Hey guys ! So sorry it took so long to get this chapter published but I was pretty stumped with exams and working on other stories to get this chapter finished. But rest assured, now that my semester is over, I can finally start cranking out new chapters more frequently so I hope you're hyped for that.
:)
Big thanks to HammerTide for beta reading and editing this chapter. They are the ones who added some much needed monologuing on Kazumi's part.
Now about this chapter...it is the one you have ALL been waiting for. The one that I have been hyping for so many chapters, Azula's first Spirit Hunt.
Admittedly at first, I was planning on doing something a bit more simplistic, but after due consideration I decided to make Azula's first mission as a Spirit Navigator a little...darker so to speak.
Warning before reading the chapter: Implied rape. You read that line correctly.
Now let's get this chapter started.
It was time.
Their blades were sharpened, their armor polished, their gifts ready to release at a moments notice...
And Kazumi managed to kick up an old informant about the hearings of spirits terrorizing a village, just a few dozen miles to the southeast of them.
Azula herself was dressed in the armor of the Spirit Navigators, the added weight on her body felt familiar, similar to her armor back during the war, the only difference here is that she now has spiritual powers and a sword at her hip.
It felt good.
Looking at herself in the mirror her room, she looked pretty damn decent if she would say so...the only problem was her hair.
It was too long. In the months past, Azula had granted Kazumi permission to cut her hair on occasion since it had grown too damn long over the time she had been training with Kazumi, but it had been quite a while since their last haircut so it was much longer than any military person would consider acceptable for a mission.
No time to cut it, maybe she should tie it up ? But she had nothing to do that with.
" Are you prepared Azula ? " Kazumi asked as she stepped into her room also donned in the armor of the Spirit Navigators.
" Yes, its just...my hair. Its too long and it could get in the way " Azula explained her troubles to the older woman.
" I see..." Kazumi put a hand to her chin, thinking it over before coming up with something " I think I have just the thing for you Azula..."
Kazumi briefly left the room but quickly returned holding something in her hand.
" Here Azula, you can tie your hair up with this " Kazumi held the item out to Azula and she could see that it was..
A flower.
Or rather it was that flower pin that Kazumi offered to Azula back in the first few months she spent with the woman. She still held onto it, even after Azula tried to burn Kazumi during one of her episodes.
She remembered that episode being triggered because it reminded Azula of the crown her birth mother gave to her...but now ? Having cut emotional ties with mother and having accepted Kazumi in her place... she feels nothing. She's not sure if that's a good or bad thing.
" Is it alright Azula ?" Kazumi said with slight worry. Knowing that she was taking a gamble on this one.
To her surprise though, Azula was completely calm...almost tiredly calm as she looked at the pin " Its perfect Kazumi but um..." Azula awkwardly asked this " I...don't know how to do my hair " Azula admitted.
" Sit down Azula, I'll do it for you " Kazumi softly smiled as she gestured Azula to sit down on the chair by the mirror table.
The former princess did so and relaxed as Kazumi did her hair, she was gentle and kind. Doing her hair the way a mother would to her daughter. Something her own birth mother never did for her and instead left that to nameless servants.
Looks like Azula finally got to experience that...just not with the mother she once had.
When Kazumi was done, Azula observed herself in the mirror...she liked her reflection this time around.
Her hair was neatly and properly tied in a topknot, like it was back during the war, the only difference was that now the flower pin was replacing her crown. She now looked like the proud warrior that she once was. It felt good.
" How is it Azula ? " Kazumi asked placing a hand on her shoulder.
" I love it Kazumi...thank you "
" It is my pleasure, now let us set out. We're almost late "
The two walked outside the house, where Azula did a quick check to make sure all their equipment was ready.
" You have everything Azula ? "
" Yes, Kazumi I double-checked and made sure we had all the equipment we need ready " Azula nodded. Sword, armor, banishing papers and seals, smoke bombs, etc.
" Excited for your first mission ? " Kazumi asked with a smirk.
