A.N. Another update today, I know, I'm crazy. But I really want to finish this book and get those Sozin's Comet episodes done and published before my schedule becomes packed again and I don't have time to write for a couple weeks. 

This was honestly one of the harder episodes to write, just because I unsure of how to balance the shithousery and humor of the original episode with the inclusion of OCs. I took some inspiration from some general comments that you guys left along the way and also threw in some depreciating humor about my own writing choices and general tropes in media. Anyways, I hope these chapters make you guys laugh.

Also, the stuff that's happening on stage in this episode are in italics to make it easier to differentiate between the play and the commentary from the actual characters.

Slight warning that there are references to suggestive themes though its just discussion-based.

Azara stood in between Aang and Zuko as they practiced their fire sets. Swinging their arms down in unison, they shot a fire arc at the ground before raising an arm and a leg, sending out two streams of fire each. Standing upright once more, the three of them took their final positions before relaxing their stances and releasing a deep breath.

"Not bad, Pupil Aang," Azara teased as they bowed to each other. "You're improving your firebending with every set."

"Thanks, Sifu Azara. And Sifu Hotman," Aang added as Zuko huffed, shooting Azara a look as she and Aang shared a high five.

"Is that really necessary?"

"You're just really easy to piss off, Zuzu," Azara joked before walking over to grab some water from Katara and Toph.

"Doesn't it seem kind of weird that we're hiding from the Fire Lord in his own house?" Katara asked, still concerned about their presence on Ember Island.

"I told you," Zuko sighed, sitting on the edge of the dry fountain. "Our father hasn't come here since our family was actually happy." He rubbed the sweat off of his face as Azara turned to Katara.

"And as you can tell from Zuko's tone, that was a long time ago," Azara muttered dryly before taking a sip of her water. "It's the last place anyone would think to look for us."

Azara glanced up as Sokka returned from town with Suki and Kesuk behind him, all of them dressed in their Fire Nation clothes. "You guys are not going to believe this! There's a play about us!" Sokka exclaimed, rushing into the courtyard.

"We were just in town, and we found this poster!" Suki informed, gesturing to Sokka, who opened the scroll that he had been carrying.

Azara raised an eyebrow at the illustration before rolling her eyes. Aang was in the center with Sokka and Katara on either side of him. Azara stood behind them, in the center above Aang, while the rest of the poster was taken up by an enlarged image of Zuko's scarred face.

"What? How is that possible?"

"Listen to this . . . The Boy in the Iceberg is a new production from acclaimed playwright Pu-on Tim, who scoured the globe gathering information on the Avatar, from the icy South Pole to the heart of Ba Sing Se. His sources include singing nomads, pirates, prisoners of war, and a surprisingly knowledgeable merchant of cabbage," Sokka read aloud as everyone gathered in front of him.

"Brought to you by the critically acclaimed Ember Island Players," Kesuk added, reading the bottom of the poster.

"Ugh! Our mother used to take us to see them. They butchered Love Amongst the Dragons every year!" Zuko complained, slouching as Azara sighed.

"What Prince Drama Queen over there is trying to say is that they're horrible. I feel asleep three years in a row," Azara replied, placing her hands on her hips.

"Sokka, do you really think it's a good idea for us to attend a play about ourselves?" Katara pressed, turning to her brother.

"Come on, a day at the theater? This is the kind of wacky time-wasting nonsense I've been missing!" Sokka joked as Azara shook her head.

"Alright, but if it's horrible, I'm blaming you guys. You were all warned ahead of time," she huffed, studying the poster once more.

Everyone got dressed into their Fire Nation disguises before they walked into town. The sun had already set over Ember Island by the time they reached the theater. Azara and Zuko shared similarly uninterested expressions as they made their way up to one of the balconies overlooking the whole theater. Sokka excitedly tugged Azara along, pulling her into the second row. Azara sighed, crossing her arms over her chest as Sokka wrapped an arm around her waist.

"I'm telling you; this is going to be horrible."

"Come on, how bad could it be?" Sokka asked as Azara shot him a look. Kesuk and Suki sat on the other end of the second row while the other four teenagers took the front row of the balcony.

"Why are we sitting in the nosebleed section? My feet can't see a thing from up here!" Toph complained from the other end of the front row.

