1 Prologue

[ Day of Sozin's comet, Ba Sing Se ]

A red comet flew across the sky, painting the world in an orange-coloured tone. Standing in front of the walls of the now conquered city, a group of old men remained unmoving, waiting for the man in front of them to begin.

"Only once every hundred years can a fire bender experience this kind of power." said the man in the front while inhaling deeply.

Around the group of old men, a circle of fire grew with each breath the man took, displaying his absurd amount of power.

His expression suddenly shifted, going from calm to tense as he moved his arms forward.

"Arghhhh!" he said loudly and the fire around him, as if obeying his command, moved in front of him, creating a bright sphere.

His attack went in the direction of the tall walls and hit them, making them crumble and fall.

One of the old men began moving his body and the ground beneath them moved as well, going in the direction of the hole the first man created.

It barely took them a few seconds to enter, however the sight that greeted them was a surprising one.

"Where are they?" said one of the old men, taking out his sword.

"Something is wrong..." muttered another one, puling water out of the canals and surrounding himself with it, getting ready in case there was a surprise attack.

The eyes of the man who destroyed the wall widened as he stared at the empty streets of the city he came to liberate. "She knew we were coming..." he said in a low tone, though everyone heard him clearly. "She emptied the city because she knew the soldiers wouldn't be able to defeat us."

"But how?" asked another man, this one had a scar on his face.

The old man's eyes narrowed as he stared at the comet. "I don't know..." he muttered. The spirits never warned him of this. He had visions of taking Ba Sing Se as a boy, and he eventually realised that it was his destiny to take it back from the fire nation, however this victory was not what he expected.

The old man stared into the horizon, his eyes closing as a sigh escaped his mouth as he moved his hand to caress the relatively new scar on his face, one that matched his nephew's. "It seems like you will have it harder than I anticipated, Prince Zuko..." he muttered in a low tone, this time inaudible to the people around him. "After all, your sister continues to prove herself smarter. I'm afraid this is the second time I underestimated her, even though I had already told myself I wouldn't..."

On the other side of the world, a young woman with black hair and golden eyes stood in front of countless soldiers, a terrifying smile adorning her beautiful face.

"For nearly a century we have been at war with the world, wasting resources while conquering the Earth kingdom city by city." said the girl loudly, making some of the soldiers below nod in agreement. "The previous Fire Lords, while very dedicated to the cause my great-grandfather Sozin started, proved ineffective when the time to expand our lands came, and it wasn't until I conquered Ba Sing Se that we were able to make clear progress!"

The soldiers below her cheered, while the generals behind her showed slightly nervous expressions, which they did their best to hide.

"Unfortunately, my father passed away in his sleep last month, and because my brother is a traitor that has no love for our great nation, it is my duty to become the new Fire Lord." said the girl with a regretful expression. "But now isn't the time to mourn, nor is it the time to give long and complicated speeches."

A moment of silence descended before it was quickly replaced by an immense ball of blue fire, which left the fist of the girl.

"NOW IS THE TIME TO CONQUER!" she said loudly, and the soldiers below her, imitating her movements, raised their fists into the air and threw fire out of them.

"Let us march into the Earth Kingdom and take what is rightfully ours!" she screamed. "After today, the world will belong to us! Let us go down in history as the greatest people to have ever lived! As the generation that united the world under the glorious banner of the Fire Nation!"

Roars of support came from the soldiers below as the blood rushed to their head. This was going to be the greatest campaign in history, surpassing even the attacks of Sozin on the Air Nomads.

The carefully crafted speeches, the promises of glory, the amazing rewards for splendid military service, the extensive propaganda, all were enough to convince the people below the new Fire Lord that what they were about to do was right, despite it clearly being a genocide.

All the soldiers and some generals entered the metal vehicles that were at the sides, getting ready to take off.

Boarding the ship, the new Fire Lord sat down on the throne that was placed on the command room and stared out of the window.

"Hurry up and get us in the air." she said in her usual tone, which left no room for replies.

The captain of the ship nodded and began giving instructions to the crew, hoping to impress the new Fire Lord, however the girl was paying him no attention. Instead, she continued to look out the window, staring at the armada of flying ships that were about to burn an entire nation to the ground.

As the ship began taking flight, a sudden movement caught her attention. It was small and far away, however there was no doubt in her mind that it was 'them'.

"Tsch, they still came huh?" she muttered in an annoyed tone. "If they managed to survive then they should have stayed in whatever hole they were hidden..."

A girl behind her moved in her direction, doing a cartwheel in the process.

"What is wrong, Azula?" she asked in a curious and worried tone.

