CW: Creative (and in my opinion totally justified) entrapment. Someone gets violently beaten. Ozai being a creepy fuck.
Chapter 30
The month and a half from the qualifying tournament in Agna Qel'a to the winter holidays proved to be a difficult time for Katara Enuaraq. Not necessarily because of something that had happened in her own life, no, it was mostly the angst and worry about her two best friends, Yue and Azula. She often got herself so worked up about her inability to help the two other girls more that she fell back into heavier usage of Librium just to be able to sleep. This made it a little harder for her to focus during her classes, and as a result her grades took a small dip, albeit not a very noticeable and worrying one. More concerning was the recent visit with her doctor who had warned her about the increased reliance on her meds and threatened to withhold her prescription if she didn't get her habit under control. That, however, proved easier said than done.
Their phone conversations with Yue and Azula helped, although they were not without their own frustrations. Katara was frustrated about Yue leaning towards going along with whatever horrible plans her father had in store for her, just as she was frustrated about Azula's vague assurances that she was taking care of her own issues, thank you very much, and that Katara didn't need to know any more than that.
Yue's announcement that her father had allowed her to spend a whole week of the winter holidays visiting with Katara and Sokka in Cape Kuruk had come as a pleasant surprise. It seemed very odd for her father to suddenly have a change of heart and allow Yue to hang out with the Enuaraq siblings, but Katara was not going to complain about that. So, Yue had arrived in Cape Kuruk and was currently staying at the Enuaraq household, sharing a room with Katara, as Gran-Gran had flatly rejected Sokka's optimistic suggestion for Yue to share his room. Katara's bed was not big enough for two, so an inflatable air mattress had been set up as a wildly inappropriate sleeping berth for the daughter of a millionaire. Yue hadn't made a peep by complaining, but after a couple of days on the air mattress, Katara had noticed that Yue was clearly struggling with back pains. Since then, they had agreed to alternate nights on the mattress, both of them happy with the compromise.
Gran-Gran had immediately warmed to Yue, not that Katara was surprised by that. Yue was just so damnably charismatic, soft spoken and well behaved. Most people who spoke to her were almost instantly charmed by her magnetic personality. Katara's father had also taken a liking to her, although Yue and Hakoda sadly didn't get the chance to interact for too long. It was on the second day of the winter holidays when Hakoda had received a phone call, informing him about an accident at the oil rig. Apparently, something called the 'primary pressure control system' had malfunctioned, but the secondary system had prevented a disaster from occurring. Still, this meant that as one of the shift foremen, Hakoda had to immediately make his way back to the oil rig to begin the review of all the safety procedures, a lengthy task that would take more than a week to complete. Katara was upset and saddened that her father once again could not be with the family during the holidays, but at least Yue's presence made up for it.
And while the social life in Cape Kuruk was almost nonexistent when compared to Agna Qel'a, it didn't mean that there was nothing for them to do. The weather remained perfect throughout the whole week of Yue's stay, low twenties keeping the gorgeous forest trails around the village in pristine condition. Every day they did at least ten miles of cross-country skiing through the forests, up to the point of complete exhaustion as they burned an insane amount of calories, only to then restore them in one of the several fast food joints in the tiny village. The ice hockey rink had once again been built behind the house, this time by Sokka alone. At the end of the long winter evenings, after the hockey activities had ceased, Katara and Yue put on their skates and went to the rink to have some fun of their own, simply making circles and doing some mock figure skating tricks, not that they were very good at it. It was all just for the fun and giggles, not to mention that the long shadows cast by the far-off street lights and houses made for a particularly romantic setting.
All in all, it had been one of the best winter holidays in Katara's life. However, all good things eventually came to an end, and so did Yue's visit. She would be taking the bus back to Agna Qel'a on Sunday morning, which meant that they still had one last Saturday evening left to them. After an amazing morning session spent skiing along the forest trails, by the time they had made it back to the village it was already late in the afternoon, and so they had decided to stop for a meal at the local Wang Fire's Spicy Chicken joint. Having finished their spicy chicken sandwiches and chocolate smoothies, Sokka realized that he was still hungry, and so he had ordered a large bucket of chicken nuggets which Yue and Katara were now forced to watch him devour, wincing as they did so. The nuggets were in a bucket with a picture of a ridiculous looking man on the side of it, presumably Wang Fire himself. With his clearly fake looking beard and moustache, Wang Fire looked like he most certainly was not based on the appearance of any real person.
