Disclaimer: I don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its various properties. I'm working on it though.

Author's Note: This is the sequel to my previous fanfic, Prisoner. As such, I highly recommend reading Prisoner before The Right to Rule. That said, I am kind of curious what it would be like to read this one first, so if you do so please let me know!

Special thanks to my former beta Lavanya Six, and my current betas Devon and Aurelia Le!

What's it like being the Avatar? An interesting question. Let's think about it. What is it, precisely, that differentiates an Avatar from everyone else?

Bending is the most obvious difference, I suppose. Avatars can bend all four elements at a higher level than just about anyone else. During the War, all those decades ago, this was the only aspect of being the Avatar that I actually enjoyed.

Then there's what my predecessors call the Avatar State. Avatars have the ability to channel the knowledge and power of all their previous selves. The more the years go by, the more I've found the former to be more valuable than the latter.

For those who focus more on my role as bridge to the Spirit World than my duty to maintain balance, Avatars naturally have more spiritual sensitivity than the vast majority. Most need to undergo intense spiritual training for years before they can enter the Spirit World; for me it's as easy as falling into a well. Though if I'm being honest, I wish it was harder because then I'd have an excuse not to go. Oh well.

In my experience, however, all of this—while important—is ultimately secondary. The most notable thing about being the Avatar is that everyone respects you. People can love me or hate me, but they cannot ignore me. Not because I'm so powerful, mind you. I am still human and I've almost died more times than I care to remember. They have to listen to me because they know that everyone else, even monarchs, will listen to me.

Even the Fire Nation, after a century of propaganda designed to make them hate the Avatar, accepted their defeat largely because it was at the hands of that Avatar.

I have no army, I have no government, but I'm kind of ruler of the world.

That's weird, right?

The Right to Rule

An Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic

Rewrite of The Adventures of Avatar Azula

Prologue

The Day of Black Sun

Both Azula and Sokka wanted to give the speech. Azula won the argument, of course.

Being the Avatar had some benefits.

Azula stepped onto the platform, feeling the cool rock under her feet. She directed the senses she had left to survey the men and women lined up before her.

Ambient conversation floated across her ears.

Scents from the world over wafted into her nose.

Vibrations in the earth flowed through the rock to her feet and filled her entire body.

And the air displaced by all their movements brushed against her skin.

Azula clenched her fist, trying to quiet a rare trepidation that was currently gripping her stomach.

I will win.

She walked to the center of the dais, turned to face the crowd, and waited. Idle talk and movement soon ceased as they regarded the fourteen-year-old blind Avatar standing before them.

"As you are hopefully aware," she began, "we will be attacking the Fire Nation capital today. What you ideally don't know is why we're doing it today. The reason is that a most fortuitous event will soon occur." She paused for dramatic effect. "A total solar eclipse. The sun will disappear and firebenders will lose the ability to bend."

A flurry of conversation followed this remark. Azula was content to let it subside naturally—they had plenty of time—until she heard a statement directed at her.

"The Boulder would like to know," began a frighteningly familiar voice, "why we were not informed of this before today."

Azula's lips twisted into a smile. "If I told every Li, Shou, and Jun about it, it'd reach the Firelord's ears within a day. Keeping it secret ensures we retain the element of surprise." Her eyeless gaze wandered about the crowd. "Is anyone else dissatisfied by this?"

There was a cough, but nothing more.

Azula nodded. "Good. Now, the eclipse itself will only last for eight minutes, so most of the invasion is still going to take place under the sun." As always, Azula's nervousness steadily drained out of her as she spoke, as she became the image she presented to the world. "We will be using a new piece of technology to travel under the water and land directly at the Royal Plaza. The goal is to capture the tower and arrive at the capital right before the actual eclipse; most of the firebenders will be guarding the palace, so it's at the final leg where we'll need the eclipse the most. For further details, consult your Unit Commanders.

"Furthermore, General Chen has informed me," she gestured at the Council of Five member, "that the Fire Nation's army is stretched extremely thin responding to the simultaneous attacks of the main Earth Kingdom and Water Tribe armies, not to mention the revolts of Fire Nation soldiers loyal to me. As such, there are few enemy forces left here. Have confidence that victory is well within reach.

