A/N: Some Quick Facts About This Fic:
Chapters: 37
Pairing: Azula x Katara [eventually]
Rated: T for fantasy violence, mild blood and gore, mild coarse language and suggestive themes.
Notes: This takes place during the exact same time frame as canon, it starts in winter and the comet is coming in summer. It essentially replaces canon with a much darker interpretation of the universe and a story about kickass girls, intertwined destinies and rad dragons.

SAPPHIRE CINDERS

I carry strength from souls now gone
They won't let me give in
I will never surrender
We'll free the Earth and sky
Crush my heart into embers
And I will reignite
"Reignite" - Malukah

Prologue: Hunted

Azula extends her bloodied hand to the last waterbender of the Southern Tribe.

The thin layer of sweat on her skin glistens in the harsh sunlight as she declares, "There are two types of people in this world, Katara: the hunters and the hunted. It's time for you to decide which one you are."

Katara stares up at her with her lips contorted into a fierce snarl and their eyes lock for a fleeting second. She pushes herself to her feet and rubs the sand off of her hands.

"I'm pretty sure we're the hunted right now, your majesty," she says coldly with pure loathing in her eyes.

Azula purses her lips, rescinds her hand and wishes she didn't agree.

Chapter One: Stranded

Three days earlier, Katara wakes to the sensation of lukewarm waves lapping against her skin.

They feel nice and soothing, a stark contrast from the hard, hot sand digging into her skin and the side of her face. Sand? Waves? Katara opens her eyes and sits up so quickly that her head spins. She does not remember going to sleep half submerged in the ocean.

She remembers being on a Fire Nation ship, a captive of that horrible girl. Did they leave her here to die? Is this their idea of a prison? Are the people who captured her on this island, waiting for her, to hunt her in some sick game?

Katara looks out over the water and searches for any sign of land. Nothing. The horizon is pure blue as far as the eye can see. She looks towards the island and sees thick jungle reminiscent of the swamp.

Okay, okay, don't panic, she repeats over and over in her head.

Slowly, Katara stands. Her legs wobble but she catches herself and straightens her back. The sun beats against her and the sand coating half of her body is itching relentlessly. She seizes the water and washes herself in two hand motions before releasing it and wringing out her hair.

She could swim… maybe.

Katara does not entertain that idea for long, because the island is too tempting. She wants to know why she is here and what awaits her.

The last thing she remembers is being held prisoner on that ship. Before that, she had the chore of leaving the Water Tribe camp by Sozin City and going to the harbor for supplies. She got caught stealing, then caught as a prisoner of war.

Sokka is not going to make it on his own without her, even if he thinks he's such a tough warrior. If she hadn't stowed away with him, she doubts he would have even made it to dad and the Northern Warriors in the first place.

Now… dad isn't here, Sokka isn't here, not Bato, not the creepy, cocky, obnoxious Hahn who constantly hit on her. She thinks she already misses that jerk, because this is not good. This is not good.

She wonders if going into the jungle is a good or bad idea. Katara assumes she is near the Fire Nation, because she was captive for three days. They would kill her in an instant. And then there is the matter of the Civil War going on here. She could stumble into one of those notoriously gruesome battlefields.

Think, think, think.

Katara decides to go into the forest. She decides that there isn't a better choice.

[X]

Katara pushes leaves and branches out of the way as she walks in the jungle. It is so thick that she wonders if anyone has ever been here before. Of course, the Fire Nation probably has. They like conquering everything in sight – including each other.

She has just forced herself through a thicket of strange plants when they all suddenly go up in flames. Okay, the island is not uninhabited.

Katara dodges and seizes the water of three puddles. She blocks another burst of fire and then catches the broken water again. That fire is not any fire. Of course she survived that shipwreck. Of course.

Azula drops down from the trees and Katara flips out of the way of the cerulean flames. Her heart races from panic. She freezes her water as she sees her ex-captor lean towards the side; that would be lightning. Lightning would be bad.

Princess Azula flips backwards to avoid the blades of ice. One of them shears the fabric of her clothes and Katara smiles faintly. "Stop wearing yourself out! This is pointless!"

"No! It is absolutely not pointless!" Katara howls, tearing two thick tendrils of water from the stream. Azula made a mistake ambushing her right by the water source.

"I'm stuck too!" Azula finally snaps, her regal façade gone. "We got shipwrecked, peasant! Now help me escape and I'll take you with me!"

Katara scoffs, but does lower her hands – albeit without dropping her water. "I'd rather not be the honored guest of the S.S. Evil Fire Princess."

