We'll try, we'll try…" she whispered.

"I know this isn't easy for any of us," Azula whispered, pulling them in, their brows pressing against her temples. "I know I haven't made it any easier, either. My choices… I keep going over them and trying to find other ways, anything else that might have allowed us not to wind up where we are now. I keep coming up short. Everything would mean sacrificing something else…"

"And this way, you're sacrificing yourself," Song concluded. Azula gritted her teeth.

"It's the only way I can go on anymore," she said. "The only thing I know how to do. I might just fail at everything I'm trying to do, in the end… but I need to protect you. All of you. You're my family. As difficult as this is… I'll choose a path that will keep you safe. Even if it puts me on his path, instead."

Whether she meant her father's path or Sokka's, neither Song nor Rei knew anymore. They held Azula regardless, though, their hearts churning with the knowledge, the awareness, that their Princess's worst challenges still lay ahead, in the bleak horizon the Barge continued to power towards, across the ocean's many leagues.

The sky darkened at times, and stormy rains fell upon the ships, just as they would clear up in other occasions, and the bright sunlight would be as good as blinding. The nights tended to be calm, smooth, and the rocking of the ocean allowed them to rest as best as they were able… but the atmosphere within Azula's cabin in the Barge continued to be somber, as though they weren't returning home, but marching to an execution instead. For all Azula knew, it might just amount to that, in the end. The dark, foreboding feeling that something was about to end didn't fade away, and the uncertainty of the future plagued her even when she didn't want it to. Thoughts of helping Hotaru as she started to crawl, trying to teach her how to stand and walk… all of it sent unsettling thoughts into her mind, filling her with fear of missing out on the next milestones of her daughter's growth. Of not being there to hear her first word, of not watching over her as she learned to read or write, to play games, to make friends, to build a life for herself far more beautiful than any she had ever known…

As long as Hotaru's future was promising, as long as there were possibilities for her daughter, Azula could endure anything. That was what she wanted to convince herself of.

And so, the Barge continued onwards, carrying them closer and closer to the Fire Nation's islands, drifting past several of them across multiple days of travel, until the Great Gates of Azulon could finally be spotted in the distant horizon…

The Northern Water Tribe fleet had taken off ten days prior. Fifteen ships sailed south, progressively entering warmer waters that had taken several of the warriors and benders native to the North Pole entirely off-guard. The ships happened to be large and spacious enough for Appa to occasionally land and rest on their decks, and they did as much on Sokka's particular vessel more often than not.

Unsurprisingly, Kino seldom stretched his legs and climbed off Appa's saddle: to this moment, the northerners wouldn't stop shooting judgmental glares at him, particularly Master Pakku. He had forced Kino off the saddle the first time, giving him a rather forceful and harsh speech regarding northern customs and how he was expected to behave himself and respect the Princess's virtue – never mind that she had long surrendered her maidenhood to another man – if he truly meant to start a relationship with her. That the relationship had long started already didn't seem to properly register in the man's mind – he likely wouldn't acknowledge it as a real relationship until Kino was well and truly married to Yue, if they made it that far.

But to everyone's surprise, the typically youthful, silly and careless Kino was somber, stern and serious instead. He listened to Pakku earnestly, agreeing with him on all accounts, and speaking of Yue with such respect that, in any other circumstances, he might just have succeeded at impressing the cranky waterbending master… but in the middle of a war, and due to Kino's origins, the likelihood that he would achieve that was slim to none.

Aang and Katara took to practicing their bending, and occasionally to foraging in the Earth Kingdom's lands if they came close enough to their shores – they even ventured into the Western Air Temple for a few hours, once they were flying near it. They would take occasional breaks on Appa alone, away from the rest of the army, and Sokka had no interest in inquiring whether they were making up for lost time or just taking a necessary break from everyone else, particularly himself. His mood hadn't improved enough even if his chosen course brought him closer every day to the Fire Nation, and to the destiny he determined to fulfill as soon as possible. As for Zuko, the firebender had spent some of those days training properly on a ship's deck, strengthening his body after losing much of his power after his severe wound in the Northern Water Tribe. Sokka dreaded that, as much as he had agreed to it, Zuko might not be ready to fulfill his intent to slay Ozai himself. If the Fire Lord fought back, which he most likely would, Zuko would have trouble keeping up with an unharmed, physically imposing bender like his father was supposed to be…

But for now, he continued to train lightly, to produce fire smoothly, and to practice the motions of lightning too, even if without daring generate it. Hearing that Zuko had succeeded at the prestigious art had certainly surprised Sokka: that might just serve the firebender better if he truly meant to kill his father. Still, it remained to be seen whether he would be able to conjure any electricity or not when the time came.

No preparations would be excessive once they faced the threat and dangers that lurked ahead: Sokka's heart nearly stopped when he raised the spyglass to spot land, far away, in the distant horizon.

A twisted feeling in his gut, resembling unbridled relief and joy, was paired with a sickening one, far closer to disgust and rejection. He never imagined his conflicting feelings over the Fire Nation would ever return, not after all his growth, all he had changed during his years as Azula's gladiator. But it was Azula herself who triggered the unwanted resentment… for that land, those people, were the ones she had chosen over him. On one hand, he did not blame her. On another, he childishly, selfishly, wanted to make her choose him instead. It was a bitter, foolish thought… but one that bloomed in his mind all the same.

"Safe to say… we're sailing in Fire Nation waters by now," Sokka told the waterbender standing with him on his appointed ship, one of Arnook's finest men. He raised an eyebrow.

"You see land already?" he asked. "Do you know where we are?"

"Not quite. All my projections suggest we'll be coming down south near Ember Island," Sokka said, frowning as he pulled his map open. He knelt on the wooden deck of the ship, and the waterbender sat with him. "Unless the currents push us too far east or west, we're bound to spot Ember Island and… and Firelight Town's island, too, first of all."

The wistfulness with which he spoke didn't escape the waterbender beside him. Panuk had only grown acquainted properly with Sokka across this journey: the emotional distance between the Gladiator and everyone else reared its head in their every exchange, including this one.

"So that's probably what I just saw. We'll be traveling further east again so we can find land at the location we were headed to. Might take us another day or two to get there," Sokka reasoned.

"Do you expect the rest of your army will be there by now?" Panuk asked.

"I'm not sure, but I hope so," Sokka said, breathing deeply. "Might be a good idea to check, though. If there's been any eventualities, we're better served by finding out right away."

"I'd think so, too," Panuk said, nodding sagely.

