𝐁𝐎𝐑𝐍 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐊𝐘 [𝟏] 𝐙𝐔𝐊𝐎

7

"AZULA, I HAVE SOMEONE I WANT YOU TO MEET." Lady Ursa spoke in the doorway of Azula's bedroom, "Her parents are in a meeting with Fire Lord Azulon so I figured you guys could hang out." Azula turned to glare and shout at her mother, pausing when she saw a pretty brunette behind her mother. Azula's face softened,

"Of course mother." Hearing Azula accept, the other girl barged into her room with a large smile.

"Hi! I'm Uzume! You're really pretty. You're a firebender right? I'm not, my father got really mad when we discovered that but my mother decided to put me in ballet! Your mom mentioned your names Azula and you have a brother named Zuko! That sucks, boys suck, when I'm older I wanna marry my best friend. Do you wanna be my best friend?" The hyper girl ranted.

Azula smiled softly and nodded at the pretty brunette, taking her hand to show Uzume her room.

-

"We've got to find Sokka and Toph." Katara spoke as the three of them ran.

A stream of blue fire rocketed towards Aang and Katara from behind. Aang quickly turns around and earthbends a wall of stone to protect them. The fire hits the wall with great force, knocking Aang back.

Uzume turned quickly to see Azula standing behind them, fingers still smoking from her attack. Azula and her made eye contact, both of their eyes sad as they thought about attacking each other.

    Azula... Uzume's mind felt fuzzy as she tried to remember the last time she had seen Azula. Before they found the Kyoshi warriors? No... Uzume had woken up in Ba Sing Se and spoke to Azula about something.

   It was something important, yet Uzume couldn't grasp it.

Azula's eyes darted from Uzume towards Katara, who was charging Azula. Uzume panicked as she watched her newfound friends fight with her lifetime friend, mind racing at the thought of having to choose between them.

Katara and Aang had Azula cornered and just as they were about to end it, a blast of red fire landed between Aang and Azula. All 4 of them turned towards the source and there was Zuko, standing in all his glory. Uzume watche as the two siblings smiled at each other for once in their life and that's when she knew.

Her heart hurt at the thought of betraying Katara and Aang, but she needed to be with Zuko. She needed to be with Azula. Half of her life was spent by Azula's side and it would all go to waste if she didn't pick Azula. All her hard work, trying to ensure that Azula never felt like a second choice, trying to reverse the damage Ursa and Ozai had down to her, would go down the drain.

"Azula, I'll always love you. I'd do anything for you." Little Uzume smiled, her cheeks red.

Azula's eyes widened and her face turned red, "Really?"

Uzume nodded at her friend, "Anything for you Azula."

Uzume snapped back into the present, watching Azula struggle as Katara caught her limbs in her water tentacles. Uzume looked over at Zuko who was preoccupied with Aang, and took it as her moment to enter the fight.

Uzume flicked her red fans from her long sleeves and ran towards the tentacles holding Azula in place. While running, she opened her fans and brought their sharp blades down on the tentacles, releasing Azula. Azula and Katara both looked at the girl in the middle, shocked. Then, Uzume began advancing on Katara, letting Azula deal with the Avatar.

Uzume threw her sharp fan at Katara, which Katara blocked by bringing up a wall of ice.

"Uzume, I thought you were on our side!" Katara yelled, frantic as the other girl just kept throwing bunches and blades.

Uzume shook her head,  "I have to do this Katara."

Katara broke her fighting stance and looked at Uzume with heartbroken eyes, "You're just Azula's lapdog, Uzume! She doesn't really care for you."

Katara brought her hands up to waterbend, only to be stopped by Uzume's fans slicing through her palms. Katara hissed in surprise at her friend.

Uzume shook her head, "Wrong, Katara, I'm the only person she cares for."

"But you were about to leave!" Katara spoke with tears in her eyes. Uzume looked down, avoiding Katara's gaze, "It was foolish of me to do that."

As Katara was about to attack, Azula leaped from the top of a crystal and shot fire down at her and Zuko attacked from the side of Katara. All three Fire Nation kids begin to corner her until they hear the Avatar coming at them. They prepared to attack, but just as Aang was about to get close enough, A Dai Lee agent jumped in front of them and destroyed the mound Aang was on.

Aang lifted his head to see many Dai Li agents jump down from cliffs, forming long rows behind Uzume, Azula, and Zuko.

Aang mumbled to himself and earthbends several crystals to surround and protect him. Suddenly, the makeshift tent began to glow and Aang began to levitate into the air, eyes snapping open, filled with light.

Uzume gasped at the lights, if it weren't for the fact that he was about to kill them all, she would have thought they were beautiful.

As Aang was readying to attack, a bolt of lightning struck his body. Uzume's heart hurt when she turned to Azula, a confident smile on her face as smoke rose from her extended fingers. Aang's body began to plummet towards the ground. From behind them, a wave washes the Dai Li and Zuko away. Katara advanced towards Aang's body and she caught him, looking up at Uzume hopelessly. Azula and Zuko took it as a chance to attack, leaving Uzume staring into Katara's eyes sadly from behind them. Uzume's eyes welled up with tears as she watched Katara escape with Aang's body and Iroh holding off any attackers to protect them.

The scene before Uzume was terrifying. Aang's lifeless body in Katara's arms, Iroh's helpless eyes as he's trapped by crystals. White noise filled her ears as she watched Azula try to talk to her. White noise continued to fill her ears and her vision blurred as they walked back to the throne room, where Mai and Ty Lee were, bored.

Just as she began to focus again, Ty Lee threw herself on the three kids returning, giving them a big hug.

"Wow! Zuko your hair looks good!" Ty Lee said, pulling back from the three kids. Mai stood behind her and gave them all a warm smile.

"It's nice to be all together again." Mai spoke in her soft voice.

The two girls took Uzume out of the throne room, talking animatedly about the Earth King's bear and occasionally Sokka from Ty Lee, leaving the two siblings glaring at each other in the throne room.

"Stay away from Uzume." The both spoke at once, frustration on their faces, "No you!" They pointed at each other. Azula slowly smirked at her brother before she turned and ran in the direction Uzume was in, "Uzume, wait up!"

Zuko let out a hey! As his sister got a headstart on their shared crush.

He caught up with the four girls chatting and smiling, Azula holding Uzume's hand, to which he wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

Uzume smiled towards both the siblings on either side of her, masking the pain she felt in Aang's death. Uzume looked down at her feet, she should feel happy in this moment, reunited with the both of them, but all she felt was guilt and regret for not joining Katara.