Azula glares and moves out of her fighting stance. Katara does not believe that surrender for a second.

But Azula says, "That wasn't even remotely funny, but I have no time to critique your sense humor, seeing as, unfortunately, right now we must work together or die alone."

Katara sighs and nods. She does drop the water. "I was thinking the same thing."

"We need to find food, shelter and fresh water," Azula orders and Katara narrows her cobalt eyes.

"What made you the leader?" Katara demands and Azula rolls her eyes.

"Birth," Azula coldly says.

Katara shakes her head. "I'm pretty certain you don't have the birthright. Your dad just wants the throne, which doesn't make you crown princess. Ever."

Azula cackles. "You have no idea what side is winning, do you?"

"Not yours," Katara bluntly responds, crossing her arms. That is not exactly true, but it does have the desired effect of briefly destroying Azula's flawlessly cold composure.

"You will shut up and help me escape this island," Azula orders with a smug expression that makes Katara regret not impaling her.

Katara crisply says, "I don't like being spoken to like that. You might have had me as a prisoner earlier, but right now we're on the same level. I want to make it clear that I know more about survival than you do, and I take orders from exactly one person: myself."

Azula turns up a palm. "But you admit that I am right."

"I do, but only about the shelter, food and water. I think we need to work as a team. You won't make it alone, and I'll admit that I won't make it alone," Katara sternly says, her eyes fixated on Azula's.

"My ideas are not worth arguing about; we need to quickly decide what we are doing about water first. That should not be challenging… even for you."

"Excuse me," Katara says with a brisk laugh. "I'm pretty sure I almost impaled you about ten minutes ago—"

"Shut up about waterbending and start thinking about clean drinking water. You just dried up the only water source I found and turned it into mud that
I will not drink even if I boil it. I have no idea what kind of horrific creatures live in the dirt on this island," Azula orders and Katara wishes that the evil princess did not have a point.

"I know this sounds petty," Katara snaps as they make their way through the thick jungle. "But I have some trouble trusting a person who kidnapped me!"

"I don't ask you to trust me. I wouldn't trust myself." Pause. "How do you suggest we find shelter, supreme leader?" Azula turns to face her former prisoner and crosses her arms.

Katara decides that Azula is not worth arguing with. Clearly, she has been told for her entire life that she is Princess of the World and Katara doubt she will change her mind.

"We should go further inland," Katara says. Azula sucks in her cheeks and weighs her options. She does feel curious about the jungle, and she does hope that they are on a peninsula and not an island; perhaps there will be Fire Nation villagers who would love the glory of rescuing their princess.

"Why?" Azula asks. "You're further from the water of the ocean and closer to the Fire Nation."

Katara explains, "I want to see what's there before the sun sets. Then I wouldn't want to be in the jungle. You can hear the animals and I bet over half of them would love to eat us."

She then begins to continue her march.

Azula remains behind for a few moments before throwing caution to the wind and following the waterbender deeper into the jungle.

[X]

The two girls become exhausted before they get very far.

"I think I can get water from the plants that you can sterilize or whatever it is you do," Katara suggests as Azula slows to a stop and sits down on a fallen tree.

She practiced that once or twice when learning about survival back in the former Earth Kingdom. The Northern Tribe were good teachers once Katara coerced them into letting her learn. She is the last of her own kind, however, and she always wondered what Southern Water Tribe style would be like.

"It seems likely to kill us. You truly could benefit from the Fire Nation military education." Azula says and Katara's eyebrow twitches.

The waterbender takes a deep breath and tries to remain calm.

"Dehydration definitely will kill us; I don't know if the plant water will," the waterbender says. She begins analyzing leaves before taking a deep breath and tearing at them. They burst and Azula conceals her awe. She has never seen a waterbender before Katara, and she had no idea how powerful they could be.

Princess Azula starts a fire and they silently wait, eyeing each other with utter suspicion.

When it is time, Azula waits for Katara to drink first, and then she does.

At least if Azula dies, this water peasant will too.

[X]

After their brief break, the two girls find nothing of use in the jungle until they reach a humongous rock formation. It seems to be the center of the island, and there is no way around it. The sky is tinted pink and both girls know that they must find somewhere to hide out soon.

"I see a cave," Katara says, her eyes flickering wide.

Azula does not see it, but she pretends that she does. They both scamper closer to the ancient rocks and scan for a way up. At last, Azula finds a narrow opening of rock walls that are close enough together to push herself up by her hands and feet.

"Why are you pointing at that?" Katara asks, staring at the gap in the leviathan stone.

