Tabula Rasa (or a villain learns to be a hero)

Summary: She'll try to be a hero. Just this once. /or, in which Princess Azula of the Fire Nation dies and lives again in another world, while simultaneously trying not to murder everyone in sight. Dimension-travel!Azula. Yes, you've read that right.

.:or the supposed redemption story

Warning(s): Mild violence


I.

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dying in a blaze of glory-

(a second chance in life)

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Thinking back, she can't quite remember how she died.

Her mind is muddy, unclear. How did she pass on to the afterlife? Perhaps she died in a fierce battle alongside her fellow Kemurikage sister-in-arms; Zirin, Konan, Hina-yes, their names were Zirin, Konan, Hina. Or maybe she got assassinated while she was asleep-a slit throat, a hammer to the head, an arrow piercing through her heart. Meaty hands strangling her throat until her jugular veins almost burst and her skin turns bluish dark. A knife buried inside her chest-sharp, deadly steel so deeply buried, only the handle can be seen.

With the amount of enemies she had, it wasn't that farfetched of an idea.

But what if she had been in an untimely accident? There was also that.

There were so many possibilities.

Imagine: someone slipping a poisonous substance inside the tea she had just consumed hours ago, just like how her and precious little Zuzu's mother killed their grandfather. Now that would be a truly embarrassing way to die.

Maybe, just maybe, she died peacefully in her sleep.

She can't allow herself to hope.


The real question though, is this: heaven or hell?

She's not delusional. Hell is a likely destination for someone like her. There's no denying that. Many years ago, she did try to kill her both her brother and the oh-so-great Avatar, the utmost figure of spiritual harmony. She could remember it like it was yesterday: the dank crystal cave, her dumb brother and the water peasant, the Avatar about to unleash his power-and then, suddenly, she struck him. It was just so easy, so satisfying to watch the great and powerful Avatar fall because of her power. She was fourteen and the Avatar was only twelve, and she struck him with her lightning.

(In hindsight, it seemed like a good idea.)

That's not even counting the other numerous, ambiguously moral things she had done over the course of her long life.

But that wasn't the point.

The point is, she knows. She knows that she's a bad person. Yes, Azula admits it. She wasn't so far gone to the point where she couldn't differentiate on what was morally right or wrong.

If she could still think about matters like this, it means that she's in some kind of purgatory.

She can't see anything though. Everything is dark around her.


Heaven.

How about heaven?

She must have done something good at least. She can't really remember.

She's dead.


Princess Azula is afraid of nothing.

Well, except maybe her father. And her mother. But other than that, everyone characterized her as fearless, overpowering. And with good reason.

Fear and intimidation. Those were her two main tools. It was better to be feared anyway, than to be loved. Trust was for fools, right?

Wrong.

She had learned.

Really, she had.


She can't go to a place of eternal torment and suffering without a fight.

That's what she thinks, floating somewhere in eternal limbo.

She lived through so much. So much.

She wasn't going to another hell after spending most of her life in her own personal hell; she was not going to hell after just being in hell. Or Agni help her, she would claw and fight her way into the heavens just to strangle the Spirits themselves.

Those who share the bloodline of Sozin are born fighters. They weren't quitters. Azula was no exception to that rule.

There's just no way, no way, no way-


Hmm.

Maybe she can live another life, in another world. Reincarnation. What a funny thought. Everyone knows that the Avatar is the only one capable of that.

It's a bit unfair, though.


Everything is dark.

Suddenly-

There's a bright, blinding light in front of her, and she thinks that maybe, just maybe, there's an inkling of a chance.

It envelopes everything around her, so much that it burns her eyes just from not seeing this much light for so long.

Maybe…maybe she can even see Zuko.

Maybe-


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Yukimura Yui's child is born at approximately 4:43 A.M on the 11th of September at a hospital in Shizuoka.


It had been a difficult pregnancy, filled with painful contractions. Blood and sweat and tears; and she had cried, prayed to every god and spirit that her child would live, that she was strong enough to bear her child, please please please live oh sweet god, please please I'd do anything just let my baby live live oh my god JUST LIVE-

Her first child was taken from her before she could even properly hold him in her arms. If there was a God on earth, the same harrowing experience wouldn't happen to her again.

Please please please

The midwives had decided they'd have to give her an episiotomy. They gave her an injection to numb the pain during the next contraction, thankfully allowing her not to feel them cut her at all.

Finally, after six hours of labor and seven stitches, her baby was born.

It was a girl.


The moment she first sees her baby, held in her father's arms as the nurses deliver the placenta, the dams break and tears start to flood her eyes. Her baby girl looked so beautiful, so surreal, wrapped in a soft blanket, all smooth skin and closed eyes, and she looked so beautiful. Months and months of baited anticipation, of worrying, of daydreaming of when this day would come, and it was worth it.

I love you, she thinks through the exhaustion and pain and elation, I love you I love you I love you. I will love you until the day I die.

She cries more tears of happiness, so much that the hospital nurses around her start bawling as well, joining her in rejoicing.

Yui didn't mean to accidentally activate her Quirk. She was just so overcome with emotion.

"Give her to me," she says to her husband. Arima complies, gently placing her baby girl to her chest, like a fragile flower easily swept away by the wind.

"She's beautiful," her husband breathes out.

"Of course. She's mine, after all," Yui light-heartedly says, although she knows that between the two of them, her husband, sadly, possesses finer facial features compared to her plain face. But none of that mattered, because she loved Yukimura Arima more than anything else in the world.