With that in mind, Sokka called Aang back to the ship: at the moment, Appa was fully crowded, with all of the South Pole's group, along with Momo, riding on the saddle.

"Those are Fire Nation islands now, for sure, right?" Katara asked Sokka, once they were within earshot. The Gladiator nodded.

"We're almost at our destination. I think I know where we are, and we'll have to go further east," he explained. "Can you guys try to get to the Slate's island first, check if things are coming along smoothly?"

"Well, if you're sure…" said Aang, blinking blankly.

"I finished my workout of the day a couple of hours ago," Zuko said, shrugging. "Might do better at it on solid land too. I'd be fine with getting there faster, if we can do that."

"He's still healing, after all," Kino said, eyeing Zuko compassionately. "He could use the break from traveling so much…"

"Okay, then… okay. We'll go," Katara said, though she frowned and eyed her brother with uncertainty. "I… just be careful, Sokka. I don't know why this weirds me out, but… maybe it's because we're in Fire Nation territory now."

"Must be," Sokka said, with a weak smile. "I'll be okay. I'll try to burn out my brooding and anguish over the next few hours. Might just feel more like myself when I catch up to you guys again."

"You'd better," Katara sighed, nodding at him.

The bison began rising again, and Sokka watched it speed away, in the direction he had oriented them towards. Roku's island, the Slate's Arena, would be available for their army's use… a rather defiant, bold location from where to stage the next operation of their campaign. An operation that, with any luck, would be the last for the Gladiator Army.

Sokka sighed, watching the horizon anxiously anew. He had enough ideas on what their resources would be, their possibilities going forward… he also knew better than to assume that he'd take Ozai by surprise with anything he did, though. A simple messenger hawk by Azula was bound to give the Fire Lord all the insight needed into Sokka's mind… he gritted his teeth, tightening a fist at that thought. Would she do it again? Even while being in Yu Dao, safely out of her father's reach… would she still offer him aid until the very last moment, until Sokka's forces saw to Ozai's death at last?

She just might, he knew, as he felt the ship angling towards the east, too. He had to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Ultimately, as many preparations and defenses as the Fire Nation might build, they lacked the air power they almost had claimed, they lacked the weaponized airships… they didn't have as many earthbenders as Sokka's side did. They had no waterbenders, either. The only known dragon to the Fire Nation was chained and held as a prisoner, so even he wouldn't offer Ozai any aerial advantages.

The Fire Nation, though… he gritted his teeth, raising his gaze back towards the islands he could see in the distance. His heart churned as memories assailed his mind anew: Ember Island, the place where he had first faced an opponent in the Superior Gladiator League, where he had his first serious row with Azula, where he had first held her in bed and told her he loved her. Firelight Island, the place where they had boldly dared live their truth without shying away from being seen together in public. The memories had hurt… right now, they struck in a deep, dark place of his heart, reminding him that he had lost something invaluable. That the love they had shared was no mirage, no misremembered illusion: it had been real and true, strong and unquestionable. Simply being anywhere near the places where such extraordinary moments had taken place was filling his heart with turbulent, chaotic feelings…

But one of them was a strange sensation of awakening. Of reclaiming something he had lost. Of taking back a part of his identity that had remained dormant across that last year of being apart from the woman he loved. Of returning to the world where their relationship had unfolded, where they had sworn themselves to each other… where the uncertainties that chased and tormented him had been as good as insignificant compared to the ones that hounded him now. For he had no true faith in himself… but he had placed all of it in her. Where he had failed to believe he could amount to anything in life, he had trusted the same would not be true for the Princess of the Fire Nation. He had only ever grown to believe he could be worth something because she had thought so, first…

And over the past year, he had as good as tried to cling to that belief to move forward. He had attempted to find his true confidence, without Azula to enable that possibility, without her aid to push him to the goal he sought. Without her warmest smiles, without her teasing words, without her comforting embrace…

He felt himself tremble where he sat, as urges to break down in tears nearly overwhelmed him. He couldn't let himself feel so much, he couldn't fathom it… for if he allowed his grief, his fears, his regrets to take over, he would falter in the moment of truth. He couldn't afford that. Even if the only thing he wanted to do was lose himself in thoughts of Azula, he needed to be the Gladiator. He needed to be General Sokka, to focus on reality, to forsake all those memories if just briefly…

He let himself glance towards Ember Island once more. Towards Firelight Town. He would see that world he had loathed and grown to love soon, but right now, he…

He frowned upon noticing motion in the horizon, once he started turning his eyes to the south.

A shudder rushed through his body when he pulled up his spyglass anew.

It was too far away. He couldn't see it properly from here. But it was a ship, wasn't it?

A metal, Fire Nation ship, with a tall pagoda tower, with chimneys…

With an ornate prow.

Sokka lowered the spyglass. He stepped back, as though that would bring him away from what he'd just glimpsed in the distance.

"General Sokka, sir? Something the matter?" Panuk asked, clapping his shoulder.

"I…" Sokka froze, chest heaving.

No, that wasn't what he thought it was. He could just… overlook it. Pretend he had seen nothing. It was probably just a hallucination anyway. A mirage in the distance. A delusion he had conjured by thinking of her as much as he had…

Surely every Fire Nation ship looked similarly from a distance. He was too far away to see it anyway! Too far away to truly determine what kind of ship it was, too far away to…

"General Sokka?" Panuk called him again.

Sokka covered his mouth with a hand.

He had to be imagining things.

But what if he wasn't?

Could she have predicted him to the extent of knowing he would strike against the Fire Nation directly, instead of targeting Yu Dao to find her first?

Could Ozai have called her back by his own initiative, whether because of her predictions of Sokka's actions, or because he figured things out himself?

Could she truly be across that stretch of the ocean…?

Was Azula within his reach, for the first time in over a year?

"I… we need to speed up, southwards. We need to go south as fast as possible…! Turn this ship south, NOW!"

Hotaru's mood might just be the only bright one within the Princess's cabin: even though Rei sought to play with her, in their mother's absence, she couldn't help the weight of uncertainty that wrapped around her whenever reality came back with far more strength than she was prepared to face. The little girl's cheerful laughter could always bring smiles to anyone's faces, but Hotaru alone couldn't change the impending darkness that would ensnare them once Azula inevitably sent them away, for an indetermined period.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Rei whispered. She watched as Hotaru lay on her belly on the bed, reaching for the rattle she had discarded earlier. "I… I spent most of my life without the Princess. I lived without her for a long time. She didn't know I existed until we crossed paths, and I figured I'd been even more forgettable than I actually was. But right now…"

"You can't fathom walking away and living without her?" Song finished for her. Rei sighed, glancing at her helplessly.

