Of Clocks and Sanity
Competition: Pro-Bending Circuit Submission for Round 2
Word Count: 1,496
Prompts Used:
• Queen: The Queen can move any number of spaces in any direction. Task: Write about someone who is supremely capable, but not a leader.
• (object) clock
• (AU) different element bending
The ticking was driving her batty.
Azula was trying to mind her own business and just simply lounge about for once, but that infernal clock was driving her batty. The Earth Princess's concentration on the scroll she was attempting to read was slipping with each and every resounding 'tick' that split the air around her. She scowled in frustration, and set the scroll down on the table as she gave up on trying keeping her focus on anything but that blasted timekeeping device.
Looking over at the wall where the clock hung, taunting her, she recalled its origin. It was something Zuko had made years ago to show how his Bending had improved beyond what their father had initially labelled it. Azula remembered his excited face as he presented to Ozai with a proud and hopeful look on his face, clearly wishing for some sign of approval from their eternally difficult to please father.
He was entirely nonplussed about it.
He'd said that it was nothing but a trinket; barely even worth acknowledging. Ozai was far more focused on his children's development into honing their Earthbending in a battle environment. That was something Zuko had always struggled with, since he was not a violent person by nature. Admittedly, he was obstinate enough to embrace the stubbornness required to Earthbend with any level of competency, but he was always avoiding conflict whenever possible, something that could not be said about his little sister.
Azula, conversely, had the pigheadedness that made her a prodigal Bender, but was vastly superior to Zuko in terms of applying those skills to a fight. She had mastered Metalbending by the age of twelve, which was her greatest achievement, at least up until she had successfully infiltrated the Fire Nation Capital and conquered it from the inside. The Imperial Capital that had not yielded throughout the entirety of the century of war that the land had become consumed by was overthrown by a fourteen-year old girl.
If she were a lesser citizen – 'one of those Water Tribe peasants,' Azula thought – she likely would have had her ego inflated to stratospheric levels. Someone not of her standing would have let the pride envelop their entire being. She was a hero; a paragon of intelligence and skill to the Earth Kingdom.
But not Azula.
She was perfect. Flawless, like the crystals found in the catacombs beneath the very palace where she resided, and she knew this. She strove for it, and was always diligently practicing her forms; always having a plethora of metal objects brought to her just so she could refine her skills in Bending unrefined earth. She may have been perfect but perfection was an impossible feat to achieve without supreme dedication, and she had that to spare. Azula was so dedicated that she would restart a multi-hour exercise regimen if even a single, seemingly insignificant hair was out of place. It wouldn't do; she had to be the epitome of perfection that Father always drove her to be.
Ah, Father. She knew he was going to enact his plan later that day, which was why she was taking a bit of leisure time for the first time in recent memory. The world would soon fall under the might of the Earth Kingdom, and she would be there by Ozai's side, joining in on the complete and total annihilation of the Fire Nation. She was going to bask in the glory of the swift and uncontestable victory that was sure to come, and she would finally be granted the one thing she desired above all else: her father's pride and respect.
Everything was bereft of any flaws, and victory was within reach. The only factor that could throw a wrench in the works and destroy everything was Zuko. The Earth Prince had abandoned them in the night, and so soon after The Day of Black Sun, when the Fire Capital fell. After some weeks, Azula had ascertained the knowledge that he joined up with the Avatar and his flunkies. Unfortunately, the information came with the loss of the only two people that Azula felt she could rely on. Azula sighed as she felt the events of that day come swimming into the forefront of her mind.
*Flashback*
Azula scowled at the sight before her. Zuko and that Water Tribe boy that Ty Lee admired were escaping on the tram leading out of the Shifting Sands prison with the boy's father and the Fire Nation warrior girl she had captured outside the capital. The warden was their hostage, and they were just inches from victory.
The evil grin that split the face of the Earth Kingdom's princess said otherwise.
'Fools. They forget that the cable is made of metal. I'll just separate it from the path and snap it in two, and then they'll tumble into the quicksand.' Her grin widened as she reached for the cable with murderous intent.
Then, a knife pierced her hand.
Azula reflexively clutched her wrist to cradle her wounded, bleeding hand and shrieked out in agony. She quickly turned her head in the direction the knife had flown from, and she saw that Mai had readied another knife.
"What are you doing!?" Her voice was garbled and the words came out as a scream.
"Letting them escape." Mai's voice was as monotonous as ever, even in this tense and volatile situation.
"Why!? Zuko left you behind so he could go play hero with the enemy! Why would you possibly want to save him!? He's scum; he's the enemy!"
"Because I love him," Mai stated simply. "As much as I may ever fear you, I'll always love Zuko more. You miscalculated."
Azula was dumbstruck at that. She… miscalculated? The very notion of it was ludicrous. She was the prodigy that was her father's favorite. She was the genius that took down the Fire Nation almost singlehandedly. She was flawless; perfect. She had to be.
Azula shook her head as if to represent her momentarily gathering her thoughts. "'Miscalculated'?" Her voice had gained an eerily calm tone. "No, you miscalculated! You should have feared me more!"
Azula made the motions of getting into an Earthbending stance, her brother and his compatriots all but forgotten to her. Mai responded in kind by bringing her hand that held the deadly blade up, a brief look of worry flickering across her typically stoic visage. 'I'll show you miscalculating!'
But then Azula felt herself go numb.
She crashed to the ground like a marionette with broken strings. Her head managed to land in such a way that it was facing her right side, and she saw the source of her sudden loss of feeling.
Ty Lee.
The rest of the events were but a blurry haze shrouded in righteous anger. All she knew was that her two "friends" were interned in the very prison they had been visiting, and were thus trapped near the center of the vast and deadly Si Wong Desert, never to escape. An ocean of quicksand would see to that.
*End flashback*
Azula sighed once again as she came back to reality. The scroll she had been mulling over earlier still lay on the table, neglected and forgotten. She rubbed her temples with her forefingers, and she winced when she felt that bandage that encased her right hand. Thankfully, Mai's knife hadn't pierced any major tendons or blood vessels, but it still stuck her deeply, and she would have to wait some weeks before it was fully healed.
That wasn't what was bothering her, though. While most would be more deeply affected by the betrayal of two people they deemed close, Azula didn't see it that way. They were simply pawns… Well, more bishops, but she digressed. She was the queen, and they were simply underlings. Nothing more. Or, at least that's what she told herself. Truthfully she was bothered about Ty Lee, but that was just a small part of the bigger issue.
Azula had been wrong.
Wrong.
Wrong.
Wrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwrongwro-.
Everything seemed to be collapsing, and she was trapped in the middle of it. Her whole perception was wrong, her every decision was wrong. Not right. Incorrect. Flawed. Imperfect.
Father would never approve. He was looking at her differently now; she was sure of it. Disapproval painted his features plain as day. She was lost. Nobody understood. Only Mother seemed to-
Mother….
'Tick, tick, tick, tick….'
Azula snapped back into reality with a start. She clasped a hand to her forehead and felt beads of sweat peppering it.
The temperature was quite cool.
The thrice damned ticking once again occupied her mind, though this time by subconscious choice. She saw that it was time for the invasion to begin, and she ran out the door, trying to slip her cool mask back on as she hurried to the courtyard.
Little did she know that her world was about to crash down upon her. Sanity would be so far away…
Yet another quick one. I like how this turned out, but feel free to tell me if you disagree. Or, conversely, if you do agree, tell me why.
Read, review, and I'll see ya next time.
-TheNotSoTalentedPoet