Hello there people.
Sorry for the delay but Chapter 5 is here!
I hope you enjoy this one :)
The Firelord was standing on his private ship with Mai and Ty Lee, awaiting the arrival of his friend and his sister, Aang informed them of his plan and so they prepared a private escort and got to the ship as soon as they could, while Aang took Appa to go get Azula from the asylum.
Zuko glanced to his right to find Ty Lee fidgeting, she was very stressed, she never wanted to come in the first place but Mai convinced her to come, Mai herself didn't look like her normal self, this whole situation with Azula was taking its toll on her, they might have been very close friends but considering their last conversation didn't go as planned, things were still heated up between Mai and Azula, but nonetheless Mai wasn't even half as stressed as Ty Lee, who is going to see Azula for the first time since the boiling rock fiasco.
Zuko felt bad for the girl, but if Aang says that a trip to Ember Island is a must, then they should follow it to the letter.
They heard Appa's groans in the far distance, normally it would make Zuko pleasant, but now he wasn't so sure, he took a deep breath and awaited their landing.
The bison landed safely on the ship, Aang jumped off the saddle, Momo flied out of it as well, the lemur didn't look comfortable staying there as there was another person on the saddle that he didn't feel comfortable being around, and Zuko knew it was understandably so, as the other person on the saddle was his dear sister, Momo settled on Aang's shoulder, and all of them waited for a couple of seconds before The Avatar ran out of patience as he said,
"Do you need a hand, Princess?" Aang asked sarcastically, clearly teasing Azula.
Zuko and his company heard the sound of a snort which clearly belongs to the fire princess, "I'm not afraid of going down from a bison." She said, as she jumped down and without the use of airbending, she landed very gracefully.
Aang was amazed by this as he said, "Nice."
Azula smiled at him and Aang almost swore it was a genuine one this time as she said, "Thank you."
The Princess then noticed Aang's company, there he was Zuko, The Firelord, standing by him her treacherous former best friends, Mai and Ty Lee, her eyes lingered on Ty Lee as she saw her fidgeting and stressing,
Azula smirked, "Hello there, Ty Lee.. I haven't seen you in a while." Azula said menacingly as she furrowed her brows at Ty Lee while smirking, she looked very terrifying that Ty Lee almost cried.
Aang noticed this and decided to step in, "Hey, Hey.. no mind games, Princess.. we talked about this." Aang said.
Azula then smiled brightly and looked at Aang, "I wasn't playing any.. Can't a girl just say hello to an old friend?" She said, mimicking an innocent voice while biting her lip, she was being sarcastic again, and Aang didn't like any of it, but he decided to be mature about, when Aang stayed silent for a while, Azula continued to speak as she looked at Zuko,
"Do you remember the last time we were all aboard this ship? Well, all except for the avatar of course.. Father met with his advisors alone and so we were sent away on a forced vacation, as Zuko put it, and even though nobody wanted this but we ended up having the time of our lives.. maybe this one won't be so different, what do you say, Zuzu?" Azula said, looking at the firelord.
"I hope so." The Firelord merely said.
"Aw. I thought you would be more excited.. not that the last time you were jumping up and down but.. at least back then, you didn't make my presence feel unwanted."
Zuko groaned, "How am I making your presence feel unwanted? we're doing all of this for you in the first place."
Azula chuckled, "I know, silly.. I'm just teasing, I don't care if anybody wants me around or not.. especially not any of you." Azula said, her words being devoid of sarcasm for the first time, which grabbed the attention of everyone standing.
Everyone was silent for a while, until Aang broke that silence, "We're gonna have a wonderful time." The Avatar said sarcastically.
Azula broke out laughing, which surprised everyone in the room, her laughter seemed so genuine it was disturbing, they have never witnessed Azula laughing this hard genuinely, even Aang felt a little bit disturbed by this, her laughter subsided and she said,
"Good one, Avatar.. I wish I knew you were this funny back then, I wouldn't have tried to murder you, instead I would have kept you in a cell to tell me some jokes every now and then." The princess said, as she laughed again.
Aang wanted to throw something at her, but instead he closed his eyes and took a couple of breaths to calm himself down, he opened his eyes to look at Zuko and Mai, who made hand gestures as if saying 'We are sorry for this.'.
They finally arrived at Ember Island, they went to the beach house that belonged to their family, only Zuko knew what's happened to the house and so Azula, Mai and Ty Lee looked amazed by what's happened.
"You renovated the house?" Mai asked.
"Yeah." The Firelord responded.
"When?"
"Two months after becoming Firelord."
"And you didn't bother to tell me?" Mai asked, annoyed.