"Hey! Hey, girls! Watch this!" Sokka called out, taking a nugget and tossing it up in the air, then catching it right in his mouth. "You know what they call it? It's poultry in motion."
Yue burst into giggles, while Katara blinked, shaking her head. "Don't you mean poetry in motion?" she asked.
Sokka let out a groan, glaring at his sister. "Seriously, Katara?" he asked in disbelief. "I can't believe that you would ruin such a perfect joke! Good grief, just learn what a pun is, already."
"Oh," Katara blushed, having finally realized the joke behind the pun. "You're right, that was pretty funny, Sokka," she smiled.
"Too late, you've already ruined the moment," Sokka sighed, stuffing more and more nuggets down his gullet. "Tell my sister why she's the worst," he looked at Yue, speaking around the chunks of tender chicken in his mouth.
"She's the opposite of the worst," Yue instead smiled warmly at Katara. "I think it's very endearing that she doesn't get your puns. It's just so precious and adorable." There was something in Yue's smile that made Katara feel particularly warm. And it reminded her how Yue hadn't particularly sought privacy with Sokka during the holiday. That was definitely a little unexpected. Katara had to wonder what it was all about.
"Ugh, yet another girl conspiracy," Sokka grunted before stuffing the last of the chicken nuggets behind his cheeks and starting to chew. Once he was finally done, he spoke up again. "So, the final evening of your visit, Yue," he smiled at his girlfriend. "Any suggestions on what we should do?"
"I'm honestly a little tired after so much skiing," Yue let out a delicate yawn. "I don't think I want to go out and do something exhausting tonight. A quiet evening with my favorite Enuaraq siblings would be perfect."
"Sounds good, but the evening doesn't have to be quiet," Sokka winked at her. "Remember, Gran-Gran is going out tonight for that big Yule gathering in the village. She and all the other old people are going to spend the whole evening complaining about young people not respecting the traditions of old, like lighting bonfires and singing to ward off evil spirits and other such nonsense. So, I was thinking… we could reach into my stash of booze and have a little private party. Let's blast the latest Buggles album to the max and get sloshed on rum, what do you say?"
"You have rum?" Katara immediately perked up. "Well, that settles it. Once we're back at home, I'm making eggnog. Very special eggnog with lots and lots of extra run," she giggled, playfully elbowing Yue. "And you're going to help me."
"Sure, even though I'm useless in the kitchen," Yue grinned at her. "But anyway, special eggnog and The Buggles? Sounds like an awesome party to me!"
Ever since Katara had told Azula the plans Ozai had in store for her, Azula's anxiety had shot through the roof. Her stress levels throughout the past six weeks had been unmanageable. Azula had always suffered from sleep deprivation and these problems only intensified with stress. Still, despite these added difficulties in her life, Azula felt extremely grateful to Katara for revealing just what she was up against. For so long, the day of coming of age had been this hugely anticipated event that seemed like it should be a good thing, but which still felt a little scary. And now Azula had learned that she had a very good reason to be afraid of what awaited her, and that she needed to do everything she could to extricate herself from this situation.
Azula knew that her father had plenty of skeletons in his closet. Some of the men he employed for his protection were little more than thugs and many had criminal pasts. They were all too happy to jump at Ozai's request to beat the living daylights out of Jet, a harmless teenager. Over the years, they had probably made quite a few people… disappear on her father's orders. But obviously, if there were any witnesses to these crimes, it was futile to hope that these people would actually testify in the courtroom about what they had seen. And while Azula had gone through some of the documents in her father's office at the Caldera City mansion, she hadn't come across anything as neatly incriminating as a hit list. No, her father was far too intelligent to leave such evidence simply lying around.
That was really the problem with finding some leverage she could use against her father. While he was surely involved in many shady business dealings over the years, the documents that Azula found lying about in his office did not seem to show anything illegal, and she had gone through every folder and every desk drawer. Besides, if there was some illegal stuff like insider trading or tax evasion, how would she even be able to identify it? She was far more intelligent than the average seventeen year old, but she was not a lawyer, a financial expert or an accountant. All of these legal documents in her father's possession seemed to be in order. He was employing an army of lawyers for a reason.