Although the person in her arms right now seemed to challenge that statement.

She stares at her child, an odd, mixed sense of maternal love, pride and euphoria bubbling inside her.

Mother and daughter.

At that very moment, Yukimura Yui and the newborn baby in her arms were the only people in the world.

Suddenly, slowly, her baby's eyes begin to open.

Yui stares at her in awe amidst the faint sense of confusion.

Her baby had eyes the colour of summer wheat.

Yui pauses. Blinks.

She and Arima didn't have eyes like that. Yui had light hazel eyes while Arima's were a darker shade of brown.

A genetic mutation, perhaps?

Her baby gazes up at her, wide golden eyes and red cheeks, making a small gurgling noise.

She gazes back.

Did it matter?

Her baby was beautiful. That was all that mattered.

She smiles down at her little angel.

"Yachiyo. My little Yachiyo," she croons, lightly tracing the outline of her baby's soft cheek.

Yachiyo. Your name will be Yachiyo.

Named after her late grandmother.

For a second, her baby seems to smile back at her.


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When all the shadows around her are completely chased away by the light, that's when she finally, finally gets to open her eyes.

And sees an unknown woman's face looming over her.

Who...?

On pure reflex, she flexes her right hand, trying to summon her flames despite the hammering panic in her heart-

-and stops.

Her hand…her arm…it wasn't hers.

Calm down, calm down, she says to herself, heart rising up to her throat.

Where am I, Where am I, Where am I, Where am I-

Everything was so dark back then. Now everything around her is filled with too much light. Where is she?

She tries to scream, scream so hard that her throat feels like burning, but only an indecipherable sound comes out from her lips. Almost like a sound made by a-

Her blood suddenly runs cold. No.

It was impossible.

Wide, frantic eyes glance at her hands, at her arms, at every part of her body. No no no no, it can't be, it's impossible, I am not the Avatar-

She feels so small, so tiny, so helpless. She feels pathetic. She wants to cry and to scream and to vomit, there was just no way, it's impossible, oh eternal lord Agni, what in the seven levels of hell-

She's losing her mind.

It's the only possible explanation.

Her brother was right. She was crazy. She admits it now, after all these years. It was a bitter thing to swallow, but somehow, there was always an inkling of self-doubt within her that acknowledged this fact. She was out of her mind, that must be the real reason, because why in the name of the Spirits-why is she in a newborn's body?

Or maybe all of this was just a twisted nightmare, a delusion in her mind. If not, then maybe it was punishment for her heinous actions, punishment for acting the way she had…

That was it then.

This was some kind of personal hell, a special purgatory designated just for her.

Yes, that was it.

What a pitiful afterlife for a wicked girl like her.

Sudddenly.

The unknown woman, slowly, but surely, places a hand (don't touch me don't touch me) on her and strokes the soft expanse of her baby's cheek.

By the grace of Agni, she thinks, rages, fumes, who is this unknown peasant holding me?

She observes the woman's face-brown eyes, pale skin, black hair. Her face was completely unfamiliar. She didn't have golden eyes, like a firebender's-she didn't look like a filthy waterbender either. An Earth Kingdom dweller?

The woman stares at her with such love, such affection, such warmth, with eyes full of wonderment. You are the most precious, wonderful thing, her eyes say. It makes her feel disconcerted, puzzled. Like something painful squeezing in her chest, constricting. Disgusting.

The woman speaks. "Yachiyo. My little Yachiyo."

Reincarnation.

What a funny thought.

The Princess of the Fire Nation and once-heir to the throne smiles in defeat.

Don't challenge fate, a voice whispers in her ear. Didn't you know that?

Oh, shut up, Azula thinks, wanting to strangle that mocking voice.

There is the sound of faint laughter before the heaviness of her eyes lulls her back to sleep and the pounding in her head ceases. The smiling woman with the soft eyes and soft hands eventually disappears as well.

Well, this is just peachy.

Those damned Spirits.

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A/N: So…here it is, as promised. My reincarnated!Azula-in-an-OC-body fic.

I've always liked stories where the antagonist learns "the error of his ways" and tries to be good (basically Zuko's story in a nutshell). This story isn't really going to focus on redeeming Azula-I'd like to think that she eventually mellowed out in her older years; can you imagine Azula with a conscience?-so much as it is about her hilarious perspective on a world like Boku no Hero Academia. Of course, there's going to be some changes in the canon universe because of her presence, just like how Zuko!Shouto is going to cause ripples in my other story Bow to the Sun. (For those interested, you can see Bow to the Sun in my profile. Long story short, it's basically about Shouto being Zuko's reincarnation.)

Have no fear, though. She'll still be the Azula we all know and love, that's definitely not going to change, reincarnation or not.

I'm not going to reveal yet when or what age she died, or the cause. That's a story for another chapter.

And another thing: Azula's going to have a mother with a quirk which can make her feel emotions from other people (empathy) while at the same time, project her feelings unto them, 'cuz it'll be funny to have Azula live and deal with emotionally sensitive people. And then learn to love her new parents *gasp* noo spoilerssss

I'm still working on Chapter Four of Bow to the Sun and currently writing Chapter Two of this story, although I'm not really sure if I can update immediately due to some unforeseen circumstances and events in my life (but I'm hoping I can post Chapter Two soon). Sorry in advance guys.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Leave a review; it'll be greatly appreciated so much, you have no idea