#Then we the water and earth Avatars were on average 43 years olds when they died

[glassygate]

Young Prince Iroh met the Avatar who hid. Or perhaps they were Avatar who never knew; beast whose claws had been cut by foolish elders in hopes to avoid the Fire Nation's wrath. But then came the Southern Raids. And now all that was left was a broken husk rotting in a cell that would soon become their tomb.

General Iroh met the Avatar who fought. One who had been raised as a weapon; raw power to be brought to the center of battle and then let loose. A weapon cowered by scars and Iroh know not all of them were made by the enemies of the Earth Kingdom.

(Iroh was there when the lives of both of these Avatars ended, but he does not know whose eyes haunt him the most.)

When Uncle Iroh meets the Avatar the third time... He swears she would be the one who found happiness.

----

Azula finds the spirit of the Avatar who fanished.

The one whom others cursed as a traitor who betrayed the world and allowed destruction of their own people and others mocked as a coward who fled from their duties.

The one who could have stopped the war from ever happening but didn't.

And he is just a child.

A child whose entire life had been shattered way too fast for him to properly progress it and then expected to just carry a responsibility that would make even a mountain to grumble.

A child who had been overwhelmed, run away and gotten lost in a storm.

A child who had died because of the war and the adults who failed them.

Just like the one who hid.

Just like the one who fought.

But not Azula... She wouldn't accept a fate like that.

Azula would be the one who won!

But for now... she was the one who was terrified

Azula is the Avatar.

Nobody is more trilled than Ozai.

The most powerful bender in the world, and they've been born into his family, as a firebender. It's a sign, he knows. Azula trains. Azula becomes his weapon.

The rest of the world doesn't stand a chance.

--

Azula is the Avatar.

The tiny toddler waves her hand and pulls a ribbon of water from the turtleduck pond, laughing to her brother to look at what she can do.

Zuko tries his best, but can't do the same.

Iroh watches and breaks into a cold sweat.

---

Azula is the Avatar.

Her mother takes her away with her, and won't turn back or tell Azula why, even when she pleads.

--

Azula is the Avatar. Iroh tells her that her bending is impressive, but she must never show her father. She must never show anyone.

Azula doesn't understand. Isn't this just a sign of how powerful she is?

She shows off her bending in front of her father.

Any amusements she'd been permitted before are immediately taken from her, and her life is a rigid regiment of training. She doesn't see the rest of her family again. She trains hard, becoming her father's weapon.

He's all she has, she must make him proud.

--

Azula is the Avatar, and she shows off her bending in front of her father. The next morning, the princess has been killed.

---

Azula is the Avatar, and something about the graveness in Iroh's voice, the way her mother holds herself, convinces her not to bend earth again. Never to show anyone else what she can do.

She, Zuko, Iroh, and Ursa share the secret between them.

Zuko is exiled and told only finding the Avatar will restore his honor.

For an instant, Azula's heart skips.

But Zuko leaves, knowing full well the Avatar is in the palace.

Alone in the palace with Ozai.

--

Azula is the Avatar.

She trains in secret, bitterly thinking that if she has the power and the ability, there's no way anyone is telling her she can't keep bending anything but fire.

She lives two lives: the perfect Fire Nation Princess with her father, and disguised girl in the city who bends earth and water with the precision of a master.

One day she lets her friends - Mai and Ty Lee - in on her secret. She can trust them not to leave.

Another day, she casually bends the wall open. "Ready to blow this pop stand?" she asks.

--

One day she lets her friends Mai and Ty Lee in on her secret.

She can't trust them not to leave, so she tells them of her power, so they'll know they have to stay with her.

--

Azula is the Avatar, and she stows away on Zuko's ship. By the time she shows herself, it's too late to turn back, and her older brother helps cut her hair to hide herself.

--

Azula is the Avatar, and she trains and bides her time until her father sends her off on a ship of her own.

She brings Mai and Ty Lee, and a small, carefully-chosen group of soldiers and attendants.

Instead of heeding her father's orders, she goes the opposite direction.

--

Instead of heeding her father's orders, she fakes a shipwreck. The three girls go into the Earth Kingdom in disguise.

--

Azula is the Avatar, and after years of being her father's weapon, she turns against him. Ozai is battered by fire, earth, and water together, and Azula takes his throne for her own.

"You should have feared me more."

--

Azula is the Avatar, and she returns to the Fire Nation with all four elements at her hands. She looks Ozai dead in the eyes, wanting him to know exactly who she is.

"You should have feared me more."