Chapter One:
001. Roses
"I want a dozen blood red roses." The demand was sudden, and all of her admirers and sycophants immediately dispersed to find said commodity. She took the opportunity to finish her walk in peace.
Later that evening, her entire wing of the Fire Nation Palace smelled like roses. Her rooms were filled with blood red roses, dusky pink roses, and many other assortments of colours. "Fools, didn't I tell them blood red only?" Azula scowled.
She was about to incinerate each and every rose but a flash of blue caught her eye. She picked up the deep blue rose and smiled.
002. December
He stared. She stared back. "Aren't you cold?" He asked through the silence and over the raging storm outside.
She shook her head and smiled.
"Not in the slightest?" He asked.
"Not in the slightest." She answered with amusement. Her glowing gold eyes reflected the fire that sat before them.
"But—but—this is your first time to the Southern Water tribe and there's a fierce snowstorm going on outside, and you're not even wearing a coat! How in the world are you still warm?!" Sokka screeched incredulously while shivering slightly in his own parka. She let out a small puff of blue fire. "Oh."
"Firebending has its uses, Sokka." She raised a brow, "Oh come now, are you disappointed? We can snuggle if you're cold."
Sokka spent the rest of the evening trying to decide whether to admit he's cold and snuggle or to maintain his pride as a Watertribe man and withstand the cold.
003. Desert
"You, gorgeous," He leaned over to the beautiful firebender, "are as hot as the desert."
She smacked him upside the head and smirked, "I'm hotter."
004. Gold
After the failed invasion, everything he did reminded him of her. The sun reminded him of her prowess in her bending. Hiding out in the Western Air Temple reminded him of her as well. After all, if it wasn't for her their invasion would've succeeded. Zuko and his firebending reminded him of her as well. Zuko and Azula did look alike, being siblings and all—and they both loved fire with a passion. …Those damned pyromaniacs. He couldn't even wear red without thinking of her own red uniform. The gold coins they scammed reminded him of her eyes.
So imagine his shock when he woke up to find glowing gold eyes peering right back at him. "Good morning, Peasant."
He didn't know whether to scream or to kiss her.
005. Tapestry
"What in Agni's name is that?" Azula sneered at the new addition to her room. The man beside her sputtered indignantly.
"Hey! I worked hard on that!"
"Oh yes, I'm sure. It's wonderful, really." Azula resisted the urge to gag. The fabrics were odd and of different colours. There was a few greens, a deep red (the only colour she approved of), and a whole lot of blues. "But what is it?"
"I don't know really." The Watertribe boy beamed, "But it looks beautiful in your room, huh?"
Azula nodded and silently promised herself to burn it later.
"I spent months on it! It was really hard to find every single piece of clothing I ever wore to sew it all together. I made it just for you." Azula slumped. She couldn't burn it. Damn her and her new found conscience.
006. Opaque
"What do you want from me?!" Sokka whirled around, reached out into the shadows, and pulled Azula out from its midst. The now sane princess waited patiently as the man shook her roughly. "Well?!"
Azula smirked. It had been years since the end of the war and Azula had fully recovered and was brought back to the Fire Nation Palace to live the rest of her life as a pampered princess. All was well until Zuko's friends decided to visit. She didn't really care about the Avatar, or Bei Fong, or the Healer. She had taken a sudden interest in Sokka, much to the amusement of Zuzu. Every time he would visit, she would trail after him like a shadow, just watching.
"Well?! You've been following me for weeks now! What do you want?!"
Azula shrugged, "I'm not sure, really."
007. Russet
The door was pushed aside and slammed against the wall loudly to reveal his wife's prone body lying on the floor. Adrenaline and the rushing of blood that was thrumming through him in deafening thunder suddenly died down to a deathly silence. He had been too late.
The russet stain of drying blood coated every inch of her visible skin, and hauntingly dead gold eyes stared sightlessly back at him. I'm dead, and it's your fault. Those eyes screamed. I'm dead and I hate you. Raven hair was drenched in blood as well, her throat was cut, her torso was stabbed repeatedly, her wrists were cut, and there was a knife through her head. They did this to me and you didn't stop them. He bent down to gingerly cup her cheek. You failed me.
Years later, when he was an aged lonely man living in his isolated home in the Southern Water tribe, he would still remember his wife. He didn't remember the blood, he didn't remember her mutilated body, instead, he remembered what he felt when he cupped her cheek and kissed her one last time.
She was still warm.
008.
Ink
His room always had the strong smell of ink permeating from it. Maybe he liked to write, maybe he was taking notes from those books he took from the Royal Library, maybe he was drawing one of his really ugly paintings, maybe he was vandalizing the walls, maybe he was drawing some complex ritualistic circle to sacrifice small animals, maybe he decided that bathing in water was overrated and have opted for ink baths, whatever it was, it irked her to no end that his room smelled like ink, but he didn't. So while he was out sparring with Zuzu, she snuck in.
Maybe she just wanted an excuse to go into his room.
009. Foreign
Azula rolled her eyes as she walked trying hard to ignore the frantically waving boy beside her. "You do know that they're only cheering for you because you're a foreign thrill. Most of these people haven't seen Water Tribe dimwits like you."
She wasn't expecting a bare, tanned, and incredibly muscular arm to be wrapped around her. She didn't expect him to pull her closer to him. She definitely didn't expect the crowd to cheer louder. She smiled nervously. When he finally released her, she was left with a feeling of emptiness.
As soon as her obligatory task of giving him a tour of the city was completed, she quickly went to the Royal Library to look up the foreign yet not unpleasant feeling she experienced.
010. Feathers
Okay, so he had volunteered to help escort the now fully sane and much more agreeable Princess Azula back to the Fire Nation Palace after her time at the psych ward. It beats watching Zuko and Mai going all goo-goo ga-ga over their baby boy at said Palace and it sure beats watching Aang and Toph going all goo-goo ga-ga over their baby girl as well. It also beats tending to a pregnant and hormonal Katara. But when he arrived to find one Princess sitting on the steps of the building with all her bags off to the side, he sure felt like backing out.
No matter how many people told him that she wasn't the homicidal Princess from a few years back, he would still fear her. Maybe if he slipped away quietly and-- "You're late." –Too late.
"Sorry about that, Princess Azula." Sokka forced himself to approach. "The—please don't kill me—I mean, the boat was a bit slow. Then I got lost—or at least make it fast and painless—and no one…er, bothered to help me. So are we all set? You look—less homicidal now—I mean, well."
Azula smirked. "Do I ruffle your feathers that much, you big baby?"