What else did she have on her father? What about the very fact that he was abusing her? Well, there was little she could do with that. Threatening Ozai about going to the Fire Nation police was such a terrible idea that it would probably put her father in stitches from laughing too hard. Threatening to leak it to the press? That probably wouldn't work, either. It would be just her word against Ozai's and his army of lawyers, because nobody else would back her on this. What newspaper would dare to touch this hand grenade with its safety pin removed? Ozai's lawyers would have a field day putting that respective newspaper out of business. Oh, and the reporter responsible for the article would probably end up taking a walk wearing cement shoes at the bottom of the First Lord's Harbor. Nope, this was obviously an idea too terrible for Azula to even contemplate.
So, Azula instead focused on something that was more realistically attainable, such as driving a wedge between her father and Zhao, hopefully resulting in Ozai severing all ties with his creepy as fuck right hand man. To that extent, Azula had come up with a deeply underhanded and slightly revolting scheme, which she still considered appropriate given the urgency of the situation. Ozai was obviously insanely protective of her, and it was clear that he would not stand for Zhao acting in any way that was inappropriate towards her before she had come of age and the arranged marriage had taken place. Azula thought that she could exploit her father's protectiveness of her against Zhao. All she needed to do was to convince her father that Zhao was indeed guilty of acting inappropriately towards her. The situation definitely called for some creative entrapment.
Azula knew that the key for her plan to work was solid preparation. It had to be almost like a perfect game of Pai Sho. Without a perfect setup, there could be no perfect execution. She couldn't just run up to her father and blurt out some lie about Zhao having been creepy or having touched her inappropriately. Ozai might not necessarily believe her, so this idea of Zhao being creepy had to be slowly implanted in her father's head. For more than a week before their departure to Ember Island for the winter holidays, Azula had used every occasion possible to mention to her father how Zhao had been particularly nice and how he had been treating her so well. Ozai knew that Azula didn't exactly like Zhao, so to suddenly have his daughter so complimentary towards his right hand man? Well, it clearly raised a lot of questions. What exactly was Zhao doing to make Azula suddenly like him so much? Azula could see that her trickery was slowly starting to make Ozai more and more suspicious.
Of course, for this plan to succeed, Azula had to work on Zhao as well, even if it made her sick to the stomach, being nice to the man. A shy smile here, a giggle and a coy wink there… it wasn't the way Azula normally acted, but she knew how to play the game. She had initially worried that Zhao would become suspicious when her attitude towards him changed from lukewarm to approachable. Her worries were unjustified. Zhao was clever and cautious, but he was also only a male, and he found the attention of a highly attractive young teenage girl very flattering to his ego. And Azula knew that he had fancied her for so many years despite how sick and inappropriate it had been to lust after someone as young as she had been.
After another week of playing mind games on Ember Island, Azula finally felt that her plan was ready to be put into motion. Ozai was by now deeply suspicious that Zhao was up to something with his daughter. Zhao was by now strongly convinced that Azula was into him. The stage was set. All Azula needed now was an opportunity.
Said opportunity arrived on an evening at the start of their second week of stay at the Ember Island cottage. Azula had just got back from the beach where she had enjoyed several hours of relaxing sunbathing, wearing an enticing red two piece bikini, quite revealing for the standards of the day. Her father was downstairs, speaking on the phone, while Zhao was relaxing in the upstairs lounge, nursing a drink and looking a little buzzed. Azula waited at the top of the stairs for several minutes until she was sure that her father was about to end his phone conversation. Once she was certain that Ozai was about to hang up the handset, Azula stepped into the lounge and walked over to where Zhao sat, smiling invitingly at him.
"Hey," she spoke in a warm, alluring voice. "I don't suppose you've seen my book lying around?"
"Azula," Zhao smiled at her, his eyes lingering on her scantily clad body before he reluctantly forced himself to look around the room. "Can't say that I have? What book was it?"
"Oh, you know… some racy novel about a young girl who gets seduced by-… uh, but I probably shouldn't be reading such things," she faked catching herself and lowering her eyes demurely.
"Don't worry about it," Zhao winked at her. "Your secret is safe with me, little darling. I haven't seen the book, though."
"Ah, I think I put it back on the shelf," Azula smiled, walking up to the nearby bookshelf. She utterly hated what she was about to do, leaning forward to browse the shelf and sticking her ass right up in the air for Zhao to ogle at, hoping that he would not be able to resist the bait she had set out for him… and Zhao fell for it, hook, line and sinker.
