The wedding was in a handful of hours, and Azula could barely understand where all the time had gone. She'd been preparing, anxiously awaiting for the moment, but now that it was here it seemed unreal. She knew everyone else was getting ready, preparing, and dressing to the nines, but she had done that early in the morning and now sat by herself rapt in thought.
Something was going to happen tonight whether she was ready for it or not. Her throat was dry, her lips chapped, but she was focused. Whatever needed to be done, she would do it. And so Azula sat, images dancing on the floor in front of her. She didn't care if they were real or figments of her once fractured mind. There was no point in questioning it now.
So she watched small people dancing in small circles. Almost like she were picturing a tiny version of the ceremony just beginning. In the distance the sound of instruments echoed through the hall. How time had flown she wasn't sure, but Azula stood, wiped her palms upon her pants, and ventured silently to the large space hosting a slew of warm bodies.
In another lifetime she would have spent more time admiring the grand appearance of it all. The matching flowers in delicate vases, the candlelight illuminating harsh edges into soft shadows, and even the smell of incense burning somewhere to the right. Or maybe even Mai's carefully perfected appearance, one Azula knew made Mai uncomfortable but was her mother's idea. Their family still valued tradition no matter how little Mai  cared.
But Tom Tom sat unphased in his seat, eyes wide, drinking in his surroundings. He was in a rather tight set of dress robes, but whether or not he could properly breath Azula wasn't sure. As for Zuko, he looked handsome. She had to admit he cleaned up nicely. His hair was neatly tamed, his clothes seamless, and his expression soft, warm, and kind.
Even from where Azula stood upon the grand staircase, examining the room below, she could see her mother trying not to cry. Because Zuko, her precious little boy was finally grown up. And even if Azula wanted to pretend she didn't feel a tightness in her chest, she couldn't. She was losing Zuko too, one way or another. It stung, but it was necessary, as is the way of life.
Hands settled upon the rail way, the princess watched it all unfold through a half veiled lense of scrutiny. She had not forgotten her duties, there was a threat at hand, but nothing had stirred. It was this quietness that alarmed her. So much so she didn't noticed when the true festivities had begun. When the ceremony had ended and the crowd threw about exalted cheers.
There was dancing and laughing, and all of it was joyous, but Azula couldn't find an ounce of joy in her bones. Not until she saw the acrobat staring intently up at her, silently asking Azula to come down and visit. So Azula did.
"You look really nice," Ty Lee noted, as Azula took the last step. The acrobat, straightened Azula's collar with delicate fingers. Her hands lingered for a moment before retracting.
"So do you," Azula replied, and she meant it. Ty Lee was wearing something more formal but still very much her own. It was pink, as expected, but the sleeves were translucent and tight about the elbow. The body of the outfit was snug with a pink satin scarf about the waist.
"See anything suspicious yet?" Ty Lee asked expectantly.
"No," Azula admitted, reminding herself to watch the crowd, "but I can sense something. I don't know when it will happen or where, but it will. It's like I can feel the strands of fate growing tight in the air."
"That's awfully poetic," Ty Lee mused, once again catching herself before giving away any form of intimacy between herself and the princess. There were too many prying eyes. It wasn't safe yet.
"I try," Azula joked, subtly locking her pinky finger with the acrobat's. By the grin on Ty Lee's face, Azula could tell the gesture pleased her. They stood together for a while, simply watching people mill about, dancing, talking, and even joking. Almost all were rosy cheeked and smiling. It had been a long time since the fire nation properly rejoiced.
"Oh! I'll be back, don't go anywhere," Ty Lee remarked, clearly remembering something of importance. Azula gave a silent promise in the form of a nod. Her golden eyes still intent and watchful. In her peripheral she watched the acrobat vanish.
For some time all remained the same. Music played, and the night wore on. As it did, the grand hall's temperature rose along with the moon. Lanterns would be lit in the courtyard like always. Azula had the servant's routines memorized. But while others felt the warmth of drink and food settle in their stomachs, Azula felt a chill settle in the air. No one else noticed.
In the crowd, Azula picked up on a slow moving form. It was a man, portly, short, but not at all recognizable. He seemed unfamiliar with the special affairs taking place. His outfit was nearly two sizes too small. His face stone like and certain, his eyes locked on something in the masses. His demeanor slowed compared to the pace encompassing the rest of the room.
