A/N: I apologise for the delay. This story is absolutely not on hiatus, it's just been incredibly difficult to find time to write with family and holiday commitments. Anyways, I hope you enjoy. As always, let me know what you think.

Word Count: 5529

21. Invasion Plans (A Little Bit of Déjà Vu)

Azula woke up with her hand still clasped by Ty Lee. A small smile graced her lips at the gesture. Mai was significantly further away from her on the bed. Whether that was from Mai's general lack of touchiness or to avoid bumping into the princess' shoulder, she didn't know. But either way, the small act was appreciated by the princess.

Her moment of bliss was interrupted by shifting her shoulder accidentally. The pain came flaring back up her arm. The firebender squeezed Ty Lee's hand slightly, before letting go. She sat up, trying to move her arm as little as possible, before sliding off the end of the bed to avoid waking the other two girls.

As she stood up at below her bed, her scanning eyes noticed that her armour had been replaced by a completely new, untarnished set. The shoulder pauldrons completely unmelted, as though last night had never happened. She walked around to where the armour sat, behind the divider between her and the bed. In the mirror, she saw her bandaged shoulder and how her whole arm sagged down on that side. Any time she pulled it up, a mind-numbing pain overcame her.

In order for her to get through the morning meetings though, she had to get into her royal armour. Using her right arm, she pulled on her pants and robes that would cover her body in between her skin and the metal. It was painful, but she pushed through. Azula then strapped the waistband around her with the Fire Nation insignia on the middle.

As she lifted her armour up and over her shoulders, she had to wince through the searing shards that felt as though they were digging into her. When it was finally on, and she could relax her arm, the princess found that it was at least somewhat bearable.

She moved back around the divider to look at the bed. Ty Lee was still sleeping soundly, her arm very much adorably extended to where Azula had been sleeping. Not for the first time in her recent memory did she want to stay in blissful ignorance of her duties to spend more time with some people she cared about, but once again, she was unable to do so.

To her surprise, Mai's spot on the bed was empty. The princess had to remind herself not to move sharply to stave off the pain. But after turning slowly to the door, she saw her friend leaning against the frame.

Azula received a concerned eyebrow raise.

At a flick of her head, Azula followed her friend out of the room and into the corridor, presumably to let Ty Lee sleep some more. There were no guards in the hallway, which she found odd but was pleased that she could have some privacy.

"How are you doing?" Mai asked, in a low tone. "How's your shoulder?"

"It's okay." She supplied, hiding most of her pain.

Her dagger-throwing friend didn't seem to believe her, although Azula appreciated how she didn't press the issue. The princess gave her a small smile.

"You have the royal war meeting today, don't you?"

The firebender nodded.

"Okay, I might go spend time with Zuko before you all go to that." Mai said. "Are you sure you're all good?"

She figured that her friend wasn't only talking about her shoulder.

"Yes, of course. Go." She said with a smile, waving her good hand down the hallway for her to follow.

Mai smiled, before her regular grey persona came back as she walked away. Azula followed her with her eyes, her brain turning over quickly as she tried to sort out what to do.

Dai Li first.

The princess strode through the labyrinth of columned pathways like it was on the back of her hand, keeping up her royal façade in front of the periodic guards lining the walls. Once she'd reached her meeting room, she ordered one of the guards standing in front of it to get her Dai Li agents to her for a report.

As she waited, she reminded herself on putting forward a perfect, unequivocal front, as that was what kept the earthbending agents on her side. The leader she appointed out of the group walked through the door first, followed by another carrying a box. Instantly, Azula's posture was impeccable and she pushed away any thoughts of reacting to her excruciating injury.

"Princess."

They both bowed deeply until she gestured for them to rise in front of her.

"You have your reports for me."

The second agent stepped forward and placed the box in front of her. He opened it to show a whole heap of letters inside. Azula assumed it would all be of their exploits in the downfall of Ba Sing Se's wall and the controlling of the city. What she wasn't expecting was a report that was red marked as important to be sitting at the top.

