A/N: Pro-Bending Circuit Round Five: A Christmas Carol (part four)
Position/Team: Earthbender, Capital City Catgators
Prompts Used: rockband/musicians AU
All you have left is one left shoe? (dialogue)
Word Count: 3,355
Rating: M, mainly because of language... and because it's Azula
I'm dreaming of a live Christmas
Just like the ones I used to know
Where the spotlight glistens and our fans listen
To hear the Nomads sing our show.
I'm dreaming of a…
Azula wished she was dreaming. After the serene and ethereal scene she had witnessed at the Air Nomad celebration, the sounds of nasal singing and guitar plucking were quite grating if not the rudest awakening she'd had all night. Or well, she supposed Zirin's visit had been pretty jarring—and her song admittedly more obnoxious.
"I don't know who the fuck you are, but you need to take your show on the road and get out of my home," she growled as she rolled over in bed. Maybe if she ignored the unwelcome visitor, he would leave her alone. A strum of different guitar chords was then followed by new lyrics.
Country roads, take me home to the place I belong.
Earth Kingdom, mountain tunnels, take me home, country roads.
Azula sat up abruptly and squinted into the shadows as the man finally emerged. The first thing she noticed was a tall purple hat adorned with red plumes. Below that appeared a crazy crop of hair, a chin full of stubble, kind eyes, and a warm smile. He looked like someone from the circus, and this immediately made her think of Ty Lee.
"So, you're from the Earth Kingdom? Or you just like singing their wretched music?"
"I am from the Earth Kingdom. But my music is not. Music transcends all borders. It speaks to everyone. It connects us all," the man answered.
"Whatever." Azula was about to lie back down but for some reason her gaze remained transfixed on this odd person. She found his calm demeanor strangely comforting.
"Just like the spirit of Christmas, Azula," he continued. "Come with me, and I will show you what I mean."
She eyed his extended hand with some suspicion. Her visits to the Water Tribe and Air Nation had been pleasant enough, she supposed. Even the Fire Nation trip had ended on a positive note. "OK, fine. But at least tell me your name first, you filthy peasant."
"I am Chong. Let us go wherever the wind takes us."
A burst of air and shimmery dust enveloped them, and Azula couldn't say whether they were caught in this vortex for mere seconds or several minutes, but they soon emerged in the corner of a small home.
Chong brushed the shiny substance off his clothing and huffed. "Normally I say the best part is the journey, not the destination, but I've never been a fan of spirit world travel."
Azula then realized that they were simply spectators of some father-daughter exchange, although she didn't recognize them. She wondered why this would be significant.
"Dad, can I light the last candle?" a girl of about thirteen years asked.
"Of course, my Hope."
Azula smirked. Earth Kingdom lower class would do something like that—name their daughter Hope—especially when they had none.
The girl carefully lit a match and set a flame to a white candle in the center of a wreath that displayed four other candles, each already presenting their own light. Shadows and flickers danced across the girl's smiling face.
"Can you tell me what all the candles mean?" The man had crossed the room to stand by his daughter's side.
"Of course, Dad. We've only talked about it all season long." She cleared her throat and stood a little taller. "The first one is for hope which is how we endured the hardships of war. And it's my name!" She took in her father's look of pride before continuing. "The second is for peace which signals the end of the war and the beginning of a new era. The third is for joy which is how we embrace life during times of peace. And it is also sister's name. The fourth candle is for love which connects us to other people. And the last candle reminds us at Christmastime that together we are strong, divided we are weak."
"That would make excellent song lyrics," Chong whispered. Azula jumped when he spoke. She had almost forgotten the musician was there since she had been so intent on hearing the girl's words about this curious Earth Kingdom candle lighting ritual.
"Dad, tell me the story again about how I got my name," Hope pleaded, thus drawing Azula's attention back to the scene before them.
The man sighed and smiled. "Well, we were on our way to Ba Sing Se through the Serpent's Pass when your mother went into labor. The Avatar and his friends were escorting us, and a waterbending master named Katara brought you into the world in a small cave on the side of a mountain. Then Aang said that you gave him hope, so your mother and I thought it was the perfect name."
"That would make good song lyrics, too." Chong's voice was breathy in Azula's ear, and she batted at him as if he were a bumblefly. "Shut the fuck up, Rockstar."