"Unfortunately, I will be unable to join you. During the majority of the battle, I will be tunneling underground with the help of this." She gave a signal to the mechanist, who was standing next to something large covered by a cloth. He pulled off the cloth to reveal the device underneath: a miniature version of the drill that she had stopped from breaking into Ba Sing Se. "This is so I can cut off any officials who try to escape underground, including the Firelord. Therefore, the success of this operation rests entirely on the strength, will, and honor of all of you."

Azula's eye sockets surveyed the gathered soldiers one more time. "This war has gone on for one hundred years. Let's end it right here, right now."

Her smile at the cheer-slash-battle cry that followed was more genuine.

Toph had to admit that Sokka's submarines were useful. That didn't save him from taking a very large number of mental insults as she threw up into a helmet for the fifth time in as many minutes.

Next to her, she heard Azula laughing. "So the Greatest Earthbender In The World's sole weakness is water, I see. Let's hope it doesn't rain."

Toph would have punched her if she could've seen anything in this stupid metal box. Instead she was forced to settle for saying, "Shut up, Hot Lips."

"An inspired comeback."

Toph muttered under her breath, then cringed as she felt more bile coming up. She reached for the helmet again.

The submarines had risen temporarily to fill back up on air before submerging again. Azula and the blind girl who taught her earthbending (Zuko had learned not to ask questions) left in a boat to do their tunneling thing; Azula didn't say a word to him before leaving, unsurprisingly. Zuko himself took advantage of the opportunity to lie down on top of the submarine, gaze up at the sky, and try not to think of anything.

"Hey."

Zuko sat up and turned to see Sokka standing behind him.

"You doing okay?" Sokka asked hesitantly.

Zuko looked down and sighed. "About as well as can be expected, I guess."

Sokka sat next to him. They both looked at the sky in silence for a bit, and then Sokka said, "You don't have to fight in this battle, you know, if you don't want to."

Zuko turned his head slowly. Sokka was still gazing upward, his expression unreadable. "I've already decided," Zuko said slowly, looking back up at the sky. "Father's war is evil. My journeys with Uncle only confirmed that to me. I'm going to do whatever I can to stop him. Besides…" he looked down again. "Azula's the one who actually has to fight him, not me."

More silence, until Sokka broke it with, "Think she'll be able to do it?" There was more than a touch of worry in his voice.

Zuko closed his eyes, thinking of his sister. "Most likely," he said, even more slowly, "fighting Father is the only reason she's here."

Azula succeeded at steering the small boat to shore. While she was still not great at seeing things with airbending, the trip was short enough it wasn't a problem—she only had to bring it a small distance in a straight line. Azula and Toph unloaded the miniature drill, then Azula punctured holes in the boat with waterbending and sunk it, to make sure no one would know they were here.

As the two walked to where they would begin drilling, though, Azula's stomach started clenching again. Probably it was the stupid submarine that brought her nerves back. As much as she made fun of Toph, traveling underwater wasn't exactly sunshine and roses for her either.

No, that wasn't it. Blaming the submarine was an excuse. She was clenching her fist so tightly her nails drew blood because she was thinking about Father.

"This is the scroll I studied when I first learned firebending. Happy birthday, my dear daughter."

"You are the best daughter anyone could hope for. One day all of this will be yours, Azula."

"At this rate, you'll even surpass me one day. You could very well become the savior of the Fire Nation."

"I love you."

He stopped right in front of her…and smiled.

Then her father's fist met her face

It hurts

Can't move arms

Can't move legs

"You see, while the Firelord wants to keep you alive, he did say I could have a souvenir."

His fire-cloaked hand reached toward her face and

IT HURTS

"You okay, Azula?"

Azula started. That voice was Toph's, and she had laced it with an extremely un-Tophlike amount of concern. She hadn't even used her stupid nickname.

"I still have to recover from the submarine, too," Azula lied. Her lies to Toph were usually successful—even if nobody else's were—but that one was probably too easy to read. Whatever the case, Toph didn't pursue the matter, and they started walking again.

She's probably already guessed, Azula thought. Toph was a lot like her in a lot of ways, which produced both advantages and disadvantages. Her annoying level of insight into Azula's emotional life was definitely in the 'disadvantage' category.

Unfortunately, when she stopped thinking about Toph, her brain returned to Ozai. She tried several methods to stop it until she finally ran across one that worked: repeating the same sentence to herself, over and over, without pause.

I will win.

Ten minutes until landing. Sokka wiped sweat off his forehead for what seemed like the thousandth time.