"What is this?"

She stared down the head of the Dai Li.

"That, your Highness, is some unusual activity that was taking place during the coup of the Earth King."

"What unusual activity?"

Azula's sharp cadence in her voice came back. It was like second nature to her, but after all that had happened, it felt way too harsh. She knew she couldn't stop it, especially not now though.

"Some people claiming a man in a dark robe warned them of the coming coup, people fleeing the city in large numbers before we could bring the walls down and have the Fire Nation occupation begin, and some discrepancies in the posts of an agent."

The princess' eyes scanned down the document until she got to the final lines and her eyebrows shot up.

"Is he with the group that I brought to the Fire Nation?"

"Yes, your Highness."

"Bring them all to me, immediately. I have some updated plans to go through with you all for the coming invasion. And I will speak to the traitor myself."

She waved dismissively and the two nodded before leaving the room. Azula knew she'd have to keep up her princess act to keep the Dai Li under her thumb. It was just another aspect that would help her be more deserving of being the Fire Lord in her father's eyes.

The princess sat behind her desk, feeling the sun rise slowly. It was extremely early, but she had a lot of things to do before the invasion so she couldn't afford to have them take too long getting to her. Thankfully, the sound of footsteps tipped her off to their arrival.

She hadn't realised, but her injured shoulder had drooped down. Right before they entered, she pulled it up to match her rigid posture and held back yet another wince.

They all filed in and dropped into a bow. With the raise of her right arm, they all stood at attention. She was reminded of her talk to them before the coup, though there were less of them there in front of her now.

She stood herself and wandered around to address them. Her eyes scanned the group until she saw the man with the scar on his face a few rows back.

"There is an invasion today, you shall all be getting posts guarding myself and the Fire Lord."

Azula began her speech and started zigzag through the lines of men. She motioned for the head of the Dai Li and the one who'd brought in the box to her to follow her at each shoulder.

"There will be an eclipse, and we can expect rebellious members of Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe to be involved in the attack. I am aware of a potential increased threat on the Fire Lord so I will have all but two of you guarding his chambers."

She could only think of how much destruction Percy could cause. Without their firebending, if Percy had decided to help, it wouldn't even be a challenge.

The princess was just making her way in front of the scar-faced Dai Li Agent and paused for a second in front of him, just to see him sweat. She continued on her way, but kept him in her periphery.

"The other two will be guarding me in the throne room bunker, expecting much the same. It is all of your duties to delay any attempts at the Fire Lord long enough for the eclipse to be over. Am I clear?" She asked, rhetorically.

Azula had gotten around to the row behind her target, and stopped there. The two Dai Li that reported the findings to her awaited the order. With a flick of her wrist, two metal chains leapt out and cuffed the agent in front of her, much like they'd done with the generals of Ba Sing Se.

He was pulled up from his kneeling position by the two as the princess strode up to the front once more.

"In case it didn't sink in the first time I said it."

She lit a fire in her palm, having the blue light dance in front of them in the gloomy room.

"Disloyalty will be snuffed out."

She closed her palm and extinguished her flame.

"All of you, I expect to see you outside the bunker immediately after the war meeting is scheduled to end."

She waived her hand dismissively, then gestured for the two to bring up the agent to stand in front of her desk. Azula moved behind it and sat, sifting through the papers.

"You two may also leave." She ordered.

They did, making her and the agent the only two in the room. She kept scanning through the papers, mainly to keep him anxious, but also because she wanted to reread all of the details of what had happened. After a long silence, where he'd managed to keep his mouth shut, the princess began.

"I got everyone to leave, it's just us now." She smirked.

The agent looked at her fearfully. Azula looked at the top of the report.

"Agent Fong, was it?" She asked, knowing it was the answer. "There appears to be some unexplained absences during the coup, I was hoping you could let me know."

