The City of Element is a city made up of very diverse cultures, cultures that don't exactly get along very well with one another. They never have but they also have somehow managed to co-exist to form a functioning city. The city itself is divided into four or five parts, whichever way you fancy to look at it.
There are the sister Northern and Southern Districts, the area is split thus the argument on whether or not the city is divided into four or five parts. The people who live here are made up mostly of doctors and police officers. The Northern District isn't a real bad place to live, a nice suburban area, and neither is the Southern, but years ago a huge gang fight destroyed most of the Southern District leaving the remains of the area up for construction.
Then you have the Terra subdivisions, made up mostly of middle-class besides the Bei Fong estate. A farm also rests on the outskirts of this part of town, but other than that nothing too exciting exists in the subdivisons. If you ask any teenager who lives there they would tell you it's almost dull to live here. With the exception of crime that takes place from time to time.
Next you have the Central urban area with it's lofts and skyscrapers. This is a relatively quiet area that is made up mostly of the new age hippees who are all about peace and all that good stuff...okay maybe not that extreme but you get the idea. The Central area is rather small so not many people live up there.
Finally you have the uptown Ember Estates, only the richest and most twisted live here in the huge mansions that have way too many rooms passed the level of necessity. Here everyone drives a Lexus, Jaguar or some other fancy sort of car. Because of the large amounts of money the people who live here make, long ago those people decided they would be the ones in charge of the city. Remember that gang fight that destroyed the Southern District? The Ember Estates is home to some of the most infamous gangs in all of Element.
It has been an unspoken rule for about a century that the sections of the city don't mix with one another. That is except for the large private school, Element Private Academy. There students from all parts of the city can interact with each other but thats the only simply because of sports and clubs and things like that. Outside interaction though is forbidden, but enough of the history lesson now I'll tell you about a group of very special, very revolutionary kids.
It was a Friday at Element Private Academy, most kids had already gone home but Azula Sozin had soccer practice after school. Azula was the daughter of the biggest name in the corporate scene, Ozai Sozin. She had inherited her father's cut-throat sense of competition and it showed best when she was out on the field. She was a ruthless player even to her own team as they scrimmaged. At the moment she had the ball and dodged around a few of the girls managing to kick a couple in the shin and scored the winning goal. Though it was just a scrimmage, Azula smirked proudly.
"Nice work Sozin but next time try not to break your team mates legs, we need them in the game too," her elderly coach Li told her as she grabbed her bad and started walking back to the school.
The girl laughed, "Oh I'm just practicing my defense Coach Li, surely there's nothing wrong with that is there?" Azula said it with a voice that sounded sweet and sugary but underneath the tone was a kniving, manipulative mind at work. Her coach just nodded in agreement and Azula made her way back into school to go find her friends Mai Kwan and Ty Lee Chang.
Azula walked in through the glass doors that led to the gymnasium where volleyball practice was being held, she recieved a few glares from some of the braver girls but they quickly turned their heads as soon as she looked at them and smirked back. Azula had a reputation as Queen Bitch of the school and had the nasty remarks to prove it, but no cat fight scars Azula was more of the verbal fighter and most of her competitors backed down before things got physical. Azula was damn proud of her reputation too.
She walked into the combat room next to the gym where Mai was practicing her fencing just in time to see her friend take down Chan Maaka, Azula's ex-boyfriend. Mai was swift with her final move, Chan never saw her coming he was too distracted while looking at Azula so Mai proceeded to knock his sword out his hand beating the boy for about the fifth time that day. Mai lifted up her mask and said in a monotone voice, "Are you really second best in our school, because really you're getting predictable and that bores me." Chan didn't answer but grumbled as he got to his feet and walked off to the boy's locker room.
Mai turned to look at Azula, she gave the girl an annoyed look and said, "I hate that guy, he's so cocky but there's nothing to back up what he says about himself."
"Hmph, that's not the only area in which he's all talk, "The two girls walked into the locker rooms and got changed out of their dirty, sweaty clothes and into some more comfortable ones before they walked out again.
They entered the combat room which was still empty Azula checked her black EnV phone, Ty Lee was late. "When is Ty Lee supposed to be finished? I told her to meet us after her practice straight away and not to waste time."
Mai shrugged, "You know Ty Lee, she's probably still flirting with a new possible boyfriend for the week." Azula laughed as a brown-haired girl in a red cheerleading uniform bounced into the room with a smile on her face, "Hey guys, are you two done killing your teammates or can we leave? What's so funny?" Her gray eyes darting between the two older girls, Mai was a Junior, and Azula and Ty Lee were Sophomores.
