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So, due to my half satisfactory ending for Draco 1, I'm writing a sequel to answer the 'what happens now?'
On with the show!
Disclaimer: …
The low voice that crept through his cell door was not his son's demanding information on his estranged mother. It wasn't any of the guards he knew. This man's voice was the low hiss of a viper-lion, with all the grease and slime of a vulture-rat.
"They say you're daughter has made a beast of herself," the man spoke to his silent back, "A true dragon," when he received no response he continued, "A fool of a soldier thought he could control her. She tore him apart as you can imagine," he couldn't stop the prideful smirk from crossing his face, his dragon daughter could not be controlled by some half wit, "You though. With you it was hard to tell if she was your daughter or your dog," he finally turned his eyes to the man outside his cage. He wasn't a terribly large man, or a very impressive one. Clearly an earth nationer, his robes and mint green eyes proved it as did the way he wore his hair in a long braid down his back, "you could say the word and she'd tear down friends and family to please you," two men dressed in the uniform he remembered as the Dai Li entered behind the man speaking to him, one holding a heavy brass ring of keys, "I believe we have a mutual interest Fire Lord Ozai. I have a proposition for you."
"I'm listening."
-D.-
The hawk's squawking broke the stale silence of the Fire Lord's study. Worn gold eyes rose to the red plumed bird, and it crowed again before flitting from the window ledge to his desk and turned so its message carrier was towards him. The black ribbon that peaked out from the casings top made him groan. Black ribbons meant important matters. Important matters typically meant there was bloodshed or death or rebellion, trouble in general was summed up in two words, 'black ribbon'. Already up to his ears in cleaning up the chaos of the still messy matters of the Hundred Years War, and matters following the Nothus rebellion and Azula's reintegration, Zuko was sure he'd die of a heart attack before he even reached twenty.
Dejectedly he opened the message carrier and removed the letter. Tired eyes brightened and sleep slowed mind went reeling as he read the message, twice over to be sure before quickly writing his reply and slipping it into the birds carrier to be taken back. As the bird took to flight the Fire Lord made his way out.
A servant passing by his study stopped and bowed.
"Fetch the Avatar and friends for me please, and have them come to the western war room."
-D.-
How she'd got roped into training the idiot before her she wasn't sure. No, she was completely sure on the how, Ty Lee had helped the gaang with that. How she'd stuck with it and not killed him yet was what she truly wondered. Before her the world's biggest idiot (and she was more than ready and willing to argue that fact) sat legs crossed and meditating. The avatar fidgeted, unable to hold still. The supposed 'world's greatest bender' couldn't hold still for even a few hours. Wasn't that supposed to be one of the qualifications to being a master air bender? Being able to meditate for hours at a time, sometimes days.
A growl escaped between barred teeth. She had better things to do then babysit. As the Fire Lord's Commanding Officer of the newly formed Terrorist Prevention and Reaction Unit, she had a hundred things better to do then this. As a fully functioning and competent human being she had a million better things to do.
A smirk crossed her mouth when the boy jumped and froze when he heard her growl.
The quick steps of a servant approaching them caused her to pause in reprimanding the male, and instead look up to meet the young girl walking towards them.
"The Fire Lord has requested the Avatar in the western war room, M'lady," the young girl said, bowing low to the fire bender.
Boy perked up at the prospect of getting out of their own voluntary training. Idiot, she thought, "you know you could leave whenever you wanted, I'm not forcing you to stay."
He wasn't listening as he bolted out of the court yard and inside to the war room.
Idiot… She left in the opposite direction, going to her own more private training grounds where she wouldn't be bothered.
-D.-
The western war room wasn't nearly the impressive grand hall the central war room was. The western war room was smaller, strictly for the use of the Fire Lord and his most trusted generals with only a small round table that held a map of the four nations. The former gaang, now ambassadors and leaders of their respective nations, gathered around the table waiting for the Fire Lord to explain his gathering them there.
