Hellur my lovely people :3
This is a new story that's been derping around in my mind for a few days now.
I read Nipinkz stories about Azula and was inspired to try my own AzulaCentric tale~
This is the intro so you all have an idea of what's going on in the plot in the first chapter when there's going to be actual dialogue and story progression. If any of you reading have taken a look at my Embracing humanity story. I apologize for not updating that. Life kept me occupied and I've had extreme writer's block with it.
The next chapter will be longer and less...narrator-y :3
What happens when you've lost everything?
What happens when the only thing keeping you sane is the very thing destroying you?
What happens when you finally let go of that insanity?
Is a lifetime of pride enough to sustain you?
Very few people pondered these questions. Very few people could summon the nerve to answer them. One did. Eventually one person had to acknowledge her flaws. She had to take responsibility for the lives she destroyed. She had to justify her reason for existence, and she had to earn her right to live.
When she lost all reason, all coherence, all traces of her sanity-Azula became lost to the abyss. She became a wraith deprived of hunger, thirst, and agency. Drifting into a near catatonic state she fell into a depressed stupor. Nothing roused her. She didn't react to her brother's presence. She didn't react when Ty Lee tried to corral her with old memories of home, and their childhood. She remained excessively quiet-mimicking death even when Mai chose to visit her in her prison. No amount of prompting could persuade her to join the living.
Despite her being in a self induced coma, despite her clearly not being a threat she was still treated like a malignant psychopath. The Four Nations were adamant in keeping her locked away. They didn't want to risk having Azula loose upon the Four was left of her lay in a small six by six cell. With each passing hour she seemed to deteriorate. Her clothes once made of silk, with the finest crimson thread, were now nothing more than tattered rags hanging limply off her bony frame. Her hair was disheveled, and cascaded across her face hiding her expression from any passerby or guard stationed near her. The vast expanse of skin not hidden beneath the rags, exposed her ribs jaggedly jutting out from her side.
A potent odor wafted from the confines of her prison, bringing tears to any who dared enter her domain while she slept. The stench belied a certain inescapable truth-Even former princesses can smell rank after not bathing for months. No one dared wash her though. There were rules, royal edicts that said Azula was not to be touched. She was fed mechanically through a tube-force fed food, and water through the metal bars of her cage but no one touched her, or moved her. She hadn't shifted positions in months.
In retrospect, Azula was nothing more than a husk of a person.
Her body continued to wither way while her mind disintegrated, and the world perceived her as a monstrous burden. Years passed. Even as she lay prone and inert-the world continued spinning. People moved on. People changed-and the Nation changed with them.
The Four Nations on the eve of Sozin's Comet, invested their time in crafting the Four Nation's Treaty. Prince Zuko-Now Firelord Zuko began making negotiations to compensate for all the damage the Fire nation had done to the other 3 bending nations. The Northern and Southern Water tribes began trading knowledge in the arts of healing, as well as drawing up a makeshift exchange program so the Southern Water tribe would have more then one water bender. The Earth Kingdom-In Ba Sing Se especially regarded the Four Nation's Treaty as an opportunity to acquire funds to rebuild. King Kuei was persistent in pursuing programs to raise money for his country, and was encouraging trade between the other 3 nations to boost his economy.
Aang served as a spokesmen for the Air temples, and simply made sure to keep them preserved and act as a mediator and an advocate of peace. He traveled where he was needed and never truly took sides. As the Avatar-his first and primary job was to ensure the world was in balance. Man made disputes were ranked second priority wise.
In the years following the end of Sozin's rule, the nations lost any amenity they had towards each other. Unrest came not from the treaty or the forced alliance, but from those still attatched to the old ways. People plotted in secret on how to usurp the new government. The former admiral Zhao for example, built an intricate spy system. He knew where every prominent political figure was. He knew where they slept, where they ate, and what their habits were.
He ached to send the nations spiraling back into calamity. In order to do that he had to get rid of Zuko. Precariously, he schemed taking extreme caution in every step of his plan. He was going to assassinate the firelord, and therefore send the Fire Nation into chaos. With no heir, and no relatives competent enough to assume the throne the balance of power would shift in his favor.
