Ty Lee hadn't been able to sleep at all that night. Every time she closed her eyes the burning blue papers were visible on the back of her eyelids. Morning couldn't have come quick enough. She hardly spent time getting ready, and raced to the infirmary not stopping for breakfast.

There was only one person there and it wasn't hard to figure out who. The place was freezing cold and Ty Lee felt goose bumps race up her arms. Shivering she walked over to where a group of nurses were looming over the only occupied cot.

Ty Lee was given a cold look by one of them but completely ignored it and pushed to the side of the bed. Her heart fluttered in guilt and sympathy. Azula's arms were fitted snuggly to the bed, due to leather cuffs, as well as the ones around her ankles. The princess was awake, but her focus was solely on the nurse holding a small cup of water and a handful of pills.

"Your brother insists we make you take these." The woman pleaded, clearly frustrated.

"I don't need to follow his rules!" Azula growled her arms straining against the cuffs. They had stripped away the princess' more formal attire placing her in simple garb. Ty Lee noticed the pure strength in the fire bender's arms. She was surprised the cuffs didn't break.

"Then you leave us no choice but to force the matter." The nurse sighed.

"I dare you to try." There was an animalistic gleam in Azula's eyes, one Ty Lee had seen many times before, only when the princess had eyes set on prey. It was a defense mechanism.

"Don't. Don't, think about it." Ty Lee caught the attention of all the nurses and Azula, for seemingly, the first time.

"Who let you in here?" One of them demanded.

"It doesn't matter. You're all insane. You can't force her to do that." Ty Lee gave them the most incredulous look she could muster.

"Oh, she's right." Azula piped up, a lopsided monster like smile on her face, her eyes full of amusement.

"Get out." One of the caregivers grabbed the acrobat's arm, but the pink clad girl was quick to react. The nurse's arm went limp from Ty Lee's quick reflexes.

"I'm allowed to be here." Ty Lee spoke sternly standing tall and proud. She'd grown over the years and nearly surpassed Zuko in height.

"Under what jurisdiction?" The nurse hissed holding her limp arm.

"Mine of course." Azula smirked and her eyebrows arched expectantly. Legally, the nurses couldn't refuse, Azula did have the power to call people to her side when she wished. They did, however, have the right to defy certain royal requests if it caused health concerns. It was a tricky subject. It was a battle of will and at last it seemed the caregivers were defeated.

"Fine, but she's your problem now." They were all too eager to leave and part of Ty Lee was all too happy to watch them go. The infirmary was empty now, that was, except for the acrobat and the princess.

"Azula, you have to take your medicine it'll help I promise." Ty Lee tried to give her as sincere a look as possible but the princess wasn't buying it.

"If you think I'm going to trust you you're wrong." The words were harsh and callous. Ty Lee expected such a reply but it didn't sting any less.

"I know. At least let me help you. These things are ridiculous." Examining the cuffs the acrobat's fingers began to undo the latchings. "I can't believe they're even allowed to do this. Your poor wrist is raw."

"Oh boo hoo." Azula replied dryly as Ty Lee moved on to undo the ones on her ankles. What the acrobat didn't expect was the princess to move like a viper. She was a flash of red fabric, pale skin, and dark hair, with the scent of smoke.

Ty Lee's back slammed painfully into the wall and she was aware of something pressing against her throat. "Azula don't."

"Why not?" Came the violent whisper. "Why shouldn't I snap your perfect little neck?"

"Because you need me. Otherwise you wouldn't have hesitated." Azula made some sort of indecipherable noise next to Ty Lee's ear.

"I don't need anyone."

"Then you want me here. There's only two basic human instincts, wants, and needs. You've eliminated the first." Ty Lee had learned Azula's tricks long ago, she had grown clever. She was no longer the whimsical and foolish girl she had been. "So what is it?"

"You forgot the third instinct." Azula was close enough for Ty Lee to feel the princess' lips brush her jaw line.

"And what is that?"

"Primal. The barest of responses. What we resort to when we reach our lowest point." Came the mocking answer.

"And what do you resort to?" The acrobat was barely managing to remain calm, remain poised. Keeping Azula talking was good, it allowed her to assess her surroundings.

"Dominance." Just as before, Azula was quick, the warning pressure on Ty Lee's neck was gone, and suddenly the acrobat was struggling to stand. Azula's arm was wrapped snugly around her neck, their bodies agonizingly close, and Ty Lee could feel Azula's knuckles pressed painfully into her back. A warning, a wrong move, and she was toast. Literally.

