Hello, good people of fanfiction! I'm Back!

Have I got a chapter for you! It turned out to be slightly long, It was supposed to be longer as I was going to end phase 4 with it, but I decided to leave some stories of phase 4 to chapter 41, and then we'll get to phase 5.. the original plan was to end the story with phase 5, but then something else came to my mind, so we'll see how it goes :)

I'm sorry for the constant delays, this story just takes a lot of time to write, and I have no time to do so at the moment, but I'm planning to finish this story very soon and I've already got the ideas for phase 5 and actually wrote some of it, so no worries, you'll have the ending to this story in no time.

Thank you for waiting and please don't forget to review at the end of the chapter.

Enjoy!


Katara

The sight was cruel to say the least, she never expected she would be thrown into such a situation, but there she is, standing at the shore, staring down a dozen firenation ships, coming to kill her and the citizens of Kyoshi Island on the spot.

Katara kept gawking in silence at the ships, they didn't look enormous or even looked like they belonged to the firenation, they looked more like pirate ships, but she knew that those pirates worked for Firelord Azula, she planned it all, she waited for the watertribe army to leave Kyoshi Island and then she struck, typical Firelord mentality, they're known for being opportunistic, greedy and lacking honor-less.

Katara was too dazed to move, too out of focus, all those people are gonna die, her mom, her gran-gran, and all those villagers, they'll die because some power hungry politicians seek control over the land, power hungry politicians like Azula, like Long Feng, like her fa-

NO! MY DAD IS A GOOD PERSON! Katara screamed internally, the sudden change of thinking got her out of her daze and made her aware of the upcoming threat, she stared down the upcoming ships again and got into a fighting stance, Katara took a deep breath then she moved both her hands up, she then smoothly moved them to the front and down, bending down in the process.

and with the movements she created a giant wave in front of the ships, the wave got very high up and then it moved forward, taking most of the ships with it, Katara heard screaming of whoever boards the ships from the distance, as they jumped into the water, the old Katara would have felt bad for them, but the new Katara knows how those power hungry demons want to do with the world and she wouldn't just stand by and watch them as they do it, Katara then did sudden movements that rippled the water at first but then it created frequent waves so sharp they could cut through a mountain and sent them in their direction non-stop, cutting down some of their ships and killing some of the sailors on the spot.

she kept sending the sharp waves, thinking she got them for good, until two ships appeared from the side and sent fire boulders at her. Katara saw the boulders coming and jumped to the side, she groaned from the fall but thanked the spirits that she saw the fire boulders in time, or else she would have ended up like Appa and Jet.

"You motherfuckers.." Katara muttered as she stood up again to continue her attacks, she created a giant wave to hold up the upcoming ships, trying to destroy as many of them as she could. Katara was about to continue her attacks until she saw it from the distance, a ship that used her distraction and arrived at the shore some distance away from her, soldiers got out of her but none caught Katara's eyes but three figures, a lady with a very huge animal that came running towards her, and a giant man with some king of tattoo that looked like a third eye on his forehead.

suddenly the man took a deep breath and out of no where something looked like explosives came out of his forehead and was launched at Katara, she saw the sight and reflexively moved the water that she was attacking the ships with in front of her as a shield, it was enough to keep her alive, but not enough to keep her standing, as the explosion made her fall back a couple of meters, Katara wanted to stand up again, but she was met with a rather unhealthy sight, the huge, ugly animal with the lady mounting it arrived at her location and the animal attacked her with his tongue, as soon as his tongue touched her,

Katara fell to the ground motionless, her eyes opened, but her body paralyzed.

She saw the rest of the ships arrive at the shore, and the soldiers came out of it to join the lady with the giant animal, just as she saw them, she knew she was dead, the soldiers almost arrived at her location, but they couldn't as they were distracted by another presence.

"Get out of our island, you fuckin' demons!" She heard the familiar voice of Suki as she arrived with her warriors to attack the infiltrators.

The Lady with the giant animal left Katara on the ground and joined her soldiers to fight Suki and her warriors, Katara was correct, her soldiers did indeed look like pirates.