"Don't worry, I'll tell your feet what's happening," Katara joked as the lights dimmed.

Azara, though she still thought this was all a bad idea, begrudgingly snuggled into Sokka's side as the curtain started to rise, revealing the stage. The background props were clearly indicative of the South Pole as two actors playing Katara and Sokka rowed in a canoe through the icebergs.

Sokka leaned forward, grabbing his sister's shoulder, and excitedly gesturing between them and the stage. Meanwhile Azara was trying to figure out why the casting director chose to cast Katara as a busty older woman with ridiculous makeup. And why Sokka's actor had a wolf tail that bushed out to almost act as an umbrella over his head. She dreaded to think what her costume would look like.

"Sokka, my only brother!" Katara sighed dramatically, holding an arm out. "We constantly roam these icy South Pole seas, and yet never do we find anything fulfilling!"

"All I want is a full feeling in my stomach! I'm starving!" Sokka complained, holding his stomach.

Azara glanced at Sokka out of the corner of her eye as the audience laughed at the joke. Sokka and Katara shared a confused look at the actors' comments. Azara sighed, knowing that this was a bad idea, and simply shook her head.

"Is food the only thing on your mind?" Katara huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Well, I'm trying to get it out of my mind and into my mouth! I'm starving!"

The audience laughed again. Azara could feel Sokka grow frustrated beside her. "This is pathetic! My jokes are way funnier than this!" Sokka muttered, leaning forward in his seat.

"I think he's got you pegged," Toph laughed as Azara tugged Sokka back into his seat.

"Maybe the jokes get better," she tried to convince him, though she knew that it was probably only going to get worse.

"Every day, the world awaits a beacon to guide us, yet none appears!" Katara gasped out, holding her hands together dramatically. "Still, we cannot give up hope! For hope, is all we have!" she cried, fake sniffles filtering out of her. "And we must never relinquish it, even . . . even to our dying breath!" Katara continued, dropping to her knees, and sobbing into her hands.

Azara could see Suki trying and failing to hide a laugh. Sokka shot his sister an amused look as Katara frowned at the play. "Well, that's just silly. I don't sound like that!" Katara muttered, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh man! This writer's a genius!" Toph laughed as the play continued.

As Katara continued to lean over the side of the canoe, a light suddenly appeared from behind her. Katara turned around, looking shocked as an iceberg moved out onto the stage. Atop the iceberg prop was a large orb with a vague shadow of a figure visible behind it. Sokka and Katara sat up in their canoe, amazed expressions on their face.

"It appears to be someone frozen in ice, perhaps for a hundred years!" Katara gasped as they climbed out of the canoe and walked up to the iceberg.

"But who? Who is the boy in the iceberg?"

"Waterbend! Hi-yah!" Katara yelled out as she reached the top of iceberg. She performed a karate chop, causing the figure to disappear from behind the iceberg, and the orb to crack in half. A bit of steam burst out before Aang jumped out, looking rather feminine.

"Is that a woman?" Azara couldn't help but giggle, covering her mouth with her hand as Aang turned around to shoot her a glare.

"Who are you, frozen boy?" Katara asked as Aang laughed in a high-pitched tone.

"I'm the Avatar, silly, here to spread joy and fun!"

"That is a woman playing me," Aang gasped out in horror as Sokka joined in Azara's giggles, trying, and failing to hold in his laughter.

Appa, played by what looked to be an old costume from a festival dragon that was probably recycled for the play, jumped up from behind the iceberg before swinging around the stage. Katara gasped as Appa disappeared behind the iceberg again.

"An airbender! My heart is so full of hope," Katara gasped out as she dropped to one knee, "that it's making me tearbend!" Katara cried loudly as she held onto Aang's leg.

"My stomach is so empty, that it's making me tearbend!" Sokka joined in, flopping to the ground, and grabbing Aang's other leg. "I need meat!"

Aang leaned down, wrapping an arm around Sokka's shoulders, and pointed up. "But wait! Is that a platter of meaty dumplings?"

"Oooh, where? Where?" Sokka replied excitedly, looking around dramatically as Aang laughed.

