Rebel in the Palace
By MadnessinmyMethod
Prologue: Twas a Dark and Stormy Night
Dark stormy nights have several qualities, several of which cause strange and miraculous things to happen which are thus noteworthy as far as stories and legends go. Azula, the young Fire Nation Princess who was well-read for her age, was fully aware of this rule of fiction. Her only flaw in reason was that this rule of fiction had to come from somewhere and, naturally, the best fiction comes from real life. Her flaw was quite simply that she had not yet made with dire connection.
So while a ferocious storm raged over the palace and she crept off to the kitchens with her older brother Zuko for a midnight snack (all the while taunting him each time he cringed at the crackle of lightning), Azula merely dismissed her excitement for something to happen as childish and highly unlikely.
"Hey, Elephant-Boar," Azula whispered at her brother who was not nearly as quiet in his slippered feet as she was, "you're going to wake someone up."
"Am not," Zuko argued.
"Actually, you did," an older voice said. It was their cousin, Lu Ten. He was about a half a decade older than Zuko, so while they were at the tender age of eight and seven (an age at which every birthday was a big deal because they were that much closer to being adults), Lu Ten was thirteen. There were many words and ways to describe Lu Ten, but the simplest and most of effective way was this: He was "cool." He played with them and taught them things all the time, but he was also older, beginning to look at some of the girls who came to the palace, and various other things that were constantly on the mind of an average thirteen-year-old boy.
"Ha ha," Azula teased her brother.
"Though I'm afraid it was your voice that convinced me to look out into the hall and see what was going on," Lu Ten added.
"Hah!" Zuko said.
Azula made a face and the subject was dropped.
"What are you two doing up so late?" Lu Ten asked.
"…Cookies," Zuko said.
"Ah. Yes, I've always found that cookies are best at midnight during a thunderstorm," Lu Ten said seriously. "Carry on then, but do be quieter or you really will wake someone up."
Zuko and Azula grinned and continued down the hallway towards the kitchens. Lit torches framed the door, beckoning like the light at the end of the metaphorical tunnel. The firelight glistened in their golden eyes. They were so close. Azula stretched out a pale hand, ignoring Zuko's alongside her. She would open the door. She would achieve the glory of midnight cookies. It would all be hers!
Azula smacked Zuko's hand out of the way leaving him to clutch it in the mild pain caused by her very sharp fingernails as her hand closed over the knob. "Victory is mine," she whispered. The door swung open, letting only the barest amount of light from the hallway inside and even that was soon shut out with the door. Azula, however, was already a firebending prodigy, having started her lessons when she was six and quickly reaching the same level as Zuko, ready to surpass him at any given moment. She lit a small fire in her palm.
"What are you doing here?" she demanded, seeing Zuko leaning against the door.
"…I followed you, stupid," he said. "You only knocked my hand out of the way. Which was really stupid by the way. Someone could have heard."
Azula rolled her eyes. "Fine, but just so we're perfectly clear, you're far stupider than anyone I have ever met."
"Why you—"
"Hey, could you two keep it down? I'm trying to sleep over here."
Azula and Zuko froze. Could it be that ghosts, perhaps victims of the war they heard so much about, were haunting their kitchen? All the ghost stories Lu Ten had ever told them about evil swamp witches and ghouls ran through their minds as they paled and their heart beats quickened.
"Who's there?" Azula said, angry that she sounded a bit frightened, especially in front of Zuko. He would never let her live it down if they actually survived. She certainly planned to, but perhaps she could offer her brother as a sacrifice.
"Me," the mysterious voice replied.
Hearing it for the second time, Azula concluded that this was not the aged voice of your standard vengeful ghost. It sounded much younger, maybe even close to her own age. She briefly wondered if ghosts had ages.
"And you are?" Azula asked.
"Jet."
"That's a strange name. What are you doing in our kitchen?"
"The cook… what was his name… ahg, I forget. He let me in though 'cause I was hungry. He said I could stay here for the night if I didn't cause any trouble… or maybe it was mischief… mayhem? I dunno."
Azula planned her words carefully, ignoring her shaking brother. "Hmm… so, Jet, was it? Would you mind stepping into the light so we can see you?"
A young boy around her age emerged from the shadows. His skin was a dark tanned color the likes of which Azula had never seen throughout the seven years of her sheltered, aristocratic life. He was dressed in ratty clothing, another thing Azula had never witnessed. And yet despite his obvious poverty, he looked very happy. He grinned from ear to ear, dazzling her with his shinning white teeth.
"Well then," Azula said, satisfied that it was only a little boy and not a murderous ghost, "we'll just get our cookies and be on our way."
"So you wake me up, question me, and you're not even going to tell me your names?" Jet protested.
Azula turned around and looked him in the eye, shocked at his gall. Clearly he had no idea who she was at all. "I am Princess Azula, Daughter of Prince Ozai and Princess Ursa, Granddaughter of Fire Lord Sozin. This is my elder brother Zuko. We will not be spoken to in such a way."
Jet looked at her with astonishment, not for all her titles as she assumed, but for her cold reprimand.
"That was a bit mean, Azula," Zuko said, finally speaking, now that he had gotten over his ghost trauma.
"Can it, Zuzu."
"Ha ha, Zuzu," Jet said.
"Oh, don't you start," Zuko said. "I want my cookie and I'm out of here. You can have fun with your new boyfriend, Azula."