"So, Sparky, what'd you call us all here for? I got important things to do," Toph said from her place, feet up on the table, chair leaned back, arms behind her head.
"This," Zuko replied, laying out the letter he'd just received, "it's a letter from one of my search parties."
"Letter, as in paper and reading? I'm out," the earth bender made to stand, but was held back by a hand on her shoulder, Katara throwing her a disapproving glance, though she couldn't see it.
Mai rolled her eyes, before settling them on the letter her husband had laid out, "Fire Lord Zuko, we, the Sixty First Recovery Team, are reporting to inform you that while stationed at Delasis Island's eastern province we have…," her words drifted as she read over the next lines, delicate black brows raised, "they've found her."
Zuko nodded, a giddy grin growing across his face, "They've found her, and I've already given them orders to be ready for us to arrive and met there in two days, we leave tomorrow."
"'We'?" came a joint question from the others.
The young Fire Lord frowned, "'We', yes. I'd like you all to come."
"You realize you'd be leaving Azula alone in the palace then, correct?" Mai asked, eyeing the fire bender skeptically.
Zuko's excitement dimmed slightly, his smile turning sheepish, "actually, Azula and Ty Lee will be coming with us."
Toph cracked a grin, while Sokka out right laughed, "You're kidding right, Sparky?"
Zuko shook his head, becoming serious, "no, I'm not. Azula will be coming too. It'll be good for them to reconcile. Remember I wasn't the only one left behind."
They all stared at him for a long time, the excitement from the letter dimmed to a seriousness that rarely fell on the group.
"She won't go along with this, you know that," Katara said, concern for her friend in deep blue eyes.
Zuko grimaced at that, "I know…"
-D.-
Muscles relaxed, and mind focused. She inhaled, her core temperture sky rocketed; exhaled, and the heat spread around the court yard. Long had she surpassed using candles to meditate; now she used her own internal heat. Inhale, exhale. Lost in the rhythm of her own breathing she almost missed the excited shout of her name, and barely had time to catch the pink bundle that threw itself into her lap.
"Azula! We're going on a vacation," the acrobat informed, arms around the fire bender's neck.
The statement caught her off guard for a split second, "'we're' doing what?"
Ty Lee nodded enthusiastically, "A vacation! We've been stuck at the palace for so long," the acrobat groaned for effect.
"Six months is not that long, Ty," the dragon replied, the memories of past failed vacations ran through her head.
"The others are going, and they invited us," the acrobat pouted.
The fire bender had to resist the strong urge to lean forward and nip the other girl's protruding lower lip, "They invited you more likely."
"No! They invited both of us!" Ty Lee protested, before returning to her pout, "please? It'll be fun…"
Azula could imagine the conversation that had gone on only moments before knowing for a fact that the aura reader on her lap had been the one to 'invite' her along, "Unlike, Zuzu, I still have real work to do fixing his mess."
"It's a nonnegotiable vacation, Azula," a new voice came from the edge of training area.
Azula glared up, at her brother, "Unlike you, Fire Lord, I still have a job to do, one I can't just push off on someone else."
Zuko's glare met her own. She'd been home six months and though they had never come to blows yet, horns were locked at nearly every turn. Azula knew better then to outright challenge her brother, as it was only with his efforts and his friends efforts that she was allowed her freedom once more, limited as it was.
"Two weeks away won't kill you," he replied, "and even so, Ty is coming with us."
The acrobat's enthusiastic nod pulled Azula's gaze back to her, for a moment. With annoying abundance the others played the 'chink' in her armor. It was said that dragon's had a soft spot in their scales, just over their heart. She had once almost torn the water boy's arm off after she'd heard the low, 'whitch' of the moron mimicking a whip in reference to Ty and her. Her brother was one of the biggest players of this trait, and had only survived on her most extreme efforts at self control and Ty Lee's ability to chi block.
She released a frustrated growl, smoke rising with it. The aura reader buried her face in the fire bender's neck, "please, come with me Azula?" she could hear the pout in the girl's voice and the wetness in her eyes.
