Sokka was forced awake by a sudden knock on his door. There were no windows in his cabin, so he couldn't tell what time it was. Only by judging how well-rested he figured he had gotten a good night's sleep.
"Gladiator," said the voice of a man from the hall, who he assumed would be a Royal Guard. "We are approaching Ember Island. Go to the kitchen to get your breakfast. Meet the Princess in the ship's armory afterwards."
Sokka blinked and rubbed his eyes, still drowsy. He slipped in some of the spare clothing available in his room, all of the garments too typical of the Fire Nation for his liking. He obeyed the orders he had been given, and he ate his meal enthusiastically, grateful, as usual, for another delicious course of food. After asking for directions, he headed to the armory where he had been summoned to, still amongst yawns and stretches. The sun had been up for a while now; he could see it through the windows of the ship's tower. Surely they would arrive to Ember Island soon.
He entered the room without even knocking, and he was glad to see Azula was already there. But she wasn't the one thing that caught his eye: a magnificent armor stood next to her. Its design was traditional to the Fire Nation's outfits, but the cobalt coloring gave it a somewhat familiar vibe… as if it were a Water Tribe-makeshift armor. Next to the armor was a wolf-shaped helmet very similar to the one he had worn back when he had first encountered Azula. He frowned at the sight of both objects, and Azula turned to him, her head held high, as usual.
"Are they to your liking?" she inquired.
"W-when did you…? How did you…?"
"These few weeks weren't an entire waste of time for me," said Azula. "I asked the Royal Blacksmith to make this armor for you. This way you will be the Blue Wolf for real, won't you?"
"I… I guess so," said Sokka, still puzzled. He walked to the armor and touched it; the metal it had been crafted from seemed strong enough to protect him from powerful blows. "I'm impressed you made something so exclusive for me. I was sure I'd have some second-hand armor if I got any at all…"
"You thought so before you knew the true nature of my mission," said Azula. "But now you know I need you to win. You will be the one to fight in the Arena, the one on whom I depend for this whole operation; once you're in the ring there will be nothing more for me to do... but before that happens, I'll do whatever I can to help you win."
"You really want to win, huh?" asked Sokka, gulping as he took the helmet in his hands. "Just how bad is that guy that you blatantly refuse to marry him?"
"I would refuse to marry most anyone, actually," said Azula. "But being betrothed to him, of all people, is something I simply cannot accept."
"What did he do to you?" asked Sokka, raising an eyebrow. "Or is it that he's not good-looking or something?"
"His looks are perfectly fine," muttered Azula. "His brains, on the other hand… oh, never mind. It's not something I want to reminisce about right now. Get the armor on, we'll go straight to the Arena once we reach Ember Island."
"Okay, okay, but I really would like to know what your deal with this Chan guy is…" said Sokka, playfully. He held the breastplate up for a moment, surprised of how light it was, and was about to strip off his clothes when he realized he was not alone yet.
Azula wasn't looking at him; her arms were folded as she thought about how badly she needed to get out of that blasted arranged marriage. She couldn't lose today. She couldn't afford it. She would never marry that useless Chan…
"Uh… do you think I need any help or something?" asked Sokka, raising an eyebrow as she snapped out of her thoughts.
"What?" said Azula, blankly.
"You told me to get dressed, but you won't get out… do you want to help me put on the armor or something?" asked Sokka, smirking mischievously at her.
The look in his face was enough to tell Azula he was simply joking, but the implications of what he'd just said made her flush. She glared at him and rolled her eyes as she exited the room, muttering.
"You'd wish I'd help you…"
Sokka chuckled, satisfied by her reaction. As soon as she closed the door behind her, he began fitting the armor around him, amazed by how easy it was to move in it. Metallic plates covered his arms and chest, his legs were clad in the metal coverings also. He was slightly held down by the weight, but it wouldn't put him off so much. The helmet fit his head perfectly, and he smiled slightly, feeling like he was truly The Blue Wolf now… but he wasn't. He had been a blue wolf back when he had been with his people. His old outfit would have honored his nickname far better than this Fire Nation imitation of his Tribe's style. He sighed, missing his homeland more than ever… but he would be one step closer to going back to them if he triumphed on today's battle. It probably would take him years, but Piandao had taught him to be patient. Everything would come in due time.
