Disclaimer: I still don't own Avatar: The Last Airbender or its various properties. Yet.

Author's Note: This is the sequel to my previous fanfic, Trapped. As such, I highly recommend reading Trapped before The Adventures of Avatar Azula. It's not that long, and much of this fanfic will not make sense if you don't.

Special thanks to my beta, Lavanya Six!

What does it mean to be the Avatar?

That question I've been trying to answer for, oh, the past 90 years or so.

When I was a girl, my father told me the Avatar was a traitor—a being whose purpose was to sell out our world to the Spirit World. He told me the Avatar's opposition to the Fire Nation's expansion was just the most radical example of this continuous betrayal.

A bit later on, I believed that the Avatar Spirit was a capricious trickster, granting mortals unimaginable power in exchange for endless misery.

Others have their own theories. The Avatar's purpose is to maintain balance, both within and between worlds. The Avatar is the Material World's ambassador to the Spirit World. The Avatar is someone who achieved enlightenment, but still sticks around to bring that enlightenment to others.

I even knew one woman who thought the Avatar was just an incredibly strong bender, and all that other stuff merely fruitless attempts to give that power some sort of greater meaning.

You could say that the Avatar's meaning is whatever you give it, but that's kind of a cop-out, isn't it?

The best answer I can give is this: the Avatar is me. No more…and maybe a little bit less.

For whatever that's worth.

The Adventures of Avatar Azula

An Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic

Chapter 1

The Day of Black Sun

Both Sokka and Azula wanted to give the speech. Azula, as usual, won the argument.

Being the Avatar did have some benefits.

As Azula stepped onto the platform, feeling the cool rock under her feet, she directed all her remaining senses to surveying the men and women lined up before her.

Ambient conversation floated across her ears.

Scents from the world over wafted into her nose.

Vibrations in the earth flowed through the rock, to her feet, and filled up her entire body.

And the air displaced by all of their movements brushed against her skin.

Azula nodded to herself, trying to quiet a rare sensation of trepidation that was currently gripping her stomach.

My plan will work.

When she arrived at the center of the dais, she turned to face the crowd and waited. Idle talk and movement soon ceased, as they regarded the fourteen-year-old blind Avatar who was standing before them.

"As you are hopefully aware," she began, "we will be attacking the Fire Nation capital today. What you ideally don't know is why I picked this date. You see, today, a most fortuitous event will occur." She paused, for dramatic effect, before continuing. "A total solar eclipse. The sun will disappear, and firebenders will lose their ability to bend."

A flurry of conversation followed this remark. Azula was content to let it subside naturally—she had set aside a fair amount of time for this ceremony—until she heard a statement directed at her.

"The Boulder would like to know," began a frighteningly familiar voice, "why we were not informed of this fact before today."

Azula let her lips twist into a smile. "If I told every Li, Shou, and Jun about it, it'd reach the Firelord's ears within a day. Keeping it secret ensures we retain the element of surprise." She let her eyeless gaze wander about the crowd. "Does anyone else have an issue with this?"

There was a cough, but nothing more.

Azula nodded. "Good. Now, the eclipse itself will only last for eight minutes, so most of the invasion is still going to take place under the sun." As always, while Azula was speaking, she felt the caution drain out of her, as her mask of determination and fearlessness soon became real. "The goal will be to make our way to the Palace right before the actual eclipse—most of the firebenders will be there, so it's at the final leg where we'll need the eclipse the most. For further details, consult your Unit Commanders.

"Of course, because the main Earth Kingdom army attacked, in concert with the rebellion of Fire Nation soldiers loyal to me, a few days ago, there are far fewer soldiers here than normal. Let that give you confidence that victory is well within reach.

"Unfortunately, I will be unable to join you. Since my main role will be battling the Firelord, it has been decided that I should remain hidden until the very end. Therefore, I will be tunneling underground during the majority of the battle; this will also let me cut off any officials who might try to escape underground. Because of that, the success of this operation rests entirely on the abilities, determination, and will of all of you."

