Chapter Thirty-Six: Watching Flowers Grow
Zuko can hear the raging fight between his sister and his father as he runs to find Katara. Kazumi is in his arms, wide awake and alert, but looking unafraid. She is adorable, and he can see the family resemblance. And while he wants to be fighting with Azula, he thinks his other sister needs his protection more. Just having her in his arms during this violent invasion has to be endangering her severely, and it is making him panic.
Finally, he finds Katara with arms of water lashing around the room, taking out guards. She lowers her element as she sees Zuko, and sees that her opponents all lie dead or broken. Katara has never been so relieved to see Zuko ─ she was reaching the point of exhaustion and nowhere near the center of the palace.
"Is that Kazumi?" Katara asks, dashing to Zuko. She has to pry the baby out of his arms because he has forgotten how to move his own limbs in the panic.
She clutches Kazumi to her chest and touches the baby's little nose. "Where's Azula?" Katara asks, snapping back into focus as Kazumi reaches for her hair and tugs at it. Her eyes flash wide as she is ripped back into the severity of the Invasion.
"Fighting my father. Come on, hurry. We have to go help her," Zuko says and Katara nods.
"And Kazumi?" Katara asks, gently freeing her locks of hair from the baby's small, soft hands.
"Bring her, I guess. I don't want to leave her in the palace," Zuko says and Katara wishes he had a better plan for his little sister. But she knows Ozai takes priority, and so she clutches Kazumi tightly to her and prepares to help Azula.
Zuko runs with Katara to the throne room as soon as he finds her. Mai and Ty Lee are still fighting and when they reach the room, Zuko lets out a wordless cry of agony. Katara doubles back for a moment.
Katara runs forward as Zuko bites back tears of shock and pain. But Katara thinks quickly as Zuko's brain shuts off, she hands Kazumi to him and fumbles for her water skin. She pulls her water from her side and searches for the wound, searches for what has surrounded Azula in blood, soaking her clothes and staining her skin.
She rests the water on her and feels the wound heal. There has to be a way. Azula is cold as ice, but her chest rises and falls, her whole body shuddering with each breath. Azula cannot die. Not like this, not like this.
"Is she dead?" Zuko manages, looking at his father's corpse and standing by Katara.
"She's still breathing," Katara whispers, and that is not the definite answer Zuko wanted. "He's not."
Katara heals her to the best of her ability as Zuko tries to control his rage. Katara looks at Azula and thinks about everything the princess has done. She went from a horrific enemy who nearly killed Katara and harmed her friends, to one of Katara's most trusted allies.
Azula cannot die. She needs to live to see the world that she helped create. But Katara can feel her slipping every moment, and the glowing water is doing little good.
But regardless of what happens next, Ozai is dead. All the little caged birds are flying free now.
Outside, Ty Lee gasps for breath as she and her companions finally make it to the palace. The air smells of acrid smoke and Ty Lee's skin is lined with bruises of her own and splattered with the blood of others. She has stuck as close to Mai as possible as they tried to catch up with Zuko, Katara and Azula.
And they have lain waste to the city of Caldera so that they can soon rebuild it from the ashes.
"Who's coming out?" Ty Lee whispers to Mai as they arrive on the red stone pathway leading to the front gates of the Fire Nation Royal Palace. Soldiers lay dead around their feet; clearly Zuko, Azula and Katara made it.
"Don't look," Mai says sharply with a small gasp of fright, grabbing Ty Lee. But the acrobat shoves her away and runs forward.
Zuko is walking out of the palace with a body in his arms. Ty Lee feels bile rising in her throat as she sees the limp form of Azula in Zuko's arms, her clothes and his both bloodied. Her hair is matted with blood, stuck together in clumps, the crown absent. She does not move; Ty Lee does not see the rise and fall of her chest.
Katara is clutching a baby with glittering golden eyes.
"Zuko!" Ty Lee screams, unwelcome tears streaming from her eyes, running before Mai can stop her. He is shaking his head and tears are streaming from her eyes. "She's not ─ she's not─?"