"The bugs came." replied Azula with an annoyed expression, however it quickly changed into an amused one as she stood up.

"What?" replied Ty Lee confused. "Didn't we get rid of them?"

"No." replied Azula. "We didn't see their corpses, so it is only natural to assume they survived just fine."

"But..." muttered Ty Lee. "How could they have survived?"

"It doesn't matter." replied Azula, walking through the metal halls of the airship. "Besides, if they are alive, then the Avatar might me alive as well."

"Impossible!" said Ty lee with wide eyes.

"Nothing is imposible." said Azula, reaching a cell and indicating the guard to open it.

Inside was a black-haired woman and a dark-skinned guy, both sitting next to each other while cuffed to their chairs.

"To what do I owe the honour of such a visit?" asked the woman in a sarcastic tone, though her expression betrayed how afraid she was.

The man on the other hand simply raised his head and looked at Azula with a combination of anger and resignation.

"I really didn't want you to betray me." said Azula, placing her hand on Mai's chin and raising it, until their faces were inches apart.

"And yet you expected it, didn't you?" asked Mai.

"Of course I did." said Azula with a smile that made chills go down their spines.

"Bring them." said Azula while looking at the guard and walking out.

The guards nodded and brought them along as stye walked behind the new Fire Lord. Eventually they reached the platform of the airship that was outside the vehicle. Originally, it was meant to let one soldier fire bend from a high altitude, however it would now serve a slightly different purpose.

As they reached outside, they found themselves staring a group of four people who were standing in the haul of the airship next to theirs.

"Of course he didn't die..." muttered Azula under her breath as she looked at the young boy, who had several scars on his body but was otherwise fine. Her eyes moved across them, landing on the person next to the Avatar.

"It's good to see you alright, Zuzu." said Azula loud enough for the other group to hear. "I was worried you might have died, why didn't you send a letter or something, to let me know you survived?"

Zuko gritted his teeth as his left hand moved to the empty spot were his right arm used to be.

Before he could reply however, a dark-skinned girl screamed from Zuko's side as she stared daggers into Azula. "Give me back my brother!"

Azula obviously ignored her screams and instead focused her attention on the blind girl who stood next to them in silence.

"What about you, blind girl?" asked Azula with a small smile. "Have you finally decided to join us? Or are you still going to hang around those idiots?"

"I will make you pay." she said in an eerily calm tone.

"Now now, there is no need to act like that." said Azula shaking her head. "What happened to your parents was but a tragic accident, and you have my most sincere condolences."

The eyes of the blind girl opened as tears threatened to come out. "I will kill you!" she said loudly, and a rock that was next to her flew in Azula's direction.

"Toph no!" said the young avatar, however it was already too late.

Azula quickly threw Mai in the direction of the rock, successfully blocking it, however this came at the cost of the girl's life.

Both groups stared at Mai as the black haired girl fell into the ground from the sky, blood coming out of her body.

Before anyone could react or even begin to process the situation, Azula moved her fist in the direction of the dark-skinned boy who was kneeling beside her.

"Don't worry." said Azula with a terrifying smile while looking at Sokka, remembering how Suki was in his same position not too long ago. "I will send you were I sent your girlfriend."

Before anyone from team avatar could do anything, blue fire came out of Azula's fingers and consumed the boy.

"Sokka!" screamed Katara from the other ship, however it was far too late.

Azula smiled as she kicked the burning man form her ship and watched him fall into the earth with an amused smirk.

Before anything else could happen, the world itself seemed to stop moving. Azula stared at the group of 'heroes' and, for the first time in her life, she came across someone whose killing intent surpassed her own.

"I will kill you!" said the young Avatar as he flew in Azula's direction at an astounding speed, using his airbending to impulse himself.

"Go back to the control room and make sure the ships keep moving forward." said Azula, ignoring the incoming avatar and looking at Ty Lee.

"What about you?" asked the young girl in a concerned tone.

[ Azula pov ]

Ahh what a cute girl.

It's good that all my manipulations from a young age worked, otherwise I would be truly alone in this world.

Moving closer, I kissed Ty Lee deeply before caressing her cheek slowly. "I will be just fine. I am the strongest person in the world after all." I said with a smile.

A blush appeared on her face as she nodded slightly.

What a strange girl... we have been sleeping together for a few years now and yet she blushes whenever we kiss.

Bringing my attention back to the enemies, I felt the world stop for a moment. Quickly I analysed the battlefield and the results were surprisingly pleasant.

I was about to fight the people who would one day be the four greatest benders in the world, each an absolute master of their element, and yet all I could feel was pride. Yes, I know perfectly well that they don't stand a chance against me.

