Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar...pity...my quest for Nick Domination is yet to be successful...

AN: I'm sorry for my bout of inactivity. School is back again, and I'm suffering from a monsterous homework load. This is my reassurance to you all that I am still alive, still writing, and still writing Avatar fics. The fact that my muses are focusing more on Loki and other genres have not changed that.

This drabble in particular was inspired by a song by the Trans-Siberian Orchestra, and it's based on a new question that popped into my head: of all the people surrounding her, why did Azula attack Iroh? This is my personal response to that question. (And I'm still guessing in regards to the absence of the line break. That's quite annoying, methinks.)

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Iroh's blood went cold.

He knew the way this woman thought; he could see it in her eyes, just as he could see it in his brother's. Though her hands were raised in surrender, her eyes swept her opponents. The thoughts, the strategies, scripted themselves across her face.

The Water Tribe boy? He wasn't a Bender. His loss would not weaken her enemies.

The Avatar? Too valuable, too likely he would survive.

What about the Waterbender girl? No. She had done Azula injury—the welt from her blow was already beginning to show on the Princess's face. That offense merited a slow death. Zuko's fate would be the same.

And there: the smallest. Not unformidable, still quite dangerous and powerful, yet not predestined for vengeance. In fact, she was quite innocent. And her eyes—they didn't follow Azula's motions at all. She wasn't even looking at the Firebender. Blind. She would be unable to see or evade the deathblow.

Her death would startle the Avatar and his friends, still them long enough for Azula to reap her brutal victory.

Toph. That was the girl's name, unknown to the Princess. Her name was Toph: she was kind—a sweet spirit, filled with her own inner fire, proud and energetic and pure. She had a family, a past, a future. Hopes, dreams, goals.

Iroh would not let the innocent child be slaughtered. He moved, just slightly, beginning an unexpected sequence. As he expected, Azula realized her new threat.

Like a viper, she struck—the blaze of lightning lashed not the girl, but himself.

His final thought, before darkness consumed him, was that her life was well worth his.