"I hate to ask… because you've been through so much, and it's not fair to hope you'll have answers over something that caused you so much pain," Rei whispered. "But… every time my life has changed, it wound up being for the better. I had little to miss from the Scarlet Oasis, if anything at all… everything I've found by my mother's side has been so much more valuable than what little I loved about my father's estate. It hasn't been easy, but… the outcome was always better. I can't imagine this… this ever winding up being for the best, though."

"You're not wrong to expect that. Not if Azula is genuinely in harm's way," Song whispered. "As much as I believe in Sokka… I don't think I actually can extend that trust to most everyone he's supposed to be traveling with. Unless Azula winds up facing him directly, or anyone who actually knows her… I have no idea what they might do to her. The only hope I have in that respect is that she's too strong for anyone lesser than Sokka to defeat her."

"So… you do think she will be in harm's way. That something could…" Rei said, her voice trembling. Song snarled.

"I… I wish I could say something more positive, Rei. But, as you mentioned, I… I've lost enough to sudden changes to ever assume it'll always turn out the best way possible. Even so, I want to believe in her, in him. Hope's just a little more brittle than some people would have you believe."

The healer sighed, stepping closer to the bed and sitting by Hotaru. The child cried out happily in her direction, and Song smiled as she ran a hand gently over her back.

"The truth is… you don't really get used to this kind of anguish," Song said. "You don't learn how to set it aside and adapt until ages after it has happened. I'm still bound to wake up in tears every time I have a dream about my dad. Not having seen or talked to my mother for over a year, after I finally had found her again, is agonizing. That Rui Shi is gone and fighting in the war that keeps taking people away from me… it makes me want to scream. There's no magical solution, no easy way to care less about this… all you can do is believe that there's something far more important than your heart's peace. That your personal pain is yours alone, and you can keep it from hindering or worsening the situation for everyone else around you, especially when they're the ones fighting and struggling the most. But whether you can get used to it, whether you can live with these burdens without being dragged under, Rei… I'm afraid I can't help you there. I know I never have learned how."

Rei sighed, glancing at Song with heartfelt emotion. Song offered her a weak grin, reaching out to clasp her hand in hers.

"We'll have each other. No matter what," she promised. Rei nodded, pushing herself up from the bed to hug her friend fully.

"I'm… I'm really scared," Rei admitted. Song nodded.

"I know. Me too," she whispered, holding the girl carefully, keeping an eye on Hotaru as she did.

The baby lay on her belly on the bed, occasionally dragging herself slightly over the covers, occasionally rolling over. Right now, she held her rattle to her mouth, trying to nibble on it even though her teeth weren't visible just yet. Her wide, golden eyes remained focused and latched onto her mother's companions, though, perplexed and intrigued by whatever was happening between them. Song smiled, and so did Rei once she pulled back, glancing at her sister.

"Looks like she's the bravest out of the three of us," said Rei. "Guess she takes after… after both her parents."

"In all the ways that matter," Song said, with warm affection.

Azula had left the cabin briefly, but the heavy footsteps that approached the cabin revealed she would be back inside with them soon. The sight of land, of islands passing them by, compelled the Princess to confirm with the rest of the staff on her Barge that all was going according to plan. The sun would begin setting soon, too… they would arrive under the shroud of darkness, which hopefully would allow them to slip out unnoticed far more easily.

The door opened, and as expected, Azula marched through it, clad in her golden armor. The heavy frown upon her face suggested that her mood certainly didn't match the tender melancholy of the ones within the room.

"Is everything…?" Rei started, cutting off before finishing the sentence – no, things certainly would not be okay, no matter how badly she wished to hear as much.

"We're on route just as planned," Azula said, breathing deeply as she walked inside the room. "Fortunately, it should be dusk at least when we get there. Therefore, I hope we won't be welcomed by crowds congratulating us for our achievements due to the lateness of our arrival. But if we were… well, all I can think to do is have the three of you riding on my palanquin with me, with closed drapes. Once at the Palace, you'll wait until I've made certain that it's safe to move. I'll keep checking for the assassin's presence without fail as soon as we reach the shores."

"Okay," Rei said, nodding weakly.

Azula sighed, approaching the bed: Hotaru cried out at the sight of her, and the Princess couldn't even find it in her to smile back at her daughter, settling instead for caressing her hair delicately. It was growing smoothly now, after she had shed a lot of her newborn hair, which had then been replaced by still dark, slightly stronger strands instead. It seemed to grow far faster, too.

"Looks like you were exercising, huh?" Azula said. "Didn't give your sister a hard time, did you?"

"We just laid on the mattress together for a bit. I think she's feeling a little adventurous," Rei smiled. Azula managed a weak grin she flashed towards her oldest daughter.

"I'm glad to hear it," she said, leaning close to press a soft kiss upon Hotaru's brow. The baby squealed, reaching out to grab Azula's fringe, but the Princess slipped out of reach too fast.

Her tension wasn't gone, it was nowhere close to fading yet. Where she would usually cuddle her daughter and refuse to let her go, right now it almost seemed that she wasn't sure whether she was worthy to even be near the child.

"Say, what's the plan with Anorak? What you told us about him protecting us…?" Song asked.

"Ah. I have an idea on how to get him out of the brig safely," Azula said. "Slightly unorthodox and it might get Chan in trouble, but…"

A sudden noise cut off Azula's words, causing her to freeze where she stood just as Rei winced, covering her ears instinctively with her hands. Song reacted to the sound by jumping, at first… then by leaning in to pick up Hotaru, who was so surprised by the unwelcome noise she immediately began wailing.

Only Azula knew that the rare sound was the Barge's alarm for any hazards found at sea.

For enemies sighted within the Barge's vicinity.

"Shhh! It's okay, it's okay…!" Song said, rocking Hotaru carefully before shooting Azula a wary glance. "What's going on?!"

"I don't…! I don't know, I'll go make them stop it, but for now…!" Azula exclaimed, snarling.

Azula rushed to the carpet in the cabin, shoving it out of the way quickly and burning the trapdoor's opening, enabling the secret room to open. Both Rei and Song jumped at the obvious message Azula offered them, and she gestured at them to urgently rush inside the secret compartment.