Suki and her warriors did their best to fight but they got overwhelmed by the numbers, especially the fact that they had a third-eyed freak with them that kept shooting explosives at Suki and her warriors, she saw them fall down one by one, unable to move, unable to do anything, it was too overwhelming that Katara's eyes watered and the then the tears fell to the side of her face, as she was on her side on the ground, watching this catastrophe unfold, humans are facing total extinction and this is what they are doing to each other, it was depressing to say the least. Katara kept watching her friends fall in silence, until it stopped with the loud voice of her grandmother,

"Attack!" Kanna commanded and suddenly an army of water tribe people appeared out of no where.

Katara heard about the evacuation of the people of both tribes some time ago, but she didn't know they would make their first stop at Kyoshi Island, The southerners came to the aid of Katara and the warriors of Kyoshi, Katara didn't realize they evacuated the non-bender warriors as well, she knew they only needed benders and only benders to fight the spirits, but they could have made use of the non-benders as well, but now she thanks the spirits that they chose to evacuate the non-bender warriors as well, as they came to the aid of Kyoshi Island and its people. The southerners fought bravely, the southerners fought valiantly, and the southerners drove the enemies to the sea, the danger was almost destroyed, even the lady with her giant animal trailed back to the sea, but as per usual, there has to be a remaining problem, the third-eyed freak.

he kept shooting explosives at the soldiers non-stop, his combustion power was uncanny, he kept terrorizing the soldiers with his menacing power and none of them was able to stop him.

The man with the huge scar beside the lady with the giant animal shouted,

"SHOOT AT THEM! DON'T STOP! THE REST OF YOU, PROTECT HIM!" And suddenly the firenation took the upper hand once more, it looked like there was no hope whatsoever, Yes, Katara, started to feel like hope was driven from all the world, even though she started to regain her breath as she took advantage of the interference of the water tribe people, and she actually stood on her own two feet, but that didn't change the fact, that the Hopeful, started to feel hopeless.

Suddenly hope returned to Katara once more, as she saw it from afar, the fur of a six-legged giant animal, at first Katara thought it was just an ordinary bison, but then as she took her time to look again, she saw it.. and tears filled her eyes as she realized who was guiding the flying bison, suddenly the entire battlefield stopped what they were doing as they realized as well who was approaching them, and one of them sounded the alarm as he shouted,

"IT'S THE AVATAR!"

Sneers

The middle of the night, what a great time for an act so confidential, that you don't even reveal the full plan to the people who are going to commit it.

The last month has been tough for Sneers, not because he was mourning but because he was devising a plan, along with Kori, the both of them gathered the remainder of the freedom fighters and decided to finish their misery once and for all, how are they gonna do it? by avenging the fallen, how are they gonna avenge the fallen? by killing the imprisoned remainder of Shun's goons.

No matter how much he tried, he just can't get the picture of the bodies of his fallen comrades out of his head, revenge really consumed Sneers, although he was driven by revenge, Sneers decided that killing Jeri and the rest of the goons won't be enough, but killing him will guarantee him leadership of the freedom fighters for good, and that will give him access to his full plan, the plan that he's gonna reveal to the warrior later on. as for the current plan, it's as simple as this, infiltrate the prison, kill Jeri and the goons, make a commotion, Leave.

The freedom fighters understood the entirety of the plan except for one part,

"Why would we make a commotion? I thought this was a stealth mission." asked one of the fighters.

Kori stood by Sneers, all frightened of his new attitude as he firmly responded, "I want the Firenation to know who's responsible.", she knew that wasn't his only intention.

The Freedom Fighters agreed to the plan that Sneers offered, and have already been working on it for about a month, The first part of the plan is to know where Jeri and the rest are imprisoned, and they've already got that from a poor guard that they kidnapped,

"The Firenation soldiers have been moved to the secret prison near the walls, it's an underground prison near the well, Please don't kill my family!" The guard responded, crying tears of agony as Sneers personally threatened him of getting rid of his family, all the while Kori was standing by him, acting like everything is fine when it's really not.

The second part of the plan is how to infiltrate the prison, the guard told them of the underground cave that leads directly to the prison, Sneers has finally gotten the information he needed, so he killed the guard.

Kori couldn't hold her silence anymore as he did so, "Why would you do this?! He gave you everything you wanted." Kori said.

"We don't want any loose ends." Sneers said, his voice devoid of emotion.

Kori had tears at the corners of her eyes, but she blinked them away immediately and tried to act rationally, "But you said that part of the plan is making a commotion!"

