A/N: So, it's been a while. Don't worry, this story isn't dead. Thank you to everyone who's been waiting for me to upload, I'm only sorry I couldn't get this out to you any quicker. Writing has been a bit hard to come by in recent times, but I'm getting back into it, slowly but surely. Thank you to all of you who checked in on me, I'm doing alright but ya know... life. As always, let me know what you think! I love hearing all your thoughts, feedback and analysis!

Word Count: 2986

27. Diversions and One More Empty Cell (Knowing the Princess has its Benefits)

Should he have done it? Gone where he knew those who loved him back home had tried to keep him from falling. The place Annabeth had pleaded for him to never go. Looking around at the devastation on each of the others faces, it was hard to not feel the guilt bearing down on him. But he knew, in his heart, he didn't have that in him. Not without breaking who he was.

He wanted to stab Riptide through the deck of the ship. Right where he pictured that vile man would lie.

Instead, he pulled the map that they had access to and splayed it over the table. Someone needed to do something because the silence was becoming suffocating. The boats sailed breezily back towards the Black Cliffs, but the threat of the airships and their bombs a constant whir behind them.

Percy looked up to see a certain resolve in the Avatar's gaze. He must've felt the same guilt he did. It definitely wasn't a new experience for either of them, but it wasn't one Percy felt nostalgic for.

"We need to split up." The demigod spoke first. "But most importantly, is there any place you know that will house the wounded and help heal them?"

The stagnant air in the room remained before Bato gained the look of someone with an idea.

"The Abbey. It's where I healed. They hold no love for the Fire Nation and certainly can help. I just hope they don't blame us for the last time we were there."

"Or for all the perfume we broke." Sokka replied, with only a slight amount of his usual humour.

The comment fell dead as none of them were in a joking mood.

"Aang?" Percy said, after a lull in the room.

"I need to be able to access the Avatar state." He said.

It was a somewhat indirect answer, but the demigod remembered the power he felt emanating from him under the Earth Kingdom capital. Control of that power would be extremely useful.

"And I also need to master firebending." Aang continued.

"What do you need, or where do you need to be, to do them?"

"I don't know." Aang breathed out, ambling up beside him and pointing his finger a ways north of where they were. "But I think the air temple is where I might find some answers. It was one of the most spiritually connected places in the world."

"Alright-"

Percy was interrupted by an explosion that sent a smattering of water down on the top of the ships. Everyone in the room ducked their heads with a couple moving to check outside. He could tell it landed enough feet behind the ships for him to remain calm, but it served to prove his next point.

"Alright, so that brings me to what I was about to say. We need a diversion."

Azula stood underneath the gates of the Fire Nation Palace, shadowed by two soldiers. Rubble wound its way through the buildings, with flames still burning a path out of the capital. She'd succeeded… and yet her shoulder still tore away at her.

The Fire Lord had almost immediately gone back into the safety of the palace, followed by servants and protection. Even in his absence, his presence loomed over her.

Slight whirring drifted over from the sea, a quiet reminder that the fighting was still ongoing. But none of it was within sight of the princess. She still hadn't quite come to terms with how the day had gone for her. There was one thing she wasn't given the time to do, one that begged at the back of her mind since she'd returned to the Fire Nation. In a day marred by hollow victories, it was all that held her together. Asking for his opinion.

Do I have an answer for him? Can I find someone like he said I could? Is he that someone?

A groan emanated from in front of her, giving her a last desperate hope that she could still do it. The sound rose out of a building of rubble, drawing her in.

"Help them." Azula ordered.

The two soldiers hesitated, before acquiescing silently. Stone and rocks were moved from atop the pile, before a flash of blue caught her eye.

The princess' breath held, almost convincing herself that it could've been the waterbender. She had to remember that Percy wasn't wearing those Water Tribe colours. As more was pulled away, Azula questioned whether she needed to stay and get necessary information.

No, that can wait. This can't.