The Dai Li agent had sweat pouring down his forehead by this point, though Azula didn't find nearly the same amount of enjoyment in it that she did previously.

"I- I was captured." He stuttered out.

"Ahhh right. That explains it."

The princess took a quill and ink and noted that on the side of the report.

"By who?" She asked.

"The Avatar and the Fire Nation General."

"Hmm, yes, interesting. Did you tell them anything?"

"I told them what you'd ordered me to, that the prisoners were being kept in Lake Laogai."

"Good, good."

Azula finished up her writing.

"Though that doesn't explain a couple things. That they all miraculously managed to find the prisoners in the Crystal Catacombs, and a mysterious hooded figure that apparently warned people on the streets of Ba Sing Se of the coup."

The princess' golden eyes came up from the scrolls and looked directly at him. The first part was something she had had the forethought to plan for, the second was the part she'd been so surprised about.

Fong seemed to be at a loss for words.

"So, care to enlighten me on how that could've occurred." Azula sneered, though it felt gross. "I would hate for you to personally learn the consequences of failing to abide by multiple orders."

The story came tumbling out of his mouth. The tea, her uncle, Percy and his proposal. Azula listened to it all, how this man had been won over by the waterbender.

Can you blame him?

YES!

She shook her head, trying to disregard that. She knew he wasn't lying though, his description of Percy was just too accurate.

"So, you're a disloyal traitor."

She stood and walked towards the door.

"No." He replied, with the first bit of strength she'd heard from him. "I am loyal to my kingdom and my people. I saved them. That waterbender, Percy, he gave me the choice to save them and I accepted it."

Azula didn't turn to look at him, the voices in her head competing for her attention. She arrived at the doorway and looked to the two royal guards standing either side.

"Come in, we've got a prisoner to take away."

The princess re-entered the room to see the man, bound in chains, matching her gaze. She was followed by the two guards. Her plan was going well, apart from some insubordination by Fong. She was going to bring him to prison and then see her uncle. It'd been coming and she wanted to at least talk to him about Percy and her father. That had been her original plan on returning to the Fire Nation.

She began to walk in front of the royal guards as they badgerfrog-marched him away. Another member of the royal guard interrupted their course though.

"Princess." He bowed slightly. "I have orders from the Fire Lord that you are to immediately go to the throne room for the war meeting. It's been moved to earlier in the morning."

Azula fought back a sigh. Instead, she nodded and left the other guards to take Fong away to the Fire Nation Capitol's prison.

The princess started making her way to the throne room, her hands clenching into fists once more as her shoulder suddenly felt a lot heavier. Her foot paused at in its stride.

Mai had left Azula's room that morning enraged and worried. Not that she could do anything about either of those emotions in her current environment. Instead, she chose to try and distract herself with getting Zuko to see her perspective.

She'd found her way to his room in no time, after leaving the princess to her morning tasks. Her bleary-eyed boyfriend had to be dragged out of bed. After a few quick words about spending the morning in Mai's family's place, he managed to wake up a little.

The dagger-thrower thought getting him out of the palace some more would do him some good. They'd walked, arm in arm through to the gates. At such an early hour of the morning, there were few people outside the royal buildings, very much unlike previous journey's with Zuko.

It was clear the firebender had a lot of things on his mind as they wandered out between the people. Though with the war meeting scheduled for later, that was not a surprise. A couple guards helped by moving people out of the way. He'd chosen not to take his palanquin and Mai was happy about the walk.

Once they'd arrived at her house, the two settled into the couch. It was clear that he was not really with her in the moment, as he lay across the arm of the furniture. Mai began to put some tea on for the two of them, hoping to remind him of a certain Fire Nation general.

She lightly tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, do you want some tea?"

Zuko turned to her and accepted it, though he still looked away from her.

"Thanks." He mumbled.

Mai smiled a little, before pouring herself some.

