AN: Sorry for the wait! Midterms were of the utmost importance! Anyway as usual this is a Post War AU. Sokkla-centric. Zuki injections, don't worry Mai will be just fine. Kataang as well partially. Mentions of Satoph (And yes I am aware it was 102 AG when Toph met Satoru, I changed it to accommodate the story :)

Story Legend
"-" Conversation
'-' Thoughts
'italics' flashback
'italicized word' emphasis

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender. It belongs to Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko. I do however own the few OC's this story will have.


Azula paints vividly, from broken dreams and endless nightmares, to heartbreaking scenes of a monocarpic, hopes locked away never to be freed. All her paintings join together arbitrarily to tell a story, no one has ever dared to read. The story of Azula... Azula the Fallen.

- The Sapphire Prodigy


THE WHITE CANVAS

CHAPTER THREE


"Palace activity is normal. So far the levels of attempted assassination have diminished but we can never be to sure. Proceed with your normal rounds and report any off activity if you witness any."

"Yes Suki."

"I'll be in my quarters for a while. I will gather you all later for a status report."

Suki never dreamed she'd be where she was now. The Fire Nation had always been the enemy, the source of any Earth Kingdom child's nightmare, but here she was in love with the Fire Lord. Suki had been so busy lately. It was hard work alleviating one's guilt by blaming the opposite party. It was even harder work to dodge the truth, while dropping lies every ten seconds.

After her talk with Zuko, Suki found her warriors and began her to give her daily commands. As usual, her girls performed with perfection and she had no issues with her orders being carried out. Suki was currently in her quarters contemplating her decisions over the past few months.

She had no business in his room but she was so curious, so daring. If anything it was a perfect match. He chased the Avatar all over the world, he was just as adventurous as she if not more. Zuko didn't hesitate, he didn't think, he kissed her. It went from shy glances in public company to kisses in dark corners, to warm hands and pleasurable shudders.

At first, she felt horrible. No words could describe the fear she felt when the day came to confront Sokka with the truth. She loved Sokka, he had been her everything. The gratitude was endless for he had saved her from rotting her mind out in the Boiling Rock. She would forever be grateful for the changes he brought to her life but that didn't change the fact that she was in love with Zuko. Fire Lord Zuko, who wooed her even though she was and technically still is his bodyguard. Who could blame her for wanting to rule a technologically advanced nation over snowbanks and icy temperatures.

She could name a million things wrong with her relationship with Sokka but at the end of the day, she simply did not love him like she used to. She just wished she could stop hiding. They couldn't hide forever. She knew Zuko had a few things he needed to have sorted out before they go public but this was irritating. Well he promised they would soon, he better keep his promise.


"Is there anything else you need, My Lord?"

"No, I am fine for the moment, thank you Kwan."

Kwan bowed and hastily dismissed himself. Zuko was tired. He had been reviewing the current trade agreements between the Fire Nation and the Earth Kingdom and found his ire growing again with Kuei. Zuko sighed and found his thoughts straying to Suki. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever had the pleasure of meeting.

It was wrong. It was so wrong. He'd be a liar if he didn't admit the forbidden affair thing wasn't exciting to him. There was feeling in it. Something that Mai lacked. Zuko cringed at the thought. He still felt sort of guilty when comparing Mai to Suki. He felt like a coward for not wanting to face Mai with the truth. At the same time he didn't want to hurt Mai and perhaps that's the main reason why he stalled the truth for so long.

Mai has always been in his corner. She was convenient and her uses were endless. She personally thwarted the assassination attempts herself before Suki and the warriors came. During the war, he broke up with her in a letter rather than confronting her face-to-face. She turned around and saved him when she allowed him and the others to escape at the Boiling Rock. Most of the time he felt like he owed her for the things she did. After he started his tryst with Suki it became more and more apparent to defend their affair with asinine reasons. He never asked Mai to safe him. He never asked her to love him. Should he really be held accountable for her feelings? He felt so selfish for wanting Suki but he couldn't marry someone he didn't love.

He hoped when this was all over, Mai could forgive him.


'Why did I decide to humor this fool?'

Azula stood beside Sokka eyeing his seventh artistic creation. Well more or less, it was a creation but not so much artistic. Sokka asked her to show him how to paint and she thought it would be best if he learned the use of contour lines first. It was a common basic strategy that she learned in her first semester at the Royal Academy. She couldn't exactly tell whether he was an organized painter by looking at him so for precaution she told him to redraw a picture of a Firelily she pulled from the living room closet. It was a single lily floating.

He did everything but what she asked.

"What is that?"

"It's a flower, I outlined the flower!"

"It looks like a Komodo Rhino defecating."

"What? No it doesn't!"