"Azula…" Song said, gritting her teeth before marching inside, awkwardly holding Hotaru against her chest, covering one of the child's ears with a hand, the other by keeping it pressed to her body.

"I'll be back as soon as I can!" Azula said, as Rei, too, climbed into the opening.

It tore Azula's heart to leave Hotaru just as she was breaking out in tears… but the noise wouldn't stop until she made them stop it. She couldn't even afford lighting a lantern for them before closing the trapdoor.

One last remorseful glance: she closed the compartment's door and she was off, back to where she had come from merely a few minutes earlier.

The alarm blared louder and louder as she climbed down to the ship's bridge: the door was open already, and guards struggled to get any words in over the harrowing emergency noise.

"Cut the alarm!" Azula bellowed: it took an instant for it to stop as she stepped up to Renkai, who stood at the center of the bridge, by the man who served as the ship's captain nowadays. "What on earth happened? What was the reason for…?"

"Enemy ships in the horizon, Princess," Renkai said, frowning heavily. "Potentially… a full squad of them. If not their entire army."

Azula frowned. Renkai gritted his teeth and urged her to follow him outside.

The Barge was not equipped for combat, not even fashioned with proper long-range spyglasses built into the ship's infrastructure. The spyglass Azula would use now was but a pocket one, and she had no idea where Renkai had gotten it from. He pointed towards the horizon indeed, as he stood on deck with the Princess… dark shapes, too small to be islands, appeared to fluctuate slightly in the distance.

"We're finding a better spyglass in the hopes of properly detailing what this is," Renkai explained. "But I'm afraid it looks like… like it could be the Northern Water Tribe's fleet, Princess."

"The Northern…?" Azula gasped, lowering the spyglass as she turned towards Renkai in utter disbelief.

Sokka was in the Northern Water Tribe.

Sokka was supposed to be gathering troops there.

Had he succeeded?

Was he…?

Her heart seemed to stop.

Her gaze drifted towards the horizon anew, and then her body seemed to come alive in a terrifying, confusing manner.

It could be Sokka.

Whether it was or wasn't, her course of action couldn't be any different for the same reasons why she had fought for the Fire Nation until this very moment.

Her heart crashed as she gripped the ship's railing. She was not ready to face him now. She might never be, in fact. But if that incoming ship belonged to the Northern Water Tribe… if it truly did, her reckoning might just be far closer at hand than she realized it was.

"Princess?" Renkai asked. She shivered, dropping the spyglass. "Princess, what do we do? So far, the captain intends to continue progressing, we might just reach the Great Gates before they catch up to us, but we don't know how fast they'll move. We don't even know if they have waterbenders boosting their speed either, that would give them an edge over us, even if not one they could likely sustain forever, but… Princess, what are your orders?"

She shivered. Tears bloomed in her eyes. She could tell Renkai they wouldn't fight back and to allow themselves to be swarmed by the enemy. She could tell him to surrender. She could tell him to abandon ship, just as she had asked of her guards once before… but what of the other ships? What of the rest of their small fleet? They wouldn't be likely to leave simply because she asked… and if they didn't, they could very well finish what her father had started so long ago upon fighting the enemy at sea.

But what if it wasn't him at all? What if it was just a Water Tribe fleet, hellbent on fighting back and avenging their fallen? What if they wanted to attack her, in particular, for her role in killing multiple waterbenders in Yu Dao? What if they targeted Hotaru?

Could she truly gamble everything she had protected for the last year on the weak, measly hope that Sokka would be on any of those ships?

Would he do that, if he had been in her shoes?

She didn't know. She guessed he might have. He had always been thickheaded after all.

What was worse of her to do, fight back or run away? What could she even do anymore? What…?

The Great Gates.

If they closed just behind her Barge, the enemy's entrance into the Fire Nation's mainland would be hindered. By then, it wouldn't matter if it was Sokka or a total stranger… they just had to go, fast. If they moved quickly enough, the Gates would protect them from whatever that threat might be.

She snarled. Her mind was made up, but her heart was not.

She was making a mistake.

Another mistake.

She didn't know yet if she would be able to live with it, but she certainly couldn't risk letting those under her protection to fall into the hands of a vague enemy, who might or might not be Sokka.

"Full speed ahead," she told Renkai, who frowned. "Tell them to spread the command to the rest of the ships in our group too. No one stays behind. We can't afford it. And… tell them to prepare some of the bombs, for good measure."

"The… the explosive bombs?" Renkai asked. "I thought we were only transporting…"

"If the enemy is faster and more resilient than we know, our survival might hinge on using them," Azula said, firmly. "I will explain as much to my father upon our return… more so if they happen to be necessary to ensure that we can return, to begin with."

Renkai grimaced… but he nodded. He pressed a fist to his chest and rushed off to convey her orders.

Azula shivered: it was the wrong choice, even if for the right reasons. She couldn't betray the Fire Nation now. She couldn't do it when Sokka's side would never welcome her either, not after what she had done. She belonged in neither camp… but she was a hostage in her father's ranks. If it was Sokka, she prayed that he would know better than to force her hand, for she had no idea what she'd need to do to keep her Barge and its occupants safe from the rebels' fury, as well as her father's nefarious and deadly expectations…

The new, forced speed upon the Water Tribe ships confused the men sailing the large, fast vessels. No one understood yet just what the Gladiator had sighted in the horizon. He barely understood it, himself. He couldn't seem to go ten seconds without raising the spyglass anew, spotting darker stains in the horizon that appeared to be other ships, too… but the one that had caught his eye was still too far away for him to confirm his suspicions. Even though the sun seemed to gleam on its prow, it might just not be…

"What is going on, General?" Panuk asked, jaded and irritable. Sokka winced at his reaction, lowering the spyglass at last. "You saw ships? Fire Nation ships? Do you want us to capture them? It feels a little risky when we're that close to…"

"I did see them. It is risky," Sokka admitted, gritting his teeth. "But… it's possible our biggest threat and best potential ally is on one of them."

"Our… what? Someone who's both those things at once?" Panuk blinked blankly.

"I'm talking about Princess Azula," Sokka said: his heart ached upon saying her name again, as though the wound of their separation had been stabbed and bled out all over again. Panuk's eyes widened.

"You… you mean, your Princess Azula?" he asked. His specification somehow made Sokka's heart swell inside his chest. "The one who…? Oh. Uh… and we're going after her? Are you sure about that?"

"I…"

Sokka wanted to say he was. He wasn't even sure it was the Barge, he couldn't even know if she was on it, if this was a trap, a decoy, a plot by Ozai somehow… he didn't know a damn thing.

