"Stand and fight," Fire Lord Ozai's burning black figure approached.
"No...dad...please. I...I..can't." He pleaded on his knees; his father's form completely obscuring the Agni Kai arena and spectators.
Amid the cheers and catcalls, a small girl's ruby lips curved wickedly; her hand clenched into a tight fist, waiting in anticipation. You've done it now Zuzu. Looks like even dear mother's sacrifice wasn't enough to save you. How futile. Her pathetic little runt, doomed to die in an Agni Kai against his own father. Her usually controlled heartbeat rose slightly, the prospects of a dead Zuko too delicious not to relish. Even from her distance she could feel his hands shaking, his heart crashing into his chest. Though her acute senses couldn't hear her father's words through the arena fanfare, she was certain what they were:
"An insult to one of my war ministers is an insult to the Fire Lord himself. I won't say it again. You will stand and fight...you traitor...you coward...you failure...Stand AZULA!!"
What?! The young princess' eyes shrank as she looked down at her trembling hands. Her father's shadow came closer, swallowing up the outside world. Ozai's heated gaze bore into her golden eyes as she timidly turned her head up. "You have failed me Azula," her father's voice thundered in her ears. Failed? Her heart raced as her mind searched for words, "F-f-failed? Father dearest, I have been your loyal servant my entire life. What have I possibly done to cause you shame?"
"Father?! Do not taint me with the word," a hissing ring of fire encircled her and Ozai, blocking off the rest of the arena. "I am no father to failures. You failed to defend your Lord and Nation on the day of the eclipse. You have failed to see our cause through." Failure. The word hounded her from all directions; condemning her.
"Zuko...and the others. They betrayed us. It wasn't my fault!" She pleaded.
"Silence!" She felt his voice cut through her, cold and cruel. A cold chill ran up her back, she felt her insides freezing up. How ironic that she should feel so cold and desolate with fire raging all around her. "You are no longer the scion of Sozin's line that was meant to be. Now you must be erased." Ozai's shadowy form stepped forward, right arm pulsing with fire.
"No! Father...please...I'm sorry...please don't--Aaaaaaaaaauuughh!" The Fire Lord's monstrous flaming hand clamped down on her face. Her entire left side was melted away. The stench of burning flesh and fat somehow reached her nostrils as the fire hungrily climbed down her back.
"NO!" Azula's hands desperately clawed at the air as she woke. Turning her head wildly, she scanned her holding cell. Calm down...she admonished herself; one hand at her pounding heart, the other at her sweaty forehead. She mustn't allow herself to forget her composure. Much less so on such an important day. The day of her execution had finally arrived.
I have failed. She could at least admit the thought to herself in the cold darkness of the stone cell. The endless hours of drilling herself to perfection; ensuring her poise in the royal court matched her grace in battle. Her conquest of Ba Sing Se. Her victory over the Avatar. The restoration of her brother's honor. All for naught. In the end, she was utterly alone.
An image of herself smirking at her brother's Agni Kai flashed in her mind again. Did I really wish him dead? I wonder whether if, now that the tables have turned, he smiles at my own demise. High up on the Fire Lord's throne...the seat he stole from father...laughing, knowing that his only obstacle will soon be no more.
"Bastard!" She didn't bother restraining herself for once. "I gave him everything, and he threw it back in my face. Did he honestly think I needed him to conquer Ba Sing Se?! With the Dai Li I could have easily bested the Avatar and him. I could have brought him back as a prisoner; instead he was allowed to return a hero."
In the short months following their joint conquest at Ba Sing Se, it could be said that she and Zuko had even become a little closer. I watched his back, she remembered advising him against visiting uncle, and helping him look into their great grandfather's history. "He wouldn't have lasted a week before his traitorous past came back at him." She muttered to herself. "And in gratitude he betrays our nation, murders our father, and even turns my so called friends against me!"
Her lips snarled like a feral beast. "Mai and Ty Lee...my dearest friends. I won't overlook their treachery either. They would've been nothing without me. Trapped in the monotony and drudgery of noble society. Or tossed into the arms of a nameless upper middle class suitor like all of Ty Lee's sisters."
"Zuko...Ty Lee...Mai... I gave them position...I made them great. and now they've all left me here to rot. Like everyone else has..."
