A/N: Hello everyone, welcome aboard the Azulaang(?)-train. So, yeah this is it, let's get a few (ok, a lot of) things out of the way before we dive into the real thing, shall we? Great.

So first things first, I am no English- native speaker and the idea of this fic (besides its storyline, which was bugging me for a couple of years now) was to train my English. Now, you see, I don't know how that turned out (despite proofreading like a thousand times), so please forgive some mistakes. They are bound to happen, and I do apologize in advance. If you notice something major out of place, please tell me.

Oh and Reviews etc are, of course, welcome. But don't complain about the idea of this fic, you came here for Aang and Azula, not my fault, dude!

Speaking about Azula, she will be way nicer (at least around Aang) than she normally would be. Yeah, I'll admit it: I am bad at writing sadistic monsters, sorry. You got me. This time, it's my fault.

Next thing you need to know, I allowed myself to change most of the characters ages. Since this story will cover quite a long timeframe and starts rather early, people will be older from the beginning. No younger than 18 to be precise, and don't ask why, you guys know exactly why. This is, after all, rated M. Everything else stays the same, they are just... older. Yeah... I am so eloquent, no? No.

Something else? Oh yeah, I almost forgot. In case you didn't already suspect it: I do not own Avatar, I do not own the characters, I do not own shit. Hell, I hardly own the keyboard I am typing on, so yeah... I am merely a humble puppeteer.

So now, did I address everything? Language issues: check, review-ramblings: check, Azula-changes: check, age-alteration: check, property-stuff: check. Excellent!

On to the real thing, enjoy, have fun and see you in the funny farm. I'll shut my mouth now.

-/-

Aang should be sleeping by now. He really should. But somehow his much needed rest simply refused to find its way to him. Every time he closed his burning eyes, his tiredness seems to wash off. It drove him nuts. Nowhere near rested, he decided that, maybe, it could be a good idea if he'd just went to meditate for a while. He would at least be doing something, besides meditation is really relaxing. It's not sleep though and Aang wondered at which point he is eventually going to break down due to excessive sleep deprivation. He got up from his bed and silently made his way out of his room in Zukos beach house on Ember Island, as he headed to the balcony. Tiptoeing past Tophs room, he could hear the blind girl loudly snoring. The last thing he had the nerve for was a discussion with the stubborn earthbender. He reached the balcony everyone shared and was surprised to find Sokka there, dead asleep near the handrail. His head was hanging over it, and his closed eyes must have been gazing into the stars. Aang knew what his best friend had been doing. Full moon nights have always been the hardest for Sokka, since the passing of Yue. Since then he would spend hours of hours just looking at the moon. He must have fallen asleep while doing exactly that. Aang sighted silently and pulled a blanket over his best friend, before he took off to the forest edge.

The woods were surprisingly quiet, the soft moonlight was submerging everything around Aang in a magnificent silver shimmer. He enjoyed nighttime especially at times of full moon. Something inside Aang was set to peace and inner balance and he could not help but wonder if that was Yues doing. He followed his well known path through the woods to the pond a few minutes of walking away from the summerhouse a part of team Avatar was staying at. It was a secluded little lake within a tiny clearing in the otherwise so dense jungle. Aang settled down on a strip of very soft, even in the silver moonlight wonderfully green grass. He took a brief moment to appreciate the peaceful environment he was in. The moon was reflecting in the perfectly still water and nearby, at the ponds shore, a few butterflies where performing their beautiful dance of love.

He inhaled deeply and rid his mind from everything that was bothering him at the time. The moment he was closing his eyes, a rather alarming sound urged to his alerted ears. It was nothing he would have ever dared to call a scream. It was not screaming, no. Screaming would require the screamer to actually have some strength left inside of them. What Aang heard was a nerve-wrecking, chilling sound of someone slowly dying, but putting up a hell of a fight. For a short moment he noticed himself getting pissed off at the interruption, but he felt guilty for it immediately. Someone clearly needed help. Thankfully the moon was shining rather bright.

At once Aang was at his feet, trying strained to make out the direction the abysmal sound was coming from. For a brief moment he feared that, maybe, someone from his friends could be in trouble. But the closer he listened, the more it got apparent, that the noise was not coming from the mansion. Instead it was quite the opposite. Not hesitating at all, he launched off to where the scream was probably originating. Aang was able to locate things using his earthbending. Toph taught him the basics, but the ground was loose, typical forest-earth, and his abilities where just barely working on solid ground. Aang was only feeling pink noise, so he had to rely on his hearing, which luckily was rather decent.

A few moments later he must have been nearby. He could hear muffled panting somewhere very near around him. The gasping and little bits of hushed words definitely belonged to a woman and for a second there Aang could have sworn he knew the voice. But he was not able to put his finger on it. He was looking around, now cursing the formerly appreciated moonlight. It may have been wonderful and totally enough for a nightly stroll in the dense woods, but hell. For actually searching something, or better someone, it was just way to dark. He couldn't see shit. How he wished for the ability to properly firebend now, at least he could make his own light. He took a few steps to his left, thinking the breathing he was hearing could come from that direction, and as he did this, the distinct sound of air being sucked in and let loose again was suddenly gone.

Aang pondered for a second whether he should call out or not. He decided on the former course of action, as he silently whispered: "Hello? Someone here? Do you need any help?" he did not want to draw any possibly unwanted attention to him, so he kept his voice down as much as possible. The sound of startled movement filled the quiet forest. Aang spoke up again. "I won't do you any harm, I am here to help, if you want to, just tell me where you are." nothing. The Avatar was about to add just who he is, as suddenly a female voice clanged through the night air almost directly where he was standing. "Here" she said weakly and faint. Aang spun around as he finally saw what could only be the outline of a female human body, huddled to a tree. He knelt down beside her as he asked "Are you hurt? Do you need help?"