"You know, it is just a dumb meeting." She started.

"I know."

His reply was evasive and she knew she'd have to try harder to get through to him. She took a sip, thinking how to go about the conversation she wanted to have.

"What's on your mind?" She asked.

Mai hoped he'd talk about the last war meeting he went to, though she didn't expect that to happen. She was pleasantly surprised.

"it's just, the last time, it went so badly. Everything that happened was for a reason, and it led me here, but…" He trailed off. "I just don't know anymore."

The girl tried to keep the pride from shining through her eyes. He was so close, she could tell he was almost there. She was very glad that no guards were in earshot of them.

Her boyfriend's hand drifted to his faded scar. She was glad that he hadn't forgotten its impact on him, even if it was only noticeably to those who knew him well. Mai's hatred for the Fire Lord had never really been quelled after having to watch his Agni Kai play out, but she was great at numbing herself to feelings. Her current uproar of emotions threatened to explode out of her, and she was beginning to realise she minded less and less if they did.

"Well, I think you should just be who you want to be. Don't let anyone tell you who you should be."

Mai pulled his chin so that he faced her. She gave him a light kiss on his lips before pulling away. He smiled slightly back at her, before he looked into the tea in deep thought.

They both sat in silence for a while. It was something that Mai truly appreciated. Her childhood was filled with quiet, enough so that she'd gotten comfortable in it. She lay back and lightly leaned on Zuko's shoulder. She could hear his heart beating and feel her own.

The dagger-wielder did enjoy the company of the likes of Percy and Ty Lee, with the drama and energy they brought to any situation they found themselves in. But she found she was herself most in the serene stillness.

Her little moment of paradise was interrupted, albeit from a surprising source.

"Azula?" Zuko said, bewildered.

Mai's head whipped around to see what he did, which was the princess standing in the doorway. She was hiding her drooping shoulder well enough, but she could tell very slightly that it was definitely bugging her.

What Mai didn't know, was why she was there right then.

"What are you doing here?" Her boyfriend asked.

"I'm getting you for the meeting, Zuzu. It's now." She smirked.

Mai knew her friend, and she could tell easily that she was putting up a front. She could've sent a servant or guard to tell Zuko to come to the meeting. She just didn't know what caused it this time.

Although her act certainly got the desired reaction from her boyfriend. He grumbled away about how the stupid nickname never left him, but Mai knew it came from a place of loving, sibling teasing. It was just that Azula never truly could get the tone of her voice right. After years of experience with it in the Royal Fire Academy for Girls and in the palace, she'd gotten able to pick up on the slight differences. And it hadn't always been from that place.

Finally, he caught up to asking her the question that the girl wanted to know.

"Wait, why didn't you just send someone to tell me that?"

The princess rolled her eyes, making a very clear effort to not move her position while doing so.

"Then I wouldn't have gotten to see your face when I told you."

Mai's eyes widened as the lack of harsh sharpness in her tone. Zuko didn't appear to notice it though, and just walked out ahead of his sister. The dagger-thrower raised her eyebrow at her friend. She received her very own eye roll, but she was shocked to see a small smile on her face as she did so.

Azula was about to leave too, when she turned back.

"Oh, and Mai. Make sure your family knows they need to evacuate the capitol to their shelter. Could you do me a favour and tell Ty Lee and her family for me?"

Mai nodded, though she couldn't do much else. She was left stunned long after the princess had followed Zuko out. Not only had she not been commanded, it'd been a favour and a request that came out of kindness. She was sure that other families would be getting similar warnings later on that day, but Azula had gone out of her way to tell her.

Hmm, maybe Team Save Azula is further along than I thought.

Percy wandered down the steps to the beach with a nervous Sokka in tow. The young boy had his scrolls desperately clutched in his hands, almost wringing them by their necks. They wandered over towards a raised podium that was set up for the war plan speech.

