Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Some were stable, some where not, but nonetheless they all lived in peace with their differences. In order to cease the inequality, Fire Lord Sozin put himself the mission of bringing equality to all the nations. If all nations lived under the command of the Fire Nation, then their lives would be improved.
Only the Avatar, master of all four elements could stop the Fire Nation, but when the time came, he vanished. 100 years have passed and no sighting of the Avatar has been reported. Some say that after Avatar Roku, the Avatar cycle seized, that a new Avatar was never born into the Air Nomads. And so, with the only person able to stop the advancement of the world gone, the Fire Nation is sure to win the war and bring peace to all corners of the world.
That was what the teachers had taught her in the Fire Nation Royal Academy for girls. Years and years of indoctrination were sure to leave its mark on the young princess. Between her school and being told every day at the palace that the Fire Nation must win the war at all costs, the nine year old was sure to believe everything. It wasn't until she had been forced to flee the palace that she saw the destruction of the world first hand. She still thought that the Fire Nation was better than the Earth Kingdom by far, but the citizens of the kingdom didn't look up to the Fire Nation, they all feared it.
She still remembered the first year outside of the Fire Nation. She had been nine years old, fresh from the palace with no clue where to go. All she knew was that the Fire Lord had asked for her death because her father wanted more power. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Ozai would indeed commit such atrocity. Even if she was the favored child, he would not hesitate to take her down if it meant a shot at the throne. The day she found out was the day she left. She did not bid goodbye to her family nor did she leave a note. As of that day, the princess would be though of as dead in all the fire nation.
A child prodigy, a fire bender, walking in the Earth Kingdom with no valuable resources except the "no freezing to death during the nights" perk. It was a very compromising position, but it bested being killed by her own father. To this day it still hurt to think about. She had been nothing but the splitting image of her father, following his steps and mannerisms. She could admit that she was cold, especially when it concerned the death of her cousin Lu Ten, but it was all fine during her time at the palace. Sure, her mother thought she was a monster, but she was her father's pride and joy.
But what did being his pride and joy matter when he paid no second thought on her demise?
After exiting the palace from one of the secret tunnels, the fire bending princess ran to the harbor of Caldera City, where she could effectively get into a boat without any crew members finding out. There she spent six days, eating only the spare moshi she brought from her home and drinking her own urine. Never in a million years was a princess supposed to sink so low, but at that moment, survival was more important than pride.
The boat stopped on a small port with many military boats. The navy boats didn't seem too big, only big enough to transport the army soldiers to Earth Kingdom territory. Normally the young princess would've loved to see the Earth Kingdom being brought to its knees, but at that moment all she wanted to do was get away from the army. If one of them was able to recognize her, they would send her back home and she would get killed.
That's when she took the hard decision of taking her crown off and putting it on her bag. It does not sound as much, but at that moment the princess realized that she was no longer a princess. Her blood may be of royal lineage, but from that moment on she would have to live in exile and as a commoner. Her pride had been wounded beyond repair.
For the first year, the princess wondered around the Earth Kingdom, seeing the devastation her countrymen were bringing to the desolate lands. Poor villages were being raided off their resources, some where abandoned in fear of the Fire Nation, and others were burned to the ground. It was a weird feeling what the princess felt. She initially felt pride, pride in her nation doing what Fire Lord Sozin had envisioned. At this rate, the Earth Kingdom would fall and the Fire Nation would rule all.
But what good would it be to rule all if it was all ashes? A good leader should inspire, and it was evident that the fear she once thought to be the only way was not effective. The Earth Kingdom would not fall behind the Fire Nation if the atrocities continued. No, they would only fight harder.
It was made evident that the only way that the only way for the Fire Nation to bring prosperity to all the world, as Fire Lord Sozin had envisioned, a new approach needed to be tried. This war, even if it was being won, it was not bringing peace or equality to the world. The princess knew then, at the prime age of nine, what her destiny was.
She was supposed to make Fire Lord Sozin dream come true. The world would be in peace and equality, everybody around the world would live just as happy and proud as her Fire Nation countrymen. It would take a long time, she knew that, but with her sharp mind and focus, the young princess knew that she was going to be able to do it. After all, there was nobody else who would be able to do it. Her father was a bloodthirsty man who taught her that fear was the only reliable way, her grandfather was old and also bloodthirsty, Uncle Iroh was a coward with an unnatural addiction to tea, and her brother Zuko was an idiot. No, she was the only one in the whole world who was able to bring peace and equality.
On her second year outside of the palace, the Fire Nation princess kept walking and wondering around the Earth Kingdom. Sometimes she would enter a small village and work in exchange for food, money, or shelter. The jobs weren't very hard to do, but the villagers always gave her pity. Once upon a time she would've hated being looked down upon on, but after a year alone with no idea where to go, the princess began to realize that sometimes pity could be helpful. In fact, it could be a weapon. If the people pitied her a lot, they would give her lots of stuff, only for her to disappear the following day.
