CHAPTER RATING: T (Language, Violence)
A/N:
Published on: 01/01/2020
Chapter 20: Puppet Master
Azula's eyes snap open; a sharp pain rips through her shoulder. Her reflexes bring her hand to her mouth, coughing and feeling her muscles ache with every shutter.
"Drink up, Princess." Fong's voice comes from behind dark bars with the slide of a cup containing a black liquid.
"Why should I trust you?" Azula spits.
"To counteract the venom. It's not like you haven't already taken a sample." He replies while wiping at his chin. Azula bites her lip, tastes a dissipating bitterness on her tongue, and reaches for the cup. "Ideally we'd turn you on alive."
"Is that so?" She stares at him, raises the cup, anger and fire burning within her. "Then you better manage to make me drink it again." She spits at him before turning the cup over and spilling the contents onto the floor.
"You really need to make this so hard?"
"I haven't had the chance to be myself with the company that's been keeping me...so, go fuck yourself."
"Rude too, hard to believe part of the World considered you royalty. I just don't see it." He stands and waves his hands. "Boys, we have a non-cooperative Princess, let's get to work."
"You think you can take me on? Your beasts took me down. Not you." Azula widens her stance.
Metal scrapes and scratches behind her, a door flings open and another man charges in, screaming at the top of his lungs, pushing her up against the opposing barred wall.
"You talk too much for your own good, Princess." Fong grins. A large forearm snakes between her chin and chest, squeezing with a painful force. Azula takes a deep breath, balls her fists up and swings it towards the man behind her.
Nothing.
"What...did…you…?" Azula gasps; hands descend and restrain her arms, a force pushes against the back of her calves, and she falls to knees as they give way.
"You didn't listen, Princess!" Fong brandishes a dagger and places the point of the blade at her chest, the cold steel pushing through the now tattered fabric of her shirt. "Taking you in alive is IDEAL, not required!" He pushes the blade deeper, and Azula can feel the steel pierce her skin. "Are you going to accept my offer? Or will I have to present the Firelord with your head?"
Another cup of liquid is presented to her. She spits on the floor, and when the cup is raised to her lips, she drinks from it.
"Zuko…? He set a bounty on me?" She says.
"We'll take your home." He raises his hand, and Azula feels an impact strike her face.
…
Voices Echo in the darkness as she begins to regain consciousness.
"How much is she worth?"
"20,000 alive. 5,000 dead."
"And how much did the informant cost?"
"500. A steal."
Azula almost tunes out the noise until a voice she hasn't heard often, but a familiar voice speaks up.
"I want to see her for myself."
That voice that stings of condescendence. That voice that resonates with hatred. That voice that burns with jealousy.
"Katara…" Azula's heart nearly stops as the Waterbender flicks her finger.
"The money is all yours," Katara doesn't meet Azula's eyes. "I don't care what you do with her. Just make her disappear." She turns away.
"That's what you did when you left," Azula speaks, Katara stops. "You hired these men?" Azula's fists tremble. "After I saved you from that evil bitch in Ba Sing Se? This is what I get in return?"
"Shut your mouth!" Katara spits back. "Don't you play the victim! I know how you set me up! I could have died because of-"
"You're alive because of me!" Azula interrupts. "I saved you in that forsaken city!" Her hands grasp and shake the bars of her cell. "Don't make excuses, why don't you say what this is really about: The Avatar."
The mercenaries who captured her recoil at the sound of his title.
"Don't you dare mention him! You're wrong!"
"Stop lying! You've been trying to get rid of me ever since he brought me to your beloved South Pole! It's been a long time since then, and I've learned things that I would bet he's never told you."
"What are you talking about?" Katara's voice trembles. "You think Aang cares about you? You really think that he cares about some rejected, banished, ashamed Princess that even the Fire Nation hates?"
"You've all made a grave mistake." Azula takes a deep breath. She leans against the bars, closes her eyes, and reaches out to the ethereal cord dangling from the small wound in her chest. "Out of the kindness left in me, I issue this final warning: release me, or face the wrath of the ultimate weapon."
My ultimate weapon.
Azula turns her head up, looking past the faces of her captors, she feels a pulse, and she sees it. The outline of the Avatar, gliding through the air, getting closer.
"Uncle told me that I should be proud of myself for getting you out of Ba Sing Se. And despite what you may believe. I am not the same person you hated so much when my father was still in power. Uncle learned about the other nations; he always said that Water was the element of change. You of all people should understand."
"Change?! Don't make me laugh. You plotted to have me killed, to get rid of me! If you think Aang is so naive that he didn't know, you're the one who is gravely mistaken." Katara brings her face to Azula's. Azula stares into her eyes, seeing the conflicted and self-justifying anger within those eyes that she was all to familiar with.
"I'm sorry." Azula's voice cracks. "I'm sorry you can't accept the fact that I'm different now. I'm sorry for what I did in the past that hurt you, and I'm sorry for this fucked up universe that made you into what you hated most. I hope you can find peace within your lifetime to accept my apology."
Azula slides down the bars to her knees and bows her head.
"Your apology means nothing to me. I've kept Appa waiting too long. Do whatever you want with her." Katara turns and takes a step forward.
A crash.
And the cry of an enraged Sky Bison breaks through the air.
