A/N: **TW** Depictions of an example of parental emotional abuse of a child and an anxiety attack. Bracketed by **CA** for the abuse

As always, let me know what you think and leave a review. Hope you enjoy.

Word Count: 5446

7. Facing the Fire Lord (Some Father Lord He Is)

The late morning light slid its way through the cracks of her window to wake Azula up. A knock on the door followed, which could only be a summons to the Fire Lord. The princess' bedhead was quite severe after the first good sleep in her own bed in weeks. She'd forgotten how much easier royal life became when she could sleep.

As soon as she'd gotten up, using her sharp nails to brush down her hair to make it at least presentable to people, she put on her Fire Nation garbs and straightened herself up. Azula brushed aside her servants, who would've just fussed about. She needed to clear her head without the presence of other people before talking to her father.

The situation all came rushing back to her. She'd failed. She'd been unable to capture Percy.

Well, that wasn't entirely true. Azula hadn't ever really tried to capture him. And there was something about that idiotic waterbender still being out there that made her feel like the whole journey wasn't a failure in the slightest, but she knew her father would see it very differently. The princess also couldn't really justify why she felt okay about Percy being not captured to begin with.

You did fail.

The deep voice echoed in her mind as her footsteps bounced across the hallway walls and columns.

At the arguing in her brain, Azula began to seize up once more. Her hands clenched tightly and her breathing quickened. She forced herself to count in a whisper, as she'd just arrived outside the curtained doorway of her father's throne room.

The swaying noren gave her glimpses at her near future. The eerie firelight blazed in front of the Fire Lord's throne. Images of that fire overwhelming her flashed into her mind as she desperately tried to keep a lid on her heartbeat.

She turned away from the entrance and finally began calming down. Remembering the sound of the soft waves crashing over the shore helped ease her mind. Squinting her eyes so she could almost feel the water coming over and washing away everything.

Finally, after bringing everything back to a much more comfortable position, she swivelled and entered the room. At her entrance, the flames surrounding the throne leapt up, almost completely blocking out her father from her view.

The princess strode forward until she kneeled completely in front of the raised platform.

"Daughter." The cold, assertive voice of her father rang out around her. "I have been informed you were unable to capture the waterbender. You failed me."

He spoke with such certainty it crushed her. She felt the weight of his words pushing her deeper into the ground.

"And now you return home, with nothing."

Every sentence, every scathing indictment, stabbed into her.

"At least your brother killed the Avatar."

Azula was shaking, her palms were nearly bloody with the indents from her nails. Her greatest fear was being realised, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

She was close, oh so close, to revealing who actually killed the Avatar, but she didn't. Not for many reasons, the main one was that it wouldn't have really gotten her very fair. She'd seem like she was making excuses and not bringing honour upon herself. It would also ruin her carefully laid plans to keep her brother by her side and beneath her. But all that almost went out the window with the sheer terror of what her father was implying.

She heard her father's footsteps, leading him down from the throne and to her. Azula's heart was threatening to explode as her chest throbbed uncomfortably. She couldn't look up, out of fear and the perceived challenge that might incite in the Fire Lord.

"Rise, my daughter." He said, coldly.

Azula hastened to do as she was told. The deep voice in her head, that sounded an awful lot like the echoing of her father's voice around her, was screaming I told you so and you deserve this. She couldn't find it in herself to disagree, especially not in that moment. All the other voices in her head had disappeared.

"You are my prodigy, the princess of my nation." He said, with a detached pride. "It would be a mistake, to think that you can fail me again without consequence."

She couldn't look up at him, with her head bowed reverentially, but Azula felt heat to the left side of her head. A flickering red flame rose from her father's hand just above her shoulder, as the fire in the rest of the throne room nearly touched the ceiling. The fire where it was only felt warm, but she knew that all he had to do was turn his hand over.

The princess could feel waves of anger and disappointment rolling off of the man. Off of her father in front of her. Azula felt the implicit threat deep within her.

"I will not fail the Fire Lord again." She said, mustering what was left of her diminished courage.