No, that wasn't entirely true. She rubbed a hand along the cotton fabric dressing her wounds. Both Jin and Chiang had visited not less than two days ago...
The heavy footfalls of a guard brought her to quiet alertness. It was too soon for them to be making another round. As she pricked her ears more intently, she thought she'd heard fainter steps following the heavy crashes of the armed guard. She donned an expressionless mask facing the front of her cell, as they finally arrived. The dim light of her cell was not much better along the hallway, but she could clearly make out the stout figures of a guard and another man, with a smaller, slender person completing the trio.
"Make this quick. Visits are limited to 20 minutes. You've already used the first 10 walking to her cell."
The smaller shadow's tanned face and chocolate hair surfaced from the darkness. "...Um, hi Azula..." Jin tried not to sound too awkward.
"Jin..." Azula glared. "i can only suppose the man behind you is Chiang."
"Who else?" His lumbering hands twisted around her cell's bars, peering in to get a better view. "You didn't really bother getting along with anyone else in the city, did you?"
"As if that would've gotten me anywhere. Befriending a bunch of worthless peasants wouldn't have saved me in the end."
"Worthless? Is that why you found it so easy to destroy the city's food supply?" Jin questioned "We treated you with kindness. Didn't that mean something to you, or are you truly as heartless as everyone says?"
I don't need to explain myself to anyone. Least of all to people I barely know," Azula scoffed. "Look at you," she hissed. "You like to think that you're so just and fair—hypocrites! You've already judged me before knowing why I did the things I did." She turned to look at Jin, "You even considered yourself my friend, but here you are condemning and accusing me like everyone else."
"We didn't come here to do that," Jin countered. "We came to see how you were. To give yo some company before they finally..." she scrunched her eyes shut, holding back some brimming tears.
"you're a few weeks short of turning 15 years old, and near execution. It should be against the law to sentence someone that young to death." Chiang spoke aloud though more to himself than those present.
A dense silence followed, Azula staring blankly at the floor. "I was attacked ," Azula sighed.
"What?" Jin turned up to look at her.
"A female bounty hunter mounted on a shirshu made an attempt on my life. I did what was necessary in order to survive."
"Why didn't you say anything? I'm sure the Earth King wouldn't have done this if you'd said something about..."
"I DID," Azula's eyes flashed angrily. "And you know what? Despite the overwhelming evidence in my favor, no none would hear me out. You're noble little Earth King was just looking for an excuse to get rid of, me and he found the perfect one."
"You're brother, I'm sure he can help, can't he?," Chiang considered. "They wouldn't do this to you without sending word to the Fire Nation first."
"Hah! That's a laugh. Even if a message was sent, I doubt Zuko would be able to do anything before my ten days are up. Besides, I doubt he'd want to do anything for me even if he could.
"This is the end," her tone rose in severity becoming more stoic. "But I won't give anyone here the satisfaction of seeing any weakness in me. What could be more proper, my final hour spent at the site of my greatest triumph...Ba Sing Se?"
The guard had come by shortly after to pull away her two visitors. They had been too unnerved by her resignation to say much else, but Jin had at least remembered to give her some strips of coarse cloth and a jade flower poultice. Azula was at least able to tend to her cuts and wounds more out of something to do, than out of concern for herself.
Internally, her resolve to die wasn't so hardened as it seemed. I pretty much told them that I was resigned to my death, but if truth be told, I'd like to destroy them. They took everything I had.
Mai, Ty Lee, and Zuko, they all need to burn.
The armored footfalls of the approaching guard sounded no heavier than Azula had grown accustomed to, but she knew these were different; they ushered her end. "Time to go," the guard smirked, draped on both sides with prefect corps agents, a total of six. Azula complied wordlessly as she was cuffed and shackled with earthbending. "You know after today, you'll have achieved one other distinction," the guard chuckled tying a green blindfold over her. "You'll be the first royal to be publicly executed in Ba Sing Se in about 200 years." The guard looked around at his comrades for support, but met with indifferent stares. The prefect corps inherited more than their occupations from the Dai Li.
The former princess followed along mechanically, occasionally receiving a push from one of the men. She'd been mentally preparing herself for this over the last few days, once she'd admitted to herself that there was nothing she could do. Now she just had to sit back, and let it all happen. Unable to see, she focused on the dungeon's rough floor, and the occasional din from the other prisoners.
