I don't really have time to respond to reviews this time around either I promise to do it next time though!
But I'd definitely like to make the time to at least say thank you to gems and SOKKLAFIL for so many consistent and in depth reviews and comments. They are always really wonderful to read first thing in the morning! Thanks so much for all of the feedback and kind words!
There are many rumors surrounding Sea Candle Lighthouse; hauntings, sirens, and beasts that come on the gales to name a few. Azula has even heard that the ghosts have been there before the lighthouse was constructed.
She has lived there her whole life and she hasn't seen one phantom.
But she and Zuko made a game of it. They earned social points with peers by inviting them to their 'creepy' lighthouse during softly stormy nights. Nights when the sea howls and throws tempestuous fits.
It was on such a night that she'd truly gotten to know Chan and Ruon-Jian. Their parents had a date night at a rather upscale restaurant across town, a date night that was extended until the storm could pass. And then extended once more when the roads closed at the hands of flooding. The storm itself hadn't been notably bad, so she and Zuko invited company to spend the night. Nevermind the scoldings that they would get later.
Within the hour ten people had turned up; Mai, TyLee, Sokka, Katara, Aang, Toph, Jet, Chan, Ruon, and Chan's older sister. And a half an hour after that, several more people turned up, neither she nor Zuko knew them. Azula recognized three of them from her first hour class and Zuko said he'd seen the other two in the cafeteria. They were nice enough company but Azula wishes that Chan would have asked before prattling to others about a small get together.
Of course nearly everyone in their school had been fighting for a chance to spend the night inside the haunted lighthouse. She vividly recalls a rather solid month of her freshman year being interrogated over rumors that she'd been posesseed. She isn't sure that they have quite let go of that of that one. She also vividly recalls complaining to Mai about it and having the girl shrug and say, "welcome to the club, Azula."
So it was that five fortunate strangers assembled on the floor playing card and board games with them. Azula can't remember their names. One of them might have been Jin, maybe Jing?
It was Mai who swapped the tiresome monopoly board for an ouija board. Azula cracked a smile. Mai was always essential to the atmosphere of the Sea Candle sleepovers. Azula and Zuko wrote the stories and Mai expertly narrated them under the flickering orange glow of candlelight. On this occasion the storm hadn't gotten around to knocking out the power so she and Zuko had to do the honors.
The rain continued to pour down ceaselessly as Mai began the story. It was a story from before the lighthouse had been constructed, a tale of a man and his wife. "There was a man and his wife. The wife always wore a pearl pendant on a silver chain." She had begun as a rumble of thunder rattled the lighthouse and died away. "The couple had made a habit of climbing up to the very highest point of the cliff and watching the ships pass by. They didn't like to go in the daytime though because there were too many people and the husband was a shy man."
Toph had yawned.
"One night they went walking. It was raining."
"Of course it was storming, it's always storming." Toph muttered.
"Shut up Toph, I'm trying to listen!" Sokka shushed.
Unperturbed by their bickering, Mai had continued. "It wasn't storming. It was a light misty rain. But there was fog and a lot of it. By the time they reached the top of the cliffs, the fog thickened until you could barely see in front of you. They stayed there a while even though there were no ships to watch, sometimes they just liked to enjoy a night alone on the cliffs. The sound of the rain on the water was nice enough." She paused before continuing in her droning monotone. A monotone that was truly made for ghost stories, if Azula must say. "But they did see a ship after all. It was worn down and beaten like it just rose up from the bottom of a trench. Its sails didn't move in the breeze. As the couple stared at at a voice called out, 'mama, papa, I can't find my way home.' The couple looked at one another. It was the voice of their son. Their long lost son. 'Mama, papa, I can't see, it's too dark'. And so, upon these cliffs, they built a light. One that can be seen for miles in hopes that their lost son would make his way home. That is the first ghost to haunt the Sea Candle lighthouse."
The story was as cheesy as any, but it had their classmates talking for weeks after a night of Chan, Ruon, and her other unfamiliar classmates swearing up and down that they could hear the boy crying for his parents between rolls of thunder.
She, Zuzu, Mai, and TyLee spent the night snickering as Toph and Sokka fervently tried to debunk the claims of Chan and his posse. Katara and Jet had nothing to do with it at all, declaring that to have a sleepover you should make sleep one of the activities.
It was all in good fun.
Only once could Azula swear that she'd seen a spirit.
Only once when she looked out the window to see her mother wandering home as she would on an ordinary day.
Only once and never again.
.oOo.
The storm broke suddenly. Suddenly and much earlier than anticipated. Such seems to be a recurring theme in her life. She wishes that, for once, a storm would arrive behind schedule as opposed to ahead of it.
Azula rubs her eyes and hustles on deck to see Ozai and Zuko struggling with a sail that had broken loose. Lord, they couldn't afford to lose a sail. But, she notes with building horror, they couldn't afford to leave the wheel unattended. Her stomach pangs as adrenaline cuts through her sleep deprived mind. She makes a beeline for the wheel, leaping over a table that has been upturned and rolled by the perilous rocking of the ship.
She catches sight of Katara as she wraps her hands around the wheel's spokes. Azula runs through the details in her sailing manuals. She truly hopes that she is remembering correctly as she points the bow of her ship towards the waves.
Ozai catches her eyes and his own seem to fill with relief in seeing that the wheel is now attended.