Her teeth ground. Don't look repeated in her head.
"You're coming. Two weeks won't kill you, be ready to leave tomorrow morning. That is an order, Commander," Zuko turned his back on her before he could see the glare burning holes into his back.
-D.-
One hundred years of military superiority had been put into the ship they now sailed upon. The Fire Nation's Imperial Fleet Runner had been a gift to Azula from her father when she'd turned twelve, when her flames had turned blue. It was a thing of true beauty, which had been turned into a jungle gym as Ty Lee bounced from railing to railing, and even up the siding of the upper royal cabins and down the side ladders nearly to the water.
Azula shook her head, watching the display from an observation deck chair. Part of her, the part steeped in military discipline and slightly worried that the acrobat would fall, demanded that she tell the girl to stop. The other part of her, that held a bit more confidence in the aura reader's abilities and that had always let the girl have a much longer leash then others, told her not to worry, and enjoy the show the acrobat was putting on.
It would be their last day on the ship, set to land at noon at the eastern ports of Delasis Island, why in Agni's name her brother wished to vacation there, she hadn't the faintest idea. The island was mostly cliff, with a small secluded bay at the island's eastern side that served as the only way on or off the island. Ringed by sheer cliff face with the added bonus of a lion-shark play ground in the surrounding waters, the island had been the original base for Boiling Rock when Azulon had been in power but had been nixed for unknown reasons shortly after Ozai had taken power.
Begrudgingly she had to admit, even if it was only the second day away from the palace she felt far calmer, relaxed. Even if they were going to a hell hole of a place for vacation, perhaps she would have a good time, if only because of the girl somersaulting over her head.
"We'll be landing soon, Lady Ty Lee, please come down from there!" The ship's captain called.
The acrobat flew down from the roof of the second tier upper courters and landed beside Azula, "fine," she said, with a fake exasperated sigh, flopping into the fire bender's lap.
"Exquisite performance," the dragon whispered, as the captain left them to give the crew orders. The aura reader giggled lightly, arms around the other girl's neck.
From their seats they watched the others prepare to disembark. Immediately Azula's eyes narrowed in suspicion. She'd known something was wrong with the 'vacation'. The location aside, there was little reason to do something so idiotic. Even her brother was not impulsive enough to up and decide to go running off to an island once considered for a prison ground. The timing was more than 'a little' in opportune, as the rest of the world and most of the Fire Nation's newer official still distrusted her and she knew her brother was still dealing with the terms of her freedom and the back lash of making her a commanding officer, far from an ideal time to call a hiatus to negotiations.
Those were things she knew from the beginning of the idiotic plan, but now something new had raised her suspicions. Her brother's mood had significantly dropped. Beginning with near Ty Lee levels of excitement but now he was clearly concerned by something, his nerves obvious in his face. He, Mai and the water bender were gathered talking in low voices, each with their own mix of apprehension and other emotions on their faces. Every now and again one of them would throw a look her way before turning back to speak again.
"We're here!" her reverie was broken by the excited call from the girl in her lap.
She looked up and saw the enormous ring of sheer rock wall looming over them. The excited acrobat hopped up to her feet, pulling the fire bender with her. She rolled her eyes at the girl's antics, but followed as they made their way to leave. It hit her then, as they began disembarking from the ship. A scent, one like orchids and fire lilies after a rain, hit her nose and sent ice down her spine in an instant, though she couldn't place it. She knew the others didn't smell it, her over active senses the only reason she'd even picked it up. Around her waist she could feel the dull buzz of the belt waking, just slightly to her reaction. Something most definitely was not right.
On the shore a team of ten guards in full dress, as they would be if escorting a member of the royal family were assembled. Their commander stepped out, and bowed to Zuko, speaking in a low voice so that only the Fire Lord could hear him, before her turned back to his team and ordered them to step away from the person they were escorting.
The belt immediately began to burn around her waist when her golden eyes, met an older, more bronzed pair, her growl made lower by the oncoming change, "Mother."