Just then a younger girl burst into the room singing at full volume, "So, so what? I'm still a rock star, I got my rock moves, and I don't need you, and guess what, I'm having more fun, and now that we're done, I'm gonna show you tonight, I'm alright, I'm just fine…"
"SHUT UP, JOY!" Hope bellowed at her sister.
"What? I'm just excited about the annual Christmas Eve Sing-a-Long. Come on, Mom. It's just about time!" Joy shrieked.
The soft glow of candlelight was soon replaced by the pulsing flashes of a TV screen in the corner of the room opposite where Azula and Chong were standing. A frazzled-looking woman entered from a doorway that presumably led to the kitchen carrying a tray of snacks and drinks. When a familiar chord pattern reached Azula's ears, she saw Chong stiffen beside her.
"Next we have Lily and the Nomads singing their hit song, Blue Christmas," an announcer's voice rang out.
Azula groaned. She hated this song. It reminded her of Ty Lee.
When the lead singer, Lily, took the microphone, it looked like she was speaking directly to someone—perhaps because she was. "This one is for you, Chong. I miss you, babe."
I'll have a blue Christmas without you,
I'll be so blue just thinking about you,
Decorations of red on a green Christmas tree,
Won't be the same dear, if you're not here with me.
"Let's leave," Azula mumbled. "I've seen enough."
But Chong just stood there, glossy-eyed and gaping. And then it was her voice she heard next. "Santa Baby, I am the mad princess, and I've been an awful good girl." Before Azula even had a chance to look back at the TV screen, the man had turned it off.
"Dad!" his daughters protested in unison.
"We are not watching that," he replied simply.
"But why?" Joy whined. "I like the Mad Princess stuff."
"Because of that woman. She's a terrible example for young girls. She doesn't represent anything good, and I don't want my daughters growing up to be like her."
Azula had a retort fired and ready on her tongue, even though they couldn't hear her speak, but her words were caught in her throat as a whirlwind of sparkly dust overtook them once more.
This time they were in a hospital corridor where a weary-eyed doctor leaned against the wall and rubbed his temples. A burly looking man began to approach him. Azula thought he seemed familiar.
"How is she doing, doc?"
"As well as to be expected," was the grim answer.
The two men eyed each other with unreadable expressions before the doctor spoke again. "Your bill is due, sir. The medications are costly, and we can't continue treating her until you pay."
Grief and agitation set in as the other man responded, "I know, doc. I finished a job today. It… didn't pay all that well, but it was something. And I'll get you the money, I promise. Just please don't—please don't let her die. She's all I have left."
The doctor sighed deeply. "OK, OK. Because it's Christmas. But after the new year, I need the bill paid in full." With that, he walked away.
Azula listened to the echoing sound the man's heels made in his hasty retreat then followed by a loud bang. The larger man had pounded a fist into the wall out of frustration. This was when she finally recognized him, although she found it odd that he wasn't referring to himself in the third person. He was The Boulder, the director from her commercial shoot earlier that day. The one she'd mistreated and underpaid.
Without hesitation, Chong and Azula followed The Boulder into the hospital room. The elderly woman shifted in bed, her sickness apparent in her frail frame, but her steadfast spirit alive in her smile.
"M-m-merry Christmas, Grandma." As The Boulder's voice wavered, Azula felt herself gasp. How could a man so strong sound so broken?
"Come here now, boy. Tell me, how did it go today? Your big commercial shoot?" The old woman beckoned him with a shaky finger.
"It was f-f-fine, Grandma. Just great."
"How did the Christmas tree work out? I had so much fun making it. Do you remember when we used to make them together when you were a kid? That was before your earth rumble days. And before you had to work so much. It'd be nice to do that again some time."
"Sure thing, Grandma. Maybe we can find a material that's not flammable," The Boulder said with a grimace.
Chong leaned over toward Azula. "I wrote a song about flaming Christmas trees once. Surprisingly, it didn't catch on."
Azula didn't respond. The whole thing made her feel numb—frozen.
"Well, don't just stand there m'boy. Get me my shoes. I want to go to the hospital common room to watch the Sing-a-Long!" the old woman suddenly snapped.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Despite his question, The Boulder started searching the room for her shoes anyway. He found one pretty quickly but was growing visibly agitated when he couldn't find the other.
"It's fine, dear. I forgot I lost a shoe a while back. I don't need shoes if I'm in a wheelchair anyway. Let's just go, shall we? I don't want to miss the grand finale. The Order of the White Lotus is singing Four Seasons, and I think that Jeong Jeong is hot!"