There was another elevated section that Aang, Katara, Toph and Hakoda sat on, with Momo sitting on the Avatar's shoulder. Siosi sat off to the side, with Appa. Their entire force was facing them, and it didn't seem to be doing Sokka any favours with his nerves.

As soon as it seemed Toph heard Percy, she shot off of her seat and grabbed his arm. After being pulled to sit with the group, he looked along the line to see Hakoda giving his son a few words of encouragement.

Sokka began walking up the stage under everyone's watchful gaze. He shuffled nervously as he placed a few of his scrolls over the timber presenting board.

"Good morning everyone." He began. "So, as you know, we're… invading the Fire Nation today."

His eyes flicked nervously over to Percy. The demigod made eye contact with him, hoping to look somewhat supportive. It seemed to work, as Sokka turned back to his audience. He pulled down a scroll that had the map on it.

"The Fire Lord's palace is here."

He pointed to the map, but looked to be shaking.

"So, uh, today is the eclipse. And Aang is gonna fight the Fire Lord. The firebenders won't have any fire to use, so fighting through them will be… easier."

Percy saw him wince and visibly back away from the crowd. The demigod quickly tapped Toph's arm and she released him from her grip. He stood up, ignoring the eyes that darted to him, and began to walk up towards the platform.

Hakoda also stood, although as soon as the chief made eye contact with him, he sat back down. Percy strode up the steps and placed a hand on Sokka's shoulder.

"I can't- I don't know… I-"

"I get it. It's okay." Percy whispered to him. "Just sit down, take some deep breaths, I'll handle it from here."

Sokka nodded and the demigod gave him a little pat on the back. He went to sit down and Percy turned back to the crowd.

"A lot of you probably don't know me. But I, like most of you, have been united behind the cause of helping the Avatar stop the Fire Lord. You are all sacrificing everything to do this, and for that, we all thank you." He began. "Now, today is the invasion, as Sokka said. There will be two stages to the invasion. A naval stage, in which we will have the advantage."

He pulled some water out of the ocean behind them and exploded it into a firework of rain. A lot of the troops turned around stunned, before they looked back at him.

"We have the new inventions of Sokka's and the Mechanist. Sub-" He interrupted himself. "Underwater ships will take us below the Great Gates of Azulon."

He pointed to them on the map behind him.

"The waterbenders will carry us through to shore with myself either helping or creating a diversion. Once we hit the land, we have to make our way through the defences by the port."

He remembered a diagram Sokka showed him and flipped to it.

"We have to get to the Royal Palace by the time the eclipse starts."

"Excuse me." A large earthbender raised his hand. "The Boulder is confused. Isn't the point to invade during the eclipse, when the firebenders are powerless?"

Percy did a double take.

"Your name is 'The Boulder'?"

"The Boulder feels insulted by your question."

"You're right, I'm sorry, the Boulder." Percy hid his smile.

"The Boulder's over the insult to his feelings."

"Calm down, The Pebble!" Toph yelled out.

A smattering of laughter was heard throughout the crowd and Percy looked over to see Toph's very proud smile.

"Well, anyways, to answer your original question, Hakoda?" He asked, looking to the side.

The Southern Water Tribe Chief stood in his position and nodded in appreciation to the demigod.

"Yes, the eclipse only lasts eight minutes, not enough time for the whole invasion. And the Royal Palace is heavily guarded by firebenders. So that's where we'll need the eclipse's advantage the most."

He nodded once more before sitting back down.

"Thank you, Hakoda." Percy turned back to the crowd. "Once this is all over, the Avatar will have defeated the Fire Lord and we will have control of the Fire Nation capital. This war will be over!"

They all cheered and began to prepare to board the boats.

Azula managed to catch up to Zuko when they were walking back to the palace.

"Hey, Zuko."

He looked at her, surprised again. She did find it quite funny with how easy it was to shock him with just something as small as that. Though the princess was beginning to question whether or not that was a bad reflection on her.