Azula let her head survey the gathered soldiers one more time, before nodding. "This war has gone on for one hundred years. Let's end it right here, right now."

Her smile at the cheer-slash-battle cry that sentence brought out was more genuine.

Even Toph had to admit that Sokka's submarines were useful. That didn't save him from suffering a very large number of insults she threw at him mentally, as she threw up into a helmet for the fifth time in as many minutes.

Next to her, she heard Azula laughing. "So, the Greatest Earthbender in the World's sole weakness is water, eh? Watch out for puddles."

Toph would have punched her, if she could've seen anything in this damn metal box. Instead, she was forced to settle for, "Shut up, Hot Lips."

"An inspired comeback, there."

Toph muttered under her breath, then cringed as she felt more bile coming up, and reached for that helmet again.

The submarines had risen temporarily, to fill back up on air before submerging again. Zuko took advantage of the opportunity to lie on his back on top of the structure, gazing up at the sky, trying not to think of anything.

"Hey."

Zuko sat up and turned to see Sokka standing behind him.

"You doing okay?" the other boy asked, hesitantly.

Zuko looked down, and sighed. "About as well as can be expected, I guess."

Sokka sat next to him. They both looked at the sky in silence for a bit, and then Sokka said, "You don't have to fight in this battle, you know, if you don't want to."

Zuko turned his head slowly to look at the other boy. Sokka was still gazing upward, his expression unreadable. "I've already decided," Zuko said slowly, looking back up at the sky. "My journeys with Uncle only further convinced me that what Father is doing is wrong. I'm going to do whatever I can to stop him. Besides…" he looked down again. "Azula's the one who actually has to fight him, not me."

More silence, until Sokka broke it with, "Think she'll be able to do it?" There was more than a trace of fear in his voice.

Zuko closed his eyes, thinking of his sister. "Most likely," he said, even more slowly, "fighting Father is the only reason she's here."

The speech had settled Azula's nerves temporarily, but the stupid submarine was bringing them back again. As much as she made fun of Toph, travelling underwater wasn't exactly sunshine and roses for her, either.

No, that wasn't it. Blaming the submarine was an excuse. She was clenching her fists so tightly her nails drew blood because she was thinking about her father.

"One day, Azula, all of this will be yours."

"You are perfect in nearly every way, my dear daughter. I couldn't be a happier father."

"I love you, Azula."

He stopped right in front of her…and smiled.

Then her father's fist met her face

Pain

Can't move arms

Can't move legs

"The Firelord wants to keep you alive, but he said I could have a souvenir."

He reached his fire-cloaked hand toward her face and

PAIN

"Something the matter, Azula?"

Azula started. That voice had been Toph's, and she had laced it with an extremely un-Tophlike amount of concern. She hadn't even used her stupid nickname.

"The submarine is bad for me, too," Azula lied. Her lies to Toph were usually successful—even if nobody else's were—but that one was probably too easy to read. Whatever the case, the other girl didn't pursue the matter.

She's probably already guessed, Azula thought. Toph was a lot like her in a lot of ways, which produced both advantages and disadvantages. Her annoying level of insight into Azula's emotional life was definitely in the 'disadvantage' category.

Azula mentally sighed, and her brain soon returned to thinking about Ozai. She made several futile attempts to stop it, until she finally ran across a method that worked: repeating the same sentence to herself, over and over, without pause.

My plan will work.

Ten minutes until landing. Sokka wiped the sweat off his palms for what seemed like the thousandth time.

With Azula and Toph going off by themselves, the leadership of the strike operation had been given to General Chen from the Earth Kingdom's Council of Five. However, the forces had been divided into a number of squads, depending on where the soldiers hailed from. With Father leading the much larger distraction force, Sokka had been chosen as Unit Commander of his tribe's squadron.

