A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to the first chapter of the Magma revamp! I'm excited for it and I hope fans of the previous version like it. I also would like to welcome my new co-author and beta fr this story MaxGentlman 1.
Disclaimer: We do not own Avatar Nickelodeon does, we are just happy it exists.
Enjoy!
Kai was breathing heavily as he flicked his dark black hair out of his line of sight. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he glanced across the room at his elder sister, Azula. They were sparring and, like most times, he was losing. Sweat stuck his forehead in small drops and he struggled for breath, his stamina reaching its end.
"Kai, come on. I haven't even gone moderate on you!" Azula jeered, several strands of her inky hair falling out of their usual neat bun and into her face. She seemed virtually unscathed from the fight, her eyes shining with the evident possibility of victory.
Kai took a deep breath and sent a crescent shaped fire kick at her head. Predictably, she ducked it easily, looking up just as a fireball neared her visage.
Without blinking, she wove a net of fire, blocking his attack, and pushed it towards him, her arms swinging forward as though she were pushing at a wall.
Thinking fast, he raised his hands in the air, a dome of fire forming from the apex of his fingers. he drew in a sharp gust of air and shoved it at her, enveloping the net in its wake.
She cocked an eyebrow and caught it in her hands, sending it to the opposite corner of the room, where a potted plant lay. It caught fire instantaneously, the smell of burning leaves spreading throughout the room like a wildfire. Soon thereafter, it began smoking intensely, creating a smog around the already heated room.
"I never liked that thing anyways," she commented, smirking as she formed a staff of fire and twirled it about, pacing slowly around her brother like a lioness on the hunt.
"I'm not fond of them either," he said watching her twirling the staff and staying on his guard. His eyes darted about, looking for an opportunity to catch his ever-aware sister vulnerable.
Scowling at him for not making the first move, she narrowed her eyes in a calculating manner, and jumped up, batting a ball of fire towards him with the staff, her eyes glittering as they always did when she had an ulterior plan.
As it grew nearer, he stepped aside, narrowly avoiding the fireball and jumped into the air, sending alternating spheres from each hand in her direction.
She blocked them with her staff, twirling it in front of her to create a shield, before landing on her toes and smirking.
"Gotcha," she said proudly, indicating to his feet, where a giant X had been burnt into the floor. With a silent grace, she flipped around her back and tapped her staff against the floor, the X igniting a wall of fire at her command.
He guarded his feet and held up his hands in surrender as her staff stopped in front of his nose. Azula was smiling playfully, but her face was set in an eerie lust for blood, for power.
"You win, Azula," he grumbled, disgruntled at the prospect, his molten gold coloured eyes looking at her in shame. Nodding briskly, she stepped away and tapped her staff on the ground once again, the X under his feet stemming its fire.
"You think?" she snapped, grinning as she extinguished the staff with a clap of her hands, looking around her. "Well, this room is ruined," she commented, her voice dripping in nonchalance as the corners of her lips turned down into a sneer of distaste.
"Every time we spar, we seem to ruin a room," he remarked uncaringly, following Azula out the door, leaving the destroyed room behind.
"That's because the decorator was blind. If I have to see one more beige-coloured room, I will puke," she vowed, her nose crinkled in disgust as they walked beside the small pool of water that was located inside the Courtyard. the dead, yellow grass crunched under their feet.
"My sister, the mighty Princess of the Fire Nation, made sick by the colour beige. Don't let the Earth Kingdom find out," Kai smiled playfully, pretending to cower in fear at the mention of the rival Kingdom. Azula spat at the ground and shot him a look in response, her golden-brown eyes darkening.
"Those hard-headed fools wouldn't know beige from taupe if I burned it upon their skins. What a bunch of freaks," she sneered, kicking a stray rock with unwonted force and sending it into the walls that lined the Courtyard.
"I don't know. Never met any one outside the Fire Nation and Dad won't let me in meetings," Kai replied glumly, pushing his hair out of his eyes with a spare hand. Stubbornly, it fell right back into his eyes and he glared at it as though it had done him a great personal wrong.
"That's because we talk about you. All the time," Azula teased, sitting on the grass and looking into the sun. Her head was stretched back and her face a mask, but it seemed to be the greatest calm she had ever achieved. "But they are a bunch of trolls."
"You seem to have a very low opinion of most people," he observed, and she opened an eye to look at him in disbelief. "You don't really talk about me do you?" he asked nervously, sitting next to her with his legs crossed.
"That's for me to know, and you to find out," she commented drily. "But you'll find, baby brother, that my opinion of most people is correct. There must be inferiority for superiority, but those in control must always...prune the bush, shall we say?"
"You mean Zuko right?" he asked, glaring at the memory of his older brother then glancing over at Azula, who shrugged and laid down, her arms crossed beneath her head.
"He was not worthy. It is not our concern. But, when I rule, it shall be utopia. Utter perfection, nothing less," she vowed, smiling blissfully as she imagined her future reign.
"Yes, I know, Azula. It's how father raised us: to be perfect," he stated bluntly, leaning against the tree that provided much welcomed shade and comfort from the intense heat of the sun, although Azula seemed unaffected. She stiffened at the mention of their father, and her lips pursed angrily.
"He is not the only one with vision," she retorted sharply, her voice bitter.
"Not true. You seem to have a vision of what things should be like," Kai told her, glancing at his elder sister apprehensively. Azula smiled and opened her eyes, leaning up on her elbows to look her younger brother in the eyes. He was the only member of her family who she truly cared for, and he understood her better than anyone she knew. She would only let her guard down around him, as others would strive to manipulate her weaknesses to their own goals. Zuko had been too emotional, to much of a contradiction: wearing his heart on his sleeve while bottling up his emotions until they burst out of him in anger. Kai, on the other hand, seemed to be a perfect mixture of them both: not skilled enough to be a threat, but capable of great potential nevertheless.