"We need to get her to a doctor. Katara healed the cut but she lost, she lost a lot blood." He does not seem to be able to speak coherently as Ty Lee can only feel revulsion.
"Is he dead?" Ty Lee dares to ask. She finds herself unable to look away from Azula's mangled body, even though it hurts her to see the blood dribbling from her lip.
"Yes," Zuko says and Ty Lee smiles for a fleeting heartbeat.
"Give me my daughter. We'll find a doctor," Ty Lee says, outstretching her arms. Katara inserts Kazumi into them and Ty Lee stares at the little girl. Kazumi looks back, seeming slightly afraid. "You don't know me, but I love you."
They run through the burning streets, Zuko clinging to Azula and feeling her become colder and colder. Even her blood is drying onto his clothes and his skin, flaking off and crumbling. It makes him feel sick and panicked.
Finally, they make it to safety. Zuko runs ahead as Ty Lee watches helplessly, holding Kazumi close to her. Zuko knows he must save her. He knows it is up to him.
As Azula lies in a hospital bed, the uncertainty kills Zuko, Mai, Katara and Ty Lee. The battle is still half being fought, although it is mostly won save for a few bits of resistance soldiers, Toph, Sokka, Suki and Iroh are weeding out. Azula has just been given surgery and the attempts to save her have been painfully desperate.
Ty Lee stares directly into her daughter's confused eyes, and she wishes she were as blissfully ignorant as this little baby. Kazumi wraps her hands around Ty Lee's loose hair that came free of her braid or the portions matted with sweat and blood. It brings a small smile to the acrobat's lips as Zuko paces incessantly and Mai and Katara keeps exchanging glances but are incapable of speaking to each other.
"It's over," Katara finally whispers to Mai. Mai slowly nods. "After everything we went through. Years..."
Pause. "Katara," Mai murmurs, "it's never going to be over. All of these nightmares and memories and history is all going to be stuck with you for the rest of your life. And your only consolation is that the guy responsible is dead."
Katara frowns, her big cobalt eyes glittering with momentary tears. "Well, I want you to know that I love you. And I think that after all of this, maybe we should just disappear for a little while."
Mai smirks. "Now that's incredibly irresponsible, Katara. Don't you want to go back to the Water Tribe and sit in stuffy political functions and help Zuko and Azula get the world back on track?"
"I don't think they'll miss me for a little while," Katara murmurs, leaning forward and pressing her lips against Mai's.
It is an unlikely pair. As Katara kisses Mai again, more passionately this time, she sees the Boiling Rock. She sees Mai being tossed in her cell, and Mai snapping at her for trying to help the other prisoners and having hope. She sees she and Mai escaping, and the two of them trying to take on the entire world together. She sees them gradually growing together, somehow, inexplicably, despite their differences.
And she sees a future that is just a tiny bit brighter if she has this dreadful, sarcastic, passionless girl in it.
An indefinite amount of time later, Azula wakes up in a white bed. The last thing she remembers is the cracking of her father's neck bones, and lying down to die. She is reminded of when Ty Lee saved her in New Ozai City. And she woke up, despite being certain she would have been abandoned.
"She's awake," says Katara's voice.
Azula sits up slowly, looking around. The room is empty at first, but quickly fills with her friends. Before she can move or say anything, warm lips lock with hers and she holds onto Ty Lee tightly for a moment, despite the pain it causes her body.
"You didn't die," Ty Lee murmurs, crying now.
She cries because it is over. At last, it is all over.
"I promised I wouldn't," Azula replies, running her thumb along Ty Lee's cheekbone to remove the tears that drip there.
"He's dead. He's dead, isn't he?" Azula demands, her eyes leaving Ty Lee and moving to her brother. "He is...?"
"He's dead, Fire Lord Azula," Zuko replies warmly, not feeling an ounce of guilt for smiling about his father's death.
"What happened to me?" Azula asks breathlessly, touching her sore wound. Her fingertips brush against cloth bandages, clean, freshly changed. But she remembers nothing.
"You almost died," Zuko says, sitting down beside her. "He stabbed you. But Katara saved you and, well, you pulled through. You are pretty hard to kill."
