#extra long chapter this time!

[whysopasta]

hiiii i really should be working on the next chapter but i wanted to try going over one of my finished chapters digitally as a test (i picked pilot 2 because i liked a lot of the paneling i did irl but couldn't really capture that in the original upload) and it actually went a lot smoother than i expected! eventually in the future i'd like to do the same to the other chapters but its not an immediate priority

[<] [original] [>]

#idk whether future chapters will be digital initially or ill just prioritize the sketches like i have been #doing it over digitally is like 2 extra days of work for a chapter of this size but they look a lot nicer so idk #ill probably just do whatever i feel like at the time when i get there tbh #whysopasta otherworld au #whysopasta art #creepypasta #marble hornets #fan comic #fan art #digital art #eyeless jack #mh skully #long post #i do have a lot of the next chapter planned btw its just kind of a big undertaking and comics areeee hard sometimes #not that anyones complaining or anything ajskldjfdlk idk who im trying to justify myself to bc everyones been so nice lol

[retellingthehobbit]

When someone asks why your webcomic takes so long to update:

#art #not chapters #webcomics #chapter 15 (which will come out in September) is going to be Extra Long #so over ten pages this time :3 #I hope to finish it by the september deadline but who knows #treebeard is the most relatable character in lotr

[moongothic]

Honestly the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced OPLA's [random Background Extra at Roger's execution everyone thought was pre-t Crocodile] isn't actually Crocodile.

And just so we're clear; we don't need that Background Extra to be pre-t Crocodile for Crocodile to be trans and/or Luffy's other dad. One Piece already has a fuck ton of material to provide for us to push the Crocodad Agenda and this Extra from OPLA would not and frankly does not tip the scale of Crocodad's plausibility in either direction (as I'm going to attempt to explain). I know a lot of us got kind of attached to the idea that the Extra could be Croc because it added fuel to the fire for the fandom (hell, it is what made me fall down the Crocodad Rabbithole to begin with), and so the fact that I'm now going to try to dismiss it might feel a little bad. I just want you to understand that we don't need that Extra to be Crocodile. We have better evidence for Crocodad elsewhere.

Anyways, yeah, the more I think about the less I think that lady is pre-transition Crocodile (-> going to be she/her'ing her). To be fair, there isn't really much to provide as evidence for either case, since she was just A Background Extra who we saw for a split second. It's just that I don't think it's a "50/50 it could go either way", but more like a "92/8 probably not, though not impossible" Also quick reminder I have not watched OPLA, all I know about this Extra is from screencaps so if I'm missing any helpful context then yeah that's why.

My key reasoning is pretty boring though. It's just that she does not look like Crocodile. As in, she does not have enough of Crocodile's key features (in his character design overall) that help us recognize Crocodile as Crocodile. Yes, we have no idea how he looked during Roger's execution. Yes, he probably did not have his iconic scar nor hook during this time. That's not what I'm talking about. There's more to Crocodile's character design than those two things.

When we saw Crocodile at Roger's execution in Chapter 0, we specifically saw him from behind. We don't know how his face looked nor do we know what he might've been wearing. All we do know is that: He was wearing a furlined (or a full fur) coat. He had his cigars. He wore his hair slicked back, and he had at least one earring.

And all this Background Extra has going for her is the earring(s). Even her hair, which, sure, IS slicked back, is still quite different from how Crocodile wears his hair, as it seems much longer with braids and seeming to be tied back. And yes I know pre-t Crocodile might had long hair, it's not like we can really see or tell in the panel.

But there's two things I want you to think about here.

1) Oda generally speaking does not change character designs that much through out the series, as the characters get older etc. Like generally speaking, each character has certain traits and features that help us recognize the characters, and while Oda may change some features about the characters, he'll also always go out of his way to ensure they also retain other features, so that they remain recognizable to the readers. Here's a few examples to drive my point

Moria's body changes a lot as he gets older but his facial features remain essentially the same as does his haircut (and his alt fashion style)

Sabo's haircut changes completely as does his face a little bit, but his fashion sense has not changed one bit

Her ⌛️ phase aside (because Oda is a horny bastard), baby Charlotte Linlin has the same big nose, large eyes and huge smile as she does as Big Mom+the rotund body shape in general (and even ⌛️ Linlin, who is otherwise unrecognizable, has Big Mom's iconic pirate hat)

Baby Doflamingo wearing his stupid little glasses even as a kid- we don't know what he looks like without them, but the sunglasses make him weirdly more recognizable that way

Really, I could go on, but the point remains; Oda does not drastically change character designs often, and even when he does, they're still recognizable because they retain certain features. And so the fact that the Background Extra doesn't really have "enough" of those features makes it hard for me to buy that's Crocodile. Because...

2) ...If OPLA did want to include pre-t Crocodile as an easter egg, why make it this vague? Genuinely, they could've given the Extra something slightly more recognizable to us, like given her either a cigar or a furlined coat (maybe not both), and honestly there'd still be a really good level of deniability if Netflix wanted to be cheeky about it. Like OPLA wouldn't have to worry about them confirming Crocodile being trans before Oda, because we don't know how Crocodile looked during this time. Even with the coat or a cigar we'd still have no way to prove or debunk whether or not the Extra really was pre-t Croc (as long as nobody in staff went and blurted it out).

But as the Extra is right now, her resemblance to Crocodile is so non-existant that it feels frankly pointless to me if that really was him, it's too deniable. Where as, imagine if she had a furlined coat on. We'd be having a much more heated discussion about whether or not that really was Crocodile, because then the resemblance would be immidiately much more noticable, but still just vague enough to be deniable -> much more heated debate.

And I know, I know, people can change drastically how they present themselves when transing their gender, so it could be realistic if pre-t Crocodile looked nothing like post-t Croc. But this is a silly comic with a funny rubber boy as the protagonist. This is fucking One Piece, man, you can't get much more unrealistic than OP And again, like. How many characters in OP have dressed nearly the exact same and presented themselves in the exact same style their whole lives? It's not realistic, but that's what OP is like, so frankly it would be much more on-brand for the series if pre-t Crocodile presented himself the exact same as he does now. Because that is how Oda normally does it.

But again. Regardless, there's plenty of material in the manga for trans Crocodile truthers to cling onto. This Extra does not add anything substantial by any stretch of imagination. She just does not matter.

#Moon posting #OP Meta #Sir Crocodile #Sidenote yes Oda could RETCON how Crocodile looked at Roger's execution and give him that haircut and a different get-up #It didn't rain at Roger's execution but Chapter 0 made it rain so yeah retcons are plausible #It's just that. Again. Oda rarely changes character designs that much. So I kind of doubt it #Time will tell in the end #Long post #IDK I was lowkey thinking about this and then got an ask about the background extra #Did not like Anon's wording though so. Sorry not sorry. I'm not posting that

[suspicious-whumping-egg]

Rock Bottom Part 4: A Moneymakers AU

This series is based on the moneymakers series by @coldresolve! You can find part 1 of the AU series here. The last part of this chapter was inspired by this drawing by him and this post.

~~

Renee couldn’t help but feel that he was getting a taste of his own medicine. 

He hung from the low basement ceiling by his wrists, feet barely touching the floor, and watched as Corbin tied a bandana around his face, flicked on a bright spotlight that burned in Renee’s eyes, and positioned the camera. 

“Welcome back, my friends,” he said brightly, as if he was introducing a travel vlog rather than a snuff film. 

“As you can see today, we have a new… guest joining us today. It’s time to find out his niche.” 

He strode to the laptop, and in minutes, offers started rolling in. The desk was close enough that Renee could just barely make out the chat— and its placement was too precise to be unintentional. 

Four thousand bucks if Corbin will drug him up. Two thousand to whip him. One thousand for a good, old fashioned, brass-knuckled beating. Ten thousand to cut off a finger. 

His head spun, and he gasped for breath, barely realizing his breathing had become so shallow. He’d been hyperventilating, much to the amusement of whichever creeps were watching the stream. Probably the same ones who watched Conrad’s. 

It’d been different. It’d been for the money, the rush, the power, the outlet. Corbin just enjoyed watching people suffer. 

As if Renee never had. 

Corbin grinned at him, turned to the camera to give it a wink, then addressed Renee once more.

“You know what? I’m just gonna give it a few minutes before we get started. Let the audience get their offers in, and I’ll pick a few favorites.” 

The chat was rolling. 

WYV3RN: if that’s the case, fuck him right here for 20. take it or leave it. 

no_pain_no_gain: We haven’t gotten a vivisection in a while ;))) how much to see his guts? 

[redacted]: It’s his first time, let’s ease him into it with a whipping. I’ll up the offer to 2.5k.  

user_029473: Boring… but maybe if it’s wrapped in barbed wire? Five thousand. 

W3VYRN: at least strip him. five hundred.

user_638745: Nothing wrong with the classics. Waterboard him for 10. 

If Corbin did everything they asked at once, Renee wouldn’t last for more than a day. Maybe that’s why so many of the bloodstained cells were empty. 

Corbin sidled up to Renee and leaned into his laptop, an arm wrapping around his waist as he scrolled through the suggestions. 

“A barbed wire whipping? Can’t say that’s completely original, but it sounds like fun. And I’ve been in need of a new whipping boy. As for you, Wyvern, get your head out of the gutter.” 

Renee couldn’t help but sag in relief at Corbin’s denial of the most perverted request, although he knew he wasn’t in the clear yet. If Corbin was anything like him, he’d do anything if it had the right price tag. 

He turned to Renee without hesitation, pulling a black butterfly knife out of his pocket and flipping it open. 

“Do you want to hear what happened to my last one?” He said it as plainly as if the two were discussing the weather at a tea party. 

The basement grew silent, and Renee realized he actually wanted a response. 

“Not really,” he muttered, praying no one would recognize his voice from his own streams. He took in a shaky breath and forced his lips into an utterly fake half-grin that looked a lot more like a grimace. 

“Surprise me.” 

If there was anything he’d learned from Conrad, Renee knew a terrified, sobbing victim was much more fun than anything else. And he refused to give Corbin anything— reactions, views, money. Not if he could help it. 

Corbin whistled, sliding the tip of the blade under Renee’s shirt and splitting the fabric with one smooth, practiced motion. 

“Looks like someone’s excited to get started, hm?” 

Shit. If there was anything he knew about his own audience, the kinds of people who watched red rooms were creeps in ways more than one. He had to make himself human. Undaunted. But not masochistic. 

“Not remotely,” he snapped, trying not to shiver as cold air hit his bare skin. His hands shook for a cigarette, hard enough to rattle the chains around his wrists. Now it looked like he was trembling in hopeless panic. God, why hadn’t he tried to get one from Corbin before fucking it up and trying to attack him?  

“I just want to get it over with.” 

Corbin laughed. “Now that, I’m afraid, we can’t arrange. See, a private benefactor reached out to me shortly after you posted your… advertisement. And he’s offering me a generous sum if I run this session until you pass out. Although… I’ve thought of some ways to make it a bit more interesting. You could call them rewards, I suppose. If you behave, make yourself likable. That’s up to you.” 

He grabbed the handle of a whip and tugged it so the leather slithered ominously down from the rack to the floor, then dug around a drawer until he produced a length of barbed wire. 

“Feel free to queue up some more suggestions while I get this ready, I’m hoping to need plenty of them.” 

Renee squinted to read the chat, but Corbin spun the laptop to the side so he was now oblivious to the devious suggestions of the bloodthirsty audience. 

He talked aimlessly to the camera as he wrapped the whip, clearly one to love the sound of his own voice. 

“So, considering it’s a bit of a special episode today, I was thinking after we get a good variety of methods tested out, I’ll hold a group vote on what his… niche should be. Although considering his infamy on certain sides of the dark web, I’m not going to do anything too permanent. No cutting stuff off, doing what we did to poor Finn, anything like that. Wouldn’t wanna risk a mob of angry fans showing up to rip me apart, y’know? Sorry to disappoint, yeah, yeah. But that’s why we have the others. If we severely maimed them all, it wouldn’t be as fun when we did, would it?” 

He finished off the wire with a couple solid twists, then cracked the whip once in the air, testing its suppleness with the newly added restriction. 

“What do we think? Looks good? Should we make him count?” 

He turned to scroll in the chat, and what he found must have been good enough, because he stepped a few feet behind Renee and flashed a grin at the camera. 

“In that case, let’s get started. Crowd wants you to count, and I’ll tell you what— make it to thirty without messing up, and I’ll give you something from my stash. You’re addicted to cocaine, if I’m not mistaken? Just make it to twenty, and I’ll give you enough to take the edge off the withdrawal, how’s that sound? If you’re good enough, maybe I’ll make it ten.” 

Renee’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly at the mention of the drug, the mere hope that his lethargy might be relieved, and he nodded solemnly. He had to make it. There was no other option. 

“Perfect,” Corbin responded giddily. 

The crack of leather whistling through the air was the only warning he received for the first lash. The razors of the wire tattered a hot, furious stripe across his back, and Renee choked on the cry that forced itself from his lips. 

“One—” he gasped desperately. 

“Hmm…” Corbin murmured. “I’ll cut you some slack on the first one, but you’d better be louder than that from now on.” 

Crack. 

The force of the blow knocked the wind out of him, and he doubled over, tears springing from his eyes at the intensity of the pain ripping through him. 

“Aah— uh— two!” He barely managed to force the word out as he struggled to draw breath, rivulets of blood already beginning to run over his skin. 

Crack. 

The whip crossed the two previous lashes, blades tearing the other wounds deeper and cutting whatever untouched skin was left by his shoulder blades.  

“THREE!” He practically screeched it through the blinding agony that consumed him. 

By eight, his throat was raw from screaming, his face stained with tears as his blood began to run all the way to the cold cement floor. His back throbbed beyond belief, and he hung limp in the chains, unable to even stand through the agony. . 

His vision went white at twelve, as the strike wrapped the whip around his side, carving over his stomach. His scream turned into a broken sob, all thoughts of numbers retreating from his mind. There was only room for more pain. 

The space filled with Corbin’s gleeful laughter, and to Renee’s relief, the sound of the whip’s handle clattering to the floor. 

“Looks like he made it just past ten. Poor thing… I’ll have you know that my last whipping boy could take fifty of those without flinching by the time I was through with him.” 

Renee’s chest shook with sobs, both of relief and agony. He glanced at the floor and nausea clenched his gut to see so much of the concrete slick with his own blood. 

“P-probably ‘cause you destroyed the nerves by the third time you tried it,” he bit out, fury winning out over sense. 

Yet Corbin only grinned. “Looks like the pain put a little fight in ya. And it seems you’re quite the crowd pleaser. A 20k contribution without a request, just for how pretty you are when you cry— so you know what? I’ll meet you halfway.”

Renee’s sobs nearly returned with renewed vigor just from the relief that he might get what he do desperately needed. 

Corbin turned back to his supplies until he found a bag of the white powder Renee had been hoping for. 

“How about this? We hit two birds with one stone. A viewer asked to see you all cut up, and you’ve earned your fix. I’ve heard this works from the Internet, and you’re giving me the excuse to test it out.” Corbin gave a devious wink to the camera and pulled out his balisong once again. He flipped it between his fingers for a moment before circling Renee, looking for the best place to cut. 

He settled on his collarbone, and pressed the cold steel against the skin so dangerously close to Renee’s neck. 

“For science, tell me how it goes.” 

And with that, he drew a sharp line of pain right above Renee’s collarbone. Renee barely gasped, he was used to knives, and the pain was far less vicious than that of the whip. 

Corbin observed his reaction intently as he opened the bag of cocaine, shaking the tiniest bit over the cut. It stung as it met the wound, but the effects were nearly instant. Energy flooded Renee in mere seconds, and the world was as it should have been. It was enough to make him forget the bloody, twisted mass of flesh that used to be the skin of his back. 

But the feeling faded just as quickly, sending him crashing back to reality. Back to pain. 

He shuddered, tugging against the chains. 

“Please…” he whispered. 

He hated himself for it. He truly did. But this was a time when need surcompassed pride. 

“Just a little more…”

But of course, Corbin only flashed that wicked grin at him in return. 

“If you want more, you’ll have to earn it.” 

#no editing no anything #Nearly 2k all written on plane #9 hour flight just landed and I feel like SHIT #chronic pain is an ass esp when I either sit or stand for a long time (or have too much activity. or breathe. or do anything) #and this is a good distraction #anyway have fun yall #hope you feel extra special getting two chapters in 1 day #rock bottom: a moneymakers au

[seyaryminamoto]

The Shadows in her Reflection: Sokkla Saturdays 2023

Rated M

Read on FF.net//AO3

"So… where to now?" Sokka asked, once they were airborne in the sky lit by a dim moon and a mantle of stars.

Azula shrugged: she poured a small cup of water for herself, only seeing a dark reflection of Yue upon it, as good as a shadow… but it would work. It always did. Even in the darkness, there were enough glimmers of brightness that allowed Yue to peer through to see everything she could in the material world.

"What's next, fishy princess?" Azula asked, dismissively. Her earlier thoughts on her common ground with Yue were better off set aside, for if she were any nicer to the girl after that, she'd most likely become even more annoying than she often was… "Where would you like to go? You didn't see much of the spring, but perhaps you could in another place of the Earth Kingdom…"

"I… I don't really know. I guess I feel a little anxious now, after what happened in Kyoshi Island. Maybe… maybe I'm not the one who should pick our next destination."

"Well, now: what happened last time was Sokka's fault for not telling us what was going on," Azula said. Sokka groaned. "What? It's true. She thinks it's her fault that you went through that because she chose to go to Kyoshi Island…"

"Wait, that's not…! Yue, Azula is right," Sokka said, approaching the Princess and gazing into the water… which, as ever, showed no one to him. Even so, he hardened himself and continued. "It's on me. I should've told you both what the problem was all along. I wasn't honest and… and I swear I will be, going forward! Over everything!"

"Everything?" Azula asked, with a smirk. "Then do tell, what exactly do you think of me?"

"W-what? What was that?" Sokka blinked blankly.

"I just want you to be fully bluntly honest and tell me… just how much you trust me," Azula said, with a mocking grin.

Clearly, she was expecting an answer spoken to appease her. Otherwise, she would anticipate, instead, blunt cruelty, the admission that he was only here because Yue was, too…

"I wouldn't be here, on this balloon, if I didn't trust you," Sokka said. Azula raised a suspicious eyebrow. "It's true! From the moment you started saying things that nobody but Yue and I could know… I realized you weren't lying, even if it was so much easier to pretend you were. No, I don't trust everything you translate from Yue to me because oh, I know you're a troublemaker and you love making fun of me. But… all in all, I think we're on the same boat, or balloon, in our case. I trust you to watch my back, just as I intend to watch yours. And I trust that we'll stand strong together until we fix what's going on with Yue. By then, eh, all bets will be off and I have no idea what you'll choose to act like, but right now, Azula, I do trust you. I'd have turned you in to your brother since day one if I didn't."

"Huh. Well, you sound relatively honest. At least you didn't try to convince me that you've always had a soft spot for me, or so," Azula said, with a dry grin. Sokka smiled slightly, and she raised her eyebrow. "Or… did you?"

"I… didn't exactly have a soft spot for you, alright? It's not like that!" Sokka said, but his bashful smile convinced Azula of the opposite.

"You're… lying?" she said, blinking blankly. "That makes no sense. Say you do have a soft spot for me. Do it."

"Why would you want me to do that? Azula…!"

"I want to be able to tell apart your truths and your lies," Azula said, eyes wide. "Because it's alarming that it sounds like you're lying about what you shouldn't be. I'm not… not your friend. I haven't been, ever before, we're just stuck together because our journey is forcing us to be. If I mock you about your weakness towards me, it's because you're expected to be exasperated and to react adversely to it and amuse me by doing so: it's not supposed to be an invitation to confess that… that I'm right to claim as much."

"Well, good, because I haven't confessed any such thing," Sokka said, arms folded over his chest.

"… Say you're a four-hundred-foot-tall purple platypus bear with pink horns and silver wings."

"No."

"Then say something utterly stupid like…! Like that you want to get back together with Suki!" Azula said. Sokka scoffed.

"Not happening."

"Then… say you think my brother's the brightest man in the world!"

Sokka outright burst out laughing.

"… And yet, you're trying to deny that you have a soft spot for me, and it sounds like you're lying," Azula said, frowning. Sokka raised his hands defensively.

"Okay, you know what? I'll tell you three different sentences. You'll have to figure out which is true, and which isn't. I get to choose what I say and that way you won't embarrass me with anything weird," he said. Azula scoffed.

"Cowardly, but fine," she said, tapping her foot on the balloon's floor. "Go for it."

"Okay. First statement: I once ate an entire deer-antelope when I was on the road with my friends during the war. Second statement: I asked Yue's dad for her hand in marriage. Third statement: I saved a village from a flood and they built a statue in my honor."

"You're full of shit. All of them were lies."

"You… hey! The deer-antelope could be true!" Sokka squealed, blushing.

"Why, while I doubt you could've eaten the bones and every single organ, for I'm sure some of it might even be poisonous, for starters…" Azula said. Sokka winced. "I still suppose that's not what you meant. You were trying to say you ate all the edible parts?"

"Yes…?"

"Still a lie. Sounds like you didn't do it during the war but at some other point in time."

"Huh. Wow. You… you could figure out even that much?" Sokka asked, eyes wide. Azula smirked.

"Don't underestimate me," she said.