"Yes.. The commotion comes after the mission." Sneers simply answered not even bothering to look at her, and walked away. Kori stood there motionless, as soon as he left, she dropped to her knees and cried her eyes out, she couldn't believe the one she loved would do this, It's not the same Sneers anymore, she just couldn't believe, but she went with it, because Love really can't be controlled.

It was finally day of the mission, and Sneers was somewhat anxious, but he never showed it, Kori came by his side, so he decided to speak with her,

"You don't have to be afraid of me, I would never even try to hurt you, you're the only one that still makes my heart beat. please, bear with me until I finished this, and afterwards, everything will get back to normal." Sneers said, feeling like he was pouring out his heart as he hasn't done it in a while.

Sneers never looked at Kori as he said what he said, but he knew she was looking at him with miserable eyes, "Nothing can go back to normal.." she started, Sneers didn't even turn to look at her as she continued, "You know my parents will stand in your way, correct?" Kori asked.

"Yes." Sneers answered.

"And you know that when they do, you are not gonna hurt them, correct?" Kori followed up with another question.

Sneers was silent for a while before answering, "Sure."

Worry and discomfort took over Kori after Sneers' answer, like he was debating with himself whether to answer with Yes or No, nonetheless Kori tried to be optimistic and expected the best.

Sneers finally decided to spare a look at Kori and saw the miserable look on her face, he felt guilt all over, but he decided to brush it aside until after the mission, so he only turned his head and said,

"Now is your turn." Kori understood what he was referring to, and immediately got into action, she left the freedom fighters where they were standing and walked some distance to something that looked like a hole, it didn't look much at dark but Sneers knew that Kori could feel it with her feet, Kori kept moving towards it slowly, tapping with her feet to look for a sign, she finally found it as she stopped walking, and she used her earthbending to immediately open the hole, Sneers gave a faint smile as he saw Kori waving to the freedom fighters to come after the hole was opened, Sneers and the rest of the fighters moved to Kori's side immediately and entered the hole, she got in right after and closed the hole behind her.

The Freedom Fighters have finally infiltrated the prison, they followed Kori again as she kept tapping with her feet trying to find the location of the prisoners.

She finally found them, and together with Kori, the fighters sneaked their way to where the goons where located, they saw a guard that was on duty guarding the prisoners, they spared a look at the prisoners and they did find them, sleeping on the floor of their cells, the guard was also sleeping on his chair.

Sneers motioned to one of the fighters to move to the guard's side, the soldier got the message and got behind the guard, as soon as he did so, he put the guard in a headlock from behind, causing the guard to wake up suffocated, the fighter kept him in the headlock until the guard passed out, and so the warrior released him and left him to fall unconscious on the ground. The sound of the fallen guard making contact with the floor woke up Jeri, he jolted up in his cell and rubbed his eyes for a clearer view, as soon as he saw what was going on, his eyes went as wide as plates and he screamed for help.

That was when Sneers took a dagger out of his pocket, and launched it in Jeri's direction, the dagger struck Jeri's shoulder and he fell to the floor screaming again, but in agony this time, by the time this happened, the rest of the firenation soldiers woke up too, and so Sneers had to give an order.

"Take the keys from the guard and Kill the rest of the soldiers, remember to injure them before you enter the cell, we don't want any funny business. and leave this one to me." Sneers ordered , the freedom fighters, referring to Jeri as he said the last bit, who nodded and did as asked.

Sounds of throats being cut and soldiers feeling it filled the place, the freedom fighters killed The rest of Shun's army brutally, they decimated them.

Sneers took the liberty to open the door to Jeri's cell and walk slowly towards him with a faint smile on his face, Kori was standing at the door, looking as horrified as Jeri, but for different reasons of course.

"Wakey Wakey, Jeri Boy." Sneers said, mimicking Jeri's words when he was the one imprisoned, as he kept circling him menacingly.

Jeri couldn't move as the dagger pierced to his shoulder prevented him from doing so,

"Please.. Sneers, I was just following orders." Jeri begged, and Sneers was silent so Jeri spoke up again, "What are you gonna do with me?" he asked.