"And rage is one good anesthetic," Azula says quietly. Zuko nods once. "I don't know what to do now. My revenge... I have it. He's dead and I'm free and I don't..."
Zuko just shrugs and Azula does not know what to make of it. "It's up to you. It's your story now, not father's."
"Well, let's write some history then, brother," Azula says, grabbing his hand. He smiles at her and she tries not to smile back.
"I have someone for you to meet," Katara says from outside of the door. She walks to Azula, clutching a small bundle in her arms. Azula inhales sharply to control her emotions; she does not want anyone to see her this weak.
"That's Kazumi, isn't it?" Azula asks, trying to keep her voice flat and smooth. She does not want to show emotion; she wants to be the stoic victor unmoved by winning.
"Yes," Katara says, gently setting the baby in Azula's arms.
Azula looks at her golden eyes and sees her truly for the first time. No cloud as she is passing out in childbirth, no blur as she passes her off to Zuko and hopes she lives. She just looks at her little girl, then glances up at Ty Lee, who is grinning far too excitedly.
The lioness is reunited with her cub, and all is right in the jungle.
Outside of the hospital room, as Azula and Ty Lee are with Kazumi, Katara and Mai stand, close to each other. Mai shifts her weight from foot to foot uncomfortably, unsure what to say to Katara.
"You kept your promise," Katara says with a small smile. "And so I'll make it more than worth it, Fire Nation."
"So..." Mai feels awkward asking, but she knows she must. "We're a couple now or something, Water Tribe?"
"If you want to be," Katara replies and Mai does not hesitate before nodding.
Their lips meet and they cling to each other. It is finally over, and they are together at last. So much pain brought them together, but now the world can make sense again in each other's arms.
Zuko goes to Sokka, Toph, Suki and Iroh, hugging each one of them tightly as they finally arrive at the hospital. They had more important things to take care of in the city than checking in on Azula.
"We did it," Zuko says, trying to be happy.
But it feels strongly as if his work is not done, and Iroh confirms that when he says, "We still have a long way to go. There is a lot of work to do before balance is fully restored. Is Azula alright?"
"She's fine. She's pretty hard to kill," Zuko says, trying to joke. But the truth is he has been in a panic for the entire day as Azula lay unconscious. "I'm just glad we're all alive. It was kind of a suicide mission."
"Suicide mission is an understatement," Sokka says with an eyebrow cocked. "It was a bloodbath."
Zuko does not have any words for that.
Azula makes her statement as soon as the city is cleaned and most people are accounted for. There are still signs up, pictures of missing people and notes to those who are separated. It is not over, not by a longshot, but Azula walks to the royal balcony, emerging from crackling fire, her pale, wasted away body somehow not overshadowed by red drapes and ornate decorations.
She supports herself on the balcony with her trembling hands. Zuko watches from the sidelines, Toph, Sokka, Suki, Katara, Mai and Ty Lee with him, watching Azula.
"I stood here years ago after the comet to announce my reign, and my brother's death. Things have clearly changed and I can't promise it will be easy." Pause. Azula hesitates and squeezes the balcony more tightly. "As of the end of this Invasion and my reinstatement as Fire Lord, I am withdrawing the Fire Nation from the One Hundred Year War. The Earth Kingdom and Water Tribes have agreed to also give in, and we have come to a treaty that I believe is fair, and I would not have signed if I did not believe was best for our nation."
Hesitation. Zuko breathes a small sigh of relief as a riot does not break out. They seem to trust Azula, which is why he knew she would be the best Fire Lord.
"I don't want you to think I'm a traitor, or that I killed my father for power. I want you to remember that I am the Fire Nation, and always will be."
Applause. Sokka can breathe again, the tension in his chest relaxing. Katara grabs Mai's hand and holds it. Azula continues her speech and Zuko is kissed on the nose while he is not paying attention.
"...that was your nose. I meant to kiss your lips..." Toph rubs her neck awkwardly. "I'm just going to... walk over here now..."
