Blood Matters

Trust

Azula reached for the wall of the otherside of the cliff with wide eyes as her hand caught a ledge, she went to try pulling herself up but it broke off from her weight.

"No!" She gasped as she felt gravity taking her down again.

Suddenly a hand caught her wrist and Azula looked up to see Zuko looking down at her with a serious expression as he lead her to the ledge we was hanging on.

"I got it," she spat gripping the earth under her hand.

"I was expecting a thank you but I guess that's to much to ask for," Zuko rolled his eyes as Azula shot him a glare as she hung on.

Zuko saw one of her hands bleeding as her finger nails where now broken and her hand was all scratched up now.

"We'll wait them out then get out of here," Zuko told her as he grunted climbing to the side where there was a larger ledge for him to stand on instead.

"We could've taken them," the younger sister hissed, he held his hand out for her to join him.

"Obviously but not now," Zuko shook his head as he looked up at the cliff they fell down and was thankful how the mist covered them as azula pressed her back against the cliff.

"Let's go," Zuko dropped again and landed in a deep pool off water where the waterfall ended. Azula grumbled and jumped down as well causing a splash.

They swam to the edge of the pool of water and Azula growled as her hair fell from the bun and now was sticking to her shoulders and back.

"Get over it," Zuko stood up and held a hand out for his little sister but she smacked his hand away.

"I don't need your damn help!" She snapped angrily as she got up on her own and held her hand. She aggressively took off the ba sing se cover top as she was left in the green shirt that was under and the green pants as well, she rewrapped her black belt around her waist.

"I don't even know why we're running from the fire nation! It's bull shit on saying changing sides is better! It's not better when we're on the run!" Azula threw her hands in the air fuming.

"Are you done?" Zuko crossed his arms and she snapped her head at him glaring.

"We could've gone home! Maybe you'd even get your 'honor' back!" She yelled.

"Don't you dare talk about getting my honor back!" Zuko snapped.

"You can't redeem your honor by not doing an unhonorable act, and lying about me killing the avatar won't do anything for me," Zuko took a deep breath.

"And I didn't force you to come, so don't blame me for your regret," he looked at Azula with a small glare.

They stood there in silence as they waited for the other to say something but it was getting late.

Zuko threw some sticks in a pile and made them slight more organized then set it on fire to warm them up.

"What are you doing?" Azula raised an eye brow moving her wet hair out of the way.

"You learned how to be feared and superior, I learned how to survive outside of a royal life," Zuko said simply as he sat down and brought his knees up to his chest.

"If you want to warm up then stop being stubborn and sit by the fire," he looked at her. Azula slowly walked over and sat two feet away from Zuko crossing her legs.

"So now what? We're refugees, earth kingdom is down and fire nation is going to be hell," Azula asked flatly.

"We have no food, no money, nothing, this was a horrible idea,"

"No one really knows who we are, I haven't stepped foot in the fire nation in three years, and I'm guessing you didn't leave the palace to go talk to commoners," Zuko rolled his eyes.

"Your not saying we go to the fire nation? The place we said we were going to run from?" She asked in horror with her jaw dropping a little.

"We're not really going to go to the fire nation are we?!" Azula asked like he was crazy.

"We don't have a lot of choices Azula, we really don't," he sighed. "You made me a refugee of the earth kingdom with wanted posters, so that would be harder,"

"But let's push away the differences in the past and just get through this, no lying, no back stabbing, just get through this war, trying to get along," Zuko explained with a sigh.

"What about the avatar? I killed him," Azula brushed her damp hair over her shoulder.

"There might be a change of him surviving, Katara, the water bender, she said she had some spiritual water from the North Pole, it could heal him if she used it," Zuko looked at her nodding with slight hope for the world.

"What else did she tell you? How would you know?" Azula asked narrowing her eyes knowing he wasn't telling her everything.

"It would've been powerful enough to heal my scar," he lightly touched the scar on his face. "She was going to use it on me,"

"Oh."

They once again fell into silence as the fire burned the wood with crackles and pops as the two mentally damaged siblings sat side by side.

Azula stayed deep in thought of her actions, her mother thought she was a monster, her friends feared her, she was satisfied with the look of fear people gave her, she craved the power but she hasn't laughed or felt happiness in a while, maybe since they were kids. She remembered when Zuko and her use to get along when they were children. She never knew why he stopped...

Her father wasn't awful to her, he praised her and always trusted her, he was proud of her. But in the back of her mind she felt like if she did something wrong she too would end up like her brother. She didn't want that...

"I'm done with the lies Zuko, I'm with you on this," Azula sighed in defeat.

"No matter what happened before, I'm pushing that back, I'll have your back if you have mine," Zuko nodded.

"Then I have your back," she said calmly with a soft face looking at her brother. His scar, out of view.

"You should get some rest, tomorrow is going to be long," Zuko laid down in the grass and flipped to his side so his back was to the fourteen year old princess.

Azula stayed silent as she laid down on her side as well but kept her gaze up at the stars until sleep consumed her and soon she finally dozed off.