Another two figures emerged in the haze of the night. They were strangely under dressed, their gates stiff and awkward as they walked. Eyes dead set on something ahead. Frowning, Azula moved to tail them. She carefully moved about the crowd, practically unnoticed.
Whatever was going to happen, it would happen soon. These people may be dressed as part of the court, but their behavior indicated otherwise. All was quiet, tense, and nerve wracking until frantic screams broke the damn of tension followed by flashes of heat and fire.
They came from the left and the right and up ahead and behind. Azula hadn't expected her father to bring friends, but clearly he had. She supposed they'd act as a distraction. A way to keep further help from interfering with his plan.
Instinctively, people flocked to the perimeter of the room, attempting to avoid whatever danger it was they perceived. In the mess, Azula spotted Zuko fending off three intruders at once. They seemed surprised by her brother's strength. The thought was amusing, comforting even, because Ozai had grossly underestimated his son. Again. And Zuko wasn't keen on letting his father's henchmen get the best of him.
But there was one form amongst the crowd that Azula recognized. She recognized it each time she was alone with the shadows and the fractures of her mind. She knew the slope of the shoulders, the tilt of the gate, and the pattern of the hunter's stride. He was going for a cheap shot.
Before the strike landed, Azula lashed out, an arch of blue fire danced through the air . It struck the ground with a violent hiss, snaking about the room in a protective frenzy until a circle of fire warded off whatever attacks flew inwards from the outside.
Zuko looked up in surprise, he turned slowly to see his father slowly stalking him from behind. In the blue light it was clear how much Lzai had changed. He was thinner, ghost like, pale beyond compare, and he looked like death itself. For a moment Zuko was afraid.
"I was hoping to get some alone time with you," Ozai grinned, a smile that made the world grow cold. Zuko recovered from his alarm, stepped back, and set his jaw.
"We expected you," He glowered.
"Really? I'm shocked," Ozai laughed, the sound like breaking ice.
"You're not as unpredictable as you think," Zuko replied, swallowing tightly.
"And you're still a coward. I can practically smell your fear," Ozai sneered, striking fast, strong, and with the intent to kill. For his part, Zuko did well to counter the strike but it was one thing to practice against friends: it was another to fend off an animal with the scent of blood in its nose. Zuko's defense shattered on the second strike despite landing a hit of his own, and his stance broke, but Ozai's retaliation never landed.
Whatever battles raged on elsewhere seemed to go silent. Even Ozai's frenzy came to an end. His eyes went wide before narrowing.
"Move," He hissed.
"No," Azula replied, fists raised and feet set. Smoke slowly cleared from the air. She'd batted her father's attack away like swatting at a fly.
"Really? You're protecting him?" Ozai cackled, "after all these years? Don't you remember-"
"Shut up," Azula interrupted.
"Oh, that is no way to talk to your fire lord," Ozai hissed, his expression steel like.
"You are not my fire lord."
"And he is?!" Ozai snorted, forgetting his fight to wheeze like a dying hyena bear. Azula couldn't bring herself to agree. "Oh, I see. You still don't respect him. Smart girl."
"Azula, I can take him," Zuko growled.
"No, he's mine." With that, Azula struck. Her attack came as a surprise. Ozai's eyes widened as he deflected the assault. His feet unstable for only a moment. He hadn't expected her to follow through with her words. That was his mistake.
"You'll regret that," he warned. And the dance began.
Azula pressed the attack, hard and heavy at first. She meant business and he needed to understand that. On the defense, Ozai was never allowed to settle.
"Tell them how you did it. Tell them how you got your bending back," Azula growled.
"It was my destiny," Ozai grinned, side stepping a jet of fire, to counterattack.
"You killed the lion turtle didn't you?" Azula breathed, sweat forming on her brow, "you perverted ancient powers."
"I did no such thing. I took back what was mine!"
— — —
"I hate how good times always get ruined!" Suki huffed, standing back to back with Sokka.
"You're telling me, I was just getting my groove on!" He whined, kicking one of Ozai's goons in the knee. "Sucker."