She felt herself jerked to her right, and up a few more steps. This isn't the way we came up here. Perhaps we're just taking a different route. Taking a deep breath, she noticed the air didn't carry the same stale, dead odor of the dungeon. But they couldn't be outside. The air was too still, and warm for them to be outdoors. Her feet fell on smoother floor. It wasn't the grooved and cobbled streets she was familiar with. Is the ground...tiled? The Fire Lord's palace had many such floors, and of that she could be sure. Where are we?I thought this was supposed to be a public event.
"Sit," she was shoved into a sturdy wooden seat. She felt her cuffs disintegrate, and her arms placed roughly on the arm rests. Her hand trailed along the ornately carved ends of the arm rests as the earthbenders shackled her feet to the chair legs. "Now you face your end," the same guard whispered in her ear, and she felt them walk out.
What the hell is going on? She maintained her composure, waiting for something...anything to happen. The room was deadly silent, she couldn't even be sure anyone was there besides her. Finally she heard a faint sigh, and felt a hand over her face.
A whiff of his favored dragon rose perfume caught her nose even before her eyes were unveiled, but she had to wait to be sure. As the rough green rag fell off her face, there could be no doubt, her scarred golden-eyed brother stared back as her gaze narrowed.
"What are you doing here, Zuzu? What do you want?" She growled through gritted teeth.
"My, so quick to get to the point. In my country, we like to exchange a pleasant hello first, or have you grown uncivilized so soon?" Relieved that his sister was still alive, he couldn't resist a slight jab at her.
"Bastard, you think you can just play with me. I know you're the one who sent that assassin, and now you've come to gloat just before I'm led to execution." Her hawk's eyes scanned him for any sign of assent in the way his body reacted. His scarred, long face became more solemn, but she saw nothing to really give him away.
"No..." the word came to his mouth slowly. "I came to save you when I found out about you're execution."
"Liar!" Azula charged. "YOU save ME? Aren't you the one who usurped our father? The one who took everything away from me? Yes, that's you. You started with our mother; how she'd fawn over pathetic little you, while I could see her cringe every time she looked at me, her little abomination." Hysteria tinged her voice, as her pitch rose. "But that wasn't enough for you, was it? Mai and Ty Lee, you stole them as well. And the throne that would have eventually been yours anyway...you couldn't wait. You and that stupid bald monk even stole my father from me." Her chest rose angrily, nostrils breathing heavily. She allowed herself room to calm, before declaring bitterly, "now you won't even let me have the honor of a proper execution."
"You're wrong," his head rose to meet her. " I didn't steal all those things from you. And I did come here to help you."
"Hah, it's laughable that you think, I'll accept this crap you're trying to spoon feed me." He'd gotten better at acting, his movements and expressions hadn't betrayed him in the least. A small part of her told Azula that maybe he was being truthful; Zuzu had never been a great liar after all. Still, there was one gaping hole in his story that she wouldn't let slip by. She sneered at him, "I'll admit, you seem to have gotten better at lying, but there's still one thing I don't understand. How could you have known about my impending death anyway? The Fire Nation palace is more than halfway around the world, no one could have gotten you a message in less than 10 days."Azula smirked as she saw her brother fidget, unsure how to answer.
Zuko was hoping he wouldn't have to reveal his dethroning so soon, but he honestly didn't have much of a choice. He couldn't think of any believable excuses. Besides, if Azula was to come with him he needed to gain her trust, which meant being truthful. It was either that, or leave her to die, the Earth King had made it very clear. "I knew because an attempt was made on my life as well. General Senshurei staged a coup, and tried to kill me. Before completely overrunning the capital, and forcing my evacuation, he revealed a similar plot to get rid of you. I had no idea that you were facing execution, when I came. At worst, I thought their assassin might have killed you. I was worried, and had to find out." Zuko breathed deeply at his last words hoping Azula would believe him.
The former princess eyed her brother from head to toe. She hadn't noticed before, but he wasn't even wearing his Fire Lord robes or headpiece. A set of loose cotton burgundy pants, and a more expensive red silk shirt were what he wore. "Poor Zuzu, not even a month into the job, and you've already failed as Fire Lord." She smirked wickedly, knowing she could get a rise from him. "I guess it shouldn't surprise you. Treachery and failure aren't something people can forget so easily. I may have brought you back after Ba Sing Se, but even I couldn't erase your past. Even with you're restored honor, people still have no loyalty for you."
