/The Love of No One/
No one had ever loved Azula.
It had been a lesson she had first learned from her father, no matter how indirectly.
"I love you," her father had said, and for a second she had believed him.
Then, she saw underneath the pride shining at the forefront of his eyes and glimpsed bitter scorn, and even deeper, utter apathy.
Azula had been disillusioned to the world.
No one had ever loved Azula.
Her mother had believed her to be a monster. Her father had thought of her only as a prodigy to be cultured and groomed but never truly cared for. Her brother's only opinion of her was the sadistic, manipulative sister to be avoided.
And her so called "friends"? They had been worse. They had pretended to love her, pretended to care... But they really hadn't. In the end, they had turned out like all of the rest.
Traitors.
No one had ever loved Azula.
No one of true importance, at least, as the oblivious masses meant nothing. She had retreated into the care of the only person she could truly trust to love her.
Herself.
No one had ever loved Azula.
Not even herself.
Azula had never known how to love anyone. She simply like to pretend that she did. She had only known how to smile and blush and laugh and pretend. And she did, she had pretended on a daily basis. She pretended to be normal, or as normal as the princess to tyrannic nation could be. She pretended, and, doing so, manipulated the world around her to her liking.
It was the beginning.
No one had ever loved Azula.
The fateful day the Sozin's Comet went streaking through the sky, Azula held onto a secret fantasy that, despite all evidence pointing to the contrary, her father held even the tiniest shred of love for her. That fantasy was ripped, shredded, brutalized, when her father treated her like trash, like nothing, like Zuko.
It was the last straw.
No one had ever loved Azula.
They had all betrayed her. Her friends, her father, her mother, Zuko.
They should have known better.
Especially Mother. Mother, who had thought of her as a monster, should have known. Mother, who insisted that she loved Azula as she appeared in the mirror and spoke knowingly. Lovingly.
Azula smashed the mirror.
No one would ever betray her again.
No one had ever loved Azula.
Her brother was no exception.
He was probably one of the greatest offenders, and yet she barely acknowledged him as she swept curtains of dancing azure flame across the field of the Agni Kai.
There was only the battle. There was only the betrayal. There was only the crazed light in her eyes and phantoms of people who should've been, could've been, would've been there, if only none of them had betrayed her.
She shot a burst of lightning at the upstart waterbender. That would show him. That would show all of them.
Zuko took the blow.
No one had ever loved Azula.
It was only years later, sitting on a remote island off of the Fire Nation with the ghosts of her past, living and dead, surrounding her, that she realized it.
No one had ever loved Azula.
Not even herself.
AN: Azula's always been a really interesting character to me. She's almost like the perfect villain. She is evil and is sadistic, and yet has good reason to be. She rivals other villains such as Tom Riddle and the like. Many others have no reason at all, or, a flimsy reason at best, to be evil. It simply isn't realistic. Et voila, this story was born. It was written in spurts of inspiration spanning a few months at the least.
Constructive criticism? I feel like my writing style is pretty confusing. Feedback?
Ja ne!~