Disclaimer: Avatar: The Last Airbender does not belong to me.

Notes: Writing Azula is not easy. Fact. I still had fun trying. Spoilers from The Boiling Rock: Part 2. Y'know, saying that again just in case.

Betrayal.

It was something Azula was used to. Most of her family had made her understand the word and its definition perfectly. Disloyalty, treachery, deceit. So many different words all meaning the same thing.

She had thought she would have gotten over it. It didn't shock her when Zuko betrayed his country. Or when her uncle had done the same thing. She had been expecting that one for a long time.

But it did shock Azula when Mai had attacked her. Mai. Her friend. One of the few people she actually liked.

"I love Zuko more than I fear you."

How stupid. How annoying. Mai had never been very emotionally strong, no matter how much she pretended. And Azula had known how much her friend had loved her bothersome brother. It was something she could never understand. She didn't want to. Love wasn't needed in her life. It didn't seem important.

Then again, love had made her friend stab her in the back.

Over her brother. The same guy that had broken her heart and left her crying for days. The same person that had left her some measly letter.

Still, Mai had betrayed her. It had shocked her.

Then Ty Lee. The same girl that constantly told her how great she was. How beautiful, perfect, smart, fascinating she was. The same idiot who had helped her try to impress boys. The exact same person that had seen her weaker side. Didn't the twit know how special she had been?

Hadn't Mai?

What was wrong with the world? The two people she actually had some inkling of affection for had betrayed her. They were friends. Azula had wanted to believe that Mai and Ty Lee were the two people she could trust. Just a little bit. The only two people that wouldn't have judged her if she showed some crack her appearance. Not that she had cracks. She had just wanted to think that maybe, just maybe, she could have had people who were okay with her.

And yes, she had used them. But she used everybody. That was just a part of her. She had thought Mai and Ty Lee had understood that. She had understood that Mai was always going to be gloomy and bored. Ty Lee was always going to annoyingly hyper. Azula had accepted those facts. Something she had never allowed before.

They had so many privileges. So many.

What had Zuko done for Mai?! What had Mai done for Ty Lee?!

It was no matter. They were stupid. Everybody was. The world was an imperfect place full of idiots. She would just have to accept the fact that so were Mai and Ty Lee. She could replace them. She would just get even bigger idiots this time. Ones that wouldn't surprise her and wouldn't take advantage of her hospitality.

She looked around her room and then walked to her mirror. Looking at herself in it. The way she seemed to be shaking and how she had that shocked look that would not leave her face.

"How dare they do this," She muttered to herself. Her face slowly contorted to anger. "How. Dare. They."

They won't get away with this.

"They've gone against their country."

They've gone against me.

"They're traitors."

They betrayed me.

"They…"

She bit down on her lip before screaming.

"They betrayed ME!"