Sokka walked out to the main deck once again, where Azula stood, her gaze set on the island the Barge was speeding its way towards. Sokka approached her, taking his helmet off and holding it under one arm, and he stared in the same direction she was looking at.
"So… that's Ember Island?" he asked.
Azula nodded curtly, her golden eyes still fixed upon their destination. She sighed slowly, and Sokka realized just how nervous she was.
"How do I look?" he asked, trying to change the subject.
Azula frowned and turned to him, eyeing him without much interest.
"What does it matter how you look? You're not headed to a fashion showdown; you're going to a gladiator fight. You won't be awarded more points for looking good in your armor."
"Huh, so I do look good, huh?" said Sokka, smiling.
Azula let out a groan of annoyance as she rolled her eyes, Sokka chuckled again at her as she stared on towards Ember Island again; but her words resounded in his mind once more. He frowned as her words gained a meaning within his head.
"What's that of getting awarded points?" he asked, looking at her with confused eyes.
"Oh... I forgot to explain, didn't I?" said Azula. "There are many rules you need to abide by in the Superior League, rules that were nowhere to be found in the amateur fights you took part in during the past two years. For one, the winner is determined by judges, not by who kills and who dies."
"Judges?" asked Sokka, astounded. "That's odd... what exactly do they judge?"
"Your way of fighting," said Azula. "They make the call over who triumphs and who doesn't. Don't worry, they're impartial. Their role exists to avoid the unnecessary killing of gladiators to give a resolution to the fights."
"Huh, I see... that's a relief" said Sokka, smiling.
"Don't get too cozy because of that," Azula warned him. "It doesn't mean you're safe from getting killed, the danger is still there. If you face some hysterical gladiator you're not likely to walk out of it unscathed."
"It's still better than fighting to the death" stated Sokka, shrugging. "And the judges are the ones to give out the points?"
"In a way, they are, since they decide who wins or loses. Simply put, the winner takes it all, and the loser is left to weep over the battle's result. Each gladiator has an assigned value, you could say. The top gladiator of the ranking is assigned five hundred points, the second is worth four hundred and ninety-nine, and so on. The last fighter in the ranking is worth one."
"Huh, so I'm only valued in one? Seeing as I've never fought before I'm likely to be the last..."
"Didn't I tell you your position is 491? You're tied there with all the gladiators that have no points yet."
"Ah, I get it now..." said Sokka. "So I should be worth..."
"Ten points," replied Azula, quickly. "Didn't they teach you how to count in your Tribe?"
"Of course they did" grunted Sokka, irritated now. "How many points does my rival have so far, then?"
"If I recall correctly…" muttered Azula, trying to recall what she had seen on the ranking's sheet "It was somewhere near 2500. Perhaps 2560 or 2570… I can't remember the exact number."
"Gee," said Sokka, gulping. "He's probably been fighting for a while now, huh?"
"I'm not sure about how long he has been fighting, but he probably has…" said Azula, focusing on the approaching island again.
Sokka leaned on the ship's enclosure as he looked at Azula. He rose an eyebrow at how determined she seemed to be, but when he stared carefully into her eyes, he could see there was another emotion in them…
"You can stop being so anxious, you know?" he said, and Azula twitched.
"You think I can stop…" she grunted. "I can't. You don't understand what's at stake here."
"I don't really get the whole picture," said Sokka, shrugging. "But it makes no sense for you to fidget like this right now. You already did all you could do. I'm the one who should be worried now… if I fail you won't let me hear the end of it."
"Oh, you will hear the end of it, don't fret. It'll happen either when I kill you for failing or I drop you once more at the Amateur League."
"See? I'll have it worse than you, no matter how you look at it," said Sokka, sighing dramatically.
