A/N : This is written as my March entry for the monthly competition in the ATLAFC forum. The Prompt: Write about a character's dream job, something they would do if they didn't have to fight bad guys, defend their nation, or let someone down or their current job.
Note: This is an AU where Azula didn't go insane, she simply lost the Agni Kai she had with Zuko.
Azula's POV:
"Everyone listen up!" I yelled, looking at the newest batch of inmates coming into the Boiling Rock. Some of these men looked familiar to me, traitors who'd led me to lose the Agni Kai against my brother a few months back. After I'd calmed down and little Zuzu was healed by his new girlfriend, my brother had offered me a choice… I could either stay chained to the storm drain and wait for someone else to come deal with me, or I could leave and never come back. In short, my brother had banished me.
"Excuse me, Princess Azula, what happened to the real Warden?" One man asked. He was wearing a green outfit, appearing to come from the Middle Ring of Ba Sing Se. I pursed my lips and inhaled deeply. How dare this filthy excuse for a man question my new found authority? I closed my eyes, letting my breath out through my mouth before nonchalantly walking up to the earthbender. I stared him down, watching him cower before me. A small smile started to play on my lips as I watched him drop his eyes to stare at my boots, I felt triumphant. The process of breaking people's spirits down brought me great pleasure, I felt like I'd finally found my true calling here. I suppose I really have Zuko to thank for that, now that I was free of my life back at the palace I could do whatever I wished without letting anyone down. When I'd come here after the Agni Kai, I'd had a long talk with the old Warden about the events that had taken place here the last time I'd come to visit. The gist of what was said was that he'd let prisoners escape and that he was, in my very humble opinion, unfit to hold the position of Head of the Boiling Rock. The next morning, coincidentally enough, he resigned, leaving the job opening to me. The other guards claimed I'd coerced him into this decision, but what proof did they have either way?
"Yeah… where is the real Warden?" Another criminal, this one dressed in Water Tribe colors, asked. These men had no idea what I was about to put them through for berating me! The real Warden? I shook my head. Was I not the real Warden?
"Listen up filth!" I smirked, looking down at my flawless reflection in my boots. "Your friends here just bought you all an extra three hours of hard labor!" The group of men before me groaned, but quickly silenced themselves when I snapped my head back up to look at them. "Want to make it four!?" I asked, looking them up and down. Not one of them made a sound, nobody dared to move an inch either. "Answer me!"
"No, ma'am!" The group called to me in broken unison, I rolled my eyes, we'd have to work on that.
"Let's go over a few ground rules before I take you to your cages." I scanned the audience for any objections, luckily for them there were none. "Rule number one!" I paused for dramatic effect. "You will never address me as Princess Azula, from now on you will call me either Warden or ma'am. Clear?"
"Yes, ma'am!" The men yelled, still not perfectly in sync with each other. They all wore looks of contempt as they answered, sending an electrifying jolt of pure joy through me.
"Rule number two. There will be no attempts at escaping." I started pacing the length of the convicts standing on the platform. "Escape will not be tolerated." I turned to face them again, bringing my heels together in a military-esque manner. " Any attempts at escape will not end well for you. I can promise you that." I paused, waiting for them to answer me. I was losing my patience quickly.
"Yes, ma'am!" All but one prisoner answered. I nodded my head, eyebrows raised.
"Let's try that again. I didn't hear all of you." I folded my arms behind my back and narrowed my eyes at the waterbender from earlier, he was the one who dared not answer me.
"Yes, ma'am!" The group yelled a little louder, looking to see which one among them wasn't answering. It was the waterbender who was still brazen enough not to answer me. I smiled, a truly wicked grin, he chose the wrong person to mess with, now I would make an example of him.
"You!" I pointed sharply in his direction, singling him out as the men on either side of him inched away a tiny bit. "Get over here!" I ordered. He snorted, taking a few steps towards me. The waterbender towered over me, making him feel superior, but I didn't back down. I stared up at him, still one hundred percent in control. "What gives you the right to disobey me?" I asked coolly.
"Look at you." He scoffed, gesturing to my petite form. "What are you really going to do to me? You should be worried about what I could do to you." He jeered, sending whispers through the group of men watching.
"What could I do?" I pivoted on my heel, taking a few steps away from him. With my back turned I smiled, bringing two fingers up as I turned fast and sent a rapid-fire flurry of attacks his way, all five of my modestly sized fireballs hit him square in the chest and knocked him off his feet. While he was down I stalked over to him, placing one of my boots at his throat. "That's what I could do. I hope you enjoy your night in the freezer." I looked over to the watchtower, signaling for some of the prison guards to come collect the unruly man and bring him to the freezer. While I waited for them to come, I turned to face the rest of my new prisoners. "Anyone else?"