Which meant that any deaths would be his fault.

Nine minutes until landing. Sokka's teeth started chattering, and no matter what he did, he couldn't—

Someone was touching his shoulder. "Aaah!" Sokka shouted, drawing his sword—

"Sokka, it's just me," Katara said, both hands in the air.

Sokka took entirely longer than necessary to re-sheathe his sword, wipe the sweat from his brow, and mumble some sort of an apology.

"Come on, Sokka. You're killing yourself like this."

Sokka sighed. "I know." Eight and a half minutes until landing. "But I can't help it. This is the first time I've had to lead an army since—since ever!" He noticed he was flailing his arms, and stopped. "I don't…" He sat down and put his head in his arms. "I don't think I'm ready."

A few seconds passed by in silence. Eight minutes until landing. Then Katara put her hand on his shoulder.

"It's not unreasonable for you to be nervous," she said. "But you're not alone. I'm here. And Father sent Bato here in order to give you advice. It's not all on your shoulders."

Sokka chuckled. "I should've guessed you'd understand." He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"Because I'm nervous about the same thing."

That line made Sokka look up. Indeed, his sister was hugging herself, eyes studying the metal beneath her feet. He could even see a slight trembling.

"I've been trained by both Hama and Pakku. I'm the best Waterbender here… with Azula and Toph gone, I might be the best Bender here, period. Pakku's even told me I might become the most powerful non-Avatar Waterbender in centuries when I'm older. You think I don't realize how much the success of this operation depends on me?"

Sokka opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say.

"So…" she finally looked at him, and he could see she strained to make a small smile. "If I support you, would you support me?"

Sokka had never seen his sister like this, and he knew he might not see her like this again. He had no idea what the proper response was to it.

So he just nodded.

And even that small act made his heart a little lighter.

Seven minutes until landing.

Only just a little, though.

Movement to the left. Zuko swept one broadsword, sending a wave of flame at it.

Fire to the right. Zuko slashed through it with the other broadsword, bending it to disperse.

No matter how many times he trained with Uncle, it never prepared Zuko for the chaos and calamity of real battle, much less war. The only way he could survive was to, essentially, sit back and let his instinct take over.

Which had the added benefit of not letting him think about the fates of the people he hurt, or killed.

A Fire Nation unit was charging ahead of him. One of the earthbenders stomped, sending several of them flying, but some managed to recover. Zuko sent a bolt of flames into them.

The battle was easier than it had any right to be. Most of the soldiers who'd ordinarily be stationed here had been sent to combat the diversionary invasion, and most of the ones who weren't were presently retreating to the palace. Azula and the others had left plenty of time for them to reach the palace before the eclipse, but that seemed fairly unnecessary at this point.

A group of soldiers ignored more obvious targets and started charging at him, their few firebenders launching attacks. Zuko blocked them, ordered his forces as Unit Commander to intercept, and prepared to launch a counterattack—

When a wave of water rushed him and knocked him on his face, almost breaking his nose. He barely had time to be offended when he felt a huge impact next to his head.

Looking in that direction, he saw a giant, flaming rock that was a few bu away from crushing his head like a grapefruit.

"We need to take out those towers," he heard, and looked up to see Katara, his apparent savior, hair sprawled in all directions and a look of intense concentration on her face.

Zuko nodded. "They're probably the biggest obstacle right now." He looked at one row of them, giant metal structures that were launching heavy projectiles at their forces, and got a sudden idea. "Think you and the other waterbenders can move the ocean up and wash them out?"

Katara considered one briefly. "Maybe the closest ones."

Zuko nodded. "Go do that. I'll take care of the other two."

While Katara ran off to gather the other waterbenders, Zuko approached some earthbenders, and managed to pull a few off to bend some stairs for him in the cliff face. They climbed up and waited, Zuko watching the ocean.

