Author's Note: It's official. I'm insane. I keep writing chapter stories! But oh, whatever. It's fun. Anyways, this came into my mind one day when I was watching the series finale and something in particular caught my eye... I won't tell you what it is yet because it'll give the plot away but I'll let you know when we get there. Or you'll figure it out. Maybe. Anyways, I'm kind of excited about this because I have so many good ideas for it. I'm taking a risk in posting this because this is all I have so far but I think this will serve as a sort of ultimatum. Let me know what you think!
Quick feet traveled through the corridor. The tap, tap, tap of the heels created a rhythm of haste. It echoed off of the mimicking walls and filled the listener's senses with apprehension and uncertainty. What happened after this point in time was a mystery. The next moment he entered the courtyard and instantaneously the tapping was silenced. In its place, nature's voice hummed steadily. A carriage pulled up. He was the only one to witness this event. With the snap of his fingers, a whole nation would be waiting here in pseudo-excitement for his sake and the whole ordeal would become a festivity.
But he wouldn't do that.
He wasn't his father.
The ex-circus girl put on her make-up for the morning. Her hands shook and it didn't come out right. She washed it off and tried again. Again, again, again. She became frustrated and threw the dirty rag on the floor.
No make-up today.
Outside her tent, others were beginning to wake up as well. She walked through the town and everything seemed different. In reality, everything was exactly the same as it always was—it was a quiet town. She found herself becoming bored. She thought of running away to join the circus again—her feet just wouldn't budge. She wondered what it was—the concept of settlement was pleasing but the actual action was quite unnerving. She just wanted to move. She wanted somewhere to go. This place didn't offer that.
And then there was this day. The day that creeped up on her… the day she never thought would come. Yes, today was an awful day.
She stayed in the bedroom as her husband went to do the actual deed. He invited her to come but she declined. She felt selfish but he understood why she couldn't go… why she didn't want to go. With a nod he left the room to face it on his own. Their old friend, the kyoshi warrior, she was invited, too. They had sent her a letter. She never responded. Dismayed, the young woman rubbed her stomach in anticipation. Her palms were sweaty. Right outside her house, she knew, it was there. It made her queasy. She could just mull around her room for the rest of her life, she thought, and avoid the very concept that made the pit of her stomach turn in fright. Nobody would question her. In their eyes, she was prone to that sort of thing. Mood swings, her parents always called them. She always had a stubborn streak.
But for the rest of her life? Surely, she could pull it off. She just needed to think abstractly. Then, it worked. That's what she would do. That's what she had to do.
His heart beat as the carriage door was opened. This was his doing, he knew, but it scared him to death. Still, no regrets. He knew that much.
First feet, stepping onto the pavement, then legs attached, then—the whole body. He gasped. He had not been expecting this.
Her hair, which he vividly remembered always being tightly tied back—very strict and unyielding—was loose and down to her waist, for that matter. It was wavy… and soft looking. Her blood-red lipstick was replaced with a light pink… a happier tone. And that smile… the smile looked so sincere and so foreign on her face. It made her unrecognizable. He would shout to the chauffeurs that they had brought the wrong person if it had not been for the two tell-tale traits.
Those gleaming, menacing, golden eyes that held a million lies in every simple truth still seemed to glare at him condescendingly—no matter how cheerful their demeanor. Even smiling at him, they would always be the same. They would never change. They would always make him shudder.
And those wrists… they were scarred. All around them were chain marks—like a tattoo. They wound around in an elegant circle, those symbols of her past.
"Azula," he uttered, disbelievingly.
"Zuzu," not mocking, but happy… still, memories do not fade easily.
And then, the strangest thing happened.
She hugged him.
He froze up. He wasn't sure how to react.
"It's been ten years," she whispered.
He hugged her back. What else could he do?
"Ten long years," he agreed. "You've changed."
She separated and smiled at him.
"That rehab that you sent me to was the best thing you could have done for me."
She rubbed his scar with her thumb. Her nails were short and smooth. He was at a loss for words.
"Thank you," she muttered.
She was at Unagi Beach when her good friend, Raichi ran up to her.
"Ty Lee," she greeted. "I found this. I'm sorry, I couldn't help myself."
Ty Lee looked up. In her friend's hand was a scroll. Her eyes widened.
"You read it?"
"I'm very nosy!" she chastised herself. "I'm a bad person!"
Ty Lee took the scroll.
"No, you're not. But you shouldn't do that again."
She began walking back to her hut. She didn't want to deal with this right now. Not when today was the day.
"Well, why aren't you there?" Raichi inquired.
"What are you talking about?" Ty Lee asked, trying to avoid the topic.
"Why aren't you at the Fire Nation to meet your old friend the day she gets out of rehab? It's been ten whole years."
Ty Lee stopped in her tracks. She clutched her beach bag tighter and tighter. Her face contorted.
"It's just… complicated."
"But the Fire Lord invited you himself! It's quite an honor! This parchment is so official-looking! I would have gone!"
"You don't understand."
"What's not to understand?"
She couldn't take the inquisition anymore. She spun around.
"One, you don't know what you're getting into! Two, I'm not part of the Fire Nation anymore! Three, Azula was never my friend! And four, ten years is not nearly enough!"