" A little...it'll be good to be back out there " Azula confessed " Are you happy that you're back in the spirit hunting game ? "
"...I'm happy that you're here with me to have made this possible Azula " Kazumi confessed and the princess couldn't even be surprised. She only felt a sense of happiness at that confession. Sometimes she had forgotten how much time had passed since she had last did her duty as a spirit navigator. It had been seventeen long years, abandoning her duty because of her loss and the feeling of betrayal.
I wonder where she is now. Kazumi asked herself, wondering if her own would be as spirited as Azula but quickly shook those thoughts away.
Don't compare them against each other, treat them as individuals, not replacements.
Her thoughts told her, she was sure that they would have been friends had they met, likely fierce rivals, always trying to be the better of one another because of their spirited personality but inseparable.
Kazumi shakes of the thoughts, wherever she is now, she'll still see her in the future, re-united, but not yet. Not yet. " Come on, let's go we shouldn't keep the spirits waiting for us " Kazumi changed the subject " Masks on..." On the surface she might be brimming with confidence, but at this moment it's the same as Azula.
Azula pulled up her hood and placed the white mask on her face, her sight unhindered as it appeared through the two slits in the mask. Felt odd wearing a mask. Strange even.
With no further discussion or dialogue the two set out from the Forgetful Valley and headed to their target location.
The hunt had begun.
It didn't take them long to reach the village Kazumi had mentioned, with them hitching a ride from a friendly carriage driver that was heading in the same direction that Kazumi may or may not have seduced with some gold.
It was a medium sized village, smaller than Hira'a definitely and night had fallen, making the moon their only source of light. It almost looked peaceful...
But Azula felt a strange atmosphere over this place. She had never believed in Ty Lee's 'auras'...but after learning all that she has, she thinks she's starting to.
" Come now, we must find the local lord and get a better fix on the situation here " Kazumi said and Azula nodded.
Locating the local lord was an easy task, he had the biggest house in the village which honestly wasn't that big compared to the others.
To say, his reaction to meeting them was a surprise would be an understatement.
" Who the hell are you two ? " The man said crudely, eyeing them suspiciously.
"We are...spirit navigators. We heard that you may have a spirit problem ? "
Azula stayed quiet, deciding to learn and let Kazumi run point on the questioning. Despite the vulgarity of the man, they remained composed.
" Never said anything about a spirit...but there is something strange going on in the village " The lord said in a grave voice.
" Tell us what's been happening "
" For the past few months, bad things have been happening...crops dying, animals mewling as if afraid of something, an ill-omen over the whole village...we're not superstitious alright ? So we thought it was just a crazy coincidence...but folks haven't felt right in months " The lord's face turned grim " Then the deaths started happening..."
Well, this quickly turned grim.
" Deaths ? "
" Two of our people. Lao and Fung. They both fell ill and no matter what we tried the poor bastards died anyway...they seemed to be terrified of something up to their last moments " The lord said " Now everybody's paranoid and on edge, thinking that there's some kind of pissed off spirit roaming about...look, I don't care on what you must do, just take care of this so this village can get on with their lives in peace "
" Understood " Kazumi nodded " We will do everything in our power to end this..."
" Thank you..." Despite being crude, the lord had enough decency to give thanks.
" Now down to business, has anything bad happened in recent times before this ? Murders, crimes, recent deaths, suicides ? " Kazumi prodded.
" Hmmmm...now that you mention it about a year ago, a lady by the name of Xing committed suicide "
Suicide ? This just keeps getting worse and worse...a cold chill ran on her spine. The mention of suicide always makes Kazumi flinch, she herself knows what it is like to come to the decision to just end it all.
I would have done it myself, if not just throw myself into the lake or strike my own heart with lightning to be free of the pain.
Kazumi thought to herself. The dark sleepless nights as grief was her only companion, she doesn't remember how she managed to get through it all by herself. Kazumi closed her eyes before she shakes off the dark thoughts that permeated in her head.
" How did she die ? " Kazumi questioned.
" Hanged herself in her own home. Sad thing, I must say "
" Any idea why she would kill herself ? "
" None. She was always a nice and happy girl...although..."
" Although what ? "
" Although I do recall that the poor girl was supposedly closed off just a few days before she killed herself. She was always going out and socializing with people, so it was pretty out of the blue when it happened suddenly " The lord recalled.