"Sokka look out!" Suki warned, as a massive rock hurtled towards him. The water tribe warrior was tackled.
"Great, he brought benders who don't just shoot fire," Ty Lee huffed, rolling to her feet as Sokka staggered back to his.
"Yeah, I noticed," he grunted, rolling his shoulders and deflecting the blade of a rebel swordsman.
"How many do you think he brought?" Suki asked, ducking and weaving as a chain whip flashed about.
"Enough to keep us busy," Sokka huffed.
— — —
"You know, I used to think you were stronger than your brother," Ozai taunted, as Azula retreated into a series of defensive moves. She was hoping her idea would work. "That I made you stronger. Yet here you are. Just as weak and pathetic as him."
"You made me a soldier when I was a child," Azula spat, barely dodging a fireball aimed at her leg. Rolling she managed to get a single counter attack in, before a strike caught her shoulder. She hardly noticed the heat.
"I made you into something great and you've squandered it on this." Ozai snarled, his eyes shining with loathing and hate. "And now you turn against me to bite the hand that fed you."
"If you train a dog to bite, you don't decide who it mauls." Recollecting her forms and the countless hours spent training, Azula began a new tactic. Each move her father performed, she redirected. It was an incessant boomerang effect. Every now and then Ozai faultered, but he collected himself each time.
Planting both feet, he raised a wall of fire that descending in a suffocating heat. It took all of Azula's concentration to break through it and deflect another blast of heat.
"You're out of practice," Ozai crowed, his face twisting into a smile.
"No," Azula panted, jaw set, "I'm just getting started."
— — —
"Who's next?" Toph demanded, a pile of bodies next to her feet.
"Self control, Toph," Aang reminded, pushing back the other benders away from a crowd of civilians. He has his hands full, that was for sure, but he never stopped moving. Constantly on his toes, Aang circled about in classic Air Nomad fighting style, to confuse and confound the enemy.
"They aren't going to attack without purpose," Katara yelled over the noise. "What's their goal."
"I don't know," Aang replied. "Look around."
"I'm blind dumb ass," Toph remarked wrestling with a muscular earth bender who'd picked her up off the ground.
"Put her down," Sokka glowered, slicing at the calves of the enemy while a knife soared through the air plunging into the bender's side.
"What? Like I'm not going to miss the opportunity to shed blood on my wedding day?" Mai asked, as Sokka looked over at her in surprise.
"The supports," Kiyi noted, having forced her way into the group. "They're trying to take out the pillars. The whole ceiling will cave in!"
"This wasn't just about Zuko," Aang worried. "Ozai doesn't plan on making it out of here, he just wants to take everyone he can with him."
— — —
Azula hit the pillar hard. Her back cracked against the stone and her body collided with the floor. Her vision swam, but still she clambered to her feet.
"Give it up," Ozai glared, but he was growing tired too. "You can't win. I taught you everything you know."
"I am more than what you made me," Azula replied, but her voice wavered, and she was trying not to use the pillar for support.
"You're a fool. A little girl with a broken mind who can't put herself back together," Ozai spat, his eyes burning as bright as his hands.
"Who do you think I get it from?" Arching a brow, Azula slunk to the right, met Ozai halfway through a strike, and stabbed a small knife into his bicep. She always carried a few special secrets around with her. They often proved useful.
His cry of pain was absorbed by the chaos elsewhere. Tearing the blade free, he plunged it in turn through his daughter's ribs. Azula gave no cry of pain, just a silent acknowledgment of the injury through an open mouth and wide eyes. For a moment, Ozai's expression turned to one of triumph as he twisted the blade, but Azula grasped him by the throat, hand ablaze.
Her grip was tight, deadly, and she could smell burning flesh, but she lost her grip when the metal scraped along bone. With a harsh knee to the stomach, Ozai sent his daughter to the ground, following it with a hard knuckled back hand. His eyes were furious, and his skin already blistered about the throat. It would be hard for him to breath without pain, and breath was important for a fire bender.
"You're out of practice," Azula laughed, blood dribbling from her mouth. She struggled back to her feet.
"I taught you everything you know," Ozai replied hoarsely, his neck muscles straining. Already a sheen of sweat appeared on his face. Severe burns were hard to recover from. Azula knew that first hand. She knew the pain of it as much as Zuko did. "You can't win."