"You're scary," he said. Azula's smirk widened.

"See, you're telling the truth now. Very good. Great progress. Now, then: did you have a soft spot for me or not?"

"I…! Okay, fine: I may have thought your fire was the coolest I'd seen, and I might have had… weird thoughts after what happened in the tunnels between us! And maybe I drew Suki firebending once and I kept thinking about you for no reason when I did it, but…! That doesn't mean anything, does it? It doesn't! That's not a soft spot! It's just…! You impressed me, that's it! Doesn't mean more than that!"

Azula froze in place. Sokka shivered under her gaze. It seemed she grew more horrified by the minute… and then she lowered her gaze.

"You're telling the truth."

"Of course I am!" Sokka scoffed.

"That makes no sense," Azula said, looking at him in confusion. "Sokka… maybe you're the one who needs an asylum. Yes, you certainly do…"

"Why is it that hard to fathom that I could be impressed by you?" Sokka sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Well…! Because I thought you hated me!"

Sokka blinked blankly and looked at her in confusion. She was the one who looked scared now, instead. He raised his eyebrows.

"After all this time, you thought I…?" he started, but she cut him off.

"No! I mean, I thought that everything that had happened over the past months has changed some things between us, but back in the day, you should've hated me! I did things that… that were meant to make you hate me! You're not about to take that from me, damn you. I did it all on purpose!"

"Of course you did," Sokka said, with a dismissive shrug. "Same's true for your brother and I came around with him in due time…"

"Well, my brother wasn't competent enough to nearly kill the Avatar…" Azula said, eyeing him skeptically.

"Yeah, he wasn't. Seriously, Azula, I'm not sure whether you want me to sing your praises or denounce you as a living nightmare," Sokka said, with a slight smile. "You're weird."

"What's weird is you not acknowledging simple, obvious facts and revealing things that… that make no sense!" Azula said, folding her arms firmly over her chest and glaring at him. "I know we didn't meet each other frequently, but… as far as I could tell, we were rivals."

"You and me?" Sokka asked, amused.

"You were the brains of their team. And curses, did they need you, because the lot of them could not be dumber if they tried," Azula said: Sokka laughed carelessly, his ego decidedly boosted by her claims. "If you say that you actually were admiring me the whole time…!"

"I didn't say the whole time, okay? I'm just… honestly admitting to myself, too, that you were way more impressive than I wanted to accept!" Sokka laughed, leaning against the side of the engine. Azula scoffed. "You think I was conscious of the fact that I thought you were impressive? I wasn't! It only just clicked when you asked me that, if anything."

"Then… you were determined to dislike me, antagonize me and have nothing to do with me before," Azula asked. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Yes, Azula. I was an idiot who couldn't see you for all you were worth, and I got swept up into thinking that whatever stories Zuko shared about you had to be true, and only upon spending as much time as I have with you, I've come to realize that you're actually… a lot cooler than I ever wanted to think you were. And upon accepting that, I've realized that maybe even back then, I did crazy stuff like drawing Suki firebending because I thought you were damn incredible. See?"

"Well… that's a little better. Not as disquieting," Azula said, with a proud grin. Sokka sighed.

"I'm not exactly proud of how… how any of us have treated you since the war ended," he said. Azula grimaced. "I know, I know, you were looking to anger us, to annoy us, to mess with us… I get that. I respect that. I accept that. You can very well accept, too, that we were idiots to let you succeed at that as easily as we did."

"Heh," Azula said. Sokka smirked at her. "That's the real problem, then. You don't like that I won and proved myself correct in my assumptions about all of you."

"Damn right I don't. You and I are fated to fight each other at everything and anything, as far as I can tell," Sokka said, dramatically. Azula smirked. "So, if you're sure we're never going to be friends, or that I should hate you, or that anyone showing you sympathy or empathy is wrong… well, clearly I have to be contrarian and prove you wrong."

"Ha. That's what this is about, then?" Azula asked. Sokka shrugged. "Or are you just saying that so I won't be distressed about your weird generosity and surprisingly favorable image of me anymore?"

"If I were, what about it? You'd still be contrarian yourself, and you'd still fight me about it, and I'd keep enjoying this long, spiraling banter that will take us nowhere," Sokka said, beaming proudly. Azula winced.

"Enjoying? So… you want to piss me off into falling silent in retaliation. That's what you…"

"No! I didn't say that!" Sokka squealed, though he froze in place upon processing her words. "Though, come to think of it, we got carried away here. Didn't we, uh, tell Yue to tell us where to go next? And then we wound up arguing about…"

"Right. Uh, right," Azula grimaced, slightly flustered, glancing down at the reflection on the water again.

"No, no, do go on! It's fun to hear you two argue! Like… like two master strategists on a battlefield of words!"

"What do you mean, 'like'? We ARE two master strategists on a battlefield of words!" Azula exclaimed, cheeks redder yet. Sokka raised his eyebrows upon hearing her impassioned exclamation. "She… ugh, never mind. Yue, just… choose our destination, will you? We can't float like this forever."

"Well… I don't really have a plan in mind, I said. I think it's okay if you choose, actually. You, or Sokka… if there's any places you would like for me to see, anywhere important for you, or valuable, I'd love to see it. But, well, it's up to you now…"

"Anywhere important?" Azula said, blinking blankly. "Huh… come to think of it, you wouldn't really have a lot of ideas about the world considering you were stuck in the Northern Water Tribe for most of your life. You'd only have a handful of stories to know what the rest of the world was like…"

"She doesn't know where to go next?" Sokka asked.

"She wants us to choose, rather. And she says… maybe places that are valuable to us. Important," Azula said. "I don't really think there's anything of the sort for me, though. As much as I may have achieved important things in certain places, I can't pretend that I ever…"

Sokka waited for her to finish the sentence… watching directly as her face shifted upon the arrival of an unexpected idea. She blinked blankly as her eyes brightened… and then she smirked.

"Ba Sing Se."

"W-wait, what?!" Sokka exclaimed.

"Ba Sing Se! The location of my greatest victory in the war. Evidently, there's no grander place than that to visit," Azula smiled proudly. "And Yue certainly should see what other cities look like. Kyoshi Island wasn't particularly impressive, as far as infrastructure was concerned…"

"Are you out of your mind?" Sokka said, startling Azula.

"I thought the general consensus was that I am, actually…" she responded, simply. Sokka winced.

"Okay, maybe that's the wrong question to ask but…" he said, hands on his temples as Azula regarded him with perplexity. "Azula, there were two places where you were a wanted criminal before we joined forces, you know? And sure, now apparently Zuko is spearheading a massive manhunt for you, because of course he is! But before that? He wanted to capture you, and… and Kuei wanted to execute you. Remember Kuei? Earth King of Ba Sing Se?"

"Eh…" Azula said, waving a hand dismissively. "I thought you were going to bring up something genuinely worrisome. That slug wouldn't even bat an eyelash if we hide properly under his large nose. And it is large enough that we could hide under it, too…"

"Yeah, yeah, you're very funny," Sokka grimaced, as Azula carelessly laughed over the king's appearance. "You do realize that getting caught by Kuei's forces is way worse than by Zuko's? There's a slight chance that he was just moody when he wrote that he wanted you dead or alive, you know? Kuei's not kidding."

"He might not be, but he's full of it anyway," Azula said, shrugging. "He took back the Dai Li I poached right under that huge nose, remember? For whatever reason, they apparently manipulated him into thinking that they actually didn't want to betray him and that I was oh, so scary…"

"Which is why you shouldn't go anywhere near him!" Sokka squeaked. "If they deceived him even more than Long Feng alone did… you really don't expect you could trick him too, do you?"

"I think I can deceive him enough if I must. As long as I'm careful and I don't call unwanted attention towards myself, a proper disguise would get me into that city without a hitch," Azula said, with a shrug. "I know where to go. The Dai Li showed me enough of their headquarters and ways to access them in the past. All we need to do is get there… and we'll get inside the city pretty quickly after that. You'll see."

"Azula…" Sokka said, grimacing. "I don't like this."

"You don't have to," Azula shrugged. "But if I must compromise with you, then you get to pick our next destination, how about that?"

"You're not going to make me like it any better with that concession… though maybe that's not the worst idea," Sokka said, tapping his chin. "Still! You have to swear you'll be careful. I don't want you jumping into danger recklessly just because you have a taste for causing chaos when you shouldn't."

"Oh, please. What harm could I possibly bring the great, pristine, beautiful city of Ba Sing Se?"

Her devious smile spoke for itself. Obviously, she was up to no good. Evidently, Sokka would have to keep an eye on her to make sure she behaved herself at all… but even before agreeing to this plan, he had the bad feeling that Azula would, of course, make this next stage of their journey much more complicated than it needed to be.

"What… what does Yue think?" Sokka asked, grimacing. Azula huffed.

"What does that matter?" Azula asked. "She told me to choose, I chose. If you're going to mutiny against me too…"

"I'm not mutinying against anyone, I'm asking what Yue has to say about this," Sokka huffed.

Azula grimaced, glancing into the water warily again. The shadowy silhouette of Yue greeted her right back… but she couldn't quite see her properly. Was she smiling? Was she enthusiastic? Was she…?

"Ba Sing Se… I can't wait to go!"

For once, Yue's enthusiasm didn't register as false to Azula, whether because she finally had learned to give her words credit or not. Perhaps she simply wanted to annoy Sokka, instead… but when she smirked with unrestrained deviousness, Sokka knew he was outnumbered, and outmatched.

"Ugh. Well. Fine, then," he sighed, in defeat.

"Not going to accuse me of lying, are you?" she snickered.

"You're not lying. You were too genuine in that reaction. Curses, but we're going to be VERY careful, you hear me?" Sokka exclaimed. "We're not going to get caught. We'll go undercover, we'll have false information to feed them, we'll hide properly whenever we need to, and no one will know the Fire Lord has a bounty on your head. Understood?"

"Understood," Azula smirked at him. "Thank you so much for your cooperation. I'm sure Yue is stoked for it, too…"

Sokka sighed: Azula didn't need to manipulate him with tall tales about Yue's reaction to his choices… but she certainly thought she did. All in all, Sokka just wanted Yue to be happy, and right now, it sounded like she genuinely, truly was. It made sense, too: Ba Sing Se was, quite likely, the most famous city in their world. She'd definitely want to see it… but it'd be up to Sokka to ensure that the three of them made it in and out of the city as safely as possible. Though, of course, Yue wouldn't be in any genuine danger… but if he were separated from Azula at any point in time, he'd be cut off from them both. He needed to ensure they would always be within reach… most of all, for Azula's safety. Zuko's newest demands and rewards for Azula's capture were nothing to scoff at, even if Azula refused to accept that.

Their journey to Ba Sing Se, thus, started out as a strange odyssey: after around two weeks of traveling, they arrived at night, and they concealed the hot-air balloon furtively near Lake Laogai. From there, Azula knew of an entrance into the catacombs where the Dai Li's headquarters stood: it came as no surprise to either of them to find that the tunnels appeared to have seen use in recent times, but they paid no heed to that as Azula led them into a particular section where they could find Dai Li uniforms that would suit them. Awkward as it was to dress in their attire, they left the tunnels after disguising themselves as members of the controversial organization. They climbed through an unpleasant sewer, and then they journeyed into the Middle Ring, where they could purchase proper casual clothes without arousing suspicion.

After a longer shopping session than Azula anticipated – Sokka was terribly picky about fashion, as it turned out –, they found an empty building they could sneak into, a house vacated some time ago. Sokka couldn't hide his anxiety over sneaking around to that extent… Azula, it seemed, was entirely used to living her life that way. Her ability to undo locks genuinely startled Sokka, and she moved with confidence that gave away that she didn't expect to ever be caught.

The outfit Sokka picked appeared to be suitable for respectable students of Ba Sing Se University, whereas Azula's clothes were slightly more humble than that.

"You'll call too much attention to yourself," Azula said.

"But this was the only thing that would suit me!" Sokka pouted. Azula rolled her eyes.

"Anyone who knows you will take one look at you and know who you are. You need to present yourself differently. Like… loosen your hair. That might help, actually. I can do the same with mine…"

Her hair fell into an unkempt mess as she did. She shook her head, and instead of it finding some manner of order, it only grew messier still. Sokka chuckled, shaking his head and fishing a comb out of his pack.

"Come here, come on. You can walk around with your hair down, but you'd better not do it like that," he said, grabbing her shoulder and reeling her towards himself. Azula scoffed.

"You… can style my hair?" she asked, perplexed.

"Indeed," Sokka said, proudly.

"Then you definitely aren't royal. I bet Yue can't do her own hair either."

"Hey!"

Azula smiled as Sokka worked to smooth every strand of hair upon her head. Little by little, he worked out all the knots until her long dark tresses were in better shape than they had seen in years. Azula hummed as Sokka stepped in front of her, eyeing her with an expert eye before slipping the comb over her scalp again, flipping hair from one side to the other. Azula winced, feeling her fringe switching sides abruptly.

"What exactly are you…?" she said.

"Giving you a slight makeover to make you less recognizable, of course!" Sokka smiled. "I think… yeah. This should be better."

"Half my face is covered by my hair," Azula rebuffed. Sokka shrugged.

"Less chances that they'll discover you that way. See, the shadow of your hair, falling like that over your exposed eye… it makes it harder to tell its color. So, right now? You look like an ordinary, boring, simple peasant."

He finished the sentence with a proud smirk. Azula's eyebrow twitched.

"I know that's the point of what we're doing… but you make it sound unpleasant," Azula huffed. "And what about you, pray tell? You're not going to cover your face that way, are you?"

"I'm not going to need to do that. My hair falling over either side of my face will take care of that too," Sokka said, reaching up and removing his hair tie.

Azula blinked blankly when his hair fell around his face, framing it smoothly. He combed it properly too, ensuring to gather enough hair on his bangs, at either side of his head to create the shadows he was counting on to shroud his eye color.

"There we go!" he said, smiling proudly. "Or, at least, I hope so. I'd have to look in a mirror to… oh. Oh, hey! I have an idea! Uh, Azula? You okay?"

"I… I'm fine," Azula said, with a dry grin: she hadn't just wound up dazed by the sight before her, or had she?

But the truth was that, while she wasn't blind to the fact that Sokka was a perfectly handsome man, she had never seen him with his hair down before. Somehow, its effect on her caught her entirely off guard… and she chided herself inwardly for it. What was wrong with her? She had seen handsome men before. She hadn't been particularly likely to interact with them much, sure, but that didn't mean there was any sense to feeling any given way just being around Sokka when his hair was down…

"You sure?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow: curses, why was he that much more appealing like this? She snarled, shaking her head.

"I just… need to go to the bathroom," she lied. Sokka hummed.

"Well, if you can wait, I have one last thing we need to buy. Then… we could find an inn, if you want," Sokka suggested, smiling. "Maybe a drink or two would be a good idea to get by after the crazy months we've spent on the road, don't you think?"

"Heh. Sure," Azula sighed. "Whatever, let's just… hurry."

Sokka led her out of the building stealthily, and they joined the main streets of the Middle Ring as inconspicuously as possible. People appeared to be in good spirits, on what might just be another ordinary night in Ba Sing Se…

Sokka beelined for a specific shop, one Azula didn't recall noticing ever before. She waited outside, taking advantage of the opportunity to cool off, to grow used to her new hairstyle, to shake away any stupid thoughts that crossed her mind. It felt like crossing a line, somehow… Sokka was her traveling companion right now, and as willing as he was to participate on this journey, it wasn't as though he truly would be here if Yue weren't forcing him to be… well, for that matter, neither would Azula. They had been brought together by the foolish, annoying Princess… the Princess Sokka loved, and who loved him right back. That was how it was, how it always would be. Even if they had given up on ever returning to each other, if either one ever found someone else – could spirits have relationships? Was that even possible? –, she certainly wasn't going to be that someone else for Sokka, not a chance. She knew what it felt like to be betrayed by a friend, and she refused to be like…

A friend?

Was Yue her friend?

The thought gave her pause. She frowned as she tried to reason with it, but she found no immediate answer to that question. Yue was annoying, persistent, she was constantly lying to appease her…

But she had been part of her life for a whole year now. Azula firmly believed that she was constantly lying to her to try to get to her good side, if just for the amusement of making Azula do utterly nonsensical things, such as going on this journey, or the one to the North Pole… but beyond that, Yue was somehow the most constant presence she'd had with her through a set period of time since…

Since ever, likely.

Everyone else seemed to grow sick of her over time. Her own mother had forsaken her, so had her father. Lo and Li would come and go on occasion, but as soon as she gave them a chance to choose whether to defy her and stay, or obey her so only one would leave, they both had taken off and abandoned her, too. Mai, Ty Lee, the Kemurikage… even Zuko. No one stayed, not for her. They would for others, no doubt. But her? She was fated to be alone, for all she knew.

Was that true to Yue, too? Was that why they were stuck with each other now?

Azula frowned as she pondered that last train of thought: if Yue was her friend, Azula certainly hadn't been much of one for Yue across all this time, anyway. Where she had gone out of her way to spend time with Mai and Ty Lee, to recruit them for her cause and set them free from their respective miserable situations – well, Ty Lee had claimed she was happy in the circus, but she hadn't returned to the circus after the war's end, so perhaps the fool had been lying to herself in the end –, she was simply traveling with Yue to get rid of her. If she was her friend… it stood to reason that she shouldn't want to get rid of her.

So… it would be better if she weren't her friend! It wasn't as though Azula had a clue if Yue even thought of her as one, either. She was more of an unwilling captor, maybe, that moody, scary Princess who wouldn't cut her any slack. She was thinking too much of things. She was making too much of everything. She had no friends. She hadn't had real friends at any point in her life. Every single bond she'd ever known was…

"Here."

Azula blinked herself out of the depressing thoughts when she heard Sokka's voice again.

And then she saw Yue, standing right behind her in the mirror Sokka showed her.

Both Azula and Yue were startled to see each other without any warning. But the Moon Spirit smiled, waving enthusiastically at Azula, who blinked blankly upon clasping the hand mirror, taking it for herself.

"What is…?" she said. Sokka smiled.

"Not that it's a bad thing that you've always resorted to drinks and liquids to see Yue, you know? Means you stay hydrated!" he said. "But I thought… it might be easier for you to see her if you had a mirror. This way you can communicate with her whenever you need to."

"You did this so I…?" Azula said. Sokka smiled a little.

"Well, I'd say 'we', but frankly I can't hear her, so… it's up to you in the end," he said.

Azula grimaced, glancing into the mirror's reflection: she focused on Yue, who grinned giddily and waved in her direction again. Azula gritted her teeth, purposefully avoiding looking at herself in full detail. It was one thing to do it in reflective surfaces that just happened to be there… a whole other matter to do it with full awareness that she'd see herself upon raising a mirror.

"Thank you, I think. I suppose. It's almost more of a gift for yourself than me, but thank you regardless," Azula said, lowering the mirror. Her voice gave away that she spoke the words out of being taught to do so in such circumstances, rather than because she truly felt them. Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"You okay?"

"I'm fine, I… you wanted drinks?" Azula said, with a dry grin. "Let's do that. Let's get drunk, why not?"

"Azula…"

The Princess didn't listen to anything he might say, but her demeanor gave away that she might not be outraged at him as much as she was frustrated by reasons beyond his understanding. Sokka eyed her warily but he simply followed her in silence through the streets, until she found a suitable location where they could go to the bathroom and drink their fill.

She surprised him, though, by being so irritable over too many people in her vicinity inside the tavern that she wound up purchasing multiple bottles and marching off to drink elsewhere, so they wouldn't be disturbed by noise and unwanted company. Her chosen location was the rooftop of another empty building – he suspected it was a school of ladies of some sort, akin to the haiku recital society he had seen in the Upper Ring long ago. Bereft of anyone using it at these hours, it was ripe for Azula's mischief… though for now, it seemed that would only be a matter of sitting on the green tiles and handing a bottle over to Sokka while she began draining hers. She hadn't looked at the mirror again, and the bottle was too dark for Yue to see her, or for her to see Yue in it.

"You do this often?" Sokka asked, sitting beside her. Azula hummed.

"Not really. Not much," she said, with a deep sigh.

Despite herself, Azula drew the mirror then… but she didn't aim it towards herself. Instead, she held it towards the city, hearing Yue gasp upon the abrupt movement she made.

"Can you see?" Azula asked.

"Just… a little. It's so big! It doesn't fit in the frame all that well…"

"Then you can see it, huh?" Azula said, reeling the mirror back slightly. "Guess it's because I'm holding it. Sokka, you hold it."

"Uh, wait…!" Sokka said, taking the mirror. He blinked blankly and held the mirror, aimed towards the city… then he turned it in his hand, to find nothing but his own reflection. "I see nothing. Does she?"

Azula raised an eyebrow, waiting for a response by Yue… then, she heard a sigh.

"I'm afraid I don't. I… I wish I could, but…"

"Well, I can hear her. She might be able to hear you, too, but she can't see anything unless I'm holding it, or unless I'm in the frame?" Azula said, blinking blankly. Sokka angled the mirror towards her, and Azula almost recoiled but she held strong. Yue's head popped up, over her shoulder, and she waved at her again. Azula nodded. "Anyway… welcome to Ba Sing Se, Yue."

"It's so big!" she laughed, beaming at Azula. The fallen Princess smiled and nodded.

"Too big, in some ways. And honestly, it's not really that impressive when you've seen better."

