I told you it won't be long until next chapter :)
We're nearing the end, and I've already settled on a great ending for this story, Stay Tuned and more chapters will be dropped soon.
Please, don't forget to review afterwards and have a good read :)
Azula, Zuko and Ursa were finally having something they haven't had in a very long time, a family dinner.
It's Azula's winter break, and so as she was out of school for a while, she decided to think creatively about other matters, without anything else to occupy her mind, so her and Ursa decided to surprise Zuko and make a meal for all three of them, the surprise took its toll on Zuko after he came back from work, it made him happier than ever for two things, that they are finally having a family dinner after a very long time, and that Azula is actually standing in the kitchen and cooking by herself.
"I've always been a great cook, Zuzu. you just never asked." was Azula's answer when Zuko teased her about the matter, and she was indeed right, Zuko never asked her to prepare anything for him, but Zuko promised that from now on only Azula will cook in this house, not just because she told him so, but also because her cooking's really good.
"I really love the soup, Azula. I still can't believe Princesses can be this good at cooking." Zuko complimented.
"They are not, I'm the only one." Azula said, and a fit of chuckles escaped the mouths of Zuko and Ursa.
Zuko smiled at her, "Welcome back, little sister." He said feeling the most proud of her.
Azula smiled back at him and then her sight was diverted back to her plate as she said, "It's good to be back." with the smile still plastered on her face.
Azula was most proud of herself that she's finally coping with the situation going on, after her conversation with Aang, she felt very at peace with herself, she finally accepted that her and Aang can never be together, and that's okay.. because that's how life is, and she's okay with it, Azula smiled proudly at herself for accepting life as it is, and who knows, maybe one day she'll bump into someone who will make her feel butterflies in her stomach just like Aang did, and maybe she will stay without a boyfriend for the rest of her life, either way, she's okay with what life is throwing at her, she'll fight back, yes.. but never demand.
Life is a strange yet beautiful opportunity, only the strong can identify the beauty of it all, and once they do, they'll take most of that strange opportunity.
Azula did so, and that's how she got back with her mother, and improved her relationship with her brother greatly, they are now a proper family, a family that cares deeply for each other, Why? because she decided to look at the good sides of her mother and brother.
she also improved her relationship Katara, who's now a real sister to her, Why? because she decided to focus on the good side of Katara.
Which brings us to the final part of the equation, Aang.
It was hard for Azula to let go, it was really hard to come to terms with the idea that Aang can be with someone else, it was a struggle, but because she improved her relationship with her family and her friends, she came to terms with it, that's why life is strange, it has all that beauty but it can't give it all to you, but the most important part is.. Azula is okay with it, that's what really matters, that's what really changed about Azula, she's okay with life being both strange and beautiful.
"I miss my uncle." Azula heard Zuko say, and that really caught her attention of his conversation with his mother as she was deep in thought.
Azula filled her spoon with soup and sipped at it, "Yeah, me too." She answered afterwards.
"Me three." Ursa replied.
Zuko took a bite of his steak and continued speaking, "The worst part of it all, that he doesn't know anything about his tea shop, I have to see him, tell him that I'm holding on and waiting for him to come back." Zuko finished.
Ursa and Azula dropped their spoons and listened to Zuko, Azula decided to reply first, "We can't go back to Caldera City, it's too dangerous." She said.
"Who said anything about 'We'?" Zuko answered, which shocked both Azula and Ursa, Azula didn't know what could be more infuriating, the fact that her brother is risking his life by going back to that wretched place, or that he's going there without her.
Azula was about to express her anger, but Ursa decided to beat her to the chase, "You can't be thinking about travelling to that hellish place alone? I won't allow it, Zuko. we finally got the family back together, why can't you just be happy with what's here?" Ursa asked, her voice filled with agony.
