A.N. Warning: Includes references/themes of mental illness, violence 

Azara breathed heavily before resuming her form. Yelling out, she blasted a powerful fire slice at the training squire. He managed to block it, but he had no time to react before Azara blasted him out of the arena with a fire comet. Standing up, Azara glared at the training squires, who had all been defeated by her in a matter of minutes.

"Towel, Princess?" a servant asked shakily as Azara nodded. Taking a towel from the servant, she wiped the sweat from her brow as two figures entered the arena.

"Looks like you weren't so rusty after all," Azula commented, studying the training squires, who clamored to their feet, bowing quickly, before running off.

"What do you want?" Azara sighed, tossing the towel onto the bench. "I'm not done training."

"You've been out here for two hours," Izen reminded Azara, who raised an eyebrow at him.

"What of it?"

"Maybe you should take a break," Izen suggested as Azara scoffed, rolling her neck to pop her stiff joints.

"Maybe you should either step into the arena and help me finish my training, or get out," Azara snipped, causing Azula's eyes to widen slightly. Izen sighed, before entering the arena. He slid off his shoes and shirt as Azara stretched one last time. Standing up, Azara got into her stance.

"After this . . . we need to talk."

"About?"

"How you've been acting," Izen commented as Azara's eyes flashed with anger.

Winding up, she sent a fire blast at Izen, who hurried to block it. "Stop trying to control me," Azara growled before spinning around and releasing a fire slice at Izen.

He dodged and sent a fire blast at Azara, who ducked under it. "I'm not trying to control you. I just want to talk, Azara."

"And I'm tired of talking," Azara snapped before jumping and doing a flip, sending a powerful fire blast down at Izen, who raised his hands to block.

Landing in a crouch, Azara spun on her knee, releasing a fire wave before jumping back to her feet. Using quick steps, she dodged Izen's blasts and sent back several of her own. Standing up on one leg, she fired a blast from her hand and foot at the same time, which Izen struggled to block.

Azara drew closer to Izen, her blasts becoming more powerful as she stepped forward. Rolling under one of Izen's attacks, Azara kicked back, releasing a fire slice from her feet. Izen managed to block it, but it still sent him flying back. He landed with a grunt on his back, sliding away from Azara, as she stood up once more.

"We're done here," she stated, before moving to collect her things.

"Azara," Azula called, starting to follow after her twin as she walked briskly back to her room. "Azara! Stop ignoring me!"

"I'm not ignoring you. I'm just avoiding you," Azara corrected before opening the door to her room. Azula stuck her foot in between the door and the wall, preventing Azara from slamming the door closed on her. "Stop following me, Azula."

"Stop avoiding me, Azara," Azula shot back with the same tone.

Rolling her eyes, Azara stepped away from the door. Azula entered the room, shutting the door behind her, before leaning on it, and crossing her arms over her chest. As Azara pulled out fresh clothes to change into after a bath, Azula studied her composure, looking for something amiss.

"You have nothing better to do than annoy me, Azula?" Azara huffed, undoing her top knot, and moving to brush her hair out.

"You're not . . . well, you," Azula pointed out cautiously, not entirely confident with how to proceed. Azara was usually the one smacking sense into others, not the other way around.

Azara paused, lowering the brush for a moment, before going back to her brushing. "I haven't been in a long time, Azula," she replied quietly as she worked to detangle her dark hair.

"Maybe, but even then, you weren't this . . ." Azula trailed off, trying to find the right word.

"Spit it out," Azara sighed, turning around to glare at her sister. "Say it, Azula."

"Ruthless," Azula finally stated as Azara scoffed, rolling her eyes, and turning back to the mirror as she brushed out her hair. "This is the third day in a row you've nearly taken out the entire squad of training squires."

"I thought it was you who said that weakness had to be stomped out," Azara commented, staring ahead at the mirror.

"Sure, but . . . that's not you, Azara," Azula replied, walking further into the room as Azara pursed her lips together.

"What do you want, Azula?"

"I want you to talk to me, Azara. You're pushing everyone away. More than usual," Azula sighed, placing her hands on her hips. "This isn't like you." Azara set down the hairbrush roughly at Azula's words, her gaze still focused on the mirror in front of her. "This isn't like you at all."