"Right, of course, the Fire Nation Capital is better…" Sokka smirked. Azula nodded haughtily.

"If you don't have enough pride in your homeland to say the same thing, that's on you. I certainly believe mine has nothing to envy Ba Sing Se for… but then again, maybe Zuzu has run it to the ground by now and it's nothing but ashes at this point," Azula reasoned, reaching for the mirror and taking it from Sokka's hands.

"I can't imagine the pressure of ruling over so many people," Yue said. "It's… it's like half the world's population must live here."

"Huh. Maybe they do," Azula reasoned, gazing into the distant Lower Ring. "Still, if you're imagining ruling and lording over them is a great, heavy responsibility, I… wouldn't know. I shirked it off to someone else and left after I took over the place."

"Pfft. What?" Sokka smiled. Azula raised an eyebrow.

"You thought I was ruling Ba Sing Se from the Fire Nation?" she asked.

"I was sure you were Earth Queen, honestly," Sokka said. Azula scoffed at the notion.

"I'm a Fire Nation woman, I wouldn't care to be Earth Queen even if I took over their city. Not even… Lava Queen," she said, with a haughty grin. Sokka smirked, shaking his head at her mirth. "I found one of those Joo Dees, the ones who worked with the Dai Li, and I left the job of administrating the city to her. I'd spent more than enough effort taking over the city as it was."

"You did, huh?" Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Well, strange to think that your choice was probably the more morally correct one in that instance."

"It was morally correct to leave Joo Dee in charge of Ba Sing Se?" Azula smirked.

"Not because she was the best candidate for ruling, no," Sokka said, eyes wide. "But, hey, at least she was an Earth Kingdom citizen. A puppet government may not have been a way to respect that you didn't actually belong here, but you could've done worse anyhow. You could've had a Fire Nation soldier ruling the city, for instance…"

"Well, there were none at hand at the time," Azula smiled. "Perhaps that's all that guided my choices. Stop trying to make me a hero or a misunderstood villain, because I'm neither."

"I'm not trying to make you into anything. I'm perfectly happy to accept that you're… Azula," Sokka said, with a careless shrug. The Princess smiled slightly. "Still, for someone as twisted as you try to be, you sure aren't all that terrible. You should work on that."

"Say what?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows in evident affront. Sokka smirked.

"I'm just saying, you're not really as bad as you pretend you are. Or, uh, as some people think you are. I sure thought you were before, but after all this?" Sokka said, with slight amusement. "You're actually just…"

"You're pissing me off," Azula said. Sokka blinked blankly. "Deliberately. You're saying that because you know it will set me off and I'll react in a stupid way. I'm too sober for that still, you know?"

"Well, damn, I was just playing around…" Sokka pouted. Azula huffed, raising a hand just to flick his shoulder.

"Idiot," she said. Sokka snickered.

"Say…"

"What is it?" Azula raised an eyebrow, picking up the mirror anew.

"How did you do it?"

"How did I do what, exactly?" Azula retorted. Yue sighed, though she smiled expectantly within the mirror.

"Take this city? I… I'm curious. You're very daunting, but that sounds unreal. And you did it when you were fourteen? I… I only lived up until sixteen, but the very notion of going to war and conquering anything would have never crossed my mind. I mean, clearly not, my people weren't exactly looking to do that, but… as wrong as it was, I still think it's somewhat impressive. If it's okay that I say so…"

"You're twisted, Princess Yue," Azula said, with a devious smirk. Sokka winced upon hearing those words. "You think it might be fun for me to share the tale of how I took over Ba Sing Se?"

"Maybe she wants you to prove me wrong," Sokka suggested, bumping her elbow gently with his own. "Show her just how awful you really are! Tell her all about your very darkest achievement…!"

"Greatest, you'll mean," Azula huffed, taking a swig of her drink and shaking her head. "Unrefined fool. At any rate, I guess we'll see if hearing about it will change your mind and keep you from saying stupid things…"

"That's a big 'if', Azula," Sokka smirked. Azula laughed, shaking her head.

"At least you have some self-awareness. Good for you," she said.

She cleared her throat and, for once, she allowed herself to return to the past without bitterness. It didn't fully process in her mind just yet, but Sokka's teasing tone didn't feel like judgment. He was playful, silly, even… and she felt compelled to share the truth with Yue. Somehow, it seemed that the Moon Spirit might just realize how different they truly were once she heard that story.

"The takeover of Ba Sing Se began when I tracked the Avatar's shaggy beast for a second time," Azula said, with a careless sigh. "And then I bumped into Suki. My first impression? She was nothing noteworthy to write home about."

"You defeated her pretty harshly, didn't you?" Sokka asked, with a slight grimace. Azula smirked.

"She didn't stand a chance. Neither did the rest of her warriors. It's anyone's guess how they ever accepted Ty Lee in their ranks after she humiliated them quite as badly as she did, while as good as rejoicing in having proven that we were stronger and prettier than them. Don't ask me at what point the second thing was part of the contest, but…"

"Eh. It's Ty Lee," Sokka concluded. Azula laughed and nodded in agreement with his simple statement.

"Either way, once beaten, I could tell Suki was the leader and I decided I'd impersonate her. Sometime along being captured, once she was tied up and dressed down…"

"Dressed down?" Sokka repeated, with an awkward smile. Azula shrugged.

"We didn't leave them fully naked, no, they kept their undergarments, we weren't entirely determined to steal their dignity… but as they were allies of the Avatar, and once I realized that they meant to head into the city soon, our course was clear," Azula said, with a smirk.

"How did you realize that?" Sokka asked.

"Well, she wasn't exactly subtle, helping the bison as she did," Azula shrugged. "Didn't help that she shouted that you'd come save her, so…"

"She really did that?" Sokka asked.

"How do you think I learned your name?" Azula said, matter-of-factly, before clearing her throat: "'You won't get away with this! Sokka and the others will come find us! Once Appa goes back to them, they'll give you what you deserve!' And so on, and so forth."

"Uh… damn," Sokka smiled awkwardly. Azula shrugged.

"She was so certain of it that I just locked her and the others inside the train-tank so that they'd stop being a bother until I seized the city. After that? I brought them along to the Fire Nation, but since she seemed to be the leader and quite so certain that you'd save her… I singled her out. I figured she was the perfect bait to lure out the Avatar, or at least, you. Then, if you showed up, you'd be better bait for the Avatar yourself, if Suki didn't suffice for that purpose. But of course, I wasn't about to leave the bait in my father's doorstep, so I sent her to the Boiling Rock instead. Much better: you wouldn't be all that likely to escape from there if you ever made it that far to save her, so…"

"You really had all that planned to deal with me?" Sokka asked. Azula shrugged.

"And you managed to outsmart me even so. Though I can only wonder if that was intentional on your part at all," Azula frowned, eyeing him warily. "The truth is, at first I didn't even think to do that to Suki. It almost sounded like she was talking nonsense, I'd never seen her with your group after all. But I knew it was possible that you were in a relationship and I just hadn't seen evidence of it myself… thus, I decided to withhold my judgment until I confirmed you truly cared for her at all. I got my answer for that later… but we're supposed to do this chronologically, aren't we?

"Point is, after I realized that they were expected inside the city, or that they would be eventually, I began concocting plans while in the city's outskirts to obtain all the information I might need to tear Ba Sing Se apart from the inside out. I had secured a way in… or almost, anyway. It took a ridiculously long time for Mai and Ty Lee to decide which Kyoshi Warrior outfit to take, in fact. Pair of fools kept complaining about how to mimic their hairdos, or the face paint, or whether the armor was unflattering or not… I, evidently, didn't bother doing anything to my hair beyond taking Suki's headpiece and putting it in place. Either way, we gave matters some time as I prepared our grand entrance into the city… and apparently, I handled matters far better than I realized, considering you and the Avatar weren't in the city by the time we got in."

"We'd only just left," Sokka said, with a sad smile.

"If you hadn't, our plan would have been sabotaged quite early on," Azula reasoned. Sokka blinked blankly and grimaced.

"So, uh, wait. Basically, if I had chosen to go see Suki before I went to meet my dad, I might have torn apart your plan before it could even begin…?" Sokka asked. Azula shrugged.

"And you might have saved your girlfriend too. Oh, Sokka the Hero…" Azula said, with a falsely dreamy voice. Sokka laughed… though his eyes were wide with horror. "What? Regretting it now, are you?"

"Kind of? I… I can't believe I could've stopped you. I always thought it was impossible," he admitted. "Felt like you just snuck in and were a relentless, unstoppable force of some sort."

"I kind of was," Azula shrugged. "But that's not effortless. Anything out of place, anything that could've given us away, was deeply dangerous. That's why we captured your sister as soon as she ran right to us. It was kind of funny, actually: she gave away that Zuko was in the city too, and I hadn't accounted for that at all, initially… but once that happened, it was like everything was falling perfectly into place. Oh, what a feeling that was…"

She smiled deviously, and Sokka rolled his eyes but smiled at her obvious pride.

"And I could've deprived you from it if I'd just… decided checking on Suki was more important than setting out to see my dad at once," Sokka reasoned, with a dry grin. "Shit. I really had been neglecting her in a million ways since early on and I didn't even realize it…"

"Be a better boyfriend next time and you might just stop a city's conquest simply over wanting to kiss your girl," Azula smirked teasingly. Sokka groaned, covering his face with his hands and dropping heavily on the rooftiles.

"Can't imagine what you would've done to me if I'd actually tried to kiss her only to find out it was you, though," he reasoned after a moment, chuckling slightly. Azula scoffed.

"I… had some warning, I suppose. Would have been surprised, but I might have actually tried to keep up the charade if you truly were stupid enough not to notice I wasn't Suki right away," Azula smirked. Sokka laughed.

"I can't imagine how messed up that would've been. I mean, I would've been able to tell it wasn't her, but…!"

"You sure? What if I was a better kisser than her?" Azula teased him. Sokka laughed again, cheeks flushing. "Then you would've known it wasn't her, but you would've thought it was worth it to pretend you hadn't figured me out yet just for that reason…"

"What twisted fantasy are you coming up with now, Azula?" Sokka squeaked. Azula as good as cackled with devious delight at his embarrassment, bringing the bottle to her lips again once she settled slightly. "Oh, this is unnerving. Disturbing. Wild. I can't believe how easy it could've been to tear apart your plans…"

"I can barely believe it either, but you and your friends were terribly determined to let me win. I appreciate it, truly," Azula smiled deviously. "Anyway, uh, after you were gone, we entered the city and the king welcomed us. He, of course, was fooled into trusting us, talking our ears off about how his advisor had betrayed him and what cruel ploys he had been a victim to. But then… ah. I wonder if you know about this, actually."

"About… what?" Sokka grimaced, warily. Azula smirked at him.

"You didn't tear apart my plan in Ba Sing Se… but I did tear apart yours in the Capital. During the eclipse, to be precise," she said, turning towards him with unparalleled mischief. "Do you know why I knew exactly what you were going to do? How I had defenses and strategies at hand to wait out the eclipse only to unleash the full force of our airships upon you and your allies as soon as the eclipse ended?"

"I… w-well, I don't really know, no," Sokka grimaced, pushing himself up slightly. "I kind of figured you guys had astronomers after all, someone else to tell you an eclipse was coming?"

"So… he didn't tell you. That explains why your plans remained that predictable," Azula laughed slightly. "Why… the truth is that, shortly after welcoming us into his palace, the Earth King told me, Mai and Ty Lee all about what you were planning."

Sokka's eyes widened, fully. Azula smirked, waiting for a reaction. She glanced over at Yue in the mirror briefly, who seemed as shocked by the revelation as Sokka was.

"Wait for it, wait for it…" Azula told her: Yue offered her an awkward smile before Sokka ran a hand over his hair, horror plain across his features.

"You're telling me…" he started, trembling slightly in his outrage. "You're telling me that bastard… you captured him. You held him with a fire blade to his neck. You threw him in a cell with me and Toph and the bear… and then we got out. And after we did, we saved Katara and Aang, and we spent weeks recovering, gathering allies, finding the ship we stole… and I spent a LOT of that time with the king, trying to help him find his way in life, trying to encourage him to do better as king, and then I saw him off when he climbed on Bosco's back and left to see his kingdom for himself."

"Uh-huh…?" Azula said, amused.

"And in all that time, across all those days of… nothing?! That good for nothing, piece of shit, pampered, spoiled, whiny pain in the ass NEVER thought to tell me that he had given away my plans to end the war to my very worst enemy?!"

Azula blinked blankly, her smile spreading wider still before nodding once.

Sokka screamed.

She never imagined she'd see Sokka throwing a tantrum, but he certainly did just that: the thought that he would curse a royal with that much drive brought her to wonder if he had ever cursed her quite as much, over all the terrible things she had ever done…

"He's an idiot! The biggest goddamn idiot in the planet, I…! What the hell is he doing running this city still?! Let's oust him right now! I'm done! I…!" Sokka raged, and Azula laughed relentlessly, hugging her stomach as she did.

"Well, I kicked him out of his throne once before, might as well do it again just for the fun of it," she snickered as Sokka returned to his seat, shaking his head before downing the contents of his bottle. "Curses, I'm sad. Here I thought the person you'd be most upset at while hearing my story would be me."

"You?! I…!" Sokka squealed, glaring at her fiercely. "I should be, you know? I should be! But the truth is…! You and I are rivals!"

"Again with that? You think so, even now?" Azula smirked. Sokka's eyebrow twitched.

"Fine. We were. But the problem is…! I got fucked over by my own stupidity the one time, sure, and then by Kuei's! I thought you were just that overwhelming, that invulnerable, that your plans had no loose ends whatsoever…!"

"That I could see the future? That I could understand even the deepest darkest pits of your soul…?" Azula said, with the spookiest voice she could use. Sokka huffed. "Is it that hurtful to learn that I wasn't all that extraordinary after all?"

"Mostly because it wasn't even my fault that I failed at the Invasion, once you look at it that way," Sokka pouted. "Stupid Kuei. We're going to sneak into the Palace and, uh…"

"Set it on fire?" Azula suggested. "I'm proficient at that."

"No, no, that's too flashy," Sokka said. Azula snorted.

"Flashy? Not that it's harmful, painful, cruel…?"

"I'm too drunk to care about those things right now. I'm just mad at him," Sokka said. "No, you know what? We'll take his clothes, dip them in meat, all of them! Then Bosco will think he's his meal, and he'll eat him!"

"My! That's shockingly evil of you, Sokka. I'll end up taking a liking to you, please stop…" Azula laughed, watching him with unrestrained fascination.

"If not that… we can go to the zoo!"

"The zoo?" Azula repeated, puzzled.

"We'll break the animals free from that zoo Aang built and lead them all the way to the Palace so they trample through it!" Sokka said.

"Easier said than done. I think the drink's starting to cloud your judgment," Azula smiled awkwardly.

"Well then, I'll… infiltrate his room and desecrate it somehow! I'll put a bunch of booby traps all over the place, you know? Put a bucket of, uh, oil or something at the door, then it falls on him, and then there's MORE oil on the floor that causes him to slip all the way to the furniture! When he tries to pull himself up with that, there'll be something gross and sticky all over it! Like, uh, honey! Or just whatever crap I can find in the kitchen for that matter. And then, once he approaches the bed, he's going to find a gigantic… a gigantic Bosco turd sitting on it! Square at the center!"

"That is delightfully disgusting," Azula said, beaming proudly at him.

"And after all that… a spooky voice will tell him his retribution is nigh for all the sins he never owned up to. All the alliances he ever made will go broken. His crimes will be paid for in blood!" Sokka roared, eyes blazing with determination.

"That's… actually kind of funny," Azula said, nodding. "Because, you see… I'm as good as convinced that the moron fully forgot that he told us anything. If you did all that? He'd likely never know what brought it about and spend the rest of his days losing his shit over how he has no idea what he did wrong and what these crimes might be…"

Azula snickered and clapped, looking at Sokka eagerly.

"All of which means, I'm completely supportive of your endeavors, my, uh, traveling companion," she said, holding back from calling him her friend. Sokka didn't seem to notice. "If you require my assistance for any of these grand plans of yours, feel free to let me know…"

"I'll have to work on them some more," Sokka pouted. "Good thing we'll have time anyway. Not like we're in a hurry to leave the city, are we?"

"Not likely, no. But we're not staying here forever either, are we?" Azula asked. "Besides, depending on how drunk you are, all your anger might go nowhere by morning if your conscience kicks in again."

"To be honest, I'm not that drunk. I'm just really, really angry," Sokka scoffed. "What would piss Kuei off the most? Like, really. What would be the greatest betrayal I could do that would hit him as hard as my revelation that he sabotaged the end of the war for at least a month and a half?"

"Beats me. Being here with me as your companion is probably a good start," Azula smiled, with a shrug. "Anyway, to make the rest of the story short, because hearing you rage against Kuei is rather amusing indeed… after infiltrating the Palace, I realized the Dai Li were the true power of this city, rather than the king. I had Mai and Ty Lee purposefully give away who I was, the Dai Li didn't realize it was intentional, they brought me to their leader and he offered me a deal: the Avatar would be mine, and he'd reclaim control of the city fully. I acted the fool, pretended I agreed to the deal, he left the Dai Li in my command so I'd use them to my purposes in his stead…"

"And the rest is history?" Sokka grimaced.

"Well, your sister gave away Zuko and Iroh, so there's that, as I mentioned," Azula smiled. "I simply moved my pieces on the board carefully afterwards. I daunted the Dai Li as best I could, taught them to respect me, showed them I could be a far more competent leader to follow than Long Feng ever had been. Before he knew it, they had chosen me over him… after you and your earthbending friend were defeated and captured, he realized he had lost a battle he had no say upon. Also… I will say, I commend you for how you fought Ty Lee that time."

"You mean, how I was dodging her?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow. "That's basically all I did…"

"You predicted her every move perfectly and evaded each jab without fail," Azula smirked. Sokka bit his lip, trying to stifle a smile. "We're talking about an expert chi-blocker here. She was supposed to be able to get to you far faster than you should have been able to move, and yet you weren't just faster, you legitimately read her moves perfectly."

"I'd faced her before. She chi-blocked everything but my leg and my head once," Sokka said, with a shrug. Azula laughed. "So, uh, I guess I kind of learned from it?"

"Not everyone would," she said. "It was, uh… well, an impressive display of your intellect, even if it pains me to say it. But great minds should acknowledge each other, shouldn't they?"

"Heh. Maybe so," Sokka smirked proudly.

"Anyway… after that was done, you and your friends were captured. Zuko and Iroh weren't difficult either, though Iroh ran away, but Zuko decided to stay and challenge me to an Agni Kai when I had about a hundred Dai Li to support me. He was a banished fool, too: what right did he have to challenge me at that point?"

"What right did he have when he did it later, though?" Sokka asked. Azula grimaced. "Why was it that different?"

"Because it was a battle for the throne itself," Azula said. "Besides, I… I think I wanted to prove something to myself, above anything else. I'd lost everything… I wanted to show I hadn't lost my edge over him, though. It was all I had left. The knowledge, the certainty that I was superior to him and… and even that was taken from me after that day. Though, as I already told you, he did not defeat me. As far as Agni Kai rules are concerned, I was triumphant in the duel itself…"

"Yeah, yeah, you weren't defeated by your loser of a brother," Sokka concluded for her. Azula smirked. "Just, by my winner of a sister?"

"Eh, well," Azula said, waving a hand at him. "Agni Kais are fought between firebenders. That didn't really count as one anymore."

"Zuko said the same thing to me once. I challenged him to a swordbending duel instead," Sokka smiled. Azula laughed, looking at him in disbelief.

"Please tell me you beat him," she said. Sokka laughed, shaking his head.

"Unfortunately not… but I might just be able to do it if I challenge him nowadays," Sokka reasoned, a hand on his chin. "We ought to go to the Fire Nation just so I can do that, Azula. We'll leave again right after, I promise…"

"Why, I think that hinges on Yue more than me," Azula said, raising the mirror…

Yue's expression was difficult to read right now. Azula blinked blankly, perplexed by it. Her stories might have truly fascinated her… she was so confusing, truly. She was a terrible liar, Azula thought… but if she was lying, then she was lying constantly about her appreciation of whatever Azula was saying or doing. Could someone actually do that? If Azula stupidly decided to believe her, would Yue truly turn around to reveal, later on, that she was just deceiving her all along and actually despised her?

It was difficult to believe that would be possible… but Azula hadn't come this far by trusting others without concern of the consequences. She breathed deeply, glaring at the mirror again as Yue grew more apprehensive.

"I shot the Avatar full of lightning," she told her, startling Yue. "He nearly died because of it. I certainly meant to kill him right then and there. I don't really know why I failed… but then again, not all lightning is deadly. Otherwise, my brother might have killed me years ago when we were trying to figure out my mother's whereabouts. At any rate, after a fierce fight in which we were the indisputable victors, my brother and I claimed Ba Sing Se's Palace under the Fire Lord's jurisdiction and control. The Fire Nation had trampled over the final city of the Earth Kingdom, its very capital… and we had as good as won the war, as far as we could tell, at that point."

"But you didn't," Sokka said, matter-of-factly.

"But we didn't," Azula said, eyeing him skeptically. Sokka smirked. "Annoying, pesky warriors with boomerangs decided that they'd have a say upon that matter, and now he's going to mock me relentlessly for losing against him and his friends when it mattered most, I'm sure…"

"I'm not," Sokka laughed, shaking his head. "Though… to be fair? I feel like you and I have some unresolved business going on. We never really settled our score."