They'd both rejected their palanquins in favour of walking back to the throne room, and the warming morning air was starting to help her shoulder out slightly. The walking wasn't doing it much good though.

"Look, I just wanted to say…" She trailed off, not really knowing how to put it.

She had his attention, thankfully, and her mind kept running back through a lot of events that happened at the lake. And on the beaches of Ember Island.

"You were a good big brother to me growing up, and I don't think I've ever said that. I probably wasn't the easiest little sister to have, so…"

I'm sorry. The soft voice in her head supplied, but she couldn't push the words out of her mouth.

Zuko looked to be waiting for something else to come. An insult, an apology, Azula didn't know, but she'd guess the former.

"That's what you wanted to say?"

The princess nodded. She felt terrifyingly vulnerable.

"Well, thank you. And you weren't that bad…"

She raised her eyebrow challengingly, slowly starting to feel a little bit more comfortable.

"Okay, maybe you were. But you did push me to be a better firebender and swordsman." He looked back at the house they'd just come from. "Not to mention, you set me and Mai up."

Azula smiled a little at the memory of him falling into the fountain.

"Where is this coming from though?"

"I don't know." Azula replied. "I met someone recently who missed out being an older brother. Didn't know that it could hurt that bad."

The princess picked at her armour with her good arm. Zuko hummed interestedly as they got closer to the throne room.

"And hey," Azula continued, "you'll be fine in there. Don't worry about it. I'll be there with you."

Her brother looked at her appreciatively as they both came upon the noren with the huge Fire Nation emblem separating them from the war meeting.

"Plus, you have more than one good side again, Zuzu."

He looked at her, in slight exasperation but just enough that she guessed it was mostly an act.

Azula's princess façade came up as soon as she got within the eyeline of the two guards on either side of the doorway. Zuko's posture also stiffened at the same moment.

A couple servants scampered around her brother, putting on his royal armour and putting his hair up into the royal top knot. His Fire Nation Prince pin sat atop his head as both the siblings entered the meeting.

"Welcome, Prince Zuko, Princess Azula." The Fire Lord said from his throne.

The two both bowed before him, the princess hiding her wince. Zuko sat to Ozai's right and Azula to his left. She noted that, having her brother as his right hand, he was favoured. She hated how that affected her, but she couldn't stop it.

Once again, the voices in her head were drowned out by the deep booming voice that echoed around the throne room. It screamed at her about her brother's position, her shoulder and all that she deserved.

"General Shinu, your report." Their father continued.

"Thank you, sir."

The man stood in his position and walked around the table to stand at the other end.

"Ba Sing Se is still under our control. However, earthbender rebellions have prevented us from achieving total victory in the Earth Kingdom."

"What is your recommendation?" Ozai asked.

"Our army is spread too thin, but once the eclipse is over and the invasion defeated today, we should transfer more domestic forces into the Earth Kingdom."

"Hmm, Prince Zuko." Her father said. "You've been among the Earth Kingdom commoners. Do you think that adding more troops will stop these rebellions?"

Her brother seemed to think for a second, before speaking.

"The people of the Earth Kingdom are proud and strong. They can endure anything, as long as they have hope." He said.

Azula heard how he meant it, but she knew exactly what a statement like that would mean to their father. The deep scathing voice came back tenfold. The princess was proven right.

"Yes, you're right. We need to destroy their hope."

"Well, that's not-"

She interrupted him, hearing where he was going with that and remembering how everything had happened the last war meeting her brother had attended. But what came out was something she'd heard from her father when learning about the Air Nomads.

She felt the imaginary heat of the Fire Lord's hand on her shoulder as she spoke.

"I think you should take their hope, and burn it all to the ground."

Azula held off a grimace as she saw her father looking at her, with a sharp pride.

"Yes… Yes, you're right, Azula."

