Azula hyperventilated as she dripped with water before breathing out a large amount of blue fire. She screamed angrily before breathing out more on the ground in front of her and then once again into the air. Her screams quickly turned into sobs as tears fell down her face and she fell onto her side.

Zuko and Katara watched her with pity until she finally stopped and lay there completely still. "Looks like you get to be Fire Lord then" they turned their heads and spotted (y/n) standing beside where Azula had been about to have her coronation.

Katara was quick to waterbend the boys feet before freezing them to the ground. He had been by Azula's side through it all, even after Ty Lee and Mai had betrayed her.

Zuko sighed but nodded. "Let him go Katara" the girl gave a confused look to Zuko but he nodded and she did as he said. "Come on" he motioned for the boy to follow as he walked towards the silently crying Azula. "Help me carry her to her room"

The second the two started to pick up Azula she went back to her struggling and fire breathing. "Let me go!" She roared as tears continued to fall heavier and heavier. "LET ME GO!!!"

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Katara watched in silence as (y/n) stared at the locked door of Azula's bed room, the sounds of fire and madness could be heard from inside. "Why are you letting him roam free?" She quietly asked Zuko who stood beside her.

Zuko shook his head. "He's done some bad things, but he's not a bad person" he replied, Katara could tell from his voice that he emphasized with that. "Everyone in this palace is guilty of that"

"He was with Azula, even after their friends left her he stayed" Katara replied quietly. "He had his chance to betray her at the boiling rock but he didn't"

Zuko shook his head. "You don't understand" he spoke simply before walking away. "You'll get it eventually"

Katara watched as Zuko walked off before looking back to the other firebender who was now sitting with his back against Azula's door. When he noticed her watching he just offered a small wave.

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"Fire Lord Zuko. Sounds pretty good" Sokka spoke as he, Suki, Toph, and Katara walked up to the Fire Lord and the Avatar after the coronation.

"Thanks" Zuko smiled as he nodded. "I would hope it does, considering I'll be hearing it every day of my life from now on"

"Well don't expect us to start calling you that, your flameliness" Toph spoke with a smirk as she gave Zuko a hard punch in the arm.

Zuko winced at the punch but didn't yell at Toph like he once might have. As Aang started speaking, drawing the attention away from Zuko, the Fire Lord found his eyes drawn to the rooms entrance. He gave the figure watching from the doorway a quick wave, drawing his friend's attention back to him and then to the figure in the doorway.

(Y/n) was still for another moment before politely nodding his head and swiftly leaving. "He's still not in prison?" Sokka asked with a surprised look to Zuko.

"I'm not imprisoning him" Zuko said with a glare. He knew how his friends all felt about the boy but he didn't care.

Aang seemed to be the only one who approved of Zuko's decision. "If Zuko believes he deserves a second chance then I agree" that seemed to silence everyone else's arguments.

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Katara walked in silence through the halls of the palace. The festivities had all but ended due to the late hour so she was making her way to her room when she heard the talking. Katara couldn't help but be curious when she heard Mai's voice.

"You can't honestly believe that" Katara could basically hear the girl rolling her eyes. "She's crazy, (y/n)" at the mention of the boy Katara instantly found herself standing still so she could eavesdrop.

"So?" (Y/n) scoffed. "I probably would be too if Ozai was my father" they were talking about Azula, Katara should have realized that.

Katara could hear Mai sigh. "Even back before she cared so much about impressing her father she was still nuts. How would you possibly go about rehabilitating someone like that?"

"Don't that like I wasn't there to experience it. And I don't know how they can help her, but that's why I'm not a doctor" (y/n) replied with an annoyed tone. "They'll figure something out" Katara heard the boy stand and begin walking.

Katara quickly, and as silently as she could, made her way back the way she had came. She didn't want to get brought into this conversation.

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In the morning Katara stared down from her balcony, looking at (y/n) as he sat in the palace gardens. She had only heard the end of his and Mai's conversation last night but she had thought a lot on it.

This boy was Azula's friend. Katara had assumed that was because he was similar to her, that certainly would have explained why he hadn't turned on her with Mai and Ty Lee. But as she knew Zuko saw, there seemed to be more to it than that.

This boy didn't seem to resent the fact that Zuko was now the Fire Lord and Azula wasn't. And it was clear that despite him staying with Azula, neither Ty Lee nor Mai resented him for it. In fact the girls and Zuko seemed to be the only ones that the boy would go out of his way to interact with.

What was it that made this boy different from Azula in their eyes? He had been with her until the very end, even through her psychotic break. He had just watched as she imprisoned their friends, not intervening in any way to try and help them.

The answer was simple. It had taken her a while to see, and she was sure she was the only of the non-fire nation in their group to understand it.

He thought he could help Azula.

He clearly didn't succeed, but he almost definitely had tried his best to help her. He had been the one constant person that she could rely on. He had been the one friend that Azula hadn't needed to coerce into joining her, the one friend who she could always trust, the one friend who would never betray her.

He had failed, but Katara admired that even now he was doing his best to help her. He was only in the garden now because he had just been talking there with Zuko, inquiring about Azula and what he could do to help and when he could visit her.

Katara watched as the boy stood up before walking away. Katara decided that she'd try to talk to him at some point. Now that she understood him she felt bad about how they had all been treating him. Like Zuko had said, he had done some bad things but that didn't mean he was a bad person.

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(Y/n) was silent as he stood in one of multiple small courtyards that they had at the palace. He carefully swung a whip of fire around, constantly vigilant so that he wouldn't be startled by or accidentally hurt anyone that came outside.

As he hit a training dummy made of steel he heard the door behind him sliding open. The footsteps were gentler than those of Zuko, so it was one of the girls. It couldn't be Ty Lee since she would have called out to him by now, so that left Mai. "Mai" he turned as he dissipated his whip. He was surprised to find the waterbender girl that had helped Zuko defeat Azula walking towards him. "Katara"

"(Y/n)" Katara nodded at him as she stopped walking a couple of feet ahead of the boy. "I wanted to talk"

(Y/n) frowned but nodded. She didn't seem angry. From what Zuko had told him she was not pleasant when she was angry. "Alright, let's talk" he would have offered her a seat but there was nowhere out here to sit down.

Katara nodded as she seemingly tried to figure out what to say. Finally she decided on something and spoke. "How's Azula?"

The question caught (y/n) off guard. Of all the things that could have been said he hadn't expected her to show concern for Azula. "I- I'm not sure. Zuko doesn't think it's a good idea for me to visit her yet"

Katara frowned and nodded. "I'm sorry" (y/n) frowned too, trying to figure out what Katara was playing at. "I'm also sorry that we haven't yet given you a second chance, like we did with Mai and Ty Lee. You didn't really make sense to any of us"

(Y/n) couldn't help but roll his eyes at that. Of course they wouldn't understand. "So what are you here for?"

"To change that" Katara answered simply, surprising (y/n). "Let's be friends" she held her arm out.

(Y/n) stared at the girls hand for a long moment. Had he missed something? Why was this girl now wanting to be friends with him?

He took her hand and shook it. The answers to his questions didn't matter, all that mattered was that she was giving him a chance. "Thank you"

Katara smiled and nodded in response. "Of course" they each pulled their hands back a moment later and put them back by their sides. "Let's head inside, talk, get to know each other"

"I'd like that" (y/n) nodded as they both turned back to the door and began the walk to the nearest room with seats. (Y/n) still didn't know where this was coming from, but he also didn't much care. He'd show Katara that he would be a worthwhile friend to have, then hopefully he could do the same with the rest of Team Avatar.

Word count: 1683

(Thoughts? Requests for future chapters?)