"Score?" Azula asked, perplex. "What score is there for us to settle at all?"

"Well, let's see: Aang, Katara and I won in Omashu…"

"You did not: you three ran away, no one was victorious at all."

"Uh, true. Fair enough: one tie in Omashu because we ran away. But then, you ran away in that ghost town too!"

"Ah, I did. That's true."

"And then the Drill… we beat you there! My plan worked, and Aang broke the drill with…!"

"That was YOUR plan? You… your ideas broke that huge machine?" Azula asked, eyes wide. Sokka smirked knowingly, wiggling his eyebrows in her direction.

"How about that, huh?" he teased her. Azula snorted and laughed, shaking her head in disbelief.

"Curse you. But then again, the Avatar being clever enough to pull that off himself? It wasn't very likely," she admitted, with a slight smile. "I was never wrong to think you were the true hazard there, of course I wasn't…"

"I was a bigger concern for you than the Avatar?" Sokka asked, amused.

"The Avatar, without direction, was just a burst of power that I could redirect away, should I have cared to," Azula said. "But isn't it funny that I won in Ba Sing Se, just when it was me and Zuzu against your sister and the Avatar? One smart person, two average fools, then a bigger fool…"

"If the bigger fool is your brother, you guys were balanced out," Sokka smirked. Azula laughed.

"You'd think, but I still won. If you'd been there, you might just have given me a run for my money," Azula said, bumping him slightly with her elbow. "Makes me realize… I made the right choice locking you up as I did. Even if you broke out eventually, it slowed you down. I might not have won otherwise."

"But you still did," Sokka said, with a heavy sigh. "So, my triumph against the Drill is matched by your victory in Ba Sing Se. But then… in the Invasion, you crushed me. And in Boiling Rock, we got away…"

"And I failed pathetically at killing any of you in the Western Air Temple," Azula sighed, rolling her eyes. "Guess the moral victory over you in the Invasion might count for two? Thus, we might just be even after all."

"Are we? Both in the Boiling Rock and in the Temple, me and my group just ran away. Twice," Sokka said. "We should have made you run away twice to really be even, you know?"

"Oh, really?" Azula smirked. Sokka chuckled and shrugged.

"It's complicated, I guess," he said. "But, say… as we're airing all our laundry out like this, what can you tell me about the Boiling Rock?"

"What about it?" Azula said, uncomfortable.

"I mean, you weren't there all along. You showed up eventually, but I was properly hidden as a guard for the most part," Sokka said. Azula raised an eyebrow. "How did you know what to look for? How did you figure out it was me and Zuko?"

"Why, I didn't know all along which ones of you had showed up," Azula said. "But I did tuck Suki away in the Boiling Rock in the assumption that one day you'd come find her. And I did reveal to you that she was alive, didn't I? So, I figured it would be a matter of time before someone infiltrated the prison and it would most likely be you. I admit, I didn't think you'd go with Zuzu, or that you wouldn't bring the rest of your team along…"

"Though… I wasn't really there for Suki," Sokka admitted. Azula laughed.

"I know that now, I sure didn't back then. Either way, when I heard Zuzu was caught infiltrating the place, I knew he couldn't have been smart enough to get that far alone, not to mention, he didn't have any real motives to infiltrate the prison to begin with. Iroh was free, he broke himself out, he wasn't even in the Boiling Rock to begin with, when he was a prisoner… so I figured he had to be doing this with someone else, or for someone else. He had outright told my father that he'd join your gang of misfits, so I figured… it might just be you. I was looking for you from the start. That's why… as soon as I entered the interrogation chamber, I knew the man being questioned wasn't part of your tricks. I was particularly looking for you, even if anyone else in your team would've been enough for my purposes too…"

"But you truly thought I'd be there," Sokka said. Azula shrugged.

"Your father had been moved to the Boiling Rock. The transfer had been signed off briefly before news of Zuko being there reached us in the Capital," Azula said. "I wanted him to strengthen the bait, truly…"

"You seriously were baiting me out that way," Sokka said, eyes wide. Azula shrugged. "The whole thing… was about me! You were that impressed by me, really?"

"That's… a word," Azula said, reluctantly. Sokka laughed and shrugged.

"One you used yourself a while ago. Besides, how else am I supposed to interpret that? Honestly, you're so intimidating and ruthless it's kind of wild to know I had your attention to that extent at all. I never really thought I did, but…" Sokka said, before shrugging. "Maybe we really are fated rivals, meant to battle it out forevermore. Or maybe you, uh… enjoyed being pinned to a wall a little more than you should have."

"You said what?" Azula said. Sokka snorted and laughed. "Excuse you…!"

"I'm joking, I'm joking…!"

"You'd better be. I'll shove you off this rooftop otherwise," Azula scoffed. Sokka snickered. "You and I are constantly fighting in weird ways, aren't we? In the war, nowadays… now you make fun of me and take it as a victory if I can't turn the battle against you. You're just… infuriating."

"Impressive might just be the word you were looking for…" Sokka said, grinning teasingly at her. Azula shook her head before turning towards him, finishing the last of her bottle before taking a new one.

"You want us to get even?" Azula asked, turning towards him and pointing the bottle at him. Sokka scoffed. "You know what I'm about to say already, don't you?"

"Sounds like the worst idea ever, Princess," Sokka said. Azula smiled broadly, and Sokka couldn't help but smile right back at her.

"Last one standing is the grand winner of our long-running war. Let's see just who runs away this time, shall we?" she asked, uncorking the bottle. Sokka snickered, doing the same with his own.

"I'm done running from you. Never again," Sokka said, proudly. Azula raised the bottle to her lips.

"Going to be your downfall in due time. Mark my words," she said. Sokka followed her example…

And with that, their drinking contest began.

"Okay… okay. That was… probably a stupid idea. Very stupid idea," Sokka admitted, as he hauled a barely conscious Azula into the room he had somehow managed to book in an inn… of the Lower Ring.

He had no idea what would happen after they drank more than intended. As it turned out, no inns in the Middle Ring would accept anyone who was as terribly drunk as either of them were. Their pleading resulted in nothing good, and Azula somehow seemed to be so out of it that she found the situation hilarious rather than distressing. She even hit on one innkeeper, suggesting she'd be open to negotiations of a much more complicated kind than those involving money… Sokka had to snatch her up and run away before the unpleasant man actually took the offer seriously.

The Lower Ring, then, was their only choice. Azula rode the train, half asleep, rambling strange things while mostly talking to Yue. Sokka certainly was grateful for the fact that she had beaten him to the final bottle: she had won as far as liquor consumption was concerned, and lost entirely when it came to retaining her senses while under the influence of alcohol. The Lower Ring inns weren't too demanding, and they most likely had housed plenty of drunk travelers before: Sokka never truly imagined he'd be one of them, but he pushed the door open to the room to find himself in, of course, a room with a single bed, even if large enough to house the two of them in it.

"She's going to kill me when she comes to," he said, swallowing dryly as he dragged Azula towards the mattress. "Hey. I'd help you clean up or dress in something decent… but that'd be extremely inappropriate. So, you're going into bed like this, and I'm going too because I feel… I feel like I'm going to be in bad shape in the morning as well."

"Hmm… get into bed, innkeeper, I… I said I'd do whatever you want me to…"

"I'm not the innkeeper, and seriously, Azula?" Sokka sighed, pulling her into bed. "Where's that coming from? You're no flirt…"

She giggled and shrugged as he set her to sit down on the edge of it.

"Sounded kinda funny to say it… never said anything like that before," she admitted, before breaking out in full laughter, dropping heavily on the bed. Sokka couldn't hold back a smile of his own at her confusing, wild mirth.

"You're such a weirdo," he said, smiling as she shifted in bed, pulling something out of her pocket that was making her uncomfortable… ah. The mirror.

"Hey, Yue?" Azula snickered. "I… I'll go day drinking, just for you. Because then maybe I'll see you in the reflection of the drink… and maybe you'll get drunk too. We'll be… drinking friends! Drinking… goons? Drinking… w-what's that called? Sokka? What's…?"

"Drinking buddies?" he asked, smiling and dropping on the bed next to her. "I'm not entirely sure Yue would get drunk just by being reflected off a liquor's surface…"

"How d'you know?" Azula huffed, glaring at him threateningly…

She tossed the mirror aside to do so, climbing over him and startling Sokka as she hovered atop him. Her cheeks were flushed, her hair chaotic, regardless of his earlier efforts to tame it. She held herself in place there, apparently judging him… and perhaps she truly had a right to do that, Sokka thought, for there were some rather unacceptable thoughts coursing through his mind right now, more so as her shirt seemed to loosen up slightly, baring more of her cleavage than he ever had seen before.

"W-what are you doing…?" he finally asked, trying his best to ignore the way his pants appeared to tighten over his unintended reaction to her closeness.

Azula hummed, still glaring at him fixedly.

"What does she see in you, huh…?" she said. Sokka blinked blankly. "Must be… the eyes. They're good eyes. Blue… like my fire. We match. Go evenly there too. Maybe she liked it because… her eyes are blue too, so you matched her too. Hmm. That's a good theory."

"For that matter, she'd have liked the entire Water Tribe," Sokka smiled. Azula winced.

"True… Yue's greedy like that, then," she said, with a cackle of laughter. "Or maybe it's… your nose."

"What? What did my nose do?" Sokka asked.

"Dunno. It's a good nose," Azula concluded. Sokka smiled.

"Maybe it's my ears. They're kind of big, apparently," Sokka said. "Might be because my sister pulled them too much as we were growing up…"

"Maybe big ears are Yue's thing. I think they're okay," Azula said, glancing at his ears carelessly. "Your cheekbones… weren't like that when you were young."

"Were you paying that much attention?" Sokka asked, amused.

"You're more manly now," she said. Sokka snorted.

"I'm an actual grown man by now, so I should hope so," he said. Azula hummed.

"Strong… cheekbones," she said, scrutinizing him some more. Sokka grimaced. "And… your neck's strong. You've got good muscles. Your arms are… nice. Very nice."

"Okay…?" Sokka said. Azula crooked her head to the side.

"And your hair's better than mine."

"It is?" Sokka asked, running a hand over it.

"Bet she thought it was better than hers, too…" Azula said, with a giggle. "Though hers is white. Or was it not white when you met her?"

"It was. The Moon Spirit's doing," Sokka said. Azula hummed.

"Must be kinda strange… having a spirit watching over you like that. I wonder if any would watch over me," she said, before snorting and laughing. "Well, if any were, they sure are doing a fucking dreadful job of it."

"You're not so badly off right now… are you?" Sokka asked: impulsively, his hand rose to her waist. Azula didn't pull away from his touch.

"I'm a… hunted prisoner. Uh, wait, that's not the word. Criminal? And I went to that shitty place, the, the… 'sylum," Azula said, shaking her head. "Never go back. Never want to go back. Shitty place. Lock up Zuko instead, see how he likes it…"

"Azula…"

"Don't… feel bad for me. Don't. I like you honest. I want you honest. You're the only one who doesn't lie," Azula said, grabbing his wrists and fully pinning him to the bed. "That's why you're my favorite."

"Y-your favorite? Favorite what?" Sokka asked, cheeks flushing even more than hers.

"Favorite… favorite something. I dunno. What… what was I saying?" Azula said, grimacing. Sokka chuckled slightly. "What? I made a joke?"

"Kind of. It was a pretty good one, too," he said. Azula snorted and chuckled.

"Got you good, then. Good on me," she rejoiced…

She let go of his wrists and collapsed atop him.

Sokka winced, glancing down at her, finding Azula simply shifting in place to find the suitable, comfortable position she wanted to rest in. She settled for leaving her head in the crook of his neck, and then she sighed deeply as she closed her eyes.

"I'll tell her… you're a good pillow," she promised. Sokka sighed.

"Maybe don't," he whispered: would Yue be upset to know Azula could be in his arms, if she cared to be, while she could not?

"So stingy…" Azula said, sighing. "Sokka… I want to kiss you."

"You… what?" Sokka's eyes widened. He glanced down at her to find her shrunken in place, reeling her body in to come as close to his as possible.

"Dunno. Your lips looked kinda nice just now but… can't do it," Azula said. Sokka frowned.

"Why?" Sokka asked: wait, why did he ask her that? Shouldn't he be relieved she wasn't going to do anything she'd regret…?

"I'm… not a traitor."

Sokka gritted his teeth: that sounded bad, truly bad. Was it her Fire Nation nationalism speaking? Was she disgusted over the concept of being with someone of the Water Tribe rather than…?

"She'd never forgive me."

His wariness dwindled at once. Azula's hand fell upon his chest, caressing it surprisingly chastely, as though simply appreciating that it was there, within her reach.

"I wouldn't forgive me, if I were her, I mean…" she continued. "Some idiot I latched onto… putting moves on my man? I'd kill whoever tried… I'd want to, rather. So, I can't… c-can't be like that to her. Can't. She wouldn't forgive me."

"Did she tell you that?" Sokka asked. Azula shook her head.

"She doesn't need to," she responded. "She lies and lies and… never tells me what she's really thinking. It's annoying. You don't lie. I like that you don't lie. You're weird that way… only one I know who doesn't lie."

"Azula… Yue is a good-natured person," Sokka whispered, caressing her hair delicately. "Maybe she's not lying when she says something nice to you. Have you thought about that?"

"N-no, because I… I don't think I… why would anyone…?" Azula said, before letting out a slight laugh… accompanied by a tear. "You're just here because of her. I… I'm glad you are, but… it's not me. It's not about me. She didn't choose me. No one ever does. S-so… she lies and tries to make me feel better just trying to… to make us coexist. But she can't really… c-can't really think of me as she pretends to. I don't… I don't deserve any of that."

Sokka grimaced: against his better judgment he hugged Azula tightly, rolling in bed with her. Her legs and arms remained locked around him, and she wept in his arms as she clung to his strong body.

"I don't… d-don't like the mirror," she said. Sokka winced. "I wish… I wish I weren't in it. If it was just Yue… I wouldn't care. B-but I'm there too. I don't want to see… I don't want to see what I've become. I hate… I hate…"

"Azula…"

"Don't lie… don't lie to me. Never lie to me," Azula whispered, holding onto him. "Don't lie to me…"

"Azula, I'd kiss you to shut you up right now if we weren't drunk."

She froze in place. Sokka rubbed her back affectionately.

"But we wouldn't be here now if we weren't, to begin with, so…" he said, with a deep sigh.

He eased her as best he could, pressing his brow to the top of her head. She clutched his clothes, unwilling to let go of him at all.

"Do you think I'm lying?" he asked. Azula shook her head.

"But I… don't know if I'd let you do that. If we weren't drunk," Azula admitted. Sokka smiled slightly.

"You wouldn't. Because you wouldn't betray your friend."

Azula's eyes widened. Friend. Again. Yue… a friend. She could never… she had never…

"I don't have… friends. I've never… I'll never… I'm not…" she started: not good enough. The words didn't leave her lips. Sokka shook his head.

"I'm right here. And I'm your friend. You have one, at least. And as much as you don't believe anything Yue says… she's your friend, too. I know she is. Maybe one day it'll sink in, but… I think the two of us see you that way, whether you're ready to deal with it or not."

"But… but you love her. She loves you. And I'm just… in the way."

"So, youou think you're just some obstacle between us? Azula: you're so much better than that."

Azula gritted her teeth, bursting into tears again as he held her reassuringly. His heart raced as he did, wishing he could comfort her more thoroughly… but knowing to restrain himself, anyway. She wasn't wrong to say any bold moves were best left for when they weren't drunk. If they truly would push boundaries and limits in their bond, which had tightened beyond belief that night, they'd better do it once they were in full use of their faculties. Not right now. Not like this.

Azula had heavy burdens weighing on her. Everything she seemed to speak of with pride was yet another dark obstacle in her path to peace, let alone happiness. That he had responded to her stories from earlier that night as he had seemed to open her up so much more than ever before… but she remained scared. She continued to fear the consequences of her mistakes. She couldn't hope to break free from those weights upon her shoulders… for the world was cruel and unforgiving. For she remained convinced that she had no place in it. For she couldn't dare care for someone, love them, because they always seemed to belong to someone else. Because they could never give her everything she'd wanted to give them…

Maybe all this reasoning would fade away once they woke up by the morning, with a hangover to match how severely drunk they were. But Sokka certainly hoped not to forget… and he also hoped that he'd find a way to get through to her. A way to show her that maybe she didn't need to be alone anymore… that maybe neither did he. And while a part of him certainly worried that Yue might be cross or upset about this outcome… he couldn't do anything to save Yue from losing her life to become the Moon Spirit anymore. But if he could still save Azula from darkness, he had to do everything in his power to prevail at that. Whether any romantic intent would be part of it or not, he didn't really know yet… that'd be up to her. But as for him, he…

He'd be down for that, actually.

His cheeks flushed darker as he gazed at her. As he propped her face up carefully, wiping her tears away with his thumb. Azula wasn't fully out of it yet, still slightly conscious… enough to hear his next words.

"I'm sorry you don't like the mirror. But I'm even more sorry to know you don't want to see yourself at all," he whispered. She shivered, shaking her head, pressing her face further into his hand, as good as desperate for a kind touch. "You know I'm not lying, right?"

"You better not be…" was her response. Sokka smiled warmly.

"Then I'll say it's a pity you can't see yourself the way I can… because you're beautiful, Azula. So beautiful I have to force myself not to look at you too much or I'll start getting dumb ideas in my head," he laughed. Azula frowned.

"Like… like what?" she asked. "What kinds of ideas…?"

"Ideas like taking you into my arms like this, and then kissing you senseless," he whispered. Azula smirked slightly. "We could go further than that. We could go anywhere you wanted to. Then, we'd get married one day and our siblings would be very upset and everyone would be confused about why someone as beautiful as you married a plain loser like me…"

"You're not plain… or a loser. I wouldn't like you if you were either thing…" Azula whispered. Sokka smirked.

"Then… you like me?" he asked. Azula's flushed cheeks suggested as much…

"I've never slept with a man before," she whispered. Sokka raised his eyebrows. "In… in any sense. I like that… that the first is going to be you. I'm glad it'll be you. I'm glad…"

It took every ounce of his willpower not to kiss her. He held her tightly, and she finally relaxed in his arms. His lips hovered by her ear.

"You're beautiful," he whispered again. Azula smiled.

"So are you," she responded. He couldn't help but chuckle at her response.

It had been a rather confusing first day in Ba Sing Se. He'd have to worry about what Yue might think or say of what happened once Azula woke up. She most likely could tell something was happening… he guessed she might not appreciate it. But ultimately, the chances for him and Yue to ever reclaim what they lost were nonexistent. Should she find someone – and it seemed unlikely, in the Spirit World –, he'd have no choice but to back off too. He could only hope she would have enough compassion for Azula in her heart to understand just how lonely the fallen Princess was… that she would have it in her to forgive him for comforting her in the intimate way he'd dared do it. But even if Yue wouldn't accept their bond, whatever it might become starting tonight… Sokka refused to let go of Azula.

Her headache by the next morning pounded painfully behind her eyes. Azula winced, hiding from the light by burying her face in…

In someone's strong, broad chest.

She didn't truly remember what had happened last night, but her immediate thought was that she hoped this was Sokka.

His scent filled her nostrils soon enough. That warmth belonged to him, too. It was him, alright… her initial panic receded at that thought, only to be replaced by utter confusion: why would that be a relief? She was in Sokka's arms, in bed. How the hell did she know what had happened last night? She didn't! He could have taken advantage of her, for all she knew… her heart leapt at that thought. Could they have done something stupid? Surely not, surely, they hadn't been quite so reckless…

But the thought of having found any intimacy with Sokka didn't sit wrong with her, and that alarmed her more than anything else.

"Let go," she said, firmly. Sokka stirred awake, wincing over his own hangover.

"W-what…?"

"Let go, I said."

"Azula… y-you're the one who's not letting go of me."

If he hadn't said it, she wouldn't have noticed that was the case.

She winced, reeling back her arms and legs as she shoved herself away from him. Sokka sighed, rolling on his back, rubbing his sore shoulder as she opened her eyes slightly: he was clothed. No parts of his body were in display… hers, though, were another matter. She tightened the sash around her top firmly, cheeks flushing as she realized how loose it had been. Curses… she hoped he hadn't bothered looking, but maybe it was more outrageous if he hadn't made the most of that opportunity, truth be told.

"We… should go downstairs. Innkeeper might have something for hangovers," Sokka said. Azula swallowed hard: she had half expected him to tell her they had to talk about what had happened, and she certainly didn't intend to do that. Good thing he was feeling sickly, too.

Against her better judgment, Azula reached for the mirror, which she had set aside at some point through the night… no voices came from it, and she simply stuffed it in her pocket again. She wouldn't look in it. Not only would she look terrible… she wasn't ready to face Yue right now. After what had happened between her and Sokka, whatever it was… she simply wasn't ready.

The innkeeper mixed a revolting hangover cure for them, so thick and lumpy that there was no way Yue would be reflected off its surface. Disgusting as its taste and texture might be, Azula was grateful for that last thing.

"So…" The innkeeper said, eyeing them intently. Azula grimaced, as good as daring the man not to step past boundaries or he would pay for it… "I can switch you two to a room with two beds tonight, if you want."