But he dared raise the spyglass again. He could detail the prow slightly better. That was definitely gold… and that design looked terribly familiar. He gritted his teeth.

"Look… I know this is crazy. I know it's reckless. But if we don't do this… rather, if we do it, if we capture her fleet, however many ships there are, it means we can take her into our custody and stop Ozai from using her against us. Against me," Sokka said, impassionedly. "Letting her go means she still gets to be our enemy if Ozai feels like controlling her through whatever means he's using to do that these days. And if Azula is actually working with him willingly? All the more reason to capture her now. If we get to her on time… I can reason with her. I can stop her! And if I fail, she'll still be out of the way for the battle against Ozai and that would give us an edge over him. So…"

"So… this makes more sense than I think it does?" Panuk asked, grimacing. Sokka shrugged.

"If you think none of it makes sense, tell me and slap me and…" Sokka said, before shaking his head. "Look… let's convey to the rest of the fleet that they should continue to the rendezvous point."

"What?! But if we go without backup…!"

"If things don't go as planned, only one ship being in danger would be better than risking all of our ships. Besides, we have waterbenders and the ocean is your territory," Sokka said. Panuk grimaced.

"I mean, it is, but it's not as easy as that," Panuk mumbled. "That ship's made of metal, isn't it?"

"Freeze it," Sokka said. Panuk blinked blankly. "There was a frozen ship in my tribe, has been there for well over fifty years. If it gets that bad… that's a way to proceed."

"You're out of your mind, General Sokka. Maybe in a good way, but still…" Panuk said, scratching his head. "Then… our ship goes ahead. The others go to the rendezvous point as intended."

Sokka nodded, and Panuk sighed before beginning to gesture at the neighboring ships to convey their new commands. The Gladiator's heart pounded in his chest now, and he gazed through the spyglass again: the closer it came, the clearer it became that the ship ahead was the Barge. Their Water Tribe ship was faster than theirs… they had perfected the art of sailing, even if their ships were not heavily armored. They had speed on their side. That would have to be enough to catch up to them…

Before they crossed the Great Gates of Azulon.

Sokka frowned as he turned the spyglass further south, past the ships. He couldn't quite see them yet, but that was the location of the Fire Nation's chain barrier… the one Rhone had gotten through, somehow. Could their waterbenders prove skilled enough, as the Stingray had been, to bring the ships underwater and across the gates that way? But that would mean their ship, alone, would be stuck within Fire Nation jurisdiction, with enemies behind them on the barrier and ahead, on hostile armored ships. If it came to that, their team would be the ones to become the prisoners, not Azula…

He had tried to capture her once before. It had gone so badly he had nearly paid for it with his life, when they had first met. Could he make it work this time? Could he finally defeat her when he truly needed to do so? His heart churned at the thought, at the fear that she might fight back…

But he had to do this. For her sake, just as for their daughter's. If she didn't understand that, he would do his best to make her understand. And if she chose to never forgive him, regardless… then he'd have to live with that.

The Water Tribe fleet split off from the flagship gradually: only their ship remained angled towards the Fire Nation's ships… towards the Princess's Barge. It picked up speed, too: had they been sighted? Did the enemy know they were there? Sokka's heart pounded at the thought. Could she have guessed it was him? Would she hope for it? Would she realize they were finally within each other's reach…?

Or would she run away? Would she turn her back on him? Would she acknowledge their bond only to break it entirely?

Hurried footsteps rushing back and forth above deck brought Chan to frown as he sat by Anorak's cell. The waterbender raised an eyebrow, gauging the soldier's reaction quietly.

"Something the matter?" he asked. Chan grimaced.

"You… the Princess trusts you, right?" he said. Anorak shrugged.

"Apparently."

"So that means… if I want to go find out what the hell is going on, you'll stay here and won't cause trouble?"

"What kind of trouble could I get up to?" Anorak asked, his voice faking an innocent tone so poorly that he sounded utterly guilty instead. Chan grimaced.

"Just… behave yourself? Can you? Please?" he said, shaking his head as he stood up from his chair, right by the jail door. "I'll be back soon. You won't be lonely for long, I promise."

"Oh, yippie. I'm going to miss you so much, can't you see?" Anorak said, with a sarcastic grin. Chan stuck his tongue out in his direction.

"Pissy waterbender, can't even be nice when I'm being nice…" he grumbled as he stalked out of the brig.

Anorak's eyes narrowed, though, as he watched Chan go. Yes, he could behave himself… the question was whether he should or shouldn't. If something was happening, if something was causing unrest in the ship… could they have bumped into the fully realized White Lotus fleet? If they had, he needed to get out of this ship before they tore it apart. He was the likeliest person aboard the Barge who could survive, considering his waterbending, but…

But there was Hotaru.

He had promised he would look after her. He snarled at the thought.

He couldn't simply take off if the ship came under attack. If anything, he had to hope it wouldn't be… for he didn't know where the child was. Probably in the most refined room in the tower, yes… but could he find her if the ship went under? That would not be easy.

He groaned: was this the kind of crossroad the Princess faced constantly? He certainly didn't envy her for it one bit…

Chan rushed upstairs as quickly as his feet could carry him. His intuition that something was wrong proved correct, as expected, by the hasty, desperate sound of footsteps, as well as a familiar voice, crying out commands:

"Send word to the Great Gates! At once! Tell them to be at the ready and to close the gates as soon as the last ship in our group crosses them!"

"Yes, Princess!"

"There you are!" Chan exclaimed upon barging out into the ship's main deck: Azula glanced at him, a frown on her face. "Eh, yeah, Anorak says he'll behave, I barely believe him, but… what's going on? Something worrisome, or…?"

"We might be under attack soon. So yes, something worrisome," Renkai said, marching past him to fulfill Azula's orders. Chan's eyes widened.

"Wait… a naval attack?" he asked. Azula gritted her teeth, handing him the spyglass.

"See for yourself."

A blue speck in the horizon… the sail of a Northern Water Tribe vessel, without a shred of a doubt. Chan gasped, glancing at her in astonishment. Azula snarled.

"That one ship… that one alone is coming for us. It broke off from the rest of the fleet. It's targeting us. We need to make it through the Great Gates before it reaches us."

"Okay, okay, that's… uh, how doable is it, actually?"

"I wish I knew, but I don't," Azula growled, taking the spyglass back… and turning it towards the Great Gates, this time.

