ZW 2013 Day 3: Voices

.

.

.

Replaced

Azula simmers beneath the straitjacket as her future walks away from her.

She hears them outside her cell (not a cell, Zuko says, a room, but he knows it's still a cage). Azula squints at the closed door and wishes she could set fire to it with a glare, or even that her arms could move under this heavy, white thing Those People have strapped her into. Her mother, behind her, leans over her shoulder, breath hot on Azula's face.

"They're going to replace you, you know."

"You're a fool."

"Katara has given birth to a healthy prince," say the whispers outside, echoed by Mother.

"Princes can be disposed of."

Her mother jerks back, disgusted and shocked as Azula knew she would be. "What is wrong with you, child?"

Azula begins to laugh. It starts as a low chuckle, deep in her throat, then bubbles up into hysterical giggling before erupting into a maniacal cackle. Zuko rushes into the room, and Mother leaves her side (so much like Mother to leave her for Zuko). "Azula!"

Katara is close behind him, baby tethered to her chest and water on her hands. "Is she all right?"

Zuko kneels in front of Azula, about to put a hand on her shoulder, but she stops laughing abruptly and bares her teeth and him, and he thinks better of it. "I will be Fire Lord, Zuko. You'll see."

"No, you won't."

"You have one heir." A cruel smile crawls across her face. "Not a secure line, for a Fire Lord in such tumultuous times."

He sighs heavily and stands up, backing away from her. He gathers Katara to him, hand on her lower back, and guides her out of the cage, sparing only a glance over his shoulder at Azula. And it's full of pity.

He will pay for that.

Mother whispers to her that afternoon, little wisps of details she'd forgotten. The prince has blue eyes, but the sages believe he'll firebend. Azula struggles against the straitjacket. Zuko looks at her like he's sorry for her, like her schemes are unimpressive, nothing new. He'll see. They'll all see.

.

.

.

Katara is feeding their son when Zuko walks into their chambers, and she looks up at him and smiles. "Are you okay?"

Zuko shakes his head. "It's always the same. She's not getting better, Katara."

"Give her time," she says, reaching for his hand.

They'll give her time, Zuko agrees, but he thinks he can give her all the time in the world and it wouldn't matter because he's given her nearly twenty years, eighteen of them peaceful, and this is the fifth living prince.

.

.

.

A/N: Thanks to juiceoftheORANGE for the positive feedback. Glad you liked the last installment :). Thank you also to everyone who reads. Azula, I think, is a very well crafted villain with a lot of room for interpretation, which is always fun.