The man's offer startled the both of them. He was cleaning some glasses of the inn's tavern, and the two of them sat by the bar, staring at him in confusion.

"Something wrong?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"N-no, well… I don't know," Sokka said, with an awkward smile.

"I've had a few cases like these, you know?" the innkeeper said. "I would've given you that room earlier, but it was occupied until today. You can switch there and hopefully not get as badly drunk tonight as you were yesterday."

"That's… very thoughtful of you," Azula said, gritting her teeth.

The bad thing about the hangover cure, without a doubt, was its ability to bring back everything she didn't particularly want to remember: she glanced at Sokka warily once the innkeeper walked away, and she grabbed his sleeve, tugging at it violently.

"Ow. What is it?" he asked.

"I… threw myself at an innkeeper? It wasn't this one, was it?"

"You didn't exactly throw yourself… tried to, maybe, but I stopped you," Sokka said, with a weak smile. Azula yelped, eyes wide in horror. "You convinced yourself that he wouldn't let us stay in his inn because he was jealous that you were with me rather than available to him, or something…"

"Can we go back to his inn so I can kill him, and then we can pretend none of this ever happened?" Azula asked.

"Nope."

"Fuck you."

She dropped her head on the bar, and Sokka smiled slightly before raising a hand to pat her head gently. Azula grimaced, shaking her head.

"Stop being nice. Stop… being compassionate. As far as I can remember… I was ready to throw myself at you too. And I told you not to pity me…"

"I don't think I pitied you at all last night," Sokka said, with a heavy sigh. "You have no idea how difficult it was to…"

"To what? To hold back from doing as I asked when I was drunk?" Azula scoffed.

"I was, too," Sokka said. Azula grimaced.

"But you still had your senses. Somewhat," she said. Sokka nodded.

"Enough to know that… that when you said you didn't want us to do anything stupid while we were drunk, and that you'd rather we did it while sober, I knew I had to listen," Sokka said. Azula grimaced, shaking her head.

"Drunk or sober, it doesn't matter: you and I aren't… we're barely friends. Are we even that?" Azula scoffed, shaking her head: the abrupt motions didn't help her headache, of course. "Point is, just… forget what happened. Do it. None of it is… important. We weren't in our right minds."

"We weren't. And you're free to forget about it if you want, but… I don't think I want to," Sokka said. Azula huffed.

"Right. Guess you'll forever rejoice in the day the idiot Fire Nation Princess wanted you to rail her," she said. Sokka's cheeks flushed.

"Well, you didn't exactly say that, but… now you did and now you're putting some fun images in my head," he admitted, with a dry grin.

"I'm not…! Ugh," Azula huffed, shaking her head and pushing herself out of the stool she had been sitting at. "I'm… not feeling so good."

"Azula…"

She didn't waste time explaining further, she clapped a hand over her mouth and ran off, outside the inn… aiming to release the contents of her stomach in an alley behind the building.

Azula breathed heavily after it was over, making her way back inside, but not to the tavern area. Instead, she made for the bathroom, where she rinsed her mouth properly, as many times as necessary to get rid of the unpleasant taste.

Guilt gripped her terribly. Guilt she hated feeling, for she had never meant to be on this side of the equation… but she was now. What she'd done, what she'd been ready to do… what kind of fool was she? How had she dared…?

She gritted her teeth, pulling out her mirror and sitting by the edge of the empty tub. As expected, Yue's face appeared behind her own, and she smiled a little, waving shyly.

"You… uh. There you are," Azula said. "You've been quiet the whole time. I had the mirror in my pocket…"

"Ah, sorry. I mustn't have noticed."

"Well… how much did you not notice?" Azula asked, uncertain. "I mean, did you pick up on any of what happened last night?"

"A few things, maybe. Oh, you wanted to make me drunk, too! Just like you and Sokka. You thought that my reflection in an alcoholic drink might get me drunk…"

"I… huh. I doubt that'd work," Azula said. Yue chuckled and nodded.

"Me too, but you were very enthusiastic about it. I kind of want to try it just to see if it really would do something to me. I never did get drunk, so…"

The girl in the mirror had died young, after all. She had gone on to fulfill a greater cosmic duty than any of the mundanity Azula remained locked in. A foolish part of her compelled her to wish their places were swapped… to wish it were Yue in her place, spending strange nights of drunken carelessness with the man she loved.

But that wasn't the case, and it would never be. She should be flaunting things instead, shouldn't she? Boasting of how far she'd gone with Sokka – though apparently it wasn't far at all – just to get a rise out of Yue. Maybe then she'd be outraged by how twisted she was and then she'd leave. Maybe then she'd understand just what kind of monster Azula was…

But when she opened her mouth to say those things, she said nothing.

"Are you okay?"

The inane question shouldn't have hurt. She shouldn't have held back from sharing what was going on, and yet she did. After so long of being upset at Yue for her dishonesty, it started to feel like she was the one who was being dishonest instead.

"Did you… see any of what happened last night?" Azula asked. Yue frowned slightly. "I mean… after things got out of hand. And I had too much to drink. Did you…?"

"What are you talking about, exactly?"

"I…" Azula started, but she stopped: Yue didn't know? She wouldn't ask that question if she did. She wouldn't possibly be so calm if she'd noticed she had even slept – if strictly in the sense of resting – with Sokka. Not even Yue could be that kind-hearted. Not even she would overlook something so outrageous. So… when she asked that question and looked at her that way, she couldn't be lying. She wasn't, was she? She… she couldn't be. Not this time.

"Azula?"

"Never mind," Azula said, with a tense grin. "It doesn't matter. It's… it's fine. I'm fine. I just… fuck, I just need to get away from here. Away from…"

From Sokka. She needed to reclaim herself. To get away from the fool who could coax her vulnerability out of her so easily, who could make her feel a little less alone without even trying. She couldn't take it anymore. She had asked him to be honest… and yet she couldn't handle that honesty right now. Most of all when she was as acutely aware of Yue as she was right now.

"Come on. Come." Azula said, stuffing the mirror in her pocket as a wild smile spread over her face. "We've got places to be."

"But… wait, are we going without Sokka?"

"We don't need him right now. He wouldn't enjoy my latest idea of fun, anyway," Azula decided, pushing herself upright and marching off, through the streets of the Lower Ring.

Inside the inn, Sokka sighed just as the innkeeper returned. He smiled awkwardly as the man pointed at Azula's empty seat.

"Guess the cure worked?" he asked.

"Apparently," Sokka said.

"Must be a complicated situation you two are in, huh?" the man asked. "I've seen my fair share of those. Lots of Upper Ring people who don't want to get caught with their unlawful lovers love to come to the Lower Ring for sneaking around…"

"None of that with her and me," Sokka smiled, shaking his head. "We're both, uh, single."

"Really? Guess there's weirder baggage than I can understand, then," the innkeeper said, leaning with one arm on the bar. Sokka sighed.

"More than I can explain, yeah," he said. "She's… probably not ready to be with someone, for starters. But unfortunately for her… she's fascinating to me. And I honestly didn't realize how much until last night, but…"

"Sounds like you're in trouble, huh?" the innkeeper smirked. Sokka shrugged.

"It's not like I've never experienced romance before," he said. "I've had past relationships. But… it's weird how she's the last person I should ever be drawn to, and yet the better I come to know her, the more she feels like a kindred spirit for me. And that's a very strange feeling, okay? I… I've never really felt like that over anyone else. And feeling it over her? When I think about it, strictly objectively, it sounds like I must've lost my mind! But then I actually come back to reality, and I take one look at her, and I just want to…"

"To not switch rooms at all?" the innkeeper laughed. Sokka blushed and shrugged. "Up to you if you do or don't, in the end. But is she as interested in you as you are in her, or…?"

"I think she could be. She just won't let herself be," Sokka said, running a hand over his hair. "We've always been at war, her and I, sort of. So…"

"They do say that love is a battlefield," the innkeeper added. Sokka crooked an eyebrow.

"Ours seems to be multiple battlefields, rather," Sokka said. The innkeeper laughed. "And I want to win, sure, but… I don't want her to lose. How does that make sense, huh?"

"Why… battles don't always work that way, you know?" the innkeeper said, raising an eyebrow. "Most times… wars are solved not by full conquest but by capitulating, right? Surrenders and such… but of course, you wouldn't want to surrender."

"She'd lose all her respect for me if I did," Sokka smiled a little.

"Then… how about you reach an agreement? Make a deal!" he said, smiling. "Sign a treaty, establish the rules of an alliance…"

"That sounds okay…" Sokka reasoned, though he frowned slightly. "Though it also sounds like a strange way to interpret marriage. Signing of a treaty…"

"Might be that's what it is!" the innkeeper exclaimed, and Sokka laughed.

"Well, I'm not sure we're at marriage stage yet. Rather, I'm sure we're not," he said, shaking his head. "But along with that, I guess… you could say there's someone else."

"Ooooh. Yeah, uh, that's never good, no matter what you mean."

"I can't even say it's not good this time," Sokka sighed. "That person is… the reason why we even wound up in each other's lives to this extent. She and I knew each other before but, uh, let's say we weren't exactly on friendly terms until this third person brought us together recently. And now… I'm hooked, you could say. I don't want to walk away. But I can't do anything unless… unless we sort out what to do about that third person anyway."

"I have no idea how that makes sense," said the innkeeper, raising an eyebrow. "Third person is… a friend of yours? Someone you care about?"

"Yeah, that's probably a good way to put it," Sokka said, swallowing hard.

"If they're a good friend, they'll want your happiness. And if this fiery lady is your happiness, that friend of yours would step aside…"

"I mean, maybe, but the baggage isn't just for me. It's the two of us… because she cares about that person too. Even if she pretends she doesn't," Sokka said. "She doesn't fool me."

"Then… why not talk things over? All three of you?" the innkeeper said. "You're all adults. Might as well, right?"

"Heh… huh. I mean, it's simple, but it's definitely the only thing left to do," Sokka reasoned, tapping his chin.

"Come clean! Tell her how you feel, and you'll be free to use that room as often as you care to. Well, you know, as long as you pay me for it," the innkeeper grinned greedily. Sokka laughed, nodding.

"Well, thank you for your generosity. Even if it's slightly conditioned by the size of my pocket," Sokka said. The innkeeper snickered at his assessment.

The man was right: they just had to talk sincerely and put all their cards on the table. He wasn't even sure he and Azula were a good idea just yet, she might not actually want to be a couple, maybe she'd prefer a no-strings-attached deal… but whatever the case might be, they were sober and ready now. He meant to run to her, tell her how he felt, and finally kiss her the way he would have last night, if both their minds had been clear, and they had dared act on their feelings.

Nervous and uncertain about what might come next, Sokka went outside in the hopes of finding Azula… and while he found telltale signs that gave away that she had been there, the Princess was gone. He frowned, returning to the inn and checking their room: nothing there, either. Where the hell was she?

"This… heh. Well, this is something else," Azula said, glaring at the tree with disdain. It stood at the tallest hill within the Lower Ring: she shook her head at it before turning fully, raising the mirror over her head. "Lo and behold, Yue: the massive, ridiculous city of Ba Sing Se."

The Moon Spirit gasped in delight: this time, in broad daylight, the city's layout was much clearer for her. The delight of witnessing something so massive, so beautiful, overwhelmed her… but Azula didn't help her process the sight. Instead of worrying about Yue, the Princess's glare drifted into the distance, towards the Middle Ring, the Upper one… then, the Palace itself.

"See that? That's the Palace. The terrains of my greatest victory ever," Azula said, proudly.

"It's so far away…"

"Want to see it further up close?" Azula asked.

"What?! No! That… that would be very dangerous for you. If you got caught by the Earth King, you'd be in trouble!"

"He's no threat to me, try as though he might to be one," Azula smirked smugly. "How fulfilling it might be to repeat my great success… but I can't, of course. I lack the resources, and he's stronger solely due to the people around him. Incompetent buffoon can't even run his own life, let alone a city, so…"

"So? You won't pay him a visit, will you?"

"I'd rather not. There are other places I might have more fun at, this time," Azula smirked. "A flashy victory against the Earth King would draw Zuko and the Avatar right to my doorstep. But there are other revenges I can take in Ba Sing Se, still…"

"Revenge? Against whom?"

"Against… huh. Against someone we both should have a grudge on, I think. Wasn't he the one who suggested that you should turn into a fish?"

"W-wait… the uncle you told me you hated?"

"Indeed, the one you told me said you'd been touched by the Moon Spirit. He's shamelessly living in the Upper Ring, in some teashop that we can very well tear to pieces if we're careful…" Azula smirked, lowering the mirror.

"Uh, I don't know if I want to…"

"I know you don't want to. I'll do it alone, if need be," Azula said, smirking. "Not like you can do much but watch or hear while you're in that mirror anyway. But I don't need your support anyhow."

"Azula, don't do anything too dangerous or rash. You don't want to get caught…"

"I won't be. I'm the brightest military mind this world ever saw!" Azula exclaimed, spreading her arms out obnoxiously. "And I will take my revenge on that old bastard… no matter what it takes!"

The meaning of those words would not become apparent to Yue for many more hours still. The Princess took off then, on her way to the train station: she nabbed someone's pass to the Upper Ring through expert sleight of hand, and she rode the train entirely inconspicuously afterwards…

Sokka searched across the nearby Lower Ring for any clues of Azula's whereabouts. He snarled, never having suspected she'd give him the slip to that extent. Curses, she was wonderful when she wanted to be… and entirely frustrating when she didn't. You never truly knew what you were going to get with her… and he certainly had been all too lucky ever since they joined forces. Princess Azula no doubt could be a menace in many ways… but his heart pounded with fear at the thought of her being captured, more than anything. Whatever she was up to, she had to be careful.

A few clues by people who sighted a woman by her description led Sokka to the train station. He saw no sign of her there – if she truly had boarded a train, she would be long gone by now, and hell knew where she had gone. Was she that ashamed of what had happened last night? He had to catch up to her, but which way had she gone? Further into the city, or out to the Agrarian Zone, to leave the city…?

"… I have it right here! I know I do! It was here!"

Sokka frowned upon hearing the loud screams of a desperate nobleman. He glanced about himself in anxiety, no doubt fearful of spending too long in the Lower Ring, which he had visited for who knew what reasons…

"Without a pass to the Middle Ring, you can't climb aboard this train, sir," said a city guard, and the man squealed with utter anguish.

"I said I have it! It's in here… somewhere!" he exclaimed. "I had a quick job here! I had it earlier today, I just needed to drop by briefly and then leave and…! Please, you saw me in the morning, let me go back! Please!"

Sokka snarled, fists tightening: how mysterious that a nobleman would lose his pass to the upper rings of Ba Sing Se just when Azula vanished…

He snarled before making up his mind about what to do: he rushed back to the inn, and when he left, he was clad in the uniform of the Dai Li, ready to use the intimidating presence of the earthbending elite to clear a path for himself across all of Ba Sing Se, if need be, to find Azula.

After two hours aboard a train that stopped at far too many stations, Azula finally marched up to her destination. She smirked, having never approached the building before, even if she had ensured to learn of its location after a certain waterbender had rushed into the Palace, begging for Suki's help…

"The Jasmine Dragon. Old-fashioned, simple… and even so, far too good for the likes of my uncle," Azula said, holding up the mirror so Yue could see the building, too. "He's a tea brewer, did you know? He's also the man who sieged this city around thirteen years ago and now he's allowed to live cozily among their people, as though he'd never done anything that caused them harm. And it's all because he was a turncoat and defended the place from the Fire Nation when the war was ending. It was a meaningful gesture, too: once me and my father were out of the fray, every settlement in the Earth Kingdom would have lost its Fire Nation leadership… unless, of course, Zuzu decided he actually preferred spreading our control all over the world. But it was obvious that he wouldn't do that, just as it was obvious that Ba Sing Se would go free when the Fire Nation's leadership changed… and over that empty gesture, that old fool who unfortunately is related to me became the town's great Fire Nation hero. They have no dignity, wouldn't you say? Can you imagine your people worshipping a Fire Nation traitor to this extent?"

"Well, no… but I wouldn't really imagine many Fire Nation traitors showing up in the Northern Water Tribe. Still, it's hard to fathom something like that…"

"Kuei let him retake his teashop, instead of wisely forcing him to make one in the Fire Nation instead. You know, the place where Iroh would be welcome, since it's his dear nephew's nation and the realm he has true power over," Azula smirked. "At most, that nonsensical Republic City might have hosted the old bastard just as well. But instead… he came back to the scene of the crime. How many must glare at him quietly, wishing misery and pain onto him, as retaliation for everything he inflicted upon them? How many resent him for the men he killed in combat? I can only imagine it's a fair few… much like they must resent me. But he gets a free pass… while I, if captured, would get executed instead. Doesn't sound fair, does it?"

"Maybe you need to save the city from an invading power for them to allow you in it again? Is that what you'd like to do? Maybe… take down the Dai Li?"

"The Dai Li? Oh, no. Frankly, it's not that I want Ba Sing Se to care one bit for me," Azula smirked. "I'd just want them to hate my uncle too, instead."

"Really? But… that seems, well, more than a little vindictive. What do you intend to do to achieve that anyway? If you wanted to, well, set the teashop on fire…"

"Would you say much against it, if I did?" Azula asked, testing her.

"Well, I would have no power to stop you… but I would be displeased. Disappointed."

"That sounds utterly terrifying, Yue. I tremble in the wake of letting you down."

"Maybe you should! This isn't something you should do lightly, Azula. I know you hate being told what to do, but…!"

"I do indeed. And you have no idea what I have in mind," Azula smirked. "If I burned his shop, Iroh would simply be a sad victim. Everyone would feel sorry for him, and only a few would dare say outright that it serves him right. What kind of vengeance would that be? No, Yue… my plans are much more sinister than that."

"Uh… I don't know if I like the sound of that. Azula…?"

Getting across the city took far longer than Sokka wished it had, but he finally made his way to the Upper Ring. He kept a wide berth from the Palace, knowing he might just be in trouble if they recognized him, since he was supposed to be missing right now… and he focused, instead, on looking for Azula. She could've gone to the Palace, reckless as she was… but the resulting pandemonium, if she had done that, would've been apparent already. She had to be someplace else. She had to be somewhere…

He frowned as he paced as inconspicuously across the Upper Ring as possible, approaching the area where Iroh's teashop was at. Come to think of it, maybe a customer might have sighted Azula if she passed by the…

Oh.

Oh, no.

The server didn't know what hit him. He lay slumped inside the cellar, tied up and gagged. He wouldn't be there forever, it was but a precaution as Azula dressed in a spare uniform of the Jasmine Dragon, with an apron and even a bandana around her hair.

Iroh had left the tea brewing with his server around five minutes ago. He had some delivery to make, probably to some other old lady who had taken a fancy to him. Why they liked him, Azula would never know… but she felt that way over anyone who liked Iroh in any sense, truth be told. Her brother, of course, liked him for obvious reasons, Iroh used to be the only person to validate and coddle him… oh, but she hadn't come here to stem in her resentment towards the old man who had never moved a finger for her sake.

She resented him for that, to a fault. It wasn't so much that she thought he could have changed her fate, if he had cared to try… but the fact that he had given up on her, from the very beginning. It wasn't a crime, giving up on someone as he had on her… she certainly didn't need him. But that it had never occurred to him that she might have, that he had never extended a helping hand, that he hadn't even checked on her in the asylum… the bastard could have done that, at least. But not once.

So now, retribution was nigh. And her plan would be perfect.

She poured the red powder at the bottom of each mug, first. Then, she poured each cup, with no regard as to whether they matched the orders as they had been written on the board right by the stove. She smirked without restraint every time Yue's head popped up in any of the cups of tea, tense over what Azula was doing.

"This could be… uh, more destructive than it sounds," Yue warned her. "You'll have to run as soon as you're done, Azula. Are you sure you can…?"

"You forget who you're talking to," Azula smirked, as she poured the final cup. "This will work. I know it will."

Around fifteen different people were awaiting their orders right now. Another twenty already had their tea and were placidly drinking right now. They didn't matter, of course… well, they did solely as further factors of chaos, maybe. But for the time being, her priority was the obvious one: she began gathering the cups on trays, and without any concern, she placed each of the mismatched, inaccurate orders at the tables, one by one.

They thanked her for her service, unconcerned with confirming whether she was a typical server or part of the staff or not. She offered sardonic smiles to a few, and one even seemed to ogle her slightly – unfortunately for him, he couldn't have been less her type. She simply finished distributing the tea and then returned to the stove, pouring what was left of her red powder inside the kettle for good measure.

With that, she untied and ungagged the unconscious server, carelessly setting him on a chair, splayed on the table as though he had simply been napping, carelessly missing out on a vital part of his shift while his boss was out. A devious grin spread across her face as she removed the spare uniform and returned to the backdoor, the way she had entered the building in the first place… but she didn't fully close the door yet. Instead, she crouched by the door, waiting, waiting…

Footsteps stopped right next to her.

Her heart nearly leapt out of her throat when she feared it might be Iroh.

She jumped upwards as though there were a spring right underneath her rear, and she froze on the spot upon facing a man in a Dai Li outfit.

A man with very annoyed blue eyes.

"Well, well. Look who I've found, wondering carelessly in the Upper Ring with a random nobleman's entry pass…" Sokka said, with unrelenting bitterness. Azula smiled awkwardly.

"Hah. Hi. You, uh… you got here right on time, actually! Good work!"