Now that Azula and Toph were gone, the leadership of the strike operation had been given to General Chen from the Earth Kingdom's Council of Five. However, the forces were divided into a number of squads depending on where the soldiers came from. With Father leading the much larger distraction force, Sokka had been chosen as Unit Commander of his tribe's squadron.

Which meant that any deaths would be his fault.

Nine minutes until landing. Sokka's teeth started chattering, and no matter what he did he couldn't—

Someone touched his shoulder. "Aaah!" Sokka shouted, drawing his sword—

"Sokka, it's just me," Katara said, both hands in the air.

Sokka re-sheathed his sword, which took a lot longer than usual due to his sweaty palms and shaking hands, and mumbled some sort of an apology.

"Come on, Sokka. You're killing yourself like this."

Sokka sighed. "I know." Eight and a half minutes until landing. "But I can't help it. This is the first time I've had to lead an army since—since ever!" He noticed he was flailing his arms and forced them to his sides. "I don't…" He sat down and put his head in his hands. "I don't think I'm ready."

A few seconds passed by. Eight minutes until landing. Then Katara put her hands on his shoulders.

"It's not unreasonable to be nervous," she said. "But you're not alone. I'm here. So are Bato and Kalu. It's not all on your shoulders."

Sokka chuckled. "You always get straight to the heart of the matter." He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Because I'm nervous about the same thing."

That made Sokka look at her. His sister was hugging herself, her head hung. She was even trembling slightly.

"I've been trained by both Hama and Pakku. I'm the best waterbender here. With Azula and Toph gone, I might be the best bender here period. Pakku even told me I could become the most powerful non-Avatar waterbender in centuries. You think I don't realize how much the success of this operation depends on me?"

Sokka didn't know what to say.

"So…" She finally looked at him, and made a small smile. "If I support you, would you support me?"

Sokka had never seen his sister like this, and he knew he might not see her like this again. He had no idea what the proper response was.

So he stood up and hugged her.

And that made his heart a little lighter.

Seven minutes until landing.

Only just a little, though.

When Katara left Sokka, two things were on her mind. The first was the necklace Mother had given her before she left for the North. She touched the carving etched into the stone and smiled.

The second was the burn scar on her stomach. The internals had healed completely, Kalu said, but the scar would last forever.

Well. Katara wasn't doing this for her.

"We're surfacing!" someone shouted. Katara took battle position and closed her eyes, feeling her heart thumping rapidly against her chest.

When she first started learning waterbending, Katara realized that she saw, or understood, water in a way everyone else didn't. She knew where it wanted to go and didn't try to fight it. All she had to do was nudge it in the right direction.

The submarine surfaced and Katara was the first one out of it. Each submarine had an elite waterbender stationed in it, and together they were the vanguard. They needed to clear the way for everyone else to land on the beach safely. Their first obstacle was the metal wall that blocked the entrance to the tower.

As Katara moved her attention to the water surrounding her on all sides, her fear, worry, and stress evaporated. She raised her hands and a thin, large ring of water rose with them.

The immediate problem was the towers that were presently firing hooks attached to chains at the submarines. Katara twisted her body, flinching a bit as her burn scar stung, and molded the water ring into a long serpent, forming a huge water whip that she could make hard as a battering ram or sharp as a tiger-shark's tooth, depending on the circumstances. She went for sharp, then swept her arm, sending it out to cut the nearest chain. She did it again, then brought it back to swat away a hook that was launched at her.

She was sweating like crazy, and half her effort was devoted to stopping her heart from beating out of control. She had never made a water whip of this size before, and it took an intense amount of concentration and fine-tuned control. Luckily, she didn't have to do it for too long. After a few more intense seconds they got close to the gates, and she re-entered the submarine before it submerged again.

Unfortunately, she didn't have an opportunity to catch her breath. She rushed to the front of the sub to help with the torpedoes, which destroyed the underwater wall and allowed them to finally make it through to the shore.

There was still one more job to do as the vanguard, though. She exited the submarine again and raised her arms, bringing up a giant mass of water with them. No fancy shape this time. She looked at the shore, and saw the Fire Nation soldiers who had gathered to contest their landing. They looked terrified.

Katara thought of her scar again. She would never enjoy this.

She brought the ocean down, crushing them from above.

Movement to the left. Zuko swept one broadsword, sending a wave of flame toward it.

Fire to the right. Zuko slashed through it with the other broadsword.