Finally, the debris was completely pulled away to reveal the figure of a Water Tribe member. By the looks of it, an important one. He was dragged out by the arms to be stood in front of the princess. The man looked familiar, like she was staring into the face of someone she knew.

"Take him to get healed. I'll need him conscious for my questioning."

The guards did not hesitate a second time as the prisoner's feet scratched over the ground behind him.

She wouldn't get a better opportunity than that. The chaos of the battle with the groups of soldiers preparing for a chase of the retreating forces, leaving no one to monitor her. Her gaze took her out of the palace gates, and just like that, her legs followed.

Would he help? Can I ask for his help? After everything that's happened.

Princess Azula strode forward. Her feet urging the ground to push her to him, but it pulled against her, like trying to walk on a beach.

In the back of her mind, she took notice of the diminishing destruction in her surroundings. There were no scorch marks over by the prison, nor displaced earth. The closer she got to arriving at the tower, the clearer her path became.

And yet, something was telling her the path she was on had been walked moments earlier. She could almost feel the footsteps ahead of her, like hands guiding her away. She paused three times, each telling the princess that the answers she'd find weren't ones she'd want. The hands slithered around her heart, grasping at it as she went. Her chest was tightened, squeezing out heartbeats at increasing and irregular intervals.

Her first moment of pause happened at the gaping entrance. It hung open, forlornly.

Why would the door to the prison be left unattended and open?

Her second moment cut at her, leaving her exposed in the hallway of the prison. The warden collapsed on the ground by his cell door.

What…

The final moment almost broke her. The bars opened. Pried with a strength she couldn't believe. They splayed outwards, stabbing and almost taunting her. It was all laid before her. Her caged uncle freed from his cell.

Azula was even more alone.

Just one more person that slipped through her fingers like the sand. Just another in a long line of people to whom she would never be able to confide in.

Just one more empty cell.

"He left me." She whispered.

The words left her mouth uncontrollably. Her filter leaving her momentarily. The sound of the princess seemed to wake the warden out of his shock.

"Princess Azula!"

He attempted to stand up, only to collapse back to the ground. The man settled for lowering his head in respect.

"What did you say?" He asked.

"My uncle. Where is he?"

She tried to regain her stony voice, but the cracks let through the dammed lake that was her pain. The firebending girl knew the answer to her question already, but she let the man inform her.

"He busted himself out. I've… I've never seen anything… one-man army!"

His reply was interrupted by short, panicked breaths.

"Your brother, the prince. He already… he came through here."

Zuko was looking for Uncle? Did…?

"Did the prisoner leave with him?"

"No. General Iroh left well before that, during the eclipse. Prince Zuko came after that and then left." The man said, voice still breathless.

But why did Zuko tell father about the Avatar? What did he do during the invasion? Where is he? Why isn't he here?

"Leave." She ordered, her voice monotone.

The warden stumbled to his feet, and she heard him scurry down the hallway. Not that she was paying any attention. Her body moved towards the bars, threatening to puncture herself with them. The charred seat lay collapsed in the corner, broken like everything else in the room.

Azula stepped through the opened cage, avoiding the points that jutted out to her. They bent so aggressively she could hardly believe it was the handiwork of her uncle. But it was. There was no other explanation.

After getting her body inside the cell, her hands delicately traced the walls and bars. There was a large amount of wear on the bars in the ceiling, which struck her as odd. When she sat, right where he had, she found a similar pattern that could only be from consistent use on the floor.

Her hands returned to her lap. It was all that she could do. While everything had gone to plan, it felt like nothing had gone well for her.

Is this my destiny? To kneel at the feet of my own design, alone. To sit in one more empty cell.

The Fire Nation had staved off the attack. The Avatar and his army were on the run. There weren't any more obstacles in between her father and Sozin's Comet.

But her hair hung loose from its pins, unbraided. Her eyes refused to release the dam of tears that covered her vison. With every day, the bars that released everyone else seemed to just constrict tighter around her.

