A/N: My beloved and much appreciated readers, I am back! And as I usually do, let me first apologize for my tardiness in updates. Its been months but with school weighing me down so much, its been hard. Remember when I told you guys waaaaaay back, that this was going to follow the cannon storyline for a while then go off on a tangent? Prepare yourselves. So without further ado, let us rejoin Kai and the rest of the ATLA gaang!

The early morning sun basked the young fire benders pale cool skin as he exited the small pathetic excuse of a tent he was forced to spend the night in, due to the lack of forewarning on his being there. It was time to do some practicing. After their arrival in the late of the night, Kai had been sent to a small facility for showering, regularly used by the infantry soldiers. It was uncleaned and the water was cold, being pumped directly from lake Laogai. It felt good for Kai, having the dirt, dried blood and whatever else had accumulated on his skin during his time in the Earth Kingdom, washed away down the drain systems. The cold water didn't appeal to his being a fire bender, but what choice did he have. His time in the showers had also given him a chance to reflect on everything that had happened in such a short time. He had been in a fight with the Avatar, the banished Prince and Iroh. He had been reacquainted with the Princess and her friends. He had traveled from the Si Wong dessert to Ba Sing Se in a matter of hours. Surely not how he had expected the day to go.

As he practiced his standard set of techniques, he embraced the calming sensation of being surrounded by fire benders. He never realized how much nicer it was being in the presence of those with a similar mindset and upbringing. His refocused his concentration on his practice. Kick. Punch. Swirl. Spin. Down. It had been quite some time since he had appreciated the actual beauty of the fire at his control. The glorious hue of blue life was at HIS control. Not Ozai's. Not Azula's. Not the Avatar's. Kai paused. Had he actually just thought that? This was the first time he had ever felt any sort of resentment towards The Firelord. Was it resentment? Or was it simply a misguided, spur of the moment thought? It had to be. Kai had been eternally loyal to the Firelord since he had first started attending school.

It was the last day of the school week. Only a few minutes and all of us will be free. Kai couldn't wait. He would get to spend the entire weekend with his family in Capital City. Maybe he would even catch a glimpse of Firelord Azulon. Father is friends with Commander Qin, who will surely be a General before too long. He's one of the most successful leaders in the Fire Nation military. He has met the Firelord several times.

Maybe father will bring me with him, to meet the Firelord. Even just meeting the Princes Iroh and Ozai would be a great honor.

Kai's reminiscent flashbacks came to a startling halt when from over a loudspeaker came the booming voice of Admiral Qin.

"Would the Princess Azula and her friends please report to the War Chambers."

Hmph. War Chambers. Nothing more than a slightly larger tent with a fancy table inside. Kai made his way back inside his tent to change into something more appropriate.

After changing into a lighter, albeit more agile form of Fire Nation armor, Kai made his way to the war chamber. Azula, Ty Lee and Mail met him a the front door. Guarded by two soldiers in full armor they appeared quite uncomfortable in the heat of the morning.

"Ready to bring about the end?" Azula gave a snide remark, exuding her confidence in Qin.

"Im a bit skeptical of Qin's war machine. Nobody has ever gotten through that wall, why now should I expect it to change?" Kai was in disbelief at what he had just said. To the Princess.

"Hmph. Someone is in a grand mood today. What's gotten into you? You seemed so confident last night?" Azula was expecting an answer.

Kai felt very uncomfortable. Ever since he had arrived in the Earth Kingdom, he had been having, certain thoughts. He wasn't entirely sure where they were coming from, but they had to be suppressed. After all, they could be considered, somewhat treacherous.

"Uhh..." Kai stammered but was relieved to see Qin step through the door of the tent.

"Children, Princess." The Admiral flashed Kai a smirk. "I think you and your father will be very pleased with the drill. This machine will finally win us the Earth Kingdom, and the war." Qin ushered the group to enter the tent and led them to a table with a map of the Impenetrable City and the outlaying areas. There was a section of wall near their current position with a large, red 'X' on it. One could only assume. As the young group made their way to the seats around the table, Qin was already pitching his machine. He was solely focused on the Princess, making no effort to conceal the fact that he despised the rest of the teenagers presence in his war chambers.

"As you may have noticed, the secret war machine, is in fact a drill. Tomorrow morning, the completed machine will make its way to the wall with an escort of Fire Nation soldiers and tanks. Once the drill breaks through, our men will storm the city and lay siege. This is of course, a simplified version of the plan. I can get much more technical if you want?" Qin gave Kai a sideways glance. Probably somewhat hoping that they would not want a more detailed explanation.