No matter how many times he trained with Uncle, it never prepared Zuko for the chaos and calamity of real battle, much less war. He didn't have time to think, he had to rely on instinct.

At least it meant he couldn't think about the fates of the people he hurt, or killed.

A combined force of tanks and soldiers started coming toward them. The tanks were best left to the earth- and waterbenders. Zuko was Unit Commander of the Fire Nation deserter brigade, and he ordered them to focus on incapacitating the soldiers. His unit was joined by the weird group of Earth Kingdom girls with makeup and fans, and the resulting battle was short.

This was easier than it had any right to be. Most of the soldiers who'd ordinarily be stationed here had been sent to combat the diversionary invasion, and most of the ones left were presently retreating to the palace. Azula and the others had left plenty of time for them to reach the palace before the eclipse, but right now it looked like they'd make it there with time to spare.

Unfortunately, the ease of the battle meant Zuko had more time to think about what he would have to do at the palace, and all the things he'd have to do as Firelord afterward.

A group of soldiers ignored more obvious targets and charged at him, their few firebenders sending fireballs at him. Zuko bent the fire away, ordered his forces to intercept, and prepared a counter—

When a wave of water rushed at him and knocked him on his face, almost breaking his nose. He barely had time to be offended when he felt a huge impact next to his head.

Looking in that direction, he saw a ballista bolt that was a few bu away from blasting his head into pieces.

"We need to take out those battlements," he heard, and looked up to see Katara, his apparent savior, hair sprawled in all directions and a look of intense concentration on her face.

Zuko nodded. "They're probably the biggest obstacle right now." He looked at one row of the giant metal structures and got a sudden idea. "Think you and the other waterbenders can move the ocean up and crush them with it?"

Katara considered one briefly. "Maybe the closest ones."

Zuko nodded. "Go do that. I'll take care of the other two."

While Katara ran off to gather the other waterbenders, Zuko ordered his forces to continue engaging the enemy on the plaza and approached some earthbenders, managing to pull a few off to bend some handholds and footholds in the cliff face for him. He climbed up and waited, watching the ocean.

Before long two waves, narrow in width but tsunami-like in height, rose up and crashed against the battlements nearest the ocean, destroying them.

The remaining battlement operators, distracted by their comrades' demise, didn't notice as he leapt down on top of the battlement, leaned over, and blasted fire into the opening. He entered the structure and easily took out the soldiers who were still standing.

After that, Zuko looked at their equipment. He hadn't used it before, but it didn't look too complicated. He aimed it at the last battlement on the other size of the plaza, lit the bolt's tip on fire for good measure, then fired.

His aim wasn't perfect, but it didn't need to be. It hit the battlement right below the ballista, destroying its supports and causing the ballista to topple out and fall onto the battlefield, inoperable.

When Zuko returned to the plaza, the Unit Commanders had all gathered. He rushed up to join them.

"It appears we've got this area under control," General Chen told him when he arrived. "All units are to make their way to the palace. We're ahead of schedule, so we can afford to put safety above speed."

Zuko nodded, called his unit together, and relayed the orders.

And tried his best to quiet that nagging voice at the back of his head that said: One step closer to Father.

Even with the miniature drill, tunneling through the earth was slow, difficult, boring work. Azula and Toph had to make sure to keep the rock above their heads steady so it wouldn't collapse on them. Even with both of them working together, this took utmost concentration for prolonged periods of time, as well as a constant use of bending that proved mentally and physically exhausting.

According to Toph, it was the primary means of movement by the badgermoles that had taught her earthbending. For the life of her, Azula could never tell just how much the other girl was joking.

They tunneled together in silence for hours. As the time wore on, Azula regretted this part of the plan more and more, even as she knew it was both the safest and most dramatic way to get to a duel with Ozai. She gripped onto that one sentence tighter and tighter:

I will win.

The thrill of victory at the plaza had already subsided. Now Sokka kept a running record of the time until the eclipse in his head up to the second. Despite that, he still checked the sundial on his wrist once every ten seconds, just to make sure.

Azula, the Dragon of the West, Gran-Gran, and General How had planned on two hours between taking the plaza and the beginning of the eclipse. Thanks to the speed of their victory, they had almost four. This mostly just gave Sokka even more time to worry about how they would conquer the Fire Nation Royal Palace—perhaps the most impregnable installation in the world—in eight minutes.