She just needed to get out of the room, she felt on the verge of an attack, and that would've ruined her.

"Good."

She felt the heat recede marginally, and let out a slight breath of relief. She was still desperately trying to push back the oncoming attack.

"Now, you've returned to the capital for your betrothal."

Her father turned his back to her and began the walk back up to the throne. It gave Azula an opportunity to look up finally. The flames in front of her appeared to be more in control, and she counted in her head trying to push down the frantic, pulsating rhythm her body had created. The Fire Lord continued to speak, and Azula did her best to listen, but talk of her betrothal didn't really help her increasing anxiety.

"He is a descendant of an old, honourable firebending family. The Sei'naka clan. Junsik will see you tomorrow." The Fire Lord retook his place, seated on his throne. "I expect you to be there, prepared for the ceremony. You are dismissed, Azula."

Her father waived her away with the back of her hand. Azula knew better than to stick around, but found that she moved without realising. Years of muscle memory saved her as she couldn't quite know what to think. The princess was distraught.

As if controlled by someone else, she automatically went back to her room. Unfortunately, even the blanket and isolation couldn't stave off her rising attack. Her body shook and her heart spluttered erratically.

I deserve this. I deserve this. I deserve this. I couldn't do it. I couldn't capture him.

She curled up into a ball and swayed back and forth. None of the objects in her room could provide her any kind of comfort. Neither did the counting or the waves in her mind. Azula felt this irrational urge to talk to someone about it. But who would listen?

Certainly not her uncle, not after last night. Her brother was never an option. The princess quickly dismissed the fleeting want of a mother's advice.

No, she was never there. That traitor left for my brother, not me. She left me alone long before she left the palace.

I did this. I deserve this.

Mai and Ty Lee. They were her only real options in the palace. Her two friends. She desperately put on her façade as a princess and walked briskly over to Mai's room. Ty Lee would most likely still be annoyed at her for how they left things.

She knocked on the door, only to find no one was there. Panicking even more on the inside, she ran to the nearest royal guards.

"Where is Mai?"

She couldn't take pride in how the guard looked like he was about to feint in fear because that wasn't what was most important to her.

"Prince Zuko took her out. They'll be up on the west cliffs this evening."

Azula lit her hand on fire. When she needed Mai, she was with her brother. The very same talentless brother who'd gotten her in all this trouble in the first place.

End him. Father likes him more than you now. She shook her head. Mai… she'd never forgive me. Why does that matter? He's family!

The princess realised she hadn't moved from death staring the guard. He looked to have soaked through his armour with sweat. She waived him off.

I guess it's Ty Lee then.

She shuddered, not particularly wanting to face that at the moment. But she needed to talk to someone. It was figuratively eating at her from the inside.

She strode through the hallways, running away from the harsh voice in her head. It followed her through every step in the palace.

Before too long, Azula was standing outside her friend's door. She hesitated before knocking on the door.

What did she think after what I said before leaving? Why should that matter to a princess? You're showing weakness. You're failing him.

The deep, harsh voice in her head making her hands shake even more.

Out of desperation, more than anything else, her fisted hands, biting into her palms, knocked on the door. All too quickly, her grey-eyed friend was in front of her.

Apparently, through what Azula could only postulate as spirit magic, Ty Lee seemed to understand exactly what she needed. Quickly, the princess was pulled into the room and sat on the bed.

"I'm… I…" The princess stuttered.

"I know." Her friend saw through her, accepting her failed attempt at an apology. "Now what happened?"

Ty Lee spoke while looking directly into her eyes. It was an odd experience, one that she hadn't had before. The compassion that was held in her friend was something that she was extremely happy to be receiving. It gave her this sense of comfort that the princess wasn't used to. The very same sense she'd denied having by the lake.

"My father, he said I'm to marry someone." She started, unable to say truly what had destroyed her.

Ty Lee's eyes widened dramatically.

"You?! The strong, powerful princess?"

Azula tried to disregard the effects the compliments had on her, but she found that she was becoming more and more relaxed in the conversation already. She couldn't help but smile slightly.