Zuko cocks an eyebrow. Today is an interesting day. Katara snickers as she watches.
A month later, there is a grand coronation. Azula has been waiting for this moment for her entire life, and she seethes with excitement. Ty Lee is beside her the entire time.
"Do you ever intend to let go of my hand?" Azula asks, remarking on the odd compulsion for the first time. Ty Lee has seemed afraid to let go of her since they were first imprisoned in the Fire Nation.
"No. Never," Ty Lee says earnestly, squeezing Azula's fingers.
Azula kisses her tenderly. It is a perfect moment, as Azula is surrounded by people who for some reason or another respect her. Her friends are there; Mai and Katara are finally together and looking pleased... well, Katara is looking pleased; Mai looks as passive as ever.
And princess Azula walks to the Fire Sages, to the balcony of the royal plaza where she gave her forced speeches and betrayed herself to be her father's slave, and kneels.
The crown slips into her hair and it feels right. It was wrong during the comet. Mostly because there was no one there to share it with, or maybe because she was gradually losing her mind. But now all is well, and she is surrounded by people she has to begrudgingly admit she loves.
Her golden eyes meet Ty Lee's as she becomes Fire Lord once more.
Azula is the leader of the pride, and all is right in the jungle.
She took what was hers with blood and fire. And now she will repair the world from the bleeding ashes. Fire Lord Azula will be remembered not for war, malice or raw power, but because she restored the world to balance.
And she did not do it alone. She presses her lips to her Fire Lady's.
Azula has her mate, and all is right in the jungle.
Korra hugs her, she looks at Kazumi nestled in Mai's arms.
Azula has her family, and all is right in the jungle.
Epilogue
After the coronation, Azula settles into the palace and begins rebuilding her country and the other Nations. She starts healing, somewhat. It is never easy, nowhere near easy. Zuko goes to Ba Sing Se for a while to help Iroh and his friends find a way to give the Earth Kingdom back its independence.
Katara moves back to the Southern Water Tribe and helps the rebuild, and helps train Korra there with other people more than willing to volunteer. Mai actually goes to the South Pole, which Azula and Ty Lee cackled about endlessly. Being cold and wet are Mai's two least favorite states, so clearly she loves Katara, which makes Azula and Ty Lee cackle all the more wickedly.
Sokka becomes chief. Suki's warriors are at last released from prison and they begin to help rebuild. Toph finds a niche in Ba Sing Se. Iroh resigns from politics permanently and starts his teashop up again. It all works out, except for the nightmares, the memories and the scars.
Ty Lee and Azula grow together, even more tightly than before. Sometimes they still are hurt... when they cried because it was over, it was not over. Azula still wakes up, soaked in cold sweat, screaming, haunted by memories of her father. Ty Lee has good days and bad days and a few in between.
Kazumi will never know or understand, and Azula is fully comfortable with that. She sits in her office, working constantly, to the point of madness because she does not want to think too long about the faces of the dead or the lust for revenge, and she watches her daughter play, completely, blissfully unaware.
Five years after the Invasion of Caldera, Azula gets an invitation from her Uncle Iroh. It is for she, Zuko, Ty Lee and Kazumi, and is an offer to spend the anniversary of the Invasion of Caldera in Ba Sing Se, in his newly refurbished tea shop.
"Can we go? Let's go!" Ty Lee squeals, clinging to Azula's fiercely. Azula nods, perfectly happy to be reunited with those who were her allies in ending the war. "And we can stop by Lake Hui on our way!"
"It will be nice to check in on that lakehouse," Azula murmurs as Ty Lee presses her lips against those of her wife. "Family vacation to Ba Sing Se."
That night, though, however, Azula wakes up screaming and clawing, more frantically than she has in a long time. Ty Lee wakes instantly, first thinking they are being attacked, and then pulling Azula into her arms and holding her tightly until she is limp and breathing normally.
"We have to go the same way back, don't we?" Azula whispers, and the cold, powerful Fire Lord who rules the Fire Nation and has been slowly pulling the world out of chaos is gone and replaced with a young woman who has been hurt so many times.