" I see...can you tell us where she lived and give us the key ? "
The lord did so wordlessly, giving them the address of her house and the key that had been relegated to him " What do you hope to find there ? "
" A clue perhaps. Have a goodnight sir "
The two left the lord's house and walked into the street, where Azula whispered to Kazumi.
" What do you think ? Do you think it might be this Xing that's the spirit ? "
" Possibly. But why would she haunt her former village ? What would be the point ? " Kazumi questioned " Spirits don't just hang around after they die for no good reason, there must be something tying her to the mortal realm "
" Whatever drove her to suicide seems like an obvious starting point " Azula brought up " Think if we figure out what the cause was, her spirit will be laid to rest ? "
" In all likelihood, yes, though that's not excluding the possibility that this may just be a dark spirit playing tricks and killing people off " Kazumi held up the key " Whatever the case, Xing's old house should be a good starting point "
Entering the house, that lied close to the outskirt of the village, Azula immediately noticed lots of dust and would have likely coughed if not for her mask. The house was devoid of most furniture with the only remaining things being a few chairs, table and dirty bed that probably has plenty of bed bugs in it.
" What happened to all the furniture ? "
" If there's no next of kin to take it , the village lord auctions the stuff off in the event of a resident's death. Anything that doesn't get sold is left behind here " Kazumi explained " I just hope they left us something that could give us a clue "
" Its been a full year Kazumi, I doubt there's going to be much evidence left behind " Azula shrugged as she inspected the house.
" That is if you don't know where to look..." Kazumi said as she activated Spirit Eyes, that let her see and notice things that others could not.
And one of those things appeared to be a space beneath the floorboard, hiding something.
" There's space beneath the floorboard...this one in particular is hiding something " Kazumi knelled down next to a particular floorboard. Taking out a knife and plying open the floorboard, revealed a small book.
" What do you have there ?" Azula asked as she got close to see.
" A diary of some kind...must have belonged to Xing " Kazumi said as she opened it up.
" This feels like an invasion of privacy " Azula commented.
" Probably, but its for a good cause " Kazumi shrugged as she looked through the book " Let's see here...yes, this belonged to that Xing girl. Most of this just seems to be a recollections of her day, personal thoughts and notes, she seemed like a pretty happy person. Not the kind that would consider suicide as an option "
" Skip to the latest entries "
Kazumi did so and read it out loud:
' Today Lu asked me out on a date. I said yes of course ! He's so hot...I like him, but he's always hanging so many girls its impossible to get his attention. I'm just glad that he finally noticed me ! '
" Looks like she was pretty popular with some of the boys here " Azula commented.
" Looks like it..." Kazumi turned another page...to see that there was no other page " That's strange. The rest of the pages have been torn out...odd "
" A dead-en-"
Azula couldn't even finish her sentence...as she sensed something. It was difficult to describe, as if all her instincts had kicked up upon sensing something in the house with them.
Kazumi sensed it too...it was familiar, something from long time past that is coming back to her as if muscle memory.
The house had gotten colder and darker...and emerging from the shadows was a figure. A woman, dressed in a torn white dress...pale as the moon...
A spirit.
The spirit looked at them, opening its mouth to-
" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A loud inhuman scream echoed throughout the house and it almost pierced Azula's ears, had she not blocked out the sound.
" GEEEEETTTT OOOOUUUTTT! " The spirit screamed as it leapt at them and Azula took out her blade-
But she was too slow. As Kazumi already transversed towards the spirit, landing a clean cut on her arm.
Not blood came out of the wound...but some kind of dark energy seeped out of it.
The spirit let out a scream, clutching her arm...before she ran through the wall like a spirit would and disappeared.
Azula snapped out of her stupor and was about to run out to pursue when Kazumi stopped.
" Azula wait ! Don't go out there alone !" Kazumi ordered.
" We need to catch it and banish it before it gets away !"