"Oh nothing, just gossip about some girl. We're ready to go, did you two bring nice clothes? We're going to Dante's tonight and I don't want to be seen with you in your usual frocks," Azula said condescendingly as she lead the other two out of the gym and towards the parking lot.
Ty Lee squealed, "I just went shopping yesterday and got the sexiest outfit, definetley not a frock!"
Mai groaned as she put her dark sunglasses over her eyes, "Come on Azula, do we have to? We go there every week and everytime it's filled with the same stupid people."
Dante's was the only under age twenty one night club in Element, it was a good place because it literally played everything from Run-DMC to Good Charlotte, and no techno. Only thing was not everyone got to experience it, it was clearly in Ember Estates territory so no one from the other sections got to enjoy the place.
"Yes we have to, you two need the reputation points and besides my father owns the place so we get in for free. What else would you do? Stare at Zuko all evening? Honestly I don't know why you're so gaga over him.," Azula taunted as she threw her bag into the trunk of her car. Mai said nothing but slid into the passenger front seat and started flipping through Azula's CD's not finding any that she deemed worthy of being played.
"Yeah Mai don't be a party pooper, it'll be lots of fun! We can flirt with boys and dance," Ty Lee said from the back while texting someone on her cell phone.
Mai turned her head to the back of the car and pulled off her shaded sunglasses, "I don't dance and I don't flirt. I'll go but I'll just drink stupid non-alcoholic drinks all night." With that Mai turned back to face forward and put her sunglasses back on, while she wasn't looking Ty Lee stuck her tongue out at her and proceeded to text people.
The rest of the car ride was spent in silence until they pulled up to the Sozin's family mansion, save for the radio station Azula had turned to that was now blasting through the car. They stopped at the cast iron gates and waited for Azula to punch in the unlocking code. The Sozin's mansion was possibly the biggest one in Ember Estates, it was made entirely out of red bricks and had a multiple car garage. On the outside, there was a large swimming pool though no one really used it except for Azula when she tried to tan outside, a tennis court, and a few gardens that no one went in anymore, not since Azula's mom left.
The girls walked into the house through the garage and into the master kitchen. All the equiptment in the house was state-of-the-art, Azula walked over to the sub-zero refridgerator and pulled out three water bottles and handed them to her friends as they sat around the island. Ty Lee had dropped her back pack on the kitchen floor and Mai was sitting with her feet propped up on top of the island. Mai and Ty Lee spent almost every weekend at Azula's home so they felt pretty at home.
Azula noticed something taped to the fridge, a note. It was in Zuko's messy handwriting, Azula had briefly wondered why his black Jaguar was not in the garage when she pulled in but only briefly. Azula read the note out loud, "'Not that anyone cares but I'm hanging out with Lu Ten and we'll be at Dante's later tonight. Just in case you were wondering, Zuko.' Ha, yeah you're right about that ZuZu, no one cares."
Ty Lee who was now painting her nails a hot pink said, "Well that's not entirely true, right Mai?"
Mai had her iPod in so she didn't hear the younger girl's remark. Azula moved and ripped one of Mai's earphones out,"Mai take your sunglasses off, you're inside for God's sake." Mai scowled but did what Azula said.
Azula stretched, "Ugh, I'm going to go take a shower before we go. You two do whatever you have to do to get ready." Azula waved her hand dismissively as she walked away.
Ty Lee still doing her nails called after her, "Is your dad coming home tonight?"
Azula stopped in her tracks and turned around and raised an eyebrow, "Does he ever spend the weekends here?" Ty Lee shook her head in response.
Azula turned on her heel and walked through the living room, past the giant flat screen plasma tv, and pictures on the wall. She stopped, there were no pictures of her mother left on the walls, not a single shred of proof that Ursa Sozin ever lived here. She shook her head and then proceeded up the grand staircase to the third floor where her shower was. As she stepped into the warm water she thought. Azula didn't know whether or not she missed her mother, she knew enough about herself to say that she wasn't a nice person, but she wondered if not missing Ursa made her even less nice.
Azula walked back down the staircase dressed in a deep scarlet halter dress with black stilletto heels and a black clutch purse. She walked back into the kitchen to see Mai and Ty Lee sitting at the island fully dressed and eating Chinese food.
Mai wore a black strapless dress with a red shrug over it as picked at her orange chicken with her chopsticks. Ty Lee also wore a strapless dress but hers hot pink and matched her nails and she wore pink sparkly heels. Azula folded her arms over her chest and tapped her foot, "Are you two done pigging out? It's nearly nine o'clock, let's go!"
