Artwork: Thank you so much to Seyary-Minamoto for her beautiful artwork! It couldn't have come out any more perfect.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender

Week 1 prompts: Mistake or Pact

Chapter 1: Mistake

Everything had gone more or less back to normal since their little excursion to Ember Island. Ty Lee was off cartwheeling about, or whatever it was she did during her spare time, Zuko and Mai worked out their differences and took every opportunity they could to be alone together, doing all sorts of horrendous things behind closed doors, and Azula, she went back to training hard and resumed her old antics of deception and manipulation. Except, one thing was different…

Of course, Azula would never acknowledge it, but a recent layer of loneliness had begun to influence her actions and thoughts, shrouding her usually rational judgment, following her around like a shadow and gnawing at her insides. Maybe this was why she had been spying on her brother and Mai so often.

These two were really starting to sicken her. Their tender glances, their sappy smiles, their incessant kissing! Blech. Why had she even bothered to bring him home?! She didn't need him. She certainly didn't help restore his honor so he could spend every moment with her. What could he possibly see in her anyway? She was so painfully boring and quite dull in the looks department. The princess could not comprehend his fixation with her at all. The way he looked at her like she was everything. Azula sighed with a mixture of anger, envy, and pity, wondering if anyone would ever look at her that way…

The thought was fleeting. She didn't have time to waste on such petty nonsense. These self-doubts were truly pathetic. She was the most beautiful, smartest, perfect girl in the world for Spirits' sake! Ty Lee knew it. The bubbly girl with warm eyes and a warmer smile who never had any trouble capturing the attention of boys. No, they drooled all over her like filthy lapdogs. They ogled her like she was the most coveted of treasures. Azula's hands balled into fists, her chest tightening. Why not her? What was wrong with her? Maybe she really was a mon-

No. Nothing was wrong with her. Chan was a fucking idiot for running away like that. Azula smirked as she reminisced about trashing his house and ruining his party. He deserved it. He deserved it for kissing her and bolting. How dare he? Who did he think he was?

She shook her head, emptying her mind of these unpleasant trivialities. It was no matter. It wouldn't be long before she became of age and Ozai would undoubtedly marry her off to some wealthy Fire Nation nobleman's son. These trite insecurities would surely disintegrate into the past. There was nothing to fear. Nothing at all.

She took a deep breath and smiled to herself. It was time to do one of her most favorite activities: interrupt Zuko and Mai.

Jet had staked out the perimeter of the Palace for weeks. He knew the face of each and every guard, and more importantly, when those ugly bastards changed shifts. The area between the walls and the Palace would be the most difficult to infiltrate. Those damn guard towers. To say he would have to be cautious would be an understatement. If he so much as breathed the wrong way, it could very well be the end of him.

But it would all be worth the potential danger. He had to put everything on the line. What would be the point of getting a second chance at life if he wasn't going to take full advantage of it? And he knew his destiny. He had to kill Prince Zuko. Lee. That Fire Nation scum. If it hadn't been for that shifty spider-rat, Jet would have never been brainwashed. There's nothing worse than having your own mind turned against you. Now Zuko was going to pay the ultimate price. And to think, they had once been something akin to friends.

Friendship was overrated anyway. Jet knew he was better off alone. This way, no one could get in his way. No one could judge him. "I thought we were going straight now." "I thought we were starting over here, changing our ways." "We came here to make a fresh start." "Jet, you gotta stop this." Please. At least Smellerbee and Longshot now thought he was dead. Everyone did. Good.

He was ready. His so-called friends should have known it would take more than a stupid rock to end his life. The Spirits were right behind him. He was given a new purpose, an unstoppable drive, and he was not going to squander it. He scurried up and over the barrier while the guards emptied their towers. He sprinted to the Palace exterior, pressing himself flush up against the hard stone. Holding his breath until his lungs hurt, he shimmied into the blind spot between towers.

So far so good. He knew he only had a few minutes to scale the wall before new guards resumed their vigilant watch from the towers and others made their rounds on foot. He began to climb. Up, up, up until he reached a small wooden balcony. He dove in over the railing, landing stealthily and silently on his feet. All those years hiding out in the forest were sure proving useful.

Although he was confident in his ability to reach the Palace, he had never been able to obtain a full blueprint of the interior. Still, this balcony had to lead somewhere. To a bedroom no doubt. It had to be the prince's bedroom – it just had to be. He could feel it. He was drawn to it.

The window was locked as he had expected, but fortunately lock picking was just one of the skills in his arsenal of crafty talents. He slid through the crack of the two glass doors to find one sleeping member of the royal family. Zuko may have bested him once, but now he was finally going to meet his match.

He smirked as he readied his hook swords. But as his eyes adjusted further to the darkness of the new atmosphere, he realized the sleeping prince was actually a sleeping beauty. The Fire Nation Princess. Azula. The cruel, sadistic firebending prodigy with flames as blue as ice. His blood ran cold.

Shit.