"No, ma'am!" They answered in perfect harmony. I nodded in approval as my guards came to escort the insolent waterbender from the group of new arrivals.
"Unless you want to join him in the freezer I suggest you follow me." I turned on my heel, signaling up to the tower to let us into the prison. I threw my hands up in the air and turned to face them as they got their first glimpse of the maximum security prison I was running. "Welcome to the Boiling Rock ladies!" I smiled fiercely at the group of men as they all gasped. It was funny to me that people capable of committing the horrendous acts that landed them in here couldn't even handle walking through the front gate. The prison sent tremors of fear down their spines, and since I was running the facility one might argue I was sending tremors of fear down their spines.
"Warden." One of my top guards walked up to me, bowing respectfully. "I am sorry to interrupt but a riot started in the mess hall, I didn't think you'd want to take the new prisoners down there during all the chaos." The men looked at the guard like she were a gift from the Spirits, they seemed relieved thinking that I wouldn't bring them down there. I thought for a moment, then I felt a familiar spark of joy within me as the answer came.
"Thank you, but I am still taking them down there. This group owes me three extra hours of labor due to their disrespectful attitudes at the beginning of our little tour." All eyes turned on the earthbender who'd spoken out earlier in the day. The guard standing before me raised an eyebrow but knew better than to question me.
"Should I follow your group to the kitchen?" She asked, trying to be helpful. I sighed, deciding that it would be nice to have backup just in case the riot in the mess hall was still going on.
"Yes. That would be helpful." I started walking with her towards the kitchen, but turned to look at my dumbstruck group of idiots when I didn't hear them following. "Let's go ladies, move!" I ordered.
"Yes, ma'am!" They all muttered at different times. I shook my head, we really needed to fix that. I took my baton out and trailed it along the bars of the prisoner's cells noisily as we walked down the corridors to the kitchen. I'd never used the weapon for anything other than an annoyance to the prisoners, it made me laugh to hear them shouting at me from inside their cages where there was nothing they could do. When we stepped into the kitchen a few minutes later I shoved past a few men, stepping up onto a table so they would all see me.
"Alright! Settle down!" Nobody seemed to listen to my words, they simply continued with their animalistic riot. "HEY! EVERYONE STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING NOW!" I screamed over the noise. Like magic, all the men and women in the room froze letting trays and leftover food fall to the ground. "At attention!" I ordered, riding out my power trip for as long as I could, the prisoners all straightened, cowed into their respect for me. "All of you have earned yourselves solitary for the next week! Guards, take them to their cells!" With my orders being carried out, I jumped down from the table and gracefully strolled over to my newest prisoners. "This place looks pretty messy huh?" I laughed, asking them as if I were having a conversation with a friend over tea. They all looked terribly confused.
"Answer the Warden." My guard prompted, of course she knew where I was going with this. The men all looked at the room, then each other, then at me.
"Is this a trick question?" One of them, a firebender, asked. I pinched the bridge of my nose as I tried to take in the level of stupidity I was surrounded with on a daily basis. I turned to my guard.
"What is your name?" I asked her.
"My name is Raika, ma'am." The girl answered easily. I nodded, thinking for a moment.
"Now, Raika… would you or would you not say this mess hall is indeed a mess hall?" I shrugged, holding my hands up in feigned wonder.
"Yes ma'am, the mess hall is quite a disaster." Raika told me. I nodded, casually making my way over to the janitors closet while the men watched cluelessly.
"That's what I thought. I just wanted to make sure you saw the mess too, just on the off chance that I'd completely lost my marbles and was seeing things." I turned my attention back on the prisoners. "So we agree that this room looks like a war zone?"
"Yes." They answered all together.
"I'm sorry what?" I asked, waiting for the proper response.
"Yes, ma'am!" They recited. I reveled in the fact that they were slowly being conditioned to bend to my every command. I was born to be the Head of the Boiling Rock, I was never more happy than when I was bossing people around.
"Very good." I grinned wickedly, swinging the door to the janitors closet open to reveal mops, buckets, rags, and all other sorts of cleaning instruments. "Clean it up!" I ordered, waltzing back over to one of the cleaner tables. I pulled out a chair and propped my boots up on the table. The new prisoners silently got their supplies and got to work. I laughed, feeling incredibly powerful as they started scraping food off the walls. "Put some effort into it!" I taunted, knowing there was nothing they could say to stop me. "I want this kitchen to shine ladies!"
A/N: Now that you're at the bottom, why not leave a review? I'd love to know what you thought!