"On time for what? To stop you from going in there and… doing I don't even know what in Iroh's teashop?" Sokka said, grimacing. "Azula, don't you dare. You know you're being hunted! If you try to confront Iroh or anything, everyone's going to raise the alarm…!"

"I'm sure they will if you're so noisy and jumpy about everything, curses," Azula said. "Yue and I were actually enjoying ourselves…"

"That, uh, is a stretch. I'm very worried about you getting caught too."

"See? She says she was having a blast!" Azula said, smirking as she pointed the mirror at the teashop's door again: Yue huffed in frustration at Azula's, and this time, Azula didn't doubt the girl was indeed annoyed with her. "Come on, come on, any second now it's going to…!"

"What did you do?" Sokka asked, frowning as he glanced inside the building: sounds gave away that people were just drinking tea peacefully…

Or not so peacefully, when someone appeared to choke, dropping the teacup on the floor.

It shattered loudly enough that the server jolted awake at that, grimacing and rubbing the back of his head, where Azula had hit him to knock him out. He scrambled out of the kitchen area, to find out what had happened…

"What is this?!" shrieked someone.

"The hell did you put in this tea?!" shouted another one.

"S-sir? I didn't… it's just the tea we always served! W-wait, when did I deliver these?"

"BRING WATER! THIS IS KILLING ME!"

"Master Iroh may be a master brewer, but he seems to be a master jokester, too! Spicy tea? What is this madness?!"

Sokka's jaw dropped as Azula, right before him, covered her mouth while laughing with devious glee. Sokka only heard a few more screams of desperation, as the server rushed to find water, milk, anything to aid the desperate customers whose tongues and mouths were on fire… before turning towards his wicked companion.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked, with a dry grin.

"Don't look at me like that, it's not that bad! I didn't really hurt anyone…!" Azula said, before snorting and cackling as she walked away from the shop. "But I did it! It worked! Ahahaha, oh, it's magnificent!"

"Azula, you just filled those teacups with spice?!" Sokka growled. "Explain it, now! Did you do anything else? Like, I don't know, a laxative?!"

She froze on the spot upon hearing that accusation. She turned towards him, eyes wide with curiosity, and Sokka winced.

"That was NOT an idea!"

"It's a great one, though!"

"Azula!" he exclaimed, and she grinned guiltily. "What the hell is this? What are you doing?"

"This… is just revenge. Served hot rather than cold, for tea is indeed hot, as is spice…" Azula smirked, with a careless shrug. "I know everyone expects me to do something far more aggressive than this, but as I told Yue, burning down this place was only going to turn Iroh into a victim of someone else's cruelty, and he would have been pitied and worshipped all the more. I would've caused trouble, certainly, but not the kind I cared to. So… instead, I was determined to sabotage his business. What's worse than a cup of tea with an unexpected, unwelcome taste? Though, to be frank, tea might actually improve if you pour togarashi chili powder in it…"

"You poured… chili powder in their tea?" Sokka asked, his voice shrill. Azula nodded promptly. "Y-you…?!"

"Come now, it's brilliant!" Azula smirked, proudly. "I didn't do anything genuinely harmful… well, besides knocking out the server for about five minutes, but look at him, he doesn't even know he was out like a light or that I tied him up while he was…"

"Azula?!" Sokka exclaimed. "You did WHAT?!"

"Sokka, these are healthier ways for me to reclaim my power over situations, that's what the people in the asylum told me I needed to…!"

"… Azula? Wait, you said… Sokka?"

The arguing pair standing before the building's backdoor froze: the old man's voice was immediately recognizable, and they turned their gazes towards him slowly.

Iroh had a couple of jars of new tea blends in his arms. His jaw dropped as he gaped at them in disbelief – Azula hadn't seen him in a long time, but his gray hair certainly was whiter than before. More wrinkles, too. Well, she'd certainly make him age a couple more years with her stunt inside the teashop just now…

"It's… it's both of you? Sokka, dressed as Dai Li?!" Iroh exclaimed, horrorstruck. "Azula…!"

"Run!"

Azula grabbed Sokka's shoulder before he could explain anything, forcing him to race at full speed down the alley behind Iroh's teashop. The old man yelped, about to follow them until he heard the cacophony of coughing, roars of outrage, exclamations of frustration inside his teashop, where more and more customers were shattering their mugs in retaliation for the burning feeling in their mouths. His server shrank in place behind the main counter, glancing at Iroh as though begging him for help.

"Please…!" Iroh exclaimed, trying to calm his frequent customers. "Whatever has happened, it wasn't our responsibility! A foul player has…!"

A cup flew across the room, striking Iroh straight in the forehead.

The teashop, usually a peaceful, placid location that everyone in the Upper Ring loved to frequent, had devolved into a complete pandemonium when another customer pulled the front door open. She frowned upon hearing the noise, upon sensing Iroh rushing to wash out all the tea mugs, with not a single kettle of hot water ready to be poured over tea leaves – he would be washing those soon, too.

"I can't believe…" she overheard the old man, even from a distance. "Azula, of all people! And of all things she could've done…!"

Azula? Azula was here?

Toph clicked her tongue, shutting the door again before tightening her fists: well, then… it seemed teatime would have to wait for later.

The two traveling companions ran through the Upper Ring desperately: as much as they had tried to get out too fast to be caught, Iroh apparently had managed to spread the word to city guards before beginning his likely failed attempts at damage control in the Jasmine Dragon. They were being pursued across the beautiful, pristine streets of the Upper Ring… and Azula appeared to find it a rather hilarious situation regardless.

"Could you quit laughing?! We're in real danger here!" Sokka squeaked.

"It's… n-not like I can help it!" Azula burst out wiping the tears of laughter.

"If we get caught, we're fucked!" Sokka roared. "No more traveling, no more fulfilling anyone's dreams, no more Yue adventures! Azula…!"

"We're not going to get caught, you worrywart!" Azula laughed. "We can do this! We can get out of the Upper Ring, you just have to follow my lead and we'll shake them off in…!"

She tripped when a chunk of earth rose right in front of her.

Azula toppled forward, and Sokka caught her before she could fall face-first into a wall that rose at alarming speed before them.

The way was cut by an earthbender.

Azula gathered her strength to attack the wall… only for a second one to rise right behind them.

Before either Sokka or Azula knew it, they had been crushed against each other by two walls that seemed hellbent on rendering them breathless. Azula gasped as Sokka's arm was firmly squeezed against her back, and he yelped in pain with her shoulder embedded into his gut.

"I… can't move!" Sokka exclaimed: he'd have been perfectly happy to hold Azula close and intimately like this… in any other circumstances. And when he was in a better mood too, likely. Right now, he wasn't sure he could so much as think about Azula as a potential romantic partner when her utter chaos and recklessness had landed them in… this very uncomfortable spot.

Azula roared with frustration: she could barely move her head at all: the earth kept wrapping tighter around them, and at the end, only a small hole was left for air to filter in… then, whoever had caught them dragged them away from where they had been caught. They toppled down, feeling every ridge of the ground against the unpleasant earthen cast they were stuck in, and it kept happening for what felt like hours…

Until they finally were liberated, a long time later, in a most morbid location: the very prison cells where Azula had visited Long Feng long ago, where she had tossed Sokka once before…

… Along with Toph.

Who happened to be the person who had flung them in there, in the first place.

"Toph!" Sokka exclaimed, chest heaving as he was finally free. Azula pulled away from him, rubbing the spots of her body that still hurt after being dragged halfway across the Upper Ring by the rough earthbender.

"Hope you had some fun today. That's as far as it goes, though. For you…" Toph said, at Azula, before turning her attention to Sokka. "And you. I think. You weren't behind that mess at the teashop , were you, Sokka?"

"No, I wasn't, but Toph, I can explain…"

"You can explain why a wanted criminal and terrorist was… lacing tea with spices?" Toph said, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, no, I can't actually explain that one because that was all her!" Sokka huffed, glaring at Azula, who pouted at him.

"I was enjoying the fun. Leave it to Iroh to sabotage even that…" she sighed, dramatically.

"You fucked up a whole day's worth of income for your uncle…" Toph pointed out. Azula laughed.

"One day? No, fool: I've sabotaged far more than that! Word shall spread across the Upper Ring and beyond! His credibility as a tea brewer will be in shambles! Accusations that a foul player, me, did something quite so stupid will never sit well with anyone! That's because the daunting, terrifying conqueror of Ba Sing Se wouldn't simply enter this city anew just to ruin his reputation as a tea brewer, would she?"

"But… that's exactly what you did," Toph said, matter-of-factly.

"And who would believe that?" Azula smiled, with a devious laugh. "It's the ultimate revenge. So stupid, so meaningless, so childish… and yet the consequences shall haunt him forevermore."

"You haven't changed in the least, have you?" Toph sighed, shaking her head and then turning towards Sokka. "And you? The hell is your excuse, running around with the spicy avenger here?"

"I… have an explanation, Toph, but believe me, Azula is just being chaotic for the sake of it," Sokka said. Azula huffed.

"I have greater purposes than you'd ever want to accept, mind you…"

"Could you be quiet?" Sokka huffed. Azula gasped in outrage. "I'm trying to save you from prison here, in case you haven't noticed! This is serious! Where do you think we are? Ba Sing Se's Palace! And when Kuei knows we're here…"

"He already does. I can't just drop people in his palace's prison willy-nilly, you know?" Toph said, with a careless shrug.

The gravity of the situation only seemed to sink in then. Azula's smile started fading, and Toph folded her arms over her chest.

"He's stoked he finally got his hands on you. Though I'm the one who did it, anyway, but still…" she said, jerking her head at Sokka. "If you're not her prisoner or her devoted ally, get the hell out of there and explain what's going on, damn it. I'm supposed to be recruiting metalbenders, not sorting out whatever nonsense you two get up to."

"I know, I… I'm sorry," Sokka said. Toph truly appeared irritable about her discovery: her distaste and distrust towards Azula couldn't have been more obvious.

"As for you… any missteps and I'll put you in a cast again, in a more uncomfortable position still," she said. Azula glared at her. "Don't make this worse for yourself than it is… though maybe you've done more than enough of that so far."

Sokka grimaced, glancing at Azula with unease. The Princess eyed him begrudgingly just before Toph marched into the cell too, reaching out to pat down Azula. The Princess resisted at first: Toph growled before bending the metal's cell to keep Azula standing still: she found the empty bag of togarashi chili powder in her pocket… along with the mirror.

For a moment, Sokka saw actual panic in Azula's gaze when Toph removed it. He winced, turning towards Toph as she undid Azula's momentary restraints.

"Toph, you don't have to take that. It's just a mirror," Sokka said.

"It's got glass. She can break it and slit her throat open with a shard, cut her wrists… trust me, when you've been dealing with this kind of police work, you know better than to leave anyone with any potential weapons," she said, leaving the cell without relinquishing the mirror anew. "The things I've… uh, not seen, have been gruesome enough to make you shit your pants, Meathead. But honestly, I shouldn't even be so friendly with you, dumbass. Everyone's been worried sick about you… get out of there and explain whatever the hell is going on here, will you?"

Sokka winced: he glanced back at Azula, who eyed him accusingly as Toph loosened some of her restraints… but only some. She was shackled anyway. Sokka breathed heavily.

"I'll… find a way to get you out of here," he said.

"I'll believe it when I see it," Azula whispered. Sokka sighed.

"You're not making anything easy. Not that you ever do, but still…" he said. "Just… trust me, okay?"

"That's a tall order," she said. Sokka rolled his eyes.

"Considering what you were up to and how that got us here…"

"I never said you should trust me. Therein lies the difference," Azula said, sardonically. "Go on, then… get out. Tell her all about how nice you think I am, I'm sure she'll give you a piece of her mind."

Sokka grimaced as Azula folded her arms over her chest and sank on the floor – there wasn't even a small chair for her to sit on. It was a narrow, dark, unsettling cell… and that was where she'd stay unless he figured out how to convince Toph to get her out.

The Princess sighed, her previous mood well and truly gone by now – Toph had dragged her to prison far too quickly for her to truly process any of what had happened. The euphoria over having screwed over Iroh hadn't worn off until now. It indeed was a petty revenge… but it had been funny. Sokka's bad mood simply had come from her recklessness at picking a fight with someone as dangerous as Iroh, with enough contacts and pull to get her into real trouble if she were ever caught… and she wouldn't have been, if Sokka hadn't showed up demanding for explanations. Though she might have been, if she had stuck around out of hubris alone simply to enjoy the result of her devious plan.

And now she was alone again… well and truly alone. No mirror… no water. No reflective metals in the cell, either.

For the first time in a year, Yue was gone, and she would remain gone for hours, if not longer than that.

Toph was still holding onto the mirror after Sokka explained everything to her. The earthbender scowled, gripping it firmly, rubbing her forehead with her free hand's fingertips as she sat with Sokka in an empty room of Kuei's Palace.

"You're telling me you finally got a lead on Yue, and that lead was Azula. And she's not doing anything bad to Yue, not that you can tell, but she's stuck to her and maybe until Yue stops being stuck, she won't be able to go back to the sky and the moon will stay nasty. Is that it?" Toph asked. Sokka shrugged.

"That's the basic principle of it."

"And you were on the run with Azula for all this time. She didn't kidnap you… you were just out and about fulfilling Yue's last wishes, or whatever Azula tells you are her last wishes."

"I think she's being pretty genuine, actually. It's kind of obvious when she's lying about whatever Yue is saying…"

"So, she's trying to lie anyway. And she's still a hazard to the world, particularly to people who she thinks slighted her. Like Iroh," Toph said, skeptical. Sokka grimaced.

"And yet I've spent months with her, and she's done nothing bad to me. I mean, sure, we ended up in trouble today, but this is objectively the worst thing that's happened to us since we set out together," Sokka said. "I know it's hard to believe, Toph… but I think there's just way more to Azula than what meets the eye."

"No kidding. My eye's meeting none of it, I'll tell you that much," Toph said. Sokka sighed.

"I didn't mean…"

"Are you fucking her?"

Sokka froze at the question. Toph raised an eyebrow.

"What about Suki?" she asked. "Does she know?"

"I'm not…!" Sokka exclaimed. "Nothing like that has happened between me and Azula, okay? And it doesn't have to be like that! I could just be helping her with Yue and nothing would need to happen between us…!"

"But something did, going by how nervous you are," Toph smirked. "I can tell the difference between 'wow, that's gross', 'no, but how I wish something would happen' and 'holy shit, she's onto me', so you be careful, Sokka…"

"Look…! It's not that easy, okay?" Sokka said. "And Suki doesn't know and doesn't need to know because… well, we went to Kyoshi Island first, before Ba Sing Se. We're over."

"Heh. Finally," Toph said. Sokka sighed heavily. "No offense to Suki… well, no offense to you either, frankly. You both deserved better than what you were giving each other. She only seemed to make you miserable back when she was in Republic City…"

"Well, there's no need to worry about that anymore," Sokka said, shaking his head.

"So, Azula's the rebound…"

"No, she's not," Sokka said, firmly. "If… if anything happened between her and me, it'd be its own thing. I wouldn't be doing it because of Suki, or because of Yue. I… I do think I've found a way to connect to her, Toph, and no, I don't mean anything as physical as sleeping with her! I just… have had some of the best conversations of my life with her, you know? This is not normal. And as wicked as she may be… you have to admit, putting spice in tea isn't exactly among the worst crimes someone can commit, is it?"

"It's… not," Toph said. Sokka smiled.

"If she hadn't risked us getting caught, I would've been laughing my ass off with her. I hope she knows that, but I was worried anyway…" he said.

"Why can't you just come clean?" Toph asked, raising an eyebrow. "You just did with me, so do it with everyone, damn it. It's not going to help if you keep being on the run with Azula…"

"Toph, is anyone ever going to give her a chance?" Sokka asked. Toph frowned. "Right now… I want to help her sort out this mess with Yue. Once Yue is back safe where she needs to be, once the moon is aglow and I've done right by her for once? I'll focus on Azula fully. I'll make sure to fix whatever she's broken, everything she's damaged, and…"

"Well, frankly… it's not like she's been that awful lately?" Toph said, running a hand over her hair. "Even when she took all those kids, it was stupid that she didn't actually do anything to them. Even kept them well-fed, apparently, they had individual beds to sleep in, for crying out loud. I'm not saying it was good that she took them, obviously, but… she's making no sense, Sokka. What the hell is she trying to achieve? Feels like she stirs up shitfests and then walks away right before doing anything genuinely harmful. And even then, well, everyone wants her head on a stake. Not that I don't know why, but… it's almost like she's making fun of Zuko and Kuei, and they're ready to murder her for it. Doesn't sound logical, does it?"

"No," Sokka said, earnestly. "That's why… I know you told Kuei. I know you wanted to do right by me and help me, but… I was with Azula willingly. And I want to go back on the road with her. So, please…?"

"Easier said than done…" Toph sighed, shrugging. "But I'll try to reason with the bastard, I guess. If all fails… guess I'll just try and take you into my jurisdiction somehow, but I'm not sure that would work, honestly."

"Might not," Sokka admitted.

"Ugh, you make everything so damn annoying, Sokka. You're the worst," Toph growled, rising to her feet and punching his shoulder. "Go find something to eat in the kitchens or whatever. And get out of that stupid Dai Li outfit. Doesn't suit you to wear it."

"Heh, yeah. I'd rather not wear it too," Sokka said.

"Also? Your sister's been worried sick about you. Rest of your family too, I bet, but she's the one I hear from the most," Toph said. "You might as well send her a letter to tell her you eloped with your new girlfriend so she goes back to ranting about what an idiot you are instead of crying that Azula's likely cutting you open and eating your innards, or so."

"She… doesn't actually think Azula was going to do that, does she?" Sokka grimaced. Toph shrugged.

"Beats me, but she was very dramatic the last time she rambled about it. I just tuned her out after a while," Toph smiled at him from over her shoulder. "Anyway…"

She was almost at the door when she stopped abruptly: guards opened the door she had been ready to leave through… and Kuei stepped through it, instead.

"He's here? Oh, thank you for your assistance, Chief Toph!" Kuei smiled brightly at her before turning a kind gaze upon Sokka. "I'm so glad to see you safe and sound, my friend!"

Sokka's stomach sank at the sight of him: for the first time ever, he found himself figuratively standing between the king and Azula… and siding with her over him, without question. Her explanations from the previous night as good as dismissed his goodwill for the man entirely…

"Earth King," Sokka said, soberly. Kuei smiled, offering him a curt nod of his head.

"I'm truly relieved Chief Toph could retrieve you safely from that harpy's grasp. I've heard you were her captive! It's truly a relief that you appear to be unscathed," Kuei said. "Rest assured, she will face justice for all her crimes very soon."

"Rest assured?" Sokka repeated: he might do best to play along Kuei's attitude, to pretend he despised Azula more than anyone, and that her alleged capture of him meant that he, above anyone else, ought to be the one to pass judgment of her, in his own home…

But even though the idea of such subterfuge crossed his mind, he stopped short from acting on it when his stubbornness took the wheel instead: it sat utterly ill with him to hear the man speak of Azula's fate in such unfavorable terms.

"I have nothing but disdain to offer her," Kuei growled. "She has attempted to undermine this city, this land, for the last time."

"She had no intentions of undermining anything. Well, maybe her uncle's shop, but that's it," Sokka said. Kuei raised his eyebrows. "She wasn't here to take back the city or something like that, if that's what you thought."

"She… w-what? Are you certain of that?" Kuei asked. "Sokka, my friend… perhaps your judgment is clouded after spending too much time with her?"

"You mean, like the sorts of people who become prisoners of war and end up siding with whoever captured them?" Sokka asked, with a slight smirk. "Well, you see, there's one problem with your theory: I was never Azula's prisoner. I traveled with her willingly, from the first moment."

"Y-you… what?!" Kuei gasped, eyes wide. "Sokka…!"

"What? Feel betrayed, do you?" Sokka smirked, arms folded over his chest. "Funny if that's the case… because you know what story she told me, just last night? Ah, the story of why my invasion plan in the Fire Nation backfired and failed as catastrophically as it did, resulting in the imprisonment of my father and all adult warriors and fighters just as the war was at its height! If only it had worked, there's a chance that I might have been able to help end the war months earlier, resulting in a lot less violence and in the salvation of the Earth Kingdom before the Fire Lord tried to set the whole place on fire!"

"W-what…? What do you mean?" Kuei said. Sokka's own eyes widened in undisguised outrage. "Whatever she's telling you, she's deceiving you! Messing with your mind, Sokka, you can't let her…!"

"Did you or did you not tell her and her allies all you knew about my invasion plans while they were disguised as Kyoshi Warriors?"

Kuei froze: clearly, he had forgotten he'd done that at all. Toph coughed, an uncomfortable grimace across her face.

"He did? Really?" she asked Sokka. He glared at the king so fiercely it was hard to tell which of them was the one of royal blood, for a moment. Kuei swallowed hard.

"B-but I didn't know who they were! It's not my fault that I couldn't tell…!"

