Howdy yall and welcome to this week's chapter! I just wanted to say HAPPY LATE ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY and HAPPY 200K WORDS! I honestly didn't think this story would get this far. I'm so excited to continue writing this story and I appreciate everyone that has gotten this far! A review would be appreciated! Also, this story is now being released on Sundays! Don't forget to Follow, Favorite, and Review! See yall next week!
I don't own ATLA
"Why is it that whenever we're flying, it's always dead silent?" Sokka asked as he sat on a bench in the airship.
The ship itself was quite spacious. There were two main parts: an indoor section was located in the hull where there was room for five to six people to sleep comfortably as well as a bathroom, a kitchen with an oven and stove, and a table with five chairs. The outside part housed the steering wheel. There was also a large area outside where Toph crafted benches so that they could gaze out at the horizon. The airship part was held up by metal wires and cloth, sewn together by Suki and Azula. The burners for the airship were located next to the steering wheel, which controlled the rutter.
"Well, you fucking moron, whenever we're flying, nine times out of ten something bad has just happened!" Toph shouted towards the man.
Suki glanced at the two young adults who, by this point, were now locked in another argument. She then looked at Azula, who was sitting on the floor of the balloon. She hugged her knees to her chest.
"Guys," she whispered to the two bickering teens. Once she had gotten their attention, she pointed to Azula on the floor.
Toph moved her head towards Azula and frowned deeply. She let out a sigh. Why is it that I'm always the one comforting people? she asked herself as she scooted closer to the Princess. "Azula?" she barely whispered.
Azula was in her own little world. She was still fumbling to process everything that had happened in the past four hours. She had seen her boyfriend in the worst state she had ever seen him, murdered someone out of anger, and witnessed the destruction of an entire Air Temple. "This is all my fault," she croaked.
"Zula?" Toph asked again, this time a little louder.
"It should have been me," Azula whispered a little quieter. Her entire body was shaking lightly.
"What do you mean?" Toph asked while lightly tapping the shaking girl on the shoulder.
Azula looked up at the group around her. Her eyes were filled with tears and her lip was quivering uncontrollably. She hugged her knees a little tighter and let out quiet sobs. After a few moments of silence, she finally spoke her first words.
"He was right. They all were right," she spoke in a hauntedly defeated tone. She let go of her knees, stood up, and started pacing.
"Azula, what are you talking about?" Sokka asked, failing to figure out what was going on.
Azula looked over at him and gave her best smile. However, everyone saw the tears welling up in her eyes. She started to walk around the perimeter of the balloon. "What do you mean, 'what are you talking about'? I'm a monster, just as they all said!" This caused everyone's eyes to widen. Though, this did not stop Azula from continuing her verbal tirade. "Zuko, Ozai, Zaine, mother...hell, you all have even said I'm a monster and you would be absolutely correct because that's exactly what I am! I'm a monster!"
"Azula..." Suki whispered as she clutched her hand over her chest.
"I mean, what kind of person would murder her uncle and mother just because her father told her to? What kind of person would slander her own brother for fun? Or who would light her friends' clothing on fire?" She asked her friends. They appeared too stunned to answer the question as she continued. "What kind of person would willingly tortue and mentally recondition hundreds of thousands of soldiers, or kill pregnant mothers who didn't want to give up their children to become the aforementioned soldier? Please tell me!" she cried to her friends, who were getting more and more worried by the second.
"What kind of person would murder somone in cold blood because they got your meal wrong at a restaurant? What kind of person would torture an animal only for being associated with someone you're trying to hunt down and murder? What kind of person would willingly allow the impregnation of thousands of women just to keep the war machine turning? I'll tell you who: a FUCKING MONSTER! I've murdered hundreds of people! I've separated thousands of families...I've even killed parts of my own. I manipulated and tortured my brother for years to the point where even after trying to act like a good person to him, I'm called a fake. I mutilated Aang. The scars that he has are the ones I gave to him. And while we're on the topic of Aang, what kind of girlfriend am I that I can't even save him? When he was in the Spirit World, he looked awful. He had bags under his eyes, bruises, cuts, scrapes, and looked like he hadn't eaten in days, maybe weeks! What kind of girlfriend can't even find her boyfriend. What kind of girlfriend would be so useless as to let her boyfriend sacrifice himself to his mortal enemies?" She paced up and down the bow of the ship, her arms waved in the air as she went on her tangent of words, spiraling lower and lower into chaos.
