Ilah held her grandma's hand tight. She was only 16 and never again in her life, she would feel as scared as she was at that moment, the old firebender was everything she had; her master, her friend, her family. She had taught the young girl everything she knew, all forms of firebending, blue fire, lightning, even the lost style of the dragons, that woman was everything to her.
"You have to be strong." The old woman said. "Ilah, listen to me, I have to tell you something."
"Grandma, don't speak, just rest." The girl said, doing her best to not have her voice shaking, but it was unavoidable.
Ilah was a firebender that never stepped on the Fire Nation. Ever since she could remember, she was brought and raised in Republic City as a city ratbat and the Fire Nation was only a place far away that her grandma sometimes spoke with longing and other times with pain. Telling her stories of her teenage years in the Capital and her childhood in Ember Island, of the fertile volcanic soil and the dark sands. She told her stories of her friends and her parents and brother, never with detail about them specifically, there was always an weird gleam in her eyes when she talked about it, something weird, something that burned and Ilah didn't insist, because deep down. That gleam scared her.
"No, Ilah." Her grandmother said. "You must know the truth, about me... About you. I am-" but she clutched her chest tight and couldn't speak anymore. She looked into her granddaughter's eyes, felt with fear and tears, many people had looked at her with that expression and with terror, but the love the girl carried now... Who was the last person who looked at her with all that love? Her mother, that faithful night she saw her expression trough the mirror, the same mirror she would shatter many years latter, in the day everything changed and even latter, the last time she entered that palace.
As a shadow she entered the palace. She didn't intended to hurt anybody, there was only one thing she wanted.
She went to her old room, it wasn't there, but she knew where it probably was right now. She went to room near it, it used to be her brother's room, and now... She saw the little baby sleeping in her cradle. She had deep dark hair and a pale skin just like her mom, but everything else about her screamed the royal family blood, specially the grip she held over a plushy dragon. It was a cute sight.
"You?" It couldn't be, it was just that voice in her head again; "My daughter, is that you?"
"Mo-mother?" She said with a certain difficulty, slowly turning to meet golden tearful eyes.
"Please, don't tell me that you came to..."
The woman looked at her mother offended and angry; "No, I didn't came to hurt her, -I am not a monster!- I just..." The woman looked to her side and took a deep breath, than looked at the woman once again. "I want to get my crown! My old crown, I want something to remember..." She couldn't speak anymore, she didn't needed to, the older woman only took a long chain from inside her robe.
"I've been using it with me ever since you escaped and we couldn't found you. It's a way of remembering you, I felt like it was all my fault that you."
"Please, don't!" The younger woman said. "I've blamed you enough already." She sighed. "You know... I am tired of the past, but there is one thing I need to remember what I am and what I don't want to be anymore..."
Her mother smiled and for the first time, the younger woman felt that her mother was proud of her, for the first time she had confirmation of what she always knew deep down; Her mother loved her, than her mother gave the chain and crown to her daughter. They hugged and that was the last time they ever saw each other.
From the day of the comet on, she started listening to her mother's voice again. She was always there, in her head, playing the paper of her conscience, talking to her, telling her the right thing to do and when she started listening things finally got better and she was finally truly happy. Than she understood what she should really tell her Granddaughter.
"What is this grandma?" The young girl, not more than eight years old asked.
"This is an old hair ornament from the Fire Nation." The old woman answered after flashing her eyes over the red object on the girls hand and going back to her cooking.
"How do you wear it?"
"You tie your hair in a tight topknot and wear the ornament over it."
"Could you put it on me grandma?"
The older women sighed: "Oh, No, I never learned how to do it alone."
"Oh... Alright." The girl sounded disappointed, but the gleam was there again and she, as always, didn't incised.
"Ilah!" She clutched the young firebender's collar; "I'll always be with you!"
"I know, grandma!" The girl said, with her eyes filled with tears and her free hand around the red hair ornament that the girl had in a chain around her neck. She knew the end was very near.
"Not only my spirit, but my voice will always be with you" The old master went on; "I'll be that the same old nagging voice, always in your head telling you that I love you-" The pain was getting stronger, but she needed to hang on. "…and annoying you until you do the right thing. Every time you hear you conscience, she'll sound like me!" She laid back and smiled, looking at her granddaughter's face, smiling back at her. She was so much like her great-grandmother, the same deep love in her eyes and the old woman relaxed closing her eyes and going with a smile.
"Grandma? GRANDMA!" The girl laid her chest on the old woman's now motionless chest and cried for her grandmother, the person who raised her, her master, her family and the forgotten princess of the Fire Nation, while ironically holding the last surviving symbol of that loyalty in her hand.
"HEY, FIREBENDER!" It was one of them. "You think you're better than us?"
"Please, I am just passing by! I don't want any problems..." Ilah put both her hands in front of her body, showing she had no intention to attack, it was a small no end street that she sometimes got in, it was possible to reach her apartment from there using the fire escape, she was quickly regretting taking that short cut home. They where tree boys and one girl, the girl was armed with double daos, one of the boys with a bo, another one -the smallest- with chicken sickles and the last one, the biggest one, with a really heavy looking Mace.
They laughed at her and started attacking, Ilah used a burst of fire to propel herself in the air, but the boy with the chicken sickles pulled her back, as the girl with the swords attacked and Ilah felt grateful to her grandmother for making her wear the heavy iron bracelets to make her stronger, she could easily block the the attacks from the swords, the second attack came from the boy with the bo, she blocked it with her bracelet and put fire on the bo, making it bust in flames and the boy let go of the weapon wailing in pain.