Soon enough, two waves, narrow in width but tsunami-like in height, rose up and crashed against the two towers nearest the ocean, crushing them.

"Now!" Zuko said to the earthbenders with him. The tower operators, distracted by their comrades' demise, didn't notice as he busted down their entrance and ran to their station. He took them down easily.

After that, Zuko looked at their equipment. He hadn't seen it before, but as he had guessed, they set boulders laced with lighting fluid into a launching mechanism, lit it on fire, then catapulted it into the valley. Zuko lit it himself, then motioned to the earthbenders.

As he had told them earlier, they lifted the boulder up, stamped their feet, and sent it flying into the last tower opposite them.

Zuko lit another one of the boulders they had in stock. "Again!" he shouted. They sent another flaming rock into the structure, and another, until it finally collapsed.

When Zuko returned to the valley, he saw that the Unit Commanders had all gathered. He ran up to join them.

"It appears we've got this area under control," General Chen told him when he arrived. "All units are to clear the path to the Palace. We're ahead of schedule, so we can afford to put safety above speed."

Zuko nodded, called his unit together, and relayed to them the orders.

And tried his best to quiet that nagging voice at the back of his head that said, One step closer to Father.

Tunneling through the ground using earthbending was slow, difficult, boring work. The only direction Azula could move the rock was up, but if she wasn't careful, she'd cause the entire thing to crash down on her. And because the earth was incredibly complex, only Azula and Toph, with their seismic sense, could do that. Even with both of them working together, though, it took utmost concentration for prolonged periods of time, as well as a constant use of bending that proved mentally and physically exhausting.

According to Toph, it was the primary means of movement by the badgermoles that had taught her earthbending. For the life of her, Azula could never tell just how much the other girl was joking.

They tunneled together in silence for hours, the only noise the constant movements of rock and Azula's own mental voice reassuring herself again and again.

My plan will work.

The thrill of victory at the beach had already subsided. Now, Sokka was keeping a running record of the time until the eclipse up to the second. Despite that, he still checked the sundial on his wrist once every ten seconds, just to make sure.

Azula, Gran-Gran, and General How had planned on two hours between taking the beach and the beginning of the eclipse. Thanks to the speed of their victory, they had almost five. That was the time they had to prepare for conquering the Fire Nation's palace—perhaps the most impregnable installation in the world—in eight minutes.

And that wasn't counting the special instruction Azula had given him, Zuko, and Katara, regarding dealing with the Firelord. He couldn't help glancing at General Chen as he thought of that, wondering how the Earth Kingdom warhorse was going to react.

But as he and his troops took up their positions along the palace's borders, and time slowly waned, Sokka's emotions reacted differently than they had on the submarine. Maybe it was because of their earlier success. Maybe it was the knowledge that, after one hundred years of suffering, it would only be eight more minutes before the fall of the Fire Nation. Or maybe his nervousness had just burned itself out. For whatever reason, as the time of the eclipse approached, Sokka could feel his heart grow stronger, the raging tempest in his body calm down and slowly turn to ice.

"One minute until we attack, everyone," he muttered.

He couldn't help whispering a countdown as the moon meandered toward the sun.

Three…

Two…

One.

It was the middle of the day, but the world was covered in darkness.

"GO!"

Toph had been taking over tunneling duties for a while, so that Azula could relax before her big fight, when she saw Azula flinch.

"What?" Toph asked.

"Firebending's gone," Azula grunted. "We won't make it at this rate."

Toph swore under her breath, her hands too busy moving rock to even wipe the sweat from her brow. "Rested up enough to help out again? We're almost there."

Azula started tunneling again, in lieu of an answer. Together, they managed to finally break through to a giant underground tunnel in a minute.

"Think you can find your way by yourself?" Toph asked, semi-sarcastically.

Azula huffed. "Just who do you think you're talking to? What about you—can you find the cowards who're trying to retreat underground?"

Toph grinned. "I've caught sight them just as you were talking, Hot Lips."

