Crack!Fic in answer of Machete 227's challenge. I present to you my answer to Day IV. This takes place during the series, between the Day of Black Sun and the finale.
DAY IV: WATER TRIBE/FIRE NATION
Bound by Lightning
"Well, here we have it. The great leader of the Southern Water Tribe, Hakoda the Blue Wolf. The Scourge of Chameleon Bay." Azula slowly took off her black silk gloves and deposited them on a convenient shelf. In the dungeons of the Royal Palace, she had taken her final Water Tribe prisoner to the torture chambers underneath to obtain some...answers. "So, water peasant, are you going to tell me the answers that I'm looking for, or are we going to have to get... messy?"
Azula walked around the perimeter of the cold stone cell, picking up and considering various sharp metal objects. When she found one that she particularly liked, one reminiscent of a crescent moon, she gave a short laugh as she approached the wooden slab in the centre of the room where the prisoner was strapped down. "See this, Hakoda?" she drawled, running her finger along the finely sharpened cutting edge "It's ever so much like the moon, wouldn't you say? Too bad that she can't save you this time. Oh, wait, that wasn't even the Moon Spirit who saved you. That's right, it was the Avatar. And he's dead."
At the last word, the man, whose defiance had been evident, slumped down against the wood, feeling the rough grain cut into his skin. "No... he can't be dead. He's the Avatar..."
Azula's laughter filled the cold, dark room. "Silly man... I killed him myself. With... this." Azula spun a finger in the air, leaving a small trail of flickering lightning in its path. The man tensed up and Azula noticed. "So, we're afraid of the cold blooded fire, are we? Well, we'll just have to cure you of that, now, won't we? And what better way of doing that than to face your fears?" With that, Azula dragged her fingers up his muscular arm. As she watched him convulse, she couldn't help but notice the definition of the muscles there. The man's convulsions ceased after a minute, but she kept tracing his muscles, slowly moving from his arm to his wide chest.
"You... bitch! I'm not going to tell you anything." The man's defiance had returned, apparently. Good. There's no fun in breaking in a new pet if it doesn't resist. "Oh but you are, Hakoda, and next time, you'll tell me" she leaned in to whisper into the man's tanned ear "Everything."
- - - oOo - - -
Later that night, Azula tossed and turned in her sleep as she slept under fine silken sheets.
She was Fire Lord. All of her subjects bowed to her as she stood in the Imperial Square, home of the Royal Executioner's block. Standing on the dais, in chains, were her uncle and traitorous brother. At the merest nod from her elegant chin, a squad of the Imperial firebenders, dressed in their elegant crimson trappings, lined up across from the two traitors. "Any last words, brother?"
"You'll never win, Azula. You might kill me, and even Uncle, but you'll never kill our spirit."
"He's right, Azula." Azula took her attention off of her pathetic brother and looked at her Uncle. Even after weeks in prison, he still held his head high. "By killing us, you will be turning us into martyrs for our cause."
Azula laughed. "What makes you even think that anyone would join you in your silly little crusade? The Fire Nation has never been stronger, and I enjoy their full support, unlike you two."
"Believe what you want, Azula. But we know the truth." With a final look into his nephew's eyes, Iroh closed his own and awaited his fate. Azula didn't even bother watching their final moments, taking away their final dignity – a death that meant something. As she returned to her personal chambers, she saw the water tribe prisoner chained to her bed with a collar wearing little more than a loin cloth.
With a curt gesture, she sent the guards out of the room. She could feel her face twist into an expression that was part arrogance and part raw animal lust as she regarded his scarred and burnt form. She had conquered his spirit as thoroughly as she had conquered his body.
"Undress me" The prisoner, silent, carefully removed her armour, placing it on its designated rack. Slowly removing her clothes, he folded them and placed them on the chest standing at the base of her bed. Grabbing his chain, she dragged him to her bed as her mouth descended to claim his mouth...
Azula woke with a start. Did I really just dream that?
- - - oOo - - -
The weeks passed quickly. Between torturing for information and handling all the new duties that her father gave her in preparation for her coronation, the prisoner never left her mind. And every night, he would plague her dreams. She had woken many a night to a heated feeling, and dealt with it the only way she knew how.
Inflicting pain on the one who had caused it.
And the strangest part was the pain. She didn't realise it at first, but she was holding back. She honestly didn't want to end the miserable Hakoda's life, even though it was clear that he knew nothing beyond what he had revealed to her in the first weeks. And the strangest part was the fact that he seemed to honestly enjoy the pain. Oh, he didn't say anything, but she had gradually learned (in her dreams) the difference between a groan of pain and one of passion.
The night before she left for the Boiling Rock with Ty Lee, she had had the most heated dream yet. Furious, she descended to the prison with nothing but her light sleeping robes and her house coat fluttering around her form. If the Imperial Guards thought this strange, they wisely kept it to themselves.
"You!" The prisoner woke to a furious Fire Princess nearly shaking him awake. "Hakoda! Tell me why you continue to invade my dreams! Why can I not be rid of you for a single night?"
The prisoner began to laugh. Even Azula was caught by surprise. It wasn't a normal laugh – no, it was the laugh of a man barely standing over the precipice of sanity, in real danger of losing himself.
Eventually, the laughter caught in his throat as he coughed up a wad of blood. "Oh, princess, you really have no idea, do you?"
"I know exactly what it is, peasant. Don't you dare to insinuate that you know more than the soon-to-be-Fire Lord. I do not have a... a... crush on you. I'm merely physically attracted to your body, Hakoda." The way she said the name, so full of loathing, made the prisoner laugh even harder before it ended, once again, with a coughing fit.
"I'd have thought that you'd have figured it out by now. The one thing that I never revealed to you" Azula's stomach dropped an inch. What. I thought that I had pried out every last secret? What could he have held onto for so long? "Didn't it ever strike you that I was taller than my reputation told? My clean shaven face? My arm?" Here the man held up his arm, scarred as it was. She remembered that that had been there when he arrived, but she had merely dismissed it as an old injury. "The final promise... I told him that I would make this sacrifice for him, my friend, my brother..."
"What are you talking about, Hakoda - speak!"
As she watched the man struggle to his feet, she suddenly realised how tall he was. He was a good foot taller than her. The man held his head up high and uttered the sentence that made her jaw drop.
"My name" a fierce flame of pride rose in his eyes "is Bato of the Southern Water Tribe, Beta to the Blue Wolf."
Azula suddenly realised what she had done. Because she hadn't recognized the Water Tribe men, and the symbol on their armour meant nothing to her, she had merely demanded that the leader present himself. Because this man, this Bato, had stepped forward, she had sent the second in command to the Boiling Rock to fragment the leadership.
Agni... I sent a man skilled in skirmishes and rabble-rousing to the Boiling Rock. Home of people who hate the Royal Family. I've created a monster.
Pushing the taller man into the wall, she slammed the door of his cell shut and rushed to her room. As she went, she told the guards to summon Ty Lee.
We're going to the Boiling Rock to take care of Hakoda... and then I'll be back, Bato. Involuntarily, a dream-image of their tangled limbs appeared in her mind's eye. Shaking her head to rid herself of the image, she strode into her chambers to gather her armour.
- - - oOo - - -
What a twist! (Damn you, M. Night!) I had actually only written the first few paragraphs and the final few at first, and filled in the rest after. So yes, the twist was planned from the beginning. And seriously – can you see AZULA in any type of normal relationship? And yes, I made Bato a masochist. Sue me.