Chapter 2
One day a young, sixteen year old girl with slightly tanned skin and blue eyes was practicing her Fire bending forms as she saw her favorite cousin, who also arrived into the gardens of the Fire Nation Royal Palace. "Zuko, how are you?" smiled Korra as she looked at her twelve year old cousin.
"Can you believe that Azula invited some of her friends from the Girls Royal Academy? These girls are weird!" spoke Zuko as he looked at his cousin.
"Why? Do you like one of them?" teased Korra as Zuko blushed.
"No, I want" spoke the boy as Korra grabbed Zuko by his collar and dragged to his sister and her friends.
"Hello Zuzu!" spoke Azula as she smiled. The girl looked cute and innocent but Zuko knew better.
"What do you want Azula?" asked Zuko suspiciously
"To play with my older brother of course" spoke Azula as she then introduced her two friends to her brother, "This is Mai and Ty Lee"
"Hi" spoke Mai in monotone
"Hello, are you Prince Zuko? Azula loves to talk about you! Is it true that you cannot perform even the basic Fire bending forms?" asked Ty Lee as Zuko ignored the two guests, before sitting near the pond, feeding the turtle ducks.
"Korra, I know that you are a great Fire bender, would you like to spar with me to show out guests our skill?" asked Azula while mentally thinking, "And to show that they must obey my every command if the value their lives"
"Sure little Zula" spoke Korra as she took off her outer layer, revealing a red tank top, long red pants and sandals. Azula stood a few meters away from her cousin before engaging her opponent.
Korra sent fire at the girl, who easily redirected it and jumped in the air before sending a basic fire attack at her older cousin. The girls sparred. It was evident soon that while Korra had more raw power, the ten year old was far more skillful.
"Accept your defeat cousin" spoke Azula as she sent another Fireball at Korra who barely managed to dodge it. Azula's next attack managed to hit Korra; the impact sent the teenager a few meters back before Korra hit the stone wall.
"Admit it, you are my inferior" smirked Azula as sent another Fire wave at Korra. As Korra barely managed to stand up from the ground, the new fire attack hit the girl as well, knocking the girl on the ground.
"Azula, stop, you are hurting Korra" spoke Zuko as he tried to stop Azula but was blocked by Mai and Ty Lee.
"Zuko, its their fight" spoke the bored girl in a monotone voice, looking at the fight.
Korra dodged the next attack; she then managed to stand up. Korra sent a Fireball at Azula, which the younger Princess easily dodged. "I never understood why Uncle thinks that your are a prodigy. You don't even come close to be a worthy opponent to me" smirked Azula as she sent another attack that Korra barely managed to dodge.
As the fight progressed, one of Korra's attacks succeeded; Azula fell on the ground as her mouth tasted dirt. "That's it your worthless peasant" cried the young girl as she prepared to send another attack but instead generated an electric charge.
Azula smiled before sending the lightning that she just managed to create at Korra, fully intending to kill the girl. "Goodbye Korra" smiled Azula as she sent the lightning.
Zuko looked in horror as the lightning flew at Korra. While nobody saw a lightning attack before, they knew that the electric charge was extremely painful to a person and could be deadly, if it were to hit the heart or other vital organ.
In desperation Korra instinctively threw one of her arms at the quickly approaching electric charge. As the electricity hit her, it went through her arm. Korra instinctively moved her arms in a non Fire bending way; gently moving one arm close to her other arm, before quickly releasing the energy into the air. The released energy flew outside before hitting a nearby tree, completely obliterating it to pieces.
As the remainder of the electric charge left Korra's body, she dropped on the ground, tired of fighting. The girl was not only exhausted from the mock duel, especially given the fact that she just dueled with the biggest Fire bending prodigy of their generation but also due to her body handling a great amount of energy within her body.
"That's enough, young lady" spoke an older woman as she arrived on the scene. The five children looked at the newcomer and saw that Princess Ursa, the wife of Prince Ozai had arrived on the scene.
"Mother, Korra and I were just sparring" spoke Azula as she smiled, making puppy eyes to her mother.
"I saw what just happened; young lady, we need to have a talk" spoke Ursa as she grabbed her daughter's arm before leaving the garden. As Ursa and Azula left, Zuko ran towards his cousin and helped Korra to stand up.
"Thank you Zuko" spoke Korra as she hugged her favorite cousin before looking at the other girls.
"Are you alright?" asked Korra with slight concern
"I am. It's so depressing that the battle has ended. There is nothing to do here," complained Mai.
"We could do some acrobatics?" suggested Ty Lee as Mai glared at the other girl.
As the two girls sat in silence, unsure of what they could do, Zuko and Korra sat by the pond, trying to make sense of what had just happened. "Korra, I am sorry that Azula almost hurt you" spoke the boy
"Its OK, I am sure that she did not mean to create lightning. When dad arrives, I will surely ask him how one could generate lightning, I hope I could do it too one day.
"I know you will." Replied Zuko, "How did you deflect the attack though? Had Uncle taught you?" asked the boy curiously.
"I have no idea Zuko. I instinctively defended myself," replied the girl, as she too was unsure on what to make of that deflection technique.
"You moved graciously Korra, I have never seen a Fire bender fight with a form like that"
As the two continued talking, they soon realized that Ursa returned to the garden with Azula, who by now tried to smile. "Now off you go and play with your friends; don't try to hurt them" spoke Princess Ursa as she released her daughter before leaving.