"We need to get up there. This is a way up," Azula says, gesturing at the narrow crevice.

Katara's eyes follow it up to the ledges above. It does lead directly towards the cave. But it also looks very deadly.

"You're going to ask me to go first, aren't you?" Katara asks, crossing her arms.

Azula blinks. "Yes. I am."

"No. You found it; you climb up first. I saw you punch through a roof when you attacked me and my family," Katara snaps, sparking rage in the princess.

But Azula gives in and says, "Fine. If you're so scared, I'll go up first. But don't count on me to catch you when you fall."

"I wasn't going to in the first place. You wouldn't even trust yourself, remember?" Katara softly says. Her voice is hoarse from exhaustion.

Azula sighs and shimmies into the crevice. She wants to live and so she will let the water peasant stand around in the rain all she wants. The princess pushes both hands against the rocks, then hops up to press her feet against the opposite side. She swallows and conceals the fact that she is nervous about this.

Her fire can save her. But she would prefer to not be rock climbing in the torrential rain.

She crawls up a few feet before the rocks beneath her come loose and she slides. Only a small scream escapes her lips before she starts climbing again. She dodges a hail of pebbles and then pushes herself to the ledge, grabbing onto it and hoisting herself up.

Azula lies down on the cliff to catch her breath and then stands.

"Start cli—" She turns to sees that Katara is already standing right behind her. Azula ignores the fact that her former prisoner is nearly as powerful as she is.

"Do you want to check out that cave?" Katara asks and Azula nods sharply. "Right. Let's go."

Azula pushes ahead of her, refusing to follow, and Katara rolls her eyes. This is an exercise in frustration for both girls. They walk quickly across the uneven ground, and then come to a halt in front of the cave.

"Scared?" Katara asks as she looks at the princess's wide eyes.

"No. I am confident I can defeat anything in that cave. But if you were observant you would notice that flag."

Katara walks to stand beside Azula and sees the tattered cloth stuck to a thorny bush. It is deep maroon and has a black symbol on it. Fire Nation.

"What does it mean?" Katara inquires, squinting at the tattered fabric.

Azula solemnly says, "It's the symbol of the Ruthless Sun."

"Well, good, you have some friends to help you off the island."

"No. They're traitors to the rightful inheritors of the throne—and not the kind who would be friendly to you. They fight for my cousin's army, and would be thrilled to kill me," Azula says before pursing her lips. She is quite nervous about this. Could she take those soldiers? Yes. But she hopes she does not have to, because she truly does not know what would happen if she had to face them.

Katara laughs mirthlessly. "Yeah, yeah, that's what you say. What Fire Nation people would even hurt other Fire Nation people?"

"I don't think you understand the meaning of the phrase Civil War. They are on my side as much as they are on your side," Azula airily declares.

"So, they hate non-Fire-Nation people, and Fire Nation people. This is just fantastic." Katara really wants to look on the bright side, but she cannot help but think about the fact that nothing ever goes right for her.

"I hope they were only here temporarily. There is a chance of that," Azula remarks before turning to face the cave. She points at the pitch black mouth. "You go in first."

Katara tightly crosses her arms. "I think it's hysterical how you think I'm going to listen to you."

Azula glares daggers. "I think that I went up the crevice first, and so you are going into the cave first, which is only fair."

"That is the fairest thing you've suggested yet. So, fine, I'll go first." Katara pivots on her heel and starts walking towards the shadowy entrance.

"Wait," Azula says, grabbing Katara's arm. She nearly earns a slap on the face for that, but she swiftly dodges and releases her enemy. "It's dark. I can lead the way with my fire."

Katara warily consents. She does know that she cannot illuminate the cave like Azula can. That blue fire, however, gives Katara chills. She has dealt with firebenders, but none have been as lethal as the traitor princess.

Azula leads the way into the darkness. They keep walking for a few minutes, although staying at the mouth would be wiser. The light is fading outside, and the blue glow inside is brighter than the sun outside.

The stalactites and stalagmites drip rhythmically with water. Katara supposes they must be near some type of stream; it is much colder and damper in here than outside.

Katara hears a scraping and scratching sound from the walls and turns from side to side seeking the source. Azula throws a tongue of fire first and a wolf-bat shrieks before collapsing to its cooked death.

"More!" Katara shouts, seizing the water dripping on the walls and spinning it to slap back two that come at her with angry fangs.

They both snap into action at the same time, water and fire holding back waves of wolf-bats.

When the fight is done, Katara lowers her hands and Azula isolates her fire to one palm again. They exchange a glance, and then avert their eyes.