"Vision without implementation is meaningless. That's where you fail in your training," Azula divulged, a cocky grin plastered to her face as she looked at her hands, playing with a small flame of fire between her fingers.
"What do you mean?" he asked, raising a black eyebrow. Azula rolled her eyes and closed her hand, extinguishing the flame she had been playing with.
"You need to think like me. Imagine what I'll do next, and use my attack to hurt me. Use your opponent's strength against you," she instructed, her voice changing slightly in volume as she looked ahead, pretending she had not just revealed her innermost strategy to someone who could be a threat.
"It's impossible to think like you and it's not for lack of trying," Kai sighed in dejection, a feigned look of disappointment crossing his face.
"What can I say? I'm awesome like that," she grinned, winking conspiratorially at him.
"You must be," he chuckled at the expression on her face, stopping abruptly as a guard approached them.
"Princess Azula?" the guard intoned politely, his head slightly bowed at addressing a member of the Royal Family.
"That's my name. Don't you forget it," she snapped back, her posture lazy as she looked at the guard, squinting her eyes to see him against the sun.
"Of course, Princess. Your father would like to see you," he mumbled, bowing out of sheer fear as Azula's eyes narrowed dangerously. She chuckled lightly and rolled her eyes at the guard, glancing at Kai.
"I'm sure he would. May Kai join us, or is he merely continuing his dissertation about my brother?" she smirked, getting to her feet and brushing the stray dirt from her robes.
"Kai is free to come if he wants," the guard said, bowing slightly to Kai, who seemed slightly perturbed by the sudden attention. Azula waved the guard off and glanced at Kai, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, come on then," she urged, clasping her hands behind her back and hiding her emotions behind her mask again.
Together, they walked into the grand throne room, their footsteps ringing through the room as they passed pillar after pillar, finally reaching the throne of their father. They knelt before their father, their eyes held on the ground out of respect: a habit they had been taught since birth.
"Azula," their Father said, looking upon the bowed head of his only daughter.
"Yes, father?" she asked, her voice cold, but trembling slightly, a fact that only Kai picked up, causing him to scrunch his eyebrows in confusion.
"I have an assignment for you," he told her simply, no sentiment evident in his voice. Kai's stomach sank into his feet at the announcement. Great, he thought sarcastically. Azula was the only thing that saved him from death by boredom nowadays and now she was going to leave again.
"Very well. May I at least bring Kai along, lest I die of boredom in searching for an elusive plant?" she snapped, not caring about the respect she had been ingrained to follow. She hated her father's assignments, a fact she knew he was aware of. Her father's eyes narrowed, but he nodded.
"You may. Although the assignment I have in mind is a bit more..challenging," he warned her, causing her to emit a sound that sounded like suppressed laughter.
"For me?" she snorted. "I'll be back before the next Harvest moon," she said, fully assured in her own abilities.
"I don't think so, Azula. Your assignment is to hunt down your brother, Zuko, and Uncle Iroh before they bring more shame on our family," the King announced, and Azula's eyes flashed gold as she smiled, sparks of excitement nearly firing from her hands.
"Is that it?" she snarked, laughing brightly. "When can we leave?" she demanded eagerly. Kai's heart jumped in his chest at the opportunity, before groaning, knowing Azula would demand he pay her back in some manner.
"Are you sure? Do you truly believe Kai is ready for this?" he asked her, glancing at his son's head. Kai gulped angrily, but kept his eyes trained on the ground, refusing to react to his own father's insult.
"What he lacks in skill, he makes up for in determination. Besides, he knows how Zuko thinks. I do not," Azula argued simply, her voice not faltering at their father's demanding tone.
"If you're certain, Azula," their father said, his voice calculating and sharp. Azula stood up and looked at him, her eyes unblinking and her stance inspiring.
"When have you ever known me not to be?" she demanded, her eyes cold and emotionless. Kai remained bowing, his heart beating wildly at the disrespectful gestures of his sister.
"Then you both may leave as soon as possible. Dismissed," the King waved them away, and Azula inclined her head slightly, turning on her heel and storming out of the room, knowing Kai would follow her.
As they exited the room, she turned around and looked at Kai expectantly, her arms crossed tightly over her chest.
"Thank you," he muttered, his voice apprehensive and excited at the same time. Azula had no reaction, merely looking to the sky to determine the time of day, the gears in her head already turning.
"If you screw this up, Kai, I will kill you myself," she vowed, glaring at him sharply, her eyes promising a slow and torturous death.
"I know you will," he replied, unfazed by her threat as he glanced at his sister's imposing figure. She smiled thinly and nodded, seeming to have come to a decision.
"Good. Now that that's settled, let's go pack. We leave at dusk," she announced, her eyes looking over the walls behind him. Somewhere, out there, lay the key to her success. Zuko was the only thing standing between her and utopia.
"Yes, Azula," he mock-bowed and made his way to his room, her eyes never leaving his back. For once, Azula wondered if she was making the right choice, putting her little brother in such danger. But, then again, she thought to herself, a bitter smile crossing her face, why not kill two birds with one stone? However, somewhere in the back of her mind in spite of what she had said to him, she wasn't sure she would ever be able to kill Kai.
Pushing that out of her mind for now, she left to start packing herself.
A/N: Yes I realize it's just nearly exactly the same as the first chapter, but we didn't see much that needed changing in this chapter really, Next chapter is where things differ greatly from the old version. We hope you liked this chapter, please leave a review and we'll see you next time!