Originally for Zutara Week. But I didn't write any more, so now it's on it's own.
Family
Lightening crackled behind the mask of compassion and cooperation, lighting the golden eyes aflame like nothing had before. Anger boiled in her veins, and only one thing held her back from relinquishing that anger and relishing the feel of flesh beneath her claws; of the lightening that coursed through her body, slicing through another; of blood and death on her hands...
The girl was the crowned princess.
Killing her would serve no purpose, so the queen of lightning sat back and watched. Watched as her brother's reign came crashing down; watched as his queen fell to pieces at her husband's dead feet.
Then, and only then, when the coast was clear…
She struck her family when it was vulnerable.
She returned the crown to the rightful queen.
And she became what her father always planned for her.
"My Lady," he said, bowing lowly behind the wide iron bars. "I apologize…"
A sneer pulled at her lips and her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Apology not accepted you lowly prisoner! Get out of my sight!"
His eyes widened and he took a step back. "Prisoner…?" The voice came as a whisper, confused and alone. Followed quickly by a sigh. One of understanding, perhaps, as he stepped away, still bowing, and backed out of the room.
0o0
"So?" Nagi asked, not looking up at him as he stepped back into the main hall, wiping at his face. She stared at her nails as if they amused her, smirking softly. "Do I owe you an 'I told you so' or what?"
He pulled at his guard uniform uncomfortably and sat beside her on the cold ground. "She's batshit crazy," he murmured, snatching her nail-file away before she could start scratching away at it. "And you know that sound drives me crazy."
"And yet I don't care," she said, reaching to take it back. "And I've told you that she's a lost cause. Leave her be. Let her die thinking she's the Fire Lady. What's the problem?"
Scratching at the back of his neck, he stood and began to pace. "It's what she says at night…"
Nagi's ears perked and she sat up straighter, setting the nail-file aside. "What's that?"
He shook his head and glanced at the solid metal door between him and the ex-princess. "Always the same thing; Family means nothing to the child betrayed."
"That a quote from somewhere?" She asked, "I think I've heard it before."
He sighed and shook his head. "Forget it. I doubt it means anything."
Nagi chuckled. "No you don't. You've got it stuck in your head for a reason. You gotta stop thinking about it. She's getting put away next week. They'll figure her out."
And she was right; he should have stopped thinking about it. But over the next week he heard her murmur it over and over again when she slept, sometimes yelling it until it reverberated in his mind. Family means nothing to the child betrayed.
But his mind was made, and he was sure. She was in there somewhere, crying over her fate; crying over her family's end; crying over the betrayal that ended hers and her father's rule.
Unfortunately, it didn't matter.
Because, three days later, the day before she was taken to a "home for the mentally unstable," she died. Peacefully in her sleep.
But he never stopped thinking about the words she spoke in her sleep; the words that she – nor he – could ever really forget; the last words she said before her broken heart stopped pumping and her life slipped away…
Family means nothing to the child betrayed.
Author's note: I'm sorry for the lack of names, but, when I attempted to put them in, it sounded all wrong. I kind of like it this way. Anyway, just to clarify; it's mostly about Azula. The "he" is a guard, not her father. "Crowned princess" and "Queen" are Katara; and her "husband" is Zuko.