"I'm sorry, I wanted it to be a surprise as soon as we took a vacation, but as you know we never took a vacation and the surprise is completely ruined right now." Zuko said, which calmed Mai down a bit.
"It's beautiful." Ty Lee said as she was staring in awe at the walls and the new decorations.
Aang kept staring at Azula the whole time, trying to see how she'll react, he found something interesting that caught his eye, Azula would occasionally look at the family portrait that was stuck on the wall, he didn't know if she kept glancing at it from time to time for nostalgia or for personal reasons.
"It'll do." Azula simply said, as she took her package and was going upstairs.
Aang grabbed his package as well, "I guess that's my cue." He said, looking at Mai, Zuko and Ty Lee, as they agreed that Aang will take the room next to Azula's.
"Be careful, Aang." Zuko told his friend, Aang smiled at him and nodded, The Avatar then went on his way.
He remembered the last time he visited this place, it didn't look that beautiful back then but it was still good memories, back then when he had Katara, Sokka, Toph and Suki along with Zuko by his side, they were great friends of his, he only stayed on good terms with Zuko and Toph, he doesn't see Toph that much but at least they didn't part on bad terms. Aang tried to push the thought out of his mind as he wanted to focus on the task at hand, and that's to take care of Azula, making sure this trip would mean something to her, Aang gathered the courage and decided to do something reckless.. he decided to go visit Azula in her room.
The Avatar got out of his room after unloading the package and walked a couple of steps to the room of the princess, he reconsidered his options but then he took a deep breath which made him feel courageous again, which led him to knocking on her door,
"Who's there?" Azula asked after hearing Aang's knock.
"It's me, Princess."
"Well, come on in, Avatar.. I'm sure you're dying for a chat with me." Aang turned the knob and opened the door, he found Azula sitting on the floor, not even bothering to unload her package.
"Do you need a hand with your luggage?"
Azula snorted, "Can I ask you something, Avatar?"
"Sure, go ahead." Aang said, as he took a seat on the floor opposite Azula.
"Why do you keep acting like you care for me?"
Aang was silenced by the question, she really cornered him with it, he wanted so badly to say that he didn't care for her, but that would be contradictory to what he agreed to with Zuko.
"Who says I don't?" Aang merely asked.
"A lot of things.. first of them the fact that I almost ended the avatar cycle before by killing you, anyone in your position would just want to strangle me, but here you are trying to fix me.. and we both know that you're doing this for Firelord Zuzu, so just drop the act and stop trying to act like you care for me." Azula said.
Aang couldn't hold himself anymore, she asked for it, "Yes, you are right.. I don't care for you.. but I care for my friend, and I'll fix you for him."
"What makes you different than my parents then? You all want me to be good for something, none of you has ever wanted me to be good for me.. it's the same load of crap every single time, My dad would tell me that I have to be strong and fierce to better represent the nation, and My mom.." Azula stopped for a second, which really intrigued Aang, She then composed herself and continued,
"My mom would tell me that I have to be presentable and beautiful because a Princess has to be a respectable Lady.. Where is Azula in all of this? Not that I want you to do anything, I just want you to stop being hypocrites, fixing your mistakes before trying to fix mine." Azula finished, she might have not unloaded the package, but she did indeed unload her emotional weight on Aang.
Aang felt bad for her, most of his bad thoughts on Azula were almost wiped out, she had a tough childhood, she wanted to prove herself because she was forced to do so, her father was a very cruel man, and her mother apparently cared for Zuko more than she cared for her, it would be quite the frustrating experience for anyone.
Azula noticed his looks of sympathy for her, which made her laugh, "I didn't say all this to feel bad for me.. I just want you to stop being a hypocrite because you are just like them, you know.. maybe your reason is more noble, you are doing this for a friend.. but seriously, you don't care for me, so what's the point?" Azula said.
Aang sighed at her attitude, maybe Azula was lying to him about this whole emotional damage stuff, but after all, they were in Ember Island, maybe that's the reason her feelings were genuine, and more to come when they go down on the beach at night and talk to each other, but as for right now, they just need to rest and go on with their vacation, Aang decided on this and just stood up,
"You're right, Princess.. I'll try my best not to be a hypocrite anymore.. that much I can promise." The Avatar said as he was headed towards the door.
Azula snorted again, "What? you are gonna drop the act of caring for me and just move on with your life?" She asked.
Aang waited after opening the door and turned around to look at her, "No.. I'll try to care for you a little." He said, and then he got out and closed the door behind him.
The Avatar didn't know it, but his words did strike a chord with Azula.
Thank you for reading.
The next one will be published real soon :)