A.N. Here's the first half of the Swamp episode! Warning: contains mentions of blood/wounds. 

Azara stared up at the sky as she felt Appa start to fly lower. Sitting up, she glanced over at Aang as Sokka approached him. "Hey, are you taking us down for a reason?" Sokka asked, but Aang continued to stare down at the swamp. "Aang, why are we going down?"

"What? I didn't even notice," Aang mumbled, snapping out of his daze.

"Are you noticing now?" Sokka huffed, as Katara and Azara shared looks of concern.

"Is something wrong?" Katara questioned, moving closer to Aang.

"I know this is going to sound weird, but I think the swamp is calling to me," Aang mentioned as Azara's eyes widened at the statement.

"You're the Avatar, Aang. I think weird is kind of the name of the game," Azara shrugged as Sokka held his stomach.

"Is it telling you where we can get something to eat?" Sokka inquired, staring down at the swamp.

"No, I . . . I think it wants us to land there," Aang spoke softly as Sokka shook his head.

"No offense to the swamp, but I don't see any land there to land on."

"I don't know. Bumi said to learn earthbending I would have to wait and listen, and now I'm actually hearing the earth. Do you want me to ignore it?" Aang asked, turning around to stare at his friends.

"Yes," Sokka answered instantly as Azara looked down at the swamp.

"Is there something a little . . . ominous about this place?" Azara questioned, picking her head up.

"See, even Appa and Momo don't like it here," Sokka pointed out as both animals grunted in displeasure.

"Okay, since everyone feels so strongly about this, bye swamp. Yip yip!" Aang flicked Appa's reigns as Appa started to gain elevation once more. At the sound of Katara and Sokka's gasps, Azara looked up to see a tornado headed straight for them.

"Where did that come from?" she yelled out as Aang tried to avoid it.

"I don't know, but you better throw in an extra yip! We have to move!" Sokka shouted as Azara grabbed onto Appa's saddle tightly. Appa turned to avoid the tornado, but they were soon sucked into the tornado. Azara clenched her eyes shut when she heard Sokka yell out. Reaching out, Azara grabbed his hand, her own grip on Appa loosening.

"I got you!" she assured him as Aang created an air shield around Appa, causing Sokka and Azara to fall back onto the saddle. Azara grunted as Appa swung around, throwing her and Sokka against the side of the saddle. Sokka grabbed the saddle with arm and wrapped his other arm around Azara's waist as Appa continued to spin.

Aang tried his best to keep the air shield going, but the tornado proved to be too strong. It wasn't long after that they were all thrown out of Appa's saddle and into the dark depths of the swamp. Azara yelled out as she slipped out of Sokka's grip, hitting a few random branches, before finally landing in the dirty swamp water.

Sitting up, Azara sputtered and spit out the muddy water, trying to collect herself. Standing up shakily, she tugged at her braid to remove some of the water. Sokka stood up beside her, a large leech attached to him, causing Azara to jump. "Sokka, you have an elbow leech!" Azara pointed out as Sokka began freaked out.

"Where? Where?" Sokka called out, falling back into the water. Sighing Azara placed her hands on her hips.

"Take a wild guess," she replied sarcastically as Sokka grabbed the leech and tossed it into the swamp.

"Why do things keep attaching to me?" Sokka groaned as Aang jumped gracefully down to them.

"The tornado . . . it just disappeared," Aang mentioned as the group shared concerned looks.

Regrouping on solid ground, they started to walk through the swamp, calling out for Appa and Momo. As Azara pushed through another set of vines, Sokka sighed from beside her. "We better speed things up," Sokka sighed, lightly nudging Azara out of the way and pulling out his knife to slice through the vines.

"Maybe we should be a little nicer to the swamp," Aang suggested as Sokka turned to him.

"Aang, these are just plants. Do you want me to say 'please' and 'thank you' as I swing my machete back and forth?" Sokka asked sarcastically, as Azara glanced around the swamp.

"Maybe you should listen to Aang. Something about this place feels . . . alive."

"I'm sure there's lots of things that are alive here and if we don't want to wind up getting eaten by them, we need to find Appa as fast as we can," Sokka replied before slicing through another set of vines. As they continued their journey through the swamp, it was quickly becoming apparent that they were no closer to finding Appa and Momo.

"Appa! Momo!" Azara called out as the swamp grew darker.

"There's no way they can hear us and no way we can see them. We'll have to make camp for the night," Sokka stated before swinging at the flies surrounding him. Azara and Katara shared similar tired expressions before nodding in agreement. Suddenly, a bubble of swamp gas rose from the water and popped behind them.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, just swamp gas. Look there's nothing supernatural going on here," Sokka huffed as the swamp gas reached their noses. Azara gagged and covered her nose at the smell. As the group recovered from the swamp gas, a loud screech echoed around the swamp.