Ty Lee hopped up from her seat but Mai had her iPod in once again and didn't hear her friend's command. Azula rolled her eyes and once again ripped Mai's earphones out, she then repeated herself, "Let's go!" With that, the three girls made their way out of kitchen and drove to Dante's. Little did they know of the events that were about to take place.
Dante's was packed as it usually was on a Friday night, the song 'Ghost Town' by Shiny Toy Guns was blaring and bodies were jumping up and down to the chorus and the teens sang along. Azula and Mai sat at the bar drinking virgin appletinis while Ty Lee was out dancing with Ronjon, her third suitor of the night. Azula stared almost enviously at her bubbly friend.
"How do you suppose she gets all those guys to follow her around all the time," Azula asked but before Mai could answer, another voice did.
"Gee I don't know, maybe because she doesn't scare them all away," her cousin Lu Ten stood smirking behind her, Zuko sulking beside him looking utterly bored. Lu Ten was a college sophmore but lived at home with Zuko and Azula's uncle Iroh. He looked an awful lot like her brother, minus the scar Zuko had recieved some years ago. Lu Ten also had a happier, more outgoing personality.
Azula groaned, "Why are you here? Don't you have anything better to do?" Lu Ten sat and spun around on the barstool.
"Well princess my dad's still a Sozin so I get in for free too, and all the good parties don't start until after eleven. 'Sides, me and Zuko won't be here for long. We'll be out of your shiny hair in no time," Lu Ten said. The older boy never gave into Azula, he wasn't afraid of her like every one else and that annoyed Azula.
Azula got down from her stool and walked over to her brother and looked him in his eyes, "Just where are you two going?"
"Nowhere you're going," Zuko replied, his face emotionless.
"Aw ZuZu that's no fair," Azula pouted but before she could argue anymore, something caught her eye. A flash of a blue skirt. She turned and saw that in the middle of the dance floor, a group of kids from the Southern and Northern Districts had arrived and were dancing. They also had the attention of the crowd. Azula looked at her brother who gave her a look that said 'Don't do it.' Azula ignored him and walked toward the center of attention. A hip hop song was playing now and the District kids were doing some sort of syncronized dance to it. The one who was the main dancer at the moment Azula recognized as Katara Kuruk from her Biology class. Yue La Tui was also dancing in the crowd along with some other District boys and girls.
'What are they doing here? They have no right to be here.' Azula signaled for her two companions to follow her, Ty Lee obeyed but Mai stayed behind at the bar. Azula walked right up to Katara who had just finished the dance, a few cheers echoed throughout the room but only a few. Katara ignored them and walked up to meet Azula with her arms folded across her chest.
"What are you doing here Kuruk?" Azula snapped.
Katara smiled and Yue appeared behind her, it was Yue who would speak first, "We don't want any trouble Azula, just came here to dance." Yue was older than Azula, she was also a Junior along with Zuko and Mai but that didn't stop Azula at talking back to her.
"I don't believe I was speaking to you Yue," Azula said harshly, "Now answer the question Kuruk."
"It's a free country isn't it? Like Yue said, we just came here to dance," Katara said sweetly, "Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go back to what I was doing."
Azula was angered by this, no one ever stood up to her like that, "It may be a free country but my father owns the place, so I say who can stay and who can go. Now why don't you District kids run back off to the alleys where you belong before I call security."
Katara's smile disappeared and was about to make a comeback, but a tan hand appeared on her shoulder. It belonged to Katara's older brother Sokka, he was normally a goofy kid but at the moment his face was serious, "Come on Katara lets go, who wants to stay at this dump anyway." He started to lead his sister and the others out of the room, Katara glared at Azula who just waved and smiled.
Once they were gone Azula made her way back to the bar where Zuko was scowling, "Why did you do that? They weren't harming anyone."
Azula took a sip from her appletini and said, "It's not their place to be here and I simply reminded them of that. They belong on the District streets and we belong here, that's the way it goes."
Zuko glared at his sister and Mai's eyes darted between the two. Azula stretched and jumped off of her stool once again, "You know what? I can't stand the smell those District kids have left behind, they've ruined my evening. Oh well, time to go I guess. Mai, Ty Lee we're leaving." Zuko looked at Azula in disbelief and Lu Ten muttered something that sounded like 'Bitch'.
Mai silently stood up from her spot and Ty Lee sprang away from the boy she was talking to and followed Azula out of the club. Lu Ten shook his head slowly, "That sister of yours is a real piece of work." Zuko remained silent as he watched the trio exit.