"It's going to be okay. It'll be good," Ty Lee whispers, and she can only hope that it will be.
Azula lets her soothe, even though it feels somewhat hollow. She does not like the idea of walking the paths she traveled while dying of exposure on their way to Ba Sing Se after escaping the Fire Nation. She tries to forget those trees and that mud and those nights of starvation and cold.
And now she will have to cross them again, and somehow stomach it.
That terrifies her, but she cannot let it show.
They leave with Azula feeling like a wreck but not showing it, Kazumi clinging to her hand and asking a barrage of questions that Azula is unsure how to answer. They cross the sea and Azula can still remember going after Zuko, or to avenge her father, or banished, or sneaking away to Ba Sing Se. The ocean is a bad memory, just like so many mundane things.
But one good memory greets her after an uncomfortable voyage by mongoose dragon.
Lake Hui. The lake that was one of the only places Azula has truly been happy. A house is half built by the water, in the place of she and Ty Lee's tent. The view is intoxicating, and the flowers still grow in bold colors.
Azula hears a splash in the water and her heart starts to pound as she is ready for a fight, but then she hears Mai's gravelly voice, "You can't use waterbending to cheat at rockskipping." Pause. "Or earthbending."
Kazumi bolts from Ty Lee's arms and her mothers and uncle have to chase after her as she tackles Korra and three rocks drop into the crystalline water. The two girls are thrilled to see each other, clinging and jumping, even though Korra is much older and stronger.
Azula is startled to be hugged, seeing as Mai is not a hugger. But Katara has just wrapped Azula in her arms and squeezed her tightly.
"Zuko suggested we take a little vacation before we go to Iroh's party," Katara says as she breaks free of Azula. "It's about time you four show up."
Fire Lord Azula glances between Ty Lee, Katara, Mai, Korra and Kazumi. They all look healthy, alive, human, despite the age and old pain in their eyes. Azula smiles at them and disappears down the bank of the lake as soon as Zuko and Mai start teaching Korra, Katara and Kazumi to skip rocks.
Ty Lee follows Azula, wondering why she decided to just run off. The princess stops as soon as they are isolated and turns to face Ty Lee.
"I couldn't sleep last night," Azula says and Ty Lee recognizes the game. They still play it, upon occasion, when things are bad.
"Why?" Ty Lee asks, stepping to Azula and taking her fingers in her hands.
"Because I finally have reasons to be awake."
Ty Lee releases Azula for a moment and plucks up a few flowers. They are close to the fake ones she made for their wedding, but the cloth could not hold a candle to the real thing. Ty Lee examines it, and slips it into Azula's hair.
The princess closes her eyes for a moment and she can see shreds of petals being torn from her by her father's hands. She can see everything she loves being consumed by fire because she worries that perhaps these good times will never last and they will be taken away.
But when she opens her eyes, she is by that lake in the Earth Kingdom, with that girl she let herself fall so madly in love with, with flowers in her hair. She does not need the rage and revenge and desire for blood and fire that left her only with ash and petals in her wake.
She wants to watch the flowers grow.
And seeing them intact is the only way to know that maybe somehow, things will be okay.
The breathless moment is interrupted when Kazumi and Korra shout for Azula and Ty Lee to come back and watch them skip rocks. Azula smirks faintly as Ty Lee grabs her wrist, pauses and asks, "Want to join the party?"
"Of course I do," Azula says with a small smirk as Ty Lee tugs her into their future.
The End
A/N: I can't believe this fic is over. I genuinely can't. When I wrote it, it started out as a throwaway kind of fic that I only had a premise for an AU and no plot or purpose. Then some bad things happened in my life, and suddenly, it got direction and plot and I think is now one of the best things I've ever written. I poured so much of my pain and hurt and life into it, and it really helped me weather the storm. I actually was a day or two away from breaking my rule of finishing all my fics and deleting it before I was hospitalized, and then it just became something I'm really happy with.
Anyway, thanks for sticking it out this far, thank you for reading, and I really appreciate everyone who read this or reviewed it or anything. Thank you. :)