Azara jumped as she was sandwiched between Katara and Sokka, Aang holding tightly to Katara's other side. "What was that?" she whispered out as they stared around at the swamp for the source of the scream. A small bird fluttered by, causing the group to relax. "Maybe we should build a fire," Azara suggested as the group continued to hold onto each other.

"I second that," Sokka nodded, getting up and running over to a small tree sticking out of the ground. Using his machete, he hacked the tree from the ground, cutting the wood into several twigs.

"Sokka, the longer we're here, the more I think you shouldn't be doing that," Aang stated gently as Sokka turned to him.

"No, I asked the swamp. It said it was fine. Right swamp?" Sokka asked the small root sticking up from the ground. Grabbing the root, Sokka shook it lightly. "'No problem, Sokka!'" Sokka replied in a higher pitch causing Aang to stare at him with an annoyed expression.

Sokka walked over to Azara with the pieces of wood in hand, holding them out to her. In response, Azara crossed her arms over her chest, staring at him with an unimpressed look. "What?" Azara glanced over at Aang, who still looked frustrated. "Oh, come on, you don't think this place really is alive."

"Weirder things have happened," Azara replied, grabbing the wood from Sokka's hand before setting up a small fire in the center of the clearing. With the small flame going, the group huddled around the fire. Azara tried to ignore the creeping fear building up her spine.

"Does anyone else get the feeling that we're being watched?" Katara asked, pulling her knees to her chest.

"Please, we're all alone out here," Sokka scoffed, causing Azara to shoot him a look. As he waved his machete at one of the flies, the action caused the fly to illuminate itself. Fireflies were not uncommon, but the way that the light illuminated the several pairs of eyes staring out at them caused the group to freak out again.

"Except for them," Aang pointed out as the group huddled together.

"Right, except for them," Sokka agreed as he hugged Azara into his side.

"Maybe we should try and get some sleep," Azara replied, ignoring how the hairs on her arms were standing straight up. Laying down and cuddling close to each other, the group managed to drift off to sleep not soon after, their earlier journey through the swamp having tired them out.

Azara rolled over in her sleep, curling into Sokka's side, as vines creep out from the dark surrounding. One vine slowly wrapped around her ankle as Azara's eyes cracked open. Sitting up on her elbows, Azara looked around at the surrounding swamp with blurry vision. She didn't want to disturb anyone else, but she felt the tug in her gut. Something was wrong.

Moving to shake Sokka awake, Azara looked around for any sign of movement. "Uh . . . what? What's wrong?" Sokka yawned, blinking awake as Azara continued to look around with suspicion.

"I don't know. I just have a bad feeling—" Azara started before the vine tightened around her ankle and tugged her towards the darkness. She screamed in surprise as Sokka latched onto her hand, stopping her from disappearing into the darkness.

"What the—" Sokka exclaimed, pulling out his machete and slamming into the ground to prevent him and Azara from flying into the dark swamp. At Sokka's yell, Katara and Aang woke up.

"What's going on?" Katara asked before she was pulled into the swamp.

"Katara!"

"Hey!" Aang yelled out as he was also tugged into the dark swamp.

"Aang!" Azara cried out as she felt her grip loosening on Sokka's hand. "Sokka, I'm slipping."

"Hold on," Sokka groaned at the strain, trying to keep a tight hold on Azara. "I got you, Azara. It'll be alright."

Azara opened her mouth to reply when another vine wrapped around her chest, yanking her backwards. Her hand slipped out Sokka's and she was suddenly pulled back into the darkness. "Sokka!" Azara screamed out before she disappeared from his view.

"Azara!" Sokka yelled out before he too was pulled into the dark swamp.

Azara struggled in the hold of the vines. Grunting, she twisted one of her hands, igniting a fire blade with her fist. She wiggled free as she continued to slice through vines. Getting to her feet quickly, Azara sent a quick succession of fire blasts at the vines until they disappeared below the surface of the swamp water.

Standing up straight, Azara tried to even out her breathing as she looked around for any sign of her friends. "Sokka! Katara! Aang!" she called, but there was no response. Sighing, Azara started walking though the swamp, continuing to call out for her friends. Hours passed as she continued to walk aimlessly around the swamp.

Azara huffed as she ducked under another branch. "Sokka! Aang! Katara!" she yelled again. Sighing as there was still no sign of her friends, Azara snapped to attention when she heard rustling in the brush. "Hello? Who's there?" Azara called, trying to focus in on the source of the noise.

Pushing through some of the vines, Azara's eyes widened as she stared at the figure in front of her, a person she hadn't seen since she was nine years old. Stepping through the vines, Azara's eyes filled with tears, her throat clenching as her arms dropped to her sides. Taking a step forward, Azara's arm raised subconsciously as she stared at the smiling figure.

