Chapter 12

"Azula? What are you doing?" Ursa's voice echoed softly in the dimly-lit hallway and Azula cringed.

"I was looking for you."

"Why did you do that?"

Azula's eyes fixed on the debris she'd strewn across her mother's floor and she shrugged indifferently. "I don't like the picture. I don't like any of them. You shouldn't even have them. You're a traitor."

After a long, awkward pause, Ursa sighed, "I'm sorry."

"Sorry?" Azula laughed, the corners of her mouth turned up in an angry snarl. "Do you really think that's good enough? I'm not like Zuko, Mother. I'm not going to come running back to you just because you apologize. And you'll never see me groveling in your holy shadow, vying for your affection. I don't want it. Father loves me plenty; more than enough to make up for my lack of a mother."

"I'm sure your father loves you very much. But he's not the only one, Azula. I love you so much more than you know. I've always loved you."

"That's a lie!" shrieked the princess. She tore down another picture and then another, stripping the wall as fast as she could of its biased memories. "You're lying! If you loved me so much, you would've watched all of my firebending practices, like you did for Zuko. You would've hung up all of my grade school drawings, like you did for Zuko. You would've said good-bye to me when you left, like you did for Zuko."

"Your father didn't want me anywhere near your firebending practices; he thought I would encourage your mistakes, because apparently I did that for Zuko, too. And I did hang up all of your drawings; I don't know why you didn't see them. And Azula, I wanted to say good-bye to you. I wanted to so badly. But there wasn't time. I had to leave. He would've killed me if he caught me with you," cried Ursa bitterly, her tears streaming perfectly down her pale, flawless face.

Azula shook her head and cackled, her voice slightly unstable as she ranted, "Father loves me. He wants me to be happy. And he knows how much it would've meant to me to have you at my practices. He wouldn't have told you to stay away from me; you're just using him as an excuse to cover up how much you hate me!"

Choking back sobs, Ursa whimpered, "Azula, I do not hate you. And I never wanted you to think that I did. I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Well, it doesn't really matter anymore. You've already messed everything up. No changing that. And you don't see me crying about it, so you may as well cheer up. After all, you're not a complete failure. If what you say is true, then you've successfully obeyed Father by completely abandoning me. You won't see my tainted by your impurities. Should you even have any, that is. To hear Zuko talk, you'd think you were a goddess." Hot, tormented tears threatened to break Azula's almost stable facade, but she forced them back. She was not going to cry. She didn't cry. She was strong; too strong for tears and strong enough that she knew not to reward her mother by mirroring her own emotion. "And since I believe we're done here, I'm going to retire. You'll find me in my room should you feel the need to reap revenge through me because I ruined your perfect family. So sorry things just didn't work out."

The firebender straightened her back and raised her chin, then entered her room and shut the door firmly. Of all of the houses she could've picked, it had to be this one. It had been those stupid flowers. Lulling her into a false sense of security; of course she'd pick the house that looked the most Fire Nation. And Ursa must've known that. She and Ozai must've been planning this reunion for months; possibly even years. They both wanted to break her, but she wasn't cracked yet. No, she was unbreakable. Impenetrable. No one could hurt her anymore; she'd been hurt plenty of times before, but never again.

With a ragged sigh, she collapsed onto her bed and stared dully out the open window. It was dark outside, and deceivingly warm. If Azula hadn't known better, she may've thought she was in the Fire Nation. But she did know better. And the usual smells of smoke and sea-salt were missing; this couldn't be home. The Earth Kingdom could never be her home.

As she stared venomously at the sparkling indigo sky, she reflected on her previous conversation with her mother. Maybe she'd been a bit harsh. After all, Azula knew quite well that her father was an unusual man, and chances were he really hadn't allowed Ursa near his prized daughter. If that was true, than she supposed she owed Ursa an apology.

The idea amused Azula and she rolled over onto her side, away from the window. She apologized to no one. She never did anything wrong.

The calendar said August thirteenth, and the world outside said it was going to be a warm, beautiful Friday. Azula jumped out of bed and stretched before running out of her room to find her parents. "Mom! Dad!" she screamed energetically.

No one answered.

From his room trudged Zuko, scowling and rubbing his sleepy eyes. "Azula, shut up."

"Where is everyone? Where's Mom? Where's Dad?"

"Dad's in a war meeting and I have no idea where Mom is. But why do you care? What's wrong?"

Azula frowned and placed her hands on her hips. "Don't you know what today is?"

"No."

"Zuko, you are so dumb. Sometimes I wonder if you're even really a part of this family, or if Mom and Dad just plucked you off of the streets. Or maybe they found you at the circus. I guess it doesn't matter; you probably don't even understand what I'm saying."

"What? Of course I do, Azula. I'm not stupid. Just tell me what day it is."

With a large grin that was half angry sarcasm and half renewed excitement, she chirped, "It's my birthday!"

"So?"

Scowling, the little princess snapped, "I always remember your birthday."

"Whatever. I'm going to breakfast. Happy birthday, I guess."

Azula nodded her head and then pranced down the hallway, swinging her arms at her sides and thoroughly enjoying every minute of being a brand-new seven-year-old. So far, things weren't going as well as she'd hoped they would, but there was still plenty of time for improvement.

She knocked gently on her parents' door and then slipped quietly in. Her mother was brushing her hair in front of her vanity, and Azula gleefully approached her. "Good morning, Mom."

Without so much as a glance towards her daughter, Ursa smiled, "Good morning, Sweetheart."

Azula rocked back and forth on her heels a moment before probing, "Anything you want to say to me?"

"Um...I don't know...what were you expecting me to say?"

"Do you know what day it is?"

"Friday."

"And what's the date?"

"I think it's the thirteenth. Why?"

Frustration gnawed at Azula from the inside out as she tried to determine if her mother was just joking or if she really didn't know what was so special about the day. "Doesn't that date mean anything to you?"

"Well, your grandfather's going to say that the day's unlucky..."

"What? Why?!" shrieked Azula in horror.

"It's Friday the thirteenth...uh, never mind. You'll probably understand it someday."

"Oh." Azula kicked at the corner of the baseboard and then turned around to leave. "Well, I'm going to go play with Ty Lee and Mai, I guess."

"Have fun, Darling."

With tear-filled eyes, Azula grabbed the doorknob and turned it slowly. Just as she was about to close the door behind her, though, her mother's voice stopped her.

"Azula?"

She poked her head back into her mother's room and waited, trying to hide her obvious disappointment. So no one remembered her birthday. Big deal.

"You didn't really think I forgot, did you, Honey?"

Azula smiled and she ran up to her mother, who bent down and hugged her tight.

"Happy birthday, Azula."

The soft sound of raindrops roused Azula from her sleep. She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes, then turned toward the window. Outside, it was still dark - still nighttime - and yet there was just enough light for Azula to be able to see rain pouring in fat, heavy silver drops from what used to be a perfectly clear sky. As a single flash of lightning illuminated the stormy gray clouds, Azula stood up and walked over to the window, willing herself to close it. But she couldn't bring herself to pull it shut.

Right then, she had something more important to do.

A/N: I'm such a sucker for anything sappy and cliched. If you really couldn't tell.

Read the stories by appa-appa-away. And read Keeper of the Sun. And review everything. Especially this, since you already read this. Tired. Good-night.