Sneers kept his silence and only continued to go in circles around him, Kori looked at him as frightened as Jeri, she couldn't believe how frightening her boyfriend has gotten, that's not the same Sneers that she fell in love with, this is a totally different person, and it made her sick to the core.

Suddenly Sneers stopped going in circles and stood motionless in front of Jeri looking him dead in the eyes, Jeri's heart dropped, as Sneers crouched beside him and said,

"I would be lying if I said I'm not gonna enjoy this, because I will.. I will enjoy it so very much." Sneers said with a voice devoid of emotion.

"Please.." Jeri almost said, before Sneers put his hand on the dagger and moved it slightly, making Jeri scream in pain, "Please stop!" Jeri said with fear consuming him.

Sneers moved his hand and with one swift move, he removed he knife from Jeri's shoulder, "AHHHH! MOTHERFU-" Jeri almost cussed, but he was interrupted by Sneers planting the knife to the other shoulder hard, piercing his other shoulder with it, Jeri screamed even louder than the first time,

"STOP! PLEASE STOP!" Jeri screamed.

Sneers got closer to his ears and said, "You want me to stop?"

"Yes! Please!" Jeri answered with agony.

Sneers smiled, "Alright." He only said.

Sneers then took the knife out of Jeri's shoulder and pierced it into his chest, As Jeri tried relentlessly to fight Sneers off but Sneers slowly plunged the knife into Jeri' chest, further and further until it can go no further, Jeri then fell to the ground, dying.

Behind him, a single tear trickled down Kori's right cheek, as that gave her the confirmation, that the man she loved, is no longer with them.

Her train of thought was cut by Sneers speaking, "It's time for the last part of our plan, Kori."

Kori was silent for a second, looking at Jeri's dead corpse, she then shook her head and moved it to look at Sneers, "Are you sure this is the best option?" Kori asked.

Sneers then looked at her and smiled, a sight that sent a shiver down Kori's spine, "I'm sure this is the only option." Sneers responded.

How could he smile when he just stained his hands with someone else's blood? How could he be so cold-hearted? Kori kept asking internally, but then she shook her head again as she knew there was no point, she then nodded at Sneers and turned around to leave.

Sneers himself wasn't in the best shape, he felt like he was a completely different person, but he knew it was a necessary change, for this nation to become a better and stronger place.

He then stood up, and wiped Jeri's blood off him, he stepped out of the cell to find that the plan was already in motion, all of the freedom fighters fled the prison and left him alone there, he also heard them starting the commotion.

Sneers smiled as he took a seat on the chair that the poor guard was sitting on, and waited for the police to arrive.

His plan might not be the most reassuring, but it's a risk he had to take.

Tolan

Tolan sat in his prison cell, contemplating the choices he's made his whole life, wishing he never made most of them. He sat alone, away from everyone, with just a guard at his door, a guard that he knew very well, the person he trusted the most, Kunyo.

Kunyo was his most trusted advisor, Tolan in fact recommended Kunyo to be next in line for the position of Leader of the Dai Li, he always put Kunyo in charge whenever he took a vacation from work, he always saw him as the most talented and most hardworking, but most of all, he saw him as the most loyal, in Tolan's eyes, Kunyo proved the latter to be wrong.

"I hate the fact that they chose you to be my cell guard.. My most trusted advisor.. guarding my prison cell.. The humiliation is outstanding." Tolan spat out.

"It does have a nice ring to it, though.. me still being your guard." Kunyo responded.

Tolan snorted, "Yeah.. Like you care for all the time we spent together, you were my right hand man, I even put you on top of the list of recommendations of people who would take my place after I'm gone." Tolan said, with a sense of disappointment.

"Well, it seems like your list of recommendation means nothing now." Kunyo said emotionlessly, not even turning around to look at him during the whole conversation.

"It doesn't fuckin' matter! I still chose you!"

"And it meant nothing."

"It doesn't fuckin' matter! I still chose you!"

"You're repeating yourself-"

"It doesn't fuckin' matter! I still chose you, you son of a bitch! I trusted you! You were the only one that I trusted, you knew how much I valued you, and you still betrayed me, Kunyo! How could you do that?!" at this point, Tolan was steaming.

"What would you have done in my place? risked your position to help me?" Kunyo asked this time.

"If I knew for a fact that you had good intentions, I would."