Not to mention the special instruction Azula had given him, Zuko, and Katara on what to do with the Firelord. He couldn't help glancing at General Chen from time to time, wondering how the Earth Kingdom warhorse was going to react.

But as he and his troops took up their positions along the palace's borders, and time slowly waned, Sokka's emotions were different from what they had been on the submarine. Maybe it was because of their earlier success. Maybe it was knowing that, after one hundred years of suffering, the Fire Nation's defeat was only eight minutes away. Or maybe his nerves had just burned themselves out. For whatever reason, as the time of the eclipse approached, Sokka could feel his heart growing stronger, and the raging tempest inside his body calmed down and slowly turned to ice.

"One minute until we attack, everyone," he muttered.

He looked at the moon meandering toward the sun, and thought of Yue. She was waiting for him back at the North Pole. No way was he going to let himself die before they could get married. With that determination in mind, he whispered a countdown.

Three…

Two…

One.

In the middle of the day, darkness blanketed the world.

"Go!"

A while after Toph took over tunneling duties to let Azula relax before her big fight, she saw Azula flinch.

"What?" Toph asked.

"Firebending's gone," Azula grunted. "We won't make it at this rate."

Toph swore under her breath. She couldn't even wipe the sweat from her brow since she had to keep gripping the dumb drill. "Rested up enough to help out again? We're almost there."

Azula's answer was to stand up and started bending again. Together they managed to finally break through to a giant underground tunnel.

"Think you can find your way by yourself?" Toph asked semi-sarcastically.

Azula huffed. "Just who do you think I am? What about you—can you find the cowards who're trying to retreat underground?"

Toph grinned. "I caught sight them just as you were talking, Hot Lips."

Azula made an irritated noise. She was probably upset her seismic sense was still inferior to the Toph's, which made Toph's grin wider. "Then I'll see you at war's end," Azula said.

They started running in opposite directions, toward their respective targets, when Toph felt the need to yell, "Don't die!"

Azula didn't respond. Well, that was fine. Her mission was far more difficult, after all. Toph didn't need any moral support to take out retreating bureaucrats.

I do hope you know what you're doing, Hot Lips, Toph thought, before focusing her mind on the targets.

As soon as the eclipse happened, Zuko could feel it. While the ember in the center of his soul had been waxing and waning since his birth, flaring up with the sun in the sky, weakening with his doubt and self-hatred, he had never truly paid attention to it until it was completely extinguished.

"Now!"

Zuko and the other soldiers had been camping out as close as they could to the palace without being vulnerable to counterattack. The idea was to feign a siege, counting on Father choosing to wait for reinforcements to arrive. Azula and the others had guessed that the majority of the troops stationed at the borders would be firebenders, and the guess was correct. They were overrun quickly.

Zuko and his Fire Nation defectors were the weakest of the forces during the eclipse, but as it turned out, that didn't really matter. Most of the remaining enemy soldiers seemed incredibly demoralized. Zuko knew the loss of morale started years ago with Azula's defection and the stall in the war efforts, and it was probably heavily exacerbated by the invasion and rebellion, and now by their overwhelming victory at the plaza. The eclipse, more likely than not, only pushed them over the edge. Most of the soldiers his group came across surrendered without a fight.

As they rushed through the city, Zuko dispatched predetermined soldiers to split up and take side roads, ordering them to incapacitate or force the surrender of any enemy they came across. As planned he arrived at the palace alone, and saw that Sokka, Katara, and General Chen were already inside.

"Four minutes left, Zuko," Sokka said as soon as Zuko ran up to him.

Zuko answered with a tight nod, and they all ran inside.

His job now, of course, was to lead them to Father. While they ran into some guards along the way, without firebending they were no match.

The others had worried that the Firelord might run off somewhere when he saw how bad the battle was going. Zuko, Uncle, and Azula had all known otherwise. Whatever Firelord Ozai's faults were, cowardice was not one of them. Father was going to go down with his empire.

As expected, Zuko and the others found him sitting on his throne, still carrying an air of serene confidence. When Zuko saw him, he gasped and stopped moving. It had been more than two years.

Then Father looked at him.

Zuko had expected hatred, loathing, or contempt. Or maybe an arrogant sneer, or (in his wildest dreams) profound sadness. Instead, all he saw was disappointment.

Immense, crushing disappointment. It felt like someone had kicked him in the chest. Zuko barely avoided falling to his knees.