Raichi cringed.
"I'm sorry... I—"
Ty Lee turned around and faced the water.
"My aura is all dark now… I need to meditate."
Raichi looked worried. With a nod, she laid the scroll in the sand and walked back to the village.
By the time Ty Lee left, the scroll was in the water.
She looked up as her husband entered the room. He didn't acknowledge her. He walked towards a full length mirror and stroked his scar.
"How did it go?"
Her words sounded like broken glass.
He didn't respond. Instead, he shifted uncomfortably and looked off to the side.
She furrowed her eyebrows at the face in the mirror.
"How did it go?"
He sighed and glanced quickly at her reflection in the mirror. Her expression was icy... but scared.
"It went… well."
The tent was quiet save for the shucking noises coming from the man sitting on the polar platypus bear skin chair in the corner. He was making a wooden carving of something or another. That's all he really did these days.
His younger sister stared at him in boredom, twisting her long braid. She shivered slightly in the cold. It was freezing in these parts. She had forgotten just how cold it was from back when she was a kid. She had never really gotten used to it again.
"Do you want to start a fire?"
Her brother paused his carving for a moment and glanced out the tent flap. It was indeed cold out. Everyone was hidden away in their tents with smoke billowing out of the tops. Snow was heavily falling to the ground. A storm was just around the corner.
"If you want to."
He went back to carving. The girl frowned.
"I was hoping you could make it."
"You're the one just sitting there."
"You're the one making stupid carvings."
"Shut up, Katara."
Katara shut her mouth. The old Katara would have shot back. But things were different now.
"Fine, I'll make it."
Silently, she slid to the ground and picked up some dry firewood. The room was awkwardly quiet as she lit the fire. She took her gloves off and began toasting them in the warmth. Her breath made patterns in the air as she sighed.
"Could you at least pretend to be okay?"
Sokka didn't say a word.
"Fine," she huffed. "Be that way."
The earth bending heiress threw a boulder right through the wall.
"What?"
"Ms. Bei Fong, please!" The messengers cringed in fright. "We're only relaying the message."
"No, no, no, no. Tell me again. I didn't hear you correctly," she challenged.
The men looked at one another in nervousness. One took a brave step forward.
"Y-you're parents want you t-to inherit their capital. They're a-asking you to come home. T-they're… retiring."
The blind girl's eyebrows furrowed.
"No."
"Please, Ms. Bei Fong—"
"That's my final answer!"
Bare feet turned on concrete and slabs of earth jutted from the ground. The cowardly men cringed in fright.
"Tell them I'll never go back."
"Y-yes, Ms. Bei Fong!"
She sneered.
"Good."
The blind girl retreated back into her house. Calloused hands skillfully slid the door closed by means of earth bending. She felt the vibrations of the messengers leave her porch and she sighed. She leaned against the wall and slowly slid down.
Shortly after the war, she had no choice but to go home. Everyone else did and she had no where to go. She thought things might be different.
She was wrong.
For the next few years everything was exactly like it was before the war except her parents were a lot more strict and the security was a lot tighter. They didn't trust her anymore. The day she turned eighteen, she ran away and never returned.
Now her family wanted her back. She was twenty-two years old and living by herself in Republic City, a new haven built for benders to mix and mingle. It was almost as influential as Ba Sing Se and Omashu were, and it was still young. She was happy here, all alone. She didn't want to inherit the Bei Fong household. She didn't want to live their life.
She just wanted things to be the way they were during the war.
Upon opening his door, he was met with fans and influential leaders and inquisitors. Sighing, he attempted to walk straight through them but it was a futile attempt. They followed him everywhere.
"Can you all just… go away for once?"
His voice was lost in the buzzing of the crowd—all asking questions, all demanding answers.
"Can you sign my pet lemur-monkey?"
"Can you meet me for tea sometime?"
"Can you tell us when Ba Sing Se is going to be restructured?"
Can you, can you, can you… it was maddening. For once he wanted some time to himself.
"I'm going shopping. I'd like some time alone."
"Why don't you ever answer questions?" a boisterous inquisitor demanded.
"I… I'm just tired. It's early in the morning. I'd like to have some peace."
The crowd only thickened.
"You're the Avatar! You need to help the people!"
"Of course I do. I care about all of you very much. We're working as hard as we can. I assure you, you're all safe."
"Who's we?"
"What are you working on?"
"If you care about us then answer our questions!"
It never ended.
Author's Note: You all must think I'm sadistic or something. Sorry for depressing plot lines, but it gets good! I have big plans for this story. I feel like I have more to say about this but I can't remember so I won't say anything so you won't know that I forgot...
Oh, and the title means "After War." Pretty self-explanatory. It's just that I've been taking Latin and I've been getting really fascinated with it lately and I like writing things in Latin so they sound cool.
Oh, and sorry for the multiple breaks in the story. It's supposed to keep on switching perspectives in a choppy way. I think it looks cool, but please tell me what you think. Was it hard to follow? You're supposed to sort of guess who the characters are at first by the hints given until their names are revealed and I'm going for a certain style of ominous-ness (if that's a word). Like... things seem kind of vague and dreadful. Did I get that across? Feedback is appreciated.