"I doubt it." the whole time, Kunyo was still staring ahead not showing any emotion.

"That's because you are a son of a bitch and you think all people are sons of bitches like you."

"No, that's because I know you.. You're a realist, you don't listen to your heart when it asks you to do something based on emotional crap." Kunyo spoke.

To which Tolan replied, "Not betraying my closest friends! Uh Uh! Never done that, you son of a bitch."

Kunyo sighed, "Whatever you say."

Tolan was about to speak again until he heard footsteps that were closing by, he anticipated them with ease, because he knew exactly who those footsteps belongs to.

"Would you be so kind as to leave us for a moment, Kunyo?" The King of Ba Sing Se requested.

"As you wish, your grace." Kunyo replied and departed.

Tolan snorted, "Your grace? Wow, I have been away a long time, indeed." He said sarcastically.

"Jealous?" Long Feng asked with the same sense of sarcasm as he took a seat on the chair that belonged to Kunyo, with only the door of the cell separating him from Tolan.

"Why would I ever be jealous of you? You're bald, Uncle. Nobody is ever jealous of a bald person."

Long Feng thought for a second before saying, "I've always been jealous of the avatar, and he's bald too."

Tolan was taken aback by his answer, as he thought that wasn't sarcasm at all, "Why?"

Long Feng thought long and hard, he waited for almost a minute before answering, "I've always been jealous of how powerful he is.. Can you imagine this limitless power in the hands of a bald child? This world is a joke."

"This bald child just took back The Earth Kingdom colonies from the firenation without even using a quarter of his full power."

"Yes.. But at what cost? Losing them was his fault in the first place." Long Feng responded, his voice appeared to be calm but filled with anger.

"Says the guy who made a deal with the firelord." Tolan chided.

"I had to ensure my nation's safety, who knows what would have happened to my people if it wasn't for this deal. You don't know how cruel Firelord Ozai was, son. Whoever killed him did us a huge favor. that man was ruthless, he had the whole world in his hands. and he would have crushed us all if it wasn't for my deal."

Tolan snorted again and said, "Defeat is better than shame."

to which Long Feng replied, "Defeat IS shame."

"All hail our savior, Long Feng. Hear Hear!" Tolan said sarcastically.

The King smirked, "Thank you, my nephew. that warms my heart."

"I didn't mean to fla- You know what, Forget it."

"You didn't mean to flatter me.. but in a way you did. I did save this nation, Am I proud of what I did? No.. But I did it for them."

"You just did it for yourself."

"Perhaps.. But it did end up benefitting them, didn't it?"

"Do you even leave the upper ring? The people in the other two rings are enraged by the way you govern them, They are demanding the return of the royal family. they hate you to the point that they are demanding the return of a family that no longer exists, do you even realize how insulting that is?"

Long Feng got angry for a second, but he composed himself and said calmly, "I don't get insulted by filth."

"Maybe it's because you don't listen to them, and that's the problem." Tolan responded.

"My Achievements beg to differ."

Tolan snorted for what felt like the 100th time, "Your Achievements? Give me a break."

Long Feng stood up from the chair and finally looked at Tolan through the bars of the cell door, Tolan stared back at him with malice as the king said,

"Is this your way of repaying me for what I've done for you?" Long Feng said, his voice normal but his eyes showing sadness, which surprised Tolan as he's never seen his uncle's eyes show any expression whatsoever.

"You've brought this upon yourself, Like I said before, I tried to save you, but at this point, you're beyond saving.. Besides, What I've done cannot be undone." Tolan said, and Long Feng's face expressed confusion,

"What're you talking about?" He asked.

Tolan took a deep breath, "Enjoy your reign while you still can, Uncle. It won't be for long." He said with a neutral face.

Long Feng sniffed around for a while before stopping and looking at Tolan again with a smug smile,

"Oh.. I'm sorry, I thought I smelled a threat, but then it turned out to be empty." Long Feng said, and Tolan was really impressed by his uncle's word play, He could only shout 'GOOD ONE!' in his head.

But that having an entertaining sense of sarcasm won't save him from the cruel fate that awaits him, as Tolan meant every word he said,

"I wish you good luck in the wars to come, Uncle." He concluded and turned around to face the wall, sending a subtle message to his uncle that he will not speak anymore.