"I'm happy. I've never been happier, Azula can tell you about how I was like before you came back.. Mom, Ever since you came back, my life gets happier and happier every day, I got a cafe of my own and our daily revenue's only getting higher and higher, I'm seeing someone and she's making me so happy, I also quit smoking in case nobody noticed.." Zuko said, Ursa appeared to have a lot of questions but she let Zuko continue speaking, Zuko turned his head to Azula and said,
"But most importantly, I got my sister back.. We've never been this at peace with each other before, we really care for each other now, if that's not enough to make me happy, I don't know what is." Zuko finished with a smile to Azula, who looked at the ground struggling not to smile.
She sighed, "You're an idiot." She only said but she couldn't help but smile afterwards, she prepared an angry speech to lash out at Zuko, but his beautiful words drove it away.
Zuko looked at Ursa again, and took her hand, "You're my mother and she's my sister, the closest people to my heart, I consider you before any decision I make, even that one.." Zuko kept stroking his mother's hand and looked at her with fondness in his eyes, "I think about how much you'd be worried about me, and how devastated you'd be if I got harmed.. but I assure you, I'll be very careful, Seeing my uncle again and reassuring him that everything is okay with us is going to be a pivotal point in my life, and without it, my life would be incomplete.. Please, Mom.. don't make me lose that chance." Zuko said, still looking at his mom with the same fondness, and a little bit of begging.
Ursa sighed and looked away, she was clearly mulling it over, suddenly she turned her head to look at Zuko and said, "I accept.. on one condition."
"Anything." Zuko said with determination.
"You take your sister with you." Ursa said, and Azula was shocked at that.
"Mom, I c-can't-" Zuko was struggling to say the words so Ursa interrupted.
"Azula needs to speak to her father, she's never been able to, it's the first day of her winter break, she still has a lot of time until the next semester, consider it her winter break vacation." Ursa simply said, and Azula's face of shock couldn't have been more apparent.
Has she been reading my mind? Azula asked internally, she knew that the last step for her to finalize her self-healing process is having a conversation with her dad, the man that toughened her up and made her the monster she was when she first came into the city, her attitude changed as soon as she met her friends and it got even better after the recent events, but she knew that there's still something missing, she would never get rid of the attitude her dad instilled in her until she gets to have a conversation with him.
Zuko was confused by this, "Why would she need to speak to our dad?" He asked.
"Because she needs to let go of the past and start fresh." Ursa said, looking at Azula with a fond smile, Azula couldn't help but return it.
"Mom is right, Zuko. I need this trip." Azula said without hesitation.
Zuko groaned, he didn't want anybody to be involved in this but him, he wanted to go face this danger alone, but he also knew that his mother was right, Azula needed to confront her dad, he used to wake her up having nightmares that she wasn't good enough, she talked in her sleep about how their dad wasn't satisfied with her, she kept apologizing to their dad in her sleep, begging him to give her another chance, it was torture for her and he knew it, she needed to see their dad in the state that he's in right now, so that the fear of failure gets as further away from her as possible, their dad made her refuse to accept anything but perfection, of course nobody is perfect and that pained Azula, she needed to confront her dad to get it out of her system.
Zuko then looked at his mother and sister and he had no choice but to say, "Alright, I'll book the flight." He said and left the room.
Ursa smiled at her son, meanwhile Azula was sitting there looking at the table in silence, Ursa noticed.
"It's gonna be okay, sweetie." The mother said.
Azula looked at her and then at her plate again, "This conversation has been long overdue, it has to happen as soon as possible." Azula said.
"I know. That's why I insisted that you go with your brother, go to your dad, prove to yourself and to him that you don't need to be perfect to be successful person. You are the best just as you are, my daughter. you've always been." Ursa said with a smile on her face.
Azula smiled back at her, she got out of her chair and went to her mother to give her a hug, "I'm glad you are back, mom." Azula said with a voice filled with fondness and yearning.
"Me too." Her mother replied.
Zuko came back after he called the airport to book two tickets to Caldera City, as he saw the scene, he couldn't help but smile at it, he couldn't have been any happier, just seeing his mother and Azula embracing was enough for him to shed a tear of happiness.
He knew that they needed to confront their past to get a better future, but just a small part of him tells him that life can't get any happier for them as it is, just having his mother and sister being a real family, and also having Toph as a girlfriend, and Aang, Sokka, Katara and Suki as friends, also having his cafe, all this was enough for him to make him very happy.