Fire formed from from my feet and I quickly took flight, intercepting the avatar mid-air.

Unlike in cannon, Katara didn't know blood-bending, I would have been a failure as a reincarnated if I didn't go to the old woman's town and burned her alive before she could teach Katara that bending blood was a thing. Likewise, neither Aang nor Zuko were that great at fire bending, at least not as great as in cannon. The dragons that taught them in the original story were now decorating my throne room after all. They looked quite intimidating might I add, though having two giant skulls at your side does that.

The only person who was as strong as her cannon self was Toph, luckily for me however I was under a boost so massive that Toph's strength was irrelevant. No matter how much she tried, all I needed to do to make her useless was stay in the air, that way she would have no way of even seeing me.

My blue flames flew in Aang's direction, completely covering him.

A bubble of air surrounded him, protecting him from my fire, however it was enough to momentarily blind him.

I was stronger than Ozai, and Ozai gave Aang a run for his money until he entered the Avatar state, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that I was destroying him in our battle, especially since both Zuko and Katara were doing nothing but stare into the ground with broken expressions.

I knew this wouldn't be the case for much longer, and as soon as they came back to their senses they will do their absolute best to kill me, but I also knew how to make the most out of my time.

The fire from my feet propelled me in Aang's direction as lightning formed on my fingertips.

A bolt of electricity quickly left my hands, showing just how great my mastery over the element was, and made its way to the avatar, unfortunately for me he dodged it pretty well, at least better than I expected.

Before I could do anything else, red fire came in my direction.

My eyebrows twitched for an instant in annoyance before my clam expression returned. My brother had recovered faster than I expected from the death of his lover... much faster. That was not good.

With his only hand he continued to launch blasts of fire at me and, while they were utterly useless since fire didn't affect me, the flames were still able to blind me and mess with my thermal sense.

I decided to simply fly through them and in an instant appeared in front of him.

"Have you forgotten that fire doesn't affect me?" I asked him in an amused tone while throwing lightning at him and successfully hitting him.

After killing the dragons and bathing in their blood, I gained resistance to fire. Honestly I was expecting a boost in my fire bending or something similar, but resistance to fire was a welcomed perk, it helped me kill dear old daddy after all.

Yeah, that whole dying in his sleep story I made up was bullsh*t. My beautiful archers and earth benders ambushed him and I dealt the final blow, all while he was on his way to Omashu to supervise the final preparations for his invasion plan. Turns out when you are an idiot that did nothing for his kingdom while your daughter went out there and bled with the soldiers to conquer the remaining free cities of the earth kingdom, even your closest guards might be willing to accept that your rule has come to an end.

Of course those guards that betrayed him are now corpses turned to ashes by my fire. No need for traitors in my ranks, after all.

I shook my head, ignoring any distractions, and instead focused on my brother, who was currently falling.

Zuko smiled while falling, which made me narrow my eyes.

My sensing abilities were top notch, having successfully mastered thermal sensing after a rather intensive training with the Dai Lee soldiers that followed me. Thanks to this sensing, I was able to narrowly avoid several spikes of ice that came flying for behind me.

Staring at were they came from, I saw Katara using the water from the clouds to attack me.

Zuko was done for in this battle. Perhaps he might survive the fall, but he won't be able to help the rest, which means the only real threat right now is Aang.

Turning around, I found Aang coming in my direction, followed by several boulders he brought from the ground.

The boulders flew in my direction, however they proved futile as I managed to avoid them without much trouble. The real problem however came as I realised that they weren't directed at me, instead they were sent to the airship behind me so that the best earth bender in history could have ammunition.

Spikes of earth flew in my direction, making me waste both time and energy avoiding them. I may be the greatest fire bender to step foot on this planet, but a sharp and well aimed rock could kill me without trouble. So could a child with a knife or a skilled blood bender, hence why I tried so hard not to get overly cocky before I was sure I won despite me undoubtedly being the best fire bender in history.

And so the battle raged on, with wind attacks followed the barrage of rocks, which were combined with occasional whips of water or shards of ice.

Flying in Toph's direction I quickly threw waves of fire at her, forcing her to seek cover by using the little amounts of rock she had left. Aang came rushing, but before he could do anything the sounds of fire consuming everything got his attention.

My army began burning the earth nation, leaving a trail of ashes and destruction behind, and an insanely large smile grew on my face. It was time to choose, save Toph or save the world burning underneath us.

"Stop this!" screamed Aang with an almost pleading look, which created a rather strange view since the anger in his eyes hadn't disappeared.

"Never." I replied with a cruel smile. "This world belongs to me already, so just die!"