Their father stood up and Zuko looked across at her. She couldn't meet his eyes as their father walked onto their map of the Earth Kingdom.

"Sozin's Comet is almost upon us, and on that day, it will endow us with the strength and power of a hundred suns. No bender will stand a chance against us."

"What are you suggesting, sir?" Shinu asked.

"When the comet last came, my grandfather, Fire Lord Sozin, used it to wipe out the Air Nomads."

Azula knew exactly where he was going with his speech, and Zuko's eyes widened like hers had wanted to when the words had come out of her own mouth.

"Now I will use its power to end the Earth Kingdom, permanently."

The Fire Lord walked across the map, raising his arms.

"From our airships, we will rain fire over their lands, a fire that will destroy everything."

The princess was picturing it. The same fire that burned her shoulder, the one that burned right that second behind her, tearing across the land. She watched it trace its way underneath her father's footsteps, all the way to where Percy's home sat on the side of the lake.

Azula tried to close her eyes to get the vivid imagery out of her mind, but it didn't work. She couldn't escape seeing his log cabin burning in flames, hearing both of them inside it.

"And out of the ashes, a new world will be born." Ozai continued. "A world in which all the lands are Fire nation and I am the supreme ruler of everything!"

His arms reached their peak and the war generals all applauded. Zuko and Azula sat in silence, the princess feeling very much numb. She feared if she didn't keep it up, she'd act weak with her shoulder in front of her father and all the work she'd done would be for naught. All she was destined for would fall through her fingers.

Her father slowly returned to his thrown as the applause died out.

"Yes, thank you." He said as he lowered his arms. "Now, for our invasion plans."

He gestured for General Shinu to continue.

"Yes, sir. The capital will be evacuated for the eclipse and firebenders placed all the way up the road from the Harbour City. Your Highness will be in the royal bunker."

Ozai raised his arm to stop him, before flicking his wrist towards the princess. It took all of Azula's willpower not to flinch away from him.

"Yes, father. You will be in a separate bunker. I shall be in the royal bunker as a decoy in case they make it up that far. I will have my very own Dai Li to delay them and have some guarding yours as well. The airships will do the rest after that."

"Very good, daughter."

He smiled at her and she felt nothing. The Fire Lord gestured for the proceedings, including all of the plans for when the eclipse ended, but it went straight through Azula's ears.

She could only look out at the war meeting with a pit forming in her stomach for the coming day.

A/N: Thank you for reading the newest chapter! I hope you enjoyed. This is the final setup chapter before the invasion, however it is one of my favourites to truly highlight the character growth and subtle nuances to how I hope they're all developing compared to canon. Ozai's still Ozai, Zuko is undergoing his character arc alongside them all like in canon but seeing how his reactions are different is also fun for me.

Anyway, hope you enjoy. I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Here are some review replies:

Death Fury: I hope you enjoyed this one as well! Your patience shall be rewarded.

AMurder0fCrows: I have no idea what you mean by that

JasonTC: I'm glad you're enjoying it! I definitely have a plan which I'm sticking too, but I'm glad you're invested in the potential relationships :)

Jctherebel/HellRaiderS/Iamironman15: I hope you're enjoying it still! I appreciate all your reviews!

Callum Runchman: Yeah, setting up a little more of that Day of Black Sun, which will come next, so I hope you enjoy what I have planned. Last chapter was supposed to be combined with this one... but as you can see, that would've been pushing a 10,000 word chapter which I really didn't want to do. It worked well to break it up like this too, have a more Percy focused chapter followed by an Azula focused chapter.

Crazzytony: Thank you! I think I've done as much as I wanted to, changes-wise, so I hope you enjoy them. I won't spoil anything... but your curiosity is intriguing and I hope you like what ends up occurring.