"What kind of girlfriend can't even tell her boyfriend, the love of her life, the best thing that has ever happened to her, that she loves him? What kind of girlfriend is the cause for one of her boyfriend's temples to be destroyed? They were right! They all were fucking right! I'm a mon-" She was suddenly brought out of her world by a sharp, stinging sensation on her right cheek.
"DON'T YOU FUCKING SAY IT!" Toph blurted into Azula's face, tears threatening to stream down her face as she spoke. "You are not a monster, Azula! Sure, you've done some awful shit. Hell, some of the shit you've done pales in comparison to our worst nightmares."
"Toph's right, Azula," Suki chimed in. "You aren't a monster, no matter how much you think you are one. Who was the one who successfully and safely got us all out of the temple before it went down? That was you! Who was the one who thought up, designed, and constructed something that none of us even thought was possible? That was you, too! Who was the one who discovered that we were on top of the Western Air Temple in the first place? Who was the one who helped me when I wasn't feeling good? Azula, you aren't a monster at all." She walked over to the shaking Princess and held her hands in hers. "I certainly don't think you're a monster. Toph doesn't think you're a monster. Sokka, Ty Lee, and Mai don't think you're a monster. And I know for a fact that Aang doesn't think you're a monster."
"Then why isn't he here?!" Azula cried to her friends as she fell to her knees. "I just want him back. I want to tell him how much I love him. I want to hold him and kiss him and feel him again! I want my Avatar back!"
Suki glanced at Toph, who nodded her head at the Kyoshi Warrior. Both women bent down and wrapped their arms around the broken down Princess. They rubbed Azula's back and comforted her as she weeped.
"I know you want him back," Toph whispered to her best friend. "We all want him back. I miss my annoying older brother. I miss his laugh, his smile...how he would suck ass at Earthbending...but do you know what I miss the most?" The Princess who shook her head silently. "I miss how he was able to brighten a room and rally us all. He was a great leader. Right now, Azula, times are hard. We barely have food, we don't know exactly where we're going, or if we're even going to make it out of this alive in the end. But right now, we need a leader. We need someone who can lead us, and that person right now, without a shadow of a doubt, is you, Azula." She cupped her hands onto Azula's cheeks and put their heads together. "Right now, we need you to lead us like you did back there when the Temple was under attack. We need that Azula."
"Hey, what abou-" Sokka was instantly silenced by a glare from Suki so sharp that, in that moment, it could cut glass. "I'm...just gonna go back to steering the balloon," he mumbled to himself as he made his way back to the wheel.
Azula did not stop feeling somber till late into the night. By the time she did recover, Sokka was landing the balloon and they were making their beds to go to sleep. Suki was the first one to notice that Azula had stopped crying. She smiled at the Princess, who smiled back at her.
"It's good to see you are feeling better," the Kyoshi Warrior acknowledged to the Firebender.
Azula merely nodded her head and gave her a thumbs up. "Yeah, I...I just needed to get all of that out. I'm sorry," she whispered as she hung her head low.
"Hey, don't worry about it! You've been through a lot and everyone has their breaking points. You reached yours today. Azula, I had my breakdown on a boat on the way to Boiling Rock. Toph hasn't had hers yet and neither has Sokka. You've been through hell and back and just got thrown back into hell. You're under a lot of pressure right now and honestly we aren't really helping you as much as we should be." She walked over to Azula and placed her hand on her shoulder. Both women then proceeded to sit on one of the metal benches.
"I mean, sure, we helped you build the airship, but you thought it up, crafted the blueprints, and constructed it, all while trying to find Aang and finding contact with him. Azula, you are amazing. You are simply amazing. You look at a situation and in a split second and know exactly what to do to get around it. Azula, please just remember that we all believe in you!" She hugged Azula tightly.