Percy held up his arms, Siosi standing next to him. Mist billowed around his ship as he heard the whirring of the Fire Nation above. They stood unaccompanied.

As was the plan that he'd devised. Diversion tactics, much like Azula's own plans. Have the main fighting force moved out of the way, the Avatar and his friends up to the Air Temple and the soldiers to the Abbey, while the guise of his army goes where they expect them to. Running back to the Earth Kingdom.

The other ships had stayed behind, leaving Percy as the sole creator of mist. It wasn't a struggle to replicate the thickness of it with just himself, and under the command of Bato, those ships would move out of Percy's trail after the airships had passed. It was a worrying, silent, few minutes when Percy had gone ahead, hoping the Fire Nation wouldn't accidentally time the blind release of their bombs perfectly. Thankfully, when the demigod had next heard explosions behind him, it only displaced water. He then trundled along, nowhere near how fast he could go, making sure the Fire Nation were able to follow him.

After leading the Fire Nation on yet another wild goose chase directly east, one that had taken most of the day, Percy was beginning his second phase of his plan. Which was just repeating the first stage with his own ship.

Sometimes I wonder how I've lasted this long. Annabeth really had her work cut out for her. He thought, with a smile.

His hand pushed forward as the front of the mist began to increase forward while the ship stilled in the water.

"Sio, I'm going to need you to be absolutely quiet."

She snorted in a 'don't you think I know that' kind of way, but he could tell she knew it was serious. Every small rise and wave that lapped at the sides of his boat sounded like a thunderclap. Each creak of the wooden hull seemed to echo off the fog, screeching up to the where he was sure the Fire Nation could hear it. Granted, they were staying quite high in the sky due to the danger Percy had shown with puncturing their airships. But it didn't feel like enough distance between them.

They both looked up at the near silence from above. Shadows passed over and Percy prayed to any god or spirit that could hear him that there wouldn't be any bombs falling from the sky.

A whistling just in front of him disabused him of that idea.

I should've known better than to pray for that.

"Hold on." He said to his ostrich horse, as the explosion lit up the water and fog in front of them.

As he heard the rest of the falling explosives be released, he punched his hand forward at the water. His ship rocketed backwards, scything through the ocean as the barrage landed in their wake. Once he'd passed behind the last of the airships, he slowed the boat again in the hope that they wouldn't be heard.

It seemed that the bombs had disguised enough of the noise, and they hadn't seen his ship slowing, as the Fire Nation continued along. Percy just focused on extending the mist a little longer, before spinning his ship around and speeding away, back through this own trail.

His journey back to the Avatar group didn't take too long. Before he knew it, he was cutting his way through the islands of the Fire Nation on his way north. When he was nearing the closest tip of the Earth Kingdom mainland, he felt the other four Water Tribe boats sailing along. They'd made good progress, while still under the cover of their mist, and were keeping close to the coast.

Once he passed them, he made his way around the headland where he could see an archipelago behind it. Then it was a straight shot across the sea, almost directly north. His perfect bearings as sea made his journey that much easier.

While he closed in on where he'd been told Appa would be travelling to, he saw a Fire Nation balloon.

Interesting…

Percy's boat, once again, slowed to a pace where whoever it was in that boat wouldn't take note of it.

'Do you think it's my saviour?' Siosi piped up.

The trip hadn't been silent between the two of them, but her mention of Azula startled Percy. He hadn't really had any chance to come to terms with everything that had happened in the fighting. Still, some part of him knew that it wouldn't be Azula in that balloon.

"No. I don't think so. I doubt she'd be let out to travel freely and on her own after what happened. And I don't think she'd want to leave the Fire Nation. Not yet. Not when she-"

The words caught in his throat.

Not when she still believes she deserves it. Not when she still believes that that is her destiny.

'So, who would it be then?' Siosi asked, helpfully continuing the conversation.

