Author's Note: Warning! Major spoilers if you haven't watched Episode 15 of Avatar season three, The Boiling Rock. Don't read unless you've seen it!

Characters from Avatar: the Last Airbender belong to Nickelodeon

Scene 1: The Princess

"What is she doing?!"

A low, seething hiss followed the exclamation as amber eyes flashed incredulously down towards the gondola landing. Of course, even from the top of the slowly descending gondola, it was painfully clear what the governor's daughter was doing as she moved with catlike grace and deadly precision around the surrounding prison guards. Had Azula not been familiar with Mai's unique talent, she might have been puzzled by the way the guards seemed to find themselves suddenly pinned, one by one, against the nearby walls, struggling against some invisible force that held them in place. As the gondola continued to descend, however, the silver flash of various sharp knives could be seen as they sped toward their targets with incredible accuracy.

The Fire Nation Princess felt the heat rise against her palms as she momentarily struggled to take in the scene.

Mai…her loyal assassin…part of her elite team…

It simply refused to register.

Azula was rarely taken by surprise when it came to predicting another's thoughts, emotions, motives, anything really. After all, she did consider herself a people person. Even now, as her eyes focused on Mai, threatening to burn a hole right through her with the intensity of her gaze, a nasty voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she had already known that some form of confrontation lay ahead. That it had been inevitable. Ever since she had realized that the feelings her gloomy friend had harbored for her idiot brother as a child had somehow managed to survive those long years of his exile, Azula had predicted a minor obstacle. A slight annoyance. A pathetic hindrance that would perhaps be remedied with a stern lecture on where her friend's loyalties should lie.

But not this. As aggravating as it was, Azula grudgingly admitted that she had not predicted this. Hadn't Mai realized the enormity of her decision when she threw that first knife at a prison guard? Didn't she understand the consequences that action would entail? And there would be consequences, Azula thought to herself as her teeth clenched violently together, her unnaturally long nails digging painfully into the flesh of her palms.

How had she allowed this to happen?

Betrayal was not something new to her, but she had always been able to predict it. Always. Princess Azula, fire prodigy at the age of five and daughter of Fire Lord Oazi knew when a person loyal to her was having second thoughts, when that person was about to make the fatal mistake of crossing her. She could read in their eyes. Pathetic people were like that, displaying emotion so that anyone, especially someone as talented at reading people as she, could, at a glance, know the thoughts that person wished to keep secret. Azula often used this talent to take advantage of lesser individuals, to find their all too abundant weaknesses and exploit them for her own means. It was easy and it was fun. And it didn't matter who it was either; a water peasant could be read just as easily as someone as powerful as the leader of the Earth Kingdom Dai Li…

Though, admittedly, Mai had been different. Her continuously bored demeanor effectively hid any hint of emotion, anything that might betray her, even from the princess herself. Azula acidly wondered now if the assassin used this as a façade for that very reason, as protective measure so that her enemies never knew when she would strike. Obviously it had worked, Azula thought to herself as she continued to forcibly grind her teeth together.

The whole situation was almost too infuriating for her to stand. On top of losing her prey, who were now happily escaping her clutches because of Mai's idiocy, she was know going to have to deal with something infinitely worse – treason. Worse because this sort of thing couldn't be corrected with an intimidating lecture. No, dangerous thoughts of this kind had to be forcibly extracted with punishment, harsh punishment, if they could be extracted at all.

It felt like an eternity before the sluggish gondola finally reached the platform. Surprisingly the clumsy, incompetent prison guards had actually managed to capture Mai, regretfully stealing the opportunity for Azula to do it herself. A fresh wave of anger had washed over her as she lept deftly to ground and strode over to her quarry in one swift motion. Her fists flexed rapidly, pushing her claw-like nails further into her palms until one actually punctured her skin. The trembling needed to stop. The ragged breathing needed to cease. She wanted to appear calm, cold, unaffected by this sudden turn of events that had left her shattered.

Azula came to a halt. She'd managed to smooth her features by now, to cover her emotion, and yet she stood farther away than she might have for any other prisoner. Ty Lee stood nearby as well, the fear blatantly expressed on the acrobat's normally cheerful face. However, Azula's attention was focused solely on Mai now. Her pair of glowering golden eyes was the only thing that revealed the absolute rage that threatened to burst from her at any moment. They raked over the other girl's form and then settled on her cold, emotionless face, hoping to pierce her with their intensity. To Azula's utter annoyance, the governor's daughter did not even show a hint of remorse for her outrageous act, not even a trace of fear behind those narrow, blank eyes.

Didn't she care?! Didn't she feel something after betraying her?! Didn't it hurt at all…

Then, suddenly, the question of how she had allowed this to happen transformed into the question of how Mai could do this to her. To her. Mai was one of those rare individuals that Azula had granted her admiration. Didn't she realize what an honor that was? They had grown up together, went to the Academy together and now everything had been thrown away. Azula could no longer trust her loyal assassin. The trio was down to two. The sudden lump that formed in the princess's throat constricted her breathing and made it difficult to think. All she wanted at the moment was to throw herself at the slender girl and tear her apart, force her to feel sorry for causing this ache, for weakening her with emotion. Azula would make sure that Mai was punished, tortured until she cried out to be accepted by her again.