"What kind of resistance can we expect from here to the wall? And inside the wall?" Azula was in royal mode. She had her focused, death glare on Qin and his every move.

"Minimal resistance until we make our final approach to the wall. Once inside, our soldiers will have to probably fight tooth and nail to set up a front line inside, where we simply wait for back up from the Fire Nation and the Firelord. The Earth Kingdom will fall within the next few weeks. And the war will be won." Qin was now smirking at the group with the most sinister look Kai had seen in years. The last time was on the one and only Princess.

It was only a few days after Kai and Azula had been engaged to each other by the Firelord Ozai. Kai was now in the courtyard practicing his firebending, which was now blue after they had taken the scrolls up to the cliff to practice in secrecy. The young boy was intently focused on his firebending but heard the sounds of struggle in the distance. Naturally, he had to investigate. Ever so quiet and agile, he made his way through the shrubbery surrounding the courtyard. As he drew nearer to the sounds he could pick out the voice of the Princess and the grunting of a man, probably middle aged. As he rounded a large tree in the center of the gardens he saw one of the servants and Azula. The servant was a younger man, probably mid-twenties, short light brown hair. He was fairly well built for a servant. That was when Kai saw the small dagger in his hand, it was covered in blood. And Azula was standing a few feet in front of him holding her stomach, though Kai could see the blood trickling through her red clothes onto her hands. Thats when it hit Kai. An assassin. As well built as he was, he must be Earth Kingdom. The fact that Azula was bleeding was enough to infuriate Kai. He went to move at the assassin, but before he could move Azula was on the move. She drew her arm back and shot a blast of lightning at the assailant, hitting him square in the chest right into his heart. He was dead before he hit the ground. But it was not any of these details that Kai remember so well that haunted him. It was the look of sinister ambitions on Azulas face. She had spilled blood for the first time. And from the size of the grin across her face, it surely would not be the last time.

Kai had tried unsuccessfully to repress that memory. It haunted his dreams every night, why he did not know. He himself had killed people before, so why did it bother him to see Azula? He debated this issue as he went back to his katas at noon. The meeting had summed up with the breakdown of tomorrows schedule. At sunrise, the drill would depart the camp, three hours later they would arrive at the wall. Assuming everything goes according to plan, two more hours and they would be inside the impenetrable city.

It was shortly after sunrise. Kai had been awoken by a soldier and given breakfast. Shortly thereafter he was escorted to the main deck of the drill with the girls. The drill was now roaring toward the great wall. Roaring was probably not the best word choice. The drill was moving at a crawl, the tanks at their sides were at half speed. The soldiers however, were moving at a brisk walk.

Nearly three hours later, the Wall of Ba Sing Se was in sight. Azula, Mai, and Kai had been seated nearly the entire time, only getting up to stretch once. Ty Lee however, had gotten bored fairly quickly. Azula commanded Qin to give her a full tour of the entire drill to get the young performer out of the other threes hair. The "full tour" however, had only taken and hour and a half. That left her bored again for another hour yet.

Kai had been in deep thought since they departed. He couldn't understand why his time in the Earth Kingdom would have made him lose respect for the Firelord and the Royal family as a whole. Probably because of the actions of Iron and Zuko. Kai began to wonder why that would affect his perception of Ozai and Azula. It was a foreign concept to the young firebender. Thinking of the Firelord by his name. Ozai. It didn't just feel normal to Kai. Calling him the Firelord felt, uncomfortable? Kai had begun to consider why a title meant anything to anyone. The people of other nations would spit at the title of Firelord. Fire School children would bow at the mention. Kai would, as he recently realized, become the second in command in the Fire Nation in a time to come. With his wedding to Azula, she would become Firelord and he would be her husband.

Or I could challenge, and probably take down, both. Then Fire Nation children would bow to me.

Kai visibly jumped at that thought. What had he just thought!? These daydreams could get him killed. Then again, he could be killed here today. Kai still did not possess much faith in Qin's machine. He suddenly regretted not going on the tour with Ty Lee. He wished he knew more about this machine.

"What's with you lately?" Azula's cool voice sliced into his train of thought and severed it instantly. Kai took a moment to recollect himself, noticing that he was sweating profusely.