Azula couldn't help but chuckle and look at him sideways. She truly had no choice other than to trust him, and that meant there was a lot of pressure on him. Not every day did a slave find himself carrying the hopes of the Fire Nation Princess on his shoulders.
"Princess, we're almost at the port now," said the Captain of her Royal Guards, approaching her. "How shall we proceed?"
Azula turned to him, a frown on her brow now.
"I believe you must be sick and tired of hearing this, Captain… but I won't be taking any of you with me."
The Captain forgot all about rules and guidelines for a moment and he groaned in exasperation. With his hands on his hips he stared at the Princess, his body language demanding an explanation.
"Why?" he said between gritted teeth.
"Don't give me that attitude, Captain," replied Azula. "You're hired to work for me and obey every single order of mine."
"I was hired to work as a Royal Guard, and your father tasked me with protecting you at all times," said the Captain. "But you won't allow me to fulfill my duty. If you don't want me to give you my attitude, I might as well ask the same from you. Two can play this game, Princess."
"I don't think so, Captain," she retorted, frowning even more, her golden glare so fierce upon the man that Sokka started to fear she'd set him on fire. "I'll remind you of your place in the world if I have to… you're only here to serve me. If I don't require of your services, then you have no business trying to force your will upon mine, because I won't let you get away with that. I don't want my identity to be revealed before the right moment by guards or palanquins that will immediately give away who I am. Don't fret, you're still going to get paid…"
"This is not a matter of payment, it's a matter of honor and duty," said the Captain, firmly.
Azula smiled now and rolled her eyes.
"Ironies… when I need men to forget their honor, they abide by it non-stop. When I wish they would be honorable, they do the exact opposite of that… Fortune enjoys making fun of me, apparently. I am pleased to discover you're such a proud man; it relieves me to know I have such an honorable guard, but I don't want you to guard me for now. In fact, I refuse to have you guard me."
The Captain curled up his fists, irked at how unreasonable the Princess was being. She needed protection; if not, why was he serving her in the first place?
"You can go fool around in town if you feel like it, but stay clear of the Arena," Azula commanded him as the barge arrived to the port. The ship's access ramp was lowered then, and Sokka took a deep breath, knowing that the next time he climbed aboard this ship he would either be celebrating or begging Azula not to ship him back to the Amateur Arena…
"Princess, I'm asking you to be reasonable…" said the Captain, but she turned to him one last time, and judging by the look on her eyes, she wasn't about to listen to anything he said.
"I expect the ship to be ready to sail when we return, which might happen around dusk if this drags on for longer than I envision it to," said Azula. "Make sure my every command is followed, Captain. I will see you in a few hours."
The Royal Guard's Captain sighed and rolled his eyes, though his mask concealed his facial expression regardless. But even if he hadn't been wearing a mask, Azula would have missed out on his gesture since she was already walking down to the port, with Sokka treading slowly behind her.
The town was very strange in the eyes of the Water Tribe man; he looked at the stores and houses from afar with slight interest, realizing this was a neighborhood for the high-class citizens of the Fire Nation. Azula led the way inside the town after removing her hairpiece and tucking it into her pocket. Sokka frowned when the curtain of jet-black hair fell on her shoulders with mystifying elegance.
"What are you…?"
"The hairpiece gives my identity away too easily," she said. "I don't want rumors of my arrival to reach Chan's ears before the right time…"
"Huh? But he knows he's fighting us, so he'd know you'd get here eventually… or wouldn't he?" he asked, raising an eyebrow towards Azula.
"No, as a matter of fact, he has no idea he's dealing with me," said Azula, smirking slightly, her anxiety fading slightly as she found relief in her careful plan to thoroughly impact her enemy. "The challenges are allegedly issued from one gladiator to the other, they don't state who the sponsor is."
"Then how the hell did you know The Spawn is his gladiator?" asked Sokka, frowning.
"I used a very sly trick, actually…" said Azula, smirking even more as they began climbing a road that led to a small hill.
"No surprises there…" grunted Sokka, but she ignored him.