"I can't imagine you married." The gymnast continued.

"I know!" She smiled a bit more, until she thought back to the topic at hand.

"Yeah," Azula continued rather dejectedly, "I have to marry a man from the Sei'naka clan."

"When do you have to do that, Azula?"

Her friend first moved her hand to her shoulder and Azula flinched away from it. Wordlessly, Ty Lee places her hand on her knee and then moved to sit right next to her. Azula found her heartrate slowly decreasing the longer she talked with her friend.

"Tomorrow."

She looked down into her lap. The princess felt utterly powerless for one of the first times in her life. But what Ty Lee had said to her, 'strong, powerful princess', maybe she could do something like that.

Maybe there's a way out of this.

"Well, I'll be there with you, whatever happens." Ty Lee leaned on her lightly, avoiding her shoulder.

Azula caught herself smiling again. Desperate to try and change the subject, Azula jumped at the break in conversation.

"So, what happened here while I was away?"

The princess hid her smile as Ty Lee burst into a rant on her day-to-day happenings. Apparently, she'd been rejecting boys left, right and centre and was more annoyed at her sisters when she had returned to her parents' home for a few days.

Feeling the sun slowly work its way through the sky, Azula tried to relax, listening to her friend ramble on into the afternoon.

It didn't work.

(-)

After spending most of the day with Ty Lee, she wanted to speak to Mai as well. The cloud of her father's conversation to her still very much hanging over her. But first thing she had to do was warn her brother. If her brother had been stuck with their uncle for so long, there was a real chance of Zuko turning against her and the Fire Nation. That only increased the more they spoke while in prison.

So it just worked out perfectly that they were together. Azula left Ty Lee, telling her she'd be back soon with Mai, and began the walk up to the cliffs where the guard had told her they'd be.

But when she got there, as her head reached a level on the path where she could see them, the princess couldn't bring herself to interrupt the moment. Something inside her ached as she looked on the scene before her. From where she was standing, Azula had a clear view of the two, but they were too busy looking out at the sunset, or at each other, to bother to notice. The ache within her increased.

"Orange is such an awful colour." Mai said to her brother.

He snickered at the statement.

"You're so beautiful when you hate the world."

"I don't hate you."

"I don't hate you too."

They kissed right in front of her, and Azula didn't know why, but she felt this wall of emotion pushing to the front of her mind. Whatever it was, it paralysed her completely.

"You know," Mai spoke up, sounding a whole lot more vulnerable than Azula had ever heard her. "I do like you."

Azula's eyes widened almost as much as Zuko's did. The siblings, one unaware of the other, sat and stood shocked at what the usually emotionless girl just said.

"Like, actually like you. And I want you to know that, whatever happens, I believe in you and what you think is right." She continued.

Zuko seemed dumbfounded, but very happy.

Azula suddenly felt incredibly small.

Almost shrivelling in on herself, she turned to walk back down the path. Unluckily for her, the crunch of her boots gave her away.

It seemed to snap her brother out of whatever made him freeze and both of them turned to her. The princess all too quickly regretted her decision to come up right then.

"Can't you see we're busy?" Zuko said, quite dismissively.

Azula wasn't sure she wanted Mai and Zuko to continue down that path of conversation, wherever it was leading. Especially not with her now knowing what her friend had said. As her brother was turned to his girlfriend, she turned to Mai. Steeling herself, she remembered what she'd planned to say.

"M-Mai, Ty Lee needs your help untangling her braid." She stuttered out

Mai stood up smiling, looking as though she'd had a weight taken off her shoulders. Azula had the feeling it had exactly nothing to do with the princess being there. Zuko, on the other hand, just looked surprised she'd stuttered.

"Sounds pretty serious."

Her friend walked towards her, and Azula didn't miss the slight glare she got about her interruption. Azula felt similarly to when she'd left Ty Lee before searching for Percy. It caused the angry voice in her head to come back full force. She tried to push it back, but after her time with her father, it was becoming a lot harder.

"So, I've heard you've been to visit your uncle in the prison tower." Azula began, regaining some of her composure.