Azula made an irritated noise; Toph guessed she was upset her seismic sense was still inferior to the earthbender's. "Then I'll see you at war's end."

They started running off in opposite directions, toward their respective targets, when Toph felt the need to call behind her back, "Don't die!"

Azula didn't respond. Just as well; her mission was far more difficult, after all. Toph didn't need any support in taking out retreating bureaucrats underground.

I do hope you know what you're doing, Hot Lips, Toph thought, before focusing her mind on the targets.

As soon as the eclipse happened, Zuko could feel it. While the ember in the center of his soul had been waxing and waning since his birth, as fire is wont to do, becoming stronger with the sun in the sky, weaker with his own self-hatred, he had never truly paid attention to it until it completely extinguished.

"NOW!"

Zuko and the other soldiers had been camping out as close as they could to the palace's walls without suffering counterattack. They had feigned a siege, assuming that Father would choose to wait for reinforcements to arrive. It turned out Azula and the others had guessed correctly, and the majority of the troops stationed at the borders were Firebenders. They were overrun quickly.

Zuko and his Fire Nation defectors were the weakest of the forces during the eclipse, but as it turned out, that didn't actually matter very much. Most of the remaining enemy soldiers were incredibly demoralized—Zuko knew it likely started with the stall in the war efforts, which were then heavily exacerbated by the invasion and rebellion, and now by their overwhelming victory at the beach. The eclipse, more likely than not, only pushed them over the edge. Most of the soldiers his group came across surrendered without a fight.

As they rushed through the city, Zuko dispatched various predetermined soldiers to split up and take side roads, destroying the fighting capacity of any enemies they came across. As planned, he arrived at the palace alone, and saw Sokka, Katara, and General Chen were already inside.

"Four minutes left, Zuko," Sokka said as soon as Zuko ran up to him.

Zuko answered with a tight nod, briefly glanced at the other two, then charged inside.

His job now, naturally, was to lead them to Father.

They did run into guards along the way, but without Firebending, they were no match.

The others had worried that the Firelord might run off somewhere when he saw how bad the battle was going. Zuko and Azula had both known otherwise. Whatever Firelord Ozai's faults were, cowardice was not one of them. Father was going to go down with his empire.

And, as expected, Zuko and the others found him sitting on his throne, still wearing an expression of complete confidence.

As soon as Zuko saw him, he gasped, and stopped moving. It had been more than two years.

Then Father looked at him.

Zuko had expected hatred, loathing, or contempt. Or maybe an arrogant sneer, or (in his wildest dreams) a look of profound sadness. Instead, all he saw was disappointment.

Immense, crushing disappointment, enough to almost send Zuko to his knees.

"Stand up!" Sokka shouted, brandishing his sword at Father.

Father finally took his gaze away from Zuko, much to the latter's relief. The expression he favored Sokka with was filled with the expected contempt.

"Or what? You'll kill me?"

"As much as I would like to," Sokka almost growled, "that's not my duty." He and General Chen ran to his throne, and together managed to haul Father off of it. Sokka put his sword to the man's back, General Chen to his neck, and Katara wrapped all the remaining water in her pouches along his upper body.

Zuko, to his eternal shame, only stood there. But he did join them as they marched Father past him, and he added his broadsword to the others.

Nobody said a word as they led the Firelord outside, adding ropes to Katara's water in preparation for the end of the eclipse. During their walk, Zuko's inner flame reappeared as quickly as it had been extinguished, and he didn't think of anything as they stepped under the sun again.

As they stepped onto the main courtyard, they saw a huge crowd of spectators, Alliance soldiers, disarmed Fire Nation warriors, and regular citizens alike; all there to witness the end of the Hundred Years' War.

And right in the center stood Azula.

Azula smiled, and raised her finger, as a signal. Through the earth and wind, she saw Katara, Sokka, and Zuko follow her earlier orders. Namely, the former restrained General Chen, and the latter two forced Ozai to approach her, before they retreated back to the sidelines.