"Suki..." Azula began after she let go from the hug.
Suki simply waved Azula off and smiled at her. "Don't worry about it. Besides, this little one's godmother has got to be a bad bitch anyway."
"Suki, you didn't..." Azula suddenly gasped and clutched her hand onto her chest. "Do you realize that you just made me a godparent of your child?!"
"Well, of course! You and Aang are the perfect godparents for our child," Suki said as she beamed and imagined her child around Aang and Azula. "I mean, I'm sure you can't wait to have kids with Aang. Don't you want, like, eight or nine kids?"
"I'll have as many kids as he wants," Azula said simply with a slight sigh in her voice.
Suki picked up on the disappointment in the Princess's voice and rubbed her back with encouragement. "Don't worry. You'll get him back. I just know it!"
"Yeah, I know. I just miss him," Azula whispered quietly to herself.
"Hey, we've had enough sadness for today," Sokka proclaimed as he joined the girls on the bench.
"Yeah we have," Toph spoke from a corner. She tilted her head up and smirked.
"Guys..." Azula stood up and looked at everyone sitting down. She held her arms together at her stomach and started pacing. "I...I just wanted to say that I'm sorry about all the shit that I said earlier tod-"
"Stop," Sokka interjected, holding up his hand. "Just stop. Azula, do you know how much you've done for us in the last month and a half? I'd say that that alone allows you to have a breakdown. It happens to everyone. Just don't worry about it!"
"Yeah! The only thing you should be worried about is us!"
Having been a trained warrior all her life, Azula immediately pinpointed the voice in the trees and sent a fireball at him, however this fireball was different from her normal ones. This fireball bore a fiery hot white-blue hue.
"I have about had it with you all hiding in the fucking woodworks!" Azula yelled into the night sky. She then lept into action and fanned her arms out, creating a bright blue column of flames that stretched almost thirty feet in the air. She stomped her foot and pushed the wall towards the forest.
"You thought that you could hide from us?!" a snuffer called from the other side of the airship.
Sokka took in the situation and noticed something about the Snufferes. "Guys, these aren't the same ones as earlier today!" he announced while he threw his boomerang into the night.
"Toph, where are they?!" Suki called to the Earthbender as she readied herself for yet another fight. I can't keep doing fight after fight. My center of gravity is all kinds of messed up being 22 weeks pregnant! she thought to herself as she prepared her fans.
Toph quickly scanned the area. "Um, there are fifteen in total and they are in three groups of five. One group is north, ahead of Azula."
When Azula heard what Toph said, she immediately launched fireball after fireball at the trees. She channeled lightning and shot a round into the ground and sprinted into the trees, the light now illuminating the entirety of the forest. She punched one of the Snufferes in the stomach and another in the neck.
"You won't get away this time you bit-AGH!" one snuffer yelped as Azula sent a flame kick at his stomach. He doubled over and vomited. Immediately after, Azula sent a large fireball directly at his head.
While all of that was going on, Sokka, Suki, and Toph were still fighting their groups of Snufferes. "Toph, where are the others?!" Sokka shouted as he caught his boomerang and punched one of the Snufferes in the head.
"Sokka you've got three on your left and two on your right!" called Toph while sending a plethora of rocks at the soldiers.
Sokka smirked to himself and readied his dagger. He sprinted towards one of the Snufferes and high-kicked him in the head. Behind him, two other Snufferes launched fireballs at him. Sokka glanced behind him quickly and proceeded to backflip into a twist. Once he landed, he threw a left hook at a Snuffer and a haymaker at the other.
"Dang, y'all aren't nearly as tough as the ones from earlier today!" Sokka commented as he caught his boomerang.
"You haven't seen shit yet!" one of them cried as he drew a bow and arrow. However, he was cut short as a fan was lodged into his eye.
"Man, these guys talk too much," Suki mumbled to herself while she went to grab her fan from the dead soldier's head.