Long Feng clenched his fists, "Whether it's the spiritual nonsense, The Allies, or even the firenation. nobody has ever been able to penetrate these walls, and no one ever will, so you can rest easy, nephew, You'll all die, and I'll be the last one standing. I'll take a seat on my throne with a glass of wine in my hand and watch the world burn while Ba Sing Se is still standing, as magnificent as ever." Long Feng said, he then turned around, "You worry about yourself, nephew. Soon you'll be facing the gallows, and trust me when I say that all the years that we've spent together won't be enough to make me spare you." He finished, making a shiver run down Tolan's spine.

Tolan kept sitting, not even flinching, still facing the wall as Long Feng departed after finishing his speech, Kunyo then returned to his position, and Tolan turned around and spoke to him,

"Do you believe me now?" Tolan suddenly asked, and Kunyo looked at him in shame.

"You were right. He is mad with power." Kunyo responded.

"So, what are you gonna do?" Tolan asked.

Kunyo thought for a second before narrowing his eyes and saying, "I'm with you."

Tolan smiled and looked at him with the same fondness that he used to look at him with when they were comrades,

"I did miss having you around, brother." Tolan admitted.

Kunyo turned around and gave him his back but not before Tolan could catch his faint smile, Kunyo rarely smiles, not even out of courtesy, so Tolan knew that one was genuine,

"Yeah.. Me too." Kunyo responded, and just at that moment, Tolan could only see the bright future that could await Ba Sing Se and its people.

Azula

"Open the gate!" Azula heard a guard shout as she was entering the caldera city prison, it's time to face the inevitable, it's time to question her best friends. Azula walked the corridors of the prison, with prison guards guiding her through to the interrogation room as Mai and Ty Lee were sitting there, awaiting their firelord to arrive, it's customary for subjects to wait for their firelord to arrive, not the other way around, it's a custom that Azula could never pass on.

She finally arrived at the interrogation room, and held a hand for the guards with her, they got the memo and immediately departed as the firelord wanted to interrogate the two girls alone, as soon as the guards departed, Azula opened the door and entered the interrogation room, only to wish she hadn't.

Mai and Ty Lee were in the worst shapes of their lives, apparently they were very resistant and so the guards kept beating them up non-stop, they also refused to eat which was out of the ordinary for Ty Lee who used to eat a lot for her practices, seeing them like this made Azula's stomach in knots, after all they're still her lifelong friends, seeing them in a bad shape and in chains made her sad.

"How are you doing?" Azula asked, alerting the two girls who seemed to have spaced out from the pain, Ty Lee looked at Azula with tears in her eyes, while Mai only looked at her with utter loathing.

"What are you doing here?!" Mai questioned.

"I'm here to interrogate you." Azula merely responded.

"Why would you do that? you're the mighty firelord, you can just send us to the gallows and nobody would tell you anything." Mai said, which made Ty Lee squeak as if telling her to stop talking.

Azula thanked the spirits that at least one of them was sane, she took a seat on the chair across the table, the interrogator's chair,

"Why would I do that to a person I considered my best friend?"

Mai hissed, "Don't you dare call me that, Just cut the crap and tell us what you want."

Azula sighed, "I'm trying to-"

Mai interrupted, "To pose as the angel that has never done anything wrong in her life, I know What you're trying to say, Azula.. I've heard you say it countless times before, you're trying to help us, Rest easy, Azula, you can consider us fallen to your ill schemes and just leave us alone. All hail our savior, Firelord Azula! there, are you happy now?" Mai mocked.

Azula was looking at Mai the whole time she was speaking, she felt hurt by her words but then she turned to Ty Lee to find her looking very frightened, Azula was even more hurt by how Ty Lee looked like, she looked like a baby looking for the comfort of her mom,

"You're not gonna say anything?" Azula asked her.

Ty Lee was still looking frightened as she asked, "What do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, maybe your input, you can talk about how bad of a person I am, anything.. just talk." Azula said.

Ty Lee looked on the ground, mulling over her next words carefully, a tear trickled down her cheek as she whispered,

"I don't want to die."

both Azula and Mai were surprised by her confession, both for different reasons, Azula was shocked as that wasn't the Ty Lee she was expecting to meet,

"What did you say?" She asked, as Ty Lee's voice was so low, she wanted to double-check.