"I already have," Azula breathed, a strange relaxation settling over her. The edges of her vision were dark, but it didn't frighten her. "You taught me to survive all on me own."
"So?" Ozai laughed cruelly. "What's that got to do with victory?"
"You've never had to survive." Azula's world narrowed in on the man in front of her. A warmth spread through her body, fierce but comforting, and the overwhelming heat demanded to be used.
— — —
White heat washed over the room. It prickled at the acrobat's skin and threatened to singe her clothes. For a moment she feared something had exploded, something mechanical, but upon squinting her eyes she saw something frightening.
Azula was glowing somehow, no, not glowing. Her arms were aflame up to her elbows, her clothes steamed, her shoes smoldered as fire seemed to coat her up to the shoulders. But her eyes were the most frightening aspect, because they were such a light shade of gold they were nearly white. Like she was somehow entering an avatar state of her own.
In that moment, Ty Lee forgot entirely about the danger she and the others were fighting. Her fear wasn't because she worried she'd get hurt. Her fear was for Azula. The princess was going to destroy herself from the inside out. She would literally burn out if she made a mistake.
— — —
Azula saw white. It was bright and furious just like her. She was going to show him what type of weapon he'd made her. She was going to show him how much fury it took to survive out of spite and hate.
Possessed by a wrath she did not understand herself, Azula delivered an onslaught of fire and heat. Ozai's defenses shattered every time, and it was Azula's turn to smell blood. She wanted him to cry, to plead, to beg, and to bleed just like she had. She wanted his world to burn and to make the ashes so hot that nothing rose from them again.
"Do you have any idea what you put me through?" She demanded, watching as he ducked behind a pillar for protection as if it would save him from her entirely. "What you did to me? I was a child!"
A ball of fire exploded against the stone sending chunks arching through the air to shatter on the ground.
"You were my heir," Ozai growled, attempting to counter the attack, but his flame fizzled when contacting with her own.
"I was your daughter." The more he spoke the brighter she burned. "And you took everything from me. My childhood, my joy, my mother, and my brother."
"You gave that up yourself!" He spat.
"I had no choice you bastard!" Azula's vision was encased in a white film she could barely see through, but the only grounding fixture was her father's pale form. She wasn't sure when she'd knocked him to the ground or when she stood over him, but his eyes bore into hers with a heat of their own.
She was ready to kill him. To wipe him from the face of the earth. She was in the very position needed to do so,  it Zuko's voice resonated in the back of her head. And suddenly the veil of white shattered.
She remembered the time he'd taught her how to brush her teeth, how to properly make a fist, and how to write her own name. He'd done it all patiently and kindly. His words were soft, and praising, and fatherly. At some point in time, however brief, this monster had been human too. And it pained her to know that, to recognize it, but she couldn't forget her own existence either. She couldn't forget the monster she used to be, and the scraps of humanity she'd pieces back together for herself.
"I hate you," Azula whispered, "I hate you so much."
"Do it!" Ozai growled, a foot pressed firmly in his chest. And then Azula saw it. The same expression she once wore. He wanted to die.
"No," She shook her head, and the raging heat dissipated. "No."
"Do it you coward!" Ozai yelled, his eyes distressed. His own demons swirling around his head.
"You will destroy yourself before I have to do it for you," Azula stepped back, watching as he struggled to breath.
"You bitch," he rasped. "Kill me!"
"No, you're my father. And I-I love you," Azula admitted, her voice cracking, "just as much as I hate you."
"No you don't."
"I do. And I hate that I do."
Turning curtly on her heel, Azula vanished into the crowd. She didn't know where she was going. She didn't know there were tears streaming down her cheeks, but she did know how much pain she felt. How hot her entire body felt. She needed to cool off. Desperately.
The world no longer existed except for what was in front of her in that moment, and she found herself in the bathroom. The water began to fill the tub, cold and raw. Swallowing tightly, the princess, wounded as she was, curled up in the bottom of it and let the water wash over her.
It wiped away the tears on her cheek, and slowly it rose to grace her lips, but the white veil she once viewed the universe through, gave way to a field of unrelenting black. And yet, despite the frigid water, she felt like she were burning alive from the inside out.