"You see, you've only just been written into the ranking. It takes time for the information on the new gladiators to travel to all the Arenas participating in the Superior Gladiator League. My challenge would arrive to Chan before the information about you came to Ember Island's Arena, which would have been the only way for him to discover who your sponsor really was. He would have assumed you were a meaningless new recruit or so, with some rich sponsor willing to go to any ends to fight someone as powerful as him…"
"So you were stroking his ego by playing everything like this," said Sokka, surprised. "That's why you decided we'd come to Ember Island rather than force him to go to the Capital's Arena, because he wouldn't have wanted to move an inch to fight a gladiator that had been registered in the ranking recently…"
"No, perhaps he might have," said Azula. "He would have thought you were a weakling and would have enjoyed bringing you down… but if he was given the chance to do that from the comfort of his hometown, he would have been less likely to refuse. Since he accepted, I'm assuming my analysis on him was spot-on."
"You're really fearsome," said Sokka, gulping. "You've got no trouble reading people and making a living hell out of their happy lives…"
"Indeed. You're proof of that," she replied, smirking slightly.
Sokka stopped when they were halfway up the hill and looked around, gazing at the town with interest. He had never seen anything similar to this place… Shu Jing was a very calm village, most of the buildings were houses and a handful of stores, but Ember Island was almost a commercial district in itself. Azula halted as well when she realized Sokka was eying the town that spread below.
"Enjoying the view?" she asked, "I'm surprised a savage like you would find any beauty in landscapes."
"Blame it on Piandao," said Sokka, chuckling. "He had me study landscapes all the time, so that I would remember every single detail on them. I'm subconsciously doing what he taught me to do…"
Azula raised an inquisitive eyebrow but joined him for a moment in staring at their surroundings.
"It hasn't changed much since the last time I was here…" she muttered carelessly, and Sokka heard her.
"You've been here before, then? Was that when you met this Chan guy?"
"Yes, that was my last visit… but I also used to come here with my family a long time ago," said Azula, frowning at the memories that assaulted her mind all of sudden. She turned towards the direction where her old summer house stood… and was slightly discouraged to see how faint the magnificent palace had become. The derangement of the structure was evident even from a distance.
"Hey, is that a restaurant?" asked Sokka, bringing Azula out of her thoughts again.
"What…? Why, yes, it is," said Azula, sighing as Sokka stared at the place with awe.
"You know, I've never been to a restaurant. Are they any good? You've been to Ember Island before, so you might have eaten there…"
"No, I haven't," said Azula. "Me and my family hardly ever ate out when we came here. And I didn't really have time to go sight-seeing on my last visit… I suppose I could have, yet I didn't."
"Why?" asked Sokka, as they resumed their walk uphill.
"On that last visit… I met Chan," said Azula, clenching her fists at the memory. "I had come here with Mai and Ty Lee; my father had told me to go on vacation for a couple of days because he wanted to meet with his war advisors alone. I asked both of them to come with me and they accepted. We were at the beach, enjoying the sunny day… but I got bored quickly. When I saw there was a Kuai Ball court not too far from where we were, I forced Ty Lee and Mai to join me to bring down the other teams. And while we defeated everyone who dared defy us, we caught Chan's eye and he invited us to a party… well, not all of us, actually."
"What do you mean?" asked Sokka, raising an eyebrow.
"Seeing as my playing style was rather ruthless, I intimidated him and he was mainly interested in Mai and Ty Lee," said Azula. "But in the end he invited all of us to his dumb party anyway, since he must have known how rude it was of him not to ask me to go in front of my friends."
"Well, it would have been plain stupid of him not to invite you," said Sokka. "I mean, even if he didn't like you, you're the Princess…"
"Ah, but he never knew that," said Azula, smirking. "I didn't tell him who I was. I wanted to know if I could earn his respect through my true self rather than my title… well, his respect and…"
Sokka felt slightly uncomfortable as he understood what Azula was implying.
"You… had a crush on that guy, by any chance?"
