A/N: I actually rather dreaded this round, at first, as I didn't like the sound of it at all. This is for the round 3 of the Pro-Bender circuit. It actually has turned out to be a terribly interesting story from a terribly dreaded task. I give half the credit to this story also to BendingDreams who helped me rewrite this so some of it is hers, some of it is mine.
Colors and prompt:
White: Pure
Silver: Fluid
Gold: Abundance
Other Prompts: (location) Spirit World and inspired by (song) Colors of the Wind- Disney
Word Count (not including author's notes): 2,251
Well I really have no idea where this story is going, but we shall see! (I have also never written a song fic before so this is slightly unnerving but you'll see how I fit it in.) The "abundance" was used as the general theme, the other two are used as words.
Azula stared in horror up at the cliff face from which she had just fallen. Her brother had a terrified look on his face, and he was calling out her name. Even the Avatar, Korra, was standing there with her team, looking distressed. She wondered how or even why the Avatar was worried about her after what she had done to the spirit's previous life form.
Suddenly she knocked her head on something on the cliff side; and her body began to spiral down like a wolfbat engaging its prey before everything went completely black.
An abundance of colors flooded her mind as she opened her eyes, and she found she was lying down in a field. Across the field, or at least from what she could tell, was a forest. She was in the Spirit World. How she knew that, she had absolutely no idea. Looking down at her hands, she realized she looked young again. Looking back up, she noticed that the gates to the forest were open. For some odd reason, she thought she could hear her name being called by the trees.
Azula, Azula come to us, we want you, it seemed to say, and she felt it drawing her, pulling her nearer to the trees and the gates. Azula began to move towards it and found she was practically floating, but was unable to tell if she was actually dead.
She drifted past the entrance to the forest and gazed into the woods silently. The bright colors of the spirits that floated past caught her only slightly off guard. Suddenly, a figure appeared in front of her, a woman whom she'd tried valiantly to ignore and stay away from. Now there she was standing in front of her with that full lipped smile of hers and the red robes she always seemed to be wearing, even as she had in life. Pure. That was the one word to describe her, and yet, Azula wanted to deny that she had ever known her.
"I know what you think of me my daughter. Your father has led you astray. You think because you have left your print in blood on the Nations that you know more than I. For that you are the barbaric one. The world of the living is not for one person alone to claim it or those who live among it."
Her voice was fluid. Beautiful and fluid, and pure.
"Please..."Azula spoke softly, but the other woman came right up to her and put her finger to Azula's lips.
"I told you to stay away," Azula's face turned red with anger as she stepped backwards, still staring at the woman in front of her.
"Listen with your heart, not your ears."
"I already spoke my mind. Get out of here," she demanded. "I don't feel the need to talk about our complicated history," she, Azula, was starting to get scared, unnerved by this person's strange song.
"See with an unclouded mind, not your eyes and perhaps my child you will learn what you do not know."
She continued against Azula's mental willing – to make her stop, of course – and Azula sighed before looking around again.
Why had she even bothered to come in here? It was of no use. She should've known it wasn't worth the energy or any plan she ever might've tried to come up with. After all, she was only dreaming, how could this woman, this horrible woman, still be accusing her?
"Follow me. There is much I wish to show you," the woman's voice was haunting and airy as if the sound was being carried by the wind alone.
Azula was wary of following her, not wanting to at all.
"You heard what I said. Follow." She repeated.
Azula began to walk in time behind the woman, thinking dreadful thoughts about what she wished she could do to her, but knowing that was impossible. They were merely both just part of the Spirit World. That meant they couldn't do much of anything to each other.
Why was she so scared? This woman was harmless; she would never do anything to hurt Azula.
As they continued to walk, the woman continued to speak in her head.
"You have been taught that the only life that has worth are the lives who look like your own reflection. Those who act like you. Think like you. Believe like you. Love like you."
Was it an accusation or was the woman trying to coerce her into learning something? "Love? Ha! Love is for the weak," she muttered under her breath. Azula figured she could learn nothing new, being insane and all. The forest echoed the last three words back to her, as if to warn her. It rang in her ears that it was a lesson and it was going to be properly taught.
"Have you ever seen a waterbender bend under the full light of La?"
"No. Why should I care?"
"Because they are the same as you when you bend under the full strength of the sun."
"I am not the same"
"Do you not come from a mothers' womb? Do you not cry out when you take your first breath? Do you bleed red when you are cut? Will you not join the spirit world when you die?"
The dark forest seemed to be leaning in on the conversation, like it wanted to hear every word of that was being said, and block out all chances of escaping the sweetness of it.
"Have you ever seen an earthbender feel their element?"
What did that even mean? Azula was unsure of what it meant and she didn't think she wanted to know. Why was this madwoman was talking to her about filthy earthbenders touching dirt?
"They do not need to see the earth to know its' there, just like you do not need to see a flame to feel its' heat."
"Can you please tell me why I'm following you?" Azula grumbled, feeling slightly disgusted at the idea of being forced to follow a person like this.
"Have you ever seen an airbender glide freely among the air?"
"That is a stupid question. My ancestors killed them all."
"To my everlasting shame they tried. But without air will you be able to breath? If you cannot breath how can you live?"
They arrived in a clearing all of a sudden, full of dozens of spirits, all drifting around or on the ground in their strange forms. Azula looked at the woman, now more confused than ever. But the reply she got was only more cryptic words, much to her annoyance.