She'd gotten the interaction back on track, although Mai's comments and look stuck with her. Her brother stood aggressively in front of her.

"That guard told you." He said angrily.

"No. You did. Just now."

Azula was enjoying being able to keep him guessing, although she didn't do it this time for that purpose, or any end goal. Zuko sat down dejectedly.

"Okay, you caught me. What is it that you want, Azula?"

"Genuinely, nothing. Believe it or not, I'm looking out for you."

Zuko didn't seem to believe her words.

"If people find out you've been to see Uncle, they'll think you're plotting with him. Just be careful, Dum-Dum."

She thought of another reason she'd come up here.

"Zuko." He seemed surprised by her using his actual name and looked up attentively. "Did you interact with that waterbender from Ba Sing Se?"

Instinctively and defensively, her brother's hand went up and touched the scar on his face. It really had diminished since that girl had used her whatever water on it. There was just the pinkish-red around the eye, still very much visible and obvious as a scar, but nowhere near as pronounced. Azula nearly rolled her eyes at him thinking it was the girl she was talking about.

"No, not the little girl. The one who created that storm in the catacombs."

"Oh, you mean Percy?"

"Yes, I-"

"Did you capture him?" Her brother interrupted.

He seemed quite unaffected by it, so clearly he wasn't asking for his sake.

For Mai's?

"I haven't yet. But I'm trying to get all the information I can on him. That'll help me do it."

Zuko seemed to think for a few seconds, before replying.

"No, I didn't really speak to him. He was with a girl in Ba Sing Se."

Azula felt that disgusting feeling rise in herself, almost constricting her throat as Zuko continued.

"They seemed like good friends. I talked with her a bit when they came into the tea shop. Not with Percy though. He mainly talked with Uncle." He continued.

The prince seemed to be hiding something, a lot actually, and Azula had a feeling she knew exactly what that was, but she found herself not wanting to say anything about it.

"Alright, then I guess I'll just have to find him myself then, Zuzu."

"Are you sure you can capture him yourself?" He asked. "What is that information going to do to help you with that?"

The princess looked at him, her fingers clenching into the already almost bleeding divots in her palms.

"Everything will be useful, brother."

With that, Azula turned around and began back down the path, hoping to see Mai and Ty Lee together next.

Why not use it? Why not use it all? Make him fear you more.

Maybe you care about family?

The softer voice lapped at her mind, like the waves brushing the shores of the lake.

Or maybe you just don't want to be left alone.

(-)

When Azula returned to her two friends, it seemed Ty Lee had told Mai about her particular problem.

"I'm sorry, Azula."

There was a sympathy to Mai's voice that the princess hadn't really heard. It seemed to surprise Ty Lee too, although the gymnast was much more overtly happy about it.

The princess let herself be comforted by her two friends for a while. Mai and Ty Lee talked more about their time in the palace. Mai was mainly just talking about Zuko, which made that ache come back for her. Azula did see a chance at regaining some control about Zuko and the Avatar situation. And she was given the perfect opportunity by her friends.

"How did the hunt for Percy go?" Mai asked, rather bluntly and dryly.

Azula saw Ty Lee wince but sit forward intently. She pushed it aside. The firebender thought about admitting what happened, but too many voices were telling her it was a bad idea.

Do no show them weakness. You've already given them too much.

"Oh, I was just unable to capture him. They managed to get away with his strong waterbending."

"They?!" Ty Lee asked.

"Oh yes, he was with a group. I did see him with a boy who seemed to have tattoos on his arms and legs like the Avatar though."

Both Mai and Ty Lee had difficult to read looks at that. But all Azula needed was for Mai to tell Zuko. Then he'd be more afraid of their father.

Then he won't be focused enough to question me about Percy!

Azula obviously hadn't seen the group, but based off of Percy's reactions at the lake, it was clear that the Avatar wasn't dead. If he was, she would've expected him to be far angrier at her. And for him to have remained that way.

Then why was he mad at you to begin with?

She didn't want to touch that question that popped up in her mind.