"Quick!" Katara shouts towards her lackeys. "Give me those handcuffs!" One of them tosses it to her and she locks herself onto Azula's cage. "Talk him down! Make him go away, and you can take all the money!" She bargains with them and they rush out the door.
"You really think the Avatar is that stupid?" Azula shakes her head. "And all this time, I thought it was just a little lie I had made up, but you really do see him as nothing, don't you?"
"No! That's not true! I'm trying to protect him, from you!" The chain shakes with her anger.
"You couldn't save them." Pained screams from the outside breach the house they're in, agonizing cries of terror that don't sound like the Avatar's voice at all. "So, save yourself. Before it's too late." Azula takes another deep breath, preparing for the inevitable impact..
A sharp brilliance pierces through the door and a blast of force tears it open. Azula shields her eyes as the white light burns through the dark interior of her prison.
The Avatar sounds like he's breaking the steel floorboards with every step. Static builds in her mind, and his luminous aura blinds her.
The handcuffs that Katara put on herself crumble. The Avatar seems to stare at his girlfriend for the longest time, uttering words that Azula can't make sense of before shaking his head and turning towards her.
Pain and worry flood her mind. But a feeling of relief pushes everything else away when she sees his hopeful eyes, his comforting smile, and hears his calming voice.
"I made a promise to you." The Avatar breaks open her cage and offers her a hand, Azula takes it, and feels a warmth drift through her. "And I promise to keep it." He pulls her up and leads her out of the room.
Azula keeps her head down, only following the strong, outstretched hand that leads her forward.
"Let's go." He commands to his girlfriend who follows without another word, Azula thinks she can hear disappointment in his voice, but is unsure.
Outside, the ground is stained with spots of blood; the bodies of her captors strewn around the bright, dense sand. All alive, Azula could sense, even if injured.
The strength and power that he possesses amazes her, but in the same instant, brings with it a fear that sends chills through her very soul.
...
The sunset coats the world in a warm violet, but warmth is there last thing any one of them felt on the ride back to the Avatar's small cottage in the middle of the darkening desert is quiet. No one speaks. After seeing a local herbalist for a quick cure to the salamander's venom, they land, and the Avatar removes a small cloak from his bag and drapes it over Azula's shoulders. She pulls it close and holds it tight against the creeping cold.
"Go inside." He says. "I'll check on you after I talk to Katara. Don't come out."
"O-Okay." Azula mutters with a weak nod, trying her best to maintain composure within his powerful presence, and failing; she walks back inside, taking a seat on the large bed where she had spent a night with him, seemingly so long ago.
Go inside. Don't come out. She's overthinking, but if she was going to be anyone's prisoner, she would be his. At the edge of the bed, she leans her head against the sandstone wall, and listens.
…
"What were you doing over there?" The Avatar asks.
"I was trying to save Azula. You saw how they handcuffed me to the cage!"
"..." The Avatar sighs. "Don't lie to me, Katara."
"I'm not lying! When I came back, I saw the tracks from their sand-salamanders, and I took off to save her. I tried waking you up, but you didn't respond, so I took Appa with me! You saw how I was chained to the cage!"
"Then explain to me why Azula has a wound on her chest, and a bruise on her face! Why didn't you get hurt?"
"They must have done that while I was- "
"Then how did they manage to get you handcuffed to the cage?" He cuts her off. "Did you just get there, see how they had Azula in a cage, and then give up? Why didn't you put up a fight?!"
"I…" Katara stutters.
"Leave."
"What? Aang-"
"I'm only going to tell you this once: Leave. Appa will take you. Go home."
"…"
Azula doesn't hear anything else, and lets her breath finally exhale. The ensuing silence overwhelms her.
"KATARA, DON'T!" the Avatar's voice tears through the quiet air. Azula hears doors slam open, and turns with widened eyes to see Katara, her eyes red with anger, her cheeks stained with tears.
Katara raises her hands.
Azula feels her heart stop, and her blood freezes. Her limbs shoot out, pain ripping through her muscles.
Katara flings her arms to the right.
Azula's body lurches to the left, grabbing a knife laying on the nightstand, then slams against the wall.
"Please...Don't do this." Azula mutters under her breath, but her hands take a firm hold against the steel and shoves it into her chest.
"STOP!" The Avatar's booming voice is joined by his luminous glow. Azula opens her eyes to the sight of blood, dripping in front of her, but from the chest of the Avatar. The blade is lodged deep in his chest, but the glow of Avatar State makes it seem like he feels nothing.
"You don't see it, do you?" Katara's voice trembles. "What she's done to you…? How she's turned you against me...against everyone!"
Azula's arms go limp, her muscles relax, and she falls to the floor, her hands covered in blood.
"That's enough, Katara." Ten thousand voices boom from the Avatar. "We've never seen you like this. Go. Home."
"She...She's changed you. And you're so blind, you can't even see it." Her voice cracks.
Azula shields her eyes, but sees the Waterbender exits the room, she hears the sky bison fly off, and as the luminous glow fades, she catches the Avatar and lays him down onto the bed.
A/N: Whew...That was a rough one.
I can honestly say: that was hard to write, but I'll save my thoughts for the upcoming Afterword.
I apologize for what I wrote here Kataang fans.
But I can't apologize for what I'm going to write next chapter. See you then.
Thank you for reading.