Azula pulled into a gas station that was on the border between territories to fill up when she saw who else was there, Sokka Kuruk's old silver Buick that was starting to rust. Azula formed an evil idea, this gas station didn't have any security cameras and the attendant had his face buried in a magazine, so no one could prove who did the damage either.
She tapped on the window of her car to get her friends attention, she then signaled for them to come outside. Once they were out she pointed at the rusty car, "Mai get your pocket knife out." Mai dug through her purse and pulled out a small blade, walked over to the car and dug the blade into the side of the car, Azula looked at Ty Lee and pointed at the head lights. Ty Lee got the message and walked to the front of the car and using her stilletto heel, smashed the first head light in and proceeded to do the next one.
Azula then went to the gas pumps and pulled one out, she also took out a lighter she had in her purse that she carried around for situations like these. Mai and Ty Lee froze and guessed what Azula was up to. Ty Lee was first to speak, "Come on Azula, don't be extreme."
"You could burn down the whole street, maybe even kill someone," Mai said trying to reason with her. Azula ignored the two and continued to pour gasoline onto the car. Mai and Ty Lee glanced at eachother, their leader had that crazy glint in her eye. Mai grabbed Azula by her shoulders looked in her eyes and said, "Think of how mad your dad would be if he found out we blew up half the street, it's time to just leave it." Mai knew Azula was listening now, she also knew the youngest Sozin wouldn't do anything that might upset her father.
That being said and done, Azula walked back over to her car and payed at the pump. The girls got back into the car and drove off back to the Sozin mansion. Azula could see out the rearview mirror when Sokka walked out with his arm around Yue, kissing her on the cheek his face lit up with joy even when Katara threw a straw wrapper from her soda at the two and yelled jokingly at them to knock it off. Her brother smiled but his joy was short lived when he saw the state his car was in. His expression fell and Yue covered her mouth with her hand in shock. Azula feeling no remorse at all, just smirked.
The girls got home and walked in the door to see Zuko watching the news, Sokka Kuruk's face appeared on the screen looking devastated at his car. Mai and Ty Lee looked at eachoter and Ty Lee said, "Um we're going to meet you in your room okay Azula?" Azula nodded not taking her gaze off of the screen, and her two friends exited.
The reporter continued, "The car had been keyed along with its head lights broken in, but there was also a large amount of gasoline that had been poured over the car suggesting that someone had tried to set it on fire. There have been no ideas as to who the vandilizer may be but if you have any information then please contact your authorites. I'm Joo Dee and have a good night."
Zuko switched off the television and stared fiercely at Azula, "You couldn't just leave it alone could you? What was the point, honestly? You already kicked them out of the club, why do anymore damage to them?"
"I don't know what you're talking about ZuZu," Azula said dismissivley as she ascended the staircase.
"You know damn well what I'm talking about Azula! You did that to the Kuruks, they weren't a threat but you still had to go and destroy whatever dignity they had left after tonight," Zuko yelled.
"All I did was make sure they remember their place in society, you should remember yours too ZuZu," Azula said as she walked down the hall and to her room leaving Zuko standing at the end of the hallway.
He called after her, "You know, maybe mom was right about you Azula. You really are a monster." Azula slammed her door at his statement. Neither Ty Lee nor Mai was currently in the room. Azula stomped over to her dresser and started to pull her hair out of the messy bun it was in and got into her pajamas angrily. What did Zuko know? Nothing, he was just a sad little emo kid who whined about their mom all day. Once in her pajamas she walked over and lay down on her low the ground bed. She got underneath the covers and moved to turn off her lamp on her nightstand but stopped to look at the picture next to it.
The picture was a family photo taken when Azula was younger, she sat on her father's lap and Zuko stood next to their mother who was smiling softly. This was probably the only picture in the whole house that was left of Ursa. Zuko had taken some and moved them to Iroh's place so they wouldn't get burned with the rest of the pictures. Azula stared at her mother and thought, 'Why wasn't I good enough?'
She heard a knock on her door and quickly shut off the light and pretended to be asleep. The door creaked open letting a stream of light in, Zuko then whispered, "I'm going to spend the night at Uncle's. I'm sorry about what I said, I was out of line." Azula didn't answer as the door was slowly shut. While in the dark she silently though, 'No ZuZu you were right, mom was too.' She did not make any acknowledgment to Mai or Ty Lee when they entered the room. The two girls had heard everything and decided against saying anything to Azula and started to unroll their sleeping bags.
Okay, I know that it kinda sucked but the other chapters will be better. This isn't going to focus around Azula, you'll see that in the next chapter but I had to start somewhere. Anyway tell me what you thought and review!