"Stand up!" Sokka shouted, brandishing his sword at Father.

Father finally looked away from Zuko. The expression he favored Sokka with was filled with the expected contempt.

"Or what? You'll kill me?"

"As much as I would like to," Sokka growled, "that's not my duty." He and General Chen ran to the throne, and together managed to haul Father off of it. Sokka put his sword to Father's back, General Chen to his neck, and Katara covered his upper body with all the water in her pouches.

Zuko, to his eternal shame, only stood there. But he did join them as they marched Father out of the room, and he added his sword to the others.

Nobody said a word as they led Firelord Ozai outside, adding chains to Katara's water in preparation for the end of the eclipse. During their walk, Zuko's inner flame reappeared as quickly as it had been extinguished, and he didn't think of anything as they stepped under the sun again.

A huge crowd of spectators was waiting for them in the main courtyard, allied soldiers, disarmed enemy soldiers, and regular citizens alike, all there to witness the end of the Hundred Year War.

And right in the center stood Azula.

Azula smiled and raised her finger. Through the earth and wind she saw Katara, Sokka, and Zuko follow the secret orders she gave them. Namely, Katara restrained General Chen and the latter two forced Ozai to approach her, then retreated back to the sidelines.

She and Ozai stood on the courtyard alone. The same courtyard of her Master exam fight all those years ago. Fitting that the same place where this all began will be where it all ends, she thought.

Azula just waited. She knew Ozai would eventually feel the need to say something.

And so he did. "Congratulations, my daughter," he said, in a tone that reeked of arrogance. "You have successfully destroyed the Fire Nation."

Every hair on Azula's body stood on end when she heard Ozai's voice. She recovered as best she could and gave him a mock bow, saying, "I appreciate your praise deeply, Lord Father, but I am afraid it is unwarranted. The Fire Nation will prosper like never before."

"Nobody will follow you or your treasonous brother," Ozai responded, his voice betraying no hint of defeat or despair. "Even with the armies of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, you only won this battle through treachery and deceit."

Azula was finally able to smile again after that line. She was waiting for him to say something like that. I will win. "Are you suggesting our victory today was less than honorable, Lord Father?" She waited just the right amount of time, then continued, "Because if so, I have a suggestion."

"Yes?"

"An Agni Kai between you and me, for the fate of the country."

All the other leaders knew Azula was planning to duel Ozai; the Agni Kai, part, though, she had kept to herself. Not even Toph knew. A loud murmur arose as everyone present reacted to her declaration. However, even if they wanted to, nobody would dare interfere with her in this situation. For now, at least, the stage was all hers.

"I believe you were taught this," Ozai said, "but only firebenders can engage in the holy ritual of Agni Kai. You are not a firebender."

Azula made sure her tone was nothing but humble. "Respectfully, Father, an Agni Kai is a holy ritual of firebending. As long as I only use firebending, it should be perfectly permissible for me to participate in one." She faced him straight on and gave her sweetest smile. "Am I wrong?"

This brought the ambient conversation to a fever pitch. It died down after a minute, and Azula waited for Ozai to respond. Eventually he did, and he responded as she knew he would. After all, she mused darkly, she was all but handing him her head on a platter.

"I cannot fight as I am now."

Don't pretend you can't free yourself at any moment, Azula thought, but it didn't matter. "Katara!" she called. Azula felt the impact of the cut chains against the ground a few seconds later.

"I assume your soldiers know not to interfere in an Agni Kai?" Ozai asked, voice thick with sarcasm.

"They do now," Azula said.

"Very well. Then I accept your challenge."

Ozai shouted some orders and some servants started rushing about, gathering the formal Agni Kai attire and appointing judges. For her part, Azula ordered her soldiers to not take one step onto the courtyard. She would have plenty of time later to justify her actions to them. After all, Ozai wasn't wrong—they did need to persuade the country to follow Zuko postwar—and an Agni Kai, holy ceremony that it was, was the quickest and most efficient way to cut discontent off at its stem. Not to mention prove to the world that the Avatar was just as powerful as ever, after one hundred years of defeat.

They'd keep any suspicions of ulterior motives to themselves, if they knew what was good for them.

It felt like forever, but it probably only took around fifteen minutes for the servants to gather the formal attire and conduct the proper rituals. Azula and Ozai took their respective positions.