"They don't seem to have much loyalty left for you either," Zuko roared approaching his sister. "General Senshurei openly bragged about how killing you would enlist the entire nation to his cause, and support his rise to Fire Lord."
Azula's face dropped into a neutral stance. "If they don't have much loyalty left, it's only thanks to you. How could anyone be loyal to a banished former princess that failed to defend them during the eclipse?"
"I didn't come here to mince words with you Azula. Believe it or not, I came because I care." He went to a table behind him, and unfurled a scroll. "I've negotiated with the Earth King for your release. You can read the documentation yourself, if you like. In the end, though, you'll find that you have two options: you can either come with me, or you can stay here and die in a couple of hours. It's your choice."
She'd made up her mind even before he'd finished talking. If she stayed it was the end, but if she went with him, her plans, to regain her status, and her nation's former glory, would survive in one form or another. That.. and a little revenge might be in order as well. Still, she couldn't let on that she was too eager; she couldn't let Zuko think he'd won this battle. "And what would coming with you entail, dear brother? Being a personal slave, seeing as you've lost all the one's at the palace?"
"I myself, am not too thrilled by it, but the Earth King demanded that you remain by my side for him to allow your release. Right now, that would mean helping me and the Avatar fight to regain the throne." He saw her head jerk away. "Of course, I think we can both agree that prospect is better than death."
Azula was silent for a moment before responding. "So I can either die, or end up being used by my enemies for their personal gain. I guess you've really had to back me into a corner to have any hope of gaining my help."
"I'm not doing this out of any need for your help." Agni, why couldn't Azula at least be grateful when she should be. "I'm doing this as a favor to you. You are family after all. I couldn't sit idly by as you faced death, and this was the only way to get your sentence removed. I'll still have a lot of explaining to do when we rejoin Aang and the others."
"My aren't you a good brother?" She brought a slender finger to her chin. "Well, I guess we've both failed by allowing some power hungry militant to take the throne. Not even noble-blooded is he?" She sighed before continuing, "I may as well help you, seeing as it was both our duty to continue the royal line."
"I'm glad you see things that way," Zuko half smiled. He realized she'd never openly agree, lest she lose face in his eyes. But at least she hadn't been so pigheaded as to refuse.
General Kuma,
Our position in the homeland has been solidified. While none can undermine the control Senshurei and I have achieved, we've still not been able to coax our nation to resume its struggle. Senshurei seems confident that wave of propaganda might be sufficient to raise our brethren to arms, but we will still rely heavily on the knowledge of Princess Azula's death to push them over the edge. I trust the assassin was able to dispatch her easily, perhaps she's even delivered the body to you already. In either case, we'll be needing a response as soon as possible, so that we can begin our offensive.
If all goes well, you should be receiving supplies and reinforcements in about a week. In the meantime, head for the Southern provinces. They are far less organized than in the north, and should provide a ready source of supplies for further campaigns against Ba Sing Se and Omashu. I as well, will begin moving against the Water Tribes, while Senshurei holds our center.
Kuma threw the message on his makeshift desk. Bashing in a few of the lower infantry in hand-to-hand had lost its fun days ago. He was glad for some action, and promptly ordered his officers to "ready the maggots" for the next day's march. He'd only hoped the assassination of the princess had gone on better. As Jun had described it, Princess Azula was as good as dead, all thanks to the Earth King too. Even so, knowing that she would soon die, wasn't as good as knowing that she was already dead.
A/N: Well, my 3 week hiatus ended up becoming more like three months long. Sorry about that. Honestly, the only reason I was able to update in the first place was because I got rained out of work today. I'm not too please with how some of this turned out, particularly the end of the Zuko/Azula reunion scene. Still, I felt it had been far too long since my last update. Any suggestions are welcome.
Unfortunately, I've started Fall semester in school, so I probably won't be able to update too regularly. On top of that, I've got to start looking at transfer schools, and filling out scholarship apps. Hopefully, I can get something up every couple of weeks or so. I'm not making an guarantees though.
Thanks for reading!