The demigod didn't exactly have an answer, but either way, he was going to let whoever it was follow for the time being. Individually, they wouldn't be able to cause too much trouble and Percy could keep an eye on them.

With the sun still in the sky, the balloon started to fly over land and lower its altitude. He decided to keep everything out of sight and move his boat around to the other side of the island.

After travelling a sufficient distance away and stowing the ship, he mounted Afosiosi and rode his way inland with his Earth Kingdom satchel over his shoulder. It didn't take long before the galloping animal came out of the tree line to find the expansive ravine-like hole in the ground. It was big enough that he couldn't see the end of it, as if it was an unending woven cliff face.

What he was able to see were the small outlines of people, and a much bigger one of a sky bison in a lot of armour. Then, if he looked closely enough below the edge of the rock wall, he could just about make out what looked to be upside down buildings.

Woah, Annabeth would've loved to see this.

Another fond smile appeared on his face. His sea-green eyes looked up to the sky.

I guess I'm looking for the both of us.

Percy was distracted by a flicker of movement even closer to him. A rope, swinging in the wind. It seemed to him that someone had just dropped down from it.

"Well, they're clearly not with Aang and the rest of them."

'My saviour? She's come?'

The demigod let out a chuckle at her persistence.

"No, but I do think it was the person in the balloon."

With a light flick of his heels, Siosi began to trot around the cliff, getting closer to where they'd seen the rope go down.

As they moved, he heard the roar of Appa echoing around the cavernous space. Noises to their right caused a momentary halt by the ostrich horse. The scuffing of running feet up a staircase nearby made Percy slide off Afosiosi and drop down into a crouch. Through some cover, what they tried to hide with the gleaming armour that his companion still wore, he saw the Fire Nation garbs of someone he recognised instantly.

Zuko's here? Interesting. That's very interesting.

He didn't seem to be worrying about people in his immediate surroundings and kept running. Percy heard him turn off a few yards further down the track. To where, he didn't know. But he sensed it wouldn't be too far away.

Good to know. I wonder if Mai went with him. Or if she had anything to do with it.

"Alright, let's go see how the rest of the kids are holding up."

'You got it, dumbass.'

With a deep sigh, Percy was followed by his friend down the stairs towards the Avatar and friends.

A/N: So a slightly shorter chapter, but just kinda finishing the arc of the invasion and letting everyone come to terms with everything. More hopefully coming soon, and I hope you all enjoyed this!
Now for all your review replies. To the longer form reviews, I will reply in a bit of a shorter form here, but I will go into depth in a PM (private message) because I want to show you all how much I appreciate what you write about my story but I don't want to inflate the word count too much here :)

Xedornox: That's kind of what I spent a whole book and a bit setting up. Because to me, no matter what happens, Annabeth (and his mother and his friends) will always be his anchor. It's just that they're anchoring him in their passing (or even while not being with him). I may not have written that well enough, or we might have different ideas of Percy's character (which is perfectly fine), but to me, Percy has always despised killing and has deeply regretted the moments of anger that has lead to many deaths (I cite Mt. St. Helens as one of many). I tried to get across the idea that he doesn't want to lose too much control again because there's a volcano right there as well. I hope this helps and maybe makes it a bit more satisfying :)

SpeedCannon: That's awesome! Thank you! I'm super glad you're still enjoying it and Percy and Azula's character development is at the core of my story, so I'm stoked to hear that!

namer1: So, and granted I wrote both of these chapters a long while ago but only edited them before publishing, but my understanding is that they have, I believe 13, maybe more during the Comet, and much less during the invasion as there isn't really a need for a lot more. Percy did take down two though. There were more balloons than a few but I could be misremembering. I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Callum Runchman: Indeed. There were definitely differences that could change later conflicts, and there is definitely an idea that the Fire Nation is much weaker after all of that.

Artorias78: I mean... I'm not going to say anything but you're probably right about Ozai's character. I hope you continue to be excited and invested! Thank you!

Vosck: Thank you so much! Appreciate it a lot.