The Boulder gaped at his grandmother, his mouth working slowly before words finally spilled out. "All you have left is one left shoe?"
"I wrote a song about that, too," Chong said as he hooked an elbow with Azula's and they entered the whirlwind once more. This time, she heard him singing as they were spinning.
I'm lonely without you,
Just like one left shoe.
I'm lonely without you.
It reminded her of Ty Lee. She closed her eyes to fight back the tears. When she opened them, she was back in her bed with a glimpse of the earliest signs of dawn peeking through her window—Christmas morning.
Azula launched herself from bed, quickly dressed, ran her fingers through her hair, and applied her go-to Agni's Desire lipstick—because she'd never leave home without it, no matter how pressed for time she was. In fact, she knew she had some spares somewhere. She found them in the drawer of her nightstand where her eyes were then drawn to the overturned portrait of her lover—her family. She set the frame upright and ran a finger lightly across Ty Lee's face.
"Merry Christmas, my little elf," she whispered.
She stuffed some clothes and cigarettes in a bag, and within minutes, Azula was banging on Mai's apartment door. "Mai, wake up! Mai, I need you!"
She was greeted with a pale face framed by disheveled bangs and a deep set frown. "You really are mad, princess. Do you realize it's fucking five o'clock in the morning?"
"And didn't I say you'd be pulling a triple today?" Azula said with a smirk. "We've got to leave early if we're going to make it to ZuZu's party on time. Don't you want to see Izumi?"
A rare smile spread across her assistant's face. "We're going to the party?" Mai then shook her head in disbelief. "Wait… you're going to the party?"
Azula put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot, adorned, as always, in her signature high heels. "Come on, Mai. I was born to party. Now move your ass!"
The streets of Ba Sing Se were surprisingly bustling for such an early hour. Perhaps this was normal or maybe it was because it was Christmas. Azula wouldn't know since she would typically be sleeping off a hangover and wouldn't emerge until 10am or so. Mai looked a little worse for wear as she tried to keep up with the frenzied pace. The mad princess couldn't help but wonder what vices her assistant used to cope with the pressures of the job. Perhaps she should cut Mai some slack.
As Azula contemplated these things, lost in thought, she nearly ran into the man on the side of the street who was carrying a bucket and ringing a bell.
"Will you watch where I'm going, asshole!?" she barked.
"I'm so sorry ma'am," the man replied. "Would you consider donating to our charity?"
"Charity?" Azula then remembered that the original plan for the day was to coordinate her own charity event as a tax write-off before the end of the year. She looked down at the bucket and read the label. Ba Sing Se General Hospital Patient Fund
"Yes, ma'am. We're collecting for patients who can't afford to pay their medical bills. It's especially difficult this time of year, you know."
Azula let out an exasperated sigh and saw Mai go rigid out of the corner of her eye. But she also felt her stomach clinch as she remembered Grandma Boulder.
"Fine," she deadpanned as she proceeded to dump the entire contents of her wallet into the bucket.
The man's eyes widened in surprise. "Oh, thank you, ma'am! Oh, wow! That's the most anyone has ever donated in my fifteen years of doing this! Oh, it's a Christmas miracle!"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever." Azula glanced back at Mai and seriously contemplated smacking the look of shock off her face, too.
"Would you like a receipt? For tax purposes?" the man asked.
Azula stared back at him for a few seconds, her stomach still churning with a sense of uneasiness. "No. That won't be necessary. Come on, Mai. Let's go."
On the air balloon flight to the Fire Nation Capital, Azula decided to talk business to help take her mind off the nervousness she felt about going home.
"OK, Mai, for the Mad Princess charity, I want to start a line of products targeted to teenage girls."
"Um, OK. But teenage girls already buy our products. And how would this be a charity exactly?"
"Welllllllll, let's tone down the products a bit. Make them less, oh, I dunno, provocative, I guess. And the proceeds should go toward helping teenage victims of sexual abuse. Maybe we can set up a counseling service or something. I'm just thinking out loud here."
"That sounds… like a great idea, Azula. But I don't think we can implement it before the end of the year for the tax write-off."
"That doesn't matter anymore!" Azula snapped. "This is not about money! It's about helping people!" When she saw her assistant's expression of complete and utter surprise, she backpedaled. "And… and… improving our company image!"