"You don't scare me." The acrobat laughed carefully feeling Azula's arm squeeze tighter.

"Perhaps I don't, but my demons should. You want to know what I hear?" The question called Ty Lee's thoughts back to the precious night. Zuko had said she needed to stay away from such topics, still, it seemed like a foolish idea.

"No. I don't want to know what they're telling you. I want to hear what you're thinking, what you're feeling, what's hurting you. I don't care about your dad's voice or whatever he is to you. I'm not friends with you father I'm friends with you." The answer was enough to startle the princess. Ty Lee could feel Azula's grip loosen but she didn't break free. Azula needed to feel in control for Ty Lee to work the situation to her advantage.

"I don't have any-"

"You do. Or you wouldn't be doing this. I know you're angry at me for telling Zuko about your meds. I get it but I'm trying to help you." Azula's grip tightened once more but it wasn't as tight.

"No one really wants to help me." There it was again, the vulnerability Ty Lee had been trying to dig up. It was easier now to crack the princess, to pry the little edges away that had previously been well guarded. "They just want to make me into something they want."

"You're right. They want you to be like you were. The General, the elite, the prodigy, its all they've ever known you as." Ty Lee could feel Azula's heart beating quickly against her back.  "But I've known you as the curious little girl who was ambitious and smart."

"You knew a lie."

"We both know that's not true. There were glimpses of you, the real you. The person you could have been and I saw them." Ty Lee couldn't keep the passion from her tone. She knew there was someone else deep inside of Azula trying to claw its way out. She also knew that Azula was terrified of that person.

"It was a ploy Ty Lee. Don't you get it? I had you wrapped around my pinkie." Azula growled.

The princess was terrified, to feel, to not be in control. It was even plainer to see after all the acrobat had learned last night. Azula used her power, her history, as a manipulator and dictator to excuse her missteps.  Ty Lee wouldn't be fooled by such excuses again, not anymore.

"It's okay to let that person inside of you out. No one is going to hurt you." The realization that Azula's primary demon was her father, and that his constant mental manipulation had scarred Azula so deeply, caused new revelations to crash down on Ty Lee. His subtle abuse had gone far deeper than the acrobat had realized.

The Fire lord had crawled so deep into Azula's head that the princess was scared of herself. His voice was conjured in her head because Azula had been so ingrained with the knowledge of consequence should she express herself truly, she honestly believed she was in danger. Even now, with her father locked safely away, bending gone for good.

"You do not understand the consequences."

"He's not here. He can't hurt you. No one can. Your mother, your brother, your father. You are safe and you are valued." Ty Lee sensed a shift in Azula and very carefully unwound herself from the princess' hold.

"He won't go away. I-" Azula's eyes glassed over once more like they had the previous night. They darted about the room trying to find the firelord's invisible form. "He says I'm strong. I-I can ignore you. You're lying to me, this is who I am. I'm his daughter, heir to the throne, conquerer of Ba Sing Se, former FireLord."

"No. You're Azula, a teenage girl, you're afraid, you're kind when you don't guard yourself, you're brilliant, you're my friend, you're a sister, you're a daughter, a leader, a visionary." Azula seemed to snap into reality for the briefest moment, but once the acrobat stopped talking her attention was diverted again.

"Father never liked you." Azula whispered conflict captured in her features. "He always wanted me to get rid of you. He says I can. I won't get into trouble, he'll just send Zuko away. Dad will take care of me, he promised."

The princess' fingers twitched like they had a mind of their own, blue flames licking at the air. Ty Lee knew that whatever Ozai was saying, it was working, and he was guiding Azula down a very dark path. The acrobat needed to snap her out of it.

Azula's attention returned to Ty Lee but the girl's eyes were no longer conflicted, they were resolute. The princess had made her decision and Ty Lee could feel a dark change in the air.

Just as the flames grew strong the acrobat reacted quickly. She moved in close as she'd been trained to do, Azula expected the familiar combat moves, expected her bending to sputter out. Instead lips crashed against hers.

The sensation was so foreign, so unexpected, something snapped within her. Her reaction was instinct. There was a loud smack and suddenly Ty Lee was gone. Azula backed up until her back pressed against the wall. "No no no no no."