Sokka was appalled at her lack of tact. He worked hard to draw the flower, it was not easy. He must have gone through at least seven sheets before finally settling into satisfaction with this one. After listening to her instructions and criticisms, he wondered if he really even had a right to complain when he learned calligraphy under Piandao. He was beginning to wonder who was the lesser evil.

"This is hideous. For starters, judging by the stroke lines, I'd say you glanced at the original without really examining it. This thing you had the audacity to call a flower looks nothing like a flower."

Abruptly, Azula snatched the destructed flower up and tore it bits. Sokka didn't even have a chance to say goodbye.

"NO! Why did you do that?"

"Then again so were the last seven outlines you drew. They were almost direct evidence of your peasant upbringing, no tact and no poise. Not to mention they were proof as to why your first invasion plan didn't work. You drew it up but you didn't think it out."

He was unfortunately reminded almost instantly who he was taking lessons from. She just had to go and be a bitch.

"And just what is that supposed to mean?"

Azula smirked and Sokka narrowed his eyes. In his angered haste, he hadn't realized Azula was interacting with him far more than she had when he first came in. It was actually impressive progress. Azula ignored his stare and picked up a blank sheet and practically shoved it into his hands.

"Start over and this time, think before you draw."

Azula moved back towards her painting of the bears and gave it a once-over. No need to look intricately through the details, a work of art from Azula is never without finer details. Content with the outcome of her newest painting, she lifted it up and placed it on one of the living room tables.

Sokka took a deep breath willing himself to not sling the paintbrush at her head, and picked up the paper and his brush.


It had been about an hour since she and Ty Lee began sorting through Azula's private stash. Well Mai assumed it was private if Ty Lee had to wait until Azula wasn't around to steal it out of her closet.

Mai was silent. Silence was good at the moment, for there were no words to describe the scattered paintings, subliminal messages, and letters she had just viewed. Ty Lee glanced at Mai in apprehension. The mood was depressing and solemn.

Azula had an entire collection of reasons why she was so crazy. A collection of reasons that somehow went unnoticed by everyone, even the people who were supposed to be there no matter what.

Is it not easier to assume the villainous character is evil and one dimensional? Perhaps it helped them sleep at night believing Azula's cruelty had no limits nor origins.

Mai picked a painting up that had a single phrase on it. It was extremely detailed and some would consider the green vines and red petals beautiful, if said phrase had been different.

"I am a Monster."

Mai figured it corresponded with some of Azula's notes. Notes she had apparently written her mother. Notes she is certain Ursa never read.

Azula had always seemed overly conceited. She never hesitated to show off her bending skills to them. She especially made sure to show Zuko how her progress surpassed his. These recent discoveries about Azula's self-worth were highly unnerving. It left Mai feeling uncomfortable.

Ty Lee picked up a painting of a hawk flying away from it's mother and sibling. The mother hawk kept her attention on the sibling who had not left the nest. Ty Lee stared at the painting sadly and read the caption aloud.

"I fly away, but my wings matter not, when I fly away, it's as if I never flew at all."

Mai glanced over at the painting unsure what to say. So this has been going on since their childhood? No even before she and Ty Lee had met Azula. This was a slow burner building up over time.

But as disturbing as Azula's relationship with her mother was. Her interactions with her father were a million times worse. Ozai burnt Zuko, and it never occurred to any of them that if he was capable of burning and scarring his son, the same could be said for his daughter.

Ty Lee had cried for hours after reading a letter Azula wrote her mother. Azula wanted to know why her mother didn't love her. Why she didn't deem her worthy enough to be protected from Ozai the way Zuko was. A prodigy, she became, but not from patience and care. Ozai destroyed her very soul, to make her who she was today. Ursa's lack of motherly influence didn't help either.

Unexplained bruises and medical visits, the whole nine yards and neither of them noticed anything. They would visit and play until Ozai called her away for training. If Azula left in a good mood, she certainly did not come back the same way, if she came back at all. Sometimes Ursa would come and dismiss them, leaving them wandering just how long does Azula train. If she did come back, she came back unhinged, a complete change in persona. Ty Lee saw her aura darken from a strong red to black cracks and jagged grey lines, but at the time she didn't know the reasons were so severe. It happened so often that Ty Lee (being a child) assumed it was simply how Azula's aura acted.

Ty Lee stared ashamed at the first note she noticed when she found Azula's collection. Azula had always prided herself with her firebending. It was her heart and soul and apparently the only thing that made her life meaningful. Ty Lee had a hunch Ozai was behind the very idea.

"I am fire, my fire is me, without my fire, I am worthless."

Ty Lee placed the pictures and notes together and turned to Mai with a look of seriousness misplaced on her generally hyper demeanor.