As my words finished, an arrow flew in his direction and pierced his chest, making both his and Katara's eyes widen.

"You idiot really thought I would fight you all by myself?" I asked in a slightly amused tone, turning my head to look at the Yuyan archer who fired the arrow. I had already told them to coat their arrows in poison and, while some felt it was an insult to their skills, others who valued their lives more agreed to do it. God how I love the loyalty of people in this world. Not many have it, but those who do? They would throw themselves into a throned field to you didn't have to bother going around it.

Aang fell from the sky, poison strong enough to kill at least a dozen sky bisons flowing through his veins. I knew it could kill sky bisons perfectly, the dragons proved to be solid test subject for it after all, and then Appa was kind enough to confirm it afterwards. Hmm, perhaps not a dozen sky bisons, but at least one in less than three minutes.

Instead of paying attention to the avatar, I focused on the other two benders who were still fine.

"Don't worry." I said with an amused tone. "You will follow him soon enough."

With those words I flew in their direction, throwing blue fire at them. It took mere seconds for them to be consumed by it, after all they barely had any water or earth left, while I had enough firepower to easily burn a town at my side. And so, the greatest earth bender in history and the greatest water bender in history burned under the might of the greatest fire bender in history, and soon enough their kingdoms would follow... how poetic really, if not slightly underwhelming.

"It is done..." I muttered in a happy tone as all my enemies had finally died. Well, the white lotus was left, but I already knew I could defeat my uncle in a fight. The scar I left on his face was enough prove of it.

Before I could return to my ship, a whip of water grabbed my leg and yanked me from the air, bringing me down to the ground with an absurd speed.

I felt a rib crack on impact, with several bones and muscles hurting terribly.

Groaning, I stood up and began breathing. With each breath I could feel myself healing, small bruises began to disappear as my bending took care of them.

Fire was undoubtedly the most misunderstood element, used only for death and destruction despite being so much more than that. Fire was life, and without it all would die. I took that principle years ago and combined it with what we knew about the healing capabilities of water benders, successfully creating my own style of healing which relied on my fire bending, and by extension on my breathing.

"Firelord Azula!" said an astral voice coming from Aang. His eyes glowed white as he stared at me from above. "You and your forefathers have devastated the balance of this world and now you shall pay the ultimate price!"

And there he was.

The embodiment of power in this world.

I was now standing face to face with thousands of years of bending and fighting experience.

A smile grew on my face as blue fire formed around me.

"You arrogant little bastards..." I muttered, annoyed by the fact that they were looking down on me even though he was basically cheating. "I have spent my entire life growing stronger, I have trained until my hands bled and then continued training despite that."

Fire formed on my feet as I raised to his level, staring at him directly into his soul.

"I don't need or want to hear the words of dead people." I said, unamused by his performance. "So be a good dog and let me put you down already."

And so it began, a final battle against the embodiment of power and order. The final boss of this world so to speak. Or perhaps I was the final boss? Nahhh, I am the hero of course! Here to free this puny mortals of the terrible existence that is not being ruled by me.

His strength truly was on a different level, every movement he made was nothing short of perfect, every single technique was mastered well beyond ultimate efficiency, every attack he threw at me was deadly and every defence he mounted was impeccable, however I had the advantage on this fight.

My airships continued to burn the earth nation and the poison remained on his body, so all I needed to do was wait.

And after a couple minutes that felt like hours, his movements grew sluggish.

I wasn't unscathed, and there were several bruises and cuts on my body, I had two broken bones and several muscles were torn, however everything was slowly healing.

A smile formed on my face as I began regaining an advantage, my attacks landing and burning parts of his skin and clothes.

"What's wrong, little boy?" I asked, lightning cracking around me before being thrown at him. "Can the world give you no more power? Or have the old corpses in your head realised that they should act like dead people and disappear?"

"W-What did you do?" said the avatar in his astral voice.

"Nothing yet." I replied, throwing myself in his direction with a crazy smile.

I pulled a dagger form under my sleeve, a dagger dear old uncle decided to gift my idiotic brother, and stabbed him in the heart, making his eyes widen.

"You!" he said. "Do you have any idea of what you are doing?"

Panic was evident in his voice, however it only made my victory sweeter.

"I am getting rid of a bug." I replied happily. "I am freeing this world from your annoying balance, and replacing it with my beautiful kingdom."

In a desperate attempt, Aang made a gust of wind from his body that threw me away, but I didn't mind.

I knew it was over.

I fell into the shore of a river and crashed hard, but the feeling of victory made my wounds feel like the sweetest of drinks. Standing next to the river, a smile grew on my face.