"Did I mention that I'm an incurable prankster?" Aang smirked at the audience before crossing their legs over one another.

"I don't do that! That's not what I'm like! And I'm not a woman!" Aang complained, banging his hands into the railing.

"Oh, they nailed you, Twinkle Toes!" Toph laughed, leaning back in her seat, and enjoying the show.

Azara immediately sobered, her amusement dying rather quickly, as she saw a prop Fire Nation ship being pulled out. "Oh no, here we go," she sighed, already assuming the worst.

Zuko stood at the bow of the ship with a telescope in hand. His ponytail was rather long and exaggerated with his scar covering the wrong eye. Iroh walked out of the ship as a rather short and rotund man with an easy-going smile on his face.

"Prince Zuko, you must try this cake!" Iroh stated, holding up a cake that was missing a slice.

"I don't have time to stuff my face! I must capture the Avatar to regain my honor!" Zuko yelled dramatically, holding his fist in the air.

"Regain your honor?" a feminine voice from offstage called before Azara emerged, walking out of the ship with her hands on her hips. "Come on Zuko, be realistic."

Azara glared at the actress version of herself and contemplated walking down to the stage to drag the actress off stage herself. Her hair was clearly full of ridiculous extensions to make it seem more voluminous. Her Fire Nation uniform was stupidly tight around her figure with a deep V cut in the fabric to show the older actress's obvious cleavage.

"What the fuck am I wearing?" Azara huffed, leaning forward. "That is absolutely ridiculous! Where's the support? She looks like if she ran across stage one of her tits would pop right out of her shirt," Azara complained, narrowing her eyes. "Not to mention, why would anyone want to show that much cleavage with a military uniform!?"

"Why did you come along if you were just going to complain?" Zuko huffed, turning around to face Azara.

"Obviously to annoy you, Zuko. I had nothing better to do anyways," Azara sighed, flinging her hair over her shoulder, before turning to the audience with a smirk.

"I don't flip my hair like that," Azara complained, leaning back in her seat. "How the hell are you supposed to see in a fight if your long hair is falling all in your face? And that's not like me at all!"

"Well, while you two do that, maybe I'll capture another slice," Iroh cut in before gobbling at the cake he held.

"You sicken me!" Zuko grumbled, turning back to look through his scope for the Avatar.

"They make me look totally stiff and humorless," Zuko muttered, gesturing towards the stage.

"Actually, I think that actor's pretty spot on," Katara replied with an amused smirk.

"How could you say that?" Zuko demanded, turning to Katara.

"Let's forget about the Avatar and get massages!" Iroh suggested, walking over to Zuko.

"How could you say that!?" Zuko shouted back.

Azara saw Zuko slump in his seat, before turning back to the play. "I hate it already," she grumbled to herself as the scene shifted.

The play depicted Zuko and Azara going to Sokka and Katara's village and leaving with Aang before the scene shifted to show the Fire Nation ship once more. "Come with me. It'll be fun," Aang offered to Azara, who shrugged, before taking Aang's hand.

"Sure, that sounds like an adventure! Bye, Zuko!" Azara called before she and Aang were lifted up and off of the Fire Nation ship.

"Ergh!" Zuko growled, running after them. "I hate you, Azara!"

"Like I care, Zuko!"

Azara narrowed her eyes at the play. Turning to Zuko, only to find him looking back at her, she sighed. They shared an understanding look before Zuko spoke up. "I blame your boyfriend," Zuko muttered, glancing back at Sokka. "This was his idea."

"Agreed."

"Hey," Sokka whined, turning to Azara, who shot him a playful look.

"I'm just teasing. I'm not mad. Except maybe at this horrible writer."

At what appeared to be the Southern Air Temple, Aang looked around some bushes when a long tail suddenly waved back and forth from within one of the bushes.

"Hey look, I think I found something!" Aang exclaimed, tiptoeing over to the bush. Sokka, Katara, and Azara shared a confused expression before Aang reemerged with a puppet. "It's a flying rabbit-monkey! I think I'll name him, Momo!" Aang giggled before raising a hand to use the puppet.

"Hi everybody, I love you," Aang stated in a fake high-pitched voice, speaking for Momo.

The audience laughed as Team Avatar grimaced at the joke.