Azula could not have asked for the plan to work out any better than it did. Zhao reached out to grab her backside just as Ozai strode into the room. Azula's fake cry of surprise coincided with Ozai's roar of outrage, as Zhao immediately withdrew his hand with a horrified look on his face. Now it was time for Azula to cap her performance off with one final act, as she forced herself to tear up, running up to Ozai. "Father, I'm so sorry-"
"You have nothing to apologize for, Azula, I saw the whole thing," her father replied stiffly as he gently pushed her aside. "Go to your room and don't come out until I tell you so. Uncle Zhao and I are going to have… words."
Azula quickly ran out of the lounge, but obviously, she didn't return to her room. She was not going to miss enjoying the fruits of her labor as she watched Zhao shakily rise from his seat. "This isn't what it looks like, I swear," he tried, not sounding particularly convincing as Ozai bore down on him.
"You snake! Is this how you reward my trust? You couldn't even wait for a fucking year before I was prepared to let you have her?" Ozai yelled at Zhao, grabbing his right hand man by the collar of his white shirt and then throwing him to the ground like a sack of cabbages. "How dare you treat my daughter this way?" Ozai roared, grabbing a pool cue from the nearby table.
"Please, Ozai, I beg you, I made a poor decision, but this was the only time it has happened," Zhao begged, remaining on the floor and not even trying to rise, groveling like a misbehaving dog in front of his master.
"I don't believe you, not with how you've been sniffing around Azula as of late," Ozai exclaimed. "You're going to pay for this, Zhao," he said, starting to mercilessly beat Zhao with the pool cue. Azula watched the carnage in rapt fascination, feeling both horrified and thrilled at the same time from seeing how Zhao's white shirt was starting to turn red in more and more spots. For a time, Azula seriously thought that her father was going to kill Zhao, but then the cue snapped in Ozai's hands and he threw the broken pieces away, ceasing the violence. Azula took it as a sign to get to safety, slowly sneaking back towards her room.
"You have one minute to get out of here, Zhao. If you're still here a minute later, I swear, I'm going to kill you with my own bare hands," Ozai threatened. Azula quickly slipped inside her room and closed the doors, watching through the keyhole as the badly beaten Zhao dragged himself past the doors, sliding down the stairs and then somehow making it all the way out onto the porch. Azula could hear her father shouting orders at some of his men downstairs, and shortly afterwards she watched the thugs dragging a semi-conscious Zhao away and unceremoniously throwing him off the property, leaving him lying in a pool of his own blood on the other side of the gate.
Azula knew that she could not afford to celebrate prematurely, and she was proven right when her father entered her room a few moments later, still looking angry, smelling of whiskey he had just downed. Azula made sure to remain visibly upset and tearful, just so that Ozai would not suspect any foul play. "I didn't mean for this to happen, father, I'm really sorry if this is somehow my fault-" she began, but Ozai cut her off impatiently.
"I don't want to hear you apologizing for this ever again, Azula. I told you, it wasn't your fault," Ozai told her. His expression softened slightly as he let out a sigh. "Come here," he beckoned her over and Azula obeyed, walking up to her father and allowing him to embrace her. "It seems that I am not as good a judge of character as I thought myself to be. I nearly made a terrible mistake with Zhao. I was a fool to think that anyone else would be good enough for my daughter."
Wait… what? Anyone else? Anyone else than what? Azula went stiff and rigid in her father's arms, subtly trying to extricate herself. Her father would have none of it, however, continuing to hold her in what he probably thought was a comforting gesture, but instead it was quickly becoming highly uncomfortable for Azula.
It also made her suspect that by successfully dodging the Zhao shaped bullet, she may have left herself exposed to something infinitely more wrong and disturbing, and she was not immediately sure of how to protect herself from that.
Katara woke up shortly after midnight, having finally managed to fall asleep without the aid of her Librium pills. She immediately realized that the sound which had awakened her had been the coughing of the family's old Powell truck as it made its way out onto the street and away. And that in itself was really strange because Sokka had nowhere to go at this hour, nor was he supposed to be driving, having enjoyed quite a lot of the unusually potent eggnog. Was he taking Yue somewhere at this hour? Were they going to rent a room and make out in the local hostel?
That explanation was discarded instantly when Katara saw Yue enter her room moments later. The street lights outside cast a soothing, orange glow, bright enough for Katara to realize that the shine on Yue's cheeks was due to a flood of tears. Her best friend was trying not to sniffle, but she was completely unsuccessful at it as she perched down on the air mattress, more and more tears escaping her eyes as she buried her head in her hands.