The longest she stayed at a village was around a month. Some people, especially veterans from the war, threw wary glances at her, but the young child grew accustomed to them. She knew she looked very Fire Nation, after all, she was literally the image of what her people were supposed to look like. It gave her a sense of warmth to know that even though she was living in the Earth Kingdom, her own body was a reminder of her heritage. Her physical appearance screamed her bloodline, and her bending was a clear indicator of where she came from. Even if her crown was no longer on her head, her identity would stay with her.
On the third year of being unofficially exiled, the princess grew tired of doing nothing in the Earth Kingdom. She decided to go visit the air temples and see the remnants of the great battles between the Fire Nation and the now extinct Air Nomads. At eleven years old, the princess thought herself enough fire bending to fend against any rogue air benders (if any).
While on her journey to the Southern Air temple, which was the closest to where she was at, she found a strange egg. It was golden, but clearly not gold. When her hands engulfed the egg, the organism inside seemed to shake a little. It gave the sense of heat and comfort, something the princess hadn't felt in a long time, if ever. She did not know if her mother had held her close when she was a mere baby, but as long as she could remember, Ursa was always with Zuko while she was alone or with her father, who was not the warmest person in the world.
The princess continued her journey, her bag on her shoulder and the egg on her arms. Every now and then the fire bender would warm her hands in order to comfort the small organism, whatever it was.
It was hard to arrive at the Southern Air Temple. For some reason, the Air Nomads really liked the idea of being in the air. The temple was above the clouds, not visible from the land. The princess really had no evidence that the Air Temple was there, but she had a feeling it was important to get up. Something important awaited her there. Plus, it wasn't like she had anything better to do.
Once she was able to climb some very steep rocks (with her egg on her bag of course), the trail to the temple was clear to any visitor. There were many weeds, but no animals around. It was abandoned, but that was expected after such long battles took place here.
However, it was of great surprise for Azula to see the Air Temple simply abandoned. There was nothing missing, no signs of battle as the books had described it. She expected to see at least a hundred ancient Fire Nation and Air Nomad army armor laying around. Yet the most she found was a single helmet lying on the ground.
The princess stood in the middle of the temple, simply breathing the cold air, closing her eyes and taking in everything. For some reason she expected to hear children laughing, teenagers hanging around, elder monks walking together and laughing at some joke. Yet, when she opened her eyes, it was all empty.
"Don't worry, some of them got away before the Fire Nation attacked." A voice said besides the princess.
She turned around a came face to face with a small monk, around her heights or so, with blue arrow tattoos. He had large grey eyes, similar to those of Ty Lee, and a round face...just like her.
"Who are you?" The fire bender asked
"I'm Aang, your past life. Well, one of your past lives."
Azula raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I'll believe you? Go and play wherever the rest of you Air Nomads are hiding."
"I'm not kidding. I died in this place 97 years ago. The Fire Nation attacked during Sozin's comet and killed us all. I tried to fend them off, but I failed my people. There were so many of them and so few of us, we never stood a chance. I mean, even with the Avatar we couldn't win."
"What do you mean so few of you? The Fire Nation fought against the Army of the Air Nomads."
The bald monk, Aang's eyebrows furrowed.
"We didn't have an army. It was ambush."
"Yeah, like I'll believe that."
"Look at me." the Airbender commanded. The princess met his eyes and saw sorrow in them, deep regret. "There were no battles. It was genocide. Just look at the evidence around you, wouldn't there be many more armors laying around if it wasn't?"
The princess turned to look at her surroundings a second time. She had noticed the weird absence of cadavers laying on the floor, but now that she analyzed, it was simply too weird. There were supposed to be many more bodies laying around.
"Ok, say I believe you." the princess turned to look at the monk once again. "It still doesn't explain what you're doing here."
"This is going to be hard to explain, so I'll go slowly."
"There's no need. I pick up fast."
"Alright then. This is a sacred place because it's where I lived all my life, as well as where I died. There are certain places you can go, Crescent Island for example, where you can summon your past lives when you need guidance. I know that right now you think that you are in no need of guidance and that I'm just a scam, and I know it's hard to believe, but trust me this is no scam. Thing is, because there are no air nomad alive, that we know about, there's nobody to teach you air bending. So, my plan was for us to stay here for a couple of years until you master air bending and then you can go wherever you want to go."
The princess stared at the boy trying to find any trace of a joke.
"That would be splendid, except for the fact that I don't bend air. I bend fire, the superior element."
Aang scratched the back of his neck. "Oh right, I didn't tell you."
"Didn't tell me what?"
"You're the Avatar. Well, we're the Avatar. Probably should've led up with that..."
The Fire Nation princess stared at the boy with wide eyes.
"I am most certainly not the Avatar. I am the princess of the Fire Nation. The Avatar is a traitor to his country, and I am no traitor."