The conversation continued, although Mai seemed to be contemplating a lot of things. Azula hid her smile.

Now, to find a way out of this marriage. Oh!

"Ty Lee, you were saying something about being a strong and powerful princess." She interrupted whatever conversation the gymnast was having with herself.

"Oh absolutely Azula! You're the strongest, most powerful princess ever!"

"Yes, that is all true. But what if I could make the man I'm supposed to marry not strong enough to be in the Royal Family? What if I could make him disgraced enough that my father can't marry me off to him?"

"Oh, how would you do that, Azula?!"

Ty Lee was literally bouncing at the prospect of that. She looked like she was about to do more handstands.

It's too desperate. I AM DESPERATE!

She shook her head to try and get the voices to stop, dismissing the concerned looks from both of her friends.

"I think I have a plan that just might work."

She smiled, feeling even somewhat good about her situation for the first time in days. Azula looked at her smiling friends.

Maybe I won't be left alone.

Percy sat alone on the steps leading up to his log cabin. Toph's earthbending mastery meant that the structure was a solid as… well, what it was. The demigod smiled at that.

It really was coming together, his new house. Using a little bit of the princess' help, not to mention his consistent hard work, most of the wood had been completed by the time Azula had left. All that he'd had to do after that was start putting up the logs.

He'd managed to lash together a roof over one room using ropes made from reeds, kelp and vines from the surrounding lake and forest. His use of water also helped. That one room was of course his bedroom.

The horizontal timber was solidly held up by support beams that he'd put into the concrete-like floor. He's also managed to find a clay-like substance in the lake that he used, hardened to make it a bit stronger.

His latest hunting exploit sat on a makeshift bedframe, de-quilled and almost as comfortable as his previous one. He wasn't too unhappy about having to kill this one as it'd attacked Siosi when he was looking for smaller game.

Percy had found that being able to permanently freeze things with barely a thought made keeping food from going off to be quite easy, in a corner of the main cabin area sat a large chunk of meat in very thick ice. He was his very own portable freezer.

The sun was setting, just slightly off to his left, over the lake. The blissfulness of his surroundings uninterrupted, he let the sun fall below the horizon. Siosi curled up next to him providing all the warmth he could ever need.

The completion of one of his tasks, that of a bedroom, meant his mind began to wander in ways that he definitely didn't want. It took a trip all the way back to before he landed in this new world. The flash of blinding white anger that coursed through him. His Wise Girl laying in his arms with no light left in her stormy grey eyes. An icy coldness creeping through her body, her chest punctured through completely.

He winced.

As the light disappeared and the first stars shone brightly in the crystal-clear night sky, he fulfilled his promise once more.

"Hello."

Percy sombrely turned away from the expanse of bluey-blackness and went into the one covered room. Siosi trotted along behind him, seeming to sense his mood as she just returned to curling up beside his homemade bed.

The demigod was out like a light, crashing into a reoccurring dream he'd had ever since Ba Sing Se.

The blackness of sleep faded as his eyes opened to see the Dai Li dead all around. The rumblings from below him reminded Percy of Tartarus at the Doors of Death.

Percy stood there, looking at the lifeless bodies of the Dai Li. One, skewered by a crystal, was directly over him. The body fell into his arms, the crystal still buried in the body. He was sucked into the earth to the moment down in the depths below Hades, and as he fell, Annabeth's face morphed onto that of the Dai Li's.

His girlfriend lay dead in his hands. They hadn't managed to escape. They were still in Tartarus. Her face, a reflection of how she'd actually passed, lay broken and lifeless. Percy felt himself break inside, and even though he couldn't move, the demigod collapsed inwardly.

Everything he'd lost, everything he'd fought for, all of it was gone. Thrown away like ice through her chest.

A bright golden light blinded him and he was brought back up through the ground, all the way into his cabin, he still clutched at Annabeth in his arms.

"Well, that wasn't a pleasant dream, was it?"

He looked up to see her.

The life and brilliance had returned to her eyes. She stood in his log cabin, right where the door would go. A spectacular halo of light enshrouding her.