Her breath was quicker and more ragged than it had ever been before. The goal she'd been working toward for the last three years was finally in sight.

The gong sounded, signaling the start of the Agni Kai.

Immediately Azula felt a wave of fire screaming at her. She breathed in, breathed out, and parted it easily, gathered up the remains with both hands, broke it apart, and sent at least twenty fireballs right back at him. Tremors in the ground told her that he dodged to the right, which Azula matched, avoiding his counterattack. To stop him from gaining momentum she launched her own barrage of flames, then ran away, anticipating Ozai's advance.

For her plan to work, Azula would have to keep her distance.

The fight continued in much the same way. They were sizing each other up, testing the other's strength and agility and getting a sense for their tactics. A battle between two high-class benders was almost always decided by one attack—the rest was just preparation for that attack.

For Azula's part, the exchanges proved what she had already suspected: Ozai was better than her. He had far more experience and was in the prime of his life, while Azula's body was still maturing. Little by little, Azula could feel the pace slipping away from her, could sense her assaults turning into reactions and then into desperate countermeasures. Little by little fear started to leak out of her heart, and it threatened to overwhelm her.

Suddenly she stopped seeing Ozai through the ground, and the air currents said he was flying toward her. She knew this technique: he was propelling himself forward by blasting a huge amount of flame behind him. His hands were surely already forming a deadly kata.

Azula was no match for him in close-range combat. Her only option was to launch herself into the air as well, up and away from him.

And then she felt it.

A crackle in the air that could only signal one thing.

Azula had very few options in the air; she was very much set on her course, so her future location would be child's play to predict. Away from the ground, she couldn't even use her seismic sense to try and dodge the bolt of lightning.

Luckily, she was the Avatar.

As soon as the lightning erupted out of Ozai's fingers she turned her airbending senses to maximum, and the displacement of wind told her exactly where the bolt was. Time slowed to a crawl and she turned her body over to muscle memory, moved her arm, and caught the lightning with her hand.

The pure, unbridled chi energy of the lightning was like lava. With time as slow as it was, she could feel each impact as the lightning barreled its way through her arm, crashing against and destroying all in its way as it broke into her shoulder.

Then, just as Iroh had taught her, she bent it, sending the searing chi down into her stomach, then up to her other shoulder. Kneading it like clay, she prodded it up into her left arm, through her wrist, and into her fingertips.

She let herself savor the exhilaration of commanding such power before releasing all of that chi directly back where it came from.

Her only regret was not being able to see Ozai's expression.

I won.

Azula descended slowly, feeling something akin to elation. When her feet touched the ground, she sensed Ozai's body jerking around and could hear him groaning. He was still alive, but likely only barely.

Well, no matter. She actually somewhat preferred getting in a few last words.

She sauntered up to him, thinking of and disposing of thousands of lines to say. She opened her mouth.

"Congratulations," Ozai said in a wheezing, rasping voice. "You got your revenge."

Azula's mouth stayed open, but she didn't say anything.

"I do hope," he went on, "you won't let the foreigners rape our lands and people."

All she could think to say was, "Indeed."

Firelord Ozai died there, in the same place where he had condemned her to a life of permanent darkness, and Azula had never felt more like a little girl.

There was, however, one final step in this war. One last task Azula and Zuko had to fulfill.

By themselves, they broke into the Firelady's chamber.

Iroh had told Azula about Ozai's new wife shortly after she first learned airbending. Apparently he didn't want to give her bad news while she was slowly killing herself over her failure, which admittedly made some sense. Regardless, Ozai married a 19-year-old noble woman shortly after he sent Zuko away, and a few months later she had become pregnant.

It somehow seemed appropriate that the final act of a hundred-year-long war would involve a terrified young Firelady, a despondent soon-to-be-Firelord, and a screaming toddler.

"Firelady Kachi," Azula said. "I'm delighted to finally meet you."

Kachi didn't respond. Zuko seemed to be almost as terrified as the Firelady and also remained silent. Neither of those things were particularly surprising.

"Now that we're finished with pleasantries," Azula continued, "let's move on to the main topic. Your husband is dead and soon Zuko here will be Firelord. Before then, we have to decide what to do with you and your daughter there."

"I..." Kachi started, then paused. Azula was willing to wait. "I didn't want to do this. My parents forced me into it. I hated every moment of it. Please," her voice started breaking, "please, you have to believe me!"