The avatar fell to his knees, blood trailing out of his lips and nose as he looked down into the ground.

"And I didn't even need to use chi-blocking." I said amused. "They honestly were easier to deal with than I expected." I had spent my entire life preparing for something much greater, for magical abilities to simply appear out of nowhere. In the end, they were only human. Possessed by a strong spirit, sure, but every experience in there was human.

Suddenly, a sword appeared on my chest, making my eyes widen.

Looking down, I recognised the weapon as I cursed myself for getting cocky.

"You loose." said a familiar voice from behind me.

"Ahh, you fucking bastard..." I muttered, turning around to see my brother's face.

He fell into the water, which made his body temperature drop low enough that it matched the environment. Combine that with the fact that the fire I created raised the temperature and you get a perfect way to go around my thermal sensing abilities. It was an annoying problem of my sensing ability, one that I already knew of but how no way of dealing with, but I truly didn't expect for him to have enough strength to even stand after that fall.

Falling to the ground, I ended up laying down next to my brother.

"Our nation will fall into chaos because of you..." I said, noticing that he wouldn't make it alive either because of his wounds.

"If that is what it takes to free the world from your existence, then I will pay that price." he replied in a calm yet angry tone.

As death lured closer to me, I couldn't help but feel a bit of pity for Ty Lee. I manipulated her so carefully since we first met, raised her to be my best pawn and closest confidant, and now without me she will most likely loose her sense of purpose... ugh, why did she have to be so pure and try to help me find happiness or whatever?

"Why did you do it?" asked my brother, bringing my attention away from my thoughts to him.

"You will have to be more specific." I replied in an amused tone, knowing how much it would annoy him if I continued to act condescending and in control. "I have done a lot of things in my life after all."

"Everything." he replied. "Why did you kill Mai, why did you kill father, why did you attack uncle, why did you go on this path of war... why are you like this?"

For a moment I remained in silence, flashes of my past life going through my mind as I realised I was dying once again, with no way to avoid it once again.

His words were the type of thing that would make someone reflect on their life, maybe regret how things went, but all I could feel was anger.

I came to this world as a pretty normal person, sure a bit damaged and with the psychological scars that dying once leaves you with, but I was still 'normal'.

"I did what I did to survive." I replied in a calm tone. "And once I ensured my survival, I found myself in a path that ended with a crown on my head or a sword through my heart."

I wouldn't have wanted to return either. I am just fine conquering the world, enjoying whatever there is to enjoy, living at the top while looking down on everyone.

That is what I was raised to do.

I was forged by Ozai as a weapon, and a weapon needs to be used. A weapon needs to be bathed in the blood of enemies, and if there are no enemies then new ones must be created.

"You could have changed," he said. "You didn't have to follow into father's footsteps. You already had your crown of Firelord dammit!"

"Children follow into their parents footsteps," I said. "And mother's footsteps of love and kindness and hypocrisy were already filled by you."

"Is that what this is about?" he asked. "Mother loved you just like me!"

Lies.

If she loved me as much as she loved you, she wouldn't have thrown me at Ozai so he didn't focus on you.

The madman may have turned me into a monster, but it was Ursa who stood aside while focusing on protecting just you.

No.

It wasn't just Ursa.

It was also you, Zuko.

You also did nothing, you simply went and hid under mother's dress while I was forced to burn others alive.

Older brother's are supposed to stand up for the younger ones right? Yet you never did anything for me.

Blood continued to flow out of my chest as I felt my consciousness vanish.

"I hate you..." I muttered as I felt death embrace me once again. "You were the worst brother I could have ever hoped for. You didn't just not stand up for me, but you also stopped Ursa from doing so. I hate you and Ursa a thousand times more than I will ever hate Ozai, even if he turned me into this. And I will curse you in this life and the next."

The last thing I saw was a pink blur with an enraged expression and two bloodied swords.

'Heh, go get them my dear... and then, make sure to BURN THEM ALL!'

Darkness overtook me, however it was quickly replaced by light as I felt myself return to my body.

Opening my eyes, I was greeted by a rather strange sight.

"His name shall be Viserys Targaryen." said a masculine voice, and an undertone of madness I was all too familiar with seeped through it, one that I recognised almost instantly form my time under dear old daddy. "Protect him with your lives."

For the third time, I was welcomed into the embrace of life, this time however as the second son of Aerys II Targaryen, a.k.a. the Mad King.

Taking a deep breath, I felt the fire inside me light up and I realised that, for this new life, my fire bending accompanied me.

'This again...' I thought, falling asleep in the embrace of a new mother.