Chapter Rating: T (Language, Graphic Depictions of Violence)

A/N: Here we are again, perhaps a little sooner than I expected.

For some context on possible publication schedules, please read the afterword of A Veil of Flames (Chapter 24).

I'll try to keep this story under 50,000 words. And as a new exercise for myself, I'll try my best to be less dramatic than usual.

If you join me (perhaps, for a second or third time) I hope you enjoy the ride; let's hope it doesn't take as long as before.

Published on: 02/02/2020

Chapter 1: The Shadow of Failure

"She's too fast! I can't catch her!" Aang shouted to Toph as they chased Azula.

"Wait!" Sokka tugged at the Avatar's shoulder and stopped him in his tracks. "She only wasting our time! Look at her, she's not even trying to beat us!"

"Quite clever, aren't you?" Azula raised an eyebrow.

"Come on, we're almost out of time. Ignore her!" Sokka turned around and walked away.

"You look familiar. Like someone that my favorite prisoner used to always talk about. 'Sokka' was your name, wasn't it? She would always talk about you; you should have heard her voice when she realized her beloved boyfriend wasn't going to save her." Azula said.

He stopped in his tracks; tears welled up in his eyes, and he let out a primal scream as he charged at her.

"Come and get it." She smirked.

"Sokka, look out!" Toph screamed, slammed her foot in the ground, and punched the air in front of her; fragments of rock shot forth and bound the princess' wrists to the wall.

"Where. Is. Suki?!" Sokka's voice shook with anger and pain.

"I feel quite generous today, so I will provide one answer for you." She leaned closer to Sokka and whispered in his ear, "Pick one: your girlfriend, or my father?" His teeth grinding in his rage, she pulled back with her smug smile. "Well, Sokka, which is it?"

A crash of lightning came from above them.

"You hear that?" Azula whispered. "Looks like the firebending is back on." Sapphire flames engulfed her feet and fists, the bindings that Toph created crumbled from the heat. Azula brought her fist downward, Sokka slide back, but a burning pain struck his stomach, sending him reeling back into Aang.

The smell of his own singed flesh made his stomach turn, but Sokka placed his hand over his wound and bit his tongue.

"It seems like your time is up. So, I'll tell you. Turn around, make a left, and take the secret door to the right. You'll find Ozai waiting there for you. As for your girlfriend…" Sokka saw her eyes narrow with her smile. "Maybe I'll tell you where she is the next time we meet." She turned around and took off.

Sokka saw nothing but red. And he sprinted towards her.

"Sokka, wait! We have to stop the Firelord!" Aang pulled at his shoulder.

"You guys go ahead! Take care of him, I'm going to go find Suki!" Sokka pulled away and continued running.

Their protests faded with the world around him. In his anger, fueled by his rage, he saw nothing else but his enemy.

…

Her footsteps echoed in front of him, his sword dragging along the floor, carving itself into the stone. The red halls seemed to merge into an indistinct black mass. Then the sound of the steps came to an abrupt stop. Her posture straightened and she turned to face him.

"You kept up with me?" Her voice slithers into his ears. "I'm impressed." Azula held out her hands, blue flames hovered in her palms. "So impressed in fact, that I'm feeling benevolent." Sokka scoffed at her words and readied his sword. "What was that?" Azula widens her stance. "You don't believe me?" She laughed. "You best me and I'll tell you where your girlfriend is. Since you're at such a disadvantage," the flames in her hands grow larger. "being a nonbender and all."

Sokka bit his tongue, took a deep breath, and charged. Two massive blue fireballs shot towards him; he stepped aside, heat exploded at his right; he ducked away, and another explosion of heat rocked at his left.

Sokka thrust his sword blade towards her; Azula stepped aside, smirking at him; his sword pierced through the thick stone wall, embedding itself into it just above her shoulder.

"Spirited." She mocked him. "Nothing like the girlfriend you won't be able to save."

A roar escaped from him; his fist pulled back and came down towards her face. A cutting pain ripped through his hand; her razor-like nails dug into his flesh. His voice tore through the air; in a quick movement she snapped his hand like a whip, a shock cascaded through his entire arm. Her nails sunk deeper into his hand and he fell to his knees. Another blunt force struck his chest; he flew back, crashing onto the stone and sliding across the floor.

Sokka coughed, his tongue tainted with the taste of his own blood; his breath shallower than it should be.

"Pathetic." Her voice came from behind the darkness of his eyelids. "I can't believe it." His eyes opened to see his hand still holding on tightly to his sword. "You actually cut me!" Azula stalked him, her right hand bloodied and resting on the wound in her shoulder. "A lucky shot that won't amount to much, snow peasant." Blue flames engulfed her hand again, the scent of burning flesh and her pained grimace told him that she was cauterizing the wound. "Any last words?" Lightning skipped across her fingers.

"Yeah…" Sokka rested his left hand on his scorched midsection; his eyes shifting towards the fine gravel his blade had carved into the floor. He grunted with pain and reached for a handful of dust. "Tell…" He spat out the pooled blood on his tongue, looked up, and tossed the loose gravel towards her eyes.

"You—" Azula shouted, her hands came up to rub the dust from her eyes. Sokka grunted in pain, the burned skin feeling as if it was tearing when he jumped up; in a quick movement he swept his leg forward knocking her off her feet; Azula tumbled to the floor and crashed onto her back in a cloud of dust.

"Tell me, where Suki is!" Sokka pinned her left arm down with his knee; his left hand held her wrist down, and the blade of his sword rested just above her neck. "Tell me…Or else." He pushed the blade further down; the color of her blood began to coat the edge of his sword.

"You're going to kill me?" Her mocking voice broke through to him, and her smirk told him that she saw something he couldn't hide. "I don't think you have it in you." He bit down on his tongue again and blood ran down his lips. "You've bested me." Sokka saw her muscles relax. "I'll keep my word-and my honor."

Sokka relaxed, his grip loosened on her arm, and he lifted his blade from her neck.

A flash. Azula grabbed his blade and pushed it away; lightning skipped across its meteorite steel and ran up his arm; Another pained grunt escaped from him, his muscles seized, and he collapsed to the floor.

"Honor is only contested in an Agni Kai; which this isn't." She spat. "Otherwise, anything is fair game." Azula's hands wipe the dust from her eyes. "Evidently, you already understood that. You're smarter than I gave you credit for."

Sokka spit out another gush of blood, he lets out an ironic chuckle as the sound of his sword clanging against the stone floor echoes through his mind.

"Can you still hear me…?" She asked him. Sokka does his best to answer back, he doesn't know if he does. "Surely…You're more useful alive than dead...But that is yet to be determined."

His head falls, his eyes close, and darkness takes him.

A/N:

Any future warnings concerning any kinks and content will be in the beginning author notes for the following chapters.

Obligatory clarification: All characters are of the legal drinking age in whatever country, province, prefecture, etc. You are reading this work of fiction in.

Also: I said that I would write ahead of time and republish on a weekly basis...Nah, I'm not going to do that. Let's just hope I can make it somewhere with this, as of yet...unfinished story.

Thanks for Reading!