" Don't worry about that, she won't escape the village. She would have done that already if she wanted to...that wasn't a usual dark spirit, we know that much now "
" Wait a second, that wasn't a dark spirit ? " Azula questioned
" Not quite. It was definitely a dark spirit in terms of its appearance...but it was far too weak, to be a demon. The fact that she was so easily cut and ready to run away proves as such " Kazumi explained " Her powers are weak and she's clearly not used to this yet...some kind of dark spirit born out of strong negative emotions ? "
" She committed suicide. So that seems very likely " Azula shrugged " What's our next move ? "
" We need to find this Lu guy. He seems to be our next lead on figuring out what's going on "
They were interrupted when they heard a noise coming from outside, Kazumi activating Spirit Eyes to catch sight of a man approaching the house.
" Somebody's approaching the house catch him " Kazumi said simply.
The two ran out of the house, surprising the man who quickly turned to run.
" Holy shit !"
" Bad move..."
Azula transversed in front of him cutting him off, Kazumi approaching him from behind stopped his escape entirely.
The man was actually just a few years older than Azula was, not half-bad looking but had a face of terror.
" Try to run again and I will shock you with lightning " Azula threatened.
" Who are you ? "
" W-Wait ! Don't kill me ! My name's Lu ! I live here ! " Lu held his hands up in surrender.
The guy mentioned in the journal...well, this is convenient.
" What are you doing here ? "
" I heard some strange noises coming from the house...its a small village so I came to check it out and...fuck, was that really her ? " Lu said in panic " Xing, I mean..."
Kazumi and Azula shared a look.
" How did you know her. Talk " Kazumi said curtly.
" She is...was my girlfriend, alright ? We dated for a while okay ? "Lu explained " Who are you girls ? "
" We're the people hired to put a stop to this spirit business..." Kazumi inspected him critically " You say you were her boyfriend...did she have any enemies ? Any recent big events that could have upsetted her before she took her life ? "
" N-No ! None of that sorta thing...she was liked by everyone and well..." Lu struggled to explain " Look, I'll be frank I'm kind of a...ladies man. Not really into long term relationships. The thing with Xing was just supposed to be a one-time thing and well...she just wouldn't let go ! She pushed for a relationship, we went on one-date and she's acting like we're married so I may have...broken up with her before she killed herself...I didn't know she would do it !"
A lie.
Azula could instantly tell that this Lu wasn't giving them the full-picture on what was happening...but what was he hiding ?
" I see...and you think she's come back to take vengeance on you ? " Kazumi inquired.
" Of course, its about me. She already killed two of my friends !" Lu shouted.
" Lao and Fung ? They were your friends ? " Azula asked.
" Yeah...she never liked them. Always so controlling, didn't want me seeing them...so I think she killed them to send me a message " Lu said fearfully.
Azula could tell that Lu was lying about certain things, he was hiding something but it was hard to discern what exactly.
" Were there any spots near here that she frequented ? Places she held close to her heart or liked very much ? " Kazumi asked.
" I mean..." Lu thought about it for a moment " I guess there was this one place near here. In a clearing by the stream, south of here. Best place to watch the stars"
" Thank you for your time...we will find you if we need you " Kazumi said simply.
" No problem, just please stop this crazy chick before she kills anybody else "
Azula didn't know why but that felt close to home and if not for her own self control, she would have yelled at Lu.
Instead she stayed calm and walked away with Kazumi.
" This Lu isn't telling us everything..." Kazumi said as they walked away.
" You noticed he was lying too ? "
" Of course, I could sense something was off about him...his story doesn't add up totally. He's hiding something, the question is what ? "
" So what are we going to do ? "
" To talk to a spirit..."
Azula stopped and looked at Kazumi.
" What ? "
It didn't take too for them to reach the spot Lu had mentioned. The woods surrounding the village feeling eerily creepy at night, then again she's been living in the Forgetful Forest for months now so she supposes she's used to it.
The moonlight made the stream look like it was glittering and sparkly, looking up at the sky Azula could see all kinds of lovely stars in the sky.
" Pretty..."
" Very pretty Azula...though I think you're much prettier than some far away star " Kazumi quipped which made Azula chuckle a little.
Their respite lasted only a short while... as the cold returned...and they sensed it was right behind them.
The two drew their swords and quickly turned behind them, to see the spirit from before.
Azula stood with her sword ready when something unexpected happened...
The spirit pointed.
