Disclaimer: I do not own MHA. All rights go to Kohei Horikoshi. I don't own Azula either. I simply own my OCs, and the added storyline.

She is sinking through an abyss. It's dark and rather muffling, as if something is clotting out her senses.

Is this death?

She thought it would have been less sensual. If you were dead, how could you still think? Perhaps she is still asleep upon her golden bed, linens pulled up to her chest, hands folded (somewhat) peacefully in the midst of dreaming. She can't remember the last slept so well.

She can visualize something-though when she looks around, she can see nothing but the scene in front of her.

Everything is still fuzzy and clinging, but she can see a faint image of what's going on. Wispy, vague shapes,-eyes glowing like flickers of a candle among the smoky background.

Are they Spirits?

Gods?

This only furthers the idea that she's dead. She cannot see specifically what they are doing. Debating about something, perhaps? They're gathered around a suspended hourglass; one that keeps spinning around and around, sand tumbling into one chamber and the next from each slight push from the three shapes.

Ah. This brings back memories of one of her Theology classes; those lessons about Afterlife and Punishment; Heaven or Hell. Were they considering where to send her now?

Hah.

She knows how this will end.

She falls into thought. If she was truly dead, (she's now almost completely sure of it; especially with those damned shapes keeping that hourglass spinning onward), she hopes it had been an honorable passing; since she has no recollection of how she died.

There were so many possibilities.

Perhaps she had gone down fighting, stabbed at least a few traitors as she fell. Being assassinated wouldn't come as a humongous surprise, considering the sheer number of enemies she'd accumulated over the span of her rather short standing.

Imagine: a maid-servant slipping into her room and delivering a quick, quiet slit to the throat, cutting off her jugular and killing her without a moment's hesitation. Or: poison slipped into her afternoon tea, and just moments returning to her room, she'd coughed up blood onto her beautiful ruby colored robe, an undistinguished stain against the carmine tone.

Then again, the possibility of it being a bender isn't too far fetched; despite the sneer it gives her.

Just think: Princess Azula, daughter of Fire Lord Ozai and descendant of the great Sozin, fire bending prodigy and true heir to the throne; slaughtered by a stone-headed earth bender or a soft spirited water bender.

A fire bender, now that would come as a great shame to both her, and all of the Fire Lords that led before her birth.

But, for now, she holds on to the thought that just maybe, by a sliver of chance, she had died peacefully.

Not that she needed to care now.

Princess Azula is not afraid of death, or the Agni knows what things that come after. In fact, she challenges it with a wicked smile. She does not run. Those with Sozin's blood do not back down from anything. They are born to be fighters. For all the Spirits above, no matter what ill fate they decide for her; she will come back, clawing and kicking.

Until she gets the rest she deserves and so badly wants.

The concept of trust had always been something Azula did not particularly understand.

After all, her two main sources of control stemmed from intimidation and fear. She found them to be the most effective ways to rule: with an iron fist. People like her imbecilic Uncle Iroh, her soft spoken weak mother, Ursa, or even her affection-desperate brother, Zuko, wouldn't understand.

But then why did everyone always betray her?

Trust is for fools.

...Right?

Reincarnation. Now that gave her a bitter laugh. Everyone knows that only the Avatar has that option.

It's obvious the Spirits favor their champion over everyone else. In any case, she waits out her punishment, refraining from any more idiotic ideas.

Any other pathetic wrongdoer might be on their knees by now, praying to any Spirits out there to take them out of their misery-grant them mercy for the immoral deeds they committed.

Princess Azula prays to no one.

The hourglass spins, unarguably slowing down a bit. One chamber holds more than the other.

Measuring out the good and bad in her?

Surely that pathetic little contraption can't determine character. The Spirits in front of her pause, seeming to have reached their decision, and a flare of fierce panic she doesn't realize she can feel in this tiny, dark world sparks. No, no, this can't be it. She can't go to a place of eternal torment- You can't do this to me. She'd truly be gone from her world then-

-But no one would miss her.

Did anyone even realize she was dead? Had she been given a proper funeral?

Zuko was most likely the new Fire Lord, so caught up in his role he had no clue what happened to his crazy younger sister. Ozai was in prison, and who knew how information traveled there. No one cared about her - a wicked little girl who would almost certainly be rotting somewhere horrible as a result of the Spirits' pondering.

She burns with an unfamiliar feeling; grief? Is this sadness? She wants to laugh and sob at the same time. She hasn't felt this way since her breakdown after the battle with the water tribe peasant, so utterly defeated.

A crushing feeling bears down on her, like the weight of a thousand suns. She doesn't want to experience this emotion. Happiness always seems miles and miles away from her grasp. A shuddering thought spirals into her consciousness, and instead of a choked gasp, nothing comes out of her mouth.

She doesn't want to look anymore, at her sentence, at those wretched Spirits-their glowing, piercing eyes only echo what is passing through her head: I am a monster—and that's why Mother always hated and loved Zuko more—

Black fog starts to cloud her vision, the Spirits and the hourglass fading rapidly into the distance.

Ah. Her sentence has been decided.

Her fragmented thoughts begin to scatter, grow incredibly faint, and it almost feels like she's forgetting-

Just before everything fades away, a flash of white takes control of her eyesight.