Azara did not respond for a moment. Instead, she slowly got to her feet, and turned around so that she was facing Azula. "You're right, Azula," she began softly, her words causing Azula's expression to fall slightly. "But this is who I am now. And if you don't like it, there's nothing I can do about it," Azara replied with a sense of finality before moving to collect her things for her bath.

*|*|*|*|*

On Crescent Island, Aang stared out at his friends as he finished recapping everything that had happened with Roku and Sozin. "You mean, after all Roku and Sozin went through together, even after Roku showed him mercy, Sozin betrayed him like that?" Katara asked, frowning.

"It's like these people are born bad," Toph sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, that's wrong. I don't think that was the point of what Roku showed me at all," Aang replied, shaking his head.

"Then what was the point?" Sokka asked, standing beside Aang.

"Roku was just as much Fire Nation as Sozin was, right? If anything, their story proves anyone's capable of great good and great evil. Everyone, even the Fire Nation have to be treated like they're worth giving a chance," Aang explained, staring at the ground, before turning back to his friends. "I mean, look at Azara. Despite her upbringing, she chose to be good. She chose to help us."

"And she's just as much Fire Nation as the rest of them," Toph nodded along with a shrug.

"Yeah, she is," Sokka agreed quietly, rubbing his chin in thought. "I still don't like the idea of giving the Fire Lord a second chance, but I guess that's your mission Aang, so I'll leave it up to you."

"Thanks, Sokka," Aang returned with a small smile.

*|*|*|*|*

A cloaked figure slid through the halls of the Fire Nation Palace, heading for a room that had not been opened in several years. Jiggling the lock, the figure stepped inside the old bedroom before sliding the door closed softly behind them. The figure expertly lit the candles still littered about the room before pulling back their cloak, revealing Azara.

She walked forwards, clearly searching for something. The books and scrolls that had been collecting dust since her mother's disappearance were shuffled around until Azara found what she was looking for tucked into the spine of an old botany book. Picking up the recipe she was after, Azara looked over the ingredients, before turning and heading towards door.

Pausing after a few steps, she turned and headed over to a portrait sitting against a chair with a tarp hanging over it. Azara yanked the sheet off of the portrait before glaring down at the painted image. In the portrait, her mother sat in a chair, Azara seated to her right and Azula seated to her left.

Azara had always hated that portrait. Not a single one of them looked even remotely happy. They looked like prisoners held together by the invisible chains of fate that never seemed to budge no matter how hard they tugged. A fitting image, she decided, given their relationship.

Her eyes trailed down to her own youthful face, lingering on the image for a moment, before turning back to her mother's portrait. "Guess you were right, huh?" she asked dryly as she clutched the recipe just a little tighter in her hand. "There is something wrong with me . . . but you already knew that didn't you?"

Azara paused for a moment, glaring at the ground. "Guess I have just a little too much of Father in me to ever be worthy of you. That's why you didn't say goodbye, right? Thought that I'd freak out? Or do something bad?" Azara eyes flashed with anger before she sighed, lowering her head. "Doesn't matter anyways. What's done is done."

Azara turned to the door with her eyes narrowed in determination. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go do what you never had the strength to do, even though you had the means to do it the whole fucking time," Azara stated, reaching out for the door handle.

Azara . . . the voice rasped once more.

Azara . . . do not . . .

Azara . . . your destiny . . .

But unlike the other times, Azara ignored the voice in the back of her head, and stalked back to her room, her cloak billowing about her.

*+*+*+*+*

A few days later, Azara was finally ready to carry out her plan. She stared down at the supplies that she had gathered for the mission, her eyes lingering on the vial of clear liquid on the side. Picking it up, Azara studied the liquid for a moment, her eyes narrowed as it swished around in the vial.

She scoffed to herself for a moment, remembering the fiasco with Jet and the Fire Nation soldiers when she argued that the Fire Nation didn't usually use poison to kill their targets. But she'd been all the more naïve back then. She no longer had that privilege anymore.

Reaching for her dagger, Azara stared down at her wrist where the gold bracelet hung, catching some of the candlelight off of the cactus charm. With a delicate grip, Azara held the cactus charm between her thumb and forefinger, tears coming to her eyes as she stared down at it.

"I'm sorry, Sokka," she whispered out, a single tear dripping down her cheek before she removed the bracelet. Setting the bracelet on the desk carefully, Azara held her hand over it for a minute before turning and reaching for her dagger and the vial of poison.