"Wow, that was brutal even for you!" pointed out Sokka as he smiled at his girlfriend.
The Kyoshi Warrior laughed in return. "You think that was rough and brutal? You should see what I did with the batch of lovelies that I had." She grinned as she pointed to a group of cut up corpses.
Sokka's eyes widened in disbelief at the sight. "Good grief, Suki! Did you have to dismember them?"
Suki nodded her head matter-of-factly. "Yes, actually. Fans are sharp and they cut things. When in combat, limbs are VERY easily lost," she explained nonchalantly to her boyfriend who nodded his head. Sokka merely nodded with stunned acknowledgement in return.
"While I think that the explanation is great, we still have five more Snufferes left!" Toph yelled as she sent a pillar of rock into the air. She proceeded to punch sections of it out, causing flying, sharp chunks to be sent at the Snufferes. She then Earthbended the men into the ground and crushed their insides.
"Well, that didn't take very long," Azula pointed out as she wiped her hands on her pants.
"Yep! Especially when you use white fire!" said Sokka as he pointed to the now-burning forest in front of them.
"Yeah...actually, what is up with your flames?" Suki asked the Princess, who was staring at the burning trees in wonder and amazement. "I noticed them when you were flying Toph over to the ship, but I totally forgot to ask you about them."
Azula continued to take in the damaged forest and smirked to herself. She knew that she was now the only person in Firebending history to get to this stage of fire production. She read in a book years ago that said that there were levels of Firebending and that the level is determined by the color of the flames that the bender produced.
"I'm guessing you all want to know what's going on?" she asked the group quizzically. Everyone nodded their heads, which made Azula smile. "Alright...what color is normal fire?"
"Well, to me, it's black, but that's nothing new," Toph joked, which made everyone sweatdrop.
"Right...the answer is orange," Suki said as she elbowed a now-laughing Toph.
"That would be correct," started Azula. "However, when you're bending, there can be different colors. A beginners flame is usually dark orange and, sometimes, it's a lighter shade. As you become more experienced with bending, your flame gets brighter. This signifies how hot it burns. Mine was blue for a while because of how much practice and how precise and pristine my training was. Ozai's is bright orange due to how long he's been bending. His is nott blue because of how old he is. There's also a physical aspect and it depends on your body and when you start bending. I started when I was three and Ozai at ten due to Azulon's wife not wanting him to fight since he was the younger brother." She then reached out her hand and produced a bluish-white flame.
"The flame I currently have right now has only been seen once over 300 years ago by Avatar Zeesim. He was also one of six people to unlock blue flames. Now, I am the second person to unlock these flames. These are the hottest flames that the human body can produce. We have never seen anything higher than this."
"So, then, what color are Aang's flames?" Sokka asked the Princess.
Azula smirked in response. "Aang is my crowning achievement when it comes to Firebending. He went from a DEEP orange flame to a dark blue flame in around six months. He became the sixth person to ever unlock it. When we were fighting at Boiling Rock, he unlocked my previous level of flames and I have a feeling that he will unlock this color as well."
"Azula, be honest: how powerful are you?" Sokka asked as he eyed the Princess and her ever-present smirk.
"I'll be honest with you right here and now...I don't know. I know I can take on Ozai and I know I could take on a legion of 501st Snufferes, but I've always had mental limiters holding me back. Ozai made sure that I was to never go all out in a fight. Aang and I have been working on getting rid of them and have actually made some great headway, but right now I do not know. The only people I know that can go toe-to-toe with me are Aang, Ozai, and MAYBE some higher-ups in the Fire Nation military. And, of course, Toph when she goes 100%," she added as she smiled warmly at her best friend.
"Wait, you and Toph have fought before?!" Suki shouted as they started to make their way back to the ship.
"Yeah, we have. And right now, she's winning 14-0...going 75%," Toph grumbled as she walked with her friends.
"What can I say? I'm good at what I can do," Azula gloated.
"I'll beat you one of these days!" Toph shouted as she shook her fist in the air.
"We'll see about that," Azula teased as she and the others climbed into the airship for a good night's sleep.