"Mai, Azula needs us. She has always needed us."


Aang dodged a flurry of rocks and dirt and bent a few back towards Toph himself. He was incredibly tired but Toph had a hidden energy storage. She hadn't broke a sweat in her relentless attacks.

Toph didn't really think she was being as challenging as she could. Truly she believed she was going far too easy on Twinkletoes but her mind wasn't as into the battle as it should be. She wondered what Satoru was doing at the moment. The incident at the refinery was a mess but she found that she like him well enough. Shaking herself out of her thoughts, Toph noted the sloppier movements of the Avatar and smirked to herself.

"Twinkletoes is that all you got?"

"Yes!"

"Toph! Maybe it's time for a break?"

'And here comes Sugar Queen to the rescue. He's the Avatar, not some helpless little boy. He's going to have to man up eventually.' Toph wondered if Katara would smolder him with motherly love forever. That sounded weird, she's supposed to be his girlfriend. Oh well.

"Whatever, Sugar Queen."

Aang appreciated the need to keep him on his toes. Toph had a knack for smashing unsuspecting rocks onto her opponents. It kept him in shape when he practiced earthbending with her.

Katara was mostly quiet, having calmed down from the encounter with Suki. She hoped that in the end Sokka would be okay, but judging from how Suki acted it was really hard to tell how that drama was going to play out. Katara had suggested they get a little training in since they had nothing better to do until dinner. Aang excited to have something to do, practically flew out of the guest bedroom.

"Do you want to go feed the turtleducks Katara?"

"Sure, Aang. Toph are you coming?"

"No, I'm going to go chill for a bit."

"Alright."


Sokka had just finished redrawing his outline. Admittedly it was a lot neater and more developed than the last version. He absolutely refused to tell that to Azula though, she already had a sky high ego about her own paintings.

"Azula, I finished."

In her painting station, Azula had already started on another work of art. She had no idea what made her decide to draw the night sky, but the stars were coming along nicely. For some reason she was beyond determined to make the moon the center of the painting. It had a much brighter message than what her paintings usually generate. Not that she felt any different from how she usually feels. Nothing has changed, not really.

Placing down her brush, she made her way over to where Sokka stood annoyingly proud of his recreation. Azula picked up the outline and scrutinized every single detail before nodding her head in approval.

"That's much better."

Azula appeared to have examined Sokka's newest outline with feigned nonchalance but in all honestly, she was actually very much intrigued. Not just with his impressive beginner skills but with the fact that he even dared to interact with her. People generally tended to steer clear of her path of fire. It used to be because of fear and awe of her fearsome flames and now it seemed like they pitied the princess gone crazy. Azula just couldn't figure the water tribe peasant out. Perhaps he is a masochist?

"I still think the last one was good!"

Sokka was certain she just wanted to make him look like a fool. He spent hours drawing and throwing away paper after paper. The last one was definently a step up in his painting skills. Of course as always, Azula found a way to snatch his hope away.

"Then it's a good thing you are not trying to make a living out of this."

Sokka glared for the hundredth time at her. He was beginning to think Azula was more of a mental-illness than a physical problem. She's not shooting lightning out her fingertips anymore. No she just had to go and find a better way to use it, with her words. Deciding to ignore her jab at his career choices, he wanted to move onto the next step.

"So what's next?

"What do think? Pick out some colors and bring them here."

Sokka was certain she couldn't be nice to save her life. He made his way over to a shelf that housed many different paints. He could color his fire-lily any color he wanted and yet he subconsciously found himself picking up a deep blue paint. It matched the gorgeous blue flames that used to burst from Azula's hands without a moments notice.

Sokka took the bowl of paint back over to where Azula was standing and again overlooking his outline.

Azula almost immediately took notice of his color choice and eyed him curiously. Fire lilies were generally red, so why...

"You chose a blue color. Fire-lilies are red."

Had he seen her painting in the dining hall? She was certain it wasn't that noticeable.

"So is fire and yet yours is a beautiful blue."

Azula's eyes widened. Did he just call her flames beautiful?

Sokka suddenly blushed at the realization of what he said and began to stutter absolute nonsense in hopes of salvaging any remainder of his dignity.

"Well- I um- what I meant was your fire is scary and different than other guys and it's blue and alluring- no wait I mean..."

"Make sure you don't paint outside the lines. Try to keep it as neat as possible."

With that, Azula turned and headed back over to where she left her paints and utensils from her last painting. Sokka gulped thinking maybe he had said too much and focused on his picture in hopes she'll let it slide.

Meanwhile, Azula couldn't rid herself of the blood that had rushed to her face.


AN: Thanks for reading! Please review!

- The Sapphire Prodigy