Ty Lee then turned her head in Azula's direction, "I said I don't want to die, Azula.. Please." She begged, as more tears trickled down her cheeks.

Azula felt very bad for her, she almost had tears in her own eyes, she couldn't believe the person that used to be her closest friend is now asking begging her to spare her life, at that point Azula just wanted to say 'Fuck pride!' and then run to Ty Lee's corner and hug her, comfort her, her closest friend is in dire need of comfort, but she just couldn't provide her with it.

Just as Azula was about to speak, Mai spoke first, "If you're that cowardly, why did you agree to join me?" The black-haired girl asked, disgusted.

"Because you're my best friend and I love you, you both are, I couldn't just standby and watch you fight each other, I saw that Azula was on the wrong and so I helped Mai, that doesn't mean I wanted to die, I just wanted to get us through this period, whether it's Mai triumphing or Azula, I never knew it could get us to the gallows, We are best friends, goddamit! I didn't have anybody in the world but you, what happened between us?!" At this point, Ty Lee was shouting at them, while appearing to be afraid all the same.

Mai decided to speak first, "What happened is that this BITCH killed my father! I can't believe you expected me to follow you afterwards, I used to love you, yes, to the point that I would have layed down my life for you. But you killed my father! nothing in this world would ever stop me from having revenge." Mai said, while Azula was looking at the ground the whole time.

"Say something, Azula.." Ty Lee said. Azula then lifted her eyes towards them and the sight of her made Ty Lee gasp out loud, while it made Mai widen her eyes, What did they see? they saw Azula crying.

The Firelord had been crying ever since Ty Lee's words, Mai recovered first and she spoke up,

"Oh I see what's happening, you're trying to play the victim here.. you poor poor thing!" Mai said sarcastically.

Azula turned her head away and wiped away her tears and turned her face back again with glassy eyes and an angry face,

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!" She questioned angrily.

"Oh Did I hurt your feelings, Firelord?!"

"I didn't mean to kill your father! I tried to save him but he just happened to be there! what did you want me to do? sacrifice all the effort that went into this operation to save him?!"

Mai gritted her teeth, "Yes! That's what friends do!"

"Your father was going to be killed anyways!" Azula revealed, and Mai was shocked into silence.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

Azula revealed everything to the speechless girl, "before I killed Zhao he revealed all his plans to me, he told me that all the people that were attending the ceremonies were loyal supporters of Ozai and not himself, so he knew they were about to turn on him and so he was going to kill them all before they do it to him."

Mai finally broke her state of silence, "You're lying."

"I understand, I've always lied to you, why would you believe me now? but trust me, Mai. I'm telling the truth. Zhao was going to murder them all. Why do you think Shinu came to ask for my aid? he was going to kill them all, and not just them, their families as well." Azula finished with a question.

Mai was speechless again, she was starting to see the truth, so it was Ty Lee's turn to speak, "Now I get it." The girl said, Ty Lee grasped what Mai was struggling to grasp, she finally knew why Shinu wanted Azula to be Firelord so badly, even though he was the second most important man in the firenation under Zhao's rule.

Azula nodded to the girls, she then looked at Mai, "Your father might have died in the explosion, but in return, your life was spared, which was more than enough for me, I care for no one in the world but you, Even now I still want to spare you, I want to get things back to the way it was. Please don't do this to me." Azula said, she wanted to add that she also cares for Zuko and Aang, but that's unrelated to the point.

"Nothing will ever get back to what's once was." Mai said, which made Azula look at the ground.

"I see.." The Firelord said, and stood up, "Then I have no other choice but to make you face the consquences of your actions." She said with a face of determination.

"Azula, Please.." Ty Lee said with her eyes filled with tears, while Mai was looking at Azula with no expression whatsoever.

Azula stood there thinking for a while, she already arrived at a conclusion before the interrogation started, she just wanted to have a conversation with the girls to reminisce about their old days together, that's why she cried in the first place, because Ty Lee crying and asking for mercy while Mai sitting there with no expression made her feel like they were children again, she knew she would never be able to send them to the gallows, and so she decided to punish them with something else.

The Firelord decided to inform the girls of their punishment, and their punishment was..

"You are banished." The Firelord said with a firm face before departing, leaving the girls with faces that displayed confusion.


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