And the image of Mother and Zuzu take place, younger, where Zuko's scar hasn't been inflicted yet and Ursa isn't gone. Before her eyes, she sees herself, an unfamiliar genuine smile on her face as she appears, and catapults herself into Ursa's arms, who then laughs, wearing a warm, nurturing expression. Zuko joins in on the embrace with his own smile, laughter replacing the white noise that previously rang in Azula's ears.

It looks so wrong...and yet so right at the same time.

They look...happy.

It's the last thing she thinks before the dark pulls her down.

Billions of light years away, a pair of eyes flutter open, the color of molten gold.

Three Hours Before

Rain poured down from clusters of silver clouds, dark with water and beating rumbling fiercely.

A lone watchtower sat upon a hill, the pale wildflowers bending to the rain as the drops pummeled down. The outside of the singular building was unkempt, straggles of vines claiming the messily assembled monoliths as their home.

The inside of the building wasn't much nicer.

It was always chilly in there, barely hospitable for the poor souls who were pausing there momentarily. The location of the tower itself was questionable without doubt. A good few miles until they'd even reach the city on engine, and supremely off of the main road, but alas, her Quirk worked in wonderful, magical ways, and she could easily view the endless dark clouds that encircled the city ahead.

A girl stood alone on the roof of the tower, eyes closed, head tilted up towards the endless expanse of the sky. Rain water splashed in little drops against her pale skin, that glowed in a odd semi-translucent way, and shimmered with a pearl-like shine, the barest traces of her blue veins making an appearance.

The faintest of a pleased smile curled her lips, eyelids pressed close to dismiss the drops' entry.

She supposed she should have felt chilly, after all, she was wearing but a simple cotton robe in this irregular weather.

She did not.

She treasured any and all of her time with the heavens, especially the ones where it poured, tears from Mother Nature herself. This storm was her's though. Result of her will and her strength. She reveled in it all the more pridefully. Disturbing her peacefulness with the raging sky, the girl heard the creaky old door that led to the lower floors of the watchtower swing open.

Her lips turned down, and she turned to view another young girl with solemn eyes, one small hand holding a polka dotted umbrella, who looked to be no more than ten years of age.

Her mood perked.

"Nako-chan~" cooed the girl on the rooftop, approaching her favorite with ghostly slender fingers outstretched.

"You're going to catch a cold." Minako responded, voice quiet as ever. Contrary to her flat tone, a slight scrunch wrinkled her features as the rooftop girl stroked her long fingers over Minako's forehead, a content smile gracing her lips.

"You don't need to worry about that. Big sister Ki-chan has it all taken care of."

"...Your hands are ice." mumbled Minako, though her smaller hand grasped Ki's, arm craning to hold the umbrella over the other girl's head.

The older girl took hold of the umbrella instead, holding it delicately over the both of them.

"Let's go inside, Kiyomi-san."

Kiyomi made an adoring sound, allowing herself to be tugged towards the door. Before they reached the safety of the inside, Minako asked one of her trademark questions, worry aside.

"Have you finished the job?"

Kiyomi gave a dreamy smile, humming musically to herself as she nudged the shorter girl on the side.

The smile morphed into something reminiscent of a smirk, eyes glowing an eerie periwinkle as they entered the darker space of the watchtower.

"Of course I have."

Kiyomi Osamu | Quirk: Rain Dancer

a/n: Helloo~ To all my fellow BNHA lovers, here it is! I've been working on this chapter for a while now, but I hope you all enjoy it! This is an Azula in the MHA world fanfiction, with my own twist of things of course! This is my first true story post, so tell me what you think, and I hope you enjoy it reading!

I'd just like to mention some important points:

1.) I will be mainly following the storyline of MHA, though we might not directly go through certain events in the story itself. For example, Azula won't be in the initial U.A. entrance exam, since I'm not planning currently for her to be a U.A. student first off.

2.) I'm planning on switching P.O.V.s between some of the characters in the story for a wider variety of perspective, (ex. Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki). Azula will be a priority, it's her story after all, but do expect some other characters to have at least a portion of a chapter once we're further in. Additionally, this will be in third person from this point on. I get a little funky with prologues.

3.) There will be OCs in this story, though not all will appear soon, and probably won't have an true part until a bit later on (besides the gals you just read). Now, I dislike writing too many OCs in Fanfictions, but for the plot I have in mind, I ended up having made a couple more than I would like. Depending on how things go, I may ask you guys to fill up some slots that I'm still wavering on keeping open. But again, we shall see.

4.) I'm not sure about romance, at least for Azula. There might perhaps be inklings of it as we move along, but I'm not set on anyone, honestly. Romance is not the main aspect of the story anyway, but I'll update as we go.

5.) Chapters will vary in length, mostly because I don't know how much content I will come up with per each chapter. Hopefully they'll stay between a general 1,000 words to 2,000, though of course, there may always be more or less.

6.) Be nice in the comments, if you do decide to say something. Please. I'm open to constructive criticism, as I always want to get better. But I want this to be a positive environment, and if anyone says something insulting or inappropriate, I won't stand for it.

Hmm. That's all I wanted to say, I believe. I hope to update soon with the first chapter, man, it's going through some major debating and rewrite. Anywho, feel free to share any ideas you have on the plot, or what other fanfiction ideas interest you. I'd love to write a Sakura in the MHA universe, but I haven't thought too deep about it.

See you next time, lovelies~

Chloe