"Yue, what's wrong?" Katara decided not to pretend that she was asleep. She wouldn't be able to sleep anyway, now that she knew that her friend was in such distress.
"I thought you were sleeping," Yue sniffled, looking embarrassed as she tried to get her emotions back under control.
"You didn't answer my question," Katara insisted.
"I broke up with Sokka," Yue sobbed out the words, starting to cry again.
"Oh," was all that Katara could manage. So that's why Sokka had taken off. Spirits, she prayed that her brother was going to be alright. It was a seriously bad idea for him to be driving around in such a state. Still, she couldn't do anything for Sokka right now, but at least she could be there for Yue. "Come here," she said, getting up from the bed and patting the mattress, urging Yue to come and sit with her. "Talk to me, Yue."
Yue appeared reluctant even if she made no protest, accepting the offer with a sigh as she joined Katara on the bed. Katara immediately wrapped her arms around the other girl's shoulders, pulling her in for a hug and Yue gratefully leaned into her. "I know it was the right thing to do," Yue sniffled. "But it still hurts so much…"
"Why did you decide to do it right now?" Katara asked softly.
"Didn't you find it weird that my father would suddenly cave in and allow me to come and visit, after forbidding me to do so for years?" Yue asked in return.
"I thought it was a little strange, yes," Katara replied.
"My father only allowed me to visit on the condition that I broke things off with Sokka," Yue sighed. "Since I knew that it was the right thing to do anyway, I agreed on this condition, but still… I just couldn't find the strength to actually do it, not until this very last moment."
"Spirits, I'm so sorry, Yue," Katara held her even tighter. "Here's something that won't surprise you. I don't think I like your father very much."
"No, I didn't think you would. Truth be told, I struggle to love him the way a child should love their parent," Yue admitted. "But we don't get to choose our parents, do we?"
"I'm afraid not," Katara replied. "But at least we can choose our friends."
"Yes, and befriending you was the best choice I've ever made. I don't know what I would do without you, Kat," Yue looked up at her gratefully. The eye contact between them persisted, and then Yue leaned up towards her and kissed Katara on the lips.
"What… what are you doing?" Katara managed, taken aback by Yue's actions.
"Trying to make myself feel a little better, I guess," Yue whispered. She leaned in and kissed Katara again, pulling away when Katara's grip around her shoulders loosened. "I thought you would want-"
"This isn't about what I want, Yue," Katara said, slightly sharper than she had intended. "This is about right and wrong, and this… this doesn't feel right at all. I mean, come on, you just broke up with my brother half an hour ago, and now you're kissing me? That doesn't feel respectful."
Yue's face contorted with pain as she quickly pulled away. "I don't know what I'm doing anymore," she sobbed, burying her face in her hands and starting to cry again. "I'm sorry," she hiccupped, sounding frantic. "I keep… I keep messing everything up…"
"It's alright, Yue," Katara spoke soothingly, feeling guilty for pushing her friend away. "I still want to be there for you. But please, don't try to jump into something else right away just because you're hurting right now."
Yue's sobbing slowly came to an end and she dabbed at the corners of her eyes, further ruining her makeup. "You're right, I could never forgive myself if I hurt you too, Kat," she sighed. "Thank you for stopping me from doing something seriously stupid."
"That's what best friends are for," Katara smiled at her. "Listen, I would feel really bad if you had to sleep on that air mattress tonight. Why don't you get ready for bed and join me? I want to hold you, but you have to promise not to try and kiss me again, alright?"
"Alright, Kat," Yue flashed her a relieved smile, getting up from the bed and quickly removing her ruined makeup, then undressing and slipping into her nightgown before joining Katara under the duvet. Katara immediately reached out and pulled Yue close, wrapping her arms around the other girl's midriff and resting her chin in the crook of Yue's shoulder. As comfortable as they were, neither of the girls were able to fall asleep for the next hour, and only when they heard the sounds of Sokka's truck safely pulling back into the driveway, did they finally allow themselves to relax enough to fall asleep, feeling safe in their shared embrace.
Next chapter: It's the last chance for Azula, Katara or Yue to win the U18 finals, but Toph will not relinquish her title without a fight. Which one of them will come through, or will we see a surprise winner emerge?