"He's attractive," she admitted, flushing slightly. "At least, he was back then. Anyway, I wanted to flirt with him, yet I knew nothing of how to do it… Ty Lee tried to help me, but it was a complete fiasco in the end. So I left the party and I talked to Ty Lee and Mai outside. And after that, I decided the best thing I could do to feel better was…"
"Was…?" asked Sokka, gulping. Did he really want to hear the end of the story?
"Was to burn down his house," Azula finished. Sokka halted as he stared ahead blankly, in complete disbelief. He shook his head after a few seconds, no longer astounded.
"You're one of a kind, really," he said, walking quickly to catch up with her again. "I should only expect the unexpected from you…"
"I thought you had already figured that out long ago," said Azula, smirking.
"No wonder you don't want to marry him…" Sokka stated. "In fact, I can't understand why he hasn't protested against marrying you as well."
"Well, that's because he didn't know he was dealing with Princess Azula that night," she said. "And he's about to find out…"
Sokka lifted his head and was left gaping in awe at the building that stood in front of them. The pathetic Hui Yi wooden Arena was nothing in comparison to this magnificent structure, which, according to the inscription atop the gates, was called The Ember Crater. Most he could see from the outside was red, and it was shaped as an erupting volcano. Sokka gulped at the daunting sight of the building, but Azula didn't seem to care much for the Arena's appearance and walked inside it with haste, pushing the double doors inwards. Sokka followed her fit.
A man around thirty years old sat behind this Arena's counter and was surprised to see the unusual pair that approached his desk. Azula set a hand on the table as she said.
"I'm checking in for the battle scheduled at three. My gladiator is The Blue Wolf."
The man blinked for a few seconds, trying to understand the mechanics of a woman sponsoring a man… there were female gladiators, but female sponsors? It was not simply uncommon, it was actually unheard of. He looked up the list of battles of the day and saw The Blue Wolf was meant to fight The Spawn of the Volcano today; he nodded towards Azula and smiled kindly, trying to conceal his initial surprise.
"Yes, your fight is scheduled at three, as you said. What weapons will your gladiator use?"
Azula turned to Sokka and prompted him to answer, seeing as she had no clue regarding what he had decided to wield.
"Uh… I'll use a sword, a boomerang, a club, a knife and a bomb" he said, since those were the weapons he had brought with himself for this particular fight.
The man seemed puzzled again, this time over the fact that the gladiator had been the one to answer his question, but he tried to appear unsettled as he wrote down what Sokka had told him, a nervous grin on his face. Once he was done, he said:
"You'll have to kill some time before your combat begins. You can either go to the stands to watch the other fights or head into the waiting rooms that are at the upper levels of the Arena."
"A waiting room should do," said Azula, guessing Sokka might grow nervous if he watched the way the fights unfolded in the Superior League.
The man led the two of them to an empty room with scarce illumination. For some reason, Azula felt rather comfortable in it. The man closed the door once they were both inside and he walked away, leaving Sokka and Azula to themselves. The Princess sat down on a couch in the center of the room, looking unusually defeated now.
Sokka began stretching to pass the time. It was around noon by now, so they would likely still have quite a period of leisure time ahead of them; Azula frowned at the sight of him exercising like this; in normal circumstances she would have admitted to a certain appeal at watching him, but she was a bit troubled at the moment to marvel at his manly figure consciously.
"You do know that we'll be here for a while, don't you?" she muttered.
"Yeah… so?"
"Why are you stretching now? It's going to take a long time before you're called in to fight."
"I have nothing better to do, so…" was his simple reply, and he shrugged carelessly as he continued with his routine, bending over to touch his toes with his fingertips.
Azula tried to avoid watching him, although doing so proved to be quite a nice distraction to slow down her thoughts. Sokka was twisting his torso around when he noticed she was watching him intently, but through the look on her eyes he could tell her mind was elsewhere.
"Uh…" he said, feeling slightly uncomfortable. "What are you looking at?"