Only she and Ozai stood on the courtyard. The same courtyard where she had had her Master's exam fight, all those years ago. Fitting that the same place where this all began would be where it would all end.

Azula just smiled, and waited. She knew Ozai would eventually feel the need to say something.

And so he did. "Congratulations, my daughter," he said, in a tone that reeked of arrogance. "You have successfully destroyed the Fire Nation."

Azula was momentarily re-gripped by her nervousness, when she heard Ozai's voice. She suspected the only reason Ozai hadn't freed himself already was because he was waiting for the chance to kill her. Shaking it off as best she could, she gave him a mock bow, and said, "I appreciate your praise deeply, Lord Father, but I am afraid it is unwarranted. The Fire Nation will prosper like never before."

She could almost feel his smirk. "Nobody will follow you or your treasonous brother. Even with the forces of the Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes, you only won this battle through treachery and deceit."

Azula matched his smirk. She was waiting for him to say something like that. My plan will work. "Are you suggesting my victory today was less than honorable, Lord Father?" She waited just the right amount of time, then continued, "Because, if so, I have a suggestion."

"Yes?"

"An Agni Kai, between you and me, for the country."

She hadn't told anyone about her plans for this moment, not even Toph. A huge wave of surprise and nervousness washed over those present, including Azula. However, she knew that nobody would dare interfere with her in this situation. For now, at least, the stage was all hers.

"Only firebenders can engage in the holy ritual of Agni Kai, daughter. You are not a firebender."

Azula made sure her tone was nothing but humble. "Respectfully, Father, an Agni Kai is a holy battle of firebending. As long as I only use firebending, it should be perfectly permissible for me to participate in one." She looked him straight on, and gave him her sweetest smile. "Am I wrong?"

This brought the ambient conversation to a fever pitch. It died down after a minute, but Azula waited for Ozai to respond. And, eventually, he did, and responded as she knew he would. After all, she mused darkly, she was all but handing him her head on a platter.

"I cannot fight as I am now."

Don't pretend you can't free yourself at any moment, Azula thought, but it didn't matter. "Katara!" she called. It took a few seconds, but Azula eventually felt the impact of the cut ropes against the ground.

"I assume your soldiers know not to interfere in an Agni Kai?" Ozai asked, voice thick with sarcasm.

"They do now," Azula responded.

"Very well. Then I accept your challenge."

Ozai shouted some orders, and Azula heard and felt servants rushing about, gathering the formal Agni Kai attire and appointing judges. For her part, Azula ordered her own soldiers to not take one step onto the courtyard. She would have plenty of time later to justify her actions to them. After all, Ozai wasn't wrong—potential rebellion would be a problem—and an Agni Kai, holy ceremony that it was, was the quickest, most efficient route to cutting discontent off at its stem, not to mention prove to the world that the Avatar was just as powerful as ever, even after one hundred years.

They'd keep any suspicions of ulterior motives to themselves, too, if they knew what was good for them.

After fifteen minutes or so, the formal attire had been gathered, the proper rituals had been conducted, and Azula and Ozai went through the opening motions.

Her heart was pounding far harder and faster than it ever had before. The goal she had been working toward for the last three years was finally in sight.

The gong sounded, signaling the start of the Agni Kai.

Immediately, Azula felt a wave of fire screaming at her. She breathed in, breathed out, and parted it easily, gathered up the remains with both hands, separated it, and sent at least twenty fireballs right back at him. Tremors in the ground told her that he had dodged to the right, which Azula matched, easily avoiding his counterattack. To stop him from gaining momentum, she launched her own wall of fire, then ran away, correctly anticipating Ozai's advance.

For her plan to work, Azula would have to keep her distance.