Zuko stormed out, probably waking up the entire palace with all his noise. Azula wasn't afraid that he would rat her out though. He knew the consequences. He wouldn't dare. "He is not my boyfriend," she snarled at the closed door.
"Whatever," Jet said, shrugging. "I'd just like to sleep if you don't mind."
"I don't care what you do," Azula said. She was beginning to wonder if maybe the entire night had been part of one huge dream. Normally someone had managed to catch her when she went looking for cookies and other sugary snacks in the middle of the night, usually her mother or uncle. The fact that Zuko had also managed to make it to the kitchen with her without them being caught as a result of his inability to be stealthy lent further evidence to the entire night having been a dream. She was also sure that, though their cook had a regrettably generous nature when it came to little children, he would never actually allow this impoverished peasant child to spend the night in the royal kitchens. It was unspeakable. It could only possibly happen in a dream. It was the only logical explanation and Azula trusted logic so implicitly.
And so, convinced that nothing of this strange and curious nature had actually happened in the realm of reality, Azula left the kitchen and returned to her room, where she slept quite soundly and peacefully as a Fire Nation Princess ought to sleep.
The next morning, Azula had completely forgotten about her nighttime wanderings which she had dismissed as a dream, until as she was playing outside with her two best friends, Mai and Ty Lee, her cousin Lu Ten approached her. He smiled one of his charming smiles that made Ty Lee act like even more a bumbling airhead than usual and asked Azula, "How were the cookies last night?"
This question forced Azula to realize that the cookies, the nighttime excursion, and that strange boy in the kitchen had been completely, utterly, one-hundred percent real. Azula smiled back at her cousin. "They were excellent. Thanks for not tattling on us."
Lu Ten laughed. "It's part of the palace experience. I still go out for a midnight snack every now and again. Don't tell anyone," he added, pressing a finger to his lips. He winked and departed, claiming that his father wanted him to practice firebending that morning.
Azula turned to her friends. "The strangest thing happened when Zuko and I got into the kitchen last night."
"Really, Azula?" Ty Lee asked, prepared to hear something amazing, like Azula discovering the cure for some horrible disease while she was getting her cookies.
Azula rolled her eyes at Ty Lee's enthusiasm. "When we got into the kitchen, Zuko and I were arguing about him being stupid, and then we heard this voice telling us to be quiet so he could sleep. Turns out, there's some weird peasant boy sleeping in the kitchen because the cook felt bad for him and let him in."
"Is he cute?" Ty Lee asked.
"What does that have to do with anything?" Mai interrupted.
"EVERYTHING!" Ty Lee screamed. "Azula could have found her SOUL mate."
"Oh, please. Like my soul mate would be some poor boy dressed in rags and sleeping in my kitchen," Azula scoffed.
"But it's so romantic," Ty Lee squealed.
"It's pathetic is what it is," Azula said severely.
"Don't waste your breath," Mai told Ty Lee glumly. "Azula has to marry someone better than that anyway, right Azula?"
"Exactly. My Prince is going to be handsome, strong, intelligent, and rich of course."
"You sure aren't asking for much," Mai said.
"I'm a princess," Azula replied. "I can have whatever, and that means whoever, I want."
"Hey, look, Mai," Ty Lee said, pointing to one of the roofed paths that surrounded the courtyard and led into various parts of the palace. "Zuko's out."
Mai blushed and looked away.
Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee had continued playing for several hours, the discussion of mystery soul mates lurking in the palace kitchen where cookies were aplenty completely forgotten as they carried on as they always did. Azula teased Zuko. Ty Lee fawned over Lu Ten. Mai pretended not to care. Jet was the last thing on their minds, that is, until they saw him.
The courtyard in which they played had a small, quaint pond that was kept stocked with the finest koi fish in the entire Fire Nation and a tiny family of turtle ducks which feared Azula already. During the midst of an avid turtle duck hunt conducted by Azula and complied to by Mai and Ty Lee albeit somewhat reluctantly, a male youth emerged from the palace and took a running leap into the pond, splashing the three girls with water so that they were completely soaked.
"How dare you get me wet? Do you know who I am?" Azula shrieked before she had identified the culprit.
"Oh, hey there, 'Zula," Jet replied, grinning at her toothily.
Azula was temporarily at a loss for words. "You—that's Princess Azula to you. And how did you get in here?"
"Oh, Azula, I see you've met Jet already." Azula's mother came striding into the courtyard with an amused smile on her face.
"Mom, what's going on?" Azula demanded a little bit rudely.
"Oh, well you see, I found Jet in the kitchens this morning and I persuaded Fire Lord Azulon to let him stay here for awhile until we figure out where he belongs. So you and Zuko will have a new playmate. Isn't that wonderful?" Ursa asked her daughter.
"Perfect," Azula lied.
"How did you get all wet, Azula?"
Author's Note: So, this is my final tribute to Jet and Azula now that the series is over. After this I don't plan to write any more Avatar fanfiction. I've been pulled into other fandoms. It's taken me quite awhile to figure this story out. This Prologue itself has been in the making for a long while, and recently I finally got inspired to work on this a bit more. So, I apologize in advance for what will probably be very sporadic irregular updating. It's my senior year so I've got a lot to do, but I'll try to keep this thing going now that I've got the Prologue posted. Anywho, I hope you found the beginning interesting. I'll try to post at least every two weeks. Review if you want. I am a review-whore, so you know what I want, but I don't hold it against you if you don't review (otherwise I'd be a hypocrite most of the time). Thanks for reading, and I'll just shut up now. _Madness