The Barge moved faster now. Their acceleration had taken some time, but it was working smoothly at this point. That, however, didn't tranquilize Azula: the Water Tribe ship was capable of flowing through the waves at an alarming speed, even if it didn't have an engine. And the distance between them and that ship was slowly starting to close in, to the point where it might just become the same distance that currently stood between them and the Great Gates…

"We're going to be ready to fight back using the bombs," Azula told Chan. He yelped. "Yes, you're our resident expert at working with them. I don't need… don't need that ship to be destroyed. I just need to keep it from reaching us. A barrier of fire they can't properly put out might just achieve that."

"Oh. Huh, that should be doable, I guess?" Chan said, scratching the back of his neck. "Can we set water on fire?"

"If they keep this up? We'll find out sooner than you know," Azula said, gritting her teeth and glaring through the spyglass again.

If only she had Xin Long… if only she had the strength and boldness to jettison her way to that ship and confirm whether it was him or not. Scouting that ship would be the right play now… but she couldn't dare. Betraying the Fire Lord now would carry consequences so much more nefarious than she wanted to imagine. He couldn't be denied. If she chose Sokka over him now… curses, she had done that as best as she could, and even now, she was doing it, in a sense, by knowing and trusting that he would prevail regardless of how she played these next moments. No matter what she did, regardless of the awful choices she had to make for the sake of protecting her own, Sokka would claim victory in due time. But her lover, her true husband, would not see it that way. He didn't already, going by the very last of their spiritual connections…

And yet she couldn't help but think of the first of them. Of the way he had held her, the way he had spoken with her, the words he had conveyed, the comfort, the reassurances…

Further back, his warm gaze, the certainty, the trust, the blind faith he would put on her whenever they were up to anything. Their teamwork in the Race, while facing Rhone…

It all came back, so vividly, so strongly that she nearly toppled over with the force of the surging emotions in her chest: for the first time in over a year, she felt like that woman again. She felt like the reckless, spirited Princess who had given her heart to the right man, ready to fight anything that tried to threaten their bond.

But she wasn't that person anymore. She hadn't been from the moment she had been broken apart from Sokka.

Twin, fierce needs and conflicts rallied in her heart and clashed away in a contradictory squabble. She needed to choose. She needed to make her choice. She needed to decide on which side she wanted to stand to face this nightmare… and she wanted to choose his. Of course she wanted to choose his, of course she wanted to go now, and…

And then what?

Hotaru, Rei and Song were still aboard this ship.

Kori was in Yu Dao.

Mai and Ty Lee, as well as their families, in the Capital.

Xin Long, locked inside his refuge still.

Every last one of them would pay. Her father had made that much clear. Turning against him meant sacrificing them all. Leaving now, forsaking the Fire Nation to appease her weak heart… if she dared do so, she might as well die too. She would not be able to live with it. She hadn't spent over a year making painful choices to save them only to let them down at the very last moment, and yet…

And yet they'd understand. She knew they would, if she chose Sokka.

Perhaps that was the reason why she couldn't do it.

She didn't even know if it was him on that blasted ship… even if it sure looked like it.

Sending the rest of the ships away, beelining straight for the Barge… it would be shocking if that were anyone but him. He had been in the North Pole, her father had warned her that he might come for her… and it looked like he finally had. But after what he said to her in their last encounter… could she even trust that he'd hold back from lashing out at her, considering how badly she had disappointed him as of late? Could she assume he wouldn't let her actions from Yu Dao matter…?

Was he coming after her to make her pay for it all?

The thought chilled her body, darkly. From hoping it was him, to fearing it… now she wound up dreading the very worst of possibilities.

It might be Sokka… and he might just be ready to tear her apart for the terrible sins no one should ever forgive her for.

They were speeding up. As fast as the Water Tribe ship was moving, it was unreasonable entirely for the Fire Nation ships to not be much closer yet… unless they were speeding up.

Sokka snarled: had they noticed their ship? Maybe they had. Whoever was in charge of the Barge right now, for by now he was certain it couldn't be anything else, might have determined to run away rather than fight. There were no weapons on the ship, after all. They meant to find refuge in the safety of the Great Gates, surely…

"We have to get to them before they cross," Sokka resolved, frowning firmly.

Did she know yet? Had she been informed? Was she riding on that ship? Considering she had been in Yu Dao, it was perfectly feasible to assume that the Barge had brought her to and from the city… just as it was possible that Ozai punished Azula by relegating her glorious vessel to lesser duties. Yet, considering that he had trusted her to save her people in Yu Dao, it was unlikely that he'd still be punishing her… she was doing everything he demanded of her. He held power over her, entirely…

"If we can give chase to those ships…!" Sokka called out loudly, startling his crew. "We won't charge full speed ahead into the depths of the Fire Nation! If we can cross the Great Gates, disable them from within, we'll have a chance at stopping them from finding reinforcements! This way, they'll be in our custody! And once our allies are ready, we will be there keep the gates open so that all our forces can push through!"

"General…" one of the waterbenders said, eyes wide.

"Should we focus on hunting the ship? Or should we focus on the gates?" Panuk frowned.

"We want to capture that ship if we can," Sokka said, firmly. "But whether we can or can't… this can be useful to us if we don't waste this opportunity. Disabling their defenses now means we won't have to worry about adding that into our larger plans."

"Wouldn't it be possible that they'd retaliate if we tried to do that, though?" Panuk asked. Sokka shrugged.

"I doubt they'd have the balls," he said. Panuk grimaced.

"Are you sure you should underestimate the Fire Lord…?"

"I'm not sure that I am," Sokka said. "They don't have that much of a fleet anymore. They'd need one to reach us if we take control of the Great Gates. We can use them to lock them inside the mainland, too… you guys are waterbenders, as well. If you work together, you could sink as many of their ships as you care to."

That wasn't something Panuk would argue with: the prowess of waterbenders certainly should not be understated. Five waterbenders would be more than enough to disable any ships the Fire Lord would send their way, whether by making them collide into each other or by dragging them under…

But if the Princess was aboard the Barge, surely the Gladiator wouldn't want that particular ship sunken, would he?

"What… is the plan, though?" Panuk asked. Sokka frowned. "I mean… we'll approach, board that ship, jump past the gates and kill whoever's controlling them?"

"No need to kill them if they surrender," Sokka said, firmly. "But we could… yeah. We can board the Barge. Once we take it into our custody, we'll continue onwards – if we get to them fast enough, the people manning the gates might not even realize something happened and that we're not the actual crew of the Barge until we're already halfway through. After that… we can fight against their soldiers once we're inside, and take control of everything."