Not at them, but in a specific direction away from the stream.
She pointed and then she walked away, fading away into the darkness of the treeline.
" She wants us to follow her ? This could be a trap " Azula questioned.
" Maybe, but we have no other leads. Stay close and don't stray too far Azula " Kazumi warned.
Azula followed behind Kazumi, who kept a close eye on the spirit that appeared to be leading them somewhere.
It was only a few minutes of walking before they reached some kind of clearing, hidden amongst the trees.
And Azula couldn't quite explain it...but she felt unease around here.
" What is this place ? "
The spirit didn't speak, but instead pointed in the middle of the clearing where something strange happened.
A scene started to play out before them.
Ghosts of the past appeared from the ground...a ghostly girl that looked more alive than the Spirit before them stood in front of a group of 5 men.
With Lu at the front of the group.
' What is this ? Why are here Lu ? ' Xing asked.
' We're here because you can't take a goddamn hint !' Lu shouted at her ' You're so annoying ! That date was just a one-time thing, but you just wouldn't leave me alone ! '
' B-But I love you !'
' Well, I don't ! So take a hint already and leave me alone ! '
' I just don't understand why this is happening and-'
' He said piss off ! '
Xing turned angry at being shoved back by one of Lu's friends.
' Oh big man Lu, couldn't even muster up the courage to break up alone. Had to drag the poor girl out here to make a fool out of her and bring his friends along for the show !' Xing shouted ' When the village hears about it, I wonder how long before the next girl dumps your stupid ass for being a coward !'
' Why you-' Lu grabbed her arm roughly.
' Get off me you bastard, I will-'
Lu shut her up by slapping her, the girl kept fighting back, clearly more angry than before.
' Help me with this bitch ! ' Lu shouted and his lackeys joined in.
' Fucking bitch !' One of them yelled as Xing bit them.
First it was just trying to push Xing away...then it turned to holding her down...then it went to kicking and actually hitting her...then the tearing of clothes came...then the violating came.
" Baby, don't look at this " Kazumi tried to tell her but Azula couldn't tear her eyes away.
Spare yourself at least this cruelty of the world.
But Azula couldn't. She had to see this to understand.
The memory went on for a fucking hour...when it was all said and done, the men left Xing crumpled on the dirt ground, clothes torn, beaten, abused and violated.
So this was the reason she committed suicide.
Azula and Kazumi didn't breath a word as this entire scene transpired...besides Azula grabbing Kazumi's hand in comfort at what they were seeing.
" So that's what happened..." Kazumi said as the memory faded.
The spirit nodded.
" You want revenge ? "
The spirit nodded.
" Well...my dear, you're about to get it "
Tracking the other two still living fiends and getting them to the forest wasn't that hard, all Kazumi had to do was spin a lie here and there. Tell them the only way to break the curse was to do a ritual and the idiots bought it.
" Ugh, why the fuck do we have to do this ? " The first one of them complained.
" Because if we don't, then we're all fucked...besides if we do this, then we'll be seen as heroes for saving the village !" Lu encouraged. The vulgarity of their words were just freely flowing
" Yeah ! " Says the other of his peers.
The former princess had to resist the urge to stab them where they stood but stayed her blade. She already knew what was coming.
Azula didn't speak a word since the memory played, but some part of her was going to enjoy this.
" We're almost there..." Kazumi said dispassionately.
They arrived at the clearing from before...and the trio finally caught on to where they were.
" Wait a second...this is-" Lu put the pieces together too late.
" The place where you and your lackeys raped that poor girl...did you think her soul would rest easy after that ? That THIS wasn't a long time coming ? " Kazumi said, anger lacing her tone. The mask hiding her anger.
" Yoooooouuuuu...diiiiiiddddd thiiiisss...toooooo meeeeee..."
The spirit Xing stepped out of the shadows, scaring the three men.
" Holy shit...Xing..." Lu breathed.
" W-W-What is this ?! Some kind of human sacrifice !? " The first one questioned.
" Not quite...you are all going to die today, but I need to make sure Xing here soul is laid to rest. If she kills you, then her grievance may continue on and cause her to hurt innocents..."