But he knew the confrontation has to happen, so he could only hope it gets better from here.
The next day
Azula and Zuko were standing with their friends at the airport, it was Toph, Sokka, Suki, Katara and Aang.
Zuko had already concluded business with Fung and Teo and told them to manage the cafe until he's back, and so as Azula has no school, and his work is managed by trustworthy people both of them have no commitment here in Ba Sing Se, so they are free to leave, but they still had to say goodbye to their friends.
Azula was having a conversation with Toph, while Zuko was standing with the rest of them.
"Don't worry, Aang. I'll be back by the time of your next school musical." Zuko said, reassuring his friend.
"I hope so, I don't believe you have tasted my fury yet, Zuko. If you wanna give it a go, just be late to my musical." Aang said, appearing to mean every word.
Zuko just chuckled and scratched his hair in nervousness, "If I had any plans to miss it, certainly I won't after alerting me of this side of yours." Zuko said.
Katara chuckled, "Don't mind him, Zuko. we all know he's a big softie." She said, teasing her boyfriend who pouted at her.
Zuko was glad that his friends were all in good spirits, "I'm going to miss you all."
"Yeah, just go already.. I'm not used to this kind of emotions" Sokka said, wiping a tear from his eye and Suki wrapped her arm around him to comfort him.
"Sokka.. we won't be away for long, we'll be back before you know it, I promise." Zuko said as he put a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"We're really gonna miss you, guys." Suki said, and Zuko smiled at her.
Just before he could reply, Azula decided to switch shifts with Zuko, she came to speak with the guys and told Zuko to go speak to his girlfriend,
"I've been trying to calm her down ever since we came here, I hope you can handle her better than I did." Azula told Zuko who smiled and went to comfort his girlfriend.
Azula stood there with the guys and looked at them fondly, "Okay.. I'm not used to this kind of emotions, but-"
"Hey, Stop copying me!" Sokka said, breaking the moment.
"What?" Azula asked, confused.
Suki punched Sokka in the arm and told Azula to continue, so Azula did just that, "Even though this is just goodbye for now, I'd like to say a few words, knowing you, guys, was the real turning point in our lives, to me and Zuko, you're more than just friends, you are family, and up until a few months ago, you were the only family we had left, Thank you for making us feel at home and safe.." Azula started and all of her friends started to feel tears sting their eyes, Azula hadn't finished yet, she went to each and everyone of them in turn,
she started with Sokka as she told him, "Sokka, your humorous spirit helped me find joy at times of agony, Thank you.."
She then went to Suki, "My voice of reason, there were times when I would have given up if it wasn't for your solid advices, Suki. Thank you.",
she then moved on the most difficult of the bunch, Aang and Katara, she sighed before speaking,
"I'm glad you two appeared in my life. you, Aang, helped me realized that not everything in life can be taken, you showed me that love can't be forced upon you, it has to be earned, you showed it to me with your love to Katara, and how you two faced your struggles together, it was truly an amazing experience to hear your story, and that got me to get to know both of you better, I'm glad I did.. Thank you two.. so very much." Azula said.
Aang and Katara couldn't contain their joy by Azula's words, both of them just went to hear and enveloped her in a hug, Azula was taken by surprise by the gesture made by both of them, but she just hugged them back because she truly meant every word she said, she finally felt free of Aang's curse, which wasn't his fault, but she still felt free when she knew that she doesn't love him That way anymore, she found solace and that made her feel very confident with herself.
Finally the group broke the hug at the sound of crying in the distance, They all looked to find Toph sobbing and Zuko comforting her in his arms, Azula was first to go and the entire company followed her, Azula held Toph at close range, and all of them did the same, they had a group hug for the first time in their lives, and it felt very good.
Azula came close to Toph's ears and said, "You are the best friend a girl could ever have." Toph smiled through her crying and put her arm around Azula, it was truly a happy moment.
One they would cherish for the rest of their lives.
Thank you for reading,
Please don't forget to review and have a good one :)