But now here was a curious thing. Rather than intensifying her hatred, as Azula had expected, the sight of the depressed, darkly clothed girl who, having finally surrendered to the overwhelming number of guards surrounding her, stood resolutely despite the obvious fear she must have felt, made the princess pause. She couldn't do it. No, it wasn't that she couldn't, rather, she didn't want to. This was the kind of strength she wanted to surround herself with, not punish. Azula didn't want to lock her away, she wanted to slap her, she wanted to scream at her to snap out of it and let things return to the way they were. But again that nasty voice in her head reminded her that this wasn't an option. Mai had changed things. Changed them forever.

Finally, as these thoughts ran rapidly through her mind, Azula spoke to the guards, careful to keep her voice even.

"Leave us alone."

The guards immediately took their leave without question, leaving the tall slender girl to stand alone. Silence reigned as the two faced each other.

"I never expected this from you."

It wasn't a total lie. Azula had honestly believed that a treasonous act from Mai would come in the form of reluctance rather than initiative. After another pause, the princess continued, voicing the thought that was eating at her like acid.

"The thing I don't understand is why, why would you do it? You know the consequences…"

Her voice was still icy, biting as she spoke, fighting to hold back her rage. And yet, it held a slight pleading note, barely distinguishable and hidden among the bitterness. She waited impatiently for a response as the furrow in her brow deepened. The stubborn girl in front of her raised her chin a fraction of an inch in defiance and spoke. Her husky voice sounded just as bored as usual, just as condescending and hardheaded as Azula had expected.

"I guess you just don't know people as well as you think you do. You miscalculated."

Then those fatal words.

"I love Zuko more than I fear you."

Azula's chin snapped back as the words washed over her, drowning her in shock. Mai's scathing words had accomplished something rare and nearly impossible in Azula.

They had struck a nerve.

In an instant, the fortress that had managed to hold back the Fire Nation Princess's wrath crumbled suddenly as absolute rage consumed her entire being. Her bright, golden eyes widened in fury, her face contorted to form an ugly visage that expressed all the emotion she'd worked so hard to keep veiled behind a mask of indifference.

"No, you miscalculated! You should have feared me more!" she screamed venomously, her lip curling dangerously into a snarl. The words exploded from her mouth in an attempt to show Mai just how wrong she was, how fearsome she could be. In fact, she would teach her right now, Azula thought to herself, her expression almost mad as she trembled, irrational thoughts possessing her mind. She positioned herself, her hands raised and ready to strike. Maybe in death, Mai's eyes wouldn't appear so bored. Perhaps when she was gone, this aching sense of betrayal would be replaced with a new feeling, something bearable.

But just as she was about to summon the lightening to her fingertips and release all her anguish, her arm went completely limp.

An incredulous gasp escaped Azula's lips as she realized in a split second what had happened. The pink clad acrobat struck another paralyzing blow to the princess's side, making her powerless to stop herself from collapsing to the ground with a sickening thud. But the pain of the hard stone slab as it slammed against her face was nothing compared to the sinking sensation she felt. The realization that she possessed no control of the situation, no control over her own body, overwhelmed her with a sense of helplessness that nearly drove her insane.

She felt vulnerable.

The shame, that foreign emotion, almost rivaled the other that threatened to consume her in her weakened state. If she had been surprised at Mai's betrayal, Ty Lee's subsequent treachery nearly sent her over the edge of despair. Ty Lee, the over active, bubbly girl who never hesitated to compliment Azula on her ability to command attention and strategize…had apparently chosen Mai over her. Foolish girl! If she wanted to share in Mai's punishment then so be it! Azula blinked back the hot, angry moisture in her eyes and willed the rage to return so it could crush any trace of weak emotion left in her. Those traitors…They were no friends of hers…

"Come on! Let's get outta here!" Ty Lee exclaimed fearfully, sounding just as shocked by her own actions as Azula. She rushed to Mai and began tugging her towards the gondola. However, it was all in vein. The guards, alarmed by the commotion on the landing, had returned to quickly surround the two Fire Nation girls who were roughly grabbed and held captive. Two of the guards rushed to the fallen princess's side, hesitating fearfully before deciding to lift her up by the arms.

"You're both fools!" Azula spat, her voice dripping with bitterness. Her cheeks burned with humiliation as she relied on the two prison guards to hold her up.

"What shall we do with them, Princess?" one of them asked, motioning towards the traitors.

Their princess's eyes were filled with hatred as they locked onto her once loyal companions, causing Ty Lee to flinch and look away. Azula's breathing was ragged again and had she not been paralyzed from the neck down she would have lunged at them both, claws ready.

"Put them somewhere I'll never have to see their faces again. And let them rot!"

And then they were gone. Carried deep down somewhere within the confines of the prison to be tossed into some faraway, forgotten cell where they would be isolated from other prisoners. Where they could starve for all she cared. They were dead to her. Maybe someday, though, she would visit them and listen to their pathetic cries for forgiveness before she slammed the iron door in their faces…

.

.

.

.

Weeks passed...

Grief did not.

.

The violent sobs echoing through the empty corridor leading to the Fire Nation Princess's chambers were faint and largely unnoticed by the servants of the palace. Had they noticed, they probably would not have been bothered with sympathy anyway. Possessing the ability to control others with fear came with a price after all – isolation. Of course, eventually a few of the servants began noticing traces of burnt tapestries and other objects in their Princess's wing, eerily left charred and smoking in dark silence. But they were easily replaced.

A/N:Ever since I watched The Beach, I've been faniscinated with Azula's character. I mean, that episode totally humanized her! I really hope we see more character development for her in future eps.

Find out how Azula deals with her prisoners when the temptation to see them becomes too great in the next chapter!