He had seen it. Ozai knew, her father knew. There was no hiding it. She could feel his eyes staring down into her soul, scrutinizing every inch of her. See the flames licking at the edges of her vision. She was dead. She was worse than Zuko, had fallen lower than she'd ever thought possible.

"Father please. It's not my fault." Her body shook for what seemed to be no reason. Emotions wild. "I'm sorry. I know I promised. O-only you. My focus was only you. W-whatever you wanted I know! Training, no emotion, control b-by fear."

Ty Lee's cheek stung horribly but she wasn't thinking about herself. She heard Azula's rambling and the irony of it was pitiful. Control by fear. Azula couldn't even realize that's exactly what her own father had done to her. What he'd done to Zuko and Ursa. Ozai had ruined all of them this way. Even his prized prodigy.

"No I didn't. I didn't I swear. I'm doing what you asked I just need time. It's har-I'm not attached. Not to her. I told you that, don't you believe me?" Ty Lee stood and she looked down at Azula's quivering form. She'd screwed up again, she thought she'd done the right thing. Only she'd dissolved Azula into a rambling, crying, hysterical mess.

The acrobat did what she could. She sat next to the princess and pulled her close running a soothing hand through raven black hair. "You're okay. I promise."

Azula titled her head, there was something else there. Not her father. But who? Slowly her curiosity tugged the voice into focus. Her initial response was disgust but it faded to sadness. For herself, what she'd become, and for the first time Azula began to grieve. She wasn't sure what brought on the floor of emotions but there was no stopping it.

"I know. Let it out, it's just us here. I won't tell anyone I promise," Ty Lee spoke softly making sure to keep her movements slow and none threatening. She could sense the different aura. She knew the extent of Azula's sorrow. She could feel the self hatred, the self loathing, the pity, the despair. Most astonishing however, was the grief.

Ty Lee had never felt Azula grieve. It seemed that the princess was grieving for herself. For her losses, for her pain, her hurt, the betrayal, the lack of love, but most importantly the part of herself she'd killed all those years ago. The part of herself she'd been trained to ignore and snuff out.

"You don't have to hide anymore. Zuko and Ursa have changed. They care about you, it's time you start caring about yourself. 'Zula you have to believe you can be who you want. That you can change." Azula remained still despite the tears sliding down her cheeks.   "Your first instinct is to believe you're some horrible monster but you're not. If you were, you would have killed me, you would have gotten out of those cuffs on your own and destroyed those incompetent nurses."

"They were q-quite stupid." Azula sniffled.

"Indeed. Now, I'm only gonna ask once and if you say no that's okay. You have a choice here. Always remember that. You have a choice now. You can say no to things. You won't be punished." The princess seemed to doubt the acrobat's words. "I'll make sure of it. If you want to think no one else is here to help you, to take care of you, fine. Just please believe that I am."

"What do you w-want me t-to do?" There was still a slight hint of skepticism to Azula's words but Ty Lee was grateful for her attempt to be trustful.

"Take your meds. Just for today. You don't have to I just think it would help. You're tired and emotionally drained." Ty Lee still wanted to offer Azula the choice but ever fiber of her being wanted Azula to just listen to her.

"I don't need them." Azula mumbled. "I want to go back to my room."

"Okay. I'll help." Ty Lee carefully stood helping Azula to her feet. The two walked in silence to Azula's room where the princess was more than happy to crawl into bed.

"Can you leave the lights on?" Ty Lee nodded hand hovering just above the lamp.

"Anything else you need to be comfortable?"

"I...well sometimes I used to hold a pillow. It's dumb but I pretended it was Mom. Somehow I could go to sleep better." Azula's thoughts seemed to be slower from fatigue but Ty Lee was patient.

"You have plenty of pillows."

"No, I don't want one. Just someone else close by. To make sure he doesn't get in." Ty Lee wanted to yell at her, Ozai wasn't coming back, but it wasn't what Azula needed at the moment. The princess didn't need anyone else telling her she was broken and crazy. The princess needed someone safe and reliable.

"I can stay." Ty Lee settled cross legged at the foot of the bed watching as Azula curled on her side, eyes flitting closed.

"I'm sorry I hit you. You frightened me."

"I'm sorry too. I wasn't thinking." Ty Lee sighed feeling tired as well.

"Sometimes I think you are, you just pretend not to be. You were always good at that." The acrobat wasn't sure if it was an insult or a compliment and was left wondering what exactly the princess had meant for the rest of the evening.