The Great Game
Chapter One: A Creature of Balance
"We never quite agreed upon whether I was dead."
Golden eyes flickered upward to the figure before them, a calculating glint hidden in their depths. "The other spirits tell me I am, but I don't believe them. It didn't feel like I died." She resisted the urge to smirk. "I'm a people person you could say. I'm pretty good at telling when someone's lying, even if said person has had a millennia to perfect their technique."
The body of a large insect seemed to wrap around the girl like a cloak of shadows; the sound of a thousand little legs clicking in the hollowed out area. A white mask attached to a monstrous body appears before her. "You're not human enough to die."
The voice is silky and smooth, yet it sends shivers down her back. She rather likes the voice; it reminds her of her own.
Segmented legs brush over her face and arms, the creature only inches away from her. "You're barley human at all."
The girl's face remains blank, but the eyes are still glinting; burning like the dying sun as the sky passes into night. "Is this your way of calling me a monster Koh?"
The face leans closer, and she can feel Koh's breath fanning her ear. "It's not a bad thing to be a monster," his body seems to wrap tighter around hers. "Coming from me it's really more of a compliment."
Suddenly he pulls back, the white mask being replaced by pale skin and pouty lips—she is struck by the resemblance it bares to her. "They'll never tell you the truth. They're just as scared of you, as their scared of me. They don't like people who play by the rules."
"We're kindred spirits, you and I," she recites back to him like a mantra. They are not lovers, nor will they ever be, but they understand each other, like they understand themselves. They're two heads of the same beast.
Koh chuckles darkly. His face switches to that of a pirate, then to a blind girl—woman—woman—man—woman—until finally back to the original white mask. "We're creatures of balance. We play by the rules." He now has the face of a beautiful woman that is distinctly water tribe. "The path to balance just isn't always pretty."
He pauses. She knows he's inspecting her.
"What a beautiful face," he finally murmurs, "if only I could have it."
She keeps her face blank, despite her desire to slip on a chilling smirk. "You can't take something from yourself—I'm your other half. You need me."
He circles around her like a Lionsnake does to their prey. "Oh, but I think you need me more. . . Azula."
Koh has a dark sense of humor, but it is one that she can respect.
It is clear that the conversation is done, and Azula allows a smirk to form on her face once Koh's tree is no more than a spec behind her. She does not trust him within seeing distance, after all, she wouldn't trust herself.
She does not know how long she's been trapped in the Spirit World, but she knows it's been a while, or at least it's been certainly long enough for her to come across most of the spirits.
The spirits are fickle creatures. They do not see right or wrong, nor black or white. The world is far too beautiful to only be seen in those colors. She thinks of them as a double-edged sword. A weapon so vast and powerful, but equally as likely to end their owner as his enemies
Azula almost feels a sense of kinship with them, but not quite. None of them can truly compare to Koh.
She's much more of a spirit, than a human—it's believable that her lack of humanity is what keeps her living.
She's almost forgotten what it feels like to be human, to be hungry, to be tired; to feel the pounding of blood in her ears. But, even as a human, life was always more of a game to her.
Yes, it was a very fun game because Azula always won.
Zuko, Uncle, Mother. . . they didn't understand the Great Game. They did not play by the rules.
Oh, how her dear brother had constantly berated her as a cheat, echoing the mantra of "Azula always lies". He was far too human; too caught up in his own selfish desires and journeys to attain honor and righteous. He did not understand the balance. Not many did.
Yin. Yang. Tui. La. The world was comprised of both light and dark. Zuko was the epitome of light; their father the essence of darkness. Azula fancies herself gray.
Mother called her a monster. This makes Azula laugh. If a monster is someone without moral codes, than she is correct. Moral codes are only a set of ideal behaviors and concepts about love and humility. Mother was always such a sap. You cannot know love without hate.
Zuko called her insane. He is wrong. Azula is much saner than he could ever wish for. She is not constantly warring between figurative notions of good and evil. Her downfall was no more than a reminder from the spirits. She plays by the rules, but so do others.
Father thought he could control her. He was delusional. She is not a weapon, something that can be controlled. It's ironic that he thought himself to be so important, when he really was no more than a speck in the world, and washed away by history.
The Water Tribe peasant thought she beat her. Azula does not consider her worth her time. She's a cheat, so why worry about having revenge. The balance will punish those who do not play the Great Game correctly.
The Earth Kingdom girl—Bei Fong—has a little bit of her respect. She understands how the game is played, even if she is not a player herself. Azula thinks that maybe in a different life, they could have understood each other. She refuses to say friends. She is above mindless clichés.
The Avatar is too forgiving. For a creature born from balance, he does not understand it. The Avatar has certain duties, and if he neglects them Koh will take what he wants, as will she. Killing is a necessity to maintain balance, but the monk favors his airbending heritage far too much compared to the wilder element of fire and the stubborn element of earth. That will be his downfall.
Ty Lee and Mai feared her. It was smart of them. They should've, she played by the rules.
It is in that moment that Azula feels the long forgotten sensation of warmth erupting within her chest, and she closes her eyes as the heat washes over her. She is reborn in fire, flames, and smoke—a renegade into a new world.
A smirk makes its way onto her face even before her eyes flutter open.
She feels her blood pumping in her veins.
Azula was spared by the balance, so it only seemed fair that she returned the favor.
Her reentrance to the world is met by a blinding gold. . .
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