Seven months, three weeks, and twenty-four hours; she had been in that small room. Or, was it twenty-four months, seven weeks, and three hours? Maybe, even as short as three months, twenty-four weeks, and seven hours? She couldn't remember. Or maybe she could, but her mind was starting to betray her too! All she knew was that everything and everybody in the world was against her. She knew they were watching her, laughing as she was in pain; and waiting for the day she would no longer be a source of amusement, so they could finally get rid of her for good.
"Well, that's never going to happen," she mumbled to herself, and quickly searched the room. She could feel their stares looking into her soul. She just couldn't see them.
"Come on!" She yelled, "Show yourself. Show you're cowardly face!" She turned toward the door, waiting for her captures to come into the room. Of course, there was always the chance that they added a new door into her cell while she was sleeping, and they'd come through there. She scanned the room again, making sure that they didn't come in a secret passage, and put even more restraints on her.
She could clearly remember it. Her captures holding her down, and her fighting back. She was doing everything she could to blast them away, and get to her father. They kept telling her that her father was defeated, that her enemy, the "Avatar", had stripped him of his abilities of fire. She didn't believe it. Her father would never fall, especially to him. She now realized that this was a distraction. When she yelled at them, reminding them of her father's glory, she felt something sharp enter her neck, and everything went black. When she woke up, she was in her cell, wearing some kind of customized restraint. It was a piece of white cloth, some kind of jacket, she figured out. It was designed in a way that made it so she couldn't move her arms. It kept her arms hugging her body. To add icing to the cake, it disabled her fire bending abilities; she was unable to escape from the trap.
She had been trying to come up with an escape plan, but the situation made it nearly impossible to escape. She had figured that it had been a cue against her, a cue against the thrown. Before she was caught, she knew she was fighting someone. She just couldn't remember who.
However, she had comforted herself with the fact that her father would be here. Her father would come for her. Her father loved her, and as humiliating as it was for him to come and rescue her when she hadn't even been on the thrown for twenty-four hours, he'd come. He knew she was strong, and would never let her rot in a prison like that. Of course, there was that tiny spark of doubt that told her he was just like the others. Out to get her.
She ignored that little voice though, because she knew it to be lying…or hoped it to be lying, at least.
That was until six months, two weeks, and eighteen hours ago…or eighteen months, six weeks, and two hours ago? Either way, it was at that time she realized who captured her, and put her into the dreadful situation.
Her traitorous brother, Zuko. He had walked into her cell, wearing the robes of the Fire Lord! She was furious at the site of him. He had a look of remorse on his face, and looked at her as if she was dying from a deadly illness named after a pig. She knew it was fake, though. Why wouldn't it be? He had always been against her. Plotting, until the day he could put her here.
He had come to tell her, that their father was dead. That in an attempt to escape his prison, he had been killed. The thing about it, though, was she knew he was telling the truth. Zuko was the Fire Lord, and there'd be no way that their father would let that happen. That's when she knew she was in this alone. That she was completely alone in this world. Or maybe, she always knew, she just didn't want to believe it.
Although, that same voice of doubt had become a voice of hope. It was now telling her that there was someone out there who'd come for her. It told her that someone who had been there for her, when everybody else had given up, would come for her. Sometimes, she'd give herself the pleasure of listening to this little voice. Sometimes, when she was really desperate, she'd even try and make up a name for this person.
However, then the rest of her mind would stop her from getting her hopes up. If she wanted to escape her prison, she had to do it by herself.
It was then, that the door to her cell opened, and two people walked in.
One of them was one of her captors. A female. She had tan skin, and brown hair that was kept in a braid. She recognized her. The woman would come into her cell every day, as if to check and see if she was okay. She had even tried to talk to her a few times, but she ignored her. The woman was one of the reason's she was being kept in the cell, and if she truly cared, she'd release her. However, there was something about her that made it, so she wasn't as…angry around her as she was with the rest of her captors. As if her body thought she'd rescue her from the cell.
However, she was definitely angry at this visit. Because this time, the woman was accompanied by her traitor of a brother. Zuko.
"Azula," her brother spoke, in a slightly reluctant tone. However, the woman spoke something into his ear, and he sighed. He bent down, so he was at her level, "Hey, Azula." He said again, in a more friendly tone. She responded, by head-butting him in the face. She may not have been able to use fire, but that didn't mean she would let him off the hook for getting her into this mess. She was actually proud of herself. She was able to hit him hard enough to draw a little blood. Her brother sighed again.
"I knew this was a lost cause!" He yelled. That's when the woman did something, that she didn't expect. She also bent down to her level, and kept a stern look on her face.
"No," she said, as if talking to a bad child. Azula glared at her. Who did she think she is.
"Forget it!" Zuko said, and started to walk out the door. The woman got up, and ran after him.
"Sir!" She cried out, and held the door, "She's your sister!"
"Was my sister," Zuko corrected.
It was at this moment, however, that Azula saw her chance. The door was wide open, that the two of them were unaware, too busy in their argument. She grinned, and started to stand up. Her legs felt weak. She hadn't stood up in so long, but she wasn't about to let that stop her. She bent her head down, and bent her legs. She could do this. She could escape.
Finally, after charging up her energy for a minute, she charged. The two remained unaware of her attempted escape. She was finally getting out of there.
However, just as she was about to hit the woman captor, her brother noticed her charging.
"Look out!" She yelled, and in a quick movement, pulled the woman out of the way. He then turned his attention on her, grabbed her collar and slammed her face into the medal door of her cell. She cried out in shock, and closed her eyes.
--
When they were open, however, she saw something she didn't expect to see.
Her restraints were gone, and she was able to move around freely. Maybe her attempt to escape actually did something. Still, that didn't change the fact that she was trapped in the room, but at least now, she could Fire Bend her way out. She could get out, and avenge her father. It was the least she could do, since she couldn't do anything to stop him from getting defeated in the first place.
"I'm late!" A new voice suddenly said. A voice she had never in her life. She looked around the room, and saw nobody.
"Who's there?" she called out.
"I'm late!" The voice said again. She looked down, and gasped. Standing in front of her, was the avatar's…pet. The lemur thing. It was looking at her with big eyes. "You're late too!" It repeated, and ran under her feet; she turned around, and to her surprise, saw a hole in the ground.
"Hurry up!" The lemur said, and jumped into the hole. Azula smiled. That hole was big enough for her to fit in, and might be a way for her to escape the prison she was in. On the other hand, it was highly suspicious that it just suddenly appeared without her noticing. It could have been planted there, just so she would go into it, and fall to her death. Still, it was worth checking out.
She slowly walked up to the hole, and bent down, looking into it. It was so dark, she couldn't see anything, especially where it lead too.
"Maybe if I drop something in it…" before she could finish that statement, though, she lost her balance, and fell into the hole.
Just an idea that popped into my head, and decided to jot down. Azula has oddly been my favorite character (next to Toph) so I decided to do a Azula-centric story. This will mainly be focusing on her early childhood life, and on her situation in "Wonderland." I just want to say, that it will only be slightly based off of Alice in Wonderland. I'm going to add my own twists to that classic plot, and actually give it, well, a plot!
What do you think of this so far? Any suggestions? Comments? Questions? Did I spell something wrong? Please, let me know!
Yun