"You may try to convince yourself that, but deep inside you know the truth. It's not imperative for you to know air bending right now, but I do wish to start your training as soon as possible. You may stay in any room you like, there's nobody to tell you no. The food is basically the fruit you see on the trees, and maybe later I can teach you how to make fruit pies." Aang said
The fire bender blinked. "I'll stay here. Not because I believe you, but because I want to rest somewhere where I don't have to work for a roof."
The next day, however, the princess commenced her air bending training. At first she didn't believe a word Aang said, but after some meditating and actually listening to his message, the fire bender began to show promise. It wasn't long before she could actually air bend, even just a little air, but it was an improvement.
Aang showed her the Air Nomad culture, so that one day she could teach others in case there were some rogue Air Benders somewhere in the world. He taught her their history, how to make their clothes, how to make their foods, and even some lingo. The princess wasn't very interested at first, as she thought it was just an inferior culture not worthy of her time, but as time passed, she became more intrigued. It was weird how different their life was from the fire nation, especially their diet.
Around two weeks later, the egg began to hatch. The princess watched as a scaly blue organism hatched from the egg. It had small wings, and as soon as his eyes met the princess's, she knew that they were meant to be together.
"Fudo. That shall be your name. From now on, you and I will be a team, inseparable."
That was how the princess of the Fire Nation got the last dragon. As the princess grew in the Air Temple, Fudo grew with her. In just a matter of months, he was already bigger than the princess and able to be ridden by her.
It took the princess three years to master air bending. During those three years she began to wear Air Nomad clothing (as it was the only thing that she actually knew how to make as she grew out of her old clothes). Apart from her clothes, the Fire Nation princess kept her hairstyle intact. Her crown was still not worn, it was kept on her bag, collecting dust until the day the princess returned to the homeland.
At the age of fourteen, five years after fleeing from her home, the princess took off to continue on her Avatar journey. It was still a hard concept to grasp. She, who was always loyal to her nation first and herself second, was now supposed to defeat it. Yes, she wanted to bring peace to the world, but she hoped to do it some other way, not having to fight her fellow country men. Perhaps she could usurp the throne in one way. By now Uncle Iroh was probably Fire Lord, so she only had to challenge him to an Agni Kai and beg to the Spirits that the coward would accept.
Riding Fudo, the princess made her way south towards the pole. It was common knowledge that the Southern Water Tribe did not have water benders anymore after all the raids her great-grandfather and grandfather ordered, but it didn't hurt to try. Worst case scenario, she could make her way to the North Pole instead.
It took a day for the princess to arrive at the South Pole. She had never experienced such cold temperatures, but she was able to manage using air bending. Still, it was incredible how stupid a civilization could be in order to decide to make a life in a frozen wasteland. The avatar flew on Fudo for a while until she saw two figures at the distance on a canoe. She saw how they got caught on some sort of current, their boat getting between two ice blocks and being destroyed.
"Well, at least it's people, even if they're idiots." The princess told herself, motioning for Fudo to fly towards the pair.
"...most sexist, immature-" the princess heard a girl yell.
"Uh, Katara.." the boy seemed to reply
Out of nowhere, the block of ice that stood between the princess and the pair broke in half, much to the Avatar's delight. It seemed as the trip down south had been the right move.
In front of the princess were two people, both with the same dark skin, brown hair and blue eyes. They wore blue clothing, leaving no doubt what their ethnicity was.
"Good morning both of you. I am in need of a water bender, but I would love to visit your village to show my good will." the Avatar said with a bow
"Katara, are you seeing a weird girl with a dragon or am I having midnight sun madness?" the boy said
"Umm, hey? Why do you need a water bender?" the girl, Katara, asked
"I would much rather talk under some kind of roof or somewhere where it isn't so cold. I swear on my honor that I will not harm you during my stay." the princess said
"Oh yeah, honor, because that means so much." the boy said rolling his eyes
"It may not mean much to you savage, but it does mean a lot from where I come from." the princess sneered
"We will give you a roof if you give us a ride to the village. Our boat has been broken because of someone," she stole a glance at the boy, "so we need a mode of transportation back."
"Then no problem. Fudo wouldn't mind having two extra passengers, so you can both come with me."
"What?! We don't even know her and we're going on a ride on a dragon!?" the boy yelled
"Sokka, you're welcome to stay here and go back on your own, but I'm going on the free ride,"
"Ugh, fine."
The pair mounted the dragon, grabbing onto its saddle with great strength.
"One of you must tell me which direction the village is located at,"
"Just keep going that way, it's straight ahead." Katara said pointing ahead
The princess nodded her head, looking straight with her back straight.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is your name?"
The princess stiffened for a moment before relaxing. It had been years since she had told someone her name, but for some reason she knew that she could trust these two individuals (no matter how strange or stupid they seemed).
"Azula. My name is Azula."