"You spent weeks with us!" Sokka exclaimed. "I'm not holding you responsible for her outwitting you: I'm holding you responsible for not thinking things through and basically leaving us to enact a plan that was fated to fail! If you'd told us what you'd done, we could've tried to plan things so extensively that any of their strategies to defend from us would've failed to faze us! You're not at fault, no, for the Fire Nation's worst sins… but you are at fault for being negligent! For failing to reason with your own actions! For sitting idly and pretending that everyone else will sort out your problems for you! You could've spared us so much trouble if you'd just put your damn head to good use for once and told us the truth! But see? You ended up helping Azula ages ago, in more ways than you've ever acknowledged… so you're the last person with any right to judge me for doing the same thing now. If I'm a traitor for joining her willingly on the most harmless journey she's ever undertaken, then you're a traitor for helping her prepare for the Invasion safely through your negligence and forgetfulness!"

His furious rant seemed to catch Kuei entirely off guard. His cheeks flushed, he probably felt a burst of shame inside his gut…

But not long after Sokka finished talking, the King scowled in his direction.

All the metal in the cell was rusty. Shadows didn't work. That was a good thing. That was a good thing.

Azula hugged her legs to her chest as she tried to reassure herself: this was right. This was what she had wanted from the first time she had looked into the river to find a stranger over her shoulder, only to glance and find no one there. She was free from Yue, or at least, she would be other than in dreams, dreams that never made any sense and that made it appear as though Yue was in pain, anguished, struggling… none of which seemed to be happening to the woman in the water, or the mirrors, or any reflective surfaces. She always smiled, always talked kindly… she was annoying. She was infuriating, even. She lied, and lied, and…

And she was the most constant presence in her life since a year ago. The one person who was there… because she had no choice but to be there, indeed.

She had asked something of Azula. She had a goal to achieve. A goal Azula had started fulfilling, even if half-heartedly and dismissively.

And now Azula would be executed.

Yue's dreams would go unfulfilled in the end.

She didn't want to die. Sometimes she did, but right now, she didn't. She was on the road with someone who didn't constantly glare at her or fail to understand her or scowl at her or…

He understood her in strange ways. Their bickering was unlike anything she'd experienced before. He cared about what she was doing, he looked after her in his own way, and the most important thing…

He was honest. He was the most honest person she had ever known. She didn't need to fear that he'd lie to her. She didn't need to question his every word.

She had felt safe. She hadn't even realized it… but she had. Suddenly, Yue had stopped being a mere burden once he showed up. He had shaped her ordeal into a fun adventure, somehow. Maybe Yue wouldn't leave even after this trip, but… Azula was actually having fun. Even when things didn't go as planned, even when matters weren't perfect, she had enjoyed the strange journey she had joined Sokka on.

And now it was over. All because she had taken a petty revenge on her uncle… everything she had been hoping to achieve for Yue was over.

What the blazes did she want from life, for herself? Nothing, she thought… maybe something. Maybe vindication. Maybe validation. Maybe the hope that someone, one day, would care that she was alive. Maybe the hope of one day experiencing the kinds of bonds she had always been denied. Maybe the curiosity of ever finding out what love truly was… for she didn't know. She couldn't know. No one had showed her. She had never truly felt it, as far as the asylum people had told her, so… so…

Footsteps approached her cell: she winced at the sound. She hadn't expected anyone so soon. She had assumed she would be left to marinate in her misery for hours, maybe even days, with no food or drinks, until they finally came to drag her to her execution. Was Kuei that eager to get rid of her, or…?

The footsteps' rhythm was familiar. Azula frowned.

"Hey."

Her heart jolted, even if she didn't think it should have, upon hearing Sokka's voice again.

"Is there room for another one in there?"

"W-what…?" Azula gasped, raising her gaze at the small window on the door. It only barely allowed her to see a silhouette among the bars. "What's that supposed to mean? Why would you want to…?"

"Didn't really mean to say I wanted to go to prison… more like I expect I'll end up here too once Kuei stops fuming," Sokka said. Azula's eyes widened.

"What? Why?"

"Well, I may have brought up what you told me… that he's responsible for the Invasion's failure because of his negligence and carelessness. But then things got heated…" Sokka said, leaning against the cell's door. "And I told him, among many things, that if he intended to execute you, he'd have to get through me first. He didn't like that very much, so…"

"What?! Are you out of your mind?!" Azula gasped. "Sokka, do you underestimate that man's willingness to see me dead? Because, if you do…!"

"I don't. That's why I'm here now," Sokka said, with a sigh. "I'm sorry. I'm not here to make you feel responsible or guilty, or… I just… it felt like a better place to be at. Better company."

"You can't be serious…" Azula said, gritting her teeth. "Sokka, I'm not better… I'm not worth what you think I am. I don't know what the hell got into you or why it did… if it's about last night, please forget about it all. Please, you really don't need to…"

"I'm not going to forget. No matter what," Sokka said. Azula winced. "I'm an inconvenient jerk that way, sorry to say…"

"Sokka, this is all my fault," she said, gritting her teeth. "This is…! I've caused trouble by being a selfish asshole! If I'd just stayed with you, if I'd just talked things over with you, maybe we would just be in the city, showing everything to Yue! But we're not, because I…! Because I panicked! Because whatever happened or didn't happen, it meant I nearly had betrayed Yue over you! And I tried to… to do better! To remind myself of who I really was, and what I am is… a source of chaos. That's what I do! I break things, I mess them up, I damage people, I fuck everything up until I've had my fill! I burn dolls, nets, houses, I threaten my friends, I try to kill my brother, I turn my allies into terrorists…! I'm bad news! Everyone knows I am! So why are you trying that hard for my sake? If it's for Yue…! Sokka, I…! I'm not… not worthy of being the one who channels her, to begin with."

"Worthy?" Sokka repeated. "Who gets to decide that?"

"I don't know! I have no idea who made this stupid bond between us, but they just wanted to ruin everything for Yue, I know they did!" Azula roared. "Because no one… no one should be saddled with me. And now that I'm going to… t-to die whenever the blasted Earth King chooses, I can see everything that much more clearly. I'm going to die… and nobody will care. Nobody will shed a single tear. Because no one should! I… I amounted to nothing. I achieved nothing. I'm just… a failure. Took Ba Sing Se, but then failed to hold it. Killed the Avatar, but he didn't stay dead! Kidnapped children, they went back home and I profited from none of it! Recruited my friends, and they stabbed me in the back! Twice, at that, even though the Kemurikage weren't even my…! They weren't…! A-and I just…"

"Azula…" Sokka called her name, gritting his teeth as he placed a hand on the metal door. He could hear her sobbing inside the cell, and his heart ached with desperation to join her…

"I thought… this was my one chance to get one damn thing right," she said, gritting her teeth, pulling her hair… "My chance to… to prove myself, if just to Yue. If I could take her wherever, if I could fulfill her last wishes, t-then I could… I could have been worth something after all. I wouldn't be… the failure worse than the failure. Maybe by then I would… I would be able to look in the damn mirror and not think I'd rather not see my face at all. But… but…"

Sokka gritted his teeth, pressing his head to the door. What had happened wasn't truly his fault, he knew, but a burst of guilt had bloomed in his chest all the same…

"I failed you… and I failed her," Azula said, sniffing. "You… the only person who ever chose to bear with me and… and didn't seem to hate me by the end of it. And she's… stuck with me, but still, even when she lies as much as she does, I… m-maybe… m-maybe I just wanted to think she was lying because I never felt worthy of any of it. If she truly thought that highly of me, t-then she was a fool. She was just setting herself up for failure, because that's all I am anymore. All I ever amounted to. And even now… that's all I can hope to be."

Sokka gritted his teeth before punching the wall next to the door. Azula winced over the sound, even if it wasn't as violent as it might have been if he had struck the metal directly.

"I wish…" he said, with a fierce snarl. "I wish I could find every person responsible for convincing you of that damn lie and beat every last one of them to a pulp."

Azula remained silent, frowning slightly at his words. Which lie? What on earth was he…?

"You… you're like no one else I've ever known," Sokka snarled. "It took… days for me to realize that. Within a few weeks, I couldn't help but hate that… that I'd never really known you until then! And the more I get to know you, the more I grow to understand you, the more I… the more I wish we'd met in any circumstances but the ones in which we did. That there had been no damn war that pitted us against each other… that we could've been friends, instead. I've never found a kinship like the one between us before. I've never felt seen, or heard, the way I do with you. And we're different, yes, of course we are… but I value you, Azula. I… I could never let him do what you think he will. If he tries to execute you at all… I'll break you free. We'll run again! We'll leave and find someplace else to exist in, and… a-and one day, when the bastard least expects it? We'll infiltrate his Palace, like you did! And… we'll pour togarashi chili powder not just in Kuei's tea, but in his every meal! In his desserts, and his alcohol, and even in his bath water…!"

"Sokka…?" Azula said, eyes wide in astonishment.

"It was… it was funny as fuck, Azula," Sokka said, gritting his teeth. "I didn't find it funny at first just because… because you were in danger. Because I was terrified that this damn outcome would happen. And I didn't want it to! But I didn't because… because you deserve anything but to rot in a cage like this! I didn't do it because of Yue… it's not that I want a direct line of communication between her and me and that's all you could ever be for me! Azula… if you refused to tell me anything else about her, if you refused to let me talk to her, or show me to her, I would be fine with it! I'd learn to get by! But I… I can't forsake you. Whatever I can do to help you to find peace and happiness, I'll do it. But I… I want to do it for you. Not for Yue… for you."

"You don't… don't mean that," Azula said, with a sniff. "Sokka…"

"Didn't you say you liked me because I don't lie?" Sokka said, with a slight smile. "You really think that changed in the past hour, or however long it's been since we last saw each other?"

Azula covered her mouth with a hand as she struggled to contain the tears. Her wretched, treacherous mind urged her to question his every claim, to refuse to believe them…

But her heart longed for all of it to be true. She had been alone for too long. She needed someone by her side far more direly than she ever had known she did.

"I'm never… never leaving you again," Sokka said, firmly, as though he had known exactly what thoughts coursed through her mind. "Not unless you get so sick of me that you push me away, of course, but… I came back because I wanted to. Because I'm worried about you. Because I won't let you be lonely for one more second if I can help it."

"But… I fucked up, Sokka. I fucked up so badly, I… I let you down. I let Yue down, I… she deserves better. She should be bonded to you," Azula sniffed, shaking her head. "She would be better off if she were stuck with you, not with me…"

"Tell you what?" Sokka smiled. "I'm… I'm really glad she chose you."

Azula winced. Sokka sighed, pressing his head to the door again.

"And if she didn't choose you herself… then I thank whatever providence made it so you'd be the person who could see her. But I know that, after all this, Yue wouldn't choose me. She wouldn't prefer me as her host over you. And if she did? Then… then she'd be crazy. I wouldn't hesitate to tell her as much. But… I like that it's you, Azula. I really do. I… I wouldn't have chosen anyone else to be Yue's partner."

"Anyone?" Azula sniffed. "Not… your sister? The Avatar? Even… Suki?"

"You. This only works the way it does… it's only worth doing, because I'm doing it with you."

Azula gritted her teeth, pressing her face to her knees as tears spilled down her face. Sokka breathed deeply behind the door, never having imagined he'd bare his heart this way to her… but with her certainty that she would be killed soon, something inside him had snapped cleanly. He swallowed hard before whispering the last truths in his heart:

"I couldn't save her. Yue was out of my reach," Sokka whispered. "But I'll be damned if I ever let anyone take you away from me."

"You… you'd fight the Earth King for me?" Azula asked, swallowing hard. "You know that's… a tall order. A dangerous one, at that…"

"Doesn't matter," Sokka said, with a proud smile. "Unless, of course, you don't want me to…"

"What would you do, if I told you to go?" Azula asked. "If I told you to leave and stop wasting your time on someone who'd never deserve… e-everything you've offered her?"

"I'd tell you… that you're not the boss of me and I'll stay if I want to," Sokka smirked. Despite herself, Azula laughed.

"You're out of your mind," she said.

"Maybe. But if fighting to stand alongside someone who has been alone for too long means I'm crazy?" Sokka whispered. "Then I don't care to be sane. It's been ages, Azula, since I felt this certainty that I'm doing what's right, that I'm where I need to be. And I'll keep on doing exactly that… if you let me."

"And if I don't?" Azula asked. "If… if I tell you that I don't want this after all? T-that… you'd do best to find happiness anywhere else? To find someone else Yue can connect to, maybe, or someone she could even come back to life fully through? Would you… would you still stay?"

"I don't want anyone else… just as I know she doesn't, either," Sokka said, earnestly. Azula winced. "I may be overstepping my boundaries by speaking for her, Azula… but I believe she would tell you everything I've just said. You matter, Azula… you matter to us. As mean, rude, devious, chaotic as you care to be… you matter."

Azula sobbed, glancing at the door helplessly. She felt him so close by… even though he was blocked from view, barely a shadow past that door. Was that how Yue saw everything? Was this the way she experienced everything through the reflections, through the mirrors…?

"I'd bust this door down if I could… but I'll find a way," Sokka smirked. "You won't stay there forever."

"What… what will you do, if we succeed?" Azula asked. "If I can… finally break this bond with Yue and she… she returns to the sky? If the moon is restored… what will happen to us by then? Sokka…"

"I'd say it's something for us to figure out after that's done," Sokka said. "But… unless you were sick of me by then, I'd stay with you. We… we could keep on having weird adventures, traveling around just like this. I wouldn't need more…"

"What if you're the one who gets sick of me?" Azula asked. Sokka smiled and shook his head.

"Hard to believe you'd ever make that happen. Maybe other people have weak hearts or bad taste… not me, though," he said, proudly. "You'll never stop challenging me, will you?"

"Don't think I'd be able to live with myself, if I did…" Azula smiled.

"Then… there's no way I'll want to walk away," Sokka smirked. Azula laughed inside the cell. "Whatever comes tomorrow, or the next day, or the next… I intend to face all of it with you."

"You're mad," Azula said, with another sad smile, as tears spilled down her face. "I'll be your downfall."

"Fine by me," Sokka whispered.

"I'll make you miserable."

"Not likely."

"You'll have to learn to cook because I won't."

"You'll learn with me. And you'll pour awful amounts of spice in my every meal," Sokka decided: she laughed, and where the sound could have been unsettling once, now he treasured it profoundly. "I'm not going anywhere without you. I promise."

And she believed him.

Even though she didn't think she'd have another day left to live… Azula believed him.

It was the first time she had truly trusted in someone, as faithfully as that, since the height of her days as a Princess, when she had placed her every expectation, hope and dream in her father's hands. She trembled… knowing, and hoping, that Sokka would be far more careful with them than Ozai ever had cared to be.

"I just have to figure out how to…" Sokka snarled, glaring at the door furiously… when a new arrival made him freeze on the spot.

He glared at her fiercely… knowing it was no use. She couldn't tell she was being glared at, after all.

Toph stepped forward: there was a somber serenity in her face, one that seemed to be about to reveal that Azula's execution was due right away, right now… but she said nothing. Sokka didn't speak, either.

"What happened? Sokka…?" Azula called him, her heart suddenly jolting in a bad way.

He didn't speak. Neither did Toph.

Instead, the metalbender approached the cell, and she raised a hand to the door.

Sokka's eyes widened as the lock scrambled in place, right underneath Toph's grip. He gawked in disbelief… as the door suddenly swung open.

"What did you just…?" Sokka gasped.

Azula jumped inside the cell, standing upright quickly. Sokka was right outside… again, within her reach. And Toph stood with him.

"You've… come to take me?" Azula asked, an uncertain shiver rushing through her stomach. Toph, however, snorted and shook her head.

"Think I'd have the key, if I were here with anyone's permission," she said.

Sokka and Azula gasped: the earthbender smirked and shrugged.

"What can I say? I may or may not have eavesdropped on, uh, a lot of that. So…"

"You… wait, you're taking pity on me?" Azula gasped. Sokka grimaced, glancing at her.

"Azula… pity and empathy aren't the same thing, you know?" he said. She glared at him, as though he weren't talking sense. "Sometimes, people just want to ridicule and mock you for your struggles and suffering. That's pity. But sometimes… they want to help. Sometimes they feel the unfairness of what you're going through, and they refuse to stand idly by for another second."

"Bet it was the first one, in her case," Azula said, jerking her head at Toph. The earthbender smirked.

"Wish it were. That would've been funnier," she said. "Come on, you dunderheads. You don't have much time to get out. I'll help, sure, but you'd better get going. The minute Kuei realizes I let you out, all hell's going to break loose."

"You're sure of what you're doing…?" Azula asked, eyeing Toph with uncertainty. Toph shrugged.

"Nope. But Sokka sounded so sure when he was claiming his undying love for you that I figured I'd give you the benefit of the doubt, so…"

"I…! I didn't say undying love…!" Sokka squeaked, cheeks flushed. Toph smirked, punching his shoulder.

"Didn't have to. You're as transparent as they come," she said.

"You… what?" Azula said, staring at him in disbelief. Sokka winced, looking at her with uncertainty.

"She's… messing with me. With you, too," he said, half-heartedly. "Nothing more to it."

He truly was an honest man. Too honest.

That was why she could tell he was lying.

It wasn't meant to be. It couldn't be. She wouldn't let it, for Yue's sake.

But even if that was the case, Azula couldn't hold back the impulse that led her to jump out of the cramped cell, impulsively wrapping her arms around his torso.

Sokka froze at first, but he responded in kind a moment later. Toph smirked, shaking her head at their surprisingly emotional reunion.

"One would think you were fighting to save her for ten years, Sokka: wasn't it like an hour? You're still wearing that stupid Dai Li uniform and I told you to change out of it…"

"Didn't really have the time," Sokka smiled awkwardly as Azula pulled back, dabbing at her tears. "Guess I could go for a change of clothes now."

"And a change of scenario, outright," Azula said. "I'd have shown the rest of the city to Yue, but… feels like this is a failed trip all over again."

"I wouldn't call it that," Sokka smiled, clasping her shoulder before beaming at Toph. "We have a new ally now, too!"

"Well, now, hold your horses," Toph said. "I helped you once, doesn't mean I'm going to be cleaning up your messes forever, you know? It's going to take a ton of work to get Kuei to cut either of you any slack after the stuff you told him…"

"He didn't own up to his fuckups over the Invasion, did he?" Azula inquired.

"No chance in hell," Sokka huffed. "I can't believe I ever had respect for the guy. I mean, fair, it was never a ton of respect, but still…!"

"I'm such a bad influence on you," Azula laughed, smiling fondly at Sokka. "I shouldn't enjoy it as much as I do… but I really do."

Sokka smiled slightly too: gratitude, lined with something else, passed between them as a secret might, even if it wasn't something quite as cryptic as they would have wanted to keep it. Toph, of course, could sense every shift of their heartbeats, and how they raced harder as they smiled at one another as they just did.

"You can save the flirting for later, Sokka. She might be my favorite out of your girlfriends so far, but that's no reason for you two to start making out in front of me…"

"I'm your… favorite?" Azula asked, blinking blankly, before shaking her head. "I'm not his girlfriend!"

"The fact that you only denied it later is pretty damn funny," Toph laughed. "Anyway, whatever! Just get going before I… oh. Wait a second… this is yours."

Azula frowned until Toph pulled something out of her pocket, handing it to her without another word:

It was her mirror.

Yue's reflection smiled brightly at her over her shoulder.

A relief Azula never imagined she'd feel suddenly bloomed in her heart… the tension she had been feeling loosened up altogether.

She was still here.

She hadn't failed Yue irremediably yet.

She hadn't…

"You…" Azula gasped. Yue laughed, tears in her eyes.

"I'm glad… I'm glad I could see you again! I was so scared, but you're back!"

The Princess trembled, tears spilling down her face too as she hugged the mirror to her chest. Sokka smiled fondly at her, wrapping an arm protectively over her shoulders before smiling gratefully at Toph too.

"I won't forget this, Toph. Guess you won't let me forget it, either," he said. Toph smirked proudly.

"Damn right, I won't. You'd better be ready to pay up a favor when I ask anything from you," she said. "And now… I'll go play the pain in Kuei's ass, or the wall in his way, whatever's needed while you two get the hell out of this city. Don't dawdle, got it?"

Azula nodded promptly, and Sokka did the same: he extended a one-armed hug to Toph, even if he didn't let go of Azula, so it wound up being a rather awkward group hug. The earthbender patted his back, shaking her head.

"I have no idea what we're doing… but at least it's kind of funny, huh?" she smiled. "Get going, then. No time to waste."

Sokka nodded, hugging Azula tightly to his side before ferrying her away: in all that time, Azula held the mirror as a treasure she would never relinquish anew, occasionally glancing in it to find Yue's bright smile at the other side: her friend… yes. In spite of everything, when she hardly knew if something was happening between her and Sokka or not, the undeniable truth that dwelled in Azula's heart dictated that Yue was, indeed, her friend. The responsibility she felt towards her, the purpose that girl had brought to her heart, could not be explained otherwise.

"I… I won't fail you," Azula promised, startling Yue with her seriousness. "I'm sorry for everything. But even if it kills me, though I'd rather it didn't, I… I'll fulfill your dream. I'll show you everything I can. I promise."

Yue smiled earnestly, tears spilling down her cheeks as well: it felt as though she wanted to reach through the mirror, and she even raised a hand as though to touch the glass…

"Thank you. I… I really want to see the world with you. I really do, Azula."

Her impulsive thought, again, was that Yue was lying. She quelled and silenced the vicious accusation of her heart, instead smiling earnestly and nodding. Sokka's grip around her shoulders tightened, and he led her carefully through the prison block, expertly guiding her through the very same route he, Toph and Kuei had used upon escaping years ago, from Azula's custody. To think he was in similar shoes now, but with the very opposite person who had once captured him…

He smiled, meeting Azula's eyes when she glanced up at him. There was a spark of something deeper in her soul now, a deep craving for so much of what had been denied to her for this long… and the gradual, but effective, receding of something she had been unable to shed for years so far.

