REWRITE COMPLETE! PLEASE ENJOY! AND AS ALWAYS, LOVE TO HEAR WHAT YOU THINK.

"A-Azula," Tomu tried with all his might to drag himself to her fallen form.

It hurt. Everything hurt. There was an excruciating pain in his ribs and a metallic taste in his mouth.

"Gahh," he groaned out in pain as he attempted to reach out to her. "Azula I'm so sorry."

His head was pounding, his eye was stinging from what he was positive was his own blood, and he was certain he was blacking out for seconds at a time…

"Now Tomu, you must remember to behave and not be a pain to Lady Ursa," his father, Admiral Liu Xiang explained as they approached the palace gardens. "It's not every day that an officer's son gets to be here within the palace, let alone have a friendship with the Fire Lord's grandson. I'm sure you're aware of how great an honor this is…"

Why was he remembering this now of all times? It was so long ago…

"Yes father," the young boy nodded, keeping pace. "Zuko is my best friend and I would never do anything to ruin that..."

Wait, was this that thing where a person's life flashes before their eyes? Man, dying felt like such a drag…

"Hello there, Admiral, Tomu." Ursa welcomed warmly as she stood alongside her son who wasted no time in dragging his friend away.

"Thank you once again," the Admiral bowed.

"Nonsense, I find our boys' friendship rather heartwarming," she smiled as they spotted the boys sitting next to the pond feeding the turtle ducks.

After a few more exchange of words, Admiral Liu Xiang excused himself and proceeded onto the main reason as to why he was at the palace: a very important meeting involving the top ranking officers of the Fire Nation military.

"Well if it isn't Tom-Tom."

"Oh, uh, hi, Azula," Tomu looked up shyly.

"His name is Tomu, Azula. You know that," Zuko glared up at his sister. "Just go away and leave us alone."

"Then what fun would that be? Can't we all play together? I'm sure Mai would enjoy playing with you."

"What? N-no."

Azula sighed before she went over and sat next to Tomu and looked up at him with those adorable golden eyes. "Tomu, you and me can play together, right?"

"U-um sure. N-no wait. Ah, I mean, uh well…" Tomu fumbled on his words as a small blush crept onto his cheeks. "...err, umm- look it's Ty Lee!" Tomu quickly got up and scurried away, leaving the two siblings to bicker.

Tomu questioned Ty Lee on her acrobatics and asked if she could demonstrate to which Ty Lee happily obliged.

"Can you do any of that?" she asked him.

"Umm, well not really. All I can do is this…" he stood, took a deep breath, then slowly got into a handstand position.

"Impressive," Ty Lee clapped then joined him as he continued to hold the position.

"Do you think you can do this?" Ty Lee held an arm out in her handstand position in front of Tomu.

"Hmm," Tomu concentrated and slowly held his arm out, trying to find his balance in the new position until he stabilized himself.

"Impressive!" Ty Lee flipped upright and cheerfully clapped once again.

Azula frowned slightly when she spotted Tomu and Ty Lee on the other side of the pond.

"Thank you," Tomu smiled as he let himself fall back onto the soft grass.

"Oh, Tomu, is it true you have a crush on Azula?" Ty Lee asked innocently and completely out of the blue.

"W-what?!" Tomu squeaked, rolling onto his stomach to face Ty Lee.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes you do," she smiled kneeling in front of him and booping his nose. "It's ok, I won't tell. Promise." She booped his nose again.

"Tell what?"

"Azula!" Tomu exclaimed and bolted up, startled by her sudden appearance next to him. "I- uh," she looked up at him, waiting for him to come up with an answer.

"C'mon Tomu," Zuko came up from behind and dragged Tomu away from his crazy sister.

"What happened to you?" Tomu took in his friend's disheveled appearance, notably the clumps of grass in his hair.

Zuko merely grunted and mumbled something that sounded like 'Azula' as they moved far away from the girls.

"Girls are crazy," Tomu sighed…

That was so long ago. Wow had things changed.

Why did he leave the Fire Nation again?

Ah yes, his dad was having some disagreements with what the Fire Lord was ordering him to do. His dad was no fool though and did not voice out his disagreements. But things were becoming quite unstable for him as some important family matters came up. His mom, his beautiful earthbender mom whom his dad had ironically met while on patrol in the colonies, was pregnant once again. The only problem was, after consulting with some medicine men and women from here and there, there was a great chance that his sibling would be an earthbender since they were due in the spring. It was easy enough to hide his mom's earth identity so long as she didn't earthbend, but if his sibling were to be an earthbender, the threat imposed on his family would be great.

His dad could not risk it, he would not risk it. And so he and his mom devised a plan with some outside assistance. No officer had ever deserted without being caught, the only exception being Jeong Jeong. Desertion was too much of a risk. The only way for things to work out was for him to stage his own death. And by some miraculous twist it had actually worked. The Fire Nation proclaimed him dead and in 'distress' his mom moved from the mainland along with him to the colonies; namely the colony of Yu Dao where firebenders and earthbenders lived together in harmony.

When he first heard that his father had passed away in an unfortunate accident, he was completely broken. His best friend Zuko had tried to comfort him but to only a minor relief. What made things worse for him was that his mother wanted to move away from the mainland, leaving everything behind - his home, the memories he had made, the friends who shared those memories with him… He tried to be strong but it was too much for him.

When his parents devised the plan, they knew he would be broken but it couldn't be helped. The plan was to reunite at Yu Dao, which is why his mother was so eager in leaving everything behind. He was still too young to understand their actions and their reasons for what they did but he would one day. And he did.

As he grew older, his view of the world changed and he slowly began to see the world for what it truly was. The Fire Nation. The so called greatest nation in the world? Heh. His whole life had changed yet he knew it was for the better.

But what exactly started everything?

Oh yeah, he remembered deducting on his own that there was another reason that led to his father's actions when he was a boy. Liu Xiang, who now went by Lee within the colony, praised him upon figuring it out but refused to tell him. His dad wanted him to figure out the truth on his own so that he could make his own decisions.

His father didn't want him wrecking his mind over such things so he suggested if he were to travel, to at least make a stop to Ember Island. A small vacation if you will. They did have an old vacation home after all.

He remembered keeping that in mind as he left Yu Dao. He recalled considering going to visit his grandfather. And even his master. Both were very wise and always had interesting things to say.

But what exactly led to him being in the current situation?

Oh that's right, he actually went to Ember Island…