"Yes" was the only Answer he got, and it was getting almost inaudible. It really gave him the creeps.

"Where are you hurt?" he pressed urgently.

She made a sound that probably was a failed attempt at laughter "Where am I not?" she whispered and yet again Aang could swear that he knew her voice. Some bell was ringing inside of him, but he did not remember who the voice could have belonged to. A lot of faces flashed through his mind but none seemed to really fit. He scrapped the whole question for now, and reminded himself to concentrate on helping the nameless woman.

"Alright, I am going to carry you to that lake over there." he stated as he picked the girl up bridal style. "Does it hurt?" he asked, as he shifted her in his Arms until a secure position was found.

" 's ok" she breathed weakly, as he carried her through the undergrowth towards the small lake. Luckily it was not far.

Laying her down on the same stretch of green soft grass he was originally going to meditate on, he got the first chance to closer examine the damage done. Her clothes where practically ripped into shreds. It was a fire nation garment, that he was sure of, but the blood still glistered in the moonlight despite the obviously red parts of fabric. She was holding on to her right arm as if to make sure it was still there and the left leg was terribly twisted. She lacked any kind of shoes, or pants for that matter and there were cuts on nearly every part of skin he was able to see. Working his way up from her legs over her arms to her head he tried to make a list as of what to heal first, sorting from severe to less severe injuries. He knelt beside her to take a closer look, as she turned her head away unnoticed. Yep, her left leg was definitely broken a few times and the right one has seen better times as well. She would not let go of her arm, so Aang could not tell what the damage there was, but the skin was shattered and she had bruises basically everywhere. It ripped something inside him apart to see a human body was able to sustain such severe amount of damage. The girl must have been a really tough fighter, or she would not be alive by now. Aang suppressed the urge to just ask who did those cruelties to her. Never would he wish her fate to anybody, not even his worst enemies. She must have been to hell and back a few times.

The moment he knelt down beside her, she averted her face, not willing to look at him, even as she spoke. "What are you doing?" she whispered.

"I can heal you" he stated "Though I know somebody who is way better at this than me."

"No! no one else. Just do it. please" her voice filled with terror, and Aang silently agreed.

"I am going to start on your legs" he said, as he bended water out of the lake to the heavier damaged one.

She heard the water splash and suddenly there was a cool feeling on her broken leg. "Are you a Waterbender?" she inquired weakly and was unable to hide the sound of fear and panic in her voice. Why anyone would be scared of a waterbender eluded Aang, but maybe the poor girl was just generally scared out of her mind. Which would not really be surprising.

Aang sighted. He should probably tell her. It would put her at ease, even though she was obviously firenation. At least she would know, he was not going to hurt her further. Well, if he patches her up, she most likely wouldn't run to tell the firelord. Hopefully. And even if, so be it. They would be long gone before anyone could catch up. "Not only" he said calmly. "My name is Aang. Please don't freak out, ok? But I am the Avatar. I will help you, don't be scared. Everything is going to be fine, I promise. You can trust me" he whispered.

Her head practically spun around the moment his name has left his lips. Her eyes locked with his, she didn't even flinch as the broken bone painfully clicked back into place under the bended water. And that shit hurts like hell, Aang knew from firsthand experience. She was way too distracted staring at the Avatar.

It took Aang a moment longer than he was comfortable with to realize. She looked him dead in the eyes, and suddenly the silver moonlight was not able to hide the golden shimmer of her iris anymore. His look darted upwards into her hair, which, though messed up completely, still bore the golden crown of one certain princess.

"Azula" he stated in shock, the focus on healing her leg completely lost by this revelation. The water just smacked to the ground, as he darted backwards a good distance. How could that happen? What was she doing in these woods half dead? Aang was confused. What Azula said next did not help either.

"Just kill me, Avatar" she panted in severe pain. It took some time for the words to sink into the Avatars mind. And a bit more to be processed.

"what!?" Aang gasped. Azula would never say that. She would never. This was a trap. It had to be. A voice in Aang was practically screaming danger. But it made no sense whatsoever. What twisted kind of plan would that be anyway? Get yourself nearly killed on the off chance the Avatar could maybe have trouble sleeping, so he may or may not come to meditate near a lake, where he may or may not hear you fight for your life and decide to help. Sure, that's just retarded. On the other hand, what the fuck was Azula doing almost dead in those woods? How did she even get here, especially in her condition? You can't really run with broken legs now, can you?

"You heard me" she whispered weakly. "Don't keep me alive to question me. I won't answer. I am of no use to you. Kill me. Please. Put an end to this, if you have the slightest hint of respect" the ever so arrogant princess was basically panicking, yet her voice lacked any sort of force. Aang could not believe his own ears, not only was she asking to be killed, she almost begged for it. Azula didn't even use the word 'please' as far as Aang was concerned, yet alone anything close to begging. He was confused, nothing was fitting together. She was evil, so many times his friends and himself where only barely able to escape her grasp. He should hate her. He hated her. And yet somehow, at this very moment, he just could not bring himself to do what she asked of him. She was hurting, severely injured and obviously in panic. On the other hand, she caused endless pain to him, to his friends and to an indefinite amount of people he did not know. Hell, she killed him once, shot him down with lightning deep under the city of Ba Sing Se. He made a decision.

"I will" he said. Azula sighted and closed her eyes. Finally, it would be over soon. For a second she was curious how she would go. If he would suffocate her, or maybe drown her. Maybe he would crush her with a rock, which would be fast and painless. For a moment she feared that maybe she would be left to die alone, which would possibly not take an awful lot of time either. But at the sound of Water being bended again, she knew that Princess Azula would drown. Ah well, she thought absent minded I didn't suppose he would make it quick. Killing a firebender with water, what an irony.