It had been so easy…

A knife in her father’s back as he retired to his room after a long war meeting. An imperceptible poison in her fuddy-duddy old uncle’s tea as he sat down for his afternoon cup. A single lightning bolt to her older brother’s heart while he sat daydreaming about dragons and glory. And her mother, who had always enjoyed physical affection, received a powerful hug of asphyxiation.

Azula had always wanted her family to love her, but they had always been so busy it was like they hardly noticed she even existed. Now, staring down at their bodies at her feet, the Princess knew that they could finally be hers. They would adore her, cherish her, and give her the love she so desperately craved.

She laid herself down amidst them, tears and laughter spilling forth from her joyously. There would be no more contending for their love now; just her – they would love only her…

…and they would never leave her again.

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It was a long-standing game between the three friends. Azula would practice perfecting her lightning techniques, while Mai and Ty Lee would do all in their power to try and get her to mess up. None of the girls could remember how this silly little tradition had started, but it was as addicting to play as fire flakes were to eat. The Princess had always won the game, never seeming to be distracted enough to lose control of the power at her fingertips. But until the acrobat and the knife-thrower bested her, they had no intention of stopping.

It wasn’t until they had defeated the Kyoshi Warriors that the game finally turned from Azula’s favor. It happened on the day following the battle; it was quiet, peaceful…and utterly boring. The Princess rose with the sun, as usual, and stretched her muscles to get ready to run through the drills of her deadly power over and over again.

As Azula began to generate her lighting, Ty Lee – who had been watching her intently, flipped as quietly as she could up alongside the Princess. When Azula’s fingers came together, bringing the warring energies inside her back into balance, the acrobat made her move. She placed a chaste kiss – tender and feather light, upon the Princess’ lips.

The next thing Azula knew, she was picking herself up off the ground a good distance from where she had been previously standing.

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It was a formal occasion, a luxurious banquet for a politician who had finally decided to retire after decades of faithful service to her grandfather. However, Azula was finding it absolutely impossible to enjoy herself. The dress that her mother had forced her to wear was terribly uncomfortable; it was itchy and chafed fiercely. And her older brother seemed to be getting more attention than she was – though how this was even possible, Azula still hadn’t figured.

The young Princess’ one saving grace was the fact that Ty Lee, one of the new friends she had made at the Royal Fire Academy for Girls, was with her. Yet for hours now, all Azula had listened to was Ty Lee ramble on about some boy that she was convinced had been staring at Azula all evening. She urged the Princess to go talk with him, but Azula refused; the pintsized nobleman couldn’t have been staring at her, right?

When Ty Lee wandered off to get something to eat, Azula’s question was answered; the boy was slowly walking up to her. The Princess’ mind froze, she had no idea what to do or say; nothing like this had ever happened to her before.

“Princess?” the young boy said tentatively. “I…I was wondering…” his voice trailed off, it was obvious he was battling uncertainty. Azula could feel her tiny heart beating faster; perhaps Ty Lee had been correct, perhaps this boy really did have an interest in her. The boy straightened, apparently over his doubt. Now was the moment of truth…

“I was just wondering…when your friend comes back, could you tell her I think she’s really pretty?”

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When her mother had first started to visit her in the old jail-tower by the palace, Azula would shriek and flail. The defeated Princess couldn’t tell whether what she was seeing was really her mother, or just another illusion created by her broken mind. Yet, as an indeterminable amount of time passed for her, Azula finally began to except that what she was holding onto was real, and not just some perverse phantom.

“Mommy! Mommy! I love you, please don’t leave me again!” she would yell, crying out to her mother with her arms stretched wide.

And her mother would stay. She would hold her daughter, comfort her, and whisper sweet and loving things into her ears. The fallen Princess would then cry against her mother’s chest, clutching the older woman tightly in a strong embrace.

The guards outside Azula’s cell always watched these visits in fascination. Until, one day, with tears streaming down his face, one of the guards finally had enough. He himself had a daughter not much older than Azula, and these displays were becoming too difficult for him to watch. He turned to his counterpart.

“Go. Get the Firelord,” he whispered sadly. “He…he needs to see this.”

As the second guard ran off, the first resumed his silent vigil over the broken Princess. Fresh streams of tears slid down his face as he watched her once again fall to her knees and clutch the empty air, crying and holding onto the nothingness before her while mumbling words he could never make out clearly. He only hoped that whatever reality the young girl was lost in was better than the truth he saw.