"Well?" Azula wanted an answer. Understandably

"I was, just, thinking about things. Bad things, things from my past I don't feel like discussing right now." Kai inwardly flinched when he realized how snide his comment had been.

"I know your'e lying. But if you don't want to talk about it, I certainly can't make you." Azula was now refocused on whatever she had previously been thinking about.

"I certainly can't make you." These words stuck with Kai. She couldn't make him. She couldn't make him do anything. Did she doubt her combative skills compared with his? Or was she baiting him?

Some Earth Benders outside the drill were making some minor interference's. Azula casually sent Mai and Ty Lee to fight them away. The two doing so without any objections.

"So what exactly is bugging you? Ever since we met up in the dessert you've been very disrespectful to your Princess and betrothed." Azula would surely not be taking any nonsense answers this time.

"I've been very, uhm, conflicted. About some of my future commitments and some things I had taken for granted are coming into question." Kai wasn't lying. Just not revealing everything.

"As long as neither of these 'conflicts' are of me and your loyalty to your Nation. Then I don't care." She was scanning his face. Looking for any signs that might give him away. But he was as cool and collected as she was. And as such, kept them very well hidden.

Kai had been so deep in thought, it could him off guard that they were so close to the wall now. His only way of realizing was hearing some clattering of rocks on metal. Ty Lee and Qin were bantering about an impenetrable shell or something. Kai could care less.

"Look at the dust. Its all Poofy. Poof" Ty Lee's comment caught everyone off guard.

Kai was looking at Azula. Waiting for some sort of command. Instead, nothing. Although Kai could pick up some skepticism in her eyes.

The same eyes he knew were capable of raw destruction.

The drill had now made contact with the wall. It was a loud rumble and a large shake but it was flawless. Kai had to admit he was impressed. He had questioned whether the machine would even make it to the wall in the first place. That was when an engineer burst in the door. He informed Qin that one of the engineers had been ambushed and his schematics stolen. Also noting that one of the braces inside the drill had been cut clean through. "Here we go." Kai thought.

"Lets move. NOW." Azula barked the command and Kai and the girls jumped. Qin was noticeably disappointed, of course. The group moved quickly through the corridors from the main deck to the area between the outer shell and the actual drill. They could hear the voice of a young man shouting chants of encouragement? Kai thought this was odd. Not very stealthy on their part.

They rounded the corner and walked out onto an adjacent thick steel beam that ran horizontal to the upright pillars holding the drill up. There they could see the avatar, a young female waterbender and a non bender male. He was the one shouting the words of encouragement. Azula shot a small shot of fire at the non bender. He shouted and ducked out of the way.

"It's the Avatar. And friends." Ty Lee was flirting with the non bender. Of course she was, Kai thought.

The air nomad and his friends began to run back down a corridor. They split up at an intersection, the water siblings running right and the Avatar left. Azula and Kai followed the air bender and Ty Lee and Mai followed the others. The Avatar used his air bending and gained remarkable ground away from the two fire benders. Kai let Azula get ahead by a ways, maybe twenty feet.

If the Fire Nation takes Ba Sing Se, they've basically won the war. If this operation fails, the Firelord will lose a great deal of respect, so will the Princess. After the Siege of the North's failure, another major loss could result in riots and distrust in the Royal Family. The perfect time for a new leader to step in.

Kai felt uneasy, and more conflicted than ever now. Was he considering doing what he was thinking?

Once Kai reached the end of the corridor, their was a hatch leading to the top of the drill. Azula and the Avatar were in combat, the Avatar was trying to buy time, he was cutting an X into the top of the drill. There were boulders falling all around him. He was fending Azula off fairly well. With a gust of wind, he sent Azula back a quarter of the distance of the drill. Only fifteen feet ahead of Kai. She looked back, gave him a smirk and looked back forward toward the Avatar. Who was now shaping a boulder into a large spike, right above the X. Time seemed to slow for Kai. He saw Azula begin to stand as if she was going to lunge.

He took a deep breath.

In one swift movement, Kai swung his whole body in a circle, with his leg leading. The end of his leg was followed by a large trail of blue fire that followed his direction and made a direct hit to the Princess' right leg.

A/N: OOOOOH. Cliff hanger! Arent I just an evil lil squirt? Anyway. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW. ANYTHING AT ALL. Just need to know that theres still interest in this story. THANK YALL catch ya on the flip side!