"Nothing in particular" muttered Azula, blinking rapidly to force her eyes to turn away from Sokka's rear.
"Oh, really...?" he asked, raising an eyebrow suspiciously.
"Don't you have better things to worry about than what my eyes are settling upon?" was Azula's retort, as she glared at him defiantly.
"Yeah, maybe... things like if there are any other rules on this League that you should have told me about already," he asked, settling his hands on his hips.
"There might be," said Azula, closing her eyes thoughtfully. "I didn't tell you there's a time limit, did I?"
"Huh?" said Sokka, surprised. "A time limit? Why?"
"It's used to conclude the battles," said Azula. "Many fights would drag on for ages if there were no time limits. Whoever dominates the battle within the established time will win."
"And who decides how long the fight lasts?" Sokka inquired.
"The sponsors agree on the determined time before the battle begins," said Azula. "The span of the fight can't exceed an hour, they're normally around thirty minutes or so."
"How long do you expect this fight to be?" asked Sokka.
"I don't expect it to be too long. I'll try to set the limit to twenty minutes."
"And... will I have to fight for all those twenty minutes? Or can the combat end before the time is up?"
"It can end before, if one of the two fighters gets knocked out. If they're both standing when the time ends, the judges debate to determine the winner. Also, I had forgotten to mention this... there will be objects in the pit."
"Huh? What sort of objects?" asked Sokka.
"Nets, wooden structures, fences of some sort… it's furniture that can serve as obstacles for you, or as an advantage, if you use your surroundings to help you in your fight. But beware… destroying the furniture doesn't go unpunished."
"What's that supposed to mean?" said Sokka, beginning to stretch again as he frowned, confused.
"Points will be deducted from your total score for every object you break," explained Azula, trying to avoid staring mindlessly at him again. "Each one is worth twenty points, so if you wreck one of them, those twenty points will be taken from your total score up to date."
"So I can break whatever I want today?" asked Sokka, surprised. "I mean… My total score is zero, isn't it?"
"It is zero, but the point deduction comes after the fight has been finished. So if you beat the Spawn, you'd still lose points for the broken objects; though if he beats you there will be no real purpose in getting worried over losing points, I guess…"
Sokka looked at her, slightly worried now. He had never imagined the day would come when he would see the Princess displaying such downcast demeanor. It bothered him more than it should have, which was slightly disturbing…
"Hey, calm down…" said Sokka, sitting next to her. "Everything will be fine, you'll see…"
"How can you say that for certain?" grunted Azula, staring at the ground. "It's not as if you really knew what will happen once you're out there…"
"As sweet as it is to see you're concerned about my safety, I don't think it's necessary," said Sokka, making Azula frown in irritation.
"I'm not concerned about you. When did I ever say you were the source of my anxiety?"
"Well, I should be! For all you know, I might end up dead out there!" said Sokka, folding his arms across his chest.
"Such a wonderful way to reassure me, really…" grunted Azula, rolling her eyes.
"Oh, quit it," said Sokka. "The only one who should be worried here is me. I mean, it's not as if you didn't have another way out…"
"You think there's something else I could do to get rid of Chan?" asked Azula, frowning.
"Sure," said Sokka. "I mean… you can kill him, right? I take you to be the type who could cut a man's throat and sleep like a baby afterwards…"
"I am, of course," said Azula, sighing. "But my father told me I had one chance to prove Chan was unworthy of me, and the span of one month to use said opportunity… If I can't perform according to the conditions I was given, then the honor I boast about wouldn't exist."
"So crazy murderous Princesses have some honor… I never would have imagined it," said Sokka, slightly surprised.
Azula glared at him, irritated.
"Do you even know what you're talking about when you say the word honor? I rather doubt it…"
"I do, actually," said Sokka, proudly. "Piandao has talked a lot to me about it."
Azula frowned in disbelief at first, disregarding that statement, although Sokka failed to notice her reaction since he was too busy thinking of all he knew about honor now.
"Has he, now…?" she asked, her contempt obvious in her voice but Sokka ignored it.