"She burned Yu's hands!" the bigger guy said. "That's it! You're DEAD!"
The boy with the chicken sickles attacked next in synchrony with the bigger boy with the heavy Mace, fortunately while the boy with the sickles tried to hook her feet and make her lose her balance, the bigger guy tried to hit her right in height of her stomach, she jumped back in between the two attacks, landing on her hands, but she didn't count on the smaller being so fast and hooking her hand as soon as she landed on them, she fall with her back to the ground.
"Hold her down, cover her mouth and nose -these bastards use respiration to bend- but let her neck out for me." The girl said, looking at the streets, the other complied, the boy left his chicken Sickles on the floor, holding her nose and mouth well shut. Ilah tried to escape, moving her body around, but that only made the bigger guy put his mace on her chest, now she REALLY couldn't breath.
Meanwhile, the girl was making sure nobody was looking. It was almost night and nobody was around. The girl got closer and put her dao up. The weapon described an murderous arc, but it never got to it's final destination. A thunder came from the alley and hit her right in the weapon, making it and it's owner fly away.
Surprised the bigger got his mace up and smaller boy let go of her mouth and nose. Ilah took a deep breath and trowed her legs from the ground in a circle or fire, managing to get the bigger boy and his ridiculously big weapon to the ground.
Ilah turned her back on them and fell to her knees trying to catch her breath. The smaller boy got his sickles back and tried to attack the old woman, but she produced a big fire constant of the bluest hottest fire ever from her mouth. The heat was so intense that both his weapons became red hot and he burned his hands, but while this was going on the bigger guy got his mace back and was ready to smash Ilah's head.
Fury build inside the old woman's chest and a fireball flied right onto the the bigger boy's face, giving him a scar that would make Fire Lord Zuko fell pity and Ozai feel envious of the good work. Ilah looked as her grandma and saw something she never saw before, the most complete coldness, a look so cruel and heartless that could scare the soul of a body and that olde gleam was in her eyes again. The bigger boy wailed in pain, the group got together, reuniting their hurt and leaving most of their weapons behind, except for the daos.
The old woman assumed her normal look once again, only to look anxious and run to her granddaughter.
"Ilah? Ilah, you're alright?" The old master asked.
"Yes, grandma." Ilah looked at her, still surprised. "You know how to bend lighting?"
"Yes, I learned a long time ago..." Her grandmother looked at her and frowned looking hurt. "Why are you looking at me like that? It's not just because of the lighting."
"It's just... I never expected you could..." Ilah couldn't end. For a firebender, her grandmother always taught her that evading and avoiding hurting people was better than hurting them.
"I try to avoid, it it was only me I would try to be less violent," The old woman lowered her head, remembering a long time ago when she wouldn't hesitate to hurt and kill ",but they went to far when they tried to hurt you." She looked at her granddaughter. "You're all I have and you're too young to die before I do."
Ilah looked back at her grandmother and with no more words, hugged her tight.
For all the bad things Azula did in her life, she died old, redeemed, with a smile and with someone that truly loved her crying for her to boot.
"Grandma!" The thirteen years old girl screamed exited coming into the house.
"Don't scream! I am old, not deaf yet!" The Old master answered.
"I girl from the Fire Nation is in my school this year." The girl said, keeping her exited demeanor, ignoring the old woman grumpiness. "She showed me how to do it!"
"Do what?"
"The topknot!" The girl said and with nimble fingers put her grandmother's hair up and put the ornament in place.
Ilah didn't understood the look in her grandmother's face, she looked very sad for a moment, there was bitterness and regret in her eyes and she took the ornament of of place and turned to her granddaughter.
"It's yours. You're the one that deserves it! Can you make the Topknot in yourself?"
"Yes, but... What did you mean I deserve it? Does it has a meaning?"
"Just wear it on your hair!" Her grandmother smiled.
"Oh, no, thank you, but this is too old fashioned for me." The teenager laughed and old woman crooked an eyebrow, but soon laughed also.
The next day Ilah was wearing the hair ornament on a long chain easily concealable around her neck.
For all the times Ilah didn't wear her hair in the old country style, that night she put her hair up, with the symbol of the royalty she didn't know to have proudly exposed while she mourned the person she had loved the most.
First fanfic ever written in English of my part, also, one of the few dramatic fics I've ever written, comedy is more of my style. I did my best about the grammar and such, but I am sure I've made at least a few mistakes. XD
This fanfic is over this idea I had about Azula eventually escaping the madhouse and having her own family. The whole thing passes in the same universe as "Avatar: The Legend of Korra", I actually planed on Korra appearing in the ending, but due to two things (one, it would kinda screw the flow of very personal story and two, we haven't even saw her face) so I just kept the two things we know about her story: It passes in a big city called "Republic City" and there is an anti-benders revolution going on, so I just kept that.
Also, Republic City sounds like the perfect place to Azula run away too and start a new life if she wanted that. If she wanted to kill Zuko and take over the Fire Nation back so she can ban everybody and have a giant tropical Island where she can be tanned, rested and alone... surrounded by enormous piles of money, that would be ANOTHER story XD.
Hope you guys enjoyed it and review it, please.