With gloved hands, she applied the poison to the knife before carefully pulling the scabbard over the blade once more. Attaching the blade to her belt, Azara pulled on her cloak when there was a knock from the door. Although she could feel her heart leaping into her throat, Azara calmly walked towards the door. Opening the door, her eyes narrowed on Izen's face as he stared at her.

"What do you want?" she demanded, her teeth gritting.

"Can we talk?" he asked softly, glancing up and down the hall. "Now?"

"Why?"

"I know what you're planning," he warned quietly as Azara's eyes opened slightly in shock. Grabbing him by the front of the shirt and yanking him into her room, Azara shut the door behind her before storming forward.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Look, Azara, you're spiraling here and I—"

"—You what? Care?" Azara scoffed, shaking her head. "Don't even try it, Izen. I'm not that helpless, naïve little girl anymore."

"What happened to you?" Izen nearly whispered out, his eyes widening in horror as he stared down at Azara.

"What happened?" she muttered sarcastically before she looked away. "Everyone has a breaking point. Guess we finally found mine. I'm sure you'll be so happy to inform our fathers that I finally reached it, right? That I finally broke?"

"No, I'm not happy," Izen sighed, staring over at her. "You're not you, Azara."

"Was that supposed to do something?" Azara scoffed with her eyes narrowed. "What the hell are you even doing here?"

"I'm trying to stop you," Izen stated firmly as Azara raised an eyebrow.

"You're trying to stop me?" she repeated mockingly, an amused smirk overtaking her lips. "It's cute that you think you can, Izen, but I'm afraid you're way out of your depth already. I'd suggest you just walk yourself back to your room and pretend like this never happened."

"Azara, what happened to you?" Izen tried, looking genuinely concerned as Azara scoffed again. "What happened to that sweet girl who would never think about doing what you're about to do?"

Azara paused for a moment, glaring at the ground before leveling her glare at Izen. "She was naïve, and she cared a lot about the people she loved, and people took advantage of that. They exploited her, used her," Azara spat, taking a step forward. "And every time she thought she found a shred of happiness—" Azara pushed Izen back to emphasize her point "—they took it away from her!"

"Azara, I'm—"

"—You're what? Sorry?" Azara scoffed, shaking her head. "It's far too late for that, Izen."

"What can I do to change your mind?" Izen pleaded as Azara raised an eyebrow at him.

"You really think you're capable of changing me? I knew you were arrogant, but it's honestly pathetic how self-important you think you are," Azara grumbled out, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's literally nothing you can do to change my mind, Izen."

"Maybe not me, but what about Azula? What about Zuko?"

"Azula will understand. Perhaps not right away, but in time she will. As for Zuko, I'm sure he'll be delighted to have a promotion."

"What about Ty Lee or Mai?"

"They'll be there to support my siblings and that's all I care about."

"What about your uncle?"

"He'll be too caught up worrying about Zuko to think about me," Azara rattled off each response like she was answering simple math questions.

"What about your other friends from your travels?"

This one gave Azara pause, mostly because she would not have thought that Izen would bring up her traitorous escapades, but she quickly countered it as well. "The war will be over. And they will be safe. And that's all that matters."

Azara turned around, ready to head to the door, when Izen used his last possible tool in his arsenal to try and stop Azara. "What about that Water Tribe boy? What would he think?"

Azara froze at Izen's words before she snapped. Izen barely had time to react before Azara had swept his feet out from under him and held a fire blade against his throat. "Don't talk about him! You don't deserve to talk about him!" she growled out as Izen stared up at her, fear clear in his eyes.

Releasing a breath of fire in frustration, Azara stood up, and allowed the fire blade to dissipate. "Why am I wasting my breath on you?" she sighed, turning back to the door.

Izen sat up from the floor, staring after her. "I'm being serious, Azara. I . . . I know you don't love me; certainly not like you seem to love him. But I can't help but think anyone who loves you wouldn't want to see you do this," Izen stated as Azara reached the door.

She paused for a moment before grabbing the doorknob. Azara turned back to Izen to issue one last warning with her eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you know what's good for you, Izen, you'll stay out of my way. Or you will be moved. Permanently," Azara warned in a deadly tone before turning to the door. And without another word, she was gone.