"Yeah, he talked to me about many things," said Sokka, grinning in a silly way. "He has made me a better warrior and a better man."
"Then I guess I should have paid him twice what I…" said Azula, smirking at first, but then her face fell as she frowned, patting her waist. Sokka eyed her with confusion.
"What's the matter?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I, uh… I think I…" she muttered, looking around her and closing her eyes as she forced herself to remember if she had brought the bag with her… but she didn't need to think about it much to realize she had left it in her cabin.
"What?" growled Sokka, annoyed. "What did you do?"
"It's more like what I didn't do…" said Azula, a guilty smile spreading over her face. "I… I forgot the money. I left it on the ship."
"The money…?" repeated Sokka, puzzled at first. It took him a few seconds to understand what his sponsor was talking about. "Wait… the money for the sponsors' bid?!"
"Yes, I… I left it on a shelf in my cabin and I forgot to pick it up… I was going to, but I was…"
"Too busy worrying pointlessly about what will happen and what won't," grunted Sokka, irritated. "And how much money were you betting anyway?"
"Fifty thousand yuans…" said Azula, and Sokka jumped out of his seat, his eyes wide with shock.
"Fifty thousand?! Are you mental?!" he yelled, and Azula just stared at him, surprised.
"It's not really that much…" said Azula, and Sokka froze in his spot before remembering who he was talking to.
"Right, right, you're the Princess," he grunted. "You take baths in pools of gold, I forgot that for a second…"
"Oh, please," said Azula. "Bathing in gold wouldn't clean anyone…"
"The fact that you object to the purpose rather than the possibility of getting bathed in gold proves my point," grunted Sokka, rolling his eyes. "Well? You need that money, so you'd better go get it now before…"
The door was swung open before Sokka finished his sentence. A bald man stood behind it, looking unexpectedly solemn. Judging by the way his outfit matched the attire that the man from the counter wore, they both guessed this man worked in the Arena too.
"The Blue Wolf's combat will begin shortly," he said, prompting them to leave the room with a hand.
"So much for returning to the ship to get the money…" said Azula, her stomach turning at the thought. "Make sure you win now, will you?"
"Was this some sort of ploy to put even more pressure on me?" asked Sokka, glaring at her as they both treaded behind the man who was leading them.
"What good would that have done to either of us?" she grunted, glowering back at him.
"Heck, I don't know. But you have a weird way of going about things, after all…" said Sokka, shrugging.
The man led them to a group of stairs; one flight spiraled downwards and another upwards. He smiled as he turned to Azula and Sokka again.
"The gladiator must go down and turn left until he reaches the stand-by room. The sponsor shall go upstairs and sit at the balcony from where you'll witness the fight next to your fellow sponsor."
Azula nodded positively, but to both Sokka and the man's surprise, she started downwards. Sokka shrugged as the man stared at them in disbelief and he followed the Princess to the lower level of the Arena.
"D-didn't you hear me?!" he asked, astounded.
"I did hear you," said Azula, not slowing down. "I will head upstairs later, there's no need to grow so uneasy over this."
"B-but…"
The man's complaints became simple mutters once they both reached the lowest floor.
"Left, he said?" asked Azula, and Sokka nodded, leading the way now as she walked behind him.
The hallways down below were of stone, to Azula's surprise. She hadn't seen anything this rudimentary in Ember Island before. Sokka didn't care much for the décor, though, as he finally found the previously mentioned stand-by room. There was no door in the threshold, although there was a heavy metallic grid at the other side of the room… and through it he could see the very thing he hadn't missed in the slightest.
"I hate sand," he grunted, glaring at the pit.
"You'll have to deal with it," said Azula, shrugging.
"Why did you come down here?" asked Sokka, raising an eyebrow. "You could have gone upstairs…"
"I want to make sure Chan arrives first," she said. "That way he'll still believe he has the upper hand. I'm just killing time, and… I also wanted to tell you something, before everything is said and done."
Sokka raised an inquisitive eyebrow as she suddenly turned to face him, her chest heaving as she took a deep breath, looking at him in the eyes.