At Kyoshi Island, Suki unfurled and held up two fans. Sokka entered the stage in full Kyoshi Warrior attire and walked over to her. "Does this dress make my butt look big?" he joked, pointing at his behind.

Suki giggled from beside Sokka, who blushed in embarrassment. Azara leaned in closer to Sokka as he continued to pout.

"I happen to like your butt just the way it is," she winked, trying to lighten up his mood.

"Really?" Sokka asked, smiling at his girlfriend. Zuko gagged in disgust in front of them, shooting the two teenagers a look to cut it out.

At Omashu, Bumi, who was wearing an exaggerated muscle suit, stood at the front of the stage. "Riddles and challenges you must face, if you are ever to leave this place!" he warned before cackling loudly. Aang dodged prop rocks as Sokka was being chased around the stage by a Flopsie actor in a weird costume. In the background, Katara and Azara were trapped in their respective rock prisons.

"Oh! Oh!" Katara wailed, holding a hand to her head as the jennamite prop moved to cover her face.

"Why does everyone hate me!?" Azara wailed, before sobbing as the sandpaper was lifted over her head. But before the sandpaper could completely cover her head, Azara grabbed the top of it, and pulled it down, peeking her head out once again. "But everyone needs to just call me Azara, okay? I don't like the 'princess' part. So, just call me Azara. Just Azara. Did I mention that you should just call me Azara? Because you should really just call me Azara. I insist that you just call me Azara."

"Did I mention I hate this play, because I hate this play," Azara huffed in a high-pitched voice, glaring at the actress of herself. "I don't say that!" When Sokka didn't agree with her, Azara frowned and shot her boyfriend a look. "Right?"

"What? Oh, I wasn't listening," Sokka lied, trying to avoid the conversation. Azara huffed again, crossing her arms over her chest, and looked away from him.

With a pirate ship in the background, Team Avatar stood in the middle of the stage. Katara held a large waterbending scroll as the group tried to sneak across the stage. Suddenly, pirates entered the stage from both sides, quickly surrounding Team Avatar. Although they were surrounded, the four of them managed to slip away through the legs of the pirates.

"Why did you have to steal that waterbending scroll?" Sokka asked as they tiptoed away.

"It just gave me so much hope!" Katara sobbed as they walked away.

"Let her keep her hope, Sokka," Azara argued from beside Katara, "because then she'll end up just like me!" The two girls held onto each other as they cried.

Azara rubbed her face tiredly, already over the play.

The scene changed to a Fire Nation prison, where Aang was tied to a platform and guarded by a group of guards. Zuko stood in front of the platform, raising his fists in the air.

"The Avatar is mine!" he announced before looking to the side of the stage. "Wait, who's coming?"

A much larger version of the Blue Spirit mask jumped out, swinging around two large fake dao swords in circles. "I'm the Blue Spirit, the scourge of the Fire Nation, here to save the Avatar!" The Blue Spirit ran around the stage, taking out the guards, and chasing Zuko away. Aang was released from the binds and clasped their hands together.

"My hero!" Aang praised before jumping on top of the mask. The Blue Spirit walked off stage with Aang atop his head, still swinging the swords.

Azara could see Aang and Zuko sharing an embarrassed look in front of her.

The scene changed again to a Fire Nation colony village. Katara and Jet were lowered down above the stage, both holding onto a rope platform. Katara cried loudly and dramatically, as she had been doing for the whole play.

"Don't cry, baby! Jet will wipe out that nasty town for you!" Jet promised, grabbing Katara's chin and pulling her closer. Katara smirked and raised a leg up at Jet's words. A large blue banner was pulled across the stage to symbolize the flooding from the dam. Katara and Jet were pulled back up towards the ceiling.

"Oh, Jet, you're so bad," Katara flirted seductively, leaning her head on Jet's chest.

Azara stuck her tongue out at the scene as Katara rubbed the back of her neck in embarrassment, causing Toph to laugh loudly.

The scene changed to Appa flying with mountains decorating the landscape behind them. "Look! It's the Great Divide! The biggest canyon in the Earth Kingdom!" Aang gasped, gesturing below.

Sokka glanced down before shrugging. "Eh, let's keep flying."