Azula eyed the surroundings before finally finding where Korra was sitting. The girl quickly approached her cousin and looked at Korra with puppy eyes. "Cousin, I am sorry that I tried to hurt you; I understood that what I did was wrong and I wish to be friends again" spoke Azula as she smiled again.
"Korra don't believe this little" spoke Zuko as Korra interrupted him; the older girl dropped on the ground as she hugged her younger cousin.
"Korra?" asked Azula in surprise
"I think I know what we can do. I heard about an abandoned place in the palace, we could explore it," suggested Korra as everyone soon agreed on it.
Korra led the four children to the outskirts of the palace. The five approached the wall and noticed that the palace guards were walking everywhere. "Hide" spoke Korra as the group hid in a nearby bush.
"Ouch, carful Korra!" spoke Azula as she made a small fire, which the girl then hit her older cousin with. It slightly burned the older girl's clothing. Korra jumped and pushed Azula on the ground, tickling her cousin since the sixteen-year-old wanted revenge.
As Korra extinguished the flames, the group then silently moved to a new location, they soon found a large cave nearby. "This is cool!" exclaimed Ty Lee, as she loved their adventures. The five teenagers climbed inside and soon realized that they just entered a dormant volcano; a river of lava flowed deeper in the cave.
"We need to leave," protested Zuko he now felt uncomfortable in being in such proximity to the lava, which could quickly kill them.
"Don't be such a baby, Zuzu" smiled Azula as she looked around and climbed deeper into the volcano.
"This place is so dirty, I am not going anywhere deeper" spoke Mai as she decided to wait for the group by the entrance to the cave. Ty Lee stayed with her friend, as she tried to persuade Mai to follow the others.
The three Royals continued crawling in the volcano. They soon found a large lava pool nearby. "Wow, this is magnificent. Such raw power" spoke Azula as she climbed closer to the edge of the rock.
"Azula, careful" spoke Zuko but the boy was too late. A small eruption within the volcano slightly destabilized the rock on which the three Royals were sitting; before Azula notices, the rocks under her destabilized and the girl fell in.
"Azula!" cried Zuko as the two quickly looked to see whether the girl was all right.
"I, I am sorry brother, but I will not make it" cried Azula and the two cousins realized that Azula for the first time in her life felt genuinely scared. The girl deeper into the volcano and was now sitting on a small rock, which started to destabilize as well. Azula realized that it was only a matter of time before she fell into lava.
Korra reacted quickly as she tried to get Azula from the mess; Korra's arms tried to grabbed the girl but failed. "Korra, you wont reach her" cried Zuko as he was very upset. The boy realized that he still cared for his little sister despite her violent tendencies.
"No, she won't die tonight" spoke Korra firmly as the sixteen year old jumped on the rock below and grabbed Azula, who quickly grabbed onto her older cousin. Just as Azula grabbed Korra's arms and torso, the rock fell in the lava.
"Korra! Azula! Noo!" cried Zuko. The boy quickly looked below and saw that the two girls were not dead. In fact, Korra used her fire bending to hoover above the lava.
"Now, Azula, listen. If we want to survive, we need to help each other. I want you to repeat this" spoke Korra as Azula nodded. Fire escaped Azula's feet and the girls finally managed to rise up from the lava and land onto the solid rock.
"Azula, listen" spoke Korra as the younger girl jumped forward and hugged her older cousin.
"Please never leave me" spoke Azula. Zuko smiled, it seemed that despite their recent rivalry, the two finally became friends.
However, the three royals did not have much time to comfort each other as another eruption, larger than the previous one occurred. The lava flew in the air and barely passed the teenagers.
"Run!" cried Korra as she grabbed her two cousins before the three of them began running from the volcano. They soon found their friends, who sat just by the cave's entrance. The five children then quickly exited the cave before returning to the garden.
"This was crazy" spoke Korra as she fell on the ground, tired from their recent adventure. As the group looked around, they noticed Princess Ursa, who was somewhat angry.
"And where have you disappeared?" asked the woman as she shook her head in disappointment, although she soon made a small smile as she saw that her daughter was holding Korra's hand as if it was a turtle duck plushy toy.
"Princess Ursa, news from your brother in law, General Iroh" spoke the messenger as he arrived to the garden, giving the letter to Ursa before leaving.
As Ursa read the letter, she could not believe her eyes. "No, that cant be happening" spoke Ursa as she frowned. She dropped the letter on the ground before walking away.
As Ursa entered the palace, Korra lifted the letter and read the first line. "Lu Ten fell. I will return to the Capital shortly" Before anyone could react, a servant told the two guests that their parents had arrived to pick them up; he also told the three Royals to meet with their family members in the throne room.
Just as Korra began mending her friendship with her cousin Azula, the Fire Nation Princess had lost her brother. The news deeply affected the girl, as she was very sad; she always loved to spend time with Lu Ten, who taught her some Fire bending forms. This sudden death would further fracture the already fragile Fire Nation family; while the children were sad, the adults realized that this struggle most likely would erupt into a civil war.
A/N:
I decided to see how the pairings would evolve within this story; there is a possibility that this will not be Zutara, although the romantic relationships wont play a big role within the story itself. This chapter focused a lot on Azula and Korra's relationship, as well as some character development. This will be relevant later on.
Next chapter: The three children meet the Fire Lord Azulon.
The chapter after that: the night Fire Lord Azulon dies