"Great Agni and powerful Tui are intertwined."
"Can you please tell me what is going on here?" Azula asked impatiently, grabbing the woman's arm.
"If I did that, you'd never understand. Not just yet, honey." The woman's smile was rather disturbing, but Azula chose to ignore it and stared straight on ahead at the clearing again.
"Take this seed." Lady Ursa placed a tiny red almond shaped seed in her daughter's hand.
"Now what am I supposed to do with this?"
"Make it grow."
Azula stared back at her mother. The woman guided her over to a spot, motioning for her to sit on the log that lay there. Azula only obliged only because she was still unnerved by the whole thing. The woman sat down next to her, still with that smile on her face, and she gazed at Azula as if in a trance.
"This seed represents us all."
"Stop! Mother, explain yourself!" She interrupted sharply and stood up. "It is red. Not green, not blue, not orange!"
"Very observant aren't we? Yes it is red. So is the blood that spills when we all bleed. Yet when it is contained flowing in our veins it is blue. It turns red when it comes in contact with the air around us. You may be Fire Azula, but it is blue blood that courses through your body."
"Now, what does this seed need to grow?"
"I am not a farming peasant. How should I know?"
"Like all of us we need a foundation for our roots to grow. For this seed it is the earth."
Ursa used her hand to scoop out a place in the ground to place the seed.
"It also need water to nourish it. Like we need water to quench our thirst."
Tui appeared and sprinkled the ground with luminescent fluid.
"When its roots are established beneath the earth it will sprout and try to stand on its' own. So it will also need the sun to continue to provide nourishment."
Agni appeared suspended above them giving off rays of sunshine from the tips of his fingers. And with that the sprouting grew into a fully grown mature fire lily.
"It is a shame that such a beautiful flower stands alone, is it not?"
"I suppose," Azula replied. With that a gust of wind swirled around the lost princess, her mother, the two spirits and the lily like a gentle tornado. Azula watched as the wind carried seeds from the flower up the air spout followed by Agni and Tui in a blur of red and blue. When they reached the top and the widest point seeds, earth and colors combusted above them. It was a sight to behold, even for Azula who still was unclear of its meaning.
Mother and child watched as the splendor above them settled back to the ground.
Ursa smiled down at her lost child.
"Now wait."
Azula blinked once, but that was all it took for the ground around her to become an ocean of fire lilies as far as she could see. The once dark forest was now ablaze in shades of reds, oranges, and yellows.
Ursa only smiled again, even a bit sad. "I love you, Azula. I always have. It was only because I left you that I never got to show you how to redeem yourself." Ursa grabbed hold of her hand and sat her back down again. "For once, let us have a civil conversation."
"Mother, I don't think this is the proper time to even think about a talk like this."
"Oh, but I do," her smile grew gentler as she gestured as if to show all around them.
"What is so special about this place? It's just a forest."
"It is not just a forest. It's a legacy. I want you to know what living feels like. You have never lived. Not yet…" the older woman trailed off, looking out into the distance.
"And now I'm here. What else do you want to tell me?"
"You have a world around you that is rich, full, and wonderful. Glorious, in a way. Don't just ignore it. Take advantage of it."
"That's the most pointless thing I have ever heard, and that's saying a lot, Mother." Azula huffed and looked at the ground, uninterested in what Ursa had to say.
"Oh, but if only it was," she gently cupped her hand around Azula's chin. "The point is, there is much to learn from the amount this world can give us. There is so more on this earth. You always criticize others and take advantage of them. There is so much more to this world and I'm about to show you all of them."
"Like what?" Azula scowled, pulling away from her mother. Or her mother's spirit. Whatever she was.
"You are still alive, honey. You can still be saved."
"I'm not right. I've tried. I've tried to change, you know it. Everyone does."
"That's why you need to save yourself. I know it's been hard for you, but you have to push on. I'm dead. I can't go back and fix all of the mistakes I made. But you still have the amount the earth can give you."
"What can the earth give me?" She asked disbelievingly, if a little condescending.
"The earth can still give you plenty. Follow that, and you'll have much more than you'll ever need."
"And?" Why wouldn't she just answer the question?
"And now you must get back up and wake up before you hit the bottom of that cliff. Otherwise I'll see you much sooner than I'd wanted to, and I had no intention of that at all," her mother's body was becoming see-through, as if she was becoming one with the wind. "Go back to earth. And take what it gives you, but some give back. Life will never be easy, but if you take the riches of what the last few years have in store for you, you'll find there is much more to life than just what your father made it. Now I must go. And you must wake up and save yourself."
"Mother…" Azula trailed off, staring as her mother became one with the wind. She disappeared in an instant.
Azula was alone.
Looking out at the rest of the clearing, she saw that none of the spirits were disturbed at all; most of them were just floating around pointlessly as always, which was a little odd. Her sight began to get fuzzy and she knew that she was gaining consciousness.
What was even stranger was that as she slowly gained consciousness, Azula swore she could hear her mother's voice in the back of her mind, uttering her last words.
"Become that seed my love, then you will be able to live..."
A/N: Well... that was interesting. As well as rather strange. But interesting. Writing a full on Azula story was weird and not to mention, adding lyrics to it was even stranger. But it worked, so yay! Thank you for reading and please, review, review, review!