The scene changed again to the Northern Water Tribe. Azara wandered around aimlessly on stage until she was approached by a tall, muscly man who was wearing a shirt far too small for him.

Azara could swear she saw women swooning in the audience and merely shook her head in response.

"Hey, my name's Kesuk." The actor flexed his muscles, easily ripping through the costume and posing to showcase his figure. "I heard you're the Fire Nation princess." He did a series of bodybuilder poses as Azara gasped excitedly.

"That's not really accurate," Kesuk voiced from the back, raising a surprised eyebrow at his depiction on stage.

"Oh, sorry that you're just an overly muscly version of yourself," Aang muttered out, leaning on the railing with an annoyed look on his face. "That must be so hard to watch."

"I am," Azara flirted, hanging onto Kesuk's arm. "Would you be able to show me around here, Kesuk? I'm afraid I don't know where all my friends ran off too." Kesuk spun around and dipped Azara. She placed her hand on his chest and smiled up at him.

"Of course, baby," Kesuk replied before effortlessly lifting Azara into his arms and carrying her off. "I'll show you all of our Water Tribe traditions."

"Hmm, all of them?" Azara purred as she and Kesuk exited the stage.

"All of them?" Sokka asked, turning to Azara who sighed, covering her face. "All of them!?"

"Sokka, that didn't happen! We went sparring! That was it! And I already told you everything that happened between us!"

"We really didn't do anything like they're, you know, implying," Kesuk added sheepishly, a light blush on his cheeks.

The scene changed again, this time focusing on the Spirit Oasis. Azara laid in Sokka's arms as she held a hand over her chest, acting mortally wounded from a fire blast.

"What do we do?" Sokka asked, turning to Katara, who shrugged.

Azara could feel Sokka's grip on her tightening, and she squeezed his hand back reassuringly.

"I know!" Yue exclaimed, walking towards Sokka and Azara. "I was blessed by the Moon Spirit, maybe I can help her!" Sokka nodded and stepped back, allowing Yue to take her place next to Azara. Yue held Azara in her arms as Azara struggled to stay awake.

"Yue," Azara gasped in pain as Yue lifted Azara's head gently with her hand.

"Shh, let me try my special Moon Spirit healing abilities," Yue replied before lowering her own head, connecting her lips with Azara's.

Azara could feel all her friends' eyes on her as she blushed bright red, her eyes wide as saucers as she watched the scene unfold. While Actress Azara and Actress Yue continued making out in the middle of the Spirit Oasis, Toph looked confused at the lack of dialogue.

"What's going on? What's she doing?"

"Azara got a girlfriend," Katara supplied, which only made Azara blush harder. Glancing down, she spotted Zuko shooting her an exasperated look.

"What?" she hissed at her older brother.

"What is it with you and the Water Tribes?" he huffed, glancing back at Kesuk and Sokka, before turning back to Azara.

"Just shut up and watch the play," she muttered, slumping in her seat. Sokka sat silently beside her, his lips pursed together in a firm line.

Azara and Yue pulled back as Yue leaned over Azara, resting her hand on the other side of her. "Did that work?" Yue questioned breathlessly as Azara glanced down at her burn mark.

"I could use a little more Moon Spirit magic," Azara replied before Yue nodded and reconnected their lips again. Azara wrapped her arms around Yue as Sokka stepped towards his sister.

"Looks like that Moon Spirit magic is working," Sokka announced, holding a thumb up in the air at the audience. Yue and Azara continued to roll around on stage together.

"I'll say," Katara replied, her hands on her hips.

Azara sighed, covering her face with her hands, wishing for intermission to hit already.

The scene changed to show mini–Fire Nation Navy ships being pulled across the stage by ropes. Aang entered the scene, wearing a blue costume of the koi fish spirit monster. Aang stomped around stage, crushing the Fire Navy ships, and waving around a doll of Zhao.

"The Avatar is back to save the day! Yay!" Aang jumped around the stage before tripping and falling down.

The curtains closed, prompting the crowd to cheer for the first act. Only Toph seemed to enjoy the play, laughing, and clapping along, as the others looked away, appearing upset. Azara led the way out to the back porch, wanting to get as far from the stage as possible. Leaning against the railings of the stairs as the others filed out, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I told you it was going to be horrible."