The trio realized far too late that they had walked to their deaths.
" She's not here to kill you...she's here to watch you die " Kazumi said as she took off her sword still in its sheath and handed it to Azula.
" I don't want to get my blade dirty with their blood " Kazumi explained as she felt her knuckles cracked. It had been awhile since Kazumi had needed to kill to lay the spirit to rest.
The three men looked like they were ready to shit themselves, when scumbag 1 mustered up the courage to try and stand up tp Kazumi.
" You bitch ! You think we're going to go down that eas-"
Kazumi cut the man off, when she held out her hand where he stood and a Bloodbriar sprouted from the ground, and wrapped its tendrils around the man's body.
" What's wrong ? Isn't this what you did to her ? Make her helpless against you ? Beg for mercy ? " Kazumi said with cold anger in her tone as she her hand made a crushing motion " Well, I promise I will do the same..."
Obeying the will of its master, the Bloodbriar crushed the man's arms and legs, making him scream into the night
" FUCK ! FUCKING HELP ME-UGHGR!" The bloodbriar shoved its way into the man's mouth...before the tendrils erupted from his stomach.
His eyes spoke of true horror as the life faded from his life and a scream died in his throat.
Lu and his remaining lackey were stuck trapped where they stood. Paralyzed by fear.
It was only after a minute that the two tried to turn tail and run.
Kazumi transversed in front of them, startling them back and scaring them. There was no running from what they did, or what was about to happen to them.
" Stay away from me you bit-AAAAAAHHH" One of them tried to throw a punch at Kazumi, only for her to grab and twist his arm until it broke. Snapping the bone completely.
Lu tried to help, emphasis on 'try' by tackling Kazumi, all that earned him was a kick to the stomach that was strong enough to knock him on his ass.
Kazumi didn't waste anymore time and simply snapped the fiend's neck before turning to Lu trying to pathetically crawl back.
" W-What are you doing ? "
" I am fulfilling my oath to lay the spirits to rest..." Kazumi said as she ignited her white flame in her hands. "And unfortunately, sometimes it requires effort of having to rid fiends like you."
She blasted the pathetic man with her flames, burning him alive...slowly.
His screams ran through the air, piercing the serenity of the forest, flailing like a fish as he was burned alive.
It lasted for almost ten minutes of roasting before he finally died. The smoke from his flames rising into the air.
Kazumi and Azula turned to the spirit, who had a melancholic look on her face. But she could see that there is peace on her forlorn expression.
"Thank you." The spirit says, its voice no longer bearing the vengeful tone as it faded into nothingness.
The next few hours pass by rather quickly, they notify the lord that the spirit has passed but it had apparently killed 3 more people before it could be stopped. Its better that he doesn't know the truth about what really happened.
Kazumi and Azula return to the Forgetful Forest and to Kazumi's house, its already close to morning anyway so Azula can't bring herself to sleep. Not like she could anyhow, so she rescind herself to sit in front of the house, being curled up to by Tira and Serenity.
" Azula are you okay ? " Kazumi asked as she walked up behind her. Azula already used to sensing Kazumi's presence that she isn't even really surprised anymore.
" Not really sure honestly..." Azula admitted.
" A spirit of vengeance born out of rape induced trauma suicide isn't exactly what you were expecting for your first mission. " Kazumi says as she sat down next to the girl.
" Definitely not...and here I thought our whole job was slash at spirits and help old spirit ladies reconnect with their husbands..."
" That's only half the job..." Kazumi said humorlessly " But in all seriousness Azula, being a Spirit Navigator is difficult and hard on the best of days...if you can believe it, that wasn't even the worst thing I'd seen "
" Yeah, I can believe it..."
" The world is complicated Azula and you're more likely to go insane than fully comprehend it and all of its intricacies...but it doesn't mean, we can't help but try to make it better however we can "
Azula didn't respond to that, but instead leaned on Kazumi for support. The older woman pulling her close by the shoulder.
The two sat there, watching the sun come up, looked pretty.
It was a good first day of her new life as a Spirit Navigator.