"Wise Girl?" He breathed out, unable to believe his eyes.

"Seaweed Brain." She spoke so adoringly it made his heart want to explode.

Percy felt the weight disappear from his arms and he stood as if in a trance. When he was about to hold her face in his hands, he paused.

"You're not real, are you?" The demigod just feeling so heartbroken he almost believed it was her for a second. "I'm still dreaming."

"I'm as real as you make me."

The love for him shone from her eyes was so familiar he almost fell into them.

"I like the name you chose for that horse of yours. Very sweet." She continued, sensing his inability to form sentences.

Percy snivelled, not realising he'd been crying.

"You're doing a good job of convincing me you're real." He laughed slightly, painfully.

"The spirits are strong here, what's to say the divine isn't?"

Percy couldn't take it, hearing her voice just brought it all back.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He fell to his knees, wrapping his arms around her waist and burying himself in her very familiar, tangible scent.

He felt arms pull his head in tighter, only to be moved to look up at her.

"Percy," she said fondly, "are you really going to do this? You know I wouldn't blame you for what happened. And you know it isn't your fault. So, why do you continue to do this to yourself? You did this before."

Percy hung his head, letting the familiarity of his situation calm himself down. It helped, but it all came rushing out.

"I miss you. I miss everyone. Everything reminds me of home, or what home could've been. I miss my mum. I mean, I didn't even get a chance to be a big brother to my baby sister!"

Tears streamed down his face. He looked up to see Annabeth smiling down at him.

"I just… I just want to go home." He finished, brokenly. "I can't deal with all of the pain. All the death, it just follows me wherever I go."

He felt a soft hand brush aside a tear from his cheek.

"I know. It seems impossible now, but soon it won't be."

He just looked up at her despairingly. Unbelievingly.

"Look at you. Last time we had this conversation, you promised me you'd live on for the both of us, and now? You've got so many people who already want to be around you. You always were good at that."

She smiled at him and he felt a bit of warmth come back to him.

"It won't be easy, but when you're ready, let people in. You've already let in one." She continued.

Percy looked in her swirling grey eyes, ones that had never let him down, the very same that held such knowledge and wisdom yet were gone from his life way too soon.

"We can't control the lives we're given, nor who leaves our lives and how that changes them, but we can control what we do with them."

"You always were the smart one." He huffed, through the tears.

Her brilliant, beautiful laughter filled his surroundings as he could do nothing but look at her with stars in his eyes.

"I know you're right." He said as some more tears came tumbling out of his eyes. "But I just… I miss everything so much. I miss you. I love you and I always will."

Annabeth leant over and kissed him softly.

"I know you do. And I love you too. But I'm going to hold you to that promise."

Her voice took on a teasing quality while still being all too sweet. Percy watched as she started to fade, becoming more transparent by the second.

"Don't go." He all but begged, standing up with her still firmly in his hands.

"You know I have to, Seaweed Brain."

She looked straight into his eyes with those grey ones he'd fallen in love with so long ago.

"You have to let me go, and let go of trying to escape this world. Make this a home you'd be proud of."

Annabeth looked around at the structure of his log cabin and then smirked at him.

"I see you were listening to some of my architecture rants."

Percy couldn't help but smile completely, even with tears in his eyes.

She left his grasp and moved towards the doorway. Her outline began to shine in specific spots, as the rest of her became the colour of the night sky. He followed her as she drifted towards the steps.

The daughter of Athena's translucent figure turned back to him one last time, her fingertips caressing his cheek.

"I'm always with you, but you have to promise that you'll find new life. Find new people to live a good life with. Move on from a life you can never get back."

Her words, true as he knew them to be, pierced his heart.

"I'll never forget you."

"I know."

He watched as her form was pulled slowly up to the night sky.

"I will always love you, Wise Girl."

"Always, Seaweed Brain."

And with that, her form shone. A constellation in the fading darkness.

For a moment, a beautiful, glorious moment, the golden hue of the morning sunrise lit up her face in all its gorgeousness. The face he'd woken up to as a 12-year-old. The face he'd seen every summer, and more, for 5 years. A face he'd loved with his whole being.