"But the Princess…" Panuk said. Sokka scowled.

"She's mine. Leave her to me."

The meaning of his words was twofold, though both implications scared Panuk quite a bit. The Gladiator's relationship with the Fire Lord's daughter was no secret, not at this point, nowhere in the entire world. But there was both longing and frustration mixed into his tone: he wanted her for himself, just as he wanted to defeat her. This was a battle between two lovers, a fierce struggle in which she attempted to run away, to leave him behind for the second time, and he refused to have it. They stood at opposite sides of a war, even if their hearts were one: if either one prevailed, if either one succeeded at convincing the other to join their side, Panuk had no doubts their alliance would conquer the other side instantly.

The Water Tribe ship continued to speed up, and unbeknownst to them, the Fire Nation ones, instead, were slowing right now. The situation was untenable for the Princess: the Great Gates were as far away as the speeding ship from the Northern Water Tribe was. With the armored airships, they certainly could have stood a chance – they wouldn't have needed the Great Gates at all if that were the case… but they had no airborne vehicles, no means to enter the Fire Nation's inner waters besides their ships.

They would reach the Gates within twenty minutes: the Water Tribe ships would likely catch up to them in ten.

"Are the bombs ready?!" Azula called: Renkai nodded, as he and Chan hauled the last of the weapons to the main deck.

She extended her question and command to the rest of the ships: within another minute, both the ships had given a positive response to her inquiry. Her heart was racing.

"Okay, so what's the plan?" Chan asked: he already had his hand cannon in hand, locked and loaded. Azula breathed deeply.

"You'll fire that forward. We won't wait for impact against the water: I'll set the bomb alight myself," Azula concluded. Chan hummed appreciatively. "The rest of the guards and firebending soldiers will help by lighting the other bombs, too."

Some of the canisters for the bombs were far too large to be flung overboard without putting the ship itself at great risk. Launching the smaller ones through hand cannons, of which each of the three ships would have a handful, would have to do… though Azula frowned, glancing to her right to notice that one of the other ships intended to use a catapult to hurl one of the larger canisters. It was an unorthodox notion, she guessed… but perhaps it could be helpful. She conveyed orders to the two other ships, indicating that they would only launch those large canisters after the first ones had already exploded. It was hard to tell how strong the larger canisters might be, but the blazes that would likely bloom explosively from the first projectiles would have to suffice to trigger them…

The Water Tribe ship kept speeding in. The others were gone. There was just one left. Azula's heart clenched as she gazed at it with uncertainty: she didn't even dare pick up the spyglass anymore. If she saw him aboard… could he truly be this reckless and stupid? She didn't want to believe he'd do anything quite so suicidal… but Sokka's self-preservation instincts had never been the strongest. And wherever she was concerned…

It suited him perfectly to do this just to find her again. Just to reclaim her, just to tell her off, just to get her out of her father's reach.

So she had to give the command. That was all she had to do. It was the only way to keep everyone safe. If she did it now, his people would have enough warning to change routes and avert the blazes. He would recognize the risk immediately and understand the message at once. He had launched bombs of that very same nature at Combustion Man after all. He'd know exactly what he was facing, what he was up against… so doing this wouldn't be so dangerous. He would be fine even if she gave the command. She just had to do it…

"They're slowing down?" Panuk asked: it wasn't just his idea. The enemy ships weren't moving at the same frantic speed as before. Sokka's heart jolted.

Was she finally seeing the truth? Did she realize it was him?

Or was the reason behind their slower pace something far more nefarious than that?

Anything was possible. He couldn't judge things carelessly… he couldn't assume that, even if she was willing to slow down to negotiate a brief truce, that it would end well. But suddenly he could see her in a different way than before… he could envision himself climbing aboard that ship, the very same one that had taken her away from him. The soldiers would stand aside, by her orders, and he would stride across that deck. Where she would demand protocol and propriety, he wouldn't give a shit: he would wrap his arms around her and kiss her without restraint, unafraid of whatever might happen afterwards. He would touch her, he would breathe her in, he would taste her tears, the lips he had missed for so long, that haunted him, just as every last inch of her body did. She'd stop being memories, she'd become reality anew, a reality that felt so true even before it solidified before him. All the pain, the confusion, the fears from the past year would fade away as they reclaimed everything they had left with each other… as their bond bloomed once again.

He raised the spyglass once more, frantic enough that it trembled in his grip. His chest heaved as he wanted nothing but to confirm his hopes, his fears, his…

Catapults.

There wasn't one on the Barge – it wasn't equipped with defensive or offensive weaponry after all. But there were catapults, geared and ready, on the ships following the Princess's.

He lowered the spyglass, a frown upon his face.

"General?" Panuk asked.

"K-keep… keep going," he said, staring at the Barge in chagrin. "Go. We have to… we need to get closer. If we do, I… I'll make sure she sees it's me. I…"

"Are you completely sure that she's not going to want to…?"

"I'm not, but…! She has to stop, at least!" Sokka exclaimed, shuddering, raising the spyglass again. "Whatever they're doing, there's no way they… well, it doesn't even matter if they do! You guys can stop their projectiles anyway, can't you?"

"We could, but you're kind of asking a lot of us non-stop right now…!" Panuk said: he, along the other waterbenders, was working hard at pushing their ship across the sea as fast as possible with his bending.

Sokka's chest tightened with fear: she had to be there. She had to understand. They weren't hostile, not really… what fear could they have of a single Water Tribe ship? At the very least they had to want to capture them! That was reasonable, wasn't it?

He could see movement on the Barge. He couldn't tell what it was. The Water Tribe's ship was too damn short compared to the tall mechanized, heavily armored Fire Nation ships. Maybe if he climbed the mast, he'd see something…

Recklessly, Sokka reached for one of the mast's ropes and used it to climb over the tall column from where the sails hung. Some of the sailors called for him, urging him not to take unnecessary risks, but Sokka perched himself as high as he could go, and he pulled out the spyglass anew.

He thought he'd see nothing noteworthy… until he glimpsed someone marching on that deck.

Golden armor.

Azula shuddered as she urged everyone to stand ready. She marched back and forth across the Barge: five different hand cannons had been prepared, and the firebenders accompanying her on this ship would light the canisters as commanded…

Once she gave the order.

Once she said the damn word she didn't want to.