I'll be frank with you all, this was not my original vision for how Azula's first mission was going to go down. It was originally going to be a simple hunting mission of taking care of some trickster like dark spirits, but ended up being a spirit of vengeance created from a break-up turned rape situation. My idea for this mission and case was actually based off the movie Shutter, spoilers if you haven't seen the movie.
But anyway getting back to the actually mission, I quite like it more this way because it really sets the tone for what a Spirit Navigator's job is like: Gritty, horrifying, disgusting and repulsive...on a good day. I didn't want to sanitize the dirty work that the Spirit Navigators do when it comes to laying spirits to rest and I hope I managed to communicate that well.
And I do hope that this chapter managed to be satisfying to you all to read.
With all that said, let's answer some reviews shall we ?
To evattude:
The Gaang would probably do try to force her back if it came down to it, they don't exactly have the best relationship and probably just find restraining and bringing her back to be much easier than talking to her. Since Azula definitely would resist and tell them to fuck off.
This is merely speculation and not totally representative of how that scenario may or will go down.
To haytsun:
Ursa's is definitely trying to change and understand where she went wrong as a parent. The Gaang might be coming sooner than you think. Mai and Ty Lee's prejudice and issues with Azula will be addressed.
To Lord 770:
Your compliments should all be going to Hammer who wrote the chapter, so thank you for saying that !
:P
Ursa realizing, understanding and literally being forced to live through all of her mistakes is definitely a sad and emotional moment. Since some part of her already knows that its too little, too late to regret what she did to her daughter.
Azula trained in combat weapons, firebending and spiritual powers. Sokka would die in less that time.
To Scamper2:
I will neither confirm or deny reconciliation between Azula and the rest of her family.
Oh, Azula will still be getting plenty of hugs.
To Reindert DeWitt Bukater:
Thank you so much for saying that ! I am so happy you've been following and enjoying the story thus far.
Yes, I believe I have already given out my grievances for how I absolutely HATED how they essentially reduced Azula's character to a simple 'She is crazy, she is bad and that's it', when Azula is debatably a much more complicated individual than Zuko. And the moron they hired to write the bloody comics, completely screwed the absolutely pooch with not just Azula, but all the other characters too !
I'm just going to stop myself here before I go on a rant, but my opinion in this: Fuck the comics.
I'm glad that you enjoy the development I've given to Azula thus far, and you are correct that she has not gone through a 'redemption arc' but rather a healing arc. To me, Azula doesn't NEED a redemption arc, she needs to heal and become better in her own way, but she doesn't have to go on some grand redemption arc on becoming a good person, she's semi-fine as is, rather she just needs better guidance from something that isn't Ozai.
Your compliments should go to Hammer in regards to Ursa, because they were the one who created this backstory for her. But yeah, I do agree that the fandom and canon even puts her up as this angelic mother who did nothing wrong. Hence why, I continuously show that she was absolutely in the wrong when it came to parenting Azula. And yes, Azula definitely has plenty of reasons to hate her.
To Phoenix Fist:
Awww...thank you so much for saying that ! I'm happy that you think that my writing, to be honest I'm not sure if my ability to improvise is a good or bad thing. Since on the one hand, it allows me to come up with ideas on the spot, but on the other it causes me not to really have an overarching plot/plan for a story, very much like this one. I have already told you all how I had been improvising the chapters up until like chapter 30.
But thank you for saying that anyway. :)
Ursa definitely has plenty of regrets when it comes to Azula and she absolutely knows that she's fucked up beyond belief when it came to her daughter. A meeting between Kazumi and Ursa would be an interesting one for sure, and it may not go the way you all think that it would. It will definitely be one hell of a surprise to say the least.
Thanks for the idea suggestion ! It would have been interesting to see Kazumi and Azula using instruments to fight dark spirits, unfortunately this probably won't get added to the story since I've kinda already made it clear in this chapter and not even mention it in previous chapters that the Spirit Navigators use specialized swords, weapons and banishing papers/rituals to fight dark spirits. So sorry that it won't get added !
If its any consolation, I could have Kazumi mention that in the past Spirit Navigators used magical instruments to fend off dark spirits before turning to banishing papers/seals. Thanks for the suggestion anyway !
:)
Now with all that said, I will see you all in the next one.
Angel Out.