Death Fury/HellRaiderS: Thank you very much, hope you continue to enjoy.

Sons of death: Azula is conflicted.

DragonHighElder: Ahhhhh! Confused screaming! Thank you! That was my thinking too. He, above all else, wants to save the people around him. That's what I've always loved most about Percy's character. I'm intrigued to see how you like the future of this story then! I hope you like it! Thank you again :D

justanfanboy: Thank you. Not saying that is what I'll do, but I'll just say that both universes have precedent for it. Aang and Katara, Percy and Annabeth. Although I'll remain consistent in saying that Percy and Azula are paired mainly because they're the main characters. It's (frustratingly) the only way to get their names to appear first. This is a character study of those two specifically. I won't get into the spoilers of how I plan to do any romance though :) But it won't be at the very end I can guarantee that

Deeznuggets2121: Hahah that's fair. If that was it then you're pretty bang on. Apart from the Ozai figuring things out. Although he did show himself a coward in defeat.

Guest(1): Because he made the decision to save everyone else. Annabeth and his mother's memory (then Hakoda) brought him out of his anger. Also I'm not saying anything about pairings ;)

Bob: Fair enough, I do that too hahahah

CRUDEN: Tis a very bitter pill to swallow.

ElvenQueenLibrary: I believe I already clarified this so this isn't necessarily for you but for anyone who did think this, Zuko is deeeefinitely not dead. As seen in this chapter here :)

ScarletEmperor: (Longer version replied to in messages) I agree with pretty much everything! Me too, the Thalia comparison is one I liked a lot. They're so different but in many ways similar. They'd both throw themselves on the sword to save those they love. Exactly. There are levels, he'd die for a lot of people, but there are certain people that he has this all encompassing need to live for. Thank you! It was very important to me to set up Percy's hesitation towards bloodbending to show how far he considered falling. I guess you'll just have to wait and see on what happened being more than surface level (smiles in *author has plans*). Though all your points are very definitely intentionally there.
Also, it's my pleasure! I love responding to these and your reviews are some of the most in depth ones I've gotten! I'm just super happy you're that invested in my writing! I hope that continues and sorry for the delay :)

LordTyren: Yeah, chapter 7 is definitely...a crying chapter. I definitely shed a few tears in planning, writing and editing that one. It was super cathartic to really be able to flesh out Percy's pain like that.

Guest(2): That's definitely an interesting thought. I'm sure he probably could, although the effectiveness of it in situations probably wouldn't lead him to. Unless he's fighting an armada of ships like Aang was, it's hard to see any reason to.

fanfic rater 1-5: Absolutely, most certainly not. I'm definitely still writing this story and will continue to do so until it is finished (at least, that is my goal).

CreativeNameOrSomething: Thank you so much! I truly appreciate that and what you did is the exact opposite of a nuisance. I do hope you enjoy my story, whenever it continues to be published :)

B21n07: It has been a while. Though thank you for looking forward to my story update! I appreciate the check-up :) I'm all good and I hope you continue to enjoy!

Multiverse of Fiction: I understand that. The beginning of this story is definitely not for everyone (not to mention the standard of my writing back then was no where near it is now and the time I spent planning/editing only really kicked in about halfway through the first book). But I'm glad you stuck around and enjoyed it! I hope you like what I have planned! :)

Connor W: Another update for you :) I hope you enjoy!

crissthethief: The story isn't for everyone, I won't ask you to read something you don't enjoy but to me, Percy isn't at all ooc. Although everyone has a right to their opinion.

Ricee: Well... that just seems unempathetic and thoughtless. The idea of saving Azula comes from the same reason why people love Zuko's redemption. Those two are a brilliant comparison as it shows what happens when you're parents take a child each. A lot of people write off Azula as a psychopath or sociopath when, if you look deeper, there is more reason for it to be learned behaviour from her father than anything else.

Thank you to all who read this and I wish you all the best of luck in your lives. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and all there is to come.

-PS