Behind her, the jumbled mass of stars seemed to twinkle and flash with the horizon of Olympus. Momentarily, he saw her in front of her most spectacular creation and could do nothing but look on with pride. That same golden colour recreating the images of a white and gold Olympus to last for thousands of years.

The moon seemed to be pulling back it's light to let the stars have their moment, and Percy was grateful.

"You always did want to build something permanent. Even though that couldn't be with me, at least you got the heavens and stars designed in your image." He whispered up to her.

Very quickly, the golden-orange of the rising sun began to outshine the stars and moon. The last, brightest star in the sky seemed to gaze upon him. He could almost picture is as a storm-cloud-grey eye.

"I promise Wise Girl, I won't let you down." He told her with a smile, conviction now prominent in his voice.

The final star winked out of existence, hiding behind the orange and blue sky in the light of the sun.

At some point, during the beginning of the new day, Siosi came and brushed up alongside him. That was when he realised. He was awake. He didn't know when that had happened, as he was staring out at the sunrise, when he was with Annabeth. Percy found he didn't particularly care when he did wake up.

"Hello to the sun and the stars."

A/N: So, we had Azula interacting with her father, dealing with the situation with her friends and her brother, and she has a plan... next chapter you'll be seeing what she has. Got a bit of what Percy has been dealing with throughout the story (the first time he's allowed himself to really let his feelings out) towards the end there. There were a few clues in the earlier chapters of the first book at him having a similar dream to this. And when he stopped dreaming... I'll never tell. Hope you all enjoyed!

Some review replies:

WildMan98: Siosi is really sassy, although there is a slightly softer part to her in this chapter as well, because she's still his companion. If Percy's the sass king, then maybe Siosi the sass queen, and she'll return to her sassy ways. That's awesome and Iroh knew from his talk with Percy in Ba Sing Se and just him knowing Azula. Hope you liked this one

Bromance22: Thank you, and this chapter might put in work to start making you feel bad for Azula. And her crush is I'd say different to Annabeth on Luke but I get it. Although I've always found that just kinda really creepy (7 year difference at that age...). Iroh time is always great and I definitely have plans to get Percy into the eclipse in some way, hope you enjoy what I have.

HellRaiderS/Iamironman15/Death Fury: Thank you all, hope you enjoyed this one!

A-gods-flame: Thank you! I hope you continue to enjoy the way I'm portraying Azula and the way that all the different relationships are developing. Percy being reminded of Blackjack is a little heartbreaking, I'd agree. The most that will happen with bringing PJU characters into this universe is pretty much in this chapter, towards the end. It'll be dreams/memories that may or may not be accurate or just a way for him to process his grief.
Side note, for everyone. The fact that it's PercyxAzula pairing in the description is mainly because they are the two main characters and it's the only way to have them come up first in the character list. Relationship dynamics aren't set and they'll progress naturally. Percy will see Toph again and Iroh will get some tea and a Pai Sho match a few times more. Thank you!

Gabe1234: Thank you! Yeah, it's a fun little plot line in language that'll definitely continue. Things are changing!
Hehe I did write that, and it did happen. You definitely got it in the second one. Azula's psyche will be damaged by her father, both directly and indirectly due to this confrontation. It seemed like the most realistic way for him to handle his daughter (the asshole psychopathic narcissist that he is). Hope you enjoyed!

CRUDEN: Honestly, it's up for debate, but I'd say that most likely, yes he did. In a way, there is a certain narcissistic intuition on when people start to move away from beliefs you've pushed upon them, and that could easily explain how he went about handling Azula. Although feel free to have your own interpretations. Hope you enjoyed!

beanoamy: I agree, it is an interesting dynamic that was never explored in the show, and it was so fun to start to chip away at the surface of what could've happened between the two if she wasn't already written off by Iroh (slightly understandably in the show as he had his hands full with Zuko as it is).

Thank you all for reading! Hope you enjoyed and the next chapter should be next week.

-PS