"Zuko, I am going to open the storm sails!" He calls over the roaring wind and spraying waves. "I need you to keep control over the broken sail."
She can't hear Zuko's reply.
The rain is beating brutally against her face, each drop giving her the feeling of being pelted with pebbles. She fights against a wheel that would rather do anything but keep the boat facing the waves. She finds herself constantly blowing streams of rainwater out of her mouth, but more comes to fill it almost immediately. And her hair, she wishes that she had chopped it off or at least tied it back before embarking. For it now whips about and obscures her vision until rainwater plasters it uncomfortably to her cheeks and forehead.
She finds herself breathless and surprised at just how much exertion it is taking just to hold the wheel steady, much less push it in the opposite direction when a particularly powerful wave knocks it out of place.
"Shit!" Jet hollars, finally emerging. He runs up to her and she waves him off.
"Zuzu…" she huffs. "Go help...Zuzu." She nods her head in his direction. The flapping sail is fighting him with more vigor than the wheel is fighting her.
Jet nods and rushes to the sail. Azula's heart seizes, she can't see her father. The ship, as far as former pirate ships go, isn't large. She should see him scaling the mast. Her attention is pulled to a sharp cry. The ship jolts and Katara is knocked off of her feet. She and Zuko both. With Zuko on the floor and sliding, the sail snaps and blows away completely. Jet lets go just on time to avoid going with it.
Azula has no time to be relieved over that. "Jet!" She hollers. As soon as he makes it to the wheel she passes it off to him with hurried instructions. This leaves her with no time to answer, "where are you going? What are you doing?"
She nearly slips down the stairs, and finds herself thankful for the balance that her years of surfing have afforded her. Her lungs burn the effort and her eyes sting with sea salt. She will be dreadfully sore if she makes it to the next morning.
Katara is hollering quite loudly as she fights to cling onto the rails. Zuko is more silent in his distress, exerting all energy into clinging to the rails next to her. They are both loosing grip quickly.
Blood beats behind her ears as her heartbeat picks up. It is the same thing. The same thing all over again. Her mother and Zuzu, she could only save one. She can see blood on the sea foam. She shakes her head, she is wasting time.
As she cautiously but speedily nears the both of them she can see it in Katara's eyes, the absolute horror. The acknowledgment that she is a second priority. Azula feels sick. At least her mother had been out before the sea had claimed her, Katara was aware. She knew…
It might not matter anyhow, Zuzu is heavier than she and she finds that he is pulling her closer to the edge rather than she pulling him back from it. She is losing her footing and the grip that she has on a decorative post.
As her fingers slip, a strong arm wraps around her torso. It takes the wind out of her as it pushes into her stomach. But it keeps her from going over the edge, she and Zuko both. They are safely away from the rails but Katara is not. She springs forward before Ozai can keep her from it. She hears the man let out a string of curses.
Azula grabs Katara by the wrist just as she lets go of the railing. The sudden increase in gravity takes the both of them over the edge. She manages to grab the railing, her arm twisting painfully. She doesn't let go of Katara and thanks every power that Katara is light enough to hold.
Thunder roars and the waves below surge up. Katara is frightened beyond screaming. She and Azula both. It seems like forever that they are suspended there. Azula looks up and in a flash of lightning she sees them.
Those same phantom sails.
It must be the sail that Zuko has lost hold of.
But she swears…
Another flash. She swears that she can make out the haul of the Pearl Racer.
For a moment she forgets her predicament. She squints against the rain. But only for a moment before she is suddenly wrenched up. She gives a sharp cry as her shoulder pops, but she and Katara are laying on the boat instead of in the churning waters.
She sits up and scans the water.
The sails are gone.
They had never been there.
.oOo.
By noon, the storm has lessened into light rain and then a drizzle. Azula is still shaking. She hears Zuko speaking into the radio, they aren't terribly far from a mass of land.
"Do you want me to pop it back into place or do you want to wait until we can get you to a hospital."
She has been avoiding looking at her arm, she is nauseated by the way her skin bulges. "J-just do it."
Ozai nods. He hands her a balled cloth. "Bite down on this." She takes a deep breath and obliges. "Ready?" She is anything but, though she nods regardless. She squeezes her and and screams into the cloth as Ozai pops her shoulder back into place.
Her eyes sting with tears and her trembling doubles. She can see Katara cringing from afar. Ozai takes her into his arms and rubs her head, "that's my girl. You always have been a fighter."
She wishes that she didn't have to.
"Get her some ice, boy!"
"Yes sir." Jet half grumbles.
With him gone Ozai inquires, "why did you do it? You should have let me."
She shakes her head. She is faster than he. He wouldn't have made it. And even if it weren't so, she had to do it. "Because I couldn't save mother…"
Ozai's brows furrow. "You couldn't have, you were…"
"I chose Zuzu." She cuts him off. "I couldn't save them both. I chose Zuzu."
He nods, understanding. He squeezes her more tightly. "She would have wanted you to save him. She always was fussy and protective over him." He forces a chuckle. "She would have scolded you if you hadn't picked him."
The tears finally come. Tears that are years overdue.
"Does he know?"
Azula shakes her head.
"It is probably better if he doesn't." Ozai pauses. "You're a strong girl. I raised you well." His soft voice hardens some, "but don't you do that again, you understand me?"
She nods.
She doesn't think that he has ever held her so tightly.