"We believe you," Zuko broke in. "Don't worry, we mean you no harm."

Azula was a bit annoyed; this would go easier the more terrified Kachi was. Oh well. "Indeed. We know you're a victim too, and we won't punish you. You can go back to your family, or somewhere else if you'd prefer. Wherever you'd like"

Kachi seemed to calm down a little, but her voice was still soft when she spoke again. "And my daughter? What will you do to Azaka?" The Azaka in question somehow managed to start screeching even louder.

"She'll also—" Zuko began, but Azula cut him off.

"Your daughter presents a more difficult problem," Azula said. "You see, there will be some who disagree with the policies Zuko has in mind. They may very well use your daughter as a rallying point, planning to kill Zuko and install her on the throne instead. Needless to say, this would be bad for both her and Zuko, not to mention the world. Therefore—"

She felt a hand on her shoulder, and Zuko whispered into her ear, "Why didn't you talk to me about this?"

"I felt it was best for you not to be told until you needed to know," she whispered back.

"I needed to know before we entered the room!"

"Iroh agreed not to tell you until precisely this moment." That wasn't even a lie. Azula had to admit she was a little impressed at the old man's ruthlessness.

Batting away Zuko's hand, Azula turned back to Kachi and her screaming kid. "As I was saying, it's simply too dangerous to let your daughter leave with you. The most straightforward solution is to just kill her—" Kachi gasped and Zuko backed away, which Azula couldn't help but be amused by, "—but we wouldn't do that. We're not Ozai, after all. Luckily, there is a third option." She smiled casually. "Zuko adopts her and makes her his heir."

Kachi was speechless. Zuko was somehow even more speechless. The toddler was still bawling. Azula continued, "If she's a princess, she'll be as safe as any human can be. Besides, dissidents will view her as being on Zuko's side, not their own, so they'll have no reason to make her a figurehead." Just as importantly, the girl herself would have much less of a reason to overthrow her half-brother, but better not to say that here. "In sum, then, you'll get to go and do whatever you wish, but your daughter must remain here."

Zuko's hand gripped her shoulder again, so tightly this time it hurt. "What are you doing?" he whispered fiercely into her ear. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

"Because we knew you'd object," she answered easily.

"Of course! She's my—our—half-sister! And I'm sixteen! I can't raise a child!"

"Sure you can. You'll have plenty of servants to help out."

"That's not the point! I...I'm already scared shitless about being the Firelord, Azula. I can't..."

This conversation had already gone on much longer than it needed to. She already said everything that needed to be said. Now she just wanted it to be over. So she told Zuko, "I guess you have some idea of what it's like to be the Avatar, then."

She had probably said that in a really hateful way, but that was okay. Beneficial, even, because it shut Zuko up. She turned back to Kachi. "This is not a negotiation, to be clear. I'm making an offer and you can take it or leave it. I highly recommend you take it."

Silence stretched on. Eventually Kachi spoke, in a weak, wavering voice. "I...the only thing that stopped me from killing myself these last few years was Azaka. Do I...do I really have to…?"

The toddler's cries were soon joined by the mother's. Azula couldn't stand listening to them, and there was nothing more to do here anyway. She left the chambers of the Firelady, slamming the door hard behind her.

End of Prologue

Author's Note: I know it's weird to have the climax of the original show be the Prologue of my fanfic. There are two main reasons for this. First, my version of this battle is so one-sided it would be really anticlimactic if I made it the climax. Second, even though Azula accomplishes her goal of killing Ozai in this chapter, it isn't really the culmination of her character development-almost the opposite-so it's not really the climax at all. (I also won't deny that it gives me a certain hipster satisfaction in making the show's climax the first part of my story.)

A bu is an ancient Japanese unit of measurement (taken from the Chinese, as lots of ancient Japanese things were), that Wikipedia tells me is roughly equivalent to 3 millimeters. "Li, Shou, and Jun" are common names (an adaptation of the American idiom "Tom, Dick, and Harry").

Like The Adventures of Avatar Azula, this fanfic will have three main story arcs. One will cover the period from the end of Prisoner to this chapter, and will basically cover the events of canon in this universe. The second will cover the events that follow this chapter. The third, as before, will be Azula's long, slow, torturous process of opening all her Chakras.

I'm going to do my best to post updates every week, though since the entire fanfic is not finished yet it is possible I won't be able to keep this up until the end.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you in the next one, too!