"Should we continue?" Azula asks and Katara's lips part in surprise.

It is the first time Azula has not just snapped orders.

"Yes," Katara says and Azula keeps walking.

They remain silent for several minutes before the ground beneath them begins making very disconcerting sounds.

Before the girls can turn back, Azula's light goes out, the ground cracks loudly and the princess screams before Katara hears a splash. Oh no, oh no, oh no…

She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes and feels the water. Katara seizes it and pulls, she feels a rush over her feet and she freezes the flood. No Azula. Katara seeks any light source but can't find one.

"Fire Princess?" Katara whispers. No response. If that girl drowned that quickly, Katara will scream. "Fire Princess? Azula?"

She walks forward while maintaining her footing on the ice. She at last comes to a stop in front of the crumbled pit. That is clearly where Azula fell, but Katara cannot feel her in there.

Grumbling obscenities to herself, Katara jumps down and plunges into frigid water. She starts pulling it back, freezing it against the wall.

"Azula?" Katara loudly whispers. She then hits her face on a stone wall. Ouch.

The waterbender composes herself and ducks underneath it. She starts to crawl, using only the water to guide her. It is somehow darker down here. Katara stops when she hits another wall, this time her hip bursting in pain.

Then she sees blue glowing from the left. Katara ducks down again, now swimming, and follows it. She delves deeper, hoping she will not find a corpse, but then the blue burns brighter. Katara kicks up to the surface and finds a small alcove with a visibly shaken and drenched princess inside of it.

"I've been calling out your name!" Katara sputters as she treads water.

Azula snarls, "I couldn't hear you through my near death experience. If the water hadn't started receding—"

"You mean if I hadn't saved you."

"Shut up. There's no ceiling but it's too wet for me to get up there." Azula holds up the scrapes on her arms.

How on Earth the spoilt princess is so calm and quiet while scratched, bruised and soaked confuses Katara, but she holds out her hand.

"I'll push us up there but you need to hold onto me. Tightly." Katara grabs Azula's arm and it stings.

Before Azula can protest, she is shooting towards the ceiling like a geyser at Sozin Memorial Park. She grabs on to the floor just in time and Katara follows before the water collapses back into the floor. They both scramble up and lie down on the first solid stone they find.

Then they turn towards the light. The obvious choice would be to leave the cave and find other shelter, seeing as the ground is clearly unstable. But there is the matter of the humongous spiky pit where the walkway towards the exit would be.

"I hope this is a tunnel," Azula murmurs as soon as she catches her breath and wrings out her bangs.

Katara cannot help but silently agree. She does, however, remain optimistic; that always has helped when she got into sticky situations with her comrades.

"We can manage to get out. Our bending combined should be good enough to escape some rocks. Let's keep going in. I'm not interested in that trap," Katara says.

"Good. Start walking," Azula orders.

"Thank you for saving my life, Katara," mutters the waterbender as she follows the bright blue light.

She glances around and sees that they are not the first people to find shelter in this cave. The walls are adorned with tribal imagery and… a lot of dragons. Must be a Fire Nation thing.

Azula slows to a stop at a dead end. "Let's stop here for a few minutes," she announces before trying to figure out how to light a stable fire.

"What are those drawings?" Katara asks, touching the beautiful paintings of humans and dragons. They're bluish tinted, but they must be very colorful in ordinary light.

"The Sun Warrior Empire used to extend throughout these islands. They were into dragons, when dragons weren't extinct. I guess they're extinct with them." Azula shrugs and tears off her own sleeves. Her arms are painful anyway. She tucks them into rock, dries them, and lights them. They will not last forever, but it will be good enough for now. "There used to be rumors about dragons living here in the Western Isles."

The blue glow becomes orange.

"Maybe there still are," Katara suggests and Azula cackles. Katara rolls her eyes.

Smugly, the Fire Princess says, "My uncle killed the last dragon. There are not gigantic lizard beasts hidden on this tiny island."

"How do you know the island is tiny?" Katara asks, cocking a doubtful eyebrow.

Azula hesitates. "I don't. I just made an educated guess."

"Educated how?"

"The estimated location and the fact that it's deserted."

Katara sits down and sighs. "Except for the Ruthless Sun."

"I'm hoping that they aren't still here. I don't want to deal with them."

"What happened to the perfect prodigal princess who can conquer empires on her own with her fancy blue fire?" Pause. "You're scared."

Azula does not look as offended as Katara assumed she would be.

For the first time, the princess makes genuine eye contact with her former prisoner and says, "If you knew them, you would be too."