Disclaimer: Don't own it
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, By Dylan Thomas
Visitor 4
One of the main reasons why Azula hated being in her cell, other than the obvious, was the guards. They stood in a circle and talked about her. As if she couldn't hear them, or wasn't even there at all.
At the moment, three guards were there, on the opposite side of the bars. Their keys jangled from where they were hooked onto the guards' uniform. Azula could hear their conversation clear as day. The guards simply didn't care.
Azula desperately wanted to be able to tune them out. It would be silly to wish that she didn't have such sharp hearing, yet sometimes she did. Like right then, for instance. They conversed without a care about the one thing she absolutely didn't want to think about.
Her father.
She clapped her hands over her ears to drown out their voices. Her eyes were shut so tight that it was painful. It helped. But, just barely, she could still hear them.
Blocking her ears did muffle the sound of their talking, but it couldn't stop the sound of the large door at the end of the hallway when it was opened.
Great, Azula thought sarcastically, Another visitor. But who will it be this time?
She got her answer as a man clad entirely in blue strolled into view. He was clearly Water Tribe, for he had that arrogant smirk that all the male specimen of the Tribes had. His boisterous footsteps stopped when he stood right across from her. She didn't know who he was. Then he locked eyes with her.
His eyes were the exact shade of blue as the waterbender's. She recognized him now. The sibling of the waterbender girl, who traveled with the Avatar also. The so called 'warrior'. A non-bender.
She didn't know how she knew that the two were siblings. Maybe it was that upon studying their relationship when they encountered each other, they reminded her of how it once was for her and her brother. Before everything else had happened. Before their family was destroyed.
The man looked at Azula for a moment. Then turned to the guards. He waved his hand, dismissing them. Surprisingly, they did. The 'warrior' appeared to have gained some respect in the past years. She briefly remembered his name. Sock? Zokka? Either way, it didn't matter now.
The guards left without a word. Azula watched as the man reached for a bag tied to his belt. He pulled out a few brown strips of something. She couldn't tell what it was. Then the smell hit her. It was meat.
He brought one strip to his mouth and took a bite. It must not be very tender, for he had to yank it away from his mouth. He chewed a few times, then swallowed loudly. Then he held it out to her.
"Want some?" the tribesman asked.
Azula just looked at him.
"I guess not," he said. He took another bite. He continued as he chewed. "You know, nobody appreciates meat anymore. I can't even say the word 'meat' around Aang. What a sad place this world has become." He waved his hand full of meat strips around in the air to prove his point.
He finished off the other two strips, then dug in his bag for more. He took out three more pieces and stuffed then in his mouth greedily. He moaned as he savored the taste.
Azula glared. "That's disgusting," she commented, wrinkling her nose.
Her visitor seemed surprised that she had spoken. "Well," he said accusingly, " not everyone could grow up as royalty and have perfect manners."
"That's right," Azula said. "You grew up dirty little village, pretending to be a warrior. You should leave that to the benders," she added.
That extremely offended him. "I can still fight!" he yelled indignantly, grabbing at his boomerang.
Azula rolled her eyes. An uncomfortable silence settled. He went back to eating his snack, she suddenly became very interested in the lock on the cell.
He noticed her staring at it. His lips turned into a smug smirk. "I designed that myself," he said proudly. "It's impossible to pick those locks."
She raised an eyebrow. We'll just have to see about that, she thought.
The man suddenly looked sad as his face fell. He looked to be in deep thought. Then he spoke.
"My whole like I have been like that. I invent new things; always looking towards the future. Not paying attention to the past. I didn't realize all the grief and pain that has been around me until awhile ago. I've tried to ignore it. Like with my mother. And my," his voice faltered, "first girlfriend.
"And with my sister, too. I never knew how much some things killed her until now. I never knew that she had nightmares, or cried herself to sleep. Even when the war was over and everything was supposed to be better, she was still in pain. And I never knew."
Azula kept staring at the lock. His speech was making her more uncomfortable by the minute. But it's not like she can go anywhere.
The man didn't have anything else to say. He started to leave. Azula didn't look up. The tribesmen then stopped, and turned back, stepping up to the cell again. He pulled something out of his back and set it on the floor. He stepped back.
"At least take this advice, Azula. Don't do what I did. Because you will regret it."
After he left, Azula stared at the strip of meat for a very long time.
A/N: Yeah, I don't like this one very much... That's all.
.101: Good point! Resisting the drug would be what we all expect(and know) Azula would do. But where will that get her? She would be captured again and be put in the same place as she is now. Skipping her meals wouldn't do any good either if the drug is administered to her food. She may want to be able to firebend, but she wants to live even more, as you will see soon. The best way to gain her bending and her freedom back would be getting out, but not by force. By being let out by Zuko. So she needs to behave in order for that to happen... I hope I cleared this up for you!