A true bond had been born between her, Sokka and Yue. One she had never anticipated, one Sokka hadn't expected either. A year ago, he would have laughed in the face of anyone who told him he would come to feel the urge to protect Princess Azula as fiercely as he did right now… but her loneliness had finally been chased away, and Sokka intended to keep her from ever feeling alone again. He'd stand by her side, no matter what fierce challenges might come their way.

"I… I cannot believe Sokka, standing by that wicked woman! She took this city from us, and he'd gladly rot in jail with her? Curses, what's gotten into him?!" Kuei squealed. Toph, beside him, shrugged.

"More like who's gotten into his pants, if you ask me. He keeps saying he didn't get it on with her, but he sure wants to even if he didn't…" Toph smirked. Kuei nearly screeched, his face paling even further.

"Do not jest about anything of the sort! Goodness, that's…! That's awful!" Kuei squealed, shaking his head and shuddering.

"Well, don't worry, I'm sure they won't name their children after you, or ask you to be their guardian, or…" Toph said, a finger scrubbing in her nose carelessly as Kuei winced at her uncouth demeanor.

"Would you please not…?"

"Toph!"

The earthbender grimaced: someone was marching towards her, down the very corridor she and Kuei were standing at. She immediately smiled awkwardly upon noticing who it was, and she made certain to wipe her finger clean – on Kuei's robe, who of course yelped at her disgusting choice – before stepping towards the man who approached… with a retinue of heavy-footed Fire Nation soldiers.

"Zuko…! Isn't that nice?" Toph beamed, hands on her hips as he finally stopped before her. "Hope you had a fun trip! I had no idea you were in the area!"

"I've been nearby, in my personal airship, looking for signs of Azula in the northern Earth Kingdom for a while," Zuko snarled. "And I heard she's here. Is it true? If it is, King Kuei, thank you for capturing her. I will take her off your hands now and…"

"You'll what?" Kuei scowled. "No! She's a criminal to the Earth Kingdom, and she will pay for what she's done!"

"You… no! You can't take justice into your own hands that way! That's my sister you're talking about!" Zuko exclaimed. "And I'm the Fire Lord! You have to release her into my custody at once!"

"I most certainly won't allow the Fire Lord to tell me what to do!" Kuei rebuffed.

Toph sighed, though she smiled slightly: well, Zuko certainly had arrived at the best of timings. If Kuei was distracted arguing nonsensically with him, he'd be even less likely to realize that Sokka and Azula were nowhere near his Palace anymore…

For they had snuck out through an escape route, across the west of Ba Sing Se, and now they rushed away from the tall Outer Wall, hoping that no one would be able to recognize them from afar. Yue's mirror nestled safely in Azula's bag, for they had retrieved their belongings from the inn quickly before rushing away, knowing their time was far too limited for any more detours or sightseeing in the Earth Kingdom Capital. Azula glanced back, though, once they were close to entering foliage that might keep them covered, safer yet from prying eyes…

"I never really imagined she'd help us," Azula whispered. Sokka smiled, having slowed down when she did, too.

"Toph's a stubborn one. Solid as a rock, malleable as earth in some ways, too," Sokka said. "But I guess she might have felt some kinship with you, too. She never had friends before we found her, so… maybe she wants to give you the chance to make your own bonds, and your own mistakes, just as she did."

"Very generous of her, if that's how it is," Azula said.

Ba Sing Se would likely remain a bittersweet place for her… the land of her great triumph. A place where she had never truly fit in before… and she certainly didn't now, either. But for once, she found the stalwart, strong city embodied the principles of earthbending, of earth itself, as resiliently as the girl who had saved her did. Where she had basked in using the Dai Li as her tools once, for their instincts had reminded her of that of firebenders, regardless of being earthbenders, now she couldn't help but rejoice in the fact that Toph was earth, pure and strong… and by being exactly that, she had saved Azula's life that day. Just so, Yue and Sokka were water, adapting to their circumstances, shifting and changing, flowing alongside her rather than snuffing out her fire…

She smiled to herself: who would ever imagine she, of all people, would wax poetic about balance? And yet as she smiled at Sokka, knowing she wasn't alone at last, she couldn't help but wonder if this was exactly what she needed. If, perhaps, her fire would only learn to burn stronger once it came into contact with their earth, their water, too. If, in the end, she had needed to find new bonds, new experiences away from the only world she had ever known…

Sokka spread his hand towards her then. The guilt of knowing she might be growing too close to the man before her echoed in her heart again, as it often did… but she pushed it aside this time before reaching to take his hand in her own.

Together, they ran into the forest, across the streams, the dirt roads and the wild foliage, not knowing what their next destination would be just yet, but unafraid of rushing towards it, so long as they stood together.

"Oh, oh! Look at that! It seems she likes him, doesn't she? She does, she does, and you're here to see it all! Ahaha, I knew it! I knew I was right! She is a treacherous monster, and you a naïve fool! It's so amusing! So amusing!"

Yue gritted her teeth, closing her eyes: the mirror had been tucked away for now. Besides the occasional glimpse, such as whenever they crossed a stream, she wouldn't be able to see what was happening. Even so, she had seen their linked hands. She had overheard their conversation, once Toph had approached with the mirror.

Just as she had overheard Azula's words the night before, spilling her innermost thoughts, every last one of them, once the drinks had coaxed her utmost honesty.

"They found each other! And you? You'll have nothing! No one! You're alone, and they'll forget about you!"

The evil laughter behind her threatened to overwhelm her. Even so, Yue closed her eyes and stood her ground, no matter if those cruel bonds of darkness seemed to close in around her.

"Why so stubborn today? What is it? Are you upset? Are you angry? Are you… betrayed? It is a betrayal, after all…!"

"She hasn't betrayed me. She never could."

"But she loves him! And if she doesn't yet, she will soon… the man you loved! The man you wanted to spend your life with! And now he's hers! He wants to be hers, too! You're but a tool for them, aren't you?"

"I don't care if that's all I get to be."

"What?"

"I don't. I… I'm not so naïve, not so lost, that I would think Sokka and I could ever return to each other. When I became the Moon Spirit… I knew what I would sacrifice. I did it, regardless. I never did it while thinking… while thinking that I wanted him to never find happiness, solely because I wouldn't! I knew I would be alone… but I would have to be worse than a monster to want him to face that same anguish too. I… I sacrificed myself so the world would be saved. So that those I love could live in peace…"

"And now, the one you love has been stolen by someone else!"

"You… you don't understand…" Yue laughed, running a hand over her hair. "Stolen? That sounds wrong, and she's… she's not someone else. She's… she's important. She matters. Like Sokka said, she matters. I…"

She didn't dare say it, outright. It was better not to say it after all. What she had dared say so far was enough… for her captor didn't believe it anyway. He was laughing, mocking her, disregarding her words, claiming her human selfishness would demand for more than she was due, that the day would come when she would despise Azula for taking what was hers, and Sokka for giving it…

But the truth dawned on Yue so smoothly, so kindly, that she couldn't help but smile upon realizing exactly why she'd never become the person her captor wanted her to be:

She loved Sokka and wanted his happiness, above all else. Despite her captor's cruel words, with his bitterness and thirst for strife, she realized she would never grant that wicked entity the satisfaction he craved. She would never feel the hatred and spite he wanted to elicit in her heart towards the woman who held Sokka's hand now…

For the truth was that she loved Azula, just as well.

#sokkla #sokkla saturdays 2023 #sokklasaturdays #sokka #azula #yue #things get extra intense in this one #hence why it's extra long :'D #... I'm not even sorry what she does to Iroh in this one is the only kind of terrorism I want Azula to get up to #Toph is the MVP this time for sure #I like writing her but she was on a roll this whole fic #has some of the best lines altogether #even what might be the best line in the final chapter #anyway this is a fun one so I hope you guys enjoy it too!!

[bookwyrminspiration]

I put my trials of apollo speedrun on hold because my sister took a break after the other books before asking for them, but now she's gotten to them and I haven't finished so I'm gonna have to find a way to add the speedrun back into my reading schedule wish me luck 👍

#trials of apollo #they don't take long to read but I have so little free time #like today I have an essay to write. then an exam to take. then i have to read a chapter from this other book. and do nano #and i've got 2 extra things on thursday #OUGH #but nevertheless we persist! #i'll make it work

[elisedonut]

sudden itch to write a rare pair fic thats not Percy related

but like

the last time I did that it ended up becoming my top fic and lead to me deciding that you know... actually I hate that ship just out of spite so i'm not sure how good of an idea it is

maybe if i try like femslash or something super super rare with side characters or something

#using tumblr as a diary again #like is it healthy to feel that way? #no it's probably not but knowing that hasn't made the feeling go away in the months sense i posted it lol #like multiple people have asked for more for it but I'm ngl I'm likely never touching that ship again much less the fic itself #like if i even did decide to it would probably just be Percy and Viktor meeting #the whole reason it even became the ship it did was because I couldn't figure out how to write Viktor #But i don't think that's what people mean when they say they want more of it but maybe id be less annoyed if I did add a Percy/Viktor chapt #I feel like this is what those people mean when they talk about posting art you put your all into vs a doodle #because while i spent a hell of a long time procrastinating writing it i was never like actually happy with it #I just kinda wrote and posted it because I was running out of time and wanted to be done with it #which I think is part of why I find it annoying that it has like double the kudo's of everything else but it makes sense that it does #like it's a garbage fic yeah but its the main character and a fan favorite so ofc its going to get more attention #especially in comparison to the niche nonsense I make that I like more #will I ever delete it No I'm fire believer in not deleting things I've made because ive learned in my life i always regret it so #I just have to get better at writing so I can knock it off its horse >:) #or just keep adding extra chapters to Raspberry Muffin until it surpasses it lol #they only have a difference of 64 at the moment so its not impossible #I know im going to see this again in a few years and be so confused on why it bothered me so much i just know it lol

[ngmn2002]

#it's been so long since these events... but the pain never leaves me... #Tsukasaaaaaaa T~T #I get the grief his mother feels out of thinking he is *not* her son #but he is..... which makes things extra sad for both... #I feel so bad for him... being rejected by your own mother while only a 4 year old kid... it hurts too much #this thing made me cry the first time I read these chapters... and it's only the start........

[todayisafridaynight]

born to do a Saeko Only y7 run forced to be technically illiterate

#snap chats #we all know if i knew how to mod id make so many stupid masadai screenshots but not the point #ive been obsessed with solo runs for rpgs for a while so NATURALLY i wanna ask the question if each y7 chara can solo the game #i was thinkin of saeko specifically cause. 1.) love u 2.) in my first playthrough i primarily used her for support #though subsequent playthroughs obvi i switched her up to be way more offensive #the only chara you really can do this with is ichi and MAYBE adachi since. well ichi's obvious but adachi's the earliest accessible #'what about nanba' girl he LEAVES FOR THREE CHAPTERS #and ofc you only get saeko come chapter 5 - same thing for eri. not gonna even MENTION joon gi and zhao LMAO #so obvi i dream of a mod where you can swap ichi- at least for battles- for any of the other party members #if youve seen rpg runs that ft multiple members at a time then yk the plan is to just have everyone else block and do nothing #or get them ko'd as fast as possible. but obvi in this Mod Reality i would just have The One character to make it. awful LMAO #i mean me and other rpg enjoyers think y7's easy enough so why not the extra challenge #adachi gets the Can Also Do This Run pass since he's playable just about as long as ichi is #exceptions being of course the first chapter / beginning of second chapter and the first sawashiro fight / chapter 3 #i already know people are thinking of the jima fight.... throwing up at that thought #honestly i think JUST them might make the challenge impossible #at least with ichi you have the poundmates but the others Id Consider to be out of luck #itd be fun imo to see how far each chara could get tho #beyond grinding i think youd HAVE to master perfect guarding not just for the jimas but ESPECIALLY for tendo #kiryu doesnt exist to me. apparently. idk he was a wash on my first playthrought but joon gi WAS the unintentional punching bag so-- #anyway im almost done with this comm i just gtta shade it so bye

[journey-to-the-attic]

(Hello hi big fan love your work binged it in like 3 days) Do you think you'll be adapting Nightbringer, too, or will you be going over more of the original game's content first?

(glad you liked it!! i remember seeing your comment on the fic itself too, especially happy that you like my son mephisto too <33)

atm i don't have plans to do a formal adaptation of nightbringer - 'formal' here meaning a proper fic with, like, continuity. i'd be open to doing snapshots of certain events/stuff i've been making up in my head, though!

as for the rest of the og's content, i do at least want to do a mini-fic where ik gets to meet and befriend the s4 trio (so probably 4-5 chapters, one for each chara and then one or two just for some shenanigans together), and potentially more snapshots for the more interesting plot points - most likely the lucifer amnesia arc

that's about it for now! still no plans for any full-blown sequels, but i've got lots of idea snippets i'm excited to try out once jtta is complete! (and WOW, we're getting close...)

#answering asks #sevenofreds #it's the summer hols so my workload is much less and i've been wondering if i might be able to finish the fic with the extra time #there are 6 chapters left (technically 5 since the last is more of a short goodbye note) so maaaaybe i could do it? #it helps that what i've got planned is mostly fun stuff that shouldn't require too much deliberation #the trouble is just sitting down and writing the dang thing #it'd be kind of poetic if the last chapter went up on the 7th march. since it'd finish exactly 3 years after publication #but i'd rather it didn't take that long... ok so new goal!! finish the fic by year's end #that much i reckon i can manage

[softquietsteadylove]

Hi! I just had this sudden idea and I have to ask you!

For the ice queen/tyrant au!

Thena asks Gil what and how exactly the assasination happened and if he can remember anything. While Gil summarizes what he can remember Thena listens quietly without interrupting him. When he finishes Thena says nothing a while and Gil gets worried but before he can say anything she softly takes his hand with the ring tattoo and kisses it while looking directly into his eyes, saying a lot without actually talking. Just this intimate, soft and quiet moment.

"Hey," Gil smiled as he heard the door to his hospital room slide open and shut. He was improving by the day - maybe even by the hour, at this point - and Ajak had promised his release within the week.

Thena remained silent.

Gil kept an eye on her as she came over to her chair, same as she had been. His jacket he had been brought in with was still thrown over the back of it, providing her a shawl of sorts when she was sitting in the chair (and not in bed with him, despite Ajak's complaints about that).

"Gil," she finally spoke up, pulling off her gloves and shedding her coat. She had come from work, either her office or his. "What can you tell me about what happened?"

He let his surprise show. He hadn't expected her to ask--at least not right now. She hadn't asked at first, and as time went on, he just assumed she had been briefed on things.

When she had been poisoned, he had demanded to know every detail of it.

Thena was quiet, sullen, pulling his hand in between both of hers. She looked at him, her brows pulled together and her lips pulled down at the corners, "please?"

Gil inhaled and sighed, looking up at the ceiling. He had thought about it some, dreamed about it more. It was hazy, at first, but the longer he spent recovering the more of it came back to him. "I was headed home after work. The weather was nice, so I wanted to walk."

Thena's hand was already tightening around his.

"Tires screeching," Gil narrated as he sorted through his memories in real time. He had woken from a nightmare or two in his time in this room. Thena had been there for all of them, comforting him silently but resiliently, every time. "That was the first one, but when they realised they missed they got out."

"I tried running, but I guess my guard was down. The other two shots landed, and I went down hard. Part of it was the actual shots, but part of it was also figuring that maybe if they thought they got me, they'd leave. It kind of worked."

She didn't return his little smile, or his shrug.

"I laid there for a little bit before calling the office. They used the civilian line to call in an anonymous tip for an ambulance for me. I also asked them to notify Ajak and Sersi. I...I trusted they would tell you."

Thena continued to listen to him in silence, although he looked over and caught her tears dripping from her long lashes. "Hey."

She let him reach over and brush them off her cheeks. She sniffed, pressing the back of his hand to them and then clasping them together again. "Go on."

Gil sighed. He wasn't sure what she was after, or if she just wanted the full story from his own perspective. It seemed to be distressing her more than anything. But she asked, so he would answer. "I was pretty surprised when I found out it was her. Didn't think she had balls like that."

Thena frowned at him.

"Either way," Gil shrugged, not nearly as bothered by the mere concept of the Little Heiress as his Ice Queen was. "That was the last I remembered before they got the drugs in me. When I woke up...well, you were here."

He smiled, pressing his palm to her cheek. His heart skipped a happy little beat as she leaned into his touch, her expression so tender it could make him fall in love with her all over again. That was his Thena, looking at him like that.

She sighed, just looking at him, taking it all in. She let him brush his thumb against her cheek as he liked, allowing the comfort both of them. Her hands held his other one, running over his palm.

Gil automatically leaned as she pulled at his left hand faintly. He watched as she brought his hand to her lips, kissing the tattoo of his ring. His eyes locked with hers. "Thena?"

But she had no answer to his question. The kiss was its own statement, and really, it was all she had to say.

Gil nodded, running his fingers through her hair, "I know. Me too."

Thena, satisfied that he had understood what she was saying in not so many words, stood from her chair. She pulled back his covers, crawling into bed with him.

Gil made room for her, pulling the covers up over them and holding her against him. "And what happened to listening to Ajak?"

Ajak, who had told them multiple times that Gil's IVs could come out if they were all snuggled up in the tiny hospital bed together.

But Thena curled up against him, forehead pressed against his collar bone, hand over his heart as if to order it to keep beating so long as she was present.

Gil kissed the crown of that hair of hers, settling comfortably on his side so they could both fit together. "I love you, too, Thena."

She had said so much when she had kissed his hand--the ring he had imprinted into his skin to mark that he was hers inseparably. Telling him how much she loved him was just one of those many things.

#Ice Queen/Tyrant King AU #this is a new one #and I know I have asks for them that came in long ago #and I promise they're coming #but I liked the idea of this little moment #and I also did think this storyline of theirs needed another beat #just another little bit to it before we move on to the next installment #the next 'chapter' if you will #I promise I'll compile these properly one day #but I mean #if I put this on Ao3 you're all on there anyway #you've all already read it #and if I add more to it exclusively on there then it just feels unfair #like I'm read-baiting you or something #making you read a long ass multi-chap for a few extra scenes or something? #I don't know #anyway #enjoy this soft moment between these two crime bosses #Thena expresses herself best without too many words #I solidly believe this is true most of the time for her #And Gil loves and accepts that about her #he doesn't need his Ice Queen to be a poet of any kind #he loves her just as he is

[retellingthehobbit]

the struggle of writing a webcomic with Long updates

#ive 'finished' 22 of about 27 pages for the next chapter! #but Ive decided not to post them for another month. ;_; #pain ! suffering #some of the pages in the next chapter are bangers #but i also do want to spend extra time on it #because ive had some of these illustrations in my head for a long time :'3 #but yeeEEE !! #hobbits #those gay little hobbits #not chapters #not art

[orcelito]

There r 28 comment threads on ITNL chapter 16,,,,,

Ykno. My whole "replying to every comment" thing was a whole lot more manageable when I rarely got over 10 comments in a chapter..... no wonder I've been taking forever to reply to all my comments 😭😭😭😭

#speculation nation #itnl shit #this is not a problem! or well it kind of is but it's a problem i enjoy!!!! #just... if i keep getting Lots Of Comments im gonna have to be... more succinct with replies? #i still wanna reply to all comments on recent chapters bc i like encouraging engagement like that #and letting my readers know i appreciate knowing their thoughts #just... it's... a Lot when i try to match every comment for their level of input #replying to all their major points... makes replying to long comments Extra time intensive... #it's hard bc im a pretty longwinded individual #but. it's been Weeks man and i still havent replied to all my comments #life.. and brain matter... have not been mine..... #i'll get there sometime. for now. my brain belongs to the zoo.

[bandtrees]

not gonna lie this is totally me when i admit that the waters around me have grown and accept it that soon i’ll be drenched to the bone

#babbles #the times they are a changin' #still not done! a lot of the writing is done but there’s still more bits to do #as well as waaay more Fun Extras we wanna pump this fic full of #it’s also officially reached the length where it is physically incapable of being One Long Chapter like was our vision SO it’s a two-parter #shoutout to best friend fig this fic is so very special and i could not do it without him I LOVE OUR NIGHTMARE #fig tag

[beesinspades]

besides betaing suggestions, I should be entirely done with my big bang's editing this weekend!! which means that next week.....complete return to creechur fic 👁️👁️

#creechur fic #i'm gonna try to finish the draft of chapter 7 before i post chapter 6 #since chapter 6 betaing won't be until two weeks from now #unless i get betaing done by xan instead of honey in which case it could be up sooner. if xan has time #either way chapter 6 will be posted super extra late but at least chapter 7 won't take as long and i'll be able to start chapter 8 as well

[no-psi-nan]

Me: I only have a little bit of time to work on fic rn. Maybe I'll just work on the next platonic chapter!

Aiura: so it's time for .*✨ quantum physics✨*.

Me: ...girl help...

#I need a little extra time to bullshit quantum physics hsfjdlshfks #WHATEVER. IT'S FINE. #nopsi fic #Me: how come it takes so long for me to finish a chapter?? #Also me: my brother in Christ you are the one that makes things complicated.