"So far, this intermission is the best part of the play," Zuko muttered in agreement, sitting next to his sister.

"Apparently, the playwright thinks I'm an idiot who tells bad jokes about meat all the time!" Sokka complained, walking down with snacks. He handed a bag of fire flakes to Azara, who eagerly took them from his hands and started to munch on them angrily.

"Yeah, you tell bad jokes about plenty of other topics," Suki spoke sarcastically, shooting Sokka an amused smile.

"I know!"

"At least the Sokka actor kind of looks like you. That woman playing the Avatar doesn't resemble me at all!" Aang huffed, kicking the ground angrily.

"I don't know, you are more in touch with your feminine side than most guys," Toph teased, a wide smirk on her face. Aang growled angrily, ready to throw hands with Toph, when Katara called out to him.

"Relax, Aang. They're not accurate portrayals. It's not like I'm a preachy crybaby who can't resist giving overemotional speeches about hope all the time," Katara replied, as everyone turned to shoot her a look. Seeing everyone's eyes on her, Katara frowned. "What?"

"Yeah, that's not you at all," Aang huffed sarcastically, kicking the ground again.

"Listen friends, it's obvious that the playwright did his research. I know it must hurt, but what you're seeing up there on that stage in the truth," Toph stated, causing Azara to scoff.

"I think that 'truth' is perhaps too strong of a word for it, Toph."

"Is one of those Water Tribe traditions Kesuk showed you lying, Azara?" Toph shot back, a chaotic smirk on her face. Kesuk blushed, looking away, as Azara growled.

"For the last time, we sparred! That was it!" Azara snapped, getting to her feet, and pulling Sokka up by his arm. "Come on, Sokka, teach me some of your Water Tribe traditions." She stormed inside. Zuko looked like he was going to throw up at his sister's words.

Sokka smiled sheepishly at the group, chuckling nervously, before hurrying after his girlfriend. Azara leaned against one of the walls inside the theater, her arms crossed over her chest as Sokka caught up with her.

"So, what am I showing you again?" Sokka asked, a little confused.

"I don't know . . . I was just mad at what Toph said," Azara sighed, uncrossing her arms.

"Right," Sokka agreed, leaning against the wall beside her. They stood in silence for a moment before Sokka turned to Azara. "You know, I trust you, right?"

"What?"

"The whole thing at the North Pole . . ." Sokka trailed off, really not wanting to fill in the blanks.

To be fair, he had just watched a play that implied his girlfriend banged a much more muscled up and handsome dude and then made out with a beautiful woman less than five minutes after. It would have been a blow to most people's self-esteem. Even if she wasn't technically his girlfriend at the time that those scenes were supposed to represent.

"Oh, right," Azara sighed, looking away for a moment. "That was . . . pretty messy."

"Quite messy," Sokka murmured. They stood in silence for another moment until Azara reached out, grabbing, and squeezing Sokka's hand reassuringly.

"You know that I've never cared about anyone else the way that I care about you, right?" Azara told Sokka, glancing up at him through her eyelashes.

"Me too," Sokka nodded, squeezing her hand back. "And after everything that we've been through together, I don't want a stupid play to be the thing that gets between us."

"It won't," Azara stated firmly, turning to face him properly. "Because we're together, and love each other, and we're not going to let what one stupid guy, who doesn't even know us, thought about us define our relationship." Sokka smiled and nodded at her words. He squeezed her hand back before pulling her closer to him.

"Agreed." He leaned down and kissed her nose, causing Azara to giggle. "I love you."

"I love you too," Azara returned, before they shared a soft kiss. Azara leaned back in, wrapping her arms around Sokka's shoulders, and pressing a longer kiss to his lips. Just to give him a little extra reassurance.

"Ugh, can you please not do that everywhere you go?" Zuko sighed exasperatedly as he led the group back into the theater. Azara raised one hand at her brother, showing him her middle finger, never even taking her lips off her boyfriend's. "Unbelievable." 

A.N. Yes, I do really enjoy aggravating Zuzu with some Azara/Sokka content.

Thanks for reading, voting, and commenting! Next half of the episode will cover Books 2 and 3 from the play.