She shivered: something had happened in the Water Tribe ship… it swayed slightly from side to side. Like someone was throwing it out of balance by… climbing the mast? If she pulled up the spyglass, she might see. And if she saw what she thought she would…

If she did, she would be unable to give that order.

Her mistakes were irreparable as it was. She struggled to tell whether it'd be a worse one to speak out that word or not to.

"Princess… they're getting too close now!" Chan said, the cannon on his shoulder. "If we waste another moment, they might just dodge the bombs!"

Azula's chest heaved: nobody understood her struggle. Nobody knew why she couldn't say the word. Nobody could tell why her eyes were locked onto that distant figure on the mast: it couldn't be him. It couldn't be. If it was… if it was…

"Princess!"

The sound of a soft child's cry escaped the cabin, its secret compartment.

Too much weighed against her impulses.

Like every danger she would give full strength to, if she didn't fight back.

Like every fear, every dread, every inch of hers that was still firmly gripped, restrained and controlled by her father.

She gritted her teeth.

Atop the mast, Sokka's anxious chest heaved as he felt his heart pound in it too violently. She had to understand it was him. She had to… she had to…!

The sea was not quiet, but it wasn't loud enough to hide his voice when he bellowed.

"AZULA!"

What Sokka didn't know was that, a mere instant earlier, his Princess had raised her voice, too:

"FIRE!"

He saw the projectiles, mainly by the light trail of smoke left in the wake of the launched bombs, and he heard the loud blasting sounds that accompanied them. For a mere instant, they were meaningless spheres, rushing across the sky, representing no great hazard… until Sokka reasoned with what he knew. Until Sokka remembered himself. Until it came back to him that they had weapons, deadly and dangerous ones they hadn't known about before.

"No…! NO!" he cried out. "AZULA!"

She couldn't hear him. And if she could, the sound of his voice reached her far too late: blasts of fire, most of them orange, burst from the Barge, aiming for the projectiles launched earlier.

One blast was blue.

His heart collapsed even before the bombs exploded, and a wall of fire bloomed abruptly, dangerously, spreading across the sea violently.

"Hey…! HEY! General! We're under attack!" Panuk shrieked: they had heard his screams, but they seemed all too aware of the fact that Sokka was not himself, not likely to hear anyone's voices…

And he truly wasn't. The sparks of blue that swam in that sea of orange appeared to have sapped every shred of sense, of strength, of willpower left inside his heart.

Azula was there.

Azula had attacked him.

Azula had fired against his ship.

And it wasn't just her: the catapults fired next, and Panuk and the others screamed in further panic when the larger bombs crossed the initial wall, spreading the flames even further: the wall continued to grow in thickness and height, and the air itself was on fire…

The blue flames were gone, replaced by the relentless orange flames that snapped Sokka back to a reality he wanted to deny, reject and abandon…

But he wasn't alone.

He had men under his command, and they were screaming.

"TURN THE SHIP! TURN IT AROUND!" Panuk exclaimed: it was a pointless command, the ship would never move faster than the spreading flames before them. Sokka snarled and leapt off the mast, landing near the desperate waterbender.

"ABANDON SHIP!"

Sokka's command startled everyone: they glanced at him once… then the waterbenders stepped forward: terrified as they were, they managed to jump, bending spheres into the water once they landed on it, and they urged the others to join them inside the water barriers underwater.

The food, the armaments, the resources, the ship itself would be gone. They could do nothing to salvage any of it anymore.

Sokka urged them to hurry, pushing each of the men into the water as fast as possible… but the fire kept spreading: another catapult launched a new bomb…

The flames caught the ship's prow just as the last person left, besides Sokka, jumped off the ship and into the waterbenders' grip.

The ship caught fire, and Sokka watched the ruthless progress of the flames for just one instant…

The very same kind of fire he had wielded against Combustion Man. It was the exact same thing.

But this time, the Princess wouldn't sweep in to save him.

The Princess had been the one to condemn him in the first place.

He dropped in the water heavily, jumping impulsively, and not towards the bubbles the waterbenders were crafting. He didn't aim properly.

The deafening sounds of the ocean were no louder than the dark thoughts blooming in his head as he sank in the sea. Than the distressing realization that they had no support, no backup that could snatch them out of the deadly water in which the flames had spread. The ocean itself was on fire, just as the air had been, in the Northern Water Tribe…

And he sank in it, eyes wide, unable to move another inch as his armor dragged him under.

The light of the flames glowed blindingly above the surface. He couldn't get out. He couldn't breathe. If he tried, he would only take in water. If he stuck his head out of the surface, he would burn.

There was no solution. No way out. She had trapped him… just as she felt trapped.

He had failed to save her. She wouldn't let him.

She had fired at him… and now, she left him to sink to his death.

The wall of fire spread powerfully across the sea. Azula stood in place, trembling: she hadn't imagined it. It wasn't a hallucination of any sort. She hadn't been so foolish as to evoke something that would destroy her quite so harshly as…

As his voice could.

She approached the railing of the ship. The bombs flew faster, farther… she snarled before screaming:

"STOP! STOP FIRING NOW!"

Her order was heeded. It reached the neighboring ships: they had aimed further ahead than she had anticipated they would. The fire had spread too far. It was uncontrollable, that was the very point of those bombs… but the ship shouldn't have been caught in the flames she had cast earlier. It was just a barrier, just a way to block them away from the Great Gates…

And now it was an inferno over the ocean. It burned fiercely… and her heart seemed to fail her upon realizing it had swallowed the ship altogether.

She hadn't done it. She hadn't given the worst damn command she could have. She hadn't been quite so stupid, quite so fearful, quite so controllable, quite so…

She had done it.

She had given that command.

She had heard his voice… well after she had called upon her forces to fire.

She trembled as she fell to her knees, careless for what her soldiers would see. She heard them moving behind her… but just as she had abandoned him to his fate in the South Pole, there would be no comfort to be found in the arms of any concerned guards this time either. Just as she had left him, and broken his heart back then…

She had done it now, too.

She had set his ship on fire.

It was Sokka.

It had to be Sokka…

Had she killed Sokka?

Her stomach twisted and turned. She shook her head. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't breathe…

He couldn't breathe.

Sokka would die. Sokka would die. Sokka would…

Everything was her fault.

A/N:

... I promise I'll be posting a very relevant snippet in P / A / T / R / E / O / N for the next chapter tomorrow. If you need the immediate relief, that's where you'd have to go. Beyond that... feel free to visit Gladiator's T / U / M / B / L / R blog to read the next one's preview on Tuesday. Yep...