The fight continued in much the same way for the next minute. They were sizing each other up, testing the other's strength and agility. A battle between two high-class benders was almost always decided by one attack—the rest of it was just preparation for that attack.

For Azula's part, the exchanges proved what she had already suspected—Ozai was more powerful than her. Avatar or not, he simply had far more experience than she did. Not to mention he was in the prime of his life while Azula's body was still maturing. Little by little, Azula could feel the pace slipping away from her, could sense her assaults turning into reactions, and then into desperate countermeasures. Little by little, her fear, long pent-up, started to leak out of her heart, threatening to overwhelm her.

Suddenly, she sensed that Ozai was quickly approaching her. He must have fired blasts of flame in such a way as to send him screeching toward her in midair, hands surely already forming a deadly kata.

Azula was no match for him in close-range combat. Her only option was to launch herself into the air as well, up and away from him.

And then—

She felt it.

A crackle in the air that could only signal one thing.

Azula had very few options in the air; she was already very much set on the course she was on. Her future location would be child's play to predict. And away from the ground, she couldn't even use her seismic sense to try and avoid the bolt of lightning.

Luckily, she was the Avatar.

As soon as the lightning erupted out of Ozai's fingers, she turned her Airbending senses to maximum, and the displacement of wind told her exactly where the deadly bolt was. As time slowed to a crawl, she turned her body over to her muscle memory, moved her arm—

And caught the lightning with her hand.

The pure, unbridled, ki energy of the lightning felt like lava. With time as slow as it was, she could feel the impact as the lightning barreled its way through her arm, crashing against and destroying all in its way as it charged to her shoulder.

Then, just as Iroh had taught her, she bent it, sending the searing ki down into her stomach, then up to her other shoulder. Kneading it like clay, she prodded it up into her left arm, through her wrist, and into her fingertips.

And after briefly checking for his location with her Airbending, she released all of that ki directly at Firelord Ozai.

Her only regret was not being able to see his expression.

Precisely as planned.

Azula descended, slowly, feeling something akin to elation. When her feet touched the ground, she sensed that Ozai was still moving. Apparently, she had missed slightly.

Well, no matter, she thought. She actually somewhat preferred getting in a few last words.

She walked up to him, thinking of and disposing of thousands of lines to say. As it turned out, she needn't have bothered.

"Congratulations," she heard him say in a wheezing, rasping voice. "You win."

Azula stopped, and stared at him, dumbfounded.

"I do hope," he went on, "you won't let the foreigners rape our lands and people."

All she could think to say was, "Indeed."

Firelord Ozai died at the end of the Day of Black Sun, leaving Avatar Azula with the realization that she didn't truly understand him.

And so the Battle of the Eclipse ended, and with it the Hundred Years' War, with the complete and total victory of the Alliance Army. Zuko was crowned Firelord to great applause, promising peace and recompense to the people the Fire Nation had oppressed, while citizens of all nations were ecstatic that the past century of conflict and bloodshed was finally over.

Azula would not be seen until the Peace and Reconciliation Summit a month later.

End of Chapter 1

Author's Note: I can't deny it gives me a certain sort of sick pleasure to make the climax of the original series the first chapter in this fanfic. But really, in this timeline, the battle's so pathetically onesided it's necessary for a number of reasons.

A bu is an ancient Japanese unit of measurement (taken from the Chinese, as lots of ancient Japanese things were), that Wikipedia tells me is roughly equivalent to 3 millimeters. "Li, Shou, and Jun" are common names (an adaptation of the American idiom "Tom, Dick, and Harry").

I might as well say this now: This fanfic will have three main story arcs, sprinkled across the chapters. One will cover the period from the end of Trapped to, well, this chapter. Another will cover the period from the end of this chapter to Azula's death. And the third will be a bit…special. It'll become clear soon enough, don't worry.

I have no idea how often I'll be able to update this, but for now, I'll say around once every two weeks, though quicker updates are quite possible.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I hope to see you in the next one, too!