Cepilepsi: I'm glad Percy feels like Percy, that's always a focus when I'm writing as it's so important to me. He's definitely my comfort character. In regards to Avatar, if you have the opportunity, I'd 1000% recommend watching it, especially before finishing this series. My story has already spoiled a lot, but it is just one of the best tv show out there. I don't think much can compare to it in regards to animation and children's television that treats its audience with maturity and respect.

Tarantulaochos: It is relevant, but not too much has changed, so I don't want to just write out canon storylines as I personally find that boring. It works in some ways to show slight deviations from canon that expand into bigger changes, but I don't want to do that so deep into the story. As you can see in this chapter, Zuko reacts with the same confliction and thought that happened in canon, which is changed by Azula undergoing some similar but unique character growth.

CRUDEN: I'm glad think that, I agree. On a side note, I've been watching and reading a lot of Star Wars recently and I was super confused for a few seconds thinking you meant Ahsoka as opposed to Sokka.

Aurumeda: Yeah, the invasion will be dramatic, so I'd agree. I felt even this was necessary to set up and contrast what's to come. The calm before the storm is very common, specifically in ATLA. I'm glad you agree. The beach episode is definitely one of my favourites.

iiiiextrai: I'm glad you enjoy it, so do I. I rarely have enough time to read as it is, so short chapters work better for both my writing and reading. And fair enough, although inciting any reaction is always a bonus for me. Thank you! And you had Percy, Aang and Sokka this week, now its much more the other side of the fight. Azula, Mai and Zuko. Ty Lee needed a long sleep after all of it though.

wolfwind42: I mean, he definitely couldn't. For many reasons, the main one I believe is that... Percy would genuinely have no clue what it is. He has trouble with remembering Greek mythology that actually effects his life. Without Annabeth, Percy runs in completely blind to most of his problems so I doubt he'd know about anything to do with multiverse theory or anything else.

Seananagan: While I agree on principle, regression is incredibly important to any arc that is taking you from a worse place to a better place. It makes the catharsis of either landing at that better place or falling away from it just that much more satisfying. Think Zuko end of season 2. I agree and hear you on the potential pairings, I'm absolutely sticking to my plan. Stupid Turtle Duck is also going nowhere. I really enjoy its funny and adorableness, but I also love that it has a much deeper meaning too.
He will be doing Percy things, things that I've set up to anyone who's been paying attention. Ozai will be interesting, as things have been set up in this chapter as well. I do have a plan, though it definitely won't be what most people are thinking (hopefully). My plan has always been to have this be a more subtle, nuanced and not at all cliched story.
I'm super glad that you're enjoying the stories so much though! It means a lot and I appreciate it!

Silverfox72: I'm super glad you found it again and are still enjoying it. No matter the time between chapters, this story will not end. I'm still plucking away at it and I hope you enjoy!

Featherboi: Thank you! The inspiration was reading a few other stories along similar lines. I enjoyed them, but they often fell flat and none of the characters felt like their canon counterparts. Nothing wrong with that, but I wanted for it to feel more like their actual characters. I also love how, no matter how the characters end up, Azula is almost perfectly the antithesis to Percy. From a characterisation standpoint, it opened up so many interesting avenues. Also Percy's power set lends itself very well to the avatar universe.

Guest: Eh... not quite.

Dunc4: I don't think so. While your point is valid, Ty Lee and Mai have always been very suggestible. Ty Lee especially with attractive people and Mai is exactly the type of person Percy accidentally unravels (see Nico in PJO). Azula is more valid, though there are a bunch of other reasons I've already outlined for other peoples comments on this, mainly she breaks down so quickly in the finale, so having someone who completely disrupts her world view isn't too farfetched in unravelling her mental state. Her mental state is often overlooked because she does what a lot of realistic examples of the same thing do. They hide it completely until they hit their breaking point. Percy just incited that faster.

I'm glad you're all enjoying and I hope it continues. Again, apologies for the delay in uploads. They'll come out every time I complete a new chapter (I'm multiple chapters ahead, hence why I specify that). See you next time :)

-PS