Mai's face shifted to a look of concern. "Azula… what's gotten into you? What did you take last night?"
"What!? Nothing! Why can't a girl just be high on… Christmas spirit!?"
Mai frowned. "Well, you better not come off whatever you're high on in the middle of the party and make a big scene. I'm going to see my daughter and—"
"You forget that Izumi is my family, too!" Azula snarled.
Mai folded her arms across her chest and resumed her usual state of impassiveness. "Of course, Azula. As always, everything is about you."
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
"Aunt Ussie! You came!" A flurry of yellow fabric crashed into her arms. Azula smiled. She had forgotten that her niece had trouble saying her name when she was younger and coincidentally called her by the same thing that Uncle Iroh had.
"Wow, that's a beautiful dress," she said to a beaming Izumi.
"Gran helped me make it," the young girl replied.
"Gran?" Azula immediately thought of the Water Tribe. When Ursa appeared by Izumi's side, she then realized who she was talking about.
"Yes, she picked out the fabric herself," Ursa said.
At this, Izumi did a little twirl, showing off the light and airy texture of her dress. This also struck a chord in Azula's memory. "Wow, you look like an Air Nomad," she said without thinking.
All chatter from the room stopped, and everyone turned to stare at her. Normally Azula wouldn't mind being put on the spot, but this was different. She was different—but perhaps not quite ready to show it. "Merry Christmas bitches!" she hollered out with a wave.
She caught her mother's disapproving glare as she spun around to face Izumi once again. "I got you a present, little firefly. I think it will match your dress quite nicely."
Her niece excitedly opened the lipstick and made a motion to put it on before a swift hand caught hers. "Not so fast, princess. Maybe when you're older."
"Oh, come on, ZuZu. It's Christmas for Agni's sake." Azula scowled at her brother.
"And my daughter is not wearing Agni's Desire when she is only six years old!"
"It's OK, Zuko." Just as Mai reached over to place a comforting hand on Zuko's arm, Izumi snatched the lipstick out of her father's grip and ran off in a fit of maniacal laughter.
"Hmmm." Azula nodded in approval.
"Don't look so smug," Zuko said. "Just because she happens to take after her aunt—" He paused. "It's good to see you, Azula."
"Look! It's Agni's Blessing, everyone!" Izumi called from the other side of the room while brandishing her prized Christmas present.
"Agni's Desire, child," Azula mumbled. "Wait... Agni's Blessing… Mai, write that down. For our new Mad Princess teen lipstick." She elbowed her assistant.
Ursa caught Izumi's hand and raised a glass with her other. "I think what our little fairy princess meant to say was Agni bless us, everyone!"
"Fairy Princess. That's what we'll call the new product line," Azula added.
Mai rolled her eyes. "Can't you stop working for a minute and just enjoy yourself?"
Truth be told, thinking about work provided a distraction. It was how she'd lived her life these past several years. Azula didn't have to face her problems if she just stayed focused on the business. It was how she coped—and it was how she drove everyone else away.
She was truly happy to see her family now, and they had all welcomed her back with open arms. But talking about work also masked her disappointment in the fact that Ty Lee wasn't there. Of course she wasn't. Why would she be?
"Auntie Lee!" Izumi's voice rang out as a burst of yellow breezed past Azula and toward the doorway.
When she turned and made eye contact with the woman who had just arrived—her beautiful, wonderful Ty Lee—a feeling of warmth spread through her body. It was so many things all at once—hope, peace, joy, love—all of the things they celebrated at Christmas but could never be contained in one season or limited to one spirit. It was the type of feeling that filled a person to the point of overflowing, where there was no choice but to cherish it—and then share it.
And Azula planned to do exactly that.
A/N: The other three parts of this story were written by my teammates on the Capital City Catgators for the Pro-Bending Circuit Competition. I can't post links here, but you can follow the link in my profile and then click on "Round 5" to find the other fics written by QueenTyZula, FanFictionKatie, and BetterYouThanMe.
Also, some song attributions from this story: I apologize to Irving Berlin (lyricist) and Bing Crosby (performer) for butchering the lyrics to the classic song, White Christmas. I'm not all that sorry about the John Denver song, Take Me Home, Country Roads, though. Then I reference Pink's song, So What. Blue Christmas was written by Billy Hayes and Jay W. Johnson and performed by Elvis Presley. One Left Shoe is actually a song written by Steve Poltz, who knew?