When the day of reckoning arrived, what started off as an ingenious plan disintegrated into a fool's errand. Instead of killing the Fire Lord-a mistake of epic proportions was made. Instead of Zuko dying that night-his wife, Fire Lady Mai was mistakenly murdered. The supposed assassin had panicked at the last minute, and his concentration had been shot. Instead of shooting Zuko with a dart, filled with an extremely lethal concoction he had accidently shot Mai.
The Fire Lady collapsed immediately.
Then two things happened. Zuko fell to his knees-hands trembling as he watched his wife take in short ragged breaths, and grow paler with each passing minute, and a small army of Fire Nations soldiers began systematically tearing apart the palace searching for an assassin.
No one was ever found.
The assassin, a well trained associate of Zhao's and a former elite soldier under Ozai's command had the foresight to escape the palace before Mai's body even hit the floor. That night it was rumored that Zuko refused to leave his wife's bed side-even as her eyes closed-even as she took her last breath-even as her cherry lips turned a cold lifeless blue.
The next day the Firelord emerged from her chambers a visible shadow darkening his features. His eyes were blood shot, and visible tear marks marred his face.
From that moment on there was a subtle change in Zuko.
He was less approachable.
Less patient.
Less manageable.
He became obsessed with finding peace-in crafting a world where people were safe. He proposed new laws, new delegations for the Four Nations to consider. He wanted people prone to violence to be found and locked up. He wanted those that were unable to turn away from bloodshed to be put down like rabid dogs. A new generation of peace and prosperity had to be ushered in and Zuko wanted to do so with force.
The Earth Kingdom was all too eager to comply with his demands. They wanted compensation for the lives lost in the war, and the benders prone to spilling blood to be punished. The water Southern and Nothern water tribes were apprehensive at first, but loathe to stop anything that guaranteed peace in the near future. So with some reluctance the Four Nations allowed Zuko free reign. They agreed to his contingencies and allowed the most unruly of their citizens to be hunted down, incarcerated, or executed.
Some were eliminated in secret:
Jet.
June.
Former Fire Nation General Li.
Anyone foolish enough to breathe a word of treachery with guards near by, or stupid enough to be caught in a fight outdoors.
Others were executed publically:
Zhao.
Long Feng.
Other Wartime Criminals.
Aang protested these methods-arguing they were inhumane and a life didn't justify a life. However, even with his status as the Avatar he couldn't stop all 4 bending nations. It was beyond his ability. They ignored him, pushing off his words as suggestions instead of heated arguments. Zuko relentlessly pursued each and every person that he felt was a danger to him or his people.
Katara, a hardened liaison of the Southern water tribes didn't have the same idealistic view she once had. She earnestly believed in order to build a safer world extreme measures had to be taken. It took extreme measures to conquer the Four Nations and it would take extreme measures to upholster them to their former glory. The war had permanently changed her view on certain matters. She believed some people were incapable of changing and needed to be put down before they became a problem.
The Northern Water tribe held a similar view. They had lost so many people to the war. Anger and grief clouded their perspective. They wanted someone to pay, and they wanted reassurances that this would never happen again. What better way to ensure a safe future than to make all the dangerous people disappear?
A massive event that came to be known as the Purging swept over the Four Nations.
People were uprooted from their homes, and driven to the edges of their respective nations. Any rumors of discontent, or of opposition against the government was grounds for being purged. If you weren't with the Four Nations you were against them.
One by one people began to vanish.
Common people.
Noble people.
No one was truly safe.
If you held even an ounce of resistance in you, if you were even suspected of being a threat to the utopia being crafted you disappeared without a trace.
The most prominent person to disappear was the Avatar's earth bending teacher: Toph Bei Fong. One day she was there, the next she was nothing more than a memory. No one knew where she was, or even if she was still alive..
Search parties were sent out for her but none were successful in locating her. No one had the faintest idea of where to look and eventually after many exhausting nights with no sleep the Bei Fongs called off the extensive search.
Toph was gone.
Most likely dead.
With the disappearance of the world's most renowned earth bender, a dark fear began to grip the nations. They were no longer at war, but the government kept them in a chokehold-squeezing the lifeblood out of the nation with their rules, regulations, and insidious ideas of law enforcement.
Terror seized the masses. They couldn't do anything. They couldn't say anything. They couldn't run. They couldn't hide. They were constantly monitored.
A perfect utopia was built.
A dream of peace realized.
But that dream was fueled by blood, and consecrated with fear.
How long will such tentative peace last?
What do you all think of the intro? Continue? :3