"Mom?" she whispered out, her voice cracking at the end.

"Azara," Ursa replied, a wide and kind smile on her face. "My little dragon princess."

At the sound of her mother's voice, Azara snapped out of it, her hand lowering back to her side. Shaking her head, Azara angrily wiped at the tear that had fallen down. "She's not real, Azara. Just a swamp gas hallucination," Azara reminded herself, closing her eyes and breathing deeply before staring at Ursa's mirage. "She's not here."

"Of course, I am, Azara."

"No, you're not!" Azara snapped, glaring up at the mirage of her mother. Taking a shaky breath, Azara closed her eyes and forced herself to relax. Turning on her heel, Azara willed her clenched jaw to unhinge. "You never were."

As Azara moved to leave, the mirage spoke again. "Azara, everything I did was to protect you," Ursa stated, causing Azara to stop in her tracks. More tears filled her eyes as Azara spun around to glare at the mirage again.

"You're. Lying," Azara growled out, her fists clenched, the words she spoke separated by shallow breaths. There were so many words she wanted to say, to scream out at the mirage, but she didn't even know where to begin. "You didn't—" Azara stopped herself from finishing the phrase, turning around, and walking briskly back towards the way she came.

"I love you, Azara. I do," Ursa continued as tears streamed down Azara's cheeks. Lowering her head, Azara clenched her fist again and spun around.

"Then why did you leave!" Azara screamed, releasing a fire slice towards the mirage. Noticing that the mirage was gone, Azara dropped to her knees, choking back a sob. "Why did you leave us?" Azara sobbed out, hugging herself as she laid on the tree trunk. "We needed you, and you left us with him." Picking her head up to stare at the place the mirage had been, Azara let a few more tears slip through. "And I didn't even get a goodbye."

Meanwhile, Sokka cut through some more vines, grumbling to himself about the stupid swamp. "Dumb ugly vines! Katara! Azara! Aang!" Sokka yelled out, slicing though more vines. "You think you're so tough, huh?" he asked the vines before trying to cut through the vines again. The vines finally gave way, but Sokka immediately fell forwards into the mud.

Groaning, Sokka picked up his head, his eyes catching the sight of Azara. She was turned with her back to him. "Azara? Azara!" he called out, scrambling to his feet, and rushing over to her. "Azara?" he asked again as Azara turned slowly to face him. He stumbled back as he locked eyes with her, or rather, something that looked a lot like her.

"Azara?" he repeated as she fully turned around and stood up, the gaping wound in her chest, which was located at the same place as the wound from Zhao at the North Pole, catching his attention. The mirage of Azara stared at him with tears streaming down her cheeks as the wound started to bleed. "You couldn't protect me," she stated, stumbling forwards.

Sokka stood, his feet almost rooted to the ground as the mirage of Azara glared at him. "I needed you . . ." The mirage gasped out, her head tilting to the side as Sokka looked on in horror. ". . . and you couldn't save me!" the mirage snapped, causing Sokka to jump back.

He quickly slipped on the mud, falling onto his back. When he opened his eyes again, the mirage was gone. Shaking his head, Sokka stood up once again, dusting himself off. "We need to get out of this swamp," he mumbled to himself, rubbing his eyes to get the image of Azara with the hole in her chest out of his mind. 

A.N. So, here's just a few things to clarify about this chapter: 

1. I am aware of the Search comics and Ursa's complicated back story and I personally do not hate or dislike Ursa. I think she, especially in light of the comics , is a flawed character. But, I think that as Ozai's victim, she was never meant to "win" because, when dealing with an abuser, victims usually can't. Ozai held all the power in that relationship, and Ursa had to make hard decisions. I don't think she's a bad person, but she's a flawed character because she was forced into a situation that didn't have any "winning" options. That being said, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but I just wanted to share mine to clarify how I intend to portray Ursa (or rather the memory of her) for the rest of this story. 

2. With all that said, Azara is also a victim, and has a lot of resentment towards her mother. Ursa may have said goodbye, but Azara wasn't awake and largely suffered under her father's reign without her mother's protection. She also felt that Ursa didn't love her in the same way as Zuko. So, generally speaking, while it is shown (in comics and ATLA) that Ursa had good intentions with her children, Azara still suffered greatly as a result and therefore does resent her mother significantly. 

I intend to clarify Ursa and Azara's relationship later in the story, but this chapter was intended to show that there is love but also a lot of pain there. 

3. I obviously had to change the Swamp scene from Sokka and Yue, so I changed it to Azara. That decision will be clarified more in the next chapter. 

Sorry for the ranting explanations, but I wanted to share the perspective from which I am writing from to help clarify future chapters. Thank you as always to everyone for reading, commenting, and voting on this story! This is probably the last update from me until after the holidays, but I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!