"I know you had it hard for two years, I know you loathe me for all I brought upon you… It would have been completely understandable if you hadn't accepted working for me after all you've had to deal with. I'm far more grateful for your services than you can imagine… because thanks to you I had an opportunity to regain my freedom. If it weren't for you… I would have lost all hope. I'm actually proud to see the way you've changed from a crazy boy trying to play hero into a fully-fledged warrior. I'm glad I took part in your growth, and… and I thank you for giving me hope once again. Perhaps in a few hours I'll be doing anything but thanking you… perhaps I'll be thanking you again. But I just wanted you to know that…"
"I get it," he said, nodding curtly. "I get it. Yeah, you're right, I loathe you and that's not going to change, not in a million years… but I'm thankful too. Not for all you did to me back then, but what you've done for me lately. You gave me a chance to get a new life… and I'll do my best not to let that go to waste. So… thank you, too."
Azula found herself smiling slightly, and Sokka stretched his hand towards her. She shook it, just as she had the very day they had decided to work together… this might become the last time they would be sponsor and gladiator, but it could also be the beginning of a long partnership…
Azula nodded and released his hand reluctantly, knowing it was about time she headed upstairs.
"See you later, Sokka" she said, turning to leave.
"See you, Azula…" he whispered; saying each other's name like this sent shivers down both their spines.
Sokka turned to stare at the pit of sand again, and his gaze became colder as he began calculating his advantages… he would win. He had to win. It was not even an option to fail here… he would triumph, no matter what.
Once she made her way up the stairs, Azula saw a group of girls frolicking near the hallway that led to the sponsor's balcony. They were chuckling and mumbling nonsense that she only caught when she was close to the door.
"He's so handsome…"
"And he's the most talented sponsor of Ember Island!"
"Oh, he's the perfect man…"
Azula rolled her eyes, knowing she would be facing one of her worst enemies shortly. She fixed her hair before entering the room, putting her hairpiece in place once more. It was the moment of the grand revelation, the one she had been waiting for…
As she opened the door she heard someone chuckle inside. So he was going to play at being the superior sponsor, was he?
"Welcome, welcome to my domain," said a familiar voice that made Azula grimace in annoyance. As she walked inside the room she saw him sitting, his back towards her. He hadn't even noticed who he was talking to. "I'm sure you thought the name Spawn of the Volcano was really cool and that's why you wanted to challenge me, but I've got to inform you you've made the mistake of a lifetime. Me and my gladiator, we're the top dogs in the Ember Crater. You're about to go down, so low that you'll never get up again…"
He stood up now to give the final impact to his theatrical introduction.
"Because I am…" he started, but she interrupted him.
"Oh, I know perfectly well who you are," said Azula, her voice ringing a bell in Chan's head. "The question is… do you know who I am?"
He turned around slowly, terrified as he wondered if his worst nightmares were coming true. And the second he identified the woman who was standing in front of the door he froze in place, his eyes almost dropping out of his sockets. Damn right, his nightmares were coming true…
"How pleasant to see you again, Chan," said Azula, a sly smirk playing on her lips as she watched his reaction with amusement. Everything was going according to plan.
A/N:
Hey, everyone! I'm most pleased to see this fic has surpassed the 100 reviews barrier already :D You have no idea how thrilled I am! Thanks to everyone who has taken their time to review, I am most glad for all this feedback ^^ gives me the urge to write non-stop every day…
But sadly, I can't do that TTwTT no matter if I wish I could. College is gaining on me and I've got a ton of stuff to deal with, so it's likely you won't get another chapter in a week or more… sorry to leave you with this cruel cliffhanger, I wish I didn't have to, but duty calls and I've got to obey it even if I wish I didn't… So I'll be seeing you guys soon again! I promise I'm not going to neglect this fic, I just need to tend to my boring life for a while and then I'll return to Sokka and Azula's crazy endeavors! I hope you enjoyed the chapter anyway, see you guys soon!